glennondaniel Reviews

Salvage (I) (2009)

A small and scary gem

[9/10 · 30 August 2009]

I caught this little gem at FrightFest and absolutely loved it, one of the absolute highlights of the festival.

Working on what was apparently a limited budget, director Lawrence Gough and his team have done a tremendous job delivering a well acted and shot little suspenser that firmly places strong characterisations and performances ahead of cheap shocks. That said, it does deliver its fair share of scares and is almost unbearably tense in places.

I don't want to say anything about the plot as you will enjoy the film more going in with little prior knowledge. Suffice to say, the script cleverly (though without being heavy handed) works in some Romero-style prescient social commentary and compelling political debate. In fact, in the early stages it resembles a UK-set Crazies remake, before the plot takes a late and effective change in direction.

If you like intelligent horror films, I recommend seeking this out, particularly if you can find a cinema screening.

It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006)

A fun clever adult teen rom com

[8/10 · 26 October 2006]

After reading the synopsis of the film my hopes were not high. It sounded like a cross between the awful The Girl Next Door and the (plot overused) Freaky Friday.

I was very pleasantly surprised. This is the best teen film I've seen since Mean Girls. The script takes a shop worn plot and enlivens it with decidedly adult jokes that will push it firmly into R rated territory. It also manages to entwine several teen movie clichés - the former enemies falling in love, climactic ball game where the "hero" saves the day, prom night fantasy, first love - and makes it work in a way that seems fresh.

The film would not work if it were not for the gifted comic playing of Samaire Armstrong and particularly the lovely Kevin Zegers. Zegers proved he had acting chops beyond his good (and my they are good) looks in Transamerica and here he proves himself a talented and versatile physical comedian.

Even Sharon Osbourne, admittedly in an undemanding supporting role, is pretty good.

This is perfect fluffy date movie stuff with a bit more bite than the average. Anyone who loved NEVER BEEN KISSED will love this.

Isolation (2005)

Claustrophobic and suspenseful eco-horror

[8/10 · 26 August 2006]

Billy O'Brien's excellent ecologically themed horror is a measured, carefully paced and excellently judged picture featuring bags of sweaty suspense and a few good jolts. The film is further boosted by some strong performances from John Lynch and Sean Harris.

The film is particularly effective in evoking the atmosphere of subsistence rural life - one can virtually smell the slurry pits and manure. Uncomfortable memories of the UK's foot and mouth crisis surface as the farm location is quarantined and cow carcasses are torched.

It is certainly a challenge to make cows scary - but this does a better job than The Dark. Bob Keen's sparingly glimpsed monster effects are reminiscent of those seen in Cronenberg's Existenz, particularly the scene in that film's Chinese restaurant. His team also did an excellent job on the cow and calf effects.

Overall a terrific little terror picture that deserves wide exposure.

Severance (2006)

Funny, scary, clever and even moving

[9/10 · 24 August 2006]

I was a big fan of Chris Smith's previous film Creep and had heard this was even better so I had high expectations going in. They were completely surpassed by this superlative slice of hilarious horror action.

The way the film combines humour and horror is skilled and the script is smarter than average for the genre. The film works better as a comedy and there are some absolutely precious comedy moments that I won't detail here as I don't want to spoil any of them. Suffice to say that the audience were busily quoting them and some of the better of the fantastic lines of dialogue after the screening. I feel people will be quoting some of these lines for years!

On a more serious note, there are some seriously scary scenes in the picture and even a couple of deaths of some of the more sympathetic characters that are actually quite moving.

The cast is also perfect, none of them put a foot wrong. Laura Harris completely kicks ass as the heroine.

I sorta want to see a sequel but heaven knows where they'd go with it.

Overall, I loved the film - it's made by a writer and director who are genuine horror fans and it shows. They're also both very talented.

Claustrophobia (2003)

I was pleasantly surprised

[7/10 · 9 July 2006]

My expectations were pretty low for this film but I was attracted by the fact that Melanie Lynskey was in the cast. When it started it was obviously very low budget, but it was actually very tautly directed with some great scares and strong performances from the female leads.

Horroe fans hoping for gore may be a little disappointed but there are some savage moments.

Overall, this shouldn't have worked - the plot is thoroughly pedestrian, the budget is low and it looks like it was filmed on a home video camera. I've never found footsteps on a roof so scary!

Ignore the low scores here and give this one a go!

The Bone Snatcher (2003)

Surprisingly good!

[8/10 · 10 June 2006]

Just watched this and was really surprised by how good it was. I'm really surprised by the low rating and negative comments on the IMDb. The creature effects were completely ace and the lead actor was totally hot. I'm gonna buy this on DVD. The scenery, photography and soundtrack were good enough to feature in a major studio production and the CGI effects were used sparingly and effectively.

It did fall apart a little at the end when it seemed the film makers had boxed themselves into a corner and didn't know how to end their film and I didn't like the set up for a sequel ending.

Overall though this was a good old-fashioned monster b-movie directed with some skill and was genuinely scary in places.

My rating: 8

Serenity (2005)

My favourite film of the year

[10/10 · 12 October 2005]

I was so nervous going into this film - as a Firefly and Whedon fan would it live up to my high expectations? how could it draw in newcomers to the Firefly 'verse and satisfy fans? I needn't have worried - this is the most exciting film of the year (and that's a year that included new films by George Romero, David Cronenberg and 2 from Tim Burton, as well as Wolf Creek). The film starts in enormously playful mood but gets progressively darker until by the end I was traumatised by what the beloved characters had gone through. The final half hour was so exciting I was sweating like a pig! Also, the performances by the regular cast were amazing, even actors like Sean Maher and Gina Torres who were a little mediocre in the show were fantastic. What the creative team have achieved with a relatively tight budget is phenomenal. Go see!