45 Years Anniversary Review Of My Bloody Valentine

When ever i think about movie posters i can not stop to think about the 1980´s, because let´s be honest this was the greatest time for making cinema posters. We have so many amazing movie posters from the 1980´s of cult classic films such as John Carpenter´s The Thing, Back To The Future, Blade Runner, First Blood, Gremlins, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and many, many more titles to choose between. One of the movie categories where the 80´s really shine was of course horror films, and there are so many wonderful films i could mentiion here. Not just because of the poster itself, but the films turned out to be fun as well. Let us talk about a perfect example and let´s talk about the 1984 slasher horror film Silent Night, Deadly Night from director Charles E. Sellier Jr. Not only is the movie poster of this film fun, but the film itself is one of the best Christmas slasher horror films of the 1980´s. It´s a very basic plot in Silent Night, Deadly Night. Billy ( Robert Brian Wilson ) is a 18 year old man, remembering his grandfather warning him in his childhood that Santa will punish you if you are naughty. Billy is raised strictly in a orphanage by Mother Superior ( Lilyan Chauvin ) and Sister Margaret ( Gilmer McCormick ), where Billy seems to have traumatic memories watching a Santa Claus killing his mother. Mother Superior punish billy by belting him, hoping he will turn into a good boy after her punishments. As Billy become an 18 year old man, he may look like an ordinary young man but all the trauma from his childhood cause him to turn into a serial killer, dressed as Santa Claus. Silent Night, Deadly Night is exactly what you want to watch during Christmas, bloody but brutal fun kills, topless women, sex scenes and some crazy characters included. This is basically the Christmas combination we all wish could happen. during the holidays celebration. Worth picking up on blu ray from distribution company 101 Films. Speaking of slasher horror films of the 1980´s, i realised that a true classic from 1981 called My Bloody Valentine turns 45 years this year of 2026. I still own the DVD of this film that i bought many years ago, so i decided to do an anniversary review of this classic. Is this still a fun slasher horror film or have My Bloody Valentine aged more that i expected and lost some of the magic?

Mayor Hanninger of Valentine Bluffs, a Canadian mining town, reintstates the traditional Valentine´s Day dance, after having been suspended for twenty years following an accident in Hanninger Mine, where miner Harry Warden ( Peter Cowper ) was the only survivor while the other miners died. Warden resorted to cannibalism to survive and went insane from the ordeal. Once he is out of the mine, he starts a killing spree during Valentine´s Day, placing out Valentine´s Day candy boxes with human parts inside. 20 years later when the Valentine´s Day is finally reopened, citizens of this mining town are getting candy boxes again. Is the real Harry Warden back after so many years?

The easiest way to describe a film such as My Bloody Valentine, is that it´s the typical slasher film of the early 1980´s. But there is one thing that makes this film really stand out, and that is the miner killer and the design of the costume. I have always said in the past how important it is if you are making a slasher horror film, the main evil character has to have a cool design or at least a cool weapon. After all we are expecting lots of dead bodies, so we might as well have fun seeing the main evil character butcher young people. The actor Peter Cowper, who plays the serial killer The Miner ( also known as Harry Warden ), he deliver some really entertaining slasher scenes with a lot of gory kills. The practical make up effects for being the early 1980´s, actually doesn´t look bad at all. Sure, you can tell it´s 1980´s make up effects but i actually love that. Because back in those days you actually had to make everything practical, so the killing scenes are far more fun than some modern CGI horror films. There is a really huge cast here so it would take forever to talk about each character, but some of the performances i enjoyed are from actor Don Fracks ( who i watched on Saturday mornings in the early 90´s on TV, doing his vioce for the character Dr. Arcane in the cartoon TV series of The Swamp Thing ) as Chief Newby. I have to say that Chief Newby is the perfect character for a small miner town like this, he cares about the locals, he makes sure everyone is alright. Actress Lori Haller as the sweetheart character Sarah, this is the kind of woman most men would do anything to marry. I also have to mention the charming character of  Hollis, played by actor Keith Knight. A real goofball but with a good heart included. The mine itself is impressive and the killing scenes down there match so well with the background story of The Miner. I think if you love old school slasher films and want some really bloody kills, this is definetely the film for you. It´s not original, but this film have a strong main villain and that´s one of the biggest reasons why this film work so well in this specific genre. My Bloody Valentine is still today considered to be a classic and i can see why. The way they made this film with a connection to a romantic theme, where so many people end up dead is quite a fun mix. Director George Mihalka clearly knew exactly what a Valentine´s Day inspired film needed to be cool, and this may be one of the best ones regarding this holiday weekend. If you just want to have a fun horror night with a couple of beers, My Bloody Valentine will be a good match for your party evening.

Rating: DDD

50 Years Anniversary Review Of Taxi Driver

There are some director´s who have proved themselves to be incredibly talented, who can basically go into any genre of films and tell very powerful stories. Just look at legendary director Stanley Kubrick and some of his most classics films. You have so many classics that you simply have to see, so let´s just go through some of the titles. Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining and much more. Movies like these titles will forever be timeless classics, that you can watch over and over again and never get tired of them. Even if Eyes Wide Shut ( his last film to direct ) is not one of my favorites there are still details that i appreciate about this film. Let´s move on and talk about another magnificant director who have given us many classic films. Legendary director Martin Scorsese, this is a man who really knew how to direct incredible movies in different genres. I could mention at least 10 films you should see that he directed in his incredible career, so i decided to pick one title because not many will most likely mention it. I am thinking about the 1982 satirical black comedy The King Of Comedy, a film i fell in love with back at the VHS rental store back in the 90´s. The King Of Comedy really show you the danger of celebrity fans, also showing a portrait of a man named Rupert Pupkin ( brillant performance by actor Robert De Niro ) who desperatley want to be the next big stand up comedy star, just like his idol Jerry Langoford ( played ny actor Jerry Lewis ). Rupert is so addicted to Jerry and being on his show, he will do anything to spend time with his favorite talk-show host and comedian Jerry. We also have another fanatic Jerry fan known as Masha ( brilliant performance by actress Sandra Bernhard ), and they both decide to kidnap Jerry one day. The King Of Comedy capture how dangerous it can be being a TV star, where fans will cross any lines to be with you. Director Martin Scorsese really manage to tell a fascinating story of mentally ill people, as well as the tragedy of celebrity life and how it can affect you in a negative way. Definetely worh a watch. I realised that this year it is 50 years ago since legendary director Martin Scorsese released his cult film classic Taxi Driver. So i decided it would be nice to celebate this 50 years anniversary by doing a review of this film, watching the film on my old DVD copy. Is this just as good as i remembered it to be, or have Taxi Driver aged over the years and lost some of the cinema magic?

In New York City, former Marine and Vietnam War veteran Travis Brickle ( Robert De Niro ) takes a job as a night-shift to deal with his chronic insomnia and loneliness. Travis fall in love with the beautiful woman known as Betsy ( Cybil Shepherd ), who works as a campaign worker for Senator Charles Palantine ( Leonard Harris ). He take her out on a date. The first one goes well and he takes her out on a second date. But this is where Betsy begin to see that  Travis have some very serious personal issues, and when his dating night fails his whole life is falling apart. He is tired of all the garbage people he have to face everyday, around the city of New York and decides that he will clean up some of the trash himself.

Even if Taxi Driver is 50 years old i can tell you, not much have changed on the streets of larger cities. You have drug addicts, hookers, criminals and mentally insane people found in many street corners, and this film manage to bring a lot of different characters that could easily be seen even today on the streets. Of course this film is especially telling us the story of mentally unstable taxi driver Travis Brickle, and it´s no wonder why his life is falling apart. No sleep, not feeling loved by anyone, the hate he feels towards the lower class in society. I also feel that this film really does a good job capturing a realistic portrait of misery among many people in society, where there doesn´t seem to be any hope. You survive in the streets, pay bills and exist basically. Now, i loved legendary actor Robert De Niro in his earlier films as well, but in Taxi Driver he may have done one of his most iconic acting performances as the character Travis Brickle. If you have met mentally unstable patients like i have in my health care jobs over 27 years, you know how they can behave and express themselves. Robert De Niro does an absolutely brilliant acting performance capturing the disturbing personality of Travis. Even if he may have some good side of him in the past, all of that will soon be completely gone when Travis had enough of all the trash in the sreets. There is a sweet scene between Travis and the young prostitute Iris ( played really good by a very young actress Jodie Foster ). Travis don´t want to see this young sweet girl being harmed anymore and want her to be safe, so he really does care for her. I think this is where we especially see that Travis is not all evil, it´s just his mental problems are taking over too much for him to control himself. I have to mention a young Harvey Keitel as the pimp Matthew, a perfect match for this character. Taxi Driver really capture the 1970´s with the colorful night scenes, how horrible it can be working in these conditions in the worst areas of town, while showing why certain people have certain jobs they probably shouldn´t be hired to do. Director Martin Scorsese capture a very realistic chaos from a mentally disturbed man and capture those images through a very brutal reality. You also get a sense that director Martin Scorsese touch on the subject of PTSD from Travis experience in the Vietnam war. This is one of those timeless classics that will always remain a masterpiece, where evereything is right with brilliant acting, beautiful cinematography, an outstanding sountrack and dialogue so well written you will feel the impact. Taxi Driver is among the Top 20 best films that i have ever seen and will always be my personal favorite Martin Scorsese film. A must own on physical media and is one of those film´s that you simply have to see.

