Darko's Recently Viewed Diary

jh79

jh79 wrote: »

Is that the Hooper or Lenzi Eaten Alive not that either are of any note

Hooper's pathetic excuse for a film.

jaykhunter

Deleted User wrote: »

Der Samurai is a film best experienced cold, a film whose greatest pleasures lay in how the film unfolds. Full of symbolism and Lynchian moments, this is one of those films that deserves to be seen.

Ok ya got me! This is going to be either amazing or horrific!

The Stuff - King of the B's Larry Cohen delivers his satirical piss take of how consumerism controls America in this campy, trashy, low key creature feature that succeeds thanks to a devilish sense of humor and a pitch perfect feel.

Of Unknown Origin - Peter Weller does Moby Dick by way of Old Man and the Sea in this simple yet effective genre film that creates tension throughout through simple flashes of the menace at large. The acting is spot on and Weller is great, he plays the tortured soul very well though at time you can't help but wish that the film focused more on the struggle at the heart of the film than the superficial work elements.

Dead & Buried - One of those great genre entries that takes a simple streamline story and just goes with it. There's some great moments of horror and a rather dark undertone that hints throughout at the nihilistic nature of what is unfolding. With great FX work and a game cast, Dead & Buried is a damn good horror deserving of your attention.

Cell- There's a moment towards the start of Cell when all hell breaks loose when the camera lingers on the face of one of the recently turned and we see the cold, empty, desolate eyes alongside a vacant expression that ranks up there with the best zombie FX that we have ever seen and then a moment later you realise, that we are in fact looking into the cold dead eyes of the once great John Cusack who sleep walks through this misfire.

Cell is one of King's better novels of the past decade or two and it's a shame to see it wasted in such a poor excuse for a film. The leads here, Cusak and Jackson are solely cashing a cheque and give the material the bare minimum, in fact it's quite easy to think that they may have had their assistants text in their performances.

Things never do pick up, the script is woeful and the final scene is one of the biggest missteps in quite some time, in fact that's not a single redeeming quality to be found here and is the kind of film that would have been best if left on the shelf and forgotten about

God Told Me To - Larry Cohen delivers one of his more esoteric films with this dark and adult horror about the second coming. God Told Me To is one of the more bonkers and strange films around, it's a strange film with some great visuals and a script that's far more intelligent than given credit for.

Time After Time - A fun take on a familiar story, the use of the Time Machine and Jack the Ripper in a modern day, well modern 70s America is ripe for fun. The film is bright and breezy and never lingers on the violence, in fact we never see a single moment of explicit gore and the film is all the better for it. While very much a product of it's time, Time After Time stands up as a damn fun film that deserves a better rep that it has

Southbound - One of the best horror films in many a year, a dark and brooding tale of damnation with a series of linked stories that explore themes such as repentance, benevolence, justice and the dark side of human nature. There's so much to love here, each film has it's own distinct visual style that allows each to feel unique and yet at the same time part of the bigger overall picture.

Southbound may not be strikingly original but it's a step above most genre entries and is well worth a watch for both genre fans and those who aren't particularly moved by genre cinema.

The Last Man on Earth - A low budget adaptation of Richard Matheson's most famous work. Featuring Vincent Price in one of his most impressive roles, this is a dark and downbeat post apocalyptic vampire film that is less concerned with spectacle and instead focuses on creating a downbeat and opressive mood.

Price hams it up and it works to the films advantage, he's wonderfully unhinged and has a manic quality that infuses the character with a real sense of loss. Less successful is everyone else, the vampires are as threatening as an empty shoebox thrown into a hallway and have even less impact. Repeated scenes of vampires limply waving around 2x4s is amongst the least threatening thing imaginable.

The Last Man on Earth is a mood piece, it's a slow and methodical old school horror the likes of which we no longer see. Less shiny than the more modern I Am Legend but with far more heart and thrills, this does a lot with a tiny budget and against the odds actually impresses

Snake Plisken

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The Last Man on Earth - A low budget adaptation of Richard Matheson's most famous work. Featuring Vincent Price in one of his most impressive roles, this is a dark and downbeat post apocalyptic vampire film that is less concerned with spectacle and instead focuses on creating a downbeat and opressive mood.

Price hams it up and it works to the films advantage, he's wonderfully unhinged and has a manic quality that infuses the character with a real sense of loss. Less successful is everyone else, the vampires are as threatening as an empty shoebox thrown into a hallway and have even less impact. Repeated scenes of vampires limply waving around 2x4s is amongst the least threatening thing imaginable.

The Last Man on Earth is a mood piece, it's a slow and methodical old school horror the likes of which we no longer see. Less shiny than the more modern I Am Legend but with far more heart and thrills, this does a lot with a tiny budget and against the odds actually impresses

How does it compare to The Omega Man which was also based on Matheson's book? I didn't rate the Will Smith movie either, but must check out the Vincent Price version you reviewed above.

Snake Plisken

Snake Plisken wrote: »

How does it compare to The Omega Man which was also based on Matheson's book? I didn't rate the Will Smith movie either, but must check out the Vincent Price version you reviewed above.

It's a very different film, both in sense of the themes explored and the manner in which they are. Both are very much products of their time and as such are dated and when viewed today seem kitsch and cheesy but they've a lot going for them, personally I love The Omega Man, the soundtrack is a favorite of mine though I will admit that it's been a few years since I last watched it

Night of the Comet - The quintessential 80s film, full of big hair, bigger ideas and a cast of "oh it's that guy". Yes, Night of the Comet is hardly high brow fare but it's damn good fun and has some great ideas in play. Most of the decades post apocalyptic offerings were dark and drab affairs where man questioned his place in the universe and characters spent much time philosophizing so it's treat to have a film like this in which even after the world has been destroyed characters still argue over boys they like and other inane matters.

Night of the Comet is the best kind of easy to digest fluff, it's not big or clever but it's damn good fun and all the better because of it.

Videodrome - Videodrome is Cronenbergs cerebral, clinically sexually charged attack on the social erosion of society thanks in large to television which numbs us to the world around us. Following sleazy television exec Max, Cronenberg charts a world in which the future of entertainment is watching the suffering of others in the most violent of ways. Grotesque, demented and with some of the most striking practical FX moments of the decade, Videodrome is perhaps the quintessential midnight movie, "Long live the new flesh".

Lavalantula - The best kind of dumb fun that you are likely to find and further proof that when it comes to low budget creature features about spiders Mike Mendez is the man to see. The obvious low budget of Lavalantula never detracts from the film and much like with Big Ass Spider, Mendez ensures that every cent is on screen.

