Horror Movie Reviews

You will find on this page all the latest Horror Movie Reviews. My reviews are usually short and avoid spoilers. The idea is to give you a quick feedback on whether I believe a movie is worth watching or not.

Feel free to agree and disagree in the comments or submit your own reviews.

The Uninvited Guest (2004) Review

September 28, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title: “El Habitante Incierto”

Synopsis: (from IMDb) What if … you let a stranger into your house to use your phone, but while you’ve been patiently waiting in the kitchen, he just disappears … or does he?

My Quick Review: What a weird movie. The uninvited Guest can’t really be classified as a “horror movie” in the traditional sense of the term.

With that being said, the nightmarish state in which the main character spends the whole movie, and the very dark ending could justify it.

The uninvited Guest is a minimalist movie that takes full advantage of its settings and is brilliantly directed by Guillem Morales. Thanks to smart editing and voyeuristic shots, the young spanish director manages to put us into Felix’s shoes while he is slowly losing his mind.

Our hero is a very flawed man and, at times, it’s even difficult to root for him. After all he is very weak, child-like and can’t manage to face his fears/demons straight ahead. Because of those flaws, there can’t be a happy ending for him.

My Rating: 6/10

Director: Guillem Morales

Origin: Spain

Click Here to Own and Watch The Uninvited Guest Now!

Body Double (1984) Review

September 25, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: A young actor’s obsession with spying on a beautiful woman who lives nearby leads to a baffling series of events with drastic consequences.

My Quick Review: I have recently decided to revisit some Brian de Palma’s horror/thriller movies that I haven’t watched since I was a kid/teenager. Most of the time as you grow up, your perception or appreciation of certain movies change. It was the case with the Fury (very disappointing rewatch) and it’s the same with Body Double, a failed attempt by De Palma to mimic 2 Hitchcock’s classic: Vertigo and Rear Window.

I first watched this movie when I was about 13 years old. I was aroused by the eroticsm of the borderline softcore story , impressed by the main killing scene and shocked by the ending.

More than 20 years later, there is almost nothing left to please me anymore. The script is quite weak and drag for too long (especially with the foot chase scene in the middle that just would not end), the acting is weak (especially Craig Wasson as the lead man), the makeup risible (as a kid The Indian impressed me, not so much today) and you can see the ending coming from miles away.

Only 80’s nostalgic will find many things to be happy about (the fashion, the music, the whole movie’s mood), everybody else would spend their time better revisiting some other De Palma’s classics.

My Rating: 5/10

Director: Brian De Palma

Origin: US

Click Here to Own and Watch Body Double Now!

Naboer (2005) Review

September 24, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

English Title: Next Door

Synopsis (from IMDb): John has just been left by his girlfriend Ingrid. That day he allows himself to be seduced into a mystical and scary world, where it is impossible to separate truth from the lies

My Quick Review: I have to admit that on second viewings, Naboer left me perplexed. I had forgotten that I already watched this film a few years back. On one hand I remember now that I found Naboer to be great, but if I had all but forgotten about it, maybe it wasn’t so memorable.

The truth lies in between.Thanks to great performances from the 3 main actors and a great use of the sets on display, Naboer is a captivating movie with a couple of disturbing scenes that won’t release its tense grip until the end credits are on screen (and with a quick 75mn running time, there is no time to have a look at your watch).

On the other hand, the biggest fault of Naboer script is that it tries to be smarter than it actually is. Using some visual clues and some key dialogues, director Pal Sletaune wants to play with the audience while showing off big time.

I would of course still recommend the movie to fans of psychological thrillers, John’s descent into madness is indeed an enticing ride worth spending 75mn.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Director: Pål Sletaune

Origin: Norway

Click Here to Watch and Own Naboer (Next Door) Now!

A Horrible Way to Die

September 22, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: An escaped murderer is in pursuit of his ex-girlfriend, who has fled to start a new life in a small town.

My Quick Review: I’ve seen reviews using the title of the movie to do bad puns such as “A horrible way to shoot a movie”.

Unfortunately I have to agree with them. What starts as a cool indie movie with character turns into a mess a movie student would make to show off some pretentious, supposedly artsy, shots.

After one hour I could not bear the shaky camera and out of focus shots. There was no reason to use those for 95% of the movie. It really was (bad) style over substance.

It’s a pity because the script was actually quite interesting and the actors pulled more than decent performances. The ending, while predictable, manages to salvage part of the film as well.

Director Adam Wingard, and writer Simon Barrett went on to make You’re Next and the V/H/S series, so I’m guessing/hoping they were still experimenting with their style in A Horrible Way to Die. I made it through the whole movie, but I don’t think many will do the same.

My Rating: 4.5/10

Director: Adam Wingard

Origin: US

Click Here to Own and Watch A Horrible Way to Die

Cold Prey (2006) Review

September 21, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title: Fritt Vilt

Synopsis: 5 young people are on a snowboarding vacation in Jotunheimen. They are forced to take shelter in an abandoned hotel when one of them breaks his leg and their car is too far away for them to reach within nightfall. Unknown to them, someone is still living in the hotel, and getting home, or even surviving the stay, isn’t as easy as they believe

My Quick Review: After Devil’s Pass I wanted to watch another movie set in snowy mountains. And since I had never watched the Cold Prey movies, I thought it would be fitting to start with the first one tonight.

The very first thing I noted on my notebook was “broken leg ripoff”. If you watch Devil’s Pass you will notice that they have the exact same “broken leg” scene (even the dialogue is the same) in both movies. Cold prey being the older movie, we know who copied whom.

OK, so, Fritt Vilt might be better shot and have better actors than your average slasher but I still don’t get the “hype” surrounding it. It it was an amemrican film, would the reviews have been harsher?

There is indeed very little gore, only a few kills, all of them unimpressive, I was never surprised or shocked. Thankfully, the cinematography is gorgeous and the production values higher than usual for a slasher movie.

Cold Prey disappoints and is IMO overrated. With that said, it’s a slasher film that follows the rules of the genre quite well. It might be refreshing for those tired of all the gimmicks and endless twists of the post-Scream slashers. Nothing groundbreaking though.

My Rating: 5.5/10

Director: Roar Uthaug

Origin: Norway

Click Here to Own and Watch Cold Prey Now!