HORRIFICITY

Drag Me To Hell: Review

2009-06-06T11:18:00.004+07:00

By: Movie-Cafe

When horror films these days are getting more dehydrates and fatigue, as they’re just move around with completely cliché plot, sadistic, nudity, and facts that they are just not that scary anymore. Thus, what formula that efficacious enough to drag the horror genre back to its reasonable form? If you demand the find the answer just like what I did, I think you better go to your nearest cinema and watch the ‘now showing’ horror, “Drag Me to Hell”. Why? Because, for me, this film is truly one of the answers that we’ve been waiting for, not only work as a jump in your seat scary movie, despite its PG-13 rating, but this is also an old school horror at its best. This film also has reminded me again on why I’m so in love with this genre. Directed by Sam Raimi who is now most well known for his three “Spider-Man” movies, “Drag Me” can be touted as his horror homecoming after many times ago he has created some cult classics including the first two in his “Evil Dead” trilogy. I'm really glad to see Raimi finally return to the genre that mad him famous and present his best work in years, which every horror fan is going to love it. Plus, if you want your date jumping into your lap, it’s really set to be the perfect choice for a night out.

# The Creepshow brilliantly begin with the ‘80s Universal logo and a prologue that set in 1969, where a young Mexican boy seemingly possessed by demons is at the center of an exorcism that ends with him literally being pulled through the floor of the house by a demon from hell. Before you have time to catch your breath, the giant words DRAG ME TO HELL slam onto the screen, taking up every inch in bold lettering.

# Co-written with his brother Ivan, Sam Raimi’s script actually isn’t too original but it’s still manage to be an enormously enjoyable house of cinematic horrors that is at turns funny, campy, shocking, and scary.

# Raimi masterfully utilizes the camera, tricking your eyes into thinking everything is calm when it never is. In this, he has re-teamed with cinematographer Peter Deming for the first time since “Evil Dead II”.

# The audio is also the real star of the movie. While the camera circles the room or closes up on faces, the score is given the full responsibility for several minutes to produce a feeling of terror and anticipation, and it works beautifully. The properly eerie/bombastic score is delivered by composer Christopher Young, a frequent collaborator with Raimi and his Ghost House Pictures fright factory.

# With nasty things popping out at regular intervals, some of which make you jump and catch your breath, some of which make you jump and then laugh at having jumped, and some of which just make you laugh.

# A sequence where Christine (Allison Lohman) battles the gypsy hag armed only with a tray of stationery is stand-out and memorable.

# Like “Evil Dead,” the movie is also at its best when the main character fights with random demons, and Christine is plagued with plenty of them.

# The story clearly going high concept with a gypsy curse premise that would have worked well within a '70s B-movie, but it retains so many modern sensibilities that it never feels dated or retro.

# Alison Lohman brings out a strong central performance. As much as we want to see her play the victim, she achieves that subtle distinction between screaming and suffering that so few horror protagonists truly nail, and it’s a remarkable performance in a genre that so often settles for less.

# Justin Long as Christine’s sceptical scientific boyfriend provides the grounding and logic, amongst the supernatural madness. He also gave a good performance in this show.

# Dileep Rao (upcoming “Avatar”) is hilarious and brings a lot of laughs to the table as the mystical stereotype Rham Jas who help Christine ward off the forces of evil.

# A terrifying 10/10 score for stellar performance of Lorna Raver (Freeway) as the possessed and demented, old Mrs Ganush.

# Raimi builds creepy scenes to a climax and either pays them off then and there or gives you a few moments to think the terror has passed. The ending also makes perfect sense; it’s effective enough to leave you buzzing long after you leave the theater.

Overall-Score: 9/10 (Raimi may have been away from the horror genre for a long time, but he can still turn stomachs and make audiences jump with the best of them. “Drag Me to Hell” is the most entertaining and accessible studio horror films of the past several years.)

Posters of South Korean Horror "Whispering Corridors 5"

2009-06-06T11:10:00.003+07:00

The upcoming summer horror flick "Whispering Corridors 5" from South Korea has a bunch of great released posters. With a little over 2 weeks until it's June 18th release, the distributor had again released some new final posters for the film and you can check all of them below.

"Whispering Corridors" aka "Yeogo Goedam" is a 1998 South Korean blockbuster horror film about a girl's high school. It has inspired a number of other Korean horror films set in girls high schools and there are three direct sequels (Memento Mori, Wishing Stairs, and Voice), though none of the sequels share a continuing plot or characters with each other. Now, the fifth film in the series is "Yeogo Goedam Daseot Banjjae Yiyagi: Dong Ban Ja Sal" which literally means "Female High School Ghost Story Fifth Story: Suicide Together".

Plot: Late night at the high school chapel friends swear their friendship with blood and promise that they will even die together. Then one student, Eon-ju commits suicide by jumping to her death. The remaining friends are then chased by death as their promise weights heavily over them. The school is soon covered in blood.

Via: Buzzescafe

Two New "Grudge" Sequels: Preview

2009-04-20T22:07:00.002+07:00

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the "Ju-On" aka "The Grudge" series in its hometown, Japan is making two more films that will also coming out this summer. The two new installments are "Ju-on: Kuroi Shojo" and "Ju-on: Shiroi Roujo" which literally mean “The Grudge: White Old Lady” and “The Grudge: Black Girl”. According to Nippon Cinema, Both films will be released on 6/27/09 along with Takashi Shimizu‘s "Ju-on" survival horror Wii game which will be released around the same time, but there’s no real tie-in with the films other than being part of the franchise’s 10th anniversary.

The first movie "Ju-On: Shiroi Roujo," is directed by Ryuta Miyake, while The second "Ju-On: Kuroi Shoujo," is directed by Mari Asato. "The Grudge" creator Takashi Shimizu only back as the supervisor along with original producer Taka Ichise.

"Ju-on: Shiroi Roujo" plot: At a certain house, a son brutally and methodically murders all five of his family members after failing the bar exam. He then hangs himself, leaving behind a cassette recorder at the scene on which he can be heard saying, “Go… Go now.” in unison with a strange female voice. That voice belongs to a victim of the family massacre, the elementary school best friend of teenager Akane (Minami). When the two were young they wore yellow hats and red satchels to school. Akane, who has a strong sense of the supernatural, soon begins seeing visions of a female ghost wearing a yellow hat and red satchel.

"Ju-on: Kuroi Shojo" plot: A Nurse named Yuko (Kago) has a strange experience while taking care of a girl named Fukie. Test results show a cyst inside Fukie’s body, but that cyst is actually the leftover grudge from a baby who was unable to be born. The cyst’s grudge spreads to Fukie and everyone around her. Soon Fukie’s father goes mad and commits murder. Fukie’s sister Mariko has special spiritual power, and together with their mother they have some success driving out the evil spirit. But the worst of the grudge is yet to come.

Hide and Seek: Preview

2009-04-20T22:04:00.001+07:00

"Hide and Seek" is upcoming J-Horror about strange supernatural game which begins to spread on the internet among teenagers.

Plot: Ritsuko (Mayuko Kawakita) participates in the game out of anger and loneliness brought on by her parents' recent divorce. When Ritsuko doesn't show up at school her friend Ryoko (Yukie Kawamura) decides to check up on her, but instead of finding Ritsuko she finds a piece of paper with the following:

How to play hide and seek:
Materials: a doll, uncooked rice, red string, a sewing needle, a knife, and a glass of salt water
1.) Tear open the stomach of the doll, pull out the cotton, replace it with rice, and sew it back together with red thread.
2.) At 3am, repeat this phrase 3 times while holding the doll: "The first demon is [name of person]."
3.) Go to the bathroom and put the doll in the bathtub.
4.) Turn on the television, but turn off all the lights.
5.) Close your eyes and count to 10. Return to the bathroom with the knife. Say "I found [name of person]". Stab the doll and say "The next demon is you." Hide immediately.

How to quit: Sip a small amount of salt water and hold it in your mouth. Leave your hiding spot and find the doll. You may encounter a spirit along the way, but you must not -- under any circumstances -- spit the water out.

"Friday the 13th" DVD/Blu-ray Info

2009-04-18T13:10:00.003+07:00

New Line Home Entertainment has announced that the Marcus Nispel-directed "Friday the 13th" film will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 16th. Click on the image below to see the covers.

No extra material will be included on the rated edition of the film. The unrated "Killer Cut" will include additional scenes, and a Rebirth of Jason Voorhees featurette.

The Blu-ray release will include both the theatrical and unrated cuts, along with a terror trivia track, a Hacking Back/Slashing Forward feature remembering the groundbreaking original movie, additional scenes, a Rebirth of Jason Voorhees featurette, and a 7 Best Kills featurette. [via DVDActive]

Magic Man: First Preview

2009-04-09T13:06:00.003+07:00

In the serial killer thriller "Magic Man," Tatiana (Estelle Raskin) and her beautiful girlfriends are on holiday in Las Vegas, City of Illusion. The daughter of a magician's assistant killed tragically during an illusion gone wrong, Tatiana is drawn to Krell Darius' (Billy Zane) extremely popular magic show. Entrancing audience members with the help of his beautiful assistant Samantha (Bai Ling), Darius' charm, wit and magical talent prove difficult for Tatiana to resist. But as she becomes enraptured by Darius, it becomes clear that he may know something about her mother's death, and that it was not an accident. As Tatiana digs deeper into what Darius may or may not know, events take a sinister turn. One by one, Tatiana's friends are found brutally murdered. Fearing Tatiana might be next, Las Vegas police detectives Simpson (Robert Davi) and Orloff (Alexander Nevsky), along with Chief Taper (Armand Assante), seek answers from Darius and Samantha. Meanwhile, Tatiana uses some of her own magic to uncover the mystery of her mother's death and track down the real killers.

American World Pictures is handling the distribution sales end of "Magic Man," directed by Stuart Cooper, a veteran of many made-for-television movies.

Altitude: First Preview

2009-04-09T12:45:00.001+07:00

"Altitude" is being directed by Kaare Andrews and stars the gorgeous Jessica Lowndes (The Haunting of Molly Hartley, Autopsy). In the film, lost in a mysterious cloudbank, a rookie pilot and her four teenage friends must contend with a freak mechanical failure that first sends their small plane climbing to an impossible height, and then plummeting through endless mist. After regaining control, the survivors are confronted with a horrifying realization - the very ground beneath them has vanished and a malevolent force lurking in the clouds wants them dead.

The film marks the directorial debut of award-winning comic writer and artist Kaare Andrews, and if the rest of the cast is as good as Lowndes, we could be in for something good here.

The Haunting in Connecticut: Review

2009-03-27T22:04:00.002+07:00

By Ted Fry (The Seattle Times)

Take note, wholesome families, here are some clues that your ramshackle house might be haunted. It's a terrific bargain because, as the landlord reluctantly tells you, it has a "history." The drab walls wail and moan like the hull of a decrepit submarine. A bunch of weird stuff has been left behind, including an iron crib and a dusty tailor's form in the attic. You wake in the dead of night to a malevolent figure standing at the foot of your bed. The giveaway that you really should "get out!" is a perfectly preserved basement room full of cobwebs, barbaric surgical tools and vintage embalming equipment.

The fresh-faced family that finds just such a home in "The Haunting in Connecticut" makes the mistake of ignoring these signs until it's almost too late. Their bad judgment is our good fortune as it leads to a few genuinely spooky chills. But despite well-designed scare shots, the laborious telling of this elaborate ghost story ultimately fizzles under the weight of too much effort.

Leading the Campbell clan are Sara and Peter (Virginia Madsen and Martin Donovan), a 40ish couple struggling with the burden of bills, a mortgage and Peter's tenuous recovery from alcoholism. Their oldest son, Matt (Kyle Gallner), is seriously ill with cancer and is in an exclusive — and expensive — trial treatment at a hospital way too far from home. The rental house they find in suburban Connecticut seems a great temporary solution, except for all its bizarre trappings.

In addition to fashioning a convincing haunted house, director Peter Cornwell stages early scenes with manipulative aplomb that nicely set a tone of supernatural dread. Madsen and Donovan are credibly pained as parents of a terminally ill child who may be hallucinating the house's paranormal history as a side effect of his debilitating therapy.

The unknowable is always more disturbing in a horror movie, so when "Haunting" starts explaining too much the scares are noticeably lessened. That said, several puzzling details are left hanging in a seriously overwrought flight to the finale.

Sorority Row: Preview

2009-03-23T20:59:00.003+07:00

Sorority Row is an upcoming horror film which is a remake of the 1983 slasher film "The House on Sorority Row." Filming began on October 16, 2008 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with Stewart Hendler as the director. The film is set to be released on October 2, 2009.

Plot:
Sexy college juniors CASSIDY (Briana Evigan), JESSICA (Leah Pipes), CLAIRE (Jamie Chung), ELLIE (Rumer Willis) and MEGAN (Audrina Patridge) are sorority sisters sworn to trust, secrecy and solidarity, no matter what. But their loyalty is tested when a prank at a raucous house party goes terribly wrong and Megan ends up brutally murdered. Rather than confess to the crime and risk destroying their bright futures, the girls agree to hide the bloody corpse and keep their secret forever. Fast forward one year to graduation.

As they prepare to say goodbye to the house and each other, the girls plan one last alcohol-fueled bash on Sorority Row, confident their dark secret remains buried. But does it? As the party rages in the front yard, the bedrooms and the hot tub, the girls receive cell phone videos taken the night of Megan's murder from an anonymous sender who threatens to forward the videos to the police. Then, one by one, the sisters and their unsuspecting boyfriends are stalked by an unseen killer. Has Megan returned from the dead to exact her revenge? Or was their secret discovered by someone else - someone now determined to make them pay? Trapped, the girls race to figure out which of them let their secret slip, who wants them dead, and how to fight back as the bodies pile up and their beloved sorority house explodes into flames.

Cold Prey II: Review

2009-03-23T20:54:00.002+07:00

REVIEWER: FrighT MasteR (UHM)

This is the sequel to the surprisingly decent Norwegian slasher Cold Prey, which hit US DVD shelves a couple months back. The first flick had a lot of great atmosphere and even a couple creepy scenes, but it was lacking on the action-front, which is why I didn't give it as much of a favorable review as I wanted. Now I understand why the first was all about the character development and mood -- it was basically to set things up for the sequel, which takes place immediately after the events of its predecessor. I'm sure that wasn't the intention of the two films, but that's exactly what we got. Basically what the first movie was lacking is more than made up for in this sequel.

Halloween 2 with Jason Voorhees is what I would best describe Cold Prey 2 as, because that's exactly was running through my head while watching the flick. The killer is big, brutal and wields large weapons, yet he captures some of the creepy and quiet-stalking-like qualities of Michael Myers. The story this time follows the remaining survivor of the previous film receiving aid at a small nearby hospital. After regaining consciousness, the survivor describes the events that led her there. The local police set foot to the abandoned ski lodge, where the remains of her friends lay, including the corpse of the killer.

The police bring the bodies into the hospital to confirm the girl's story and perform autopsies, but before they can get started, the body of the killer somehow begins to show signs of life. The doctors are then forced to help revive the killer to a more conscious state, which also inadvertently seals their fates. It doesn't take long before this beast of a man rises once again, grabs the nearest object, and starts offing the hospital staff. Now it's up to the remaining police and the sole survivor of the first incident to take care of this abominable mountain-man once and for all.

