tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67818740890041035752024-03-12T17:41:26.027-07:00This Critic Is Not Yet RatedFilm Reviews Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger160125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-57645904622515220992018-04-30T01:00:00.000-07:002018-04-30T01:00:04.601-07:00The Final Destination (2009)More turkeys for November<br />
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Time for another of my Public Service Announcements...<br />
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Let me first give you a timeline about where I stand with the "Final Destination" films.<br />
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<i>Final Destination</i> has a very special place in my heart because it was one of the very few films that actually got me to jump in an impact moment. The out-of-the-blue bus hit that has since been overdone and parodied to death by films. But I'm not ashamed to admit that it gave me a jolt when I first saw it, and I'm the type of person that people sitting next to are tempted to check for a pulse during a horror film. (Well, at least until I start chuckling at inappropriate moments.)<br />
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<i>Final Destination 2</i> also gets major kudos from me for having what I consider one of the best multi-car crash sequences onscreen. When I first saw this one, I knew how to look for clues on how the characters were going to bite the dust and had a grand time trying to figure them out before it happened.<br />
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<i>Final Destination 3</i> disappointed me after the obligatory disaster opening, this time on a roller coaster. When they brought in a camera that takes premonition photos (<i>The Omen</i>, anyone?) I disliked it because the photos gave way too much information for me to play my game of figuring out the spin on the deaths. Maybe I got a little jaded with the FD formula, but they did at least try to put in some misdirection.<br />
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And now... there's this fourth film. Honestly, the only thing that prompted me to want to see it in the cinema is because it was in 3D and I've never been disappointed with the opening disaster sequence in a Final Destination film.<br />
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That is, until now.<br />
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I'd like to strangle whoever decided to go with a race car accident. After such a beautiful job they did with FD2, I was concerned that they'd not be able to top that kind of multiple-death-by-vehicles. Sadly, I was right.<br />
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But even more upsetting, it's not even a challenge for me anymore. They gave the lead character a sort of psychic ability to give clues on the deaths. To be frank, the only way it could have been worse is if they stopped the action and then have some bloke with a chalkboard explain to the audience exactly what was going to happen before each scene. (Well, either that or just passing out copies of the script along with the 3D glasses.)<br />
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If I can take one look at a character's surroundings and then turn to Garith and say "pasta maker" a few minutes before anything nasty happens...than the Final Destination team is really dropping the ball. The film was so dumbed down that I was having a hard time getting through it.<br />
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Could the 3D have saved it? Maybe, if they would have utilized the technology. Instead, a good 95% of it was things coming straight at you... which meant you could literally see death coming a mile away. I wasn't terribly impressed with it at all, and thought there was a lot that could have been done to invoke the element of surprise that the first couple films did so well in 2D.<br />
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Oh, and you could create a drinking game with all the references to "180".<br />
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I can't recommend this film with a good conscience. Not even in 3D.<br />
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<b>Info on IMDB:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1144884/">The Final Destination</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-75682687987788826522018-04-23T18:09:00.000-07:002018-04-23T18:09:01.417-07:00Martyrs (2008)<br />
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Martyrs is billed as being "One of the most ferocious horror films ever made" with good reason. It's pretty damned ferocious.<br />
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Once you understand how they define a martyr, that being someone who has gone through such an unthinkable amount of pain and suffering that they literally release their souls and see God, you know to expect that a film about making martyrs is going to be downright horrifying.<br />
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The story is told primarily in the victim's point of view, although once in a while we get some snippet of useful information when the tormentors chat amongst themselves. The emotions of confusion, haplessness, helplessness, and yes, even rage, are translated beautifully to the screen and it is almost painful to watch what the candidates for martyrdom endure.<br />
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The F/X team on this one really pulled out the stops, as did the prop people and set designers. The actors... entirely believable. Overall, I found it to be an amazing, if greatly disturbing, film.<br />
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It is a French film with English subtitles. I'm sure that much was lost in translation as the story can be a little confusing through the first hour or so.<br />
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However, once things begin to reveal themselves, it comes together nicely. Being a European film, the pacing is very different from standard American horror fare, so it does seem slow, even lagging, at times between the brutal bits. but with a little patience, it's all worthwhile in the end.<br />
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This film is most definitely not for the squeamish though.<br />
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Film Information: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1029234/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Martyrs</a> <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-27844972159497769382018-04-09T19:26:00.000-07:002018-04-09T19:26:00.253-07:00Vacancy 2 (2008)The last of the turkeys for November!
