Mayhem: Corporate Is A Killer

Mayhem is horror comedy film directed by Joe Lynch. The plot sees hard working office worker Derek (Steven Yuen), trying to reclaim his job amidst a pandemic outbreak. This pathogen breaks down people’s inhibitions and makes them give into their baser impulses including lust and murder. In a very Raid esque way, Derek and pissed off client Melanie (Samara Weaving), have to beat/kill each one of the important office figures to get their key cards allowing them to get to the top of the building and plead their respective cases.

This film is excellent, it manages to tap into to that inner anger that anyone who has ever worked a job they hate has within them, pure rage. This becomes a nice undertone to the film that when coupled with the copious amounts of gore throughout the film feels almost primal.

The gore is top notch, it feels like punctuation to a bloody point, never does it feel needless or gratuitous it feels just right. My favourite kill in the whole film is when they disembowel ‘The Reaper’ when a handsaw, it is so unexpected and well done it made me laugh with gory glee.

Both Yuen and Weaving are on top form here, Yuen is believable as a man pushed to the edge. He manages to be easy to root for despite all the bad things he does throughout the film, more over Derek’s voice over also leads to many hilarious moments that are genuinely funny and sharp.

Weaving once again proves that not only is she a great upcoming talent, but also a budding action heroine. She has great on-screen chemistry with Yuen and the two make for a great pair, I would love to see them in more together. Weaving plays the role of Melanie with the same metal charm as she has shown in her other big screen performances thus far and every second of her performance here is magnificent.

Overall, this film has a really frustrated feel to it, it feels angry at the world and it is a hell of a watch. We go on a journey with these characters and the ending feels very satisfying definitely worth the watch.

Pros.

Yuen and Weaving are both fantastic.

It has a great angry energy to it.

The gore is spectacular.

The ending feels satisfying.

Cons.

It does get a little repetitive towards the end.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Hills Have Eye: Keep On Driving

The Hills Have Eyes is a horror film directed by Wes Craven. The plot sees a family traveling through the desert on their way to California, when they stop midway through their trip they come under attack from a group of cannibalistic murders a battle for survival quickly ensues.

This was my first time watching this film and I am pleased to say it holds up well, it was frightening and menacing throughout and best of all it had a constant sense of dread that would not let up. Right from the first scene of the film you realise that something is wrong, then it builds and builds throughout. The moment when Beauty, the dog is killed, made me sit up and take notice

This film makes you wonder just who is out there, could there really be cannibals in the hills? All of the savage cannibals are terrifying, but Jupiter (James Witworth), was perhaps the most unsettling. The moment when Jupiter nails Big Bob Carter (Russ Grieve), the father of the family, to a makeshift cross it truly shows you just how evil these people are and perfectly illustrates what is to come. I liked the fact that they took the time to explain Jupiter’s backstory I thought it made him more rounded as a character.

I thought the choice to have most of the heroes be horribly inept, expect for when they manage to kill Jupiter in the end and instead have Beast, the other dog, be the one that picks off most of the baddies, is almost wonderfully comical. I would guess that it is not supposed to be humorous, but seeing this dog destroying this some what organised/experienced killer family one by one could be a film in and of itself.

The thing I like the most about this film is the fact that it feels stand alone, the ending neatly wraps everything up without too many lose threads. Of course there was a sequel, but it feels like this film closes the arc, which is how films should be, you shouldn’t have to watch another film to know how the last film ended.

Overall there is a reason that this is a horror masterpiece, a must watch for sure, Craven is a master of the genre.

Pros.

Beast the dog.

The explanation and backstory.

It has great atmosphere.

Everyone is giving great performances.

Cons.

Some of it almost feels comical and that is not great for a horror film.

4.5/5

Night Of The Demons: Music, Dancing and Demonic Possession

Night Of The Demons is a supernatural horror film directed by Kevin S. Tenney. The plot sees a group of teens head to Hull House for a Halloween party, once the music gets going and the drinks start flowing, things take a turn for the worse as one by one the teens are possessed by demons and the possessed and the non-possessed must do battle and only one can survive.

This is peak 1980’s horror, it is gory, scary and ridiculously over the top. It reminded me in a lot of ways of other 80’s horror films like Evil Dead and Fright Night. I think that one of the things that 80’s horror films do better than a lot of horror films now is they focus on atmosphere rather than cheap jump scares.

