Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | My Orble | Login
 
Picking the rare gems out of a sea of crap.... so you don't have to!

Great Horror - Evil Pleasures

Movie Review: Daybreakers

March 5th 2010 02:46


Premise: An infection originally from bats spreads through humanity, turning the majority of humanity into vampires. These vampires then enslave most of the remaining human populace, using them as living blood farms. However, there is not nearly enough blood to go around, and without fresh blood the vampires devolve into mindless mutant bat-people, the wicked looking Subsiders.


Enter Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke), a human-sympathising vamire blood doctor working for the corporation that runs the blood farms, headed by Charles Bromley (Sam Neill). Dalton sympathises with the humans, and wants to create a blood substitute to eliminate vampire dependance on them as a food source, allowing them to be freed. I won't give away much more than that, but the plot revolves around Dalton's compassion for humanity and his fight for their survival.

Now, this is the Spierig brothers' follow-up to 2003's brilliant horror-comedy Undead (quite possibly the best Aussie movie I've seen), and needless to say my hopes were pretty damn high going in to this one. Unfortunately, this movie is not as funny or as original as Undead. That being said, however, this is most definitely not a bad movie.

Acting: Solid. Ethan Hawke does a good job as the conflicted vampire haemotologist,
and Sam Neill is a great Evil Boss character. The main rogue human (Claudia Karvan) and Edward's polar-opposite brother Frankie (Michael Dorman) both put in convicinging performances. However, my hat goes off (and it usually does) to Willem Defoe as Elvis, the comic-relief gung-ho cowboy human renegade with a crossbow and an attitude. He comes out with some truly quality lines (eg. When Edward asks him "is this place safe?" he replies "Living in a world where vampires are the dominant species is about as safe as bare backing a 5 dollar whore"). You can tell that the Spierigs had alot of fun with Elvis, and the audience does too. He's a pretty central character, and Defoe plays him perfectly (as he usually does).


Effects: Mind-numbingly excellent.
. The highlight in the effects department are the Subsiders, who look truly horrific (like a deformed mutant vampire should). As you can see from the picture, these vamps are pretty nasty, and I love the irony of a vampire plague affecting a plague of vampires. It's a (very, very) welcome break from the la-di-da fairy princess (Twighlight) vampires that seem to have been dominating the scene lately. Creature effects aside, the rest of the effects were top-knotch as well. The gore was plentiful (especially towards the climax), and very well done.

Direction & Script: Normally I would judge these separately, but considering the Spierigs both wrote and directed it, it seems only fair. This movie, while not being genre-defining, is just good. Yes, I do have a few qualms with it; some of the dialogue was a bit thin, and I felt the whole sub-plot involving Sam Neill's daughter, while important, felt a bit rushed. But these are minor criticisms with what is overall a very impressive offering. Not since Eskalofrio can I remember a movie which so effectively used the interplay between light and darkness to effectively shape the mood, and the movie is all the better for it. From what I have read, alot of people think they have spotted a whole mess of plot holes; actually, if you look a little closer these people are, in fact, idiots. This movie has very few problems in terms of the script. For example; in one scene, we see Hawke's clothes in a mirror, as the vampire is invisible, and in another he is adjusting his clothes in another mirror. However, if you pay attention, you will notice that the second mirror is actually a small camera with a TV. It's little details like that that help make this movie great to watch.

So, overall, a great vampire romp. Definitely more enjoyable than watching all the teen vampire crap that has been shoved down our throats in recent times, and easily my favourite vampire flick since 30 Days of Night.
12
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Someone - Category: Vampire, Great Horror
   


Movie Review: Alien Raiders

July 14th 2009 08:27


Premise: A group of militants take the staff of a grocery store hostage, killing several customers and employees in the process. However, they aren't really bandits, and some of the 'hostages' aren't what they appear to be.

Having watched The Signal again last night, I have had a craving some some great low-budget horror action. Digging through my collection, I stumbled across an old favourite: Alien Raiders.

This is a movie that does an awesome amount with very little. The entire film is set in a single supermarket, but manages to hold your attention despite the limited scenery.

The acting is solid all round, especially from Carlos Bernard as our protagonist. You may recognize him as Tony Almeida from 24, I did. Some of the characters annoyed me, but I think they were written that way... it wasn't because they were poorly acted.

The creature effects are also surprisingly good considering the low budget. Although they wouldn't hold water against the likes of Rob Bottin, they are of a higher caliber than you would expect from a movie with such a terrible title.
Speaking of Bottin, this movie does bear a lot in common with The Thing. The idea of an alien parasite almost indistinguishable from actual humans is just great material, and both movies use it effectively. They even have similar 'test' scenes, where the leads try and distinguish the humans from the aliens... I prefer to think of it as a homage rather than copy-cattery, but that decision I will leave up to you.

