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Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Chernobyl Diaries (2012) in Movies

Nov 23, 2020

Chernobyl Diaries (2012)

2012 | Drama, Horror

4.7

(9 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Contains spoilers, click to show

There have been a few things set in Pripyat, the abandoned town where the workers of the Chernobyl power plant used to live and almost all of them rely on dogs as a big/main threat. After a slow start 'The Chernobyl Diaries' looked like it was going to follow this pattern, however, the dogs soon give away to a bigger but mostly unseen threat.
I found that the film was predictable in parts both in the action and in some of the scenery used, you know that something was going to happen to the van, you can work out who is going to go missing and anyone who knows anything about Pripyat knows there will be at least one scene with the ferris wheel. However there are still plenty of good jump scares and the fact that we never get a clear view of the killers (although one did remind me of the 'Toxic Avenger')
All in all the 'Chernobyl Diaries' is a slightly above average slasher in the vain of 'The Hills Have Eyes' and 'Wrong Turn' with some creepy moments, not to much gore and a plausible set up.

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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Dolls (1987) in Movies

Feb 13, 2021

Dolls (1987)

1987 | Horror

7.0

(7 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Plain and simple - Dolls is a belting 80s horror, overflowing with fantastic effects work, unsettling monster designs, and a fantastic cast all whilst having a sub text about how it's ok to still be a child at heart.
A complete shift for Stuart Gordon from his work on Re-Animator a couple of years earlier, but equally as bonkers. It packs in a fair helping of gore, but still feels weirdly family friendly. Perhaps this is due to the lead child character, played by a great Carrie Lorraine. The supporting cast manages to be a selection of likable, and equally unlikable characters. Highlights for me are the creepy but oddly wholesome, if slightly murderous, older couple who inhabit the house that the narrative takes place in, played by Guy Rolfe and Hilary Mason.
As mentioned, the practical work is incredible. The dolls' movements are kept hidden for a lot of the runtime, but when you see them in all their glory just over the halfway mark, the pay off is completely worth it.

Dolls is hugely memorable in all the right ways. A hidden gem of a horror.

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Darren Fisher (2465 KP) Feb 13, 2021

Couldn't agree more. A real hidden gem. Great review.

Kudos

Woody Woodmansey recommended track Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) by David Bowie in Best of Bowie by David Bowie in Music (curated)

Best of Bowie by David Bowie

2002 | Pop

(0 Ratings)

Album Favorite

Details

Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) by David Bowie

(0 Ratings)

Track

"This one I didn't play on! It's one of those songs that just came over on the radio. I think I heard it on the radio before I even heard it on the album. It was Bowie at his best for me. There were a few that did that. I always loved the odd side of Bowie, the odd subjects he chose and his way of putting it across… an artful way of putting across something scary or apocalyptic. He had an arty way of expressing it so you could actually accept it. It was a bit creepy! It was like all the perverted things in the world are in that song, but he never sang about them. Yet it was in there! I always thought that was such a talent, to make people think something, without actually having to say it. Maybe that says a lot for my mind [laughs], I know! But it's just an amazing ability to do that, I think. That is what music is all about. It's larger than just words. I just feel like 'Scary Monsters' is a great example of that. I would have loved to have played on that one."

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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated The Grudge (2004) in Movies

Sep 21, 2020

The Grudge (2004)

2004 | Drama, Horror, Mystery

6.5

(24 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Takes too long to finally get on its feet, though like something such as 𝘍𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 I'd argue that retaining the same director as the original film was ultimately the right move here. Because even though this is nothing more than a grimy slideshow of hilariously over-creepy imagery, it is also very successful at that (very pleased with the amount of jaws comically ripped off in this). The rest of it is practically a 60-75% finished story that suffices well enough but that you also *really* want to know more about (i.e. the entire Bill Pullman arc) - but that's because it takes hearty asides to have 5+ minute scenes of people slowly walking through haunting apartment complexes a la 𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘋𝘰𝘵𝘊𝘰𝘮, which I'm often a sucker for when it's done well - and it is done so here. I also credit this for really exacerbating that mid-2000s dingy slime-green film that thickly coated the sizeable majority of horror films from this era that I also cop to digging (which, despite its metric fuckton of other flaws, at least Rings tried to bring back). Silly and spooky, decently pleased with it.

Kudos

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Maniac Cop (1988) in Movies

Sep 25, 2020

Maniac Cop (1988)

1988 | Action, Horror

7.3

(7 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Maniac Cop - one of the many 80s slashers that came about after the success of the original Halloween a decade before, and one that is actually pretty solid.

For a start, it has a decent cast including the always reliable Tom Atkins, a post Evil Dead II Bruce Campbell, final girl Laurene Landon, and even a small role for Robert Roundtree of Shaft fame.
It was written by B-movie legend Larry Cohen and directed by genre veteran William Lustig - all in all a pretty strong cast and crew, who all managed to turn this would be low budget trashy horror into a cult classic.

The Maniac Cop himself, played by Robert Z'Dar, cuts an imposing figure. The choice not to show his face for the majority of the run time lends him a creepy edge. He also has an uncomfortably massive chin... Throw in a load of blood flying about the place, some unsettling music score, and a pretty fun car chase near the climax, and it's easy to see why Maniac Cop is pretty beloved by horror fans.

80s horror is just the best.