Just Watched Movies (2014)

[slayrrr666]

Lake Mungo-Following a teenager's accidental drowning, a family's slowly-unfolding attempt at forging on is disrupted with the gradual unraveling at her dark past leading up to the incident and how they lead to her final fate. This turned out to be such a boring effort hardly anything about it is enjoyable. The really disappointing part about this is that, despite this being based around an incredibly enjoyable concept, the main storyline here is so off that it really does the film far more harm by being the way it is, which is all due to the way this plays out. The film is based on the revelations of the family after-the-fact about what caused her death and how digging into her past lead to much darker secrets than they ever anticipated, but yet the documentary-like nature of the film manages to make it feel like what happens is not that scary or chilling at all. From the start, with the photographs and her appearance in them to the neighbors' video footage finding her on them to the consultations with the paranormal experts and all this, it's never given any sort of imposing nature about being terrified of what's going on, as it's all about being done after it's already happened because it's a documentary about what happened instead of letting everything unfold in real-time. There's a lot of potentially-creepy manners and actions that happen through these actions through the family's drama but yet none of what happens is given any sort of feeling like it's scary or chilling and it really makes the film just trod along so lifelessly that it's hardly all that enjoyable the way it's presented here. Even all the gradual reveals that happen in here, from the infidelity with the neighbors to the paranormal dealings and the final revelation about her past are given any sort of truly creepy feel about what's happening and that makes this a really lifeless ordeal. Because none of this is given out to any sort of kills or supernatural attacks that would've resulting in some blood-letting or action to take place, this is a lifeless, bloodless barely-there horror effort.

[slayrrr666]

Nailbiter-Forced to take shelter from an oncoming tornado, a woman and her daughters find the remote house's basement they've chosen is the resting place for their monstrous children and must battle the creatures to get out alive. This is a decidedly decent enough offering that has some good points about it. The biggest part of this is the fact that the whole set-up here is quite unique and original which really makes this feel quite new amongst the glut of similarly-themed efforts. The oncoming storm and the desire for shelter make for quite a thrilling action-packed opening and the sheer coincidence of choosing the wrong place to hideout is a true staple of the genre of stumbling into something that there's no way of knowing anything about but are now being forced to fend off that new menace so there's a lot of mileage about that in here. The slow discovery of the basement and eventual realization of what they're doing down there is utilized greatly here with absolutely chilling work done on the set-up and lay-out of the basement, the initial attacks that really handle the ongoing lack of what they're dealing with and the fight to survive bringing in a lot of good along the latter half as the different methods of dealing with the creatures as well as the final twist about their chosen refuge giving off a truly chilling realization. That aids in the final action-packed confrontations here which is where all the good fights are thrown where they have to deal with the different creatures seemingly all at this point in the film which gives it a great sense of action at the end but also manages to bring up one of the only real flaws here. The lack of creature action throughout the whole film does it a bit of disservice by making it quite confusing about what's actually down there since the attacks are really only held in the last part of the film and the ones before are all off-screen with the sound-effects used to denote what's going on, yet we never seen anything so it really makes them hidden for no real reason. They look good when seen on-camera and are done in practical effects, but by hiding them it really stretches a lot of the beginning out quite a bit and makes it really hard to buy into the backstory of the creatures. We get next to nothing about them and hardly any attacks to really get a chance to witness their power, while the targets' age really hampers the gore factor in here that could've help in this regard as well, so there's not a lot to go on here with them. Otherwise, this is quite an enjoyable feature.

[slayrrr666]

Open Grave-Suspense/Thriller mis-marketed as a Horror film. Move along.

