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

Review: Stay Alive (2006)

Stay Alive

IMDB rate: 5,0

Genre: Slasher

Time for Stay Alive, personally I think it's an impressive movie. Okay, this movie has it's good sides and it's bad sides, but still I think it's impressive. I love the whole idea of 'If you die in a game, you'll die for real'. It's incredible and what's even better: The game looks amazing. Seriously, the game Stay Alive looks very scary and it would be amazing if this would become a real game (without the 'you'll die for real' part). 

Loomis Crowley is testing the underground game Stay Alive with his friends Sarah and Rex. When the  game is over, Loomis finds Rex and Sarah dead in their room, and he is pushed by a shadow from the staircase, breaking the banister and hanging the same way he died in the game. Loomis' sister, Emma, gives his game to his best friend, Hutch. They, and his friends Miller, Phineus with his sister October, Swink and Abigail play the game together. When Miller and Phineus die the same way they died in the game, the survivors disclose that the game is based on the life of the evil Countess Elizabeth Bathory. She was buried alive in the tower of her real state in the Geronge Plantation. With the police chasing them, the survivors reach the house and try to find the corpse of the Countess to destroy her fiend.

I'm a big fan of Stay Alive and the first time I saw it (a few years ago) I thought it was actually somewhat scary. The game itself looks amazing, the 'real' location of where the game takes place is equally amazing as well scary. 

Now the reason why this movie isn't in my top horror movies list is because of the TERRIBLE acting. It's sad really since there are a few familiar actors and actresses in this movie, such as Jon Foster (Terminator 3, but mostly known for being Ben Foster's brother), Samaire Armstrong (known from a shitload of teenage movies), Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle of course), Jimmi Simpson (Zodiac, Date Night, White House Down), Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes, The Divide) and Adam Goldberg (Saving Private Ryan, Deja Vu). 

Jon Foster is just emotionless in this movie, even though half of his friends died. It's sad that Ben Foster didn't took the role after all (he was first in mind). Samaire Armstrong is just terrible, unbelievable and inappropriate (for example, making pictures of sad people and funerals). Frankie Muniz and Jimmi Simpson were a bit decent at acting, but unfortunately Frankie Muniz' character wasn't a much in the movie and Jimmi Simpson was casted as some jerk. Milo Ventimiglia was the only real good actor in the movie, but unfortunately he died in the first scene.

I'm really disappointed by the acting in this movie, and most of all the characters that they played. The characters were supposed to have some deeper story but it's told very blank and it's hardly noticeable that it was something important that they told.

The most stupid thing from this movie was when Samaire Armstrong's character held a rose (a rose protects them for the evil) and she's going all 'He loves me... he loves me not' etc. No big deal of course, it isn't like that was the only thing that could protect you from the evil spirit thing.

It's a shame really because the rest of this movie very awesome. 

Overall, the movie had a great and refreshing concept. Unfortunately the execution of it was just lazy. My opinions on this movie are kinda mixed, I love the idea of it which makes me say that I loved watching this movie, but I hated the characters and the actors which makes me say that it was only a reasonable movie. It's certainly an enjoyable movie and it's worth to watch it at least one time.

My personal rate: 7/10

Review: Game of Thrones [Season 2]

Game of Thrones

Season 2

IMDB rate: 9,5

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, TV Show

It has been ages since my season 1 review, and in the meantime I've watched season 1, 2 and 3 a few times already. It's really a good show, but the problem with it is that it's a bit confusing. There are many names being said, and many of them are alike which makes it not a very easy show to watch. A few weeks ago I started reading the books and I must say that it really helps a lot with understanding the show. You have more time to get to know the names and it's just easier. After reading the first book I started watching season 1 again and it all suddenly became clear to me. 

The first book is much like the TV show, there's not a whole lot changed besides the ages of Khaleesi and stuff (in the first book she's 14 year old or so, and I get that people won't really accept 14 year old pregnancies and stuff). The second book (I'm reading that one now) is much different from the show, some parts are being left out, while some stuff is showed in the third season. 

This review won't be too long, I just wanted to give a short review about the second season since the second episode of the fourth season is already being released, so I have to keep up!

When I'm comparing the three seasons that have been released this far I must say that the second one is my least favorite one. That being said, I still love it loads. 

My favorite episodes of this season were the first episode (The North Remembers) and the ninth (Blackwater). Not much of a surprise actually, the first episodes are always good and so is the ninth. The other episode were great as well, but were less memorable. 

Game of Thrones is an excellent show and I'm already sad that we'll have to wait another year in 8/9 weeks. There are a bunch of great actors in this show, and the special effects are amazing. I do recommend reading the book as well if you're having trouble with memorizing all the different characters. The books are great but I think that the TV show is equally good. 

