Change Your Image
extremehorrorcinema
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
To Jennifer (2013)
To Jennifer is an entertaining found footage horror effort that should be interesting to those who enjoy the new "technology-based" horror flicks
James Cullen Bressack is a filmmaker who's quickly taking the underground horror scene by storm. In the past two years, he has produced several micro budget horror anthologies and directed four feature films which have gotten released. The four directing efforts of his to see release are My Pure Joy, 13/13/13, Hate Crime and To Jennifer. James has just finished directing his latest feature Pernicious (featuring effects by Toe Tag's Jerami Cruise) in Thailand. He is a truly energized and enthusiastic young filmmaker who has hit the ground running and hasn't shown any signs of slowing down anytime soon. Today we take a look at the recently released To Jennifer, a found footage horror film like his previous effort Hate Crime, but considerably different in style and tone. Hate Crime was an extremely brutal and vicious found footage horror outing involving Neo-Nazis who invade the home of a Jewish family and terrorize them while filming their psychotic acts with the family's home video camera. Hate Crime has more in common with films like Fred Vogel's August Underground trilogy and things similar. It is essentially a cross between August Underground and the Spanish home invasion flick Kidnapped. To Jennifer has more in common with recent horror movies based on the new digital age with technology like iPhones, and internet Skype correspondence etc. being focused on. These types of films have included V/H/S, Megan Is Missing, Vlog etc. To Jennifer manages to be more than just a copy of those movies though and it has a genuine, original story.
To Jennifer tells the story of Joey (Chuck Pappas). Joey gets his iPhone and decides to make a continuing video journal with it because he suspects his girlfriend Jennifer has been cheating on him. He teams up with his friend Steven (played by Bressack himself) as they go on a road trip to document their adventure in finding their way to Jennifer so Joey can catch her in the act. Along the way Joey acts increasingly strange and seemingly becomes rather unstable mentally. He has a breakdown on an airplane which leads to him and Steven being put on a no-fly list and ends up in the hospital. They later meet up with an old friend who they go visit and party with. Joey has Skype conversations with his mom. His mom appears worried about his condition and wonders why he's never introduced her to Jennifer. Steven starts to wonder what's up with Joey as well. Things become increasingly more creepy and intense as Joey's condition worsens, leading to a terrifying conclusion when the inevitable confrontation with Jennifer comes to fruition.
While not as intense or disturbing as Hate Crime, To Jennifer is an entertaining found footage horror effort that should be interesting to those who enjoy the new "technology-based" horror flicks. It has some genuinely creepy moments, some gory stuff in the final act, and Chuck Pappas does a convincing job in the lead as Joey while James Cullen Bressack as Steven provides the bulk of the film's humor. Indie scream queen Jessica Cameron makes an appearance and Puppet Monster Massacre's Dustin Mills did the film's poster design.
The DVD release of To Jennifer from Psykik Junky Pictures and MVD contains an audio commentary and the film's trailer as extras. I recommend showing your support for Bressack and his films by going to Amazon.com and ordering this and Hate Crime, My Pure Joy and 13/13/13 today. Visit www.psykikjunkypictures.com for more info.
- Mario
@extremehorrorcinema
El Bosque de los Sometidos (2012)
A masterful and promising debut
Earlier last year I was able to get in touch with Tomas Gonzalez Montalvo, one of the writers and makers of The Flaying, and since then I've been following this debut, so it's a pleasure for me as an Argentine and as a lover of independent and low budget cinema to be able to do a review of this film.
The Flaying aka El Bosque de Los Sometidos starts with a simple but effective premise, a group of friends decide to go to a concert near the city of Cordoba, and for this they organize a trip in an old van that will take them through the country. Of course, ignoring the ominous fate that awaits them and hides somewhere in the forest.
The film is very simple in terms of budget and plot but the little they have works well enough, especially in its last part in which the tension grows exponentially and then reaches a disturbing and creepy climax. This is the result of a very good combination between the way of telling the story where the suspense is the mainstay and naturalness in which the events happen.
One of the first things that jumps to view is the air of the seventies that permeates the film from the first minute, a perfectly recreated atmosphere. The practical effects that will be made evident in the last stretch are appreciated in this era where the digital devours the organic.
Before we get to the main course, the story focuses mainly on forest walks and gives viewers the relationship of the characters to provide them with a definition of personality. Herein lays a weak point of the film, as it is here at this point when The Flaying becomes a bit repetitive and insistent in this attempt. It is an attempt somewhat forced at times with almost vacuous dialogue and it is hard on the viewer to feel a connection with the characters.
However, everything changes when they reach the cottage where something supernatural and sinister is hidden. This is where The Flaying awakens and shows potential, when these kind of demons finally make their appearance (which incidentally are superbly made).
Although the film does not strive to provide the viewer the reasoning for these appearances, this is where the filmmakers use all their qualities, and countless ingenious and brilliant resources from the lighting, sound, color, the brilliant make-up, and a care for each shot and scene. This is effective direction, by giving small but strong doses of horror to the viewer.
The Flaying is a very good independent film from Argentina. A small but important example of a low-budget film which is very well done, and with enough necessary scares, in addition to being really disturbing at times.
Nicolas Amelio-Ortiz takes advantage of all the resources of the genre, and elements which are already in the collective imagination to reach the viewer and disturb them with almost hypnotic images that will be difficult to forget easily. Congratulations to them for such a masterful and promising debut.
7 /10
- Renacimiento
Join us @ extremehorrorcinema.com
Hate Crime (2012)
...a film that depicts the hatred of one group of people towards another with a different set of beliefs!
A Jewish family, who have recently moved into the neighbourhood, celebrates the birthday of their youngest son. Camera at the ready the father films the proceedings. Little do they suspect what will become of the night
from a time of celebration to one of terror! Hate Crime is when a Neo-Nazi gang decides they don't want Jews in their town and go to scare them off with a home invasion and acts of terror. Drug fuelled they take a step too far at the beginning then roll with this into something much worse. Taking the camera off the father they film the proceedings James Cullen Bressack's second feature length film is a very different monster to his first, his very personal journey that is My Pure Joy! Naturally a film from the perspective of thugs shooting footage of their own crime belongs in the Found Footage genre. It is very well done as well; there is a true feeling of viewing something that is actually happening with no unnecessary shaky camera work. Firstly we get what we would expect from a father fooling around with his camera then later on with the Neo-Nazis filming their atrocities towards the family.
James Cullen Bressack seems to be able to get a lot out of his actors here in Hate Crime! All the players in this from both parties portray their roles well. There is suitable amount of both terror and anguish from the family at what is happening to them. Each one is believable in what they they are experiencing. Then we have the three Neo-Nazis. These guys were great, suitably menacing and crazy; a real feeling of a drug fuelled menace. Each uses a number to represent themselves. No. #1 and No. #3 are brothers and No. #2 is their friend and fellow Neo-Nazi gang member. These brothers are pretty crazy guys while their friend seems more in control. Especially with the eldest brother No. #3, his mannerisms and the way he moves are brilliant! Being a film about violence towards innocence there are effects, and thankfully Mr Bressack went with all practical visual effects. There are some great moments when these effects are used very well, but I won't discuss them here as I don't want to spoil the film! Something else stood out for me too, and perhaps it is strange for me to mention, but the gunshots sound real in this and not tinny or what have you as we sometimes get; for whatever reason this stuck with me.
My only real negative about Hate Crime is the scene with the mother being raped by No. #3 and the later rape. I felt more nudity would have made this more shocking for the viewer! Not necessarily full frontal and what have you though. I think this would have been more shocking in creating an even more feeling of helplessness for the character of the mother. Although maybe the actress wasn't willing to go so far, thus what we get is all that could be done. However, in stating this it is still a great scene with the terror portrayed by the mother done very well.
