by Stuart Conover on March 11, 2010
Sorority Row (2009)
Directed by Stewart Hendler and written by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger. While Stewart has a few smaller directing gigs before this one Josh and Pete have both had a lot of experience, though in television. Sorority Row is another one of the horror remakes that hit the big screen in 2009. You would think with how much money is clearly being funneled into the horror genre with the slew of remakes being put on screen we could get something original for a change. This film is a modern day "re-imaging" of the 1983 classic slasher The House on Sorority Row. By re-imaging it is clearly a brand new film and not a real re-make of the classic. I will give it credit though for doing one very important thing – not caving to get a PG13 rating. While the gore is light the content is strong enough to deserve a R rating and I for one am of the opinion that all horror films should be rated the same way.
The film opens with a group of sisters from Theta Pi are having a party, though it is one with an agenda. One of the girl's has a boyfriend who recently cheated on her and they plan on having a little fun with having revenge against him. They come up with a prank that makes it looks like he kills her and when they go to dump the body (where they were going to reveal that it is a joke) he ends up stabbing her while trying to dismember the body - actually killing her. They make a pact to never speak of it again and everyone lives happily ever after.
Well that would make for a boring film so let's say happily ever after lasts until the end of the semester when someone starts calling everyone that was involved in the prank telling them they knew what had happened. At this point we follow a pretty standard modern slasher film that was unfortunately pretty predictable. The only real surprise was who ends up being the killer though aside from that wasn't trying for anything groundbreaking. Which in a way works as the classic sorority slashers were a fun watch but still I was hoping they had found a way to update the formula to bring us something new. Still, the ability to have the characters believably work together or fight among themselves depending on their personality fit together well.
While it wasn't a bad film it wasn't something that you are going to find a lot of replay value in. While it wasn’t the greatest horror film in the world it was a ‘remake’ (and again I use the term lightly) that at least was able to carry itself with a decent plot and acting that didn’t make you cringe to watch on screen as so many of the recent ones have suffered from. I do have to give the director bonus credits though for casting Carrie Fisher as a bad ass ‘house mother’ to the girls who always had an answer. At very least the writers were able to get some credit on the film as they are currently in the works of writing what will clearly be a masterpiece - Piranha 3-D.
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Sorority Row (2009)2.75sconover2010-03-11 16:01:34
ReviewsSorority Row (2009)
by Stuart Conover on March 10, 2010
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Drag Me to Hell marked the return of Sam Raimi to directing a horror film as well as being the co-writer with his brother Ivan Raimi. While distracted with the Spiderman franchise as of late Sam's initial claim to fame was a small series a few of you may have heard of - Evil Dead. Yes the pivotal movies that launched both his career and that of B-Star legend Bruce Campbell has returned back to his roots in a movie that clearly pays homage to what made him famous as well as adding in a few new tricks.
The most noticeable difference between this and any of Sam's Evil Dead movies is that this one has a budget. The fact that the main noticeable difference is an increased budget is good because he doesn’t sacrifice the fun thrills from his earlier movies or the humor that is subtly found within. I would say the introduction scene sets the tone to the movie perfectly – a young boy who has been cursed tries to outrun that which has cursed him and ends up being thrown from a balcony into a pit that has opened full of flames and is surely a gateway to hell (hence the movie title.) If you are going to go off killing children in the very first scene of a movie you know it’s going to be a fun ride!
We are introduced quickly to Christine (Alison Lohman) who is a young woman that is inches away from getting an assistant manager’s job that she has long wanted at the bank she works for. However the job is not set in stone and she has competition in the form of a weasel named Stu (only being mentioned because of that great first name.) In order to secure the position she has been told to be a bit stricter on loans and soon is asked to extend the payment date on an old woman’s mortgage. This old woman though is a sickly looking elderly gypsy lady, Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver.) When she tells the old woman no, Mrs. Ganush will not take it as an answer and turns to begging. When further denied she is petrified at what she has had to do and still be denied. This of course is not the end of it.
