Halloween (2018): Back In The Game

Halloween (2018) is a horror slasher film directed by David Gordon Green. This film acts as a soft reboot of the franchise, ignoring everything after the first John Carpenter Halloween film. The plot once again sees everyone’s favourite maniac breakout of the asylum and return to Haddonfield, to carry on his killing spree that he began 40 years ago. However, a face from his past has been waiting for him, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Laurie is now battle hardened and suffering from PTSD, her whole life has been dedicated to finishing Michael off when he inevitably returns.

This film is a return to form for the franchise, by ignoring all of the terrible sequels, and doing away with the convoluted backstory for Michael Myers, the film returns to its root and is all the scarier for it. The idea that Strode has not been able to move on after what happened to her all those years ago and has now become obsessed, not only makes sense, but is also a really interesting concept.

Despite now being an old man, in the film’s timeline, Michael Myers has some genuinely great scares, he is still the killing machine we all remember him to be. When he drops the handful of teeth over the toilet stall wall, that stayed with me long after I saw it. My one issue with how this film handles Michael Myers is the fake out when it looks like someone else is going to take over the mantle; lucky they get their face stood on by the man himself.

The whole film builds towards the showdown between Myers and Strode and it is safe to say that the final showdown is fantastically well done. It is tense and suspenseful, and you can tell that both parties are giving it their all and that this is the defining moment in their lives. It is nice to see three generations of Strode women fighting back again this man that has been terrorising their family for almost half a century. The final shot of the film seeing Michael Myers trapped in a house that is burning down and it finally looks as though this is the end for him, but of course with this being a slasher film it can’t be, and two more films have been announced.

Overall, after all the harm that had been done to the franchise over the years, it is nice to see a Halloween film that actually cares about the characters that John Carpenter created back in 1978. I loved the Rob Zombie films, but this is definitely a return to form for the series. I can’t wait for Halloween Kills, but at the same time I would like to see the series end.

Pros.

A great return to form.

Michael Myers is still scary.

The PTSD angle is a cool way to take it.

The final showdown is great.

Cons.

It should be the end.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

American Horror Story 1984: Summer Killing, Happened So Fast!

American Horror Story 1984 is the latest iteration of Ryan Murphy’s beloved horror TV series. The plot this time around is inspired by 80’s slashers like Friday The 13^th and Sleepaway Camp and sees a group of camp councillors, each with their own mysterious past, travel to Camp Redwood for the summer, only to be hunted down by various slashers; twists and turns ensue.

In the horror TV genre American Horror Story is a staple, I personally rewatch old seasons of the show quite often, it can be both horrifying and entertaining to watch like nothing else can. However, it is also a bi-polar show at times, as the seasons vary quite a bit in quality, different people will love different seasons of the show, but some are definitely better than others.

For me, this was a step up from something like Cult or Roanoke but was also a step down from the previous season of Apocalypse, but that was always going to be a hard season to follow. I think the big issue with 1984 was twofold. Firstly and most dire of the issues, is the fact that there really wasn’t enough story here to fill out the episode count, it could have worked for a few episodes and it did, but as the season went on it just got more and more ridiculous and they tried to stretch it out. The second issue is the fact that series veterans Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters both sat this season out, both of these actors are incredibly talent and bring a lot to the show, which is why their absences from this season leaves such a vacuum.

That isn’t to say the cast that are there don’t do a good job, Emma Roberts is okay, and Billie Lourd is superb, one greatly upstaging the other. What’s more returning actor Dylan McDermott does a lot with very little and makes the most out of his time on screen, he has great on-screen serial killer chemistry with Zach Villa who plays Richard Ramirez; I would have loved to see McDermott’s character be a young Bloody face but I guess it just wasn’t meant to happen. Also, Villa was terrific and would be a great new addition to the cast moving forward.

Overall, the season was good, not to the same level as some of the other seasons, by no means is it great, but it is also not terrible either it is very in-between, it most certainly isn’t rush out and watch it TV.

Pros.

Slasher horror.

Interesting take.

Zach Villa and Billie Lourd are fantastic.