Rating: DDDDD

A Movie Review Tribute To Tim Curry: Stephen King´s IT ( 1990 )

I was never a big reader of books in my youth, i would rather read physical movie reviews in movie magazines such as Empire Magazine from the United Kingdom. I would also try writing my own movie reviews on paper, writing each review in english and let my mother Lena read them. Every month i would sit down reading every single movie review in the latest Empire Magazine issue and i loved it. Back in the 90´s i even brought with me every summer a magazine to my beach visit, i was probably the only teenager reading movie reviews at the beach. I remember especially one Empire Magazine number where they reviewed the new Joel Schumacher film Falling Down with legendary actor Michael Douglas. This was during the summer of 1993, so imagine what a magical summer that was reading about such a fantastic film such as this. Speaking of Empire Magazine i even remember reading their review of the family comedy Home Alone 2 - Lost In New York. A positive review and not only did they praise the acting of child actor Macaulay Culkin, but they also praised the performance of actor Tim Curry as the Concierge. When i saw the name of Tim Curry of course i knew this was the actor, who did the cult classic horror comedy musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The biggest reason why i remembered actor Tim Curry was actually because a big double VHS release known as Stephen King´s IT, a TV mini series based on the novel by horror author Stephen King. I can still remember seeing the poster at the local Videomix VHS store in my hometown Uddevalla, you never forget such an iconic movie poster as Stephen King´s IT. The VHS version of Stephen King´s IT was so popular at that time in my hometown that it was pretty much impossible renting it the first couple of weeks, which was the biggest reason why i bought the double VHS release instead. Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, who directed the horror films Halloween III - Season Of The Witch and Fright Night Part 2, which i both enjoy for different reasons. I even enjoyed his 1992 B horror movie The Presence ( also known as Danger Island with American Cyborg: Steel Warrior actor Joe Lara ), which i am sure not many of you have seen. After i got the news that legendary actor Tim Curry passed away this year i decided to do a review of my favourite performance in his amazing career, where he played Pennywise The Dancing clown in the TV mini series Stephen King´s IT. Have this TV mini series become even better over the years or is this more a nostalgic throwback to the glory days of VHS rental stores?

In May 1990, a little girl known as Laurie Ann Winterbarger ( Chelan Simmons ) is brutally murdered by the evil clown known as Pennywise - The Dancing Clown ( Tim Curry ). Mike Hanlon ( Tim Reed ) who look around the crime scene notice a picture of Georgie Denbrough ( Tony Dakota ), a young boy who was brutally murdered back in the 1960´s by the same demonic clown. Mike is the only one still living in Derry, Maine among the friend group he had back in the 1960´s who experienced the terror of Pennywise. He makes a call to all of his old friends, to unite them all to Derry, to face Pennywise once more to finish him for good.

If you grew up watching Stephen King´s IT on VHS just like myself, you probably remember that actor Tim Curry was without a doubt the strongest acting performance in this TV mini series. The way he portait a demonic clown straight from Hell, to be able to capture that combination through acting and express that pure evil with facial expressions, Tim Curry knew exactly what he needed to do to make the character Pennywise come to life. Even if this TV mini series is 36 years old, i still feel that Pennywise The Dancing Clown is a true horror icon that will live on in true horor fans heart´s. I personally will always see Pennywise as the finest acting performace that actor Tim Curry ever did, even though i appreciate a lot of his films in s career this TV mini series will always have a special place in my heart. There is so much else to appreciate about this TV mini series as well, where i especially feel that the children actors do wonderful performance. Just look at the performance of actor Jonathan Brandis playing the stutter child Bill Denbrough, you can see the suffering he is going through since his little brother Georgie was brutally murdered by Pennywise. You definetely feel sympathy for the bullied kid Ben Hanscom played by actor Brandon Crane, a character i think a lot of us who were bullied at school can relate to. I have to mention the little girl Beeverly Marsh ( played by actress Emily Perkins ). Another tragic child portrait where she is physically abused by her father, she does a powerful performance at her young age. The whole team of children who become friends really capture true friendship, no matter how nerdy they are they will always have each other. The adult versions of the children also give some solid performances, where especially actor John Ritter ( from the wonderful 90´s comedy Problem Child ) stand out as the adult version of Ben Hanscom ). The horror scenes where they confront Pennywise both as children and adults are very effective, Sure, some of the special effects may look a little bit old but i still think they work really well. I really feel that director Tommy Lee Wallace manage to tell this story from different time periods, by using simple methods to dig into these children´s biggest nigtmares and manage to capture that fear through their performances, where the fear still stay within them as adults as well. Speaking of different time periods, i also feel that they capture the 1960´s really well through costume design, the right small town location and the right kind of character´s for this period of time in history. Stephen King´s IT really show the power of having the right kind of character to tell a horror story to capture you right from the start, and keep you fascinated by the darkness. This TV mini series will continue to be a horror classic and in my eyes no one could play Pennywise the way Tim Curry did. A must own on physical media where future generations will appreciate the greatness of legendary actor Tim Curry.

Rating: DDDD

25 Years Anniversary Review Of Frailty

Every single year i watch so many movies, i am trying to remember at least half of the ones i have watched. And it´s not because i didn´t enjoy most of them, it might be more connected to how terrible some titles have been. Just look at the British independent low budget horror film Deadly Little Mermaid, how many can honestly say:- Wow, that was truly an amazing film experience. Deadly Little Mermaid is a perfect example of a film you want to forget, because this film didn´t have any qualities at all basically. It would be more exciting staring intensely at a shoe string for 3 hours than ever have to experience Deadly Little Mermaid again. This is why i really appreciate quality films that have a really fascinating story, really powerful acting and a well written dialogue included. A perfect example of this is the 2019 psychological horror film Saint Maud from director Rose Glass, her feature directorial debut film. This is exactly my kind of film, that have a very simple plot but build up a disturbing atmopshere, where the religious undertone matched really good with very effective horror scenes. Saint Maud tell the story of Maud ( Morfydd Clark ), a deeply religious young woman who have become a Roman Catholic, takes a job to take care for Amanda Köhl ( Jennifer Ehle ) as a palliative care nurse. Amanda is diagnosed with terminally ill with stage four lymphoma. Maud is hoping through her strong belief in God to help Amanda find her way to God as well. But as time goes by, it becomes more clear that Maud is really struggling with her mental health which affects her working life, and her personal life as well. Actress Morfydd Clark is absolutely brilliant as the mentally struggling young woman Maud, she really capture the personality of a broken soul and a broken mind. I feel that this film is very impotant to watch to understand that metal illness is a very serious subject, that´s needs to be talked about more often in society. Saint Maud is a must watch if you enjoy psychological horror films. Speaking of this genre, i was actually requested a while ago to do a 25 Years Anniversar Review of the 2001 psychological horror film Frailty. I have seen this film several times since the film came out in Sweden on DVD, which i still own a copy of ( never head a theatre release in Sweden unfortunately ). Even if i remembered this film i was curious to see, does Frailty still hold up after so many years of have this film aged a lot more than i would have imagined?

FBI Agent Wesley Doyle ( Powers Boothe ) have an unknown visitor to his office. He call himself Fenton Meiks ( Matthew McConaughey ) and he have something very important to tell Agent Doyle. He tell the story of his brother Adam, who he claims is behind the "God´s Hand" serial killings that Doyle is investigating. Fenton says Adam commited suicide, and Fenton buried him in the rose garden in their hometown of Thurman, Texas. Wesley do a check up regarding this information, and Fenton seems to be telling the truth. However, Fenton have much more to tell Agent Wesley how all of this started back in 1979, where especially his Dad Meiks ( Bill Paxton ) were the one who started all of this, after he had a visit from an angel.

While the 2019 film Saint Maud tried to show us how a mentally unstable woman tries to escape within the pages of the Bible, i find that Frailty leads us on a completely different path that´s still deeply connected to a religious belief. Now, when this film start you actually start to believe you know what is the complete truth. And for most people that would probably be that the character Dad Meiks ( brilliant performane by actor Bill Paxton ), has to be suffering of a very serious mental illness considering he is constantly saying that an Angel is telling him to kill demons, disguised as human beings. As the film goes on we suddenly find out some very interesting details, and these details might actually explain why Dad Meiks is killing the chosen ones. There are several reasons why Frailty is such a high class psychological horror film. The acting basically from the whole cast is pretty much a perfect match to each character, but what really makes this film so unique are the surprising twists and how effective they manage to combine the different characters into the plot. On paper this film doesn´t sound very original, and that´s exactly how you keep the biggest surprises and let the biggest secret reveal itself towards the end that´s not predictable. The religious undertone is a very important part of this film where Dad Meiks strongly believe he is doing what God tells him to do. From a psychological perspective this would be a big red warning flag for most people, unless you can understand the character Dad Meiks and i feel this film manage to give a fascinating perspective from where Meiks is coming from, both of him as a father raising his sons but also dealing with everything in his personal life while having a strong belief in God. I also find the story fascinating from his son´s perspective, living with a father who kill human beings. How do you as a child even deal with horrible traumatic memories such as this? Especially when you live inside a religious home, and you have no options but to actually believe what your own father is doing is coming straight form God´s words? There are so many interesting angles and discussions you could have about Frailty, depending on how you feel about religion and religious beliefs. Frailty really show how you construct a storyline using very simple threads, and yet make it work so well with the powerful acting performances. The horror elements are extremely effective, and with the religious undertone connected this become a delightful combination. I have no doubts about saying this but from the early 2000´s i would easily call Frailty one of the best psychological horror films of this time period. The fact that Bill Paxton directed this excellent film proved that not only was he a brilliant actor, he could direct really powerful films as well. Frailty is a must own on digital or physical media that´s definetely worth a rewatch every year.

