Necronomicon (2023) - Horror Film Review

Necronomicon is a supposedly H.P Lovecraft inspired horror that was written, directed and produced by Richard Driscoll. I love anything lovecraftian, as that author was a master of horror (sadly also a master of racism also, as it always has to be said). The link with this movie is tenuous at best, with the titular Necronomicon being the only thing taken from the mythos he crafted. It is unfortunate the state the film was released in, as truth be told, it really did feel unfinished.

George Carney (Steven Craine - Shark Attack) is a graphic novel writer, whose agent, Martha (Lysette Anthony) has recently been able to get her hands on a text that was so legendary that it was thought it might not even actually exist. This text, called the 'Necronomicon', was said to have been written by Aleister Crowley, and was said to have the ability to grant those who could translate its strange writings all the power they could want, due to a pact Crowley had made with Satan. Martha hopes it will serve as inspiration for George to write a masterpiece, but first, she needs him to travel to New Orleans in order to get the book authenticated. Unknown to the writer, he has been tricked into an occult plan to use his soul to resurrect Crowley.

This sure starts on an abysmal foot, the first twelve minutes were so bad that I wanted to stop the film there and then, despite having paid £4 to rent it. This opening section consists almost entirely of the most fake looking CG car chase I have ever seen. In it, a narrator explains how he collects souls for the devil, with the man green screened into the passenger seat of the car, which is being chased by infinite numbers of police cars. His indestructible vehicle cause any car he hits to spin off into the air or explode in a ridiculously fake looking way, at one point a car that flies into the air just vanishes into thin air, a few of the chase sequences are repeated. This narrator and his baffling unending car chase, also pops up at the end of the film, thankfully for a shorter time. I really do not know what on earth the point of that section was. The dialogue (including a long monologue that is played in its entirety twice) had nothing to do with what was happening on screen, if it wasn't that the rest of the film takes itself more seriously, I would have assumed Necronomicon was intended to be seen as a comedy horror. I get the impression that it was a struggle for the film even to fill its lean seventy minute run time, maybe this intro sequence, as well as the repeated chunks of dialogue were inserted to try and stretch out the film's length.

The main story of George being tricked into heading to New Orleans fared slightly better. There was a film noir feel to the events, with most scenes taking place at night, often at seedy locations such as a brothel, and dark dank bookshops. The protagonist was a bit of an idiot though, early on for instance, he basically is told that he is being tricked into an occult plan, and specifically warned not to meet the woman he had planned to see as part of his research, and definitely not to let her touch him. The very next scene, he wakes up in his hotel room in the dead of night to see a very suspicious woman there, and promptly has sex with her, ignoring the warning completely, with no reason given why. Rather than it ever feel like the character is being cleverly manipulated, he always acts in such a bone-headed way that he becomes deserving of anything that happens to him. Most scenes have George with one other character only, the limitations of the budget made obvious, and heavy use of green screen that make every part of the movie feel artificial.
The plot wasn't handled well, with even the main thread not really being resolved. There was a key event in the third act that happened almost completely off screen. One second a character is in quite a dire situation, then one CG gun blast later and they are off driving a car in a random location with no explanation for how they got there.

It really felt to me that Necronomicon was unfinished, from the excess fat used to beef up the runtime, to the awful script, bizarrely bad look of everything, and some terrible special effects that relied far to much on CG. While this does feature Michael Madsen, Tom Sizemore, and Sylvester McCoy (The Hobbit trilogy, Doctor Who) in minor supporting roles, it is not worth the journey to see them. There is little here to recommend, and certainly barely has anything to do at all with lovecraftian horror, a real shame. Necronomicon is now available from DRagon Studios and can be rented or bought here.

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Werewolf Castle (2021) - Horror Film Review

Out of all the movie monsters I would probably rate the werewolf somewhere near the bottom. I don't know why, but I just do not get excited by them, even the very best of the genre, such as An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, and Dog Soldiers I thought were merely ok. Due to this I can't say I had much excitement in my heart when I sat down to watch Werewolf Castle. This horror film, written, directed and co-edited by Charlie Steeds (Death Ranch, An English Haunting) I'm please to say, broke the mould and was pretty darn great considering its indie status.

It's Dark Ages England, or perhaps a fantasy world, but either way, a pack of werewolves is plaguing the land, wiping out village after village in their savage attacks. After his own village is attacked, a young timid man, Thorfinn (Peter Lofsgard - Vampire Virus, The Mummy) teams up with a roving band of knights. Their goal, to travel to the castle of the local King in order to seek his help in stopping the attacks. However, every step of the way the group are under attack by the werewolves, and with the groups numbers ever dwindling it may well fall to the weakest member to complete the mission.

