Maynard Morrissey's HORROR MOVIE DIARY

NAILBITER

2012-02-01T19:59:00.002+01:00

NAILBITER

USA, 2012
Director: Patrick Rea

8,5/10

It's no secret: I'm a huge fan of Patrick Rea's work. He's a terrific director and most of his short films are absolutely excellent.

Now after more than 20 shorts, he finally delivers his first full-length feature: "Nailbiter", a creepy, highly original and very well made low-budget horror movie that strongly reminds me of oldschool "Twilight Zone" or "X-Files" episodes.

I love the story which deals with an alcoholic mother and her 3 daughters who flee from a Tornado and seek shelter in the storm cellar of some farmhouse where they encounter a gruesome and carnivorous creature.

The movie is wonderfully directed and brilliantly scripted. It's tense and thrilling from beginning to end, full of gripping and extremely haunting scenes, and there's absolutely no dull moment here.

The look of "Nailbiter" is awesome, thanks to the eerie settings (cellar, hidden room), absolutely fabulous editing, some surprisingly good-looking CGI and the striking cinematography of longtime Rea-collaborator Hanuman Brown-Eagle.

The characters are all very well written, complex, interesting, believable and extremely likable, and the acting is just awesome, especially the performances from the gorgeous Meg Saricks and the 2 young girls, Sally Spurgeon & Emily Boresow.

Highlights: the cool creature design, Julian Bickford's explosive and mindblowingly awesome score, the Tornado-scene, the sequence where Alice watches over her sleeping sister, the scary cradle-scene and the grim finale.

"Nailbiter" is a kick-ass and must-see indie-horror-flick, recommended to fans of old school AND new school horror.

I'm highly excited for the sequel which is already in the works!

Huge Thanks to Patrick Rea who provided me with a screener of "Nailbiter"!

Imdb

Project Terrible: FEROCIOUS PLANET

2012-02-01T18:31:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Robert from Gaming Creatively for giving me something remotely enjoyable. I really regret that I gave him the supercrappy "Night Fright"...

FEROCIOUS PLANET

Alternate Title:
The Other Side

USA, 2011
Director: Billy O'Brien

3,5/10

The bad thing about "Ferocious Planet": it's a SyFy-produced TV movie.

The good thing: it's not as bad as I expected.

"Ferocious Planet" is basically a cheap full length version of some mediocre "Sliders"-episode: a few people accidentally got transported into a parallel dimension where there's only trees, plants and carnivorous dinosaur-monsters. End of plot.

The movie looks low-budget as hell and is packed with average SyFy-CGI (awful-looking monsters, awful CG blood and other awful effects). The script is weak and extremely predictable, the pacing is rotten, every single character is an idiot and the soundtrack is lame.

Worst of all: this was directed by Billy O'Brien, the guy behind the enjoyable 2006 monster movie "Isolation", who seemingly threw away all of his talent and sold his soul to SyFy.

At least, most of the actors do a fairly good job (John Rhys-Davies, Joe Flanigan), there are lots of really funny dialogue and one-liners ("Don't poke the alien!"), a few scenes are surprisingly pretty thrilling and the twist at the end is quite cool.

Final verdict: it's a SyFy-movie and should be watched only if you love cheesy CGI creatures or if you have nothing else to do.

Wiki ~ Imdb

MALEVOLENCE / BEREAVEMENT

2012-01-30T20:11:00.001+01:00

MALEVOLENCE

German Title:
Malevolence - Niemand kommt hier lebend raus

USA, 2004
Director: Steven Mena

7/10

"Malevolence" totally took me by surprise: I expected this to be some kinda torture-porn gorefest but it actually is a pretty suspenseful and thrilling homage to classic oldschool slashers.

The acting is so-so and the first half is often a bit too slow - but apart from that, I had a great time watching it. It has a well-written script and a quite nice "Satan's Blade"-like plot. Camera work and photography are absolutely excellent with many highly atmospheric shots of all the beautiful-looking abandoned houses.

The soundtrack is incredibly creepy but also quite fun, mainly because of many "Halloween" and "Psycho" references. It's packed with loads of breathtakingly tense edge-of-seat-scenes and scary shots, the kills are all very neat and the masked killer (an obvious tribute to the eerie guy from "The Town That Dreaded Sundown") looks just stunning, especially because many of his movements remind me of the great Michael Myers.

A fabulous little indie-horror-flick, sadly way too underrated.

(Review from 01/2011)

Wiki ~ Imdb

BEREAVEMENT
(Prequel)

Working Title:
Malevolence: Bereavement

German Title:
Bereavement - In den Händen des Bösen

USA, 2010/2011
Director: Steven Mena

9/10

Ladies & Gentlemen, I proudly present the very first amazing horror highlight in 2012: "Bereavement", the epic prequel to Steven Mena's debut flick from 2004.

"Bereavement" is a major improvement over "Malevolence": it's darker, grittier and way more compelling. The story of how the completely insane Graham Sutter (an incredible Brett Rickaby) turns the insensitive boy Martin Bristol (amazing newcomer Spencer List) into a cold-blooded killer is told in a fascinating and intriguing way, thanks to Steven Mena's striking script and tight direction.

The powerful cinematography is mesmerizing and all the creepy images of bleak landscapes and abandones buildings are unsettling an overwhelming at the same time. The cast is great, the characters are all highly believable (especially the gorgeous Alexandra Daddario), the soundtrack is astonishingly intense and often gave me goosebumps, and it's packed with extremely suspenseful moments (the girl from the diner), nail-biting scenes (Allison in the basement) and some shocking, brutal and unpredictable violence (knife through hand, girl in the oven).

A highly impressive and visually stuning little masterpiece.
I can't hardly wait for Part 3!

Wiki ~ Imdb

Awesome: HORROR MOVIE DIARY quoted in official "MEMORY LANE" TRAILER and official POSTER!!!

2012-01-30T06:51:00.000+01:00

Last year in autumn I had the exclusive chance to see and review Shawn Holmes' cool ultra-low-budget sci-fi/thriller "MEMORY LANE".

This year the movie made its first official deals: In September it will be distributed in UK & Ireland. It will be also be in Berlin in February at the BERLINALE, one of the world's largest Film Festivals.

Here's the Berlin trailer. Take a look at 0:45... OMG YES It's a quote from my "Memory Lane"-Review"!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, this is the most awesome thing in the history of the Horror Movie Diary and I'm still shocked... stunned... surprised... speechless. Wowza!

And I'm also on the Poster!!!

Project Terrible - EXORCISM: THE POSSESSION OF GAIL BOWERS

2012-01-29T19:32:00.001+01:00

Whoops, another terrible film from Michele which actually isn't that terrible. I'm deeply sorry for giving her the abysmal "Don't Go Near The Park"...

EXORCISM: THE POSSESSION OF GAIL BOWERS

German Title:
Exorcism - Die Besessenheit der Gail Bowers

USA, 2006
Director: Leigh Scott

4/10

Quite a surprise: this low-budget rip-off of "The Exorcist" and "The Exorcism Of Emily Rose" is far better than I expected. It's not a good horror movie but it sure is one of the better Asylum-flicks I've seen so far.

I enjoyed...
...that the whole movie is pretty atmospheric, especially in the first half.

...that the movie is consistently entertaining without getting boring.

...the 3-4 unexpected scares that really made me jump.

...the supercool blind sunglasses-exorcist, the neat-looking make-up effects, all the nudity and all the hilarious possessed-Gail-talks-dirty dialogue
("Come on Clark, lemme suck your cock." / "He said that you won't let him fuck in the ass... that you tried once and it hurt." / "Fuck me, Clark! Fuck my tight pussy!" / "Clark has a hard cock. Last night I could feel his hard cock on me." etc. etc.).

I disenjoyed...

...the acting which ranges from mediocre to horrendously bad.

...all the scenes where they shamelessly ripped off "Poltergeist" (face peeling, girl watches static on TV), "Stigmata" (girl has stigmata) and of course "The Exorcist" (girl levitates to the ceiling, spider walk).

...how incredibly cheap the whole movie looks and sounds (poor photography, poor sound quality, unimaginative camera work, lame soundtrack).

...the so-so direction and the incredibly predictable script.

Overall, a fairly ok exorcism movie. I've seen worse.

Wiki ~ Imdb

A LONELY PLACE TO DIE

2012-01-29T18:26:00.000+01:00

A LONELY PLACE TO DIE

German Title:
A Lonely Place To Die - Todesfalle Highlands

UK, 2011
Director: Julian Gilbey

5/10

Another Scottish horror-related film, another letdown. "A Lonely Place To Die" is as disappointing as "Outcast" or "Kill List", movies that start out brilliant but end up dissatisfying.

The first 40 minutes are excellent: a stunning "High Lane"-like opening scene, lots of fantastic suspense, many "Deliverance"-like scenes, a tremendous amount of gorgeous and very well filmed mountains and landscapes, a powerful score, good acting performances and a few surprising shocks.

Then a major plot twist kicks in and turns the movie from tense survival-horror to mediocre kidnap-action-thriller that looks like a bland version of "Shoot To Kill". Ok, we get introduced to 2 impressively cold-blooded villains, and we get to see a few fabulously filmed kills - but the damage was already done and I just couldn't get into the film anymore. Especially the last 20-25 minutes and the pointless ending completely sucked.

When it's done right, I have no problem with a movie that mixes various genres together - but when it's done wrong... oh boy, that can really piss me off

Hell, I wanted a kick-ass survival-horror, just like the trailer suggested - but all I got was a beautiful, but completely unconvincing and forgettable b-thriller. *sigh* Next!

Wiki ~ Imdb

Project Terrible: THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY

2012-01-27T18:22:00.001+01:00

Yay! PROJECT TERRIBLE is back, bitches!!

Thanx to Mondo for giving me another obscure and hyperboring yawnfest. As a punishment, I already bored him to death with "Ring Around The Rosie" :-)

THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY

Original Title:
La momia azteca contra el robot humano

Alternate Titles:
Aztec Mummy vs. The Human Robot / Robot vs. Aztec Mummy

Mexico, 1958
Director: Rafael Portillo

2/10

Gosh, what a title, what film! "The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy" is the third entry in a weird Mexican exploitation-franchise about an Aztec Mummy (sic!), though it's not really a sequel, it's rather a Best... err, Worst Of because for the greater part it consists of flashback scenes from its predecessors "The Aztec Mummy" and "The Curse Of The Aztec Mummy".

Most of the time, this lamefest it boooooring as hell: shitloads of tedious and tiresome dialogue scenes, horrendous pacing, absolutely no tension, no suspense, no atmosphere at all.

The few times when it's not boring, it's just plain laughable: one of the most ridiculous robots I've seen since "Robot Monster", the Azetc Mummy that looks like a bum and constantly howls like a wounded dog, cheap-looking settings, terrible overacting, silly dialogue, a silly plot and one of the silliest end fights I've ever seen.

1 point for a few cheesy moments that made me chuckle.

1 point for the fact that it's only 65 minutes long.

Wiki ~ Imdb

Press Release - "ACID HEAD: THE BUZZARD NUTS COUNTY SLAUGHTER"

2012-01-27T16:44:00.001+01:00

The latest movie from Tony 'Tex' Watt "ACID HEAD: THE BUZZARD NUTS COUNTY SLAUGHTER" is finding it's way to availability in the very near future. Watt's recent work as a director includes "Vixen Highway 2006" and "Frankenpimp". The movie features the director Tony 'Tex' Watt himself, and his preferred heroin and frequent workpartner Vivita playing the lead as Pheromone Labonza and Acid Head. Others starring are Lewis Mercer, Lana Tailor, Elvin Domenic, Paul Nicholls, Adam Schickedanz and many others, and in a cunning cameo as the sneaky reporter Biff Bangs, the only European actor in the film; Kim Sønderholm.

On using the latter, director Tony 'Tex' Watt said:

"When our movie about a killer goth-girl needed a main greek chorus-type performer [the character who tells the viewer what is going on], to embody the form of news anchor: Biff Bangs... I, as the Writer/Director needed an internationally appealing actor who was both authoritative and able to carry some of the comedic hyperbole, with dry humor [As Sean Connery did in the early 007 movies]. Versatile actor/filmmaker Kim Sønderholm came to mind as the first choice, as I admired his acting prowess in such films as "Craig", "Tour de Force", "Bleed with Me"; as well as his comedic turn in the 2011 TV series "Goodbye Light". Sønderholm embodied to myself, a brilliant character actor, who was very hard working and tenacious. Working with him, showed me that this charismatic and popular performer was exactly what I perceived, as well as being very humorous and humble."

Idea for the film originally came in 2009, when Award winning Canadian horror author and TV host (Flatline, Post-Mortem, Nightmare in Canada: Canadian Horror on Film) Edo van Belkom's son Luke started filming "Acid Head: The High School Horror" based on a loose script plot the young van Belkom co-wrote with actor/filmmaker Tony 'Tex' Watt. The script's projected budget was originally too high; so Watt decided to shoot an improvised sequel, first, based on situations deriving from his previous script.

The film will be available as VOD and DVD release in spring 2012 on Amazon, Indieflix, MoviesInsanity.com & TonyWatt.com

ACID HEAD: THE BUZZARD NUTS COUNTY SLAUGHTER on IMDB

THE TASK

2012-01-26T21:16:00.000+01:00

THE TASK

USA, 2011
Director: Alex Orwell

6,5/10

"The Task" is a cool and entertaining little low-budget horror flick, best described as a mix of "April Fool's Day", "Saw", "Witchtrap" and the legendary MTV reality-show "Fear". Despite lots of negative reviews and my low expectations, I ended up surprisingly satisfied.

Ok, the script is quite a mess, the pacing is weak, there's hardly any gore and the main villain looks far too tame and unscary - but aside from that, I really, really enjoyed it.

It's witty and diverting, but also incredibly atmospheric, thrilling and scary. The scenes in the chapel and in the gas chamber creeped the shit out of me! Camera work and editing are terrific, we get to see a few well made split screen sequences and some black-and-white footage, many of the settings look quite haunting and the eerie soundtrack is highly effective.

Highlights - an excellent and completely unpredictable twist ending, many really likable characters (especially Texas Battle as Dixon and Marc Pickering as Randall) and a bunch of hilarious one-liners.

"My favorite book is OK Magazine." / "I have the IQ of Einstein and Stephen Hawking. Put together. / "You know, people used to say I look like Will Smith. Now they say Barack Obama... okay!"

Call me nuts, but I really like this movie. It's not perfect but it passes the time pleasantly!

Wiki ~ Imdb

THE PERFECT HOUSE

2012-01-26T19:32:00.000+01:00

THE PERFECT HOUSE

USA, 2010/2011
Directors: Kris Hulbert & Randy Kent

4/10

"The Perfect House", the world's first indie feature film exclusively released on Facebook, is a strange and weak little low-budget anthology movie about a house with a horrific past, and consists of 3 stories, a frame story and some kinda epilogue.

The first story (2 kids hacking up their parents) is quite ok due to some nice visuals, creepy atmosphere, a fitting soundtrack and some cool gore.

