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Archive for the ‘Curse’ Category

Movie : Insidious

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

Rating:

Whoa! Didn’t expect much from this, but it turned out to be one of the best (if not THE best) horror movie I’ve seen this year! James Wan and Leigh Whannel (writer for “Saw”) brought us something that’s both innovative and scary. There aren’t many cliches here, although it’s not completely free of them. Still it wouldn’t be a horror movie with sudden noises and onscreen appearances right? Well here we have a story of a lovely family moving into their dream house. One day their son falls into a deep coma for no apparent reason, and the house starts to manifest itself, as being haunted. Then the story evolves constantly towards an ending that’s maybe a little bit predictable but still satisfying for every true horror fan.

There’s good acting (especially the father), good “bad guys” (one is so memorable that my friends still can’t get him out of their heads!) and decent music. Sure we do have loud noises, but this movie is more about setting the mood than anything. It actually leaves you uneasy after watching, thinking if it’s really possible and remembering the bad guy’s face over and over. Not many movies can do that, especially nowadays, so it’s nice to see that there are still gems made in the USA, that aren’t teen horrors with cheerleaders. If you expect plenty of gore and guts, then it’s not for you. But if you like a moody haunted house/ghost story, then check this out definitely. There might not be a better movie in what’s left of 2011.

Posted in Curse, Family, Ghosts, Haunted house, Horror | No Comments »

Movie: Dead Silence

Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

Rating:

Dead Silence is an attempt on shocking that almost made it. It has some drawbacks – the main one? The main character is better known for True Blood in which his performance is way better, than here. The plot is a mix of grotesque, gypsy-related dark curses, parents and ventriloquist dolls. All of that is combined into a story, in which a grieving widower doesn’t look like he’s emotionally hurt just days after the death of his wife. Unfortunately it’s also pretty predictable, but hey – hard to come up with a real plot twist nowadays, right?

The scary moments are mostly gore combined with the sudden shocks of loud noises, but it does work, especially in the dark. A good movie to watch with some friends, beer and chips. Some people might even jump up a bit at times.

Posted in Curse, Family, Gore, Gypsy | 2 Comments »

Movie : child’s play

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

Rating:

It’s never easy to review a classic, especially if it’s such a cult classic as this. I remember chucky from my childhood and how scared I was. Watching it again now is not quite as scary but our tolerance threshold has changed too. It’s still a very good movie with a character that became as well known as freddy and jason so not seeing it is not an option for a horror fan. Sure most special effects are pretty crappy, and it has a lot of comedic relief to take the edge of the violence. It does work as a sort of dark-comedy-horror especially since chucky’s remarks are sometimes really funny.

All in all the second and third Chucky films were better imho, but this one started it all so it deserves credit. Sure it’s cheesy at times and not really scary after most recent horrors but it defines a lot of the genre, so go and watch it if you haven’t already. And if you watched it as a kid go watch it again, it’s worth it.

Tags: chucky, klasyk
Posted in Classic, Curse, Doll, Gore | No Comments »

Movie : My Soul to Take (2010)

Friday, February 25th, 2011

Rating:

Wes Craven comes back with a different kind of story right now. This time it’s about some crazy murderer from the past that comes back to kill the kids born on the day of his death. And since they’re 16 now, he’s gonna make their “sweet sixteen” a memorable experience. So we meet the characters which are a typical group of american teens – every kind of person is there. Just in case. They start to die, things start happening and we get more and more confused to who’s really doing that. Is it really that dead serial killer ? Is it one of the kids? Is it the gardener? Well it doesn’t really matter much because the main problem here is actually the boredom. This movie drags. It’s so slow that I had plenty of time to eat my popcorn before it was halfway through. Sorry.

Also – it’s not scary. A typical teen horror, so there are some loud, sudden noises and some blood, but it’s not something that’ll keep you awake at night. Sorry. Unfortunately Wes Craven is not as good as he used to be. This is a mediocre movie, that actually couldn’t be any better. Maybe it’s just me though, but I hate teen-horror movies. Teens are usually stupid and annoying on screen.

