Sunday, 29 September 2013

Review: Masters of Horror: Pick Me Up (2006)

Pick Me Up
Masters of Horror
IMDB rate: 6,4
Genre: Serial Killer

Time for another Masters of Horror movie! This is the eleventh episode of season 1, and while you might think that there's only one left to go, you're wrong. For some reason were the DVD's in a different order so for me it's probably the fourth DVD, which means I still have 5 more episodes/movies to go.
Pick Me Up was not a very special movie, it was quite boring to be honest.


When a bus breaks down in a desert road surrounded by woods, the passenger Stacia decides to walk ahead 20 km to a motel. The travelers Birdy and Danny get a lift with the deranged serial-killer truck driver Jim Wheeler to return to a dinning place and are killed. The paranoid Marie and her husband stay in the bus with the driver waiting for help. When the sadistic serial-killer hitchhiker Walker comes to the bus, he kills the trio. Later in the motel, Stacia is disputed by the two psychopaths.

For the simple version, one of them is someone who kills everyone that accepts a ride, while the other one is someone who kills everyone that offers him a ride. So by coincidence, they meet. 

I found this movie quite boring because the story was kinda predictable. Sure, it's very cool to see these two types of serial-killer meet each other, but the effect of that was rather lame. I expected a bloodbath from the both of them, but unfortunately that was not what happened. Instead, they are both chasing Stacia for some unknown reason. She never accepted, or offered to give a ride so their murdering reasons don't count on her. After awhile she does accept a ride though, but this is long after they start chasing her. 

The acting was reasonable. Fairuza Balk played Stacia, and I think that she's an excellent actress. I loved her a lot in The Craft. The trucker was played by Michael Moriarty and he was not that bad but his voice was very irritating. The hitchhiker was played by Warren Kole and he was also quite reasonable. A surprising face in this movie was Michael Eklund, who played a very short role as a cashier. 


Pick Me Up is not a bad movie, but not a very good one either. It's very predictable which makes it kinda boring. The ideas for the story are very interesting, but the end result was rather disappointing. 

My personal rate: 5/10

Friday, 27 September 2013

Review: The 4400 [Season 4]

The 4400
Season 4
IMDB rate: 7,3
Genre: TV Show, Supernatural, Science-Fiction

Unfortunately there came an end to The 4400 before it was even finished, which also means that this will be my last The 4400 review, since there's nothing left to watch!
Season 4 was a very good season, perhaps just as good season 1. It has some very strong episodes, especially in the beginning. 
Originally there was planned a fifth season after this one, but they suddenly canceled the show. Normally it would leave you with an unsatisfied feeling because there are some things left unexplained. But for me it was a good ending. Sure, there are still some things left unexplained, but none of these things are that important that it needed another season. I quite liked the ending because it was very touching.


Season 4 contains 13 episodes. And with each episode there's quite some big development. Of course, there are always some episodes that are not as good as the rest of the season. But I thought that this season contained more good episodes than season 2 and 3.

!CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Season 4, episode 1: The Wrath of Graham
Shawn is still in a coma, and this time it's Kyle sitting next to his bed. What can he do to wake Shawn up from his coma? Then he injects Shawn with Promicin, and Shawn wakes up from his coma. This was a very touching moment because the roles are reversed this time. Also, Isabelle doesn't have any abilities anymore which makes her a much more likable person. She's the innocent Isabelle again, the one she was when she just grew up. You also find out Jordan's ability. This is something that I was quite curious about because everyone received abilities except him. Apparently he has the ability to take other abilities away, quite cool huh?

Season 4, episode 2: Fear Itself
This was quite a cool episode because there was someone with the ability to make nightmares come true, result: Creepy ass clowns. It's nice seeing a bit of scary elements in this TV show. 

Season 4, episode 3: Audrey Parker's Come and Gone
Another cool episode. A human that can send a younger version of herself anywhere, how cool is that? Well, it was quite cool until she was murdered while using her ability. This means that her 'projection' is still on earth as a ghost. This causes some very scary moments when Audrey's trying to interact. After a while you find out that she's leading them to their killer, very cool.

Season 4, episode 4: The Truth and Nothing But the Truth
Not a bad episode, but not a very good one either. It was not very interesting. There were some funny moments when April used her ability to make people speak the truth but that's about it.

Season 4, episode 5: Try the Pie
Very interesting episode. There's a town filled with Promicin Positive people and they all have abilities. This town has a very scary feeling over it, but also a very good feeling because they are all happily living together. The things that happen out of this town were not very interesting this episode.

Season 4, episode 6: The Marked
I really loved this episode because it involved a lot of movie-making in it. There were a lot of references  to familiar horror movies so that was kinda cool. The episode introduced another confusing element, I get that they need to refresh the story once in a while, but don't start making it confusing because that makes things quite difficult. Other than that, good episode.

Season 4, episode 7: Till We Have Built Jerusalem
Not a very interesting episodes. There were some important happenings but none of them made it an excellent episode. It was worth a watch though.

Season 4, episode 8: No Exit
Very good episode. It's sometimes nice to see an episode that differs a lot from the usual story. It had an excellent message to both sides: Stop fighting.

Season 4, episode 9: Daddy's Little Girl
I thought this was a brilliant episode. Richard never saw Isabelle grew up because she aged from a baby to an adult in one day. So he gave her some drink which makes her age backwards. It very cute to see her age backwards. It was a very touching episode.

