Reviews

When watching the very first scene of this movie, you may possibly feel a sense of curiosity while being confused and disgusted at the same time. It may be wise to leave the theater at this point and just keep those disturbing images in one's mind. Because the rest destroys any hope created by that first scene that "Excision" could tackle severe issues in an unflinching manner.

Instead, you are confronted with an incredibly arrogant, unlikeable main character that is completely lacking self-awareness (not that any of the other frequently bigger than life characters would be much easier to identify with). Also with lots of humor that makes most supposedly violent images appear so harmless that they lose all significance and serve simply as sensationalist filler. The fact that most of the blood used is so thick that it looks like syrup (and is occasionally overly bright) doesn't help.

Admittedly, I enjoyed chuckling at many of the scenes. However, when they are continuously interrupted by other scenes that are supposed to be serious and where you should suddenly empathize with some character (usually with that horrible Pauline), it ruins the atmosphere of both the comedy and the drama. Something similar actually goes for Pauline herself. Either you have a one-dimensional psychopath or somebody people can identify with at least to some degree. You can't have it both ways. And "Excision" certainly doesn't make the attempt to choose yet a third way and provide a complex and at least somewhat authentic portrait of a deeply disturbed person like e.g. "I Stand Alone", "American Psycho", "Mad Detective", "May" or "Nekromantik" do. Obviously, these examples vary a lot regarding said complexity and authenticity but in my view, every single one of them does a much better job than "Excision".

I also did not appreciate the fact that basic manners and decency are lumped into one category with the incredible uptightness of Pauline's mother. But at least, I was provided with a further insight into the dark side of American culture: cotillion classes.

Overall, I think the general tone of the movie and the way it is constructed makes it clear that this is not the directorial debut of somebody who wanted to do something radically different and possibly even profound but somebody who wanted to use controversy merely as a marketing gimmick for mainstream audiences. Which means that it can only be controversial to people who were already deeply disturbed by movies such as "The Blairwitch Project" or "Identity" and whose heads would probably explode were they to see the likes of "Antichrist", "Oldboy" or even "L'Age d'Or". It is really a shame because there would have been so much potential here. "Excision" could have been so dark, disturbing, unusual and critical...

The trailer for this movie actually represents what you get very, very well. Quite a bit of gore and funny moments. In fact, I thought that I would find it less funny than I did. There is some really witty writing here.

However, what already bothered me in the trailer really did not sit well with me in the movie too. Namely when the writing goes from witty to dim-witted. Mostly because of those one-liners. Although even some of the serious dialog seems just too unnatural and clichéd.

Also, for my taste, there is a little bit too much cutting to a certain location where people are stuck. There is nothing going on aside from some of the pretty awful dialog I just referred to.

A minor complaint, since there is still plenty of gory action going on, would be that there are some scenes in which gore spatters from off-screen where I would have preferred to see the action on-screen.

In the end, it is about a fun, gory ride and "Cockneys vs Zombies" sure delivers when it comes to that. However, productions such as "Tucker and Dale vs Evil" or "Shaun of the Dead" have demonstrated that one doesn't have to rely on formulaic dialog and one-liners so heavily in order to create a fun splatter film that is actually fun.

Considering the initially negative but not very eloquent comments about this movie but the promising trailer, I figured I might be in for a pleasant surprise.

Unfortunately, that was not really the case. And I would usually not review a movie like this because it is neither something I would recommend, nor something I would recommend to stay away from.

Yes, the premise is nothing new (but how many movies each year does one see where that is really the case?) and the acting is cringe-worthy in a lot of places (I especially could not believe the performance in some of Selma Blair's and Amy Smart's scenes - both of whom I found great in virtually every movie I've seen them in) but still, I think it is a nice little story.

I find it ironic how people reviewing this call various elements stupid while at the same time lacking the ability to comprehend Selma Blair's character. Especially considering that it is really very simple from a logical point of view. I don't see a point writing a review that contains spoilers, so I won't say anything more about this. But as always, a little empathy goes a long way and will make the viewer realize the motivations for certain things happening. Although I will not deny that some of them seem odd, rushed, out of character at first glance, many of these can be explained if given just a bit of thought.

Overall, I would say that it is a mildly amusing but pretty forgettable movie that is probably best experienced when not paying full attention to it.

