Random Horror

Following on from Insidious was a film I had been looking forward to watching for a long time. From the first time I saw the trailer, I was excited at the prospect of seeing it. I finally saw my opportunity and within hours of buying it, Sinister was spinning to life in front of my eyes. The film opens with a scene unlike any other, a silent film reel which shows a family of four bound, with hoods over their faces and nooses around their necks tied to a tree branch. An unseen source slowly cuts through a branch of the tree which when it collapses, acts as a pulley and hoists the family high up into the air. The camera rolls for a few moments as we watch the families’ lives being slowly extinguished by the weight of their own bodies! Skip forward a few months and we are introduced to the Oswalt family, Ellison, his wife Tracy and their two kids Ashley and Trevor. Ellison is a once-successful true crime writer who is on a push for another triumph. He has moved the family from their ...

I know this is moving slightly away from my typical “Random Horror” but I am not averse to bigger pictures which I why I relished the opportunity to watch Insidious. Having received it as a Christmas present in 2011, I couldn’t wait to watch it and I have since seen it several times. Insidious follows Josh and Renai Lambert and their three kids. After moving into a new house, the family struggle to settle and things are set back even further when Dalton, one of the kids falls into a bizarre coma like state. This causes more strain on the already thinly stretched family but it isn’t until Renai experiences strange noises and ghostly activity that the family decide enough is enough! They move into a new house to try to escape the supernatural activity which has been plaguing the poor woman only to experience the same thing in their new home! On the advice of Josh’s mother Lorraine, Renai calls in an expert and promptly invites paranormal investigator Elise into their new home. Along ...

When I first heard about this film, I was somewhat intrigued to see how it would play out. However, my intrigue was somewhat stilted by the thought in the back of my head which smacked of un-ease. There was something sinister and wrong about the films subject matter which for some reason, be it that part of my human psyche which craves and is fascinated by the morbid and the unknown or just some sick notion. Whatever it was, it looked... interesting. Gut tells the story of two friends, Tom and Dan. Tom, who has settled down and has the nice family life, seems to have grown up. Dan on the other hand still wants to be a teenager, living the bachelor life. Together they have been friends for a long time but slowly the friendship begins to drift as Tom outgrows Dan and his beer and movie fuelled nights. A conversation during a lunch break notifies Dan that Tom is thinking of upping sticks and moving away. This news doesn’t go down too well with Dan! Eventually he seems to accept the i...

After receiving this film in the post, I was more than excited to watch what some people had called one of the best direct to DVD Horror films. Until I was contacted by Jack Messitt (Director) I had never heard of Midnight Movie, however, once I received the DVD I did a bit of research and was pleasantly surprised and intrigued with what I read. As well as a great website, this title boasts some impressive accolades and high praise from various outlets. The film starts with a patient at a psychiatric ward painting. The patient, Ted Radford was a director who forty years ago made a slasher film called The Dark Beneath. At the request of his doctor, he is permitted to watch his film however, something sinister occurs and everyone on the ward except for the doctor vanishes leaving behind only pools of blood and a mystery! The only remnants of Radford, is a few weird symbols and a lot of blood! Skip forward a few years and we are taken to a cinema setting with a small group of people ...

Chain Letter was one of many DVD’s I received at Christmas and after a quick survey of the cover art, blurb and cast details, we decided that it was to be next on the list to watch. Said cover included a close up of some of the cast and a bloody corpse with a chain wrapped tightly around their ankle. The top billed also made for promising reading with the inclusion of horror legend Brad Dourif accompanied by familiar face Keith David and from Twilight, Nikki Reed. The film opens with what is probably the most chilling moment. A girl who has been bound and tied is chained to the back of two cars. As she lay on the floor of a garage, two people exit the house and get into the cars, unbeknown to them, their cars would soon become a weapon of horrific death! The scene ends without actually finding out what happens and it isn’t until the end that we learn of the fate of the poor woman chained to the cars!   The basic premise of Chain Letter follows a familiar pattern and is ve...

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...