Silent House Movie Review 340

Silent House is a 2011 horror movie directed by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau. It is a remake of the South American horror, The Silent House, which I have reviewed here. It stars Elizabeth Olsen.

If you have seen the original movie, then you will have some idea of the plot. But, if you haven't, I can sum it up pretty quickly for you. Sarah(Olsen) is a young woman who is working on fixing up a large house with her dad, John(Adam Trese) and her uncle, Peter(Eric Sheffer Stevens). There are no lights on in the house, so they have lamps to work by. The house is large and creepy and Sarah hears noises upstairs. They investigate and find nothing, but then her dad is attacked and it becomes apparent that there is someone else in the house with them. Peter has gone off to get supplies and Sarah is alone with her dad. There is more creepiness etc and when Peter returns, she tells him what happened to her dad. He decides to go back inside the house instead of getting help and a story unravels...

It turns out that Sarah has some mental problems stemming from abuse at the hands of her dad. She has remembered what happened and she is out for revenge. Peter knew about the abuse, but he didn't stop it.Sarah kills her dad when he shows his true colours and she spares Peter for some reason and just leaves the house. This movie lacked real suspense in my opinion. It was dull in parts and even though, there were a few jumps, there was nothing here that was amazing or surprising. I guess that it was like the first movie in that way. A woman wandering around a house with a lamp has no appeal after a while. The ending was okay and Olsen was okay, but that was about it.I don't want to be mean, but it just got boring after a while. This one gets a 3/10.

Ouija Movie Trailer!

  
I am a fan of horror movies about Ouija boards- see my reviews of Witchboard and Witchboard 2- so this movie caught my eye. It looks like the usual teen horror movie, but I do like the premise. This will be out later in the year, so I will watch it and do a review when the time comes! Have a look at the trailer and see what you think....

The Flesh and Blood Show Movie Review 339

The Flesh and Blood Show is a British 1972 horror/thriller movie directed by Pete Walker who was well known for his sleazy horrors. It stars Ray Brooks, Jenny Hanley, Robin Askwith and Patrick Barr.

A group of actors are hired by a theatre company and they have to go to a strange threatre in a little seaside town. The director/producer of the group is called Mike (Brooks) and his is there when the actors and actresses start arriving. He has been in contact with their employer and he tells them that they are to work in the theatre on the play. There aren't any places to stay in the town, so they all decide to stay in the theatre for the moment. It is an eerie, spooky place and they are all a little on edge. The actresses are Carol(Luan Peters),Jane(Judy Matheson), Angela(Penny Meredith) and Julia Dawson(Hanley). The actors are Simon(Askwith), Tony(Tristan Rogers) and John. They sleep the night in the theatre and the next day, they look around the town. They meet a guy called Major Bell(Barr) and he seems interested in their play. They tell him he can have a look when they have rehearsed.

Angela goes missing and Mike looks for her. He finds an old guillotine and he thinks that he sees Angela's body and her head cut off. He calls the police, but when they arrive, they find a dummy and Mike looks silly. Everyone is a bit spooked when Angela is found on the pier, half dead. She is taken to hospital, but she dies. It is treated as an accident, but Mike is not so sure. There is someone watching them and he has Angela's head. The group meet a young woman called Sarah and she tells them that she was hired by the same company as they have been. The group try and rehearse, but things are getting stranger by the minute. John goes missing and they think that he killed Carol until his body turns up. The cops are on the case and Sarah gets killed too. There is a killer in the theatre. They all decide to go back to London when they discover that the theatre company doesn't exist and they hear a story about a man who worked in that theatre and disappeared with his wife and an actor in the company. That was years ago, but they think that maybe HE is the one killing people and he must have hired them so he could kill them like he killed his wife years ago.

The climax comes when it turns out that it IS the old actor who was called Sir Arnold Gates and he caught his wife and an actor having an affair. He sealed them up inside a wall in the theatre and he has been killing people since. He had a daughter and she saw what he did. He left her outside a police station and vanished for years, recreating himself as Major Bell! He is caught and taken away by police and his daughter turns out to be one of the group- Julia! This movie was entertaining with some sleaze and some horror. I liked it and it was well worth a watch. I will give it a 6/10.

