by Stuart Conover on September 11, 2010
Dorian Gray (2009)
Director Oliver Parker is not new to making films and while most of what he has made I have not heard of he has had a few films that I have. I just haven’t seen any of them and none that I have heard of were in the horror genre. Off the bad this may be worrisome that someone known more for movies involving romance is doing a horror film but the amount of sleaze brought forth in the lust filled world of this film practically requires it. I can’t say that he has no experience in the horror genre as he was an actor in Hellraiser, Hellraiser 2, and Nightbreed. Clearly there is a little love for the darkness of films we all love. Dorian Gray is of course based off of the original novel by Oscar Wilde about a man who would not age though the painting that was done of him did. This screenplay was written for the big screen by Toby Finlay who has done nothing before or since and I kind of hope that changes since a lot of potential was shown in this film.
While the film itself can’t be said to be fully faithful to the original novel to make it the horror film that it is would be impossible to have kept it 100% in line with the original. That works perfectly though as the constant barrage of sex and violence that is shown fits exactly for how the movie itself plays out. The story focuses around Dorian (Ben Barnes) who is a young man recently come to wealth that has just arrived in the city. Here he knows not a soul or how the social structure works or how dark many of the people he is soon to meet are within their circle. He is quick to meet Basil (Ben Chaplin) a famous artist who is enamored with his looks and eventually is the one to catch his likeness on canvas. At one of the first social events he is brought to he is introduced to Lord Henry (Colin Firth) who is the embodiment of hedonism. Lord Henry quickly realizes that the young Dorian is extremely impressionable and willing to listen to nearly anything he says so tries to teach him the ways of Earthly pleasures that he lives by.
As Dorian slowly starts to succumb to the temptations of an overly sexual lifestyle it is agreed that he will allow Basil to paint him. At the paintings completion, having fallen into the lifestyle of hedonism, Dorian mentions he would sell basically attach his soul to such perfection for eternal pleasure. This is of course is exactly what happens as his soul becomes attached to the painting so that anything that is negative which he does or would happen to him in fact happens to the painting while he is left untouched.
Dorian ends up needing to kill to keep his secret and instead of feeling remorse decides to travel the world as he does not wish to be thought of as involved in that. He spends over 30 years away and when he returns his still living friends are shocked to see that he has not aged. A lifestyle of sin has completely corrupted the painting that stores his soul and when he finally finds something to live for it is predictable what befalls the painting itself. Overall it is a good tale and while the ending didn’t feel right with how Dorian acted right up to it was still a fun watch.
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Dorian Gray (2009)3.25sconover2010-09-11 12:59:48
ReviewsDorian Gray (2009)
by Stuart Conover on September 8, 2010
Red Hook (2009)
Red Hook is a slightly more independent film that was both written and directed by newcomer Elizabeth Lucas. Elizabeth has a couple other smaller titles under her belt but this is the first that I believe was able to get any meaningful distribution and I'm glad it was able to see the light of day. I'm going to start off by saying that this is not a great movie. Wait. Don't run away quite yet. Just because it doesn't bring anything overly original to the table does not however mean it is a bad movie because quite frankly it's not.
We open with the film watching a young girl named Jenny (who when grown up is played by Christina Brucato, an actress who really should get more rolls in horror films) watch her older sister be brutally murdered right before her eyes. Well of course this is a great reason for her to grow up and become partially agoraphobic. Fortunately though it's not so severe that she can never leave her room as she is away at college and while she tries to go out as little as possible outside of classes what fun would that be for a movie? (Actually a slasher trying to stalk an agoraphobic person through a giant house could be a ton of fun...)
Jenny's roommate, Angela(Hollis Scarborough), is a theater major and at first tries to be friends with Jenny, quickly gets bored with her, then becomes interested in using her as a character model when she finds out about her sister's killing. She's a pest through most of the film and while she provides some plot movement the main source comes from a young man named Gavin (Tate Ellington) that she develops a relationship with. Gavin also had a death in the family when he was young so she is able to relate to him and they both just click when getting to know each other. He is able to partially break through her agoraphobia and is even able to talk her into joining a scavenger hunt that the entire floor is going to be participating in.