Lavalantula is everything you expect from a film with such a title, it's the kind of unashamedly over the top creature feature nonsense that you wish they made more of. With its tongue firmly in cheek, Lavalantula is perfect late night fare for when you just want to shut your brain off for 80 minutes.

The Forest - A great premise is squandered on this rather dull haunted forest horror in which some white people wander around Japan's famous suicide forest in search of the spoilt sister of our protagonist though to be fair both sisters are so devoid of substance that one could replace them with pieces of 2x4 with a frown painted upon them and have as much presence. There's not a whole lot to like here, it's not the worst horror film around, it's just another bland and boring horror that thinks the most terrifying sight of all is that of a privileged white girl looking sad.

2 Lava 2 Lantula! - Exactly what you would expect from a sequel to a SyFy original film in which lava spitting arachnids erupt from the earth and terrorise a once famous 80s star and his cohorts. Yes, no one expected great things from Lavalantula but it proved to be the kind of utter nonsense that you can throw on and turn your brain off to and now a year later the series retunts offering more of the same and that's no bad thing.

Featuring the return of Steve Guttenberg who spends much of this film doing his version of the BATMAN voice, 2 Lava 2 Lantula! offers more of the same only with what appears to be a bigger budget and more of a sense of the absurd.

2 Lava 2 Lantula! is dumb, of that there is no doubt but it's a lot of fun and really when it comes to this kind of fare that is all you really want. The story is ridiculous, the FX work is cheap, the cast ham it up and it pays homage to more films than you can keep track of and best of all it features lave spewing spiders, and honestly at the end of the day what more could you ask for.

Daylight's End - The best kind of low budget genre film making and further proof that the best voices in genre cinema are working well outside the Hollywood system.

Daylight's End is first and foremost an action film and while there are a few moments where the budget restraints raise their weary head, overall it's far more thrilling than the likes of what Marvel deliver on a bi-annual basis. The action here is fluid and coherent, every bullet, punch and knife attack lands with an impact. There is no sense that we are lost among the action and Kaufman's keen eye for a set piece means that most of the film is shot with the camera framed on the action leaving us with no doubt as to what is happening.

With a bad ass score, a game cast who can do this kind of thing in their sleep and a fun script, Daylight's End is a strong contender for 2016's best action release. It's everything genre fans will want and more and leaves you hungry for what comes next.

Horns - Tonally Horns is very much a mixed bag, part nostalgia lament for childhood follies, part light comedy, part rape revenge action thriller and part superhero film, Horns is one of the busiest film in a long time and like so many films that tries to juggle far too many balls it can't keep them all in the air. The most striking aspect of the film is that casting of Radcliff who simply doesn't have the gravitas or look to play such a role. He does grow into the role somewhat as the film progresses but spends far too much time looking like a lost teenager.

The rest of the cast fare a little better though Juno Temple who once again does simpering simpleton is woefully miscast and it's hard to see why anyone could be so enamored by her. The adult cast including David Morse and James Remar are the films best asset and bring with them the necessary emotional heft to make the film work, it's just a shame we see so little of them.

At its best when having a little fun, Horns shines brightest in scenes where local media reporters kick the **** out of one another for a scoop. This sense of humour is what allows the film to stand out from the crowd but alas it's not quiet enough and Horns ends up feeling like a film that got lost along the way.

Horns is a good film that could have been a great one, there's some great ideas in play and a game cast but it never really amounts to anything and the lazy use of voiceover betrays the lack of faith that the film makers have in both the material and the viewer

Maggie - Not what one pictures when they think of an Arnie zombie film, Maggie is a tender and slow exploration of the affects of terminal illness on a family. With a zombie apocalypse occurring in the background, Maggie is less concerned with gore and violence as it is with exploring the various stages of death. With a fine lead performance from Arnie, a wonderful subdues palette and a tenderness this is the kind of film that no one ever expected from Arnie and all the better for it.

Nightmare City - Zombies in unconvincing make up fly planes, use weapons, slaughter dozens of people and generally go about ending the world is this cheap and cheerful 80s Italian slice of low budget gore cinema. Nightmare City is everything it's lurid poster promises and more, clothing is torn asunder, breasts bob and bounce and enough blood is spilled to keep a small hospital reserve stocked for a year. There's nothing big or clever here but it's fun and those who enjoy the typical 80s Italian genre cinema will find much to enjoy.

31 - Rob Zombie does what he does best, delivering 100 minutes of gut wrenching violence, the kind of foul mouth dialogue that will make anyone blush and some truly awful acting and accents from his heroes. It's the villains who impress here, the nazi dwarf is a an absolute hoot and delivers one of the most demented performances in quite some time. The rest of the rag tag ream of killers are equally as demented and unhinged, Doom Head is one of the most detestable and vile characters to come along in some time and his mid film sex scene is perhaps the most disgusting sex scene in cinema.

31 has a lot going for it, it looks like a lost 70s grindhouse film and has style to spare, the villains are all well imagined and as fun as they are gross but once again Zombie is let down by his leading lady who simply doesn't have the range needed. Sherri Moon Zombie just isn't suited to these types of roles and when cast alongside Meg Foster it's obvious just how out of her depth Moon Zombie is.

Cockneys Vs Zombies - The set up is simple, two brothers team up with a rag tag bunch of criminal cock ups in order to rob a bank and save their grandfathers nursing home. As per the title their simple plan goes awry when legions of the undead rise up and begin to feast upon the living. It's nothing we haven't seen before and is similar in style and time to Shaun of the Dead and Braindead and as such the laughs cone quick and fast. There's numerous sight gags and some fantastic one liners that make the film one of the best comedies of the year. The undead football hooligans versus a rival firm to the theme of Match of the Day is comedy gold. The gore is equally well handled and rather inventive. The metal plate in the head is equal parts comedy genius and gore soaked insanity.

Cockneys vs Zombies will never be mistaken for a genre classic but its a hell of a lot of fun and is destined to be a cult classic.

Housebound - The kind of low key horror comedy that works brilliantly. The set up is simple, a juvenile delinquent at least 10 years too old to be acting out is caught robbing an ATM thanks in large part to the her own incompetence of that of her partner. Sentenced to 8 months of house arrest Kylie finds that living at home isn't all that great given the presence of a previous occupant who has never left.

Housebound is very much of the Peter Jackson mold, it's dark and funny and features some great scares. The script is smart and repeatedly pulls the rug from under foot allowing viewer expectations to be repeatedly challenged. It's also the kind of film best experienced cold, knowing any in-depth plot points would rob the film of it's sense of the unexpected.

31 Days of Fright

Day 1
The Mummy - One of the Universal classic horror films, though not one that stands up quite as well as say Frankenstein or Dracula. The set up is simple, a bunch of archaeologists ignore an ancient curse and end up waking up an ancient evil. Things skip forward a decade to the discovery of the Mummy's bride and the rest of the film plays out like a Dracula by ways of Frankenstein.