Open Grave Movie Review 338

Open Grave is a 2013 horror movie starring Sharlto Copley, Thomas Kretschmann,Erin Richards and Joseph Morgan. It is directed by Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego.

The movie begins with a man who cannot remember who he is. He wakes up in a giant pit full of dead bodies. He is rescued by a mute Asian woman(Josie Ho) who throws down a ladder to him. He goes with her to a house where he finds other people. There is Lukas(Kretschmann), Nathan(Morgan), Sharon(Richards) and Michael(Max Wrottesley). They are suspicious of him and he of them. None of them can remember what happened to them so they have to find answers.

The movie goes on that way for a while and they wonder what is going on. There are zombies around and they find out that they were all a team of scientists who were working on a cure for a plague which has killed most of the world's population and turned the rest into zombies. Jonas(Copley) was the doctor who was performing experiments. He tried to help the people who have now turned into zombies. He discovers that he had a vaccine and he gave it to all of them but it causes temporary memory loss. He starts to recall what happened before he awoke in the pit. They all start to remember. Lukas becomes infected and he turns on Jonas as he thinks that he was hurting him, not helping him with the vaccine.  He dies and Michael dies when he is attacked by a zombie.

It all comes to an end when the army arrives and starts killing the zombies and anyone else they see.
Sharon, Jonas and Asian woman escape. Jonas and Sharon hide in the pit but Sharon has been infected and she dies. Jonas had taken the vaccine but he cannot remember what happened and does not remember Sharon. He is once again saved by the Asian woman who is immune to the virus so they will try and come up with a cure. They look at all the dead bodies lying in pits as they head off on their way.

This was an okay movie. It was interesting, but there is nothing special about it. The cast was quite good and it is worth a look. I will give it a 5/10.

Joyride 3:Road Kill Movie Review 337

Joyride 3(2014) is the third movie in the series and it is directed by Declan O' Brien. It stars Jesse Hutch and Ben Hollingsworth.

If you have seen the original Joy Ride(or Roadkill which it is called also) you know the story and there isn't much different here. Rusty Nail is still patrolling the highways looking for some new prey. He gets it when he comes across two druggies who mess with him. He kills them pretty easily. What amazes me about these movies is that the baddie is out in broad daylight murdering people on a highway and he is never seen! But, this is fiction, so I'll let that slide. Rusty Nail is cruising along when a group of rally drivers pass him out in their cars. Now, this does not go down well with Rusty Nail as you can imagine!

Rusty is pissed and he decides that they will pay for overtaking him! The leader of the group is Jordan(Hutch) and he has his pal Mickey(Hollingsworth) , his girlfriend Jewel(Kirsten Prout) and a couple of others. They have a radio in their car so they can communicate with the demented trucker and he tells them that they will have to pay for what they have done. They realise that they shouldn't have messed with him and he takes Jewel hostage and wants Jordan to come and get her and pay for what he did. The movie becomes a cat and mouse game between Jordan and Rusty Nail and it concludes with Jordan putting Rusty Nail and his truck into a giant crusher and crushing him. Now, if you were inside a massive truck and you got crushed, there would be nothing left of you, but somehow, Rusty Nail gets out- and without a scratch on him!!!At least give him a broken arm or something!!!He gets a lift with a trucker so the killer will start again!

This was entertaining if a little silly, but I can't say that it was rubbish. It is the same as the other two really, but the original movie will always be the best quality one. This isn't bad and there are some interesting kills in it. It's a middle of the road horror, but quite fun. I will give it a 5/10.

Annabelle Movie Trailer!

If you have seen the horror movie called The Conjuring, then you will remember the creepy doll who was in it. It's an evil doll possessed by some spirits and now, the doll is getting its own film! Annabelle will be about the origins of the weird doll and will be released in October 2014 so here is the trailer!

