Film Review: PontyPool (2008)

Review by: Rick Romanoswki
Directed by: Bruce McDonald
Written by: Tom Burgess
Limited Release, U.S. May 2009

I am going to be totally honest, when I first heard the premises of Pontypool, I thought it would be about zombies and I thought that it would have been sort of dumb… but I was very wrong. In fact, this turned out to be one of my favorite apocalyptic movies of all time. I loved every bit of this movie right down to the acting and even the actual sickness that plagues humans. I was even terrified at some points.

Continue Reading...

Film Review: The Mist (2007)

Directed by: Frank Darabont Written by: Frank Darabont (Screen Play) and Stephen King (Novel)

Review by: Chris Ward

I can remember a time when a movie that stated 'From Stephen King' would be greeted with anticipation and excitement. Unfortunately nowadays, this is rarely the case. When I was presented with this dvd to watch my first thought was ‘Oh well, if there's nothing else on TV, I'll give it a go’. This isn't to say that Stephen King stories are awful - because they're not - but, with only one or two exceptions, they don't translate to the screen all that well.
Anyway, a quick rundown of the plot --- A small town in America is overcome by a mysterious fog, out of which bug-like creatures appear and kill the locals. A small group of innocent shoppers are stranded in the local supermarket and have to overcome their fears, plus internal power struggles, to escape.

All sounds fine, if a little clichéd. To be honest, the movie started to drag in the middle. It starts well, establishing characters - the 'hero' David Drayton, his young son Billy, their neighbour Mr. Horton - and setting the scene for what follows. The three main characters all go to the local supermarket to get supplies after a storm has battered their properties. All well and good ---Then the movie starts borrowing from George Romero's 'Night of the Living Dead' and 'Dawn of the Dead'. People trapped in a shopping mall, unable to go outside, mysterious monsters lurking in the gloom, a power struggle between Drayton and Horton, another power struggle between Drayton and the local religious nut. Then we get the 'Return of the Living Dead' 'Army trying to develop new weapons...' plotline to explain how the monsters came to be.

It's only when we get to the end, when Horton and a few others escape, that the movie starts to pick up pace and offer some genuine tension. I won't reveal the ending but for those who aren't expecting it, it's a bit of a shocker and one of those genuine 'what would I do if that was me?' moments. Without blowing my own trumpet, I predicted the ending about ten minutes before it happened. After saying it out loud, I was promptly told by my co-watcher that 'That wouldn't happen', and lo and behold...

Overall, 'The Mist' is an average movie with a cracking ending, designed to really make you think. The acting is so-so, the script lame and inconsistent - William Sadler's character announces that he's not a religious man, and a couple of minutes later saying prayers and lambasting non-believers, and this is before he's under the spell of the local nutter - and the special effects not amazing. With obvious comparisons to the aforementioned zombie movies, plus other chillers like 'The Fog', it's hardly what you would call original either.
On the plus side, for those who aren't too familiar with other genre movies and those who don't analyze movies too carefully, it's an okay way to kill two hours. And that ending will get you...

Continue Reading...

Film Review: Unearthed (2007)

Review by: Rick Romanowski
Released: November 2007
Written and Directed by: Matthew Leutwyler

I completely underestimated this movie; I thought that this would be another stupid zombie or plat-thing movie, where the antagonist rises from the ground to cause mass panic and mayhem. For the most part it was true, however, there are not zombies or plants, in fact; this movie is about a Native American myth that was buried under ground after it nearly whipped out the Anasazi tribe. Much to my liking of the plot, it goes further to explain that this "thing" may not have come from this world, but another.

This movie had a very Alien look to it; in fact the creature looked a lot like the Xenomorphs from the Alien films intermixed with the creatures from Feast (2006). There were some great establishing shots including silhouettes and angular shots. The film had three natural colors including green, warm colors and blue colors. However, when the action heightens and the creature attacks, the camera goes from steady shots to shaky hand-held shots and it's hard to see what is going on. Almost keeping you on the edge of your seat and hoping to catch a glimpse of what is going on.

The acting was pretty good and it had some great emotional feeling to it. There were points where the acting was a bit over the top, but I enjoyed the performances by them. I was hoping for a more gradual character development but it went too fast and at the end, you didn’t really care for the characters.