So if you like your mind being numb and bored, go watch it. It’s not terrible. It’s just not any good either. A movie that you’ll never remember or reference in your life after watching it. If it’s recommendation enough then go and watch it already

Posted in Curse, Gore, Teen | No Comments »

Movie : Walled in

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

Rating:

This is not a typical horror film. It’s more of a drama with a little bit of horror in it, but it’s engaging and actually good enough to write a few kind words about. It’s a “house” movie, by which I mean it’s similar to “house on the haunted hill” in a way, and even to “The Shining” slightly. There’s an old, creepy house in the middle of nowhere, with a few tenants and a girl from a demolition company comes there for her first big job – to measure where to put the explosives to bring the house down. And of course there are ghosts and weird things happening to her. But somewhere at the moment we think it’s gonna be another “House on the haunted hill” it turns more into a drama film, about love, insanity with the house merely in the background.

It’s not a bad thing actually, that kinda escapes some cliches, except the very ending which is simply terribly cliche. But overall it’s a pretty good movie. And the house itself is plain awesome! The architecture of the place is stunning. Seriously! Beats “The house” and beats the mansion in “The shining”. Too bad it doesn’t beat them as a whole movie, but still worth a watch.

Posted in Curse, Family, Haunted house, Horror | No Comments »

Movie : Abandoned

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

Rating:

In soviet russia you don’t go to a horror film. In soviet russia the horror film comes to you. Or stuff like that Well this has a lot of russian cliches and stereotypes, fortunately no bears on unicycles on the streets. But strangely the atmosphere, locations and general mood of this film made me watch it with tension I rarely experienced lately. This thing is actually pretty scary. Mostly because you don’t know what’s going on, but the great locations and pretty good acting make it all fit together. And sure some scary moments are cliche, and sure some plot turns are a bit cliche too. But all in all it doesn’t really matter because it’s the entertainment value that counts. And this is simply a good movie. Not great but pretty good. Oh and this is NOT the movie with Britanny Murphy. The title is the same but those are two different movies.

Definitely scary, and with a very well done visual side. So here’s the plot:

A Russian born American lady in her forties comes to Russia to find out that she inherited a house from her mother. She was put up for adoption so she didn’t really know her mother or the house. She decides to check it out and well, all the horrors start happening. That’s how it works when you have a cursed house, a secluded location on an island with just one bridge and just woods for miles around.

This is pretty rare nowadays, so it’s nice to see something different. Something scary finally. Because frankly last few movies I watched weren’t scary at all. This one works as advertised.

Posted in Curse, Family, Haunted house | No Comments »

Movie : Shelter (2010)

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Rating:

I was wondering how should I rate this, and finally decided on 50%. Wasn’t an easy choice though. First of all let’s say it : Julianne Moore is a good actress. This is not her best but she does a convincing job. The general acting here is seriously pretty good. There’s a story that’s sort of “mysterious” and supposedly deep, but most of the time I found myself not really caring for the story itself. It was shot nicely, and had some nice ideas, but something was definitely missing for it to become more than just a movie-night kinda flick. Also it’s not really scary, both in the good way and in the bad way – nearly no cliche loud-noises, which should go well with the ladies.

The plot is pretty simple. A psychologist gets a new patient, who has split personalities, and she doesn’t really believe it at first. But his personalities seem real enough for her to start an investigation of who are these people. And as you probably expect, they’re all dead people. Yeah, horror movies are so predictable sometimes, aren’t they? Next comes a series of plot twists, random characters, random deaths and not-so-fast-paced action. If you’re looking for adrenaline this won’t stir you up more than a RedBull. But for a movie night without much expectations (and with beer and pretzels) it’s good enough

Posted in Curse, Family, Gypsy | No Comments »

Movie : Blood Creek (2009)

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

Rating:

What do we have here? An old ritual, runestones, undead-nazi’s and to brothers, one of which was held hostage (you can say : held prisoner) and the other has to help him with the situation. So this is sort of prison break all over again, since the imprisoned guy is exactly the same. And he still acts exactly the same, so it’s actually easy to confuse the movie with the tv series. Really? No. But still acting is not the strongest point of this movie. Neither is the plot which is actually pretty stupid. I mean, come on, nazi immortal/undead soldiers in the US, trying to get a third eye, rune marks ? It’s like a mix of all and everything that’s cliche in horror coming back at us again.

Sure there are some nice locations, but as soon as the “bad guy” shows himself on screen it’s nothing but laughter. Seriously he doesn’t need to have an ugly / evil face to be truly evil. It’s the acting that should define him as such. And that “mask” just looks silly. All in all, this is a movie that just didn’t work. As a horror it turns out to be a comedy. As a comedy it turns out to be a “not-so-good” one. Watch it if you’re really bored.

Posted in Action, Curse, Family | No Comments »