Tusk (2014)

Tusk

IMDB rate: 5,6

Genre: Comedic, Monster, Mad Scientist

Starring: Justin Long, Michael Parks, Johnny Depp, Haley Joel Smith
My rate: 3,5/10

Kevin Smith, also known as Silent Bob, just made a step further into the horror genre. I am a huge fan of his movies Clerks and Dogma. I even thought Red State was a fairly good movie, although it's not comedic in any way, which isn't much like Kevin Smith's usual work. With the Tusk trailer being released I must say that I was somewhat excited to see it, mainly because it seemed pretty ridiculous and kinda fun as well, plus it was made by Kevin Smith. I must say that it was a pretty ridiculous movie indeed, but unfortunately it was not funny at any point. There are movies that are 'so bad, it's good', I expected Tusk to be one of them but unfortunately this wasn't the case at all. I don't necessarily think every Kevin Smith movie is good, some I didn't enjoy very much such as as Chasing Amy. But with Tusk I must say that it definitely Kevin Smith's worst movie. The worst part? It's being made into a trilogy. 

Unfortunately the movie is not funny at any point. Okay, maybe once or twice I had a little chuckle, but really that's about it. It's filled with Canadian jokes, which weren't very original or funny at any moment. The big attraction to this movie is of course big star Johnny Depp who plays a weird Canadian detective, his character is pretty much constructed from every Canadian-stereotype you can think of, which is pretty tiresome after awhile. I must admit that in the first few minutes of Guy Lapointe's appearance I didn't recognize Johnny Depp, but after awhile his usual acting habits appeared and it became pretty obvious that the guy was Johnny Depp. 

I must say that for a long while I claimed that my favorite actor of all time was Johnny Depp, but the last few years his movies have been rubbish. The last fun movie I've seen of him are the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' ones and that's already quite some time ago (I don't count the fourth one, didn't like that one very much). I do like his older work a lot though, movies as Edward Scissorhands, Chocolat, Finding Neverland and Sleepy Hollow. The reason why I think I don't like him a whole lot anymore is because of the characters he plays. He always plays the weird ones, which was fun for awhile but now it's just becoming normal. Johnny Depp in another weird character, whoop'difuckingdoo.

The Tusk cast is pretty nice, the crazy Walrus man is being played by Michael Parks (Kill Bill, Red State, Django Unchained), not a bad actor at all and he has a magnificent voice. The problem with his voice however is that Kevin Smith seems to enjoy it as well, meaning that the dialogues spoken by Michael Parks are pretty much never-ending, which was also the case with Red State. Other roles are played by Justin Long (Accepted, Jeepers Creepers) who plays the ultimate douchebag, I don't hate him as an actor though. A surprising face to see was Haley Joel Osment, the cute little kid from Sixth Sense. However, he's not very cute anymore, still a good actor though.

Kevin Smith was always a writer that added a lot of dialogue into his movies, but the last few movies have contained more of a background story as well. I think he's trying to reach Quentin Tarantino's level with this kind of movie-making. The problem is that Kevin Smith just does not seem to be very good in creating the background story. Tusk almost seems like a parody to the Human Centipede, which isn't necessarily a bad concept, but it just didn't work out at all. When the transformation is complete is looks somewhat unsettling, but is in no way as disturbing as the Human Centipede.

I already mentioned this but Tusk will be followed by two sequels, which will be part of the 'True North' collection. The next installment is 'Yoga Hosers' with the main characters being played by Depp's and Smith's daughters. These two were also briefly in Tusk, and as far I could tell they weren't good actresses at all. They seemed very awkward and I just can't imagine the two being main characters. The third installment is 'Moose Jaws', which doesn't sound very promising either.

I heard rumors that this trilogy is only being made because Kevin Smith needed some money to be able to make Clerks 3, and I truly hope that this is the case. I am a big fan of Clerks and a third movie would be awesome. Even though I'm looking forward to Clerks 3, Tusk was definitely not a success for Kevin Smith and I doubt the next two part will be better. The movie has a good cast which solid acting skills, the dialogue is perhaps a bit long but not bad or anything. Unfortunately the whole concept of Tusk is horrible, the walrus is weird looking, the movie isn't funny and the characters are highly irritating. 

Review: Sharknado (2013)

Sharknado

IMDB rate: 3,3

Genre: Monster

For some unknown reason I decided to watch this movie. I knew it would be bad, I mean, what else can you expect with a name like Sharknado? Even though I already expected the worst of it, I was still astonished by how much worse it was. I must admit though that these shark movies are often that bad that it's funny, and well, that was also the case with Sharknado. 

When a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, nature's deadliest killer rules sea, land and airas thousands of sharks terrorize the waterlogged populace.

I wouldn't say that this movie is 'so bad that it's good', because it's nowhere near a good movie, but I am willing to say that it was hilariously bad. I really had fun watching it, just because I could make fun of everything that happened. It really is the most illogical movie I've ever seen.

Sharknado truly holds the record for the most WTF moments in a movie. Sharks swimming in places where they could never be able to swim in, flooded swimming pools that manage to flood the house as well (the water was at least 1 meter high) and when they walk out of the door there's perhaps 2 millimeters of water. Or the biggest fail, sharks in a frickin' tornado. This movie really is something.

The special effects are terrible, the editing is terrible and the sound is bad as well. The dialogues are incredibly dumb and blank, but these dialogues do fit the emptiness of each character in this movie. The actors include a few of the 'finest' actors of Hollywood, for example Tara Reid, Ian Ziering and Jaason Simmons. I especially dislike Tara Reid, she might be the worst actrice of this century and I really don't get why anyone would still hire her. Not that it matters though, since she always plays in horrible movies anyway. In short, Sharknado really is a collection of terribleness.

Now of course this is a terrible movie, I really did not expect anything else with a title like Sharknado. But well, with a title like that you know that you can expect a terrible movie, and because of that you might appreciate the movie a little bit more. Or well, appreciate isn't really a good word, I think it's better to say that you can enjoy how bad it is. It's obvious that you can't take this movie serious, so do yourself a favor and just watch it without starting to think about all the impossible happenings in this movie.