This movie was very well done for what seems like a low budget. This movie also does a great job blinding you with flashlights and glow sticks. There were some great scares that reminded me of Neil Marshall's Descent, as a matter of fact, the cave scenes were a great tribute to that exact film. The directors were heavily influenced by some of the more classic and modern horror films and they did a great job applying those aspects to this movie. Sure there are some pretty cheesy parts, but other than that, this movie was pretty good.

I would recommend this movie to any horror fan that loves creature features, horror-action, and Neil Marshall or Ridley Scott films. I would go as far to say that if you enjoyed Tremors or the Abyss, you would like this film. There are some great scares and I would strongly recommend this movie to any horror fan.

Continue Reading...

Film Review: Pathology (2008)

Review by: By Chris Ward

Release Date: April 18th Limited Release

Director: Marc Schölermann

Writers (WGA): Mark Neveldine (written by) & Brian Taylor (written by)

'Pathology' is an interesting little thriller. On the one hand it tries (and fails) to deliver a sense of morality to its preceding, a la 'Saw', but it just doesn't have that movie's depth or characters that you really care about. On the other hand, it does kill (!) 90 minutes and deliver a satisfactory ending.

The plot (or lack of) centres around brilliant graduate student Ted Grey (Milo Ventimiglia), a beacon of respectability and high moral values, who joins a team of fellow pathologists that have God-like egos. The main protagonist, Jake (Michael Weston), dares Ted to join 'The Game' - where the person being dared has to kill at random and the rest of the team have to use their skills to show how the deed was done. Will the seemingly incorruptible Ted take up the challenge of getting one over on his fellow interns?

All sounds good, but the main problem with this movie is that it all seems to happen very quickly. On day one, Ted starts his new job. By the end of day two, he's smoking crack, getting drunk out of his mind and is getting it on with Jake's girl. The sense of a morally sound man losing his decency and spiraling out of control is lost and therefore it's hard to sympathize with the character of Ted. That is until his fiance shows up, in the shape of butter-wouldn't-melt junior lawyer Gwen. It is only then that we see Ted start to really struggle with his conscience.
The performances are solid. Milo Ventimiglia comes across as a strong leading actor, whilst Michael Watson gives a flamboyant yet unnerving performance as the detestable Jake.

The autopsy scenes are gratuitously graphic and realistic (although I'm sure that during the second-to-last autopsy, the length of the body keeps changing as the camera moves around it - oh well) as are the very quick sex scenes. It is a shame that there was a real lack of character development and the fact that the movie relies on a high level of viewer expectancy - we are supposed to accept that there is a chamber below the hospital that nobody ever visits, yet the entrance is right next to the loading bay, and silly things like that - as there was a real potential for an edgy 'Saw'-esque thriller.

Continue Reading...

Film Review: Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Review by: SweetReviewer
Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Released: August 22, 2009

Inglorious Basterds, although not considered Horror certainly has its share of gore and can be well classified under the category for today. It is also subsequently directed by Quentin Tarantino who loves gore and terrorizing audiences with his films. This movie turned out to be Glorious by the end of the night.

This Movie stars Brad Pitt as Aldo Raine aka “The Apache” the lead lieutenant for “The Basterds”--- Jewish -American soldiers that are sent to brutally kill, terrorize and Scalp Nazis, they include: Eli Roth as Sergeant Donnie Donowitz who beats Nazis to death with a baseball bat aka “The Bear Jew”; Michael Fassbender as Lieutenant Archie Cox; Til Scweigher as Sergeant Hugo Stiglitz an ex Nazi ---The name Hugo Stiglitz is Tarantino’s homage to a 1970’s Mexican actor; Corporal Wilhelm Wicki played by Gedeon Burkhardt; B.J Novak as Private Smithson Utivich aka “The little one” ---PFC Simon Sakowitz ( Carlos Fidel) PFC Andy Kagan (Paul Rust) PFC. Hirschberg (Samm Levine) and PFC Zimmerman ( Michael Bacall)
Also starring is Melanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus ---a French-Jewish girl who escaped getting killed from the Nazis; Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa a Colonel known as the “Jew Hunter”


This movie was so well done that you can tell Quentin Tarantino took his time planning the script for this movie. The title Inglorious Basterds was inspired by a 1978 movie called “The Inglorious Bastards.” However, this is not a remake of that movie.