The flick takes about 30 minutes for the viewer to get a handle of the characters before it kicks into gear and gives nearly an hour's worth of sweet action, as the survivors attempt to avoid the mountain man and exit the hospital in time for more police to arrive. The death's are pretty bloody, but sadly there's not a lot of on-screen gore. Although there are a couple somewhat creepy scenes, a lot of the great mood and atmosphere that the first had is lost in this one. That's essentially the price you have to pay when you want a feature with lots of action elements, which in my opinion make for a more entertaining watch (depending on the story).

Slightly more backstory is revealed on the killer, but not much more than what we already know from the first. The events that unfold aren't easily predicted and some situations that these characters get into aren't entirely unrealistic. The killer also makes for an interesting hunter, laying down a couple traps for our victims to find themselves caught in, proving that he's also fairly intelligent. I also really loved the sequence towards the end when the police encounter the man alive for the first time -- very cool stuff. The ending? Luckily, unlike most horror efforts, the climax to this movie doesn't suck. Third film? Yes, please!

OVERALL

While the first film delivered a very moody and atmospheric slasher, its sequel offers us a great old-school ballsy action-oriented slasher with an intimidating and potentially iconic killer. If you thought the first movie was lacking then I'd recommend taking a look at this sequel. Worth a check, especially if you're a fan of the sub-genre.

Jennifer's Body: First Preview

2009-03-15T21:27:00.003+07:00

Jennifer's Body is a 2009 dark comedy and horror film written by Diablo Cody (Juno). The film will be directed by Karyn Kusama (Girlfight, Aeon Flux), and will star Megan Fox (Transformers) as the title character, Amanda Seyfried as her best friend Needy, Adam Brody (The O.C.) as the antagonist Nikolai and J.K. Simmons plays the school science teacher. This film described as being in a similar tone of "Heathers" and "Beetlejuice."

Plot:
The film follows Jennifer (Megan Fox), a mean-girl cheerleader possessed by a demon who begins feeding off the boys in a Minnesota farming town. It is then up to her "plain Jane" best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) to kill Jennifer, escape from a correctional facility and go after lead singer Nikolai (Adam Brody) and his Satan-worshiping rock band responsible for the transformation.

Drag Me to Hell: Second Preview (Trailer)

2009-03-14T19:56:00.003+07:00

Below is the trailer for upcoming horror film of Sam Raimi, "Drag Me to Hell." It’s his first horror convention in 16 years and Sam Raimi has joined the lineup of the next West Coast edition of Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors convention, to be held April 17-19 at the Los Angeles Convention Center (1201 South Figueroa)! The director of the "Evil Dead" and "Spider-man" trilogies, Raimi will appear at the show on Friday and screen exclusive clips from his horror comeback.

Scripted by Raimi and his brother Ivan, "Drag Me To Hell" stars Alison Lohman as Christine, a loan officer angling for a promotion who denies a loan to an old woman named Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver). The latter winds up putting a curse on Christine that causes her to suffer horrific visions, and she’s fated to be dragged to you-know-where in three days if she’s unable to break it. Jeepers Creepers’ Justin Long co-stars as Christine’s boyfriend in the film.

Plot: Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is an ambitious L.A. loan officer with a charming boyfriend, professor Clay Dalton (Justin Long). Life is good until the mysterious Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) arrives at the bank to beg for an extension on her home loan. Should Christine follow her instincts and give the old woman a break? Or should she deny the extension to impress her boss, Mr. Jacks (David Paymer), and get a leg-up on a promotion? Christine fatefully chooses the latter, shaming Mrs. Ganush and dispossessing her of her home.

In retaliation, the old woman places the powerful curse of the Lamia on Christine, transforming her life into a living hell. Haunted by an evil spirit and misunderstood by a skeptical boyfriend, she seeks the aid of seer Rham Jas (Dileep Rao) to save her soul from eternal damnation. To help the shattered Christine return her life to normal, the psychic sets her on a frantic course to reverse the spell. As evil forces close in, Christine must face the unthinkable: How far will she go to break free of the curse?

Orphan: Second Preview (Trailer)

2009-03-14T19:42:00.005+07:00

Dark Castle has released the trailer for their summer horror flick "Orphan," starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard. Directed by Jaume Collet-Sera who helmed Joel Silver's remake of "House of Wax" a few years ago and the film set to be released on July 24, 2009. "Orphan" is an upcoming horror movie which in the realm of "The Good Son," "The Omen" or any other this creepy kid genre movie.

Check the synopsis here, and below is the new release trailer for the film.

Meat Grinder: Second Preview

2009-03-14T19:32:00.003+07:00

Here is the full synopsis for the upcoming Thai gory fest, "Meat Grinder," that probably want to follow the success of "Art of the Devil" trilogy. The film is being made by local movie production house Phranakorn film (who've released some pretty good upper end B-horror movies in the past).

Synopsis: Meat Grinder takes you to taste the bizarre horror of traditional noodle recipe cooked by Bus, a woman who owns a noodle stall, a unique noodle stall. Bus has been living with tension and stress for all of her life, she works hard for her family as a noodle cook. Sometimes, she is controlled by a mysterious voice that suggests her to do or not to do things. One day, she encounters a riot in town and is rescued by a guy named Uttapol who later becomes her companion. That evening after the riot, Bus surprisingly discovers a guy lying dead under her stall, she discreetly looks at him and comes up with her new recipe.

Bus begins to slice his flesh, mix it with spices, and throw it into her noodle pot. After her secret recipe is introduced, Bus gains so many customers and reputation of her delicious noodle. Meanwhile, the haunting voice still keeps talking to her, and tell her what to do. Bus tactfully starts to lure and murder people. The more she kills, the more of her dark side reveals. And when Uttapol begins to suspect Bus' behavior, he stumbles on the evil of her as he is now the hunted.

Via: Movieseer

Final Destination Death Trip 3D: Preview

2009-02-20T21:18:00.003+07:00

The upcoming new installment of the Final Destination supernatural thriller franchise. The film was written and directed by Final Destination 2's Eric Bress and David R. Ellis, respectively, and was shot in HD 3-D. With the story that has no connection to the previous films, "Final Destination: Death Trip 3D" is scheduled to be released on August 21, 2009 in the U.S.A.

Plot summary for the film from Warner Bros:
“On what should have been a fun-filled day at the races, Nick O'Bannon has a horrific premonition in which a bizarre sequence of events causes multiple race cars to crash, sending flaming debris into the stands, brutally killing his friends and causing the upper deck of the stands to collapse on him. When he comes out of this grisly nightmare Nick panics, persuading his girlfriend, Lori, and their friends, Janet and Hunt, to leave...escaping seconds before Nick's frightening vision becomes a terrible reality. Thinking they've cheated death, the group has a new lease on life, but unfortunately for Nick and Lori, it is only the beginning. As his premonitions continue and the crash survivors begin to die one-by-one--in increasingly gruesome ways--Nick must figure out how to cheat death once and for all before he, too, reaches his final destination. The film marks the latest in the highly popular "Final Destination" series, and its first 3D installment, giving horror fans an especially visceral thrill ride."

Friday the 13th: Review

2009-02-13T21:41:00.002+07:00

By Jim Tudor (TwitchFilm)

Complete with all of the unhealthy trappings we’ve come to expect from a “Friday the 13th” film, comes this reasonably pleasing, polished new remake. Despite director Marcus Nispel and producer Michael Bay’s attempts to somehow retain the key qualities of the original “Friday the 13th” series while simultaneously stripping away its primal allure in favor of a false “grungy gloss”, this rebooted, re-imagined, re-done version (call it what you will) is imminently watchable. That’s more than can be said for the previous Nispel/Bay horror remake, 2003’s unevenly grimy “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”.

This film effectively compresses key plot qualities (if you want to call it that) of the first four “Friday the 13th” movies, thus proving their repetitive nature (as if there was ever any doubt about that). With its obvious Hollywood production values, the new “Friday” can’t hope to match the (perhaps unintentional) aesthetic savagery of that source material, which results in a mixed bag of good and bad news for fans. It doesn’t bring anything necessarily new to the table, but in its defense, I don’t think it’s trying to. It is better-acted and marginally more clever than the films of the original series, while still falling comfortably into that slasher/bodycount film mold.

Yes, I know that some of the later, more self-aware films featuring Jason Voorhees were also bigger-budgeted, semi-glossy affairs. With that in mind, I’d rank this film after the imminently more creative and fun “Freddy vs. Jason” (no Freddy equals less fun. Sorry Jason fans!), and then just below the head-scratchingly space-based goofball “Jason X”. Don’t worry, it’s infinitely better than “Jason Goes to Hell” – but then again, so is actually being killed by a masked slasher. When it comes to the older Paramount Jason films, I prefer “Part VI: Jason Lives” as the most all-around solid, and “Part 3-D” for the unintentional laughs of the forced, lame 3-D gags (especially when experienced in 2-D). I base these preferences on having seen each of those films once, around fifteen years ago, so I may or may not still agree if I were to revisit them today.

But let’s take an obligatory moment to consider the allure of “Friday the 13th”. Yes, there are plenty of attractive girls who shed their clothes (this film doesn’t skimp in that department), but it’s also a little disturbing that we are in essence going to the movies to see the said girls (and their dopey dope-smoking boyfriends) get axed to death? Clearly, a great many people grew up watching these films, and no, we did not turn out to be death-crazed masochists. But at some point, we must look in the mirror and realize that this is some pretty psychologically unhealthy stuff. My own draw to films like this lies in my appreciation of a well-executed bravura gore effect. That, and the primal fear of unknown, unprovoked, and unstoppable death emerging from the darkness of nature.

The cold iconography of the hockey mask doesn’t hurt, either. I simply doubt that there would’ve been ten-plus movies about Jason Voorhees had he simply continued to wear a cloth sack on his head. For me, and so many others, Jason is almost someone we’re stuck with. We know he’s not really ever going away for good, and like human sin itself, he has a habit of continually re-emerging. We turn the corner, and yikes, he’s back! As the bulk of the cast is inevitably reduced to blood-drenched window-dressing at a certain point, so too are our own moral defenses. So once again, we indulge. We see the next movie. In a very odd way, Jason provides a look into the mirror of fallen humanity, and our own shortcomings. In an unlikely way, the more Jason comes back (and of all the movie slashers, he comes back the most often), the more powerful this metaphor becomes.

Of course, Jason is also the ultimate cinematic momma’s boy, a supernaturally angry repressed preteen boy lashing out at the emerging deviance that comes for many when childhood innocence (and parental need) is left behind. For Jason, that deviance cost him his life, thus pushing his mother over the edge, and that costing her life as well. Hence, we have the overly repeated motif of death by impaling, stabbing, penetrating. That is what Jason does, ad nauseam. So when this film ventures into torture porn territory for a fleeting moment early on with an elaborate (by Jason’s standards) death rig involving a sleeping bag and fire, it is decidedly out of character for him. Thankfully he never tries something like that again for the run of the film, as Jason’s murder style is the only recognizable character trait that we the audience have to know him by.

Being a fan of the series clearly is not necessarily something to be proud of, but at this point in our media-hardened culture, no one feels the need to apologize, either. Political correctness and gender equality has never exactly been on the radar for this series, and that’s still true this time. The closest this movie gets to any such thing is with its transparently racially diverse cast of teen revelers. Stoner Asian guy? Check. Black guy who’s dialogue consists entirely of witty barbs about the fact that he’s black? Check? Uptight selfish white dude? Check. And of course the well-meaning, virginal heroine? Check and check.

The few creative elements that Nispel and company brings to the table, while not altogether fresh, are a welcome infusion of storytelling finesse to the franchise. Again, no one is reinventing the wheel here, but the effective compression of the first three original films is done in a way that is as engaging as one could expect from an effort such as this, which is clearly committed to staying within all the established “Friday the 13th” parameters. Nispel’s limited strengths lie in his no-nonsense, cut-to-the chase framing and pacing. I personally don’t care for the Michael Bay/modern horror aesthetic (the pro lighting sheen and overly dressed sets, etc.) that results from revamping old down-and dirty movies with an obvious Hollywood budget and talent pool. But this was more imminently watchable than your average horror remake. When approaching this film on its own terms, this new “Friday the 13th” is a good time at the movies (and nothing more) for those who go for this sort of thing. It will tide them over until Jason’s inevitable return, anyhow.

The Collective: First Preview

2009-02-08T14:35:00.002+07:00

The Collective is a new indie thriller directed by Judson Pearce Morgan and the main actress is Kelly Overton.

Plot: In New York City it’s never easy to know what to believe. When Tyler Clarke gets a cryptic voicemail from her sister, she is left with no choice but to fly across the country to find out what has happened. But when she arrives, Jessica is nowhere to be found. Alone in an unfamiliar city, surrounded by strangers, Tyler has no choice but to trust these people who call themselves Jessica’s new friends. She slowly figures out that her sister has joined a group that call themselves “The Collective.” Jessica has given up the life she was living to be one of them. And now, in order to discover the truth, Tyler must delve into a world of darkness and lies, the underbelly of this spiritually depraved community living in a deconsecrated cathedral. With a cast of Broadway stars, as well as stars of the big screen, “The Collective” is a film that will keep you wondering, until the final frame, who can you trust?

Triangle: First Preview

2009-02-08T14:15:00.003+07:00

From the Director of "Creep" and "Severance," Christopher Smith, here comes "Triangle," a unique concept psychological thriller that turns the genre on its head. When Jess sets sail on a yacht with a group of friends, she cannot shake the feeling that there is something wrong. Her suspicions are realised when the yacht hits a storm and the group is forced to board a passing ocean liner to get to safety, a ship Jess is convinced she’s been on before. The ship appears deserted, the clock on board has stopped, but they are not alone… Someone is intent on hunting them down, one by one. And Jess unknowingly holds the key to end the terror.

Starring Melissa George, Holly Marie Combs, Rachael Carpani, and written and directed by Christopher Smith (”Creep”). There is no release date for the film as yet.

The Uninvited: Review

2009-02-05T09:48:00.002+07:00

By Steven Rea (philly.com)

A teenager's resistance to her father's new girlfriend provides the emotional underpinnings for The Uninvited, a spooky, if narcotic, psychological thriller adapted from a 2003 K-horror suspenser.

Rife with fingernails-on-chalkboard sound effects, scenes shot at disconcerting angles and buckets of blood oozing from keyholes and doors, The Uninvited stars Emily Browning (from Lemony Snicket) as Anna Rydell, a moody adolescent still reeling from the trauma of losing her mom.

Plagued by nightmares and a failed suicide attempt, she's been shunted off to an institution. But as directing siblings Charles and Thomas Guard begin their stylishly creepy film, Anna's psychiatrist suggests that it's finally OK for her to go home.

And home she goes, to a beautiful seven-gabled house perched atop a hill overlooking the Maine coast. Her father (David Strathairn) is a novelist, her older sister, Alex (Arielle Kebbel), is a smartass, and Rachel (Elizabeth Banks) was the caregiver for Anna's ailing, now-dead mom.

Having redecorated the kitchen and sidled into bed with the widower Rydell, Rachel is now very much a part of Anna's home. And Anna, although she tries, can't quite make the adjustment.

Anna's sister, it seems, doesn't care for her either.