My personal rate: 2/10

Review: Primal (2010)

Primal

IMDb rate: 4,9

Genre: Survival, Monster

This movie only has a 4,9 on IMDB but I actually quite liked it. I've watched it for the second time this week and it's really a decent movie. It's definitely better than I expected it to be. Most of the time these movies are about a few teenagers going camping while a murderer chases them, and tons of stupid actions are performed after that. First of all, Primal isn't necessarily about a murderer, it's about some sort of very old evil force that does something to the people.

It does have the typical characters in it though, a funny guy, slutty girl, studious type, alpha male and a girl who doesn't seem very interesting at first, or actually, there are two of those in this movie. It's actually exactly like Cabin in the Woods described. It isn't bothering though in this movie. The slutty girl seems true to her studious boyfriend (besides some flirting), the studious type isn't being to smart, the alpha male isn't very commanding and the funny guy is good at relieving some pressure of the movie when it's needed. There were a few annoying moments though, for example when the alpha male thought that his painting was far more important than a friend whose losing all her teeth. Or the studious type who was probably the biggest pussy ever.

A very noticeable thing about this movie is the camera work. It has a lot of speeding-up effects and cleverly leaving some parts away, but not in a way that you can't see what's happening. It's a good way to cover up difficult stunts and obviously keeps the budget low because stuntman aren't really necessary this way. The style in which it's filmed is comparable with Lesbian Vampire Killers I think.
I watched the extra's by the way, and they show how they created the wounds and how they trained the actors for the stunts. It was really interesting to watch.

Most of the movie is set while it's dark, but there's never a moment where you can't see what's happening. The lightning in this movie is very good, you don't miss out on anything this way. In most horror movies there is happening a lot of stuff, but it's too dark to see what's happening. So kudos to the lightning!

Primal was a low budget film, but not until the ending was it noticeable. The mutated bunny looked slightly fake, but it also gave a creepy effect to it. The blood parts looked very real in my opinion. The only thing that made this movie a bit terrible was the ending. One of the girl escapes the creature by going to a tunnel, here she finds one of her other girlfriends back who is all weird and is suddenly pregnant by some creature. Another creature also shows up and this one looks disappointingly fake. It's also a really strange monster and he seems a bit random to the story. But this is probably a continuation of the prelude.


Sometimes it felt like I was watching two different movies. One starting with the prelude, about the cave. It's the background story what everything was about but somehow it seemed unimportant. Then there's the middle story of a girl who is mutated by the water, she is becoming a treat. I felt like this was much more the main story of this film. The water is probably infected by what's in the cave, but still, surviving those weird creatures seemed much more important in most of the movie.

I thought Primal was a surprising movie. I liked it even thought I expected it to be shit. The acting is fairly good, the characters are a bit standard but it's not too annoying. The lightning is very good in this movie, as well is the camera work. The ending was highly disappointing though, that's quite a shame. Overall, I really recommend giving this low budget movie a go, it was definitely not bad!

My personal rate: 7/10

Review: Godzilla (2014)

Godzilla

IMDB rate: 7,2

Genre: Monster

Yes, you read that right. I'm actually reviewing a 2014 movie, and this time I'm pretty sure I'm not the last one who has seen it! I'm sure as hell not the first either, but hey, you can't have it all!

I've watched this movie in the cinema, which is a complete different experience of course than watching it at home. It's a 3D movie, and as usual I borrowed some 2D glasses (they turn 3D movies back to 2D, I can't see 3D unfortunately) but someone messed it up and eventually I just had 3D glasses which gave me an immense headache while watching it. This kinda sucked and I guess it did make the cinema experience a bit worse for me. Seriously, I hate this 3D rage. 

Now Godzilla might seem like a promising title, you'll expect a lot of monsters and of course a lot of Godzilla. I hate to break it to you, but there's not a whole lot of Godzilla in this movie. The first half of the movie is about some bad parasite and he looks very badass, and at first I figured that this was some twisted version of Godzilla. That the makers of the movie didn't use the Godzilla dinosaur type anymore but created an robot-like monster. It was literally in the second half of the movie that we finally got to see some of Godzilla. Luckily, it still was the dinosaur type.

A very unexpected thing to see was Godzilla's role. Now, I had never seen a Godzilla movie before this one. I knew the stories and I always heard that he was a bad monster who attacked an Japanese city. So with that in mind, I was slightly confused at first by his storyline. Now, if you don't want to know any spoilers, don't read the next part!

Godzilla is in fact the good guy in this movie. He attacks two (awesome looking!) creatures who wanted to make babies to destroy the rest of the earth. I also was a bit confused by these creatures' origin, they are old fossils and stuff, I know that, but there background story could have been explained a bit better. Same goes for Godzilla, he's the helping force of nature which is very cool, but where does he come from? I would've liked to know more about it.

This movie has quite some impressive actors in it, such as Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Juliette Binoche (Chocolat), Ken Watanabe (Inception, Batman Begins) and Aaron Taylor Johnson (Kick-Ass). I especially was curious about Bryan Cranston since he's an amazing actor in Breaking Bad. Juliette Binoche isn't bad either, it was very nice to see her name show up in this movie. What disappointed me greatly about this was the fact that both these amazing actors, spoilers, they died quite  early in the movie. Juliette Binoche's role was almost embarrassing small, I think she had 4 lines tops. Bryan Cranston's role was a bit bigger but still way too small for such an amazing actor. 

I felt like they wanted to show off with those big names in the movie, just to attract more people to watch the movie. 

I was convinced at first that Bryan Cranston would be the main character (I hadn't seen the trailer) in this movie, but surprisingly enough it was Aaron Taylor Johnson. There's nothing wrong with that though, it only was a surprising twist of events. I thought that a young actor such as Aaron Taylor Johnson did an amazing job in Godzilla. He carries almost the entire second half of the movie and his role was very surprising. I really liked him in it. 

