Tag Archives: horror films

Movie review: Mom and Dad

19 Monday Feb 2018

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Most parents will identify with the struggles that they encounter when raising children, and that strange balance of absolute despair and unwavering love that they have for their own kids.

It’s this balance that writer, director, Brian Taylor scrutinizes and tinkers with, asking the question, what happens when that need to protect and care for your offspring has a switch that is flipped and the desire to kill takes over.

It’s a controversial topic that Taylor lifts the lid upon and not only singles out one family, but makes this a global issue. It’s one that needs to be addressed with no real answer offered up by the director, which is interesting position that he chooses to go with.

Whilst choosing to tell the tale as a global epidemic with parents heading out to murder their children, we’re hit with troubling images head-on when a mother deliberately abandons her child in a car upon the railway tracks, as a speeding train plows into it.
A shocking image that as a parent myself, I found deeply uncomfortable to view, and sets the tone throughout the film, and pushes me to areas that I found hard to take as a result. For that end the movie certainly does its job in presenting some horrific scenes, notably when one mother attempts to kill her newborn in a birthing suite.

The global epidemic plays out like something from Dawn of the Dead, with news bulletins, chat shows, and reports playing out on screens in stages as the story unfolds.
One particularly glorious scene involves a ‘zombie-like’ rampage as hordes of parents scale the school gates and chase their own throughout the grounds, with some disturbing scenes unfolding before you.

Part of this film’s appeal comes with the killer casting of the storylines Mom and Dad, with Nicolas Cage suitably restrained and playing to his age, whilst still giving his ‘ham and cheese’ moment which had become his schtick over the years.

It’s the refreshing presence of Selma Blair though that steals a lot of the scenes, showcasing her delicate, caring mother, to a murderous, gleeful, maniacal figure, who is hell-bent on destroying her kin. Blair’s delivery is wonderfully subtle and as a viewer she plays with your desire for her to show that loving spirit her character displayed in the earlier scenes, and cruelly pulls away from that every time. It leaves you wanting to see more of her on screen again.

It’s worth noting that the children, Zackary Arthur and Anne Winters pull off some strong performances that keep you rooting for them to survive their ordeal, but the final scenes are almost completely stolen away by a Lance Henriksen’s cameo.

 

The Diagnosis:

Some of the director’s style allows the movie to come across as quite sparse in places, but Taylor clearly has a knack for allowing the actor’s room to breathe on screen, whilst delivering a hefty punch.

The subject matter can make you feel uncomfortable in places, but this only makes the movie all the more stronger as a result.
Potentially this film may fall under the radar, which would be a shame as it’s a decent entry into the genre.

 

– Saul Muerte

Movie review: Future

17 Saturday Feb 2018

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Ever felt like your life was fading into oblivion without a single blip on the radar screen?

What if, one night some one broke into your house and kidnaped you, only to tell you that they are from the future and you only have 4 days left to live?

What’s more, they could offer you the chance of an alternate; one of happiness, on one condition…
By the end of the 4 days you must kill someone.

What would you do?
How would you cope?
How would you spent the last few days of your life?
And when it comes to the crunch, would you be able to take someone’s life?

This is the dilemma that Doug Erickson, Tea Barista faces as he oscillates between ending it all or continuing on the strange journey that now lies before him.

Guiding him along the way is the shambles wreck of a time traveller played by (Phreddy Wischusen) who comes across as a warped version of Clarence from It’s A Wonderful Life, accompanied some mysterious henchmen in white masks.

It was refreshing to see Conor Sweeney (The Editor) on the screen again as Kyle, the local drug dealer, and the presence he brings as a guy who actually cares about Doug and tries to lure him back into the real world.

The Diagnosis:

Whilst the acting can be a bit hit and miss, It’s a tough topic that directors Rob Cousineau, and Chris Rosie present the audience with and they should be commended for approaching it in a bold, new way.
Fans of Indie cinema may be pleasantly surprised with the final result and the journey that Doug undertakes to come to his ultimate decision.

