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Showing posts with label Spirits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spirits. Show all posts

September 30, 2014

Movie Review: SX_Tape (2012; Well Go USA)

...the pursuit, and subsequent taking on of yet another entry, from a tired, repetitive, well-worn and now-way-too-often emulated sub-genre, seems...well, seems synonymously not unlike that of the tired meanderings and lamentations of a certain well-known commercial pastry proprietor...you remember this guy, right?? Up at the wee hours of the morning. dragging his feet out of the bedroom and into the bathroom...murmuring an unenthusiastic groan of "gotta make the donuts"...slowly slogging his way out the front door, and into his car..."gotta make the donuts"...a lethargic, waddling shuffle through the front door of the shop..."gotta make the donuts". Day in, and day out...same old, same old, right??...

...indeed, a comparative and poignant template, not that far removed from applicably describing the readied expectations and ho-hum routine one must endure, in going into yet another supernatural and/or paranormal-themed 'found footage' film production. We've seen them all, right?? Oh, heck...Mickey Mouse roll call, sound off now: ...the shaky, nausea-inducing camera work. The film's singularly assigned or assumed camera operator, barely seen in the film, but insistent upon having the camera affixed to his or her face, to catch every moment, whether important or trivial. The token complainer, often the aim and focus of the camera operator, whining incisively about "why do you have to film this??", "do you have to film everything", and yet, still insistent upon being the 'director', with a pointed finger, saying 'film this', 'film that', and the occasional slinky, sexy, sultry and revealing 'uh, film this'...not to mention the wayward 'did you see/hear that??', only to reveal that it's nothing...right before something does happen. The random inner-splicing of personal footage, amidst the 'discovered' footage of intent, suggesting that the camera operator just grabbed the nearest tape in a huff, little realizing that there was 'personal stuff' already on it (...what, no Radio Shack, on route to the ghostly scene?). And of course, the reveal of the nasty little invasive supernatural entity...playfully and mysteriously moving things, at first...then, progressively frustrated and angered, either materializing at the most impromptu moments, or possessing the nearest hapless person within reach, giving the cautious voyeurs a hard time, and rushing suddenly  & frighteningly face-first into the camera lens...all creeped out, ghastly-looking, unnervingly black-eyeballed and hideously toothsome. Uh, did we forget anything??...

March 4, 2014

Movie Review: Witchboard (1986)

Oh, wow, does this movie take me back. I was 17 when this sucker came out. My moth-eaten memory says that I loved it and while most of the movie is like, so totally dated, the 44 year old me still enjoyed it.

Written and directed by Kevin Tenney (who brought us the epic awesomsauce that is Night of the Demons), Witchboard begins with a group of friends having a party. Brandon brings up the topic of Ouija boards. He’s a complete snobbish douche about them (it’s pronounced ‘wee-JAH’) but manages to convince Linda, party hostess and ex-girlfriend, to give it a go with him. He just happens to have his personal board right now. How convenient.

After contacting a familiar spirit, a young boy named David, Linda’s current love, Jim, starts talking smack about the bullshit of it all. Apparently ghosts don’t like you dissin’ them so David takes off but not before ruining the tires on Brandon’s car. Brandon and Jim get into it because their dicks are obviously too massive to contain and the party’s over.

Then all the weird shit starts to happen. Linda, being a complete twat, decides to use the Ouija board on her own. Who she thinks is David is actually a different spirit. It's not a demon, thankfully, but it is a complete asshole. It manipulates Linda into using the board more and more until she becomes obsessed. And that’s when the "progressive entrapment" becomes a real issue, the time when the spirit can possess a human.

January 29, 2013

Movie Review: Hold Your Breath (2012, Blu-ray)

Review By: Rob Sibley

Hold Your Breath is Jared Cohn's latest blood bath of fun. Quick history lesson, HYB was the first Asylum film to receive a theatrical release and it got one for a reason. This is a kick ass film on all fronts. Notice I said film, not flick. Big difference between the two, a flick is a film you spend 90 minutes with and you soon forget it. A film is something you'll watch, appreciate and then re-watch and tell your friends about.