doughnutboy20 Reviews

Surviving Evil (2009)

Enjoying Evil

[7/10 · 29 October 2009]

What an excellent horror film!

Surviving Evil was original, gory and most of all fun. The film has received some unjust negative response on some sites (including this one) and though I agree that Surviving Evil might not be the best horror film ever made, it didn't stop me enjoying it.

Surviving Evil takes place entirely on a remote island in the Philippines, where after we see a tribe slaughtered by (at first) unknown creatures, we are introduced to a TV documentary crew who are there to film a wilderness survival special.

The acting was pretty good, with Billy Zane and Christina Cole being perfectly cast as the unwitting lovers who are stalked by baby loving, shape shifting, winged demons.

Filmed in South Africa with British and African money, Surviving Evil had no big production names working on it, very little publicity and was made with a rumoured small budget (not that you could tell from the end result).

In conclusion, Surviving Evil is an enjoyable thrill ride, with some very old fashioned music and some cracking special effects (A bit like a reworking of a classic adventure movie, except with more blood).

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Drag me to Hospital

[8/10 · 24 October 2009]

Holy **** I have just watched this and i'm still pretty vamped up, so please excuse my language.

But this film was so awesome and very, very scary (and i'm someone who doesn't really get that basic emotion anymore...especially with horror films).

So first off, Sam Raimi, i'd like to congratulate you on a job well done. Not only did Drag me to Hell work on all levels, it sent me to the hospital in the process (almost quite literally...bouncing around like billyo I was...I think I lost a nut...god knows what it would have been like to see it at the cinemas.) Right the film, well, the plot wasn't the most original, but it had originality injected into as it went along. The first 30 minutes of the film showed the most of this originality, for example the opening scene where the boy is dragged to hell (not many horrors dare kill a kid character...very frowned upon...tut tut...but they get round this by not introducing the character, another example of this would be Assault of Precinct 13 (the ice cream van scene) and the car scene later on are probably the biggest examples of this.

The constant body excrement and the summoning scene were also a nice touch, it reminded me a lot of The Evil Dead films actually (as was probably the purpose). The film seemed to go at a very fast pace, even though it was over 98 minutes long. This helped to build the story and show the turmoil of the lead character.

All the cast did well and were well placed to their characters (even though i've never really been a fan of Justin Long).

To summarise the movie was great and a true homage to it's horror roots. The big budget probably wasn't needed, but did not affect the film (Can't say that for some of the other horror movies churned out these days can we?).

Well done Sam and I look forward to seeing what you create next.

Legend of the Bog (2009)

Legend of the Lavatory

[2/10 · 15 September 2009]

Tut, tut, tut, oh Vinny what rubbish have you got yourself into now?

Well first off, I would just like to say that Vinny Jones does not deserve all of the harsh comments directed at this film (well let's face it he's not the sharpest tool in the box is he?), but I definitely think he should have said no to this little stinker.

The film started with a couple of ideas that weren't too bad, but ideas can't save a film with no story. Also choosing Vinny Jones to be the lead in you're movie, doesn't exactly spring Multi-million pound film to mind does it?

I liked the fact the movie was filmed in the place it was actually supposed to be set in, this is something you don't see enough today (Plus Ireland does have some lovely scenery).

The Bogman (if that's the right term) wasn't at all scary, though he might have been a good idea for a kids movie. The actors were surprisingly good (too good for this film anyway), but us as the audience didn't really empathise with the characters they played (probably because most of the characters had the annoying factor, this was probably their intention, but that only works for likable B movies i'm afraid), which is kind of important in a film like this.

Using English, American and Irish actors in the film was quite a clever move, they probably thought this would make it more appealable to all audiences and therefore make more money off it. Having the characters come together gradually was also clever, I like it when films do this, because it shows that all the characters had a life before the event, and not just the main character.

Although the ending was predictable and just added to the pointlessness of the film, I thought it could have been worse.

To summarise, the film was awful and judging by some of the reviews on this site alone, you'd have to go a long way to find someone to disagree with you on that.

Frayed (I) (2007)

I'm a Frayed I loved this movie!

