Full Length Review Thread

[GiveMeGore]

"Anal Penetration equals Eternal Damnnation"


Found my new signature.

Would make an awesome bumper sticker too. Rainbow colored, just to fuck with people.....

[Splatterscribe]

 Cabin in the Woods (2012) - Horror/comedy

 

After several years of anticipation and a brief stint in motion picture purgatory ( courtesy of the bankruptcy of MGM Studios), the Joss Whedon/Drew Goddard  horror project Cabin in the Woods has finally arrived in theaters nationwide.

 

In the film, five college friends make their way to the rustic titular hacienda , which is located in  a wooded mountain area and designed to deliberately evoke memories of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead.  As the friends settle in and begin to enjoy their weekend of revelry, the audience is clued in that something else is going on that is way outside the boundaries of normal. Several stories below ground, in a lab equipped with banks of video monitors  tapped into surveillance equipment hidden about the cabin, tech men observe the five guests and make preparations to subject them to a night of pure, living hell.

 

Think I've given anything away? Think again.  The synopsis you've just read is based solely on the trailers. I haven't even remotely touched on this films many, many secrets. I won't either.  Cabin in the Woods is a largely original  concoction involving many moving parts that works much better the less you know about it going in.  You have to watch it to understand the full impact-and effectiveness- of its premise. Unfortunately, that premise is eventually what I felt  caused the film to stumble at a fairly critical moment. More on that in a moment.

 

I agree with a lot (but not all) of what I've seen written about Cabin in the Woods . The performances (including an enjoyable Chris Hemsworth, who I believe actually made this film pre-Thor ) are all solid and the film is often quite brilliant, with some moments of sheer , diabolical genius at play (it's actually worth the price of a ticket just to see one specific scene involving the use of a speaker phone) . I enjoyed how the structure of the film worked as sort of a cinematic equivalent to the Lament Configuration: Every time you solve part of the puzzle, something else pops up, revealing even more layers. I think it worked best when it was poking fun at the conventions of the genre. I also -as many others have already expressed- had a blast with the manner in which this movie gleefully abandoned any sense of restraint in the last act and went off the rails insane bringing the gruesome.

 

However.....I had a few reservations.

 

For one thing, I'd say Cabin in the Woods is being way over hyped. The press I've seen for this film is heralding it as a masterpiece and a game changer. It isn't. It's good, really good in fact ..but didn't think it was great. At least ,not on that level of greatness we'd afford A Nightmare on Elm Street (the Craven film) , Evil Dead or Shaun of the Dead. To be perfectly honest., I thought last years Tucker and Dale Vs Evil was a better horror comedy that was even more clever in subverting overused genre tropes and taking them in unexpected directions.

 

Another issue is that I just didn't find it scary. There were a few decent jump scares, but for the most part I was entertained, but never terrified.

 

The other problem I have is that I thought the film fell apart at the end. When the motivation behind the events taking place was revealed , I was underwhelmed. Instead of being impressed with something really unique, I thought it gave us a lukewarm concept that owes more than a passing debt to the work of Shirley Jackson, John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness and, by virtue of that, HP Lovecraft.

 

Then there's the final shot. I hated it. The closing image of this film was a cheesy, overwrought mess that was an insult to the level of ingenuity I'd seen demonstrated earlier in the film. Let me put it this way (and those who have seen it will understand what I'm getting at)..if I wanted to see Wrath of the Titans, I would have damned well bought a ticket to see Wrath of the Titans.

 

To sum up: I thought Cabin in the Woods was a very entertaining - a times ingenious - film that also boasts one of the best placed and most appropriate cameos I've seen to date.  But I don't feel it's a masterpiece or defining genre moment. I would easily recommend it- highly recommend it, actually - to genre fans , but I also advise anyone reading this who hasn't yet seen the film to temper your expectations. It rolls well, with style and intelligence, but ultimately uses the same wheel it satirizes to get there .

 

7.5 out of 10 times I enjoyed watching The Harbringer being mocked. .

