Just Watched Movies (2015)

[Fenril]

- Melancholia (Denmark, 2011; Dir. Lars von Trier). On the day of her wedding, Justine is struggling with a severe case of depression, which is only exacerbated by the insensitive people around her, including relatives, her boss and eventually even her fiancé, who ends up deserting her. Shortly thereafter, Justine has fallen into a nearly catatonic state. However, sister Claire has something even more worrisome on her mind: the planet Melancholia, which is set on a collision course for Earth. Her husband's reassurances that it will merely circle around are doing little to calm her nerves: What if humanity really is on the border of extinction? Then again, perhaps what counts is what we do with the time we have left. And they do say that depressed people can remain calm in catastrophic situations...

Powerful drama (with sic-fi elements that evolve into symbolism) from oft controversial director von Trier, buoyed by stellar performances. The movie proper is divided in three parts: an almost sill gallery for the prologue, a psychological first part and a more overtly dramatic second part; which part you'll like best may depend on your state of mind at the time of watching. Very recommended, perhaps more for some people than others (I personally have to say: for those of us who have ever felt like lead Justine in the first half, watching this movie can even be something of a cathartic experience). In the very last scene, pay attention to the characters' actions, an extremely effective piece of character development.

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The Expendables 3-Initially hired to take out a suspected arms dealer, the discovery of a former team member forces Barney to put the old team to rest in order to assemble a newer, younger group but eventually finds he needs both teams in order to take down their target. This one was such an utter blast that it might be up at the top of the franchise or at the very least right up there. This one is pure blown-‘em-up greatness from the very beginning with this one really getting out with a bang from the very beginning showing the prison-train escape and the eventual mission to take out the arms dealer only to have it then turn into a thrilling series of gunfights, chases and ambushes that really make for an explosive time here with all the action on display. The new team is given a rather impressive capture sequence that’s quite fun apprehending the dealer from his house and the ambush on them is a nice firefight, but really this one is all centered around one main sequence here in the take-down of his private army at the abandoned hotel. This is a glorious, majestic-styled action sequence that truly stands-up to the scenes from the previous franchise, packs a ton of fire-power and high-explosive action to the mix, gives everyone including the new team members time to shine against the advancing horde and ends this with a great bang. While the back-and-forth pacing of the early section here could’ve been trimmed or even somewhat slightly fixed, there’s still a lot going on in this one that there’s not much really wrong here.

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Transformers: Age of Extinction-After recovering Optimus from the wreckage of their last battle, a farmer and his daughter become caught in the next phase of the interstellar war between Transformers as they race to stop an evil military mastermind from carrying through a plan to eliminate the need for the Autobots. Overall this one wasn't really all that bad and was certainly enjoyable enough despite this one really going through way too many plots along the way, featuring a military coup to eliminate the Autobots in order to get their metal exoskeleton in order to create their own versions anyway, a defense contractor who grows weary of the diabolical mission, an assassination attempt on the heroes to keep them out of the action, the Transformer bounty hunter sent after Optimus and the need to resurrect the ancient Transformers left on Earth in order to help them vanquish the new threats. While all of these do manage to come together, it's exhausting trying to keep everything straight and really brings the film on far longer than it really should which makes this quite a challenging time with all the different events going on and allegiances to keep track off. However, as per usual once this gets away from that and focuses on the two giant armies smashing each other to pieces there's plenty to like here with this one getting in some exceptionally enjoyable action scenes including the opening raid on the Autobot in the swamp, the frantic car-chase away from their farm home into the city streets packed with some nice stunt-work and thrilling action, a spectacular car-chase down the crowded freeway that's designed as the initial tests for the new machines and the explosive finale in Hong Kong where the escape from the alien ship goes into overdrive with the fighting and close-quarter gunfights in the streets between the machines and the extended human chase occurring at the same time. It's all fun, explosion-happy action scenes in the great tradition of the series, comes complete with each of the heroic Autobots getting a moment to shine and look good while letting the new machines look awesome and a few trademark bits of comedy. It's a lot of fun as long as you don't tend to think too long about it.

