And Soon the Darkness (2010)

Two American girls are on a bicycle tour through remote Argentina, but decide to set out on their own for the last few days of their vacation. Stephanie (Amber Heard) is trying to get over a recent break-up while Ellie (Odette Yustman) is the more free-spirited, wild one. After the two have an argument, Stephanie leaves Ellie sunbathing alone by an isolated river. When Stephanie returns to reconcile with her friend, she finds Ellie missing. While searching for her friend and getting no help from the local police, Stephanie turns to a fellow American named Michael (Karl Urban) for help. However, it seems that even Michael has his own secrets that make Stephanie distrust him. With no one to trust, will Stephanie be able to find Ellie before this movie turns into another Turistas or Hostel? Hmmmm…I’m betting not…

I was ready and willing to give And Soon the Darkness a chance…I figured it might do something new and put a twist on the whole tourists-in-peril sub-genre. I was even willing to put up with the poor man’s versions of Megan Fox (Yustman) and Scarlett Johansson (Heard). The film started off okay…especially since it was actually filmed in Argentina and the vistas were pretty spectacular. However, the film didn’t offer anything unique in regards to its storyline, which really is a pity considering the beautiful location they had to work with. Instead it limps along the well-tread “torture porn” road with a bit of black market sex slavery thrown in for good measure. If I had wanted to see that I would have just re-watched the excellent Shuttle (watch it NOW if you haven’t seen it yet) instead of sitting through this bland “horror” film.

In fact “bland” is an apt word to describe And Soon the Darkness, as it applies to nearly everything in the film. Bland acting, bland writing, a bland storyline, bland torture…The only thing that wasn’t bland was the direction by Marcos Efron and the cinematography by Gabriel Beristain. Of course, the natural beauty of Argentina may have made capturing its loveliness easy! I would even go so far as to say that if the film was re-cut it could be used as a way to promote tourism for the country (providing they cut out all the kidnapping, unfriendly locals, crooked police and torture…which should be easy since the film doesn’t really boast many of these scenes).

If you’re looking for horror, though, you’ll be sadly disappointed with And Soon the Darkness. While it has some great touristy shots that look like they belong in National Geographic, the film’s storyline fails to evoke any real scares since its premise is something we’ve all seen before (and in better films). It tries for a slow burn but falters in that it never actually goes anywhere. By the time Stephanie figured out what was going on I was beyond caring anyway and I just had to throw my hands up in the air when the story went the clichéd way of so many other films. I was at the very least hoping for a bit of a twist at the end that would differentiate this film from its ilk, but no such luck.

What I do find interesting is that this film is actually a remake of a 1970’s film of the same name, something I did not find out until after viewing the 2010 version. Despite the remake’s failure, I’m just a little bit curious as to how the original compares and may seek it out. If it turns out to be a fantastic film, I may have to actually thank And Soon the Darkness for actually doing something for me besides showing me pretty pictures of Argentina. For now though, the only thing that And Soon the Darkness did was bore me to death…and make me want to visit rural Argentina, even though the film should have had the opposite effect in both instances.

Available on Amazon!

The Legacy (1979)

Always a sucker for ‘70s thrillers set in old mansions with an occult/satanic twist, I decided to check out The Legacy, a 1979 flick starring Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross. While it focused less on the occult than I expected and was set up more of like a murder mystery whodunit, I found myself enjoying The Legacy, creepy cats and all (more on this later).

The film is about Los Angeles architect Margaret Walsh (Katharine Ross) who receives a mysterious job offer from England. Before her job starts, she and her boyfriend Pete (Sam Elliott) embark on a bike ride through Europe, but trouble starts when an accident puts their fate in the hands of the wealthy Jason Mountolive (John Standing), who insists they recuperate at his sprawling estate. Soon, other guests begin arriving and Margaret realizes she may have been handpicked and brought to the estate to inherit a sinister legacy. As various guests begin dying off, can Margaret and Pete escape before it is too late?

As far as 70s satanic films go, The Legacy pretty middle-of-the-road. It’s not one of the best but it’s certainly not one of the worst. However, I appreciate that it’s not your typical satanic cult film and not a lot of emphasis is placed on the “black magick” aspect of the film. Instead, it focuses on the mystery of why Margaret is part of the proceedings and who is going to die next.

The story takes a while to get going, as the first 30 or so minutes are spent on Margaret and Pete exploring the estate and puzzling over the other guests and the rather unhelpful help. The “mystery” as to why they are there and why guests are dying is pretty obvious, but it’s still fun to watch them slowly piece it all together.

Of course, it has its WTF moments – like the horrible opening credits that feature the worst song EVER to assault my ears in a horror movie, or the copious shots of cats throughout the estate (which are never really explained, though I guess they are Mountolive’s or the Devil’s minions keeping an eye on things), or repetitive shots of Margaret and Pete driving round and round on country roads trying to escape but somehow always ending up at the estate – but it also hosts some neat-o moments. The first death, featuring a drowning in a pool, comes pretty unexpectedly and jars you awake after the somewhat slow first 30 minutes of the film. There is also a scene that occurs a bit later featuring a rock star (played by Roger Daltrey) choking on a chicken bone and an emergency tracheotomy being performed on him that’s quite well-done! And who can forget the reveal of Mountolive on his deathbed?

Sure, the gore is non-existent and some of the deaths are a little cheesy (especially the one where Charles Gray’s character burns to death), but director Richard Marquand (who would go on to direct 1983’s Return of the Jedi) does a pretty good job of delivering an atmospheric, not-quite-satanic occult/supernatural story. The use of the mansion, with its labyrinth of seemingly never-ending rooms and grounds, creates a creepy atmosphere as the estate takes on a character all its own. Marquand even creates a claustrophobic feeling, even with all that space, that makes the audience feel as trapped as the guests. And the ending just feels pitch-perfect in a dark, twisted way!

The Legacy is an entertaining, though at times cheesy, occult flick from the ‘70s. From the awful opening music number to the silly “sinister” shots of cats (yeah, WTF?!) this movie had me giggling most of the time, but it also had its moments of tension and shocks and was entertaining throughout it’s hour and a half running time. It may not be entirely memorable, but The Legacy decides a look at least once!

Available from Amazon!

Triangle (2009)

Triangle is a surprising straight-to-DVD flick…when I first watched it I hadn’t heard anything about it, so I wasn’t expecting too much out of it. However, it’s a great little flick that offers plenty of twists and turns that will keep your mind reeling!

I’m not even sure how to describe it so I’ll let the Netflix description do the synopsizing:

“Murder strikes the Bermuda Triangle in this gripping high-seas horror starring Melissa George, Liam Hemsworth and Rachael Carpani. Jess encounters the first of many bad omens when her car kills a seagull near the local harbor. Later that night, her yacht hits a storm, forcing her and her friends to board a mysterious deserted ship. The clock on the ship has stopped — and so has any sense of safety. Christopher Smith writes and directs.”

Though the synopsis mentions the Bermuda Triangle, it’s never explicitly mentioned within the film and the above synopsis doesn’t quite do the movie justice. When Jess (a perfectly manic Melissa George) and friends board the ship, a strange time loop occurs and Jess must essentially battle future and past selves to get off the ship. Ok, so it sounds a little hokey, but rest assured it isn’t! The film is played as straight as can be with plenty of shocks, suspense and scares! This is certainly one film that gets inside your head…even when you think you can relax Triangle surprises you with more twists and turns.

Christopher Smith, who writes and directs, did a fantastic job creating an ominous atmosphere, both within the story as well as with the visuals of the film. I really didn’t know what was going to happen and the script kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time! Also, the decrepit old ship was definitely foreboding, especially with its dark mazes of hallways and the washed-out color palate Smith used when shooting above-deck or on land. The visuals helped create a sense of disorientation that mimicked the emotions of Jess as she tried to figure out what was happening and how to stop it.

Along with messing with your head, the film also features some pretty impressive violence. People are shot, stabbed, choked, drowned and so on. This isn’t a “gore” film by any means, but I thought the amount of blood was quite appropriate for the tone of the film. It also boasts plenty of creepy scenes, like when a masked killer is going after Jess and her friends. My favorite scene? When Jess stumbles upon the duplicate bodies and bodies of her friend who, in this strange time loop, has died again and again and again and again…

Just awesomeness…

I think it’s better to go into Triangle with little or no expectations, so I don’t wanna blab and give too much away. This horror flick comes highly recommended from yours truly…and just wait for a jaw-dropper of an ending!

Available on Amazon!

The Canyon (2009)

What comes to mind when you think of the Grand Canyon? Wide, expansive spaces? Majestic views? Awe-inspiring vistas? Certainly fear and/or tragedy isn’t one of the first things you think of (well, I hope not anyway!), but the Grand Canyon has had its share of shocking deaths within its deep walls.

