Scary Film Review

Friday, October 30, 2009

End of the Month Death Toll October 2009

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

From The Mail Bag Mid October 2009 Edition

Greetings from Moscow, Idaho. I moved here at the beginning of this month and it's been a bit hard adjusting. I still have no job, and out of all the applications I have sent, I've received nothing in return. No call backs, no interviews, and I'm really questioning my manhood. I'm trying to make it, but I'm not sure if I will. I'm trying to avoid moving in with my parents, as I'm married and that's hard...the couch is not forgiving at all.

This month has been terrible for me in terms of horror films. Not only have I been working like crazy to try and get money to make it, I have figured out that I can't watch enough of them to keep the site updated up to now. I have the next few reviews ready in the chamber, and have even picked up a few to watch. I haven't unpacked the last few boxes so that's where I think there's some room for improvement. I'll keep you guys posted, all 2 of you readers out there.

Now without further crap, here's what came through the pipeline in terms of mail, email, and comments:

Anonymous said in regards to my 28 Weeks Later Review:

I could not agree more with you sir. THIS MOVIE SUCKED.

Plainly put, yes, it wasn't like the first. I didn't like it, but it's not as bad as I first thought. It has grown, very little, on me. Thanks for the comment.

bassistforlife08 said in regards to REWIND: Silver Bullet Review:

this movie is amazingly scary. love it :)

There's some great cinematic motions in this film, and it's under appreciated for that. I liked it, and think it's up there with the best werewolf movies.

Panic Attack said this in regards to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Review:

Definitely my favorite of them all. The humor that's kind of hard to catch in the original is amped up 100 fold. This is Grand Guignol at it's finest. A side note of the first scene, it was originally much tamer, but after a few test screenings, the execs asked for more gore and that's what they got. There's also a scene that Savini talks about in one of his books that describes a UT vs OU tailgate rally, where Leatherface chews through an entire crowd of celebratory UT fans...it ended up on the cutting-room floor, but it seems it's on the "gruesome edition", so, SOLD.

I have to get the new "gruesome edition" that sounds rad. The movie is one of my favorites, and I'm contemplating getting the import Japanese movie poster for my living room. The wife loves it, but not so sure she wants it as our main art piece for our living room. Anyways, thanks for the comment, keep em coming!

Anonymous left a comment in regards to my Brainscan Review:

not that i have ever been to this site, but i have stumbled upon this review and feel the need to critique it, lol sorry, ocd i guess...
Your perception of the film is dead on, but as for some facts...
you insinuate the disk is called 'the scariest game in the world' or something to that extent when really, in the movie, that was what the game was referred to, as a discription. The title of the fictional game matches the title of the movie.
" 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!"
His friend was really uninvolved w/ any aspect of the plot as far as the game goes, and i feel the obvious sarcastic joke (though funny) wont be so obvious and actually misleading to a reader who hasnt had the privilege of seeing this classic piece of cinema...
Anyway, good review, your opinion of it matches mine, but i couldnt leave w/o pointing those things out... have a good'n

Thanks. I liked the film, don't get me wrong, but it was a little hard to follow and really mustered up a sense of annoyance because of the whole "identity" crisis thing. I hate that in films. THe movie did have a lot of good points, and I recently saw the soundtrack in a record store, so obviously it didn't do so bad. Thanks for the comment, it was a good one.

That's it folks, the end of this months mail bag edition. I'm going to go watch the world series, then watch a few horror movies. I ask everyone reading this to consider buying something from amazon links found on this site. I am unemployed and looking and trying to make ends meet. I could use the help.

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, October 26, 2009

Saw VI Review

Oh and here we go, the sixth installment of Saw. I had high hopes for this one as I was under the impression that this this film series would get sewn up in this edition. I was surprised to see hwo good this one was in comparison to the other sequels, and found it interesting to say the least. It is definitely ranking high on my guilty pleasures list that's for sure.

Saw VI opens up with one of the sickest openings for a saw film. Two people chop body parts off to see who lives, one lives, one dies. It's a sick opening, and definitely forced, consider the gore levels we saw previously in this series.

Here is a trailer for the film Saw VI:

The movie deals with what we are told are the final six Saw victims. The story comes full circle as we see "jigsaw" in flash back format, trying to get health insurance coverage, and seeing how messed up things are. He focuses on everyone involved with the health care company that refused him coverage. So with those victims targeted, the rest of the film makes a good attempt of sewing up the other loose ends.

The film looks, sounds, and moves like a saw sequel. I've always stated that the first film was great, and the sequels were just trying too hard to be that good. They never were, but this one seems to try really hard to return to form, even though it fails a little. The amount of blood shed in this film is incredible, making things harsh for some viewers. However, you must remember you're watching a Saw film.

Saw VI is not going to make you believe in the series, if you're not already interested in the film series. You need to understand that this film isn't cerebral in any sense of the word. There are some plot holes, flash backs and so much more that you'll want to shake your head at. However, six films in, you end up letting it slide most of the time.

Saw VI fails to live up to the original, but who really is thinking about the original film? I know I wasn't, and I liked this one enough to give it a pass. Sure it's not great, sure it has some major plot holes, but overall? I liked it. I thought it was better than the other sequels in the series, and it sewed up the series nicely...assuming this is the end of the Saw series.

