Thursday, March 30, 2017

Deadly Companion Movie Review






Deadly Companion a.k.a. Double Negative is a 1980 thriller directed by George Bloomfield and starring Anthony Perkins, Susan Clark and Michael Sarrazin.


Journalist Michael Taylor(Sarrazin) is coming home from an institution where he has been for some time. His girlfriend, Paula(Clark) comes to pick him up. They drive back to her place where he will be staying. He has problems with his memory. His wife was murdered and he can't remember anything about the night that it happened. He is also having flashbacks about the time when he was a prisoner in the Middle East.


Paula is being blackmailed by Lawrence Miles(Perkins). He is a sleazy guy and he lets her know that he knows that Michael is out of the institution. She offers him money but he thinks that it is not enough. To make things even stranger, there is a private detective called Lester Harlen(Howard Duff) and he has been hired by a Dr.Klifter(Kenneth Welsh) to follow Michael around. Basically, the rest of the movie revolves around Michael digging up information on his wife's murder and Miles looking menacing and moody and Paul looking worried all of the time.


The film comes to a close with Miles demanding 10,000 dollars from Paul because he saw something the night that Michael's wife died and he is hiding it for a price. It turns out that Miles was having an affair with Michael's wife. He was there the night that she died. He didn't kill her though. He tries to escape after killing the private investigator. He is caught as he is trying to leave and shot by security.
Paula is relieved and she finally tells Michael the truth. HE was the killer of his wife. He knew that she was having an affair and he went mad. Paula helped him to get out of there and she looked after him after she had witnessed the murder. The movie ends there.

This film was all over the place. There is some silly scenes and just stupid flashbacks. Nothing is explained really and putting John Candy on the cover of the movie is so silly as he has about 2 minutes in this as does Michael Ironside. Perkins is the ONLY reason that I watched this. He was good as the sleazy Miles and he kept me watching until the end. There were some really baffling things about this film and it just wasn't very good. If you are a Perkins fan, then you might like to see him in this, as I did, but if you are not, then avoid! I will give it a 3/10 and that is just because of Perkins.

Monday, March 27, 2017

I Spit on Your Grave 2(2013)







I Spit on Your Grave 2 is a 2013 horror movie sequel to the 2010 remake.It is directed by Steven R.Monroe and stars Jemma Dallender in the lead role.


Katie Carter(Dallender) is a model who is looking for her big break. She reads about a free photography session and she decides that it could be good for her career. She goes there and finds three Eastern European guys there. It is all very dodgy. Ivan(Joe Absolom) is the photographer and he wants her to pose nude, which she refuses. He has two helpers called Nicky and Georgy. She gets a visit later from Georgy with her pictures. He leaves, but comes back later that night and rapes her and ties her up. He calls Ivan and Nicky and they decide to take her off with them to Bulgaria.


She wakes up in a dank basement and more brutality ensues. She manages to escape but she ends up meeting Georgy and Nicks mother who poses as a social worker and he brings her back to the basement where there is more horror. Anyway, they bury her alive and think that that is the end of her.  She is saved when the box falls through into a sewer and she finds her way into a church and meets a priest who gives her clothes etc. The rest of the movie revolves around her getting the bad guys back etc etc. If you want to know the ending, then here it is. She survives. That is it.


Sorry if you liked this movie, but I didn't like this film at all. I think that these movies have been done to death.This is just by the numbers rubbish. I didn't like the story and it was just so predictable because it has been done already and there is nothing new here. Avoid. In my opinion, this was just a nasty, crappy film with nothing original in it at all. Watch the original I Spit on Your Grave(1978) and save yourself some time. I give this 1/10.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Messiah of Evil (1973) Review






Messiah of Evil is a 1973 horror movie directed by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz and starring Marianna Hill, Antrina Ford, Michael Greer and Joy Bang.


The movie begins with a woman who is in an institution. She talks about a small town called Point Dune and she says that there is something happening there. She says that 'they' are waiting there and that nobody will hear you scream. She begins her story. Her name is Arletty(Hill) and she went to Point Dune in California to look for her dad. She had received no letters from him recently and she was worried about him. The town is a bit odd. Some of the people are weird. Arletty goes to her dad's place and she sees signs that he was there. She discovers his journal and she realises that he was disturbed. She asks around town about him and nobody seems to know anything. Something isn't right.


She is told by a woman that there was someone else looking for her dad too. She goes to find them and she meets a man called Thom(Greer) who has two women with him, Toni(Bang) and Laura(Ford). He is meeting with a homeless man who  is talking about a blood moon and a dark stranger and how Arletty will have to kill her dad. He heads off and gets killed. Thom and his two ladies go with Arletty to her dad's place. Thom is a collector of legends and he is interested in what is happening in Point Dune. He sees people standing on the beach by the rocks as if they are waiting for someone.


Laura decides to leave when she gets jealous of Arletty. She heads off and takes a lift from a weirdo in a truck. She gets in and sees him eat the head of a rat and she gets out again! She is in the middle of nowhere. She reaches town and goes to the local supermarket. She sees other people there. They are at the meat section munching their way through the raw meat. Laura realises that something isn't right and she runs off. They chase her and she gets trapped and eaten. Meanwhile, Thom is reading the journal and he reads about a dark stranger coming to Point Dune and strange things happening etc. Toni decides to go to the cinema and gets surrounded by and eaten by the creatures. Thom wanders around town and sees the monsters roaming around. He escapes.


Areltty gets infected and she vomits up disgusting things. She is visited by her dad who is one of the creatures. He tries to kill her and she has no choice but to kill him first. She discovers that the dark stranger in his journal is a man who was a cannibal in the Donner party and who has come back to lead his new acolytes. He will be arriving soon, hence the title Messiah of Evil. Thom arrives back and Arletty stabs him as she thought that he was another creature. They go down to the beach and they see the creatures waiting for their messiah. They go in the water to try and swim away but Thom is injured and he doesn't make it. She ends up alone. She gets rescued by the weirdos and they let her live only if she spreads the word about them. Of course, when she does this, she gets locked up in an institution. She lives in fear of the creatures coming back to get her.


This movie was unknown to me until recently. I had never heard of it, I will admit but it was recommended to me. I liked it as it was a pretty simple story, but done pretty well. There were some good scenes in this. My favourites would be the one in the supermarket where Laura walks in and sees the locals attacking the meat section and the scene in the cinema where Toni is sitting oblivious to the creatures who keep coming in one by one and surrounding her. It was very entertaining and I really liked it. I think that it is kind of nightmarish in parts and it did sort of remind me of Carnival of Souls because of this. I think that if you haven't seen it, it is worth a look. I will give it a 7/10.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Cell Movie Review 463







Cell is a 2016 horror movie directed by Tod Williams and based on the novel by Stephen King. It stars John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.


The movie begins with a man called Clay Riddell(Cusack) who is walking through an airport when he notices people turning into crazy killers after talking on their phones. He escapes from them when they try and attack. He gets onto a train with other people. He meets Tom(Jackson) who is a train driver and they try and get out into the underground train tunnel with others, but the others get killed.
They go to Clay's apartment and have a rest. A girl called Alice(Isabelle Fuhrman) finds them and they tell her to stay with them.


Clay has a wife and a son and he wants to go and find them. The group move from one place to the other as they fight the zombies. They figure out that the people called 'phoners' are controlled by something and that they are telepathic. Clay dreams of a man in a red hoodie and the group go to a place where the phoners are congregating. Alice dies and they meet a guy called Ray who gives Clay a phone and tells him to use it when the time is right. He kills himself afterwards. Clay goes home and finds that his wife has turned into a zombie so now he is looking for his son.He finds a message from his son saying where he has gone and Clay and Tom go to find him.


The movie ends with Clay reaching the meeting place for the phoners and finding that his son has turned into a zombie. The guy with the red hoodie is there and so are all of the phoners who are drawn to a giant antenna. The film ends with Clay becoming one of the phoners too. The ending was a bit confusing but that is what I took away from it. Now, I liked the novel and thought that it was a good story, but this movie was very different. The story was changed and it just didn't seem as good to me as the novel. I have to say that the movie was poor apart from that. I like the cast, but this just isn't great. I couldn't really like it. I know that King changed the ending as he thought that fans would prefer it, but I didn't. I thought that the ending was silly and it was just a wasted opportunity. I wouldn't recommend this really so I am giving it a 3/10.


Wednesday, March 22, 2017

The Walking Dead, Season 7, Episode 12




This episode begins with Rick and Michonne driving around looking for supplies and guns. They come to a deserted fairground. They can't seem to find much and Michonne thinks that they should just head back home, but Rick convinces her that they should stay out for another while. They see a deer wandering around and they are going to kill it but they lose it. They look around the fairground and find a lot of military people who have loads of guns. They have to kill them to get their arms.
They also find food and they are amazed at their luck.


They have another look around the next day and Rick finds the deer. He is going to shoot it but he gets swarmed by walkers when he falls over and Michonne arrives to see the walkers chomping on a corpse. She thinks that it is Rick and she is stunned and drops her weapon. She is devastated but it turns out to be the deer when Rick reappears. He helps Michonne to kill the walkers and they head off with their haul of guns. They give them to Jadis who says that they are not enough. Rick is disappointed.


Meanwhile, Rosita is also looking for guns and she can't find much. Tara decides to tell Rick about the people at Oceanside as they have guns. Rosita is annoyed and she goes to the Hilltop to find Sasha and she tells her that they can get Negan between them. Sasha agrees and they are going to make a plan...Not a bad episode. A little slow, but okay.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

The Walking Dead, Season 7, Episode 11




This episode begins with Dwight finding out that Daryl has gone. He sees that there is a note on the ground which says go now and he looks at it. He knows that something is going to happen. Negan and his thugs come in and he is thrown into the same cell as Daryl was in. Negan chats to him about his wife Sherry and says that she has left. He tells him that he had better bring her back if he wants to get into Negan's good books once again. Cut to Eugene who is brought into Negan's compound and provided with great stuff to sweeten him up.


Negan comes to talk to Eugene and Eugene tells him a pack of lies. He says that he knows all about
biochemistry and diseases. Negan is impressed with this and wants Eugene to work for him. It is agreed and Eugene gets to spend the night with Negan's wives. He doesn't have sex with them. He just talks to them. Meanwhile, Dwight is looking for his missing wife and he goes to their old house and he finds that she was there and she left him a note. He looks sad as he reads it. She tells him that she let Dwight go free and her handwriting matches the note from the beginning of the episode.


Dwight has to think fast, so he goes back and frames the doctor for letting Dwight out and helping Sherry. He watches as Negan takes the doctor and throws him into a furnace and burns him alive.
Eugene is also watching. He gets approached by Negan's wives who want him to make them a poison pill so that they can kill Negan. He is going to do it, but then he rethinks it. He wants to make it for himself and his plan is to poison everyone in Negan's gang. The episode ends with Negan asking Eugene who he is and Eugene says that he is Negan, bringing himself into Negan's inner circle.

This was a good episode with us seeing the workings of Negan's compound. I like that Eugene is going to work on killing The Saviours from the inside. It will be interesting to see what will happen with this..


Train To Busan Movie Review 462






Train to Busan is a 2016 South Korean horror movie directed by Yeon Sang-ho and starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Kim Su-an and Ma Dong-seok.


Seok-woo(Yoo) is a young guy who is obsessed with his work. He has a young daughter called Soo-an(Su-an) who wants to go and visit her mother in Busan. Seok- woo is going to take her there on the train. He hasn't been the best dad to his daughter. There are others on the train too such as tough guy Sang-hwa(Ma Dong-seok) and his pregnant wife, Seong-kyeong(Yu-mi) and a sneaky businessman called Yon-suk(Kim Eui-sung). There are also a baseball team on board and a homeless man. A girl comes onto the train and she is not well. She looks very sick. She turns into one of the undead and she attacks people on the train and they start turning into zombies. The train is filled with nasty, flesh eating zombies.


Some of the passengers realise what is happening and they run to another carriage. They see that there is some sort of epidemic happening in the city and they can't stop the train as the undead are everywhere. The train has to keep going. Seok-woo, his daughter and Sang-hwa and his wife are trying to find somewhere to hide. They close the train doors between them and the zombies and they realise that if the undead can't see them, they won't attack. They have to fight their way through the train and they kill many zombies in the process. But,some of the passengers get caught by the zombies and they have to get off of the train.


The rest of the movie consists of the survivors trying to escape and find sanctuary. I don't want to give away the ending of the movie so I will leave it there. This movie is surprisingly emotional in parts and Su-an does a great job as the daughter. She is sweet and innocent and it makes you really feel for her in the horrible situation that occurs. This was very tense with some brilliant action scenes. The zombies are great and this is a really well made movie. I haven't seen many Korean movies, to be honest, but this is so good that I would like to see more. It is a superior horror movie and I liked the cast. There was no dead wood here. I enjoyed the story and the ending had real poignancy, I felt.
Some of the scenes were heartbreaking and I would certainly recommend this as it's one of the best zombie films that I have seen in quite some time. It gets an 8/10.


Thursday, March 16, 2017

Frozen Movie Review 461






Frozen is a 2010 horror movie directed by Adam Green and starring Kevin Zegers, Emma Bell and Shawn Ashmore.


The movie revolves around three people- Dan(Ashmore), his girlfriend Parker(Bell) and Dan's buddy Joe(Zegers) who are going skiing at a resort. Unfortunately, they decide to have another ski late in the day and they get stuck in the ski lift when the staff don't realise that they are still there and the resort closes. They are horrified to find out that they are stranded way up high in the lift and that everyone has gone home. It is very cold and they have no way of keeping warm or getting down. Dan decides that he is going to jump down and get help. This is not a very clever action and he only succeeds in breaking both his legs. Needless to say, he is in severe pain and his screaming brings some wolves who proceed to eat him as he is helpless. The other two just look away as he is being devoured by the pack.


Joe and Parker have to stay the night on the lift. Parker is getting frostbite on her face and hands.
Joe thinks that he will try and climb down by using the cable and slide down the pole. He manages to do it, but he succeeds is loosening the cables on the ski chair and Parker is not too steady. He grabs a snowboard and sails off to get help but he manages to attract the pack of wolves and they chase him. He doesn't come back so Parker is alone now and wondering if he made it or not. She spends the night alone and wakes up the next day determined to get off the lift.


She gets a nasty surprise when the lift begins to break and fall. She is able to get down but the lift lands on top of her ankle which makes her slow as she tries to get away. She sees the wolves but they have their dinner, which happens to be Joe, and they don't attack her. She crawls down the hill and makes her way to the road, where she is rescued by a passing car. The driver is taking her to the hospital and she is finally safe.


This was an entertaining movie. You would think that a film about a ski lift would be pretty boring, but this had enough tension to keep me interested. I didn't foresee a problem with wolves, so that was a surprise and when poor Dan fell and broke both his legs, they went to town on him. I only watched this recently and to be honest, I had not heard of it before, so this was a nice surprise and I did enjoy watching it. Those wolves were very aggressive and I did wonder if they would attack humans so easily but the blood probably attracted them, so I'll let that one go. All in all, a good movie with some tense scenes. I would recommend it. I will give it a 6/10.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Night of the Living Dead 1990 Movie Review 460






Night of the Living Dead is a 1990 remake of the classic movie of the same name. It is directed by 
Tom Savini(yes, THAT Tom Savini) and starring Tony Todd, Patricia Tallman and Tom Towles.


Well, if you have seen the original, then the story is going to be very familiar. If you haven't ,well, I will outline it for you. A woman called Barbara(Tallman) and her brother Johnny(Bill Moseley) are at a graveyard visiting the grave of their mother. They see a weird man coming towards them. It turns out that he is a zombie and he attacks Barbara. Johnny tries to get him off and ends up getting killed. Barbara runs off. She tries to drive away but she crashes into a tree. She runs away and finds a house. She meets a man called Ben(Todd) and he tells her they need to fight. They kill a few zombies and then they realise that there is someone else in the house. A man called Harry(Towles) is down in the basement with his wife Helen and daughter Sarah, who is unwell. There are also two teens called Tom and Judy.



There are more and more undead coming around and everyone has to work together to barricade the doors and windows. Harry is being very annoying and he wants them to go down to the basement and hide until it's all over. Ben doesn't agree and there is a split in the group. Harry and his family stay in the basement while everyone else stays upstairs. They are looking for the key to the gas pumps outside as there is a truck there but it needs fuel. They find keys and go out to the pump but they are not the right ones and Tom and Judy get blown up when a fire starts.


Harry takes a gun from Barbara and he is causing havoc. His daughter had turned into a zombie and she kills Helen. Then she heads upstairs and Barbara shoots her . Harry and Ben manage to shoot each other. Harry runs off to the attic to hide. Ben goes down to the cellar and finds Helen who has turned into a zombie. He finishes her off and then is amused to find the keys to the gas pump. Barbara heads off on her own and meets a group of locals who have been shooting at the undead. She is safe the next day and she goes back to the house to find Ben who has died and come back as one of the undead. He is shot by one of the guys, Barbara sees Harry who is still alive and she kills him as she is angry at him for shooting Ben. She comes out of the house and looks at all of the undead being burned in a huge fire.


This was an interesting remake. As a rule, I am not a huge fan of remakes but this is an exception!It was good as it was faithful to the original, except for the ending, of course. It had a decent cast and all in all, this was very entertaining and I really liked it. There is a lot to like here, so if you enjoyed the original, give this a chance. It is well worth a watch. I will give this a 7/10.


Sunday, March 12, 2017

The Shallows Movie Review 459





The Shallows is a 2016 horror movie directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Blake Lively.


Nancy Adams(Lively) is a medical student who travels to Mexico after her mother's death. She goes to a beach which was the same beach that her mother came to when she was pregnant with Nancy.
She gets a lift with a guy called Carlos. He takes her to the beach and leaves. She heads off surfing and meets two guys who surf with her. She chats to her dad on her phone and there is some side story about her dad wanting her home. Then, she goes back out for another surf and she sees a huge whale but it is dead. She stays in the water and she gets bitten by a shark.


She pulls herself on to a rock and she tries to stop the bleeding with her medical skills. She gets stuck on the rock overnight and she has a seagull for company. She sees a local drunkard on the beach and she thinks that he might help her,but he rips her off and takes her stuff. He wades into the water to get her surfboard and becomes food for the shark. The two guys come back to the beach for more surfing and she tries to warn them about the shark, but they don't know what she is saying. They get killed by the shark. One of them was wearing a camera on a helmet and she grabs it and records a message on it in case someone finds it.


Nancy knows that time is running out as the tide is high and her rock will be underwater. She is a sitting duck and the shark is still out there. She sees a buoy and she wants to swim out there. She has to go and she does so. She reaches it and thinks that she might be safe, but the shark is circling.
She finds a flare gun and shoots it in the sky, but it does nothing. She saves her last one for the shark and she shoots at it but it is not deterred. It comes back and it tries to rock the buoy. This is one smart shark! The buoy is starting to come apart and she knows that she will fall off soon and the shark is waiting. She falls into the water and she dives down. The shark is after her but it gets impaled on some spikes and dies. A young boy finds the camera that she had and he calls his dad, Carlos who had given her the lift in the beginning. He helps her and she is fine. The movie ends with Nancy, her dad and her sister surfing in Texas. She has a scar on her leg, but she has survived.


This was a very good film. I liked the tension throughout. It was certainly like Jaws or Piranha in that it was a person against a very aggressive fish! The shark is very clever in this, it seems. It seems to know what she is thinking but apart from that, this is well made and fun. I recommend this to any movie fans. I will give it a 7/10.

Monday, March 6, 2017

Mortuary Movie Review 458






Mortuary is a 1983 horror movie directed by Howard Avedis and starring Mary Beth McDonough,David Wallace and Bill Paxton.


The story begins with a man being killed in his swimming pool by an unknown assailant. His daughter sees him floating in the pool. His daughter is called Christie(McDonough) and she is sure that her fathers death was no accident. Her mother doesn't believe it. Christie is dating a guy called Greg(Wallace) and he is at a local mortuary with his buddy when he sees people having a seance. One of the those in attendance is Christie's mother. His friend disappears and drives off in Greg's van. Greg is mystified. We know that his pal has been killed by the same person who killed Christie's dad.


Greg and Christie are interested in the owner of the mortuary, Hank Andrews(Christopher George) who is not too happy when he sees Greg snooping around. His son is called Paul(Paxton) and he has a crush of Christie. He is obsessed with her even though she has a boyfriend. Christie's mother is worried about her as she is sleepwalking and she gets attacked by the killer. Her mother is killed one night and Christie is taken by Paul who is the killer. His dad has been taking care of him since his mother's suicide. Paul is not well. He has serious mental issues and he should be in an institution but his dad won't hear of it.


Paul is going to embalm her and keep her with him after a fake wedding. He has totally lost it and he killed his own dad too. He has his mother with him too but she is catatonic. Greg is frantic trying to find her and there is a face off between him and Paul. They argue and Christie wakes up and attacks him with an axe, killing him. The two lovers are reunited but suddenly, Paul's mother wakes up and jumps at them.


This film is very basic. There isn't much to the story really. I knew immediately that Paul was the killer as it was obvious. It was good fun, though and I did enjoy it. It is a movie that I had not seen before and it was worth seeing. It's entertaining and I recommend it for horror fans. I will give it a 5/10.

Saturday, March 4, 2017

The Walking Dead, Season 7, Episode 10




This episode begins with The Saviours coming to The Kingdom to get their rations. They act like bullies and piss everyone off, especially Richard. Ezekiel doesn't want any hassle, so he tries to diffuse the situation. Richard is threatened by one of the bullies. Richard gives Daryl a bow and they talk. He wants Ezekiel to fight and he wants Daryl to help him. Richard tells Daryl about Carol and Daryl is amazed to find out that she living close by. Richard plans to use her to get Ezekiel to fight. If she is killed, then he might fight against the Saviours. Daryl tells him that if anything happens to Carol, he will kill him.


Cut to Rick and the others who are surrounded by a group of weirdos. They have a leader, a strange woman and she seems odd. Rick asks her to bring out Gabriel and then they can talk. She brings him out and Rick informs her that the Saviours are in charge and that they run everything. They have loads of supplies and Rick tells her that she can join him and the others in fighting against them and they can share the profits.She doesn't seem interested. She takes Rick up to the top of her junkyard and pushes him off. He falls down and is faced with a monster which is a walker covered in armour. He fights it and wins.


The woman is called Jadis and her group are called the Scavengers and she will help but she wants guns. Rick tells her that he can get them for her. Daryl visits Carol and they have an emotional reunion. They talk about the Saviours, but Daryl doesn't tell her about Abraham and Glenn. He leaves her in her cottage and he heads off for the Hilltop. This was a good episode, introducing some new characters...
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