Army Of Darkness - Lisa's Review

*** SPOILERS ***

If I were to review this movie as a sequel to Evil Dead 1 & 2, then it probably wouldn't fare too well with matters such as consistency.   I had never seen Evil Dead 1 nor 2 until recently, but I remember watching 'Army of Darkness' many years ago and enjoying it then.  Such is the level of fog in my brain, I remember absolutely nothing about the movie apart from the fact I liked it, so I sat down again this evening to re-watch.

I was glad not to be disappointed and found that I still enjoyed the movie.  For me, if taken as a standalone movie it is excellent, but you have to leave most of whats gone in the first 2 movies behind when you watch this one as the contradictions are endless.  Ash's character (although still played by Bruce Campbell) has completely changed, although IMO most definately for the better.   Where we start the movie with Bruce in the middle ages does not tally with the situation we left him in at the end of the second movie.   Although he was sent back to this time, we left him hailed as a hero by villagers for slaying a demon.  Army of Darkness has him pulled through a time portal and kidnapped by Lord Arthur, suspected of working alongside Duke Henry, who he is at war with.

Guinea Pig 2 : Flower of Flesh and Blood - Lisa's Review

*** SPOILERS ***

I type 'Spoilers' at the start of this review, but I'm sure anyone who watches this movie, will know exactly what they're letting themselves in for as its not exactly a mainstream movie known by most people.  Die-Hard horror fans will no doubt know about this movie, even if they haven't watched it.

I saw this movie maybe a year and a half ago, but watched it again this morning.  There is no storyline here to speak of.  The movie is a mere 40 minutes long and exists purely to document the kidnapping, dismemberment, disembowling and decapitation of a young woman.  This is all played out very slowly, very close-up and the camera NEVER pans away.  Disturbingly the woman is alive throughout the entire ordeal until her decapitation.

Run, Bitch, Run - Lisa's Review

*** SPOILERS ***

So quite a recent one for review this week.  Having seen the trailer for this one a while back, I thought it looked quite interesting.  Reading the premis, you may think... interesting?? Are you sick in the head?... well possibly, but that aside, something which needs to be said about this movie is that although it is about a horrid subject matter, it doesn't seem to take itself too seriously in its style.  This movie reminded me an awful lot of a Tarantino movie in its style and direction.

So the basic premis here is following 2 catholic schoolgirls as they go door-to-door trying to sell bibles to make money for their school.  It becomes very clear right from the start that the movie is aimed primarily at a male audience, as the girls are pretty much every inch the 'fantasy' image of a school girl, complete with short kilted skirt, long socks and a full face of make-up.. having attended a catholic school, I can assure you, this is obviously not a reality.  From this itself, I didn't take the movie seriously from the get-go and I think that's what allowed me to enjoy it for what it was.  I'm a Tarantino fan and this reminded me of him all the way through.

Back to the premis.. one of our schoolgirls, Rebecca is a little rebellious, a little naughty.. just so much to allow you a good ogle at her walking around naked and enough to also point out that our other girl (Catherine) is the stereotypical 'good girl', telling her friend off for her brazenness and making her cover up.  Soooo a good little catholic girl, a virgin obviously... I wonder who our 'Bitch' of the movie will be?

Who Can Kill a Child - Lisa's Review

*** SPOILERS ***

I read the title of this weeks movie and right away got completely the wrong idea about what sort of movie this was going to be.  Since becoming a mum, I find any kind of child murder/torture pretty near impossible to watch, so I worried how I'd manage with this one.  However, it seems I was wrong about the plot line here.

The first 5-10 minutes of the movie were very, very difficult for me to watch, even moreso because it is real documentary footage of atrocities including World War 2, Vietnam and several famines.  This footage is horrid!  Not anything I haven't seen before and something we should never forget, but it's still difficult to watch none-the-less.  The footage concentrates on the effects on the children and gives the scarilly high number of deaths in these atrocities which can be attributed to being kids.  I've always found footage like this difficult, obviously because we know its real, but since becoming a mother, any kind of footage involving children is guaranteed to start me off.  Make it real and you have one depressed young lady on your hands.  The footage is interspersed throughout with an eerie soundtrack of children singing.  The tune will probably stay in my head for weeks to come (along with some of those images).  The point?  To get through to the viewer what children have been put through over the years down to us adults.  The biggest victim is always the children. Who's to say they won't have had enough of it being that way some day... and so to the premis of our movie.

The first 10 minutes and this footage seems to be the reason for the on and off of the DPP list.  It really isn't required to 'get' the movie, but it certainly adds strength to the premis.

The Last Horror Movie - Lisa's Review

So to a goody this week!  YAY!!  I have watched this movie before, but as its a relatively short one (an hour  and 15 mins) it was easy to watch again.

So firstly I have to say, I don't know how swayed I was with my opinion on this movie, by how jaw droppingly delicious the actor is.  I'm hoping not so, but I just thought I would state that upfront in case I've missed something and loved a movie that is monumentally terrible purely through the delight of a rare perv.

Anyways... back to the movie.  This is the story of Max, a handsome, personable wedding videographer who has an interesting little sideline.  The thing is... he's a serial killer.  This serial killer sets out to make an 'intelligent horror movie' which challenges the viewer to think about their preconceptions and actual real-time reactions to what they are watching.  It raises quite a few interesting questions about people who enjoy this kind of movie (people like me you could say).  Of course, its all make believe and we all know that (I would have no desire to watch something I KNEW was real), but it does beggar the question, why on earth do we enjoy watching more and more realistic footage of people meeting brutal ends?

