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Remembered / Old watched horror films
Werewolf Binging -
1988 Video / Straight to VHS Horror.
You can checkout the review / video that began it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk87Kz6ebn0
Lionsgate Piles of Crap.
Reviews
Coffin Baby (2013)
You wouldn't make sense.. if you believe this does.
Horror sequels or sudden additions nobody asked for usually don't go so well- especially if the base film is something not many would consider memorable. But when you combine this with zero story, zero reasoning, we get a movie like this that feels like and makes us feel zero care.
Usually these gore-hound or torture porn films don't feature much in the realm of story or plot, but take that a step further and you've got this film, where zero things that usually would matter exist. Character development, establishing scenes, information? Nope. We get thrown into this .. ordeal from the jump, and the movie wastes no time with throwing us into plenty of other pointless things too. When you reach midway, toward the end, it becomes known 1000% the ideas, care.. or writing is gone. This film has no payoff, nothing new to offer, other than some brain cells lost, or the new sense of confusion, growing with every new minute you waste in this. Some small bit of substance could've made a difference, even by a small bit, that is, if any effort was put toward that.
If you came for mindless gore or flat out action, there's some effort toward each, and that's about the only credit I could find for the two stars given in the score. Even with this being said, the gore and effects truly were not the best, as it lacked and even seemed a bit subpar, feeling more like random excuses for filler or random scenes and occurrences just because. Tension proves low, with the exception of a time or two actually managing to capture attention involving a feeling other than confusion.
As mentioned prior, around the mid to end of this film, all hope was lost. The film takes a strange and completely out of place turn with religion, and you read that correctly; the ending, sudden and jarring introductions and everything you see before your eyes, to me, felt rushed, forced and even more confusing than the rest of this film and the random occurrences that led, creating a tedious new flow.
If you want to watch a sequel that sustains absolutely nothing new, really interesting or exciting, while throwing different bloody scenes at your face with zero context or plot, this will easily do it for you! But if you're wanting NOT to waste your time, watch another gorehound flick, it won't be much different. But it'll surely be better than this Hollywood deep web home-video.
Lake Fear 3 (2018)
What were you expecting?
This absolute fever dream duration of about one hour will test your patience and sanity, while laughing, if you're a masochist in joy of a bad title.
Alike many horror films of which not many people remember that've spawned sequels, you'll probably at least know what you're getting into, if for some reason you've yet to find out. This third installment lets us know we're in for a treat seconds in, when we're greeted with an ITN Distribution logo.
The film gets credit, however, as unlike a paranormal attempt via the same distribution, we get attempts at gore, or CGI effects. It also supplies plenty of laughs if you're a bad horror conducer- otherwise? That's it. Your patience becomes quickly tested, if the acting and questionable silence throughout doesn't hit, the slow and extreme sense of padding sure as hell will. During this, you'll be blasted by various volume stock-sounds, paired with the bright rave / club colors the movie coats itself in. You will walk into this now formed trilogy having not a slightest clue, and you'll walk out the same way! Only this time you'll have a single word stuck in your head; "Why?"
Writing a drawn out review was more than likely a waste of time, but I know nobody I personally know would have the slightest clue what Lake Fear 3 was, let alone Lake Fear itself. If you're really seeking a good time, watch this with some friends and make fun of this as much as you can. It's intriguing, that's much better than what can be said about many others in similar vibes as this one. .. This however means nothing. Lake Fear 4? Let's not.
The Werewolf Cult Chronicles: Monsters of the Purple Twilight (2005)
Negatively Jumbled.
This short, even with its small length in time still falls flat, as it's entirely feels lifeless with a presence of little to no effort, all budget and technicalities aside, there's just about no story and this short simply is difficult to watch.
The story takes place in 1916, WWI. Two soldiers take shelter in an abandoned location after their plane is shot and taken down. The story quickly falls apart, appealing without any effort. Every character / "actor" displayed no emotion, effort, or real want to be present. Each movement throughout seemed out of place, awkward or forced. The film in general is difficult to look at, plenty of blinding shots, many jumping seconds, resulting in a jumbled and dysfunctional final product. The film had a seriously blatant problem as well with using the same two pieces of "music" audio, just about the entire 10 minutes it runs for, which makes the experience less of an experience and more of a torturous chore. The werewolf barely has run-time, the lore being it, or this purple twilight has no explanations nor efforts, much like the rest.
This isn't enjoyable, you'll be scratching your head and questioned how this was seemingly accepted as entertaining. The idea could've been fleshed out, regardless the time. The characters and acting could've had some life- any life. The werewolf could've displayed better, or at least not make the same growling sound effect repeatedly. This was a major miss, for anything seemingly. If you're looking for the worthy Werewolf Cult Chronicle feature, save yourself the narrowed stare and watch any other ones.
The Werewolf Cult Chronicles: Vietnam 1969 (2005)
A Werewolf Fans Trip!
There's simply something seriously fun about finding these obscure werewolf horror films, this entry for the Werewolf Cult Chronicles is seriously no exception. If you're well aware of what you're getting yourself into when checking this entry out, then you're in for a blast.
The film is littered with effort, sitting back you'll see how the film cares about its plot and idea. It's an intriguing plot, as well as an interesting take all together for the boundaries of a werewolf. The werewolf design for what they had to work with seemed thought-out and handed with creativity, from its appearance to it's movement, we're surely not disappointed as we get to see the creation throughout many shots and a good chunk of run-time. The characters come off as intriguing as well, for the different idea presented. Classic, grain of salt, well aware builds fitting amusing stereotypes. The pacing set surprisingly well, and overall made the movie a fun watch, one that'll prove an eye opener.
Shotty, micro-budget-seeming CGI work, noticeably out of place ADR, repeating shots and noticeable other nitpicking elements aside, it's mostly a fun time. This entry was surprising in the best way for a dude hunting for weird and forgotten werewolf films. I can easily recommend this, as it's blatantly a creative effort that doesn't fail, coming off charming in .. almost an unexplainable way.
Slender Man (2018)
Hilarious Horror - Comedy; Unintended.
The idea of a Slenderman movie has been up in the air forever, now. This film overall displays a con to this idea, tremendously. There's so much that could be bashed upon through technical views, though to keep it simple, this film in general is a collection of lifeless, flat, completely overused horror cliches. The suspense factors were at an all time low, mostly, since the film made every build-up as obvious as possible, almost every single jumpscare, and abysmally slow-paced "suspenseful" execution was blatantly obvious, leaving nothing truly horrifying or new to speak of. The jumpscares, mostly, are cheap, laughable, and even head-scratching, mostly. ( The entire theater laughed at a specific jumpscare, even. ) The characters mostly find themselves in situations that lead nowhere, with some happening for the sake of fill-time, really it'd seem. They carry a small bit of life with their characters, but such can be seen mostly in the first quarter of the film, the time where things were organized. Otherwise, the film began to feel rushed, sudden, and in general a confusing, random seeming ordeal. In all honesty, aside my love of horror, seeing this film was sheer luck; I knew this film wasn't going to be great by the 3.4 or so rating at the time. To wrap things up, if you're fond or in general a fan of Slenderman, I'd recommend this for a laugh. This truly isn't the worst, but it's surely wasted potential; Slenderman as an idea seems as if it needs a lot of ideas to carry a whole film, this didn't carry a whole lot. Cliches, laughable moments, CGI Slenderman, and confusion moments that'll have you thinking. That's what you'll take away from this film. This is the second most unintendedly laughable horror flick, it almost topped "The Bye Bye Man".
Neverknock (2017)
Seeming .. Perhaps Too Familiar.
