Blair Witch

Adam Wingard, 2016

IMDB

3/5

The original Blair Witch Project seemed to create two camps. One camp was the people who bought into the movie. They were terrified, they admired the innovation involved in making the movie with little resources. This camp probably continues to watch the Found Footage genre and explores what it has to offer. Then there's the other camp. The camp that didn't buy into the original. Didn't have the effect. These people probably complained about all of the shaky cam. They will tell you the original is overrated, a whole lot of nothing. I will say with no hesitation at all that I am in the camp that was totally on board with the original Blair Witch Project. It scared the living shit out of me. I was a sophmore in High School when I saw it in the theater. I happened to live a mile deep in the Connecticut woods at the time. That movie was in my brain for years, made me afraid of those woods. I remember being too freaked out to even step out onto our backyard patio to smoke cigarettes for a while. I am also someone who believes that the found footage genre is a legitimate genre that has provided many other good films (REC, Willow Creek, Paranormal Activity, Grave Encounters) - mostly due to the Blair Witch Project inspiring them. That being said, when it was revealed that upcoming movie "The Woods" was actually a secret sequel to the Blair Witch Project, I was certainly excited.

Blair Witch does exactly what a sequel is supposed to do: take the original and build off of it. Expand upon it. This could mean expanding the universe that the original exists in. Which this movie does do. The original Blair Witch Project was known for it's subtlety, it was one of the defining characteristics. This film completely discards all of that subtlety and still manages to create a product that generates real tension and terror. What were faint noises in the woods are now loud bangs with tree limbs collapsing. What was the absense of a real figure but simply your mind playing tricks on you is now a ghastly figure hiding behind a tree that jumps into sight. What was a couple minutes inside a terrifying dilapidated house is now 25 minutes of pure tense horror inside of the same building with absolute chaos unfolding. The film maintains a certain found footage quality without that complete indie feel of the original.

I am not going to sit here and say that Blair Witch is without its flaws. There is a tree-climbing moment that is the modern day equivolent of running into the house with a killer at the front door. The whole forced connection to the original film with having James (James Allen McCune) be original Blair Witch project lead Heather's brother is unecesarry and weak. Why can't it just be a group of curious college students who are shooting a documentary? I would think that if there was a familial connection to the original disappeareance of Heather, they wouldn't want to go back to the very place that she disappeared and expect to find her. After all, its 20 years later. The thread with Ashley having an infection on her foot also seemed unnecessary. But what happens with Talia about halfway through the film with the stick figure was shocking and unforgettable. Wow. One thing that we don't get that would have been really powerful would be a cameo from one of the original cast-mates. Like if we saw Mike or Josh staring at a wall. Or even Heather.

The expectations are so unreasonably high for a sequel to waht is probably the most divisive horror movie ever made that it's impossible for there to be a scenario where this movie blows everyone away and wins over both sides. The skeptics are going to go into this movie and come away unsatisfied just like they were with the orignal. The question is, why would they see the sequel to begin with? They shouldn't. They should move on to something else because the Blair Witch movies are clearly not for them. But for the people who did buy in to the original, they should come away from this feeling satisfied. Because it brings you back to those all too familiar woods. The memories will come back to you. That might not be a good thing. There were actually a couple of minutes during this viewing where I was thinking to myself: "Why the hell am I continuing to do this to myself at this age with horror movies? I don't think I can handle this kind of tension anymore". But I appreciate this sequel having been made. Thank you Adam Wingard. I am just happy I was able to leave those Burkittsville woods when the credits rolled. Blair Witch lies somewhere between Willow Creek and Grave Encounters, and that's not a bad place to be.

Train to Busan

Sang-ho Yeon, 2016

IMDB

4/5

When we saw how fast the zombies were moving in Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, we realized that one specific tweak changed the genre drastically. This was a different universe than Romero's where you could quite easily dodge the walking dead. These were frenetic terrors hellbent on attacking you. They jumped through glass. The crowds moved swiftly. So some future films followed suit and these were now placed in the category of fast zombies. Zombies that could run. REC, the remake of Dawn of the Dead, Zombieland. There are zombie purists who discount this change to the genre. They believe that zombies should inherently be slow moving. I am not one of these people.

Jump to 2013's World War Z and we not only have fast zombies but there is another level of intensity to them. Perhaps it's the massive numbers that are moving quickly. Rapid virus transfer. Inhuman biting actions. These things pile on top of each other, go airborne, take down helicopters. Terrifying.

Korean film Train to Busan captures a similar ferocity that World War Z had. The only difference is much of the movie is set inside a train. So the movie itself becomes this hybrid offspring of World War Z meets Snowpiercer. Like Snakes on a Plane, but Zombies on a Train. Complete terror that is unleashed in a tight space.

