Land of the Minotaur

"Land of the Minotaur" aka "The Devil's Men" (1976, Kostas Karagiannis, Crown International Pictures) is a horror film set in 1970s Greece.


A group of archaeology-loving tourists begin to go missing when visiting a particular site. Could the shifty Baron Corofax (Peter Cushing) be involved? Could the whole town be in on it?! It's up to Irish Priest, Father Roche (Donald Pleasance), Milo Kaye (Mr Director himself, Kostas Karagiannis - billed here as Costas Skouras) and Laurie Gordon (Luan Peters) to uncover the mystery and put a stop to the worship and sacrifice to the Minotaur.


Both Cushing and Pleasance have led varied and extensive careers and were extremely supportive of the horror genre and its many aspiring creators, being game to appear in a true variety of quality of films. But, in spite of this, the biggest mystery by far is how they ended up in this one with so much screen time considering the other larger budget pieces they were in around the same time! Truly, we did not deserve them.


This film is a delightful piece of B-movie nonsense that includes;

• Donald Pleasance doing an Irish accent and wearing (and losing!) several hats,
• a few females in short shorts and other skimpy outfits,
• a creepy teenaged girl,
• a leading character resembling a young 70s Father Ted (I dare you to not think of it whilst watching Milo) who is nude quite a lot,
• cult worshippers in multi-coloured outfits (it seems the Baron got a discount on several metres of coloured satin at Remnant Kings - and those bejewelled eyeholes, dahling!),
• lots of shots of a convertible driving quite sensibly around Greece coupled with Donald Pleasance berating the driver for being careless,
• people haplessly digging up things on sites of archaeological interest with their bare hands,
• a mysteriously deserted town where the few townsfolk like to enjoy a beer with breakfast,
• Peter Cushing drinking beer and shooting a grandfather clock, and,
• lots of cult sacrifices to a statue of the Minotaur with a bad case of the fire sneezes and a dislike of people in his special room. 

At only 95 minutes long, it's also not too taxing a spectacle and is currently on Amazon Prime in the UK under it's UK title.

[Image: Crown International Pictures]

Hani

The Video Dead

"The Video Dead" (1987, Robert Scott, Interstate 5 Productions, Highlight Productions, Manson International) is one of those 80s horror films whose cover art is the reason I got into horror in the first place.

A writer receives the delivery of a television by accident which turns out to be the gateway to the real world for the zombie antagonists of a black and white B-movie called "Zombie Blood Nightmare". Despite being unplugged, the zombies escape through the screen and begin to terrorise the neighbourhood. Some time later a new family buys the writer's house and discover the TV in the attic and the humorous zombie antics begin again!

Cheesy, clunky and bizarre this little gem of B-movie ridiculousness is one of those pizza and beer movies that will keep you and your friends laughing and eye-rolling in equal measure. From crazy characters, weird scripting and zombies in wigs this movie enjoys some amusing ideas.... and oddly no video tapes at all!

[Image: Interstate 5 Productions, et al]

Hani

Knucklebones

"Knucklebones" (2016, Mitch Wilson, Midnight Releasing) is a supernatural slasher film.

Julin (Neesa Avery) had thought things were going well until her fiance ended their relationship. To cheer her up her friends decide to take her with them on a misguided night of partying at an abandoned factory which was the site of a brutal and mysterious massacre several decades previously. The friends come across a creepy, arcane looking dice game which includes amongst its pieces, some old human knuckle bones. Of course, being young and merry, the friends decide to play the game and accidentally conjure up the demonic presence of Knucklebones (Tom Zembrod) who makes it his business to brutally slay everyone in his path.

A fun genre entry which follows a well-trodden, but no less entertaining, slasher plot and format. The titular demonic entity has elements of some familiar antagonists such as Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees in that he's talkative (obviously a Freddy trait rather than a Jason one), seemingly omnipotent, disfigured and menacing. Our cast of killer-fodder are fairly standard beautiful characters (some in short-shorts) but this familiarity works to the film's benefit. Protagonist Julin, however, goes above and beyond the typical final girl role and takes command of her fate.

The kill scenes are well put together and imaginative with some nice bone breaking effects and the right dose of cheese. We're also treated to some cheesy Nazi experimentation and a nicely grim hand scene.

While it's not trying to break the mould, the film delivers an enjoyable B-movie slasher worthy of a view. Currently available on Amazon Prime.

[Image: Midnight Releasing]

Hani

Satanic

"Satanic" (2016, Jeffrey G. Hunt, MarVista Entertainment) is a supernatural horror.


