Suite 313

Easy does it. Eeeeeeasy. This is not a "great" film. This film isn't going to be on many "BEST OF" lists. However...it's totally entertaining and with a 63 minute runtime...it's well worth checking out.

Basically what we have here is a first person shooter horror game brought to life. And, they actually do a pretty good job of it.

An officer is called out to answer a 911 type call. When he arrives on the scene, he can tell that things are far from ok. There are several grisly scenes laid out before him and as he tries to piece things together, he gets a call from the original 911 caller telling him that he's in danger and that he needs to listen to what she has to say very carefully.

The female caller guides him along as things become more and more grim. But...what is the true nature of Suite 313?

 The film has all the video game tropes. First person perspective. Traps. Monsters. Jump scares. I found myself giggling from time to time because it actually kinda reminded me of the old SEGA games they were knocking out with video clips playing as you played along. Like the one I loved and made it through called SEWER SHARK. Just...without the horrid compression artifacts. :::grin::::



The filmmakers also manage to avoid the horrid camera vortex found in many found footage style films. The camera sweeping around in an awful way making the viewer ill. The cam is rather steady throughout Suite 313 and I REALLY appreciated it.





The effects are rather well done overall. While the budget is rather low, the effects play out in some gory and ghastly ways.






I hope that writer/director Aaron Pederis continues making films. Maybe one with a more standard narrative the next round. I dig his style and he seems to have a real grasp on the genre.


Give it a go! Free with AMAZON PRIME as of the time of this posting.

Deliver Us

"Exorcism is still a fact of contemporary life. Every year, more and more people claim that their illnesses are caused by demonic possession.  

Father Cataldo is a veteran, one of the most sought-after exorcists in Sicily. Every Tuesday, many believers follow his mass of liberation, searching for a cure for some adversity for which there does not seem to be a label or a remedy."

This was a fascinating documentary.  It fits into the horror camp - I mean...exorcism. Hello. :) The thing that really got me was the fact that people are so into it. Like, all in. I'm not a religious person, but I loved seeing people who are religious jumping in with both feet as Father Cataldo worked his magic. The faith they have in what they believe in was somewhat inspiring. I couldn't think of anything that I had that kind of faith in other than immediate Family, honestly. These folks travel from far and wide to be seen by him and helped.

Seeing people who believed themselves caught in the heat of a possession was wild. It's one thing to see our horror movies do it with actors and actresses bouncing around and screaming lines of written dialogue, but it's way different when "real people" are doing it feeling like they are possessed by evil.

The flip side was also very interesting - the fact that some of the people were just being talked about as having medical disorders, not a possession, and how they distinguish between the two. A very tricky line.

It's also interesting to think that a ways back in the 1500's, many of these people might be "dealt with" in various, sordid ways - being possessed and full of evils.


A fantastic and well produced piece. Well worth a viddy for those so inclined. It was very interesting.

Demons (2017)

From the press kit:
"A psychological thriller that marries elements of The Exorcist, The Shining and The Big Chill, Demons tells of a celebrated fiction writer and former priest (Doleac, “American Horror Story”, The Hollow) who, along with his wife, are tormented by the ghost of her late sister, as the details of her grisly death are slowly uncovered."


I had no idea what I was getting into here. I just dove in cold. I have to admit that I was a little lost at the beginning. The film was playing with two different time periods and I wasn't sure which characters were which or if they were the same folks at all. However, it seemed like someone else might have pointed this out as well because they did a very handy little recap and it all fell into place. After that, I was set.


DEMONS leans more towards a heady drama rather than a strictly horror based film. There are major horror elements for sure, but I think the film goes more into interesting storytelling rather than thrills and chills. And the storytelling is very good, indeed.

We bounce back and forth between events of the past and how those events changed the characters in the present. Those events are dark and sad and it's left our leads in a bit of a state. I found the "Big Chill" style interactions to be fun. Be warned - there are many interesting conversations about spirituality, faith, and personal interactions and they may scare off a few gore hounds for sure, but the film is never preachy or heavy handed. I'm not a spiritual person, but I found the conversations to be very engaging and intriguing.

One interesting thing here is that I actually wanted it to just be a straight drama after a time. It totally could have played that way for sure. The characters and story were rolling along so well and I was so invested in their fates that I didn't find the more supernatural side of things to be as much of a draw.

