Yeah it was pretty worthless. So was The Lake On Clinton Road which is one of the few horror movies I've ever actually given up on halfway through.
Well glad I never heard of it then. Not new but just rewatched House where evil dwells. Always liked this one and a topless Susan George doesnt hurt.
That's too bad, I am intrigued by the supposed 'adventure' aspect, and that it is set in the 70s. Problem is with a lot of these really low budget films is not necessarily the budget at all, you can still make a great film with limitations, but I think is generally a lack of trying to put together a good film. A strong concept/original idea can go a long way, and I will forgive a lot of things with production that are clearly restrained. A lot of it is actually bothering to elucidate (or give) a proper 'acting' performance. Another issue is with so few reviews, you can never really gauge them by ratings, particularly when people with connections to the production can post. Not that I would imply that would ever happen.
Has anyone watched The Borderlands (aka Final Prayer)? First warning off the bat is that it is another 'found footage' film, which - although they fall into the category of poop 97.5% of the time - I still have some predilection for watching, mostly because that comprises nearly every horror movie made in the last ten years (yes I get it, it is cheap to do and fills the audience quota). I guess I am a sucker for punishment. I would really like this trend to slowly (or better, rapidly) go away now though. It doesn't need to disappear entirely, but it is just too easy a crutch now for cheap ploys in filmmaking. Some FF is fine, but not all, please. Anyways, the movie is a bit of a slow burn but has a kind of interesting payoff. I don't want to give anything away, but it seems like this is one of those movies where the filmmakers included clues in the entirety of the film in little quick snippits on screen here and there and seemingly oddball dialogue, that kind of comes together taken as a whole. I imagine it would improve on repeat viewings, because of noticing such little things. So, a fairly low budget and not great film, but I didn't want to smash my head against the wall either. I would have liked it to be more drawn out at the end, to balance the first three acts, but at 89min I think their budget was probably really constrained.
If ya wanna see found footage horror done well, watch the first episode of Documentary Now. Perfection!
Where can I find it? Is it on a streaming service or do I need to track down a dvd on ebay or something?
^ Looks like the only easy way is to rent it through Amazon - it's not available via Hulu, Netflix or Prime. There's always alternative ways to score films these days, though... Indeed!
They're smart to not just stick with straight parody. Each episode so far has had a nice tweak to keep it fresh.
We Are What We Are Pretty dark and pretty good. Thematically not my kind of Horror movie (as it has no supernatural or fantasy elements) but I really liked it. A little arthousy maybe but it works very well to create a certain mood. The cast is excellent and makes you overlook some flaws in storytelling with their great performances.
I did just watch Rec4 and wow what a piece of shit movie. I hated this film so much. If I didn't pay to rent it I would have shut this junk off. Just so bad on so many levels.
I thought Housebound had a lot more potential than it lived up to at the end. Also, without spoiling too much, let me just say the whole 'wall' concept was pretty far-fetched, even for a silly horror film. Also, never, ever watch Hollows Grove. No really, I mean it. Even if you have zero to do for a mere 80mins of your life, it is still better spent looking out a window and enjoying some fresh air. Sigh. Bad, terrible, awful - but none of those in an entertaining cheese, so schlocky it is fun way. Not only is the movie completely unoriginal (reading the description, I swear I have seen this same film at least three times before: Grave Encounters, Sanatorium, Episode 50 - to name just a few, all of which have their own major problems), it is not even good at what it attempts to do. Firstly, yes, this another trite 'found footage' movie {ARGGHH!} about a group of naive ghost hunters {PLEASE MAKE IT STOP}, the majority of the movie is 'filmed' of the crew doing their filming, and there is no narration or input of the 'camera' character, i.e. there is absolutely zero reason for this to even be made in the FF genre. Secondly, the writing is sheerly atrocious. Most certainly there was no intelligent thought whatsoever put into coming up with realistic dialogue. I can only imagine that this was written in the span of a 40min energy drink-fueled binge, or was actually a script written as an high school class project. But that is only in keeping with the remainder of the movie, for the delivery of the lines and sheer lack of believability makes it painful to even sit through eighty minutes. The main character is like some kind of MadTV parody that makes your eyes and ears hurts, some coked up mix of a manic angry winging doofus channeling the worst of William Shatner, all while thinking he is delivering Othello. I don't know, hopefully the people involved in making this film had fun (though from all appearances you couldn't tell) because certainly the audience won't. And, to make matters worse, for some unfathomable reason this also has an appearance by Lance Henriksen. Yes, that Lance Henriksen. I don't get. I want to think that they were taking the piss of the entire genre and the ridiculous themes - and I am still not 100% convinced that GE was not - but no, there is not question in this case. It is just bad. Suffice it to say this movie fails at everything, even being awful entertainment. Unless you are a horror purist who feels the need to see everything in the genre, please do skip it. More horrible reviews to come I am sure, because no matter how many times I am burned, I just...keep...going back.