Syfy's time of the year is here - Returning TV movie director Sheldon Wilson takes on 2017 with Neverknock; In a sense we pretty much follow a group of friends who decide to embark the Halloween night out around the town. Said town has a legend upon a specific house, 59 Oakwood lane. While out, they overall provoke the legend - And have to now survive and then some. Honestly, compared to some other SyFy original Halloween films, this one isn't the all time worst. However not entirely great either. The plot is a clichéd endeavor for sure. How many times have we followed characters who decided to provoke a legend, thus leading them to constantly run from said legend / entity - uncovering more and more of it? Get ready to watch it again! Only this time it involves knocking on a door! The overall following story- line and plot just prevail as tired, as well as just something we've seen many times before in general. The entity / monster we get to watch actually seems to borrow heavily from iconic Freddy Krueger, seeming to lead on a demon contortionist version of him. This can only be emphasized if the movie is seen - to not spoil. To keep fair, however. This film manages to keep said creature interesting, leaving us to want more of him. His gimmick is, much like the plot, clichéd however. We've had such a gimmick through a threat also done plenty times before. However through a visual stand. The entity.. or "The Neverknocker" looked well done for the most part, standing out as practical, and not CGI, which for me personally was an interesting surprise; Going into this film completely blind, not knowing this was even premiering, the visuals including the Neverknocker, and overall camera work was all pleasant surprises, comparing to other SyFy films that is. The acting isn't the most abysmal either, with the exception that there are a select few that emphasize flimsy, as well as a few who seem to not even care. Looking back further upon the film however, most to pretty much all the characters weren't the more intriguing. The film seemed to focus solely upon their fears ( Which were the most common or basic. ) Not so much upon the characters themselves. We only truly focus on two characters, others there for the sake of dying, it'd seem. For what story or background was given, it wasn't the most in depth-given. Again, it seemed to give off a vibe that it was just there for the sake of being there, or giving the monster a motive. With the given story, really, the film seemed to drag upon getting to the point; Despite the overall pacing being actually decent, the point being drawn across the line was overly slow it felt. As audience, sitting there listening to out characters sit, yelling "JENNA, JENNA! WHERE ARE YOU!" Throughout the first 15 - 25 minutes or more of the film, we sit and listen to the characters yell each other's name, running around constantly continuing such, not ceasing to do so for a bit of a tediously long amount of time.
To conclude - If you're going into this with typical SyFy original movie expectations, you may find a slight, slight surprise or two. However this film is nowhere near special, spectacular, or unique. With a cliché, tired plot as well as creature flick motive / gimmick, In and out pointless characters, and rushed-like actions that follow. This film could've been so much worse - But still had relatively bad, noticeable cons. Though as said. This had a surprise or two. This wasn't the worse film. It just became tired after time as it used and based its entirety on a gimmick - The never-knocker. As said his motive is heavily similar to Freddy Kruger. ( I can't emphasize my view upon that factually enough. ) Fears kill. Hint, hint. Finally the payoff, ending perhaps even wasn't really worth the ride, lowering my view on this overall experience just a bit. Like this entire film, nothing spectacular, nothing new, and I could even go as far as to say disappointing. Would I recommend giving this film a watch? If you're bored, looking for something to just watch with a group of friends - This would probably be a good resort. This is simply another SyFy film with a bit of a pleasant little outcome. Note - LITTLE. But for me personally. It wasn't terrible; Just over the top cliché offerings that didn't totally work.
100 Tears (2007)
Mindless-like Gorehound Entertainment That Attempts Story.
For a personal standpoint, I've personally heard about this film multiple, multiple times - Hearing mixed reviews, mostly either saying this film is just flat out awful, or that this movie is actually decent. The film overall just follows two journalists who're after a story that'll succeed heavily for them. They end up following the story of the alleged "Teardrop killer" or in this case the antagonized clown killer we also follow. From there on out, both Mark and Jen find out more and more of this clown. Firstly, this film took the interesting approach of a story; This film however prevailed that to be a bit pointless. This story isn't the worst possible one out there, but for the most part it's showcasing cliché aspects. There's been countless films about detectives following cases leading to more than they bargained for, this time, now, we have a gore-hound film following such. The journalist characters we follow aren't the worst pair, it could be much, much worse. I found Mark to be a likable, goofy guy - though at times he turns a performance of being funny at either the most ineffective times, if not, it's just ineffective in general. Admittedly however there are times he lightens the mood, or simply prevails. Jen is a typical bad-ass, independent - like chick who's so involved in her work to where she leads some of the stupidest decisions - Once again seen plentiful times. The acting in this film, for a considerable "micro- budget" horror flick? It is what it is, there are some really low points throughout I feel, especially through the detectives; However that's what's to be expected through these fun little films, know what you're getting into. The gore in this movie is the absolute lead, however. It's a decent display of absolute carnage through random characters; Literally. This film throws the most random, unnecessary display of people who're there just for the sake of dying. There'll be parts of the film you see quite literally a minute to two of a random person getting slaughtered, said random person literally has no point of being there, was never mentioned, and shall never be seen again. For what's displayed, the kills weren't the most creative; Though that wouldn't be fair at all, judging by the fact we have a clown with a novelty-sized cleaver. As the body count rises, the deaths grow less, and less intriguing, I feel. However the film takes that and flips it completely around through the closing run-time, delivering the concluding intriguing, back to unique-like kills. The pacing of the film is another displayed topic that gets flipped - The beginning of the film paced decently, around the middle to closing thirty minutes it grows slower, and slower, focusing more upon the story, of which, as said, feels overly-done and clichéd. However around the end we get a more quicker, perhaps even rushed feel; The ending feels rushed compared to the rest of the movie. There are a few ordeals that happen that just happened for the sake of the viewer to be pulled back in for a split second, it felt.
In conclusion, the hype. Is it all there? Is this the goriest, most disgusting NC-17 film? No. I've seen another film by the title "Sweatshop" (2011) that, to me, proved more effective. This film follows like it - Clichéd, pointless plot that is there just for the excuse of killing masses. 100 Tears follows closely, however took the unique - like approach of delivering a story; As said many times said story is clichéd, and really does nothing for me personally. Fumbled dialog, acting flaws to a minor degree, all masked by a clown with a story .. and a massive cleaver. Would I recommend watching this film? Despite this review sounding as if I'm hating on it - I don't. I WOULD however watching this film. On an overall spectrum view of this film, the hype is a letdown. On a spectrum view upon a gore-hound, this film delivered. If you're looking for carnage, 100 tears delivers. If you're looking for minor - slight comedy? 100 tears delivers. However if you're looking for something totally new? You won't find it here.
The Bye Bye Man (2017)
Lingering Solids.
The Bye Bye Man, once supposed to come in September of 2016; There's a reason it's been once pushed to December, and now to January. The Bye Bye Man lingers so heavily to the point of where many of it's elements make it simply fall apart.
We pretty much follow the story of Elliot, Sasha, and John, three college students who rent a home for themselves, only to be provoked by The Bye Bye man, after the past comes to haunt them, as part of the house they've rented. First off, really, if you're looking for a horror film that breaks down the whole origin of this entity, by no means will you get it. The Bye Bye Man / entities' origin, and reasoning behind all of the events it causes is truly never explained in the film, honestly coming off as an unexplained collection of scares, and movie fillings toward the characters. Throughout this entire movie, the characters all constantly get into ordeals with the entity, only giving the audience more of a want / wonderment toward the entity himself, only to be let down when the whole situation of the entity is never explained; The entire movie centers around this Bye Bye Man, and in the end, he, nor his doings and origins is never explained, and left out completely. Throughout the film, we get the characters figuring out pieces to the entities' puzzle, honestly the typical, and cliché "Old / dead document that can't be found anywhere else until now" gimmick seen in many, many other horror films. The characters all search, and find ways to stop temporarily, and prevent shortly the entity from provoking them, but really that's just about it. Time, after time until another character just randomly dies from this entity, these characters are all running around solving pieces of this entity, for what seems to be fill time; Absolutely no reasoning, really. Overall, really just a ton of, in the end, pointless doings toward an entity the film is entirely revolved around, yet overall never explains, nor goes in depth with such entity / entities to even begin with, rendering pointless, truly. Continuing, the acting in this movie was honestly a split. The character of Sasha honestly didn't fully live up to emotional showings, overall at a good chunk of lines sounding flat, and not truly in the zone of what specific scenes called for, the actor of Elliot, and John, surprisingly, however pulled a solid job with such emotions, and overall acting toward their situations. Moving even further, the films' displaying of events. There were parts where a character gets shot, or injured, and that character would sit, and absolutely no blood would be shown. There would be parts too reliant on CGI, coming off cheap looking, and blatantly fake, and out of place looking, for example a scare tactic that looked so out of proportion, it left a good amount of the audience in complete confusion. And as said before, there'd be happenings where the audience has no idea what to make of due to a major lack of information on the entity, example being his doings, and actions toward the characters.
