A Horror Film Blog

 A needless 'sequel' which adds nothing to the legend created in the first film and only weakens its legacy. Back in the late 90s I staggered into the Cameo cinema in Edinburgh one morning, beset with a hangover and fully intent on disliking the film I was about to see, the hysterically hyped The Blair Witch Project .  I did see it but I did not hate it.  I emerged from the Cameo blinking in the weak Scottish sunlight and chastened and humbled.  The film makers had accomplished what they set out to do - craft an effective, well made, innovative film. (I know, Cannibal Holocaust , The MacPherson Tape and The Last Broadcast and probably several others beat it by varying numbers of years, but none of them had any significant mainstream impact.) A genre was created with The Blair Witch Project , and effectively ended as well.  After that film, what else could you really do with  found footage style?  Other than endlessly repeat the same tropes and ideas....

 After watching Mickey Keating's Offseason I decided to check out more of his work, so I watched Carnage Park.  I'm glad to report it is another win - a slick micro-budget thriller centred on brilliant performances by Ashely Bell as the hapless victim of terrible misfortune, and the genius of sound designer Sean Duffy.  Keating helps out a bit as well. Vivian is not having a good day. First, the obvious criticism - this is nothing original.  A bank heist goes wrong and two hoodlums try to escape with a hapless woman - wrong place at the wrong time, lady! - in the truck.  Their flight to Mexico is cut short when they blunder into a cheerful local psychopath's devil's playground. Thus far, we could be watching any number of cheap and cheerless Tarantino or Rodriguez knock offs.  Keating signals his influences cheerfully - there are about half a dozen references or borrowings from Reservoir Dog s and From Dusk Till Dawn in the two sentences above, and Keatin...

Finally, after a long line of grotesque, sadistic and exploitative trash masquerading as horror I stumbled upon  Offseason  , directed by Mickey Keating, a near brilliant film. It will be appreciated by those who like atmosphere, suspense and the horror arising from being trapped; but disappoint those who like gore, jump scares, nudity and on camera eviscerations. "Just try and blend in, everything will be fine." Keating seems to have gleaned a lot of information about Things I Like and put them all together in one place: films that centre on strong female characters; abandoned places; a pervading sense of doom or punishment for crimes known or unknown; and that mysterious hinterland where the land becomes the sea.  It's also a very Lovecraftian films without actually invoking Lovecraft. So it has a nodding acquaintance with films like Carpenter;s The Fog (there  is s lot of fog billowing about the empty streets in Off Season); the magnificent Messiah of Evil directe...

The Sadness is certainly topical.  Indeed, a Taiwanese film about a virus causing havoc might strike some as "Too soon, Taiwan, too soon."  But they did it.  Taste and decorum don't matter.  The best time for 'thoughts and prayers' isn't after a high school shooting.  It's never.  Making a film about Covid sorry 'Alvin Virus' is only wrong if they do it badly.  So, did they? The film does a lovely job of introducing our main characters, the carefree Jim and his more goal orientated girlfriend, Kat.  They wake up together, sleepily affectionate (though far more groomed than anyone waking up from a genuine sleep has any right to be.) Treasure these moments, guys!  The next few hours will be rather tough on Jim and Kat Blissful harmony does not last.  They bicker about Jim's failure to remember a holiday Kat had scheduled for them.  All the time, we're aware of warnings about the spread of 'Alvin Virus' - harmless enough just now but ...

Alligator is directed by Lewis Teague and written by John Sayles, who also went onto direct a string of very good films in the 80s and 90s ( The Return of the Secaucus 7 , City of Hope , Lone Star , Limbo , Men With Guns ). Termigator III: Rise of the Munchines It's tempting, given Sayles's involvement to try to see a bit more quality in this film than it really has.  It's a big, dumb film about an alligator terrorising Chicago.  But though Sayles may have writer it, it bears the hallmarks of Teague's mentor, Roger Corman.  It's a rather silly B movie with no real notable qualities. I did want to like the film more than I did, and wanted to see some strands of quality that would raise it above the run of the mill Corman fare.  But if we're honest, if the same film was presented to us without the revered name attached, we shrug, mutter something about "Just a Troma film without the boobs" and go back top bemoaning the lack of quality films. Perhaps Sayl...

It took me a while to catch up with this loose Lovecraft adaptation.  In fact, it has taken me over two decades.  Even great Cthulhu, locked in aeon long slumber in sunken R'lyeh, thinks I'm taking things a bit slowly. The reason for my dalliance is fear.  Not of being scared of the film - I'm familiar with the concept of fiction and I'm pretty sure that's what Lovecraft was writing - but being scared of disappointment.  When it comes to Lovecraft adaptations there are very few good ones.  Reanimator ?  Give me a break.  It's a lurid, trashy comedy with an unpleasant streak of 80s misogyny running through it. So I viewed Dagon with trepidation, especially when I learned the man behind the camera was none other than the director of Reanimator and self appointed master of Lovecraft adaptations, Stuart Gordon.  The man is certainly a trier, still seeking to convince the world of Scary Movie that it should really be interested in the profoundly unfu...