Category Archives: horror

The Dark: Horror Movie With Substance

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Written and directed by Justin P. Lange, The Dark is about a killer ghost who meets a lost soul. The movie is Lange’s debut as a director, and he hit the scary ringer. The movie is the production company’s biggest hit in 2018 and their most liked as a horror DVD. Horror fans pay attention because you want to see this movie.

The story unravels just outside a small town in a dense forest called Devil’s Den. The den is known as a mysterious area of woods. Many enter the woods, but no one ever leaves the woods.

Like all mysteries, the home-grown legend is about the spirit of a girl, played by Nadia Alexander. Murdered in the Devil’s Den, she haunts and hunts for victims. She brutally slays anyone who risks walking in her terrain.

A young man, played by Toby Nichols, with a dark past enters Devil’s Den. A series of events are set in motion that may lead to redemption for two tragically tortured souls.

The movie is a part gothic fairytale and part chilling horror. Lange methodically poises rich imagery with brutal and bloody storytelling. The two unlikely kindred spirits must defend themselves against the so-called normal world.

Both Alexander and Nichols performances are truthful and heartfelt. Lange’s script moves along and kept me interested and caring for the characters.  In general, the movie is receiving accolades from LA Times, Variety, and Horror Society.

“A moving and poetic tale about how neglect and abuse can turn people into freaky beasts, and how love can bring them back.” – LOS ANGELES TIMES

“Writer and director Justin P. Lange created and conquered one of the best horror films of the year. It’s emotional, slightly artistic and so disturbing and frightening. A true master-class in film-making. I am so blown away” – HORROR SOCIETY

Found Footage 3D: Parody on Found Footage Horror Movies

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Written and directed by Steven DeGennaro, Found Footage 3D begins with Mark, played by Chris O’Brien, who lives in the shadow of his overbearing older brother, Derek, played by Carter Roy. Mark always wanted what his brother processed. Derek is successful with a career in the movies and the love of a beautiful woman. Mark longs for a life like Derek’s. One day, Derek asks Mark to document the production of his next low-budget horror movie called Spectre of Death. Mark leaps at the prospect of being with Derek and becoming engaged in his production.

The Spectre of Death is filmed in the ‘found footage’ style similar to the Paranormal Activity movies.  Derek stars himself and his estranged wife, Amy, played by Alena von Stroheim. The storyline in Derek’s movie is similar to his relationship with his Amy. The art-imitates-life story of a couple whose relationship is slowly deteriorating. Against the objections of his director, Derek decided to make Spectre of Death the ‘first 3D found-footage horror film’ and hired his younger brother to shoot the first 3D behind-the-scenes documentary.

The production is plagued with trouble from the very beginning. Derek and Amy fail to be professionals and are amicable long enough to shoot a scene together. But things take a much more sinister turn when the fictional entity they’ve created for their film shows up in Mark’s behind-the-scenes footage. Frightening accidents begin to plague the shoot. The footage Mark is shooting grows stranger and more ominous. When an act of unexpected and ferocious violence finally tears down the wall between fiction and reality, Mark must find a way to contain the evil presence before it is too late.

The cast holds their own in this funny and quirky horror movie. The cast includes Tom Saporito, Scott Allen Perry, Jessica Perrin, and Scott Weinberg.

Found Footage 3D breaks down the found-footage horror movie and fills it with people who are aware of all of the rules, tricks, and platitudes of the genre. It obvious the cast and crew in the movie understand how to make a ‘found footage’ movie. The key to this horror movie, like all horror movies, who will survive?

“Hostile” Backstory Defines the Horror Worth Seeing

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Written and directed by Mathieu Turi, Hostile takes place when a worldwide epidemic pretty much killed most of the population on Earth.

Those few who survived the epidemic struggled every day, trying to find food and shelter. With that, a creature, unlike them, proves that they are not alone. The beast is super creepy. Take a look at the poster and Blu-ray/ DVD cover. You get a good idea of what this thing looks like in the movie.

Juliette, played by Brittany Ashworth, is driving on her way back from a scavenging mission. She experiences a terrible accident. She is trapped in her car, with a broken leg, in the middle of an unforgiving desert. That is not the entire story. There are a couple of stories within the story itself.

