Day 7 of my 31 day horror film binge.  I thought I had already seen this one but when watching it nothing was familiar.  Outlander (2008)

This is a mixed genre film.  Mixing fantasy, sci-fi and horror.  Starring Jim Cavaziel, John Hurt and Sophia Myles, this film is surprisingly set in Viking times.  Cavaziel plays a man from the future/distant galaxy (not sure which) who crash lands on the Earth at the time of the Vikings.  When he realises that he has inadvertently also bought a creature from another planet, he sets out to find it.  He gets captured by a tribe of Vikings who at first, think he is responsible for the slaughter of one of their rivals villages.  Once they realise that it is far worse than they imagined they all decide to group together and hunt the monster themselves. What follows is a well paced film with just the right amount of horror.  The creature alone makes this a horror film and in places its quite gory and blood filled.  It is one of my favourites watched so far and I give it a score of 8 out of 10.

Day 6 of my 31 day horror film binge.  Kind of cheated a bit with this one as I have seen it before.  Its been that long though, that I had forgotten what it was about........lol.  The film is My Soul to Take.

There were a lot of this type of film made in the late 90's up until about 2012.  The idea behind them is to question whether the film is about something supernatural, or just a plain human killer.  This film synopsis centres around a group of seven children who were all born on the same day a killer, known as the ripper, is said to have been killed.  Sixteen years later all of the teenagers are now in high school and for some bizarre reason not only do they celebrate their birthdays each year, but they also have ripper day.  Which is basically a mock up of pretending that the spirit of the ripper comes out of a lake and each year one of the chosen seven has to kill it and banish it back to its watery grave,

This particular year things don't go according to plan and one by one the ripper seven start being brutally murdered.  Its then up to the watcher to decide if the rippers spirit is killing them, or something else.  Throw into this mix that one of them could be the rippers child and you get a pretty good horror film.  Blood is overdone (for effect) and unless you are new to this genre you will figure out what is going on.  I would give it 5 out of 10.  There are lots of these films and this is not one of the better ones.

Day 5 of my 31 day horror film binge.  Another disappointment I am sorry to say.  This one is called House of the Devil.

I had high hopes with this one especially as it was labelled 'The best horror film of the year'.  After watching it I would doubt it would even be best horror of the week, let alone year.  Its slow to the point of ennui.  Its on 96 minutes and the plot is about ten of those.  The first 70 minutes are so drab and pointless that I almost switched off.  I did not however, I saw it through to the bitter (pitiful??) end.  

The synopsis is a college student needs money for a house deposit and finds an advert on the student board asking for a babysitter.  She calls the number and about 30 minutes later she is one her way, being given a lift by her friend.  Once arriving at this house in the middle of nowhere its quite obvious that all is not as it seems.  The baby turns out to be the owners mother who needs watching in case of emergencies.  The next forty minutes is about her exploring the house, watching tv, listening to music and basically boring filler for the movie.  With twenty minutes to go the real plot emerges and we find out that the girl is needed for an occult experiment to bring the devils child into existence.  Throw in a couple of gruesome bits and that is the gist of the story.  Girl escapes, shoots herself point blank in the head, wakes up in hospital to find herself pregnant, end of movie.  I am forcing myself to give it 3 out of 10

Day 4 of  my 31 day horror film binge.  I knew it had to happen, its the risk you take when you watch new films.  This one was called Clawed - The Legend of Sasquatch.

Okay where do I start.  The acting was dreadful, the characters questionable, the special effects must have cost about $100 and the plot (if you can call it that was so thin it was practically see-through.  The synopsis is that there is a group of hunters who are poaching animals that the Sasquatch takes a dislike to.  Killing all but one (who is recued by some sort of Indian warden/ranger, I think?).  The town come to the conclusion that there is a grizzly bear gone rogue and a group of hunters, including the survivor, set out to kill it and to kill the warden as the survivor thinks its him who attacked him and killed his men.  Following so far.........

Add into this mix two students (male) who hate each other but are forced to work together on a project about endangered species.  They decide that they too are going to try and find this mysterious creature that is killing people.  They take neither gun or knife and instead rely on a video camera to take photos of said creature.  Of course they take two girls with them (one of them is the cousin of the one who hates the brainbox kid). It gets worse.  The hunters all die (including the survivor shooting one of his own people???).  The only survivors end up being the Indian warden and the four students and sasquatch disappears at the end of the film.  Cue credits...............

I am giving it 2 out of 10 and that is being generous :)

Day 3 of my 31 day horror film binge.  I have had this one for years on DVD and never watched it (it was still shrink wrapped).  World of the Dead (Zombie Diaries 2).

Set in the UK in the aftermath of a zombie outbreak this films is mostly shot from the viewpoint of an army photographer who wants to make a video diary to show people what is happening.  Its quite a good film that is not too gory and relies on a central story for most of it.  I would give it 7 out of 10.  The thing about watching this one is that it made a very real point.  For me it highlighted the fact that if there was a zombie outbreak, it would be much better to fear the humans that remained more than the zombies.  The zombies are only doing what is instinct, humans have a choice.  A very clever ending made this even more enjoyable.

 3rd October 2024

Day 2 of my 31 day horror film binge.  Its another Guillermo Del Toro film called Shiver.

Whilst this film is not as good as Pan's Labyrinth in some ways, its better in others.  Shiver is much more suspenseful and intriguing.  Its what I refer to as a 'something in the woods movie'.  Synopsis is a young man who has an aversion to sunlight (all the way through you are wondering if he is a vampire) and to avoid living in a city where there is too much exposure to sun light, he and his mother move to a village where they only get limited daylight hours.  Once he is there people start dying in gruesome ways and he becomes the main suspect.  Is he the killer or is there something else in the woods?

I would give this a 6 out of 10 for the story alone.  Its well acted and goes along at a reasonable pace.  The story is clever and because there are only six or seven characters in the film, it makes it easier to follow.  Worth watching if you like Guillermo or if you like a 'something in the woods film'  Not everyone will like this but its ok and I am glad I watched it.

2nd October 2024

Yesterday I started a 31 day horror movie binge.  I intend to watch at least one horror film per night and then rate them the next day.

First up is a film that I have had for a few years and never got round to watching until last night.  Its a Guillermo Del Toro Film called Pan's Labyrinth

PAN'S LABYRINTH

I must admit that this was not what I expected (but in a good way).  Its a strange surreal fantasy in which a young girl in 1944 goes, with her pregnant mother, to live with a Spanish Captain, to whom her mother is now married.  The girl lives in fairy tales and inadvertently becomes embroiled in a very dark one.

Whilst the main story is about the girl and the fairy tale, there is also a background story of a group of men who have refused to be ruled by the Spanish government and are hiding in some hills.  The Captain is a sadistic ruthless man whose main aim is to see that every man that is holed up in the mountains dies.

It is a Spanish film but the subtitles are well done and not rushed.

Its a good story, well written, well acted.  Its definitely an adult film as some of the scenes are quite graphic.

All in all a good start to my Horror Binge and I will give it 8 out of 10.  Definitely worth a watch :)