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