Rating: DDDD

Pinocchio: Unstrung

Looking back into the late 1980´s, i can actually appreciate what my mother Lena did with me and my sister visiting the public library. We used to borrow children books and sometimes even read some while visiting the library. We didn´t have access to mobile phones or the internet, and we didn´t need any of that because we were actually very social with other children. I remember some of the books that i wanted to borrow and i especially had one favourite book at that time. And that was the novel known as Treasure Island by author Robert Louis Stevenson. I would dream myself being away on a pirate ship, sailing across the seas and facing danger in different parts of the world. Just a year later i got to go and watch the latest film adaptation of Treasure Island in our local cinema in my hometown Uddevalla. This was during the summer of 1990 and considering i have read the book of Treasure Island, seeing a film adaptation of the book was very exciting. I recognized the name of actor Charlton Heston, because i used to love watching his 1968 science fiction cult classic film Planet Of The Apes on VHS. You also have legendary actor Christopher Lee in this film as the fun character Blind Pew. The 1990 film adaptation of Treasure Island tuirned out to be a great adventure, capturing the spirit of the book. It´s been a while since i watched this film so i might pick it up on  DVD at some point. Regarding books and film adaptations, we have seen a number of fairy tale books become animated films such as Cinderella, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs,  Alice In Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid and many more titles. In recent years we have seen a number of characters from famous fairy tales turned into horror films, such as Winnie The Pooh Blood And Honey, Bambi: The Reckoning, Peter Pan´s Neverland Nightmare and other titles. I have seen almost all of them, not all of the Popeye horror films ( i gave up after Popeye´s Revenge because it wasn´t good ). But did you know that even in the 90´s they did a horror film based on the fairy tale character known as Pinocchio, known as Pinocchio´s Revenge released in 1995? I did not see this film on VHS back in the day, even though i did see the cover in rental VHS stores. It wasn´t until around 2006 i got a DVD copy from America where i got a chance to see this film. Pinocchio´s Revenge turned out to be a charming B horror movie from the distribution company Trimark Pictures ( the same distribution company that released Leprechaun ), where especially Pinocchio looked quite creepy with the big eyes and the wooden design. Worth a watch if you enjoy B horror movies. This year i was really excited about checking out the new horror film Pinocchio: Unstrung. With a hand made puppet of Pinnochio and practical make up effects included, this sounded exactly like my kind of film. Is the slasher horror film Pinocchio: Unstrung a must watch or should you just watch the 1995 low budget movie Pinocchio´s Revenge instead?

Fourteen-year-old James ( Cameron Bell ) is sent to live with his gandfather Geppetto ( Richard Brake ) after his parents died in a car accident. He makes friend´s with two other children, Zach ( Elliott Spilling ) and Dudley ( Jack Art Gray ). His friend Zach finds out he is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the cancer have spread so fast there is nothing they can do. While remembering his dead friend Zach, Geppetto want to show James his latest creation known as Pinocchio. The wooden boy is actually alive and wants to become a new friend to James. All that Pinocchio want is to become a normal boy just like James, while he is trying to accept who he really is.

If you think that Pinocchio: Unstrung is very similar to Pinocchio´s Revenge from 1995 i would say these films are quite different from each other. Pinocchio: Unstrung is much more brutal and a real throwback to gory slasher horror movies of the 1980´s. There are several details that i am pleased about with this film, so let´s dig into the things i appreciate the most about Pinocchio: Unstrung. Let´s talk about the puppet design and i think Pinocchio looks really good. Knowing this is a hand made doll, that is actually impressive what they achieved with the design of Pinocchio. They could have gone the easy way and made a similar to the classic design, instead they do a complete oppisite and make the most creepy looking Pinocchio doll i have seen so far. The movement of the wooden body and the facial expressions of Pinocchio looks really good, knowing this all done practical. We have to talk about the brutal killing scenes in this film. I have heard that this film would be brutal, but i was surprsied how extremely brutal some scenes are and i really love that. This is exactly the kind of Pinnochio story i always wanted, i want to watch him kill the old school way. Real practical make up effects and no AI effects, just the way it should be. I love the fast that they use parts of the original story of Pinocchio and turn a modern twist on the plot, so you can actually feel a connection to the classic Pinocchio story. The friendship between Pinocchio and the main character James ( played well by child actor Cameron Bell ) is portrayed well in this film. Especially when you know that Pinocchio only want to be a normal boy, and he knows he looks different than a human child. The creepy characer Cricket ( with a voice from legendary actor Robert Englund ) looks great and have some charming horror scenes. Actor Richard Brake ( who i enjoy in the 2005 film adaptation of Doom ) as Gepetto is a good match for this classic character. Of all the fairy tale inspired horror films i have seen in recent years, i would say that Pinocchio: Unstrung is one of the better films in this category. This film have flaws of course such as the main plot could have been more effectively constructed, but still manage to entertain me enough to recommend you getting a physical copy. Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield have made his best film so far with Pinocchio: Unstrung, i actually hope we get a sequel.

Rating: DDD

The Voices Of Our Mother

There are moments when i want to challenge myself, when i want to watch something different and intelligent as well. Even if i watch a lot of low budget films and independent films i do really enjoy very fascinating stories, even odd films that stands out from the crowd. I love hearing about films that the mainstream audience may not have heard of, films that may look different or have something intriguing to tell. One distribution company who are really good at releasing very good releases on physical media, is the distributiuon company known as Arrow Video. I have bought quite a lot of releases from them over the years, mostly of classic films or cult status releases. But then they have also released some more original films that´s been interesting. A perfect example if this is the 2021 Canadian psychological thriller The Righteous, that was released with a beautiful blu ray cover. Now, what makes this film fascinating you might wonder? First of all it´s a film shot completely in black and white, so this gives the film a different depth. There is also a religious undertone in this film which makes the story fascinating, especially because this is an elderly couple named Frederic Mason ( Henry Czerny ) and Ethel Mason ( Mimi Kuzuk ), living alone in the countryside mourning their dead daughter. They do attend their local church on Sunday and know some folks in the small town, but otherwise they live a quiet life. Until one night when a young injured man named Aaron Smith ( Mark O´Brien ), who begs for help while crawling outside of their house. They take him inside their home and welcome him, where especially Frederic´s wife like the company of this young man. Who is he really? Why was he out in the forest? Is there a meaning to why he came to this specific cabin? This dramatic psychological thriller have a lot of connections to the Bible. and especially regarding sins and forgivness which is something this film digs deep into. Director Mark O´Brien give us a well made film that´s not only beautiful to watch, the acting is really good as well. The Righteous is definetely worth picking up on a physical blu ray from Arrow Video. Speaking of religious connected films, i did sat down to watch the drama horror film known as The Voices Of Our Mother, from the same director of The Righteous. It seems that this film also have a religious undertione but this is a horror film instead compared to The Righteous. Is this a must watch this autumn or should you skip this one and choose something far more interesting?

Harriet ( Sheila McCarthy ) suddenly see her mother pass, while she is struggling herself physically and mentally. Harriet ends up being hospitalized, when her siblings William ( Mark O´ Brien ) and Annika ( Georgina Reilly ) are forced to help their mother together with family members. At first it looks like she might be suffering from a dementia illness. As their mother´s behavior begin to change suddenly, is it really dementia or could there be another explanation to her strange behavior?

Since i enjoyed The Righteous for being such a deeply psychological film, i was very curious to see if The Voices Of Our Mother would attempt something similar. I would say that these films are a bit different from each other, except that both films do capture the world of elderly people. I noticed this very early in The Voices Of Our Mother that this could be a very personal thing for director Mark O´Brien, considering he told the story of an elderly couple in The Righteous and he brings up elderly people in this film as well. I really appreciate that because i feel we need to include the subject of aging more often, since we usually see younger people in a lot of horror films. Aging is a natural part of life so of course it should be talked about in different stories. One thing i feel that director Mark O`Brien improved with this film is that he skipped a lot of dialogue scenes, as he had in The Righteous. I understand that perhaps they were needed in The Righteous so we could get to know the characters better, but we don´t need that in The Voices Of Our Mother,  i feel that this was a good choice focusing on the story instead. I think a lot of people can relate to the part of the story of taking care of your elderly mother, except we have exorcism influences in here as well which makes the plot fascinating. One of the reasons why the demonic possession scenes works well in this film, is seeing several family members struggle seeing their ill mother change completey as if something have taken over her soul. Just imagine seeing this happening, while you are taking care of her. This gives the film a deeper meaning how important it is to have faith, and fight for your mother when she is too weak. The acting in general is good where the best acting performance comes from actress Sheila McCarthy, ( who i especially remember from the body horror film Antiviral, worth a watch ), and it´s nice to see director Mark O´Brien act in this film as well since i liked his acting performance in The Righteous. Even if there isnt´t s lot of scary scenes in this film, it is more about the atmosphere and struggling mentally in complicated situations that makes the horror scenes become effective. The only negative i can think of regarding this film, may be that this film doesn´t feel as original as The Righteous, but i still feel this is a solid old school horror film if you enjoy exorcism films. I will be keeping my eyes open for future films of director Mark O´Brien, im definetely a fan and im hoping he continue making more horror films in the future. Worth a watch on streaming or VOD, The Voices Of Our Mother deliver a cozy horror moment.

