Not Quite Hollywood

I had quite a bit of fun watching this documentry on Aussieslotation. The best part is the focus on horror and Mad Max and Turkey Shoot. It's made me dig up copies of Razorback (why did Mulchaly never get an ElmSt to direct?) and Road Games. Also introduced me to a killer croc movie I've never seen called Dark Age and I do so like killer croc movies, when ate Synapse getting that out?

Drag Me To Hell

Sam Raimi has long been championed a hero of horror though his horror output has really been limited to The Evil Dead it's sequels and producing some of the most dismal cookie cutter supernatural movies from his Ghost House Pictures outfit. He has proven himself the director of a remarkable thriller A Simple Plan and as the block buster maestro behind Spider Mans juggernaut assault.

Back on the scene with Drag MeTo Hell from its opening old style Universal logo, jarring score that harps back to the days of monster classics and CGI that is used to effect rather than excess Raimi rescends the dull and thought pretictable trailer that surfaced months ago.

There are two words that perhaps should not be used in relation to descibing a horror movie: zany and kookie. And yet those words best articulate Sam Raimi's approach to the genre. With his Evil Dead canon Raimi is practicaly a sub-genre of his own. And here he has pulled a blinder playing down inferences to Evil Dead when the film is jammed full of them. Witness Christina fight a haunted hankerchief which conjures up memories if a battle with a possessed hand or furniture and household items giggle and laugh, then there is the talking goat and a séance/possesion sequence that practically screams "Swallow got soul!"

To miss Drag Me To Hell at the cinema would be a dis-service to the film. The sound becomes unbearably cranked up to 11 at the right moments, jolts and laugjs leave everone with a grin on their face. Drag Me To Hell is mischeivous, malicios and must-see movie entertainent.

Totally erect.

Prey, Killer Pigs and Good-looking Corpses

Here's the one sheet for new Australian horror Prey.






I'm not feeling the artwork at the moment. After Wolf Creek, Storm Warning and Dying Breed and such classics as Road Games and The Road Warrior the Oz scene can always grab my attention. However reception to this film down under has been poor with director George (Maf Max) Miller even dropping his directors credit.

Killer pigs are flavour of the month with Pighunt and Korea's Chaw out to steal the crown from Razorback. No doubt The Asylum and Maneater movie companies will throw their hats into the sty, I mean ring.






The best looking slasher of all time Black Xmas is about to meet it's own challenge as the latest remake Sorority Row offers up some incredible hotties to be sliced and diced. Well it gives me a horror hard on!

Plague Town

Dark Sky Films are best known for bringing good quality DVDs of obscure horror and exploration films to the masses. Now they venture into the field of film production with Plague Town.

A family trip to the Irish countryside to build bonds across some severly dysfunctional rifts leaves the family stranded overnight without prospect of food or shelter. Finding an abandoned car by the roadside is the first in a chain of events that will lead to the torture and slaughter of the misfit family at the hands of the countries hidden and deformed offspring.

Director David Gregory has cut a swathe through the DVD extra features world delivering most of the extra content that comes packaged on Dark Skys releases. Here he shows his tastes with a genuine tribute to 70s drive in horror in a nasty little tale enhanced with European flavour despite being filmed entirely in the States. A stunning and dischordant soundtrack create a startling counterpoint to the dark grimy photography and the haunting giggling deformed children. A pleasure for those who like horror stripped to it's roots.

Next off the production slate is Ti (The Roost, Cabin Fever 2) West's House Of The Devil and I for one can't wait.

A full on erection.

S. Darko

A sequel to Donnie Darko without Richard Kelly will not be top of anyones "to watch" list but then after Southland Tales any Richard Kelly film is not at the top of my list. Take into account that financially Donnie Darko is not a success and the likeness of a sequel seems even more distant. Yet here we have it S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale.

The storys focus is on Samantha Darko sister to the eponymous Donnie, the role reprised by the now very attractive original actress Daveigh Chase, who has run away from home with her best friend fleeing to California along the dusty black top in a beaten up old car. When the car breaks down in a small town Samantha begins to exhibit the strange behaviour of her brother, the late night sleepwalking, and appears to others as a vision of death. Then a comet falls from the sky, a local nut job guilts a bunny helmet and there's the suspicious local church leader unhealthy lean toward young girls.

In a mish mash of perturbing and paradoxial plot and imagery S. Darko is an atmospheric retread of the themes of the original and helped along by a superb score goes a long way to being a decent companion piece and extension to the universe if you care to revisit. Without Kelly the visuals and deliberate indulgent complexities are left pale in comparsion.

Jaime Ballaguero's Flatmate

After completing work on [REC]2 it looks like Jaume will be not be waiting on Hollywood to come knocking. This has the familiar artwork feel the Spanish releases of his other films LOS SINS NOMBRE, DARKNESS and FRAGILES though the plot sounds very much like his TV movie TO LET part of the 6 FILMS TO KEEP YOU AWAKE.

Tormented

New British slasher flick Tormented looks a bit dodgy. You never know though.

Interesting Horror Goings On

Things floating about the zietgiest that have sparked my interest. Try them in a search engine-
Samurai Princess
Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl
Pandorum
Ju-On 10th Anniversary films
The Horde
The Pack
Sorority Row (hot chicks, fuck off)
Night Of The Demons remake.