Reviews

Review based on first two episodes only. A slower start than expected from this anticipated series. This is one series where you really do have to have watched the Cartoon Rebels show. I wacthed the first two seasons of that, so i was somewhat familiar.

What works?

I think Ray Stevenson's dark Jedi is interesting, not evil as such , but more of just a mercenary attitude . I hope they don't do full pantomime with him later on.

I quite liked his apprentice too (although she is clearly being set up as an antagonist for Sabine , Alt girl smack down ).

VFX is mostly strong, apart for some obvious use of 'The Volume' I like some of the political elements hinted about with Ex Empire workers.

Star ship sequences were well handled.

I liked some of the production design here that somewhat captures the feel of the OG movies What doesn't work?

Odd dialog sequences. Decisions where to have lots of what i can only presume were meant to be dramatic pauses between conversations with characters make dialog scenes sometimes feel oddly artificial , and makes them less dramatic.

I like Dawson as an actress, but I have to say she struggles to make a convincing action hero . The action scenes aren't particularly realistic and lack a sense of danger. Lightsabre battles look more like a stunt show being performed.

As mentioned the pace feels a little slower than expected and at times borders on a little dull It might be mentioned later in series, but I can't help but wonder where the financing would come from for this new empire (although the same issues can be said for most modern SW) I know Rebels has its fans; however I personally feel Filoni characters tend to be particularly overwritten in general but in particular in Rebels. Every character is the last of their kind, some type of highborn or royalty, retconned into an existing major characters backstory. Think about what made the original movie work. We had a farm boy, two criminals and an old veteran. Relatable.

As it goes, its ok, fans of Rebels I expect will enjoy more, but objectively it's somewhat average.

So we have to talk politics when discussing this movie, because the movie certainly wants to talk about it. This movie deliberately takes swipes at more right wing social political attitudes. So even before discussing the quality of the movie you have to decide if this will be a problem for you. This movie IS preachy, and can be accused of having hard line left leaning attitudes, with little counter balance . For the interests of transparency my political stand is centre right . So yes i did roll my eyes a few times in this movie (not as much as main star Nicole Maines who literally rolls eyes back in every other shot). But i'm not going to critique a political opinion that isn't one i share. Out side of the political side of things, i still somewhat enjoyed the movie. In actual fact this movie i'd say this movie is almost a spiritual successor to the great 80's movie the lost boys. Im not saying the movie plays like that. But the lost boys were all about the outsider attitude and living to their own rules, and this movie succeeds in doing this, but for a very different time period with a different outsider mindset . In addition Diana Hopper's Duke (the main leader vampire) if effortlessly cool and leads the gang just like David did in the Lost boys. She is alot of fun to watch. The effects are pretty good with some decent gore effects & kill scenes. What doesn't work. Nicole Maines acting is pretty poor , as mentioned , count how many times the character rolls back their eyes in this movie. If it were a drinking game you'd die of alcohol poisoning . The character comes across as petulant, unlikable and selfish (the later, the character's own brother calls them out on) I personally think this is more stunt casting as they are a real transgender person , rather than acting ability. Also the 'Vlad' character is somewhat miscast, and why not just call the name Dracula as it's in the public domain . The rest of the vampire gang either gets little , or no character development . The movie is also unwilling to fully pull the trigger on it's own political posturing . The word transgender , never comes up and it's amusing watching characters talk around it without actually saying it. It feels like the movie doesn't have the strength of it's own convictions , and the whole mantra of the vampires only turning females , then the the fact they turn a trans person is simply waved away , in what could have been an interesting dramatic set of circumstances. As i recall there was a similar set up in Supergirl TV show that also stars Nicole Maines. I do think this movie deliberately tries to antagonize right leaning internet folk, as the vampires literally state they hunt not criminals or anything like that , but internet trolls and the types who make right leaning content om social media. This to me seemed very hypocritical and out of all the social political shenanigans this was the thing that maybe bugged me , as it's very typical of 'cancel culture' and very un progressive ironically. I feel the film makers a making a point to try and ruffle feathers to create a 'controversial marketing buzz' for this movie. All that being said, you can still have some fun with this decently paced , well shot vampire flick with decent effects . But most people will have to decide if the political element is something you can watch or not

