Captivity

Elisha Cuthburt is a supermodel who is drugged at a bar and wakes up to find she is being held captive in a sealed room. Her captor begins to torture her in both mind games and pain to make her submit. She soon realizes that someone else is being held captive in an adjoining room and the two of them try to escape. Everything however is not how it seems.

This movie may have been doomed from the start. There were extra gore scenes added before it was released in the U.S. The problem is that these scenes really look like they were thrown in and it ruins the movie. The acting is fair but not good. Even Elisha, who I normally like, is not her best. There are also several really stupid things like why Elisha’s character would make love to someone when she knows her captor is watching. Honestly overall this movie seems poorly written and badly put together.

Rating 4 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

Black Sheep (2006)

A young man from New Zealand has an irrational fear of sheep because of a prank played on him when he worked on a sheep farm as a child. As he returns some meat is murder type activists uncover a genetic lab that is altering sheep and accidentally let one of their failures loose. Turns out that the mutation is meat hungry and his bite infects and spreads the cannibalistic urges.

This may have been my best surprise of the entire year’s worth of movies. I watch a lot of movies and often just watch one without knowing much about it. In this case I was given the movie with no case and no knowledge other than it was about killer sheep. I expected a B-movie cheese fest and was blown away at the special effects (by WETA) of a movie with a plot line like this one. The acting was also pretty good and the scenery was beautiful. The story was very comedic and pretty well put together. I honestly had no real criticism on this movie and have actually recommended it to anyone that would listen, although I usually lose most people when mention it is about killer sheep.

My rating 8.5 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

28 Days Later

An activist group raids a Chimpanzee testing facility to rescue them. A doctor there tells them to be careful since they are infected with RAGE. The rage is a virus that makes the infected crazy and bloodthirsty. 28 days later Jim wakes up in an empty hospital and walks out to an evacuated London. After finding out that his family is dead and the Rage virus has infected most of the population,he meets up with a few other people and set out to see if they can find out anything about the virus. They end up at a mansion that is now a barricaded haven for survivors that are trying to rebuild. The safe haven isn’t exactly what they had in mind though. They must fight to escape with their lives.

There was a lot I loved about this movie. For starters, I loved the look of it. Some of the shots were stunning and the look of desolation when Jim was walking around deserted London was brilliant. It is rare that a post apocalyptic movie really conveys the sense of loneliness in my eyes but this film did it in spades. I really liked the way the infected move. It is very much like the Dawn of the Dead remake in that they run and it really gives a sense of fright and the need to run. The fact that these are not zombies spares the film from slow zombie purists. The film really had great suspense and it held that suspense extremely well throughout, especially in the action scenes. This movie was not exactly true horror in that it delved a lot into Sci-Fi range but the character development and drama was leaps and bounds beyond most horror movies. The soundtrack is fantastic and really makes the end of the movie outstanding.

My rating 9 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

Baby Blood

An ancient evil from the beginning of time makes it way into a circus women’s unborn fetus. The evil talks to her and makes her unwillingly kill people so that he may grow. She flees the circus, not wanting to hurt anyone but soon realizes that is not a choice she has. She tries to settle down, thinking she can ignore it but soon gives in and travels from place to place claiming more victims in the name of evil.

I wasn’t real sure what to expect from this movie going in. The premise sounds like it would be a cheese fest but the movie takes itself pretty seriously. The version I got is dubbed into English from the original French. I usually only get subtitled versions but this was all I could find. It is done cheaply because there are about 3 or 4 conversations that were left undubbed. They didn’t seem important but still annoying. They problem with dubbing is that you may lose the original intent as far as context. This may have been the case with this film. I found the baby talking to be over the top and a bit cheesy in some points. It is hard to tell if this is from the dub or if the original was portrayed this way as well. There was a bit of gore in this movie and it was done pretty well for the most part. This movie isn’t going to wow anyone but it was better than allot of other horror films I have seen.

My rating 5 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

The Texas chainsaw massacre: The Begining

This is a prequel to the events in the remake of the original (confusing enough for you?)Essentially it tells the origins of the characters from the remake, which includes Leatherface as well as R. Lee Ermey’s character. This film also has a great look to it. It really has some nice tones for a horror movie (not exactly original but very nice). I also enjoyed several of the interesting camera angles in this one. This movie is brutal! The first 13 minutes make up for all the faults of Texas chainsaw massacre part 4. R. Lee Ermey is great in this. I liked him in the remake but this one really shows more of his character and he plays it very well.

This movie shows the beginning of Leatherface and how the closing of the meat plant destroyed the town leaving the Weavers as pretty much the only people left. Two couples are travling through town when they get in a wreck. R. Lee Ermey who has taken over as sheriff kidnaps them and takes them back to his house for dinner (to eat them not serve them). All of the TCM sequels tried to show a disturbed family but they all pale in comparison to this one. Finally we see how really crazy this family is without so much cheesy acting. This movie provides everything you want from a Texas chainsaw massacre film and more.

