Sound Of Silence

I remember in the late 90´s how i used to check out Italian horror films on DVD, titles from legendary Italian director´s such as Lucio Fulci got his classics released in restored versions with better picture quality and sound quality as well. I especially found these releases in Gothenburgh in the movie store Movieline who loved Italian horror films. I remember they had a big poster of Zombie Flesh Eaters in one of their framed posters. They also had a seperate shelf filled of titles with Italian horror films with everything from supernatural horror, zombie films and slasher films as well. But it wasn´t just films from director Lucio Fulci, there were plenty of well known Italian director´s as well to choose between. Actually this was where i first bought my DVD of director Dario Argento´s cult classic Demons. It was a Region 1 DVD release so i remember i had to get a Region Free DVD player to play the film. One of the film i did buy that day was the 1982 horror film known as The New York Ripper from director Lucio Fulci. I have heard about this film for many years on VHS and i was planning to watch it earlier than i did. The New York Ripper tells the story of burned out Lieutenant Fred Williams ( Jack Hedley ) who is on the hunt for a sadistic killer on the streets of New York, where women are the targets. The killer uses a strange duck-like voice during his attacks. The New York Ripper is one of those 80´s slasher film with some brutal scenes that you don´t see too often. There is also a lot of sex scenes and a lot of nudity as well. It is definetely one of the most classic films from director Lucio Fulci and should be bought on Blu Ray. Since i try and look at more modern Italian horror films i came across a film called Sound Of Silence that looked interesting. A horror film that´s connected with sounds specifically, is this one of the better Italian horror films we have seen in recent years of is Sound Of Silence too weak to work as a full feature film?

In New York city Emma Wilson ( Penelope Sangiorgi ) is a young woman who dreams of becoming discovered as a female artist. At an audition she becomes too nervous and can not sing. Even if the audition failed she thankfully have support from her boyfriend Seba ( Rocco Marazzita ). Emma gets a call from Italy that her father is in the hospital. She and Seba travel to Italy to find out what happened with her father, and find out he is in ICU. Apparently Emma´s father Peter Wilson ( Peter Stephen Wolmarans ) attacked her mother Margherita Wilson ( Sandra Pizzulo ) as she pushed him down the stairs in self-defense. She claims that he was no longer himself. Emma and her boyfriend stay at her family home while she look around for what might have caused this to happen when she discovers an old radio. At first this seems to be just an old radio, but everytime she turns it on, not only does she hear music but strange voices as well.

Imagine a different version of the 2016 horror film Lights Out, with some similar ideas but connected to a very old radio. The good news is that this is not a remake of Lights Out but takes a similar concept and tries a different path instead. The idea that if you turn on the radio bring out spirits instead of a lightbulb as in Lights Out works better than i expected. You could say that Sound Of Silence isn´t doing anything original in one way, but who cares if you manage to make the horror theme work with the story? Because that is the most important detail, find a way to make horror influences match and make it work with the plot of the film. So apart from this what else does the film Sound Of Silence have to offer to the audience? I think the old radio is a very important detail in this film, how much it is connected to everything that is going on. We do find out certain details that might explain the strange events taking place in this house, and especially why this radio is like a gateway to the other side. What about the acting? I would say that the acting in general is ok but not much else. You don´t really have any really powerful perfomances here that you will especially remember, but lead actress Penelope Sangiorgi deliver a performance good enough to enjoy and is probably the most interesting character in Sound Of Silence. Considering that this is the first feature film for Penelope, i have a feeling she have much more in store for us in the future. The horror elements are constructed quite simple but works thanks to events that actually matches with the plot. There are a few details that could have been polished, especially some of the acting performances feel a bit too weak. Overall i enjoyed Sound Of Silence for trying something different in a horror story about sounds. Directors Alessandro Antonaci, Daniel Lascar and Stefano Mandalá deliver a horror film that is definetely one of the more interesting horror films i have seen this year for trying another approach on telling a horror story. The film looks good and i especially enjoy the sound effects when the mystery starts to reveal itself. Sound Of Silence should be seen if you love horror films, because i promise you will not find many titles this year that actually makes an attempt to do something creative. One thing is clear though, i am not picking up an old radio in an antique shop. I am sure i could easily pick up a VHS player instead that is not possessed.