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To sum this film up in just one word, I would have to say “confusing”.<br />
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<i>Vacancy 2</i> is the prequel to the original <i>Vacancy</i><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=sirenproductions-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000RGN2JI" height="1" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" />, which was a film about a hotel that doubles as a snuff film factory where unsuspecting travelers check in and are videotaped while being murdered. It’s sort of like <i>Hostel<img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=criticnotrated-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000EHRVP6&camp=217145&creative=399349" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </i>without all the fun toys and pretty people.<br />
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Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but the very word “prequel” denotes that the film is about what happened before what was shown in the previous film. Given the nature of the story, that would also imply that the black hats come out on top and everything you may have been wondering about the first film is brought to light, right?<br />
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Yeah, I thought so too. Unfortunately, I don’t think the writers got the memo.<br />
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In the beginning, the story is plausible enough. A couple of blokes in charge of running a hotel in a remote location make a few bucks by videotaping honeymooners in action and then find themselves catching some very different antics on tape when a serial killer checks in for the night. After being advised that snuff outsells voyeuristic porn, they bring Mr. Killer in as a business partner and wait for the next batch of travelers to arrive.<br />
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You would think the outcome would be easy enough to predict, given that this is a prequel and all.<br />
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My best guess is that the writers and/or filmmakers decided that sticking to the tried-and-true formula of bad guys get their just desserts and at least one heroic good-guy needs to ride off into the sunset. The result being a lot of huge gaping plot holes that leave the viewer wondering how in the world the action of the first film ever got a chance to happen.<br />
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By the end of the film, I was left with the distinct impression that right before they wrapped up shooting someone on the set remembered that the film was supposed to be a prequel. That would certainly explain the quickly slapped-together ending to try to plug up some of those aforementioned plot holes.<br />
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If they do a “Vacancy 3”, it had damned well better include a few job fair scenes to show us exactly how the murderous hotel restocked itself with employees (especially after what I can only imagine would be a whopper of a lawsuit brought on by surviving guests). I’d also like to see a scene where the local police station is shut down for gross incompetence.<br />
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Oh, and one more thing… I almost fell asleep while watching it. To be honest, the only thing keeping my eyes open was my curiosity as to how they would possibly “fix” the ending.<br />
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<b>Film information:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1204979/">Vacancy 2</a><br />
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A psycho-killer wrecks havoc within the walls of an old scary amusement park ride… no, we’ve never seen this before!<br />
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Of all the Horrorfest 2006 films I’ve seen so far, this is hands-down my least favorite of the series. Strangely enough, this was the film in the series on the top of my must-see list. Too bad the bloke who wrote the promotional synopsis was more convincing than the actual scriptwriter!<br />
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Asides from being terribly predictable, in the I-Can-Name-That-Ending-In-Three-Scenes sort of way, it is also poorly executed. There are only two good things I really have to say about this film.<br />
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First of all, the sets are pretty interesting, if not scary in a dark kind of way but rather scary in a ha-ha way. Not the typical cart ride in a box like you’d find at Coney Island. The “Dark Ride” here reminds me of a few haunted attractions that I've been through at over the years and at one point in the film it mentions having twenty-five rooms (although I only counted about eight.) But I can appreciate the décor of a horror attraction with a budget.<br />
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Secondly, however unrealistic and improbable, there is a decapitation scene that seems to literally play off as a pun about “giving head”, for which I’ll give kudos for creativity.<br />
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Otherwise it’s no different than your regular garden-variety slasher flick, complete with hulking masked killer, over-sexed boys, and those ever-present annoying bitchy girls that you cheer for as soon as they buy the farm.<br />
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<b>Film information: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433963/">Dark Ride</a></b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-57515585345853872062018-03-19T19:12:00.000-07:002018-03-19T19:12:03.983-07:00Aaah! Zombies! (2007)More November turkeys!<br />
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The general idea for this film is cute. Four longtime friends turn into zombies and the survival story is told from their point of view. They meet up with a soldier who is also infected and can give them a little insight about their new condition. As their merry band grows, they strike out for a land of their own. It's not a bad idea.<br />
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Unfortunately, the execution of the story doesn't quite work.<br />
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The idea that the zombies can't see themselves is a little corny, but pair with constant flashing between what they see and what everyone else sees... well, it gets a bit annoying. Add to that the fact that the living apparently speak faster than the dead, and the only people who can't see the zombies for what they are are people who have had too much to drink... it makes sense, but it doesn't really play well on screen. The film isn't meant to be taken seriously, but the constant jumping back and forth makes it downright silly.<br />
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This film also presents a wonderful example on how sometimes CG is not the way to go. I understand that the zombie-inducing liquid glows lime green, but it just seems too cartoonish...especially when the "living vision" scenes are done in black and white.<br />
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On the plus side, the zombie makeup was fun and did work well in the black-and-white scenery.<br />
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Is it a funny movie? Well, it did have its moments, but it wasn't on par with other zombie comedies like <i>Shaun of the Dead</i> or <i>Fido</i><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=criticnotrated-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000V4UH08&camp=217145&creative=399349" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />. <br />
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Overall, I was disappointed with it. It had the potential, but in my opinion just didn't work out well in the presentation.<br />
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<b>Film information: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1027762/">Aaah! Zombies</a></b> (aka <i>Wasting Away</i>)<br />
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I really liked the premise of this story. It was a sort of cross between the vampire movie<b> </b><i>Near Dark</i> and the television drama <i>Party of Five<img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=criticnotrated-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0001IN0T4&camp=217145&creative=399349" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i>. Hey, your chocolate got into my peanut butter...<br />
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The Hamilton household consists of four siblings who lost both their parents in a never-really-explained accident who are trying to make it as a normal family on their own. Of course, they are also the type of people whose main source of sustenance is human blood, so it’s not as easy as one might think to maintain appearances.<br />
