Horror Queen

Eh…

PLOT

Mark is a farmer living in South Africa who meets and falls for the beautiful Stacy. The two decide to get married and she abandons her own career to stay with him. The two have a fantastic life together until the day that Mark’s car flips and he dies from the accident. Mark starts appearing to her and tries to convince her that she should commit suicide so they can be together forever. After a botched attempt, she realizes that she’s pregnant. The baby is born and Mark not only keeps appearing, but she begins wondering if he’s haunting her son since the baby does weird things like watching her longingly in the bathtub. Stacy quickly realizes (well not too quickly) that she must put her past behind her to move on.

TRIVIA

Released overseas first before being released in the United States.

THOUGHTS

Originally I planned to say that I didn’t like Ghost Son, but now I’m reconsidering. It’s actually not too bad and it stars two people I like: Laura Herring (who I used to watch on daytime television) and John Hannah. The movie moves at a slow pace, which I’m typically not a fan of and I felt like I was waiting for something big to happen, just based on the description. That something big never really happens. You also have to deal with a fairly low budget and scenes of Hannah sitting by himself and brooding as a ghost, which is almost funny. It’s not great, but far from the worst thing I saw this year.

Not too bad.

PLOT

The British Army rolls through a small town doing everything you’d expect from a zombie flick before the movie starts its different parts. A group of news people head to the country in the hopes of finding information relating to a deadly virus sweeping England. The rest of the movie relates to different groups of people and how they survive the outbreak, such as the survivors who shoot the infected without a second thought, children included. Slowly the movie reveals what happened to the original people and how the greater threat might not be the infected.

TRIVIA

Shot entirely on handheld video.

Released in America by Dimension Extreme.

THOUGHTS

Wal-Mart got me early this year because I found this one relatively cheap on their shelves and bought it without knowing anything about it. The shooting quality had me cringing at first, but as I got caught up in the story, I stopped noticing it. This is one of those great little horror movies that keep you thinking for a few days later, especially when the people experience more trouble and violence from other survivors than the infected zombies. If you haven’t seen Zombie Diaries, I recommend it, but I probably wouldn’t buy a copy unless you find it really cheap.

What?

PLOT

Mary is a sleepwalker who just happens to love horror movies and decides to see one called The Wisher with her friends. The movie is billed as the scariest movie ever made and Mary can’t make it to the end so she misses what happens. The movie follows a creature known as The Wisher that lets wishes come true in grisly fashion. On the way home from the theater she see something following her and later wishes her father would go away, which causes him to die. As her wishes keep coming true, she realizes that the end of the movie holds the key to stopping the creature.

TRIVIA

Also known as The Wisher; Spliced was the American name for the movie.

The film “premier” of Drew Lachey.

THOUGHTS

It’s very sad, but I don’t remember this movie at all. It’s only been a few days since I saw Sliced (thanks Netflix) and I literally couldn’t tell you what the hell happened. I looked up a few reviews and they were pretty light on details so you have to forgive the sketchy plot outline. I barely remember Lachey in the movie and didn’t remember any of the other real details. It’s just your basic, forgettable made for DVD horror flick.

The best movie I haven’t seen in a long time.

PLOT

Wolf Creek starts with Liz and Kristy meeting an Australian man Ben at a party. Since they’re from Britain, they decide the smart thing is to pair up with him and head out to Wolf Creek to camp. They hike up to the crater, but get back and realize their car isn’t working. A man named Mick shows up and kindly offers to fix their car for free, though he refuses to drive 5 miles in the opposite direction to the safety of a small town. Mick then feeds them drugged water and when Liz wakes up, she’s tied up, but manages to escape and find Kristy, who’s being threatened by Mick. Liz shoots Mick and the two girls escape, but of course they don’t get very far…

TRIVIA

Based in part on the real life Australian killings known as the Backpacker Murders.

