Murder by Decree - 1979 - Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper

Benny and Joon - 1993 - is Johnny Depp the king of comedy?

For me, this was a somewhat unknown chapter of Johnny Depp.

Bullet in the Head - 1990 - A John Woo flick reviewed

I was looking for this some years ago. The internet came into the  picture and made things easy to find ...and I forgot about it..

The Hand - 1981 - Underestimated Oliver Stone flick!

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House of Purgatory – 2016 – extreme haunted house

I’m a bit surprised that I haven’t seen a flick like this before. It’s been some years since I first heard about the McKamey Manor, a horror place so extreme that you have to sign a waiver to even be accepted to enter. It’s a place so extreme it’s said that no one ever finished it. Everything is allowed, except causing permanent injuries. At least major injuries I would think. But I really don’t know since I haven’t read the waiver…

As I see it, this trend of extreme haunted houses is the basis of this movie. Because I believe that it is a trend. If one starts such an extreme attraction other are sure to follow – and to explore the boundaries even further. The concept here is the argument if there’s really such a place, a place so horrible that no one ever finished it, or if it’s actually an urban legend. The two debaters hit the road to find or not to find the rumored place. Of course they find it!

If they choose to enter, and finish the attraction, they will get the admission fee back. However, since its Halloween, there is no fee… seems kind of strange. Anyway, the gang of four is told that the rumor is in fact false. The goal is not to enter the house and reach the top to get rewarded. They will actually start at the top and move themselves downwards. Four or five levels down. That’s a major basement don’t you think?

Soon they’re exposed to some vanilla scares which, to be honest, gets worst after a while. It starts to get to a couple of them. Typically the women, I guess we cannot escape the non-equality of the sexes. But I feel that women generally are better screamers anyway so… Come to think of it. I was expecting pretty poor acting in this production but I was nicely surprised to see that they are quite good! I believe in the emotions they’re showing on screen. Very nice!

As they descend down the levels there’s a question if this is actually a supernatural house or not. Are they really going down to hell or is the house so perfectly set up that it’ll only seem that way? Well, I believe we get the answer to that later on.

My personal thought about this is that it’s quite a nice horror flick. I like it! I liked the first half better than the last but it’s still way better than I expected. It doesn’t seem to really connect every piece of the puzzle along the way and I wished for a more complex ending, but you can’t have everything. It’s not a very long movie. About 75 minutes and I guess that’s fine. We don’t really need a longer story to get the point made. No one escapes purgatory!

6/10

Tommy Snöberg Söderberg

Le Fear II: Le Sequel – 2014 – not an usually obscure horror flick

Normally when I claim that a film doesn’t suit everyone it’s usually an obscure horror flick or extreme low budget. This is not the case here. I don’t know for sure about the budget and I don’t think it’s a lot but it’s not a shoestring budget either. The acting is quite good and it’s a very funny comedy in my book. It’s about a director trying to get a horror movie done. The obstacles he has to surpass is very odd ones to say the least. He tries very hard to make a great movie but everyone else in the production seems to be total amateurs when it comes to filmmaking. There’s not much going his way.

He’s on the verge on frustration most of the time and it’s actually very entertaining to take part of his anguish (I know, I’m a terrible person). There’s really not much more to tell. The detailed information that I could write down would spoil the experience for you I think. It’s a very thought through production even if it’s an indiefilm. Perhaps it’s just because it’s indie? I often find that indies and low budget movies are more inventive that major Hollywood blockbusters. They’re certainly more creative. But that’s basically the same thing isn’t it?

I wouldn’t say it’s a masterpiece but nowadays few movies seem to be. I think I’ve seen too much in the last couple of years to really appreciate the finer things. I only watch really great movies a couple of times a year. Of course I always keep my hopes up. This one was different enough to be worth the watch.

6/10

The Lashman – 2014 – Modern retro slasher

Once you’ve seen a slasher from the golden era you can never get satisfied with a modern one, until now. This one follows the classic layout, a few teenagers in the woods, telling a ghost story by the camp fire (which later comes to life). There is some nudity in it but not too much, just like it was back in the day. It’s just enough to make it interesting but not enough to make it too sleazy or pornographic. If you’re looking for that, keep looking. We’ve got the fat nerd, “crazy Ralph” and youngsters looking to score with the girls. Yes, we’ve seen it before!

