Searching Movie Review

Searching is a 2018 thriller directed by Aneesh Chaganty and starring John Cho and Debra Messing.

The film begins with a man called David(Cho) who is a widower. His wife died of cancer a few years ago. He has a teenage daughter called Margot. She doesn't spend much time with him since her mother died. They have drifted apart. David is on his computer looking at videos and pictures of his wife and daughter. Margot tells him that she going out to a friend's house for a study group. She calls him late that night, but he is asleep and he doesn't hear the call. The next day, he calls her back, but it goes straight to voicemail. He messages her but gets no reply either. He calls her piano teacher to see if she is there, but he is told that Margot cancelled her lessons months ago. David tries to log into her social media accounts. He realises that he doesn't know any of her friends.

David tries to find her friends numbers and he speaks to the mother of one of them. She says that Margot was supposed to go on a camping trip  with her son and that she is probably with him. It turns out that Margot didn't show up. David calls the police. He is called by a detective called Rosemary Vick. David logs into Margot's Facebook and he calls all of the friends he finds there. He discovers that a lot of them didn't really know her. She was a bit of a loner. He talks to the girl who was holding the study group and she says that Margot was at the study group until 9 o'clock. The police have CCTV footage and they see Margot in her car. She was driving away on a road out of town. She was saving the money that she was supposed to be spending on her piano classes. She took out $2,500.
David finds a friend of hers called Derek. He is a bad guy. He tells David that he was at a concert the night Margot disappeared. Rosemary discovers a fake driving licence with a different name on it.
She thinks that maybe Margot ran away.

David sees videos that Margot made. She was talking to some person called fish n chips. The person says that they are a waitress. David finds a picture of a lake where Margot used to go. He finds out that she travelled there. Her car is found by the lake. Margot isn't there. There is blood inside it.
The money is discovered inside the car. The case is on the news and  everyone seems to want to be a part of it. Derek gets beaten up by David when he puts up stuff on his Facebook page about Margot.
Rosemary tells David that he can't be a part of the investigation any longer. David suspects his brother but he is wrong. Rosemary tells David that she has found the guy responsible. The guy kills himself so that seems to be the end of that. David sees a familiar face on a funeral website. It belongs to fish n chips, the person that Margot was chatting with. It turns out that the picture belongs to a model and not the person.

David realises that something is not making sense. He finds out that Rosemary volunteered the take the case. She knew the suspect who confessed. She is dodgy. David goes to a memorial for Margot and she is there. He brings the cops with him and she is arrested. She confesses that she tried to cover up the crime because of her son. She says that he killed Margot by pushing her into a ravine and that he was fish n chips. He liked Margot and he pretended to be someone else. Margot withdrew the money to give to fish n chips because  he said that his mother was sick. He followed Margot to the lake and she got freaked out. He pushed her and she fell..Rosemary told him that she would take care of it. She manufactured information and she used a convict to confess. She takes the heat for her son. It looks bad for Margot as they go and search for her. It turns out that there was a storm and there would be enough water for her to live on for a few days. She is alive. She survives her ordeal.

I really enjoyed this film. It is unusual as we see everything from the point of view of cameras, smart phones and computers. I liked the story and I thought that the cast were good. I thought that this was a story about abduction at first, then a murder story, but it turned out to be a different story. The only thing that I would complain about is the happy ending. It seemed unbelievable that she would have survived all of that. It just seemed too neat. I would have preferred a more realistic ending. Other than that, there is nothing bad about this. I found it enjoyable and I definitely recommend it. I will give it a 7/10.

Cold Prey Movie Review

Cold Prey is a 2006 Norwegian horror movie, directed by Roar Uthaug and starring Ingrid Bolso Berdal, Rolf Kristian Larsen and Viktoria Winge.

A kid is being chased through the snow. He has a large birthmark on his face. He falls over and the person who is chasing him buries him in the snow. Cut to a group of snowboarders who have come to the mountains for a holiday. They are Jannicke(Berdal), her boyfriend, Erik, Morten(Larsen), Mikal and his friend Ingunn(Winge). Morten ends up breaking his leg and they have to find shelter. They find an old ski lodge and they have no choice but to go inside for shelter. Jannicke looks at Morten's leg, She tries to fix it. They decide to stay the night. They all have a look around the place. They get some lights working. They discover blood all over the bathroom. There is something weird about the place.

Ingunn gets attacked. The killer has a pick axe. Erik is going to go to get help. He gets attacked also.
Jannicke and Mikal find a door. They discover lots of clothes and a workshop. There are newspaper clippings about missing people and the ski lodge, which was a hotel. Jannicke finds blood when she goes to look for Ingunn. She knows that something bad has happened. Mikal is upset. They realise that there is a killer around there. Mikal wants to find Ingunn and he looks for her. The killer spots him and chases him. Mikal tells the others that there is some guy out there. The killer is after them.
Mikal wants to leave Morten and go for help. He runs off and he gets his leg caught in a trap. The killer arrives and finishes him off. Jannicke and Morten have to leave him and run. Jannicke leaves Morten and she makes a run for it alone. She finds a shotgun. She turns out the lights and goes into the killers workshop. Erik is there and he is still alive.

