Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Cult Classics: Peter Jacksons "Dead Alive"


Hey everyone! It's Nate and I'm back with a new type of series that I plan on doing every once in a while. I'll be going back in time to review some movies that would be considered "cult classics". These movies may not be as well known as some of the blockbuster horror movies we are use to seeing, but these ones nonetheless have stood the test of time and are still popular among horror movie fans. I hope you all enjoy!

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The first cult classic that I am going to talk about is a Peter Jackson film called "Dead Alive". Otherwise known in other countries as "Braindead". And yes, you heard me right. The director of the Lord of the Rings and King Kong made a horror movie back in the early 90's that may be considered the "goriest movie of all time". This movie is about a young gentle man named Lionel who is living a life that is run by his demanding and snobby mother. But when she is bitten by a sumatran rat monkey, her increasing demands are the least of his worries.

The movie starts out with a group of people who are on an island known as "skull island" (King Kong reference). These people are trying to steal a Sumatran-Rat monkey that is native to that island alone. While stealing it, they get attacked by some of the natives that are located on the island. Once they get away from these natives, the leader of the group gets bitten by the creature. Because of this, the other members of the group begin to cut off his limbs, but when they see a cut on his forehead, they have no other choice but to behead the leader. It then cuts to black and the movie begins.

At the start of the film, we meet Paquita. A cute Latina girl who is working in her parents grocery store. We then met Rodger, who is a delivery guy that Paquita likes. Her mother is a kind of fortune teller and tries to find out who her daughters future love is. And it's not Rodger. Her mother tells her that a star symbol will reveal her lifetime love to her.

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This is when we meet Lionel. A goofy, unbalanced man who is in the stores to give Paquita his grocery list. After a few clumsy acts, the star symbol appears on the counter and this is when she realizes that Lionel is the love of her life. Lionel awkwardly leaves the store and heads home, where we meet his mother Vera. She is a very mean and demanding person who makes Lionel do all of the chores around the house and makes him feel like he doesn't do anything right. She never really has nice thing to say to him.

Paquita comes to the house to deliver the groceries and due to some of her tricks, she gets Lionel to invite her to the zoo. They go to the zoo and they see all of the animals you could imagine. This is where they share their first kiss. They then go on to see the monkey exhibit, which is where they run into the Sumatran-Rat monkey that was introduced in the beginning of the movie. The creature is very vicious and even rips the arm off of one of the monkeys. After this all happens, we see Lionel's mother sneak in and she gets bitten by the rat monkey, but she eventually kills that creature. Lionel takes her home, leaving Paquita behind.

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Lionel then takes care of his mother. But she gradually gets sicker and sicker. At one point she actually eats Paquitas dog. Now Lionel starts to realize that his mother is not getting any better so he decides that he is going to hide her in the basement. Now as the film progresses Lionel starts avoiding Paquita. Taking care of his mother is taking up most of his time and he is now very sad and helpless. Now for the people who haven't seen this movie, a *SPOILER ALERT* is in order. At Lionel's mothers funeral, her body is being pumped with embalming fluid but no one is watching her, so her body starts to leak all of the nasty fluids that are in her body. We then see the man who was performing the embalming wipe his face with a handkerchief which spreads some of the bodily fluid on his face, and I'm sure we all know where this is going. I give that subtle giveaway a Lighthouse (my roommates grading system representing a 3 out of 5). Now for most of the film we see zombies in the graveyard, zombie babies being born, and even zombies kissing at the dinner table. This is all happening while Lionel is trying to keep it a secret.

Now earlier at the funeral, Lionel's mean uncle shows up and believes that he should be part of his sisters will. So he guilt's Lionel into giving him the house and money after he finds the corpses hidden in the basement. Now the uncle decides he is going to throw a huge party in his newly acquired house. However Paquita, since the funeral, has not been with Lionel and has been seeing Rodger, the delivery guy from the beginning of the movie. She gets bored with Rodger and disappears, but he doesn't really seem to care. She makes her way to Lionel's house to see that there is a party going on. She finds Lionel in the basement and he is about to poison his mother, ultimately killing her. He does this with the other bodies as well. They bury the bodies and go back to the party but the uncle is not very happy. Him and Lionel start fighting and Lionel is thrown in the basement and locked in. He notices on the bottle of poison it says "Not For Human Consumption". Suddenly one of the corpses shoots out of the ground and is now alive and even more hungry. This is where the chaos begins.

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The zombies start attacking everyone at the party, turning it in a glorified bloodbath. The only people who are still alive and fighting are Lionel, Paquita, and the uncle. And also some girl who meets Paquita but she doesn't last very long. Lionel is then launched out a window, and we think he is gone. Right? No that's not very good movie logic. Paquita is being surrounded by zombies until Lionel busts through the front door with a lawn mower over his shoulder. He delivers his famous line "Party's over." He then continues to rip apart every corpse that comes into contact with him. This scene alone is why this movie is considered the goriest movie of all time.

After he is done with them all, Paquita thinks they are safe, but Lionel says "Haven't seen mum yet". This is when the mother comes out of the ground, and she is now 30 feet talk with giant claws on her hands and is a deformed monster. she chases them up to the rooftop where Lionel gives away her big secret. Earlier in the movie we find out that Lionel's dad is dead because his mother found out he was cheating on her so she killed him and the mistress.  The mother's stomach then opens up like a mouth and swallows Lionel whole. Paquita is now trapped and she is hanging on the edge of the roof while the mother is trying to break her grasp. Then all of a sudden, Lionels hand comes out of her stomach holding the a star symbol necklace that Paquitas mother gave him earlier in the movie. He then makes his way out of her stomach. the mother falls through the roof of the house and Lionel grabs Paquita and Tarzan swings both of them down to the ground below. The fire department shows up and they both walk away as the credits start rolling.