According to Wikipedia, “About 600 deaths have occurred in the Grand Canyon since the 1870s. Some of these deaths occurred as the result of overly zealous photographic endeavors, some were the result of airplane collisions within the canyon, and some visitors drowned in the Colorado River. Many hikers overestimate their fitness level, become dehydrated and confused, and must be rescued.”

The Canyon preys upon people’s fear of being lost in the wilderness and of nature in general. It tells the tale of city slickers and eloped newlyweds Nick (Eion Bailey) and Lori (Yvonne Strahovski) who decide to spend their honeymoon taking a mule ride down to the Grand Canyon’s floor. Problem is, they need a permit and permits have to be booked months in advance. They think all hope is lost, but then they meet weathered tour guide Henry (Will Patton), who promises he can procure the necessary permits and guide them down the Grand Canyon. Things start off well, but when they reach the canyon floor disaster strikes when Henry suffers a nasty fall off his mule and is bitten by rattlesnakes. Without their mules and no way to reach the outside world for help, Nick and Lori must find their way out of the canyon…before it is too late.

I’ll be honest, I was intrigued by the trailers for The Canyon. I thought there was a chance for the film, a take on the nature-run-amuck subgenre, to actually be good. Unfortunately, the film is as bland as vanilla and never pushes boundaries.

The best part of the film, the beautiful setting, is the most fleeting and ill-used. Sure, the characters are constantly surrounded by the towering canyon walls, but the Grand Canyon’s vastness isn’t quite captured. I wish director Richard Harrah and cinematographer Nelson Cragg had tried to make the titular character a bit more menacing and scary. It would have been nice to see the Grand Canyon become a character onto itself, but it became secondary to the other natural horrors experienced by the married couple.

Also, the script by Steve Allrich was painfully generic. The only thing that really stood out was the wily character of Henry (which also yielded the only stand out performance, by Will Patton). The characters of Nick and Lori were boring and I couldn’t really root for them because I knew so little about them. Plus, they make some truly bone-headed decisions (hey, let’s climb this cliff that goes hundreds of feet straight up! Hey, let’s not backtrack our steps but try to find another way out!). And, again, the biggest underdeveloped character was the Grand Canyon itself. It was supposed to be this formidable opponent of the married couple, but it really felt like the film could have been set anywhere and it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference. It really is a pity, because the Grand Canyon definitely has the potential to be formidable, but this film just didn’t capitalize enough on its location.

I kept waiting and waiting for The Canyon to become thrilling, but the moment never came. There were some shocking scenes (including a pretty tense amputation scene), but they never amounted to much. The Canyon is just far too safe and generic for me…and wasted a perfectly frightening setting!

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The Thaw (2009)

The threat of global warming is an issue few are ignorant on, but which many still seem to ignore. The melting ice caps, changes in climate and extinction of species definitely point to a troubling future, but it seems that few have done anything to cut back on their environmental impact on the Earth (don’t worry, I’m not going to start preaching at you).

Now, whether you believe in global warming or not, it still falls to logic that all our pollution from various industries must be affecting the environment in some way, or, at the very least, that natural resources are becoming more and more limited as more and more people inhabit our world. You can’t really argue that this doesn’t pose a strain on our environment, but still many of us (including me) have a tendency to turn a blind eye to the destruction of our planet.

Throughout history there have been instances where disease, natural disasters and other catastrophes happen that result in a large percentage of the human population being thinned. Do you ever wonder what the next chaotic event will be? Do you ever wonder if Mother Nature will finally do something to protect herself and lash out at the human population? Well, The Thaw poses that frightening question and answers it with a pretty scary conclusion.

A renowned eco-scientist, Dr. David Kruipen (Val Kilmer) is in remote northern Canada researching the effects of global warming. He and his team uncover the preserved remains of a woolly mammoth, but soon discover that the mammoth is also harboring a deadly 20,000 year-old parasite that quickly infects them.

Meanwhile, a group of three students and Kruipen’s daughter Evelyn (Martha MacIsaac, from The Last House on the Left remake) are on their way up to the research facility. When they arrive via helicopter, they discover the research facility deserted…except for a decaying corpse of a polar bear.

They soon discover that the nasty little parasites are inside the polar bear and lay eggs inside of their victims. Sure enough, they start getting bitten by the parasites, but that’s not all. After the bugs lay eggs inside their hosts, they eat their way from the inside out. The group must find a way to stop the bug’s spread, before they are unleashed upon the world.

The Thaw is a realistic horror film that seems especially relevant in these turbulent times. I like my horror films to be pertinent and socially conscious, and The Thaw fit the bill perfectly. Of course, even those that prefer blood and guts over social commentary will also be pleasantly surprised by the tension-filled The Thaw.

In addition to the relevant story, the pacing of the film is very fast. From the opening scenes of a nasty bug extraction to Dr. Kruipen’s videotaped confessions to a grisly scene of amputation and the nasty bug infestations, my eyes were glued to the screen for the entire running time. The action was tense, and except for a few poor decisions by the characters, everything felt very realistic. The characters were also refreshing and didn’t feature the usual dumb teens. Evelyn was a wonderful final girl who took charge almost immediately and seemed to have more common sense and scientific knowledge than the students. The students were a bit grating at times, but overall their characters’ reactions felt realistic…even if some of their decisions were poor.

As for the actors, most of them did a commendable job, especially Martha MacIsaac as Evelyn. She came off as a spoiled brat in the beginning, but really showed some intense leadership skills as the film progressed. I also have to point out Viv Leacock, who played Bart the helicopter pilot, for his even and brave portrayal…even during and after a nasty amputation. Val Kilmer must also be mentioned here, even if he was only in a third of the film. He played the Doctor very convincingly, with an eerie, unsettling calmness that really forewarned of the calamity that would follow in his wake.

The special effects were the real standouts of the film, though. From the parasites burrowing and squirming into flesh to the mushy egg sacs to the freshly-hatched young devouring their hosts and so on, I was left with the heebie jeebies! Nothing is completely over-the-top, but the gruesome scenes carry with them a sense of reality, like something is possible and could happen…if we aren’t careful. The film reminded me of a mix of Cabin Fever, The Ruins and The Last Winter.

The Thaw is a film that creeps under your skin and squirms there, tickling your mind with its social conscious stance as well as its gruesome set pieces. It reminds us that Mother Nature can only take so much before she reveals her most shocking secrets to us…secrets that could spell humanity’s demise.

Order it on Amazon!

Seventh Moon (2009)

Eduardo Sánchez returns to direct his third film after co-helming The Blair Witch Project and directing his under-appreciated Altered. Like his previous films, Seventh Moon keeps the cast small and the action psychologically intense, creating an atmospheric film. Yet, Seventh Moon is probably my least favorite of Sánchez’s projects, hampered by unnecessary shaky cam and too much repetition.

Newlyweds Melissa (Amy Smart) and Yul (Tim Chiou) are honeymooning in Yul’s home country, China, during Hungry Ghost month. Every seventh moon on the seventh month the gates between the living and the dead open and the dead are free to roam the earth. Chinese leave offerings for the dead so they won’t enter their homes and play evil tricks on the. Melissa and Yul happily go along with the traditions, but don’t believe in the ancient legends. They have their driver, Ping (Dennis Chan), drive them to a destination in the country, but Ping gets lost and must wander to a nearby village to ask for directions. When he doesn’t come back, Melissa and Yul go looking for him, but find only live animal offerings tied up in the village’s courtyard. None of the villagers will open their doors and Yul can’t quite make out what they keep chanting. Sufficiently spooked, Yul and Melissa head back to the car and try to drive away, but after something dashes across the dirt road, they crash the car and must continue on foot as the spirits of the dead close in on them.

From the get-go Seventh Moon failed to really grab me. From Yul and Melissa taking part in the rituals and burning offerings in the city to when they ended up in the desolate countryside I just never got fully invested in the story or the characters. I appreciated that the writers, Jamie Nash and Eduardo Sánchez, tried something new and didn’t stick with a traditional Western horror story but I just didn’t enjoy how the story was executed.

First of all, the unnecessary shaky cam got really annoying really fast. Its use made sense in The Blair Witch Project, but I was baffled by its use here. Does Sánchez really want to be known as “that guy” who uses unnecessary shaky cam in all his films? I understand using it to put the audience “in the moment”, but its use here just distracted me from the actual story and took me out of the story rather than making me feel a part of it. Plus, there were several frustrating scenes where you couldn’t see what was going on. Perhaps this was the intent of the filmmaker in order to make it spookier, but to me it just made the film more frustrating to watch.

Second, the story was rather undeveloped and the film is basically just one big chase scene. Melissa and Yul flee from the ghosts, hide somewhere, the ghosts discover them, they run again, hide again and start the whole process over…and over…and over. Gets really boring really fast. And, of course, the whole “don’t trust country-folk” moral of the story is itself pretty generic.

