The Lazarus Effect

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: The zombie minions have sent us a request signed by four hundred and fifty seven of them.

Vampire Bat :: As Uncle Dracula is in the hospital after watching a few terrible superstar Bollywood movies, I guess that we have to deal with this ourselves.

Vampire Owl :: It is sad. We have to accept their request though, or the Lich Queen will take away all our zombie labour.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, they consider the Lich Queen as a weird revolutionary ruler and we shouldn’t just give her the advantage.

Vampire Owl :: So, what do you think about this? They are asking for the review of a movie, The Lazarus Effect. It is about death and return to life.

Vampire Bat :: Coming back from the dead? I don’t believe that the zombies can come up with a better request.

Vampire Owl :: It is a horror movie, and so it should work for the vampire clan too. The request can be honoured without much trouble.

Vampire Bat :: It is a shame that we have to watch this movie without Uncle Dracula. But it is time he realize that he should choose actors over superstars when watching a movie.

Vampire Owl :: So, we will reply to the minions with a yes?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, and lets have some tea and get ready for a movie adventure.

[Gets a cup of tea and butter cookies].

What is it about? :: Two scientists, Frank Walton (Mark Duplass) and his lover Zoe McConnell (Olivia Wilde) have developed a special serum which they have named Lazarus. They are helped by Niko (Donald Glover) and Clay (Evan Peters), while they are joined by the videographer Eva (Sarah Bolger) as this particular serum attempts to do something huge. Even though it was intended to assist coma patients to give them a second chance at life, it turns out that it actually brings the dead back from life. They do manage to bring a dog back from the dead, and all of a sudden, a major pharmaceutical company buys the firm that funded their research and shuts them down. They decides to repeat the experiment, but Zoe gets electrocuted. Frank decides not to lose her and uses the Lazarus serum on her, but it turns out that the returning lady is not the same as the one who left.

The defence of The Lazarus Effect :: I am sure that most of you can agree to the fact that the movie is scary. It is loaded with the scary moments here and there. The moments of the return from the dead, for both the dog and the human are very well portrayed. Another nice design in relateed to the depiction of hell and the ideas behind the same. There are some jump scares which are very well used to make sure that the audience will feel that there is more horror coming. Not only the visual stuff, but the sound effects and the music contributes well to the frightening situations. It also asks us the relevant questions about life, death, soul and hell. The gore is also kept to the very least, even though a movie like this which combines science fiction and horror could have had a lot of it, especially with the death and return from the dead around. Over everything else, it knows how to entertain.

Claws of flaw :: There is no doubt that this movie could have been a better horror movie because it had all which was needed in its story, even though with similarities to other horror movies – the basic idea is not new and so are the scares. This one could have used the abundant darkness to a more creepy effect instead of using the same for some quick scares. The idea of life, death, hell and soul could have been expanded further more. The battle here between the living and dead is also too one-sided and predictable. With the movie being short in length, more scary and explanatory sequences could have been added here and there. The ending could have also been a little more creative. But it is surely better than what the critics claim that it is, no doubt about that – far ahead of this year’s other big horror; the remake called Poltergeist.

Performers of the soul :: The acting department looks safe around here. The best moments in the movie undoubtedly belongs the one who plays the returning loved one an scientists from the dead – Olivia Wilde as Zoe McConnell is clearly the leader here. She begins as the heroine and returns as the demon, balancing both really well. The transformation that happens is not that gradual either as she turns and embraces the dark side further and further after the return from the other world. She is not someone whom we usually associated with the horror genre, but it has suited her very well. Sarah Bolger plays the lead who doesn’t really belong to the group, and she does that fine enough. Mark Duplass has a good run in the movie, and the rest of the cast does some good job in this flick which mixes two genres effectively.

Soul exploration :: The three movies that come to your mind when you watch The Lazarus Effect are Event Horizon, Carrie and Lucy even though this flick is no match for all the three – consider the original movie from long ago when I am talking about Carrie this time. Do you know what else this movie is? It is Frankenstein, as here is an even more modern Prometheus than what Mary Shelley had intended. The idea of bringing back someone from the dead hasn’t gone that well for many characters; Victor Frankenstein paid for it. The Biblical Lazarus of Bethany on whom the title seems to be based did have a fine return from the dead after four days, and may be the serum in the movie was also supposed come out positive, but unfortunately for the characters in the movie and fortunately for the horror fans, it didn’t.

More of the soul exploration and the finish :: The movie’s idea of hell is also interesting; it talks about how hell is your worst nightmare repeated again and again. Its journey to hell and back is like Event Horizon, but not that strong. It has the returning person with the powers of Carrie, and also comparable to Lucy – there is also that idea about using more than ten percent of the brain. This movie has those elements which bring the horror about not just what is seen, but also what extends beyond that. Jason Blum who has been behind horror and thriller movies like Insidious, The Purge, Sinister, Dark Skies, Paranormal Activity, Ouija, The Lords of Salem, Jessabelle, Area 51, The Boy Next Door, The Gallows and The Gift along with the sequels of some of them, has produced this one too. With its collections, The Lazarus Effect will make into the list of the successful ones.

Release date: 27th February 2015
Running time: 83 minutes
Directed by: David Gelb
Starring: Mark Duplass, Olivia Wilde, Sarah Bolger, Donald Glover, Evan Peters, Ray Wise, Amy Aquino

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Angel of Death

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Uncle Dracula was very much shocked that we missed Hotel Transylvania 2. The Vampire Panda had told me that he was on leave from the vampire throne for too many days.

Vampire Bat :: Which is why we are bringing this older horror movie right up.

Vampire Owl :: If this Woman in Black is the Angel of Death, why don’t we just call her by that name itself? Why were we not talking much about her?

Vampire Bat :: Well, there are other angels of death who might decide to protest if we do that. After all, each creature has rights.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, but still at this moment, this is the Angel of Death.

Vampire Bat :: We should publish a notice about the usage if we are to do it widely. But it should be okay for now.

Vampire Owl :: Do you know that Sinister 2 might never really release here?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, disappointing. Even Dark Places didn’t arrive.

Vampire Owl :: This is why world needs the Angel of Death.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, even the Angel of Half-death will do.

[Grabs a cup of tea with chocolate chips biscuits].

What is it about? :: A long time has passed since the events of the first movie. The time shifts to the season of death and devastation, during the Second World War. The Blitz was happening at London as Nazi Germany was showering bombs on the United Kingdom. With death wandering over their heads on planes, Eve Parkins (Phoebe Fox), a deputy headmistress along with the children of the school and the headmistress, Jean Hogg (Helen McCrory), leaves towards the small town of Crythin Giffor which was to be a safe place away from the bomber planes targeting cities. They reach a mansion which is abandoned and surrounded by no signs of human existence. Then you have to wonder if this new place away from civilization is really safe.

The defence of The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death :: The movie nicely begins and has a dark and depressing atmosphere until the first moment of horror occurs with twenty minutes being over. There are some very nice dark sequences in this movie which bring us the elements of horror very well; the terror exists all the time here, not just when there is the direct attempt to scare the viewers. There is always something waiting to happen, and you can feel that. The movie is also sad, and it is something that will haunt you more than the horror which you expect to be there. It can also be considered as a strong drama, with emotions running high. There is a message here, and it is of death, which is brought about by none other than the actions of humans themselves.

Claws of flaw :: You will feel that The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death is a lot like its predecessor, rather too much of that kind. The darkness is also used a lot to the inconvenience of some people. This one is also slower if we consider the pace that is expected from a movie of this genre. Talking more about the genre, this is not completely horror either, which will make some fans wonder where exactly their horror movie deviated from the cause. It could have surely used better appearances of the Woman in Black to make the desired impact for the hardcore horror fans. Even though the predecessor was a rather unknown movie at this part of the world, the second one surely had better attention, and so the viewers did deserve more from this as far as the genre is considered.

Performers of the soul :: Phoebe Fox is the protagonist here for the year 1941, replacing Daniel Radcliffe who was there during the Edwardian-era. There is torment and so much sadness which is reflected on her face, making Phoebe a nice choice for this particular character with a troubled past which the woman of the other world needs to exploit and use to her advantage. She surely has her exceptional moments in this one. Jeremy Irvine makes a nice appearance in the flick, and he does the job of another person with past troubles very well. They do make a fine pair together in the movie. Meanwhile, Oaklee Pendergast does a fine job as the kid in distress. Helen McCrory also does some good work. Even then, the atmosphere remains the grand performer.

Soul exploration :: It is no surprise that the title Angel of Death works at a time when the Second World War was at its peak. With chaos and destruction all around, one has to wonder what kind of death humans have brought upon their own kind. The humans themselves are the angels of death due to the never-ending desire for more. In the current world, where intolerance has risen to a new level, may be there are too many angels of death waiting to rise. It is by selflessness and sacrifice that the acts of hatred for the other can be averted. The message of forgiveness is the one thing which is needed more than any other. There is death awaiting each and everyone in this movie, in one way or the other, by war or by supernatural ways, but it is not the certain end.

How it finishes :: The sequel to The Woman in Black is no Crimson Peak, even though the frightening elements which are delivered comes directly out of the supernatural. You can actually watch this one without trying the original. The creepiness of the atmosphere once again helps this one to become an interesting experience as long as you don’t keep asking for more of the usual kind of horror. The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death is that kind of a movie which is more horror for the soul than for the brain. The idea to put this story to the Second World War setting was the right one, and even though this is not for everyone, a lot of people are sure to like this one depending on their priorities and their admiration for the different kind of horror. You might have to watch this one to be sure.

Release date: 2nd January 2015
Running time: 98 minutes
Directed by: Tom Harper
Starring: Phoebe Fox, Helen McCrory, Jeremy Irvine, Adrian Rawlins, Leanne Best, Ned Dennehy, Oaklee Pendergast, Jude Wright, Amelia Pidgeon, Casper Allpress, Amelia Crouch, Leilah de Meza, Pip Pearce, Alfie Simmons, Eve Pearce

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Goosebumps

Posted on November 1, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: Movie adaptation of children’s horror fiction? What is this? We are the ones who are supposed to scare the children, not some random novels.

