From Sky Box Office: Stake Land Review

Though it cribs most of its best ideas from the cream of the post-apocalyptic genre, it does so in a way that is both compelling and exciting, creating a great apocalyptic atmosphere and bringing new life to a genre that is mostly ruled by the increasingly overplayed Zombie.

The Post-apocalyptic subgenre has seen rather a lot of attention in the recent decade, normally with a focus upon our undead friend. Even me, who loves everything Zombie, has grown to be slightly tired of what is now a tried and tested formula. Therefore when I heard of stake land, which attempted to switch out Mr Z. with a Vampire apocalypse, I was excited, though sceptical. Though my mind quickly jumped to visions of I am Legend (the novel), I quickly remembered I am Legend (the film), and lowered my expectations. What I was expecting wasn’t actually what I got, which was a nice surprise. What I was expecting was a pedal-to-the-metal throwaway apocalypse flick with lots of action, but little consequence. Rather what I got was a nicely balanced and well realised apocalyptic world with a personal touch which reminded me more of The Road, than say, Dawn of the Dead.

From the DVD Shelf: Orcs! Review

A film that does precisely what it says on the tin, here’s another low budget, low-rent comedy horror with well...Orcs (!).

I seem to be riding this strange film wave at the moment, avoiding all that seems notable or what reviewers would term ‘good’ (whatever that really means), instead making a b-line towards what many would term ‘awful’. Well Orcs! (because plainly Orcs wouldn’t be as impactful) certainly falls into this low-budget-straight-to-DVD-awfulness category, but that doesn’t mean it is without its charm. Actually, I had a good time with it, take that film media! (but also, you are probably right). At least it isn’t zombies again. Right?

From the DVD Shelf: La Horde Review

Edit: If you think about it...this could be a lost sequel to 28 weeks later. O' God don't I wish that it was!

La Horde doesn’t do anything special to the already saturated Zombie film market, that said, the action and special effects are good enough to make it enjoyable; it’s also French.

I have always thought that Zombies, and the Zombie Apocalypse (which is soon to come!) are always good subject matter for films. That said, there sure have been a lot of things with Zombies in over the past decade. Not only in films, but in books and in games as well. Perhaps this has led to some heightened Zombie saturation which makes it difficult for the more standard Zombie Genre films to stand out. That said, there is still room for the unique Zombie horror to stand up above the rest. La Horde certainly isn’t that film. It doesn’t really do anything new with the Zombie format, in reasons for their appearance or in attributes. Nor does its story focus on anything else enough to make it unique in that respect. It is truly your most standard of standard Zombie films. That said though, this doesn’t mean that it isn’t in some ways enjoyable. Afterall I presume many will be coming to this film, not for some new zombie innovations, nor for plot or character development, but rather to see some hardcore zombie killing action – and there sure is some hardcore Zombie killing action.

Attack the Block Review

It’s like Kidulthood meets Alien, in all the best possible ways, you get me fam?

Aliens are cool right? It’s been a while since aliens have come to Britain, let alone London (unless you count Doctor Who), and I was looking forward to what Joe Cornish, in his debut feature length film, had in mind for this urban invasion, I was hoping for high octane action and rich London slang; Attack the Block supplies both by the bucket load.

£3 Film: Black Sheep

Mutant-zombie Sheep? Perhaps there’s a good reason why nobody had tried this concept before, and after Black Sheep, no one ever will again.

I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt to any film that is attempting to try something new and different, and surely nobody has attempted to frame sheep as the main antagonist within a horror film. Obviously those behind Black Sheep couldn’t do this without wandering into comedy-horror territory – which is fine, but such territory is already highly congested with other, certainly better, titles, and ultimately, Black Sheep’s crazy premise can’t rise above crippling flaws.

£3 Film: Dead Snow

Hmm I don’t know, Zombies just seen a bit cliché nowadays. Well How about Nazi Zombies? Well now you’re Talking!