When in her car and ready to go home that night Christine is attacked by the old gypsy in a fight scene that screams back to early scenes filmed by Raini and you cannot tear your eyes away for a moment. As the fight comes to a close the old lady loses but puts a curse on Christine. This curse quickly proves to us who has really won the fight as there is no end to the constant harassment Christine suffers in both her professional and personal life.
Raini has returned to horror in true style and just the way it was meant to be. Every scene keeps you wanting to know what is going to happen and the way it was filmed puts you in a perfect frame of mind for a fun horror film. It’s not surprising that a Raini horror movie has humor In it but it is surprising at how many laughs are found in this one while still being able to pull off having it be suspenseful.
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Drag Me to Hell (2009)4sconover2010-03-10 22:00:45
ReviewsDrag Me to Hell (2009)
by Stuart Conover on March 9, 2010
Grace (2009)
Written and directed by Paul Solet, Grace was a sleeper hit in some circles for 2009. It's a unique take on a horror movie and one of the few that are done more while observing what would classically be thought of as something that mainly women would go through. In this case it is overly exemplified with the fact that the main character apparently loses both her husband and child in a car accident and has to go through the entire ordeal of the movie alone.
When it gets right down to it Grace can be a very slow movie. In all actuality not a 'lot' happens directly on screen and there are long moments where the movie’s scenes aren’t tense. I feel though that a lot of these moments would be required with how the film itself plays out though they would be hard to handle for quite a few viewers.
We start the film with Madeline Matherson (Jordan Ladd) and her husband (Stephen Park) clearly expecting another shot at having a child after two miscarriages and who’s third try appears to be working out for her with no issues. This peace is quickly put to rest as a car accident robs her of her husband and leaves the child inside her dead.
With all of this loss it’s easy to understand why Madeline may choose this time in her life to slightly lose it. How about by still finishing off the last of her pregnancy and giving birth to a child she knows will be stillborn? Realistically I’m sure every doctor would be enthusiastic about letting this occur. I’m sure there are no health concerns in the slightest that would cause a doctor to prevent this from happening at all. Ignoring this fact (it is a movie) we see that when the baby is born, against the fact she’s been dead for nearly a month, Grace still cries when she comes out of her mother’s womb.
Yes, the child is in fact alive and apparently perfectly healthy - assuming of course that a craving for blood instead of milk makes you healthy at less than a year old. Now would probably be a great place to insert that while we find out she needs blood to live purely by accident on the mother’s side that Madeline is also a strict vegetarian and the thought of eating meat is very against her belief system.
Honestly aside from the slow pacing of parts of the movie there are generally quite a few positive surprises that are found within. It deals a lot with human nature and showing what people are willing to do for whom and what they love. It also has top notch acting and aside from a baby that requires blood to survive and a doctor willing to let her bring it out naturally when it was apparently already dead the entire movie has a completely realistic feel to it. People show off emotions how you would expect them to and the characters are fully believable. It has quite a few overly creepy moments and an ending that has one of the more disturbing scenes that I have seen as of late.
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Grace (2009)3.75sconover2010-03-09 19:36:25
ReviewsGrace (2009)
by Stuart Conover on March 9, 2010
My Name Is Bruce (2007)
There aren't a lot of horror comedies I can openly admit to really enjoying but very few can truly resist the charm of quite possibly the best B-actor to walk the face of the planet - Bruce Campbell. Honestly if you haven't seen the other major films Bruce has been in (The Evil Dead series) you may not yet be ready to watch this one. This film not only gives us Bruce in the starring role but also is directed by the man, the myth, the legend - Bruce Campbell. Yes he has learned the art of multitasking on this one and could only be better if it was written by none other than... Mark Verheiden. OK Bruce can do quite a bit but he doesn't do everything under the sun. Mark Verheiden has mainly written television shows until this point (aside from a small 90's comedy known as The Mask) but did such a great job Bruce signed him up for his next epic battle - Bruce Vs. Frankenstein. I for one after seeing My Name Is Bruce cannot wait for the next film they do together and with a title like that you know comedy gold will be in the works.
