The Gallows.
Decided to give this a go at Manchester Odeon.
firstly I was quite surprised a found footage film was getting a theatrical run, then watching it I realised its at the better end of the spectrum for these types of film.
Essentially a school is preparing to stage a play called The Gallows, which was previously staged over 20 years previously (scary to think 93' is retro!) and resulted in the tragic accidental hanging of the main lead. The new lead for the upcoming version is the high school jock who has decided to quit football and take up acting. His ass-hole friend is unable to comprehend why so has also volunteered and is busy filming everything in the run up to the play.
The night before he manages to convince his friend to break in and trash the stage only for them both, along with their girlfriends, get trapped in the theatre with the ghost of the dead kid.
The Gallows is not the greatest thing ever, it has some major issues, especially in terms of character motivations, as well as the more traditional gripes with the film as to why they are filming everything. That said it has some scares, one or two effective ones, others the loud noise to make the audience jump variety. This ones probably best waiting for on home video though.
Split second.
Odd to see the mentions of THE BURNING as this ones by Tony Maylam as well! Set in the hellish future of 2008, as global warming has caused parts of london to flood, along with a resulting plague of rats. Detective Harley Stone is tracking a killer with occult motivations who is tearing peoples hearts out and eating them. Some time previously the killer had taken out Stones partner and he's out for revenge. He's assigned a new partner, Dick Durkin, to keep an eye on him as he's seen as something of a loose cannon wandering around London with huge guns. As the investigation progresses the pair discover that the killer might not be human!
While Split second is deeply unoriginal in terms of plot and character development, it's still worth a go for how much sheer bloody fun it is. The monster is great, the gore is well executed and we get to see Kim cattralls boobs back when she was young and hot! Perhaps the film could use a little more exposition but its an old VHS era favourite of mine that's still entertaining watching it today.
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