DONNIE DARKO

Donnie Darko Movie Review

Teenager Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal, Zodiac, The Day After Tomorrow) is bothered by visions of a demented looking rabbit (Frank), who persuades Donnie to commit crimes, while also giving him clues about the end of the world. This is really just touching the surface of this bizarre film that also involves time travel and alternate reality. Filled with strange characters, strange scenes, and even stranger special effects, I have found this to be a movie that people tend to either love or write off completely because they cannot connect to it--I fall into the former. I think the story is phenomenal and the acting is very strong. Gyllenhall does a fine job as Donnie, Jena Malone (The Ruins, Into The Wild) is good as Donnie’s girlfriend Gretchen, and Patrick Swayze (The Outsiders, Red Dawn) is a scene-stealer as motivational speaker Jim Cunningham.

"Are you going to finish that popcorn?"

It should also be noted that the soundtrack is outstanding, featuring many of the best new wave bands of the 1980’s. The film does get bogged down at times and moves slow, especially if you watch the extended director’s cut. Donnie Darko is a mood-altering movie as well, so be warned. This truly is  a fantastic film that I recommend highly.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 9

Donnie Darko Movie Trailer

KILL THEORY (From After Dark Horrorfest 4)

Kill Theory Movie Review

A group college students go to a home in the woods to celebrate their recent graduation. A killer soon joins them and places them in a game where they must kill each other before 6am, and only one of them can survive. This Horrofest film is nothing we have not seen before. The unfortunate thing about the success of Saw is that a ton of copycat films that cannot come close to Saw have come out since, and this is one of them.

Wanna play a game?

The terrible dialogue jumps out at you from the start and seldom gets better--or even interesting for that matter. The victims are hit and miss. There are three pretty likeable characters and the rest are irritating or throw away. Of course, as is typical with this sort of movie, my favorite character was one of the first killed off. There are a few pretty gory scenes and a moment or two that are a twist, but this is largely a standard, boring film.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 5

Kill Theory Movie Trailer

THE FINAL (From After Dark Horrorfest 4)

The Final Movie Review

A group of high school outcasts are constantly bullied and teased by the popular kids in school. Deciding they have had enough, the group plans a party to get all the popular kids in one place with plans to torture them and teach them a lesson. This Horrorfest film stands out as one of the better movies from the series. I love the premise of the film and at times found myself cheering out loud, but it largely fails to live up to the potential it has. This could have been an outstanding film but settles for being fairly good. Though there are a lot of intense scenes with interesting torture methods, there is little blood or gore in the film. There is a lot of hit or miss in this movie--some of the dialogue is really bad, but there are a few times it is really good. The costumes worn by the outcasts are really cool but the one worn by the leader distorts his voice to an almost inaudible level.

Cool

There are even a few things dropped early in the film that make a big difference later. The acting is pretty bland with the exception of newcomer Lindsay Seidel, who is very convincing and effective as outcast Emily. The beginning and end of the film wrap everything up nicely. I enjoyed the film for the most part and I would recommend it.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 7

The Final Movie Trailer

DREAD (From After Dark Horrorfest 4)

Dread Movie Review

Quaid (Shaun Evans), a man who has suffered terrifying nightmares since seeing his parents murdered when he was six, meets Stephen (Jackson Rothbone), a college student studying film, and proposes a filmed study on fear. Stephen agrees, and they begin filming students who talk about their fears while learning more about their own fears. Quaid soon becomes obsessed and wants to take the study beyond what anybody expected.

Don't be scared

This movie, based on a short story by Clive Barker (Hellraiser series) draws you in immediately with its interesting plot and directing. The scene of Quaid’s parents’ murder is particularly brutal. It slows down at points but never enough to lose you. The main actors, Evans and Rothbone, along with supporting actress Laura Donnelly, do a pretty wonderful job here, making the experience that much more enjoyable. The last fifteen minutes of the film is must see. This is the first film I have seen of the latest After Dark Horrorfest series, a series I have found pretty disappointing through the years (but I have still seen them all) and if this film is any indication of the latest series, it will easily be the best year yet.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 8

Dread Movie Trailer

DEAD SNOW

 Dead Snow Movie Review

A group of friends on a ski vacation come across a group of Nazi zombies in search of treasures. Norway brings us this comedy horror and it brings it strong! After a very cool opening there is a bit of time spent building up the story and getting us acquainted with the characters, most of whom are actually pretty likable. Once the zombies appear, though, it is a non-stop onslaught to the end.

