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I’m hardly a feminist, but when it comes to vampires, the females rule. At least in Denis Gansel’s 2010 film, We Are The Night, where century-old women roam the land like kids on a playground. But it’s not always about drugs and sex. Sometimes it’s about love, and what you’ll do to obtain it.

A small clan of unique female vampires dominates the underground of one of the corners of Berlin, seeking any form of purpose in their eternal being. Meanwhile, thieving, fighting, dark sprite known as Lena (Karoline Herfurth) plays cat and mouse with the police when she robs the wrong guy. It’s obvious she likes to flirt with danger and knows exactly how to do it. But when she sneaks into the clan’s club, they take a particular interest in her. Louise (Nina Hoss), their make-shift dean mother, stalks Lena in the writhing crowd as she marks her as her own. Unfortunately Lena isn’t looking for a commitment and because Louise won’t take no for an answer, the fatal bite occurs.

When Lena finds her way back home, things are very different. The symptoms progress quickly and she’s forced to accept what she has now become. A vampire. (Oddly enough they never use that term in the movie.) Louise, Nora (Anna Fischer), and Charlotte (Jennifer Ulrich) take Lena under their wing and show her a world she never dreamed of, filled with speeding cars, crazy blood parties, and walking on walls. But she’s not easily severed from the persistent officer who has taken a personal interest in her. With his soft spot weighed upon, Tom (Max Riemelt) manages to become collateral damage in a struggle that’s been brewing for centuries.

An electrifying, erotic adventure that deserves to be placed in the ranks of Let the Right One In, Interview with the Vampire, and Vampires. Offering the best aspects of vampirism, We Are The Night picked a rough and tumble young girl to be the channel through which we experience the unique facets of transformation. I appreciated their eye for detail when it pertained to the sensitive intermingling of these rare, deadly creatures and the naïve world around them. But as we all know better doesn’t mean perfect. And we get to watch the cookie crumble when heightened bliss gives way to grave threats to their way of life. Some of the things the producers made these sexy vampires do were truly amazing to watch. In particular, the final stand-off proved to be gravity-challenged. Though I’m not an expert on German actresses, I was absolutely pleased with the performances in this film. I have high standards when it comes to theatrical depictions of my favorite species and was glad I watched this.

Savage Score sucks a 4 out of 5. Viewers will enjoy the thick sexual aura emanating from the main characters while they run around tearing out veins like twizzlers. Which leads me to the Gore Score of a 5 out of 10. Surpassing bleeding arteries are several burning bodies and ice cube shot glasses. If you’re a fan of this particular sub-genre, you’ll appreciate the modern day take that this German rendition offers.

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I have experienced things in life that have taught me to never say,”It can’t get worse than this”! Because I know it can.Every horror fan usually knows this by the films they watch. If you mistake what happens in films as things “that will never happen to me”,well,you’ll learn.

As The Grey opens on the cold,bleakness Liam Neeson appears as a man that has no dream of life left,no lies,no illusions.The reasons are not apparent.

He is a sniper contracted to protect oil rig workers from infrequent wolf attacks,and shoots only when completely necessary.He respects the animal enough to know its dangers.His fellow humans he has much less admiration for,at least the ones he works with.They are the refuse of the real world,who deserve to be in the harsh conditions that he has chosen to be in.

On a routine flight to return to civilization the plane crashes literally in the middle of nowhere.The sound editors and techs did such a fantastic job with this film you feel as close to everything that is possible without actually being there.Real depictions of crash victims-and the cold,the cold is a complete character on it’s own.That would be enough to threaten your life.

Then you are hit with the real fear.The primal one most of us have forgotten on our long ride at the top of the food chain. The line between our world of safety and 911 and sanity, and complete all bets are off,nothing will save you but yourself world, is very thin.

He finds out in the worst way possible that the plane has crashed in the world of the wolf and they do not belong there.

Having some knowledge of the animal, but not much else he scrambles to live and protect what is left of humanity in this unforgiving reality. The survivors try to cope as well as you or I could,and we are along for every terrifyingly tense moment.