Pros:
  • The movie definitely lived up to its name as the the goriest movie of all time. 
  • The acting was exactly what it needed to be, goofy and silly. It was a different type of zombie movie that was entertaining to watch.
  • The music was amazing and it was music that I haven't ever heard in other movies before. It made each scene more emotional or suspenseful.
Cons:
  • Some of the effects were a little over the top. I loved the whole movie but there were some parts that seemed necessary. Like when Lionel was being chased by he zombie intestines. That pushed the limit a little too far

Now on a scale from A-F, I give "Dead Alive" an... A-!!

For Peter Jackson's first film, I was very impressed with what he can do with a horror movie. He can definitely bring originality to a film. He took a very common horror topic like zombies and change it to be different.  It was very goofy and outrageous at some points but I think that was what he was trying to get across. I loved the music in the film and it made each scene more emotional and it really pulled you in. Definitely one of my favorites!

Thank you guys so much for reading and come back for all that is horror with HorrorForLife

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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Horror Cult Classics: Wes Craven's "The Last House On the Left"


Hey everyone! Horror For Life back today to start off a new movie review series I've really been wanting to do. This will be a little like the "Good Day for a Wrong Turn" series (which I will finish eventually). I will be going through a bunch of horror films that could be considered cult classics among horror fans. I really hope you all enjoy and as a reminder, some of these films may be very graphic so I will try to describe graphic situations as friendly and appropriate as possible. So lets get started!

The Last House On the Left: This film was directed by one of the masters of horror Wes Craven and this was the first film he ever directed. It is about two teenage girls who are going to a concert for one of the girls birthdays. They soon find themselves in a tough situation when they end up at an apartment that is housing four fugitives. The girls must fight for their survival as the group brings them to the woods to perform some very inhumane acts on them.

As the film starts we learn that it is the lead character, Maris', birthday. She is a pretty young girl that lives with her parents. Their house is almost out in the middle of no where, and the house just happens to be "The Last House On the Left". Go figure. Mari tells her parents that she is going to a concert with her friend Phyllis. Since it's her birthday, they give her the ok.

So Mari and Phyllis go walking by the lake near Mari's house, where they reminisce and hang out before the concert. They soon get in their car and make there way towards the city where Phyllis lives so they can get ready before the concert.

As the girls get to the city they are look to score some "grass". In the city they figured they should be able to get some quickly before the concert. They meet with a guy who brings them to his apartment to get them some "Colombian grass". When the girls show up they meet the four fugitives.
Then we meet the fugitives: Krug Stillo, Junior Stillo, Fred "Weasel" Podowski, and Sadie. Soon they are possessed by the four and held against their will. Phyllis tries to fight back but is easily out matched. The fugitives then begin to "have their way" with Phyllis and there is nothing Mari can do to stop it.

Mari's parents are now worried because their daughter hasn't come home yet. They contact the police so they can and figure out where she is. The police come to the conclusion that she had fun on her birthday and she'll be back that night. Guaranteed.

https://carlyheartsmovies.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/enhanced-buzz-20106-1371150870-32.jpgThat same morning the group of fugitives put Mari and Phyllis in the trunk of their car and drive off. They make their way towards Canada when their car stops. They don't know whats wrong with it, so they take the girls out of the trunk and into the woods. But Mari sees her parents mailbox, so her house is very near by. They go deeper into the woods and find a spot for them to sit and relax.

While this is going on, the cops leave Mari's house. they see and odd car parked out front, but they realize they have more important things to do then worry about some car. So they just drive away. Later on they hear on the radio a car being describe exactly like the one in front of Mari's house. They spend the rest of the film trying to get back to the house.

Now the Krug, the leader of the group, decides to have a little fun with the girls. He tells Phyllis to pee her pants. She really has no choice in the matter so she does. Then they tell the girls to essentially "have intercourse" with each other. Neither one of them wants to do it but the criminals have them in a situation where they have no other option. After their fun is over, Phyllis tells Mari that she is going to make a break for the road. Krug left the group for a minute so she thinks she has a better chance. She breaks from the group and Weasel and Sadie decide to go after her. Junior stays back to watch Mari, who tries to be his friend and convince him to let her go.

The chase goes on through the entire woods. Phyllis avoids Sadie and Weasel multiple times. She then comes to a clearing where out of no where Krug steps in her way. The others come soon after. Finally Weasel stabs her in the back, and they turn her around and continue to stab her multiple times until she's dead.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/images/3684b.jpgMari, after some serious negotiations with Junior, finally convinces him to go with her towards her house. But the opportunity is short lived when they run into Krug, Sadie, and Weasel, who are just fresh off of their killing of Phyllis. Krug has had enough of their attempts to escape so he pins Mari on the ground and starts to cut her chest with a knife. He then proceeds to have sex with her, against her will. When he's done, he stands and and the whole group has some sort of epiphany. They look at themselves in shock
 and are almost disgusted with what they have done. Mari slowly makes her way to the water for one last chance to get to her house. Krug pulls out a pistol and shoots Mari in the middle of the lake, putting her out of her misery. The group washes up and makes their way to the house.

Mari's mother introduces the group to her husband. They have all changed their names to avoid being caught. They say that there car is broken down and the parents decide that they can stay at their house, in Mari's bedroom. This is when they find out that they just killed the daughter of the people whose house they are staying in. Soon the other looks in one of the fugitives briefcases and finds bloody clothes. The parents then make their way out of the house and they find Mari still barely alive laying in the grass beside the lake. This is when they know that the people in their house are the fugitives.

Mari's father soon starts to set up traps around the house. There is shaving cream on the floor, trip wire and electric wires underneath a wet floor rug. The fundamentals in a "How To Stop A Killer" starter pack. While he does this, Mari's mother takes Weasel out back and starts to perform oral intercourse. He enjoys it for a short time, until the mother bites down as hard as she can, ultimately killing him.

Krug then wakes up from his slumber and falls through each one of the traps that was set. Soon he and the father get in a fist fight and start fighting throughout the house. The mother is outside and is attacked by Sadie. Inside the house Junior pulls out a gun and points it at Krug, telling him he will shoot. Krug then convinces Junior that he is going to "blow his brains out". After commanding this three or four times Junior does it off screen.