At any rate in this film Bruce Campbell plays – himself. Yes a run down B-Actor who is doing film after film of horrible movies with nowhere to go in life and running out of friends and jobs. Meanwhile in a small hillbilly town an ancient evil, Guan-Di (the Chinese God of War, protector of the dead, and bean curd) has been awakened and is terrorizing the countryside. No one is quite sure what to do but one of the town’s inhabitants, Jeff (Taylor Sharpe), is a huge fan (stalker) of Bruce and believes that he is the only man capable of saving the town from the curse that has befallen it. Anyone who has been able to live through so many B-Movies has to know how to handle a real life situation of the same magnitude, right?
To get Bruce out there he kidnaps him and due to an entertaining set of circumstances (and Bruce being Bruce) he quickly believes that he is actually being hired to star in a new movie, not save a town from a monster that is real. We are introduced to the boy’s mother where a love interest blooms between Bruce and Kelly Grahm (Grace Thorsen,) at least in Bruce’s mind this is happening. When he realizes that the demon is actually real he responds in true Bruce fashion – he runs away as far and fast as he can.
Bruce never fails to delivery on entertainment. He has B-Movie campiness down to an art form and can fuse this talent into any genre. Gladly he has chosen to mix it with horror as it is non-stop laughs in a very twisted and self loathing kind of way. The movie also gets bonus points for casting Ted Raimi (Sam Raimi’s brother) in 3 separate rolls within the film, each one of them more entertaining than the last. You really do need to have an interesting sense of humor to be able to enjoy such an abundant source of B movie madness.
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My Name Is Bruce (2007)3.5sconover2010-03-09 13:54:05
ReviewsMy Name Is Bruce (2007)
by Stuart Conover on March 8, 2010
The Descent (2005)
Written and directed by Neil Marshall, who also happened to write and direct one of my personal favorites Dog Soldiers, knocked out another instant classic with this film. Highly underrated on it's release the more people were able to see it though were able to help spread the word into a horror film I don't know anyone who has disliked.
The movie starts with a tragic accident and shows how six good friends come together to enjoy one of their favorite past times as both a way to have fun as well as a way to help the one involved in the accident get back on her feet and move on with her life. How does one turn a movie about six tough female spelunkers of all things into a horror movie? What exactly is a spelunker? Watching The Descent will easily answer that as it was hands down one of the best horror films in the past 10 years! Oh, and to answer the second question a spelunker is a cave explorer for those who really didn't know.
There are many ways to up the suspense level in a situation where 6 people are exploring caves. In fact how many basic premises of fear can we fit in? The three major ones are: the dark, being lost, claustrophobia and building on all three with a slew of increased dangers and ideas. How about starting the exploring and realizing the person in charge of setting up the expedition thought it would be a great idea to instead of picking a known cave system to explore a brand new one? Now let’s mix in that they initially started to follow a map that wasn’t relevant to the cave they were in and no one has a clue on which cave they actually went to explore?
Of course known for his first film about werewolves it's easy to think he may include a creature of some sort chasing after our explorers - and he does. So on top of the above 3 major reasons for suspense to build upon, once things almost look like they are going well we can add in something stalking them into the mix. It is quickly clear what these creatures are what is hard to figure out is how these 6 friends will be able to avoid them and get out alive.
When I first heard the premise for this film I wasn't sold on the idea that it was going to be great. When someone told me it was “kind of like Dog Soldiers but with women in a cave” I was worried it was just a rehash of a basic premise. In fact I wasn't even really interested in seeing the film until one of my friends said I was doing a disservice to myself for not giving it a chance and reminded me of my dislike for most werewolf films and how much I liked Neil’s first movie about werewolves. Don't let this gem of the horror genre pass you by if you aren't sure if the plot was going to hold your attention - it will.