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The bulk of the story is told from the point-of-view of Francis <i>(Cory Knauf)</i>, the teenage boy of the house who not only has to worry about his school grades and family secrets, but also the frequent visits from the friendly social worker. It’s a beautiful coming-of-age story as our young hero begins to develop a bond with one of the freshly-stocked pantry items in the basement.<br />
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Although the characters try to be deep and diverse, Darlene <i>(Mackenzie Firgens)</i>, the lone female of the clan really brings the whole family down by way of giving the appearance of a typical All-American family. While we can chuckle at the clean-cut eldest who has assumed the role of family leader, takes on all the responsibilities, and has the occasional guilty pleasure of a man in his bed; and we can forgive the middle brother who has that charming “bad boy” attitude that no horror film blood-drinking family seems to be able to do without, the girl needs a serious character makeover. After all, nothing screams “Nope, no vampires here” like a pale woman with black hair, gussied up with black lipstick and heavy eyeliner, clad in outfits that are all the rage in certain Goth clubs.<br />
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But if you can excuse Little Miss Death On Heels, the story is actually very enjoyable and even endearing.<br />
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<b>Film information: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443527/">The Hamiltons</a></b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-6042681881613349202018-03-05T10:52:00.000-08:002018-03-05T10:52:00.402-08:00Road Kill (2010)<br />
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I had an awful lot of trouble getting through this movie. It wasn't that it didn't cut it as a horror film or that the acting was so wretched that I couldn't stand to be in the same room as my television set after a few minutes, for that isn't the case here. It is a nasty little ditty about a group of young people who clash horns with a demonic truck and the performances were plausible.<br />
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What bothered me was how much it was spoon-fed to me. There are few things that will get my goat more than repeatedly reminding me that something (in this case, the hood ornament) represents evil... especially when it really doesn't. It would have been just fine, however inaccurate, if one of the characters would have pointed out the ornament to his friends and delivered a short monologue about how the three-headed dog is the most evil thing in Hell and wonder aloud why anyone would decorate their truck with that image.<br />
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But no, instead we are treated to several random shots throughout the film of a "live" tri-headed dog with evil glowing red eyes snarling and barking for no apparent reason. In my opinion, they should have put the money they spent on an Cerberus puppet and hired a second screenwriter to fill in the holes in the plot. Believe me, our crumbling highways have nothing on the script when it came to damaging holes.<br />
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I'm still not sure if the truck was actually fueled on souls or if it just preferred blood to high-octane petro.<br />
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So it took me three tries to get through this film, which is never a good thing to have happen when I'm looking for new review material. Another one of our reviewers was with me on the third try and judging on how many times he rolled his eyes... I'm fairly certain his review wouldn't have been much better than mine.<br />
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One good point, if you are into this sort of thing, is that it is gorehound candy. As we've seen in films such as <i>Wolf Creek</i><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=criticnotrated-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000EOTVUM&camp=217145&creative=399349" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, a lot of nasty things can happen to teenagers who vacation down under.<br />
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But overall, I found it both tedious and even boring. The basic idea for the story had some potential, but something derailed in the writing. (Or perhaps it was butchered during production, as scripts can be cut to ribbons during the early stages.)<br />
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<b>On IMDB:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1241330/">Road Kill - Road Train</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-79236093414489204202018-02-26T07:39:00.000-08:002018-02-26T07:39:02.881-08:00The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)<br />
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Being the history buff that I am, it took me a few viewings of this film to get myself past all the historical inaccuracies and start to appreciate it as a work of fiction based on historical events. I put it in the same category as <i>Gladiator</i>, being that it's nice to look at but about as factual as <i>Mary Poppins</i>.<br />
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The plot revolves around two sisters, Mary and Anne, and how they were used by their father and uncle as instruments to improve the family standing in the court of Henry VIII. Knowing that Queen Catherine of Aragon can not provide the king with the son he so desires, the scheme is to toss either Mary or Anne into the King's bed in hopes that one or the other of them can fill that need of his.<br />
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Mary is portrayed as the sweeter and more innocent of the two, which seems odd that she is also the one who is very quick to hop into the royal bed. After she conceives and is shut away in a room to wait out the pregnancy, the more conniving Anne is sent to court in order to keep the King focused on Mary instead of chasing after some new maiden. Anne, bitter about her sister ratting her out about some of her misdeeds in order to protect the family reputation, lures the king away from her but holds off on jumping into bed with him until he's divorced his wife, spurned Mary and his newborn son, and crowned her as queen.<br />
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Henry soon grows tired of his marriage to Anne when she also fails to provide him with a son, and begins taking steps to get her out of his life. Permanently.<br />
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The main focus of the film is the love-hate relationship between the two sisters, but the story seems stray from this at times and drag on a bit slowly. Once Henry marries Anne, the pace picks up to break-neck speed and seems very rushed to get all the pertinent information out to explain how Anne ended up on the scaffold. This imbalance between the time before and after Anne's coronation seems to really throw off the overall flow of the story.<br />
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While the visuals are very pretty, the performances tend to fall a little flat on delivery. Some of the dialog seems to be a bit too proper and rehearsed, even for an English royal court. When Catherine of Aragon speaks, you can imagine her practicing every word in a mirror prior to her appearance. Anne's clever zingers often lose their zip, Mary's dialogue often sounds like a Harlequin novel, and the male characters seem to all be in the same Shakespeare study group.<br />
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However, with the slew of Tudor Period themed films that have been coming out lately, this is by no means the worst I've seen. It's certainly more of a chick flick than a history lesson, but worth a watch if English history is your cup of tea.<br />
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<b>Info on IMDB:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0467200/">The Other Boleyn Girl</a><br />
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</iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-30853385886371256582018-02-19T02:00:00.000-08:002018-02-19T02:00:49.010-08:00Day of the Dead (2008)<br />
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First, a little backstory on a personal level. The original <i>Day of the Dead</i> is one of my all-time favorite zombie films. It wasn't that it had a particularly strong plot or intriguing characters, but rather because of the tender loving care that was put into the practical special effects by Tom Savini and his team*. The original film really didn't have a high body count when compared to other living dead films, but it really made its kills count.<br />
