Don’t Knock Twice: Knock Knock Knocking On Hell’s Door

Don’t Knock Twice is a British horror film directed by Caradog W. James. The plot sees Chloe (Lucy Boynton), become the target of an evil demonic witch, who is intent on taking her away. She seeks out her biological mother Jess (Katee Sackoff), to help her defeat the witch and the two of them go on a journey to find out the truth and save Chloe’s soul.

Before we get into this review can I just say it makes no sense to have a British film set in Britain with a British cast, and then have the lead be an American. It is never explained why she is in England, which would be so easy to do, it would take one line of dialogue.

That said.

I enjoyed the twists and turns this film took, I enjoyed when the film was getting us to question whether the witch was even real or whether it was one of the two leading ladies, facing perhaps a mental break. I also enjoyed the twist ending, when the woman who had advised Jess on how to defeat the witch turned out to be working for the witch, I never saw it coming.

I also enjoyed the atmosphere and tone of this film; I thought the scares in this film were effective because a lot of the time they were achieved through a build up of tension. There were two jump scares in this film and both of them worked because of the harsh oppressive atmosphere. A lot of horror films today think all they need to be scary is jump scares, but they aren’t effective if you don’t have the right atmosphere for them. I thought the decision to really get into the back story of the witch was interesting as it gave us quite a nice meaty mythology to sink our teeth into.

Furthermore, I thought the witch herself was quite impressive, I liked the physicality of the performance and that it wasn’t CGI. I think the CGI effects/creatures that are in this film are far less impressive by comparison.

Overall, though this film gets a bad rap, I think it is a surprisingly strong horror film, both of the leads are great, it is scary and most important of all, it is well written.

Pros.

A non-CGI creature.

Good scares/ underusing jump scares.

Good twists and turns.

Solid lead performances.

Cons.

Some of the CGI effects weren’t good and more of it should have been done practically.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

House Of The Devil: The 80’s Will Never Die

House Of The Devil is an 80’s themed possession horror film directed by Ti West. The plot sees struggling student Samantha (Jocelin Donahue), take a babysitting job so she can pay to move into her own place. However, after she arrives at the house, she quickly begins to realise that something isn’t right and as the night progresses thing take a turn for the demonic.

My feelings on Ti West as a director are mixed, his style of directing is more miss than hit for me; I lovingly refer to him as a poor man’s Adam Wingard. I didn’t like The Babysitters, I thought it was disjointed and clumsy and I didn’t like his section in The ABC’s Of Death, I thought it was tasteless and cheap. So when I realised, he was the director of this I didn’t have high hopes.

That said, I actually enjoyed this film. Did it have it issues? Sure. A lot of it felt too drawn out with not a lot happening, and the use of spiking the audio after a scare started to become unpleasant to listen to after a while, but apart from that I thought it was enjoyable.

I enjoyed the 80’s aesthetic of the film, my favourite sequences of the film were the opening credits and the bit when Samantha was dancing around the house, I loved the goofy tone of the film in this regard. I thought the songs were great and I truly believe the 80’s will never die.

What’s more the performances are surprisingly good, the two I would draw attention to are Greta Gerwig as Megan and Tom Noonan as Mr Ulman. Gerwig is memorable as Sam’s best friend Megan, who guesses something is wrong right from the beginning. Gerwig has some great comedic moments and easily manages to impress; sadly she isn’t around for long. Noonan on the other hand, is creepy and imposing from the moment he appears on screen, he manages to do a lot with very little and gives a memorable performance.

Overall, this is a surprisingly good haunted house/possession horror film, with some strong performances.

Pros.

Noonan and Gerwig.

The 80’s feel of it.

Some good scares.

Cons.

Technical issues/ audio spiking.

It is overly drawn out.

Lena Dunham takes you out of the film.

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Found Footage 3D: A Whole Other Dimension Of Average

Found Footage 3D is a horror film directed by Steven DeGennaro. The plot is about a budding group of filmmakers making a found footage film which becomes menacingly real, when they demonic monster of their film spills out into the real world the usual hijinks ensue.

This film had promise, the premise lent it the ability to be to found footage films what Scream was to slasher films. When I first started to watch this film, I thought it would be a smart film that would point out all the ridiculous things about this subgenre and be somewhat tongue in cheek and the beginning is suggestive towards this being the case.

However, as the film progress you realise something, this film is not mocking the genre, nor is it a homage or a tribute, it is just yet another found footage movie that is exactly the same as the rest. After the satirical start, events play out just like they would in any number of other found footage films and it all just feel very been there and done that. Yes, it is not the fault of the film that the genre is played out, but it is there fault that the filmmakers behind his film thought to add to the genre rather than change it.

The characters are the same collection you would expect from this sort of film and everything is incredibly formulaic. The leader of the group Derek (Carter Roy), is an intensely unlikable person, this must have surely been by design, though I don’t know why it would be as this leads you to want him to die for the entirety of the film, only to get a very disappointing death at the end of the film, leaving you feeling disappointed.

That would be a great way to sum up this film disappointing.

Overall, this film is a waste of time and is squanders its opportunity to be something different.

Pros.

The ending is good and tense.

The premise is unique.

Cons.

It wastes its potential.

It is painfully average.

Worst of all it is disappointing.

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

The ABC’s Of Death: Bring Back Moral Panics!

The ABCs Of Death is a 26-part horror anthology film with each segment being directed by a different person and being about a different letter of the alphabet. The film features such popular directors as Adam Wingard and Ben Wheatley.

