28 Days Later, Still Holds Up As An Absolute Masterpiece That Changed Zombie Films Forever

The first zombie film was released back in the sixties, George A. Romero bought us a new kind of horror movie villain, and boy were they scary, but back then zombies were seen as slow, easy to catch and kill.

Enter Danny Boyle, from the guy that bought us the Scottish drug film Trainspotting as well as The Beach he not only breathed new life into the zombie sub-genre but created a new, almost terrifying new type of zombie… the fast moving quick as lightning kind.

You couldn’t outrun this kind, even if you was an Olympic sprinter you couldn’t have done it, it was bold but damn what a decision! Zack Snyder done it with his remake of Dawn Of The Dead, used the exact type of fast moving zombie.

Another interesting fact about this film is that while it used well known actors who were already established in the industry such as Christopher Ecclestone and Brendan Gleeson, it was Cillian Murphy believe or not that rose to stardom with this one, he went on to star in the Dark Knight Trilogy as well as other Christopher Nolan flicks, he wasn’t a household name until this gem of a film was released.

So with that being said it’s time to dive in to 28 Days Later!

So in the film there’s a virus called the Rage, which turns anyone who comes in to contact with the virus into murdering, sadistic and psychopathic zombies, Cillian Murphy plays Jim, a bike courier who has woken up from a coma 28 days later.

Now the virus started in a lab filled with apes, a group of eco terrorists decided to break in and free the chimps, only to then become infected and wreak havoc on the city of London.

Jim awakens from his coma to find London deserted, in one of the most iconic shots in the film we see the baron deserted city of London, cars, buses and trucks overturned and no one in sight, that is until Jim find a nearby church enters and sees an absolute massacre, we then get a first glimpse of these terrifying zombies in the form of a vicar, his screeches alert the other bodies and they chase after Jim.

He then meets up with Mike and Selena and finds out just exactly what has happened, basically long story short it started off as rioting, but instead of major cities it was small towns, it then moved in to the cities, neighbours turned on one another you name it, it all went wrong.

The government then had a shoot on sight implemented, so if you wasn’t infected you’d have been shot basically.

Jim decides he wants to visit his parents house, they get there and find them dead in their beds having overdosed on pills, he finds a note detailing what his parents said.

They are soon attacked by Jim’s neighbour and Mark gets infected and is subsequently killed by Selena.

Left to fend for themselves as a duo the pair find father and daughter Frank and Hannah in a tower block, the four decide to head north after Frank hears a radio broadcast, Selena doesn’t believe it as it could be old and there may be nothing left there.

They head north, Frank dies after a drop of blood from a dead body gets in his eye and Jim has to kill him, and the trio continue north.

They come across an army barracks ran by Major Henry West, turns out that broadcast was a trick to lure women and be turned in to sex slaves, the soldiers take Selena and Hannah away and take Jim and Sergeant Farrell to be shot after they both disagree with the plan.

The base is eventually overrun after Jim lets a zombie who was tied up free.

West ends up dying as well as other soldiers.

The three leave and spend some time in a cottage up in Cumbria while they recover from their ordeal, while there they see a Finnish plane fly over and they unravel a sign that says “hello”

And that’s that.

Honestly I can’t recommend this film enough, when people say they haven’t seen it I add it to their recommendations, it’s a definite must see if you love the whole zombie genre.

The soundtrack which was done by John Murphy is by far the best thing about this film, even if you haven’t seen the film you’ve heard the song “in the house- in a heartbeat” and if you haven’t well… YouTube it and thank me later because it is an absolute banger, not too mention it’s been used in other media as well, it’s pretty much iconic.

The acting is again brilliant, Franks death has to be one of the most shocking to me by far, the screams from Selena are just heartbreaking, the daughter as well god it’s such a well constructed scene.

The part where Jim sees his parents dead in their bed is yet another example of a heartbreaking scene.

Special mention to the style of filming as well, portions of the film is shot on a Canon MiniDV which is why is looks so grainy, it’s a nice touch I must say.

28 Days Later is by far one of the greatest zombie film and yes it still holds up, it’s absolutely terrifying some scenes, the jump scares come thick and fast and the tension is ramped up to 11.