Season 4, episode 10: One of Us
It was a good episode, but also a confusing one. This is mainly because you see that the people from the future implant a baby in Lily's uterus, which will later turn out to be Isabelle. I really don't get the use for creating all these 4400's and afterwards create a baby that will destroy them all again. Terribly confusing. What was good about this episode was the fact that Richard had Lily in his life again. It was adorable to see, and again very touching. Unfortunately it was only for a short time because it appeared that a Promicin-positive caused a sort of 'fake Lily'.

Season 4, episode 11: Ghost in the Machine
It was not very nice to see a different Tom, he was really mean in this episode. Also, it's not very cool that Isabelle has her powers back, but I like that she uses them a lot better this time. Decent episode.

Season 4, episode 12: Tiny Machines
Not a very interesting episode. The happenings were kind of boring while there's only one more episode left.

Season 4, episode 13: The Great Leap Forward
This was an amazing episode, and also an amazing ending for the TV show. Giving Danny this ability provided an excellent ending for everything, even though that was not even know at that time yet. Danny takes Promicin and becomes some sort of Promicin source, everyone around him gets Promicin in their body, without even taking the shot. This of course results in a lot of deaths, since not everyone can take Promicin. Shawn eventually needs to kill Danny because he's has many pain because of this ability. This was a very touching moment. What I really liked about this episode was the ending were everyone received their abilities. There were many people that died of NTAC, but luckily many of the main characters stayed alive. I loved seeing all these different abilities of these amazing people. Just a brilliant episode, and with that, a brilliant ending for The 4400.


And again there came an ending to some very joyful moments. I always feel sad when a show I liked ends. The 4400 was an amazing TV show that I can recommend to everyone. It has a bit of supernatural in it, science-fiction but also lots of drama and comedy. I really enjoyed watching it.
Season 4 was a brilliant season, and almost just as good as season 1. It had plenty of good episodes. My favorite episode was the last one, and especially the last scene. The 4400 is a truly good TV show. 

My personal rate: 8/10






Thursday, 26 September 2013

Review: Vacancy (2007)

Vacancy
IMDB rate: 6,2
Genre: Survival

This movie was recommended to me a few times, so I was quite curious about it. The story seemed interesting and even a bit frightening.
I did not find it a very good movie. It's was unbelievable, it had a very predictable storyline and it was quite boring after a while.


David and Amy Fox find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere when their car breaks down. Luckily, they come across a motel with a TV to entertain them during their overnight stay. However, there's something very strange and familiar about the Grade-Z slasher movies that the motel broadcasts for it's guests' enjoyment. They all appear to be filmed in the very same room they occupy! Realizing that they are trapped in their room with hidden cameras now aimed at them filming their every move. David and Amy desperately find a means of escape through locked doors, crawlspaces and underground tunnels before they too become the newest stars of the mystery filmmaker's next cult classic!

This movie is quite unbelievable and unnatural. When you find several movies that were filmed in the exact same room as you're standing in, with people in it that are being tortured, why the hell would you not run away immediately?! No instead of running, they are just calmly watching the movies. But of course, it's too late by the time they finally realize this. It was a very irritating start of the movie. At least it's clear that Amy and David never watched a horror movie in their lifetime.
What was also irritating was the fact how the couple got along with each other. They are obviously in the middle of a divorce since they are behaving like shit-heads towards each other. But by this point you know that one of them will get hurt eventually and that they 'suddenly' love each other again. And guess what? I was right!
What would have made this movie a lot better was if there was a very unexpected ending, with mass-slaughter; badass comebacks or something else that's very cool.


The attackers in this movie are quite creepy, this is mostly because of their masks. Also, the motel owner is a scary fellow himself. When Amy and David are waiting in the lobby there's terrified screaming behind the curtain. When they're finally in their room there's a constant banging on their door and on the walls from the next room. Also, the phone is constantly ringing, but when they answer, no one reacts.. I found it quite a good start for the movie, especially when one of the masked men showed up behind David, while there's no other door in the room...
What made me dislike this movie was the unnatural reactions of the couple. Also, when the masked man started to show up they did not really do something scary.

It's quite sad that it suddenly turned out to be a bad movie because the setting was so good. It all started off perfect, but when they finally started to run away from these maniacs it was as if the writer had lost all his inspiration. The acting is quite good, especially from Kate Beckinsale and motel owner Frank Whaley. I was not too impressed with Luke Wilson. He's just more a guy for comedies or something. I'm getting quite tired of his melodramatic face in every serious movie. It's just his face, I know. But it makes it seem like he's over-acting.


I did not really enjoy watching Vacancy because the storyline was a bit boring after a while. Also, the movie is very predictable and contains very unnatural reactions. It started of quite good but suddenly it became a very shitty movie.

My personal rate: 5/10




Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Review: The 4400 [Season 3]

The 4400
Season 3
IMDB rate: 7,3
Genre: Science-Fiction, Supernatural, TV Show

Season 3! At this moment I finished watching this show and I can say with confidence that season 3 is my least favorite season. It was just... weak, and mostly confusing. It's like they had some blackout while writing this season because it was just not very good. But in contrast to that, season 4 was brilliant and might even be equally as good as season 1. But I will discuss that in the next review!
There suddenly is this group called The Nova Group, I think they are the more aggressive 4400-people. I'm not quite sure because they showed up quite suddenly, just as they disappeared. As I already said, season 3 is quite confusing.

Is season 3 a bad season? Yes and no. The writing was simply weak, but the facts coming to light are quite interesting and create a huge development in the storyline. 
It's not a terrible season, but it was definitely one of my least favorite ones in this TV show.


There are 12 episodes in this season. That's the same amount as in season 2, so luckily nothing changed. I do still think that this are too many episodes for this show though, because there are still some useless, uninteresting ones between them.

!CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Season 3, episode 1: The New World
Quite a big turn of events; Isabelle isn't a baby anymore. In fact, she's a 20 year old woman now. Did they skip 20 years in the show? Nope, but Isabelle did. Also, Lily skips many years when she's in search of 'baby' Isabelle. She's suddenly a 75 year old woman who is almost dying. What caused this age difference? Well, I have no idea. It's never explained unfortunately. I think they just wanted to give Isabelle a more interesting role and to explain that a bit, why not kill of Lily? I was definitely sad that Lily died because she was an amazing character. This was a very touching episode. 

Season 3, episode 2: Being Tom Baldwin
This was one of the weak episodes. There's some 4400 that can be anyone he wants to be, so he becomes Tom Baldwin and shoots one of the Nova Group members. There's a big chase and then there's the predictable point that both Tom's stand in front of Alana who hold's a gun. Which one is the real Tom? Well, that's not very hard to see if you paid attention, but apparently that's too difficult.

Season 3, episode 3 & 4: Gone pt. 1 & 2
These were both excellent episodes, but there were a few mistakes in them. At some point, everyone forgets the children as if they never existed. The children were never 4400's. But, they are still called the 4400 while there are only 4395 people who were abducted. Big mistake! Even though it's not entirely right, it were two good episodes.

Season 3, episode 5: Graduation Day
Another one of the weaker episodes. Shawn gets sick because of a 4400, Isabelle is being a badass and gets away with it, very predictable, and surprisingly, not very interesting. The side story was Alana's story, she figured out who killed her family and this might have become interesting, but it was rather short.

Season 3, episode 6: The Home Front
And again, a very weak episode. This whole Nova Group thing is just not working out. It's making things confusing and very boring. Also, what was the use of bringing Nicky back in the show? We already knew that Isabelle is a bitch so it was kinda useless.

Season 3, episode 7: Blink
There's a drug out called Blink which makes you see people of your past. Of course, Diana and Tom have been in touch with this and they continue to see people they have issues with. I did not find this episode very special. It was not boring or anything, but it did not really help to continue the story. Also, Isabelle forcing Shawn to marry her? A bit weak.

Season 3, episode 8: The Ballad of Kevin and Tess
Not a very bad episode. This episode is the start of a revolution in this world, so somehow it's kinda cool. Because of Kevin's experiment, normal people can grow abilities too. This is what season 4 is about so it's very important.

Season 3, episode 9: The Starzi Mutation
I thought the side story in this episode was very confusing. It was about soldiers with mutations, but who were not 4400's and there was a lot of confusing things going on. Not a very successful side story as you might understand. Something which I found nice was the fact that Jordan Collier showed up at Shawn's wedding.

Season 3, episode 10: The Gospel According to Collier
The search of Jordan Collier. Not too interesting, but it did lead to other episodes that were interesting.

Season 3, episode 11: Terrible Swift Sword
This is an episode which proves that the humans are in fact powerless against the 4400's. They are being put to sleep from a distance and no one can do anything about it. If it will get to a war eventually it's simply impossible for the humans to win. Also, in this episode Kyle seems to take over Shawn's place next to Collier. Something that's quite annoying.

Season 3, episode 12: Fifty-Fifty
The episode where Maia isn't a kid anymore, but starts being an annoying teenager. Besides that, it's quite a good episode. Promicin still isn't save for everyone so many people died while using it, but strangely enough, people really want to have abilities, so they risk their lives for it. Isabelle's powers are taken away by her father. What I find strange in this episode was the kidnapping of Alana. It's never fully explained what the use for that was. Probably because Isabelle didn't die but still it's strange.

What I find irritating in this season is Isabelle. She is created by the people of the future, with that she has gained amazing abilities. The people of the future are also the ones who gave all these 4400's the special abilities. But then, suddenly there's being said that Isabelle is only created so she could destroy the 4400's. I'm sorry but what was the entire use of everything then? It's all very confusing.


Season 3 is definitely my least favorite season. It's not written very well and things are getting very confusing at times. Of course, there are some good episodes, but they were not amazingly good or something. Season 3 was filled with useless episodes. Kinda sad because I think it made many people stop watching this show. I'm quite excited to start writing about season 4, because it was an excellent season.

My personal rate: 6,5/10




Tuesday, 24 September 2013

Review: Masters of Horror: Imprint (2006)

Imprint
Masters of Horror
IMDB rate: 6,9
Genre: Torture

And again it's time for another Masters of Horror! I felt like it has been a long time since I watched my last one, but I just remembered that it was only last week when I last watched one. Imprint is the thirteenth episode of season 1 of Masters of Horror, but as always, I watch it in a different order because my DVD's are in a different order for some reason. This is DVD 4, so there are only 6 episodes left!

I was quite curious about Imprint because it's supposed to be that brutal that it was not even aired on Television. It certainly is very brutal, so no need to be disappointed about that, but the storyline.. meh.. It was mostly a bit of a weird story and it only got weirder when the story got clearer.

I must say that I haven't seen a 'normal' Masters of Horror movie/episode yet so I guess it's just their style.


In the Nineteenth Century, in Japan, the American journalist Christopher is traveling through the country searching Komomo, the missing love of his life that he had abandoned years ago promising to come back to her later. He arrives in a shadowy island inhabited by whores and caftans, where he has an encounter with a deformed prostitute that tells that his beloved Komomo had passed away. He drinks sake with her and later he asks the woman to tell the story of her life. The prostitute discloses a dark and cruel story about her life and the sad fate of Komomo

As I already said, Imprint is mainly a weird story. It starts off a bit slow, but when there's finally a bit speed in it, it's really getting interesting. The story of the deformed prostitute is quite interesting. But after a while, things are getting strange.. very strange. I won't say a thing but the storyline suddenly became a let down to me. That's quite sad because things just got interesting.