A group of college kids (Sarah Hyland, Steven Krueger, Justin Chon and Clara Mamet) take a detour on their spring break trip to Coachella to check out some Satanic Panic sites in LA. On the way, they make some dubious decisions, meet some creepy characters and accidentally find themselves involved in the mysterious and deadly workings of a cult of devil worshippers.


A fairly slow film that has some good points, but all in all did not contain enough gore or brains to make it anything ground-breaking.


The good: the film boasts a few seemingly practical effects. It also manages to give most of the main characters fairly equal screen time and not pick a particular favourite until nearer the end. The locations are all also very effective and create some nice scenes, and the film has a fun little twist that didn't come out of nowhere, but gave the end a nice kick.    


The bad: most of the action happens at the tail end of the film resulting in a fair bit of build up that loses steam a little over halfway before picking up again. Our group of protagonists are also fairly unlikeable losing some of my viewer sympathy. Liking the characters isn't always a 'must-have' in horror, but sometimes it's a plus.


Our protagonists are also a bit dim (again not uncommon in horror films) and make some terrible, terrible life choices which kind of lead them from bad situation to bad situation. Whilst, as plots go, this is fairly fool-proof, it did make the situation of the group of wannabe true-crime extraordinaires seem less tragic when things started to go wrong for them.


While not bringing anything new to the B-movie genre and suffering a little from the pacing, "Satanic" delivered a watchable piece suitable to a slow Netflix night.

[Image: MarVista Entertainment]

Hani

Troll 2

"Troll 2" (1990, Claudio Fargasso, Filmirage) is an infamously bad film about a fairly strange 'average' family taking a holiday in a town that's not only boring; it's infested by goblins. Luckily the goblins are vegetarians... Also, noteworthy that this film is not a real sequel.

Joshua (Michael Stephenson) appears to be an everyday kid. If an everyday kid talks to the ghost of his deceased grandfather, that is. He lives with his mother and father; a misguided couple who don't seem to comprehend what a vacation is; and his teenaged sister.

The family head to the town of Nilbog (genius, right?) where they are creepily welcomed by the locals. But luckily for them, Grandpa Seth (Robert Ormsby), warns Joshua that the townsfolk are actually goblins in disguise and that, if the family eat the food offered to them, they will be turned into vegetation which the goblins will eat!

Can they avoid a fate worse than death? Can they escape the clutches of the world's most melodramatic witch/goblin (Deborah Reed)? Why can't the goblins just grow their own vegetables like everyone else?

A horror comedy so bad that it's perfectly watchable. The acting, with the ironic exception of young Joshua, is entertainingly stilted and the outlandish plot manages to be both mediocre and hilarious. The goblin costumes are also reminiscent of homemade Halloween costumes. A real trashy movie that every B-movie fan should see; even if it's just for a good laugh.

[Image: Filmirage]

Hani

Don't Open 'til Christmas

"Don't Open 'til Christmas" (1984, Edmund Purdom, Spectacular Trading International, 21st Century Film Corporation) is an English holiday slasher.

It's Christmas time and someone wearing a translucent mask is going around killing anyone dressed as Santa. One of the Santas is killed in front of his daughter, Kate (Belinda Mayne) who is then determined to find out who's behind it. Chief Inspector Ian Harris (Edmund Purdom) is also on the case, but something familiar is getting in his way to solving the mystery...

A cheesy B-Movie directed by and starred by Edmund Purdom (whom I know from my favourite B-movie gorefest, "Pieces"). It's wooden, silly and, as usual, a little transfixed with the porn and sleaze side of the city. The predictable scenes are humorous to watch due to their sheer ridiculousness. If you enjoy watching random guys dressed as Santa getting killed by an unconvincing machete, or having their members cut off in the men's bathroom, this film is for you!

A silly plot, with an equally silly motive, this fairly woeful film is definitely in the so-bad-but-can't-look-away pile.

[Image: Spectacular Trading International]

Hani

Chopping Mall

"Chopping Mall" aka "Killbots" (1986, Jim Wynorski, Concorde Pictures) is a cheesy 80s B-movie horror about some teens who get locked inside a shopping mall and are being hunted by the mall's futuristic, robotic security guards.

Like Robocop's demented half cousins who failed the police academy entrance exam one too many times, these 'state of the art' security robots had trouble written all over them. From the lasers (why, even?) to their menacing look, these polite little guys were clearly going to rampage. I don't think they even needed lightening to help them go nuts!

The music is so 80s it actually hurts and the teens are suitably annoying enough to be robot fodder. The plot is simple and functional and the action is hilarious. We have head explosions, death by fire, laser beams, shoot outs and panic attacks. It's really just a perfect example of how so-bad-it's-good B-movies should be done.

Entertaining!

[Image: Concorde Pictures]

Hani

Cellar Dweller

"Cellar Dweller" (1988, John Carl Beuchler, Empire Pictures) is my kind of movie. B-movie, that is. Ah, 1988, a fabulous year: I was born and movies like this were being released!

In the '50s, a comic book (definitely not an EC Comic... no...) artist named Colin Childress (the fabulous Jeffrey Combs of "Re-Animator" fame) is brutally murdered when his iconic horror comic characters come to life in his basement studio thanks to his satanic demon A-Z book, and do what horror comic characters do best: violently assault everybody. Because that's not exactly an every day event, he is instead assumed to have committed suicide.

Fast forward 30 years to the '80s and his house is now being used as a retreat, studio and college for young aspiring artists. The college is run by Mrs Briggs (Lily Munster herself, Yvonne De Carlo), who takes an obvious dislike to our picture's heroine, Whitney (Debrah Farentino, then Debrah Mullowney). Whitney is an aspiring horror comic book artist herself with a great admiration for the work (and mysterious demise) of poor old Colin, and can't help herself as she makes all the trademark errors that he clearly had also. Poor Whitney doesn't realise the power of the pen until it is almost too late. But, by then has she gone too far to stop her creations from wreaking havoc?

A fun 80s B-movie that uses some very "Evil Dead" techniques in filming its stalking monster scenes and captures great imagination to work as a film with enough gore, body part munching, demon suits and nude showers thrown in to make it an ideal movie marathon candidate.

Whilst our artists are of a pretty questionable talent (seriously, someone should have told these kids that they were wasting their time and would be better looking for other forms of work!), the film is suitably hokey, funny and chalk-full of green zig zags (80s CGI).

The start credits do drag on for a good while though!

Definitely one for my B-movie vault!

[Image: Empire Pictures]



Hani 

The Raven

"The Raven" (1963, Roger Corman, AIP) is a somewhat comic adaptation of Poe's famous poem of the same name and should also not be confused with another Karloff film from 1935 of the same name which also starred Bela Lugosi.

In this film a sorcerer named Dr. Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price) is going about his wizardly business and mourning the death of his wife Lenore (Hazel Court), when he is interrupted by a rather blustery talking raven. Using a potion that the raven instructs him on how to make, Erasmus returns the raven to its true form, that of Dr. Bedlo (Peter Lorre), a fellow sorcerer.

Bedlo reveals that he was transformed during a duel with the evil wizard, Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff) and also happens to mention seeing Craven's wife's ghost wandering Scarabus' castle. Both wizards set out together, along with Erasmus' beautiful daughter, Estelle (Olive Sturgess), and Bedlo's son, Rexford (a very young Jack Nicholson), to deal with this Scarabus once and for all.

Of course, this advance results in a rather funny and tongue-in-cheek wizard duel between Price and Karloff with a lot of entertaining 60s special effects.

The wardrobe of the cast is also quite amusing: the wizard hats especially!

Whilst it's not really a horror movie, I like this film for several reasons:

• It stars some of my favourite horror icons
• It has a sense of humour
• It's set in a big creepy castle
• It involves B-movie special effects

Essentially, this is a light hearted romp starring some extremely wonderful people, and Vincent Price reading the poem really gives me the chills! (although it's notable that aside from that and the fact that there is a raven present for some scenes, this film has practically nothing to do with the actual poem).

[Image: AIP]

Hani

The Deadly Spawn

"The Deadly Spawn" (1983, Douglas McKeown, 21st Century Film Corporation) is a fun, schlocky horror sci-fi film about an alien invasion.

 

An alien crashes onto earth, spawning hundreds of squirmy offspring and devastating an entire family before moving on to the rest of the town. It's up to a small group of teens (lead by a budding scientist) to stop the massacre.

 

With some fun scenes (including some severed arm humour), squirmy phallic-looking monsters, wonderfully awful special effects (one prop is clearly one of those drag-a-long caterpillar creatures you used to get as a kid with a 'spawn' skin draped on top of it!), tainted salad, pseudo science and a lot of goop and teeth, this film wishes it was a poor man's Aliens movie, but no matter how much it's definitely not that, it is a bloody good late night campy B-horror flick worthy of your time.

