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Picking the rare gems out of a sea of crap.... so you don't have to!

Creature Good Horror - Evil Pleasures

Screamers: The Hunting

October 9th 2009 10:13


Premise: Following on from the original Screamers, a group of army-type people must return to Sirius 6B to investigate a distress beacon. They get there and start dying. cough *Aliens* cough.

To be honest, I haven't seen the original Screamers in many years, but from memory it is one of the most frightening experiences of my life. Well, it might have something to do with the fact that it was one of the first horror movies I ever saw, or the fact I have been intentionally avoiding it for fear of ruining a cherished childhood memory... So, the sequel could not possibly live up to my unreasonable expectations.


Needless to say, it didn't.

However, don't let me put you off. For a straight-to-DVD affair, this movie is surprisingly good.

Acting: While nothing spectacular, is not as abysmal as I expected. Lance Henriksen, always a pleasure to watch, is fun to watch for the 5 minutes he is in the film. No terrible performances come to mind, which is a heck of a lot better than I was expecting.

Effects: The highlight of the movie. The CGI'd screamers leaping out of the ground and getting shot down got a little repetitive in parts, but other than that the CGI was quite good. The best part of the movie though was the make-up, from released entrails to spikes exploding out of chests. There were some deliciously juicy kills, and my thirst for blood was definitely sated.

Script: Easily the worst part of this movie... there was not one single original thought, from start to finish. The Hunting borrows heavily from Aliens, and what it doesn't steal from Cameron it steals from elsewhere. Even the mandatory cliched plot-twist ending is ridiculously predictable, and although I won't reveal it here, you will see it coming from at least half and hour away. And don't even get me started on the plot holes... eugh...


Direction: Even though I haven't seen the original for well over a decade, I can distinctly remember the sense of paranoia that it was soaked in. While not as effective as The Thing (but seriously, what is?), it was good. That entire aspect of the movie is ditched in the sequel, in favour of straight out sci-fi carnage. Think Aliens compared to Alien, just less good (but seriously, what is?).

Overall... really, I might make it sound bad, but this movie is actually pretty damn good for a straight-to-DVD project. Personally, I thought the make-up effects made the movie worth watching, but I'm a sucker for that stuff. If you want mindless futuristic carnage and some excellent gore that requires very little thought, this is the movie for you.
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Deep Rising

June 10th 2009 01:39


Premise: A captain and crew are hired for a no-questions-asked mission by a group of mean looking mercenaries, which it turns out are heading out to rob the most expensive cruise liner ever built. When they get there, however, the crew and passengers are all missing, and blood is everywhere. They then get attacked by monster, try to escape, yadda yadda yadda... it isn't exactly the most original storyline in the world.

There are two ways in which you can go about a creature movie. One is to give the creature a sense of character, instill a sense a dread. I can think of no better an example than Alien. The other is to use the creature as an excuse for some action and cool-looking effects.

Deep Rising falls firmly into the latter category, and as such is really more of an action movie than a horror. That being said, it does have it's moments, in particular when a half-eaten passenger dissolves in front of the cast. Gorehounds will enjoy moments, but for the most part be disappointed.

That being said, the movie does have a lot going for it. The tongue-in-cheek attitude should not go unnoticed, so expect a barrage of corny dialogue (in a good way though).

The monster itself is pretty good, sort of resembling a giant squid-type tentacled beast, just a little meaner.
Sure, it may not be entirely plausible that the tentacles can hear, who am I to say that a monster's ears can't be on it's tentacles? For an all-CGI monster, this one's not actually that bad. Sure, the CGI looks a bit outdated, it's over a decade old, it still works. The shots of the monster used in the first half of the movie mean that it gets very little actual screen-time, so it works.

Overall, while sometimes the corniness becomes a little grating, if you're a fan of Brendan Fraser's The Mummy then consider giving this one a go. Speaking of The Mummy, keep an eye out for Kevin J. O'Conner... although having seen The Mummy (1, 2 & 3) first, I kept expecting him to be a sneaky bastard...
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Altered

May 3rd 2009 06:09


I seem to be on a streak of picking decent horror movies, which is a change for me.

Premise: A trio of guys that have previously been abducted by aliens hunt and trap one of them, and then take it to a 4th abductees house. They can't kill the alien because it would trigger to genocide of the human race, so they try to figure out what to do.

First up, the good bits. Overall the acting is good, and I particularly liked the lead (Adam Kaufman). The music is jarring and discordant, and adds nicely to the suspense. The alien itself is also pretty cool, and definitely of a much higher standard than most of the crappy alien CGI that I have seen recently. The camerawork is also commendable, which I suppose one would expect from the director of The Blair Witch Project (although I haven't seen it).

In terms of flaws, I can't seem to find any major ones. The film doesn't degenerate into crappy horror cliches, which is nice for a change. They do a pretty good job of playing up the tensions in the group, between those that want to kill the alien and those that don't, and the suspense is generally fairly well maintained.

Overall, definitely worth seeing, even if you aren't really a sci-fi person.

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