There are so many memorable moments in this film. The image of when they reanimate and you can hear the bones breaking and they get into these contorted positions, damn its freaky. I don't think i will ever get the image out of my head of the zombie running down the train platform with the broken arm that is sticking straight up the air. Busan is without a doubt one of the best zombie films to come out in the past 10 years. Maybe even the best. Yeon manages to get you invested in the characters with their vastly different personalities. You are really rooting for the couple or so to make it out in one piece. Then there are others that you are begging to receive some comeuppance. One guy in particular, Yeon creates this one character (corporate POS Yong-Suk) that is just so completely selfish that you are eagerly waiting for some karmic balance. The film itself is an interesting concept, the world around you completely falling apart while you are stuck on a high speed train that is also falling apart but on a more micro scale. The special effects are remarkable. These are really rabid-like zombies. There's no 10 minute break from death to reawakening. This virus spreads very rapidly. It's a matter of seconds. Train to Busan is a solid offering to the zombie genre that I believe history will be very kind to. Hopefully now that it's receiving international distribution (currently through streaming services) it will get many more eyes on it.

The Wailing

Hong-jin Na, 2016

IMDB

4/5

​Some people will probably say the Wailing is like a Korean Exorcist but they shouldn't. That marginalizes what is one of the better horror films to come out in the past ten years. What is true is that there are elements of possession in this film that center around a young girl. But it's a bigger story. A story that involves an entire community. A demonic force that has taken hold of a Korean village. The desperation of the affected family is totally compelling and completely gripping.

Asian cinema has an ability to really focus on the dynamics of a family. This is probably because of the cultural differences between the Eastern world and the Western world. The Eastern world tends to hold their family more dearly, less of a focus on oneself. Grandparents tend to be around much more than they are in Western culture, as also shown in this film where the grandmother plays a very active role in Hyo-Jin's life.

This is a film where the mystery and uncertainty builds all the way to the end. The Wailing doesn't rely on cheap jump scares. It relies on character development and pursuit. Pursuit of a bunch of things. Justice, answers, remedy. By the end you certainly get what you need as a viewer. Hopefully this film gets some of the attention it deserves in foreign cinema this year.

Byzantium

Neil Jordan, 2013

IMDB

3/5

Next to the zombie genre, the next sub-genre of horror movies could certainly be vampire movies. Although lacking in offerings over the last five or so years (Twilight fatigue perhaps?), its a category sure to continue contributing to the world of film. I will start right off the bat by saying I believe the best vampire film of all time is Let the Right One In, and I don't even have to think about it. There are things done in that film that I still think about from time to time, and it has one of the best movie endings ever made. It is a horror film full of confidence, not afraid to break the vampire conventions. It's unique, bold, darkly beautiful. It examines eternal life fully, negative aspects and all. Something that Interview with a Vampire wasn't able to fully do. But Byzantium is actually more like Let the Right One In in the sense that it gives a more broad examination as well, while also breaking some of the stale vampire conventions that dull the genre.

You could argue that its a character study; mostly focusing on Eleanor's (Saoirse Ronan) struggles. She never had a choice when it came to becoming what she is. Spared by death but cursed by eternal life, she is lonely in her perpetual existence. Eager to share her story with anyone interested in hearing it, not able to keep it bottled inside of her, most people aren't able to comprehend. And of course when she meets an elderly man who is able to understand what she is, he looks at it as more of a swift exit for him and an offering for her. Byzantium has a stylistic aesthetic that is also similar to Jim Jarmusch's 2013 film Only Lovers Left Alive in the sense that it follows two floating bloodsuckers through a decaying modern landscape. But Byzantium manages to make the story more compelling. While Lovers is more of a draining (no pun intended) bought of depression that you are forced to endure for 2 hours, Eleanor's struggles are more compelling and the backstory is ripe with intrigue.

One of the best parts of Byzantium is it doesn't struggle to offer you a complete story. It literally gives you a modern day storyline with flashbacks going back to 200 years prior, and still manages to wrap things up with a good sense of closure and a satisfying ending while maintaining balance. And that is by definition a good movie.

The Visit

M. Night Shyamalan, 2015

IMDB

4/5

There were probably many people who saw the trailer for The Visit, and when they saw the name "M. Night Shyamalan" on the screen they chuckled. They chuckled, because at this point, after many disappointing attempts to wow audiences like he did with The Sixth Sense - he has failed. Some look at Shyamalan as a punchline in Hollywood. And that's probably not fair. Sure, The Sixth Sense is one of the best horror films ever made. He made a really spectacular early in his career. When you do that, expectations are built. But his next two pictures, Unbreakable and Signs, were not poor offerings at all. That one quick shot in Signs of the kid watching a news broadcast on TV and seeing the alien pass by the alleyway is a frightening image stuck in my mind for eternity. I've also stood up for the film that followed that two - The Village on many occasions and was genuinely surprised with the big twist. But Shyamalan is also guilty of giving us The Happening, Lady in the Water, The Last Airbender and After Earth. That string of films created this crater in his filmography that for some people (not me) is unforgivable.

