Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Walking Dead, Season 5, Episode 2




Last time, we saw that Rick and the group had escaped from Terminus and were on the path once again. In this episode, there is an eerie feeling that someone has been watching the group. Daryl is unsettled by it. While they are on the road, they hear a voice calling for help. They approach to see what is happening and they find a priest called Gabriel(Seth Gilliam) surrounded by walkers. He doesn't have any weapons and he is defenceless. They help him out and he tells them who he is. They do not trust him as they wonder how he has survived alone. He leads them to his church. He tells them that he has been surviving on cans that were for a food drive and that he has looked in the area for anything that he could find. He tells them that there is a food bank nearby but that it has been overrun with walkers. Some of the group go to get supplies there.


Carl notices that there are knife marks outside on the window of the church and written on the wall is a sentence- 'you'll burn for this', suggesting that this priest is not what he seems. Daryl and Carol find a car which is working. They all have a celebration that night and Abraham asks them to come to Washington with him and Eugene to get the cure. They all decide to go. Carol and Daryl are outside chatting when they see a car flying by. Daryl recognises it as the one in which Beth was taken and they give chase in their car.


Bob steps outside of the church for a moment and gets emotional. He gets hit from behind and taken away. When he awakes, he is at a campsite and he is faced with Gareth(Andrew J. West) who was one of the leaders of Terminus. He isn't happy that Rick and the group destroyed their little party, so he tells Bob that they have become hunters now and they need food. Bob looks down at his leg and realises that it has gone. He sees it on the fire and  he sees the others eating it. Gareth informs him that it tastes better than he thought it would.

This was an interesting episode, with a new character, the priest and the new baddies, the hunters. It is shaping up to be a great season already...

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Chillerama Movie Review 342






Chillerama is a 2011 horror comedy directed by different people. It is an anthology with four different stories. There is a main story linking everything together.


Basically this movie begins in a drive in movie theatre and there are monster movies being shown. The owner of the theatre is  going to close it down so there is one final showing of the movies.
A worker at the theatre digs up his dead wife's corpse for sex but ends up getting bitten by her instead so he begins to change into a zombie. This film has a story about a man who takes an experimental
drug for his low sperm count, but becomes horrified when his sperm emerges and takes over New York. The second story is about a gay werewolf. The third is a parody of Anne Frank and it shows Hitler trying to create a monster. The last segment is about crap, literally. The movie ends with zombies taking over the drive in.


I have to say that I am not really a fan of comic horror movies. Maybe there are exceptions, but this one I really disliked. I hated it, in fact. I just found it irritating and silly which is probably what it is meant to be, but I just couldn't enjoy it at all. It's not my kind of film. I know that it is a spoof and that you have to go with that, but I just couldn't like it at all. But if you enjoy that kind of silliness, you will enjoy this. So, anyway, this gets a 1/10.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

The Walking Dead,Season 5, Episode 1



The Walking Dead opened with a bang this season as we go back to Terminus where Rick and his group were caught in a trailer by the nasty guys in Terminus. It was obvious that there was going to be no sanctuary for all in the place and Rick is ready for war. Rick, Glenn, Daryl and Bob are brought into a room where people are lined up at a trough and then have their throats slit. Rick and the others see more people who have been captured die. There are two guys killing people and it is like an assembly line. Gareth, the head of the baddies, asks Rick what he buried outside and Rick has to tell him about the guns. Glenn is about to get gutted for dinner when there is an explosion outside and everyone stops what they are doing. 


Cut to Carol, Tyreese and the baby. They are walking along when they come across a horde of walkers. They run away and find a cabin. Inside is a guy from Terminus and they overhear him talking about Michonne and the others. They realise that he is not good and they capture him and keep him in the cabin. Carol leaves Tyreese in charge of him and she goes to Terminus to rescue the others. Tyreese has to kill the captive when he threatens the baby. Carol disguises herself as a walker and covers herself in blood to blend in as she heads off to help her friends. She comes to Terminus and gets inside by causing an explosion. In all of the confusion, she is able to sneak inside. The walkers overrun the place and people are getting attacked. She runs into Mary, the leader of Terminus and she confronts her about Rick and the others, Mary tells her that Terminus was a good place at the beginning, but other people came and raped and killed her people until they were able to reclaim it. Carol shoots her and leaves her to be eaten by walkers.


Rick and the others seize their chance to escape and they fight their way out of Terminus. They free the other captives and they shoot everyone they see. They get out into the woods. Rick wants to go back and kill all of the Terminus residents, but the others don't. They suddenly meet Carol and there are plenty of tears and reunions. Rick is delighted to see his daughter. The group decide to head to Washington with Abraham to take Eugene to find the cure. Rick changes the Terminus sign from Sanctuary for all to No Sanctuary. In a post credit scene, a person is walking through the woods. He is wearing a mask. He sees a symbol carved into a tree and he takes off his mask, revealing that he is Morgan, the survivor Rick met in the first season.


What a great season premiere! This episode was all action and it was really good. I enjoyed it . Rick and the others are finally free again and I am looking forward to what will happen next!

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

American Horror Story, Season 4, Episode 1



American Horror Story is back for another season and this time the story revolves around a freak show which is interesting. The first thing that I thought of when I saw this episode is the movie Freaks which is very old, but it is in the same vein as this. It stars Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson.


Jessica Lange stars as Elsa Mars, a German woman who owns a freak show in Jupiter, Florida in 1952. Her show is not bringing in much money and she is worried. She finds out about a 'monster' who is brought into a hospital after her mother is killed and she is attacked. The hospital staff are horrified as she is not normal. She is one of a pair of conjoined Siamese twins. One is called Bette and the other Dot. They have different personalities. Elsa talks to her and gets her to join her freak show.


Meanwhile, Twisty the clown played by John Carroll Lynch is on a murder spree. His face is very creepy I have to say. He takes two young people and keeps them in his lair.What he is going to do with them, I shudder to think. At the freak show, Bette and Dot meet the workers. There is the bearded lady,Ethel(Kathy Bates) and her son Jimmy(Evan Peters) who has unusual hands. There are plenty more freaks in the show and they are like one big family. 



When a cop comes to question Bette and Dot about their mother's murder, the freaks defend her and
when the cop calls them freaks, Jimmy loses it and kills him. They all cut him up later and bury him.
It turns out that Bette and Dot did kill their mother. A rich guy called Dandy Mott(Finn Wittrock) and his mother, Gloria(Frances Conroy) go to see the freak show and Dandy wants to buy some of the freaks. Elsa refuses them. Twisty visits the freak show and watches the freaks hacking the cop up. They don't see him at all. The episode ends with the revelation that Elsa has her two legs amputated at the knee.


This season started very well and the horror was amped up for this episode. I am looking forward to this series and I think that it will be one of the best ones yet. Bring it on!!!

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Twin Peaks Return!




As you may have already heard, the cult TV show Twin Peaks is returning to our screens in 2016. David Lynch and Mark Frost will be at the forefront of it and it is initially going to be nine episodes.
Somehow, I think that if the show is a success, there will be more episodes. I also hope that a lot of the original cast return. While I don't mind some new faces, I am a die hard fan and want to see all of the townsfolk I remember from the original series. The fact that Lynch is doing it himself is a good thing. If someone else was at the helm, I would be horrified.


I loved this show from the first time I saw it which was almost 20 years ago, if not more. I think that it is my favourite TV show of all time and I love the first and second seasons, even if there are flaws with the second one. I really thought that the network ruined the show because they forced Lynch to reveal the killer way too soon. Hopefully, Lynch and Frost will get to do the new show THEIR way and finish it right. I really hope that this show will be atmospheric as the first one was, with some weird and wonderful characters. Of course, Agent Cooper will have to be at the forefront of it and I don't know what they will do about BOB as Frank Silva has passed away as has Don Davis who was Major Briggs and Jack Nance who was Pete Martell.


The big question is will Laura Palmer show up too? I would think that she will be written in somewhere. Maybe there will be some flashbacks or flashforwards, who knows? All I know is that it is looking good and for all the Twin Peaks fans who have always wondered what happened to Agent Cooper and co., then this is going to be a great TV show. Bring it on!!!!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Documenting the Grey Man Movie Review 341






Documenting the Grey Man is a 2011 found footage horror movie directed by Wayne Capps and starring Patrick Hussion.


There isn't much point in going into too much detail about the plot as it is pretty simple. This is a supposedly true story which is shown by a bit at the beginning telling us that a group of people went to do  documentary on the Grey Man,but they disappeared and the family disappeared too. The cops found the footage.... A group of filmmakers are interested in doing a documentary about ghosts and the hysteria people have about ghosts when their leader Mitch(Hussion) finds a family who have moved into a new house which is haunted by a local legend, the Grey Man. The family are scared and Mitch and his group decide to be fake paranormal investigators for their documentary. They are going to prove that it is not real and that the Grey Man doesn't exist. One of them, Chad, is going to the fake psychic and he will pretend that he sees or hears strange things in the house.


They meet the family, who have a young daughter. The daughter talks to an imaginary friend so you know that that will be the ghost. These movies always have the kid chatting to some friend who nobody else can see, and then of course it turns out to be evil...So, Mitch and the gang move into the house, look around and pretend that they are investigating the house. Guess what? The ghost turns out to be REAL and oh no- Mitch and the others are killed!!! The family are killed too by Casper and it turns out that he is not a friendly ghost! So, all in all, this dragged along for ages and nothing happened until the last few minutes which weren't bad, but it was too little, too late. This is not a great movie and the found footage thing has been done to death! I give this one a 3/10.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

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.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

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....

Monday, September 8, 2014

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.

Monday, September 1, 2014

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.


Thursday, August 28, 2014

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.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

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!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

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.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

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...

Monday, August 11, 2014

Visit Jigsaw's Lair on Facebook!



As you may already know, we are on Facebook so come along and read our posts there too! We would love to have all of our fans come like our page and you are most welcome to if you are interested. The link to our page is here so join us!!!!!

Monday, August 4, 2014

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.....

Friday, August 1, 2014

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.