The acting is surprisingly good! I was really taken by surprise by the quality of the actors. I started out thinking it was just another independent flick with mediocre acting – at best! This was way better in that sense. The characters may not be deep but there is some tension between them and that’s all you really need.

The movie as a whole is a bit slow to get to the action I think. We almost gets bored with it during the “talky” first half of it. We get a teaser in the beginning and we realize the there are going to be more murders in the film. And about an hour later, or slightly less, the killing spree begins. The Lashman turns up killing them one by one…

I kind of like it even though it is cliché and that we’ve seen it all before. It was a long time ago that I saw a modern slasher this retro!

6/10

Midsummer Nightmares – 2011 – a realistic slasher

Director: Ryan Stacy

Horror

I did things a bit backwards when it came to this. I watched the sequel first and then this one (don’t ask). It may not have been my smartest move ever but there was a reason for it. And trust me; you don’t have to have seen the sequel to appreciate this! It doesn’t have the best actors and actresses in the world. Actually there is a majority of the latter. On the other hand it’s not unusual in a slasher. It’s often the women that get killed first and a woman who survives the trauma too! It doesn’t have the densest plot either but there’s something to it that gets to me. It seems honest and it doesn’t promise you anything that it can’t deliver.

It’s a bit slow-paced and too talky for my tastes. But at the end of the day it still delivers some great scenes. It may not be a traditional slasher with a killer on rampage going on in most of the movie but it has a killer in a cool mask and there’s some torture in the end too! I wouldn’t say that the killer’s motives are shallow but in the end it seems to be pretty farfetched. It works I guess.

The movie is about 75 minutes. That’s long enough to tell the story and long enough to get bored with the low pace. When we put on a slasher to watch we want some blood and we want it now. Come to think of it, there’s a lack of blood in this. There’s enough terror to be sure but not very much of that red. Maybe it should be considered more of a thriller since all “action” is concentrated to the end sequence. This is often true for the slasher too of course. Just look at the most famous ones, Friday the 13^th and Halloween. There’s suspense right ‘til the very end when all hell breaks loose.

I realize that comparing this amateurish movie to Halloween or even Friday the 13^th is to put it in little too big shoes. But the main principle is the same. In the end everything falls to place even if it is, as I said before, a little farfetched. On the other hand, the famous movies in the genre aren’t exactly realistic either. You could say that this actually wins that completion easy as it’s far more realistic than the famous slasher. Maybe that’s what I like about it? It’s not gory and it’s not scary, but I’ll be damned – it’s realistic!

6/10

You can get it here:

Concept Media Films

Rape/Revenge flick review: MR RAPE'S FIRST DATE - 2013

Mr. Rape´s First Date

Director: Nik Box

2013

Horror/Short

Set in the future. The world has become a different place to live in. Censorship has taken such a leap forward that all entertainment is now forbidden. Crime rates have dropped and education has increased for 99 % of the population. However, the remaining 1 % lives like outcasts. One day Mr. Rape finds an old 14” monitor and immediately starts to hear voices from it, telling him what to do.

Before we get into the political aspects of this, speaking of the censorship going too far, I’d like to ask you a question. How do you keep your audience interested during a somewhat dull introduction to the future world? You can just state the facts and hope that the audience won’t become bored. The answer is of course by showing a woman’s tits and some pubic hair alternating from hip to hip. If you can alternate the grainy black and white imagery into negative colors once in a while to you make sure your audience is interested.

I figure there’s a political statement to be said here. Stay the fuck away from censoring everything; let the people decide for themselves what’s good or bad for them. Less government involvement and more individual thinking is the way it should be. Is the TV really to blame for all the things that has gone bad to the world? Nik Box seems to make a point of this! Maybe the education rates have gone up in the future where the flick is set but it seems to be a damn boring world. Maybe the boredom creates the violence rather than the old saying – violence creates violence. It’s an attractive idea nevertheless.

The film is made in grainy black and white and it has a silent movie feel to it. I don’t think it’s some kind of hommage to the old movies but it looks very good. I really like the voyeuristic feel to some of the scenes. At first when Mr. Rape sneaks around it’s obvious but even later we get the feeling that we – the audience, are the true voyeurs!

There is sex and there is violence in the flick, it’s even quite disturbing. But it’s never a pornographic film. Sure, we get to see some tits but that’s all. We get to figure the rest out for ourselves. I really like the music choice for the rape scenes. I realize that it’s not for everyone with loud punk rock music put it gets your attention and it certainly makes you wake up when something happens.

