Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Horrorfest '09

Yes I know they already came out, and that they've been out for a while, this year I don't think I'll even bother watching all the Horrorfest movies, because the one's I've seen so far have just been so so. It seems that the one's this year have been better acted.... to some extent. I'll give you the highs and lows of the ones I've seen so far.

The Broken
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Lena Headley in 'The Broken'

A lovely and talented actress by the name of Lena Headley stars in this, she's without a doubt the highlight of the film.
While the movie's originality leaves something to be desired, the color scheme and the erie feeling which engulfs the movie is really something to see. The actors were actually good, which is something I wasn't expecting, but the tired story and predictable ending were not. While there is enough chilling scenes to give this a 'horror movie' label, it's nothing thats going to terrify you or even remotely scare you, however, it is the best After Dark Horrorfest film I've seen this year. If you're curious, by all means, go rent it and enjoy, but be advised that this movie is more of a thriller than a horror film. The movie takes place in London and involves a young woman who's life is turned upside down after she sees someone that looks exactly like her on the streets. It's after this she notices a change in her fiancee's personality and things go down hill from there. Flashbacks the character has throughout the movie clue you in on whats actually going on, but by the time the movie is half over you'll have everything figured out. The ending never gives you answers, or reasons for whats happening, but it's EXTREMELY clear. This is a storyline we've all seen before.

From Within
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Thomas Dekker and Kelly Blatz face off in "From Within."

After watching this film, I think it's safe to say that this is just a low budget version of 'Twilight', but instead of vampires we have witches, and instead of a love story, we have a tragedy. The movie revolves around a small town who have become extremely self righteous, even though they are doing the things they preach against(For example, the mother scolds her daughter because she thinks she's having unbridled sex, yet her boyfriend is upstairs in her bedroom waiting on her.).

After the apparent suicide of a teenage girl, more and more people begin committing suicide until the town is in a massive state of panic. There blame soon turns to a young boy, assumed to be a witch. As this twisted tale unfolds, you learn the dark secrets of the town and the people.

This movie actually kept me on edge, and the plot seems somewhat original, but it has very familiar images of other horror films. There are some parts that scared me, but the entire movie made me feel wrong. This movie doesn't leave you with a good feeling. Usually I don't ever give the content of horror movie a second thought, but this one stuck with me for a little while. If you are going to rent any of the Horrorfest movies, this is definately the one to rent.

Dying Breed
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Mirrah Foulkes and Leigh Whannell in "Dying Breed"
Not a bad movie... it's just... one of those unforgettable ones. The movie is based on the legend of the Pieman, who would supposedly kill people and eat them. From what I've read about him, he seems to be blown way out of proportion. The acting is good, and you did(somewhat)care what happened to these characters. What started out to be a promising film, ended somewhat mundane, but creepy. The movie is about a woman who takes a team to Tasmania to research a rare tiger, thought to be extinct. We soon learn that her sister had been on the same expedition years ago, but had disappeared(We see where this story is going.). Eventually they all end up running through a forrest scared out of their minds, just like you'd expect. The movie, like I said was okay, but it's just noting special. The movie is creepy and the cosmetic work is okay. I'll watch this movie again if they put it on the SciFi channel and there's absolutely nothing else on, but thats the only way I can see myself sitting through it again.


Perkins' 14
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Michale Graves gets owned in "Perkins' 14"

This movie had soooooo much potential! The storyline was original and the creep factor was off the charts! I honestly think is was the casting and screenwriting that blew this movie's chances.

In this movie we follow a small town cop named Dwayne who's life has fallen a part after a string of 14 kidnappings that had taken place 10 years before, his son being one of the victims. Now his teenage daughter has distanced herself from him and his wife is seeing another man. On the aniversary of his son's disappearance, a man named Ronald Perkins crosses Dwayne's path. Soon he realizes that this is tha man responsible for the kidnappings 10 years before. When Dwayne sets out to investigate he finds that Perkins has not only kidnapped these children, but has brainwashed them, making them evil killing machines. Soon the entire town is under attack and Dwayne's family must come together to face the terror.

The movie is not as good as I just made it out to be in the paragraph above. The actors had no chemistry with each other at all! The people who play Dwayne and his wife are just completely out of touch with one another and he can't pull off the small town cop look. Then theres the zombified children who Perkins created, the make up made them look frightening but we didn't get to see enough attacks. Despite the wonderful storyline, the script and the cast just didn't measure up. I hope they are able to remake this with better actors and better screenwriters.


Autopsy
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Jessica Lowndes wishing for painkillers in "Autopsy."

I'm not sure what to say about this movie. I honestly just... don't. It was sooooo wrong! EXTREMELY wrong! Not scary at all, just incredibly disgusting and... WRONG! Some of the crazy stuff they do in this film is amazing, stuff I've never seen in a horror film before. I'm not even going to start to describe it because it gives me chills just thinking about it! LOL! I'm serious! This is an awesome gore fest, but when it comes to scares, it lacks.

Basically it's about a group of friends who travel down to Louisiana for Mardi Gras, only to hit a suppossed mental patient with their car while traveling on a country road. They call the local hospital, where the man escaped from, and go to get checked out themselves. Soon they realize that this hospital is incredibly wrong on sooooo many levels!

This movie is great! At first you think it's going to be a typical "I Know What You Did Last Summer" meets "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"(The one with Jessica Alba.). This movie is so much more original than that and a lot more disturbing! If you have a weak stomach do not watch this! One scene made my head spin, it was so gross! There is no twist in the end, you pretty much get whats going on midway through. The acting is really good too, especially the big nurse! She rocks my world! The doctor plays the typical psycho, but it's Jessica Lowndes' performace that carries the movie. She's very pretty and she has talent to back it up. Ross McCall plays an awesome part as the typical crack head of the group who's a sucker for illegal drugs. The pnly things I want to pick on is the make up department! I wish they would have covered up Jessica Lowndes' under eye bags! They distracted me at some points in the film. Then there was the excess of guts and gore, it was almost like watching some kids in one of those haunted houses people put up around Halloween. Besides that, the movie was great and I highly recommend for gore hounds.


Slaughter
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Amy Shiels crawling around with the pigs in "Slaughter"

Ummm... okay. What did I just watch? This movie is so incredibly sloooooow! I almost fell asleep. I thought the movie had been on for an hour when it had only been 30 minutes!

The movie is about a woman named Faith(Amy Shiels) who moves to Atlanta to get away
from her psychodic ex boyfriend. She lives in absolute fear until she meets a party girl named Lola(Lucy Holt) in a bar and becomes fast friends with her. She eventually moves in with Lola only to find that her family is extremely odd, oh and they run a slaughter house. After Lola's dates begin to disappear, Faith investigates, only to discover the truth behind the slaughter house.

It takes forever for the climax to finally happen and when it does, it's INSANE! You think it's over then this other crazy thing happens, then something else happens, it's the most boring roller coaster ever! The acting is lackluster. Both Lucy Holt and Amy Shiels are lovely, but Shiels is too dull and Holt is too dramatic. I'm sure they are great actors, but this film was not a good showcase for them. The rest of the cast just fade into the background... the dull... boring background. The quality of this film reminds me of a Lifetime movie with just a little more gore. In other words, don't waste your time with this movie. People tried to warn me not to watch it, but I did, please learn from my mistake.

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Well, thats it! Horrorfest 2009. There are two other movies, but after watching these, I don't think I'll be watching anymore. Not that some of them weren't good, it's just I've been warned not to see the other ones. I've heard they're boring. So thats it for me and Horrorfest 09, lets hope 2010 is better.






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