Calibre

"Calibre" (2018, Matt Palmer, Wellington Films, Netflix) is a thriller set in the Scottish Highlands.

Marcus (Martin McCann) takes his friend Vaughn (Jack Lowden) hunting in the highlands to celebrate Vaughn's recent good news. Vaughn has never hunted before and is not exactly keen to kill an animal, but Marcus thinks it will be good for him. When they reach the small village in which they are staying they enjoy a heavy night of drinking and manage to make some impressions on the locals; some good impressions, but not all...

The next day both men are faced with a life changing tragedy. Their attempts to carry on as normal are thwarted and eventually they are forced to face up to the consequences of their actions.

A really superbly made film that is not only atmospheric, but dark, daring and engaging. Our protagonists are well rounded characters with flaws and plans and personality. Our villagers are not just two dimensional characters either, with an almost "American Werewolf in London" meets "The Wickerman" vibe that sets you on edge. Of particular interest is the character of Logan (Tony Curran) who shows the city boys understanding, but is not to be taken lightly.

The film provides some shocking action that will leave you feeling a little empty and haunted afterwards. Much like the other recent genre great, "Hereditary", this film makes you think. With scenes that are expertly crafted with the use of silence being as important as good scripting and skilled use of the highlands setting which can be as ominous as it is breathtaking.

None of the characters are 'the baddies'. Everyone has shades of grey and a very human mix of good and bad intentions. The outcome of the tragedies in this film are neither justice nor injustice and none of the characters give the impression of getting to move on comfortably with their lives.

An excellent piece that is definitely worthy of your time and will question your own morals and sense of selfishness.

Thanks for the recommendation, Stephen King!

[Image: Wellington Films]

Hani 

Hereditary

"Hereditary" (2018, Ari Aster, PalmStar Media, Finch Entertainment, Windy Hill Pictures) is a supernatural horror centred around a very unusual family.


When her mother, Ellen, dies, artist Annie (Toni Collette), feels guilty that she is not sad. Her mother had been a very difficult person to love, after all. Her husband, Steve (Gabriel Byrne), is supportive and her teenaged son, Peter (Alex Wolff), is fairly indifferent. But her young daughter, Charlie (Milly Shapiro), who was closest to her grandmother, is inconsolable.


Annie and her family are a strange bunch at the best of times, but little Charlie is an unusual child with a somewhat morose interest in death. Throughout the film we begin to learn or catch glimpses of just how strange the family's lives have been. When tragedy strikes the family again they begin to understand that there is something darker at play here, and it may all stem from Ellen...


A really enthralling film that kept me captivated throughout. Although the plot doesn't deliver constant pulse-pounding terror, the characters are just odd enough and the plot just emotional enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. I left the cinema with a haunted sense of melancholy that didn't shift for a few days. I felt essentially haunted by this film! It's a feeling I don't get often, but it's definitely something I'd consider to be a good sign.


Annie is a study in dysfunctionality, perfectly and movingly performed by Collette who keeps the tension and emotion dialled up to 11 with a believable and oddly sympathetic effect despite some of the character's actions.


Shaprio gives a very memorable and haunting performance as the disturbing young Charlie, and Wolff really brings the events affecting Peter to a level that surpasses typical horror movie levels. Byrne's father character is against all odds, trying to keep the family going. The film is superiorly acted on all counts.


Although the final scenes may seem to go to sudden and extreme lengths in quick succession, as a 70s horror fan, I felt that it really paid an excellent but modernised homage to the genre.


Definitely worth catching in the cinema, it may not terrify you, but it will certainly stay with you for a while...

[Image: PalmStar Media, et al]

Hani

Before I Wake

“Before I wake” (2016, Mike Flanagan, Intrepid Pictures, Demarest Films, MICA Entertainment, Relativity Media) is an innovative film about the dangers of having your dreams come true and the imaginative resilience of children.

Jessie (Kate Bosworth) and Mark (Thomas Jane) are absolutely devastated after their son Sean (Antonio Evan Romero) tragically dies. After some time, they decide to adopt a young boy called Cody (Jacob Tremblay) who is the same age as Sean would be: 8. 

Cody is a polite and pleasant child whose mother died when he was only 3. However, Cody does not like to sleep, and Jessie and Mark are surprised to find out why. You see, when Cody dreams, his dreams become temporarily corporeal in the real world. Jessie begins to take advantage of this skill, but they all soon learn the downside when they meet up with one of Cody's recurring nightmares. And Cody's nightmares can kill...

