Survival

Death Tube Review

April 19, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Titre Original: Satsujin Douga Site

Year: 2010

Director: Yôhei Fukuda

My Short Review: There are so many bad reviews of Death Tube that I was almost reluctant to watch it. Well I’m glad I did. To be faire I’m a big fan of the Saw Series and of F***ed up Japanese Movies so the story behing Death Tube was definitively tailored for an audience like myself. What rubbed a lot of people the wrong way (the cheap set, the bad acting, the bear costumes…) was, for me, part of the whole fun.

If you watch a lot of japanese game shows, you do have those funny/creepy costumed characters, funny voice over, whole people’s reactions splattered in text on the screen. Death Tube in that sense is very Japanese and very traditional in the way those types of elimination games are being played. The twist here is that, if you lose, you die, and it is being streamed live on the internet.

I did not think the acting was that bad, it’s all part of the over the top reactions found in other japanese movies or, once again, game shows. The bear costumes are really creepy and play a big role in the movie’s mood. The games are silly but interesting enough to keep you guessing. There is even an attempt at moral issues (the main character is part of the game because he did not help one of the contestant of a previous game..)

My only disappointment was within the actual deaths. I would have liked more gore or more imaginative way of killing the losers. The best kills happen early in the movies (one contestant is beheaded and another one is being drilled in the head) but for the others it is quite boring (poison, gunshots…).

Apparently a sequel was made and I have to say I can’t wait to watch it if I can get my hands on it.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Películas para no dormir: Para entrar a vivir Review

April 16, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Year: 2006

Director: Jaume Balagueró

Synopsis: A Young couple is forced to stay by a crazy old tenant, in an apartment they were just visiting.

My Short Review: Para Entrar a Vivir is part of the Spanish Anthology “Peliculas para no dormir” and directed by Jaume Balaguero before he went on to write and direct Rec and Rec 2. And it shows. The location (an old abandoned apartment building), the main character (a woman caught into a situation she does not control and/or understand fully), the scare tactics, many things feel like a rehearsal for Rec.

Unfortunately, it is not as good as the famed horror movies. The characters are really acting against any kind of logic (why not kill the crazy woman when they could) and it makes you wonder how a healthy young couple could not put more of a fight against somebody almost twice their age!!

Despite those, the pace is good, it is after all a short movie ( less than 70mn, credits included) and the potential of Jaume Balaguero is fully apparent here. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to work a little scare before going to bed, without having too much time to spend on a full feature film.

My Rating: 5.5/10

Wrong Turn 2 Review

April 9, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Year: 2007

Director: Joe Lynch

Synopsis (from IMDb): A group of reality show contestants find themselves fighting for their survival against a family of hideously deformed inbred cannibals who plan to ruthlessly butcher them all.

My Short Review: What a blast!! I was totally underwhelmed by Wrong Turn which I just watched again a few days ago. So I was obviously not looking very much forward watching the sequel, despite some positive reviews here and there.

Boy was I wrong! A few minutes into the movie, a girl gets cut in half (vertically), one of the coolest kill scene I’ve seen in a while. At that point (especially since the intro of Wrong Turn 2 is a direct copy of the one in Wrong Turn), I felt like the director wanted to tell the audience:”forget about the sellout that Wrong Turn was, THIS is how it should be done!!”

And yes the kills are gruesome and the fun keeps on coming throughout the whole movie with the introduction of interesting characters (especially Henry Rollins in the role of a retired marine turned Reality TV star presenter) and a much better insight into the Mutants family life(including a “Texas chainsaw”- like dinner scene). To top it off, it wasn’t easy to guess who would survive at the end.

So my advice would be to skip the first one and watch this one instead, especially if you’re into fun splatter.

Rating: 6.5/10

Vile Review

April 6, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Year: 2011

Director: Taylor Sheridan

Synopsis: A group of friends stop to pick up a hitchhiking woman only to end up getting drugged by her with a gas. They awaken in a locked house with another group of people and quickly find out that they are unlucky test subjects for an unknown group of experimental drugs dealers.

My Short Review: At first I did not think much about vile and the beginning was a big turnoff:

– Group of young people camping in the wild. Check

– Stop at a creepy gas station. Check

– Meet with a weird person and trust her. Check.

But sometimes its good not to know what you’re in for, and I had no idea what would happen later ( I did not even read the synopsis of Vile). I was expecting some kind of cabin in the woods movie and instead got a basic, but efficient Torture porn movie. The fact that the victims have to torture one another or themselves is actually a nice twist in a tired formula. There are plenty of good ideas, from the classic nail clipping to the more original ironing and, if not everything is shown on-screen, the sound effects take over to give us some good cringing scenes.

Unfortunately, the inconsistent acting (some actors are just plain bad) and one of the final twist (easy to see coming and badly implemented) bring my rating down.

But all in all, this is again the kind of film that gives you exactly what you were looking for, nothing more (could have done with a bit more gore and T&A), nothing less.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Wrong Turn Review

April 1, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Year: 2003

Director: Rob Schmidt

Synopsis (from IMDb): Six people find themselves trapped in the woods of West Virginia, hunted down by “cannibalistic mountain men grossly disfigured through generations of in-breeding.”

My Short Review: This was my second viewing of Wrong Turn and since I had just watched Cabin Fever the day before, it was interesting to see how my perception of both films have changed.

When I first watched cabin fever 10 years ago, I did not like it and did not even finish it. Wrong Turn on the other hand, had left me with quite a good impression. Not such an original movie but efficient in its own way.

But memory can definitively play tricks on you sometimes because I thought there was much more gore, more nudity and more cleavage shots of Eliza Dushku. Boy was I wrong!!

The movie is just another “cabin in the woods” bore with none of the little originality found in Cabin fever. No nudity, gore is quite limited (to the film’s defence, we have seen so much gore in the last 10 years than we have to put things into some perspective here). And the script is just lazy. There was one classic jump scare that worked I have to admit and the make up department did an outstnaing job on the hillbillies but apart from that, and eliza dushku, I can’t really recommend Wrong Turn to current horror movie fans.

My Rating: 4/10