c - 13's viewing log

c - 13

Have been separated from my hard drive for the last few months so haven't had a chance to watch anything at all. Getting stuck in now.

Am also going to try get through all of the Definitive 100 list which i haven't seen.

Dog Soldiers (Definitive 100)
Predictable as hell but made enjoyable by the characters, the actors really made the characters likable (through bullshit and bravado dialogue), as a result you actually gave a crap as characters were killed off. Was it just me or did I notice some subtle nods to other films in the dialogue ?

Cronos (Definitive 100)
The one thing that really stood out to me in this film was the music, I'm not quite sure what it was that made it effective but it really stood out. Enjoyable film, equal parts humor and horror. Subtle horror, no poor scare attempts.

Zombieland
Had a friend pestering me to watch this, very glad I did. One of the most entertaining starts to a film I have seen in a long, long time. Loved the slow motion running scenes while the credits at the start were rolling. While it doesn't really do anything new with the genre it definitely gave me a good few laughs throughout.

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So after hearing that Termors V: The thunder from down under is in the works I had a longing to watch the first tremors film again, this then led to watching all four of them, one after the other.

Tremors
I have very fond memories of this one, I remember watching it with my dad won TV when I would have been about 8 I reckon. Really put the ****s up me at the time. Watching it now it feels more like a comedy mind you.

This first film has my favorite monster effects, I dont think there is any CGI and the whole thing is done with proper old school animatronics.

Some fantastic characters really make the film stand out, favorite probably being gun-toting lunatic Bert Gummer, the only character to feature in all four films

Okay, fair enough, it was one of his ancestors in #4 but still

Tremors 2 - Aftershocks
While not as good as the first one its still a decent flick in its own right and the first film where

the graboids start to evolve, taking on their second form, "shriekers" which hunt using infra red heat sensing instead of vibrations.

Not too much of a deviation from the first stage I suppose ...

Tremors 3 - Back to perfection
... unlike the ones that appear in Tremors 3

the horrendously named "Ass-Blasters" the third stage and flying form of the graboid. Again heat seeking and can fly by combusting chemicals in their stomach and launching themselves into the air using their flatulence. :facepalm:

.

Noway near as entertaining as the first two ones but still entertaining enough, plus bad CGI starts to leak in at this stage which really put me off certain segments.

Tremors 4 - The Legend Begins
More comedy than horror at this stage, this film shows

the first form of the graboids - a smaller slug like form (un-named thankfully enough after the disaster of naming the 3rd form)

This one has one of my favorite kills

the saw down the hole in the ground that one of the graboid tries to attack and slices itself in two

I've always loved the monster concept for these films, its slightly unusual in so far as

the whole underground monster idea is rarely used, they can hear movement from miles away and are practically invincible from normal firearms while under the ground

. Now, I wasn't a big fan of the

evolving idea

but I do think it was a good idea to keep the series somewhat fresh.

These films are bloody good fun, I think they'll be getting a revisiting a little bit more often now.

I think ill look up the short lived TV series in the meantime

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Shark in Venice
I'm not sure whether this can really be classed as a horror or an action/triller with big bloody sharks. Since Jaws is generally classed as a horror I suppose I can put it here. Just to state however, the main difference between this film and Jaws is the fact that Jaws is actually a good film.

I should have known what i was getting into knowing that this was related to the "Shark Attack" films but the cool poster and the idea of sharks roaming the venice canals drew me in.

Really bad dialogue, terrible plot and by the numbers villain really makes me think that the IMDB rating of 3/10 is about 2 marks higher than it should be. I couldnt even laugh at the shocking acting and CGI.

The most positive thing I can say about this film is that there are some lovely scenic shots of Venice and the canals in it (probably stock shots by the looks of them but let me have something positive to say about it at least).

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Snuff: A documentary about killing on camera
Thought this was very interesting, focusing on where the origin of the snuff film and the different type of death films that are sometimes referred to as snuff. Goes into the debate as to whether the films are actually real or are all just an urban myth. Some very disturbing details in there including information about

a known Russian pedophile distributing videos with a snuff nature to them and offering to provide an actual snuff film for an Italian buyer

. Only thing put me off this was the speakers - It seemed to be a random bunch of people most of whom didn't seem to have any credentials in the film business ? I've heard "Does Snuff Exist? The Dark Side of Porn" is supposed to be better. Ill look that up next.