The second story (some guy rapes, tortures and kills various people in his cellar) is stupid, boring and incredibly gross, incl. terribly bad acting, awful dialogue and some cheap-looking CGI effects.
The third story (guy gruesomely tortures his neighbours) is also pretty stupid, yet it has at least a few memorable death scenes (kid stabs his brother to death, killed by weed whacker).
The frame story is ok; the epilogue is stupid.

Extreme gore-hounds and torture-porn fans will probably love it. Everyone else: stay away!

Thanx to Andrea Vahl for sending me a copy of the Limited 2DVD Edition because I helped them on an issue with the Perfect House Facebook Page.

Imdb

"TERROR IN THE JUNGLE" (Pure Terror 50 Movies Pack, #37)

2012-01-24T19:30:00.002+01:00

TERROR IN THE JUNGLE

German Titles:
Verdammt in grüner Hölle / Flug 413 nach Rio meldet sich nicht

USA, 1968
Directors: Tom DeSimone (Plane sequence),
Andy Janzack (Jungle sequence) & Alex Graton (Temple sequence)

1/10

Omfg, what was that? Seriously, this is the stupidest and silliest movie I've seen since "Troll 2", I shit you not!
The movie was never released on VHS and is widely unknown, but according to the Imdb user reviews, the few that have seen it, had the same fun as I had.

The movie (which btw is an adventure movie and has nothing to do with horror) is unbelievably cheap-looking and so full of unintenionally hilarious scenes, I just couldn't stop laughing.

There's this plane full of nutty characters like the members of the 'rock' band who all look like drunken road sweepers wearing wigs and spontaneously start singing songs about 'Soft Lips', and there's also 3 old nuns, one of them dead in a coffin, one who falls out of the plane and one who screams her lungs out.

The plane (a crappy-looking model aeroplane) crashes down and kills off half of the passengers. The other half flees out of the plane into a river where they all get eaten by crocodiles - so after half an hour, the entire cast is dead, except for a blonde little boy and his stuffed animal who float down the river in the dead nun's coffin - a scene which has to be seen to be believed.

The rest of the films consists of huge amounts of stock footage (monkeys, snakes, iguanas, crocs etc.) and annoying natives who think the boy (who constantly cries for his Daddy) is the son of their god INTI (because his hair shine like the sun - another scene thas to be seen to be believed).

In the end (one more scene that has to be seen to be believed) the stuffed animal suddenly becomes alive (for whatever reason), the natives kill each other and the boy falls into some kinda quicksand. Did i mention the horrible El-Condor-Pasa-like soundtrack and the half-assed editing? Oh, and don't believe the poster - suspense and terror my ass!

Final words: this movie is amazing and deserves to be rediscovered for bad-movie-nights. Best watched in a triple feature together with "Troll 2" and "Don't Go Near The Park" :-D

Imdb

THE CODE

2012-01-23T20:31:00.000+01:00

THE CODE
(6minute short)

USA, 2011
Director: Mark Blitch

8/10

"The Code" is a pretty hilarious and highly entertaining little horror-comedy short that I really, really enjoyed. Imagine a movie about a first date on a cemetery and some issues with the Google Calendar, throw in a couple of zombies, a masked serial killer, a vampire, a bigfoot/gorilla-monster and vampire huntress 'Vanna Helsing', and you get the idea :-)

There's lots of fantastic-looking make-up and cool gore, many uber-funny dialogue lines and a bunch of really nice actors (most notably Taylor James Brandt as internet-savvy zombie Shaun). The pacing is right, the soundtrack is cool, and camera work / lighting / editing are neat.
Highly recommended!

Imdb

Watch it here!
The Code on Facebook

The WRONG TURN Quadrilogy

2012-01-22T19:39:00.002+01:00

WRONG TURN

USA, 2003
Director: Rob Schmidt

6/10

Haven't seen "Wrong Turn" in years, mainly because I didn't like it that much back then. Yet, Michele's undying love for this movie convinced me to give it another try - unfortunately, it still doesn't really work for me. "Wrong Turn" is an ok little backwoods slasher in the vein of stuff like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Hills Have Eyes". No more, no less.

The acting is pretty good (Jeremy Sisto, Eliza Dushku) and the characters are all believable. The camera work is brilliant and the rousing score kicks ass. There's some really nice gory violence (arrow through eye, head chopped in half), a few highly suspenseful scenes (the opening and the watch tower-scene) and our 3 villains (Saw-Tooth, Three Finger & One-Eye) are just plain cool.

However, there are also many boring and tedious scenes (especially in the first and in the last third), parts of the dialogue are quite annoying, the romantic sub-plot is rather pointless and the unspectacular and predictable ending is just disappointing.

Overall, a nice horror flick, but no must-see and nothing special.

Wiki ~ Imdb

WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END

USA, 2007
Director: Joe Lynch

7/10

Michele probably hates me for this but I can't help it: IMO "Wrong Turn 2" is a far more entertaining movie than Part 1 and I had a really great time watching it.

From beginning to end, this movie is just kick-ass: there's lots of glorious gore and gruesome kills (girl chopped in half, axe in head, intestines ripped out, lips bitten off...), lots of fast-paced and action-packed scenes, a few amusing characters and many hilarious moments (opening scene, masturbating mutant, fucking mutant couple etc.).

The acting is neat and most of the characters are fun, especially horror regular Texas Battle, an amusing Steve Braun, the gorgeous Daniella Alonso and an absolutely awesome Henry Rollins as show-stealing ex-marine now-TV-host.

Best of all: the supercool and quite original reality-TV storyline, Lynch's fabulous direction and the fact that the characters are all surprisingly likable.

Apart from a few plot holes and some awful-looking CGI-blood, "Wrong Turn 2" is a terrific backwoods-funfest and undoutedly one of the best DTV sequels of the last 10 years.

Wiki ~ Imdb

WRONG TURN 3: LEFT FOR DEAD

USA / Germany, 2009
Director: Declan O'Brien

2/10

All the fun is gone: "Sharktopus"-director Declan O'Brien and some untalented writer completely destroyed the "Wrong Turn" franchise with this poor and imbecile crap-sequel.

The opening scene is pretty cool, the ending scene is nice and we get to see a gorgeous pair of tits. Everything else just sucks: lame actors playing clichéd characters who constantly spit out terribly written dialogue. There's nearly no tension or atmosphere, camera work and soundtrack are totally bland, the story is uninteresting, the script is horrible and it's packed with the most awful-looking, most cheap-looking CGI efects I've seen since "Dismal".

Shouldn't have been made.

Wiki ~ Imdb

WRONG TURN 4: BLOODY BEGINNINGS

USA / Germany, 2011
Director: Declan O'Brien

2/10

Declan O'Brien did it again: another completely stupid, completely unnecessary "Wrong Turn" sequel... er, prequel :-/

The opening scene is pretty cool (the patients of a sanatorium go bonkers while Johann Strauss' "The Blue Danube" is playing in the background), the ending is nice and we get to see some gorgeous tits.

Everything else sucks about as much as Part 3: lame actors playing clichéd characters who constantly spit out terribly written dialogue. There's hardly any tension or suspense, cinematography and soundtrack are totally bland, the story is dumb and uninteresting, the script is weak and predictable and it's full of the most cheap-looking CGI efects I've seen since "Dismal".

Shouldn't have been made.

Wiki ~ Imdb

TEDDY: HE'S BEARY SCARY

2012-01-22T18:49:00.000+01:00

TEDDY: HE'S BEARY SCARY
(11minute short)

Alternate Title:
Teddy: It's Gonna Be A Bear

USA, 2011
Director: Steve Goltz

7/10

"Teddy" is a wonderfully entertaining little homage to classic 80s slashers about a few teens on a camping trip and Teddy, a mentally retarded killer (equipped with a balaclava and a teddy bear) that reminded me a bit of Charlie from "The Night Brings Charlie".

The acting could have been a bit better at times and the plot is a bit too unoriginal - apart from that, I highly enjoyed it. It's tense, atmospheric and diverting from the first to the last minute. Cinematography and camera work are beautiful, the editing is excellent and the chilling score is powerful and effective. Teddy is an impressive-looking villain and his kills are all hilariously gruesome (anal tiki torch, axe in face, shovel through head).

Highlights: Director Steve Goltz as asshole Aaron, a hilarious character who constantly burps and drinks beer, and the super-funny 'Papa Bear' sex scene.

Overall, a cool and well-made debut short. I'm already excited for Steve Goltz and script writer Kevin Sommerfield's upcoming "Popularity Killer"
(check out the Press Release).

Imdb

Watch it here! / Buy it here!

THE POSSESSED (1975)

2012-01-20T18:09:00.000+01:00

THE POSSESSED

Original Title:
La Endemoniada

Alternate Title:
Demon Witch Child

German Title:
Der Exorzist und die Kindhexe

Spain, 1975
Director: Amando de Ossorio

5,5/10

"The Possessed" is definitely one of the better 70s "Exorcist"-ripoffs, compared to schlock like "Beyond The Door" and "The Eerie Midnight Horror Show".
Amando de Ossorio, the creator of "The Blind Dead" and one of the hardest-working Spanish exploitation-directors, delivers a quite decent little b-movie about a young girl who gets possessed by the evil ghost of an old hag.

For the greater part, it's a blatant and obvious imitation of William Friedkin's classic: the possessed girl levitates to the ceiling, twists her head 360°, crawls around like an insect, brings furniture to move around and swears like a sailor - not very original, but surprisingly entertaining due to Marián Salgado's amusing performance and her effective witch make-up.

The shoestring budget makes the movie look cheap and many of the special effects are pretty poor. The pacing is dull, the acting is so-so and the dialogue is mostly rubbish.

Fortunately, Ossorio is able to create a fair amount of atmosphere, the bizarre score is quite cool and there are a few highly memorable scenes (a baby stabbed to death, a castration, moving furniture, supercool climax).

No must-see but worth a look; recommended to fans of Spanish 60s/70s horror.

Imdb

David Fincher's THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

2012-01-18T19:54:00.000+01:00

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

(Re-Interpretation)

German Title:
Verblendung

USA / Sweden / UK, 2011
Director: David Fincher

6/10

I'm a huuuge fan of David Fincher. He's one of the greatest directors of the last 20 years and IMO everything he made after "Alien 3" was just amazing - unfortunately, his re-interpretation of Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" is his weakest movie since "Alien 3".
No, not because it's a remake/re-interpretation, not because of the fact that it's basically as unnecessary as "Let Me In", or the fact that it was made / came out too early - it's because of the following reasons:

~ In the original series, Lisbeth Salander is a fascinating, interesting and mesmerizing character, a strong and almost fearless misfit with a horrible backstory. In here, she's a cool, but incredibly bland and uninteresting character with no depth; a goth chick with some problems. No offense, Rooney Mara is a very good actress and delivers a great performance, but it was absolutely impossible for me to like / to relate to her version of Salander in any kind of way.

~ There are some serious pacing-problems in the middle where the movie often becomes way too tedious, and boring. Same for the overlong epilogue-ending that just drags on and on.

~ Steven Zaillian' script is plain mediocre (unappealing and/or pointless scenes, too many unimportant an completely uninteresting characters, too much Blomkvist, not enough Salander) and Fincher wasn't able to give the movie the kind of gripping flow that made his previous works so amazing.

~ The 'May I Kill him?' scene... no comment.

Now for the good:

~ The cast is impressive. I'm not a big fan of Daniel Craig, but here he's just awesome. Stellan Skarsgard is incredible, Christopher Plummer's performance is highly amusing and Steven Berkoff is just cool.

~ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' intense and atmospheric soundtrack is mindblowingly awesome and IMO even better than what they composed for "The Social Network".

~ The movie looks just beautiful, thanks to Jeff Cronenweth's ("One Hour Photo") impressive cinematography and all the wonderful Swedish settings.

~ The most amazing-looking non-3D opening credits I've seen in a very long time (Karen O/Trent Reznor cover of "Immigrant Song", weird but stunning visuals).

Overall, a good but disappointing movie that didn't fulfill my expectations.
I recommend the Swedish version. Why? Because it's simply better.

Wiki ~ Imdb

SCREAM OF THE BANSHEE

2012-01-18T19:13:00.000+01:00

SCREAM OF THE BANSHEE

USA, 2011
Director: Steven C. Miller

3/10

Not much to say about "Scream Of The Banshee", an After Dark / Syfy-produced low-budget nonsense about a resurrected Banshee that terrorizes a few anthropology students.

The direction is weak and frequent c-movie writer Anthony Ferrante's script is a muddled and extremely predictable mess. The whole movie looks and feels cheap due to many lame-looking settings and some horrid CGI effects. The cast ranges from mediocre (Lauren Holly, Lance Henriksen) to incredibly bad (Todd Haberkorn, Marcelle Baer).

The Banshee looks cool, the gore is nice and there are some quite cool practical effects, but overall it's rather uninteresting and forgettable.

Wiki ~ Imdb

Press Release - "NECRONOS: TOWER OF DOOM"

2012-01-16T23:06:00.001+01:00

After venturing a couple of European film festivals in 2011 such as Weekend of Fear and Indigo Film Fest in Germany and BUT (B-Movie Underground and Trash) Film Festival in Holland,

German filmmaker Marc Rohnstock's very raunchy "NECRONOS" finally went out on DVD although so far only in the German speaking countries via the DVD label Laser Paradise which is widely known for releasing unrated and uncensored films that no other labels in Germany dare touch.

Written and directed by Marc Rohnstock while produced by Lars Rohnstock, they surround themselves with an impressing cast presenting the top of the crop in European Independent Horror Cinema:
Manoush, Timo Fuchs, Thomas Sender, Mario Zimmerschitt, Thomas Kercmar, Tanja Karius, Timo Rose, Marcel Walz, Kim Sønderholm, Timo Fuchs, Annika Strauss, Chris Vazquez, Nadine Trautwein, Andreas Schnaas, Jochen Taubert, Martin Hentschel, Andreas Pape, Rod Usher, hardcore porn star Luna B. and many, many others.

Synopsis:
NECRONOS, one of the mightiest minions of the devil himself has come to earth to create an invincible army of the undead under leadership of barbaric demons, called Berzerkers. To achieve his goal Necronos needs numerous often very macabre and difficult to come by ingredients. So Satan sends him two assistants to achieve his goal – Goran, a Blood Demon and footman loyal to Necronos as well as The Mighty Witch to locate the chosen one – a virgin witch.

You can secure your copy of the film here:
www.amazon.de/dp/B0068DVXC2

More info on IMDb:
www.imdb.com/title/tt1605751

"NECRONOS" is currently in the midst of conquering the rest of the world and can hopefully be found available in other markets aswell.

The MILLENNIUM Trilogy

2012-01-15T19:02:00.001+01:00

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Original Title:
Män som hatar kvinnor

German Title:
Verblendung

Sweden / Denmark / Germany / Norway, 2009
Director: Niels Arden Oplev

10/10

Omfg, now THAT was stunning! I don't exaggerate when I say that "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" is one of the greatest thrillers I've ever seen (next to the works of David Fincher, Martin Scorsese or Alfred Hitchcock).

The movie is breathtakingly tense, highly compelling, thought-provoking and pretty disturbing. There are almost as many scenes that keep you on the edge of your seat, as there are scenes that are immensely shocking or disturbing (f.e. one of the most brutal rape scene I've ever seen and, of course, the fantastic 'sadistic pig'-tattoo sequence).