  • Amber Gooerty

Catch the screening of Future at the MidWest WierdFest.

You can already purchase discounted day or full festival passes to the 2018 festival here, through the festival’s ticketing partner site FilmFreeway.  (Tickets to individual films will be available closer to the festival, directly via the website of the Micon Budget Downtown Cinema). Go on. Get weird!

Movie review: Day of the Dead: Bloodline

11 Sunday Feb 2018

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I’m not sure what it is about the Day of the Dead storyline that jars so much.

On paper, it boasts an interesting premise of science vs state. Always at conflict in the real world and makes sense that they would come under close scrutiny when faced with a post apocalyptic world full of zombies.

Arguably though, it is the weakest movie from George A Romero’s original trilogy, and yet, it has now mastered two remakes, one released back in 2008 and one Day of the Dead: Bloodline tries to make its own mark on the subject, leaving many to ask, ‘what’s the point?’

The bones of the original film are still present, with an underground bunker containing some civilians reside under the rule of military personnel.

The changes are significant though. The first is a strangely confusing beginning marking the initial outbreak in a typical American street before taking us to a scientific laboratory to essentially show us the outbreak again, but from the viewpoint of lead character Zoe Parker (Sophie Skelton) a medical student who witnesses her friends and peers all wiped out as carnage ensues within the facility.

Before all this occurs though we are introduced to Max (Johnathon Schaech, a creepy patient who has a serious crush on Zoe, and in case you missed the heavy hint, also happens to have a mysterious blood type. Like that’s not gonna come back later.
Just as Max forces him myself in Zoe, the living dead make their entrance, forcing Zoe to go from one ordeal to another.

Both of her worlds will collide again though, as we pick up our story again as we time jump to a few years down the track, where Zoe lives in the afore-mentioned bunker, and formed a relationship with Baca, the younger brother to the Lieutenant running the military outfit, Miguel.
Cue conflict both internally and externally.

It is on a medicinal run back to the laboratory when their troubles really begin as Max who has somehow partially survived, becoming both walking zombie and human, (essentially this version’s Bub) and perhaps the answer to their salvation.

Of course it won’t go swimmingly for the survivors, but by this point everything feels so bland and blah, blah, blah, that we have gone beyond the point of caring.

Schaech gives a decent performance as the ‘villain’ of the piece, but the one small thread that we can hang onto is that Skelton actually gives a solid performance as Zoe, and this keeps you intrigued enough to push you towards the films conclusion, but just barely.

The Diagnosis:
It’s a fairly stable effort, but neither diminishes or improves upon the original film. Characters are two-dimensional and the plot line is weak, leaving you ultimately back to your original thought… what’s the point.

 

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: Fake Blood

10 Saturday Feb 2018

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Here’s the interesting thing about horror as a genre.

If you are a fan of romantic comedies and suddenly find yourself in the middle of a real life meet-cute, you’re likely gonna continue to be a fan of romantic comedies.

Get whisked away by aliens and fly in a space ship? Your love of sci-fi will probably deepen. (Provided the experience is more ET and less The Thing – ie: orifices remain probe free).

Like westerns? Drop that person on a horse. Love porn? Give him a threesome.

But take a horror fanatic and chase them with a chainsaw wielding clown, or strap them to a slab and cut parts off their body? Probably not gonna be an enthusiast any more.

For only in horror could it be argued that the majority of those who love it, do so in the hope of never touching it. Much like the greyhound who catches the rabbit, it’ll ruin them.

And so, we come to the meta-meta film Fake Blood.

It is a “documentary” made by real life film-makers Rob Grant (no Red Dwarf fans, not that Rob Grant) and Mike Kovac.

In reality they have made two low budget independent horror films – Yesterday (2009) and Mon Ami (2012). You can imdb them.

Despite the no-small-achievement of making 2 feature films, both still have day-to-day lives (one as a jobbing actor, the other as a freelance editor) and off the bat you get a sense that this is a sore point for Rob (the film’s narrator) who is very much hungry for wider recognition.

