Kingp35's Horror Viewing Log

April Fools Day (1986)

April Fools Day is one of a slew of slasher films that came out in the 1980's in order to cash in on the popularity of films such as Friday the 13th and Halloween. The vast majority of these slashers had very little new and original to say and many were simply terrible but April Fools Day managed to be both different and enjoyable.

The plot follows a group of eight college friends who travel to a mansion on an island, which belongs to another of their friends, in order to celebrate April Fools Day. Once their though they realise that there is a killer among them has begun to pick them off one by one. They begin to suspect each other of being the killer and each one must try and survive the night.

It sounds like your typical slasher set up and for the most part it is. We are again treated to about half an hour of filler material but the killer shows up and things really get going. Luckily though the filler material is quiet funny and entertaining as it features different members of the group playing pranks on each other and is an entertaining way of introducing us to each other. When the killer does show up the film becomes much more serious and becomes almost a character study in paranoia as various people are suspected as being the killer. I have to admit that it is in no way a frightening film, there are few jump scares and the atmosphere isn't all that creepy but it's who dunnit nature of the film and the famous ending that really elevates it above the usual fare.

April Fools Day is definitely one of the best of the 80's slasher films with funny moments as well as horror and an excellent ending. Give this one a go but make sure read nothing about it beforehand.

8/10

Mama (2013)

Mama is the latest "Guillermo Del Toro Presents" film that is based upon a 3 minute short film that Del Toro found and loved so much that he decided to get a feature length version made. The director of the short film, Andrés Muschietti, is also the director of this feature length effort which showed a huge amount of loyalty on the part of Del Toro as Muschietti had never directed a feature film before.

The story is about two young sisters who were left to fend for themselves in the middle of a forest for 5 years after there father killed there mother and attempted to kill himself and the girls in a cabin in the forest. Their uncle spent the 5 years searching for the girls and once he finds them decides to take them into his home to live with himself and his girlfriend. Obviously the girls have suffered hugely in the intervening years and have a wild streak about them. They also keep mentioning Mama, a person it's believed they made up to help them survive in the forest. It turns out that Mama is anything but make believe and she wants to two girls back for herself.

The opening of the film starts of strong as we are shown how the girls came to be left in the forest and that there is a ghostly presence in the cabin where they are left. We then skip forward 5 years to when the girls are found and moved in with their uncle. This is the point where Mama turns into your typical seen it all before horror film as the second act is a let largely a let down given the excellent set up. We are treated to dream sequence after dream sequence where you only know it's a dream when the final big jump scare happens and the character wakes up. This is very lazy film making, yes the odd dream sequence is ok and heightens the tension but to do it on four occasions is really pushing it. There are much better ways to scare the audience. Luckily though the final act is a huge step up as the back-story to Mama is revealed and she really makes her presence felt. The tension is really ramped up as are the scares due to plenty of frightening visuals. The ending is decent enough although I can't help but feel it could have been done better.

In the end Mama is a slightly above average horror film let down it's lazy second act. It's essentially a story about a woman growing into her job as a mother as well as a horror story about a malevolent spirit. There are some frightening visuals and excellent sound production but if the second act was as good as the third then it would have been a real stand out.

7/10

The Tattooist (2007)

The Tattooist is a horror film that I heard about a few years ago but never managed to see it. I noticed while browsing Netflix that it was available to view so I decided to give it a watch. I shouldn't have.

The story follows a tattoo artist named Jake who steals an ancient tattoo implement from a group of Samoan artists and accidentally cuts himself with the wooden tool. This causes him to unwittingly unleash an ancient spirit that seems hell bent on killing anyone who Jake has tattooed since cutting himself. Jake must figure out what's going on and try to save the new love of his life Sina from suffering a harrowing death.

The first 45 minutes or so of The Tattooist follows Jake as he travels around various tattoo exhibitions with the only interesting scene involving the Samoans and the taking of the tool. The actual main plot involving the spirit doesn't get going until the final half an hour which is actually an enjoyable 30 minutes of horror as various characters get killed off the spirit is suitably menacing. It just makes you wonder why the director couldn't have gotten the spirit to show up earlier and done away with a lot of the needless filler. Jason Behr as Jake is also incredibly annoying with his acting range limited to him looking broody. The CGI effects are well done and the film looks good but it's the inordinate amount of filler that ruins this film.