The father runs downstairs and gets a chainsaw. Now he has the advantage over Krug. The fight goes on until finally the father starts to attack Krug with the saw. The cops from earlier walk in and witness the whole thing. Blood splatters on the face and all. While this happens, the mother grabs a knife from Sadie and cuts her throat, and she falls dead into their pool. She makes her way back into the house to be with her husband. The carnage is over. The camera fades to black.

Pros:
  •  The main thing that I loved about this movie was how real Wes Craven made the movie seem. He took regular, everyday people and turned them into innocent victims and violent killers. It wasn't like a slasher film where the killer can't be stopped. These killers were human and had real emotions that were shown throughout the whole movie.
  • The acting was great. They all were very believable and brought a lot of emotion to their respective roles.
  • The music was amazing. It went from being very happy, to very creepy in a matter of seconds.
Cons:
  • The only real con I had about this movie was some of the unnecessary shots of the cops trying to get back to the house. I didn't talk about them because they were kind of irrelevant, but there were shots of them trying to get to the house that were just unneeded. Them flagging downs cars to give them rides. It really slowed down the tempo of the film.

Now on a scale from A-F, I give "The Last House On the Left" (1972) an... A!!

This movie is one of the pioneer films that paved the way for horror films in the 70's and years afterwards. This was Wes Cravens first film, which eventually lead to other horror classics he directed such as The Hills Have Eyes, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream. The human aspect that the movie had made you feel like this could happen to anybody. A real masterpiece in the horror genre.

Thanks for reading everyone and come back anytime for everything that is horror!



Photo References:

Saturday, February 20, 2016

The Witch *SPOILER* Review



Hey guys, Horror For Life back with another horror movie review. Me and my roommate decided that we were going to go see the new 2016 thriller "The Witch", directed by Roger Eggers. This movie is about a religious family in New England that is banned from their plantation. They start a new life for themselves living off of the wilderness that surrounds them. Soon weird things start happening, children go missing, and we find out that someone isn't being completely truthful.

The film starts out in a court on a gated plantation. A family is being tried in front of their peers and a few elders. They are banned from the town because the father has been speaking against God, and the people in the plantation don't take well to what the father has been saying. So they leave and go on to make a life for themselves.

The family starts to rebuild their lives, along with their home and some barns to keep their animals in.  We soon meet Thomasin, played by Anya-Taylor Joy. She is a teenage girl who has three younger brothers, and a younger sister. They all do work around the farm, except for the youngest brother Sam who is only a baby. Thomasin looks over the children while she is working. They start to get their lives back on track.


We then see Thomasin who is playing peek-a-boo with Sam. After a few times, she opens her hands and sees that Sam is missing. Thomasin goes running towards the woods but stops just before because she knows that they are not suppose to go into the woods. Then we see a figure in a red coat carrying the baby through the woods. We find out that a witch has taken the child, and ultimately kills him and covers herself in his blood.

After the death of Sam, the family grieves, especially the mother. She is seen laying on her bed praying multiple times. She feels that her son is in hell because he had been taken from them. Soon Thomasin and Caleb, the oldest brother, are seen down by a brook talking about old times. Then the youngest daughter Mercy, comes crawling up behind them saying that she is the witch in the woods. After joking, Thomasin starts to convince Mercy that she is a witch herself. She speaks of how her master is the devil himself. Mercy threatens to tell the parent what she said, but Thomasin pleads her not to, saying its just a joke.

Now Caleb decides to go out and check the animal traps by himself, because he checked them with his father during the movie. When he goes to leave, Thomasin insists that she goes with him. After some persuading and threatening of waking up mom and dad, they make their way into the woods. Thomasin is riding the family's horse while Caleb is walking the dog. Soon the dog chases after a rabbit, and this startles the horse, eventually knocking Thomasin to the ground. Caleb decides to chase after the dog.

Caleb is now lost in the woods and its getting dark outside. He sees his dog laying dead in front of him. Then he comes upon a small hit inside the base of a hill. Then a beautiful woman steps outside and comes face to face with Caleb. She then kisses him but quickly grabs him by the head with an old, wrinkled arm.

Eventually Thomasin wakes up and meets up with her father at the edge of the farm as shes coming out of the woods. Her parents had been looking for them.

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site25/2016/0218/20160218__19CDEMOV1w~2.jpgThe family starts to wonder why they have lost two of their sons. They start thinking of witchcraft but they don't really have any proof to what's going on. They eat diner and eventually go to bed. Thomasin stays up late and decides to feed the goat. Suddenly she sees Caleb leaning up against the fence naked. She runs and gathers him and they get him into the house.

The next day Mercy and Jonah (twin brother and sister) start to accuse Thomasin of being a witch the parents finally say they are tired of here this talk about a witch. But then they hear a scream coming from inside the home. They rush inside to see Caleb and he starts mumbling passages that aren't very clear. The parents soon pry his mouth open and he spits out a bloody apple that had been shoved into his mouth. While this is going on the twins fake being possessed to prove that Thomasin is using witchcraft on them. Soon Caleb says a few more passages and finally dies. The mother yells at Thomasin to leave him alone. She runs outside and the dad goes to comfort her.

While Thomasin and the father talk, he says that she needs to tell him the truth, about whether or not she is a witch. Thomasin is mad because he doesn't believe her, and the dad eventually drags her inside so she can tell her mother the truth about what is going on. When they are inside Thomasin tells the dad that the twins are faking being possessed. The father is angry and confused about who to believe so he picks up the son with one hand and the son screams. They were faking. Not knowing who to believe, he puts the three children in the barn and locks them inside.