That’s when they get emailed a fan video where said fans walk through a hardware store re-enacting a scene from Mon Ami.

The scene itself is fairly innocuous, but the fans’ take on it is disturbing. So much so it starts Rob and Mike on a quest to explore violence in films and their responsibility (as film makers) to it.

It begins as an almost fun investigation as they use real people to help them shoot actual guns and fight trained martial artists; all in a quest to discover first hand their “differences” to their movie counterparts.

Then the opportunity presents itself to interview someone who seems to have first hand knowledge in killing people…

The film then unfolds at a decent clip as the two men get drawn into a criminal underworld where people disappear. BADLY. Which gives everything a level of gritty realism very much outside their previous forays into zombie horror and black comedy violence.

As a film – despite their best P.R. attempts to neither “confirm or deny” the events in it – Fake Blood is clearly a mockumentary. Ie: Blair Witch without the witch, found footage where the coverage becomes conventional where it needs to be.

And despite the fact it tries to pass off certain elements of the film as “real” (which almost NEVER works, as real life is never “cinema clean” – especially when you’re presenting your work as a true verite experience. The biggest giveaway tends to be in the performance. Another is HOW things are captured by the camera – but this is all stuff for another review) the really interesting aspect to Fake Blood is its constant jumping out of itself.

It portrays the 2 film-makers interviewing “real” people who have lived through “true” horror, then cuts to re-enactments of those horrific moments, then cuts to the men SHOOTING those re-enactments, and then have them interview the people in the re-enactments!

Both Rob and Mike eventually come into conflict (the heart of all good drama) as Rob’s ambition to make an attention-grabbing film starts to betray its original idea. Something that’s all super meta because despite being dressed as a documentary, the film is clearly a written drama from the outset.

And on top of all THAT, you do want to see how it ends. So from that point of view they have both made a good film that, at the very least, will make you think. And that’s as real as any film-maker could hope for.

 

Prognosis:

As dramas go, it’s a solid fake. As documentaries go, it’s a poor imitation of the real thing.

 

– Antony Yee

 

Catch the screening of Fake Blood at the MidWest WierdFest.

You can already purchase discounted day or full festival passes to the 2018 festival here, through the festival’s ticketing partner site FilmFreeway.  (Tickets to individual films will be available closer to the festival, directly via the website of the Micon Budget Downtown Cinema). Go on. Get weird!

Movie review: 3 Dead Trick or Treaters

05 Monday Feb 2018

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The first thing that grips you about Torin Langen’s anthology of Halloween themed horror is that it’s very much his universe.

A sickening, twisted world where the very heart is nothing but a dark and throbbing beast, dripping with stuff of nightmares.

Essentially 3 Dead Trick or Treaters serves up four short stories, each with their own tortured journeys for Langen to share, interwoven by a paperboy lured by curiosity to the films bleak conclusion.

This labour of love project is such a glorious treasure to behold, absent of dialogue which makes the horrific scenes all the more painful to endure.

But like the fore-mentioned paperboy, the viewer feels compelled to know more and this Langen has you ensnared.

From the first chapter (Fondue) and its teen lovers pact that is pushing the boundaries of their companionship to try out something new, something that may push them to the limits of no return; To the Witchery themed chapter (Malleus Maleficarum) that similarly pits a couple who delve into a world of barbarity, but will they both be able to take that journey together or will one of them crack?
(Stash) then takes the voyeur into the next chapter where a homeless trio is forced to the brink of despair in order to survive.
By this stage the theme of rejection starts to ring strong and true, building to the films climax but not before the final chapter (Delivery) plays a master hand of misdirection and and a slight injection of humour.

The Diagnosis:
This is Torin Langen’s playground.
A world filled with lost souls and the tortured, empty vessels of humanity, all searching for some sense of belonging.
They will push themselves in order to find ‘that fix’ whilst battling rejection and depravity.
In doing so, Langen has firmly established himself as an artist that we should watch with keen interest.