The Tattooist is a film with an original idea that could have turned out very well but instead the director was too interested in showing us the world of tattooing and various people getting tattooed rather than letting the spirit be the main focus of the film. The final half hour is good fun but wading through the previous hour to get there is not.

5/10

The Bay (2012)

The Found Footage style of film-making seems to divide people on whether or not it is a valid form of film-making or simply a gimmick. I would fall somewhere in the middle, when it is done right it can be a very effective genre and really add a sense or realism to the proceedings. When it's done badly though it's almost unwatchable. Luckily The Bay falls into the former category and ends up being quite an effective film.

The story is based in a small town in Maryland, America where an ecological disaster occurs which causes much of the towns population to suffer serious boils on their skin and to eventually succumb to a painful death. The US Government has tried to cover up the disaster but a student journalist has gathered together her own footage and various other sources of footage of the outbreak and released it online. The film is this footage put together to show what really happened on the day in question.

The Bay is directed by Barry Levinson who is quite a big name director to use the found footage style. He originally wanted to create a documentary to highlight the threat an ecological disaster would cause but instead decided to go down this route as it afforded him more dramatic license to portray the events. I have to admit that the documentary would have portrayed his message much better but The Bay is certainly the more entertaining way to do things. The story is told through news footage, police cameras, handheld camcorders and CCTV footage. It's very well made as we are slowly introduced to the scare by looking at the footage of two biologists and once the disaster hits then we the pace is ramped up as we see the carnage it causes, There are some nice horror moments and the effects are excellent thorughout but perhaps the scariest thought is that it's feasible for something like this to actually happen and the message that we should look after the environment is very well realised by the film.

The Bay is an eco-horror film with a strong message that is entertaining and well made. A documentary would have been able to provide much more detail but this found footage film is still a powerful reminder of what could go wrong if we mess with the environment.

7/10

A little Bit Zombie (2012)

Just a short review for this one as it's certainly more of a comedy film than a horror.

A Little Bit Zombie is a low budget comedy/horror film about a group of four people who travel to a cabin the wood for a little get away. One of them is bitten by a mosquito that has recently feasted on a zombie and so he is slowly starting to feel the effects of turning into a zombie and so gets an overwhelming urge to eat brains. He must also try and live with his bridezilla to be as his friends to try and help him with his condition.

It's very much a hit and miss film. Some of the jokes are genuinely funny while other fall very flat. The entire town of the film is very cheesy from start to finish and it's clear that the director had no intention of trying to scare the viewer but rather to make them laugh. There are some nice practical effects and some decent gore and the film has to be given credit for trying to so something different with the extremely tired zombie genre but having someone slowly turn into a zombie.

There is just the right amount of comedy and original ideas to make A Little Bit Zombie worth your time. Give this low budget film a watch, you might just enjoy it.

5.5/10

Evil Dead (2013)

As far as remakes go, this Fede Alvarez directed and Sam Raimi produced film based on his own original has been getting solid reviews right across the board. With this in mind I was quite looking forward to giving it a look and I went in with my expectations raised somewhat. Unfortunately, for me anyway, it wasn't as good as I expected and I left a little underwhelmed.

The main plot is almost identical to the original barring a couple of slight changes and the absence of the Ash character from the original; a group of five friends travel to remote cabin in the woods in order to help one of the group to kick a drug habit. They find a strange book closed with barbed wire in the basement along with a number of dead cats. One of the group decides to open the book and despite the numerous warnings contained withing, utters a chant that releases and Evil spirit that begins to possess and kill of each of them in gruesome ways. They must try to decipher the book which will help them to rid themselves of the malevolent presence.

What made the original so good despite it's extremely low budget was the unique blend of comedy and horror that worked perfectly. The film was both genuinely funny but also genuinely frightening while also being very gory for it's time. This remake has decided to play it completely straight and do away with the comedy elements and instead aiming for an out and out horror film. The problem is that it just isn't frightening, not one little bit. Alvarez has simply made a completely gore soaked film that admittedly has some terrific gory scenes with top class practical effects but very little effort was made to try and scare the audience. There is even a near complete lack of loud noise scares making the film entirely devoid of scares. Now this doesn't mean it's a bad film, in fact it's great fun and the decision to only use practical effects really worked in it's favor but as an Evil Dead film it doesn't quite fit bill.

Evil Dead is an entertaining film but comes nowhere near the quality of the original. I can't help but feel it should have been made as a stand alone film with nothing to do with the Evil Dead franchise and maybe it would have receive more credit. Do give it a watch though as it is still good gory fun.