As you can see in the two movie clips, Ashworth’s acting skills shine as she tries to deal with and outsmart the creature. The story is about how she must survive the dangers of the post-apocalypse world while a strange creature prowls around her car.

Another part of the movie is a love story told in flashbacks while Juliette tries to survive the car crash and creature. The story is between her and a Frenchman named Jack, played by Gregory Fitoussi. The love story is a bit slow and twisted to the horror-thriller and science-fiction aspects of the movie. All in all, I think horror fans will like watching this movie because it is not your usual horror movie. There is even a nice twist at the end.

Turi’s directing credits include two shorts and another feature called Meander, which is in pre-production at this writing. He paid his dues in the business, working on sets as assistant director of several movies.

Dead Shack – Horrific Comedy About Zombies

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Directed by Peter Ricq, Dead Shack follows a family on a weekend trip that spins as a horror movie with some comic relief – the horror is deep and the laughter is based on your sense of humor. I didn’t laugh so much because the movie is pretty darn horrific.

Jason, played by Matthew Nelson-Mahood hooks up with best buddy Colin, played by Gabriel LaBelle, and he joins Colin and his family for a weekend trip to a cabin in the woods. They soon become aware of the fact that they are not the weirdest people in the rustic area.  The neighbors turn out to be zombie-like, and there is a dark mystery behind the missing townspeople. The adults hold a drunken party but it ends abruptly with a scene horror fans will go crazy over.

Colin’s older sister, Summer, played by Lizzy Boys, and their father, who is usually drunk, and step-mother, Roger and Lisa, work together as things quickly go wickeder when Jason, Colin, and Summer witness their seductive neighbor, played by Lauren Holly, feeding two locals to her undead husband and kids.  Realizing their own potential fate – ending up as a full course meal, the kids must work together to bash in several zombie skulls and save themselves from the neighbor’s morbid family. Jason, Colin, and his family prepare themselves for an attack and plan to get away from the area alive.

Dead Shack delivers what horror fans want – bloodthirsty eating zombies and more blood, and even more splashing blood.  Adding to the bloodbath are genuine performances from the cast. The comedy touch keeps the story moving. The story comes across well and Nelson-Mahood is excellent as Jason, a shy teenage boy. LaBelle is good at being Colin who is more outgoing than Jason.

The Blu-ray comes with Special Features that include Dead Shack Behind the Scenes and Dead Shack trailer.

“Marrowbone” a Haunting Tale

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Written and directed by Sergio G. Sanchez, Marrowbone marks Sanchez’s directorial debut. The Spanish director is known for his screenwriting talent in such movies as The Orphanage and The Impossible.

The story follows four siblings filled with secrets that entice and invites you to stay and live inside their world. The siblings cross the Atlantic, escaping from a mysterious trauma with a life of its own. They seek refuge in an old home after the death of their mother, only to discover that the house has another, more sinister inhabitant, and it turns into a haunting tale.

The siblings are full of life but also show apprehension. And all of it comes across with a unique romanticism and beautifully framed movie.

The older sibling, Jack, played by George MacKay, faces the responsibility of looking after his siblings. He struggles with the usual concerns of a boy his age—his love for Allie, played by Anya Taylor-Joy. The responsibility his mother has given him by asking him to keep the family together.

By contrast, Jane, the second sister, played by Mia Goth, symbolizes goodness in the mother’s absence. In the scenes, Jane compensates whenever there is a violent or hostile instinct. She fights for her brothers so that they can leave behind their painful past. Goth’s presence on film is quite overwhelming but compelling.

Billy, the third of the siblings, played by Charlie Heaton, is best known for the series Stranger Things. His performance is heartbreaking. Billy is perhaps the most troublesome. He represents courage, the bravery that Jack sometimes lacks. The fourth is Sam, played by Matthew Stagg, Sam’s the youngest, so everyone feels they have to overprotect him by hiding the most disgusting aspects that have led them to their present situation. He verbalizes everything he knows. His older siblings seem to believe he is more tender and naïve than he is. For them, his innocence is living proof that not everything is corrupted in the world. Allie is the only link they have with the outside world since she is not part of the family. She comes across as bright and cheerful and keeps the story moving forward.