Oplev's direction is fantastic and the script is near perfection. The cinematography is mesmerizing, the strong and memorable score is just overwhelming and the film's absorbing atmosphere reminds me of dark thrillers like "Zodiac" and "Smilla's Sense Of Snow".

Best of all: the acting. Lots of incredible performances from Michael Nyqist, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber and of course, Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, one of the coolest and most interesting characters I've ever seen. I admit, I completely fell in love with her.

A masterpiece; next to "The Celebration (Festen)" and "Let The Right One In" the best Scandinavian movie I've ever seen.

Wiki ~ Imdb

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE

Original Title:
Flickan som lekte med elden

German Title:
Verdammnis

Sweden / Denmark / Germany, 2009

Director: Daniel Alfredson

8/10

"The Girl Who Played With Fire" is obviously not as great as Part 1, mainly because of its TV-movie-look/feel and a not-so-enthralling plot. Aside from that, I enjoyed it about as much as its predecessor.

It's also extremely thrilling and suspenseful, packed with stunningly tense scenes (the burning barn, Lisbeth's 'resurrection'), lots of action and violence, many shocking details of Lisbeth's past, loads of well-written and compelling dialogue scenes, and one tremendously hot sex scene.

Alfredson's direction is different from Oplev's - more fast-paced and action-packed, less sinister.

The acting is once again absolutely fantastic: more stunning performances from Rapace and Nyqist, cool and interesting performances from Yasmine Garbi, Georgi Staykov, Mikael Spreitz and boxer Paolo Roberto.

Very good continuation of a deep and complex story that leads perfectly to the awesome grand finale.

Wiki ~ Imdb

THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST

Original Title:
Luftslottet som sprängdes

German Title:
Vergebung

Sweden / Denmark / Germany, 2009
Director: Daniel Alfredson

9,5/10

Wow, wow, wow - awesome! "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest" is not only far better than the 2nd one, it's also almost as great as the 1st one!

Director Alfredson really improved on his directorial skills and created a magnificent movie which is about as tense, atmospheric and enthralling as "Tattoo". There's a tremendous amount of absolutely breathtaking suspense, loads of incredibly thrilling scenes and a few extremely nerve-wracking emotional moments. When the credits rolled, I was a complete wreck.

The acting is as amazing as expected (Rapace's best performance in the whole trilogy), the script is near perfection, cinematography and soundtrack are excellent, and scenes like Salander's punky appearance at court, the stunning climax or the very last Blomkvist/Salander-meeting are just unforgettable.

An absolutely excellent and fully satisfying conclusion to one of the greatest and most impressive movie-trilogies in history.

Wiki ~ Imdb

Horror Blog Of The Month: LET'S GET OUT OF HERE

2012-01-13T19:39:00.000+01:00

Yay! A new year, a new Blogger Of The Month!!!

Let's welcome our #1 Friday The 13th expert:

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE", a highly entertaining blog about Horror, Pop Culture and other nonsense, created by a very nice North Carolinian called Craig.

It's one of these blogs that never fail to entertain me. There are numerous reviews about classic exploitation, comedies and horror stuff, cool stories and anecdotes, kick-ass movie posters, amusing photos, videos, interviews, etc. etc.

Hop over to "LET'S OUT OF GET HERE" and enjoy Craig's wonderful world of movie madness. It's fun!

Maynard:

Hi Craig! Who are you and why do you blog?

Craig:

I am a long time film buff and lover of all things pop culture. I came along at the right time to remember 8 track tapes; horror movie hosts on local channels; Betamax; the time when TV channels used to sign off for the night; and when you could first rent a movie by picking it up off a shelf and taking it to the counter up front.

I started writing at a young age; started writing about movies in high school - had two reviews published in my hometown newspaper - but stopped giving them stuff when they wouldn't pay me; I did a hand typed movie review newsletter for my friends called "Mad Mike's Multitudinous Maniacal Movies" (or M5 for short) from 1990-1992; I was the film critic for Wilmington NC's entertainment guide Encore Magazine from 1992-2001; and I've written for Michael Weldon's Psychotronic Video magazine; and my writing has appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man, Fangoria, and Entertainment Weekly.

I started to discover a couple of blogs I really enjoyed in 2009 and was reading them regularly for about a year. At the same time I was toying with the idea of a movie review website or forum that put the spotlight on the most used line of dialogue in movies - "Let's get out of here!" - when I also realized how easy it had become to put a blog together. So, in the late summer of 2010, Let's Get Out of Here! the blog debuted! And in those 300+ posts I've touched on movies back to the silent days, up to movies not even released yet, with stops at TV, comics, cartoons, and every other pop culture signpost in between!

Which movie made you a horror fan (and why)?

As a youngster of 4, I was taken by my mom to see "Night of Dark Shadows" at the theater - and I still remember images of it - so I'm going to have to tie it all back to that one. Not very much later I discovered the joys of the Universal Studios Monsters movies with horror host Seymour on TV, and it's just become a giant bloody snowball running down a never ending hill since. I enjoyed the delicious fear I used to feel when I was a kid and a movie scared me - I don't find those moments as often now, but when they come I revel in them!

Who is your favorite horror director (and why)?

Wow, boiling it down to one - tough question.
I think I'm going to go with Roger Corman - because while he may not be the greatest horror film director in the history of film - his career has been the starting point for so many other filmmakers and actors whose work I enjoy - that I can't imagine a world that never had a Roger Corman in it.

I will also cheat and mention John Carpenter, Don Coscarelli, Wes Craven, and lately Adam Green - all have had ups and downs, but all of those guys - and Corman - have made horror movies that are incredibly entertaining and reside in my video vault for re-viewing at any time!

What are your Alltime Horror Favorites?

You get thirteen, because all horror lists should be 13 items:

Halloween (1978)

Phantasm

House of Frankenstein

Piranha (1978)

The Evil Dead

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The Creature from the Black Lagoon

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Suspiria

Scream (1996)
Re-Animator

What's the worst horror movie you've seen so far?

I'm going to have to cheat and double down on this one too - the twofer of Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009). I like Rob Zombie; I like Rob Zombie's music. I like "House of 1000 Corpses". I really like "The Devil's Rejects". But I HATE these two "re-imaginings" with every fiber of my being. I go on and on about it in my blog reviews, too:

Halloween:

http://craiglgooh.blogspot.com/2010/10/31-days-of-foreboding.html

Halloween II:

http://craiglgooh.blogspot.com/2011/01/conquest-of-planet-of-buddha-man.html

Most of my friends don't like horror films. How about your friends?

Thankfully, most of my friends really do - this past October I held my second Crazy Movie Weekend - an all-horror edition that started Friday night 10/28/11 and went through Sunday afternoon 10/30/11 - we watched 13 horror flicks, and had 7 of my pals dropping in to check them out with me. It was awesome!

Choose:

Freddy? Jason? Leatherface? Michael? The Tall Man? Other?

They are all horror icons - but I have to give it to Jason - he showed up more consistently than the others throughout the 80's, and he had more good flicks in his series than anyone else. This past October I produced a three part blog post series honoring ol' Hockey Mask - and it even won a blog award! And since I have no shame and will toot my own horn at a moment's notice:

http://craiglgooh.blogspot.com/2011/10/voorhees-jolly-good-fellow.html

Choose:

US horror? European horror? Asian horror? Other?

From that list up there you would probably tell me it's US horror, and that's probably right. Mainly though, that's because you could most easily get your hands on US horror growing up in the American Midwest in the 70's and 80's. Also, I knew from Fangoria and other magazines that what Euro horror did make it over here was often watered down and edited, so I skipped those editions. I'm making up for that now, renting anything European that I can get my hands on when it's letterboxed and uncut.

As for Asian horror - there are certainly some great movies from that area of the world, but the preponderance of flicks in the last few years with pale little ghouls with long black hair who pop up out of TVs and such has kind of put me off Asian horror for now.

Do you prefer watching horror at home or at the theater?

When the audience is there and with it and we're all in tune with the movie - theatrical horror is amazing. On the other hand, an audience who wants to titter through an old horror film because they are ironic and hipster makes me long to have a Blu-Ray of the movie, my super TV, and my comfortable couch. So it's both, in the end.

What music do you like?

I'm lost in the 80's, but I also have faves back to the 50's and up to the minute - but 99.99% comes from 1980-1990. I also love soundtracks, classic country, really just about anything but hiphop or rap.

What do you read?

A lot of series fiction; Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, The Destroyer, The Executioner. Some of my many favorite authors: Stephen King, Ian Fleming, Robert McCammon, Stephen J. Cannell, Lawrence Block, Richard Matheson, PJ Tracy. I've got 1000+ books stacked up to read, and recently realized that those books will probably last me through the rest of my life - so I'm getting a lot more picky about what I read due to the time investment.

Tell me the first 3 things that come to your mind when you think about Austria (not Australia):

The Living Daylights, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vienna sausages

Anything else you wanna tell us?

I appreciate good blogging - and Maynard is responsible for a lot of good blogging on the web. Support him in all he does. And I hope you'll drop by Let's Get Out of Here and check it out, and remember - following a blog doesn't necessarily mean you have to actually read it! ;-)

Thank you, Craig!

http://craiglgooh.blogspot.com/

"MONSTROID" (Pure Terror 50 Movies Pack, #36)

2012-01-13T19:28:00.006+01:00

MONSTROID

Alternate Titles:
Monstroid: It Came From The Lake / Monster / The Toxic Horror / It Came From The Lake

German Title:
Monster aus der Tiefe

USA, 1979/1980
Directors: Kenneth Hartford (as Kenneth Herts);
Herbert L. Strock (uncredited)

3/10

"Monstroid", a goofy piece of low-budget monster-schlock about a Loch-Ness-lookalike rubber-creature that 'terrorizes' a village in Colombia. The movie is bad, really bad, but is has its moments that made me enjoy it a bit.

For the greater part it's painfully boring with too many tedious and tiresome sequences that bored me to death. The characters are all one-dimensional and cliché-ridden idiots, the plot is completely uninteresting and the soundtrack is pretty dull.

At least, there are a few decent actors in here (John Carradine and James Mitchum, son of Robert Mitchum) and the monster looks so ridiculous, I laughed my ass off whenever it appeared on the screen. Incredibly tacky, incredibly cheesy, incredibly funny - highly recommended to fans of similar rubbish like "Hydra a.k.a. The Sea Serpent". I'm lookin' at you, Brian ;-)

Imdb

Live Q&A with Angelina Jolie

2012-01-12T21:15:00.005+01:00

Thanx to everyone who liked, shared and participated in the Q&A.

The winner of the poster has been notified!

On Thursday, Jan 12 at 8pm EST / 5pm PST, there will be a Live Online Q&A with ANGELINA JOLIE to discuss her writing and directorial debut "IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY".

This interactive event, sponsored by PartnersHub, gives fans the chance to ask Ms. Jolie questions about the film LIVE!

If you have any questions for Ms. Jolie, please LEAVE A COMMENT or SEND ME A MAIL!!
If you leave a comment, you will become eligible to win 1 "IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY" PROMO POSTER!!!

Don't forget to come back here on Thursday to participate! Oh, and please tell your friends to join in!

About the film:

IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY has been nominated for a Golden Globe® for Best Foreign Language Film.

Set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War that tore the Balkan region apart in the 1990s, the film tells the story of Danijel (Goran Kostić) and Ajla (pronounced Ayla) (Zana Marjanović), two Bosnians from different sides of a brutal ethnic conflict. Danijel, a Bosnian Serb police officer, and Ajla, a Bosnian Muslim artist, are together before the war, but their relationship is changed as violence engulfs the country.

Months later, Danijel is serving under his father, General Nebojsa Vukojevich (Rade Šerbedžija), as an officer in the Bosnian Serb Army. He and Ajla come face to face again when she is taken from the apartment she shares with her sister, Lejla (Vanesa Glodjo), and Lejla’s infant child by troops under Danijel’s command. As the conflict takes hold of their lives, their relationship changes, their motives and connection to one another become ambiguous and their allegiances grow uncertain.

IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY portrays the incredible emotional, moral and physical toll that the war takes on individuals as well as the consequences that stem from the lack of political will to intervene in a society stricken with conflict.

"THE EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW" (Pure Terror 50 Movies Pack, #35)

2012-01-10T19:18:00.003+01:00

THE EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW

Original Title:
L'ossessa

Alternate Titles:
The Sexorcist / Enter The Devil / The Tormented

German Titles:
L'ossessa - Das Omen des Bösen / Verteufelt / Das Omen des Bösen - Die Satansbeschwörung

Italy, 1974
Director: Mario Gariazzo

3/10

What might sound like something in the vein of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is actually a lame and forgettable Italian "The Exorcist" ripoff, far from being eerie or horrific.

Pros:
2 good scenes (a religious statue that comes to life and rapes a girl / the statue, which actually is the devil himself, brutally crucifies the woman onto a cross), 2 unintentionally hilarious scenes (possessed girl masturbates in front of her parents and tries to seduce her father / a S/M sex scene where a guy whips a woman with roses) and a disgusting vomit scene.

Cons:
The plot is dumb and the script is a lousy mess. Mario Gariazzo's direction is bland and unfocused. There's hardly any suspense, just lots of super-boring, tedious and incredibly vapid scenes and sequences. Some of the actors are downright bad, some of the actors seem like they don't exactly know what they're doin' in here. The soundtrack is mediocre, the dialogue is mostly unbearable and the ending is totally underwhelming.

Wanna torture yourself? Then watch this together with "Beyond The Door" and "Exorcist II: The Heretic" as a Triple feature :-D

Imdb

THE DARKEST HOUR

2012-01-09T23:35:00.000+01:00

THE DARKEST HOUR

German Titles:
Darkest Hour / Darkest Hour In 3D

USA / Russia, 2011/2012
Director: Chris Gorak

5/10

"The Darkest Hour" is a stupid and unintentionally hilarious alien-invasion flick, but surprisingly, it's better than I expected - and my expectations were REALLY low.

What's bad:
The plot is unoriginal, bland and extremely predictable. I'd say, it's some kinda "Skyline 2: Battle For Moscow". The acting is mostly weak (especially a super-annoying Rachael Taylor) and the characters are all completely one-dimensional dummies who constantly make completely idiotic decisions.
The script is lame, large parts of the dialogue consist of trivial lines like 'We all have to die!', 'We can make it.', 'Let's do it!', 'They have a plan.' etc. and I recognised many huuuge plot holes, many illogical plot points and many things that just made no sense.

Furthermore, the design of the aliens (when made visible) is horrid and the ending... aaarghh, no comment.

What's good:
Visually it's just stunning: the special effects / CGI effects look absolutely terrific (the fireballs, the flashes, the dissolving humans), the Moscow settings were incredibly well filmed (Red square, all the Communist Architecture, various abandoned buildings and sites) and I highly enjoyed the atmospheric 3D effects which are not as flashy as I expected.

Director Chris Gorak mananged to create at least a handful quite suspenseful scenes and Tyler Bates' electronic score sounds quite cool.
Highlights: the nutty electrician Sergei who looks like Jeff Bridges' Russian brother and a few amusing dialogue lines ("Welcome to Russia, sucker." / "Where do you come from?" - "Seattle." - "Ah, Nirvana!").