Cons.

Not enough story there.

Missing veteran actors.

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Mandy: Hype Builds To A Letdown

Mandy is a horror thriller film directed by Panos Cosmatos. The plot follows Red (Nicolas Cage), a man who watches his girlfriend be murdered by a satanic cult, he then hunts down the cult members to extract revenge. This film is noted the as the film that started Nicolas Cage’s comeback and the film that ended his series of straight to DVD crap.

As someone who is a huge fan of Mr Cage I have been meaning to watch this film for a while, everyone I have heard talk about it seems to think it is some sort of transcendent experience, but I have to say I was deeply disappointed and utterly unsatisfied with it. I really feel like this is one of those sorts of films where it is down to personal taste, very much like Marmite some will love it others will hate it.

For me I disliked the fact that a lot of the film feels dragged out, we have a lot of scenes where no one does or says anything important and we just sit and listen to the techno synth soundtrack and I found that these scenes made this film boring to the point of being unwatchable. There were also a lot of scene where it is hard to make out quite what is going on, this isn’t helped by the fact that the film seems to be adverse to dialogue of any kind so there is little exposition to let you know what is happening.

As someone said to me recently this is the sort of film that is 100% better if you are not sober. It is so abstract and artsy that it borders the line of pretension, Mandy seems to think it is a much more intelligent film that it actually is; it is really not all that deep and the main reason people like it is because it is a horror film with Nicolas Cage being his usual menacing and manic self, not because it is a good film.

Overall, I think the concept is good and it is always a treat to see Cage on screen, but this film is unwatchable at times, it is so boring and dull and the abstract nature of a lot of the film only adds to this, making it infinity worse. Even as a diehard Nicolas Cage fan I didn’t like this!

Pros.

Good concept.

Nicolas Cage.

Cons.

It’s boring.

It thinks it is deeper than it actually is.

It is hard to finish.

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Channel Zero, Candle Cove: Looking In The Abyss

Channel Zero: Candle Cove is the first of Channel Zero’s horror anthology series, which draws heavily on popular creepypastas and internet folklore using them as inspiration for the show. Candle Cove follows Mike (Paul Schneider), a troubled man who returns to his own home to figure out the mystery of what happened to him and his brother when they were kids. The series revolves around Candle Cove a magical TV show that would just come on at random times of the day and is only visible to kids, the series is manic and disturbing and makes the kids who watch want to kill themselves and others and it is up to Mike to get to the bottom of it and stop it.

I haven’t seen all of the seasons of Channel Zero, only 1,2,3, and I have to say out of all of them this season is the strongest. There is something incredibly menacing about the puppets of Candle Cove, this is doubly so when they start appearing in the real world and start tormenting Mike and the others. Whether it is this or something like The Children of the Corn there is something deeply troubling about seeing little kids kill, a base thing that you know at the core of your being isn’t right, that makes this show all the scarier.

Most of the acting in this season is done well Schneider plays manic and disturbed really well and you never know whether you can trust him or not, he is an unreliable narrator throughout, but this adds to the sense of mystery as you don’t know what is real and what isn’t.

My main issue with this series is that I thought it had too much going on. As well as all the Candle Cove stuff, you have various other plotlines, such as a person made out of teeth that appears sporadically throughout the series for no real reason. These extra plot threads don’t enhance the show in any way, rather they make it feel messy and overstuffed. I believe that this show could have really benefited from having better writing and I think if it had this that it could have been an incredibly strong horror series.

As it stands, there are good horror elements in there and a hell of a lot of tension, but the cutting away to plotlines that go nowhere and that you don’t care about undercut these elements and water down their effect, this is something the other seasons of this show suffer from as well, it is because of this I can’t score it highly.

Pros.

The Horror.

The Tension.

Schneider.

Cons.

Needless plotlines.

The Tooth Monster,

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Eden Lake: Broken, Boring and Blatant

‘Eden Lake’ is a British horror film written and directed by James Watkins. The plot sees a couple going on holiday to a quarry, in some unnamed part of England, whilst there they are stalked by a group of young people, who want to torture and eventually kill them.

