LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated It Follows (2015) in Movies
Oct 9, 2020
It's a very modern take on horror, acting as an age old cautionary tale about casual sex, masquerading as a creepy stalker flick.
The image of a person slowly walking towards you, staring at you the whole time is unsettling enough, but the entity's appearance will frequently change. This allows even people in the background shots to carry a weight of danger in the times where the audience is unaware of its whereabouts. It's a simple yet clever trick that gives It Follows a steady undercurrent of dread.
There's some really nice cinematography on display as well. Lingering shots of empty spaces are intimidating (I found myself constantly scanning for the entity, and got caught out more than once) It also has a phenomenal synth soundtrack courtesy of Disasterpiece. It will switch from ethereal to jarring in a flash and contributes greatly to the dark tone this film carries.
I wasn't a huge fan of the constant frame dissolves and screen wipes. It's kept taking me out of the narrative a bit, and the film suffers greatly with it's characters constantly making silly decisions. Although Maika Monroe is a solid lead.
Overall, It Follows is a genuinely unsettling horror-thriller with some truly chilling moments. It's just a little frustrating that the great concept isn't explored as much as it could have been.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Lifeforce (1985) in Movies
Oct 22, 2020
Lifeforce is a film of three parts - it's one part sci-fi, one part British thriller, and one part ridiculous end-of-the-world horror, in that precise order.
The sci-fi part is decent enough, where a space crew discovers a strange object near Halley's comet, and further inspection reveals giant bats and sleeping naked humans in crystal coffins that turn out to weird space vampires (so on board with this ridiculous plot). It has a great aesthetic and some good special effects (keeping in mind this movie came out in 1985). The puppetry when some of the space-vampire victims come back to life is awesome.
Then the film shifts to Colonels Caine (Peter Firth) and Carlsen (Steve Railsback) as they track down one of the escaped aliens through London, whilst it kills and shapeshifts to it's hearts content.
This portion is slower, but Lifeforce has an engaging screenplay, and boasts a cast good enough to keep things entertaing. Patrick Stewart, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, and John Hallam amongst others provide a solid ensemble that ensures the film doesn't fall into silly territory.
Everything leads up to the absurd finale however. London is completely aflame, hordes of vampire zombie things flood the street, there are bodies everywhere, shit is blowing up, vampire aliens are being vanquished with giant swords, people are being thrown out of helicopters - Tobe Hooper doesn't fuck about with this kind of stuff, and Lifeforce has a final sequence that puts a lot of other horror films to shame, and looks fantastic. It's glorious - This sci-fi-horror gem is well worth checking out.
Gareth von Kallenbach (962 KP) rated Happy Death Day (2017) in Movies
Jul 11, 2019
We know from the trailer that this is a horror/suspense loop and there are expectations set in this type of film. The young, attractive, woman, stalked by an unknown, masked assailant with a penchant for cutlery. As we know, Tree (Jessica Rothe) gets killed repeatedly on her birthday. We know it’s a slasher flick, expecting to see lots of blood and gore. Putting the main character in a time loop is definitely a twist in the storytelling.
Using repetition in film can be a tricky, stalling the momentum of the film. There was a moment during where I wondered when the loop would end, creating the feeling of hopelessness. It is at that time where Tree’s through process shifts and we travel with her in this never ending day. It takes a few times in the loop for Tree’s character to become enlightened She does figure out that each return is a do-over, an opportunity to make different choices.
The film also tips it’s hat to the college/high school, mean girl movies and definitely a nod to John Hughes Sixteen Candles. It had humor, wit and clever character development, I certainly did not expect to enjoy the film as much as I did. I would definitely watch it again to catch all of the references.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2029 KP) rated The Zombie Ball in Books
Sep 4, 2019
While this is the sixth book in the series, it is mostly set in the past, with events taking place before book 1. While I missed seeing some of the series regulars and getting some updates on ongoing storylines, I was quickly caught up in the story, and I enjoyed seeing a different side of the few regulars we did see. The body isn’t found until later in the book than normal, but I was enjoying spending time with Eli and getting to know the suspects. Sure enough, things that happened and we learned came into play once the murder has been discovered, and I was impressed with how Eli pieced everything together. The story hinges on the suspects being strong, and fortunately, they are. This story is shorter than many of the books I read, but it was long enough to tell the story, and it was nice to breeze through a book quickly. While we don’t learn any of the secrets of magic, I still enjoy the behind the scenes glimpses we do get of the life of a magician. Whether a new or returning fan, you’ll be glad you picked up this book.
Kim Pook (101 KP) rated It: Chapter Two (2019) in Movies
Oct 3, 2019
The movie is set years after the first one and the loser gang have now gone their seperate ways, All but one had moved out of derry, some of them have a successful career and Beverly is unfortunately in an abusive marriage, but all this changes when they get the dreaded phone call to come back to derry - pennywise has returned and needs to be destroyed for good! The first few minutes of the movie where we are reintroduced to the characters is pretty slow going but once they meet up at the restaurant, things move pretty quickly and you forget how long the movie actually is. What i found with this movie though is how funny it is, not just at the humour between the group but the different monsters we meet, for example a zombie knew how to drive a car 😂😂. I was a little disappointed with the ending as i expected something spectacular to kill him, but it was literally just belittling pennywise until he shrunk down into a baby like form and then removing his heart and squeezing it until he dies, it just seemed too easy! I'm also surprised that they still had him tramsform into a spider like form, despite people not liking the original ending, again though this might be in the book. Regardless of these faults though i still enjoyed the movie and highly recommend it.
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