30 Days of Fright - Epilogue

Like all good things, and the worst too I suppose, the fourth year of the 30 Days of Fright horror movie reviews has come to an end. Here's a quick break down of the final scores along with a little analysis of some of the highlights.

The Scores:
TTFD = Two Thumbs Firmly Down
TTD = Two Thumbs Down
OTU/OTD = One Thumb Up, One Thumb Down
TTU = Two Thumbs Up
TTFU = Two Thumbs Firmly Up

Year 4:
01 - Candyman - TTFU
02 - Halloween II (2009) - OTU/OTD
03 - Deathwatch - TTD
04 - [REC]2 - TTU
05 - After.Life - OTU/OTD
06 - The Broken - TTD
07 - The Fourth Kind - TTU
08 - New Moon - TTD
09 - Heartless - OTU/OTD
10 - Fright Night (1985) - TTU
11 - Saw II - TTD
12 - Let Me In - OTU/OTD
13 - Sorority Row - TTU
14 - Final Destination 2 - TTU
15 - The Ring - TTU
16 - Hellraiser - TTD
17 - The Thing - TTU
18 - Shelter - OTU/OTD
19 - Wake Wood - TTU
20 - Devil - TTFU
21 - The Descent Part 2 - TTFD
22 - Jennifer's Body - TTU
23 - Paranormal Activity - OTU/OTD
24 - My Bloody Valentine - TTFD
25 - Creepshow - OTU/OTD
26 - A Nightmare on Elm St. Pt4: The Dream Master - TTD
27 - Angel Heart - OTU/OTD
28 - Flatliners - TTFU
29 - Outpost - OTU/OTD
30 - The Tattooist - TTU

The Best:
Candyman
I was stunned by just how good this film is. There's some nice scares in the mix and some decent gore too. Of course, Tony Todd steals every scene he's in with his imposing stature and creepy deep voice, but the other stands outs from Candyman have to be the music and the gritty urban setting. I had really hoped that Candyman was only a taste of things to come as Clive Barker was the man responsible for this and another film in the series Hellraiser, but sadly that film turned out to be shite. Candyman though was excellent and a great way to start this years reviews.

Devil
If Clive Barker's name attached to a film had me excited and then caused serious disappointment, the exact opposite happened with Devil and the man behind that film, M. Night Shyamalan. Having been burned before when it came to this dude's work I had a terrible sinking sensation when his name sprang up in the opening credits, but it turned out that he wasn't all that involved in making the movie so it turned out to be good. The frights aren't overly jumpy nor does the film get under your skin like some horrors can, but it 's just so well made, and the nervousness people feel when things go wrong in a skyscraper makes Devil worth a look.

Flatliners 
Flatliners is such an atmospheric film it should be used in film schools to show students how to film autumn. Everything about it tells you something creepy is going on and it is perfectly set as it is in a glorious looking medical school and at the perfect time of year, with Hallowe'en getting a look in too. For me though, the highlight of the piece is in the characters themselves, as they display all the egotism and arrogance that goes with being the top of the class, and then fall victim to the product of their own hubris.

The Worst:
The Descent Part 2
The first Descent movie was a good concept and likeable in it's own way, whereas the second one was the worst form of milking out there and the kind of thing that gives sequels a bad name. The story wasn't continued or developed sufficiently well to justify this movie and fuck alone knows how they'll squeeze a third out of the franchise if plans for that movie go ahead.

My Bloody Valentine
Whhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattt a pile of shit! Utter scutter from the start to the gutter! This film has a huge cult following but that just goes to show how dangerous cults are and how much brainwashing they engage in. My Bloody Valentine is the kind of film the "Two Thumbs Firmly Down" rating was invented for.