The three kids are now in the barn with a white goat and a black goat that the twins call "Black Phillip". They say that the goat talks to them now and then. That is where they sleep for the night. During the night the mother wakes up and finds her son Caleb holding Sam downstairs in the house. Remember, both are dead. She takes Sam from Caleb and starts breastfeeding him. While this is happening, the twins wake up to a woman eating the one of the goats. She turns around and it is a the witch. She steals the kids and disappears. We then see the mother having her breast attacked by a crow, because the child she was holding wasn't really there.

In the morning the father wakes up and goes outside to find that the barn has been broken into, and the twins are missing. Thomasin wakes up and  sees her father outside looking at her. Then suddenly the black goat rams the father in the gut, piercing into him. He starts bleeding out of his mouth. Finally the goat rams him one last time into a wood pile, and the wood falls on him, eventually killing him. Thomasin goes to see him but then the mother comes outside and starts accusing her of being a witch. They wrestle for a bit before Thomasin picks then kills her mother with a knife that she grabs laying on the ground near her. She then goes inside and sits down and the screen cuts to black.

https://b6c18f286245704fe3e9-05e2055f4cd9122af02914269431c9f6.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/5893840_the-witch-trailer-witchcraft-black-magic_15c0eaaa_m.jpg?bg=180E08It then fades in to Thomasin talking to Black Phillip. Except he has turned into the devil. He tells her that there is something that she has to do. She then takes off her clothes and walks towards the woods. She then finds her self coming upon a clearing where there are five or six naked women all dancing around a fire. Then they all begin to levitate. Thomasin then joins the group and levitates. She is finally starting to except that she is indeed a witch. She levitates high up into the trees and the screen cuts to black, but this time for the last time.


Pros: 
  • The setting of the story was beautiful and eerie all at the same time. Some of the shots of the woods made the feeling of the movie very creepy.
  • The acting by all of the characters was perfect. Each person brought their own touch to the part they were playing, making everything very believable. 
  • It didn't have many jump scares, but it didn't need any. The slow build up of tension made the movie very chilling.
Cons:
  • Some of the dialogue at the beginning was hard to understand. They were speaking broken English, but it took some getting use to as the film went on. 

 Now on a scale from A-F, I give "The Witch" an... A-!!!

Going into this movie, I didn't quite know what to expect. I saw this trailer a year ago and was very excited for it. Now finally seeing it, I was very impressed. It was a very creepy movie, without many jump scares. But like I said, it was so chilling at times, that's what made it scary. The acting was amazing and even the gore that was in it was solid. Definitely my favorite horror movie of 2016 so far. A must see for horror fans.

Thanks for reading everyone and come back anytime for everything that is horror












Image References

Sunday, January 31, 2016

A Good Day For A "Wrong Turn" Movie Review (Part 4)

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Hey guys! I took a little break this weekend as far as horror movies are concerned, but I am back and here with my review of the fourth movie of the franchise "Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings", directed by Declan O'Brien (Wrong Turn 3 + 5). In this installment, a group of eight friends are traveling to their friends cabin in the woods by snowmobile. But they get caught in a blizzard and had to settle in at an abandoned Sanitarium, where once again our three favorite cannibals are staying.

The movie starts with a sort of flashback. We meet the head doctor at the sanitarium and a lady who seems to be some sort of therapist. The doctor is showing her all of the inmates. He brings her to meet Three-Finger, One-Eye, and Saw-Tooth, but this time they are teenagers. When going in one of the other inmates grabs a pin out of the lady's hair and hides. When the doctors leave they inmate gives the pin to the brothers and they escape, and when doing so they kill a security guard and release the other inmates. They all run a muck through the hospital. Then the three brothers track down and kill the therapist by electrically shocking her brain with a shock therapy machine, and then they find the head doctor and pull each one of his limbs off with barbed wire. And this leads us to the beginning of the film.

It starts out with two different sex scenes going on at the same time. Soon Kenia, played by Jennifer Pudavick (Wishmaster 3 + 4), comes in to let them know they are leaving to start their trip to their friends cabin in five minutes.

Now we meet the entire group of friends; Sara and Bridget (Gay couple), Jenna and Vincent (Couple), Lauren and Daniel (Couple), and lastly Kyle and Claire (Couple). They all pack up some snowmobiles and snowboards and hit the trails. After a while they realize they are lost, and they come upon the abandoned sanitarium. They decide to bunk inside for the night.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Q3wI6acPMrtjTwjyKmHo1qta-cIiTdSXyiO4mMnK4Z8HgjKjFnBZoS0N9Lcj2ORzmAI6w0xLPa7lYjovDlVX-mvTvcd4G8irKNqbXsKlR0ZJoYVK3PJt-REMscRTfAomdPDoS_qtqrY/s1600/Wrong+Turn+4+2011+Bloody+Beginnings+(1).pngOnce they get inside they start to do some exploring. They find the head doctors office and find a ton of patient files. they soon learn that the place is a mental hospital and most of the patients were physically deformed. After exploring they go and settle in the main study. They build a fire and a Kenia, Vincent and Jenna go do some more exploring. Kenia thinks she saw someone but the others convince her it was nothing. After Vincent scares the crap out of Kenia and Jenna, they go back with the others.

Vincent makes up for scaring the girls by going an turning on the generator so they can get some lights and heat. So he goes and does that no problem.

We then get a quick shot of the three brothers dragging a dead body into the building through the snow. Later we find out that it is the groups friend Porter, who owned the cabin they were suppose to go to.

Now the group decides to have a little fun. So they drink some thirty year old scotch that they find and let loose. The ride wheelchairs, dance around through the halls, and Sara and Bridget make out most of the time. They then make their way into a large room with a theater stage. Daniel find an old film roll and they decide to watch it. The film shows the torture that these patients would receive. Things like shock therapy. After the movie they all go to bed to get rest for their trip in the morning.

Vincent can't sleep so he goes on to explore more of the hospital. He takes a little detour to watch Sara and Bridget partake in intercourse. But then he continues and sees his buddy Porter at the nurses station, or what is left of him. When he goes up to him he sees that Porter is dead, and when Vincent turns around he gets stabbed in the head with a huge needle by Saw-Tooth.