Rating: DDD

Fast X

If there is one thing i have learned about Hollywood is that cash means everything. Whenever you can make money, it doesn´t matter if you repeat yourself just to make lot´s of cash. Don´t worry about the plot as long as tickets are selling. Just look at different franchises out there and you will see what i mean. We have movie franchises that have been going on for so long that it never seems to end. 2 perfect examples of that is the Halloween franchise that they said would end with Halloween Ends last year. I am not sure i believe that completely if im being honest. At some point it feels like they will find another way to bring Michael Myers back, and Halloween Ends was just a cash in to get money from fans. Speaking of franchises you also have the very popular The Fast And The Furious franchise, that have been around for over 10 years. I can honestly say that when the first film came out in 2001, i never would have imagined that there would be a franchise with this many movies. I did see the first film in cinema back in 2001 with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker and at the time i didn´t mind the film for what it was, a simple car action film. The sequels that followed pretty much felt like the same film but with a higher budget and much more action sequences. I actually never went to see any of the four Fast & Furious sequels in cinema after the first one and watch most of them on DVD or Blu Ray, i simply didn´t feel interested in seeing them on the big screen. Except for the 5th film in the series called Fast & Furious 5 released in 2011. At the time i wanted to see that film in cinema simply because i was a fan of Dwayne Johnson. Until this day it is still my favourite film in this franchise and actually the only film i have rewatched in the Fast & Furious collection. Vin Diesel have since then continued to play his character Dominic Toretto, and i still feel that The Last Witch Hunter is his best film so far ( i am still hoping for a sequel ). To be honest the films that have followed after the fifth Fast & Furious film have been very mehcanical action films with not much else to offer. And the 9th film with Fast & Furious in space, who came up with that idea? So when Fast X ( Fast & Furious 10 ) came out on digital i decided to give it a chance. Is this the best film in the franchise so far or should this franchise have been stopped many years ago?

Dominic Toretto ( Vin Diesel ) and his team are requested by the Agency to steal a computer chip during it´s transit in Rome, Italy. What Dominic doesn´t know is that he and his team are being set up, where the son Hernan Reyes ( Jason Momoa ) of drug lord Hernan Reyes ( Joaquim de Almeida ) use them to target Dominic for killing his father, to make sure he revenge his fathers´s death. 

I have actually never reviewed any of the Fast & Furious films so far over the years on this blog, and maybe one reason was because i felt that how do you review films such as these when you know it´s mostly about driving cars and using violence in every film? Either way, i thought i might as well give it a shot with Fast X just in case fans of this franchise would be interested to hear my opinions. Knowing the history from the previous films and what has happened along the way, if you are a fan of the past of this franchise you might actually enjoy Fast X for what it is. This is exactly what you might have expected, where you get lots of car chases, explosions, guns and of course physical violence as well. For someone like myself who feel that they could have ended this franchise at the 7th film i can´t really say that Fast X bring a lot of surprises to me. Let us begin and talk about what works in Fast X and i have to say actor Jason Momoa as the character Dante Reyes give this franchise a fresh breath of air. Not only is Jason entertaining in this role but i do enjoy ( some ) of his action scenes as well. Jason Statham is back as Deckhard Shaw and you know you can´t deny that Statham have a charming screen presence. He doesn´t even have to try very hard, he just got something special in almost every film that he does. There are a few action scenes that are at least a bit more entertaining than in the 9th film, especially one scene that seems inspired by the Indiana Jones classic Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Ok, so we have to get into some of the problems. First of all the character of Vin Diesel known as Dominic Toretto and after 9 movies in the past with this character i just don´t really care about him anymore. If a car would have blown up in this film and his character would have died, i probably wouldn´t be sad to be honest. I think his character have been going on far too long in this franchise. I know these films have a lot of Vin Diesel fans and i don´t mind him as an actor, but if you are going to be in 10 films of a franchise and don´t do anything interesting with your character, then you can´t expect me to stay interested. Some of the action scenes doesn´t feel very fresh or entertaning, maybe because all of these sequels have used most of the ideas and it´s gettting harder to find some unexpected surprises. What about the other actors? Most of them are ok i suppose especially in the action scenes. Overall, i just feel like Fast X didn´t do that much for this franchise to move forward. It just feels like a sequel that reminds us of so many other Fast & Furious films. Director Louis Leterrier ( director of the fun action films Transporter & Transporter 2 with Jason Statham ) isn´t a terrible action director, but there is something missing in this sequel that we would have needed to make it more powerful than some of the previous sequels. Fast X will most likely be enjoyed by fans of this franchise, i just personally feel like im done with these films. Take my advice Vin Diesel and work on The Last Witch Hunter 2 instead, and i guarantee i will have more fun with that sequel than i had with Fast X.

