Pacific Rim Review

Pacific Rim Review. Giant monsters come to earth from another dimension and terrorize the planet. Humans build giant robots to fight them.

Release date 12th July

Director Guillermo del Toro


Writers Travis Beacham - Guillermo del Toro

Cast

Charlie Hunnam - Raleigh Becket
Ron Perlman - Hannibal Chau
Idris Elba - Stacker Pentecost
Rinko Kikuchi - Mako Mori
Robert Maillet - Aleksis Kaidanovsky
Clifton Collins Jr. - Tendo Choi
Charlie Day - Dr. Newton Geiszler
Burn Gorman - Dr. Hermann Gottlieb Warner Bros - Running time 131 minutes

---

Giant aliens from another dimension open up portals deep within the pacific ocean and begin to cause havoc upon the earth.

After several years the monsters known as the Kaiju have killed millions of people and they have consumed much of earths natural resources. The humans build giant robots which are called Jaegers to battle the giant alien monsters.

Pacific rim was my most anticipated movie of the year, not only did the trailer look amazing, it also has a good director "Guillermo del Toro" he has been responsible for some of my favourite movies in recent years, movies such as Pan's labyrinth and Hellboy 2. I am glad to say that Pacific Rim didn't disappoint me.

Visually Pacific Rim is fantastic, both the Jeagars and Kaiju look impressive, not just the special effects but the design of these monsters commanded attention. The impressive visuals helped to draw me into the whole experience, I became completely immersed is this world of science fiction.

They have tried to fit a lot of story into just one movie, so at times it feels a little rushed, however it still does a decent job of telling us everything that we need to know to follow the story. Apart from the story feeling rushed at times, the pacing overall is good, combine that with solid acting, good dialog and storytelling with amazing visuals and impressive action scenes and this was a very immersive experience.

The fight scenes look fantastic, the fights are great just by themselves, plus the fight locations look truly impressive and we get to see lots of Jeagar and Kaiju action. It maybe silly, evening boarding on ridiculous at times but that's to be expected from a movie about giant robots fighting giant Godzilla sized monsters.

On the surface Pacific Rim looks like just another over the top summer special effects extravaganzas much like Battleship and the last few Transformers movies, even sharing the same type of humour. However Pacific Rim is a much more complete movie which deserves success and I hope they make a sequel.

8 out of 10

Good Old Horror Movies - Classics

See this list of some of the best old horror movies/classics, many of the old horror movies are still some of the greatest.

Despite many of these being original classics, they're before my time, they're too old for me to fully enjoy because I'm use to more modern effects. I do remember watching The Quatermass Xperiment as a child, which I remember finding very scary at the time.

Many of the following old scary movies I haven't actually seen myself, I will make it a goal to watch all of these oldies, contact me if you would like to summit a review.