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This new remake of "Day of the Dead" seemed to make it a point to have a higher body count than all of the original Romero zombie flicks combined. The problem is, when you replace a few well thought-out and spectacular deaths with hundreds of fast and sloppy computer-generated deaths, you end up with a bloody mess…and not in the good way.<br />
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Yes, I'm rather disappointed with this remake. To be frank, there were a few points during the film where I wondered if I had accidentally rented another <i>28 Days Later</i> rip-off. This remake decided to do away with the classic unexplained zombie uprising in favor of a high-tech, fast-acting zombie plague that had the strong scent of the Rage Virus.<br />
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Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate updated zombie films giving their undead characters the gift of speed. However, granting them with the ability to also defy gravity is going a bit far. I knew the film was on the fast-track down the drain when a hyper zombie scuttled across the ceiling like some creature from <i>Aliens</i> . This was shortly followed by what amounted to the undead version of Cirque du Soleil with all sorts of silly acrobatics going on. I was waiting for them to just sprout wings.<br />
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I'm not a big fan of computer-generated FX to begin with, although recently I have developed an appreciation towards CG touch-ups on practical FX as a time-saver when executing difficult gags**. In my humble opinion, CG should be garnish, not the main course when it comes to horror FX. This movie was nothing but an all-you-can-eat CG buffet.<br />
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All this would have been forgivable if the film was not trying to be serious and gone along the path as such cheesy gems like <i>Dead Alive</i> or <i>Evil Dead 2</i>. Unfortunately, it carried the scent of a director trying very hard to scare the socks off its audience by way of timing and gore. The few and far between attempts at humor were mediocre at best.<br />
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My advice: Don't waste the 90 minutes unless you're a hardcore fan of games like <i>House of the Dead<img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=sirenproductions-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001GUYB08" height="1" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" /></i>, because this film has the exact same look and feel to it.<br />
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<i>* If you want some truly horrifying stories, find Tom Savini's interview where he talks about the making of the original "Day of the Dead". Five words to gag by: "The refrigerator has been unplugged."<br />
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** I was a bit worried about a short film I recently worked on when I learned the editor was also looking to do some CG-FX work after I'd busted my tail on plotting out the practical effects. I can't tell you how relieved I was to learn that his philosophy was that good CG work doesn't look like there was any CG involved at all.</i><br />
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<b>Film information:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489018/">Day of the Dead</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-21496154811474372902018-02-12T02:00:00.000-08:002018-02-12T02:00:07.679-08:00Wicked Little Things (2006)<br />
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Wicked Little Things begins with a bunch of small children being buried alive in a tragic but intentional coal mining incident. It then cuts to many years later where a mother <i>(Lori Heuring)</i> and her two daughters <i>(Scout Taylor-Compton and Clhoe Moretz)</i> are going to reclaim the old family house of her late husband, where there are lots of newspaper articles laying around the cellar about the terrible coal mining incident that killed many children.<br />
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Soon the older daughter meets the local teenagers who tell her about a terrible coal mining incident that killed many children. Then the woman starts talking to some locals who tell her about the terrible coal mining incident that killed many children.<br />
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Have you gotten the point that this film’s plot revolves around the terrible coal mining incident that killed many children?<br />
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Apparently the film-makers took to heart the reports that a third of the population suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and thought it best to give us all a hand by reminding us about the simple plot point every ten minutes or so.<br />
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But this particular installment of the After Dark Horrorfest Films is a heart-warming tale of a struggling single mother trying to start a brand new life for her children in the middle of a nice wooded area that is infested with vengeful flesh-eating zombie children. Oh, and did I mention that there was a terrible coal mining incident that killed many children?<br />
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Good points to this film include a lovely setting, interesting story idea, a few grisly scenes that were executed nicely, and some pretty creepy kids armed with pickaxes that give <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0783230427/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=criticnotrated-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0783230427">Village of the Damned</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=criticnotrated-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0783230427&camp=217145&creative=399349" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> a run for its money.<br />
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Bad points include limited acting skills on the part of the cast, goofy script lines that makes me think the writer is still living in the 1980s, and the constant reminders about the terrible coal mining incident that killed many children.<br />
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Is it worth the watch? Sure, but don’t expect it to be something so overly scary that you should monitor your heart rate while viewing it. Like most of the films from this series, I can’t figure out what the big “couldn’t be shown in theatres” hype was all about. This certainly isn’t the first time American movie-goers have seen sweet little kids doing terrible things with sharp pointy objects.<b> </b><br />
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<b>Film information: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470000/">Wicked Little Things</a></b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-345557824594818492018-02-05T02:00:00.000-08:002018-02-05T02:00:22.951-08:00Sex and Death 101 (2007)<br />
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Imagine getting an e-mail that lists everyone you've ever had sex with, and every one you ever will have sex with in your life. Now imagine this list has 101 names on it and your fiancée is only #29. What's a guy like Roderick to do? Deciding that one just can't change fate, he goes on an all-you-can-bed sex spree by tracking down everyone on the list... until he discovers that the last name on the print-out belongs to a notorious serial killer whose lovers end up in the morgue.<br />
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This film was done by Dan Waters, who also brought us <i>Heathers </i>and it has that same dark comedy feel to it despite starting off looking like a spring break movie. As the story plays on it does a good job transitioning from every man's dream into every man's nightmare.<br />
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While the idea for the story is intriguing, it does drag on a little long since Roderick has seventy-one different people to hunt down and screw before he finally meets the black widow character. To make the time go faster, we see a lot of montage and quick campy scenes, peppered with longer pauses to focus on his brief relationships with a select handful of numbered names. However, it probably would have been better if the film was called "Sex and Death 53."<br />
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Winona Ryder plays the villain, and I think besides from being under-utilized she was also tucked into that stuck-in-a-role box because every time I saw her on the screen I expected <i>Beetlejuice</i> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=sirenproductions-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001AGXEAG" height="1" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" />to pop out.<br />
