Director: Benni Diez

Writer: Adam Aresty (Screenplay)

Starring: Matt O’Leary, Jessica Cook, Lance Henriksen, Clifton Collins Jr, Cecilia Pillado

Plot: A fancy garden party turns into upper class prey when a colony of killer wasps mutates into seven foot tall predators.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Fun Little Creature Feature

Story: Stung starts as Julia (Cook) taking over the family business takes her employee Paul (O’Leary) to a fancy garden party for the Perch family. Paul notices there are extremely large wasps around this garden party. This gives us a chance to meet the colourful characters at this party including Mayor Caruthers (Henriksen) and the son of the house Sydney (Collins Jr).

When the wasps invade the party they start stinging the guest who then turn into giant mutant wasps, the few remaining survivors must hide, sneak and fight to survive against this deadly enemy in creature feature 101.

Thoughts on Stung

Characters/Performance – Julia is the owner of the catering company having taken over from her father, she is desperate to make sure it is a success which shows us just how determined she is. Paul is the laid-back employee that just wants a pay day but he will soon become the strongest opponent against the wasps. Caruthers is the mayor of the town, he isn’t that interested in being at the party but willing to fight to save the people. The rest of the characters are all colourful in their own way.

Performance wise, Matt O’Leary is good in the leading role show he has come from the child actor well, Jessica Book is good in her role too and we know Lance Henriksen will be a draw to this film whatever happens to him.

Story – Diving into the story we don’t have anything overly difficult to go through here, we have survivors facing off against giant wasps as we follow our plucky survivor’s truths come out about what caused the mutated wasps. It isn’t anything complicated and is as simple as you need it to be.

Comedy/Horror – The level of horror works for the comedy without the film being a laugh a minute style of comedy, the film completely understands the mix between the two.

Settings – Fancy dinner party away from the world makes for good setting, we also have the standard ideas of having no communication to the outside world giving us the isolation we need.

Special Effects – All the effects are mixed, the CGI does come off clear but the practical effects all look great.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun creature feature that can be enjoyed by all, it is big, crazy and original in places.

Overall: Creature Feature Fans Watch

Rating

Director: Carles Torrens

Writer: Jeremy Slater (Screenplay)

Starring: Dominic Monaghan, Ksenia Solo, Jennette McCurdy, Da’Vone McDonald, Nathan Parsons, Janet Song, Gary J Tunnucliffe

Plot: A psychological thriller about a man who bumps into an old crush and subsequently becomes obsessed with her, leading him to hold her captive underneath the animal shelter where he works. But what will the victim have in store for her captor?

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Horror Film with a Twist

Story: Pet starts as we meet social awkward animal control warden Seth (Monaghan), he works at the local animal shelter where he connects with the animals more than the people. When Seth sees an old crush Holly (Solo) on the bus he enters her life in a harmless at first stalker way, turning up at her work, her ex-boyfriends bar before her home.

After constantly getting rejected and treated like a freak Seth decides to take things to a new level, by building a cage under the animal shelter. Seth abducts Holly locking her in the cage where no one can hear her, making her his own pet, so he can have the relationship he believes they have in his head as things take a twist along the way.

Thoughts on Pet

Characters/Performance – Seth is the social awkward animal control warden who has never been any good with women but when he meets old school crush Holly, he decides to take her and try and save her so they can be together. Holly is the quiet waitress that Seth has a crush on, she recently broke up with her boyfriend but once she is captured we see a darker side to her character which helps take the film in a new direction. Claire is the best friend of Holly that helps her through decisions even when she is trapped in the cage.

Performance wise, Dominic Monaghan is good in this leading role where it becomes clear he is following Elijah Wood’s decision making by going into horror, even if the accent is slightly off at times. Ksenia Solo is good through the film as the potential victim but does a good job in the twist on the story.

Story – The story follows what seems to be an awkward young man who abducts a victim to force her to fall in love with him, but the story does take a massive twist that makes it a psychological thriller as the two try to gain control of the situation and we are left wondering just how far this will go.

Horror – The horror element is clear, girl get taken locked in cage by man, but it takes a turn as we learn more about the characters involved which shows how far people will go for love.

Settings – The cage is under an animal shelter which does make for a brilliant setting because no one could hear her scream but the way the story goes leaves us wondering about the location needing to be that important.

Special Effects – The effects are good when needed but are not overly important to the story.

