Category: Movie Review

Director: Mickey Keating

Writer: Mickey Keating (Screenplay)

Starring: Lauren Ashley Carter, Dean Cates, Brian Morvant, Larry Fessenden, John Weselcouch

Plot: A family intervention goes horrifically awry within the snowy confines of an isolated lake house.

Runtime: 1 Hour 16 Minutes

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Lacks the Punch

Story: Pod starts when brother Ed (Cates) and sister Lyla (Carter) go to the remote cabin of their brother Martin (Morvant) who has always been on edge, but this time Ed believes he has gone over the edge. Arriving at the cabin they learn Martin is having another one of his paranoid episodes as he believes he is being followed by a pod monster, Ed tries to talk him around, while Lyla is willing to follow the story.

As the intervention goes on Lyla and Ed continue to discuss the best course of action for their brother as we are left to see what the truth will be.

Thoughts on Pod

Characters – Lyla is the loose cannon sibling, she enjoys a drink and a party and is tired of her big brother trying to protect her, once we hit the cabin though she is generic woman in trouble screaming a lot. Ed is the doctor and big brother of the siblings. He wants the family together to help on edge sibling and stays calm through the film through each decision going on. Martin is the former soldier that has returned a different man, he has been in and out of hospitals and now living alone his paranoia can only grow.

Performances – The performances in this film are focused on the three main actors, if we are being honest none of them set the world alight here, with Lauren Ashley Carter being completely over the top with her reactions, Dean Cates being very bland with his actions and Brian Morvant never hitting the marks of a true crazy person.

Story – The story here feels like it should be focusing on the relationship between the siblings, as we have the two left to decide whether their brother is insane or there is something happening in the cabin, the balance is shown early on but then soon just becomes a creature feature which fails to deliver because of the abrupt style of anything happening. There was a large part of potential here, but the bickering doesn’t make you care and the conspiracy theory all becomes something we have seen.

Horror/Mystery – The horror in the film comes in the final 15 minutes and never draws us into being scared and like the mystery side of the film just doesn’t become the important side of things like it should do.

Settings – Most of the film is set in the cabin which does plan into the isolation and paranoid idea.

Special Effects – The effects are used well and only when needed with most being practical dealing with creating the pod.

Scene of the Movie – What is in the basement.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – We didn’t explore the different life styles of the two siblings.

Final Thoughts – This is a lacklustre horror mystery movie that doesn’t use its strengths well enough through the film.

Overall: Lacklustre Horror Movie.

Rating

Director: Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen

Writer: Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen (Screenplay)

Starring: Jonathan Thomson, Dayna Cousins, Andrew Rudick, Michael Scott Allen, Elise Couture, Jason Beaubien, Victoria Nugent

Plot: A film crew moves into an abandoned psychiatric hospital with a shadowy past to shoot a low budget horror movie.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Confusingly Messy

Story: Dark Feed starts as we see the early stages of filming of a horror movie being shot on location in an abandoned psychiatric hospital. We get to see the stars, director and the people working on the movie before the writer Chris (Rudick) joins the set to see how his creation comes out.

With Beth (Nugent) and Marissa (Cousins) assigned to keep Chris busy, the rest of the crew start experiencing strange occurrences which have a connection to the previous experiments that happened in the hospital.

Thoughts on Dark Feed

Characters – The characters are all designed to be different members of a film crew from actors to special effects guys, we just get to learn which part of the movie they are involved in without getting to see much else about the characters themselves. We don’t see to learn enough about any of the characters making it hard to figure out just who is meant to be the lead character.

Performance – The performances are not great which does reflect the idea of the film but by the end you are just left wondering if the lead character is going to take over the performing but no.

Story – The story is film crew in former mental hospital that once did experiments on the patients is haunted and now they are about to become the latest victims of the hospital, this is fine but sadly it just doesn’t reach the levels it should do with scares which are mostly messing around between the crew and just something we have seen before.

