Bal, Scary Movie is amazing. BRENDA IS EVERYTHING.

 

 

Brenda :wub:

On the weekend, I went to the Frightfest all nighter in London, which was six new/up and coming horror films screened going from 6pm right up to 7am the next day altogether (and that's with the clocks going back!). The films are all new/under-the-radar sort of new releases.

 

If any of you are interested, I'll do a short review of them:

 

Soulmate - A supernatural drama about a suicidal woman who moves away into a new house, only to find it is still inhabited by the ghost of the person that lived there before. This was a very atmospheric, subtle film, the performances were fantastic and had some very tense, creepy moments, but I guess the one thing that held it back for me was that it wasn't really a horror film, and more a romantic drama with ghosts. It did also drag quite a bit in the middle half and it became a bit cliched by the ending. Not bad altogether, just don't watch it expecting to see a horror film. 6.5

 

Patrick - Now this is more like it. An Australian thriller-suspense film or 'Ozploitation' as they put it. It's a remake of a film from 1978 that hasn't got a wide release here yet. It's about a nurse at a mysterious private hospital, who forms a sort of friendship with a human in vegetative state, whom is revealed to have psychokinesis and soon, well let's just say he gets a little too attached and as his power becomes apparent, he will stop at nothing to control her. This is everything you could want from a thrilling, psychological horror really. A great fast moving plot and really good performances and character portrayals, especially the lead actress, Sharni Vincent (who I even got a picture with afterwards :D ) I'm diverging a bit, this film = good 9.0

 

The Mark of The Devil - A retro film from 1978 that was one of the most controversial and shocking films of all time, in fact, our screening was one of the only screenings where it was shown entirely uncut. It was...pretty tame by what I was expecting, but I can see how it was seen as shocking at the time. This film has no conscience, there is no plot of any sorts, it just describes the ongoing witch trials, in which literally any woman who crosses the wrong person can be deemed a witch, and exemplifies the true cruelty and hypocrisy of the times. It also fits in a very corny love story relating to one of the witch-finder's apprentice and a suspected 'witch' which of course, doesn't end well. It graphically shows the torture scenes of the women with pretty much every weapon in the book. It also includes violent rape scenes and even features a family convicted for using children's puppets. It will make you angry and the witch hunting crew are possibly the but also brave and thought provoking. But ultimately, unless you like torture and things like this a lot, its not a film you'll really want to go back to. 4.5

 

Discopath - This was definitely a step up in tone, and that's saying something when its all about a psychopath who kills people when he hears...disco music. A rather unique premise is executed very well with a lot of high adrenaline stuff, soundtracked by various disco music which fit rather well and add a slight tongue-in-cheek tone. It's more crime-thriller than horror, but its a bloody good ride. 8.5

 

The Station - A lot of reviews called it Austria's answer to The Thing - and that is very much what it is. This is a more Sci-fi focused horror which focuses on a group of meteorologists staying in a research station who suddenly come under threat when they discover a blood drenched glacier that is turning local wildlife into rabid animal hybrids including fox-beetles, spiked birds of prey, carnivorous ibexes and killer wasps, they soon become under attack and trapped. I love any film with animals in it, so I was always gonna love this and it really is a brilliantly chilling mix of suspense, terror and genuine fear of the current world. It also contained one of the funniest lines of the whole thing when someone scolds someone to stop eating a banana while they're crying. Just amazing, would be a 10 for sure if it weren't for the slightly familiar premise. 9.5

 

Nothing Left To Fear - The first movie from Slash of Guns N Roses fame is this movie's main selling point. I probably jumped more in this than any other film as it has so many of those quiet, sneak-up sequences followed by a scream or scary face out of the blue, the plot is also the sort of thing that terrifies me - A family moves into a town and are at first welcomed by the community, but in secret they are planned to be the latest 'sacrifice' to hell, which involves the possession of one of the daughters. It really is quite hard to explain the plot and characters here as so little is explained - why they're there, what exactly happens to them and what the town wants with them. It seems more focused on this rather cliched love story between the oldest daughter (who is the only character we really learn to care about, as the others are barely given any screen time and we see little depth in time for us to care when they're all in danger) and this mysterious bloke who helps with 'sacrificing' them. The ending (not to spoil things) is also completely nonsensical and implies a constant cycle occuring and is meant to leave a bleak feeling, I guess I'd care if I knew exactly what happened? I'm being rather harsh on it here, it was really scary in places and the demonic sister was portrayed very well and is rather terrifying, but the script and character had a lot of holes which suggested, well, Slash is probably getting a bit too big for his boots. 6.5

 

Oh oops, that wasn't short, a bit tl;dr there. Apols.

 

So yeah in short, I would definitely recommend 2, 4 & 5 if you can track them down. 1 & 6 are also worth watching at least. Avoid 3, unless you like seeing people's tongues yanked straight out of their mouth.

 

Wow thanks for that Chez! Two i'll definitely be checking out ('Patrick' sounds right up my street and 'The Station' just for your review).

 

Bal, Scary Movie is amazing. BRENDA IS EVERYTHING.

I just can't have anything potentially ruining my favourite films :( I might (big might) give them a watch eventually but only once Halloween season is well and truly over.

 

:wub:

Thanks Chez. Discopath (great title!) sounds to be my type of film and I fancy seeing The Station too. IMDB have no UK release dates for either though.

Edited October 31, 201311 yr by Common Sense

It's not really horror but we watched The Others last week, quite well done and couple of tense moments. I don't scare particularly easy except for jumpy moments, of the classics I'd say Carrie was probably my favourite but that's largely from my love for the book.

All of you should watch this short film. It's pretty brilliant!

 

 

I'm scared to have ideas now! :lol:

All of you should watch this short film. It's pretty brilliant!

 

 

I'm scared to have ideas now! :lol:

Haha! That's hilarious!