Scary Film Review: March 2010

Monday, March 29, 2010

From The Mail Bag End Of March 2010 Edition

Alright kiddies, I've been getting more replies than usual, and getting hit with a lot of comments...which for once is awesome. So two things I'm going to say real quick before we get to the mail from you, the reader.

1. FREE DVDS AND CRAP: I'm going to be giving away stuff for those that comment. At the end of the month, I'll randomly select a name from a bag of names that comment, and unleash the prize patrol. All you have to do is comment, and wait. If I pick your name I'll announce the winner before the next MAIL BAG post as the first item of speech.

2. TWO TIMES MAIL BAG: I will be posting comments twice a month when the comments between 15 - 20 day cycles is more than 3 comments. Otherwise It'll just be once a month. Two times mail posts? Yeah, I want to make sure your voices are heard with my responses in a post...sue me.

So here you go, 15 Days of comments? I don't know...more since the last mailbag, which means I can finally clear my inbox.

Movieporch said in response to my Perfect Getaway Review:

This was a great and fun movie to watch. There is no way you can figure out what is going on while you are watching it.

I had no idea what was going on, nor what was on the camera. It didn't make sense to me at all, but the way the edited the swerves, twists, and turns to music, was brilliant. I enjoyed that quite a bit. I thought it was great, and I still say the movie was a tough horror/thriller to mess with.

jervaise brooke hamster said in regards to my A Bit of Personal Business for Scary Film Blog post:

You better be just kidding with regards to #5, and if somebody sends you one it is most certainly "NOT" repeat "NOT" fair game, it will instead be thrown straight into the garbage O.K.

Oh man, you're scary...but if it happens to fall on my lap, dude it's on, sorry. However, to be on your side, I rarely seek or find anything British. So me saying that it's fair game is like saying I'm going to strike it rich here in Moscow, Idaho...needless to say I'm unemployed and about to live on the streets...currently using free wifi at a coffee shop.

jervaise brooke hamster said in response to my Sorority Row Review:

Its still 100 times better than anything that the British film industry has ever produced!!!

You're most likely right, I won't argue. Wait...did Nightmare City get a push from the British Film Group? If so, You got to admit, that was a good one. Keep me posted.

joanna responded to my REWIND: The Howling Review post:

It is because of this movie that I learned to love the werewolf movies, I can still remember how stunned I was every time I saw Eddie transforming himself. Though the film might have some emotional detailes, some cheesy ones too, it is actually based on a shattering idea: in each and everyone of us resides an animal side.

I actually like this first one better than most other wolf films. I think there's a frenetic pacing to the ending that really is hard to rival, even by bigger, better budgets.

That concludes today's comments (more like the last 15 days or so). I'll have more reviews coming down the pipeline, including some not so new horror movies, some interesting tidbits here and there, and a countdown of my top favorites.

Until then, please try the fish.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

REWIND: The Changeling Review

Instead of watching horror film last night, I ended up going to see Hot Tub Time Machine. So once again, I break my promise to review more horror movies and I post another rewind post.

Sorry kids.

The Changeling is one of those creepy movies that takes forever to set up, but once things start being revealed, there are some creepy moments. While this film didn't offer buckets of gore, it did offer superb acting.

Oh and this film should NOT be confused with the Angelina Jolie movie of the same name.

The Changeling is a slow moving nightmare, and if you stick with it, you're going to like the tour de force acting job done by the cast. The movie itself is not one that is filled with a lot of gore, but it offers some rare scary moments, and deals with the human condition a lot more than straight forward scary notions.

Dr. Russell is our main character and after the tragic loss of his family he moves into an old house. The house starts to act out and the doctor is scared for his life, as we start to believe that the this is just another haunting movie. The movie goes into straight forward haunting mode until it is discovered that the ghost that haunts the place was killed in there, and the true horror begins. The movie transitions from a haunting to a real drama as the story unfolds and we discover that a powerful U.S Senator is linked to the slaying of a young child.

