Indie Horror Movies

Chilling Visions: 5 Senses of Fear (2013) Review

December 29, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: Five short films based on the human senses.

My Quick Review: If you find yourself wanting to quit watching Chilling Visions after the first 2 or 3 stories, DON’T. The last 2 stories alone make Chilling Visions worth investing your time into it.

All the stories in Chilling visions are somehow interconnected, not only through their themes (the human senses) but also through the recurrence of a big corporation doing experiments and products based on the 5 senses.

The first segment, Smell, directed by Nick Everhart is about an elixir that gives attractiveness to the person using it, but has devastated side effects. The story is a bit on the goofy side and feels like an average episode of Tales From the Crypt.

The second one, See, by Miko Hughes follows an ophthalmologist turned vigilante who can capture people’s visions. While the pitch is intriguing the output is too conventional and way too predictable.

The third story, Touch, is directed by Emily Hagins who made headlines a few years back when she directed her first full feature zombie movie when she was only 13. Here, a blind boy is in a car accident with his parents, looking for help in the woods where a serial killer awaits. This short might be the weakest of the bunch mainly because of a pointless script.

Chilling Visions finally delivers with the 4th story, Taste, directed by Eric England (Madison County, Contracted). We are introduced to Aaron, a hacker going in for an interview in the same big corporation that we’ve seen glimpses from in the other stories. Once there, things start to go bonkers and the less said about this segment the better. Fans of Saw will enjoy this one 😉

The last story, Listen, from Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton (Yellowbrickroad) takes the found footage angle and shows us disturbing footage about a song that can kill people listening to it. This story is again strongly connected to the one before and culminates in a great gory scene showing what happens when a guy plays the song in front of other people.

Thanks to the last 2 stories (that deserve the title chilling) and the fact there is an unifying theme connecting them, I can say that Chilling Visions is a must see for horror anthology fans. Since it was shot on a very tight budget and under 4 days for each segment, I can only applaud the whole project and hope for a sequel that could share even more light on the mysterious corporation playing with our senses.

My Rating: 6/10

Origin: US

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The Battery (2012) Review

December 28, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: The personalities of two former baseball players clash as they traverse the rural back roads of a post-plague New England teeming with the undead.

My Quick Review: The Battery is a slow burn that will grow on you after a while.

I have to admit that after half an hour or so I was starting to look at my watch. But suddenly, for some reason I just started to enjoy watching those 2 characters on screen and having a banter with each other.

What struck me in The Battery is the realness of the situation (as realistic as a zombie outbreak can be) and how our main characters react in certain situations: for instance the masturbation scene totally makes sense considering how sex deprived you might be when you haven’t seen a woman for months, but was never (to my knowledge) addressed in a zombie movie before.

The very slow and weak zombies are also a breath of fresh air in an age where zombies seem to grow faster and stronger with each new movie (I’m looking at you World War Z).

Finally the friendship between the 2 main protagonists reminded me of Resolution, another indie gem heavily relying on a strong bound between two friends.

Obviously, The Battery can not be recommended to action horror fans or gore fiends, but if you like your movies to be about character development in a realistic post apocalyptic world, you will enjoy the hell out of it.

My rating: 6/10

Director: Jeremy Gardner

Origin: US

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Miserable Marnie & The Shut In (2013) Review

December 27, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: Miserable Marnie Strauss (17), a lonely teenage girl, lives alone with her reclusive mother, Matilda in a small town. She dreams of nothing more than to befriend the popular girl, Spencer, but the feeling is not mutual. After a cruel prank breaks her spirit, Marnie embarks on a violent rampage, exacting revenge on all who have wronged her with the help of her new friend, Crystal.

Quick Review: Right off the bat the intro to Miserable Marnie sets the tone for the rest of the movie. The music, the colorful tones, the photography all announce a creepy little tale of teenage angst.

For an indie movie, Miserable Marnie puts a lot of effort into its style and the acting is above par as well. Special mentions to Ray Wright and Suzie Vincent who play Marnie and her mom respectively.

Unfortunately, this all make it more painful when, midway into the movie, Miserable marnie turns into a predictive high school revenge plot with mostly subpar acting from the rest of the cast and weak practical effects.

While I can’t recommend Miserable Marnie to everybody, I believe Colton David Coate is a director to watch in the future, when he can work with a more polished script and higher budgets.

My Rating: 5/10

Director: Colton David Coate

Origin: US

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Contracted (2013) Review

December 26, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: A young lesbian is drugged and raped by a stranger at a party and contracts, what she thinks is, a sexually-transmitted disease – but is actually something much worse.

My Quick Review: Contracted is an exhilarating piece of viral horror and one of the best surprise of the end of this year.

Not everybody will enjoy the movie for what it is and there are indeed many negative reviews online for Contracted.

Many people won’t be able to see past some of the incongruence of scenes involving Sam’s doctor and the cluelessness of her mom and friends. If you look at the surface it feels like poor or lazy writing so that the movie does not end up after 10mn with our heroine in the emergency unit.

But I like to think that those scenes were more of an allegory to condemn the current medical system and the social world we are living in, where people tend not to interact or pay attention to one another, as much as they just gravitate around each other.

I might be giving Contracted more credit than it deserves but even with that being said, I enjoyed every minute of this journey into physical decay (similar to the movie The Fly in many aspects). Najarra Townsend is awesome in a very difficult role where the whole movie relies on her overall performance.

I also loved the ending which was quite a surprise to me, an interesting twist that gives everything that happened up to this point, even more sense.

My Rating: 7/10

Director: Eric England

Origin: US

Click Here to Watch Contracted Online Now

All Hallow’s Eve (2013) Review

December 7, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: While watching two children on Halloween night, a babysitter finds an old VHS tape in the kids’ trick or treat bag. The tape features three tales of terror, all linked together by a murderous clown.

My Quick Review: I’m a fan of anthology movies and wasn’t expecting much of All Hollow’s Eve but let me tell you now how wrong I was.

All Hollow’s eve, despite its very low budget, is surprisingly good. Everything from the music (reminiscent of the best 80’s horror scores), to the direction (this movie is extremely well shot and edited for an indie movie) and the practical FX (even if they do look like makeups or masks I’d still rather watch practical effects rather than cheap CGIs) help elevating the material at hands (which is not very original I have to admit).

And who can forget Art the Clown, the creepiest clown to be on screen since Stephen King’s IT.

The 3 different shorts within the movie are quite different in looks and stories but all have a specific creep factor and evolve around women being attacked/abducted/murdered in some gruesome ways.

The first one, was shot by Damien Leone, the director, back in 2006 and reminded me of a nightmare out of the imagination of Clive Barker. Fans of demons and other satanic cults will enjoy that one.

The second short is probably the weakest but there is something so weird about the alien invader that, in spite of obvious budget restriction, it all works out in the end.

The last short features Art the Clown in a more prominent way. Here, he is a serial killer chasing an innocent victim. It’s gory, scary and delightfully creepy. I especially loved the ending.

The main story featuring the babysitter ends as expected and was fitting to the rest of the movie.

Despite some lackluster moments, All Hollow’s Eve provides all the necessary scares for fans of anthology movies and killer clowns. Somehow Damien Leone was able to patch all of these segments together and shows that he is a director to keep an eye on. Definitively my Guilty Pleasure of the year so far.

My Rating: 7/10

Director: Damien Leone

Origin: US

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