Movie Review: Trick 'r Treat (2007)

This is a film that has sat on my shelf for far too long. Christmas 2011 I believe. Anyway, after a small amount of deliberation with the misses, we decided to make it the next film on the Random Horror watch list.

We sat down, drinks ready and open minded. Ready for whatever would come from this relatively mysterious looking DVD. Were we in for a treat?...

I am going to do this slightly differently because of the nature of the film. In actuality, it’s not really a film. Rather a collection of 4 tales of Halloween woes. The connections being the setting (all in the same town) and Sam, a tiny trick or treater in an orange suit with a burlap sack over his head reminiscent of a jack-o-lantern. Although characters do appear in differing stories at differing levels, the main connection is Sam!

In what plays like a ‘horror-stories-around-the-camp-fire’ sort of way, we weave in and out of story arcs as the film runs. The opening, being a stand-alone story which sets the tone for the film sees Emma and Henry returning home from what has obviously been a fun-filled evening in full costume. Emma begins to tidy up the OTT garden decorations but soon falls foul of a Halloween trick! From here, we are taken to an earlier setting and the first of our four treats!

The principal follows the mishaps of a serial killing school principal. With slightly macabre undertones,

the principal himself is as sinister as he is clumsy and definitely naive to boot. His taste for Halloween tricks will undoubtedly bite him in the arse later!

The second story sees a group kids travelling to a local rock quarry regaling tales of murderous pasts involving a school bus full of unfortunate kids. The kids had supposedly met their doom at the bottom of the quarry one fateful Halloween night. A Halloween prank which goes horrendously wrong proves more than enough for the kids’ enjoyment.

Thirdly, we follow a group of girls getting ready for a party. Laurie, Danielle, Maria and Janet are all set for a good night. Laurie, being a shy girl stays behind a while. She is later prompted to join the group in the woods. While travelling to meet them, alone, she is joined by someone else and all hell breaks loose in what is probably the most fun segment of the film!

The final short comes in the form of the grouchy neighbour of Principal Wilkins, Kreeg! As we had heard from the principals own segment, Kreeg is a bit of an irritable, cantankerous old man whose dislike of Halloween is fairly obvious. Following on from the parts we had previously seen, Kreeg does battle with Sam the pumpkin boy in his own home with varying levels of success.

The whole thing is wrapped up nicely as we see most of the pieces of this Halloween jigsaw fall into place before our very eyes!

As Halloween themed films go, this one is really enjoyable. The list of themed films admittedly isn’t great but I would have to put this somewhere near the top end. A stella cast ably perform their roles throughout as we are taken into a world of Jack-o-lanterns, costumes, girls, death, zombies, vampires, werewolves and anything else the horror genre can associate with the favoured holiday!

The able cast of which I speak are also fairly familiar faces with Dylan Baker as Principal Wilkins who is just creepy and Anna Paquin playing the shy, retiring virgin is a brilliant twist on what follows! The always brilliant Brian Cox providing the grouchy neighbour with a secret is another great casting move.

As for atmosphere... Well, when you have so much dry ice floating around, the kind of comic-book style atmosphere that was clearly the target is easily achieved and very effective. While the film may fall ever so slightly into the tongue in cheek category as a result, what it lacks in real horror and scares, it more than makes up for it with its own brand of black comedy and drama.

While reading some background information, I noticed that no official cinema release was given and baring a few small screenings, it was released direct to DVD in 2009. It seems such a shame that films of this calibre find it difficult to get a general cinema release when some of what Hollywood puts out is so poor, it begs the question why bother!?

On the whole, Trick ‘R Treat is an enthrallingly entertaining and an all round enjoyable watch. I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a fun filled film to enjoy on any random horror night, not just on October 31st!

Released: 2007

My Rating: 7.5

Movie Review: Apartment 143 (2012)

I found this film in a bargain bin in my local DVD retailer with a rather inviting £3 sticker on it. As such, I snapped it up and set about making it the latest in the long line of found footage style films on my watch list.

Apartment 143 follows the story of Alan White and his two kids, Caitlin and Benny. Alan moves his family into the small apartment to try and escape the strange occurrences that have plagued the family since the death of his wife. Upon moving however, the hauntings continue. Desperate, he calls in a group of parapsychologists to try and explain or even help the family get through this difficult phase.

The group consisting of Dr. Helzer and his two assistants Paul and Ellen start setting up all sorts of technical equipment around the apartment to monitor and document everything. Hoping to find either some compelling evidence or to just help put the families’ worries at ease, they soon get more than they had ever hoped for!