The killer sees Morten. Jannicke decides that they need to lure the killer out and shoot him with the gun. The killer arrives, but he kills Erik in front of them. Morten tells her to go and leave him behind as he can't go far. He faces the killer himself and of course, he gets killed. Jannicke gets caught by the killer. She wakes up and she finds herself with the dead bodies on a cart. He is pulling them along. He dumps the bodies into a ravine. She grabs Morten's pocket knife and stabs the killer in the neck. There is a fight. She grabs his pick axe. She pulls off his mask and it is revealed that he is the boy from the beginning of the film. She stabs him and pushes him into the ravine. It is revealed that the boys parents left him to die in the snow. The movie ends with Jannicke alive and exhausted.

This is a decent slasher film. I enjoyed it. It is well made and there is lots of tension throughout.
I liked the cast and I liked the story. The eerie ski lodge was a good setting for this and the killer looks quite creepy. I had not really heard of this but it was recommended to me and I found it entertaining and fun. It does have subtitles so be warned if you don't like them. All in all, this is a good slasher film with lots of action and a good ending. I recommend it and I give it a 6/10.

Terrifier Movie Review

Terrifier is a 2017 horror movie directed by Damien Leone and starring David Howard Thornton, Jenna Kanell and Samantha Scaffidi.

The movie begins with a woman who is on a TV show. She says that she was survivor of a massacre. She is disfigured. Art the clown is the one who is the killer but everyone thinks that he is dead. The show host gets attacked by the woman. The movie cuts to a story about two girls, Tara(Kanell) and Dawn(Catherine Corcoran)`who have been at a Halloween party. They see a weird clown on the street. He disappears and they go into a diner for something to eat. He suddenly appears again and one of the girls, Tara, feels really creeped out by him. Her pal Dawn, is drunk and she thinks that he is funny looking as he is dressed in a black and white clown outfit. She wants a selfie with him. He doesn't like that. He has a big bag with him. The owner throws him out when he sees that the clown has defaced the bathroom. The girls leave, thinking that they won't see him again. Art comes back to the restaurant and he kills the owner.

Tara needs to use the bathroom so she approaches a guy who is working in a building and asks him if she can. He lets her inside. Dawn is left with their car, which is not working. They have called her sister to come and collect them. Dawn hears about murders on the radio. There is a homicidal clown running around. She realises that they saw him earlier. Art sits into the car with her.  Meanwhile, Tara is on her way back from the bathroom when she meets a weird lady. She has a doll with her. The clown appears. He chases her. He manages to stab her in the leg but she takes his scalpel and she injures him. Tara looks for a way out of the building which is large. The whole place is locked up. Art catches up with her and he injects her. She wakes up tied to a chair. Art is there and so is her friend, Dawn. She is hanging upside down. Art grabs a hacksaw and he cuts her in half in front of Tara.
She manages to escape and hits him with a plank of wood.

They struggle and he shoots her. Tara's sister, Victoria(Scaffidi) comes to collect them. She looks into their car and she sees nobody. She calls Tara. Art sees that someone is calling and he sends her a text message, telling her to come around the back way. He kills Tara. The weird lady sees what he is doing and she runs off. She talks to the guy who let Tara in. His name is Mike and he is there killing bugs. She tells him to call the cops. He thinks that she is a crazy person and he doesn't take notice of her. He gets hit on the head by Art. Victoria comes into the building looking for the girls. The crazy lady can't find her doll. Art has it. She pleads with him to give it back.

Victoria finds Dawn dead and she runs. She also hears screams and goes to see what is happening.
Art has killed the crazy lady. Art sees Victoria and he chases her. He tries to suffocate her but she stabs him in the foot. Mike is still alive after being hit. Victoria finds Tara dead. Art tries to attack her again, but Mike hits him. He takes Victoria off and finds a phone. He calls the police but he gets killed by Art. Victoria runs off, followed by the clown. She hears sirens. Art drives a truck into Victoria and while she is down, he eats her face! He seems to kill himself when the cops show up at the scene. Cut to the coroner who has the bodies. Art isn't dead, of course! One year later and Victoria is released from hospital. It is revealed that she was the survivor from the beginning of the film.

So, this was a fun film overall. There was plenty of gore and there were lots of cat and mouse chase scenes thrown in. Art is pretty terrifying, hence the title. I don't like clowns and this didn't do much to change that!!! It was enjoyable and there were some moments that were creepy. Art the clown is a good villain and the lack of motive that he has makes him even weirder. What is his story? Why does he kill people?I know that Art was also in an anthology film called All Hallows Eve(2013) by the same director, which I haven't gotten around to watching yet. I will certainly look at that, as I enjoyed this one a lot. I recommend this if you like clown horror. It won't disappoint!! I will give it a 7/10.