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The Descent (2005)4.75sconover2010-03-08 17:56:50
ReviewsThe Descent (2005)
by Stuart Conover on March 7, 2010
The Stepfather (2009)
Nelson McCormick directs this remake of the 1987 film that goes by the same name. While prior to this Nelson mostly has worked in television, the other film credit to his name was directing another horror remake the year before "Prom Night." This recent remake's screenplay was written by J.S. Cardone who also worked with nelson on Prom Night though has written a few other films previously.
The story focuses around David Harris (Dylan Walsh from Nip/Tuck) and opens showing David finishing brutally murdering a family followed by skipping town. Now to start with if you are a loyal Nip/Tuck addict I'm about to insult you. Dylan Walsh can't act. Now I'm not someone who watches Nip/Tuck so maybe he actually can act and just choose not to for this film, which is quite possible. If you've seen the original 1987 version of The Stepfather it was also by no means groundbreaking but what absolutely made the movie was the performance of Terry O'Quinn in the first movie showing off his acting chops as someone who is genially insane and wants the perfect family. Dylan just not play a convincing David as he never comes near the absolute twisted evil that is required for the part.
Now I understand a lot of writers are willing to sacrifice scenes and story to get a PG-13 rating, most of these writers also understand that horror movies are mainly for adults. So at this point in my little ranging David meets Susan (Sela Ward) and woos his way into her heart. Here has found the latest (in apparently a long string) of candidates for the wife to fit in and be part of his perfect family. He quickly also has the daughter feel comfortable with him and when the son returns home he is, at first, almost comfortable with him – that feeling of comfort ends quickly. While he is able to show himself off as the best potential husband in the world there are not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 people who are suspect of David.
Amazingly 3 of these (the crazy cat lady across the street, the ex-husband who still cares, and the lesbian sister) who confront Susan about their concerns are all killed off. Of course I assume if you were a psycho killer attempting to make the perfect family than you would probably try to kill off anyone who was telling your seemingly perfect wife that she was in the wrong as well. The son is able to stay alive by just being comfortable enough with David to keep from pushing him too far.
By the end of the movie it comes down to her semi-estranged son who is a 'bad boy' to save the day as clearly no one else is left alive to. Now I could be wrong but if you had 3 different people straight out tell you that you were making a mistake wouldn't you at least put some effort into investigating it?
I want to be clear that I'm not being harsh on this movie since it's a remake. If done right I actually strongly enjoy a remake of a film. Take Dawn of the Dead for instance, one of George A. Romero's best works and the remake was
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The Stepfather (2009)0.75sconover2010-03-07 21:35:18
ReviewsThe Stepfather (2009)
by Stuart Conover on March 6, 2010
Freeway Killer (2009)
Directed by John Murlowski who has a few horror movies under his belt and written by David Birke who clearly has a fetish for writing serial killer movies having previously done ones on Gazy and Dahmer among others. It's clear that this duo has had experience in the horror genre in the past it's no surprise that they were able to put together something that was extremely interesting - if not overly scary, gory, or suspenseful. Had this not been based on a true story or told ahead of time that the main character was in prison there may have been a high amount of suspense for us to run with for anyone not knowing the story ahead of time. Even without any real 'fright' factor it still easily fits in the realm of horror and was a very captivating watch.
Freeway Killer tells the story of the serial killer William Bonin (Scott Leet) and the two apprentices that he trained: Vernon Butts (Dusty Sorg) and later on in the life Kyle (Cole Williams.) What absolutely works about this film is how Scott plays William. He is able to be both charismatic and absolutely ruthless and is able to visibly show that he seems to be restraining the madness at parts of the film if you know he is actually insane. If you know anything about the story it helps that Scott actually looks quite a bit like William will the makeup on and really can play up his performance. Scott is definitely an actor I would like to see more of in the horror genre and hopefully will be making a return to it in the near future.
As the story starts we are shown Bonin being questioned by a woman who wants to know if her son was one of Bonin's victims so that she might have closure if her life. She's been trying to treat him well to get an answer instead of suffering by not knowing before he is put to death as the state's first execution by lethal injection. We are then narrated the story through his eyes, not at the beginning but part way in where he feels it deserves to be told from. In the very first scene you see Bonin pickup two hitchhikers, though we quickly learn that one of them was a friend of his that he has taken under his wing as a co-serial killer.
