alucardvenom Reviews

Overlord (2018)

Modern Naziexploitation meets Wolfenstein

[5/10 · 12 May 2023]

"Overlord" is fun movie overall, it doesn't really push any new grounds, it plays pretty safe, however what it does it does somewhat well. It's D-day and small group of Allied soldiers is sent to sabotage radio tower to prevent Germans from alarming of incoming invasion, however soon they found secret Nazi lab that's performing experiments to make "Hitler's thousand years (Uber soldier) army".

It mixes war genre with SF and horror, and when it comes to action\war movies, there are couple of well shot and well choreographed scenes. Horror on the other hand is kind of just out there, it doesn't really try to go for the scares but rather uses some violence and gore but never fully indulges into it.

Overall good cast, great visuals, script could have been bit more polished but it's closest thing we will get to Wolfenstein movie, where WW2 historical events unfold with SF horror twist.

Characters aren't really deep, we get somewhat generic cast of characters: evil Nazi officer who's evil just for sake of being main antagonist, US\UK corporal who's all about mission, war photographer dork, token black guy, etc. French actress Mathilde Ollivier's character is your only female character and serves as great eye-candy, however she doesn't really go beyond that much like rest of the cast.

Oh, Iain De Caestecker of Agents of Shield show up for glorified cameo, in somewhat waste of his talents and Wyatt Russell plays tough guy. Again.

Overall, entertaining if you know what you're going into.

Smile (V) (2022)

Good production, seen-before-plot

[6/10 · 16 November 2022]

I have not heard of all that "hype" about "Smile" that some people claim, a friend of mine asked me to go check it out because he's seen trailer for "Smile" during one of his theater previews and the thought it might be good. So we checked it out.

Plot isn't really that original or great, it has very similar plot to "It Follows" where main character gets talked by unseen entity that plagues her everyday life, all up to somewhat unsatisfying and somewhat generic ending.

However, what "Smile" does have is some nice direction and good production, goes for unsettling atmosphere and mood much like "It Follow" however it wants to be more gritty then experimental dream like "It Follows". It starts out good and strong but somewhat drags in the middle because of repetition of it's set-pieces, and it has somewhat generic and unsatisfying ending, however I am willing to give it a pass because ending to plot like this can really be tough to pull off right even for some horror veterans (most notably for example Stephen King, who is known to have hit or miss endings to his novels)

I give it "6" mostly for it's production and solid direction and surprisingly good acting for this type of movie, despite not-so-original plot. "Smile" does hit all of the notes for horror movie, however it doesn't really push any new ground or at least tries to be experimental like it's "It follows" counterpart, so it's solid production values are kinda wasted on generic Blumhouse-type horror movie.

Urban Legend (2022– )

Dull...

[3/10 · 6 November 2022]

I love urban legends, so I decided to give this one a try, despite being produced and created by "master" Eli Roth (arguably one of the worst well known horror directors)

While episodes were not directed by Eli, show has his prints all over them, starting with dull uninteresting direction, terrible pacing and dialogues that only Eli Roth can deliver.

So far I've seen two episodes, "The Red Room" and "The bite" and both were equally dull, boring and drawn out, in particular "The Bite" felt like I was watching two hour movie, when each episode is around 35 minutes long.

Acting is wooden and stiff, but this might be more related to poor direction, especially in "The Bite".

Terrified (2017)

Took me too long to see it...

[7/10 · 3 August 2021]

"Aterrados" or "Terrified" in international translation is well crafted horror movie about haunted, well area of neighborhood.

It was bit hard to track this movie down to actually watch it for me since I don't live in USA, but it was worth it. Does it break any new grounds? Not really. It's your typical haunted house stuff and cops and paranormal investigator are there to solve the crime, however "Aterrados" is really well crafted and very tense horror movie. It has really good pace so it never becomes dull or felt at halt and couple of scenes are really well made and tense. 90 minutes run very fast. There are no real jumpscares, only 2-3 of them and they are well deserved because of proper build up, rest is well crafted tense scenes.

Overall, I recommend this if you are lover of horror genre. It's just a shame t hat this is bit hard to track down if you are outside USA.

Deliver Us from Evil (I) (2014)

OK horror-thriller

[6/10 · 13 July 2021]

After success of "Exorcism of Emily Rose" and "Sinister", Scott Derrickson attempts to deliver his version of grounded horror movie "Deliver Us from Evil".

It's not too original, we've seen this type of plot before: there are murders happening in town and the more local detective attempts to solve them, the more is revealed that murder is supernatural, in this case, possessed by evil spirit.

