Sep
10
2009
Not a theme you see a lot in horror movies.
PLOT
A teenage couple are out enjoying the day when the boy pulls out a gun and shoots himself in the head. His girlfriend sees a woman following her and runs to her dad’s shop where he puts her in a room with a girl Lindsay from her school. Lindsay walks out and the other girl stabs herself in the neck with a pair of scissors. From there we learn that whoever gets to the body first becomes “infected” by something that makes them commit suicide. Nearly the whole town belongs to the same church and Lindsay starts having doubts, which makes her an outcast. When she starts researching, she learns that the church and the curse is somehow connected to the murder of a non-believer a few years earlier.
TRIVIA
Immediately after filming, the buildings where the movie was filmed were demolished.
Part of the 2008 After Dark Horror Fest.
THOUGHTS
I really, really liked this movie, in part because I found myself yelling at the screen so often. I’m not a big fan of organized religion so that probably played a big part in it. Some of the characters were a little too stereotypical for my taste: the hypocritical, alcoholic step mom who screwed her boyfriend and then went to church with a smile, the secret keeping preacher, the “alternative” kids, etc, but I could deal with it. I’m also a big fan of the twist, of which there are two. I didn’t expect to see either one of them coming so it was definitely a surprise. I’ll go out on a limb and say From Within is the After Dark Horror Fest 2008 movie to watch if you just watch one.
Sep
01
2009
Surprisingly good.
PLOT
Faith’s friend Kate helps her move into a new apartment after a bad run-in with her asshole ex-boyfriend Jimmy. We quickly learn that Jimmy is a psycho stalker who left her with some nasty scars on her back. One night out at a club, she runs into a girl named Lola and the two become friends. When Lola needs a roommate out at her family’s farm, Faith jumps at the chance, especially since Jimmy has found her again. Once at the farm, she discovers that Lola rarely talks to her dad or two brothers and the two girls live in a barn. Lola starts bringing home men and when Faith realizes that they’re never seen or heard from again, she wonders if there’s something more going on at the farm…
TRIVIA
Originally known as Faithless.
Part of the 2008 After Dark Horror Fest.
THOUGHTS
I put this in last night, planning on watching a little bit before going to bed and ended up watching the whole thing. From the moment Faith moved onto the farm, I wanted to know what happened. My boyfriend walked in, heard I was watching a movie called Slaughter, stood in the door to make fun of me and ended up getting hooked too. We were both kind of yelling at the screen and Faith because she made some really stupid decisions, but it was fun. I read a review calling this bad, stupid, the worst movie ever made, the most boring movie ever made, etc and I have to say that I don’t agree. Slaughter is easily one of the best movies from this year’s After Dark Horror Fest.
Aug
05
2009
The first one.
PLOT
Gina is driving home from work one night when she sees a woman who looks exactly like her in another car. After a horrific car crash, she wakes up in the hospital and everything seems a little odd. She starts seeing weird things and experiencing things that make her think everyone is wrong or different like her boyfriend who she no longer trusts. She eventually discovers that all of her family and friends are now changed and it has something to do with the mirrors…
TRIVIA
The first movie picked for the latest After Dark Horror Fest.
THOUGHTS
I felt completely behind on the times when I stopped into Wal-Mart and found three of the After Dark Horror Fest movies sitting on the shelf, even more so when I discovered that they’re all now on DVD and I had no clue. For some reason I picked this one, probably because the only other one less than $15 was The Butterfly Effect 3, which I had absolutely no interest in. This movie was so-so, which is a good way of explaining it. My boyfriend said it best when just after it ended, he looked at me and said, “that movie was fucked up”. He then tried to get me to explain it to him and I have no clue what the hell happened. The whole movie seemed to be leading up to one thing, but when the ending finally came, I didn’t know what was going on. I hope the others are better than this.
Jun
28
2009
Kind of like a foreign flick.