The Mummy is pretty much a remake of the previous years Dracula only this time in a sunnier locale. The acting here is what one expects of the time, the placing is stilted and slow with no sense of urgency to proceedings though the FX work is great and the whole thing looks gorgeous. It's just a shame that the film is so pedestrian, there's no sense of unease or fright and the horror elements seem largely ignored. The Mummy isn't a bad film, it's just not a very good one and is certainly one of the lesser original Universal Monster films.

Day 2
Pandemic - The idea is better than the execution here with the whole POV thing feeling tacked on and rather underutilised. Most of the performances feel like the actors are under the impression that they are performing in a video game with line delivery being bombastic and way over the top. When the story does kick in there's a rather subdued element that allows some character development to come to the fore though it's quickly forgotten in favor of more gore and violence.

Pandemic is an entertaining 80 minutes, one that knows what it wants to do and is all the better for it. Sure it's cheap as hell and gives a talented cast little to do but it's well made and lively entertainment that fares far better than many similar genre offerings.

Day 3
Most Likely to Die - The most 80s slasher film to come along in sometime, this simple and effective hack and slash tale lays its cards on the table from the off and never really strays from genre conventions. The gore is well staged, the performances are strong and the film is shot with a knowing wink which helps paper over the films small budget and single location. No one is going to mistake this for high art but taken for the genre throwback that it is and Most Likely to Die is rather bloody good fun.

Baskin - A dark and bonkers Turkish horror film that is one of the most out there films in some time. With a wonderfully mundane opening act, Baskin subtly defies genre expectations before turning the dial up to 11 and unleashing all kinds of hell.

The finale is a an absolute hoot with some of the most twisted and out there imagery of a genre film in years. Baskin goes places few would dare, it's full of twisted and shocking imagery and all the better for it, even if the story never really amounts to much and the final scene is a lesson in how to deflate all suspense and surprise.

Still the 30 minutes before the end makes Baskin a rare treat, it's like a Rob Zombie film by ways of Fulci and every bit as mad as that sounds.

Scintilla - Pretty much a SyFy movie of the week only with better production values and more spirited performances. Scintilla is that kind of honest to goodness genre fare the likes of which had its day during that brief period in the mid 90s when direct to VHS cinema featured many a B list star being stalked and slaughtered in an old factory or building masquerading as a military bunker.

Not a whole lot has changed over the past 20 years, the plot is familiar, the cast of characters are stock, much of the film is filled with our cast walking through nondescript forests and hallways and like so many others of its ilk, Scintilla takes an age setting up the threat only to then keep it largely off screen.

Scintilla is by no means a bad film, it makes the most of it's location and grizzled lead performance but it's just too familiar to leave a lasting impression. It's the cinematic equivalent of fast food, sure it hits the spot at the time and could be much worse but it leaves no lasting impression and will be forgotten in a matter of minutes, though the spirited final 20 minutes or so do enliven proceedings.

Day 6 of 31 days of Fright

Mulberry Street - A great low budget and low key horror that does great things with limited means. The acting is for the most part good with Nick Damici being the standout, he brings a brooding quite intensity to a roll that could very easily been a cliched and bland role.

Shot on the cheap, Mulberry Street's aesthetic is hardly glamorous but the gritty, raw look gives the film a rather unnerving feel that suits the material. Much of the outdoor scenes appear to have been shot on the sly and as such the handheld camerawork has a documentary feel and scenes of panicked New Yorkers amassing in the street are quite powerful.

Mulberry Street was Jim Mickle and Nick Damici's calling card and followed it up with one of the best horror filmss in years, Stakeland and then the truly brilliant Cold in July. Often forgotten, Mulberry Street is an early showcase of their talent, a dark and understated creature feature that takes a tiny budget and delivers a big film.

31 Frights number 7
Brainscan - One of those early 90s technology is evil horror films that never really amounts to a whole lot. The initial idea is fun and there's a couple of good ideas in play but it never really goes anywhere. Furlong brings the same dead eyed enthusiasm that he did to his carter during those months when he was shooting up and as such manages to display the same single emotion time and again.

Brainscan is as 90s as it comes. Full of generic and bland scares and a real sense that technology is out to get us. The most striking aspect of the film is the rather great score that belongs in a much better film.

31 Frights number 8
The Purge: Election Year - The third in the franchise may not quite reach the giddy heights of The Purge: Anarchy but it remains a damn sight better than most genre offerings of late and certainly one of the best third entries in any horror series.

Bring back Frank Grillo, who this time spends his time trying to protect a Presidential wannabe who intends to outlaw the Purge. The action is well staged and Grillo has the required intensity the role requires though the rest of the cast play stock characters who never really do a whole lot to define themselves. It's not that they are underwritten or anything, they're just far too familiar and rote that you could easily replace them and have no affect on the film as a whole.

The strongest aspect of the film is once again how real it all feels, especially in this current election year where one could easily imagine Trump or Clinton enacting a Purge like scenario in order to cleanse the masses.

31 Frights number 9
We Are Still Here - A retro styled horror that isn't afraid to to pay homage to the past while striving to create a voice of its own. The story follows a couple who move to a small town in the wake of their son's death. Unfortunately for them, they decided to move into a house that awakens every 30 years looking for a blood sacrifice.

We Are Still here is a slow burner, more concerned with tone and atmosphere than shocks or gore and all the better for it. The scares when they come are well earned with a game cast and the always reliable Barbara Crampton showing that she's one of the horror's most underappreciated voices.

We Are Still Here is hardly a great film, it's not got anything that can't be found elsewhere but it has a sense of style and a great tone that allows it to stand out from the crowd.

31 Frights number 10
Deathgasm - A heavy metal horror film indebted to the work of early Peter Jackson. Deathgasm is a balls to the wall horror comedy that manages to toe the line between genre perfectly. At once laugh out loud funny and gross, this is everything that dross like Lesbian Vampire Killers strives to be but fails miserably at doing so.

With a likable lead, a sweet center and plenty of demon slaying insanity, Deathgasm is one of the most inventive and downright fun horror films in many a year.

31 Frights number 11
Freaks of Nature - One of those films in which the idea is far stronger than what we get. The story is fun and has so much potential but obvious budget constraints mean that this story of a human, a zombie and a vampire taking on a zombie apocalypse never really amounts to anything.

There's a few decent set pieces but far too much time is spent on having out three leads just talk in nondescript rooms that it's hard to care about much. With a bigger budget and a rewrite there's no doubt a much better film here but taken for what it is, Freaks of Nature never really manages to be as fun as it sounds.