Special Mentions:
The Fourth Kind
This film gave me the creeps the first time I saw it but unfortunately I didn't get to see it all in one go, instead I was forced to split the viewing over two days. This really disjointed the last act of the film and led me to think that it was all rubbish. This time I got to watch the whole lot in one go and I really enjoyed it. Again, this is a movie that depends a lot on a quirky concept, in this case the actors telling you they're acting so as to convince you the film is really a docu-drama based on real events. The fact that Nome, Alaska, where it's set, does have a bit of reputation for missing persons only adds to the intrigue. If only some of the casting had been a little better and some of the "real" footage toned down ever so slightly then it would have been easy to give The Fourth Kind the highest score.

Jennifer's Body
This is another movie that I didn't like that much the first time and loved the second, though for radically different reasons than The Fourth Kind. Jennifer's Body is a film you have to open your mind real wide for and not for the A-Plot or even the B-Plot, but more for the extremely subtle stories that play out in the background; material so embedded in the fabric of the story that I doubt all of it was intentionally put into the film at all. For even the beginnings of an understanding of how teenage girls get along (or not) Jennifer's Body is worth a look. On top of that, it's actually pretty funny in a quiet sort of way. Only Megan Fox keeps this film from the top score as she's a shit actress.

Final Thoughts:
Surprisingly,  the vast majority of the films on this years list came from off the TV which shows that, for a change, TV can actually provide some decent horror. There was a nice variety to the types of horror, with ghosts, vampires, aliens, and other monsters all getting a look in. There were some nice surprises and some crushing disappointments too, but that's just the horror roller coaster. Until next year...

The End.

30 Days of Fright - Epilogue

And so to the end, but first things first: here are this year’s movies and their scores, plus this handy little guide to how to interpret the scores.

TTFD = Two Thumbs Firmly Down
TTD = Two Thumbs Down
OTU/OTD = One Thumb Up, One Thumb Down
TTU = Two Thumbs Up
TTFU = Two Thumbs Firmly Up

Year 3:
01 - Let The Right One In - OTU/OTD
02 - Final Destination - TTU
03 - Sleepy Hollow - TTU
04 - A Nightmare on Elm St. Pt. 3: Dream Warriors - OTU/OTD
05 - Hostel - TTU
06 - Omen 3: The Final Conflict - TTD
07 - I Spit on Your Grave - TTFD
08 - [REC] - TTU
09 - Slither - OTU/OTD
10 - The Lost Boys - TTFU
11 - Exorcist 2 - TTFD
12 - Doghouse - TTU
13 - The Descent - OTU/OTD
14 - Witchfinder General - TTU
15 - Friday the 13th (1980) - TTD
16 - Scream 2 - OTU/OTD
17 - Zombieland - TTFU
18 - Wolf - TTU
19 - The Howling - TTD
20 - An American Werewolf in Paris - OTU/OTD
21 - Brotherhood of the Wolf - TTU
22 - The Company of Wolves - TTU
23 - Ginger Snaps - TTU
24 - The Wolfman - TTD
25 - The Last House on the Left (2009) - OTU/OTD
26 - Lesbian Vampire Killers - TTFD
27 - The Evil Dead - TTD
28 - Twilight - OTU/OTD
29 - Friday the 13th (2009) - OTU/OTD
30 - 30 Days of Night: Dark Days - OTU/OTD

The Best:
The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys is an absolute gem of an 80’s movie. It hasn’t aged well and if you were of a cruel disposition you could probably have a good laugh at its expense, but if The Lost Boys was ever a part of your horror movie watching past then I strongly recommend a viewing if the chance comes up so that you can enjoy it all over again. It was easy to give this film the highest score available as it’s so much fun and nicely loyal to the vampire story.

Zombieland
I’d been told about how good Zombieland but I was stunned when I got the chance to view it as it lived up to the hype and then some. Zombieland is hilariously funny, well acted, with a good story and great action at the expense of the undead; giving it the highest score was easy peasy.

The Worst:
I Spit on Your Grave
Another God awful rape revenge movie. It’s weird how popular these movies were in the late seventies and despite how decent the remake of The Last House on the Left is I just plain don’t like the motivations used to justify the revenge component of these films.

Exorcist 2
Piece of shit made to try to deal with the controversy kicked up by the first film. The Exorcist is so good that it should have just been left alone, let stand as a single original piece of art.

