Scary Film Review: May 2009

Friday, May 29, 2009

Horror Movies that came out May 2009

SO here you go! All the Horror Movies that came out in May 2009 alongside some anime, scifi and a couple of recommendations from me. If you have some extra cash here you go, an easy list. This is the end of the month obligatory lists post, and I'll return June 1st (monday) with a review of My Bloody Valentine 3-D to kick off summer horror month. Once again, if you have any suggestions, let me know and I'll watch and review them. If you want a shot at writing on this site, email me at sir jorge AT gmail dot com and you can get a shot...maybe.

The Devil's Tomb Dvd
Freezer Burn dvd
Hindsight dvd
Ikki Tousen: The Complete Series Box Set
Killshot Dvd
Lady Ninja Kasumi Volume 4 dvd
The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk Dvd
Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus Dvd
Bane 2008 Dvd
Batman 1989 Blu Ray Dvd
Battle Star Galactica: Season 2.0 and 2.5 Dvd Set
Circle of Iron Blu Ray Dvd
Claymore: Volume Five, Sisters in Arms Dvd
Detective Story Dvd
The Devil's Ground Dvd
Eden Log Dvd
Eden Log Blu Ray Dvd
Fist of the North Star The Movie Dvd
Gundam Seed Destiny Anime Legends, Vol. 2 Dvd
The Last Horror Film (Uncut Special Edition) 1982 Dvd
The Machinist Blu Ray Dvd
Nightmare Castle Dvd
My Bloody Valentine 3D Dvd
My Bloody Valentine 3d Blu Ray
Outlander Dvd
Princess Resurrection: Collection 2 Dvd
Saiyuki: Requiem/Martian Successor Nadesico: Prince of Darkness Dvd
Skull & Bones (2007)
Limited Edition T2 Complete Collector's Set Endoskull [Blu-ray] (1991)
True Blood Season 1 Dvd
True Blood Season 1 Blu Ray Dvd
B.T.K Dvd
The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation Dvd
The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series Dvd
Bleach 16 Dvd
Case Closed: Season Five Dvd
Fargo Blu Ray Dvd
The Grudge 3 Dvd
Murder Princess: The Complete Series Dvd
Nighthead Genesis Vol. 5 Dvd
Passengers Dvd
Passengers Blu Ray Dvd
Plague Town Dvd
Plague Town Blu Ray Dvd
S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale Dvd
S. Dark: A Donnie Dark Tale Blu Ray Dvd
Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy Dvd
Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy Blu Ray Dvd
Taken Dvd
Taken Blu Ray Dvd
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Dvd
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Blu Ray Dvd
Underworld Trilogy Blu Ray Dvd
Attack of the Giant Leeches Dvd
Baccano: Volume Three Dvd
Darker Than Black Volume Four Dvd
Dexter The Complete Second Season Blu Ray Dvd
Doctor Who: Battlefield Dvd
Doctor WHo: The E-Space Trilogy Dvd
Dog Soldiers Blu Ray Dvd
Geisha Assassin (aka Geisha vs Ninja) Dvd
Earth Final Conflict Season 1 Dvd
Ghost Slayers Ayashi, Pt. 2 Dvd
Gurren Lagann Pt. 3 Dvd
Scarce Dvd
The Tibetan Book of the Dead Dvd
Twilight Blu Ray Dvd
Winter of Frozen Dreams Dvd

Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Monthly Death Toll May 2009 Edition

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Interesting Horror Movie Releases 5/26/09

This week in horror movie releases has to be one of the worst weeks. Here you go, the latest and least greatest of horror movie releases...wow...this is bad. I might pick up a few still...I get paid this week so I'm going to be buying a few things.

The Devil's Tomb Dvd
Freezer Burn dvd
Hindsight dvd
Ikki Tousen: The Complete Series Box Set
Killshot Dvd
Lady Ninja Kasumi Volume 4 dvd
The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk Dvd
Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus Dvd

Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Second Look Cabin Fever Review

Here we go, I haven't done one of these in a while. I take a second look at films that I've reviewed before, and I try to give it one more shot. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, and most of the time I forget to write the posts. Because today is a holiday, I decided to take a second look at cabin Fever, the first directed film by Eli Roth.

The story revolves around a skin disease that is transmitted through the tap water in a nearby camp ground.

