Sunday, February 19, 2023

The Prey Movie Review



Trailer here.

The Prey is a 1983 horror movie directed by Edwin Brown and starring Steve Bond, Debbie Thureson, Jackie Coogan and Carel Struycken.

The films starts in 1948. There are fires in the woods in a place called The Northpoint, Keen Wild in Colorado. The fire wipes out some gypsies who live in the woods. Cut to present day and a couple are camping in the woods in the same place. Someone is watching them. They get killed. A group of people are coming to Keen Wild forest to camp. They meet forest ranger Mark O'Brien(Jackson Bostwick). There are six of them. Nancy(Thureson), Joel(Bond), Gail, Greg, Skip and Bobbie(Lori Lethin). They make camp in the woods. Gail gets left behind. She thinks that something has followed her back to camp. They find out that the gypsies were actually burned by the locals because one of them was accused of raping a local girl. Only one of them survived. He was a giant child at the time.


That night, Gail and Greg hear something. Greg goes to see what it is and Gail gets attacked. Greg is next. They both die. The next morning, the others are baffled by their disappearance. All of their belongings have gone. A man called Lester Tile(Coogan) gets a call from the police saying that a couple have gone missing in the forest. Lester is the head ranger and he takes it seriously. They are the couple who were murdered at the start of the film. The group search for Greg and Gail. When they can't find them, they decide to go on without the couple. They leave a note at the camp for them. Lester talks to Mark and they talk about the missing couple. Lester tells him that he saw the giant child who survived the fire. He tells Mark that he was burned. Mark tells him that he will have a look around and he takes a tranquilliser gun.


Joel and Skip go climbing down the mountain. Mark sees buzzards eating something. It is a body. He recognises Gail. Skip gets killed next and Joel falls off the mountain when his rope is severed. Bobbie and Nancy come running where they hear a scream. They find Skip's body. Nancy finds the cut rope.
The killer approaches them. Bobbie falls into a trap and she is killed. Nancy is left alone with the killer. Mark happens to see them and he shoots at the killer with his tranquilliser gun. He manages to tackle him and knock him out. Unfortunately, the killer is strong. He kills Mark. He takes Nancy to his cave.
The film ends with a baby's cry suggesting that she has been with him and has given birth to his child.


This was a decent slasher movie. It was entertaining and there were some lovely nature scenes. The acting was so so but overall, it was good. The killer was played by the same guy who played the giant in Twin Peaks. I always enjoy films set in the woods or with a camping theme. It makes for a fun horror film. This one is better than some I have seen. I recommend it and I will give it a 5/10.

Sunday, February 12, 2023

Significant Other Movie Review



Trailer here.

Significant Other is a 2022 horror/sci-fi movie directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen and starring Maika Monroe and Jake Lacy.

The films begins with something falling from the sky into the woods. It is some sort of alien being. Cut to a couple called Ruth(Monroe) and Harry(Lacy). They are are on a trip into the woods. They set up camp for the night. Ruth sees a weird deer when she gets up to go to the bathroom. It stares at her. She feels weird. Harry proposes to her and she turns him down. She doesn't want to get married. They argue about it. She wakes up the next morning and Harry has gone for a walk. She finds a dead deer. It has been sliced in half and covered in some sort of fungus. Harry comes back and he sees it. They look for it in a book they brought and discover that it is a virus. Ruth is worried about what killed the deer. She and Jack make up.


Ruth goes off the find a spot to pee in. She sees a cave and there are glowing things in there. She finds a puddle of glowing goo. Something is in there. Harry looks for her and he finds her standing in the woods. She seems odd. She starts behaving strangely. The next day, she tells him that she was wrong about turning him down. She says that she wants him to ask her again in the same spot as before. When they get there, she pushes him off the cliff and kills him. She passes out and a couple find her. They ask her what happened and she can't remember. They take her to their camp. Harry appears. He is fine. Ruth runs away. Harry kills the people who helped Ruth. He confronts her and she tells him that she knew that Harry was dead. She saw his body in the cave. She realised that the alien was in Harry and that is why she pushed him off the cliff.


