Italian Zombies Alive And Well In America

Sorry I haven't been doing too many reviews lately. I had plans to get more done, but I went through a period where I just didn't give a shit. It started with the last review I did for here when it didn't publish right, because I had been signed out for some reason, I discovered it also didn't auto save like it should have. So I had two hours worth of work disappear on me. Even though I got it finished the next day, I was still pretty pissed about it. I also lost part of my review I was doing over at Top Horror Movies Club. I was pissed about losing one review, but with it happening twice, I didn't want to write anymore. I got over it, eventually, and did finish my review for Fright Night done. I don't know if I will get up in time, but I would like to go to another movie Saturday. For now though, I watched City Of The Living Dead (1980) before it was taken out of Instant Watch.

Somewhere in the town of Dunwich, a priest hangs himself. Because he does this, he opens a gate to hell that causes the dead to start to rise. Mary (Catriona MacColl) is a psychic who has a vision of this, and things to come. This puts her in a death like state, and is even buried alive before Peter (Christopher George), a reporter, discovers she isn't so dead after all. Peter and Mary decide to team up and head to Dunwich to see if there is anything they can do. Mary believes, because of the vision she had, that the gates must be closed before All Saints Day arrives, which happens to be the very next day. In Dunwich, we meet Gerry (Carlo De Mejo), a psychiatrist. Because of his job, he has been meeting people that believe something is very wrong in Dunwich ever since the priest killed himself. Gerry teams up with Sandra (Janet Agren) when she discovers a body in her house that was just at the morgue. They eventually find Peter and Mary and try to help them as well. Will they be able to close the gates in time?

City Of The Living Dead, which has a long list of other titles, is a movie by writer/director Lucio Fulci. I have watched a few of his movies for here, so I was looking forward to watching it. It gets fairly high marks on IMDb (6.1), which I don't really get. Not to say I hated City Of The Living Dead, I just didn't connect with it like so many others have. I found the start of the movie a little confusing. I didn't even make the connection that Mary was the woman in the coffin for a while. Everyone calls the dead zombies, but that is a very loose term for them here. They certainly have the look of zombies, but they don't really act like one. They can kill just by staring at women and they can appear and disappear at will. It was a bit strange, like they were part zombie, part ghost. My biggest problem with City Of The Living Dead was that there was no sense of urgency. They had less than 24 hours to close the gates, but they were always being side tracked by something. They save some kid twice. The last time they did so...well I don't want to give anything away but lets just say they were late. I'm not saying the kid wasn't worth saving, but if it was the kid or having millions killed because the gate wasn't closed, then sorry about your luck kid.

I think City Of The Living Dead has become something of a favorite mostly because of the special effects. It can be a pretty gory film at times. Bleeding from the eyes, puking up ones guts, and a nice scene where someone gets a drill to the head. Even the zombies looked pretty good. Most of the effects look good, but there was at least one where it was pretty obvious a fake head was being used. The acting seemed to be okay. The version that was on Instant Watch was dubbed.

I'm not alone in not really liking the plot for City Of The Living Dead. Once I figured out what was going on, I still wasn't a big fan of it. I guess I get why people like Fulci's films. I have liked some of them, but I have never found one I can think of as great though. Fans say to leave logic at the door when you do watch his movies. That is fine I guess, but I like logic. I also like weird movies, but as long as they makes some sense, then I am happy. It wasn't that City Of The Living Dead was way out there as far as its logic, I just didn't care for the way the characters were taking their sweet time saving the world. The ending also leaves a lot to be desired as well. The story about how the ending came about is interesting, there was a split in the film so Fulci just went with it, but it gives you the feel of just leaving you hanging. Fan of Fulci do seem to like this one. If you are one, and haven't checked out this one yet, then give it a watch. Even though I didn't care for it, I would tell people to give it a chance at least.
2 out of 5 I wonder where the zombies went when they disappeared