If you haven’t seen this film stop what you are doing and watch it, it’s iconic, it’s fantastic… it’s definitely one of those films to see before you die!

10/10 from me!

As always until next time catch ya later 🙂

Night Swim… Interesting Premise But Sadly Sinks To The Bottom Of The Pool.

I first heard of this film back in mid December, the premise alone hooked me and I was sold, I mean… a haunted swimming pool is something I had never seen in a horror movie before.

But alas, as the title suggests it sadly sinks deep down to the bottom of the pool, it was a massive disappointment to say the least, the scares are cheap and predictable the decisions the characters make are rather questionable as well, half the time I was saying to myself “why are doing that, don’t do that, oh my god you absolute cockwomble”

The film follows ex baseball star Ray Waller played by Wyatt Russel and his family consisting of mum Eve played by Kerry Condon, and their two offspring, son Elliot played by Gavin Warren and daughter Izzy played by Amélie Hoeferle.

The Waller family move in to the home where we’re met with our first cliche everybody, hold on to your swimming trunks because there is a load of these bad boys!

The house was previously the victim of a murder, a young girl back in 1992 was trying to fetch a boat in the pool for her terminally ill younger brother, an unseen force pulls her in and drowns, cliche number one too your collection point please!

The family then find the pool in disarray and vow to repair it! Once repaired they find out that it’s self sustained and that the water is from a nearby spring.

Ray decides to use the pool to his advantage and uses it as part of his therapy for his illness (remember I said that okay because we are going to be revisiting that very very shortly) now mysteriously his illness goes in to remission much to the surprise of his family.

The mum Eve is concerned about the behaviour of her husband and also her children after they say they were attacked by something in the pool, ready for cliche number two, here it comes… the family cat goes missing, so far we have haunted house, mystery murder, mystery behaviour and animals inexplicably going missing.

The family then decide to do some digging regarding the house, oh before we get on to that that mystery illness that went into remission, yeah well Ray nearly drowns and also forces a child underwater, it’s then blamed on said mystery illness… you know, the one went in to remission yeah that one.

They do some digging and find that there have been more disappearances in that house! Cliche number three your time has come.

Now turns out the pool that has the self sustaining water source from the local spring, well turns out eve goes and visits Rebecca’s mum Kay (Rebecca was the girl back in 1992 retrieving the boat for her sick brother Tommy) Kay tells Eve the mother of all cliches… the pool water is a special type of healing water, and in order to use the healing capabilities you must sacrifice a family member.

Kay in order to help her sick son recover is compelled to sacrifice Rebecca (and the mother of the year award goes too…) Eve now realises that Ray is under the demons curse and is now sacrificing their son Elliot to the demon.

The family band together to save Elliot from the clutches of the pool demon, Ray after being hit on the head with a baseball bat regains his strength and decides to sacrifice himself to the demon, putting and end to the family’s ordeal.

The surviving family members consisting of Eve, Izzy and Elliot decide to remain in the house and fill the pool in, preventing another family falling victim.

Seriously the decision making in this film is so questionable it borders on comedy, you fill the pool in so that no one and I mean no one can discover it, and then swiftly move out, I cannot be the only one on here who thinks that! It sounds logical don’t it? I just don’t understand why you’d stay in a house that’s full of bad memories, you’d move out right? Right?

Night Swim was produced by Blumhouse, which in a sense is rather disappointing as I love Blumhouse horror movies, I mean they have bought us some decent films they really have, biggest mistake was releasing it this soon in the year, when in reality it should’ve been released this October/November which is prime time for horror movies.

January is aptly called Dump Month, mainly because filmmakers dump these sorts of films on us and they rarely get a good review, not to mention the box office numbers reach an all time low.

Night Swim proves that just because you have an interesting premise, if you overstuff it with cliches and questionable decision making it’s going to fall flat very, very fast.

Now I do have something positive to say, the acting is somewhat decent, Wyatt Russell does a bang up job as do the kids in this film.

Night Swim is… it’s decent and I don’t know why filmmakers don’t make more of these, the premise starts off really well and I really want to see more unconventional haunted places, like say a haunted treehouse or a haunted secret hideout that you used to make as a kid.