Wolf Creek 2 Movie Review 336

Wolf Creek 2 is a 2014 Australian horror directed by Greg McLean(who also directed the first one) and starring John Jarratt and Ryan Corr.

The movie begins with two cops who pull over a truck in the outback. They are being assholes about it but they have no idea who they have messed with. It is only Mick Taylor(Jarratt) and he is not impressed. Needless to say, they meet a sticky end. Mick is patrolling the roads and he comes upon a young German couple as they are camping out in a national park. He tells them that they can't do that and offers them a lift so they won't get into trouble. When they say no, he kills the guy. The girl manages to escape him and runs onto the road. She is picked up by a guy called Paul(Corr). She tells him some of what happened and he drives her away.

Mick follows them and he kills the girl when he shoots at Paul. The rest of the movie is a cat and mouse game between Mick and Paul. When Mick catches him, he tortures him. Paul escapes but Mick catches him again and knocks him out. When Paul wakes up, he is in a town, naked and he has a piece of paper with him which says 'loser', suggesting that Mick has won the game they were playing. We see at the end of the film we are told that Paul is accused of killing tourists in the outback and he has a mental breakdown. He is sent back to the UK and he is in a mental institution. Mick stalks the outback, looking for his next victim.

This is based on a true case of outback murders. I liked the movie as it was good fun and Jarratt was very good as the unhinged Mick. I think that it was a worthy sequel to the first movie and I enjoyed it. There is a scene where Mick asks Paul questions about Australian history which is very good! All in all, this is a decent horror which you could watch even if you haven't seen Wolf Creek. If you have not seen the first one, watch it now, it is well worth it. I'm giving this one a 7/10.

Robin Williams- A Comic Icon.

I think that we all know about the recent death of Robin Williams and it is sad to think that we have lost an actor who all of us knew and loved. Whether you grew up with Mork and Mindy or loved Good Morning Vietnam, you will have a favourite Robin Williams movie. He was a funny guy with a serious side too. His films have brought joy and laughter to so many people that you would have to say that he was a comic icon. He starred in so many movies that children love like Aladdin, Jumanji, Hook, Mrs Doubtfire , Flubber and Happy Feet. He was also in the Night at the Museum 1 and 2 movies which were good fun.

On the more adult side, there are good movies such as Good Morning Vietnam, Awakenings, The Fisher King, The Birdcage, Patch Adams and The Night Listener. From a personal point of view, my favourite  Robin Williams film would have to be Dead Poets Society. That film will always be the definitive Robin Williams movie for me. I liked his character in the movie and it stands out for me. I love that movie and it would be my top favourite. Next would be Good Will Hunting which I also enjoyed. Lastly, but not least, is One Hour Photo in which he played a lonely guy who works at a photo place and who becomes obsessed with a family he sees in pictures. This movie is very good and he is brilliant as the lonely Sy. That movie proves that Williams could do serious and creepy. 
 

So, in the end, we will always have his movies to enjoy. Whether you enjoy the comical ones or the more serious ones, most people will have a favourite one. Mine is Dead Poets Society. What is yours?? He was a great actor and a funnyman in his movies and it is sad that he has gone now, but the best way to remember him is to enjoy his work and not to focus on how he died. There is enough misery in the world, so just put on one of his films and enjoy that instead! Robin Williams(1951-2014)- Rest in Peace...

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More Amityville Movies!!

Just when you thought that they couldn't milk it anymore, they have! More Amityville movies. The new one will be out next year. I liked the first few, but when it started to get into the double digits, I lost interest. The remake of the original was bad enough, but this is another beginning. It's boring at this stage. I love the original movie and it will always be my favourite as it has that spooky feeling and good actors. Of course, being a glutton for punishment, I will probably force myself to watch the new one anyway, but really, it is time to leave the franchise alone at this stage, especially since the quality of the later movies is very bad. Twelve movies should be enough but I think that there will be more. This is just the beginning.....

Don't Go In The Woods Movie Review 335

Don't Go In The Woods is a 2010 horror movie directed by actor Vincent D'Onofrio. It is written by him also.