Here is a trailer for Cabin Fever:

Cabin Fever follows an easy model of slasher film lore. A group of twenty-somethings go out to the woods to stay at a cabin and enjoy a good time. As their trip progresses, the realize that things are going sour through the water. As the skin starts to take their lives, they must figure out how to get away from the camp ground and get to safety!

The visuals aren't half bad. The photography is clean and neat, the progression of scenes actually resembles far more eery films. It's interesting to note that the transitions between death and life, night and day, are done with such great timing. You really think you're watching an expert film director, instead of a first timer. Roth really does a good job pushing through the horror, but not before setting up the premise slowly and evenly. The visual aspects really help you with the rest of the film, so by the time you start seing the body count, you are in for full throttle.

There are some random comedic parts and there are portions of the film that make no sense. For instance, there is a kid that does karate screaming for pancakes, he bites a victim and therefore gets the virus, but it makes little sense.

There is an obviously racist joke made in the beginning of the film, but it ties in at the end nicely, so watch out for that.

The movie also has some overt sexual situations. They involve casual sex, but moreover desperation sex. While I appreciate gratuitous sex scenes, these seem a it forced. I did in fact enjoy them the transitions, one which included using mouthwash to clean the penis.

Cabin Fever, upon second look, really has a lot of flaws. I didn't really think that the film had a lot to offer the first time around, but I really liked it. I saw it originally on vhs through my local video store, and somewhere along the ways I ended up liking it quite a bit. However, looking back at the film, I don't really know if I can recommend it with full heart. I do enjoy Cabin Fever for sentimental reasons, since it was one of the first films I bought on dvd...I'm a slow adopter.

So as for today, enjoy your memorial day, and maybe dust off your copy of Cabin Fever on dvd, and check it out for a second look. Also, read my previous review of Cabin Fever, and see if there's any news on the sequel...which has a special star from Boy Meets World coming back for some more.

**Note, since it was a holiday and I had a day off today, I decided to do a "second look" post. We're heading towards the end of the month, so enjoy another couple of reviews and the end of month post. Indeed!

Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Brainscan Review

Technology always gets the short end of the stick. How many times have we seen a Robotic takeover in science fiction and horror? Remember fear dot com? There's always something scary about technology that is exploited into movies that scare us, or try to scare us. The same thing goes for our latest review. The 1994 movie Brainscan is an interesting look into how scary things would be if hypnosis was possible through video games and computers. The movie was ment as a scary film, but ended up being more comedic to me than scary and therefore we get another failed attempt at a horror film and moreover...my review. I guess you just can't over analyze a lot of horror film because it just seems dated, but I'll give it my best shot, as I always do. So today, we're going to look at the 1994 teenage horror film Brainscan.

The premise to Brainscan is simple. The movie revolves around a couple of horror fanatics. Edward Furlong plays a computer nerd who is in love with his neighbor, and loves computer technology. On one fate filled evening his friend convinces him to buy a cd-rom called "The Scariest Game Ever" and he obliges and buys it. A few days later it arrives and we get a peek into the nightmares that parents might have in regards to video games and hypnosis.

Here is a trailer for the movie Brainscan:

The movie looks a lot like a Goosebumps made for television movie, but the production values rise a little with some of the special effects. As the main character gets the cd-rom he realizes that the video is hypnotic and things start to really go wrong. The cd plays a video in which you are in a first person view of a murder. The character goes through the motion and stops the game, moving forward. As he turns on the news he realizes that the death in the game has become real, and he becomes paranoid and scared.

To top it off, there' is a monster/imaginary character that shows up, which is scary. If you saw the movie "Little Monsters" with Fred Savage, "Drop Dead Fred", or "Beetlejuice" you see that this is no new kind of set up. This new imaginary character cajoles the main character and his friend into running around trying to figure out how to stop the cd-rom from taking control of them and the world!

The scenarios are so outlandish, and the bodies start piling up, yet there is such a bad comedic underlining to the film that you really are taken aback. The movie really doesn't feel like a horror movie after the first twenty minutes and it really suffers. I kid you not when I tell you that the film really tries to combine the aesthetics of "Little Monsters" with something like "976-Evil" and fails in dramatic fashion.

Brainscan is a nice idea on paper but in movie form it's another terrible movie and not something that is worth over thinking. That being said, I don't recommend this film for everyone. However, I do think the actor's do an adequate job, even if the subplot about love and what not is somewhat the premise of "Drive me Crazy"...but that's for another time.

Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

RSVP Review

I admit, not every movie that comes through my dvd player is actually worth talking about. But in due fairness, I give each one at least one view. This is a film that I found due to the fact that Jason Mewes (Jay and Silent Bob, Dogma, Clerks) was in, and thought it would be worth while. I should know better, but of course I didn't, and this movie was a terrible attempt at black humor and moreover horror. Some might say that this movie is something like "Rope" but it really isn't worth even considering the two films in the same genre. I wouldn't even recommend this one over the ill fated Ax'Em which is a horrendous horror film to watch. So before you go and rent this film on a night when you're bored, here is my attempt at reviewing the film R.S.V.P.

The movie revolves around a party, a nice little dinner party where the main guest is late. We are introduced to several different archetype characters ranging from the rich boy, the token black guy, the slut, the serious dude, and of course the stoner. Yeah, it's really not much of a motley crue of people that are at this party, and it's really not that good at all. While some of the actors seem somewhat competent, the rug gets pulled from under their abilities with the souring plot thickening element that is created by smoking weed.

The movie continues through some terrible moments, and the kills show no major gore. The gore is so toned down that this film is nothing more than a made for television special about why not to smoke marijuana. The highlight for me personally was Jason Mewes, but he just seemed to be playing Jay without Silent Bob and I really had a hard time agreeing with the decision to cast him in this film. The filmmakers are obviously trying to cash in on his name, and are really doing a poor job doing so. I didn't like that and don't think anyone else would necessarily like it either. However, what can you do?

R.S.V.P is a movie that is thankfully in the lower level bargain bin at your rental store, it's really a bad film and the only merit to this blog is that there is some serial killing subplot, and there's a few good twists, but the term is used loosely. I'm not going to bore you with anymore details, so watch this one at your own risk.

I know this film was meant to be comedic, but it tried to do horror and comedy and failed at both ends.

Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Interesting Horror Movie Releases 5/19/09

This week in horror movies, we are seeing a great influx of science fiction, but also straight to dvd horror. There are a couple of other films that are interesting to look at, but nothing too complicated. I really am looking forward to getting that limited edition T2 thing, it's a full exo-skeleton!

Other than that, we finally get a good mix of horror releases for a change alongside some sci-fi stuff and a couple of anime collections. So check these out, and stay tuned for another review tomorrow. I think something...80's...not sure.

Bane 2008 Dvd
Batman 1989 Blu Ray Dvd
Battle Star Galactica: Season 2.0 and 2.5 Dvd Set
Circle of Iron Blu Ray Dvd
Claymore: Volume Five, Sisters in Arms Dvd
Detective Story Dvd
The Devil's Ground Dvd
Eden Log Dvd
Eden Log Blu Ray Dvd
Fist of the North Star The Movie Dvd
Gundam Seed Destiny Anime Legends, Vol. 2 Dvd
The Last Horror Film (Uncut Special Edition) 1982 Dvd
The Machinist Blu Ray Dvd
Nightmare Castle Dvd
My Bloody Valentine 3D Dvd
My Bloody Valentine 3d Blu Ray
Outlander Dvd
Princess Resurrection: Collection 2 Dvd
Saiyuki: Requiem/Martian Successor Nadesico: Prince of Darkness Dvd
Skull & Bones (2007)
Limited Edition T2 Complete Collector's Set Endoskull [Blu-ray] (1991)
True Blood Season 1 Dvd
True Blood Season 1 Blu Ray Dvd

Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Tenebre Review

In 1982 I wasn't even a thought in my parents mind. I didn't arrive until a year later, and things got better for your old pal sir jorge. Dario Argent really pushes the boundaries of art and film, and it shows that art sometimes supercedes horror, especially in the setting up of his final solution. I watched this film in high definition with full surround sound, so I really took in the experience, more than usual. This film is an odd one, and one that admittedly, took me a long time to finally sit down and watch. So let's all take a moment and look back in time once again for this 1982 classic, Tenebre aka Tenebrae from directly and horror mastermind Dario Argento.

The story is a simple one up front. A killer is on the loose, and he's killing people with connections to a writer who is on tour in Rome. The book in the film is called "Tenebre" and we see it in the film many times. The movie moves away from simple horror methods, to murder mstery as the film obviously wants to sway you into picking the killer's identity. As the movie progresses our main character "Peter Neal" becomes more and more obsessed with finding and stopping the killer, but there's more to the story than just a rampaging serial killer.