Rating: DD

Dead Shot

In November of 2013 i went my first trip to Ireland after having visited Scotland and England several times before that. The plan was to travel around Ireland a bit, but since i only stayed for about a week i only had time to visit certain places. I did enjoy my visit either way and especially while exploring the city of Dublin. There are so many historical events surrounding this city, and if you have time to visit museums you can actually learn quite a lot. I remember especially visiting the National Museum Of Ireland and learning about the historical events surrounding IRA ( Irish Republican Army ). If you plan to visit Dublin i strongly recommend that you visit the National Museum Of Ireland and i guarantee you will learn a lot of things you probably didn´t know. Of course you can read books about it or read about historical facts online, feel welcome to do so. But i promise you that this museum is really good and give the visitors a lot of very important historical facts. While i stayed in Dublin we did see certain buildings that are known for IRA connections in the past. If i go back to Dublin or Belfast sometime i plan to learn some more regarding IRA because there is a lot more to learn. Speaking of IRA and especially in films that bring up the subject, i have a personal favourite film i can watch over and over again. I have probably seen it at least 20 times since it came out in 1993 and that is the British biographical crime drama In The Name Of The Father from director Jim Sheridan. Based on the true story of Gerry Conlon, who were convicted on 22 October 1975 of planting two bombs a year earlier in the Surrey town of Guildford, which killed four people and injured dozens more. The four people where Gerry was included in the Guildford Four, they were all sentenced to life in prison. Over the years Gerry prostested that he was innocent. In the film In The Name Of The Father actor Daniel Day Lewis plays Gerry Conlon and it is one of his best acting performances ever. In The Name Of The Father is a really powerful film that will make you emotional. Just knowing that this actually happened makes the film even more fascinating. A must pick up on DVD or Blu Ray that deserves to be in your movie collection. While i was going through films on VOD i discovered a film called Dead Shot, an action drama that tells a story of IRA in 1975. With a cast of well known actors and a fascinating story included, is Dead Shot the film you should see this summer or should you head to the cinema  instead and watch Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts and get value for your money ?

A retired Irish paramilitary Michael O´Hara ( Colin Morgan ) witness the shooting of his pregnant wife by an SAS Officer Tempest ( Aml Ameen ) and escapes, wounded and is taken care of a family living on the countryside. Meanwhile he is presumed to be dead, and this give Michael a chance to travel to London to revenge the death of his wife.

Dead Shot is in no way nowhere near as good as In The Name Of The Father and i would never even claim that these films are connected in any way. The only connection both of these films have is that they do take place in 1975 in Ireland ( mostly in London ) but with completely different stories. Dead Shot is sort of a more traditional action drama that we have seen many times before, and if it wasn´t told from a historical time period this film might have been quite uninteresting. Because honestly if you look at Dead Shot from an action perspective there is not much here that you will remember this film for. The action scenes are not terrible in any way, but there are no action scenes that stick out from an ordinary action film. I would have liked more depth into the action scenes, where we can feel the emotional damage that caused so many people´s lives during this time period. We want to see the rage and sadness how people experienced the tragedies that took place. The one thing that does work in Dead Shot are some dramatic scenes, especially when we find ourselves in London on a mission. There are a couple of scenes where they actually manage to make some shorter suspensful moments. How is the acting in general? There are a few actors who do a good job and i am especially thinking about actress Felicity Jones ( who i especially remember her from On The Basis Of Sex, a must watch ) as the character Catherine. To be honest i would have liked more scenes focused more on her life because i find her fascinating. One of the stronger performances comes from actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor ( worth checking out in the 2017 horror film The Cured ) playing the character Keenan. The look of the 70´s actually looks good in this film with the right clothes, decorations and even the streets of London looks great designed to look like the 70´s. If you enjoy British action dramas then i think i could easily recommend this film. This film does have some flaws but is still enjoyable. Directors Charles Guard and Thomas Guard may not surprise us with Dead Shot but they have done a great looking action drama film. Tired of  another season of Antique Roadshow ? I suggest that you give the film Dead Shot a chance.

Rating: DDD

Daniel´s B Movie Summer Madness: Easter Bunny Massacre ( Easter Killing )

Ah yes, Swedish summer is here to stay, Some people might complain that Swedish summer is too cold, i think it is too warm. I remember the good old days in the late 80´s when we still had snow during Swedish Midsummer, where everyone else went inside the cabin while i danced around the Midsommarstång alone, so happy seeing snow still coming down. The good thing about having snow during Swedish summer is that you can still have ice floating around while swimming in the ocean, and if you are lucky you swim right into an ice block. But there is more to enjoy other than snow during Swedish summer and that is of course the Swedish tradition we have to celebrate Easter holiday during summer. Why do we do that? Trust me, no other people on this planet loves Easter more than swedes. We paint more eggs than anyone, we decorate our gardens with colorful feathers on bushes, trees, chimneys and we dress as Easter bunnies wherever we go, and remember this is still long after Easter weekend is over all the way into August. To be honest we are obsessed in Easter and not many swedes would admit that. If you ask most swedes what their favourite Easter film is i can guarantee that every single one would say the 2011 film Bunnyman ( also known as The Bunnyman Massacre in the UK ) from director Carl Lindbergh. I can still remember back in the summer of 2012 when this film hit shelves, swedes were insane at the shopping malls trying to get a DVD copy of Bunnyman, even fighting dressed up as Easter bunnies. Remember this was back when DVD was beginning to die out completely when Blu Ray was taking over so that clearly shows the impact Bunnyman really had. I have seen the film and even if it´s not a well made film there are some enjoyable moments in the film if you like brutal B movies. Seeing a man in an Easter bunny costume kill people made Bunnyman entertaining. There is even a Grindhouse version released in 2019 as well, that is supposed to have a different cut of the film. Either way, Bunnyman might be worth looking into if you appreciate Easter horror films. Since i decided to return with my segment Daniels B Summer Movie Madness this summer, i looked around to see what film to choose. I came across Easter Bunny Massacre ( Easter Killing ), a British indepenent horror film i have not seen. Is this a perfect summer film to enjoy or should you burry Easter Bunny Masacre in the ground with the Easter basket?