– Saul Muerte

 

Catch the screening of 3 Dead Trick or Treaters at the MidWest WierdFest.

You can already purchase discounted day or full festival passes to the 2018 festival here, through the festival’s ticketing partner site FilmFreeway.  (Tickets to individual films will be available closer to the festival, directly via the website of the Micon Budget Downtown Cinema). Go on. Get weird!

 

Movie review: Attack of the Tattie-Bogle

30 Tuesday Jan 2018

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Movie review: Attack of the Tattie-Bogle

It’s fast approaching March and for those crazy folk in Wisconsin it can only mean one thing… the return of the much-anticipated MidWest WierdFest and all the strange mayhem that comes with it.
So it seems fitting that our first film review from the festival line-up should take place in Wisconsin, Attack of the Tattie-Bogle, but first things first, what the fuck is a Tattie-Bogle?
It’s not as the name suggests some kind of potato snot.
No, this is a Scottish term for scarecrow, but although it may bear some similarity to The Town That Dreaded Sundown, this film goes for all out realism with its characters reactions and the ordeal that they are faced with.

Set on Independence Day, where we see a mixed group of patriots, liberalists, and romantics, who gather at a remote cabin to celebrate the festivities only to be forced to use their wits and guile from a rampant and bloody attack.

As the movie winds you in, my first reaction felt a little stifled as the acting and pace felt a little strained and the dialogue, although going for naturalism comes across a little forced at times.

This is all forgiven by the time it reaches the first onslaught, which comes thick and fast, with such brutal savagery it tears apart the senses with stark reality.

Half the group is dispatched with quick severity, which is a good thing as it would have been hard to track who’s who without this swift attack.

From here on in, it’s anyone’s guess who will survive and with each attempt of escape and moment of solidarity quickly snuffed out by the attacker, the tension mounts with incredible unease.

By the films conclusion at just over the hour mark, you certainly feel like you’ve gone through the wringer. And the film satisfies as a result.

The Diagnosis:

Despite some dubious acting and dialogue in places, director Pete Macy offers a delightfully savage look at the slasher genre in which the brutal reality shines through and becomes its champion.

Check this out to see a low budget, bloody film which pits the question of what would you do when confronted with an ambush in a land far removed from your own.

– Saul Muerte

 

Catch the screening of Attack of the Tattie-Bogle at the MidWest WierdFest.

You can already purchase discounted day or full festival passes to the 2018 festival here, through the festival’s ticketing partner site FilmFreeway.  (Tickets to individual films will be available closer to the festival, directly via the website of the Micon Budget Downtown Cinema). Go on. Get weird!

 

Movie review: 47 Meters Down

11 Monday Dec 2017

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Or a more accurate description would be ‘Just barely brimming above the surface’, as this movie never really dives any new depths in Shark horror films.

It would appear that this is a tough task to take on, as many souls have ventured into the big blue to tackle one of humankind’s greatest predators. However, since Spielberg’s classic Jaws invented the term ‘blockbuster’ back in 1975, those pretenders have been left drifting with no sense of direction at all.

While director Johannes Roberts (F, The Other Side of the Door) does his best to weave through the tension surrounding two sisters who attempt a cage dive for the first time, only to plummet to the ocean floor.

As there oxygen runs low, they must brave the shark infested water in order to survive.
Australian Claire Holt cuts a fine performance as the fearless Kate and one can see her career escalating beyond The Vampire Diaries from which she became a household name.

Where as Mandy Moore’s Lisa grates, and as twee as she may appear to be, by the end of the movie you’re wishing that she would become shark bait so that we don’t have to endure her shrill voice in every panic-driven scene.

On a lighter note, it was refreshing to see Matthew Modine back despite little screen time.

His role as the boats captain has a subtlety to it that only an actor of his expertise can pull off whilst still being believe able. His presence is a welcome relief during the scenes when the girls are submerged, albeit in the occasionally voice across the comms system.