The problem with this film is it falls flat massively, it drags you in and you fall for it hook line and sinker, by the end of the film your left thinking “was that it” it was such a letdown, I left the cinema gutted, because what was what I thought an intriguing premise turned out to be another cliche ridden horror, it resembles those horror films you used to find in the bargain bin at your local supermarket.

3/10 Night Swim gets from me, it’s as I said and interesting premise but it doesn’t fully deliver on that.

As always until next time, catch ya later 🙂

Apartment 143… Oh God

What is this! Two posts in one day *gasp* what is this madness! Truth be told I’m stuck at home nursing a cold, I’m currently wrapped up in bed honey and lemon on the go, and loads of tissue that my bedroom is starting too look like a teenager who has just discovered porn for the very first time… lovely!

Still, you can’t beat a good movie day and that is exactly what I am currently doing as of typing, as you can tell by the title this film is called Apartment 143.

Where to begin with this doozy, well first things first it’s shit, seriously don’t waste your time it’s shit.

The film follows a team of paranormal investigators trying to solve why this dysfunctional family flat is haunted.

Secondly let’s talk effects! Oh boy this film boasts some of the cheapest effects you will ever see, I mean yeah it’s low budget and whatnot but still, the effects you can tell are very cheaply done, it looks rushed if you know what I mean, like they don’t even look convincing.

Next is the acting, literally it feels like a Hallmark movie, it’s cheesy it’s bad, the dad is wow… the guy who plays the dad is awful, the only decent person in this is the old paranormal guy and he tries so hard to carry this film but ultimately he can’t.

The acting from the teenage daughter is even worse, basically every character is so unlikable, the writers of this film need to go back to film school because some of these lines are just wow, “I’m a widower I guess” trust me there’s even worser lines than that one.

The only thing I will say is the little boy in this is really adorable, I’m not going too lie but some scenes I was like “aww”

Now… the scares, once you get past the cheesy cheap effects they are scary, like some scenes I didn’t expect at all, I first got the DVD way back in 2013, there is a jump scare literally as the first logos appear, and that’s before you even get to the actual DVD menu.

It’s a nice touch and I don’t think I have seen that on a DVD before, that was a nice touch to be fair.

Another downside with this film is that is filled with cliches, there’s mental illnesses, possession, a rundown dingy apartment complex, a family with a traumatic past… there’s a ton more than what I have listed here but essentially you could play a drinking game with this film there is that many in there.

I guess you could say I’m fifty fifty with this film, yeah the scares are great albeit a little cheap but ultimately it’s cliche ridden, and it’s a very short film, it’s eighty minutes long, but by the time those credits roll you are out of breath, because of how many cliches they have thrown at you.

I just can’t wrap my head around how a film with a decent premise can be this bad, the actors don’t put in the effort apart from the little boy, it falls so flat.

I guess I’m going to give it a 4/10 the scares are decent but cheap, the acting is so wooden it’s like a carpenters wet dream, it’s so full of horror movie cliches that it ruins the film for you, but is it scary.

In a sense yes, yeah sure the scares are cheap but ultimately they work, it builds a decent amount of tension and then BAM! Jump scare! You’re scared, you laugh and then crease with laughter at how cheap the effects are.

As I said it gets a 4/10 from me.

Until next time… catch ya later

Hell House LLC, Delivers On Chills And Scares But Ultimately Falls Flat

I’ve said once and I will say it again… I love found footage, it’s my favourite sub genre of horror as you can tell, now this film I found on Amazon years back, like I’m talking 2016 maybe 2017 the latest, I hadn’t heard of it but I gave it a go.

The film follows several young adults as they try and open a haunted house experience in a rundown abandoned hotel, they travel to upstate New York, find the hotel and open up shop, only to become victims to ghostly paranormal goings on.

The scares are good I mean they do a decent job of making you jump but ultimately they feel a little… cheap, there’s some scares that are like “shit didn’t see that coming” and there’s some that are like “oh… yeah totally didn’t see that coming” trust me some will make you eye roll so far you’ll look possessed!

There’s random stuffed costumes coming too life and there’s possession to boot , but ultimately it falls flat near the end.

Let me explain.

The film follows obviously the setting up of the haunted house attraction, we get some exposition on the backstory of the rundown hotel basically long story short, guy creates hotel guests disappear he makes up some shit and then hang’s himself in the dining room.

