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Post by slayrrr666 on Sept 3, 2015 10:16:20 GMT -5
Hellgate-After hearing of a mysterious ghost-town nearby, a group of friends realize one of their recent encounters with a towns-member there warrants further investigation and head off to find the town, which doesn't sit well with the murderous locals. On the whole this one wasn't really all that enjoyable and had a lot of problems with it. What really hurts this one more than anything is the incredibly tiring concept of not getting any answers for anything that happens here as just about everything never makes any kind of sense. There's nothing in here about the strange crystal that reactivates the dead, what happens to them when they return or anything else, there's little about the ghost town other than the legend about the waitress and even that doesn't make sense for it seems to be a revenge scenario about the dead girl's father bringing her back to life but she doesn't go after her attackers and the entire process is just utterly confusing. On top of that, the motivations here are a complete mess with this one taking the hero out to the location of the cursed town at the very beginning and getting rightly freaked out but then turning around and going back later on with friends on a completely contrived and ludicrous explanation that never once comes off as believable. This also creates such a haphazard and lazy story that it shuffles around between several different plot-points coming from several different places and can't make up its mind which one it wants to be and further confuses matters with the way this handles the group getting to the cursed town, which all-told makes the first half of this one extremely tough to get into. Not only is the plot tough to get into, but the fact that this one tends to really stumble about in the last half with a series of lame scare scenes that are laughable in the fact that they're meant to be terrifying, from being afraid of a can-can line of dancers, a scene where stuffed turtles, fish and frogs get reanimated and turn on the spectators in the room or the seduction attempts that get passed off as legitimate despite one second it's under their psychotic spell while another has it to be his own choosing simply makes this one come off even lamer with the rather cheesy attacks that are supposed to induce thrills. Still, there's some good stuff at work here including the main story about the legendary ghost town which is prime for stuff like this to really mark a strong impression overall here as it's got a great back-story with plenty to like about it, and the recap scenes are certainly enjoyable enough as well. As well, this one's biggest plus is the fact that there's a quite enjoyable finale stuck in the haunted town which has a lot of chasing, some decent deaths here that come off quite nicely and plenty of action, with frantic chases through town by the freak-show attendees and the frantic chasing in the house as well as the finale which is a strikingly fun car chase to end things on a positive note. There's also the rampant nudity here that comes from those well- prepared to deliver it, at least on the female side which is all enough to make this one watchable but it's still highly flawed regardless.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Sept 7, 2015 10:20:50 GMT -5
Bride of Re-Animator-Now working for a local hospital, Herbert West and Dan continue their experiments on reanimating dead tissue in order to bring a patient back to life only to run into the same complications as before when the side effects appear. This here was a rather impressive and enjoyable sequel that holds up quite well. Among the better parts to this is the film continuing on nicely from the original in regards to the utterly crazy atmosphere present along the way, which gets plenty of enjoyable elements from that. The main element of their serum again causes this one a lot of fun in the fact that there's no accounting for the fact that the side- effects here are completely overlooked that again provide this one with an array of intriguing creatures and deformities, from the nimble finger-constructed creature, the still-alive disembodied head, numerous reanimated bodies and the flying bat-winged head that appears in the finale which makes for such a great time within this. They remain a heavy part of this up into the finale where it really lets them loose and gets a lot of enjoyable parts here, with the creatures taking on a rather enjoyable series of scenes up-front in selling the detectives' investigation into the two for what happened earlier while also making this one build the film up much as it did before with the crazy creatures getting out of hand and forcing him into a series of rather dubious mind-frames in order to keep it all under wraps as before while staying perfectly in-line with what becomes of the finale. This is where it really lets loose with the demented air of the Frankenstein-like quality of bringing the girlfriend back to life along with the frantic fight with the new girlfriend, a series of fine action set-pieces with the reanimated bodies coming back for revenge and the utter fun of the destruction of the lab caused by the newly revived creatures brought along by the spilled serum that gives this a truly outstanding finale that captures the fun, humor and glee of the original. This also extends to the graphic gore on display which doesn't throw it around as freely but certainly gets as creative with it as the original and along with the frequent nudity all gives this a great mark against the few flaws. The main issue here is that the film just feels too much like a retread of the original with everybody continually trying to bring that back into focus instead of letting the new story breathe. This could've been a lot more fun had it dropped off a lot of the investigation angle covering this, itself the other big issue here since that seems to be it's only purpose anyway other than throwing another body to mangle, and let that time be designated with the two down in the basement getting the creation to work which furthers what the original did and this would've been an even greater one than relying on the past to sell itself. Still, this one is a great deal of fun overall.