[slayrrr666]

Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet-Attempting to celebrate the grisly legacy of a notorious killer, a group of friends find their party interrupted by the spirit of the famous killer and must find a way of stopping the carnage before it's too late. This turned out to be quite the fun and enjoyable old-school slasher with a lot to really like about it. The fact that this certainly dwells in all the old familiar trappings of the style, with the group of horny, alcoholic-infused teens trying to celebrate the legacy of a brutal mass murder with a wild party is straight from the playbook of the time and certainly adds to the retro feel in here by playing off the past's successes for it's own. That certainly puts this as a rather fun and grisly slasher when this one gets going here as the final half to this one really utilizes the stalk-and-slash formulas quite well by focusing on the slashing around the house before heading out to other areas around the community and finally settling on the abandoned hospital at the end where it really unleashes the carnage with a multitude of spectacular, gruesome deaths that amp up the blood-letting considerably as a slew of impressive deaths are dished out. There's also great use of the setting here to actually maximize the suspense factor apart from the killings so that there's a great deal of stalking being used to great effect within this and making for a rather enjoyable finale that really helps to add to the old-school feel here. There's a few nagging issues with this one, mainly the fact that the film never really gives too much information about the characters so that it's nearly impossible to know who's-who when the slashing starts. Often-times, it seems like a character simply thrown in to serve as cannon-fodder and it's only later that you realize they've been around since the beginning of the film. As well, you may not get a name to a character until they stumble upon the body and cry out over who just got killed which is a big nagging issue. This is surprising since the beginning to this really could've made a bigger deal about this issue but seems far too focused on other areas so that there's not a lot of time spent dealing with the characters while not really engaging in a lot of slashing with most of these kills happening off-screen only to finally see how it all happened in the flashback at the end which is quite a cheat. These factors do end up making it slightly lower than it should've been, but overall it's still quite fun.

[slayrrr666]

Pacific Rim-After discovering a breach in the Pacific Ocean that allows giant monsters to cross into our dimension, a squad of giant robots are utilized in an effort to protect humanity from the potential destruction by the creatures. Frankly, there's some really good things about this one but it still has a few problems here and there. One of the biggest issues here is the fact that the battles are far too short and pack way too much into them that there's hardly any chance of seeing what's going on. The realism inherent in the creatures is quite low compared to many other giant monster movies since the creatures are way too active and move way too rapidly for something that size which is emphasized even more in the fighting when they're moving around at such inhuman speeds that there's just a blur of movement and then finally the battle's over. This really renders the battling quite ineffectual in generating the kind of excitement and fun that usually comes in these kinds of movies, even though this makes the spectacle far more engaging with the frenetic action scenes moving this along at a rapid pace. There's so many battles in this that the rapid pace to them starts becoming quite enjoyable with the major-scale city destruction taking place alongside the fighting which is quite fun and exciting throughout, and with the full-scale finale really getting a workout with the main fighting coming through quite well, its got a frenetic finish that places the spectacle of the action in the main slot while generating the high-energy finish needed to make this quite fun. Still, there's a couple more flaws to this which is mostly centered on the utterly dragging human drama that really makes this feel quite a bit longer than it really should by introducing all these unnecessary and unneeded back-stories and plot-points for each of the people operating these machines and they're not enjoyable in the slightest when a series of giant monsters is threatening the planet. On top of that, the fact that the creatures and the robots, however impressively they're designed, are so obviously CGI that they become distracting compared to how often they're on-screen and given a lot of changes to really dwell in their obviousness. Otherwise, there's not much really wrong with this one.

Red-When a hit-squad attack on him fails, a retired CIA operative finds that he and his old team have been targeted for termination and gather together to find the incriminating party and stop them before the assassination comes through. This is an utterly enjoyable and frenetic Action film that really delivers quite well. The biggest thing here is the absolutely enjoyable amount of action in this, which makes this so frantically-paced and stylish that there's so much to like just from this factor alone before getting into how over-the-top cheesy it all is. From the numerous shoot-outs that unleash swarms of flying bullets featuring weaponry of all styles and factors, handguns and small-arms fire to cannons and full-scale machine guns this one has a lot of enjoyable sequences that really play off the explosive amount of gunplay comes through this one. On top of that, the car chases and stuntwork on display is quite exciting and over-the-top as well, which really makes this one come off as quite exciting and thrilling throughout as the non-stop nature of the film's action scenes is off-played slightly by it's rather high dose of comedy here with a ton of sarcastic quips and put-downs that are quite hilarious throughout as well as the jokes about being in the situation in their age which gets some nice physical comedy as well. While the story might not be all that well-thought through in regards to why the assassination attempts are going through at all and it takes a bit to get going, this is quite fun and enjoyable.

