Right up front, I'm going to stick a big fat "Will Recommends" on this. If you haven't seen it yet, go do so; don't read this review, and don't read any publicity materials. In fact no: make sure you have seen at least the first 2 original Evil Dead
Still here? You've hopefully already seen the film then, so this will be less of a review, and more my side of a discussion about why it was clever / great.
One more thing - did you watch the closing credits? All of them? If not; back you go... I'll wait.
Showing posts with label Will's Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Will's Reviews. Show all posts
Saturday, 31 August 2013
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Within The Woods - Will's Review
I struggle to get a full length review from most 90 minute movies, so how well I'll fair with a half hour student film, we shall see...
But of course, this isn't just any 30 minute student film... This is Sam Rami's, Bruce Campbell staring, student film, about 4 friends who head off to a cabin in the woods, where they disturb an ancient evil; in other words this is Evil Dead 0: The Prototype.
But of course, this isn't just any 30 minute student film... This is Sam Rami's, Bruce Campbell staring, student film, about 4 friends who head off to a cabin in the woods, where they disturb an ancient evil; in other words this is Evil Dead 0: The Prototype.
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Welcome to the Jungle - Will's Review
The makers of The Blair Witch Project cited the original Cannibal Holocaust as a major influence - it seems strange then, that this (supposed - more on that later) Holocaust remake shares more DNA with Blair Witch than it does with its own direct ancestor.
Monday, 12 August 2013
The Trip - Will's Review
Another tough one this week, as we have very little in the form of plot to comment on.
In the middle of a divorce, advertising director, Paul (Peter Fonda) decides to experiment with LSD. Quite sensibly, he decides to take his first trip in the company of a sober friend, John, who uses the drug himself.
In the middle of a divorce, advertising director, Paul (Peter Fonda) decides to experiment with LSD. Quite sensibly, he decides to take his first trip in the company of a sober friend, John, who uses the drug himself.
Monday, 5 August 2013
Anthropophagous 2000 - Will's Review
Oh, what to say about this one? While the original was no masterpiece or summer blockbuster, one still has to question the wisdom of a bunch of amateurs re-making it on a budget of 27p; watching it though, that appears to be what has happened.
Monday, 29 July 2013
Mark of the Devil - Will's Review
I was quite looking forward to the week's movie; it's a reader recommendation (via our Facebook Page), and it has Udo Kier in it!
Our last Reader Request was Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, while Naziploitation isn't my favourite genre, Ilsa was one of the better examples.
Our last Reader Request was Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, while Naziploitation isn't my favourite genre, Ilsa was one of the better examples.
Sadly this weeks movie is, in all but the trappings, a run of the mill naziplotation movie. Swap out Nazis for the church, the SS for witchfinders, Jews for peasants, and the Camp for a small village, and it's the same old same old.
The acting is terrible, save for Keir; who doesn't exactly give a career best performance himself, and spends most of the film in trousers so tight that an interested observer could probably narrow down his religion.
Against the stock background of people (mostly women) being tortured is the story of the Witch-finder general's student/protégé/apprentice (Kier) realising that his beliefs are not all they're cracked up to be.
Aside from that its a fairly standard 70s/80s torture movie; nothing to write home about, but not terrible either.
Aside from that its a fairly standard 70s/80s torture movie; nothing to write home about, but not terrible either.
Saturday, 20 July 2013
Coffin Baby - Will's Review
Those of you who have been paying attention will know that Coffin Baby was the killer in the "Toolbox Murders" remake, and this film was originally "TBK: The Toolbox Murders 2" (TBK standing for 'Tool Box Killer').
At some point the decision to make this a sequel was dropped (originally it was to pick up where part one left off) and it was re-tooled into a stand alone movie.
Monday, 15 July 2013
Come Out And Play - Will's Review
My reviews of late have followed 2 patterns; they have been late, and they have been short.
Sadly, this is not the review to buck those trends.
For the lateness, I can only apologise; for the brevity, I feel I have an excuse.
This movie is a remake of week 99's "Who Can Kill a Child?", and in a perfect allegory for the film itself, a full length review would be much like that one, with all the same problems as its predecessor, and any changes would probably result in losing many of the best bits.
Sadly, this is not the review to buck those trends.