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On the plus side, it does have its funny moments and Roderick does find himself in some unbelievable situations of epic proportions, especially after he realises who he is destined to meet. Simon Baker does a good job with playing the character, and I'd love to see the out-takes with some of the scenes the film-makers put him through.<br />
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<b>Info on IMDB:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497972/">Sex and Death 101</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-53130371442254105742018-02-02T02:00:00.000-08:002018-02-02T02:00:04.300-08:00The Affair of the Necklace (2001)<br />
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I didn't even know this film existed until I found the title listed On Demand. Being this history buff that I am, I clicked on to it hoping that it was about a certain pricey necklace that's theft helped discredit a certain extravagant French Queen.<br />
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And much to my delight, it was just that story... and very well done to boot.<br />
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The story is based on fact and than liberally sprinkled with the rumors that surrounded the popular rumors in pre-revolutionary France. A young countess who is denied the acknowledgment of her family name finds a way to steal the most expensive necklace ever made at the time by swindling the jewelers to believe it was being purchased in the name of Queen Marie Antoinette. <br />
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Hilary Swank plays the Countess Valois, and while she often seems dry, she plays the part of a conniving if somewhat naive young aristocrat quite well. The cast is stocked with fun personalities, my particular favorite being Christopher Walken as the mystic Count Cagliostro.<br />
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The sets and costumes are very beautiful, and really make this an aesthetically pleasing film to watch. The story itself is entertaining to watch unfold, complete with little court scandals and debaucheries that one would expect from French nobility at the time. The soundtrack is also very pleasing, if not historically appropriate.<br />
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On the downside, asides from more than a handful of historical errors there is a matter of characters either being understated or overstated and at times clashing with one another. I was particularly disappointed with the way Antoinette was portrayed, which seemed very one-dimensional. Truth be told, I'm hard-pressed to assign any character to the status of "good guy" because every last one of them had much villainy in them in one manner or another, even those who were technically the victims of the crime.<br />
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But don't let that stop you from watching it, for a cast full of villains makes it interesting to decide who exactly to root for. Personally, I enjoyed the film very much. I was even impressed that they included the name of my favorite historical character in the credits, although he was not called by name in the film.<br />
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<b>Film information:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242252/">The Affair of the Necklace</a><br />
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</iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-86492670697637138042018-01-29T02:00:00.000-08:002018-01-29T02:00:03.872-08:00The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998)<br />
Note: This film was released in the USA as "Immortality".<br />
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This film was a complete surprise for me, albeit a very pleasant one. By the generic description listed on it, I was expecting a Jack the Ripper type of plot and a very run-of-the-mill serial killer movie.<br />
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Not so, much to my delight.<br />
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Jude Law plays a serial killer with a very unusual quirk, he only kills women who have fallen deeply in love with him. He spends his time courting women in a manner that is so sincere that you sometimes forget that the romance is going to end very badly. But this Romeo is nothing if not a clever monster, and he enjoys playing a little cat-and-mouse with a detective who is highly suspicious of his dating habits.<br />
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While the story does have some supernatural elements to it, it doesn't go all-out crazy with them. You know that the villain doesn't seem to be entirely human, but he doesn't quite fit the description of the vampires that we're used to seeing.<br />
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The overall look and feel to the film is just lovely, as is the cinematography. It reminded me a lot of how <i>Perfume</i> was shot by way of visual beauty. <br />
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The violence takes a back seat in this film, as it is very character-driven with a great cast. The best way I can describe it would be to call it an "intelligent" horror film, where the villains aren't mindless chop-chop machines, the victims are not stereotypical, and the police on the case are not bumbling idiotic cannon fodder. <br />
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<b>Info on IMDB:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120894/">The Wisdom of Crocodiles</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-26396265043990584212018-01-26T02:00:00.000-08:002018-01-26T02:00:06.575-08:00Borderland (2007)<br />
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This film was loosely based on the Adolfo Constanzo case. Read about the actual case here: <a href="http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/weird/constanzo/1.html">Matamoros Cult Case</a><br />
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I am pretty familiar with the Constanzo case, so when I heard that "Borderland" was based on it, it quickly jumped onto my must-see list. I was expecting it to be cheesy, as many evil cult films tend to be. Instead, I was very surprised and impressed.<br />
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The film has a very dirty and gritty feel to it. That really set the mood for a place in the world where life is cheap and the police always seem to have better things to do than look for missing locals.<br />
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The story follows the adventures of three young students about to go off to college and spending their last vacation together in the sin city south of the border, Mexico City. Such an adventure wouldn't be complete without carousing with local prostitutes, drinking gallons of beer, and partaking in native hallucinogens. <br />
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But unbeknownst to our party boys, there is a Palo Mayombi cult that operates in the area and needs the parts of screaming human victims to feed their leader's nganga. (A cauldron filled with all sort of nasty, rotting ingredients that magically creates a universe for a ruling spirit to live in...roughly comparable to a genie in a lamp.)<br />
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Most of the cult members themselves are easy to spot by way of their dress and general attitudes, although the cult leader (mostly referred to as "Papa") has an interesting charismatic charm to him when holding casual conversation with his victims. Unfortunately, the filmmakers seemed to have caved in to dressing their villians in the universally-accepted black garb rather than following with Palo Mayombi traditions and swathing them in white.<br />
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The violence in this film is quite brutal, but not over-the-top. The balance is nice, given the gritty setting and dirty appearance of the characters regardless of what side of the law they are on. The filmmakers succeeded in creating a very realistic and uncomfortable atmosphere for their story.<br />
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As a bonus, on the DVD there is also a documentary about the actual Matamoros case that included some video footage and still photographs that are not often found while doing general internet searches on the case.<br />
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<b>Info on IMDB:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452592/">Borderland</a><br />
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<img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=sirenproductions-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0009OUBC4" height="1" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-49869599309428771122018-01-22T02:00:00.000-08:002018-01-22T02:00:00.417-08:00Hunger (2009)<br />
