The Haunting in Connecticut: Review

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.

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Sorority Row: Preview

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.

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Cold Prey II: Review

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.

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Jennifer's Body: First Preview

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.

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Drag Me to Hell: Second Preview (Trailer)

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?

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Orphan: Second Preview (Trailer)

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.

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Meat Grinder: Second Preview

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

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