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Lucy-After unwittingly becoming part of a drug trafficking operation, a woman accidentally allows the drug to bond to her system allowing her to access unforeseen areas of the human brain and puts her newfound powers to stop the gang from coming after her. Overall this one wasn't all that impressive and didn't really offer a whole lot here. The main facet of this is the fact that it's more of Discovery Channel special about how the brain evolves and what the potential for that could happen to a person if it happened interrupted by a car-chase or shootout and while visually striking to accomplish that none of it really bodes well for it being an action movie. The built-in device in having the drug-trafficking group attempting to recover their possessions would've made for a great storyline in keeping her on the run from them while it slowly emerged about her powers and what they could mean to help her stay safe in the situation, but because she's so much more accomplished than everyone else it takes the drama and the action out of the scene immediately when she throws them around with telekinesis from fifteen feet away and doesn't give this a chance to turn into an action film. The car chase through Paris isn't bad and comes packed with some nice stunt-work for the crashing cars and the research center shoot-outs are fine enough but woefully out-of-place in the film centering on a person accessing those regions of their brain. It's certainly enjoyable enough but doesn't offer up much as an action film.

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Robocop-Badly-injured in the line of duty, a cybernetics company sees him as a chance to utilize their robotics in the name of police duty and retrofit him into an indestructible machine, only for his human side to continually fight for control. On the whole this one was a severe disappointment that really doesn't hold up at all to the original. This is mostly due to the film acting more as a tale about the power of free will over controlled emotions, and the end result doesn't bode well for an action movie when everyone keeps yelling at each other over why he isn't following their orders and going off on his own. It's fun to watch but doesn't provide much in the way of thrilling action scenes, not that those were any better when there's so much wrong here, basically taking the entire plot of the original in him seeking revenge on the thugs who initially attacked him and turning it into a five-minute sequence in the middle of the movie as a total after-thought and severely hampered by the lame decision to have the scene shot in the midst of a blackout interrupted only by the muzzle-flashes which leaves it in sporadic spurts only. The other few action scenes throughout here aren't that impressive either beyond the training shoot-out for the final test which is quite a bit of fun by really offering some solid gun-play for once in here, but sadly nothing else here really offers this one much.

The November Man-After a witness dies in his protection, a retired CIA Agent finds his former protegee is working with a fellow crooked agent to cover the tracks of a presidential hopeful and must keep a remaining witness alive from his teams' strikes. Overall this one was a lot of fun if only slightly hampered by the fact that there's just not a whole lot of real shoot-'em-up action throughout the middle segment here as this tends to evolve back into a cat-and-mouse spy game with the veteran always one-step ahead of the rookie which makes him seem all the more incompetent than his actions already do with his failing to get the upper hand in nearly all of their encounters together which is a little surprising. Still, the mystery here isn't all that bad and certainly works out quite a few impressive elements about it that do make this somewhat entertaining as it slowly gets unraveled, the pace is held up nicely with a continuous amount of assassination attempts that keep this full of escapes, shootouts and chases and there's a certain sense of fun seeing Pierce come back into the genre so this one was certainly pretty enjoyable.

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Roboshark-After ingesting an alien sentinel, a Great White Shark turns into a robotic, armored machine and begins a rampage of destruction across Seattle and forcing a reporter and her daughter to find it's purpose on Earth and stop it. This is right at the top of the Sci-Fi Channel's best creature features. What really impresses about this one is the far more adept and post-modern story at play here, managing to come off smarter and more self-aware about it's origins without making it a distraction or a running joke throughout the story. The ever-present social media here, from the YouTube video of the opening plane attack that no one believes, to the helmet-cam footage of the opening attack and the later ability of capturing the creatures' rampage on video and letting it spread around the world in order to get the official word out since there's no other survivors of the attacks, is an excellent ploy about modern society and the state of the world with everyone commenting and liking the story enough to finally understand the real motivations behind the accidents. It even manages to go into the absurd realm in the later half with the Twitter updates and feeds there that not only make this unbelievably cheesy and smart but also inject a far more sympathetic light on the creature and really give it a heart despite the fact that it's an emotionless robot until then, and that turn is ingenious in it's execution. Likewise, the fact that there's so much action here is another stand-out factor, with spectacular highlights in the opening coffee shop attack, the strike at the sewage plant and the a fantastic shootout at a mall that all come off really well, and the later scenes of it appearing in the park, down in the school's swimming pool and the final ambush at the Space Needle and the park surrounding it make for plenty of fun with the creatures' still-destructive antics, plenty of outstanding military attacks that bring along plenty of action and the need to keep the family members in check and out of harm's way provides some thrilling suspense to keep the action centered along nicely on the usual flair for cheesy spectacle. That leads into the film's other positive point here, as this one also manages to contain the ever-present level of cheese here with the initial motivation for the creature's biological change, it's overall design and the running jokes here with the celebrity impersonator appearing but also for the early feature of having a shark swimming along in the city's sewage pipes without it being detected despite a creature of that size being able to move through there as fast as it does, not to mention how in the first place. While the CGI might not be the best, this is still one of the best entries produced here.

