Monday, 6 February 2017

Scream Review 1996

Director Wes Craven

Writer Kevin Williamson

Cast

Drew Barrymore - Casey
Kevin Patrick - Walls Steve
Lawrence Hecht - Mr. Prescott
Courteney Cox Gale Weathers
David Booth - Casey's Father
Carla Hatley - Casey's Mother
Neve Campbell - Sidney
Skeet Ulrich - Billy

Dimension Films, Running time 111 minutes

A killer called "ghost face" starts on a teenage killing spree, and as the body count begins to rise a group of friends discuss the rules of horror movies after finding themselves living in a actual real life horror.

Before watching this I was expecting nothing more than just a mindless teen movie, but instead I found an intelligent horror slasher film. At the time of its release in 1996 it was a very original movie, apart from the Halloween films that were released many years before it. While Halloween was about a quiet psychopathic serial killer, Scream has a talkative witty serial killer making it very refreshing and different for its time.

Scream is a really well put together movie, with good solid acting, very likeable characters, it has funny moments and comic lines. It provides quality original scary moments that are clever and unpredictable and it has some of the most memorable scenes and movie quotes in movie history.

This film is a near masterpiece by Wes Craven, his insight and complete understanding of the horror movie genre allowed him to make Scream the movie that it is. This movie gave the scary movie genre a much needed boost and inspired and influenced many other films.

A Highly entertaining movie that is fun to watch, scary and it's still enjoyable to watch after multiple viewings.

8 out of 10

Thursday, 26 January 2017

Resident Evil Retribution Review

Resident Evil Retribution Review, Alice is back fighting the Evil Umbrella Corporation in this fifth movie in the franchise.

Release date (28th September)

Director Paul W.S. Anderson

Writer Paul W.S. Anderson

Stars

Milla Jovovich - Alice
Jason Isaacs - Dr. William Birkin (voice)
Michelle Rodriguez - Rain Ocampo
Sienna Guillory - Jill Valentine
Kevin Durand - Barry Burton
Oded Fehr - Carlos Oliveira
Shawn Roberts - Albert Wesker
Bingbing Li - Ada Wong
Johann Urb - Leon Kennedy
Boris Kodjoe - Luther West

The Umbrella Corporation's deadly T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the global population into legions of the flesh eating Zombies. The human race's last and only hope, ALICE (Milla Jovovich), Without a safe haven, Alice continues to track those responsible for the outbreak, a pursuit that takes her from Tokyo, New York, Washington D C and Moscow.

Resident Evil Retribution has elements and has been influenced some what by the latest Resident Evil 4 game, this includes some similarities in the movies story and action scenes. These influences will always go down well with the Resident Evil gamers, however the similarities are only minor and it doesn't really make Retribution any more like the games than previous instalments.

Resident Evil Retribution has a very simple story, simple dialog and it's certainly not very taxing for the mind to follow. Because of this Retribution becomes difficult to stay focused on, there is just nothing really to keep your attention for very long. The acting is fine but there's no real character development so you don't really care about any of the characters which lowered my attention even further.

There are some good points to this movie, these are the visuals and the action scenes. Retribution really does look good, the best looking of all the Resident Evil movies, it's very easy on the eye. It's just a shame the movie didn't have a little more substance over all. The action scenes are impressive if a little over the top.

Overall a visually very impressive movie, however everything else is below average, the fans should enjoy this but most people will probably lose interest quickly.

5 out of 10

Monday, 16 January 2017

Resident Evil Afterlife Review

Resident Evil Afterlife Review, Alice is still trying to bring down the evil Umbrella Corporation.

Director Paul W. S. Anderson

Writer Paul W. S. Anderson

Cast

Milla Jovovich - Alice
Ali Larter - Claire Redfield
Wentworth Miller - Chris Redfield
Shawn Roberts - Albert Wesker
Spencer Locke - K-Mart
Boris Kodjoe - Luther West
Kim Coates - Bennett

Constantin Film, running time 97 minutes

In a world completely over run by a virus, turning its victims into Zombies, Alice (Milla Jovovich), proceeds in her search for survivors. Her struggle with the Umbrella Corporation reaches new levels, Alice gets some help from an old friend. They get some new information that leads them in search of a safe zone, but when they arrive the city is infested with zombies.