As for the good, I really enjoyed Amy Smart’s performance as Melissa. Despite all her screaming, she was definitely the one in charge and kept a level head throughout the whole ordeal. Unlike some horror heroines, she didn’t just sit there and sob and rely on the guy to save her. Instead, she was the leader, crafted the plans and in the end faced off with the ghosts herself. Kudos to Nash and Sánchez for creating a strong female lead! We need more of these kick ass heroines in horror movies!

I also thought that the last scene in the film (despite the shaky cam used) was pretty damn heart-stopping, as Melissa is chased by what looks like hundreds of ghosts (you can see this in the trailer below, so, no, I’m not spoiling anything!). The ghosts themselves were pretty eerie, and Sánchez wisely kept them out of focus for the main bulk of the film. Their design was simple, but, boy, was it ever effective! I’ve got to give special FX company Spectral Motion props for making Asian ghosts scary again!

Still, despite the positives, the repetitive scenes and shaky cam movements spoiled Seventh Moon for me. A mediocre effort from Sánchez that stands in sharp contrast to his far superior earlier films.

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Book Review: Anoxic Zone by John G Rees

The term “anoxic zone” refers to “an oxygen-depleted region in a marine environment,” according to Answers.com. In this novel, the anoxic zone in question is in the Black Sea. According to author John R Rees, the anoxic zone “occurs naturally at depths greater than 200 meteres [and] has no oxygen to support life or accelerate decay. This creates a unique environment for the preservation of ancient shipwrecks, as well as modern day detritus.” 

When I first picked up Anoxic Zone I had no idea what the term meant or how it would be used within the context of the novel, but I have to admit I was definitely intrigued. I hadn’t heard about anything like it before so I was eager to dive right in (pardon the pun). Plus, the synopsis offered some supernatural hints as to who, or what, the main characters were. Take a looksie at the description from the back cover and see if you get an inkling as to what they are:

This is the tale of two men, who become service personnel for Megacorp, a multi-national corporation that operates under its own laws. The dark cadre is brought back to life to maintain the infrastructure of a narcissistic, self-involved culture at the end of the industrial age. Chosen for their skills, Jake, a commercial diver, and Johnny, a scientist, have been friends for over one hundred years. Human curiosity and human nature conspire to have our friends discover just what they are; the whys and hows of how they came to be.

In the course of this discovery they release evil that spawned their kind, which had been imprisoned and used by Megacorp in a most despicable manner.

Their adventure takes them from Hawaii to Romania and the Black Sea, as Jake and John struggle to accept what they have become while trying to keep the evil from the hands of Megacorp and return it to the darkness of its birth.

This novel definitely has a lot going on, from Jake and John’s initial discovery of what they are to their escape from Megacorp to encountering their “maker” to plotting how to destroy him. Don’t let the slim tome, coming in at just under 300 pages, fool you -  author Rees has packed a lot of action into this novel! That’s not to say it is convoluted, by any means. The pacing of the story is quick and just keeps drawing you in as you get further and further into the story. I ravenously drank it up!

I also love that author Rees has set the book in a not-too-distant future where people have become lazy and prefer that menial and/or dangerous labor be done by a part of the population called “reusables”…kinda sounds like the current state of things, no? Rees also borrows from several different genres to complete Anoxic Zone, too. There is futuristic sci-fi, a bit of noir, a lot of historical facts, a touch of romance, gore, action and horror…pretty much a little bit of everything!

The locations vary as much as the tone of novel. We start off in Hawaii, then move to the unearthly underwater world, then to the bustling ports of Romania and eventually to the Carpathian mountains…with many other stops in-between! Rees effortlessly captures the atmosphere of each location in the novel and brings them to life. I especially loved the descriptions of the crumbling, centuries-old castle in the most remote region of the Carpathian mountains.

I loved the characterizations of our two lead characters, Jake and John, and their transformations over the years as they embrace what they really are. If you haven’t guessed already by their old age, they are vampires, though I don’t think the word “vampire” is ever mentioned in the book! Megacorp has made them and many others like this, calling them “reusables” and using them for dangerous or life-threatening work. Jake can dive to depths far further than any human ever could and also go without air for longer. John can test out disease, viruses, etc. on himself to see their effects but won’t die from these experiments. Yet, when they both discover their true nature and the true extent of their abilities they attract the attention of a notorious (and historical) Count who spawned their race…and wants revenge on those that have used him. John and Jake go from lowly “reusables” to realizing their power and becoming the pupils of their “master,” until he takes things too far and John and Jake turn against him.

And the “master” himself is quite a force to be reckoned with. Rees draws from a well-known historical figure (the very ruler who inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula) to create a menacing and scary villain that still elicits awe from the two main characters as well as the reader.

Anoxic Zone is a very unique, nontraditional vampire tale that I couldn’t put down! It is a thrilling, exciting read that tries something new with the tired vampire genre…and succeeds! If you get a chance, I highly recommend picking up John G Rees Anoxic Zone!

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Long Weekend (1978)

Earlier this year I watched the disappointing Nature’s Grave, which I found out was actually a remake of the 1978 Australian film Long Weekend. As I dug a little deeper I discovered that many people held Long Weekend in high regard and it had been called one of the greatest nature-run-amuck films ever made. So after watching the unremarkable remake, which was supposedly shot-for-shot of the original, I felt it was only fair to go back to the source and watch Long Weekend.

Long Weekend isn’t your standard nature’s revenge flick – it is far more subtle, and is more of a psychological struggle between a bickering city couple and the unfamiliar outdoors they’ve chosen as a vacation spot. Some could argue that there is a supernatural element to the proceedings, but everything that happens also has a perfectly logical, natural explanation as well…it just seems supernatural because the city slickers aren’t familiar with nature and definitely don’t respect it.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me give a brief synopsis of Long Weekend:

Peter (John Hargreaves) and Marcia (Briony Behets) are a married couple who are obviously having some issues. To hopefully patch up their marriage they head out to a deserted beach for a long weekend. Peter brings his dog, Cricket, and his trusty rifle to shoot at random stuff as he drinks beer, leaving a trail of litter in his wake. Marcia does nothing but complain that they are far away from her friends and how she would much rather spend a nice weekend at a luxury hotel, all the while burning a hole in the ozone layer as she constantly hoses down the campsite with bug spray. The couple continues to have a flippant disregard for the environment – Marcia flicks cigarette butts everywhere, Peter throws beer bottles into the brush and kills innocent animals (he runs over a kangaroo, kills a mama duck with an errant bullet and shoots a sea cow repeatedly). Soon, the laws of nature come into play and Peter and Marcia face the harsh justice of the jungle.

Long Weekend is a gorgeous film, with wide panning shots of the crystal-clear surf and white sand beach. The pristine environment makes the destruction Peter and Marcia cause that much more ugly and harsh. It’s a very sharp contrast between the food wrappers, cigarette butts, bottles of beer and the once pure coastline. Yet, in the finale when Peter stumbles upon another abandoned campsite we see how humans may come and go but Mother Nature seems to bounce back from any blight humans mar her with. Director Colin Eggleston definitely crafted a socially conscious and stunning film that was way ahead of its time.

As for the story, writer Everett De Roche really involves the audience in his cautionary tale. As mentioned earlier, it has a bit of a supernatural feel to it, but you could also look at it from a very rational point of view as well. It’s all in how you perceive the film, and I like how De Roche left it ambiguous for the audience. I also like how the characters were so unlikable, yet you were still interested to see what would happen to them and even a bit concerned for their safety (even though they brought their misfortune on themselves). All their trouble basically stemmed from poor decisions they made and their unfamiliarity with the outdoors. I mean, who really steals an eagle egg, smashes it and doesn’t expect the bird to come after them or approaches a possum and doesn’t expect to get bitten? Though the two leads make poor decisions, there is a part of you wishing they get out alive and perhaps learn a lesson not to mess with nature. Kudos to De Roche for making us care about such unlikable characters.

Both Briony Behets and John Hargreaves must also be commended for their strong performances in Long Weekend. They are basically the only two characters in the film, plus they are rotten individuals (she is always nagging while he is just an asshole, plus they have their own nasty secrets that come out as the film progresses), and yet we cannot take our eyes away from them. I think the biggest problem with the remake, Nature’s Grave, was the acting. In the remake the two leads didn’t have the fiery chemistry that Behets and Hargreaves possess, nor did they play it as realistically. Hargreaves and Behets really sell the characters and really involve us in the story, making us want to see and learn more about their vile characters.

There is also a lot to discover within the story itself, as the secrets of the secluded beach reveal themselves. The film is slow-paced, but that doesn’t make it bad by any means! Instead, it spends time building the tension and is punctuated by several shocking scenes (Peter’s crossbow accidentally going off and almost hitting Marcia, an aerial attack by an eagle, a menacing shape in the water while Peter is out swimming, Peter’s exploration of an overgrown campsite, and so on). The atmosphere of slowly-building dread is nicely accompanied by a beautiful score that helps accentuate the eeriness and tension of the film.