I find this film offensively bad. My main issue with it, and if you don’t like politics sorry skip to the next paragraph, is that it demonises the working class in Britain. ‘Eden Lake’ was one of those films that explored the idea of ‘Broken Britain’ much like it’s contemporary ‘Harry Brown’. The issue with these sorts of films is that it often portrays the narrative often from a very middle-class viewpoint, this film especially. We are supposed to be scared of the dangerous ‘chav’ kids, rather than think of the sort of life they have had that has led them to this point. This whole narrative to me feels cheap and exploitative. Furthermore, it perpetuates this false idea that if people of means leave a big city or their home, they will be immediately forced into danger.

Not only that, but the writing feels like a collection of horror clichés with the protagonists Steve (Michael Fassbender), and Jenny (Kelly Reilly), being written to be the dumbest possible characters. You know when you watch a horror film and you are saying to yourself, “Switch The Lights on” or “Don’t Go Up There”, but they do it anyway, as they seem programmed to do the dumbest possible people and they do things that nobody would do in that situation: well that’s how the characters are here. I like horror films like ‘You’re Next’ where the characters are actually written with some intelligence, rather than deliberately doing stupid things that put them in danger and then just sitting around to face the consequences. Yes, I know a lot of the time characters are written like this to advance the plot or to set certain scenes up, but once again it feels very lazy.

Overall for a cheap low budget British horror film, it could have been a lot worse, but even still it doesn’t excuse the weak class baiting sort of writing and the paper-thin characters. I am glad that Fassbender and Reilly went on to bigger and better things and this film can be thrown in the bin of history and left to be forgotten.

Pros.

It’s Not The Worst Film I Have Ever Seen.

Cons.

It Feels Cheap.

It’s Manipulatively Written.

It Doesn’t Belong In Modern Times & It Has A Bad Message.

The Characters Aren’t Even Paper Thin, They’re Somehow Lesser Than That.

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Creep 2: Netflix, Give Mark Duplass All Your Money Please

‘Creep 2’ is a found footage psychological horror film directed by Patrick Brice. The plot this time sees online personality Sara (Desiree Akhavan), answer serial killer Josef (Mark Duplass), here called Aaron’s online ad, to film him for the day. He has lost his drive as a serial killer and is stuck in a rout: as such he wants Sara to make a documentary about him to try and relight the spark, he once had for killing.

This film does something very few other films can do, it manages to one-up its fantastic predecessor. ‘Creep 2’ plays up the more comedic elements of the film this time around and it makes for a hilarious experience that also has some great chilling moments: managing to not only do justice to these two elements but do them fantastically well.

Duplass is terrific once again, proving that comedians do horror really well, he manages to make this evil serial killer likeable and to an extent sympathetic. It turns out midway through the film that Aaron plans to kill himself at the end of the day and have Sara carry on his work, this is genuinely shocking and you don’t see it coming. The relationship between the two is simply fantastic it has shades of mentor-mentee, but also shades of a serial killer couple. The ending of the film is highly suggestive that there will be more for these two in the future.

From a dark comedy perspective, this film is a masterclass it compares being a serial killer to being a director who is on a downward spiral and to me that is incredibly funny. The humour works really well and meshes with the tone perfectly, both Akhavan and Duplass have moments of comic genius.

Akhavan is amazing, she has a fantastic repour with Duplass and the two do great things, I would like to see her come back in the future and maybe become a serial killer herself. She meets Duplass’s crazy and raises it.

Overall this film is a triumph and manages to one up a magnificent first entry, the relationship between Sara and Aaron is great and something I want to see explored more in a third film. If you like ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ you will like this, I guarantee it. By playing up the more comedic aspects ‘Creep 2’ is elevated to a whole new level.

Pros.

Akhavan Is Amazing.

So Is Duplass.

Serial Killer Couple?

The Ending.

Cons.

I Want More.

4.5/5

Reviewed By Luke

Creep: Another Comedian To Horror Maestro Success Story

‘Creep’ is an independent found footage psychological horror film directed by Patrick Brice. The narrative follows Aaron (Played by Brice), as a camera man who answers an online ad, to go and film Josef (Mark Duplass) for the day. As the day plays out Aaron quickly realises that Josef is not who he claims to be, and things take a turn for the worse.

