Sunday, April 27, 2014

Haunter (2013)

A Family Friendly Ghost Movie That Isn't Casper

6/10 Stars

Rated NR for no particular reason

Well one things for sure the spirit of old Nickelodeon shows Are You Afraid Of The Dark and Goosebumps are alive and well in this movie . And thats not a bad thing, finding a family friendly horror movie today is like finding a ten dollar bill in the jacket you haven't worn in a year. While I believe the the writers started out with a good concept, they let so many other films influence them it took away from the what could have been a very good movie. The movie is certainly is carried by the two leads Abigail Breslin and Stephen McHattie. Directed by my home town boy Vincenzo Natali known for 1997's Cube among others. I get what he was trying to do he just took to long to get there.  Running at 97 minutes it seemed it could have been trimmed down to 80 and would have told a better story.





****May Contain Spoilers****


The Good:
   Great concept a view through the eyes of the ghost.
   The acting lead by Abigail Breslin and Stephen McHattie.
   Family friendly, no nudity/sex and very little mild swearing.
  A lower budget film that doesn't let it stop it

The Bad:
   The "Groundhog Day" opening act
   Pale Man's batcave like labyrinth. Really was this house built on an abandoned mine?
   Runtime about 15 minutes or so too long.



We start the film meeting a family that includes Mom and Dad little brother Robbie and teenager Lisa we are also introduced to Robbies imaginary friend Edgar that is living the same day in 1985(the day before Lisa's 16th birthday) over and over again. Daughter Lisa comes to realize this but can't get her family to understand. So we get to watch the same shots over and over again till we are almost sick of it. Lisa starts to hear voices coming from different parts of the house and we get follow along while she investigates. We learn that her family is actually dead and living in some kind of limbo that seems to be controlled by the "pale man". Thier home is surrounded by a fog that no matter how hard you try to leave you end up back at the house. Lisa starts communicating with a present day teenageer Olivia and taking posession of her at times. Though notes and signs left for one another Lisa finds that the pale man is actually a serial killer that lived in the house. Killing young girls for about 20 years before dieing there. After which he had taken possession of Lisa and Robbie's father and killed her family. Now he has taken control of Olivia's dad with plans to do it all again. Though the girls investigation we met the ghost of Frances Nichols one of the first victims of the pale man. As the film goes into the "chase" we find out that the reason they can communicate is if you hold something that belongs to the departed you can connect with them. The ghost can also become self-aware when this is done. As the chase between Lisa trying to save Oliva's family and free her own family from this limbo it is learned that Edgar is actually the pale man who started down his killing road by dispatching his own family.  Lisa's family after being helped by Oliva and Lisa "wake up" and are allowed to leave the house and go into the light. Lisa stays behind to save the current residence of her old home. After finding the killers lair earlier when we met Frances, Lisa returns and gathers up all of his trophy's so she can call on the victims to help her. After confronting the pale man dispatching him with the help of his victims and saving Olivia's family, Lisa is reunited with her family on her 16th birthday and the fog is lifted presumably in haven.






Friday, April 25, 2014

Chasing The Devil (2014)

A New Classic ......Maybe
9/10 Stars
Where to start on this little gem of a movie I found.  Of all the "found footage" films being released now days it's nice to find a director and writer that gets it. The filming was done with a lot of handheld and gopro's they wore on their chest which I thought was a welcome relief to see how the perspective was being shot. Some critics have complained about the sound track or lack thereof but for me it helped immerse me into the story.   Another great plus for me is they didn't fall into the let's use lots of CGI we don't have the budget for. They also have a great script and didn't have to use the "Hey lets show T&A so the audience won't notice the plot holes".   While you may not recognize the cast as "BIG" names in the genre but all have great resumes on TV and short films. The movie revolves around the 5 main characters played by  ,  ,  ,  ,and .  