We progress from here through murders when while looking for a victim he sees a young man, Kyle, being berated first by his boss followed by his girlfriend. Kyle is the perfect target for Bonin - a young man with low self esteem. When he finally gets Kyle alone though he sees that he has the potential to be a like him and quickly starts putting him on the track of being a serial killer.
Again, this isn’t a horror movie with a high amount of gore, suspense, or scares (aside from the fact that serial killers look for the most part like normal people.) It is though a well written, acted, and laid out movie and was quite enjoyable as both a documentary as well as just a look through the eyes of someone who is definitely wrong in the head.
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Freeway Killer (2009)3sconover2010-03-06 16:28:41
ReviewsFreeway Killer (2009)
by Stuart Conover on March 5, 2010
Case 39 (2009)
Case 39 was directed by Christian Alvart (who has since also directed and released Pandorum) and written by Ray Wright (who just released The Crazies) and I feel that his mix of director and writer actually show full well with how the movie turned out. Christian Alvart put together a very solid looking movie just as he does in Pandorum and Ray Wright has written up a great concept that I just couldn't put both of my feet solidly behind as much as I really wanted to with the concept of the film. My only complaint with Alvart’s work on this is he appears to go with the scares over building up suspense and with the plot of the film I believe this was a mistake.
This story follows Emily Jenkins (Renee Zellweger,) a social worker who on a routine trip has found that a young girl Lilith (Jodelle Ferland) appears to be being abused by her parents; Edward (Callum Rennie) and Margaret (Kerry O'Malley.) I have to admit the first scene she has with meeting the couple is one of the stronger scenes in the film just with how unsettling off it was. How are you supposed to talk to a couple that reacts so indifferently to not at all to what you are saying? It is painfully obvious though that there is something wrong in this house as you can tell from every nuance of how they communicate that things are just not right.
With the conviction that Lilith is in a bad environment and is at both mental and physical risk, she goes on a crusade with her boss to try to have the child removed from their custody. Emily fails in being able to accomplish it as they smooth talk their way out of any problems when talking to her boss. After this fails we see Emily show up at Lilith's school as she is clearly concerned, gives the girl her phone number, and asking her to call if anything is to ever happen.
We flash forward to Edward and Margaret preparing to do something and Lilith calling Emily begging for help and claiming her parents are going to kill her. Lilith shows up with a police officer she is friends with and breaks in as they find the parents trying to roast the young girl alive in an oven. After a decently choreographed fight sequence we have the parents subdued and the daughter saved just in time.
From this point everything appears to be going well for the main characters. The parents are in prison, Lilith is safe, and Emily is ready to move on to the next case - until Lilith tries to be adopted by her. When she succeeds all is going well until the people that matter in Emily's life start to commit suicide or be murdered. While the first two are a bit strange it’s fairly obvious to Emily quickly that something is going on. Once she starts to put together the clues that Lilith is behind it – it may be too late.
A lot of the plot felt forced and just did not work well at building up suspense. It really went for the quick thrill on each kill and didn’t help to tie them in for a large build up. While the concept of how Lilith kills her victims through their greatest fears is a great concept – it was poorly executed.
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Case 39 (2009)2.875sconover2010-03-05 17:04:53
ReviewsCase 39 (2009)
by Stuart Conover on March 5, 2010
Dread (2009)
Anthony DiBlasi adapted Dread from Clive Barker's short story to the big screen by writing the screenplay and directing it. While this is the first movie that DiBlasi has written or directed (and managed to tackle both) he is clearly no stranger to Clive Barker's work and is obviously a fan as he produced The Plague, Book of Blood, The Midnight Meat Train as well as is working on the new Hellraiser, and another untitled Barker project. With so much experience with Clive you know he's got a taste for what makes Barker's writing work and this film is no exception. If anything now that he has had a more direct hand in the creation of a Barker film it's only ended up even better.