PLOT
The movie opens with a scene showing a man driving a dead woman and two screaming babies to a house in the middle of nowhere. It then jumps to Marie, a woman who was tracked down by a notary. He tells her that her deceased parents left her their farm in Russia and she needs to go back to claim it, but it’s all news to her since she was adopted and could never find out about her birth parents. She decides to head to Russia where she meets Nikolai at her parents house who turns out to be her twin brother. As the two of them get drawn into the house, they realize that the night their mother died keeps replaying itself and they’re about to discover exactly what really happened.
TRIVIA
Part of the 2006 After Dark Horror Fest.
THOUGHTS
I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone, but the ending of this really irritates me. It basically has a daughter saying she didn’t care what happened and that she’d never try to discover the truth. Gee, what a way to watch out for your parents! The Abandoned is an okay movie, but I have to admit that I barely remembered anything about it when I watched it recently. I remembered that the woman was heading back to Russia and she’d find her brother, but that was it. I wish I could pick out one really good thing from the movie, but it was really only just okay.
Jun
15
2009
It’s not as bad as you might think.
PLOT
Two girls are killed in the Dark Ride in a small New Jersey town. Ten years later a little group of friends decide to take a road trip to New Orleans. Cathy and Liz are roommates at college who have relationships with the guys. Steve and Bill are roomies, but Steve and Cathy once dated. He cheated on her and now neither of them knows what they’re doing. Liz had a one night stand with Jim, who is apparently just a horndog. They find a flyer that the Dark Ride is being reopened and decide to sneak in and check things out. On the way they pick up hitchhiker Jen and after taking psychedelic mushrooms and smoking pot, they end up inside the ride. Of course people start dying, but some of it is actually kind of cool.
TRIVIA
Filming took less than one month.
Was part of the 2006 After Dark Horror Fest series.
THOUGHTS
I actually kind of like Dark Ride. I can’t remember which movies were released in which years, but this is the best of the ones I’ve watched recently. Yes it’s pretty cheesy at times, but I kind of like that too. There’s also a scene of a girl getting decapitated while giving a blow job that I really love. I’m trying really hard not to make a joke about head right now. Ah yes and I don’t want to ruin the ending for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but I do dig the ending. The killer goes from normal to creepy in the nod of a head and he should pop up in more horror movies.
Oct
29
2008
Pay attention to the themes, not the plot.
THE PLOT
The film centers on a small group of residents in a New York City apartment complex that just learned they were evicted. A bunch of rats are running loose through the city carrying a strange virus that they’re passing to humans. Clutch is the main character and a former boxer who just wants his daughter to come home safely from overseas where she’s been serving her country. The rest of the residents are equally excited about her return, but when the rats attack they also have to be concerned with saving themselves.
FUN TRIVIA
Apparently the director needed to cast these movies quickly and ended up using friends and friends of friends to fill the roles. Since he was working with very little money the cast did this as a favor and none were paid initially for their roles.
Released as part of the After Dark Horror Fest in 2007.
THOUGHTS/OPINIONS
I actually didn’t like Mulberry Street the first time I saw it, but on the second viewing it got a little better. I wasn’t crazy about the ending, which actually pissed me off. Too many people who have seen it focus too much on the rats and the virus and completely disregard the main characters, which are the real heart of the movie. This isn’t so much about some mysterious virus as it is what happens to people when they’re placed in an impossible situation. Do you fight for yourself or do you fight for the people you love? That’s the central question at the heart of Mulberry Street.
Oct
06
2008
It’s back…
THE PLOT
Annie Flynn is the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico where she just can’t seem to get ahead. After losing a small child, she can’t get passed it and most of the residents don’t want her to; they want her head on a stick. To battle her demons she drinks more and does less. At the same time a centuries old demon lets itself loose on the town. Though most of them don’t trust her, a small band of people now have to put their faith in Annie to save them.
FUN TRIVIA
Released as part of the 2007 After Dark Horror Fest.
THOUGHTS/OPINIONS
Emmanuelle Vaugier from the last few Saw movies and “Smallville” plays the lead role of Annie, but I’ve seen her do a much better job before. She’s the real reason I sat down to watch this movie and I ended up being disappointed.
There’s not a whole lot of good things to say about this movie. It plays as a low budget horror movie about a creature that attacks a small town. It’s been done before and been done better. I’m actually a little surprised that it was released under the After Dark label.