In conclusion, this films' plot, story-line, and in-depth execution was extremely flat, and extremely incoherent when given deep thought. The Bye Bye man, and other entities that built this films' hype up was shown, but no background prevailed, and overall would seem as if these entities were just thrown in for scare tactics, and story fillings. The story executed in a cliché, and overly done matter that didn't differentiate itself from what's been done before, the characters, for the most part did pointless actions that amounted to nothing story / plot changing with the exception of some scenes; Which is one of the very few things that can be said. And overall the CGI, and some shots shown looked quite off, and questionable that lead to an audience- wide reaction. To wrap things up, there's a reason, again this was pushed quite a few times. The Bye Bye Man, overall had extremely low redeeming qualities such as a twist or two, but overall amounted to nothing, quite literally, and even more so executed some of the most pointless actions that lead to, once again, nothing. I'd recommend seeing this when it's out of the theaters, The Bye Bye Man wasn't worth the push back wait, overall, and was a disappointing start to horrors' 2017.
Don't Breathe (2016)
What seems to never end.
Don't Breathe; Although not supposedly the scariest film ever, is definitely one of the most tension filling horror films of 2016, and one that executes flawlessly, dragging the audience into a never- ending nightmare, and truly succeeds.
We follow Rocky, Alex, and a dude named Money, they're a team that robs houses; Goal to move away. They come across news that a blind man has a large fortune, and all they have to do is break in. However, this break in isn't as easy as they'd hope for, now they must survive, and escape. First off, props to this films' atmosphere. The atmosphere throughout most of the film is eerily silent, due to the characters having to remain as silent as possible while trapped. With that silence, we're set to see multiple situations where tension is the only thing that comes to the audiences' mind. There are countless scenes where it gets intensely tension - filled, and it keeps us on the ends of our seats, and intrigued. The film also has a very eerie, dark - like setting as it progresses, only boosting to extreme heights on the tension level. Most of these occurrences are well played out by the actors, as well. The acting in this film, I'd say, in terms of what the characters were put through was perfect. They all genuinely put forth a believable, and well performance. Each character, as well had their own unique styles, and all of which were interesting enough for us to care in a sense, depending who they are. Another extremely enjoyable aspect of this film which overall was the unique, successful plot. The plot, and overall story-line of the entire film was extremely solid, and more than successful for audience tension, and thrill. It tied in unique twists, as well as guaranteed reaction elements. The pacing of this film, as well just boosts the unique plot, as this film went straight to the point, and wasted absolutely no time in getting the audiences' attention.
In conclusion. Is the hype for this film real? Yes; It, by no means is the "Scariest film" out there, but is it unique? And does it set itself away from the typical horror movie scene? Absolutely. This, for sure is one of the best horror films of 2016. This, I'd say is worthy of the top three films, even. This film was unique, innovative - like, and it brought new, exciting elements to the horror film scene. It was well paced, well acted, and on an even more specific realm, extremely well shot with camera-work. It was thrilling, exciting, and heavily effective with it's silent, unpredictable atmosphere, and endless - like attitude. The countless, yet outstanding twists this film takes, as well was more than worth the watch. "Don't Breathe" was more than enjoyable, and was worth the wait, as well as the hype. I strongly recommend checking this one out in theaters. You won't be disappointed.
Intruder (2016)
Psychologically creepy; Extremely disappointing.
Intruder is a film that succeeds with the psychological fear that someone could be sneaking around in your house, right under your nose. Stalking you, and overall watching you. Anything else, however? No.
We follow our character Elizabeth who is an up, and coming orchestra musician. Her life is then provoked as an intruder makes his way into her home, watching her when she isn't looking. The plot of this film, for starters was utterly cliché. There have been countless films that use the following gimmick - Girl / guys' life is becoming a dream, they plan everything they want to do - but in the process of doing so, their life is suddenly turned, and provoked. And it all comes crashing down before them. We've seen this gimmick countless times before, and this film literally just throws the cliché right at our faces. To add onto the cliché plot, the execution of said cliché in this film was actually quite bad. The delivery of the clichéd plot felt flawed, and overall came across the line as completely boring, uneventful, and even tedious. Through this entire film the occurrences displayed felt boring, lifeless, and even cardboard - like. Nothing really felt as if it was coming through in a way that would phase. We literally sit for about 30 - to even 50 minutes of the film listening to convocations that end up being completely pointless, and feeling as if it was there to serve as run - time. Throughout the film, this "intruder" doesn't make a single move. Only once does he make a move that negatively affects the main character's life. One. Other than that, we're patiently awaiting for the alleged intruder to strike, but in the end he never does. This film's pacing was agonizingly long, it felt. Something that's quite bad, obviously for a horror movie. The pacing just felt atrocious in the sense this is a home invasion film, it deeply lacks any action, or anything that poses the killer as menacing, scary, or terrifying. The film throws probably one of the most obvious "twists" at the viewer as well, a twist that can be easily, easily seen, and when finally is shown is utterly disappointing, and fails to add any shock value, or thrill. This movie in its entirety lacks thrills, and overall entertaining aspects. Something that should be taken advantage of ( I'd assume ) in a home invasion film. The only thing positively I can really say is that the film somewhat managed to touchdown on the psychological fear of someone lurking in the darkness of your house. I can also say the acting was some-what decent, but in all honesty I feel as if the film threw characters in that we really don't end up, in the end, caring about. Again, the films execution, even with the characters, is boring.
To wrap things up, this was an atrociously disappointing film. It seems to try quite hard to add thrills, or to even phase the audience, but when reaching the end of the film it ends up failing in the much needed aspect. This film deeply lacked needed elements for a successful home invasion flick, let alone horror flick. The film drags excruciatingly long, having absolutely no pay off. The film attempts to add a twist, but said twist is extremely obvious, and blatant halfway through the film if you're one to make theories. The ending to the film paid off in no way, shape, or form, in fact actually set this film to an all time low, I feel. To top it all off, there were also some pointless add- on's to this film as well. For example a character that randomly spooks Elizabeth, then disappears. Never to be seen again. And finally, this entire film never explains itself, and just falls flat on its face entirely. By no means to I recommend this film. I can even, honestly go as far as to say this was one, if not THE disappointing "horror" film of the entire 2016 year. I understand all, in all it was an attempt. But this was a cliché from the start, and as a whole just seemed pointless.
Accidental Exorcist (2016)
Unique, interesting; Absolute gem.
Usually within the realm of low budget horror flicks, it's safe to say the assumption thought "It'll suck" comes straight to mind. Accidental Exorcist has flaws, but is surely, surely one of those rare finds when it comes to independent / low budget horror films.