"She's like a crack whore, but without the dignity," quips Alex in one of The Uninvited's wittier moments.

With visual nods to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and a fairly faithful adherence to the tenor and tone of the Korean scare genre, The Uninvited doesn't startle and shock so much as it lulls you into a series of unsettling, hallucinogenic set pieces. Even the initally jarring presence of Banks - a mainstay of the Judd Apatow sex comedy machine - begins to become, well, uninteresting.

At a certain key point in the drama, The Sixth Sense might come to mind - but by then your mind could very well be on to other places, other ideas. There's not a whole lot beyond the pretty scenery (not really Maine, but the Pacific Northwest) and Browning's pop-eyed, fragile expression to keep you focused on the matters, and murder, at hand.

The Uninvited **1/2 (out of four stars)

Drag Me to Hell: Test Screening Review

2009-01-28T22:01:00.004+07:00

By Nick Valentine (Firstshowing)

Drag Me to Hell follows the story of an ancient evil that attaches itself to a loan officer, Christine (Alison Lohman), after the most heinous, evil, elderly gypsy of all time casts a hellish curse upon her. Accompanied by her boyfriend Clay (Justin Long), the desperate Christine relies on a seer to try and save her soul whilst the ancient demon torments her every aspect of life with the sole purpose of literally dragging her to hell. What you should be taking away from that plot summary is as follows: evil, old gypsy; hellish curse; ancient demon. With that in mind, know that this is not a film where the story is all that important. I mean, the entire conceit of the film is summed up, quite completely, in its title. But when it's Sam Raimi doing horror — the story really isn't why you're there at all.

We open in the past, where a woman battles for the soul of a young boy. She loses the battle, and the boy is drug into the very depths of hell. Then we flash-forward and meet Christine, a straight-laced professional, always looking to do the right thing, until Mrs. Ganush enters her world. After Christine denies the evil, elderly gypsy an extension on her loan payment, Mrs. Ganush attacks! In the dark parking garage after closing time, an epic battle is waged. There's a stapler involved, a projectile ruler, multiple car crashes, a set of dentures, and an excessively awesome amount of Mrs. Ganush-on-Christine gumming. Seriously. And after this physical confrontation just doesn't seem to get the job done for Mrs. Ganush, she curses Christine — who is now, officially fucked.

Drag Me to Hell played like a vintage classic in the vein of Raimi's own Evil Dead series and the inimitable Bruce Campbell vs Army of Darkness. Bucket loads of blood and gore, edge-of-your-seat, clenched-cheek suspense, and laughs, laughs, laughs. Sure, Raimi recycles gags from his previous camp classics and doesn't stray from the tone of those films either, but that's why it succeeds! It's uproarious and over-the-top. And it's absolutely terrifying and really funny — all within the same second.

Aside from the gore and dark comedy, Raimi is able to craft and hone characters you want to follow and wholly enjoy right along side characters you absolutely love to hate. And that characterization is never lost. As this was a very early screening, the effects are in dire need of improvement, but even in their unfinished form, I would STILL recommend Drag Me to Hell. Needless to say, Mr. Raimi and I have rekindled our passion for one another. A bloody, campy passion that Raimi proves he still has bubbling inside him. Damn great to have you back, Sam. Come May, you're not going to have to drag me to Drag Me to Hell.

Shuttle: Review

2009-01-23T22:39:00.002+07:00

Reviewed by Tex Massacre (Bloody Disgusting)

Have you ever wandered into a supermarket late at night—no one else around—the soft ozone glow of the florescent lights above? Have you ever stepped out onto a subway platform, when no other living soul surrounds you—save the scurrying of rats in some time-forgotten subterranean cavern? Ever been the last poor soul at the airport—its haunting halls echo with an emptiness as vast as the Grand Canyon? These moments are all inherently creepy—like a land that time forgot. I’ve been in all of these places in my life and I can tell you that they are the places where monsters of the mind dwell. SHUTTLE would appear on the surface to be a horror film about the conveyances that safely take you away from these nightmare worlds. But, when you scratch beneath that simple set-up, what you wind up with is so much more.

Mel and Jules (Peyton List and Cameron Goodman) are just returning home from a Mexican vacation—one last single fling for the best friends as Mel is engaged to be married. It seems Mel is not a strong traveler and motion sickness is getting the best of her. When the airline loses Mel’s luggage the pair are stuck at the concourse with a set of guys that are hanging around trying to pick up them up—assuming of course that girls who spend their vacations at Carlos and Charlie’s are naturally sluts. When the airline informs Mel that the last flight has arrived sans her luggage, the foursome give up and head off, looking for some transportation home. The girls decide to take one shuttle over another because the driver (UNDERWORLD’S Tony Curran) offers them the ride at half the price—the guys tag along. What they don’t know is that when their feet cross the threshold of this shuttle, the gang is in for the most terrifying ride of their very short lives.

SHUTTLE is an intense film experience. It’s furious in its pacing and relentless in its action as the passengers are taken on a bus ride to hell. What makes SHUTTLE all the more impressive is that this ride has a design. This descent into unadulterated terror is a methodically executed means to an end, but not without shocking surprise to Curran’s menacing character of the Driver. And, both the film and the Driver are aiming to move their passengers at breakneck speed toward the shattering conclusion.

The performances from the cast are all around top notch, with Peyton List taking the lead role and facilitating a solid characterization past a few minor plot contrivances. Cameron Goodman is effective as the best friend in a role that was not entirely sympathetic and could have easily been little more than eye candy. She is especially successful when forced into a near catatonic state by the horrors of the night. Tony Curran who was successfully menacing in UNDERWORLD plays The Driver with a great deal more restraint than one would expect from a vicious killer. It’s a disciplined performance and one that serves the film well.

While gorehounds might not be doing back flips over the blood loss they should appreciate that Director Edward Anderson makes the kills relatively painful and wholly grounded in reality. In fact, despite some minor genre conventions (which frankly all genre films have and need) SHUTTLE could and perhaps has happened. A lot of slasher films and torture films claim to be “ripped from the headlines” but never feel as immediate and realistic as moments in SHUTTLE and that makes the film in all its pulse pounding pacing much more interesting.

In the end, SHUTTLE delivers one of the most compelling denouements of any genre film I’ve seen in the past year. It’s tragic and brutal and for eagle-eyed fans it is satisfying in that the film hints and pokes and prods the audience toward the conclusion. The ending never feels tacked on; it’s organic and completely accurate for the story. I don’t think genre fans can ask for more than that when they sit down in a darkened theater, board the SHUTTLE, and demand to be transported into a terrifying new world.

Score: 8 / 10

The Last House on the Left: First Preview

2009-01-23T22:27:00.003+07:00

Masters of horror Wes Craven and Sean Cunningham revisit their landmark film that launched Craven’s directing career in 1972 and influenced decades of horror films to follow. Bringing one of the most notorious thrillers of all time to a new generation, they produce the story that explores how far two ordinary people will go to exact revenge on the sociopaths who harmed their child.

The night she arrives at the remote Collingwood lakehouse, Mari (Sara Paxton) and her friend are kidnapped by a prison escapee and his crew. Terrified and left for dead, Mari’s only hope is to make it back to parents John and Emma (Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter). Unfortunately, her attackers unknowingly seek shelter at the one place she could be safe. And when her family learns the horrifying story, they will make three strangers curse the day they came to The Last House on the Left.

The original "The Last House on the Left" itself was heavily inspired by "Jungfrukällan", a movie with a very similar plot-line but not as graphic as depicted in Craven's film. In 2005, "Chaos" was released but due to rights issues it was not labeled as a remake of either Craven's film or "Jungfrukällan", but instead self-labeled itself as an original. "Chaos" was a failure both critically and financially, thus prompting Craven to produce a remake of his original movie, which in part was also due to the success of the 2006 "The Hills Have Eyes" remake.

Babysitter Wanted: Review

2009-01-23T22:10:00.002+07:00

Reviewed by Goon (Horror-Movies.ca)

Sometimes after watching a fantastic film you get that sudden rush of enjoyment and sheer excitement that the horror genre is head in the right way again. After watching Babysitter Wanted I had that feeling and I knew that the horror genre is still capable of pumping out fantastic films on a budget. This is one of those films that I am very proud to be able to review and let everyone know that this is a film that you have to keep your eye on. It is without a doubt one of the best films I have seen in the past ten years. So may this review serve as an open letter to all the horror fans, distributors and fellow horror critics hunt this movie down and watch it. You won't regret it.

Angie Albright is a young sheltered and beautiful girl who is brought up in a very devout Christian home. However she is about to head off to college to begin her studies. After traveling off to college she begins to feel as though she is being watched. As she begins to settle in with her new roommate and develop a relationship with a potential boyfriend she needs to get some money by taking on a babysitter job at the Stantons. When she is dropped off at the Stanton's home things really begin to unravel for her. The strange man that has been watching her begins to harass her with phone calls. The phone calls soon turn into a confrontation face to face and Angie must protect the Stanton's young boy who is asleep upstairs. But is everything as it seems?

Babysitter Wanted runs high on all cylinders. It does everything right from putting together a well written script, casting some fantastic actors and developing a great musical score. This film manages to pull you in with a familiar babysitter story and then delivers sucker punch with a twist that you will never see coming. You may think you know what it is, but trust me you have no idea.

When it comes to the actors involved in this film they definitely did some of the best casting they could have done. Everyone involved was perfectly chosen for their role. Bill Moseley even gets in on the fun with a minor role as the local Sheriff. Even though he only makes a small appearance the director utilizes Bill to his full potential. Something that is not always done in most other films. Two other notables that I must mention is young Sarah Thompson as Angie. She really pulls off the role as a young woman heading off into the world after living a relatively sheltered life with her mother. The other actor that I must mention is Bruce Thomas who portrays Mr. Stanton. The only way I can think to describe his role is Bruce Campbell-esque.

Now unto the score, something which I always feel is what can take a movie from being great to becoming a genre classic. The folks behind this movie seem to realize that as well and had a fantastic orchestral score for the film. I also took note to the wonderful use of sound which is vastly under used in most films today. While there is plenty of on screen gore in this flick there is one scene where the simple use of sound creates much more tension then anything they could have put on the screen. Its very subtle but amazingly effective.

Overall this is easily one of the best films of this year. My hope is that everything falls into place for this film and it gets a proper theatrical release. Babysitter Wanted is just a fun film that provides everything a horror fan could want. It manages to take a small sub genre of horror and turn it on its head. So keep a close eye on this one because if everything works the way it should you will be seeing this one in a theater near you. If not this film and everyone involved has been served a terrible injustice. Grab a bucket of popcorn, an ice cold beer and get ready for one of the best films you will see all year.

Grace: Review

2009-01-19T21:49:00.003+07:00

One little indie film is causing quite a stir at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and that film is Paul Solet's "Grace"! In fact, it rendered two viewers unconscious!
Producer Adam Green tells STYD, "Two [people fainted]. One outside, and one in the lobby. Egyptian [theater] owner confirmed that in 10 years it's the first time it's happened. Amazing screening!"

"Grace" is a modest budget horror film which plot is revolves like this:
Madeline Matheson is eight months pregnant and determined to deliver her unborn child, Grace, naturally. When an accident leaves Grace dead inside her, Madeline insists on carrying the baby's corpse to term. Weeks later, when Madeline delivers, the baby miraculously returns to life... With an appetite.

The film directed by Paul Solet and starred Jordan Ladd, Samantha Ferris, Gabrielle Rose, Serge Houde, Stephen Park, and Malcolm Stewart. It was based on Solet's short film with the same name which starred by Liza Weil and Brian Austin Green.

Review By: Ryan Daley (Bloody Disgusting)

When you get right down to it, infants are not for the squeamish. Following the harrowing ordeal of childbirth, the cutting of the umbilical cord, the expulsion of the placenta, and the wince-inducing episiotomy, you’ve still got to deal with breast pumps, nipple soreness, and the kid’s fontanel (always creepy); in short, childbirth is one subject that can be milked for easy shocks. Writer/director Paul Solet’s feature film debut, GRACE, is carried by a handful of potent scenes that cleverly mine our fears of early parenthood. Too bad the potency is diluted by sluggish pacing and a couple of baggy subplots.

Madeline Matheson (Jordan Ladd, CABIN FEVER) and her husband have been struggling to conceive for the past three years, resorting to fertility drugs and a fanatical adherence to holistics and health food. Finally pregnant, Madeline is determined to experience childbirth with a midwife, but her fiercely bitchy mother-in-law insists on using her own personal M.D., undermining Madeline’s personal birthing decisions every chance she gets. At 31 weeks along, a cruelly random car accident severely injures Madeline, leaving her baby stillborn inside of her. She makes the difficult decision to carry the dead baby to term, and although she gives birth to a lifeless infant in her midwife’s birthing pool, after a few moments the baby miraculously begins to breathe.

Madeline is enraptured with Grace, her miracle daughter, and although the hospital would like to investigate Grace’s resurrection with a series of blood tests, Madeline is reluctant. Alone at home with her infant, Madeline is disturbed when Grace begins to attract house flies, and, even worse, is disinterested in breast milk, only to be eagerly enraptured when Madeline’s torn nipple leaks blood into her \ newborn mouth. Yes, it seems that Grace craves blood. Madeline tries to satiate her with the excess gore squeezed from a package of supermarket steaks, but Grace continues to cry, unsatisfied. So Madeline must look elsewhere for blood…

Madeline’s cat is named “Jonesy”, a subtle reference to ALIEN, and like Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece, Solet’s movie explores the intrinsic fears of motherhood. Expanded from his 2006 short film of the same name, GRACE works best during its tight mutant baby moments, when it most strongly resembles Larry Cohen’s IT’S ALIVE! During the introspective scenes reflecting on a lesbian relationship in Madeline’s past, or the segments featuring the grieving mother-in-law acting out her maternal fantasies, GRACE grows sluggish and tiresome, bearing the stretch marks of a short film idea that has been unnecessarily expanded to feature length. Although several moments in GRACE pack a visceral punch, those scenes are shot-gunned across a poorly-paced narrative, resulting in an acceptably entertaining, if sometimes uneven, horror movie experience.

At the Sundance screening I attended, the audience whooped, hollered, and screamed, and two men reportedly fainted during the show. It’s true that Solet takes the audience on a twisted ride down a very dark birth canal, but is it dark and twisted enough? Sundance audiences may scream and faint at the likes of GRACE, but the die-hard horror fan will be merely amused by Solet’s bloodthirsty baby shenanigans. Without much of a plot driving the action, the film’s success depends solely on mood and tone, and GRACE, although diverting, isn’t quite haunting enough to make a lasting impact. At 45 minutes, GRACE would be an impressively bizarre, tightly-wound stunner, but at a swollen 94 minutes, it sticks around for too long after its due date.
Score: 6 / 10

Orphan: First Preview

2009-01-17T22:38:00.004+07:00

Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga will appear in a Dark Castle Entertainment's horror titled "Orphan." Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from House of Wax remake, the film set to be released on July 24, 2009.

In the story, Kate and John are a couple grieving over the tragic loss of their unborn child. It's taking a toll on both their marriage and Kate's fragile psyche as she is plagued by nightmares and haunted by demons from her past. Struggling to regain some semblance of normalcy in their lives, the couple decides to adopt another child. At the local orphanage, both John and Kate find themselves strangely drawn to a young girl named Esther.