Things didn't start off well, it pretty much opens on an awkward sex scene involving Thorfinn with a girl in a barn, which is thankfully cut short by the werewolves attacking. You can tell my initial lack of interest in the film in that I'm not one hundred percent sure what the aim of the group heading to the castle actually was. It may have been to seek the King's help, it may just as well have been that this was where it had been reported the werewolves had originated from. I admit I wasn't really paying attention. However, over the course of the film I began to really get into this. The first part I began to pay attention to was the locations used to film at. The location scout did a fantastic job, sure a lot of this is filmed in woodland, but it appears ancient and not just like any old wood was chosen. The same goes for the waterfall and cave locations, both looked very old and were used to the best of their abilities.The one part that lets this down a little bit is the titular castle, it is in complete ruins which didn't make the most sense, but the more jarring thing was the obviously modern additions such as the white painted metal handrail that is attached to the spiral staircase. Obviously they wouldn't have been able to remove these due to health and safety laws, but it did detract slightly from the atmosphere.

Dystopia St. (2011) - Short Horror Film Review

Dystopia St. is a short ten minute film written and directed by David Cave (Girl and a Scar), and it has recently been added to the Dark Matters Youtube channel. It is described as having a David Lynch vibe to it, and I can't disagree as it certainly channels that master.

A man (Danny Shayler - The Banishing) awakens naked in an apartment to the sound of a phone ringing. A mysterious voice tells him "To find the answer, keep hold of the key". This begins a surreal and trippy nightmare in which the man searches for, and then attempts to hold onto a key.

The whole short appears to take place within an arthouse style Hell realm where nothing is as it seems. Objects disappear and change form, while a bald man with stitched up eyes taunts him. This includes one segment where the man is destroying a VHS tape that is playing on a TV regardless, and one part where he is holding a female's breast only for it to be revealed to belong to a large boned man instead, as well as various moments where an object turns into maggots. I did wonder where exactly this was heading as I couldn't quite grasp the point of it all. Where it does end was a satisfying way to finish the short, but I was still left unsure of what if any message Dystopia St. was trying to tell. In terms of the filmmaking I did appreciate the set dressing, and the way scene changes were handled was cool.

If you like your films weird and surreal with an arthouse vibe then this will be right up your (Dystopia) St. It had some neat moments to it but was maybe a little bit too obscure for me in terms of what was happening. Check it out for yourself on the Dark Matters channel.

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Black Mirror: Series 5 (2019) - Horror TV Show Review

I have long loved the dark anthology show Black Mirror, in my opinion the fourth season was quite possibly the best in terms of consistency. For this fifth and at the moment final season, the show has gone back to a three episode season length. The show is still good, yet this, compared to previous seasons, is far more mellow, and the stories not as dark and disturbing.

Starting off with Striking Vipers which explores just what it means to actually cheat on someone. Danny (Anthony Mackie - Avengers: Endgame) and his best friend, Karl (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II - Aquaman) have got a hold of a revolutionary new VR fighting game, the titular Fighting Vipers. When the two discover the intensely realistic virtual setting allows them to have virtual sex with each other it threatens to ruin the somewhat stagnant relationship Danny has with his wife, Theo (Nicole Beharie - Sleepy Hollow TV series). Much of this episode made me cringe in a bad way with how awkward it all was. So much so that it took me a good six months to pick my way through it. A look at technology that hasn't been done before in the show, yet it wasn't one of the darkest episodes out there and didn't really have much past its central idea.

The middle episode is Smithereens in which a desperate man, Chris (Andrew Scott - Sherlock), takes hostage a young intern from a Facebook like social media company (Damson Idris - The Twilight Zone TV series). This one was far more grounded in reality and explores today's societies obsession with social media, how people live within the internet rather than appreciate the world around them. This was my favourite of the season with a good performance from Scott that leads up to an ending that slightly confused me until I read up on just why it ended that way.

Paintball Massacre (2020) - Comedy Horror Film Review

Paintball Massacre is a British comedy horror film that sounded like a cool idea, yet I am always dubious about those types of films as bad humour can really damage the enjoyment of a film. I was pleased to see however that while there are darkly comedic moments the general feel of this is far more geared towards the horror side of things. This was directed by cinematographer Darren Berry in his directorial debut, with the story written by Chris Regan.

A bunch of old school friends have headed to a high school reunion, many of whom haven't seen each other since leaving school a decade or so back. Jessica (Cheryl Burniston - This Camera is Broken) didn't have many happy memories of her school days so only agreed to go as her fiancé Simon had wanted to attend. When she learns he isn't going to come she plans to leave but a series of events leads to her not only staying at the party, but being roped into going paintballing with the reunion group the next day. At paintball the reunited school friends are all put on one team, things are going fine until they discover the team they are meant to be up against have been massacred. Armed only with paintball guns the group must protect themselves against a masked killer who seems determined to kill them for reasons that increasingly seem quite personal.