The Kiss of the Vampire-Heading through the countryside on their honeymoon, a young couple stranded at a desolate inn find a local's welcoming château hides a coven of vampire followers who he intends to add with her presence forcing him to fight them to regain her and stop the creatures. This here was a somewhat decent entry in the genre. The film's best part is the opening, which is classic as the funerary procession done in Latin through the foggy graveyard is quite impressive and soon turns over into the staking which is a gruesome twist that is nicely done, the blood flow from the coffin is all the better and makes the event seem all the more creepy and impressive. That it segues into a nice scene where a couple is attacked by a supernatural wind-gust while out in the woods, featuring all manner of howling winds and perfectly-timed-to-just-miss branches in their path allows for a grand opening that works well. There's tons of good stuff as well with how this one builds upon the mystery about the inhabitants of the castle and their secret group, as the events of their first encounter over dinner meeting everyone with just an air of strangeness to them before it starts in on the wonderfully well-done change-over of her being tricked into going with their intentions over him and aided nicely with the efforts of those around to further their ruse. That carries nicely from the rather nicely done costume party, which here comes across as something that is really interesting and fun, features some really great action and suspense into it that holds this up and the subsequent rescue provides plenty of fun and surprises, most notably the different attempts that it uses is something to enjoy. The last part that works here is the ending, as not only is the main attack using black magic and necromancy a novel take on the genre that's something to enjoy, but the vampire bat attack on the congregation is a lot of fun, especially as it's a long, drawn-out battle that has a lot of good stuff to it seeing the bats fly around the large, lavish castle feeding on the cult. It's really a lot of fun, and helps to make the film interesting, but it does have a few problems. The main one here is the lethargic and absolutely maddening pace this employs to get absolutely anywhere. The fact that the vampire cult is introduced at the very end, then gets rushed through to provide the climax is something just proves that there's some really huge faults with how this one is paced. It's not that there's an eternity that happens between something, but it's also the fact that it feels the need to do so with nary any form of excitement passed along through the event. That's the main fault in here with that, since it manages to make the events seem unimportant and it's just a really terrible feel to have from a film. As well, the set-up is a little clichéd, and this results in the film also giving off a really familiar feel that can ruin it by not having the best feeling when repeated viewing. The main thing, though, is the fact that this one is just super-slow and really dull.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Sept 9, 2015 10:14:27 GMT -5
Kingdom Come-Awakening in an abandoned hospital with no memory, a group of people find the area haunted by ravenous demons attempting to help them see the errors of their past and must find the meaning of their imprisonment before they're all killed. Overall this one here was quite a decent enough if slightly flawed effort overall. One of the better facets of this one is the fact that there's a really insane atmosphere present in this one, almost right from the start as there's a rather imposing presence throughout here that keeps this one going along rather nicely. The fact that this one continually utilizes the never-ending corridors that lead to nowhere and a general sense of time-displacement that traps them within the building taking far longer to get to certain areas than they really should carries the creepiness level throughout here really well as the fact that there's a generally uneasy tone that establishes which the film works really well with. That, coupled with the general darkness and unknown forces at play within it tend to cause this one some really good times as well when it finally gets to the action scenes which are incredibly fun, as the encounter with the rapist from his previous targets is quite fun, the daughter coming to torment the father is rather creepy and there's certainly plenty of fun in the final half as the devious figure and his deformed, demonic henchmen continuing to chase the group throughout the hospital makes for some really fun stalking and slashing here when it comes to keeping the figures in the shadows, using the surroundings nicely and making sure that there's plenty of graphic deaths and fun dished out in these scenes that it makes for a great time overall. Still, there's a few problems here in that this one mainly uses for its' story as it's once again the same cliché of the characters involved in another incident out-of-time affecting their struggles within the film currently, as again the ploy of a car accident is used to signal this. It's done to death and isn't very interesting when it focused on the rather thrilling aspect of the demonic hospital that could've carried this along nicely. The only difference here is the film's other big flaw in the use of morality to appease everything, which comes out of nowhere and doesn't affect the rest of the participants so it tends to make it seem completely contradictory to what happened before. Still, this one was quite fun overall.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Sept 10, 2015 10:30:35 GMT -5
