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Phase 7 (2011) Review

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phase 7 reviewOriginal 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: 

Origin: Argentina

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

 

Omnivoros (2013) Review

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omnivoros reviewSynopsis: Marcos Vela is a prestigious gastronomic journalist who accepts the request of an independent publisher to write an article on the recent emergence of the Clandestine Restaurants. What started as a usual journalistic investigation, will turn into a terrible nightmare where no one is who seems to be and which will end in a surprising and unexpected ending.

My Quick Review: For some reason, I’m not a big fan of movies depicting cannibalism. But the 5mn introduction of Omnivoros just changed my mind.

The scene involving a young Dimos with his dying mon is disturbing in so many ways that I knew I would be in for a wild ride (and enjoying myself along the way).

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie never really holds up to this promising start.

Omnivoros beneficiates from an interesting backgorund story, the clandestine restaurants, where forbidden/dangerous meals are being eaten and I would have loved to see this story developed a bit more. We also never really know what bring this group of people to enjoy human meat (except for the host) and for those reasons, together with a messy script, Omnivoros never really manages to elevate its material.

Another weakness of the movie lies within its actors. Most of the acting feels wooden and nobody seems to have more than one expression on their faces. There are some eye candy for boobs lover but nothing impressive in terms of performance.

Omnivoros has a strong opening and an interesting conclusion, but everything else in between would have beneficiated from more polishing.

My Rating: 6/10

Naprata (2013) Review

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naprata reviewSynopsis: Inspired by an infamous online video clip of a son beating his mother, a television crew from Belgrade comes to a remote Serbian village to shoot a report on violence against women. Inquiring with the locals about the protagonists of the video, they encounter a local expert on supernatural phenomena and learn about a ritual of summoning an ancient demon, naprata. Wanting to capture the first authentic footage of something otherworldly, they change their plans. Excited by the prospective success of the recording, they defy the old saying that “it’s better to believe than to be convinced.”

Quick Review: Naprata is being coined as the first “Serbian Found Footage Movie” and, being a fan of found footage myself, I could not wait to see what was in store for me.

65mn later, all I can say is that this movie won’t be the “A serbian Film” of the found footage genre.

Let’s start with the good: Performance by everybody involved was convincing and felt legit for a fake documentary style movie. According to IMDb, all the dialog was improvised so kudos for the reality factor.

The folklore behind the story was also very interesting and could have lead to a much better story if we hadn’t wasted an expository painful 40mn prior to get to the meat of the story.

Yeh, you guessed it, like many other found footage efforts, Naprata takes way too long to go anywhere remotely scary or creepy. Quite nothing on screen will hold your interest until the end and only the last 10mn or so are remotely interesting.

So, while I applaud the intentions behind the movie and the genuine aspect of it, I can’t go behind the lack of actual scares or visual horrors on screen.

My Rating: 4/10

Director: 

Origin: Serbia

Imprint (2006) Review

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Takashi Miikes Imprint reviewSynopsis: In the 1800s, an American returns to Japan to find the prostitute he fell in love with, but instead learns of the psychical and existential horror that befell her after he left.

Quick Review: This segment of Masters of Horror was considered so violent that it wasn’t even shown on cable. While I’m not cautioning this decision, I can understand where it’s coming from.

Indeed, as usual, Takashi Miike does its best job at  bringing intense shocking imagery on our screens. All of the biggest american taboos are to be found in Imprint: Incest, Child molestation, conjugal violence and extreme abortion.

Miike’s camera does not shy away from all the horror on display and when an intense torture scene that will make you cringe is not the most shocking scene in the movie, you know you’re in it for a wild ride.

It’s just a pity that Billy Drago’s performance is such an horrendous mess (one of the worst I’ve seen in a long while) and that the whole film has been made in english. Had it been in japanese and the main character played by a more competent actor , I believe the impact would have been greater.

Still, with its nightmarish imagery, violent perversions and great practical fx, Imprint will stay in your mind for a long time.

My Rating: 6.5 (would be higher if not for Billy Drago’s inept acting)

 

Click Here to Get Takashi Miike’s Imprint on DVD