I’ve always thought Odd Thomas was a fun book and when I heard it was being made into a film, I was both intrigued and scared. How in the hell were they going to pull something like this off? If you know anything about the story of Odd Thomas then you know where I’m coming from. It’s a good story but a little out there and hard to fathom seeing on the screen. Also, when I heard Stephen Sommers was directing it I admit that I did frown a little because I’m not a fan of his work aside from Deep Rising.
Upon viewing it I was pleasantly surprised and very happy with the direction it took. The CGI isn’t all that bad aside from a couple of scenes that look a little wonky, but everything is else is pretty solid. Anton Yelchin and Willem Dafoe both do a superb job and give everything they have to bring some of their best work to this kickass flick.
Dirty, gross, and brilliant are a few words that come to mind while trying to describe Contracted, a new film distributed by IFC Midnight (not on Blu. . . sigh) that’s been somewhat of a hit on the festival circuit. I’ve known about Contracted for a little while but just haven’t gotten around to watching it until tonight. Now I’m sorry I waited so long to view this masterpiece. Yes, it’s a masterpiece.
Maybe I’ve watched too many horror movies or I’m just exceptionally paranoid, but I can absolutely relate to the slowly creeping terror experienced by the protagonists at the beginning of In Fear. Tom (Iain De Caestecker) and Lucy (Alice Englert) are a young couple on their way to a music festival who decide to stop at what they think is a quaint hotel on the way. And of course, with a title like In Fear, you can probably figure out pretty quickly that their plans go terribly awry.
We all have those films that have slipped under our radar or those that we just didn’t get around to seeing yet. These films could be blockbusters, indie flicks, or just films that weren’t publicized or spoken about enough. In this feature, I’m going to be discussing three films you need to see that you probably missed or maybe even forgot about.
Every once in a while we see a film with a killer idea that doesn’t realize its full potential. The plot for Children Of A Darker Dawn (originally titled Railway Children) is better than the film itself. I feel it didn’t go the lengths it should have. I’m saying this with the utmost respect towards the filmmakers themselves. I’m not saying what they did was wrong, but they did have something special and went in a different direction than I thought they were going to.
This is devastating.
Tom Holland has made two of my most beloved horror films: Fright Night and Child’s Play. Child’s Play is still one of my favorite horror films of all time and one of the only films that frightened me as a kid. I still get extremely nervous when Andy’s mother discovers that there are no batteries inside of Chucky. That film and that certain scene are perfection to me and both are a huge inspiration for all sorts of projects and things I do.
There are quite a few bat shit crazy horror films that exist in this world. I’m not talking about just the bizarre films, I’m talking about the shit that makes you wonder what the hell you just watched and what the hell was going on during filming. Night Train To Terror is one of those films that make you say “WTF” in the beginning, middle, and end. After it is all over you still don’t know if what you saw was real.
There are many words that can describe Virginia Obscura, but some of those words might give away the surprise. Virginia Obscura is one of the films Full Moon Streaming picked up for their new horror VOD service. It is a beautiful thing that they are doing and it even helps give chances to indie horror.
Indie films hardly stand a chance against mainstream films and even more so in the horror genre. Indie horror films are getting more popular these days, but big studio films still overrun them. It’s even worse when indie horror is released through a smaller distribution label and is only available to purchase online and not on Netflix or Amazon. Midnight Releasing is one of those companies who seems to have difficulty getting their name out there, but that is why we are here.
Films like Armynel and many others need to be discussed because they never get a good start when you can’t find them in Wal-Mart or other stores or unless you happen upon a used copy. Even the chances of that are slim because hardly anyone buys these films in the first place. That doesn’t mean these movies are bad or anything, it’s just that they don’t have near the amount of coverage as most mainstream horror.
A lot of filmmakers think that they can get away with putting an older horror film actor in their movie for five minutes and then slap them on the front cover as if they are the lead in the film. Trust me, we all know this trick by now and we don’t fall for it. This happens every Tuesday when new films come out and sadly, we quickly dismiss films like this. It seems they rely solely on getting an older horror actor in order to sell the movie because without a name attached to it, it won’t go anywhere.
Dead Of The Nite isn’t a bad film but it is quite uneventful to say the least. Tony Todd is, of course, on the cover but is only in the film for a brief time. He is actually the best part of the movie.