Tag: Horror

Movie Review: THE MIND’S EYE -micro budget horror movie pays too much homage to Cronenberg to have its own identity, but that’s the least of its problems

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie Reviews3 Comments

The Minds Eye

Man, I wanted so much to like this movie going in.  I hadn’t heard the name of Joe Begos before, but as anyone who’s been following my recent reviews will know, I’ve sort of fallen in love with the indie horror genre.  Go back and read my scribblings on Carnage Park, Darling, Pod, Jug Face, and Southbound and you’ll see that trend develop before your very eyes!  In addition to that, I’ve come to enjoy the screen work of Larry Fassenden, and in particular Lauren Ashley Carter – but I won’t gush here in my review of The Mind’s Eye.

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Movie Review: HOWL – unsubtle and poorly written, this werewolves-on-a-train movie adds nothing new to the subgenre

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howl

Stephen King, in his celebrated non fiction work Danse Macabre postulated that the Werewolf was one of the three major archetpyes of horror.  The other two being The Thing With No Name and the Vampire.  In the 36 years or so since he wrote that, horror changed a lot, but these archetypes – as broadly stated as King intended – still hold up more or less.  In terms of recent horror movies I’ve reviewed, Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno is a Vampire movie, and Darling, by Mickey Keating is a Werewolf movie.  I would add one to this list, however, and that is the Zombie.  Sure, many Zombie movies are just that, but their proliferation as the most ubiquitous creature in horror fiction and movies (all you need to do is look at the sheer volume of books on Amazon – every new “writer” seems to produce nothing BUT zombie fiction – and the depressing array of low-budget movies on Netflix to see that) deserves a place at the table – it’s gone beyond being just a play on the Vampire archetype.

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Movie Review: THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR – mostly rubbish third entry in the franchise browbeats with lame political satire.

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The-Purge-LineUp-1Sheet-UK

To be fair, I only watched The Purge series because old friend, and fellow blogger, Glenn Miller (check out his blog My Little Underground, it’s great!) said the second one was decent.  You can’t eat only one (right?), so in short order I’ve plowed through the series, culminating in last night’s viewing of The Purge: Election Year, and clearly the series has run out of steam.

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Movie Review: THE GREEN INFERNO – Eli Roth’s homage to Cannibal Holocaust falls way short of delivering the true horror of the premise.

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the-green-inferno-movie-poster-2013-1020772648

I was going to say I’m not much of a fan of Eli Roth, but having only seen two of his movies prior to tonight’s viewing of The Green Inferno it would be ridiculous to do that.  Having only seen Cabin Fever and Hostel, I approached this one with some baggage.  On one hand I didn’t care for either of those movies, and on the other hand, I can’t say I’m a particular fan of mondo cinema either.  I’m also particular about the genre of horror: gore isn’t enough; jump scares aren’t enough.  That isn’t horror, it’s amateur Grand Guignol – where’s the excitement in seeing people killed off one by one?  I don’t see it.  I’m a character driven writer, and that’s what I look for in the movies I watch.

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Movie Review: THE VOICES

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thevoicepostersmall

Few movies are so inconsistent in tone that I’m compelled to comment about that one aspect, but such is The Voices, staring Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool, Self/Less), Gemma Arterton (Byzantium), and Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air, Pitch Perfect).  I stumbled across this the other week, and was intrigued by the premise, and the fact it seemed like an odd choice for Reynolds, whom I consider a solid lead actor.  The poster itself sets up a quirky, offbeat black comedy, but like many posters that try to sell a different kind of product to the public, this one is grossly misleading.

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