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

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

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

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

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

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

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