Vampire Bat: Not everywhere. There are regional people of darkness who have acquired the opportunity; for example, the rights for the same in Kerala were bought by Sir Kokachi.

Vampire Owl: But I wish to scare kids! I really want to really frighten them! It is my special skill!

Vampire Bat: Well, with Hotel Transylvania’s second part around, may be we will have to retire after all. I hope that this movie can support our cause.

[Gets the tickets with some cheese popcorn].

✠ This was recently posted by me at Kiagia.com: http://www.kiagia.com/index.php/current-film-releases-movie/1146-goosebumps-movie-review

Goosebumps is the name for a series of children’s horror fiction works written by Robert Lawrence Stine in the 1990s in the US. Among many such works from the American author, this particular series happened to be the most popular. There were also various spin-off series which emerged out of these works. These stories had the characteristic of being funny along with being scary. A television series was also brought to the fans based on the stories. Even though an attempt was made to create a movie on Goosebumps in the year 1998, it didn’t happen. After many speculations by the fans, on 16th of October 2015, the idea was finally brought to the audience in the form of a movie.

Zachary Cooper (Dylan Minnette) has moved from New York to the small fictional town of Madison with his mother Gale Cooper (Amy Ryan). As he begins his schooling there, his mother joins as the vice-principal at the same educational institution. The new place seems to be calm and quiet, and almost everything seems normal except for their neighbours. Even though Zachary quickly becomes close to the friendly neighborhood girl Hannah (Odeya Rush), her father (Jack Black) doesn’t approve of it, and he doesn’t even like anyone else coming near his house. As he tries to keep everyone away, Zachary only wishes to somehow get closer to the neighbours.

Zachary feels that Hannah is being mistreated by her father, and he calls the police. But that doesn’t go on as planned, with the police officers ending up warning him instead. But another day, he breaks into the house with his newly found friend from school, Champion (Ryan Lee) hoping to find her. In there, they find the girl, but it turns out that she and her father are not just normal people like everyone in the town. There is a mystery hidden in the bookshelves and they will end up unlocking them; it surely won’t do the town any good. A new adventure begins with an abominable snowman and a dummy as they unleash something which they can’t seem to stop.

The movie is sure to provide a good dose of nostalgia to those who have grown up reading the books and watching the television series. The impact will still depend on how people consider the way in which this movie shows the creatures related to their childhood memories. The creatures are all good, the most notable ones being Slappy the Dummy, the abominable snowman, the werewolf and the giant praying mantis. The others including the walking dead, vampire bats, ghost-like creatures, vampire-like monsters, the invisible boy, a circus clown and a number of humanoid creatures – all make a nice combination as they come to life from the books. There is a huge group of them, and fans will surely recognize them better.

Goosebumps is never even close to being scary, and the audience needs to keep that in mind. But it is fun, and the monsters are nice to watch on the big screen in 3D. As a horror comedy, this will prove to a fine watch for family audience. The comedy is good, and there are some memorable funny moments in this one, even though viewers might still ask for more. There is nothing new in the story either, and the movie doesn’t even bring a special sub-plot here. As most of the viewers might have guessed a lot earlier, monsters are all from books written by the author of the original series of books, and these main characters need to team up to get them back into the book before the whole town is ruined and everyone around ends up dead.

Jack Black effortlessly carries this movie as the main character and the only person who is in any manner related to these monsters, and holds the key to getting them back into the books. The audience will find that he blends easily into his character as expected. Dylan Minnette has done good work here in the role which can be categorized into that of the male lead. Ryan Lee has his moments completely on the funny side. Odeya Rush does her job really well, and some might find her somewhat a younger version of Mila Kunis at times. Amy Ryan and Jillian Bell manage to contribute well with the next two significant roles. R.L. Stine, the author of the works, also makes a very small cameo appearance as the movie gets near the end.

Even though people should find Goosebumps very much enjoyable, it does remind us of so many movies from the past. Inkheart had the characters from a book coming to life, while The Cabin in the Woods was a movie which had all the popular horror characters coming together as part of a huge, secret plan. Jumanji had the dangers of the board game coming to life to haunt the players, and Zathura dealt with a similar premise. So, the audience won’t find anything new in these creatures coming to life. But they will surely find Goosebumps to be a nice and interesting because of the way in which it is presented, with nostalgia also having a role to play for a few fans.

Release date: 30th October 2015 (India); 16th October 2015 (USA)
Running time: 103 minutes
Directed by: Rob Letterman
Starring: Jack Black, Odeya Rush, Dylan Minnette, Amy Ryan, Ryan Lee, Jillian Bell, Halston Sage, Ken Marino, Steven Krueger, E. Roger Mitchell, Timothy Simons, Amanda Lund, Keith Arthur Bolden, Benjamin Papac, R.L. Stine

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Crimson Peak

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I believe that we should sell our castle and buy what they call the Crimson Peak. It looks more Gothic than all our bloody rooms combined.

Vampire Bat: We should write a letter to Uncle Dracula concerning this after watching this movie.

Vampire Owl: I believe that it is from the director who can do the Gothic more justice than anybody else.

Vampire Bat: Yes, it is like Guillermo del Toro weaves his magic wand and this genre reaches new heights.

[Gets the tickets with some cheese popcorn].

✠ This was recently posted by me at Kiagia.com: http://www.kiagia.com/index.php/current-film-releases-movie/1130-crimson-peak-movie-review

From the visionary director Guillermo del Toro, the man who brought us movies like Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy and Pacific Rim, the latest flick comes in the form of a Gothic Romance Horror called Crimson Peak. It has been one of the most anticipated movies of the year for those who loved the critically acclaimed dark fantasy known as Pan’s Labyrinth. Crimson Peak has also remained a much discussed title among the horror fans. What this movie seemed to try and achieve was to bring the Gothic mystery elements back to the big screen like never before. The trailer also supported the same idea, and so did the costumes and the surroundings featured in it.

The audience is introduced to a little girl who sees the apparition of her mother giving her one warning – beware of Crimson Peak. She grows up with the belief that ghosts are real because she has seen them, and she becomes a beautiful lady who is an aspiring author from Buffalo. This lady, Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) has a desire to show her skill in writing ghost stories even though she is told to write love stories instead. A twist of fate happens when she unexpectedly falls in love with Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) who arrives in the US from England, related to business matters. She marries him against the advice of her people after her father dies, and travels with him beyond the Atlantic Ocean to his lands.

Everything seems to be perfect with love and affection right at the core. But she soon discovers that the man is more than what meets the eye as he has many secrets. With his sister Lady Lucille Sharpe (Jessica Chastain) who seems to share these secrets, there is a very scary side to their world of two. A large crumbling mansion set in the mountainous region in Cumbria will make sure that her trip to the British Isles won’t be as good as she thought it would be. The house seems to warn her and so do the apparitions which make another appearance there, visible only to her. These creatures are new, but her nightmares have only begun, and she will soon know the truth about the siblings, the house and its bloody violent past.

The first thing that you notice related to Crimson Peak is the beauty that you see on screen. It is a wonderful reminder to the Gothic that the viewers have always read about during our childhood. The environment brings the best effects of horror on screen. It is the kind of world which suits horror like never before. As usual, Guillermo del Toro knows how to do the best with the creature design, as each apparition in this movie is unique, and all of them are scary. With the sound effects added and terrifying sequences well shot to magnify the horror, the whole thing becomes an even better experience. Still, the movie is does not fully fall into the horror genre. The costumes are also amazing, nicely contributing to the style of the movie. All of these are a lot worthy enough to be watched on the big screen.

There are a few scenes which need mention, one of them being a murder scene, surprisingly showing the aesthetics in death like never before. With water pouring out of the sink and getting mixed with blood, this simple scene shows what creativity can bring. Yes, there is violence, but with beauty. The elegance of death has been brought to the next level. The appearance of the apparition of the mother also brings something special. The red apparition is also imaginative, and the mansion remains a live thing all the time. The mixture of red clay from under the ground to snow also provides a creepy feeling to a house and the surroundings which are already scary with its architecture and location. All of them are worthy of bringing a big horror sequel to Crimson Peak.

There is a certain magic spell which is created by the movie on the audience with the visual detail; then there is the magic of performances which guides this movie. Tom Hiddleston steals the show with his dialogues and expressions as a character that seems to reflect love and compassion with eyes, but struggles hard to hide the secrets. Jessica Chastain is more like the personification of terror which is waiting to unleash itself, and she does a good job. Mia Wasikowska once again becomes the Alice here, not lost in Wonderland, but in the wasteland of her dreams, nightmares and newly found mansion. She manages her role remarkably well, and the audience can easily connect with her emotions. Charlie Hunnam is underutilized though, with more action set in England with the three characters.

The movie still takes a little bit more time than needed to get into the Gothic mode. Another fact is that more could have been achieved with what has already been done with the marvelous imagination that the director possesses. This is still brilliant, but is just a little short of becoming that perfect Gothic Horror Romance movie. The viewers who enjoy beauty on screen will find it difficult to take their eyes off throughout this movie, and there is a certain emotional impact which will also stay in minds after the movie ends. It is the kind of tale which makes you think, and it also brings the memories of that enchanting beauty into your mind – Guillermo del Toro once again proves that he knows how it should be done.

Release date: 16th October 2015
Running time: 119 minutes
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, Jim Beaver, Emily Coutts, Leslie Hope, Burn Gorman, Laura Waddell

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Honeymoon

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: I was planning for a Honeymoon with Lady Death myself.

Vampire Bat :: But you are not married yet.

Vampire Owl :: Yet, but it has to happen some day. I am preparing my soul for the same. I have even bought a Suit of Death from Vampire Best Deals.

