01-2016 - Films watched January

Actually this is rare for me as this was a re-watch

Still a solid ghost story and I was surprised that most jumpscares were effective

Nice atmosphere and setting...a little clumsy in places but overall a worthy horror

I am a big fan of Peanuts so I approached this modern version with a little apprehension but its a cute film...the LOOK is just great mixing cgi 3d in a 2d way which is both modern, old and fairly unique imho

Nothing else I can say - If you like Peanuts this is essential but for non-fans it wont change their opinion

Wow this film has taken me ages to see. I have been aware of it for years but only just got around to seeing it, a classic horror anthology.

Sadly I just wasnt scared one bit by this. There is nice imagery and decent camerawork but most of it plays out like some lacklustre drama. Its interesting that the film attempts jumpscares for weird things

Horror has moved on from this

A young woman starts to pick up strangers, men, who she seduces and...well I'll leave it there

Interesting idea, but too slow and abstract to be truly great...a couple of wtf type moments

mmm ok film if you like things a bit bizarre or arty

Anthony Hopkins stars as a grieving psychic who is called back into action from FBI agent Jeffrey Dean Morgan and his female sidekick some eye candy Nicole Kidman lookalike to help track a serial killer

This could have been so much better - IMHO the casting would have worked better with Morgan as the psychic and Hopkins as the cop/agent.

It has some good moments but never quite takes flight despite the glossy MTV style effects used in the "vision" moments and the cast

I thought this was going to be a slow thoughtful horror but its a weird mix of Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones, Rec and Descent.

Its an erratic movie with some of the dopiest moments in horror history mixed with some of the best - some of the jumpscares are excellent and its creepy/weird in places. Funnily it is far better at portraying a claustrophobic environment than Descent

If you liked faux documentaries such as Grave Encounters or Apollo 18 I think you'll like this one

Put the brain on hold for a while and its enjoyably above average

Best point: Its a different angle on horror
Worst point: its very erratic in tone

a documentary regarding the Tony Blair era in UK politics and how civil liberties were being eroded

Amazing as a left leaning guy that I agreed with Conservative Boris Johnson in this.

Some eye opening scenes and just an example of the selling out of the UK to the US

Good stuff

predictable comedy about a stepdad Will Ferrell adjusting to life when his wife's ex husband returns to the scene

Most of the comedy in this just didnt work for me but it improves in the last act the last 25 minutes

Movie adaptation of a manga where parasitic creatures taking over the bodies of humans survive by eating other humans and a boys attempt to stop them

weird, a bit Lovecraftian in the design of the parasites and transformed humans

Interesting but not really that exciting or scary

A girl who grows up being ignored by her parents passes her time by observing lonely people but when one of those people is befriended things take a turn for the worst


Hmmm. At first I was not understanding why this was billed as a horror because the first half is a weird look at loneliness and is similar to Castaway On The Moon in terms of tone...then unfortunately the film slides into some weird Tom & Jerry type violence slasher flick

A group of filmmakers visit the site where a cult committed suicide 20 years earlier and try to unravel the mystery of the sole survivor a young girl who joins them now as an adult

The atmosphere was great for the first half of this film and then it shift into more predictable territory but still remained interesting

Other than that its a solid film and a little disturbing

Scandinavian horror about a group of scouts who visit a woods to camp and become terrorised by an animalistic boy who lives there

Some good images like the "nest" but this film seems to suffer an identity crisis not knowing what its going to be

a good idea erratically executed

Ron Perlman a Vietnam shattered CIA Agent is ordered to persuade Stanley Kubrick to fake the moon landings n case the real venture goes wrong...in the meantime he mistakes a hippy and a band manager played by Harry Potters Rupert Grint for Kubrick and his manager...throw in some local gangsters and this film is a weird comedy crime thing,

Surprisingly this film was quite violent and more disturbing than most horrors I have seen recently

The main trouble is that it rarely works as a comedy despite the inspired idea

A stylistic wet-dream with a sort of surreal stop motion puppet look but the novelty soon wears thin and when you realise there realyl is not a story to back up the great visual look then its a disappointment...I was really waiting for some seriously great ending and it never happened

all style and no substance

A woman's drawings in a horror comic book match recent murders so a pair of policemen investigate and uncover the truth


This is just one of those films where the actions match the book and offers nothing new but it is well made

Surprisingly dull after the first half and none of the horror seems to work even a couple of lame attempts at jumpscares didnt work

A documentary covering the history of UK famous weekly comic book 2000AD

Despite being a huge fan of the comic in my early years and teens I think the documentary overcooked the comics "punk" influence. However it was interesting to see the writers and artists and its amazing how poorly they were treated

I am not certain this film would have any appeal to non comic book fans though

Largely enjoyable drama about Dalton Trumbo a celebrated screenwriter who was forced to work using aliases during the McCarthy era and eventually won through

A bit long was the only problem I had with this film

Gregory Peck stars as a lawyer defending a black man accused of assault and rape, meanwhile his children and their friend try to find out their elusive neighbour

Solid stuff, engaging and a nice shift in tone from comic and twee to downright tense during the court scene

worthy

Harry Potters Emma Watson plays a girl who has been subject to child abuse with her father responsible. The police question her father but call in a psychologist when the father claims he knows he committed the crime but has no memory of it. After undergoing regression therapy they discover she was abused as part of a satanic ritual

This is an uneven film and by its nature it seems to flick between thriller and horror. Creepy in places. An ending remiscent of Gone Girl or The Tall Man

Good film but could have been better

Australian torture porn basically yet this lacks the OTT ness and sheer bravado of the apex of the sub-genre in Grotesque....its not quite sure what it wants to be a drama about loss, a comedy or just random nonsensical violence
The plus point is that the action and violent scenes are tense and the actress who plays Lola Stone is simply great
The minus point...why of why is there some unrelated side story of the guys main friend getting it on with some drunk slut?

A woman finds herself on a bleak beach and when she discovers a nearby beach house and lighthouse and several other people she realises they have died in a nightclub accident and are in some afterlife or limbo

Some interesting ideas but it does descend into a monster type horror movie towards the end...and the acting is erratic to say the least.

Nicely surreal during the first half

An animated anthology of Edgar Allen Poe stories such as the Fall Of The House of Usher, The Tell Tale Heart

Nicely done with a variety of animation styles used throughout and some stars doing the narrating...I just think the stories are just not that good... probably heresy to say that

Nice score too

as weird and as bad is it sounds - apart from a few cornily stupid lines and moments its pretty bad

vintage horror set aboard a train with a fairly interesting story played out by big names Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas. Some nice creepiness and a bit of weirdness helped
I think a remake would be interesting