Overall , I'd say it's ok. It's obviously faaaaar from being as entertaining as "Independence Day" or "District 9", but it's also way better than "Battle L.A." or "Skyline".

Wiki ~ Imdb

"DR. JEKYLL AND THE WEREWOLF" (Pure Terror 50 Movies Pack, #34)

2012-01-09T19:15:00.001+01:00

DR. JEKYLL AND THE WEREWOLF

Original Title:
Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo

Alternate Titles:
Dr. Jekyll versus The Werewolf / Dr. Jekyll And The Wolfman

German Title:
Die Nacht der blutigen Wölfe

Spain, 1972
Director: Léon Klimovsky

6/10

"Dr. Jekyll And The Werewolf" is a goofy but highly amusing Spanish horror flick, and one of the better Klimovsky/Naschy-collaborations.

The story about Hungarian wolfman Valdemar who searches for a lycanthropy-cure and ends up in London where the grandson of Dr. Jekyll turns him into Mr. Hyde... yeah, I think you already realized how silly and far-fetched the plot is :-)

The movie itself looks pretty cheap and tacky, the acting is mostly quite mediocre (especially Shirley Corrigan's annoying performance) and the dialogue sucks most of the time.

Apart from that, I enjoyed it quite a lot. It's fast-paced and entertaining, including loads of chilling atmosphere and many thrilling scenes. The weirdly orchestrated score is pretty effective, the foggy London-settings look marvellous, there's some really nice gore and Paul Naschy's 3 performances as Valdemar, Werewolf and Mr. Hyde, are just brilliant.

Decent 70s exploitation, highly recommended to fans of oldschool Euro-trash.

Wiki ~ Imdb

R.I.P. Nicole Bogner

2012-01-07T21:32:00.000+01:00

Nicole Bogner, ex-singer of the Austrian symphonic metal band "Visions Of Atlantis" (between 2000 & 2005), has died at the age of 27 after fighting a severe disease over a long period of time.

I haven't seen her in a long time but back in the band-days, I often met her in local pubs where I had a few drinks with her and her friends. She was a cool and funny person with a gorgeous face and a wonderful voice.

Rest in Peace, Nici

In Memoriam Nicole Bogner

STAY ALIVE (2006)

2012-01-07T21:27:00.000+01:00

STAY ALIVE

USA, 2006
Director: William Brent Bell

4/10

Oh, you lucky Americans... this weekend you all have the chance to watch that new exorcism/found-footage flick "The Devil Inside", while I have to wait until March when it will finally come to Europe :-/
Well, in the meantime I decided to check out director William Brent Bell's previous film "Stay Alive", a weak little video-game survival-slasher.

The basic premise is quite interesting: it's about a creepy videogame called "Stay Alive" where you have to defeat 'Blood Countess' Báthory and her evil zombie kids. When your game-character dies in the game, you die in reality.

Unfortunately, Bell and script writer Matthew Peterman couldn't handle this promising premise and turned it into a lame substandard teen horror.

The first half hour is great. We get to see a fabulously impressive opening scene, one splendidly suspenseful kill scene and a few cool video game sequences. Yet, after that, the 'perceptive reality' stuff kicks in and shit gets really silly and unbelievable, plus: no more suspense, tension or any scary stuff.

The soundtrack is dull, the pacing is bad, the character development is terrible, the cast is lame and nearly all of the actors deliver very poor performances - yes, even Frankie "Malcolm" Muniz. The only character who mas mildly entertaining (Jimmi Simpson as annoying idiot-gamer) got killed off after 40 minutes.

Final verdict: absolutely nothing special, just another forgettable teenie-flick. Hopefully, "The Devil Inside" is at least a bit better...

Wiki ~ Imdb

WORST OF 2011

2012-01-06T21:21:00.000+01:00

Aside from all the good things, 2011 was also a year full of huge disappointments and super-crappy stuff that really, really pissed me off.

MAYNARD'S TOP 10 WORST

HORROR / HORROR-RELATED MOVIES 2011

#10
Markus Welter's
ONE WAY TRIP 3D
Switzerland / Austria, 2011

Imagine "Shrooms" in 3D, in Switzerland

and full of the most idiotic characters you can imagine

and you get the idea.

#9
Antti Jokinen's
THE RESIDENT
UK / USA, 2011

Finally, a cure for insomnia:

"The Resident", one of the most boring and

most uninteresting movies I've seen in a very.long time.

#8
Lucky McKee's
THE WOMAN
USA, 2011

Hi, I'm Lucky McKee and I made

some ugly and uber-violent jerk-off material

for sadists because I'm so cool.

#7
Craig Gillespie's
FRIGHT NIGHT (Reboot)
USA, 2011

Just another completely unnecessary

and horribly dumb remake

that disrespects and shits on the original.

#6
Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s
THE THING (Prequel/Reboot/Whatever)
USA / Canada, 2011

A pretty annoying and unoriginal CGI-fest

an insult to John Carpenter, an insult to horror-fans

and an insult to fans of the original.

#5
Jed Weintrob's
SCAR
USA, 2007/2010

A stupid movie for stupid people

who adore Eli Roth and think that "Saw"

is the best horror franchise evah.

#4
Jonathan Liebesman's
BATTLE LOS ANGELES
USA, 2011

One of the best movie trailers of the year

turned out to be one the shittiest alien-invasion movies

of all time. Thank you Mr. Liebesman for giving me

one of the worst in-theater-experiences of my life.

#3
Jacques-Olivier Molon & Pierre-Olivier Thevenin
HUMANS
(Humains)
France / Switzerland, 2009

An inhumanly terrible movie about neanderthals,

made by Neanderthals, made for neanderthals.

Worst French horror flick I've seen so far.

#2
Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado's
RABIES
(Kalevet)
Israel, 2010

The very first slasher flick made in Israel

and hopefully the last. How stupid, unfunny

and ugly-looking can a movie actually be?

#1
Tim Sullivan's
2001 MANIACS: FIELD OF SCREAMS
USA, 2010

Part 1 was already pretty bad, but the sequel...

my goodness, what a stinking piece of crap!

This movie is so terrible, so embarrassing,

so fucking imbecile, it makes me vomit.

This movie is a weapon of mass destruction

and director Sullivan should not be allowed to

ever, EVER direct another movie. Period.

Honorable Mentions: LAKE PLACID 3 / PROWL / SHARK NIGHT 3D

TOP 5 BIGGEST HORROR DISAPPOINTMENTS 2011

#5
Matt Reeves'
LET ME IN ("Let The Right One In" Remake)
USA / UK, 2010

A well-made and good-looking but completely pointless

remake and incredibly overrated reboot. What's with all the

praise? Stephen King called it 'the best US horror film in the

last 20 years' - seriously, WTF???

#4
Wes Craven's
SCREAM 4 - USA 2011
/ MY SOUL TO TAKE - USA 2010

What a comeback - 2 new Craven flicks

and both are utterly disappointing.

"Scream 4" is a huuuge letdown and

"My Soul To Take" is probably his weakest movie to date.

#3
John Carpenter's
THE WARD
USA, 2010

Again, what a comeback...

9 years after the horrid "Ghosts Of Mars",

Carpenter strikes again with another

really, really underwhelming horror movie.

#2
J.J. Abrams'
SUPER 8
USA, 2011

I'm ok with ripping off Spielberg

as long as it's done right - and SUPER 8 is not done right.

#1
Quentin Dupieux'
RUBBER
France 2010

'Rubber' Teaser Trailer - Extremely amazing.

'Rubber' Trailer - Amazing.

'Rubber' Film - Not amazing at all.

A dumb and tiresome artsy-fartsy rubbish,

about as flat as Quentin Dupieux' a.k.a. Mr. Oizo's 'Flat Beat'.

WORST ALBUMS 2011

1. Lou Reed & Metallica - "LULU"
2. Dredg - "CHUCKLES & MR: SQZEAZY"
3. Coldplay - MYLO XYLOTO

WORST SONGS 2011

1. Rebecca Black - "FRIDAY"
2. Lady Gaga - "BORN THIS WAY"
3. Kreayshawn - "GUCCI GUCCI"

Oh btw, I wanted to make a Worst Non-horror list but surprisingly I didn't watch any bad non-horror-flicks. The only one that really disappointed me was "Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game Of Shadows" which is faaaaaaar from being as terrific as the original. Part 1 - 9/10. Part 2 - 5/10.

BEST OF 2011

2012-01-05T20:59:00.001+01:00

IMO 2011 was a pretty good movie year. I've rented a shitload of great movies from my local rental store, I've seen a shitload of great movies at the theater and I've seen a shitload of great movies at the /SLASH Filmfestival, the first filmfestival I ever visited.

Here are a few of these great movies (oh, and some other stuff):

MAYNARD'S TOP 20

BEST HORROR / HORROR-RELATED MOVIES 2011

#20
Edgar Pêra's
THE BARON
(O Barão)
Portugal, 2011

Powerful and haunting

black-and-white experiment;

incredibly weird, incredibly beautiful.

#19
Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman's
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3
USA, 2011

Absolutely brilliant, inventive and very

well made sequel which is about as

great as its predecesors.

#18
Andrew Traucki's
THE REEF
Australia, 2010

A surprisingly excellent and

highly effective shark-horror-flick

in the vein of "Jaws" and "Open Water".

#17
Stacie Ponder's
LUDLOW
USA, 2010

Fanatstic full length indie-debut

from "Final Girl" Stacie Ponder,

intriguing, intense and depressing.

#16
Steven Quale's
FINAL DESTINATION 5
USA, 2011

Impressive and highly entertaining

3D sequel, about as awesome

as the first part.

#15
James Wan's
INSIDIOUS
USA / Canada, 2010

Stunningly scary chiller

in the vein of oldschool 70s / 80s

haunted house horror.

#14
Sion Sono's
COLD FISH
(Tsumetai nettaigyo)
Japan 2010

Superfreaky, highly insane

and uber-epic inferno of sick violence

and extremely absurd fun.

#13
Joe Cornish's
ATTACK THE BLOCK
UK / France, 2011

Undoubtedly this year's funniest,

best-looking and most entertaining

alien-invasion movie.

#12
Darren Aronofsky's
BLACK SWAN
USA, 2010

Absolutely amazing arthouse-horror,

wonderfully directed, written and filmed,

starring a magnificent Natalie Portman.

#11
Rupert Wyatt's
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
USA, 2011

Surprisingly awesome Apes-reboot,

full of great actors, stunning effects

and remarkably intense scenes.

#10
Adam Wingard's
A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE
USA, 2010

Mindblowing indie-horror with

fabulously grim atmosphere,

great actors and a brilliant plot.

#9
Jim Mickle's
STAKE LAND
USA, 2010

Super-thrilling and highly emotional

post-apocalyptic vampire horror with a

great cast and fantastic-looking settings.

#8
Carlo Ledesma's
THE TUNNEL
Australia, 2011

One of the best and scariest found-footage

movies ever made. Extremely suspenseful,

extremely creepy. A low-budget masterpiece.

#7
Gareth Edwards'
MONSTERS
UK, 2010

Fantastic and incredibly well made

sci-fi/survival-drama with strong acting,

effective suspense and cool CGI effects.

#6
Simon Rumley's
RED WHITE & BLUE
USA, 2010

3rd best revenge flick of 2011:

unsettling, emotional and merciless horror-drama

with amazing actors and wonderful cinematography.

#5
Pedro Almódovar's
THE SKIN I LIVE IN
(La piel que habito)
Spain, 2011

Breathtaking and highly intelligent horror-thriller,

perfectly written and directed,

starring an outstanding Antonio Banderas.

#4
Sean Byrne's
THE LOVED ONES
Australia, 2009

2nd best revenge flick of 2011:

sick and demented, but also wonderfully entertaining

torture-rollercoaster, packed with brutal violence

and insane characters.

#3
Steven R. Monroe's
I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (Remake)
USA, 2010

Best revenge-flick of 2011 and definitely one of

the best remakes I've seen in a very long time.

Gruesome and violent, disturbing and unsettling,

suspenseful and intense - I love it!

#2
Miguel Ángel Vivas'
KIDNAPPED
(Secuestrados)
Spain / France, 2010

Hands down, one of the greatest home-invasion

movies of all time. Stunningly tense and supenseful,

full of harsh and uncompromising violence, plus:
a super-shocking opening and a nihilistic ending that leaves you speechless.

#1
Gareth Evans'
THE RAID
(Serbuan maut)
Indonesia / USA, 2011

The movie that came out of nowhere and blew us all away.

Incredibly suspenseful, incredibly action-packed,

incredibly intense and filled to the brim with the most

brutal kills and the most fantastic martial arts sequences I've EVER seen.

Trust me: you ain't seen nothing if you ain't seen THE RAID!

Honorable mentions:

BURKE & HARE / DEADHEADS / MEMORY LANE / MOTHER'S DAY / PRIEST

MAYNARD'S BEST NON-HORROR MOVIES 2011

#10
Greg Mottola's
PAUL
USA / UK, 2010

Another brilliantly amusing

comedy with my 2 favorite Brits

Nick Frost & Simon Pegg.

#9
Lars von Trier's
MELANCHOLIA
Denmark, 2011

Dark, depressing and strangely beautiful

sci-fi-drama, wonderfully filmed and directed,

and with a stunning cast.

#8
Leon Ford's
GRIFF THE INVISIBLE
Australia, 2010

Funny and amusing, but also pretty

touching and highly emotional

superhero movie with a twist.

#7
Joe Wright's
HANNA
USA / UK / Germany, 2011

Stunning little action-thriller

full of beautiful set pieces and great actors,

most notably the uber-gorgeous Saoirse Ronan.

#6
David Cronenberg's
A DANGEROUS METHOD
Canada / UK / Germany, 2011

Impressive dialogue-laden bio-drama,

excellently written, excellently directed

and packed with excellent actors.

#5
David Michôd's
ANIMAL KINGDOM
Australia, 2010

Shocking and powerful thriller-drama,

compelling, breathtaking and

thought-provoking from beginning to end.

#4
Jaume Collet-Sera's
UNKNOWN
Germany / USA / UK, 2011

A tremendous Liam Neeson

and a whole load of other awesome actors

in a fast-paced kick-ass mystery-thriller.

#3
James Gunn's
SUPER
USA, 2010

Insane, hilarious, a bit emotional and super-brutal

- one of the greatest and most interesting superhero movies

I've ever seen. Shut up, crime! :-)

#2
Tom Hooper's
THE KING'S SPEECH
UK, 2010

Heartwarming, tearjerking and absolutely

wonderful masterpiece that definitely

deserves every single award it has gotten.

#1
Todd Rohal's
THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM
USA, 2011

Without a doubt the funniest and weirdest comedy

I've ever seen. An absolutely unbelievable and unforgettable

laugh riot; I've never seen something quite like this.