The direction is probably what holds this movie together, and helps to compliment both the acting and effects to create a tense little sci-fi thriller. In exchange for big-budget actors and effects, we are given more clever direction and... well, just better film-making.


Overall, a very slick and convincing little thriller... Definitely worth picking up. Probably the worst thing about this movie is it's title, which I'm sure causes alot of people just to pass it over as another Z-grade piece of low-budget sci-fi horror trash... don't be fooled!
36
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Someone - Category: Creature, Great Horror
   


Movie Review: Severance

July 10th 2009 15:02


Premise: A group of employees working for a weapons manufacturer go on a team-building weekend, led by their boss Richard (Tim McInnerny). After being kicked off the bus by their Hungarian driver for reasons unknown, the group continue on foot until they supposedly find their lodge. It isn't long before they find that they are being hunted by an unknown enemy. apparently because of the company they work for.

I had no idea what to expect from Severance.... to tell you the truth, I hadn't even read the back of the DVD before watching it... I saw Tim McInnerny's name and picked it straight up. I watched some Black Adder Goes Forth not long ago, and spent the entire movie waiting for someone to waltz into the room and yell out 'hello, Darling!'. Needless to say, it doesn't happen, and I was very disappointed. However, he does bring the character of Darling back to life, and his awkward mannerisms help make this a humorous carnage-fest.

The plot is pretty flimsy.... The group of employees are being hunted by one or more people, because someone is pissed off at the company they work for. The group try to escape. End movie. However, despite the flimsy pretense, the script is wickedly clever. There are some moments that are just so dark... and yet so funny! I couldn't help but wince during a scene where one character stands on a bear trap, and in the process of trying to get him out the other group members end up chopping his leg off... and yet it was funny too. Darkly funny. Real dark. Or another scene where a female of the group is tied to a tree, and the bad guy douses her in petrol, and then can't get a match to light... so he turns around with a flamethrower and torches her. Not all of the comedy is black: there's the usual druggie of the group tripping out on mushrooms, and McInnerny's bumbling talks keep you giggling between brutal action sequences.

Gorehounds will definitely be pleased with this one: There is a copious amount of blood spilt in this movie, and definitely a few wince-worthy moments.

The acting in this film is just superb, and reflects the fact that casting took 4 months because the director wanted to find the perfect actors for their parts. I could not fault a single performance, as every role was near-perfect. Even down to the slutty mail order brides who get down to their undies in about 5 seconds flat... just perfect.

Overall, definitely worth a viewing. Funny, and brutal. If you are after a serious horror, probably give one a miss. There are some scenes where plausibility is sacrificed for the sake of comedy, which makes the movie work in it's way, but people looking for terror will be left shaking their heads.

It was apparently shown along with Black Sheep .... Now THERE'S a double-feature that you'd want to go to!
57
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Someone - Category: Slasher, Great Horror
   


Movie Review: The Signal

July 10th 2009 06:45


Premise: A weird signal begins to broadcast over every TV, radio & phone. Those that are exposed to it have their perceptions warped, suffer hallucinations, and are convinced to kill those around them. The story is told in 3 parts (or transmissions): The first follows the story of a girl name Mya (Anessa Ramsey), who is married to controlling husband (AJ Bowen), but is sleeping with another man (Justin Welborn). The second transmission follows the husabdn, Lewis, and the third follows the lover, Ben


[ Click here to read more ]
66
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Someone - Category: Psychological, Great Horror
   


Movie Review: Outpost

July 6th 2009 23:49


Premise: A group of mercenaries is hired by an American stranger to escort him to a site in a war-torn country. When they get there, they discover an abandoned Nazi bunker, and are soon after set upon by a mysterious, otherworldly foe


[ Click here to read more ]
55
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (4)Comments (4) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Someone - Category: Zombie, Great Horror
   


Movie Review: Sympathy

June 19th 2009 05:41


Premise: A bank robber abducts a girl and hides out in a motel, with the intent of driving to an airport in Canada the following day. During the night, the bank robber and the girl are both themselves taken hostage by an escaped convict. As events unfold in the motel room, we begin to learn about each of the characters, and discover that no-one is what they seem


[ Click here to read more ]
28
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (3)Comments (3) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Someone - Category: Psychological, Great Horror
   


Movie Review: Bug

June 11th 2009 04:42


Premise: A woman named Agnes (Ashley Judd), is being stalked by her newly released from jail, abusive ex-husband, Jerry (Harry Connick Jr.). Meanwhile, a friend brings over a guy named Peter for her to meet (Michael Shannon), and the two hit it off. Turns out things aren't as simple as they seem, when it turns out that Peter is on the run from the army, who were performing experiments on him in a military hospital


[ Click here to read more ]
42
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (2)Comments (2) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Someone - Category: Psychological, Great Horror
   




[ Evil Pleasures Home ] [ Create A New Post ]
Moderated by Someone
Copyright © 2006 2007 2008 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]