Almost as soon as they welcome Esther into their home, however, an alarming series of events begins to unfold, leading Kate to believe that there's something wrong with Esther - this seemingly angelic little girl is not what she appears to be. Concerned for the safety of her family, Kate tries to get John and others to see past Esther's sweet facade. But her warnings go unheeded until it may be too late...for everyone.

My Bloody Valentine 3D: Review

2009-01-17T22:27:00.002+07:00

by Matthew Razak, DC Movie Examiner

As a general rule of thumb established by my all time favorite horror film Evil Dead 2, if a slasher flick doesn't have someone's head falling off within the first ten minutes it's not going to be truly great. My Bloody Valentine 3D pretty much takes care of this in the first two minutes and then doesn't stop coating the screen in blood until... well, actually it never stops. The film knows that its job is to slaughter as many people as possible and sets about doing it as well as one can hope for.

But plenty of horror films are gore coated murder-fests and still stink, so it is impressive that Valentine, a remake of the original by the same name, is also a solid installment in the genre with a few twist and turns that elevate it above the normal dreck. Not that it truly lives up to the 1981 original's low-budget horror stylings, but it certainly lives up to the levels of blood that those early slasher films loved to throw at the screen.

Ten year's after a horrible mine accident kills five men and turns the only known survivor, Harry Warden, into a pickax wielding maniac, Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles) returns to the town his father's coal mine keeps alive to close said mine down for good. Unfortunatley, his return also heralds the return of Warden, who everyone thought was dead, and Hanniger gets framed for the murders with only his ex-girlfriend Sarah Palmer (Jaime King) believing that he isn't the one dressing up like a miner and slaughtering people. Then again, maybe he is. That's the real beauty of My Bloody Valentine, it's as much a mystery as it is a blood bath.

Now I'm not saying that the mystery is an especially great one, but when the other option for a plot is a group of idiot teens running around from an invulnerable, lumbering, masked man almost anything is better and this mystery is way better. Still, the real strength is in the gore, which is everywhere. I'm not sure if I am impressed or horrified by the variety of ways the creators game up with killing people with a pickax, but I can tell you it's disturbingly fun to watch -- especially in 3D.

This might actually be the best 3D movie I've seen since from the recent spate of 3D films that has started to hit theaters. This is partly because the genre is perfectly set-up for the cheesiness that 3D is often associated with (stop, sticking that gun barrel right in the camera!) and partly because as a slasher film it stands on its own. Unlike films like Journy to the Center of the Earth, which have utilized the same RealD technology, Valentine is good on its own with the 3D effects being an added bonus instead of the only reason the film is enjoyable.

It's truly refreshing to see a solid American slasher film again. Too many horror films are tripping over into half hearted J-horror and sometimes one just needs some classic blood on the screen. Well here it is in glorious 3D. My Bloody Valentine is full of everything that makes B-Grade horror great: blood, blood and blood.

The Deadline: First Preview

2009-01-12T22:47:00.004+07:00

"The Deadline" is a new thriller from Epic pictures that they're touting as being in the vein of "The Shinning" and "Repulsion." The film stars Brittany Murphy (Sin City), Thora Birch, Tammy Blanchard and Marc Blucas. From it MySpace official page, here is the synopsis of the film:

Alice, 32, a writer recovering from a psychological breakdown retreats to a remote Victorian house to convalesce and focus on completing her screenplay in time for a fast approaching deadline. Shortly after her arrival, mysterious noises and strange happenings cause her imagination to run wild, sending her on a twisting and terrifying pursuit to find out what is behind the endless mind games. Frightened but intrigued, Alice gathers the courage to go down into the cold, dingy basement where she finds a shoe box filled with mini-dv tapes.

Alice starts to watch the tapes and is soon drawn into the unfolding drama like a avid soap opera. The images on the tapes are of an older husband, David, lovingly but obsessively filming his new, young, beautiful wife, Lucy. At first Alice is amused by their affection towards one another. But as she continues to watch the series of tapes, she starts to notice David’s compulsive desire to always secretly film his wife during her most intimate moments.

Later in the evening while watching another tape, Alice is frustrated and angered when the tape comes to an abrupt end - just as David becomes aggressive towards his wife, physically attacking her to prevent her from leaving him. As she reaches for the last tape in the shoe box, eager to find out the next part of the story, she is disappointed to find that the mini-dv case is empty. Now desperately driven by the need to know what happened to Lucy, Alice returns to the basement and finds a mini-dv camera that had fallen inside a cardboard box and become hidden with the passage of time.

The terrifying secret that lies within the final tape will unravel Alice’s dark past.

Trailer:

Drag Me to Hell: First Preview

2009-01-09T22:10:00.003+07:00

Sam Raimi's first time directing a non-Spiderman project since 2000's "The Gift" and his first attempt at horror outside of the "Evil Dead" franchise. It stars Alison Lohman and Justin Long with release date has set on May 29, 2009.

In the film, a young female loan officer denies an old woman a home extension and in retaliation a curse is placed on her. Haunted by an evil spirit, she seeks help to save her soul from eternal damnation and crosses boundaries she never thought she would to be set free.

Raimi and his brother Ivan penned the screenplay, which original saw Ellen Page (Juno) in Lohman's shoes. Page ended up dropping out of the project due to scheduling conflicts.

The Horsemen: First Preview

2009-01-08T22:24:00.002+07:00

The Horsemen is an upcoming 2009 thriller film directed by Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund whose directorial debut was a film called Spun from 2002, which means this is his second feature film. This movie starring Dennis Quaid and Ziyi Zhang has set by Focus Features to have a limited release on March 13, 2009.

In the film, Quaid will play as a bitter detective grieving over his wife's recent death. While investigating a case, he discovers a shocking connection between himself and the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. As Breslin grapples with each new revelation in the case, he slowly discovers a shocking connection between himself and the four suspects. Four Horsemen. Four unrelated victims. Four painful secrets. Come and See.

Voices (Horrorfest): Review

2009-01-08T21:59:00.004+07:00

This South Korean thriller also known as "Someone Behind You" or "Du Saramida (Two People)".

In the film, Ka-in (Yun Jin-seo, Old Boy) is a high school student, adept at fencing, with loving parents, a pretty younger sister and a hunky med-student boyfriend (Yi Ki-woo, Tale of Cinema). Everything seems to be perfect, until one day her aunt suffers a terrible accident on her wedding day. She is then graphically stabbed to death by another aunt while hospitalized. Reeling from shock, Ka-in soon finds herself the target of the inexplicable murderous rage of her friends and even family members. To figure out what is going on, she enlists the help of a creepy classmate Seok-min (Park Ki-woong, The Art of Fighting).

"Someone Behind You" is based on a comic book by Kang Kyung-ok, which apparently is a straightforward supernatural thriller, attributing the cause of Ka-in's horrendous situation to a family curse (naturally, the curse descends down through the agnatic lineage, this being a Korean one). The movie version dabbles with that premise, then abandons it altogether and turns itself into a far-fetched murder mystery, finally resolving into a yet another rip-off of Tale of Two Sisters, with a chunk bitten off from Death Note thrown in for a good measure.

To put it charitably, Someone's screenplay is a mess. Penned by five scribes including the director, Lee Shin-ae, who previously wrote Fox Stairs, and Lee Hyo-chul, responsible for Hanbando (?!), it is a dreadful mishmash of different agendas and styles, without any coherent sense of what it's groping for. Adding insult to injury is Oh Ki-hwan's (Last Present, shudder…) lugubrious direction, which tiredly follows one set-up after another. Particularly harebrained is the character of Min-seok: the last-minute revelation regarding him is totally predictable but is nonetheless a hoot. I can easily imagine Korean moviegoers rolling their eyes and hurling insults at the close-up of him grinning sinisterly in that eyebrow-obscuring gappa hairstyle.

Nearly wasted are two excellent actresses, Yun Jin-seo as Ka-in and Kim So-eun (The Show Must Go On) as her sister. Yun is basically given an impossible role to play, a young girl against whom the whole world has turned murderous, but she pulls it off without ever relying on histrionics, even under the overtly melodramatic direction given by director Oh. Kim is ridiculously cute but shows a lot of potential. The interactions between these two actresses are frankly the only believable part of the movie. While Someone gets a few goodwill points by staying away from long-haired Sadako clones, as a thriller or horror film it is simply lame, not even unintentionally funny to qualify as camp entertainment. Should be of interest only for those fans of Yun Jin-seo and Kim So-eun who don't mind their favorite actresses put through the wringer in almost sadistically unimaginative ways.

Reviewed by Kyu Hyun Kim (Koreanfilm.org)

The Descent 2: First Preview

2009-01-08T21:38:00.003+07:00

This British horror film is a sequel to the commercial and critical success 2006 "The Descent," it will follows where the original left off. Filming began in May 2008 at Ealing Studios in London. Ealing Studios was featured on BBC London in June 2008 going behind the scenes of the filming of 'Descent 2'. In that broadcast it was confirmed that Shauna MacDonald would be returning to play her character Sarah. Neil Marshall, the producer and director of the original is back only as the executive producer and the director job is handed to Jon Harris.

This sequel will continue the story of Sarah, who as the only survivor of an all-female caving expedition gone horrifically wrong, suffers severe psychological trauma. Unable to speak, she accompanies a rescue team back to the cave, but events once again take a sinister turn.

"The Descent 2" picks up immediately after the events depicted in The Descent. Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) emerges alone from a cave system following an expedition with her five friends in the Appalachian mountains. Distraught, injured and covered in the blood of her missing companions, Sarah is incoherent and half-wild with fear. Skeptical about her account of events and convinced Sarah's psychosis hides far darker secrets, Sheriff Vaines forces her back into the caves to help locate the rest of the group, and to maybe rescue Juno. Trapped by falling rocks, the rescue party are driven deep into the caverns, and as one by one the fate of the missing girls is revealed, Sarah is forced to confront her deepest fears.

The Haunting in Connecticut: First Preview

2008-12-26T18:39:00.002+07:00

The Haunting in Connecticut is based on the story of the Snedeker family's alleged encounter with the paranormal. The story was also featured in the book In A Dark Place by Ray Garton and an episode of the Discovery Channel series A Haunting. The film was directed by Peter Cornwell and filmed in Teulon, Manitoba, Canada.

The horrifying tale begin when Sara (Virginia Madsen) and Peter (Martin Donovan) Campbell's son Matt (Kyle Gallner) is diagnosed with cancer, they uproot their family to a home in Southington, Connecticut where they would be near a hospital for his treatment. As the family settles into their new home, which turns out to be a former mortuary, Matt grows increasingly disturbed by paranormal activity that seems to inhabit and possess the house. At a loss to help her frightened family, his mother turns to an enigmatic priest (Elias Koteas) who appears to rid the house of its ghosts-- until the boy's condition takes a sudden and unexplained turn for the worse and their lives are put in grave danger.

Lake Mungo: Review

2008-12-26T18:34:00.002+07:00

Story: Sixteen-year-old ALICE PALMER drowns while swimming in the local dam. When her body is recovered and a verdict of accidental death returned, her grieving family buries her. The family then experiences a series of strange and inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Profoundly unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of psychic and parapsychologist, RAY KEMENY. Ray discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. A series of clues lead the family to Lake Mungo where Alice's secret past emerges. Lake Mungo is a mystery, a thriller and a ghost story.

Reviewed by: By RUSSELL EDWARDS (Variety)

Ghostly shenanigans are dryly delivered in the ambitious, restrained and well-mounted Oz mockumentary "Lake Mungo." A 65-minute slow burn to one impactful scare, pic brims with ideas along the way. Joel Anderson's feature bow falls short of Lynchian labyrinth, but his collaboration with talented lenser John Brawley is an atmospheric gem that signals clear potential for bigger and darker things. Pic could be difficult to market unless auds are willing to fall for the "Blair Witch" stunt twice, but will make a classy entry in fantasy events or fest sidebars. Local release date is currently undecided.

The credit sequence is illustrated by spooky Victorian-era B&W photos that hint at spiritualism, with teenage Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker) fearfully speaking of impending, but unspecified, events in v.o. When the pic begins in earnest, narrative uses faux TV news and docu interview footage with Alice's parents, Russell (David Pledger) and June (Rosie Traynor), and brother Mathew (Martin Sharpe), to reveal Alice drowned in a lake (not the titular lake, however) near the family's home in the country town of Ararat.

Family members and friends outline their memories of what transpired in the days between Alice's disappearance and the retrieval of her body. Soon, Mathew's already evident interest in photography and cinematography (his video camera supplying some of the background material for the docu-within-the-mocku) begins to consume him.

When a murky figure turns up in photos taken around the scene of Alice's death, Mathew sets up his vidcam to see if he can capture the phantom on video, and a ghost resembling Alice is evident in playback.

The mock-docu framework comes dangerously close to becoming an overexposed conceit when Anderson slips in some unexpected plot reversals. A couple of these enrich the narrative but others suggest Anderson didn't know when enough was enough. Nevertheless, pic's structure shows that, despite some exploratory dead ends, helmer had a very precise idea of what he wished to achieve overall.

A substantial amount of the movie is shot on handycams and mobile phones in often under-lit locations, with even an early sequence on Super-8 for no apparent reason. Helmer makes smart use of 16mm for interview sequences, and of glorious 35mm for time-lapse sequences. Latter are well-served by Fernando Corona's moody music, which complements the main score by David Paterson. Combination imbues pic with a visual grace and restful pace that enhance the plethora of edgier, video formats.

Thesps were given plot points to hit, but no actual script, and it shows. Actors improvise well enough but frequently use language inconsistent with their characters.

Sound design by Craig Carter is impressive. Title refers to a dry lake 500 miles west of Sydney that's archeologically and geologically significant.

14 Beyond: The First Preview

2008-12-21T13:13:00.003+07:00

Thai based movie site Deknang recently had added one poster that looks like a teaser one to a possible sequel of 2006 Thai blockbuster psychological thriller "13 Beloved" (Thai: 13 เกมสยอง or 13 Game Sayong, also 13: Game of Death). "13 Beloved" was No. 1 in Thai cinemas on opening weekend and it was hailed critically as well, with the Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee calling it a "smart, ambitious commercial film" with shortcomings that "are the results of risk-taking rather than of incompetence."
Maggie Lee, writing for Hollywood Reporter, called 13 Beloved "one of those accomplished suspense thrillers that mount the tension stage by stage without running out of steam at the end, it is also an unyieldingly cynical exploration of the human heart of darkness with an oedipal climax that makes it a field-day for Freudians."
A short film prequel, "12 Begin," was also made as part of the film's pre-release promotional campaign. It was shown in limited screenings at SF Cinema City theaters. A sequel called "14 Beyond" has actually being planned and with this poster, it seems they have finally made it happen.

The Fatality: Review

2008-12-21T13:07:00.003+07:00

By Ho Yi
Staff reporter of Taipei Times

LANGUAGE:
In Mandarin and Thai with Chinese and English subtitles

RUNNING TIME: 97 MINUTES

Touted as Asian horror’s first Thai/Taiwanese collaboration, The Fatality aims to tap the international reputation of Thailand’s renowned ghost cinema. But the film turned out a rudderless befuddling mess, perhaps because of the curiously large number of directors involved.