The cast and story are super solid. It's like they've gone and done a search for "interesting actors with amazing voices" and cast a bunch here. Andrew Divoff's booming WISHMASTER voice and demeanor were perfect for the father, Gary Grubbs and his southern twang-rific voice as a priest was fun, and Kristina Emerson's voice was so...smooooooth. And...was that John Schneider?! :) But, I was riveted by Miles Doleac's performance as our male lead here.  The changes he undergoes within the film's runtime were part of my confusion. He really did become two separate people after the events of the past and that change was reflected in his performance. And, he wrote and directed the film as well. A busy guy!

I was half way through the film when I realized that I had been staring at the screen slack jawed and engrossed for over 55 minutes. No email checking. No texting. No side scrolling. I was completely hooked by the story and the characters on the screen. The film is shot beautifully thanks to Ben McBurnett's cinematography and it has a great color and lighting scheme that gives it a rich feeling.

I'd say that this would be a grand film for someone who wants some thrills, but really wants to care about the characters and the plot.

 An interesting watch. Give it a viddy!  IN THEATERS 10/6/2017

Andrew Divoff (Wishmaster), John Schneider (‘’Smallville’’), Lindsay Anne Willams (The Hollow), Steven Brand (Hellraiser : Revelations), Kristina Emerson (“NCIS : New Orleans”), and Gary Grubbs (Free State of Jones) co-star star in a powerful goosebump-stirring new spookfest from Historia Films, the makers of The Hollow and The Historian. 

Double Feature: Hell House LLC and 21 Days

I recently had a daytime, sick day double feature. A rare treat for an active Father of two. I fired up Amazon Prime and went through my list and was happy to see that HELL HOUSE LLC was and top of my list. I snuggled in and settled in for the viewing.

Hell House LLC is a found footage film that documents the strange goings on in an abandoned hotel as a group of 20-somethings build out a haunted house attraction.

From IMDB:
"Five years after an unexplained malfunction causes the death of 15 tour-goers and staff on the opening night of a Halloween haunted house tour, a documentary crew travels back to the scene of the tragedy to find out what really happened."

I loved the storytelling here. You see the horrific outcome via some footage that was posted to YouTube and some interviews speaking about the events gravely, but you don't know what happened other than something went very wrong and people died.  When additional footage is recovered, the tale unfolds in classic, found footage style.

The film has some really chilling visuals, even for a horror hound like myself. I found myself pulling for the characters even though I knew they didn't make out alive at the end. I was invested and concerned and I was freaked out more than a few times. Many of the situations were very creepy and well executed. I was happy about the whole situation. :::grin:::

 

The acting felt real and the relationships seemed honest which really helped to sell the whole story. The fact that GoPro camera's where mounted as a safety precaution for the haunt nights sold the reason why they had so much good footage. And, documenting the haunt build for future advertising and the like made constant taping understandable. 

I'm not usually a found footage fan, but this one was super solid and didn't bother me at all.  The storytelling was the thing that really locked it in for me. We're right there in the thick of the story, investigating along with the people in the movie to try and sort out what happened. Clues drift into place as the movie rolls along and you twist and turn along with it as opening night looms ahead.



I have not felt the same way about a film like this since I originally caught The Blair Witch Project when it came out in the theater or when I curled up with Lake Mungo for the first time. I was completely invested in the film, story, and characters.

All in all, Hell House LLC had a fun story with some grand scares and chills. It is a new Halloween Fave for me that I plan to own very soon! I loved it.  A fantastic first feature length film for Director Stephen Cognetti. I can't wait to see more!






Which brings me to 21 Days......

Now, I usually don't bash films if I didn't enjoy them taking the tack of, "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all." But, seeing as this came on the heels of Hell House LLC, it was an interesting juxtaposition of what works and what doesn't that might be beneficial to filmmakers.

This was Kathleen Behun's first feature as well and I'm looking forward to see what she does in the future. I would assume that a found footage feature might be a bit easier to do as a first film with a smaller budget - especially when you only have three people in one location, but it might have other limitations for sure. Juggling time between three people in a house requires some careful planning. I think she pulled that off along with making the single location interesting and engaging.

21 Days tells the tale of a house that people can't last more than 21 days in. Things are so disturbing within the house that occupants usually end up fleeing - leaving all their belongings behind, and if they don't, they go mad.

From IMDB:
"Three filmmakers embark on a paranormal challenge by barricading themselves in a house so haunted, no one has been able to live in for more than 21 days."

The house had an interesting lore behind it. The movie had all the usual scary tropes in there as well. Things in mirror reflections, doors slamming, stuff appearing....the usual. But, there were a few things that 21 Days had that grated on my nerves a bit.

The acting and writing were not at the same level as Hell House LLC, which instantly took me a little further away from what was going on. While LLC had a documentary feel that was super strong, 21 Days felt like a movie made to scare. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It did have a Paranormal Activity aura around it.