What I liked about this movie was that it almost felt like watching an anime. A sort of real life anime. This is because the colors were very bright and the hair-colors were not natural, just like an anime.
What I did not like very much was that everyone spoke English, while they were in Japan. Some spoke English very well, and some with a very weird (not natural) accent. I really don't see the point in that because the movie would be a lot more fun if it was in Japanese. If the prostitutes etc. spoke English with their foreign customers I would get it, but they even spoke English to each other. This is just something what I find very annoying.
Another thing that was a disappointed was the make-up, it looked really fake in some scenes.

This movie was banned from television because of the brutality in it. It was only shown on TV when some scenes were cut out. Luckily, my version still had these banned scenes. I rarely look away from the screen because I can't handle what's happening in the movie, but this movie almost made me do it. It was like the torturing was going straight to me, it was horrible. Of course I looked, but I did flinch a couple of times.
In one of these torturing scenes, a girl gets needles pinched under her nails and into her gums; I'm sorry but that was just too much to handle. It was not even briefly shown or anything. No this scene took forever.
That's one of the good things about this movie, it made me flinch, so I like it.


Imprint is worth a watch because of the torturing, it looks amazing and it's truly terrifying. The storyline is a bit of a letdown, especially one of the latest scenes. I think for a Masters of Horror movie it's quite a good one.

My personal rate: 6/10

Monday, 23 September 2013

Review: This Is the End (2013)

This Is the End
IMDB rate: 7,3
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Comedic

So I FINALLY got around watching This Is the End. I've wanted to see this movie as soon as the first trailer came out but unfortunately they did not play this movie in the Dutch cinemas, so I had to wait a bit longer. But now I finally saw it!
I loved it. I laughed my ass off. Seriously, this is the best cast a comedy movie can have. I haven't laughed this much while watching a movie in quite a long time, so for me it was brilliant. 
Perhaps I expected it a little bit different, but that doesn't make the movie bad or anything. I still loved it. 

Why am I writing about a comedy movie on a horror blog? Well, I have a good excuse for that. It's about the apocalypse and it contains some messed up shit. Which makes it an excellent Comedy Horror. The movie is definitely not scary, nor is it meant to be, but it does contain a few horror elements, which gives me a good reason to write about this movie.


All Jay Baruchel expected coming to LA was a fun time with Seth Rogen with all the wild partying to have both by themselves and at James Franco's housewarming party. Suddenly, the Rapture hits and the Biblical Apocalypse has begun. Now, Jay and Seth are desperately sheltering in James' house for rescue along with a few other friends. Together, they must band to attempt to survive the end of the world, only for Jay to find that they are all too dumb and superficial to do it until they discover the only way out.

As I already said, I think this was an amazing movie. What I loved most about it was the excellent cast. Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, James Franco and Craig Robinson in one movie? How can that ever be bad? What's even better is the minor appearances of great actors like Emma Watson, Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Michael Cera and Channing Tatum. This movie was already awesome before I even saw it!
The only actor that I did not like in this movie was Danny McBride. To be honest, I dislike him in every movie, and unfortunately he plays quite a big part in this one. The persons that I would have liked to see more are definitely Paul Rudd or Jason Segel; they would have made a good replacement for Danny McBride.


I just read a few other reviews online about this movie and what I find weird is that almost everyone hated this movie. Personally, I loved it, as you might know by now. But I do understand that not everyone likes this type of humor. It's a lot of talking, and a lot of cursing; the moments were something actually happens are quite spare, but for me it wasn't something bad because those dialogues were hilarious.

Other things I liked in this movie were the paintings in the background. Most of them were made by James Franco himself, and while they are not totally amazing; they do have something cool to it. For example, at some point you see one painting where the word Freaks is written on, along with a few painted humans, next to that there's a painting with the word Geeks written on, and again with a few humans painted on it. Together this is obviously dedicated to the TV show 'Freaks and Geeks'. What I find amazing about this is that most of these actors in this movie became famous because of that show. Jason Segel, Seth Rogen, Martin Starr and James Franco were all main actors in this show. I personally loved this TV show a lot and I think it's amazing that they show some tribute to their career start.

One of my favorite scenes in this movie was of course 'The Exorcism of Jonah Hill'. I cried of laughing, it was absolutely brilliant and somehow Jonah Hill actually looks scary when he's possessed.
Another funny scene was the end scene.

The special effects are not too good looking in this movie, and while that might be bothering to some people, I did not find it irritating. I think it is a part of this movie which makes it so good. It's one of those cases where 'it looks so bad, it's good.'


By now you might have noticed my enthusiasm for this movie, so of course; I recommend watching this movie. It's brilliant, funny, amazing cast and it even contains some horror elements. What else do you want?
I just loved it.

My personal rate: 9/10




Saturday, 21 September 2013

Review: The 4400 [Season 2]

The 4400
Season 2
IMDB rate: 7,3
Genre: Science-Fiction, Supernatural

It's time to discuss Season 2! At the moment I'm watching season 4, so it might be sometimes that I give tiny spoilers because I just know some things already. Season 2 is good, but definitely not as good as season 1. It's interesting, but you already know why all these people were kidnapped, so the main question is already answered at this point. So what's season 2 about? The biggest subject of this season is Isabelle I guess. Who is Isabelle? Isabelle is the daughter of Lily Moore Tyler and Richard Tyler. Isabelle is quite special because Lily was not pregnant before she was abducted, but she suddenly is when she returned. Another special thing is that Isabelle has something in her what only dark-skinned people can have. I forgot the name but this is a clue that Richard is actually the father of Isabelle. When Lily's pregnant there are already signs that Isabelle has abilities, very strong abilities... And they become even stronger as soon she's born.