However, much like all preview Derrickson movies, it's fairly well crafted, alto for my taste, cinematography was bit too dark in couple of scenes, but it seems to be active choice by crew to present New York as more gritty.

Acting was fairly solid from most of the cast and crew, plot was bit slow burner but I don't mind those types of movies, and climax where exorcism happen was fairly well made and tense.

Some other "critics" saying it's not horror and that director "didn't know what he wants" are laughable. It's just slow burn horror movie that never really goes over the top with hundreds of jump scares. If you liked other Derrickson movies, you'll probably like this one.

You won't be missing much if you didn't or do not see it, but if you catch it one night on tv before sleep, sure, why not? It will probably be better then 90% of other horror movies on TV (which are usually cheap dtv movies)

Within (2016)

Dull and unoriginal much like it's title.

[3/10 · 3 May 2021]

If "The Boy" is about Lauren Cohen walking around in her underwear while some dude lives inside her house crawlspace, "Crawlspace" (or "Within") is about Erin Moriarty sleeping in her underwear and some dude living inside her crawlspace.

That's about it. I lost count how many of the exact same movie plot Hollywood can recycle.

Hereditary (2018)

I am worried about the state of horror...

[3/10 · 16 August 2018]

As a long time horror fan I am worried about the state of horror if "Hereditary" is considered to be "one of the best horror movies in XZY decades".

I am not too hard to please when it comes to horror movies, I enjoy bad horror movies equally as great ones, and when I finally got a chance to see Hereditary I went to see it with an open mind.

Movie started well with some really nice scene transition so I had my hopes up. "These people know what they are doing" I thought to myself. Turns out, while production looked really nice, with few well directed scenes, screenplay and pace were horrible. We are treated with family drama for about 3/4 of the movie with last half an hour being mash of horror scenes. This could work if pace was better and we didn't have to watch long monologues by a lead actress. She did her part well and she literally carries the entire movie, but after second 10 minutes long monologue where I see nothing but her face, my tolerance for her and her character has dropped significantly.

Once the horror actually starts, it does get from bad to worse, but as someone who has watched dozens of horror movies I could easily spot "homages" (or if you want to call them ripoffs) of scenes from plenty of other horror movies, mainly Conjuring, Exorcist 3 and The Sentinel.

Ending is really messy and looks like it was made on spot. It wants to be intelligent, but once you break down the scene you'll realize that someone watched The Conjuring on Monday, Exorcist 3 on Thursday, and watched The Sentinel on Wednesday.

Another problem is pace. Some scenes just drag on and on without real reason. I understand that director wanted to establish some atmosphere, however he isn't good at staging suspense so lot of scenes just drag on. Add in that some of those scenes don't really have strong payoff and you get long badly paced scenes with no real plot progression.

Some characters just show up and wonder off the movie. I nearly forgot that one such character is even in the movie until he showed up to be cannon fodder. It was supposed to be emotional and horrifying but since we know so little about him it becomes a bad joke.

I really don't know how anyone could by into hype. Did bunch of people just said "It's great!" without even seeing it, or bars for horror are so low these days that we consider cinematic mess like Hereditary and Insidious to be called "greatest of XYZ"?

Don't Knock Twice (2016)

Don't Watch Me Twice

[3/10 · 4 April 2017]

"Don't Knock Twice" is your typical horror movie about kids who should know that urban legend usually turns out to be true (at least in horror movies).

Every town has a local legend, like they always do in these horror movies, and town in "Don't Knock Twice". An old woman was believed to be a witch and she was accessed of kidnapping kids. After police found out about her crimes, she committed suicide and now everyone know knocks on her doors will cause her to come back from the grave and collect you for her master (demon\devil).

An like in every horror movie, our teens don't believe in local legend and knock on old lady's door, and strange things start to happen.

Lucy Boynton plays the lead girl, who is disturbed young girl. After her friend is murdered by the old witch, she goes to her estranged mother's house, believing she's safe there, but as it turns out, the witch has only started.

"Don't Knock Twice" had some solid ideas, but the script is filled with your cliché "cat-jumps-out-the-garbage-can" scenes, which weren't well directed. There are few moments where director Caradog W. James could have taken advantage of the script, but failed to do so. There was no proper setup to any of the scares and even jump scares, leaving movie to be dry for those few minutes. There were few OK moments, which probably looked good on paper, but somehow they always missed that "it" factor to be creepy or scary.

Katee Sackhoff plays the mother, but she's "so-so" in this movie, mostly because her character is clichéd (she's artist who's also ex- junkie, need I say more?). Katee is trying to portray some emotions, but it's not her fault that her character is dry.