Scene of the Movie – The moment one of the other employees discovers the cage and Holly.

I always get annoyed by one thing in a movie, this is that moment – I would say the police are incredible naïve here, they are watching cameras and never search every single possible room in the shelter when looking for the missing employee, this seems like a must do if they don’t believe they ever left.

Final Thoughts – This is a good horror that gives us a good surprise with the twist, the lead acting is strong throughout even if the supporting cast don’t get enough screen time, it is one to watch and be left shocked by.

Overall: Twist filled horror gem.

Rating

Opinion Battles Results

Least Favourite Book Adaptation

This round we have had an excellent selection of Bad Book Adaptations but just which one was the most popular?

3^rd

Choice – Angels and Demons & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Players – Darren, Table 9 Mutant

Points – 1.5

2^nd

Choice – Eragon

Players – S.G. Liput

Points – 6

1^st

Choice – Alice in Wonderland

Players – Rachel

Points – 12

If you want to take part in the next round, we are looking at our First Choices for a Halloween Movie Marathon

send you choices to moviereviews101@yahoo.co.uk.

Closing Date – Saturday 28^th October 2017

Here is the table, (Drew – Drew’s Movie Reviews, Kim – Tranquil Dreams, J – Film & Nuance, Cinema Parrot Disco, Rob – Movie Rob, Damien Riley – Riley Film Reviews, Emma – Emma Explains It All, S.G. Liput – Rhyme and Reason, Rachel – 54 Disney Reviews, Tom – Plain Simple Tom Reviews, Kira – Film and Tv 101, Allie – Often Off Topic, Ben – Views From The Sofa, Mike – screenkickermovies.com, Carl Wonders – Listening to Film) can anyone take this league by storm like last year?

Director: Christopher Landon

Writer: Scott Lobdell (Screenplay)

Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Charles Aitken, Laura Clifton, Jason Bayle, Rob Mello

Plot: A college student relives the day of her murder with both its unexceptional details and terrifying end until she discovers her killer’s identity.

Tagline – Get Up. Live Your Day. Get Killed. Again.

Runtime: 1 Hour 36 Minutes

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Watchable Slasher Repeat

Story: Happy Death Day starts as Tree (Rothe) wakes in Carter’s (Broussard) dorm room after a heavy night of drinking, completing the walk of shame she goes about her college day, turn up for a moment in class and getting ready to party, only she ends up getting murdered by a masked man.

This should be over right, no, Tree reawakens in Carter’s room being forced to repeat the day, including her death. After being killed a couple of times she gets the idea of trying to solve her murder which brings a series of different murders where she starts to learn what she must do to make it out of the loop.

Thoughts on Happy Death Day

Characters – Tree is the stuck up college student that believes she is above everyone, she treats people badly while having an affair with her professor. When she gets murdered she must re-live the day over and over, where she must learn to be a better person. This character is designed well because you are meant to hate her at the start because she needs to learn the lessons in life to make it out of her loop. Carter is the one guy that Tree turns to for help, he gives the help needed to make it through the day. The rest of the cast seem to be potential suspects who Tree has rubbed the wrong way.

Performances – Jessica Rothe is solid in the leading role, she is in every scene because it her character’s story is learning as we do too. Israel Broussard is solid in the supporting role as are the rest of the cast, no one really shines through.

Story – The story follows one person who must repeat the murder day until they learn who is the one murdering them. The idea is basically Groundhog Day with a slasher twist which is fine to watch, but this is the beginning of the problems in the film, as the murder takes place in different locations which is a problem as it makes the film feel like the killer hadn’t been playing as well as first time, which once it is all set and done, the idea was that the killer had planned this day for a reason not making it random.

Horror/Mystery – The horror in this film is very tame slasher material without any blood or gore. The mystery is about trying to solve who is the one murdering them which is fun to watch unfold.

Settings – The film is set in and around college campus which shows how Tree must use her location to solve who killed her believing the suspect is on campus.

Special Effects – The effects are soft when it comes to the kills which disappoints.

Scene of the Movie – The good day.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The killer seems to be designed as planned but acts spontaneous.

Final Thoughts – This is a simple fun horror slasher, it is easy to watch but when you start thinking about everything more is becomes somewhat of a confusing story that doesn’t connect correctly.

Overall: Soft horror that missed a trick.

Rating