31 Frights number 12
Suburban Gothic - A step down from Excision, Suburban Gothic is Richard Bates Jr. attempt at a more comedic horror and sadly it never really manages to be anything other than a mild distraction.

Obviously shot on the quick and cheaply, there's never really a sense that much though has gone into anything other than making our two leads as sarcastic as possible. Dennings and Gubler are woeful and deliver their dialogue with all so little enthusiasm they may as well be asleep. The rest of the cast, Wise, Waters, etc are far better but have little to do.

Suburban Gothic could have been something special but the end result is a muddled and messy diversion that just covers old ground in an uneventful and bland manner. It's not a terrible film, it's actually a little worse given how average it is and how unwilling it is to do anything other than go through the motions.

The Conjuring 2 - ames Wan does it again, delivering 120+ minutes of old school chills the likes of which we've not seen since the Conjuring was released. While not quite as good as the original, part 2 in this franchise manages to be parts bat **** crazy, chilling, stupidly fun and unnerving all at once. There's some wonderful imagery and a real sense of time and place with the film having a timeless feel.

There's so much to say about the film, it has quite a few issues along the way, some of the acting is a little too broad, there's a couple of jump scares too many but over all this is pretty great sequel and a damn fine film in its own right. It's also the kind of film best experienced cold.

Stung - Stung has a good central idea and plenty of moxie, it's just a shame that it never really has any forward momentum or a clue as to what kind of film it wants to be. Our two heroes are rather bland and have one of cinemas least interesting will they, won't they dynamics which is all a little too creepy given that the he of the two seems to think that by saving her life he should be rewarded with sex.

Yes, Stung is that kind of film, one that thinks we should root for a leering and lecherous slacker who thinks that saving the girls life entitles him to get some. It's also the kind of film that is conscious of it's budget and as such large portions of the film involve people talking in rooms, in vans, in gardens, in fact more of the film involves people talking about nothing of consequence than anything else.

Stung has a great old school vibe and a decent supporting cast but it simply doesn't have the budget or ideas to create something different. The FX work is impressive and there's some fun gross out humour but over all Stung is another wasted opportunity, a horror film that thinks it's far cleverer than it is and as such ends up feeling far too smug

War of the Dead - Not a bad film by any means, just not a particularly original or entertaining one. World War 2 Nazis is a novel idea, or it was before it was done to death with a number of low budget no frills entries, the best of which are the rather damn fun The Bunker and Outpost. The vast majority of Nazi zombie films have been pretty awful and while War of the Dead looks great and has some spirited performances it never really amounts to a whole lot.

Shot in 2007 and left to sit on a shelf till 2011 it's to figure out why, sure the film is generic, performances are what you would expect and the set pieces are bland but it's not like its offensively bad or anything, it's just mediocre and perhaps that is even worse given that it's obvious from all aspects of War of the Dead that no one really cared that much about any of it. Everything is just acceptable, there's not a single are that stands out and results in the find of film that if you pause to use the bathroom you'll come back and find yourself desperately trying to remember what exactly was happening mere minutes before.

War of the Dead is like tidying beneath the couch and finding a Wine Gum covered in a layer of dust. You won't exactly regret eating it but you may feel like a little bit ashamed of yourself and take a serious loo in the mirror and ask yourself just what the hell you are doing with your life.

31 Days of Fright number 16

The Happiness of the Katakuris - Pretty much the cinematic equivalent of an acid trip, this musical, horror, comedy, claymation epic tells the story of a family trying to get their struggling business off the ground in the face of a rather unfortunate tendency for guests to die whenever they check in.

Katakuris is vintage Miike, it's cheap as peanuts but has an inventive visual nature that is second to none and proves once again that while Miike may crank them out at a rate of 10 a year he rarely phones it in. With a number of musical set pieces that look thrown together in a matter of minutes, some wonderful stop motion sequences and best of all a real sense of the unexpected, this is a truly bonkers and over the top horror comedy that ranks amongst the most bewilderingly and fun films ever made.

31 Days of Fright number 17

Don't Breath - Don't Breath is the cinematic equivalent of fancy junk food, it looks great and for most of it's run time it's an effective and subversive play on the home invasion genre but around the half way point things take a turn for the unusual and it's hard to enjoy it quite so much. The heroes, if we can even call that are a trio of 20 something adults who break into houses and take what they want. Hearing tales of a blind man with money to spare, our three intrepid burglars break into his home only to find that he's more than their match.

Don't Breath does a great job at the start of slowly building tension, Lang is electric as the home owner and brings an intensity and understated fury to proceedings that is genuinely unsettling. Lang is the films best asset aswell as biggest problem, his performance is as stated great but a mid point twist involving him is both rather brilliant and unsettling and brings about so many questions that the film never even attempts to answer. It's also makes rooting for him a little hard though we never are, it's just that he's easier to root for than three burglars who think it acceptable to steal from a blind man.

Don't Breathe is decent genre fare that has the elements of a great film, just one that never knows quite what to do with them. The setting is strong, Lang is good and the film has a number of inventive set pieces but it all kind of falls apart as things proceed.

Last Shift - One of those understated and simple horror films that works thanks to the simplicity of the set up and a rather fine central performance. Last Shift is effectively a one hander, it follows a rookie cops first night on the job as they look after a Police Station due for closure a year after a Manson like cult committed suicide in the cells.

Simple and understated, Last Shift is all about slowly racking up the tension and it does so rather well. The scares are handled with a maturity and elegance, the violence well handled and never there to tantilise and best of all, there's a sense of unease that's palpable.

Last Shift is a genre treat, it's dark,moody and unsettling in the best of ways and deserves to be far better known than it is.

Let Us Prey - Somewhat similar to Last Shift, Let Us Prey follows a rookie cops first night working in a small Scottish town where an ancient evil has arrived to set the scales right. Yes, Let Us Prey is a film all about making bad people pay for their sins, only unlike say in Saw there's no sense of fun or irony here.

Liam Cunningham is great and brings his usual roguish charm to proceedings but it's hard to really get behind him given how cartoonishly over the top the killers are. The film desperately wants to be an adult tale of evil but it can't help but relish in scenes of gore and excess, to the point that none of it feels real. The killers are less threatening as they are comical and when everybody in the town bar the rookie is so over the top evil it's hard to take any of the film seriously.

Let Us Prey is a decent idea in search of a better film. There's nothing original or striking here and the cast all do what's expected but you can't help but feel as if no one really cared all that much about any of it and just did the bare minimum required.

Ouija - Imagine if someone made a film in the early 90s and then left it to sit on a shelf for 20 years and you pretty much have Ouija. A film so familiar and trite that it has all the impact of deck chair thrown into an empty room. With actors who look 35 playing 17 year olds, the kind of jump scares that involve people looking into mirrors a lot and a story that is insultingly stupid, Ouija isn't so much a horror film as it is a sickly animal in desperate need of being put out of its misery.

