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.

Phase 7 (2011) Review

February 12, 2014 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title: Fase 7

Synopsis: Inside a quarantined apartment building a man must protect his pregnant wife from his new neighbors.

Quick Review: Fase 7 is director Nicolas Goldbart directorial debut, a simple end-of-the-world pandemic movie that takes some inspiration in Rec but prefers to play with the genre and focus on the drama and relationships than pure horror.

But don’t worry, gore lovers will have a few scenes to keep them on their toe, while the others will marvel at the spot-on interactions between neighbors in a high alert situation.

The main focus of Phase 7 is on Coco and Pipi a young couple who are expecting a kid soon. Each line of dialog between them feels true and never overplayed, so much so, that the rest of the movie seems weaker in comparison. As if Nicolas Goldbart was more at ease with human drama than pure horror.

For this reason, Phase 7 has trouble keeping its balance and feels a bit unpolished. It is however better than a common Rec rip-off and definitely deserves a watch (available on Netflix right now).

Rating: 6/10

Director: Nicolás Goldbart

Origin: Argentina

Vanishing on 7th Street (2010) Review

February 8, 2014 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: The population of Detroit has almost completely disappeared, but a few remain. As daylight disappears they realize that the Dark is coming for them.

Leslie’s Review: “Why Vanishing on 7th Street Actually Works, For the Most Part”

When four people survive an instant apocalypse in the direct-to-streaming, horror/thriller Vanishing on 7th Street (2010), they must find a way to escape or succumb to the darkness. Surprisingly, this film has direction without spoiling the mystery. It wastes no time getting into the action, and if you’re looking for a good, thriller/horror without excess gore, here are five other reasons to add it to your queue. It’s currently streaming on Netflix, and Prime members can watch it for free on Amazon.

1. The opening scene takes place in a movie theater. This movie cheated! It made me like it before the plot even began. The nostalgia of an actual film projector gets me every time. Also, what a wonderful setting for a horror movie. The projection booth is a perfect place for bad things to happen. It’s dark and the sound of the film means you’ll never hear anyone sneak up behind you. When everyone disappears, scores of popcorn buckets and sodas litter seats, and puddles of human clothes litter the hallways, leaving the projectionist in creepy isolation.

2. No cliched love story. Spoilers, if you’re looking for a story where people sneak in sex while running from the monster, keep looking. This a supernatural thriller with several characters, and all of them have bigger issues to deal with than getting down, namely, trying not to die. The movie is more about how people react when their world falls apart, how they must form relationships to stay alive, and it’s nice to be reminded that these relationships do not have to be romantic to mean something. In an interesting plot twist, it’s harder to figure out who will die first when no one sneaks off to have sex. I like it.

3. Jacob Latimore. Latimore plays James, a boy holed up in the bar where his mom works. She went to find survivors in the church down the road, and the main character runs into him while James is waiting for her to return. He holds his own with the older actors and creates a strong balance between a child’s fear and the desire to survive. I feel like this kid is going places and hope to see his name in future roles.

4. The shadows. When a horror movie’s primary monsters is simply “the dark,” things could go bad quickly. I’m looking at you, Darkness (2002). Yes, I watched it, but only because Lena Olin was in it. Don’t judge me. I don’t want to spoil too much, but the filmmakers handle the evil force well. It’s manipulative, which makes it a more formidable opponent than I anticipated.

5. The visuals. The lighting and lens choices are perfect for the mood of this film. Neo-noir is a good way to describe it. Even when the sun is shining, the lighting projects a feeling of darkness.

Director: Brad Anderson

Origin: US

Click Here to Watch Vanishing on 7th Street Online Now!

This post was originally written by Leslie Shaip. You can follow her rants and movie reviews on her blog: Gallimaufry

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) Review

February 5, 2014 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: 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: Christopher Landon

Origin: US

The Human Race (2013) Review

January 29, 2014 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: Veronica suddenly finds herself in a surreal and horrifying marathon race. The rules are simple: If you are lapped, you die. If you step off the path, you die. Many will start but only one may cross the finish line alive

My Quick Review: The Human Race is clearly inspired by Stephen King’s novel, “The Long Walk” but has its own “spiritual” twist, or so would the producers have you thought.

Clearly a very low budget indie movie (apparently shot within the span of 4 years) The Human Race is showing us humans at their worst: when faced with death, there is indeed not much humanity left in most of us.

There is nothing new here when looking at the themes on display and the script is thin as cigarette paper. It also does not help that most of the acting is off and/or down right annoying (looking at you, deaf couple) and that the gore is mostly limited to one special effect used over and over again.

There are some nasty things on display here (especially one scene involving a pregnant woman) and I actually liked both twists (the one in the first 10mn and the one in the end) but is it enough to actually recommend this movie?

Hard to say but it was entertaining enough and a nice escape from the usual slasher/found footage/zombie movies we usually get these days.

My Rating: 5.5/10

Director: Paul Hough

Origin: US

Madison County (2011) Review

January 15, 2014 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: A group of college kids travel to a small, mountain town called Madison County to interview the author of a tell-all book on the accounts of several grisly murders that happened there. When the kids start digging around to get their own answers, they find out that the stories may be more real than the townspeople are letting on!

Quick Review: Having really enjoyed Chilling Visions: 5 senses of fear and Contracted, I had great expectations going into Madison County, Eric England’s 2nd full length feature.

What I forgot was that England was only 22 years old when he wrote and directed Madison County and, knowing that, I’m quite blown away by how tight the direction is and how good the film looks for a very low-budget indie movie.

Eric England proves here that he is one of the best new talent working in the horror genre right now.

But enough with the compliments, Madison County, unfortunately, has a lot of flaws.

While the dialog sounds natural and the acting from most of the cast is above average for a slasher, the script fails to deliver enough scares and tension to keep us invested in the characters and what’s actually going on with our killer.

I liked the fact that the town is kind of covering the acts of the deranged killer but, somehow, everything stays at the surface level and I would have loved to dig deeper in the mythology of the town rather than spending more time with the kids or the killer chasing them.

For a slasher, Madison County is also severely lacking memorable kills or weapons and the killer does not have the intensity of a Michael Myers or a Jason, or even Victor Crowley (Hatchet).

As a result, Madison County is technically a solid effort from Eric England but fails to deliver a new icon in the slasher genre.

Rating: 5/10

Director/Writer: Eric England

Origin: US

Click Here to Watch Madison County Online Now!