Harry tells her that he is a scout. He can't kill her. He tells her that he loves her. She runs away. She tries to attack him but he says that he is Harry. He can feel everything that Harry felt. They go to the beach and he shows her his spacecraft. He wants to take her to another planet. He tells her that more of the aliens are coming to earth. She agrees to go with him to distract him then he runs into the water. He follows her but gets attacked by a shark. He revives himself again. He gets her and puts her into a cocoon in the cave. Harry can turn into her.  She lets all of her fears and anxieties go into him. The creature has a panic attack and looks for something to help. There is nothing. She breaks the cocoon and she kills it as it has been weakened. She reaches her car and she drives off. The creature talks to her through the radio. The movie ends with the aliens coming.


This film wasn't bad. It was comedic in parts and I didn't really like that. I thought that this film would be different. I thought that it would be more about something evil in the woods rather than a body hopping alien. It could have been better, I thought. I wanted more of a killer alien hunting them down. That would have been more interesting. I don't want to put you off, though. If you enjoy a bit of horror with a lot of sci-fi, then give this a try. I wouldn't class it is as straight horror, but there are horror elements in it so I can't call it a sci-fi film alone. I will give it a 5/10.

Friday, February 3, 2023

Megaboa Movie Review




Trailer here.

Megaboa is a 2021 horror film directed by Mario N. Bonassin and starring Eric Roberts.

The film begins in the rainforest. Hunters are after something. They see a gigantic snake and they try to shoot it. One of them runs off and the snake follows. Cut to Professor Malone(Roberts) who brings some of his  college students to the rainforest to look for cave drawings. They are Allison(Michelle Elizabeth O' Shea), Grace(Emilia Torello), Adam(Garrett Schulte), Benji(Vimala Veera) and Jason(Jadon Cal). One of the hunters from the start of the film turns up. His name is Joaquin(Joe Herrara). He tells them that he has lost his partner, Rex. The professor offers him a lift on the helicopter they used to come to the forest. Malone ends up getting bitten by a strange spider. He calls the helicopter company who tell him that they can't come and collect him because of bad weather.


Joaquin tells him that he needs a special orchid to help with the bite. The students ask him to show them the tree where it grows. Benji stays with Malone as the others go to get the flower with Joaquin. Benji has a drone. She sends it off to look around the island where they are. The others find the tree. It is covered in snakes! Adam offers to climb the tree to get the flower. The group see the huge snake. They run away. Jason gets separated from the group. The snake gets him. The others want to go back and get him. The helicopter company try to get a pilot to fly and collect the group on the island. A pilot called Jake(
Michael DeVorzon) says he will go. 


Adam decides to climb the tree and get the flower. He can't do it and he falls and hurts himself.  Joaquin has dynamite. He wants to kill the snake. The group discover that Joaquin already knew about the huge snake. He tells them that the snake killed his friend. Benji looks at the footage from the drone. She sees the Megaboa. Grace insists on going on despite the fact that there is a huge snake slithering around. The group have to run back to their base. They find Joaquin who is planning to blow up the snake. They try but they fail. Adam is the next one to die. The others run off. They end up in a cave. They find cave paintings. That isn't all they find. They discover a huge spider!!!! It meets the huge snake and there is a battle. The spider loses.


The professor and Benji are looking for the group. They find Adam's shoe. They also find more snakes.
Joaquin and the remaining survivors get ready for battle. The Megaboa shows up and it is obvious there will be a showdown! Joaquin has a score to settle with the giant serpent so he tries to distract it while the others run. It takes his life. The others get away. The snake seems to get killed by chemicals or acid. The professor and Benji reunite with the others. The snake is moving. They run, realising that it will come for them again. The group attack it with a machete and they kill it as it has been weakened. Their helicopter comes and rescues them. On the island, an even bigger snake devours the Megaboa!!!!What do you call that snake then- a mega mega boa???

This film is funny. Of course, you can figure that out from the title. It also has Eric Roberts, who has been in some pretty dire films, but we love him! I think that this film is just silly fun and I had a good time watching it, so it is worth a look. You know what you are getting so just enjoy it for what it is. I can't give this a great score, but it was fun so I will be kind and give it a 4/10.