Jenna wakes up in the morning and Vincent has not come back yet. Go figure. So she gets everyone to split into two groups to go look for him. One group consists of  Jenna, Kyle, Claire, and Kenia. The other is Sara, Bridget, Daniel and Lauren.

http://www.bktube.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Wrong-Turn-4-2011-Bloody-Beginnings-Movie-Online-Download.jpgSara's group goes and finds a caged area in the basement and check it out. Jenna's group decides to split up. We then see Jenna go into the kitchen where she witnesses Saw-Tooth chopping up Vincent's body. She makes her way back to the rest of the group and tells them that Vincent is dead. So they make their way back to the room with the stage. When the get back, something throws a rolled up jacket at their feet from the stage, and its Vincents head in Porters jacket. They all decide that its best to leave right now. But before they go outside, Claire gets a nuse of barbed wire dropped around her neck from the balcony above. She is hung and her body is soon separated from her body.

They quickly run outside to leave but the cannibals took the spark plug wires. Lauren then decides to take a pair of skis and ski her way down the mountain to get help. We find out later that she freezes to death under a tree, just about one hundred feet away from the main road.

After quick decision making, they go back inside and lock themselves in the head doctors office. Once they get inside Saw-Tooth knocks and drills through the door with an ice auger. Kyle, Daniel and Sara all decide to go to the caged area to find weapons.. After they panic for a bit they decide to go get weapons. On they are chased by Three-Finger. They make it to the caged area and lock themselves in, and they are not seen. When heading back to the others, Daniel is captured and taken to the kitchen.

Kyle and Sara make it back, but no Daniel. We then see Daniel strapped to an iron table in the kitchen, The three brothers then start boiling oil and adding different vegetables like potatoes and onions to the oil. They plan to make some sort of sick fondue. So they carefully start cutting off different pieces of him and they dip them into the oil, and start chowing down.

http://www.horrorpilot.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Wrong-Turn-4-2.jpgThe others hear him screaming so they decide to make a run to save him. We never really find out, but he eventually passes out from the pain and eventually dies. The group makes a plan to scare the three by using fire. So they make their way down to the kitchen and begin chasing them down the hall. Jenna then smashes a lantern on the floor and a wall of fire appears. They then chase them into their old cell and they lock it. Kyle wants to kill them but Kenia convinces him not to. So they decide to get some rest, and they take shifts throughout the night. Kyle takes first watch over the cannibals.

Kyle falls asleep and the brothers use the same pin they escaped with years ago, and they break out and attack Kyle.

Kenia decides to go relieve Kyle, but the generator dies and she is left alone in the dark on her way to the cell block. She gets their and there is no Kyle and no cannibals. Kenia makes her way back to the group and Kyle is not there. They have themselves locked in the head doctors office.  Soon after she returns someone appears at the door, and they have a sack over their head. So Kenia, Sara, Bridget and Jenna decide to kill him because he's unarmed. So they go out and stab him about a couple dozen times, each. But they pull the mask off and realize that it was Kyle. He couldn't talk because the brothers cut out his tongue. Now the girls really want to leave so they start looking for the spark plug wires.

They look and look but can't find them, so they put on their snow gear and try to break out through a window. This is when we see the three brothers going after them with the same ice auger. The girls put a piece of wood between the door handles to gold them back, but only for a minute or two. They pull the metal cage off the window and break the glass so they can get out. Sara has to dig a tunnel through the snow. Sara, Bridget, and Kenia make it out, but the snow falls down and Jenna can't get through. She is then drilled to death by Saw-Tooth.

The three girls start running in the snow, and they are soon surrounded by the brothers, on their snow sleds. They leave soon after. But eventually they come back and attack the girls. Kenia gets hit with a blunt object and Bridget is dragged through the snow. Sara helps Kenia to a tree and decides to go back and find something that she forgot, but its snowing so she never found it. Bridget falls into the snow and she is then caught under one of the brothers sled tracks and she is complete cut up by the track. Sara finds her dead soon after.

It then transitions to morning and we see Kenia walking through an open field calling for help. Then one of the brothers starts chasing her on a snow sled, but the girls set a clever trap. Sara hid behind a pile of snow and knocked the cannibal off of the sled. Kenia and Sara then take the sled and make their way towards safety. But when you think they made it safely, they run into a line of barbed wire and it cuts off both of their heads. That's right, no survivors in Wrong Turn 4! The final shot is of Three-Finger putting the severed heads into the back of the truck and driving off.

Pros:
  • Once again the kills in this movie were fantastic. They introduced new weapons like snow sleds and ice augers. It fit perfectly with the winter theme.
  • The characters were very believable and they always showed emotion.
  • The makeup for the cannibals was perfect. They still look creepy and realistic as ever. 
  • The way that they showed how they were as teenagers was very cool. You kind of got to see how they became who they are. 
Cons:
  • Some of the CGI on some of the kills, like the girl being hung and the snow sled kill were not as good as I wished it would be, but that is really the only thing that I didn't really like about the film. 

Now on a scale from A-F, I give "Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings" a... B+!

This is my favorite of the entire franchise. Something about the winter element gives a new obstacle for the characters to overcome. They brought in some very new and gruesome kills, which have gotten better from movie to movie. I thought the cast overall did a very good job, showing emotion through most of the movie. I also thought the flashback to seeing the cannibals as teenagers was brilliant. You actually got to see them before they really went on their killing sprees.

Thanks for reading everyone and come back anytime for everything that is horror!

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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

A Good Day For A "Wrong Turn" Movie Review (Part 3)

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Hey everyone and welcome to  back to another Wrong Turn horror movie review! Tonight my roommates and I watch the third installment of the Wrong Turn franchise called "Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead". This film came out in 2009 and was directed by Declan O'Brien (Joy Ride 3, Wrong Turn 4+5). In this movie a group of convicts and two security guards get in a bus accident during a prison transfer, and they need to fight to stay alive because they are being hunted by our old pal Three-Finger (Borislav Iliev- World War Z).