In real life he's only 24 years old and he still looks young as well, so I wasn't too sure about him playing a father, perhaps the only thing that could've been better. Fun fact: Even though Aaron Taylor Johnson is 24 years old, he is married to the 47 year old Sam Taylor Johnson, and he has two children together with her.

Elizabeth Olsen played a smaller role and I must say that everything I've seen from her this far is pretty amazing. She is in fact a sister of best known twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and at first I thought she would be a lot like her sisters in acting terms. Her sisters aren't really good at acting and I thought it would be the same for her, but actually, she's really good! It's quite a shame her role wasn't any bigger in this movie.

- Another amazing movie of Elizabeth Olsen is Red Lights, you should check it out!

While Ken Watanabe is an amazing actor, I thought his role in Godzilla was a bit degrading compared with his former work. His role wasn't extremely big and every time his character had to speak he was being all weird and vague. His answers were never really clear and he never looked at someone while speaking. He was just staring into the nothing or just staring right next to someone. It wasn't his best role, that's for sure. 

There were a few things in this movie that I didn't enjoy very much. For example, there are 3 helicopters flying over an area, while a group of soldiers is searching inside if everything is still secure. Apparently things weren't secure because something broke half of the building and got out. They only saw this when opening the door, while 3 helicopters are literally flying over the broken side of the building. Are they blind? Or another example, pretty much the same, 3 helicopters are flying over the woods while a group of soldiers are following a sign of a submarine. They are very surprised when they run into this, again while the helicopters are flying over this area. I think that a huge submarine wouldn't go unnoticed in the woods. The helicopters also didn't notice the creature who stands right beside this submarine and according to their words 'is bigger than the trees around it'. The helicopter people are definitely blind as fuck.

I love these 'nature' disaster movies. I really think they're amazing and I love the special effects in most of those movies. I loved The Day After Tomorrow (besides the stupid wolf scene) and I even enjoyed the movie 2012. How more things go wrong, the better I like it. Godzilla is also one of those disaster movies. Only this is because of monsters instead of nature. It's still filled with moments where everything goes wrong, and where everyone dies besides of course the main character. 

It's very cliche after awhile, because the main character keeps escaping, but overall, the things that he needs to escape off always look so amazing. Really amazing special effects and CGI in this movie. Godzilla looked incredibly real and so did the two other parasites. Their battle was amazing and definitely worth a watch. Sucks that their city is broken though. 

I really liked Godzilla, even though I did expect a few other things from it. There's not a whole lot of Godzilla in it, which is quite a shame, but the times he does appear are incredibly real looking. The story could've been better and I did expect it to be a bit different, but it was still OK. It's an enjoyable movie and even when you're not into these types of movies, it's definitely worth a watch just for the special effects. 

My personal rate: 7/10

Review: Silent Retreat (2013)

Silent Retreat

IMDB rate: 6,1

Genre: Monster

I got send the screener of Silent Retreat and I was already impressed with the trailer. Trailers don't say much though, half of the horror movies have the best trailer ever while the movie sucks balls. I was a bit scared of this happening when watching the trailer of Silent Retreat. Luckily, that wasn't the case. It really was a good movie, and I was very impressed by it. 

Storyline taken from IMDB:

Janey is sent to a silent retreat in the middle of the woods for rehabilitation, only to discover that the men who run it are brainwashing women to be quiet and submissive, and is she breaks the rules, she'll find out what lurks beyond the trees..

The movie starts off very tensive and in my opinion it was an excellent scene. The acting was good, the  images were beautifully shot and the music was chosen excellently. A great start for the movie I would say. I really was drawn into the movie because of this beginning for some reason.

There is hardly any dialogue so it's very difficult to keep the viewers interested by just using emotions, signs and music. There was dialogue when it was needed, when there wasn't dialogue there were emotions shown by frowning or smiling to know what was going on. It was done perfectly right in my opinion, it kept me interested. This way of acting does require certain skills and I think that most actors performed quite well, without saying anything. I wasn't very much impressed with the main actress though (Chelsea Jenish), I thought she tried a bit too hard or something.

Speaking of the dialogue, brilliant contrast between the music and a specific bloody scene.

The location is very well chosen, it seems far from the outside world and the fact that their 'rooms' are actually just cabins make this even more look like so. For the storyline though I don't think that this would be a very helpful teaching method. They can walk out of the cabin whenever they want, they just have to time it right. Also, if they walked through the woods (assuming they avoided walking into the creature) instead of near the road there's no way that these guys will find them every again. 

The creature is only shown clearly at the end of the movie, which is what almost every movie does. In some cases it works, in some it doesn't. I think that Silent Retreat waited just long enough with showing the monster. Each 'attack scene' there was shown a little bit more of this creature and what it was attracted to. It did keep me interested to know whatever was hiding in the woods. 

To describe the creature I would say that it looked like a mix between the Jeepers Creepers guy and a creature from The Descent, but a bit more fashionable with it's fur thing. 

Now, I loved the whole idea of not being able to speak. It's a great concept and it leads to interesting outcomes. With a creature terrorizing this bunch it does make it a bit more interesting. Another nice touch is that the creature is attracted by noise, it obviously fits the concept. The only thing that I disliked about this movie was the ending, it was a bit weird and didn't make much sense to me. It was a bit opposite from what the rest of the movie claimed. Also, a bit of a background story for the main characters would have been nice. Since they couldn't do it by telling, perhaps a flashback? That would've been nice.

I really liked Silent Retreat, it's a good concept with some nice touches to it. The acting is good, there are some beautifully images and the music is well chosen. I was interested through the entire movie, because it was something different from what I watch usually. 

My personal rate: 7,5/10

Review: Troll Hunter (2010)

Troll Hunter (Trolljegeren)

IMDB rate: 7,0

Genre: Comedic, Found-Footage

I remember the first time I saw the trailer of this movie, and I couldn't help but think: 'this must be a terrible movie'. But my boyfriend loved the trailer and since that moment he kept saying that he really wanted to watch this movie. So finally I gave in, with the lowest expectations ever. Damn, I don't like admitting this, but I was so wrong. 