Underwater Nazi Zombies

In order to get the two Instant Watch movies in before tomorrow, I am working ahead a little bit. I was going to watch one today and one tomorrow, but then it hit me that won't work. Netflix doesn't mess around when it comes time to take a movie out of Instant Watch. When they say the 16th, they mean it. I have missed out on a movie before because I thought the date listed would be the last day you could watch it, but it is actually the date it will be pulled. So I watched Shock Waves (1977) last night, and I will watch the other movie at some point tonight. I actually like to do my reviews during the day, since there isn't as much on TV to distract me. I hope to keep things going once I get back to work at the end of the month. Plus I really should get back to that interview I was doing. I haven't done anything with it for months now. I'm bad like that sometimes.

A tourist boat is out on the seas. The crew is the Captain (John Carradine), Keith (Luke Halpin) and the cook Dobbs (Don Stout). Out for a boat ride you will find friends Rose (Brooke Adams) and Chuck (Fred Buch), along with Beverly (D.J. Sidney and Norman (Jack Davidson), a married couple. When we first meet everyone, we learn there has been some engine problems. This has cause some friction between some of the people on board. Once they get the boat going again, they head off but find that the compass isn't working the way it should. Because of that, they aren't sure they are going the way that they had planned on. To add to this, we hear some strange noises, and the sky has turned a funny color. This just raises the tension even higher. Late that night though, they hit a rusted out ship that appeared to have been moving. This causes damages to their own boat, and also leaves it stranded on a sand bar. Lucky for them though, they are close to an island. The island only has one person living on it (Peter Cushing), who warns them to leave the area as soon as possible, but why?

At the start of Shock Waves we are told about how during World War 2, towards the end of it, the German's made super solders. While some were encountered, there was one unit that no one ever managed to capture a single person. We also learn that these special solders are somewhere between life and death. While they are never called zombies, that is pretty much what they are. It was easy to see what out rag tag group was going to go up against. The zombies seem to like the water. They are often shown as laying in the water while waiting for someone to pass by. The first time we see all of these zombies is pretty cool. They don't just rise up out of the water, but are shown walking up to the island, so they are slowly being revealed. This was great, but it was something that they showed a lot. Every time someone would get in the water, I was pretty much expecting to see a zombie pop up behind them. After a while, seeing one come up out of the water lost its impact. Add to the fact that the zombies don't really do much, and the slow pace that director Ken Wiederhorn gives Shock Waves doesn't help much. I had to wonder why any of the characters would even bother to walk through water that was more than knee deep since that was where the zombies seemed to like to hang out. The zombies would just grab a person and then drown them, nothing all the special.

No special effects outside of the makeup for the zombies. The cast for Shock Waves had some fairly well known people for the time. Peter Cushing and John Carradine never share any screen time. It is hard to call either of their parts cameo's, as each does have a good sized chunk of screen time. It seemed to me that Carradine got the better end of the deal though. Cushing only interacted with the other actors for a couple of scenes, and the rest of the time we just see him wandering around the island. Even so, both actors do a great job with what they have. They weren't the only ones that didn't have much to do. Brooke Adams spends most of her time looking pretty in a bikini.

When I started reading other reviews, I noticed a trend in them. The reviews that gave Shock Waves a high mark were from people that had watched this one when they were kids. It just goes to show that movies that we first started to watch usually end up being the ones we remember the most. A lot of these people point to the slow pace and say that it adds to that atmosphere. Maybe it does a little bit, but I just wasn't feeling it. Between the slow pace and people not really doing much at all, I just didn't end up caring much for Shock Waves. I'm not knocking people that did really get into it, as I'm sure there are movies I really enjoyed but most hated. Shock Waves is considered a cult classic. I won't argue that point at all. It is a movie that has a following, yet I had never heard of it until I added it to my Netflix queue. It is hardly a bad movie, just one I wasn't able to get into.
2 out of 5 At least I understood the need to want to be in the water

A Good Reason Not To Give Out Your Number Remake

I did it. I made it through the One Missed Call series. It also seems I'm back into a writing grove again. After today's review I will have two movies in Instant Watch to get through before starting on my next series review, Phantasm. I have all the movies here, ready to watch. Unlike the One Missed Call series, I have watched all of the Phantasm movies at least once before. I'm looking forward to giving them a watch again. Late last night I decided to go ahead and watch One Missed Call (2008), the American remake. In a way I was actually looking forward to watching this one. I wanted to see what changes would be made. Wanted to see if it would have a more American feel to it. I was a little surprised by what I found. I was also surprised by peoples reactions to this movie.