With what we get with Hate Crime, James Cullen Bressack succeeds with his goal of creating a film that depicts the hatred of one group of people towards another with a different set of beliefs! Of filming torments being thrusted upon a family who were expecting a night of celebration and fun.
- Splat
Join us @ extremehorrorcinema.com
Lord of Tears (2013)
For those who love story, characters and a lot of atmosphere for their scares
Now I'm not big on ghost films but 'Lord of Tears' directed by Lawrie Brewster is a slow burn character driven piece with atmosphere so thick you could suffocate a child to Moloch. What an experience it is and I absolutely loved it.
Brewster creates some great scenes of intense atmosphere and in one such scene, I even had goose bumps and chills running up and down my spine. Something of which I haven't experienced since I watched Dario Argento's 'Suspiria' and before that, I can't remember the last time this happened. There isn't any jump scares as it is all just pure atmosphere with some chilling imagery. Now that's talent. The movie takes what you know and throws it in your face just over the half way mark and the ending comes out of nowhere grabbing your balls in a vice leaving you a little depressed and sick to the stomach. I watched it with my sister, she was so freaked during some moments, and I had to keep telling her to shut up. She has since changed her Facebook Banner Photo to the film's mysterious and unsettling entity of the Owl Man.
I also loved the use of ancient legends and mythologies. It grounds everything in a somewhat taboo and older soil as it's inspired by actual immortal figures of our past. These characters Gods if you will were once an everyday part of human life and seeing such figures having air breathed back into them albeit stale, dark and twisted air just makes the proceedings that much more atmospheric. I shudder to think the amount of hours the filmmakers scrambled around doing research.
Some of the performances aren't exactly top notch (which was expected) but that said it made the movie that much more grounded and it has a quirky awkward mist in the air that is always present in these situations. Perhaps the passable acting is intentional as it is effective in making everything so much more connectible. The character of James (Euan Douglas) is rather likable and you end up feeling for him as he has an odd innocence. We see him plagued by nightmares of the Owl Man and suspecting that his terrifying visions are related to a traumatic incident from his past he returns to his childhood home a mansion in the Scottish Highlands. Here he discovers the disturbing truth behind the nightmarish images in his mind the consequences of which lead to a brutal fight for survival. Eve (Alexandra Hulme) is stunningly beautiful and her looks are rather side tracking.
David Schofield as the Owl Man delivers some utterly brilliant lines. He is chilling stuff and I love the way he speaks with poetic like dialogue. It reminds me of Doug Bradley's performance as Pinhead in the first two Hellraiser films as he is neither good nor evil just extremely well presented and doing what he is meant to within his rules. If I have one complaint though it would be the forest scene as his voice makes it a tad hard to catch everything he says but it is just that one scene. Credit here must go to Sarah Daly as her writing is fantastic and I look forward to see what other dark and twisted stories she and the director has to offer.
I feel very comfortable stating that 'Lord of Tears' IS the best modern horror movie I've seen in the last three years since Kim Jee-Woon's 'I Saw The Devil'. Between then and this I haven't really liked anything much in the genre. This is a contender along with Tobe Hooper's 'Poltergeist' for taking the crown for my most loved ghost-like horror film as well. I was terrified by the hype and excitement surrounding it and I was worried it was going to ruin it for me and I'm ever so glad it didn't. I loved every frame of it and I will without doubt fully support any future projects this team works on. My hat goes off to them and I thank them so much very much for such a beautiful piece of filmmaking. Oh, and I loved their shout out to Chris Lee and Extreme Horror Cinema in the credits.
In a time where horror is flooded by remakes, reboots, sequels and lame "true story" found footage movies that are full of pathetic jump scares it is a breath of fresh air to see something this original and perfectly orchestrated to surface from the independent market.
10/10
- General Ox
Join us @ extremehorrorcinema.com