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First of all, let me start by saying that looking for any additional information on this film, or to find the DVD to purchase, can be a real hassle. It seems that there are dozens of films by this title, and many that are far more popular than this particular film. <br />
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I stumbled across this little gem of a suspense film while looking through films available on cable. The description didn't give me a lot of high hopes for it. "Five people wake up to find themselves trapped and don't remember how they got there." Sounds like the description for at least six other films I've seen.<br />
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But <i>Hunger</i> stands out. It is certainly a horror film, but the suspense and psychological terror is played heavily here. Five people imprisoned with plenty of water, but no food. How long before they start determining who among them would be tastiest? They are housed relatively comfortably, so it's not an <i>Alive</i> situation where they can just wait for nature to take its course and snack on the corpses.<br />
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While I wouldn't say that the acting was outstanding, I will say that the characters were believable. The man who put them all there was the weakest link, in my opinion. But the story really wasn't about him... it was about his unwilling test subjects. The alliances they form, the plots they hatch, the measures they take to make themselves too valuable to be eaten by their fellow prisoners.<br />
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Like most films of its kind, it does start off slow. The suspense builds as the days go on. The ending is clever. I'd call it a good "rainy day movie".<br />
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<b>Info on IMDB:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1176252/">Hunger</a><br />
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</iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-12866535561920581252018-01-19T02:00:00.000-08:002018-01-19T02:00:37.198-08:00Dear Mr Gacy (2010)<br />
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<br />
I read <i>The Last Victim</i><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=headlesshisto-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000FA5SEI" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, the book written by Jason Moss many years ago, and was surprised to find a film adaption. <br />
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And very much like the book, I felt that there were an awful lot of creative liberties being taken when it comes to how sociopaths and college students interact and how lax prison security can be. I could be very wrong, but I have my doubts that I am. I've not been able to find any verification, save for quite a few people out there who felt Moss was full of it too.<br />
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I knew it was going to be an interesting film nonetheless, given what is known of John Wayne Gacy and his various pen-pals while sitting on death row. <br />
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Gacy is very well portrayed by William Forsythe. He's disturbing yet respectable one minute, and then he makes you terribly uncomfortable the next. Hands down, the best I've seen when it comes to tackling Gacy's character.<br />
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Jesse Moss plays Jason Moss, (There is no relation between the two) a boy who decides to do a project for school on the inner-workings of Gacy's mind by posing as the perfect victim. Given the questionable material provided by the Moss-author, I thought that Moss-actor was pretty convincing.<br />
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There is a fair dose of disturbing conversation here. Gacy leaves few taboo stones unturned in his correspondence with the young man... everything from suggesting prostitution as an easy way to make money to having sex with his younger brother for kicks. It can get uncomfortable, but it doesn't even cover half of the claims made in the book.<br />
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Regardless of the questionable "true" part in this Based On A True Story film, it is worth taking a peek at.<br />
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<b>Film Information:</b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371117/">Dear Mr. Gacy</a><br />
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</iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-12585973368886073002018-01-15T04:18:00.000-08:002018-01-15T04:18:00.442-08:00My Bloody Valentine (2009)<br />
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The original <i>My Bloody Valentine</i> isn’t exactly one of my favorites in the archives of 1980s slasher films, but it was pretty brutal and the premise of the bulk of the action happening in mining tunnels had made me curious about the remake.<br />
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I have to admit, this was a lot better than I expected. The first thing I noticed was the pacing. You don’t have the standard opening death scene and then 20 minutes of chatty teenagers while waiting for the body count to start rising. The pacing keeps you on your toes and you never know when and where the masked miner will pop up next.<br />
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Because it was shot for 3D, you can expect to get up close and personal with a lot of pick-axes and body parts. They don’t skimp on the gore here, and they seem to take full advantage of the element of surprise. Unfortunately, the theater I went to was pretty empty so I couldn’t gauge exactly how effective this was but I’m guessing it would put a few people out of their seats.<br />
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The biggest surprise for me? I couldn’t readily pinpoint who the killer was early in the film. I was actually starting to get aggravated because I knew who the film-makers wanted us to believe was responsible for all the mayhem, and as the story played out my list of suspects were methodically killed off or otherwise disqualified. I won’t give away the ending here, but let’s just say that I found it plausible.<br />
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<b>Film information:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179891/">My Bloody Valentine</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-80520933947532964322018-01-12T02:00:00.000-08:002018-01-12T02:00:20.099-08:00The Conspirator (2010)<br />
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Everyone knows that President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by the actor John Wilkes Boothe while he attended a theater show. What isn't as well known is that several other people were put on trial for conspiracy in the crime, including a woman named Mary Surratt. <i>The Conspirator </i>is based on her true story.<br />
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For those who know the story, the film doesn't hold back on the grim details of her ordeal, taking it beyond the point where many films would have put up a written account of what happened next and then rolled the credits.<br />
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If you aren't familiar with the story, you're in for an emotional roller coaster. This story has a wonderful balance to it that shows the defendant's good and bad sides and practically puts you in the jury to contemplate innocence or guilt.<br />
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The characters are believable and very well played by the actors. They encompass the post-war social tension beautifully, and in many cases outright social biased.<br />
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The production design is equally notable for a dramatic period piece.<br />
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There are some points where the action seems to drag a bit, and the frequent jumps back and forth in time can get a little confusing since the film tries to show you everything that happened with multiple characters in the same time frame. But overall, the story comes together nicely.<br />
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<b>Film Information: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0968264" target="_blank">The Conspirator</a></b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-25917067142719730282018-01-08T02:00:00.000-08:002018-01-08T02:00:06.280-08:00Titus (1999)<br />
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Quite simply, this is a beautiful film and I count it as being among my favorites.