After a string of deaths, Beth (Shannyn Sossamon) is trying hard to figure out what is going on. Her best friend was thrown to her death in front of a train. Her best friend's boyfriend is killed soon after. What do these, and other, deaths have in common? They all got a phone call from themselves dated in the future and they can hear their own death. When that time comes, it actually does happen just like the phone call said. When her roommate gets the call next, Beth starts to team up with Detective Jack Andrews (Edward Burns), who's sister was a victim of the phone calls as well, to try and figure out what is going on and how to stop it. Or will they be the next to get a phone call?

One Missed Call does waste time putting you into the action. At least one person is dead almost right away. With little explanation to what is going on, we see a hand come out of the water which grabs some woman and her cat. There is also a fire at some hospital that is thrown in there, but that is better explained later on. In fact, that was the only thing I liked about this remake over the original. The fire offers up a better explanation on something that is discovered late in the movie than it did in the original film. That is about as far as this remake goes in being better. The first thing I noticed being different, besides the fire anyway, was that people were seeing strange things the closer they were getting to the time of their death. Some of this is explained away, the fire victims or things found in a certain room, but I didn't care for this change. It wasn't that the effects were bad, they just seemed out of place. The reactions to people seeing these things were also a little off. I think I would be doing a little more than just stare, and say something just to make sure I wasn't going crazy or something. Another big change was the way One Missed Call ends, but I was expecting that. While the new ending is okay, it wasn't the best around. For once I was glad of the extended time of the original movie. There is around a half hour difference in the times. Maybe it was because I knew the story, but it sure felt like that Beth and Jack were connecting the dots way to quick.

From what I have heard, and I don't know how true it is, One Missed Call was intended to to be rated R movie at the time of filming, but it came out as a rated PG13 film. Nothing gory will be found here, which is a shame since the original film was. Instead we get mostly digital effects that while they don't look bad, just don't really cut it. These were mostly used for the ghost effects. The only highlight for effects is a burn victim, that one was done very well. The acting was also just okay. Shannyn Sossamon is fine in the lead, but wasn't great. Edward Burns gives you the feeling that he was just showing up and not trying at all. Ray Wise shows up as the guy that is involved with the media. This was changed slightly. In the original it came off as this big media event, while here it is just some show looking for ratings.

I mentioned people's reactions to this movie earlier in the review. When I looked up One Missed Call on IMDb, I was rather surprised at the low 3.6 average rating. I thought that was pretty low. I don't think this is a great movie by a long shot, and it isn't as good as the original film, but I was happy with it for the most part. Once I started reading the forum for the movie, it didn't take long for me to figure out why it was getting such a low average rating. The remake doesn't explain what is going on as good as the original did, but there was still enough there to put everything together. When reading the forums, people were asking some pretty basic questions about the plot. I had to wonder about their attention span since everything they were asking was explained.

Even though I wasn't all that impressed with the remake of One Missed Call, I still saw it as an average movie. Not great, but not awful either. I almost wish I had given the original a little higher rating just to show that I liked it the most. Eric Valette has some big shoes to fill considering that Miike was the direct of the original. According to trivia, he did not watch the original film, and asked his cast not to watch it as well. If you don't like sub titled movies, or just not into movies from Japan, this remake will be the way to go for you then. I do suggest the original over this one, but I don't think that will surprise many people.
3 out of 5 I wish Ariel Winter was in it more than she was

A Good Reason Not To Give Out Your Number Part Three

At least I made it back over here to do a review. I was just going to do one review over at Top Horror Movies Club, but I ended up doing two. If you would like to read my thoughts on either The Task or Final Destination 5, then click the links and head over there. Don't forget to come back here though. Even though throwing in a review for Final Destination 5 sort of screwed up my plans for here, I can still get everything in on time. For today I watched One Missed Call Final (2006). This is a movie that Netflix doesn't have yet, so I went out of my and ordered it so I would be able to get a review in for it. Maybe that was a little silly of me, but it hasn't been the first time I have done that.