Not scary huh? Yeah, I know, it is a bit of a stretch to try and give you a synopsis of this film as it has a real winding road to understand what's going on. The movie is slow moving and the horror elements are really more of a "scary" haunting variety, rather than gore or random slashings.

Here is a trailer for the 1980 Rated R film The Changeling:

Yes, this film is quietly haunting and brooding at times, but it is slow. It's hard to sit through if you're not accustomed to the pacing of the early 80's as this film epitomizes the storytelling of the time period. While the actor's do a great job with every single piece of dialogue spoken, the scenes can take some time to develop into full blown story mode and the haunting sequences rely heavily on sound effects rather than true visual stages. The most haunting of the pictures is definitely that of the wheelchair and the closing moments of the final act. You'll have to see it to find out, but it definitely causes a stir in your mind as you see the closing arguments of the secret revelations that this house has.

I don't recommend The Changeling for everyone. Most people will not enjoy how this one unfolds and at times you really want to just sleep through it. However, if you're brave and you can sit through this one, it does have a twist of horror that is unique to the year that this was made, and who can say that George C. Scott's performance wasn't award worthy? He did a great job with the material, and it might even be rivaled by Christopher Walken's performance in a very loosely similar film The Dead Zone. Check out The Changeling if you want a somewhat serious horror film, not really for the new fans of horror, but definitely a close crossover hit for the genre.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

REWIND: The Howling Review

Today on this very special Rewind Post I went back to my roots and re-watched The Howling. I didn't change my opinion much, and still think that First person Camera view of the Wolf is one of the best parts of this film. I also thought the up-scaled violence was worth while, and it had some good points.

The Howling spawned many sequels, that I haven't really reviewed, but I'll have to do so sooner than later.

The Howling is a werewolf classic . However, it is not without its own flaws and many people disregard the franchise due to the amount of sequels involved in the series, however it is still one cool werewolf movie.

The movie follows a news anchor that nearly escapes the grasp of a serial killer. Along the way she learns of a psycho therapy colony that turns out to be a werewolf breeding ground of sorts, and is attacked. After the attack she starts to warn others of the existence of werewolves and when people don’t believe, she turns into one, causing chaos to break loose.

Here is a trailer for the film The Howling:

This movie is a classic in many ways. It is one of the first werewolf movie’s that I saw growing up and revisiting this classic was easy. For me it is just a cool movie at times, but the pacing has not gotten better.

The movie seems to go on a weird tangent involving sex at one point, and the pacing between the story set up and the actual dangerous situations seems a bit extended. I’m not sure at some points where the story is going, even though I know there is going to be a werewolf just around the corner.

Some might find the pacing to be the deal breaker, but if you hang in there, you will see a makeshift transformation scene.

One thing that I always ask when watching these films is, what are people doing during the transformations? I know one thing is for sure, they aren’t running. They wait for the transformation to be complete, then they scream and then they run.

The coolest part of this movie is found in the latter sequences where the main wolf is seen through first person viewing. You see two arms as the camera assumes the head position of the wolf, creating an awesome scene where you are almost in control of the action. Why they haven’t made a howling fps yet is beyond me!

The movie doesn’t take itself too seriously and you can notice this in many different comical reactions and disbelief in the characters as they realize what is going on around them. Unlike many werewolf movies, this one has a sense of its own stupidity, and doesn’t try to make it too serious like many other films. You actually appreciate that because if you’re a horror movie fan, you know how serious some of these werewolf movies try to be (ie; Cursed).

On a gore level, the blood splatter is minimal in comparison to other wolf films, but there is enough sexuality, blood and violence to satisfy most audiences. The Howling seems to want to stick to the original novel it is based on, although I doubt it really makes it to such a literary level.

I liked this one and it is one of my favorite werewolf films of all time. I know that the chimera aspect of werewolves is a bit odd for most, but there are some great sequences and for the time, the effects are awesome. I recommend The Howling as a staple in the werewolf film franchise, but make sure you take this with a grain of salt, because it’s not the end all be all werewolf film.