Ok... Let me come back to the Feminist bit. Essentially the movie follows more or less the same plot as the movie 'PREDATORS' Mixed with elements of 'HOSTEL & THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME' What works first

• The gore is super effective. Impressive make up, doesn't shy away form the gore. The practical effects are extremley well done.
• An extra element that is added on half way through the movie adds a clever plot twist that really changes the dynamic of the movie and is really quite clever.
• All shot during the day, that gives it a sun bleached aesthetic and really makes this feel true to its Australian roots, but still manages to be tense and scary despite being in bright light

-Main actress does a good job of making a likable and compelling character -Very impressive cinematography

What doesn't work

• The big one. I did my review on Youtube (which you can find if you look under Geek Legion of Doom ) . I noted that all of the male characters don't speak ( apart from the one guy at the end) . All the male killers, wear masks therefore robbing them of any humanity ( Can they not take them off? Are they sewn on? ...we don't know as it's never mentioned). None of them speak and only grunt ( again, why can they not speak, have they been surgically altered? ) . But most importantly and what my biggest issue with the movie is, what is the male Killers motivation? For example, are they unwilling participants like they women? Their does seem to be consequences for them if things don't go their way. Have they been forced to do this (we don't know) or are they someway willing? (seem unlikely as they face death themselves...but again we don't know as the movie never touches the issue) . Why do they act like brainless animals , where did they come from , who are they?.

The fact is , we don't see any reference from the point of view of any of the male participants. Because of this and the fact they are all wearing scary, but lets face it impractical masks, don't seem to be able to communicate and essentially act like creatures. Is this just simply lazy writing or as some of the comments have suggested in my youtube review. A political swipe at the patriarchy? I tend to think it's the former, but either way it paints all of the male characters and just hulking brutes , who just seem to be mindless killing machines with out explanation. The only other make character is a slimey corporate type right at the end. So some viewers have taken this at worst Feminist propaganda and at best poor writing. We as the audience are just supposed to accept that these are 'bad guy' killers . But the best killers have back story and origin for us to understand how they have ended up like this. Here we just have to accept there are a bunch of masked slashers that someone has found somehow, all at the same time, put masks on them, then dumped them in the outback. Maybe they are intelligent as they seem to understand the the rules, but maybe not as they act like animals. The movie never attempts even the slightest hint about them.

• Other gripes , some of the eye related surgery seems a little bit ott
• Some of the deaths , whilst they are gory would no way kill someone instantly (first kill i'm looking at you )

However if you can look past the major stumbling point of the handling of the make characters . It's a fun though quite extreme slasher flick, but never escapes being a B-Movie because of a poorly executed script

A British Crime horror movie. Combining the British crime movie flavour of Snatch & Lock stock , The gangster cool of Reservoir Dogs and the Pagan cult horror of the Wicker man.

What Works :

• A great cold open, instantly sets the status quo. Effortlessly introduces the players and the tone of the movie.
• Great characters. Our protagonists our 2 gangster heavies , but the ooze charm and have great chemistry on screen . The dialogue is great and they actually come across as real people. To male friends in real life would totally break down in hysterics when a friend would get stuck in the mud, or trip down a hill. I was boought in to their characters.
• Builds tension. The first act is more a crime story whilst the third shifts to cultists supernatural horror . The change is tone and building of tension is great and the supernatural threat ramps up.

What doesn't work:

• The second act falls a bit flat and feels like it's treading water somewhat
• Overuse of CGI blood squibs
• Sadly the climax is a little weak, and doesn't make much sense , and thus is a bit of a let down. You can more or less see something like it happening, but thy take it one step further and just left me feeling perplexed.

Overall a solid and watchable gangster horror hybrid . Well worth your time

A movie that plays like a genre mixing slasher meets thriller meets drama movie What works?