Paintball Massacre is a good horror film, I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. Partly this was due to the low use of comedy, I appreciated that the humour didn't overshadow what was going on. The humour is mostly dark and leans more towards a funny script than visual jokes, such as Lauren ((Natasha Killip - Slasher House 3) commenting that she hopes their ordeal is over soon as she has a nail appointment booked for the afternoon, the stoner character constantly referring to the Fast and the Furious movies as a comparison for what is happening,  and of course the great line where someone is described as a 'fat turtle'. The killer in between murdering people is armed with a paintball gun, which leads to several ineffectual paintball battles between groups of characters and their attacker, that came off as bizarre and pointless in the best way. For me it led up to the best line in the movie when Tommy (Lockhart Ogilvie who has been a stuntman in such films as Dracula Untold and Level Up) exclaims "This is fu*king stupid! We're playing paintball with a maniac!" In context that was a hilarious line.

Devil in the Woods (2020) - Horror Film Review

Devil in the Woods is a very indie English horror film written and directed by Terence Elliott (co-director of Harvest of the Dead: Halloween Night). Watching this was a comedy of errors for me as I spent the whole experience convinced I knew how this would play out, but my assumptions were very incorrect. Due to those self same assumptions I struggled to take much of what I was seeing seriously.

Four college friends who drifted apart after the mum of one them died, come back together in order to complete a film studies project. The project is to make up at least 60% of their overall grade for the year and so Tess (Francesca Howe - Harvest of the Dead: Halloween Night, Underland) is determined to do a good job. Julian (Daniel Wale - Harvest of the Dead: Halloween Night) has a soft spot for Jess so he is on board to help out, however, stoner Chris (Alec Sleigh - Harvest of the Dead: Halloween Night) refuses to take the project seriously, with his maybe girlfriend Jenny (Amy Joy - Harvest of the Dead: Halloween Night) happy to follow his lead. Eventually the group decide to make a found footage horror, but their trip to the woods to record this has them meet up with a far more sinister group...

The film is 70 minutes long and features acting that while not terrible wasn't as high quality as you might see in other horrors. The performances in part led to my wrong thoughts about where the story would lead. The horror element appears in the films third act, with everything leading to this point mainly being the main story and a subplot involving two Police Officers. The filming a film within a film part of this helped show that maybe the acting isn't as bad as it initially appeared to be, as there is a very noticeable dip in quality when the characters are acting in the film they are creating. There are only a handful of locations used with the majority taking place in woodland, then an office for the officers, and rooms for two of the characters.

Host (2020) - Horror Film Review

Host is an English horror film which takes place entirely within the confines of a Zoom call. The whole film was apparently shot entirely on that video call app, which makes sense when you take into account this was all filmed during the first England lockdown earlier this year. The effectiveness of this horror was slightly lost on me for two reasons. Firstly, I have never used Zoom and so haven't ever been in a similar real world situation of talking to multiple people on video calls, and secondly 2014's Unfriended had a very similar idea and so took away a lot of the impact this would have otherwise had on me.

A group of friends are bored during lockdown and so have decided to hire a spirit medium (Seylan Baxter - Macbeth) to hold an online seance with them via Zoom. The medium warns them to take it seriously, but one of the friends, Jemma (Jemma Moore - Doom: Annihilation) can't resist pretending to have come into contact with a spirit. Not long after this the medium loses her internet connection, which is bad as each of the Zoom members begin to experience scary happenings within their own homes. It seems that Jemma's jape has allowed an evil spirit to be summoned, and with no one to help them out the friends must try their hardest to find a way to break their unwanted connection to the spirit world.

At fifty six minutes long I figured the reduced length would help in telling a more concise story. I appreciate now the story that Unfriended brought as Host suffers a bit from the lack of much plot. The friends have accidentally summoned an evil spirit...and that's it. What follows is a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, there are blips of scary activity followed by moments of down time which occasionally frustrated. It kept seeming like anytime the film got unnerving things would settle back down again. I felt like a more relentless pace would have benefitted the shorter run time. It is just under halfway into the movie that the horror really begins and there are some super effective moments. If you have seen Unfriended you will be likely correct on where the film is going to go, and if anyone is going to survive or not. What was unique about this one was having it take place during lockdown, reflected in what characters are talking about and how they act. For instance, at one point a character flees their home, but before doing so they ensure they have put a facemask on.

Don't Speak (2020) - Horror Film Review

Don't Speak (originally known as Silent Place) is an indie horror film which was written and directed by Scott Jeffrey (Cupid, The Watcher 2). By either of its two titles it should be pretty obvious which successful horror of recent years this one is aping. Of course it is nowhere near the quality of A Quiet Place, however this surprised me with the atmosphere built up, and the bleak events shown.

Rita (Stephanie Lodge - The Watcher 2) arrives at her mum's remote farmhouse along with her family to find the place deserted. It isn't long before the family find things are far from ok. Dad, Alan (Ryan Davies - Heavy Duty) encounters a dying man whose last words warn him to run, while daughter Charlie (Georgina Jane - Cupid) gets attacked by some sort of creature in the barn. They soon learn this deadly creature attacks by sound, and so over one bloody night they attempt to regroup and escape the place.

