A Horrible Way To Die – I wasn’t expecting to like this serial killer movie quite as much as I did. Days later though the movie still played through my mind. Bleak, despairing and violent in places, this removes any glamor or coolness that is so often in these kinds of movies. Outstanding performances from the cast, a cracking score and an excellent script all gelled together to create what is now one of my favorite horror flicks. Continue reading »
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I was fortunate that I caught Insidious at the theater back in April; I was slightly less fortunate that it was in a theater full of screaming kids. Still, it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the movie and I was eager to see it again. Would it be as effective, read that as scary, as the first time round? Would I even enjoy it on a second viewing? Well you can rest assured the answer to both is a resounding yes. Not many movies make the hairs on my legs stand up, it is one creepy movie.
The story is based around the Lambert family who has recently moved into a new house. Items soon start to get misplaced Continue reading »
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Before I go any further I just want to clarify a couple of things. First is that yes this is an Uwe Boll film, and secondly it is the second sequel to the video game adaptation of Uwe Boll’s 2005 flick BloodRayne. This will either fill you with dread or you will be eager to see what the Teutonic tour-de-force has come up with this time around. Well, I will tell you straight off the bat that this is a real mixed bag of tricks. No, it’s not a very good movie but it does have a couple of things going for it. More on those later though.
The story this time around is that Vampires are common place in World War 2 Europe. So much so that Rayne Continue reading »
Theatrical Poster
Due to reasons that I won’t go into I ended up watching Kidnapped, Secuestrados in its native Spain, in two parts. When sitting down to watch the final 20 minutes or so I warned my wife that it apparently gets quite harsh so she may not like what happens. Needless to say it did and she didn’t. Kidnapping certainly packs one hell of a punch.
On the surface Kidnapped could be viewed as just another home invasion style movie, and truth be known it is a home invasion flick. A Spanish couple and their daughter move to a new house, and everything is going smoothly aside from the odd glitch which is bound to happen upon arriving at your new house. Before the night is over though three men break into the house and take Continue reading »
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Director Dennis Gansel’s previous movie was the flawed, yet still very enjoyable, vampire flick We Are The Night (Wie Sind Die Nacht). Now, whereas that movie was rooted firmly in the realms of the fantastical, as to my knowledge there aren’t vampires swanning around Berlin at the moment (although I could be wrong), The Wave has its feet firmly placed in modern day reality. The story may seem slightly outlandish but it is based on a novel which takes its cues from an actual experiment performed in 1967.
Set in a German high school in western Germany, although filmed near Berlin, The Wave follows rebellious school Continue reading »
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Vampires, it would seem, are no longer what they used to be. Actually that’s not true at all. Thanks to a certain franchise they have been dragged kicking and screaming into the mainstream, and devoured by a bloodthirsty public that are seemingly happy with whiny vampires. Fair play to them, they are what they are.
For me though vampires have always been a charming yet vicious breed. Growing up with Christopher Lee’s Dracula and Salem’s Lot and then later on Fright Night’s Jerry Dandridge (soon to be Farrellized in the remake), The Lost Boys and Near Dark. These were killers whichever way you sliced them Continue reading »
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My introduction to the force that is Donnie Yen was through the quite excellent Kill Zone from 2005. That movie also starred the deceptively agile Sammo Hung as well as Simon Yam, both of whom feature to varying degrees in this sequel to the 2008 flick Ip Man. With these three stellar actors together you could well expect fireworks, at least in the action department. Well rest assured my good friends they, along with director Wilson Yip (who also directed the aforementioned Kill Zone), do deliver big time.
Ip Man, who is played with wonderful subtlety by Yen, has set up home in British ruled Hong Kong and is looking to start up a school teaching his own style of Kung-Fu. The style he teaches Continue reading »
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The Spanish flick [REC] (2007) was a quite incredible movie. It seemingly came from out of nowhere and managed to achieve quite an amazing feat, it took both the Zombie and Cinema Verite sub-genre’s of horror, gave them both a firm kick in the Khyber pass and breathed some well needed life into them. Admittedly the Zombie sub-genre was the biggest culprit of the two, with a seemingly endless barrage of movies which for the most part had about as much life as their subject matter. It also managed to get itself remade in the States as Quarantine, which as remakes go wasn’t at all bad, which was partly due to the fact it was an almost shot for shot remake Continue reading »
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The rape/revenge sub-genre is a strange beast, one that has always courted controversy. Movies such as I Spit on Your Grave, Ms.45 and Thriller: They Call Her One Eye, from the 70s and 80s, up to more recent efforts such as Torched or the big budget remake of The Last House on the Left. Are they purely exploitation? Or do they somehow bring a sense of empowerment with the inevitable revenge? Well, that’s not really for me to say, as I think each person takes away something different from each movie they watch. I’ll just try and stick to whether the movie is good or bad, or neither as the case may be.
All that rambling brings me to director Joseph Guzman’s addition to this controversial little corner of cinema. With a title like Run! Bitch Run! it will have Continue reading »
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Within seconds of this movie starting a freakish looking girl gets her head peeled by a disembodied skull. If that doesn’t make you want to see more of this then you are probably already dead. Either that or warped over the top Japanese splatter isn’t your cup of tea. This opening scene sets the tone for the entire movie which gets more and more outrageous the further it goes. But really, what do you expect from a movie from a movie with this title?
To break the plot down would take far too long to go into detail, something I try to avoid anyway, as there is so much going on at any one time. However, the general jist of it is that Japanese Continue reading »
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When it comes to exciting new releases in the world of cinema it seems that Korea is right up there with the best of them. Year after year we are treated to wonderful movies that just demand to be seen. From the Vengeance trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance) and Memories of Murder kicking the thriller genre in the ass through to movies such as A Tale of Two Sisters which is an incredibly good horror movie, there always seems to be something coming that demands to be seen. I will admit to not having seen more recent releases such as Mother or I Saw the Devil, but I know I will and I fully expect to enjoy them. Even the slightly less impressive movies such as Death Bell Continue reading »
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I remember the excitement surrounding the trailer of Machete that screened on the Grindhouse release. Of course the movie didn’t actually exist at that time, but the trailer was cooler than an Eskimo’s dog dragging its nuts on the snow. When the movie did eventually see the light of day I have to admit that I was thoroughly underwhelmed. I mean, it was cool and had some great moments, it just didn’t grab me in the way I had hoped it would.
Hobo with a Shotgun had very similar origins, with a trailer for a movie that didn’t exist screening with Canadian screenings of Grindhouse. Now whereas the actors that appeared in the Machete trailer also starred in the movie, Hobo with a Shotgun Continue reading »
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