• Great performances from our two main actresses Alexis Kendra makes what could have been an unlikable vapid character someone we care for . While Alig gives us a creepy and subdued performance but makes us feel sympathy for her character . Even small roles like the friend & the wife are great
• The writing is top notch. Great character work. Alice isn't wholesomely altruistic. She is flawed , she does things for selfish reasons. We even understand her modern day first world problems . But it's a realistic character who we can relate and see things her way. I love the fact i didn't really know what Shelly's motives were and felt like she was genuinely unpredictable , does she what to hurt Alice? Really befriend her? Take advantage of her ?or something else? It's all revealed at the end , and has some great foreshadowing. Because we really don't know what Shelly wants out of all things, the story is an intriguing one .
• Shocking with out being explicit . Some squirm worth moments
• Great ending which gives you just enough answers, but leaves the door open

what doesn't work so well..

• Last act of the movie more or less turns into a turns into a standard horror movie
• Young Shelly actor wasn't brilliant ( but still not a bad performance )
• There are some 'movie conveniences' like Shelly driving away for no apparent reason to allow a plot point to happen
• Shelly has super human strength in one scene for some reason.

Flaws are relativity minor by comparison. A great horror movie , a great new horror character . Fab writing and acting

A lonely widow, Joyce ( Lin Shaye ) decides to rent out her spare rooms to get out of some financial trouble left to her by her late husband. She eventually rents a room to a drifter who may have a shady past. Joyce a fan of Romance novels starts fantasizing about her new tenant, and if things don't go her way, she will make it go her way by any means possible even if it's rather creepy. So what worked?

• Lin Shaye is excellent in this role, making you feel empathy for her character even when she is going down the darkest of paths. A great performance that is frail but fearsome . Unpredictably manipulative , but still making you want to root for her in some fashion
• The script aswell takes you on a journey with her character, expertly playing with your emotions towards her character. Kudos too, for not spoon feeding the audience with all the back story for certain events or characters, leading the viewers to fill in some blanks, but not to the point where it's unsatisfying or confusing .

-Confidently directed with great use of light and shadow. Great camera work and a growing sense of tension

What could have been better?

• The story itself is somewhat predictable and you can see certain events coming a while off

-I'm not sure if i quite bought the 'Sarah' character, whose motivations for snooping around seemed somewhat flimsy

Overall a solid drama / thriller that has shades of Fatal attraction & single white female. Lead by a great turn by Shaye

I feel this movie has good intentions made by lovers of the genre , but may have bitten more off than they can chew. I think meant to come off like a film in the vein of Evil Dead, Brain dead & Night of the Demons, is actually more comparable to the movie 'The Spookies' What works.

• Loads of inventive (albeit low budget) gore effects. People getting torn in half, heads getting torn off , it's all in here. But it's not sickening gore, but fun gore if that makes sense
• The movie is very fast paced. You will not be bored, there is always something going on. Ultimately means you will not get bored in this movie
• The actress who plays Mona, is very good in this movie

-The LGBT angle is integrated very well. The main character just happens to be gay, but it's treated just as a matter of fact and does't get preachy or nor does it fall into sterotypes

• It's visually very ambitious , trying to make a splatter creature feature movie

But what does't work

• It might have ambition in the visuals, but the story is actually very pedestrian . Teens get attacked by monsters at a party and have to survive . not much more too it than that
• As i alluded to earlier, they may have bitten off more than they can chew. The monster effects are pretty poor. Literally looking like someone in a homemade Halloween costume.
• The acting isn't great. Our main protagonist actress doesn't seem to be able to emote , and gives one of the most unenthusiastic performances of a lead character that i recall seeing. But it's not just her, others are like that too. Then some actors are just bad actors.
• There is virtually no characterization in this movie. Our main character gets a bit of background, but we still don't see what she is really like. Her two friends, one of them doesn't even get to really speak until the monsters show up
• Very little world building & plot holes. To demonstrate this , I'm just gonna talk about the prologue to avoid spoilers, but this type of thing can be applied to the rest of the movie too. So mild spoilers ahead for the opening scene

We just have to accept that the mother is some kind of monster hunter, with no context as to why , how , what that means etc. Within the logic of this movie, she is reading bedtime stories to her young daughter directly from a ancient demon summoning book ( doesn't seem like great parenting does it ) . Then it alludes to , she's somehow summoned a monster under her daughter's bed ( if not, are we to believe it's been hanging around there all the time?). Then the movie contradicts it's self later by saying the monsters are summoned via the blood of a virgin, when that's not what happened in the prologue . So you get what i'm saying, this movie needed to have a 2nd script draft, or as i see in so many times in indie movies, someone else outside of production to test it on, who isn't just gonna say yes, yes, yes, because they are either employed of friends with the film makers

