Tag: #horror

The Greasy Strangler (2016)
Unrated | 1h 33min | Comedy, Horror | 7 October 2016 (USA)

Ronnie runs a Disco walking tour with his son, Brayden. When a sexy woman takes the tour, it begins a competition between father and son for her love. It also signals the arrival of an oily strangler who stalks the streets at night.
Director: Jim Hosking
Writers: Toby Harvard, Jim Hosking
Stars: Michael St. Michaels, Sky Elobar, Elizabeth De Razzo

Every thing director Jim Hosking makes is odd, but then, that’s the intent. Some directors are thought odd for simply making their movie. With Hosking, he has a history of winning British awards for being odd and yes, he does it well here.

Actors Michael St. Michaels, Sky Elobar, and Elizabeth De Razzo really own this film. Their interplay gives the film it’s ambiance and tone. The father is just a complete psycho and not be trusted. The son is a meek but probably equal oddball and the “girlfriend” is innocent definitely a top notch actress to pull this tweaked and weird role off.

You will see farts and cussing and downright disgusting images. You’ll see male frontal nudity … a lot of it. As the father and son work at their disco tour business, you’ll feel like you are part of it all. As for the overall message, I didn’t get it. For me, there should be at least something to hold onto and takeaway. Since that was absent, the weirdness has no purpose, It was like Nacho Libre but Nacho had a message: believe in yourself. This one is probably: don’t be afraid to move out when your 50+. In conclusion: this is something very different if you’re in the mood for a laugh at some really raunchy stuff.

6/10

Annabelle: Creation (2017)
R | 1h 49min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller | 11 August 2017 (USA)

12 years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, where they soon become the target of the dollmaker’s possessed creation, Annabelle.
Director: David F. Sandberg
Writers: Gary Dauberman, Gary Dauberman (based on characters created by)
Stars: Anthony LaPaglia, Samara Lee, Miranda Otto

Some of you may have seen the short Light’s Out that came out a few years back. It was made by a new director named David Sandberg and he is the one who directed this film under the production leadership of James Wan. Therein lie a few troubles I see. If you are making a movie a producer hires you to do, you are slave to his vision: not yours and not the audience’s. Annabelle is a story that is very close to Wan’s heart but I felt watching it that Sandberg was probably not as into it. I felt much the same about his full length film Lights Out that came out last year. Wan put spring in his step and commissioned him to create a full length movie based on the short. Even though it was his own idea, it feels like Sandberg tried to do a “son of Insidious” or “The Conjuring.” I think Wan should have bankrolled Sandberg to create his own film, free from trappings of Wan visions. But who am I to want things?

The actors are very much standard and flat. They are not memorable in this script and anyone could have played any role. No one stands out, except the dolls that is.

The story is this: A young couple with a 9 year old daughter (or so I assume her age is) lose her when she is hit by a car. They are so distraught, they pray to “any force that can help them” to allow them to talk to their dead daughter. This is very cliche and seen in so many movies. ie; The Other Side of the Door, all zombie movies, A Dark Song, etc. Instead of having their wish fulfilled, they get the devil himself who manifests in the Annabelle doll. This is revealed through kids who come to live in the house of the couple that has been turned into an orphange. They learn the demon or devil in the doll and scarecrow is mean as hell as well as bloodthirsty. I could go on but I don’t want to.

This movie suffers from not showing enough cool scary faces and props. They flash by but I want to stop and look at them. Sandberg focused too much on multiple jump scares that don’t show anything. It’s textbook cheap thrills. It is also an awful script that tries too hard to be a prequel to existing movies. I enjoyed the film up to about the 2/3 part. Then it was just a waiting game for the credits. It reminded me of Quija 2 but Ouija 2 is MUCH better.

6/10

Killing Ground (2016)
R | 1h 28min | Horror, Thriller | 21 July 2017 (USA)

A couples’ camping trip turns into a frightening ordeal when they stumble across the scene of a horrific crime.
Director: Damien Power
Writer: Damien Power
Stars: Harriet Dyer, Mitzi Ruhlmann, Tiarnie Coupland

Damien Power, the director here, is my namesake so he’s got that going for him. This is an incredible thriller filmed in the outback that raises the question, “Why hasn’t violence gone this far before?” He’s been a writer years before directing. My favorite movies are often the type where the visionary writer is also the director ie; the films of Quentin Tarantino. Damien is one to watch.