Now it all starts with two couples kayaking down the rapids of a fast river. They decide to take a break and relax on a beach near by. The girls decide to tan while the guys go search for firewood. Eventually there is one couple on the beach and the others left. But soon the girl on the beach gets shot with an arrow through the chest and the eye. The boyfriend runs leaving the other girl and her boyfriend behind. He gets cut into thirds by a wire trap set by Three-Finger. The other boyfriend is chased down and stabbed through the mouth with a wooden spike. The last girl remaining manages to get away. For now.

http://1.fwcdn.pl/ph/63/13/486313/165485.1.jpgWe are now shown a bus that arrives at a nearby prison. Two groups are in the courtyard, one led by Chavez played by Tamer Hassan (Batman Begins) and Floyd played by Gil Kolirin (Return to House on Haunted Hill). They are planning to work together to help Chaves escape during the prisoner exchange.

We soon meet Nate and Walter, two prison guards who will be in charge of the transfer. Nate is soon brought into an office where the prison owner tells him that he will lead the transfer. They also tell him they will use an agent disguised as a prisoner to help find out if the there will be an escape attempt. They want him to stay on Chavez's good side.

They soon bring in all of the prisoners being moved and they chain them all together so that no one can escape. Then they are brought onto the bus and they make their way to the other prison, but they first make a stop at the sheriffs department for a rest stop and a check in. Nate just happens to have grown up in the town that the sheriffs office is in, so he knows some of the people. So when they are all finished they get back on the bus and continue the transfer.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/wrongturn/images/f/f8/81.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130120054919While this is going on, we meet Three-Toes, who is the son of Three-Finger. He is setting up a spike trap, with a little help from his daddy. They then roam off into the forest.

As the bus makes its way to the destination, Three-Finger driving his little pickup truck manages to push the bus off the road and they crash at the bottom of a hill. When everyone gets out, the group of prisoners turn on Nate and Walter and take their guns. Now the group is on foot and trying to find the nearest town.


While going through the woods they find an abandoned, armored truck and they find money inside. They all think they get a share of it, but Chavez has other ideas. He makes everyone carry bags, but Walter is hurt and can't carry anything. Chavez tells him to anyway but Walter refuses, earning him a gunshot to the head.

They continue through the woods but they come upon the trap set by Three-Toes. It doesn't kill anybody but Three-Toes appears. They make quick work of the young cannibal, and they put his head on a stick for his father to find, which he does. Three-Finger is outraged.

Now we get to officially meet Alex, the girl who ran away at the beginning of the film. She has seen what Three-Finger has done and is now stuck with the group. She leads them to the rafts they had at the start, but thanks to Nate who pops the rafts, nobody is going anywhere except on foot. Chavez doesn't appreciate this, so a few shots to the face for Nate. We then start to lose a few prisoners. One of them (undercover agent) pulls on a set of keys hanging from a tree, but its a trap and the front of his face is cut off by a swinging scythe. The other (car thief) goes to check an abandoned truck, but Three-Finger springs a trap that wraps a barbed wire net around the guy and drags him to his death. We are left with Nate, Alex, Chavez, Floyd, and Brandon, who was committed for something he was supposedly innocent for.
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Now the sheriff is a little nervous about the transfer and decides to go out and check to make sure that everything has gone smoothly. He eventually finds the bus that was rolled over and goes out looking for everyone.

At this point Floyd and Chavez are having control issues. That's what money does. They duke it out for a bit but Chavez beats Floyd to a pulp. As this is going on Nate and Alex attempt to sneak away, for now. Brandon and Chavez find Nate and Alex and they make sure they won't run again. They make there way back into the woods and they decide to hide the money by a tree for now.  When they leave the money, Floyd wakes up, takes the money and throws it into the river. When the group can't find the money Chavez goes after Floyd, but Floyd is soon set on fire by Three-Finger.

They get away and come upon a truck on a road. Chavez sacrifices Alex to Three-Finger and he drives off. Nate, Brandon and Chavez are on their own.

After a while Chavez is tired of Nate leading him nowhere and he plans to kill him. But Brandon the innocent hits Chavez over the head with a gun that Chavez trusted him with and knocks him out. Brandon and Nate part ways.

Now Chavez wakes up and fights Three-Finger but it doesn't end the way he hoped and he is soon killed and hung from a tree.

Nate makes his way through the woods and finds a house that Alex has been trapped in. He helps her escape but Three-Finger surprises them. They start fighting but Nate stabs him. Now they can get away. They take his truck and drive, but they soon encounter him on the road. He causes them to get into an accident. Brandon returns briefly to help Nate and Alex out of the truck.

They are now all alone until they are attacked by Three-Finger, but Nate makes quick work of him with a hook through the head of the cannibal. Now Nate tells Brandon that he has his back. He will say he didn't make it so he can go live his life. Brandon leaves. The sun soon rises and the cops come to the rescue. The last shot of the film is of Nate taking some money out of the back of the armored vehicle in the woods. He's reminded of Walter, but he then takes an arrow to the chest from Brandon, who finishes off the film by saying "Never trust a convict".


Pros:
  • There were a lot of very original kills in this film. A great use of different traps make this movie very exciting.
Cons:
  • I thought some of the CGI use during the movie was very sloppy. Some of the driving scenes were very bad and didn't even look real.
  • I didn't think the acting was very good overall. It looked like everyone was trying but it didn't feel genuine. 

Now on a scale from A-F, I give "Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead" a... C-.

This is my least favorite film of the franchise. There were a lot of new and original kills and I love seeing that. The gore was also pretty good. I just feel that the acting needed a lot of improvement and they could of done a little better with the CGI. If they could do driving scenes in the first two fine, why not this one?

Thanks for reading everyone and come back anytime for everything that is horror!