I jokingly put of a tweet while watching the third act that said, "The last 21 minutes of 21 Days was filled with shaking cameras, screaming, and darkness." Up to this point, things were relatively forgivable, but even my wife said, "God...that woman just keeps screaming frantically. I hate that," as she was walking through the room. The panic in LLC seemed genuine and the fact that there was a huge crowd involved really helped to set the scene at it's finale. But, 21 Days only had three people bottled in a house. They tried to have emotional spikes and heated interactions (handled expertly in LLC), but they just came off as script readings when all is said and done.

Now, don't get me wrong - there are some cool things in 21 Days as well that I'm sure will freak out someone in the mood for a haunted house flick. The scenes that took more time and subtlety played out really well and had me looking for little nuggets here and there on the edges of the screen. However, the film's final act crumbles into camera's being carried around by running people and he house becoming darker and darker until at one point there's a solid black screen with someone talking. The scene brightens a bit to reveal the big finish and there's a fun post credit scene, but I wish they had found some way to avoid the shaking cameras and screaming a bit.

At one point, someone is even filming with their iPhone and they drop it in a panic. The phone drops, but it's almost like they've placed it on the floor. And, the framing is set perfectly when it's dropped -  spot on for catching the same character running to the door and banging on it to be let out. Have you ever tried to place your camera somewhere to get a family photo on a timer? It's usually SUPER hard to find somewhere that a camera can be placed for the shot. Yet this person drops the phone and gets the perfect framing? That's the kinda thing that completely removes me, but that I can see someone else not even thinking about.

But, all of this might have been different if I didn't finish Hell House LLC minutes before. I also think it isn't played for someone like me - 48 with WAY too many horror movies under my belt. I'm sure this film was a hoot for a younger crowd who are a lot less jaded about horror. I think I owe this film a re-watch.

21 Days is solid and very worthy of a watch, but if you happen to do this same double feature, watch Hell House LLC AFTER watching 21 Days and not before. :::grin:::

Both of these should be added to your Halloween viewing list!

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Lake Nowhere, Exists, and hellos

I'm trying out a new little format - a video review!

I was watching LAKE NOWHERE and was inspired to toss my hat into the video ring. However, this isn't going to be the quality all the time. I plan on giving this a shot a few more times in October with proper lighting and a better intro. I literally did this on my laptop with candle lighting and a glass of whiskey. hehehe

LAKE NOWHERE was a fun little throwback to my time as a teen watching VHS tapes with friends until the wee hours of the morning. 50 minutes of time machine goodness. The story was odd and interesting and they managed to get the classic 80s tropes in without pushing them too hard. I guess the one downside to it was that somewhere in the mix they awkwardly transitioned into a more standard horror film, dropping the 80s throwback feel a bit. Still really good, but it felt like they lost the desire to keep the gag going a bit. Hard to explain. Still a fun, worthwhile watch.

EXISTS was a tense little found footage film. I'm usually not a found footage guy, but this was really well executed and tight. It even hooked my wife in and she's not a genre fan.

I really should come up with a little nickname for my wife and her genre input. heh I'll work on a little cute name for her. :) I'm always impressed when she watches a film I'm watching, even more impressed if she truly watches - sans phone - and is interested, then wowed when she actually mentions the film the next day. EXISTS got a next day mention - a positive feeling and thought on the length and story line. It really was a grand little thrill fest with limited "WTF?!" moments carried out by characters. Enjoyed it MUCH more than Willow Creek.

Feedback is welcome! I'd love to hear what you think! 
((...keeping in mind that the production quality will go way up on the next rev!))

Berberian Sound Studio

Berberian Sound Studio
Director: Peter Strickland
Writer: Peter Strickland
Stars: Toby Jones, Antonio Mancino, Guido Adorni

Continuing the "I'm not sure you will like this film because it's so odd" theme I seem to be having at the moment, I thought about Berberian Sound Studio. This is definitely not a film for everyone, but I loved it.It's not a "horror horror" film, but it's disturbing on many levels.




Toby Jones plays a mild mannered folly artist sound editor type who goes to Italy to work on a horror film. There's much stabbing of mellows and women screaming in sound booths as they work on this horror film we never actually see. But, as he works on the film, the film starts working on him and he starts to drift into a world that is definitely not his own.

I love the fact that the films focus is on the sounds that go into a horror film. While we never see the actual film, we are giving the description of the horrific event we're working on the sound for, so the sound itself becomes like a audio switch for what we are supposed to be seeing in the film. It worked wondrously and gave me chills from time to time.