This movie stars unknowns in it so there are no stars here. It is a low budget affair. The story can be summed up pretty easily. A band go into the woods to get some peace and quiet to record some songs. The leader, Nick wants them to have complete isolation from the outside world and he smashes their phones. They wander off into the woods and set up camp. Of course, there is a killer waiting in the woods to kill everyone. The movie is like a music video with bits of horror thrown in which is probably what the director wanted to do, I'm not sure. I like Vincent D'Onofrio as an actor so I was interested in seeing this film, but it just wasn't very good. I suppose it could be seen as a comedy horror, but I just thought that it wasn't even funny.

The acting isn't good, which is OK because it IS a horror movie and the actors are all amateurs, so we will forgive that. There are WAY too many songs in this and there is not enough horror for me. Every two seconds they were breaking into song and jamming by the fire. It just didn't have enough to keep me interested and I just had to press fast forward until the end. This is like a long music video and it is bizarre. I couldn't sit through the whole movie so by the time I had forwarded the parts I didn't like, there was only a few minutes of movie left. Be warned, this isn't good. There were a few okay moments of horror, but they were far and few between. Just don't go into this movie if you are expecting a normal horror. This is a lot of singing with some horror scenes thrown in. It just seemed strange to me and I didn't like it. I give this a 2/10.

And Soon the Darkness Movie Review 334

And Soon the Darkness is a 1970 British thriller which is directed by Robert Fuest(The Devil's Rain) and starring Pamela Franklin, Michele Dotrice and Sandor Eles.

The story is about two girls, Jane(Franklin) and Cathy(Dotrice) who are on a biking holiday in France.
They are cycling through the French countryside. Jane is the more serious one of the two and she wants to plan their journey out but Cathy is too busy eyeing up some guy that they see at a roadside cafe. They stop for a rest at the side of the road and when Jane wants to go on, Cathy doesn't. She tells her that she is not going. She wants to rest in the sun. They fall out and Jane heads off without her. Cathy is alone and she hears someone. She disappears.

Jane is worried about Cathy as she stops at a cafe for a drink. She asks people if they have seen her friend as Cathy should have caught up with her by now. She goes back to the roadside, but Cathy is not there. They guy Cathy was looking at earlier comes along and sees Jane. His name is Paul(Eles) and he wants to help her.  He gives her a lift on his moped and he asks around the local cafes for Cathy. Paul and Jane go back again to the site and Paul tells her that there was a murder before in this area and there are woods behind where they could search for Cathy. He tells her that the victim was a tourist. Jane becomes very uncomfortable about it all. He tells her that he is a detective and that he worked on the murder case. Jane doesn't trust him and she runs away from him.

She meets a policeman(John Nettleton) and she tells him what has happened. He brings her back to his farmhouse. She tells him about Paul. He goes out to look and see if he can locate Cathy, but it is him who is the killer as Jane discovers. She finds Cathy's body and realises that Paul is not the killer after all. The policeman comes back and he attacks Jane. Paul shows up and hits him over the head and saves her. The movie ends with the police coming.

This was very entertaining. It is a well made movie and I enjoyed it. There isn't much gore or blood so  if you are looking for that, steer clear of this. This is more of a thriller than a horror so be warned. I liked it and found it good fun for a 70's movie. I recommend it. I will give it a 6/10.

Witchboard 2:The Devil's Doorway Movie Review 333

Witchboard 2:The Devil's Doorway is a 1993 horror sequel. Witchboard was a decent horror movie and this is the follow up. It is directed by Kevin S.Tenney who also directed the first one. It stars Ami Dolenz and Timothy Gibbs.