Rating: DDD

Pitfall ( Blu ray review )

When you think about redneck states across America you have to include Alabama on your list. You should probably add states such as West Virginia, Arkansas and Kentucky as well. That´s where you see them MAGA pickup trucks driving everywhere with MAGA flags, where you marry your cousin instead of going on dating night at church or your local bingo hall. Life is simple in redneck country, just drink that peach cobbler moonshine, sit on the porch looking at cars passing by while listening to the country albums of artist Jason Aldean. If you never heard of country artist Jason Aldean, you did not miss that much honestly. The only single i can remember is his hit single Try That In A Small Town just because it did so well in America, and also did pretty well in the United Kingdom for some reason. I actually like small towns so this is nothing against the subject of a smaller town, it´s just that the lyrics of this song is so politically focused that it becomes annoying to me. If you are going to make a song about a smaller town, make a positive song instead. Speaking about redneck people, we have seen so many different kinds of movies especially including small town folks living in poverty, or is simply bat shit crazy rednecks. A perfect example of this is the 2003 slasher horror film Wrong Turn from director Rob Schmidt. The plot is very basic, a group of college students travelling through West Virginia, becomes victims of cannibal inbred rednecks who loves some fresh human meat. That is pretty much it when it comes to the plot, but it´s still a fun horror slasher movie with some really brutal kills. The inbred redneck characters are actually funny to watch, even if they are really distrurbing individuals. The first film did well enough so this became a whole franchise of 7 movies ( if you count in the 2021 remake ). I can accept the first film and the two sequels, i can even accept the 2021 remake as well. But from Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings it just went downhill from there. They should have ended the sequels right after the third film. The first film is definetely worth a watch though if you have not seen it, especially if you love slasher horror films with some brutal killing scenes. Speaking of slasher horror films in the forest, i recently picked up a physical blu ray copy from the UK of the survival slasher horror film Pitfall, from director James Kondelik ( one of the director´s of the 2014 Dean Cain´s cult classic Airplane vs. Volcano, which he directed with his twin brother Jon Kondelik ). Since i am a fan of this genre and also wanted to see actor Randy Couture ( from The Expendables franchise ) in a horror film, is this worth picking up on physical media or should you go for the original Wrong Turn movie instead?

Scott ( Marshall Williams ) and his sister Ashley ( Alexandra Essoe ) decide to camp together out in a forest area, where Scott and Ashley lost their parents 5 years ago in a horrible car accident. They travel together with friends and partners, so especially Ashley can deal with her PTSD. Ashley is struggling being out here again, but decide to deal with it rather than hide at home. What they don´t know is that there is a serial killer out there known as Hunter ( Randy Couture ), who have set up pitfall traps to capture anything that´s alive.

While i was watching Pitfall i started to think about if i have ever seen a horror film where you have pitfall traps included, i can´t think of one single film where i have seen that before. At least not where they are a very important part of the film, so that makes Pitfall a bit of an original slasher horror film for trying a different path. How could i describe this film without giving away too much plot, imagine this film to be the serial killer version of Wrong Turn but without deformed rednecks. That´s probably one easy way to describe the plot, and if Pitfall would have been just another serial killer film this could have been a boring watch. Thankfully, thanks to the pitfalls across the forest plus some fun traps, this makes the serial killer story more fascinating. Because when it comes to serial killers, we have seen so many films that looks exactly the same and i appreciate the effort with this film. When it comes to the serial killer himself only known as Hunter ( played by former UFC fighter Randy Couture ), i think this is a great character in a film such as this. Doesn´t really talk, just set up traps to kill whatever he can get his hands on plus kill victims by hand as well, or by using certain weapons. Another very important part of the film is how brother Scott and his sister Ashley lost both of their parents in a car accident, dealing with PTSD. Especially the sister Ashely played well by actress Alexandra Essoe ( who i recognized from the 2019 psychological horror film Doctor Sleep, worth a watch ). I think Alexandra capture a realistic portrait of how someone can struggle with PTSD and staying sober, where everyday feels like a nightmare and you do your best to deal with life. This film is really brutal and you can tell they are using practical make up effects, and i really appreciate how violent this film is which makes the serial killer scenes more fun to watch. I think Pitfall looks good in general and the forest scenes do capture some creepy moments in the dark, knowing someone is out there to get you. So anything negative to say? Not really, i could probably mention a few minor details but in general i enjoyed this slasher horror film. If you just want lots of blood, killer scenes with practical make up effects and a cool looking serial killer then this should work for you. Pitfall is a film that´s definetely for fans of the Wrong Turn franchise or similar films, and i can tell director James Kondelik must have had fun making this film considering how brutal the most gory scenes are. Worth picking up on physical media if you want to add something tasteful to your slasher horror collection.

Rating: DDD

The Moonlight Murders

I remember very clearly around the year of 1995 that Swedish TV channel TV 3 used to show a lot of different TV thrillers. That kind of thrillers you could tell were made on a limited budget, and really looked like it was specifically made for TV. Since i watched a lot on TV 3 back in the day, i would check some of those TV thriller movies out. Some turned out to be alright while others....not that good. Perhaps it also mattered that i was 18 years old at that time, i prefered watching big box office releases at the cinema. And in the year of 1995 i visited the cinema a lot, i watched Bad Boys, Braveheart, Judge Dredd, The Usual Suspects, Copycat, Crimson Tides, Assassins and Seven among many titles. Regarding TV thrillers back in 1995 i only remember a couple of the titles i watched and even recorded on my VCR player, such as the 1994 TV thriller Web Of Deception from director Richard A. Colla ( the director of the original 1978 science fiction pilot for TV series Battlestar Galactica ). Web Of Deception is a very typical classic 90´s crime drama thriller, that have that magical 90´s touch that we all remember. Legendary actor Powers Boothe ( who i love in the 1987 western action film Extreme Prejudice with Nick Nolte, William Forsythe, Rip Torn and Michael Ironside ) plays the character Dr. Philip Benesch, a respected pychiatrist in the city. His wife Ellen Benesch ( Pam Dawber from the classic sitcom comedy TV series Mork & Mindy ) finds out he cheated on him. After thinking through all of this a while she decides to stay, But only if he is honest and promise to work on the relationship with her. One day Dr. Philip have a new admirer known as Corrie Calvin ( Lisa Collins ) who wants to have a relationship with him. He says no, and she doesn´t stop and continue following him around, even visit his home without permission. When Dr. Philip hurt his hand through a broken wine glas, Corrie take the blood from the napkin to set up a crime scene where she arrange his fingerprints on a gun that kills her. Now he is facing murder charges, unless he can proof he is innocent. Web Of Deception is a good choice if you want a classic crime TV film with good acting, solid characters and a simple story that works. You can actually watch it for free onthe YouTube channel MovieSpehere Full Movies. Every year we see Lifetime TV movie thrillers being released for streaming, and i loose count of how many titles they actually release. I decided to check one of the Lifetime thrillers released this year called The Moonlight Murders. Is this a must watch this upcoming Halloween weekend or should you watch the 1994 TV thriller Web Of Deception instead?

The criminal investigation reporter May ( Harley Bronwyn ) is the host of the crime TV show The Moonlight Murders, where she especially investigate a serial killer that have killed a lot of women over a long period of time. One key witness name Zeke ( Clayton Louis ) who is is a big fan of her TV show, plus works as a security guard at one of the building´s where one woman was found dead, agree to be interviewed on her show. May see this as an oppurtunity to find out some more clues of who the killer is, but it seems that Zeke may be a bit of an obsessed fan of May.

I have watched several Lifetime movies over the years, everything from Tv thrillers to Christmas movies as well. While i sometimes feel that too many of these movies feel very blend or look too similar to each other, i do have a favourite Lifetime thriller that´s known as the 2022 film Safe Room from director Boris Kodjoe. This film is surprisngly good for being a TV thriller released by Lifetime. I will say though that i prefer Lifetime movies over The Hallmark Channel movies, because at least some of these movies actually have descent acting. When it comes to The Moonlight Murders one of the reasons why i picked this film is because i noticed the high rating on IMDB at 7.3. That is quite high for being a Lifetime TV movie and that did make me curious. In a way i can understand why this rating was that high, considering this is a TV thriller. The acting is far better than most Hallmark movies and the plot is actually not that bad either. You could say that this film is divided into both a serial killer film, and the investigation of the victims by the journalist character May ( played by actress Harley Bronwyn ). The most interesting part of this film are the interviews between May and security officer Zeke ( well played by actor Clayton Louis ) on her crime investigation TV show The Moonlight Murders and outside of the camera. Because you can clearly tell that Zeke is struggling mentally and i feel that Clayton does a good job, portraying a man with mental problems. I like the character Poppy ( played by actress Lauren Cole ), you feel really sorry for her. Being a bully victim since childhood and she is in love with Zeke, accepting his mental issues.The character Detective Doyle ( played by actor John Hardy ) is a real throwack to the 1990´s police detective´s and he is a great match for this character. The mystery regarding the serial killer´s identity is actually not that predictable, so this is also a positive surprise for me. I have to say for being a Lifetime thriller i would say that this is a recommendation for me. The Moonlight Murders may not deliver anything original or fresh, but this really reminded me of good criminal TV movies of the 90´s. This is the kind of TV thriller you want to watch with a cup of tea, or a cup of coffee and just cozy in your sofa. If you miss the 90´s sometimes just like me, do yourself a favor and give The Moonlight Murders a chance. Director Ben Meyerson who starred in the 1996 cult classic thriller Freeway with Kiefer Sutherland, proves with this film there is still hope for TV thrillers in the future.

Rating: DDD

House At The Edge Of The Woods

When ever i am asked what physical found footage horror film you should pick up on DVD or blu ray, i have a list of at least 10 films that you really need to see. Horror films within this genre that are not only really solid, but for specific reasons of why you need to see these films. The positive about especially the genre known as found footage horror, is that a lot of films have interesting stories to tell, especially when it comes to some really talented director´s who can create fascinating story telling. Instead of going through a list of all of these 10 films, i decided to pick one of them and let you know why you should get a DVD copy. I am thinking about the 2013 found footage horror film known as Afflicted, directed by Derek Lee and Clif Prowse. The plot sounds faitly simple, two young men prepare themselves to travel across Europe to party and meet girls while filming everything like a travelling vlog. When of the guys, Derek, finds out he is seriously ill after a hospital visit finding out he is diagnosed with AVM, he feels even more inspired to travel. Just in case he doesn´t have much time left on Earth he needs to do this trip worldwide. After a couple days of travelling while going out in France, Derek is found in bed with strange flesh wounds after an evening with a mysterious woman. After this night something seems to be happening with him, as if he becomes more physical stronger than a human being while having other health isses. Afflicted really is a very different approach when it comes to found footage horror films, because this film is clearly inspired by vampire related stories which makes this film fascinating. Very well made found footage horror film from director´s Derek Lee and Clif Prowse. Im hoping we can see a blu ray special edition in the future of Afflicted, including interviews with people who worked on this film. I would suggest though that you pick up a DVD copy and experience this film, definetely worth a watch if you love this specific genre. Speaking of found footage hororr film, i usually try to check out at least a couple of titles within this genre every year, depending on what films looks interesting. I came across a review of the horror film House At The Edge Of The Woods on YouTube from the British film critic Screen Stars. Even if he had some things to say about the film, i did find the plot of this movie to be interesting. I decided to rent it on VOD to see if this would be something in my taste. Is this a must watch during autumn or should you skip this one and go straight to the 2013 horror film Afflicted instead?