The atmosphere of Night Of The Demons is harsh and oppressive, but it also has an underlying campiness that seemed to underscore every horror film released in the 1980’s. What’s more the choice to have it all take place in the funereal home and not allow the characters to leave adds a nice sense of claustrophobia to the film.

Like many other 80’s films this film takes its more adult themes to an extreme the gore, the nudity, the horror are all constant and frequent, so if you’re easily offended maybe don’t watch this. I enjoyed this aspect of the film, it reminded me of B movies, which makes it great genre fun.

As well as the atmosphere, there are quite a few good scares in this film that help to offset some of the comedic aspect and push this firmly into the horror category. There are moments in this film that are genuinely haunting.

Overall, this might not be to everyone’s test, but if you like cheap B movie esque horror fun than it is more than worth the watch. A more extreme Evil Dead!

Pros.

80’s horror fun.

It has a great atmosphere.

It has some genuinely great scares.

B movie charm.

Cons.

A bit gratuitous at times.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke.

Stitches: Clowning Around

Stitches is an Irish comedy horror film directed by Conor McMahon. The plot revolves around a Clown (Ross Nobel), who dies during a performance because of the actions of a group of children. 6 years later he rises from the grave, to finish his performance and get his revenge.

This film had been in my periphery for some time, but I hadn’t seen it until just the other day, clown horror is usually quite hit or miss for me, though I do have a fear of clowns. The new IT films didn’t do much for me, I preferred the miniseries, however this and Clown from a few years ago, I believe are excellent clown horror, and capture both the demented fun of clowns, but also their underlying creepiness.

The horror in this film is quite good Stitches, the clown, is scary and menacing at times, obviously it is played more for laughs and often Stitches is more ridiculously over the top than scary. The gore is fantastic and you can tell a lot of hard work went into it, this film seems to revel in it’s gory spectacle and as such there is a lot of gore on display here, everything from seeing someone gentiles cut off, to someone getting their head blown up like a balloon and then bursting. The gore never feels gratuitous, or wince inducing as it is clearly comedic.

The comedy in this film is also spot on, this is the area where Ross Nobel really shines. The dark gallows humour works really well, but so does the more surreal jokes, they all land and this film manages to be both scary and funny; this film should be a template for how to do comedy horror, as it doesn’t sacrifice one for the other.

The young cast are all serviceable enough and the will they wont they love story between Tom (Tommy Knight) and Kate (Gemma Lean Devereux), is sweet and touching. However none of this matter as this is Stitches’ (Ross Nobel’s), film and every second he is on screen is a treat.

Overall, one of the best films I have seen recently a definite must watch if you haven’t already!

Pros.

Ross Nobel.

The Comedy.

The Horror.

The wider clown mythology.

The sweet romance.

Cons.

None

5/5

Dead Hooker In The Trunk: A Canadian Badass

Dead Hooker In A Trunk is a horror film directed by the Soska Sisters. The film revolves around a corpse that ends up in the trunk of Badass’ (Sylvia Soska) car. She can’t be sure whether or not she was involved in the death, so she decides to bury the body with the help of her sister Geek (Jen Soska), a young christen man called Goody Two Shoes (C.J Wallis) and her friend junkie (Rikki Gagne).

The Soska Sisters are probably my favourite horror directors, they have yet to make a bad film, even See No Evil 2 was better for their involvement. I have seen all their films barring their first, which as of the time of writing I have just seen and am now writing about.

The reason why I love this film so much is because of the grindhouse esque, exploitation feel of it, it reminded me in a lot of ways of the early work of Robert Rodriguez, which is high praise indeed. The gore was fantastically over the top and messy, the bit when Geek gets hit in the back of the head and her eye comes out made me both laugh and cheer it was fantastic.

Both of the sisters are fantastic in their roles, they were easily my favourite characters in the film and stood head and shoulder above everyone else, though Goody Two Shoes is also hilarious and has some great lines. I for one think Sylvia Soska makes for a very believable action star and all of her action sequences are really well done.

Moreover, the romantic subplot between Geek and Goody Two Shoes really warmed by heart, I have always been in favour of a good romance in horror films and this one is pitch perfect.

The one issue I had with the film was that the ending was out of synch, the audio and the video didn’t move at the same time and it was jarring and it took me out of it, however, I won’t mark the film down for this as it might not have been the fault of the film it might have been my internet at fault.

Overall, much like the Sisters other work this film is a triumph, simply superb.

Pros.

The gore.

The grindhouse feel.