Damned by Dawn - A film so bland and boring that it's difficult to stay awake throughout given that so little happens. Damned by Dawn isn't a dreadful film, it's actually so much worse. It's a cheap and boring waste of time that dupes you into expecting something decent given all the comparisons to the Evil Dead on the cover

31 Days of Fright Number 22
Return of the Living Dead Part II - A comedy horror that's more chucklesome that it is yucks and all the better for it. With some of the best groopy zombie FX around and a real sense of fun, this is one of those gems that's immensely rewatchable and a bundle of fun. It may not be the smartest of the funniest but it's one of the more enjoyable ones.

House - A rather smart allegory for PTSD, this 80s haunted house creature feature is a lot of fun, even if it never really amounts to much. The FX work is great and performances are fun but it's too light hearted to really say much. Like so much 80s fare, House takes a great idea and runs with, only it has no idea where it's going or how it's getting there.

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House - I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House from writer/director Oz Perkins is by far the most impressive piece of cinema or television so far produced or bought by Netflix. It's a haunting and beautiful piece of cinema that is perhaps the most singular and unique ghost story ever told on screen.

Great cinema, truly great cinema is hard to come by and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House is cinema at it's finest. Dark, bold, intelligent and confident, while at once unassuming and understated in a way that few film-makers would ever consider. This is great cinema, the kind that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible and celebrated. Oz Perkins has delivered the single best horror film in many a year and as desperate as I am to talk about it, I'd hate to ruin a single moment of this beautiful masterpiece.


Rabid Dogs - A film that could possibly be shocking to someone who has never seen a film before. The twist ending is telegraphed from the opening minutes and while it so desperately wants to be shocking it comes across rather lazy and boring. Rabid Dogs is a film very much in love with style, from the pulsing synth score to, the rather gorgeous visuals this is a visual and aural treat though sadly the script is lacking in any suspense or surprises as it hurtles toward the inevitable conclusion.

Hush - A home invasion film that manages to avoid most of the pitfalls of similar fare. The rapey undertones that affect so many similar films are largely absent here and as such make for a far stronger film. Our killer is here simply to kill, he has no grand plan or ulterior motive, he hunts simply which makes a nice change of pace given that they never try to humanise him or make out that he is anything other crazy.

Mike Flanagan has impressed before and with Hush he paints himself as one of genre cinema's most impressive voices, partnering once more with Kate Siegel the duo manage to create a taut and tense set-up that utilises a small cast and a single location without ever feeling cheap. Hush isn't a game changer, it's actually something even more refreshing, it's a familiar tale told in a bold and confident manner that manages to make genre constraints work in its favour.

Annabelle - Jump scares abound is this rather bland The Conjuring spin-off that manages to be both tasteless and uninspired. Drawing inspiration from the real-life Manson murders and tacking them onto an evil doll story may seem inspired only here it's rather banal and familiar. Jump scare after jump scare abound with no sense of wit or originality. Annabelle isn't an awful film, it's just middle of the road and sulks down a familiar trail toward the inevitable ending that' obvious from the first moment we meet a certain character

The Fearless Vampire Killers - A film that's the very definition of 60s kitsch, with it's gorgoeus Hammer style visuals and campy performances The Fearless Vampire Killers is a diverting and fun distraction from start to finish, even if it could do with a serious trim in the middle. There's a lot of fat here and much of the film crawls by but when our elder hero is on screen the film manages to be a lot of fun. The humour here is far broader than one would expect from Polanski and much of it falls flat but the jokes that land work. It's hard to look at The Fearless Vampire Killers with a modern eye, there are a couple of rather rapey moments from out younger hero that leave a sour taste and the objectification of the female stars is completely unnecessary. What is most striking is just how cynical the ending is, it's far darker that one would expect and at odds with all of which has come before.

The Girl in the Photographs - A slasher film so indebted to Scream that the film maker even went to far as to get Wes Craven to produce. The Girl in the Photographs has a nice visual style and some left field casting choices but alas, like so many genre offerings it's a bland and boring misstep that hasn't a single character to care for and no sense of suspense or atmosphere. It's the kind of film that you stop caring about 20 minutes in and most likely give up on not long after that.

The Invitation - A dark and unsettling psychological horror that's all about mood. With a wildly off-kilter feel and a great sense of ever building dread, The Invitation is a masterclass in understated dread. It's perfectly realized and is a film best experienced cold. Knowing any of the plot robs the film of it's dark charm. There's so much one could write about the film but to do so risks spoiling one of the best genre films in years.

Holidays - Kevin Smith continues his descent into bargain basement film making with his entry 'Halloween' that ranks up there amongst the all time awful cinematic missteps. A dreary and bland short that has no relevance to the holiday being taking place on the date in question. Featuring awful acting from all involved, not a single scare or drop of suspense and an aesthetic best described as student film from the mid 90s and you have something that would work best as a tool to coerce confessions or of criminals. Stuck it on repeat and lock the for and you'd get anyone to confess to the most heinous of crimes. Halloween isn't just the worst of the bunch, it's also a uniquely awful piece of cinema that makes u winner just how it is that Kevin Smith gets work as this is a short a film that fails on every conceivable level.

Holidays is another in the recent trend for loosely linked anthologies, only this time the film makers have a far better hook than most. Unfortunately few of the shorts are anything other than generic with the best of the bunch being the rather damn brilliant Father's Day, though even that bright spot lacks a punch.

Holidays isn't so much a mixed bag as it is a generic slog, shorts such as Mother's Day are dull and squander an interesting set up on a boring and familiar tale that's ending is blunt but lacking in finesse. St. Patricks Day has a great central idea but never goes anywhere with it, it's a horror comedy that's neither funny not frightening but it does have a great performance at the heart of it. The rest of the shorts follow suite, most have a great central idea but do nothing much with it.

New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day are both good fun, though it's obvious where it's going from the first moments. They both packs a punch and are good fun and at the very least both have fully formed endings unlike the others which just end.

Father's Day is by far the best of the bunch, a dark and unsettling short in which most of the dread and horror comes from a superb voice performance by Michael Goss as the main characters father speaking to her through a cassette tape. It's brilliantly realised and creates a real sense of unease though does come to a rather abrupt end.

The Blackcoat's Daughter - Oz Perkins first film is a delicate and haunting tale of childhood innocence lost and the dark underbelly of desire. With a delicate pace that slowly builds tension through what we don't see, February is like all the best horrors, a film more concerned with tone that it is jump scares or gore and so much better for it.

