Monday, November 20, 2006

The Hamiltons (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

The Hamiltons

A modern-day family of vampires tries to fit in with normal society. After the death of their parents, they struggle to keep the family together and avoid revealing their secret, all the while they thirst for more victims. One of the kids in the family is at that age where he's questioning who he is and what his place in the world is, and he has to grapple with the truth of his nature, and whether or not to reveal the family's secret.

I thought this was a very enjoyable movie. There was a lot of drama, and the characters were fun to get to know. Plus, you're trying to figure out all the while what exactly is wrong with this family and whether or not the one kid will turn them in. It's like American Beauty with vampires. And these vampires aren't your cliche vampires, either. They're almost perfectly normal. Except the one girl does wear a lot of goth makeup, but that's not unusual in this day and age either. Overall, it was a very entertaining movie, and definitely not a typical vampire flick.

Reasons for banning: Honestly, there doesn't really seem to be much to keep this movie from normal channels. There are obviously some bloody scenes - more bloody than gory. And you've got people held captive and treated like cattle, but it's nowhere near as graphic or disturbing as a movie like Hostel. And then there's the scene where the twins kiss. Nothing really that bad, though.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Penny Dreadful (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

Penny Dreadful

A teenage girl, who has been deathly afraid of riding in cars ever since a childhood accident that killed her parents, is encouraged by her therapist to face her fears and take a road trip of sorts. It's just her luck when they nearly run over a lone hitchhiker in the middle of the woods. To compensate for nearly killing him, the therapist agrees to give him a ride to the camp he claims he was headed for. Unfortunately for the duo, the hitchhiker is an escaped mental patient (aren't they all?) fresh off a killing spree at a local diner, and he won't be satisfied until he kills a few more. Even more unfortunate for Penny, the hitchhiker caught enough of the conversation in the car that he knows about Penny's fear, and uses it to torture her psychologically all night long. Penny must face her fears if she has any chance of escaping this nightmare alive.

This was an intense movie. Certainly the kind that would cause some people to be on the edge of their seats for the duration. The great thing is that the fear is so psychological, as opposed to the physical fear that's become so common. The plot might sound a little dry (picking up a murderous hitchhiker, having to overcome fears to survive), but this movie really delivers its order. You can feel Penny's various stages of panic. Plus, the hitchhiker was great. He was really creepy, with his coat, and the hood that covered his face, the way he rarely spoke, and the skewer of bloody meat that he ate from...really a creepy character, but with a certain kind of personality - not just your generic hitchhiking murderer. Plus, you really felt that he was a sadistic bastard, the way he tortured Penny psychologically instead of just killing her off right away. This was a great movie, even though the ending was a little open-ended. Definitely an exciting movie-going experience.

Reasons for banning: I can't really say for sure that anything specific in this movie would have necessarily got it banned from a regular theatrical run. It was pretty heavy on the psychological horror the whole way through, so it feels like a dense scare, and that may have something to do with it. The only possible detail that I feel may have garnered a response from censors would be the potential attempted suicide. "Don't try this at home, kids!"

The Abandoned (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

The Abandoned

Two twins, abandoned and separated at a very young age, both find their way back to their house of birth in a remote forest in Russia, 40 years later, searching for information about their parents and their roots. However, the truth behind their abandonment could turn out to be something they'd be better off not knowing. They become stuck in this house, which is haunted by memories of the past tragedy, and get to meet their doppelgangers, the presence of which alludes to their own impending demise. When they discover the horror they escaped from as infants, will they be able to change their own fate, or will they be able to escape at all?

I really enjoyed this movie. The plot was very complicated, which kept you thinking and wondering about things, and the style of the movie was very beautiful and very creepy. A lot of this movie just gave me a feeling of the atmosphere of Silent Hill, especially the decrepit condition of the abandoned house - it was like Silent Hill without monsters, except for the doppelgangers. And speaking of which, I'm a huge fan of the doppelganger legend, and I was very excited to find out that this movie featured a couple of them. The ending was very exciting, and there was seriously a lot going on. It was hard to put everything together, but I think I was able to get the important ideas. Overall, I think this movie was fantastic and is my pick for the best movie of Horrorfest so far.