There are some interesting facts in the ending of this season, this causes a big turn in the storyline. I'm not quite sure if I liked this turn of events because they caused a very different season 3. At this point I dislike season 3 the most. Season 4 has some really good episodes while season 3 has a few very vague ones. At some points the story gets a bit confusing which is what I dislike most in this TV show.


In season 2 there are a few more episodes compared to season 1. Season 1 only had 5, while season 2 has 12. A lot more to describe, but I'll do my best. I do think these short opinions about every episodes will be a lot shorter than usually though.

In season 2 you see many individual cases. Every episode there's a story about a 4400. It's quite cool to get to know all these abilities but sometimes the episodes are a bit boring because they are a bit predictable.

!CONTAINS SPOILERS!


Season 2, episode 1: Wake-up Call
This episode lasted 2 hours, just like the Pilot. I already stated in my previous review that it can be a big risk to make episodes that long, because it might be hard to keep people interested. They did succeed in keeping me interested, so that's a good thing. What I liked about this episode was the mystery of the huge device. I was quite curious about what it would do eventually. I also loved the bound between Kevin and Tess, both great actors. 

Season 2, episode 2: Voices Carry
This was not a very interesting episode. You did see the subject return a few times in future episodes though which is kinda cool. You do see a bit more of Isabelle's character in this episode. She lets Lily steal some money, and that only at a few months old. It's kinda cool that there's an evil baby in the show.

Season 2, episode 3: Weight of the World
Kyle's being weird again, even though he's supposed to be normal now. I find it a very interesting fact that he has so much to do with The 4400 even though he was never actually kidnapped. It's only because he touched the light-beam. The side story is not bad, but I wonder why this ability would even be useful in the future?

Season 2, episode 4: Suffer the Children
I'm not quite sure what to think of this episode. It was not very interesting and the things that happened are not very important. Now I've almost finished the show, I still wonder what the use of the homeless people was. I guess Shawn fancied the girl and that's why he helped them, but it was quite obvious from the start that it wouldn't have any effect. The teachers ability was quite cool though.

Season 2, episode 5: As Fate Would Have It
It was very touching that Lily finally met her daughter Heidi, but after this episode we never see her anymore. So I wonder what the use of it was.

Season 2, episode 6: Life Interrupted
This was an amazing episode. Perhaps one of my favorite ones of this season. I loved it mainly because it was very different from the other ones. Tom wakes up in some sort of parallel universe created by another 4400. In this episode Alana is introduced, a very lovable character. A really good episode.

Season 2, episode 7: Carrier
The side story in this one was a bit boring. The abilities of this girl were very interesting, but it did not made the episode more interesting.

Season 2, episode 8: Rebirth
Very cool side story. The guy has the ability to repair damaged chromosomes in the uterus. But, apparently he is some sort of war criminal in his country from origin; Rwanda. So now there this big choice for NTAC; send this amazing healer away to his own country and let him get punished for his crimes, or let him stay so he could save many lives, but get away with his crimes? A very big and difficult question. This was a very good episode.

Season 2, episode 9: Hidden
Another good episode. It's being revealed who the murderer of Jordon Collier is, and that was quite a big surprise for me. It appears to be Kyle, Tom Baldwin's son. It was a nice turn of events because Kyle's role became a bit boring and useless, this way he became one of the bigger characters in the show.

Season 2, episode 10: Lockdown
It's being discovered in this episode that Isabelle is being investigated without the knowing of Lily and Richard. The people of the 4400 center are trying to discover a bit about her abilities. This causes that they want to run away, again. The main story is very different from the other ones. A 4400 is causing some rage epidemic of all the males in NTAC, so it's up to Diane to figure this thing out. It's always nice seeing an episode that differs a bit from the usual ones.

Season 2, episode 11: The Fifth Page
Starting from this episode, there's coming a big breakthrough in the world. The following seasons are all about these episodes. Quite important ones as you might see. This episode was not very interesting yet, but it became quite interesting when they figured out the reason behind all these sick 4400's.

Season 2, episode 12: Mommy's Bosses
There's already said a lot about this episode in the previous part. This is one of the most important episodes of this season, because it's the biggest line in the following seasons. Very good episode.


Season 2 is definitely a good season. But it's definitely not as good as season 1. Not that it's a bad thing because it was interesting enough to keep interested in this TV show. There are many useless episodes in this season though, which is quite a shame because the previous season did not really have any of those.
The 4400 is an excellent Science-Fiction show.

My personal rate: 7,5/10




Thursday, 19 September 2013

Review: The 4400 [Season 1]

The 4400
Season 1
IMDB rate: 7,3
Genre: Science-Fiction, Supernatural

Friday I started watching The 4400 again. I bought season 1 a while ago and I thought it would be fun to start watching it. I've watched The 4400 earlier when it just came out in 2004 but I never finished all the seasons. I can't remember why I never finished it, but my guess is that it got boring after a while. I did start season 2 too and it's still fun to watch but it's definitely not as good as season 1.

Synopsis from IMDB:
The pilot begins with a ball of light sailing towards Earth, but rather than the expected catastrophic event, thousands of returned abductees are left with no memory of their otherwordly experiences. Each has been gone anywhere from a few months to several decades, but hasn't aged a day. These are the stories of the 4400 abductees after they are returned to Earth. The show follows two NSA agents who are trying to figure out what happened and why. Some of those returned have been affected in mysterious ways with certain abilities, both good and bad.



