Raze (2014)

Raze is an extreme low budget horror with plenty of over-the-top violence. The film begins with Rachel Nichols being released from a cell in an underground prison. She meets another women in the brightly lit red corridor. The pair soon find themselves in a stone walled circle and it becomes obvious to them both what this area is for - its a fighting ring.

The other women, Sabrina (Zoe Bell), launches a vicious attack on Rachel Nichols, knocking here to the ground and hitting her with punch after punch until her face is nothing more then a bloody mush. The scene is very disturbing especially the wet pounding noises of the punches.

The fact that the best a most well known actress in the film dies within the first 5 minutes, is the biggest let down and most ridiculous part of the film. The rest of the film basically involves scene after scene of the same extreme fight violence, in which Sabrina must fight against the   many other imprisoned woman.

Their captures tell them that the last remaining women left alive in this gruesome fight tournament will be set free. The film is basically one gory fight after another with little meaningful dialogue or character development in between. If pure violence and gore is your thing then this is the film for you. Overall though Raze is a poor effort with a completely predictable ending.

Raze (2014)

Raze is an extreme low budget horror with plenty of over-the-top violence. The film begins with Rachel Nichols being released from a cell in an underground prison. She meets another women in the brightly lit red corridor. The pair soon find themselves in a stone walled circle and it becomes obvious to them both what this area is for - its a fighting ring.

The other women, Sabrina (Zoe Bell), launches a vicious attack on Rachel Nichols, knocking here to the ground and hitting her with punch after punch until her face is nothing more then a bloody mush. The scene is very disturbing especially the wet pounding noises of the punches.

The fact that the best a most well known actress in the film dies within the first 5 minutes, is the biggest let down and most ridiculous part of the film. The rest of the film basically involves scene after scene of the same extreme fight violence, in which Sabrina must fight against the   many other imprisoned woman.

Their captures tell them that the last remaining women left alive in this gruesome fight tournament will be set free. The film is basically one gory fight after another with little meaningful dialogue or character development in between. If pure violence and gore is your thing then this is the film for you. Overall though Raze is a poor effort with a completely predictable ending.

You're Next (2013)

You're Next is part of the "Mumblegore" sub-genre of low budget indie horror. Recent additions to this increasing popular sub-genre are House of  the Devil , The Innkeepers and VHS. The best way to describe this "Mumblegore" (ridiculous name) is a mix or art house  and old school horror.

Anyway lets talk about the film. The Davison Family decide to have a family reunion at their huge mansion in the country. Tension run high among the siblings and arguments soon breakout during the lavish banquet the family gather for in dining room in the evening.

The stormy reunion is soon interrupted when a group of men wearing animal masks break into the house and start terrorising the family. The masks look really creepy and include a Lamb,Wolf and a Fox.

As the Davison family clan gets picked off one by one by the intruders, one of the family decides to fight back; Erin, the wife of one of the families son's who apparently grew up on a Survivalist Compound (convenient), puts her survivalist skills to use using survival tactics, and setting nasty traps for the masked killers.

When only a few of family remain, a huge plot twist is revealed, at twist that makes Erin's survival even more difficult. The the bloody deaths that Erin inflicts on the intruders are original and grizzly, the best of which involves a food blender being stuck into a mans head.

I loved the whole feel of this film. It was perfectly paced with lots of tension, creepy scenes and atmosphere. Ti West's is quickly becoming one of my favorite horror directors, and You're Next is his best effort so far. Sharni Vinson's performance as the final girl, Erin, was superb, as were the performce from the rest of the mostly unknown cast. 

You're Next is a well written violent gore-fest with some truly memorable kills involving axes, nails, meat tenderizers and of course the infamous food blender scene, and is one of may all-time  favorite survival horrors.

You're Next (2013)

You're Next is part of the "Mumblegore" sub-genre of low budget indie horror. Recent additions to this increasing popular sub-genre are House of  the Devil , The Innkeepers and VHS. The best way to describe this "Mumblegore" (ridiculous name) is a mix or art house  and old school horror.

Anyway lets talk about the film. The Davison Family decide to have a family reunion at their huge mansion in the country. Tension run high among the siblings and arguments soon breakout during the lavish banquet the family gather for in dining room in the evening.

The stormy reunion is soon interrupted when a group of men wearing animal masks break into the house and start terrorising the family. The masks look really creepy and include a Lamb,Wolf and a Fox.

As the Davison family clan gets picked off one by one by the intruders, one of the family decides to fight back; Erin, the wife of one of the families son's who apparently grew up on a Survivalist Compound (convenient), puts her survivalist skills to use using survival tactics, and setting nasty traps for the masked killers.

When only a few of family remain, a huge plot twist is revealed, at twist that makes Erin's survival even more difficult. The the bloody deaths that Erin inflicts on the intruders are original and grizzly, the best of which involves a food blender being stuck into a mans head.

