Review: Land of the Dead (2005)

Land of the Dead

IMDB rate: 6,3

Genre: Zombie

First time seeing Land of the Dead! Another movie that I bought a long time ago and haven't watched until last weekend. I don't even know how I got this movie. Anyway, I quite enjoyed this movie. The zombies were more advanced and the story was reasonable. 

Now that zombies have taken over the world, the living have built a walled-in city to keep the dead out. But all's not well where it's most safe, as a revolution plans to overthrow the city leadership, and the zombies are turning into more advanced creatures.

I loved how the zombies were actually learning things in this movie. This proves that they are not completely brain-dead and might even have a chance to become normal again when there's found a cure. It was brilliant to see how the zombies picked up weapons and started using them. Not in the fastest or smartest way, but they did notice that they could use these objects in their benefit. Also, there's this one zombie that keeps returning and he actually tried saving other zombies. When people drove by to shoot some of them, he tried throwing them on the ground so the bullets would miss them. It was almost adorable to see. Or throwing himself into the water, to find out that they could swim across the river that protected the city. Brilliant to see that the zombies are learning.

The acting is decent in this movie. I'm not a big fan of Simon Baker, but he was decent. He was not all woolly like he sometimes plays so that's a good thing. Robert Joy was the one that I loved in this movie. I think he's a brilliant actor and even in this movie he's very good. He was quite adorable playing someone not very smart. 

What I really loved about this movie was the fact that Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright had a small role in it. I did not even notice the two of them but I read that they played a small role so of course I had to look back until I saw them. They played two zombies chained in a club. It's the two zombies that people take pictures with. I really did not recognize them, not even when I knew that it were them. The make-up in this entire movie is very good. It looks incredibly real. So you can imagine how frightened I was when the Clown Zombie showed up ;).

The movie is filled with gore and is absolutely brilliant. The movie is a bit different from George Romero's other work but it's still a masterpiece. It's not an independent film like the other ones, but that does not change much. There's not much character development, but that's also not what I was looking for in this movie. The storyline was not very interesting, but the gore made quite up for that fact.

Land of the Dead is a very fun movie. Quite different from Romero's other work, but still quite enjoyable. It's not a very serious movie and there's not much attention for storyline or character development, but that did not take the fun away from this movie. I quite enjoyed watching this one.

My personal rate: 6,5/10

Review: Halloween (1978)

Halloween (1978)

IMDB rate: 7,9

Genre: Slasher

So it was about time that I watched Halloween again, the original this time. It's only the second time that I watched this movie. I quite liked this movie but I must say that Rob Zombie's version also has some good points. There's a lot to compare!

The year is 1963, the night: Halloween. Police are called to 43 Lampkin Ln. only to discover that 15 year old Judith Myers has been stabbed to death, by her 6 year-old brother, Michael. After being institutionalized for 15 years, Myers breaks out on the night before Halloween. No one knows, nor wants to find out, what will happen on October 31st 1978 besides Myers' psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis. He knows Michael is coming back to Haddonfield, but by the time the town realizes it, it'll be too late for many people.

Okay, so the first thing that I liked more in Rob Zombie's version was the actor who played young Michael Myers. Daeg Faerch portrayed the young Michael Myers extremely good and the guy who played Michael Myers in the original, Will Sandin, was not very scary to me. Daeg Farch actually looked like some lunatic from who you can expect these things, while Will Sandin looked kinda sweet. It's only a few seconds that you see him, but I don't think he was the 'right' look for a psychopath.

What I also enjoyed more in Rob Zombie's version was the longer story behind Michael Myers. A few things that happened in his life, a reason why he committed these crimes. Obviously, Michael Myers is much more brutal in Rob Zombie's version, he actually killed his entire family instead of just his sister. A big difference. Also, he did not kill everyone that he came across while escaping the institution. 

I think Rob Zombie's version is a bit more believable why Dr. Loomis finds him dangerous. He's always acted as a psychopath, plus he has a reason to go back to Haddonfield in the remake. In the original there's nothing known yet.  Michael does not even know yet that Laurie Strode actually is his sister, so he's actually chasing her for no reason (this is revealed in Halloween II, while in the remake she was already born when he started murdering). I thought it was better when he already knew that she was his sister so it would actually give him a reason to go back to Haddonfield and chase specifically her. 

But, that's also a weaker thing in Rob Zombie's version. Michael is searching for his little sister and actually tries to connect with her, so while he's much more brutal in the beginning, in the ending he turned out a bit soft.