At the moment I'm almost at the end of season 2, and I still enjoy watching it. At this moment you figured out why they were abducted and put back to earth, but I still haven't figured out why they were given these abilities.

!SPOILERS!
They were abducted from the 'future' and given special abilities so they were able to save the world. Apparently the world is messed up in the future and these 4400 people should be able to save them. Some of these people have for example the ability to heal people and cure their diseases. That's a very logical explanation of why they are now able to save the world. But there are also people who have very aggressive and destroying abilities, and that's what I don't understand yet. What use does this have for the future, how can this ever save the world?
There are still so many questions and I'm not sure if this will ever be answered since the show got canceled quite abruptly.

There were five episodes in this season and I will tell my thoughts of each of them.

Season 1, episode 1: Pilot
This episode lasted 120 minutes. That's even longer than a regular movie. It's quite a long time but it did not feel that way. I enjoyed watching it because it was still very mysterious. It was an excellent beginning for the show. It's quite a big risk to make an episode that's that long, but it worked.

Season 1, episode 2: The New and Improved Carl Morrissey
I quite liked this episode. At this point they started to dedicate an episode to one 4400, while the main story was still going on. It's fun to learn about these specialities of the 4400 but after a few episodes it's getting a bit boring. At the moment I'm at season 3 and luckily they stopped doing that and just continued the main story. Carl Morrissey was an adorable insecure man, and I loved how he stood up for himself. Very touching episode.

Season 1, episode 3: Becoming
This is the episode where Jordan Collier is introduced, which is quite a big character. At first I thought he was some sort of Governor, like in The Walking Dead. A guy who seemed to be good, but actually is very bad. At this point in the series I think he's the good guy again, but I'm still not quite sure about this.

Season 1, episode 4: Trial by Fire
A very interesting episode. Kyle has awoken from his coma but doesn't seem quite like himself. It was very interesting to follow his weird behavior and to see the outcome. Other than the Kyle part it's not very interesting.

Season 1, episode 5: White Light
Again, the Kyle part was very interesting. It appeared that he had something in him which made him a bit weird. It was caused by the light-beam that was supposed to take him away from the world, which Shawn interrupted. In this episode you learn the main reason of the kidnapping. Who did it, and why. It would have been a reasonable closure for the show, because you now know the main answer. But, there are still many things left unexplained. Should they continue the show and try to explain everything? Yes and no. The show would have ended very well if it had stopped here. The other unexplained things were not that important that it would bother a lot if it wasn't explained. It's good that they started to explain things, but that's also what made the show a lot less good after season 1. It's getting a bit confusing at times, especially after season 2.


I definitely loved watching this season. It's very good and it ended good. However, the other seasons are a lot less good than this one. Do I recommend watching the other seasons? I'm not really sure. It's fun watching, but there are not much answers given, and I'm at the beginning of season 4 already at the moment. It's possible to only watch season 1, but of course that up to you.
The 4400 is an excellent Science Fiction tv Show. It's being said that it resembles Taken a lot, but since I've never seen Taken I can't say anything about that.

My personal rate: 8/10






Mail

Hello, if anyone mailed me the last few days, please send it again because my stupid mailbox was full so I can't get my emails back >:(. 

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

Review: Thir13een Ghosts (2001)

Thir13een Ghosts
IMDB rate: 5,3
Genre: Ghosts, Haunted House

Thir13een Ghosts is one of those movies that I bought without knowing what it's about. It seemed like an interesting movie but after watching it I mainly thought it was a weird movie. Does not matter though, it's always nice seeing a new movie.

Arthur and his two children, Kathy and Bobby, inherit his Uncle Cyrus's estate: a glass house that serves as a prison to 12 ghosts. When the family, accompanied by Bobby's Nanny and an attorney, enter the house they find themselves trapped inside an evil machine "designed by the devil and powered by the dead" to open the Eye of Hell. Aided by Dennis, a ghost hunter, and his rival Kalina, a ghost rights activist out to set the ghosts free, the group must do what they can to get out of the house alive.


This movie tries to reach a combination between comedy and horror, but fails miserably at it. It's absolutely not funny. I must admit that casting Matthew Lillard is a excellent choice for such a role that (tries to) combine horror and comedy. I like him very much as an actor, in movies such as Scream, Without a Paddle and even Scooby Doo he was amazing. Even though I like him much as an actor, he is often playing the same character. The sarcastic, slightly funny guy.
I'm not very familiar with the other actors in this movie, besides Shannon Elizabeth. I think she's a reasonable actress, who played in a few reasonable movie. But with her it's the same case as with Matthew Lillard, she's always playing the same characters. A bit boring to be honest.

I liked the stories about the ghosts. They looked very scary and there stories were kinda cool too. My friend told me that in the Extras of the DVD there's an even bigger story about them, and I haven't seen it yet but I will check it out eventually. It sounds kinda cool.


The movie itself was not too great. It was very vague and confusing at times. I think the movie had some potential, but was not worked out the right way. What made me dislike this movie mostly were the special effects. To be honest, they looked terrible.

I don't think Thir13een Ghosts is a bad movie. It's just not a movie of my taste I guess.

Quite a short review! I don't have very much to say about this movie I guess. Maybe one day I will watch the Extras of this movie and make a new post about it. I must say that I had trouble concentrating on this movie, so perhaps I will watch it again someday and redo this review.
Thir13een Ghosts is a good concept for a haunted house movie. It's a bit haunted house and a bit futuristic. Quite a cool combination, but for some reason I did not like it very much.

My personal rate: 5/10




Tuesday, 17 September 2013

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




Sunday, 15 September 2013

Review: Masters of Horror: Homecoming (2005)

Homecoming
Masters of Horror
IMDB rate: 6,3
Genre: Zombie

And again, another Masters of Horror movie! Only 3 DVD's left to watch, which means I still need to watch 7 movies. This is only season 1 though, when I ever find season 2 I will be delighted to watch all of those too. But until that moment, I first need to finish watching season 1.
Homecoming is the sixth episode of Masters of Horror, and as always, I watch them in the wrong order because the DVD's are for some reason in a different order. This does not matter very much since these movies are not connected in any way.


During the campaign for the reelection of the President of USA, the political consultant David Murch wishes live in a television talk show that a deceased soldier could come back from his grave to vote in the election as a marketing to promote his candidate. The president uses his idea in a speech and wishes that all deceased soldiers could return from their graves for the election. Somehow his wish is granted and the soldiers died in the last war returns with the objective of voting in the opposition to the government. When the result of the election is manipulated and the president is reelected, all the soldiers deceased in pointless wars return to exile the members of the administration of the government.

I quite enjoyed watching this movie, and I think that so far this is one of my favorite Master of Horror movies. The idea is very original and quite enjoyable too. Zombies who are just walking next to humans, being a lot less scary and stuff is quite awesome. They drive, they talk and they even have feelings, how amazing is that?! What I enjoyed most was the plot for the movie: Voting zombies. Simply brilliant.

In this movie there are even some very touching scenes. Zombies who are telling their sad stories of how they died, I must admit that I had tears in my eyes. Loved it.

The make-up of these zombies look fairly good. Nothing Walking Dead like, but still quite good. The acting is reasonable too. The storyline is quite funny, even though it might become boring after awhile. At first you see these zombies rising, and you don't know what to expect. They do seem violent at first, but after awhile they suddenly are just walking among the living. And then the government is being irrational and then the zombies are getting all mean suddenly. This all happens very fast and I would've liked a bit more of a mean zombie. But this might also be what makes this movie more fun, because the mean zombie is quite standard these days.

This far this is my favorite Masters of Horror movie, but then again, I still have 7 more of these movies to go.

My personal rate: 7,5/10


Review: Loss of Life (2013)

Loss of Life
IMDB rate: Not yet rated
Genre: Revenge, Slasher

Recently I was given the opportunity to watch the screener of the movie 'Loss of Life'. I was quite excited by this, not only because it was my very first screener, but also because it seemed like a genuinely good movie.
There might be some spoilers in this review, I'm sorry!


On October 31, 2012, in North Hollywood, California, a group of high school friends decided to document their Halloween night out. What they end up documenting is a horrific bloody attack that quickly becomes the worst night of their lives. This film is the compilation of the footage found that night.

I think this movie had quite some big potential, but unfortunately, it was not what I expected from it.
To start with, without subtitles it's VERY difficult to understand what they are saying. The first 30 minutes there's happening absolutely nothing except for a lot of talking and to be honest, I only understood maybe 10% of it. The movie is about a big group of friends, 7 or maybe 8 people, and the entire time they are talking and yelling, all at the same time, so it's almost impossible to understand what it's about.
They are talking about what they are going to do and stuff, they are suppose to go to some Halloween party but first they need to go to some location to do stuff. When they're at this location, absolutely nothing happens. It's just useless rambling and yelling with a camera. To me this moment (which lasts about 30 minutes) is absolutely useless because I have no idea why they are there. They might have said it, but I don't know because it's impossible to understand anything that's being said.
It's sad that it's so noisy, because if the dialogue was understandable and made some sense it might have improved the movie a lot.


Then after 30 minutes, there's finally happening something. There's a girl running towards them, yelling for help, she's all injured and she's being followed by two guys with masks and weapons.
Then again, the guys try to ask her what happened, but then again, everyone is screaming at the same time. But in this case I forgive them for it, because they are scared. It's only logical that they react this way, so even though it's a tiny bit annoying, it might be a good and believable moment.

Afterwards a few escaped and got to the car, they couldn't start it because they had no keys. You see, every logical person would run as the wind to escape these masked dudes, but for some reason these guys stay in the car (when they have every opportunity to run away) and argue about what to do. Well, let's see, run away perhaps? The street is only a few meters away so it's very easy to get some help.
But no of course they stay in the car and get in even more danger. This might be one of the few movies where splitting up is a good idea.

I must say, the acting is very good. Not once was I annoyed by bad acting or something. Also, I love the variation in cameras, it gives a good insight who is filming what, because the quality differs a lot from each other. The make-up was in the beginning very good, especially from the girl, her injuries looked quite real. But at some point the bloods starts looking very watery. A bit too fake. There's not much music in the movie, unfortunately only when somethings about to happen. It's quite easy to create a jump-scare in a Found-Footage movie, but because the music only starts to play at scary moments, this effect is away. The moments that could be jump-scares disappeared because of this.
Another good thing were the masks. There's nothing more scary than a murderers with masks in a Found-Footage movie.


I quite like Found-Footage movies. For me they have a bigger scare-effect than a regular movie. I think the storyline of this movie is quite reasonable, even though it's a bit predictable. Unfortunately the elaboration is not very good. It did have some potential, but there are just too many unbelievable moments. Also, a noisy movie is not always a bad thing, but it has to be understandable at some moments or else it's almost useless to watch. I must say, I am from The Netherlands and my mother tongue is obviously not English so this might be only a problem for me, but I very much doubt it.

I do want to thank Mance Media again though for giving me this opportunity.

My personal rate: 4/10




Thursday, 12 September 2013

Review: The Human Centipede (2009)

The Human Centipede
IMDB rate: 4,6
Genre: Mad Scientist

It was time to watch The Human Centipede again, the very shocking movie from The Netherlands; the country where I come from! You see, this might be the only Dutch movie that I like, mainly because there are no Dutch actors in it. I live in this country but when I watch a movie from my own country (spoken in Dutch) I can't understand a thing of what they say, so weird. Anyway, that's why this is the only Dutch movie that I like. It's super brutal and very sick. But I liked it. Why? Because it's a very original (but ridiculous) idea.
I think the rating is too low for this movie, because I quite liked it. It's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it's a fairly decent and a very shocking movie. Something that's not seen very often anymore.
I get that some people get disgusted by this movie, but it's just not a movie for everybody.


Two pretty but ditsy American girls are on a road trip through Europe. In Germany, they end up alone at night with a broken car in the woods. They search for help and find an isolated villa. The next day, they awaken to find themselves trapped in a terrifying makeshift basement hospital along with a Japanese man. An older German man identifies himself as a retired surgeon specialized in separating Siamese twins. However, his three "patients" are not about to be separated but joined together in a horrific operation. He plans to be the first person to connect people via their gastric systems. By doing so, he plans to bring to life his sick lifetime fantasy, the human centipede.

First of all, the acting. I think it's an excellent choice to cast Dieter Laser as Dr. Heiter. He is one scary dude and even looking at him gives me goosebumps. He has the ultimate mad scientist look which is of course very useful for this role. His acting was simply brilliant.
Then the two girls. I did not like them. Their acting was horrible the first part of the movie (the part where they still were able to talk). Also they were so dumb. I can't stand movies where someone has the opportunity to escape (and get help) and instead they go back to save someone. Why do they not understand that getting help is much more useful!
There's not much to say about the Japanese guy, since he's only talking Japanese. All I know is that I find his character very annoying with the Japanese screaming the entire time. I do not get why Dr. Heiter puts him in front of the 'centipede', since he's not able to speak one word English. Quite annoying.
I kinda have respect for these actors because this might be one of the most uncomfortable acting jobs ever.


Of course there are many things in this movie that can't be right, for example surviving longer than a few days in that 'centipede' condition. Or that Dr. Heiter finds 3 matching flesh types where he only needed to kill one guy for. It's just too impossible. 
Also, it's very unlikely that the cops react this way. Especially when the cop found the anesthetic that Dr. Heiter brought with him, it's very unbelievable that the cop wouldn't pull his gun or anything. He might be an even worse cop than Dewey (from Scream). 
Even though there are many inaccurate things in this movie I did not find it very bothering. After all, there are not many horror movies that are 100% medically accurate.

I have not seen the sequel yet but I'm planning on watching it very soon. An even longer human centipede must be incredibly disgusting; therefore, more interesting. 


Personally, I enjoyed watching this movie a lot. It's an absolute ridiculous idea, but I liked it. It's very original and very fucked up. The acting of the 'villain' is absolutely brilliant. 
Unfortunately some of the actors are not that great, this made the movie less enjoyable for me. Also, some parts are just too unbelievable and annoying.
The Human Centipede is definitely not a movie for everyone. You need a very strong stomach and at least a bit of a sense of humor. 

My personal rate: 6,5/10


Sunday, 8 September 2013

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

Friday, 6 September 2013

Review: Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Shaun of the Dead
IMDB rate: 8,0
Genre: Comedic, Zombie

It was about time that I watched one of my favorite movies again: Shaun of the Dead. I absolutely love this movie. It's brilliant, amazing acting, amazing script, great zombies and the movie is incredibly funny. Seriously, I watched this movie so many times already and I'm still not bored of it.


Shaun doesn't have a very good day, so he decides to turn his life around by getting his ex to take him back, but he times it for right in the middle of what may be a zombie apocalypse... But for him, it's an opportunity to show everyone he knows how useful he is by saving them all. All he has to do is survive... And get his ex back.

I think that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are my favorite acting 'couple' ever. I love them even more than Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, which says quite a lot. Individually they are great and talented actors, but together they are just excellent. Loved them together in Hot Fuzz and Paul, and I'm quite sure that The World's End will be awesome too. They just have great chemistry together that really helps understanding their connection together. 


Shaun of the Dead is certainly not a movie for everyone. I think that British humor is quite different from American humor and many people might not like it. I however, love this kind of humor. Shaun of the Dead is not typically a movie for horror lovers, I know plenty of people who don't like horror and loved this movie. For instance, I watched this movie tonight with my parents and they loved it, while they normally hate horror movies. 

The script is very good. It has a bit of comedy, zombies and romance in it, but never too much of one of these themes. The zombies are perfect, you actually have a chance of surviving with these slow ones. Like Simon Pegg himself said: "Death is not an energy drink", and this is of course true. I like zombies this way, this is my idea of how zombies are supposed to be and it's amazing that they felt the same way. Another fun thing, if you look closely you can recognize Chris Martin from Coldplay as a zombie.

My favorite scene is definitely the one where Shaun is walking -hungover- to the local shop to buy some cornetto's. The zombies are being shown very subtle and what's making it even more fun is the fact that it was filmed in one sequence.


All together, Shaun of the Dead is an amazing zombie film. In fact, it's one of the many movies that belong in my favorites list. Amazing acting, very funny people, also a very funny and good story. Brilliant camerawork and not to forget, incredibly good music!
Go watch Shaun of the Dead!

My personal rate: 9/10

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