So the big question on many cinephiles mind is - Is Shyamalan BACK? The answer is, well MAYBE HE IS. The Visit is a good film. In terms of where it's ranked in his filmography, it's probably somewhere below Signs but above The Village for sure. It's not going to be forever cemented in the minds of film-lovers like some of his other work in the genre, but it's a formidable piece of work that even has a signature twist in the latter moments.

Shyamalan experiences with the found footage genre by putting cameras in the hands of the two main characters / siblings Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould). Becca is an aspiring filmmaker, hoping to shoot a documentary that captures spending the week with their grandparents who they had never met before. Tyler is a wannabe rapper, constantly breaking out into annoying rhymes. Tyler's character is interesting in the sense that he will probably annoy lots of viewers. It's sort of that annoying kid trope that has the ability to draw some of the energy from a good film. But his constant rapping isn't enough to pull The Visit off of the tracks.

This is probably because there is so much mystery built up around the grandparents, who continue to act stranger and stranger. When they are told that their grandmother has "Sun-downing", a dementia-based condition that causes the elderly to act unpredictable and energetic at night, the curiosity only grows stronger. But it's when the behavior starts to spill into the daytime, and progressively gets worse and worse along with the diminishing niceness of the grandfather character, that you are on the edge of your seat wondering what's next. You can feel the progression as the days continue on, and you are reminded of what day it is in front of each segment. It adds a small element, making you assume that things are going to get pretty bad leading up to the final day of their trip.

Shymalan is able to successfully use the found footage technique to his advantage. It causes you to have that first person POV, and when you are under a porch and your grandmother starts swiftly crab-walking toward you - that's only going to add to the tension. You just aren't going to be able to have the same effect if the camera is fixed. There are a lot of jumpy moments, a lot of them bound to stick with you. In a genre that is desperately lacking in originality, The Visit provides some fresh story and unique circumstances. Now lets see if the studio will leave it alone and doesn't attempt to create a sequel with new production staff and beat the whole thing to death.

Frankenstein's Army

Richard Raaphorst, 2013

IMDB

3/5

On paper, it’s a film that probably won’t pull a lot of people in. A group of Russian soldiers push into German territory during World War II, only to stumble upon a building filled with undead monsters. It feels like a tired premise, and Nazi zombies have certainly been touched on before with Tommy Wirkola’s 2009 indie-horror Dead Snow. Some of the early moments of the film feel blaringly under-funded, fighting sequences that are lacking in numbers. You need to move past that. You need to move past the idea of Russian and German troops speaking to each other in English. You need to get past the ridiculousness of a World War II-era found footage film. Because if you can past all of this, the building awaits. This building, is filled with some of the most horrifying, provocative creations ever built in the horror genre. Oh you know, things like reanimated soldiers with sawblades for arms. Army certainly has some hints of fellow brutal indie-horror The Human Centipede. Dr. Frankenstein’s creations that he unleashed upon the outsiders are a showcase of great makeup work and artistic ability. A small treasure of a film that’s just begging to be put on during the Halloween season, it’s a movie that knows what it is and is certainly comfortable enough attaining cult status rather than classic status. If you’re a fan of the genre it’s possible to buy into spending a bit of time in an undead carnage-factory led by an insane genius with a magic switch.

The Conjuring

James Wan, 2013

IMDB

4/5

Sometimes with horror films, scary movies in general, it's not about the monsters and the creatures jumping out at you from the screen. Sometimes the real consistency of the scares is in the subtle notes. The build-up, the tension, the things you don't see. Sometimes it's something ambiguous, a shadow in the corner of the frame. A resonant sound. Or maybe it's something from your own life experience that you are bringing to the film. Maybe the house looks like yours. Maybe the layout of your bedroom is the same as the one in the scene. The Conjuring plays with a bunch of these concepts. Effective pacing, visual elements, creepy scenery, shadows, sounds. Splat-packer Wan has gotten a lot of movie-blood on his hands in the past, working on films like the original Saw and the first two Insidious films. Both of those films in their early incarnations were original and creative. Saw was certainly a more innovative horror film, Insidious played on a similar theme as the Conjuring with demonic forces at work in a home.

The Conjuring is a period piece set in the 1970's. When you enter the Rhode Island historical home in the early moments of the film, you realize right away that the house itself, even in the absence of anything floating through the hallways, is a damn creepy place to be. The walls are cracking, there are exposed lathe boards in some of the rooms. Aged kitchen, a certain layer of grime to most of the surfaces. Everything creaks and squeaks. But this is because it's an old house bought at an auction on the cheap by their truck-driving father Roger (Ron Livingston). He admits to having spread himself really thin financially, and purchasing the home with an effort to please wife Carolyn (Lili Taylor) who wants her children to grow up in the ambiance of the rural country. Dogs can see ghosts, as anyone who saw the original Poltergeist knows, and when their family pet refuses to enter the house we know right away why. The film is actually not really that ground-breaking or revolutionary in terms of story. It's a blend of a haunted house-possession sub-genres (with nods to the found-footage sub-genre as well), which doesn't feel all that fresh. But it's the execution of it all that works. And in this age of torture films and cheap slashers and CGI-monsters, it's refreshing to watch something that has lingering qualities.