If you happen to come across Nature’s Grave, I recommend skipping it and renting the far superior original, Long Weekend. Though this is not your typical “animals-run-amuck” revenge film, it is still a breathtaking and tension-filled film that deserves to be seen by those that like their slowly-creeping horror!

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Book Review: Dark Lullaby by Mayra Calvani

Dark Lullaby is a modern-day dark fairy tale, but not like your typical Disney happily-ever-after BS. Instead, this dark tale is like traditional folklore from Eastern Europe, dark, unsettling, mysterious and shocking. The supernatural villain in this book is unlike anything I’ve ever heard of or seen before in the horror genre, creating an aura of exotic mystery along with the distant setting of Turkey.

The tale starts with Gabriel fresh out of a three year relationship with Liz. The two remain close friends and have met up at a local bar for drinks and philosophical discussion of good vs. evil. The alluring and mysterious Kamilah soon joins them, and Gabriel is entranced by her beauty as well as her discussions on human nature. Liz gets a bad feeling about Kamilah, but Gabriel soon falls head over heels in love with her. Though he can’t deny there is something unsettling about her, he just can’t seem to get her out of his mind.

Though his twin sister, Elena, is having a stressful pregnancy across the pond in Europe and Gabriel is supposed to be at the birth in a week, he agrees to go with Kamilah to her home land of Turkey for a little R and R at her family’s cottage deep in the woods. When he arrives with Kamilah in Turkey, he feels cut off from both his sister and Liz and begins to feel more unsettled by Kamilah’s petulant child-like behavior and unnerved by several strange occurrences. Gabriel begins to believe that Kamilah wants harm to come to both Elena’s unborn child and Liz. Is Kamilah someone…or something…truly evil and what are her true intentions?

Though author Mayra Calvani has written many books over a wide span of genres, this was my first encounter with the woman’s writing. Though I felt that the opening pages of the book, where Liz and Gabriel are having a philosophical debate, were a bit weak, I was soon transported into a frightening story that had a tendency to crawl under my skin and squirm long after I put the book down.

The foreboding atmosphere of the novel was really helped by the location of exotic Turkey. It really felt like the family cottage of Kamilah, surrounded by primordial forest, was straight out of an enchanted fairy tale. Then there were the quaint, cobblestone streets of the local town and the dazzling blue of the Black Sea in the distance to add to the location’s mystique. All the supernatural events that occurred to Gabriel after their arrival in Turkey felt very apropos in such a mysterious locale.

I also thought the intriguing characters added a lot to the story. Gabriel, with all his talk of reason, is a very emotional man at heart and during his trip with Kamilah his emotions are used against him to draw him further into her tangled web. Kamilah, though a whiny brat, knows how to get her way and has a very dangerous presence. I also liked the subplots involving Elena, suffering anxiety and a sense of dread during her last few weeks of pregnancy, and Liz, suffering psychological torment at the hands of an unseen assailant. Other characters stood out as well, including a Turkish witch that tries to warn Gabriel what Kamilah really is and a young boy and his abusive father whom Gabriel feels a special connection to.

As for the scares, there are many scenes that will give you chills! One that hits you hard is close to the beginning of the story where Gabriel thinks he sees something horribly strange…Kamilah’s feet on backwards! Other favorites include creepy scenes in the Turkish woods when Gabriel follows the sounds of babies crying to some very disturbing trees, an unexpected attack from a swarm of bees and a stunning finale.

Dark Lullaby is a quick-paced, fun summer read for when you need a good chill! Its basis in Turkish mythology makes it unique and the splendid setting of Turkey doesn’t get much more exotic! The supernatural tale has plenty of nightmarish imagery to keep you up at night, but the “thriller” aspects of the story make it a good read for horror fans and non-horror fans alike! There is just enough romance and intrigue to interest those who aren’t necessarily horror fans, but also enough supernatural elements and scares to keep the spooky kids entertained.

Buy it on Amazon!

The Unseen (1980)

You know the feeling you get when you discover a hidden gem of a movie? When you are incredulous that it never garnered that much attention and want to yell from the rooftops about the underappreciated genius of the film?! Well, I had never heard of the 1980 film The Unseen before and the premise made it sound exactly like a diamond in the rough whose virtues I could extol to the masses…errrr, well, it didn’t exactly turn out that way, but at the same time I still kind of liked the film!

The Unseen starts with a reporter named Jennifer (Barbara Bach) storming out of the Los Angeles apartment she shares with her injured ex-football star boyfriend Tony (Douglas Barr). It seems that Tony’s unrealistic drive to get back into football after a knee injury is driving Jennifer batty. She leaves on assignment and heads to north to Solvang with her camera woman Karen (Karen Lamm) and gal pal Vicki (Lois Young) to cover the Dutch settlement’s annual parade. The hotel apparently lost their reservation and since all the other hotels in town are booked, they are forced to look for lodging a tiny city 30 or so miles from Solvang. A seemingly kind museum owner, Ernest Keller (Sydney Lassick) offers them rooms in his large home, where they meet his “wife”, the nerve-wracked Virginia (Lelia Goldoni). After getting settled, Jennifer and Karen head back into town to cover the parade while an ill Vicki stays at the Keller’s to rest up. Unfortunately for her, something or someone that lives in the basement crawls up through the heating vents and tries to drag her down to “play”…but her head gets crushed in the process.

Meanwhile, Tony has followed Jennifer to Solvang, intent on resolving their issues. As they hash it out over dinner, Karen heads back to the Keller house and ends up much like Vicki did before her. We also learn about Ernest’s upbringing and that he takes “keeping it all in the family” a little too literally. By the time Jennifer arrives back at the Keller’s, they are more than ready for her to meet little Junior (Stephen Furst) in the basement.

The Unseen started out on a positive note, with three gung-ho, smart and likable ladies who will stop at nothing to get the story of the century about the little Dutch settlement that could! The first half of the film moves at a quick clip, with likable characters and their unfortunate decision to stay with the creepy Keller’s. There is a sense of unease around the couple, their home and what lurks in the basement. The first “kill” scene is entertaining, if a little over-the-top in how Vicki wildly reacts as she desperately tries to claw her way to safety as “something” drags her down an old-fashioned heating grate. The second kill is even better, as it involves a scarf tantalizingly dangling over another heating grate, just waiting for someone from below to grab hold of it and yank. Be warned, though, there is hardly any bloodshed and a very paltry body count, so don’t go looking for a gorefest with this one or you’ll be sorely disappointed.

While the first half of the film has an excellent set-up, the second half just doesn’t pack the same punch. By the time Jennifer arrives back to find a seemingly empty Keller house, the pacing starts to slow down and the last half of the film feels dragged out. It’s like they only had 10 minutes worth of story but dragged it out to 40 minutes. These last 40 minutes are spent in the basement while our heroine is lorded over by the overgrown, inbred lovechild of the Keller family. Of those 40 minutes, at least 15 are spent on showing the man-child gleefully clapping his hands and stuffing his teddybear down his soiled and no longer tight or white tighty-whities, all the while his chubby man-boobs peak through the remains of a tattered T-shirt. You gotta wonder how the heck he actually fit into the heating ducts in the first place! I also didn’t like the fact that he lost all scariness as soon as they decided to show him. It’s like all of a sudden, despite the fact that he’s already killed two people, we are supposed to feel sorry for the “special” guy. From then on the movie looses any momentum and tension it might have had as it presents its most menacing foe to be the tubby man of the house, Ernest. Plus, I can’t really feel sorry for the Final Girl because upon escaping the basement she didn’t even bother to lock the loony family in with the huge padlock that was hanging by the door. Instead, she went and hid in the chicken coop!! Obviously, she’s not the brightest bulb in the bunch…

The best scenes in the film featured the disturbing interactions between Ernest and Virginia. Right off the bat you know something ain’t right with the pair…and in a creepy scene featuring Ernest and the disembodied voice of his dead father you learn why. From then on it is just uncomfortable to watch the two together! The acting by Sydney Lassick as the over-eager Ernest and Lelia Goldoni as the unstable Virginia was certainly the best in the film. They played extremely well off one another and really made you squirm in your seat!

I wouldn’t call The Unseen a “gem” of a horror film, but despite its flaws it is still a neat little film that horror fans may enjoy. One the plus side, the presentation of the taboo subjects of incest and inbreeding is downright creepy, but on the negative side the tame killer and kills are mediocre and drag the film down. Overall, though, I’d say The Unseen is at least worth a rental!

Buy it on Amazon!

