Castle Freak (1995)

Stuart Gordon once again makes an underrated gem starring Jefferey Combs.  Story of that mans life...

Those familiar with Stuart Gordon will know he's no stranger to bringing Lovecraftian horror to the screen.  Castle Freak is one of a couple of excellent adaptations by Gordon.  The movie is about a troubled couple and their blind daughter who inherit a creepy castle in Italy.  However, there's something lurking the castle and it's got a taste for killing.

Castle Freak is a Gothic horror mystery, with an excellent creepy atmosphere,.  The castle is an ideal setting, as it's eerie and sinister.  The monster looks disgusting and makes for an interesting villain we can sympathise with as well as be repulsed by.  The performance by Jefferey Combs is his best since Re-Animator.  The movie isn't scary, but it's sick and twisted, with a great sense of humor.

There's some wonderful sinister moments here too - a boob being eaten to name one - and it doesn't let down when it comes to making weak stomachs squeamish and hardened gore hounds feel satisfied.  This is another underrated gem from Stuart Gordon and one of the best horrors from the 1990's.  It wasn't a bad decade at all.

The Innkeepers (2011)

After seeing House of the Devil, like many horror fans, I was immediately excited about the next Ti West project.  He's a director who is standing out for me and one my current favorites not only in horror, but film in general.  I waited months on this coming to DVD in the UK and when it finally arrived I watched it first chance I got, with extremely high expectations?  So did it live up, exceed or let down?

First off, I really did enjoy The Innkeepers.  It was a good movie, but I think it's a better hang out movie than it is horror.  It's a slow burner, which is Ti West's ''thing'' and it does work well.  We get to know the main characters, we get to like them and when nothing is really happening, they do enough to keep us interested just by watching them goof around and slack off.  It really captures the feeling of a slow night and 2 employees trying to pass the time.  On this level, The Innkeepers works extremely well.

It stars Sarah Paxton and Pat Healy as 2 employees of the Yankee Peddlar Inn, doing one last shift before the hotel closes for good.  It's a slow night and there aren't many guests, so the pair decide to pass the time by doing a little ghost hunting as the hotel is rumored to be haunted.

The performances from both are perfect and I can't think of a criticism.  They made their characters extremely likable, even Pat who was a bit of a dick.  A funny dick though.  The kept the movie progressing along nicely despite the lack of goings on.  The slow burning didn't get boring either and worked for the most part before the final crescendo of chaos and terror.  However, the atmosphere could have been a little eerier because at times it felt a little tame.  That's really my only criticism.  The Innkeepers was tame, and despite a decent final act, it would have been better if they turned the volume up to truly demented and let it deafen us.  It was nice, there was some cool ghostly moments but it could have been longer and a whole lot more crazier.

Overall, it was a great throwback to classic ghost movies and fresh in the current horror climate.  I'm still a huge fan of Ti West after seeing it and it didn't let me down.  Sure, it could have been better in some parts but that doesn't mean to say it wasn't still a fine effort.  Bring on V/H/S and The Side Effect.


Personal Thought: Ti West should make a slacker comedy in the vein of Clerks and Dazed & Confused.  I think he'd do a great job.

Ink (2009)

Ink is a difficult movie to define.  It's one of those indie flicks that comes along every so often and just defies expectations.  It's unique, ambitious, creative and intelligent and despite being low budget, it's more ambitious than movies made for mutli-millions of dollars.

The story is about a little girl whose soul is taken by a creature known as Ink, who hopes to use it in order to join a group of supernatural creatures known as Incubi, who are responsible for creating nightmares.  The Storytellers, who are the group responsible for creating good dreams, follow Ink through reality and the dream world.  In addition, the little girls father, a man looking for overcome his own troubles, is wrenched into the nightmare.

That's all you're getting, because there's too much going on here and I don't want to spoil it.  You really need to watch it because it's one of a kind.  There's a lot more going on with Ink than would appear on the surface, and I suspect it's going to take repeated viewings to appreciate it in its entirety, but I guess that's what's so great about it.  It's one of those movies that you'll probably get something new from each time you watch it.

A truly beautiful, bizarre and mesmerising movie that needs to bee seen.

