07/08/2012: Slither [2006]

Once in a while a horror movie comes along that is made for horror movie fans. It may not contain anything overly new or original with which to entice new fans, but it has every element a horror fan is looking for and will undoubtedly be a fun ride. While I may have let Slither slither by for almost 6 years, I finally saw it and got so much more than I expected.

01/01/2012: Monsters [2010]

Monsters is a movie that had every opportunity to go horribly wrong and fall into a large category of mediocre monster movies. Monsters however did everything right making it an amazing film that easily rears it tentacled head above the rest.

The trick to Monsters is to go in knowing what it is. This is not an action packed alien invasion along the lines of Battle L.A. or District 9. The opening scene give you a bad indication that it may infact be that kinda movie, but in fact it goes in another direction. First of all I just saw on IMDB that the movie was only in fact 94 minutes long. I thought it was over 2 hours and at no point was I bored. The first hour could almost be a movie without monsters.

To me the first hour felt like one of those kinda documentary films where a pair of Americans travel through the third world. This third world is simply created by a quarantine zone created due to an alien invasion. Like a good monster movie, Monsters makes no attempt to truly explain the monsters (I still don't understand the gas masks) but that's the way it should be.

However the journey is the heart of this movie, and it is well done, making you think, feel and even shrink in fear. The film scared me the most however as I felt the end approaching, this is where, even though everything had gone right so far, one horrible ending could ruin the film and was highly likely. However the movie gave me an ending I liked and more.

Beyond the story of this movie, the special effects, filming locations and cast where all excellent. The special effects are particularly important in a Monster movie, and with the iffy handycam footage at the opening scene I was again scared. That is dropped right there however and what follows is a lot of hard work put into the setting, signs, fences, destruction fill the world and bring it to life. The CGI creatures are also done perfectly, revealing enough but maintaining the perfect amount of secrecy.

Clearly I can go on and on about this movie, but all I can say is if you're looking for something fantastic but not action packed, even if you don't like monster movies this is an amazing monster movie that breaks free of the genre norms. I find it disappointing the horrible movies such as Skyline, and Cloverfield get such great publicity and release while this one was hidden in a few theatres.





Link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470827/

27/12/2011: The Descent Part 2 [2009]

As my review of The Descent showed, I though it to be one of the best horror films of the decade. It's sequel however fell victim to every problem a sequel does. The Descent was intended to be a stand alone movie, it didn't play up to the norms, instead being a dark and gritty tale of human survival, and that made it good.

The Descent Part 2 however confines to the standard norms, cutting down the brutality and rewriting the first ending to make things fit. (Uses the American ending w/ a slight variation)

First what did I like: As a standalone horror film, Part 2 fills out the standard formula perfectly, good setting, scary monsters, the right amount of people to be killed off in an obvious order. Also as a sequel it explained a little more about the original (although the ending just left more questions).

What was wrong: that they followed a formula! The first was brutal, giving us no hope. The second gave us the standard heroines, sacrificing and reconciling in order to ensure the groups survival. I preferred the original, where ones own survival was above all else, and a happy ending was not needed.

Also the first movie's scares came from the environment about as much as the creatures. In the second, the set is different (sure that's fine) but it is also lit up almost everywhere, you can always see the cavern or tunnel, well illuminated, eliminating that whole aspect of fear that made the first movie terrifying. I also felt like it was an entirely different cave because of this, and replacing the blood pit with the shit pit was disappointing.

Overall this movie is a mediocre horror flick, but as the sequel to one of the best of the decade, it is an utter disappointment. Throwing away everything that made the original unique.

Link:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1073105/

23/12/2011: The Descent [2005]

I've always gotten this movie confused with The Cave which came out at the same time and has an almost identical story. However I must say that The Descent is in fact superior and was one of the few movies to really scare me in a whole.

The Descent plays heavily on its cave setting, the claustrophobia and darkness setting a very eerie tone and atmosphere. The fact that only small light sources allow glimpses of only one spot at a time, never allowing you to see everything at once is a terrifying way of filming. Because of this sound becomes extremely important and was just as useful in setting the mood.

The Descent is of course a creature feature, and well, the featured creature was quite terrifying, although as usual implausible.

I was not thrilled with the ending, but their is however a sequel which I will watch soon. You can tell the differences in a horror movie made to be a single movie or a series. The Descent was originally made to be a single film, with a nameless terror. The Descent part 2 however gives the creatures a name and rewrites the original ending a bit. Turns out I saw the European version, the american ending is cut differently and a happier one. I think I prefer the European ending although its not conducive to a sequel.

Overall this is an amazing horror movie, and will definitely get some scares.

Link:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625/