The Grey is real,raw,scary and so good you will be appreciative of every aspect of your life.Neeson is at his best when thrown against everything that man and nature fears, and it is a film experience. See it!

Editors note: This review was contributed by a reader by email submission to scoops@horror-movies.ca! 

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Every now and again you come across an independent horror movie that really does sustain tension and most importantly, doesn’t end up going for laughs. If that is what you’re looking for then you are in for a treat and its name is “Rage”.

Rage is a tip off to Duel, Steven Spielberg’s 1971 debut film where Dennis Weaver plays a commuter terrorized by an unseen driver in a semi-truck. Rage director Christopher Witherspoon swaps out the truck for a motorcycle to great effect, upping the challenge and changing expectations.

Rick Crawford plays Dennis Twist (a great twist on Dennis Weaver), an everyday guy with an everyday life. One day he heads out into town to run some errands, leaving his lovely wife Crystal (Audrey Walker) at home, even though it’s his only day off. Soon we learn why, he’s actually going to meet his mistress, Dana (Anna Lodej) and break it off with her. While parking, he cuts off a Biker (Christopher Witherspoon) for a parking space.

Never a good idea since you never know who you’re dealing with. Anyway, during the painful break up (painful for her, not him) we learn that she has an ex-con boyfriend that is not too happy about him being around in the first place, all the more reason to bolt. He says his goodbyes and heads out to his car only to be confronted by the Biker who keys his car in a drive by maneuver involving a large black combat knife. Thus begins the real game, is it Steven, Dana’s ex-con ex, or somebody far more dangerous?

Rage sets many theories into play from the obvious to the metaphysical and all are valid depending on your own point of view. Another thing the film does well is to keep us in the driver’s seat, holding our expectations, then switching gears and bring the action home, keep the tone but raising the intensity. We see so many knock off film every year but very few true homages that not only pay respect to the original film but bring their own standard of excellence to the table, Rage is trip worth taking.

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How original for me to be watching ANOTHER IFC film? What can I say, I am hooked! Julia’s Eyes is directed by Guillem Morales, who as of yet, only has a few film shorts under his belt. This would be his first big picture, and fortunately for him, it’s noteworthy. Starring Belen Rueda as Julia, and produced by makers of The Orphanage, Julia’s Eyes is a story of suicide and murder, and most importantly, darkness.

We open on a woman in her home, in the dark, seemingly terrified of an unseen force that follows her into the basement where a noose and stool are waiting. Sara begins to hang herself, but she refuses to let the malevolent spirit watch. Then suddenly the stool is kicked over by someone else. Julia, Sara’s twin sister, sensing something is the matter and her and husband Isaac discover the body. But Julia doesn’t believe that Sara would do something like this, and a pursuit to uncover the truth ensues. Like any other murder mystery, the path is filled with different characters and hidden clues. But Julia’s struggling with another foe; her vision. Like her sister, Julia suffers from a degenerative disorder, and with the added stress of investigating a murder, she could trigger a blindness attack any minute.

I have to say I expected a lot from what I saw in the trailer. Unlike the last movie I watched that Guillermo Del Torro presented (Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark), Julia’s Eyes was much better. The character Julia was fantastic. Filmmakers are hard pressed to create a character as watchable as Julia, and then have an actress hold her true to form. You want someone you care for, fear for, and root for. As for her villain, when finally revealed who the mystery murderer was (won’t say!), it was not as shocking as I had hoped for. I would never say I can catch a twist in a movie just by the trailer. In fact I am very easily surprised when it comes to a plot twist. But this one I had pieced together early on. There was something about the film that left me feeling like it was just on the brink of excitement but didn’t make it over the hump. I loved the way the movie played off blindness, and what the world is like for blind individuals. It was a great choice of a setting for a thriller. You don’t have to create the darkness when the character lives in it.

My Savage score reigns in 3 out of 5 with just enough juice to feel thrilling. While the Gore score splashes in at 3 out of 10, but you didn’t need more than that. If you already enjoy mystery murders and want to try out a new Spanish director who I believe is on to something, than have a look through Julia’s Eyes and I think you’ll like what you see.