It’s kind of surprising that nobody had thought of combining the two most deadly of history's enemies, the Nazi’s, and Zombies (...wait a minute?) before Dead Snow came along in 2009 - but everything has got to start somewhere right?

From Sky Box Office: The Devil's Tomb

So I’ve been gone for a while, getting all that university business out of the way. But now I’m back! (Waits for applause)...to review more great (...) films!

The Devil’s Tomb is an alright ride, but is almost instantly forgettable – remembered only for average acting and sometimes laughably bad special and physical effects.

I don’t watch too many straight-to-DVD releases, and you can probably guess why: they normally always suck (if they were any good they would come out in the cinema...right?). Coming into Devil’s Tomb I had no idea about its direct to DVD origins, but by the end I had my suspicions, which tells you a little of what you are going to get if you get round to watching this ‘action horror’ flick.

SCRE4M Review

Scream 4, simply put, is Meta out the arse, but once you get past this perfect storm of self-referential madness, there isn’t all that much to write home about.

It’s strange to see scream 4 in 2011, or should I say SCRE4M (its always cool when they do that right?…). It’s been over fourteen years since the original and that is a lot of time to leave between a sequel, especially one that is so referential to the genre within which it is couched, and one that has gone through somewhat of a metamorphosis in the intervening decade. Gone are the days of the Slasher flick that characterised horror genre back in the days of Scream 1. Replacing it are other forms of horror, the torture porn genre (probably the worst name you could give anything ever) with films like SAW and Hostel , though even that has probably seen its end. As well as that you have the videotaped, home-made style of horror; starting with Blair Witch in 1999, but more recently seen in the Paranormal Activity films. Alongside these two ‘bastions’ of horror film making you have the rise of the remake, Nightmare on Elm’s street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror and Dawn of the Dead to name but a few. Scream 4 then, attempts, like its predecessors, to de-construct the slasher flick, while also attempting to de-construct these newer horror genre quirks, most notably the idea of a remake.

Blooded Review

An interesting mockumentary (though there is little mocking to be found) about the issues of extremism and the morality of hunting, this so called ‘horror/thriller’, is actually neither of these, leaving a film with a interesting style, but one that ultimately holds it back as entertainment.

Blooded is definitely an interesting film. Effectively a mockumentary, though shot in a documentary style void of any real ‘mockery’ in a way so realistic and so rigidly held to the conventions of a documentary that after a while it is for all intensive purposes, a documentary, though the events that it documents are far from real.

£3 Film: Colin

I’ve always wondered why some films are so cheap, are they absolute bargains, or low in price for a definite reason? Well now I’m going to be finding out. Each Week I will be finding and writing reviews for films around the £3 price mark (although they could be cheaper than this) to see if they are any good. I will generally be attempting to pick films which are lesser known, (reviewing a cheap film that everyone has probably already seen doesn’t seem interesting) and hopefully I will find some gems, among what I expect will be mostly rough. Well without further ado…Colin!

An interesting premise and an applaudably low budget does not save this zombie film’s bland story and uninteresting characters.

From the DVD Shelf: Timecrimes (or Los cronocrímenes)

A breath of fresh air for the Time-travel genre, this low budget Sci-fi thriller is certainly mind-bending, but in an extremely good way.

At first glance this film seems to have everything going against it. First of all it has a silly name, a poor translation of its original Spanish title, Los cronocrímenes? (I don’t know, I don’t speak Spanish!). Secondly it’s directed by someone you most likely haven’t ever heard of, Nacho Vigalondo, who sounds more like a bad Mexican super-hero than a great director (no offence Nacho!). While finally, at first glance it looks like a poor, low-budget, slasher-flick, with a main antagonist that resembles a trench coat wearing, scissor wielding, Mummy (If you see the DVD cover you’ll know what I’m talking about). Hence, though I had even been recommended this film by other websites and purchased it, it sat sadly on my shelf for months before I finally got round to watching it. Plainly though, this film is demonstrates clearly why you should never judge a book (or in this case DVD) by its cover, for what we have here is something both imaginative, exciting and extremely thought provoking.