Even when the twist is obvious about a third of the way through, the film is never anything less than thrilling. It's a wonderfully understated and adult film that is startling in the way it turns genre cliches on their head.

Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan- An early precursor to modern Japanese ghost stories, Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan is a tale of vengeful ghosts who haunt the samurai who ended their life. With it's short run time, there's a somewhat disjointed feel to the film and the manner in which our Samurai is so easily coerced has a somewhat theatrical feel. There's no real sense of time passing and as such, many of the films twists feel a little half baked. Our Samurai goes from killing a rich man so as to marry his daughter to living in poverty and plotting to murder his wife so that he can marry a richer woman.

And yet the film works, it has a wonderful unnerving look and feel, that sets it apart. The final 15 minutes are a blizzard of bizarre and memorable imagery that will linger long after the film has ended. There's a number of issues with pacing and plot but taken for the sheer force of nature that it is and you have a unique and disconcerting film that set the standard for so many that would follow

Stage Fright - A better idea than film and one that would have worked better as a short or if the film maker had opted to put the killer front and center. When your films best moment comes courtesy of the end credits in which the killer sings, you know you have issues and Stage Fright is very much a film suffering from an identity crisis. It's at once shockingly violent and lighthearted thanks to the half-baked songs that can't cover up the films many shortcomings. With a script that features scenes of sexual assault played for laughs, and a lead who is pretty much forced to use her body to secure a role and you have a film in serious need of a stronger hand steering it all.

There's nothing truly awful here, just a good bit of poorly conceived material that simply isn't strong enough to make the film work. Had they had the killer as the lead and just gone with it and you have the sense that Stage Fright may have been the genre mash up cult classic it's so desperate to be. As it is, it's an entertaining if bland horror musical that never quite gels in an effective manner.

Satanic - The kind of film that you watch and then instantly forget about. There's nothing inherently bad to be found in Satanic and the opening is rather effective but it's a film all about the build up and the pay-off simply isn't worth it. Performances are good, it's well written, the direction is strong and the film has a number of good ideas in play but it just goes nowhere. It's the cinematic equivalent of bad sex, all build up with no climax.

The Hallow - There's a good short film to be found here but as a feature, The Hallow is an overlong bore that simply doesn't have enough ideas or thrills. The characters are all idiots, the twist obvious from the first reel and the whole film just feels like a whole lot of meh. It's a film that is neither awful enough to enjoy ironically nor good enough to actually enjoy, it's just a decidedly average venture that feels like a hundred others.

Odd Thomas - A slight but fun supernatural thriller that looks and feels like a comic book come to life. Yelchin and Dafoe are great but can only do so much to elevate the film from its made for TV look and feel. Addison Timlin as Odd's love interest Stormy ranks up there with on all-time awful performances scale. She's not just bad, she's abysmal and ruins every single moment that she has. She has no chemistry with anyone and her dialogue is delivered in the style and tone of a lobotomize robot.

Odd Thomas is a film that suffered from behind the scenes issues, budget cuts, long delays, lawsuits, and it shows. There's a real sense that what we got is half finished and it's a shame as Odd Thomas has the potential to be a great franchise or even better a big budget tv series. Odd Thomas is fun, it's light and easy to watch nonsense that's more concerned with raising a smile than it is in trying to scare and all the better for it.

The Neon Demon - Vapid, empty, pretty and with not a whole lot going beneath the surface, The Neon Demon is a perfect representation of the fashion industry in this day and age. With a cobbled together story that feels like it's being made up on the fly, the entire film rests solely on the exquisite aesthetic on display. Featuring Refn's now legendary framing and use of colour and you have a visual treat like no other, you could take any single frame here and hang it in a gallery. There's no filmmaker making such singularly beautiful cinema and there's certainly no one else who could make necrophilia look quite so tender.

The Neon Demon, much like Only God Forgives is not a film for everyone, it's diverse and unwieldy and never really tries to make any sense and yet, for those willing to give themselves over there's much to love here. A beautiful and haunting if utterly empty film that's all about the surface beauty.

Officer Downe - Garish, grim, ghastly and devoid of any sense of wit or originality, Officer Downe is like a bargain basement rip off of Crank by ways of Deadpool.

Tonally it's got more ups and downs than Kanye West's sense of self importance and in fact, it's pretty much the cinematic equivalent of Kanye's recent months. It promises so much, a great cast, an interesting left field director, produced by 50% of the filmmakers behind Crank and with a script by Joe Casey who wrote the original comic things are looking good.

And then the film starts and you quickly realise that this is the kind of film that thinks it's hilarious to have an orgasm counter on screen as our hero eats out some hooker. Officer Downe starts in the gutter and stay there as the muddled plot plays out with all the urgency of a trip to the dentist. Officer Downe is less a film than it is a series of poorly conceived skits edited together with the barest of story. It's a film in which every element feels lifted from else where, the blaxploitation kung ku killer, the animal masked crime bosses, the gun running nuns and on and on it goes as the film takes a little from genre a and adds a dallop of every other genre out there.

Officer Downe feels less like a film than it does the pilot for a late night TV show. The film builds and builds toward a finale that never comes, instead we get a poorly choreographed fist fight that has all the excitement of two drunks jostling to get an order in before last call.

There is potential here, a hell of a lot. In fact it's clear that with a little love and care that Officer Downe could be something special but based on the 90 minutes here it's hard to get excited for the sequel that the final moments set up, though that said the chances of a sequel based off of the performance of this are slim. And that's a shame as Kim Coates gives a great performances and brings some nuance to a role that seems to have been written without any. If a sequel does get made it would be wise to make it all about Officer Downe and not some rookie cop assigned to look after him.

Dark was the Night - A great set up, good world building and some fine performances mark Dark Was the Night out as something a little bit special. The creature is largely kept off screen and used sparingly to create tension and give the film a sense of unease but all this is squandered toward the end when we get a look at the creature and it look slike something from a Sci-FI film of the week made in 95. It's so jarring and awful looking that it ruins so much of what went before.

Still, all the other elements are well don and create a film that is dark, tense and far, far better than anyone would every guess.


I Am Not a Serial Killer - A low-key thriller that makes the most of a small budget to wring some real suspense out of a set up that may be familiar but still manages to pull off some interesting twists. Christopher Lloyd is brilliant as the antagonist and brings some warmth and heart to the film, he's the soul of the film and steals every moment he's onscreen.

The Devil's Doll - Decent fun if you can get past the day time soap lead. The budget was no doubt tiny and as such it's nice that the film has a cinematic feel, gore is well handled and the death scenes are great fun. This is a film to watch with a beer in hand and as such, it's relatively good fun and easily forgettable.

