Monday 23 January 2012

Competition: Kevin Smith's Too Fat For 40 DVD

Following the huge success of fan favourites “An Evening With Kevin Smith” and “An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder”, the acclaimed filmmaker, writer, actor and raconteur responsible for such diverse movies as “Red State”, “Cop Out”, “Zack And Miri Make A Porno” and “Clerks II” releases his first new stand-up DVD in five years in the form of Too Fat For 40. Filmed on the evening of Kevin Smith’s 40th birthday before a crowd of rabid fans at the Count Basie Theatre in his home town on Red Bank, New Jersey, this comedy special comes to DVD on 23rd January 2012 (coinciding with the release of “Red State” on DVD and Blu-ray) as a two-disc edition featuring the full, uncut and unexpurgated three-and-a-half-hour version of Smith’s performance and including a Bonus DVD loaded with extra features including additional encore Q&A footage and a look behind the scenes.

 On offer to one winner is a copy of Too Fat For 40 on DVD. As usual, all you have to do is to send an email to wayfarer2007@sky.com. The first person to do so by 1st Febraury 2011 gets the prize. 

Good luck!

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Movie Review: The Innkeepers



Directed By Ti West

Starring: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis

Synopsis:
During the final days at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, two employees determined to reveal the hotel's haunted past begin to experience disturbing events as old guests check in for a stay.

Review:
Ti West continually frustrates me. The Roost was a promising debut that I enjoyed. The House of the Devil showed more promise, with some tense scenes, but ultimately over-indulgent with little to get excited about. Cabin Fever 2 was just horrible and I couldn’t believe that the same director had made it. When I saw the trailer for The Innkeepers I got excited at the prospect of a Ti West movie that would finally showcase his obvious talent as a Director, and it does to a point. Unfortunately it suffers from the same problem as The House of the Devil; not much actually happens. 
For the most part of the movie we are observers of conversations between Claire and Luke. They are both likeable characters so I forgave the jovial tone of the movie expecting it to darken as the film carried on. After all, the trailer made the film look tense, spooky and thrilling. Sara Paxton is great as Claire; a slightly kooky, off-kilter character. I found Pat Healy likeable but his acting seemed forced and I blame the screenplay for making him little more than a spokesperson at times. Otherwise both Paxton and Healy worked well off each other during the frequent exchanges that make up most of the movie. The trouble is for the movie’s duration there’s just too much of the banter, and no adequate build up of dread. When tension comes it is well crafted by West, who generates dread and tension during the latter spooky scenes, but it’s too little, too late. The jump scares do nothing to help a movie that would have been better developing on the subtler and more sinister moments. One cheap jump scare spoilt the mood of the beginning, for me.
Kelly McGillis, who I liked in Stake Land , doesn’t get much to do in this film but she is nonetheless important to the plot and provides much of the mystery we’re left with after the credits roll. 
Ti West clearly bases some of his camera shots on the Kubrick perspective shots in The Shining; which is ok, but this film doesn’t come close to The Shining in its execution. There’s even a cheeky nod to the finale of The Shining at the end of The Innkeepers that I did find amusing purely down to the fact I thought West was going to emulate the final denoument of the Kubrick movie.  
The make up on the female ghost is effective and advertised on the poster art. There is always something scary about eyes that have rolled up into their sockets. I would have been happier if I had seen more of that spookiness in the rest of the picture.

I don’t mind when a film neglects to answer questions and leaves it for the audience to work it out for themselves but there has to be an interesting reason for the audience to want to do that. The Innkeepers doesn’t provide enough interesting material for us to be bothered by what actually happened at the end. I get that the movie is an unusual take on the haunted hotel story but I have to ask “So what?” I don’t watch a romantic comedy to get my scares so why should I watch a movie touted to be a horror movie for what is essentially a light-hearted character study. Considering the time taken to get to know the characters, the tragedy at the end should have been far more shocking than it was. 

Summary:
The Innkeepers will divide movie viewers, into those who slap themselves on the back saying “I got it, it’s not like any old horror film”, and others who when they watch a Western want to see a shoot out. This is by no means a boring movie, I must be clear about that, but it does fall short of what I felt it could have been, judging from the publicity. I wanted to enjoy it and in some ways I did. Ti West still has a classic movie within him somewhere, because he sure can write fleshed out characters and generate tension in scenes. I just hope I get to see it. 

Score: 5/10

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Win a Limited Edition Troll Hunter T-Shirt & Blu-Ray

To celebrate the 9th January 2012 UK DVD and Blu-ray release of monster hit Troll Hunter we are offering one winner the chance to win an extremely limited edition money can't buy exclusively designed Troll Hunter t-shirt and a copy of Troll Hunter on Blu-ray! One runner up will also win a limited edition Troll Hunter t-shirt!

The competition is open to all UK film fans. To be in with a chance, please email wayfarer2007@sky.com leaving your name and address. All personal information will be held in strict confidence and not used by any third party. The competition closes on 15/01/12.


This “original and highly assured fusion of B-movie lore and fairytale terror” (The Hollywood Reporter) combines the vision of “Where The Wild Things Are” with the faux-documentary, found-footage stylings of “Cloverfield”, “REC” and “The Blair Witch Project” to produce an “enormously entertaining” (Variety) and suspense-filled creature feature that the Daily Star rated as 'one of the finest monster movies ever“ and Total Film described as being “like David Attenborough taking a stroll into Roald Dahl’s brain.” ”Troll Hunter is Magnificent" (Jonathan Ross).
TROLL HUNTER bursts it's way on to DVD & Blu-ray on 9th January 2012 (Momentum Pictures).

Get involved at the Troll Hunter fan web site:  http://www.totalfanhub.com/troll-hunter/

Play the game and win a Home Cinema system at: http://apps.facebook.com/trollhunter/

Check out Ghoulish Gary's website (who designed the T-Shirt): http://www.ghoulishgary.com/

Borley Rectory: Trailer for new short film

I was only young when I got a morbid fascination with the Occult; from ghosts to UFOs (UFOs weren't strictly occult but for some reason in the 70s, lumped into the same category). A book that I got hold of was the Usborne Guide to the Supernatural World. In it was a section on "The Most Haunted House in England": Borley Rectory. So began a lifetime's interest in the Rectory and the hamlet nearby. This interest included an investigation of the Borley Church that was fascinating, if only for the lack of wildlife in the area.
In the late 90s, I came up with a treatment for a trilogy of books set at Borley but felt that the rights to using the site, even for pure fiction might be too hard to get hold of...and too expensive.

I've always wanted to get involved with something, any project to do with Borley but never followed it through.

It's great to see someone else has taken an interest based upon the very same material and pointed me in the direction of this new short.


More info and Teaser Trailer