Before I get into the review in depth, I just want to say don’t watch this film! I understand the need in cinema, especially in the horror genre, to be shocking and boundary pushing, but this film is just cheap shock value, it has no class, no taste, it is just edgy for the sake of being edgy. An example of my point, in Ti West’s segment M Is For Miscarriage the whole point of the story is a women looking for a plunger to push her stillborn kid down the toilet, there is nothing more to it than that, it is handled poorly and with questionable taste; also that is one of the more tame examples from this anthology.

There are plenty of other segments that feature, rape, paedophilia, illusions to bestiality, dog fighting and many other horrible things, not one of them is handled with any taste, it is all shock for shock value. Surprisingly one of the ones I just mentioned the dog fighting one directed by Marcel Sarmiento, is probably the one with the most taste; that is not something I expected to be writing this morning.

I can break down the shorts into 4 categories, good or at least well done, these are the segments by Wingard, Wheatly, Adrian Garcia Bogliano, Lee Hardcastle and Banjong Pisanthanakun. The weird stuff this includes the furry segment, the farting segment and the final segment. The average/ boring stuff, this includes the surfing segment and the life cycle one and then the offensively bad/ done in poor taste, which includes most everything else. So as you can see it is truly a mixed bag, with very few well done segments.

Finally, unlike something like V/H/S where are all of the segments worked together, they were separate and individual, but they all had the same feel and tone, the tone in this film is wildly all over the place, you have really dark unpleasant segments, followed by light and fluffy stuff and it is jarring to say the least.

Overall, this has been one of the toughest films I have watched recently and not only do I not recommend it, I advise you to stay away from it, you could probably find more cultured nuanced horror on Youtube. A black mark on some of the biggest names in horror.

Pros.

There is about 5/26 good segments.

Cons.

Most of the segments are horrible.

It is incredibly hard to watch.

It is done in such poor taste I would call it offensive.

The tonal inconsistencies and also the lack of effort by some, looking at you Ti West.

1/5

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

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

Hell House LLC 2: Once More Into The Fray

Hell House LLC 2 is a found footage horror film directed by Stephen Cognetti, it is a sequel to 2015’s Hell House LLC. The plot picks up 8 years after the events of the first film and shows that the Abaddon Hotel is still drawing people in especially after the documentary shown in the first film went viral. This time around a new group of characters venture into the oppressive depths of the hotel in search of answers and unexplored evidence.

This is very much a middle film, what I mean by that is that it doesn’t really exist as a film in it’s own right, it ties up the first films plot threads and sets things up for the big finale, but as a film taken away from the other two it can’t exist; it is in no way standalone.

However, the two things it sets out to do it does well, as someone who has seen the first film I was able to keep up with the plot as it ran back and forth between all the different characters and tied the first and second film together in many interesting ways. I thought it was interesting to see the characters from the first film come back in relation to the new mysteries as it added more depth to their characters and expanded the lore as a whole.

On the same note, a lot of this film sets up things for the third film, the big finale. It adds to the history of the house and its inhabitants and sets up huge stakes for the third; it teases the literal apocalypse. These new additions are cool and it is nice to see the lore thicken, however I do wish that this film had focused a bit more on itself rather than its predecessor and it’s then forthcoming next iteration, because the plot of this film just feels like an afterthought.

Story wise this is defiantly the worst of the 3 films as there is very little point to it, beyond what I have already explained, the characters aren’t really important, expect for the big bad introduced at the end. You don’t really care about them and their motivations for being at the house feel forced at best.

Overall, this film is crushed under the weight of the other two entries as it tries too hard to set up a wider mythology, however, it is still an entertaining found footage horror film, and it is interesting to see more about the house; definitely still worth a watch just not on the same level as the first film.

Pros.

Still has some good scares.

The wider mythology.

The big bad.

Cons.

Weak characters.

It feels unimportant.

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Hell House LLC: A Harrowing Haunted House

Hell House LLC is a found footage horror film directed by Stephen Cognetti. The film is set out like a documentary trying to find out what happened at the Abaddon Hotel. Prior to the events of the film there was a massacre at the opening night of the Abaddon Hotel, but no one really knows what really happened as there has been a massive cover-up surrounding it. So, the team set out to find out what happened, which is made easier as they’re given a bunch of video tapes by the group of people who bought the haunted hotel.

This is a film very much in the same vein as Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity, it is a found footage film about people going missing and a supernatural cult; sound familiar? Most of these found footage films are the same, they follow a formula, group of people start recording on a camera for whatever reason, things start to get scary, one or more of them get possessed, they all mostly die. Hell House LLC follows this formula to the tee, most of the events in this film are predictable and you have seen the same thing play out in many other films.

However, for a samey found footage film this is still an incredibly good horror film. It genuinely scared me and stayed with me long after the credits rolled. Some of the tense claustrophobic sequences with things happening in tight corridors are genuinely frightening because you feel trapped just like the characters; you feel like you’re in their shoes.

The ending leaves itself open to a sequel, adding a new addition to the mythology which is a nice twist. I can’t wait to watch the sequels and I hope they live up to this film.

Overall, a genuinely quite scary found footage film that might not add anything new to the saturated subgenre, but it does manage to produce a lot of good scares and chills.

Pros.

Good scares.

Genuinely frightening.

It stays with you.

Great ending.

Cons.

There is nothing new or original about it.

4/5.

Reviewed by Luke