A group of friends are partying in the woods, drinking, getting high. The next morning they wake up covered in blood and find their friend Heather ( Antonia Whillains ) dead. Not knowing what happened that night or who killed Heather, everyone is left without any answers. After a long time they are all invited to an Easter celebration through Easter cards, where they are welcome to celebrate Easter weekend at house. No one really knows who invited them all, but apparently some one knows what happened that night to Heather.

Even if Easter horror films may not be as popular as Christmas horror films, there is a handful of horror films who clearly are inspired by the Easter weekened celebration. Easter Bunny Massacre ( Easter Killing ) isn´t the biggest inspired Easter film i have seen so far, but there are a few details i can appreciate. Let us begin with the Easter reunion meeting with the gang we are introduced with, when they decide to celebrate together. In the house where they meet up you have Easter decorations, but not only that and they even have golden heart baloons as well. When was the last Easter party you went to that had golden heart baloons included? They even have egg letters such as Muderer on the wall so they clearly tried to do something different here than your typical Easter celebration. I like the idea of a tape recorder in each Easter package as if this was almost inspired by Saw. Ok, so we might as well get into some of the big problems with Easter Bunny Massacre ( Easter Killing ) and one of the biggest issues is that this does not feel like a scary horror film. It doesn´t even feel like they tried very hard to make this Easter horror film effective from a horror perspective. Just because you only have a limited budget does not mean you can´t find ways to make a horror film good. The whole friends gang that we get to follow, i can´t say i felt that they were close friends. At least they do not show it through their acting performances, and if you are supposed to look like best friends you might as well try act like you are. On the positive note there are a few scenes where the Easter Bunny masked person kills people, and one of my favourite scenes is where he shoots a girl right in the head in front of everyone. Now, that´s my kind of Easter celebration. I also like the look of the Easter Bunny mask, like it came straight from a bar fight and got punched really bad. It is nice to see that they at least found a mask that works with the theme of the film. Easter Bunny Massacre ( Easter Killing ) is not as fun as the 2011 indepenent horror film Bunnyman, but it´s not completely terrible all the way either. It´s just not the Easter horror film you might choose when you know Bunnyman is a classic. Director Jack Peter Mundy have some fun ideas surrounding Easter Bunny Massacre, too bad he didn´t go more wild on this one since it´s kind of boring too be honest.

Rating: DD

If you do want to watch the film and don´t feel like buying it, you can check it out on the following link for the Youtube channel Horror Central:

https://youtu.be/rBMiQ_6q6aA

Devilreaux

I still remember back in 1990 in my hometown, i was at one of the local video stores with my friends André and his brother Marcus. We used to play arcade games here since they had a second floor that was a pool hall and an arcade hall combined, and the first floor was the video rental store. After we have played some Double Dragon and Altered Beast and finished our candy bags, we went downstairs to check out the VHS shelves. We were all three just 13 years old and we were not be allowed to rent anything that said 15 years old, but Marcus just borrowed the phone at the VHS rental store to tell his father Janne to come down. And he did, and we could basically pick out any films we wanted to see. I didn´t pick most of the films, André and Marcus did. But there was one horror film that caught my attention called De Sju Makterna ( english title The Believers ). Janne had not seen the film and he could tell i was fascinated by the VHS cover, so we rented this one as well. It turned out to be a voodoo inspired horror film with none other than legendary actor Martin Sheen in the lead role. Based on the 1982 novel The Religion by author Nicholas Conde, the 1987 film The Believers starts off with psychologist Cal Jamison ( Martin Sheen ) coming home from a jogging round. As he takes a shower his wife Lisa Jamison ( Janet-Laine Green ) dies from an accidental electrocution. After the death of his wife, Cal make the decision to move from Minneapolis to New York, with his young son, Chris Jamison ( Harley Cross ). Cal begins to work in New York as a police psychologist for the New York City Police Department. The city have been plagued by a series of brutal, ritualistic child murders. While enjoying a day at the park together, Chris find a sea shell with a different look. It turns out that this sea shell is an object that is connected to the rituals, and Chris is now in danger. The Believers may not be the most effective voodoo inspired horror film i have seen, but i have to say that actor Malick Bowens as the voodoo priest Palo is quite an effective character in this film. It is also nice to see legendary actor Martin Sheen do a horror film, something we are not used to see him do. If you enjoy 80´s horror films i would recommend this film, it does have an interesting story surrounding voodoo. Speaking of voodoo i have been curious about a film called Devilreaux, not only because it is supposed to be a voodoo inspired film but also includes legendary actor Tony Todd ( yes indeed, the original Candyman ). Voodoo inspired horror films are always interesting to watch, so is this film Devilreaux a horror film that manage to work with the voodoo influences or is it just as bad as the 1999 studio album Europop by electronic dance band Eiffel 65?