Overall, this movie does have some fun with the carnage and is enjoyable on a basic level. This isn't a 10 out of 10 as some of the 'cough' "Genuine" 'cough' reviews indicate, but nor is it a 1 out of 10 either. Fun but very flawed

I saw the Death House Twitter account begging for people to give positive reviews for the movie, as according to them, the 'Trolls' have had a go at it. So i will give this an honest constructive. It is true amateur reviewers will often either give a movie an extreme rating, either 1 or a 10 . Neither of which is particularly helpful . So i'll go through the positives and negatives of what i can contribute to the conversation .

What worked?

• It is fun to spot all the plethora of horror and B-movie actors , some of which only have a brief walk on performance.
• There is one truly stand out scene , where there is a bunch of skinless zombie like creatures, that does look really impressive effects wise.
• Kane Hodder is pretty good in this

What didn't work

• Too concerned with setting up a sequel with Tony Todd's character
• The cinematography is very poor. It's far too dark and under lit, making it impossible to see what is going on sometimes. I appreciate it's taking place in an underground prison, but you have to write your script and film it so people can see what is going on. Besides, no one is watching this for realism.
• With the exception of the scene mentioned above. The effects are very poor. Horrible green scree, poor cgi after effects and even other practical effects look bad
• The acting isn't good , our two lead protagonists are wooden, and even veteran actors like Dee Wallace turn in a poor performance. It seem like the director has done one take, and just accepted it.
• The biggest issue is the story and script . It is all over the place , it simply doesn't make a lick of sense from beginning to end . Right from the start where it's never fully explained who and why our two lead characters are and what they are doing there at the beginning of the movie, right up until the end with the quite frankly embarrassing 'Five evils ' scene. The narrative structure is so poor, confusing and convoluted

Ultimately this movie should have invested it's finances behind the camera rather than being so concerned with all the cameos , which ends up being really a waste of the actors time .

A real waste of an opportunity and concept . Although i don't like this typical internet behavior of it's either a 1 or a 10 . I think it's equally deplorable for a film company to essentially coerce the weak minded to giving overly favorable reviews.

I won't go through the plot here, as I'm sure you've read the synopsis . So here's what I liked .

• Our 3 lead female characters have good chemistry , seem like they'd really be friends and were zany and fun to watch
• The Krampus costume, looks pretty good to me. i like the way it's design resembles the classic Krampus look from the old German illustrations , and for a lower budget i thought the effects were pretty good
• I enjoyed the reveal towards the end of the movie which i won't spoil
• The Movie has it's tongue in cheek and has a good sense of fun

But what did not work

• Biggest issue by far is the truly poor cinematography , camera work , editing and the lighting wasn't great either . Often shots are poorly framed , too dark, and edited in a way that makes the Taken sequels look well edited
• Acting by additional cast seemed a very miked bag
• Unnecessary scenes and characters. So many scenes were of the police station, i actually thought they might have something to do with the plot. Nope , just a running gag about the dis organised cops. Plus what was the point of the Richard moll scenes? Just smacks of reshoots to fill out the running time
• A bit light on horror. Not as many kills or gore as i was expecting with a title like that
• The movie lags in the second act. When the girls are holed up in the house. Nothing really seems to happen for about 20-25 mins

Overall fans of B-Movie cinema may enjoy a festive treat , but for the more casual fan , there are better produced modern Christmas horror movies out there