The fact that this strange world of the studio is where we spend most of our time allows for the dream-like (nightmare, really) aspects to really pop. He wanders about - an Englishman in an Italian landscape - trying to work like he does when he's dealing with his documentaries and sleepy films and it's just not the same world at all. When his grip on what's real starts to slip, things get to be very interesting indeed.

I loved the film. I thought it was interesting and odd and a lot of fun. Again, a relief from the endless sea of cinema verité, zombie, cgi paranormal ghost dreck out in the world right now. Version after version of a copy of a copy doing the same damn things we've seen time and time again. This film is...not that. Not that at all. The visual style is grand. Sights and sounds play together to show what goes into some of the folly work - creating visceral, audio support for the visuals on the screen. The visuals are kinetic and curious in many ways as we watch dials and hand movements and people moving about in a world full of deep shadows and dim lights.


Perfect for a late night viewing, too. That peak time around midnight where your mind starts getting a bit mushy. :)

A Haunting in Connecticut 2

I checked out A Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia. No, I didn't loose a bet, I wasn't drunk and I'm not into self abuse. It just looked like it might have some redeeming value and it was streaming on Netflix, so what the hell.

"Dude, get over the name thing."

First, the damn name. This is a huge pain point for me - these movies that share a name with another film and little else.  





I, Robot - Yes, it's about robots and so is the original novel. That's pretty much where it ended. Why? They couldn't get the rights originally, so they started shooting another robot script...until the rights came through. Then, they just....blended the two scripts in a blender and shot what poured out. 

Last Exorcism..uh...Part 2   Did it really need to dovetail off? I mean, it has the same girl in it, but it could just be another ghostie, right? Anyway....

Well, this Connecticut film is the same way. Firstly...A HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT. CONNECTICUT!!!! Jebus - at least have it happen there if you're going to use the friggin' title! LOL  But....like I said....I moved on.


Things are simple here yet again. Family moves into a new home. Family has their own "ghosts" they are dealing with. Family starts seeing ghosts all over. Hot sister in law used to fly fighters for the Galactica. Oh...wait...sorry...got confused because Katee :::sigh::: Sackhoff is in it. (Battlestar Galactica) •ahem• Anyway...yeah...so...



Oh....yeah...ghosts all over the place. Kid talks to ghosts. Yadda yadda yadda. You know the drill. However this had a story that I found to be very interesting. I won't give too much away, but it has to do with the Underground Railroad, slavery and a "Stationmaster" that helped slaves escape. There was some actual meat to this storyline and it got me involved eventually. I wasn't just waiting for effects shots to pop up.

AND, the biggie - I didn't call it like I usually do. Usually I can call out exactly what's going to happen in these films. A fall, a stumble, a jump scare, etc. Some were hilarious when I got going. I felt like I was willing the film to unfold before me. (The Possession comes to mind) This film didn't do much of the simple stuff. It choose to rely on story to get it's points across. The only sad thing was there was so much story that they had to resort to a section of flashbacks and exposition to explain what was going on at one point. I forgave it, however, because I found myself saying, "Ooooohh....I get it...Huh!" out loud when it happened.

Now, don't get me wrong - this film isn't perfect. Not at all. There's still a lot of fluff in here and not even a special appearance from Cicely Tyson could lift it into the realm of "great".  The film got 5/10 on IMDB and a sad 26/100 on Metacritic. (Oddly, The Possession got a 45. I liked Connecticut better) I didn't expect ANYTHING from it and it actually managed to give a lot - I appreciated that about the film. There is a lot packed into the film and, unlike some recent "paranormal" films of late, I wasn't bored 10 minutes in and just CRYYYYYYING out for SOMETHING to HAPPEN! :)

If you want to see some ghosts, some rotted corpses and some TOOL-like rock video flash-cut ghost edits, then you may want to toss this film on one night and give it a go.

Evil Dead Redband Trailer 2

Even more nuggets of nasty in this EVIL DEAD Redband Trailer #2. BE WARNED! This is not something for work, kids or the squeamish. It's for fellow, hard boiled horror fans. 

More gore and violence and nastiness seems to be in order for this remake. More of everything. It's nasty and mean and gruesome. But, will it fly?

I can see the choice to make things WAY over the top with this and, honestly, I can't wait to see it. The original is still near and dear to my heart. Taking things in a more violent and gory space will help to separate it from it's predecessor. But will the gore-fest drive people towards the film or away from it?

The backlash seems to already be starting. Groups up in arms about what they see in the trailer. This sort of thing often drives people to see the film - the only one's being driven further away usually being those who would not see the film anyway.

Let the possessions....BEGIN!