And on the final note, "Don't Knock Twice" suffers from lack of focus. It's not sure where it wants to go plot-wise, so most likely audiences would lose interest around 3rd act... and of course be prepared for "shocking" Shyamalan-like twist at the end that doesn't make much sense, but hey, they had to have twist ending. Shyamalan would be proud.

"Don't Knock Twice" is about average horror movie, not good, yet not too bad either, and you'll probably enjoy it if you've never watched a horror movie or you're casual audience. If you're horror fan you probably won't enjoy it as much, as you have already seen this kind of a movie one too many times and probably done much better.

The Sand (2015)

SBiG, should have been the short

[3/10 · 27 December 2015]

Let's make no mistake, I didn't expect movie with the title "The Sand" to be masterpiece, just a rather cheap dumb horror movie.

And "The Sand" is exactly like that. I did like the premise of "something is in the sand", because it reminded me of those 50s horror-SF movies, even the premise is hard to take seriously. (but hey, that's why so many of us love these movies).

"The Sand" isn't a masterpiece of course, nor is it a good horror movie, but it offers some level of entertainment. The main premise is more or less one you saw in "Blood Beach" or one of those segments of "Creepshow 2" where characters are stuck on raft. "The Sand" plays the same: characters are stuck while the sand around them literally tries to devour them, or at least something that's in the sand.

Acting is sorta descent for this type of movie. I am unfamiliar with actors, but considering what the premise has and some of the stupid dialogue they had to say, it's a miracle how much they are selling the impossible situation they are stuck in. Speaking of characters, there's nothing special, they are your usual horror cannon fodder, except the two characters: the fat black guy who's stuck in trash bin for the entire movie and the "oblivious to everything" cop. Of course, he dies too for being cop in a horror movie. Surprised?

My main complaint is use of CGI gore effects. Movie should have stick to practical effects, but instead we get some obvious terrible CGI gore. Note to any filmmaker there who wants to make monster movie (because this is essentially one): Do practical FX and show the monster. No matter how cheap or bad looking it is, everyone's come to see it and the worst thing is if you grace us with CGI and no monster. No matter how bad practical FX and makeup might look, you'll get points from monster movie lovers for having courage to show and push it in front of us. It's sole reason why we come to see those monster movies.

And other major complaint is that, much like "Zombievers" this one runs out of steam around the half. One running joke. If it was 30-40 minute short movie, it would have been a much better movie.

Syngenor (1990)

Movie that probably makes a better trailer

[3/10 · 4 November 2015]

I love cheap creature feature or monster movies. I really do, no matter how cheap they are as long as they are entertaining.

"Syngenor" wasn't. It started out OK but as the movie went on I find myself paying less and less attention to the screen. Creature design is interesting and cool looking, but that's probably the most interesting about the movie.

I wouldn't complain too much about acting, because I didn't really expect some excellent performances in these kind of movie, but David Gale really went over-the-top even more then his usual self.

What I find really funny is monster concept itself. It's suppose to be indestructible bio-engineered super-soldier that's half machine, half organic, that can reproduce itself every 24h that would replace American soldiers on the battlefield. Yet, creature seems to easily goes down by shotgun-to-the-face and water!? I find that incredibly funny, because for a super-soldier it has two major weaknesses: firearms and water.

A semi-sequel to cult movie "Scared to Death" from early '80s, but you can watch it as stand alone movie.

"Synapse" released this on DVD (along with it's mother movie), which has some bonus features. So if it's your coup of tea, go for it, but I think "Syngenor" makes a better trailer then a movie.

Deadly Manor (1990)

Dark Manor of People Walking

[3/10 · 19 October 2015]

This came out when slasher genre has already been dead. Even in around mid 80s you couldn't be taken seriously if you made a slasher movie.

So how does this little Spanish movie holds up? While it's one of your "group of teens go into abandoned house then get killed off one by one", it does not strictly follows it's American slasher counterparts. The European, more specifically Spanish school is presented there, so movie itself plays out more like a mystery then slasher movie. There's old car husk setup as shrine, coffins in the basement and pictures\photos of some girl all over the house.

For about first hour of the movie, you are really not given anything, it's just characters walking around the "old doom mansion". It's the stuff we learned to endure during 80s movies, but at least they had some shock or jump scares (or few kills in between), but "Deadly Manor" simply does not have any of those. It's just characters (literally!) walking around the manor to pad out running time. While some might argue that movie is trying to setup atmosphere (which in fact does more or less), scenes are too dark to see anything. In some scenes, movie goes pitch-black dark which is quite a problem, which is a shame, since location isn't too terrible.