Reasons for banning: There were a lot of graphic ideas in this movie, including at least one unusually disgusting death, as well as infant-related violence, which I think would be the strongest reason this movie would be considered too extreme for a regular run.

The Gravedancers (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

The Gravedancers

The name pretty much describes it. Three old college buddies mourn the death of the fourth member of their circle of friends, and in the process, they get liquored up and go dancing over the graves of a sadomasochist, a pyromaniac, and an axe murderer. Unfortunately for them, an old Pagan curse causes the souls that have been disrespected to haunt the fellows who chose to celebrate life that night. They seek out a couple of parapsychologists to try to find a way to keep the unfriendly ghosts from killing them before the curse wears out.

I enjoyed this movie, it was fun and it had some genuinely creepy moments. The gravedancing scene was actually pretty good, as they had a pretty rocking song playing on the boombox that I could groove to (Thought I Was Dead by The Richmond Sluts). In the one scene with the writing on the wall around the doorway, I just knew something was gonna jump out of the doorway (cause your attention was being drawn to the writing, ya know?), but it still made me jump! There was a girl sitting down the row that actually screamed out at a part or two - I think that's the first time I've ever been in a theatre where someone actually screamed out! Also, when the parapsychologist was explaining the Pagan curse, it was weird but I totally predicted his exact words just before he said "a spell, a curse"...which was kind of cool for me. The one thing that really bugged me about this movie was the young female parapsychologist - she was just so annoying. Even regardless of that one particular incident, throughout the whole film she just seemed so snug, and trying to be hip or cool or funny or whatever. She was such a poser, and it bugged me. Otherwise, this was an enjoyable film.

Reasons for banning: I'm thinking the reasons would include a) the whole burial desecration subject matter, especially the scene where they actually dig up the dead, and b) the one throat slice which was specifically graphic and bloody, moreso than I recall these kind of scenes normally being.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Dark Ride (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

Dark Ride

You know those rides they have at carnivals and amusement parks, where you sit in a little moving seat that takes you through a dark, haunted house where creepy things jump out at you? That's the Dark Ride. In this movie, there's one particular Dark Ride in New Jersey that housed a rather brutal murderer that killed a couple of twins, prompting the ride to be shut down for twenty years or so. Just before its grand reopening, a bunch of idiot college co-eds decide to take a detour on their way to New Orleans for Spring Break, and spend a night in the abandoned Dark Ride. Unfortunately for them, the murderer recently escaped from the insane asylum and has come back to resume his old hobby of killing people.

I had kind of a love/hate relationship with this film as I watched it. The characters were morons, and their dialogue was asinine - basically, the only thing they had going for them was the fact that the hitchhiker was pretty hot. Lucky for me, the murderer was actually pretty intimidating, and the fact that most of the movie took place inside a dark and scary carnival ride allowed for a truly creepy setting. Flashing lights everywhere, creepy faces of all kinds, a labyrinth of halloween decorations. Truly a worthy setting for a slasher film. The murderer even donned a white (child-like) mask that made me think of Michael Myers from the Halloween films. I have to say, despite the idiot characters and their equally idiotic conversations, this was actually a pretty creepy film, and certainly more entertaining than watching Michael Myers break out of a mental institute to go on a murder spree yet again.

Reasons for banning: There was plenty of "rude" language and violence (including a disemboweled adolescent and a decapitated slut), a tad bit of nudity (not unappreciated), and even a little sexuality (implied offscreen), but my instincts tell me that the primary reason for 'hiding' this film from the public is the drug use. Not that it's heavy drugs or anything, just a little pot and maybe a few mushrooms. But it's right out there in the open, and I can imagine the narcs screening it and erupting into disfavor over a couple harmless scenes.