Jeremy´s ( Josiah Miller ) father went missing after being seen on surveillance camera walking into the forest towards a shining light. No one knows where his father went, so Jeremy ask a team of paranormal investigators making a documentary about the disappearance of his father. They set up everything around his father´s house, looking into the areas around the house to see if they can find any clues of where he might have went. As the paranormal investigators dig deeper into this case, bizarre things start to happen.

One of the most important details regarding making a good found footage horror film, is making the horror scenes feel creepy, or some kind of disturbing atmosphere. If you manage to do this and tell a good story as well, you are on the right path to please horror fans of this genre. In the case of the horror film House Att The Edge Of The Woods i would say this film divided me a bit. What do i mean by that? I think there are parts of this film that i appreciate, especially the main story of the film and the idea of a team of paranormal investigators who are on this case. Basic set up for a story, but still interesting enough for a found footage concept. And then there are details i feel should have been done better than what the film offers. Before i get to the negative let´s go into the positive first. I think this film looks good considering the low budget, and they use the forest locations in a simple yet effective way that matches the story well. The acting in general is alright where i especially enjoyed the performance of actor Dulvlu Spa, except for one specific character called Jeremy ( played by actor Josiah Miller ) who i felt didn´t work that well. There are a couple of smaller creepy scenes that leaves an impact. And now we have to get into the negative for a bit. As i mentioned earlier in this review it is very important to make a found footage horror film with the right tools. And this is something that this film is missing in certain scenes, this film is not as scary as it should have been. There is nothing wrong with the plot, it´s just that director Brandon Hartsock didn´t make much effort into the horror scenes in this film, and basically just followed a similar path as many found footage horror films in the past with no big surprises. I think if you are going to capture the interests of the audience you need to make the horror scenes effective, or make you feel engaged at least. If you don´t pull this off then you loose a very important thread. House At The Edge Of The Woods is not a terrible found footage horror film, there are a few solid scenes that offers some interesting ideas. But without any really creepy moments or some really effective horror scenes, House At The Edge Of The Woods will not be one of the titles you will remember for any specific reason within this genre. I would suggest that you pick up a physical DVD copy of Afflicted instead, if you really want to see a really good found footage horror film.

Rating: DD

Undertone

If you look into the specific category of paranormal horror movies you will find so many titles to explore, it may seem impossible to know what you should watch. One of the most famous franchises within the paranormal category, is of course the well known film The Conjuring and it´s sequels. Even if i am a big fan of this franchise, let´s not dig into any of these films and let´s focus on a completely different film within the paranormal genre instead. This is where we fly all over the world and find ourselves in the country known as Argentina, home of legendary soccer player Diego Maradona. The 2017 argentinian paranormal film Atterados ( known as Terrified as well ) from director Demián Rugna. One of my personal favourite foreign paranormal horror films in many years. The film begins in a home where Clara ( Natalia Senorales ) hear strange noices coming from the kitchen sink, as if someone is talking from the sink about that there is a plan to kill her. She tell her husband Juan ( Agustin Rittano ), but he doesn´t believe her and blames their neighbor Walter Demián Salómon ) for the loud noices. Juan wakes up at night, hearing the noices himself but even larger than before, he goes over to Walter´s house to tell him to be quiet. No repsonse, just strange noises coming from his gate phone. As Juan get back into their home, he still hear strange noises. But it´s coming from the bathroom where Clara is being thrown into the wall by some evil spirit. This turns out to be one of the strange paranormal things happening in this neighborhood, where more strange events takes place as a young boy who died by a bus accident comes back to life and sit in his mother´s kitchen. What is going on in this street? Very creepy horror film that´s well written, strong acting performances and very powerful dialogue as well. A must watch on streaming service Shudder if you live in America, or watch it on VOD or physical media. Since this summer i had planned to watch the A24 paranormal hororr film Undertine, a film that looked quite different from this year´s horror releases. Since i have enjoyed several cinema releases from A24 that includes even Eddington ( yes i did enjoy this film, i would recommend it ), is this a horror film worth your precious time or should you stick to the argentinian 2017 horror film Terrified instead?

Evangeline "Evy" Babic is a young woman with a Catholic upbringing, living alone with her comatose mother, for whom she provides care. She and her friend Justin Manuel ( Adam DiMarco ) run The Undertone, a horror podcast where they report on supernatural occurences, which Evy dismisses as hoaxes while Justin fully believes they are real. One day, Justin is sent an anonymous email containing a seemingly random string of letters and ten audiofiles, wich they play on the podcast. As they listen through these audio files that includes the vioces of a couple Mike and Jessica, strange things begin to happen in Evy´s home while she goes through all the audio files.

If you think that Undertone is a traditional paranormal horror film, im here to tell you that this is not what you might have expected. You could say that this fiilm is divided into two stories, you have the podcast show regarding paranormal stories and you have the story of a woman taking care of her elderly mother. I think this is a very interesting combination, considering if you have taken care of a family member that´s ill you know how challenging that can be. And this film manage to capture that in a realistic way, that elderly care is not easy work. The podcast show itself may not sound like anything special, but what Undertone manage to do is capture a creepy atmosphere through the sound recordings that the main character Evy listen to. And this is a very important detail regarding this film, how effective the sound effects are and how they match so well with the story that they are trying to tell. Because when you think about it, we all react differently on different sounds that we hear, so what if you hear things that you have never experienced before? Lead actress Nina Kiri ( who i really enjoyed in the brilliant TV series The Handmaid´s Tale ) as the character Evy is a fascinating character. You hear her doubting that there is something supernatural out there around the world, yet she runs a podcast talking about supernatural cases. While you can tell she is struggling what to do about her mother, which of course is taking it´s toll on her. The paranormal horror scenes are effectively designed, especially when it comes to Evy´s different strange experiences in her daily life. I have to mention how efeective it is hearing famous children song´s being played in reverse, as if there are demonic messages hidden within the lyrics, from a psychological perspective knowing this is supposed to be for children. Undertone proves why A24 are still so good at making horror films, maybe not as effective as Hereditary or Midsommar but i still find Undertone to be fascinating for trying a different approach. Undertone almost feel like a podcast version of the 2005 horror film White Noise, it becomes clear that director Ian Tuason is a talented film maker and  deliver a solid first full feature film. A little bit slow in some dialogue scenes but as a paranormal hororr film, Undertone is definetely worth checking out.

Rating: DDD

Hungry

If you want a category within the genre known as horror that includes diversity, you should look for animal horror films. You will find so many different versions of animal horror, where you have everything from attacking grizzly bears, snakes, alligators, hogs, spiders, sharks, deer, crocodiles,  and many more. Animal horror turned out to be especially popular during the 1970´s and the 1980´s, with classics such as the 1976 film Grizzly. You can probably figure out that this film is about an attacking grizzly bear, but what´s especially interesting is how much money this film made on a 750.000 U.S. dollars. Worldwide this film made 39 million U.S. dollars and let´s be honest, that is fantastic box office numbers for a horror film such as this back in 1976. Since then we have a lot of animal horror movies released every year, espcially on the lower budget scale. There are exceptions of course where there is a bigger budget and i do have one i can recommend, especially if you love animal horror films with sharks. The 2012 Australian horror film Bait 3D ( yes it was shown in cinemas in 3D, also known simply as Bait ). Since the film Bait didn´t get a cinema release here in Sweden, i bought the blu ray instead. A tsunami wave hits all over town and a group of survivors are trapped inside a over flooded supermarket building. A shark manage to get inside the water of the supermarket, which means the survivors have to find different ways to get out of the water. If they jump they might slip into the water and become shark food, so what else can they do to survive? Directed by Kimble Rendall, who was the second assistant director of Nicolas Cage classic 2007 film Ghost Rider. A fun B horror movie with some really gory scenes. What i especially think works with this film is the different locations of this overflooded building, the set design looks great and definetely a different take on shark movies than the usual release. Worth a watch on DVD, blu ray or streaming if you enjoy animal horror films. One of the horror films i have been looking forward to see this year, is a animal horror film simply called Hungry. I have actually never seen an animal horror film with a hippo before, so that got me excited considering i have seen so many different kinds of animals killing human beings. Hungry is directed by James Nunn, who gave us the 2021 effective action film One Shot with Scott Adkins. Is this one of the best animal horror films of this year, or is Hungry doomed to be forgotten because it´s not as good as it sounds?

A group of tourists go out on a boat ride to watch alligators in the Louisana swamplands, but they have no idea that something else is out there waiting for them. Perhaps even more dangerous than the alligators themselves....