The entire scavenger hunt is being filmed to be a reality TV show promotion, however someone involved in the hunt has a hunting idea of their own. This is where the movie finally picks up as one by one each of the participants are slowly killed and as the cast is narrowed down so is the identity of the killer. The killer quickly both takes over the show and starts leaving clues of his own to motivate them to act out what he wants to see happen.
Red Hook may be a highly predictable movie to many horror fans out there. It is very much a slasher that follows the classic formula and while you aren’t going to have a lot of surprises watching the film you WILL have fun watching the film. I would say the perfect scenario for checking this one out is with a group of friends (preferably in a night made just for watching horror films) to be able to harass any of your mutual friends who jump or to just have a good time while guessing what's coming next.
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Red Hook (2009)2.75sconover2010-09-08 15:32:32
ReviewsRed Hook (2009)
by Stuart Conover on September 7, 2010
Splice (2009)
Splice is a little gem from 2009 that is a great view of horror that is created purely by science. Yes that's right it's a science fiction and horror mash up which, when done well, is my favorite mixture of genre's. It's mainly a fun mix as a lot of what is focused on in science fiction is actually based in reality when it comes to being mixed with horror. While not a house hold name this is actually Vincenzo Natali's second foray into a film that mixes the two genres and as his last 1997 film that mixed the two, Cube, became a cult hit I have the distinct feeling that Splice will follow the same trend.
Gene splicing is not a new concept. It's a field that has been worked on for years and one that new breakthroughs are still occurring. Mixing genes to find ways to grow human organs is also not a new concept and the mixing of genes to create a new species has been written about for years. On the face of things, scientifically most of what is found is this film is not new. The creation of 'new' life by two scientists who aren't fully held in check by the company that they work for and who have their own ideas on how science should be done leads to a border line mad science feel mixed with the idea that what they are doing is right. Well that is at least the view that Elsa (Sarah Polley) believes and as her research partner partner, Clive (Adrien Brody,) is also her lover he will pretty much go along with anything she says.
What this leads to is not only a new species of life but one that has a mixture of human DNA in it. They of course cannot let the company that they work for know about their creation so have it hidden away in a corner of the lab. However when the creature they have created is fully 'born' they end up taking it out of the laboratory so as to not have it be found. It continues to grow into at first a child at the abandoned house Elsa grew up in and eventually into a young 'woman' that is self aware who they have named Dren (Delphine Chaneac.)
Self awareness is great but just like in an artificial intelligence it's a bad thing to have in a new species who not only wants to be able to be free but also starts to fall in love with Clive while beginning to resent Elsa. From science to the Oedipus complex to horror as Dren starts to at first be angry with Elsa to beginning to fight with her as she also falls in love with Clive. While all of this is happening we learn that the first two creatures they had created have gone from being in love to violently murdering each other. Foreshadowing? I think so! If you are a fan of mixing your horror and science I'd suggest at the very least renting this one immediately. I know it's going to be permanently added to my collection.
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Splice (2009)4.25sconover2010-09-07 16:50:38
ReviewsSplice (2009)
by Stuart Conover on September 4, 2010
Lake Mungo (2008)
Written and directed by Joel Anderson this is his second movie made in the horror genre, the first being "The Rotting Woman" released in 2002, which I had never heard of until now. After his 2008 release though of Lake Mungo if it's at all similar I'll be honest when I say I have no plans on going to seeing his previous works.
I'm going to start out by saying that I am biased against the majority of ghost films out there. It's become too trendy to film them in a documentary style (I understand budget concerns) but when you have film makers creating works such as Paranormal Activity and the lesser known but what should be just as popular "Evil Things" there isn't much of an excuse to go the documentary route and not try to make something simply amazing, or at least enjoyable.
Honestly if I wasn't folding laundry or sorting mail while watching the film I don't think I would have made it all the way through it. Hell any of the films in the Blair Witch franchise would prove to be a more entertaining watch.
