Reviews

"The Awakening", the directorial debut (from what I gather) of director/writer Nick Murphy, may not be as unpleasant or frustrating a watch as most mainstream horrors, e.g. "Paranormal Activity" "Insidious", etc. mostly down to its haunting soundtrack, half-decent cinematography and acting (although John Shrapnel is taken out far too early) and...actually, that's about it, everything else is terrible. When it's not ripping scenes straight from other films (the shot-for-shot copy of the ball on the stairs scene from "The Changeling" has to be seen to be believed) it's creating throwaway characters or completely non-nonsensical plot points which are rarely explained and when they are, you just want to punch the director. Simply just making a film that's supposedly celebrating the horror days of old isn't good enough anymore, especially when it's done as badly as this.

The new entry into the "J-sploitation" genre, or what I've lovingly dubbed it "the purposefully hilarious, batshit crazy Asian B-movie" genre, this time from renowned splatter director Yoshihiro Nishimura, the genius behind "Tokyo Gore Police". We're treated to people lap dancing on spinal columns, alien starfish, a scene straight out of Power Rangers featuring zombies using their newborn (umbilical cord an all) as projectiles, an eight armed zombie that sounds like the putty patrol, a zombie seemingly made of weapons fighting an armored car, a car made of zombies, a fight sequence on top of a rocket propelled airplane made of zombies, zombies playing the accordion, zombies getting anally jousted with a chainsaw sword, the title sequence appearing after the hour mark, overall hilarious dialog and much, much more. It may not be as brilliant as its contemporaries but "Helldriver, RoboGeisha, Machine Girl", etc. all prove that nobody makes B-movies like the Asians, not even The Asylum. Also, it's still very strange seeing Eihi Shiina in this crazy villain role after seeing her in "Audition" but she's still amazing.

More of a thriller than it is a horror, although the suspense is straight out of any good horror flick. There's no joy to be found here in this grim, bleak and melancholic take on the serial killer genre with an excellent twist. The lead actors do such a fantastic job of making us care or loathe for these believable and well structured characters that it can be easy to forgive the film for its shortcomings in its questionable cinematography and irritating shooting style. The pacing is also excellent in giving equal parts character development and subtle plot points leading up to a fantastic finale with the previously mentioned unspeakable twist, although the ending is somewhat abrupt and unsatisfactory.

In an era of the successful Grindhouse revivals, The Asylum and the increasingly crazy J-spolitations, it would appear that schlock is on the rise...but "Saint" makes us remember that not all purposefully silly B- movies can be thoroughly entertaining. When over-the-top gore, crazy characters, hilarious dialog and preposterous plots are what make these movies work, "Saint" only nails the preposterous plot, concerning a murderous, zombified St. Nic going on a killing spree through Amsterdam. Typing this out, it sounds like it should be great fun but the fact is that "Saint" is not gory or funny enough to be a successful B-movie.

Not since the original Creepshow has there been a horror anthology as amazing as this. Comprising of six different short films, each with a different director and introductory segment, every short film is entirely different and unique in their own way and even the segments in between with Udo Kier and extremely entertaining to watch. Mother of Toads is a great B-movie throwback, I Love You is like a violent version of The Room, Wet Dreams has Tom Savini, therefore it is automatically gold, The Accident is harrowing and haunting, Vision Stains is interesting and engaging and Sweets is disgusting fun. Best horror of the year.