Lesbian Vampire Killers
British horror-comedy had been doing so well in recent years that it was inevitable that something would go wrong eventually, and when it did go wrong, it did it spectacularly. Poor execution and a lousy script doomed this rotten pile of dirt to the lowest score available, and no amount of lesbians could save it from that shameful fate. Lesbians!

Special Mentions:
Two movies stood as out for me as worthy of a special mention despite the little failings that keep them from getting the top score. Ginger Snaps is a great modern werewolf tale that deals well with the obvious metaphor in the story. The acting was great, the story well developed, and it was utterly original. The second worthy movie is The Company of Wolves, a brilliant gothic retelling of the Red Riding Hood fable, and really arty in a good way! If you get a chance to see these movies you really should, but be ready to be challenged by them as well as entertained.

Final Thoughts:
I set out to do these little reviews in order to waste some time in the run up to Halloween and they’ve grown from that into an ideal annual opportunity for me to bleat on in a preachy, smart-arse way about films most people have never heard of. I hope that you at least cracked a smile once or twice while reading them, and that you maybe spared a thought for horror that you might not have only for them. Whether you did or not, I had my fun, and that’s all that matters!

The End.

30 Days of Fright - Prologue

I find getting out of bed in the morning to go to work extremely difficult. I always have and I suspect that I am not alone in my loathing of the alarm clock that signals the end of another too short a night of slumber. Each day I try to get motivated as I climb from my pit. A favored technique of mine (though frankly it's bugger all use) is to tell myself that this day could be the best day ever, that it'll be an adventure, that something amazing could happen to me on the cutting edge of Irish commerce.

Like I said, this technique is bugger all use and each morning is a terrible struggle. However, the theory is sound; each day is filled with promise though it's the kind of promise that's rarely fulfilled. Any period of time has that same type of potential and summers are particularly full of the stuff. I love the onset of summer with the ideas that spring to mind (if you'll pardon the pun) as I daydream about how to fill those long evenings.

Like everyone else I know I piss away those long evenings, so when summer ends it's more then a little bit sad, it's a fucking tragedy. So tragic in fact that back in the day, waaaaaay back in the day, the festival of Samhain kicked off in these parts to mark the death of summer, and that festival eventually led to the holiday we know as Halloween, which in turn has led to the greatest annual horror film review series of all time: “30 Days of Fright”.

In a strange twist, once those long evenings are gone I actually get motivated to do something with my free time and so during the month of October I plant myself in front of the TV or home cinema (which sounds grander then it is) and watch a horror film each night. As I am totally incapable of keeping my opinion of a film to myself, the next day I write up a review and post it on the Internet for the entire world to see.

The usual rules of the series apply this year. I've gathered up a collection of DVD's and recordings off the TV and compiled a list of films to be viewed and reviewed but should I get my grubby mitts on something I consider worth a look at the last minute then it'll get dropped in. As in previous years, which you can check out here: 2008, and here: 2009, I hope to make you smile and maybe even make you think.

Each film is rated on it's merits and assigned a final score based on my rather unusual scoring system:

Two Thumbs Firmly Down = One of the worst films ever, never mention this film to anyone nevermind actually watching it!

Two Thumbs Down = A crap fest

One Thumb Up, One Thumb Down = Meh, don't go out of your way for it but don't try to avoid it either

Two Thumbs Up = A brilliant movie, well worth a look

Two Thumbs Firmly Up = A must see, a trully excellent motion picture you should make it your business to see as soon as you can

There is another score that is only used in the most extreme of cases: No Thumbs = no rating as the film is beneath contempt due to the handling of its subject matter - when you consider that these are horror films then that's a pretty extreme rating to get and has so far, thankfully, only been applied once.

The first film in this years series gets it's viewing tonight so the first review will be available tomorrow - be ready, as this years series is gonna be a scream!