Resident Evil is here again, which is not a bad thing, I am a fan of the games and when I watched the first Resident Evil I was disappointed, the games were very atmospheric and scary and the movie just didn't match up. However putting the games to one side they were still entertaining movies.

Resident Evil Afterlife is exactly that, entertaining, the acting and dialog is solid enough, there are plenty of impressive action scenes and a decent sound track. Afterlife is a very visually impressive movie.

The story is told well enough, the pacing is good and I wasn't bored during the film. Not a master piece by any means and not particularly true to the games but I still found it entertaining. It won't tax the brain, but it's one of those movies that can be watched again and again.

To be truly appreciated it should be watched on a large screen with a decent sound system. Without the sound and the visuals it may struggle to hold someone's attention.

6 out of 10

Monday, 9 January 2017

Modern Really Scary Movies

List of modern really scary movies, these films are selected only on how much fear they create, acting, direction and story take a back seat.

There are some movies that are not necessarily a movie master piece, some are incredibly basic movies with virtually no story, effects and a very small cast, yet managing to do a great job of creating a sense of terror and fear.

This list also includes mostly modern films, as many of the old classics, as great as they are fail to create the response in me that many of the recent horror movies have.

Really Scary Movies

Insidious

Insidious has a similar feel to other recent movies, but it's done very well, insidious creates tension through paranormal phenomena and in my opinion is the best example of this type of film. There is no blood no gore just tension, some shock/surprise tactics that have been done so effectively, a truly scary and creepy experience. If you like the paranormal phenomena approach you'll enjoy this.

Paranormal Activity
 
I heard good things about this film, while watching I soon discovered it was filmed in the first person perspective. Not being a fan of that style of movie I was initially disappointed and I wasn't expecting to enjoy it. I was soon proved wrong, I soon became completely immersed and terrified by the experience.

Paranormal Activity 2

Not a huge step forward from the first film but still very scary.

Paranormal Activity 3

More of the same but with some nice new ideas, probably the most scary of the three.

Grave Encounters

Grave Encounters much like paranormal activity is filmed with a combination of the first person style and fixed surveillance cameras, but it takes place in a large abandoned metal hospital. There are some truly freaky moments and it's certainly one of the scariest films I have seen recently.

Mirrors

We all have different opinions, but Mirrors is on my top list of really scary movies.

More Movies Added

  • Insidious 3
  • The Conjuring 2

Prometheus Review

Prometheus Review, a group of scientists think they have discovered the origins of the human race.
Director Ridley Scott

Writers Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof

Cast

Noomi Rapace
Charlize Theron
Michael Fassbender
Patrick Wilson
Idris Elba
Sean Harris
Kate Dickie
Rafe Spall
Logan Marshall-Green
Guy Pearce
Ben Foster

Brandywine Productions, Dune Entertainment, Running time 124 minutes.

A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

Alien is one of my favorite all time movies, and when I heard about Prometheus being a prequel to Alien and that it would give us more details on the space jockeys I became more than a little interested. Plus it was going to be directed by Ridley Scott, it's fair to say I had high expectations.

The end result is mixed with good and bad aspects to the movie, unfortunately Prometheus is not the masterpiece Alien beater I was hoping for but it does surpass my expectations on some levels. Visually Prometheus looks fantastic, the visuals set the mood of the movie creating a superb atmosphere which does have a similar feel to Alien. It's certainly one of the best looking movies I have seen.

The acting is good throughout, however the character development is not the best, you don't really get to know any of the characters so you don't really care about any of them. The best and the most likable character is the Android David, played by (Michael Fassbender) he's really the only interesting character out of all of them.