I think this is an interesting little piece, and I think there is something to be told. Some of the scenes are a complete mystery to me as far as metaphors goes, some are spot on. I have no idea if my interpretation of this is intended but I hope so, it brings some much more to the movie that just a straight forward shocking movie. Oh! And yes, there is a revenge involved!

6/10

You can get it here: http://www.deadgoodfilmslike.co.uk/

Sci-Fi (ish) Flick Review: Way Down in Chinatown - 2013

Way Down in Chinatown

Director: Eric Michael Kockmer

2013

Sci-Fi

To be honest with you I can’t really say what this flick is about. And I’ve seen it twice already! The main characters seem to be a play writer and his wife. At first they appear to be setting up a show but I don’t think they’ll ever get to it. The audition a bunch of people but that’s it! They get disturbed by something; I think it may be Armageddon actually. There are a lot of very odd characters but I don’t know what their purpose is or if they’re a metaphor for something. They seem to talk with each other as they were from another dimension or another world or something, I don’t know. They might as well be doomsday angels. Not that they look like angels though. Everything seems to spiral down into total decadence! I kind of reminds me of the feel in Dark City, strange characters running around with all the truths but hiding it from the masses!

The makeup is splendid! It looks just like it’s made as homage to the early German expressionism, i.e. Fritz Lang and Robert Weine. It’s not as stylish as Tim Burtons might have done it (nor as expensive) but the dark shadows under the eyes and so on are very entertaining for me! Then add the fact that it’s filmed in black and white and you realize of course that it’s a very artistic film after all. And as such the storyline might not be as important. I’m fully content with it being “weird”.

When I watched the opening credits there was one name that made me keeping attention. Most of the names are mere strangers to me but I know Lisa Loring! I mean, I don’t know her but I most certainly know who she is! I paid close attention to see if I could actually recognize little Wednesday Addams from the original Addams Family series. I mean, how old was she there? Five? I had to rewind the film and cheat a bit, luckily the credits roll in order of appearance, to recognize her but when I finally laid my eyes on her knowing it was her I could see some resemblance!

But once again, what is this movie about? Is it really about the end of the world? Could it be that this couple has marital problems? Are they dying? I really like the possibilities even if I can’t really figure them out!

So, we have the strangeness. We have fantastic makeup; together with the black and white that makes it a bit noir-ish. And we have… the acting! It may not be a realistic movie, far from it, but there’s a charisma among the actors that makes them interesting. Even the really small parts actually. For me it looks sort of like it was a theatre play and not a movie. I think this is quite deliberate as the main characters are in that business. I’m not totally overwhelmed by the editing but if the impression of a play, rather than film, is intended it’s very successful. Otherwise there’s too many fade outs for my liking. It has a bit too much scene for scene feeling to it and lacks the natural flow of a general movie.

6/10

Extreme Flick Week: August Underground’s Penance - 2007

August Underground’s Penance

Director: Fred Vogel

2007

Extreme

By now we all know the premise of this film series. There are not much plot, handheld camera work and lots of death and torture, a faux snuff movie. I would like to say that this is by far the best of the three movies but it was too long ago that I saw the first film that I a hard time comparing them. But at least it’s a lot better than the previous August Underground’s Mordum!

It’s not as extreme as it’s predecessor but that’s really not a bad thing. It has a lot much dynamics which means that the gore scenes become more shocking since they’re not there all the time. The film also shows “normal” behaviour of the perpetrators and the contrast makes the extreme parts more shocking.

There is also a lot better picture quality here than before. Gone are the crappy VHS look and is replaced with a new more digitalized look. This means that you actually have a chance to see what’s going on. But since the camera work still is all over the place I guess you don’t see much anyway. But the gore you do see is very well made and looks as authentic as it could! You could say that instead of a crappy video camera we get a crappy digital camcorder.

I reckon that the fans of August Underground’s Mordum might find this a little bit stale as it’s nowhere near as extreme. But on the other hand, we who don’t think that Mordum is such a great flick might prefer this one. I know I do! I could never figure out what it’s all about though. Is this a trilogy designed to just shock and disgust or does it have some deeper meaning? We could debate about this forever I guess. Some people see it, most people don’t. To me it’s just about disturbed individuals who does just as they feel like without regret or remorse. It has some kind of anarchistic feel to it. Or perhaps a elitist point of view.