The Witch - Less a film than a mood piece, The Witch is a beautifully haunting tale of the evil the lays just out of view. It's oppressive tone, ever swelling sense of unease and that out of nowhere ending make it one of the most original, shocking and down right great horror films in a long time. It's dark, intelligent and scary to boot.

Phantasm - A stone cold genre classic that may have its faults but it's sheer balls to the wall approach paints over any shortcomings to make Phantasm on of horror's best franchises. There's loads of heart here, the leads are likable and kick ass convincingly, the FX is great and the Tall Man is the best horror villain of all time.

Coffin Rock - Single White Female with a male twist, this is the third in the unofficial trilogy where Robert Taylor has awful things happen to him and his wife while all he wants to do is go about his day as normal. Coffin Rock is a rather dull thriller with a bland bad guy and a female lead who you just want to get her comeuppance, it's a film in which all you want is everyone to die.

Ouija: Origin of Evil - A far better film than the original, Origin of Evil is far better than it has any right to be. Sure it may take an age to get going and the last 20 minutes is a mad rush to the end but it looks great and has some genuinely fun moments. There's nothing here original or out of left field, but it tells a decent story in a rather adult manner and as such is head and shoulders above so much of its ilk.

The Keep - It's hard to know what to think of the Keep, Michael Mann's utterly delirious fever dream that's less concerned with coherence than it is with gorgeous visuals and an utterly bonkers score from Tangerine Dream. This is very much a film butchered in post to try and create something and it shows, there's no sense of time, relationships go from first introductions to passionate sex on a floor and a character travels across Europe in what appears to be a day.

Mann has often spoke of his much longer cut and it would be interesting to see as it would at the very least make for a more tonally coherent film though that said, much of the film's charm comes from how all over the place it is. This is a film in which the ridiculous becomes sublime, it's a wonderful atrocity of film making, the kind of throw everything at the screen and see what sticks cluster **** that succeeds thanks in part to the sheer audacity of Mann's vision.


Elle - Paul Verhoeven masterfully defies expectation to deliver a rape revenge tale that is as slight and witty, as the initial rape is grotesque and inhumane. Opening mid-assault, Verhoeven's film is on the attack from its opening frame and what follows is the most French reaction to a rape that cinema has ever seen. Like with his Hollywood fare, Elle is dripping with sarcasm, satire and a sense of a master filmmaker having the time of his life.

Isabelle Huppert delivers one of cinema's most shocking and fearless performances, her reaction to the assault, played with off-kilter coldness gives cinema perhaps it's first real feminist reaction to rape as a plot device. Her reaction to the assault is not as a victim but as a survivor, or in perhaps the films most shocking twist on expectations, by not allowing the rape to define her in any way.

That the rape is so swiftly dealt with allows Verhoeven to explore some dark themes in a way only he can, having Elle repeatedly face her attacker makes for hard going and allows the most shocking assault to not be the initial attack but the way the two characters move into the others lives.

Elle is a fascinatng film, dark and adult in a manner few would dare, it takes on of society's most taboo subjects and manages to find the humour in it while never down playing the act of rape. It's a startling film, bleak, unrelenting and thrilling. It's a modern classic.

The First Power - Remember Fallen, that horror thriller from 1998 in which Denzel chased around a body-hopping serial killer who he had recently watched being executed? Well, The First Power is that Lou Diamond Phillips 1990 horror thriller in which Lou chases around a body-hopping serial killer who he had recently watched being executed.

Yes, The First Power is familiar but mainly due to how many other films lifted wholesale from it, most of it's big ideas were played out on a bigger canvas by filmmakers with more money to spend but The First Power remains a damn fine little thriller with a strong script, some good performances and an interesting killer and best of all, a sense of humour. It may be 90s cinema by the numbers but it's damn entertaining while it lasts

Train to Busan - Doing something new in a genre as oversaturated as the zombie horror is a hard thing to do and it's a credit to Train to Busan that it manages to do something rather interesting. Sure characters are as stock as they come, you can guess the fate of each from their first moment onscreen, and the story never really goes anywhere truly original, but taken for a low-key zombie apocalypse film and Train to Busan is a winner. It has a good script, some fun ideas such as zombies unable to see in the dark, a number of fun set pieces and best of all, it looks great.

Train to Busan is not groundbreaking film some claim, it's too familiar for that but it is a bloody good time and perfect blood spattered Saturday night fun.

I Am a Hero - A gory good time, this blood-soaked zombie film features grotesque deaths, some stomach churning effects and a finale that raises the bar in terms of blood spilled. I Am a Hero is a smart and tight manga adaptation with a good script, a pitch-black sense of humour, over the top gore effects and a more rounded and real take on the end of the world.


The ReZort - A syfy film of the week with a budget, this fun Jurassic Park with zombies romp knows exactly what it wants to say and just gets on with it. Exposition is kept to a minimum and you can see where it's going from the out but along the way it manages to be far more enjoyable than it has any right to be, and even manages to pack in a little light social commentary.

The ReZort is dumb, it's easy to watch trash with a fun cast and it never tries to be anything other than entertaining. As such, it's not a bad way to kill an evening.

Pornostar - With a title designed to grab your attention, Pornostar is Toshiaki Toyoda's brutally efficient nihilistic tale of one man's descent into the violent underbelly of the Japanese Yakuza. Opening with intent, the film is on the attack from the very first frame and never relents, with a pulsing Rock score, scenes of shocking violence and an antagonist who exists solely to kill those who aren't needed, Pornostar is a bloody gut punch that manages to subvert expectation to deliver a truly unique gangster film.

Frankenstein 2015 - One of the more innovative adaptations of the story of Adam in a long time, Rose's modern twist on the tale is a dark and mature horror film with plenty of gore but also a reliance not simple on violence but rather heart. Frankenstein 2015 may be cheap as hell but it works thanks to spirited performances and some gorgeous visuals. It's familiar and yet fresh, a film about ideas above all else

Abattoir - A low budget gem, Bousman manages to make the most out of a tiny budget and when the big reveal comes the film it's well worth it. Abattoir is a dark and understated film with a strong script and some decent acting. It's a film that with a much bigger budget could be something truly special but taken for what it is Abattoir is a damn fine piece of genre cinema that deserves a sequel.

The Night Crew - A low budget horror film with a good cast and some fantastic set pieces. The budget is limited but it never shows, every cent is on screen and it shows. This is not the kind of film that will be remembered the next day but while it lasts it's a blast and far better than many 200 million dollar action films.

Angel Heart - A bleak and unrelenting journey into the darkest pits of the soul< angel heart is one of the fine low key horror films ever made. A pitch perfect horror that favors atmosphere above all else. It's an old-fashioned horror that feels fresh to this day.