Good Old Horror Movies

---

Dracula 1931

Director Tod Browning

Writers Bram Stoker - Hamilton Deane

Actors Bela Lugosi - Helen Chandler - David Manners

---

The Fly 1958

Director Kurt Neumann

Writers George Langelaan

Actors David Hedison - Patricia Owens - Vincent Price

---

The Quatermass Xperiment 1955

Director Val Guest

Writers Richard H. Landau

Actors Brian Donlevy - Jack Warner - Margia Dean

---

The Haunting 1963

Director Robert Wise

Writers Nelson Gidding - Shirley Jackson

Actors Julie Harris - Claire Bloom - Richard Johnson

---

The Exorcist 1973

Director William Friedkin

Writers William Peter Blatty

Actors Ellen Burstyn - Max von Sydow - Linda Blair

---

Night of the living dead 1968

Director George A. Romero

Writers John A. Russo

Actors Duane Jones - Judith O'Dea - Karl Hardman

---

Phyco 1960

Director Alfred Hitchcock

Writers Joseph Stefano - Robert Bloch

Actors Anthony Perkins - Janet Leigh - Vera Miles

---

The curse of frankinstein 1957

Director Terence Fisher

Writers Jimmy Sangster

Actors Peter Cushing - Christopher Lee - Hazel Court

---

The Wicker Man 1973

Director Robin Hardy

Writers Anthony Shaffer

Actors Edward Woodward - Christopher Lee - Diane Cilento

---

The Omen 1976

Director Richard Donner

Writers David Seltzer

Actors Gregory Peck - Lee Remick - Harvey Stephens

---

Bride Of Frankinstein 1935

Director James Whale

Writers Mary Shelley - William Hurlbut

Actors Boris Karloff - Elsa Lanchester - Colin Clive

---

The Birds 1963

Director Alfred Hitchcock

Writers Daphne Du Maurier

Actors Rod Taylor - Tippi Hedren - Suzanne Pleshette

---

Body Snatcher 1945

Director Robert Wise

Writers Robert Louis Stevenson - Philip MacDonald

Actors Boris Karloff - Bela Lugosi - Henry Daniell

---

Bedlam 1946

Director Mark Robson

Writers William Hogarth

Actors Boris Karloff - Anna Lee - Billy House

---

Peeping Tom 1960

Director Michael Powell

Writers Leo Marks

Actors Karlheinz B�hm - Anna Massey - Moira Shearer

---

Nosferatu 1922

Director F.W. Murnau

Writers Henrik Galeen

Actors Max Schreck - Greta Schr�der - Ruth Landshoff

---

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 1920

Director Robert Wiene

Writers Hans Janowitz - Carl Mayer

Actors Werner Krauss - Conrad Veidt - Friedrich Feher

---

The Wolfman 1966

Director George Waggner

Writers Curt Siodmak

Actors Lon Chaney Jr - Claude Rains - Ralph Bellamy

---

Horror of Dracula 1958

Director Terence Fisher

Writers Jimmy Sangster

Actors Peter Cushing - Christopher Lee - Michael Gough

---

The mummy 1932

Director Karl Freund

Writers Nina Wilcox Putnam

Actors Boris Karloff - Zita Johann - David Manners

---

Frankenstein 1931

Director James Whale

Writers John L. Balderston

Actors Colin Clive - Mae Clarke - Boris Karloff

---

Dead Of The Night 1945

Directors Alberto Cavalcanti - Charles Crichton

Writers H G Wells - E F Benson

Actors Mervyn Johns - Michael Redgrave - Roland Culver

Underrated List of Scary Movies

This is a list of underrated and forgotten scary movies that you probably haven't seen before, but you should definitely check them out.

Underrated List of Scary Movies

---

Dead End 2003

It's Christmas and Frank is driving his family to his mother in laws, he has made the same trip with his family for the last 20 years, but this time Frank decides to try a short cut which turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life. They discover a women dressed in white walking through the forest who seems to attract death. The family have to fight for survival and every road seems to lead to a dead end.

---

Stake Land 2009

The country has fallen into disarray after suffering serious political and economic problems, much of the country is abandoned and is infested with vampires.

---

Session 9 2001

A team of asbestos specialists win a contract to clean out and old mental asylum. What should be a straight forward job soon develops problems as the team start to fall out with each other and they start to discover clues to the history of the insane asylum.

---

Trick 'r Treat 2007

Four stories all take place in the same area, a school principle has a dark alternate life as a serial killer. Some kids play a nasty trick on someone that goes too far. A couple discover what happens when you blow out a jack o' lantern. A person living in solitude is visited by a trick or treater.

---

The Collector 2009

An ex-con is seeking the repay his ex-wife, he plans to break into the home of his new employer, however someone else has their eye on the property and they have placed deadly traps around the house.

---

A Tale of Two Sisters 2003

The two sisters return home to their father and step mother after spending time in a mental hospital. The two sisters struggle to get along with their step mother as she seems to have mental problems of her own, a ghost also seems to be inhabiting the house which makes things even worse for the sisters.

---

Mirrors 2008

Ben Carson gets a job as a night watch man in a large department store which was damaged in a fire, he discovers all the mirrors in the department store are in perfect condition and he begins to wonder why. While investigating the mirrors he starts to see disturbing images in the reflection, an evil entity then starts to become a danger to him and his family.

---

Mute Witness 1994

While working on a horror movie in Russia a make-up artist who happens to be a mute gets locked inside the movie set after hours and then she witnesses a brutal murder. She must escape the movie set and convince the police of what she saw before being tracked down by the murderers.