For the lateness, I can only apologise; for the brevity, I feel I have an excuse.
This movie is a remake of week 99's "Who Can Kill a Child?", and in a perfect allegory for the film itself, a full length review would be much like that one, with all the same problems as its predecessor, and any changes would probably result in losing many of the best bits.
Sunday, 7 July 2013
Murder Set Pieces - Wills Review
I'm not one for multiple drafts*, but I do like to spend a while thinking about what kind of thing I want to say in a review long before I put fingers to keyboard**; I'll walk around the house, constructing paragraphs in my head, thinking about if I should mention this bit, and how I can segue from one point to another. This week; I have struggled to find things to say.
The reason for my struggle is the plot, which is unbelievably thin: A photographer / neo-nazi, captures, then rapes and kills a whole bunch of women with fake breasts.
And that's it.
The reason for my struggle is the plot, which is unbelievably thin: A photographer / neo-nazi, captures, then rapes and kills a whole bunch of women with fake breasts.
And that's it.
Saturday, 29 June 2013
Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS - Will's Review
After the Naziploitation movies from the DPP list, I think we were both ready to turn our back on the genre forever; however, a reader on our FaceBook group requested / recommended this one, and so here we are.
I will say, right off the bat, that this is without question the best (or least-bad) Nazi movie we have watched; I'd even go as far as to say I enjoyed this one.
I will say, right off the bat, that this is without question the best (or least-bad) Nazi movie we have watched; I'd even go as far as to say I enjoyed this one.
Saturday, 22 June 2013
Boogeyman 2 - Will's Review
As with last week, this will be a short review, and for much the same reason.
First, the (slightly) interesting bit; why this film exists:
Ulli Lommel was credited as director for both the original The Boogeyman, and first sequel, Revenge of The Boogyman, but in truth his Revenge credit only exists because of the footage recycled from the original. All the new stuff about the people trying to make a movie of the events in the first film, were directed by a 2nd unit director. Lommel decided that he wanted to make a directors cut of the 2nd film, and so Boogeyman 2: Redux was born.
First, the (slightly) interesting bit; why this film exists:
Ulli Lommel was credited as director for both the original The Boogeyman, and first sequel, Revenge of The Boogyman, but in truth his Revenge credit only exists because of the footage recycled from the original. All the new stuff about the people trying to make a movie of the events in the first film, were directed by a 2nd unit director. Lommel decided that he wanted to make a directors cut of the 2nd film, and so Boogeyman 2: Redux was born.
Saturday, 15 June 2013
Return of the Boogeyman - Will's Review
Man oh man, is this going to be a short review.
The 3rd movie in the Boogeyman trilogy is basically a framing device, wrapped around the first film.
I criticised the 2nd film for using too much footage of the first... I take it back. The 3rd entry in the series is probably 80% made up of footage from the first movie, albeit with a new VoiceOver.
The 3rd movie in the Boogeyman trilogy is basically a framing device, wrapped around the first film.
I criticised the 2nd film for using too much footage of the first... I take it back. The 3rd entry in the series is probably 80% made up of footage from the first movie, albeit with a new VoiceOver.
Saturday, 8 June 2013
Nekromantik 2 - Will's Review
Spoilers for a hard to find, crap sequel to a crap film follow.
Here we go again...
I really enjoyed writing last weeks review; despite the fact that the film was just bad (not "so bad it's good" just bad) there were still enough off-kilter parts that I could at least get my teeth into sagging it off.
That should be the case again with this equally dire sequel, but I fear my verve for criticising this series may have waned; as this is, essentially, the second half of the same movie.
The film opens with a recap of Rob's suicide, then carries on with the woman's shoe that we saw digging up his grave.
The shoe belongs to Monica - a new character, who takes Rob's green, shiny, rigid corpse home.
How she gets him home undetected, we do not; it remains a movie mystery up there with "how the hell did they get King Kong to New York?".
Anyway, having got him home, she slowly undresses him (he's still wearing his suicide clothes, by the way), licks its face, then sits on his unyielding chest (seriously - this is one rock solid corpse) staring at his dill-pickle penis and moaning, until she freaks out and runs to the bathroom to throw up.
The whole freak-out / Nausea thing is never mentioned again, ad she returns to her life of cadaver boffing with no further issues.