Apparently this film underwent heavy re editing just before release. As such it suffers with a nonsense story . The basic premise is a family of four along with a friend of he daughter travel to a remote cabin in the woods with the promise of the areas holistic properties . Once there they seemingly discover an unconscious woman in the snow, and take her back which leads to dire supernatural consequences. On the plus side, it's beautifully shot. The lighting , camera work , sound design and music are all top notch. It's quickly paced and gets straight into the action. There are some truly creepy creature designs, practical gore and violent kills. The cast does a mostly good job, with one notable exception of a scene where the mother deals with whats happened to her family . On the negative side, the film does a poor job of guiding the audience about whats going on in regards to the supernatural elements. Characters just seem to show up out of nowhere, very little or no explanation of what creatures are, their purpose or what they are actually needing victims for. We get a brief exposition dump in regards to Barbara Crampton's character. Also a pet peev of mine, is where at the or near the beginning of a movie, it will show you scenes of what happens at the end of the story and then goes back in time and tell the story via a kind of flashback. It completely undercuts tension as you already know the fate of most characters, and therefore you are just waiting for them to die. This movie kind of does that , by having scenes involving a true crime style TV show giving you the 'official' version of whats happened. Even though events play out differently in the movie compared to whats shown on this faux TV show , it still reveals characters fates and therefore the same issue. I feel in an attempt to be clever the film makers have done themselves an injustice, and would have benefited in telling the story in a more traditional narrative and spent more time setting up more context for whats going on. However what we do see on screen is well done and great effects and shot really well

Set in 1960, the story follows two Vatican sanctioned priests to investigate and video document claims of an apparent miracle in a remote facility for wayward women run by nuns. When they are there, the skeptical but experienced older priest along with his young techy assistant, who is far more open to the possibility of other worldly goings on. They find there is possibly an evil lurking within the walls. Their investigation will lead them into mysterious caves where they make a shocking discovery. If that plot sounds familiar, it's because it was done practically the same in 2013's Borderlands aka Final Prayer . Whilst there are a few changes , it's largely the same . That's not to say it's a bad movie, it's quite effective with good performances, well used effects and a creepy atmosphere. It relies a bit too heavily on Jump scares and don't think to hard about the quality of footage if it was meant to be film in 1960. A few plot threads are left hanging. But over all it's a well made film with some good scares. I'm surprised no one else has picked up on the similarities to Borderlands before this

I was almost instantly impressed with the acting in the opening few minutes of this movie. 7 friends gather in a farm house to reminisce about old times. The actors seem like genuine people and real friends, there is some great character work by the actors and all seem very real. One may seem a little OTT , but that's down to him being written as a typical jerk. The premise is good. These friends more or less trapped in this farm house with a mysterious sink ( or should I say stink ) hole opened up two miles away, that maybe spewing up more than nasty smells. Once the friends start to get menaced by a mysterious presence it starts to go down hill. It feels like the writer, who also directs, doesn't seem to know where the story and this antagonistic force is going. It's powers seem undefined , and seems to be able to do what ever the plot demands and has seemingly Omnipotent abilities . Yet we have a dude dressed as Skeletor walking round with an axe. Lot's of questions are raised but very few are answered. It's light on actual horror and gore aswell. The character work is great and cinematography, lighting etc all looks to a good standard . The movie does have a somewhat cheap feel to it too. The man behind this has talent as a director but maybe should work of someone else's script . The cast are top notch and does make you care about the characters . Overall good potential, but lack of experience behind the camera shows

Road comes to us from first time writer / Director Vitae Nas, who is pretty much a 1 man machine behind this movie doing everything from lighting to stunt choreography The story behind the movie is quite an interesting one, apparently Nas has been working on this movie for the last 10 years at a low budget of around £130k This Production of this movie was somewhat troubled due to a number of personal tragedies and and other set backs culminating in a court injunction out against the movie preventing it from releasing in it's native UK essentially meaning the film is banned in the UK , but is getting a US release. Part of the strategy of the movie was to cast up coming UK music talent and a number of reality TV stars from shows like Big Brother and Georgie Shore ( the UK equivalent of The Jersey shore ) . The talent maybe familiar to those in the UK but will mean very little to the rest of the world, so this stunt casting was a moot point. It is also apparent that the talent on screen are not professional actors by trade, a point we'll discuss further later. The movie centers around a character called 'Shokka' played by Cameron Caan in his first feature. He is a drug dealer who wants out of the life, but when his younger brother is killed in gangland violence. Shokka is pulled back into old habits dealing with various faction within the criminal underground to bring his brothers killers to street justice. The police chalk it up to gang violence and are seemingly uninterested, so only Shokka can seek revenge on his brothers killers.