The Soska Sisters are great.

The action and scope is impressive.

The romantic subplot.

Cons.

None.

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Furies: Killing In The Name Of

The Furies is a horror thriller film directed by Tony D’ Aquino. The plot sees Kayla (Airlie Dodds), be abducted and taken to a battle ground where young women are forced to fight mutant looking men, what’s more each woman is paired with one mutant as a protector, so it is not only a battle between the women and the mutant, but also a battle between the women themselves as well as between the mutants themselves.

I have a series of issues with this film that made me loss interest quickly and want to turn it off.

Firstly, a lot of it makes no sense, things just kind of happen without any rhyme or reason and they aren’t explained. The very first scene of the film is what I thought was a flashforward, but it never seems to appear in the film, and it makes me think, what is it, is it a misplaced scene or something?

Secondly, none of the characters are likable they seem to do everything they can to be as unlikeable as possible, like Kayla herself is prepared to let every single girl in the game die, just so she can find her friend. Yes, not every character needs to be likable, but there is not one character you can root for in this film.

Thirdly, the ending when Kayla gets out of the game and tries to hunt down the men who are responsible for the slaughter is better than the film itself. If this film ever got a sequel, I would like to guess that it would be far better as the premise alone would be infinitely better. The ending is for sure the best bit of the whole film and that it only practically because it is the end.

Finally, the constant references to evil men and the patriarchy becomes a bit jarring and dated after a point, a lot of the time they aren’t actually referring to the men that are hunting them down and killing them rather just men in general, which strikes me as odd, but no doubt it was in an effort to seem trendy.

Overall, this film is painfully average, it doesn’t make sense and it is hard to watch.

Pros.

The ending.

Cons.

It is hard to watch.

It is repetitive.

It tries too hard to be trendy.

None of it makes sense.

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Preservation: The Deadliest Prey Of All

Preservation is a horror thriller film directed by Christopher Denham. The plot sees young couple Wit (Wrenn Schmidt) and Mike (Aaron Staton) as well as Mike’s veteran brother Sean (Pablo Schreiber), go on a hunting trip, however once they get to the woods, they realise that they are the ones being hunted and a battle for survival ensues.

I have had a run of bad luck recently with the films I have seen, maybe I need to change my viewing habits I don’t know, but of a bad bunch Preservation is probably the best. Though there is very little new on display here, it is about as formulaic and generic as you can get, it is passable as horror comfort food, hollow and meaningless, but entertaining all the same.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Pablo Schreiber’s name come up in the credits, I think he has a great stage presence and is defiantly a young actor to watch. He is great when he is on screen, he plays the veteran who can’t readjust to society type of character, he wants to go and live out in the woods off the grid, the character lacks any kind of nuance and is really just an easy stereotype, but Schreiber plays him well.

It is a shame he is killed off within the first half an hour of the film.

I didn’t really like or care about any of the other characters so that was were I checked out really.

The only positive I will say of this film is I thought the kills were good, they were suitably gory and intense and had a nice weight to them that made them seem impactful. I thought the violence of this film was very visceral and well done, it never reached a point for me where I think it went too far.

I think the twist at the end where it turned out the people hunting the main character were just a group of kids didn’t really do much for me, if it was meant to add depth, or raise moral questions it didn’t do either of those things for me.

Overall, it is a passable watch if you have nothing else to watch, however it is not good just merely average.

Pros.

Pablo Schreiber.

It is entertaining enough.

Cons.

You don’t care about the film or the characters really.

It is dull.

It has been done better before.

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Bodom: Teen Angst and Killers

Bodom is a Finnish horror film directed by Taneli Mustonen. The film is inspired by, but not based on the real-life Lake Bodom murders in the 1960’s. The plot of the film revolves around 4 young people who go out to the forest to try and figure out what really happened all those years ago and surprise surprise things go poorly.

This is a weird film; I don’t know whether it is because of cultural differences or if it is just poorly made. It goes from a slasher film to a teen drama, for a surprisingly large amount of time, and then back to a kind of slasher film again in the end. It doesn’t work as the different elements don’t go together well.

The characters aren’t likeable either, they all seem to be bad people just to different degrees. The lead girl approves the killing of two boys because someone told her that one of them had taken nude pictures of her and spread them around, she didn’t ask to see the pictures, she has been told that they don’t even exist and yet she still goes forward with the killing; because that makes sense.

