Demons: Never Put On A Conveniently Placed Mask

Demons is an Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava. The plot sees a group of cinema gowers become the victim of a centuries old mask that turns people into demons.

This is the film that killed the giallo subgenre, the Americanisation is clear to see, this film owes more to films like The Evil Dead then it does something like The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, which is not in and off itself a bad thing, it is just noteworthy.

My main complaint with this film would be that the plot felt confused, I wasn’t quite sure what it was saying most of the time, a lot seemed to be going on and not much of it made any sense. That said I did like where the film ended things teasing a world overrun by these demon creatures and a human safe haven/resistance.

It feels very 80’s in approach, with the music and the tone, but it also feels very forgettable as a result. It blends in with a sea of other 80s based slashers and supernatural affairs. The acting is also quite so so, no one is memorable and most seem to be over acting in an effort to get noticed.

Overall, a sad death of a subgenre

Pros.

It has a promising ending

Cons.

It feels generic

The acting is bad

It has lost touch with its roots

It is hard to follow

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Conjuring 2: A Random Elvis Sing Along Interlude

The Conjuring 2 is a horror film directed by James Wan. The plot this time around focuses on the Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), involvement in the Enfield Haunting. As the Warrens head to London, they are stalked by a mysterious demonic nun, who seems intent on Ed’s death.

Personally, I find this film scarier than the first. Hilariously bad English accents aside, this film is genuinely frightening, the crooked man is by far my favourite part of the film and the segment with him in it is really well done; still waiting on that spin off film.

I found Valek the demon nun scary at first, but then I think it gets over exposed. Also a lot of the horror this time around is jump scary related which gets very stale very quick, see a dark corner, hear a drop in the music, here comes a jump scare.

I still find the Warrens to be likeable protagonists, Wilson and Farmiga are charming leadings. They have their personalities expanded a bit more here which proves to be sweet, but it also serves to derail the tone of the film. Of course I am talking about the Elvis scene, where midday way through the film, as the demonic activity is still going strong, we get scene where Ed just starts playing a guitar for the whole family and singing. Why? Any tension that was there in the film is immediately taken away.

Overall, the world and new horror elements (The Crooked Man), makes this worth checking out, there are some odd choices that ruin the film somewhat, but it is still worthwhile.

Pros.

The Crooked Man

The Warrens are still very likeable

Quite a few good scares

Cons.

The Elvis scene

The use of jump scares

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Come Play: The Misunderstood Monster

Come Play is a horror thriller film directed by Jacob Chase. The plot sees a lonely little boy become the target of a malevolent entity that resides on the otherside of the screen (electronic device screen that is). His parents have to battle the evil and save their son from its cold, clammy embrace.

This was an unexpected treat. I found the premise to be very good, it is similar to Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook as the monster isn’t really a monster so much as it is an emotion, in this case the monster is loneliness manifest. I found this idea to be quite intriguing as it gives the antagonist a layer of sympathy, which makes them far more complex then just your standard demon or ghoul.

I also thought this film had a lot of interesting comments to make about autism and raising a child with it. We can see the plight that Oliver (Azhy Robertson), goes through and honestly It is heart-breaking. Furthermore, I thought Gillian Jacobs did a good job as the mum who loves her son, but struggles to cope with him, the relationship feels real and believable.

Finally, and no spoilers here, I enjoyed the ending. It felt very earnt and satisfying, what’s more it leaves the door open for more to come.

Overall, this is a very strong horror debut for Chase full of promise, it has a lot of interesting sub-text and is also quite scary.

Pros.

The parent child dynamic

Emotion made manifest

Jacobs

The scares

The ending

Cons.

None

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Call: Jigsaw Has Finally Found Something More Important Than Revenge

The Call is a horror film directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. The plot sees a group of teens drive Edith Cranston (Lin Shaye), to suicide after they believe she is responsible for the death of one of their numbers sister’s death. However, they messed with the wrong person and soon her husband Edward (Tobin Bell), summons the teens to their house with the promise of cash money if they do one last thing for Edith, ring the phone that she is buried with and stay on the line for a minute.

This might be one of the best horror films I have seen in a while, yes there are a few jump scares, but by and large the film creates and off kilter atmosphere that really pays off with the scares. Shaye and Bell are terrific and prove to everyone why they have been genre mainstays for all this time. I feel like if you are a hardcore horror fan you will get a lot out of this film.