On the surface you could say the movie is a cross between 'Lock, stock and two smoking barrels and Top gear' as the camera loves to oogle a variety of sexy automobiles and is a Supercar fans fantasy. However on the subject of 'Fantasy' I think the film makers genuinely believed they were making a hard hitting urban gangster thriller , when in reality it's a wish fulfilment movie for Poundland shoplifters who play too much GTA and have delusions of grandeur What does work, Director Nas has some interesting directorial choices , showing you info blasts for all the cars and hardware that this film uses and a heads up display when they are introduced . It gives the movie and somewhat of a video game feel which adds to it's GTA aesthetic, however on a side note, it did cut into dialogue a couple of times. I also appreciated the use of the flashbacks being in a sepia tone, letting the audience know when they are watching one There are a couple of quite well choreographed fist fight scenes that feel authentic and brutal. Ray Sinclair stands out in the acting department as the slimey crime boss who comes across equal parts threatening and charming . There are a couple of small parts that were played quite well , particularly from the police characters at the beginning of the film As mentioned before, there are lots of fast cars to coo over and I suspect most of the budget went on hiring these out for the movie . There is only one short car chase sequence however

Which leads us onto the negative issues. As mentioned the decision was made not to cast actors for many of the roles and this hurts the film in a big way as the performances are sometimes comically bad . There is odd casting decisions as well. One of the crime factions is run by 3 pretty boy brothers, in reality these are reality TV stars and have different accents from all over the country that . I feel like a lot of the dialog her is improvised as these apparent brothers call each other 'Mate' on various occasions. Which brings me to my next point, if you're out side the UK you may struggle to understand some of the dialog here as it's very London slang heavy and even being just over an hour outside of London myself , I was struggling to catch everything that was being said. The Shokka character is a somewhat unsympathetic lead, as he is a drug dealer, murders other characters for no particular reason and really comes across as not the sharpest tool in the box. Cameron Caan plays Shokka with a constant scowl on his face obviously to tell the audience he isn't to be trifled with, but again comes across rather cheesy and Caan seems quite unconfident in the role There are problems with the plot too. To name just a few, At the beginning of the movie, we see Shokka get offered a deal by the police, but it's never mentioned again. Shokka on a number of occasions seems to be able to effortlessly walk into his enemies buildings and get the drop of them without so much as lock on a door let alone any security. There is a twist that anyone will see coming a mile off apart from our man Shocka of course. Perhaps the main thing is he is happily killing people for no real apparent reason other than they might have had something to do with his brother's death by virtue of them simply being a criminal. We don't even really see him try to investigate or interrogate any of these people outside of asking did you kill my bother? In favour of snapping there neck or blowing them away The gun fight scenes are poorly executed with red shirts seemingly lining up to get shot and there are virtually no female characters to speak of outside of a couple of strippers and a few lines here and there from back ground characters

Overall I can see that this movie has ambition and Nas does have talent as a director, but needs to hire actors over stunt casting and perhaps work of someone else's script or at least have someone touch it up If you are a fan of UK Gangsta movies then you may be interested and I can say thing. You will have fun with this movie, but not in the way that it was intended . 4/10

Ugh , was not impressed with this movie. I wasn't bored, but this seemed like a live action version of the rebels Cartoon. Thought Daisy Ridley had some bad line delivery in this , esp in the first 3rd. Some of the first order military thought they were in a Christmas Pantomime. Too much juvenile humor. Too much schmaltz. Too many Fake out deaths . The scene when Phasma is just about to execute Finn then there is that explosion and what luck all the first Order troops around them are dead but somehow Phasma has teleported about 50 feet away with her posse right behind her and not shooting. Also whats with the Praetorian guards striking action poses when they are so far away from any threat? I did like Kylo and Luke though