If you like werewolf movies, check out these other wolf classics:

Wolf via Amazon.com
Teen Wolf via Amazon.com
An American Werewolf in London via Amazon.com
Silver Bullet via Amazon.com
The Wolfman via Amazon.com

Monday, March 22, 2010

Sorority Row Review

This movie felt so contrived, and I wasn't sure what to expect. Sorority Row is a new-school slasher film that came and went to little fan fare. The movie revolves around a group of Sorority Girls that are trying to pull a prank. They end up killing a co-ed and swear not to tell anyone.

Months later, they end up being stalked by a killer who is killing the witnesses off one by one!

Visually this film isn't too crazy, it's definitely not "made for dvd" or anything like that, as it has some professional qualities to it. The film really goes through some interesting motions, but takes a bit to set up the second part of the plot.

The gore is quite alright for me. There are some interesting kills, although some don't make sense. As the girls keep getting killed one by one, things get really weird until I called the predictable twist ending.

Nudity is what I expected a lot of in this film, but it wasn't quite good at all. There were a few scenes, but nothing you'd expect from a film called "Sorority Row". I actually fought off falling asleep at one point.

Is Sorority Row Scary ? : No!

This movie wasn't scary at all. In fact, most of the movie is boring. There are some nice gore spots to break up the doldrums, but overall, it's just a boring ride for me.

I found that the twist ending was stupid, and made little to no sense.

Have you seen the movie, "I Know What You Did Last Summer"? If so, you've already seen this movie, just a few interchangeable characters, lesser known actors and more gore at times.

I wouldn't recommend Sorority Row, but if you have nothing better to watch, check it out, I guess.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Introducing Ekimmu The Dead Lust

Earlier in the week I received an email from the director of this new film, "Ekimmu The Dead Lust" and I promised I'd say a little something. This movie looks intriguing to me, and I like how it's coming together. I didn't have a review in the chamber because I had an interview with Walmart this morning and felt like crap after I realized that 4 years of college, a degree, an a lifetime of debt has garnered me an interview with Walmart!

I hate my life.

I didn't get the job either.

Oh right, this movie looks cool, here's the Synopsis from the official Ekimmu The Dead Lust site, followed by the trailers to this cool indie-horror flick:

he unassuming rural town of Briar Creek seems to be keeping a nasty secret...

On a cross country trip home a young couple make a late night stop in this little town,
only to stumble across a mysterious girl lying along the dark roadside,

The evil lurking inside of her waiting...planning...plotting....

When the two girls find that they are somehow psychically connected strange things begin to happen.

It's only a matter of time before the two girls cant control the inevitable.
The following days will lead them to question everything, from their own existence to
whether or not they have somehow opened a doorway to evil.

All of their answers can be found in only the darkest of places.

Where the sins of the past become the sins of the future.

Lost in a strange town,
scared as hell
and running low on gas...
Darkness sets in as events begin to frantically tumble into the void of...

Dead Links kiddos

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

A Bit of Personal Business for Scary Film Blog

I had a job interview yesterday, and it did not go well. I'm still out of work, trying to make ends meet, and really having a hard time. But that's not what I'm here to talk about today.

Normally you get a review here, and we all have a good laugh, or ignore the review and walk away.

But today I wasn't able to get a review up, simply because I didn't watch any horror movies. But I did manage to change things up, and wanted to clear the air about a few changes that are changing on this website.

1. No more affiliate ad at the bottom of each post, kind of...You will not see a link to my "astore" or "grindhouse" shop.

2. More in-line text ads for NON RSS FEED subscribers. If you aren't subscribed to my site via RSS, go for it. If you subscribe you will not see any "in-line" ads. These in-line ads give me a fraction of a cent, but it's something compared to nothing.

3. Banner ads in the sidebar will be reduced. As soon as I reach the "cash out" status on the ads, I'm going to delete them. That means no more non-website/horror related ads will be running...well not as many of them.