I loved the whole feel of this film. It was perfectly paced with lots of tension, creepy scenes and atmosphere. Ti West's is quickly becoming one of my favorite horror directors, and You're Next is his best effort so far. Sharni Vinson's performance as the final girl, Erin, was superb, as were the performce from the rest of the mostly unknown cast. 

You're Next is a well written violent gore-fest with some truly memorable kills involving axes, nails, meat tenderizers and of course the infamous food blender scene, and is one of may all-time  favorite survival horrors.

V/H/S 2 (2013)

Unlike previous horror anthologies like Creepshow and Trick 'r Treat ,V/H/S 2 fails to deliver on what was a good idea.

Found footage films are usually cheap, low budget affairs, and must be done right to have the desired affect; not many films have achieved this, with the exception of  REC, REC 2, The Blair Witch Project, and The Last Broadcast. V/H/S 2  takes found footage and anthology horror and puts the two together. The result is the horror equivalent of  "You've Been Framed".

The film is basically made up of four found footage shorts, the of which is a tale about a man who has an experimental eye implant that makes him see ghosts, which is all shot in the first person perspective of his eye implant. The hole thing feels like you're playing a survival horror video game, the ghosts look like the ghosts in games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill. The digital interference that keeps cutting into the display of his implant video, is cheap and video game looking. The film just follows him around his house trying to get away from the comically bad looking ghosts that aren't scary at all. Its just a really silly and boring film.

The second film is basically like a bad episode of  The Walking Dead, in which a man (conveniently wearing a helmet cam) sets out on a bike ride through the woods, and is suddenly attacked by a pack of zombies.  To cut a long story short,  he gets bitten, becomes a zombie, and runs around the woods infecting unsuspecting bikers and hikers before taking part in a blood bath at a camp site, where he and the pack of zombie tear apart a group of people celebrating a birthday party. Its all predictable, boring, and some of the acting is truly zombies-like.

This third film is about a team of journalists who go into a monastery school of some kind which is run by mad man. It turns out the loon and his followers are all devil worshipers, and intend to kill all of the journalists, besides a pregnant one, who they intend to use as a sacrifice so the devil.

I quite liked this one. Its the best episode in the film. The special effects were "ok" with some truly stomach churning moments. When the devil eventually surfaces and is let loose from the monastery, he takes chase after the only surviving journalist. When he finally catches up with him, the devil himself looks like a cheap donkey costume with horns on the head, its really comical. Overall though, this one wasn't bad at all.

The final short film, is set in a lake side house in which a group of middle-class teenagers are having a sleepover/party. The camera work is done by one of the kids as they document their exploits. They start playing pranks on each other during the night. During one such prank, a bright light suddenly engulfs the house -- coming from the direction of the lake. The house starts shacking, the lights flicker off, and then suddenly aliens with extremely long fingers burst into the house, and start terrorizing the group of teens. The aliens don't probe the idiot teens, but instead display their staggering ineptitude when it comes to kidnapping. They are within two feet of all of the group many times, but instead of grabbing or fingering them, they lightly stroke them and dance like homos. In the end no one gets fingered, the aliens go away and book some dancing lessons.

At the end of the day, V/H/S/2 is three poorly made low budget short films and one passable one. I hope the current surge of found footage films ends with this terrible example, because the fad is wearing a little thin. Don't be in a rush to see this one.

The NHS keeps getting worse..


Despite being mediocre overall, there are some great gore moments in this film, especially in the monastery episode. The zombie film also produced some good blood spurting and flesh eating moments as well. A solid four gore-bucket film.

V/H/S 2 (2013)

Unlike previous horror anthologies like Creepshow and Trick 'r Treat ,V/H/S 2 fails to deliver on what was a good idea.

Found footage films are usually cheap, low budget affairs, and must be done right to have the desired affect; not many films have achieved this, with the exception of  REC, REC 2, The Blair Witch Project, and The Last Broadcast. V/H/S 2  takes found footage and anthology horror and puts the two together. The result is the horror equivalent of  "You've Been Framed".

The film is basically made up of four found footage shorts, the of which is a tale about a man who has an experimental eye implant that makes him see ghosts, which is all shot in the first person perspective of his eye implant. The hole thing feels like you're playing a survival horror video game, the ghosts look like the ghosts in games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill. The digital interference that keeps cutting into the display of his implant video, is cheap and video game looking. The film just follows him around his house trying to get away from the comically bad looking ghosts that aren't scary at all. Its just a really silly and boring film.

The second film is basically like a bad episode of  The Walking Dead, in which a man (conveniently wearing a helmet cam) sets out on a bike ride through the woods, and is suddenly attacked by a pack of zombies.  To cut a long story short,  he gets bitten, becomes a zombie, and runs around the woods infecting unsuspecting bikers and hikers before taking part in a blood bath at a camp site, where he and the pack of zombie tear apart a group of people celebrating a birthday party. Its all predictable, boring, and some of the acting is truly zombies-like.

This third film is about a team of journalists who go into a monastery school of some kind which is run by mad man. It turns out the loon and his followers are all devil worshipers, and intend to kill all of the journalists, besides a pregnant one, who they intend to use as a sacrifice so the devil.