6/10

Tindie wrote: »

I hope Carrie remake is better

The trailer looks awful, I have very low expectations for it.

Hatchet 3 (2013)

A very poor and disappointing sequel to the reasonably popular slasher series featuring the deformed hatchet wielding killer Victor Crowley. Alarm bells should immediately start ringing when you realise that creator and director of the first two films Adam Green is only producing this one and it's safe to say that this is purely a money making exercise. The acting is poor throughout although that is never huge a problem in films like this but the script truly is terrible, the gore effects have seriously diminished in quality and there is a half an hour in the middle where very little happens. When Crowley is on screen it picks up a little but the kills are very uninteresting and the whole film is just a disappointment. This could be the end of the series.

4/10

Would You Rather (2012)

This is a film that not many people have heard about and if they have they could be forgiven for thinking that it is yet another Saw rip off. 8 people in desperate need of help are invited to a dinner party by a shady club where they are told a game will be played and the winner will have all of their problems solved. They are not informed what the game will be but all are so desperate that they show up anyway. It turns out (unsurprisingly) that the 8 of them are forced to play a sick game of "would you rather" a childs game where you are given a choice between the things and must pick one to do. These choices become increasingly more macabre and violent with the eventual planned outcome of only one person standing at the end.

Yes it is a horror film that is based around torture and very little scares but it does flag some interesting moral choices throughout and begs the question what would you do given the choice. It's well made and acted but does suffer from a slow pace at times and a predictable outcome. It is a somewhat original idea, especially when compared to other Saw type knockoffs and it does manage to make you think a bit at the end. Certainly no masterpiece but this is worth a watch.

6/10

The Conjuring (2013)

The Conjuring is without doubt this years biggest horror film release having already taken over $100m in the US alone. Directed by James Wan of Saw and Insidious fame, the plot is based on a famous case investigated by true life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren where a family was being terrorised by a dark presence within their secluded farmhouse.

First thing is first, the Conjuring has every single horror cliche you can imagine in there somewhere and really offers absolutely nothing new. That being said everything it does it manages to do very well and there is a real sense of terror permeating throughout. The final half an hour is very intense and wonderfully shot and there plenty of creepy moments and jump scares that will catch out all but the seasoned horror film watcher. Unfortunately I fall into this category so I could see the majority of the scares coming but it was still an engaging, well acted and well filmed horror film that the average horror film watcher will love. The fact that it has done so well can only be a good thing for the horror genre. Expect the inevitable sequel some time soon.

8/10

Dark Skies (2013)

Dark Skies is a film I managed to miss when it was in cinemas despite wanting to see it and although this is very much a by the book horror film despite the inclusion of it manages to be an entertaining watch with a solid ending.

The plot follows the Barrett family whose idyllic suburban life is thrown out of whack by a series of disturbing events which eventually leads them to realise that something is after there son and wants to take him for itself. There are all the usual horror elements such as loud noise scares etc but there is some every effective use of imagery throughout and the plot is done well enough to hold your attention throughout. The ending is also a brave one and doesn't take the usual Hollywood route. If your looking for some solid entertainment despite not doing anything overly new than Dark Skies is a film worth watching.

7/10

Under The Bed (2012)

Under The Bed is the latest film from Steven C. Miller who seems to be have 3 or 4 films out a year these days. It's clear that he was trying to produce an 80's style kids horror film as the plot is about a monster that lives under the bed of a young boy, a bed to used to be used by his older brother. Nobody believes the two boys that a monster lives under there so it's up the the two to try and defeat it before it can cause some serious harm. The first 50 minutes or so are excellent as it's full of mystery and intrigue with Miller only offering hints as to what is going on. It's when the actual monster shows up that the film goes downhill rapidly with some dodgy effects and questionable story choices. There aren't many scares to be found here but it does get a little gory near the end which makes you wonder who the target audience for this film actually is. An eerie and entertaining opening 50 minutes is unhinged by a poor final act but I have certainly seen worse film, Millers previous film Silent Night being one of them.

5.5/10

The Seasoning House (2012)

The Seasoning House is an intense and violent horror revenge film that tells the story of a deaf mute girl who is imprisoned within a house with multiple other young girls that are prostituted out to clients. Her task is to clean and bring the other girls food but she strikes up a friendship with one of the newly captured girls by accessing her room through various crawl spaces. When fate brings the men that murdered her family and captured her to the house, she begins enact a violent plan of revenge with a seriously bloody conclusion.