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Titus is an adaptation of the Shakespeare play "Titus Andronicus", starring <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000164/">Anthony Hopkins</a> in the title role and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001448/">Jessica Lange</a> as Tamora, queen of the Goths.<br />
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For those familiar with the play, you know that it is a bloodbath. Titus returns to Rome after conquering the Goths and finds himself shoved into the slime that is ancient Roman politics. After making a bad decision for which his entire family pays a very heavy price, Titus seeks revenge on his enemies in the most horrific way possible.<br />
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Although bloody and dark, the film is incredibly imaginative. The dialog is true to Shakespeare, but the settings and costumes are more fantasy-modern.<br />
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Hopkins plays his role of a soldier-gone-mad extremely well, and the supporting cast is very strong. A bit of dark humor is scattered among some of the more tragic scenes, and those played out with the utmost seriousness are visually stunning.<br />
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Even those who hated English Literature in school may well find this film worth watching.<br />
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<b>Film information:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120866/">Titus (1999)</a>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-48916016343160989482018-01-05T02:00:00.000-08:002018-01-05T02:00:03.744-08:00Unfriended (2014)<br />
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A film that is shot almost entirely with the camera focused on a computer screen sounds like it would get old very fast. That's the expectation I had when I started watching it. We follow the adventure of the mouse arrow clicking on various buttons and showing us searches, articles, and Youtube videos that tell the story of a teenage girl who killed herself after her friends posted a particularly embarrassing video of her online.<br />
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And then the video chat room opens and we meet some of those cruel friends. Shortly afterward, things start to get pretty interesting with the appearance of another user who seems to have hijacked the dead girl's account.<br />
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<i>Unfriended</i> is surprisingly good for a film that was made to look like it was shot on a webcam. It's very creative with showing us what horrible things are happening with it's limited POV.<br />
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The acting is believable, for the most part. In a few places it seemed a little choppy but nothing too distracting.<br />
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But it's the cleverness with how it was done that really makes it stand out. It shows us just enough so the viewer knows what's going on at all times with each of the characters. And while revenge is an old plot theme, it breathes a bit of freshness into it.<br />
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I was very impressed. I wouldn't call it scary so much as I would entertaining.<br />
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<b>Film Information: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3713166" target="_blank">Unfriended</a></b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-19245510463642797592018-01-01T04:28:00.000-08:002018-01-01T04:28:00.312-08:00Final Destination 5 (2011)<br />
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I accept this apology for the 4th film in the series.<br />
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Truth be told, I wasn't expecting to be entertained. The whole FD series started going downhill for me after the second film and I knew there was no way that they would ever top that amazing car wreck. By the fourth film they were spoon-feeding the viewers all the clues that I expected them to just hand out copies of the screenplay at the door.<br />
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This fifth installment did surprise me.<br />
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The obligatory opening catastrophe really wasn't anything incredible unless you happen to be fearful of heights. While a bridge collapse is a horrifying thought, the scenario played out a little too over-the-top to really be believable. (I really wish they'd stay away from cars in the opening. They just can't top the second film.)<br />
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It was nice to see that they went back to misdirection in many of the post-catastrophe deaths. I was most impressed with the first survivor-victim's demise... both how it was executed and the makeup. <br />
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The ending is very predictable, at least if you are familiar with the series. It's what you don't see that gives it away the most, although if you don't pick up on that within the first fifteen minutes than there will be verbal clues dropped throughout the rest of the film.<br />
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The film doesn't take itself terribly seriously, but rather just wants to be fun. We know the formula. We know people are going to die. It's fun to try to figure out how they are going to get caught by Death Itself. And it's nice to see Tony Todd pop up once in a while.<br />
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Certainly not the best in the series, but not nearly as cringe-worthy as FD4. If you are a fan of the series, I think you'll appreciate why I consider this film to be an apology.<br />
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<b>Film Information:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1622979/">Final Destination 5</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-79724703646796867682017-12-29T14:36:00.000-08:002017-12-29T14:36:02.918-08:00It Follows (2014)<br />
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What if the AIDS virus donned a hockey mask and started running down promiscuous teenagers one-by-one by following the chain of their sexual history?<br />
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<i>It Follows</i> is not subtle about being about the dangers of unprotected sex. The idea that the sexually-transmitted killer could look like anybody and will follow you around relentlessly no matter where you are until it finally kills you, was pretty interesting.<br />
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It is a very creepy film. The "It" part especially, as It is depicted in several characters with varying degrees of creepiness. Bone-chilling, actually.<br />
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The story builds up well, making the viewer wonder if the kids will ever find a solution to this pesky problem that keeps killing them off.<br />
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But unfortunately, the payoff isn't really there. I think that might have been the point though. Point or not, it still leaves the viewer a bit disappointed after such a wonderful set up.<br />
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The characters are believable and the tone is very dark. Despite the way the story closes, it's still worth a peek.<br />
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<b>Film Information: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3235888" target="_blank">It Follows</a></b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-51463738199281571202017-12-29T01:00:00.000-08:002017-12-29T01:00:39.367-08:00Excision (2012)<br />