We begin the movie with the focal point of the film - Alice, the main character, drowning. As time goes on the daughter’s picture starts to show up in the background in an increased amount of photographs and while the father and sister had both seen the body and knew it the daughter was actually dead the mother had not which was supposed to be what pushed her originally on the idea that maybe her daughter was still alive.
This is the part of the film that is trying to show the family slowly being haunted in an increased amount by the daughter. Her face showing up in pictures, the family looking increasingly disturbed, and a radio psychic from another country who never really says there is a ghost but is spoken with about the daughter on multiple occasions. I want to stress that this is the part of the film that is trying to show us that the family is being haunted because there never really is a haunting shown in any way, shape, or form past the photographs and eventually – a video.
You do learn a 'lot' about what was going on in the daughter's life as the film progresses which could have been a great way to make it a thriller. If it was done a little bit closer to the style of "The Lovely Bones" in how the plot was written (woman died, family finds out she was killed, and eventually who killers her) instead of a stab at a paranormal story it could have had more of a chance of working in my eyes. It even came close to it at points but with how it was clearly pushing the paranormal focus of the film over everything else. I'd love to blame this on being sick of paranormal movies but there were 2 I watched in the past year that really were entertaining and this one couldn't deliver the goods. It was going in too many directions at once instead of choosing a single route to follow.
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Lake Mungo (2008)0.75sconover2010-09-04 11:27:57
ReviewsLake Mungo (2008)
by Stuart Conover on August 9, 2010
She's Crushed (2009)
Written and directed by Patrick Johnson this is Patrick's second film to reach a wide audience. The first of which was released in 2005 and entitled SideFX. I haven't seen his original film though it sounds like a zombie-ish themed film involving sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Anyone going the zombie route always gets a plus in my book though I'm not here to talk about the undead but about a pyscho stalker film.
On a personal note one of my ex-girlfriends did not want to accept a break up and did carry a picture of me around with her that she would put up at tables she was sitting at. With this in mind, She's Crushed really struck home as a movie that creeped me out since while she was not as insane as the lead in this film I'm sure if her life had been slightly more traumatic or she slightly more crazy at the time something like this would not have been all of that farfetched for me to deal with. That thought scares the hell out of me!
The lead in this film is played by Tara (Natalie Dickinson) and I have to say that I REALLY want to see her get some rolls in a few larger films (aside from the two that are in progress from Patrick Johnson) in a role where she gets to show off her chops again at insanity because she makes it work. The movie itself missed it's mark at being a great film though the character of Tara makes you want to just see where she is going to go. The apparent product of rape and abuse she doesn't go the route of revenge in "I Spit On Your Grave" but instead decided to emulate those who have abused her using a large amount of sex, stalking, obsession, and violence to get exactly what she wants. On top of this her mother is nearly one of the walking dead herself from how badly she is messed up as shown by her brief visits in the psyche ward that she is staying at and on top of this we also find out she is having sex with either her father or step-father.
Early in the film we are introduced to Ray who is supposed to be the main character (even though he is by and large outshined by Tara) and helps her move some luggage. Soon after she sees him drunk and initiates a one night stand. There is only one major problem, Ray has a girlfriend. Instantly she is smitten and develops a crush on Ray and decides that the only way for life to work out is for Ray to be with her. She kills, tortures, lobotomizes, and uses sex to attempt to drive Ray away from the woman that he wants to marry. The amount of twisted torture is shocking on how she is able to pull it off.
This is not a movie to expect a revolutionary horror film or franchise off of (even though it is easily left off for a sequel.) It is though a film that is great to kill some time with on either the weekend or a late night showing. For the most part the acting is only OK but I can’t stress enough that Tara’s character can make a single showing of the movie itself worth seeing.
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She's Crushed (2009)3.25sconover2010-08-09 09:53:07
ReviewsShe's Crushed (2009)
by Stuart Conover on July 28, 2010
The Descent: Part 2 (2009)
The Descent Part 2 is the direct to DVD sequel of The Descent, one of my favorite horror films of all time. Going direct to DVD usually means I have to be nothing but worried but in fact, much like Cabin Fever 2, ended up being fun. It is the directorial debut of Jon Harris (who was involved in editing the original The Descent) with the screen play written by not 1, not 2, but 3 authors - J Blakeson, James McCarthy, and James Watkins. While all three of these writers don't have an overly extensive history what they were able to put together here should change that in the near future.
