Review: The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

The Hills Have Eyes

IMDB rate: 6,4

Genre: Slasher, Survival

I think that my opinion about this movie won't be appreciated a whole lot, but I really like this movie. I haven't seen the original movie yet, I own it on DVD but I still didn't watch it. Honestly, a LONG time ago I bought The Hills Have Eyes on DVD and when watching it I realized that I bought the original one instead of the remake, and well.. the beginning looked kinda crappy so I didn't bother to watch it any further. I will watch it one day though. 

Anyway, I love the remake. I think it's an excellent movie, but again, I can't compare it (yet) with the original movie so I really have no idea how the original movie is. 

Wes Craven produces this remake of his 1977 classic of the same name, about the Carters, an idyllic American family traveling through the great American southwest. But their trip takes a detour into an area closed off from the public, but more importantly from society. An area originally used by the U.S. Government for nuclear testing that was intended to be empty... or so they thought? When the Carter's car breaks down at the old site, they're stranded... The Carters soon realize that what seemed like a car casually breaking down, might actually be a trap. This trap might be perpetrated by the inhabitants of the site who aren't pulling a prank, but are out to set up a gruesome massacre. 

Beginning with the intro of the movie, I think it's awesome. It reminds me a lot of the intro of American Horror Story, which is also awesome. According to IMDB the pictures of the mutated children and infants are real, but they were affected by Agent Orange.

The biggest thing that I dislike about this movie is the dead dog scene. It's incredibly sad, especially when the other German Shepard sees that his buddy is dead. His revenge is incredible though, really badass. 

The acting in this movie is incredible. I was especially impressed by Aaron Stanford, I knew him from X-Men as Pyro. He really was an annoying kid in that movie, but in The Hills Have Eyes he was much more mature. Also, I loved how he switched from a pussy to a bad ass, to save his kid.

Dan Byrd was amazing as well. Wasn't too crazy about Emilie de Ravin though, I thought she was a bit annoying at some moments. But most impressing were of course the mutated people, their make-up was incredibly real looking and they were actually pretty scary. 

Things that are a bit annoying in this movie is the amount of bullets that is being wasted. Shooting around without paying attention to what they are shooting. Especially when you know that you're in a dangerous situation, you just have to be more careful with your bullets. 

I know that remakes are often not appreciated, but I really like this movie. Again, I have no idea how the original is, but I just think this is a good horror movie. It's pretty tensive at times, amazing acting, good make-up effects and the locations are pretty cool. 

My personal rate: 8/10

Review: The Walking Dead [Season 4]

Some people might have already read my Walking Dead reviews. After each episode aired I wrote a review about it, for those who are interested in them, you can find the links below:

• Episode 1 
• Episode 2
• Episode 3
• Episode 4
• Episode 5
• Episode 6
• Episode 7
• Episode 8
• Episode 9
• Episode 10
• Episode 11
• Episode 12
• Episode 13
• Episode 14
• Episode 15
• Episode 16

The first half of the season had a big opening and a big ending, same as the second half of the season. But unfortunately the ones in the middle weren't much exciting. They were standard and not very innovative. Sure, there were some episode that were outstanding compared with the other middle ones, but still nothing much surprising. 

As I already said, I liked the first episode. It was brutal and it took care of the easy living in the prison. It showed that there are still indeed zombies out there and people should still be afraid of them. The ones after that weren't much surprising because it was only about more sick people and well, it became a bit boring after a few episodes. Then, the Governor showed up again, of course trying to take the prison for some dumb reason, and we got three entire Governor episode. Again, not very interesting. 

I'll have to say that the last one of the 3 Governor episode was actually good. I won't tell you why because there might be a possibility that you haven't seen the episode yet. It was an exciting episode, filled with action and filled with brutality. Just the way this entire show should be. But again, this was the last episode of the first half of season 4, so we only got 2 good episodes.

Then the second half of season 4 aired, the first episode being good, but not being mid-season premiere worthy. But still a better episode compared with the average first half of the season episode. After this episode we follow various groups finding each other (or not) and going towards this place called Terminus. It was cool to see different stories but it wasn't too interesting. The only episode that was really outstanding this season was the fourteenth episode (The Grove) with incredible and surprising things happening. Probably one of my most favorite episode of The Walking Dead.

Besides this fourteenth episode it wasn't much interesting, the last episode was again fun to watch, but not nearly as good as the fourteenth one.

The ending was kinda tensive, the group was sort of back together in Terminus, but when they arrived they are captured and thrown in some sort of jail. So finally a new setting, the groups back together and they are finally in big trouble again. I'm very curious about the next season, I think it has quite some potential with this story.

