Saturday, June 28, 2014

(HORROR) Antisocial - 2014 ***


This was a surprisingly original horror about what happens when people become too addicted to social networking sites. A recently single girl goes to her friend's house for New Year's Eve and one by one the other people in the house become fatally infected after visiting a chat site called 'The Red Room' (obviously a nod towards Facebook). Its up to the lead to save the day. I was quite impressed and liked the fact it tries to warn people off wasting their time on sites like that.

The Stranger Beside Me - 1995 ***


Unsettling drama about a newly married woman who begins to suspect her perfect husband is not only a peeping tom but a rapist as well. Once confronted, far from denying it, he flaunts it in her face, threatening her if she doesn't stand by him. Creepy film.

(HORROR) Children of Sorrow - 2014 ****


Despite saying 2013 on the poster it wasn't released until a year later. 'Children of Sorrow' is a nightmare of epic proportions. It's what happens when people believe in a person who convinces them that he can make their time on earth worthwhile. Inevitably that person is wrong, and usually very evil.
A woman tries to find out what happened to her sister who mysteriously died after joining a cult, but in doing so becomes obsessed with the place herself.
Scary, because this can and has happened.

Friday, June 27, 2014

Conte D'Ete - 1996 ****


A recent graduate takes a holiday before starting his first job and meets not one, but two women, both with different qualities. One is quiet and thoughtful and the other is loud and beautifully aware of her own allure. The only trouble is he also has a girlfriend who's a bit of a pain. Who should he choose?
Rohmer has a beautiful knack of showing off character studies to the maximum, each one is totally individual and captivating. He delivers this all in sumptuous surroundings that make you want to drop everything and leave for France immediately. 

Saturday, June 07, 2014

Straw Dogs - 2011 ***



I was in mixed minds about watching this, given how poor I found the original film. I was surprised actually how much more I enjoyed it and how much clearer the story seemed. Amy (Kate Bosworth) brings her new husband David (a geeky James Marsden) home to her old town to live on her deseased father's house, and before long Amy's ex-boyfriend Charlie is becoming overly protective of Amy being back, to the extent of getting his friends to taunt David and terrorise him on a regular basis whilst also being lewd and perverted to Amy. This escalates to a terrifying conclusion. There is an intense psychological build-up in this film which I don't recall happening in the original. I quite liked it.