In the very beginning of this movie, it is already demonstrated that it is not your usual vampire tale. And different still than other unusual spins (e.g. Martin, The Wisdom of Crocodiles, Blade, Let the Right One In) on the concept. Since this review will be spoiler-free, let's just say something happens that I bet has never been shown in any vampire movie that was supposed to reach a wider audience.

From then on, it continues to fulfill the promise of the first minutes. Very bitter, with largely believable characters, more in the vein of The Road than Zombieland. No annoying teens and stupid one-liners here. There was a particular moment in the story where I thought it might shift to something more cliché - but it didn't.

Unfortunately, just about 15 minutes before the ending... it did. SO close to being a fantastic addition to the vampire genre, almost as great as the Let the Right One In was. But then they had to go and pull something out of their hat one might expect maybe from a movie like Underworld. Very mainstream, illogical and tacky. And it doesn't recover any more. The ending is just as unbelievable and doesn't fit the rest of the movie like what happens briefly before it.

The odd thing is that at one point during the movie, a possible future plot development is hinted at that is never used. It almost appears as if they had plans to show one thing at the end of the movie but then decided to go for something more mainstream-compatible. Meddling producers or their own fault? Whatever the reason, it downgraded what could have been an all around fantastic experience to something merely entertaining that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Especially because it does not aim to be just entertaining through most of the movie. It aims to be more. And then it does not deliver. Very disappointing.

Ever since "Berserk", there have only been very few Anime shows I found worthwhile (namely Hellsing, Wolf's Rain and Record of Lodoss War). Based on what I saw in an AMV and because of the ratings here, I was hoping that this show would be in their class.

Instead, I found myself watching some quasi-Hentai nonsense with very bad writing. As my mentioned preferences indicate, I'm already not exactly a big fan of gigantic eyes. Well, besides those, EVERY female character seems to have gigantic, always jiggling boobs as well. And the stupid behavior of the characters... I had to force myself through even the first ten minutes of the first episode, constantly thinking "maybe the whole tone will shift". But at least in the first ten minutes, it does not and other reviews seem to confirm that it never does.

If this would be just some Hentai series, I would simply dismiss it and maybe even enjoy it but since is supposed to be "serious" entertainment, I find it highly questionable. It is one thing to fantasize about women with gigantic boobs for brief sexual pleasure but another to hammer viewers with those images in a neutral setting, making it seem as though women are just a giant set of walking, talking breasts. All of this makes me fear about what the new Berserk show will look like. I've been looking forward to it for years now but if Highschool of the Dead is a good indicator of where modern, "mature" Anime is headed, I will get off that ride now. (And if it is where modern Anime for kids is headed, even worse - what the hell kind of an image is that for them?!)

It seems many think of this movie as a fantastic piece of cinema, so instead of talking about the beautiful cinematography and interestingly done scenes, I will focus on why I felt that while it is very well done, it is "just" entertaining.

It is basically an average crime story with only very slight drama attached to it. The twist to it is obviously the personality of the main character and I suppose it is also unusual for a semi-big budget crime movie that much of the time is spent with calm scenes. But the personality of the main character is also what I simultaneously love and somewhat dislike about this movie. I love it because there are very, very few movies made about quiet guys who you still shouldn't mess with and who will do whatever it takes. But that is at the same time a big problem. For one, a criminal stunt man who is also a modest introvert? Not likely. Secondly, he somehow manages to be invited to Irene's apartment even though he is hardly talkative? Unlikely yet again. And even though he is very concise, much of the dialogue was too minimalistic too seem authentic in my opinion. And to finish it off... there is this theme song that seems to suggest that this story is unique because it is not about some unrealistic bad-ass but about an average guy who simply does what he must. But he is not. Irene's husband is the average guy who does what he must. A tiny fraction of men have the personality of the driver.

Because of this, the huge plot holes (not ONCE in my life have I ever complained about that but here they are so gaping that it bothered even me) in roughly the first third of the movie and the lack of criticism or depth (the drama seemed more a nice thing on the side than profound), "Drive" is in my view a very beautiful and entertaining movie that may have been more but is not. For people who wish to see more authentic Thrillers with heavy Drama aspects, I would recommend Cronenberg's latest ("A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises") instead. But for those who have already seen them, I think "Drive" would still be a worthwhile watch as long as one doesn't have very high expectations.

It's just as painfully kitschy and the characters just as stupid as it makes fun of in the beginning. Especially since Scream 4 makes this mistake of making people aware of it's stupidity right in the beginning, the following scenes seemed even more awful and it is even more difficult than usual to accept the illusion.