Nature's Grave (2009)

Australia has always captivated me. “The land down under” just seems so wild, untamed and dangerous, featuring some of the world’s most venomous/poisonous animals, insects, reptiles and plants known to man. I’ve always wanted to visit there, but the thought of adding to the destruction of its unique ecosystem just turns my stomach. I don’t want to be just another one of those disrespectful tourists that go tramping through nature, spoiling the region’s natural beauty and tranquility! Not to mention that I might come face to face with some of its more deadly inhabitants!

So, when I received the film Nature’s Grave (releasing August 4th, 2009 from Screen Media Films), which just so happens to be set in breathtaking Australia and shows how Mother Nature can strike back against careless humans, I was eager to check it out! The film opens right away on some jaw-droppingly beautiful shots of Australia’s north coast before cutting to bickering couple Peter (James Caviezel) and Carla (Claudia Karvan), who are taking a long weekend and leaving on a camping trip to try to patch up their disintegrating marriage. Of course, some stormy weather keeps them on the road longer than they expected, so they don’t arrive to the isolated, hidden beach they are planning to camp on until very late at night. Right away Carla gets a strange feeling about the place, but stubborn Peter seems more interested in getting drunk, going surfing and spending time with his dog, Cricket, than working through any of their problems (one of which is that he is a selfish prick).

The couple is supposed to meet some friends there, but they never show. As Peter kills and terrorizes the local wildlife, throws beer bottles into the ocean, hacks away at trees and Carla sprays bug spray over everything and tries to spend most of the time as far away from nature as possible, the surrounding wilderness takes on an ominous feeling. It seems that Mother Nature isn’t taking too kindly to their intrusion. They hear strange crying noises at night, Peter is attacked by an eagle, animals break into their food and something very large lurks in the water just off shore. Carla insists they leave, but Peter can’t be bothered by her warnings and just wants to stick it out.

When they realize just how much danger they are in, it’s already too late and it’s time for Mother Nature to get even…

I wasn’t aware of this before watching Nature’s Grave, but it is actually a remake of a 1978 Australian film titled Long Weekend. From what I hear it has a bit of a cult following and is definitely worth a look. As for Nature’s Grave…eh, not so much, I’m afraid. It is supposedly a shot-for-shot remake of Long Weekend, but I’m guessing it is missing A LOT of the previous film’s subtleties and nuances.

Nature’s Grave is directed by Jamie Blank, who directed the awful Storm Warning and the mediocre Valentine and Urban Legend. Often times the film feels flat, and feels like it’s missing any kind of emotional connection with the audience. There are some beautiful shots of the Australian wilderness and wildlife, but at times it just didn’t feel like there was enough. I also thought the film’s creepy moments lacked punch and could have used with a few more scares.

The story, written by Everett De Roche (he also wrote the original Long Weekend), moves at a slow-but-sure pace, and I actually enjoyed the slowly-building dread. However, the characters are highly unlikable, with an over-the-top performance by Caviezel that feels like he’s never taking his character seriously to Karvan’s strangely reserved character that doesn’t even fight back when her husband tells her to “go fuck yourself”. Neither character is interesting and you don’t want to root for either, which kills any kind of tension that De Roche tried to build in his story. Without anyone to root for to survive, I found myself waiting for Mother Nature to extract her revenge on these two characters.

Though there are a few creepy scenes – one where something is lurking in the ocean’s crystal blue waters, another where a dead animal is seemingly moving of its own accord and, towards the end, another where Peter finds some other “campers”, most of the “revenge” that happens occurs because of the two characters’ doing. In the end, it’s really their own stupidity that catches up with them as opposed to Mother Nature. This really is a pity, because I was really hoping to see the characters ripped apart by animals or plants after how disrespectfully they treated nature.

Nature’s Grave isn’t that memorable of an affair. Though it has a few spooky scenes, the performances of the two actors and the way their characters are written are just grating and make the film hard to sit through. And when their final curtain finally comes, it just doesn’t feel vicious enough for what you’ve had to put up with the last hour and a half. My advice? Seek the original Long Weekend out…it has to be infinitely better than its remake, Nature’s Grave.

Buy it on Amazon!

Dead Wood (2009)

Dead Wood starts off with indulging itself in quite a few horror cliches. The opening scene features an extraneous character running through the woods who is eventually offed by a mysterious someone or something before shifting focus to the main group of young adults who are heading out to the same isolated woods to partake in some weekend relaxation before they are offed one by one by a mysterious killer.

Yet, the “killer” is not your average psychopath but something more supernatural, and this is where this indie film finally gets interesting. Yet, before getting to the interesting bits you’ll have to slog through some seriously boring scenes of the characters staring off into space, bickering and just wandering around. Is it worth it? Read on to find out…

Two English couples leave the city and head into the woods for a fun, let’s-get-back-to-nature type weekend. There is newbie couple Jess (Rebecca Craven) and Milk (John Samuel Worsey), who are still awkward around one another, and horny couple Larri (Emily Juniper) and Webb (Fergus March). They take their VW van up into the woods and load up all their gear and hike toward what they hope is the lake. They never find the lake, but since dark is approaching decide to make camp in the middle of the forest. The next morning, they are surprised to find a mysterious girl named Ketsy (Nina Kwok) huddled over their camp fire. She says she’s been wandering for days looking for her lost boyfriend. The quartet decide to help her, but in the process of searching for Ketsy’s lost boyfriend they go missing one by one. Can the remaining survivors discover what evil presence inhabits the woods and save their friends or is it already too late?

Despite the fact that this film starts off like any other low-budget slasher flick, I like the fact that it didn’t stick to the slasher formula with the “killer.” Instead of having some masked maniac stalking the victims, in Dead Wood a more supernatural entity is behind the disappearances…and just wait until you see exactly where the bodies are being kept!

I really liked the different direction the film went towards the end, but nonetheless I still had to wade through the crappy first part of the film. The opening scene was cliche, but the scene directly after where Jess and Milk are waiting for the van to come pick them up was completely unnecessary and really killed any tension of suspense the first scene had. Basically, they are just awkwardly sitting there and I don’t know why this scene wasn’t cut from the film. It would have been much less painful had it just started with the couples driving into the woods. This uneven pacing continued for the first half of the film…mostly we saw the couples trekking through the woods, getting lost, setting up camp and partying a little, but it just felt so dragged out! A bit of better editing could have definitely helped and made it more fast-paced.

However, this slow pace does let us enjoy some great camera work! The partying scene was pretty cool because the film would slow down, then speed back up, then slow down, turning what could have been a very normal party scene into something much more trippy. I also liked when the camera moved through the woods a la Evil Dead. Very nice homage there! The film boasts three directors who also acted as the film’s cinematographers – David Bryant, Sebastian Smith, Richard Stiles (they also wrote, edited, produced and pretty much did everything else!) – and they did a fantastic job with the camera work, especially considering this was a low-budget film. There are some scenes that look a little soft focus and fuzzy, but most of the shots have a high-quality feel to them.

Surprisingly, the acting was pretty decent. You never know what you are going to get in low-budget films, but the actors in Dead Wood pleasantly surprised me. I believe this was the first feature film for most involved, and they all did quite a bang up job! I especially liked Nina Kwok as Ketsy, the girl no one is sure if they can trust.

As for the scares, well up until the end we don’t get much except for eerie sounds and rustling trees. I did like that the filmmakers held back and didn’t show too much, but I think the film needed a few extra scares to really ratchet up the tension. There is one scary nighttime scene where a flashlight keeps going out and on and out and on…and the last time it comes on a gruesome face is inches from one of the survivors! That was a nice jolt right there, even when you do expect something to happen.

There’s not much blood or gore in Dead Wood, but towards the end there is a really cool special effect when we learn just where all the victims are stashed. Kudos to visual effect gurus Rob Ellis and Richard Stiles as well as special makeup effects artist Mike Peel for their amazing work throughout the film!

You know, despite not liking the first half of the film I admit I am glad to have seen Dead Wood. It just goes to show how much can be done with a minuscule budget and a lot of passion. The supernatural twists to the story more than make up for the trite and stereotypical first part of the film and looking back I find myself liking the film’s subtleties more and more.

Dead Wood comes out on DVD July 7th, 2009 and though I wouldn’t recommend it as a purchase, check it out as a rental!

Available from Amazon!

Book Review: Midnight Walk edited by Lisa Morton

What makes a good horror anthology? A variety of characters, locations, mythologies and differences in tonality make for a good start. A good horror anthology will also catch you off guard from one story to the next and take you to dark places you never even imagined. It will take you down little-traveled, black paths that few dare to tread. A good horror anthology is much like a midnight walk – darkness pressing in on all sides while you experience a mixture of fear, apprehension and excitement!