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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

A Good Day For A "Wrong Turn" Movie Review (Part 2)

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Hey guys! Since my last review was on the first Wrong Turn, I thought it would be a cool idea to make a series out of these films. So this next review is going to be on Wrong Turn 2: Dead end, directed by Joe Lynch (Everyly).

In this 2007 sequel to the first movie Wrong Turn that came out in 2003, a group of individuals that come from different backgrounds are brought together to take part on a post apocalyptic reality game show. But what they don't know is that our favorite family of hillbilly cannibals have returned for another feast of epic proportions, literally.

http://jukson.com/assets/images/news/560623c866dac.jpgTo start the film we meet Kimberly, ironically played by Kimberly Caldwell (Recipe For Love). She is a celebrity that has been brought on this game show. Shes driving a red Ford Mustang while arguing with her manager on her headset because she doesn't get any real work. While in this mindset, she runs into a family member of our cannibal friends. In a panic she goes to make sure that he is okay, but this act of kindness loses her part of her face, and ultimately her life when she gets split in half by Pa (Ken Kirizinger- Watchmen, X-Men: 2).

Now we are shown a preview of the new hit reality survival game show called "The Apocalypse". Where six (seven including the host) lucky survivors must come together to stay alive after the end of the world. We then meet the six contestants: Kimberly (MIA), Jonesy (X-Games loser), Amber (US Marine), Jake (college football star), Elana (stuck-up princess), and Nina (Vegan with a bad attitude). We also meet Dale (Henry Rollins- Heat), who is the host of the show, Mara and M (producer and director). Sorry, quite a few characters, but it will all come together.

Since Kimberly was unable to attend due to extreme circumstances, Mara is put in to take her place. We then find out that M and Mara are a couple. Now each person gets assigned a teammate to work together with. There are radiation tripwires in the woods, and if one is triggered you have to do a task. If the task is not performed then you pretty much lose the game. So the teams are Amber and Jonesy, Elana and Jake, and Mara and Nina.

So now the groups part ways, and they are not allowed to use any electronics what so ever. Now the game begins. So Mara and Nina make there way into the woods. Mara tries to start conversations with her partner, but Nina is really in this for herself. But they soon have to work together because Mara hits a tripwire and ends up falling into a river getting the antidote. She eventually survives and is unaffected by radiation.

Now at this time M is trying to get Jake and Elana to make some "chemistry", but Jake doesn't feel what M is asking is right for family TV. So he goes off on his own. Elana takes advantage of the opportunity, and eventually M cheats on Mara with Elana. But not before Mara spots them from a hill in the distance. M leaves and Elana starts tanning, but what she doesn't know is that one of the cannibals is watching her. Then the wife of the one watching her becomes enraged and slashes Elana to death.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/wrongturn/images/8/82/Amber_and_Jonesy.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120428182324In the meantime Jonesy flirts constantly with Amber, but soon finds out she is a lesbian, but this doesn't stop him. They eventually make a truce and come upon a camp with some barbecue on the fire. They take it and make there way to a field where they meet up with Jake. They then chow down on their findings.

All while this is going on, Dale is being shot at with arrows by Three-Finger, and he is eventually knocked out by Pa and brought back to a cabin to be cooked. He wakes up, upside down to find Three-Finger chopping up some flesh for their meal. But Dale with his marine background eventually escapes and sends our favorite three-fingered cannibal into the water with a buckshot to the chest. He then moves on.

Now since Mara saw M with Elana, Mara has been pretty upset. But her and Nina come upon another cabin and they go inside to try and get service. But they are suddenly trapped when a group of the cannibals bring in one of their women, put her on the table and help deliver her baby.  They are eventually seen and escape through the bottom of the house. Nina makes it but Mara isn't quick enough and gets a nice tomahawk to the skull. Nina is now alone.

http://www.bearmccreary.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/blog033a.jpgDale makes his way to another cabin, and if I'm correct, that's three cabins already. But Dale meets an old man living by himself. Dale patches himself up while making small talk with the old man. We then find out it is the man from the gas station in the first movie. He is also the father of some of the cannibals. They start to wrestle around but then Dale quickly ties some of the old mans dynamite to an arrow and shoots the old man in the back. Then the dynamite goes off, and I'll let your imagination finish the rest.

Nina finally runs her way into the field where Jonesy, Amber and Jake are eating their meal. She tells them that Mara is dead and they need to leave now. At first no one believes her but they soon find out, thanks to a tattoo on their food, that she is telling the truth. They then leave as a group to try and get out of this place.

Now I know we've been wondering about M. Probably not. But he gets to the TV truck after all this time. He gets back but is soon stalked and attacked by Pa. We don't know if he is still alive or not.

So the four survivors make their way into the woods, but come across a couple of the hillbillies, one of which wearing the skin of Elana. Jake runs to save the Elana-masked cannibal  but the group gets attacked. Jake and Nina go one way, Jonesy and Amber the other way. But quickly Jonesy and Amber both get caught in foot traps and are hanging in the trees. They are both then killed by a single arrow that goes through both of their heads.

http://www.programme.tv/media/cache/relative_max_355x272/upload/epgs/2013/01/wrong-turn-2-voie-sans-issue_9942971_1.jpgJake and Nina go through a couple of obstacles, like trap holes, and waterfalls. But they eventually make it to an abandoned mill. Inside they find the TV truck. While Jake investigates the truck, he sees M getting killed on the monitor and he is soon take hostage. Soon after, Nina is found and taken as well. But Dale is still out there trying to save everyone. He gets to the mill and kills off two of the cannibals. Nina is tied to a chair and Jake is tied by his arms, hanging from the ceiling. While the family is distracted, Dale releases them, but while doing so he gets shot with two arrows and is choked by barbed wire.