Coming from a guy that has watched countless independent / low budget horror films in the past that I've refused to bother to review with due to how bad, boring, or cliché it may of been, this film shocked me. The story-line to this entire film was something else, it was something that's simply hard to come by in a horror movie. May not be the best concept in the world, but is it one that'll entertain? Perhaps have one one in a thought provoked state? Yes. We follow around an exorcist, in a sense a dead beat exorcist. One that has a power, yet drinks, takes drugs, and lives in a disgusting area. Pretty much gets booked to certain areas where apparent possessions are taking place, to where of course he goes, and provoked the demon posing the people. First off, this plot overall is interesting; It sounds boring through the review. But seeing the movie is another story. Would it make sense if I were to say it's a plot that you simply have to see to believe - yet you can't explain overall afterwards? The plot is unique, and something different. However it's also quite flawed. First off, don't you think it's a little convenient a person gets possessed by a demon of what seems to be every day? Throughout the entire movie, pretty much every day he was heading to exercise demon, after demon, after demon - Don't get me wrong, entertaining. Better than boredom ( Which is the route many possession flicks nowadays seem to take ) Second of all, the execution made it across the line when it came to the plot, but there were many, many unexplained holes within it. Without spoiling anything, what can be said is that there is many events our main character Richard is put through that don't exactly seem to make sense, and do absolutely nothing for any future of the film. Overall, however, the plot, as said before was unique, and something that sends the viewer into a bit of a thought provoked state, positively. Another flaw I saw in this film, which I'm sure some saw coming is the acting. Some on the on, and off characters' acting was bad. Since this is low budget, I was expecting this, but some actors just overreacted to an extreme. They tried so hard, and it just seems a bit awkward to watch befall. Overall however, toward the characters we see mostly; Mostly Richard. It could've been so, so much worse. And for what it was? Decent enough not to want to rip your own hair out, and quit the movie entirely. Now mostly toward the positive side of things. Low budget horror films usually have terrible cinematography, if you want to call it that, as well as terrible, terrible lighting. This film however wasn't too bad on that note. Sure, you can obviously see the low budget presence in the lighting, as well as cinematography. But the presentation of both elements wasn't bad at all, looking back on how much worse it gets. Lighting overall keeps it to where we see what needs to be seen, and the cinematography doesn't shake to the moon and back - overall succeeding in the purposes! And finally, a massive, massive positive that took me personally by complete surprise. The dark humor, as well as comedy aspect of this film; This is horror comedy. It's actually succeeding in being funny, if not, succeeding in giving a few chuckles. It's simply unique how the comedy is taken upon in this exorcist / possession genre. The main character / actor takes his character to an interestingly funny level that just succeeds, and is fun to watch as he goes about, while at the same time adding in the dark humor. The dark humor of which succeeds.
In conclusion. This film has decent acting, at the same time succeed in making pointless dialog, as well as actions funny; Dark humor succeeds at being funny. The overall acting of others wasn't so great, the plot was unique, and entertaining to say the best. At the same time it had holes, it had unexplained, noticeable upbringings, and some elements were even as far as ridiculous. The film itself also dragged on for a good amount of time, lowering the rating, and charm further. Overall however; Imagine an Adult Swim horror film, this would probably fill in that spot, despite it's 20 or so minutes of seriousness. This film was an overall ride, definitely not for all horror fans however. Take it with a grain of salt, see if it deserves your attention. Overall this was a gem for sure, however. Unique executions with typical flaws.
The Purge: Election Year (2016)
Another success; The Purge franchise hasn't messed up quite yet.
Here we all are with yet another year of purging; The Purge: Election Year, or just The Purge 3 is a film that finds itself in assumption for the worse, but has actually managed to stabilize itself into it's third year, keeping solid, as well as keeping The Purge franchise followers happy.
So knowing that the first film was pretty good, leading to the second that actually managed ( In my opinion ) to rise itself a bit higher.. this was exciting news to know another installment was coming, and here we are; This film was interesting as a whole. The film now takes upon the more deeper insight of the entire ordeal, the political standpoint on the entirety of the purge itself, and how it can be used to surpass wants. At the same time, the film, like the others in a way succeeds in bringing the audience into an adventure that revolves around the characters / protagonists as they are forced through the horrifying events that follow the entirety of the purge. With all of that being said, this film as a whole was intriguing. It had a pretty good villain to hero - type of plot going for it, and that stood out well for the entire film. We, the audience are overall sitting intrigued, unable to look away as we're greeted with surprises on every corner, challenge after challenge, and overall ordeal of action that strikes fear to those watching. The scenes of action were intense, and thrilling. Whenever such actions take place, we suddenly find ourselves watching an all out battle, wondering if anything drastic toward our main characters shall happen as we sit, intrigued; It was absolutely awesome, as well to see such events take place, and to see the film succeed in such levels, and portrayals of intensity and action. Aside from all that, on the other hand, this film seemed to take an even more interesting turn toward it's horror side of things. Throughout the film there we're greeted with a rather eerie, impending - doom type feeling; Of course, such vibes and such were given off in the other two films, but this one seemed to crank the level up a bit on that note, introducing itself overall with it, leading to it's success within it's eerie atmosphere, visual eye candy, and just overall events that were executed. Overall on such note, the film cranked up its levels in this one, which of course was a very pleasant surprise, and an exciting aspect for Purge franchise followers. This film felt more intense, and eerie throughout the entire length of the film, the action scenes, as well as events were executed intriguingly, and smoothly. And the Purge blood, gore, and even jump scares as well were well themselves. Another element that was extremely eventful to watch through this horror trip were the characters. From the senator, to the NFFA organization, to the purgers' themselves, it all stood out, and surprisingly enough lead itself into some pleasing twists, and turns. The main characters including The senator Charlie, the characters picked up throughout the film, Leo, and of course her overall competition / enemies each worked in unique ways, and all seemed to work with the story, and not just seem like a pointless character dropped off. It was extremely fun seeing characters such as Leo return, as well ( After being in the second film ) they had great roles, and truly executed their survival throughout simplistically. Overall, with all of our leading characters however, each had a heavy heart throughout the story, displaying their care for each other, how each of them connect, and look out for each other as a whole through the hellish ordeal; Sappy. Overall it was fun to see characters return, and watching them go through the twists, and turns of the overall purge was fun as well; The film succeeding in stabilizing their characters, keeping them from becoming boring, or worn out.
In conclusion, this was a fun watch. A third installment that's assumed to suck - but ended up being just what the entire franchise needed. Fun characters, awesome portrayal of them as well, returns, unique personalities, as well as additions to the story that works. A turn - up within the topic of their gore, as well as shock value with how the kills are executed, not too much, but also not to little. And to top it all off, an interesting story that stays solid throughout, not seeming to give up with its twists, turns, and overall adventurous, yet at the same time eerie overall execution. The only real problem that stood with this film is the fact that it tends to drag on at times, the film became slow within the middle - to end parts; But every movie has it's moment like such. I feel as if Purge franchise followers, and overall fans won't be disappointed, instead pleased. This was a fun watch, I personally recommend experiencing it.
The Conjuring 2 (2016)
Eerie, and still strong with the utter intensity!
The long awaited sequel ( At least for me ) has finally come as we're presented with a sequel for one of the bigger, more effect modern horrors over the years, The Conjuring 2.
This movie is an overall headstrong sequel I'd say, unlike other sequels this one keeps its intensity, and overall chills cranked up through the roof, just like the first one. The atmosphere in this movie is eerie, and overly bone chilling. You get shots of which are so dark, along with the soundtrack being so quiet to where us, the audience are sitting in complete and utter unsettlement as we are set within such a white-knuckle tension zone over most of the movie. The film sets an amazing tone for creepiness, keeping the movie mostly dark-like, and eerie, of which deeply succeeds when it comes to the breakdown of the demon / ghost appearances. The overall soundtrack of the film, as well when it comes down to such actions also adds onto the overall film effect that it has going for it. Overall the film is like the first one when it comes to succeeding complete, and utter creepiness, and overall eye candy tension. Something some horror films try, but miss the mark on, leading to this factor being as the first film, a pleasant surprise. For the acting in this film, again, of which you'll hear be said a lot in this review; Like the first film, the acting was well played out. The kids in this film did a quite believable with portraying their emotions, mostly for this film either serious, scared, or upset. This movie also does a flawless job for making the audience feel for this family. The audience overall watches as this family goes through the struggle of getting people to overall believe they're truly being haunted, and overall provoked. At the same time they're battling a war between them, the truth, and the media. So overall the film does an amazing job for having us, the audience truly feel emotion for this family, and only want the absolute best for them in the end. Ed, and Lorraine from the first film, as well have some new, and unique character unleashes in this sequel as well. They both have a somewhat deeper side to them shown in this film, their true care for what they do, and their overall emphasis, and even love for each other are perfectly shown, and executed without being TOO much in depth to it. We also see some new, pretty exciting - like characters enter the sequel as well, overall great actors, and amazing twist of deep, inner-character ties along with it all as well, coming out as flawless, and another outstanding surprise! Now for the good stuff. The demons / demon in this film is absolutely creepy. This film did an amazing job with it I would say all the way. The film throws the demon in hidden places throughout camera shots, making it insanely creepy for those who spot it. And when blatantly seen, even then this demon comes off as truly frightening, and just flat out creepy. And yet another succeeding, and outstanding tie-in this film brought to the table was the fact that demon actually came within different forms. Something to understand, along with everything else here, you'd have to see the movie to figure out.