Horror – There is little to no scares going on through this movie, we have moments that build up but in the end most are false scares which just make you not care about later ones.

Settings – The setting is the highlight of the film as we get to see the haunted abandoned location making for the scares.

Special Effects – The effects are not that impressive either.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not knowing who was the main character until too late into the film.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror film with a good idea but sadly turns into something that gets confusing as we are left wondering who to root for and just if anything scary will happen.

Overall: Messy Horror Film

Rating

Director: Stanton Barrett

Writer: Matthew Carpenter (Screenplay) A.K. Waters (Story)

Starring: Ed Quinn, Michael Dudikoff, Rick Fox, Chad Lail, Molly Hagen, Mikal Vega, Kevin Kent, Lolo Jones

Plot: A team of highly skilled Navy SEALS find themselves embarking on the battle of their lives when they come face-to-face with the undead. After a deadly outbreak occurs in Baton Rouge, the SEALS must fight for their lives, and the city, against an army of zombies.

Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Very Basic Zombie Film.

Story: Navy Seals vs. Zombies starts when Vice President Bentley (Fox) is on a campaign trail in the city of Baton Rouge, the city comes under attack by rage filled zombies, forcing him into hiding. In response to the situation Commander Sher (Dudikoff) sends in a highly skilled Navy SEALS team led by LT Pete Cunningham (Quinn) with Carl (Lail), Billy (Vega), Travis (Kent) and new recruit AJ (Lipari) to rescue the VP.

With the plan for the VP underway, it won’t be the only mission for the SEALS need to go on, they must also save the scientists that could have a cure for the outbreak.

Thoughts on Navy Seals vs. Zombies

Characters – LT Pete Cunningham is leading the Navy SEALS, he must put his trust in the newest member of the team in AJ, while trying to get the team through the hordes of zombies to prove once again that his team in the elite military team. Commander Sheer is running the operations from the military base, he doesn’t want to see his men take any unnecessary risks. VP Bentley is the man the team are sent to rescue, he is in the running for the next presidential race. AJ is he newest member of the SEALS team, he is about to become a father and this is his first mission as part of the team, where he must prove himself to the rest of the unit.

Performances – The performances in the film suffer because of the lack of interesting non-generic characters. none of the actors get a chance to show their skills as performers, with large parts of the film just being headless running around.

Story – The story here follows a Navy SEALS unit that must go into Baton Rouge to rescue the Vice president and the scientists behind the outbreak. This is everything a zombie story has given us before, we have a group of people running around a city trying to elude the zombies that outnumber them. We know the team will dwindle down as the film unfolds which is the normal. The starting point for the weaknesses comes from that fact this story is set in a world where zombie film don’t exist, which is clear by all the behaviour through the film. Most of the actual storytelling is saved for the closing of the film which fills in most of the blanks we don’t mention until then.

Action/Horror – The action in the film is just shooting zombies, it is nothing new and becomes overly repetitive after a while. The horror side of the film gives us zombies that run, they never feel like a threat to the anybody.

Settings – The film is set in Baton Rouge, which is considered a military area, I think, the truth is, it could have been any city without any major locations being shown.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are weak with even basic door explosion looking weak, the zombie look is acceptable for a low budget film.

Scene of the Movie – The explaining.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The stupid decisions.

Final Thoughts – This is a basic zombie film that offers nothing new to the genre, it I filled with stupid decisions and generic action.

Overall: Basic zombie nonsense.

Rating

Director: Ciaran Foy

Writer: Ciaran Foy (Screenplay)

Starring: James Cosmo, Aneurin Barnard, Wunmi Mosaku, Ian Hanmore, Amy Shiels, Ingrid Craigie, Jake Wilson

Plot: An agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted feral children who committed an act of violence against his family years earlier.

