J*A*S*M

This film was a big question mark for me before the première. The premise looked uninteresting, ordinary, and utterly unattractive, and I couldn’t figure out why Eli Roth had picked a project like this. But it wasn’t bad after all, quite the contrary, thanks to the ending, I think it’s more entertaining and subversive than I could have ever expected. The worst is actually Keanu Reeves, who is really unfitting for the role of a desperate and helpless father, and his performance is almost funny.

I don’t want to be too harsh on The Diabolical. Sure, it starts like the typical ghost story in a haunted house of the kind we’ve seen a lot in recent years, some of the special effects sequences are almost funny and the performances are nothing to write home about. But at the same time, the director, Alistair Legrand, proves that he’s able to create a fairly scary atmosphere in the night scenes, and when one of the unwelcome aliens show up, the film manages to have a personality of its own among the numerous competition. In addition, the climax is quite originally bizarre, but I’m sorry that that one idea wasn’t exploited much better, because it’s got more potential. I had a surprisingly positive impression from the film, though the ending brings it down a little. Overall, The Diabolical deserves a chance, I don’t think it should be written off.

A similar case as with the recent Deathgasm: surprisingly good reviews in Rotten Tomatoes, but I’m not into wannabe funny bollocks like this. In the first story I said “OK, it’s B quality, but well shot and atmospheric, average so far and I’m curious about what’s next”. And what was next was unfortunately worse. When someone by pure chance comes up with an idea that is at least a little interesting (Friday the 31st), they have to fuck it up with a stupid alien. I wanted to kill myself. Overall, I’m pretty sure that after a couple of weeks I will not remember a single one of all those Halloween tales.

The rookie directors Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione have found a good way to put together a minimalistic sci-fi film; they’ve set off on a good path, but unfortunately didn’t fully reach their destination. Circle has a fine idea – we’ve already seen different versions of a similar thing, but I don’t remember anything set up like this as a dialogue. Circle says a lot about human nature, sometimes it pokes nicely at certain prejudices and thoughts, or at least tries. But I have a little problem with its credibility. From the very beginning the film feels like watching characters in a theatre play that the creators move according to their whim, rather than real living people. Basically, they speak the way the plot demands, at the expense of being convincing. It’s a pity, the premise has more potential.

Stoned cannibals, that Eli Roth is an asshole… :-D There hasn’t been a proper jungle cannibal horror flick for about thirty years, so I was rooting for this project, but I’m not fully satisfied with the result. Here’s not about the story, only an idiot could expect that from the sub-genre, it’s about the gore and the intensity, and that’s where the problem is. Historically, cannibal horror is the most extreme sub-genre and as such it should push the boundaries of “good” taste and cause controversy. The Green Inferno, with all due respect to the few good gore scenes, does not get there. The first forty minutes are awfully boring; we have to put up with insufferable characters reciting incredibly hollow dialogues, and they are impossible to relate to. Then, when what was supposed to happen finally happens and the film starts being fun with all the blood, violence, chopping up and chaos, it all ends after a few minutes because the director starts taking the piss. In its own way, it’s a refreshing film, the beautiful locations in the Amazon make it a nice thing to look at, but I don’t think anyone will be very excited about it.

I was wary because to me Del Toro is a pretty overrated director, but en the end I loved Crimson Peak for its artistic style – its not very original story notwithstanding – and I’m giving it almost the highest rating. The money put on it can really be seen. Given that right now there aren’t that many big narrative horror films, I don’t think it’d be fair to throw Crimson Peak among the average. The cast is wonderful, finally someone who really knows how to act in a genre film. A proper gothic-horror in the best sense of the word, and I’m sure it will make it to my TOP 10 this year.

(BE2CAN, Lucerna) I’m doubting between four, in recognition for its merits, and three for the experience. After all the hype from Cannes I was expecting more. It’s a different take on the monstrous machinery of the Holocaust from the point of view of a poor bastard who gets mixed up in it. The intention is clear, the execution is undoubtedly appropriate, but I’m not sure it’s enough for me in 107 minutes…

Awful disappointment, and I’m not the type of horror fan who gets very excited about a metal horror-splatter. Based on the responses from festivals, it seems that everybody liked Deathgasm, and with New Zealand setting the bar pretty high for horror comedies last year (Housebound, What We Do In the Shadows), I was expecting at least some user friendly, fun silliness. If only! It was SO sad! And predictable! Really, I didn’t laugh even once throughout the whole film, and when I tried to fight my boredom guessing what would be the next embarrassing attempt at humour the creators would come up with, I was right several times. The gore and the make-up are fairly good (one star for that, at least), but it all feels boring and repetitive. All the possessed look the same, and then they are stabbed, chopped or cut with a chainsaw followed by bucketfuls of blood, rinse and repeat. Boring, sad, bad, avoid.

Evil Dead raped by a potentially good sci-fi idea that unfortunately doesn’t go beyond the potential. The only interesting thing in The Hive is the pretty good make-up, otherwise the film is a sadly missed opportunity that tries to look sexy, but in the end it’s actually ridiculous, especially in those moments when the main character (played by an almost surprisingly bad actor) speaks in front of a scribbled wall and wonders what the fuck is going on.

A precise survival drama with a fantastic cast that in some cases is too good given the few lines they have. The experiential capacity of the film is substantial. In some scenes it manages to grip and amaze, not only through the mountain setting, but also with the convincingly performed suffering of the leading characters. Things get unfortunately a little chaotic after some time with them covered in jackets and hoods and with the snow falling, they all look very similar and there were moments that I wasn’t really sure who was who. But overall, a recommending thumbs up.