Don't Look Up-Traveling to Romania to finish a legendary movie, a troubled director and his crew must deal with the effects of a deadly curse over the production killing off anyone involved and deal with it before succumbing to it. Overall this one was pretty enjoyable if slightly disappointing effort. This one really tends to get going with the rather enjoyable and exciting back-story here detailing the effects of the gypsy curse and revelations about the early film here which is quite the creepy story that would've made for a rather enjoyable film had it ever been filmed. This makes the filming of these scenes quite enjoyable as there's a fine sense of atmosphere displayed there during these scenes when looking back at them through the film-cameras which makes many of these accidents quite thrilling when falling lights, broken rigs and failing light-work all conspire against the crew in a slew of grisly accidents that come off rather nicely here to carry on the legacy of the curse here in addition to the few startling ghost attacks up on the stage- rafters and the ambush down in the basement. This also brings up the events of the final half as the true value of that curse comes about with deadly accidents in the development lab, a thrilling revelation sequence on the movie set as the replayed events of the original story are enacted and then finally meeting up with the main spirit which causes this one to really get a decent enough finish here to help it somewhat against the few flaws here. Among the biggest is the fact that there's just no end to the rather convoluted and completely meaningless visions that he keeps experiencing which don't really further the movie at all. Rather than serving as a way to keep the filmed movie going or gaining insight into how to defeat the ghostly being stalking around, which is what's to be expected in this kind of situation here, they're more used to showcase supposedly creepy images and jump-scares that don't mean much instead as there's little purpose to them, and simply being there to remind us how troubled he is doesn't help matters so all these scenes do is serve to highlight the film's next big problem in the uneven pacing. There's so many stretches here where nothing really happens that there's times when this one tends to run aground and derail itself by not going for the main storyline involving the curse on display against the film crew as they deal with their own petty problems or utilizing his moronic visions that keep the ghost actually off-screen so long into this one until the final battle. That in itself is the biggest issue holding this one back, as while the lame CGI for the lone ghost sequence might be another detriment it's not as bad compared to these other factors that hold this one down.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Sept 14, 2015 10:51:45 GMT -5
Doctor X-After a rash of murders in New York, a reporter's quest for the truth leads to the seaside mansion of a famed scientist are conducting a series of illegal experiments on the nature of evil, forcing him and his still-alive captors to stop their experiments before he can finish. This here was a pitiful and absolutely wretched effort. What makes this one so terrible is the fact that there's just no possible way the story to this one can mean anything when the large portion of what's going on here tends to fall into the rather ridiculous and lame comedy that's supposed to be down-right hilarious but truly isn't. Not only is the lead's constant bungling around his clothes for different objects at a given time or his thousand-words-a-minute smooth-talking to get out of sticky situations unbearably unfunny, but the film has the gall to believe that not just one or two but three separate scenes of him being trapped in a room with skeletons that manipulate themselves on their own are gut-busting hilarious enough to warrant that many repeat returns to that gag that this is a great example of the purposeful horror/comedy that's not funny. That each of these scenes last as long as they do not only makes this one a staggering chore to get into in the first half but also drowns out the horror to a bare minimum in these parts which is really only in the fact that the rampage is on-going and we get detailed explanations of the victims' remains in such a state that the technical jargon for these sequences is almost as bad as the boredom from the supposed laughs to come along. What tends to keep this one remaining as a horror film is the films' final half which is where this one really gets going with some admittedly decent and suspenseful times in their experiment chamber where the different attempts to provide the search for their mission manages to get pretty enjoyable by holding out the killer's identity quite well here in the first sequence as the chaos makes it quite chilling, while the second attempt is even better with the identity switch putting the killer with her while the others are helpless to watch culminating in a great brawl that ends this on a high note. Still, the massive flaws with this one really hold it down the most.