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Anja and five friends join anthropology student Dace on a journey to study a remote ancient rock painting. Their excitement vanishes when Mel becomes delirious after skinny-dipping in the waterhole. Feverish bleeding confused she physically and mentally regresses to a vicious predatory state. Mel has gone primal. Mels lover and friends realize they are the prey as she savagely hunts them down. Before they can escape another one of them starts to regress posing a hideous choice kill their friends or be killed by them. Their only hope of survival is through a cave where Anja learns too late the meaning of the ancient rock art they came to study.

Australia has always had it’s own little cornerstone in the Horror genre, dating back to the early exploitation films of the 70′s, or as they’re known ‘Ozploitation’ films. Luckily they’ve moved with the times with each revolution the Horror genre has had and “Primal” is a great piece of evidence that proves that they can still produce a great Horror film whilst still keeping their own charisma that Australian flicks seem to have.

“Primal” was  more of a word-of-mouth film, it didn’t get a-lot of promotion outside Australia, I myself came across it as a side link on YouTube.  I can say though that I’m glad I did, yes I know there’s nothing original about the film, even the trailer shows too much of what happens, but once you watch it you forget all that. It drags you into the film like your alongside the group of friends fighting for survival, you even start to feel a little tense about what’s going to happen next, it has a great mixture of suspense & comedy, though not too much comedy, just enough to allow you to relax for a second or two.

The cast is fantastic and the script is amazing! Kudos to the whole team on this film, especially the effects department who did an amazing job, always great to see film -makers using practical effects in this technological age. I whole heartedly recommend this film to any Horror fan. I enjoyed it so much that since my first viewing that my number of times of watching it are in double figures. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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Ti West is one of best horror directors working today, from the interesting and innovative “The Roost”, the criminally underrated and mishandled “Cabin Fever 2”, to the blast from the past film “House of the Devil”, he has shown that not only is his heart in the right place, so is his talent. Well, I have been not so patiently waiting for the Innkeepers and have been rewarded for my loyalty. In Ti West’s new film, The Innkeepers, we meet Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy), who are running the soon to be closed “Yankee Pedlar”.

Luke has a paranormal website that he believes will take him into the big-time…eventually, and Sara is more than happy to help. Ghost hunting will take uninterrupted hotel investigation, so they volunteer to look after the hotels final guests for the long weekend.  The guests themselves have their own assorted ghosts and demons, which include a jilted wife (Alison Bartlett) and her son (as Jake Schlueter), a sad elderly gentleman (George Riddle) staying in his former honeymoon suite, and a former famous actress turned healer, or psychic if you will (Kelly McGillis).

The days are pretty uneventful, spent lazing around the hotel lobby and toying with the annoying jilted wife and her son. Claire dives deep into the hotel mythology and zeros in on Madeline O’Malley, a bride to be who was stood up and committed suicide in the hotel and whose body was hid in the basement. As Claire opens herself up, she begins to experience things and becomes caught up in a mission to free O’Malley’s soul. When they go down to the basement after a drunken binge, Luke’s website fame seems destined to become a reality, though maybe not in the way he thinks.

If you are a fan of Ti West, then you’re familiar with his “Slow burn” approach to film making. He spends time with the characters, letting you get to know them so that when the inevitable happens, it actually is horrific. The problem with most horror, and this is no revelation, is that the characters are only introduced so there is someone to kill. Claire and Luke are not just symptoms of the stories need, they are the story and we follow them into the darkness with dread.

Sara Paxton reeks of little girl lost, destined for a forgettable life in a forgettable town. I may understand the Sara Paxton infatuation (She looks like Anton Yelchin in drag), but she is perfect for this role. I don’t remember ever seeing Pat Healy, though he was on 24, so I must have. He is fantastic as Luke, the aspiring paranormal website creator whose laptop history consist of his site and a slew of porn. He’s an honest and real character that I could have known in my life and that’s the kind of character that I like to watch.