Mega Shark vs. Kolossus-Following the appearance of another Mega Shark, a CIA Agent and a technology mogul team up to take it down only for the sudden reawakening of a Cold-War era robot to throw a further complication into the battle to stop the deadly creature. While this one doesn't quite manage to make it to the top of the franchise this is still a wholly worthwhile entry. As was the case with the previous efforts, a lot of this one is due to the massive cheese here which is based on the efforts of the shark here getting the most amount of screen-time possible here. The majority of this one is spent with the military's attacks trying to cut it down, from the opening battle in the mini-subs to the full-scale assault on the open seas and finally the creature attacking the fleet with it's trademark high-altitude jumps of it leaping out of the water and taking out the destroyers in marvelous action scenes that keep up the spectacle and excitement from the rest of the series. As well, the addition of the giant robot here manages a great deal of fun by also managing to incorporate more land-scenes here with the race to understand it's motives as it rampages through the countryside leaving a great sense of destruction behind it, and also giving this one some spectacular early fights between the two in all sorts of cheesy spectacle. There's a lot of great fun to be had in the final half as well with the naval battle taking place in the inlet that distracts the shark enough to wrestle control of the robot during the encounter, the big battle with the Air Force in a fine aerial battle that comes off really nicely and the big battle at the end that manages to leave both creatures with plenty of high-spots since they put together a nicely detailed battle that's far more engaging than expected. These here are enough to hold this off from the few small flaws here, with the biggest one again coming from the rather weak CGI found throughout this one keeping it from really being taken seriously despite the spectacle of the story here. The robot's initial reactivation scene, the big battle with the destroyers at sea and the final battle are all way too obvious about their qualities despite the fact that there's a rather exciting series of action scenes overplaying during that time, and the fact that there's other times throughout this that aren't as obvious about the nature of the effects really causes those to stand out considerably. As well, the film also suffers with the needless subplot about the deranged scientist secretly working to gain control over the robot that comes out of nowhere, is accomplished with ten minutes to go in the film and really feels like an after-thought to get the film up to a respectable running time rather than doing anything of any coherent value and logic really makes it odd and really distracting. Otherwise, this one had a lot more going for it to make it enjoyable enough.

Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf-Hoping to secure a hanging debt, a fisherman finds his battle with the monstrous Sharktopus in jeopardy when the appearance of a part-man, part killer-whale, part-wolf hybrid appears in the area leading to a massive territorial battle between them. On the whole this one is quite the impressive and enjoyable entry in the rapidly evolving franchise. Much like the previous efforts, this one lives and dies with the cheese in here which is found in the usual suspects throughout that range from the creature designs to the plot set-up and the action to the special effects and mostly everything else in here. A lot of these come off rather nicely because of the cheese, from the creature designs as Sharktopus looks the best he's ever looked here with a rather cool-looking head-redesign and a more natural coloring job on his body, while the Whalewolf comes off even better as the four-legged, whale-bodied wolf-headed creature is one of the channels' absolute best designs, yet the infusion of the wolf into the creature allows it to be imbued with more life and character than almost any other creature they've ever showcased. With scenes of it attempting to be house-broken in the scientist lab, a rather amusing trait in wanting to play fetch with the severed limbs of it's kills and generally being treated like a dog throughout here there's some utterly hilarious moments found throughout here while also managing to build up enough sympathy for the creature that it's eventually turn is wholly justified and reasoned. Likewise, the influx of the voodoo priest and his ability to gain control over the creatures is immensely cheesy but also manages to inject a fresh spin on the series without letting it get too wrapped up in the familiar and makes for a novel idea in a series not really known for allowing that opportunity. In turn, that sets up the action along the way with this one getting a wide range of attacks, from the cheesy like the first fishing attempt to catch the creature or the attack at the marina where they manage to sever it's tentacle and enable the voodoo-possession to occur through that, while more serious scenes include the Whalewolf being stalked through the laboratory by the police detectives or the multitude of fights between them that occur here as they manage to battle a couple of times along the way and each one manages to get the upper hand in one of the battles before the final showdown which is the shortest battle yet remains no less exciting anyway. Even other action scenes, like the creatures' continued attacks on a reality show filming in the area or the escape chase from the scene manage to get a lot to like here and the finale in the shopping mall is pure hilarity that has to be seen to be believed and is truly uproarious. Again, sure the special effects here are obviously done in CG and look it every second they're on-camera, but there's still a lot to like elsewhere here to really make this worthwhile.