My personal rate: 9,5/10

Review: Hard Candy (2005)

Hard Candy

IMDB rate: 7,2

Genre: Thriller, Torture

Probably the third time that i watched Hard Candy. The first time I watched it I disliked it a bit, it's a very slow movie. Now, a few years later I'm still a bit annoyed by the slowness of it but I do like the story. It's very interesting. This will be a short review I think.

After three weeks of chatting with the thirty-two year old photographer Jeff Kohlver over the Internet, fourteen year old Hayley Stark meets him in the Nighthawks coffee show. Hayley flirts with him in spite of the age difference and proposes to go to his house. Once there, she prepares a screwdriver for them and Jeff passes out. When he awakes, he is tied up to a chair, and Hayley accuses him of pedophilia. Jeff denies the accusation, and Hayley begins to torture him in a cat and mouse game.

Since I first watched it I started to grow a slight disliking of Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson, and I never actually figured why I hated them, but when I watched it again last week I knew why. They are both excellent actors in this movie. Patrick Wilson, first a likable man who apparently likes little children. Ellen Page, a girl who isn't as innocent as she looks. Ellen Page's role is a bit annoying, but it's very effective and well, it's obviously acted amazingly since I started disliking her because of this movie. 

What's brilliant about this movie is the way the girl tortures the guy. It's mostly mental but when things get physical it's getting real tough. Even though you don't see anything of it, it's kinda nasty even to think about it.

It's not a movie that people like easily. Ellen Page's character is a smart young girl, she is excellent at mentally torturing the guy. She's definitely not a very likable character, but still her motives are very clear. Patrick Wilson's character is a charming man, of course you have your questions with their whole meet up in his case, it's kinda pedophile-like, even though he doesn't seem to be a pedophile 'type'. Her accusations aren't too weird since he also agreed on meeting up with her, but in the entire movie you're still not entirely sure if he's indeed a pedophile. The ending of this movie is simple, but very effective and even slightly shocking.

Hard Candy is a messed up movie, but still awesome in it's own way. The acting is incredibly good. The budget of this movie was very low but it's hardly noticeable. I liked the movie a lot. It's definitely not what I expected at first.

My personal rate: 8/10

Review: Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)

Texas Chainsaw 3D

IMDB rate: 4,8

Genre: Slasher

Boy, how I heard terrible things about this movie. The rating is terrible and with all these negative reviews around I was a bit terrified that this movie would be a big time waster. However, I did give this movie a chance. To be honest, I didn't even dislike it. It wasn't the best, the most original movie or the most logical movie, but still... it wasn't too bad.

Texas Chainsaw is a sequel for the original movie from 1974, and it completely ignores The Beginning or the remake. 

After the first massacre in 1974, the townspeople suspected that the Sawyer family were responsible. A vigilante mob of enraged locals surrounded the Sawyer house, burning it to the ground and killing every last member of the family. Decades later a young named Heather learns that she has inherited a Texas estate from her grandmother. She decided to bring her friends along on the road trip to investigate her inheritance. On arrival she uncovers she has inherited a mansion but is yet to uncober the terrors that lurk in the basement below it.

The worst thing about this movie is the fact that everyone is in their twenties. The original movie took place in 1974 and it is being stated that the main character Heather is the child of Verna, who got killed by her adoptive parents. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if the movie was set in the 90's, But unfortunately it's set around 2012. Honestly, this is one of the biggest mistakes to make when you're making such a sequel. It's sad that the physical appearance of the main cast is more important than the actual story. 

The story is kinda slasher standard, a group of teenagers go to a house for vacation. In this case it's also because Heather inherited the house. But well, once they arrive at the house things are of course going wrong because Leatherface also still lives there. Now I wonder if they did took his age in consideration, since he would be 60 years old in the movie, but well, perhaps they made him younger as well which would make him around 40 years old. What is most surprising is the fact that Leatherface can run like the wind, and this in combination with a heavy chainsaw.

The acting isn't too great, Alexandra Daddario isn't too convincing unfortunately. So are her movie friends, they have no connection with each other whatsoever, and of course there is the casual cheating in it. Oh, and of course there is the (good looking) hitchhiker, who isn't nice or anything at all. 

Even though there's not a whole lot to like, I didn't dislike it. Or better said, it's not as bad as I expected. The twist at the ending seemed to be at bit random, at first Leatherface is chasing her at the fair with the chainsaw (not having eye for anyone else, strangely enough), and a few scenes later she is begging the officer to save his life and suddenly she starts caring for her and he for her. It was a bit too much Rob Zombie's Halloween for me, but it was a nice twist. It would have been better though if she let the cop kill him so that all this would be over and we wouldn't be having any more sequels, remakes, reboots or prequels. 

And then there's the stupid 3D. I am not a fan of 3D, at all. And for what I'm told it's only the chainsaw 'reaching' towards you if you're watching it in 3D. All I know is, this effect looks dumb as fuck when seeing it normally.

Actually, the more I write about this movie, the more stupid the movie seems. I liked it better than the prequel though, The Beginning was truly terrible. Texas Chainsaw 3D isn't a very good movie, but if you expect the least of it I think it's actual reasonable.

My personal rate: 5,5/10

Review: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 

IMDB rate: 7,5

Genre: Slasher

It took way too long for me to watch this movie, and what's even worse is that I watched Texas Chainsaw 3D before the original one... Yes, that's absolutely disgusting of me but well, I thought Texas Chainsaw 3D was a bit odd so I figured, let's watch this one as well since 3D is a follow up for the original movie. The Texas Chainsaw 3D review will be up this week as well. 

Sally Hardesty and her wheelchaired brother Franklin along with three friends travel to a cemetary where there have been grave robbings. To continue their trip, they pick up a hitchhiker. The hitchhiker turns out to be crazy so they drop him off and proceed with the trip. They go to visit an old house where Sally and Franklins' Grandfather used to live. One follows a trail from the back of the house and that's when it all begins. 

This was my first time watching the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I did already watch the remake and the prequel Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and Texas Chainsaw 3D, but they are very difficult to compare. I expected that it would be a lot like the remake, but that wasn't really true. The remake contains a lot more (interesting) dialogue, is a lot more bloody and makes Leatherface look more as a tool of his family rather than an actual person. 

Now, the interesting dialogue is of course what I liked more about the remake, it was easier to watch and especially more interesting to watch. I think that Michael Bay's attempt for remaking this movie is done very well actually. The gore doesn't matter a whole lot I think, we know that the effect of a chainsaw will be bloody, it's doesn't have to show all those details to make it more interesting. There's indeed a lot more gore in the remake and while I liked it, I also liked the 'softer' version of it. What I liked more about this movie was that Leatherface seemed to be more a person. He is frustrated when someone escapes, and shows that very clearly. Also, he gets hurt by his own chainsaw and he actually screams in pain. In the remake he seems more like some sort of indestructible robot or something. 

What is very notable about this movie is the noise. There's a lot of noise. Noise in a screaming form, not the most pleasant one. Screaming is kinda normal in a horror movie, but this amount of screaming was just nonsense. The sound isn't all too well because it's an older movie, so while they were talking I had to turn the volume up, but then the screaming started so I had to turn the volume down again because it was very annoying. In the end it resulted in changing the volume a lot. 

I liked the acting, especially from Edwin Neil (the hitchhiker), but I didn't like it very much from the main characters. Especially Paul Partain (Franklin) annoyed the crap out of me. 

The camera work is kinda variable, some shots are too dark to see anything, but the end shot with Leatherface being frustrated is done beautifully. Amazingly shot I think.

It's a good movie I think, but it's still weird for me to see 'older' movies, since I grew up with more technologically advanced movies. It's just so different! I must say that I liked both the remake and the original one. 

My personal rate: 7,5/10

Review: 30 Days of Night: Dark Days (2010)

30 Days of Night: Dark Days

IMDB rate: 4,4

Genre: Vampire

Click here for the link to the first 30 Days of Night review!

Let's start with saying that this movie was an absolute disappointment compared to the previous movie. Not very strange of course, since the beginning starts with where the first one ended. One things different though: there isn't a Melissa George in sight!

Stella experienced a real terror in Alaska, where her husband was killed by vampires. After a long journey around the world, trying to prove their existence, she settled in Los Angeles. There she came across with a vampire society. Determined to get revenge for her husband's death, she will do the impossible to destroy the vampires.

I already made my biggest complaint, there is no Melissa George in the sequel. So the movie already starts with a big disappointment. The one who now plays Stella is the actrice Kiele Sanchez. I'm not very familiar with her as an actrice, besides Dark Days I've only seen her in Lost as Nikki I believe. I didn't like her in Lost, and neither did I in Dark Days. 

Stella meets a few people and goes hunting for vampires, kinda boring to be honest. Every action is predictable and so is every so called jump scare. The concept is too simple, Stella searching for revenge with a bunch of noobs is too simple. There's the black guy, who is killed at first (isn't this the stereotype thing that horror makers need to avoid?), there is a friend vampire who Stella first wants to kill, and later she cries because he's killed, there's the annoying 'I told you so' girl and the new temporarily boyfriend. Of course, everyone gets killed by vampires, except for Stella. Oh, she also figures out that dead vampires can be brought back as vampire by human blood, so she brings Eben (also he isn't Josh Hartnett) back who immediately kills her. By the way, wasn't he all in ashes at the ending of 30 Days of Night....?

Nope, I definitely wasn't much of a fan of Dark Days. What I liked about the first one was the fact that it was really dark for 30 days, which makes it a lot harder to survive all what was going on. Even though this movie is called 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, it wasn't much dark, because it was set in Los Angeles (how surprising). They should have called the movie 30 Days of Regular Day and Nightlight. 

30 Days of Night: Dark Days is simply rubbish. A boring standard story, terrible acting and the whole idea of 30 Days of Night was brought back to a simple vampire slayer movie. There's really nothing about this movie interesting enough to watch. 

My personal rate: 3/10

The Walking Dead: Season 4, episode 16: A

We finally arrived at the last episode of this season. There were a lot of rumors going around on this episode, and to be honest, I don't think this episode lived up to any of those rumors. It was a good episode, with a nice (and frustrating) cliffhanger, but for a last episode I want brutality, shocking events etc. Not something that was kinda predictable. I mean heading to Terminus could only be Woodbury 2.0 to keep this show interesting. I expected at least one main character death, but nope, not even that was fulfilled. 

! As usual, this is where the spoilers start :) !

This episode mainly evolves around Rick, Michonne and Carl. At least at first it does. We also see a few flashbacks to the prison time, where Hershel tells Rick that he needs to take some time off (this is why he gave up his leadership). It was nice seeing Hershel again, but for the last episode of the season it was just a waste of time. They should have spend it on a bit more action. 

Anyway, Rick, Michonne and Carl run into the guys who they escaped a few episodes back. The brutal guys where Daryl's hangs out with. They know that Rick killed their buddy and that's why their leader (Lou) keeps a gun at his head. Another guy seems to be interested in Carl for sexual reasons which is not something that Rick appreciates. 

Daryl finds out that his new group is attacking Rick and he tries to stop them by saying that he sacrifices himself for them. Which results in him getting beaten up, along with the others. Carl is almost being raped and at first Rick is useless against them, but then he flips out so much that he bites the neck of Lou. Michonne kills the other with a gun and Daryl also helps. The guy molesting Carl is of course brutally beaten to death by Rick. 

They take some time to come back to breath after this adventure and after a while they're heading to Terminus. They don't trust them and sneak up on them. The Terminus people react calmly and take them to the BBQ lady. Then Rick notices that one guy is holding Glenn's watch (the one he got from Hershel), while another girl walks in Daryl's poncho. Rick knows that somethings up and starts shooting. Resulting in a lot of shooting from both sides (nobody hits) and at one point Carl, Michonne, Rick and Daryl are surrounded. They are commanded to leave their weapons and to walk in some container. While in this container they meet Maggie's group, who are also captured.

Basically, this is the episode. It was a good episode, sure, but it wasn't 'finale worthy'. This is how each episode of The Walking Dead should be, not the finale. The finale should be brutal, filled with murders, filled with walkers and filled with huge ass cliffhangers. The only thing that happened here is that they are stuck in Terminus, Rick ended the episode by saying 'they're messing with the wrong people', and that's about it. The neck biting thing was also cool, it was tensive as hell to see these guys show up and capturing them, but again, not finale worth. Of course, I'm curious about the fifth season and how they will handle the Terminus situation, but not in a 'I'M DYING TO SEE IT' way, also I'm not heartbroken because a main character died, and that's actually what I was preparing for. Also, the flashbacks where totally unnecessary.

The ending was a bit disappointing to be unfortunately. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it either. 

The Walking Dead: Season 4, episode 15: Us

The fifteenth episode of the season was a good one, but also a bit boring. It wasn't the best one of the season, definitely not. At this point I've already seen the last episode of the season and well, you can read about it in my next TWD review.

This will probably be a short review.

!!SPOILERS!!

Everyone is going towards Terminus. Glenn and Tara decide to split up from Eugene and Abraham Ford because they want to go through the tunnel and Abraham wants to keep Eugene save because 'he has the answer to everything'. Glenn and Tara got in trouble though inside the tunnel, but luckily Eugene managed to find Maggie and co. so they were able to save them right before the walkers got to them. 

Result: Happy reunion of Maggie and Glenn.

It was nice to see that Glenn and Maggie were reunited again, that was their whole purpose so, finally. It was also cool to see that Eugene and Abraham Ford decided to stay with the group for awhile, because we are all very curious about Eugene's story of course. 

We also follow Darryl who is with the 'mean group', as I like to call them. He learns their rules but isn't entirely comfortable with them.

Not too interesting really, Darryl is a bit weak in this group and the others are real douche-bags. It's really just a matter of time until he walks out on them I think, so we'll just have to wait for that.

In other news, the group of Glenn etc. arrived at Terminus. There's a nice welcome by a bbq'ing lady. Now I've heard a few rumors about these Terminus people and their eating habits, so I'll hope to find out soon the truth about that...

I don't have a whole lot to say about what happened actually... It wasn't bad or anything, it was just.. normal I guess. A nice way of telling how it continued, but nothing special really.