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Dark Touch (2013) Review

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dark touch reviewSynopsis: In a remote town in Ireland, eleven-year-old Niamh finds herself the sole survivor of a bloody massacre that killed her parents and younger brother. Suspecting a gang of homicidal vandals, the police ignore Neve’s explanation that the house is the culprit.

To help ease her trauma, dutiful neighbors Nat and Lucas take her in with the supervision of a social worker. Neve has trouble finding peace with the wholesome and nurturing couple, and horrific danger continues to manifest.

My Quick Review: I was shocked when I checked the ratings in IMDb, to see that the average rating was below 5/10. Because I actually think that Dark Touch is one of the best horror movies I’ve seen recently.

It all starts like a classical Haunted House movie and turns into a better version of Carrie than the actual remake. Everything, from the eerie score, to the acting and the script help bring the necessary emotion to a difficult story of child’s abuse. The fantastic elements are just there to emphasize the difficulties of being raised in a violent family amongst a small country community. Here, every lies is somehow known but people prefer to turn a blind eye and play/pretend happiness rather than making things right.

Once again the worst horror is to be found amongst human and I did enjoy the ending (I’m probably one of the few) where we are left without any clear explanation but with strong suspiscions and a strong feeling of dread.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Director: 

Origin: France/Ireland/Sweden

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The Seasoning House (2012) Review

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The-Seasoning-House-reviewSynopsis:  Young girls are captured by the military during the war in the balkans and prostituted. An orphaned deaf mute is enslaved to care for them. She moves between the walls and crawlspaces, showing the little kindnesses when she can. When fate brings the men that murdered her family and the reason she ended up in the whore house, a chain of events begins that will grant her revenge on the soldiers that destroyed her life.

My Quick Review: Sometimes the true horrors in life are worse than any supernatural horror seen in movies.

Case in point with The Seasoning House, a gruesome, hard to watch look into the horrors of war and, more specifically, prostitution in the after-war balkans.

The violence in the movie is psychological first but very visual as well. Some outbursts of violence are extremely graphic (one knife fight is extremely well made) so kudos to the practical FX team. This is after all the directorial debut of Paul Hyett who worked as a make up specialist on some of the best recent Horror movies from the UK (The Descent, Eden Lake, Attack of The Block…).

Some have described the violence in The Seasoning House as being gratuitous without any strong message. It is true that the movie ends up being more a traditional Rape and Revenge movie than an in-depth look into prostitution rings in eastern europe but the director’s intention was probably not to make a potential academy award movie.

As it stands, The Seasoning House is a riveting, shocking Horror Movie with bursts of violence that will leave non one indifferent.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Director: 

Origin: UK

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The Uninvited Guest (2004) Review

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the uninvited guest reviewOriginal 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: 

Origin: Spain

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Naboer (2005) Review

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naboer next door reviewEnglish 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: 

Origin: Norway

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House of 9 (2005) Review

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house of 9 reviewSynopsis: Nine strangers, with no apparent connection between them are abducted: drugged, kidnapped and sealed in a house together

My Quick Review: What a waste of time and opportunities. What is supposed to be a study in human nature just turns out to be a supreme borefest with bad fake british accents.

House of 9 is one of the numerous attempt to make a movie based on a simple premice: strangers are locked in a place and only one will/must survive in order to win.

I usually really appreciate this type of movie and there is, most of the time, some nice gimmick to make this kind of movie more watchable (traps they need to avoid, puzzles they need to solve, difficult choices to make, one of the people is a plant…..).

In House of 9 though, you won’t find anything like that. We are just stuck with 9 unbearable people who will end up killing each other. Not one character is likable (ok maybe Kelly Brook’s but she is not even showing any skin). Dennis Hopper is laughable (why have him play a british priest???) and the rest of the cast are just stereotypical a-holes.

The advertised budget was 6 millions USD and it does not show on screen. Thankfully for the director Steven R. Monroe, he went on directing the remake of I Spit on Your Grave, a much better movie than House of 9.

The only thing redeeming this film was its last 30 seconds. But most of the people watching probably already turned off their tv at this point.

My Rating: 4.5/10

Director: 

Origin: UK

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