Monday 27 April 2020

0.00MHZ -Reviewed


It was a Sunday night on lock-down and i was looking for something to watch, I'd been through Netflix as we all do trying to find something which can take as long as it takes to watch a film!Netflix options were exhausted and nothing peaked my interest, So i was flicking through my phone on the Shudder app and came across an interesting Asian title called "0.0MHz". And as you all know we love a good Asian horror over here so decided to give it a go.
The movie opens up with a ceremony outside a remote hut with the local villagers in attendance, They appear to be trying to eradicate a spirit that it seems to have caused a woman to hang herself in the cabin, This ceremony goes not as  planned  resulting in both of the people trying to rid the demon dead, In particularly gruesome ways.
Then we cut to a group of "Ghost Hunters" teenagers with a bit of knowledge and some equipment to be honest, The are called the 0.0Mhz club as that is the frequency where the spirits appear and cross over, Or something like that but you get the idea. As with all standard movie group of teens you have the couple,The geeky one, The weird one ETC. They load up the vehicle and stop off on the way to get supplies of food and Beer where they are warned by a local not to disrespect the dead basically do not have a party there,Do they listen? Of course not!!


They start their ghost hunt with drinks and piss taking but it all starts to go very very wrong, Surprisingly they all make it out and back to the vehicle, But have they done everything the should have to leave the spirit behind? Once again, Of course not!!!
So, You get the idea. It was i thought anyway great, Kind of seen it all before, The great long haired ghost is present as always and the settings and atmosphere is great, One part actually made me really jump! The only down side i would say i that some of the CGI is at time a little ropy but you can forgive that for the most part.
So, In summing up don't expect anything too original but it does have some good twists and some genuinely creepy bits, Well worth a watch 0.0MHz is now streaming on Shudder.
7.5/10
Jonny T.



Saturday 25 April 2020

The Occupant - Reviewed







Hello Folks,
Whilst going through the international section on Netflix came across The Occupant, I had read about it and love the lead actor Javier Gutierrez so i decided to give it a go.
It tells the story of a failing Advertising executive who is looking for work but not much success, This ultimately leads to him having to move out of his beloved apartment with his wife and son in tow.
But what gives it a twist is that he still holds a key to his old apartment, He returns to spy on the new occupants then eventually lets himself back in whilst they are out, From here on in we see his mental state deteriorate as he slowly befriends the new owners without them having a clue of who he is or what the hell he has been up to in their absence
There are some real tense moments and even though you know what he is up to i personally felt some sympathy for him at first anyway!.   
He basically gets to know the young couple and manipulates them in i must say some very clever if horrible ways against each other, i shall say no more.
All i would say is watch it, I thought it was great, Javier is great and slimy horrible in equal measures, It's got that feeling that it's bound to be if already not remade for the Hollywood audience but please watch this version, It's solid.
8/10.
Jonny T.

Monday 13 April 2020

Sea Fever - Reviewed.






The crew of a West of Ireland trawler, marooned at sea, struggle for their lives against a growing parasite in their water supply.
Director: Neasa Hardiman
Writer: Neasa Hardiman
Stars: Connie Nielsen, Hermione Corfield, Dougray Scott 

From Irish female director Neasa Hardiman Comes Sea Fever, She's mostly known for directing TV shows such as Jessica Jones,Inhumans and Happy Valley and it's great to see her direct a full feature and the result is pretty good in my opinion.
When student Siobhan (Hermione Corfield) is set with the task to join a crew of an Irish Trawler to undertake studies on the catch and note any anomalies she takes on the job but it turns out a lot more than anomalies she will be up against. Not the most confident of people she boards the ship and doesn't feel comfortable trying to be a part of the crew family so just finds various places to do her studies and keeps her self to her self.
The captain gets a radio message from the coast guard about the course they are taking that will be leading them into an exclusion zone and to change course. One thing that Siobhan asks the crew when she boards is that she has to do a short dive whilst out at sea. The trawler comes to an abrupt stop as if it has hit something, Reluctant but asked by the captain she takes that dive and what she finds below the surface that is holding the trawler is not what she or anyone on-board expects.


I really did enjoy Sea fever, I found it to have elements of many other movies such as The Abyss, The Thing to name just a couple, The acting was solid as were the FX for a low budget movie, It's one of those films where you really don't know who will survive, It has it's gory moments and i would say if you are squeamish about "eye" things you may want to look away once or twice!
So in summing up, A great little independent horror movie and keep your eye out for, You can do a lot lot worse like all the crap that comes out of big Hollywood studios, Well worth a look,
7.5/10,
Jonny T.

Sunday 12 April 2020

The Decline - Reviewed


A fatal accident at a remote survivalist training camp sends participants into a panic - and sets the stage for a chilling showdown.

