Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Shit to watch on Halloween

So Halloween is on its way and as you know, when it come to Halloween, horror movies are a must. So I decided to write a list of horror movies that I like, and no this list won't contain movies like Saw and Halloween because you already know them. Lets try to dig deeper in the B movies territory. 

 V/H/S 2


Plot (FROM IMDB): Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his house and find collection of VHS tapes. Viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be dark motives behind the student's disappearance.

While the first movie was good, VHS 2 is a masterpiece when it comes to found footage movies. The movie is more focused and it's full of holyshit moments and interesting ideas. The part that makes this movie a terrifying piece of art is ''safe haven'' brought to you by the crazy motherfucker behind ''The raid'' Gareth Evans. A hell of segment but this doesn't mean that the rest of the movie is bad, but this one here is a masterpiece by its own. 

Let us prey


Plot (FROM IMDB): Held in a remote police station, a mysterious stranger takes over the minds and souls of everyone inside.

Who knew that the Irish could make such amazing movie. This movie made me want to discover more movies made by the Irish film council and by god did I  discover some amazing shit. This movie is really twisted, and has old school elements to it. It's sad that such movies don't take their chances compared to other shitty movies. 

From Beyond 


Plot (FROM IMDB): A group of scientists have developed the Resonator, a machine which allows whoever is within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. But when the experiment succeeds, they are immediately attacked by terrible life forms.

Such an underrated movie!! From the mastermind behind the Re-animator, Stuart Gordon. The thing that makes this a great movie is the fact that it's taken from a short story written by the lunatic H.P Lovecraft.  The 80s is full of underrated treasures and when it comes to B- movies this is a must see movie. 

You are next


Plot (FROM IMDB): When the Davison family comes under attack during their wedding anniversary getaway, the gang of mysterious killers soon learns that one of the victims harbors a secret talent for fighting back.

Mixing black humor with gore is a great idea that added a lot to the home invasion genre. The movie is smart and full of interesting twists. Sharni Vinson is the best thing of the movie, till now this is one of my favourite home invasion movies. 

Spring 

Plot (FROM IMDB): A young man in a personal tailspin flees the US to Italy, where he sparks up a romance with a woman harboring a dark, primordial secret.


A mix between horror and romance, this movie is surreal and one of the best movies that came out in 2015. I really don't know how to describe this but if you are into fresh and somewhat out of the box ideas then this movie is for you. 

The Canal




Plot (FROM IMDB): Film archivist David (Rupert Evans) has been having a rough time lately, as he suspects that his wife Alice (Hannah Hoekstra) has been cheating on him with Alex (Carl Shaaban), one of her work clients. This stress is compounded when David's work partner Claire (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) gives him a reel of to-be-archived footage that shows that his house was the setting for a brutal murder in 1902.

Let's wrap this up with another Irish movie. Ivan managed to create a hunting and creepy atmosphere with a really twisty ending. This movie isn't for everyone because of it's slow build up. The movie is more atmospheric than depending on jump scares, the director managed to create a grim atmosphere with the location and manged to make me glued to my seat until the end. 


So that's it for now, there are more movies on my mind but that's it for now, hope you enjoy these movie and happy HALLOWEEN.... 






Sunday, 4 October 2015

Dark Places... Dark, twisted and a true page turner....

Candles glow on alters bare
a virgin's death is needed there
sacrifice to Lucifer my master
bring the calico raise the knife
welcome to my sacrifice
plunge the dagger in her breast
I insist
S.A.C.R.I.F.I.C.E.
limbs weaken life flies away demons rejoice
sacrifice, sacrifice, name your price, sacrifice

- Venom, Sacrifice


It's been a while since I've read something that interesting, by God, Gillian Flynn is a genius!! Gone girl is a good book but this one here is epic by all means. The book had it all, fucked up people, metal, satanic rituals, a hell of an ending and a somewhat hopeful message about starting over or whatever. So lets review this book, and I'll try to be brief.

1- Let's discuss our main character, Libby Day. At first, I hated her, but as I went through the book I realised that her character is really complicated and well developed in a way that at some point you'll have to feel sorry for her and I really wanted thing to end well for her. And that's a great thing about Flynn's characters are complicated and somewhat dark not one dimensional. 

2- What helped in making the Libby's character solid is the way the novel is written. You have three parallel narratives going on, one by libby in the present and the other two are by Ben and their mother back in 1985. This made the mystery more engaging and thrilling. 

3- The idea of guilt and second chances and I really do think that this was the novels' main theme. What if after more than 20 years you found out that you may have falsely accused your brother of murdering your entire family but even he doesn't want to talk to save his ass. The novel does a great job in mirroring Libby's feelings towards her brother plus here the thing, at some point you'll ask yourself do they (Ben and Libby) deserve second chances?? and Did Billy do it?? If not, then Libby had to deal with the guilt of imprisoning her own flesh and blood if not then she'll at least know what really happened. I really liked the transition that happened to Libby from trying to find answers to earn some cash to actually trying to find the truth to what happened to her family. 

4- The novel also sheds some light on the whole satanic worship thing that took part in the 80s and how people were freaked out. Ben's character was really complicated and he felt neglected and confused. (spoiler alert) The whole worshiping Satan thing was just a phase, a trend, bullshit in other words. Ben and his friends were a group of confused teenagers who wanted to feel that they belonged to something especially Ben. The whole they worship satan thing was really old, even Led Zeppelin were accused of being satanists. Heck, in Norway, the whole satanic thing was cool a whole genre was built on it aka Black Metal. And as great and artistic Black metal is, it got famous because of the bullshit and urban legends surrounding it. Burning churches was the cool thing back in the days but after moving on, most of those so called satanists were doing the whole thing to gain interest and create some sort of an image, the shock value in other words. The whole satanism thing is really complicated, there are books and documentaries about this, I might discuss this in another time.



5- I'm planning to see the movie to see how did they make this complicated novel to the big screen. The novel is really juicy, the characters are complicated and not one dimensional, the ending is a bit shocking and how Flynn kept adding layers to the story, giving you more stuff to think about and try to find out who killed the days makes this book a hell of a read. Give it a try......