[Fenril]

Definitely agree on "Lake Mungo", this was tremendously disappointing, especially because there is just so much potential in the story itself. Even the final twist could have worked had it been decently executed, but instead it's just... meh.
Also agree on "Pacific Rim", through I guess my main issue with it was that it's just not as shaking as it seems it should have been, both in terms of the action and in the drama (to be specific, said drama could have been compressed and would have probably been much more interesting that way). It was enjoyable overall, but I still feel it's Del Toro's weakest film so far.

Meanwhile, saw:

- The dallas buyers club. Drama based on the real-life story of Ron Woodroof, an AIDS patient who grew frustrated with the FDA's regulations re: medicine and treatment for his illness, and organized a massive smuggling net that ended up indirectly forcing the FDA itself to review it's own rules and regulations (and, to a small degree, to face up their own instances of corruption).

Effective slice-of-life drama that is grounded on solid performances and a competent criticism of massive corporations. While the requisite personal drama (mostly involving Ron's relationship with a compassionate doctor and a clever trans woman) feels more than a little... cinematographic (and indeed they are fictitious characters), this remains a thought-provoking decent film.

- The purge: Anarchy. In the near-future, all crime is allowed in a span of 12 hours, in annual even known as "The Purge"; ostensibly a way to allow citizens to "unleash the inner beast", it is is famously a government-sponsored way to keep the population in check, mostly by getting read of the less fortunate. This installment follows three groups of people (a mother and daughter; an unassuming couple; a mysterious man out for revenge) as they try to survive through the night, either by themselves or banding up. But there's lots of predators out there, especially amongst the very rich...

I saw this one almost by accident --meant to watch the first installment first, but the movie theater had this presented as "12 horas para sobrevivir", with no prior indication that it was the sequel (the original was only released on DVD here anyhow). In any case seen on its own this was a good thriller with as many good concepts as flaws in execution. The premise is more than a little interesting, and the fact that the cast covers three levels of social class (poor, middle-class, wealthy) works very well. So do some of the most chilling ideas --families that hire lower-class citizens to enact their own snuff films, thrill-happy gangs exterminating the homeless in underground tunnels, and the eventual revelation of why specific buildings are targeted by SWAT teams on this particular night. But the writing doesn't always work, there's several truly implausible scenarios and a tendency to run the plot on "video game logic" (of note: a character magically knowing how to fire a high-caliber rifle the minute she picks it up, despite having zero prior experience in anything resembling combat). On the whole this is not quite as powerful as it could have been, but probably still worth a look.

[slayrrr666]

Aug 11, 2014 19:15:31 GMT -5 Fenril said:

Definitely agree on "Lake Mungo", this was tremendously disappointing, especially because there is just so much potential in the story itself. Even the final twist could have worked had it been decently executed, but instead it's just... meh.
Also agree on "Pacific Rim", through I guess my main issue with it was that it's just not as shaking as it seems it should have been, both in terms of the action and in the drama (to be specific, said drama could have been compressed and would have probably been much more interesting that way). It was enjoyable overall, but I still feel it's Del Toro's weakest film so far.

Glad you felt that way about the two. I was so disappointed in Mungo, but like I said the documentary approach here really made this one feel sapped of all it's potential goodness in the story, while Rim was indeed two parts good, two parts bad. Very uneven and del Toro should know better by now in his career.