Unrest (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

Unrest

Two words sum this movie up pretty well: gross anatomy - from removing the ribcage, to swimming in a formaldehyde tank full of cadavers. Apparently, an archaeologist uncovered an Aztec sacrificial site, and became possessed by not only the god of fertility and prostitution, but also by the many tortured souls of those who were sacrificed there in the past. She dies somehow, and ends up in a medical school as a cadaver to be studied and examined by students. One of the students has premonitions about the possession of the cadaver, and people start getting killed in mysterious ways while she tries to figure out how to appease, or at least get rid of, the angered souls of the dead.

This movie was alright. It wasn't so much creepy or scary as it was gross, as I've already alluded to. There were some spiritual issues thrown in, since the one student who has premonitions is an atheist and has trouble making some decisions about what to believe when it comes to spirits of the dead. Nothing terribly deep or philosophical, though. The characters weren't too incredible, either, but maybe I just have a hard time empathizing with high-level medical students. I could empathize, however, with the general feelings the students had about their 'gross anatomy' class, that it was basically the primary nightmare in their medical education, an obstacle that had to be overcome. I also liked the motion-sensing lights in the hallway of the hospital, it made for a creepy atmosphere at times. All in all, it was an entertaining, but not incredible, movie.

Reasons for banning: I think the obvious reason that this movie would never get a regular run is generally the volume of material concerning cadavers. Cadaver nudity, graphic cadaver violence (cutting open a dead body), cadaver-related language and jokes, and the disturbing scene where two students decide to half-strip and take a swim in the formaldehyde-filled cadaver tank (I'm being unfair, they had a reason to dive in - maybe not a good reason, but a reason).

Rinne (2005)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

Rinne (a.k.a. Reincarnation)

A Japanese Horror film not unlike The Grudge (same director, in fact), this one seemed to me to be half Japanese ghost story, half The Shining, and half Night Of The Living Dead. About 35 years ago or so, a man killed eleven people staying in a hotel, including his family and himself. The only survivor was the wife. Now, a Japanese director is filming a movie based on this tragedy. The trick is, the murderer from the past tragedy was doing an experiment with reincarnation, and now all the poor souls alive today that were reincarnated from the souls of the 11 people killed are being drawn back to the hotel to die once again. And their souls are seeking vengeance on the person who inherited the soul of the murderer.

I enjoyed this movie. It was definitely better than The Grudge 2 which I saw recently, but to be fair, this one was in Japanese, and I saw The Grudge 2 in English. I really liked how it was sort of a story within a story, in that the movie was about making a movie based on a real life event (within the movie world). And then you had the parallels between the original tragedy and the reincarnated souls, so there was a lot of reciprocal story-telling going on that made the experience rather interesting. I also really enjoyed the ending. It took a bit of a turn, and the way it ultimately ended hit me in a kind of psychological way. I recommend it.

Reasons for banning: The only reason I can imagine this movie wouldn't get a regular run is because it's in Japanese. You don't see the Japanese versions of The Ring and The Grudge playing in most theatres, you see their English remakes. I thought it was thoroughly refreshing to see a Japanese movie at the theatres. Of course, I've had lots of practice reading subtitles.

After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For (2006)

Note: This review was originally posted on Myspace. I am reposting it here for archival purposes. It has been backdated to the date of its original posting.

Night 1: I saw the first three movies of Horrorfest tonight. It was fun, and the movies were pretty good. I've included brief descriptions and my reactions to each of the movies below. I've also included for each movie reasons I think that these particular movies might be considered too graphic for general audiences (and hence, why they're a part of Horrorfest).

Reincarnation
Unrest
Dark Ride

Night 2: I saw three more Horrorfest movies tonight. And once again, I've included brief descriptions and my reactions to each of the movies below (as well as reasons I think that these particular movies might be considered too graphic for general audiences). I'd like to say that the quality as well as the creepiness of the movies shown tonight were generally higher than the movies shown last night. But it's no surprise they'd save the better movies for Saturday night.

The Gravedancers
The Abandoned
Penny Dreadful

Night 3: Well, I just saw my last movie of Horrorfest. I regret not being able to see Wicked Little Things, but the schedule was earlier for Sunday and it was just too early for me. I do not, however, regret missing Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror.

The Hamiltons