Prometheus

"Prometheus" (2012, Ridley Scott, Twentieth Century Fox, Scott Free, Brandywine) is the almost-a-prequel to the "Alien" movies. It explores the creatures' origins and the 'history' of the events leading 'up' to the classic film we all know and love.

Whilst the film was certainly not required for the franchise, and, in my view, added very little to it, it is damned gory and has lots of fun gadgets and effects to enjoy.

Some wonderfully simple and deadly creatures plague our crew as they attempt to answer that all important question, "Why are we here?".

With some deservedly fun and grotesque death scenes, considering our cast's sheer disregard for any kind of protocol, rest assured that you will be treated to a cacophony of blood, guts and gloop, but really I'd probably be more likely to stick on "Alien" and "Aliens" if I want to see any murderous space creatures.

Not exactly the most cerebral of films, but definitely worth a look.

[Image: Twentieth Century Fox]

Hani

Mortuary (2005)

"Mortuary" (2005, Tobe Hooper, Echo Bridge Entertainment) is the remake of/sequel to 1985's film of the same name.

A family move to an old, dilapidated small-town funeral home with plans to start a new life there. But the mortuary, as well as being gross and creepy, has a dark past and something sinister is still dwelling in the graveyard!

With the exception of some good acting from little Stephanie Patton, this film just didn't strike a chord with me. I found it a bit dull, and the action a bit uninventive.

I was expecting more from Hooper, really.

It's like a mash-up of the Exorcist, the Goonies, a zombie flick and a slasher film. That actually sounds really good, but it just didn't work in practice.

Not a film I'd be likely to watch again, but I have to admit to cracking a smile now and again, especially at some of the blood spewing scenes.

Image: Echo Bridge Entertainment

Hani

The Howling (1981)

"The Howling" (1981, Daniel H. Blatt, Joe Dante) is a werewolf movie.

Karen White (scream queen Dee Wallace) is a news anchor-woman on the hunt for a brutal serial killer. When she finally has him cornered, something scary happens and she is left traumatised. The killer is shot dead.

She attends a retreat known as 'The Colony', prescribed to her by her Doctor, Dr. Waggner (Patrick Macnee). The retreat is strange and full of questionable people, including some familiar horror faces. Soon, Karen begins to suspect that something sinister is going on at the Colony, but then again she could just be crazy...

A very slow start marred this film for me somewhat, but the effects and costumes are really excellent (which isn't surprising, considering Mr. Bottin later went on to make all those wonderful nasties for 'The Thing'). 

 The pace is also picked back up at the end.

It's certainly no replacement for 'American Werewolf in London' (made in the same year) as far as werewolf transformation scenes go, but it admittedly had a much smaller budget. With quite a bit of wolfing-out and some really eerie werewolf hands grasping out from dark corners, I'd rate this as one of the best werewolf films out there even today.

Fun and daft, I'm sure a lot of people watch this film just for Elisabeth Brooks' nude scene! But it's really worth a try if you're in the mood for some good, old-fashioned man-eating-lycanthropes.

Hani

The Wizard of Gore

"The Wizard of Gore" (2007, Jeremy Kasten, Open Sky Entertainment, Sick-O-Scope Motion Pictures, Wizard of Gore LLC) is the modern remake of the 1970 Hershell Gordon Lewis film.

Off-beat backstreet magician, Montag the Magnificent (Crispin Glover) performs gory tricks where he randomly selects a beautiful girl from the audience and brutally murders her on stage, before revealing her completely unharmed... or is she?

Ed (Kip Pardue), after seeing the show, becomes obsessed with the trick, wishing to write about it for his article, but it isn't long until he finds himself too deep into the 'magic'.

With some splatter-iffic scenes, a sleazy, mind-boggling storyline and more Suicide Girl boobs than you could shake a stick at, "The Wizard of Gore" certainly lives up to its cover. Although, having not seen the original, I must admit my lack of comparative capability (for now).

It's like an old 'whodunnit' with added crazy people, sleaze, blood and illusions. Maybe not a 'horror' in that sense of the word, but certainly worth a watch.

[Image: Wizard of Gore LLC]

It may change the way you see Marty McFly's dad for a while....

 

Hani 

Slugs

"Slugs" (1988, Juan Piquer Simón, New World Pictures) is a nature-bites-back B-movie so latter day 80s, you could die.

Mike Brady (Michael Garfield) is the health inspector of a small town which becomes overrun by mutated, flesh-eating slugs. It is up to him, an English scientist and his sanitation department friend to put a stop to the epidemic before it's too late.

From the rocker teens to the terrible dress sense, this film is just delightfully B-class. The slugs are pretty gross and I'm pretty sure in one scene they really do cut a real one in half...!

It might put you off eating salad for a while, and there's certainly some fun 80s gore to enjoy. Slugs have to be the least threatening of all the gross legless things out there, but this film does pretty well to make them into an entertaining 'threat'.

There are explosions, a gardener who pulls an (Evil Dead) Ash (replacing chainsaw for another cutting tool), unconvincing biting slug puppets, naked chicks being eaten alive, gouged eyes, flamboyant restaurant death scenes, buckets of fake blood, screams, a lake scene, half-eaten corpses, lab hamsters, incredibly flawed action plans and terribly 80s B-movie dialogue. What more can you ask?

Hardly scary, but definitely bad-movie fun. So underrated and definitely not to be taken seriously!

[Image: New World Pictures]

Hani

Grave Encounters

"Grave Encounters" (2010, Darclight, Digital Interference, Twin Engine Films, The Vicious Brothers) is a found footage horror about a Ghost Hunting Reality TV show who are filming in a supposedly haunted old insane asylum where unethical practices had been performed on the patients.

The team, consisting of occult specialist Sasha (Ashleigh Gryzko), tech guy Matt (Juan Riedinger), cameraman T.C. (Merwin Mondesir) and guest 'psychic' Houston Grey (Mackenzie Gray) are led by Lance Preston (Sean Rogerson) the entrepreneurial host. But now that they have their wish for some real paranormal stuff, can they survive the night in a real house of horrors?


I'm not usually a fan of the found footage genre, but I really enjoyed this film. The characters aren't much to write home about, but the acting was good, and it really felt like one of those crappy shows like "Most Haunted".

The build up is nicely paced, and I was happy to see that the terror slowly builds, not using every possible opportunity for a jump. It was like being on a haunted house rollercoaster in that I was anticipating what was about to happen, but it was still thrilling. It was really one of the best ghost movies I've seen in a while with some fairly impressive jumps and a nice spiral-into-madness theme going on.

The only thing I would add is that there was a scene that was just too similar to my favourite bit in 1999's remake of "The House on Haunted Hill", which felt a little too lifted. Although, to be honest I can't imagine how I could avoid making parallels between the films, considering the similarities in plot and setting.

Really, a fun little jump-and-boo film for a dark and stormy night in!

[Image: Darclight Films]

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]

Hani