Things that I liked about the original was that Michael seemed to be more human. He's driving, which means he had to study Dr. Loomis driving or else he wouldn't be able to drive that well immediately. He also bumped in a child and did not anything. In Rob Zombie's version the child would probably have been ripped to pieces. 

The acting in Halloween is quite good. It's very cool seeing such a young Jamie Lee Curtis. I must say that Laurie is a bit boring in the movie, but I did like her. I think that this 'type of Laurie' fitted the movie much better. What I hated most about the remake was Scout Taylor-Compton, I find her incredibly irritating as an actress, so I guess everyone will be on lead in comparison with Scout Taylor-Compton

Things that were also cool was the way the beginning was filmed. You see through Michael's eyes -or actually, through Michael's mask-, and you only see him in person after he killed his sister. It looked quite cool.

I also love the Halloween soundtrack, but it is being played every time that Michael shows up, even when you don't actually see him in a close-up, so after a while it's getting a bit predictable and takes away the element of surprise.

So, that was kinda a long story. There's a lot to compare between these movies and even after writing this I'm not quite sure which one I liked better. They both have strong elements, which makes it hard for me to decide. I think the acting was better in the original. I also think it was filmed more creative. What I liked in the remake was the storyline, it was much more advanced and gave a better understanding of Michael.

My personal rate: 7/10

Review: My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009)

My Bloody Valentine

IMDB rate: 5,4

Genre: Slasher

This is the second time that I watch this movie and to be honest, the more I watch it, the more I hate it. It's quite a dumb movie with a few very stupid actions. I've never seen the original movie, but I'm planning to watch it eventually.

In the mining town of Harmony, a drilling accident is caused by the son of the owner, Tom Hanniger. The mine collapses, burying six miners alive. The rescue team finds only Harry Warden alive, but in coma, and the other miners murdered by his pickaxe, and they conclude that Harry killed them to save oxygen for himself. On Valentine's Day, Harry awakes from his coma in the local hospital, and he kills twenty-two people, including a group of teenagers that are partying in the mine. Harry is killed by the deputy, but the only survivors are Tom Hanniger, his girlfriend Sarah, their friend Axel Palmer and his girlfriend Irene. Ten years later, Tom returns to Harmony after the death of his father. Tom has decided to sell the Hanniger Mine, and finds that Sarah has married Axel, who is now the local sheriff, and they have a son named Noah. On Valentine's Day, Harry Warden also returns, seeking revenge against those that had escaped his pickaxe in the past, and Tom is accused by Axel and other locals, who in turn makes accusations against Axel.

First of all, I really really dislike movies with obvious 3D effects. I'm just watching this movie in 2D so stop throwing things at the screen. I actually blame this movie for making 3D a big thing.

The acting in this movie is okay. Jensen Ackles is an amazing actor and he can pull of his role very well. I think I only have this movie a chance because he played in it.
Jaime King is not a very good actress, this far I only liked her in Sin City and every other role she was rubbish. Her acting is kinda fake, at one point she is supposed to fall (of course, this is a horror movie, everybody falls, what did I expect?) and it just looks so terribly fake. There was nothing lying on the floor, how the hell did you even trip?
Kerr Smith is a good actor, but he seems to play the same roles a lot. Nothing wrong with the guy, but a change of roles might lift op your career a bit.

Well, the movie is kinda predictable. It's a slasher and we all know how these will end. The thing that I did like in this movie was the hearts in a box. You see, in most slasher movies it's just randomly slashing, but in this movie the guy actually took his time to cut their heart out and put it in a heart shaped box. I like that.
What I also liked was the ending, won't spoil a thing, but it was a good ending.

This movie did not scare me one bit. It was actually kinda boring and I had some trouble keeping attention to it. As I already said, I have never seen the original, but I'm quite curious about it. Most originals are better anyway and I think this movie actually has some potential. I hope I will find the movie soon so I can watch it.

All together, My Bloody Valentine is not worth watching. The acting is decent but the story is just boring. The movie is very predictable and unimaginative.

My personal rate: 4,5/10

Review: Forget Me Not (2009)

Forget Me Not

IMDB rate: 5,0

Genre: Revenge, Supernatural

Once in a few weeks time I buy a random movie that can either suck or be great. Unfortunately, I'm mostly buying shitty movies such as Forget Me Not. Today was the first time I saw this movie and it's quite a waste of time to be honest. It was not the most terrible movie I've ever seen but it was kinda bad. 