THOUGHTS

I haven’t seen Wolf Creek in quite awhile and had only vague memories of it, none of which were good. Still, when I saw it at a local flea market for $2 on DVD, I couldn’t pass it up. This time around, I found the movie a little unsettling, though in the best of ways. The movie does a good job of setting up the relationships between all of the characters and actually get you interested in them before all the “bad” stuff starts happening. Once it does, it just gets better from there. The end of Liz is one of those scenes that just made me wince, as is a scene that comes towards the end. The friend I watched it with summed it up best when he said, “this makes me think twice about visiting Australia”.

Damn you Netflix!

PLOT

A college student gets a notice in the mail that her school found her housing in an old building off-campus and she arrives to find that four other students got the same letter. On their first night in the house, they find an old clock and one of the girls tells a story about her grandmother telling her that a clock like that was known as a spirit trap. As the kids start getting close to each other, weird things start happening and they all seem to revolve around that clock. Hidden secrets are revealed and it becomes apparent that no one can trust their new roommates.

TRIVIA

The film was set in London, but filmed in Romania.

THOUGHTS

Surprisingly enough, Spirit Trap wasn’t that bad of a movie and it even had a few good parts. I went into it expecting the same crappy straight to DVD horror movie I’ve seen a million times and ended up being pleasantly surprised. I think part of it is because I wasn’t expecting a foreign horror movie when it started playing, which should teach me to read the back of the box or description a little more closely. I will say that the ending felt a little lame and tacked on, but the rest of the movie made up for it.

Love it, love it, love it!

PLOT

Sarah leaves a whitewater rafting trip with her friends, only to lose her husband and daughter in a horrendous crash on the way home. The following year she meets up with her friends Sam, Beth, Sarah and Juno along with Juno’s friend Holly. They plan on exploring a fairly well known cave and just enjoying their time together. They head off into the caves, but when it collapses the girls discover that Juno took them into a different cave. She was hoping that they could discover the cave and name it. Unfortunately that also means that no one knows where they are and they have to find their own way out. One of the girls sees a weird creature in the cave, but they all ignore her until suddenly they find themselves face to face with those creatures…

TRIVIA

The Decent had two different endings, depending on whether you saw it in the UK or the US.

THOUGHTS

I think The Decent is one of the best horror movies in recent years, if not the best. I’ve seen it at least a dozen times by now and it just keeps getting better and better. There are still scenes in the movie that completely freak me out, even though I know what’s going to happen. I was lucky enough to see the original ending before I saw the American ending and that version is far better even though it’s just a little thing. If you haven’t seen it, go see it now.

Surprising…

PLOT

Robbie and Elaine head to their friends’ house for the weekend, with their kids in tow. There’s a highly annoying little boy, an equally annoying little girl and Elaine’s older daughter Casey who would rather be anywhere but that house. The friends Jonah and Chloe are fairly normal, telling them about how they’ll now home school their own two kids after selling their business. One of the boys gets sick and everyone pretty much ignores it until the next day when Jonah dies while sledding with the kids. Suddenly the kids are the ones with the power and the adults must find a way to survive.

TRIVIA

Written and directed by Tom Shankland.

THOUGHTS

I thought The Children was pretty damn good, though I do wish they’d given us some kind of explanation about why the kids turned into murderous creatures. There was a whole subplot about abortion, which gives the movie a deeper meaning, especially if you watch it more than once. I thought Robbie was one of the worst characters. He hates his step-daughter and seems way too involved in his own daughter’s life. He calls her his “princess” and basically kicks his wife to the curb in favor of the little girl. I really liked Chloe though and found myself wishing she’d just call up her friends and get the hell out of there as soon as she had the chance. The Children is kind of a thinking person’s horror movie because there are a lot of different layers. It was probably the best horror movie I’ve seen in awhile.