Having not read the short story I cannot give you any commentary on how it holds up against the subject material. What I can tell you though from having read a lot of Clive Barker novels and short stories is that it feels like something Clive Barker would have written if it were properly caught on screen. There are two leads in this story Stephen Grace (Jackson Rathbone) and Quaid (Shaun Evans.) Grace is a film student who is attempting figure out what he wants to do for his final project and ends up becoming friends with Quaid who pushes him towards making a documentary about what people dread and how this is build upon fear. They recruit an editor who Grace slowly ends up falling in love with and who is the one who finally gives them an idea of dread they can run with instead of the normal run of the mill fears people suffer from.
We slowly learn as the film progresses that Quaid has his own dread. He is trying to use this documentary as a way to understand what is wrong with him and find a way to cure it. What we don't know until it is almost too late that Quaid's dread is actually that he insane and is feeding off of the fears and dreads of others to further the mind games that is has begun to play with Grace, their editor, and another one of Grace's friends. The mind games turn real though as in the later half of the film Quaid starts to force people to suffer through what they truly dread. The film really does start slow and there isn't quite a bit on the payoff for horror fans until later in the film but when it starts to kick in the buildup just keeps going through the end and pays off.
The film itself has a very disturbing end as the 'fears' of having to be stuck with this insanity really does prove to give way to dread in the way the finale is portrayed. DiBlasi may not have a lot of previous writing or directing credits to his name but this is another director to keep your eye on and I for one can't wait to see what he's going to be working on next.
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Dread (2009)4sconover2010-03-05 00:36:51
ReviewsDread (2009)
by Stuart Conover on March 3, 2010
Carriers (2009)
Written and directed by the brothers Àlex and David Pastor this was their first film to get a large showing at the box office. While not the first project either of the two have worked on it easily proves that they know exactly how to put together a well laid out post apocalyptic film.
Set shortly after an unknown outbreak spread across the land killing a majority of the populace we follow a group of 4 friends (two brothers and their women they are dating) who are trying to reach an old beach house they know of which is so secluded they believe they can live there peacefully. One of my favorite aspects of this is we never see exactly the horrors of the outbreak - just the immediate after effects. It is not so far past the occurrence that everything has been looted, destroyed, or worn down due to time, but far enough that seeing other humans is rare. When we do see remnants of humanity - it’s a world where clearly everyone is out for themselves.
We are introduced to Brian (Chris Pine) the outgoing brother, Danny (Lou Taylor Pucci) who is more the brain to Brian’s brawn, Brian’s girlfriend Bobby (Piper Perabo), and the girl Danny is interested in Kate (Emily Vanvamp) and are easily shown who is who, their personalities, and how they interact with one another. It’s four people in a very tense situation and they show how it can grate on their nerves and still have them come together. As mentioned above it’s a very desolate area they are in and while they do meet up with 3 separate groups of people it is just to help advance the story – the story being our set of 4 friends.
Most post apocalyptic films take the easy way out and bring up zombies or man v man with everyone out for themselves. This story shows how the group progresses from trying to help others, to being harmed by others, to blatantly in one case on Brian’s part just taking what they need. Even when this happens though the true fleshing out of both caring, understanding, and all of the ‘good’ parts of human nature has not been left out. I am not going to focus much on the three groups of people they meet up with (aside to point out that less time is spent with each group as time goes on) aside from the first group as it was a father (Christopher Meloni) and his infected daughter (Kiernan Shipka.) These were the most interesting of the non-main characters in the film as Christopher’s character is just a man who wants to save his daughter who won’t take no for an answer and is able to do so with words while Kiernan, for being so young, was able to play such a perfect roll.
The movie knew how to bring up tension, show off human nature, and kill off important cast members without it seeming abrupt or without purpose. Everything fit well together and I cannot wait to see what the Pastor brothers put together next and can only hope that it is in the horror genre. If you are a fan of post apocalyptic films this is probably the best one created in 2009.
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Carriers (2009)4.25sconover2010-03-03 23:35:38
ReviewsCarriers (2009)