The sex scene is intercut with the introduction of another new character, Mark, who dubs porn films for a living. Just an aside, Mark is like everyone else in the movie, German; and yet, despite speaking German for the entire rest of the movie, clearly says at one point "just wait while I get a drink" in English. For no reason.
A recurring problem in this movie is that the casting director seems to have a thing for women who look a certain way, resulting in 3 separate characters who can easily be mistaken for each other; with that in mind Mark calls Monica 2, and arranges to go see a film with her (and really drives home to her about being in time).
Outside the cinema, Mark is annoyed to be waiting for Monika 2, when he runs into Monika, takes her instead, and the two begin dating.
The film within a film that the two of them go to see is a black and white art film, consisting of a naked couple, seated at a table in the middle of a landfill, eating an extraordinary number of hard boiled eggs, while talking about birds. We see entirely too much of it, and I can only assume that it is a short film the director made, and this was a sneaky way if getting it released!
Sometime during all of this, Minica 3 (who I believe is Rob's girlfriend from the first movie, given a new hairstyle and dress-sense, to look like Monica) visits Robs (still open) grave, and is disappointed to find it empty. This is never mentioned again.
Monica begins to question her 'relationship' with Rob, and decides to dispose of him (apart from his head and genitals obviously) by dismembering him, bagging him up, and putting him back in his grave.
The dismemberment, while gory, is not well done... It looks every inch like a woman sawing up a blood filled movie prop; and as far as the reburial goes, Rob's grabs is STILL open, and having filled it with blue bin bags, Monica leaves it that way!
Monica isn't the only one having relationship doubts... finding a cling-filmed, rancid, cock-and-balls in her fridge is one thing, being asked to pose as though dead for photographs, one almost expects in a relationship; but when he comes home to find a bunch of her mates watching a video of a (real) seal autopsy, he has to have a serious think about their future!
After consulting Monica 2 and a random drunk guy, Mark decides that shagging Monica will probably sort everything out... Except she beheads him mid coitus, straps a cock ring on his less-than-mighty erection, and fixes Rob's head onto the fresh body.
Which she then fucks until they climax together (yes, the dead body convulses with orgasm).
In a short 'sting' sequence, we find out that Monica is pregnant.
On a technical level, it is better made than the first one - although this is faint praise indeed. Certain shots are interestingly composed (at least in the first few scenes) and it doesn't have the 'first student film' quality that part one had (which, again, I'm not saying it was well filmed - just less-appallingly composed.
While Monica is trying to decide what do do about Mark (presumably this is when she decides to give him a head transplant) she goes for a wonder on the beach, which is reminiscent of Rob's nature walk in the first film (when he decides to kill himself) - wether this was dumb luck, or a thematic choice is impossible to guess but... Fuck it; I'm acting like this trash is worth studying!
Avoid.
I really enjoyed writing last weeks review; despite the fact that the film was just bad (not "so bad it's good" just bad) there were still enough off-kilter parts that I could at least get my teeth into sagging it off.
That should be the case again with this equally dire sequel, but I fear my verve for criticising this series may have waned; as this is, essentially, the second half of the same movie.
The film opens with a recap of Rob's suicide, then carries on with the woman's shoe that we saw digging up his grave.
The shoe belongs to Monica - a new character, who takes Rob's green, shiny, rigid corpse home.
How she gets him home undetected, we do not; it remains a movie mystery up there with "how the hell did they get King Kong to New York?".
Anyway, having got him home, she slowly undresses him (he's still wearing his suicide clothes, by the way), licks its face, then sits on his unyielding chest (seriously - this is one rock solid corpse) staring at his dill-pickle penis and moaning, until she freaks out and runs to the bathroom to throw up.
The whole freak-out / Nausea thing is never mentioned again, ad she returns to her life of cadaver boffing with no further issues.
The sex scene is intercut with the introduction of another new character, Mark, who dubs porn films for a living. Just an aside, Mark is like everyone else in the movie, German; and yet, despite speaking German for the entire rest of the movie, clearly says at one point "just wait while I get a drink" in English. For no reason.