Frankly, wonky computer prevented me from posting this yesterday, but Monday's viewing:
From Paris with Love-Wanting to get in on the spy-game, a wannabe-operative is tasked with escorting a loose-cannon agent on a chase through Paris' underworld that eventually leads to a global conspiracy and must prevent it from happening. This here is quite enjoyable and exciting of an Action film but does have a few nagging issues to overcome. The first major issue here is the fact that it never really knows what kind of film it really is as it shifts around quite rapidly at about four different plot-points that are tenuously held together in a rather convoluted manner that really makes this one quite scattershot in how it goes about dealing with the various enemies. From the dealings with the Chinese cocaine distribution center that's revealed as a lie and gets dropped shortly after that, to the low-level Islamic terrorists hiding in the slums of the city to the internationally-concerned bombers that eventually becomes the focus here, all of which get several different reveals and twists so that it's nearly impossible to get a sense where it's going. As well, the finale is way too overdone and features twists for the sake of having twists which are really not so impressive on the main hand while also generating next to nothing about the importance of the story here that allows this to really generate a coherent, enjoyable plot. Thankfully, none of this is impeded by the wonderful action on display where there's a fine series of shoot-outs, assaults and car chases that really manage to work in a fine sense of spectacle especially on the freeway chase which is immensely fun and cheesy on it's own before taking into account all the storyline plots that are being engaged at the time which makes this all the more enjoyable. The early shootouts in the restaurant and the storage facility are top-notch as well, making for an overall fine sense of thoroughly-enjoyable action on display that allows this plenty to enjoyable moments here. The cheese from the constant one-liners and sarcastic attitudes towards the mission are quite fun as well and definitely add to the situation, all around making this fun if a little flawed.

And now yesterday's viewing:
The Losers-Set up by their bosses to talk the fall for an errant mission, a team of operatives sets out on avenging their presumed-dead status with a shady woman who knows more about their status than she lets on. This was quite a surprisingly enjoyable Action effort that has a lot going for it than it thinks. This is mostly due to the initial set-up for their mission being quite an actual and honest portrayal that makes their revenge all the more important to set in motion, and with the way this allows them to get started on going about revenge makes this quite a workable opening. The main focus, though, is spent on the action as they go about clearing themselves which allows this to contain numerous confrontations, shootouts and chases throughout here that are not only fun and exciting but also packed with the good stuff that's come to be expected here as this one really dwells on incorporating a dash of humor into the action. While this can get a little tiresome when everyone here is constantly trying to come up with the best quip about the situation as they go about blowing things up and shooting up the enemies, there's enough that land which actually gels with the action that makes this quite fun and exciting with several stand-out scenes including the raid on the house compound, the ambush on the caravan and the gun battle at the finale which are highly enjoyable due to the high-frequency of the action sequences throughout with just about each one containing more than just one singular type of formula to create exciting action and are all filled with different elements that make these thrilling. Beyond the hit-or-miss quality of the sarcasm-filled one-liners on display, the only other quality that doesn't really work here is the continuous need to throw plot-twists into the final half in order to make for all sorts of obstacles to overcome. This is supposedly a straight-forward revenge film with a simple set-up and easy-to-see resolution, yet the need to continually throw all sorts of different plot-twists into it in order to add a sense of drama over whether they'll complete the mission. It certainly doesn't need all these different elements to have fun and could've done without them as they needlessly complicate matters without any reason, but as it stands this is still quite fun.

[slayrrr666]

Killers-After meeting a woman and deciding to quit the spy business to be with her, his former life catches up with him when a series of assassins invades his life and forcing them on the run to find out who's behind it all. This was a decidedly decent offering that really could've been a lot of fun. The biggest issue here is the fact that the film never really embraces it's action-roots here with so much screen-time set for the two's romance and budding relationship woes that are placed as a higher priority here instead of the rather fun and enjoyable action set-ups that transpire throughout the last half here. That these are placed in the latter part of the movie does tend to make this one so weak and boring in the first part to where it's hard to really stay invested in the goings-on here as they go about their lives together being removed from their former lives and none of this is the slightest bit interesting on what's going on at all until it gets to the mid-way point when the action starts, even though most of it's not really that thrilling. Outside of a car chase through the suburban neighborhood and a few shoot-outs later on that do manage a few exciting moments, the action here isn't all that great either and gets by more on the frenetic pace it goes through rather than any out-and-out exciting moments which really leaves this one coming up short overall. It's a little funnier than expected and that helps it along but overall it just seems lacking.