I quite liked this one. Its the best episode in the film. The special effects were "ok" with some truly stomach churning moments. When the devil eventually surfaces and is let loose from the monastery, he takes chase after the only surviving journalist. When he finally catches up with him, the devil himself looks like a cheap donkey costume with horns on the head, its really comical. Overall though, this one wasn't bad at all.

The final short film, is set in a lake side house in which a group of middle-class teenagers are having a sleepover/party. The camera work is done by one of the kids as they document their exploits. They start playing pranks on each other during the night. During one such prank, a bright light suddenly engulfs the house -- coming from the direction of the lake. The house starts shacking, the lights flicker off, and then suddenly aliens with extremely long fingers burst into the house, and start terrorizing the group of teens. The aliens don't probe the idiot teens, but instead display their staggering ineptitude when it comes to kidnapping. They are within two feet of all of the group many times, but instead of grabbing or fingering them, they lightly stroke them and dance like homos. In the end no one gets fingered, the aliens go away and book some dancing lessons.

At the end of the day, V/H/S/2 is three poorly made low budget short films and one passable one. I hope the current surge of found footage films ends with this terrible example, because the fad is wearing a little thin. Don't be in a rush to see this one.

The NHS keeps getting worse..


Despite being mediocre overall, there are some great gore moments in this film, especially in the monastery episode. The zombie film also produced some good blood spurting and flesh eating moments as well. A solid four gore-bucket film.

American Psycho (2000)

Adapted from the dark and brilliant book of the same name, American Psycho is an ironic, dark, and dam right hilarious social satire.

Its central character, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), is a yuppie of 27 in Wall Street in 1986, obsessed with status symbols, self-confessedly as empty of feeling as his gleaming desk top is of honest labour.
He escorts us through his morning agenda of toilet ablutions, bathroom anointment and wardrobe adornments as if man were the sum of his beauty products.

Feeling alienated by his yuppie lifestyle, he embarks on a psychopathic killing spree: murdering colleges, homeless people, animals, and prostitutes.


His wall-flush stainless-steel refrigerator is stocked with a human head, for snacks. Before he teasingly deliberates whether to use chainsaw or nail-gun on his female victims, he treats them to an extended criticism of the CD he feels suits his slaughterous mood. Phil Collins comes off best.

The social satire and subtle critique of the yuppie culture is apparent throughout. Everyone looks the same--perfectly groomed, nice haircuts and expensive suits. They share one interest --money--and that's all they care about. Everyone is having an affair, and getting up all sorts of debauchery in private, but in public they are all respectable, well educated, pillars of society.

However, the facade of respectability is beginning to slip for Patrick Bateman. A detective begins to investigate the disappearance of the college he chopped up with an axe, and his secretory becomes concerned about his erratic behavior.

In the end though, no one suspects him of anything, even after he confesses to his lawyer. Even the detective seems to respect him, and at no point suspects him of foul-play. As far a society is concerned, Patrick Bateman remains a respectable business man. If the film proves anything, its that money talks.

No more Jehovah's witnesses please

The claret is flowing throughout the film. This scene is the best, not just because of the gore, but because of how lucky he was to make the shot with the chainsaw.

 

 

"Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your asshole."  - Patrick Bateman

American Psycho (2000)

Adapted from the dark and brilliant book of the same name, American Psycho is an ironic, dark, and dam right hilarious social satire.

Its central character, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), is a yuppie of 27 in Wall Street in 1986, obsessed with status symbols, self-confessedly as empty of feeling as his gleaming desk top is of honest labour.
He escorts us through his morning agenda of toilet ablutions, bathroom anointment and wardrobe adornments as if man were the sum of his beauty products.

Feeling alienated by his yuppie lifestyle, he embarks on a psychopathic killing spree: murdering colleges, homeless people, animals, and prostitutes.


His wall-flush stainless-steel refrigerator is stocked with a human head, for snacks. Before he teasingly deliberates whether to use chainsaw or nail-gun on his female victims, he treats them to an extended criticism of the CD he feels suits his slaughterous mood. Phil Collins comes off best.

The social satire and subtle critique of the yuppie culture is apparent throughout. Everyone looks the same--perfectly groomed, nice haircuts and expensive suits. They share one interest --money--and that's all they care about. Everyone is having an affair, and getting up all sorts of debauchery in private, but in public they are all respectable, well educated, pillars of society.

However, the facade of respectability is beginning to slip for Patrick Bateman. A detective begins to investigate the disappearance of the college he chopped up with an axe, and his secretory becomes concerned about his erratic behavior.

In the end though, no one suspects him of anything, even after he confesses to his lawyer. Even the detective seems to respect him, and at no point suspects him of foul-play. As far a society is concerned, Patrick Bateman remains a respectable business man. If the film proves anything, its that money talks.

No more Jehovah's witnesses please

The claret is flowing throughout the film. This scene is the best, not just because of the gore, but because of how lucky he was to make the shot with the chainsaw.

 

 

"Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your asshole."  - Patrick Bateman