30 Days of Fright - 01: Halloween (1978)

It's easy to look at an older film through overly forgiving eyes. As the years pass films tend to date poorly, rooted as they are in the point of time of their creation in terms of their technical make-up, the fashion of the day, and the cultural notions prevalent; the films zeitgeist if you will. But think of those classic films that don't age. Think of The Exorcist, and the original Wicker Man, and Rosemary's Baby. Now put those great movies out of your mind as we discuss the stinking pile of shite that is "Halloween".

Jamie Lee Curtis plays Laurie, a high school girl living in suburban Illinois, in a town where 15 years prior on Halloween night, a 6 year old boy named Michael Myers murdered his older sister. Michael has escaped from the secure hospital where he was incarcerated (I won't say treated) and has returned home on Halloween to do some killing. Myers is pursued home by his doctor who attempts to stop the slaughter, but not before Myers bumps off a few teens and puts the shits up Jamie Lee. The End.

Mike Myers - Pre "Austin Powers"

Halloween is one of those films where there are loads of great ideas, and all the component parts are there, but they've been put together wrong and the result is an abomination. The story is a good one but the script is terrible and the execution on screen is barely watchable. Nearly all the actors give sub sub par performances and watching Halloween is like watching a video of your local amateur dramatics society working through a script they downloaded off the Internet.

The script itself is woeful and characters come out with statements out of the blue for no apparent reason. Why does Curtis tell herself that she's grown out of superstition when she sees the kids trick or treating? There's no mention of superstition until that point. And what in the name of all that's holy is Jamie Lee doing saying that the boys in school won't go out with her because she's "too smart"? Too smart? Sorry love, they aren't going out with you because you're a dowdy cow not because you're a smarty pants!

Top of her class or bottom of the barrel?

And what the hell was going on up at the hospital that held Myers? A six year old with violent tendencies goes in for (I assume) treatment and comes out "pure evil" (that's the diagnosis given by his doctor, but to tell you the truth I'd want to see that lad's medical license before I believed a word he said). The state of Illinois really needs to take a look at how it treats those with mental health issues if they get so badly abused in hospital that they come out as the embodiment of evil! And despite the young lad being totally fucking naughty beyond redemption, when he gets down to doing some harm he's just not scary, not even to the two actual children Curtis is babysitting in the film.

Technically there's a lot wrong with Halloween. The opening scene where young Michael kills his sister is filmed as a long Point Of View shot - the audience is looking through his eyes as he goes through the house, gets a weapon and commits the murder. The problem is that Michael's eyes are too high - the POV is over six feet so he towers over lightswitches and other household fixtures, including his semi-naked sister! If the scene had been shot lower it would have given away that Mike is only a kid at that point and the big reveal would have been spoiled, but the cat's out of the bag anyway once you see him reach for the knife and the fact he's a child is no great shock anyway, at least not to modern audiences, though the thought of a kiddie killer in 1978 might have been a real wonder. Whenever POV is mis-used it can become a glaring error - just look at the POV in Robocop that starts off so well but is ruined once he stands up as his height seems to be around the 5'5" mark, not the giant he's meant to be.

Halloween is riddled with continuity errors and other goofs, like in the final scenes which have Michael leaving his knife on the living room floor but still having a blade when he's upstairs with Jamie Lee, but by that stage in the flick the damage has been done.

With all that's wrong it's easy to miss what's right, and that's the elements of the story that became teen slasher classics. The young girl protagonist, the running up the stairs instead of out the door, the lack of real assistance or understanding from those around her, and all the other little details of these movies feature in Halloween, and in some cases started with this film.

John Carpenter's 1978 Halloween is a pile of shite but it's cultural impact cannot be underestimated. It's still getting two thumbs down from me though!


For more info checkout:
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_(1978_film)

30 Days of Fright - Prologue

October is finally here, so the best holiday of the year is nearly with us. As in previous years all the gang are gearing up for big night out, especially as this year Halloween falls on a Saturday, and luckily like last year we don’t have too much to do in terms of preparation. So I’m free to sit through a month of horror films and then bleat on about what I thought of them, hopefully making you smile from time to time and definitely making me feel like a big clever clogs!