The Fog (2005)
So I was a bit put out before i even watched this. I thought I had the 1980's version. When I went to put it on I discovered it was actually the 2005 version. Ill start by saying that I've never been the biggest fan of ghost tales and this was really no exception. Found it to be fairly uninteresting to be honest with characters that I just couldnt warm to. The story itself varies from the 1980 version if I'm not mistaken, I kind of lost interest about the 3/4 mark. One scene really annoyed the crap out of me in this

when the old guy with the metal detector is on the beach, the detector starts beeping and he pulls up ... a rope ? Since when did metal detectors have the ability to detect ropes ?

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Constantine
A friend of mine recommended this to me ... he is no longer my friend . Wooden acting, poor characters and poorer special effects combine in this woeful supernatural horror/adventure. Probably not helped by the fact that I still see Keanu Reeves as yerman from Bill and Ted every time I see him on screen.

Let the right one in
I remember a lot of ranting and raving on the film board about this one, watched it without knowing anything about the story which was probably the best way otherwise I might have been put off by the whole romance line and missed out on an excellent film. A really different take on the vampire scene. Word of advice to anyone planning on watching this make sure you get the subtitled version, I had a dubbed one and the voice overs were terrible.

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Haven't had a lot of time to update this recently but have watched -
Cube
Cube 2 - Hypercube
Cube Zero
Tales from the Crypt

Just to put them up here before I forget them.

c - 13

Been away from the horror stuff for the last while, was trying to catch up on my episodes of breaking bad

Undead
A small town somewhere in Australia is overrun with the living dead after a strange meteor shower.

Its supposed to be a comedy/horror and after the first few minutes I thought they were trying to put themselves somewhere between Sean of the Dead and BrainDead - that soon stopped as both the horror and comedy elements faded and was just left with a bland film with crap acting and a lot of the humour seems to have supposedly come from a character that does nothing but shouts and swears ?

One or two chuckles throughout

Zombie fish, old woman being blasted with a meteor in the background while two drunks are talking in the foreground

- nothing here I'd really recommend.

Attack Girls Swim Team vs The Undead
Also known as "Undead Pool" - I prefer the first name This one was better, typical over-the-top Asian (Japanese I think) film.

Concept is simple, a virus is spreading through a school for reasons found out later in the film, teachers and students are affected and its up to the schools unaffected swim team and the new girl (Aki) to put a stop to it.

Some hilarious moments, my favorite being the infected maths teacher

chopping heads off with a slide rule and throwing star set-squares.

Plenty of twists to the plot, excessive toplessness, plenty of gore and a few surprises such as

Lesbian incest, twins and a laser vagina.

Probably not worth seeking out specifically but if you happen to come across it and have 90 minutes spare you could do worse than to watch this one. Granted I think Machine Girl was better though.

Eyeborgs
Okay, this one is probably more sci-fi than horror but as ever. The government now monitor the USA by a series of set and mobile camera's called eyeborgs that transmit data back to a central network called ODIN capturing footage of crimes which the police can then use for arrests (why are the computer networks always called ODIN or something related from Norse mythology anyway ?) - however things start getting a little worrying when a series of murders start occurring for which the footage captured isn't quite right.

Entertaining enough film, pretty straight forward conspiracy theorist sort of stuff, a handful of interesting kills. Plus its got Danny Trejo in it which automatically makes any film 10% better


As an aside, after looking up Danny Trejo on IMDB to make sure I spelled his name right I notice there's a remake of "Childs Play" in the works for 2011. Why does everything need a remake ?

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Pontypool
I've seen a lot of praise for this one on the main film board and the zombie survival board so decided to check it out. Well deserved praise - set mostly in one room with a handful of actors it just goes to show you don't need big money/elaborate sets to make a successful horror film.

Only thing i will say I knew the "Twist" in the story

the virus is spread by the English language

which I think took away from some of the film tension for me.

Would recommend watching this one knowing as little as possible about the film for maximum effect.

Also got a good laugh out of

the truth behind Ken and the sunshine chopper