I do want to say that the lighting here was definitely lacking. I watched it on a 27” television and had some problems seeing the whole picture because it was just too dark.
Sep
19
2008
Don’t go swimming in the lake…
THE PLOT
Brielle, Kelly and Samantha Lake are three sisters that despise their alcoholic father, to the point where they cut him out of their life. They plan a road trip north for the funeral of a grandfather they never knew they had. Samantha arrives first, but disappears before her sisters arrive. Once there the little group discovers that there’s a reason why their father left in the first place and a reason why he drinks so much. By then it might be too late to escape…
FUN TRIVIA
The writer and director of Lake Dead also created the upcoming Farmhouse, rumored to be part of the 2008 After Dark Horror Fest.
THOUGHTS/OPINIONS
There are a large number of people who hated this movie, but I’m not one of them. Lake Dead is easily one of the poor additions to the After Dark series though it isn’t nearly as bad as most people say. The movie has a lot of cheesiness to it and very little gore though there are a few things I liked. The scene where Samantha’s waiting in the hotel room by herself for instance or when their grandmother and the sheriff kissed, tongue kissed that is. There’s also a cute scene in the camper that’s a little romantic and something you don’t see in most horror movies.
All in all it’s an okay movie that a lot of people hated. However I liked it enough to buy it.
Sep
18
2008
One of the best movies you’ve never seen.
THE PLOT
A small gang of thieves in France watch as their latest robbery backfires. They flee the city in the hopes of finding a safe haven. Instead they find themselves in an odd little hostel run by Neo-Nazi cannibals. All the main characters are then subjected to the brutal torture of the hostel owners. Only the female character is “spared” and that’s because they want to use her to birth their babies since apparently they have inbreeding in France too. When they learn she’s pregnant, they’re even more excited about having her in their weirded out little family, but even that can’t spare the rest of her group.
FUN TRIVIA
Originally meant to be part of the After Dark fest, but was only released in a handful of theaters due to its rating. The DVD release was also pushed back and came out later than the other movies in the 2007 releases.
THOUGHTS/OPINIONS
This is one of those movies that you’ve probable never heard of and have never seen. In the US the film was rated NC-17 due to graphic violence, which limited its release. I picked up the DVD the day it was released, expecting it to be exactly like the rest of the movies: not too bad, not too great. Instead I was actually surprised.
The film has an unusual feel in that we the viewers know what’s coming, but we’re not sure when it’s going to happen. As soon as you see anyone treated like a king in a horror movie, you know it’s not going to end well and that’s exactly what happens with the first characters when they arrive at the hostel.
The blood and violence in this movie really disturbed me and I think it’s the Nazi connection. It almost seems likely that this could happen to some unsuspecting young people and therein lies the fear. There’s also something a little disturbing about the fact that one of the main characters is pregnant; no one should go through this type of hell, least of all a pregnant woman.
See it and you’ll agree.
Sep
17
2008
How many times do you have to die before you start to understand?
THE PLOT
Ian Stone is an all around, regular guy who keeps living the same day over and over again. The only problem is that everyday he finds himself dying in new and unusual ways. He also keeps running across Medea, a woman who might be his lover though she seems to love killing him and Jenny, the woman who might be the love of his life. As his deaths and lives become worse, Ian finally begins to realize what’s happening to him and what he can do to stop it.
FUN TRIVIA
Mike Vogel who plays the role of Ian Stone got more publicity for the garbage fest Cloverfield, which was released around the same time.
THOUGHTS/OPINIONS
Say what you want about this movie, but I actually did enjoy it. I have a hard time classifying it as a horror movie because it falls into the action vein more than anything and yet it was part of the 2007 Horror Fest.
The acting in this film is better than some others I’ve seen, particularly Vogel and Jamie Murray as Medea. Those two actors carry the film, while everyone else seems to take a backseat. The kill scenes aren’t fantastic, but they are better than most horror movies today.
If anyone told you to avoid this movie, go ahead and rent it. It’s at least worth your $3 rental.