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Pauline <i>(AnnaLynne McCord)</i> is a very disturbed social misfit who dreams of becoming a surgeon. She's also very precise about everything in her life, from how she is going to her virginity to her thoughts on religion.<br />
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The biggest obstacle she has to tackle is her unreasonably demanding mother Phyllis <i>(Traci Lords)</i> who dotes on her very sick sister Grace <i>(Ariel Winter)</i>.<br />
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Excision is both a gruesome bloodbath and a joy to watch, which is a rare combination indeed. The dialog is both clever and intelligent, some of the more graphic scenes are visually beautiful, and the characters are very well-defined.<br />
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The story is pleasant but not exactly deep... this film has more of a day-to-day diary-type action rather than a clearly defined plot story.<br />
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Overall, a nice little twisted tale when you are in the mood for something out-of-the-ordinary.<br />
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<b>Film Information:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1984153/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Excision</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-11586260204583763522017-12-25T01:00:00.000-08:002017-12-25T01:00:20.505-08:00Sharktopus (2010)<br />
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Schlockfest.<br />
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<i>Sharktopus</i>, a SyFy productions movie directed by Declan O’Brien and written...<br />
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You know, that doesn’t matter. It’s produced by Roger Corman and has Eric Roberts in it. Just in case you weren’t sure, the name Roger Corman brings visions of epic cheesy goodness. Eric Roberts is an incredible actor who has no fear of diving into the river of Queso or drink at the pool of Fromage.<br />
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Couple that information with the name; <i>Sharktopus</i>, and you can be assured of precisely what you are going to get. Truly, the fun you have with the trailer is pretty much the whole movie.<br />
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I really liked it, which is surprising in some really unusual ways.<br />
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To begin with, there’s Eric Roberts. You won’t recognize any of the other actors. Many are well known in some circles, but I’m betting you wouldn’t know them without the IMDB. I don’t think anyone was hopeless, but with Eric Roberts in the scene, you get someone to compare them to and everyone just comes up really short. If you’re watching the movie now, try this; Just as Eric Roberts enters a scene, try saying “Excuse me, I’m going to act now”... It sounds right, doesn’t it.<br />
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It’s like everyone is sitting a little straighter when he’s around.<br />
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The camera work was a little oddball. I could go on for a while about the shaky cam thing I hate, but I’m not going to pick that out for some personal ranting. Instead I’m going to mention the often off look of the movie. It seems as if there are just so many beginner mistakes in how the camera is used. They are subtle and regular and give me the feel of a Troma film without the dripping snark. I can’t decide, was this the result of a fast shoot or was it intended to give the viewer this atmosphere?<br />
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The leads played this movie straight which was sometimes painful. Mostly because they had to act across from Mr Roberts. I generally agree with this in a good ‘B’ flick, but conventional wisdom would have had them up against Caspar van Dien or Billy Zane who are much gentler with character actors. I’ll come back to this though.<br />
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The supporting cast was more than unusual to say the least. Other than the news team following the creature, everyone else is cannon fodder. A string of people who are there to show how many ways a fictional monster can kill you. Watching them, you get the feel of someone standing up at a big party where everyone is wasted, calling on everyone to come down to the beach to shoot a movie! None of these guys shot for a whole day and they were still buzzing from the party. I wouldn’t doubt it if half the party-goers came up with their own ideas; “Can I get chomped while bungee jumping?”<br />
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This was particularly unusual because a good rule of thumb in a ‘B’ movie is that everyone is serious or everyone is having fun. Make it real or make it silly. The leads make it real and the support threw up in the hot tub. Like the camera work, I wonder if this was a brilliant plan or a lucky accident.<br />
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The effects were, well, this is a SyFy presentation so money was not an object... that the computer guys had in their hands. They pretty much said to hell with it and just had their own party. Probably some drugs involved, all I can say for sure is that they had fun. I saw on the IMDB boards some movie geeks were complaining about the creature’s method of locomotion... COME ON! Sharktopus! The monster did lots of implausible things just like any CG monster, but it was cute. Seriously. Just watch the damn thing.<br />
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Ultimately, I had fun. The movie brought back the kind of feeling I got when I watched <i>Bad Taste</i> as a kid. It’s a silly movie and there is an awareness about the movie like it knows precisely how silly it is. This is also the first time I've seen SyFy promote one of their movies like they should. Acknowledge the schlock and enjoy it for what it is.<br />
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From a technical sense, this movie doesn’t even get a single star, but for fun I’m willing to give it three.<br />
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<b>Info on IMDB:</b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1619880/">Sharktopus</a><br />
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</iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781874089004103575.post-16229552017478176262017-12-22T02:00:00.000-08:002017-12-22T02:00:16.903-08:00A Christmas Horror Story (2015)<br />
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Krampus seems to be the new trend in holiday cheer horror films, and <i>A Christmas Horror Story</i> is no exception. That being said, it's nice to see that Santa Clause is the main focus of the story, and refreshing to see that he's portrayed as being quite the bad-ass.<br />
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This movie actually features a few short stories that are all intertwined with Santa being the wraparound. While the short stories are good, they aren't nearly as entertaining as the Santa story which wraps up with a very sweet ending. And by sweet, I mean it's a treat for horror fans.<br />
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The special effects, especially the creatures, are done well. The acting is believable and the characters are interesting. You might not always know what's going on, but everything becomes clear by the end. <br />
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Yes, this is one of the better Christmas horror films I've seen. It's full of spookiness and gore with a big red bow on top.<br />
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<b>Film Info: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3688406" target="_blank">A Christmas Horror Story</a></b><br />
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