I found the start of this movie a little confusing. We see a woman watching chickens and eventually she notices that there is the body of a woman who has hanged herself. Then we see the same woman being picked on at school. Since there are no names given yet, I had no idea what was going on. Then we see a group of high school kids that are taking a trip to South Korea as part of the sign language class. They are learning that even though they speak a different language, sign language is a way that everyone can still talk. They are encouraged to talk to locals while they are sent to different places to take pictures. They are all given cell phones that they will take the pictures on. On the way to South Korea, one of the girls gets a weird phone call that is dated around noon the next day. At the time she finds herself alone and gets attacked by something, and is hanged with a piece of red candy in her mouth. When other student dies after a call, it starts to panic the rest. Soon one in their group gets a text that tells them to forward the text if they don't want to die. Emily (Meisa Kuroki) starts talking to Asuka (Maki Horikita) who may be behind it all. Asuka blames the group for picking on Pam, who hanged herself, and now is wants revenge on them. Not all were doing the picking, but Asuka still blames them since they did nothing to stop it. Will Emily (not her name in the sub titles) be able to stop the killings?

I didn't find One Missed Call Final to be all that good. It departs from the previous two films in different ways. It doesn't pick up the story that was being told in either of the other two sequels, and it just has a completely different feel to it. There wasn't much of a mystery to figure out this time around either. The red candy singles that Mimiko is killing again, so at least there is that link back to the previous movies. That is really the only connection though. If you have watched the other movies, then it isn't hard to figure out what is going on with both Mimiko and Asuka. There is a nice little twist with Asuka at least. One Missed Call Final is, more or less, a stand alone film. While it does go back to the other films in the form of Mimiko, it explains just enough about her so that you get the basics of who she is. It helps to have watched the other two, but I felt you can get by without watching them for this one. I didn't feel the tension that I felt in the other ones. In fact, a lot of it came off a little silly really. I get that they would freak out knowing that the person who got the text might forward it to them, but actually seeing this just felt silly to me. Everyone running around, in mass, trying to stop on person from sending the text to one of them. Even though these were older teenagers, they didn't really act that way a lot of the time.

There isn't much for special effects this time around. A few fingers bending the wrong way and such. There is a scene where a power line comes loose and attacks one of the students, but the digital effects didn't look very good there. It was another reason the movie has a silly feel to me. The acting seemed to be okay. I thought a lot of them over reacted to things, but I felt that might have been director Manabu Asô's fault more than anything. I liked the leads though, so I guess not all was lost.

The plot itself for One Missed Call Final was fine. The whole bully thing was an interesting plot line, I'm just not sure it worked well as a One Missed Call story. I don't know how much of an issue kids getting bullied is in Japan, but I know it has been in the news more than a few times lately here in the States. I'm guessing it is an issue since someone decided to make it a plot point in a movie. I felt like the story was there and then they tried to force it into the world of One Missed Call. It was cool they they linked the killer from the first two movies into this one, but I didn't understand why they method was changed. In both of the other movies, a person would get a call from the future and hear their own death. The first call in this movie was that way, except she hears herself say a couple of sentences and that is it. There was nothing ominous about it outside that it was a call from herself. From there it was changed to a text message. I don't know if it was changed because texting is the thing to do now instead of calling, but I would find a text message a lot less scary than hearing my own voice. Even though I thought the story did well, especially in the later half of the movie, I just couldn't get over the feeling that it would have done better as its own movie instead of a One Missed Call film. If it sounds interesting to you, I would suggest checking it out if you can find it. I didn't have a problem ordering it, but I don't know if I would recommend to do that honestly. Maybe Netflix will eventually carry it.
2 out of 5 Would you send your friend the text so they would die in your place?