The sequel begins exactly how a sequel should - directly after the first film ended. I was rather worried how casting would be (I had done 0 research ahead of time) and we are treated to having the return of Shauna Macdonald as Sarah, the woman brutally traumatized in the first film. She has no memory of what happened to her or her friends but with the media having a field day trying to find them the local sheriff has decided that she is the only hope on finding them so brings her out with him when he attempts to explore a cave that they believe may lead them to the other women. He also is suspect of her as she was covered in blood that was not her own. While I was a bit annoyed with the temporary amnesia she experiences at the beginning of the film it both doesn’t last long and was realistically the only way they could explain away how she is willing to go back in to look for her friends.
When her memory does come back she has no motivation aside from escaping the mines but at this moment we are conveniently the Sheriff (who we are clearly setup to hate from the offset) accidentally cause a cave in trapping them all below. While their safe way out has been removed they can only move in further to hopefully leave from another exit and are quick to stumble across the mutants from the first film that are more vicious than they were previously. (If you were on a rescue team wouldn’t you have other people know exactly where you were?) As we know what they are now to an extent there is less of a reason to build up suspense and just push the violence, which is one of my few complaints in the film as the suspense is what kept the first one running strong. While I do complain about the amount of suspense there is still plenty to go around with some amazing returns to scenes from the original film as well as surprises that you really won't see coming.
As a sequel to a horror film that is top notch this one is able to give you part of the feeling of the original in an enjoyable way. We are given surprises, some suspense, and an amazing ending. Without giving you spoilers there is a twist at the end that would allow for another entry into the franchise that would not only give us a return to the caves but another aspect as well that could prove interesting. I salute Harris for giving us a great sequel to an amazing movie and will easily suggest this to anyone who enjoyed the first The Decent.
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The Descent: Part 2 (2009)4.25sconover2010-07-28 21:10:16
ReviewsThe Descent: Part 2 (2009)
by Stuart Conover on April 12, 2010
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Paranormal was a smash hit that was first created and shown at fests throughout 2007 but only got it's theatrical release in 2009. Oren Peli both wrote and directed this film which is nothing short of a breakout success with how much attention and money he has made off of it with such an amazingly low production budget. Love it or hate it you have to give Oren credit for being able to create a film that has outdone almost everything out there on the ratio for the profit margin - it honestly wasn't a bad film either.
While it's a movie that suffers from being unable to sit through multiple viewings (at least anywhere near each other), being horribly spoiled by audiences knowing what to expect going into it, and many other things that come from a low budget movie's big screen success - it was still a great film. When I sat down for my first screening of the film it actually wasn't prior to a theatrical release and I'm glad I didn't have to watch it as a screener copy though possibly at a convention would have been cool. As I sat down you could feel a buzz going through the audience as it was a showing for all horror fans (about a month before a wide release was announced.) The entire crowd had heard amazing things about it and this was before the marketing machine had crept in and managed to dull the feeling of the film many have missed out on.
The entire film consists of 8 characters even though the majority only focuses on the couple Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat.) I love how the majority of the cast has the characters retain the same name as the actors who play them. It’s setup to show the couple as being completely realistic and also sets Katie up as having a chance at being a real scream queen if a few casting agents take notice as she really is able to belt it out. As I was saying the couple’s interactions for the most part are completely realistic (though Micah’s insistence at about the half way mark of the movie to still figure it all out on his own get’s a bit tiresome.) People who don’t believe in ghosts aren’t going to believe that a person can be haunted and try to poke at it to come up with a rational answer which is exactly what Micah does. Katie who knows she is haunted just wants to leave it be as provoking it always makes it worse.