When the film Hungry get into the swamp plot it reminded me instantly of the 2006 horror film Hatchet. It´s a similar boat tourist ride in the swamp and in Hatchet they were checking out locations based on ghost stories, the difference is of course that in Hungry this is an alligator tourist ride instead. I just thought it was fun being reminded by the original Hatchet movie, which you should see if you have not seen this film. When you have a group of characters on a boat you need to have interesting characters to feel engared. I would say that the most interesting characters are especially the former firefighter grandfather character Tim ( played by comedian and actor Jim Meskinen, who made the voice for the comic book character Deadshot in the 2008 animated film Batman: Gotham Knight, worth a watch especially on physical media ). I actually wish he could have a lead role in this film, because this is the kind of character you need to survive out in the swamps when you are not familiar with the environment. Actress Madison Davenport ( who did a great performance in From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series ) as the character Sistine, have a charming personality while you can tell she is struggling with the death of her mother. Another interesting character such as Walker ( played by actor Joaquim de Almeda who played the evil character Bucho in the 1995 action classic Desperado ), a man filled with knowledge about the swamp. When it comes to the hippo itself it takes a while before you actually see the hippo attack in full person, and as i mentioned earlier about the shark movie Bait 3D there you actually got some brutal attack scenes. You don´t really see that many scenes such as this in Hungry, which in my opinion is a missed oppurtunity. I prefer watching brutal kills by animals, it becomes a more fun watch for a fan of this genre such as myself. As a survival horror film i would still say that Hungry manage to appreciate this film for trying to bring back similar films such as Grizzly from 1976. It´s a film with flaws, but still enjoyable enough if you appreciate this genre. Director James Nunn give us an old school animal horror film that´s enjoyable if you just want something easy to watch. Worth a visit on VOD or streaming, Hungry will make sure your stomache stays full.

Rating: DDD

Bait

Being a film maker is not easy at all, there is a lot of work behind the making of a film no matter what budget you have to work with. One of the most difficult challenges you have, especially if you are making low budget films is that you can only use the resources you have. You are not supposed to go over the budget that you have, of course that is not always easy knowing that things can change along the way. When it comes to practical make up effects especially withing horror films, this is a challenge itself when you know this puts pressure on the practical make up artists. Now, i will always defend pracitical make up effects any day of the week, no matter what the budget is on the film. I rather not have any CGI or AI effects at all if it´s possible. I fully understand that AI effects are here to stay, and for low budget film makers this is of course a way to save money. But let´s be completely honest here, no AI effects can never replace the charm, or the great looks of practical make up effects. It just does not look as good as it does seeing something created or crafted with practical make up effects. You can disagree with me if you want, i have no problem with that. This is just my personal opinion and i will always support make up artists all over the world. Since we are talking about practical make up effects, i do love to check out low budget monster films where they actually create monsters by using a costume and practical make up effects combined. For example, how many of you have seen the 2020 horror film Don´t Speak from director Scott Chambers? It´s actually not as terrible as you might expect being a British low budget horror film. A family head towards Grandmother´s house in the countryside to visit her, as they arrive she seems to be completely vanisheed. As the parents head into the small town they are about to discover that something is not quite right. A simple plot, with a monster design that actually works for a practical make up effects suit. I also appreciate the pracical make up effects on the flesh wounds, really old school effects. Don´t Speak is clearly inspired by the 2018 horror film A Quiet Place, and i have no problem with that at all. Worth a watch on Amazon Prime if you enjoy old school monster B movies. I have heard about a creature feature low budget horror film called Bait released this year, especially after i watched a review from British film critic Geek Legion Of Doom giving his opinion on this film. This seemed to be exactly something in my taste so i decided to check it out on VOD. A creature feature horror film with practical make up effects included, is Bait exactly what we needed this autumn or is this a lazy attempt of cashing in on horror fans who will accept any kind of horror film basically?

The Herring family is heading towards a family visit out in the countryside while it seems they are a bit lost, considering one of the main roads seems to be closed. They decide to take a different smaller road which ends up being a terrible mistake. Someone have put out Iron Sharp Barbed Wire on the road, causing their car to crash while driving over it. They are captured and taken to an unknown location where a male stranger is keeping them prisoners. But he is not alone in this building, some kind of creature is also there hungry for human flesh....

How many of you checked out the horror film Dangerous Animals with a serial killer feeding people to sharks? Bait follow a similar pattern such as that film except this is where the victims get eaten by a monster instead. The plot is neither original or interesting in that sense, but what makes this film work is that it´s a true throwback to monster practical make up effects classics such as the British cult horror film Rawhead Rex. The design of Rawhead Rex may look silly today considering this film was released in 1986, but it was a fun gory B movie with blood and flesh wounds, just the way we like it during British Sunday Dinner. Now, one of the biggest highlight of Bait is actually how gory this film is in certain scenes. Seeing the monster eating body parts straight from the body, all done by practical make up effects. This is exactly what the world needs more than ever, we need a throwback to classic low budget films where people did not need computers to be creative. The creature looks like a mutated version of actress Joan Rivers, after having too much surgery and botox procedures where chemicals went completely nuts. A fun design i have to say and especially seeing the creature eating human body parts, this was exactly what i wished for. So a big thasnk you to the practical make up effects team you did a wonderful job. When it comes to the acting you can´t expect really powerful acting performances, not from a low budget film such as this. But im completely fine with that and would say that most of the performances work, considering the characters we are dealing with here. I would probably say that i like British actress Natalie Hughes ( who i remember from the 2011 horror film The Hike ) as the character Angela in this film. Anything negative to say? I guess i could say that you can tell that the dialogue in certain scenes is not a strong point in this film, while some acting performances are not effective. Then again, this is a low budget horror film so i can accept some of the flaws considering we have fun with the gory scenes instead. Bait is not a film for everyone, you will most likely appreciate if you enjoy old school moster films like Rawhead Rex and similar. If you just want a good B movie night then Bait is worth a shot, i had a good time with this film. Director Andrea M. Catinella directed the terrible low budget horror film Piglet that i didn´t like at all, she really stepped it up in a positive way with Bait and she have my respect for this film.

Rating: DDD

Daniel´s B Movie Autumn Madness: Simon Says ( 2025 )

Boarding games was a big part of my childhood. We used to play board games like Fia Med Knuff ( to fully understand how this game works just google it ), we also played Diamanten wich was like an adventure game where you are supposed to find the largest diamond, where you also travelled across Kairo and Tanger. I did try to learn chess for a while but that was extremely boring to me, i even dropped out during chess class that i had in school. I did enjoy playing the classic boarding game Monopoly when i was a little bit older. But then after a while video games started to take over my interest more and more, i was playing a lot of games on my Amiga 500 computer including my Nintendo set. So, boarding games became a bit of history just dusting in my mother´s basement. I have played Monopoly at Christmas celebrations with relatives, or we played poker as well, just to gather the family and do something else together, I can appreciate boarding games differently these days because it´s actually nice sitting down doing something together. But certain games should perhaps be avoided such as playing with a ouija board, because you never know if you will communicate with someone on the other side. There are a lot of horror movies that includes the using of a ouija board, and i have seen quite a lot of titles over the years. I could have easily talked about the bigger budget horror films, but i decided to mention an independent horror film instead known as Ouija: Deadly Reunion released back in 2021. One of the few low budget ouija horror films i felt at least tried to use an ouija board for a specific purpose. While some of the low budget ouija horror films barely had a story, Ouija: Deadly Reunion actually use a pretty basic story with a group of friends gathering to celebrate a birthday party. The acting is of course not that good in Ouija: Deadly Reunion, but we were not expecting Oscar performances so i can accept that. Why this film works better than some other low budget ouija films, that we actually have characters in this film. On the negative side i would probably say that the ouija scenes could have been done more effectively. Is this horror film scary? Not really, but there is something charming about Ouija: Deadly Reunion trying to be like a theatre play infront of a live audience. If you want to watch this film on YouTube you can watch it on the channel CiNENET on the following link:

Ouija: Deadly Reunion (2021) [Horror] 🪦👻 Summon the Spirits… If You Dare | full movie

Since im doing the segment Daniel´s B Movie Autumn Madness i decided to picka low budget horror film to review. So i picked the 2025 British independent horror film known as Simon Says from director  Steven M. Smith. I did see a trailer of this film and i got curious, was this film better than the actual trailer itself? Could this be the low budget horror film that will finally unite every nation for world peace, or is Simon Says the perfect example of a failure from start to finish?

4 people have been invited to a Scottish castle weekend where the owner give them an oppurtinuty to have a chance to play a game known as Simon Says. The winner will be the owner of the castle, so of course the offer is tempting for especially one of the guests. They all finally agree to play this board game, not knowing that this game might end their lives.....

I have seen some good low budget horror films coming from United Kingdom over the years but i have also seen some really terrible ones such as the 2025 independent horror film Piglet ( anyone remember this one? ). I can accept terrible acting, low budget special effects and even bad CGI effects as long as the film is fun to watch. And here we have a film that should be mentioned on lists of terrible British horror films because Simon Says in not only terrible, this has to be one of the most boring horror films i have ever seen. And i seriously mean that, i almost fell asleep three times within almost 90 minutes playtime. And when you are supposed to be scared or feel any kind of horror atmosphere, this films helps you get a good night´s sleep instead. That seriously have to be a bad sign if a film makes you so bored, you would rather sleep. One of the biggest issues with Simon Says is the character himself known as Simon, this is supposed to be a scary character that´s connected to a board game Simon Says. But he doesn´t look scary at all, he looks like a LSD fan stepping out from Woodstock 1969 with a hat and sunglasses. And if this was their best attempt to make the horror character Simon scary, i wonder if they even had any other ideas on the writing board or just said:- Let´s just find clothes from our Grandparent´s basement boxes. Because we all know to make a horror film effective, you need the horror character to have an interesting practical design, or a certain look to leave some creepy vibes. One positive detail, i do think the board game of Simon Says is a good idea and the wooden figures are supposed to be characters in this specific house. The scenes where they are playing the board game is the best part of this film, but that´s not many minutes in total. The acting in general is nothing special, where the only fun character might be Dina, played by actress Leila Kotori ( who you also can see in the terrible British low budget horror film The Mermaid´s Curse ). The CGI effects from Simon when he kills people, we have to talk about them. Imagine watching CGI effects from the year of 1999 but looked terrible already back in those days. That´s what you get here in Simon Says so they obviously had no budget to spend. The plot itself is nothing interesting or anything you will remember, that they are playing the game Simon Says out of curiousity. Simon Says proves that you do not need a budget to help you get a better sleep schedule, just film a bunch of scenes with terrible CGI effects and call it a horror film. Director Steven M. Smith have directed a lot of low budget British horror films, and i can accept his 2021 film The Ghosts Of Borley Rectory. But i have to say, Simon Says have not much at all to offer and i will not be watching the sequel ( yes one was made after this film ). Simon Says what? I honestly dont care, i need a whiskey after this experience.