"He'll fuck you up... yes, God will fuck you up!" :D

Honorable Mentions:
BAD TEACHER / THE THREE MUSKETEERS 3D / TRON: LEGACY

Best Albums 2011:

1. Mogwai - "HARDCORE WILL NEVER DIE, BUT YOU WILL"
2. Amplifier - "THE OCTOPUS"
3. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - "NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS"
4. White Lies - "RITUAL"
5. Daft Punk - "TRON: LEGACY - Soundtrack"

Best Songs 2011:

1. Lana Del Rey - "VIDEO GAMES"
2. Mogwai - "WHITE NOISE"
3. White Lies - "BIGGER THAN US"
4. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - "AKA... WHAT A LIFE!"
5. Tiesto - "MAXIMAL CRAZY"

Best Books I read in 2011:

1. Michel Houellebecq - "PLATFORM"
2. Irvine Welsh - "FILTH"
3. Irvin D. Yalom - "LYING ON THE COUCH"
4. Melissa Bradley - "MAXIE BRISCOE: WEREWOLF"
5. Michel Houellebecq - "THE ELEMENTARY PARTCLES"

Learning German, Lesson One

2012-01-05T19:31:00.000+01:00

A nice little new feature here on the Diary:
I finally figured out how to add translation pop-ups for the German titles. Just hover over the title and a little pop-up will tell you under which title/s the particular movie was released in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Note: so far, you can find the pop-ups only on the posts of the last 5 months. The rest follows over the next weeks.

VANISHING ON 7TH STREET

2012-01-04T21:26:00.001+01:00

VANISHING ON 7TH STREET

German Title:
Die Herrschaft der Schatten

USA, 2010
Director: Brad Anderson

4/10

I'm quite a fan of Brad Anderson: "The Machinist" is one of my favorite movies of all time, "Session 9" and "Transssiberian" are both highly enjoyable, and even his works for TV series like "Masters Of Horror" or "Fear Itself" are very well done. Unfortunately, his latest flick "Vanishing on 7th Street" is a huge disappointment.

It's a terribly unoriginal and extremely boring movie, thanks to a weak and muddled script, and the surprisingly poor direction from Anderson. Take the shoddy remake of "Pulse", combine it with "The Mist" and throw a bunch of mysterious shadow-ghosts in, and you get the idea.

There are a few quite creepy scenes (opening scene, the tunnel, the church), the acting is good and the settings look gorgeous (especially the bar), but that's not enough to save this lackluster mystery-horror, especially not concerning the predictable plot, the mediocre CGI effects and the horrendously poor ending.

Overall, flawed and forgettable. Try better next time, Mr. Anderson!

Wiki ~ Imdb

Pingu Thingu

2012-01-04T17:35:00.000+01:00

OMFG this is A M A Z I N G ! ! !
Thanx to Russ from filmsRruss who sent me this hilarious link for the ingenious Pingu-adaptation of John Carpenter's "The Thing". You need to see this, it's a laugh riot!

THE THING (Original / Remake / Prequel)

2012-01-03T21:41:00.002+01:00

THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD

German Title:
Das Ding aus einer anderen Welt

USA, 1951
Directors: Christian Nyby; Howard Hawks (uncredited)

7/10

1 or 2 days after I suffered through the awful "The Thing" quasi-prequel (see below), I finally managed to watch the very first adaptation of John W. Campbell Jr.'s sci-fi novella "Who Goes There?" - yes, you read right, I've never seen this b/w classic before, though I've seen a few scenes from it countless times, because... well the avid "Halloween (1978)"-fan should know :-)

Guess what? Right, I really enjoyed it. Of course, it can't hold a candle to Carpenter's fabulous version from 1982, but it certainly is far better than the shoddy 2011 prequel.

It might not be perfect. There are a few tedious scenes, the ending is a bit underwhelming and I would have enjoyed if they would have shown a few more close-ups of 'The Thing'

- but besides that, it's a damn well movie featuring a charming cast and many extremely likable characters. We get to see a couple of surprisingly intense and highly suspenseful scenes (the thawing, the fire scene, the climax), many atmospheric settings and some neat effects.

What I enjoyed the most were the dialogue, not because they're often pretty witty, but because they are very well written, very intelligent, interesting, powerful and fast-paced.

Overall, a cool and entertaining oldschool Science Fiction movie, maybe a bit dated but still gripping and thrilling.

Wiki ~ Imdb

THE THING
(Remake / Re-adaptation)

German Title:
Das Ding aus einer anderen Welt

USA, 1982
Director: John Carpenter

10/10

One of the first horror movies I was ever allowed to watch (I was 8 or 9) and next to "Halloween" and "Poltergeist", the one movie that made me the horror fan that I am today.

"The Thing" is undoubtedly one of the greatest and most perfect horror movies of all time and it'll forver be in my Alltime Horror Top 3.

The reasons for this are simple:

~ Every single character is interesting and fascinating, the cast is just amazing, incl. top notch performances from Kurt Russell, Keith David, David Clennon, Donald Moffat and Wilford Brimley.
~ Every single special effect looks absolutely awesome. I'd say that the effects here are the best-looking practical effects of all time, especially the spider-head and the sled dog's transformation.

~ Maestro Ennio Morricone's score is eerie and haunting - gives me the creeps just thinking about it.
~ It's incredibly tense, gripping and suspenseful, thanx to a flawless script and an unbelievably intelligent plot.
~ The bloodtest-scene is the most suspenseful scene ever, EVER filmed.
~ The cinematography is stunning (just watch the opening), the lighting is brilliant and the settings all look great.
~ Oh, and hands down to one of the best and most intriguing film endings in history.

Sorry, I can only speak in superlatives about it.
"The Thing" is a timeless masterpiece.
(Review from 06/2009)

Wiki ~ Imdb

THE THING
(Prequel)

USA / Canada, 2011
Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

2/10

Guess what? Yep, I hated, hated, hated this movie. It's a stupid and pointless movie that disrespects the intelligence, originality and awesomeness of the original, and insults John Carpenter, fans of John Carpenter and fans of the original equally.

Is there anything good about it?

Yes. Not much but some. The first 20-30 minutes are quite ok, due to a few mildly chilling tracking shots, a touch of atmosphere and 2-3 jump scares (I like jump scares). Oh, and I enjoyed the folk songs that the Norwegians sing.

What about the rest?

Well, the rest is terrible... abso-fucking-lutely terrible. It's obvious that director van Heiningen and writer Eric Heisserer (the guy who already raped "Elm Street") didn't get the original and have no idea of what makes a horror movie good, interesting and thrilling. Everything after the first 20-30 minutes is boring, unsuspenseful, extremely predictable and about as meh as "Whiteout".

The characters are all uninteresting cardboard cut-outs without any charisma and the cast is largely mediocre and dull, especially the incredibly vapid performance of Mary Elizabeth Winstead who constantly looks as if she's about to fall asleep.

The CGI is so god-awful, it's hard to believe. The ice landscsapes look like they were made for a SyFy-movie and most of the creature effects could have been straight from an Asylum flick. What's with the promised practical effects, you lying pricks?

Apropos creature - are they fucking kidding us? They turned the intelligent 'Thing' into an idiotic monster that chases people through corridors and kills them, just like in some 90s crap like "Syngenor" or "Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor" - something that Carpenter's 'Thing' would have NEVER done.

Worst of all: The tie-ins. Oh fucking christ, the tie-ins are horrendously bad. The laughable face-melt (I iz a alien and I loves facerubbing), the axe (no, leave it there! they need to find it in that other movie!) and the helicoper chase (c'mere doggie)... yuck, all these tie-ins suck so much. They all feel rushed, stupid and completely incongruous.

Final verdict: Turn back time, retitle it to "The Thing Part 2: The Beginning" or something like that, and then dump it onto the DVD market. Ugh.

Wiki ~ Imdb

HOUSE CALL (2011)

2012-01-02T21:10:00.000+01:00

HOUSE CALL
(15minute short)

USA, 2011
Director: Erik L. Wilson

8/10

Thanks, Bravo and kudos to director Erik L. Wilson who provided me with a screener for his latest short film "House Call", a very well made and thoroughly entertaining little revenge-flick.

It's thrilling and creepy from the first to the last minute, due to brilliant pacing, a great direction, loads of gripping suspense and a high amount of breathtaking atmosphere. The acting is neat (especially Aimee Bello... what a hottie!), the cinematography is visually stunning, the haunting soundtrack is extremely effective and the editing is absolutely tight.

Highlights: the tremendous opening kill, some fabulously gory violence and a few surprisingly awesome-looking CGI effects that really, really impressed me.
Hands down, "House Call" is an excellent short movie and a great way to kick off the new year!

HOUSE CALL on Imdb
HOUSE CALL on Facebook
HOUSE CALL - Trailer

Press Release: HUMAN FACTOR

2012-01-02T20:49:00.000+01:00

An early teaser trailer for the upcoming thriller "HUMAN FACTOR" is out now.

Plot:

A determined investigative Reporter and a renegade Detective plan to uncover the mysterious disappearances of the Homeless population in Metro City... without risking their own lives.

"HUMAN FACTOR" was written by Chaz Fatur, Eric Goren, Patricia Goren, and Ian M. Wagner and directed by Chaz Fatur.

The cast is pretty impressive: Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight, Chillerama), Tom Sizemore (Natural Born Killers, Saving Private Ryan), Danny Trejo (Machete, From Dusk Till Dawn), George Lazenby (old 007 "In Her Majestys Secret Service"), Charisma Carpenter (The Expendables), David Zayas (Dexter, Skyline), , Shalim Ortiz (CSI: Miami, Heroes), Keith David, Kim Sønderholm, Laci Kay, Walker Howard, Deborah Twiss, Doug Jones, Ben Cross, Gary Daniels and many others.

Check out the teaser trailer:

Human Factor Teaser
Human Factor on IMDB

BLOODY NEW YEAR

2011-12-31T13:10:00.001+01:00

BLOODY... um, HAPPY NEW YEAR TO Y'ALL!!! :-)

BLOODY NEW YEAR

Alternate Titles:
Horror Hotel / Time Warp Terror

UK, 1987

Director: Norman J. Warren

5,5/10

Yay! Norman J. Warren, England's #1 sleazemeister, did it again:
"Bloody New Year", a quite hilarious little low-budget flick that rips off countless classic 80s horror movies like "The Shining" (an abandoned hotel), "The Evil Dead" (zombie-creatures that look and sound like the Deadites), "Poltergeist" (invisible ghosts moving furniture around), "Elm Street" (hands coming out of the wall) and other stuff.

The whole movie looks extremely cheap, especially because of many laughable-looking special effects and some horrid editing. The actors are either dull or completely overact their parts; the dialogue is incredibly stupid, character development is nonexistent and it's packed with large plot holes and plot points that just make no sense.

Gladly, it's full of kinda-creepy things and amusing ideas that I really, really enjoyed:
a killer elevator, an attacking vacuum cleaner, a table-top that transforms into a swamp monster, murderous fishing nets, a killer sheik that jumps out of a black-and-white film, an indoor snowstorm and a few nice-looking zombies.
There's also some damn cool organ-music, the camera work is pretty cool and it never gets boring.

If you're into oldschool b-movie cheesefests (like me), you sure will have a bloody good time watching "Bloody New Year".

Imdb

FRIGHT NIGHT (Original / Sequel / Reboot)

2011-12-30T21:34:00.004+01:00

FRIGHT NIGHT

German Title:
Die rabenschwarze Nacht - Fright Night

USA, 1985
Director: Tom Holland

10/10

One of the greatest and most entertaining movies of the 80s AND one of the greatest vampire movies ever made. A movie so enjoyable, so amusing, but at the same time so so thrilling, so atmospheric, it's really amazing.

The acting is fantastic, terrific performances from Roddy McDowall (the great vampire killer), "Evil" Stephen Geoffreys, Chris Sarandon and William Ragsdale. The special effects all look excellent (great vampire / werewolf transformations, fabulous vampire make-up, a melting man...), the script is brilliantly written, brilliantly paced paced and full of super-funny dialogue / one-liners ("Oh, you're so COOL Brewster!" / "Back, spawn of Satan!" / "Kill me! Kill me Charley... before I turn into a vampire and... GIVE YOU A HICKEY!" etc.). and scenes like the supersexy dance in the club or the final battle in the basement are simply unforgettable.
It's also full of gorgeous settings, the 80s soundtrack is awesome and, most important, it absolutely never gets boring.

I really, really love 80s vampire flicks like "Lost Boys" or "Near Dark", but IMO nothing beats "Fright Night".

(Review from 01/2010)

Wiki ~ Imdb

FRIGHT NIGHT PART II

German Titles:
Mein Nachbar, der Vampir - Fright Night II

USA, 1988
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace

8/10

An absolutely terrific and worthy sequel, sadly pretty underrated. It's of course not as amazing as Part 1 but still surprisingly thrilling and highly entertaining.

The plot may be not that original and it's unexcusable that Stephen Geoffreys didn't reprise his role - but apart from that I totally enjoyed it! Roddy McDowall and William Ragsdale are back together and in some kinda weird way they're performances are even better than in the first part. It's full of terrific special effects, neat gore, excellent-looking vampires and other nice creatures (check out the hilarious insane insect-eating vampire!).

It's also pretty tense and atmospheric, packed with great action, hilarious humor and superb scares. The cinematography is beautiful, the soundtrack is very effective and it's full of stunning and memorable scenes (the outstanding finale, the vampire party, the very first bite scene etc.).

If only all sequels would be as great as this one...

(Review from 01/2010)

Wiki ~ Imdb

FRIGHT NIGHT
(Reboot)

Alternate Title:
Fright Night 3D

USA, 2011
Director: Craig Gillespie

2/10

One of this year's biggest disappointments. Yes, I hated it even more than other 3D garbage like "Shark Night" or "One Way Trip". I tried to enjoy it, I really did - but I couldn't.

The characters (the principal strength of the original) are absolutely horrible here: Anton Yelchin plays Brewster as a completely unlikable douchebag, Mintz-Plasse annoyingly transformed Evil Ed into another unfunny McLovin incarnation, Colin Farrell is one of the dullest vampires I've seen in a long time, and worst of all, David Tennant, who decided to turn the great vampire killer Peter Vincent into an unbearable Russell Brand imitation.

There's hardly any suspense or atmosphere, the pacing is tedious, the CGI looks terrible and the supposed-to-be-cool Indie-soundtrack totally doesn't fit. In fact, all the songs from 'hip' artists like Foster The Kids or Lupe Fiasco appear as if they were just randomly thrown in.

A pathetic, worthless and frightfully bad rip-off.

Wiki ~ Imdb

THE VIOLENT KIND

2011-12-29T20:58:00.003+01:00

THE VIOLENT KIND

German Title:
Von der bösen Art - The Violent Kind

USA, 2010
Directors: The Butcher Brothers
(Mitchell Altieri & Phil Flores)

5/10

The first Butcher Brothers film I saw was "The Hamiltons", one of the dullest and most boring horror movies I've seen in the last 10 years. "The Violent Kind" is fortunately way better, but still far from being a good movie.

Actually, the first 50 minutes are quite good. There's some mediocre acting and the pacing is often too slow, but aside from that, we get to see many highly thrilling scenes and atmospheric settings, some gorgeous gore and a few superhot chicks. The soundtrack consists of cool punk / rock / rockabilly tunes and the plot feels like an interesting blend of biker exploitation, exorcism horror and "The Evil Dead".