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3-Headed Shark Attack-After becoming stranded in the ocean, a group of scientists and their student interns try to stop the massive, monstrous three-headed shark prowling the waters before it manages to eat it's way through the ocean. This was a promising if slightly downbeat turn from the original. What really makes this one so much fun is the fact that there's a lot more put into this than expected, especially in terms of the story. The effects of pollution and the after-effects it has on hybridization, from the mutations and different organisms found within here read a lot better than normal concepts here, as the research station and the different waste-byproducts found throughout the first half here clearly gives us a clear-cut origin story for the creature that explains the mutation nicely, as well as giving it some subtly-accomplished background for the different ways in which this one tries to warn about the effects of such matters which are then given a straight-forward response later on with the scenes of the creature swallowing up the pollution in the seas as it charges forward for the attacks. Those are also really well-done here, making a perfectly exciting action-packed effort here with the opening attack on the station sending it up in flames while it smashes into and destroys the lower levels in a fantastic scene, the race to get away on their small boat manages a rather nice suspense scene with the group in the water where the creature is known to be at and there's a fine chase scene as it goes after them attempting to get away once safely on-board. As well, the highlight is the attack on the party cruise, as despite their warnings the creature continually bangs into the ship to bring it down resulting in plenty of great deaths, including the first of several triple-shots for each head, and the scramble to get off the sinking boat provides a rather fine conclusion here with the panic-stricken passengers attempting to get on-board while the boat continually sinks and gets ripped to pieces. While the gunfight with the fishermen is fair enough as well, and the opening manages to get some nicely bloody kills amongst it's massive body count offerings, these here are enough to hold this off from a few noticeable flaws here. The biggest of which is something that certainly wasn't a problem before in that the action scenes take forever to get set-up. It cuts back-and-forth numerous times to shots of the boat racing to a scene of attack or the creature slowly swimming after them and keeps cutting back to the others it's going after several times before the initial attack occurs, apparently in an attempt at building suspense but instead just seemingly taking it out of the scene by taking forever and dragging it out needlessly. There's also the rather lame way the creature is defeated, which makes no sense and doesn't really seem like a big rousing conclusion, being something that would've happened over time eventually and really lacks any kind of dramatic input here by coming off as it does. The shark does look better than expected and comes off really well, but even still it's not enough to hold off these issues.

