Random Horror

A few months ago I wrote about The Devil inside , a docu-style exorcism movie with all the feel of a real life experience. In it I wrote of my excitement to see The Last Exorcism, as from what I had read in various places, it all pointed to The Last Exorcism being far scarier and an all-round better film. However, after now watching both I have reached the conclusion that either our eyes don’t work as everyone else’s do or everyone else is just insane! The Last Exorcism follows the story of Reverend Cotton Marcus who has become disillusioned with exorcism and almost his faith in general. He sets out with an access all area’s style film crew consisting of Iris (Filmmaker) and Daniel (Cameraman) to expose the worldwide scam of exorcism. After picking one request at random to answer, he uses this as his last case. He heads off to the town of Ivanwood to meet Louis Sweetzer, a farmer who fears his daughter Nell has come foul of something sinister! We bought The Last Exorcism on Blu-Ra...

Supernatural, paranormal whatever you want to call it, this sub-genre of horror films is next on the list in my "Horror!" segments. Following on from Zombies , Monsters and Slashers , Supernatural will take us places we haven’t really ventured to yet.  Typically, you think of ghosts when you start to envision supernatural and as usual, you wouldn’t be far wrong. Where other genre’s of horror rely heavily on physical aspects, (blood, guts, gore and creatures) supernatural films play more with your mind. Often leaving the core aspects of the film to the viewers’ imagination or deep seated fear’s and repressed tension.  Now for the housekeeping, I will lay out the rules, give a brief outline of the genre and my own opinions and then at the end, I will probably include my 10 best films from the sub-genre. For the purposes of this piece, supernatural will cover ghosts, paranormal and the occult. Although Zombies, Vampires, werewolves etc all come under the vague heading...

“Oh... Great” was the reply from the misses when I showed her the case for Grave Encounters! I know my wife well enough to know that she was being sarcastic and possibly, the prospect of watching yet another sub-standard random horror film was not as enticing to her as it was to me! Whatever the result, we sat, open-minded (I was at least) in anticipation and watched.  The DVD cover leads with the accolade of receiving over 22 Million trailer views, which I have to say in the world of film DVD’s is a first. Normally films are plastered with notable quotes from credible source’s and critics but not Grave Encounters. I suppose it’s the times we live in. Digital sales rule, VOD and other online sources show films and trailers readily and sometimes freely. In addition, to a certain extent, people couldn’t care less what Mark Kermode or Roger Ebert think of films, I certainly don’t (Clearly) but anyway, I was intrigued. Having not been a member of the 22 Million + strong cr...

I have to admit that after watching Zombie Apocalypse starring Ving Rhames, I was somewhat dubious about another Zombie film with Apocalypse in the title and starring yet another genre legend. This legend comes in the shape of Ken Foree, Star of the original Dawn of the Dead. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before all my early doubts were eradicated!  As the misses and I sat to watch, I noticed that there was a lot of “…vićs” involved. A quick scan of IMDB and Wikipedia showed me the way. This film is perhaps the first Serbian Horror Film ever and as horror films go, it’s fairly good.  The film starts off with the customary intro into the infection, a burial site is discovered which is originally thought to be of plague victims, however through some manipulation and mutation, it actually revives dead cells. Skip forward a few decades and the release of this plague in modern day! We are next introduced to the main characters and some semblance of a plot. Interpol agents are...

Well, here we are, the shiny New Year that is 2013 is barely old enough to crawl and the horror just keeps on coming. I hope you all enjoyed the holiday period. After a few weeks off with the family, I thought it would be nice to start with a film which I got in my Christmas box... Zombie Apocalypse! I gave the misses a “wanted” list of Random Horror films to fill my Xmas stocking with and low and behold, I received them all (prepare for the reviews over the coming months). However, the first one from the stack we decided to watch was possibly one of the ones I was looking forward to the most, Oh how naive I was! Zombies and Ving Rhames have possibly carried a “handle with care” warning due to the brilliant Dawn of the Dead being followed up by the abysmal Day of the Dead. Despite this, my expectations were higher than usual; Expectations which were only heightened by the inclusion of Eddie Steeples. Any fan of My Name is Earl will recognize the afro wearing “Crab-Man” and instan...