Rating: D

If you still want to check out the British horror film Simon Says, even though my review wasn´t that positive, you can check it out for free on the YouTube channel V Horror Plus, here is the link:

Simon Says 1 | Horror Psychological Thriller Movie - YouTube

Supergirl ( Blu ray review )

If you grew up during the 1980´s as a child, there was a big possibility you were reading some kind of comic book back in those days. Comic books were really loved in many different formats, and in our local comic book store in my Swedish hometown known as Uddevalla we would spend our weekends there checking out different DC Comics, Marvel comic books but also other slightly more science fiction inspired comic books as well. I used to love reading Conan The Barbarian comic books, because this was such a cool character and he was really brutal. It was during this time period that i saw a VHS copy of the 1982 film adaptation of Conan The Barbarian, in my school friend Nicklas home because they loved Arnold Schwarzenegger movies and bought Raw Deal on VHS as well. I remember seeing the sequel Conan The Destroyer as well at Nicklas home. When i got closer to 12 years old i moved on watching more superhero comic books such as Justice League, i even started reading Batman comic books which wasn´t my thing back in 1987. Perhaps it was because i knew that the 1989 film adaptation of Batman was going to be released in cinemas worldwide with actor Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne / Batman. Either way during the 1980´s i can definetely clarify that comic book stores was the cool spot for a nerd kid like myself. Of course in my youth i have heard about the Superman movies with actor Christopher Reeve at that time, and i did eventually see both the first film and the second one on VHS tapes. I really enjoyed both films and i still do to this day. The third one i can watch just for nostalgic reasons and Superman IV - A Quest For Peace is plain and simple really awful. Back in 1984 there was also a film adaptation of the comic book character Supergirl where actress Helen Slater was chosen to play this character. A big box office bomb at that time and i can see why.  This film did not have the same charm as the Superman films, or any big budget which caused problems to the special effects. I actually rewatched the 1984 film recently to prepare for my review of latest Supergirl film adaptation. I do like actress Helen Slater in the lead role, too bad that the film suffer from big problems such as awful special effects, even some of the action scenes don´t look that good. I do think legendary actress Faye Dunaway is fun as the evil character Selena, while it is charming seeing legendary actor Peter O´Toole included in the cast as well . This is probably a film only for those who are Die Hard fans of the comic book character Supergirl, or like the similar comic books. So after we had a new Superman film released last year, this summer we had a new Supergirl film adaptation out in cinemas worldwide. I did not see this film on the big sceen, i actually ordered a blu ray copy from the UK instead. So the question is does this new film adaptation of Supergirl work better than the 1984 film version, or is this latest film adapation just a lazy attempt to cash in on the character?

Kara Zor-El ( Milly Alcock ) is cynical and delusioned, tired of her Yellow-sun-granting powers and near-immortality, preferring to hang out under a Red Sun and get into drunken bar fights, her life one long hangover, punctuated by vomiting and breakfast cereal. Celebrating her 23rd birthday by getting just as drunk as ever, her party is about to end when a young woman named Ruthye ( Eva Ridley ), suddenly show up and tell people she is out for revenge by killing a ruthless gang leader in retaliation for the slaughter of her family. She begs Kara-Zor El for help, since she can´t do this on her own. Kara would rather be drunk, but realise that this might give her a chance to deal with her addiction and do something good for once.

How many of you remember the 2008 film Hancock with Will Smith as the super human Hancock, a drunk, ego tripped wreck who didn´t care about humanity anymore, especially now when everyone hates him? That film was actually an interesting take on people with super powers, who have fallen completely and seemed stuck with personal issues. In the latest film adaptation of Supergirl we actually find her living in a similar position, except she is not hated by everyone like Hancock was. So, this brings me to talk about a completely different take on Supergirl than we have seen before. Where she likes to get drunk and party, not take any responsibility for hew own actions. I know there are some people who have complained about the decision to make Supergirl into a drunk, i think it was a good choice and i will tell you why. Far too often we are suppsed to see superheroes to be a good role model in society, so we need to see a different take on comic book characters sometimes to show they may have flaws like everyone else. Just because you have super powers doesn´t make you a better person compared to an ordinary human. I have also heard so many right wing people across American complain about actress Milly Alcock´s physical look, basically that she looks ugly. I think that is very rude attacking her physical looks, i see nothing wrong with her natural beauty and you would think adults would be smarter than that, attacking someone for how they look. Speaking of Milly as Supergirl, i think she gives an interesting performance considering we have never seen this version of Supergirl before. Milly handle both the acting well plus her physical performance. I like her chemistry on the screen with young actress Eve Ridley. Jason Momoa is of course here as the evil character Lobo, who looks like he just came home from a goth metal concert with his outfit. Jason is alright, i wish he could have done something fun and unexpected with his character though. In some ways this almost feels like a Star Wars version of Supergirl with so many different aliens characters. I know a lot of people have complained about this film being influenced by the comic book miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, while not looking anything like it. I can understand if you are expecting this film to look like the comic book, so im just reviewing this film as it is. While there are some fun action scenes we also have some CGI effects scenes that could have looked much better. I would say though as a superhero film and if you like Star Wars influences, then this could work. Nowhere near as good as the classic Superman films, just easy popcorn entertainment if you are in the right mood. Director Craig Gillespie ( who directed the brilliant biographical drama film I, Tonya, a film you simply have to see ) have actually done a better Supergirl film than the 1984 version, at least more enjoyable i would say. Worth picking up on physical media if you especially collect superhero movies in general.

Rating: DDD

Alien Storm

For a long time in Hollywood we especially had two legendary film producers that seemed to change the industry completely. The Cannon Group with film producers Menahem Golan and his cousin Yorum Globus was a truly magical combination, together they produced so many classics such as Missing In Action, American Ninja, Invasion U.S.A., Death Wish 3, King Solomon´s Mines ( from director J. Lee Thompson, the director of the 1962 original Cape Fear film ), Runaway Train,, Cobra ( the classic with Sylvester Stallone ), Masters Of The Universe, Bloodsport, Cyborg and many more. Let´s be perfectly honest, without The Cannon Group the 1980´s never would have been the same. They took some big risks making low budget films and they actually had some big cinema hits. Of course one of their biggest mistakes was making Superman IV - A Quest For Peace from 1987, simply because they didn´t have enough money to finish the film on the budget they wanted, so they had to cut the budget just to be able to finish the film that caused a lof of issues. They couldn´t do special effects the way they wanted while making the film, so they reused flying scenes of legendary actor Christopher Reeve, to be able to stay within a certain budget. I can still enjoy parts of Superman IV since i am a fan of Christopher Reeve´s classic Superman films, but i think it´s fair to say that this film did have some issues and is perhaps not as good as it could have been. I still love a lot of films produced by Menahem Golan and Yorum Globus and i still rewatch their movies. And for a while it seemed that we had two brothers in America who could be the next to take over the independent movie industry. I am of course talking about the brothers Sonny Mahal and Michael Mahal, and i was honored to review almost every single film that they produced, where they shared my reviews on each film´s IMDB page. Sonny Mahal and Michael Mahal proved that the independent movie industry was alive and doing well, they released several really popular films within different film genres with big Hollywood stars. They made some really great films such as Attack Of The Uknown, Night Of The Tommyknockers, Bloodthirst, Devil´s Knight and many more. Then i got the tragic news that Michael Mahal have passed away on May 19th, 2025. I was very shocked and i was immediately thinking about his brother Sonny. I did reach out to him personally to show my respect, both to him, his brother and their family as well. Even though Michael is no longer with us his legacy lives on in the films he produced with his brother Sonny, and i was given an oppurtunity to watch the film Alien Storm that they produced together. So this review will be a tribute to film producer Michael Mahal. Is the film Alien Storm a true classic throwback to alien films of classic B movies of the past, or is this not as good as i was hoping it would be?

All over the world a mysterious fog is spreading across several major cities. It seems that inside this fog there are creatures from outer space that landed on Earth. President Nolan ( Kevin Sorbo ) is informed very late about this invasion but refuse to just sit back, he will do everything he can to make sure everone will be safe and secure. While a well known business man is having a great party at his Las Vergas mansion, the aliens are entering their area. Luckily there is a bunker underneath the house. They must fight their way through to make sure as many as possible will survive this invasion.