The movie has a very slow build up which can hurt it with audiences who have no patience in their movies though the buildup brings up quite a few mind blowing moments of suspense for those who do like a slow start. They are able to capture exactly what makes our cast so afraid of going to bed at night. It’s an amazing achievement to be able to get a crowd react so much to purely suspense and not scares in a film and something that is mainly a lost art in Hollywood. Too many people enjoy instant payoffs so the slow buildup has been overlooked for years – Paranormal Activity shows that this is still a valid art form in the realm of making horror.
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Paranormal Activity (2007)4.25sconover2010-04-12 10:05:27
ReviewsParanormal Activity (2007)
by Stuart Conover on March 30, 2010
Children of the Corn (2009)
The film itself was directed by Donald P. Borchers who also ended up taking Stephen King’s original short story to adapt into the screenplay that produced this wreck of a film. Children of the Corn is Borcher’s third time behind the director’s chair but from his first time having worked with horror as he has worked as both crew and producer on a large amount of horror films in the past including a few movies you may have heard of (and loved or hated) such as Leprechaun 2, Highlander 2, The Fog, and a personal favorite of mine – The Howling. Did I mention he was also one of the producers on the original 1984 release?
The 2009 release of the classic Stephen King’s Children of the Corn should have taken a few queues of the 1984 release that had come before it. This movie trumps almost every other re-make that had come out in 2009 in teaching the lesson of what not to do while re-making a classic horror film. I’m actually shocked it came out as bad as it did with how easy of a concept the film actually has but it seemed that everything they could do to make it wrong was what they went with for the story. With Borchers past experience in the horror genre I really have to question how this film turned out as it did. Even the actors felt underused as the film went out.
We open the film with Burton Stanton (an actor you will easily recognize from a slew of television shows) and his wife Vicki (Kandyse McClure of Battlestar Galactica fame) are driving across country and it’s this initial scene that blows the movie as Vicki is really just more cruel than necessary and doesn’t seem to play the part right. The problem is after Battlestar you know Kandyse has the acting chops she just doesn’t seem to come off as believable hateful as she is supposed to be in this film. When the couple finally hit a child in the car and have to find a town they come across a nearly deserted city and find it full of only children with Issac (Preston Bailey who ends up playing Cody on Dexter and Nicholas in the 2010 remake of The Crazies) in charge.
For those that don’t know the basis of the plot, the children have taken over the city killing all of the adults and using them as sacrifices to a creature that lives in the cornfield whom they worship as a God. The big bonus of being able to see what is ruling these children’s lives never happens as there is no payoff that shows what it is and the ending felt both rushed and unnatural with how Burton falls into having flashbacks that overlay the horror he is experiencing.
ScyFy has put together some impressive re-makes in the past. Their production value on the Dune (yes I know not horror) miniseries comes to mind. However I will quickly admit that all I am doing right now is looking forward to the Dimension Films re-make that will be coming out in the near future to wipe this abomination out of my memory. With being involved in the original release of this film I don’t quite know how Borchers was able to steer this in such a wrong direction.
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Children of the Corn (2009)1.75sconover2010-03-30 20:46:26
ReviewsChildren of the Corn (2009)
by Stuart Conover on March 26, 2010
How To Be A Serial Killer (2008)
How To Be A Serial Killer was both written and directed by Luke Ricci which was the second movie he has written and first to direct. Honestly with the creative style and direction he went with the film I could see Luke coming up with some interesting property down the line and only hope he has the chance to get another film in the works as this one didn’t receive nearly the praise that it should have.
I’m usually down on comedy films that are also horror. There have been multiple ones the past few years that have actually been able to pull it off successfully I’m very jaded against the thought of mixing these two genres. It’s most likely due to movies such as the “Scary Movie” franchise having completely turned me off of the idea of mixing the two types of film but there have been just an increasingly large amount of movies that just did it right – How To Be A Serial Killer is exactly one of these movies. It is a black comedy that not only is about a serial killer but also mixes in an ongoing running gag of an ongoing late night infomercial selling the idea of being a serial killer to increase your self esteem and be a self help program.