The film takes place in Nazi occupied France during World War II, Lt. Aldo Raine builds a unit of Soldiers “The Basterds” and instructs them to kill, torture and bring 100 nazi scalps. If and when the basterds let a prisoner go Aldo Raine carves a swastika on their foreheads so everyone recognizes them even if they take off their uniforms.
< “The Basterds”find out that Hitler will be attending a premiere and plan a way to get into the private screening. It will be hosted in Shosana Dreyfus’ theatre --- the French-Jew runaway who changes her name to Emmanuelle Miniuex. The screening is based on a Nazi soldier showing off how he defeated and killed Jews. He takes a keen interest for Shosanna and will not take no for an answer. Shosanna alongside her lover a Marcel (Jacky Ido) ---thinks this is a perfect opportunity to burn everyone of them attending the premiere and plans the private screening adding a fourth reel telling the Nazis who she really is while the theatre burns down. Meanwhile, “The Basterds” unaware of Shosanna’s existence or intent, get in the premiere but there is a lot of conflict that turn things sour for them. In the end, Shosanna’s plan is carried out. I don’t want to give anything away, but I will tell you that Inglorious Basterds has a lot of dialogue, at times in different languages, (subtitles included) it is also keen on humor and has a good amount of gore, including a bit of racism. Tarantino also depicts the importance of Americans learning a second language he makes fun of it, by putting the basterds in situations where they have to act like they speak Italian but they really have horrible accents and are unable to fool Col. Hans Landa because he speaks Italian as well as French, German and English. Tarantino also incorporates Native American customs by featuring Aldo Raine as part apache. This is why he asks the basterds for Nazi scalps. Overall, this was a well thought out film ---featuring terrific actors. Brad Pitt was very believable as a character and very humorous. Christoph Waltz was horrible and disgusting as a Nazi and this, I say in a good way. He brought a new meaning to the “psychologically disturbed bad guy” role. He was also funny at times. Tarantino also shows that during that time, the Nazis featured their killings as something to be proud off and conducted private screenings, when really it was all propaganda. The racism featured will not be well received by some, as well as the killings. But, this is something that Tarantino couldn’t have prevented in order to stay true to that time full of hatred and racism. It doesn’t only touch on one race or one culture it makes fun of Americans,Jews,Africans,Black,Germans etc. This is a movie that I definitely would buy on DVD and replay it, for the laughs, dialogue and gore. It was pretty interesting and action packed as well.

Continue Reading...

Film Review: Grace (2009)

5 Blood Drops for Grace.
Review: by Sweetreviewer

How far can the maternal bond between mother and child go?

Directed and Written by: Paul Solet

Grace deals with loss, the mental effects that death creates on us humans, and the wanting of something so bad you’ll do anything to keep it alive. That’s what baby Grace is an “It.”

We weren’t wrong in judging this movie merely by watching the trailer, and knowing this film was going to seriously do damage to ones psyche. This movie is completely different to what others think it might be. It might lead you to think it’s another Rosemarie’s baby rip-off, but it is far beyond that comparison.

This independent movie only screened in certain theaters.

Madeline Matheson(Jordan Ladd) is a vegetarian that has already had miscarriages and is trying to conceive another child. She becomes successful and decides not to conceive it at a hospital and goes to a mid-wife. Madeline and her husband Michael Matheson (Stephen Park) suffer a car accident. A tragedy happens and Madeline sees herself with preeclampsia ---she later learns that the baby has died. She refuses to go to a hospital and decides to conceive the baby until full term. The mid-wife(Samantha Farris) delivers the still born child, and then realizes that the baby was born dead, but miraculously becomes alive and well. Madeline’s mother in law (Gabrielle Rose) is upset and thinks that Madeline isn’t well at all. She feels Madeline is insane. But the mother in law Vivienne Matheson is having issues of her own as well ---issues of loss and regression. Grace turns out to be a bloodsucking baby. We don’t know what she is… a zombie? ---Or Perhaps a vampire? ---Or maybe a Hybrid? That’s the beauty of this movie even when it ends we still don’t know what grace is.