Zombie Shark-Arriving on a secluded island getaway, a group of friends find the area's research center has lost control of a shark infected with a gruesome virus turning other sharks into mindless zombie sharks and must hold off the attacks in order to escape. This one was slightly disappointing but didn't really slip down as low as it could've. What really seems to hold this one back here is the rather bland CGI here, which seems to be going off even worse than ever and really manages to showcase some of the absolute worst effects in the scene. These sharks look absolutely ridiculous with wholly unnatural swimming moments as they seem to swim with a rapid-fire back-and-forth motion that captures none of the grace and fluidity of the real thing, not to mention the fact that they tend to jerk around and sputter across frame at such distractingly unnatural speeds that there's no doubt about their origins. None of these, though, are as bad as the fact that the film decides to go for entirely CGI backgrounds during each of their scenes, so the lame pixelated images are just wholly unconvincing even before putting a badly-rendered shark on the scene, and on the whole this one really offers up very few moments where there's anything remotely natural or believable about the effects here and it had done a far better job than expected recently with this format. What works against these effects even more is the fact that this one had a lot more going for it elsewhere, since that just makes the badness of the effects stick out that much more. The biggest plus here with this one is the fact that there's a ravel novel and intriguing story here that seems to be so natural and logical that it's a wonder it hadn't been done before, for this one utilizes the concept of a zombie virus and turns it into an animal attack effort which is quite enjoyable here with this one really getting some nice work in building off the effects and motivations of the virus. This is accomplished through the scientist actually being on the side of humanity for once and not trying to create the zombies for their own purpose and they get out of hand, but an actual and honest reason for creating them and then actually trying to do the right thing here and clean it up which is a nice touch. Likewise, there's also the film's nicely done action scenes here which are all of the shorter attacks but still the frequency here is enough to make them work as this one goes for all sorts of ambushes in the shallow beaches and a few feet away from shore, while the zombie attacks that come about offer a nice way to get something going out of the water where it's feasible to be safe from the sharks, as well as providing this one with some solid gore as well. Overall these here were enough to make it watchable but not enough to hold off the big flaws here.

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Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!-Attempting to travel to Florida to visit his family, Finn and April become stranded in the middle of the biggest sharknado yet dropping sharks down on the East Coast and must battle their way through the creatures to save their friends. While not quite up to the craziness of the second one, this is still another stand-out effort here. Again, this is due to the running theme of finding just impossibly cheesy scenarios of dumping sharks falling from the sky and killing people, which here never gets old and still retains a spectacle-laced charm that makes this one so endearing. That charm also comes in the form of so many outstanding action scenes along the way here, from the opening assault on the White House dinner where the random guests are all attacked and the rather cheesy fun of taking a chainsaw to the flying shark or blasting them out of the air with a hail of gunfire blowing them away gives this a spectacular start followed by the save later on as they land on the escape route to get away. As well, the big fun here is the theme park action where the falling sharks land in the water ride, take out the stalled roller coaster sliding up and down on the tracks into the giant loop, crash the set of the disaster ride in front of the panicked guests who assume it's all part of the attraction and the swarm of sharks falling onto the tourists and wiping them out in graphic attacks leaves for quite an extended, highly cheesy sequence that's all the more fun with how it finally gets resolved and offers up some truly suspenseful moments as well. The later attack on the Army base is quite fun with the raining sharks taking out the base with plenty of graphic blood-splatter, offer up the truly highlight moment kill in the film which is unbelievably spectacular and carries on the resolution offered from the first one that pays off nicely here as well with the action in the skies using the fighter jet to take the creatures out. There's also the fun finale with the space-shuttle being threatened and offering a form of high-impact action scenario to finally end matters while keeping the action furious with the raining sharks coming down on the troops, the multitude of gunfights to keep them at bay and the magnificent finale that truly offers forth floating sharks in space as they attack and get inside the ship which makes for more chilling moments and plenty of fantastic cheese including the final means of getting back to Earth. Again, coupled with some great kills and a few hilarious lines, this one offers up a lot to like although there's a few problems here. A lot of this is on the special effects, as the sharks here are quite fake-looking with barely any moment of credibility in their appearance as they're obviously so CGI rendered that it's impossible to believe they were ever in the same shot with anyone to begin with and becomes somewhat distracting at times. Also, it does run into sequel-itis at times by re-using many of the scenarios and set-ups as previous entries did even though there's never a truly logical reason to do so other than to homage the past and keep the series running, which isn't nearly as distracting as the sharks but is still noticeable. These here do harm it slightly but not enough to lower the positive points.