Although finding Max so visually appealing, I still feel there would be a common thread with the male viewer.  I would be surprised if men did not find him personable, interesting and intelligent.  That's the wierd juxtaposition (if thats the right word to use in this instance)... One minute you're watching him, nodding along to something he's saying, actually starting to like this guy... next minute you're feeling all judgemental (as he himself points out) and you're recoiling from the acts he is committing on screen... distancing yourself from it and him.  Yet again, he reels you in.... again, he shocks you by his barbarity and lack of any kind of empathy.  Its like a game of cat and mouse all the way through.

The Virgin Spring - Lisa's Review

***SPOILERS ***

A movie this week I don't think I would have ever chosen to watch having read the premis.  That's the good thing about doing these movie challenges, you get to see movies, you would never otherwise have watched.

I'm not going to do a blow by blow account of the movie.  This is the Swedish movie made in 1960, that 'Last House on the Left' was based on.  Although there are very good things to be said about both LHOTL movies (1972 and 2009), this movie is an altogether different experience.  Whereas I would describe its successors are exploitation movies, this is not on any level.  Its a deep movie that makes you think, that does disturb you, but in a different way.

To start with the cinematography in this movie is just beautiful!  It is a joy to watch aesthetically.  From a story point of view its heartbreaking.  We see the young, beautiful, but very naive and innocent daughter (Karin) of a religious couple raped and murdered by 2 herdsmen when she is delivering candles to a church.  This is all witnessed by her pregnant adoptive sister and maid (who is stunningly beautiful it has to be said) and a young boy who is with the herdsmen.

Texas Chain Saw Massacre - Lisa's Review

*** SPOILERS ***

This week I had the priviledge of watching one of my favourite horrors - Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Bit of an odd way I first saw this one.  I never fancied it as I've never been a 'Slasher/Gore Fest' fan... that's not to say I don't like a bit of gore, I just like a story with my gore... something to make me think.  I came home one night quite late, switched on the TV and this one was on.  I was completely transfixed and unable to take my eyes off it.  When it finished, I got my hands on a copy so I could watch it in its entirety.

So we've established I love it.  Why should you watch it?  This movie is gorey in places, yes, but not anywhere near as much as you'd expect.  It has an uncomfortable, eerie feel all the way through.

Without going into too much detail, a group of young friends (Sally, Franklin, Pam, Jerry and Kirk)are travelling to visit Sally & Franklins grandfather as there have been reports of vandalism.  During this process, they pick up a derranged hitchhiker who they manage to force out of their van after he slashes Franklin (who happens to be in a wheelchair) and himself.  This is merely an introduction though, as he appears later with greater relevance.

They then stop at a petrol station, but find the pumps empty.  They head onwards towards Sally & Franklins grandfathers home.  Pam and Kirk are out together when they stumble upon a house where they mean to ask about where to get petrol.  We have the old chestnut of the door being open but no-one answering.  Why oh why do people always go inside?

Freaks - Lisa's Review

*** SPOILERS ***

Here we are on the first week of our 'Beyond Nasty' launch.  Fresh from the accomplishment of completing the 72 'Nasties' List, we're pushing on to other movies in a similar vein.

This weeks offering is 'Freaks'.  I knew nothing of this movie when I started to watch it, so was surprised that it was made in 1932!!  That probably makes it the oldest movie I've ever seen.  From a bit of background reading I find out it was made with actual real-life circus performers who had deformations or where seen as 'freaks' at the time.  It was commonplace to use makeup and costumes to achieve this look, so the use of real people caused a bit of a furore at the time, consequently leading to its banning for 30 years.  I don't see the problem.  Surely if you want to see these people as equal to us (which they are), then they should be able to make a bit of money from the situation, rather than a role go to a much less suited actor?  Anyways...

I loved the style of this movie.  It was indeed very odd, but captivating at the same time.  I found the story pulled me right in and kept me transfixed all the way through.  It didn't feel like I was watching out of any sort of morbid curiosity, but because the characters were real, the story interesting and I simply wanted to see how it all panned out.  Another aspect I loved was the musical score in the movie.  It reminded me of really old cartoons.

Human Centipede 2 - Full Sequence - Lisa's Review

PREVIEW WEEK:


DUE TO WEEK 63's MOVIE (REVENGE OF THE BOOGEYMAN) BEING DELAYED OVER ON OUR MAIN SITE, WE HAVE DECIDED TO KICK OFF "BEYOND NASTY" EARLY WITH A SPECIAL PREVIEW. NORMAL SERVICE WILL RESUME OVER ON VideoNastyAWeek.co.uk UNTIL DECEMBER, WHEN BeyondNasty.co.uk WILL TAKE OVER FULL-TIME.



*** SPOILERS ***

This is a movie that a lot of people will miss, as in my humble opinion, the first offering - Human Centipede - First Sequence, is so monumentally dull, so why on earth would you want to watch the second installment?  This movie however is completely different.  Ok, so it has the similar premis of the creation of a Human Centipede, but the acting, the way it is shot and the level of violence and nastiness in this waaaay surpasses the original.