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Posted on June 27, 2022 by Craig M

Viewed – 25 June 2022 online rental

A group of young adults travel to a rented house in the middle of nowhere to make a porn movie. However once there they attract the attention of the elderly couple who own the property who are not exactly in approval of their guest’s brand of filmmaking.

Ti West is a director I may have watched all the movies of so far and he’s proved a consistent talent in the horror genre, most notably his debut The House of the Devil. This latest effort, set in the seventies goes for the sort of grind house exploitation of The Last House on the Left and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Whilst the setup is familiar, the porno plot gives it a bit of a unique spin at least.

Like several of the director’s other movies this is a slow burn, focusing largely on the characters and the movie being made rather than actual horror. When it comes though there are some effective, gory kills and the elderly couple prove freaky if not particularly scary antagonists (not helped by the fact the elderly characters are clearly younger actors in elderly makeup). Also rather than going for scares, the horror often focuses on being repulsive or gross (the bed scene). Overall this was still entertaining and had a welcome tongue-in-cheek humour throughout. Worth a watch, but there’s better horror movies out there.

Verdict: Good

The Sacrament

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Craig M

Viewed – 01 July 2014 Pay-per-view

Has to be said, I’m becoming quite a fan of relatively unknown horror director Ti West, following the double hits of the unsettling House of the Devil and the gentler The Inkeepers. This latest offering sees him turning to the found-footage / religious cult sub genres to deliver another gradual build up experience. A film crew working for an underground TV channel travel to a remote island to report on a religious cult, following the revelation that their photographer’s sister has started living there.

This competently acted, slow burning thriller has plenty of shaky hand-held cameras, tense interviews with the locals, and a stand-out performance from Gene Jones as the worshipped cult leader referred to as ‘father’. Although the material is very familiar if you’ve seen the likes of Red State or Martha Marcy May Marlene, this was still done well and offers the viewer both sides of the coin; a very attractive existence as well as something much more sinister. The closing moments were tough viewing and pretty disturbing (…the baby) and left me shaken but also impressed with what Ti West had delivered, managing to pull the rug out from under me yet again.

I’d have really liked it to have gone a bit deeper into the inner-workings of the cult and their motivations, but to say any more would spoil it, so basically – this is another decent offering from one of the more interesting voices in horror.

Verdict: 3 /5

The ABC’s Of Death

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Craig M

Viewed – 03 April 2014 Netflix

This anthology horror epic pits 26 directors with a task of creating a short film showcasing a death for a different letter. A rather intriguing concept I’ll admit, and it got me wanting to see just what these collective minds might come up with.

So what you get here are basically a series of films from various countries, mostly horror themed, but not all, exploring such things as mutilation, murder, vampires, Nazis, lesbians, rituals and sex … with a bucket-load (no sorry, swimming pool full…) of blood and guts, an ample dose of nudity, some pretty sick ideas (the one segment featuring two men strapped to chairs and forced to masturbate) as well as some fairly clever direction, animation and special effects. It’s an assault on not just your senses, but on your stomach, your taste and decency and your limits as a movie lover. Directors such as Xavier Genz (Frontiers), Ti West (House Of The Devil) and Ben Wheatley a (Sightseers) are the only names I personally recognised, and this does have the power to disturb as well as offend and puzzle. It’s generally a pretty f***ed as a whole and only has very limited appeal outside of extreme cinema enthusiasts … but for every bafflingly odd entry (death by farting?), there’s a pretty cool or twisted one right after it.

Uneven, but in my opinion strangely entertaining.

Verdict: 3 /5

You’re Next

Posted on February 15, 2014 by Craig M

Viewed – 15 February 2014 online rental

One horror I had heard good things about and wasn’t a supernatural fright fest (shudder) or a remake. This has a wealthy family gathering together in their secluded mansion(!) for some occasion; three brothers, a sister and various girlfriends and boyfriends. Now as shown in the opening scene, some masked killers like to break into houses and slaughter the inhabitants, leaving the eerie message ‘you’re next’ written in blood for the next intended victim to see. Not a bad set up and fairly familiar territory if you’ve seen movies like The Strangers.

A cast of unknowns (except for an ageing Barbara ‘Re-Animator’ Crampton and horror director Ti West) are the fodder for the intruders, who are seen wearing weird animal masks and slaying people in increasingly gory but not all that inventive ways (bar a fun wire trick). The acting is amateurish, and most of the characters fairly unlikable even if a gutsy heroic female quickly proves the most interesting (with good ‘Nancy out of A Nightmare On Elm Street’ DIY survival skills).

Director Adam Wingard (V/H/S) delivers some effective shocks and has put together a competent if unsurprising horror with lashings of gore, a touch of nudity and lots and lots of screaming. A little more personality thrown around would have been a bonus and sometimes characters acted with alarming stupidity (lets go and have a lie down whilst house is being attacked by psychopaths??) … but if you’re after a slasher that doesn’t hold back and with a couple of fun twists … this still does the job.

Verdict: 3.5 /5

The Innkeepers

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Craig M

Viewed – 26 June 2012 Blu-ray

Prior to the actually rather great House of the Devil, I had no prior knowledge of talented director Ti West. Yet with the memory of that movie still clear in my mind and how effective an homage to late seventies / early eighties horror it turned out to be, I decided anything next by this man was a must see.

Two employees at a hotel on the eve of the place closing down for good, begin investigating the chequered history and reports of hauntings over the years, determined to find evidence of a ghostly presence. This simple set up with two likable leads makes way for an absorbing, tension filled movie that’s all about building up the creep-factor before hitting you in the face when the real frights start to happen. It’s an old-fashioned technique and viewers used to being made to jump every five minutes and expecting lashings of gore and violence, may feel restless during this admittedly slow and lengthy build up – but this is a movie that rewards patience, and along with Ti West’s assured, classy direction that makes every corridor, camera angle and whisper unnerving, once the shit-hit-the-fan – I was suitably scared.

The two actors playing the employees (Sara Paxton & Pat Healy) were very natural and convincing, and a (shockingly) aged Kelly McGillis (Top Gun) was also good as a psychic hotel guest. Some of the back story surrounding the spirits and the hotel was a tad vague however, and also the first half was possibly too gentle. Although it didn’t particularly build on what was achieved with House of the Devil, and to an extent remains inferior, this still marks out Ti West as one of the better horror directors around, and overall was a satisfying and very effective experience.

Verdict: 3.5 /5