When bears are found dead in Norway, the students of the Volda University Thomas, Johanna and the cameraman Kalle decide to investigate. They stalk the trailer of the mysterious hunter Hans expecting to find an explanation for the killings the reluctant Hans tries to flee from the youngsters, but he agrees that they film him in action provided they follow his orders. Sooner the trio of students learns that Hans is actually a troll hunter that works for a secret government agency. Further, several dangerous trolls have escaped from their territory and Hans is assigned to eliminate them.

Troll Hunter is really just about what the name already tells you, it's about a Troll Hunter. It's actually quite an improvement with other horror movies since this one is about trolls, other than the kinda standard werewolves, vampires or zombies. The trolls aren't some scary trolls sort made up to make the movie more scary, no it's kinda literally a fantasy-tale kinda troll.

The first troll we face has three heads, how more literal can you take a children's book? What I loved about this was that we got a clear look on the troll immediately. Even though it's a hand-camera movie, it looks great. When the troll wasn't seen very clearly, we get a night vision shot to show it even better. It looked really good. Most hand-camera movies seem to avoid 'the creatures' to make it more mysterious (or for themselves, cheaper), this movie really did it's best to show each troll as clearly as possible.
The trolls themselves, they really looked like they came out of a fantasy movie, so not very scary, but more dumb like. I thought it was a nice touch to the movie.

What I liked most about this movie was the fact that it wasn't 'over-the-top'. It was not like Dead Snow which was too obvious at trying to be comedic as well. It was actually exactly how it should be. It was fun, but also true to reality in many cases (besides the trolls obviously). It contained normal human reactions, and especially the rabies illness was an awesome addition. The only less fun thing was when the christian guy claimed he wasn't christian, while knowing this could lead to consequences. Another fun thing by the way, the trolls hate christians and can smell them.

The ending was a bit confusing, when the guy ran away with the cameras. Beware by the way, spoilers ahead! Here's my theory: I think that Thomas knew that Finn and stuff wanted to do something with them or their footage, so he ran off, got on the truck and got away with the footage. He died of rabies though before he was able to make a public meeting. The others of the camera crew died because of Finn. Perhaps the Trollhunter died as well, or perhaps he was the one bringing the footage to the public. I couldn't really figure it out.

An amazing thing in this movie was the last troll. It was huge and it looked incredibly awesome. It also looked very real in my opinion, always a big plus.

Troll Hunter was an amazing movie in my opinion. I expected the worst from it, but I got a movie that I recommend to a whole lot of people now. It really was worth the watch, and for those who haven't watched it yet; it's a real good movie.

My personal rate: 8/10

Review: Teeth (2007)

Teeth

IMDB rate: 5,6

Genre: Comedic, Monster

Wow, some weird movie. I think this might make some guys frightened for girls huh?
I quite enjoyed watching this movie. It's funny, ridiculous and somehow frightening. That's the kind of movie that I like.
I don't really get why the rating is that low because it's really not a movie that you need to take seriously. Lighten up, Teeth is quite an enjoyable movie.

Dawn grows up in the shadow of a nuclear power plant. In high school, while her biology class studies evolution, she realizes she may have a hidden curse, an "adaption." She lives with her mom, step-father, and hard-edged step-brother. She likes Tobey, a guy at school, and he likes her. She takes a pledge to remain chaste until marriage, so they date in groups, watch G-rated films, and don't kiss, but the power of teen hormones is great, so temptation beckons. Dawn has an admirer in Ryan, and when things have an unexpected twist with Tobey, she turns to Ryan for help. Will he be her mythical hero and rescue her? or can she find her way as her own hero, turning the curse into an asset?

I think Teeth is a very funny movie. It's not a movie that's so-bad-it's-good, it's really good. The movie also actually tells a story. It's a movie that's basically about a killer-vagina, how can that ever be good, you ask? Well, that might be quite hard to reach. But, this movie actually does it. It's very subtle humor, but also with a good twist of horror.
The characters are quite believable. Some girl that saves her body for marriage fails miserably because of her teen hormones. Not very strange. Also, guys who have too much hormones, not very strange either. These characters actually have dimension in them, even though it's quite hard to believe.

I think this movie might be quite hard to watch for some guys. I know that some guys even react themselves when they see that someone else gets kicked into his nuts. So imagine what happens when it's all being bitten off in the heat of the moment...
It's pretty disturbing, even though you don't see much of it.

Teeth is quite an original movie. It's a teen-flick with some nastiness in it. When you know the deal about this movie the surprise is a bit gone. From then on it's mainly about a teen girl trying to overcome her problems and casually bites a penis off once in a while.

Now for the guys, here's a fun link for you!

I remember the first time I saw this movie, and I just had one big WTF-moment. I found it a very funny but very weird movie. And to be honest, it still hasn't changed. I do enjoy watching this movie though. It's very original, with decent acting and a good storyline. I definitely recommend watching this movie.

My personal rate: 7,5/10

Review: Masters of Horror: Jenifer (2005)

Jenifer

Masters of Horror

IMDB rate: 6,4

Genre: Monster

Time for another Masters of Horror movie! This time it's the movie Jenifer (isn't it bothering that it isn't called Jennifer instead of Jenifer?). Jenifer is officially the fourth episode of season 1 of Masters of Horror, but again, my DVD's are in a different order than the episodes are. So I guess this is the fifth movie for me! 

While parked in a remote spot lunching Chinese food with his partner, Detective Frank Spivey saves a disfigured woman called Jenifer from being sliced with a meat cleaver by a deranged homeless man. He flees sorry for the retarded Jenifer, and takes her from an insane asylum and brings her home. Frank becomes obsessed for Jenifer, feeling lust and attraction for her lascivious body. When he realizes that she is a human beast, he moves with her to an isolated old cabin in the woods, with tragic consequences.

Well now my thoughts about this movie... it was a very weird movie, and I'm not really sure what to think of it. The acting is not very good. The main actor is not too bad, the girl Jenifer neither, but the other actors are horrible. Your cat just got eaten by a weird girl, your reaction should be a bit different.