The new horror anthology is aptly named Midnight Walk and achieves all this and more! Edited by Lisa Morton, Midnight Walk is packed with 14 terrifying tales that explore the darker paths in life.
From the book’s description:

In the 19^th century, Zulu tribesmen fight off undead invaders and a British noblewoman encounters an ancient Chinese evil…in modern America, a killer battles his inner demons and a desperate man faces a centuries-old curse to save his home…in the slums of India, a traveler seeks a magician who can make him forget…and in the far-flung future, a group of illicit gourmets uncovers the ultimate secret ingredient in synthetic food…these are just some of the original stories that will take you around the dark globe on a truly terrifying Midnight Walk.

This fantastic anthology features stories from Vince Churchill, Armand Constantine, Kelly Dunn, Richard Grove, Del Howison, Jodi Kaplan Lester, Jason M. Light, Lisa Majewski, Mike McCarty, Lisa Morton, Joey O’Bryan, John Palisano, R.B. Payne and George Willis. Each original story is like stepping into a completely new world, and no two stories are alike, except for the fact that they all will give you spine-tingling chills!

This anthology really is top-notch because of the variety of stories, writing styles, characters and evil you will find between its pages. Editor Lisa Morton has done an extremely commendable job assembling this amazing tome of fourteen original stories sure to terrorize its readers!

I enjoyed every single one of the stories, so it’s quite difficult to pick just a few favorites. I am a sucker for Halloween stories, though, so I would have to say that my favorite was Silver Needle by Richard Grove, about a young boy who goes trick or treating on Halloween only to be tempted by the Sidhe or Fairy Folk. Though set in modern times, I love how the story included a back story on Tam Lin, “the legendary Scotsman who had tricked the fairies when they’d tried to drag him to hell.” Author Grove perfectly captures the eerie essence of Halloween with creaking trees, one-eyed black cats, jack o’lanterns and a supposedly haunted house. He really brings back the original meaning of Halloween, when people believed that the veils between our world and the spirit world were lifted. This story is quite a treat, but it also has some tricks up its sleeve!

Another of my favorites from this anthology is The Measure of a Man by George Willis. This tale is set in South Africa and tells of Zulu warriors battling something they’d never encountered before – the undead! Besides the originality of the story, I really enjoyed how the lead character, a young Zulu in training, was developed. Another epic story was Lisa Morton’s Diana and the Goong-Si, about a British noblewoman in the 19^th century that travels to China to find her missing husband but instead finds the region terrorized by a Goong-Si, or Chinese vampire. I loved the strong female character in this story, as well as the location and time in which the story was set. The Goong-Si is also a very different type of vampire than the creatures from our Western world, making it an even more exciting read! The Svancara Supper Society by Joey O’Bryan just left me in awe as it tells of a future where food is synthetic, but a scientist is searching for the sixth food quality that transforms the way people eat. There is so much more to the story, but I don’t want to give any of it away! It really must be read to be believed! I also enjoyed Late Check-in by Vince Churchill about a traveler who is tormented after checking in to a strange motel, Inside Out by Lisa Majewski about a narcissistic, asshole model and how a jilted lover gets even with him and of course all the rest of the stories. Honestly, there is not a bad one in the batch and if I could I would mention every single one as being a favorite!

Midnight Walk is a superior collection of horror stories that no horror fan should be without. The stories contained within its pages are all so diverse, interesting and original that every single one of them is a joy to read. In fact, this book had me so absorbed that I could barely put it down and just had to keep reading to see what enchantingly eerie story popped up next!

Midnight Walk comes highly recommended and was just recently released so make sure to get your copy today!

Available from Amazon!

Plague Town (2009)

You don’t have to convince me that kids are creepy. I’ve loathed the little buggers ever since I took a job as a babysitter over the course of a summer while I was a teen. The little Spawns of Satan (as I liked to call them) ran me ragged, throwing tantrums, locking me out of the house, torturing me with Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys and generally being little monsters. So, I am always eager to watch evil kid movies, just to see how unpleasant children can be.

Enter Plague Town…14 years ago in a small Irish village something unmentionable was born. So evil was it that the priest was called to kill it, but its parents had different plans. In the present day, a dysfunctional American family is visiting the Irish countryside to try to bond with each other. The father, Jerry (David Lombard), has brought along his fiancee Annette (Lindsay Goranson) to try and bond with his two girls, the gothy Molly (Josslyn DeCrusta) and blond bitch Jessica (Erica Rhodes). Jessica took a fancy to an Englishman named Robin (James Warke), so he too has come along for this family adventure, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family. In between bickering with each other, the family manages to miss the last bus back into town and find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere with nightfall quickly approaching.

Walking down the road they find an abandoned car, complete with unperturbed luggage, on the side of the road. While Robin and Jessica walk to find help, the remaining three decide to wait in the car. When Robin and Jessica fail to return, the father sets out to find some help. Soon, they all discover that malformed, sadistic kids roam the woods and they aren’t too happy with the outsiders invading their turf.

Supposedly Plague Town was based upon one scene writers David Gregory (who also directed) and John Cregan came up with. This just happens to be THE creepiest and strongest scene in the entire film and involves the character of Rosemary (Kate Aspinwall), the matriarch of the deformed children who has glassy doll eyes in place of her peepers (just take a look at the poster). It’s unfortunate that this is the only scene in the entire film that is effective, because it shows just what tremendous potential this film had. Any potential this film showed is quickly lost in the hackneyed script, undeveloped story and bad acting.

The biggest problem was with the script. The story just felt undeveloped and a bit generic. Not enough was done by Gregory and Cregan to make it a memorable story and I lost interest very quickly. There just wasn’t enough to hold the weak story together and it definitely could have used more development. Plague Town just didn’t have enough material to justify making it a feature-length film and because of that it felt like most scenes were used as padding instead of being used to move the story along. I really would have liked to see more time spent on the deformed kids and the little village they came from.

The killer kids were the most interesting characters in the film, but instead of spending time on their backstory we have to watch the American family bickering between each other. Right off the bat the characters of the family are annoying, especially Jessica. There’s also a certain amount of awkwardness about the characters that doesn’t lend credibility that they are a family. The dialogue feels forced and a bit off…not like a family but rather like a group of strangers who are forced to communicate (but perhaps that was the point).

The characters may have been written badly, but the actors don’t do much to commend their performances either. Some disappear into the background of the film altogether, like Lombard (Jerry, the father) and Goranson (Annette, the father’s fiancee), while others just grate on your nerves, like Rhodes (Jessica). The only two actors who did a decent job were DeCrosta as Molly and Warke as Robin. Warke’s encounters with the evil children are especially memorable, especially when he survives a face-disfiguring shotgun blast and has a creepy meeting with Rosemary.

As for the scares, except for the creepy first encounter with Rosemary, Plague Town continued to disappoint. There are some pretty laughable scenes with the kids hitting people with tree branches, someone getting beat to death with a hubcap and little kids running through the mist. However, I really did like the creepy looks of the children, from the masks they wore (think Michael Myers’ white mask) to their pale, demon-like faces. I also enjoyed the only memorable kill scene of the film where someone is “scalped” by a taut piano wire. With only these two instances to commend the film, though, I find it hard-pressed to recommend Plague Town.

Plague Town tends to drag on and on, like the filmmakers needed to add more to the story to make it feel more complete. What needed to be done was focus more on the horrific mutant children and show more scenes with the nightmare-inducing Rosemary. By the third act, I was barely keeping my eyes open and the inclusion of the villagers really felt tacked on.

I went into Plague Town (despite the misleading title) to be spooked by creepy kids raising hell, but instead I was disappointed by lack of cohesive story, bad acting, poor pacing and only a few scares. Plus, I think the kids I babysat for in high school could whip these mutant kids’ asses.

Available from Amazon!

Shuttle (2009)

When you think about it, we entrust our lives to random drivers on a daily basis. We rely on the drivers of taxi cabs, buses and shuttles to take us where we need to go. We are confident that once we step into their vehicle that they will take us to our desired location. We don’t ask questions if they take certain “shortcuts” and place our full trust in the driver to get us there in one piece. What if, though, a driver decided to kidnap you and make you his or her prisoner?

This is what happens in Shuttle, when two girlfriends, Mel (Peyton List) and Jules (Cameron Goodman), arrive back home after a weekend getaway in Mexico, only wanting to return home as soon as possible. The airline loses Mel’s luggage, so they are the last ones waiting for a shuttle that will take them home. They flag a shuttle down, but another driver (Tony Curran) offers them a ride at half the cost so they accept. Two guys, Matt (Dave Power) and Seth (James Snyder), from the same flight also decide to take the shuttle, and the four join the lone passenger on board, a jumpy businessman named Andy (Cullen Douglas).

The five passengers soon realize that their driver isn’t taking them to their desired destinations, but has much more nefarious plans…

Shuttle is an amazingly well-done and tension-filled film. I was surprised that it wasn’t just another standard slash ‘em up horror flick, but actually had depth and kept you guessing the whole way through! It also benefited from sympathetic characters, realism and some cringe-worthy scenarios (and I’m not just talking blood and guts here).

