Posts tagged Horror

So after an awful 4^th film which it seemed tried to rely solely on the 3D gimmick as it’s main selling point I really didn’t think Final Destination 5 would be up to much. So it was only after hearing good things about it that I decided I should see it.

Well what is there to say about Final Destination 5 that you won’t already know? It follows the tried and tested formula of someone falls asleep, dreams of a catastrophe just in time to wake up right before said catastrophe and warn people and get them out of the way. Only to have those people die in order through the rest of the film and of course there’s the usual bad actor or two thrown in there.

And this time the main big death sequence is a bridge collapse and the characters are a bunch of employees who are being taken on a team building retreat, with the usual mix of couples and arseholes who you’re quite happy to see die. And die they do, in interesting, gory and mostly unpredictable ways. Though since this is Final Destination you know to expect the unexpected and are looking for the ways they will die through each sequence.

Now it’s not the scariest or most original of films, and to be honest I laughed more than I jumped or felt scared but they do have some creative deaths, and the ending is a nice way to tie up the series, which it hopefully will since 4 was supposed to be the end then 5 came along anyway. For the most part the 3D works well in this film, it’s gimmick but it knows it is and uses it to the full effect with things sticking right out of the screen at you and really that’s what you want and expect of this sort of horror film.

While there is some bad acting Miles Fisher as Peter really stood out as the worst for me, but this wasn’t bad enough to ruin the film. And actually it was way better than I expected probably 3^rd best film of the series, so if you’re a fan who was put off by one of the last 2 films I’d say give it a go, you may be pleasantly surprised by it.

Attack The Block is the first film written and directed by Joe Cornish (of Adam and Joe fame) and has Nick Frost in it. With the line “From the producers of Shaun of the Dead” on the advertising, and much like Shaun it’s a horror/comedy, though with a sci-fi element. I first heard of it a few months ago and it’s been getting some good buzz online, but the trailer really sealed the deal in making me want to see it.

The story is of a group of kids on a south London council estate living in a tower block. We start the film on Guy Fawkes night, a young woman, Sam, returning from work runs in to the kids outside and they proceed to mug her, taking her phone, purse and ring, then run off, only to be shocked when something falls from space and destroys a car they’re stood next to. Thinking there may be something worth stealing in the car the leader, Moses, looks in the car only to be attacked by something which runs off. Being the tough man that he is Moses won’t allow any animal to get away with that and runs off after it. When they corner it they decide to scare it with some fire works then go and beat it to death.

After taking it back to the tower block for safe keeping in the local dealers flat they see more of these things falling from the sky and decide to get tooled up and go kill them. Only to discover these ones are bigger and meaner and they have to run. Meanwhile Sam has called the police and has been riding around looking for her attackers and spotting Moses they pick him up, but when they put him in the back of the van one of the creatures attacks and kills the police officers and Sam and Moses are left stuck in van, until the rest of his friends save them and they decide they’d be better off back in the block.

Now I’m not sure if I went in expecting too much from the good word this has been getting, but I left the cinema feeling underwhelmed. It kinda feels like Aliens on a council estate, and on that level it works, a British take on an Aliens type story. Though personally I find the humour falls rather flat, I chuckled a few times but I can’t say I thought it was brilliantly funny or even well observed humour. Horror wise, well it made me jump a couple of times which is a couple more times than Scream 4 managed but isn’t really scary, some gore showing up doesn’t really make it frightening. But it either feels like serious film that’s trying to be funny at times and often fails, or a funny film which gets too serious. The lack of laughter in the cinema seemed telling on this point. There’s some social commentary there about disaffected youth, growing up on council estates with few prospects and probably something to be said about community but it feels out of place in a film that was advertised like it was a comedy.

The effects work, while interesting, looks kinda shoddy, though if you’ve seen the trailer you’ve probably already seen that.

Overall it has its charms but failed to really draw me in enough to just enjoy it for what it was. Possible my expectations were raised and what is essentially an OK film was ruined by me expecting a great one.

Insidious is the new horror film by the two people behind the original Saw film, James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Again it’s a low budget film but it pretty far from the torture porn image of the Saw films, instead relying on the old Haunted House/Ghostly goings on routine. Seems to be an attempt to go back to a more traditional horror, rather than the more gory faire we see lately.

The film starts on a series of what look like still black and white photos, though often there’s something moving or out of place in the image, along with screeching music to unsettle you as the titles roll, then a sudden loud sting in the score as the name INSIDIOUS comes up on screen, and this basically sets the tone for the movie. Lots of loud stings and screeching to make you jump and unsettle you.

Then we move in to the film proper and are introduced to a couple, Renai and Josh, along with their 3 young children, Dalton, Foster and Calli, who’ve recently moved in to their new home. Renai wakes early and goes to start unpacking, moving some books from a box to the book shelf she finds an old family photo album and starts looking through as Dalton comes downstairs, unable to sleep either, he doesn’t like his new room, they both sit looking at some photos while the others sleep. Later, after everyone is awake, Renai quickly goes in to the living room to find the books on the floor and she tells Dalton that if he’s going to look at the books he has to put them back, but he says he hasn’t touched them. After Josh has gone to work and the kids have gone to school Renai hears banging coming from upstairs, she goes to investigate and finds nothing, so goes up to the attic, and again finds nothing apart from a broken ladder and a pilot light burning. That evening as the family sit together talking and laughing Dalton sits on his own playing and the attic door swings open so he goes to investigate, climbing the ladder to turn on the light one of the rungs snaps and he falls and hurts himself, then appears to see something and screams. Renai and Josh rush to help him but he appears mostly unharmed, hurt leg, scraped face.