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, October 23, 2009

Saw VI Is Upon Us

Today is not Halloween. However, today might as well be Halloween. I moved to a city that only has 21,000 people and there is only 1 movie theater. So this weekend I'm going to try to drive an hour away to a major city to see none other than Saw VI. That's right, I'm somewhat of a fan of Saw and am somewhat excited to see what they come up with yet again. I am always down for a rated R scary film.

If you haven't seen the trailer for Saw VI yet, here you go, the official trailer for the latest installment of the Saw series:

I'm not too sure what's going to go down in the film, but since the last one ended with sort of a cliffhanger, I'm hoping it comes full circle and finishes itself off. I should've reviewed the other films for this week, but I didn't. I hate to admit but I'm still unpacking.

I'm a little depressed because I don't have a job and after 40 applications, I've received not one, I kid you not, not one solitary phone call.

I have previously talked about Saw and you may have missed out on my thoughts. So here are some posts from my past that feature Saw.

Saw IV Review
Mid September Mail Bag
Saw V Review
Saw: The Ride Announcement

If you hate the Saw series, that's ok, but remember...this is an R rated Horror Film. Rated R horror films are a rarity these days, so enjoy your weekend and I'll have a review of Saw VI for monday sometime..

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, October 21, 2009

The Nun Review

The Nun is a supernatural horror film that is not too unlike many Japanese and Korean horror films of recent times. The movie has an interesting premise, and follows through with enough gusto to get you through a horror movie fix, but overall it falls flat, and really doesn’t make any major moves to change the genre of supernatural horror, revenge horror, and doesn’t even compare to nunsploitation, which is what I thought this film really was about. This 2005 film is a good example of Spanish horror films that you may have missed, and in many cases rightfully so, as this one isn’t the greatest of them all.

The movie starts off with a group of girls at a Catholic boarding school. They are victims of abuse by a nun, and later we find out more of the back story. In modern times those same girls are now being taken out one by one by a ghost, the ghost of the nun that they all helped kill! That’s right, they helped drown a nun and now she’s come back several years later to kill them off one by one.

Here is a trailer for the supernatural horror film The Nun:

The Nun is a bit more than a sci-fi channel production. It’s on par with many other imports that we have seen in previous Lionsgate media purchases. The movie features a wide array of characters, but they aren’t given enough time to develop properly, therefore, you don’t end up caring about these characters as they are punished for murdering a nun. The ghost sequences and overall scary moments are few and far between. However, they are done well. The jump scenes are there, you get silence to loud noises and sudden appearances by the ghost, and you get some great animation for such a low budget. Overall, the ghost is nice, and is superior to some of the modern remakes like “Mirrors” and others that seem to be skimping on the CG or doing it wrong somehow.

Is The Nun Scary? No.

The Nun isn’t really all that scary, and really is only going to satisfy diehard horror movie fans. As a film critic (I use that term loosely) I found the cinematography beautiful at times. When they drown Sister Ursula and she descends into a cold bath, in full nun gear, there is such a beauty to the sequences that you’d swear you’re watching a superior film.

The use of supernatural and physical religious tones, is spot on. The superstition of the Catholic faith is interesting to see here. I don’t think many people got that when this film came out, and I don’t think that the director was intentionally slapping the Catholic church in the face with the film. This is not something like “The Exorcist” or anything that should be touted as a real religious scare. However, as a former Catholic, I understand the superstition that the characters go through upon trying to figure out what is going on.

The pacing is a little odd. It’s a little slow. The characters are somewhat self aware, and at one point one of the characters says, “what? Is this, I know What you Did 18 summers ago?” and the plotting keeps moving forward into a cliché that you are going to find in a lot of horror films. In regards to the pacing, you will find the film moves slow at times then speeds up to a point where you lose some of the transitional scenes and dialogue, moving you through another callous motion picture.

After the third act develops I had a fear that this film would somehow throw a wrench into the story and start a split personality thing…and once again I was right. The Identity Crisis in horror films starts up again and I really wanted to punch my screen. Sure it’s not as overt as some other instances, but man, it’s there and I hated that aspect.

The Nun is not a scary movie. It doesn’t change the shape of horror movies, it is not a great film. It has enough of a plot, enough scares, and a few moments of great effects (computer and other) to make this somewhat worth at least one or two views. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, The Nun is not going to win any awards soon, and it’s easily forgotten, but it has enough of a punch to keep you from falling asleep.

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, October 19, 2009

Technical Difficulties

Hey folks,

I'm working on a few things, but have ran into technical difficulties.

Please hold on, while I configure a few things and get a new post for you this Wednesday.

I'm sorry for the major delay.

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, October 15, 2009

The Scare Game Web Series

Hey, all three of you readers out there, believe it or not I'm still sifting through many boxes her in my new home. I'm still unemployed, broke, and losing hope for a brighter future. I wanted to share with you guys a cool new web series that I just got emailed about. This horror/comedy web series has the same kind of production, if not better, than "Midnight Skater" and is better than "Vegas Vampires" so you know it's good. It's free, and you can see the first episode below. Make sure you check this out on a regular basis.

I'll return to review some new reviews sooner than later, I swear.

The first installment of the new horror/ comedy web series that chronicles the adventures of a group of horror enthusiasts. Their lives change drastically when they are thrust into a real horror event.

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.