Once movie finally get's it's "game", when the killing starts, they aren't too impressive: with some minor cuts it could easily play on late night TV. In fact, movies plays almost like TV movie. Another problem is that if you somehow "survive" first hour of the movie, you probably want be too interested in last 20 minutes and you'll just want it to be over. Acting is quite campy (it looks like it was post-production dub even tho movie was filmed in English to save few bucks). When the killer is finally revealed, it's one of those moments when over the top acting hits in. One or two sex scenes, otherwise, no other nudity.

It's not too bad, final 20 minutes of the movie kinda made it more enjoyable, location is quite good and there's some atmosphere thanks to that, but it's really a movie about people walking around dark manor for first hour of the movie (and half of the time you'll have no idea who's where and what's going on on screen due to bad lightning). Characters are not annoying, which is kinda refreshing.

Deathgasm (2015)

Metal meets Evil Dead 2

[8/10 · 2 October 2015]

I've waited for this movie since it was announced. Then I saw the trailer which looked like movie is gonna be gory flick that doesn't take itself too seriously, while metal music plays in background... and movie is exactly that.

"Deathgasm" while not taking itself too seriously, it still hits all the marks of what made other horror-comedies like Evil Dead 2 and Braindead great. It has style, it has life, and enough gore to satisfy even hardcore horror fans. Story follows group of metalhead losers who accidentally play some "devil's music" which in fact is a summoning tune to some Arch Demon, and as rest of the people in town are turning into demons, it's up to our "losers" to save the world.

The Demons resemble Deadites from Evil Dead 2, which this movie clearly pays homage to among other several horror movies (most notable, Braindead). There's also a lot of dark humor and while some scenes do go crazy with gore, it never really gets over-the-top. It's all in good fun.

Screenplay itself pokes fun at metalhead stereotypes, with characters reacting to certain events with lines like "Brutal!" or "Metal!" (little nod to Metalocalypse). Production is rather good, much better then you would expect from this type of movie, and overall it looks lot more expensive then it's budget.

Some minor problems here and there (climax could have been a bit better), but nothing too troubling.

One of the best horror-comedies in a while, and if you love your metal and your horror, check it out.

Starry Eyes (2014)

Rosemary's Baby for Saw generation

[4/10 · 20 March 2015]

I've heard "Starry Eyes" was one of the best horror movies last year. So of course I give it a chance, even tho I am highly skeptical about modern horror movies... and I wasn't wrong.

It starts out OK, but it goes downhill around the second half. Whatever mystery build up movie try to had (even tho it's not a huge mystery, if you've seen few horror movies of this type, you can easily recognize where movie is going) but all mystery is replaced by just lot of special effects and shock\gross horror. Guess we had to please modern audiences who love their Hostel in order not to bore them. Movie loses all emotional impact (little that it has) because it's lost in special effects and you're really not watching characters anymore, just special effects.

It's also too ambitious and trying to be too smart, while it's really something you have seen dozens of time with little to no originality if you have seen your share of horror movies. You know movie has problems when you are watching it and start thinking about other, lot better movie that the movie you are watching borrows scenes or ideas from. It's never a good sign.

I know horror genre is in problem for the last few years, but really horror fans, is genre so low now that we have to call every "slightly above average" movie "best horror of "that" year"?

but hey, if you're into Rosemary's Baby meets Saw, go for it. I know I would rather watch Rosemary's Baby or even earlier Cronenberg movies, because you really can't have "satanic cult" and "body horror" movie without comparing it with those two.

Lifeforce (1985)

Different kind of Tobe Hooper

[6/10 · 11 November 2014]

I remember watching "Lifeforce" one night on TV when I was a kid, and for the life of me I couldn't remember the title. Then by accident I discovered it was "Lifeforce" and directed by none other then Tobe Hooper (to my shock).

"Lifeforce" is a movie based on a novel by Colin Wilson, that got screenplay treatment by Dan O'Bannon, fresh from his success of Alien (and heavily underrated Dead & Buried). Directed by Tobe Hooper, maker of legendary Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

"Lifeforce" is a very different take then your usual Tobe, who often made low budget horror movies that usually had dirty and gritty tone (TCM, Eaten Alive), and some less glossy movies like "The Funhouse", usually involving around serial killers at the time (excluding high budget supernatural Poltergeist)

I found this movie interesting simply because of that. It's rather glossy, with wide range of special effects which fairly hold up even by today standards (some outdated of course, but still descent). Color pallet is switched to colorful instead of usual brownish\gray in other Tobe Hooper's movies (like two mentioned above).