The worst thing about this movie are the reactions of the people, it's just not very natural. That a girl is disfigured it's possible, but those eyes are definitely not human. But everyone in this movie seems to fail realizing this.

The thing I liked about this movie was the music, it was very scary. It was perfect for the scene, the girl was seducing a guy without showing her face, and there was a very creepy "lalala lalala" going on, definitely perfect for the scene because you knew what would happen.

The make-up of the girl was done amazingly, I had to search for the actress (Carrie Fleming) to find out what she really looked like, because her make-up didn't give anything away! Her voice is a bit weird, she sounded a bit like a Pokemon, unless she had sex, then she was the hulk.

I'm not quite sure what the story's purpose is, the girl is scary and is not very human. She does like sex though, that's for sure. Other than that, I think that the moral of the story is that guys think with their dick.

Jenifer is not a very special movie. It's kinda boring and there are only two or three good moments in it. It's has some good gore in it, and a few shocking scenes but overall the story is kinda dumb. 

My personal rate: 5/10

Review: Jeepers Creepers (2001)

Jeepers Creepers

IMDB rate: 5,9

Genre: Monster

I've seen Jeepers Creepers 2 a million times already and I thought that I've seen the first one at least once, but apparently, I never saw it before. I have this DVD so long already and I never bothered to watch it because I was convinced I saw it already. Today I really felt like watching Jeepers Creepers one and two and I came to the conclusion that it was a brand new movie for me. It was fun to watch though, the movie is definitely different from the sequel. But it was definitely a fun movie.

On their way back home during the spring break, Darry and Patricia Jenner witness a mysterious person dumping something down a tunnel. Deciding to discover what was dumped down there, Darry discovers a huge disturbing hideout full of modified bodies. Darry and Patricia set off to get help, unaware that the individual is now aware of who has been down the tunnel. Darry and Patricia soon realizes that their pursuer is not just a mysterious person, but something even more horrifying, who has more in store than they could possibly imagine.

I like knowing a bit more about Jeepers Creepers, when you see the sequel you know small parts but what I did not know was that he only picked certain people. I'm very excited to watch the sequel another time this week because in my memory he was just killing everybody he saw, instead of specific people. Well, we'll see when I watch it later this week. There are also rumors about a third part of Jeepers Creepers. This might be interesting, but can also be too much. The first and second part don't really have high ratings, and while the rating does not say everything, it does say a little bit. I don't find Jeepers Creepers a very good movie but I do find it an enjoyable movie. No matter how many times I watched it, I like it.

The acting is a bit mixed. I always love Justin Long in movies, even though I like him more in comedies. I know he plays in many horror movies but he just has such a funny face. He is the perfect loser for a comedy. Maybe also a perfect loser for a horror, haha. Anyway, my point is I like Justin Long. However, the girl who played his sister, Gina Phillips, was terrible. Her acting is not very good and she has a very annoying part in the movie. Her yelling in the pipe was so terribly annoying. Or her yelling when the 'psychic' was talking. It's kinda rude to interrupt people who are talking you know?

A dumb moment was when Jeepers Creepers took the boy away, every police man is pointing a gun on him, and then the stupid sister jumps in front of them. Do you really want a bullet in your head? Not that you need to worry about that because the police man are too stupid to shoot the guy. A bit dumb.

I always like watching Jeepers Creepers. It's a fun movie to watch, not very scary but the creature is creepy. I can't wait to see the sequel this week. I do recommend watching Jeepers Creepers.

My personal rate: 6,5/10

Review: Gremlins (1984)

Gremlins

IMDB rate: 7,2

Genre: Comedic, Monster

It has already been 29 years ago since the Gremlins was made, but it does not really feel that way. The movements of the gremlins are not too smooth but it is not really bothering. Watching this movie did not feel like I was watching an old movie. Even though I've seen this movie a hundred times already, it still does not bore me. I thinks it's a very funny movie with the creepy twist of the gremlins.

Miniature green monsters tear through the small town of Kingston Falls. Hijinks ensue as a mild-mannered bank teller releases these hideous loonies after gaining a new pet and violating two of three simple rules: No water, no food after midnight, and no bright light. Hilarious mayhem and destruction in a town straight out of Norman Rockwell. So, when your washing machine blows up or your TV goes on the fritz, before you call the repair man, turn on all the light and look under all the beds. 'Cause you never can tell, there just might be a gremlin in your house.

I really enjoyed watching the Gremlins again. It's a brilliant movie and very funny. I mostly like seeing Gizmo because he's the most adorable creature ever. When he played with the trumpet, I was melting. He's so cute! 

His 'brothers' though, not so cute. They do have humor though, especially the moment when they're singing in front of the old lady's door. 

The movements of the gremlins and Gizmo don't look very good, but it's not very bothering. 

There were some moments that were not entirely right. For instance, the entire movie sets in snow. But, gremlins multiply when water touches them. Snow = water... Hmm, not entirely right. Also, in the final scene Stripe is climbing the fountain while there is falling water all over him, he tries to reach the top so  he can drink water. The water already touches him all the time...

The acting is very good, Zach Galligan reminds me a bit of James Franco. It's also very nice to see a young Corey Feldman in this movie. I never noticed this before, but he's kinda cute.

Gremlins is more a comedic movie than a horror, but it's certainly worth watching. I never get bored watching this movie. It's really funny and an amazing classic!

My personal rate: 8,5/10

Review: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

IMDB rate: 5,6

Genre: Monster

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark was one of those many movies that I bought without knowing what it's about. Guillermo del Toro is the writer and producer of this movie so I kind of expected a lot from this one. Unfortunately, it was absolutely not what I expected.

A young girl is sent to live with her estranged father and his girlfriend at their new home. The father, Alex has plans to spruce up the home with the help of his interior decorator girlfriend, Kim. The previous owner of the home was a famous painter who mysteriously disappeared. Alex's daughter, Sally, soon discovers the cause of the painter's disappearance.