---

The Revenant 2009

A solder that was killed in Iraq suddenly awakens the day after his funeral, he seeks out his friend and they come to the conclusion that he is a revenant, a type of zombie which retains much of his humanity. Between them they aim to clean up crime in the city.

---

The Mist 2007

A strange mist consumes the town, at first the towns folk are not concerned believing it to be just thick fog. The town's population soon realise that something very dangerous lurks in the mist, whenever someone goes into the mist they're attacked by strange and vicious creatures. Many of the towns folk become stranded in a supermarket where many people are being influenced by a mentally imbalanced women who claims people are being punished for their sins.

Land Of The Dead Review

Land Of The Dead Review, the final movie from the zombie master, George A. Romero.

Director George A. Romero

Writer George A. Romero

Cast

Simon Baker - Riley
John Leguizamo - Cholo
Dennis Hopper - Kaufman
Asia Argento - Slack
Robert Joy - Charlie
Eugene Clark - Big Daddy
Joanne Boland - Pretty Boy
Jasmin Geljo - Tambourine man
Maxwell McCabe-Lokos - Mouse
Tony Munch - Anchor
Tony Nappo - Foxy
Jennifer Baxter - Number 9
Boyd Banks - Butcher

Universal Pictures, Running time 93 minutes.

---

Zombies have taken over the world, the last humans alive live in a walled city. Zombies are becoming more intelligent and a revolution in the city is becoming likely. (Dennis Hopper) Leader of the (CEO) looks after the rich while everyone else has to look out for themselves.

Land of the Dead has a lot of violence and a fair amount of blood and gore, which is what you would expect from a Zombie film. We get to see a few new characteristics from the zombies, like a zombie using a gun for example, plus the zombies have a leader, a zombie with more intelligence than the rest.

Again George A. Romero has done a lot with a small budget. There are some good effects, good action scenes, the film as a whole is solid with good performances from the actors with effective dialog. While this movie is not particularly scary it's very entertaining and well worth a watch.

Overall Land of the Dead is not a master piece, but it does provide us with some decent zombie action and original zombie moments. George A. Romero provides us with another entertaining zombie movie to keep us zombie movie lovers fulfilled for a while.

6.5 out of 10

Good Japanese Horror Movies

List of good Japanese horror films, the Japanese have made some great scary movies that have inspired Hollywood to create many remakes.

This page will be continually updated with films and details I find, plus new releases and upcoming Japanese movies.

I haven't currently watched any of these films listed on this page, when I have I will post reviews and recommend the best ones. Anybody viewing this page that is an expert on Japanese horror and would like to submit a review or add new films to the list, feel free to send me a message and I can publish your submissions.

Good Japanese Horror Movies

---

Ring 1998

Director Hideo Nakata

Writers Hiroshi Takahashi - Koji Suzuki

Stars Nanako Matsushima - Miki Nakatani - Y�ko Takeuchi

---

Cyclops 1987

Director Joji Iida

Writers

Stars

---

Grotesque 2009

Director Koji Shiraishi

Writers Koji Shiraishi.

