Mercy Christmas

"Mercy Christmas" (2017, Ryan Nelson, No Mercy Pictures, Other Paw Films) is a festive holiday cannibal film.

Santa brought me this film for Christmas this year. Thanks, Santa.

Michael Briskett (Steven Hubbell) receives an invite to Christmas dinner from the office cutie, Cindy (Casey O'Keefe), and thinks he's won a watch. But after arriving at her family home, he discovers that he might not like what's on the menu...

The DVD box is littered with positive reviews and comments about the gore level of the film. While the film is a purposefully cheesy, low budget piece and does not deliver quite the level of gore I was hoping for, it is pretty funny and hosts some performances which were far superior than I went in expecting as well as a few recognisable faces. The sense of humour keeps the film going despite the cat being out of the bag fairly early in the plot, but the 83 minute run time also does not outstay its welcome.

Our family of religious, social climbing cannibals are both caricaturistic and delightfully reprehensible and, once the chaos ensues, we are treated to some funny fight scenes and physical humour with a definite festive slant. I never knew that fairy lights could be so practical. Our small band of victims/heroes aren't developed very much given the run time but definitely keep the audience on side and deliver a few good comedy moments also.

While it's nothing groundbreaking, "Mercy Christmas" provides that lighthearted black humour someone like me tends to enjoy around this time of year and will most likely enter my annual viewing rotation.

[Image: Other Paw Productions, et al]

Hani

Doctor Sleep

"Doctor Sleep" (2019, Mike Flanagan, Intrepid Pictures, Vertigo Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures) is the film adaptation of Stephen King's 2013 follow up to his novel, "The Shining". It's also a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 classic film adaptation of "The Shining".

Mike Flanagan continues to impress with his spooky style and crafting. As a big fan of both The Shining and also the novel of "Doctor Sleep" itself, I was pleased to thoroughly enjoy this film.

Danny Torrance (Roger Dale Floyd) and his mother Wendy (Alex Essoe) move to Florida after the events at the Overlook Hotel. Danny is deeply affected by what he saw and learned in the Rocky Mountains, but he's also being dogged by the hungry spectres of the hotel who have followed he and his mother. Luckily, the spectre of Dick Hallorann (Carl Lumbly) is also still around and with his help, Danny is able to find a way to lock the Overlook's ghosts away.

Years pass and we find Danny (Ewan McGregor), now "Dan", has followed his father's footsteps and become an unemployed alcoholic with anger issues. But when he is contacted through the Shining by a young girl called Abra (Kyliegh Curran) who believes that she and other children with the gift are in danger at the hands of the devious True Knot gang lead by Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson), he finds himself and his friend, Billy Freeman (Cliff Curtis) are the only ones able to offer their help.

It's a great tale and the film is perfectly cast, with possibly the exception of Jack Torrance who is a smidge unconvincing as a young Jack Nicholson. Essoe, however, is fantastic as Wendy without feeling too much like an impersonation. Carl Lumbly also brings Hallorann back to the screen exceptionally.

McGregor gives his usual great performance and delivers Dan Torrance right from the pages of the book. Kyliegh Curran also gives a strong performance throughout giving Abra the right level of spunk and optimism.

Our villains are perfectly villainous. Rose the Hat is page perfect, and manages to be monstrous but also demonstrates her own misguided determination to maintain her 'family'. The True Knot are fabulously brought to life and perfectly cast. It's almost a shame we don't get to know them better but the screen time we get with them is fun, dark and twisted .

The recreation of the interior of the Overlook is lovingly done and stands extremely well as a side to side comparison with Kubrick's film. The ghosts also are great fun and recreated with a fan's eye. Some scenes in the exterior of the hotel are a little less shiny, but overall don't mar the film.

All in all, I found this film to be exactly what I would have asked for. I look forward to it being released with some behind the scenes or documentary footage.

[Image: Intrepid Pictures, et al]

Hani

Malevolent

"Malevolent" (2018, Olaf de Fleur Johannesson, Netflix) is a haunted house film set in Scotland.

Angela (Florence Pugh) and Jackson (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) are an American brother and sister team who, along with their respective boyfriend and girlfriend, Elliot (Scott Chambers) and Beth (Georgina Bevan), 'investigate' paranormal cases in Scotland using their University's equipment. Their work is a scam and they know it, but things begin to get weird when Angela begins to see actual paranormal phenomenon. Scared that she might be losing her mind, like her mother, Angela has to be pushed into taking one last case by her brother. The case is that of Mrs. Green (Celia Imrie) who claims that her large country home is haunted by the spirits of the little girls her deranged son murdered while under her care.

During the investigation, however, the team begin to unravel the mystery and come to suspect that, not only is the house truly haunted, but that there may be more to the story than they have been told.

A film that has received reviews claiming that it's boring, but really it is just standard low-ish budget horror fare. The effects are passable and the plot, once it gets going, is serviceable, if a little predictable. Celia Imrie, in particular, gives a pretty disturbing performance as the mysterious and stern Mrs. Green. The largest flaws are probably the meandering pacing of the story telling paired with some slightly goofy plot points and the fact that the story is set in the 80s with very few period efforts made to set the scene outside of some cars and a distinct lack of mobile phones, but on the whole I found it to be entertaining.

[Image: Netflix]

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Leatherface

"Leatherface" (2017, Julien Maury, Alexandre Bustillo, Campbell Grobman Films, Mainline Pictures, Millennium Films, Lionsgate Films) is a prequel to the 1974 original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and the eighth film in the franchise. It is, however, admittedly only the third film in the franchise that I have personally watched. 

The film follows the character who will become Leatherface, Jed, giving some background on his upbringing and the traumatic events which lead him to become the chainsaw wielding, face-book collecting villain that we all know today.

The film has suffered some negative critical response which is largely undeserved in my view. It manages to exist within the same universe and setting as the 1974 original in a fairly believable way, despite being made more than 40 years later. The characters and action have a familiarity that ties it in to the franchise very well.

The Sawyer family are instantly recognisable as characters and are pitched at correct ages to tie in to the original film. Grandpa Sawyer particularly, in his more mobile 'youth', is a nice nod to the character's future. While the shock factor maintained within the original film is not reclaimed, "Leatherface" pays a strong homage to Hooper's original.

The identity of teenaged Jed is kept as a 'secret', although it's not exactly well hidden. However, he is joined by a host of other characters on, not a slasher style spree, but a Bonny and Clyde style kidnap roadtrip. This change of pace really appealed to me as it further explains the changes in Jed's mental situation from young man with some serious issues to young maniac intent on collecting faces. The film is not a purely Slasher film, managing to blend mental asylum, road trip, body horror and slasher genres into a gory adventure.

The death scenes are gruesome and intense with a bit of necrophilia also thrown in for added ick factor. This film certainly accomplished a few scenes which made me squirm.

An origin story for a much appreciated ('loved' seemed like the wrong word) horror icon that manages to create a worthy plot and character development, with strong performances from the cast. I'm not usually one for reboots, prequels and remakes, but for once this one played out as a refreshing change of pace, an homage to the original and not an attempt to kick start another wave of franchise additions or change the outcomes for the characters.

[Image: Lionsgate Films, et al]

Hani

A Christmas Horror Story

"A Christmas Horror Story" (2015, Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban, Brett Sullivan, Copperheart Entertainment, Image Entertainment, RLJ Entertainment) is a Christmas anthology horror from Canada.

We follow four plot lines, which are interwoven throughout the run-time by the overarching plot following radio DJ, Dangerous Dan (William Shatner), who is pulling an all-nighter on Christmas eve.

One story follows a group of teens who have broken into a school to make a documentary about two murders which had previously happened there, only to find that there were more than memories left behind.

Another story follows one of the teens from the first story who is unable to go on the adventure because she is taken on a family outing to visit her rich, elderly aunt and accidentally becomes acquainted with Krampus.

A third story follows a young family who venture into private land to illegally chop down a Christmas tree and lose their child. When they find the little boy and take him home, he begins to act strangely and the parents become suspicious that he is not, in fact, their little boy afterall!

The fourth tale follows Santa himself, a burly man (George Buza) who finds that one of his elves has contracted a zombie virus and begins to infect his other helpers.... Going on a rampage through his own workshop, Santa eventually has to face a harsh reality...

An entertaining festive romp that covers all the bases (gore, violence, festive themes) without trying to be too clever. While it doesn't cover any specifically new ground, "A Christmas Horror Story" enjoys some nice plot twists and a good, fast pace that is engaging and intriguing.

[Image: Copperheart Entertainment]

Hani

Get Out

"Get Out" (2017, Jordan Peele, Blumhouse Productions, QC Entertainment, Monkeypaw Productions, Universal Pictures) is a horror that explores themes of racism through the context of an interracial couple hitting the 'meet the parents' milestone of their relationship.

Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) and Rose Armitage (Allison Williams) head out to Rose's family home to introduce Chris to her parents. Chris is apprehensive about meeting Rose's parents because she has told him he is her first African-American boyfriend and he's not sure how her Caucasian family will react to him. Rose assures him that her folks are not racist and that they'll just be glad to meet him.

Upon arriving this does seem to be the case, although as the day goes on her parents make some awkward 'well intended' remarks that begin to make Chris uncomfortable. However, it is the black people he encounters that strike him as 'wrong' somehow, but he can't quite place why. As the visit becomes overlong, the couple are dragged into an odd family gathering and Rose's mother also offers to cure Chris' smoking addiction with hypnosis...

Things become slowly more and more unsettling and Chris becomes aware that this friendly, suburban setting may not be as safe as it first appeared...

A fantastically paced film that balances its social statement with good scripting, humour and character development. The acting is spot on with a strong lead from Kauuya who's both confused, but strong and an excellent antagonist in Rose's father (Bradley Whitford). The unsettling build up really makes the twists and turns effective and keep them from being hokey or too obvious. The film isn't just about blatant racism; it explores that smiling-cat, quasi-jealous, self-congratulatory kind of racism that is prevalent all over.

A really striking film that's definitely worth a try. The horror elements are more tailored to a chilling thriller than a straight up fright fest, but the true horror is in the message being portrayed.

[Image: Universal Pictures, et al]

Hani

A Cure for Wellness

"A Cure for Wellness" (2016, Gore Verbinski, Regency Enterprises, Blind Wink Productions, New Regency Productions, 20th Century Fox) is a psychological horror set in a luxury spa in the Swiss Alps.

An NYC financial firm sends a keen, young executive called Lockhart (Dane DeHaan) to a secluded spa to retrieve the firm's CEO, Pembroke (Harry Groener), in order to coordinate a merger. They also have some dodgy dealings to pin on someone, and if Pembroke won't be the man to go down, Lockhart will do.

Lockhart arrives at the spa to find that the staff will not let him see Pembroke. During his return to the village to decide what to do, his taxi has a horrific accident and he awakes to find that he has broken his leg and is 'recovering' at the spa himself. As he familiarises himself with his surroundings he becomes suspicious that there is something much more sinister going on than just outlandish treatments. He also meets a young girl called Hannah (Mia Goth), who has lived at the spa all of her life. Lockhart decides to dig deeper, but how long can he resist before he becomes just another of the sinister Dr. Volmer's (Jason Isaacs) patients?

A creepy, slow moving film with some action and a lot of unsettling scenes involving slimy eels. It's a sly plot with some plot-holes which dislodge the viewer slightly, but on the whole an intriguing and gruesomely distasteful concept.

The setting and styling have a familiar, old-fashioned vibe; "The Phantom of the Opera" meets "Dracula" but with a few elements of "Saw" chucked in there. The film is beautifully shot and the more disturbing scenes are truly imaginative and uncomfortable. However, the film felt overall too long, and the dreamlike quality of the storytelling made it feel longer still. There was certainly an element of style over substance, and the ending didn't fit with the rest of the build up and felt hokey and out of place.

Despite its shortcomings, the film is successfully interesting.

[Image: 20th Century Fox, et al]

Hani

The Visit

"The Visit" (2015, M. Night Shyamalan, Blinding Edge Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Universal Picture) is a thrilling found footage film. And believe me, you don't hear me say that often. I usually detest found footage, but this one really hit the right notes for me!

Budding documentary maker, Rebecca (Olivia DeJonge), and her little, rap-loving brother, Tyler (Ed Oxenbould), are going to stay with their estranged grandparents for a week. Their mother, Paula (Kathryn Hahn) has not seen her parents since she left home to run away with her much older lover, against her parents' will. Her parents have found Paula and her family via the internet and are trying to at least patch ties with their grandchildren.

Rebecca and Tyler set off together as Paula heads on a cruise with her new boyfriend, Miguel. Their grandparents, John (Peter McRobbie) and Doris (Deanna Dunegan) meet them both at the train station and appear to be perfectly normal grandparents.

Everything seems fine except for two rules: do not leave your bedroom after 'bedtime' (9.30pm) and do not go into the basement. Ignoring the first rule, Rebecca leaves her room on the first night after curfew and finds her grandmother behaving very strangely. Over the next few days, the behaviour of both grandparents becomes more suspicious until finally the kids realise that they have to leave... Something is very, very wrong!

A great jump fest with some tropes, but so well executed that they were actually effective. I believe mostly the reason I enjoyed this film, despite its found footage styling, was down to the stellar performances from the cast. Both DeJonge and Oxenbould portrayed a realistic sibling relationship with humorous quirks and banter. Both are normal, somewhat annoying, kids who think they are smarter than they are but are adorable in their own way. I also really appreciated the chilling performances of both McRobbie and Dunegan, however, Deanna Dunegan remains the overall winner of the shit-your-pants-scary award. The switch from doddery old sweetheart to terrifying nightmare creature was truly awe-inspiring.

The film flows really well, with a great setting, enough happening to keep you interested and some excellently unsettling scenes. Definitely one to watch with the lights off.

[Image: Blinding Edge Pictures]

Hani

We are still here

"We are still here" (2015, Ted Geoghegan, Snowfort Pictures, Dark Sky Films) is an American haunted house film which was inspired by the works of Lucio Fulci, and has a certain Lovecraftian atmosphere about it.

It's 1979 and Paul (Andrew Sensenig) and Anne (Barbara Crampton) have moved to a new, remote house away from their busy city home after the untimely death of their son, Bobby, in a car accident. Anne feels that Bobby's spirit is still with them and she's becoming unsettled by this. In an attempt to settle themselves, they invite their friends, May (Lisa Marie) and Jacob (Larry Fessenden), who are self professed psychics, over to the house to contact Bobby. As things unwind further and more and more spooky occurrences take place, it becomes evident that there is a lot more to this house than previously imagined...

A fantastic film which keeps a steady, haunting pace and lets you in on the plot nicely as it thickens. The effects are fantastic in their gore and their surprise factor, with some very effective jump scares which are not too tropey. The scares are genuine and the characters are likeable, three dimensional and captivating. You begin to care about what's going on. And finally, an on-screen possession outside of an episode of "Supernatural" which felt scary!

My hat's off for this film, I genuinely loved it.

[Image: Snowfort Pictures]

Hani

The Haunting (1999)

"The Haunting" (1999, Jan de Bont, DreamWorks Pictures) is the remake of the 1963 movie of the same name and, like the original, is based on the book, "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson.

Eleanor "Nell" (Lili Taylor) has just found her freedom. Her mother, whom she cared for, has just passed away and her sister has just evicted her from her home. She's invited to apply to be a part of an insomnia study by Dr. David Marrow (Liam Neeson). The study involves staying in the secluded mansion called Hill House with two other volunteers as well as the doctor and his associates.

Hill House is an unusual building full of creepy cherub carvings, gothic architecture and strange theme rooms including a glass, animated ballroom (very reminiscent of the one in the Labrynth) and a submerged hallway with books instead of stepping stones.

Nell is shown to her room by the housekeeper, Mrs. Dudley (Marian Seldes) who explains in very clear language that both she and her caretaker husband (Bruce Dern) do not stay after dark in the house. Nell is later joined by a bouncy insomniac called Luke (Owen Wilson) and a rich, bisexual lady called Theo (Catherine Zeta-Jones) as well as the doctor and his entourage. Unbeknownst to the participants, the study is really about fear and the good doctor intends to terrify his volunteers in order to study the impacts of fear. Therefore, during the first night, Dr. Marrow tells the story of the house that Crain built; Hill House.

The legend has it that Mr. Crain (Charles Gunning), a rich tycoon, built the house for he and his wife, intending to have a huge family. Alas, all his children died whilst very young. The story is very provocative and the volunteers become intrigued, letting their imaginations run away with them. However, Nell, above all the others is most affected. The house seems to be calling out to her; she can hear the ghostly screams and cries of children, see things out of the corner of her eye.... Eventually she comes to find that the true story of Hill House has a much darker level to it, a level that may involve her personally....

A fun film which manages to maintain the plot and nuances of the original tale, whilst updating the context and characters, although it is nowhere near as effective. The effects are pretty dated by today's standards, but there are some genuinely creepy, if cheesy, scenes (it's more the small movements of things at the start of the film that make the biggest impact. By the end of the film there is just too much going on).

The film does play as a cheesy spook story though, and relies overly on the effects, where the older 60s film used a build of dread to spook us. This has dated it very much, minimising any scare factor that it had.

For me, it was a bit of 90s nostalgia from when I was first discovering 'modern' horror films as a pre-teen. Good times.

[Image: DreamWorks Productions]

Hani

Torment

"Torment" (2013, Jordan Barker, Filmmax Intrernational) is about a father, Cory (Robin Dunne), and his son who go up to their holiday cottage with Cory's new, young wife, Sarah (Katharine Isabelle), in an attempt for young Liam to bond with her. So far, it's not going well.

Things are bound to get worse, however, when they discover that people have been squatting in their home... Recently.

Upon checking out their only neighbouring cottage and finding it suspiciously empty, Cory becomes concerned. But soon, a shocking turn changes the family's lives forever when they discover that they have become the latest hunted prey of an insane family of teddybear mask-wearing killers, hellbent on torture.

A fast and well executed affair with a surprisingly low budget and a good amount of gore, violence and actual characters.

Katharine Isabelle is a favourite of mine and she portrays a fantastically believable female character who is both terrified but capable and doesn't spend the whole flick either screaming or inexplicably kicking ass as if she's Buffy Summers.

Dunne creates a good father character, humanised by his desire to both welcome his new wife into his home and desperate for his son to accept her.

The kid is fantastic. He's a little shit, but he's got good reason.

On the whole the action is great. I wasn't too excited about the reasoning behind the masked 'father's' obsession with tormenting people and building his own little death family, but watching the aftermath was fun.

A film that does what it sets out to do without getting too precious about it.

A definite highlight at Glasgow Film4 Fright Fest!

 

[Image: Filmmax International]

Hani

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974, Tobe Hooper, Vortex, Bryanston Pictures) is the original of what was to become a franchise with the memorable gruesomely masked, chainsaw wielding killer, Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen).

Sally (Marilyn Burns) and her wheelchair bound brother, Franklin (Paul A. Partain), are travelling in a camper van with their friends, Jerry (Allen Danziger), Kirk (William Vail) and Pam (Terri McMinn) on a road trip to their old family home in the country. They hear of some odd goings on at the graveyard, pick up a psychotic hitch hiker, get some odd chat (and barbecue) from a local petrol station and eventually make it to the deserted house. Only they find that this isn't the end of their troubles as their neighbours would like to have them for dinner...

 This much copied Tobe Hooper classic is still standing strong to this day with some truly chilling scenes and disturbed themes. Although by today's gruesome standards it's not as splatter happy as it was back in the 70s, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" still manages to make audiences fidget uncomfortably in their seats. And it's still disturbing.

I like a Slasher film as much as the next horror nut, and Leatherface and his family are a truly scary bunch. The depravity of the film makes it one I don't watch too often, but when I do I have to admit that it is a creepy and unnerving film which, regardless of its age, still scares me on a base level.

[Image: Bryanston Pictures]

Hani

Stoker

"Stoker" (2013, Park Chan-wook, Scott Free Productions, Indian Paintbrush, Fox Searchlight Productions) is more of a tense, slow burning, intellectual thriller than a horror movie. And it has nothing to do with vampires.

India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) is an 18 year old girl who lives with her mother Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) and father Richard (Dermot Mulroney) in a grand house. She is an intelligent introvert who doesn't like to be touched. And something about her makes her different from others.

When her father dies in a car accident on her 18th birthday, India feels suddenly alone. After the funeral, she is introduced to her Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), whom she neither met before nor had even heard of. Her mother throws herself unceremoniously at Charlie, while India is cautious of the strange man.

It becomes apparent that Charlie is indeed more than he appears and has a very dangerous side. But India begins to find herself sharing traits with her uncle. She has to decide whether to be like him or to be something else.

A very artistic film, I found the camera work fascinating, especially the creative scene transitions. Some people might find these a bit ostentatious, but I thought they were really pleasing to the eye and helped to build the feeling that each character is trying to work out what the other characters are thinking.

The horror to this tale isn't anything bloody or even the actual violent scenes in the film (of which there are several), but the building dread as we see our lead character grow into a person that we hoped she wouldn't. It's a nice visual study on human emotions and our darker thoughts.

Not a happy film by any means, there are some tense sexually themed moments and some dark drama as we follow the film's overall theme of growing up. The atmosphere is a little mixed with the large house with servants and the clothing of the main characters feeling more old-world, while obviously existing in the modern day. There's also a weird shoe fetish going on.

But, I really liked it and would see it again! Not one for the gore-hunters, but certainly a dark and intriguing hit.

[Image: Fox Searchlight Productions]

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The Devil's Rejects

"The Devil's Rejects" (2005, Rob Zombie, Cinelamda, Liongate) is the blood-drenched sequel to Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses".

It wasn't what I was expecting, but you have to hand it to Mr. Zombie that he managed to keep up the blood spurting, degenerate momentum. Not that I was expecting anything less from him, really.

It's a sick ride as we follow Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie), Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) and Otis B. Driftwood (Bill Moseley) on the run from the police after a large shoot out had them fleeing their cosy, disturbing home.

Being known as "The Devil's Rejects" the small gang wreak some torture and havoc on their way, leaving a trail of mutilated corpses and traumatised on-lookers. But away from their base they have nowhere to hide and there's a vengeance-driven police sheriff, Wydell (William Forsythe) on their tail...

A little different in style, feeling more like a Grindhouse piece than "1000 Corpses" did, "Rejects" delivers the demented goods, but in a different way. Like most violent horrors, it leaves you feeling a bit dirty afterwards, and you're never quite sure who you were routing for....

It feels more complete and rounded off than the first film, but it just didn't quite hit the same ludicrous, twisted and chaotic notes for me.

It did have me looking forward to listening to Rob's new album though!

[Image: Cinelamda & Liongate]

Hani