Horror Review: Creature (2011)

Creature seems to have brought in numerous poor reviews, but I actually quite enjoyed the film. The storyline is alright, and the swampy setting of Louisiana is creepy enough in itself. There’s something about stereotypical backwoods folks and deep south swamps that make a good setting for all kinds of strange things to happen.

Like several entertaining horror movies, a group of friends finds themselves on a roadtrip, only to be enamored by a local legend of a creature named Lockjaw. Naturally, making a foray into the swamp to further investigate this creature, set up camp, drink booze, smoke weed and have sex seems like a good idea.  Again, pretty familiar themes in horror films, but this familiarity makes some films enjoyable (and others a little too cliché). Creature isn’t a difficult film to predict for the majority of the runtime. Lockjaw himself turns out to be a little cheesey looking, which I didn’t mind as it seemed like a bit of throwback to horror films of decades past. Although this was probably due to budget constrictions, it reminded me of a less well-done version of a creature such as Pumpkinhead.

While there a few places where the backstory and plot could use a little strengthening, Creature has a few unexpected twists for your typical monster horror film. Sid Haig makes an appearance in the film as one of the orchestrators of a plot to keep Lockjaw’s lineage going, and he plays the role well. One would probably expect no less as Haig always manages to play a good sociopathic creep. Many of the special effects in the film might be a little lame for audiences used to big budget, recent horror films but again, they reminded me of effects found in some of the eighties and early nineties classics. Creature’s ending even throws in a few twists that are atypical for a pretty predictable horror movie. While it certainly isn’t a brilliant film, I found Creature to be a very enjoyable flick to watch, full of creepy backstories, creepy characters, a creepy setting, a weird enough monster, and a nice amount of gore.

Worth Watching: Probably

Horror Review: Mark Of The Witch (2016)

Every once in a while, you find an ‘indie’ horror film that’s surprisingly good. This isn’t the case with Mark Of The Witch. Shot with ‘artsy’ camera angles and blurry effects, it made the film even more difficult to watch. There are so many black outs and random scene jumping that it feels like a bunch of barely-related clips thrown together in the hopes of making something brilliant. Apparently these are supposed to portray dream sequences, but the viewer is just left feeling perplexed. And not in a good way.

There’s very little to be found in the way of a plot. The protagonist is rather boring and the mysterious feeling that Mark Of The Witch is striving for is non-existent. Rather, it’s a confused jumble of poor writing and a totally underdeveloped plot. The main character, Jordyn, begins to feel as though she is two separate entities upon turning eighteen. There are only little hints in poorly written dialogue as to why this is occurring and what it has to do with witchcraft. It’s difficult to even discuss a plot when there isn’t one to discuss. Sometimes a compelling character can save even the worst horror film, but Mark Of The Witch falls short in this regard also. It’s incoherent, boring and dreadfully short of a masterpiece.

Worth Watching: Don’t Waste Your Time

Entrails Reveal New Album Details

Entrails is one of my favourite bands, so naturally I began to get excited a few months ago when it was first revealed that they'd be releasing their fifth album this year. Today the details for the new album have been revealed.

With a release date of June 16th, fans don't have to wait long to get their hands on more of bombastic, no compromises Swedish death metal that Entrails is known for. Titled 'World Inferno', it promises to be good.

The track listing will be as follows:

1. World Inferno
2. Condemned To The Grave
3. Serial Murder (Death Squad)
4. The Soul Collector
5. Dead And Buried
6. Insane Slaughter
7. Into Eternal Fire
8. Suffer
9. The Hour Of The Casket
10. The Blood Breed

The band has also released a single from 'World Inferno' titled "The Soul Collector":

For more info and pre-order options, check out Metal Blade's site:

http://www.metalblade.com/us/news/entrails-reveals-details-for-new-album-world-inferno/
http://www.metalblade.com/entrails/

Horror Review: The Lazarus Effect (2015)

This film plays on the anxieties created by pushing the bounds of medical technology. The first two-thirds of the movie are genuinely uncomfortable to watch, as a scenario plays out that is frighteningly real. Neuroscience, animal testing, halting bodily deterioration for the advancement of medicine… These are true to life concepts that are being played out in laboratory settings, sanctioned by society as necessary and even groundbreaking.

Throw in modern science and medical advances that were unthinkable almost two hundred years ago, and you have a modern take on Mary Shelley’s genre-spawning novel, ‘Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus’. The same fear still exists now, as evidenced by some elements of The Lazarus Effect. Humans still have an unstoppable curiousity about manipulating natural processes, which includes a fear of death and how to negate death. The Lazarus Effect spends the first part of the film examining just that, and raising questions such as the intermingling of science and religion, and the ethics of (in the film’s case) resurrecting an animal verses resurrecting a human. (Part of the discomfort experienced as the viewer came from this; why do we feel it’s acceptable to subject animals to experiments that we would not normally subject humans to)?

The last third of The Lazarus Effect is where the film loses out. It veers away from uncomfortable questions into a more purely horror viewpoint. And a more unrealistic series of events, although perhaps still probable. After all, neuroscience is still a long way from unraveling how the human brain functions. If the film would have stuck with this theme more completely until the end, it would have avoided falling into the genre-stereotype that it does. There’s a bit of a backstory thrown in that somewhat ties to the plot, but the breakdown of Zoe into a demonic being, and some poorly constructed CGI effects take away from the overall experience of the film.

Worth watching: Maybe

(Especially if you enjoy the idea of medicine and science being pushed to the limits and ultimately going wrong).