Now in the final fight, Pa tries to put Jake through a meat grinder, but Nina saves him. Pa is then pushed into it and loses his arm. Ma (Ashlea Earl) comes and helps Pa, but thanks to Nina, a piece of machinery knocks both of them into the grinder, sending them to the basement in now liquid form. The two survivors now take the red mustang that Kimberly drove in the beginning of the movie and make their way to safety. The last shot shows nuclear waste going into the water, and the water is being put into a bottle and fed to the deformed baby that was born during the movie.


Pros:
  • I thought the acting was overall very good by all of the actors. Especially Dale, because he brought such an awesome presence to the movie. 
  • The makeup use on the cannibals was genuinely believable.
  • I liked the idea of a post-apocalyptic game show and how the characters actually have to fight to survive. Ironic huh?
  • The kills of course were awesome. Stepping up their game from the first movie.
Cons:
  • Some of the gore effects were a little sloppy. You could really see the CGI in some of the shots.
  • There were in my opinion too many story lines to follow. You would be watching one group, and forget what happened to another. A little hard to follow.

Now on a scale from A-F, I give "Wrong Turn 2: Dead End" a... B+!

I thought this movie had a lot of the same aspects of the first one, but this one brought it to a whole other level. The kills were knew and still very gory. The story was interesting and fun to watch. The characters were very relatable and they make you almost want to cheer for them, almost. A very solid sequel that proves the legitimacy of the series.

Thanks for reading everyone and come back anytime for everything that is horror!

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Image References


Monday, January 25, 2016

A Good Day For A "Wrong Turn" Movie Review



 Today I decided to review a movie from the year 2003. Wrong Turn, directed by Rob Schmidt (The Alphabet Killer), focuses on a group of young adults who are stranded on an abandoned dirt road in the woodlands of West Virginia, fighting for their lives against a family of blood-thirty cannibals.

The movie introduces us to a male and female duo rock climbing. They are just enjoying their day but then they are soon both pursued by an unknown person, or persons. The man makes it to the top of the rock wall and is then immediately attacked and killed. The girl in a panic has her rope cut and she falls. In an effort to escape she trips, falls, and is eventually dragged away, leading into the actual story line.

It all starts when Chris Flynn, played by Desmond Harrington (Dexter, Dark Knight Rises), gets sidetracked on his way to Raleigh for a job interview. He reads on a map at an abandoned gas station that there is a road that may bypass the highway.

He makes his way down the road and quickly crashes into a car with flat tires that is parked in the middle of the road. The group ran across some barb wire that was lying in the road. This is when we meet co-star Jessie, played by Eliza Dushku (Bring It On), and a group of her friends. They team up to try and find some help. But they are in the middle of no where, in the woods of West Virginia. Not quite the ideal situation.

As this is going on, two member of the group stay behind to keep each other company. They accidentally separate from each other, and this results in both of them getting killed.

http://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/t_article_image/xdcm5txa0bppusbcpopm.jpgThey soon come upon a wooden cabin and decide to go inside to see if the owners of the house have a phone. Nice choice. When they enter they soon discover that the owners of the house were the ones who put the wire in the road, and they also have body parts in jars in their fridge. As soon as they decide to leave, a family of three cannibals drive up to the house, ironically towing the groups vehicles.

The group hides in the house until the family falls asleep. But when they try to escape, the family wakes and the group in on the run. They end up running into a field filled with the cars stolen by these cannibals. And what do you think happens next? The three flesh eaters pull up and approach the yard. Chris in an attempt to save the group runs to distract the enemy, but ultimately gets shot in the leg. He survives, but can barely walk. Eventually all four escape thanks to Scott (Jeremy Sisto), who distracts their chasers but he gets shot with a few arrows, and you know the rest.

The three remaining members of a group decide to camp out in an old watch tower. But they don't stay for very long thanks to a very loud CB radio that gives them away. The cannibals then smoke out the three, trying to get them to come out. So instead they jump onto a nearby tree, in hopes to avoid the killers. But one makes his way up and we then lose Scott's girlfriend Carly's (Emmanuelle Chriqui- Entourage) head.

http://www.myhorribleidea.com/uploads/2/6/5/5/26555197/3349746_orig.jpgThey survive through the night but early the next day Jessie gets captured and Chris is knocked down a hill and runs into a police officer driving on the road. He heard the call from the watch tower, but soon after he's killed by an arrow.

Chris hides under the cop car and holds on while Saw-Tooth (Garry Robbins) drives back to the cabin. Jessie is tied to a bed, death staring her in the face. But just before anything happens, Chris backs the car into the house, starting a fire and the final climax commences.

He ran over One-Eye (Ted Clark) entering the house so he didn't have to worry about him too much. Then Saw-Tooth becomes a problem, but luckily Jessie finally gets free and shoots an arrow through the back of his head. We think all is okay, until Three-Finger (Julian Richings) pulls out his knives. The fight doesn't last very long because Jessie drives an axe into the chest of Three-Finger, sealing his fate. So we think. Chris finishes the fight by shooting two gas tanks conveniently placed on the back of the cop car he drove through the side of the house, ultimately blowing up the house.

Now I think the ending is actually pretty good. Chris and Jessie show up at the same gas station as in the beginning and Chris tears down the map so no one will ever take a "wrong turn" again.


Pros:
  • I thought a lot of the cinematography was shot beautifully. Some of the shots of the forest were great, like some of the shot from the watch tower.
  • The three cannibals looked very realistic, and each one of them brought their own special touch to their own character.
  • It gave us some very clever kills and it brought a lot of good gore to the horror genre.
Cons:
  • I feel that the acting from some of the stars could have been a little bit better. I didn't see as much emotion in some of those high pressure scenes.

Now on a scale from A-F, I give "Wrong Turn" a... B!

I think that this movie is very underrated. I like the feeling that it have that maybe someone was watching them the entire time. The kills were very original and they found new and unique ways to use barbed wire. The cannibals couldn't have been played any better. They were lively, dangerous, and made the characters fight tooth and nail the entire time. It's not my favorite of the series, but it is definitely a movie worth watching.

Thanks for reading everyone and come back anytime for everything that is horror!

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Image References