The acting is pretty solid. I think all the actors are Australian names so I haven’t seen them much. Harriet Dyer who plays “Sam” gives what could be argued as the best performance. She is scared but not hysterical, recklessly trying to escape without losing her grip on reality. She is also quite pretty as are all the female cast. I don’t know, we used to camp a lot when I was around 10 years old and I always saw so many hot girls out there. One time they were even topless! I don’t know why I felt the need to share that.

It’s a simple story with simple but abject violence. I read one byline that said this will make you never want to go camping again. The hunt is on! Go see it thriller/horror fans.

9/10

Horror movies have talked about love and loss before but not usually this deeply. The issues are so deep in fact, one might question whether they belong in a horror film. They exist just the same and while watching this film you don’t just see them on screen, you absorb them. The longing of the protagonist and her helper calling on the black arts becomes our own … “poor us,” as the ritual master says, in that sense.

A Dark Song (2016)
1h 40min | Drama, Horror | 28 April 2017 (USA)

A determined young woman and a damaged occultist risk their lives and souls to perform a dangerous ritual that will grant them what they want.
Director: Liam Gavin
Writer: Liam Gavin
Stars: Mark Huberman, Susan Loughnane, Steve Oram

I can sum up this, Liam Gavin’s directorial debut, by saying it moves way too slow for the first 3/4 but the last act is the stuff you take home to your nightmares. We needed the visuals in the first 3/4, they were sadly absent. I hope when Liam gets his next project he remembers that. I really can’t recommend this film to all horror fans because I found it nearly impossible to sit through but I might say if you have fast forward abilities, go to the final act. You’ll see things there you’ve never seen.

Back to non-spoiler territory: The protagonist has lost her son to occultists who ceremoniously murdered him. She pays another occultist to take her through rituals to enable her to talk to her guardian angel and her son to seek revenge. It’s gritty and you expect typical demonic stuff that only lightly comes. It is basically a hodgepodge character study of two dysfunctional people churning, tortured by desire and vegeance, seeking to call on the supernatural realm for relief … and failing. The end third is worth it. This is a movie to discuss, without a doubt. Watch for Liam Gavin’s future work as I will.

8/10

Escape from Tomorrow (2013)
Not Rated | 1h 30min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror | 19 July 2014 (Japan)

In a world of fake castles and anthropomorphic rodents, an epic battle begins when an unemployed father’s sanity is challenged by a chance encounter with two underage girls on holiday.
Director: Randy Moore
Writer: Randy Moore
Stars: Roy Abramsohn, Elena Schuber, Katelynn Rodriguez

I watched this weird film last night. I must admit I didn’t stay up late enough to finish it. Maybe I felt like I’d seen enough by 10:30p. It’s shot in black and white and the director is very new. He hasn’t done a whole lot other than this. Most the scenes seem forced, the acting is not too convincing. I really really liked the concept though and would recommend that horror and sci fans watch it.

It’s about a family staying at Florida’s Disney World, visiting the park, riding the rides. All the while, the father keeps being drawn to watching a couple of adolescent French girls who are constantly hugging and giddily riding rides like Dumbo and Space Mountain. Among all this, the father “sees” things differently. For example, a sign with Mickey smiling will suddenly melt into a frown. I really was curious about why but seriously, the movie is SLOW and I gave up. It does get the weird tag from me so that’s a plus. If I wasn’t so tired, I might have finished it.

I read a few reviews on IMDB which were very entertaining and I also read the ending on Wikipedia. If you aren’t going to see this movie but are slightly curious I recommend doing the same, I’ve linked those pages below. Like I said, it’s a cool horror/sci fi concept. The problem is the apparent lack of skill in delivery. HAVING SAID THAT, it is kind of cool as an independent film if you can leave your critical expectations at the door.

6/10

Wikipedia summary of this film.

IMBD user reviews of this film.

Antibirth (2016)
Not Rated | 1h 34min | Horror | 2 September 2016 (USA)

In a desolate community full of drug-addled Marines and rumors of kidnapping, a wild-eyed stoner named Lou wakes up after a wild night of partying with symptoms of a strange illness and … See full summary »
Director: Danny Perez
Writer: Danny Perez
Stars: Natasha Lyonne, Chloë Sevigny, Meg Tilly

Director Danny Perez has only done this one film. He’s dabbled in a couple other small scale releases. It gives me the impression he is into horror that gets out there into the weird tag. I think directors like this are important! Some social and personal messages are better delivered through “the weird” and this film definitely fits in that category.