Story itself? While it's a silly, and even absurd at times, movie still has lot of fun and heart in it, because while Tobe might have silly script, he was still trying to make a proper horror film. Not lot of suspense, but it's likable that movie tries to generate some sense of upcoming doom for it's character and citizen of England. Some nice looking and nightmarish visual imagery, especially toward the end.

Don't think too much about it, just let yourself and enjoy. It's a silly fun and entertaining movie. It's kinda like something that was suppose to be made in '50s but instead ended up being made in '80s. At first I thought it had to be remake of some '50s forgotten classic, but nope, it wasn't.

Acting ranges from good to bad (funny bad), depending on actors, but who can say no to naked Mathilda May in every scene she's in? She's totally gorgeous... and naked!

These Final Hours (2013)

Beautiful film with powerful message

[8/10 · 8 November 2014]

Not knowing anything about it, I decided to check "These final hours", and I am glad I did.

It's a rather powerful drama about the end of the world. Meteorite had hit North America and firestorm is spreading from there, destroying most of the world. Australia only has few hours left before firestorm finally hits it's territory, destroying entire world completely.

Movie fallows James, a man with troubled past, man filled with loneliness and emptiness in his life. He is accompanied with little girl looking for her dad. What fallows is series of event that eventually lead James on the path of his own redemption and realization of what wrongs he did in his life, but, as time is running out, he races with time (or firestorm) to right the wrongs of his life, or at least some of them.

There could be some theories why he picks up little girl, but it's most likely that his "fatherhood" instinct kicks in after saving little girl Rose, since at the beginning of the movie we find out that his girlfriend is pregnant, and since world will end in just a few hours, Rose ends up being his surrogate daughter.

It should be noted that while movie deals with apocalyptic theme, it also gives a fair amount of hope for viewers as well as it's characters, via character (or rather voice) of radio host who informs people when firestorm is going to hit. It's a nice element, since radio host is basically a narrator of the movie.

Music is terrific and rather beautiful, especially at the end. Great acting from Nathan Phillips, Jessica de Gouw and Angourie Rice.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Goodbye John McNaughton...

[3/10 · 7 November 2014]

After much hype how "Henry" is high grade horror movie, I finally managed to find it on DVD and watch it.... and it's a huge letdown.

I really hate bashing movies, and my tolerance for ****** movies is rather high, but I really have no idea why movie like "Henry" was ever made in the first place. It's not entertaining, it just a vampire of a movie - it will drain your life slowly for the next 80+ minutes.

There's a unwritten rule that if movie doesn't "suck you in" within the first 10-15 minutes, you should probably stop watching it, and I was wrong not to heed that advice. From the first few minutes of "Henry" I never really got the sense of what movie wants to be. While there's a solid structure of the movie, scenes felt so random. It wants to be horror, yet it's not, it wants to be drama, yet it's not too dramatic, it's wants to be shocking, but it really isn't that much, even some of the more "shocking" scenes were rather tame. The only real "shock" scene is family massacre scene, but it's rather tame compared to shock scenes of modern movies. We rarely ever see something happening within Henry so it's not even a good character study like "Maniac" or "Psycho" (I should note, Michael Rooker was pretty good in this one, but bad character is still a bad character), and his buddy Otis is even worse, and you can easily tell what the ending of the movie is going to be.

I should also mention that I found it rather boring, by the end I was already looking at the clock. Note, I really don't have problem with slow burner movies that take it's time to build scenes, but payoff to "Henry" was not worth the wait, because as I said, climax is rather predictable (hint: two of three characters are serial killers, go figure out what's going to happen?).

No real suspense, no real character development, no real shock, just "morons with cameras" killing bunch of people for no real reason that further glorifies "legend" of yet another real-life serial killer that this movie was based upon, and then we ask ourselves why so many of those lunatics are running around in this world. You can never "buy" anything from either Henry or Otis, because well, they are serial killers.

Technically it's bit inept movie, but I won't judge it too much on that, because from what I understand it was shot on really tight budget.

So far, I've seen few John McNaughton's movies: "The Borrower", which had some good ideas and some good black humor, but terrible pace and quite boring at most of the scenes (same as Henry), his Masters of Horror episode was also quite dull. The only mildly enjoyable movie was Wild Things because of erotic scenes, but overall, goodbye John McNaughton, you're definitively not a director of my taste.

The Babadook (2014)

Excellent debut

[8/10 · 1 November 2014]

I really like Australian movies, especially their horror and exploitation movies, so when this was announced I was exited because I liked the basic idea and trailer was interesting... and it didn't disappoint.