Curucu, Beast of the Amazon-Hoping to quell the fears of superstitious natives, a rancher and a doctor head into the Amazon jungle to find a supposedly awakened demon but learn of a dangerous native tribe lurking in the area and must stop it from spreading. Overall this was a pretty disappointing and thoroughly disappointing effort. What really tends to hold this one down is the fact that there's not a whole lot of time here spent among the confines of the genre, tending to focus far more frequently on the Adventure drama aspects of the story. The majority of the film is simply watching the two and their guide trek through the jungle and commenting on the different animals present in the area which is then shown in stock-footage inserts of the specific species told they're observing only to then be treated to widely different levels of film-stock quality to showcase that. The piranha attack is the most egregious, showing badly-framed underwater footage in black-and-white no less despite the rest of the film being in color from an angle that has nothing to do with what they pointed to but is just clumsily thrown in since it's a piranha attack footage, while shots of the animals brawling and fighting each other tends to dominate the main parts of the film that it's entirely possible to forget there's a creature at the center of the film. That aspect doesn't help the film any further as there's only two attacks by the creature in the entire film and is then twisted around into another storyline thread which is dropped off the film quite easily and early which is quite troubling and again makes it hard to believe this was supposed to be a horror effort all along. These here make this one quite hard to get into as a horror film, despite having a fairly decent amount of stuff about it. Despite only being seen twice, each of the attacks aren't all that bad and manage to get some mild suspense from them as the creature stalking them in the jungle before jumping out to launch the surprise attack makes for a few decent times here. Likewise, the film also manages to get some decent mileage out of the fantastic brawl at the end as the two rival Indian tribes get into action and begin fighting each other in a fairly large-scale scene, from the fire-laced huts and the hand-to-hand brawling and the long-range battles with the spears and arrows coming into play to make a fine action scene that's quite exciting. Even still, that also plays more into it's Adventure setting that it tends to wash away the positives here and aligns this more as a flaw here.
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Post by Fenril on Sept 14, 2015 18:55:48 GMT -5
- Sinister 2. (2015, dir. Ciaran Foy). After the lurid events of the first film, a former deputy is tracking down sites of family massacres and burning them down, to prevent a particular supernatural curse from spreading any further. Meanwhile, Courtney and her twin children, Dylan and Zach, are on the run from abusive Clint, who intends to finish what he started. All characters eventually find themselves in a rural house --where a pastor and his family had been savagely murdered not too long ago. Soon, Dylan is plagued by nightmares and a ghostly group of playmates. It seems the demon Bughuul is back. And what is more, there may be more than one target this time. For Dylan isn't the only one whose head has been filled with violent visions of late...