Here is a trailer for the film Tenebre directed by Dario Argento:

The film itself isn't the greatest of quality. However, the attention to details and colors are apparent yet again. You can always tell a Dario Argento film by the use of emotion and colors throughout. You can see the grain of the film never really shows its age, and the shots each are systematically put out to prove yet again that you can mix horror and art in such a unique way. The film progresses through night, dark, rain and clarity, while never sacrificing the viewers pretenses.

There are sexual references in this film that I thought were amazing. Domination, S&M, humiliation, bukkake, oral sex, and so much more are touted in an intense flashback.The flashback shows limited nudity, but there is so much more that is told through the simple segment, that you can't help but think about what message is being sent through this obviously provocative tale. The use of censorship here provokes the imagination to an all new sexual clarity that can only be done by NOT engaging into the full scenario that it implies. One noted psychologies studied the film and concluded that the deviancies between men and women are the central issues. He noted that the killer kills perverts, or supposed perverts. However, those things are only seen if you really study the film, or ask questions throughout. I ask a lot of questions and take mental notes to what the visuals are trying to portray. So I noticed the sex as a backdrop, but only if you're wide awake and know how to diagnose such things. If not, you'll not notice because the movie doesn't hit you in the face with sex like other films.

The movie goes through a nice body count without getting too gorey. This film actually has limited gore, considering the death sequences. Much like "Suspiria" didn't show you the full slayings, but rather a first person view of stabbings and control, this film takes similar steps to prevent over saturation of gore early on.

Much like many other Argento films, the ending brings everything together and all bets are off on the gore and blood. We see a huge eclipse of sorts from the rest of the film, and we see a smart and witty way to deal with the main character, the revelation of the killer, the identity, and how to really push this away from thriller/mystery territory to a horror film with brains.

Is Tenebre Scary? : No. The film isn't really scary. In fact most people will be bored with the pacing. The pacing of this film is terrible at times. I know that Argento is setting up a sub-genre sometimes referred to "giallo" and really trying to promote mystery over horror and gore, but it really takes a lot out of you in regards to timing and perception. That being said, this movie isn't terrible, it's just hard to watch at times.

The situations call for a great deal of dialogue and effect. However, this gets in the way of the serial murders as we can never really get to know certain characters or motivations until they are way too late. There is a great deal of attention put into swerving the audience into believing that the killer is a mysterious woman. But not just her, there are moments when you second guess everyone, including Neal! When the final bell starts to ring, you swear you have the answers, but it doesn't happen, it just doesn't happen and the rug is pulled from under you and you realize how genius the writers are.

Tenebre is not recommended viewing for everyone. Diehard Argento fans will argue that this is a better film than most other horror/mystery films in the genre. However, The great thing about this film really relies on your attention span. If you have a long attention span and can deal with the blood flow at the end, you're in good hands, as Argento masterfully guides you through a murder mystery with trace elements of Horror and gore to fill your cup. I for one enjoyed the sounds, and colors, and liked it for what it was. You decide though, and watch it if you are an Argento fan or just curious.

Bonus!

The film really had me interested with the sounds and transitions, specifically the soundtrack.

Argento had used the Italian rock band Goblin to provide the musical scores to two of his previous films, Deep Red (1975) and Suspiria (1977). The group had disbanded in 1980, but three of the band's members—Claudio Simonetti (Roland Jupiter-8, Roland Vocoder Plus, Minimoog, Piano, Electric piano, Oberheim DMX Digital Drum, Roland TR-808, Roland MC4 Computer), Fabio Pignatelli (Fender bass normal and fretless), and Massimo Morante (Electric and Acoustic Guitar)—reunited at Argento's request to work on Tenebrae. The resulting synth-driven score was credited to "Simonetti-Pignatelli-Morante".

And it shows! The synth-rock style of music in this film is amazing. There are points that transition the story from one moment to the next with some great music. I really loved the soundtrack and look forward to picking up on Vinyl later on this year. You can find the cd if you look hard enough, but it's really a great thing to have good sound to match your movie. Argento really outdid himself with Tenebre's soundtrack, it's really the best part of the film when you're bored with some of the story line.

Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.