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The Purge: Anarchy-On the Annual Purge Night, a former soldier seeking revenge for the death of his son must protect several groups of people stranded on the streets from the various maniacs and psychos honoring the tradition. This was easily better than the original and didn't have a whole lot really wrong with it. The biggest plus is the continuing exploration of the holiday depicted here, extrapolating the rules of survival far more than the initial one did which had a massive problem with that element yet here comes off rather nicely with the squad of soldiers retrieving the lowly citizens to allow for the privileged upper-class to enjoy the night without the need to leave the comforts of their house, the patrolling gangs to ensure that the citizens don't break the rules of the event and the different manner in which this one goes about the way of ensuring the freedom fighters try to take down the system with their attacks and ambushes. This kind of completeness to the story, which was missing greatly from the original, continues on here and allows for the great action to present within this as there's a greater degree of encounters, chases and gunfights that are continually featured throughout here. The action is top-notch with plenty of frantic chases through the city streets, down into the tunnels and finally off in the apartment complex, the gun-battles at the truck to get them free and down through the apartments leading into the finale which is quite exciting as the manhunt through the darkened room looked on by the elite as it turns into a thrilling, suspenseful battle before turning into a vicious gun-fight with the freedom fighters making the save. Though these do make the film enjoyable, the fact that this one carries over the problems from the original, including the lame-ness of the holiday itself by again awaiting a yearly-appointed time of day when criminal activity would be legally rendered and expunged from their conscious makes no sense at all even with the advent of the different elements at play within the story trying to expand it. Also, this features such a group of whacked-out individuals as these guys shown here who are clearly in it for the legalized murder rewards and have very little that shows them to be normal citizens on every other night of the year completely takes away the scare factor of them who just turn into mindless whackos without much thought which was part of the problem with the original as well. All told, this is still quite enjoyable though.

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Lavalantula-When a devastating series of volcanoes erupts in Los Angeles, an over-the-hill action movie star gathers his friends in the industry and leads them against the appearance of fire-spitting spiders ravaging the city and save his family. This was quite a thrilling and enjoyable effort that really offers plenty to like about it. What really works here is the fact that this one tends to really focus quite well on the action within this, making for quite a fun time here as this one goes through the numerous attacks here. The first half here is played off as a disaster movie which allows for plenty of fun here with this one managing to work the disaster on the freeway for a fine opening as the erupting volcano and destruction of the surrounding mountains leads into the assault on the freeway as the exploding spores produce the spiders and leads the fine attacks on the tourists rather nicely, while the resulting lava flows and earthquakes produce more fun throughout here with these leading into more fun with the complete confusion and panic on the residents in the area signalling more fun to come along. That fun is brought along by the numerous chases that emerge throughout here, with the chase on the tour bus resulting in some rather nice fun, the attack on the main tourist street having some nice cheesy fun with the spiders attacking the different mascots on the street and the chase into the movie warehouse which is pretty fun and thrilling here managing to get some suspense with the spiders closing in and their obstacle race to get to safety as well as the intermediate attacks on the other citizens along the way that gives this one some fun and rather nice gore. The military intervention allows for some more fun with the ambush along the evacuation route as the soldiers get picked off one-by-one, while the museum scenes offer a lot of fun with the larger spider leading the attack alongside the smaller ones offering plenty of cheesy times with the spiders attacking the skeletons set up and the race to get to safety while also offering up enough plot points to finally get a handle on how the situation started and lays the groundwork for the final manner of overcoming the creatures which is a thoroughly ingenious-made plan with some smart execution brought about it. The rescue attempt on the son furthers the fun and smarts to come along for the finale by finally putting all the pieces into place and brings some fine action along the way, and the big battle at the end is just all sorts of cheesy fun with the fantastic brawl taking place throughout the streets and getting in some fun along the way. Coupled with the decent back-story of the spiders and fine cheese elsewhere in the running news broadcasts of the even along the way, this was quite fun and really only had the usual flaws associated with it. The spiders are fine in brief spurts or some quick shots, but the more they're on film the less realistic they look and the less believable they seem with the usual behavioral patterns on display. Still, this one was a ton of fun with a lot to like about it.