Vampire Bat :: Do you know that the suit is supposed to prevent death for a few hours?

Vampire Owl :: What? It is not supposed to bring death closer?

Vampire Bat :: No, it is not. The original prototype was used by Uncle Dracula to travel to twenty seventh dimension of eternal death. Vampires and the rest of the undead can’t go through the realms of death without permission from the dead, as it can cause slow disintegration of the vampire body. This suit prevents the same.

Vampire Owl :: What? It is totally unfair. This is going to prevent my Honeymoon from ever happening. Mountain of Death brings death, Isle of Death is known for dealing with death, Valley of Death causes more deaths than any other place, and why is this Suit of Death so much the opposite?

Vampire Bat :: Well, you should have read the full description before buying it. Vampire Raven once bought something and didn’t speak even a word after that.

Vampire Owl :: My honeymoon plans are ruined. You could have at least given me false hope by not letting me know.

Vampire Bat :: Well, we will watch the movie Honeymoon instead.

[Gets a cup of tea].

What is it about? :: A newly married couple, Bea (Rose Leslie) and Paul (Harry Treadaway) finds the right place to celebrate their honeymoon, and it is a cabin in the woods. It seems to be the perfect and extremely peaceful are as they enjoy their time and explore the surroundings. In a small restaurant, they meet Will (Ben Huber) who seems to act strange and his wife Annie (Hanna Brown) who is acts even more weird. One night, Bea goes missing, and later she starts showing some strange behaviour which upsets Paul. She forgets things and write down even basic facts about her life. She often acts opposite to how she had been earlier. Paul sees strange lights at night and feels that a third person is involved. But he finds no real clue anywhere as things don’t get any better.

The defence of Honeymoon :: The movie uses its environment related to the cabin in the woods to come up with the much needed advantage. The two main characters are also made a lot more interesting by the cast. There are a lot of interesting moments between these two characters, and the performances are excellent throughout. The time before the major incident and after that are actually presented in different ways, and it makes us feel the change with a powerful psychological impact. It also leaves a lot of things to our imaginations, and it plays on our mind to know what is wrong, and who is the one actually in trouble here. You feel caught between the two characters, thinking and imagining to recreate what could possibly have gone wrong between the two lovers who seemed so happy and energetic just a few moments ago.

Claws of flaw :: Honeymoon surely drags, and it takes quite a lot of time to get into its more interesting part. Even between the thrills, it goes rather slow. There is a certain amount of beauty about this slowness at times as it adds to the mystery elements, but at some other times, it is not there. The ending is actually a little bit of a let down [A little bit of spoiler stuff to follow even though nothing of heavy dosage] considering the fact that this was going so nice as a psychological thriller-horror movie until the finishing line doesn’t really justify the same, but attributes things to unknown creatures. Even with surprises thrown in here and there, it finally comes to those moments which are rather more predictable, and things become what a good number of people might have thought in the beginning.

Performers of the soul :: The movie needed its performances because it uses them more than anything else due to being a psychological thriller on one side despite being known as a horror movie – may be that ending confused the genres and even added a certain amount of sci-fi to the same. You have to love Rose Leslie in this one, and you once again get to see Game of Thrones‘ own Ygritte doing what she does best; giving the feeling that her husband knows nothing as her character undergoes changes. She has managed two sides of her character so well that we can see the changes clearly and impressively managed. Lets see what she can offer in The Last Witch Hunter – wait for it. Harry Treadaway does a very good job, and the chemistry between them in amazing.

Soul exploration :: The movie asks the basic question if you really know the one who is close to you – it is something that is worth feeling scared about. Well, people do pretend to be someone else, and acting comes naturally to a lot of people. You see those people with profiles on the matrimonial websites with descriptions being God fearing, non-alcoholic and never smoking, but do you think that it is true? Well, even in the case of love marriages, people are blind in love and can’t see through the masks. If people missed this idea, that makes an opportunity gone for this movie. Will someone whom you love undergo so many changes that one day, that you won’t be really sure who he or she is? Well, it is a point to think about, and something that this movie could have focused further on. It is not that the same is not in the movie, but it is not that clear.

How it finishes :: The first movie that comes to my mind when thinking about this, is Under the Skin. They are surely not the same, but some moments do feel similar from a distance. Well, this one keeps the audience wondering though; couldn’t this have been a lot better with the premise? It is good with its stress and intensity, but is this all that this movie could come up with after showing a lot more promise? May be they could have stuck to the psychological side throughout, and in the end, we could have had a minimum of one psychopath or even two. It could have surely achieved better ratings with that. It already has a powerful drama side to power the same. The horror that this movie required was purely psychological, and with the same not being fully there, Honeymoon could have really been the true honeymoon.

Release date: 7th March 2014
Running time: 87 minutes
Directed by: Leigh Janiak
Starring: Rose Leslie, Harry Treadaway, Hanna Brown, Ben Huber

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

It Follows

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: You are talking about the Vampire Hamster. He always follows us for no reason.

Vampire Bat :: No, I am talking about a movie.

Vampire Owl :: You mean that you are not talking about those dangerous non-vampires and inexperienced vampire apprentices who stalk us for no reason.

Vampire Bat :: Absolutely not. This is a critically acclaimed horror movie.

Vampire Owl :: I hope that it is not about vampires. If they call us “it”, making a movie about vampires following humans, I am going to be really angry.

Vampire Bat :: No, it is not. I heard that it is about an unknown supernatural entity.

Vampire Owl :: Then, it is okay. I hope that the movie is not about dog spirits either. Then, the fake dog lovers will racially abuse us. The dog lovers have been doing it against their fellow Indian state of Kerala even when it was made clear that there was no mass killing of dogs in the state, and even when government is spending so much to save the dogs in the streets. I read that according to the new scheme, each dog saved will fetch a person five hundred rupees.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, even when they are using images of dogs being killed in their own states and its neighbours and are spreading it as photos from Kerala. They say that Keralites are doing it because their skin colour is black and it makes them demons or rather a lower class.

Vampire Owl :: They really judge people according to their skin colour, don’t they? It is surprising that we are allowing such racism to exist. Some people can’t stand their own fellow countrymen just because the culture and traditions are slightly different.

Vampire Bat :: Well, humans hate their own kind for many strange reasons. They murder their own people and pretend to love animals. We should make sure that we don’t meet many of them.

[Gets a cup of tea].

What is it about? :: The first thing that we see as the movie begins is a girl who runs away from home and gets murdered. Then we are taken to the present story, as Jaime Height (Maika Monroe) goes on a date with a man who tells her that he has infected her. He tells her that an ancient curse has passed on to her through the intercourse and now a supernatural entity will haunt her. It will try to kill her, unless she passes it to another person through an intercourse. She has to try not to die, because after her death, it will come back to him. He hopes that she will increase the number of people in the queue so that his life will be extended. With the help of her sister and friends, she hope to find a solution to this strange problem which makes no sense to her or anyone around.

The defence of It Follows :: There are not many overused horror tactics here, as It Follows takes a different path. It is a simple but effective path which is followed here, as shots are nicely presented and the background score is amazingly good. The creepiness reigns throughout the movie. It knows how to use the horror elements in an efficient manner, without the help of the extra CGI or gore which has come naturally to the horror movies in the last few years. This one proves that it is not that much of a needed thing, as a fine story with interesting moments and good performances can make it work. It might be the scariest simple movie of all-time, with its focus on the uncertainty and the loss of hope. A seemingly unstoppable force will also help to add more to the horror. It succeeds where The Babadook failed.

Positives and negatives :: It Follows is not your usual horror story. There is no big scary monster from the other world which keeps moving things around or jumping out of nowhere to get you out of the seat. There is no real form for the creature as it becomes many people, including those which we love and also ourselves as it try to make way through and get to the victims. It just comes towards you in a form, and then you die; it is as simple as that. The terror in this movie exists throughout even when not on the screen and never goes down in strength. The return of horror to glory is inevitable here. It would still depend on your taste for horror, and what kind of terror you are looking for. If you prefer to have a movie which doesn’t thrive on the jump scares, but creepiness, this will work better. You will feel the slowness too, but it is not always the negative.

Performers of the soul :: This one is Maika Monroe’s movie in many ways, and it only gets better as the film progresses. She has acted in another thriller, The Guest, and she will also be there in Independence Day: Resurgence. In the absence of those big special effects, the performances were going to be vital, and she has done this prefectly as she seems to be very much the best choice. This might be the movie for which she will be remembered for a long time. The rest of the cast just got to support her, and that is what they do. Well, not many movies can strike this well without the scary imagery and having a slow pace. The actors have played a big role in making that happen. It is slow and steady, and so it should win the race for most of the audience.

Soul exploration :: When someone says “it follows” related to a horror movie, it gives the feeling of a certain paranormal stalking. Even though the supernatural dealer of death does stalk its later victims, when we take a detailed look at the title and we see what happens, what follows here is something from which it is almost impossible to escape, and it has more than one feature. The supernatural entity here reflects factors like guilt and regret, about the things we have done and those which we haven’t done. They never leave us, and there will be a haunting experience throughout our lives. It really follows; it chases us through our daily lives. There are things that we do that makes us feel that there is a chance to escape, but we are never really out of it. Sometimes, it takes some time, and still it finds us.

How it finishes :: When I saw the critical appreciation for this movie, I first felt that this was overrated like it was the case for The Babadook. It had almost no real scary moments at all and it is rather irritating for most of its time. But thankfully, It Follows works a lot better. May be the effect of watching that strange movie with irritating characters influenced me to like this movie more. But if you want a horror movie which is completely based on entertainment and jump scares, It Follows, is surely not the movie for you. The strength of It Follows is the inability to escape from the inevitable, and this hopelessness takes the terror to another level – you keep running from it, eternally. There is no safe place as it just follows you everywhere in different human forms. But that also means that there is almost no visual horror. So you have to choose wisely.