A recurring problem in this movie is that the casting director seems to have a thing for women who look a certain way, resulting in 3 separate characters who can easily be mistaken for each other; with that in mind Mark calls Monica 2, and arranges to go see a film with her (and really drives home to her about being in time).
Outside the cinema, Mark is annoyed to be waiting for Monika 2, when he runs into Monika, takes her instead, and the two begin dating.
The film within a film that the two of them go to see is a black and white art film, consisting of a naked couple, seated at a table in the middle of a landfill, eating an extraordinary number of hard boiled eggs, while talking about birds. We see entirely too much of it, and I can only assume that it is a short film the director made, and this was a sneaky way if getting it released!
Sometime during all of this, Minica 3 (who I believe is Rob's girlfriend from the first movie, given a new hairstyle and dress-sense, to look like Monica) visits Robs (still open) grave, and is disappointed to find it empty. This is never mentioned again.
Monica begins to question her 'relationship' with Rob, and decides to dispose of him (apart from his head and genitals obviously) by dismembering him, bagging him up, and putting him back in his grave.
The dismemberment, while gory, is not well done... It looks every inch like a woman sawing up a blood filled movie prop; and as far as the reburial goes, Rob's grabs is STILL open, and having filled it with blue bin bags, Monica leaves it that way!
Monica isn't the only one having relationship doubts... finding a cling-filmed, rancid, cock-and-balls in her fridge is one thing, being asked to pose as though dead for photographs, one almost expects in a relationship; but when he comes home to find a bunch of her mates watching a video of a (real) seal autopsy, he has to have a serious think about their future!
After consulting Monica 2 and a random drunk guy, Mark decides that shagging Monica will probably sort everything out... Except she beheads him mid coitus, straps a cock ring on his less-than-mighty erection, and fixes Rob's head onto the fresh body.
Which she then fucks until they climax together (yes, the dead body convulses with orgasm).
In a short 'sting' sequence, we find out that Monica is pregnant.
On a technical level, it is better made than the first one - although this is faint praise indeed. Certain shots are interestingly composed (at least in the first few scenes) and it doesn't have the 'first student film' quality that part one had (which, again, I'm not saying it was well filmed - just less-appallingly composed.
While Monica is trying to decide what do do about Mark (presumably this is when she decides to give him a head transplant) she goes for a wonder on the beach, which is reminiscent of Rob's nature walk in the first film (when he decides to kill himself) - wether this was dumb luck, or a thematic choice is impossible to guess but... Fuck it; I'm acting like this trash is worth studying!
Avoid.
Saturday, 1 June 2013
Nekromantik - Will's Review
As very few people read these things, and even fewer of those are likely to see this movie, I'm going to feel free to use spoilers. If you think you might be interested seeing in a poorly made, dull, corpse-fucking movie; stop reading now , and go track down a copy of Necromantic.
Saturday, 25 May 2013
Army of Darkness - Will's Review.
Army of Darkness used to be one of my favorite films; in fact, I believe I saw it before I saw the original Evil Dead movies, and was initially disappointed by them in comparison.
That said, it was the mid 90's, and I was in my mid teens; With it's ramped up action and comedy, I think that teenage boys are exactly the target audience for the 3rd Evil Dead movie... How will it fare up now, while trying to look at it through adult eyes?
That said, it was the mid 90's, and I was in my mid teens; With it's ramped up action and comedy, I think that teenage boys are exactly the target audience for the 3rd Evil Dead movie... How will it fare up now, while trying to look at it through adult eyes?
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Evil Dead 2 - Will's Review.
***Spoilers for the original Evil Dead***
Many people consider ED2 to be a remake of the original; I don't think that's entirely fair. It ovens with a remake of the pertinent points of the first movie (This time the croup is gone, with only Ash and his girlfriend Lynda traveling to the cabin), but by the 7 min mark, Ash is the only survivor, and an unseen force is rushing towards him - the final shot of the first movie.
Many people consider ED2 to be a remake of the original; I don't think that's entirely fair. It ovens with a remake of the pertinent points of the first movie (This time the croup is gone, with only Ash and his girlfriend Lynda traveling to the cabin), but by the 7 min mark, Ash is the only survivor, and an unseen force is rushing towards him - the final shot of the first movie.
