The Conjuring is a 2013 horror movie directed by James Wan(Saw franchise,Insidious) and starring Lili Taylor, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and Ron Livingston.It is based on actual events.
The story revolves around a couple called Ed and Lorraine Warren(Wilson and Farmiga who investigate the paranormal and they are called in by a family who are being haunted. Carolyn (Taylor) and her husband Roger(Livingston) move into a house with their five daughters in 1971. They think that the house will be a new start for them. Things start to go wrong immediately. Their dog dies and Carolyn notices that she is bruised. There are noises in the house and one of the daughters sees someone who attacks her.One of the daughters has an imaginary friend who talks to her.It becomes obvious that something is very wrong in this house and the family are at their wits end. They find out about a ghost hunting couple called Ed and Lorraine Warren and Carolyn approaches them and asks them to come and see if there is anything they can do.
Ed and Lorraine come to the house and realise that there is something very evil in the house. They agree to try and get evidence of it and see if they can help the family. They need to get evidence of the ghost before they can go to the Catholic Church for an exorcism. They stay in the house and set up equipment to catch the ghosts. They discover that the house was once owned by a witch who was very evil and that she put a curse on anyone who takes her land. Carolyn is possessed by the witch and she tries to attack her own daughter and kill her. Ed and Lorraine have to perform their own exorcism and try and save Carolyn from the demon.
This was a very good movie and I really liked it. It is old school horror and it bears more than a passing resemblance to The Amityville Horror. It reminded me of that movie what with the family moving into a new house and the daughter having an invisible friend. It is spooky and there were some great scares. I love these kinds of movies when they are made well and this is. I liked the story and the acting was good. There was very little I could complain about here. I highly recommend this. If you are looking for gore and brainless fun, then this is not for you. If, like me, you are delighted when you find a horror movie that you can actually enjoy without reaching for the fast forward button, watch this. You won't be disappointed! I am giving this a 9/10.
The Ouija Experiment is a 2011 horror movie directed by Israel Luna and starring Justin Armstrong, Eric Window and Carson Underwood.
This film is another home movie horror with shaking cameras etc etc. It concerns five people who decide to get together and use the Ouija board. You just know that nothing good is going to come from this!
Brandon(Underwood) is filming the event for his film class. He goes over to Michael's(Armstrong) place where he has a Ouija board. With Michael are Lynette(Swisyzinna),her brother Calvin(Window) and Calvin's girlfriend, Shay. Michael explains the rules of the board to them. He tells them that when they have made contact with a spirit, before they leave, they have to say goodbye to it or else the board is open and any spirits could come through. They all sit down and start. They make contact with a little girl called Gracie and chat to her for a while. Then they say goodnight and promise to come back and talk again tomorrow.
The next day, they talk to it again but due to an argument, they don't say goodbye and it is only later that Michael says goodbye. Weird things start to happen to each of them. They wonder if they have unleashed something evil from the board. Calvin is the first one to die and one by one, they get killed by something malevolent. Michael looks up in his attic and finds a scrapbook about a little girl called Gracie who was killed in the house by her mother who then killed the neighbour who saw what she had done and then herself. They brought back the mother and she is angry. They face off with her and they realise that they have to burn the Ouija board to get rid of her. She chases them etc and in the end it is just Lynette and Michael left. They get the board into the fire and burn it. The demon disappears. Michael sees Gracie and the neighbour and they are happy now. He realises that he is dead and Lynette is alive...
Not a bad effort and I thought that it was entertaining enough. It is not great, but not dire either. I have seen way worse. I liked the idea and apart from some awful acting, this film was watchable. It had its spooky moments and I found it was good fun. I give it a 5/10.
The Amityville Haunting is a 2011 horror movie directed by Geoff Meed and starring Luke Barnett, Jason Williams, Amy Van Horne and Tyler Shamy.
This movie is a found footage horror and it is the same as all of the others you have seen. It starts with a family moving into the Amityville house. Strange things happen and they see spooky things etc etc. The reason I am not going into details for this movie is that it was crappy. I could see it all coming and there was little scares or originality. It was boring. One of the kids has a camcorder and he films everything that happens in the house. You just know that there will be some ghostly occurences and doors opening etc.
The Amityville story or whatever you want to call it has been done to death and this movie is just a reminder of that.
I loved the original Amityville Horror with James Brolin and Margot Kidder and some of the sequels were enjoyable too, but when you count how many bad movies have been based on this house, you realise that it has to stop somewhere. Anyway I'm sure there will be another reboot sometime so we will have yet another Amityville movie!Do yourself a favour and skip this movie and revisit the original. It is much scarier, there is better acting and it is a classic. This gets 1/10. Very poor.
Storm Warning is a 2007 Australian horror/thriller movie directed by Jamie Blanks.Blanks also directed Urban Legend, Valentine and the remake of Long Weekend. It stars Robert Taylor,Nadia Fares and David Lyons(Revolution).
The story is pretty simple. Rob(Taylor) and his French wife Pia(Fares) are going out boating one day and they get lost in the middle of nowhere during a storm. They discover a house and they go inside for some shelter. They discover that there is marijuana growing in the shed and Rob thinks that this was a mistake.
The owners come back and they are not pleased to see them. Jimmy (Lyons) and his brother Brett(Mathew Wilkinson) are backward yokels and they are amused but they have guns and other weapons on them so they are not nice guys. They are threatening and even though they don't say anything outright, Rob knows that something bad is going to happen. They try to leave, but Jimmy and Brett won't let them.
They humiliate Pia and then tell them that they will have to spend the night in the barn. There are no phones around so they are stuck. They make a break for it, but get caught. They break Rob's leg so he is useless. Pia is inventive so she sets about making some booby traps to catch them. Brett is the first one to die. He gets caught in one of her traps. The father of the two boys, Poppy wants Pia for himself so Jimmy brings her up to him. She does something to him and he dies. Jimmy is the last one left and he is harder to kill. Rob and Pia try to escape and they eventually take care of Jimmy and escape. This film was decent and I liked that the victims were inventive and killed the bad guys. It was a good thriller and I would recommend it. I like Australian horror movies and this one is entertaining and well worth a watch. It gets a 6/10.
