Tag Archives: horror movie

All Movie Reviews, Halloween Horror, Horror, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

The Pack (2010) Movie Review

October 21, 2017 Alex Brannan

This review of Franck Richard’s The Pack is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.

Charlotte Massot (Emilie Dequenne) is running away from something. Her car is packed full, and she is driving until she runs out of CDs to listen to. Along the way, she picks up a hitchhiker (Benjamin Biolay) and they wind up at an off-road bar. When the hitchhiker disappears, Charlotte is too curious not to investigate the bar further.

Too bad for her, as she gets conked on the head and winds up in a Continue reading The Pack (2010) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Halloween Horror, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Saw II (2005) Movie Review

October 19, 2017 Alex Brannan

This review of Saw II is part of the Saw Franchise Retrospective series in anticipation of this month’s release of Jigsaw.

Is Saw II genius for its opening scene, which alludes to the horrifying opening to Luis Bunuel’s surrealist masterpiece Un Chien Andalou? Is Darren Lynn Bousman making some commentary on how art repeats itself, making a bold self-reflexive statement about where the Saw franchise was headed back in 2005?

No. Okay, just checking.

Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) is a father and a cop. That’s about all you need to know of his character. Lucky for him (?) he stumbles on Continue reading Saw II (2005) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Halloween Horror, Horror, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Them (2007) Movie Review

October 19, 2017 Alex Brannan

This review of David Moreau and Xavier Palud’s Them is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.

The premise of Them is exceeding simple: a couple (Olivia Bonamy and Michael Cohen) is trapped inside their isolated home in the country when unseen assailants torment them from the outside.

And that’s it. The short, not-quite-80-minutes-long film comprises this one conceit (and a cold open that accomplishes the exact same conceit but in a well-paced, taut nine minute span). The tension of this home invasion plot is Continue reading Them (2007) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Halloween Horror, Horror, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It

Martyrs (2008) & Martyrs (2016) Movie Review

October 18, 2017 Alex Brannan

This review of Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs and its 2016 remake is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.

Note: This review goes into spoilers for both films. You’ve been warned.

Pascal Laugier’s 2008 film Martyrs is perhaps the crowning achievement of the New French Extremity, as it ties together the disparate themes and generic components of the movement in the most cohesive and intriguing way.

The American remake of the film, directed by Kevin and Michael Goetz and distributed in part by Blumhouse, is not in conversation with the films and filmmakers of the New French Extremity. It is entirely removed. As such, it is merely an exploitation film.

Now, Laugier’s Martyrs is no walk in the park when it comes to excessively violent subject matter. But for most of its running time it doesn’t feel like an exploitation film. It is a film about Continue reading Martyrs (2008) & Martyrs (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Halloween Horror, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Saw (2004) Movie Review

October 17, 2017 Alex Brannan

This review of Saw is part of the Saw Franchise Retrospective series in anticipation of this month’s release of Jigsaw.

The first image we see in James Wan’s Saw, now somewhat of a perennial torture porn classic, sets up the illogical world that this series is grounded in. A fitting introduction, one might say. We see Adam (Leigh Whannell, who also serves as screenwriter) underwater in a tub with a key dangling in front of his face. He is holding his breath, but also unconscious. When he wakes, he yanks open the drain and the key disappears forever.

How long was he out? How could he be alive after Continue reading Saw (2004) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Halloween Horror, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) Movie Review

October 12, 2017 Alex Brannan

Over the past decade, The Poughkeepsie Tapes has become an artifact of horror fandom lore. Initially set for a 2007 release, John Erick Dowdle’s mockumentary profiling of a serial killer was pulled from the release slate and faded away. In 2014, the film received a light VOD release and vanished again.

On October 10, 2017, The Poughkeepsie Tapes was given, for the first time, a proper release. It is currently available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

In retrospect, the film feels like the found footage love child of The Blair Witch Project and V/H/S. Talking head interviews frame the story of a serial killer who Continue reading The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Halloween Horror, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Sheitan (2006) Movie Review

October 11, 2017 Alex Brannan

This review of Kim Chapiron’s Sheitan is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.

The abrupt open to Sheitan is an utter delight. The first image is a closeup on a man’s shocked face. He asks if we’re ready. There is indistinct noise, perhaps in protest, from outside of the frame. He asks again. Then, he begins scratching a turntable, and we are introduced to a rowdy night club that presents us with the energy of the film. Text appears on the screen that reads: “Do not forgive them, for they know what they do.”

In this night club are three men who are quickly thrown out for one of their transgressions against patrons. The transgressor, Bart (Olivier Barthelemy), has some issues with anger and sexual aggression toward women (and apparently bad breath).

Before being kicked out, however, they meet Eve (Roxane Mesquida), who invites the three men and Yasmine (Leila Bekhti) to her eccentric home in the country, which is filled with Continue reading Sheitan (2006) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Frontier(s) (2008) Movie Review

September 18, 2017 Alex Brannan

This review of Xavier Gens’ Frontier(s) is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.

Xavier Gens’ Frontier(s) begins similarly to Mathieu Kassovitz’ 1995 drama La Haine. Both begin by mixing real and documentary footage of riots in the streets of France. In both cases they are riots over an intense distrust of the government. For Frontier(s) it is a distrust over a newly elected right-wing government.

In a way, it feels like Gens is trying to pick up where Kassovitz left off, beginning with an Continue reading Frontier(s) (2008) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Inside (2007) Movie Review

September 4, 2017 Alex Brannan

This review of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s Inside is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.

Inside begins, as its title suggests, in utero, with the image of a fetus that is about to be ruptured by an unseen car wreck. Four months later, the survivors Sarah (Alysson Paradis) and her unborn child are ready for the impending birth. It is Christmas Eve, and the newly widowed Sarah is despondent about the prospect of her first baby.

An understandable apathy, to be certain. The cruelty of having one of the Continue reading Inside (2007) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Kuso (2017) Movie Review

July 21, 2017 Alex Brannan

“No one will ever save you,” begins the man (Regan Farquhar aka Busdriver) who hijacks a newscast at the beginning of Steve Ellison’s (aka Flying Lotus) cinematic debut Kuso. “Once you’re dead / you’re dead / There’s no coming back.”

Thus is a fitting prologue into the world of Kuso, the warped, hallucinogenic vision of its musical creator. No one can save you from Continue reading Kuso (2017) Movie Review →