Ok, basics out of the way, now down to the brass tax. Essentially, Apartment 143 is another film in the long list of found footage haunting stories. A solid cast is able to carry the film quite well throughout its 80 minute duration even if the dialogue is a bit hammy. The main plus point for this film has to be the level of atmosphere that is generated. A tension that can only be garnered from good filmmaking and good filmmaking is exactly what I witnessed in Apartment 143.

Its high levels of atmosphere could also be construed by some as slightly slow or maybe even boring but in my opinion sometimes less is more. I was not a great lover of Paranormal Activity as such but the concept and the delivery really intrigued me. Similarly with Apartment 143, it does tend to fall slightly towards its conclusion but less so than in others. 

There is not a massive amount of special effects but when we do see something, it is very impressive. One scene in particular made me jump. I won’t tell you which, if you’ve seen it you may know which bit I am referring to but it again was an example of good filmmaking because even though I could see it coming from a mile away, it was done in such a way it still made me jump! For me, that’s filmmaking! For so many years atmosphere and tension has been sacrificed for poor music and scares that fail to have the kind of impact that many good directors are able to have nowadays.

It is very hard to try and pick enough to say about a film when all the best bits could be considered spoilers. My outlook being such that I avoid giving away too much about the film otherwise I would be just another critic with an opinion. This way I’m just a film lover with an opinion!

In essence, Apartment 143 falls slightly short of its reputation as a great haunted house film but where so many others have failed miserably, this one at least comes close. It constitutes an all-round enjoyable mix of ghostly occurrences and demonic possession. I would recommend this film to anyone who is a fan of the sub-genre or even those who are a bit reluctant to embrace the new breed of horror film.

It is my hope that the found footage film continues to evolve and maybe one day we will have something to rival the very best.

Released: 2012

My Rating: 6.5

Movie Review: The Zombie Diaries (2006)

WARNING ***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Quite early on in my evolving love for the Random Horror world, I was given a film called Zombie Diaries on DVD. It was released a short time before George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead and was a British Independent movie.

My feelings for this film are so great that I am breaking my usually rule of NO SPOILERS! That is all I will say on that!

Zombie Diaries follows three sub-stories which all revolve around the arc of a virus which is slowly making its way to the shore’s of England. The first story finds us following a reporter and crew as they leave London following a lead on the virus. The story takes them to a farm in the countryside. Upon arrival, something seems strange and it isn’t long before the virus they’ve been hunting finds them!

The second story feels more like something from a survival film. Three survivors make their way in a car to a destination unknown, with a gun and some fight about them, they search for useful parts in any place they can. Ultimately though, the infected become a much bigger nuisance than they ever feared!

The third story finds a well knit group of people hold up in a farm house. A bit of hostility towards one another slowly creeps in and upsets the fine balance that had been established within the group. As a result, the attention is diverted from the Zombies which start to make their advance!

Much like the plot of the film, the quality is split into three sections. Unfortunately for Zombie Diaries, none of the sub-stories mean anything as the whole film is spoilt by the ending. A group of un-infected chav’s disturb the creepy tone which had built throughout the film and turn it into another run-of-the-mill slasher film, a direction which has plagued the UK Independent horror market in recent years. The empathy built and we all felt happy when the characters survived the Zombie horde’s. Only for them to be despatched anyway but not by zombies, no, Instead by some jumped up little pricks!

In some respects, Zombie Diaries is a good example of solid British Filmmaking but only if you chop off the last ten minutes. Up to that point I was all ready to give this film a solid 6. However! With an ending that made the whole thing feel pointless and irritating, mainly because I had invested a lot of time and energy into the experience, I have no alternative but to completely disregard this film from my memory banks! Even after my original viewing fell into the abyss of my drunken sub-conscience, I gave it a second chance but low-and-behold, I was left wanting.... Wanting the last 81 minutes back!

The acting for the most part is.... regrettably, forgettable! Some VERY wooden conversations between characters leaves the whole thing feeling extremely scripted, some very hard work is required just to get from one scene to the next. Some browney points are earned with the special effects which were quite impressive for a small production like this but ultimately, not enough to save the film from the chop!

Never the less, I am a sucker for anything random so I shall be partaking in the sequel World of the Dead: Zombie Diaries 2, sometime soon.

Released: 2006

My Rating: 2