Tag Archives: horror

(movie reviews)AFTER MIDNIGHT/COUNTESS DRACULA/IT

For us real horror fans, Halloween is every day, so I watch horror movies when I get the time. So, here are some of the movies I have seen lately.

First there is one horror anthology from the end of 80-ies, called AFTER MIDNIGHT.

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I love to see a good horror anthology, made of many segments, like for example V/H/S or ABCs Of Death, although I prefer the older movies if possible coming from the golden age of horror, which was for me 1980-s. In such movies there is always a main line which connects all the other segments. This movie main story line consists of one psychotic college professor which calls a couple of students to his mansion to tell each other some scary stories. They tell the segments to each other and some stories are better, some are not so great, but in all, the movie was fun to see. Kinda average, nothing special, but fun.

Moving on to something completely different and better. Some of you who know me can tell that I am an avid fan of old Hammer Horror movies. This little gem connects history facts and gruesome horror story into one movie. Yes, you guessed it, this is COUNTESS DRACULA.

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This movie is based on life and crimes of Hungarian countess Elisabeth Bathory, the legend tells she and her men killed a lot of young girls so she could bath in their blood to rejuvenate herself. This movie has a tense story, great cast, including legendary Ingrid Pitt in the main role. You may remember her lending her voice to the excellent Cradle Of Filth album Cruelty and the Beast based on the same story. What I love about Hammer Horror movies is that they are not so gory, they dont have great special cgi effects but they have heart and soul and atmosphere and this still matters most to me in our beloved horror genre.

On Halloween I treated myself with cinema, and what better to watch then IT. It is an adaptation of Stephen King book which I read twice and I am a great fan of that book.

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Many of us still remember the tv series from the 1990s based on the same novel and immortal Tim Curry as evil clown Pennywise who eats children in the town of Derry and a couple of kids who tried to fight the ancient evil. Well this immortal story lived to see its reboot/remake and I can tell you that the remake is excellent. First, I was sceptic since generally remakes ruin what was good in the original. I am happy I was wrong this time. The atmosphere of the movie is superb, soundtrack too, the actors are great and first Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise got on my nerves, but later on I love how he brought something psychotic, evil and new to the character. Two hours passed by me fast as hell and I cant wait for the sequel. The movie is divided into two chapters, one chapter showing main characters as kids, and chapter two happening when they are grown ups and It has returned to Derry.

 

I watched recently: CHANNEL ZERO:NO END HOUSE/THE STRAIN/47 METERS DOWN/THE LURE

Last year I watched season 1 of tv series called Channel Zero, which was quite good considering that it was done by SyFy Channel which usually puts out a lot of crap.

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This year, season two was just released and boy it was a good one. First of all, I must clear one thing. You can watch season one or season two separately, meaning they are two separate stories and they are not linked with one another whatsoever. This second season is called No End House based on an urban legend of a house which appears in various parts of the world and has six rooms one scarier than the other, made to make those who visit the house crazy. As it usual is, a group of troubled teenagers with issues enters the house and steps in the crazy limbo of reality and fantasy. The acting is the average for SyFy Channel releases, meaning nothing special, but the screenplay is actually good, having a lot of bizarre and scary scenes. This season is six episode long, so you can watch it in one night.

As long as we are writing about series, here is another gem. The Strain just finished wrapping the story up with its fourth and last season. I really enjoyed this series being one of my favourite tv vampire shows besides True Blood.

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Based on novels by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, this apocalyptic story about the fight between strigoi and their wicked Master and a handful of people resisting was a blast. It has everything in it that I desired from a good story, strigoi, Nazis, past, present and future colliding and of course plenty of action and gore for your entertainment. FX did a really fine job with these four seasons, so I was actually sorry that it finished but they did a good job with the ending. I read only the first novel in the trilogy so I dont really know if it finished the way it is in the books. In the beginning of the fourth season I was kinda let down first three episodes, but later it gets awesome!

47 Meters Down is an adventure/animal attack horror movie.

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It is about two sisters on a vacation in Mexico and to drown their sorrow because one of them was dumped by her boyfriend, went to dive in a cage with sharks. From then on things get fucked up and the girls, you guessed it, end up in a cage 47 meters under the sea with limited oxygen and surrounded by sharks. I have seen literally tons of movies with sharks, doing this and that and this one is one of the better ones in that subgenre. The underwater camera is nice, the sharks are nicely done, not that poor cgi that usually spoils the whole movie from the beginning. The movie also has enough intensity to make you watch it from the beginning right to the very end.

And, Monty Python would say, now for something completely different. The Lure is a weird movie from Poland.

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It is a mixture of comedy, drama and horror movie. The story revolves around two mermaid sisters, namely Golden and Silver who are adopted into cabaret in Warsaw. One sister socializes and enjoys human company, while other wants to eat people up and kill everyone. The movie is weird in many ways. It is filled with dancing and singing the weird songs so it almost borders with musical. The gore scenes are few and not too bloody. I dont really know what to think about this movie. Some parts are utterly stupid and some are touching and funny. Weird European movie indeed!

 

(record review)TERRIBLE OLD MAN-“Fungi From Yuggoth”(MDD Records)

As many of the readers who roam through the pages of this zine know, my all time favorite horror writer is H.P.Lovecraft. I always admired metal bands who were inspired by his works and worlds, and I always tried to find that ultimate band who would put Lovecraft words into melody and blend it in one great whole. Now I found it.

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Terrible Old Man hail from Germany and this is their second full length album and what could I expect from a band who named themselves after one of Lovecraft stories? Frankly, I expected much and I got much. Imagine a band whose every lyric and song evolves and is directly derived from your favorite writer and his work. Well this album contains 10 songs of pure horror packed in melodic up tempo mix of heavy and doom metal but the band is not afraid to venture in some blast beat and faster waters. The vocals are cleanly sung and the singer does a great job. Oh yeah, to add more greatness, I checked the line up of the band and every member of the band is also named after one of the characters from Lovecraftian universe. This is an album that has it all, great music, great lyrics and I am happy I discovered this band.

8/10

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