Release date: 17th May 2014
Running time: 100 minutes
Directed by: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe, Bailey Spry, Debbie Williams, Ruby Harris, Leisa Pulido, Ele Bardha, Ingrid Mortimer, Alexyss Spradlin, Mike Lanier, Don Hails, Erin Stone

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Insidious III

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: Uncle Dracula was asking about this movie. The Vampire Oracle had told him that Count Dracula III will be only as good as Insidious III.

Vampire Bat: You can’t really expect anything to be as good as the original. There can be only be one original Dracula. It has been proven by characters in the works like Twilight.

Vampire Owl: Lets test the movie then and let him know.

[Gets the tickets].

✠ This was recently posted by me at Kiagia.com where I handle the Hollywood movie reviews division: http://kiagia.com/index.php/current-film-releases-movie/885-insidious-chapter-3-movie-review.html

Even though The Conjuring has been considered as the most exciting horror movie of the recent times by the common audience, there has always been something about Insidious. The journey through the astral dimension and the demons of that world which they called The Further, has worked very well with the viewers. Insidious: Chapter 3 is actually not a sequel to the incidents of the previous chapter, as it does the job of being a prequel to the first movie. It goes a few years behind the Lambert haunting which was shown in the first movie. It is clear that it never intends to go that far back to become an origin story, but Insidious: Chapter 3 does come close to being one.

Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott), a teenage girl finds it difficult to cope with the loss of her mother. She has been trying to contact her dead mother Lillith (Ele Keats) and believes that her mother wants to communicate with her from the other world. When she contacts Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) with the same desire, the lady tries, but stops the procedure telling the girl that it is dangerous and she shouldn’t call out to any of the dead, as the other spirits will also be able to hear her. As days pass, Quinn sees a dark figure waving at her multiple times, and when she tries to check it when on road, she is hit by a car which leaves her on a wheel chair with fracture on both her legs.

The paranormal activities only increase as she sees visions, and a demon continues to cross over from the other world and torment her, most of the incidents leaving her on the floor with further injuries. A collar on the neck is just one of those extra additions that the demons give her as things continue to get worse. Despite her father keeping a close look at things, nothing positive comes out of it, and he is forced to seek help from those who deal with the supernatural. Elise is not confident enough to go back to the other dimension as she is afraid of being murdered by a demon who threatens her. Will she be able to face her fears and save the girl before the youngster’s soul is gone forever?

The scares in the movie are very much working through these incidents. The new demon is a very good addition to the creatures of the other world. It scares whenever there is an opportunity, and the creepiness of the movie continues to impress. The setting only helps with the same, as there is this nice little apartment which has an abandoned room above it. The world of spirits also continues to make the desired horror impact. Some of them include the demon’s first close appearance, the girl’s possession and the scene at the abandoned room – actually, there are many scenes which make the horror work, and it succeeds where Annabelle was confused.

The ending also leaves something more to desire for the fans, as a movie between this one and the first flick can be expected. People can still feel that this doesn’t bring enough innovation, but by staying close to the material, Insidious: Chapter 3 has managed fine. There is not much of blood and gore, but just the scares in the old style. Darkness has been nicely used as the movie’s best friend, and so are the doors, windows and walls. If you are not happy enough after watching it, you might have been expecting much more. There is no touching the level of The Conjuring, but this is surely the best horror movie which has had a wide release after that one.

Lin Shaye is once again plays the expert in all these spirit-related things, and she is the soul of this movie as she handles things with ease. Along with the three movies of the franchise, she was also there for Ouija, and this is a familiar territory for her. Stefanie Scott gives a high quality performance too, as she plays the teenager troubled by her mother’s death, the one with hope to provide wings for her ambitions and also the person tormented and possessed by the demon. She is impressive throughout the movie. Dermot Mulroney just got a simpler thing to do as the father. Angus Sampson and Leigh Whannell brings the humour as Tucker and Specs.

As you have reached the third movie of the franchise, you can notice that the director has changed, and there is no more James Wan at the helm and the writer for the franchise, Leigh Whannell has taken over. But the movie hasn’t lost its best qualities, unlike X-Men, Species and Alien franchises which had their least interesting movies as the third entries. Instead, this movie improves from the second entry and becomes almost as good as the first film, and in a world of mostly lesser quality sequels, it is an achievement. There might be no huge innovation here, but if you want to be scared this weekend, Insidious: Chapter 3 is the right movie for you.

Release date: 26th June 2015 (India); 5th June 2015 (USA)
Running time: 97 minutes
Directed by: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Dermot Mulroney, Stefanie Scott, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell, Lin Shaye, Hayley Kiyoko, Michael Reid MacKay, Tate Berney, Tom Gallop, Phyllis Applegate, Ashton Moio, Ele Keats, Adrian, Tom Fitzpatrick, Phil Abrams, Ruben Garfias, Samantha Ramraj, James Wan, Amaris Davidson, Anna Ross, Joseph Bishara

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

See No Evil 2

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: I feel that we shouldn’t watch this movie.

Vampire Bat :: Why? You didn’t like the first movie?

Vampire Owl :: No, not that; even if we tell others that we see See No Evil, we actually see the evil which is committed on the screen, but it should be about seeing no evil. So, it implies that we are lying. You will be writing about this movie. So, if you write that you saw See No Evil, that means that you saw all the evil deeds on the screen and in the end, it means that you saw evil instead of not seeing the evil. That is a lie. Vampires don’t lie.

Vampire Bat :: I don’t get this see-saw evil. What are you talking about?

Vampire Owl :: I am saying that this movie asks us not to watch it, and it is a fact.

Vampire Bat :: I don’t really think that you should create a complicated issue out of a horror slasher movie and its title.

Vampire Owl :: How can you say that? I demand the right to use my owlish brain.

Vampire Bat :: Why does it never work when needed?

Vampire Owl :: I can’t help it. I am an evil genius and my needs are different.

Vampire Bat :: So, it is true that the branch of a tree fell on your head?

[A few minutes of silence].

What is it about? :: Amy (Danielle Harris), Seth (Kaj-Erik Eriksen) and Holden (Michael Eklund) are working at a morgue late night. As it is Amy’s birthday and with her getting ready to leave, they get to know that the bodies of nine victims of a murderer are being brought, along with that of the killer, Jacob Goodnight (Kane); and she decides to stay and help them instead of going for a party. Due to her absence, her friends Tamara (Katharine Isabelle), Kayla (Chelan Simmons) and Carter (Lee Majdoub) sneak in to celebrate her birthday along with her brother Will (Greyston Holt) as they begin a party in the morgue. But what will they do when they find out that the killer is alive and is killing one after the other?

The defence of See No Evil 2 :: Coming from the Soska sisters Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska who came up with the movie American Mary in 2012, this is a sure improvement from there – that movie itself had some nice elements, but none that effective. They have also starred in the nice beginning credit scenes as corpses. There is nice treatment of this regular slasher movie which makes it rise above the ordinary. See No Evil 2 is surely going to be something of interest for the WWE fans. There is Kane doing what he has done in WWE for a long time; there is total devastation as he used to do with his opponenets. Jacob Goodnight is sure to become a character to be remembered for a long time, and the setting and the style only adds to the overall terror quality of the movie. The elements of fear nicely focuses on the killer and the environment. It is good fun with thrills.

The claws of flaw :: There are things that go on without reaching anywhere, with the attraction between the co-workers and the brother-sister relationship being just two of them. The return of the villain doesn’t have any explanations, as we can’t stop feeling that it is just an attempt to make things work once again with the same character and the actor. There is a certain supernatural feeling about the character with surely damages things. The flashbacks which go back to the first movie only makes things too strange and less interesting to follow as they break the continuity of the story. The horror elements never really go above a certain limit which has been set by the inability to do anything special. The killings are nothing beyond the ordinary, and the ending is just something which could have been better planned.

Performers of the soul :: Glenn Thomas Jacobs whom we know as the WWE wrestler Kane remains the biggest asset of this movie, and it surely was a good idea to bring the character back for him, as he seems to do this role with certain ease. Working as the brother of The Undertaker and being part of The Brothers of Destruction was a job too good with the mask, and this one has him returning with another mask. Danielle Harris is one of those scream queens who has been there in horror movies doing similar roles for a very long time, mostly related to two movies of Hatchet series and four belonging to the Halloween franchise, and the list doesn’t end there. She is right there with the role, but it is Katharine Isabelle, the other queen of horror who steals the show – the one from Ginger Snaps franchise and American Mary, not easily recognizable in this new style, but this is a different character for her as she adds humour and fun to this movie.

How it finishes :: With some fun and scares here and there, this one is a sure improvement from the first movie. The environment, the leading character and the two leading ladies are those factors which make sure that this works better than the previous movie. We have had some interesing killers including Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers and Victor Crowley; so Jacob Goodnight will only add nicely to that list which has the stranger names like Rusty Nail and Chrome Skull. There is one certain thing about this franchise, and it is that the whole thing has managed to move away from the weaknesses of the first movie. See No Evil 2 works, and how much it works is dependent on the taste.

[After watching the movie].

Vampire Owl :: I think that we should follow the pattern.

Vampire Bat :: What pattern?

Vampire Owl :: This one tells us how to establish a base at the morgue. Why didn’t we ever thing about it?

Vampire Bat :: I am currently thinking that this is better than the predecessor.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, that is established already. What about the pattern?

Vampire Bat :: I don’t think that we should establish new vampire bases without permission from Uncle Dracula.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, the permission has to be taken, but this is one place where we can establish the base without further trouble.

Vampire Bat :: You don’t think that the current cemetery bases will be enough?

Vampire Owl :: No, there is something big coming. I can feel it. We need the morgue.

Vampire Bat :: It is Insidious: Chapter 3. Just make sure that you watch it.

