Scary Film Review

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Horror Movies Released 8/4/09

Here you go, more movies that are coming out. Well, these are selected horror films that are coming out today and you can now purchase them via links here, or go to the store. I suggest the links, but hey, that's me.

Here are the horror, scifi, and a couple Anime films that came out today, another horror movie dvd release tuesday:

Alien Uprising DVD
Bakugan, Vol. 4: Heroes Rise DVD
The Beast (Special Extended Edition) BLU RAY DVD
Big Trouble in Little China BLU RAY DVD
Blade: Trinity BLU RAY DVD
Blade 2 BLU RAY DVD
The Chaos Experiment DVD
Cravings DVD
Gomorrah DVD
Gomorrah Blu Ray Dvd
Hot Blood Sundae DVD
Mutant Chronicles DVD
Nature's Grave DVD
Sakura Wars TV: Complete Collection Box Set
Samurai Deeper Kyo: The Complete Series
Slayers: Seasons 1-3 Box Set
Slices DVD
Trapped DVD
Wolfhound DVD
The Zombie Apocalypse 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, August 3, 2009

Well, we're in a new month, and I am starting fresh. Well, nothing too fresh, just back to basics, horror movie reviews. This time around we're looking at a modern blaxploitation film called Vegas Vampires. This film was directed by long time blaxploitation star Fred Williamson, and stars my favorite bad guy from yesteryear, Debo (Tom "Tiny" Lister). Vegas Vampires isn't going to win any major awards, and it really isn't all that scary, but it has a good amount of cheer to gore ratio, that will make you at least look up for a second. So to start this month, I'm reviewing the film Vegas Vampires!

Here is a trailer for the film Vegas Vampires:

The movie starts out with a couple of cops looking into a regular phone call. Things get out of hand and they immediately realize that they are fighting the macabre. This is where we see how low the budget is. We visibly see smoke machines, the guns are not police issue, and the vampire floats on what seems like strings. The computer graphics are awful, beyond amateur. Seriously, the computer graphics shouldn't even be called that.

The acting is terrible. The acting is immediately, flawed, and while these actors have been in other films, they are just not trying very hard. The film progresses in slow fashion with other story lines. The most memorable one starts Williamson, he and a partner are simply going to Vegas to blow off steam. They arrive and witness some vampires, so in classic blaxploitation film, they fight! This is where the BEST part of Vegas Vampires occurs. Williamson and his partner (another vet in Blaxploitation) fight these vampires bare knuckled and at one point Williamson kicks a vampires head off! I kid you not, he actually kicks the head off a vampire! This sole act of violence and gore is the GREATEST part of this film.

The rest of the film is really poorly constructed. The two police officers still pursue the head vampire, but it's a slow moving process. The movie really derailed in the third act when a vampire hunter shows up and plays both the supernatural and physical realm. She flirts with our main character, later even agreeing to going on a date, but also says she's from a fourth dimension of sorts and that she fights the undead.

Vegas Vampires is quite possibly one of the worst horror movies I've seen in a long time. The production is terrible, the music is worse, and it seemed like it was a made for tv movie for none other than BET or something along those lines. The greatest thing about this film is not so much the subject matter of horror, but more so the fact that this is a great example of modern day Blaxploitation film. Blaxploitation is a genre I love, and this is a good nostalgia piece of nothing more, it's nice to see Williamson is staying true to his film roots, but wow, it's just not the same. Vegas Vampires is NOT for everyone, but I think it's worth a look if you're a fan of the genre. It's not a scary film, but it's horror for sure, I liked it, just not THAT much.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Monthly Death Toll July 09 Edition

Thursday, July 30, 2009

All Horror Movies That Came Out In July 2009

Here you go horror fans, we're getting into the end of the month, and you know what that means? I put out a list of all the movies that came out this past month. Here you go, if you're looking to pick up a horror movie, scifi, or anime film here you go, a semi-complete list of releases. Sure I probably missed a few but I'm not perfect.