[Splatterscribe]

Film review: Prometheus – 2012- Sci-Fi/Horror 


 Ever since the announcement in late 2010 that director Ridley Scott was going to return not only to the realm of science fiction cinema for the first time since Blade Runner  but specifically to the universe he helped to establish way back in 1979 with the modern masterpiece Alien, speculation has run rampant as to just how much of a  prequel (or if, indeed, it would be a prequel at all) we would have with the film, known as  Prometheus.
 
 
The aura of mystery  increased when a trailer emerged in December of 2011 which clearly referenced the derelict ship and it's fossilized passenger (known to fans as The Space Jockey) originally discovered by the unsuspecting crew of the Nostromo in the '79 picture while Scott simultaneously insisted that although the “DNA” of Alien was evident in Prometheus, it was not a direct prequel .
 
 
Well, Prometheus has at last landed and it turns out that Scott was quite right. Although Prometheus does indeed share common plot elements with Alien, it's really a stand alone film more concerned with asking it's own questions than it is with directly setting up the events of his previous film.
 
 
The movie  opens with an eye popping and gripping sequence where we witness  the origins of life on Earth. Fast forward several million years to earth circa the year 2089 and Doctor Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her boyfriend  Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall Green) discover evidence via cave paintings that otherworldly visitors were in contact with humans eons ago. The doctors are convinced that these beings- whom they refer to as “Engineers” - were the progenitors of the human species.  Whereas Dr. Shaw pursues this from a faith perspective, Dr. Holloway is a strict adherent to Darwinism..so when it becomes apparent that the ancient visitors left clues to which star coordinates they originated from,  both scientists want to try to find these “engineers”and discover for themselves who their makers really were and perhaps discover why they created us.
 
 
Enter Mr. Weyland (Guy Pearce, under some impressive age makeup) , who Alien franchise fans will recognize by name as one half of Weyland Yutani- ie the notorious Company so oft referenced throughout this series.
 
 
Weyland agrees to fund the search for the engineers..and so off goes the scientific research vessel Prometheus into the far reaches of space in search of answers. In addition to Shaw, Holloway and a team of assorted researchers (including an amusingly abrasive geologist played by Sean Harris) along for the ride are  Janek, the captain of the Prometheus ( Idris Elba), Weyland Yutani company employee Meredith Vickers (a cold Charlize Theron) - charged with supervising the mission - and David (Micheal Fassbender), a state of the art android who may or may not have an agenda that could prove dangerous to his human counterparts.   
 
 
The research team narrows the search to a moon located in the system the cave paintings indicated. Once there, they stumble upon an installation clearly designed by the Engineers. Unfortunately, they also stumble upon something else …....something human beings were not meant to find.
 
 
The first thing to realize about Prometheus is that , for much of its running time, it bears a stronger kinship to Blade Runner than it does Alien, despite being set in the same universe as the latter. Prometheus is less a horror film than it is a straight forward science fiction piece that happens to get to some terrifying places as the story unfolds.
 
 
There's been a lot of discussion about the quality of the screenplay by Lost veteran Damon Lindelof. This movie – like much of Scott's work- is destined to be divisive. Already there are two factions- those who think the film is smart and savvy, asking some big  questions about who we are and where we come from (not all of which it is willing to answer) and those who think it represents poor screen writing , with a clunky script that cannot be redeemed by excellent direction and stunning visuals.
 
 
I fall resolutely into the first category.  I've always enjoyed ambiguous science fiction that poses more questions than it resolves ( 2001: A Space Odyssey anyone?)  and I think it's a  shame that such a sharp, legitimately entertaining film is being criticized  because modern audiences no longer want to be  challenged to think about what they've seen after leaving the theater and would rather  have every single  idea spelled out in exact visual detail . People feel so cheated if they don't see everything in detail that if the aforementioned 2001 were released today, it'd have to end  with the character Dave Bowman walking  into the Mos Eisley bar on Tatooine in the original Star Wars instead of leaving the appearance of the extraterrestrials  an open question . Prometheus opts for the mystery.  And just to be clear, as it happens  I felt that this movie did answer just enough of its questions to be entertaining while leaving enough open ended to entice audiences to a potential sequel.
 
 
In regards to the the performances : They're nothing short of remarkable. Scott has always had a knack for assembling talented casts and  this one is no exception,with  Rapace and Fassbender  the highlights of the film.
 