Not sure…PLOT

Oskar is the kind of boy who was teased a lot in my school, shy and quiet not to mention a little odd and unsure of himself. The other boys in school make fun of him a lot and he spends a little too much time playing with a knife and pretending what he’d do to them. He meets a girl named Eli outside one night who automatically tells him that she doesn’t want to be friends. She lives next door with a man presumed to be her father and slowly she starts bonding with Oskar. We also see scenes of her father killing men in the area and when it goes wrong, he douses himself with acid. Later Eli arrives at the hospital, he lets her suck his blood (sorry, couldn’t resist) and then dies. Eli and Oskar continue to bond, she ends up getting a little of his blood and then runs off to attack another woman so she won’t hurt him. The movie then alternates between some traditional horror and the relationship between the two kids.

TRIVIA

John Ajvide Lindqvist wrote both the book the movie was based on and the screenplay.

Opened in limited release in the U.S., playing only a handful of theaters across the country.

In the book Eli was castrated years ago, which explains the line, “I’m not a girl”. The movie was supposed to explain this, but the one scene that mentioned it was cut.

The movie will be remade as Let Me In by a U.S. director, with filming starting later this year.

THOUGHTS

I’ve wanted to see Let the Right One In since I wrote about it back in October. It didn’t play anywhere around me at first and when it finally did, I missed it. I figured that I’d have to wait for the DVD, but I finally got to see it. Now though, I’m not sure how I felt about it. The movie is really dark at times yet manages to portray the pre-teen angst in a very recognizable and honest way. There were parts that touched me, but there were also parts where I just kind of tuned out for a little bit. I’ve heard that the book has a lot more backstory and explanations and maybe that would have helped me somewhat. I feel almost stupid admitting that I’m not sure if I really liked it because I know a lot of people who loved it. I’m glad I finally saw it, but I don’t think I’ll be seeing it again.

Not as good as I expected.

PLOT

Yoshimi decides Ikuko into an old, decrepit looking apartment building where the rain constantly seems to flow. It’s her only choice as she’s in the middle of a bitter divorce and needs a home to gain custody of her daughter. Once there, she starts to notice odd things like water stains on the ceiling and a little girl that no one else sees. Yoshimi realizes that she needs to find out the truth about the old little girl if she hopes to save her own child.

TRIVIA

Hideo Nakata who directed this movie, also directed the original Ring and Ring 2.

Based on a short story called Floating Water.

THOUGHTS

I was actually a little surprised to discover that I didn’t like the original Dark Water. In fact, I actually kind of like the American remake a lot better. Yoshimi is completely worthless here and she just kind of floats around the whole time. Her roof’s leaking and she calls the super once to complain and then kind of forgets about it. She also seems like a pretty horrible mother and the authorities probably should have given her daughter to the father.

There’s also the ridiculous and pointless ending, which thankfully they left off the Dark Water remake. It made me roll my eyes and reach for the remote. However, the cinematography is great and some of the scenes are actually a little creepy at times.

We ploughed her down!

PLOT

Jane and Tun are out with a group of Tun’s friends and after he has a little too much to drink, she drives home. On the way, she hit’s a woman in the street and Tun urges her to drive away and leave the girl there rather than risk getting in trouble. It causes a strain in their relationship and Jane has a hard time being around him. Tun has problems of his own since a large number of photographs he takes end up with a strange white streak through them. Strange things begin happening to the couple, not to mention Tun’s friends…

TRIVIA

Shutter was remade twice, once in 2007 in Tamil and the 2008 American remake.

THOUGHTS

I just want to say that this is a creepy little movie. I saw the remake, kind of liked it and figured this would be fairly similar. While the remake didn’t scare me at all, this one had a few scenes that actually made me jump a little. The scene where Tun sees a woman walk into his darkroom, starts talking to Jane and then heads upstairs to answer the phone and finds out she’s running late was one of those scenes.

The thing about these Asian horror movies like Shutter that are so good is that it’s not just one thing that sets up the mood. It’s the lighting, music, acting, setting, camera angles, the whole nine yards. I wasn’t exactly looking under my bed after I saw Shutter, but it was definitely one of the creepier movies I’ve seen in awhile.