4. Reviews will most likely still not have trailers. I've decided to completely omit trailers from the reviews. This decision was due in large part to the fact that people (most likely studios) are pulling their trailers from youtube, without letting me know, and ruining the experience for everyone. So i'm going to throw out the trailer format.

5. More British horror!

6. I was just kidding about #5. I'm not going to go out of my way to get more british horror, but if someone sends me one, it's fair game.

7. Less Rewind posts. Rewind posts are done when I am out of time, and can't update the site. I'll try to limit them a little more. Or if I do them, I'll add fresh content so that it's not completely a re-post.

8. The End of "movies that came out". I am not going to post the horror movies that came out this week, this month etc. I tried before and it got little to no fan fare. So I'm not going to collect the data.

9. Comments, I will be responding in line to comments as well as posting Q&A via the mid-month Mailbag posts. So please, keep them coming.

10. REQUESTS! Please send me your requests, or just tell me what you've been watching. Guest reviewers Welcome! If you want a shot at talking trash here, let me know, you can come by and post something. Why not?

Lastly, BELOW is the last time you're going to see this A-Store linkage. No one ever clicks through and buys anything, and I'm not going to push it. After a ton of reviews, and no sales, I'm not going to push it.

I'll have more reviews sooner than later.

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, March 15, 2010

From The Mailbag March 2010 Edition

Here's the latest and dare i say greatest of comments from the site that you 4 readers enjoy from time to time. More reviews are coming, just keep posted...I'm tired.

willy jerk-off said in regards to my Sweet 16 Review:

Yeah but i was just wondering whether or not the gorgeous 16 year-old chick appeared completely naked at some point in the film because if she did that would have made it worthwhile.

There might have been nudity but it wasn't much of an impact, because I don't remember it going down. Maybe? I know there was a shower scene at one point.

jervaise brooke hamster said in regards to The Relic Review:

I actually think "THE RELIC" is one of the most ludicrously under-rated horror films of the 90`s, it is a quite magnificent film with superb special effects (i just wish Penelope Ann Miller had been 18 at the time of filming and completely naked for the entire movie then it would have been absolutely perfect). It is (for instance) a hundred times better than "SCREAM" (which was released the same year) which i thought was ludicrously over-rated hogwash.

It has some great moments, I admit. However, there are moments that just drag on and just irrelevant to the overall film. Maybe upon another viewing, I'll see the point more.

oliver syngen mollusc said in response to The Box Review:

The scariest thing about "THE BOX" is knowing that Cameron Diaz is now 37 years old, a full 19 years past the absolute pinnacle and peak of her physical attractiveness and desirability, now thats bloody scary believe me.

I think she's desirable...I actually thought she looked half-way decent in this film. She is older, and maybe that's why she's not doing high-class film, and instead is in this pseudo-scifi film.

jervaise brooke hamster said in response to my Bronson review:

Bronson is just another hideous product of a society that is governed and poisoned by lies, hypocrisy, sexual repression, censorship, double standards, inconsistancies and ludicrous absurdities on a grand scale and that he was unfortunate enough to be born into (like millions of other poor British bastards). By the way Sir Jorge, could you please make sure that you dont reveiw any more British made garbage because it besmirches an otherwise brilliant site with the foul stench of British filth. I`m not kiddin` Sir Jorge, no more British made crap O.K.

Wow. I've think we've gone down this road before. I don't know if you're legit, or you're kidding, despite the fact that you just said you weren't kidding. I can't promise NOT to review British film, but it's not as prominent. What about Hammer Horror? Doesn't that count?

Mookie-Mookie said in regards to my Night of the Demons Review:

Mom used to tell me to cover my eyes or go to another room while she watchs it with dad and their friends. i had no freakin idea that time but the screaming scared the heck out of me. but now... just like liath said. i'm going to get this and finally conquer my childhood fears!

I found the film funny, not really scary. I can see why it can happen.

That's about it folks. That's 30 days worth of comments, if not more. I've been struggling to find a job, and it's been hard. I will be back in action later this week with another crappy movie to review, I'm sure.

