After Dark Horrorfest 2010: 8 Films to Die For IV

[Roderick Usher]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

OK - That TOTALLY validates me. I SERIOUSLY connected with our characters; I cared more about them than I usually do about horror characters. I really thought that this movie was a diamond in the rough.

I'll tell Anthony you liked it when I see him this Saturday.

[roshiq]

Lately finished watching all Horrorfest 4 films.

Good ones:

Dread & Hidden.

Worth a watch (may be):

Kill Theory & ZMD

Disappointing:

The Final, The Reeds & Lake Mungo.

Dreadful:

The Graves.

[Deimos]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

Lionsgate presents the fourth installment of the After Dark Horrorfest 8 Films to Die For with a new horrifying collection of DVDs from the popular national film festival.




The DVDs included are Lake Mungo, The Graves, Dread, Zombies of Mass Destruction, Hidden, The Final, Kill Theory and The Reeds.

These films will be released theatrically nationwide in top markets around the country the week of January 29th.

Each year, the collection brings together some of the best in independent horror filmmaking. The 2010 collection of After Dark Horrorfest 8 Films to Die For is available as single DVDs or all together as a DVD box set and as digital downloads.



In Lake Mungo, sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer drowns while swimming in the local dam. When her body is recovered and a verdict of accidental death returned, her grieving family buries her. The family then experiences a series of strange and inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Profoundly unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of psychic and parapsychologist, Ray Kemeny. Ray discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. A series of clues lead the family to Lake Mungo where Alice's secret past emerges. Quietearth.com states, the film "...doesn't need to rely on gimmicks to get under your skin," while The Hollywood Reporter declared, "A convincing mock-documentary style lifts 'Lake Mungo' beyond spooky supernatural mystery into the realms of emotional truth-telling." The DVD features the theatrical trailer.


From the creator of the legendary comics Evil Ernie and Lady Death, comes The Graves. On their last weekend together, Megan and Abby Graves are lost in a remote part of the Arizona desert where they are lured to Skull City Mine, an abandoned mine town. But they soon learn Skull City is anything but abandoned - and there's no way out. The sisters are now prey, forced to unleash their most primitive instincts in a desperate, all-out battle for survival against unspeakable horrors - both human and supernatural. The DVD features two audio commentaries plus a couple of featurettes, audition and script read footage, a music video, "Spot the Gnome" game and the downloadable original script.


Produced by Clive Barker and adapted from his Books of Blood collection by Anthony DiBlasi (screenwriter), Dread follows Stephen (Jackson Rathbone, The Twilight Saga) and Cheryl (Laura Donnelly), college students making a documentary about what people dread in life. But they have no idea that their partner, Quaid (Shaun Evans), witnessed his parents being murdered by an axe-wielding lunatic and wants to make others experience his own personal horror. Called "one of the finest Clive Barker adaptations to date," by Shocktillyoudrop.com, "Dread delivers on all chilling counts," according to Fangoria.com. The DVD contains the featurette "Facing the Fear: Behind the Scenes of Dread," plus "A Conversation with Clive Barker and Director Anthony Diblasi" and deleted scenes.


A conservative island community is under attack! Port Gamble, Washington is being overrun with brain eaters, and the people seem powerless to stave them off. A rag tag band of rebels led by Frida, an Iranian college student suspected of being an Iraqi terrorist, and Tom, a gay businessman who has returned to town with his partner to come out to his mother, tries to turn the tide and push the invading hoards of undead back. Called "the best of its type since Shaun of the Dead," Filmthreat.com states, "Zombies of Mass Destruction is a limb-shucking, eye-gouging hoot, full of both disemboweled stomachs and belly laughs." The DVD contains the "Making of Zombies of Mass Destruction" featurette.


With his mother's passing, KK returns home after nineteen years to settle her estate. But with his heritage comes dark and deadly secrets. Having spent the last two decades trying to forget his cruel mother and his past life in the creepy house in the woods, KK finds that there are some things you just can't run from. Thefreshfilms.com declares "...Hidden is bordering on greatness."


Dane, an awkward student with a deadly vendetta, leads a group of outcasts who plot to avenge the years of humiliation they faced by the popular students at Hohn High School. The outcasts turn the tables on the popular students who made sport of them and prepare for a single night that will leave their tormentors scarred for life. The DVD of The Final features audio commentary with the producer and director plus behind the scenes footage and a deleted scene.


Seven college students visit a secluded vacation home to celebrate graduation and become trapped in a deadly game by a mysterious killer. Forced to kill one another by 6 am the following morning, only one of them can remain alive. Whoever remains will be allowed to walk away with his or her life. However, if morning comes and more than one is still breathing, everyone dies. Friends and couples must test their trust as the clock ticks away. Some will fight for love, some to survive, but all will change. Because deep down... we're all killers. The DVD special features include the featurette "Kill Theory: Behind the Scenes" plus two alternate openings and a deleted scene.


A weekend boating party turns into a nightmare for a group of young Londoners when they stumble upon a terrifying secret hidden in "The Reeds".


Pricing: DVD $19.98 each
Pricing: DVD Box Set $159.98

Sweet. thanks.

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by Deimos

Sweet. thanks.

What - No thanks to Chrono? Hrmph.

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by Roderick Usher

I'll tell Anthony you liked it when I see him this Saturday.

VERY cool - The movie was really impressive in terms of how much emotion it got out of me. Yeesh.

[_____V_____]

Big thanks to Chrono for all her awesome reviews. :)

And plenty of smooches, wherever she wants them. ;)

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

Big thanks to Chrono for all her awesome reviews. :)

And plenty of smooches, wherever she wants them. ;)

Awww, thanks, V! *SNUGGLES*

I've actually been procrastinating A LOT this year because the movies have been so damn disappointing as a whole... Two more reviews to go. I've seen all of the movies at this point, it's a matter of taking the time to write down my thoughts.

[_____V_____]

A film like Triangle would have been a great entry in the AD series, especially this year.

It has been disappointing for sure. Except for ZMD (and to an extent Hidden and Lake Mungo), nothing to write home about.

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

A film like Triangle would have been a great entry in the AD series, especially this year.

It has been disappointing for sure. Except for ZMD (and to an extent Hidden and Lake Mungo), nothing to write home about.

I have to agree with you on that one (though we'll have to AGREE to DISagree on Dread)... I thought that Lake Mungo was a pleasant surprise, so that will lead me to my next review...

Lake Mungo





Not gonna lie; this movie had a few things going against it when I went into watching it:

• The movie poster reminded me IMMEDIATELY of Drag Me to Hell's (which made me think, "RIPOFF)
• This was the last of the 8 Films for this year that I watched and I wasn't overly impressed.
• "Lake Mungo" is a really really stupid title.

So, suffice to say, I was pleasantly surprised when this film turned out to be a smartly done, incredibly well-acted and -filmed mockumentary.

I haven't seen a whole lot of horror mockumentaries. I would count Blair Witch in that category, as its premise was a "documentary" gone wrong, and I would throw American Zombie in there as well (which I STILL highly recommend, for those of you who haven't seen it). There's also Behind The Mask; And both of those are two completely different movies from Lake Mungo.

Lake Mungo is a series of interviews, found photographs and video footage of the Palmer Family who is grieving over the loss of their daughter, Alice, who drowned prior to the filming. In fact, the "reason" for the "documentary" are the bizarre occurrences and notoriety that the family receives following the wake of her passing...

Through convincing interviews of family and friends, the story is slowly revealed, as is Alice's past. As with any grieving family, they begin to search for any way possible where Alice could still be with them... And so comes the photographs.

Lake Mungo isn't a straight-out haunting movie, like Paranormal Activity; instead it takes the viewer through stills and photographs, where Alice's visage seems to appear - This kind of slow subtlety is the kind of glorious horror that just makes the hairs on your arms stand up.

I'm personally a fan of the "ghost photographs" phenomenon, whether they be "real," or doctored, like the Slender Man. That the narrative revolves around the discovery and reveal of the Palmer Family's ghostly images is an intriguing concept, and one that definitely kept me glued to the television.

While this movie doesn't have the flat-out "scares" of something like Paranormal Activity or Blair Witch, its subtlety definitely captured a genuine creepy mood that made me feel uneasy for most of the film.

My only issue with the film is that, by choosing the mockumentary style, you don't really get the climactic scene that you get with other hand-held ghost films, like the two mentioned above. Instead, the tone feels a bit disaffected and you don't have the big "payoff" as you generally expect. While I thought that the movie was really smart and well-done, it honestly left me wanting that big climactic gripping-my-boyfriend's-hand scene. It felt a bit flat by the end, though it was obviously the director's intention.

Since I ultimately felt flat in the end, I have a hard time giving this anymore than a 3.5/5. Regardless, I think that it's worth checking out. I was impressed.

[ChronoGrl]

The Reeds





So this movie actually started out pretty strong - The plot line involves six friends setting off into the English countryside to rent a boat to sail through Norfolk Broads, a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English county of Norfolk. The direction and cinematography is absolutely stunning as we pan out over the rivers and the tall, thick reeds that surround the waterways. The clean panning shots really serve to frame a believable feeling of helpless and isolation when our heroes inevitably get lost and their boat stranded.

I was hoping at this point that our creepy reed maze would be home for a nice little swamp monster movie... Instead, The Reeds turns into a fairly run-of-the-mill ghost story complete with bad writing, no character development, poor special effects, and a really uninspired and predictable lineage reveal ending (I can't even express how much I HATE those kind of "twists").

Nothing really new here, or really worth seeing. It's a shame to waste that great setting on a poorly thought out story.

2.5/5