First some things I really enjoyed in the movie:
 The nods to other movies/Tv shows. (The Exorcist,Ghost Adventures)
 The clues were revealed mystery/thriller way so you could actually decipher with the  actors/movie.      
 We as the audience were not treated like mindless beings that had to be lead around.
Now for the bad:
The only problem we had with the film is the actors seemed a little wooden at times in the first half of the movie. Which after you realize thats most likely how real people would react to those surrounding and facing the challenges of fighting the demon with people you just met.


***REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***

 As the film begins we learn from Patrick that his sisters death was ruled a suicide. Which he won't accept after giving us a little background on his sister (speaking latin, pentagram cut into her arm) I would tend to agree with him. We also find out whoever he has showed his sisters video blog to has met with some catastrophic event. Patricks friend is a documentary filmmaker and introduces him to a team of paranormal investigators and agrees to film the investigation. The investigators include a psychic, a assistant investigator, and a tech man. They met at the site of his sisters death a halfway house after she had spent 3 years in a mental institution where she was committed after attacking the pope on a class trip. What comes next is a nice little twist on the evil demon film, it has the ability to jump from one person to another on a whim. Most of the meat of the film takes place at Patricks house but after realizing they may become targets of the demon cameras are mounted in everyones residence. The only other location we are treated to is that of a teenage girls house which is creepily reminiscent of the Exorcist and other movies. The entity then starts leaving clues and bodies in his wake. I'll skip all the inbetween deaths as we all know in found footage movies no one gets out alive.







Thursday, April 24, 2014

The Hills Run Red 2009

A good little movie that lost it's way
5 out of 10 Stars
If I would have watched just the first 50 or 60 minutes of this film I think it would be rated in the 8,9 star range. They had me hook,line, and sinker. Then something more terrible then the creepy monster Babyface happened. They forgot WTH they were doing. The filmmakers were doing everything right and then it seems they said "well then, lets wrap this up fast I got a thing to get to"
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
The Hills Run Red is a solid example of the trouble with slasher films today. We have decent special effects, solid production values, and some nudity, but it's ultimately squandered on a slasher/torture plot that loses it's novelty two thirds of the way in. We've seen this all before (particularly the "film within a film" plot). 
The movie begins promisingly, with a craftily edited (and BRUTAL) prologue in which someone cuts off their face and replaces it with the face of a babydoll. We then shift gears into the main story, involving a young filmmakers search for a lost film that purportedly is the most violent film ever made. Showing only once before being banned/hidden from the public. This would've been the basis for a brilliant exploration into society's fascination with violence. Instead, you can pretty much check off a list of concepts/conventions that you find on Netflix or Amazon Prime: Snuff movies? check. Torture? check. Hillbillies? double check. Attractive young people in peril? check again. And so on.

Still, to be perfectly honest, if you're looking for a mindless gore flick to pass the time, it delivers the goods. It's nicely paced and graphic, and the always entertaining William Sadler gets to chew up the scenery in a few scenes. It's an acceptable outing, but you come away feeling disappointed that so little thought goes into these types of movies nowadays

Might As Well Start At The Begining

As I sat here staring at my monitor wondering what would be our first true blog post should we talk about a 5 star film the new Salem tv show maybe a truly creepypasta or just a fun campy Indie movie. and then it hits me like a jump scare lets start off where it all began. In 1896 a short 3 min silent film was made by Georges Méliès  Le Manoir du diable or as it was released in the U.S. The Haunted Castle.
Lets take a look.....



Isn't that GREAT. It has everything you could ever want in the genre. We got the Devil, Ghost, and Vampires. Now I'm sure someone out there will bring up Edison's 1895 short The Execution of Mary Stuart but I consider this more of a historical film then a true horror film and at only 17 seconds it a really short short. Well there you have it the root of our family horror tree.

Welcome

Welcome Fellow Horror Geeks. We will be discussing all the horror that's fit to talk about from movies, tv and literature. We are going to look at the really good and the really bad. ( I have seen some that make Planet 9 look like Jaws) So sit back enjoy. Don't be afraid to comment good or bad I am always open for a good discussion.