Films like the Conjuring prove that a horror movie doesn't have to be revolutionary to still be effective. If you are a fan of the genre, sometimes you just a want a scare, and you get that here. And as far as memorable elements, whenever someone claps twice you are sure to think of this film.

Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead

Kiah Roache-Turner, 2015

IMDB

3/5

Any fan of zombie cinema probably has some degree of fatigue at this point. Oh, another movie about a zombie outbreak where everyone has to fight them off to survive. And it's turned into an inescapable theme. They are everywhere. Zombies have crept out of the cult-category and are now ubiquitous. They aren't underground, they are in the mainstream. The Walking Dead is the highest rated series on cable. World War Z brought Max Brooks zombie novel out of the literary world and into big budget Hollywood. So this means there are books, television series, small budget films, big budget films. Half of the Halloween outfits you see this year will probably be zombie related.

So at this point, for the most part, we aren't likely to see anything revolutionary or groundbreaking in the genre. With an over-saturation present, filmmakers should be more focused on aiming to create something that has some stylistic integrity, something individually artistic.

Wyrmwood, the most pirated Australian film in recent history, does just this. It's a self-aware zombie film with a rather simple premise. A rapidly spreading virus has hit the Outback infecting basically everyone that comes into contact with it unless they have a specific blood-type. Nothing new, right? But it's the execution of this basic premise that makes Wyrmwood a rather engaging zombie film. 

Equipped with a terrific makeup and special effects team, Wyrmwood is able to create a 90 minute zombie picture that doesn't get slowed down with unnecessary character development. It's intention is not to create depth but more sudden shifts and frantic pacing. The disease itself is relentless and unforgiving, spreading to friends and family with unhampered force. Unlikely friendships are forged quickly because the only choice you have is to team up with any living soul in close proximity to you. Not really much time to build trust by feeling someone out. It's another zombie film where life has become cheap very quickly, and the key to survival is not hesitating and being as resourceful as you can in whatever situation you find yourself in. 

Spring

Justin Benson, 2015

IMDB

3/5

Through skillful camera-work and intelligent storytelling, Spring resembles a love-child of Before Sunrise and Let the Right One In, if there ever was one. A genre-clash, it's a horror/romance film that mainly focuses on the lives of two people. Evan (Lou Taylor Pucci), a grieving drifter who impulsively decides to hop on a plane to Italy. And Louise (Nadia Hilker), a mysterious beauty who tries to capture Evan's heart quickly and doesn't want to wait until the next night for a date. Evan immediately comes off as a sympathetic figure, having to endure the final moments of his mother suffering from cancer and watching her fade off. His misfortunes mount as he gets let go from his bar-tending gig at the local dive which clearly serves as the last straw for him before he decides to get out of dodge.

Evan can probably be called the every-man in the sense that he's just a young guy willing to jump into the unknown looking for adventure. He's confident but self destructive. Aggressive but also vulnerable. The most impressive part of the film is in the sudden twist, when the entire construct of the picture radically shifts into different form. It's something that isn't done enough, and hopefully a film like this can inspire other filmmakers to make the bold jump into genre-bending. It's here when everything changes. It works really well, and if anything the film falls a little to in love with its new form and ends up running about a half hour too long. Other than that, it's a pretty engaging story between two completely different people. 

You're Next

Adam Wingard, 2011

IMDB

2/5

In an age of mediocre horror films about the group of people stuck in the house with the attacker outside, You're Next fits right in without standing out a whole lot. It starts off by playing with the oh-so-common dysfunctional family dynamic and instead of doing something artful or unique with it, it just decides to keep it simple. It's guilty of relying on slasher conventions and ultimately comes off as an uninventive, wasteful affluenza story. It's dumbed down, it panders to the popcorn-gobbling horror audiences. It's a shame, because indie-lovers see mumblecore harbinger Swanberg on the screen and hope for something creative. But it's just an odd placement for Swanberg, where he is confined to playing the douchey brother consumed by bitter exchanges with his brother. To be fair, the camera work is actually quite good. The performances are just okay, acceptable and probably above-average for the genre. The story is the real destroyer. It even disappoints in the final moments of the film, where the credits could roll right after a phone pickup, and instead of doing that the story drags on for another ten minutes. Movies like this almost feel like a group of twenty-somethings found a bag of unique masks in a flea market somewhere and decided to make a horror movie. If this movie gives you anything to walk away with, it's a reoccurring song that will be stuck in your head for hours.