All the way through your guessing “what could have happened here, what matter of horrible things occurred that night” you hear that something went down in the basement, one of the actors dies and the other survives, only to kill himself months later.

It leaves you guessing and coming up with theories as to what might have happened, you see archival footage from a guests camera phone which… doesn’t give any clues, you don’t see anything happen, leaving more questions than answers.

By the time the ending rolls round we see down in the basement just exactly what happens, we see… nothing.

You see the actor that kills himself run away, some guests run away screaming and you’re left wondering “well what was it? What happened?” It doesn’t answer anything.

Then we find out the only remaining staff member is actually a ghost, she was killed that fateful night, like I said it falls flat and leaves more questions than answers.

The build up was great and the tension was there but it lets you down, it’s disappointing to the point where your sat there just thinking about the time wasted watching and waiting, and I hate it when movies do that.

They build up this event, they build it up and create tension to the point where your like an impatient child waiting to see what the surprise is.

It’s the equivalent of paranormal activity 5, you’re agonisingly waiting to see Toby in his human form, yet when it comes to that specific scene you see his legs, and then it cuts too black.

I was so disappointed with that film, like all the time watching your like “oh what is he going too look like” in the end it’s cheap foot reveal, it’s stupid, the useless amount of tension that was building up was all for… nothing.

Don’t get me wrong Hell House is a great film I’m not disputing that it’s good, it’s a good horror… but films like this need a good ending, this film sadly doesn’t have it.

It gets 6/10 from me, the scares a great, the acting is dare I say but surprisingly good, I was shocked a little, like they do bang up job at portraying terrified young adults that I did start too fell sorry for them at one point.

But ultimately it is the ending that looses points for me.

Until next time, catch ya later 🙂

Sleepaway Camp, Dead Campers And A Controversial Twist Ending Make Up This 80s Slasher

Slasher movies, love them or hate them they have given birth to some of cinema’s most iconic characters, Jason from Friday The 13th, Freddy from Nightmare On Elm Street and of course Michael Myers from Halloween.

Sleepaway Camp didn’t become a cult favourite overnight, oh no… in fact critics hated it, calling a rip off Friday the 13th, it wasn’t until later on people started appreciating it.

It also was highly controversial, its depiction of same sex relationships and the portrayal of its villain were the subject of intense controversy.

It was the 80s where of course being gay was still frowned upon, remember this was the decade of the aids epidemic which saw over eleven thousand people die from the virus.

I don’t want to get political no, I’m here to talk about Sleepaway Camp, the film follows shy introverted Angela she and her cousin Ricky attend Camp Arawak for the summer, Angela becomes the target for bullies during her stay, mainly from fellow camper Meg and camp counsellor Judy.

Things go horribly wrong from here on out, the cook Artie attempts to molest Angela and he gets a vat of boiling hot water poured on him by an unseen force, camper Kenny and his friend Mike also mock Angela, Kenny’s body is found later on having drowned, both are ruled an accident by the camps owner Mel.

Another camper Billy picks on Angela and he is later killed after being stung to death by bees, Mel the owner of the camp now starts to believe there may be a killer afoot (better late than never Mel)

Angela begins dating another fellow camper Paul, after the two kiss Judy tries seducing him, Angela finds the two kissing and Paul tries really hard to explain himself, Judy and Meg shoo him away and throw Angela in the lake, she then has sand thrown at her by a group of small children.

Later that night one of the counsellors takes a small group of children in to the woods to camp for the night, after a few wake up wanting to go back due to being scared he takes them back to the main camp, Angela then hacks the four children who threw sand at her to death.

Mel suspects that Angela’s cousin Ricky is the killer, he later on is then killed by an arrow to the neck.

We then get a look at the villain, it is none other than Angela only there is something different about her, she is in fact… a boy! *gasp* yes Angela is none other than her thought to be dead brother Peter, who supposedly died during a boating accident seen at the start of the film, this rather creepy twist was the gateway that led to the controversy that surrounded the film.