Stars Tsugumi Nagasawa - Hiroaki Kawatsure

---

Kairo 2001

Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writers

Stars Haruhiko Kato � Kumiko Aso � Koyuki

---

Audition 1999

Director Takashi Miike

Writers Ryu Murakami

Stars Ryo Ishibashi - Eihi Shiina

---

Uzumaki 2000

Director Higuchinsky

Writers Takao Nitta - Chika Yasuo - Kengo Kaji

Stars Eriko Hatsune - Fhi Fan

---

Infection 2004

Director Masayuki Ochiai

Writers Ryoichi Kimizuka

Stars Koichi Sato - Michiko Hada - Yoko Maki

---

Onibaba 1964

Director Kaneto Shindo

Writers

Stars Nobuko Otowa - Jitsuko Yoshimura

---

Ghost Train 2006

Director Takeshi Furusawa

Writers Takeshi Furusawa - Erika Tanaka

Stars Erika Sawajiri Shun Oguri Aya Sugimoto

---

Reincarnation 2005

Director Takashi Shimizu

Writers Takashi Shimizu - Masaki Adachi

Stars Yuka - Karina - Keppei Shiina

---

Jigoku 1960

Director Nobuo Nakagawa

Writers Nobuo Nakagawa - Ichiro Miyagawa

Stars Utako Mitsuya

---

Marebito 2004

Director Takashi Shimizu

Writers

Stars Shinya Tsukamoto - Tomomi Miyashita

---

Kuroneko

Director Kaneto Shindo

Writers Kaneto Shindo

Stars Kichiemon Nakamura - Nobuko Otowa - Kiwako Taichi - Kei Sato - Hideo Kanze

---

Pulse 2006

Director Jim Sonzero

Writers Wes Craven - Ray Wright

Stars Kristen Bell - Ian Somerhalder - Christina Milian

Comments - This is actually a remake of the Japanese film Kairo.

Insidious Chapter 2 Review

Taking place immediately after the first insidious, is Josh possessed by the women that haunted him as a child.

Director James Wan

Writer James Wan - Leigh Whannell

Cast

Patrick Wilson - Josh Lambert
Rose Byrne - Renai Lambert
Ty Simpkins - Dalton Lambert
Steve Coulter - Carl
Barbara Hershey - Lorraine Lambert
Lin Shaye - Elise Rainier

FilmDistrict - Runtime 106 minutes

---

The Lambert family are looking to discover the truth about the haunting and why the family seem connected to the afterlife and to discover whether their nightmare is really over.

Taking place immediately after the first installment with Josh possibly being possessed by the women spirit who haunted him as a child and with Elise mysteriously dying.

As you would expect Insidious Chapter 2 has a very similar look and feel to the first instalment and it's probably best watched immediately after watching the first movie. Insidious chapter 2 continues with the same creepy atmosphere as the first, there is some nice shock scares throughout which managed to be effective even when I was expecting them, all the scary moments were executed well with good timing, many of them were memorable and likely to stick with you for awhile. There is a decent amount of humour which breaks up the tension nicely giving us a break from the terror.

The acting is decent, Patrick Wilson does a great job and so does the rest of the cast, the story is a little more complex than the first movie which requires a bit more concentration from the viewer to keep up with events. It's definitely worth the effort if you give it a chance, however you could easily lose track of the story if you don't concentrate.

While I did enjoy this second instalment, I didn't think it was as scary or as creepy as the first movie. I didn't find the main entity in this anywhere near as terrifying as the demon from the first movie, or the scenes as memorable.

Overall a very good horror movie which should definitely be enjoyed by most people and fans of the original. However I was just a little bit disappointed it wasn't scarier and the main villain wasn't creeper.

6.5 out of 10

I Am Legend Review

I Am Legend review, a virus is turning the population into zombie like creatures, a scientist remains in the infected area to try and find a cure.

Director Francis Lawrence

Writer Mark Protosevich - Akiva Goldsman

Cast

Will Smith - Dr. Robert Neville
Alice Braga - Anna
Charlie Tahan - Ethan
Dash Mihok - Infected alpha male
Salli Richardson - Zoe Neville
Willow Smith - Marley Neville
Abbey & Kona - Sam, the dog
Emma Thompson - Dr. Alice Krippin

Warner Bros, Running time 101 minutes

---

Dr. Alice Krippin (Emma Thompson) creates a cure for cancer, but the cure has a terrible side effect, a virus is born that turns those that are infected into vicious fresh eating creatures. Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith) is immune to the virus and remains in New York which is infested with these creatures, he stays behind to try and find a cure.

I Am Legend creates a great sense of isolation, atmosphere and survival, this is partly due to the very good cinematography. The deserted city looks great, the visuals are impressive which really help set the mood. We also get to see wild animals roaming the city, including lions hunting dear, however the CG on the lions is not the best.

The acting by Will Smith is solid, he does a very believable job of a man spending years in isolation and going slowly insane. The creatures themselves are fast, strong and scary, they're CG creations rather than actors. Using CG seems to work well in this case, it makes them seem less human and also more terrifying.

I became very immersed in the whole experience, this is definitely one of my favorite movies of 2007, and possibly my favourite Will Smith movie to date. I Am Legend may not be a true Zombie movie but it creates the same kind of feel as some of the best Zombie movies, it should be enjoyed by most zombie and horror movie fans.

6.9 out of 10