Chronicle (2012) – movie review

Chronicle (2012)

Directed by Josh Trank
Story by Josh Trank and Max Landis 

starring:
Alex Russell
Dane DeHaan
Michael B. Jordan
Michael Kelly
Ashley Hinshaw

Chronicle is an enjoyable film with lots of action, likable characters and blockbuster special-FX. It is a film in the reality-style, hand-held, video-cam technique, films. It is not a found footage film – we are seeing everything in real time through the camera lens (even though it is being recorded on video). Early in the movie, this style helps build a strong relationship with the three main characters, but as the action begins to escalate it becomes a burden to the film.  The movie appeals to my sense of boyhood adventure and angst, so I think it is more suited to a male audience.

High school outcast, Andrew, is brought together in friendship with his popular cousin, Matt, and the even more popular, high school jock, Steve, when the three of them discover an underground cavern with a giant glowing metal object buried within it. Contact with the object causes hyper-telekinesis in the three youths. They form an instant bond as they learn to use their new found powers. Andrew documents all their adventures in harnessing these powers on his video camera and we see the tale manifest through his lens.

Just when it seems Andrew is going to shed his outcast and downtrodden social standing, a series of unfortunate events unfold – one, involving his sick mother and abusive step-dad and another mishap at a party that it seems every student from his high school has attended. The film does a great job at making you empathize with Andrew through these harsh issues but you are quickly horrified as the young man turns on his friends and uses his powers in the most destructive ways possible.

The rest of the film turns into a modern-day “Carrie” with a sci-fi angle, crossed with a superhero vs. supervillain battle between Andrew and Matt.  It is during this battle that the hand-held/reality-style camera work becomes a hindrance and the format is suddenly dropped and switches to third person camera angles, interlaced with surveillance camera and news-chopper shots. It was a bit jarring when this happened and led to a bit of a distraction. However, the action is quickly ramped-up, and I for one, was able to make the mental switch and enjoy the rest of the film. Despite the mentioned drawback, I did like the film, perhaps not enough to buy and own it, but it was definitely solid enough to spend a night watching.

Great action in this realistic superhero,  first person sci-fi film!

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parlor of horror – movie review

 

VHS Viral (2014) – movie review

 

VHS Viral (2014)

This is the third film in the series. The wrap around story is a weird one. A guy, teasing his girl with his constant video taping sees a news event unfolding in his neighborhood. He follows the ice cream truck the police are chasing on his bicycle, while witnessing strange events. The segment has so many jump cuts, bad edits and taping overlaps that it is difficult to follow.

Despite this frantically edited style, the first story with the magician and his cape is quite good. It’s documentary style follows Dante, a magician, who gets his powers from a mysterious cape. After this first story we are back in the wrap around story. The guy’s girlfriend is taken by the ice cream truck.

In the second story, a guy creates a portal to an alternate universe. There he finds a nasty wicked version of himself. The alternative world is like his own but mirrored in hell. It is freaky for sure. Back to the bicycle chase, some more weird stuff happens.

The next segment concerns a trio of skateboarders with Go-Pro cameras. They are hanging ten at a cement canal that used to be a river before it dried up. They come across some words and symbols written on the concrete. One of them falls and accidentally spills blood in a ritual circle. That’s when all hell breaks loose. The young punks fight off a bunch of cult members with their skateboards. They rise from the dead and the young punks have to fight them again. I find this one quite amusing as the punks bash skulls with their skateboards. But the twists and turns of the Go-Pro cameras can make you dizzy.

The end brings all the segments full circle as the chase scene ends in ‘the river’ and the ice cream truck is found to contain multiple monitors playing back the violent video segments. There’s some tie-in that seems to say the quest for a viral video has consumed everyone’s life and thus allowed evil to take over?? I don’t know, it wasn’t exactly clear to me.

The problem with VHS Viral is it contains the most annoying edits, cuts and jumps to be found in a ff film. Most newer ff films have dispensed with this gimmicky style and just try to tell a story. As I said before, even an amateur with an I-phone knows to keep the camera steady. But, if you can get past that, the 3 main stories are decent enough for some cutting edge horror entertainment. i’d say if you liked the first two films, you’ll probably like this one too. I actually liked it better on the second viewing.

Complete immersion in the shaky-cam found footage style detracts from a couple of decent stories. Watch at your own peril.
I give it 2.2 camera angles out of 5 on the violent video found footage scale.

Dante the mad magician

No ice cream, what a drag…

genitalia with teeth

This Wahoo bites back!

Glow face

Happy skull!

R U in a black metal band?

The ol’ stink eye!