Made on tight budget, "The Babadook" looks lot more expensive then it actually is. It takes for about 30 minutes for a movie to finally start, and once things get going, the atmosphere and mood turns more and more tense. There are several scenes that are well made and quite effective, like "book reading" when book itself more or less explains to the audiences (or to it's main hero) what is going to happen. It's just a well made scene with really good sense of plotting.

We as the audience know far more in advance what could happen to our two lead characters, which only adds to sense of dread and unease, because we know some of those things will eventually come on screen.

Other note is that "Badabook" is quite simple in it's plot. There are no dozens of unnecessary twist that only end up ruining the movie. It is what it is and only ends up building upon it's basic premise. That doesn't mean that movie doesn't add some additional elements to it's story, but it keeps it simple in it's core.

While well directed, movie was perfectly aware of it's budget limitations, so there are no glossy effects, which only work well for the movie. It should also be noted that movie, while lacking in effects, is backup by really strong acting by Essie Davis.

Housebound (2014)

Could have been good but...

[5/10 · 28 October 2014]

After few recommends that I got from my friends to check out this movie, I finally manage to see it.

"Housebound" starts with troublesome young girl Kylie being arrested and sentenced to nine months of house prison, but things get worse when her house turns out to be haunted by the spirit of the dead girl that was murdered exactly in her room 15 years ago... or maybe it's something else? Maybe it's just all in her head?

"Housebound" has rather descent production value for it's budget, it looks slick, professional and acting is lot better then what you might expect for this type of a movie. Some scenes are fairly well made and go for moody atmosphere in the first half of the movie, but once second half of the movie hits it's mark movie starts to suffer from being too complicated throwing in another addition (and unnecessary) subplots.

If it was just regular haunted house movie, or even if it stick with it's twist and play it to the end, it would have been a lot better, but movie just had to have one additional plot after another additional plot which was, like I said, completely unnecessary.

Another problem is lack of focus, both with screenplay (as mentioned) and it's tone. Yes, it's suppose to be horror-comedy, but movie doesn't do both really well - it's not particularly "scary" or atmospheric, nor it's very funny (like Evil Dead 2 or Shaun of the Dead) and some jokes fall flat. It just wants to be cute movie and that's it. (alto there are few lines that made me laugh)

Shame, because it could have been a great movie if it had more focus by being simpler. Old school horror movies worked well because most of them have rather basic plot that they just build and expend upon (think original Elm Street for example: if you fall asleep, you'll die, or Halloween - killer stalks babysitter on Halloween night. That's it. Very simple, very effective).

Unfortunately "Housebound" falls into same trap as most of modern horror movies - it desperately wants too be too complicated and too smart and too cute.

Not particularly good, not particular bad either, check it out if you get a chance, just don't expect miracle.

Jinn (2014)

Highly entertaining old fashion monster movie

[6/10 · 18 October 2014]

Jinns are not very popular creatures in horror movies and there's not whole lot of them if we exclude Wishmaster series.

So when they finally announced Jinn-based movie, i was quite interested to see it, even if trailer looked like a cheap DTV movie.

"Jinn" wasn't anything special, it's not gonna rank with horror classics, but it's highly entertaining movie because it plays more like superhero origin then actual horror movie. It's toned down fantasy mixed with horror, with nice pace, good cinematography and some cool special effects. CGI wasn't that great and it gave movie bit of DTV quality, but luckily it wasn't used often, only in few scenes for a short amount of time, so it shouldn't bother anyone. However, there's a longer CGI scene where Jinn chases down the hero in the streets in sand-like form which looks rather descent and it looks like that's where most of the CGI budget went.

Story itself was here and there, but overall movie keeps you interested and entertained. It's your typical fantasy hero story, of man being the Chosen-One-would- be-slayer-of-evil.

reading all those "critics" here makes me wonder, did they ever think movies can be fun?

Maniac (2012)

Interesting take on a remake of gory and sleazy original

[6/10 · 7 October 2014]

Original Maniac that came in the '80s is considered to be one of the more disturbing entries in early '80s slasher genre.

It was gory, sleazy and in general unpleasant to watch, one of those movies that will force you to shower even when it's freezing cold, yet at the same time it had lot more depth then typical slasher movie of that period. If you forget about all the gore, it's actually a good character study delivered from one of the best character actors (Joe Spinell) of it's era. It should also be noted that "Maniac" never intended to present it's killer as "cool" (ala Jason Voorhees) but rather then pathetic killer.