Tagline – They see your fear

Runtime: 1 Hour 24 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Evil Children 101

Story: Citadel starts when Tommy (Barnard) sees him pregnant wife violently attacked by a group of children with him helpless to protect her, the baby is born, but his wife Joanne (Shiels) dies after the attack. Tommy still be agoraphobic after the attack he is trying to raise his own baby with his only support being Marie (Mosaku).

With the children still trying to take his baby, Tommy is forced to turn to renegade priest (Cosmo) to help him get rid of the problem that is targeting his family, which will see Tommy facing his biggest fear in life.

Thoughts on Citadel

Characters – Tommy is a father with agoraphobia after he saw his wife attacked by a group of children, he is trying to be the good father for his new born child, but his fears are controlling the situation, he sees children trying to take his child, he needs to face his fears to make it through this trauma he is going through. Priest is a renegade man that is aggressively searching for a way to bring down the feral children, he sees Tommy as a chance to get the job done, even if it is against what his religion states. Marie is one of the social workers that will help Tommy, she is trying to help him through the medical side even if she is the one that puts him in contact with the priest. The Feral Children are the highlight of the film because they are genuinely frightening when they attack.

Performances – Aneurin Barnard in the leading role does make us feel for his character, we believe he has been through the trauma and is the desperation to save his family. James Cosmo is fun to watch as anti-priest figure. Wunmi Mosaku doesn’t do anything wrong in the supporting role, if only we could have seen more from the character.

Story – The story here follows a new father that is dealing with his own trauma while raising his new born child, which will see him needing to face off against feral child that feed on people’s fears. The early thing that must be pointed out here, comes from the idea that we are not full convinced that we are seeing the fears of the character dealt with, for the most part we are seeing one man terrorised but even the people without the fear seem to be targets too, this mostly confuses the rule point in place. the idea that the feral child live in the abandoned flat complex doesn’t improve on things either because you would think more incidents would happen. The part of the story that does standout and is interesting to watch would be seeing how Tommy is dealing with his own traumas while remaining strong facing the possibility of not being able to raise his own child because of his problems, sadly we don’t see enough of this addressed with the horror side of the story taking over, which simply put, isn’t as interesting.

Horror – The horror starts of being home invasion like horror, which worked for the illness Tommy had, but when we enter the flats, it does become the highlight of the action in the film, feeling dark, scary with anything able to jump out to get them.

Settings – The settings show us the run down neighbourhood in which Tommy lives, the support groups around it and most importantly the empty flat block which has the feral children in it.

Special Effects – The effects are used mostly look practical, with the moments surrounding the feral child being the most notable and scary ones.

Scene of the Movie – Inside the flat block.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It breaks the rules it sets up too easily.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror film that does take its time getting going, one the chaos is unleashed with get a highly intense final act which ramps the fear up to the max.

Overall: Slow Start, Strong Finish.

Rating

Director: John Carpenter

Writer: Robert Collector, Dana Olsen, William Goldman (Screenplay) H.F. Saint (Book)

Starring: Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, Michael McKean, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jim Norton

Plot: After a freak accident, a yuppie turns invisible and runs from a treacherous CIA official, while trying to cope with his new life.

Tagline – Women want him for his wit. The C.I.A. wants him for his body. All Nick wants is his molecules back.

Runtime: 1 hour 39 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Invisible Comedy

Story: Memoirs of an Invisible Man starts when a cocky businessman Nick Halloway (Chase) tires to catch a nap during a busy meeting, that he has no interest in, he finds himself caught in the middle of an experiment gone wrong, by being turned invisible. This brings CIA agent David Jenkins (Neill) in to investigate, with Nick becoming a wanted man, only he can’t ask for help because even he doesn’t understand why he is invisible, he tries the people he trusts in hopes of finding out the way to reverse what has happened to him.

