Just Watched Movies (2012)

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The Last Winter-When members of a remote Arctic drilling site begin behaving oddly and show signs they're potentially going insane, the few unaffected workers try to get the others to safety before they come face-to-face with the source of their condition. This one was an absolutely putrid and paltry effort that really offers very, very few areas of worthiness. One of the biggest offenders here is the absolute lack of urgency in trying to contain whatever it is they're facing at the site. This is mainly due to the fact that it's still never explained what's going on beyond just the ice-caps melting, but this is given explanations from a released Indian spirit rampaging and revenging them for the exploitation of it's land to the natural gases released during the exploration of the area, yet even if either of those situations is true, there's absolutely nothing from them to get out of the area at all, which is quite curious overall since there's certainly evidence of something going on and no one's reacting to it. Even moreso, hardly anything happens here to really indicate something's going on when it does occur, leaving this one so poorly paced that it's just so boring most of the time the lack of urgency comes across even more. The finale picks up considerably with a few decent action scenes and even some nice encounters with something, but it's just too little too late.

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Kidnapped-When a group of thugs break into a mansion in a gated community and begin terrorizing a family, it begins a night of slaughter and violence as they wage a desperate fight for survival against the madmen and their nefarious plans. This one here wasn't all that bad and actually has a lot going for it when it wants to be. One of it's many pluses is that this is quite brutal and unrelenting at times, especially in the way the family fights back at the end which is some of the most brutal carnage inflicted in this type of film. There's no shortage of blood splattered throughout the rest of the film either, and it makes the end all the more vindictive of what's transpired beforehand. That said, there's still some problems here, mainly in that the criminals aren't really given a motive at all, they just show up at the house and begin getting the money, which is terrifying in real life but still doesn't offer up any kind of explanation as to what's going on or why they're there. As well, because the middle section doesn't have a whole lot of action or attempts on the family it''s just endlessly boring as they just drive around acting tough but getting nothing accomplished. It's not that exciting and makes the film feel really padded during these times, but overall it's got enough elsewhere to really get this quite enjoyable.

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Added an uncut copy of Evil Eyes to the collection.

The Substitute-After a small Danish school class receives a strange substitute as a teacher, the students quickly discover she's an alien researching humanity and when their cries to their parents go unheeded, try to stop her plan from coming to fruition. This was actually a lot of fun and quite entertaining. One of the more enjoyable aspects here is the fact that this one features a rather simple premise that gains a lot of credibility because of how it goes about keeping that a secret from those that matter. How this one builds up her identity, with the fake name, the strange photograph where objects keep appearing based on the revelations made by the group and the strange mind-control properties and the connection to the chickens make for great fun, and when it gets to the confirmation sequence, it's unbelievably suspenseful and generates a great shock, as well as the science-fiction centered finale that ends this one with some fun times. There's some mild flaws here, mainly in the fact that the target of this one being centered on kids, and middle-school children even, there's going to be no deaths or even gore opportunities involved which is fine but definitely keeps this far more tamed than it should. The bigger one, though, is that this one gets revealed so early on that the amount of time taken to convince others and spread the warning to the disbelieving parents feels more like a plot device to keep the movie going rather than any sort of truthful realness had this happened in real-life, but this is still a rather fun effort.

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Added an uncut copy of The Children to the collection.

The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake-When the death of his brother puts him next in line to succumb to a strange curse that leaves the men in his family strangely decapitated shortly after death, a man races to find the source of the events and put a stop to them before he becomes next. Not that bad of an effort, as this one happened to be quite enjoyable despite it's utterly brief running time. That brevity is really the only true flaw here since it moves along a lot quicker than it really should as it brings up the fact that there's really not a lot offered about the curse or what's going on with the different figures that are trying to enact the curse. That said, there's some fun stuff to be had here with the Gothic atmosphere of the shrunken heads and flesh-stripped skulls, the hulking henchman who has his mouth sewn shut is eerily creepy and the sprawling estates this takes place in are all pretty much standard for a Gothic horror effort, and those are the most fun in here. There's a decent enough plot twist that keeps things moving along and it's definitely got some pretty entertaining brawls thrown into the mix, but otherwise it's just a short, mostly decent Gothic horror entry.