The plot I thought was quite inventive, I have not seen anything like this before. The twist around the sister’s death I thought worked against the film a little bit as it made the lead characters far less likeable. Said characters were obviously were bland, but that is always the case with teenagers in these sort of films; you aren’t watching for them you are watching for horror legends Shaye and Bell.

Overall, a very entertaining horror film that is boosted by the performances of seasoned pros.

Pros.

Good scares

Shaye

Bell

Unique, at least for me

Cons.

A few jump scares

The teens are awful, and the twist doesn’t make them any better

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Conjuring: A Fun Game Of Clap Hide And Seek, Anyone?

The Conjuring is a horror film directed by James Wan, loosely based on the real-life adventures of Ed and Lorraine Warren. The plot sees the Warren’s summoned to a farmhouse to help a family that is being plagued by a malicious spirit.

The mainline Conjuring films are defiantly the best this shared universe has to offer, while the Nun and the later Annabelle films had some good moments, by and large they were reliant on jump scares, whereas these films especially the first was not so.

The film builds its scares organically, and focuses on character, mystery and atmosphere knowing that they can lead to stronger scares. The blind folded clapping scene from this film is far scarier and far more impactful than 100 jump scares.

The casting of Patrick Wilson and Vega Farmiga as the Warrens was sheer genius as they are the perfect protagonists, both believable enough to think that they can actually defeat the demons, but also human enough to be relatable and warm. They are very likeable, and you end up rooting for them throughout. I strongly believe the casting of these two makes this film what it is, without them and with lesser stars it could easily have faded into the bland horror background.

Overall, this shows the strong origins of the series before they gave in to jump scares.

Pros.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga

The scares

Building atmosphere

Cons.

The family as a whole is quite forgettable and generic

It feels a little samey after a while

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Suspiria: Witches Everywhere

Suspiria is an Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento. The plot sees an American ballet dancer transfer to a prestigious German dance school. However, as Suzy (Jessica Harper), settles into her new life she soon comes to realise things are far more sinister than they appear; and a grizzly string of murders reinforces that point.

I enjoyed the dream like quality of this film, the breaks with reality helped in this respect as you were never quite sure whether what Suzy was seeing was real or whether it was some elaborate hallucination/ dream.

I thought though very crude by today’s standard, when the horror was used it was used well and even though the makeup and effects were not hugely scary it still served to unease me. It reminded me slightly of the first Nightmare On Elm Street film, in tone and aesthetic; clearly Freddy and Craven borrowed a few things.

I thought the acting was good, Harper didn’t have a huge amount to work with as most of her scenes would either be reactionary, or her running and or falling to the ground, but that was the way a lot of female characters were written in that time period of horror cinema, so it is not unusual.

Overall, I enjoyed this film I thought the dream like elements worked and it had a fun yet still scary campy horror vibe.

Pros.

The scares

The practical effects

The campy fun

The dream like parts and the accompanying music

Cons.

A poorly written female lead

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Taking Of Deborah Logan

The Taking Of Deborah Logan is a found footage horror film directed by Adam Robitel. The plot sees an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s become possessed by an evil malevolent presence. Of course, there is a student there with a film crew recording the whole thing because she is doing a thesis about the disease. I don’t know, but she is there.

Let’s get one thing nice and clear right off the bat, this film had no reason to be a found footage film, did it add anything? No. Did the constant shaky cam and cuts to black make the film any scarier? No. If anything the use of found footage derailed this film and ultimately killed it; the final sequence boils down to the same thing you have seen a thousand times before shaky cam running down a dark hallway where everything is hard to see and there is a constant screaming that makes you want to say “shut up”. It is aggressively average.

What makes this sad is the potential the film had. Mental illness, especially the sort of ones that feature in this film, bring a special type of very real fear with them. The film could have played with the idea of is she possessed, or is her mental state getting worse rapidly, that would have been interesting. No, the film just decides yeah lets go for the predictable boring demon angle and it flushes all the potential it had down the toilet.

Overall, this is nothing new. There is promise in the first twenty to thirty minutes, but the rest of the film promptly ruins that. From a filmmaking point of view this film points out to be all the issues with found footage films and the genre as a whole; barely seeing something for half a second isn’t scary. The found footage genre is dead.

Pros.