First of all the acting, Bailee Madison plays the main character Sally, and she's such a horrible actress. She looks 6 but talks like a grown-up. She seems like a huge spoiled brat to me. Katie Holmes is definitely not someone who I enjoy as an actress but she was reasonable. Guy Pearce is an amazing actor but unfortunately his part is not very big.

The creatures look terrible and way too CGI-like. They act a bit like gremlins, but they are tiny, or maybe Gollum or something, any weird creature will do. Their voices are so lame.

It's mostly a weird movie. The girl is bothered by creatures and her parents know that, and they are just packing so slowly, like there's no rush or something. It's not like there are some weird creatures in your house trying to kidnap your daughter or something.
Why not go away immediately and get your stuff the day after, IN DAYLIGHT? I'm so bothered by these things in horror movies.
The moment that Kim get's kidnapped, why the hell do they just accept that and go away immediately. Why not call the cops, or try to do something so you can save her? Nope, 'oh she just got kidnapped into that tiny hole, well, bad luck! Let's get outta here!'
And how the f* did they get away with that? The police just accepts that she is kidnapped by these creatures and also does nothing? No suspicion or anything? Rrrrright.

I absolutely did not enjoy this movie. I like fantasy movies, but this was just plain stupid. Bad acting for the main actress, good acting from the side-actors. Weird concept and very unbelievable reactions.

My personal rate: 4,5/10

Review: The Descent 2 (2009)

The Descent 2

IMDB rate: 5,8

Genre: Monster, Survival

Finally a new review again! I say this like it's ages ago since I wrote my last one but to be honest it's not even less than a week ago. For me it feels like a long time ago, and well, I did not watched any horror movies for the last two weeks I guess? I always have a few reviews spare so I can post things when I can't watch a movie. Anyway, I'm glad that I can continue watching movies again this week, I really missed it. Today I watched The Descent 2. I don't really liked the first part but it was definitely not a bad movie. The sequel is a lot less good, it's quite unbelievable and does not really contain an interesting story.

Distraught, confused, and half-wild with fear, Sarah Carter emerges alone from the Appalachian cave system where she encountered unspeakable terrors. Unable to plausibly explain to the authorities what happened - or why she's covered in her friends' blood - Sarah is forced back to the subterranean depths to help locate her five missing companions. As the rescue party drive deeper into uncharted caverns, nightmarish visions of the recent past begin to haunt Sarah and she starts to realize the full horror and futility of the mission. Subjected to the suspicion and mistrusts of the group and confronted once more by the inbred, feral and savagely ruthless Crawlers, Sarah must draw on all her inner reserves of strength and courage in a desperate final struggle for deliverance and redemption.

The movie is very unbelievable. It's plays two days after the previous movie and Sarah is found. They bring her to the hospital where she is in a huge shock and remembers nothing. Because the rest is trying to save the other girls Sarah is forced to go into the cave again with the rescuers. Here is where the unbelievable part starts, because a woman that's in shock because of a huge climbing accident is not able to go hiking once again, after two days. Not only is it unreal to take her back to the place of the accident that fast, it's also unreal because she's in a huge shock. Also, there are only 3 real hikers and two cops with her. No medical assistants for the case if they find someone alive, no weapons for defense (besides a gun, very smart in a cave). Also, they did not even interrogate Sarah, they immediately took her to the cave, while they did not know what happened in the cave. The girl could have killed everyone, and it might even be the case that they took a psychopath with them. 

A scene that I liked was when the mouse crawled out of Rebecca's mouth, it made her look alive. It's also cool that they used the same actress again. The special effects don't look as good as in the first movie, the creatures looked a bit different but that might be because of the lightning. But the creatures are still scary as fuck! There are definitely a lot more jump scares.

The plot is a bit useless, only a rescue action that goes wrong. You know exactly what will happen so it's very predictable. The sheriff is a very annoying character, who will handcuff someone in a cave? It's so unrealistic. Also a very light woman makes the rocks creak, who will ever come to the idea to walk over the rock with two people at the same time? The handcuffs are so useless and makes the movie very annoying.

The ending is a bit weak, it gives the option for another sequel which is definitely not necessary. 

Not an excellent movie. The first part is a lot better and this movie is very useless. The acting is not very special and there are some annoying characters in it. I don't recommend watching this movie, the first one is a lot better.

My personal rate: 4,5/10

Review: The Descent (2005)

The Descent

IMDB rate: 7,3

Genre: Monster, Survival

I've seen this movie a couple of times already and I never really enjoyed it. It's not a very bad movie but it's a bit slow sometimes. Also, because it's in a cave, it's very dark the entire movie which makes it very hard to see what is happening. I think that the 7,3 on IMDB is a bit too high, but that's just my opinion. I think it's should be a 6 or something.

After a tragic accident, six friends reunite for a caving expedition. Their adventure soon goes horribly wrong when a collapse traps them deep underground and they find themselves  pursued by bloodthirsty creatures. As their friendships deteriorate, they find themselves in a desperate struggle to survive the creatures and each other.

The acting in the movie is decent but there was one person that bothered me endless; Saskia Mulder. She's from The Netherlands and she has a horrible english accent, which is very bothering I think. I also come from The Netherlands and I know from experience that almost everybody here has a horrible accent (of course not everybody, for example, Famke Janssen, Rutger Hauer and Carice van Houten). Not a big deal, but when hearing it in a movie it's very annoying.

What I also found annoying was the fact that three of the six females in this movie look a lot like each other, they are all blond and tall which makes it very hard to separate them from each other in a dark movie like this one. The movie itself is also quite confusing because it's in the dark, this is not the worst thing because it's logical in a movie like this. But when the main characters resemble each other a lot, it gets really difficult to follow.

The girls are really badass and it's a nice touch that the movie only contains girls. This makes it differ a lot from the standard movies. But the bad thing with a girl movie, girls scream a lot, they argue a lot and they have really high voices. A bit unpleasant at times.

The creatures are what I really liked in this movie. They are really scary. Especially the first time you see them clearly, it scared me shitless.