 
 Rapace shows both  humanity and resilience as Shaw and  there's an intruiging ongoing  thread woven into the film about her faith not quite being as shaken by their discovery as her boyfriend would expect it to be. When asked how she can still hold onto the concept of God as the creator when she now knows the Engineers were responsible for our origins, Shaw gives an  answer  one could realistically expect in that circumstance... a reply that,as a Christian, I might tend to provide myself : “They created us..who created them?”  It's a testament to Rapace here that I was as heavily invested in her character as I ever was in Ellen Ripley. 
 
 
Adversely, Fassbender is a stark wonder of polite, controlled condescension and duplicity as David.  This is the fourth time since 1979  that we've seen an actor or actress play  one of these automatons - Ian Holm  led the way as Ash, Lance Henriksen took androids a step back towards redemption as Bishop and Winona Ryder was the inquisitive Cole , all prior to Fassbender's turn- but this is the first time I would bet that an Academy award nomination is forthcoming. I am completely serious. Fassbender is absorbing and impossible not to watch. Even when he's occupying a vast, technologically advanced set replete with an extra terrestrial cryo-stasis tube and   computerized holograms of vast galaxies hovering in air about him, David commands your full attention. If Heath Ledger can win an Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker, Fassbender must be given due consideration as Best Supporting Actor for the scene stealing work he does here.
 
 
Rounding out the core cast ,Theron is wonderfully nasty and unyielding as the icy Vickers, who holds a few important secrets of her own and- in role that has not received nearly as much  praise in the press as it deserves- Idris Elba is both believable and likable  as the captain. There wasn't a lot of detail about his character in the press for this movie and the ongoing back and forth Elba has with two men over the ship-to-helmet communication link (before events go south) was a particularly welcome surprise. 
 
 
 
 
Another aspect of Prometheus certain to receive accolades from the Academy is the visual design. We've seen the depths of space and the surface of countless alien worlds on screen before, but never with this sort of detail and beauty. Scott doesn't merely film terrific effects and then throw them into the 3D mix..he uses the process as a paint brush, crafting exquisite compositions of color and shape. Early scenes of deep space are so lovingly rendered as to be jaw dropping ,with a ringed gas giant looming in the foreground against a deep, endless sea of stars.  Later scenes of exploration reveal dark, winding tunnels leading into unknown shadowy depths, all with a clarity that makes it seem as if you literally could step through the screen into Scott's cinematic universe. Though  this film would be an impressive visual feast even in 2D, I recommend that every science fiction fan get themselves to a theater and see it on the big  screen in 3D at least once.
 
 
 
Now, having gone on about how  this movie skews more to straight science fiction and how the visuals are so technically incredible, one might think that it sells short the fear factor that was such an integral aspect of Alien and its sequels.
 
 
While Prometheus doesn't try for that sort of sustained intensity, it absolutely hits some very scary high notes, including a bravura, brilliantly staged and executed  sequence involving  a self inflicted C-section that is as cringe inducing as it is terrifying.   This is very much a creature feature in its own right, with it's own set of creepy crawlies as capable of carnage as any of the  chest bursting Xenomorphs or arachnoid face huggers we've seen before.
 
 
With all of that praise, Prometheus is not a perfect film.  The crew of the ship is too large- it's established that they have seventeen members on the team, yet only six or so have actual story lines and the rest are cannon fodder.  In the original Alien, the Nostromo-  a towing ship five times the size of the Prometheus - only had a crew of seven and the narrative was better for it. So points off for allowing the “red shirt “ phenomenon to insinuate itself in a film that is far too smart to take that path.
 
 
The other criticism I have is with the pacing later in the film. There's been some press about how the second half feels rushed, but I thought the film held its pacing very well until things started to come together in the last thirty minutes. That's when it felt like scenes went by at a clip en route to a finale that -while  spectacular- seemed to almost end before it started.
 
