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