Every character serves a purpose, and though their screen time is spare, they make an impact. The old man who comes to stay in his honeymoon suite of year’s pasts reeks of sadness and though we know what he’s there to do, it’s the how that is horrifying. Arising as the unofficial third of the group, Kelly McGillis’s Leanne Rease-Jones warns Claire of the dangers of the hotel but her psychic ability draws her into the fold repeatedly.

This is the kind of ghost story we need, creepy and effective without the use of a video camera reality. In fact, Luke makes a statement at the beginning of the film that his video camera is broken. That was a cool way of the director letting us know that there will be no found footage in this film. This is good old fashion ghost story that simply rocks.  If you truly love horror, don’t pass this one by.

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So I’m not typically an alien kind of person, meaning they’re not my favorite monster. But if you like hoards of faceless, raging extraterrestrial then watch Attack the Block. If the title sounds kind of indie its because this is a British film. The producers of Shaun of the Dead have added another hit in the horror genre; combining teenage thugs with the other worldly. You could only guess that a freaking alien would be the end of a gang of troublesome hoodlums but you’d be wrong.

Taking place through the span of a single evening, a possibly apocalyptic event seems to localize on a single block of this Britain town. After mugging a nurse, the group of young thieves witnesses the first creature to fall from the sky. After a quick attack, the gang kills it, and brings it to the safest place they can think of, hoping to get some semblance of an answer as to what it is. The rest of the movie is the battle between human and inhuman, generously filled with plenty of action and triumph.

The particularly scary moments of the movie lie in scenes of great tension, when the characters are most vulnerable, or, when you just know someone’s about to get ripped to shreds. I would say the gore level is a 5 out of 10, but it fits the subtext of the movie so less is better. If you’re a fan of the unique British dialogue, as I am, you’ll very much enjoy the awesome phrases that we don’t get to usually hear. Trust. Overall, I’m rating Attack the Block a 4.5 out of 5. Highly recommended. Even if it’s not terrifying.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD0gm7dHKKc

Related posts:

1. Attack The Block Review
2. Attack The Block
3. Attack the Block DVD Release Date

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Saint, or Sint as it is known in its native Dutch, kicks off in the 16th Century as a group of villagers who have just been the victims of a thorough pillaging by a group of Spanish pirates under the command of a murderous bishop inflict fiery justice upon their tormentors. Flash forward to modern day Amsterdam on December 5th 2010. It’s a full moon and legend tells that when the moon waxes full on the 5th of December Saint Nicholas will return from his fiery grave to wreak havoc. So the scene is set for a movie I hoped would succeed in providing some laughs alongside some seasonal chills. What I got was something less than what I hoped for.

In the midst of the almost entirely generic Saint there is one almost impressive scene. A scene that could have been the single exciting and original moment in the midst of what is mostly an exercise in tired homage. The scene in question is a car chase with a couple of police officers in pursuit of Saint Nicholas as he rides his white stallion across the rooftops of Amsterdam. This is the sole scene where Saint comes close to presenting something new to the audience. But even that moment, although exciting in concept, is hamstrung by shoddy effects work.

Otherwise Saint is the ungainly, bastard offspring of John Carpenter’s Halloween and The Fog (not the only touchstones but certainly the most obvious). Where some might mistake the end result for respectful homage, I see a complete lack of imagination (the aforementioned pusuit scene notwithstanding). The main problem here is that the movies that Saint references are vastly superior and this only serves to draw attention to its shortfalls.

In terms of acting there’s nothing impressive to be found here. Everyone shows up and reads their lines but amongst the performances there was nothing that stood out as being anything more than deeply average. As a result I found myself somewhat disinterested in the fates of the characters.

This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if the movie got the much needed shot in the arm it required every time the big bad and his undead flunkies show up to wreak not so merry mayhem. But Saint Nicholas, visually striking though he is, just doesn’t have the sort presence this kind of movie requires. Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger all had character. Saint Nicholas is a huge void at the centre of this movie that should have been occupied by a terrifying supernatural presence. He mostly just sits there on his horse and lets his gang of burned brigands do all the nasty work.