I have seen a few of Scott Jeffrey's horror films this year and so I figured I would know what to expect. They are not really the highest in quality, often times the acting is suspect, and the indie budget is really obvious. In that respect I was blown away by Don't Speak. It features some good looking make-up effects, acting that on the whole really wasn't bad, and an atmosphere I felt pulled into. In fact the only thing really holding this back from a higher score was the story that didn't really do much. I'm fine with there not being much of an explanation for the events that transpire, but the minute to minute story beats here just seemed to consist of random family members getting separated from each other, and then other family members causing distractions so that whoever happens to be currently getting attacked can get away. If it wasn't for the moody vibe I feel this may have become boring.

Everyone Laugh at Leanne (2019) - Short Horror Film Review

I recently had the pleasure of watching the M.W Daniels created short horror anthology, End of October. This anthology featured a film of his, October Loner which was quite weird, but not really that surprising seeing as his short in another anthology I saw this year, The Isolation Horrors was also quite weird. This style of horror is effective due to the uneasiness that comes from feeling like you are witnessing a world in which the normal rules do not apply. I was expecting this same style to be in his short horror film Everyone Laugh at Leanne, and I wasn't disappointed. 

Leanne (Kerry Newton) has everything she could want in her life, including a loving boyfriend (Tom Coulston) and great friends. However, one day things take a turn for the violently surreal, but are the horrific events really happening, or are they all a product of her paranoid mind?

I didn't think I would understand the plot, as Daniels excels at abstract stories, I felt this one could be open to interpretation. Initially things felt very down to earth and normal, but as the 13 minutes play out it all gets darker and darker. Parts of this really stood out for me, especially a scene that takes place in broad daylight. The lack of a clear explanation for the events that happen led to me drawing my own conclusions. This could be seen as a straight horror, but it can also be seen as a look at mental health, either perspective working.

With a small cast of five people enough happens in Everyone Laugh at Leanne to keep things entertaining, and there is an unnerving feel that persists throughout, helped along by things shifting up to keep the viewer unbalanced, never sure what is real and what is imagined.

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Flowers for the Dead (2020) - Short Horror Film Review

Flowers for the Dead is a short horror film that comes from John Whitaker and Richard Markworth (The Isolation Horrors). It features the music of Whitaker's 1i2c and at points it feels like it was almost going to change into one of his ever interesting music videos.

Markworth plays Peter Baxter, a conman who dreams of relaunching his career as a paranormal investigator. A young woman, Holly has recently gone missing in the area of Abbots Wood, which is purported to be one of the most haunted woods in England. Peter sees this as the angle he needs to get popular again. While he is sure the girl is actually safe and sound, he intends to pretend that he has contacted her spirit in the woods. He has roped in an acquaintance he met in prison, George (Alan Austen) to help film him carrying out his investigation so that he can put it up online later. Once at the woods things start to get complicated, and it starts to seem like there may actually be some truth behind the wood's haunted reputation...

Flowers For The Dead is nearly 27 minutes long and roughly split into two sections. The first ten minutes are mostly made up of a conversation George and Peter are having in a car. Both characters have an entertaining exchange of words, with the talkative Peter keeping things moving. The second part all takes place in woodland, which looked great on camera. Throughout there are cutaways to the camera travelling through the woods, with 1i2c's urgent pounding music playing out, these moments were the highlight for me, especially the final time this is used at the films conclusion. The story was simple, but it was a fun idea and it went to some places I didn't expect. There was also a random subplot about a crazed man wandering the woods. Mostly this is all played comically but there was at least one or two parts in the film that really were creepy, it would have been nice to get a few more moments like those. 

Flowers for the Dead was an entertaining, heavy on dialogue short, with a fantastic soundtrack, great lighting and a memorable lead in Markworth. 

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End of October (2020) - Short Anthology Film Review

Back in the middle of the first lockdown, in April of this year a great little indie UK short horror anthology The Isolation Horrors was released. Each of the shorts was created in isolation. End of October is a new short anthology, produced by M.W Daniels, that features three of the same directors from that, and follows a similar format in that much of what is shown here again predominantly features single characters in what overall felt much more experimental in style.

The wraparound story was hard to fathom, featuring a man (Daniels) watching a show on his laptop, intercut with a woman dressed as a cat lounging around for reasons I couldn't understand, led to a very confusing first three minutes. Each of the three short films are introduced by a woman broadcasting an online show. First is The Castrator which was directed by Nicolai Kornum (Undertaker, Umbilichord) and stars David Cobbald and Alain Falzon as a couple who are working on a comic book together. Later that evening one of them appears to have a break with reality and takes on the persona of a character they had created together, leading to a bloodily violent conclusion. I liked the page tear effect, as well as the strong coloured backgrounds that made this feel like a living comic book at times. I did struggle occasionally to make out what characters were saying due to thick accents, more a problem of my hearing than anything else, but did mean I had to replay a few scenes to understand what was being said.