I always enjoy watching one of these movies that I randomly bought because I'll have no idea what to expect, but most of the time I'm only disappointed afterwards. Of course there are also surprising movies between randomly bought movies, such as I Spit On Your Grave, a movie that I loved. 

I wish that I could put Forget Me Not on my Randomly-bought-good-movies list, but unfortunately that's not the case.

It's graduation weekend, and Sandy Channing, the popular class president of her small-town high school, should be enjoying the time of her life. But when her friends start disappearing, Sandy discovers they have unwittingly awakened the vengeful spirit of a girl they wronged long ago. Fighting for her sanity, Sandy must unlock a dark secret from her own past before it's too late.

The first thing that needs to be discussed is the acting: it's terrible. Carly Schroeder plays the main character Sandy in this movie and she's the one I'm most disappointed about. I loved her so much in the movie Mean Creek, and now she's just rubbish. The other actors too; just horrible. 

They are supposed to seem like a fun group of friends who have the best time ever, but all I can see is a huge group of very shallow and unfriendly people. They cheat, lie and call each other names the entire movie. The one is even a bigger slut than the other. Just horrible people, and for such a group of friends I can't even feel sorry for them when they are being slaughtered. 

The story is very weird, when you finally think you understand it, things are suddenly different and everything is because of some girl in a coma. Why is the girl in the coma doing this after such a long time? How is she even able to do that? The reasons given for this are so thinly explained.

I must say, the creatures might look weird but I can imagine that some people might be scared by them. I don't know what's up with their mouths and with all the duck-tape around their body but they look a bit scary that way, so apparently, weird mouths and duck-tape do the trick.

At first I thought this would be a reasonable movie, but the people in it are so terrible. Their characters and their acting. The story is not even terrible, but it's just so badly explained. I think the concept of this movie was okay, but I guess something went wrong when they started to make this movie. 

Forget Me Not is just a rubbish movie.

My personal rate: 4/10

Review: Joy Ride (2001)

Joy Ride

IMDB rate: 6,5

Genre: Survival, Revenge

Today I finally watched the movie Joy Ride. I've bought this movie quite some time ago, but I never got around watching it, so I guess it was time for me to watch it! I also own the sequel Joy Ride 2, and I have the feeling that I've seen that one before, but I'm not really sure yet. Will find out eventually, but I have the feeling that's not a very good movie. Anyway, for now I'll just write a review about the first part!

College student Lewis decides to drive across the country to see Venna, a friend who doesn't know that Lewis is interested in her romantically. Unfortunately for his plans, Lewis gets saddled with his raucous-spirited older brother, Fuller, whose on-the-road pranks get the brothers and Venna sucked into a nightmare when a psychotic truck-driver takes offense.

I actually quite liked this movie. It was very tensive, but not very scary. I kept wondering if they escaped the guy or not, or what the next step of him would be. It was really fun to watch.

The acting is very good. The main characters are being played by Leelee Sobieski, Paul Walker and Steve Zahn. It's kinda funny to see Steve Zahn in a horror movie since he mostly plays funny roles, but even in this movie he's the crazy one. I don't really think he fitted the role, but it was acceptable. Paul Walker is an excellent actor and I seriously don't get why he keeps continuing those rubbish Fast & Furious movies because he can do so much better than that. Steve Zahn and Paul Walker unfortunately were not very convincing as brothers. They don't resemble each other for one bit.
I've only seen Leelee Sobieski in the remake of The Wicker Man and we all know how that movie turned out.. that remake is too rubbish to discuss but I must admit that her acting was decent in this movie.

The movie is fun to watch, but there are quite some bothering moments in this movie. For example, why do they not turn the CB off? Why don't they call the police? Why not stay in more populated places? The main characters make quite some dumb decisions for college students. But I'll ignore these things because they were not very bothering in the movie.

The movie is quite simple, you never see the villain, which makes everyone a suspect. You only hear a voice, which is quite an unsettling one (Fun fact: the voice is done by Ted Levine, the dude who played Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs, quite a scary thought huh?).
You also see very little of the happenings in the movie, you only hear the sounds.

Joy Ride was quite a surprising movie to me. It was written very well, it was quite tensive and there are hardly any cliches. I expected a bunch of teenagers that were challenging some guy but it was not like that at all. These are smart teenagers who pulled a prank on the wrong person. It can happen to anyone. I really enjoyed watching this one. I see it as the good version of 7eventy 5ive, but on the road this time.

My personal rate: 7,5/10

Review: Masters of Horror: Dreams in the Witch House (2005)

Dreams in the Witch House

Masters of Horror

IMDB rate: 6,5

Genre: Supernatural

The second episode of Masters of Horror. It's quite confusing that the DVD's are in a different order than the episodes are. Dreams in the Witch House is directed by Stuart Gordon, I'm unfortunately not familiar with his previous work (yet) but I eventually want to watch a few of his previous movies.

Walter Gilman, a college student, rents out s very cheap room in an old house, but it proves to be no bargain. One of his neighbors prays loudly and bangs on the furniture. Another neighbor, a single mother, issues a blood-curdling scream soon after his arrival. It turns out that she and her baby are being attacked by a persistent rat. Walter plugs up the rat-hole, but they still aren't safe. Walter is having nightmares - dreams that seem to have been inspired by the first neighbor, who warns him of a witch and her familiar: a rat with a human face. Walter soon suspects that the witch of his nightmare is real and that she is going to force him to kill the baby.

I can sure say that these Masters of Horror movies are strange. A rat with a human face, how do you even think of that? I'm not really sure what the whole purpose was of that but okay, let's just accept that this is a thing. When there's a close up of this rat it looks okay, but at some point it bites the baby and the face is just floating near the rat. It's quite terrible to see.

The acting is quite decent I must say. Ezra Godden plays the main character and he plays his part fine. The only thing that was a bit strange was his 'I'm scared shitless' expression, because it looks like his eyes will pop out of his head.

The story is quite good, it's very interesting because it felt like an adult witch story. Kinda spooky and cool. I thought the movie was over too quickly because it was so interesting, a longer version of this movie might have been even more interesting.

I read online that this movie is an adaption of H.P. Lovecraft's The Dreams in the Witch House, I'm absolutely not familiar with any of his work, but I must say that I quite enjoyed this adaption. His other books seem quite interesting too so I guess I'm going to search for a few books of him!

Dreams in the Witch House is one of the more interesting movies of Masters of Horror. The movie is quite strange but also good and fascinating. The acting is good and so are the special effects. For those who enjoy a weird but good horror movie; go watch Dreams in the Witch House!

My personal rate: 7/10

Review: Masters of Horror: Deer Woman (2005)

Deer Woman

Masters of Horror

IMDB rate: 6,5

Genre: Supernatural

Another Masters of Horror movie! This time it's episode 8: Deer Woman, made by John Landis. It's the third movie that I've watched from my Masters of Horror box and I'm still not very impressed by these movies. Incident on and Off a Mountain Road was the best one I guess, at least from what I've seen so far. Cigarette Burns was quite weird and Deer Woman is not a very bad movie but also not a very good movie. It's actually quite a funny movie but absolutely not scary.

Again, sorry for the shitty pictures.

When the body of a truck driver is found trampled in his truck, the burnt-out detective Dwight Faraday is assigned for the bizarre case. He arrives tot he crime scene in a parking area with Officer Jacob Reed and their investigation discloses that the victim had left a tavern with a gorgeous woman and apparently had been trampled by a heavy animal in the truck cabin. Later, two other bodies of men arrive in the morgue in the same conditions, and the coroner Dana notes that all of them had erection in the moment of death, and Dwight notes hooves in the body. Dana investigates further and finds deer footprints and hair in the corpses. When Dwight and Reed talk to an Indian descendent in a casino, they unravel a Pohancan legend about a deer woman, half woman but having deer hooves and trampling men after seducing them. Without any other lead, they begin to believe that every legend is based on facts.

Deer Woman is definitely a weird movie, but also a bit funny. At one point the detective is thinking about possible scenarios' and these are all being showed of course. They are really funny but look terrible. For example, the picture above is showing one of these scenarios', I think you'll get why I find this funny. 

The acting is not very good. Especially the main actor is a bit emotionless, which makes it very hard to believe him. Of course, a Deer Woman itself is not very believable but some good acting might make me doubt. 

Also, the dialogues are terrible. Filled with awkwardness and it sounds very weird

The movie is not bad, it's quite funny. It's not very scary although there was one little jump-scare. I'm not sure if it's a recommendable movie, it's nothing special to be honest. Just a funny weird movie.

My personal rate: 5,5/10