Release date: 21st October 2014
Running time: 90 minutes
Directed by: Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska
Starring: Kane, Danielle Harris, Katharine Isabelle, Chelan Simmons, Michael Eklund, Kaj-Erik Eriksen, Greyston Holt, Lee Majdoub, Sylvia Soska, Jen Soska

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Purge: Anarchy

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Tennyson

Background to the franchise :: Most of you might have watched the first movie of this franchise, and other might have surely heard about it here or there. It is basically about the United States of America of another reality. Unemployment has been successfully brought to a new low. As the number of people below poverty line decreases every year, crime becomes something which is rather not known. All thanks to the Purge, which has made all crime legal with all police, fire and rescue, and hospital emergency services closed down for one night a year, for twelve hours, from seven pm to seven am – anything goes at that time period. This idea by a totalitarian party called The New Founding Fathers of America makes sure that there is catharsis, and also that there is a certain amount of population control of the poor, as the wealthy rarely become victims of the twelve hours of crime.

What is it about? :: We know from the last movie of the franchise that the most successful Purge happened in the year 2022. Here, we are in the very next year, as 2023 gets ready for the year’s big festival of brutality and chaos. It is March 21, 2023, and as the time comes closer, everyone wishes the other “Stay safe”. There are only two things to do for people, to go on a murder spree or hide themselves somewhere indoors with enough security added. At the same time, there is the anti-Purge revolutionaries hoping to strike back in defence of the poor. There is one armed police officer looking for revenge on the streets as he was denied justice by the law that he trusted, a husband and wife are left on the road with car trouble and a mother and a daughter are trying to escape from a group that captures them. The rest of the movie is what follows on the day of the Purge.

The defence of The Purge: Anarchy :: There is a lot more to this sequel than the predecessor. There is a certain expansion on what was there in the first movie, especially with the idea. The bloody images that the movie shows are extremely powerful, and this is also the first time that we get the clear view of what happens outside in the streets during the Purge instead of how it turns out to be inside one house and maximum, a neighbourhood. There is an even clearer picture what happens outside the rich neighbourhood and how the poor or even the middle class are treated during the Purge. and it moves out of the possibility of being caught in the stereotype. You can say that it better expresses what the first movie had in mind. The ending is really good too, and it is a real positive whichever way you look at it.

Positives and Negatives :: The true nature of people that The Purge: Anarchy brings is not going to be nice for all kinds of viewers. There is the loss of humanity, and the cruelty that is sponsored by the government as well as the corporates, as the wealthy also hopes to have their right to purge without risking that much. The right to life has been replaced by the right to kill – new fundamental right. So, one needs to prepare to be shocked. As things get further revealed, it is not just what is on the screen that brings the shock, but also what hides behind which is even more. It is how the whole thing is designed that has more power than what stays on the screen for the viewers to watch. It is about what might happen in many forms, and its brings that realization that all violence has a few bigger master plan that hides behind a mask. But the premise could have had even further development!

Performers of the soul :: The second part has more characterization involved, and the limitations of the first one are overcome as the Purge goes wider and with more opportunities for terror. Frank Grillo is the one who leads the way with the performance just like he did with the Purge in the movie. He played Brock Rumlow (comic book character Crossbones) in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and will make the grand return in Captain America: Civil War. He reminds one of Eric Bana. Zoë Soul and Carmen Ejogo nicely plays the next significant characters in the movie. The rest of the cast including Kiele Sanchez and Zach Gilford also does fine in their respective roles, but the hero still remains the theme – with the support there in the performances.

Soul exploration :: The Purge: Anarchy has a dark soul. Even without the blood and gore as some other movies, it isjust brutality in store. It has a government which allows the same, and a media which celebrates it. The wishes are for the success of the Purge as if it is a need. There are also government officials granted immunity from the horror of the pledge. It doesn’t give humanity a place. There is class divide, and it is on the blood of the lesser privileged human that the Purge thrives. It is also a reflection of the truth that basically nobody likes the other. So the basic idea is to save oneself from the other or kill the other. In case of a communal riot, it is not so different in the present world too, isn’t it? There are occasions when people descend into so much of chaos, and Purge is just an example of the same. Things only get worse when people in power need this to happen.

How it finishes :: The Purge: Anarchy is more thriller with a message rather than the horror-slasher. It nicely explores the human nature and its tendency for violence even against their own people. It shows how government joins in to take advantage of the same, and use it to their political advantage and the ease of administration. Then there are the corporate rich who hopes to take advantage of the poor, making sure that their deaths happen to the rich Purge satisfaction, as it is also an opportunity for them to become richer through selling arms and ammunitions as well as the security systems to those who can afford them. When seeing wars, terrorists attacks and communal riots, there is question of who is to blame, and there are many answers in this movie, and no, you can’t blame religion, things are much bigger than that.

Release date: 18th July 2014
Running time: 103 minutes
Directed by: James DeMonaco
Starring: Frank Grillo, Zoë Soul, Carmen Ejogo, Kiele Sanchez, Zach Gilford, Michael K. Williams, Justina Machado, John Beasley, Jack Conley, Noel Gugliemi, Castulo Guerra, Edwin Hodge, Keith Stanfield, Roberta Valderrama, Brandon Keener

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

In Fear

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: But I do not know the meaning of Fear.

Vampire Bat :: Then what do you call that expression when you were chased by a dog last month?

Vampire Owl :: I was simply giving the dog a lesson in running.

Vampire Bat :: Then when you jumped over the wall, it was a lesson in high jump?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, but it was a poor little creature with such a small brain. It couldn’t jump over the wall.

Vampire Bat :: You didn’t take the flying classes when all the other owls were doing that, and now you want to pretend to teach others running.

Vampire Owl :: It is actually okay because you can’t fly either. You should attend my classes too. It will help you to run away from a bad movie.

Vampire Bat :: But this is still a good movie. This is simple, raw horror.

Vampire Owl :: I have watched this and won’t approve. I am bigger horror than this little movie.

Vampire Bat :: I would have made a bet for three hundred zombies that you can only say that about this movie.

[Goes to watch ISL].

What is it about? :: Tom (Iain De Caestecker) and Lucy (Alice Englert) are on their first trip after falling for each other, and even as they are planning to go to a music festival with friends, Tom suggests that they rest in a hotel on the way, to which Lucy agrees, despite having promised her friends that she would be there early. They follow a vehicle to the hotel where they were planning to stay, and after showing them the directions, that person drives off. They move on and looks for directions, but following them doesn’t lead them anywhere and it seems that they have seen the same place again and again – it is as if they are trapped in a maze. The rain starts pouring and Lucy keeps seeing a masked figure while going through the path and they are attacked once. They end up giving lift to another person called Max (Allen Leech) who claims to have been attacked too, but the tension only gets higher as there seems to be no way out of there.

The defence of In Fear :: Most of the movie is in the middle of nowhere and we have so much action inside the car which turns into a claustrophobic world, especially with the third person around. There is already a spooky atmosphere created as the darkness falls and the rain pouring, with nowhere to go. It is smart in its anxiety and tension, and the feeling of being nowhere in hopelessness is disturbing. Being in small pocket road with no lights and no signs of civilization around, having no idea how to get anywhere? Everyone needs to be scared about this, especially as some masked villain is ready to pounce if you stop the car – he might even find a way to stop the vehicle. You have the right to be scared here. The stuff is believable too, as this goes on without anything out of the world added to it. There is less stupidity from the characters as they seem to act more as anyone would have, if caught in such a situation. It is good to see something different being tried in the horror genre.

Claws of flaw :: The movie is not for everyone, especially as there is almost no jump scare at all. There is no big scary killer who keeps coming at you and creating all those gory scenes out of nowhere. The locations are limited, and there is darkness around. There is not much of a backstory, and things happen straight. There are minimum resources used here, and there is no murder shown happening on the screen – there is not even a cut on the screen even as there is blood after the cut. There are just three people in this movie and for most of the time, we see only two of them. Some horror fans can find this method uninteresting, and a few others might be more disappointed about the same. The power of the villain is not much, and the ending is actually a little too uninteresting, even as it has the mind not to bring something up in hope for a sequel. The inside the car setting might also disturb a few. There are still a few things unanswered, and the moments of stupidity does come into play when the protagonists are out of the car. There is nothing big in the plot either.

Performers of the soul :: There are just three people acting in this movie, even as there are others who we do from a distance; nothing much here is about another person other than what we hear our leading actors talk about them or contact them through the mobile phone – yes there is a scarecrow if you want to add him to the actors. Among the three, Alice Englert is the pick. The last time I had seen her was in Beautiful Creatures, and even as I did think that she was good, I doubted about her being in a horror movie – but then, I was wrong, and this young lady who was just nineteen when this movie premiered, has just nailed the role of the young damsel in distress in a believable manner. I couldn’t feel anything else but be surprised about the fact that she had made her character so much believable rather than becoming another lady in a horror movie. Iain De Caestecker comes only second, and becomes the weaker character leaving him with less scope. Allen Leech is good, but still not up-to the movie’s power.

Soul exploration :: The soul of the movie is in its atmosphere, and the success of the same is in creating that situation which can haunt any other person. It is a case of genuine fear, as it makes way into our known world. Ever got your car’s tyres punctured in the middle of nowhere at night, or have you ever got lost your way somewhere while taking a shortcut and there are no lights anywhere? There is no range in your phone with GPS already stopped working and rain also stops pouring down. So where do you go from there? In Fear has that situation and successfully drops us into the world of fear and nothing else. Fear might want many things, but this movie proves that what it actually needs is a realistic situation and happenings that can be connected by the audience. A better working of the plot and a better development of the situation could have done a even more for this movie, but for now, there is some realistic horror in its core.

How it finishes :: In Fear is a movie so much less known, and its existence might be something that so many people are unaware of, unless Alice Englert’s filmography keeps catching too much attention. It is a movie which has pretty much low rating at IMDb, but is something which has good ratings from critics. That should explain a few things. No, this doesn’t have the entertainment side working much, and its horror is something of the mind. It has less for the majority of the viewers who would hope for something that thrills outside the borders of realism. But this movie doesn’t have that, as the choice to go with realistic things can gain more critics and lose more viewers. But In Fear still maintains enough to gather the usual fans, at least in my opinion. For the same, one has to think more than what is seen on the screen.