 
These missteps weren't enough to delineate the overall impact of the film, though. No, Prometheus isn't a perfect film- but it's a  damned fine piece of science fiction ,  one of the best films in this genre to arrive in decades. I sincerely believe that in the years to come this movie will be re-evaluated and achieve cult status alongside Alien and Blade Runner as one of Ridley Scott's  most accomplished works.  It's a pleasure to see the director back in such fine form . Prometheus is a cinematic voyage that was well worth the thirty year wait and should be on the must see list of every genre fan.
 
Nine out of Ten scary squid babies all grown up.

[GeneralCinema]

Area 407, aka Tape 407

Two sisters are flying home to LA from New York after Christmas vacation.  One of them is making a video journal of their trip.  During the flight, she video tapes several of the passengers, including one man who is very belligerent and another who is a photojournalist.  During the flight, the plane experiences severe turbulence and crash lands in a remote area.  The survivors then find themselves being chased by an unknown predator and must band together to escape and await rescue.

Many people are sick of the "found footage" genre of horror movie.  Personally, I enjoy most of them.  I found this to be one of the better ones because it took a page from Cloverfield's book. While there's a creature running around, you don't see it too often and it's ultimately about people.

The characters were all pretty standard.  We got the flight attendant who became impromptu team leader, the air marshal that nobody knew about, the abrasive dickhead that you want to die right away, and so on.

The acting wasn't too bad, but I did have some issues with some minor scenes.  I was also annoyed with some minor things that would have been incorrect had this been reality.

Not a whole lot of special effects in this one.  The plane crash was fairly low-key and the survivors were covered in blood.  That's most of it.  Although...we do get one scene with CGI...sorry, no spoilers.

This may annoy some that hate found footage movies, but if you like creature flicks and government test sites, this might be up your alley.

There is a twist ending, which I was totally expecting when it happened.  That is until the ACTUAL twist came into play.

In short, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.  I laughed out loud at the ending - not because it was funny, well maybe a little - but because I was NOT expecting it at all.

I'm giving this an 8 out of 10

[traumamama]

I'm intrigued, do you know where I can find this movie?

[GeneralCinema]

I'm intrigued, do you know where I can find this movie?

http://www.deepdiscount.com/dvd/AREA-407

[GiveMeGore]

I'm intrigued, do you know where I can find this movie?

http://www.deepdiscount.com/dvd/AREA-407

It's also currently On-Demand. One of those "same day as theater" features. I watched the trailer.....looked interesting enough. I'll catch it eventually....

[GeneralCinema]

I'm intrigued, do you know where I can find this movie?

http://www.deepdiscount.com/dvd/AREA-407

It's also currently On-Demand. One of those "same day as theater" features. I watched the trailer.....looked interesting enough. I'll catch it eventually....

Good to know.

[BadKitty]

Trollhunter (2010).   

First, let me say how stunningly gorgeous Norway is.  Like unbelievably beautiful.  Visit in early fall, and it will look just like this. There's a lot of shooting scenery out of a moving car window in this film, but given the scenery I didn't mind one little bit.

Second, Norwegians are funny as hell.  They are sort of like the Will Rogers of Scandinavia - not really the glamorous ones, sort of down home and country, but nice, down to earth and ... quietly funny as hell.  (Do not drink with Norwegians, tho.  Them or Russians.  You will get messed up. Scariest meal I ever witnessed was a Russian/Norwegian business dinner in Stockholm.  There were about 2 empty litres of vodka for every person.  And singing.  Scary scary scary.)

Third, I remember what one of my professors once told me, about going on some Germanic languages boondoggle that somehow involved sailing up and down the fjords with a bunch of Norse saga scholars and a cask of rum.  He said "you get drunk enough, and you're there with those mountains rising out of the sea, and you don't just believe in giants, you fucking SEE giants."

Well, you don't even have to get that drunk, just see Trollhunter.  This one reminded me more than a little of Incident at Loch Ness, but less self conscious (and pretentious) and a lot more fun.  Sort of like Norwegians.  Basically, a bunch of dumb-ass college students, trying to make a student film about environmental management and poaching, stumble on not a poacher but a troll hunter who actually works for the government managing the secret Norwegian troll population.  He decides to let them tag along because he's pissed at his bureaucrat boss and bored of his shitty job with no overtime or benefits. The story sticks to a lot of Norse folklore (trolls turn to stone in sunlight, can smell the blood of Christians, which is not much of an issue in modern Norway).  So off they go to try to figure out why a larger than usual number of trolls are wandering out of their designated territories and getting embarrassingly (for a government that denies they exist) close to civilization. 