As for all you guys and gals that commented, thanks. Please keep it up, and make sure to request any movies for me to watch and review.

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, March 12, 2010

Slaughtered Review

This is terrible.

This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It's worst than the previous worst movie on this blog.

Slaughtered is a movie that looks like a porno, and has enough nudity to be a porno, but is not. The movie follows a goth guy looking for women to photograph, but when he gets them at his house, kills them, after torturing them.

When a private detective catches wind, things go from bad to worse, and he starts to panic...oh but that's not the worse part. Ghosts start rising to attack him and this movie really craps all over the viewer.

This movie is not scary, it sucks.

This movie isn't worth me talking about it, but it's all I saw today.

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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

REWIND: Lost Boys The Tribe Review

I’ve been doing movie reviews for a long time, and the most requested movie of all time for me to review has been The Lost Boys: The Tribe. That’s probably because I don’t have a whole lot of visitors, but that’s all right. The Lost Boys is a franchise that has a lot of fans, and purists. With so many different horror remakes coming through the wire, you might be afraid of watching a sequel to the original Lost Boys film, but give it a once over and you might enjoy it, but you really have to love straight to dvd movies.

This movie’s opening has a great cameo from the legend of make up effects from Tom Savini getting dismantled by some vampires. I thought this film was going to be about cannibal vampires, but it wasn’t. This movie is about a brother & sister duo that moves towards the ocean and befriends a circle of vampires. This plot structure was not played off well and made me kind of sad that I had invested so much time into the set up of this horrible movie. I tried to watch this film with an open mind, but within the first half of the film the clothes start coming off and we get treated to a ton of nudity for no apparent reason. We also see some relaxed vampire effects and cg effects that really look lazy.

I tried to dumb myself down to this movie’s level, and then I realized that the star was in an American Pie sequel, and here is the star in all his comedic glory.

Yeah, there he is, Stifler’s little brother with an oboe on his member. Like I’ve said before, I’ll watch ANYTHING and well, sometimes these straight to dvd sequels are launching pads for references in a horror review that really makes no apparent sense.

Here’s a trailer for Lost Boys: The Tribe:

The movie got a lot of attention, and I believe that some bloggers were paid off to promote this stuff, all because of Corey Feldman’s return to the screen. He does a great job reprising his role, and I swear he hasn’t aged a whole lot since he was a kid. He plays the vampire hunter and he makes some references to the original Lost Boys film, but for the most part he’s the highlight of the movie, which isn’t saying a whole lot.

The movie had a terribly linear script, the story was more about sex than it was about vampirism in the traditional sense, and while I did appreciate all the gore effects, I don’t believe that this movie stands up to the original in either style or substance. This film looks like it was filmed with an HD camera rather than real film, and while I do admit there are a few cityscapes, but for the most part it just didn’t have the film quality of most horror films straight to dvd or not.

The Lost Boys 2 dvd is enjoyable for a short time, however once the nostalgia wears off, you don’t have a good vampire film at all. In fact, I had more problems with this film than I have had with a lot of other movies out there in the same category. There is a great surprise at the end, but quite honestly, I hope that doesn’t make for another film with the Lost Boys franchise. This movie had cheesy effects, horrible dialogue, and too much nudity for no apparent reason. If you’re absolutely in love with Corey Feldman or just want to cheer on another Lost Boys movie, then this is for you. I didn’t like it too much, but I managed to get through it.

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Monday, March 8, 2010

Bronson Review

Out of left field came this rad movie called Bronson. Bronson is a movie about a convicted killer, and partially biographical, and it is badass!

Bronson goes through the motions of mixing what seems to be a live performance piece with scenes from the mans life. You see a one man stage show, in which our main character spews out rhetoric, stories and details about his life, in a very interesting manner. The actor playing this role is amazing, garnering a lot of attention with simple words and actions. I liked it.

The movie is near exploitation at times, with the graphic gore, violence, and cursing. The real life prisoner was made famous by the English Media for being the craziest, most brutal prisoner ever. In this film he goes to great lengths to prove it. He has a lot of bare knuckle fights where he just goes nuts.