A Good Reason Not To Give Out Your Number Part Two

I'm sure Netflix has wondered what has gotten into me lately. After two, or maybe it was three, slow months in a row, I have sent back four movies in as many days. I will make it five tomorrow hopefully, as I think I will take a break from this series long enough to do a review over at Top Horror Movies Club. After this series I will take a small break in between series. There are two movies in Instant Watch that will be pulled on the 16th of this month. I have time to get the rest of this series in before getting to those two movies though. I managed to watch One Missed Call 2 (2005), or Chakushin ari 2 as is the original title, and get it in the mail box minutes before the mailman showed up. That was pretty good timing, even if I didn't mean it to be.

Kyoko (Mimura) is a day care teacher who is also taking classes to help her better deal with the children she works with. One of her friends talks her into going to the restaurant that Naoto (Hisashi Yoshizawa) works at. Kyoko and Naoto are seeing each other, although it would seem Naoto wants to keep that fact a secret. A little later Naoto's boss picks up his daughters cell phone, thinking it is her boyfriend whom he doesn't like, only to hear his daughter telling him it is dangerous to leaving oil on the fire. Seconds later she walks in, wondering what is going on. At the same time that Kyoko's friend gets a call from her future self, Naoto finds his boss dead in the back after hot oil was spilled on him. The calls have started again, but is it the same person behind the calls? A detective (same guy as in the first movie, but character name is not listed on IMDb) believes so, as does Takako (Asaka Seto), a reporter who I think is linked to the calls because of her sister. When coal is found lining the stomach of these new deaths instead of red candy in their mouth, does that mean there is someone new behind these phone calls? Everyone heads to Taiwan in order to find out.

The upside to One Missed Call 2 is that it isn't a stand alone film. It does try to include plot points from the first movie, and they even inform us of the fate of Yumi. The downside of One Missed Call 2 is that they try too hard to link it to the first movie. Actually the plot feels like it goes all over the place for a while there. There is an urban legend that does manage to sort of work its way into the story. There is a back story to Takako and her sister, which I think is supposed to show that the curse goes back to a time before cell phones. Don't worry, I don't feel I'm giving anything away there since it isn't clear if that was the point or not. They also find an odd way to link events from the two films that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. I liked that they found a way to keep the story going. One will find out most of what there is to know about the killer from the first movie. There wasn't much else to expand on. I just wish they had found a better way to link things up with the first movie in a better way. Once again I enjoyed the mystery of trying to figure out what was going on. It was cool that it wasn't clear that it was the same killer from the first movie for a while. This is a little hard to talk about without giving away too much from the first movie, as well as this one.

Even though Netflix claims that One Missed Call 2 is the "gory sequel," it isn't at all. Besides on person getting all twisted up, there is hardly anything that is gory. We do see a couple of people with their mouth sewed up, but I wasn't really all that impressed with that makeup. Even though I had to play with the DVD to get the sub titles I wanted, I was able to get them. The acting seemed pretty good to me. I am always surprised at how much a nod of the head can mean in Japanese movies. I liked the leads in this movie. There are about the same amount of main characters as there was in the first one, just different people now.

I can't really call One Missed Call 2 a bad film, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the original. The main problem for me was the feeling that they were trying to throw everything except the kitchen sink into this thing. If I had to choose between the two, it would be the original hands down. Not to say that One Missed Call 2 should be avoided though. While it isn't as good as the original film, and it certain has its share of problems, it is still a fun watch. The frustrating part is that it could have been so much better if they had just found a better way to link events from this movie with those from the first. Worth the watch if you have watched the original film, but I wouldn't try to watch it otherwise.
3 out of 5 I bet it is rather hard to smile with your lips sewed shut

A Good Reason Not To Give Out Your Number Part One

I'm a day behind, as usual. I did start my next review over at Top Horror Movies Club Sunday like I had planned to do. It was getting late when my computer decided to mess up on me. The blog there doesn't have an auto save like this one does, so I lost the whole review. I was around half way done with it at that point I would say. Since it was late, and I was rather mad, I didn't start over on the review. I did get it done yesterday though so if you would like to read my thoughts on Scream Of The Banshee, just click the link.