[8/10 · 25 August 2009]

Well, when I realised the movie was coming out today, I had to write a review.

Movies like this remind me why I still buy/watch modern horror films, it was great. Compared to some of the other rubbish coming out today, this film is practically Oscar winning.

When I put this movie on earlier this year, i'd not heard really anything about it, apart from it was a horror film. I was pretty much under the impression that it would be a crappy, low budget movie, that would have me asleep in under 10 minutes. But apart from it being slightly under budget, I couldn't have been more wrong. The first 10 minutes you will either love or hate (well when I say love or hate, I mean, will think is essential to the film or not). In fact, the first 10 minutes could be why this film comes with the warning 'WARNING: THIS MOVIE CONTAINS ONE OF THE MOST BRUTALLY GRAPHIC SCENES EVER DEPICTED ON FILM'. If it is I would understand, but i'm pretty sure there are more violent films/scenes out there. Saying that it is pretty brutal, but it's only because the person doing it is a kid.

The next hour or so plays out a bit like a Halloween film, guy in a mask escapes from a nuthouse and kills everyone in his way. This isn't a bad thing, but might be why the film hasn't done as well as it could have. Anyway, the acting is good, the story is strong, there's lots of thrills and kills and best of all, it's as gory as hell.

The last 10 to 15 minutes will either be a great twist, a disappointment, or a bit obvious. For me it was a bit obvious, but I still enjoyed the film as a whole.

I highly recommend any true horror fan watches this film!

Train (I) (2008)

Hostel on a train

[6/10 · 23 August 2009]

Not a bad little horror really, if you want a horror with lots of gore and violence and not much in the way of story. Probably would be good for a night in with some beers and some mates.

The acting is good, I suppose for this sort of film. Thora Birch didn't make the film, but didn't ruin it either, so I suppose you can't ask much more than that from your lead.

Obviously darker than some other horror films out there, with many grisly deaths in the film, but at least you don't have to concentrate to hard.

To summarise, the pros out-way the cons and I have to give it a 6 out of 10. But I can't help but wonder, if it had turned a bit more away from the whole Hostel type image, the film might of been a cult cracker.

But was still good and very, very violent (but no reason to try and censor it Lionsgate).

Black Christmas (2006)

A classic in its own right!

[10/10 · 21 May 2009]

This remake of Black Christmas was fantastic!

Where do I begin? well...

It had everything the original had and more, apart from the classic Billy!! phone scene. Which they would have never used anyway, because its part of what made the original great (they probably won't have got away with putting it in anyway). Yes I know you can't have Black Christmas without the phone scene (I thought that at first), but it does work for this film. Anyway that's the only criticism out of the way.

Firstly the cast, I hadn't really seen any of the cast before. On the DVD cover, it said that one of the actresses was in 'When a Stranger Calls' and another was in 'Grindhouse'. Not that i'd recognised them, and probably wouldn't if I saw them again. But the point is, all the cast were great. I liked how all the characters were very different and how you couldn't really tell who was supposed to be the main character (AT ALL!) That really kept you guessing till the end, because you couldn't really figure out who was going to get it next. Where as in most of these films, you figure out who the main character is within two seconds of starting the film (I suppose thats why you pick nobody's.

The story was interesting and different, not just regurgitated the original story with special effects, which you see a lot today. The idea of a ringer was circled around a lot in the film, but with so many suspects, it worked. Then to find out it was him and his sister Agnes, was a great twist. The flashbacks were a clever addition to the film as well, Showing how he grew up and what made him like that. Plus also managing to get the 'BILLY' phrase into the film, by showing where it originated from (his mother saying it to him). I also find that with the flashbacks the film was explained much more, which you never really got with the first one (a sort of prequel and remake in one.)

The film had much more gore than the first film, with some very gruesome special effects. But this just adds to what you get this film for. The ending was clearly well thought out, for it having so many alternative endings. I think they choose the right one in the end (though they were all good and interesting to watch), because this film tend to focus more on the Agnus side of things and fitted better to the film.

All in all this may not be Oscar winning material, but it certainly is a masterpiece of horror (one of my favourite horror films anyway)and a credit to the original film.