A movie that tries something different to the tried and tested slasher genre . A guy tries to cheer his friend up after a nasty break up by hiring a type of what he thinks is a hooker from an online site. When she turns up, she is unnaturally beautiful but seems to be a little on the odd side. The guys put it down to her being Russian , but their maybe darker forces at work. we've all had a nasty break up , so you can understand the motivations of these guys .Overall a fun lower budget slasher movie that asks why do slashers always look like a big burly guy in a mask. What can't it be a pretty girl and how would people react to it. I liked the relationship and dialog between the friends. Valeria doesn't say much but she is perfectly cast as a odd 'working girl' that seems to have something wrong with her under her dead doll like eyes . A bigger body count than i was expecting with some gore shots. Some scenes don't work quite as well and there are a couple of plot holes. On the surface you maybe tempted to write it off and a low budget B- movie. But i appreciate it when film makers try something new with genres that we've seen done many times before . It's worth a watch if you are a fan of indie horror movies , there is enough blood, boobies and Barbies to keep you satisfied

During the English civil war in the seventeenth century, two soldiers from opposing sides find themselves deep in the forest, but they may not be alone. With an uneasy alliance these two men fear they are trapped in the forest by the supernatural forces of a witch

What works - A period drama with horror elements. - This movie has a great ending the makes you re-think the film and puts you as a viewer in a uncomfortable position, making you think about how you perceive things and question what you would do in this situation. Makes you think about how soldiers would deal with ptsd in those days. - Sells the authenticity of the period - Some wells shot spooky scenes

What doesn't work

• Most of this movie is watching these two guys in the forest not doing much which makes it dull at times - During these periods the film misses opportunities to flesh out these characters as they have very little dialog - One of the soldiers acting isn't as strong as the other - Fight choreography is quite pooer

I wont go too much into the plot here, except to say it's not really a horror movie rather than a supernatural mystery / drama that reminded me some what of Wuthering heights. The plot focuses on a group of tour guides on a 19th century ship. One of the characters keeps seeing visions of a woman committing suicide. Is this the ghost of a long dead passenger from the boat? The Good - Likable, down to earth characters that act somewhat like real people - Spooky scenes on the ship are well shot and has a great ambiance - An interesting paranormal mystery the has an air of classic literature to it - A slow burn , but has a good enough momentum to keep you engaged - Inbetweeners actress Lizzie Stables needs to be a future scream queen

The Not so good - The extras in this movie are comically bad, just look at there reactions - The plot gets a little convoluted , partially towards the end - Some of the visual effects are a little on the cheap side

Overall i did enjoy this through back to a classic haunting mystery film . It does feel a little bit TV. But an interesting plot and likable characters along with the comedy extras made some a somewhat enjoyable watch

I've seen a couple of other reviews that seem to be less than favorable , so as someone who enjoyed the hell out of the movie,I felt i had to defend it somewhat. Lets get any of my negatives out of the way 1. There are a few conveniences, especially in regards to additional characters that pop up with the exact skills needed. 2. The twist is fairly obvious 3. The last 5 mins or so of this movie does feel a little rushed 4. Nit pick , i would have liked to see a little more of a horrified reaction to the events that unfolds from our protagonists

Now lets talk about the good stuff

1. Pearry Reginald Teo is a talented director. Has a James Wan feel about his style. He makes great use of camera work , with some good scares that are earned 2. The acting is pretty good .Ethan Peck at first I was like, ' Oh just another typical pretty boy lead' But I thought he really did a good job of selling the vulnerability of the character of Thomas , but still someone you can root for 3. Great location and set design. This house and the sets are super creepy. Nuff said 4. Some great scares. Some truly great moments involving mannequins. Great looking effects and some jump out your seat moments.

I think the title doesn't do this movie any favors , as the Sleeping beauty part is so minor until the end. I feel Fantasy and fairy tale fans will pick this up thinking it's the classic story and be disappointed it's a horror film and horror fans will may miss it completely as they think it's just a Sleepy beauty movie I'd give this 8/10

Lackluster action movie with terrible direction. The overuse of slow mo, poor editing, flash backs you don't realize are flashbacks. Horrible acting , the female lead really hams it up in the face acting department . Gruner looks like he is sleep walking . However Patrick Kilpatrick makes for a good villain. Fight choreography is for the most part quite flat. A couple of OK if generic plot ideas and Kilpatrick's villain can't save it.

For some reason it has a few seconds of pointless cameos in it for a seemingly unrelated scene. Overall it does have some so bad it's funny moments, but is completely forgettable 3/10