Trollhunter-While attempting to do a report on a hunter illegally poaching in the Norwegian countryside, a group of students finds he's really a Troll-hunter for the government trying to curtain their sudden rise in activity and document his journey to find out why. This happened to be an utterly and immensely entertaining effort, with hardly anything not to like about it. Displaying a sense of nationalistic pride that's incredibly refreshing and a joy to behold, the use of a creature that is wholly their own and speaks to their culture and history makes for a unique feel to this as the complete realism this handles their existence in a modern world is a special touch. In addition, the fact that we're given a truly impressive amount of info on not only their biology but also their behavior and methods for interacting with their world is pretty fun, and there's even a slew of different types that are spread throughout, making for some nice differences between the varieties featured as well as providing the film with numerous incredible scenes of interaction and confrontation with the hunter and his query. These scenes are nothing short of spectacular, with near-flawless special effects to make them come alive and look and act realistically, and even some are quite shocking and creepy. The shaking camera/found footage aspect isn't a complete annoyance (several of the scenes are questionable as to their inclusion) but thankfully it's kept short until it gets to the ending which is way too abrupt and ends on a puzzling note, but otherwise this was a lot of fun and really entertaining.

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Vampyr-Arriving at a secluded inn in the countryside, a man becomes caught up in the realm of the supernatural descending upon it's inhabitants and finds that the cause is a vampire let loose upon them and he must stop them before he succumbs as well. This here turned out to be quite an overall confusing entry to rate as the fact that this one is so silent for the majority of it's running time that there's so many stretches of of nothing going on that it becomes a little laxed at times. Thankfully, the haunting, dream-like atmosphere present is of far greater significance and importance to this, which results in both impressive visuals or creative ideas. This is filled with both, from shadows that take on a life of their own independent of their owner, deformed figures or what seems like a complete ignorance of the person within their individual space, or just a series of arresting, unique camera angles that are just from interesting placements or give a different vision than expected, so when it comes to the supernatural take-over of the cabin in the later half it's quite creepy and chilling with it's Gothic impositions and concepts. While the film might be headache-inducing trying to literally follow the plot, since nothing seems to make sense or events contradict earlier scenes, it's not nearly enough to hold it down but it does loose some for these scenes, and overall it's quite enjoyable.

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-Attempting to finalize an experimental potion, a man's ingestion of the formula releases a monstrous personality that clashes violently with the society he lives in and those around him, forcing them to deal with the changes once and for all. This one was a fairly enjoyable if slightly flawed take on the story. One of the main problems to this one is the fact that the film's style of errant behavior on Hyde's part is to simply act like a raving jerk and simply browbeat anyone around him which is a product of the time period but simply doesn't make for any kind of interesting features nor make him someone we should fear at any cost. This is also due to the high number of scenes were he goes off on long-winded rants that just don't go anywhere beyond chewing up time and throwing the girl into a needless round of hysterics at the sight of the raving lunatic. Beyond this, there's a lot to like here, mainly in a far more worthwhile pace which makes this a lot more interesting than expected, a series of innovative ideas that allow this one some pretty enjoyable moments that are quite ahead of it's time and of course the astounding make-up job that looks quite shocking and terrifying during the first transformation and loses a little bit of it's power on subsequent views. Overall, it's certainly not the best version but is clearly enjoyable enough.

The Tale of Sweeney Todd-A series of mysterious disappearances leads an American inspector in England to a charismatic barber and his helper who bake his victims into pies for the locals and try to stop their deadly game before it's too late. A somewhat decent effort of the story, which manages some good stuff here and there to make it interesting at least. The fact that there's several interesting and fairly entertaining mysteries built up that cross pollinate each other gives this one a pretty quick pace, with the mysterious murders leading him down one path, while the fact that he needs information from a previous victim to carry out his task which intersects with the vanished helpers from their shops, and overall this whole segment is quite good. There's even a grand finale that includes the Gothic trope of burning-down-the-location as well, as several of the preparation of the victim scenes get quite bloody, but this one does have some flaws. With several romantic subplots present, it doesn't offer up a lot of time on horror-specific subplots so this one doesn't really get up there in dealing out a body count, and overall this one has more of a period/drama feel rather than an out-and-out horror film so it misses a lot of chances to deliver some gruesome shocks. These lower it enough, but it's still pretty enjoyable.

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Exit Humanity-As he finds his world overrun by a strange plague that brings the dead back to life, a Civil War soldier tries to come to grips with his family's death during the events to stop a mad general from trying to find a cure using those he's come to seek shelter with. This here was a fairly enjoyable zombie effort even though there's some flaws within. The flaws aren't that damaging at all and really only extend to two different areas. The fact that the pace here is so slow is mostly the film's biggest problem, hampered by the constant scenes of his grief or torment over his family, and by the fifth wail of agony as he remembers them the scenes just become torturous to watch because they're dragging the film out far longer than it needs to be, and with the way the zombies are more around the fringes than taking centerstage as there's no big showcase scene with them and that they merely tend to show up only to get dispatched doesn't allow a lot of action. As well, the film doesn't really make much out of it's search for the cure, tending to treat him as more psychotic than doing anything interesting with him, and with the film being presented as diary readings, a potentially interesting plot thread could've been done here. As it stands though, there's a lot to really love here with a novel idea, a rousing action-packed finale in the woods, great zombie make-up and a decent amount of time exploring their behavior, and it's certainly gory when it counts so this one works well when it's on.

