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Dog Soldiers (2002)
This movie covers all the needs of a horror watcher and is highly recommended
I am a huge werewolf fan and have been for awhile. I stumbled across this movie looking through a bin at wal-mart and picked it up for $5. With the title being "Dog Soldiers" I wasn't expecting much, just another random low budget werewolf flick where you probably wouldn't even see the beast attacking. I was horribly mistaken. Dog Soldiers quickly became one of my top 5 werewolf films and my go to choice for a late night fix.
Sarge (Sean Pertwee) takes his squad of men to the highlands of Scotland where he was supposed to lead them on a training mission against a special ops group. They quickly realize they are up against something else when they find the group all torn apart.
Director Neil Marshall quickly sets the mood and the exact nature of the characters but keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the clip. You never actually know whats going to happen until its done. Pvt Cooper (Kevin McKidd) gives you the straight forward take charge attitude that prevents utter chaos between the platoon. He really exploded in the role as you got the feeling he really cared for the rest of the group and would do whatever it took for them to survive. While all the mayhem, shooting and strategy was taking place, Spoon (Darren Morfitt) provided the comic relief. Still being a soldier and doing his duties in a professional manner he was able to throw in remarks throughout the film that would take you from being on the edge of your seat to on the floor laughing. As for Megan (Emma Cleasby), she was the innocent photographer looking for a way out. Truly believable throughout the movie, exceptional performance.
Now for the good stuff, the werewolves. These werewolves are not your ordinary run of the mill werewolves. They are vicious thinkers. They will take you of your game and when you're least expecting it, snatch you up. All the werewolves and gore are authentic and look as real as you can get. I am pretty picky on werewolves appearances and after seeing these effects, if I didn't know any better I would be locking my doors and boarding my windows at night.
The movie perfectly found the medium between fast paced and slow paced. They got the story across while keeping the action high and threw some gore in there because it is a horror film after all. This movie covers all the needs of a horror watcher and is highly recommended.
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)
Don't go out of your way
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, the sequel to The Blair Witch, takes us back to Burkitsville, Maryland where Jeffrey Patterson (Jeffrey Donovan) has started a blair witch hunt tour to make some cash off the events that happened in the original Blair Witch movie. A group of students decide to take the tour each with their own agenda. Tristine (Tristine Skyler) and Stephen (Stephen Barker Turner) are writing a book on the blair witch, Erica (Erica Leerhsen) a wicca who hopes to find and learn from the blair witch and Kim (Kim Director) who plays the roll of a goth. They all head into the woods on the tour but wake up the next morning to find their camp in disarray and unable to remember anything that happened the night before. All they have are the tapes from their camcorders. As they try to find out what happened that night, strange things continue to occur and they are unaware of who or what is behind them.
Joe Berlinger tries his hand at directing this sub-par story but didn't come out on top. I felt detached and only wanting to see the tapes to know what happened, nothing else that happened in the movie really mattered. The story was pretty unoriginal, missing a lot of characterization and actual entertaining scenes. The actors didn't really do anything to change the downward slide and couldn't draw me in.
Joe Berlinger didn't follow the same camera techniques as the original blair witch and it probably saved this film, somewhat. If he would have gone with the first person view I believe the movie would have flopped even more based on how well the original was done.
There are some quick gore scenes throughout the film to satisfy an itch and the plot never made me use my imagination so we are lacking quite a bit of what makes a horror movie, a horror movie.
All in all I couldn't shake the undying need to know what happened on those tapes. After I found out the action finally started to pick up but a little too late. If interested give this a peek but don't go out of your way.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
The Blair Witch has set a precedence for this type of genre that was fun and enjoyable to watch.
Heather Donahue decides to do a documentary about the urban legend of The Blair Witch. She takes along two other film students, Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams, who are just as eager to do the project as she is. Their trip was planned to go to Maryland, interview some townsfolk, film some of the historic sites in the woods and return home. A year later their camera footage was found.
Directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez decided to break away from the traditional cinematography and go with a first person view of the events that take place. We actually watch the majority of the movie through Heather Donahue's eyes. It was pretty creative and went well with the story and the actors.
The Blair Witch is really a feeling movie. You have to pay a lot of attention to the film and really get into the mood the scenery and actors are trying to set. There isn't any monsters, no ghosts and no gore to be seen. You have to use your imagination and focus on the feelings of the actors.
Heather Donahue and the rest of the crew do some great acting to suck you in and make you really feel like you are there scared for your life right along with them. The story kinda stalls towards the end as it seemed like they added some scenes in to make the movie longer but not noticeable on your first watch through.
The Blair Witch has set a precedence for this type of genre that was fun and enjoyable to watch. I recommend The Blair Witch to any fan and look forward to more movies of this genre.