The middle film comes from John Whitaker (the composer 1i2c) who both directed and starred in Last Confession. I confess to initially not being sure about this one, shot in black and white it has Whitaker as a clearly troubled man who is sat at a table talking to himself, using repetitive phrases. This turned out to be my favourite in this anthology, it legitimately made me laugh out loud on a few occasions and does not take itself seriously. This was both weird and bizarre and I loved the sped up sequences inserted throughout displaying the manic insanity that is bubbling underneath the characters outward appearance. I also thought it was funny how this is made relevant to Halloween.

The final short is M.W Daniels's October Loner which was very experimental in feel. I confess I did not know what was happening with this one, but it was suitably creepy and uncomfortable to watch. Daniels plays a man who upon hearing a knocking at his door encounters someone very familiar to him. The final shot receding into a black background was an effective way to finish.

Each of the three shorts felt quite different to one another but all had their merits to them, though it was especially the second and third ones I really enjoyed. I confess I didn't really understand what the wraparound story was trying to do. Overall though, as I always say, it is hard to go too wrong with an anthology. Getting a second one from these directors in the same year as their first was a nice surprise, it would be awesome if this became a regular thing as there are always good ideas used and is cool to see familiar faces. End of October premiered on Halloween on YouTube.

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Eve (2019) - Horror Film Review

Eve is a UK horror that comes from director Rory Kindersley (Sweet Tooth), who also co-wrote this, alongside Drew Sherring-Hill. To say this stylistic thriller was a head scratcher is no exaggeration, as the credits rolled I was literally scratching my head wondering what on earth had actually happened over the course of the seventy five minute film. I admit to often liking style over substance, and so much of this movie appealed to me, even if I will be hard pressed to write a synopsis.

Alex Beyer (Christine Marzano - Death Race 4: Beyond Anarchy) is a formerly successful actress whose popularity has faded. She hopes to rekindle her fame by getting the part of 'Eve' in a film adaptation of a stage play which saw her win awards as the Eve character. Returning to her stylish London apartment after a holiday with her photographer boyfriend, Liam (Andrew Lee Potts - Primeval) the couple are shocked to discover the place has been vandalised with fake blood, apparently by an Airbnb guest who police suspect may have been a deranged fan. With that on her mind, as well as not being successful at her audition, Alex's mental state starts to deteriorate, and her and Liam's relationship begins to suffer as a result.

First things first, the multi-storey apartment that Eve and Liam live at is the star of the movie. This is very uniquely designed, and includes a brightly coloured spiral staircase as a centrepiece, a gym, a huge white room that is half bathroom half bedroom (separated by a net curtain), and the living room even has a slide going into it. As an aside, I spent the whole movie hoping that at some point a character would use the slide, but mild spoiler...they never do. With such an interesting building it is good that the majority of Eve is spent in this location, with about 10% showing characters in other places within London. Going well with this attractive building is some wonderful cinematography, which was shot by Douglas Milsome (Full Metal Jacket). A scene near the end in particular was wonderful, with a character at extreme close range in the bottom left corner, and another character blurred in the background. Helping both of these elements was some neat set design, an often re-visited 'insanity room' in particular really stood out. This room was integral to the films plot (I think) so I wont go into much detail, but think a madman's lair with cut out magazine collages, manic writing on the walls, and a projector forever playing footage from an old black and white movie.

Extra Ordinary (2019) - Comedy Horror Film Review

Extra Ordinary is an Irish horror comedy that for the most part is sweet and innocent, yet has the occasional moment of high violence and gore. Directed by Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, this films humour is never overtly funny, but at the same time doesn't do anything to offend. The simple story told in a mostly family friendly way, again, aside from the moments of high violence.

Rose Dooley (Maeve Higgins) is a kind and lonely driving instructor in a small Irish town, who also has the gift of being able to contact the dead. Initially Martin Martin (Barry Ward) contacts her in order to help him exorcise the spirit of his dead wife, who is causing him no end of trouble at home. However, after his teenage daughter, Sarah (Emma Coleman) is found comatose and floating above her bed, Martin instead begs Rose to help return her to normal. The girl has been chosen as part of a demonic sacrifice, that washed up one-hit wonder rock star, Christian Winter (Will Forte - Gravity Falls) is intending to perform in order to make a comeback. To counter this Rose and Martin team up in order to collect ectoplasm from seven different ghosts, which is said to be the only way to return the girl to normal.

While there are a whole host of side characters it felt like a lot of the film rested on the shoulders of Higgins, Ward, and Forte. It's a good job that all were perfectly cast, especially Forte's wonderfully over the top Christian Winter who was dramatic, flamboyant and cheesy in every scene he appeared in. All three characters get flashbacks at one point or another, Winter's was the best, his one-hit wonder song shown as part of this. With Rose, her father was a local exorcist who made plenty of instructional videos, such as how to deal with 'Gloating' (floating goats), these are intercut throughout the movie and are made to look like eighties VHS tapes, complete with low quality footage, and slightly distorted audio. All of those moments were wonderful.