Overall. This sequel was one hell of a watch. You have great story, well executed actors, creepy, unsettling, and flat out eerie tone, and atmosphere, whether it be the soundtrack, happenings in the film itself, or the demon appearances itself, the film overall comes off in the sense of it all being nightmarish. This was an outstanding sequel, and definitely didn't miss the mark. If you enjoyed the first film, your expectations shall not be disappointed in the Conjuring 2. See it all to believe.
The Conduit (2016)
Not an enjoyable movie, this film takes the wrong routes.
This is one of those horror flicks that take upon choices that horror fans, like myself tend to dislike. One of those films that goes on, and on, and on for what seems to be forever, and even pointless.
First off, what's wrong with the film. This film, right off the bat, is utterly boring, and clichéd. You have the typical guy that tries to start fresh after a divorce, and what seems to be the downfall of his life. On Top of that, he's a character with a traumatizing past / childhood that now comes to haunt him once again in more ways than one. Sound familiar? He comes across this girl, she's quiet, sketchy, and iffy. Again. Sound familiar at all? This said girl meets our main character; From a council session. After one small outing, they're already living with each other, and having sex galore. First off, this films plot is utterly confusing. There seems to be no point anywhere here. It overall just revolves around our main character, and his pointless struggles with this homeless girl he takes in from the council sessions. Not only that, but through 40 minutes of the film, all we really get to watch is our main character having sex over, and over, and over with this random girl, a girl of which he barely even knows as the fact stands he doesn't exactly talk as much as other characters would. Throughout this entire film. We watch as our character is subjected to sudden, and pretty much pointless events that literally serve no point; Example being said characters wake up to darkness, only to wake up; bringing us to this next flaw. This film has never ending dream sequences. NOTHING seems to be truly real, unless it involves the girl our main character found acting weird, or spastic. So not only is it pointless, boring, and utterly confusing. But annoying, overall. As the film progresses, from the 10 minute mark. We face one of the most annoying flaws in modern "horror". Pointless dialog. In a horror movie, mostly, you want facts about what's after you, or you just want to get to the point! Not just stand around, throwing random, pointless, and even terrible convocations at one another that won't phase the film in any way whatsoever! And the fact that this movie lasts an entire hour, and 40 minutes is agonizing, as the first hour is honestly just jumbled, confusing, and just flat our pointless!
To wrap things up, so this entire review doesn't become pointless, in the sense of an overall pointless movie, don't watch this. There are many horror films that manage to succeed unlike this one, sadly. Here you have cliché characters, boring, agonizingly long, pointless convocations that are meaningless. Constant, annoying dream sequences, that, again, do nothing. Occurrences to the characters that are supposed to be scary, but don't come off as such, and overall twists, and turns that do nothing, either that, or just flat out fall out on its face. This horror film was disappointing, and the only thing I could really say positive about this film is that the acting wasn't as bad as others have. But overall, skip this. This honestly was a big waste of time, and didn't pay off in the slightest.
The Other Side of the Door (2016)
A solid 50/50. This is an extremely simple horror film that managed to succeed.
Maria and Micheal are currently mourning the loss of their son. With this being said, Maria is deeply impacted, leading her to do anything she possibly can to ever get anything from her son again. Their house maid, a local of the foreign country they live in tells her of an ancient temple of which contains a door with a thin line to the world of living, and dead. Only one rule. Don't open the door. Maria travels to the said temple, and, you guessed it. She opened the door. Thus all hell is unleashed, and now she must stop it.
Let's start with the con's of this film. This film, first of all, had a very solid, tense, creepy atmosphere going for it. The cinematography really captured some unnerving shots that'll have you on the edge of your seat, expecting something to happen, when really nothing does. There are truly some scenes in this film; you have dark scenes, creepy, unsettling scenes that aren't even meant to be frightening, not to mention how the soundtrack really fits along with it. Again, I felt as if the cinematography really captured some simplistic scenes, how the camera slowly panned toward the creepy factor, overall succeeding for keeping the audience at high tension! As said before, the soundtrack really fits well with the film. There are scenes in this film to where it's literally as silent to where you could hear a pen drop, making it extremely unnerving, and unsettling, sending the audience to a white-knuckle ride. There's also some sound track to where nothing's happening to where it just set tones for the film, making it enjoyable instead of just bland, and uneventful in terms of scene sound. The acting in this film; moving on. It was really well, in my opinion. The actors really did well portraying a broken, sad, and lost couple of which are slowly recovering a tragic event. Something an actor can easily miss the mark on, and fail upon. The child actors, too, were quite good. Most movies they can get annoying, or boring, but the movie kept it at a smooth, solid execution, saving it. Overall the film had amazing atmosphere, great actors, cinematography, and succeeded in a creepiness! Again, something these horror movies easily miss. Now to the misses of this film, there's quite big ones. As said in the title.. this is an extremely simple film, and it is. It's just basic, there's no other words really to describe it as. Reason being is because the entire plot is just your normal, modern, theatrical horror film gimmick that's been used many, many times before, just portrayed in a different matter. You have your happy family with a dark past, the dark past comes back, a paranormal entity comes and causes mayhem, someone dies, and that's it! Now I'm sure everyone has seen a film like such a bit of times before. The film, when though closely is just a massive cliché that was saved by simplistic execution. The storyline is just something we've seen before, just in a more better format. The film also takes the cliché of the whole "Foreign legend" gimmick, to where there's a local legend of which the family / a character manages to anger. Again. It's been done, especially a bunch of times in your theatrical horror film releases. Next. The biggest blow for me. The pacing. Although this film was saved, again, by it's simplistic executions.. the pacing seemed atrocious, all over the place. One moment something happens for a brief moment.. Just when you think it'll rise.. it sets, and gets slow. Then the process continues as such a bunch of times through the film. It's pacing, though, overall ended up being just slow, and although it built small build up, it still came up flat, and again, slow. Finally. Another cliché this film took. Ever watched one of those films to where they become a bit desperate, and decide to just throw random "scary" crap at you? Yup. This film became a bit desperate it seems, as it just started throwing random things at the viewer's face, such as visions that aren't real and such.. because why not? Said visions did nothing for the film, or story, other than just giving a scare or two. Some scares even failed, falling flat and not even scaring the viewers, in fact, they could even come off as funny as the film tried, but failed at times.
In conclusion, this wasn't bad at all! It's a basic, typical horror movie that had great execution, which is honestly a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately this films rating, and enjoyable factor lowered, as it suffered major blows from typical problems, leading this film to just be clichéd, once, as said before, thought about closely. It had, however a creepy, solid, and effective atmosphere all around. The film also had great actors to back that up, making believable acts that come off more serious than silly. The costume design, as well. Such at the creature shown, and the paranormal entities served, and succeeded in the creepy factor, only boosting it more. But. As said a bunch before. It's just clichéd. The entire plot, storyline .. just clichéd. And to drag it lower the pacing was terrible wonky, setting the following of this film downward. But really. This wasn't a bad watch. I'd recommend this to provoke horror fans, but if you're not looking for clichés steer clear. This, without a doubt in my eyes is a solid 50/50 horror film.
She Wolf Rising (2016)
Going, going .. and gone!
We follow our main character, Jake. He comes across a horror film actress of which he admires, Gina. They progress, and soon fall into a relationship; he then has to find a missing film?