But contrary to one misinformed character in the beginning, horror lovers of course know that there are slashers that don't adhere to the worst mistakes of the genre. Sure, they're not be perfect but e.g. Trick 'r Treat, Halloween (2007), Behind the Mask or Hatchet still provide the quality entertainment one expects from a slasher. And then there are of course foreign movies that go far beyond even that - like High Tension or Inside.

I still gave it 4/10 mostly for technical reasons and because I guess there is some validity to its existence since sadly, there are probably many people who can actually identify with those characters. And for them, I suppose the movie could be a great ride. Because what destroys it for me is that when the characters are so awful, their lines so corny, I pretty much don't care about anything that is going on.

I think that is a question people should ask themselves.

In interviews, I got the impression from Qasim Basir and Roger Guenveur Smith that this movie would be about prejudice and hatred against Muslims. Which I think is a very important issue especially these days. But while that is part of "Mooz-lum", it seems to me to play a minor role.

The core theme of the movie really are the troubles of this young man with his religious community, where those troubles originate and whether he will overcome them. When Qasim Basir says the movie would appeal to everybody, he automatically sees it from his theistic point of view. Because this movie should indeed appeal to everybody who is faithful and not a bigot - no matter what their faith might be. But if you are against religious institutions, you will probably not enjoy this movie unless you for some reason romanticize Islam. As I said in the beginning: ask yourself whether you would still like it if it was about Christianity. Personally, I cannot stand movies that promote the idea that a certain religion is good, that faith in general is important and that religious communities are great.

Also, the movie at one point makes the argument that sticks and stones really are more harmful than words, calling one of the most awful characters in the movie a "nice guy" - just because he is not violent. I find it reprehensible how lenient people often are with those who cause considerable psychological damage to others.

And from a more "technical" point of view, there are quite a couple of scenes in there that seem over-dramatic, and visually there were rare elements that made it look unprofessional (e.g. cheesy titles design and I am pretty sure there were flat-out mistakes in one or two picture transitions).

What I do give this movie credit for is the fact that it for the most part looks decently shot, that it does tackle the issues of conservatism among religious people, prejudice/hatred against Muslims and a fantastic soundtrack.

So to sum up - if you are "pro-faith" and tolerant, you will probably enjoy this movie. But if you are agnostic/atheist and even though tolerant towards religious people still think that faith is a bad idea - you will probably not enjoy "Mooz-lum".

At the time that I am writing this, this movie has 72.7% 10/10 out of 687 votes. Together with a trailer that looked to me like it could be more than just a joyride, I expected that this would be a more meaningful movie starring Liam Neeson and not another "Taken". Unfortunately for me, that expectation was wrong.

If you go in expecting a nice ride with a couple of twists somewhat similar to "Taken", you'll get what you want. But if you expect more... no such luck. How the story is wrapped up is pure cliché and the movie even includes that seemingly never-ending car chase that had at least me yawning. It would have been great if "Unknown" would have actually dealt more in-depth with the terror of memory loss and identity theft and other possible developments I will not go into because I don't want to spoil anything. There are some interesting twists in the movie but they're of the mainstream kind, not the thoughtful one.

Being a native German speaker, what was very impressive to me about this movie was how the creators did not shy away from plastering "Unknown" with German details. A decent amount of subtitles, a huge amount of papers/signs/etc. in German on screen throughout the movie - this definitely does not feel like it could have been filmed anywhere else. Although thanks to CG it may well have been. Still, basically every scene reminds you that you're not in that average-city that so many movies seem to play in.

Overall, an impressively done film that is simply lacking substance and there were one or two visual effects that looked inadequate for a production of this category. As I argued in the beginning - it is all about what you expect/want from "Unknown".

Let me start off by saying that I was skeptical whether I should watch this movie because of all the comparisons here to US productions. Because while I did enjoy most of the ones named, not enough to want to see a basically South Korean copycat at the theater.

If you fear the same thing: Don't worry! This movie is exactly what you would expect from great Korean cinema, comparable to the likes of "The Chaser", "Memories of Murder" and "A Bittersweet Life". In this movie, there is lots of rather believable tragedy, little kitsch (there is the occasional unsuitable one-liner and the girl sometimes says things that in my opinion are too mature for her age and yank a little too much at the emotional chain - these are basically the things that brought my rating down to 9/10) and a fair amount of graphic violence and realism in the fighting scenes. There are also some wacky characters just like they appear somewhat frequently in east Asian productions but I think they fit in quite nicely despite the otherwise very serious tone.