Last year’s series, 27 Days of Fright, was put together on the fly as October was already about five days old when the idea occurred to me. The films were picked out as I went along so there were some very real fears in the early stages that I’d be reviewing the entire Nightmare on Elm Street series as I had the box set and nothing else to watch. Fortunately for everyone, I managed to get my hands on a few other movies and Freddy Krueger only got the one outing.

This year a half-arsed attempt at planning was undertaken. Movies were thought about well in advance; it turns out a little too much in advance as I forgot all the films I had in mind. So, my own DVD collection was raided for suitable flicks. With this done, I only had to get hold of another 28 movies. I borrowed a number of DVDs off some friends and the rest I recorded on Sky+ (which is kinda like TiVo, for those outside Ireland and the UK). About half of the current list of films is on DVD and the other half are recorded from Sky Movies and the Sci-Fi channel.

The list is not yet set in stone, so should a good film come my way, or should something decent turn up on TV over the next wee while then my plans could change, but any changes are likely to be minor. One minor change that I hope will help those re-reading the series at a future date is that the name of each of the posts will include the name of the film being reviewed (you’ll see what I mean tomorrow).

This year the watching of the films is going to be a little different too as I’ve recently had the opportunity to put together a home cinema setup – my own little big screen, though this is only for the DVD’s, I’ll just have to settle for the 50” plasma for the others… poor me…

27 Days of Fright (The Reprint) - Day One

Early September is a great time of year. Autumn starts to hit, there's a nip in the air and the evenings begin to draw in. With the encroaching nights thoughts tend to turn to darkness. The darkness without and the darkness within. At this time of year my appreciation for the darker things in life definately ramps up, I almost exclusively listen to Marilyn Manson, Tool, and Cradle of Filth around now (there's something odd about having "Her Ghost in the Fog" blasting first thing in the morning, especially if it's one of those bright, clear, crisp mornings).

With September here Halloween is on the horizon and our plans are already at an advanced stage and that means that the second annual horror movie fest isn't far away. As a warm up for this years event I'm reprinting last years reviews in their entirety and will be adding a few additional remarks here and there. Some of last years films may also get a second viewing and an update to the original review. But not our first film...

Originally Published Monday 6th October 2008

First up, “The Eye”.

Jessica Alba (of Dark Angel fame) plays Sydney Wells, a girl who has been blind from a young age who receives a cornea transplant that restores her sight. Soon after the operation however things turn nasty as she begins seeing horrible visions. Not sure if what she is seeing is real or the result of her brain being overloaded with visual information for the first time in years she seeks out the help of a therapist Dr. Paul Faulkner who tries to reassure her that what’s occurring is normal. The visions persist and get worse and Sydney quickly realises that she is seeing past events and death coming for people.

Upon realising that the root of her trouble lies in her new eyes and that the reflection in the mirror isn’t her, Syd and her quack go in search of the family of the donor of the eyes trying to right whatever was wrong and put to rest the whole sorry mess.

The Eye is another of those Hong Kong horror films remade by an American studio along the lines of “The Ring”. I mention that film as the storylines are shockingly similar in many respects, a female lead, an unsettled spirit needing to have things put to rights before they can rest, and a dodgy male character who is bugger all use for most of the show. But The Ring isn’t the only thing that should feel raped by The Eye, the images of shadowy death figures coming for people is like a less humorous version of the gravelings from “Dead Like Me” and probably the creepiest thing in the whole flick, which really isn’t saying much, and the whole “I see dead people” has been done better elsewhere.

As for the lead actress, while Jessica Alba isn’t likely to be up for an Oscar anytime soon she is normally likeable and functional as the lead chick in anything, this time out however I can’t help but think she wasn’t even trying and really just showed up to collect her paycheque.

Overall, The Eye is a mediocre movie at best and hardly a horror film at all due to its utter lack of scare. The most disturbing thing for me was that the filmmakers decided to name the main character, Sydney, after the main character from the “Scream” series – hardly a wise move for a film trying to pass itself in its own right.

One thumb up, one thumb down for The Eye.