Thoughts on Memoirs of an Invisible Man

Characters – Nick Halloway is a fast-talking businessman that has been getting away with slacking through his job for years now, after another session on the drinks, he looks to skive off, only to get caught in the middle of an experiment which turns him invisible, Nick must figure out who he can trust to help him after the CIA look to hunt him down to use him for their own benefit. He isn’t the most interesting character, he doesn’t come off as funny as it seems he should be either. Alice is the new woman that comes into Nick’s life, she is the one he turns to for help as she is prepared to listen to his story over most other people. David Jenkins is the man hunting down Nick, he is a CIA agent that will do whatever it takes to add to the security of the country, seeing Nick as the next generation of secret agent.

Performances – Chevy Chase does feel slightly mis-cast in this role, he doesn’t seem to handle the comedy on the level it is meant to be coming from his character. Daryl Hannah does all she needs to as the love interest, she doesn’t need to do much either. Sam Neill is highlight of the performances with just how he handles the evil agent.

Story – The story follows a man that gets turn invisible in a mysterious event, seeing him being chased down by the government while he tries to figure out how to get out of his situation. This is an interesting spin on the invisible man story, it does try to make the story a comedy which is where the story falls short, because it is an unlikable character that gets turn invisible rather than somebody whose experiment going wrong. Nick doesn’t just anything to help himself, which disappoints, it does feel kind of cheesy and by the end you will feel like not everything is answered.

Comedy/Sci-Fi – The comedy misses more often than hitting, it just doesn’t seem smooth. The sci-fi elements don’t get bought to the front with incident happening and that being it.

Settings – The film is set in San Francisco which does always make for a solid back drop for any movie.

Special Effects – The effects in the film do feel great for the time with certain moments, the make-up shot is the highlight because of camera angle.

Scene of the Movie – Let’s try make up.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The comedy.

Final Thoughts – This is a comedy that does miss a lot of the jokes and ends up feeling flatter than it should have been.

Overall: Disappointing comedy.

Rating

Director: Jonathan King

Writer: Jonathan King (Screenplay)

Starring: Oliver Driver, Nathan Meister, Tammy Davis, Peter Feeney

Plot: An experiment in genetic engineering turns harmless sheep into bloodthirsty killers that terrorize a sprawling New Zealand farm.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Bonkers Horror Comedy

Story: Black Sheep starts as Henry Oldfield (Neister) returns home after 15 years away after suffering a traumatic experience at the hands of his brother to sell his half of his family farm. Angus (Feeney) is the brother that remained on the farm running it and performing genetic experiments. When environmentalists Grant (Driver) and Experience (Mason) try to expose what is going on, on the farm they accidently release a mutant sheep that starts infecting the rest of the sheep on the farm.

When the infected sheep start to increase Henry, Experience and farm manager Tucker (Davis) must find a way back to safety while having to fight off seemingly endless amounts of sheep.

Thoughts on Black Sheep

Characters/Performance – Henry is the successful brother that gets traumatised when he is young, now grown up he comes to back to the farm to collect his part of the money. When he learns the truth, he must now face his nightmares and fight off the killer sheep running over the farm. Angus the brother that has been experimenting on sheep for his own personal gain, this puts his own life and members of his farm. Experience is the environmentalist that wants to expose the farm but she quickly turns when she needs to fight to survive.

Performance wise, each performance adds to the comedy being told through this film, no one is great but they all know just how to get the extra laugh needed from their characters.

Story – Only in horror could you come up with an idea of genetical altered sheep that will try to kill people. If you watch this story with this in mind, you will truly enjoy this story because it is just that bonkers it works.

Horror/Comedy – The horror would be, how scary do you find sheep? Well what about killer mutant sheep, that is your horror side to the story but this could also be used to describe the comedy involved in this film too.

Settings – The film is set upon on the farm which is good for the horror isolation side of the film as they must use the land to fight the sheep off.

Special Effects – All the effects are practical and all come off looking fantastic when you look to add the extra element of gore to the film.

Final Thoughts – This is one of those horrors you can put on and enjoy because the laughs and idea are so farfetched you just must laugh to get through it all.

Overall: Fun and enjoyable horror comedy.

Rating