Evil Dead (2013)
I found the movie very enjoyable to watch
We have a girl. A girl with an addiction to drugs. Mia (Jane Levy) decides to better herself and quit her addiction cold turkey. With the help of her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) and her friends, she is determined to get through the withdrawal process once and for all. They choose a remote cabin deep in the woods with no outside influence to help Mia recover. While cleaning up the cabin, Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), one of Mia's friends, finds a book and decides to read it. Not knowing the evil he is about to unleash, Eric reads the book out loud. The fight for survival now begins.
Not really sure where to take this one. I am kinda of on the fence. Director Fede Alvarez teeter totters from a brilliant really dark horror movie to an average film. I believe if he would have stayed on track with the way the movie started out and focused on the darker side of evil, he would have had a masterpiece.
The character development was sparse. We picked up bits and pieces about the characters as the movie went on but nothing that really impacted how the story was told. Even with the lack of background, the actors did very well. Their reactions to what transpired were very believable and true. Shiloh Fernandez could have played a stronger character. He lacked the take charge attitude a lead actor should have and kind of got lost in with the others at times but overall they all did decent.
Any GORE fans out there? Well we have some gore for you! Minus one scene, Fede Alvarez kept the gore coming. He was able to throw more and more gore into this movie without making it a grind-house featurette. It was very well done, believable and as tasteful as gore can get.
I also want to give credit to the entire makeup department. I absolutely loved the disfigurements they came up with and were able to put together. The cuts, bruises, missing limbs and hacked-up faces were outstanding looking. I am looking forward to the special features on Blu-ray for this.
I did not compare any part of this to the original Evil Dead as I believe every movie should have a fair shake. I found the movie very enjoyable to watch. The way the demon plays with the characters and unique gore scenes are a huge draw. What the movie lacks in story and guidance, it makes up for in cinematography and good ole fashion gore.
Pitch Black (2000)
I can't recommend Pitch Black enough!
The opening scene starts off action filled as we watch a cargo ship carrying a group of diverse passengers run through a meteor storm. Its all the assumed captain Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell) can do to try and land the ship in one piece. While the passengers gather their wits they learn they are stranded on a desert planet with a convict, Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel), a cop, Johns (Cole Hauser) and no water. After a death and a sighting they realize they are not alone on this planet and trying to find a way off becomes a priority. As the story unfolds they learn that every 22 years the planet goes through an everlasting darkness and as fate would have it, that time is now. The crew not only struggles with what the darkness brings but they struggle with themselves as they fight to survive, with their hero coming from an unlikely source.
Every actor fit their respective characters to a "T". They portrayed exactly what director David Twohy was trying to get across. They each have their own little story surrounding them and integrated it into the flow of the movie spot on. The character development is so in tune with the events of the movie you feel a connection with the characters as they progress. You watch as they all start out as somebody but transform into somebody else at the end of the film.
The cinematography and lighting throughout the movie is exceptional. The planet they are stranded on actually has three suns, each with their own set of colors mixed on the different pieces of scenery.
Onto the aliens. They are original, creative, well designed for their environment and extremely ruthless. Their origin is unclear but their intentions are well known. They destroyed everything on the planet and are blood thirsty for more. Their mouth full of large teeth, ability to fly and movement/echo based vision easily put them at top of the food chain.
Pitch Black quickly entered into my top 15 of favorite movies after viewing it. It has something for everybody. Very well written, sci-fi feel to it, action and some gore. Its the type of movie you can sit down and watch many times over. I can't recommend it enough.
The Tenant (2010)
Avoid The Tenant
The Tenant takes you to Edgewood Asylum where Dr. Walter Newman (Randy Molnar) is experimenting with genetics to try and find a cure for genetic mutations. Dr. Newman remains oblivious to the fact that his nurse, Ms. Tinsley (Sylvia Boykin), is so obsessed with the doctor that she would do anything to make him happy. Before Dr. Newman knew what was going on, his worst nightmare becomes reality.
Directed by Ric La Monte, The Tenant, gives us a look at how mutation can affect an individual and the ones around them. This movie needs a lot of work. The story was mediocre and mixed with weak acting that really showed. I could never really get into the feel of the movie for a couple reasons. Character development was non-existent. Half of the movie focused around the doctor and the other half focused around a group of deaf children running for their lives so, we never had time to truly understand them. Liz (Aerica D'Amaro) and Jeff (J. LaRose), the heroes and the chaperone's for the deaf children, didn't draw me into the feel of the movie, I found myself very detached throughout.
The camera and lighting work was done fairly well. I recall a scene where the mutated being was bashing a wall and the camera would shake with each swing. They did a nice job on the design of the mutated being, wasn't too cheesy and actually peaked my interest when we finally got a look at him.
Overall The Tenant wasn't the worst movie I have seen. It had its moments with the mutant but isn't going to make me go out of my way to find another movie directed or written by Ric La Monte. There are far better movies from this genre if you are looking for your inner mutation.