So there is nothing particularly new about The Seasoning House, the revenge tale has been told countless times before. Credit must therefore be given to director Paul Hyett for managing to create a film that seems fresh despite this and one that will entertain you from start to finish, The film wastes no time in getting straight into the action and never really lets up until the end. It is very well shot with bleak sets and a real foreboding atmosphere. Once the revenge segment kicks off it is very violent but never over the top, there is plenty for gore fans to enjoy here. In the end The Seasoning House is a film does what it intends to do very well despite being nothing new. It's violent, intense and entertaining and is well worth your time.

7/10

The ABC's Of Death (2012)

The concept behind this film is an interesting one; 26 different directors are each given a letter of the alphabet and they must come up with a word beginning with that later and create a short film based on that word. As you can imagine this films are very short considering 26 of them must fit inside a 2 hour run time which for me is ultimately why the film fails.

There is no point beating around the bush, there were only 3 segments that I enjoyed with the vast majority of the others being awful. Far too many of them try to be artsy and obscure instead of trying to tell a simple story. I was painfully bored for the vast majority of the film and couldn't wait for it to end. A sequel has already been given the go ahead so there are people that enjoyed this but it definitely wasn't for me.

2.5/10

Static (2012)

Static is a straight to DVD horror film that actually features some reasonably well known actors including Milo Ventimiglia and Sara Paxton. The plot features a husband and wife who are trying to get over the death of their child. A mysterious woman shows up at their secluded home in the middle of the claiming she is been stalked by a group of men. Said group eventually show up and try to get into the house but all is not as it seems.

On the face of it, Static is your run of the mill home invasion film. Two things manage to set it apart from others though; the first one is that for the majority of its running time it is painfully boring with very little in the way of action, gore, suspense etc which is eventually all explained by the second reason, an awful twist that the vast majority of people would have figured out long before its revealed. I really am becoming a little fed up with writers that come up with a twist ending and then try to write a film to suit that ending. Static is one of those films and it just doesn't work on most levels. The acting is fine and it's shot well enough it's just the lack of any real suspense and an obvious twist ending that make this one not worth your time.

3.5/10

Dark Circles (2013)

Dark Circles is the first of the "After Dark Originals 2" films to be released. Unfortunately the original part of that title doesn't quite ring true for Dark Circles. The plot follows a couple who decide to move out to the countryside after the birth of their new child. Once they get there they realise that construction work is happening right next door and coupled with the baby crying non-stop throughout the night they both begin to suffer from sleep deprivation. To make matters worse they both seem to be suffering from visions of the same woman who seems to be taking an unnatural interest towards the child.

First things first, not a lot happens in Dark Circles. Most of the films is spent dealing with the couples sleep deprivation problems with the very odd vision of the woman thrown into the mix. After you see her the first couple of times, any potential frightening aspect is lost due to seeing her far too often. Nothing really happens until the final ten minutes when we find out what's really going on. This isn't to say that Dark Circles is a bad film, it's well acted and well made and does have an interesting idea but it's just not all that compelling and just plods along without really grabbing your attention. Everything about it is average and you're left wanting a whole lot more.

5/10

The Dyatlov Pass Incident (Devils Pass) (2013)

The found footage genre seem to be a love it or hate style of film making but I have always maintained that when it's done right it can be a very effective way to make a horror film. Not many "known" directors try their hand at the genre so it was with some surprise that I found out that Rene Harlin would be directing a found footage film with that film being The Dyatlov Pass Incident. Despite the films faults, I'm glad that he did.

The plot based upon The Dyatlov Pass mystery where a group of Russians were found dead in the Russian wilderness with no explanation for what happened. A group of Americans decide to film a documentary about the incident and head out to where it happened. Obviously they find much more than they bargained for.

First of all the film is very well shot. Despite it being found footage it still loves great, particularly the Russian wilderness which looks beautiful. It's well acted for the most part and it in no way relies on cheap scares that most found footage horror films rely on. Perhaps it takes a little while to get into the meat of the story and there will be people who think that the plot is a little too out there but there some very tense moments throughout and it never fails to keep you entertained. The ending itself will make you think a little which is always a good thing. I can't give away any more of the plot but it's suffice to say that Harlin has created a horror/thriller film that is well worth your time.

7/10