The film begins with He Zhi-rong (Wu Ke-qun), a grubby-looking man who has lost the will to live and drifts aimlessly through the streets of Taipei. After attempting suicide He mysteriously wakes up in a hospital in Thailand as a man named Asanee. Assisted by Stanley (Matt Wu), a doctor who initially seems unconcerned about his patient’s welfare, He gradually settles into the life of Asanee and soon has everything that he didn’t in his previous life: a beautiful wife, Nakun (Pichanart Sakhakorn), and a stable job as a public servant.

Life is good until Asanee starts seeing ghosts and other supernatural sights. He realizes that by the power invested in a birthmark on his arm, he is fated to seal death certificates for the soon-to-be deceased in an office-like space within the ghost world, which he can access because of his supernatural powers.

It doesn’t take long before Asanee, who has become the bureaucratic incarnation of the Grim Reaper, begins abusing his power by taking the lives of terminally ill patients who beg for his help to end their suffering. Meanwhile, Nakun secretly plots against her husband with her lover while the omniscient Stanley waits to come to He’s rescue.

Audiences are likely to starting fidgeting in their seats 10 minutes into this film, filled with the unsettling feeling that they are watching a movie made up of nothing more than far-fetched plot twists and dull images that barely support the narrative. The viewer begins to question whether even one of The Fatality’s oversized ensemble of directors had any sense of how to construct a story.

Looking either sullen or bewildered throughout the film, the performances from Mando-pop singer Wu Ke-qun, Taiwanese actor Matt Wu and Sakhakorn of Thailand are consistently dull.

A word of advice to aspiring directors in the music video and television commercial business such as Kuang Shen: before venturing into cinema, think twice about your goals and, at the very least, develop a directing methodology that suits feature films.

My Bloody Valentine: Second Preview

2008-12-20T16:20:00.004+07:00

The second short trailer of the upcoming horror remake "My Bloody Valentine 3D" has been arrived. The marketing behind the movie is looks like heavily (over?) promoting the 3D gimmick... It should maybe focus on the plot. The awesome news is that this is definitely getting an R rating - and considering that then, yes, I can’t think of a more fun date movie. Blood and guts with modern day 3-D tech? Check the trailer after the break

My Bloody Valentine 3D is a 2009 remake of the 1981 Canadian slasher film of the same name. The film will be directed and edited by Patrick Lussier, a long-time horror editor and director of "Dracula 2000" also "White Noise 2: The Light". the film stars Jensen Ackles (Supernatural), Jaime King with Kerr Smith, will have a 3-D theatrical release on January 16, 2009. The story is revolves around Tom Hanniger (Ackles), who returns to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of the Valentine's night massacre that claimed the lives of 22 people. Instead of a homecoming, however, Tom finds himself suspected of committing the murders, and it seems like his old flame (King) is the only one will believes he's innocent.

Epitaph: Review

2008-12-19T21:45:00.005+07:00

Review by: Ulises (Quiet Earth)
Rating: 8 out of 10

The Bottom Line: A beautifully shot and choreographed Korean horror flick that certainly elevates the genre but also stays predictably true to it.

The Jung Brothers’ Epitaph has, apparently, drawn rave reviews from critics worldwide. And when you look at this film from a purely cinematographic point of view, it’s not hard to see why. This is a movie that does away with the murky shots, the B+ movie production values, and the occasionally campy aspects of not just Asian horror, but horror in general. When you think about it, horror isn’t exactly the most respected cinematic genre, all too often relegated to the fringes of mainstream tastes, embraced by folks like us who think there’s nothing wrong with blood, guts, gore, and the occasional chain rattling.

Epitaph is what a horror movie would look like if horror films were regular participants at the Academy Awards. Because the Jung Brothers have crafted a three-part, interwoven ghost story that presents some of the most beautiful cinematography and surreal expressionism to ever grace the genre. It elevates Asian horror to a new level of respectability, separating itself from the usual Red Shoes, Ghost, Ju-On, and Ringu fare by treating its subject matter with a poetic visual aesthetic and melancholic sensibility.

Unfortunately, it never really breaks free from the very horror conventions it’s separating itself from. And although its three separate stories are compelling in their own right, as an interwoven narrative, they confound and confuse, and they rob us of any chance of caring too much about any one character.

Epitaph is, essentially, a flashback to Korea in 1942 under Japanese occupation. As an elderly college professor learns that Anseng Hospital is about to be demolished, he flashes back to the time in his life where, he says, his life ended for all intents and purposes. Thus, we are taken back to his life as a young intern in Anseng. And thus, we are introduced to story one.

The first story involves Dr. Jung Nam, a wet-behind-the-ears intern who’s got a little problem. Not only is he assigned morgue duty for a week, but it turns out he’s been forced into an arranged marriage. With, of all people, the hospital director’s daughter. Like all youngsters being told they’re going to marry a person they only met once when they were kids, Jung Nam isn’t exactly jumping at the prospect. But when a suicide victim is brought in—a lovely young woman, an angel, as one of his colleagues describes her—something stirs in Jung Nam’s numbed mind. Fascination, for one. He admires the dead girl’s wedding band. He admires her beauty, and the fact that her corpse isn’t aging. He draws a portrait of her. And he visits her each night. So in other words, he starts acting like any well-adjusted, non-necrophiliac wouldn’t.How will this story end? Let’s just say, the arranged marriage is going to happen one way or another.

Story two involves a small girl named Asako, who’s been in a terrible car accident and brought into the hospital, blood-soaked, screaming, yet miraculously unhurt. Unfortunately, the car accident killed her mother and Japanese stepfather. But when Asako starts having grisly visions of her dead mother every night, another doctor, Soo In, becomes her guardian angel. As an empathetic survivor of his own childhood trauma, Soo In tries to discover the root of Asako’s horrific visions, and her crippling sense of guilt. She insists the accident, and the death of her parents, was her fault. How could it be, though? She’s just this sweet, adorable girl.

How will this story end? Well, let’s just say, Dr. Soo In probably wants to rethink his whole “I’m going to be a loving father figure to this poor girl because she obviously loved her mom and dad, especially her dad” approach.

Story three involves a serial killer who begins by butchering a Japanese soldier, then kills a young Korean soldier, then kills a nurse. The local Japanese Army commander wants answers from the doctors at Anseng working the autopsies, a married couple, Dr. In Young Kim and Dr. Dong Won Kim. But it’s not long before Dong Won suspects his wife, In Young, is the serial killer. You see, there’s something kind of odd about her: she doesn’t cast a shadow. And when he stumbles upon the horrific truth of things, it becomes a race against time to stop the next killing. Or so it seems.

How will this story end? Well, let’s just say, you know what they say about the main thematic differences between Korean horror and Japanese horror? Yeah, that.

So how do these three stories relate? Aside from the fact that they all happen at Anseng, and that Jung Nam is witness to all of them, and that their respective events casually intersect with the events of the other two stories, not much. And therein lies one of the problems with Epitaph. On the one hand, its non-chronological narrative presents its usual vertigo of confusion so endemic to Asian horror. Starting off in 1979, the film then goes back to 1942, but then each story takes place one day before the previous, and so it’s hard to keep track of what’s happening when and how it’s relating to the current story.

The confusing chronological sequence isn’t the only aspect of Asian horror Epitaph recycles. In an unfortunate way, films like Epitaph are victims of the genre’s success. Because while the long-haired female specters popping out from dark, creepy corners were creepy as hell the first few times, now, they’ve become formulaic and standard. And if you’ve seen Korean horror films such as A Tale of Two Sisters and Red Shoes, or if you’ve read David Kalat’s book, “J-Horror: The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond,” then one of Epitaph’s big twists isn’t just predictable, but a bit corny once it tries to take it to another level. So while Epitaph’s few scares are decent, you’ve probably seen them both before.

Still, Epitaph isn’t your typical “let’s make you crap your pants with fear” Asian horror flick. It’s a ghost story that explores the bonds we keep between ourselves, and the forces of fate that determine how those bonds will be maintained. It’s a tragic exploration of love and guilt, loss and companionship, and of the supernatural forces that sometimes play a hand in them. So the scares are secondary anyway; the film’s real emotional drive is its narrative of loss, and it relies on its somber, poetic cinematography to make that narrative felt.

Whether it’s a dissonant contrast of red rose petals against a pale white snowfall, or an open book dream sequence where we follow the characters from different perspectives, or a surreal portrayal of In Young and Dong Won’s eternal-honeymoon domestic life, Epitaph infuses each scene with real emotion and melancholic beauty. With a color palate more reminiscent of epic set pieces, and a directorial style more American Beauty than American Gothic, Epitaph doesn’t even look like a horror movie. And maybe it’s not trying to be. For example, Asako’s story is probably the scariest, yet it’s also the most touching. The film tries to horrify us when it reveals the truth about Asako’s actions, but it tries to tug at our heart’s strings with its final, bittersweet resolution between mother and daughter. Horror films aren’t supposed to scare you one moment, then make you want to cry the next.But there, again, lies a problem, and maybe it was the biggest problem I had with the movie. Even if I could agree that, with another viewing or two, the confusing chronology and intersecting storylines would make sense, I think the three stories spread our emotions pretty thin. And by that, I mean that it’s really hard to get emotionally invested in any of the main characters, because we simply don’t get to see them long enough. With each of the stories taking up an almost equal amount of screen time, each character—Jung Nam, Asako, Soo In, and In Young and and Dong Won—has precious little time to win our sympathies. Even little Asako can’t fully win us over, because we learn so little about her, and it’s hard to really feel as emotionally invested in her as the story is.

The ending, too, as gripping as it seems it could be, suffers from the film’s attempts to do too much in too little time. Sure, it’s poetic and bittersweet, and sure, it’s emotionally jarring to envision the possibilities it suggests—that the emotional connections between us really do traverse time, space, and even death. But do we care enough about the characters to empathize with their respective losses? I don’t think so.

With its brilliant cinematography and direction, Epitaph certainly elevates Asian horror to a new level of respectability. But in some ways, it can’t escape the conventions of Asian horror it tried to elevate in the first place. And with a confusing three-way narrative that sacrificed character development for scope, even its cinematography can’t hold the film afloat alone. Still, Epitaph is a beautiful film to watch, and an even more beautiful film to contemplate, and certainly recommended for anyone who enjoys Asian horror.

Meat Grinder: First Preview

2008-12-07T22:37:00.005+07:00

Thai is still hot with their politic issues and their gory horrors also. Here are some revealing posters for the upcoming Thai gory fest, "Meat Grinder," that probably want to follow the success of "Art of the Devil" trilogy. The film is being made by local movie production house Phranakorn film (who've released some pretty good upper end B-horror movies in the past) and apparently due for release, sometime early in the new year.

Thirst: Second Preview

2008-12-07T16:43:00.005+07:00

Via 24fps, here is the new synopsis for Park Chan-wook's "Thirst." Hey, there's also some behind-the-scenes footage of Park directing and showing off some Thirst storyboards for those newshounds over at CNN like you can check below or here. "Thirst" is currently slated to open in Korea next summer, exactly on May 09.

Synopsis: Sang-hyun, a small town beloved and admired priest who serves devotedly at a hospital, volunteers for the new infectious disease, F.I.V.’s, vaccine development experiment and goes to Africa. The experiment fails and Sang-hyun gets infected by F.I.V. but he ends up being miraculously cured and returns home. News of Sang-hyun’s cure from F.I.V. spreads and people start believing he has the gift of healing and flock to receive his blessing. From those who come to him, Sang-hyun meets a childhood friend named Kang-woo and his wife Tae-ju. Sang-hyun is immediately drawn to Tae-ju. One day, Sang-hyun coughs up blood, dies, and comes back to life the next day as a vampire. Tae-ju is strangely drawn to Sang-hyun, turned vampire, and they have a secret love affair. Sang-hyun asks Tae-ju to run away with him but she turns him down. Instead, they plot to murder Kang-woo...

Written: Preview

2008-12-07T16:28:00.001+07:00

Critics often write about the viewer’s experience of a film, where the actor enables him to “get inside a character”. But is this real empathy or is the relationship the audience has with fictional characters more akin to subjugation or sadistic manipulation? These and other issues are examined in this self-reflexive South Korean film conceived as a complex meditation on the identity of the character in a fictional story. Man A (Lee Jin-seok) wakes up to find he has an injury, he’s in a bath in a strange place, from where he is directed to another place against his will. He then encounters the alter ego of his creator, the actor who plays him, who enters the story as a parasite, and he meets other characters along the way whose own goals are also unrelated to the prescribed screenplay. The film was made in a small studio which, itself, becomes a set inside the film; it reflects upon all levels of the filmmaking process, from the script and actual shooting, to the given film style and the “eye” of the camera.

South Korean director Kim Byung-Woo uses intense cut-ups and surreal environments, to create a Kafkaesque metafilm about a man lost in the blur between fiction and reality. While protagonist A is trying to find his way through a brightly colored cinematic world, the director is portrayed on screen, searching for the missing script that contains the production’s end. At the same time, the writer has written herself into the plot, to warn A against the stalking actor portraying him. With clever acting and a thought-provoking script, the art of moviemaking is dissected to the very core. As a confused A asks his creator and writer: Are you writing me, or am I being written by you? Indeed.

The Box: First Preview

2008-11-30T11:47:00.003+07:00

Based on the 1970 short story "Button, Button" by author Richard Matheson, comes a new horror film which will mark as the first time effort for Cameron Diaz to be the main cast in a horror film along with James Marsden. The film is written and directed by Richard Kelly with the production has began since November 2007 and concluded in February 2008. The film is set for release in March 2009, but in the latest update, the film has been delayed to 6 November 2009 release date. The plot is set in Raleigh, North Carolina in the year 1976. An unhappily married couple (Diaz and Marsden) receive a box from a mysterious stranger (Langella), who tells them that pushing a button on the box will award them with a large monetary sum, and simultaneously, someone the couple does not know will die. The project was funded with a budget of over $30 million by Media Rights Capital. Kelly described his intent for the film, "My hope is to make a film that is incredibly suspenseful and broadly commercial, while still retaining my artistic sensibility."

Humanimal: Chille Horror

2008-11-30T11:28:00.002+07:00

When browsing on the net, I've found there's also a Chilian Horror by director Francesc Morales which stars Ramón Llao, Jenny Cavallo and Sebastián Layseca in its main roles. In this look like a B-horror film, it's all revolves around the clumsy Turtle which is a victim of the smart Fox. When Cat appears, they compete to seduce her. Cat is only interested in the one that incorporates human habits. Turtle realizes he can gain some advantage by feeding a strange creature with animal meat. Sound strange enough? Just check the trailer embedded below.

Borre: Norwegian Horror

2008-11-30T11:20:00.003+07:00

It's time for foreign horror previews today, next is from Norwegian, a horror film titled Børre (Borre). From Quiet Earth site, here we have the synopsis for the film and also the subbed trailer below.

Synopsis: Somewhere, someplace lives a loner called Børre, a man in his early thirties. He's got a boring good for nothing job that he hates, and a Swedish grease ball pig boss he’d love to see drop dead on the spot. To escape the reality of his sad boring life, he finds comfort in his bong. His only friend is a Pac-Man loving, dope dealing, Lowriding wannabe-gangster named Ludo. Børre knows a lot about old porn flicks, and his greatest hero of all time is the great, one and only Charles Bronson… Mr. Majestyk!
Every woman he ever cared for has disappeared from him, into the thin air. His self-esteem is not exactly high. Dr. Kronenberg is trying to help him solve his problems. Now, Børre has met Barbra, a sweet happy go lucky girl with an appetite for life, she is the love of his life. She loves him too. Børre is happy; his life is getting back on track…but something is lurking in the dark.