It Follows

David Robert Mitchell, 2015

3/5

It Follows is one of those films that upon describing it to someone you get a response that sounds something like "that sounds like a stupid idea for a film." "Cant they come up with anything better than that nowadays?". "Sounds like another cheesy horror premise."

In reality, if you were to describe a film that is basically like a ghost STD chasing around the cursed victim, you might spark a lot of interest. Especially with movie snobs. And a film with that premise could easily be a pile of shit in the wrong hands. But fortunately, it's in the right hands here. Mitchell is able to create an interesting film that pays tribute to the genre with a retro late 70's campy feel with fresh touches. High school heartbreak in a crummy horror hipster town. The creepy elements in pursuit of main character Jay Height (Maika Monroe) make an impression. Sort of like in Gregory Hoblit's 1998 film Fallen (that starred Denzel Washington and John Goodman), they can change form. In fact, the film is basically a hybrid creation of Fallen and Romero's Night of the Living Dead. There are a handful of the forms that are bound to be stuck in your brain for a little while. The synthwave score (provided by Disasterpeace) only adds to the tension, and you spend the duration of the film wondering if Jay is going to be able to pass this curse on to another unlucky victim or perish herself.

Mitchell proves that you can still put a creative story on the screen with a limited budget ($2M here) and keep it interesting. The small budget certainly adds to the feel of the movie. A big budget with a ton of CGI would have homogenized the movie to the point it would lose all of it's grittiness. Using the backdrop of the slummy Detroit suburbs only added to the charm of the film. The city itself basically becomes a character here. One of the only complaints is that Mitchell chooses to go in a direction toward the end of the film that seems to pay tribute to Let the Right One In in terms of setting but it doesn't have nearly the same impact. But overall Mitchell manages to make an engaging film with limited resources. Let's just hope the big studios don't get a hold of this and churn out two or three awful sequels.

Preservation

Christopher Denham, 2015

IMDB

3/5

Denham succeeds with this indie horror/thriller by purposefully not trying to reinvent the wheel. He knows what the film is, and doesn't try to break any new ground. He makes his mark through a very John Carpenter-esque score, and through some really artful camera work. The film is more of an homage to the 80's slasher films with the killer in the woods like Friday the 13th and Evil Dead. The film also largely works because of the acting work by Wrenn Schmidt (Our Idiot Brother), Pablo Schreiber (The Wire, Orange is the New Black) and Aaron Staton (Mad Men).

The first half hour or so of the film is dedicated to introducing the three main characters. Brothers Sean (Schreiber) and Mike (Staton) bring along Mike's wife Wit (Schmidt) on a camping trip. The brothers are clearly veteran campers, with an edge going to Sean because he is a an actual military veteran where he was able to perfect a lot of survival skills. Sean also suffers with PTSD sustained during his tours abroad. Because of this there is an obvious divide between the two brothers, with Mike sort of unsure of Sean's unpredictable actions and mood swings. There's also marital trouble between Mike and Wit. They don't have a really intimate relationship, and Mike is mostly conducting business on his cell-phone. So it's not just three innocent happy-go-lucky people venturing into the woods together. There is tension from the start, some ambiguity as to who the people really are and what we will learn about them when things start heading south. Actually the most pure character from the get-go is probably Sean's loyal and intelligent German Shepherd.

When the film makes it's inevitable shift, things turn from tense to brutal as the three campers are preyed upon by merciless forces. There's something interesting about the true display of who you are as a person when you are put in a situation like this, where you are thrown into the wilderness with nothing but your wits. It's been done before in The Blair Witch Project, where you see humans stripped down to nothing but weepy, desperate shells. Preservation manages to take a stale premise and repackages it with fresh visual elements. That might not be enough to please everyone but it was enough to satisfy me.

[REC] 4: Apocalypse

Jaume Balaguero, 2015

IMDB

3/5

[REC] 4 is the fourth installment in what was originally a found-footage zombie horror film. Ever since the first film, they have ventured out of pure found-footage style and into a more conventional approach. In the previous installment REC 3 Genesis, there almost seemed to be a deliberate dismissal of the found footage technique when the wedding cam was ditched and the rest of the film was shot normally. This film makes no effort to pay tribute to it’s found footage roots. It also joins the last film in it’s utter distance from the first two. Yes, Manuela Velasco returns in her Angela Vidal role, but it really feels like a film that has grown substantially from it’s original form and is now feels more unrelated. Almost like a family member that has moved to a different state and then returns ten years to a family BBQ. Perhaps this is because it’s the first in the series not to have Paco Plaza co-directing with Balaguero.

REC 4 might as well be called Zombies at Sea. Balaguero obtains access to a giant vessel where the entirety of the film is set. Dark hallways, constant power loss, loud engine rooms, narrow corridors provide a limited and claustrophobic setting to make things even more frantic when shit hits the fan. The inevitable outbreak is actually well timed, and it manages to work with an engaging energy through the whole movie.