The story, written by Edward Anderson (who also directed) is simple yet extremely taut. Like the characters, we never know exactly what is going on or why they are being kidnapped. Anderson adds odd little clues as to their destination, but nothing is revealed until the end, where all the puzzle pieces come together to reveal the true tragedy of the situation. The suspense created by the mystery of not knowing what was going on was fantastic, and my eyes were glued to the screen for the entire running time. I kept trying to guess what was going on and why, but nothing could prepare me for the impact of the devastating ending.

I also liked how Anderson addressed an important issue with his film (one that I can’t mention specifically without giving too much away). While people might assume it happens only in third world countries, Anderson brings attention to the fact that it happens right here in the United States. He also doesn’t try to exploit the issue at hand, but shows just how horrifying and terrible it really is.

Anderson also does a fine job of developing the characters. While he doesn’t go too much in-depth with them, we still feel for them as they try and try again to get out of their terrifying situation. It was refreshing to see characters that fought back and tried to get away, yet still had the decency to not leave their friends behind. The fact that they were at the “wrong place at the wrong time” also adds to the sympathy you feel for them.

The acting is very well-done, especially by Tony Curran who plays the Driver with surprising restraint while still managing to come off as dangerous and menacing. He doesn’t take sadistic pleasure in brutalizing his passengers, instead portraying the Driver as a weary worker just trying to do his job. Peyton List was fantastic as Mel, who was the backbone of the group of passengers. With few exceptions, she fought back every chance she took while protecting her friend Jules. She really elicited the viewer’s sympathy, especially when you think she is getting away only to be re-captured by the Driver. Cameron Goodman as Jules took an unlikable characters, a spoiled little rich girl, and actually made her likable! As the characters get deeper and deeper into the Driver’s plan, you can’t help but feel for the whimpering Jules. With a lesser actress in a role, Jules could have just come off as annoying, but Goodman turns it around so you are sympathetic for her character.

The direction by Edward Anderson is extremely solid for a first-time director! Most of the action takes place on the cramped space of the shuttle, but Anderson utilizes the small space well, giving it a claustrophobic feel. Most scenes are also bathed in grimy, florescent lighting, adding to the grim menace of the film. The direction also has a certain fluidity that keeps the action moving on relentlessly.

My only problem with the film was that the driver was seemingly impervious to mortal wounds. The passengers fought for their lives against him and certainly left their mark. The driver was bludgeoned, stabbed, involved in a nasty traffic accident and even shot, but every time he got up and was as good as new! While this certainly hurt some of the film’s believability, it still didn’t effect my overall enjoyment of the flick.

Shuttle is a horror film that travels in the fast lane, moving at a break-neck speed toward its devastating conclusion all the while keeping you guessing as to what is going on. Its thrilling, well-written story, sympathetic characters and sure-fire direction make this a very smart choice for savvy horror viewers who crave an intelligent, psychological horror film.

Available from Amazon!

Vinyan (2008)

My interest was piqued by Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz’s disturbing 2004 film Calvaire, so I was very excited to watch his latest work, Vinyan. Du Welz co-wrote Vinyan with Olly Blackburn (director and co-writer of Donkey Punch) and also directed the surreal film. Vinyan has a very different feel than Calvaire, but at the same time it utilizes the same stunning cinematography by Benoit Debie and carries with it a very dark tone. Vinyan is a decidedly more subdued affair and doesn’t quite have the punch that Calvaire has, but it does capture a very dark journey that ends in madness.

Six months after losing their young child to a tsunami, shell-shocked couple Jeanne (Emmanuelle Beart) and Paul (Rufus Sewell) see a documentary on orphaned children living in the jungles of Burma. Jeanne is startled to see who she believes is their son in the footage and convinces Paul to go on a dangerous odyssey to Burma to find their little boy. They enlist the help of sketchy Thaksin Gao (Petch Osathanugrah), some kind of pirate or trafficker, to cross the border into Burma by boat. As they enter the dark jungle, Paul believes that Gao is just milking them for all they are worth, but Jeanne is completely convinced that their child is still alive and won’t let anything or anyone get in her way to find him.

I can’t help but compare Vinyan to Joseph Conrad’s book Heart of Darkness. The characters of Jeanne and Paul are on the same type of journey into the “heart of darkness.” Vinyan has the same foreboding, dark and brooding tone as the book. Like the book, Vinyan becomes less about the destination of the characters and more about their journey there and how it changes them and makes them go mad.

Helping create and really sell this dark journey is Du Welz’s direction and especially cinematographer Benoit Debie’s use of shadows to create an other-worldly and ominous atmosphere. Every frame seems to drip with foreboding that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the story, which may put you to sleep in the middle of the film. I felt that the opening scenes were very strong and was intrigued when Paul and Jeanne first took off to find their son, but the middle of the film is dull (hmmm…sounds like the problem writer Blackburn also had with Donkey Punch!). Basically, we watch Paul and Jeanne move from village to village looking for their son, with Gao always promising that their son is at the next village (yet charging them more money to get them there). This repetition gets old fast. Luckily, the last part of the film makes up for it and a shocking finale will leave you speechless.

Also, you are never quite sure what is real and what is imagined. I’ll chalk it up to artistic license but some things are never explained and they ended up baffling me. I suppose it added to the surreal atmosphere of the film, but I wish things could have been a bit more concrete.

The thing about Vinyan is that it is more like a subtle, art film than a straight-up horror flick. Since it moves languidly up until the last quarter of the film, it is definitely not for everyone. It is a very visual and lush film, but really could have used some extra oomph or at least editing in the middle when the story starts to get bogged down.

Available from Amazon!

Donkey Punch (2008)

With a name like Donkey Punch that references a vile sex act, you’d expect this film to shock, offend and be controversial at least. Yet, when I watched this flick I found it much more boring than ballsy.

Three women named Kim (Jaime Winstone), Lisa (Sian Breckin)  and Tammi (Nichola Burley) are vacationing in Spain so that Tam can get over her cheating ex. After hitting the bars, they meet three guys named Marcus (Jay Taylor), Bluey (Tom Burke) and Josh (Julian Morris) who convince the girls to come have a drink on their luxury yacht. Once on board, they meet Sean (Robert Boulter) and learn that the boys are the crew of the yacht. Nonetheless, the girls decide to stay and indulge in some drinking, drugs and debauchery.

The group takes the yacht onto the high seas for a bit more privacy and take hits of Ecstasy and crack. They begin talking about kinky sex acts and Bluey tells them of the infamous “donkey punch”.

After a dip in the ocean three guys and two girls head below decks for some action while Tam and Sean strike up a conversation on the main deck. Downstairs, things heat up but go wrong fast as the “donkey punch” is tried but results in a girl’s broken neck.

Panic and paranoia ensue, as the guys want to dump the dead body overboard but the girls want to report the crime to the police. Pretty soon everyone is turning against each other and the situation spirals out of control as it becomes apparent it is kill-or-be-killed.

After all the hype surrounding Donkey Punch (despite the fact that it bombed in its native England), I was pretty psyched to see it. I have to say, though, that I was pretty disappointed. It isn’t necessarily a bad movie, but it does get repetitive fast and it is a bit of a bore, not to mention it lacks the shock value I was expecting.

First of all, none of the characters get any proper development, so I didn’t care about the lot of them. At the beginning of the film, it is alluded who the “final girl” is, but the film doesn’t focus on her character enough and she ends up just being another character with no real personality. The actors do an okay job in their roles, but nothing too spectacular as they aren’t given much to work with by writers Olly Blackburn (who also directed) and David Bloom.

Secondly, the story was poorly developed. I liked how it built up slowly to the “donkey punch” scene, but after that the storyline just got messy. One minute the characters were headed to shore, the next they are headed to international waters and the next they change their minds again and decide to stay put. I understand the confusion that would occur after a tragedy, but this wishy-washiness just didn’t feel genuine. It seemed like the writers were struggling more with the story’s direction instead of the characters actually grappling with their choices. Also, while it was interesting to see the character’s interactions and how they turned on one another, the story felt lacking and got to be repetitive. It just seemed that people did the same things over and over again, like yelling at each other or trying to hide/escape the ship but getting found every time. There just wasn’t enough story to fill the hour and a half running time.

On the plus side, the kill scenes were almost always surprising. They came seemingly out of nowhere and really made me sit up and take notice. Too bad the rest of the film was a snooze. The implements of death themselves weren’t too inventive (knives, flares, etc.), but they caused enough damage! The best scene was where someone is dispatched by a boat propeller – but it happens when you least expect it! The gore and special FX in this specific scene were amazing as well. The gore in the rest of the film is decent, but doesn’t deliver a major blood bath.