The Watcher 2 (2020) - Horror Film Preview

To begin with, I'm not exactly sure what the correct title of this slasher is. I was sent the screener under the name Awakening the Nun, the film itself has The Bad Nun 2 as the title card, but the film's IMDB page has it listed as The Watcher 2. Elsewhere the image used on IMDB for it has it called Bad Nun: Deadly Vows. What I do know for sure is that this was co-directed by Rebecca Matthews (Witches of Amityville Academy) and Scott Jeffrey (The Watcher) and that the screener I received wasn't a complete version of the movie. It appeared that all that was really missing here were visual effects, sound effects and some music, but due to the absence of these I have decided to treat this as a preview. Spoilers of The Watcher to follow.

A family, that includes Pamela (Nicola Wright - Witches of Amityville Academy), her daughter Mandy (Stephanie Lodge - Witches of the Water), and her daughter's daughter Catherine (Sarah T. Cohen - Witches of Amityville Academy also) move into an old farmhouse out in the country to start afresh. It is not long however before they begin to be hassled by a mysterious figure who claims to be a nun. At first this nun leaves threatening messages, but it isn't before long until she starts to resort to murder. Could it be related to a similar situation that took place in the area 4 years previously, or is there a far closer connection to the family's past?

This begins in familiar slasher sequel fashion with the final girl from The Watcher being murdered in the pre-credits intro sequence. Despite not having seen the first film I don't feel like I missed out on much. A couple of characters relate the events of that movie, a policeman in particular goes in depth as to who the killer was, what he did, and why it couldn't possibly be him this time around (during the events of the film he is residing in prison). With the heroine of that movie dead there are no loose ends and so this can tell its own story. The killer looks the part, obviously dressed up as a nun, with a black mask covering their face, and hulking in size. The killers weapon of choice is a large pair of scissors. Reminding me a bit of Scream, as the killer also talks quite a lot. I'm not sure if the voice used in the copy I received is going to be the one in the completed release but it sounded like that of a young woman. By the way the killer speaks she sounds like she sees her victims as sinners, people deserving of death.

Salient Minus Ten (2017) - Short Horror Film Review

Salient Minus Ten is a sci-fi horror short that was written and directed by Emma Dark (Seize the Night). After a successful festival run, this film has now come to DVD and digital, with its digital release back on 27th May.

Alan Austen (Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back) stars as an every man - Adam, who one day on his way to work is pulled into a demented game. Transported through time and space he finds himself in woodland, along with some other commuters also caught up in the mysterious goings on. The man has a device on his wrist, and a message on his phone telling him he has 'ten minutes to save the world'...

I like time travel in films, that is alluded to here, which is a big plus. The majority of the short has Adam bewildered and forced to participate in deadly games with which he has no clue what he is meant to be doing. Austen portrays the confusion and fear well. I thought the effects on the 'altered' people he comes across to be pretty cool. Events are kept mysterious enough that it isn't clear exactly what is going on. There is very little dialogue, the characters of Adam, and a mysterious woman (Dark) are the only two in the small cast who speak. It ends much as it began on an unclear note. I got a vibe of The Twilight Zone in bitesize form watching this, would have been great to have a Rod Serling style intro and outro for this.

With a 12 minute run time this remains engaging throughout, the resolution left me with more questions than answers, but this was a solid little sci-fi short. Salient Minus Ten was released on DVD, a double pack that also includes Seize the Night. That can be purchased here. The short can also be viewed on Dark's YouTube channel.

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Bill (2019) - Short Horror Film Review

One of the very few good things about a close family member passing away recently is that I was finally able to get some time off my day job, and so I have a few days in which I plan to go some way towards getting my blog not so backlogged. Bill is a three minute long horror, and is a reminder to me not to head towards the dark arts to help deal with my loss (not that I actually intended to do that!).

A grieving widow (Roxana Vilk) has turned towards the occult in order to see her deceased husband, Bill (Hugo Stanbury) one last time. However the potion she has concocted doesn't work quite as intended...

Bill was a DIY self funded short that was co-written and directed by Dan Gitsham and Sophie Mair. The background to this horror is perhaps more chilling than the short itself, as the idea for this was inspired by their two young sons who in real life would talk to a ghost they said they could see in the ceiling, a ghost they named Bill. This horror was partially created as part of a challenge to film a short film in their own home, using their own props, and filmed in just 1 day. I shouldn't generalise, but typically short horror films always end the same way, a sudden jump scare and cut to credits. Bill finishes on a note that is a little different, no jump scares to be found here thankfully.