As it’s predecessors this is not a flick for everyone, but as soon as you read “extreme” on the top of the page you knew that right? It’s not necessarily a flick for me either but my curiosity is so great that I just had to give it a go. Not my kind of movie but still a decent one in its own genre!

6/10

Review: Doll Boy - 2010

Doll Boy

Director: Bloody Bill

2010

Horror/Short

This flick has a very shallow plot possibly not worth mentioning. Well, of course it is! It’s just that it can be describes in just a few words and it feels more appropriate to incorporate it into the text rather than use an entire paragraph in bold letters. The main thing about the flick isn’t really the deep plot anyway. We have all seen films where the main thing is to watch the killer kill his victims rather than a great character development. This is one of them! But the actor is quite nice and the killers mask is very creepy! He has some people locked up in this maze of tunnels that used to be a flea market of some sort. He terrorizes them by chasing them and kills them one at a time. That’s the whole thing really.

But as I said, the acting is good and the murder scenes are not bad either! There are some splats on the wall and things like that which add to the experience of watching it. Small details are often what make a movie like this watchable. You can’t really make an interesting movie with such a shallow plot without adding something. Here both the environment and the killer himself are very cool plus the actors as I already claimed a couple of times. There are also a couple of truly gruesome scenes – not necessarily filled with guts and gore – that makes me feel kind of revolting inside. This happens for the first time in the opening sequence and that’s a good place to start making it interesting for us.

Since the flick is just about half an hour long there’s really not enough time to add any suspense, but it’s still very exciting at times. I would be lying if I’d say it was all the time but as most movies it has its ups and downs. There’s more positive thing than negative thing though and considering that this is “Bloody Bill’s” directional debut I’ll be very forgiving.

I’m not sure if the intro trailers are for real or fake but I must say that I need to see a flick called Mister Fister and is about a lunatic killer obsessed by killing women in a certain particular way. I think you’ll figure out just how by the title! There’s also another one which seems very entertaining about cannibalistic clowns… God, I hope these are for real. That’ll put “Bloody Bill” up with some of the more deranged and sick directors out there! And I mean that in a good way! Just saying!

6/10

Review: Sick Girl - 2007

Sick Girl

Director: Eben McGarr

2007

Drama/Horror

Izzy is a young girl with some serious issues. She misses her older brother who joined up with the Marine Corps with whom she wanted to raise their little brother as their child. She’s overprotective about him and she stops at noting to teach bullies a lesson. She also kidnapped a schoolgirl and some dude who was unfortunate enough to pick her up when she was hitchhiking. And oh… She pissed a nun in the face…

I heard a lot about this movie and all of it was good too! This means that I got a little disappointed when I saw it just now. It’s always like that; you build up you expectations in your mind and the film comes out short. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a gruesome film that’s for sure, but the acting is less than good too much of the time. When they – and the girl who plays Izzy especially – act out emotions it’s just fine, but when it comes to deliver trustworthy dialog it’s an entirely different thing. But the dialog is quite bad too so I guess that evens it up a bit.

The weird stuff starts right away with Izzy pissing a nun in the face but after that it kind of slows down a bit. The story is told with several flashback and you need to stay alert to really understand what’s going on. There’s a lot of character building and it’s quite boring to watch if I’m honest. It doesn’t get interesting again until we get to see what Izzy keeps in the barn. And we gets to realize just how fucked up she really is!

Gradually the movie now gets more interesting even if the pace is on the slow side. When it comes to torture I think this movie falls short compared to other more explicit movies, but it’s so deranged that you can help but think what’s going on inside this girls mind! She keeps a straight face throughout the movie and that adds to the frightening feeling that this could be just anybody anywhere. You just can’t know what other people are thinking and what their most inner desires are. And once you realize it, it just might be too late!

6/10

Review: Grave Encounters - 2011

Grave Encounters

Director: The Vicious Brothers

2011

Horror

A reality show called Grave Encounters is about to record episode 6 of the show. This time they explore an old asylum which is supposed to be haunted. It’s obvious that the crew themselves don’t believe in the haunting for a second as they joke about it the first chance they get and when they’re not shooting essential material for the show. What we get to see it the unedited shoots of raw material of what was to be the last show of Grave Encounters…

This is obviously one of those found footage films that have been quite popular as of late. I don’t know what started the trend but horror wise I think that [Rec] and Paranormal Activity is most of all to “blame” for the boom. I don’t complain though, I feel that most of these films have something in common – a kind of tension! I like tension! That’s the main reason I watch horror flicks and thrillers most of the time. I’m not necessarily into splatter and gore just for the heck of it. I like suspense and these films can often give you that!