[slayrrr666]

Knight and Day-After accidentally crossing paths with a US agent, a woman finds herself questioning his loyalties as he seemingly races to stop a controllable energy source from falling into the hands of an international arms dealer. This was actually quite a fun and enjoyable Action/Comedy that plays it right throughout in making this a straightforward Action effort. The main storyline about this one being based off a huge threat falling into the wrong hands allows this one to focus a lot on having to fight off numerous armed threats so there's plenty of high-energy sequences where the action is really placed at the forefront of the scene including the car chase through the suburbs, a frantic shoot-out in a warehouse and a truly thrilling motorcycle chase through downtown Barcelona during the infamous running-of-the-bulls which adds an extra dimension to the scene that doesn't really get utilized all that often which makes this all the more enjoyable when paired with the other action-packed scenes in here. This certainly keeps the pace up throughout so it doesn't really lag all that much considering it's a bit too long for it's own good due to being somewhat overfilled with useless scenes. Nearly all of the scenes of her back in the hometown and interacting with her family just seem so out-of-place here that it really becomes distracting seeing these sorts of interactions that really have no bearing on the film as it is. As well, the fact that this one manages to throw her into the fray so easily and accepting of how she's a part of this battle is just a little off-beat and really could've been done a little cleaner but overall this is quite enjoyable.

[slayrrr666]

Kick-Ass-After his dreams of wanting to be a superhero finally urge him into becoming one, a teen's impressive rate of crime-fighting places him and a group of vigilante fighters against a deadly crime lord and his henchmen. Not a whole lot to say here about this one, just way too much stuff outside my comfort zone to really appeal as much as it should've. There's a few decent action scenes here in the assault on the warehouse as well as the final attack on the hideout blasting past tons of goons and henchmen in fantastic shoot-outs, but far too much of the time is spent in areas that are utterly detrimental to itself. The mix of comedy and action is grossly inappropriate due to the majority of this stuff not being funny to begin with yet is supposed to be because it's all done by a tween girl which is just sad and pathetic. The dark tone present throughout here clashes badly with what is supposed to be light-hearted fantasy about being a superhero regardless of the superhuman powers required to be so and just makes this an over-long, boring watch.

Salt-After a defector entering America accuses a loyal CIA agent as a spy, she goes on the run to clear her name and control a plot by the Russian government to curtail the oncoming presidential race with it's spy program. Far more political thriller than I usually care for as the film really starts losing steam later on with a bloated plot that seems to keep throwing twist upon twist into the story simply because it wants to continually force viewers into a guessing game over what's going on without doing anything really impressive with the storyline it had before abandoning that in favor of something else. This really makes the last half way too complex and confusing when it really had a decent plot going for the first hour about whether or not the infiltration was going to happen. These are loaded with fine action scenes and rather enjoyable chases and shootouts including the frantic escape from the compound and the exhilarating chase through the crowded freeway which is quite fun and really gets a lot out of it. It's a little too scattershot with it's plots, but it's not entirely bad.

[slayrrr666]

The A-Team-After being set-up to take the fall for a disastrous mission, a team of operatives set off to complete their original mission while trying to dodge the group of government agents trying to bring them down. Surprisingly, this one wasn't that bad at all and really had a lot going for it. The main thing here is the absolutely fun and enjoyable action scenes on display here is the utterly overwhelming display of action in here which is just utterly thrilling and exciting filled with numerous amounts of shooting, blasting and chasing that hardly stops to take a breather. From the opening assault in the desert that brings the team together to the botched robbery forestalling that seals their fate to a daring prison and the central plot point of taking on the criminal gang who initially set them up that takes on the majority of screen time here which gets several thrilling car chases as well as the utterly exhilarating mid-air plane escape sequence that manages to hold the attention regardless of the realism of such a sequence actually occurring in that manner, the bullets fly fast and the explosions big and loud which really helps this one along. Still, there's a few problems here in that the film becomes increasingly unconvincing of realism the later it goes here, readily forsaking a realistic touch in favor of blowing everything up in sight or engaging in utterly unrealistic stunt-work that gives away the CGI present throughout. Distracting not only because of it's use in creating unrealistic scenarios, the cheapness and overall unconvincing look of the CGI is another big problem here as it really takes the viewer out of the film when it's really trying to be seen as a believable action film. Relying so heavily on the TV series for inspiration and utilizing many of the plots and stories from the show doesn't really make this feel all that original either and more like a two-part episode strung together as a full-length movie, especially with such a familiar and re-used plot as has been done here, which knocks this down somewhat. Overall, it's fun and exciting but not as much as it could've been.