This sequel to the disturbing chiller "Sinister" is a divisive film --critics and audience alike either find it a disappointing sequel or "as good as (if not better)" than the original. To be sure, in typical horror sequel fashion, everything from the first movie is brought back, but "more" --more snuff home movies with more explicit gore, more backstory on the villains, move supernatural mayhem... but, of course, less mystery. Besides, the original's "snuff movies" were more impacting because we often don't really see (or even hear) what is happening, but it's painfully clear what is. That said, this movie does have it's moments --some well-done jump scares and a couple effective "animal attack" scenes. While the "Children of the corn" -inspired finale is rather unintentionally hilarious (and in that sense IS very much like the "Children of the corn" movies themselves) and the hints of the curse actually spreading throughout the world are just never built on, this is still an entertaining enough chiller, rather apt for the season.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Sept 15, 2015 10:20:50 GMT -5
Bermuda Tentacles-When the president crash-lands in the Bermuda Triangle, a rescue team sent to extract him find the area home to a series of tentacle-like alien beings gathering strength for an attack on humanity and must stop them to get him out alive. On the whole this one was a decent if unspectacular effort. What really tends to stick out here for this one is the fact that there's just way too much science fiction feelings throughout the middle section here that really drops the atmosphere gathered from the rest of the effort as the group explores the underwater cavern. Once they arrive there and begin witnessing the graveyard collected beneath the sea filled with the missing ships and planes throughout history, there's just way too much of a light-hearted sci-fi feel that tends to downplay what had come before it and almost seems like it's an entirely different movie stitched onto the back-end of this one, especially once it gets to the massive, city-sized alien ship with death-rays and protective energy beams that makes up the admittedly explosive and action-packed finale even though it still feels cropped on from a completely different movie. Likewise, none of that really does anything towards explaining the ship or it's purposes here, and despite seeming like an explanation there's not a whole lot here that's really on display here to tell exactly what the creature is, where it came from or what it's doing here and really only explains the ship and plane disappearances. As well as the usual standard of somewhat bad and obvious CGI throughout here, these manage to hold off the positive points enough to lower this one. The biggest point here is the rather exciting and enjoyable action scenes here, as the fact that there's quite a few military confrontations throughout this where they encounter the massive tentacles and begin blasting away at them leading to a slew of impressive fire-fights in the beginning when they first appear and the action here is quite enjoyable. Likewise, that these scenes not only give us some solid gore in the numerous deaths throughout here but also manage to not make the tentacles look too cheesy when they appear as massive worms up in the sky makes for quite an intriguing feat and keeps them solidly enjoyable throughout here. Lastly, despite the obvious tone-shift into sci-fi away from the horror of the first half, that this one still remains highly watchable is a solid feat with plenty to like about it and not a whole lot of really off-putting or boring scenes here, and overall these keep this one from sinking lower against the flaws.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Sept 22, 2015 10:12:39 GMT -5
The Possession-After buying a present for his estranged daughter, a man finds that the box contained a powerful demonic entity that slowly possesses her and eventually forces him to come to grips with the supernatural in order to finally beat it. Overall this one was quite enjoyable if slightly flawed. Among the more positives aspects here is the fact that this one manages to great enhance the idea of her being possessed by really going for a more understated idea than usual to account for the growing suspicion, using nervous ticks, irrational outbursts of anger and turning away to hide the possession giveaways of eye-manipulations and eerie whispering that goes hand-in-hand with the obsessive fixation on the box which all manage to make the first half quite a bit of fun slowly spelling out it's tell-tale signs. When it does shift into higher gear in the second half with a more pronounced bit of supernatural displays, from the swarming bedroom of locusts and the demonic taunting that leads into the most disturbing scene in the whole film, it gets a lot of mileage out of her turn and becomes quite fun due to that being added on to the slow-building first half. The finale is all based around the actual exorcism of the demon and manages to run nicely enough by making the creatures' unusual origin a nice focal point away from the typical style usually found here which is quite nicely handled, along with the tense action and thrilling encounters within that make it quite exciting. These here are enough to raise this up enough over its few minor flaws. The biggest issue within this one is the fact that it manages to carry on with the oblivious parents and the doubting figures long after it's realistically feasible since it plays the big trump card of the infestation with locusts despite not being the slightest bit annoyed with them there so early on in the film that it should've been the start of trying to figure out what's wrong with her instead of being simply a great shock gag the way it comes off here which is pretty irrational in real life as that would warrant far more action on their account than is called for here. The other factor to account for here is the rather cliché note this one undertakes, feeling like pretty much every other paranormal haunting movie out there and plays through a lot of the same features as elsewhere in here which makes it feel really familiar along the way. Still, it's got enough positives to be enjoyable at least.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Sept 23, 2015 10:11:08 GMT -5