If one were to compare it to a US production, I would go with e.g. "A History of Violence" because of the serious tone and the realism but still, the overall style is drastically different.

The whole experience is nicely rounded off with a very beautiful score and the only thing I considered negative besides what I already mentioned was that the plot is moving very fast. At various points I was not sure whether I didn't pay enough attention or whether details were left out. Meaning for instance how one character got the information about another character. These connections of information between characters are not always clear in my opinion but it does not really hurt the story and I am sure that it would be clear with a second viewing - something that this movie absolutely deserves.

I won't say much about how extreme the movie is because people have written about that over and over already anyway. Instead, I want to focus on something that apparently a lot of people don't pick up on but I think is THE point why this movie is great.

"A Serbian Film" is somewhat similar to "Fight Club" in the respect that there were those grunting "Yeah, people bashing each others' skulls in - awesome!" and then there were those more interested in the critical aspects and storytelling finesse of the movie. No offense to people following their primal urges, I just think it is important to try and enjoy and understand a movie on both levels. It surprised me that "A Serbian Film" even has that. I expected a simple, shocking movie that would only test me in terms of being horrified/disgusted.

Instead... The intense exploration of human cruelty reminded me of what Bret Easton Ellis did in American psycho (the book, not the movie). Of course, here it is motivated by desperation and greed, not superficiality. To me, that is a great thing because American psycho is by far the best book i have ever read and in my opinion essential to any thoughtful person. More specifically, the criticism (whether intentional or not) of the way we perceive sexuality was outstanding. I usually find people/articles/movies/etc. talking about the evils of e.g. the porn industry preachy, annoying, uptight and far from reality. Sure, this movie isn't exactly close to reality but that's not the point. The underlying thoughts regarding sexuality are and that's what's important. And they have drastically changed my view on sex. I don't mean to scare off the more kinky people here but it might make you think about the direction you're headed to and what truly matters when it comes to sex. That's why I think that women giving this movie a bad rating do an extreme disservice to themselves and all other women (and they should really think more about it). Because the chance that men watching this are repulsed and think hard about the way they themselves treat women are in my opinion a lot higher than that they would get off on the things shown and think they should maybe introduce a little rape into their sex life.

All of that said and considering that I found the movie to be very pleasant from a cinematographic point of view and also in terms of acting - what is it I find negative about "A Serbian Film"? The soundtrack. Unfortunately, it is a bitter reminder that the movie was probably more intended for the "Hostel"-audiences than the "Irreversible"-audiences (a movie that i found almost as disturbing as this). If the soundtrack wasn't so distracting and pushy but low key (again - think drama instead of horror), it might have been taken a bit more seriously and not just discarded as some horror trash. Also, the atmosphere would've been even more intense. Which... I actually don't even want to imagine and maybe that's the real reason why they didn't do it. A step too far. But I would still say: go for it. Challenge them even more. They are in desperate need of that, whether they know it or not.

i've seen almost every feature film made by peter jackson. and i was very excited when the lovely bones was announced because while i liked lord of the rings quite a bit, i still feel more drawn to his horror movies. also, while i didn't find heavenly creatures as extraordinary as many, i rated it 8/10 and i hoped that with his experience from LotR and the horror-mix, the lovely bones might be able to get beyond that and into the area of movies that manage to deeply affect me.

unfortunately, the film felt like a step back even from heavenly creatures to me. i remember that the latter felt pretty slow and the same goes for lovely bones. but in addition it also has a couple of additional annoyances. one of the major ones i've mentioned in the title of this review. "look at me!!" is a reoccurring (very often at that) phrase in the movie and not only does it get very annoying after about the third time, cynics might say it can also be understood as a wink to the visual effects of the movie - LOOK AT ME!!

it's funny - with lord of the rings, people never understood why i didn't like the visual effects. i felt there were too few that really stood out. with the lovely bones, i feel like it's exactly the opposite. there are many effects that stand out a lot which in itself would not be bad (i loved that about e.g. what dreams may come) but here it often feels like it serves no purpose. more like a cg demonstration. which can get pretty boring and even annoying if you're excited about the movie's story and you realize that the pictures you see do nothing but drag out the continuation of it.

a very surprising thing about the visual side of the film was that it was sluggish in some respects. i wouldn't have expected that from jackson and certainly not considering the budget. there are plenty of elements that look out of place, lighting that seems so wrong and so on. and most surprisingly - some shots (all of them macro) look like they were shot using a cheap video camera, those are the shots that felt the most distracting to me.