Oh yeah remember the guy who had boiling hot water poured on him? Yeah well he has some rather questionable lines in this film starting with this one “look at all young fresh chickens” quite tame but then he follows it up with this doozy “where I come from we call them baldies”

I’ll let your mind do the wandering with that line, but I will leave you with this hint, he’s not talking about the hair on the children’s heads.

It’s gross, it’s grim and it is an actual line said in this movie.

Sleepaway Camp does what it says on the tin, it has kills, some tame and some gory, it has a brilliant slasher villain, it is brilliant to say the least, there are sequels but personally stick with the first three, they are good, avoid the modern day ones they are… not so good.

The acting dare I say is… campy and very very cheesy but it doesn’t ruin the film at all, it is by far my favourite horror movie series and one I can rewatch over and over again.

It gets a 10/10 from me, definitely check the first three films out, they are well worth checking out!

As always guys… catch ya later 🙂

Evil Dead Rise: You’ll have a “grate” time with this absolute gorefest

I love the Evil Dead franchise, from the very first one to the 2013 remake, I love it… when I heard they made a new one earlier this year I just had to check it out, and boy… it is disgusting.

From the very first scene it’s pretty damn clear what road this film is going to take, there are so many great kills in just this scene alone, including with a drone and they’re all… so graphic, I mean I had to practically watch this opening scene through my fingers, like I said there is a limit for me when it comes too gore.

The next part is pretty much family drama, two sisters and three kids living in a rundown apartment complex in LA, one of the kids finds the infamous necronomicon bound and wrapped in skin after a earthquake strikes the complex they live in, one of the sisters becomes possessed by the deadites and terrorises everyone.

Now… and this is a big now, let’s take the 2013 remake, remember the gore and how gross it was, right well this Evil Dead takes that gore and ramps it up too eleven, pulling zero punches, it doesn’t hold back.

We see eyes bitten out, one poor bastard chokes on it after it’s spat directly in to his mouth, poor innocent children flung and smashed in to a wall and a guys throat slit so bad you can actually see his Adams Apple fall out, like I said it doesn’t hold back.

You’ll notice I’ve misspelt great in the title, no that’s not a spelling error don’t worry, it’s a reference to one particular scene that had every one talking, some poor woman gets a cheese grater dragged up her leg, let’s just say I’m not ever looking at a cheese grater the same way.

I do love however the reference to one of my favourite horror films which was The Shining, the scene where the blood gushes out of the lift, that was a terrific touch (I had the biggest grin on my face)

I am going to admit however I did watch half of this film through my fingers, as I have said before it takes the gore from the 2013 remake and ramps it up to eleven.

The kills are graphic and horrifying as we’ve seen in most Evil Dead films but enough about the gore, let’s talk about the Deadites.

They are bloody scary in this flick, they don’t possess and attack you no, they mock you, they insult you they are brilliant, some of the insults I had tears in my eyes at a few of them, mainly this one and I quote “open the door like you open your legs you stinking groupie slut” it was so off the cuff, so unexpected that I couldn’t hold my laugh in, I was crying with laughter it was that good.

Evil Dead Rise is brilliant, albeit a little too gory for my taste but being an evil dead film I can’t fault it, it’s a great entry in the franchise, it’s every thing an evil dead film has… gore, demons and more.

Although the decision making some of these characters make are… questionable to say the least, either way it’s a great horror flick, and I will give it a… 7/10 it’s scary, it’s gory… it’s Evil Dead you can’t fault it can you.

But as always… catch ya later

The Bay, Underrated Eco-Body Horror Delivers On Chills As Well As Gore

Spooky season is nearly here! Can you believe how quick this year has gone, September already god it’s flown by, anyway with that being said spooky season brings not just Halloween but horror movies yay! And we’re starting off in underrated territory oooh, we’re kicking off with a film I like to call “Jaws meets Cabin Fever” it’s a film titled The Bay.

Released way back in 2012 I vaguely remember hearing about this film, it didn’t get decent marketing over here in the UK, all I saw was a bunch of trailers that really didn’t give a lot away, I really didn’t know what is was about, so I didn’t really care for it to be honest with you.

After a few years it started coming up on my recommendations, I saw someone talk about it and eventually I bit the bullet, ripped off that band-aid and watched it.

So the film is set in a fictional Chesapeake Bay town where the local corrupt mayor is hosting a luncheon with the townspeople, they complain that the local chicken farm is illegally dumping chicken excrement in to the water.

