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Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) Review

September 18, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: The haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world.

Guest Review (Mel): I have been waiting for this movie since I saw the first Insidious. Once again I was greatly entertained with James Wan and Leigh Whannell who I fell in love with after the first Saw. I remember the first Insidious. I really enjoyed it. I loved the creep factor it exuded.

I recently saw The Conjuring another James Wan film. It had a certain feel about it, the eerie effects he uses and the music give his movies a certain feel. It’s almost like a trademark now.

Insidious: Chapter 2 did not disappoint. I loved that the movie picked up hours after the first one left off. It had the same core characters as last time. Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey and Leigh Whannel all return back to the big screen for a whole new set of scares. I loved the continuity of the movie. Most horror sequels just regurgitate the same thing with new characters. Insidious: Chapter 2 is a true sequel.

With out giving too much away, I will say I enjoyed it. I was wondering where they would go considering from the last Insidious we knew Josh (Wilson) was possessed. The family moves on but it’s like the whole cycle starts over. Specs (Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson) tracks down medium Carl (Coulter) who comes into the home to track down Elise on the other side. So they can find out who it was that murdered her. The movie filled in back stories. While digging they find out what happened to Elise and what the deal is with Josh Lambert (Wilson) and his connections with these dark entities surrounding him and his family.

As I was saying, watching Insidious Chapter 2, you will know it’s a James Wan film. It was a fun ride. I would highly recommend it, especially if you enjoyed the first one.

Mel’s Rating: 7.5/10

Director: James Wan

Origin: US

Kuntilanak (2006) Review

August 29, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: A young college student moves to a new boarding house in a very haunted area. Rumours had it that a Kuntilanak (the she-demon) lived up in a hundreds of years old tree near the house. Soon, people around her died one by one tragically….

My Quick Review: Kuntilanak, based on a local urban legend, is a very popular horror franchise in Indonesia. The always gorgeous Julie Estelle (Macabre) stars as Sam, the young college student with a “gift” for the occult, and Rizal Mantovani directs, as he will for all subsequent sequel.

Kuntilanak is a very creepy movie with quite a few “jump out of your seat” moments. Each and every appearance by the Kuntilanak has managed to raise some hair on the back of my skin. It’s interesting that I did watch The Conjuring the night before at the theatre and was not as easily scared as I was when watching this film (The Conjuring is definitively the better movie but not the scarier).

The whole visual art of the movie adds to the spooky feeling and the haunted boardhouse is nicely shot as well. The acting, while not stellar is above average and there is plenty of eye candy from the cast (Julie Estelle and Ratu Felisha in particular). The gore is low key and while not entirely original, Kuntilanak is one of the Best Indonesian Horror movie I’ve seen so far.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Director: Rizal Mantovani

Origin: Indonesia

The Conjuring (2013) Review

August 28, 2013 by Eric S. 1 Comment

Synopsis: (from IMDb) Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.

My Quick Review: I have to admit I wasn’t as impressed by The Conjuring as most of my fellow reviewers/critics.

Is it an efficient horror movie that provides a few scares and thrills? Most certainly so. Is there anything original about the proceedings? Unfortunately not.

Of course I did enjoy the 70’s settings and how James Wan is paying homage to some of the biggest classics from this period (The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror come to mind of course). He is crafty enough to give it a modernized style inspired by Asian Horror Cinema.

Therefore, the movie relies on tense build-ups, rare ghost/demon sightings and convincing performances to provide the goods, and you will find yourself looking for things in the dark more than once. But this is where the main problem lies. By not wanting to show us much, the scares are few and far between.

James Wan is improving as a movie director with each of his movie and the Conjuring is probably his best-made film so far. Unfortunately it’s not the scariest (Insidious was) or the most horrific (Saw). It’s an extremely decent hollywood horror movie but for horror fans there is something lacking.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Director: James Wan

Origin: US

Chernobyl Diaries (2012) Review

August 20, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: Six tourists hire an extreme tour guide who takes them to the abandoned city Pripyat, the former home to the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. During their exploration, they soon discover they are not alone.

My Quick Review: For some reason I had it in my mind that chernobyl diaries was a found footage movie. I had seen it in some found footage list, and the trailer, as i recalled, looked to be this way as well.

Apart from some scenes, Chernobyl Diaries is shot in a traditional way, albeit using a lot of tricks and jump scares found usually in found footage movies.

But I believe Chernobyl diaries is actually a better movie this way. The first half of the movie creates the right amount of tension and characters exposition to get us ready for what is to come.

Unfortunately, once the nature of the “monsters” who are after our group of tourists is revealed, Chernobyl Diaries starts to accumulate genre cliches at an alarming rate. What was a fine chiller during the first 45mn or so, become a generic “run for your life” movie that never really lives up to its potential.

Despite its problems, I would still recommend Chernobyl Diaries as I did enjoy the ride and never looked at my watch once which is already more than I can say about most of the movies I review.

My Rating: 6/10

Director: Bradley Parker

Origin: US

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Black Sabbath (1963) Review

August 4, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title: I tre volti della paura

Synopsis: A trio of atmospheric horror tales about: A woman terrorized in her apartment by phone calls from an escaped prisoner from her past; a Russian count in the early 1800s who stumbles upon a family in the countryside trying to destroy a particularly vicious line of vampires; and a 1900-era nurse who makes a fateful decision while preparing the corpse of one of her patients – an elderly medium who died during a seance.

My review: Mario Bava’s Classic deserves to be called by its original title translation: “3 faces of fear” because the 3 segments show different genre of horror: The Giallo, a Vampire tale and a Ghost Story.

Black Sabbath starts slowly with a classic revenge story using all the code of the Giallo (leather gloves, pan and zoom shots, a slight touch of eroticism, bright red colors…) but “The Telephone” fails to create much emotion and feels more like a draft for Bava’s next masterpiece, “Blood and Black Lace”. On the other hand, you now know where “When a Stranger calls” got its inspiration from.

The second segment, “The Wurdalak” is the weakest of the bunch. Despite a good use of the sets and great cinematography, the story drags for too long and is not being helped by poor acting and a weak script.

Finally, “The drop of Water” ends this anthology on a very strong note with one of the scariest corpse/ghost ever shown on film. The face of the dead medium had probably haunted generation of moviegoers who watched this movie. For this creepy and really scary segment alone, the movie is worth a watch and deserves a place in the Horror Movies Hall of Fame.

My Rating: 6/10

Director: Mario Bava

Origin: Italy

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