This particular film starts out pretty slow with a short presentation of what we are about to see. Some dude which is supposed to be some network guy tell us about the show Grave Encounters and that what we are about to see is the real deal!

The illusion is pretty good! The pace is quite slow to begin with and the team is obviously non believers of paranormal phenomenon. They’re just making the best TV they can do and as soon as they’re recording material for the show they look very serious about what they’re doing. It comes as no big surprise when the place eventually turns out to be hunted. The crew gets what’s coming to them and I can’t feel any pity over any of them. It’s not that they´re unlikable characters, I just don’t identify with them at all.

The chocking imagery it nicely made even if it’s quite sparse. I would have liked it to pick up the pace a bit more when the movie comes to an end. But you also have to keep in mind that the team is inside a mace of hallways and corridors and can’t find their way out. This is perhaps more frightening than the actual haunting of the place. The mental institution complex seems to move around its room, hallways and corridors just to keep them inside the building. It also seems that time works in a totally different manor than it normally should. Minutes seems like hours for the people trapped inside.

As a whole the movie is ok. It’s not terribly frightening and the pace is too slow but I’m still looking forward to the sequel!

6/10

Review: My Monster - 2009

I was very impressed by Ronny Carlssons first film in this trilogy - Video Geisteskrank (well, there’s really two movies, not three) and my hope were sky high for this one. But I’m afraid it’s a little bit too odd for my tastes, it’s very well made as an art film and the visual stuff is amazing. There’s no holds barred there what so ever! If you have seen the cult film Begotten or I Never Left the White Room a film that I know to be one of Ronnys main influences you know what I’m talking about! There are strange colours or just something that looks plain odd. Unfortunately I feel this ruins the film a bit, there are too much form but on the other hand, it wouldn’t work at all without this visual excellence. The story is very shallow and the visuals are needed to give it a special boost so to speak.

It’s a very loose connection between this and Video Geisteskrank but this movie has some of that gruesomeness that made Video Geisteskrank so scary too! I don’t feel it in my marrow in the same manner but it’s there. I think it’s a bit more “difficult” to understand and that’s why it doesn’t appeal to me as much as it’s predecessor. However, it can be found on the anthology DVD Experimental Films Through the Lens of a Shitty Camcorder.

6/10

Asian Monster Flick Week: Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris - 1999

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris

Director: Shûsuke Kaneko

1999

Action/Fantasy

The Gyaos has returned in greater numbers than before and once again they threaten all life in Japan. But this time they’re not alone. Iris, an old mythological monster – a legend, is awoken as a young girl discovers an egg in an ancient cave. The Egg hatches and brings the baby Iris to life. Soon however it has grown into gigantic size and threatens the world as we know is. Once again Gamera comes to the rescue although the government still hasn’t decided which side he is on. But even when attacked by Japanese self defense forces he keeps fighting the other creatures. To the death if necessary!

Once again the mythological feel is present and I welcome that! It’s not necessarily important that the myth is based in true myths either; I’m satisfied with myths created for the purpose of the movie. On the bad side, the Iris monster looks ridiculous at least at times and especially as a baby. I don’t think we needed that cute moment at all! Still, there is not the kind of rubber glory which I liked so much in the first film. Too bad!

That is to say that this is a film where the monster models aren’t as obvious as before. You can still tell that many shots are tricked and combined to make the monsters seem larger but not as much as in the first cardboard city scenes. It might seem as a self contradiction but it is quite more entertaining when it looks more faked! That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the turkey qualities I’m after here but it is good fun to see the tacky environments.

But if we leave the psychical aspects of the monsters and how it’s made for a moment I think that there are plenty more philosophical aspects than before here. I did write about it on the previous movie and claimed it wasn’t a necessary thing for a monster movie, but here it turns out quite well. Gamera refuses to give up and keeps fighting no matter what and that’s an obvious metaphor for dedication in general. Dedication and the ambition to follow through!

This is a worthy final to the trilogy even if the end makes you wonder if more there originally were more movies to come. I don’t need more at this time, there are other monster movies to be seen but who knows, I might explore the original films from the sixties someday!

6/10