After watching Prometheus I felt a little unsatisfied, the film has a lot of interesting scenes which creates questions, but it never really answers them. This makes Prometheus feel incomplete as a movie and a little frustrating to watch, it's clear Prometheus is not a stand alone movie, it ends on a cliff hanger leaving it open to a sequel.

Over all Prometheus is definitely worth a watch, it almost manages to be the movie I was hoping for, it just fails in a few areas. We don't get all the answers we were looking for, I ended up with more questions after the movie than I did before watching it. With all that Prometheus is still one of the best science fiction/horror movies I have watched.

7 out of 10

Monday, 21 November 2016

Paranormal Activity 4 Review

Paranormal Activity 4 Review, does the forth instalment offer us anything new?

Directors Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Writers Zack Estrin, Oren Peli

Cast

Katie Featherston, Katie
Kathryn Newton, Alice
Matt Shively, Alex
Brady Allen, Robbie
Tommy Miranda, Jackson

Room 101, Running time 95 minutes.

A mother and her son move into a new neighbourhood, one night the mother suddenly becomes ill and she is taken away to the hospital, the neighbours agree to take in and care for the young boy until the mother is released from hospital. Shortly after the boy moves in it becomes clear that he is not a normal child, this unsettles certain members of the family, especially when strange and unexplained things begin to happen in the house.

Making a new Paranormal Activity movie has come as no surprise when you consider that the original is one of the most profitable movies ever made.

The first movie was one of my favorite recent horror movies and I was glad to hear that they were releasing a second movie, and even when the third movie was announced. However when I heard about a forth movie I was some what concerned that it was just going to be the same as the last three movies with nothing really new to offer.

Unfortunately my concerns turned out to be reality, apart from a few minor ideas and differences paranormal activity 4 is virtually the same movie as the last 3 movies, the differences and new ideas that they did include just aren't enough to make this film feel flesh. As the film progressed it struggled to keep my attention, I couldn't help but feel that I have seen it all before.

On a plus the film is well made, well acted with likeable characters, some ideas are nice like the scenes with the X-Box display in the living room which worked well and added some tension. If I had never watched the previous paranormal activity movies I think I would of really enjoyed this, if it wasn't for the fact that this is just a rehash of the last 3 movies and that the franchise is becoming tired and predictable it could actually be the best paranormal activity movie.

If you have seen the previous three movies then this forth instalment doesn't really offer anything new, however if you haven't seen the others it may be worth a watch.

5 out of 10

Monday, 17 October 2016

Paranormal Activity 3 Review

Paranormal Activity 3 Review, In 1988, young sisters Katie and Kristi befriend an invisible entity that inhabits their home.

Directors Henry Joost - Ariel Schulman

Writer Christopher B. Landon

Cast

Chris Smith - Dennis
Lauren Bittner - Julie
Chloe Csengery - Katie
Katie Featherston - Adult Katie
Hallie Foote - Grandma Lois
Dustin Ingram - Randy Rosen
Johanna Braddy - Lisa
Jessica Tyler Brown - Kristi
Sprague Grayden - Adult Kristi

Paramount Pictures, Running time 83 minutes.

Two young sisters Katie and Kristi live with their mother, Julie (Lauren Bittner) Kristi begins talking to an invisible friend named Toby. Since Toby became known, strange things have started to happen in the house.

Paranormal Activity 3 is a prequel to the first two movies and it answers a few questions about the origin of the demon in the other movies.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this third installment as I felt the concept was getting a bit old. However there are enough new ideas to keep things interesting and the tension high, especially the rotating camera that is set up which rotates between viewing the living room and the kitchen. It's a great tension builder.

If you're looking for a blood and gore horror movie you'll be disappointed, these films effect you by building up tension via creepy sounds effects, camera work and unexplained activities. Personally I find the paranormal activity series terrifying, despite my dislike for the home video first person perspective style movies, it certainly works well in this case. The paranormal activity movies are some of the scariest movies I have seen.

I highly recommend this one and the previous two, this movie triggers so much fear from such a basic low budget film. You may want to avoid if you were not a fan of the previous two films because this is more of the same.

7 out of 10