The Puppet Monster Massacre (2010)

I have Kevin Matthews to thank for this one, as I do many movies I add to my watchlist.  However, as my watchlist is the size of a small continent, it takes me a little while to getting around to watching them.  However, this was just staring in my pile of DVD's tonight begging to be watched, and just like all girls who have agreed to sleep with me, I took pity and caved.  

AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Now, I knew this would be good, but I thought it would be the kind of good I'd need to wait until I was wasted to enjoy.  Well, I was wrong, because it's genius - it's fresh, warped,  probably offensive to normal human beings and has called Raimi Campbell who sounds like Shelly from South Park.  In the words of the great Charlie Sheen, this is WINNING.

The premise - a group of teenage puppets are invited by a mad Nazi scientist to spend the night in his mansion for a lot of money.  But as you know, it's never that simple with mad Nazi scientist puppets...

I don't know how to describe this really.  Imagine Troma, Meet the Feebles, South Park & Sesame Street mating with each other and this being the lovechild that was produced.  It's hilarious and splatty.  If you're offended easily then don't watch it, but if you are offended easily then a horror film about puppets is maybe something you'd avoid in the first place.  The puppets are adorable, and the characters of Raimi and Gramps are hilarious.  The mad scientist is a typical stereotype and like most Nazi madmen, his sidekick is a penguin.  Are you not in love this yet?  If you're still reading waiting for a selling point then I'm afraid I've failed you.  The director set out to make a goofy, fun puppet movie with blood, sex and jokes and that's exactly what he achieved.  

Here's the review that sold me on the film.  I recommend you read this guys stuff:

http://flickfeast.co.uk/reviews/film-reviews/puppet-monster-massacre-2010/

Here's an interview with director Dustin Wayde Mills that's a good read.  He's a likable dude and I have no doubt if we met we'd be friends.  He loves fun movies and his favorite is Monster Squad.  I'm sold on him:

http://horrornews.net/39194/interview-dustin-wayde-mills-puppet-monster-massacre-2011/

300 (2006)

Every few months I revisit Zack Snyder's masterpiece 300.  In my opinion, this is one of the best movies ever made.  I wish more blockbusters would be like this because it doesn't hold back.  It's violent, emotional, powerful, occasional funny, visually stunning, has amazing camera work, has amazing battle sequences and is epic in every sense of the word.

Zack Snyder is a controversial director.  For a start his debut feature was a remake of Dawn of the Dead (I think the remake is better in this case).    And of course he would go on to bring beloved graphic novel Watchmen to the screen, and as we all know, comic book movies always piss off a lot of people.  Then there's Sucker Punch, which I enjoyed personally but it does have critics.  I'm definitely a Snyder fan.  I dig his style and if anyone can bring a comic book to life it's him.  300 is his masterpiece and he did the perfect job bringing the pages of Frank Miller's graphic novel to the big screen.

300 is a fictional take on the Battle of Thermopylae, in which 300 Spartan warriors went to war against over 1 million Persian soldiers led by Xerxes, a self-proclaimed god.  The battle lasts for 3 days and the Spartans are only beaten because they are betrayed by Gollum-like Ephialtes.  While they fight, the Queen remains in Sparta trying to rally support for her husband against a council whose essential figurehead is a traitor out to satisfy his own gain.

So what makes this one of my favorite movies of all time?  Well, for a start it never fails to amaze me and light a fire inside that burns with passion.  Our heroic 300 Spartans are characters to truly get behind and root for.  The speeches are inspirational, their efforts are beyond admirable and they leave you feeling emotional.  The performances are all amazing, especially Gerard Butler as King Leonidas.  To this day it's his best performance (and I like him in everything I've seen).  The anger in his eyes, the fury in his voice and the way he conducts himself really sell him as a warrior fighting for his people.  There's some great actors on board here, like Michael Fassbender and Stephen McHattie.  Vincent Regan and David Wenham stand out in particular.  In addition to engaging characters and amazing performances, the battle scenes are breathtaking - amazingly choreographed, bloody, entertaining and visually stunning.  The entire movie is visually stunning with amazing cinematography.  It looks like the pages from the graphic come to life.  The camera work is stunning, the score is beautiful and when all of these elements are combined, a piece of cinematic brilliance is captured.