This film has a lot going for it. Jacob Tremblay gives a fantastic performance as the haunted young Cody and both Kate Bosworth and Thomas Jane create realistic and relateable parents. Jessie is consumed with her guilt and pain over the loss of her son, but Mark is determined to make the most of the new opportunity that Cody has given them, and his scenes are frankly adorable. 

The premise is so imaginative and beautifully realised with stunning imagery and a haunting premise. The monstrous nightmare creature is also very different and very creepy. The design of the creature is creative. I love the way it moves. The twists and turns in the plot were good, I found myself thinking about the film quite a lot later on. There are admittedly some leaps in reality at the end of the film, but the full movie comes together nicely. 

Director, Mike Flanagan, was also behind "Occulus", another film I found innovative and haunting to watch. I think we'll be seeing some more from Mr. Flanagan in the future. 

Suspenseful and creative, this film was refreshing viewing. 

[Image: Intrepid Pictures]

Hani

The Other Side of the Door

“The Other Side of the Door” (2016, Johannes Roberts, 42, Kriti Productions, TSG Entertainment) is a British-Indian supernatural horror about a family tragedy, the powers of grief and not doing what you’re told.

Maria (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Michael (Jeremy Sisto) love their trip to India so much that they decide to stay there and start a family. They enjoy a life there for some time, until tragedy strikes and Maria is forced to choose to save one of her two children after a terrible accident. She saves her youngest child, daughter Lucy (Sofia Rosinsky) and cannot get back in time to save her eldest son, Oliver (Logan Creran).

Grief-stricken and guilt ridden, Maria is distant and suicidal. Her housekeeper, Piki (Suchitra Pillai-Malik) offers Maria a chance to speak to Oliver one last time at an abandoned temple, infamous for sitting on the line between the living and the dead. Maria leaps at the chance to tell her son how sorry she is, but she cannot resist the urge to do the one thing Piki warned her not to; she opens the door…

The premise is really good, standard horror fayre, but this film just doesn’t deliver. The styling is very J-horror and feels odd in the Indian setting. And the ‘evil’ ghost of the son is just too literal. But the main issue is just the plot-by-numbers style of storytelling and the fact that the story is based in India and features only one main Indian character. 

Our protagonist, Maria, is a massive pain in the ass who’s moved to India and had children there and hasn’t bothered to learn the language, make friends and even raise her children to understand the local culture. Other than using some Hindu mythology within the story, they might as well have set this film anywhere else.

Anyway, the ghosts are fun, but the jump scares are too obvious and used over-liberally and Maria doesn’t seem to react to the ghosts in the normal way. I get thinking you have your kid back and reading him bedtime stories, but when a creepy-ass ghost creature starts following you, I doubt you’d stand there staring at it….

The film just wasn’t as refined as the story deserved and came across as a cheap knockoff J-horror rather than something new. 

There were certainly good elements, but as a whole the film didn't quite hit the spot. 

[Image: Kitri Productions, et al]

Hani

Don't Look Now

"Don't Look Now" (1973, Nicolas Roeg, Casey Productions, Eldorado Films, British Lion Films) is an independent Italian-British film.It's actually based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier.

John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura (Julie Christie) have recently moved to the city of Venice after their daughter, Christine (Sharon Williams), had tragically drowned at their home in England (because the first thing you'd want to do after a water-related tragedy is move somewhere that is full of water...).

Whilst eating out, Laura meets two elderly sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania). Heather is blind and claims to be psychic. She tells Laura that she has spoken to her daughter from beyond the grave and that she is happy.

Although sceptical at first, John begins to see creepy things himself one of which is a child wearing a red coat similar to the one his daughter was wearing the day that she drowned... Despite being warned by Heather to leave Venice, John continues to search for answers, and it may not be ghosts that he's seeing...

A really intriguing and weird film with beautiful scenery, a slightly confusing, but engaging plot and a few nice twists and turns along the way. The story is really a study on grief and eloquently captures the journey of this couple's grief. It's not a horror in the usual sense, more a thriller, but has some really key horror aspects to it that make it a haunting and classic tale.