 

[Image: 21st Century Film Corporation]

 

Hani

Stage Fright

"Stage Fright" aka "Stage Fright: Aquarius" aka "Deliria" (1987, Michele Soavi, DMV Distribuzione Filmirage) is an Italian/American slasher film set in a theatre.

 A troupe of actors are rehearsing a crappy, artsy musical about a masked killer called the Night Owl, when some real killings are discovered to have taken place. Could it be that a real Night Owl has returned to roost, claimed his mask and is on the hunt for more prey? Too many bird of prey jokes? Yes? Who will survive now that they are all locked inside with the killer?

A fun film, Soavi enjoys tricking his audience with misleading and cleverly panned shots. The characters are surprisingly well rounded despite a lack of deep back story. And this was Soavi's debut as a director, so I think he did rather well.

Our killer is wonderfully menacing with an extravagant mask and a dancer's style. He's also willing to use different tools from drills to axes. You've got to respect a man who can adapt to a situation.

Not the most technically advanced film in the world, but definitely fun, and with a distinctive feeling of Italian horror cinema, even when it was beginning to wane as a genre.

It's full of plot holes, some bad dubbing and some extremely B-movie acting, too.

 

 

[Image: DMV Distribuzione Filmirage]

 

Hani

Planet Terror

"Planet Terror" (2007, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Rodriguez International Pictures, Troulemaker Studios, Dimension Films).

It's a Sci-Fi horror gore-fest! It's an action movie! It's a love letter and an homage to the B-Movies of old! It's a Grindhouse inspired piece of genius!

Go-go dancer, Cherry Darling, (Rose McGowan) throws in her diamanté studded hooker-boots in search of a new meaning in life.

Meanwhile, Dakota Block (Marley Shelton) decides to leave her creepy husband, Dr. William Block (Josh Brolin) for her lesbian lover, Tammy (Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas).

And the crazed Lieutenant Muldoon (Bruce Willis) makes a transaction with a bollocks-obsessed madman named Abby (Naveen Andrews) of a biological weapon called DC2 (codename "Project Terror") which goes decidedly wrong and is released into the air, turning everyone into mutated zombie creatures.

In order to save the world (or at least themselves) Cherry, her tough guy ex, El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) and Dakota must team together with Abby to fight the zombies and escape!

Oh, and Cherry loses a leg and replaces it with a machine gun.

...Double oh, and it's all done in the fabulously gritty Grindhouse style.

Sound like fun? Well, it is!

The opposite of serious with absurdly low budget, explosive, gross-out effects (high on the goo factor) and a star cast with their tongues in their cheeks and a sense of fun in the air.

One of the best nods to the Exploitation and Grindhouse genre with a cheeky wink and some gloop to go with it. Perhaps a little longer than it needed to be, but still one of my favourites.

[Image: Rodriguez International Pictures]

 

Hani

Puppet Master 2

"Puppet Master 2" (1991, Dave Allen, Full Moon Entertainment) is the sequel to "Puppet Master"... surprisingly....

The Puppets are back at the Bodega Bay hotel and have raised their original Puppet Master, Andre Toulon (Steve Welles) from the grave using the same dark mojo that animates themselves. Unlike in the first film, however, Toulon is not using the puppets for good and decides to set them upon a group of paranormal investigators who are checking out the hotel after the events of the first film. He's also got his sights set on young Carolyn (Elizabeth Maclellan) whom he believes is the reincarnation of his wife, Elsa.

A slightly better made production which appeared to have more of a budget, "Puppet Master 2" looks slightly shinier, but lacks the gore of the first film. However, the dialogue and scripting is much improved, only being half as boring as the original.

The puppets are still wonderfully animated for a low budget film and enjoy more screen time. While it doesn't do much for franchise in terms of plot or acting and is riddled with plotholes, but it's a fun little flick.

[Image: Full Moon Entertainment]

Hani

Return to Horror High

 "Return to Horror High" (1987, Bill Froehlich, New World Pictures) is about a low budget horror movie set which is set up at the abandoned Crippen High School to make a film about the mysterious murders that happened there five years prior. However, whilst filming, several crew and cast members mysteriously disappear. Could the murderer still be on the loose?

An odd film, I had been told it was going to be ‘right up my street’, but sadly it was more of a cul-de-sac on a few rows up from ‘my street’. Sure it’s corny, cheesy, pretty wooden, full of unabashed innuendo, blood soaked and benign, but it’s also boring and I like my cheesy horror comedies to be... well... funny!

I was surprised to find a young George Clooney in it though!

A few good scenes are ruined by long intervals of boredom, but it was a valiant attempt at a change in the stagnant genre that is the ‘Teen Slasher’.

Having the killer in yellow marigold gloves, though, that is just genius and if you’re in the mood for something random and a bit different this could be the one for you!

On the whole it’s a bit of a mixed bag and definitely lives in the what-the-hell-did-I-just-watch?! pile.

[Image: New World Pictures]

Hani

Class of 1999

"Class of 1999" (1990, Mark L. Lester, Lightning Pictures) is a low budget science fiction set in a violent, dystopian world. I've just learned that this is a sequel to another movie by Lester called "Class of 1984", so I'll have to go hunt that one down and see if it promises to be as much fun as this one was.

The world has become a chaotic and violent place with youth gang activity and drugs making whole areas no-go-zones for the police. Teens still seem to turn up to school though, although mainly only as a kind of social meeting place.

Dr. Miles Langford (Malcolm McDowell), principal of the local high school, has had enough and has brought in external help from a weird, mullet-sporting robotics specialist, Dr. Robert Forrest (Stacy Keach). Forrest has supplied the school with new android teachers who will delve out punishment to unruly students.

But when the punishments turn into death sentences followed by all out war, the students have to team together to stay alive!

A hammy effort with lots of hokey, wannabe-terminator special effects, I can't fault this flick for an excellent 'bad movie' night.

The street gangs look a lot like the New Romantics and Peter Pan's Lost Boys got into a fight and both lost. Between the terrible one liners, hilarious outfits and Pam Grier's robotic boobs, I'd say this film is going to be a new favourite for me and my friends for bad movie night! How could I not have heard of this cheesy badness before?

[Image: Lightning Pictures]

 

Hani

Night of the Living Dead (2006)

"Night of the Living Dead" aka "Night of the Living Dead 3D" (2006, Lux Digital Pictures, Jeff Broadstreet) is a remake of the George A. Romero classic (I say 'a' as there is more than one). Oh, and it's '3D'... which should tell you all you need to know, really...

Pretty terrible. Except for Sid Haig giving his usual kind, calm & considerately evil psycho performance as Gerald Tovar Jr.

A little too much of the crappy, low budget, cartoon-like 3D effects spoil a perfectly generic low budget snorefest. (this is the highest praise I can bestow, I'm afraid)

They do go quite a ways to explain the events leading up to the zombie outbreak, which the original never completely endeavoured to do, and Barbara's backstory is much more filled out than the original, also.

As well as hokey effects, the film does suffer from a couple of other things, dull plot and too much inclusion of the original film throughout, which is a far superior effort. Surely if the characters had all just watched it, they'd know what was going on?

Boring dialogue and too much stilted cheesiness that just seemed like it was trying too hard, I am afraid I'm not a fan of this film.

I do have to hand it to them they went quite out of their way in setting the scene so that mobile phones and landlines weren't available to call for police assistance, though.

The only good thing about this film is Sid Haig and the legless zombie in the garden.

[Image: Lux Digital Pictures]

 

Hani

 

Humanoids from the Deep

"Humanoids from the Deep" aka "Monster" (1980, Barbara Peeters, New World Pictures, Roger Corman) is a slice of schlocky good-Mc-badness. A low budget 80s sea misadventure which is just a bit of cheesy fun!

The small seaside town of Noyo, USA is terrorised by humanoid fish creatures with a thirst for blood and a lust for human women.

Gloop, nude ladies, blatantly obvious jump scares, rubber monster suits, wooden acting, a plot so thin you can see through it & 80s clothing galore: what more can you ask?

A wannabe drive-through film that harks back to the old 1950s creature features, "Humanoids from the Deep" is a thoroughly 80s attempt. And that's what makes it so damn entertaining!

It's hardly a nail biter, and winds up being more funny than scary with its splattering blood and 'monster noises'.

Not one for the dog lovers, though, with a high canine death count. Be warned!

Things of note:

One of the tunes played by the band at the festival sounds a lot like 'head, shoulders, knees and toes'...

A guy with a ventriloquist dummy as part of his chat-up line actually almost gets laid! 

The monsters also seem to love boobs. Well, what self respecting salmon-monster doesn't?And the film's quota of naked ladies was certainly used to the full extent!

Something for when you're in a not-too-serious mood and you want to watch some slippery villains try to kill a bunch of fishermen and get as many blonde chicks naked as possible, with an ending that will make you snort cola out of your nose (or red wine in my case!).

[Image: New World Pictures]

Hani

Brain Damage

"Brain Damage" (1988, Frank Henenlotter, Palisades Entertainment, Ventura Distribution) is from the twisted mind of Frank Henenlotter who is also responsible for "Basket Case", so you have to understand what you're going in to before you click 'play'.

Brian (Rick Hearst) becomes addicted to (and accomplice of) a gross little parasitic creature called Aylmer (terrifically voiced by John Zacherle) that can inject highly addictive mind altering fluids directly into people's brains and also eats human brains. Basically, he likes brains.

Definitely a story about drug addiction, the gore is delivered in classic late 80s B-movie fashion with buckets of innuendo on top for good measure.

Funny, sleazy, disgusting and like a bit of a bad drug trip itself, if you don't like the sound of a film about phallic-like slug monster that eats brains, you probably want to avoid "Brain Damage". However, if you think that sounds hilarious then you're probably as weird as me.

[Image: Palisades Entertainment]

 

Hani

Frankenstein Created Woman

"Frankenstein Created Woman" (1967, Hammer Film Productions, Warner-Pathé, 20th Century Fox, Optimum Releasing, Terence Fisher) is the fourth Hammer Horror Frankenstein feature and it is one of my favourite Peter Cushing films. I'm watching it today to celebrate what would have been his 100th Birthday. Happy Birthday, Peter Cushing you were an excellent actor and a gentleman!

The film opens to a guillotine and the beheading of a father while his young son, Hans looks on.

Fast forward several years and Hans (Robert Morris) is now a young man working for Dr. Hertz (Thorley Walters) and assistant to Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing).

Frankenstein has developed his work of 'giving life' much further than his previous patchwork creations and is now dabbling with the more spiritual theories of the soul. He has found that the soul remains intact after death and can be restored after life. Yep, ol' Frankie's outdone himself with his new bolt-free creations!

After a series of unfortunate events and general mishandling of situations, feisty young Hans is sentenced to the guillotine for a murder he did not commit. Facing the same fate as his father, Hans cannot explain that he has an alibi because he was making love to the local barmaid, the disfigured but kind Christina (Susan Denberg), a love interest he has been barred from pursuing by Christina's father. Plus who would believe a murderer's son over the word of three snobby young toffs with lots of cash?

Christina is too late to save Hans from his fate and, in despair, she commits suicide inadvertently providing Frankenstein with two fresh bodies to experiment on! But, perhaps the Baron's scientific theory is not fully correct...! Could his beautiful new scar-free creation be just as much a monster as his last attempts?!

Cushing delivers a cold and calculating Dr. Frankenstein who is witty, clever and driven. His Dr. Frankenstein character is always the best in my opinion!

Susan Denberg also excels in her role switching from sweet and innocent bar wench to sultry vixen to crazed lady.

A fun little Hammer Horror with a nice alteration to the usual Frankenstein story and some really lovely decapitation scenes filmed in characteristic Hammer fashion; showing little while letting your imagination fill in the gaps with some dripping blood here and there.

If you haven't seen this film yet, I recommend giving it a try from some old school Hammer viewing.

[Image: Hammer Film Productions]

Hani

Apartment 143

"Apartment 143" (2012, Werc Werk Works, Kasdan Pictures, Likely Story, Carles Torrens) is a 'real footage' (not really 'found footage' in this particular case) film about a family who think that their apartment is haunted.

Alan White (Kai Lennox) and his children Caitlin (Gia Mantegna) and little Benny (Damian Roman) have had to move home to try to escape the violent ghostly manifestations that appeared after the untimely death of Alan's wife, Cynthia (Laura Martuscelli). Unfortunately, the ghost appears to have followed them to their new home.

In a desperate attempt to rid themselves of this menace, they have called in a paranormal investigation team who are setting up for a few days in the apartment to get to the bottom of things. But what will they uncover?

Following a lot of ghost movie jump scare conventions almost completely to the letter of the book, I wouldn't say this film was original. It does kind of cross lands from ghosts to poltergeists to The Exorcist territories, but on the whole it's not really that creative a film.

In its merit, however, the banter between the characters is quite realistic, if often dull. And the jump scares are well orchestrated, if you can bare the long-winded wait for it. Some of the scenes were a little too like those emails you used to get where you watch the little car drive along and then BOOM! Regan McNeil's little demonically possessed face is suddenly on the screen and you've let out an entirely embarrassing squeak of surprise!

On the whole watch-able with some entertaining jump scares, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again.

 

[Image:  Werc Werk Works & Kasdan Pictures]

Hani