Overall, this movie is odd, different and interesting. It deals with unresolved issues of motherhood and co-dependency, with an ironic climax. This movie is for those that aren’t bothered by touchy subjects such as this one. It’s for those that can stomach a good well done horror movie. It’s not your typical scary movie; it’s more profound; more psychological as we like it.

With that said... I’ll leave you with this quote from the Director Paul Solet in an interview with shocktillyoudrop

“Grace is all about keeping people off balance. It's about kicking the knees out from under the audience and cutting open their guts and reaching in and f**king with their soul.”

Continue Reading...

Film Review: Trick ‘r Treat (2007)

Written and Directed by:Michael Dougherty
Release Date: October 2009

Review by: Rick Romanowski

It’s very rare to see an original horror film these days let alone an original film about the spirit of Halloween. There have been a few but they haven’t even scratched the surface of the true meaning of Halloween. Trick r’ Treat is one of those movies that blew my mind away and did not disappoint me all the way through. The movie is about interconnecting stories that all happen on the same night; a couple who blows out the pumpkin before Halloween is done, a school teacher who happens to be a killer, a group of kids who play a prank that’s gone too far, a young woman who is stalked by a mysterious man, a curmudgeonly old man is visited by a small little trick-or-treater. One of the things that I enjoyed about this movie was that it was almost like a fair tale… the whole movie had an eerie fantasy element to it, as though Tim Burton did it.

There were a lot of scary moments and for me, at first, they scared the crap out of me but then after a while I got used to them… but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t freaky. Some of the creepier moments would be the twists at the end of all the stories; hell, even the music was creepy as hell! Although, there were some funny parts to this movie but this humor was very, very dark. This is the kind of humor that you probably would only understand if you were a horror fan or knew about Halloween customs. Ex: the teacher is trying to bury the bodies but his son keeps yelling down from the window asking him when he’s going to help him carve up the pumpkins. Horror and comedy wise, this movie was an overall delight.

What made this movie even better, and may provide a reason for why it seemed so fantasized and eerie was that they made each story as though it was coming from a comic book named ‘Trick r’ Treat,” much like what Romero and King did when they made Creepshow. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if that were one of Dougherty’s inspirations. The beginning sets us up that these are comic book stories and the ending showed a rapid-fire montage of comic book panels.

I could go into real detail with this review and I could write a whole paper on this movie but if I do, I would end up giving away major plot points. Therefore, I STRONGLY, STRONGLY, STRONGLY urge any horror fans to see this movie and even if you’re not… go see this movie because it will blow your mind away. Just make sure you respect the customs otherwise… you’ll be meeting Sam very soon.

Continue Reading...

Film Review: A Perfect Getaway.

by: SweetReviewer

Release Date: August 7,2009
Written and Directed by: David Twohy

What to say except, I expected more from this movie. Although, this movie is not categorized as horror but as a thriller it deserved to be watched; sometimes thrillers tend to be a little more real in the sense that they can be scarier if it were to occur in real life. This movie starts off with a newlywed couple Cidney (Jovovich) and Cliff (Zahn) go off backpacking in Hawaii when there is word that psychopaths are going around killing tourists. The rumor around the island is that the murders were committed by a couple, along their journey Cidney and Cliff meet four other couples. Most of the movie is based on Cidney and Cliff’s journey in Hawaii.

The characters are believable and great actors. Milla Jovovich was great in the movie but she has done better with resident evil, since its more action packed, and more horror is involved. This movie takes you on a whirl wind with the writing. The climax is surprising, but it makes you feel like the writer tried so hard to keep the audience guessing until the end, that parts of the movie ---character scenes that were displayed in the beginning. turned out not to coordinate with the climax. Overall, it’s worth watching just to find out who the killer or killers are, but the movie itself wasn’t convincing enough. It didn’t have as much action until the climax/twist.

This movie didn't have much gore. It felt like Twohy planned to write the movie and direct it on the sole basis of the ending. Well there you have it, watch this movie for the great actors and the ending. This isn’t a movie to watch if you desire gore or to get terrified. Well like in Stephen King’s Secret Window,” The most important part of a story is the ending.”

Continue Reading...