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Devil’s Pass (2013) Review

September 19, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title: The Dyatlov Pass Incident

Synopsis: Five young filmmakers retrace the steps of a doomed group of hikers in pursuit of an unsolvable mystery.

My Quick Review: What a surprise to see Renny Harlin, a director who made such action movies as Die Hard 2 and The Long Kiss Goodnight at the helm of a Found Footage Movie.

With that being said, Renny Harlin started his career directing horror movies such as Prison and Nightmare On Elm Street 4. Devil’s Pass is also not his first foray into movies involving a mountain settings, he directed Cliffhanger after all.

Devil’s pass is similar in its settings to TrollHunter with its team of young moviemakers trying to do a documentary about some mysterious happenings in a remote place.

And while the movie is a bit too long in its exposition, once things start to go wrong, I was gripped and enjoyed the ride till the end.

Sure, I was shaking my head a few times at the decisions of our group of filmmakers. Biggest of them all is: Why would you go to a remote mountain trail with no local guide and no real experience in mountain climbing? And of course, why keep filming when something or someone is chasing after you (but you could say that about ALL found footage movies).

I did enjoy the mystery surrounding the real disappearance of the original crew and what the current group of students uncover is actually more frightening and original than all original theories.

Devil’s pass is a mix between a good X-Files episode and an above average Found footage film, with higher production values. Renny Harlin proves he still knows how to shoot action scenes and keeps the momentum going in the last act of the movie.

If you like the genre, don’t miss out on Devil’s pass it’s one of the better found footage film in recent memory.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Director: Renny Harlin

Origin: US/Russia

Click Here to Watch Devil’s Pass Online Now!

The Fury (1978) Review

September 2, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: A government agent is determined to come to his son’s rescue, when a sinister official kidnaps him to harbor his extremely powerful psychic abilities.

My Quick Review: The Fury is Brian de Palma’s follow up to Carrie and we can find similar themes in both movies, namely teenagers with psychic abilities.

The Fury is more a thriller than a pure horror movie but the topic and some scenes have a definite horror feeling. Unfortunately the movie never achieves a fine balance between action, sci-fi and horror and therefore fails in most parts.

There are many scenes in the middle of the movies that made me yawn from boredom and having Kirk Douglas in the main role is more a distraction than anything else.

Biran de Palma, as usual, saves The Fury from being completely lackluster, by creating compelling killings and “telepathic” scenes. His direction and editing, while not as tight as in “Carrie” provides some necessary thrills. But it’s clearly not enough to hold The Fury together and make me recommend it to casual viewers and horror fans alike.

My Rating: 5.5/10

Director: Brian De Palma

Origin: US

Click Here to Watch The Fury Online Now!

Frankenstein’s Army (2013) Review

August 12, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis (from IMDb): Toward the end of World War II, Russian soldiers pushing into eastern Germany stumble across a secret Nazi lab. The scientists have used the legendary Frankenstein’s work to assemble an army of super-soldiers stitched together from the body parts of their fallen comrades.

My Quick Review: I’ve got mixed feelings about Frankenstein’s Army. On one hand it did entertain me and I just loved the whole universe they created, especially the monsters looks and overall design, really brilliant stuff. On the other hand I’m on the fence regarding the use of POV style shooting, barely justified in the film.

The strongest elements of Frankenstein’s Army are the undead super-soldiers. I just loved each and every one of them and wished we could have seen more of them actually. Found footage style can increase the tension and some of the shocks (and it certainly does a few times in the movie) but it also does render the whole happenings quite chaotic. We never have the time to really get a good look at each menacing soldier and while it can work in a 1-monster movie such as Cloverfield it’s a bit of a waste in Frankenstein’s Army.

What the POV style brought to the table though, is a bit of a video game flair. At times I felt like I was watching somebody playing Bioshock or Wolfenstein and it surely added to my overall enjoyment. But this came at the price of losing focus and creep factor.

So, would Frankenstein’s Army have been better if it had been shot the traditional way? Probably. But as it is, Frankenstein’s army is a real indie gem that deserves to be watched. And who knows, if it makes enough money we might get a follow-up with even more inventive undead soldiers!

My Rating: 6.5/10

Director: Richard Raaphorst

Origin: Netherlands/US

Click Here to Watch Frankenstein’s Army Online Now!

Gallowwalkers (2012) Review

August 3, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: (from IMDb) A cursed gunman (Snipes) whose victims come back from the dead recruits a young warrior to help in the fight against a gang of zombies.

My (very) Quick Review: I can’t believe Gallowwalkers reportedly cost 12 millions USD to produce. What I can believe though is that it was shelved for 7 years before release.

GallowWalkers sells itself as a Zombie-Western with Wesley Snipes kicking deadies asses. In reality, Wesley Snipes does not do much apart from giving long serious glares and do “cool” poses.

This film could have been the start of a new franchise (the pitch sounded exciting) but it will further diminish whatever credit Wesley Snipes had left with movie fans.

Bad editing, worse acting, ridiculous wardrobe choices (that tries too hard to look cool), GallowWalkers is a big budget indie disaster. It’s one thing to want to try to mix genre and pay homage to classic Sergio Leone’s movies, it’s another thing to be able to pull it off.

My Rating: 4/10

Director: Andrew Goth

Origin: USA/UK

Area 407 Review

June 25, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: Survivors of an airplane crash find themselves within the borders of a government testing area and pursued by predators.

My Quick Review: Area 407 was a painful movie to watch, from the beginning to the end.

I just came back from a plane trip myself and the first thing I noticed was how fake the whole beginning of the movie looked like. The one and only crew member, the few passengers; at no point during this first 15mn did it feel like those people were on a real plane flying to somewhere. This immediately removed me from the movie.

Then we have the whole found-footage POV choice to talk about. Of all the found-footage movies I have watched (and I did watch a LOT) this one was the worst in terms of “why the hell is this girl holding her camera for?”. Most of the time there is absolutely no need for her to shoot people, especially when there is some action but she decides to focus on peoples faces and reaction (makes no sense at all). It never felt natural.

The acting/script/dialogue were all horrendous. I believe 90% was improv, and bad ones with silly reactions; people that were very hurt, suddenly healthy and smily in a following scene…

And let’s talk about the monster(s). That nobody points out that it looks like some kind of dinosaur is already ridiculous, but the butt ugly CGI in the last shot really takes the cake.

To sum it up, Area 407 is a crap movie with nothing in it worth spending 90mn of your time (yeah it is even longer than most found footage movies out there).

My Rating: 3/10

Director: Dale Fabrigar, Everette Wallin

Year: 2012

Origin: USA