Lt. Bobbie Briggs ( Krista Grotte Saxon ) is investigating what happened to murdered teenagers by the only survivor Lexy Allen ( Monaye Moyes ) lying at the hospital. During her investigation she constatly get connections to an urban legend known as Devilreaux ( Vincent M. Ward ) from the 1800´s who was beaten to death. After Lexy ressurect him while using an Ouija Board, Devilreaux walks again to kill anyone who crosses his path.

I might as well be honest and say i do not know much about voodoo in general, so when i go into a film such as Devilreaux i have no idea if the film capture any correct voodoo influences but i do like the character of Devilreaux. Before we talk about the horror character i have to dive into some thoughts about one of the main actors known as Krista Grotte Saxon ( who some of you might remember from the 2019 independent biker action film Nation´s Fire ). I have seen her act before in Nation´s Fire but i have to say she have stepped up her acting ability a bit. She actually have improved herself as an actor in this film as the character Lt. Bobbie Briggs. You can sense that she is better at delivering dialogue in this film and that she feels more natural on screen than in Nation´s Fire. That doesn´t mean she will win an Oscar any time soon, but i am pleasantly surprised how she have managed to improve her acting skills. Legendary actor Tony Todd as the character Leonard is of course the highlight of this film. Whenever he have screen time in a film you know he will deliver, no matter what character he does. What about the rest of the cast? For the most part i can accept some bad acting from certain actors, while a few others at least try to act. I wouldn´t say the character development is good in this film, but the acting works better than i expected. The horror character Devilreaux ( played by actor Vincent M. Ward from The Walking Dead ) looks pretty cool. and i do appreciate certain scenes where he attack people with his voodoo outfit. Now to some of the issues i have with this film. Some of the killing scenes are not very effective and when you have a character like Devilreaux you want him to kill people so you can actually see guts and blood coming out. We don´t get to see much of that unfortunately, especially any cool ritual killings. The voodoo influences in this film are not very strong and i think they missed a very important detail by doing this. If they really wanted a voodoo inspired killer looking good on the big screen, they should have matched him better with the voodoo influences. We shall now go back to some positive notes again instead, and i have to say this is the best looking film so far from director Thomas J. Churchill. He clearly made an effort to make the quality of the scenes look more professional than in the previous films i have seen in his catalogue. Devilreaux could have been stronger on the voodoo influences but the acting in this film is better than i expected and the film looks good. For me that´s enought to recommend Devilreaux if you are a fan of independent horror films. I might need Devilreaux to take care of a neighbor of mine, im sure he would make him talk less.

Rating: DDD

The Tank

One of the most important things in this world that we need to be careful about, is that we have water to survive on. Not only do we as humans need clean water to survive but our plants need it as well as our pets and energy to work as well. I live in Sweden and here we have clean water to drink every day, no matter if you live in a house or an apartment we are able to drink clean water every day. Unfortunately in some parts of the world they can´t have clean water because of many different reasons. This is why it is important to try and help people in poverty, by making sure that we find ways to make sure that there are locations where clean water can be found. Just look at different parts of Africa and see how many people can not drink water. I hope we can find ways to help more people worldwide with clean water, because we have to try and save more human lives. Speaking of water there are actually quite a lot of horror films that included the subject of water. Not entirely about water of course but a detail that is very importantly connected to the story. One of the films that comes to my mind especially when i think of horror films with water, is the 2002 Japanese horror film Dark Water from director Hideo Nakata. A very fascinating horror film that for the most part takes place in an apartment building, where mother Yoshimi Matsubara ( Hitomi Kuroki ) moves in to a new apartment with her 6 year old daughter Ikuko Matsubara ( Rio Kanno ).  Yoshimi notice that their apartment is plagued by mysterious water leaks and it seems to be coming from the apartment above them. Dark Water is a very atmospheric horror film that´s actually connected to a water tank. If you love creepy foreign films you have to see Dark Water on streaming or on a physical copy. Speaking of water tanks, i have been hearing about a creature feature horror film simply called The Tank for a while. Not only have i been a big fan of this genre for many years, but i also love practical effects. Is this one of the horror highlights to check out this summer or should The Tank have stayed in the bottom of the water tank, never to be seen again?