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Nightmare Man-After becoming stranded in the forest and coming face-to-face with a nightmarish killer from her imagination, a woman stumbles upon a group having a party in the woods and enlists them to fight off the figure before they all succumb to it's murderous wrath. This here was one of the most enjoyable and entertaining entries in the genre. There's a lot to like here, most notably in the rather overwhelming atmosphere created through the set-up, with the dark woods providing an effective, suitable location for the killer to spring from or jump out of, which happens frequently here to give this one a fine, outstanding pace. It's quite relentless and never really lets up at all, giving plenty of encounters and confrontations that are exciting and quite thrilling without letting up. From the frantic chase through the woods to the relentless assault on the cabin, as well as the finale with it's full-scale possession and retribution offered up by the supernatural display of powers and the beat-down of the possessed, this one has a large supply of fun, energetic scenes. The frequent encounters lead to a lot of bloody deaths, so there's a rather fun air to this with it's rather bloody feel, and that leads into it's other solid point with it's effective mixture of sleaze and gore, with this one doling out both frequently and appropriately. While the relationship twist doesn't really make much sense, it stands out as the only real flaw here in an otherwise spectacular effort.

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American Horror House-Attempting to pledge a new sorority during a Halloween party, the new pledges find the event used as a recruiting session by the ghostly house-mother suffering under a malicious curse to possess the house and must find a way to stop it from going through. This one here was actually quite an entertaining and exceptionally fun entry. Of the many pluses here, the main element that comes up is the fact that this one uses a near-continuous amount of ghost action which keeps this one moving along at such a brisk pace and never really lets it up. From the scenes of the cop investigating the disappearances inside the sorority to the manifestations of the ghosts possessing the different artifacts and finally the main segments where they go around and invade the party, these scenes are pretty chilling and definitely set up some creepy atmosphere when mixed with the actions undertaken of the girls going through the initiation ceremonies at the same time. The main party is incredibly fun and definitely lives up to it's showpiece spectacle scene, and when mixed together with the rather gory deaths that are thankfully not CGI but actual on-set props, there's a lot to like here. The cursed-to-remain plotline certainly doesn't need to be there and is introduced so late as to be an afterthought and there's the usual bad CGI, but overall this one wasn't nearly atrocious and remained quite enjoyable.

Within-Moving to a small town with her father, a young girl finds her ability to see spirits around one of the girls in town helpful in solving a spree of malicious accidents connected to her. This one wasn't an overall terrible entry but there's some pretty big flaws present. The biggest, and easiest to to spot, is the complete and utter lack of discipline bestowed on the girl simply to let the film's plot get carried out. Though it is entirely possible for a young girl to act out as she does here, with her fascination in the morbid details of the accidents, the possessive nature towards everything and the attitude towards her friends and family being the biggest targets which are in no way plausible for most children to be accepted to act, and the fact that this particular tactic is used to demonstrate nearly all of the film's fear quotient is quite a huge miscalculation, if not in theory then certainly in the execution of how much time is spent on it. The other real problem with this one is the fact that there's never going to be a chance to let loose with the opportunities it could feature because the format and type of release won't allow it. Those two factors are the main elements which hold this one down, but there's some fine points as well. There's some really interesting parts abut the possession of the elder sibling being connected to the ghostly sighting, which themselves are quite chilling when they pop up, the different tormenting methods are definitely intriguing at times including a really harrowing scene trapped in a flaming garage and the finale is quite fun with a nice chase and a brutal confrontation scene. These help it along, but it's still not that great.

