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Train To Busan. 2016. Every once in a while a decent foreign horror movie makes it's mark and the Korean's don't disappoint with this. What starts off as a normal day for commuters with radio broadcasting a infection and being trapped on a express train with one person being infected and then turning most of the passengers into blood thirsty zombies. There is a good character build up of a father and daughter who live together but have a strained relationship, two elderly sisters taking a trip, a small group of high schoolers, a husband and his pregnant wife, and a C.O.O. of a bus company. The writers did create people from different walks of life who are strangers then band together in order to survive. It is a interesting start as you can only guess what the outbreak is caused by and somewhat government cover up is in motion then we see the first infected person on board and then all hell breaks looks that it seemed to copy 28 Days Later, one bite and 30 seconds later or so and full blown zombie transformation. Second time seeing this and didn't disappoint. 81fMqIBrR9L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg
__________________ " I have seen trees that look like tortured souls" |
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Outpost. Steve Barker. 2008. Former soldier now turned mercenary DC is hired by a somewhat shady businessman to put together a team and lead him safely to a undisclosed location in the wilds of wartorn Europe. Their destination turns out to be a remote and abandoned WW2 bunker deep in the forest. To say that things don't exactly go well would be obvious at this point. I dug this off the shelf last week after planning a rewatch due to the sad passing of Ray Stevenson. I have to admit I'd only seen it the once, and despite remembering it being ok, it wasn't one I'd rushed to view again and subsequently had forgotten about it. Well, some years later I was pleased to find it wasn't just "ok" as I'd recalled but actually very good. Sort of a haunted house movie transposed to an old secret German army bunker. There are rather a few unnerving little moments here, playing with sinister sightings in the corners of the screen or appearing briefly during flashes of light in otherwise pitch black environs. Stevenson is ideal in the role as DC, playing it with just enough charisma to make him pretty much the only likeable character amongst the squad of hardened mercs. That I suppose is where this film succeeds as well, to make a film (particularly horror) still thoroughly engaging with characters that aren't very endearing is quite a feat in my eyes. It says a lot about the crafting of the film, the intense atmosphere both in the bunker and in the spooky woods around, the excellent camera work and effects, the generally subdued down to earth gritty look and performances. Yeah I enjoyed Outpost very much on second viewing. Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk |
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__________________ " I have seen trees that look like tortured souls" |
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City of Industry (1997) An excellent crime film which sees Harvey Keitel's retired thief swear revenge on getaway driver Stephen Dorff who murdered Keitel's brother and partner following a lucrative jewel heist before going on the run with the stash. Very much a neo-noir in style with Harvey Keitel very much on form. Set in Los Angeles with the cities less salubrious locations paramount to the action. City of Industry is gritty and violent and very much follows that Reservoir Dogs path in style if not in plot although Keitel and Timothy Hutton sat outside casing the jewelery store was very 'Dogs' in feel. If i learn one thing from this film each time i watch it it's that Famke Janssen was born to play cut off jean wearing trailer trash. |
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CHILD’S PLAY 2 – It occurred to me the other day that I hadn’t seen many ‘Child’s Play’ movies apart from the first and a couple of the later ones, hence ‘Part 2’ was duly summoned. It’s early nineties fun, as lightweight as many horror movies from the time but with the creepy undercurrent that seems intrinsic to the series. Little kid from the original is now with a foster family and does a heartwarming team-up with fellow orphan Christine Elise when Chucky rears his head once more. Director John Lafia brings some nice style with lots of tilted shadows and cod-Expressionist camera angles, plus there’s the runaround in the demented toy factory at the end. It also has a strangely powerful actorly presence, with not only Brad Dourif but also Jenny Agutter and Grace Zabriskie, both much bigger than their throwaway roles. STRANGERS PREY AT NIGHT – Isn’t it a bit random, doing a sequel ten years after the event? This one ditches the crawling dread of the first and, after a character introduction that goes on for a bit, plunges into a typical ‘family against the slashers’ scenario. What might’ve been mediocre is elevated by plush visuals and some really strong scenes in the last half, where the film ratchets up the tension very effectively even as it treads old ground. There's also some nice quirks on display, such as the odd choice of soundtracking kills to diegetic eighties pop mediocrity – will you hear ‘Live It Up’ by ‘Mental As Anything’ in quite the same way ever again? I liked this. Director Johannes Roberts has come a long way since ‘Hellbreeder’ (though to be honest if they ever put that lump of weirdo trash on blu-ray I’d snap it up like it was yesterday) |
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Spanish Rose (1993) Michael Pare plays a former DEA agent undercover in Cuban mob boss Michael Ironside's Florida estate as a bodyguard to Ironside's wife (Barbara Carrera) Fairly mundane but has some good location filming, however it's a film notable for a well done action sequence at the beginning and various (extremely) lengthy Franco-esq sex scenes featuring Carrera's boobs and Pare's thrusting arse. (How it's only a 15 cert i'll never know) I've seen this twice now. Must be mad. |
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Miracle Mile. 1988. Anthony Edwards has a chance encounter with Mare Winningham and agree to meet up after her shift at a diner. When he answers a call at a phone boothe he is told the bombs are dropping and to leave the area in under a hour. After a fellow cultist mentioned this on YouTube along with some other 80s films this one caught my curiosity for a Friday night viewing. Where else would you meet a stranger but a museum ofcourse and get together and then make a date for a bit of How's Your Father and it goes pear shaped. This does make you wonder if the phone call is real and sets off one person's mind of paranoia and Denise Crosby trying to get in contact with someone government person to know the truth while the diner's chef Robert D'Qui is loosing his mind. At times this can be a slow burner but still entertaining right up to the WTF ending. MV5BOGYwNDljZTItZGRlMi00YjM2LWIyNDgtOGRiOWNjMGRhMGQ3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMDUzNTI3._V1_.jpg
__________________ " I have seen trees that look like tortured souls" |
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Remains. 2011. After a explosion, a group of of survivors trapped in a casino try to survive after those been exposed to the blast are turned into zombies. Based on a graphic comic which I never heard about and has a Dawn Of The Dead feel to it, survivors feeding off what food they have, making a building their new sanctuary and a small army disturbing the balance. The acting is not the best but not the worst, there is a few CGI moments especially with a car flip. The make up effects are decent enough with the budget that was used. It does seem to be like it was made as a TV series rather than a film or was this to be a pilot for a planned series? MV5BNjY0MjExOTIyNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTAyMzA3Nw@@._V1_.jpg
__________________ " I have seen trees that look like tortured souls" |
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