Family father Ben ( Matt Whelan ) finds out he have inherited a coastal property by his deceased mother that lies in Hobbit´s Bay. Since Ben have never heard about this property, he decides to go there with his wife Jules ( Luciane Buchanan ) and their daughter Reia ( Zara Nausbaum ) to check it out. It turns out that his father and sister mysteriously disappeared, and did not die in a car accident as he have been told all of his life. Ben discover an old water tank in the mountain, next to their property. As he begin to look inside the water tank, little does he know that these is actually another lifeform living beneath the water.

I have always been a big fan of creature feature horror films, especially if the creatures are hand made with costumes and not CGI effects. The good news is that in this film The Tank you actually get to see these creatures made from practical make up effects, and that is exactly what we want in a film such as this. In fact these are the best practical creatures i have seen in many years, here done by WETA. The details of these creatures are quite impressive if im being honest. The idea that these creatures lives deep inside a water tank in the mountain may not sound very original, but the concept works for the plot of this film. There are some other details that i appreciate about the film The Tank, so let us begin with one of the most important details that´s not about the practical make up effects. And that is the time period where this film takes place in 1978, and how well they managed to capture it on screen with the right hair styles, clothes and character development as well. If you make a film that is supposed to take place in the late 70´s and pull it off in 2023, it shows that they actually made an effort to make this work. I also like the old house that this family travels to out in the middle of nowhere, where no one seems to have lived for a very long time. It is a perfect old house to use in a creature feature horror film such as this, because you want to capture some kind of creepy atmosphere knowing these creatures are out there. The water tank is actually a detail that especially make the story more interesting, knowing that this is where these creatures have lived for a long time. We do find out some background story to when the water tank was built and why it may have helped these creatures find their way into the water tank, so this is also some details i appreciate about the plot. The acting is in general ok, i wouldn´t say any performances are strong or make any impact. But for the most part lead actors Luciane Buchanan ( who can be seen in the Netflix TV series The Night Agent ) and Matt Whelan ( who played Hugh Hefner in the biographical TV mini series of American Playboy: A Hugh Hefner Story ) give performances that is ok. Anything negative to say? A few smaller details but nothing i feel like complaining about, because overall i enjoy The Tank. It is a nice throwback to creature feauture horror films, and that´s definetely something we need in the future and i can feel that director Scott Walker felt inspired making this film. If you are a fan of this genre i think you should check this film out, because it´s not often we get something that looks similar to The Tank. Get your DVD or Blu Ray copy of The Tank today, and show your support for creature feature horror films.

Rating: DDD

The Exit Row

I have a tradition on every flight i take, no matter where i am travelling. Some people might read a book and have some peanuts or other snacks, while some may stare outside the window for the next 4 hours just in case you are lucky to see any redneck farm blow up from making moonshine. Either way, my personal tradition while flying is that i always pick out my 2 disc DVD of Universal Soldier with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. So what do i do with a DVD that i can´t even watch it on board the plane? I look at it for 4 hours, every corner, every detail and imagine the film in my head. I can almost remember every scene in the film, so sometimes i close my eyes while i hold this DVD of Universal Soldier. I remember one flight to Rhodes, Greece and a lady sitting next to me saw me holding this DVD, looking at me holding it and said:- I don´t think they have any DVD players on board this plane. I answered:- I know, and i am truly sorry because everyone on board this plane deserves to experience Universal Soldier. She looked at me strangely afterwards and did not say much after that conversation, so i continued looking at the DVD. If you don´t know how to make time fly by faster on a flight, you should try what i do and i guarantee you will see it works. When it comes to films that takes place on an airplane i have a personal favorite, and that is the 1997 action film Air Force One with Harrison Ford playing President James Marshall. If you never thought you would see a film where the President Of The United States would kick terrorist ass, you get to see it in this film. And i also enjoy watching legendary actor Gary Oldman as the Russian terrorist leader Ivan Korshunov going insane. Air Force One is one of the best airplane action films you just have to see, not only because it is fun to watch but also because the action works well. Every now and then i come across a film that is connected to a flight. It can be a film that takes place during a flight throughout the whole movie or some kind of trauma that happened during a flight. So i came across a film called The Exit Row that clearly had a connection to a specific flight. One of the reasons why i wanted to check out The Exit Row is because this film is distributed by Maverick Entertainment Group who have distributed over 1300 films since 1997 for Black Cinema content. Just the fact that i have not seen one single film before that this company have distributed means i have a lot of films to choose between, but i decided to give The Exit Row a chance. Is this a film that should be seen by a larger audience, or is The Exit Row a film you will most likely forget once you have seen it?

During a flight Sasha Dade ( Honour  Drew ) meets real estate agent Clint Meyers ( Michael Swidley ) as they begin to have a conversation. But when the plane suddenly have an injury they are forced to land earlier than expected. Sasha and the rest of the passengers are ok, but the trauma Sasha experienced from this flight causes her private life to be affected. What she doesn´t know is that Clint from the flight, have actually located her and plans to see her.