Check the trailer after the break

The Rejection: Russian Thriller

2008-11-30T10:54:00.003+07:00

Here's the first preview for an apocalyptic thriller from Russia, "The Rejection". Directed by Vladimir Lert - the film stars Sergei Babkin as a man who tries to discover the reason behind his cities impending destruction. As far as we can work out the movie is due for release in Russia, May 09. Based on it synopsis below, this film might be reads like a cross between ‘The Happening’ meets ‘28 days later,’ but however, the first trailer for the film which you can also check below is quite fantastic tough.

Synopsis: The world is falling apart. An unknown metropolis sits under a Jade green sky. Abandoned in a hurry, belongings lay piled high and the roads are clogged with Cars and columns of Tanks sitting idle and empty. The few remaining inhabitants reel aimlessly through the streets behaving erratically, screaming - unable to control their own actions, whilst all around them a rapidly growing green mold is sucking the life out of every living thing.

Source: 24framespersecond

Top Ten Best Asian Horror Films

2008-11-23T22:32:00.014+07:00

Philip W. Chung has listed some of the finest in the Asian film's horror fever. Below is the list started from the tenth position.

10. Song at Midnight (1937, China)
Director: Weibang Ma-Xu
Considered China’s first foray into the horror genre, this is a film that would be at home alongside the American monsters who were gracing the screen in the 1930s-Dracula, Frankenstein and their ilk. Weibang wrote and directed this story loosely based on The Phantom of the Opera about a young Chinese opera singer mentored by a disfigured “monster” who pines for his lost love. Originally marketed with the tagline “Please don’t take your children” after a rumor circulated that a child died of fright while watching the film, Song at Midnight was finally introduced to Western audiences in 1998 and instantly proclaimed a classic of Chinese cinema.

9. Shutter (2004, Thailand)
Directors: Banjong Pisanthanakun & Parkpoom Wongpoom
Forget this year’s lousy American remake; check out the original. Yes, it’s another film about a pissed-off female spirit with long black hair out for vengeance, but Shutter tries hard to make the otherwise familiar proceedings fresh. The filmmakers create a conflicted protagonist who isn’t your standard goody-two shoes, allowing for a depth usually not seen in characters in this type of movie. But what really sets Shutter apart is how the directors milk the film’s spooky concept (ghosts appearing in photographs) for all its worth, using both striking visuals and an incredibly effective sound design to heighten the chill factor.

8. Matango (1963, Japan)
Director: Ishiro Honda
Directed by the man who gave us the original Godzilla, with its allusion to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this cult classic may be one of the strangest and bleakest films you’ll see. When a yacht encounters a storm, the passengers and crew take refuge on a desert island where they discover an abandoned research ship, wild mushrooms growing everywhere and a bizarre presence that would confound even the hardened castaways of TV’s Lost. The film’s Americanized title-Attack of the Mushroom People-says everything you need to know about what’s coming next but what elevates this film above standard B-movie shlock is its unflinching take on the horrors modern man inflicts on himself.

7. The Echo (2004, Philippines)
Director: Yam Laranas
Horror films from the Philippines may not be as familiar to Americans as those from its Asian neighbors, but The Echo is the perfect place to start for those unfamiliar with that country’s recent wave of excellent genre entries. The Echo is a throwback to old school scare flicks like The Innocents and the original The Haunting, eschewing modern visual effects and “slasher” moments to create terror the old fashioned way: by suggesting it through vivid storytelling, committed performances and the use of subtle visuals and sounds. When a shot of a door slowly creaking open can send chills down your spine, you know you’re in the hands of a master.

6. Audition (1999, Japan)
Director: Takashi Miike
A film experience so disturbing that several audience members had to be hospitalized and even extreme horror director Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses) had a difficult time sitting through it, Audition is not for everyone. A middle-aged widower holds fake film “auditions” to find an attractive woman to become his next wife. But when he finds himself drawn to an ex-ballerina with a fuzzy past, things quickly take a disturbing turn for the worst. Audition’s most notorious moment is a scene of torture that makes Kathy Bates taking a sledgehammer to James Caan’s feet in Misery look like a Sunday School outing. But if you can stomach the movie, you’ll be treated to a wicked satire on the battle of the sexes that’s more insightful than most serious-minded dramas.

5. Chinese Ghost Story (1987, Hong Kong)
Director: Siu-Tung Ching
An effective mix of genres-horror, romance, comedy and action-A Chinese Ghost Story is one of the seminal films of the 1980s Hong Kong New Wave movement. A young Leslie Cheung plays a tax collector who finds shelter one night in an abandoned temple where he falls in love with the ghost of a beautiful woman held captive by an evil Tree Demon. When he decides to rescue her, he gets more than he bargained for (including a trip to the underworld). Director Sam Raimi (Spiderman) has acknowledged the huge influence of this film on his own work (see The Army of Darkness and select episodes of Xena that include shot-by-shot tributes to Ching’s film). And like Raimi’s work, Chinese Ghost Story’s refusal to be locked into any genre conventions gives it an energy that’s still unsurpassed 20 years later.

4. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003, South Korea)
Director: Ji-Woon Kim
Boasting one of the coolest movie posters ever created, this psychological ghost story became Korea’s highest grossing horror film at the time of its release. Based on the Korean folk story entitled Janghwa, Hongreyon-jon, A Tale of Two Sisters tells the story of two teenaged sisters, their sadistic step-mother and the haunted house they’re forced to share. Yes, the film can be dense and confusing if you don’t pay close attention, but unlike most horror movies that have a B-movie feel, Kim infuses his work with a poetic lyricism and a heart-breaking pathos that elevates it to the level of true tragedy. All this and a twist ending that ranks up there with The Sixth Sense.

3. Ugetsu (1953, Japan)
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Considered Mizoguchi’s masterpiece and often appearing on film authority Sight and Sound’s list of the ten best films of all time, Ugetsu may not be your cup of tea if you’re looking for constant scares (the supernatural element isn’t even made clear until the end of the film). But it’s a must-see for anyone seeking a truly transcendent film-going experience. The setting is sixteenth century Japan and a nation in the midst of civil war. Two ambitious peasants set out to make their fortune-one as a potter and the other as a samurai-leaving their wives behind to suffer tragic consequences. This may be one of Japan’s most famous ghost stories, but in Mizoguchi’s hands, it’s also a powerful examination of the horrors men foist on women and the ways in which the women survive those horrors.

2. The Host (2006, South Korea)
Director: Joon-Ho Bong
All due respect to the monstrous stars in the recent big screen incarnations of Godzilla, King Kong and Cloverfield, but the creature at the center of South Korea’s all-time box office hit literally blows them all out of the water. Inspired by a real-life scandal that involved the U.S. military illegally dumping chemicals into Seoul’s Han River, director and co-writer Bong imagines what may have happened if those chemicals had created a new life form that resembles a cross between the monster from Alien and a large prehistoric whale. While the film works as a commentary on the U.S. presence in Korea, the hysteria over SARS, the plight of Korea’s working class and as an examination of the modern dysfunctional family, at its heart it’s an entertainingly kick-ass creature feature that will make you feel like a kid again.

1. Ringu (1998, Japan)
Director: Hideo Nakata
The one that started it all. The huge success of this film kicked off a new wave of stylish Asian horror films that made its way to our shores with Dreamworks’ own remake of Nakata’s masterpiece. If the Hollywood remake attacks you like a feral animal, the original burrows slowly under your skin, building a sense of Hitchcockian tension until it climaxes in one of the most memorable moments of cinematic terror that rivals the shower scene in Psycho. The plot is deceptively simple and utterly genius-anyone who watches a mysterious videotape ends up dead in exactly a week. From this concept, Nakata expertly weaves a tale that finds the horror in the most mundane corners of our modern technological culture. Much imitated but never equaled, this is not just one of the best Asian horror films, but one of the best films from Asia. Period.

Which one is your favorite?

4 Days Preview

2008-11-21T21:06:00.005+07:00

It's like Agatha Christie mystery meet the goriness of 'Saw'. This new horror thriller from South Korea will tell a story about a group of 11 people which convinced that they no longer wish to live. Meet at a deserted schoolhouse and they start to make a suicide pact. However someone or something else in the school begins to gruesomely kill off the visitors one by one and the survivors are quickly convinced that they want to live and must fight for their lives. This story, directed by Seo Min-yeong is exactly the same as his previous work Behind in 2006 which never saw a theatrical release. His earlier attempt starred TV personalities trying to make the jump to the big screen. This time he has cast Jeong Woo-taek (Friends), Lee Jae-yong (Someone Special, Save the Green Planet) and Im Ye-won. This horror/thriller will be released on November 27. Below is the trailer for the film.

The Wolfman: First Preview

2008-11-19T20:10:00.003+07:00

The Wolfman is a remake of the 1941 classic of the same name, it's directed by Joe Johnston and stars Benicio del Toro as the wolfman, with Anythony Hopkins will likely play the wolf man's father. After originally scheduled for February 13, 2009 (a Friday the 13th) release, the film now set for release on April 3, 2009.

Plot: Lawrence Talbot's childhood ended the night his mother died. After he left the sleepy Victorian hamlet of Blackmoor, he spent decades recovering and trying to forget. But when his brother's fiancée, Gwen Conliffe, tracks him down to help find her missing love, Talbot returns home to join the search. He learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline has come to investigate.

As he pieces together the gory puzzle, he hears of an ancient curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves when the moon is full. Now, if he has any chance at ending the slaughter and protecting the woman he has grown to love, Talbot must destroy the vicious creature in the woods surrounding Blackmoor. But as he hunts for the nightmarish beast, a simple man with a tortured past will uncover a primal side to himself, one he never imagined existed.

Trivia:
# Mark Romanek was going to direct but left the project over budget disagreements.

# 'Benicio del Toro''s Wolfman make-up took approximately 3 hours to apply and 1 hour to remove.

# When Rick Baker, who became a makeup artist because of The Wolf Man (1941), heard that this film was being made he called Universal to tell them he had to do the makeup. Universal told him that he was their one and only choice but that they didn't have anyway of making contact with him.

# Budgeted at estimated $100-million.

# The film will supposedly have new twists and characters to take advantage of today's new visual effects technology.

Coming Soon Review

2008-11-19T20:05:00.002+07:00

By KONG RITHDEE

Someone should compile an anthology of Thai horror movies - it would make an obscenely thick volume. Our constant lust for a fix of fear seems influenced by history and climate; equatorial demons are more sensational than, say, the effete vampires of Europe. They just suck blood; we rip our chests open and show we've got guts, literally. On top of that, Southeast Asia's passion for horror films is instinctive: we want to see ghost movies because we believe in ghosts. We're not traditionally logical people. That's why ghosts (and stock market) fit snugly into our psyche.

This penchant for seeing dead people on screen is the genesis of the new ghost flick Program Nah Winyan Akhart, or Coming Soon. It's not super-scary, with recycled shock tactics that work technically but not psychologically. But it must be noted that Coming Soon, written and directed by debutting Sophon Sakdaphisit, cleverly dabbles in a shot of meta-analysis of the graveyard-rush to create ghost movies, and of the audience's obsession with manufactured on-screen horror. Had it been a little edgier, Coming Soon could have come across as a disturbing critique of our endless appetite for ghost films and of the filmmakers' increasing recklessness to give us just that.

The film also exploits the architecture of the modern cineplex to good effects, from those plush red seats, eerie in the half-light, to the claustrophobic exit corridor. Best of all, the movie takes us into the projection room and lets us see the rolls of 35mm film - supposedly containing the images of the movie we are seeing.

That's because our main guy, Rashane (Chantawit Thanasewee), works in the projection booth of a typical Bangkok multiplex. A junkie and a gambler - though he looks too healthy to be both - Rashane agrees to pirate a new ghost film that's about to be released, called Winyan Akhart (literally, "Vengeful Spirit"). We actually see this film-within-a-film, a based-on-a-true-story account of a madwoman who kidnaps young children and who's later hanged by the mob of villagers. In her death, half-putrid and angry, the woman returns as a ghost to haunt them.

Rashane screens the film for himself in order to make a bootlegged copy, but the ghost in the movie manifests to wander the multiplex, hell-bent on spooking the living daylights out of the projectionist. The freaked-out bootlegger's sole confidante is his ex-girlfriend Som (Worakarn Rojanawat), who works at the cinema as an usher. When Rashane tells her about the ghost that's no longer just on the screen, Som does what most characters in modern horror films do to solve the mystery: she Googles it. And of course, she finds all the information she wants!
Both Rashane and Som seem to have only one facial expression throughout the entire proceeding: not of fear, but of someone who knows he/she's in a horror movie. They're scared even before we are, and that's not fun. I also wonder why the two ushers can skip work at will to go unearthing the truth behind the "true story" of the film, not to mention their breaking into a building with the ease and skill of professional robbers.

But ghost films don't exist for us to nitpick. They're here to frighten, and Coming Soon succeeds only partially.
What interests me more, nevertheless, is how the director toys with the idea of "seeing" as a form of transgression. This is not original: Ringu, the mothership of Japanese neo-horror, popularised the concept of an ill-tempered female ghost that escapes from the screen to haunt you if you dare watch the movie containing the image of her death. Film - 35mm film - is a physical limbo in which her soul is trapped. When you breach the boundary of the two worlds by watching the film, the act permits the ghost to breach the same border - marked by the screen - to tax revenge from you on this side.

Coming Soon warns us, though its conviction is rather feeble, that our ruthless taste for horror is in a way a show of disrespect to the dead, and that it could backfire.

That's an irony, because the film does all of this not because it wants to caution us against seeing ghost movies. Instead, Coming Soon wants us to see more, starting with itself. And many of us, I'm sure, will comply.

The Beckoning: Second Preview+Trailer

2008-11-14T21:24:00.003+07:00

Continuing the first preview of this film, here we have the trailer for the second horror feature of "La Hora Fria" (The Cold Hours) writer / director / producer / effects whiz Elio Quiroga. And here also the official synopsis of the film:

"The film tells the story of Francesca, a young pediatrician who has been traumatized by the loss of a child through crib death. When the family moves to a new home in the country, supposedly to help her recover from the experience, she begins seeing completely inexplicable things. Even worse she gradually faces the possibility of going completely mad because of the visions and apparitions she continuously witnesses. The answer to Francesca’s problem is hidden in some “secret No-DO’s”, news programs made in the forties to inform Church leaders about miraculous happenings in Spain, and which are thought to have disappeared."

The Appeared Preview

2008-11-14T21:10:00.002+07:00

Here come a Spanish/Argentine co-production horror film Aparecidos (The Appeared) that will mark as the first feature length project of Spanish director, Paco Cabezas. The screenplay was written by Cabezas himself and it stars Ruth Díaz as Malena, and Javier Pereira as Pablo. December 12th has finally been set for theatrical release of the film.