As I have been hinting at, I will be starting up a series review with this post. I decided to go with the One Missed Call series, which currently has three movies and a remake to its name. I will work through this series as well as two others. I might have to break in with other movies if Netflix decides to remove any of the movies I have in Instant Watch, but other than that I plan to run through these different series. I'm starting out with the original One Missed Call (2003) and will work though the series, ending with the remake.

Yumi (Kô Shibasaki) is with a group of friends at a bar when one of them gets a call on their cell phone, from herself. The voice mail is dated for later that night, and it doesn't sound all that promising as we can hear her scream. As Yumi's friend is walking home around that time the call was supposed to have been put through, she is somehow swept off a bridge and falls to her death onto a train that is passing by below. We then see her severed arm dialing another number. Yumi learns that a curse has been finding its way through peoples cell phones. People are getting a call from themselves that is either hours to days into the future at the moment of their death. After that person dies, one person from their phone is the next person to be the target. As Yumi's friends start to get phone calls, she tries to find a connection between why each person tries to call a hospital that will soon be tore down after they die, and a mother and her two daughters that had been going to that same hospital. With the help of Hiroshi (Shin'ichi Tsutsumi), will they be able to solve the curse before Yumi becomes the next person to fall to it?

As I was watching One Missed Call, I couldn't help make comparisons to Ringu. They are very different movies, but I couldn't help feel that it was at least inspired by Ringu in part at least. Replace the video tape with cell phones and you have a class match there. This has nothing to do with the movie itself, but I was surprised at the quality of the DVD, or I guess the movie itself. It looked low quality with snow, and it looked like something was always moving in the shadows. Watching it on the computer I can watch it in a smaller window, or in full screen. Maybe it wasn't really meant for my big monitor because it looked better when in a smaller window. As for One Missed Call, I can say that it is one long movie. Clocking in just under two hours, I can understand why so many people complain about it being dragged out. There are a couple of times around the hour and a half mark where it starts to feel like the end, but keeps going. One thing that surprised me was how quickly the media got involved with the killer message story. Not long after the second death, the media is already getting involved with the next person. What I found frustrating about this is once that plot line is over, we never hear another word about it. The media simply disappear. Considering what happens on live TV, I would expect there to be more to it than that.

Director Takashi Miike does bring a nice balance with the suspense and gore. There is just enough gore here to keep the gore lover happy I thought. Even though there isn't a lot, there is just enough there. The severed arm was cool, as well as some of the makeup for burns or rotted flesh that would slide off. Some good stuff there. The acting was also pretty good. I made the mistake of leaving it on English dubbing instead of using sub titles. It started up with dubbing, and I almost stopped it change it to sub titles but changed my mind. I will not make that mistake again. It wasn't that the dub actors were bad, it was more that the voices were so far off from what was going on in the movie. I mean, when the actor is saying a single word, like Yumi's name, I would expect to see the voice over to be close with the actual actor. Instead I heard the name, and then 2-3 seconds later I see the actor saying the name.

