Random Horror

So, here it is. My first blog entry in nearly two years and I have decided to review one of the many films I watched last year which, in my humble opinion, was extremely underrated. I don't think the world has given enough love to the found footage sub-genre of Horror films. A sub-genre which I find highly enjoyable, as evidenced by some of my past posts, Skew, Grave Encounters and V/H/S to name but a few and of course, my number one horror film The Blair Witch Project. The love for this sub-genre, sadly died almost as quickly as it had emerged. From the seldom seen gems like said Witch project to a barrage of low budget, sub-standard and almost identical blunders, it could be easy to see why. As I said though, every now and then we find a film which not only reignites our love for a certain sub-genre but reminds us why we ever loved it at all! Alien Abduction follows the Morris family whose autistic son Riley, is capturing the families camping trip on film. Along w...

This short film was first brought to my attention by director Josh Heisie way back in February 2012. Due to “unforseen events”, the film missed its initial slated release target of Summer 2012. However, I was recently updated as to the status of the film and I have also had the opportunity to sample the work for myself... Set in Gold-rush era Wild West, Theodore “Tubby” Ellsworth and Jack smith are two criminals on the run. As they make their escape in the woods, they come across a dying Prospector. Lying on Indian ground and knowing of his impending demise, he makes the pair promise to give him a Christian burial. They fail on their oath, instead opting to steal the old man’s gold. Little do they know, the prospector is about to return to claim what is rightfully his and inflict terrible vengeance on the two naive outlaws! While I may not hold a massive space in my heart for short films, there are the odd ones that manage to weasel their way into my consciousness. The last suc...

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 f...

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 t...

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 a...

After more than a month out of the game, I returned to the world of Random Horror with a... not quite a bang, more of a piff! I trawled through the Amazon suggests looking for more hidden gems and what I found was The Amityville Haunting! By now, I think everyone should know the story of The Amityville House and its connected stories, for those who don’t, read about it. Anyway, The Amityville Haunting sells itself as a “Real” found footage film. The tagline reads... “The family did not survive but the recordings did”. I think this pretty much sums up the direction the film will take us. To begin, we see a group of kids filming themselves breaking into the house whilst it is empty. They fool around a bit and pretty much do what young stupid American stereotype teens do in these types of films. And, equally as stereotypical, they all meet with untimely ends! We skip forward slightly and a very awkward looking family introduce themselves to a slightly tentative realtor. With this, ...

This is a film that like the previous sequel I reviewed ( Grave Encounters 2 ) promised so much. Let me take you back a bit. One of my first posts on this website was for a little indie film called Outpost . The film saw a group of mercenaries escorting a businessman in the woods of Eastern Europe only to be confronted by an army of un-dead Nazi SS soldiers. The concept and delivery were brilliant and immediately after watching Outpost, I was ecstatic to learn that a sequel had already been commissioned. A few years passed and it seemed as though Outpost 2 was never going to be released, I had been following their Facebook/Twitter pages so I knew the film had been made but alas, no release date. Even news of a third instalment didn’t bring with it a release for the second! Eventually, as if overnight, Outpost: Black Sun was released in shops and quickly moved to the top of my wish list! I finally got the opportunity to watch it after a chance visit to HMV provided me with a copy for...

I must say after watching and massively enjoying the first Grave Encounters , I was very excited to see the second. I watched a few trailers and nothing I saw did anything to alter my initial excitement. I was scanning the DVD shelf at our local unnamed chain supermarket when I saw it; twice reduced the price was now too good an opportunity to pass up at £5!  Still excited, I decided to watch it that same night… Grave Encounters 2 begins with a montage of amateur film reviewers giving their two cents on the first instalment. One of them is Film Student Alex Wright. After giving it a fairly poor review he becomes obsessed with the mystery surrounding the production of the first film. He is contacted by a viewer of his video blog known only as Death Awaits and is fed small snippets of information. This information is enough to get Alex more than intrigued, so along with his friends Jennifer, Trevor, Tessa and Jared he sets about unravelling the secrets of Grave Encounters. The...

This is another film that was brought to my attention a while ago, this time through the wonders of Twitter and its many awesome horror fans. I watched the trailer on YouTube then instantly watched it again and then again and over the course of the next week or so, continued to watch in awe as I wondered if this could be as good in reality as the trailer made it seem... Months passed and although I continued to refresh my memory by watching the many updated trailers that came by, I was thwarted in my attempts to watch it as being in the UK, all VOD opportunities seemed to be in the States. But, my time would come! I was browsing around randomly on Amazon when my gaze was diverted by a familiar VHS cover. A patient wait until the end of January and V/H/S was finally in my possession! It is so difficult to review an anthology because they differ so dramatically! One can influence my decision and consciousness greatly while others may drag it down somewhat. I suppose the best way ...

I first saw this advertised before watching Chernobyl Diaries and while the premise sounded quite familiar, the delivery made me really want to watch. So, off I went to my local retailer and lo-and-behold, the same sale that gifted me Chernobyl Diaries for £5, also gave me this title for the same price. I was quite happy to say the least. The film follows Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen) who has travelled with her father, John to their lakeside retreat to pack it up ready for selling. Helping them along the way is Peter, John’s Brother. The house itself is quite run down and in a fairly poor state. After a petty brotherly argument, Peter leaves to get away for a bit, leaving Sarah and her dad alone in the house. A strange encounter with Sophia, who says she used to play with Sarah when they were kids, sets the tone of the film very well. Despite being friendly about the reunion, Sarah appears to have no clue whom she is. Either way, they arrange to meet up later. She leaves and Sarah ...