The build-up for this had some great suspense, and I really loved what they did with the photo in the photo frame, it really was quite creepy, as well as a neat idea. Make-up effects for the final part of this were also good, but it was the photo frame part I enjoyed the most. The editing, directing and acting were all good for the story being told. I guess if I had any complaints it would be the ending, what happens felt a little bit removed from everything else that occured.

Bill is a competently made and atmospheric short that is a good indicator of the skills of these directors. Best of all, the short is available to watch for free online via Film Shortage.

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Tooth Fairy 2 (2020) - Horror Film Review

Tooth Fairy was one of the worst horror films I have seen this year. I never imagined at the time I saw it a few weeks back that I would not only be sat here writing a review for its sequel, Tooth Fairy 2, but that I would be saying it was actually quite darn enjoyable. Take a look at all the classic horror film franchises, Saw, Hellraiser, The Evil Dead, Friday the 13th, Halloween etc. What do they all have in common? For me personally I see the first entry in each of these series as the very best, after that it is a slowly declining drop in quality with each new installment. Tooth Fairy was not a good film, yet its sequel breaks the mould by being at worst twice as good as the first movie. There will be unavoidable spoilers for the first film as a warning.

Corey (Jake Watkins) was one of the only survivors of a night of terror fifteen years back, in which him and his family were terrorised by a demon with an obsession for teeth. Due to his traumatic experience he has suffered severe PTSD his entire life, and still experiences vivid hallucinations. Some years after leaving college, Corey gets an invite to a reunion for him and his ex dorm mates that is to take place at a farmland property. One of his ex dorm mates, Paul (A J Blackwell) has an ulterior motive for the meet-up. As a child, his cousin was murdered by the tooth fairy (who was explained in the media as being a serial killer), Paul has ever since been suspicious of Corey being one of the only survivors of the attacks, and intends to pull a cruel prank on him, in order to finally pull out the tooth (sorry, I mean pull out the truth) of what happened all those years ago.

Tooth Fairy 2 really feels like it is far more comfortable in what it wants to be. The first film got so bogged down in mediocre drama that at times it seemed it had forgotten it was supposed to be a horror. The scenes of horror in that first film had a comedic edge to them, something that jarred violently against the rest of the films serious tone. I expected a sequel would double down on this silliness, but I was surprised that this entry removes the comedic aspect and plays everything super seriously. I mentioned in my earlier review that the tooth fairy didn't look very good as a movie monster, it was obviously someone wearing a unrealistic mask. This has not changed for the sequel, one shot in particular was a close up of the monster, in which you could clearly see the wire gauze that makes up the black eye sockets of the monsters face. Just what or who the antagonist is this time around is far more up in the air. On the one hand you have Paul, he has hired a friend to dress up like the titular monster in order to terrify Corey. Then there is the fact that the film never hard confirms just what the creature is. There is much evidence that Corey himself may be insane and doing all the killings, but then there is just as much to point to the fact that, yes, this is a demon from Hell. You come to distrust the camera's perspective, this is shot in a way that you could argue we are being shown the film from an unreliable narrator's point of view, rather than what actually happened. This even casts shade on the events of the first film, maybe that was really a serial killer in a mask rather than a monster? It is to Tooth Fairy 2's credit that these questions are never answered.

Tooth Fairy (2019) - Horror Film Review

Released at the start of 2019, Tooth Fairy was directed by Louisa Warren (Curse of the Scarecrow), she also provides the voice of the titular antagonist force, and this seemed to be filmed on the same property as that earlier film of hers. There were parts of this that were legitimately entertaining, however while this should have blatantly been played as a comedic slasher in the way the Leprechaun films are it is instead mostly played very straight and serious and suffers as a result.

In the early eighties three traumatised children, that include among them Jen, lock a demonic creature (Will Dodd - The Mummy Reborn) in a barn stall, along with their mother and then set it ablaze. In modern day, Jen (Claudine-Helene Aumord - Bride of Scarecrow) is still suffering the effects of that traumatic time, and so has formed a bad relationship with her daughter, Carla (Claire-Maria Fox - Suicide Club). Her daughter visits the farm where her mother lives in order to get a birth certificate that is kept there, but her visit coincides with the return of the sugar fearing monster, that wants to claim the nearest and dearest of the three people who stopped it all those years back.

There is some amazing miscasting here which I just could not look past. I don't know if it just wasn't possible to hire older actors, but you have young adults playing characters much older than they obviously are. The most glaring example is Father Ruben (also played by Dodd). Dodd was around 22 years old when this film was released, however as much as I could infer Father Ruben is meant to be in his sixties, and so Dodd talks and moves in a ridiculous way that made it seem like he was a character from a 90's comedy sketch show. I just could not take him seriously. More miscasting comes with Jen, her daughter looks a lot older than she is and so there was a huge tonal disconnect each time Carla refers to Jen as 'mum'. If this had been played as a horror comedy this would have worked, but there just isn't enough evidence to suggest this is meant to be a comedy. That isn't to say there are not comedic elements, the Tooth Fairy sections are overtly silly, but they gel so badly with the cutprice Eastenders style drama going on.