Something that has to be said about this film, right off the bat. The plot, and story progression is extremely jumbled, and misses the mark on explaining said story clear, and concisely. During the beginning of this film we had a pretty good introduction, and beginning act. The story began unique, taking an intriguing narrative take on. However, this film didn't take long before it met it's downfall; as said the entire plot's extremely difficult to follow, and doesn't explain clearly, offering some story / plot introductions, only to suddenly drop them, and forget about them. What once started off in a solid approach lead to a confusing, mixed, and unclear plot / story that didn't exactly even resolve anything. Another flaw of this film. This isn't truly a horror film. This is honestly a romantic drama in disguise of a horror movie gimmick, that being the "She wolf" story that they just kinda threw in there for what reason? Beyond me. The film, as emphasized before was decent, and interesting at first, but again, it slowly faded into an odd, uneventful turn toward drama, and romance! Let's put it this way, Jake and Gina had only been with each other about a week in the movie, and he's already saying he loves her. Simply moving, isn't it? Overall it's pointless, and disappointing too, as if they threw all the solid ideas away and stuck with low, rushed romance for no real reason; of which, also, resolves nothing for the film. Let's get to the acting. For a low budget film, there's your typical low budget acting in this film, however one thing. What actually jacks up this review score for me is how fun it seems. It's one of those films that's bad, and you know it, but the acting is just funny in a sense to where you're stuck watching it, and seeing what the actors will do next. I also was intrigued by the characters these actors were acting as. You have your typical scene, however. The clichéd innocent guy with an overly sexual friend, of which said innocent guy's thrown into a conveniently overly sexual environment; constant situations involving sex, or suggestive situations. The main characters giver were decent for what they stood for, low budget, yet clichéd runs that succeed, an element that lacks with these low- budget films. It's a 50/50 shot, however, as we're given some characters that are just pointless, and thrown in to kill runtime, characters of which the film could've survived without, characters that portray clichéd, suspicious - like attitudes in this film.
Here's my conclusion, so I don't make this review confusing, as this entire film is a bit of a challenge to even review. This isn't what it seems. If you're looking for an action packed, low-budget, and gory ride of wolf ladies killing people, you're in the wrong place. This film's not horror, it's just hidden behind a horror gimmick idea. This is truly a romantic - drama setting, involving one character narrating how he's gotten in a crazy adventure; an adventure that's really just him interviewing random people to help his "love" which really is just someone he met, kissed, and has had many sexual situations with. This film's your typical low-budget, clichéd filled film - pop up that has a story that resolves nothing, no real suspense, scares, or real build-up. The only thing that really saved this is the fact that the first-half was actually solid, and the typical, clichéd characters succeed in being bad, but in that rare, but good way. I'd honestly recommend looking elsewhere, unless you'd like to sit for about an hour, thirty minutes through all of this.
The Forest (2016)
Creepy, and deeply unsettling on many levels; however..
After Sarah discovers her twin sister has disappeared into the suicide forest, she travels to Japan in hopes of finding her, after getting some help from a guy she's met, of which had clearance to take her into said forest, things take a turn for the worse as strange occurrences befall Sarah, as well as the others, turning more, and more sinister, and even deadly. First off, the story of this entire film I personally thought was neat. Having the emotional depth of knowing your close siblings missing was unique, and added impact toward this film. Making things serious, including having said sister missing in another country, let alone the deadliest place in said country is worse, adding tension, as well as some hope for the audience. Moving on; throughout this entire movie, things ended up a bit clichéd-like, in terms of the whole genre of horror. This horror movie took the clichéd route. You know when your sitting there, soaking the film in, and suddenly, for example, someone slams their face randomly against the window of your house, or say car for absolutely no reason, other than the sake to just make you jump. This movie did that a few times, for absolutely no reason, out of nowhere, something just jumps at you for the sake of scaring you. Another element, following through with that. Again, have you ever seen a horror movie to where the film tricks you to think the characters actually going through a trauma, but awakes to find out it's just a nightmare? I personally felt as if this movie overdid that quite a bit, it kept having our main character, Sarah dream of something terrifying, then awake - Once again leading the film to just throw that randomly in there for the sake of scaring us. However.. for the scares in this film to where actually made sense, they successfully succeeded in not only adding tension, but managing to be nerve racking, and completely unsettling. Dark, creepy atmosphere, as well as a tense build-up of suspense succeeded in not only making the audience paranoid, but scaring them in the process of unleashing the awaiting scare. The characters, all around, I felt did a solid job executing their characters, and what they stood for, in terms of their background stories, in-depth traits, etc., as the audience, it felt compelling to know more, and dig deeper toward the characters' personality depth, instead of keeping them vague, and randomly placed just for the sake to be killed off, as they were actually quite intriguing, and well played out.
Overall, this movie had flaws. But usually horror movies in January are red flags, showing it's bad. However. This movie was quite surprising, succeeding in some successful jump scares, but more importantly creepy, unsettling atmosphere, and an overall white- knuckled environment. Although this film took a cliché toward the constant, randomly placed jump scares, as well as dream sequences, in my opinion, it still managed to tie in necessary jump scares, so to speak. The characters were intriguing, with great back-story, and development. The film managed to tie in some thought - provoking moments that succeeded, but were answered. The film, however, not mentioned before seemed to have a bit of a mixed - unresolvable way of answering the entire film itself, making the entire thing a bit confusing, but for the most part answering needed answers to have this movie make sense. For a first weekend January horror film, this wasn't bad, but it suffered heavily clichéd plot flaws. Aside that, this was surprising! I honestly had a good time with this film, and would recommend a look toward horror fans / people who want an intriguing, unsettling time!
The Legend of Wasco (2015)
Underwhelming disappointment.
After meeting his new future brother-in-law, our main character, after now hearing an old legend, involving the town they live in, Wasco, decides to poke fun at the said legend, by taking pictures of himself, dressed as one of the three clown killers from the legend - only to resurrect said clowns, of which cursed the town, and swore their revenge. First off, this plot just didn't seem to make much sense. I found it unique, but not in a good way. Having killer clowns resurrect because of some pictures posted on social media? Really? The plot resolved nothing, building barely any story, and, or any character development. The entire plot just seemed really boring, and dull, as said before, it heads nowhere, and on top of that adds no real excitement, thrills, or really anything that'll have the audience entertained, only to throw us into boredom. Following that, the pacing of this film. The pacing was just really bad, in all honesty, we literally get pointless character convocations more than anything. It's true too, barely any of the constant chatter really mattered toward this film / toward the supposed town legend. It's as if the writers ran out of ideas, and decided to make this more of a drama than horror! It truly felt more like an MTV drama, rather than a clown themed horror film, as this film heavily seems to focus more on the characters bonding, rather than anything else. Moving on, through out this movie, we get some clown activity, but it's quite pointless. We literally see the clown run around killing completely random, thrown - in characters that we could literally care less about. Having the killer randomly thrown in kill scenes, with characters that we've never seen before is just random, and does nothing for the movie. Even with that, we barely see any on - screen kills, and the gore factor is practically at a complete 0, we get some syrup thrown about, but that's about it. However, an actual pro to point out. Around the end of this film, the gore / kills became decent. Finally, the characters we have to put up with are bad. Honestly, the actors of the main characters had their moments, but at points seemed to be all over the place with their executions. I personally felt as it, also, these characters were quite clichéd. We have the weak, yet faithful hero, the innocent, worried girl, and the tough, yet strong hearted guy with secrets. Sound familiar? They overall seemed clichéd, and their deliveries as actors were mixed bags, but in all honestly could've been so much worse.
In conclusion, sorry, by the way, if the review seemed a bit jumbled, this movie was puzzling to review; This film didn't succeed. As said before, this felt more like a drama, and not a horror. Almost all the decisions of this film resolved nothing, and added no suspense, and no thrills. The characters were clichéd, and even with that the film decides to randomly throw in characters that come in just to die, adding more pointlessness. The plot was odd, and not in a good way, once again resolving nothing, and shaping this film to be extremely hard to follow. There's barely any gore, and no on-screen kill excitement. Would I recommend this? No. I personally think you're better off seeing a better known film, because this wasn't great, becoming underwhelming, and headstrong disappointing.
Krampus (2015)
One successful horror / comedy that truly delivers!
