Topic: Rich's October Horror Fest

[richierich]

Title: Jonathan Creek: Series Two

Movie Count:15  
TV Ep. Count:11  

Certificate:12
Year:1998
Genres:Drama, Suspense/Thriller, Television

Plot:Jonathan and Maddy - what a lovely couple they make. Or is it only an illusion? Just when the lateral-thinking crime-busters seem to be capturing each other's hearts a small matter of solving unsolvable riddles seems to get in the way...
DANSE MACABRE
The Halloween murder of a best-selling writer could have come straight from her own chillers. Jonathan is busy with an opera-singing stripper and a bath, so has Maddy learned enough about the illusory arts to solve this case alone?

My Review:
Excellent series mixing a quality cast with a touch of humour, good storylines and mystery & intrigue.
This excellent halloween episode was a total puzzler, and the final reveal I hadn't guessed, although I guessed at several during the hour.
Caroline Quentin takes the detecting lead in this murder investigation, until Davies comes along near the end with his lateral thinking to solve the 'disappearing' murderer riddle.
Good stuff!

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[richierich]

Title: Bones: Season Three

Movie Count:15  
TV Ep. Count:12  

Certificate:NR
Year:2007
Genres:Television, Suspense/Thriller, Drama

Plot:
5. Mummy in the Maze
A Halloween pumpkin patch maze becomes a lot scarier when the mummified remains of a young girl are found in it. Booth and Brennan go to investigate, and are shocked to find that the victim has been dead for over a year. To make the situation even creepier, a second body is found at a Halloween amusement park funhouse, again mummified, but this time dead for approximately two years. Booth and Brennan get wind of a third missing girl and link her to the person who killed the other two girls. They must now race to find the killer before he or she strikes again this Halloween.

My Review:
Excellent Halloween episode, with an intriguing serial killer storyline which keeps you guessing til the end. The maze itself was brilliant and I wish it were real, and the prémis of a murderer actually scaring his victims to death was fairly original.
The huge bonus of this episode is seeing Emily Deschanel parading around half the show in a figure hugging and revealing wonder woman costume - and boy did she fill it out nicely 

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[richierich]

Title: Bottom: Series Three

Movie Count:15 
TV Ep. Count:13 

Certificate:15
Year:1995
Genres:Comedy, Television

Plot:The depraved duo, Richard Richard and Eddie Hitler, return for six more revolting doses of sex, smells and spite. This particular collection of the useual sexual despair, over-the-top violence and imaginative abuse finds our 'saddoes' trapped at the top of a big wheel; trick or treating with a cattle prod; attempting self-liposuction with the help of a vacuum cleaner; consulting encyclopedias in the toilet at a pub quiz; on a honeymoon break in Wolverhampton and in the best seats of the house for the annual Hammersmith riots...
Episode 2 - TERROR
My Review:
Halloween special, usual excellent violent and tasteless humour, as Richie & Eddie decide to throw a seasonal party so that they can meet girls. To get money for booze they dress up as the devil and a banana to go trick or treating, armed with an electric cattle prod. As this doesn't work, they decide to sell their souls to the devil with hedgehog and spudgun, by eating lethal brussel sprouts with chilli, with adverse explosive farting results.

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[Najemikon]

This isn't because a movie was copied a million time that it doesn't make the original not original anymore... We talk about the most profitable independant movie ever made, one of the first with a black hero and the movie responsible for the fact that we don't see boring voodoo zombie anymore...

Telling that is like saying that Airplane isn't funny because of Epic Movie or Frankenstein isn't a good monster movie because of Frankenstein Unbound...

Agreed. Night of the Living Dead gets 2.5? Good grief, Rich. 

However, Jimmy, surely Blair Witch is the most profitable indie? In fact I think I heard even that has been usurped, but I can't remember by what...

[richierich]

Agreed. Night of the Living Dead gets 2.5? Good grief, Rich. 

However, Jimmy, surely Blair Witch is the most profitable indie? In fact I think I heard even that has been usurped, but I can't remember by what...