Friday, May 15, 2009

1959 Funny Horror Movie Cards

From 1959 comes a set of cards starring famous monsters with silly captions. These are vintage cards and were most likely traded as currency for neighborhood kids. I can't believe someone scanned these in, these are really cool. So today, since I'm out of town I decided to post a few of the 1959 horror movie cards, for your viewing pleasure. The back of each card had some jokes on them...and I have a few of those towards the end. I found these via "Beware there's a crossedeyed cyclops" which provides some great horror content amidst a lot of comic book stuff.

So here you go, a few of the large set of 1959 horror movie cards you can track down via ebay if you want. I'll be back to full schedule next week, I'll be out of town this weekend.

Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

From the Mail Bag May 13th Edition

Once again, it is that time for me to go through the pieces of feedback you guys have given me and talk about them in a public forum. You could blame the fact that I've been busy, or you long time fans/readers will recognize these posts as a way for me to address things that you guys have said about my reviews or movies.

I want to implore you guys to comment on my posts, send me feedback and recommendations and more. So without further ado, here are the latest comments:

MC said in regards to my Crank 2 Review:

I remember when I wrote about Crank last February and mentioned the upcoming sequel, an anonymous poster dropped by and left this comment:

"Knowing these guys (Neveldine and Taylor) personally, trust me you're going to be surprised. Really surprised. And, you're gonna like it!!!"

The Crank movies know what they are... they don't pretend to be anything other than kickass action movies.

Sometimes you just need to see a lot of people get shot, blown up and such.

You're absolutely right. Sometimes we need to just see no frills action movies. It seemed like the 80's were saturated with this type of film making, but today a lot of movies are either for tweens or just too cerebral to impact the action junkies. We need more movies like Crank 2, that's for sure.

Tune Slut said in response to my Ravenous Review:

Great review, I only saw this movie once, its rarely mentioned.

It really is rarely mentioned, and it surprises me. I can't think of any other modern day cannibal movie that can match the cinematography, emotional impact, and acting prowess of this film. It's such a good movie, and has such a great ending, people are idiots. Thanks for the comment.

That's about it. I don't really get that many comments any longer. I keep churning out the reviews, but no one cares. I'll be out of town this upcoming week, but I'll try to get some good stuff here for you guys. Probably some comic book scans at the very least. We'll see.

Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Interesting Horror Movie Releases 5/12/09

Here you go, a little bit of interesting horror movie releases for this week. There's not a lot, in fact it's abysmal compared to other months, but what are you gonna do? So enjoy these little tidbits of anime, science fiction and horror releases for 5/12/09.

B.T.K Dvd
The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation Dvd
The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series Dvd
Bleach 16 Dvd
Case Closed: Season Five Dvd
Fargo Blu Ray Dvd
The Grudge 3 Dvd
Murder Princess: The Complete Series Dvd
Nighthead Genesis Vol. 5 Dvd
Passengers Dvd
Passengers Blu Ray Dvd
Plague Town Dvd
Plague Town Blu Ray Dvd
S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale Dvd
S. Dark: A Donnie Dark Tale Blu Ray Dvd
Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy Dvd
Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy Blu Ray Dvd
Taken Dvd
Taken Blu Ray Dvd
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Dvd
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Blu Ray Dvd
Underworld Trilogy Blu Ray Dvd

Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Mist Review

Stephen King has to be the most prolific writer of our times that doesn't get enough credit in the horror community. At least not in the adaptation department, and that's due in large part to some serious stinkers in the past. However, recently, Hollywood has really done a good job trying to fix that and with The Mist, we get a bit of everything that makes Stephen King great. We get a small setting, a confined location and an incredible look into humanity, with some stellar effects and a little help from stormy weather.

This weekend I was tired. But I managed to watch this two hour fright film, and I really enjoyed it. At least a little bit...

Here is the trailer for the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist:

The movie opened up with a cool artistic throwback to Stephen King's book covers. An artist is in his home and a storm has hit his community. This storm is incredible, and begins the story for a such a great mood. The movie then moves towards the main plot. A mist comes through and it's a deep fog, as a majority of the city goes down to the local market to pick up goods a nightmare begins. They see what appears to be an alien outside, and they all stay in doors and the second leg of this film commences.

The subplot, and some might argue the main plot of the film involves a group of townspeople trapped inside the market. The market splits into two sides. One side believes that this is the beginnings of Armageddon, and calls with somewhat of a biblical basis. The notion really starts to divide people as the fanatical Mrs. Carmody calls for blood! The butcher at one point stabs a military man as the cause for the onset of the evil, and is thrown outside of the store only to get sucked up by a giant alien like creature. The story then gets really bad when a group of skeptics want to make a great escape, and as they try to make their way out, the crazy woman calls for human sacrifice! As the group is ready to sacrifice a young boy, shots ring out and she is killed with a shot to the head and the skeptics escape.