Zombie Campout-Heading up to a local lake, a group of friends having a party on the property realize that a meteor shower has unleashed a series of zombies from the ground and decide to make a run before they're caught and changed into zombies. This one here was a rather fun and enjoyable zombie effort. One of the best things about it is the rather fun and enjoyable atmosphere created throughout here, as this one here is the epitome of brain-less fun. This is best shown in the kind of great cheesy action to come from this one, including the one-shot sequences of the zombies running through the countryside after being resurrected as scenes of them attacking the oblivious fisherman, appearing at the security guard or the camping couple in the motor-home start this off rather well in getting to the action. As well, the redneck hunters who appear out of nowhere and begin taking them out with assault rifles, machine guns and rockets is even better as while it's quite stupid this one has a great sense of fun. There's even more enjoyable camp outside the action as the whole plot pretty much given away in a toss-away joke, the characters repeatedly make references how to behave in a horror film and the kind of attacks popularized by the zombies all give this a goofy, cheesy atmosphere that's quite funny at times. There's some great action to this, from the action on the boat-rental dock to the camp-ground battle that is full of action getting out of the cars with the dead pounding alongside them and the fights at the end with the second party getting attacked at the campground are quite enjoyable. Using one of the most logical and inventive methods of defense against zombies ever devised, a clever get- away plan that comes along and all the fun and suspense once it gets to the cars parked outside, it manages to make the film rather fun and entertaining, and there's also the fact that these different confrontations with them really manages to make this one so much fun since all the different ones allow for a great pace with plenty of big scenes throughout. Along with all the action, there's plenty of blood and gore in here, which while cheap-looking, all of these here make the film enjoyable as this did have a few small problems holding it down. One of the biggest is the self-censoring the film has towards the nudity. This one has plenty of opportunities to let it loose but comes up with ways to get around it, from a nude driver on the street filmed only at shoulder level, the in-car flashing is done the same way, changing into bathing suits is done under their shirts, a topless swim session is taken place off-screen but not seen and a later changing scene is done, admittedly humorously, by having a branch in front mimic the bobbing and weaving to keep it all hidden. The fact that it goes to such great lengths to keep it hidden is where the film comes under fire as it would've been fine had there been none at all. The other part to this is the terribly low-budget to it. From the terrible look of the zombies to the obviously fake blood to the weak CGI, this one doesn't have much to its effects at all. Overall, these are the only things wrong with it.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Sept 28, 2015 11:16:36 GMT -5
Hell Baby-Moving into a supposedly haunted house, an expectant couple finds the house has a strange affect on her and her unborn twins and eventually forces them to call upon help from the Vatican to combat the evil within the house. While this one maybe quite enjoyable in terms of being a horror/comedy, there's still some big flaws here with this one. The main issue here is the fact that the film feels way too loose and chaotic, as if there's nothing on-hand but a group of friends riffing around and ad-libbing the entire time without making anything make sense. This doesn't feel like a true, cohesive effort here as not only is behavior completely different from scene-to-scene with no real cause for what's happening at all, but the way the whole thing is treated like a joke tends to make light of the situation as horror elements are all dropped in favor of the all- mighty joke when it's really not all that funny, itself another problem here. It comes off like a series of in-jokes and references between friends goofing off on-set rather than anything to do with an actual story, and that causes a ton of the jokes to fall flat when they're not beating them into the ground wearing out its welcome either. These tend to cause a rather overlong series of gags that aren't funny to begin with and become increasingly agonizing as they go along, though in spite of these problems there's some good here as well. Sometimes, the fact is that the gags and jokes work, especially when spoofing the traditional confines of the haunted house effort of him continually bumping into everything in the house after it was moved there unexpectedly, his battles with the lamp that continually shock him or the numerous hilarious gags with the exorcists that come in through the last half here which give this one quite a fun ride as the battle with the demon baby in the bedroom is quite fun and exciting, while packed with some nice action and some nice gory kills to make for a nice time here. Likewise, once this kicks into the third act preparing for the actual birth there's some fun to be had here with the way these signal her upcoming change and aren't nearly as boringly moronic as the rest of the film is. These, along with the rather up-beat pace that regardless of the quality of the jokes running throughout never causes this one to lose its pace allows it to come off rather well and makes for its good parts to overcome its few flaws.