Unfortunately, the remaining 30 minutes are largely crap. The plot, that throws up more questions than answers, takes a twist that turns out to be as inept as the twists in "Kill List" or "Slaughter", we get introduced to a few characters that annoyed the shit out of me, the dialogue is incredibly inane, and the very last "Independence Day"-like scene is just ridiculous.

Nice try Butcher Brothers., but please try harder next time.

Imdb

THE SKIN I LIVE IN

2011-12-28T18:45:00.002+01:00

THE SKIN I LIVE IN

Original Title:
La piel que habito

German Title:
Die Haut in der ich wohne

Spain, 2011
Director: Pedro Almodóvar

10/10

"The Skin I Live In" is an outstanding horror-thriller-drama that feels like a blend of classic Hitchcockian suspense and Cronenbergian body-horror.

I'm not exactly sure if this is Pedro Almodóvar's best movie but it is definitely on a par with masterpieces like "Volver" or "All About My Mother".

The story about a surgeon who tries to create a new kind of skin, and his test object, a mysterious young woman who bears a dark secret, is not only highly intelligent and incredibly fascinating, but also totally breathtaking and mindblowing, due to an almost perfect script, a baffling non-linear narrative and many completely unpredictable plot twists.

Whenever I thought I figured it all out... BAM another mindfucking twist came around and swept me off my feet, especially the movie's main twist which is so shocking, so gobsmacking, so overwhelming, it's hard to believe.

Furthermore, the whole movie is incredibly intense and thrilling, full of gloomy atmopshere and absolutely never boring. We get to see some gorgeous-looking, beautifully designed settings, the cinematography is astonishing, the intriguing soundtrack is just marvellous and the acting is simply excellent:

a creepy Antonio Banderas in one of his best performances, a wonderfull Elena Anaya, a brilliantly entertaining Marisa Paredes and a super-freaky Roberto Álamo in a hilarious tiger costume.

One of the greatest and most overwhelming movies in 2011; an astonishing must-see masterpiece.

I really hope that Almodóvar will do more stuff like this in the future.

Wiki ~ Imdb

A DANGEROUS METHOD

2011-12-28T18:05:00.002+01:00

A DANGEROUS METHOD

German Title:
Eine dunkle Begierde

Canada / Germany / UK / Switzerland, 2011
Director: David Cronenberg

9/10

"A Dangerous Method" is another absolutely stunning work of art from David Cronenberg, one of the greatest directors alive. Despite my rather low expectations, this impressive dialogue-heavy movie simply blew me away.

The Story about Carl Jung's difficult friendship with Sigmund Freud and the love affair with his patient Sabrina Spielrein, is highly interesting, brilliantly written and very well told. The compelling direction and the magnificent cinematography is absorbing and fascinating; the costumes and the beautiful filming locations (Vienna, Bodensee) are a feast for the eye.

Best of all, the acting.

Michael Fassbender is amazing as ambitious and thoughtful Dr. Jung, Viggo Mortensen is superb as stubborn old Dr. Freud and Keira Knightley's expressive and emotional performance as mentally ill young woman is surprisingly mindblowing and almost oscar-worthy.

Other great performances: Vincent Cassel as anarchic psychiatrist and Sarah Gadon as passive mother.

A strong and highly satisfying psycho-drama, highly recommended to every Cronenberg-fan, especially to the ones who adore "Dead Ringers".

Wiki ~ Imdb

Christmas hangover with JACK FROST

2011-12-26T20:08:00.001+01:00

JACK FROST

German Title:
Jack Frost - Der eiskalte Killer

USA, 1997
Director: Michael Cooney

6/10

I promise: this is the last Xmas review this year. Originally, I wanted to watch something different, something more sophisticated, but after a huge Christmas hangover and a massive headache, I was only able to watch something really mindless and so I rented "Jack Frost 1 & 2" :-)

"Jack Frost" is a really silly but quite entertaining cheesefest about a serial killer who accidentally got mutated into a bloodthirsty killer-snowman. It looks a bit like a Full Moon or Troma release and gladly doesn't take itself too seriously.

What's good:

Jack Frost is a wonderfully iconic horror character. He constantly delivers brilliantly funny one-liners ("Look Ma, I'm a Picasso!" / "Is it cold in here or is it just me?" / "I'm the world's most pissed-off snow cone!"), his kills are absolutely fabulous (axe-handle into throat, baubles in mouth, icicle into forehead) and IMO he just looks gorgeous!

The acting is pretty solid (especially Christopher Allport and F. William Parker) the cinematography is nice, the soundtrack is neat, and scenes like the antifreeze-finale or the carrot-rape-scene made me LOL a lot.

What's bad:

The pacing is pretty lame, especially in the first half, there is definitely not enough tension or suspense and the direction is quite mediocre. Some of the humor falls flat and the Christmassy soundtrack is at times a bit annoying.

Overall, funny and enjoyable b-movie trash.

Wiki ~ Imdb

JACK FROST 2: REVENGE OF THE MUTANT KILLER SNOWMAN

German Title:
Jack Frost 2 - Die Rache des Killerschneemanns

USA, 2000
Director: Michael Cooney

5/10

Surprise, surprise: "Jack Frost 2" is far better than I expected. I mean... the movie is dumb, VERY dumb and due to some VERY low budget, it looks just terrible. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

What's good:

It's completely over-the-top compared to the first part. Nearly every character is totally bonkers and outrageously dorky, most notably Christopher Allport who completely loses his mind, the superfunny Colonel Hickering (Ray Cooney) and the uber-jerk Captain Fun (Sean Patrick Murphy).
Jack Frost is as hilarious as in Part 1, his murderous Gremlins-like killer-snowballs are just gorgeous and the kills are mostly pretty nice.

What's bad:
Again, there's hardly any tension or suspense. The look of the whole movie is plain awful, due to the low budget, poor production values and TV-movie-like cinematography. The CGI effects all look horrendous (especially the gore) and the plot is simply bad.

Recommended to fans of cheap z-grade cinema only!

Wiki ~ Imdb

XMAS

2011-12-24T10:50:00.000+01:00

Grrr, my Webcam sucks and my video upload skills are terrible

Nevertheless, this is for you my fellow bloggers! :-)

Oh btw, I already got my first Christmas present:

Thanx to CineMarvellous for giving me the absolutely outstanding Necronomicon Award!!!

MERRY XMAS!!!!!

SANTA'S SLAY

2011-12-22T19:58:00.003+01:00

SANTA'S SLAY

Alternate German Title:
Santa's Slay - Blutige Weihnachten

Canada / USA, 2005

Director: David Steiman

7/10

Ho Ho Hooray! It's "Santa's Slay", a silly but incredibly entertaining Xmas-horror-comedy, about as entertaining as "Silent Night "Deadly Night" or the "Black Christmas" reboot.

It has its flaws (an underwhelming ending, some awful-looking CGI), but overall it's just one helluva fun.

Wrestling star Bill Goldberg is absolutely hilarious as demonic Santa. He looks awesome, his kills are all terrific (especially the outstanding opening scene where he kills off an entire Christmas dinner in less than 2 minutes, incl. Fran Drescher who gets drowned in eggnog and James Caan who gets his hands stabbed to the table with steak knives),

and he constantly delivers super-funny one-liners (I laughed my ass of when he's in the strip club, shouting out "Ho Ho... [topless girl passes by] ...HOES!").

The other actors are also pretty cool, especially Douglas Smith and Emilie de Ravin as lovely teen couple, and Robert Culp as crazy grandfather. The script is tight, the camera work is neat and the punk-rockin' soundtrack is really cool.

Other highlights:

The fabulous stop-motion curling scene, the 'Hell Deer', the nutcracker-gun, the poor deli owner who gets killed with his own menorah and Ms. Green, the 'pleasant old lady' ("Oh, you being cute, you little shit." / "You're just as looney as your crackpot grandfather." / "Go fuck yourself. What a fucking whore.").

Overall, a highly amusing must-see Xmas flick that will entertain the shit out of you!

Wiki ~ Imdb

5 SILENT NIGHTS, 5 DEADLY NIGHTS

2011-12-21T19:48:00.001+01:00

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT

German Title:
Stille Nacht, Horror Nacht

USA, 1984
Director: Charles E. Sellier Jr.

8/10

Ho Ho Ho! Look, it's Billy and he's coming to punish you!
"Silent Night, "Deadly Night", one of the most controversial and most hated movies of the 80s (Parents can be so annoying), yet one of the most popular slasher movies of all time and also my personal favorite Xmas flick. It's hilarious and highly entertaining from start to finish, but also quite surprisingly intelligent, a bit disturbing and even thought-provoking, especially in terms of controversial themes like child abuse, religious abuse, rape and childhood traumas.

It's packed with quirky and incredibly amusing characters, such as toy store owner Ira ("7 o'clock... it's over! Time to get shit-faced!"), the insane Grandpa ("You see Santa Claus tonight, you better run boy... you better run for your life!!"), Billy's mother ("Calm down. Grandpa's nothing but a crazy old fool."), 8 year old Billy ("Mommy, you shouldn't have said that. It's naughty to say bad things about old people. Santa Claus will punish you!"), the insensitive Mother Superior ("Punishment is absolute. Punishment is good."), the weaponed Santa ("31 bucks... merry fucking Christmas.") and of course 18 year old Billy as Santa on a killing spree ("NAUGHTY!!" / "PUNISH!!").

There's also lots of pretty gory kills (slit throats, hammer smashed faces and Linnea Quigley impaled on the antlers of an antelope head), lots of gorgeous nudity and a few pretty thrilling sequences - plus: the outstanding scene where Billy gives the little girl a Stanley knife as a present.
The script is neat, the pacing is really good, it's well-directed, well-shot and the intense soundtrack is extremely effective.

An absolutely fabulous Xmas bloodbath. Forget about "Home Alone" or "It's A Wonderful Life" - this is the one movie you need to watch every yuletide season ;-)

Wiki ~ Imdb

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2

German Title:
Stille Nacht, Horror Nacht Teil 2

USA, 1987
Director: Lee Harry

5/10

Hahaha, it's the infamous Part 2: on the one hand one of the worst and most flawed sequels ever made, on the other hand an uber-hilarious so-bad-it's-good-movie that totally entertains the crap out of me.

What's bad:
The first 40 minutes consist mostly of flashback footage of Part 1, which is boring, uninteresting and very, VERY annoying. The whole movie looks extremely cheap, the acting is absolutely atrocious, the plot is terrible and it's so full with illogical and incredibly stupid plot holes, it makes you wanna kill director Lee Harry who was also responsible for the story and the screenplay.

What's good:

Eric Freeman as insane Ricky, the brother of Billy from Part 1 - one of the most untalented actors I've ever seen, yet his over-the-top performance is so unintentionally funny, I nearly die of laughter whenever I see him moving his magical eyebrows or saying crap like "Fuck off, Doc!", "Eat shit" and, of course, "GARBAGE DAY!", which became one of the most populat Internet memes of all time.
There are also some kick-ass kills (death by umbrella, death by jumper cable), the second half is pretty fast-paced, the soundtrack is pretty cool and there are at least a few mildly funny characters, such as the loudmouth in the theater ("Come on, start the movie! MO-VIE! MO-VIE!") or the dorky Chip (Ricky: "That's enough." - Chip: "Oh, it speaks! - Ricky: "I said... that's enough." - Chip: "That's what she said when I fucked her brains out on the backseat of old Red here.").

People who enjoy watching bad movies will love this - everyone else: stick to the first part.

Wiki ~ Imdb

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 3: BETTER WATCH OUT!

Alternate Title:
Blind Terror

USA, 1989
Director: Monte Hellman

3/10

You better watch out, because Part 3 is a stale and tedious sequel that definitely won't satisfy you if you're a fan of the first 2 parts. It's nowhere near as entertaining or funny, and although it's nice to see that they tried to do something different, this part just ends up as some kinda poor imitation of similarly plotted movies like "Friday The 13th VII" or "Halloween 5".

It starts out pretty good with a cool-looking dream sequence, some nice gore and a hilarious joke from a drunken Santa (to the killer who's in a coma: "Hey vegetable, what's your favorite singer? Perry Coma?") but then after the first 20-25 minutes you realize quickly that the movie's goin' nowhere fast:
no tension or suspense, countless scenes where absolutely nothing happens, endlessly bland and boring dialogue sequences, some horrible acting performances (especially the uber-lame Eric DaRe) and the annoying fact that most of the kills are offscreen.

As to the rest, well: gorgeous one hit wonder Samantha Scully delivers a very good performance (though her character is pretty unlikable) and it's always nice to see Bill Moseley in a pre-Rob-Zombie-performance - sadly, his take on Ricky from Part 2 is unfunny and completely disappointing, and the fishbowl on his head just looks stupid.

Waste of money, waste of celluloid, waste of time.

Wiki ~ Imdb

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 4: INITIATION

Alternate Titles:
Bugs / Initiation: Silent Night, Deadly Night IV

German Title:
Welcome To Hell - Das letzte Ritual

USA, 1990
Director: Brian Yuzna

1,5/10

I love the work of Brian Yuzna, especially of what he directed / wrote / produced in the 80s and 90s - except for this terrible, TERRIBLE sequel which has absolutely nothing to do with the first 3 parts.

The story about a quasi-lesbian witch circle, giant cockroaches and spontaneous combustion makes absolutely no sense, the script is a shoddy mess and Yuzna's direction feels just bland. The whole movie is boring as hell, most of the acting is mediocre and every single characters is plain annoying.

A nice cameo by Reggie 'Phantasm' Bannister and some nice-looking special effects (created by the one an only Screaming Mad George) - everything else about it is pure crap.

Wiki ~ Imdb

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 5: THE TOY MAKER

German Title:
Toys - Tödliches Spielzeug

USA, 1991
Director: Martin Kitrosser

4/10

"The Toy Maker" - written and directed by Martin Kitrosser (who later became Tarantino's script supervisor), co-written and produced by Brian Yuzna - is gladly better than the last 2 parts, but unfortunately also not as entertaining as the first 2 parts.

Pros:

There are lots of funny killer toys, such as plastic snakes, little robots, A Santa-Claus-shaped musical orb and "Larry the Larvae" who loves to gouge out eyes. The opening scene is highly thrilling, the last 20-25 minutes are pretty action-packed and the unpredictable Pinocchio-esque plot twist is just cool.

Cons:
There's hardly any tension or suspense, especially in the first half where the movie just drags and drags. The direction is weak, the script is lame, the dialogue is trite and the plot makes not much sense.

Most of the acting is pretty bad (William Thorne, one of the most annoying child actors I've ever seen), the soundtrack is extremely dull and the whole thing looks like a super-cheap TV movie.

Oh btw, it also has absolutely nothing to do with any of its predecessors.

If you want a good killer-toy-movie, watch "Dolls", "Child's Play" or "Demonic Toys" instead.

If you want a good Xmas horror movie, stick to the original "Silent Night, Deadly Night".