This remake from 2012 does pretty much the same thing, even plot is more or less the same (with slight variation, but it fallows most of the original Maniac plot, with some of the scenes pretty much copied from it's '80s version). The difference is that Maniac 2012 was shot almost entirely from point of view of the Frank, the lead character who also happens to be the psychopathic killer.

While I am usually not huge fan of P.O.V. movies, I think this was an rather interesting take on the genre. Since most of the time you'll be watching movie from Frank's point of view, movie gives an audience rather unpleasant time, because you are forced to identify as the killer. Do not mistake this for found footage or pov type of movie - Frank isn't running around with camera, the camera itself basically serves as his "eyes". You are seeing what he is seeing. In other words, audience is doing the stalking, audiences are doing the killing, and since murders happen to be particularly brutal and gory, there's a chance that it might be too much for some. I've seen dozens of horror movies, yet I found some of the scenes to be rather unpleasant to watch for the reasons above mentioned.

Frank itself is presented as rather pathetic loser and loner, much like original Frank. In original movie, Frank could be charismatic at times (obviously, when not going crazy), but most of the time he's depicted as pathetic and disturbed man.

There's a descent amount of character development here, at least you get most then you would get in your average horror movie (especially big budget Hollywood horror). Don't expect miracle, but even small character development is better then no development at all (yeah, standards for horror have significantly dropped, didn't they? Hey, it's the small things that count now!)

On the technical aspect, movie is rather interesting. Downside, streets, while they do looks "dirty" in some scenes, look rather deserted, especially when Frank is stalking his next victim. It just felt awkward for me that LA would be so "ghostly" most of the time.

Acting was hit or miss, sometimes E. Wood would be OK, sometimes you can tell he's acting, I am not sure what happen, he was probably directed that way, since he's usually rather descent actor. Nora Arnezeder was also so-so, but hey, her looks make up for it, since she's rather pleasant to watch on screen. Her character itself wasn't that bad, she was a descent girl with few interesting hobbies. Don't know, maybe it's just me getting tired of countless annoying and [...] characters in horror movies that you can't wait for them to be hacked off, so having some "normal" character for a change makes you appreciate it more.

It should be noted that movie has rather depressing tone, especially toward the end. You'll either be glad at what happen, or just feel sorry for the characters, or bit of both, even if you watched the original and know what happens.

The Caretakers (2014)

Terrible, 2014's worst movie.

[1/10 · 20 September 2014]

I usually don't like slamming movies no matter how bad they are, especially when it comes to small movies like this... but "The Caretakers" is easily worst movie I've seen this year.

There's not much to say about it, it's amateurish and terrible on every possible level. Scenes didn't know when they should start or when they should end, sound was beyond terrible, FX were on the level of youtube sketch videos, acting was just painful. You're also simply surprised when camera moves to something other then closeup shot.

Special nod goes to horrible dialogues. They are just ... one of a kind. Even Twilight or Uwe Boll movies would be embarrassed.

Silent Retreat (2013)

We are so oppressed...

[1/10 · 16 September 2014]

I've heard some good thing about this movie, so I give it a chance (even tho AfterDark movies are usually hit or miss).

While it started out OK, then turned weird since it had no dialog for the first 20 minutes or so (which I actually liked), it sacrificed it's premise for more of a standard movie, because message has to be heard, right?

and the feminist(ic) overtone in this movie are so obvious that it really start to hear your ears. While I have no problems with some feminist tones in movies like Stepford Wifes (original): it had feminist ideas within the story, but it still treated itself like sf horror movie, but in Silent Run? Hell no!

Most of the dialogues consist of usual feminist tropes like "We are so oppressed, no one wants to hear us, man want to change us" to the point that movie become too annoying. Every man in this movie is complete psycho who want women to bi silent, obedient and "perfect" wives for themselves who must be at kitchen (they also want girls for their wives purely based on their looks!). They even showed the "woman in kitchen" mame image treating it like serious thing for brainwashing young girls. I am not even kidding. Creature itself that happens to be in the woods for some reason is also a female (also in sign of feminism).

Robert Nolan is only saving grace, he is really good in most of his scenes. Other two lead actresses are also rather descent, it's not their fault that movie is so absurd.

There are some FX scenes which are well made, descent amount of gore for this type of movie (maybe even too much), some blood. Creature design was descent, but not too original, you'll swear you've seen it in some other movie.

Ending was ridiculous with needless fight scene at the end, because hey, you must satisfy the casual audience (who will probably be bored by then anyway). If movie ended with strong emotional scene that happen before it (also, applause for two lead actresses, it was carried purely on their acting, because script didn't do anything to root for any of their characters), it would end on high note, but nope, let's do the generic fight scene and end the movie.