Paige(Dolenz) moves into a new apartment after she falls out with her cop boyfriend, Mitch(Gibbs). She likes to paint and she works also. She finds a Ouija board in her apartment and she thinks that it will be fun to play with it. Uh-oh!! She meets the caretaker, Jonas who is married to the strange Elaine (Laraine Newman). She thinks that she is still living in the 60's. Paige also meets a young guy called Russel(John Gatins) who she likes. When Paige talks to the board, she gets in contact with a woman called Susan who was murdered. Paige is intrigued by this and she sets out to solve the mystery of Susan's death. Susan used to live in the apartment building and she just disappeared one day. Paige tells Russel that she was killed, but he thinks that she just left and moved on.

Paige asks her ex, Mitch to help her to locate an address that the spirit gives her. People start to get hurt and Elaine gets killed by an 'accident' but it is the spirit. The spirit is not good, it is evil and when Paige gets closer to the truth, the spirit kills others. Susan comes back but she goes into Paige's body and tries to take over. Mitch and Russel try and fight her, but it is Mitch who eventually gets Susan to come out of Paige. The movie ends with Paige moving out of the apartment complex. This was an okay movie. I don't think that it is as entertaining as the original Witchboard. I know that it is the same director, but this isn't as good. It's passable for a horror movie, but don't expect too much here.
I'm going to give it a 4/10.

Twisted Nerve Movie Review 332

Twisted Nerve is a 1968 thriller directed by Roy Boulting and starring Hayley Mills, Billie Whitelaw, Hywel Bennett and Barry Foster.

Martin Durnley(Bennett) is a twenty-something man living at home with his mother and his step-father. He does what he wants and he doesn't work. He sees a young woman called Susan(Mills) and he likes her. He is caught shoplifting and he and Susan are accused of being in it together, but the truth comes out. Martin has an alter ego called Georgie, a little boy, and he uses Georgie to get sympathy. This is the last straw for his step father who throws him out. Martin adopts his alter ego,  Georgie and he turns up at Susan's house, having seen her address earlier. Susan lives with her mother, Joan(Whitelaw) and two tenants who reside in the house also. They are Gerry(Barry Foster) and Shashee Kadir(Salmaan Peer). He has a letter from his 'father' which states that he would be grateful if Georgie could stay with them for a week until he comes back from his holiday in Paris. Martin pretends that is Georgie and they have pity on him and let him stay.

Martin is happy that he has pulled the wool over their eyes. He watches everything that goes on and he keeps an eye on Susan. He likes her a lot. He writes a letter to his mother, telling her that he is in Paris having a good time. He becomes a part of the household and Joan likes him and feels sorry for him. There is something strange about him, though and he makes a move on Susan. She doesn't like it.
One night, he sneaks out and he kills his step father and sneaks back into the house. He thinks that he will get away with it as he is meant to be in Paris. His behaviour changes and when Joan comes onto him, he snaps and kills her too. Susan becomes suspicious of him and she tells Shashee about it. He is studying to be a doctor and we see some lecture on chromosomes and find out that if there is a problem with them, a person can turn out anti-social or psychopathic. Martin's brother is mentally disabled and it is suggested that Martin has a chromosome problem too, making him a psycho.

Anyway, the movie ends as you would expect. Martin's true identity is discovered and Susan sees him for who he really is. She is repulsed and he tries to make her like him, but in the end, he loses the plot just in time for the police to come in and take him away to a mental institution. For a 1960's film, this was good. There isn't much blood at all. It is more a study of Martin and his psychopathic personality. Bennett is very good in the part and the movie is very interesting.  I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys story more than gore. I will give it a 6/10.

Non-Stop Movie Review 331

  
Non-Stop is a 2014 action movie directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore.

This movie revolves around a federal air marshal called Bill Marks(Neeson) who has had some personal problems in his life recently. He is on a flight when he meets a woman called Jen(Moore). They chat and everything seems fine until he gets a message on his phone telling him that one person will die every 20 minutes unless $150 million  is transferred into a bank account. Bill wonders who it is. He looks around at all the passengers and wonders. There are many suspicious looking people on board and he begins to wonder. Then, he realises that he is being set up by the anonymous person as the bank account number is actually his and it looks as if he is the one who is hijacking the plane and looking for the money. He gets himself into trouble as he tries to find out the truth.

People begin to die and he realises that he has to stop this. The passengers become afraid of him as they think that he is the threat to them. He finds a bomb on board and time is running out. He asks Jen and some of the crew on board to help him to find out who is doing this to him. Eventually he figures it out and the culprit was one of the passengers all along. He has an accomplice too and they try and get away after explaining their reason for doing it. The culprit gives some little speech about 9/11 and then says he wants the bomb to go off and kill him and everyone on board to get his voice heard. The bomb does explode but the plane manages to land and the passengers get off. The baddies die in the blast and Bill is cleared of any wrongdoing. 

This film is entertaining. The plot is okay and you get action all the way through. I liked it even though some of the plot was a little ridiculous, but hey, it was good fun to watch and I liked Liam Neeson in it. He is very good as the action star and he really plays it well. He carries the entire movie and makes it very watchable. This was fun and I enjoyed it so if you like movies where you don't have to think too much, then this is for you. I'm giving it a 7/10.

An American Ghost Story Movie Review 330

An American Ghost Story is a 2012 horror movie directed by Derek Cole and starring Stephen Twardokus and Liesel Kopp.

Paul(Twardokus) and his girlfriend Stella(Kopp) decide to move into a haunted house because Paul is writing a book about it and he wants to experience some paranormal sightings and some events that he can put into his book. He has heard that that house is haunted and he is determined to stay there no matter what. After a few scares, Stella leaves. Paul is left alone in the house. Things take a strange turn. He sees things that he can't explain and it is great for his book, but bad for Paul.

Sheets start turning into ghosts and there are some weird occurrences in the house. He talks to a former resident of the house and he finds out that the house ruined her life and made her do things she didn't want to do. She lost her family over it as they thought that she had gone insane. Paul wonders what will happen to him. He comes face to face with the ghost under a sheet and it tries to kill him. There is a chase scene, but he survives and leaves the house. He thinks that he is safe in his new place, but when he opens a box, out jumps the ghost in the sheet..

This was a decent effort for such a low budget film. I liked that there were some good scares. I was surprised that it was entertaining. I assumed that it was just another boring ghost in a house movie, but this was good. I would recommend it and I think that it is one of the better low budget horrors.Give it a try.  There was a scene which reminded me of Poltergeist and it was probably an homage. I will give it 6/10.

Oculus Movie Review 329

Oculus is a 2013 horror movie directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Karen Gillan and Brenton Thwaites.

The movie is about a mirror called the Lasser Glass. This mirror was owned by the Russell family. The father, Alan(Rory Cochrane) and his wife Marie(Katee Sackhoff) buy the mirror and it isn't long before strange things happen in the house. Their children, Tim and Kayleigh notice that the mirror is making their parents act oddly. Alan starts to spend more and more time with the mirror and the kids see a strange woman with him. The mother starts to come unglued too and the father locks her up. He turns nasty and the kids are threatened by him. He tries to kill them, so Tim shoots him in self defence. He ends up being taken away to a psychiatric institution. Kayleigh is put into foster care.

Cut to 11 years later and the adult Tim(Thwaites) is released from the institution. He is determined to get on with his life. His sister Kayleigh(Gillan) is obsessed with the mirror and she gets it on loan from the auction house where she works. She wants to prove that the mirror has ghostly powers and she wants to face it once and for all. She has everything set up and she brings Tim with her to their house where it all happened. She tries to get the mirror to come alive and she has a trap set to smash it if it gets too powerful. Strange things happen to them and the mirror has an evil spirit in it called Marisol. The mirror messes with the two siblings and it has a tragic outcome. The mirror makes Tim kill Kayleigh. He doesn't realise that he has done it until it was too late. It has tricked him and he is taken away by the cops. He insists that he is not guilty of it, but the cops are not convinced. As he is taken away, he sees his family as ghosts in the house. The mirror has them now.

This film was entertaining. It was by no means original, but there were parts of it that I liked. There are some jumpy moments and some decent scares, but I have to say that it was not brilliant. I will give it a 6/10.