Wiki ~ Imdb

BLACK CHRISTMAS (Original & Remake)

2011-12-18T19:53:00.002+01:00

BLACK CHRISTMAS

Alternate Titles:
Stranger In The House / Silent Night, Evil Night

German Title:
Jessy - Die Treppe in den Tod

Canada, 1974
Director: Bob Clark

5/10

"Black Christmas" is an extremely popular movie among horror fans. It's considered as one of the very, very first slasher movies, and one of the greatest Xmas-themed horror films of all time

- but why? I really, really don't know. Seen it twice and both times it didn't do anything for me.

Large parts of the movie are unsuspenseful, without any tension and boring beyond belief, especially in the first hour. It's packed with bland and uninteresting scenes where people walk and talk almost endlessly in and around sororities and police stations. The soundtrack is dull, the kills are lame, the supposed-to-be-unsettling phone calls are plain annoying and the ending, as interesting as it is, just disappointed me.

Also, I hated how full of unanswered questions and possible plot holes the whole thing is (what's with the missing bodies? why did no-one check the attic? why did no-one hear the killer when he screamed into the phone? how could Peter know that Jess was in the basement? what's with the cat?).

At least, the last 30-40 minutes are really thrilling, most of the acting is fabulous (a wonderful Olivia Hussey, a terrific Keir Dullea, a cool John Saxon, a highly amusing Margot Kidder and a hilarious Marian Waldman), it's beautifully filmed, the interiors look gorgeous and I laughed my ass of at one-liners like:

"Why don't you go find a wall socket and stick your tongue in it? That will give you a charge!"

"Next time you're gonna get the gun up your ass! Sideways!!"

"Did you know that there is a certain species of turtle that can screw for 3 days without stopping? (...) No, really. They just... 3 days, 24 hours a day... wha-voom, wha-voom, wha-voom! Can you believe that? I'm lucky if I get 3 minutes."

Nevertheless, I'm definitely no fan of "Black Christmas". IMO it's one of the most overrated horror movies of all time, and I think that the quite similar "Silent Night, Bloody Night" is far more effective.

Wiki ~ Imdb

BLACK CHRISTMAS
(Remake)

Alternate Title:

Black X-Mas

Canada / USA, 2006

Director: Glen Morgan

7/10

Fans and admirers of the original will probably hate me for this, but I can't help it... I fuckin' love the 2006 reboot! It's super-hilarious and one helluva fun!

I can understand why so many people hate it. I mean, it shows almost no respect to the 1974 original, and it also has not much to do with it - but guess what? Right, that's exactly why I love it so much :-)

First of all, it's entertaining from beginning to end without ever getting boring. There are lots of really tense and super-thrilling scenes (opening kill, asylum scene, all the flashbacks, the attic fire, the hospital showdown...), lots of creepy moments and a few cool jump scares, but also many funny scenes, amusing dialogue lines ("I'd like to bury the hatchet with my sister... right in her head." / "Santa's not coming for you. He was shot down by the Russians." / "Fuck Christmas. Just fuck it.")

and some delightful acting performances (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Andrea Martin, Karin Konoval).

The whole movie looks absolutely stunning, thanks to some terrific production design (a gorgeous-looking sorority with eerie rooms and hallways and a creepy attic), fantastic Christmas decorations and some ace camera work.

I also love how they reworked the original storyline by adding a brilliant and amusing backstory for the highly disturbed killer and his equally disturbed sister, his abusive idiot-mother and his alocholic idiot-stepfather.

Best of all, it's brutal... holy mistletoe, how gory and brutal it is! We get to see a shitload of disgusting eye gougings, many stabbed or eaten eyes, decapitations, slit throats, death by candy cane, death by icicle, one woman beaten to death with a dough roller, one woman's head cut in two with an ice-skate, etc. etc.

Gore and splatter fans will absolutely love it!

Other memorable scenes:

- Mother rapes her own son because Dad's too drunk to fuck.

- The killer rips pieces of flesh from his dead mother's body with a cookie cutter, and puts them into the oven. Later, he eats the 'flesh cookies' together with a delicious glass of milk.

Ok, the character development is pretty weak, there are some highly illogical pot points and it's often a bit too over-edited, but besides that, it's a freaky awesome and highly enjoyable Xmas bloodbath. Pity they never made a sequel to it.

Wiki ~ Imdb

SAINT (2010)

2011-12-16T20:39:00.001+01:00

SAINT

Original Title:
Sint

Alternate Title:
Saint Nick

Netherlands, 2010
Director: Dick Maas

7/10

After a few dull years, he's finally back: Ducth director Dick Maas, the creator of the infamous "Flodder" family, the 80s classic "Amsterdamned" (which I haven't seen in a very long time) and silly cheese like the 2 killer-elevator flicks "The Lift" & "Down".

His newest movie is a well-written, well-paced and wonderfully diverting oldschool horror comedy about the bloodthirsty bishop Sinterklaas (= Saint Nicholas) and his helpers (the Zwarte Pieten = Black Petes) who, whenever there's a full moon on 5th December, rise from the dead and haunt the streets of Amsterdam to kill as many children as possible.

"Saint" is fun, big fun. It's full with amusing characters, played by solid actors, who constantly deliver amusing dialogue and one-liners
("I'm writing a poem for my dad. What rhymes with prostate?" /

"Jasper told me that St. Nicholas puts all the naughty children into his bag and takes them to Spain." - "That's nice. Then this year we'll finally get rid of Jasper.").

There's also loads of nice-looking gore, many super-suspenseful scenes (opening scene at the farm, the stunning scene in the children's home) and a few cool nods to genre classics like "The Fog", "Halloween" or "Poltergeist".

The foggy sea and the snowy landscapes are visually stunning, the soundtrack is extremely rousing and the editing is just excellent.

Ok, there are way too many mediocre-looking CGI effects and the premise may be a bit silly, but apart from that, "Saint" is a fabulous holiday horror film and a wonderful comeback of one of Europe's most original mainstream directors.

By the way, believe it or not: this is Huub Stapel,
better known as Johnny Flodder!!

Wiki ~ Imdb

SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT (1974)

2011-12-15T20:22:00.002+01:00

SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT

Alternate Titles:
Night Of The Dark Full Moon / Death House

German Title:
Blutnacht - Das Haus des Todes / Haus des Todes

USA, 1974
Director: Theodore Gershuny

6/10

"Silent Night, Bloody Night" (not to be confused with the "Silent Night, Deadly Night" franchise) is a quite enjoyable little low-budget 70s chiller that strongly reminds me of the works of S.F. Brownrigg and the good old gothic horror flicks with Michael Gough.

Pros:

There's a certain creepiness all over the movie which is just brilliant. Eerie shots of an old mansion, haunting hallways and a few really scary scenes. Gershon Kingsley's Herrmann-esque soundtrack is just amazing, especially due to a fantastic minor-key version of 'Silent Night'.

Apart from some good acting performances (James Patterson, John Carradine) and a fabulous-looking sepia-colored flashback-scene, the movie's absolute highlight is the totally unpredictable and surprisingly gory plot twist after the first half hour, which is about as shocking as the shower scene in "Psycho".

Cons:

The plot is too muddled and confusing, there are way too many unanswered questions and annoying plot holes, the script is pretty mediocre and quite badly paced, and Gershuny's direction often feels completely shiftless.

Furthermore, a few actors deliver lame and really unconvincing performances (especially Mary Woronov and Fran Stevens), and the disappointing ending feels rushed and incomplete.

Not a must-see, but definitely worth a look, especially for oldschool horror buffs.

Wiki ~ Imdb

CHRISTMAS EVIL

2011-12-14T21:00:00.001+01:00

CHRISTMAS EVIL

Alternate Titles:
You Better Watch Out / Terror In Toyland

German Title:
Teuflische Weihnachten

USA, 1980
Director: Lewis Jackson

7,5/10

Holy Santa! Just when I thought there are no more good Xmas horror flicks, I stumbled upon "Christmas Evil", a pretty underrated an overseen, but highly impressive 'seasonal' horror thriller.

I originally expected this to be some kinda holiday slasher, but surprisingly it turned out to be a psychological horror-drama, a bit in the vein of the depressing "Don't Go In The House".

Brandon Maggart plays the poor loner Harry who's totally obsessed with Christmas and slowly goes insane - and he delivers one of the greatest and most intense acting performances of the 80s. The way he looks, the way he acts, his facial expressions, his maniacal laughter - wonderful, just wonderful!

'Highlight' is the scene where he super-glues a Santa beard to his face; a stunning and pretty disturbing scene.
Other highlights: the sequence where Harry tries to slide down the chimney and the very last scene which totally makes you forget about the 'moon bike ride' in "E.T.", I promise!

Furthermore, the movie looks absolutely wonderful. Plenty of eerie shots, loads of dark and gritty atmosphere, cool cinematography and a few very well designed set pieces (f.e. the illuminated Christmas garden, the toy factory, Harry's house).

The soundtrack is creepy, the editing is terrific and the rest of the cast also delivers solid performances (incl. Patricia "Home Improvement" Richardson in a minor role).

If you prefer your Xmas horror gory and funny, I suggest you to watch "Silent Night, Deadly Night 1 & 2" instead, but if you're open minded and enjoy movies about 'tickin' timebombs' (f.e. "Taxi Driver", "The Fan", "Driller Killer"), this is a must-see!

Wiki ~ Imdb

DON'T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS

2011-12-14T19:08:00.004+01:00

DON'T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS

Alternate Title:
Don't Open 'Til Christmas

German Title:
Fröhliche Weihnacht

UK, 1984

Director: Edmund Purdom

7/10

A big YAY for one of my favorite Christmas slashers of all time: "Don't Open Till Christmas", a goofy but incredibly entertaining British horror flick about an insane killer who kills off people in Santa Claus costumes during Christmas season in London.

The budget was very low, the production took more than 2 years and there were 3 directors needed to finish the film - despite all these problems, the end product is surprisingly pretty cool and hilarious (sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally).

There's nothing special about the acting, though I really enjoyed the quite creepy performances of Alan Lake and especially Edmund Purdom who's well-known to horror fans for his memorable roles in "Absurd" and "Pieces" (btw: "Don't Open Till Christmas" was produced by Dick Randall & Stephen Minasian, the producers of "Pieces"!).

The whole movie is incredibly atmospheric and tense, with a few breathtakingly suspensful scenes (check out the scenes in the London Dungeon and in the Piccadilly Theatre). The camera work is nice, the settings look great and the soundtrack, a mix of gloomy 80s synths, pompous classical music and silly pop tunes, is just fabulous.

Highlights: next to the killer's creepy masks, some gorgeous nudity, a nice Caroline Munro cameo, funny opening credits and an 'explosive' twist ending,

we get to see a shitload of really amazing kills. Slit throats, stabbed bellies, stabbed chests, poked out eye, machete in the face, spear through the head, a roasted face and (best of all) a ludicrous castration in a public urinal.

A superb holiday-horror-movie, highly recommend to fans of slashers and 80s cheese in general.

Wiki ~ Imdb

Oh btw, check out the German cover (Fröhliche Weihnacht = Merry Christmas) which looks a tit... err, a bit better IMO :-D

AMERICAN PSYCHO 1 & 2

2011-12-12T19:21:00.001+01:00

AMERICAN PSYCHO

USA, 2000

Director: Mary Harron

4,5/10

I'm a huge, huuuuge fan of Bret Easton Ellis. I adore his books (except the last one which is meh) and read them all several times. The pinnacle of his writing career is of course the uber-brilliant "American Psycho", not only my favorite novel of all time, but also the only novel I've read more than 10 times AND the only novel I've read in 2 languages (German and English).

I'm absolutely addicted to this book.

When I first saw Mary Harron's film adaptation a couple of years ago (after I've already read the book 4-5 times and loved it to the core), I was completely upset and disappointed about it. It totally bored the fuck out of me and I simply couldn't understand why so many people like it.

Now with all the talk of a new American Psycho adaptation, I thought I give it another chance. I tried to be as open-minded as I could - and yeah, I enjoyed it a bit more this time and to some extent, I also understand now why people like it so much. However, this adaptation still isn't my cup of coffee: it's weak, it's boring and IMO it's immensely overrated.

The good things:

~ For the greater part, the cast is simply excellent. Christian Bale looks absolutely amazing and delivers an incredible performance as yuppie/serial-killer Patrick Bateman.
Chloë Sevigny (I love that woman) is just wonderful as Bateman's secretary, Samantha Mathis is terrific as Bateman's Xanax/Valium-addicted lover and Justin Theroux, one of the most underrated actors of all time, is super-cool as one of Bateman's fellows.

I surprisingly also enjoyed the peformances from Reese Witherspoon and Jared Leto, 2 actors I usually don't like that much.

~ It's a really stunning-looking movie, not only because of some damn fine cinematography, but also because of the really gorgeous 80s settings and costumes; the Wall Street bureaus, the restaurants, the clubs, Bateman's apartment, the hairstyles, the fashion etc. etc.

~ The movie stays very true to the book, especially in terms of dialogue and monologue, chronology and seemingly minor details, such as the cash machine that wants to eat a stray cat, Bateman washing his gloved hands or the porn movie Bateman's watching ('Inside Lydia's Ass').

The bad things:

~ It's often extremely boring and tedious, thanks to a muddled script and Harron's utterly mediocre direction. Especially the second half just drags and drags and drags.

~ It's far... FAAAAR too tame. Where the book is packed to the brim with violent, horribly gruesome and super-gory kills, the movie only shows a few bland, ungory and uninteresting killings.

~ Willem Dafoe was miscast for the role as Detective Kimball, Matt Ross looks way too gay and Cara Seymour is just terrible as Christie.

~ What's with the music? I expected lots of INXS, Talking Heads and Madonna - instead we get crap like Chris de Burgh, Katrina & The Waves or Robert Palmer.

~ As great as Bale's performance is... it's just a tragedy what they did to the character of Patrick Bateman.

In the book he's a powerful, charismatic, unpredictable and coldhearted character, very attracted to everything expensive and luxurious, to perfect-looking hard-bodies and cocaine, obsessed with brands and trendy restaurants.

In the film he's just a dorky and quite annoying moron with no charisma at all.

~ Call me a geek but I really hated the fact that they changed various names,

f.e. Paul Owen to Paul Allen, Marcus Halberstam to Marcus Halberstram, Timothy Price to Timothy Bryce etc.

~ Many important scenes are missing such as the killing of Bateman's old girlfriend Bethany, the killing of the boy in the zoo, the summer in the Hamptons, the breakdown of Luis Carruthers, Bateman and Jean at the Dorsia etc.

~ We don't get to see enough of important characters like Evelyn, Courtney, McDermott and Carruthers.

~ There was absolutely no need to let Bateman tell about his musical obsessions whilst fucking and killing.

~ Scenes that I really, REALLY hate: the chainsaw kill and Bateman's quirky dance.

I might be a bit too harsh, but I can't help it: I just don't really like it.

IMO It could have been far more awesome if someone like David Fincher, Michael Mann, Brian De Palma or Martin Scorsese would have directed it.
Well, I stay with the book.

Wiki ~ Imdb

AMERICAN PSYCHO II: ALL AMERICAN GIRL

Alternate Title:
American Psycho 2

German Title:
American Psycho II - Der Horror geht weiter

USA, 2002
Director: Morgan J. Freeman

1,5/10

I have seen one movie from Morgan J. Freeman (not to confuse with the friendly black oscar winner) before: the dreadfully boring "Homecoming" with the horribly untalented Mischa Barton.
This one's not as horrible, but still a stupid and extremely superfluous waste of celluloid.

