SINISTER is the terrifying new horror from the producer of INSIDIOUS
and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and the writer-director of THE EXORCISM OF EMILY
ROSE.
Struggling true crime novelist, Ellison (ETHAN HAWKE), becomes too
close to his latest gruesome story when he discovers a box of mysterious
and brutal home movies in his attic.
Jessica Biel has been cast as the villainous Viper in the 2013 release The Wolverine. A stand alone film, it tells the story of Logan's time in Japan. The story is allegedly based upon Frank Miller's excellent, ground-breaking story. Now, whilst Jessica Biel is popular and attractive, I've never found her to be exciting on screen. She comes across as bland and uninteresting in the roles I've seen her. She sucked the life out of The A-Team, which was overall an entertaining movie. Who would I have cast? Well, my credibility will probably go out of the window but Megan Fox springs to mind. She showed the qualities needed for Viper in the horror movie Jennifer's Body. Check out the image below. Megan can easily play vampish, which is what Viper is all about.
House of the Devil/Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever – A Ti West Too Much?
Whilst the movie was far from perfect, I enjoyed Ti West’s movie “The Roost”. It was a different take on the zombie drama at a time when low budget living dead movies were being churned out as quickly as Katie Price churns out publicity grabbing anecdotes.
House of the Devil appears to be garnering high praise for its ability to emulate 80s style horror movies and I have to ask why? Nothing much happens in the movie. Yes, stylistically, it has a great retro feel to it, but that’s no good if the plot is paper thin and the pacing laborious. Some of the build up is interesting but my patience wore thin after an hour. The conversation between Tom Noonan’s Mr Ulman and Jocelyn Donahue’s Samantha is stilted and unbelievable, when it should be far more tense. After the film ended I felt like I had watched 90 minutes of a girl wandering around a house. There are admirable attempts at referencing Hitchcock and Argento. The tension that is created by the question of wether or not the woman is actually in the house as Samantha wanders around is quite palpable and then ruined by the truly awful, badly thought out scene with the Walkman.
If House of the Devil failed to meet my expectations, Cabin Fever 2 was something else entirely. I liked Eli Roth’s original Cabin Fever. It didn’t know quite what film it was (serious gross out movie or horror comedy) but I liked the humour and the grisly nature of the gore. The sequel is horrendous.
Ti West has gone on record to say that he wanted to distance himself from the movie and blames other people for it. Well guess what? There is nothing redeeming about this piece of crap. I was suckered at the beginning by the return of Rider Strong and some genuinely cool camera angles, and then it all went to shit. I doubt that this was just caused by interventions and studio tampering.
The “story” follows the first film where water has been contaminated by the flesh-eating virus and shipped out in bottles. A nearby school is getting ready for prom night and the kids begin to feel the effects of the virus. There are attempts at a horror version of American Pie-style humour but it never works. If you get kicks out of watching a guy’s penis emitting pus and a stripper revealing pus marked breasts, then this is for you.
The side story with the first film’s Deputy Sheriff seems out of place, as if it belonged to outtakes from Cabin Fever 1.
The Director of these two movies, as bi-polar as they are, has a great horror movie to come, I hope. The Roost and elements of House of the Devil point in that direction. For horror gross-out comedy, look to the movie Wrong Turn 2: That film delivers.
I just love Comic-Con. Sure, it's frustrating not to be there, but cool stuff always comes from the event, and this is no exception; 4 minutes of footage! After reeling from a genuinely shocking Issue 100 of the comic book, I wasn't expecting to see a decent TWD trailer for a while but here it is. I won't break it down, just watch it.
Starring:
Noel Willman, Jennifer Daniel, Ray Barrett, Jacqueline Pearce
Synopsis: A deadly epidemic is spreading through the remote Cornish village of
Clagmoor Heath. As darkness falls its victims arefound foaming at the
mouth with savage wounds upon their necks. After his brother becomes
another fatality, HarrySpalding travels to Clagmoor to investigate his
sibling’s mysterious death. With little help from the superstitious
locals,Harry follows a trail of macabre intrigue that leads him to the
sinister Dr Franklyn, his strange but beautiful daughterand a truly
horrific family secret. Released in 1966, The Reptile is Hammer Horror
at its most nightmarish and bizarre.