So here it is, All The Horror Movies that Came Out in July 2009:

The 10th Victim DVD
12 Monkeys Blu Ray Dvd
Acolytes DVD
Angel of Death DVD
Armchair Thriller: Set 1 DVD
Bad Lieutenant DVD
Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series
Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series Blu Ray
Combat Shock (2-Disc Uncut 25th Anniversary Edition) DVD
Green Lantern: First Flight DVD
Green Lantern: First Flight Blu Ray Dvd
The Howl DVD
The Inglorious Bastards Blu Ray DVD
In Search of the Great Beast 666: Aleister Crowley DVD
Island of the Fishmen DVD
Oh! My Zombie Mermaid DVD
Pop Skull DVD
Repulsion- Criterion Collection DVD
Repulsion Criterion Collection Blu Ray DVD
The Terry Jones Collection DVD
Torso DVD
xxxHOLiC: The Complete Series Box Set
Dead Wood DVD
The Deep Blu Ray Dvd
Freedom: Complete Collection DVD Box Set
Grave of the Fireflies DVD
Kiddy Grade: Box DVD Set
Mystery Science Theater 3000: XV DVD
Near Dark DVD
One Missed Call Final DVD
Push DVD
Push Blu Ray DVD
The Unborn DVD
The Unborn Blu Ray DVD
Black Torment DVD
Case Closed: Season One DVD Box Set
Claymore: Volume 6 - The Awakening DVD
Door Into Silence DVD
FLicKeR DVD
The Haunting in Connecticut DVD
The Haunting in Connecticut Blu Ray Dvd
Horsemen DVD
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer BLU RAY DVD
Prey DVD
[Rec] DVD
Sleepy Eyes of Death: Collector's Set, Vol. 1 DVD SET
300: The Complete Experience (Blu-ray Book + Digital Copy and BD-Live) DVD Set
Black Snake Moan Blu Ray Dvd
Bundy DVD
Coraline DVD
Coraline BLU RAY DVD
An Empress and the Warriors DVD
Eureka Seven: Complete Collection, Vol. 2 DVD
Messengers 2: The Scarecrow DVD
Skeleton Crew 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, July 27, 2009

Orphan Review

Orphan opened up this past weekend and I caved in and went to see it. Now, I normally don't go to the movies because I'm broke, yep. Despite the ads you see and the constant linking to Amazon.com I make no money from any of my endeavors and therefore I can't afford to go. However, this weekend I splurged and went.

Orphan, on the surface, has a simple plot. A family adopts a little girl, she begins to grow psychotic, and bad things happen. Not too unlike many other orphaned kid horror movies from the past, only this one has a twist in the third act.

The trailer for Orphan was taken away due to copyright...i hate the studios.

The movie takes a long time to build up. The opening sequences are pretty raw, focusing on a parallel diagram of sickness of child birth, mixed with blood amidst white walls and floors, streaking through the thick substance we are introduced to this nightmare for the main character, only to realize that it is a dream.

The film progresses and we see that the family unit is getting a third. She's an awkward foreign child and seems to be a nice fit. She goes through some growing pains, and it appears that she's not exactly too liked by her new surroundings. She quickly befriends a little girl, her new sister, who's deaf and they turn out to be friends amidst incredible odds.

The story is not too unlike the film The Good Son, which I reviewed a couple of days ago. The film in fact also shares a common thread with The Changeling as the director focuses on the turmoil between the parents coping with their marriage and a new child in their family. The film, as stated previously, takes a long time to set up the third and fourth acts, and really could find a lot of people bored with how the film goes. There are some nice gore sequences set up for the purpose of killing the mundane, but if you're not into the film by the halfway point, the twist won't matter.

The twist is tremendous. The family finds out about their little girls past and realize that she's not so little and she's not so innocent. The transformation between psychopath to super human begins and we are treated to a frantic fourth act with a lot of careful plotting left behind for a more intricate bludgeoning.