I should also mention Backcountry. While not great, I admittedly went in to the movie more for the scenery than anything else. But, it was okay for a low budget film. Yes, as always, the entire setup of the story relies on characters behaving in improbable ways, so if you can get past that, or if you are one of those watchers who enjoys rooting against people, (or if you are simply a lover of nature) it works as a short entertaining flick. Simple, and short; I think with a little improvements they could have really made a decent picture. But don't go into it expecting your typical 'horror' film really. Anyways, beautiful Canadian parks in the fall.
SOTD: Spoiler Works Cited (in order of appearance, but incomplete): This guy rings his bell in public: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57M3rK... Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001) The very creepy and outstanding performance art of Olivier de Sagazan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gYBXR... The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982) The Mighty Boosh (Julian Barratt & Noel Fielding, 2004-) Kim Kardashian Blows a Retarded Fellow (Sir Ray J, 2007) Gus likes watermelon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBIuHJ... The Exorcist III (William Peter Blatty, 1990) Syriana (Stephen Gaghan, 2005) Suicide Circle (Shion Sono, 2001) Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981) House (David Shore, 2004-) Species (Roger Donaldson but fuck that guy, pay more attention to H. R. Giger, 1995) The Burning (Tony Maylam, 1981) Event Horizon (Paul W.S. Anderson, 1997) Twin Peaks (Mark Frost & David Lynch, 1990-1991) I Drink Your Blood (David E. Durston, 1970) Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976) Sunshine (Danny Boyle, 2007) Salem's Lot (Tobe Hooper, 1979) Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982) High Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2003) Little Shop of Horrors (Frank Oz, 1986) Jacob's Ladder (Adrian Lyne, 1990) Gozu (Takashi Miike, 2003) The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) Dark Water (Hideo Nakata, 2002) Izo (Takashi Miike, 2004) 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002) Pandorum (Christian Alvart, 2009) The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973) The Manchurian Candidate (Jonathan Demme, 2004) This lady dreams her teeth fall out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf8SfP... The Abyss (James Cameron, 1989) Super creepy sensitive teeth video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrPaDr... This guy puts 9 Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches in his mouth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QskBwH... Dead or Alive (Takashi Miike, 1999) An Andalusian Dog (Luis Buñuel, 1929) Grudgelike ghost girl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIGxKY... Society (Brian Yuzna, 1989) Various clips from the Opera of Splatter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfnQVS... Silent Hill (Christophe Gans, 2006) The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002) Elektra (Rob Bowman, 2005) District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009) The terrifying miracle of birth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkUx5g... Braindead/Dead Alive (Peter Jackson, 1993) Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) H. P. Lovecraft's From Beyond (Stuart Gordon, 1986) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2000) Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (Tim Heidecker & Eric Wareheim, 2007-) Return of the Living Dead (Dan O'Bannon, 1985) Jesus of Nazareth (Franco Zeffirelli, 1977) William Burroughs recording in a dim booth for "The Black Rider" from this German interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO82BA... Misery (Rob Reiner, 1990) S'more collage jammies: Spoiler Friends of mine. Sue me!
So is no one watching horror movies these days, or is it more that - like me - you seem to have nothing but stinkers lately. This one probably goes without saying, but Ouija was garbage. Even more than I expected though. Useless teenage trite that passes for 'horror' now in cinema. I figure they really need a new classification actually, to apply to these generic theatrical releases. Also caught Jessabelle recently, after giving it a pass for a long time. Wish I would have stayed away it turns out. Completely telegraphed 'development,' bad execution, and and ending that is honestly a joke and slap in the face to the audience. What rubbish. In more recent stuff, don't bother with Amnesiac. I don't know if it is really rightfully billing itself as horror, but it wants to be, but just, no. I have not seen such wooden acting since Keanu Reeves, and even he topped the performances in that film. It made no sense to anyone willing to think about it or who was paying attention, had awful writing, and even worse delivery. Just don't watch it. I hope it was a direct to Netflix film or something, but even then should be confined to the bargain bin of forgotten attempts at film. Well, I am excited - if not necessarily optimistic - as always as we approach October and the general horror peak. Not sure if anything worthy is going to come out, but in the very least there will be more of them, so at least the percentages might imply that something will turn out to be entertaining at least.
