Daily Archives: October 17, 2019

Oct 17 2019

The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018)

Director: Diederik Van Rooijen

Writer: Brian Sieve (Screenplay)

Starring: Shay Mitchell, Grey Damon, Kirby Johnson, Nick Thune, Louis Herthum, Stana Katic

Plot: When a cop who is just out of rehab takes the graveyard shift in a city hospital morgue, she faces a series of bizarre, violent events caused by an evil entity in one of the corpses.


Tagline – The most frightening thing about an exorcism is what happens next.

Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Lost Horror

Story: The Possession of Hannah Grace starts when an exorcism on Hannah Grace (Johnson) goes horribly wrong forcing the death of Hannah, meanwhile newly hired former cop Megan Reed (Mitchell) takes a job in the graveyard shift of the city hospital after spending her time in rehab. The job seems easy enough for her, just processing the dead bodies in the morgue away from the distracts of life.

Megan starts having a strange set of experiences and when the body of Hannah arrives, the processing equipment doesn’t manage to work in the proper functional method.

Thoughts on The Possession of Hannah Grace

Characters – Megan Reed is a former cop that has been through rehab after struggling after her own experience in the field, cleaned up, she looks to get back into work on a graveyard shift at the morgue. Megan does start to have strange visits while on duty and becomes convinced strange things are going on, she is left to wonder whether she is having a bad experience from her drugs or is something supernatural going on. Andrew is the ex-boyfriend and fellow cop of Megan, he was left no choice, but to leave her, but will support her through her struggles. Hannah Grace is the young woman that went through the exorcism, she hasn’t remained dead though, searching for more victims in her afterlife. Randy is the friendly paramedic that offers support for Megan because of his own past.

Performances – Shay Mitchell does everything she can with her leading role without being terrible, just not getting much to do from it. Grey Damon doesn’t have much to do, neither does Nick Thune, though he does make the most of his limited time. Kirby Johnson does get extra praise for her ability to try and make her character creepy throughout.

Story – The story here follows a cop fresh out of rehab that takes a graveyard shift in a morgue only to find her night become a nightmare when a corpse comes back to life to haunt them. The story is a true disappointment because we have one side of Megan’s story being that she might be falling off the wagon again, which would make everything going on great, only we get plenty of disposable characters that offer the corpse a chance to kill instead of building the tension of Megan losing her mind. This story does feel like a complete rip off The Autopsy of Jane Doe.

Horror/Mystery – The horror in this film comes from how the haunting figure is searching for the latest victim, only it never reaches the true level it could do. The mystery is meant to be around why the corpse isn’t remaining dead, only for it to end up feeling like it is the back burner.

Settings – The film is set inside the city morgue, we do have the lights that only come on when you are in their sensors go off, though it does feel too large to get the most out of the environment.

Special Effects – The effects are a mixed bag because the physical movement is great, but the CGI covers up too much in this film and it is weak.


Scene of the Movie – The first discovery.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – We just doesn’t seem to get the smart enough decisions in writing here.

Final Thoughts – This is a poor horror that just copies The Autopsy of Jane Doe, only to lose all the atmosphere in the film.

Overall: Disappointing throughout.

Rating

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Oct 17 2019

ABC Film Challenge – Horror – Q – Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

Director: Roy Ward Baker

Writer: Nigel Kneale (Screenplay)

Starring: James Donald, Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley, Julian Glover, Duncan Lamont, Bryan Marshall

 

Plot: A mysterious artifact is unearthed in London, and famous scientist Bernard Quatermass is called into to divine its origins and explain its strange effects on people.


Tagline – Force more powerful than 1,000 H-Bombs unleashed to devastate Earth! World in panic! Cities in flames!

Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Tension Filled Sci-Fi Horror

 

Story: Quatermass and the Pit starts when a construction team in London discovery dead bodies, which leads to Dr Roney (Donald), Professor Quatermass (Keir) and Colonel Breen (Glover) all being bought in to investigate the mysterious discovery, each with their own field of expertise for the unknown object.

Once inside there are only more questions to be asked and the strange effects happening to the people investigating adds to the mystery.

 

Thoughts on Quatermass and the Pit

 

Characters – Dr Mathew Roney is one of the team that is set to investigate the discovery, he takes and scientific approach to everything working with the historian to put the pieces together. Professor Bernard Quatermass brings the historical point of view to the table, wanting to study the discovery and using previous historical discoveries to help figure out the truth. Colonel Breen brings the military point of view often looking to use the quick answer over the smart answer. Barbara Judd is a reporter that is trying to put together a story for the public who believe this is an unexploded bomb.

Performances – The performances from the whole cast is great throughout, we believe the scientific figures, the military ones and the reporter looking for a story. the four main stars of the film know how to make the most of their scenes where their character needs to be the larger focus.

Story – The story follows an object being discovered in London while digger to make the underground larger, we follow how the investigation to learn what this could be from different perspectives which shows how this would be handled in real life. We do have twists which comes from the discoveries going on, but for the most part this keeps things simple, with an air of mystery about what could be happening around the object.

Horror/Mystery/Sci-Fi – The horror surrounding this movie comes from what could come from the object, it could bring horrific consequences, this plays into the mystery as we are left with the mystery behind what could be behind it. The sci-fi side of the film comes from the explanation to what could be behind the object and the potential of space being involved.

Settings – The film is set in London and the underground, this is always a tight compact location which will add to suspense and horror in anything.

Special Effects – This film was released in the 1960s, the special effects for the time were great, while we might look down on them now, it showed us just what was capable for the time.


Scene of the Movie – The final act which we are built up to nicely.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The fact they just look like grasshoppers and no one says this.

Final Thoughts – This is one of the best hammer horror mystery sci-fi horror films out there, it keeps you guessing before letting everything out in the final act instead of giving away too much too early.

 

Overall: Must watch Hammer Horror

Rating