Don't Knock Twice - A damn fine little horror film, smart and unnerving it has some great ideas, good performances and looks great. A far better horror film than most and certainly deserving of a far greater rep

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter - The kind of nonsensical garbage that really has no reason to exist. A film so muddled, murky and ugly that even the rather gorgoeus looking set design is lost amongst the kind of shadowy environments that teenage boys dream of. This is a film where characters exist simply to die, where no one evolves beyond a cut out and where the action is shot in such a haphazard manner that at the best of time it resembles someone having a seizure.

There's no reason for this film to exist and anyone who didn't guess the fate of Alice four films ago will leave wondering how such an obvious and boring idea passed them by. It's hard make a film in which no one is thrilled by armies of zombies laying waste to the last of humanity but by god the Anderson managed to do just that.

Fender Bender - Death Proof without the pretention is the most apt description of Fender Bender, an 80s styled slasher that's infused with a nihilistic streak that makes for a perfect throwback slasher. Bill Sage is perfect as the Driver, a cold-blooded killer whose weapons of choice include his car and a blade which I'm sure someone will argue gives his killings a rather phallic tone but that's for another day.

Fender Bender is the kind of dank and dark film that we rarely see these days, a film in which bad things happen to good people in a graphic manner and is all the better for it. This is an 80s slasher through and through, free of the self-referential tone of so many modern slashers it allows the film to build suspense in a far more subdued and understated manner resulting in perhaps the best slasher in years.

Don't Kill It - Got a tiny budget bur need to deliver a fun horror film in under two weeks, well Mike Mendez is your man given that he managed to do just that with the bloody good Don't Kill It, a film shot on the catering budget of whatever bore fest Marvel is currently working on and like Raimi before him, Mendez puts every cent onscreen and it shows. From the brilliant old school gore FX to the fun and spirited performance from Lundgren to the understated and bold direction, Don't Kill It is a treat for genre fans. It's the kind of old fashioned fare that actually does something interesting and once again makes you hope that someone will hand Mendez a bundle of cash and let him do what he does on a far broader canvas.

Switchback - A grand serial killer film that never really amounts to a whole lot beyond disposable entertainment, and you that's not a bad thing. With decent performances, a fun if familiar script and all the cliches you know and love, Switchback is a lazy afternoon's viewing. A film that provides just the right kind of background noise.

Prevenge - Imagine if you were to take characters from The Office and then cast David Brent as a pregnant female serial killer who gets her orders from the fetus growing inside her and you have Prevenge, Alice Lowe's dark and fun horror film that manages to bring an original slant to a genre that has had little signs of life in the past years.

It's a dark and gore filled comedy horror with an emphasis on laughs. It's not all successful but it succeeds more often than not and shows once again that Lowe is one fo the more interesting voices in British cinema.

Ninja Apocalypse - A low budget gem, this post apocalyptic ninja versus zombies versus other ninja is the Warriors on a smaller scale and while it's cheap and at times tacky it remains a lot of fun and has a number of fun set pieces. It's the kind of film you watch with no expectations and find yourself enjoying far more than you should.

Split - A damn fine genre film with a superb central performance and a wonderfully demented ending that turns everything up to 11 and just goes with it. Sure there's issues along the way but when your film is this demented and fun they are easy to forgive. Split is the best film from Shyamalan in a long time and the proposed sequel cannot come fast enough.

The Windmill Massacre - One of the better slasher films in awhile, it's got good kills, likeable characters, some great over acting and a plot that actually strives to be something other than just cliche riddled. It's by no means a great film and hardly a good one, but it's fun and doesn't out stay its welcome and I'd have no problem sitting down to watch a sequel.

The Void - The best John Carpenter film since In the Mouth of Madness, this bastard child of Hellraiser and Prince of Darkness is a dark and unrelenting slip into the dark that lurks beneath the world. It's a brave and bold horror film that features striking visuals, memorable characters and a wonderfully over blown ending, just a shame that so much of the first half of the film is so banal and familiar. It's like every other siege film ever made, only without the wit and/or finesse of the greats. So much of the opening 45 minutes could be lost and instead replaced with more of the Void and certainly more of our villain and the horrors he raised so as to open the void. Still, for a low budget genre entry, The Void is a step above and deserves to be seen.

The Burrowers - One of the few great horror westerns, J.T. Petty is a gifted filmmaker and creates one of the most atmospheric and down beat horrors in some time. It's a wonderfully evocative piece and deserving to be seen and celebrated.

Get Out - Not quite the genre classic so many claim but a damn fine film in its own right with some wonderful moments and a nice subversive streak. Performances are strong, the writing is good and it's a film of small moments. Go in expecting a game changer and you will leave disappointed, go in expecting a mature and dark thriller and you'll be greatly rewarded.

Rigor Mortis - The best hopping vampie film ever made, Juno Maks loving tribute to the Mr Vampire franchise removes the comedy and ups the tension and violence considerably and to great effect. With a cast of memorable characters, gorgeous cinematography, demented set pieces and a wonderful sense of wit Rigor Mortis is a true modern genre classic.



Just Before Dawn - One of the best slasher films, Just Before Dawn is a grown-up example of what is one of the most put upon genres and in most cases deservedly so. There is no other genre with so many piss poor DIY efforts and it takes something a little special to stand out, Just Before Dawn is that rare gem in the rough. A good script, a stunning setting, adult characters and a restrained nature, Just Before Dawn is everything you want from a slashed. The violence is rather trite and there's little gore but when it does occur is has an impact making it quite memorable.

The Final Terror - A better example of 80s slasher mania, The Final Terror makes great use of an older cast of adults, some nice scenery, tight direction and a better then average script. It's hardly high art and the kill count is low but for what it is, The Final Terror is fine.

Ms .45 - A rape revenge film from Abel Ferrara was never going to be conventional and with Ms .45 Ferrara turns in a dark and subversive take on a genre which had been trivialised by exploitative trash such as Death Wish.

In Ms .45 the act of rape is a freeing one, it allows Thana to become the woman she always wanted, from timid mute seamstress with mousey hair and buttoned up blouse who avoids confrontation to a woman who dresses provocatively and actively puts herself in dangerous situations. It's a startling contrast and while at times it comes dangerously close to crossing over into exploitation, Ferrara manages to keep the film grounded and let Thana as a character both evolve and devolve.

The film's most startling moment involves neither the rapes or the violence but rather a telling moment in which Thana simply writes "I just want everyone to leave me alone" and that moment when it becomes clear just how much she enjoys the violence. At heart Ms .45 is a simple tale of someone who just wants the world to leave them alone and if that means that she has to kill any man who shows any affection to a woman then so be it, and you know what it's easy to fall in behind her. Ms .45 is far better than a simple rape revenge tale, it's a mature and dark descent into the mind of a victim and how violence set them free to be the person they always wanted.