One annoyance in the film is the moment where they are accusing each other of harboring the demonic parasite. We witness a scene very much like John Carpenter’s The Thing with a lot of finger pointing and "no, you have the parasite in you!", but the transfer of the parasite feels forced and wasn't really set up quite well. Sleight of hand would have been an understatement. Of course it needs the exchange to happen to have the obligatory plot twist at the end, but it should have been orchestrated better. Ultimately you know what you are going to get with the REC franchise at this point, and for the most part it delivers. The films have evolved to a point where they are much different than the original. You can assume there will be a [REC] 5 at some point down the road. Maybe they will try to capture some of that original spirit by going back to the found footage style. Or maybe not. Either way, fans of the zombie genre are quite loyal and they will probably keep coming back. We have seen a REC apartment setting, a wedding setting, now a boat setting. What next? REC 5: Lost in the Woods? REC 6: Hospital zombies? For a lot of movie franchises these frequent entries would exhaust themselves quickly, but as long as it continues to hit some of the same beats there should still be some gas in the tank with these.

The Babadook

Jennifer Kent, 2014

IMDB

2/5

Australian-horror film / Sundance darling The Babadook got the marketing hype-treatment when it first landed in theaters on it's wide-release. Commercials aired showing audiences in night vision screaming, and holding their hands over their eyes. As time went on you would hear people saying things like "it's the scariest movie I've ever seen. Scarier than [insert popular scary movie here]". The problem is that scary is subjective. One element that may scare one person may seem completely silly to the next person.

The first act of The Babadook is mother Amelia (Essie Davis) attempting to control her erratic child Samuel (Noah Wiseman). He gets suspended from school for bringing in a home-made weapon, not the first time. He screams in the car at the top of his lungs. Amelia's sister even wants to keep her distance from the two of them because Samuel is so unpredictable. You actually start to really resent the Samuel character. And you feel total sympathy for Amelia, visibly exhausted from trying to get through her day to day life with the little boy. Oh yeah, and Samuel's father? He died tragically. So Amelia has had her fair share of bad luck.

When Amelia tries to calm Sam to bed one night with a pop-up book The Babadook, things go terribly wrong when the content of the book is basically just threats of a scary guy coming into your room and eating your insides. There are even little tabs that Amelia pulls where knives pop out and blood shoots from the little people's heads. Not exactly soothing bedtime material.

The first half hour to forty minutes of the Babadook are actually pretty scary. Kent skillfully builds things up. When the ghost or monster, or whatever you actually want to call him shows up, it's one of those edge-of-your-seat moments. But then the film really takes a turn. It ultimately morphs into a possession piece instead of a haunted house or haunted book piece that it started out on. This isn't all that bad, but it just gets a bit indulgent. The whole sleep deprivation, withdrawal from social circles mental breakdown period feels long.

To the films credit, it does cleverly shift your opinion of the characters from good to evil and vice versa. But it just doesn't live up to the hype. There is a lesson to be learned, probably already learned by most people who are hard to please when it comes to the horror genre. If there is a huge marketing campaign where you are hearing things like it's the scariest movie I've ever seen, most likely it won't be. The best parts of the movie are when the creators are doing less with more. The unfortunate thing is that's only in the first third of the film.

Honeymoon

Leigh Janiak, 2014

IMDB

1/5

The Sci-Fi/horror genre has become so offensively saturated with mostly copycat knockoffs of past classics, reusing old tropes and beating them to death. Regurgitated themes. Re-purposed cliches. Sometimes when you watch something that feels like a huge waste of your time, making you think that maybe its all been done before. That maybe there aren't any new ideas in this genre. But then every now and then, something will float to the surface. Something will stand out. Films like The Conjuring, The Cabin in the Woods or Insidious will appear and it gives us all hope. It gives us hope that maybe there can be new things done with the seemingly forlorn genre.

Unfortunately, Honeymoon doesn't fall into this category of refreshing and unique horror films that are trying new things. Instead it falls into that category of pretty good acting spoiled by an awful script and amateur direction. Janiak tries to make too much with too little here. This one can be filed under the category of predictably stagnant alien films. It's a bit irritating too, because you are likely delighted to see Rose Leslie on screen after seeing her in Game of Thrones or Downton Abbey. She has already proven herself a good actress while working with good material. But she doesn't have a whole lot to work with here. In fact, her Bea character and husband Paul (Harry Treadaway) characters are actually quite annoying. You spend the first 20 minutes of the film watching them groping each other like a couple of spider monkeys. To be expected on ones honeymoon. But we aren't going into this movie hoping to spectate a weekend of lovemaking. That's another kind of movie that we can watch some other time. That one will probably be better directed as well. Because you will have two minutes of foreplay and casual dialogue and they will get down to business. Honeymoon takes a lot of time getting to where it wants to, when most of the audience will probably know where it's going the entire time. The decision making on the parts of Paul's character are frustrating. The most obvious of them all is his inability to get Bea in the car and away from the cabin. Her condition continues to decline, his solution is to fondle her more and tell her how much he misses her. His character seems to be desperately horny, like he should have been in Deadgirl and not Honeymoon. Honeymoon feels like a weak ripoff of a Stephen King story with too much build-up and an insufficient reveal.

