Armistice

 "Armistice" aka "The Captive" aka "Warhouse" (2013, Luke Massey, Double Dutch Film) is a supernatural and psychological thriller.

A.J. Budd (Joseph Morgan) is a Royal Marine who awakens in a strange house. He doesn't remember how he got there, or where exactly he is. In fact, he can't remember much outside of his name and his Rank. He goes downstairs to find breakfast waiting for him, but before he can tuck in he's attacked by a grotesque zombie-like creature. After dispatching of the creature, he finds that he cannot escape the house. Eventually, he finds the creature's body has disappeared and a bag of chips await him for dinner. 

As well as being inescapable, the house also contains no other food than that left for him and all the books are blank inside. Confused, he turns in only to wake and experience a second identical day.

Eventually he finds some books that have been used as diaries by another trapped soldier from some time before called Edward Sterling (Matt Ryan). Sterling reveals that he also has no memory from before the house but he has been injured apparently in battle and has slowly begun to unravel the secrets of the house. Through Sterling's many diaries, Budd attempts to navigate an escape as well as to defend himself from the attacking creatures and attempt to maintain his sanity. But will he dig too far and discover a truth he would rather not know about this place? And what of Sterling's fate?

A slow burning, contemplative film that explores the concepts of self identity (and perhaps of soldiers in particular having that identity changed by their work), of loneliness, of war and of human resilience (or, in some cases, breaking point) while also weaving in some humour to break up the bleakness. The film uses its low budget nature as part of the plot delivery. Our protagonists are trapped and the setting is claustrophobic and repetitive. Both actors give a fantastic performance as they live out their endless identical days and slowly begin to unravel. 

Despite never meeting, Budd and Sterling become almost friends with one keeping the other going up until a point. And the sense of loss and betrayal that Morgan's character experiences as the plot reaches its climax is palpable. 

There are a few little plot holes that leave unanswered questions about how the rules of this prison work. Such as how Sterling is overjoyed to find that a brick he had smashed remains smashed upon his waking, but he never seemed to question his daily markings on the wall and his diary entries remaining intact when other things reset. Perhaps the house has a sense of cruel irony that the prisoners can track their hopeless time but cannot effect their prison permanently. However, the mystery of the house is well achieved and the film keeps the viewer engaged with its clever diary delivery and the comparison of both men's experiences. There's also a really clear sense of difference in era between Sterling and Budd which is shown in their characterisation but also in how they choose to spend their time. I enjoyed the clear contrast between Edward's time spent improving his playing of the piano and Budd's time making an extravagant pillow fort!

Both characters are tragic but their journeys and experiences in the house go in different directions. With Budd finding some motivation in Sterling's writings. Sterling drives the narrative and his journey is driven by a stiff-upper-lip mentality to hold on as long as possible, but inevitably this leads to despair. The scenes with the piano and the wind up to his ultimate fate are emotional.

The effects and make up are practical and gooey. As a fan of low budget gungy gore I was suitably satisfied. 

I make no secret of my appreciation for Matt Ryan, but I say this as a film fan in general when I tell you that this film is a thoughtful film worth checking out. Currently available on Prime UK.

[Images: Double Dutch Films]

Hani 

Shock Waves

"Shock Waves" aka "Almost Human" aka "Death Corps" (1977, Ken Wiederhorn, Zopix Company) is a shipwreck-cum-Nazi-zombie-survival movie.


Captain Ben Morris (John Carradine), his crew and his passengers are involved in an accident when travelling across sea. They are forced to abandon their wrecked boat and the survivors find their way onto an nearby island.


They are shocked to learn that the island is not completely uninhabited when they meet a reclusive SS Commander (Peter Cushing) who warns them to leave the island as it is dangerous.


Unable to heed his warning, due mostly to the fact that they lack any means of escape, the survivors find that they are being hunted by a swarm of undead Nazi super-soldiers created during WWII. The Commander had purposefully sunk his ship containing them, trapping himself on the island in the process. But, being zombies, the creatures have been lying dormant in wait of fresh victims...


A slow moving film that lacks the strong plot necessary to keep up momentum, but managing to be entertaining in its sheer silliness and feature a very cool setting. The zombies seem to be mostly aquatic and we are treated to many scenes of them slowly rising from the shallows to trap their victims, walking underwater and jumping into unused swimming pools. They are also decked out in Nazi uniforms and wearing dark goggles which protect them from the dangers of daylight.


I would have enjoyed a little more of both John Carradine and Peter Cushing in this film, but despite their relatively short screentime the film is still engaging thanks to our cast of hapless, squabbling tourists and final girl, Rose (Brooke Adams).