The diagnosis:
With the promise of a sequel in the works titled 48 Meters Down, it must be doing something right, and whilst it is watchable, this hardly blows you out of the water.
Best advice would be to get tanked and watch with some mates.
At least then you can rely on the good company.

 

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: The Marshes

21 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by in A Night of Horror Film Festival, Movie review

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THE MARSHES_TRAILER from 28Productions on Vimeo.

Straight from the offset, director Roger Scott lures you into his feature length directorial debut, The Marshes with an unsettling feeling deep within unfamiliar territory.

It’s a fantastic achievement as Scott’s attention to detail breathes new life onto the screen and in doing so awakens a fear that may have lay dormant in us all.

His ability to infuse a sense of Australian mythology and mysticism, and weave it into a thoroughly modern world allows the audience to fall deeper into a labyrinth of despair and confusion.

3 biologists who represent this ‘modern Australia’, venture out into the land, which I’m pretty sure has never been captured on screen before. A place deep inland, but instead of dry, red, desert, we are faced with lush vegetation as our setting.
But don’t get too comfortable, as something lurks within that will ensnare you and pull you apart.

The beauty of this Australian horror film is that Scott plays with your senses, clouding the characters thoughts and yours along with it, so that the very question of reality is thrown into the equation.

Speaking of characters, the cast involved, primarily the afore-mentioned biologists, allow for the atmosphere to appear more intimate and intense. Chief among them is Dafna Kronental who plays Dr Pria Ana, a woman that finds herself initially fighting for her place in the University, fighting for The Marshes, and ultimately fighting to stay alive. Kronental is incredibly believable as she goes through the motions and the tension ratchets up.

By the end of the movie, the sense of claustrophobia engulfs the viewer and your striving for the characters to find their freedom and survive their ordeal.

The Diagnosis:
With its unique vision and frightening consequences, The Marshes could well be a modern horror classic.

  • Paul Farrell

Catch the screening of The Marshes at the A Night of Horror Film Festival.

Screening times and tickets available below:

FRIDAY 1st DECEMBER – 7PM
Buy Ticket from Dendy Newtown Cinemas here.

 

Roger Scott interview

https://player.whooshkaa.com/player/episode/id/156415?visual=true&sharing=true

Movie reviews: 1922 and A Good Marriage

02 Thursday Nov 2017

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First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes…a bloody corpse down a well and a tin full of dark secrets in the garage.

Two of the four novellas in Stephen King’s Full Dark, No Stars, first published in 2010, have been adapted to film and are now available for your viewing pleasure on Netflix. Both films portray seriously dysfunctional relationships. Both may cause you to eye your significant other over the dinner table with a newfound wariness…and make an appointment with a relationship therapist just to be on the safe side.

1922 (2017)
Alternate Title: Love Rats!

The expression “You reap what you sow” comes horribly true in 1922, a horror-thriller starring one rightfully vengeful corpse and waaaay too many rats (although, in my opinion, even one rat is too many rats.)

Thomas Jane (so excellent in his role as the loving but ill-fated dad in The Mist (2007), another Stephen King adaptation) plays a very different kind of husband and father. Wilfred James is a farmer in Hemingford Home, Nebraska, a sun-weathered, proud man who speaks painfully through a tightly clenched jaw. Stuck in a joyless marriage with Arlette (Molly Parker), he is more in love with his farm and the 100 acres that Arlette inherited from her father than he is with his attractive, sullen wife.

When Arlette decides that she has had enough of being a farmer’s wife and wants to sell up and move to Omaha, Wilfred tries to convince her to sell him the land and let their son remain with him. When she refuses, he decides that he won’t take no for an answer. After roping his 14-year-old son Henry into a very messy and brutal crime, he sets into motion a series of tragic events that almost (not quite, but almost) makes you feel sorry for him and his son.

There are parts of this film that are not for the faint of heart. (For example, I could have very happily gone my entire life without seeing a rat emerge from the mouth of a corpse.) It was hard to watch the scene where Arlette discovers that her marriage is definitively over. That being said, whoever’s job it was to throw the buckets of blood had a lot of spare time on set as there isn’t too much gore. My favourite part of the film was the scene in which the exes once again come face to face…very creepy. So effective.