Nazombies

There is tons of blood and gore, a few laugh out loud moments and some fairly cool mentions of horror classics. The zombies alternate between looking really cheap (in a good way) and utterly scary. There are some very memorable scenes here too, included a self-amputation that is a must see. The movie does have a few plot holes and other minor flaws but they are not nearly enough to take from the fun of the film. I enjoyed it quite a bit and recommend it.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 8

Dead Snow Movie Trailer (It's not in English, but a trailer this awesome doesn't have to be)

THE FOURTH KIND

The Fourth Kind Movie Review

This movie starts off with actress Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil Series, Chaplin) informing you that she is an actress portraying psychologist Abigail Tyler and what you are about to see is real. What we see is largely Jovovich and other “actors” portraying real people as “actual footage” of the “real people” plays along next to it, as well as scenes with the “actual” Abigail Tyler doing interviews and “actual recordings”, all of this surrounding an unusual number of alien contacts in Nome, Alaska.

And this owl

The first thing I will address here is the question of how much of it is real. Honestly, I don’t care if it is 100% real or 100% fake. The reason for this is that I thought the “actual” audio and video were pretty intense, so either way, it works. If you are coming into this movie and you will base how much you like it on how “real” or “fake” you think it is, you are costing yourself dearly. It is a pretty good and interesting story, with a good performance from Jovovich, some very creepy scenes, and I think they did a good job with the fear factor by not actually showing any aliens, leaving that all to your imagination. The way they approached the film was interesting, showing the split screen stuff quite a bit, which is usually pretty impressive but a couple times, when the split screen shot does not involve “real” footage, it gets distracting.

The Abigails

The Fourth Kind is not without it’s flaws, but I actually enjoyed this film quite a bit and recommend it, assuming you don’t get hung up on if it is real or not.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 8

The Fourth Kind Movie Trailer

SUBSPECIES 4: BLOODSTORM

 Subspecies 4 Movie Review

We pick up right where Subspecies 3 ended (but this was filmed four years later so Michelle looks fairly different and Radu looks very different), with a doctor named Ana (Ioana Abur) finding Michelle (Denice Duff) on the side of the road after a car accident. He takes her to Dr. Niculescu (Mihai Dinvale), a scientist who is also a vampire. Radu (Anders Hove) is also in possession of the bloodstone now and is searching for Michelle. Along the way he runs into Ash (Jonathon Morris) and Serena (Floriela Grappini) from the movie Vampire Journals—Ash is loyal to Radu but Serena, who is loyal to Ash, wants to destroy Radu, to whom Michelle is occasionally loyal. Niculescu also wants Radu dead so he may have the bloodstone.

Wait...what?

So yeah, this final installment of the Subspecies series is an absolute mess when it comes to the plot (and I won’t even mention the detective who returns from part 3 but is now a vampire also). Not that having a more thorough story line is a bad thing, but here it fails in that there are simply too many vampires and some of the things in it just don't make sense. To give just one example (of many I could give)--the detective, who has just become a vampire, can withstand direct sunlight and only be mildly annoyed with it while Radu, who is supposed to be the ultimate vampire in this story, struggles mightily when he is hit with the light from flashlights! There are some good spots here—a few really cool (and some surprisingly gory) scenes and a solid performance from Grappini as Serena that kind of steals the show. Another huge setback here though is Dinvale as Niculescu. This guy is a horrid actor, turning in a performance that easily lowers the score a full point. It is so bad I cringed every time he appeared (and for some reason he appeared a lot). The first three parts of this series were pretty enjoyable, and honestly they should have stopped after part three, which had an ending that would have wrapped up the series nicely. If you are thinking of watching the series, skip part four completely and be happy with the series as it should have been.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 4

Subspecies 4 Movie Trailer