Let me begin by saying that there is a character in here that deserves his own TV show, and that is Dr. Rhand played by actor Derek Quick. Not only do you feel safe in the presence of Dr. Rhand but he actually seems to care about his patients. So if he can´t have his own TV show, i at least think Derek Quick should return as this character in his very own film as Dr. Rhand. I have a feeling that might actually work since i like this character. Lead actress Honour Drew as the character Sasha Dade, a hard working mother to a young son, is the most interesting character in this film. I have actually not seen Honour Drew act in any film before so i like to discover actors that i have not heard of, and i am curious to see what she might bring into the future. Ok, we might as well get into one big problem with The Exit Row. And this is one of the problems that ruin a lot for this film in general, and that is the character known as Clint Meyers played by actor Michael Swidley. This has to be one of the worst stalker characters i have ever seen in a film. There is especially one scene where he drives around in circles in a parking lot and it seems to get him turned on. For that i can at least say that The Exit Row have tried a completely different path on the subject of stalkers, because we have never seen one driving around in circles getting aroused by it in any thriller film before. And the acting from Michael Swidley as a stalker is just so bad that i actually found myself laughing in his stalking scenes. I don´t mind if the acting is bad in a film that you are not supposed to be taking serious, but this film is actually trying to make it look like a serious drama thriller with suspensful music and i can´t take this film seriously as long as Michael Swidley tries to act like a stalker. He even tries to talk to his second personality in a mirror making a joke, and even that fails completely to be funny. The suspensful thriller moments could have worked better if they did have a stronger stalker character, and for that reason The Exit Row lacks of suspensful moments. So this film is basically saved by actress Honour Drew making at least an attempt to make her character work in the story. Director Adiyb Muhammad should have replaced actor Michael Swinley before this film started filming, and here he just leave us with a film that no one will most likely remember. Not awful all the way, just easily forgettable. We do need that film with Dr. Rhand as a lead character though, and i know you can fix that Maverick Entertainment Group.

Rating: DD

Family Dinner

Most families no matter what country you live in arrange a family dinner at some point. It could be for a celebration of some kind, just to see each other after a long time or perhaps a very important religious day that you celebrate together with your family members. No matter what the reason is to have a family dinner, it is always nice to sit down and enjoy a good meal together. Back in the 90´s we used to have family dinners with my grandparents especially during the Christmas holiday weekend. My grandfather Ingvar would make the Christmas sausages he made by hand, all with natural ingredients and nothing else. He would also make sure that we had Christmas beer for the Christmas table, because as he said:- Why have wine all the time when you can enjoy something different? We met at different locations both in Stockholm, in Kungälv and even out on the countryside at my Grandfathers summer cabin to celebrate Christmas. Good times and im glad to have experienced these special moments. But what if a family gathering does not go as planned at all, in fact only chaos breaks out? That is exactly what happened in one of my personal favourite home invasion horror films called You´re Next. This is a film i have mentioned several times over the last 10 years at least, but it is simply because it is so damn good. The plot of the film is very simple to begin with, we have different family members travelling to the family vacation home in rural Missouri. Everything seems normal at first, until suddenly an arrow flies through the window from a crossbow and kill one of the family members. It turns out a gang of masked attackers are trying to kill them for some reason. You´re Next may not sound like a lot of fun, but this is a very well made home invasion horror film with some great kills and fun characters. I also have to mention that i appreciate the surprising twist in the film that i did not expect. This is my favourite film from director Adam Wingard so far and a must pick up on DVD or Blu Ray. A couple of months ago i came across a review of a horror film from Austria called Family Dinner. I have never heard of the actors or the director, and the plot sounded interesting as well. With an unknown director and a cast i have never seen before, i just had to give this film a chance since i really enjoy European horror films. Is this one of the films you must see this summer, or is Family Dinner nowhere near as good as i was hoping it would be?

Simi ( Nina Katlein ) travels to the countryside to visit her aunt Claudia ( Pia Hierzegger ) at her farmhouse. Claudia have written books about diets and Simi ask Claudia for advice, and she will happily help. As Simi begin her new diet she notice that Claudia is very strict on what she may eat, where she is barely allowed to eat anything at all other than drink water. What seemed to be a normal family weekend will turn out completely different than expected.