one aspect i had mixed feelings about was the score. at times, it reminded me of eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, at times of lord of the rings - which both is a good thing - and then there were parts where the music was screeching like in some blockbuster action-thriller. LOOK AT ME!! there's tension, we get it. oh and in regards to blockbuster elements... there are also a couple of blockbusterish, needless flashbacks in there. LO... you get my point.

i did enjoy the story though, i have a soft spot for these mystical kind of movies and while i didn't like a lot of the effects, i appreciate that somebody besides tarsem (even though i love his movies, there simply are only two) tries to use a lot of surreal imagery in a feature film.

but considering the budget this movie had, it's a huge disappointment to me. i actually would've thought that it was done for about 10-20 mio., until i took a look at the budget information. a disgrace especially in these economic times (it would've been another story if the effects looked adequate for the budget and they would've made sense for the story) which IMO should not be supported. if you want to watch a mystical movie about the afterlife and you don't know it yet, i'd recommend what dreams may come instead. and if you have a thirst for surreal imagery, try the cell or the fall.

... and also thanks to the ratings and comments on the message board. (i want to point out that there was a lot more negative ratings/comments about this movie when i first reviewed it)

the film shows multiple stories which cover different aspects of how people contribute climate change and how they are affected in return. the nice thing is that it isn't a emotionally distanced documentary that just shows the results in a rather cold manner but also shows motivations of people and parts of their personal life.

a similar assumption to the one being made at the end of "diary of the dead" is being made in this movie: maybe humanity isn't worth saving. this thought is underlined by examples of ignorant and egotistical people.

some here say the movie is preachy - i think it is not preachy enough. you can't break the brainwashing of stupidity outlets like fox news with just showing facts. there should be texts saying "YOU are killing people right now". well, maybe not quite as harsh but still... the majority of the people need a metaphorical slap in the face to wake them up.

which brings me to the way in which this movie has changed my thoughts (and behavior). while watching these idiots protest a wind farm because their precious "view" might be destroyed, something finally clicked. i always knew that the majority of people are like that but the thing is - there is no appealing to them. their comfort is more important than anything else. and because of that, humanity truly deserves to perish. i've always tried to help and my biggest goal in life was to somehow improve life for people - but i now realize that they don't deserve it.

... i have to say, i was very disappointed.

i expected another beautiful and complex movie with philosophical aspects with less cgi shortcomings than casshern that warrants at least a rating of 9/10 but unfortunately, that is not what goemon delivers.

instead, what we have here is a mix of something like azumi and house of the flying daggers with mostly just superficial hints of casshern. goemon is basically yet another martial arts epic that adds only little to the genre.

usually, if a martial arts film just amuses me, i rate it 8/10, if it has incredible style too, 9/10 and 10/10... well, i have yet to see one with enough style AND depth for that. goemon does have positive aspects when it comes to that. characters and the overall story felt a little deeper to me than what usually goes on in such movies but it is still nowhere near casshern. i think one of the main reasons for that are the comical characters that are way overused for a movie that carries a serious atmosphere most of the time. and while i'm talking about the story - the movie should actually end after the second third. it takes an incredibly illogical twist there, where i was sitting up and asking myself if i have missed something to understand why the characters acted the way they did. but i doubt that i did...

aspects that were basically the same as in casshern was the way the narrative was constructed (flashbacks, details about things being revealed after we've already seen them and such) and a lot of visual choices (you can already see some of that in the trailer). but while the visuals worked pretty well for me in casshern (they still were the only reason i didn't rate it 10/10 though), they didn't in goemon. first of all, the incoherence between cg and non-cg material is far greater. i'm especially amazed that nobody told kiriya that realistic looking cg grass is really a bitch to create. every 3d artist who has ever dealed with grass knows that. and it really is the worst looking scene in the movie. another problem with the visuals is that when you're doing an innovative movie that's more about depth than action, you can get away with quite a few things. but when you produce a movie that has little to set it apart from productions like house of flying daggers, expectations are a lot higher.

another halfway-negative aspect for me was the score. it may have been fitting for this movie but still, i was hoping for more of the great sounds that made me buy my first Japanese cd and my first score cd ever.