Honestly, if this movies wasn't "So-obviously-feministic" movie, I would probably like it more, but I really couldn't stand annoyance of majority of lines being "we are so oppressed by those evil man"... or at least keep your feminist views at minimum and don't use your movie as way to express your own socio-political ideas.

Look how Stepford Wives turned out (which I actually liked). It managed to poke at feminist ideas, but it was still enjoyable, creepy and "legit" horror movie. It was never used as a way to spew ideas right into audiences faces.

Coherence (2013)

Great, witty and refreshing, but bad camera work.

[7/10 · 14 September 2014]

I didn't know what to expect from it, but I am glad I checked this movie out.

Without giving too much, story is quite witty and entertaining, it will keep you interested in what's going on, even when most of the plot points are relieved. Characters were descent, most of them acted like people would in extraordinary situation that happens in the movie (with few instances where I thought it went into overacting territory). Confused, dazed and paranoid, yet characters always seem to find a way to keep things going.

Camera work is the movie's biggest problem. I am not sure if it's a trend for new filmmakers, but why they keep using dancing stadycam when movie clearly doesn't need one. It should have been shot as traditional movie. I've seen this in lot of new movies. It kinda adds to intimacy of the movie, but it felt distracting. Still camera didn't go berserk like in most stadycam movies, at least they tried to keep it "tame".

If you're not easily bothered by "dancing" camera, then this movie might be for you. You should check it out anyway, it's a good example how indi movies can be done and done well. All you need is a good idea and good story and not get lost into pretty CGI and lot of special effects.

It should be noted that it's refreshing to see group of actors in new horror movies that don't consist of Supermodels-only club. There's variety of actors and actress looks, some better looking then others, so it adds some realism that this could be legit group of friends. Even Emily Baldoni, who is rather beautiful doesn't fall into "supermodel-only" category.

Metalhead (2013)

How some people deal with pain...

[8/10 · 14 September 2014]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie. Title was either "hit or miss" and I was afraid it was going to be exploitation movie. But it's not.

It was a great drama about how certain people deal with their pain, how people around them react to their, let's say unusual way of expressing their pain.

Story fallows a young girl Hera who witnesses death (by accident) of her older brother. Few years after that, she still can't cope with pain of losing her brother, so she turns to metal music as a way of escapism. Naturally, living in small community, she is often misunderstood by others. She expresses her pain on her own "unique" way, while her parents express theirs on their own (father feeling accident was his fault, while mother has trouble moving on).

Hera eventually goes on a self-destructive path because it's the only way she can deal with her loss and anger since no one can really understand how she feels. Good example of that scene is her best childhood friend who mistakes drunken sex for love, proposing to her, while she replies "Can't you see anything?"

This is a movie about human nature, nature of pain, how certain people deal (or can't deal) with pain and loss of a loved one and how people sometimes judge people by it's cover.

Guy who wrote a review here telling this movie is about "Jesus helping metalheads" just because it happens that movie has understandable priest (because you know, that can't happen in real life) clearly missed the point of the movie.

This was never a movie about "Jesus helps metalhead". It was a movie about human nature. Hera never stopped being metalhead, it was just a hint that she and her parents are moving on eventually, because they, like rest of the community are starting to understand Hera.

Honeymoon (2014)

Refreshing take on the genre

[7/10 · 12 September 2014]

"A newlywed couple finds their lake-country honeymoon descend into chaos after Paul finds Bea wandering and disoriented in the middle of their first night."

That's really all you need to know. Reading too much about this movie will give too much. Trailer actually gives away too much.

Excellent storytelling makes this "same old" story refreshing. Movie will keep playing with audiences, making them guess which horror subgenre will it go as the movie closes in? Is it good old "there's evil in the woods!" story? Is it a vampire movie? Is it something entirely else?

Good atmosphere, good use of sets and locations. Good acting by Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway make somewhat B script seem much more larger and better then it actually is.

It's moves slow at time which only adds to atmosphere and character build. Speaking of characters it's refreshing to see likable characters that you don't want to die immediately after they are introduced into the movie. It only adds up to horror when terror finally starts. Screenplay itself gives you just enough to know what's going on (mostly at the end), but thankfully nothing was overexplained and too detailed. It's refreshing actually, and something new for younger audiences. They'll actually have to use bit of their imagination at last!

Two especially nasty scene. No jump scares (thank God!), but uneasy mood along with good score makes this movie rather creepy.

Must be my lucky dice, I've seen two movies in two days that are less on special effects and atmosphere\storytelling heavy.