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Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) Review

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paranormal activity the marked ones reviewSynopsis: Jesse begins experiencing a number of disturbing and unexplainable things after the death of his neighbor. As he investigates, it isn’t long before Jessie finds he’s been marked for possession by a malevolent demonic entity, and it’s only a matter of time before he is completely under its control.

Quick Review: Many people dubbed the marked ones: The latino paranormal activity. Sure, we are going away from the usual white upper class neighborhood to some more middle class grounds but there is not much in terms of latino culture, if not for some tired cliches (the funny grandma who only speaks spanish, the gang-bangers…).

So what are we left with here? Paranormal Activity The Marked Ones plays out a bit differently than its predecessors, for the best (we are getting out of the confine of one main location) and the worst ( I did miss the security cameras from previous episodes.

The story is all about possession again and, similar to recent previous entries, ends up within the witchcraft community.

What really bothers me this time around was the actual reason behind the whole camera shoots: there is simply none. I know the found footage concept is getting tired but somehow it was made more obvious in this movie than any other Paranormal Activity before.

There is a reason to set up security cameras around one’s house to check for “paranormal activities”, there is none to follow your pals around with a camera and always keep it in your hands while being chased by crazy and/or possessed people.

My verdict: The Marked Ones is slightly better than Paranormal Activity 4 but still not up to the scare factor of the first three entries.

My Rating: 5.5/10

Director: 

Origin: US

In The Mouth of Madness (1994) Review

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in the mouth of madness reviewSynopsis: An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer’s books have on his fans is more than inspirational.

My Quick Review: It feels so good to watch In The Mouth of Madness almost 20 years since I first watched it in theater.

Back then I was a teenager and already a big fan of Horror Movies, and John Carpenter was the Man, the Master of Horror who had yet to make a bad movie (I’m not considering Memoirs of an invisible man to be a Carpenter’s movie). In the Mouth of Madness was fascinating to my younger self and I have to say it hasn’t lost much of its impact with me after a second viewing.

This is indeed Carpenter at his best and while the film is a blatant homage to horror writers such as Stephen King and of course HP Lovecraft (whose work heavily influenced the creatures introduced in this film) it also fits well with 2 of his other monsters/apocalypse movies, The Thing and Prince of Darkness.

Carpenter relies heavily on practical effects and makeup (highly appreciated in an age of everything digital) and succeeds in creeping us by giving us a feeling of uneasiness thanks to some truly nightmarish visuals (The old guy on a bicycle, the husband handcuffed to his wife ankle, the arm creeping outside Sam Neil’s asylum room, the  painting…).

if you’re a fan of Carpenter or Lovecraft or just an old-school horror afficionado, you can’t afford to miss In the Mouth of Madness, one of the most underrated gem in John Carpenter’s career.

My Rating: 8/10

Director: John Carpenter

Origin: US

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Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) Review

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friday the 13th part 2 reviewSynopsis: Mrs. Voorhees is dead, and Camp Crystal Lake is shut down, but a camp next to the infamous place is stalked by an unknown assailant. Is it Mrs. Voorhees’ son Jason who didn’t drown in the lake some 30 years before?

My Quick Review: Since I was quite disappointed while re-watching the first Friday the 13th, I had lower expectation getting into the first sequel.

But Friday the 13th Part 2 is actually a better film. Steve Miner takes the director role this time and he shows more skills than Sean S Cunningham whose direction was more tv-like.

As a result, Friday the 13th part 2 got more thrills than the original movie and better kills too (who can’t remember the spear death as well as the machete kill).

It does help as well, that the heroine in Part 2 is played by Amy Steel, who can actually act and we also get so see Jason for the first time as the titular killer (albeit with a paper bag on his head, not yet his iconic hockey mask).

And, the last 20 mn or so of the movie, a lengthy chase through the woods/cabins, are extremely efficient and nerves cracking.

While the set-up is the same, as it will be in most of the other sequels,  Friday The 13th Part II still stands as an important entry in the series, with probably the best use of the score/music and location (starting with Friday part III, there will be an overuse of studio sets instead of natural location) and some of the best deaths.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Director: 

Origin: US

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World War Z (2013) Review

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world war z reviewSynopsis: United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself.

Quick Review: Since I did not have the time to go check World War Z when it was out (moving to another country will do this for you) I had to wait for the blu-ray to be available before I could get this review out.

Was it worth the wait? Yes and No. As a summer action blockbuster World War Z check all the boxes: big movie star, unrelentless on-screen action, feel good ending, family values….

But as a zombie movie, World War Z can only disappoint. The movie invasion is here being treated on a world scale with our hero actually traveling to many different places and being confronted to hordes of zombies everywhere he sets foot.

While those scenes of quick moving zombies will have your heartbeat going faster and maybe even get your palms sweaty, there is no denying that we lose much of the tension that a slow building scarefest would provide. Impressive, World War Z is most certainly, scary and gory, not so much.

It’s also quite obvious that the movie has been cut a few times, some transition are not very smooth and we never have the time to really get a sense of the geography of each situation. Jerusalem for instance is presented as this impenetrable fortress but minutes after Brad Pitt arrives, the zombies find their way above the wall.  It seems very contrived, to say the least, that it could not have happened before.

So yeah it is spectacular to watch swarms of zombies running through cities but I was lacking the small scale tension that a Night of the living dead style home invasion could bring to us. The Walking Dead shows us on a weekly basis what is possible with one or two locations, a bunch of zombies and a few survivors.

There is a sequel in production for World War Z, but at this point I don’t see what is left to tell in this story.

My Rating: 7 (as a summer popcorn movie), 5.5 (as a horror movie)

Director: 

Origin: US

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House at the End of the Street (2012) Review

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house at the end of the street reviewSynopsis: When a teenager and her mother move to a little town, the girl finds that an accident happened in the house at the end of the street. But things get complicated when she befriends a boy who is the only survivor in the accident.

Quick Review: Unfortunately, I don’t have much to say about House at the End of the Street since it is an average run-of-the-mill pshycho-killer story.

Everything here is generic (victimized loner, cute heroine showing cleavage in tank top, clueless adults, jackasses school students, pointless friends of the heroine….) and the only redeeming factor is the presence of both Jennifer Lawrence and Elisabeth Shue. They provide strong performance amongst other weak cast members and despite a very poor script.

I don’t want to spoil much here but needless to say you won’t be much surprised or shocked by the few twists in the movie and you will wish that House at the End of the Street actually had a shorter running time since the last 30mn is an overlong game of cat and mouse between Jennifer Lawrence and the killer, that seemed to have been designed for the sole purpose of placing the camera where Jennifer’s cleavage would be at her most advantageous.

This movie was probably produced with young teens in mind as the perfect target market and is a really disappointing effort from Hush director Mark Tonderai.

My Rating: 5/10

Director: 

Origin: US

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