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Dead Snow-Taking a ski trip into the Norwegian wilderness, a group of friends find the relaxing trip interrupted by a horde of Nazi zombies looking to recover their stolen goods uncovered by the group and must try to get away from the situation alive. This is one of the greater zombie efforts ever. There's just so much to like about this one that it's hard to pick a spot to start with, but what must be mentioned first is the blood and gore. This one has so much that it could rival the all-time greats in the genre, all the while done with hardly any biting of their flesh to do so. The bloodbath that ensues from this one is a combination of defensive tactics against the zombies and their methods of capturing the group, both of which results in an impressive display of carving, butchering and bloodletting that leaves this film drenched in splatter. From a body drawn and quartered to hatchet decapitations, stabbings or simple slicings done to every part of the body, chainsaw dismembering and much, much more, as a splatterfest this truly delivers. That leaves this with a lot of action that's utterly enjoyable and keeps it moving along at a frantic pace so as not to be completely dull, the comedy is interjected at the right moments to add brevity to the situation and off course the over-the-top nature of the film is entirely engrossing, which when added with the wintery setting and fine suspense, provides this with plenty of great points. The one minor flaw here is that the zombies don't behave like typical zombies and instead tend to run around, wield tools and have a slasher-villain sense of the dramatics rather than like mindless hordes, but it's a completely forgivable offense that doesn't interrupt the good will established within.

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From Within-After the witness of a suicide starts off a chain of similar cursed deaths in town, a young woman tries to keep her hyper-religious boyfriend from going after the supposed start of the curse long enough to stop it before more deaths occur. This here was a rather troubling and pretty flawed effort at times, though it does have a couple pretty interesting parts. The film is on when it's dealing with the curse and the graphic deaths that result, and beyond just the surface shocks and entertainment these are surprisingly deeper than expected. Spread throughout by the appearance of ghostly doppelgangers that mark the deaths as suicides, there's much more to this aspect of the film beyond the inherently creepy and thrilling scenes they are just on-the-surface, and altogether these provide the film with a lot of good marks. Unfortunately, there's still a lot wrong here and it's all centered around the backwoods inhabitants and the heavy presence of religion in their lives. Far too often this denigrates into a religious rant that never explains anything other than their backwards and irrational thinking damaging whatever this could've done with the material, and by unleashing a twist late in the film that makes for the whole affair mirroring a similar fate doled out years earlier for the same reason makes this whole part challenging and really tough to get by, making it so severe at times that it drags the rest of the film down considerably. It's still watchable, but not as it could've been.

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Added an uncut copy of The Last House in the Woods to the collection.

Dead Souls-Arriving at his old family farmhouse in the country after inheriting the property, a man learns of his hidden past as the only escapee of a blood sacrifice to a powerful demon and must try to get away before the lingering spirits finish the ritual. A disappointedly disjointed effort, as there's a ton of potential to be displayed here but it all comes undone by the films' glaring problems. One thing it does get right is the appropriate air of menace present at the house, which is suitably in disuse and riddled with dirt, dust, cobwebs and an aura of creepiness that only comes about through the years of inactivity, so when the creepily closing door, demonic whispering and shadows passing by on the walls it definitely creates an impression of unease and dread, especially as it goes along unraveling the curse. The barnyard finale is fun with the reanimated bodies, but unfortunately this still suffers from too many problems, most notably the ever-irritating ploy of maintaining a secret that, once revealed, ends the nightmare early on before anything terrible can come to pass. As everyone knows the truth about what happened except for the lead, rather than revealing the truth and letting it play out they hide it so naturally all the stuff they feared came true since they never got warned. As well, the beginning of this is extremely slow-going and rarely gets any kind of energy going along, consisting of his stumbling around the house and not really doing anything to discover the curse, so it takes a while to get going and these two issues here really slow the film down.

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Rosemary's Baby-Moving into a lavish apartment complex, a woman becomes increasingly concerned of the elderly residents' concern of her after becoming pregnant and gradually uncovers a sinister plot to offer her unborn baby to their devilsh master. This here manages to be one of the enjoyable and entertaining classic horror efforts around. With the only real problem within being a languished pace that really draws the running time up and make it far longer than it really needs to be, there's a lot to like here. One of the best aspects utilized here is the slow-burn pacing that runs through here as the events wind themselves around her entire pregnancy and that allows for the gradual unraveling of the clues, from the older couples constant interference in their daily lives and offering pregnancy tips and advice, the constant rebuttals of anything she feels as out-of-the-ordinary being commonplace and finally the gag with the name really cluing in the final act. While none of this is really centered around a series of jolts or shocks or even anything creepy beyond the hallucinogenic impregnation, that this really remains watchable as nothing happens is a strong suit of the film and really works quite well in keeping this one interesting. Of course, the finally is all sorts of creepy and chilling, giving this another solid point about it and really generating a lot of excitement about it, making it one of the more rewarding experiences around.

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- Sinister. A crime novelist moves with his family to a house where a year ago an entire family was hung from a tree in their backyard, with the younger daughter missing and presumed dead as well. He intends to research this grisly case as the basis for his new opus. But his investigation unearths a far uglier case than he imagined, having to do with mass murders that go as far back as 1966 (and perhaps beyond), and which will come to present a very real threat for his own family.