The actors are a bunch of apparently fairly well known Norse comedians, which ... explains a lot.  But the performances are fine overall, and Otto Jespersen as the troll hunter is just spot on tone perfect.  (Go to the website. Download the ringtone if you don't believe me.)  Even though it is a blair-witch-ish found footage mockumentary (again!), the whole exercise feels fresh and fun.  (And well executed.)

Now, interesting thing about the smelling of Christians (defined for these purposes as those who actually believe in God & Jesus, not just baptism).  When it in fact proves true that trolls can sniff even closeted believers, that would seem to indicate that there is some actual substance, something actual or dare I say true, about Christian belief.  But after seeing this evidenced, the happy atheists in the group in no way question their lack of belief.  Just struck me as odd, that.

The film makers should get an award for best cameo for the Norwegian prime minister who, in footage from an actual press conference used as a coda to the film, appears to acknowledge that trolls exist. 
 
The trolls are actually pretty damn convincing, too. 

I highly recommend. 8/10.  Troooolllll!!!  (Gotta get that ringtone.)

[Lord J]

You know, I've been avoiding Trollhunter like the plague because the name reeks of syfy original movie quality, but I may have to check it out now.

[BadKitty]

You know, I've been avoiding Trollhunter like the plague because the name reeks of syfy original movie quality, but I may have to check it out now.

Yeah, I nearly mentioned the SyFy-like title in the review.  But it's not.

[GeneralCinema]

V/H/S

Before I begin, if you hate “Found Footage” movies, or can’t handle shaky camera effects then this movie is NOT for you.

I first heard about this through an ad on Facebook.  Watching the trailer, “One of the scariest movies in recent memory” flashes on the screen.  That alone piqued my interest even more.  I’m also a sucker for anthology movies and I love when “found footage” movies are done right.  This seemed right up my alley. 

That being said...here’s the plot, essentially:   A group of criminals filming themselves have a job to go to a house and pick up one single VHS cassette.  They find a dead old man in the house and while looking for the cassette, one thug stays behind and watches VHS tapes.

Amateur Night

Shane Patrick and Clint are three friends who have rented a hotel room and intend to bring women back to it.  Clint it wearing a set of spy glasses to record everything.  They bring Lisa and Lily back to the room.  During the course of the night, Lisa passes out and Lily turns out to be...

This is by far the scariest story of the bunch.  We see Clint as being very nerdy and almost unsure of himself with the spy glasses on.  In the club we see some random girls here and there, but when Lily says to him “I like you” repeatedly...you can see that there won’t be a happy ending.  Allow me to also say GOD BLESS HANNAH FIERMAN.  She is SUPER creepy in this movie.  I absolutely loved her performance. 


Second Honeymoon

Sam and Stephanie go out west for their second honeymoon.  While they’re out on the town, Stephanie gets a prediction from a mechanical fortune teller that tells her she will be visited by a loved one...

Easily my least favorite story and it felt like the longest.  Not much happens in this at all until the very, very end where we get a decent amount of blood.  Not much build up though.  Very slow and boring, it would be better as a special feature on the DVD.

Tuesday the 17th

Wendy, Samantha, Spider, and Joey take a trip to the town where Wendy grew up.  When they get there she takes them through the local woods.  What are her motives?

Probably my favorite story out of all of them.  The story as to why they’re in the woods and what happens to them was done very well.  Not much of an explanation as to why it happens, but I thought it made sense.  Lots of blood in this one and a funny conversation about marijuana.

The Sick Thing That Happened To Emily When She Was Younger

Emily video chats with her boyfriend James about her apartment being haunted.  She tells him that she hears footsteps and has a small bump on her arm.  One night she asks him to guide her around while her eyes are closed...

I thought this was done really, really well.  The entire story is told through James’ perspective over a video conference.  I don’t think it was the scariest, but the scares that it gave you were a bit more fluid with the story. 