I passed judgement on the actual film, not what it stood for in history and what it later spawned (as per my review). As a standalone film it has a lot of holes, incredibly funny wooden acting, poor effects, and production values of a home movie.

I stand by 2.5 

[Najemikon]

hmmm, sounds like I'll need to watch the damn thing now and redress the balance! 

You definitely should review it for how it stands. But I feel it stands up today, however, I do give a big margin for the production, which to be fair wasn't far off a home movie. It's raw and brilliant. Acting is inconsistent, but fine where it matters. And it's still a better version of I Am Legend than, erm... I Am Legend... 

[richierich]

hmmm, sounds like I'll need to watch the damn thing now and redress the balance! 

You should have watched it with Shaun of the Dead, as they are both comedies.





 

[richierich]

Title: Decoys

Movie Count:16  
TV Ep. Count:13  

Runtime:96
Certificate:R
Year:2004
Genres:Horror, Science-Fiction, Comedy

Plot:Some students aren't exactly what they seem to be in DECOYS, a sci-fi/horror adventure starring Kim Poirier (Dawn of the Dead), Richard Burgi (Starship Troopers 2), Corey Sevier (TV's "North Shore") and Nicole Eggert (TV's "Baywatch").
If college coeds Lily and Constance look like two out-of-this-world blonde beauties, that's because they're actually intergalactic space invaders with a mission: to breed with humans before taking over the Earth. And even though the girls' mating skills have proven fatal to their victims, they keep on trying. So when Luke, a hard-partying freshman, accidentally witnesses the shapely shape-shifters in their full-bodied alien state, he knows it's up to him to save the planet before he truly gets wasted.

My Review:
Absolutely bonkers comedy/scifi or is it horror of sorts??? Still it was pretty amusing with a bevy of bikini clad lizards in blonde get-ups seducing the local college fraternity to respawn. Unluckily for the guys, they die after the magic moment from a tentacle that shoots out of the womens navel down their throats 
The cast actually work well together with good chemistry, and the effects again were surprisingly effective. Reminded me a lot of the faculty, with a bit of species and the craft thrown in.
Cool ending!

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[richierich]

Title: Mary Reilly

Movie Count:17 
TV Ep. Count:13 

Runtime:108
Certificate:R
Year:1996
Genres:Horror, Suspense/Thriller

Plot:The classic horror story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde gets a chilling new twist when seen through the eyes of Dr. Jekyll's devoted maid, MARY REILLY.
JULIA ROBERTS, JOHN MALKOVICH and the writer and director of DANGEROUS LIAISONS take terror to a new level as the immortal conflict between good and evil is played out in the soul of one man. Equally attracted to her kind employer, Dr.Jekyll, and his mysterious assistant, Mr. Hyde, Mary Reilly must confront her own dangerous desires if she is to survive humanity's greatest evil.

My Review:
Interesting viewpoint on the age old classic of Jekyll and Hyde, only the high calibre of the support cast (George Cole and Kathy Bates) dragged this from being too mundane. Why this would have a horror genre is beyond me, it is purely a drama with a couple of gruesome attachments.
The backdrops and direction give it an authentic feel, only spoilt by Roberts intermittent attempts at pulling off an Irish accent (it might even have been an attempt at cockney!). The introduction of romance in the story gave it a new twist, but strayed too far away from Stevensons original for my liking.
An okay film to pass the time, but not one to recommend as a purchase.

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[Najemikon]

"Mary bloody Reilly"? If this is your idea of a slow build-up to proper horror to make you wet yourself, it'll be Christmas before you're done! 

[richierich]

"Mary bloody Reilly"? If this is your idea of a slow build-up to proper horror to make you wet yourself, it'll be Christmas before you're done! 

I didn't put the horror genre on it, if it was down to me and not moviepick I'd be selecting the most goriest and scariest films straight away 

[Achim]

I didn't put the horror genre on it, if it was down to me and not moviepick I'd be selecting the most goriest and scariest films straight away 

[richierich]

Title: The Midnight Meat Train

Movie Count:18  
TV Ep. Count:13  

Runtime:100
Certificate:NR
Year:2008
Genres:Horror

Plot:Struggling photographer Leon Kaufman's obsessive pursuit of dark subject matter leads him into the path of a serial killer, Mahogany, the subway murderer who stalks late-night commuters - ultimately butchering them in the most gruesome ways imaginable.

My Review:
Talk about jumping in at the deep end, this was gruesome and graphically gory to the extreme.

(click to show/hide)

(fingernails pulled, teeth pliered out, eyes extracted, heads exploding, eyes popping out with force of hammer blow etc etc)

The majority of the film lulled you into a false sense of security, Cooper and Bibb are a lovely couple and acted their roles brilliantly. But when Vinnie appears in a scene, accompanied by haunting heartbeat audio, a whole new form of barbaric killing dominates the screen.
This is OTT in terms of the violence and its portrayal, at least in my limited experience, but i still have to say it was train wreck viewing at its best, you literally couldn't stop watching just to hopefully see the murderer get popped at the end.
If you like hardcore slasher/horror, this is right up your street.

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[richierich]

Title: Dead Like Me: The Complete Second Season

Movie Count:18 
TV Ep. Count:14 

Certificate:15
Year:2004
Genres:Television, Comedy, Fantasy

Plot:Proving that "reapers are anything but grim company" (The Plain Dealer), this "deliciously dark comedy about the afterlife" (Newsday) returns for "a second season as strong as the first" (Philadelphia Daily News) with guest appearances by Eric McCormack ("Will & Grace") and Gavin DeGraw. Thanks to breakout star Ellen Muth's "prickly charm", "Dead Like Me" has "an amusingly odd and touching energy all its own" (Detroit Free Press).
Episode 15 - Haunted
It's Halloween and reaper legend has it that the reapers can be seen as they were when alive; a serial killer stalks a neighbourhood, the reapers collecting his victims as he goes, George getting the bad guy; Joy and Reggie pay a late night visit to George's grave. So does George.

My Review:
Fun halloween themed episode, which was a great finish to the second series.
The actors clearly enjoyed themselves and seemed to put more into it, and it tackled the sub-plot story well. The ending was particularly good, a touch of mystery and happiness, and also hope.
It was disappointing the series was scrapped at this point, there are several unanswered questions which could have been answered and evolved in another season.

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5

[richierich]

Title: Saw III

Movie Count:19 
TV Ep. Count:14 

Runtime:109
Certificate:18
Year:2006
Genres:Horror, Suspense/Thriller

Plot:In this Extreme Edition of Saw III, prepare for a truly terrifying experience from the master of cruelty. With extended scenes which have never been seen before, Saw III Extreme Edition features more gore, more shocks, more Saw. Suffering? You definitely haven't seen anything yet...
Jigsaw has disappeared. Along with his new apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith), the puppet master behind the cruel, intricate games that have terrified a community and baffled police has once again eluded capture and vanished.
While city detectives scramble to locate him, Doctor Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh) and Jeff Reinhart (Angus Mcfadyen) are unaware that they are about to become the latest pawns on his vicious chessboard.

My Review:
Having enjoyed and marvelled at the originality of Saw 1, and been entertained by the breakneck Saw 2, this latest offering I viewed was a come-down.
There was little tension as witnessed in earlier films, the interjection of humanity was misplaced, and the gore was messy and nasty. The prémis of revenge and distress was a reasonable plot for such a film, I just wasn't convinced by the delivery, nor the performance of the gorgeous Shawnee Smith as the apprentice to Jigsaw.
There is a point when some films lose focus, this did that by what at times can only be described as more and more disgustingly violent and distressingly gory scenes, culminating in the 'chest' scene. Some sleight of hand, alluding to terrorising acts can be much scarier, but when it is slapped in your face like this the impact is unappealing.
There seems little merit in this Saw franchise going any further, but as we know there is now Saw 4 and 5 to digest at some point.

My Rating
Out of a Possible 5