Last Seen Contemporary Movie

[ImmortalSlasher]

Shrooms a.k.a. A Group of Idiots go to the Woods in a Foreign Country to take Hallucinogens and play Ten Little Indians -


The idea alone of going into the woods to take mushrooms is pretty stupid to me. I always thought mushrooms were poisonous after seeing them in my yard when I was young. I still avoid them. Forget about eating them. Besides my mind can go to wild places without drugs. Check out my dream posts. Even alcohol isn't the best for me. As I don't like to depress things.

It's obvious who the killer is if you ignore the red herring. Why? Because this is a horror movie complete with a Jason type campfire story. And we've seen this "twist" before in another horror movie. You would think after that one that no one would try it again. It didn't work in that one and it doesn't work in this one either.

The best part is a scene when a guy meets a talking cow in the woods. Other than that it's a pass.

[_____V_____]

RZ's Spider Baby, effort-wise. Dull and slow to begin with, interspersed with some nice, atmospheric, reminiscent of old-school horror sequences which brighten up the proceedings occasionally.

Problem with the film is that RZ has tried to take things a bit too seriously and has tried to make it all seem like a surreal nightmare. The film's plot could have benefited more from his HO1C/TDR approach, making it more of a grindhouse homage than an actual atmospheric trip interspersed with confusing, surreal scapes.

Screenplay is the culprit here, but RZ doesn't help any with his lackadaisical approach to things. So many talented actors of the genre, but most of them wasted, except for Dee Wallace and Meg Foster who try to make things a bit more enlivening.

Watch if you are an ardent RZ fan.

P.S. - About time he stopped using his wife in his films. She tries her best, but can't avoid looking tired.

* * ½

[roshiq]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Safe Haven was fantastic! The movie overall was just OK, but worth it just to see that clip. I need to watch the director's other films - Have you seen any of them?

Originally Posted by Angra

"Footsteps" sounds good. The rest of his movies are martial arts flicks.

Safe Haven directed by Gareth Evans & Timo Tjahjanto. I've seen only The Raid: Redeption (Martial art action flick) by Gareth Evans and Macabre aka Darah aka Rumah Dara by Timo Tjahjanto which is a TCM like gruesome horror flick from Indonesia about a crazy family run by a weird-evil lady called Dara, found it nothing special.

[_____V_____]

Found some answers.

Found some more questions.


* * * ½

[Despare]

Riddick

I wasn't expecting much, especially since I love the universe created in the last couple flicks and heard they weren't really expanding on it much here. They didn't. I still liked it. Big budget, B-movie, monster madness right here.

[roshiq]

The Haunting of Julia aka Full Circle (1977)

Based on Peter Straub's novel, it tells the story of Julia Lofting (fittingly played by Mia 'Rosemary' Farrow), who's fleeing an unhappy marriage shortly after the death of her only daughter and moves to a new home where becomes haunted by the ghost of a vengeful little girl. Though it sounds & started like just another well made 70s typical atmospheric horror film with a very few ghostly encounters but this dialog driven, pretty slow burn horror flick offers a pretty intelligent ghost story that requires your full attention. At times, some may find the plot bit confusing as there were too much information about some important off-screen/past characters & events, and then there you'd have the suspicions & questions about whether it was all in Julia's psychologically twisted mind or there's actually a ghost but again...is it the ghost of Julia's dead daughter or an evil little girl killed by her mother who used to live there before or may be that poor little boy who died at a nearby park by some evil-twisted kids long ago??? The thing that remarkably completes this whole puzzle was its great-spooky ending; I'd say the ending also made it quite different than other films with seemingly similar premise and just lift it almost to the same level with 70s unique classics like Don't Look Now or even Let's Scare Jessica to Death!

>>: A-

Stoker (2013)

It's surely an awesome watch for Chan-wook Park's excellent cinematography with such great use of light, shadows & colors that made this thriller brilliantly atmospheric & engaging that would made Sir A. Hitchcock proud 'without a doubt'....but that's my friend I like to note here as a drawback for a film made by the director of such outstanding films like Oldboy & Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance! Though, as a new screenwriter, the Prison-Break actor Wentworth Miller done a very promising job & I'd love to hear he gets busy with more scripts in coming days but as a story I found the Stoker is nothing but a modern & slightly twisted update of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt which stylishly made by Mr. Park and that's the little disappointment for me; as a fan of his earlier films, I expect more twisted & thought-provoking challenging stories in Park's film that would made our viewing experience something very special or unforgettable like the way he did in his Vengeance trilogy. But again, Stoker is obviously a quite satisfying experience for thriller lovers where the little cast convincingly shines through their roles, particularly Matthew Goode once again proves his talent (after the Watchmen) that he can be a significant choice for the filmmakers next time to play any psychologically twisted or intelligent bad guy role.

Overall, Stoker is marvelous in visuals & character developments but plot wise it's just an old wine in a new bottle, which isn't a little bit of a bad thing at all unless it's made by a highly talented director like Chan-wook Park.

>>: B+

[Despare]

V/H/S

I don't know, I must really dig horror compilation type films because I enjoyed this one. Some of the segments were disjointed, there was some bad acting, and it was pretty silly as whole but I still found myself liking it.

[neverending]

INSIDIOUS

An excellent, if flawed film. The first 3/4 I thought was near perfect. The mother and father were real, sympathetic characters played well by both actors. I found the actor playing the father in particular giving a nuanced performance with more depth than the usual "doubting father" role. The increasing visitations were truly frightening. I found some of the comic relief off-putting, and the gadgetry silly. The last act kind of ran out of steam for me. The dream world was not very scary and the big battle was anti-climactic. I know they were gearing up for the final twist, but the payoff would have been more meaningful if the father's battle for his son had been more harrowing. I give it 8 out of 10.

[The Villain]

The Croods

Watched this with my kids. They loved it. I thought it was cute and entertaining.

[Angra]

"Three inches" 5/10


Never seen a super-hero movie with this little action.

The story sounded fun. It wasn't.



"Boot Camp" 5/10

Good story badly executed.