Release date: 20th January 2013
Running time: 85 minutes
Directed by: Jeremy Lovering
Starring: Iain De Caestecker, Alice Englert, Allen Leech

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ouija

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Halloween and no horror. Never thought that such a day will come in this century.

Vampire Bat :: There is horror. We can watch Ouija.

Vampire Owl :: Really? The Vampire Panda told me that it was a bad movie and critics gave bloody low ratings to it.

Vampire Bat :: Lets not trust the critics on a horror movie. Besides, that panda is not a vampire. He is just the Kungfu Panda on disguise attempting to sell his noodles and action figures among vampires.

Vampire Owl :: I shall deal with him later. For now, I can surely use a summoned spirit. According to the latest version of the Book of the Dead, the Undead and the Brain dead, they are very useful creatures. We need to get an Ouija Board.

Vampire Bat :: Do you realize that you already create enough problems for yourself?

Vampire Owl :: Absolutely yes. See, I am an evil entity. I am supposed to create problems for the world which includes myself.

Vampire Bat :: You should have a dosa. You turn evil when you need it.

Vampire Owl :: No. I am a dangerous owl. I need to keep it that way.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, dangerous to yourself.

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: The protagonist Laine Morris (Olivia Cooke) is searching for answers as she hopes that she could have done something for her best friend Debbie Galardi (Shelley Hennig) who had committed suicide, and she laments the fact that she was the last one to talk to her and yet couldn’t stop her from doing such an act. As she finds an Ouija board in her house, along with her sister Sarah (Ana Coto) and other friends of Debbie, Pete (Douglas Smith), Trevor (Daren Kagasoff), and Isabelle (Bianca A. Santos) decides to try and contact their recently deceased friend. Soon, they contact a spirit which addresses them as friends, but what they are not aware of is that Debbie already had made a connection to the other world which lead to her death, and they understands that more than one entity is now free. The friends realize that they will just be killed one after the other and there will be no stopping the terror. A relative to the dead people returning as spirits, Paulina (Lin Shaye) who resides in a mental asylum seems to be the key to stopping the evil, but will it work?

The defence of Ouija :: The name would be enough to draw people to the movie, and the Ouija board has always been the centre of curiosity for a lot of people for a good amount of time. We have a lot of curious cats among us, don’t we? This movie banks in the same with the board at the centre, throws the usual stuff at us again and again, and there are some scares as one would expect from it. The sewn mouths are not something new, but they surely work here especially according to the circumstance, and the twist, even if small is a working one. There are possessions, suicides, murders, sewn mouths, blank eyes, with some scares here and there, and a creepy environment of the house. The sound effects are very good and the visual horror has its moments. It is quite a success as a haunted house movie, with the board being found from the home where evil has happened sometime ago. Some moments near the end are good, even as their failure to end the movie with the same surprises me.

The claws of flaw :: The movie doesn’t try anything new at all. Its biggest asset is that one board, but the flick fails to capitalize on the same. There is not much about that one big thing that it could have used to its effectiveness, and instead the same becomes only the means to what is to come next. It only does the job of any other possessed item which could gain the attention of the spirits. The movie should have stuck to its title, explaining more about the board and how things come to this dimension in relation to the same. But it tries to make the movie go on in the usual pattern often forgetting that the movie is about the board, with the existence of a house where something terrible did happen a long time ago and there is a spirit waiting to possess or murder people. Even a good number of scares are not that effective, but there are a few which work nicely. The plot and the narrative could have had some more attention to make the whole thing better.

Performers of the soul :: The movie has a rather cute lead at the top, and the performances are overall decent. Olivia Cooke plays the protagonist here, the lady who is hopelessly trying to connect to her dead best friend, and she has indeed played this role with such expressions of fear and uncertainty which makes this character so much believable here. Her cuteness helps the cause a lot, and she is a perfect one for this role which has more hopelessness and desperation which she could nicely reflect on her face. You will instantly like her, that is for sure. The next one is Shelley Hennig, and even as she dies early, has her moments too, and is not done even with that separation of the soul. She adds to the beauty of the cast and does enough, while the rest of the cast manages to hold on, but not with anything special. Meanwhile, Lin Shaye is here too, and she is once again impressive in another horror movie – catches our attention.

Soul exploration :: In its search for the spirits within the Ouija board and also outside it, the movie losses its soul. It can’t realize what it has in its soul, whether it is to focus on the board or the haunted house and its scary past. When we finally decide that it is on the latter, then comes the board again as if it is Count Dracula who wants to be part of everything vampiric. The spirit also works a lot like the Final Desination series, planning to just kill them all in freaky ways, even as it is not that heartless to make things too violent. Then you realize that Ouija is a mixture which is created to make it a safe bet, and it adds so many things to itself and makes those factors work in parts even as in totality, there is some mess. There is the lack of soul to hold it together, and it is the same reason why we are unable to bring much of it back home – even Annabelle living in the shadows of The Conjuring had more for us. Ouija boards can inspire better horror movies, and this one has the spirits not that powerful.

How it finishes :: The conclusion is still that even with its list of flaws, Ouija is your movie of the Halloween, even as Annabelle does exist at selected theatres with less number of shows. It will be the choice of the Halloween enthusiasts as Ouija board is not something that is not tried that much, and there are not other big Hollywood entertainers released this weekend. I have successfully kept my distance from Bollywood since Diwali as I had sensed certain danger. Meanwhile, I wish all the followers of this blog and the readers of this post a very Happy Halloween, and the November first is also the birthday of the Indian state of Kerala, the occasion known as Kerala Piravi, so I wish all my fellow Keralites a Happy Kerala Piravi too. For more details about the same, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_Piravi and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala. Happy Birthday, Kerala 🙂

Release date: 31st October 2014 (India); 24th October 2014 (USA)
Running time: 89 minutes
Directed by: Stiles White
Starring: Olivia Cooke, Shelley Hennig, Daren Kagasoff, Douglas Smith, Bianca A. Santos, Ana Coto, Matthew Settle, Lin Shaye, Vivis Colombetti, Robyn Lively, Bill Watterson, Sierra Heuermann

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Dracula Untold

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Do we need extra horror after Annabelle?

Vampire Bat :: No, its Dracula special. We made a promise to Uncle Dracula. Remember?

Vampire Owl :: But we will end up with an overdose of horror here.

Vampire Bat :: There is nothing like an overdose of horror. It is part of our daily lives. And this one won’t scare us at all, as the genre is different.

Vampire Owl :: I hope we can recommend this to Uncle Dracula.

Vampire Bat :: We have to watch it whatever happens. It is the only English movie in the local theatres now.

Vampire Owl :: I wish they had released these movies on different dates. This is more of a collision which will damage both these movies.

Vampire Bat :: Only if there was no stupid Bang Bang! last weekend. Annabelle might have come earlier.

Vampire Owl :: See, this Bollywood is the source of all evil.

Vampire Bat :: I have known it since Dhoom 2 and Besharam made me certain about it with enough support from Dhoom 3 and Krrish 3.

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: The tale of the vampire begins with the man, a prince of Transylvania who is ruling his world in peace as a kingdom giving tribute to the Ottoman Empire. But things change as the Sultan asks for thousand boys from his kingdom as a tribute to be part of their slave army so as to conquer the whole of Europe. Vlad the Impaler (Luke Evans) cannot agree to his demand, and as requested by his wife Mirena (Sarah Gadon), decides to save the boys from doom as he takes up arms against the huge Turkish army. As he understands the stupidity behind his own decision, climbs a mountain which is supposed to have ancient evil within it, and asks the creature inside the cave which had killed a number of Turkish scouts for help. The creature is actually one of the most evil emperors of all time turned vampire, Caligula (Charles Dance), grants him vampirism for three days during which he will have the vampiric abilities and certain weaknesses, but have to control his thirst for blood; in failing to do so will turn him into a vampire forever.

Positives and Negatives :: Dracula is our favourite vampire, at least for most of us, and here we have an origin tale rather than the usual bloodsucker story. Unlike what some people were expecting, Dracula Untold is not packed with horror – one has to wonder why were people so sure about the same? Even the director himself had said that this was more of a drama with elements of action and adventure. The last battle is a little overdone with vampirism, but other than that, the special effects are amazing, especially the effects of bats, dark clouds, impalings, transformations and the Gothic atmosphere that has been successfully created. May be they could have added more innovation and removed the predictability factor, as we know what would happen to the prince already. There have been many types of vampires and Dracula, and there is Luke Evans. It is he who controls this movie with a brilliant performance. Sarah Gadon is also stunningly good in her character of faith and hope, while Dominic Cooper makes a nice villain.

Soul exploration I :: Dracula, the hero against the empire :: The age of empires does sound awesome as a computer game, but otherwise, it is a bloody case of cruelty and brutal subjugation, which doesn’t end in just a conquest. The case of one country extending its domain over another through war is nothing less than a permanent ill-treatment of a future generation, as what the Ottoman Empire does in this movie is nothing different, and there is no empire on Earth which is not built on the blood of the innocent. Here, Dracula is a man of the people, and even as a prince of his small kingdom, he has known the life of someone worse than a common man, as he was taken by the Turks at his early age to be part of the Janissary – an elite infantry unit made of slaves recruited by the Sultan from the Other. He stands up against the ill-treatment of his people in a desire for equal value of human life. He automatically becomes the symbol against imperialism and brutal power.