A family, all together is huddled up at home with no electricity as a massive storm hits them. On Top of that, they now have the challenge of which they must fight off a supposed legend; Krampus and his helpers pick each off one, by one, leaving them to a fight for survival. First off, this will be a flat out good review regarding this film, along with it's small flaws of course. This one was successful, and succeeded in my high, hypothesis thoughts toward it. Firstly, I found this movies plot to be intriguing, and simply thrilling for the audience. We're put through a whole, white- knuckle situation of witnessing this family slowly await the arrival of Krampus, and his helpers. You sit in suspense, wondering who'll be next, or what Krampus and the others may possibly do next. This movie keeps it all a solid secret, only adding more successful suspense towards the audience. On top of that, the film keeps the audience entertained with some funny jokes, which are actually quite funny overall. The film keeps the conflicting feelings of both suspense, and dark - comedy at a 50/50, leading to an intriguing, overall plot design that keeps us entertained, thrilled, tying in a few laughs with comedically successful humor! Overall for the plot, it succeeds in something new towards the whole Krapmus legend, turning it into a more frightening, mythical - like way that, as said many times before, succeeds. For the characters we're given in this film, I personally found to be overly great. We're given a group of characters that present themselves in a parody - like way, comedically keeping up with it's Comedy - horror title. The characters aren't bad, clichéd, or really even hateful. We, as the audience grow to these characters, whether it's actual hope for them, or for the comedic hilariocity they uniquely carry. These characters stand out as unique, and play their roles in this entire movie simplistically. Same goes for the actors, these actors did an outstanding job playing their characters in a believable matter. Now for the more intriguing aspect, that being Krampus' appearance, as well as his helpers. Honestly, hats off for the design that was given for the film. This entire film, in regards of the appearances of the creatures were flat out fantastic. Krampus looked great, and overall, we actually see a good majority of him, unlike other films that just pass off small glimpses, we actually see a great portion of Krampus, overall looking, actually, quite creepy, and menacing. For his helpers, they lead to more of a comical aspect, a surprise I honestly quite liked. We're given these helpers that go for more comedy, rather than chills. Like Krampus, they looked great. And we get a great number of appearances from them. I must say, though, the one helper. The Jack - in the box, ( Not a spoiler, we see him throughout the trailer ) Was creepy, and the film only threw that out to us harder than it came. Finally, probably the only flaw I can even see in this film, the pacing. Although this film had decent, well pacing, I have to address this feeling; Around the final act of this film, it felt as if the entire movie decided to just throw everything straight at our face - It felt rushed. Everything, honestly, just blew by quite quickly, and felt off. But overall, that's probably the only, small flaw in this film.
In conclusion. Great actors / characters, great pacing, amazing visual effects, nothing looked cheesy, or too CGI filled, We're given a great plot design, as well as unique aspects, and to top it all off we're given an excellent blend of comedy, as well as horror. Although the small flaw of a rushed - feel toward the end, "Krampus" was a highly entertaining, chilling, and thrilling film that succeeded on many levels. I felt as if the writers, and directors did a simplistic job at this one. Definitely give this film a look. It's a great film - I'd even go as far as saying it's one of the best of 2015. And that's saying a lot - Highly recommended. Check it out, you'll have a blast!
Victor Frankenstein (2015)
Understandably not a totally strong "horror flick"; Victor Frankenstein, however, is a creative, likable, and fantastic movie.
We follow the story, mainly with Igor. Igor is taken in by Victor Frankenstein; His life flips upside down, they become a team, and we, the audience continue to follow the adventures, as well as embodiment of these two characters, as they both create a scientific breakthrough. Or in this case, reanimation. Honestly, I found this movie to be a little misspoken for. I can see where many were expecting non - stop occurrences with the reanimated creature we've all come to know and love. Before anything else of this review, there is little of that. But here's the thing, does that make this entire thing bad? No. This film was actually creative, and quite good. First off, I honestly love the charm, and creativity of this story. The entire execution of the film's telling of this entire tale, I found to be flawless. The entire telling fell within the amazing character chemistry between Igor, and Victor. Which, by the way, both Daniel Radcliffe, and James McAvoy had amazing chemistry together. You could watch, and feel the connection their characters, if that, actors shared together. The characters in this film, while on the topic, were all around great. I can't emphasize this enough, horror, if that, thriller's now, usually have unlikeable characters - But not here. This film has characters that you could actually bare with, characters that'll you'll grow to, and actually bond with, sharing feelings for their actions. Of course, however, you have a small collection of characters you grow to dislike, but of course by intend of the film itself. I personally found the entire, overall plot, and storyline to be charming. I found the rescue, and bonding of savior friendship between Igor, and Victor to be all around charming, and just flat out awesome. It thrills us, audience, while at the same time develop feelings for the characters. Moving to visual elements, first of all, I honestly loved the entire visual effects of this film. I felt as if it was beautiful, and succeeded in giving us a flat out, solid display of the Victorian era, or in other words steam-punk. It felt intriguing to look at, visual eye-candy as far as the eye can see, giving an attention - grabbing effect. The camera work compliments as well, giving us some pretty well placed shots of which show the action sequences, as well as the meaningful ones. Lastly. I honestly liked the creations. The re-animated figures looked distorted, something they're supposed to succeed at. It didn't look cheap, and honestly was great for the time they came around, with their grotesque features, not too gory, or disgusting, but at the same time not too light, or cheap.
In conclusion, this film succeeds in a pleasant surprise. Once again, I can see where people get disappointed, as we see barely any real "Frankenstein" or in this case, the reanimated monster, at least not as much as many may of expected. However, the film succeeded in dismissing that, as we're giving many succeeding elements, including stunning visual effects, great, likable characters. I fun, at the same time thrilling story, and an overall unique charm that doesn't disappoint. Although, as said before this wasn't a strong "horror" but for what it was, aside the dismiss of the appearances of monsters, this was a fun film, enjoyable, and over all fantastic. I'd highly recommend this one.
2 Bedroom 1 Bath (2014)
A horror movie with heart that sadly misses the mark.
A couple moves into a new apartment. As things seem normal at first, things turn for the worst as the couple begin uncovering sinister, past secrets. In all honesty, this horror film had heart. You get moments where you could just see how much heart, and emphasis the filmmakers attempted with this one, but in the wrong, non-unique direction.. First off, this film's plots been seen plenty of times before. We've seen the clichéd gimmick of a fresh, new couple moving into a place that's haunted. And with that, they'll see things, have nightmares, the mother will start acting weird, stuff like that. It's a highly clichéd plot gimmick we see plenty of times, this film just being another clone of said gimmick. The characters given, as well, are clichéd. With the plot, we've seen the gimmick of the innocent mother with her bad side when invoked, and the father of which uncovers all of this, only to anger the spirits in the house more. Even the background characters are clichéd. The doctor that suspects nothing, and remains completely oblivious, the neighbors that know something's up, and of course the older lady that knows it all, but says nothing, we've seen it all before. I honestly, however, didn't mind the acting. That's probably the only plus, as these clichéd characters have been horribly acted before, these actors held their grip, and executed well enough. For more negatives, however. The pacing in this film was just bad. I honestly didn't like it at all, the entire thing kicks off with one huge bang, then leaves the audience hanging with an extremely long, extremely boring flick. We get a few scares, here and there, but they don't pay off, and we're left sitting there wanting more, but in the end, it doesn't pay off until the very end, making the entire hour, and twenty or so minutes seem completely pointless. We barely get any paranormal activity, really. As said before, we get a scare, or glimpse here, and there. But does it resolve anything? No. It's pretty much just throwing the paranormal activity around pointlessly. And once again, as said before, nothing of said content is resolved, or unleashed until the final 10 minutes or so, Finally, the technical work was fine for what it was. This low budget film had some nice shots, and fine music audio. The only huge flaw in the topic is the audio of speech. There are points to where the audio completely cut off to pure silence as the characters transitioned from sound, to sound, which got slightly annoying as the issue wasn't fixed.
In conclusion. This film honestly disappoints. We're given a clichéd story, and clichéd characters. Nothing really happens for an entire hour, and we're left hanging, wanting more. Although the filmmakers had heart, and put their emphasis into this, they did it in a bad way, wasting their time on a highly clichéd plot, and storyline. For a low-budget film, it's technical work had flaws, but for the most part wasn't bad. But in the end.. sadly, this missed the mark. Nothing new was here, this entire movie, when looked into, was just another copy. I honestly wouldn't recommend this one. You'd just be seeing the same paranormal activity gimmick of which you've all probably seen beforehand.
Eaters (2015)
Atrocious on so many levels..
