DEADLY FRIEND

Deadly Friend Movie Review

Paul, (Matthew Laborteaux, Little House On The Prairie), a teenage genius with a robot for a best friend, meets Sam (Kristy Swanson, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Chase), a girl living with an abusive father, and they strike up a friendship. After his robot is destroyed and Sam is killed, Paul takes the computer mind of the robot and installs it in Sam’s brain to bring her back to life. Now Sam has her mind set on revenge. This 1986 horror film, from director Wes Craven, has “ bad 80’s horror” written all over it, from the bad humor to the robots and computers to the cheesy dialogue (think Maximum Overdrive). I generally happen to enjoy such movies, and I did enjoy this one as well. Swanson is really pretty good here, bringing the sweet wholesomeness of the girl next door in the first half of the movie before becoming pretty creepy in the second half.

Buffy?

There is even a fair bit of unexpected gruesomeness, particularly in one seen. The robot can get pretty annoying at times (but cute other times) and the end is pretty hokey, unfortunately taking from the film, but this is a harmless horror flick that I liked for what it was.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6

Deadly Friend Movie Trailer

THE CHILDREN

The Children Movie Review

Couples take their children to a countryside resort for Christmas. Once there, the children start trying to kill off the parents. This English horror film starts off pretty slow and gradually builds along the way, leading to a pretty good ending. It has an 80’s horror feel, as a lot of what happens does so off screen, but it also does show enough graphic violence to keep fans of newer horror interested. The adults, with the exception of teenager Casey (Hannah Tointon), are pretty interchangeable, and the kids are all pretty bad at acting, even for children. This stuff really brings the film down quite a bit as it seems to focus a lot on the characters but does nothing to really build their character. The makers of this film do have to be given credit for casting creepy looking kids, particularly the two girls.

Casting kudos

This movie has enough flaws to prevent it from being a good film, but it has enough good stuff to make it watchable.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6

The Children Movie Trailer

PARANORMAL ENTITY

Paranormal Entity Movie Review

Thomas Finley (Shane Van Dyke, also the director and writer), his sister Samantha (Erin Marie Hogan) and his mother Ellen (Fia Perera) are haunted by ghosts in their house and decide to start recording it all on videotape. This very low budget, home video looking film never actually shows the ghosts but does show the results of their actions. If this sounds familiar you must have seen Paranormal Activity and yes, Paranormal Entity is a direct rip-off of it--at times it is almost scene-for-scene the same.

Look kind of familiar?

This movie was distributed by Asylum, a company known for making such movies. Since “PA” was such a low-budget film, this one doesn’t come off as some cheap imitation like most other such movies do; instead, it comes off as a sequel. That said, if this were a stand-alone movie and “PA” didn’t exist, this would be a decent low budget film. It has its frightening moments and is pretty well made, though the dialogue is awful at times and the acting leaves a bit to be desired. Hogan does a fairly good job as Samantha, the most tormented victim in the film. This movie falls well below Paranormal Activity, which was original and very well done, but I enjoyed Paranormal Entity a bit and can’t help but recommend it, assuming you understand what exactly it is going into it.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6

Paranormal Entity Movie Trailer

THE BETRAYED

The Betrayed Movie Review

Jamie Taylor (Melissa George, 30 Days Of Night, Lie To Me) is captured by a mysterious group, headed by Alek (Oded Fehr, The Mummy, Resident Evil series), that is trying to track down her husband to get back money he owes them. Jamie is kept in a room in a warehouse, where she must go through tapes and figure out where her husband, who has been leading a double life she was not aware of, would keep the money, or the group will kill her and her son.

This is no time for a nap

This is a pretty typical crime-drama movie that sort of plods along, has a predictable storyline, and doesn’t execute in the end. George and Fehr both give pretty good performances, which you expect if you have seen these two before. However, those performances are almost offset by the irritating kid in the movie. It’s not really a bad movie at all and it will keep your attention for the most part. There is even a tense moment or two, but this is not a good movie either. It’s just sort of there and, unless you are a fan of George, I would recommend skipping it.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 5

The Betrayed Movie Trailer

THE CRAZIES (2010)

The Crazies Movie Review 2010

A plane carrying a biochemical weapon crashes near a small town in Iowa, filling the drinking water with a chemical that turns people into crazed killers. A small group, led by the town’s sheriff (Timothy Olyphant, Go, Scream 2), now must find a way to avoid the killers and the military that is taking over the town as they attempt to make their way to safety. This movie, a remake of a 1973 film, reminds me a bit of Dawn Of The Dead meets District 9 and it really works. The killers, or “crazies”, are not as traditionally scary as movie zombies typically are, but are very effective in that they loom somewhere between human and monster.

Like her

The characters are very well developed and, for the most part, the actors are very good in their roles. The story moves along nicely--it starts dark and seldom comes out of that feel. The film is also very effective in blurring the line between good and bad on every level, from the “heroes” to the crazies to the military involvement. There is a very “real” feel to a lot of the movie as well. There really is not a lot to complain about with this film, and I would say it is a favorite to be the best horror film of 2010.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 9

The Crazies Movie Trailer