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The Sorcerers-Perfecting a mind-control device, a doctor and his wife use it to live vicariously through a youth in mod London but when the results of the control bring about her dark side he attempts to regain control from her before it's too late. Overall there wasn't a whole lot to really like with this one. Among the biggest problems with this was the fact that hardly any kind of horror occurred during the first hour of this one, as this is taken up with the two going over the process for the experiment and how they're going to gather him as a subject before turning to the early parts of their control by letting him go about town meeting up with his friends. Since these are all innocent endeavors, from going out to the club and swimming and then later driving along the freeway on a motorcycle at top-speed, none of these scenes are all that frightening or even designed to be which in turn makes these scenes simply use watching people do bland, boring things since we can't undergo the experiences featured here and the end result is simply bland, boring and just not a horror film at all. Likewise, the fact that he's undergoing these kinds of scenes yet no one thinks anything is strange with his behavior is also pretty troublesome, as all of his mentions of blackouts and unaccounted behavior tend to ring pretty troubling alarms in his friends about his behavior yet nothing is done and everything continues on as normal. It's not until bodies start piling up that they start to think something may be wrong, and even then the situation isn't handled all that well as there's hardly anything done about this nor is there any carryover about his previous statements regarding his influences, in the end really tending to make this a pretty troublesome effort. When it does become a horror film, this one isn't bad as the stalking scenes are quite good with there being some tension in the wait for him to coil and snap, despite the kills themselves being pretty bland and thrill-less being forced to use obscured knifings or strangling to do this but in the end all is somewhat forgiven with a great action-packed car-chase through the streets of London that is quite fun and enjoyable whipping around at those speeds to make for quite a great time here in the final half. It's just that so much of what happened before wasn't that interesting.

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Two on a Guillotine-Forced to stay in her father's mansion for an inheritance, a woman and her friend find the entire estate rigged to allow him the chance at performing the greatest illusion of all time and forcing him to save her from his clutches. Overall this one wasn't really all that bad but did have a few flaws. What really seems to lower this one is the rather blatant and obvious set-up this utilizes in dragging out the running time here far beyond necessary simply because of the set-up required. The first half here is basically built around the concept of her going out and spending the time here going around and inspecting the house, resulting in nothing but endless scenes of the two of them inspecting his mystical traps and holdings from his past but doesn't really generate anything in the form of highly suspenseful tactics. Likewise, the whole story is presented into the final act twist that doesn't really seem all that shocking or twisted at all but all seems built into such a logical conclusion that there's no suspense or shock to be derived from it, plays out exactly the way it's supposed to be and never comes off all that well anyway as it's so obvious from the start which seems to follow suit with the rest of the scenes here as this one tends to play through it's running time with really unsurprising and cliché motivations for everything within this. There's some rather fun times here still within this, which is mainly centered around the fun had here in the mansion waiting around for something to happen, which is quite elaborate, chilling and seemingly made for something like this and really provokes quite a dark air about itself that's quite appealing overall. As well, the final half here is fantastic with the plot twist bringing about more action in numerous chases and brawls around the house, a fantastically maniacal air about the different stage shows and really elevates this one by really playing with the twists logically throughout here into a fun and enjoyable part that makes the most of this one. While there's some flawed areas elsewhere that do lower this one, it's still enjoyable and highly watchable.

[slayrrr666]

House of Horrors-After saving the man's life from drowning, a vengeful sculptor uses a psychotic killer in a ploy to take down the spiteful art critics plaguing his work and forces a journalist to get the police on the trail of the killing spree. Overall this one was a pretty decent if not entirely spectacular entry. One of the biggest marks against this one is the fact that the film continually finds itself traveling back-and-forth to the artists' laboratory despite continually being made aware of the killer's existence which really seems foolish and destined for danger. Not only is it completely at odds with the fact that she's obviously headstrong and determined not to do this repeatedly, the fact that her ignorance against the killer's identity despite plenty of evidence to the contrary in her earlier discovery of the sketch along with the note from the editing room asking for the purpose of printing the article all without protection or even advising the authorities on the matter makes her seem destined for death one way or another. Likewise, the fact that this one tries to play off the fact of his apartment encounter is really retribution for those actions which results in the mistaken identity issue has no reason to exist due to these early scenes giving him not only the look but also the general feel of this one so he shouldn't have had any problems carrying this out. Still, there's a few rather enjoyable parts here with the fact that the early stalking scenes are set-up to be quite chilling and typically enjoyable romps through the darkened alleyways famous in these kinds of efforts, the ability to pull off a kill against a suspect in police protection from the other room away is quite inventive and this manages to get a lot of mileage out of the unique and distinct appearance of the main killer. The grotesque, misshapen features and imposing appearance certainly get some great use throughout the sculpting scenes which have an uneasy air to them based on their relationship, and certainly helps in the finale with a lot of fine action that comes into play due to the killer's appearance, but otherwise this one didn't have much else for it.