I think many people will like this movie, but I personally did not enjoy it so much. I thought the acting was decent with exception of one person. The monsters are really scary but the movie itself is kinda confusing sometimes. Tomorrow I will watch The Descent part two so expect a review about that one coming up as well!

My personal rate: 6/10

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Season 1-3

IMDB Rate: 8,1

Genre: Tv Show, Vampire (and many more)

I thought I would do something else from my regular reviews. I was watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I thought it would be fun to review it, and name the best and worst episodes of season 1 till 3. The reason why I only do season 1 till 3 is because I only own these 3 seasons on dvd. One day I hope to get my hands on the other episodes so I can review the other seasons. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is created by the amazing Joss Whedon, he is also known for The Avengers, Cabin in the Woods and many other amazing movies and televison shows. I already watched all the seasons of Buffy when I was young, but since that was a long time ago I couldn't remember a lot of it. It looked really good back then but when you're watching it now it looks a bit cheap. I mean the make up of the monsters looks cheap, not the rest of the show. I don't think this is very strange because if you need amazing make up for every episode the tv show probably won't get far because it will be far too expensive. Sometimes the monsters look ridiculous, like the werewolves but I think it's something you shouldn't pay attention to. 

The scripts are most of the time really good. Of course there were some bad episodes but I'm sure every tv show haves a few bad episodes. It's also something that everybody might find different, because some people might like the idea of Monster-Fish and I don't find it very interesting so that's for example why I didn't like the episode with the Monster-Fish (Season 2, episode 20: Go Fish).

• The acting is also very good. Sarah-Michelle Gellar is a very good actress in my opinion and she portraits the vampire slayer very well. At least thousand times better than Kristy Swanson in the movie of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 
• I also really love the character Willow, played by Alyson Hannigan. She is very cute and smart but in those three seasons the became a lot more confident and it's really nice to see how her character grew through these three seasons. I also love her relationship with Oz, it made her character a lot more bright. I disliked her crush on Xander though, it went on and on and when he finally liked her, she was with Oz and so she cheated and that was just stupid.
• A character that I don't like is Xander (Nicholas Brendon), I don't know why but I find him so irritating. You might notice later that many of the episodes that I disliked where evolving around him. Sure, he brings some comedy in the show but that doesn't make him less irritating. 
• Rupert Giles is played by Antony Head and he plays the watcher of Buffy. He is also the librarian of the school of Sunny Dale and I'm convinced that he couldn't be cast better. He portraits his character so well and he really seems like a big nerd always boring people with useless information. I loved his character very much. 
• A character that seems a bit useless is the character of Cordelia Chase (played by Charisma Carpenter), she brings nothing new or useful in the show but she doesn't really bother me. So I guess it doesn't really mind. I also believe that the last episode of season 3 is also the last episode that she plays in, so after this episode I won't have to her again. 
• David Boreanaz plays Angel and I like his character a lot, but I find the whole Buffy-Angel breakup thing a bit irritating. They are a very good couple in my opinion but it's so annoying that they keep breaking up and get together. I mean, make your goddamn choice! I like his good-vampire side, but the episodes where he was a bad vampire where kinda stupid. I really disliked them. I don't believe we'll see him very often again after season 3, which is kinda sad because he is a good character for the show. I think I'll need to start watching the show Angel for following his story ;).
• Another character that I loved was Oz, he is played by Seth Green and liked I already mentioned in my Idle Hands review, I love Seth Green. His character is thousand times more funny than Xander, even though he isn't much of a talker. He also plays a werewolf but since the werewolves look terrible in this show, it was only funny instead of scary.

I believe these were most of the main characters, so that was kinda a long story, but that doesn't really mind I guess. 

I want to make some short notes of every episode in each season that I liked or disliked, some where terrible and some where amazing. Here is a short list of each:

Season 1:

Best

• The Puppet Show (episode 9): I liked this show because there where talking dolls in it. For those who didn't know: I'm terrified for talking/moving/killing dolls. The story was not even that good but because of this episode I became a lot more interested because the stories finally contained something scary.
• Nightmares (episode 10): I did not really get where the dream-boy came from but I did like the story that followed. Everybody's worst dreams came true so that were some amazing fragments to see. Xander's killing clown, Buffy as a vampire or spiders crawling out every corner of the room.
• Prophecy Girl (episode 12): When it's discovered that Buffy will die in the coming battle she is planning to run, what I liked about this episode is that she didn't run eventually and went in battle even though she knew she was going to die. It reminded me of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where Harry greeted death like an old friend. So did Buffy, in my eyes.

Worst

• Witch (episode 3): I hate this episode because the acting of this girl Amy (the witch) and her mom are terrible. The story is kinda stupid so the whole episode was just a drag.
• The Pack (episode 6): This is one of the 'Xander' episodes I mentioned in the acting performance section, it's an episode evolving around Xander and I really dislike it. He is just a terrible actor and a complete episode dedicated to him is just terrible. And the acting of the other teenagers playing hyena's is terrible too.

Season 2

Best

• Halloween (episode 6): I like this episode because you see a whole different side of everybody. Buffy is weak and innocent, Xander is strong and serious, Willow on the other hand is herself, only in ghost form. I also liked this because I believe it's the first episode that Willow stood up for herself. You get to know her a bit better, which is kinda nice.
• Becoming pt. 2 (episode 22): I really liked this episode because Spike (James Marsters) teams up with Buffy. I liked him as a vampire, he has an amazing accent and while he is supposed to be a bad vampire, you can tell that he has good in him. While Angel had a spell casted on him to give him a soul, Spike actually seems to have a soul, but he tries to cover it up or something. Anyway, they teamed up quite well and I can't wait till he joins the cast as a regular.

Worst

• Innocence (episode 14): I disliked this episode because Angel turned into a bad vampire. It was not that the acting or the script was bad, it was just how the storyline started where Angel was soulless. The episodes that followed where not as fun anymore until the moment he was good again.
• Bewitched, bothered and bewildered (episode 16): Another episode evolving around Xander. He tries getting Cordelia to like him again and instead every girl except Cordelia likes him. It's just the same story as before. It's about Xander.
• Go Fish (episode 20): I mentioned this one before in my intro, it was just a dull episode. All the swimming team members turned into fish, well when that was all figured out they just let them swim in the ocean, without even trying to find a cure. This means that some parents will never get their children back, without any body or something.

Season 3

Best

• Amends (episode 10): The ending of the episode is beautiful, Angel was being haunted in his dreams and this tortures him so much that he wants to kill himself. He tries doing that by waiting till sunrise. Buffy stops him and also stops the torturing. The ending is beautiful because of the music that plays but also because of the camera work. This whole episode was just really good put together.
• Doppelgangland (episode 16): Willow accidentally summons an evil double (vampire) of herself. This is the same evil Willow as in 'The Wish' episode. Why I liked this episode is because again of the growing Willow. She learns from herself in fact, from her evil self. But even when the evil Willow does bad things, Willow still can't kill herself. She's just a great character herself and this episode just proves that fact again.
• The Prom (episode 20): I liked this episode because of the ending. The beginning was just the original Angel and Buffy breaking up again, so that was kinda boring. The ending was beautiful, you think the whole tv show that nobody notices what's happening in Sunny dale, because nobody speaks of it. But in the ending of this episode, Buffy get thanked by the whole school  in a speech for protecting everybody, even though nobody ever said anything about it, they are all really thankful. The speech is absolutely beautiful and it's one of the best moments in all three seasons I've seen.
• Graduation Day pt. 2 (episode 22): So in this episode, the mayor is going to attack everybody on graduation day. What I liked in this episode was the amazing teamwork that the whole school provides. When Buffy screams 'Now!' the entire school takes of their graduation clothing and they were all covered in crosses and had stakes and everything. It was amazing to see how the whole school fought against the mayor and the vampires. 

Worst

• Dead Man's Party (episode 2): Buffy returned to Sunny dale and everybody was worried and such. Well, because they were worried they acted a bit weird against Buffy. Buffy doesn't like this and wants to run again, and such. It was an annoying episode because she was such a whining little bitch. Not everything will always go the way you want it, and well, she apparently couldn't accept that.
• The Zeppo (episode 13): And, the Xander episode again! Don't have much explaining to do I guess? Everybody else finally thinks he is annoying too in this episode. Unfortunately, it's only for one episode.

So, all together Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a fairly good show. It contains all kind of horror elements such as: monsters, vampires, zombies, killer clowns, killer kids and even ghosts. So with a show like this the story can go a lot of ways which is kinda cool. This way the story will always be different, and the monsters will be different too. Even though the main story evolves around vampires, there is many variety in other stories. Like I already mentioned, the make up is done very poorly, but that's not really bothering at all. Yes you notice it, but you won't get bothered by it in my opinion. 

A thing that is a bit strange is that the town of Sunny Dale is full with people, and many many people were killed in all those years. Many people went missing or came in the hospital. Yet nobody, seems to be bothered by it. No parents searching for their missing kids, no people that want to move desperately because of this crazy town. Nothing. Well, in the episode 'The Prom' in season 3 the people mention that the did notice all the killing and didn't say anything about it, but that was just a briefly mentioning. I think that rational people will move the hell out of that town. 

I think this is a good show, I liked it when I was young and I still like it, even though it all seems a bit old now. It's comparable with the show 'Charmed', which is also a real good television show. For anybody that don't mind a bit of bad make-up, like a good horror show with a different twist every time you might like this show. I hope I can get my hands on Season 4 till 7 so I can review those, but in the mean time, have fun watching!

My personal rate: 8/10

Link to season 4-7!

Review: The Village (2004)

The Village 

Imdb rate: 6,5
Genre: Monster

So, last week I finally watched the Village again. I bought it a long time ago and needed to find someone that wanted to watch it with me haha. 

Since it was quite some time ago, since I last saw it, I couldn't remember much of it. 

I have to start with saying that I think this movie is a bit underrated, there are many negative reviews about this movie, but I think it should have at least one good review: mine ;).

The Village is a horror/thriller about a amish town. They have a pact with the creatures from the forest not to bother each other. When a boy, Noah, gets in the forest without anybody knowing, there are starting to happen things. The creatures are coming to the town and leave warning for the people living there, not to come again. When something bad happens, Ivy, a blind girl, is forced to go in the forest, to reach the city and get some medicine. 

  

What I really liked about this movie is the actors that played in it. When the movie came out in 2004, not many of the actors where really familiar. (Of course, with some exceptions) And since I was a bit younger back then, I also didn't know many actor names, but there are many actors in it, that are especially known for their acting performances in the last few years. To name a few: Jesse Eisenberg, Michael Pitt and Fran Kranz. And that's not even including the top cast that where already known/familiar back then: Bryce Dallas Howard, Sigourney Weaver, Adrien Brody, Joaquin Phoenix, Judy Greer and William Hurt.

I think Bryce Dallas Howard did a good job with playing a blind girl, not one moment seemed fake or acted. You might start thinking she is really blind. I must admit that I'm not really familiar with Adrien Brody's acting, so I can't really compare, but I liked him playing 'Noah'. 

 

 I liked this movie so much because it stands out from other horror movies that where made the last couple of years. M. Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense, Signs) never fails to amaze me with his plot twists, and this movie was just as suprising as the others. 

I think there are many negative reviews because many people might think that the story will be as brilliant as in the Sixth Sense, it isn't. But, nevertheless it is surprising and original in my opinion. 

 

If you like puzzle horrors or thrillers, this movie is excellent for you. Because you keep curious about what will happen next. I'm dying to tell the plot but I've promised not to give any spoilers so, please go watch it yourself ;D. 

Maybe the slightest bad thing I have to say about this movie is that the story goes a bit too slow. Maybe there might have been a bit more action with the creatures, but that's just my opinion. 

The first time I saw it I thought the movie wasn't that good, but now a few years later I'm really impressed with all the details you'll notice when you eventually know the plot. 

My personal rate: 7/10