My rating 8 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

The Texas chainsaw massacre (2003)

This is the remake of the Tobe Hooper classic form 1974. I was a bit dubious upon first hearing about this, in part because I loved the original so much and in part because I was unsure how Michael Bay would do with it. As with many of my reviews of remakes I will be comparing this to the original as much as reviewing it in its own right. To start with I actually liked the intro much better. It is obvious from the get go that a larger budget and a modern acceptance of horror movies has given this movie a much more talented cast(not that it is full of Oscar winners). I like the plot change about going to a concert vs going to their grandparent’s old house because I always wondered why someone would vacation to such a shitty house.

The new hitchhiker added a nice touch and shot through the hole in the head was great (not the most original but great none the less) but I still prefer the original crazy guy. The first killing kept to the brutalness and ferocity of the original which I loved. The second started with the more drawn out fight scene type that are more popular. Not really sure I like showing leather face’s face. The unknown was a nice added bit of terror in the original. Was he normal or not? I mind this less I must say after the prequel but more on that in another review. There was some pretty gritty and great horror and gore scenes in this movie, particularly Leatherface wearing her boyfriend’s face as a mask. I don’t really get the little kid. I think the film could have gone along fine without him. Sure he was a bit creepy but just seemed unneeded. R. Lee Ermey is great in this film (even better in the prequel). This is also a beautifully shot film.I like the ending with the documentary but the movie ending was not great (although it had a nice startle fright) I prefer the more bleak ending to the original. Overall I would say this was a very worthy remake and in some ways outshined its predecessor. While I still prefer the original I am sure this will appeal more to a younger crowd and that is always good , as it gets more horror films the green light.

My rating 8.5 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

Bad Taste

After watching Dead Alive I decided to break out Bad taste which is Peter Jackson’s first film and a couple before Dead Alive. I must admit that while I remember enjoying the film many years ago when I first saw it, it loses a lot when compared directly to Dead Alive. It is in much the same vein as Dead Alive in that it is a comedy with horrific circumstances. It does have a bit of gore and I must say for a small but Jackson did ok (especially nice that he did the special effects himself)

Jackson obliviously learned a lot from this film because his writing and camera direction grew quite a bit from this to Dead Alive and even more-so to what he did in the Lord of the Ring trilogy. To be fair to all parties though, this was his only movie not to be co-written with his wife Fran Walsh. It shows how much of an impact she must have (especially on dialogue)

Bad taste is about a group of guys who hunt down aliens and weird things. They come across a town than has been invaded by aliens and turned all the farmers into zombie like creatures that like to kill and eat other humans. They plan to use human meat to start a fast food franchise. Most of the movie is the final fight scene which is pretty long and a little bit drawn out. This film does have some pretty good gore and some very funny moments but those are not enough to make up for some of the acting and writing unfortunately. Compared to other movies of his it lags but in comparison to other b movies of the genre it would stand up pretty well. Absolutely worth a viewing if you are a fan of his or a fan of splatter comedy.

My rating 6 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

Dead Alive AKA:Braindead

This is an early movie by Oscar winner Peter Jackson, of Lord of the rings fame. People will always argue which Peter is better. The goremonger of Bad taste/ Dead Alive fame or the CGI special effects guru of Lord of the ring/ King Kong fame. I am of the camp that both are tremendous. I love his old work and really dig his new word as well. The same arguments are often made about Sam Raimi. Several internet dorks argue that Peter sold out when he began making the Lord of the rings, but this is just stupid to me. He made movies he always wanted to make and happened to make a ton of money doing it. Sure I would like to see some more films from him in this vein, but you can’t fault him for doing what he really wants to do.

Dead Alive starts with a New Zealand zoo keeper captures a ratmonkey on Skull Island and returns it to the local zoo. The monkey ends up biting Lionel’s mother. The bite turns the woman undead and Lionel tries to keep her in check with tranquilizers. Of course the woman spreads the virus and Lionel and his new girlfriend fight to stay alive. First time viewers will compare this to Shaun of the dead, and wouldn’t be far off. While Shaun of the dead is a fantastic film (thinking about it makes me want to watch it again and review it here) this movie is so much more over the top Shaun can’t even touch it.

This movie doesn’t take itself seriously and is written to be much more of a comedy than horror, despite its gore and horrifying storyline. This movie has perhaps the most gore I have ever seen in a film and it is glorious. You won’t believe some of the things that Peter Jackson puts in this movie. You will laugh at things if described to you would make you sick. I won’t go into too much detail so as not to spoil it for those that have yet to see this wonderful gorefest but I actually almost threw up from laughing so hard a one point. I can’t underline the amount of gore in this film though, if you are the least bit squeamish you may want to have a trashcan nearby.

My rating 9 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.