300 isn't entirely historically accurate but for me that's not important.  When I watch a movie I just want to watch something that engages me. There's many things in 300 that take it into the fantasy genre anyway, so it's not trying to present itself as true to life. This does just that and much more.  Of course, it's been criticised for inaccuracy and portrayal of Persians, but really who cares?  It wasn't out to harm or offend or provide any kind of social commentary.  Some people need to relax and chill out.  It's just a film at the end of the day, based on a graphic novel.  It's definitely not for everyone, but the box office gross and DVD sales would suggest that enough people enjoy it for being a harmless bit of entertainment.

Fortress (1993)

Stuart Gordon is one of the best directors on the planet in my opinion.  His movies all kick ass.  For me, he's one of the best at making movies with highly ambitious concepts on small budgets.  Sure, his movies look very ''B'' but that's what's so good about them.  Fortress, like most Gordon movies, is an underrated gem with a great cast that includes Christopher Lambert (The Highlander), Kurtwood Smith (Robocop & That 70's Show) and Jefferey Combs (Re-Animator and the underrated Necronomicon).

Fortress is one of many great movies that makes the future look like a corrupt, unforgiving place.  In this future, population control has been put in place and if you break the rules then you get sent to Fortress, a prison run by the sadistic Poe (Smith) who treats the prisoners like guinea pigs for mind control experiments and kills anyone who gets out of line.  Christopher Lambert plays Brennick, sent to prison for trying to escape the country along with his wife to evade population control.  The film is the classic escape from prison movie tale only set in the future.

Originally, Fortress was set to star Arnold Schwarzenegger as the lead and because of Arnie's star power, Gordon was going to receive a 60 million budget.  However, when Arnie pulled out the budget was lowered to 12 million.  Gordon is no stranger to a small budget though and like all of his movies, he made the most of it.  The cast has some B movie favorites and for me.  Christopher Lambert is great as the lead.  Lambert has never been the greatest actor ever, but he's capable and cool.  I love Christopher Lambert.  Kurtwood Smith is a great villain and does a terrific job as the prison director.  He's emotionless, sadistic and his only entertainment comes through dastardly deeds.  His performance is so cold and emotionless it's almost robotic (but not in the bad way like Channing Tatum).  Jefferey Combs is an awkward, mumbling, paranoid hippie and is one of the most memorable characters in the film.  Most of the supporting cast do a great job.

Fortress is a sci fi movie with brains, however, there is some blood here to quench the thirst (my favorite part is the prison brawl and the climatic chest explosion).  There's a fine balance between action, psychology and story and it's perfectly paced.  Fortress is an intelligent B movie with action and intelligence.  It has some great underlying themes such as the corruption of government and the fast growth of technology, as well as a bleak view on the future.  I love Fortress and if you give it a chance, I'm sure you will too.

Lockout (2012)

''Escape From New York in space'' is the most common description used to describe this movie so far, and even though you can see why, for me it was more like Die Hard...in space, but not as Die Hard in space as Assault on Dome 4.  Anyway, that's not relevant, because when a movie is described as either one of those then you know what to expect - a mindless, fun popcorn movie with lots of action and terrific dialogue from our hero, Snow (played by Guy Pearce, who is particularly amazing in this type of role and should do more films like this).

Lockout is about a man called Snow, sent in to space to rescue the President's daughter from a prison outbreak - or face the alternative option of a 30 year prison sentence for a crime he did not commit.  The prison contains some of the most notorious criminals in the universe and they are also being experimented on and turning even crazier as a result.

The performance of Guy Pearce is the best thing about this.  He does a great job as the action hero and should do these kind of roles more often.  He's a great actor, but this is definitely one of his more fun roles.  His sarcasm and the way he carried himself was great fun to watch.  The villains were good enough also, particularly the rapist played by Joseph Gilgun.  Vincent Regan was just cool and bad ass as the lead villain also.  The action was good and the f/x were nice on the eye.  Sure there was a few weaknesses, but all in all Lockout is great popcorn entertainment and perfect if you just want to sit back, relax and watch some good wholesome fun.