Archives For Reviews

Review: Almost Human, indie goes old school

Ryan —  February 25, 2014 — 5 Comments

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You can tell right away that Joe Begos’ indie throwback Almost Human was heavily influenced by films like Carpenter’s Halloween and The Thing with even a little bit of Invasion of the Body Snatchers thrown in there as well. And what you get when you combine all of those elements is 80 minutes of gooey practical effects and nonstop thrills. The film centers on Mark Fisher, a man who disappeared from his home in a brilliant flash of blue light almost two years ago. His friend Seth Hampton was the last to see him alive. Now a string of grisly, violent murders leads Seth to believe that Mark is back, and something evil is inside of him. Continue Reading…

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Review: Only Lovers Left Alive, a tale of love that is both new and old

Ryan —  February 22, 2014 — 11 Comments

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Jim Jarmusch takes on cinema’s oldest monsters in his modern tale of two vampires who want nothing more than to be together for eternity. Only Lovers Left Alive may be a little too bland for your average moviegoer, but it offers a unique and off-centered look into the romance of a couple of lovers who have been together for centuries. The film is simple enough as it’s centered on two vampires who’s love has been stretched for hundreds of years. Tom Hiddleston stars as Adam, a bloodsucker who makes a living as a reclusive musician who reunites with the love of his life, Eve (Tilda Swinton), a fellow vampire who leaves her home overseas to be with him. Continue Reading…

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Review: Nurse is a sleazy good time

Ryan —  February 12, 2014 — 8 Comments

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Douglas Aarniokoski’s Nurse 3D is an entertaining, blood soaked slasher that delivers exactly what it set out to do—show as much skin as possible while covering everything in the red stuff. Led by the wonderfully crazy Paz de la Huerta, Nurse 3D never allows itself to slow down, featuring enough memorable kills to keep this one entertaining from start to finish. The film follows Huerta’s Abby Russell who is as dedicated of a nurse as they come, a person who you could trust with your very life. But by night, her real work begins…using her smoldering sexuality she lures cheating men to their brutal deaths and exposes them for who they really are. Continue Reading…

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Review: Grand Piano, an incredible thriller with a Hitchcockian pulse

Ryan —  January 31, 2014 — 17 Comments

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Grand Piano is a masterful thriller from director Eugenio Mira who channels his inner Hitchcock with a nerve shattering tale of man who quite literally has to play the concert of his life. Elijah Wood plays Tom Selznick, the most gifted pianist of his generation who gave up on performing due to his stage fright. Five years after a catastrophic performance, Selznick makes his long-awaited return in front of a packed theater. But only moments before his comeback performance, he discovers a note written on his music sheet: “Play one wrong note and you die.” Truly a setup that the Master of Suspense himself would appreciate. Continue Reading…

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Review: Big Bad Wolves will swallow you whole

Ryan —  January 19, 2014 — 21 Comments

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Directing tandem Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado deliver a brilliantly haunting tale of revenge in Big Bad Wolves, a film that weaves its torturous tale with the darkest of comedy. In Big Bad Wolves a series of brutal murders puts the lives of three men on a collision course of revenge: The father of the latest victim who will stop at nothing to get answers, a police detective seeking revenge outside the boundaries of the law, and the main suspect in the killings—a religious studies teacher who was arrested but ultimately released due to a misstep by the police. It’s the kind of tale we’ve all seen a dozen times, yet it manages to find a new way to tell the story while hiding its shocking finish until the very end. Continue Reading…

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Review: Here Comes the Devil, except not really…

Ryan —  January 18, 2014 — 18 Comments

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Adrián García Bogliano’s Here Comes the Devil roots itself in an eerie atmosphere of the supernatural that has a decent story to tell, except it never actually tells it. Instead, the film gets so wrapped up in its own tension that it ultimately forgets to deliver on anything worth holding on to. Here Comes the Devil centers around a married couple who loses their children while on a family trip near some caves in Tijuana. The kids eventually reappear without explanation, but it becomes clear that they are not who they used to be, that something terrifying has changed them. A pretty solid set-up for what will ultimately go nowhere, unfortunately. Continue Reading…

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Review: Crave has inner demons of its very own

Ryan —  December 19, 2013 — 5 Comments

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Crave, from director Charles de Lauzirika, isn’t a story that’s entirely new as it draws inspiration from films like Taxi Driver and Falling Down, but it does offer an interesting look into the mind of a man struggling with his inner demons. It’s very much a psychological trip that often times comes very close to setting itself apart from a lot of other films in the genre, unfortunately, it just never quite finds its way. The film follows a downtrodden photographer, haunted by the urban violence and decay around him, who retreats into an inner world of dark fantasies. Continue Reading…

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Review: Open Grave has many secrets that can’t stay buried

Ryan —  December 7, 2013 — 26 Comments

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Open Grave, from director Gonzalo López-Gallego, injects new life into an exhausted genre that will tear your mind to shreds, and enjoy doing it every step of the way. It’s truly an original gem, and a damn good one at that as it quickly unravels a terrifying tale of a man who wakes up in a pit of dead bodies with no memory of who he is or how he got there. The story that soon unfolds weaves its way through a haunting mystery that will have you guessing from the very beginning. Continue Reading…

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Review: Contracted slowly rots away, one tooth at a time

Ryan —  December 3, 2013 — 28 Comments

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There’s something about watching the human body slowly transform into unspeakable terror that will always find a way under my skin, and director Eric England delivers just that in his body horror feature Contracted. There are a few moments in the film that make this one a solid enough entry in the body horror genre, but its story and the questionable decisions made by its characters turn this one away from what could have been something great. It centers around a young girl who has a one-night stand with a stranger and contracts what she thinks is a sexually transmitted disease—but it is actually something far worse. As things begin to crumble around her, she is sent on a disturbing journey. Continue Reading…

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