The Blackcoat’s Daughter is an original and unique take on the possession horror story, that deviates greatly from what we’ve become used to with the Exorcist style. A deeply slow burn that interweaves three different women’s stories with a great deal of success, making for an intense and unrelenting story that gives way to a well executed, if somewhat confusing, ending. – 4.1/5 (genre) Continue reading
Suspense
The Wicked
The Wicked was a wonderfully intense, sadistically satisfying revenge horror film. The atmosphere and continuous unrelenting intensity make for a movie that will stretch your ability to hold back at the jump scares. Well acted all around for the three primary characters, and the switching up of genre from drama, to suspense, to mystery and finally to horror gives The Wicked a unique feel that a lesser movie could never pull off. The slow burn is definitely worth it for the ending which is completely satisfying and has a nice moderate twist, if you can call it that, maybe more of a misdirection. If you’re looking for a good horror movie to really test your limits The Wicked is an excellent choice and made a perfect Halloween night film. – 4/5 (genre)
The Silenced
The Silenced is a complex horror/suspense/drama that unfolds in one of the more unique ways I’ve seen in a long time. It interlaces multiple story threads, much like the threads in the quilt that the girls of the school were making; lot’s of rising and falling of different stories that collide with each other at some point in the movie, forming the final tapestry we see in the end. If you can avoid being off put by this, and the extreme hamming it up of the adult actors, you’ll find a beautiful acted (the girls), deeply moving, and unique retelling of a story we’ve seen before, but which feels completely fresh and new. There are some great horror-type scenes, but the friendship between Ju-ran and Yeon-deok is by far the most compelling aspect of the movie, and the final minutes with these two make the entire movie worth watching. – 4/5 (genre) Continue reading
The Ring Two
In the end we get a movie that has the feel and look of the original, but gives us none of the mystery, intrigue, or fearfulness that made it good. As a stand alone (given sufficient background) it would be a perfectly good horror movie, but as a sequel it flops kind of hard. We are left with the framework built by the original movie, and it’s repercussions, but have no substance to sustain it. I was never bored since I had a vested interest in the characters (well played writers), but I was never really fearful for them or even concerned that there was any real peril. The Ring Two walks a line between whatever The Ring was and a supernatural horror/suspense movie, and that leaves it feeling a bit underwhelming, never really living up to either…If you liked The Ring and really need to fill in the gaps it left then I would recommend The Ring Two, but if you like the open endedness of The Ring then don’t watch this one or you’ll lose that feeling. – 3.7/5 (genre) Continue reading
The Ring
The Ring was the key horror movie that revived a genre, but was also a personal revival in my interest in the horror genre. It was steadily paced, suspenseful, and had a well crafted story that kept you intrigued all throughout. The ending was unique for the time and still holds one of the best final moment scenes of any horror movie I’ve watched. If asked to choose my all time favorite horror movie The Ring would be a top contender and hard to beat, but there is some competition. With the second sequel Rings coming out soon, if you haven’t seen The Ring watch it. It is a must see movie, and unique for so many reasons. – 4.1/5 (general)
In addition: My quarter century review (#25 that is) will be The Ring Two, the first sequel and my first viewing. Continue reading
The Lazarus Effect
“The Lazarus Effect starts out very strong, and maintains a good stride for the first hour with a very interesting topic explored in a very interesting way. But in the last half hour it manages to not only undo all the ideas it has created but to twist them into a simplified, easy to digest ending for us to consume. Surely this makes some comment on what the writers/directors think about their audience, but I might be reading a bit much into it. Definitely worth watching, a lot of fun on both a purely philosophical level as well as a good horror/suspense level, just expect to be disappointed by the turn it takes just past the one hour mark.” – 3.4/5 (genre) Continue reading
Beneath
“So how did I end up feeling about Beneath? It was solidly acted with excellent use of music and backdrops for ambiance, which contained all the elements necessary to be a good horror/suspense movie. Somehow however, Beneath just never puts those pieces together into anything that takes a meaningful shape, leaving us feeling like we just watched a murder reenactment show on the Discovery channel, only we know these things never happened…I’d say watch it if you like mild horror, mostly suspense type movies, and need a filler on an off night when you normally wouldn’t watch a movie.” – 2.7/5 (genre) Continue reading
Paradox
“Paradox really shines in the moments when it isn’t spouting ridiculous dialogue, coated with pseudo-science and large volumes of expletives. It is a fun ride trying to figure out who the killer is, why they are killing everyone and how this whole mess got set into motion. Where Paradox fails is that it [did have] it’s characters talk. Honestly, every 30 seconds someone was saying something…ridiculously asinine. [However], if you like science fiction, time travel, action and suspense rolled up with mystery, give Paradox a go. Just don’t hold you’re breath waiting for the paradox.” – 2.3/5 (genre) Continue reading
The Abandoned
“I did
n’t think there was ever a chance I would say this, but I would rather watch The Hollow, a SyFy made for T.V. movie focused on special effects with no thought for writing, acting or directing than The Abandoned. Or for that matter even The Damned. My entire world has been turned upside down. There is no possible way I could have found a more boring, less believable, unoriginal and derogatory movie than The Abandoned. I guess someday I may be saying that about another movie, as I am now, but it boggles my mind to think so.” – 1.2/5 (genre) Continue reading
Shiguo's Myth 
You must be logged in to post a comment.