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Guinea Pig 2 : Flower of Flesh and Blood - Will's Review
There are 6 entries in the Guinea Pig film series (7 if you include the "best of" entry) and all of them would be suitable for "Beyond Nasty"; all are extreme gore / splatter movies, and all are nominally banned, never having been submitted to the BBFC.
However, we don't want to get bogged down in a 6 week run, so we've selected jut one of the movies to represent the series.
Part 2 was chosen, because it was actually investigated by Japanese authorities and the FBI as possibly a real snuff movie.
However, we don't want to get bogged down in a 6 week run, so we've selected jut one of the movies to represent the series.
Part 2 was chosen, because it was actually investigated by Japanese authorities and the FBI as possibly a real snuff movie.
Saturday, 4 May 2013
Blood Feast 2 - Will's Review
After being board stupid by the original Blood Feast I was, understandably, not looking forward to it's long-time-coming sequel; where the original at least had its age and relative importance working in its favor (it was arguable the first ever 'gore' movie) this sequel would have to have more going for it than a few pounds of butcher's shop offal going for it to justify its existence.
Saturday, 27 April 2013
Maniac - Will's Review
So a slasher this week - Yay! I do love me a slasher!
A very atypical one though; Maniac avoids the conventions of following a group of potential victims (a la FT13th, Elm Street) or even one stand out victim (a la Halloween), instead we follow the killer; but even for that, this isn't a "hero killer" movie, not do we understand his motives (beyond "he's crazy") for quite a while.
On the subject of his crazy, the insanity is brilliantly written and acted - this is no hammed up 'conversations with himself' insanity; this is real non-linear crazy.
As he nails each of his latest victims' scalp to a mannequin (which is his MO) he does have a habit if conversing with himself, but he switches sides of the conversation rapidly; there is no 'call and return' preformed by two distinct personalities, just a jumble of thoughts that bleed into one another. At times these little monologues genuinely unnerving, not because if any particular content, but because you could easily believe them as the ramblings of a madman.
I also found the level of remorse interesting; at times he would seem genuinely sorry for his killings, even while performing them.
It's a shame then, that the story is so straight forward, and the killings so bland; well executed (by FX maestro Tom Savinni) but dull. The only real stand-out death being when Savinni himself (appearing simply because he already cad a cast of his own head) is shot in the head, causing his head to explode in a spectacularly over the top fashion.
There are some nice quasi-supernatural parts near the end, but they aren't enough to rescue the movie.
Despite a great performance from the lead, I found the whole affaire to be a little slow; I can see why this one has been re-made.
I enjoyed it well enough, but can't recommend it due to the pace.
A very atypical one though; Maniac avoids the conventions of following a group of potential victims (a la FT13th, Elm Street) or even one stand out victim (a la Halloween), instead we follow the killer; but even for that, this isn't a "hero killer" movie, not do we understand his motives (beyond "he's crazy") for quite a while.
On the subject of his crazy, the insanity is brilliantly written and acted - this is no hammed up 'conversations with himself' insanity; this is real non-linear crazy.
As he nails each of his latest victims' scalp to a mannequin (which is his MO) he does have a habit if conversing with himself, but he switches sides of the conversation rapidly; there is no 'call and return' preformed by two distinct personalities, just a jumble of thoughts that bleed into one another. At times these little monologues genuinely unnerving, not because if any particular content, but because you could easily believe them as the ramblings of a madman.
I also found the level of remorse interesting; at times he would seem genuinely sorry for his killings, even while performing them.
It's a shame then, that the story is so straight forward, and the killings so bland; well executed (by FX maestro Tom Savinni) but dull. The only real stand-out death being when Savinni himself (appearing simply because he already cad a cast of his own head) is shot in the head, causing his head to explode in a spectacularly over the top fashion.
There are some nice quasi-supernatural parts near the end, but they aren't enough to rescue the movie.
Despite a great performance from the lead, I found the whole affaire to be a little slow; I can see why this one has been re-made.
I enjoyed it well enough, but can't recommend it due to the pace.
Saturday, 20 April 2013
Run! Bitch Run! - Will's review
Before watching this weeks movie, I wasn't sure from the trailer if it were an parody of the rape revenge / exploitation movies of the 70's and 80's, or an homage to them.
In truth, it's a love letter to them.
In truth, it's a love letter to them.
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