Primarily the film is about a brother and sister who head back to their home town in order to sign papers to turn off the life support machines for their Father who is near death. The daughter doesn't get on with him at all, but the son has fond memories of a past together and wants to relive them by making one last trip home before they say goodbye to their father. They head back to their childhood home in their father's old car, and on the trip the son sees a little girl struggling to get something out of the back wheel arch. He goes to help and when he lifts his head she's gone, meanwhile he finds an old diary stuck inside the bodywork. The diary tells of the murder of a number of people, carrying photos and descriptions, and without much thought they head off to the hotel described in the diary. From there the supernatural world and theirs become entangled and their lives are put in danger.

Thirst: First Preview

2008-11-10T20:45:00.001+07:00

South Korea will be soon releasing their own blood sucker film, it was directed by internationally acclaimed director Park Chan-wook who is most famous for the phenomenally kickass film “Oldboy.” Here the director once again exploring various human vices in his works with the film that has been titled with “Thirst”.

In the story, there’s Sang-hyun, a beloved pastor who devotes himself to his work at a local hospital, has a secret crush on his friend's wife. When he becomes infected with the F.I.V. virus, he dies a horrible death, and comes back to life as a vampire. His newfound supernatural powers free him to pursue his repressed desires, and he finds himself in the middle of a truly dangerous liaison.
This film was originally called "The Bat" to convey a sense of horror - after all, it is about vampires. But it is also more than that. It is about passion and a love triangle. I feel that it is unique because it is not just a thriller, and not merely a horror film, but an illicit love story as well.

"Thirst" already wrapped up filming on October 9 after five months. Director Park Chan-wook's film was shot in Korea and Australia. Around the world, anticipation is high for the vampire film, and PARK himself has been quoted saying that "Thirst" might be his finest achievement.

PARK's international fame also led to "Thirst" being co-produced by Hollywood major studios Universal and Focus. Thirst's post-production will take a couple of months before the film's release in early 2009.
Thirst stars Song Kang-ho (from The Host and The Good the Bad and the Weird), Shin Ha-kyun (from Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), and Kim Ok-bi (from Dasepo Naughty Girls) as the leading lady.

Eden Lake Review

2008-11-08T21:07:00.002+07:00

Eden Lake is an UK horror film written and directed by James Watkins and starring Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender. According to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the critical consensus holds that the film is "a brutal and effective British hoodie-horror that, despite the clichés, stays on the right side of scary". The site rates the movie as "fresh", with a score of 79% based on 19 reviews.

Here is one review by Steven West from Horror Review:
Writer-director James Watkins - who co-wrote the equally despondent MY LITTLE EYE and has the unenviable task of scripting the upcoming THE DESCENT 2 - has made a nihilistic, relentlessly intense hoodie-generation variation on WHO COULD KILL A CHILD? It takes a well-worn survivalist-horror approach to socially relevant, incendiary material, complete with a blood/shit-caked heroine triumphantly fending off an increasingly brutal enemy and a score by THE DESCENT’s David Julyan that, for a while at least, reinforces her spirited triumph-against-the-odds. It also, however, destroys any sense of conventional hope and subverts the traditional path of the survivalist horror movie, with an uber-downbeat ending that’s as much of a kick in the teeth of the audience as Serrador’s ironic conclusion of CHILD.

While EDEN LAKE is a vastly superior suspense-horror picture in its own right - and among the year’s finest genre outings - it also works as an escalating middle class nightmare scenario exploiting modern Britain’s tabloid-enhanced paranoia about yob culture. Violence begets violence in the authentically bleak world of EDEN LAKE and the generation gap has never seemed so huge. We’re willing our heroes to survive against the all-too-real threat facing them, but Watkins never lets us enjoy their triumph and offers no easy answers or resolutions.

Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender are a nice, white, middle class London couple (the film’s depiction of the class divide, notably via an early, questionable scene of them passing by a pub, bothered some) enjoying a romantic weekend break. Fassbender wants to propose to school teacher Reilly at the picturesque lakeside spot of the title. Both are undeterred by ominous graffiti at the entrance that reads “Fuck off yuppie cunts”.

Enjoying a pleasant bit of beach sunbathing, the couple are disturbed by a group of pallid local youths led by an outstanding Jack O’Connell (and their Rottweiler). The gang play their abrasive music loud, leer at Reilly’s bikini-clad body, let their dog shit near where the couple are laying and generally act obnoxiously. Fassbender uses all his will power to avoid acting out of turn, but finds himself unable to stop himself confronting them. This expression of distaste leads to an unending series of increasingly fraught confrontations between the couple and the gang, beginning with trivial vandalism (slashed tyres) and soon escalating to deadly serious. Triggering a grim turn of events in the second half, one of the most upsetting scenes of this movie year involves Fassbender tied up with barbed wire while the gang take it in turns to stab him with switchblades and Stanley knives. (This sequence would have got the movie either banned or heavily censored in the not too distant past in the UK).

Watkins’ harshly violent, deliberately provocative film creates a powerful sense of discomfort by lingering on genuinely cringe-inducing injuries and torture : FX artist Paul Hyett adds to his growing list of impressive credits (THE DESCENT, WAZ, DOOMSDAY) by contributing a horrific spike-through-the-foot, close-up open slash wounds and a truly jolting arterial-spraying throat stabbing involving THIS IS ENGLAND child star Thomas Turgoose that proves a catalytic event in the final stages. The film also realizes the power of suggested violence : one distressing beating is conveyed largely via sound and a single, disquieting reaction shot. Even more powerfully, the final fate of a key character is conveyed via a shot of a closed bathroom door and the sound of horrendous screams. The audience gets to fill in the horrible blanks.

Watkins cleverly manipulates the audience, like Serrador before him, by firing us up and making us yearn to see this callous group of thugs get their comeuppance. When the time comes, however, he refuses to give us the easy option of satiating our bloodlust : the quietly devastating final scene suggests the gang’s ringleader will get away with what he has done. Just as notable is the LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT-inspired twist of fate that makes the concluding act a truly upsetting diversion from expectation.

To some extent, the script relies on coincidence and contrivance, but you’ll be too gripped and scared to even notice much of the time. The callous youths at the core of the story, who progress from animal torture to single mindedly pursuing the innocent people who could land them in jail, are a terrifyingly credible threat and almost everything that happens feels convincing in our fucked up society. Reilly and Fassbender make for likeable, sympathetic victims.

It’s well shot (repeated aerial shots add to the sense of isolation and desolation), unrelenting and uncomfortably graphic : the briefly glimpsed, off-hand burning of a young Pakistani boy provides at least one indelible image. The harrowing denouement, meanwhile involves the movie’s most overt collision of chase-horror movie and social realist drama…and the effect is utterly horrifying.

Dying Breed: Review

2008-11-08T17:40:00.002+07:00

The little hype surrounding this Australian feature is probably better left unnoticed, as while I found it solid it doesn't pull any out punches we haven't already gone through before to leave an impressive imprint. Hey it reminded me of an other Australian horror film 'Wolf Creek (2005)' and maybe 'The Hills Have Eyes (2006)' remake, but this time the escalating terror is found in the beautiful forests of Tasmania as a group of young adults head out searching for the supposedly instinct Tasmanian tiger, but actually earth up something more horrifying about the area's local history.

For me this film really came out of nowhere, as the striking poster artwork (featuring a half eaten pie with an eyeball and finger within it) caught my attention and some rave reviews can feed your appetite. Sadly though, I was only one of four who were at the cinema to see it. I probably could've gone without seeing it and waited for it to hit DVD, but there's nothing quite like watching a horror film on the big screen.

What this story sets off to be is a little unsure, but about midway through you know where it's heading (Psycho territory with cannibalistic currents). I might sound like a broken record, but really this isn't nothing new compared to much modern horror focusing on the visual torture and torment of its victims. While it might not be as abundant, it still lingers and has a really nasty side. It has explicitly raw moments with pockets of vicious intensity, but it was not the violence that unnerved but the ominously remote woodland backdrop with constant eerie imagery.The scenery is gorgeously lush, but lurking beneath the gracefully hypnotic setting is the true grotesque horror that's hidden very well. The nocturnal, but surprisingly also the day sequences can get under your skin. The cinematography is professionally catered for with it drawing upon the atmosphere and setting. Editing is brisk, but well infused.

As for the story it uses actual facts and spins them in to total fiction. The main base of the story centres on the history of the extinct Tasmanian tiger, which some still believe exists and combining that legend of the cannibalistic Irish convict Alexander Pearce that managed to escape from the penal colony and headed for the wilderness to only be hanged in 1824. Then we hit modern times with a group of four after the exclusive photograph of the Tiger, but one of girls lost her sister within the same area they're visiting in a supposed drowning. Now cue those articles of missing backpackers. But when they meet the creepy locals, the inbred jokes flow. Still we're flooded with flashbacks, piled on to flashbacks. Even if the set-up is clichéd and obviously formulaic, these back stories do give it a little more background and depth, and lessens the idea of turning in to something meaningless.

The pacing is rather leisured, and I can see many complaining about the slowness of the opening half (think of the criticism that 'Wolf Creek' copped). But I thought it was milked out accordingly and with a purpose, to hit you hard when it finally changed direction. Featuring heavily is that it centres on mood, visuals and sounds than that of tearing and ballistic actions. Even when it does break out from it's causal handling, it still doesn't burst out and only adds tension with jolts in scattered slabs and formulated rushes. When it comes to the end, I found it to be stumbling there and results not entirely satisfying. But it still keeps that glum feel throughout.

Jody Dwyer's assured direction is slick and stylish. Maybe too so, but it's a brash display as his not afraid to bare gore and flesh… usually the latter in recent times sees little daylight in the mainstream horror releases. Even animal lovers should be aware. The performances are workmanlike, but no real empathic edge was created. Well not for me. One thing though it never seemed like they were ever aware in what type of situation they were or could be in, but when it unfolded it didn't entirely changed the perception. Leigh Whannel, Nathan Phillips, Mirrah Foulkes and Melanie Vallejo play the unlucky party.

A basic, but durably crafted genre effort.

Reviewed by: lost-in-limbo from the Mad Hatter's tea party (IMDB)

Pulse: Invasion DVD

2008-11-08T17:28:00.004+07:00

Hitting DVD December 30th, this is the third series of Japan remake "Pulse" which seems doesn't work in the big screen but keep coming in the DVD shell. It is now seven years later and the survivors on Earth have settled into a primitive lifestyle completely void of electronics. The clusters of human survivors live together in refugee camps as the phantoms have taken over the cities. Justine is now a teenager and she escapes to the city to try and make a life for herself where she is not a drain on her adopted family (her parents both became phantoms in part one). She heads in to the city at the urging of Adam, a seeming survivor in the city that lures her with promises of understanding and friendship.

Set to film back-to-back with the second film Pulse: Afterlife on September 3rd '07, this one is the third film to complete the Pulse trilogy.

Release Date: December 30, 2008 (DVD)
Studio: Dimension Extreme
Director: Joel Soisson
Screenwriter: Joel Soisson
Starring: Rider Strong, Jamie Bamber, Georgina Rylance, Noureen DeWulf, Laura Cayouette

Night of the Demons

2008-11-08T17:13:00.001+07:00

Inspired by the 80's cult classic of the same name, and featuring makeup by the Academy Award® winning Drac Studios (Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mrs. Doubtfire) began principle photography on Friday, October 3.

Maddie Curtis and her friends Lilly and Suzanne are ready for a great Halloween night. They’re going to a party thrown by their friend Angela at the notorious Broussard Mansion in New Orleans. Over eighty years ago, six people disappeared from the mansion without a trace – and the owner, Evangeline Broussard, hung herself.

The dark history only serves to enhance the Broussard Mansion’s appeal on Halloween. At the decadent, out-of-control party, Maddie and Lily run into their exes, Colin and Dex, while Suzanne parties it up. Good times end, however, when the police bust up the party. After the rest of the guests leave, Angela, Maddie, Lily, Dex, Colin, Suzanne and their friend Jason discover a horrible secret. Their cell phones don’t work. The mansion gates are now mysteriously locked. Soon it becomes clear that supernatural forces are at work at the Broussard Mansion, and that there may be more to the tale of Evangeline Broussard than anyone knew.

It turns out that the Broussard Mansion is home to demons that need to possess seven vessels to break free of an ancient curse. One by one the guests fall victim, transforming into hideous creatures. Only Maddie, Colin and Jason remain – but can they make it through the night and keep evil forces from spreading into the world?

Coraline: First Preview

2008-11-02T13:26:00.001+07:00

Based on Neil Gaiman's international best-selling book, "Coraline" is the story of a young girl (Dakota Fanning) who unlocks a mysterious door in her new home, and enters into an adventure in a parallel reality. On the surface, this other world eerily mimics her own life - though much more fantastical. In it, Coraline encounters such off-kilter inhabitants as the morbidly funny Miss Forcible and Miss Spink, and a counterfeit mother (Teri Hatcher) - who attempts to keep her. Ultimately, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home.

As an animated stop-motion fantasy film based on Neil Gaiman's novella of the same name, it will be animated and co-directed by Henry Selick and Mike Cachuela and is scheduled to be released in theaters on February 6, 2009.
Laika Entertainment House (formerly Vinton Studios) has funded the film with around $50 to $70 million. Coraline is the first stop-motion animation to be shot stereoscopically with a dual digital camera rig for digital 3-D exhibition.
New tools are being developed which will give the stop-motion creators the same flexibility as CGI animators, making it possible to push objects forward and back in post-production. The characters' hands were made to be interchangeable, so more than 1000 different pairs of hands were made.

VIY: First Preview

2008-11-02T13:24:00.000+07:00

A big budget Russian horror which was an adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's popular 1835 short story about the demon Viy -- whose gaze was deadly if met eye-to-eye -- it was scheduled to be released in 2009 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Gogol's birth. The film ‘Viy’ is first and foremost intended to be a thriller/adventure movie packed full of stunning images and vivid characters all of which are given extra flavour thanks to Gogol’s own brand of mysticism and his feel for a sense of terror.

Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world. Even in his worst nightmares our materialistic scientist could not suppose that he was going to meet devil’s faithful servant.

The Beckoning: First Preview

2008-11-02T13:15:00.000+07:00

From Spanish director Elio Quiroga, here’s come a ghost story with international title “The Beckoning” aka “No Do”. Quiroga was well known before with his film “La Hora Fria” (The Cold Hours), a stunning little post apocalyptic genre bender revolving around a small band of humans trying to survive in an underground bunker after a catastrophic event unleashed both aliens and zombie-like hordes upon the earth.
With a story that revolves around ghosts, the Spanish civil war, and a series of secret, hidden documentary films the basic synopsis sounds equal parts Flicker and The Devil’s Backbone, here’s the relevant bits of the press release:
Shot in Spanish with substantial high-tech effects, “NO-DO” is a horror story in which a woman sees ghosts. The explanation to their appearance lies in an old NO-DO newsreel (i.e., one of the state-sanctioned documentaries made during Franco’s regime).
The film speculates around the little known “Secret NO-DOs”, made in the 40s for the Catholic Church in Spain. It is told that those confidential films were used by exorcists to document supernatural events using a special film emulsion designed for this purpose. Some “Secret NO-DOs” are rumored to be stored in subterranean vaults in the Congregazione del Santo Uffizio, Rome, but its existence is officialy denied by catholic church leaders.