[Rec] 3: Genesis

Paco Plaza, 2012

Can I Stream It?

3/5

The lavish wedding of Clara (Leticia Dolera) and Koldo (Diego Martin) turns from complete enjoyment to pure terror when an ill guest suddenly starts attacking those gathered around to help him.

Paco Plaza has already proven himself worthy of making a good zombie film in the found footage genre with the first two Rec films. While those films are very much attached to each other in that one flows right into the next, the third is basically removed completely from that previous story-line. In the third, the found footage shaky cam actually grows tiresome rather quickly so it's happily welcomed when he abandons it early on for more of a traditional style. This is immediately after he drops the Zombie Mento in the Diet Coke Wedding Scene and just lets all hell break loose. What follows is some freaky imagery from what many believe is a worn-out genre. Loved ones quickly shifting to killers. Bloody hands pressed up against frosted red glass, eager to break through. Some particularly gruesome killing moments, to be expected with the sudden introduction of medieval weaponry or electric cookware. Great camera work in a tunnel when the clock is ticking. A simple story of two lovers trying to reunite amid the chaos of their own family members/wedding guests turned-demonic zombies trying to kill everything in their path. Plaza has never tried to reinvent the wheel, but rather carve out his own niche when it comes to style. The [REC] films are underrated and not very talked about when it comes to zombie films, probably because they are foreign and don't have the name Romero attached to them. The third one in the series is worth a watch if you're into this kind of thing, and you don't even have to see the first two and can drop right in to this one.

Willow Creek

Bobcat Goldthwait, 2014

Can I Stream It?

3/5

Curious couple Jim (Bryce Johnson) and Kelly (Alexie Gilmore) venture to the Pacific Northwest to the small town of Willow Creek with their portable video camera, where inexperienced but outdoorsy Jim is casually working on an amateur documentary that consists of him looking for Sasquatch around the location of the famous 1967 Bigfoot footage and interviewing the local townspeople before embarking there.

Bobcat Goldthwait's found footage thriller is a clear nod to The Blair Witch Project in that he places a couple of oblivious people in the middle of the woods and scares the hell out of them. Remove menacing unwelcoming witch lady and install equally unwelcoming giant ape-like monster, hit play. Like a lot of found-footage films the shaky cam takes a bit of getting used to, but after a while your vision settles in. There are believers and nonbelievers in the town of Willow Creek. After a few sloppy attempts at collecting some local anecdotes Jim and Kelly are ready to hit the road. Jim is the clear believer (who makes it clear that this is a childhood dream of his to take the trip) while Kelly is skeptical to say the least. One thing that is for certain is that when they arrive in the small town is the mythos of Bigfoot itself is a living, breathing thing. There are people whose full-time jobs (albeit low-paying and not so eventful) are based on the mythology. Seeing the hand-carved wooden statues and elaborate murals throughout the town is almost enough to make a believer out of anyone. The energy around the town provides a more silly, tongue-in-cheek image of the whole thing despite the few kooks who seem to take it a bit TOO seriously.  

So the couple ventures into the thick lush forest outside of the town. Cue the giggling and the not-so-serious attitude and then the sun sets. Night falls and the fun begins. The tension builds. No punches pulled. Goldthwait employs the device of letting your imagination do the work instead of immediately throwing you a shot of some CGI'd monstrosity. He even gives you something that is basically the equivalent to the terrifying baby crying in Blair Witch. When the camera sits with two people alone in a small tent in a dim light, your other senses are augmented. At the end of the day, The Blair Witch Project's approach worked on some people but didn't work on others. It was a very divisive film. People who happened to live in the woods tended to be more affected than the city-dwellers who brushed it all off as a failed attempt to scare them. But if that movie got in your head, Willow Creek certainly will. Willow Creek is not trying to reinvent the wheel, and by not doing that it hits the mark. 

Rammbock

Marvin Kren, 2010

Netflix

3/5

Michael (Michael Fuith) has recently broken up with his girlfriend Gabi (Anka Graczyk). He shows up at her apartment unannounced to return her key and hopefully convince her to stay with him. His bad timing is proven when the world outside of the apartment is hit with a rapidly spreading virus, and Gabi is nowhere to be found. He seeks refuge in the apartment with a plumber's apprentice who happens to be working there.

It's hard to convince anyone to watch a new zombie picture. It's a very much over-saturated genre. Most of the zombie films that are released are poorly made, no question. Most of them steal certain attributes from their predecessors. Been there, done that. So someone convinces you to put on the new one, and you sit there hoping to be surprised. And honestly, the odds are against you. But alas, a German zombie film. Perhaps the Europeans have different standards? Perhaps they don't see a Romero film and say "Hey, I can do that! Perhaps they have never seen an episode of The Walking Dead. They probably have. But rest assured, there is a decent one here. It's hard to make a zombie picture nowadays and have it be COMPLETELY unique.