I get that Miike is a popular director amongst fans of Asian movies. I haven't gone out of my way to check out his films. I'm pretty sure this is only the second film of his that I have watched. Many say that One Missed Call is Miike's answer to the Asian ghost story, and one can see many similar themes that run through it. Many also say this is most accessible film to date. While I didn't find One Missed Call nearly as weird as Audition, I also didn't like it as much. It certainly has some creepy places in it. There were times that it had me sitting on edge wondering what would happen next. I also enjoyed trying to figure out who was behind everything and why. Still though, the story didn't grip me as much as say The Ring did. It is a good movie, but I just didn't find it to be great. It will be interesting to see how they expand this story into two more movies, so I am looking forward to checking them out next.
3 out of 5 Beware of red candy

Hurting From Lies

My next review I had planned was actually going to be for Top Horror Movies Club. I was going to watch that movie and get the review done today, and then start on a series review Sunday. When I decided to check on Netflix though, I found a movie that was going to be taken off Instant Watch tomorrow. So that changed my plans a little bit. I just have to push everything back a day is all really. Not a big deal really. I'm glad that I checked though, just one less DVD that I have to wait to be sent to me if I can watch it on Instant Watch instead. Hurt (2009), as it turns out, is something of an international movie. Filmed in California, but set it Arizona, there was people who were from Brazil, Canada, Poland, Germany, Portugal, and Greece all working on this movie.

After her husband Robert is killed in a car wreck, Helen (Melora Walters) moves her two teens, Lenore (Johanna Braddy) and Conrad (Jackson Rathbone), in with her brother-in-law Darryl (William Mapother). They are leaving behind a nice house, because the bank is threatening to take it, and moving out into the desert where Darryle has his home and junk yard. Lenore isn't all that thrilled by it,but Conrad embraces it some by using some of the junk to create art with.Darryle also struggles with having three new people around. Things get even more complicated when Helen finds out that Robert was planning on taking in Sarah (Sofia Vassilieva), a troubled kid whose parents has recently passed away. Helen doesn't want to do it at first, but after seeing Sarah getting picked on by other girls in the group home, she changes her mind. Things seem to be going okay from that point, but a secret that Helen and her family doesn't know about is ready to reveal itself, and nothing will be the same.

Hurt surprised me a little bit. I really wasn't expecting it to be a good movie for whatever reason. The plot didn't really strike me as all that interesting. To be fair though, Netflix gave an even shorter version of the plot, so I think that is why it didn't sound all that interesting. I can see some people tuning this movie out because it takes its sweet time. Writer Alison Lea Bingeman and director Barbara Stepansky let things build slowly. Strange things will happen from time to time, like Lenore's duck turning up with a broken neck, but thing don't get real serious until towards the end of the movie. I was able to figure out who was doing these things way early. Even though they try to keep you guessing, it is still pretty obvious. I think the main problem there was that it was one of two people. One was a bit creepy, while the other wasn't so much. If you watch enough movies, you figure out it isn't usually the one they are trying to make you believe is the bad person. I thought I had the reason why things were happening nailed as well, but had to wait for the reveal to see if I was right. To my surprise, I was. Even though the story is a bit easy to figure out, it didn't take that much away from it for me. I still found the reveal to be cool, which I think was helped by the acting.

I did think that the acting could have been better at times, I still thought everyone involved did a find job. A lot of people seemed to have been impressed by Sofia Vassilieva, and for good reason. She really pulls her character out well. I had never heard of her before, but I guess that is because I have never watched the TV show Medium. I also liked Johanna Braddy. She was the first person to figure out that something wasn't right, and gets her detective on. There isn't much really as far as effects and gore. One scene where someone falls on a pipe, but that is as far as things go.

There was one major thing wrong with Hurt. There is a glaring plot hole that I couldn't believe was there. I can't really get into here though, as it would give too much of the plot away. If you let the plot get to you, it can ruin the whole movie. It certainly screws up the entire story. I would give Hurt a lower score for that reason, but it still managed to charm me some. Something else that bugged me a little bit was the shotgun used in the movie. They made a point to let us know that it is loud when it is fired. Late in the movie though someone else uses it and it sounded more like a pop gun. I'm also pretty sure it didn't fire when it was supposed to. The title actually fits nicely with the plot, as it deals with being hurt over a major lie to some extent. Do ignore the movie poster though, it has nothing to do with the film itself. If Hurt sounds like a movie for you, do give it a try. It isn't a great movie, but I have watched much worse.
3 out of 5 Ducks and desert just don't mix