Two oceanographers find that the bay is forty percent lifeless, after running some tests they find that a parasite has been eating the marine life alive thus prompting an investigation, the mayor declines any thing is wrong and the annual Fourth of July celebrations commence.

Now this is where things go bad, we see various townspeople become violently ill… men, women and children become sick with lesions and blisters on their skin.

This is where the gore comes in, it’s disgusting, it’s gross it’s everything that Cabin Fever was, in fact it takes Cabin Fever and turns it up side down… let me explain.

Cabin Fever was quick, the virus ate away at you at such a rapid pace, The Bay slows it down with such a painful pace, you see bit by bit what these people endure and it’s… disgusting, the lesions and blisters are the first symptom, then you start going insane and then the parasites eat your tongue and emerge from your body.

It’s grim and it certainly is not pleasant viewing, what makes this film scary is the fact that this parasites actually exists… albeit it can’t attack humans as portrayed in the film, and it doesn’t eat the tongue of the fishes… although how they actually do it is still grim, they suck away at the blood until the tongue atrophies away, like I said it’s still grim, they really have zero interest in us humans

The isopods near enough wipe away the town, the CDC eventually work out what is causing the infections, but unfortunately it’s too little too late as the townspeople have succumbed to the infection, the mayor dies in a car accident because the medical staff have died and no one could come to rescue him, in what is the biggest dose of karma I have seen in a film.

The Bay is disgusting, it’s gross it’s… brilliant, and I didn’t know this until the end credits it’s directed by none other than Barry Levinson, you know… Rain Man, Good Morning Vietnam and Wag The Dog… yeah that guy, in what is now his first and only horror film and boy what a film this is.

It’s everything a horror movie fan wants, jump scares, found footage, the whole film is like watching a documentary you get on discovery or nat geo, it works on so many levels and I think it’s why I loved this film so much is because everything worked.

There was no confusing subplot all you had was three main storylines, the townspeople, the doctors and nurses and a young couple with a newborn baby.

Okay well maybe this film does have subplots but they don’t confuse you in anyway shape or form, like I said… it works.

It’s one of my favourite found footage films now, it’s also my favourite sub genre of film, if there’s a found footage movie out I’m right there watching it.

It’s definitely worth a watch if your in to all the body horror stuff, although you do need a strong stomach to really get through this movie.

There is a few disturbing scenes, one is where you can literally hear the screams of people dying, and possibly the most disturbing part of the film is where two cops venture into a house and come across a family that have been robbed of their tongues by the isopods, it’s a digitally enhanced audio clip and it makes for disturbing viewing, especially as you can’t see what is going on, it’s left up too your imagination.

As I’ve said it’s worth a watch that is a given, it gets a 9/10 from me, it’s disgusting, it’s everything horror fans want and crave and then some.

As always… catch ya later 🙂

Cobweb And Last Voyage Of The Demeter Double Feature!

I am doing something I haven’t done before on this blog… review two movies in one! Two different films same genre… horror!

We’re going to start off with a film called Cobweb which is set in the present day (that will make sense trust me) the film follows a family that consists of the mum Carol (played by Lizzy Caplan) the dad Mark (played by Anthony Starr) and their eight year old son Peter (played by Woody Norman)

Peter one night starts hearing a mysterious knocking sound in his bedroom walls and tries too investigate what it could be.

Now… the premise itself is great, it starts so well but rapidly goes downhill from around the halfway mark, I won’t spoil anything but the end feels like a massive letdown, in a sense that you’ve been guessing and guessing as too who could be doing the mysterious knocking.

It’s certainly scary that’s a given, there are a few jump scares that were rather unsuspecting, but… and this is a big but, it’s a good but… the acting.

The two adult leads are brilliant, Anthony Starr who plays Homelander on Amazons The Boys is great in this, as is Lizzy Caplan who plays Peter’s Mum, Woody Norman is slowly becoming one of the best child actors out there as he is fantastic in this, he steals every scene he is in, a terrific actor indeed.

There is a few gory moments and I want too talk about one of the scenes in particular, Peter is getting bullied by a kid in his class named Brian (I’d love to know what his parents were thinking when naming him because who in todays world calls their baby Brian) controversial opinion I know.