As a horror film it is not really scary, it feels angsty, it feels like a teen drama and it makes me think has it been mislabelled as a horror film? The other girl only went ahead with the killings to get rid of the main girls new boyfriend because she was worried she was going to lose her, and it all feels like a bizarre love triangle that would be more at home in a teen tv show like Riverdale than a supposedly serious horror film.

Overall, this is just a clash of a film, none of the elements work well together and it just feels jarring to watch. I wanted to watch a slasher film, but this really isn’t one, it was not only a disappointment but also a slog to sit through.

Pros.

It has an interesting concept.

Cons.

It doesn’t work.

It is boring.

The characters are intensely unlikable.

The twist midway through serves to ruin it.

1/5.

Torment: The Savagery Of Children Today

Torment is a Canadian horror film directed by Jordan Baker. The plot sees newlyweds Sarah (Katherine Isabelle) and Cory (Robin Dunne) go to Cory’s country house with his 7-year-old son for some family time. However, when they get there, they see that something is wrong, something is deeply wrong, and it only gets worse from there as masked killers begin to plague the family.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with this film, you know it is a promising film when the review starts off like that, but you have seen it a million times before and done better. This film as I affectionately named it is The Strangers without any of the charm, or a dumb version of You’re Next.

Everything that happens in this film is predictable and lazy, the scares, the kills, the story structure it is all just aggressively average. The only praise I can afford this film is that the killers look cool, their masks which are made out of the sons stuffed toys, why who knows, look frightening and I will give them credit for that.

However, that is where the compliments end.

The son in this film is the worst, yes, it is easy to go on about how terrible child actors are, so I won’t do it too much, but I don’t think the issues with the character were the young actor’s fault. The issues with the character are that he is intensely unlikable, I get that his mum died and in his own way he feels like Sarah is replacing his mum, but the way he talks to Sarah the things he says, he could easily be the villain of the film. I was waiting for the moment at the end of the film where he defected to the psycho family, but sadly they went with a soppier ending.

Another issue I have with this film is that it has a fascination with it’s leading lady, to a pervy uncomfortable degree, in the beginning especially Sarah is either coming out of the shower or in the throws of sex with her husband. It does not feel done with any intention other than to objectify the lead actress and it makes you feel dirty watching it.

Overall, this film is just dull, predictable and incapable of offering anything new. It doesn’t seem to understand human interaction, or not to be creepy either, so yeah don’t watch this.

Pros.

The masks are cool.

Cons.

It is repetitive.

It is played out.

The kid wants his step mum dead and behaves in a way no one would.

It is creepy and pervy.

1/5.

Reviewed by Luke

Hell House LLC 3: The Big Finale

Hell House LLC 3 is a found footage horror film also serving as the final film in the Hell House LLC series, carrying on from the events of the previous 2 films. The plot this time around sees the Abaddon Hotel being opened up to the public once again, with the malicious idea behind it being to trap innocent souls in hell, however, there is a twist.

After the ending of the last film this film had a lot to live up to, and until the final 10 minutes I would have said it didn’t. The majority of the film is pretty standard a group of people go to the Abaddon Hotel increasingly threatening spooky stuff happens until they all die. I don’t know about you, but I was expecting more after the ending of the second film, I thought we might get to see demons or at least more of the cult, but we don’t get that, and I was disappointed.

However, the final ridiculous reveals is not only awesome, but it singly handily saves the film. This reveal is that Russell Wynn (Gabriel Chytry), a mysterious millionaire who has been mentioned several times in the series, but never actually appeared is in fact an Angel. Throughout the film we the audience are led to believe that there is something off about Russell that had to do with his car accident years ago, I incorrectly assumed he was going to be a demon or maybe even the Devil himself; how wrong I was.

This film reveals that only an angel can close an Earthly portal to Hell, and that God himself brought Russell back from the dead as an Angel so he could get to the Abaddon Hotel portal and close it, there is a montage showing Russell being there for all the main events of the series and it really helps to create an epic conclusion.

I also really liked Russell’s interactions with the original films cast who show up at the end as ghost who Russell tells to move on, saying he closed the portal they opened. The whole Russell twist is just fantastic on so many levels.

Overall, this film takes the trilogy out with one Hell of a bang. Marvellous stuff.

Pros.

Russell.

The Ending.

The recontextualization of the whole series.

Strong characters/ memorable moments.

Cons.

The editing is a little jarring.

The film before the big reveal is a bit disappointing.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke