Ghost House

"Ghost House" (2017, Rich Ragsdale, Vertical Entertainment) is about a white American couple getting exploited by some white British people while visiting Thailand; getting themselves haunted in the process.


The film offers some visuals of both the beautiful and less beautiful parts of Bangkok as the newly engaged couple, Julie (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Jim (James Landry Hebert), explore.


Upon meeting some overly friendly British guys, they decide to blindly join them on a night of raucous partying and find themselves abandoned in the countryside outside of the city. Julie disturbs a shrine (or Ghost House) and inadvertently becomes the main target of a vengeful spirit (Wen-Chu Yang). It's up to Jim to try and save his fiancée from the angry ghost before it's too late... And maybe find those British assholes again...


A typical vengeance ghost flick that's only innovation is to move the story from Japan to Thailand. The protagonists and antagonists are equally unlikeable (except for the ghost) and the local people and legend play little to no part in the plot. The plot itself is a little wandering and takes a few twists that made me lose some character sympathy where it might have been better to make me feel more sorry for them.


The ghost enjoys a few effective jump scares, but is ultimately victim to a lot of repetition which takes away from her overall scariness. The effects are pretty good, however, and it's worth adding that, if the plot had been stronger, the film would have been more engaging. As it is, it felt a little more like bargain-bin "The Grudge".

[Image: Vertical Entertainment]

Hani

Anarchy Parlor

"Anarchy Parlor" aka "Parlor" (2015, Devon Downs, Kenny Gage, Gravitas Ventures) is a gory horror about a strange tattoo artist known only as "The Artist" who practices much more than tattooing on the unwitting tourists who wander into his parlor in Lithuania.

Some college friends are travelling Europe and have just landed in Vilnius, Lithuania. They encounter the party scene pretty quickly with some unconvincing drunken scenes, which are overly reminiscent of Eli Roth's "Aftershock" (2012), and some terrible decision making already paving the way to disaster.

One of the gang encounters the beautiful but violent tattoo apprentice, Uta (Sara Fabel, the Finnish model and artist), and is soon introduced to her tattoo mentor, The Artist (Robert LaSardo). The Artist is keen on tattoos, torture, flaying and talking at length about these subjects.

Ironically, whilst this film is making a social comment on how tattooing has went from a counterculture, individualist statement to a popular, societal norm, the film is pretty much the clichéd horror torture porn that represents the decline of horror from subculture to generic in the same way.

We have a group of ignorant, self-important young asshats, we have a foreign culture element, we have the big bad people bent on killing the group of asshats, and we have heaps of gore, blood and constant screaming. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer being scared to being grossed out. I love a bit of gore with my horror (I'm actually a huge fan of gore), but prefer it to be peppered with comedy, real fear or mystique... Frankly, watching a guy carve up bound teens whilst a hot, blonde, tattooed chick acts fierce in the background does not constitute good horror for me.

Also, "Fuck you. You're sick." repeated several hundred times loses its relevance after a while, especially when it's all in the one scene.

The plot also made little actual sense and the finished 'canvases' were unintentionally hilarious. I think I could have painted/inked better!

All in all, the effects were indeed gross, but the lack of good plot, unintentionally hilarious props and scripting and abundance of tropes used, this film winds up as just another generic gore fest.

[Image: Gravitas Ventures]

Hani

Wolf Creek 2

"Wolf Creek 2" (2014, Greg McLean, Duo Art Productions, Emu Creek Pictures, Image Entertainment) is the sequel to 2005's Wolf Creek. 

I haven't actually seen Wolf Creek, but I can assure you that that doesn't really matter. The plot is pretty self-explanatory, and no prior knowledge or character backstory is really important. 

Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) is an Australian serial killer with a dislike for... pretty much everyone. But, most importantly, he's not fond of cops or tourists. He drives a big truck (or whatever he can lay his hands on, if the situation calls for it) in which he also chops up his prey.

Two German tourists, Katarina (Shannon Ashlyn) and Rutger (Phillipe Klaus) are backpacking in the outback when they happen upon Mick. Katarina escapes and seeks the help of British tourist, Paul (Ryan Corr), dragging the poor guy into an experience he won't forget as Mick begins to also hunt him.

Well acted, suitably tense with fun special effects this hyper violent film is chalk full of one liners and is gratifyingly gory. I enjoyed this slasher flick as part of the Fright Fest line up but I doubt it would stand so well as a single view as there isn't much to differentiate it from its competition. 

It doesn't break any barriers, attempt to stretch the viewer's imagination or get too thick into a plot. This is a simple, straightforward killing spree at the hands of a xenophobic psychopath with a sense of humour and a questionable taste in music.

Fun, gory, fast. But not the best slasher ever.

[Image: Emu Creek Pictures]

Hani