Review:
The Reptile is an underrated classic and it's easy to see why. It used the same
sets as Plague of the Zombies (a practice not unique to this movie) and the
budget was smaller than most Hammer movies. If you can get over that, there's
still much to enjoy.
The
movie jumps straight into the action as we witness an unfortunate victim of the
title creature. The strange blackened, blistering make-up is still effectively
creepy even by today's standards, especially if you have the benefit of a less
cynical imagination. With the foaming at the mouth, the scene is quite
memorable.
Once
again, the Hammer production team looked for and got a cast full of memorable
actors to bring the story to life. From the Christopher Lloyd-esque performance
of John Laurie (Private Frazer in Dad's Army) to Michael Ripper's return from
Plague of the Zombies, as a different character.
There's
no gore in this film and neither is there the typical Hammer scream queen with
heaving breasts, to distract us from the movie's shortcomings. I think this is
why people do notice the issues with the Reptile make-up. Also, the story
requires us to fill in some of the blanks, as we're not told
everything. This adds interest, in my view. the whole sory is a type
of “werewolf in the family” movie. Noel Willman plays Dr
Franklin as if he is self-loathing in covering up what his "daughter"
has been up to. Jacqueline Pearce shows some of the character that will come
out more during her time as Servalan in Blakes 7. she plays the part of Anna
with a tinge of pathos and sympathy so that when it is finally revealed that
she is the reptile of the title, we see a pathetic creature even though it's
nature is to kill. During the climax, Pearce gets a bit of humanity out as she
complains of the cold.
The
dinner party is the pivotal scene as we get to see Franklin and Anna through
the eyes of Valerie and Harry Spalding. Here,
Franklin loses his temper with Anna in what
looks like a very unreasonable way. Anna betrays her closeness to the time she
spent in India
through her furious playing of the Sitar. Marne Maitland is superb as the Malay
manservance. His performance suggests that he is much more than a manservant.
His hold over the fmaily becomes more evident as the film progresses. He is an
odd antoganist but I do wonder if he is the antagonist. Similary to way in
which Plague of the Zombies appears to criticise the fauz Aristocracy riding
around, capturing women for their own pleasure.
The Reptile appears to
criticise England 's
involvement in India
and it's attitude towards local religions. At the very least it makes
observations.So is the Malay manservant a bad guy or is he just enacting
revenge for Franklin ’s part in
England ’s
colonisation and his part for going up against an established cult? It doesn't
matter as you can read what you want into it which is the strength of the
screenplay. In some ways, the Indian influence on
Franklin is reminiscent of the Sherlock
Holmes story A Sign of Four.
The art department tended to suck up the budget in Hammer movies and this
is no exception. We can look back and see that they had a very
important part to play in the success of the movies. The Reptile, despite its
low budget, shows this in it’s detailed and believable sets.
Like Plague of Zombies, the restoration is superb and well worth spending out
on, if you're a fan or discovering this for the first time.
Directed by Paco Plaza (REC 1 and 2; Romasanta: The
Werewolf Hunt) and starring Letitia Dolera (Man Push Cart; The Other
Side Of The Bed), Diego Martin (I Want You), Claire Baschet (Delicacy)
and Ismael Martinez (Carmen; Talk To Her).
Synopsis:
As the families and friends of Koldo and Clara gather
outside the church in the bright Spanish sunshine just prior to the
happy couple’s wedding, it seems that nothing could possibly cast a
shadow on such a beautiful and joyous occasion. But when some of the
guests start behaving oddly during the reception, it becomes apparent
that all is not well. In no time at all, the party descends into a
hellish scene of utter carnage as partygoers begin feeding on each other
with a crazed bloodlust. Amidst the ensuing chaos, Koldo and Clara
become separated as those still in control of their human minds and
bodies seek whatever refuge they can find. Although apart, the newlyweds
know deep in their hearts that each is still alive and set out on a
desperate search for each other not fully realising that what should
have been the happiest day of their lives could prove to be their last.
I'm interested in people; what makes them tick, their thoughts on life. Our world is changing...fast. Can we keep up? We can if we help each other. What better place to do that, than online.
This site is for like-minded people, who enjoy movies, television shows, comic books and music - whatever their age (although 18+ is probably a good idea)
I'm a keen movie reviewer and if I don't review here, then I will link to the websites I'm contributing to.
Not so much reviews as comments, to be honest.
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