But this one is done pretty well. It's a zombie film that's short and sweet. The film opens up and you are immediately introduced to Michael, who is really the every-man character. Balding and not in shape. He fantasizes about getting his girl back. He shows up to her apartment with an image in his mind of her opening the door and immediately hugging him, telling him it was all a huge mistake. Instead, he is faced with an unforeseen obstacle. A zombie pandemic. Who could see that coming? That premise is so over-used, but to Kren's credit he draws out his story effectively and with some unique touches. And in the end, it could be considered a clear limited storytelling piece. Muted colors. A sense of urgency. Erratic camera work that puts you in the narrow passageways. He sets his time clock short. You have about ten seconds to remove yourself from the room, or you are screwed. And you removing yourself from the room may mean throwing yourself in the next room, much smaller, with no exits. Walls become smaller, claustrophobic. Simplicity is the strength of the film. Kren knows he isn't breaking new ground, and he is not trying to.What he does offer is good camera work, impressive acting, and a beautifully constructed love scene in the final act that is certainly him signing his name on his love letter to Jaume Balaguero (REC).

Grabbers

Jon Wright, 2012


3/5

A small Irish community is is shaken up when an alien creature lands in the sea. As residents begin to vanish, a newly-paired Guard duo tries to find its weakness. Upon discovering that it feeds off of blood, they attempt to poison their own blood by consuming large amounts of alcohol at the hometown pub.

In this silly beer-soaked sci-fi horror, Grabbers possesses some of beats of similarly-themed Attack the Block but also has some of the laughs-in-the-middle-of-chaos of Shaun of the Dead. The lead characters are easy on the eyes newbie good-girl Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) and jaded lonely sad-sack Ciaran O'Shea (Richard Coyle). Nolan can't wait to fulfill her duties as Guard while O'Shea can't wait to wade through the monotony of his day, so his liver can do the bulk of his daily work at the local watering hole. When the two are assigned together early on there's a bit of tension between the two that makes you anticipate the predictable shift to romance. It doesn't take long to introduce the antagonist alien sea-beast (the first scene actually). Introduced at first using the effective what you don't see is more scary technique, when you it does finally show itself it's not disappointing. As the town bands together to fight it off using their best tool, their ability to put down the pints. The normally quiet town gets a shot in the arm when the beast arrives, and the sense of inebriated community between them all is inviting and amusing. Although the film may push the Irish stereotypes, as soon as "The Irish Rover" starts playing in the pub you wish you were right there with them singing along, Guinness in hand.

A film that could quickly become distracting with lame CGI and poor acting really isn't at the end of the day. There's impressive camera work involved, a fitting score, and a medium-sized cast that really deliver satisfying performances. The lack of a back-story and rush to create a romance between the two Guards feels a bit far-fetched, but then again its a movie about a giant alien squid who pukes up drunkards so who is really judging it on that level? Besides, there are moments in the film where it could venture down over-used roads and it actually pulls back. For what the movie is it's good. It knows what it is, and what it needs to accomplish. 

Chained

Jennifer Chambers Lynch, 2012


3/5

Lynch directs this torture-horror picture about a serial killer who traps his victims with his taxi cab and brings them to his house to kill them. He uses a boy, son of a past victim, as a slave in his home to help clean up his messes and work on his scrapbook which details his slayings.

Lynch's work is probably the creative equivalent of bringing Eli Roth home on a date to meet her father David. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Just different from a film that her father would make, and of course she is going to be forced to endure countless comparisons from the film community given the impact that David Lynch has had on modern cinema. She has certainly picked up some of the chops, while the film is quite disturbing at times it still maintains an artful quality to it. D'Onofrio disappears into his role as Bob, proving that he can become an even more involved killer than his character in The Cell. His victim, Rabbit (Eamon Farren), maintains a very obvious sympathetic edge throughout the film, as he sits in the run down shack malnourished eating the scraps left behind by Bob. When it comes to the attention to set design, the serial killer's house is so chilling the Fedex guy would be afraid to place a package on the front steps. The visual canvas of the film is laid out using a lot of bleak colors, and when you are in the presence of some light it's usually a circa 1970's lamp providing a disconcerting glow throughout the filthy shack. The windows are boarded up. The basement, which is home to the remains of the many victims, is lit only and ironically by Christmas lights. Night falls, and the glow of fluorescent-lit "Comfort" written on the top of the Taxi Cab provides the same tension you feel when trapped in the house with the monster. Lynch not only plays off of visual cues but also with sound as well. There is a very present bass-driven hum throughout the film, maintaining a sense of impending horror. To sum it all up... it's a film that will appeal to the horror fan, but anyone that's planning a re-watch really needs a psychological evaluation.