Director: Patrice Laliberté
Writers: Charles Dionne, Nicolas Krief 
Stars: Marc Beaupré, Réal Bossé, Marilyn Castonguay 

Hello Folks,
Hope your'e all keeping safe. I came across The Decline whilst bored the other day and adding a ton of stuff to my Netflix list, The thing is with Netflix i always find it a pain in the arse to find good stuff and there are some great international movies if you do a bit of digging, I found The Decline and it had good reviews and a story line i always like, I do have a soft spot for remote survival based horror so it ticked my boxes so i decided to give it a go and after watching The Room i needed something good and this certainly was.
It starts off with a family practising an escape plan to see how long it would take to escape in the wake of a disaster, This disaster is not a virus like we are experiencing but a natural climate disaster with ice melting, Communities disappearing and migrants/immigrants basically coming to take what is yours and what you would need to survive, We then see Alain who  releases survival tips videos online on how to survive in the on coming days of doom, He also runs a survivalist weekend where those folks who get chosen get to spend a whole weekend as we see later setting snares, Traps, Loading weapons and even bomb making, Alain ain't messing about, He takes it very very seriously indeed!
We get introduced to the various characters on the weekend and their backgrounds, When one of the exercises goes wrong it's down hill from there on in and it's pretty relentless. A short running time of 1hr 25mins is pretty spot on as it never seemed to drag in my opinion, The landscapes and some of the overhead shots are stunning, It does have a fair share of gore and when it does come it's shocking, There are also some great twists which i personally didn't see coming, So if you get chance i know it's on Netflix here in the UK but not sure about overseas but please seek it out it's a solid watch. I would also say as a final note that i watched the trailer after i had watched the film and i would say don't watch it as it does contain some slight spoilers!
8/10
Jonny T


  

Saturday 11 April 2020

The Room - Reviewed




So,The Room starts off with a young attractive couple buy a remote house, They are decorating it when the man discovers a locked door hidden behind some wallpaper, He remembers he threw a similar looking key for the lock away earlier, He opens the door to an empty room, But then the lights starts to flicker, So hey guess what he calls a local electrician who comes and has a look, On leaving the electrician is surprised by the fact that the new owner doesn't know the story of the previous owners being murdered! So from this brief description you get the idea right?
I have seen this plot a million times before as i'm sure many of you have, The only difference is that the room gives you anything you wish for, anything at all. That part of it peaked my interest for about 30 minutes but to be honest after that i just kept loosing interest, It's an easy watch to be fair but honestly don't expect anything groundbreaking or to be honest even remotely scary, The couple have the usual blazing rows whilst weird stuff is happening but for me the last half hour was so dull and by the time it finished i honestly couldn't give a shit about the characters, I found them unlikable from the start!
So all in all, it's not as bad as i am probably making it out to be for me it was terrible!
5/10
Jonny T


Friday 10 April 2020

Judy And Punch - Reviewed.


It's apparent from the outset that Mr Punch is an arsehole and he most certainly is that!
Struggling to make it in the big time his and Judy's puppet show has returned after touring  to a town called Sea Side, It is getting rave reviews in the town and playing to a packed theatre also attracting interest  from the "Big Smoke" but the trouble is Mr Punch can't control his thirst for the booze, After an accident involving their baby Judy returns home to find an intoxicated Punch who turns full on rage and appears to beat her to death, He then carries her out and buries her in the nearby woods where (Slight Spoiler) she regains consciousness and is taken in by a group of outcasts who live in the woods called "Hexens". 
Mr Punch then blames the two old loyal servants for the death of his child and the mysterious death of his wife. It's set in medieval times, Times where if you cast the wrong shadow you are classed as a witch and duly stoned to death or hung without any hope of a fair trial.
I must say i hadn't really read much or seen much about Judy and Punch but the poster and story-line peaked my interest so i decided to give it a go and i'm really glad i did,The sets and indeed the setting where the tale takes place looks great, It reminded me in parts of classics such as Blood On Satan's Claw and Witchfinder General but with more of a dark comedic twist.
It's got some great character's and twists, All in all a pleasant surprise, Like i said before the lead character of Mr Punch is played brilliantly by Damon Herriman who also recently played Charles Manson in the superb Netflix series "Mindhunter". I found as much as i hated his character i also loved it in equal measures, Also the other lead Judy played by Mia Wasikowska who's best known for her portrayal of Alice in Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland and the Adaptation of Ryu Murakami's book Piercing which i would say if you've not seen that or read the book you really should. She's brilliant in this, You really feel for her the whole way through and i for one was routing  for her all the way.
In summing up i would say it's definitely well worth tracking down, 
8/10,
Jonny T.  




Monday 30 March 2020

The Hunt - Reviewed




Hello All,
It's been a while to say the very least! Since we were here last the world has indeed gone completely insane, I was saying to Big Man Gav the other day (From a safe distance!) It's like every film we've ever seen on the subject but it's actually happening, We know how to be prepared for the zombies but the boredom is a whole new level, On a serious note though folks i hope you and your families are all keeping safe and as well as can be and you yourselves are being sensible and keeping away from people, If any of you want a chat about anything or any help just hit me up on Facebook and i'd be happy to oblige.
I'm going obviously like you to be watching a ton of stuff over the next few weeks so i'll review all that i can, Starting with today's watch The Hunt.
So i'd seen quite a lot of hype lately about The Hunt and a poster with a pig and lot's of quotes about how violent it is,So it was time to check it out.
It starts off on s  1st class plane when one of the "Passengers" from the back of the plane is said to have woke up early, This is swiftly dealt with in a very violent manner,Next cut to a field where there a number of people with gags locked into their mouths and a mysterious wooden crate. It's revealed what is in the large crate and then the bullets and everything else starts flying, it seems that The Hunt is on! 



And that is pretty much it as regards plot line, Characters last about as long as they do in a Game Of Thrones episode, Dispatched on both sides with every increasing shocking deaths,
It does have political and social undertones and commentary running throughout but never goes too deeply into them to turn it into just that kind of movie, Quite a short running time that seemed to me to drag out a bit near the end, Especially the long They Live grilled cheese sandwich fight.
In summing up i found it great fun in all, A good Saturday night/Sunday afternoon easy watch, Don't believe the hype too much i would say, Just stick it on and turn your brain off from all the crap in the world at the moment and have a blast.
7.5/10.
Stay Safe all!
Jonny T.