It has to be said though that Dick Maas isn’t entirely lacking in talent as a director. The movie looks pretty good overall. It’s the script that is lacking here. It fizzles when it should explode. It coasts where it should be slamming the foot down on the accelerator. At just shy of 90 minutes it actually felt too long. There’s an entire subplot revolving around missing children that seems to have been shoehorned in there to pad things out. It has some pertinence but it’s underdeveloped and at the end of the movie it ultimately served no real purpose. This is frustrating because it could have added some much needed urgency to proceedings.

The movie has some gore just not close to enough. There are a couple of fairly inventive moments but a movie this devoid of anything like a sympathetic character to root for should cut loose and go nuts with the red stuff, deck the halls with blood and entrails fa la la. It has little else going for it so it may as well make a play for the gore dollar, because at the end of the day if the script is poor and the characters weak all a movie such as Saint has to fall back on is gallons of gore.

I can see what director Dick Maas was aiming for here. But he falls well short of hitting the mark. It’s entirely possible he was let down by a budget that was so small it compromised his vision. The movie was financed by the Dutch Film Fund who, it seems, are a hard sell where horror movies are concerned.

Even though I was underwhelmed by the end result it is impressive that Maas not only directed Saint, but also wrote it, co-produced it and did the score. It’s kind of tragic given the obvious amount of effort here that the end result doesn’t come within spitting distance of being worthy of comparison to it’s all too obvious influences. But ultimately Saint is a movie composed of a boring and clichéd first half that is followed by a confused mess of a second half. So file this one under missed opportunity.

4 / 10

Related posts:

1. IFC Acquires Rights to Dutch Evil Santa Film Saint
2. Sint DVD Release Date & New Title
3. Beware (2010) Review

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Well, one good Mario Bava film deserves another seeing as I have a habit of getting into modes where one thing makes me think of another. In our last discussion I chatted about one of Mario Bava’s most famous horrors, Black Sunday. After the huge success of the film, American International Pictures asked Bava for another picture that would be similar in tone. The big difference is that this movie would be shot in colour which would allow Bava to work to all of his strengths, artistically speaking.

Released in 1963 in Italy under the title I Tre volti della paura, or “The Three Faces of Fear,” and then in 1964 to American audiences under the more familiar, Black Sabbath, the film would take the approach of an anthology. Three separate stories framed under the introduction of Boris Karloff. Karloff was a nice feather in the Cap for Bava and it remains one of his best performances towards the end of his career.

Each one of the stories is a different flavour of horror, the first of which is called The Telephone and it stars Michele Mercier. Mercier plays Rosy, a woman who starts to get a series of strange and threatening calls (somewhat akin to Black Christmas although a lot less vulgar). Rosy is at her wits end when it’s revealed the person calling is her ex-pimp Frank who has escaped prison. Instead of calling the police, for some reason she calls her ex-lover Mary (the details of them being a former couple are downplayed through editing and re-dubbing of the English version, however). There really isn’t much more to say about the plot without giving away the twist ending, but overall it’s decent. In my opinion, I consider it the worst of the three stories.

The second tale is the longest and has the benefit of starring Boris Karloff. It’s called The Wurdalak (Vampire) and the story takes place in 19th century Russia where a young man named Vladimir (Mark Damon) comes across the body of a man who has be decapitated and impaled through the heart, and for some reason takes the knife as a souvenir (what is it about people robbing graves and bodies in Bava movies?).

Later he comes across a family in a rural cottage who just so happen to know who the owner of the knife is. It’s their father, Gorcha, (Karloff) who shortly returns. Karloff is great in the role of an angry old man who’s been cursed by the vampire. The rest of the story plays out with him systemically stalking his family and turning them into vampires. The most frustrating thing is how senseless some of the characters are. I guess it could be argued that if it was your own family you might not want to believe they can’t be saved, but man, it pretty much ends up where you’d expect.

Of all the stories this one seems the most fleshed out and has the added benefit of Karloff in a juicy role that he clearly had a lot of fun with. This is easily the best story out of the three.

