Teenage

Warm Bodies Review

May 21, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Year: 2013

Director: Jonathan Levine

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Synopsis: (from IMDb) After R (a highly unusual zombie) saves Julie from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion a sequence of events that might transform the entire lifeless world.

My Short Review: Warm Bodies Left me with mixed feelings. On one hand I could not stand the many contradictions the movie had (the biggest one being the zombie hero reminding us that zombies are slow just to show us a scene where zombies are running as fast as humans if not faster) and on the other hand I was drawn in, especially towards the end, thanks to the likability factor of the 2 main characters (and kudos to Rob Corddry’s character as the sidekick zombie who is stealing each scene he is in). To add to the plus list, the Boneys (or skeletons) look very cool and menacing even though they seem to be too easy to get rid of.

There is not much gore in Warm Bodies for a zombie movie but it was to be expected with a PG13 rating and a target demographic of Twilight Fans. So, If you’re a hardcore zombie movies fan you might not enjoy Warm Bodies so much, for others it’s a safe romantic comedy with a twist.

My Rating: 5.5/10

Stitches Review

May 7, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Year: 2012

Director: Conor McMahon

Summary (from IMDb): A clown comes back from the dead to haunt those who took his life during a fatal party mishap.

My Short Review: I hate clowns. Maybe it’s because of reading “IT” by Stephen King (and watching the movie soon after), maybe it’s because of their creepy make-up. I don’t know why they freak me out but they just do.

So, of course, the idea of watching a slasher movie with a Clown as the killer was not on my top priority list but at the same time I secretly hoped that I would get some good scares.

Unfortunately (or not, depending on what you were expecting going into Stiches), the movie is more comedy than horror. There is plenty of gore mind you, and very imaginative kills but it just kinda of fell flat for me because of the attempt at humor.

The problem is it did not work as a horror comedy for me. As I said I applaud some brillant ideas, and the movie is nicely shot as an homage of the 80’s slasher but I never really got into the movie (for me, the pace was way too slow in the first half of the movie and I did not care much about the characters).

Maybe I was not in the right mood to watch Stitches (this movie is most certainly more entertaining if you watch it with a group of friends while drinking beers) or maybe it was just not as good as some critics thought.

My Rating: 4.5/10

Ouija Board (Bunshinsaba) Review

April 29, 2013 by Eric S. 2 Comments

Year: 2004

Director: Byeong-ki Ahn

Summary: A supposedly chilling tale about a 30 year old curse that is brought back by 3 school girls trying to exact revenge on their bullies.

My (very) Short Review: I don’t know if I’m becoming numb to those “Long haired Ghost” Asian Horror Movies but “Bunshinsaba” just did not do it for me. There is absolutely nothing original about the story (an old curse bring back the ghost of a dead student) and the scares (ghost with long hair, big eyes and pale skin anyone?) and the acting is much worse than your average Korean Horror Movie.

For those reasons I won’t even go into more details and just recommend you to avoid it unless you are an aboslute fan of this genre (keep in mind I am a fan of the genre and it just bore me to death…).

My Rating: 4/10

Dorm (Dek Hor) Review

April 15, 2013 by Eric S. 1 Comment

Year: 2006

Director: Songyos Sugmakanan

Synopsis: In Thailand, the young Chatree is sent to a boarding school by his father. He immediately feels like an outcast and becomes scared with the ghost stories his new schoolmates tell him about. He quickly becomes friend with another lonely boy Vichien, who disappears everyday after class.

My Short Review: I was coming into this movie expecting another scary ghost story from Thailand. After all, Dorm is directed by Songyos Sugmakanan who made the very enjoyable segment “Backpackers” in Phobia 2.

Unfortunately, this movie is more a drama with a twist (an easy-to-see-coming one) than a scary movie. After 30mn or so, the ghost scenes are almost forgotten and the story focus more on the mystery of Vichien and the friendship the main character shares with him.

Not even the very good acting from most of the kids could make up for the very slow pace and lack of genuine scares and horror. To summarize, I was bored and quite disappointed.

My Rating: 4/10

4bia (See Prang) Review

April 7, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Year: 2008

Directors:
Banjong Pisanthanakun (segment “In the Middle”)
Paween Purikitpanya (segment “Tit for Tat”)
Yongyoot Thongkongtoon (segment “Happiness”)
Parkpoom Wongpoom (segment “Last Fright”)

Synopsis: An anthology with 4 stories. “Happiness” is about a lonely girl exchanging text message with what seems to be a ghost. “Tit for Tat” is about a death curse following a group of high school students. “In the Middle” is about 4 friends going camping and the death of one of them will lead into a funny ghost story. “Last fright” is a classic revenge ghost story inside a plane.

My Short Review:4bia is an anthology movie with 4 segments. The stories are different as is the visual style of each 30mn shorts. There are some tiny connections between all of them (will you find them? ;-))

We start with “Happiness” a simple, yet effective, romantic story between a lonely girl and a lonely guy texting each other. As soon as she realises that it is a ghost at the other end, it’s already too late…Yongyoot Thongkongtoon is not an horror director but he did a good job creating a scary atmosphere around his main character. It was, IMO the strongest (yet the most simple) story and put the movie on the right track. Rating: 6/10

The second short is “Tit for Tat” and immediately I was put off by the visual style and the camera work. I haven’t seen “Body” the feature debut of director Paween Purikitpanya but if it is shot the same way I probably won’t be enjoying it either. On top of that, the story (a bullied student put a curse on the group of kids who beat him up) and the poor special effects make this segment the weakest in my book. Rating: 4/10

The third story, “In the Middle” is directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun who made (together withParkpoom Wongpoom) two of the best Thai Horror Movies of the 2000’s Shutter and Alone. Needless to say I had great expectations. I was actually surprised at the general tone, much less serious than the other 2 segments and very self referential (the characters directly quote/spoil the ending of Shutter). I quite enjoyed the story, it was a fun entry but definitively was lacking in scares from a director specialised in typical scary ghost stories. Rating: 6/10

The last story, “Last Fright” tried to bring the scare/creepy factor up a notch but was almost a total miss for me. The direction made it look like a TV movie, and would have been more suited for an episode of The Twilight Zone (the 80s version). This was another Revenge Ghost Story and brought nothing new to the table. Big disappointment from the writer/co-director of Shutter and Alone. Rating: 4/10

So as usual with this type of movies there were hit and miss but I was definitively expecting a better effort from those directors.

My Rating overall: 5/10