 

Exists (2014) – movie review

Exists (2014)

directed by Eduardo Sánchez

Five youths head up to their uncle’s abandoned cabin for a weekend of fishing, food and frolicking. Driving late at night, they bicker over where the turn off is and whether they are lost or not. The driver, not giving full attention to the road, hits something. He jams on the brakes and a few of the group get out to check the car. The front headlight is destroyed and part of the bumper is mangled. They look back into the darkness and conclude it was a deer. A few moments later they hear a strange howl and rush back to the car. Once at the cabin they experience strange events. Sightings of a dark animal in the woods, missing items and strange howls in the night.

I’d like to compare this briefly with Willows Creek which came out the year before this film. In Willows Creek we hear about Bigfoot being described in several ways, he’s this big, and he’s this strong, he don’t like anyone in these parts of the woods, and so many people have gone missing. Something about that foreshadowing amounts to great suspense and is effective in a found footage movie. In this film, the characters aren’t expecting Bigfoot so it’s a complete shocker to them that they are being stalked. But, what Exists lacks in early suspense-building, it sure makes up for it in climbing action that makes each new scene more tense than the last. Willows Creek had a soft ending which nearly ruined that film for me. Exists has a solid ending and a rather cool one at that.

For me, the film went from slightly creepy, to being nervous for the characters, to sh*tin’ bricks. This is one of the most effective horror films I’ve seen in a long time. We don’t get a good look at the Bigfoot until the end, but when we finally do, it is one nasty looking creature and it’s full of rage. The characters in the cabin act as I think any normal people would in that situation, there’s no ‘hero’ just reluctant volunteers to do what they think would be best. Nothing magically turns out to their spectacular advantage like some other hokey Hollywood films with youths stuck in cabins.

Bigfoot films lend themselves quite well to the found footage style. I find the only drawback to this film is one often sighted for FF films; the camera man just holds onto the camera too long without dropping it and hauling ass out of the situation. In this film it seems to bother me more than others. If you don’t care for found footage films, you probably won’t like this film all that much. It has the usual FF film set-up and informal banter. Aside from that, the film feels realistic enough with believable characters and circumstances. To me this is the best horror film about Bigfoot ever made.

Despite being a found footage film I found it to be a highly effective horror flick.
I’m giving it the rare 5.0 stars for making me yell at the TV screen in the middle of the night.

Exists Movie

As Above, So Below (2014) – movie review

As Above, So Below (2014)

Directed and written by John Erick Dowdle

Perdita Weeks
Ben Feldman
Edwin Hodge

I have to admit I have some claustrophobia concerning tight closed-in spaces. I was at one time plagued by nightmares where I was crawling through a tight, dirt tunnel and the tunnel ahead kept getting smaller and tighter until I could barely move. In this film there’s a scene where the character, Ben, gets stuck in one such tunnel and the more he struggles, the more the tunnel collapses on him. You can see the desperation and panic in his face and in his actions. This scene was so well done it was excruciating for me. I squirmed in my seat and cringed. I screamed at him to remove his belt to free himself.

Let’s back up a little. As Above, So Below is a Found Footage film with a bit of a twist, there are survivors in the end, which was a nice difference. It looked pretty grim at times and I didn’t think anyone would actually survive. The film concerns an urban archaeologist, Scarlet, who is desperate to solve a riddle concerning Aramaic texts that hold some alchemist’s secret of life. Scarlet takes increasingly risky chances following a trail of clues. It seems her father had committed suicide after trying to solve the same riddle and she has vowed to solve the problem in his name.

The trail leads her and a small crew, choreographer, Ben, and love interest, George, to the catacombs of France. She hires an outlaw guide and his crew with the promise of hidden treasure in a secret room as yet undiscovered by modern archaeologists. They follow a jigsaw of ancient maps and texts deeper into the earth, eventually leading them to a pathway marked ‘the gates of hell.’ (Those who enter, abandoned all hope). A collapse behind them forces the crew forward and some strange apparitions and occurrences plague them. There are some mighty chilling scenes here, enjoyable for a horror fan like me. In fact the scares were so well paced and executed that I was smiling in between the scenes. Aside from the paranormal chills, there were also the real life horrors of being in underground caves; the confined spaces, the feeling of being lost, the paranoia of the surroundings, and underwater tunnels (gasp), all portrayed for maximum effectiveness.

While the ending was not as satisfying as I would have liked, I enjoyed the journey immensely. The characters were quite likable and empathetic. I look forward to seeing more from director, John Erick Dowdle, who has previously written and/or directed great horror flicks like, Quarantine, Devil, and The Poughkeepsie Tapes. While some may be turned off by the Found Footage style I think it serves this film well.

A well-paced and interesting horror found footage film that dishes out many original chills and thrills, with both psychological horror and physical horror aspects combined. 

I give it 4.1 creepy quagmires out of 5 on the crawling through claustrophobic catacombs capers.

Fun facts

The term ‘as above so below’ is part of Hermatic theory and philosophy. It states that, As in heaven, so on earth – meaning if you think good thoughts, good will follow, if you think bad thoughts, evil will follow. Whatever we think or accept will be the circumstances of our lives.

The hexagram symbol in the movie is used by Satanists and black witches to both, call a demon forward or to keep it at bay. In other instances it is symbolic to create balance in life.

The Catacombs of Paris is an underground grave site which contains the remains of approximately Six Million people, many of which were relocated from existing Parisian cemeteries at the time it was conceived (1782). Underground mines which were no longer used for their original purpose became the housing for the overcrowded Paris cemeteries. The head of the Paris Mine inspection service in 1810 took it upon himself to make the mere housing of the bones into a mausoleum of sorts, stacking skulls and bones in a way that was artistic in some senses. He also used old artifacts and fountains from the original cemeteries to make it a visitable burial place.

 

 

look! I can make a shadow rabbit…with three ears!

lesson 1 – if you see a piano where it don’t belong, don’t play it!

Where the Hell are we?

guys? meet my dead sister…

Don’t stand next to creepy statues in the dark…

The Possession of Michael King (2014) – Movie review

The Possession of Michael King (2014)

This is a film that uses found footage elements along with some traditional film scenes. It tells the story of a young family who suffers a tragedy. The father, Michael King, a devout atheist, sets out to prove there is no afterlife or spiritual world and to document it (or rather the lack of it). He and his camera-man go through some rituals, the blackest of black rituals, to summon bad spirits, angels, demons, anything to disprove Michael’s project statement. Nothing seems to garner any results, to Michael’s smug delight, until he visits a demonologist and performs a invocation. That’s when all hell breaks loose.

Though I found the film interesting and appreciate what the filmmakers were trying to do here, the film never fulfills its potential to be scary. It’s a bit creepy at points but it doesn’t build enough tension. The modern style of filmmaking with fast cuts and all action – all the time, never gives the viewer time to let the events emotionally unnerved them. If the film had two or three long scenes that built atmosphere, suspense, and psychological tension, it would have served the story better. This is a case where the found footage style hindered the intentions of the film. This is in sharp contrast to a film like, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which was a modern possession film, but had a slow atmospheric style that gets under your skin. For another example, what made The Conjuring so effective were the lulls in between the horror-action.

With that said, I still did enjoy the film. It had some unique ideas and visuals for a possession movie. I’d say watch this at your own risk because I can’t wholly recommend it. Some may enjoy certain aspects of the film, but as a whole, it fails to fully deliver the goods. However it was more enjoyable to watch than many of the recent possession films like, The Possession and The Devil Inside.

I give it 2.5 harbingers of hell out of 5 on the nasty demon scale.

V/H/S 2 – (2013) – Movie review

V/H/S 2 – (2013)

First thing, the wrap around story is almost as annoying as the one in VHS because it’s a continuation from the original film. A private detective is hired to find one of the extremely annoying college kids from the 1st film and winds up in the same dark house. He tells his assistant to watch the video footage, maybe there will be a clue on them. So we enter the segments.

Clinical Trials follows a man who gets an experimental eye implant. The digital eye boosts all the optic wavelengths, which in turn has the disturbing side-effect of enabling him to see ghosts. It is damn unnerving to have knowledge of all the spiritual activity surrounding him. There is one scene that didn’t make too much sense to me but I guess they had to throw some nudity in here somewhere. The biggest drawback was that the character in this was a bit of a dill-weed and I didn’t really care about him. However, it was a decent segment and equal to the quality of the original VHS.

A Ride in the Park follows a young man on his morning bike ride through a large wilderness park. He has one of those helmet cams on the roof of his noggin. A screaming lady runs out of the woods in front of him and when he stops to help her, zombie horde city! There are a few nice wrinkles in this zombie tale including a contradiction to the notion that zombies have no memory of their past life. A fun segment with some comedic aspects added to the gore.

Safe Haven follows a news team that is let into the compound of a secretive cult. The team doesn’t know there is a reason they were chosen to enter the commune and it has to do with one reporters unborn child. As the investigation and interviews proceed, the cult leader starts chanting into a PA system and literally, all hell breaks loose! This one will get your heart pumping with echoes of The Evil Dead (1981). There’s even a Sam Raimi style ‘punch line’ at the very end which made me laugh. Despite the punch line, this is the creepiest segment of all.

Slumber Party Alien Abduction follows a young woman and her bratty younger brother who continuously prank each other and capture it all on camera. In one piece of footage, there are some light anomalies on the lake behind their house. Later that night a piercing sound shatters the dark and they are in the midst of aliens who chase them down and attempt to kidnap them. It’s total chaos as these creatures disappear and reappear in different places, hunting them down. After watching some lousy alien abduction films lately, this one really makes the situation tense. It’s edgy and ramps up the scares, perhaps revitalizing this sub-genre of horror.

The wrap around story concludes with not much interest from me. I would say that the first two segments were as good as the ones from the original VHS, but the last two were better than the stories in the previous film. The real time aspect of found footage films doesn’t leave a lot of room for depth of a story but I think that’s what people like about these films – everything is in the here-and-now. There was a little more attention to storyline and plot, especially in Safe Haven and except for the first segment, I actually liked the characters in the stories of this film. So my opinion is that, overall, this film is a better film than its predecessor. Recommended for those who like FF films, anthologies, and ‘action-horror’ (yes, I’m coining a new sub-genre).

Related Links:

V/H/S

Scary or Die

Apartment 143 (2011) – Movie Review

Apartment 143

A paranormal investigation team sets its cameras up in the home of a single dad and his two children. In an interview with Alan (the Dad), he tells how the paranormal events started a few weeks after the passing of his wife. They moved from their house to this current LA apartment and within a few days the activities started again. It becomes clear early-on that the teenage daughter hates her father. The six-year-old son is a charming young man full of questions for the investigating team. Alan is struggling to raise his children while dealing with the paranormal events now taking place in their lives.

The activity begins with creepy atmosphere and subtle movements in the apartment. They soon escalate into violent outbursts as doors are slammed and items are moved. In one scene they hear the loud crashing of dishes in the kitchen, but when they run into the room, nothing is out of place. Through a series of interviews and investigations the team learns more about the family, hinting at several different possibilities for the situation. The lead investigator tells the dad that the teenage daughter is exhibiting signs of schizophrenia, and that is when the paranormal shit hits the fan.

There was some good acting and character development considering this was a documentary-style film. It is one of the better ones, providing creepy suspense, jump scares, paranormal action, and a tense build up to the climax. Not for everyone’s tastes but I liked it.
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Footnote:
Apartment 143 is distributed by Magnet, which has clearly become one of the premier distributors for quality, R-Rated, middle-budget, modern horror-films from around the world. They have brought us films such as: Monsters, I Saw the Devil, Troll Hunter, VHS & VHS-2, John Dies at the End, Absentia, The Shrine, etc… When I see the Magnet logo associated with a film, I will not hesitate to watch it.

Grave Encounters (2011) – movie review

Grave Encounters (2011)

I remember when this first came out, I was somewhat under whelmed with found footage films and shaky handheld camera SOV flicks. I think, in the couple of years that have past, I have become more accepting of them and see them as another style of film making in the field of cinema. When they are done right, found-footage films can offer an immediacy and intimacy that makes them feel genuine. When they’re done wrong, they just seem like a mess and act as a crutch for not having a good script.

So, now that I got Netflix, (yes congrats are in order), I felt I could try out this movie and I wouldn’t mind shutting it off in a half-hour if it proved to be anything less than enjoyable. I wouldn’t feel like I had wasted my money. I must say, to my surprise, I enjoyed Grave Encounters quite a bit.

A team of ghost investigators enter an abandoned mental institution for a night of EVPs, EMFs, and ghost chasing. If any of you are familiar with, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Paranormal State, and Most Haunted – shows that have been airing the last 10 years or so, you should know the routine. This one follows most closely to Ghost Adventures and the show host, Lance, even seems to get most of his cues and mannerisms from the real show host, Zakk Bagans.

The small crew journeys through the asylum with little results for their efforts. Lance even mentions that they should shoot some footage of the dark hallways just to get something spooky looking for the show. Just when they are about to pack it in, they begin to get some real signs of paranormal activity. From there the film successfully ramps up the suspense as the ghostly events escalate to a frightening level.

Without being a spoiler, let me just say there are a few things in this film that I have never seen done before and must commend the film makers for their original ideas and concepts. The scene with the tub and the scene where they finally break through the front door to leave were awesome. The only drawback would be, it takes a bit of time for the good scary stuff to develop. But if you have some patience, the film definitely pays off.  I would give this film a very high rating, close to Rec in my favorite found-footage film category. Great atmosphere, great haunted place feel, exceptional acting, jump scares, creepy tension, it has it all.

If you are accepting of the found-footage style and if you like haunted house/ghost stories – or if you’re a fan of the above mentioned ghost investigation programs, I would highly recommend Grave Encounters.