It has promise

Cons.

It ruins said promise

The storyline is played out

The found footage filming style is grating

The third act is barely watchable

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Extra Ordinary: Meal For One?

Extra Ordinary is an Irish horror comedy film directed by Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman. The plot sees reluctant medium Rose (Maeve Higgins), forced back into the game when Satanists steal a virgin to sacrifice to their dark lord. She must believe in her gifts once again and stop the growing evil.

I actually thought this was rather good, the comedy didn’t always hit the mark for me, but it did make me laugh several times and when it didn’t, I still had a smile on my face. I was surprised to see Will Forte pop up, I was unaware of who was in it when I put it on, but he played a failed musician turned master of the darks arts with a real sense of flare that I enjoyed, he was delightfully over the top.

Moreover the dynamic between Forte’s Christian and his wife Claudia (Claudia O’ Doherty), was priceless. They had a really great back and forth and the chemistry between the two of them was palpable for all to see. O’ Doherty has been popping up in some really heart stuff recently and is really making a name for herself as a comedic actor; she practically stole the show in The Festival.

My one complaint would be the lead, while Rose is likeable enough, I found her to be a bit too bumbling, a bit too awkward, it felt forced and I didn’t really buy it. I also thought that her jokes were by far the weakest, as a lead she was a disappointment.

Overall, a subpar lead doesn’t slow this film down much as it has enough laughs and charm to keep you happy and satiated until the end.

Pros.

The comedy

The world/ the world building

Forte.

Claudia O’ Doherty

Cons.

An unpolished lead.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

An American Haunting: The Danger Is Closer To Home

An American Haunting is a horror film directed by Courtney Solomon. It follows a family that is cursed by the supposed Bell Witch after a property dispute, things then take a turn for the paranormal and then a twist leads to a far darker revelation; but no spoilers just yet.

So, this was not the film I thought it was, I was looking for the Owen Wilson staring horror film The Haunting and mistakenly put this on. However, it wasn’t entirely terrible. Yes, a lot of it was very samey, it was all very safe, and no boundaries were pushed, and you will have seen a lot of ‘the scares’ before in other films.

Despite that this film does two thing I think are worth talking about, two things that I think save it from being a stinker.

The first is the period setting. The horror genre has become infested with horror films set in modern times, where someone is always recording everything on their phone, or live streaming a demonic possession so, it is nice to see a film like this that strips away all the modern flair and gets back to basics. I think the choice of setting really does a lot to help the film stand apart from other more modern horror films.

The other is the twist. Spoilers here. The twist is that there is no curse, no demon. The girl’s father has been going into her room at night and abusing her both physically and sexually; he was the entity. The latter half of the film has a focus on parent child abuse and explores some really dark areas, revealing that both the mum and daughter knew about it, but blocked it out. I will applaud them for having the balls to land this twist.

Overall, a fairly generic affair, but it does have its moments where you can see little bits of potential.

Pros.

The twist.

The period setting.

Cons.

It wasn’t scary.

A lot of the horror is stuff we have seen better before.

None of the characters were memorable.

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Addams Family: A Friend To The Outsider

The Addams Family is a comedy fantasy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld; it is based on the cartoon of the same name. It revolves around a strange quirky family that goes on dark often monstrous adventures; the humour of these film comes from how different the family are from the rest of the world. The plot this time around sees Fester Addams (Christopher Lloyd), return to the family after a 25-year absence, only is that really Fester Addams?

The Addams family are almost an oddball institution, most everybody knows who they are and has seen them in one form or another. This film was my first introduction to them when I was younger and watching it again now, I am pleased to say it stands the test of time in so many ways.

Each of the characters are iconic in their own way, each stands out and grabs your attention; especially Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams. This film highlights the important of getting the casting process right: because these actors so perfectly encapsulate the characters that you can’t seem them played by anyone else. There is a reason they chose to do an animated follow up.

I think the reason these films speak to people so much is because they embody outsider culture, they’re something that anyone who has ever felt a bit different or a bit alien can relate to and find some companionship in. That at least is the enduring appeal as I perceive it.

Overall, I think as far as family movies go, this has some nice messages, some great characters and a few good cheer worthy moments. A nice film to watch for everyone!

Pros.

The message.

The characters.

The goofy fun.

The early 90s charm.

Cons.

It could be shorter.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke