Vanishing on Seventh Street Movie Review 169

Vanishing on Seventh Street is a 2010 thriller directed by Brad Anderson who also directed The Machinist. It stars Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo.

Paul(Leguizamo) is working in a cinema and he is running the movie when suddenly everything goes dark. He is wearing a little torch on his head and he makes his way out of the screening room and into the aisles. Everyone has gone. There is nothing left but their clothes. He meets another guy who has a torch and they look around. Suddenly, he is gone. A guy called Luke (Christensen) wakes up and he realises that there is no power. He wanders outside and sees that there are no people around. He wonders what is going on. He goes to the news station where he worked and he looks for his girlfriend but she is not there.

Cut to 72 hours later and Luke is running through the dark with lights around him.He finds a bar with lights on and he enters it. He goes down into the basement and finds lots of supplies and a generator. Suddenly, a young kid pulls a gun on him. It turns out that the kid is called James and he was with his mother but she left to find more survivors and she hasn't returned. His mother worked in the bar and he was there when the power went out. Luke wants to move because there is less daylight every day and the generator isn't going to last. The darkness is killing people and the light is the only thing keeping them alive. In comes Rosemary(Newton) who is looking for her child. She has glow sticks around her neck and arms to keep her safe. They hear someone shouting for help.

Paul is outside in a bus shelter with light and she is shouting for someone to help. Luke goes and gets him just in time. They run back inside the bar before the darkness gets them. Rosemary was a doctor and she helps Paul who is injured. Paul thinks that he was taken somewhere by the darkness and he was gone for  3 days.

They wonder what happened with the light going and the shadows killing people. The lights are flickering in the bar and they have to take the pressure off the generator by turning some stuff off.Luke passes a truck earlier which was kind of working and he wants to jump start it by  attaching it to the generator. They can drive off then. 

Luke and Rosemary head off to get the truck, leaving Paul and James in the bar. Paul ends up dead when the lights go out.James is alone and the lights are dimming.Rose gets duped into thinking that her child in alive and she finds herself swallowed up by the dark.Luke comes back and finds James. They get into the truck and they manage to hook it to the generator. It works and they drive off. James decides to get out and go into the church to find his mother, but she is not there. He sits in the middle of some candles, trying to stay alive. He falls asleep and when he wakes, he is alone. He suddenly sees some young girl who is living in the church. They head off into the sunset together...

Not a bad movie with a good story. Some of the decisions made by the characters were beyond stupid, but I still enjoyed this film. It is getting a 6/10.

Late Fee Movie Review 168

Late Fee is a 2009 horror movie directed by John Carchietta and Carl Morano. It stars nobody you would know...

The movie begins with a couple going to a DVD store on Halloween night. They pick up two horror movies and the owner(Rick Poli) says that he will only rent them out if they promise to return them by midnight. He says that there is a severe penalty for them if they do not. They take the DVD's, thinking that the owner is joking with them. They return home and start watching them. The first movie is called The Pick Up and it is about a woman(Georgia Kate Haege) hitching a ride with a pervy guy(Chris Cusano). It turns out that he has hired her from some website and that they are going to a motel for sex. She brings him to a strange motel and they meet the owner(Sergio Jones) who seems to know her well. The guy is a bit nervous. When they go into the motel room, the owner locks them in and covers the doors so that there is no way out for the man. They get down to business but the woman turns out to be some sort of creature and she kills the man. She heads off, leaving the motel owner to clean up. It is obvious that this has happened before. The motel owner takes the body and dumps it for her. She moves on to her next victim.

The second movie is called Damnation and it is about a woman, Justine(Kerri Miller) who is driving along when she is followed by a cop car. She pulls over and she is confronted by a lady cop who handcuffs her and takes her to jail. Some guy takes her car away as she is driven away. She is injected with something and when she wakes up, she is in a prison. She gets a sham trial and she is sentenced to death for some crime that she doesn't know about. She is angry and she is thrown into a cell. There is another girl in the next cell and they talk. The girl is pregnant. There are all sorts of weird things happening in the jail. There is a mad doctor(Chris Cusano) working on the girls and doing experiments. We see that there are guys bidding online for Justine.

She is sold to some guy who takes her out. She begs him to help her, but he doesn't. He brings her back to the jail again....

The couple realise that it is after midnight and they have not returned the tapes. They order a pizza and when it comes, it is disgusting. There is a brick thrown through their window with a note. It says that they have broken the rules. The owner of the movie store comes in with his buddies and they are murdered.It turns out that someone has made a movie about the couple and it is for rent in the DVD store. Some kid rents it and he is warned that he better return it by midnight or he will pay the price....

Not a bad movie. There were some funny moments in this. It is kind of like a Twilight Zone episode or like Creepshow with the different tales, but it is worth a watch. I am giving it a 6/10.

Road Kill a.k.a. Road Train Movie Review 167

Road Kill or Road Train is a 2010 Australian horror movie directed by Dean Francis. It stars Bob Morley who used to play Drew Curtis in Home and Away ,Xavier Samuel,Georgina Haig and Sophie Lowe.

The movie begins with four friends travelling by car through the Aussie outback. They are Craig(Morley), Marcus(Samuel), Liz(Haig) and Nina(Lowe). They are having a good time when they spot a huge truck behind them hauling two trailers. It is known as a Road Train. They think that it is going to pass them out but instead, it hits their car. They begin to panic. They pass it out, but it comes up behind them again and hits them. This time, it pushes them off the road and they crash. Craig is hurt. His arm is broken. The rest of them are fine. They have some supplies in their car. They see the truck parked on the road. There doesn't seem to be anyone around it. They wonder why it stopped. Liz and Craig go over to the truck to see if the driver is there, but there isn't anybody in it. Marcus sits into the cab and the others come over to him. Suddenly, they hear gunshots and see some weird guy running at them with a gun. He starts shooting at them. They climb into the truck and Marcus drives away.

They drive a little way and then they all fall asleep suddenly. Even Marcus dozes off. They wake up in some remote area, totally unaware of how they got there. The others think that Marcus drove them there, but he doesn't remember anything.Now the truck won't start and they can't reverse as the truck is too large. Liz remembers seeing a shack way back and she and Marcus head off to find it but have an argument and split up. Liz finds the shack, but there isn't anything there. Marcus runs into the crazy psycho and they have a fight or something. Marcus turns up at the truck wearing the guy's jacket and he has the gun. Craig finds a key to the trailer and he enters one of them. The door closes behind him and he gets locked in. When he emerges, he looks different. His arm seems to be a lot better. Nina is looking for Craig and can't see him. Liz arrives back at the truck and they meet Marcus who seems to have lost the plot. He comes at them and Nina hits him over the head, knocking him out.They tie him up and leave him under the truck.Nina and Liz try and start the truck up. They can't see Craig.

He finally shows up and meets Marcus who has come to. He releases him from under the truck but kills him.

Craig sees Liz and he talks to her, telling her that he has found what they need but there is only enough for him and Liz not Nina. He takes her into the trailer. Nina is alone and she can't find anyone. Suddenly, Craig appears and he tries to get her into the trailer too, but she tricks him and locks him in. She starts the truck and she manages to get it onto the road, then suddenly stops it for some stupid reason.She decides in her wisdom to go into the other trailer and she finds out that the truck is running on human bodies.. She runs back to the truck and starts driving, but Craig and Liz somehow get out and tackle her. She throws Liz out onto the road, killing her. Craig and Nina struggle for control, but hit a car. Nina wakes up and she finds Craig dragging her into the trailer. He tries to put her into a grinder to fuel the truck, but she escapes. He follows her and catches her. She gets the gun and shoots him dead. Someone takes the truck and drives off in it, leaving Nina to wander the roads. She goes back to where the car crashed and she gets a blanket and some water. She finds a fold up chair and sits on it. Presumably, she is waiting to be rescued..

 

This movie was not bad at all. It was enjoyable. There were a lot of holes in the plot such as how did Marcus escape from the psycho with his gun and his jacket? These things are not explained and it can irritate you. Another thing I found annoying was the stupid things that they did. Why did Liz wander to the shack? There was nobody there and they couldn't get help. All she got was an old can of soup. Why did Nina stop the truck when she had it running smoothly? Oh, I don't know why there are so many plot holes in this movie, but I wouldn't really let it spoil it though. Out of a LOT of straight to DVD releases I have seen, this is not bad at all and it is worth watching. I am giving it a 5/10.

The Last Exorcism Movie Review 166

 

 

 

The Last Exorcism is a horror documentary-style movie. It stars Patrick Fabian, Iris Bahr and Ashley Bell.

It is directed by Daniel Stamm .

This film is based on Reverend Cotton Marcus(Fabian) who was brought up to be a healer and he was a devout Christian and an Exorcist before his son was born disabled and he reads an article in a newspaper of a young boy being killed during an exorcism. He loses his belief in possessions etc and he sets out to debunk the so called possessed. He receives a letter from a guy called Louis Sweetzer(Louis Herthum) who is worried about his daughter, Nell(Ashley Bell). He thinks that she has been possessed. Cotton's documentary is going to expose this as just nonsense. He thinks that the girl is not possessed and he is going to show people that it is all not true.

 He travels to the Sweetzer farm and he is stopped by a young guy in a truck called Caleb(Caleb Landry Jones) who tells him to go home. Cotton is not put off though and he soon finds out as he pulls up to the farm that Caleb is Louis' son. He does not want Nell to get hurt in this exorcism.

Cotton talks to Louis and he finds out that Nell walks down to the barn and kills animals without remembering it and other strange things. Cotton sets up props and he fools the family into believing that she is possessed and that he has driven out the demon. He leaves, thinking that everything is fine. Nell turns up that night at his hotel and she is in a strange state. They take her to the hospital. but she is physically fine. Cotton thinks that she might need psychiatric help. Cotton goes to see Pastor Manley(Tony Bentley) who was a good friend of the family until he fell out with Louis over Nell. Nell's dad takes her home and she hurts her brother, Caleb with a knife. Louis chains her to the bed, but Cotton and his crew arrive at the house and Cotton releases her. She is acting very strangely.

Nell kills a cat and she is going to kill Cotton but the crew stop her. They look around the house and Cotton thinks that the father is abusing her. He sees pictures of himself and the crew dying in different ways and it spooks him. He finds out that Nell is pregnant and he thinks that her father is the culprit.Louis returns and he holds a shotgun on Cotton until he agrees to do another exorcism. He does so and it seems as if there is a demon inside Nell as her body contorts and she breaks her own fingers. Cotton begins to realise that she is just pretending, though and  when he questions her, he sees that she is just disturbed and not possessed. Later, Nell tells that a local boy got her pregnant. Cotton goes to see him and he denies it.He tells them that Nell was at a party held by Pastor Manley and Cotton realises that the Pastor lied as he told Cotton that he has not seen Nell in a long time. He goes back to the farm and finds the house covered in Satanic symbols. He goes to the woods nearby and sees a group of Satanists led by Pastor Manley. Nell is tied to an altar and her 'baby' is delivered. It is not human and they throw it on the fire. They hear demonic voices from the flames. Cotton is horrified and he realises that his faith in God has been restored. He goes towards the fire. The rest of the crew run by are caught by the Satanists, one of who is Caleb, Nell's brother. The movie ends with the cameraman being decapitated by Caleb. His camera falls to the ground and that is it(Blair Witch anyone?)

An okay movie. I thought that it started well and went downhill near the end. The twist wasn't that great and I was disappointed with the end to be honest. I thought that it could have been a lot better.It gets a 5/10.

Slaughter High Movie Review 165

Slaughter High is a 1986 slasher movie. It is directed by George Dudgale, Mark Ezra and Peter Litten. It stars Simon Scuddamore, Caroline Munro and Billy Hartman.

The movie begins on April Fools Day. A nerd called Marty(Scuddamore) is led to the locker rooms by Carol(Munro). She is a very pretty girl and Marty is a total nerd so you know that something bad is going to  happen. It turns out that she is pretending to like him and then her horrible friends turn up and they embarrass the poor guy. We see that Carol and her group are the popular kids and they love picking on Marty. They get caught by the coach  and they get punished. For some weird reason, they think that it is Marty's fault and one of them, Skip(Carmine Iannaccone) fiddles with Marty's chemistry project causing a terrible accident in which Marty is burned by acid and his face is disfigured. The cool kids are stunned and seem to realise what they have done...

Cut to a few years later and the old gang are back together for a reunion. They were all invited to the old school where they terrorized Marty years before. None of them know who sent the invitations. They head into the school and there is food and drink set up for them. Their lockers have been set up and Marty's locker is there too. Someone is in the school with them and this person is wearing a jokers mask over his face. It is almost April Fool's Day and the group begin to get killed one by one in inventive ways. They all begin to wonder if it is Marty come back to get his revenge on them. They try to escape but someone has made sure that they can't get very far. Finally they are all killed except for Carol. She is faced with the killer, who turns out to be....Marty!!!!We think that this is the end of the movie, but then the 'twist' is that Marty dreamed all of this from his bed in the hospital. Suddenly, he attacks a nurse and then starts pulling at his face, tearing off the flesh.....End of movie..

Not a bad horror movie. The group of kids were obnoxious and you didn't feel sorry when they met a nasty end. Interesting fact- the guy who played Marty killed himself shortly after this movie was made....Anyway, this is a decent horror and it deserves a 7/10.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown Movie Review 164

The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a 1976 horror movie. It is directed by Charles B Pierce who also directed the 1972 movie The Legend of Boggy Creek. It stars Ben Johnson and Andrew Prine.

The movie is narrated throughout to give it a documentary feel. It is filmed much like a documentary too and this adds to the real feel of it. It is set in Texarkana, Arkansas. It is 1946 and there is a reign of terror beginning. A couple in a car parked in a lovers lane are attacked by some man with a white sack on his head. They both survive but their description of their killer is hazy. It is called the Lovers Lane Case at first. Deputy Sheriff Ramsey(Andrew Prine) is on the case. The attacker bit the young girl. The cops don't catch anyone. Another couple drive out to the same place and this time they are killed. The Deputy is in the area and he hears the gunshots. He is too late as the couple are dead and the attacker escapes. The dead girl has been bitten too so the cops know they have a serial killer on their hands.

The whole town is scared by now. People are being vigilant and they are securing their houses.The local police have no leads so a Texas Ranger called J.D. Morales(Ben Johnson) is brought in to help.Everyone is happy to have him there and they are all ready to cooperate with him. Ramsey and Morales are working together on the case. There are curfews imposed and the police are patrolling the town and the lover's spots. Ramsey thinks that the killer strikes every 21 days for some reason. This time the cops are ready for him. They have decoys in a car pretending to be a couple, but nothing happens there. There is a prom and there are young people driving around despite being warned about the killer. A young couple decide to go to an isolated spot and guess what? They get caught by the killer and murdered. The police find them the next day. They ask a profiler to tell them about the killer and he says that he is way too clever and that he won't be caught.

 

A local man comes to the cops and tells them that he gave a strange man a lift and that the man told him that he was the killer. They take the guy into custody, but it seems as if he is not the killer. He is just a car thief. The killer follows a woman home and he waits until nightfall. He shoots her husband through the window and then he gets into the house and tries to kill her. She escapes to a neighbours house. The police are stumped. They search around the area where the woman lives and they see the killer. He is hanging around. They shoot at him and they try to catch him. He gets wounded, but escapes. The movie ends with him getting away and nobody  knows what has happened to him.

This film is based on a true story. There were murders in Texarkana in the 1940's. The killer was called The Phantom Killer and he has never been caught. The case has gone cold by now....This film was entertaining and I would recommend it. I am giving it a 7/10...There is a new film coming out this year with the same name, but it is nothing to do with this film. It is some movie about vampires. They just decided to take the name for some reason!!!

Chain Letter Movie Review 163

Chain Letter is a low budget horror movie written, produced and directed by Deon Taylor. It stars Brad Dourif, Betsy Russell(from the Saw movies) and  Keith David.

This movie begins with a young woman in her garage. She is tied to two cars and it is obvious once the cars drive off, she will be torn in half. We find out that the cars belong to her parents. They don't see her until it is too late and she is killed. Cut to Brad Dourif who is a teacher and he seems to hate technology and he warns against the evils of it. His students think that he is an idiot. A computer nerd called Neil (Cody Kasch) is online when he gets a message from someone saying that he is dead and that he is  link in the chain. He gets a chain letter saying that he has to forward it to five people in 24 hours of he is dead. His sister Rachel(Cherilyn Wilson) sees him and she sends it to five people for him.

So, her pal Johnny(Matt Cohen) gets it and deletes it. Another guy, Mikey(Michael J. Pagan) sends it on to other people. Jesse(Nikki Reed) receives it too but does nothing with it. Johnny is in the gym with a friend of his called Kevin(Eliot Benjamin). Kevin goes away and while he is gone someone attacks Johnny with chains. The cops get on the case when his body is find. There are two cops -Crenshaw(Keith David) and Sergeant Hamill(Betsy Russell) and they look into it. Another pal of Rachel's deletes the chain letter and he meets a sticky end..Are you seeing a pattern here????Crenshaw looks into the chains that the killer used and he finds out who made them.Jesse realises that all of her pals are dropping dead because of the chain letter and she tries to warn Rachel,but it is too late. She is dead. Jesse, Michael and Neil meet up and try to come up with some plan. Neil gets another chain letter but deletes it so the killer deletes him!You see where this is going....I won't give away the ending but it is the vein of the Saw movies!

This movie was entertaining enough. It has the usual teens/ young adults running around getting killed, but it was good fun. There is an interesting thing about this movie which I noticed. In every scene, it seems to be raining. It was funny after a while because the rain never seemed to stop pouring. I wonder if it was intentional or just coincidence... Anyway, this one is getting a 5/10.