Donkey Punch is a decent time-waster, but it doesn’t live up to the hype. It’s not the taboo-smashing, shocking horror flick I was expecting, but rather a psychological look at the break-down of a group of people that has no where to run (literally) to escape a tragedy. Good for a rental, just don’t expect to be knocked off your feet by Donkey Punch.

Available from Amazon!

Rest Stop 2: Don't Look Back (2008)

When I first saw Rest Stop, I was severely disappointed. To me, the movie had no redeeming value, was unmemorable and was an absolute chore to sit through. So when I heard a sequel had been made, I expected it to suck just as epically as the first one had (if not more so). Surprisingly, I found that Rest Stop: Don’t Look Back, while not a “must-see” horror flick, got things much more right than the original.

Tom (Richard Tillman) is on leave for 10 days from Iraq. He decides to take his time off to search for his little brother Jess (Joey Mendicino) who disappeared with his girlfriend Nicole (Julie Mond, replacing Jaimie Alexander from the first film) on their way to California. He takes his bitchy, alcoholic girlfriend Marilyn (Jessie Ward) and his goofy friend Jared (Graham Norris) along with him for the ride. On the border of California they find an old gas station attendant that remembers Jess and points the trio to the Old Highway where he and Nicole were last seen. Pretty soon the three friends are back at the same rest stop Jess and Nicole disappeared from and the driver (Brionne Davis) of the beat-up yellow truck with license plate number KLZ 300 is after them…

Rest Stop: Don’t Look Back was a surprise to me. It’s not the best or most memorable movie in the world, but it is far superior to its predecessor. My main praise stems from the fact that the story is much more fleshed out, though the script feels rushed and gloms over some new developments. For example, we learn more about the ghostly driver’s backstory and about an Indian legend that says if your eyes are plucked out and you are buried without them, your spirit is doomed to wander the earth. Still, neither of these plot points are developed very well, giving us just enough to kinda make sense of what’s going on. Also, the creepy fanatical family is back for a few scenes, though I’ve always thought using the religiously crazy in films shows a lack of creativity on the writer’s part. Despite these issues, I enjoyed the more developed supernatural story in Rest Stop: Don’t Look Back. 

The creepiest scenes (there weren’t any really scary or even tense ones) involved our protagonists’ interactions with ghosts…however these apparitions were very real and you could even reach out and touch them (ask Jared!). They would be there and in an instance they would just disappear. This kept you on the edge of your toes and towards the end you weren’t quite sure who was alive or dead…giving you some nasty and nihilistic surprises near the end.

As for the characters, they were all pretty shallow and unlikable. Tom is your typical buff hero, Jared is your typical goofy sidekick and Marilyn is your “typical” bitchy girlfriend. I say typical in quotes because I don’t know how anyone could stand her constant complaining and meanness. Not to mention she hits the bottle between every other breath. Why can’t anyone write a believable, likable female character?? Despite this, the characters redeem themselves towards the end, when we do start caring for them, but I think by then it’s a little too late.

Also, they sure show The Driver (that’s how he’s credited) a whole lot towards the last half of the film…perhaps a little too much. When they reveal the killer, showing his entire face and body, he loses some of the mysteriousness as well as his scare factor. I think they should have kept him shrouded in the shadows or just show bits and pieces of him, like in the original (wow! one thing the original did right!). Yet, actor Brionne Davis does a great job bringing The Driver to life by just using subtle facial expressions and not saying one word (unless you count the flashback in the Winnebago).

The rest of the acting in the film is pretty solid, even though the characterizations are shallow. No one really stands out as being either very good or very bad, so there isn’t much to say about the acting except for the fact that it works.

Despite being a supernatural slasher movie, Rest Stop: Don’t Look Back doesn’t have that more gore. Sure, there are freshly-plucked eyeballs, body parts drilled and hammered with nails and some bloody corpses, but most of the action is off-screen or obscured within the scene by people or things standing in the way of the money shot. Nonetheless, the lack of explicit gore actually helps the film and it doesn’t become just another run-of-the-mill “torture porn” movie.

Rest Stop: Don’t Look Back is a much better film than its predecessor, Rest Stop, but that doesn’t automatically make it a great film. It has its flaws and it’s not an entirely memorable movie, but for one night of mindless fun you might want to pull over and pick up Rest Stop: Don’t Look Back.

Available from Amazon!

Rogue (2008)

Despite my utter hatred for Greg Mclean’s first feature film, Wolf Creek, I was highly anticipating his next film, Rogue. I may have had disdain for the terrible Wolf Creek, but I can’t deny that Mclean certainly has an eye for stunning shots. When Rogue was denied a theatrical release by its studio, Dimension (thereby leaving legions of horror fans scratching their heads), I assumed it just wasn’t worthy enough for theaters. Then, Lionsgate dumped Midnight Meat Train into a few second rate theaters (with rumors that this will also happen with Repo! The Genetic Opera). So apparently it’s now become a fad for major studios to discard their actually good horror films and not give them a theatrical run! Way to go Dimension for starting the trend! Anyways, after watching Rogue I can honestly say that this film did indeed deserve a theatrical run and it’s a pity that fans weren’t able to experience it on the big screen.

In the stunningly rugged Northern Territory of Australia, a group of tourists board a river boat to see the spectacular sights and hopefully catch a glimpse of some killer crocodiles that the Territory is known for. The group consists of a wide range of people, including a family consisting of father, daughter and dying-of-cancer mother, a man who wants to scatter a loved one’s ashes, a photographer, a middle-aged couple and even an American travel writer (Michael Vartan). Leading the river tour is experienced and spunky guide Kate (Radha Mitchell). After lazily drifting down the river and spotting more than a few crocs in action, the tour is nearly over…but after seeing some distress flares Kate decides to follow them. When they finally arrive to where the flare signal came from, there is no one around except for a half-sunken, overturned boat. Uh-oh…

Suddenly, the tour boat is rammed hard from something in the water and pretty soon everyone finds themselves stuck on a small island in the middle of the river. The group quickly figures out that they’ve trespassed on a giant crocodile’s territory and it’ll stop at nothing until all of its prey is dead. With the tide quickly coming in and night approaching fast, the group must figure out how to survive and out-wit the killer crocodile to make it off the rapidly-disappearing island.

Finally horror fans get a chance to catch this killer croc movie, although on DVD instead of in theaters. All I can say is that it is extremely disappointing that this fantastically thrilling film was not given a theatrical release. It is so tense and suspenseful on the small screen that I imagine on the big screen it must be downright terrifying!

The high caliber of Rogue is just remarkable, from the spectacular cinematography to the fantastic acting to the imposing and frightening crocodile. The first 30 minutes of the film play like a loving homage to the Northern Territory and should be used for their tourism board! The vast vistas of the Outback will leave you speechless and yearning to visit Down Under. There are also many great wildlife shots of crocodiles, birds, insects and other animals. The emerald river the river boat drifts down sparkles in the sunlight and contrasts against the high, red cliffs that border it.

And, then, after you’ve been dazzled by all that beauty…POW! Nature strikes! Things take a very hair-raising turn with the brazen killer crocodile stalking the marooned tourists. Not only that, but their safe haven (not much more than a mound of dirt) is quickly disappearing under the rising tide. The great acting by all involved really makes us care for each and every character (very well-developed by writer/director Greg Mclean). Each and every action they take is believable and expected in such a high-stress, life-or-death situation.

As for the crocodile, it looks unbelievably realistic! Director Mclean wisely only gives us quick glimpses of the croc in the beginning, but by the end we’ve seen its entire massive body (as well as more than a few frightening close-ups of its toothy maw) and it still looks amazing! I loved how when we first see the croc it is just a shadow underneath the water and we’re not sure what we’ve just seen until it suddenly strikes. There are also several moments that’ll make you jump out of your skin they are so unexpected, like the first tourist it decides to snack on!

Though this film ratchets up the tension and suspense in a thrilling manner, it doesn’t really have that much gore. We seen a few people get chomped on, but it mostly happens so quickly with the croc and its prey disappearing under water, so we don’t get a whole gory show. We get to see some nasty bite marks, but the film is a little lacking in the gore department. Despite this, it still manages to work extremely well even without copious amounts of blood.

The direction by Greg Mclean is utter perfection. Rogue opens showcasing Australia’s wide open spaces, but once the croc attacks ensue, the scope becomes entirely claustrophobic. This only adds to the fear factor of the film and Mclean pulls it off effortlessly.

One thing I felt could have been done better was the ending. Despite the realism that the first part of the film had, the ending felt kind of fake and hokey. A certain character’s actions just didn’t ring true with me and the finale was a bit unbelievable. Still, if you can overlook that Rogue is a damn fine film and along with killer croc movie Black Water, it is one of the best killer croc features ever made.

Available from Amazon!