A slow film that does not deliver much in the way of gore or scares; most of the action is off-screen. However, the film is well made, enjoys some good underwater scenes and is nonetheless a good yarn worth checking out. Even if it's mostly just for the begoggled zombies.

[Image: Zopix Co.]

Hani

Jacob's Ladder

"Jacob's Ladder" (1990, Adrian Lyne, Carolco Pictures, TriStar Pictures) is a psychological horror.

Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is a Vietnam war veteran living in New York with his girlfriend Jezzie (Elizabeth Peña) and working as a postal worker. We see glimpses of his experience during the war where his unit came suddenly under attack but also started acting very strangely with some going into violent seizures and others turning on one another.

Jacob is haunted not only by his past as a soldier, but also by his past as a happy husband and father of young children, especially his youngest, Gabe (Macaulay Culkin), who had died before the war.

Everywhere Jacob goes he sees strange apparitions of faceless men and monstrous creatures and he begins to lose time. He attempts to find help from his former platoon mates, but everywhere he turns people seem to be plotting against him or being plotted against themselves... What is going on?

A feverish film filled with intrigue and deeper messages. Jacob's journey is fractured, as are his memories and the audience follow him along this strange tale trying to fathom out the real from the hallucinations. By the end we learn the truth and the journey makes sense in a satisfying but melancholy way. A truly fantastic film filled with effective imagery and certainly one to have on your movie bucket list.

[Image: Carolco Pictures, et al]

Hani

The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death

"The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death" (2015, Tom Harper, Hammer Films) is the sequel to the 2012 film based on the book by Susan Hill.

Set 40 years after the first film, it is now World War 2 and Eel Marsh House is being used to house a group of evacuee children and their two teachers, who have escaped from the Blitz ravished city of London. Unfortunately for the group, our old child-and-frankly-also-everyone-else-hating ghost friend, Jennet (Leanne Best), is still lurking in the shadows looking to wreak further revenge on anyone and everyone for the injustices done to her.

The younger teacher, Miss Eve Parkins (Phoebe Fox), is particularly concerned about a young boy called Edward (Oaklee Pendergast), who's parents died in a bombing, and who has ceased speaking. It isn't long until Eve works out that Jennet has latched onto to Edward, and is exacting revenge on his bullies. A young pilot suffering war trauma, Harry (Jeremy Irvine), also takes a shine to Eve and attempts to help the group out.

Frankly, this film suffers from just being unable to live up to its awesome predecessor. The first film was so wonderfully atmospheric, sad and had quite a surprising number of jumpy bits, that it just can't compete. For one thing, we know the history behind the house already, so there is no dramatic build up. As much as ghosts generally also stick to the same style of haunting, Jennet just seems to be going along with the same schtick but without the bite; the rocking chair scenes, for example, just fail to compare to the original.

I did enjoy the inclusion of the wax cylinders, which are a sneaky nudge and wink to another version of the original film from 1989, however.

As much as there are some good scenes, the film just fails to create the same level of creep factor and the characters are not as relatable as in the original, so it's hard to care too much when things go awry. Although, this film is not scared to axe a few kids!

Frankly, there was no need for Hammer to create a sequel to what was an amazingly effective traditional horror film and by doing so they have just successfully released a humdrum, lacklustre and unnecessary follow up, which just can't compare.

[Image: Hammer Films]

Hani 

Hardware

"Hardware" (1990, Richard Stanley, British Satellite Broadcasting, Unlimited Palace Productions, Palace Pictures, Miramax) is a post-apocalyptic dystopian sci-fi film.

The world is a mess and a war is raging. During the Christmas ceasefire, "Hard Mo" Baxter (Dylan McDermott) and his buddy Shades (John Lynch) are visiting junk dealer, Alvy (Mark Northover), when a nomad walks in with some robot body parts.

Hard Mo, being a hard-ass and all, takes these parts to his recluse girlfriend, Jill (Stacey Travis). Little does he suspect that this robot will come back to life and rebuild itself before trying to take out every human it sees.

The plot is ok and the visuals are fun. There's even some good action sequences. My main issue with the film as a whole was that I was bored. It's a shame I feel that way because a lot of people rave about it. Perhaps they see something I didn't. But I was excited to see this film in the line-up at the "All Night Horror Madness" night and by far I thought of it as the worst entry of the night by the end.

Slow and not extremely engaging , the film does benefit from good visuals and cameos from Iggy Pop (vocal) and Lemmy.