The film fails in a few moments. The drama that is built in the family is recognizable to me. I understand the complexity of the human emotion and how marriages can sag and struggle through near divorce. The horror elements are an after thought to me, and therefore the payoff isn't that great towards the end. I do appreciate the attention to sound design as we hear crunches, bones breaking and a lot more when the time comes.

I didn't think that the twist and story made sense, but I liked how it was handled. I didn't like the cinematography of the violence in the end. It seemed like the camera went from nice overall tones to frenetic "Crank" style camera, shaking and jostling the viewer to get a reaction that wasn't really there.

Orphan is quite good, however, it is longwinded and the pay off is mediocre. Artistically I loved this film. I thought the images were beautiful, the shots were carefully placed, and the end credits were very lovely. I appreciated it the art and the amount of work that was put into setting things up, but the execution of the final horror elements didn't do it for me. Plus, the twist...oh man...you'll either love it or you'll hate it. I am going to say I loved it, but only because I didn't really see it coming, maybe I'm losing my touch.

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, July 24, 2009

From The Mailbag Late July Edition

Once again we are going to our comments, mail and reader suggestions for a post. I've been slacking lately, but it appears that so has everyone else, assuming anyone actually reads my musings on this horror movie site of mine. I've been delaying some things to get better acquainted with others, and will have more reviews next week as I have recently acquired some nice box sets and other things to review. I'm broke so that's a rarity to get some new horror flicks.

Let's get into the mail:

The Nobody said in response to my review of The Good Son:

I think the most interesting thing about this movie is its author. The screenplay is written by Ian McEwan, one the most celebrated literary novelists of our time. He wrote The Comfort of Strangers - a chilling book and even chillier film with Helen Mirren - and Atonement, the Academy Award Nominated film. He is truly a gifted writer and it shows in The Good Son, which is an unexpectedly good film.

You are absolutely right. The book "The Comfort of Strangers" is definitely a good one. Oh and yes Atonement had some great acting for sure. He is a great writer and they really did make this film into something more than the advertising and box covers led you to believe. I actually saw this film on a whim when I was younger and most recently saw it again, the same things that made the movie chilling back then made it good this time around. How timely is it that I reviewed this when there's a new scary kid movie hitting theaters this weekend? I'll check out The Orphan cause I'm bored, and review it for next week. Thanks for the comment, you brought some great insight to my lame review of The Good Son.

the posturing (and admittedly rather irritating) little popinjay said in regards to my post Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl Trailer:

I`ve got to see this film for the hot chicks and gore. That tom and jerry cartoon was hilarious it brought back a lot of good memories.

I admit, the actresses in these Japanese horror films are amazing. They are beautiful women and make me wish that I could've met some Japanese women when I was younger and single. In fact, I never see any hot girls in my line of work, and furthermore I haven't talked to someone outside of my coworker in a long time. We are seriously like the I.T Crowd show, just two of us in a room. Sad.

Tom and Jerry are definitely great. I love those toons, and wish that modern cartoons captured that sense of reckless violence. Instead we have Sponges and Star fish...but I love them too.

That's it, there were only 2 comments in roughly 30 days+ time. I'm not doing a good job, I can see that, and apparently no one is reading or responding. But that's not why I started this site, I started it because I genuinely enjoy horror. So until next time, stick around these parts. We have a couple things line up, the month end posts and then a new month of horror film!

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.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Interesting Horror Movie Releases 7/21/09

This week, I'm late with this post. I'm always late when it comes to horror I guess. Here are the most recent and interesting Horror Movie releases. Sure they aren't all horror, one is an anime one is a kung fu movie, one is a stop motion kids film...geez...it's slim pickings in regards to horror this week, sorry.

300: The Complete Experience (Blu-ray Book + Digital Copy and BD-Live) DVD Set
Black Snake Moan Blu Ray Dvd
Bundy DVD
Coraline DVD
Coraline BLU RAY DVD
An Empress and the Warriors DVD
Eureka Seven: Complete Collection, Vol. 2 DVD
Messengers 2: The Scarecrow DVD
Skeleton Crew 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.