In AMATEUR NIGHT, we get the build up of the guys going to the club and looking for girls, etc.  In this, Emily starts almost right away with “I think my apartment is haunted”.  It had the weirdest twist of all the stories as well.

10/31/98

Chad, Matt, Tyler and Paul head to a Halloween party at a strangers house.  They get there to find the house deserted, but the night doesn’t end there...

I’d say that this was the goofiest story - at least in the beginning.  The end tries to pull out all the stops in its scares.  Does it work?  Yeah, to a degree.

Sorry for the vagueness, but I don’t want to spoil anything.  Each of the stories aren’t that long and too much detail may ruin something for some.

In the beginning when we’re introduced to the thugs, they just seem like a bunch of rowdy hooligans.  They practice random acts of vandalism and at one point hold back a girl’s boyfriend while exposing her breasts - very juvenile stuff.

When they get to the house, not much happens.  This is interspersed nicely with most of the stories and has some nice scare moments closer to the end.  My biggest qualm is that this story ends before the last story plays.  Personally, I would have ended the movie with the end of this story.

The gore was done VERY nicely.  Kudos to the filmmakers for loving the genre and knowing what horror fans want.  We get be-headings, disembowelment, and some nasty, nasty bites.  It’s all really good stuff.

The nudity was also very well done.  Not every story had it (which I appreciate), but the ones that did have it did it tastefully.  AMATEUR NIGHT even has some for the ladies.

I felt that the acting for most stories was very. very good.  As I stated before Hannah Fierman was AMAZING in her role and easily put out the best performance in the movie.  The exception to this is the final story.  I think from the second act to the third act the story got a little weak and the actors didn’t do as good a job as everyone else.  Maybe that’s why I didn’t feel that it was that scary.

All in all, it’s always a relief to see true horror pop its head around the corner.  We’re getting filmmakers that not only love the genre, but are giving it the respect that it deserves.

I would absolutely recommend this.

7 out of 10 virgin sacrifices

[Marshal Earp]

Trollhunter (2010).   

First, let me say how stunningly gorgeous Norway is.  Like unbelievably beautiful.  Visit in early fall, and it will look just like this. There's a lot of shooting scenery out of a moving car window in this film, but given the scenery I didn't mind one little bit.

Second, Norwegians are funny as hell.  They are sort of like the Will Rogers of Scandinavia - not really the glamorous ones, sort of down home and country, but nice, down to earth and ... quietly funny as hell.  (Do not drink with Norwegians, tho.  Them or Russians.  You will get messed up. Scariest meal I ever witnessed was a Russian/Norwegian business dinner in Stockholm.  There were about 2 empty litres of vodka for every person.  And singing.  Scary scary scary.)

Third, I remember what one of my professors once told me, about going on some Germanic languages boondoggle that somehow involved sailing up and down the fjords with a bunch of Norse saga scholars and a cask of rum.  He said "you get drunk enough, and you're there with those mountains rising out of the sea, and you don't just believe in giants, you fucking SEE giants."

Well, you don't even have to get that drunk, just see Trollhunter.  This one reminded me more than a little of Incident at Loch Ness, but less self conscious (and pretentious) and a lot more fun.  Sort of like Norwegians.  Basically, a bunch of dumb-ass college students, trying to make a student film about environmental management and poaching, stumble on not a poacher but a troll hunter who actually works for the government managing the secret Norwegian troll population.  He decides to let them tag along because he's pissed at his bureaucrat boss and bored of his shitty job with no overtime or benefits. The story sticks to a lot of Norse folklore (trolls turn to stone in sunlight, can smell the blood of Christians, which is not much of an issue in modern Norway).  So off they go to try to figure out why a larger than usual number of trolls are wandering out of their designated territories and getting embarrassingly (for a government that denies they exist) close to civilization. 

The actors are a bunch of apparently fairly well known Norse comedians, which ... explains a lot.  But the performances are fine overall, and Otto Jespersen as the troll hunter is just spot on tone perfect.  (Go to the website. Download the ringtone if you don't believe me.)  Even though it is a blair-witch-ish found footage mockumentary (again!), the whole exercise feels fresh and fun.  (And well executed.)

