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Cabin in the Woods

Wither (2012) Review

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wither reviewOriginal Title: Vittra

Synopsis: Ida and Albin are a happy couple. They set off to a cabin in the vast Swedish woodlands to have a fun holiday with their friends. But under the floorboards waits an evil from Sweden’s dark past.

My Quick Review: So, this year’s Evil Dead Remake actually came from Sweden?

Wither is a gruesome movie clearly inspired by Evil Dead, with a Swedish folklore story twist. Unfortunately Wither suffers from the same problems that plagues this year’s Evil Dead Remake: plenty of gore does not necessarily make for an entertaining movie experience.

The buildup to the expected massacre is boring, most of the dialog is ludicrous (probably not helped by the subtitles) and all of the character’s decision are extremely stupid (even more so than usual for a cabin in the woods type movie).

Despite the low budget, most of the gore effects are quite impressive and add to the ick factor the same way the new Evil Dead did. But that’s about the only redeeming factor of Wither, a swedish import that fails to recapture what made the original Evil Dead such a horror classic.

My Rating: 5/10

Director: 

Origin: Sweden

 

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

Click Here to Own and Watch Friday the 13th Part II now!

 

Dog Soldiers (2002) Review

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dog soldiers reviewSynopsis: A routine military exercise turns into a nightmare in the Scotland wilderness.

Quick Review: Ever since I watched The Descent, I’ve always wanted to catch up on Dog Soldiers, Neil Marshall’s first effort. Now that I’ve seen it I’m kicking myself for not having watched it earlier.

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Dog Soldiers is one of the best werewolf movie of all time, period. Maybe only second to “An american Werewolf in London”.

Right from the start there is a sense of urgency and hopelessness that grips you until the very end. Director Neil Marshall succeeds to keep our attention on a tight budget with only 2 main location throughout the movie. It starts as a military movie, with a great cast of characters by the way, and turns into “Night of the Living Werewolf” with our heroes locked into a house trying to protect themselves from their assaillants.

I loved everything about Dog Soldiers: the dialog sounds real (some local slang might be difficult to catch if you’re not used to it) and is, at times, hilarious, each actor does a good job at making us empathize with them, the editing is great and the script, while quite straight forward, is tight enough with no time wasted om overstretched scenes.

When watching Dog Soldiers, I understood better why The Descent was such a blast of a movie. Neil Marshall is, in my book, one of the best action-horror director working right now and he proved it again with Doomsday and the episodes he directed for Game of Thrones. Now I need to catch up with his last movie, Centurion.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Director: 

Origin: UK

Click Here to Watch Dog Soldiers Online Now!

Friday the 13th (1980) Review

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friday the 13th reviewSynopsis: Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child’s drowning.

My Quick Review: It’s funny how my perception of some movies have changed over the years. Take Friday the 13th for instance. I had absolutely no recollection of the beginning of the movie, set in 1958. I forgot about the early 80s fashion style and the fact that Kevin Bacon was in the movie at all.

Now I know I’m gonna catch a lot of flak from some of the site’s readers, but the original Friday the 13th has totally lost its impact on me after all those years of watching better horror movies and, dare I say it, better slashers.

For instance a few weeks back, I watched, for the first time, The Burning which is a better film than Friday the 13th, more original and visually much more striking (even the score is better used). Yes it was made thanks to the success of Friday but Friday the 13th itself was riding on the success of Halloween (still the best slasher ever in my book).

Even the infamous iconic  “ki,ki,ki,ma,ma,ma” score couldn’t save me from boredom.

As a result, It’s probably the last time I will ever watch the original Friday but I do intend to watch all the sequels and review them on this very site. Let’s hope that when Jason finally starts his killing spree I will be enjoying myself more…

My Rating: 5/10

Director: 

Origin: US

Click Here to Watch Friday the 13th Online Now!

Cold Prey (2006) Review

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fritt vilt cold prey reviewOriginal 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: 

Origin: Norway

Click Here to Own and Watch Cold Prey Now!