May 27, 2015
May 27, 2015
Review: III (2015) {0}
From Russia with gore
Horror and fantasy films have been a constant anathema when it comes to Russian cinema and the sheer suggestion that something involving impending peril could be considered as entertainment continues to be frowned upon there. Consequently, domestically produced genre movies remain condemned to the margins of the mainstream. Whilst savvy to his home country’s apathy to the horror genre, musician/writer/director/editor and general all-rounder, Pavel Khvaleev, banded with eight friends to self-fund his second feature film, III, penned by his wife, Aleksandra Khvaleeva.
May 22, 2015
Review: POLTERGEIST (2015) {0}
“They’re here.” Again.
Much like a house built on top of the unrestful dead, Gil Kenan’s Poltergeist is haunted by the ghost of Tobe Hooper’s original. Few complained that the 1982 film itself drew much of its plotting from a 1962 Twilight Zone episode called “Little Girl Lost” (about a child who has slipped into the fourth dimension of a house, and her parents’ desperate attempts to get her back). Few even complained when Poltergeist was recently ‘reimagined’ as Insidious, the most profitable film of 2011. At issue here is not the lack of originality as such, but rather the reappropriation of a title – and therefore of a brand – to cash in on the original’s cachet and dance, as it were, on its grave.
May 22, 2015
Review: THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE III (FINAL SEQUENCE) {0}
There was enough of a deviously clever idea in the first Human Centipede film to warrant a positive review from yours truly a few years back, and while I got a lot of confused looks after recommending the film, I still stand by that review. What started out like a typical “young idiots get lost in the woods” horror story quickly took a left turn into some rather disgusting territory, but there was still an impressive air of suspense, dread, and restraint to the rather unsavory proceedings. All in all, a pretty cool horror flick for serious fans of the genre – but certainly nothing you’d be likely to revisit more than once. (My review, by the way, is here.)
May 19, 2015
Review: THE HOUSE ON PINE STREET (2015) {0}
There’s fertile ground in the horror subgenre in which the question is posed (and not always resolved) as to whether a haunting, possession (etc.) is the result of paranormal phenomena or psychological problems.
May 19, 2015
BBFC Reaches Decision on THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 3 {0}
The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) has been passed uncut – with, in case you were wondering, an 18 certificate – by the BBFC, just in time for its UK release on June 19.
HELLIONS Heading to the UK {0}
StudioCanal has acquired the UK rights to Bruce McDonald’s “future Halloween classic” Hellions, in which Chloe Rose stars as a pregnant teenager who must survive a Halloween night from hell when malevolent trick-or-treaters come knocking at her door, determined to claim her unborn child. With the help of the local sheriff (Terminator 2’s Robert Patrick), she must protect herself and her baby from their predatory quest.
May 14, 2015
Review: BURYING THE EX (2014) {0}
Say it ain’t so, Joe!
A new film by Joe Dante, the director of such cult movies as Piranha, Gremlins, The Howling and The ‘Burbs, should always be cause for celebration, especially as his recent credits – with the notable exception of the superb The Hole – have been forgettable TV like CSI: NY and Hawaii Five-0. A return to the horror genre is particularly welcome – on paper, at least. But rather than re-animating the career of the once-great director, Burying the Ex hammers another nail in its coffin.