Soul exploration II :: Dracula, the superhero of the grey side :: Going back to the origins, our villain is still the hero, who has made one fatal decision which would make him a tragic hero, as he ponders over that question which have haunted Hamlet for such a long time, to be or not be (or to drink or not to drink) as he is caught in those stages of transformation into a vampire where he could be immortal in one of the two ways possible. He is neither good or evil there, and in that situation of the grey, he stumbles upon that incident which would turn him into dark grey. He is a man caught in a world of good and evil, where the grey has no position, or has to forcibly embrace the black, or the evil. Dracula is a man of our age, and we know that he could have survived better if lived a long time after his time of existence, and he was not the hero whom his world deserved. History rarely keeps grey characters as it praises only the victors, but we know that there would have been an abundance of them.

Soul exploration III :: Dracula, the villain of the night and darkness :: Dracula’s situation and his descend in forced upon him, but his voluntary decision to choose what he thought was necessary evil against pure evil would become the ultimate evil in more than one way. He becomes a lot like Faustus by selling his soul to the devil, and another Faustian tragic hero has his roots. But with the scope left for a sequel, and those words “let the games begin” reveal to us that we haven’t seen the final shade of this man to which Luke Evans has given another life. Even in his worst situation, Dracula is just dark grey, and his further passing down to the darkness hasn’t occured, which should not be interesting for a lot of people, but my request for such people would be to wait. Dracula is immortal, and this is just the beginning – you have a lot to look out for, and the ending does seems to connect with the style of the 1992 movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Yes, this is a good re-telling, and not another copy of whatever you see everywhere these days.

How it finishes :: Dracula Untold is not your typical vampire story, and neither is it something that will give you scares every night. Those who wish to see the fangs of terror riding high, as well as those who were hoping for the eternal Twilight style fake love story are going to be disappointed. This was never a horror movie in its core, and this origin story of the greatest vampire of all time, is rather what you can call Dracula Begins, and will work just like Batman Begins as a beginning and a pillar to bring on something like The Dark Knight. This is not a vampire attack tale either, but a preface to the vampire world to which we are to enter. So, if you needed a lot of blood sucking and marks on lots of necks, you would need to check one of those earlier movies which are closer to the Bram Stoker work, rather than going for this. It should be why the word “untold” is added to the title, not to look for those usual bloodsucker tales here. This is highly recommended for the fans of vampire mythology, and I doubt about its effect on normal people; work your intellect and think differently, may be this can work better.

Release date: 10th October 2014
Running time: 92 minutes
Directed by: Gary Shore
Starring: Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon, Samantha Barks, Dominic Cooper, Art Parkinson, Charles Dance, Charlie Cox, William Houston, Ferdinand Kingsley, Noah Huntley, Dilan Gwyn, Zach McGowan, Ronan Vibert, Diarmaid Murtagh, Thor Kristjansson, Joseph Long, Damien Kivlehan

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Annabelle

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: This is the day I have been waiting for.

Vampire Bat :: Are you sure this is the movie you waited for?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, I am hoping that I can adopt that doll soon. I have also written a letter to the Dracula Castle requesting permission from Uncle Dracula for the same.

Vampire Bat :: You don’t need that doll right now. You are pretty much a scary owl as of now.

Vampire Owl :: No, it is part of my plan to owlify the world. I would need a side-kick, like Robin is to Batman. Otherwise, I know that I am scary and dangerous.

Vampire Bat :: Annabelle doll doesn’t play supporting role. She always does the main role. She is a level five demon, not a level zero vampire.

Vampire Owl :: What? Bad doll. What makes it think that it can get the main role outside movies? Especially when super hero-villains like me are alive?

Vampire Bat :: Because she has pride, and also the rest of those seven deadly sins. It is why she is an evil demonic doll.

Vampire Owl :: I shall rate this movie low.

Vampire Bat :: No, it is me who does the rating, and I choose not for an owlified world.

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: The movie has the same beginning as The Conjuring, with people telling the story of a demonic doll. From there, the movie goes to a flashback which shows John (Ward Horton) and Mia Gordon (Annabelle Wallis) expecting the birth of their first child. But they are attacked by a satanic cult which kills their neighbours and causes terror before the cops arrive. Annabelle Higgins (Tree O’Toole), a member of the occult group marks their wall with a symbol and a drop of her blood is left in the eyes of a doll which was in the house. Even as they throw the bloodied doll away, it makes another appearance at the house after a baby is born and they shift the house. They keep it feeling that the doll made its way to the new house during a quick packing and decides to keep it this time. But strange things begin to happen at the new home, and Mia begins to suspect the doll. She contacts the local priest and a detective, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to stop the terror, or is there a solution?

The defence of Annabelle :: The scares that this movie provides are impressive, just like it was for The Conjuring, even if lesser in a comparison, which should be avoided at each and every moment of this one. There is a very nice creepy environment and chilling atmosphere already created for the thriving of this doll and its scary demons. The way in which the lighting and the darkness are managed can be considered pretty much admirable. The sound effects support the visual horror in an impressive manner. There is one scene when an elevator keeps stopping at one floor full of darkness, and when you think you can avoid this moment by taking the stairs, there is a demon waiting downstairs. There is the moment when a young girl appears and runs towards you and when the door closes and opens, she transforms into something else. There is the bloody guarantee to scare the audience here, and it is something which is not easy to provide. It is time you respect the dolls, and may be after watching this movie, you will.

The claws of flaw :: There are those expectations which make things a lot worse than they really are, and what people expect after watching The Conjuring should be something not less than marvelous, and even as that movie’s fans will surely watch this one, the same has badly affected the opinions which have come out. Considering how much of a big level that movie had left for all the horror movies which were to follow, especially for a flick which claims to be its prequel. Annabelle lags behind The Conjuring with its ideas and the repetition of things that we have seen so many times in our horror watching life, as its plot gets thinner. Even as the end is satisfying, it is rather too predictable and not something that was wanted by those who wanted the evil to end or for the same to thrive. There is no grand success in a pure evil manner, or the end of evil with an exorcism, and also the movie takes a little bit too time to get into full flow of horror and those who are looking for ghosts end up getting restless early itself.

Performers of the soul :: Annabelle Wallis is lovely in her role (with the name of the doll for herself – that’s a nice surprise in the credits section and makes one wonder if it was intentional), but being scared becomes the more important part of her presence, and that indeed seems to work well with her character. Ward Horton and the rest of the cast are left with not much to do, except for a little bit from Alfre Woodard and Tony Amendola. Otherwise, there is not much to do for the actors and actresses, and that is no surprise from a horror movie. Its ddependenceon the performance of its cast is pretty low, as it keeps bringing those moments of terror now and then to minimize the focus on everything else. But the question remains if some more for the acting department would have been good, as this is nothing like The Conjuring, and needed more doses here and there to elevate its status.

Soul exploration :: Annabelle reinforces the faith in the supernatural, and it is always a good thing to have, in a world where people live with the false pride of being everything and believing to the be the centre of the world. Such movies are necessary for the realization that we can’t always know everything, and there will always be things beyond our comprehension. The more we remember about our minuteness, the better the world gets. There might be too many supernatural horror movies which are better than Annabelle, including the two parts of Insidious, Sinister and The Conjuring, and the dolls of Curse of Chucky and Dead Silence surely seems to do better than our demonic doll here. But Annabelle has life of her own, and despite the need to take a few lessons from Chucky, her power as the demonic doll will also stay. Do watch those other two doll movies I mentioned if you missed them. For a review of the former: https://moviesofthesoul.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/curseofchucky/

How it finishes :: People will obviously want to think low of Annabelle due to the high expectations which haven’t come down even after the bad reviews. A number of reviewers from this part of the world had given even better ratings to below average movies like Pizza just because it was produced by Bollywood – is it how the quality is to be decided? Yes, one has to wonder how such a thing should even happen. Lets not come to any conclusions here though, as there is the certainty that Annabelle scares the audience, and any denial of the same directly takes the viewer with such an opinion into the demonic realm where he or she can join the devil. No, Annabelle is nowhere close to being perfect, and it has its moments of struggles. You can ask for many things extra in this movie, but that it clearly a direct result of your deadly high expectations which had ventured too high and as a result had gone to Mars with Mangalyaan. Just remember that there is chance for another movie between this one and The Conjuring 😀

Release date: 10th October 2014 (India); 3rd October 2014 (USA)
Running time: 98 minutes
Directed by: John R. Leonetti
Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Alfre Woodard, Tony Amendola, Kerry O’Malley, Brian Howe, Eric Ladin, Ivar Brogger, Tree O’Toole, Keira Daniels, Morganna May

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Deliver Us from Evil

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: You are obviously talking about me.

Vampire Bat :: No, I am not. Why should I talk about you now when I am going to watch a horror movie?

Vampire Owl :: You said “deliver us from evil”. I am evil.

Vampire Bat :: No, you are not evil, not even remotely close to being a bad guy.

Vampire Owl :: But I am bad. Super evil.

Vampire Bat :: Owls are not evil. It is impossible. Bats are evil.

Vampire Owl :: You cannot take my right to be evil. I am going to owlify the world and establish my greatness.

Vampire Bat :: As if that is going to happen. You said you would do it before Mangalyan reached Mars.

Vampire Owl :: Damn. It all happens too fast. These strange space related things are not covered by the vampire newspapers.

Vampire Bat :: I would say that it is more due to your brain’s clock working so slow.

[Gets into the theatre].

What is it about? :: A cop Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) is going through some strange situations, as weird incidents happen in the city, and some of them has almost no reason or solution. A Spanish priest Mendoza (Édgar Ramírez) tries to convince the police officer that these incidents have something with it than what meets the eye. There are three former soldiers from Iraq who seems to be involved with the crimes that has occured in the city, and the priest warns Sarchie that it is beyond the human comprehension as there are two types of evil, primary and secondary, and it is only the second about which the humanity can find answers with its ability to understand things in the scientific way. At first, the cop refuses to believe that the three men are possessed, but he might not be able to hold on with that viewpoint for too long, as things go out of control, and it affects even his own relationships with his wife and daughter.