[slayrrr666]

Couldn't post yesterday despite being able to visit so here's Wednesday's viewing:
Taken-When his daughter is kidnapped by a gang of slave traders in France, a former spy sets out on a quest to find her and bring the deadly cartel down. This was a rather problematic Action/thriller with a few good parts. That in itself is the biggest problem as this one is really based more on the thriller angle rather than the Action storyline here which could've been the film's big selling point. More time is spent on investigating the gang and how their operation works rather than taking them out which tends to get further bogged down in all the bureaucratic talk with the different friends here interfering with the main storyline since it really can't sustain itself with the plot it presents here. Since he's supposedly such a hot-shot agent that he goes through the group as easily as he appears to here, throwing those side-plots into the mix simply to get the running time up to acceptable length as there's very little about this that would've lasted without those interludes, and it severely hampers the film. The obvious stunt-doubles and quick-cut editing to hide the special skills of the lead in order to make him believable in the role by rendering nearly every part to signal that to the audience in segments that aren't decipherable enough to make out how skilled he is. The few action scenes aren't so bad as the chase through the construction yard and the battle on the boat being quite exciting and featuring some rather impressive shots, but otherwise the multitude of problems with this one hold it down.

And finally last night's viewing:
Waterworld-As the world's melted ice-caps force people into floating makeshift cities, a mutated mariner sets out with a small girl who may hold the key to restoring society again as they're tracked by a ruthless madman who wants it for himself. This was quite far removed from what I expected this to be, which was a purely lame nonsensical effort but was instead a pretty rousing and exciting action-packed effort. The fact that there's a lot of work to do here in terms of buying into the plot here which is quite ludicrous and really far-fetched due to the absurd nature of it all, but the fact that once that hurdle is overcome this becomes quite exciting. Filled with a boatload of absolutely frenetic action scenes including numerous boat chases, crashes and brawling, with the two centerpiece battles occurring at the atoll in he beginning as well as the epic final brawl on their home tanker being spectacular explosion-packed highlights. Still, there's some problems here as the fact that this one does tend to exclude a large portion of it's story for the most vague, nondescript manners possible tends to cause this to feel a little too smart for it's own good and dumb itself down a little more to really bring the viewers into this since it's quite far removed from normal society and the changes should've been made a little clearer. That may bloat out the extended running time a little more, but overall not too much is going to fix that and makes this a highly underrated effort.

[slayrrr666]

Hands of the Ripper-Following a grisly accident in her past, a woman sent to live with a wealthy bureaucrat learns a special trigger causes her to kill those around her and forces him to uncover the dark secret behind this in order to save her. This is quite a rather middling effort which is about equally bad and good points. The best points here is based on the Victorian setting which is quite effectively utilized at detailing the type of society without focusing on the traditional tropes that are featured in these films. By including their aristocracy-like air in how they react to each other and the manner in which they refer to the authorities in which they sign over the guardianship to get her in their care and how they gather at the police station is all about exploring these Victorian-era settings that are so common-place in these films yet are all accomplished in the realm of a slasher effort and is quite enjoyable for that reason. The fact that there's a twist to the slashing here in which it's based on the hypnotism effect which gets triggered at the most inopportune times so there's never a true indication of when she's going to snap which allows these to come as a real shock while also being shocking at the ingenuity needed to kill off her victims as this has a rather fun time doling out a really unique series of kills within this that is far more inventive and grisly than most slashers of the time. These issues here work but there's some problems that crop up in that the discovery of her hypnotic state and resulting killing mode are so late in the film that it really makes the psychology he attempts to use in aiding him look incredibly weak and pointless. Trying this is quite impressive overall, but there's just so many scenes that go by so slowly of him trying out his hand at this type of methodology that it leaves a gaping questions about his excellence in the field as well as not managing to accomplish anything of any value which causes this to feel incredibly drawn-out despite being only a traditionally-paced effort. This really holds the film down somewhat as they're two quite imposing drawbacks even though it's still quite enjoyable.