Never Go To An Old School In The Woods

Over half the year is gone already. Seems like this year is just flying by. I hope to have a better month than my last two. I feel a little more like I am back in the groove at last. Maybe not completely there, but I have more of an urge to write it seems. Yesterday I thought about getting two reviews in, but the second one, which would have been this review for The Woods (2006), never really got off the ground for me. My first review was for Husk. If you haven't checked it out already, and it doesn't look like many have, then head on over there and do so! Hopefully I don't mess up this review too bad, as I am watching a favorite TV show when not writing. Anyway, I will hopefully have a series review starting up Monday. I still don't know which one I want to do yet. Sad isn't it?

Heather (Agnes Bruckner) is being sent to Falburn Academy by her parents. Actually, it is her mom (Emma Campbell) who is pushing for it, while her dad (Bruce Campbell) is just going along with it. Once she learns that her dad isn't as rich as she thought, the headmistress (Patricia Clarkson) gives her a test for a scholarship, which she apparently passes. Being the new girl, she finds that she is by herself for a while. She does sit across from Marcy (Lauren Birkell), who seems to be very shy. They do talk some though, and when Samantha (Rachel Nichols) comes over to proclaim herself the queen bitch of the school, a friendship starts to happen between Marcy and Heather. Not everything is going great though. Heather feels there may be ghosts in the woods, and hears voices along with weird dreams at night. But it isn't until one of the students disappears, with a pile of leaves left in her place, that things get real serious.

The Woods was a little odd in that it was set in 1965. I don't know why I found that odd really. I just assumed it was that way to rid the world of pesky cell phones. A few people complained that the girls didn't have the look, or even acted the way that kids from the 60's would have. While I did think the hair styles were off for the period, I couldn't tell you if teen aged girls acted that way in the 60's or not. Another odd thing is that The Woods is said to have sat on a shelf for three years before seeing the light of day. Depending on who you ask, some feel it deserved it, others don't. I had a bit different take on The Woods then it seems most others did. I think the reason for this was because of the back story for the school. It is, more or less, told all at once. This was fine with me, but it was the way it was told that I think throws people off. The story is told by one of the students to Heather. I took this story as only being partly true, after all it is a legend passed down from student to student. Because of that, and the way the movie ended, I guess I ended up with a different take on what happened. Anyway, I thought it was an interesting story that had some good moments of suspense to be found. I enjoyed trying to figure out what was going one with Heather and the other students.

The effects were pretty good I thought. Even though towards the end there is a heavy use of CGI, I didn't have much of a problem with it. With what they were doing with the story at that point, I don't think they could have used anything other than CGI. There are some real cool effects, like an axe to the head type of effect. The acting was also pretty good. I liked Agnes Bruckner in the lead role. I liked her tough, won't take no shit, attitude that she has in this film. It works well for her. I also thought that Rachel Nichols character fit her well. Samantha was a bully and a bit of a bitch, but Rachel Nichols pulls it off fairly well. I can easily see her being that way in high school if she wanted to be.

I guess I was a little surprised to learn that The Woods sat on a shelf since it was directed by Lucky McKee. Not that he is a big name director, but his other horror film, May, is usually pretty popular with the horror crowd. The Woods is a completely different film than May was, but it was just as good I thought and I loved May. Not only did I come to a different conclusion about the story to The Woods, I also didn't pick up on the lesbian vibe that so many people seem to think is there. Maybe it has to do with the fact that is an all girls school, even the teachers, that give it a lesbian feel? I'm not sure, but I didn't pick up on it. Heather and Marcy were just close friends as far as I could tell and Samantha had her reasons for being the total bitch. Some felt Samantha was being that way towards Heather and Marcy because she wanted one or both of them. No, her reasons were explained late in the movie, and it had nothing to do with wanting anyone. Even though the story could have been better, I still loved this one. If you haven't given this one a shot, then you should. It was a very nice surprise for me.
4 out of 5 I wish there was a haunted woods near me