Topic: Emma's Film Reviews (snowcat)

[Dragonfire]

You're right on the first one, but the other is Twilight Eyes. I've always think that the last one would made a very terryfiying horror movie if made by a competent director and without tv actors of the week.

It has been so long since I read it that I forgot about Twilight Eyes.  I did really like that one too.  That one could make a good movie if done properly.  Unfortunately, the track record for turning his books into movies isn't that great.

[snowcat]

The Host - 2006
Director - Bong Joon-ho
Running Time - 119 minutes
Stars - Song Kang-ho

The idea of dumping 100 bottles of Formaldehyde down a drain may seem slightly dangerous, however eastern monster films are no stranger to radioactive monsters.

Starring leading Korean actor Song Kang-ho, The host is a strange mix of horror and comedy, whilst most would class this as a monster movie, the events that take place make me think horror, and so I added it to my list for this marathon. The Host is the story of Park Gang-du (Kang-ho) a slow witted man who lives with his father and daughter and owns a snack bar. Park's sister is a famous Olympic archery medal winner and his brother is an alcoholic who has not really done anything since graduating university.

Whilst serving some people, Park sees a group of people gathering at the side of a river, he goes to join them to see what's happening, after seeing a large creature in the water he throws in a beer can, shortly the rest of the crowd throw food in, much to there disappointment the creature disappears, and catching the crowd of there guard appears on the shore. The monster chases and devours members of the public and manages to capture Park's daughter, and so the story begins.

As a fan of monster movies, The Host was high on a list of “to buy” that I often add things to, I was slightly disappointed by the beginning I felt it was slow, but when the monster appeared the film became very fast paced, which suited it perfectly, surprisingly I enjoyed the end immensely, I'm the type of person that is easily annoyed by the end of a movie, but this seemed to work.

I can't say I have watched many Korean films, in fact I believe this is my first, I really enjoyed it and Ill have to look a little deeper into Korean cinema now, I guess my love of monster films could make that relativity easy.

[snowcat]

Hostel - 2005
Director - Eli Roth
Running Time - 94 minutes
Starring - Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson

I knew what to expect when I bought Hostel, I knew it would be gory, and as I expected it the exact amount of character development I expected, none.

Hostel is a horror film of the gore variety,  the story follows three male backpackers (Paxton, Oli and Josh) in Amsterdam. After being shown to there room Paxton, Oli and Josh find they are sharing with two “attractive” single women who seduce them and split them up.

The next morning Josh and Paxton find that Oli is missing and after asking around about him they discover that a Japanese female backpacker has also gone missing. After receiving a picture message they discover the two of them are at an abandoned factory.

What follows is a lot of extremely gory scenes, some of which just seemed wrong or over the top. Of course with any film in this genre naturally id expect a lot of blood and guts, but certain parts of this film were very hard to watch.

Story wise, Hostel could have been a good short film, the subject matter was definitely worthy. Taken is a great example of how a film about backpackers in danger could be great. I am unsure what it is about Hostel that I did not enjoy, I think maybe the fact it reminded me of a poor sex comedy was to blame, the beginning opens with a large amount of naked ladies, and three guys who like sex and getting high. Something id expect from the American Pie Series squeals.

As a film I did not enjoy Hostel, not because of the gore, but because it felt like it was purposely was trying to appeal to a teenage male market, which it probably was.

[snowcat]

Scream - 1996
Director - Wes Craven
Running Time - 113 minutes
Stars - David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich and
Drew Barrymore

Wes Craven is such a renowned Horror director it was inevitable that a film of his would appear in this marathon soon.

Scream is probably one of Mr Craven's most mainstream films, of course as per usual its also know for its horrible sequels, strangely there is a possibility of a Scream 4 coming out, directed by no other then Wes Craven! After the fiasco of Scream 3 I did not think he would return.

Scream is the story Sidney, a teenage girl who is trying to come to terms with the anniversary of her mothers rape and death, not only that but two of her class mates are brutally murdered, to top it off the next day the killer rings her to tell her shes next! Suffering tabloid attacks and her classmates reaction to the situation. But who is this killer, and will she be killed?

 Scream is surprisingly fun for a horror movie, Its one of the films I always watch in the build up to Halloween. Unlike its sequels, Scream has a solid story and clever killer, anyone who has seen Scary Movie, can see that the format was not only perfect for a horror but for a comedy, Personally I found a lot of comedy in the film regardless.

Revitalising the slasher genre, Scream not only bought back the cliché slasher film conventions, but introduced some new ones.

All in all, Scream is a film that has withstood the test of time, much like Wes Cravens other films the first is generally best, that holds true for this film. This film takes on the “teen comedy” genre but strangely merges them very well.

[Najemikon]

I saw Scream quite recently again and thought it had dated. I always found it an enjoyable but smug film, especially the film references spelled out so laboriously. Main problem is I find Wes Craven a lazy director with excellent ideas, but it's worth waiting for someone else to do them.

Just ignore me. Craven annoys me as other members of this forum will verify! Last House On The Left? Worst film ever made. Nightmare On Elm St.? Clumsy hack-job. As you can see I really sit on the fence when it comes to this guy. I'm probably the only person looking forward to the remake of Elm St. in case it's done properly this time! 

Mind you, I did finally see the original The Hills Have Eyes recently and thought that very good.

Anyway, onto Hostel, I pretty much agree, though I did... enjoy it. Is "enjoy" the right word? One for my psychiatrist, I think!  I reviewed Hostel Part II a while back here and I'd be interested in your thoughts, should you ever get around to it. Overall I don't think it was as successful, but it was trying for a little more substance.

[snowcat]

I think Wes Craven has good ideas, then he tries to make sequels which are absolute crap! Haha, maybe he would be a better writer then director... but I guess we are talking about a guy who originally directed umm... adult movies to fund his horrors! :p I can see why you think he is lazy... especially with stuff like Scream 3

As for Hostel Part II, ive not seen it yet, but I am planning on buying it just to see if they tried to improve it at all. Your review has inspired me to watch it!

[Jimmy]

Revitalising the slasher genre, Scream not only bought back the cliché slasher film conventions, but introduced some new ones.

Are you serious? This film is responsible for the death of the slasher film genre and the birth of the annoying PG-13 kiddie horror lost of time that we have now...

[snowcat]

Revitalising the slasher genre, Scream not only bought back the cliché slasher film conventions, but introduced some new ones.

Are you serious? This film is responsible for the death of the slasher film genre and the birth of the annoying PG-13 kiddie horror lost of time that we have now...

  thus revitalising the slasher genre!

[Najemikon]

And Winter Passing has Zooey in, who I can't take seriously since Mark Kermode ripped her to pieces in his 500 Days of Summer review! Every time I see her picture I think of his impression... 

Link? BTW, I'm looking forward to 500 Days of Summer. 

Just linked one for Jimmy and I've now found the one for 500 Days of Summer (second one down): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mf3b0   

[goodguy]

Link? BTW, I'm looking forward to 500 Days of Summer. 

Just linked one for Jimmy and I've now found the one for 500 Days of Summer (second one down): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mf3b0   

Thanks, but for some reason I'm too lazy to figure out it refuses to play. What's wrong with written reviews anyway?

[Najemikon]

I wonder if you're restricted if you aren't in the UK?  I'm sure Kermode has a written version, but you can't hear his impressions of Zooey ("big wide eyes, fringe...") and the line "goes through the stargate of kook" loses something when you can't hear him grimacing!

[goodguy]

I wonder if you're restricted if you aren't in the UK?  I'm sure Kermode has a written version, but you can't hear his impressions of Zooey ("big wide eyes, fringe...") and the line "goes through the stargate of kook" loses something when you can't hear him grimacing!

It doesn't say anything about a restrictions, it just loads endlessly. Anyway, I like kooky Zooey - she was absolutely hilarious in Weeds S2, for example. Plus, 500 Days also stars Jason Gordon-Levitt (have you seen Brick yet?). As for Winter Passing, there she plays a non-kooky role and is predictably great as well.

... the death of the slasher film genre and the birth of the annoying PG-13 kiddie horror...

Ah, come on. Just a few months ago, Charlotte Gainsbourg won Best Actress in Cannes for LvT's Antichrist. Seems the slasher film is alive and well.

[snowcat]

Halloween - 2007
Director - Rob Zombie
Running Time - 109 minutes
Stars - Malcolm McDowell, Sheri Moon Zombie, Tyler Mane

Halloween, the perfect name for a horror film why? because Halloween is when a lot of people watch horror. The original Halloween is a great film, it holds up well against a lot in the slasher genre. Rob Zombies Halloween is what I prefer to call a re imagining, a film that takes a story but plays it in a different way.

Halloween starts off with a young Michael Myers who after a run in with his Sister, his mothers boyfriend and some bullies at school. The schools principle takes Michael to his office where he calls his mother. The principal horrifies Michaels mother with some graphic photos and tells her he has psychopathic tendencies. An angry Michael goes on to kill the bully, his mothers boyfriend, his sister and sisters boyfriend. After this horrific event Michael is sent to a sanatorium  where his only visitors are his mother and Doctor.

Although some scenes seem fairly violent, I think they were in context, I've watched horror films and felt the gore was out of place but this film had a good ratio of gore to story.

I really enjoyed this re imaging of Halloween, I felt Michael Myers needed more of an explanation on why he was so "messed up". By going back further then the original to the home and School life of the character it made you empathise with him. it felt as though Myers was human, psychotic yes, but he had also been picked on and anyone who experienced that knows how horrible it makes you feel. I felt sympathy for Myers all the way through this film, I did not feel this way during the original, needless to say the original is still a brilliant film. This version of the film is definitely worthy of a watch, nothing like some of the terrible horror remakes out there.

[Najemikon]

I've been considering giving this a chance more and more, but your review both encourages and discourages me! The idea of showing anything of Michael's past defeats the point of the story. He's the Boogie Man. How can you try to rationalise the Boogie Man? It might as well just be any old serial killer movie.

You see, I can't trust it. The last time film-makers thought we should see how a great villain became the fiend we know and love, we got The Phantom Menace. 'Nuff said.

[Jimmy]

The idea of showing anything of Michael's past defeats the point of the story.

I hate this new way to do horror movie. Sorry but I don't want to know that Michael Myers, Leatherface, Jason, Torgo or Jaws were bullied when they were young. Nobody need a motivation to be bad, most of the time a psychopath is a psychopath because he like that... This is just a lazy way to do film because the public isn't able to do 1 plus 1 equals 2 anymore since the youngest generation is more and more dumb.