[slayrrr666]

Seance: The Summoning-Breaking into a morgue to film a student horror film, a group of friends accidentally summon a real demon who possesses one of the group and forces the others to try to drive it out in order to get away alive. This here is overall quite problematic even with a few rather decent elements going for it. The one biggest issue plaguing this film is the fact that there's absolutely no reason for this one to descend into a bland rip-off in the final half-hour which does absolutely nothing here for the film beyond keep it it running beyond it’s usefulness by dragging out cliché-after-cliché in order to fill this scene. Not only is this a storyline flaw due to the heavily and incredibly bland changes it makes here which are quite lame in forcing the story into that to begin with, but it also manages to keep itself going by utilizing those different clichés in order to save itself during those segments which are nowhere near that interesting. Forcing this into a marginal exorcism story is incredibly lame and stupid which really does ruin the final act here with this one resorting to those clichés without deviation or exception, as this comes complete with biblical-passage-quoting, holy water chucking, psychological torments and the utterly irritating feature of returning several times to try to finish the job when it starts getting too rough and causing them to bail on the whole experience. While those are somewhat problematic, the fact that this one does manage to include some fine features in a rather fun and exciting first half that really has a lot going for it. This is mostly the exploration of the morgue and its contents, which provide this with a perfectly chilling and dark setting upon which to really hang the different chilling moments throughout here which is quite fun and gets this going nicely. The séance sequence itself is well-done and delivers some solid jolts, some nifty and unexpected gore and sets up the entire impetus for the exorcism, giving it a lot of solid points to work off of. As well, while these scenes may be cliché and quite unappealing the actions present in the final half, from the tormenting and torturing to the stalking through the halls in here provide some pretty enjoyable and thrilling moments to help balance out the repetition of what’s going on. Otherwise, this one is just overall decent.

[slayrrr666]

Dead Before Dawn-After accidentally unleashing a strange curse, a group of friends find their small college town overrun by vicious demon-possessed zombies and must try to fend off the creatures before the true nature of the curse reveals itself. This was a surprising amount of fun and really had a lot of great points about it. One of the best points to this one is that this manages to introduce a rather novel concept here for unleashing the curse in the form of the possession angle by featuring the curse causing everyone around them to commit suicide before becoming among the horde of ravenous undead. As well, it changes around several big cues in their behavior according to this new concept of fueling their ranks which makes for a pretty fun time throughout as this manages a few pretty original and rather inventive concepts. These not only give the film a rather nice amount of action throughout but also gives this some rather impressive comedic chops here that are wholly welcome in this so it's got a rather funny air about it at times. Even without the comedy, though, there's enough action here to be truly enjoyable and still maintains that kind of silly tone to where the jokes and physical humor can work with the more serious themes which is well handled with the ability to keep the creatures as threats throughout so they're still something to be feared instead of a joke that doesn't warrant the kind of extreme behavior they undergo in trying to keep themselves out of harm's way. For all the fun it has, there's still some problems in the fact that this features the utterly annoying trope of having the finale make everything completely useless and renders the film a complete wash. It had already done fine with the original ending presented here, yet the fact that it tacks on another makes for quite a frustrating ending since it comes off as a total cliche on its' own right. As well, some of the jokes and attempts at re-writing the zombie rule-book that it presents here do cause this to come off as a little amateurish when it really shouldn't be, not really offering enough to make the changes worthwhile and getting in select humor that might not appeal to all. These here aren't up to really knock off the positives so it makes for a rather fun time all-around.