A group of these young friends, while on a road trip stumble into a biker gang. On their way to find one of their friends, after she's gone missing, they find themselves lured into a trap, now turning their nightmare into something more sinister as they come face, to face with the supposed "Eaters" One plain sentence can pretty much sum this entire movie up. What a load of crap. This movie was just.. terrible. To start off, the acting. The acting in this movie was absolutely atrocious, and words can't describe how painfully obvious it was that these "actors" had the slightest clue on how to act. Their line delivery was terrible, their reaction acting, as well was dreadful, and their all around delivery of their characters was God awful, and just painful to sit through. On Top of that, the characters they acted as were flat out, to the core, completely clichéd. You have your typical bunch of clichéd characters, at this point, you could literally care less about. This film just delivers the same copied group thrown into the same, boring situation, just another time. The entire plot of this film was mixed together with clichés, and to top that off, it was presented in the most atrocious of ways. You have the same, agonizingly old situation where a bunch of characters are stuck in the middle of nowhere, more specifically, the desert. And you have the same old situation where they're being hunter by killers. The only thing that this movie differs with, is an execution of the same exact cliché, only in a more agonizingly boring, and convolutely ugly way. The pacing in this movie just threw any interest out the window completely, as we have an unwanted mixed bag of which sends the storyline, overall to be a horribly slow, slow movie. We barely see these "Eaters" until the 30 minute mark of the film, even then, we barely really get to see them at all. The film makes itself even more pointless as we get barely ANY story whatsoever. We literally watch these strangers of characters be thrown with these strangers of killers. What makes matters even more worse is the budget. With such horrible elements of the film, we get the horrid elements with an even more horrid budget. The cinematography was atrocious, most of the shots couldn't even focus, making things look blurry. And for the most part, we get ugly shades of yellow throughout this entire film, making even the smallest of things look ugly, and simply unsettling, and not in the good way. And finally, the audio.. Half of this film, the audience struggles to hear what their trying to say as it pans in, and out constantly, making it not only frustrating, but angering, and annoying.
In conclusion.. what an atrocity. I can honestly say this is one of the worst, in not the worst horror films of 2015. Terrible, God awful acting, horrible elements, lazy writing, ugly technical work, and all around a jumbled mess of a supposed "film" I honestly can't recommend this under any circumstances, you're better off watching a high school film of a horror film, in all honesty, as this proves to just be another one of Lionsgate's dump films.
Condemned (2015)
Seriously?
A rich girl, due to the stress of her parents fighting decides to move in with her boyfriend, of which himself, and many others live in this abandoned, condemned apartment building. There are very little things I can laud to, after giving this movie a look. I honestly question what the heck these people ( The entire movie crew ) were thinking when looking at the entire storyline, plot, script, etc. The plot of this movie just completely knocks off "Quarantine" if not, "REC" AS it features the exact same elements of which draws these characters together, but this time presenting it in a more mindless way. The just resolves nothing, and adds little, to no story buildup making the fact that it's completely pointless more obvious than ever. The characters in this film .. seriously? We could literally care less about these given characters. We're given a collection of characters that are either flat out pointlessly disgusting, complete drug addicts, or characters that are literally just thrown in for the scenes of featured gore. The cinematography is just one large mixed bag of offerings, ranging from good, to just plain bad. Some shots were slow, and collective which paid off for the small majority of shots featuring said action we got, on the other hand, straight after that, the cinematography just became atrocious, flailing all over the place, featuring some ugly looking shots, and some shots that were just flat out ridiculous, in all honesty.
To wrap things completely up in a conclusion, here. I honestly have no idea what to say about this movie. This film was almost as bad as another horror film that I honestly couldn't stand, that being "The Sand" and that's saying something. Pointless actions left, and right were made throughout this entire movie, from the film cast, to the actors, even to the fake characters. The characters given were just atrocious, and honestly weren't delivering the supposed comedy in this "Comedy horror". This entire idea of having these characters together was a painfully obvious clone of "REC" and "Quarantine"; It's as if this is one of those films, but in a more stupid way. The acting in this film was just over done, and honestly didn't succeed in keeping the situations they were given. The source of which caused this infection, honestly, was just as mindless as this overall film is. I can honestly only say that a small portion of the cinematography was laudable, same goes for some of the gore here. Although it looked cheap, the gore gave a B movie vibe. Too bad I can't say this was an enjoyable B movie, this film I honestly can't recommend, and honestly. I can say this is one of the worst of 2015.
Isolation 119 (2015)
Interestingly weird; at the same time extremely difficult to follow..
Apparently this guy heads to Thailand in order to find out the reason on why his brother attempted suicide. Doing so he encounters this.. entity? The plot is honestly extremely confusing. The film attempts to build up a story, as well as a twist, but instead makes a very weird plot / story that honestly doesn't make any sense when broken down. The twist in this movie was very mediocre, and, again, didn't make any sense whatsoever, making this film even more confusing than it already started off to be. The characters in this film were literally just there to kill time. We get little, to absolutely no information, or depth with them at all. Some of the characters that showed up randomly at times literally didn't make any sense whatsoever, and just boost the theory of them being there just to kill time. The movie featured little, to no dialog the entire time, and when dialog is delivered, it didn't really make any difference, other than to serve the purpose toward getting these characters through the horrendously confusing situations they're put through. Some of the decisions of this film are just completely strange, and unexplainable. There's a scene where the film takes a "comedic" turn, giving us a montage - like scene on how to supposedly cut up a body?.. I truly have no idea, as the film just throws some of the most convoluted, most strange elements I've ever seen in a horror movie.
In conclusion.. wha? This movie is confusing on the most unbelievably strange levels. We have an unexplainable plot, executed in one of the weirdest ways I've ever really seen. The characters are never explained, and have absolutely no depth; at the same time doing some of the weirdest, and even stupidest of things. Guys, I understand this is a micro-budget film, and I can completely understand it's extremely hard. But the elements still apply, and there were literally none in this film. On Top of that, this is one of the strangest, if not, the strangest film encountered in 2015. And not in a good way. I don't recommend this film, there's too much damage to really say much good about this. This is a weird, extremely hard to follow horror film that doesn't make much sense at all.
Murder in the Dark (2013)
Intriguing murder mystery themed horror film!
A bunch of friends are heading to a ruin in the country, of which where they'll camp out for their vacation. They're adventure soon, however, turns for the absolute worse as they're friends, one by one get picked off by someone amongst themselves. The one thing they now must do is find out who it can be, and stop them. I personally think the plot was intriguing for what it was. You get the original, classic feelings from past murder mystery film plots, only this time in a more interesting, more unique setting. I found it extremely interesting how the film took a turn toward having the murder mystery horror plot take place in a secluded, abandoned environment. You have all these characters in one desolate environment where nobody really ever goes, around an area where barely anyone even lives. I found the given characters to be a bit stale. At Least how they were executed. Don't get me wrong, they weren't bad, but the film dose little, to no character development, and we don't exactly get to know anything important of these characters. At points they seemed just to be there, to be there. They're acting, actually, was quite good. I felt as if these actors, even with not much depth, played out their characters well, and delivered they're sequences of fright, terror, and suspense in a solid matter. The twist this film delivers was a hard hit. It felt as if we didn't exactly see it coming, at the same time, when it hits, we get that feeling to where we could of told who it was, when the twist finally unleashed, if that makes sense. The cinematography in this movie, I feel as if I should review a bit. It wasn't the best, in all honesty, there were parts the camera zoomed in way too much, other parts where shots seemed blurred, others where you only see half the characters faces, and some where it's being shaken around like some found footage film. I can understand this film wasn't too high of budget, but I felt as if the problem could have easily been avoided. Lastly, the gore in this movie I felt was great for what we got. We get some pretty good gore throughout the film, mostly around the end.
In the end, this wasn't the strongest "8 films to die for" installment, but does it make this film bad? Absolutely not. Despite its lack of character depth, slight clichés, and not so great cinematography, this film was enjoyable. The acting was great, and even though the characters aren't expressed with depth, they hold grip, and come out pretty decently. The gore in the film was pretty solid for what it was, giving us some scenes with great gore. The plot was classic - like, delivering a solid, and actually quite suspenseful murder mystery themed horror film; The suspense in the film was solid, white- knuckled tension. In conclusion, the film lacked a bit, but with it's pro's defeating it's cons, it turned itself into a pretty solid little horror flick. I'd honestly recommend it, even though this may not be Afterdarks best installment for 2015.