The romance between Jack and Allie accurately sums up the quirkiness of the story. It’s teenage love shared by two young people who neither want nor have time to consider where it will lead.

Another character in the movie is the house where the siblings live. Its appearance of being semi-abandoned with an unkept yard marks the boundary between the home and the outer civilization—isolated with no signs of modern life. The siblings live in the world with their own rules, invisible to society that continues their concerns on the other side. However, I would call Marrowbone a horror movie. It is much more haunting than scary with the clever nuances Sanchez uses to engage the audience.

Don’t Grow Up Horror of Becoming an Adult Zombie

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Directed by Thierry Poiraud, Don’t Grow Up, is not your typical young adult story. It’s almost brutal and disgusting. The unique movie is a horror movie that might mesmerize horror fans because it brings a whole new level of horrifying.

If you are a horror fan, you might be familiar with Poiraud’s  Goal of the Dead. Like Dead, Don’t Grow Up flourishes in a world of terror where the possibility of survival is limited.

A group of teenage delinquents living in a youth center wake up to find themselves all alone with no one to watch over them. The teens celebrate their newfound freedom by partying, playing loud music and visualizing a life without guardians.

After the excitement fades, they decide to leave the group home for good. Upon arriving in the nearby town, they find the streets deserted, and in a post-apocalyptic state. Now, the real story brings us to the outskirts of London, where six teens find themselves without supervision and immediately take to making the most of their new privilege. No longer limited to the space of their detention center, they explore the inner city with Liam, played by McKell David, as their self-appointed leader.

After Liam’s girlfriend, played Natifa Mai, walks off after an argument, she has an aggressive confrontation with the group’s supervisor that leaves her wounded. Discovering that the attack is not isolated and is the result of a widespread epidemic that leaves children and adolescents unaffected, the group must defend themselves against manic adults, paranoid children and, ultimately, their own maturity.

The few adults they do encounter all seem to be infected by a mysterious epidemic, making them blood-thirsty and psychotic. They try to discover a way to survive against the zombie-like adults while helping the destitute children. In order to survive, they realize the importance of growing up and taking responsibility. They need to band together and find a route to safety. These zombie adults are nothing like the kind you typically see of late. These are fast and can think on their feet, which adds even more to the horror.

The undercurrent that some of the teens are older than the others and those older will turn into zombies before the others. The unspoke words are subtle and savage with each other. Hence, the movie’s fitting title – Don’t Grow Up.

The Blu-ray includes behind the scenes with director Thierry Poiraud, “Making of Don’t Grow Up,” and I found it interesting following the director’s perspective of the movie. There is another feature, you get a behind-the-scenes look at the cast and their characters.  

 

 

 

XX Anthology

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Directed by four talented female directors, I know that horror films are very popular because the ones that I get my hands on sell like hot cakes. XX is a collection of short horror films that are unfamiliar for a lot of horror fans,  but they will catch your interest.  The shorts are about being a mother, and all the horrible and terrible things that can happen to a mother. You should give them a shot because like most horror movies you have a 50/50 chance of ending up with something which is overall worth your time and money.

This collection is produced well and acted well, but it’s nothing to get super excited about because, honestly the first short film The Box was really the only one worth watching that I enjoyed, the rest, well, were not that great. Still, you might find the others great because horror movies are so diverse.

If being a horror fan it intrigues you, there is a good chance you will like this anthology more than I did. I am not saying it is a bad collection, but I do feel the horror experience should have been better because they were confusing somethings. Like a mother coming back to life. How did that happen? Either way, if you are a horror fan let me know what you think.

Overall, it is an anthology that shows a variety of styles. Each filmmaker’s expression is distinctive and contemporary, and it makes for an awfully good time.

Like I said The Box is a deep story and Only Living Son is a second best with a more thematically deep, straight horror and dark comedy. You crave horror, then you won’t be disappointed.