How many of you remember the 2011 science fiction actior film World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles? In this film Earth was invaded by aliens that looked like robots. A very explosive, violent film that was both fun, well made and had a lot of good looking action scenes. Alien Storm may not look like Battle Los Angeles in the same sense, but this is an alien invasion film and if you are a fan of similar films such as World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles, then this could be exactly what you are looking for. Let´s get into some of the things a appreciate about this film, and let me start by saying i appreciate the set up for this film. It is pretty simple plot that feels like an old school science fiction alien film, a group of people stuck inside a mansion in the Las Vegas area where aliens are invading the city. And those who know my kind of movie taste, you know i love creature feature science fiction horror films. So we have several positive details to talk about in Alien Storm, so let´s start with the creature design of the aliens themselves. When i saw the design of these alien creatures i was reminded of another independent horror film called It Came From Below from director Dan Allen. There are some differences of course of the creatures in both of these films from a design perspective, but i appreciate the creature design in Alien Storu for trying to feel like a throwback to 1980´s creature feautre films. We have a huge cast here so i will just mention some of the performances that stood out to me. Hercules actor Kevin Sorbo actually surprised me how well he played the character President Nolan.. Legendary actor Tom Arnold does a fun performance as Mayor Walker, while actor Denny Nolan and actress Laura Mason as a married couple match well on the big screen, especially when they arm themselves against the aliens. Actor Johnny Huang as the party DJ Beetz, he knows how a party should look like. Actress Elley Ringo have some great scenes together with Tom Arnold, i wish we could have seen more. I do feel that Elley give one of the strongest acting performances. Alien Storm is a quite short film but i appreciate that, that helps the story run smooth without too much dialogue, I would say the acting in general are actually not bad from most of the actors, and when you have fun characters in an alien invasion story, it definetely helps this film become more fun to watch. If you miss creature feautre alien movies that we used to get in the 1980´s, then this will definetely please you. Alien Storm knows exactly what audience it was made for, and embrace this with a fun violent sci fi horror story. Director Adam Werth have directed several films in the past that i have enjoyed, and i feel the same way about Alien Storm. This is without a doubt a film i would recommend if you just want a fun throwback to the 1980´s, i will definetely be picking up a physical copy and so should you.

Rating: DDD

Seven Snipers

I have a tradition that i usually follow every year, no matter what season of the year we are talking about. I like to rewatch some classic films that i really appreciate for personal reasons, it could be because of nostalgic cinema memories during the 1990´s or because of VHS release that made a impact on me. One perfect example of this is the 1993 action military film Sniper, directed by Luis Llosa ( who also directed the Sylvester Stallone action film The Specialist, definetely worth a watch ). Why i enjoyed the 1993 film Sniper so much was mostly because of the chemistry between main characters Thomas Beckett ( played by actor Tom Berenger ), and his younger sniper partner Richard Miller ( played by actor Billy Zane ). To see these two men on a mission in the jungles of Panama is both exciting, charming and the film manage to capture the importance of working together as a team. If you make one mistake you could end up dead. I also think that this film looks good in the jungle scenes, it feels like we are actually there on location in Panama. Ever since i bought the Scandinavain DVD release of this film ( must have been over 20 years ago at least ), i try to rewatch this film every year. Because it takes me back to my cinema experience i had with Sniper and that was actually a wonderful experience. I have seen some of the sequels over the years and i can accept Sniper 2 and Sniper 3 basically, both of them with Tom Berenger in the lead role. These sequels are not as good as the original film, but enjoyable as pure action films. The other sequels are....not that good if im being perfectly honest. It felt like they were making too many sequels and they didn´t even bother to care about the characters or the stories. I haver no idea how many more movies they will make in the Sniper franchise, but im sure they will try and milk out money as long as the films do well on streaming or digital. Speaking of snipers, since this summer i was curious to check out an action film with actress Radha Mitchell ( who i especially remember from the 2006 film adaptation of Silent Hill, based on the extremely popular video game of the same name ) simply called Seven Snipers. This film looked like a throwback to 90´s action movies and how can i say no to that? I decided to rent this film on VOD and review it as well. Is this one of the better Radha Mitchell movies in recent years, or is Seven Snipers so bad, you would rather suffer through Mariah Carey´s awful 2001 film Glitter than no one seems to remember but me?

Retired military sniper Voodoo Child ( Radha Mitchell ) lives on a ranch in Australia with her daughter Anja ( Annabel Wolfe ), where she tries to raise her daugher in the best possible way, after being away alot during military service. One day a mysterious man shows up claiming a real estate company is interested in bying her land. Voodo Child don´t buy the man´s offer, and it turns out she was right. It seems that someone from her past wants revenge on her, so she calls in her old sniper team for backup on her ranch. It becomes more clear that another sniper named The Dragon ( Tim Roth ) is the one behind of all of this, who have a certain reason for making this so personal against Voodoo Child.

When i started watching Seven Snipers i was immediately reminded of the 1993 action drama film Nowhere To Run. In that film Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a prisoner who managed to escape from a convict transport, and is now drifting around the countryside. He gets to know a mother and her two children, where a real estate company want to buy the woman´s land. Of course she refuse any offer and the real estate company use force to scare her. There are some similarities between Nowhere To Run and Seven Snipers, at least when it comes to the real estate company who wants to buy main character Voodoo Child´s land. Then it turns out there is a completely different plot here after all, that there is a revenge story behind everything. So even if Seven Snipers started off quite simple, we suddenly move forward in a complete different direction. On the positive side for this film i would say that the sniper scenes are alright, not as effective as the 1993 classic Sniper but still good enough to enjoy. Lead actress Radha Mitchell as the former sniper soldier Voodoo Child does have a cool personality. She is confident, doesn´t take shit from anyone and is not afraid to go into battle. I am actually surprised to see Radha Mitchell do this kind of character considering she have not been in many action films, other than Man On Fire, Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen of course.  Legendary actor Tim Roth ( from Quentin Tarantino classics such as Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction ) plays the sniper character The Dragon. I would say he is alright, but have definetely seen him act better in older classics. I would have liked to see The Dragon character be even more cold, and brutal than we see him in this film. I like the brotherhood among the snipers who help their friend of Voodoo Child, where they really need to support each other during this shootout. On the negative i would probably say that there are a couple of dialogue scenes that felt drawn out, just to have the playtime getting closer to almost 90 minutes. Also, some of the decisions that certain snipers does seem kind of unprofessional in certain scenarios. As a pure and simple action film i still feel that Seven Snipers have enough entertainment value, especially for those who love military sniper films of the 90´s. Director Sandra Sciberras ( who directed the low budget Australian horror film The Dustwalker ) deliver a film that definetely feels like a tribute to old school military action movies at the VHS store, and i do appreciate the effort. Seven Snipers should definetely be a hit at the Elderly Home who are fed up with watching Jeopardy.

Rating: DDD

Blood Witch

Witches!

What would life be without them? You get a nice bowl of soup with eyeballs, mixed with some nice herbs and hopefully some other flesh included. I mean, you are not going to have much food just by eating eyeballs, so hopefully the witches have added some other flesh to make the soup more tasteful. What else are witches good for you might ask yourself? They do use a lot of things from nature durent different seasons of the year, making sure they keep themselves updated with Mother Nature. So if you need advices of what plants you can eat, or use in cooking then witches are the ones to ask. They are also aware of what plants they can use in health and wellness purposes. I would also argue that some witches know how to use different spells by doing a ritual, where candles and specific herbs are included. So if you are tired of your annoying neighbor, why not ask your local witch to put a spell on that old nagging hag? So you see, there are some good things about knowing a local witch. Speaking of witches in general we had a lot of horror films that includes witches, in many different stories connected to witchcraft. I could probably mention at least 10 films you should see if you love horror films with witches, so let´s just bring up one specific title. The 2018 independent horror film The Witch In The Window, how many of you have seen this film? I could imagine mostly big horror fans have come across this film at some point, but it wasn´t a big release back in 2018. I bought a physical copy of this film from the distribution company Njutafilms. The Witch In The Window tell the story of a father and a son who stays in a house for 6 weeks, to fix up an old farmhouse. It´s been abandoned for a long time and need some work, while this might help him reconnect with his son. As they begin the renovation, strange things begin to occur. The Witch In The Window is a very simple horror film, but the witch elements actually works in this film. This is a slow burn horror film that´s focused more on atmopshere than any physical violence, plus the relationship between a father and a son. I would also like to mention that the film looks good, even though this is clearly a low budget horror film. Worth picking up on physical media or if you rent it on VOD. How many of you have heard of the British independent distribution company Black Coppice Films? I have only seen a couple trailer of their releases and decided to check one of their films out, simply called Blood Witch. Since i enjoy films regarding witches, is this a must watch to prepare for this Halloween or will Blood Witch be quickly fogotten once you have seen this film?

Centuries after being killed for witchcraft, a mother and a daughter are resurrected. They seek revenge on descendantsof those responsible. As locals disappear, two journalists investigate the mysterious events.

I could be wrong but i get a sense that a film such as Blood Witch, tries to bring back the old school horror films that we used to see in the legendary British film distribution company Hammer Films. They were of course known all over the world for their British low budget horror films such as the Dracula franchise with legendary actor Christopher Lee, and Hammer Films honestly released some other true classics such as the 1976 horror film To The Devil A Daughter. However, to say that Blood Witch would be anywhere good as the classics from Hammer Films, that is simply not the case here. I do appreciate the effort trying to really do a traditional witch horror film, using practical make up effects and real locations instead of a film studio only.  Especially the scenes where there are some brutal practical make up effects, thisis exactly what a film such as this needed. One of the biggest issues i have with Blood Witch, as i have experienced with specifically British independent horror films in the past, is that they use too many dialogue scenes and scale down on the horror scenes. This is just a simple way to make the film last around 85 minutes, because you don´t have to use that many bloody scenes and save money basically. There are  characters i enjoyed in yhis film. Let´s start with Father Thomas Jackson ( played by actor Jon-Paul Gates, who i have seen in the independent horror film Doll Cemetary ). Hearing Father Thomas telling a man that helps him- Fucking idiot, in the middle of an exorcism scene, that was actually quite funny and one of the highlights of Blood Witch. I personally feel the character Father Thomas should have had much more sceen time in Blood Witch. The second actor Denny Nolan ( who i remember from the horror action film Bridge Of The Doomed ), plays the character Spencer Jones which have some charming dialogue. Oh, i should say the ending scene is really brutal and surprisngly fun. This is probably the only positive things i can say about Blood Witch, because i feel that this could have been a much more fun horror film if it was more violent, and more gory than doing so many doalogue scenes. Director Chris Shane Sanders have not made a horrible film, just a very boring one.

Rating: DD