Brian is played by Luke Busey, trust me don’t get attached to his character he don’t last long.

Anyway it’s set during Halloween and Peter puts out a pumpkin he has carved, Brian and his classmates come over and destroy it, long story short he ends up breaking his leg somehow and vows to get revenge on Peter,

He turns up at his house late at night with his cousins and completely wrecks Peters Home.

The demon in the walls makes an appearance and… well let’s just say she butchers them to death in gruesome fashion.

It’s grim and it’s gross, I don’t normally enjoy watching children die in films, the worst culprit was the movie Clown which I have reviewed in the past and you can check that out here

Clown, A Disgusting, Disturbing And Down Right Gory Ass Horror Flick

Cobweb gets a 6/10… it’s scary there’s no doubt about that but it’s a massive letdown come the end credits, the acting in this however is great!

Last Voyage Of The Demeter

Now… this has been on my radar since the trailer dropped last month, Dracula is one of the most famous and iconic movie characters in film history, we’ve so many portrayals of the vampire, so many film adaptations of him, most famously by Bela Lugosi back in the thirties.

This film however takes Dracula and transports him on a ship called the Demeter, it’s based on the chapter The Captains Log from of course Dracula written by Bram Stoker.

Oh boy oh boy, if I could describe this film it would have to be if Alien was set on a ship, it’s claustrophobic… it’s spooky… it’s… utterly terrifying, Dracula is played by Javier Botet, who when you look at his filmography has played various horror movie villains, he played the leper in 2017s It, the crooked man in The Conjuring 2 and of course the terrifying Tristana Medeiros in the Spanish film REC.

The film also stars Liam Cunningham as the captain of the Demeter, Corey Hawkins as a doctor called Clemens who tries desperately to become a crew member aboard the Demeter.

The jump scares come thick and fast, the tension is so damn high, it’s definitely a scary film there’s no doubt about that, the deaths are… well, their pretty much what you expect from a vampire horror, all except for one poor bugger who gets his face smashed in repeatedly by Dracula.

Now obviously some crew members do get bitten and we see them as the sun rises burn too death, that’s pretty grim as well, although the effects do look a bit cheesy that’s about the only downside this movie has other than that it’s great.

The acting is pretty much what you’d expect, nothing to write home about but it’s decent, there’s no standout performance in my opinion they all do a good job so there’s that.

The other issue I did have with this film was not only the special effects but the lighting too, now I don’t dabble too much with lighting in films but if you make a horror that’s mostly set during the night you need great lighting.

I did find myself struggling to see a few things here and there I don’t know maybe my eyes need testing again or something, let me know if you found it dark or was it just me.

I’ll give this film an 8/10 it was scary it was intense, it had everything really, just the special effects were a bit of a letdown, and the lighting as well, again as I said if you set a horror film at night then you need some decent lighting, don’t go down the AVP: Requiem route (we all remember how dark that one was)

I will maybe do this again, sort of a double feature kind of, I’m always watching new movies whenever I get the time too, anyway on that note as always… catch ya later 🙂

The Black Phone, Kidnappings, Murders And Ghosts Make One Creepy Movie

Now this was advertised almost everywhere when it was released last year, I saw it on buses, bus stops, billboards, social media such as Facebook and TikTok, I wanted to go see it at the cinema because it was getting rave reviews from audiences and critics alike, but alas no one wanted to go, so tonight I saw it on demand and downloaded it as quick as anything!

So the film follows Finney played by Mason Thames, (who by the way is brilliant in this) he’s a middle schooler who has a sister with psychic abilities and lives with his abusive alcoholic dad, he is also frequently bullied and harassed at school as well.

The film is set in 1978 where a child abductor and murderer known only as “The Grabber” (played by Ethan Hawke) lurks down the suburbs of Denver preying on the local children, Finney becomes his latest victim, drugged and thrown in the back of a van he awakes in a sound proof basement with nothing but himself and an old black rotary phone.

Now this is where the film takes an absolute brilliant and downright creepy turn as finney hears the phone ring and speaks to the grabbers past victims, we hear from a paperboy, a bully, Finney’s classmate and friend, and a little boy named Griffin.