The defence of Deliver Us from Evil :: The scares are surely working, especially with a number of scenes in the basement which brings the best out of horror. The atmosphere is creepy, and is successfully kept that way and the tension is efficiently maintained. The darkness and the rain are two elements that nicely supports the shocks that the movie dares to come up with. The movie nicely manages to stay in control with the blood and gore elements as well as the horror, and this intermediate path which it has taken can make it a safer bet. There is an attempt to explain evil with the need for faith, and there is some skill in the characterization of the two leading characters who go on to fight evil. The moments in the zoo and the basement of a family with a complaint are two very nicely done scenes, invoking terror as well as mystery, and a certainty that there is something yet to come. The cast is also a fine boost for this movie.

The claws of flaw :: The movie needed a lot more explanations about what is happening around with demons possessing people and making them do things, and by passing through the portal into this world from the other dimension, the question would remain about what they achieve other than scaring people and in the process, killing a few. There had to be a plan which isn’t seen anywhere here. A comparison to The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister which comes from the same director is not possible as this belongs to a lower level, and any comparison to The Conjuring is clearly impossible. The movie should have used more special effects, and it could have given a much needed boost to the scary sequences. The end scene is also weaker with a usual exorcism performed in not that powerful manner as it was expected from the way the movie was working with its creatures from the other world. The second half is weaker compared to the first which was an impressive start.

Performers of the soul :: Eric Bana is in full control of things here in one of my favourite performances from him ever. There is something about him that makes him good with this character, and I would guess that his looks and style is pretty much best suited to playing this role. Édgar Ramírez also has left a mark as the new generation priest who has kept himself modern, but has still remained within his priestly world. I remember him mostly as Ares from Wrath of the Titans, and here he seems to fit in better. The prettiest one around, Olivia Munn has an admirable stay, and her character has presence, but she is left is not much to do in a world of demons repelled by one priest and a police officer. Sean Harris as Santino is impressive with his possessions and nicely compliments the horror elements of the movie with his performance. Meanwhile, Joel McHale is also good in his supporting role. Olivia Horton also delivers some terror with her role as the possessed lady.

Soul exploration :: The movie is based on the real life experiences of Ralph Sarchie recorded in his book, Beware the Night also co-written by Lisa Collier Cool. I would guess that it would add to the spookiness and surely has me wishing to read the work some day – it would be difficult to get it here, but there will be a way. The title of the movie is the ending of the Lord’s Prayer. It is that need to be saved from evil that we can see in this movie. There will always be things which are not in our control, and humanity’s minuteness and vulnerability are among those factors which will solidify the same fact. It is a clear thing that we can’t know everything, and no mater how or to whom we pray, there is something that prayer can always do. There is evil in this world, and however we categorize them, there is the need for God’s grace to save ourselves. The free will is there, but it is not the permission to do evil; as there is the presence of sinister forces at work, and only by goodness and faith that one can be redeemed.

How it finishes :: The reviews from critics which were negative, has now improved and the movie has come close to getting a fifty percent, and I would expect it to increase further as the opinions from most of my acquaintances have been quite positive. The other movie of the week happens to be November Man which should have its own audience due to the presence of Pierce Brosnan. Surprisingly, Lucy and The Maze Runner are the movies which stay on to this week, and I wonder more about the former, as it seems to have stayed there so much longer than it was expected to thrive. Deliver Us from Evil should be the movie of the week, and it is going to be replaced by Annabelle as the most awaited horror movie of the year. There is also that expectation for Haider the Hindi contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet along with the seemingly dumb remake of Knight and Day which has been named Bang Bang! which attempts to repeat what Besharam did during last year’s Gandhi Jayanthi. Let’s hope that horror will find a way to thrive!

Release date: 26th September 2014 (India); 2nd July 2014 (US)
Running time: 118 minutes
Directed by: Scott Derrickson
Starring: Eric Bana, Édgar Ramírez, Olivia Munn, Sean Harris, Joel McHale, Chris Coy, Olivia Horton, Dorian Missick, Rhona Fox, Valentina Rendón

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Curse of Chucky

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Chucky who?

Vampire Bat :: Chucky of Child’s Play? The doll that kills?

Vampire Owl :: Okay, I need one.

Vampire Bat :: It is not available in the market yet. That thing is just in the movie for now.

Vampire Owl :: This is unfair. I don’t even have an Annabelle doll yet.

Vampire Bat :: I shall tell the Lich Queen to gift you one for Halloween.

Vampire Owl :: Can I have her crocodilia animiatia spell with it? She likes me, right?

Vampire Bat :: I have to ask her for the Halloween offers, unless the day is re-located to the Valentine’s Day as both of them are the same in spirit.

Vampire Owl :: It is time they make such dolls locally available. I can’t even have a doll; this is why the world is going to end.

Vampire Bat :: Watch this and be prepared, then.

[Gives the DVD].

What is it about? :: Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) suffers from paraplegia and lives with her mother Sarah Pierce (Chantal Quesnel) in a big house away from the busy life of the city. One day, the Chucky doll (Brad Dourif) arrives at home by mail, and there is no idea why it is there and who sent it. But they decide to keep it anyway as it is just a cute little toy. The next day, she finds her mother dead and it is thought to be a suicide. The very next day, her sister Barbie Pierce (Danielle Bisutti) arrives, accompanied by her husband Ian (Brennan Elliott), their daughter Alice (Summer H. Howell), the kid’s nanny Jill (Maitland McConnell) and a priest named Frank (A Martinez). Alice develops an instant liking for the doll, and Nica is happy that it could be use to someone. But strange things happen, as the poisoned priest dies as he goes back home driving his car, and Jill is electrocuted to death. Meanwhile, Nica finds some information about the doll from the internet which details the doll’s connections to murders and a serial killer. But will anyone believe her?

The defence of Curse of Chucky:: This movie comes after nine years of wait by the fans of the genre, and only one movie within the fifteen years of two movies. It is the result of such a long wait which was finally fulfilled. This might be the best appearance of Chucky too, as he is back with a clear mission, something which he executes with so much focus and vigour. There is more creepiness with the doll this time, and there is not much for a funny side as he takes over the objective with seriousness. There is lot of blood out there and there is the much needed creepy atmosphere nicely worked out. The plot is nicely reinforced by the addition of a flashback and there is more logic in how this tale goes. The whole world of the group of people in a house in the middle of nowhere, fighting for survival from a doll which they don’t know as the villain – it is a treat. It is Chucky, and he will keep coming back for you until he gets your attention, because he wants to play 😀

The claws of flaw :: The long wait after the last movie of the series also works against the same, because not many people remembers about the previous one. The effect that The Conjuring 2 has, won’t be that much if the title is delayed for too much time. There is also a lot of stuff that you are familiar with, and this is after all, just another slasher movie at its core. There could have been more variety in the killings too, and a more suspense could have been used with the doll and the murders that it committed instead of letting the viewers know how it got into actin so early – but it won’t be a suspense in manner as we all know that Chucky is the one doing all, right? But that should work for the people new to the franchise. There was also the scope for Chucky to be more evil, and hope it is used better in the case of another sequel. Chucky should always do more, because he has that kind of a legacy to keep, as one of the first dolls ever to scare me during my childhood – it took me long to be interested in a doll again; and then there were little toy racing cars for me.

Performers of the soul :: It is impressive how well Fiona Dourif played the damsel in distress who fought back to be only damsel causing distress to Chucky. From her wheel chair, she causes more trouble to the doll than the others who claimed to be smarter, and she has done that role which so much power, and she carries that throughout the movie. Not many killer souls will be happy about being beaten up by such a girl, and here Fiona Dourif does that in such a convincing manner. She doesn’t do the same throughout though, as she varies in her situations, from the cute pretty girl on the wheel chair to the sad daughter and the frightened girl in trouble and finally to that lady fighting for survival against a serial killer doll. With the same, we also have one of the most frightening dolls of all time at work, and who needs humans when we have such awesome killing dolls? Sorry, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, for the latest slasher score goes to the doll character.

Soul exploration :: Curse of Chucky, just like most of the movies of the franchise, is horror right from the soul. There is the soul of serial killer in a doll, and there are not many better souls that a doll can have to create trouble. A person caught in a doll is pretty bad, and this one is a serial killer, not a regular ghost who would just be terrifying – but here the killer chooses to be his sadistic self, and this is where the movie has the potential to be so wonderful, and this is why Chucky is special. The only other movie which used the dolls so well was Dead Silence, and there it was the ventriloquist doll. Remember that it also had a doll coming by mail and nobody knowing where it came from. They might have been more of puppets, but they were dead scary, and no one can deny them that. Dolls might be cute gifts for the kids, but they can be nicely used in the horror genre, and lets hope that the upcoming movie Annabelle uses it well as the spin-off should be as good as The Conjuring itself. The real name of the heroine of that movie is also Annabelle – now that is strange 😀

How it finishes :: I have been a big fan of the Child’s Play franchise and its awesome doll. This franchise which has celebrated its silver jubilee and having six movies, all of them being fine, even as I don’t have that much high an opinion about the last two before this. It was going through a rather comic route at times, but here we have it back in the full horror. The movie had all the potential to be another bad horror movie hoping to have success by the name of the franchise itself. But Curse of Chucky brings it back up to the powerful horror side where it belongs. It is a case of happiness for the horror fans to have their favourite doll back in all its horror glory. It is the highest rated movie in the franchise by the critics, and it is well deserved, because it would have been easy to go the wrong way at this age, being just another horror movie which doesn’t scare. I am looking for the android game Chucky: Slash & Dash right now, hoping to get it some day 😀

Release date: 8th October 2013
Running time: 97 minutes
Directed by: Don Mancini
Starring: Fiona Dourif, Danielle Bisutti, Brennan Elliott, Maitland McConnell, Chantal Quesnel, Summer H. Howell, Jennifer Tilly, A Martinez, Brad Dourif, Kally Berard, Anne Leveille, Kyle Nobess, Kevin Anderson, Alex Vincent