[slayrrr666]

Static-Attempting to get over a personal tragedy, a man and his wife find a young woman on their doorstep trying to escape from a gang of attackers who break into their home and force them to battle off the group in order to escape. Overall this one was pretty enjoyable if slightly flawed. Among it's better qualities is the fact that the second half to this one here doesn't really feel connected to the first half here which is for the better since that is a completely uninteresting movie. The second half is a solid series of chases and encounters throughout the house and the different neighboring parts of land which make for some thrilling times here with the film really getting quite enjoyable when it goes for these chases and stalking as that's all memorable and enjoyable. The first several encounters in the house and the later hide-out in the bedroom are great fun with these really piling on the different types of gun to be had with the home-invasion storyline here that really lets this one get some tense, chilling set-pieces up as well as put some energy into the film that has been missing up until then as there's the fine finale that makes for quite an amazing time here with the barn-yard stalking and the revelations in the house next door all come together to deliver a rather nice twist-ending that's quite enjoyable overall. Still, this one here is still held-down by a series of flaws here, all mainly set up from the outset of this one tending to focus more on the drama of a parents still in blame with themselves over the death of their son. This here tends to really bring up a large portion of time on having the two of them take forever in dealing with their conversations and lifestyle in trying to get over the event and re-start their life together, all of which tends to really focus this one on areas that aren't exactly all that horrific and tend to bring up the fact that what happens for the most part here isn't exactly horror. As a drama it's fine but to spend as much as it does in a horror film is a little too much time here on these matters which causes this one to come off as rather bland and uninteresting for the most part. Likewise, the final twist here almost guarantees that this one's just not all that filled with the kinds of graphic kills or brutal stalking that should've happened in a story like this as it effectively removes the option for such matter to occur in the film in the first place in order to keep that part alive and ends up really neutering this one massively. All in all these hold it down but not quite enough to make it unwatchable, just flawed.

[slayrrr666]

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters-Having turned themselves into formidable bounty-hunters, the brother-and-sister duo find themselves summoned to a village beset by child kidnappings and witch activity and uncover the mystical connection between them and the strange activity in town. This one was quite the exciting and enjoyable variant on the story with a lot to like. What turns it on the most is the fact that there's a rather large sampling here of action that proves their worthiness and capabilities at their goal, which sets them up as skilled professionals accomplished at their job rather than being told they're great because that's the way the story is supposed to unfold. Being given access to their kind of weaponry and defensive tactics, from spreading razor-wire between trees most identifiable as escape routes, whips, knives and spells as well as their physical brawling, there's a lot to like here about this which is set through the film's rather fun pace here. This one tends to go through a rather large amount of time here battling the witches and the different helpers along the way, making for the fun of their first forest encounter after being hired where they beat off the lone witch, the spectacular assault on the town where the witches bombard the village and homes with explosive fireballs, the chaos and panic hides the brawling quite well and there's the rescue attempts that come up rather fun as well providing this with a great scene that's really filled with action. There's also the massive forest encounter here, from the lead-up to the mountain-top hideout where they hold the big gathering for the other witches there, the huge gunfight that wipes out most of them and then the big hand-to-hand battles that lead into the forest escape into the final brawl back in the cottage which makes for quite an action-packed time here. All of these are rather enjoyable with lots of spectacle, great make-up for the different witches and their powers that come off rather nicely and plenty of bloody kills here to make for an even better time here with these all combining together to give this one a lot to like. There's not a whole lot here that doesn't really work, as all that does come up seems to be the fact that this one never really pays off much in terms of connecting them to the fairytale beyond the opening sequence in the candy-house which is played off nicely, but seems to be more of an after-thought here in terms of how they're supposed to be the same people. This causes the middle of the film to turn into a rather irritating series of scenes where they're completely at odds with everyone around them constantly worrying about each other if they're out of the others' line-of-sight, keeping these scenes rather cliched and familiar due to the constant repetition of these scenes. Still, this one was overall quite fun.