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Reviews
Dead Wood (2007)
does what it says on the tin
synopsis: a group of friends go to the forest to camp and are preyed upon by an evil force born from the forest.
well it does what it says on the tin. if you watch this expecting a classic then you have the wrong mindset for it. this was never meant to be a classic, this was never meant to be the godfather, just a fun little trip for the viewers. the scripting, dialogue and acting aren't very good at all but it can all be taken in fun as the film expands it's throwaway characters and the one's we're supposed to care about. this isn't done well but somehow i couldn't help but care what happened to them. the camera-work is basic at best with the director assuming a half 'last house on the left' gritty realism and half 'the Blair with project' uber realism feel. it works in places and falls short at others. saying that, it doesn't detract from the basic experience of the film. no arty, film school camera tricks here. i read in fangoria that the film was shot on 35mm and considering, it's a good transfer. colours are bright and there are only a small selection of blurry frames. the transfer is quite pleasing to the eye with a wealth of colour and brightness to feast your eyes on. i do recommend turning both the colour and brightness on your TV down to enjoy the supple tones of the transfer. the score is typically suspenseful and if i am honest quite typical of a genre film. it didn't really do much for me at all. good composure but ultimately too formulaic to bring tension. this is the kind of film which you should go into expecting nothing more than cheap thrills. if you are looking for more then i could recommend a lot of films but if you just want to watch a horror film which provides the basic needs of a horror fan then go for this. you won't remember it and you won't talk about it but in my opinion it's not a waste of 90 minutes so much as a giving away.
Martyrs (2008)
art
i have submitted a review of this title before but i have to say, on further watching i change my mind. this is the kind of film which affects you every time, no matter what. i had watched it three times before my last review and indeed had been disturbed by it but i sat down with intention to write something you all could really understand. a lot of the reviews i have read of the film say that it is sick. i disagree with the most tenacity. this film is beautiful. it is art. perhaps not the kind of art which we would wish to look on for a long time, to remember and to bond with, but still art. it pulls at you, it tears you're heartstrings and it breaks your resilience. the sound capture and transfer do the film nothing but justice which i suppose helps but i honest;y cannot say that this film has a flaw. it's not a part of the 'saw' 2, 3, 4 and 5 generation of torture. this film focuses on something deeper. ill' let you find that something for yourself.
Plague Town (2008)
cheeky but very very good
this film is good for a number of reasons: very nicely shot. very nicely gory. very nicely plotted. very nicely cliché backwoods horror.
that's where it ends. now weigh this up for yourself. this film IS nice. I had a soft spot for this film the moment i heard it was indie. But here we find a first time indie director who hasn't fully hit the mark.
reasons why this film falls short: the characters are dumb. the characters make silly, silly decisions. the whole *oh of course, you live in this community full of rabid, murderous children. we'll give a ride to anywhere you like" thing. the absolute, silly, stupid, humorous, plot destroying dumbness of the characters. if someone sinks a section of glass into your arm you DO NOT walk further into the house. common sense. that is what horror film characters are missing these days. sure, you could argue that it's cheap horror, but cheap horror could be lifted to great horror if the characters weren't... no, that's not PC. ill' settle for truly, utterly, unquestionably dumb. the heart of horror is caring what happens to the characters and I'm' afraid this movie doesn't quite do THAT THANG but if you go into it expecting a true gore fest then you won't be disappointed. however, if you watch thisfilm to the end, it is chilling. chilling the viewer makes good horror. not fantastic or even excellent. but it does make for good horror. the ending WILL surprise you.
Creature from Black Lake (1976)
the very best big foot movie of all time
in a sentence, it really is the best of all time. a chilling film that keeps the viewer in suspense as to what the creature is and what it's motives are for terrorising the small town setting. the camera-work is stunning and some of the shots achieved herein have far more scare-effect than most horror films these days. i found this film genuinely more disturbing than saw in that it leaves the antagonist up to your own imagination, rather than filling the scenes with huge amounts of gore. the soundtrack is haunting, beautiful and suspenseful all in the right places and truly complements the film. a strong ending and a chilling storyline both contribute to this being a fantastic movie altogether.
Mondo cannibale (1980)
better than watching paint dry... but only just!!!
this is one of those films that you force yourself to watch until the very end because you love the topic of film. one of those films that's cover and blurb promise a story and you get a gore fest of unbearably disappointing levels. if you value your sanity though, i seriously recommend not wasting your time on this, although considering that you have taken an interest in it already makes your state of sanity questionable! the unrepentantly repetitive scenes in this film give way to a genuinely weakly carried-out plot and generally ruin what could have been a good film. please, oh good please do not waste your time on this film when there are movies such as wrong turn, the hills have eyes and evil breed out there. the three worst things about this movie? the awful dubbing (id' rather listen to nails on a chalkboard). the boring cannibalism scenes, all shot in slow-mo and the same as the last. the rubber crocodile. don't even bother with this movie unless your set on viewing the entire cannibal-horror sub-genre. as hinted in the title of this review, this is better than watching paint dry, but only just. though, if it's textured paint...