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Post by Fenril on Sept 28, 2015 20:12:09 GMT -5
- The gift. (2015, dir. Joel Edgerton). Simon and Robyn move from Chicago to suburban LA so he can start a new job and she can recover from an ugly experience. Shortly after setting in their new home, they have a run-in with one Gordon (or "Gordo"), a former classmate of Simon whom Simon does not much remember. But Gordo does, and is quite interested in staying in touch with this couple. Dropping in for dinner, bringing them housewarming gifts, filling their Koi pond, installing their electronic equipment... Wether they ask for it or not. Whether they like it or not.
Yet there is more to Gordo's action than infatuation bordering on obsession: He is interested in "letting bygones be bygones". And as Robyn starts investigating into Gordo's past, she will discover a side of her husband she was not ready for...
Slim and effective thriller with a carefully constructed script. Sure, there are a couple implausibilities here and there, and the movie does indulge in two rather cheap jump scares (one of which commits the basic movie sin of turning out to be a dream sequence)... and yet, when all is said and done, this movie does feel like it earned those two moments. The draw of a thriller is how suspenseful and, well, thrilling it is. The draw of a mystery is if it plays fair with the audience, if the clues are there and if the whole thing makes sense in retrospective (or, for many, if it's surprising). In this case... well, the solution of the mystery mostly works because rather than about a plot twist, it is about the characters. What starts as seemingly a straightforward domestic thriller instead becomes an exploration of power plays between assorted characters. The ending is still somewhat difficult to buy in it's entirety, but again it feels "earned". Good acting and direction help, too.
Overall, recommended. |
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Post by Fenril on Sept 28, 2015 22:34:25 GMT -5
- The visit (2014, dir. M. Night Shyamalan). Pre-teens Rebecca and Tyler are sent on a week-long visit to their grandparents house while their mother goes on a cruise. As they have never seen their grandparents before (they had had a falling out with the mother and she hasn't talked to them in fifteen years), amateur filmmaker Rebecca is filming the experience and intends to make a documentary about it. And along the way, discover what happened on the night mother left, as she refuses to talk about it. For their part, John and Doris seem friendly and happy to have their grandchildren with them. However, as the week goes by they start exhibiting increasingly odd behavior. Perhaps it is just "old people problems", such as Doris having Sundown syndrome (due to this the kids are not allowed out of their room after 9:30 p.m.) or John still feeling hurt about the time he was fired from his job. But they both seem to get really worse whenever the subject of the day mother left is brought up. And their behavior is becoming more and more erratic by the hour, even in broad daylight. Perhaps this outing will not be quite the joyous event Rebecca had intended to chronicle. Instead, she might end up documenting sheer horror...
I have to admit, I am torn about this movie. So... I think I'll go by parts. However, that comes with SPOILERS --major spoilers at that, so first: Short version, this is an okay exploration film disguised as an horror / comedy, and certainly one of Shyamalan's better constructed movies of late. Now, long version:
THE GOOD
- The trailers made me think of this as basically a Goosebumps book on a Hollywood budget. And it is, but that is actually part of the charm, it's like a "children in peril" movie that gets increasingly direr until it really rattles you.
- Very effective jump scares.
- The twist may be a bit choreographed, but it makes sense in retrospective and actually does put several key scenes in a new light (so in that sense, it's a twist justified by the plot).
- While the characters are not very likable and the dialogue is often embarrassing, they are both quite amusing as well. It's been joked around that perhaps this movie is partly a comedy because the director finally realized how involuntarily hilarious his movies tend to be, so this time he decided to run with it.