Each victim gives Finney little hints as to how to escape, each hint represents how they tried to escape.

Griffin wrote a combination for a lock on the wall in the basement so he wouldn’t of forgotten it.

The paper boy (Billy) tells Finney to use a piece of wire to try and get a grate off of a window.

And a kid who was on a rival baseball team Finney played against at the start of the film tells him to dig underneath one of the tiles.

Now remember those because they play a vital part at the end of the film, now remember I mentioned Finneys sister had psychic powers? Well she has dreams that show her how each kid was kidnapped, she then tries to work out where The Grabbers home is located, eventually she does and leads the local police department too the house.

Finney ends up standing up to the grabber after receiving advice from his best friend and last victim named Robin, he teaches Finney too fill the phone with dirt and punch The Grabber with it.

Eventually he kills the grabber with the hints the victims gave him throughout the film, and is then reunited with his sister Gwen.

Now… I had heard about Ethan Hawkes performance and how terrifying it was, boy are they right, he is absolutely creepy in this film, the masks he uses to hide his face are nothing but nightmare fuel for your eyes, you can definitely tell he had fun with this role.

As for Mason Thames’s role, wow! He is fantastic as Finney, you really begin to sympathise with him as he tries everything to escape, even when you think he makes it out your heart is racing and going a thousand miles per hour.

The films lack of jump scares is a treat too, there’s roughly about two maybe even three in this flick, which is really refreshing as I can’t stand certain horror movies that just rely heavily on jump scares, the rest is heart pounding tension and edge of your seat thrills that will leave you breathless.

It’s worth a watch that’s a given, also make sure to check out the book that this film is based on, I’ve heard it’s a faithful adaptation which is great to hear as well!

10/10 I’m giving The Black Phone, it’s creepy but so worth a watch mainly for Ethan Hawke and Mason Thames’s performances, honestly I can’t mention that enough! Definitely give this film a watch, you won’t regret it!

As always until next time… catch ya later 🙂

Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey… Why?

On January first 2022 the 1926 novel of Winnie the Pooh entered the public domain, enter this guy Rhys Frake-Waterfield.

I want whatever he is on, because not only has he single-handedly turned our beloved woodland creatures in to cannibalistic, psychopathic murdering machines he has come out and said that he plans to make a shared universe with… Bambi and Peter Pan, ladies and gentlemen we are getting a multiverse that no one has asked for and one we don’t even need.

But anyway let’s dive in to possibly one of the most unintentionally hilarious horror films of this year.

Prepare yourself, because the plot I am about to dive in to is real… this isn’t some weird fever dream, this is an actual movie, someone has actually made this film… that being said let’s begin.

So we’re all familiar with Christopher Robin and Winnie The Pooh right? They hung out in the one hundred acre wood with Tigger, Rabbit, Owl and Piglet, right well Christopher brings them food for them to survive, he then heads off to college to study to become a doctor.

Pooh and the gang grow hungry during the winter and end up turning to cannibalism and savagely eat Eeyore alive.

I certainly did not have that on my 2023 bingo card but yet here we are!

It’s all downhill from there, I don’t even know where to begin with this film, I think the one question on mine and everyone else’s mind is… why?

Why take a beloved children’s character that so many generations have grown up watching and reading and turn him in to something like… this!

There isn’t even a justifiable reason why Winnie the Pooh kills in this film, Christopher just simply grew up, he grew up went to college I mean what sixteen year old do you know that has imaginary friends that live in the woods… not many.

You are probably thinking right now “you are reading way to much in to this dude, it’s a film enjoy it” maybe I am but still in a way I’m not wrong.

Blood and Honey is everything that is wrong with public domain movies, filmmakers make these films and then wonder why people hated it, I mean they received death threats from die hard Winnie the Pooh fans, yet they still went ahead and released it… it earned a dire 3% on rotten tomatoes.

Critics said that there’s zero coherent story, and the production value is bad, they’re not wrong it shows, however there is a plus… it does have a good slasher element to it and some kills are dare I say it brilliant, gory but brilliant.

Sadly that’s the only plus that’s in this film, it gets a very rare 0/10 from me, it’s bad that’s all you need to know.

As always catch ya later 🙂