This film had all the signs of being an instant classic. Good cast, eye-catching case and the pedigree of Guillermo Del Toro as producer and co-writer. In reality what we have is a sub-standard remake that delivers very little on its promise of “Horror film of the year”. Thank you very much Billy Chainsaw of Bizarre magazine but I’m sorry, you let me down! In brief, Sally (Bailee Madison) is sent to live with her father Alex and his girlfriend Kim (Guy Pearce & Katie Holmes) Alex is an architect and Kim is an interior decorator, together they are living in and restoring Blackwood Manor... The house, is supposed to be set in Rhode Island despite it being unlike anything you may find in Rhode Island! It is creepy enough and as the film’s opening shows us, it has history. The opening sequence involves Lord Blackwood, a house keeper and a hammer and chisel. It actually provides us with the first and unfortunately last squeamish moment. As Sally gets used to her new surroundings, she...

As anyone who is familiar with various other pieces I have written will know, I hate The Exorcist. With all the bad films I watch, all the low-budget, no-budget crap that passes through my line of sight, I still consider The Exorcist to be the worst horror film out there. Over-rated and extremely boring! If this opinion offends anyone, I implore you to make your case.... No, I’m right, it’s just 122 minutes of self indulgent tripe that sends me to sleep just thinking about it! Rant over. While I didn’t enjoy The Exorcist or any of its sequels or prequels, I still opted to give Emily Rose a try... That didn’t really ignite my imagination either. While I have thus far skipped past The Last Exorcism, purely because of past experiences, I found myself watching The Devil Inside. I was instantly intrigued and continued watching. By the end, I discovered a new found appreciation for exorcism films in general and I am now adding The Last Exorcism to my list of “to Watch” films.  The...

This film was first brought to my attention a few years ago while perusing my monthly copy of Total Film magazine. It wasn’t until recently that I finally got around to purchasing the film and giving it a watch. I will start by saying, not far into this film, the misses and I were happily sat on the sofa watching the film and drinking some happy juice when from outside we heard some suspicious noises. I don’t need to tell you that with the current subject matter permeating our consciousnesses’, we were startled! We paused the film and stood in the doorway... Being that we are both from a town very close to an army barracks, it didn’t take long to deduce that the sounds were in fact those of soldiers close by running exercises! Although Monsters is far from a horror film, I have been branching out to more genre’s recently and Sci-Fi is a personal favourite. Especially when the budget is low and the techniques used were so inventive. A statement that perfectly describes this film. M...

Well, there we go. Halloween is over for another year. All those people who decide to make that one day something special will have a long wait for the next one. As for the rest of us, you know, those people who are horror 365 days a year and don’t necessarily need that one day to cement the fact are continuing on. Business as usual!  I know, how very cynical of me and I don’t mean it really. I love Halloween. Being from England, there is very little to get excited about on Halloween. The day passes by with very little notice in most places. Example, we dressed our house up, carved the pumpkin went trick or treating and my daughter received a handful of sweets! In contrast, our street contains approx 30 houses. Of which, 4 were dressed up, 20 were in complete darkness so as to look empty and the rest were playing ball to an extent but all in all, very disappointing. As a Brit, we see films, TV shows and other media from the States and the wonder of Halloween is something to beh...

Triangle first came to my attention after buying something on Amazon. It was under the “Customers also bought” scrolling bar that often proves helpful in searching out the vast library of Random Horror films that are available. It wasn’t until a chance visit to a newly opened DVD/Games outlet that I saw the opportunity. £3.50 on Blu-Ray! Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. It was this weekend, in the wake of Halloween that I decided to sit down with the misses and watch said film. Triangle is a 2009 thriller that stars Melissa George as Jess. The film starts with Jess at home with her son. Nothing untoward appears to be going on until the doorbell rings. When Jess goes to answer it, she is confronted with nothing. Your mind goes on and story continues... Jess soon heads off to go sailing with some friends but before too long, a huge storm comes and threatens their lovely excursion. After some bizarre radio transmissions which seem to go unsolved, their boat is battered and ca...