Visually, this film is quite good overall. It features some beautiful lighting at times, and some very interesting shots that seem just too artsy for the content of this film. At times there are sections that reminded me of an Argento arthouse horror film, and at other times it seemed like drama was the name of the game here.

Here’s a trailer for Bronson:

I really loved this film, and putting it into words is somewhat difficult. It’s a tour-de-force of brutality and justice. It just visually and sonically appeals to me. It’s not necessarily a scary film, but it’s so graphic that it’s like watching an old style exploitation film, mixed with the fights of “Fight Club”.

I highly recommend Checking out Bronson:

BONUS!

Bronson’s main character is a real life person. I learned that he wrote a very unique fitness manual. It’s a book for those that want to lose weight, pack on lean muscle, and don’t have a lot of room. It’s made for a single man, in a small room, and it’s quite good from what I’ve seen. Check that out in conjunction with this film, and you’ll realize it’s a rather interesting topic. The book is titled: "Solitary Fitness" and it is very interesting to say the least.

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Friday, March 5, 2010

Sweet 16 Review

Sweet 16 had a cool cover, and it attracted me to it. I bought it hook line and sinker, but then when watching...I completely lost it.

This film was bad. So bad that I don't even remember many of the details. Sweet 16 is a film from the 80's and it looks it. This dvd release was a terrible transfer of the film, and it didn't make any sort of coherent sense. I didn't like it at all.

In fact, I wouldn't even bother reviewing it at all.

I give up.

I'll be back on Monday with a legit review, because this one left a bad taste in my mouth.

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Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Box Review

The Box came and went and people were split about the overall execution of the film. I recently sat down with this movie and really found it to be more than what I thought it would be. It’s really an existential piece of film making and horror that most people don’t really understand.

Here is my attempt at reviewing The Box.

The Box offers a simple premise in regards to plot. A mysterious man offers a family one million dollars to push a button. If they do, they will receive cash, but someone they don’t know, somewhere in the world will die.

Simple enough, right?

Wrong.

This notion plays on the human condition, and the family involved sees a terrible amount of disturbing consequences associated with not only telling the authorities about the box but also trying to back out of their commitment. As the cards are stacked against the family, things take a turn for the supernatural, and you start to realize that this film might be a religiously toned film, not just some psychologically imbalanced experiment of the mind.

I enjoyed the color and style of the film. Cameron Diaz looked like a mom, and her disability in the film really gave her a sexiness that I don’t really find in a lot of her roles. The whole plot doesn’t hinge on just the button, it hinges on the after life, aliens, and so much more that’s really hard to explain here.

The movie has some great effects, never going too overboard in the process and follows through with great attention to minor details. You never feel like you’re watching a straight to dvd movie, or anything like that. You get a sense of smart movie making and that’s why this film works for me, at least for the most part.

The Box is not without its holes. I didn’t like the swerve towards “after life” and the idea of heaven and earth. I didn’t like the way the premise hinged on the notion that the only way out was through murder. I also didn’t like that there were many loose ends at the end of the film. Sure, I thought it had some great subdued acting, and panic inducing moments, but not nearly enough to warrant the marketing of this film in terms of horror and thriller audiences. That being said, the pacing on this film is slow, and never really speeds up fast enough to make it worth while.

Is The Box a Scary Film: No.

While I admire the somewhat unique premise (although some might say it was lifted from literature), I didn’t like the speed nor the “we’re smarter than you” vibe that was presented by the film makers. It really tried hard to set itself up for a great angle, but by the time it happened, I was no longer really invested into the characters.

The Box is above average in terms of mainstream. However, it suffers from the pg-13 rating, slow pace, and lack of nudity….err…I mean lack of gore. This is on the edge of sci-fi, thriller, and horror film. I liked it a little, but not nearly enough as I thought I would.

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Monday, March 1, 2010

Monthly Death Toll February 2010 Edition