[Image: British Satellite Broadcasting]

Hani

Pacific Rim

"Pacific Rim" (2013, Guillermo del Toro, Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures) is a big budget blockbuster monster movie.

A world war begins when colossal alien monsters (Kaijus) emerge from a rift under the sea and begin to attack humanity. In an attempt to fight back, the humans create enormous robotic suits (Jaegers) which can be controlled by two pilots who have shared their minds and memories to act together as one massive soldier. The apocalypse looks set to happen... Can they stop it?

It seems like your average Giant Monster movie but I found it to be so much more than just a love letter to Godzilla or Cthulhu.

For one thing the characters are rounded and feel very real.

Even the comic relief characters; the hyper monster-awestruck scientist Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day known best for his role as endearingly disgusting Charlie in "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") and his stiff upper lipped rival/partner Dr. Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gormann - Owen from "Torchwood"); have a much larger role to play in the film than first appears and are both humorous and layered. It seems even when Charlie isn't Charlie he's still stuck doing Charlie Work!

And of course Ron Perlman's character, Hannibal Chau, just adds a creepy layer of humour and class. Not to mention his natty golden toe'd shoes. There's a bit of shoe thing going on in this film...

For another thing the special effects are wonderful and the fight scenes use minimal shaky cam, letting the viewer enjoy the action without feeling sea sick and unsure of what the hell is going on.

The whole film knits together very well and the design of each monster has a horrific charm of its own.

The acting is spot on for all of the characters and I really enjoyed that the script touches upon dark elements without being just another dark and gloomy heroic action epic. I mean, Batman's great and all, but I'm getting bored of broody protagonists with a 'dark past'...

Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako's (Rinko Kikuchi) paring works excellently and you find yourself not just routing for them, but their whole team, especially also their dedicated commanding officer Stacker Pentecos (Idris Elba).

A great switch-off-your-brain-and-enjoy monster movie with some very human undertones and one I recommend seeing!

[Image: Warner Bros. 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

The Crazies (1973)

"The Crazies" (1973, George A. Romero, Cambist Films) is the original 70s version which was then remade in 2010. My review of the 2010 version can be found here: http://horrorev.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/crazies.html

Both versions are the well-known 'infection-spread-Zombie-movie' in essence... if not technically 'zombie' movies in reality; there be no shambling corpses in "The Crazies".

The remake was good, and managed to keep the main story the same without taking anything away, simply just updating the original.

The original seems quite dated to today's audience, but it is a Romero film through and through with a good yet simple plot and some creepy costumes (mainly gas masked military men). However, often the characters are a bit dull and the script isn't the most interesting.

When a plane carrying a chemical weapon which turns people into violent, homicidal killers, crashes into the reservoir of a small town in America practically infecting the whole population, the military move in to contain the situation.

We follow a small group of survivors led by fireman David (Will McMillan), his pregnant nurse wife, Judy (Lane Caroll), and David's firefighting buddy, Clank (Harold Wayne Jones). They wind up picking up a few stragglers such as a father, Artie (Richard Liberty) and his virgin (remember that bit, it's important) teenage daughter, Kathy (Lynn Lowry) - who totally reminds me of the female gelfling muppet in The Dark Crystal!!!! Anyone else? No? Just me, then...

There's also a few other survivors, but their characters are barely worth mentioning.

David, Judy, Clank and the gang are trying desperately to escape the town, and avoid the armed forces who have been instructed to capture or kill civilians on sight. As they try to make their way through the panic, they also have to avoid the hordes of crazy infected people who are trying to kill everyone! Peasy. Oh, and also, any one of the 'survivors' could be infected, too!

In conjunction with this story, we also follow the military leaders as they try to both stop the infected people escaping and going on the rampage, and also try to find a cure. It's just a shame that in true horror film style, they're pretty much incapable of doing either effectively.

As I mentioned, the script isn't much to get excited about, and other than a few jumpy scenes and some effective but simplistic effects, you can guess what's coming for most of the film. But, as an idea the plot is unsettling. As someone who considers insanity as one of my top 5 fears, I have to hand it to Romero that this film really hits the button. Unfortunately, the lack of budget affects the execution and overall feel of this film and allows it to suffer. I also think more time was spent bigging up the military as the main obstacle, rather than the infected nutters...

Definitely watch this version before the remake, though, to fully appreciate the story!

There's a scene in this film which is far more shocking than anything in the remake! Quite disturbing.
 
Not a great Romero film by any means, but not the worst horror from the 70s by far!

[Picture: Cambist Films]

Hani