A gripping yet spare thriller unfolds across the bare Icelandic landscape as a grizzled policeman adjusts to life after the death of his wife in a car crash.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Terminator Salvation
(2009)
loud and empty
22 June 2009
I emerged from this film feeling conned and with a headache to boot, Derivative even from the beginning of the title sequence I've never this movie bludgeoned me with its stupidity.
It constantly tested my patience with it's ridiculous plot, this is a straight to DVD movie AT BEST, and should have been made for 10 million rather than the obscene 200 million it's rumoured to have cost.
Unworthy of it's A list star, unmitigatedly stupid and predictable. Arnie appearing in 3-d was the final straw, I spent the next week chastising myself for spending the eleven quid on admission. Seeing the directors name was Mc-G was surely the moment i should have left the cinema.
It constantly tested my patience with it's ridiculous plot, this is a straight to DVD movie AT BEST, and should have been made for 10 million rather than the obscene 200 million it's rumoured to have cost.
Unworthy of it's A list star, unmitigatedly stupid and predictable. Arnie appearing in 3-d was the final straw, I spent the next week chastising myself for spending the eleven quid on admission. Seeing the directors name was Mc-G was surely the moment i should have left the cinema.
Drag Me to Hell
(2009)
Not really that scary
26 May 2009
Sam Raimi holds a special place in my heart for helming the seminal first of the evil dead trilogy many moons ago when it's 'video nasty' (and therefore hard to obtain), status made it 'the film' to see. So it was with great expectation that I took a look at his latest return to the horror genre after big budget excesses with peter parker.
Alas after a promising opening twenty minutes the film began to stumble, so intent on shocking us in scene after scene that it became unsteady on its feet, apparently undecided as to what kind of horror film it really wanted to be.
Prevented from being genuinely scary by it's prohibitive Pg-13 certificate, it veers towards the zany, Tex Avery like horror you would expect from the director of Evil Dead 2, but it also sought in vain to recreate the more subtle shockers of old (by the likes of Jacques Tourneur and Val Lewton), but without the confidence to let scenes breathe and let the audience sweat, papering over the lack of genuine frights with aural bluster and shock sound effects for much of it's mid section. The eventual appearance of the main demon proves disappointing as it was vanquished so simply.
To be fair the film does contain one or two unsettling moments, one being a scene near the beginning, as the gypsy woman attacks the heroine in an underground car park.
Amusingly the film's most original element seemed to be the toothless gypsy's penchant for 'gumming' the lead actress's chin, a persistently effective route to making the audience groan and squirm with disgust.
Alas after a promising opening twenty minutes the film began to stumble, so intent on shocking us in scene after scene that it became unsteady on its feet, apparently undecided as to what kind of horror film it really wanted to be.
Prevented from being genuinely scary by it's prohibitive Pg-13 certificate, it veers towards the zany, Tex Avery like horror you would expect from the director of Evil Dead 2, but it also sought in vain to recreate the more subtle shockers of old (by the likes of Jacques Tourneur and Val Lewton), but without the confidence to let scenes breathe and let the audience sweat, papering over the lack of genuine frights with aural bluster and shock sound effects for much of it's mid section. The eventual appearance of the main demon proves disappointing as it was vanquished so simply.
To be fair the film does contain one or two unsettling moments, one being a scene near the beginning, as the gypsy woman attacks the heroine in an underground car park.
Amusingly the film's most original element seemed to be the toothless gypsy's penchant for 'gumming' the lead actress's chin, a persistently effective route to making the audience groan and squirm with disgust.
The Broken
(2008)
woman working at hospital makes her way home and sees herself drive past.
24 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I liked the initial premise to this film which is what led me to hunt it out but the problem I quickly found is that one pretty much knows what's going to happen within the first 20-30 minutes ( the doubles will come from behind the mirror and take over everybody).
There is no real twist (which is fine) , but the final reveal doesn't make a great deal of sense either (how can she be racked with uncertainty and fear for the whole film, if she's an evil id from beyond the mirror?).
Admittedly the scenes 'beyond the mirror' were chilling when they first appeared and the blonde's murder is also effectively creepy, but ultimately alas this seems to be a film in search of a story or a more engaging script, piling atmosphere upon atmosphere and over the top scary sound design for 80-90 minutes does not really cut it, in fact it gets quite dull.
There is no real twist (which is fine) , but the final reveal doesn't make a great deal of sense either (how can she be racked with uncertainty and fear for the whole film, if she's an evil id from beyond the mirror?).
Admittedly the scenes 'beyond the mirror' were chilling when they first appeared and the blonde's murder is also effectively creepy, but ultimately alas this seems to be a film in search of a story or a more engaging script, piling atmosphere upon atmosphere and over the top scary sound design for 80-90 minutes does not really cut it, in fact it gets quite dull.
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