Let's rewind. Why is there a strange occurrence? The answers that you have to stick to is that the Military had opened a portal and had something go wrong. Bringing forth the mist and creating the mess for the rest of the film. This comes to the surface amidst the townsfolk throwing out a military personnel.

The creatures are made even more creepy because you can't really see them. You only see small pieces of them, and you hear the sounds of them. By the time you see a full complete monster the cgi isn't overboard and they look somewhat believable. I'd say almost as believable as the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. These creatures are eating people alive and it doesn't get too gorey, but there are some sick sounds that come across in this film.

I'm not a fan of this "trapped" inside a location horror premise. However, this one is done somewhat well. The length of the films lends itself incredibly well overall and I'm impressed that though I was bored at times, I really admired the attempt to make these characters worthwhile. One of my complaints about horror in general happens to stem on the fact that the characters are nothing more than disposable teens or disposable dead bodies. This movie attempts to reverse that, and really tries to get a psychological twist to the horror department rather than relying on cheap death scenes and random kills to equate the scary part to an already scary literary work. (meaning that the film is a representation of that literature) All that to say that this film, by being over two hours long, creates enough balance between horror and character to elevate itself higher than the traditional horror movie.

Things get really bad for me and most viewers of this film in the final act. After the skeptics escape, losing some of their friends to the monsters in the parking lot, Our main character David Drayton, drives his car as far as he can go until he loses gas. He happens to have a hand gun with 4 bullets...he makes one of the hardest decisions possible, and this is one of the hardest parts of the film...until the mist starts to clear.

Is The Mist Scary?: Yes. There are a lot of different things working in the favor for this film. I think the majority of viewers of this film will probably get scared. There is enough tension to really make for a good scary film. The monsters aren't the scariest part of the film. The monsters are almost secondary to the major crux of the scary moments of this movie.

The scariest portion of this film for me started with the mist. The mist is so thick that you can barely drive. I for one am scared of deep fogs as I nearly died in a car accident involved with some thick fog. Anytime I see fog or mist as thick as there was in this film I get scared. So I immediately felt the sting of fear with the mist descending and overtaking the city. The smaller the city the worst the fear can become in many instances.

The second part of this film is the amount of religious undertones and overtones for that matter that become evident in the market. The market divides between super religious and skeptics. Things get bad when one side becomes near cult like in nature and the other doesn't. The reality of cults, and religious bigotry is huge. I don't think that people realize how seriously people take their faith at times, and this film puts it into your face to judge. As a viewer you really are forced to take sides, and it becomes evident that this thing is a powder keg, and it takes you to the edge of your seat until the climax, which I found dumb.

There are some harsh moments in this film, including killing a child. However, you never see the actual gore, which makes this film rest on the border of going too far. The science fiction elements allow this film to carry a lot of weight on visuals, but the religious template set inside the grocery store is what really made this film worthwhile to watch.

Overall, this film takes a long time to set up the closing moments. I really was looking forward to having no answers at the end, but for some reason the film takes you to a near definitive conclusion and really doesn't explain a whole lot. It just sort of shows you the aftermath, and well...the end. I found that the movie played on too long, that's my major complaint in this film. I didn't read the novella, so I can't really compare the two. Check out The Mist, for a somewhat interesting take on science fiction monster film and religious characterizations and thought. If you're not a diehard, you might find this movie a bit too boring, and that ending really made me question a lot of different things.

Maybe the best thing to do while watching The Mist, is to ask yourself: "What Would I Do"? That will carry you through a lot of this film.

I would've stayed inside the market, cause I'm scared of a lot of stuff. In fact I'm scared of writing this review...cause I know I'm a terrible writer. (sometimes)

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Friday, May 8, 2009

Suspiria Review

I'm tired this morning. I was out last night watching Death by Stereo and Strung Out playing here in Seattle. I'm tired, but I still snuck in a horror movie to review on the site. My latest endeavor takes me back to 1977. That's right, we're going back to the seventies and will be looking at a movie directed by Dario Argento. The classic Italian movie we'll review today is Suspiria, released in 1977 and now consider a cult classic.