- A rare "found footage / mockumentary" film that makes good use of this style to move the story forward.
THE BAD
- I repeat: The characters are unsympathetic. This is not a problem with the evil grandparents, since that is the whole point. But the children come across as so annoying and a bit dim that it's hard not to wish they really had been nearly baked in an oven a la Hansel and Gretel, as the trailer and two scenes in the movie tease (it goes in a different route).
- The only issue with the twist is that it requires the kids never looking up pictures of their grandparents. And very early on it's established that they have their own website, so....
- The coda is both annoying and seems to propose that these two had zero resulting traumas from their experience. It's one thing to portray characters as growing stronger from surviving a harsh ordeal. It's quite another to basically pretend that no damage was ever done at all, that no healing is necessary.
THE UGLY
- Nobody does blunt symbolism like Shyamalan. After their father left, Rebecca has developed a dislike of mirrors (this is also why she holds the camera most of the time instead of being in front of it). So naturally, she gets her face shoved into a mirror. Tyler has developed a fear of germs and makes fun of grandpa for his incontinence. So naturally, Tyler gets a used adult diaper shoved in his face. It's as gross at it sounds, though cut just short enough.
- In the start of said scene, it looks like John is about to rape Tyler. It's almost a relief the movie doesn't go that route, but at the same time, man, talk about exploitation with no shame and no sincerity!
- Intentional comedy or not having a blonde white 13 year old doing bad freestyle rap not once, not twice, but three times in the movie comes across as the director not quite understanding why this is annoying. Like maybe he thinks that since the character is constant at it that means it's ok.
- I get that it's supposed to be shocking and it certainly got it's job done judging by most reviews.... but showing Doris naked for a scare twice is awfully close to "old people should be ashamed of their bodies, dammit!!"
- Finally, sure, horror movies in general have a bad track record with portrayals of mental illness. But even so, the way this movie treats dementia as basically meaning "super duper psychotic violent homicidal maniacs!!!!" is really off-putting for the wrong reasons. Sure, one of them was evidently criminally insane before (she had drowned her children), but even so, come on.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Sept 29, 2015 10:29:47 GMT -5
The Mooring-Group of girls trying to help each other overcome their technology addiction on a wilderness retreat run afoul of a psychotic hunter deep in the woods and must get away from them to survive. Not even going to bother going much deeper into this one, it just plain sucked as it's a thriller more than a true slasher effort since it fails as a slasher in almost any regard. The killer is lame and quite weak, shown early on and uses a hunting rifle for all the kills rather than hacking them up with a machete or any kind of creative tools, there's no gore and the stalking is just suitably lame and not all that thrilling which comes so late into the movie that it just doesn't offer up much appeal at all. A completely mismarketed non-horror film and that really pisses me off.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Nov 5, 2015 11:16:59 GMT -5
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Post by slayrrr666 on Nov 10, 2015 11:52:10 GMT -5
Atlantic Rim-When a deep-sea diving expedition uncovers a race of prehistoric monsters coming back to life, the experimental diving suits used to recover fallen ships in the area are pressed into use fighting off the creatures before they reach the shore. This was quite the fun and cheesy monster movie, though it's mostly flawed here with the really languid pacing that really only limits the monster scenes to three attacks. It's more focused on the relationship between the three pilots which is cliched and really overlong, not really taking anything interesting and holding off on so many useless subplots that there's a pretty big dearth of action throughout here for stretches at a time. Still, those attacks are a lot of fun, as the first attack where they bring the creature ashore in full-view of the beach-goers still at the scene before driving it into the city for a few small, enjoyable scenes of city destruction keeping it down for the count, the second attack where it arrives at their military base causing tons of panic and chaos as it destroys the facility before ultimately driving it back and the big final attack in New York where the three suits combine together into a fun, extended sequence with a lot to really like about the sequence overall. The monsters look nice if too obvious of their completely CGI look, there's an abundance of cheese and overall it comes and goes quite quickly despite those being the only real action scenes in the movie so it's got something going for it.
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