The movie revolves around Mike (Dameon Clarke) who is running this mental self help program for himself. Near the beginning of the film he runs into a video store clerk who is being berated by customers and is exactly the kind of person who is in need of guidance and self help in their life named Bart (Matthew Gray Gubler.) Mike is quick on the uptake to sign Bart up for his course and slowly attempts to turn him into a serial killer. While Bart is completely hooked on the idea of being a killer he is unable to take the step to push him into that realm and continues learning until the very end of the film.
Mike’s character is so well played its disgusting. He is energetic, endearing, and charismatic – the perfect combination to play a sociopath and he pulls it off to perfection. He is able to lure you into wanting to follow every aspect of the story including being completely sold on everything he is going and everything he is doing is killing his victims. Not only do we get a lot of murder running throughout the movie but the murder is honestly creative. We get so many various ways that people are killed from hand to hand weapons, blunt object, guns, to household appliances. What differentiates him from almost every other serial killer you see or read about is that he doesn’t kill his victims in the same way which is completely against the standard view of how serial killers off their targets. With top notch casting and acting you’ll be shocked when remembering that this is an independent film. Luke Ricci is going to have an amazing career ahead of him in writing horror and Demeon was born to play in horror movies. I can’t wait to see what they both do next in the genre.
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How To Be A Serial Killer (2008)3sconover2010-03-26 16:39:24
ReviewsHow To Be A Serial Killer (2008)
by Stuart Conover on March 23, 2010
Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror (2006)
I know I generally jump directly into the director and writing information but this one is going to need a small bit of introduction first due to the amount of writers involved. Why are there so many writers? Well this was filmed in the style of Creepshow. If you haven’t seen the 2 Creepshow films (you are truly missing out on a couple classic pieces of horror being the case) than think more along the lines of novels. What kind of novels? Anthology novel! The Creepshow series and now the Hood of Horror are anthologies of mini-horror films that are put together and told by a single narrator and in this case it is played by Snoop Dogg himself.
The films are directed by Stacy Title who has had a few films previous and a few after but is not a high profile director. After seeing the Hood of Horror you have to hope she gets a shot at a big budget horror film to see what she can put together as each of these shorts had its own piece of charm you couldn’t help to enjoy. The first film Crossed out was written by Jacob Hair (whose done a large mixture of smaller horror films and television) and Tim Sullivan (who again worked with quite a few movies.) The second film, The Scumlord, was also written by Tim Sullivan as well as Chris Kobin (who worked on a few projects with Tim.) Finally the third film, Rapsody Askew was written by Jonathan McHugh and while this is his only writing credit he has done music for a lot of movies including Repo! The Genetic Opera and Saw 2. Now while each of these 3 short movies are a fun watch, unlike Creepshow which it’s clearly based upon, it’s hard to think of any of the three as scary.
Crossed Out is the story about a woman whose neighborhood is overrun with gang members and while she attempts to be a tough woman by spray painting over their ‘tagging’ to get back at them all they do is end up trying to kill her. She ends up making a pact to gain satanic powers to be able to end the gang warfare though in the end is guilty of committing the same acts that they do and have to suffer the same fate she had inflicted upon the gang members.
The second story The Scumlord is about a redneck who inherits his father’s condo that is being rented out on the cheap to veterans he had gone to war with earlier in his life. The redneck and his wife are racist bastards and treat the tenants like second class citizens though both end up getting exactly what is coming to them when they find out what the couple have done to a nurse that has been taking care of them.
The third and final story is Rapsody Askew about a rapper who sold his soul to become the best rapper in the world. Along the way he had both friends and enemies taken care of and his best friend who was holding him back has come back to teach him a lesson and let him know the time has come to pay his debt.
My suggestion when it comes to this one? Go pickup the original 2 Creepshow films if you want a horror anthology. If you’re looking for a way to kill an afternoon you can pick this up but don’t expect any real scares. I’d also suggest turning this into a drinking game with friends which would make it doubly enjoyable.
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Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror (2006)2sconover2010-03-23 08:41:55
ReviewsSnoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror (2006)
![The Cabin In The Woods [HD]](http://www.scarymovies.org/media/images/i/51gPLg53tqL._SL75_.jpg)