(Source: Twitch)

The Grudge 3 (2009)

2008-10-29T09:43:00.000+07:00

Get ready for another "Grudge" of Kayako and Toshio in "The Grudge 3". If you’re a fan of this franchise, you’re in luck, because Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures is putting out “The Grudge 3″, which directly to DVD this time. During Comic Con 06, Sony first officially announced plans of creating the sequel. Takashi Shimizu stated he was offered to direct the sequel but would rather produce the film instead. Moviehole reported that the film was putting out a casting call for new actors to play Kayako and Toshio, since Takako Fuji (Kayako) and Yuya Ozeki (Toshio) have passed on the opportunity.

Here's the plot: A compassionate psychiatrist beaming with intelligence, Dr. Sullivan is in charge of treating Jake, a terribly disturbed boy following the massacre of his family. He vehemently believes that the woman who killed his family will find and kill him as well. Not a superstitious woman, Dr. Sullivan believes it is all in Jake's mind, until she witnesses the unthinkable. Thus begins her research into his family's death and a Japanese curse that she comes to believe is real and very much alive. With Naoko,a Japanese woman, Max, the big brother of her patient Jake and Lisa, a younger sister of Karen and Aubrey, she confronts the ghost of Kayako to save her soul from her impending tragic fate.

Starring Shawnee Smith, Marina Sirtis, Johanna E. Braddy, Beau Mirchoff, Gil McKinney, Aiko Horiuchi, Matthew Knight, and Emi Ikehata. Toby Wilkins (”Splinter”) taking Takashi Shimizu's place to directs. the direct-to-dvd sequel will be released in March 2009, meanwhile the trailer has recently been released and you can check it out below.

Infected (2009)

2008-10-29T09:37:00.000+07:00

From Twitch, here we have a preview for the upcoming directors Niko Pueringor and Sam Gorski’s "Infected" - the scifi horror hybrid feature length debut from the core team behind indie short "Greenside". The film tells the story of a group of researchers sent to a remote island where experimental research has unleashed an anamorphic creature with the ability to move quickly from host to host - hence the film’s title - destroying everything in its path.
The film is also scripted by Simon Boyes (the guy that wrote The Devil's Chair and Blood River). Check the amazing poster below.

I Sell the Dead

2008-10-28T20:41:00.000+07:00

"I Sell the Dead" had been showed at the Sitges Film Festrival and the Toronto After Dark Film Festival recently. But the US release date for the film hasn't announced yet.

The story revolves around body snatchers Arthur Blake (Dominic Monaghan) and Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden), who have pillaged their last grave. With just five hours before Arthur follows Willie to the chopping block, he recounts his life story and it soon becomes clear that they were no ordinary grave robbers and that not all corpses are equal.

The trailer is below...

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans: First Preview

2008-10-24T21:24:00.000+07:00

The war between vampire and werewolf clan is soon will begin again. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is the third installment in the Underworld series which set to be a prequel to Underworld and Underworld: Evolution, this also will covering the origins of some characters.
The prequel will trace the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans. In the Dark Ages, a young Lycan named Lucian (Michael Sheen) emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against Viktor (Bill Nighy), the cruel vampire king who has enslaved them. Lucian is joined by his secret lover Sonja (Rhona Mitra) in his battle against the Death Dealer army and his struggle for Lycan freedom.
This film is directed by Patrick Tatopoulos, a visual consultant and long-time creature designer who is making his directorial debut. The screenplay and story have numerous writers attached, with Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain (of the upcoming sci-fi flick Outlander) and Danny McBride (of Underworld and Underworld: Evolution) credited as the primary screenwriters. Sony is debuting Underworld: Rise of the Lycans in theaters everywhere on January 23rd, 2009 next year. Check the trailer below.

The Unborn: First Preview

2008-10-24T20:56:00.000+07:00

Having served as one-third of the writing team for the immensely successful "The Dark Knight," David S. Goyer is moves to his next directorial effort with "The Unborn" that will gives a terrifying glimpse into the life of the undead. This supernatural thriller will follows a young woman pulled into a world of nightmares when a demonic spirit haunts her and threatens everyone she loves.
Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman) hated her mother for leaving her as a child. But when inexplicable things start to happen, Casey begins to understand why she left. Plagued by merciless dreams and a tortured ghost that haunts her waking hours, she must turn to the only spiritual advisor, Sendak (Gary Oldman), who can make it stop.
With Sendak’s help, Casey uncovers the source of a family curse dating back to Nazi Germany—a creature with the ability to inhabit anyone or anything that is getting stronger with each possession. With the curse unleashed, her only chance at survival is to shut a doorway from beyond our world that has been pried open by someone who was never born.

"It's one of the things that I think help makes things scary," Goyer said of being coy with the ghost's origins. "We actually don't know where it really came from. The first thing it inhabits is a young child but it kind of hops bodies throughout the movie. If we're fortunate enough to do a sequel I would delve back even further because we don't say were it really originated from."
This film is not based on any other past horror films or books, as this is an entirely original project. Rogue Pictures will bear "The Unborn" on January 9th, 2009 next year!

Friday the 13th Remake: First Preview

2008-10-24T20:36:00.000+07:00

Another remake is on the way, "Friday the 13th" that set for a Friday, February 13, 2009 release, will be a reboot version of the Friday the 13th film series, whose last film was the 2003 crossover film "Freddy vs. Jason." This new version is directed by ex-music video director Marcus Nispel, of another remake 2003's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Pathfinder" previously. The screenplay was penned by writing partners Damian Shannon and Mark Swift of "Freddy vs Jason." Although they said this one is not a sequel, it still technically the 11th film in the franchise. The film stars Derek Mears as Jason Voorhees, with Jared Padalecki and Amanda Righetti portraying the male and female leads, respectively.
For this film, Jason's intelligence and thought processing is more defined. Mears likens the character to John Rambo, Tarzan and the Abominable Snowman from Looney Tunes. Jason is similar to Rambo because the audience will see him setting the other characters up to fall into his traps. Like Rambo, he is more calculated because he feels that he has been wronged and he is fighting back. He is meant to be more sympathetic in this film. It also will take "elements from all three [of the first] movies".

My Bloody Valentine: First Preview

2008-10-23T21:54:00.000+07:00

My Bloody Valentine 3D is a 2009 remake of the 1981 Canadian slasher film of the same name. The film will be directed and edited by Patrick Lussier, a long-time horror editor and director of "Dracula 2000" also "White Noise 2: The Light". the film stars Jensen Ackles (Supernatural), Jaime King with Kerr Smith, will have a 3-D theatrical release on January 16, 2009. The story is revolves around Tom Hanniger (Ackles), who returns to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of the Valentine's night massacre that claimed the lives of 22 people. Instead of a homecoming, however, Tom finds himself suspected of committing the murders, and it seems like his old flame (King) is the only one will believes he's innocent.

Some Horror Choices for Halloween

2008-10-23T20:51:00.000+07:00

In Theatres:

“Saw V”
Entering its fifth annual show this year, “Saw V” will explain what happened to Corbett, the daughter of Lynn Denlon and Jeff Reinhart, by following the ending of the third film that left her in danger. The origins of Billy the puppet and his red tricycle also will be further explained here after having the story's roots planted in the last episode. On one interview with Jigsaw’s actor, Tobin Bell, he even teased that he would not be surprised if the character of Cecil made a reappearance, and that the pieces of flesh taken from the victims in the form of a jigsaw puzzle might be explained. For everyone who loves the deadlicious traps in the film, you will happy enough coz there will be a total of seven traps in this film, which mean there will be more bloods spilling all over the show.

Saw V begin to torture your Halloween at Oct 24.

“The Haunting of Molly Hartley”
Another teen horror flick that will tell a story of Molly (Haley Bennett), a 17 year old girl who has physically recovered from a stab wound inflicted by her mother, but the psychological scars that remain run deep. To help her begin a new life after her trauma, her father has moved her into a new school. With her eighteenth birthday approaching, Molly is haunted by nightmares of her mother's attack upon her while dealing with the stress of being the new girl in school. Symptoms of psychosis that seem to be affecting her seem to foreshadow an onset of the mental illness that took control of her mother's life, but of several different explanations for her distress, the most unforeseen and terrifying is revealed as the truth. Ultimately, Molly discovers that her mother and others who share her mother's concerns want her killed in order to save her from a preordained life as a servant of the Devil.

Let’s find who knows about what Molly did last Halloween at Oct 31.

“Coming Soon”
Thai horror also didn’t want to loose Halloween momentum with releasing “Coming Soon,” a spooky supernatural story that has something to do with a haunted cinema. The film apparently will deal with this concept: "What kind of scenes in a horror film scares you the most? When a ghost appears totally unexpectedly? When the main character does not see the ghost sneaking up behind him? When at the very end you find out that the main character was actually a ghost all along? But none of this compares to the feeling of arriving home alone and suddenly being stuck by a feeling of dj vu that you are reenacting the very same scenes in the horror movie you just saw! This movie will scare you from the second you step inside the movie theatre. It will get you wondering if Something or Someone might be waiting for you to let your guard down. The horror movie that you just saw is about to happen to you in real life! Coming Soon."

It will come soon enough to you at Oct 31.

In Home Cinema Experience:

“Diary of the Dead”
George Romero has always come up with new ways of treating his zombies, and Diary of the Dead is no exception: Romero keeps his dead fresh, with an original approach to the undying subject. This one purports to be the video record of a group of young people who are shooting a low-budget horror movie when the terror strikes: corpses begin re-animating, intent on chewing the living. Our heroes trek across Pennsylvania, encountering the staggering zombies as they go. Other pieces of video are incorporated, which gives Romero a chance at some great set-pieces, including the brilliant opening sequence, a live local-TV feed that goes horribly, horribly wrong, and a home-video tape from a family birthday party, where the party clown turns out to be a dead ringer. All of Romero's Dead films are political, and this one's no exception, with a stark view of the way things are today; it doesn't offer the Hawksian heroics of the survivors in Dawn of the Dead or Land of the Dead for comfort, just a group of bickering, shocked youths. There's too much talk about the detachment of watching things through a lens, but in general this is a bracing, intelligent movie. Plus, there's some excellent splatter. --Robert Horton
Blu-ray disc release: October 21, 2008

“Halloween”
The two-disc Unrated Director's Cut offers a full disc's worth of extras that should please Zombie fans; chief among the supplemental features is his commentary, which details the film's shooting history and the numerous edits required to deliver the theatrical version. A making-of featurette offers further details of Zombie's vision for the film, and there are featurettes on his cast choices and the many masks that Myers makes while incarcerated. Seventeen deleted scenes (two of which feature Adrienne Barbeau and Tom Towles) and an alternate ending (all with Zombie's commentary) are also provided, as well as footage from the casting sessions. A blooper reel, which is highlighted by unchecked mischief by McDowell and Dourif, offers the set's sole moment of levity. -- Paul Gaita
Blu-ray disc release: October 21, 2008

“The Strangers”
A lean, briskly paced and exceptionally creepy thriller, The Strangers earns its scares the old-fashioned way: through atmosphere, sound design, and a simple yet undeniably upsetting central premise that allows for maximum tension throughout its running time. Attractive young lovers Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman are already having a bad day--she's turned down his marriage proposal--before a knock on the door in the middle of the night announces a full-fledged siege on their remote vacation home by a trio of masked assailants. The film's first third delivers the most consistent shivers as the visitors make their presence and intentions known to Tyler; the second half grows more frantic and bloody before a gruesome finale that may leave viewers either rattled to their core or bothered by its empty nihilism. Speedman is fine as the downtrodden male lead (who's seen tucking into a carton of ice cream after being rejected), but it's Tyler who impresses the most by s! houldering the lion's share of the terror. First-time writer/director Bryan Bertino impresses by forsaking the current passion for over-the-top violence (save for the finale) in favor of more traditional means of generating fear, and if his project borrows heavily from other films, most notably the French chiller Them (which shares its "inspired by a true story" origin) and Michael Haneke's Funny Games, at least he's taking from the best. The sound design is among the many technical standouts, and the unsettling score by tomandandy (The Hills Have Eyes) pleasantly evokes Ennio Morricone's fuzztone-heavy work for Dario Argento in the early '70s. On a completely unrelated note, LP fanatics should appreciate how both the film's heroes and villains share an affinity for folk and country music on vinyl. --Paul Gaita
Blu-ray disc release: October 21, 2008

“Dark Shadows: The Beginning, Vol.6”
The Start of a Legend!
Named One of TV s Top 25 Cult Shows by TV Guide
With its alluring tales of Gothic mystery and supernatural intrigue, DARK SHADOWS (1966-71, ABC-TV) became one of the most popular daytime series of all time. The character of Barnabas Collins, a guilt-ridden, 175-year-old vampire, brought the show tremendous success. Now, for the first time on DVD, MPI presents the spooky series rare, early episodes before Barnabas.
Dr. Peter Guthrie and Joe Haskell break into Laura Murdoch Stockbridge s crypt at Eagle Hill Cemetery. David Collins informs Victoria Winters that he wants to go away with his mother, Laura. Guthrie arranges to conduct a seance at the Old House to contact Josette Collins ghost. Victoria makes a bizarre discovery that leads her to believe David s life is in jeopardy after Laura summons him to an abandoned fishing shack. Victoria sees Elizabeth Collins Stoddard coming from the mysterious locked room in the Collinwood basement.
A nervous Elizabeth is shocked when Jason McGuire, a devious friend of her missing husband s, arrives in town unexpectedly. He reminids Elizabeth of an old secret that they share. Jason and his traveling companion, a drifter named Willie Loomis, force Elizabeth to let them move into Collinwood. Willie learns that Collins family members have been buried with their jewels and he becomes mesmerized by the portrait of Barnabas Collins hanging in the foyer.
INCLUDES: Episodes 179-209, Originally aired March 2, 1967 - April 14, 1967
BONUSES:
Episode 191 extra footage
Restored Episode 211 (Barnabas arrival) with original 1967 commercials
Syndication Sales Reel & Promos
Dark Shadows Sci-Fi Channel Commercials
Joan Bennett Newsreel Footage
New Interviews
(Amazon)
DVD release: October 28, 2008

The Uninvited: First Preview

2008-10-22T20:43:00.000+07:00

No matter how worst are the Asian horror remakes of 2008, but I never loose my curiosity to watch another one remake again, which now is a remake of Korean's "Tale of Two Sisters," with the title "The Uninvited" that will be release on January 30, 2009 (another unlucky date again, I think). The story is still revolve around two sisters, Anna (Emily Browning) and Alex Rydell(Arielle Kebbel). Anna returns home to her father (David Strathairn) and sister, after spending time in hospital following the tragic death of her mother (Maya Massar). Her recovery suffers a setback when she discovers her father has become engaged to her mother's former nurse, Racheal (Elizabeth Banks). That night, Anna is visited by the ghost of her mother, who warns her of Rachael's intentions. Together, Anna and Alex try to convince their father that his current fiancée is not who she pretends to be, and what should have been a happy family reunion becomes a lethal battle of wills between stepdaughters and stepmother. Below is the first trailer of the horrific story embedded from the official movie site.

For love of the horror movie

2008-10-22T14:47:00.000+07:00

Start today, HORRIFICITY blog is born.

Start today, I'll share everything I've known and got about horror films around the world.

Start today, I'll hope you all will enjoy my presentation n share with me everything you've known and got also.

Start today, let's begin this horrific trip.....