Suspiria is not the craziest film up front, however, it shows so much talent and intrigue throughout the film, but still has some random spots of soreness and really lackluster production. Whatever the case is, Suspiria is a creepy film about duality, dreams, and so much more.

Here is a trailer for the 1977 Dario Argento film Suspiria:

The movie starts with one of the best kills in horror movie. There is an attack on a dance student and it's filmed in pov, something that porno movies are now famous for, and it's amazing. The director puts a shoulder camera of sorts, but not a nauseating view point and moves forward. The killer stalks his prey and then stabs a woman, before throwing her through a glass window. This is such a cool sequence and is one of the best in all horror films, hands down.

The editing is brilliant throughout this film. The editing and points of view do not change every 30 seconds like they do today. There are shots from far away that last 20 to 30 seconds, there are long winded conversations without switching back and forth. I like this style of film making and would appreciate more horror movies sticking to that.

The colors make this film more than just a horror movie. This movie has bright red blood and bright lights with color filters that create such an ambiance that you can't find in a lot of movies today. Throughout the film color evokes emotion and while the acting might not be amazing the colors coupled with the acting create the whole emotional connection needed to care about characters in these films.

There are some points in this film that can seem boring. The pacing is not like today's standards. This film punches you in the face, then slowly rebuilds before dropping you into complete madness. There are moments in the film that rely heavily on sound and colors. The point of view that you saw as the killer in the early moments of the film become overused towards the end of the film which provides a lot of entertainment with a Ballet School as the backdrop.

One of the best parts of this film is a moment where a girl ends up being trapped in a large room full of Razor wire. That's right, move over "Saw" you didn't invent razor wire trapped rooms, we see one here in all its shiny glory. This room is so insane, it's crazy, and it's one of the best parts of this film. If you can't make it through the ambient, dark, and colorful film, at least stick around for the razor wire trap, it's insane.

Is Suspiria a scary movie? : Yes. This film takes a shot at two major scary points in the human emotion. The will to learn a craft and succeed and the fear of leaving your comofortable world and become a hero. These are my opinions, not necessarily the purposes of Dario Argento's vision, so you have to take it with a certain brevity before you tell me I'm wrong.

The first notion that scares me personally is the human emotion that is involved in this film. Learning a craft is not easy, I learned a lot in College and somewhere along the way graduated and had to leave. I moved a long way away from Home and started with nothing but a degree. No one cared about my degree and now I sit in a random office working on tech stuff. So what? Well, this film's main character leaves the comfort of her home to a new school, to try and learn dance. Her dream fulfilled, and along the way things get really tough when she witnesses a murder. I don't know why, but the juxtaposition of skill and death are great metaphors for our life. We either live fast and die fast or we slowly fade away in our slow minded universes of tech boredom and cubicle land nightmares. Think about it.

The second scary point in this film involves the fear of becoming sort of a hero. The climax of the film, for me, was when our heroine has to kill off a ghost and burn the place down, all while escaping. To me that's a hero, I know you can argue that it's cowardess to run while the world burns, but to me it's not. I believe that the hardest thing to do sometimes is to slay the demons in our lives. Now, I don't mean a religious token demonology, I mean demons as a representation of anything that can be bad in our lives. There is a moment of faith that we all have to face, for me it was to leave Los Angeles, move to a new city with no family or friends and start brand new. That step for me was scary and it paid off in major dividends.

I know, I'm trying to shove the final moments of this film into a relational database of ideas that compare myself to the character even though I'm doing a terrible job. If those two reasons are not really floating your boat, consider the film as a whole. Dario Argento does a masterful job pushing the realms of surrealism and horror with such ease. The long shots, the foot steps, the rain, the color, and the storyline featuring tame gore and horrific situations really put your mind to the test of frustration and fear. What is worse than being trapped in a room of razor wire?

Suspiria is scary. I love Argento's work here, I thought the movie was great. I thought that the slow points were made better with the final circumstances and results of the film. I thought that for a 1977 film this movie pushed the limits of fear without compromising horror elements that make us all fans of the genre. Check out Suspiria and don't mind the slow build and lackluster gore effects, enjoy the art form for what it is trying to be...classic.

Looking for grindhouse, horror, or sci-fi films? Please check out our amazon astore featuring all things horror. Don't trust astore? Check out amazon.com, surprisingly they have more grindhouse,horror,and rare sci-fi than you may not have thought possible.