Apart from a few far-fetched connections, this has absolutely nothing to do with Part 1 or the novel. It's just a super-failed attempt in creating some kinda serial-killer parody, badly directed, boring and extremely predictable from the first to the last minute.
The plot sucks, most of the acting is lame, the characters are all cliché-ridden cardboard cut-outs, every single kills is bland and disappointing, the soundtrack sounds like it was composed for some kids' comedy, the voice-over is annoying and the dialogue in general is terrible. Oh, and the one scene with the CGI fire... no comment.

Mila Kunis's performance is ok and it's always fun to watch William Shatner. The rest of this in-name-only sequel is pure garbage.

Wiki ~ Imdb

Horror Blog Of The Month: STICKY RED

2011-12-11T19:06:00.000+01:00

I proudly present the last "Horror Blog Of The Month" in 2011:

"STICKY RED - A Bodycount Compendium", the gorgeous little blog from Kaijinu a.k.a. Herman, a nice guy from the Philippines.

Herman is a huge slasher fan who regularly writes about all kinds of killer-flicks, from the obscure to well-known. Nearly every post includes loads of screenshots and (best of all) a detailed bodycount!

Informative, good-looking and entertaining - "STICKY RED", a total must-read and must-follow, especially for slasher fans!

Maynard:

Hi Herman! Who are you and why do you blog?

Herman:

Hi there, mates! This is "Kaijinu" AKA the dude who had so many screennames you got to be a really close guy to know the real one. I live in Manila, Philippines, currently 19 if you're reading this and a horror film nerd, Slasher films mostly and sometimes film critique of his own world.

I made this blog to show how widespread slasher films had gone to, even if it's coming from a country who hadn't made a decent slasher flick at all. (well, we got "Kutob", which is the nearest one being one... nah, just kidding, it sucked.) I wanted to go beyond cheesy long-haired ghosts and haunted objects that my country had grown accustomed to, and I guess masked killers and deranged school girls is the way to go.

And then there's bodycounting, the joy of slasher films everywhere.
(Fun game, everytime i say "slasher" we take a shot of Chartreuse!)

Which movie made you a horror fan (and why)?

I was treated to some scary shit back when I was still five years old. I know it's scientifically impossible to remember everything so accurately at that age, but I do recall seeing (some) "Dellamorte Dellamore" as a baby, as well as "Night of the Scarecrow" (1995) (not to be confused with "Dark Night of the Scarecrow"), "Jack Frost" and even some "Night of The Living Dead" ...90s remake.

It wasn't until around my second year of highschool that I became a slasher fan, though back then I dunno what a "slasher" is, or even aware of the sub-genre's existence. I guess I had to thank my dad for throwing me into the pit (nearly every first slasher film I saw was from him bringing home rented "suspense" titles).

Who is your favorite horror director (and why)?

Tough one, but I have to say one of them is Lucio Fulci. I can relate to him in a way, other than religion, but I, too, see God in pain. He's not afraid to push his limits and try experimenting with genres, and if he does a horror film, he can either make it grueling or accidentally fun. It's a blunder, but a lovable blunder.

Another would be Maurice Deveraux. His slasher films are full of originality and thought, it's not hard to admire his efforts.

Quentin Tarantino is another. I'm a huge fan of this guy, no matter what genre he does, it's always certified gold.

Lastly, there's Brian De Palma. He knows how to be consistent with his works and he knows how to appeal to his crowd. Even if his works can be a bit mediocre and recycled, he knows how to make it interesting.

What are your alltime horror favorites?

I could just show you a page about me in my blog...or I could just save the drama and tell you guys already.

- Friday the 13ths (no exceptions. Yes, even the dreaded "Jason Takes Manhattan" has some plus sides for me.)

- Neon Maniacs

- SE7EN

- Silence of the Lambs

- Let the Right one In

- Day of the Dead (this one's very essential. Not talking about the shit-remake.)

- Phantasm movies

- Psycho

- John Carpenter's The Thing

- Little Shop of Horrors (I know it ain't "true" horror, but I really like it!)

- 30 Days of Night

- Dorm

- Ju-On: The Grudge

- Carrie

What's the worst horror movie you've seen so far?

I'd seen a lot of those, but it has to be the dullest ones I'd seen:
"Madness", a 2010 Swedish DTV slasher flick. Zero plot and an uber-mess of things.

Second will be "Seed", Uwe Boll's serial killer-slasher. Tell me again why we let this guy direct?

Most of my friends still don't like horror. How about your friends?

Being a misft, I'm thankful that my buddies still accept me for who I am. I do recommend them some titles, mostly mainstream, but I do strike a few gold at times. One of them happens to know "Body Parts (1991), and I told him I hadn't seen that one yet. He just smiled at me and told me how good it was. Saw that movie a week ago, and I'm thankful I took his word for it.

Choose:
Freddy? Michael Jason? Leatherface? Other?

Jason. Hands down it has to be Jason...

Choose:
European Horror? US Horror? Asian Horror? Other?

Oh God... let's see...I would say Euro-horror. I like US horror, but there's something about Euro that's more grittier and raw. I have a few fave Asian horror, but ghost movies never interested me.

Do you prefer watching horror at home or at the theater?

It depends, but normally, I like it more at home. DVDs and CDs more specifically. In my country, when gore is massive in a film, it's more likely they'll cut it (who hasn't?). When it comes out to DVD or VCD, it's uncut, most of them, and I would rather see that. However, there are times a DVD goes through the cutting room (You wouldn't believe how tame the Philippine relaese of Laid to Rest was. What? No suprise gutting?! That was my fave kill! Boo!)

I'll settle to downloads and bootlegs, thank you. Philippines is too tame when it comes to releasing movies. If you want to see "The Human Centipede" (both first and full sequence), you're more likely to find it here via bootleg.

What music do you like?

Well, in contrast to my horror obsession, I'm more into instrumentals, classical piano and violins. Then there's country rock. Some punk rock (MCR's getting better these days, so is GORILLAZ), some "oldie' rock, most of them 80s. A few heavy metal, though nothing of the more recent ones, save a few. (When will Foo Fighters have their next soundtrack? If they already did, what was it like?).

I also enjoy some movie and, rarely, J-pop soundtracks. The more I like a certain movie or anime mini-series, the more I enjoy it's soundtrack. (You have no idea how many times I'd listen to Baby Lied by Rick Bowles after loving Neon Maniacs!)

What do you read?

Some classic novels, forensic books, autobiographies and biographies of famous comedians, Some horror novels, encyclopedias and biographies of horror actors (of course), marvel comics, but mostly mini-series (I ain't spending money for issue number 3886751 and get nothing of the story!), some mangas, but I never inteded to finish a series (save, of course again, mini series or one-shots). Some horror comics; Hellraiser, Tapping the vein, marvel Zombies, Vampire Loves...that last one's more of a comedy, though, and of course, Lenore the Cute little dead girl.

Let's not forget Stephen King. King is God. Respect God.

Tell me the first 3 things that come to your mind when you think about Austria:

Beer, Germany, and for some reason, Augustus Gloop from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory...

Anything else you wanna tells us?

No Animals were harmed in the making of this interview...save a fly, but he had it coming...

Thank you, Herman!

http://redandsticky.blogspot.com/

Please VOTE FOR ME!!! Horror Movie Diary - Best Horror Blog 2011!!!

2011-12-08T23:21:00.002+01:00

Holy shit, I made it into the Top 5 of the Movie411 Blog Awards 2011,

Category "Best Horror Blog"!!!

Voting is easy: just click the banner below and vote for me, pleeeze!!

Thank you!!

Project Terrible: MONSTER MAN

2011-12-08T20:34:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Mondo Bizarro for annoying with that dumb monster crap. I already annoyed him with the silly "Cataclysm a.k.a. The Nightmare Never Ends".

MONSTER MAN

USA, 2003
Director: Michael Davis

3,5/10

"Monster Man" is a mildly entertaining but pretty disappointing horror / comedy / road movie that desperately tries to be witty and original, but ultimately fails due to a flawed script, lame pacing, weak cinematography and some extremely annoying characters.

The first 35 minutes feel like someone mixed "Duel", "Odd Couple" and "40 Year Old Virgin" together. Apart from a few tense scenes and one helluva kick-ass monster truck, we have to get through loads of stupid and unfunny scenes where Eric Jungmann (virgin) and Justin Urich (idiot) talk sooo much shit, it's annoying.

The whole purpose of the next 20 minutes (which are boring beyond hell) is to show how the virgin finally gets his cherry popped.

The remaining 40 minutes are so-so. There's some brilliant-looking gore, more monster truck madness, a Leatherface-like maniac, a Rom-Zombie-esque dysfunctional family and 2-3 really suspenseful scenes - but there's also a dumb plot twist, more annoying characters and an underwhelming ending.

Monster Man is a Monster Mess.

Wiki ~ Imdb

Project Terrible: C ME DANCE

2011-12-08T20:26:00.002+01:00

Thanks to Cinema Gonzo for torturing me with this incredibly, incredibly, INCREDIBLY stupid Christian crapfest. I already took vengeance by torturing him with "They Saved Hitler's Brain" :-)

C ME DANCE

USA, 2009
Director: Greg Robbins

1/10

"C Me Dance" is a Christian propaganda-movie about a young and pretty silly ballett dancer who suffers from leukaemia (played by the completely untalented Christina De Marco), and her father who urges her to believe and trust in god and (played by the completely untalented director / writer / producer / actor Greg Robbins who looks like he has some candy in his van).

The movie is so bad, stupid and annoyingly Christian, it's impossible to do a proper review for it, that's why I'm just pouring out various thoughts and pics, instead of doing a nice little write-up.

--- Wow, look at the mindblowing morphing effects:

--- It's beyond me why they marketed this as some kinda horror flick... um, ok. It is a horror to watch, so I guess I'm alright with that marketing.

--- Some... um, brilliant quotes:

"When you looked at me... I saw god."

"Will you pray with me before you go?"

"I'm sorry." - "Don't be. Just let us love you!"

"So, did you have fun in dance class today?" - "Your phone doesn't work."

"Dou you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of god?"

"In the last 2 weeks, murders and rapes have gone down 98%!"

"The owner of a large chain of adult book stores is closing the doors of all his stores. When asked why, he replied 'Pornography is a vile sin.' and he's now putting his money into helping the families of those that's been tortured by pornography."

"People often ask 'If there's a god, why do people starve to death?', but I'm here to tell you: god doesn't let them starve... we do."

--- Next to the awful plot, the awful cinematography, the awful dialogue ad the awful script, it's absolutely packed to the brim with awful characters and horrendously untalented actors.

--- God, what a piece of crap this is. Ok, I didn't give it a 0/10, mainly because there were so many scenes that made me laugh my ass off, which means... yeah, I had a pretty good time watching it - but of course, in a "Troll 2"-kinda way.

--- Hey look, there's a 'Battle of the Rock Bands' next Friday night.

The flyer promises that it'll get brutal: Metal! Destroy! Crush!

And now look who's grinding their axes for the oldschool metalheads: it's the uber-brutal... Aaron Greer Band! And they're singin' evil lyrics like:
"Oh breath of god, fill me up / cause I've been empty so long /

and take the space, find me there / Jesus, be my air."

--- I like movies about ballet - but only if Natalie Portman's in it.

Wiki ~ Imdb

RARE EXPORTS (Full Length and Shorts)

2011-12-08T00:07:00.002+01:00

RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE

Original Title:
Rare Exports

Alternate Title:
Rare Exports: The Truth About Santa

German Titles:
Rare Exports - Eine Weihnachtsgeschichte / Rare Exports - Wehe, du warst böse...

Finland / Norway / Sweden / France, 2010
Director: Jalmari Helander

8/10

Yay for "Rare Exports", not only one of the most original genre movies I've seen this year, but also one of the best Christmas-themed horror film ever made (next to "Silent Night, Deadly Night", "Gremlins" and "Black Christmas"). Imagine something in the vein of "Trollhunter", "Santa's Slay" & oldschool Steven Spielberg and you get the idea.

The movie's only about 80 minutes long and extremely entertaining from the first to the last minute, thanks to a superbly written and brilliantly paced script, an interesting plot and Jalmari Helander's splendid direction.

The acting is great and the chemistry between the actors (especially between Jorma and Onni Tommila, father and son in film and in reality) is wonderful.

All the snowy landscapes look gorgeous, the camera work is pretty fine and we get to hear a wonderfully bombastic soundtrack.

Highlights: Santa's ingeniously creepy helpers, a few cool jump scares, the flawed but strangely beautiful CGI scenes, the dead reindeers, the 24-door and the absolutely incredible ending.

Forget "Home Alone" and "It's A Wonderful Life". From now on, this shall be your new favorite Xmas movie :-)

Wiki ~ Imdb

Oh btw, "Rare Exports" is based on 2 brilliant short films director Helander has made in 2003 and 2005.

RARE EXPORTS INC.

Finland, 2003

Director: Jalmari Helander

10/10

Outstanding fake advertisement / fake documentary that shows how 3 hunters capture a 'Father Christmas' in the wild, and how they turn him from evil beast into a nice Santa Claus.

Hilarious and super-funny, very well shot and awesome-looking, with cool actors and fabulous cinematography. A must-see!

Imdb
Watch it here!

THE OFFICIAL RARE EXPORTS INC. SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS 2005

Finland, 2005

Director: Jalmari Helander

9/10

Terrific safety-video-style sequel about how to transport a Father Christmas and what to do if you encounter a crazed Father Christmas. Funny in the first half, intriguingly atmospheric in the second, again with great actors, amazing cinematography and full of excellent idead. Also a must-see!

Imdb
Watch it here!

SHARK NIGHT 3D

2011-12-06T00:36:00.003+01:00

SHARK NIGHT 3D

Alternate Title:
Shark 3D

USA, 2011
Director: David R. Ellis

3/10

Although I had nearly no expectations for "Shark Night", it's still one of this year's biggest disappointments to me. An uninspired, unentertaining and superfluous teenie-schlock that looks almost like an Asylum or SyFy movie - and IMO it's also David R. Ellis' worst movie so far (yep, it's even worse than "Final Destination 4").

The movie is boring and tedious; no sign of suspense or tension. The teens are all stereotypical idiots and the villains are annoying ad nauseam. The plot is horrible and absolutely implausible, the script is a bland and predictable mess and the direction is just weak.

Worst of all:
~ The sharks are all CGI and look about as cheap and unrealistic as that ugly thing from the 2 "Mega Shark" movies.
~ The gore looks cheap.
~ Nearly all of the kills are tame, disappointing and way too PG-13.

At least, the 3D is pretty nice, the camera work / cinematography looks good, Sara Paxton's performance is quite ok and there are at least a few scenes that made me chuckle (shark attacks jetski, guy against hammerhead, the 'Guns N Roses' scene),

but overall, "Shark Night" is just pointless rubbish. I recommend to watch movies like "Sharktopus" or "Tentacles" instead, which are way more entertaining.

Wiki ~ Imdb