to sum it up... if you maybe don't even know casshern and you expect an amusing martial arts epic you might be disappointed because of some sluggish cg work and might be annoyed with what happens at about two thirds of the movie but you will still get plenty of nice entertainment and a little more depth than usual. if you're a casshern-fan and hope for more greatness as you've learned to love from casshern... either adjust your expectations or don't watch it.

considering this is a movie that's clearly targeted at horror movie lovers, i'll compare it with another recent one that had some similarities: hatchet. a bunch of teens in the wild with a little bit of comedy and a moderate amount of gore. compared to that, hack! has more likable characters, better comedy (especially how the movie often doesn't take itself seriously - which unfortunately is also a reason why the ending wasn't a surprise for me...) and more gore.

but of course hack! does have its flaws. especially in the technical department - the colors sometimes looked inconsistent within the same scene and sometimes they just looked strange in general. at times, the blood looks way too thick but luckily that's rarely the case. also, there was one song in the soundtrack that didn't fit the atmosphere of the scene at all... usually i don't remember such things so strongly but this one really distracted me. and at least as far as i remember, i think the acting was a bit better in hatchet. i don't know if the drusilla-like influences in landau's performance were on purpose but while i enjoyed the possible reference on the one hand, i also felt like these moments didn't really fit in with the way her character behaves aside from them.

i have to say i only watched this because i saw juliet landau is a part of it and it is finally another horror movie that has decent picture quality (there's way too much cheap digital video sh*t coming out nowadays when it comes to horror - drives me crazy...). anyway - i wasn't expecting anything because of the ratings and was very pleasantly surprised. everybody who knows the most famous horror movies of the last ~20 years and who can enjoy gory, slightly goofy horror comedies as well, will probably at least grin at some of the many references that you'll find in hack! and will enjoy the for the most part very nicely done gory scenes.

with all those reviews praising it here and the promising trailer, i figured that this could turn out to be a really great movie.

well, maybe it could have been. i really liked the way the whole thing started (and also how the basic story unfolds) but the thing that just doesn't work are the characters. if it would be just another fun slasher movie, i wouldn't really mind. but "inside" attempts to deliver a dramatic, serious story... and considering that, basically all of the characters behave way too stupid. (there's a good thread about that on the message board here called "Well made but asstarded." - for people who would like to know more about this and don't mind spoilers) another "problem" in my opinion is the gore. at times it looks very convincing and gut wrenching but at other times, the quality is pretty horrible. the blood sometimes looks like honey (well - dark red honey...) or paint and sometimes it was too noticeable that they shot scenes in a way they wouldn't have to create complicated makeup (e.g. the one scene where one character pulls the scissors out of a pillow... that could've been so much more...). also there's e.g. a cut through the face once which was done a lot better in "pan's labyrinth".

overall, i wouldn't really recommend this movie except to horror fans who might think that they would not be distracted by the two flaws i described above.

i REALLY wanted to like this movie... it starts out pretty promising because it takes a very unromantic approach on the vampire theme - no sweet seduction, just butchering. it has a very gritty look and feel (although they should've made it even grittier still) but towards the end of the movie it slides more and more into feeling like some cheap b-movie. stupid dialogues and cheesy lines as far as the eye can see. also it seemed to me both the acting and the gore effects were getting worse as the film progressed.

it almost seemed to me like the movie was shot sequentially and at first the people enjoyed working on it a lot but then something changed... or maybe it's already the script that got worse and worse.

i give it 7/10 because it still features very nicely done scenes and this innovative approach. i'm still disappointed because it could've easily gotten 9/10 if they had paid more attention to the things i mentioned above... it's really a pity.

i usually don't write reviews but i can't understand why this is rated so high and wanted to give a warning to horror lovers since i can only assume that all those high ratings were given by average TV watchers.

i have only watched the first two episodes but those two were so cliché, it wasn't even funny any more. the same old stories you've probably seen/read a couple of times already - living toys, evil things from other dimensions... and it's not just that these stories aren't innovative, they are also pretty bad versions of those clichés. i'd prefer e.g. "chucky" and "silent hill" over those two episodes anytime. and don't even ask about the visual effects... the ones in the first episode are alright but the ones in the second... awful. looks like some film student's project gone wrong. blood... or gore... erm... nothing worth mentioning.

it might be interesting for some ten year old kid who probably hasn't seen/read that many scary stories yet (although i'd rather recommend "beyond belief" - now that's what i call a decent mystery TV show). but for an adult horror fan this is worthless. i only gave the 3 points because there is in fact some beautiful cinematography (especially in the second episode) and some nice acting.