Just seen this one in the theater; it's a very good, through quite predictable, supernatural thriller. There are a few good jump scares in this, through the best bits are those scenes having to do with a series of incredibly disturbing home movies. The mystery is mostly well-constructed (through it's one of those movies that requires certain characters to exist solely to give our lead character vital information at very convenient times), and the payoff is totally telegraphed, yet satisfying. Can't say I cared for any of the characters in this, through.

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The Lost Boys-When his brother gets mixed up with a rowdy gang in his seaside town that turns out to be a pack of vampires, a young kid teams up with a pair of local vampire-fanatics to stop him before he turns into a fully-fledged vampire. A thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining vampire effort, this one has a lot going for it that really works well. One of the main abilities of this is to actually update the traditional forms of vampire lore into a more modern and rather intriguing series of concepts that play into the era pretty nicely. Rather than feature the traditional European version of the creature that runs around dressed to impress with a focus on keeping his identity a secret at all times, this one's use of rebellious free-spirits who don't really care and figure on just draining anyone they believe will blow their identity but look and act like typical teenagers allows them to blend in quite nicely and make it seem like an attractive, worthwhile life. The updating of the hunting tricks is pretty clever as well, and the ways of incorporating them into the story makes for some nice fun, as well as the different confrontations towards the end when they invade the coven to wipe them out which generates the film's action quotient. While it's got some signs of the time present that come off as goofy, as well as a few other minor flaws, it's overall really fun and entertaining.

White Noise-After his wife's disappearance and subsequent death, a man delves into the world of using electronic capturing to study the strange messages left by his wife's ghost to help lost souls like here find the peace she now has. This turned out to be quite a frustrating and utterly troubling effort, mainly due to how it destroys such a potentially intriguing and novel concept. The idea of the continued contact at the same exact time and frequency is a cheat that takes away the fact that there's hardly anything done to search for her, it's all right there to start with and that's quite annoying to get through. It also manages to take away the paranoia and obsession of why he's being contacted, since he just falls right in and begins believing in such a topic after only one visit, which is a normal mark in such films but here comes off as another cheat. The class and slick-feeling this leaves behind is also quite damaging, since it's not going to get really terrifying due to it's placement and standing, so despite the few potentially intriguing scenes it showcases there's not going to be a whole lot that really gets out-of-hand so it can get the widespread appeal, and that overall is it's biggest problem. There's potential here with the contact and mysterious messages she leaves behind, but overall this is a wasted opportunity.

White Noise 2-After a botched suicide to rejoin his deceased wife, a man finds he can now see when people are about to die through an extrasensory perception of their life, but soon finds that saving them has a far deadlier consequence than he originally believed. This here manages to be quite an intriguing effort that has a lot going for it. One of the main points here is the second-half twist that comes about, as the first part is mainly all about the strange ability that he discovers and how he goes about using it to save others. While those are quite fun, the fact that this second half manages to add a rather clever and chilling twist on everything that's come before allows it to venture off into far more enjoyable terrain by trying to stop the saved from ending what should've happened, as interfering isn't supposed to occur in the grand scheme of life uncovered, and how it's done is where the movie gets quite fun with the thrilling races to stop his own handiwork. Though the finale gets in some nice action and makes for a rush of an ending, it's far too fantastical to meld with the more serious attempts to mesh the supernatural and the normal that was being showcased before, and the fact that the saved already knew what was going to happen before they re-killed themselves made no sense, but overall this was pretty enjoyable.

The Sight-Arriving in the UK to supposedly construct a new hotel, a man gets caught up in a strange murder mystery plaguing the authorities and uses his strange ability to communicate with ghosts to help solve the baffling case. A pretty enjoyable and entertaining effort, this one manages to be quite entertaining when it gets going. The fact that there's very little about what gives him this power and what he's supposed to do with it are glossed over, and even mentioned aloud by the characters at one point which just draws a ton of attention to it, the rest of this is quite thrilling. That there's two main plot threads going on at once, the discovery of his powers and the ongoing murder case, makes for a thrilling pace since both intermingle in strange ways and yet never allows one to dominate at the expense of the other or grow boring altogether which could've happened quite easily in such a film. Though the identity of the murderer is quite easy to figure out, that the sleuthing takes up some pretty interesting avenues and gets put together quite nicely is where that plot works quite nicely, and with the ghostly assists makes it even more enjoyable. The finale is great fun and sets itself up with a touching ending, leaving it on a high note and overall is a rather entertaining feature.