[Image: Casey Productions, et al]

Hani

Haunt

"Haunt" (2013, Mac Carter, QED International, Revolver Picture Company, IFC Midnight) is a haunted house story.

Evan (Harrison Gilbertson) and his family move into a large house in America. He claims the attic bedroom. He befriends his female neighbour, Sam (Liana Liberato), and together they discover that the house has a dark, dark past, some interesting ghost hunting equipment, some unwelcome inhabitants and...  oh yeah, each other, they discover each other.... A whole lot, actually.

Chalk full of tired and worn horror cliches, "Haunt" will spook the young and uninitiated, but will bore the weathered horror fan and annoy anyone looking for a back story, a good twist or some kind of ending....

Nicely shot, the acting is perfectly fine, it's just not a very creative film. Go watch an episode of Supernatural, you'll get more suspense....

[Image: QED International]

Hani

28 Weeks Later

"28 Weeks Later" (2007, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Fox Atomic, DNA Films, UK Film Council) is the sequel to the British zombie blockbuster, "28 Days Later".

Following the usual 'zombie' outbreak sequel formula we have a much bigger story and a lot more to deal with after the outbreak is now supposedly under control. This time we follow a small family, that is becoming increasingly smaller as the plot develops...

Sadly for the family, and also for the rest of the 'safe zone', the mother and son have some mutated genes which make them carriers of the Rage virus so... yeah... things escalate... quickly.

Much gorier and faster than the previous film it also has a level of grim that manages to be innovative in the bloated market of traumatic zombie horrors. The main issue is that it lacks its specifically British identity and becomes just another action zombie film.

However, the acting is great, there are a few good jump scares and the plot is nicely paced. I also enjoyed the presence of Robert Carlyle and Jeremy Renner.

[Image: UK Film Council]

Hani

Pet Sematary

"Pet Sematary" (1989, Mary Lambert, Paramount Pictures) is an excellent film based on the novel by Stephen King, about a cemetery which can bring the dead back to 'life'.

I saw this movie when I was 16 and I cried my eyes out at it! Seriously! And then I read the book this year (after finally getting over my fear of reading it) and guess what? Yep, I cried my eyes out all over again! On the bus to work at 6am, no less. Every day for a week! You can imagine what my colleagues were thinking!

Anyway, I can now watch the film without the aid of tissues. See, the story is so sad! And after reading King's explanation of his inspiration for the plot, I can see why it must have been a traumatic book for him to write! (Basically, he moved into the house pretty much described in the novel and almost lived the events of it! And being Stephen King, he drew on the aspect of the creepy little pet cemetery which was nearby).

A truly chilling tale, even for childless and free-living me, this film (and the novel, too), not only plays on the gory deaths, ghosts, 'zombies' and creepy woods, but also on the basic human instinct to protect the things and the ones we love. Can anyone really blame Louis for his actions?

Well, to cut a long story short, Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) finds his idyllic life in the Maine countryside with his wife Rachel (Denise Crosby), daughter Ellie (Blaze Berdhall) and baby son Gage (Miko Hughes),  is turned upside down by a tragic accident. Accidentally given way too much inspiration by friendly and lonely old neighbour, Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne - yes, Mr. Munster himself!), Louis sees there is only one solution to his terrible predicament! Of course, it will totally work out fine and no one will get hurt at all! Yup....

This film isn't long at only 98mins, and keeps your attention very well. Just like in the book, you begin to like some of the characters, and you enjoy the little happy family scenes. It lulls you in to a sense of happiness before it brings in the horror, and that's what makes the plot work. You experience the shock and the slow build up of dread with the characters almost in a 'real time' way.

Of course, there's some jolts to keep you interested along the way. Some brutal deaths, gory ghosts, scary babies and a pretty unfriendly cat to mention a few. This film had me upset as a teen, and I appreciate it for that. While it's not jump-out-of-your-seat scary, it's creepy and has some excellent gore scenes that still give me the shudders now!

Definitely one of the best King adaptations, he wrote the screenplay, and it shows! It follows the book's plot faithfully. The only thing I think I missed in comparison to the book is some of the character development. Louis isn't as rounded a character, and you don't get the lovely bonding scenes between the old man and young man. But I've never found a film that could convey as much as a good story can, and I think this film is fantastic! It's most certainly worth your time!

[Image: Paramount Pictures]

"Sometimes, dead is better!"

Hani