The only thing they definitely need to change are the number of episodes. When there were 6 episodes in season 1 it worked great, every episode was interesting and enjoyable. There weren't any boring ones. The second season contained 10 episodes and even that one was still enjoyable, again almost no boring episodes. Since they started with the 16 episodes there were too many boring and useless episodes. They just need to cut back on episodes again, and things will be a lot more interesting.

 It's sad that season 4 wasn't much good, I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as the previous seasons. I wouldn't say it was bad or anything, it was just less enjoyable compared with the others. So now fingers crossed that the next season will be awesome again!

My personal rate: 8/10

Luther Bhogal-Jones: Black Spot

A few months ago I received an e-mail of short movie maker Luther Bhogal-Jones, asking if I wanted to check out his new short thriller Black Spot in 3D. 

This short roadside thriller is about Paul who is stranded on a lonely country road when his car fails to start. He walks through a melancholic landscape of missing person posters and floral tributes to roadside deaths, before chancing upon another car, but one which ironically is also broken down. Not only will this car provide Paul with salvation and suffering, but force him to face his own recent past actions and a provide him with a potential chance to redeem himself...

Black Spot is shot on a small budget with a 3D camcorder, personally I can't see 3D because my eyes are annoying so I'd had to watch the 2D version of this movie. A bit of a shame since this movie was especially shot for the use of 3D. 

I did ask my boyfriend though if he wanted to check it out in 3D with some crappy 3D glasses that I got free with Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D. In his opinion the 3D wasn't very noticeable, besides 2 or 3 moments. Of course this can be the effect of our crappy 3D glasses but he really saw the 3D as two things next to each other, so not 3D at all. Again, this might be because of our 3D glasses. 

The short movie itself was simple, but good. Nothing is being said in the entire movie and this is a dangerous thing to work with, but I thought the movie spoke pretty much for itself. 

Seeing Paul stranded is immediately being shown by him looking inside the hood. The mysteriousness of these roads are being shown by all the 'missing' posters. 

My favorite shot was when the wounded guy stumbled towards Paul, when suddenly a guy with a knife shows up behind him.

The thing that I didn't get was the guy with the tongue. It made him look crazy, that's for sure but it looked a bit random to be honest. 

Something you also should check out is Luther Bhogal-Jones' short movie Creak, personally my favorite of his short movies. It was pretty tensive, which is a good thing!

For those who want to check out Black Spot, or another short movie made by Luther Bhogal-Jones can watch it here: www.vimeo.com/fasterproductions

Review: Game of Thrones [Season 3]

Game of Thrones

Season 3

IMDB rate: 9,4

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, TV Show

With season 4 being aired these upcoming weeks I thought it would be time to write my review of season 3 of Game of Thrones. At this point I haven't read the book of 3 yet, because I'm still at the second book. The third season is probably my favorite one this far.

The third season contains the legendary 'The Red Wedding' episode, and well that one was indeed a shocker. It was a tragic episode, but it was amazing as well. The acting was brilliant, the special effects were equally as good. But the most impressive thing of this episode was the look on Catelyn's face when 'The Rains of Castamere' started playing. The Rains of Castamere is also what this episode is called, even though it's often referred to as 'The Red Wedding'.

Other amazing episodes were again the first one (Valar Dohaeris), because it gave a proper introduction to Margaery.

The third episode (Walk of Punishment) is also impressive. It's shows the good will of Daenerys, she is gentle and nobody thinks she can conquer anyone, but time after time she shows that she is incredibly powerfull, without the spilling of lots of blood. Also, Jaime Lannister is always being shown as a spoiled cunt but it seems that he starts to become nicer towards people, Brienne in particular. This however didn't turn out quite well, in result that his sword hand is being chopped off.

Perhaps it's a bit standard but I loved the fourth episode (And Now His Watch Has Ended) as well, especially the ending was brilliant.

And of course, besides the ninth episode, The Rains of Castamere, the tenth episode (Mhysa) was great as well. An love affair ended, a queen rising and lots of other amazing stuff happened after the heartbreaking ninth episode.

Again, the third season was amazing and personally my favorite one. It contained beautiful episodes, but most of all GOT's speciality, brutal heartbreaking episode.

My personal rate: 9,5/10

Review: House M.D. [Season 1-8]

House M.D.

IMDB rate: 8,9

Genre: Drama

So, here’s a short review of House M.D. Absolutely not horror related, but when I didn’t have any internet in January I watched a lot of TV shows, with House being one of them. It wouldn’t be very useful if I couldn’t write about it, so excuse this small not horror related review.

A few years ago I started watching House M.D., and I believe that I watched until halfway season 7 back then. House is a great show but after watching it awhile it can become a bit boring and mainly very predictable. There’s always the same stuff going on, House and his boss Cuddy arguing, his team having a few personal problems and House and Wilson aren’t friends anymore for one or two episodes. Besides the cast stuff there’s also the problem with the episode itself being predictable. For example, we see two people doing something, one of them needs to cough which is supposed to make you think that that personal will become the one being sick, but then, plot twist! It’s the other one that starts bleeding from his ears, eyes or whatever. Now, this might be a small plot twist when you just started watching House M.D., but after awhile… it isn’t very surprising anymore. Especially season 7 was good with these stupid plot twists.

And then there is the case where the doctor and the patient are talking, but halfway in a sentence of explaining things, the patient suddenly gets a seizure or doesn’t feel his arms anymore. Again, it becomes very noticable after awhile, and when it is noticable, it will become bothering after some time.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the show. But House isn't a show that you can watch the entire day. For example, The Walking Dead I kept watching until I was at the last episode in two or three days, but with House it would become very boring. It's fun to watch a few episodes at a time, but not every season after each other.

What I love most about House is the cast, even though there were some changes over the years, the main cast always stayed. 

It really is a good bunch of actors, with the most important one being Hugh Laurie of course. What's funny is that he is in fact an Englishman but has a American accent for this TV show. Hearing him speak normally is rather strange if you can imagine. His character is what the show is about and I couldn't imagine someone being better at it. He really is an incredible actor.

Something that bothers me with a lot of TV series are the finales of it. A lot of times things happening in the finale are confusing, unsatisfying or weird. This isn't the case with House M.D. The ending was satisfying and actually pretty amazing. A lot of old cast members returned for a small part, so this was very cool. But what's most important is that House's ending was a real ending. His career stopped and all for an amazing cause. The ending was absolutely not what I expected, but damn it was incredibly good.

My favorite episode was probably 'Broken' (season 6, episode 1), just because it was something entirely different from the usual House episodes. I think it's often that the episodes that don't necessarily play inside the hospital are the best ones. Episodes seen from another perspective are interesting as well. The last episode (Everybody Dies, season 8, episode 22) was probably one of my favorites as well. It's a huge sacrifice that House made for his friend, something you definitely didn't expect from him.

My least favorite season is the eight one, even though it does contain one of my favorite episodes. I just hated Dr. Chi Park (played by Charlyne Yi), she was a terrible actress and her character was just boring. Same as Dr. Jessica Adams (played by Odette Annable), she was just another pretty face to replace Thirteen/Remy Hadley (played by Olivia Wilde). I mean I like Odette Annable as an actress, there was absolutely nothing wrong with her acting. It was just that her character wasn't of much use in the show besides being the pretty face.

I loved the TV show House M.D. But I must say that it isn't a show that anyone will enjoy. Many episodes are alike and very predictable. What I love about this show are the different episodes, because when there's a good episode, it really is an amazing episode. It's worth watching if you're into drama TV shows. And don't worry, it's nothing like Grey's Anatomy or something like that.

My personal rate: 8,5/10

Review: Grave Encounters 2 (2012)

Grave Encounters 2

IMDB rate: 5,1

Genre: Found-Footage

After loving the first movie, I was kinda curious about the second one. I already heard a lot of bad things about it, but well, it's always the question what you think of it yourself. Grave Encounters started of slow, when things started happening it became sort of fun for a short while, but then things became bad. Unbelievably bad. There are spoilers in this review, so don't read any further if you don't want to know about how things went.

Synopsis taken from IMDB:
For people who don't believe the events of Grave Encounters, film student Alex Wright is out to prove them wrong. Alex is as obsessed with the first film as the 20 million people who viewed it's viral trailer on YouTube. While he and his friends research the events and visit the real psychiatric hospital depicted in the original film, they find themselves face-to-face with unspeakable evil, banking on the hope that their knowledge of the original film will help them survive the sequel.

The movie started getting slightly interesting after 40 minutes of boring teenage stuff. Party's, a lot of talking, questions about the first movie and then the teenagers went to the mental institution where the first movie was filmed. They figured that everything was real and they wanted to investigate that.

As you can imagine, the first 40 minutes were very boring.

When they finally arrive at the mental institution they are being chased away by a cop, so of course they come back later (when it's night) to break into the building. From that point it became slightly interesting. The set up was very much the same as the first movie, cameras in each room pointed on the same things from the first movie. Then the weird stuff started happening, and they got scared and wanted to go away. Of course, this wasn't possible. 

The order in which everyone would die was predictable as hell, so that wasn't much interesting. Then things were getting bad, real bad. Walls suddenly appearing or walls disappearing. Stuff like that.

That isn't all yet unfortunately, three of them finally managed to get out, and they went back to the hotel. That was kinda a surprise since the scaring wasn't going on for too long at that point. But well, when they stepped out of the elevator at the hotel they suddenly were at the institution again. 

These are the things that I hate in horror movies, it's absolutely illogical that they are back there again after seeing people and stuff at the hotel. 

Of course things weren't exciting enough yet, so that's when the main character from the first movie came in. Bear in mind that the original movie was set in 2003, so the guy would be wandering there for 9 years. His hair is looking fake long, his beard is perfectly neat but a bit bushy and strangely enough he still has his six-pack. For someone living in a mental institution for 9 years, only being fed by the rats wandering around and getting water from nasty old toilets, he was looking way too good (besides the ugly wig). 

At first he's helping them but then he's suddenly being a cunt controlled by something invisible that's making cameras float. It appears that if someone collected all the footage and finished the movie they would be able to walk out of the building. Of course someone did and as if these reasons weren't lame enough already, you should've seen the moment that this persons walks out of the door, into.... a corn field.... This really is the most fake looking, lamest, ugliest moment in the entire movie history.

There's absolutely nothing logical about this movie. A few scenes seem to be stolen from Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch and REC, besides that most of it looked a lot like the first movie. Everything that was original was incredibly bad and illogical. The scares are predictable and actually not scary at all. It was a lot like the first one only more lame (wait until you hear the girl ghost talk....).

It's sad that the movie turned out this bad because the acting wasn't too bad actually, for a movie this bad the acting was probably the only good thing about. Also, they had the opportunity with an awesome location like this one and they totally ruined it.
Grave Encounters 2 is a real waste of time and I absolutely don't recommend watching it.

My personal rate: 2,5/10

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer [Season 4-7]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Season 4-7

IMDB rate: 8,2

Genre: TV Show, Vampire (and many more)

Link to my season 1-3 review

It has been quite some time since my last Buffy the Vampire Slayer review, in fact, the first one was uploaded exactly an year ago. The reason why I never wrote a review about the others seasons was because I didn't own all of them on DVD, after I owned season 1-3, I received season 7, after that 6 and after that 5. But it took an incredibly long time to find season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

Of course, they were out there online but not in the right DVD case. Every Buffy DVD I own is a Collectors Edition, and it would be a first world problem if the middle season wasn't that same case (I'm absolutely not picky). 

But anyway, last month I finished watching every season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I thought it would be time to start writing about it!

Also, Sarah Michelle Gellar's birthday was yesterday (it's on the same day as mine :)) so happy birthday SMG aka Buffy!

I've loved this show since I was little, but at that time I hadn't seen every episode yet, because the times that they aired constantly changed. In my last review I wrote about each character, but after the third season a lot changed. Cordelia Chase (played by Charisma Carpenter) isn't in the show anymore and Angel (played by David Boreanaz) isn't a regular anymore as well. My favorite character Oz also disappears shortly after the beginning of season 4.

New regulars were Anya (played by Emma Caulfield), Dawn (played by Michelle Trachtenberg) at the end of season 4 and Tara Maclay (played by Amber Benson). Spike (played by James Marsters) also became a regular to the show.

I liked season 4-7, but they weren't as good as the first three seasons. Things became a bit more confusing, especially since Buffy suddenly gained a little sister. At first everything was like she was always there, but in season 5 or 6 things about Dawn's appearance got explained. It was clear that she wasn't a real person and stuff, but when they started talking about 'her being a key', it became slightly confusing.

A whole lot of people die in these seasons, it sure was a whole lot darker compared to the previous seasons.

The highest rated episode on IMDB was 'Once More With Feeling' (season 6, episode 7), which was a musical episode. Personally I dislike musicals and singing and stuff, so it wasn't one of my favorite episodes. It did explain a lot though, especially about Buffy's feelings. It also was incredibly original, even though I hate musicals, I enjoyed the episode.

 My favorite episode was 'Hush' (season 4, episode 10), the second best rated episode on IMDB. It was just brilliant because nothing is said in this episode. It's incredibly difficult to make an episode good without saying a word. Not only was it brilliant because nothing was said, these 'gentleman' were actually scary as hell.

Other good episodes were The Gift (season 5, episode 22) and especially The Body (season 5, episode 16). This is the one where an important person dies, and it's absolutely heartbreaking.
There were lots of other good episodes, such as the very last one. It's simply too much to describe them all, but these are my person favorite ones.
(How stupid do I sound when I say that I get goosebumps even thinking about a few of these awesome episodes?)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an amazing show and I recommend that everyone should watch it. It contains many supernatural elements besides vampires. Each episode is a new surprise. Things are very different in the new seasons, a lot of dark things happened. I already mentioned that I liked the first three seasons best,  but I mostly mean that I like the first three seasons as a whole. Season 4-7 has more amazing individual episodes, so they are awesome as well.
It's a great surprising show and I truly enjoyed watching all the seven seasons.

My personal rate: 9,5/10