When you go into a film like Family Dinner you should know that this is as far away from a big budget horror film that you could find. This is more of a independent horror film but with really good photography and i really love the dark atmosphere around the landscape where this house is located. I also think that this film is much more effective on a psychological level compared to a lot of horror releases, because it is more realistic and could happen in any family. You get sense that something isn´t quite right with the relatives that the character Simi visits, and if there is one thing i love it is a film that does not rely on a happy loving ending. In fact, Family Dinner shows that every family have problems, but in this case they have bigger issues than most. This is a film that takes it´s time to introduce the characters, and you have to be patient to really find out what is going on. If you can accept that i have a feeling you will appreciate what this film is trying to tell us. What about the acting? All 4 of the actors who are seen on screen throughout this film all give good performances, and especially Pia Hierzegger as the character Claudia. Just the fact that she is able to play two different personalities and do it so good from an acting perspective, shows that she have clearly worked hard to portray them in a realistic way. This is the very first time i have seen her act in a film, and i am very curious to see her previous work. Michael Pink as the character Stefan is another perfect example of powerful acting, and i really enjoy to see when his rage comes out. Not that it is positive in any way but it matches his character very well. We often hear of bad endings in horror films these days but i actually enjoy the ending of Family Dinner, it almost felt inspired by Ari Aster´s film Midsommar in one particular scene. Director Peter Hengl have made a solid debut full feature horror film with Family Dinner, and what he especially manage to do well is to tell the story surrounding this film in a simple but effective way. If you want a more simple horror film without jump scares and CGI to enjoy i think you should give this film a chance. It was better than i expected, and that is of course a positive surprise.

Rating: DDD

20.0 Megaquake ( San Fransisco Megaquake )

Some people love to go out dancing on a Saturday night at a night club. Or they might visit the local polka club because polka is the greatest party music ever ( i heard, even more popular than Lady Gaga ). Either way on a Saturday night i really like to get into a party mood, so how do i do that? Very easy, i bring out my collection of pencil sharpeners. I am telling you right now nothing gets the party started like bringing out your whole pencil sharpeners collection and making a photo shoot with them. I have done that so many times and posed with each pencil sharpener on many different locations. In one picture you see me with my green pencil sharpener at a farm house. I don´t even know who lived there so i just decided to pose there anyway with my green pencil sharpener. In another picture i am swimming with my blue pencil sharpener in a pool underneath the water. For some reason someone who worked at the pool area told me to leave, he thought i was taking a selfie of myself close to an older man in tight men´s swimming trunks. Trust me i was only taking a selfie with my blue pencil sharpener, why would i do something else? So whenever people ask me how to fix the perfect party i always suggest you need to collect pencil sharpeners in all sizes. They are gorgeous, sexy to look at and they match in any room as a nice decoration. Something that may not be that sexy or nice at all is of course earthquakes. Not only do they cause chaos in society but you can´t even drive right through them. I guess you could try but chances are you might not make it home to Thanksgiving dinner. I did experience one in Greece back in 2013 but it wasn´t that big and no exploding cars unfortunately. Eathquakes have been shown in a lot of films from the past, but there is an even more dangerous earthquake that are known as megaquakes. And i recently picked up a DVD from the UK with a film known as San Fransisco Megaquake ( the original title is 20.0 Megaquake in the U.S. ), simply because the title itself sounded interesting. A film made by the world famous production company The Asylum, is this one of their best releases in recent years or is this almost as bad as on the same level of Skinamarink?

As a megaquake threatens San Fransisco, a series of foreshocks wrecks havoc across the city. Now an elite team of emergency services and disaster experts converge to work together, to see if they can find sollutions and save as many people as possible.

Over the years i have seen quite a lot of films released by The Asylum, and i can confirm that they can never do anything on the same level of quality as the Sharknado franchise ( everyone should own a DVD box or Blu Ray box collection of Sharknado ). Sharknado had everything you could wish for when it came to the perfect characters, fantastic special effects and a lot of fun action scenes. In the case of 20.0 Megaquake ( San Fransisco Megaquake ) we find another release by The Asylum that tries to be more serious. The thing about their natural disaster films is that they usually struggle to combine a serious tone and make it work with their special effects. That is exactly what happens in this film, so it is very difficult to take this film serious at all because of the bad CGI effects. You could say that they tried to do the best they could with the budget they had to make this film, but honestly i have seen very low budget films look great. If you are creative and you know how to make a film look good, you can actually get away with a lot of things and doesn´t affect the quality of a film. But let´s get into what i enjoyed most about 20.0 Megaquake and that is the female character known as Molly, played by actress and host of TV series Face Of, the one and only McKenzie Westmore ( who does not remember her from the film Star Trek: Insurrection and TV series Star Trek: Voyager ? ) It´s not that she gives us a strong performance, but at least her character feels like a character compared to some of the other actors. McKenzie steals the show for the most part in this film, and i would like to see her as a lead character in a horror film someday. And that pretty much is the positive to say about this film, because the rest is just another natutal disaster CGI film we have seen so many times before. Director Jared Cohn ( who did direct the Michael Madsen film Devil´s Domain, a film you should experience ) have directed a lot of low budget films for many years, and i actually enjoyed just a few of his films. But 20.0 Megaquake could have been so much better, especially when you have a lead female character that could have worked in a better film than this. McKenzie Westmore saves this film from falling apart, and i noticed she plays this character Molly in two other films and i will definetely check them out. If you want to watch a great earthquake film, go watch the Norwegian film Skalvet ( The Quake ) from director John Andreas Andersen instead of 20.0 Megaquake.

Rating: DD