The Diagnosis:
It wasn’t released with all that much fanfare but it is a solid film with great performances – especially the nearly unrecognisable Thomas Jane. Don’t miss this one before Netflix puts it out to pasture.

A Good Marriage (2014)
Alternate Title: A Serial [Killer] Monogamist

After 25 years of marriage, Darcy Anderson (Joan Allen) thinks that she knows her husband Bob (Anthony LaPaglia) pretty well. Unlike Wilfred and Arlette James, the couple are happily married with a beautiful home, well-adjusted adult children who love their parents and still enough of a spark left that the marriage bed is never cold for too long. It is, as the title suggests, a good marriage.

From the opening scene of a woman being stalked by an unseen predator, however, the viewer knows that this isn’t a Mike Leigh film about normal happy married people approaching the twilight years of life. We suspect that Bob is not quite as affable and friendly as he seems long before his hapless wife discovers a hidden tin in the garage. Now that she sees both sides of the coin, she must decide what she does with her newfound awareness…

LaPaglia seamlessly switches between his dual (and very convincing) personas and Joan Allen is perfectly cast in her role as a loving wife and mother faced with the terrible knowledge that she has been married to an imperfect stranger for 25 years. I really enjoyed both their performances and the film.

The Diagnosis:
Stephen King has stated that the character of Bob Anderson was inspired by Dennis Rader, the infamous “BTK Killer”, whose wife was married to him for nearly 30 years and yet claimed that she had no knowledge of his crimes. It is a novel premise – what would you do if you found out something truly terrible about the person you loved? – and makes for a compelling film.

  • Vanessa Cervantes

Movie review: Leatherface

26 Thursday Oct 2017

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Arguably back in 1974, the first iconic horror villain was born in the guise of Chainsaw wielding, human mask wielding psycho we come to know as Leatherface.

Director Tobe Hooper brought him to the screen along with other members of his deranged family who set out to terrorise a group of travellers in the middle of Texas.
Unwittingly, the final shots of Leatherface wielding said weapon of choice as the Sun begins to rise and our final girl makes good her escape has been embedded into the psyche of horror fans across the world.
The fact that it has resonated with so many has lead to numerous sequels and reboots. (7 in total)

This latest effort from directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo was to do the inevitable origin story. (Yawn)
When will creative’s realise that there is nothing to be gained from unearthing the make up of these classic horror villains other than to destroy that mystery and the magic that made them so special to begin with?

The warning signs were already there when the production studios kept pushing back the release date despite Lili Taylor and Stephen Dorff being attached to the project.
Taylor more than held her own in James Wan’s The Conjuring and although Dorff has fallen out of favour in Hollywood and no longer considered A-list material, he still in my mind had plenty of gravitas on screen.
None of this can prevent this movie from feeling like being fed through the meat grinder using nothing but gristle.

There’s so much focus on trying to show how Jedidah Sawyer becomes the titular character that the filmmakers lose sight of any real substance.
As such we’re spoon fed Jedidiah’s journey from a brutal mother (Taylor) who is forcing him to tow the line with the family way, which just so happens to include brutally murdering a guy with (wait for it…) a Chainsaw.

When he and his brother (who in my opinion looked more like our signature Leatherface than Jedidiah did) are separated from their family by a vengeful Texas Ranger (Dorff) and whisked away to a mental hospital.
What follows is a riot that leads to Jedidiah escaping with a few other inmates and a nurse as hostage to make his way home.

The result feels like a story ripped from the pages of The Devil’s Rejects which is absolutely ridiculous when you consider that film has whispers of TCM throughout as something of a nod from Zombie.

Of course Jedidiah will have his fall from grace but this transition seems so sudden and out of left field, which is a shame as once again we’re left with poor character development in the screenplay.

The Diagnosis:
More PVC than Leatherface as this latest instalment struggles to make an impact on this already loose franchise.

  • Paul Farrell