An English Haunting (2020) - Horror Film Review

An English Haunting is a Gothic horror that was written and directed by Charlie Steeds (The House of Violent Desire, Winterskin). Initially I didn't think this was going to be much good, in fact I would almost say I was bored for the first thirty minutes, however this really picked up in the subsequent two acts and while it did become predictable at times I still thought it had some really strong moments.

In the 1960's Blake (David Lenik - Robert Reborn, Winterskin) and his alcoholic mother, Margot (Tessa Wood - Ghostware) are forced to relocate to the countryside mansion of Margot's bedridden father Aubrey (Barrington De La Roche - Winterskin, The House of Violent Desire) in order to look after him. Margot is bitter at having to be there as she never had a good relationship with her father, Blake is more compassionate though as he has fond memories of spending time with Aubrey when he was a child. He begins to experience odd happenings at the mansion, such as spotting a strange woman outside the house, while inside he witnesses doors and chairs moving of their own accord, and begins to have recurring nightmares about a heavily deformed figure. Eventually Margot too begins to witness these strange goings on and they come to believe there is more to Aubrey's illness than meets the eye.

I wouldn't have guessed from the dull opening how much An English Haunting would improve. Initially I wasn't impressed, I found the acting style to be a bit dramatic and over the top, and the sights of things moving on their own felt so generic and typical. However the Gothic atmosphere really got built up, a lot of this feeling was created with how the plot came to be told, while the cinematography I noticed stayed strong throughout. This is a house that is full of secrets, hidden objects and bricked up rooms. The exploration of just what happened in the past is revealed in a video game fashion by audio diaries Blake discovers. These were narrated by Aubrey and were quite fascinating in what they were saying. It made a difference to the usual type of flashback sequence you might expect. At times, with the story that was being told this felt like an indie version of Hereditary.

The Isolation Horrors (2020) - Short Horror Anthology Film Review

The Isolation Horrors is a very topical anthology, so much so that I bumped it up my list of films to watch so that a review could go out as soon as possible. It is low in budget but for the best of reasons. This short horror anthology was produced in March and April of this year. Each of the five shorts here were made by five different filmmakers from their own homes, an idea that came from multi-award winning filmmaker Nicolai Kornum (Undertaker, Umbilichord). The idea was that it could entertain horror fans during the lockdown so many of us are facing. This anthology becomes all the more impressive when you consider each one was filmed using phones, and with limited resources. I also liked that each of the five directors star in their shorts, playing a fictionalised version of themselves.

The wraparound story is The Bloody Face Mask, written and directed by Kornum. While outside one dark night Kornum discovers a bloody face mask in the street. Concerned that it might have belonged to one of his neighbours he decides to video call them one by one. This forms the pathways into the individual shorts. Initially there didn't seem much to this wraparound story, it seemed merely to introduce the other directors rather than tell its own story. However this one got better as it went along, leading to an excellent finish, and becoming my second favourite of the films here.

Goryõ is the first proper short and was written and directed by Emma Dark (Seize the Night). Emma receives a message on her laptop purporting to show the death of a Japanese idol, along with a warning not to click on the link. She does so anyway and soon begins to regret her decision. This was the shortest of the films here, the idea was one I had seen used plenty of times before, though with a topical spin to it.

Next up was Across The Landing which was written and directed by Richard Markworth (Carrigan Wakes). This one takes place as a series of video diaries recorded by Markworth in his isolation. As the days go by he starts to appear more and more paranoid and desperate. This was a simple idea but I loved the format of various days passing, especially with the English flag in the background that gets more and more decrepit in appearance as time goes on, a visual indicator of the fictional Markworth's deteriorating condition. It was just the other day that a delivery driver at my work told me a story he had heard that played out almost identically to what happens here, giving this one a greater feeling of realism despite the comically exaggerated persona of the protagonist.

The penultimate short was John Whitaker's Anomalous (as composer 1i2c his music has been woven essentially into such trippy horrors as Zombie and Bed of Nails). Shot in black and white this follows Whitaker after he has returned from shopping with a stockpile of toilet rolls. This comedic horror was my favourite of the shorts, what I loved here was how he managed to make a simple toilet roll become something creepy!

Finally is Ghosting Isolation by M.W Daniels. The time spent alone begins to affect his mental state resulting in some The Shining style hallucinations. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on here but it wasn't bad.

At around 25 minutes long this was a joy to watch, but then I have a lot of time for anthology films. You could say that some of these appear quite basic, but then that is the point, these are filmed and produced in isolation and so the look backs up the authenticity they legitimately have. The editing and visual effects these had was impressive, my score for this reflects my appreciation for the constraints the various directors had. The Isolation Horrors will be available to watch as a YouTube scheduled premiere on Friday 24th April at 9pm GMT at this link.

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