The final story is called The Drop of Water and stars Jacqueline Pierreux. She plays a nurse that is sent to prepare the corpse of an elderly woman and, while she is prepping the body, she notices that the old woman is wearing a sapphire ring. When nobody is looking, she takes it for herself. She doesn’t need it, right? She finds out that in life the old woman was a medium and no sooner does she take the ring that weird stuff starts happening. The freakiest thing in this entire story is the makeup on the old woman’s face. Well, it really looks more like an entire mask. When I was younger I actually was afraid of the effect, but now she kinda looks hilarious to me. This is by default the second best story of the film. I give more points to Wurdalak because it’s a little more fleshed out and involves a bigger cast.

So there you have it, three stories running the gambit of the horror genre. A killer that stalks their victims, vampires, and ghosts: all good stuff. My biggest complaint doesn’t lie with any of the stories but rather the framework around them.

Karloff introduces the movie as himself, the actor and explaining that we will be watching three terrifying tales. Well, it’s good that he tells me how many stories there are but don’t you think they could have done a little better than that? Granted none of the stories are related, but I always prefer an anthology that sets up its stories rather than just having them fire off in rapid succession. All the intro really does is pull me out of the movie. It’s not the only time a horror film has done this. Off the top of my head, Frankenstein and even bride of Frankenstein had their cheesy intros (at the least bride’s was actors in character as opposed to some random guy in a suit). Or even The Coffin Joe movie “At Mightnight I’ll Take Your Soul” had a decent, if not cheesy intro where someone is talking directly to the camera.

To make it worse, the film has an outro with Karloff in full costume from The Wurdalak basically saying goodbye. He’s riding a horse with branches beating past him. For no reason whatsoever it pans out, showing he’s on a fake horse infront of a blue screen with people trotting along with branches to make it seem like he’s moving. It even shows the director filming it. I don’t need to be reminded that I’m watching a movie, I know I’m watching a movie. Nothing drives me crazier than when a film breaks the fourth wall. It’s always just been a pet peeve of mine.

Overall this is regarded as a classic and is Bava at his best. My only complaint is the intro and outro, but really it’s minor all things considered. Check it out and, as always, thanks for reading!

• 
  
  The Terror (1963) Review
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  The Haunting (1963) review
• 
  
  Black Sunday (1960) Movie Review

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Before movies like “Twilight” turned vampires into emo, teen angsty, sparkling pretty boys, the movies showed them as vicious, evil creatures that preyed upon humanity in the dark shadows of the night.  They were fearsome creatures deserving of fear.

Unfortunately, “Twilight” can’t be completely blamed for making vampires boring and dull.

A group of unemployed people have been hired to work in a European household.  When their driver dies, they are forced to spend the night in a small town whose mysterious residents turn out to be more than they seem…

The Spanish film, “The Vampire’s Night Orgy” has some good qualities, but several flaws as well.  Since it’s dubbed into English, the words, actions and pacing are skewed, causing a lack of real tension and suspense during the exposition scenes.  I’m sure that to a Spanish audience in the 1970′s, the acting and dialogue would probably be considered good.

The music is also a detriment to the movie.  Rather than being moody and sombre, it’s rather jazzy and misplaced.  I found myself getting jarred out of any sort of developing interest because of it.  The only scenes where the music fit were the scenes where the vampires are actually attacking the main characters.

As with many vampire films, there’s some titillation in the form of a sex scene, and some voyeurism on the part of one of the main characters.  While these might be considered risque back in the 1970′s, it’s rather tame today.

I did like the humour though.  The scene where “The Giant” goes to the axe sharpener to get his axe sharpened… then inform the axe sharpener that the Countess says he can do his job with one arm made me smile at the irony.

I also like the premise of the movie: travelers are stranded in a village of vampires and must find a way to escape.  The only problem is that the rest of the film elements didn’t fulfill the potential I saw in the basic story idea.

Fans of bad vampire films may enjoy this, but I’m tempted to put a stake through its heart…

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  Horror Express (1973) Review
• 
  
  Don’t Look in the Basement (1973) Review
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  IFC Picks Up ‘Vampires’ Mockumentary

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