I had heard praise for this film for quite some time, but for one reason or another I hadn’t got around to seeing it and now that I have, I can tell you it is terrific. Found footage as a genre as been done to death, no argument can be made that will convince me otherwise, with the likes of the Blair Witch revival and the continued Paranormal Activity franchise, I believed there was nothing left in this genre that could shock or perhaps scare me, I was wrong.

The reason why ‘Creep’ is scary is all down to the writing and the characterisation of Josef. When we are introduced to him, we are told he is a sick man with only a few weeks to live, this get us to feel sorry for him, as the film progress we see that he is a little odd, but crucially we still like him. Even in the films third act when everything has become very manic Josef is still treated like a sympathetic character that’s why Aaron goes to see him one last time.

The complete shifts in mood that Duplass so perfectly brings to the screen wherein we see Josef go from Sad to Manic to Evil are chilling. With the final reveal showing us that Aaron is not the first victim, but instead one of many, making you as an individual, question how you could be so wrong about a character as for the most part of the film you thought he was a likeable sympathetic character.

As I have said before in other reviews, I find mental illness and the threat humans poses to each other and man-made evil, much more frightening than a demon or a ghost. I believe 100% that it is this focus on a threat that is very real, something that could realistically happen to any of us at any time, that makes this film so scary.

A genuinely shocking horror film that showed me there was still some life in the found footage genre.

Pros.

The Novel Approach To Found Footage.

Duplass.

The Excellent Tension And Scares.

Making You Question Which Characters You Trust In Future.

Cons.

It’s A Little Bit Goofy At Times When It Shouldn’t Be.

3 From Hell: Third Times The Charm.

3 From Hell, is a horror film directed by Rob Zombie; serving as the 3rd instalment in the Firefly Saga, carrying on from the Devils Rejects and House of 1000 Corpses.
The film takes place several years after the ending of Devils Rejects, with Otis, (Bill Moseley), Baby, (Sheri Moon Zombie) and Captain Spaulding, (Sid Haig), on death row. The Firefly family has become something in the wider pop culture of Zombie’s universe, and are revered by some as folk heroes; or, at least wrongly convicted. The meat of the film takes place when Otis is broken out of prison by his half brother the Midnight Wolfman, (Richard Brake), and the two try and find a way to break Baby out so the three of them can carry on their murder spree.

Before we get into this review, I want to say that I feel like people judge Zombies films without even seeing them when people hear it’s a Rob Zombie film, they needlessly prejudge it; most of the time deciding they’re not going to like it. I for one believe that yes Zombies’ filmography is an acquired taste but, if you can get past that you soon realise that there is no other film quite like a Rob Zombie film. Much like his horror contemporary Eli Roth it is impossible to not be aware that you’re watching one of his films.

I believe every gory, blood-soaked moment of 3 From Hell proves this in spades, there is something so pulpy and, grungy about Zombies films; insanity is not only full embraced but, celebrated. These characters evil and, monstrous as they’re, become almost anti-heroes at times and, you find yourself rooting for them; or at least I did.

It was nice to see all of the characters back on screen, and each had a memorable scene or, line; such as during the final showdown when Baby hunts down gunmen with a bow and arrow. There is a part of me that hopes that Zombie decides to leave these characters here and not try to carry on this series as I feel they’re left in a nice, ambiguous place, with the audience left to question what comes next.

The new characters are also a lot of fun with Jeff Daniel Phillips’ Warden being a fun moustache-twirling villain for the film’s first act. Phillips is both zany and insane while also being memorable; this is probably his best turn in a Zombie film to date.

Overall if you like Zombies’ films and, you like the Firefly saga, then you will like this. It is a nice final chapter for the series and, sends the killers off into the unknown at the end; leaving it all down to your imagination. I hope this ends the series as I don’t see where it can go from here, but this is Zombie’s finest film to date so if he has more like this I’m game.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke