A Horror Film Blog

An effective but uneven folk horror from the Netherlands, a place not generally associated with unspeakable ancient evil steeped into the soil ... but is the real monster the atrocious dubbing? Sorry to bother you.  We're here to talk about the terrible ancient curse afflicting your bloodline.  Can we com in? Moloch is a mixed bag.  First of all, the dubbing is terrible.  Characters speak without moving their lips and then their lips flap for several seconds after the finish their lines - which are rendered in unemphatic fashion by voice actors who sound bored rather than terrified or annoyed or aroused.  Why, couldn't they have stuck subtitles on?  The set of people who are willing to soldier on in spite of the dire dubbing is identical to the set of people who will read subtitles.  Why degrade their experience by this travesty? But that said ... Beneath this superficial issue is a good film, made in a very small way and with a tight, claustroph...

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...

This Italaina film, directed by Lorenzo Bianchini, is a curious effort.  It is pretty much setting and atmosphere in search of a story.  There are some very ambitious ideas here - the film is virtually a one-man show, with our attention centered squarely on wildlife researcher Marco Contrada (played by Renzo Gariup) who wanders into an old abandoned village, redolent with menace, and finds himself somehow unable to leave. It starts brilliantly - the first half is an assured demonstration of building up unease, as Marco potters about putting cameras on foxes and so on, before exploring the obviously doom laden abandoned village. Even with essentially one character and virtually no dialogue, it is is fascinating. The use of sound is particularly good - every crunch of gravel, scrape and creak seems to intimate a mysterious danger. The cinematography is brilliant - stark and drained of colour, to the point where it seems we are watching a series of sepia photographs come to life....

An Indonesian revenge chiller is not to be confused with the Indonesian revenge chiller from 1981 also called Queen of Black Magic. I'm sure this nice lady doesn't mean anyone any harm. The premise is familiar - the one time children who grew up in an orphanage reunite as adults, drawn back by the impending death of the kindly old man who cared for them as children. All Hell breaks loose as some mysterious force menaces them secrets revealed and revenge exacted on the guilty and the innocent. This had a lot of potential.  It is an interesting take on a familiar premise premise and the director takes time to establish characters, setting and location, and build up a sense of entrapment.  But a good set up is spoiled by bloody and gross special effects which break the illusion by not being convincing (or necessary). Don't worry.  The corpses will vomit bugs and we can all laugh about it. Then in the final act it swerves away from suspense altogether into torture porn - whic...