It starts with a woman who will take any drug she can find. She’s a pretty young thing, who is also a “tweaker.” Lovely thought right? Natasha Lyonne does a great job with the role, blending the macabre and profane with the plight of your average partier. The gory stuff is there too as she begins to see she is pregnant. She doesn’t know who the father is but it isn’t human, we certainly can surmise later. From there, the story falls to the wayside and it becomes a birthing blood, flesh, and gore fest. Is that anything like birth? Maybe. After all, it’s the entry of new life like Frankenstein right? The visuals are gloriously disgusting. She gives birth to many things including the head in the photo that gets pulled away from the cord connecting it to a full grown body.

This one is one of the more odd ones I’ve seen. I do want to watch it again for any deep meaning I missed. I have a feeling it’s there. My main complaint is that it took too long for the gore to come.

8/10

Creep (2015)

Cast

Patrick Brice

as Aaron

Mark Duplass

as Joseph

Directed by

Patrick Brice

Written by

Patrick Brice, Mark Duplass

Other Info

Drama, Horror
Rated R
1h 17min

NOTE: At time of my repurposing this post, “Creep 2” is in the works. But as far as Creep goes: the “found footage” genre strikes again. This time we have a psychotic in our face most the movie. The movie scares because it is plausible.

While we may not be able to divine his intentions, the “creep” does everything in a way that is believable, possible. When blood is shed, we don’t question the possibility.This movie could really happen. The plot is a twenty something dude answers an ad for a job filming another dude. The work is one day and it pays $1,000 cash. I imagine a lot of people could use the money and would therefore show up for an interview. Aaron, played by Patrick Brice, does just that. When he gets to the address, he finds a vacation cabin of sorts, not fully secluded. He soon finds out the motives of the employer and much more than just to film him.

Creep becomes a character study in boundaries in a similar way to “The Cable Guy” where Jim Carrey was the Creep. The difference is, this film is horror. Aaron, played by the actual director of the film, misses several opportunities to escape. It’s almost as if he doesn’t want to hurt the Creep’s feeling. Would you rather hurt someone’s feelings or be killed? I think the answer is pretty obvious. At the same time, we humans hate confrontation and so Aaron, as a human, avoids confrontation and plays along.

I’ve seen Mark Duplass in several movies, my favorite being “The One I Love.” He’s a great actor and his ability to shoot lines like a firehose is shown in this film. He is clearly disturbed but the main character Aaron wants to find out just how much. Ultimately, as Aaron tries to get away, the plot becomes a hunt. I enjoyed the thriller aspect of this film but I wondered a lot why it was tagged horror. There were no dismemberments or zombies. It was just Aaron and Joseph talking through mountains of dialog (most Joseph’s)

I’m really not to keen on the found footage genre. Still, this movie used it well. Everything made sense, that it could have happened and been edited together. It lost a point for not being innovative. How many times have we seen the stalker befriend and kidnap someone? It lost another point for calling itself horror. There is a scene or two you could describe as such, but I think it’s better archived as a draa. Fr those reasons I gave it a 3/5. I recommend it if you can’t find anything else to watch. Trust me, there are plenty of movies I wouldn’t recommend as such, this is a good movie.

Resolution (2012)
Not Rated | 1h 33min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller | 23 January 2013 (USA)

A man imprisons his estranged junkie friend in an isolated cabin in the boonies San Diego to force him through a week of sobriety, but the events of that week are being mysteriously manipulated.
Directors: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead (as Aaron Scott Moorhead)
Writer: Justin Benson
Stars: Peter Cilella, Vinny Curran, Emily Montague

Indie films obviously don’t have Spielberg level budgets so they are forced to create suspense and scares on an often limited dime. Resolution does that well. Using simple camera tricks and angles, a supernatural theme is woven throughout the story. While it is very scary on its own, unfortunately it never achieves what I would consider the level called “horror.” I was actually searching IMDB for horror films and ran across this one. It lost points with me because about 4/5 of the film’s plot is devoid of any horror. Still, I was treated to a surprisingly high suspense story that had me on the edge of my seat. The ending will be up for interpretation based on the individual.

The story is about a meth addict and his best friend who chains him in an abandoned mountain house hoping to get him to rehab. As the story progresses, a series of supernatural events occurs, sometimes in the form of real life characters like drug dealers or addicts living in a nearby cave. Other times, the unseen force is sardonic and life threatening. There is also an element of time travel here. To avoid spoilers, I’ll leave it there. All in all, Resolution earned points with me for having a great story and for using low budget camera tricks in a very deft fashion. It lost points by me in advertising itself as a horror film and for not quite explaining things as it closed in an exciting yet puzzling twist. I felt a little cheated things weren’t better explained. Still, I highly recommend it as good fun.

3/5

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