The next morning when Josh goes to wake Dalton he won’t wake up and we skip to a few days later, the hospital have done tests but can’t find a reason for him to be in a coma, he’s just isn’t going through his usual sleep/wake cycle and there’s no reason for it. 3 months later and Dalton is still in a coma and they’re taking care of him at home. Foster asks if he can move rooms because Dalton scares him in the night when he gets up to walk about, and then Renai begins to see things around the home, someone staring through the baby’s window, someone walking on the balcony outside her bedroom window, someone whispering on the baby monitor, and starts to believe the house is haunted.

So far it’s all the standard haunted house stuff, and to be honest there’s not really anything original here. There’s a few jumpy scenes here, but most rely on the loud music to scare you. Yes there’s some creepy images but it relies too heavily on shouting boo! at you. There’s a very heavy element of Poltergeist here, between the medium who comes in later to help, the fact they have to save a child from another place and the haunting following them even after the leave the house. There also seems a little push in to the ridiculous with the paranormal investigators who show up with the medium.

Patrick Wilson as Josh seems pretty wooden and doesn’t really do a good job, Rose Byrne as Renai does a better job but really she’s not fantastic she just does passably well. There’s no brilliant acting on display here but it just about works for the film.

At times the music just about sets your teeth on edge, and the loud stings when anything creepy happens do the job of making you jump, so I suppose it does its job, but I wouldn’t really like to listen to the music on its own, so nothing really interesting there. But it really is a step back towards classic horror rather than gore and wincing you get from a lot of recent films, so I’m inclined to like it much more than most modern horror films. So nothing fantastic but a fairly decent horror film.

Scream is one of those franchises that was running through my teenage years, so consequently I watched and loved them. Yes, even 3 which wasn’t great, and watching again recently seems actually quite weird. Scream broke down the slasher genres and told everyone the rules. Most horror fans knew the rules from seeing the movies but Scream laid them bare and was as much a parody as a horror movie itself. The sequels followed and told us the rules of a sequel and the rules of a trilogy and seemingly ended the story right there. So fast forward over a decade from since the last film and Scream 4 comes along to do the same thing again, only a decade later the rules have all changed and self reference is something a lot of horror is doing, so what does Scream 4 really have that other films don’t?

Well the story begins on the anniversary of the original Woodsboro’ massacre. After 15 years it’s become a bit of a joke and a reason for the kids to throw a party and call each other and ask “What’s your favourite scary movie?” with a ghostface voice. It just so happens that Sidney is on a press tour, she’s written a book about her experience and is back in her home town to do a book signing and guest appearance at the local book store. Meanwhile her cousin, Jill, is with her friends, Kirby and Olivia, driving to school when they get a call from one of their friends talking like Ghostface and being threatening. She hangs up and goes to school. Once in lessons everyone receives a text telling them 2 of the girls from the school have been stabbed to death. Back at the book store, Dewey who is now the sheriff, bursts in and tells everyone to stay where they are. A phone was taken from the scene and is in the vicinity. They call the phone and the ringing appears to be coming from outside. The phone is in Sid’s car, along with blood.

After being asked to stay in town Sid stays with Jill and her mom and police protection is put outside for her and her family. Jill’s friend Olivia has taken to calling Sid the Angel of Death and refuses to come in while she’s there and goes home. While Jill and Kirby talk to Olivia on the phone Kirby’s phone rings and believing it to be Jill’s ex she answers telling him there’s nothing to be said but it’s Ghostface. He tells them he’s in the closest and dares them to open it. When they do and discover he’s not there he tells them he didn’t say it was their closet, and they turn around to see him bursting out of Olivia’s closet. And so a whole new round of Ghostface killings begin.

So what has Scream 4 got? Well in the face of all the post modern, self referential, gore ladened horrors of today and all the remakes of older films it has basically gone back and done what the original scream did. There’s some more gory scenes, but not as many as the likes of Saw. It’s remembered that at the heart of a lot of the old slasher films there was an element of humour and there’s also some nice nods to the originals as well as the genre as a whole and the state it is in right now. What it doesn’t have, at least for me, is scares or shocks, I was sat there alone and not once did I jump.

There’s a level of self awareness to the film that makes it hard to take seriously as a horror film, though that’s no bad thing as far as I’m concerned because right now horror films aren’t all that good. The level of humour is quite high without pushing it in to comedy territory, though the uttering of things like “Scremake” push the level of self-awareness a little high. The story is a Scream story, so plenty of false suspects along the way and the motivation is flimsy as all hell, but then when has that ever been a strong point of horror films anyway? Personally I enjoyed it. And in my eyes it’s a good addition to the franchise. Your enjoyment might hinge on if you find the level of humour acceptable and whether you believe what it says about the genre was worth saying, if you don’t then you might just think it’s a lacklustre and pointless addition to an already dead franchise.