Now, interesting thing about the smelling of Christians (defined for these purposes as those who actually believe in God & Jesus, not just baptism).  When it in fact proves true that trolls can sniff even closeted believers, that would seem to indicate that there is some actual substance, something actual or dare I say true, about Christian belief.  But after seeing this evidenced, the happy atheists in the group in no way question their lack of belief.  Just struck me as odd, that.

The film makers should get an award for best cameo for the Norwegian prime minister who, in footage from an actual press conference used as a coda to the film, appears to acknowledge that trolls exist. 
 
The trolls are actually pretty damn convincing, too. 

I highly recommend. 8/10.  Troooolllll!!!  (Gotta get that ringtone.)

Yes!

This movie was amazing. I loved every minutes of it. Review is spot on.

Only thing that seemed odd about the plot and the smelling of christians from these evil creatures. In the world of trollhunter, if this were the case wouldnt you then have to believe in God if these things had some mythical power to smell people who believed in God and killed them?

But anyway, great film, check this one out for sure!

[GeneralCinema]

The Possession

I've known about this one for a little while and I'm generally a sucker for possession movies.  My neighbor let me borrow it last night and as she gave me the DVD she said that she was "still shaking".  Was it that scary?  Read on to find out...

Before I get to the plot, this is one of the ubiquitous "based on a true story" movies.  The "true story" in question comes from a story on ebay.  Long story short, this guy unknowingly buys a "Dibbuk Box" from an estate sale.  Upon opening the box, his business goes under, his mother has a stroke, and he starts experiencing really weird, unexplainable dreams.  Also, everyone who takes the box home has the same weird dreams.He eventually sells it to another person Jason Haxton who wrote a book "The Dibbuk Box" - apparently he offered it to Sam Raimi before production.  At any rate, here's the plot:

The story begins with an old woman trying to open an unusual box.  In her attempts to open it, she is thrown across the room.  Her son finds her on the ground and starts screaming.

Next we meet Clyde and Stephanie.  They are a divorced couple with joint custody of their two daughters.  Clyde takes his daughters to his new house, and the next day they go to a yard sale and his youngest daughter, Emily, buys the box.

Emily asks Clyde if he can open it and he says that whoever made the box didn't want it to be opened, or didn't want it to be opened easily.  Alone in her room one night, Emily successfully opens the box and finds it full of unusual trinkets.

Emily starts acting strangely - she stabs Clyde's hand with a fork, she says that she talks to the woman living inside the box, acts really distant, etc.

Clyde takes the box to a professor at the local university and finds out that it's a Dibbuk Box (Dibbuk means 'dislocated spirit').  Realizing that Emily may be possessed, Clyde enlists the help of a Haissidic Rabbi to put the Dibbuk back in the box.

Whew.  That's far enough without any spoilers.  Now for the review.

The good.  I LOVE Jefferey Dean Morgan.  He's an incredible actor who has yet to do bad in a movie.

Natasha Calis also delivered a solid performance as Emily.   She pulled off the role of a creepy kid very, very well.

I appreciate the Hebrew Folklore aspect.  Many people don't realize that Hebrew Folklore has been around longer than just about everything.

The scares were appreciated and the gore was done well.  There's one scene in particular involving teeth that made me cringe.

Now the bad.

I HATE Kyra Sedwick.  I hate her in every movie that she's in and I especially hated her here.

I'm on the fence with the exorcism scene.  Parts of it were really, really good.  What I didn't like about it was that the writers of this movie seemed to have watched The Exorcist one too many times.  There are a LOT of similarities to it - so much so that I feel that this is essentially a remake of the horror classic.  It almost feels that way.

When I gave my neighbor back the disc, I told her "you're a wimp".

That goes back to my initial question - Did I find this scary?  Not really.

Would I recommend this?  Yes, for a single viewing.

I'm giving this 2.5 out of 5 moth-infested bathrooms

[Splatterscribe]

Great review, GC! I  haven't seen this one yet, but what you wrote doesn't surprise. The last really good possession flick  I saw was The Last Excorcism. Before that you have to go back to The Exorcism of Emily Rose. It's a subgenre of horror that never quite shook off the enormous shadow of William Peter Blatty's tale.