Satanic

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satanic_rgb-dvd-frontSatanic, directed by Jeffrey G. Hunt, the movie starts off with a group of college coeds driving in a van visiting old Satanic Panic-era sites in Los Angeles. They end up following the creepy owner of an occult store home, only to find themselves saving a suspicious girl from an apparent human sacrifice. Only this so-called victim turns out to be much more dangerous than the cult she escaped from.

The movie is a super-low-budget horror movie with “From The Producers of The Walking Dead” on the DVD cover, saving the movie from becoming rather boring and poorly filmed. The story doesn’t start until 40 minutes into the film, with the characters about as interesting as Playdough.

The movie stars Sarah Hyland (Modern Family), Steven Krueger (The Originals), Justin Chon (Twilight), Sophia Dalah (Unbroken) and Clara Mamet (The Neighbors). Hunt has directed some TV shows like CSI and Scorpion, but he is pretty much a Steadicam operator or assistant director, which is the bulk of his experience. Remember that when you watch this movie?

The story follows four college students. Before taking a road trip to Coachella, the group checks into the Flower Hotel, the scene of Lainey Gore’s gruesome suicide in homage to Satan himself, for their own satanic tour in the City of Angels.

The thrill seekers visit the site of the infamous Manson murders and an unnerving satanic store, leading the group to mistakenly interrupt a cult’s sacrifice of a girl named Alice. Ultimately allowing her to break free, the travelers soon begin to question her innocence as she has an unsettling admiration for the spirit of Lainey Gore.

Truly, nothing much happens in the movie except suicide, and much of the horrific stuff is off-camera. The repercussions of the horrifying elements are all that you will see. Horror movie fans will, without a doubt, be interested in seeing this movie until they reach the end and notice how many unique ways Hyland can scream. The drawing of the pentagrams, five-star mystic and magical symbol, on the wall, is really not that scary.

Backtrack

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03139824135580_z_backrcluDirected by Michael Petroni, known for directing The Book Thief, combines paranormal with a mystery in a plot that twists suspense to an all-time high. The story is like The Sixth Sense  but in reverse. It is refreshing to watch a movie that is so different.

Oscar winner, Adrien Brody, and Sam Neill star in the spine-chilling thriller, Backtrack. Suspense is the key word because it kept me on the edge of my seat as the shocking story slowly unfolds.

We follow Psychologist Peter Bower, played by Brody, as his life is thrown into turmoil when he discovers that the patients he has been seeing are ghosts. Risking his own sanity, Peter delves into his past to uncover a terrifying secret which only he can put right.

I am not a fan of psychologists because the profession is built on the premise that man is an animal. I completely disagree. Though, this movie is really good.

The Blu-ray and DVD have some nice behind-the-scenes featurettes including “The Psychology of Backtrack.”

All in all, Brody carries the movie along with strong supporting actors. The story is just as strong with a resolution that is believable.

“Flight 7500”

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flight 7500Directed by Takashi Shimizu, who directed The Grudge, Flight 7500 introduces us to the excitement of getting ready to take a trip on a plane in the friendly skies. But soon, the flight becomes a spine-chilling journey to the dark side.

Taking off from Los Angeles to Tokyo for an overnight 10-hour flight, the plane is shaken by a severe storm. When the turbulence subsides, a violent death of a traveling businessman happens.  The other passengers investigate the cause, and it appears a supernatural force has been unleashed. More passengers are taken over by some evil force, causing them to die while they try to figure out what the cause is.

Shimizu does a good job of moving the mystery along, and it is entertaining, but there is nothing original about the story.  So, the overall story is flat and goes nowhere, but because of the cast and crew, I was interested throughout. The ending had a twist, but it was very weak and didn’t fit the storyline, so I didn’t like it. Besides that, it is worth watching when you have nothing else to do and want to be entertained.

Leslie Bibb, Jamie Chung, Jerry Ferrara, Ryan Kwanten, Johnathon Schaech, and Amy Smart are all excellent in the movie. The DVD includes a featurette titled “Inside Flight 7500.” The featurette tells you how the film was made, which is always lovely to watch and learn about filmmaking.