(HORROR) Mischief Night - 2014 **

What the actual hell did I just watch??! *spoilers* Expecting to see a run of the mill intruder movie that would give me a few jumps, I was surprised that I appeared to be watching a film about a sadomasochistic teenager who falls in love with the maniac that breaks into the house she is babysitting. I did for a short time thing it was a clever spoof of the 'typical masked intruder' set up and the teenager was going to be very clever and outsmart him as a sort of parody, but then I realised she was just bonkers. There was a ridiculously long, drawn out scene where the pair drone on and on about their 'feelings' after he's attempted to kill her, resulting in them rushing up to bed and the maniac stabbing the teenager as they have sex because 'she wants it to hurt.' That is the sort of strange, surreal head trip that you should expect.
I have really never understood people who enjoy pain, when it's our body's way of telling us that something isn't right. Why anyone would go looking for pain is beyond me.
It's not what you are expecting at all and I guess it's sort of original, but not enough to be good.

(HORROR) Oculus - 2013 ***

"Oculus' tries to be original, tries to be quirky and tries to be unique. On some levels its pretty good, and I haven't seen anything like it before. On the other hand its too much of an arty mishmash to be anything other than a mess of director s and writers trying to be too clever. The idea of a haunted/cursed mirror has been done before, but even so its never been done in this manner, and certain parts are genuinely frightening. Overall though, the two main characters are ridiculous. The girl comes across as though she's taken a hearty suck on a bong and hasn't quite come down, and the bloke doesn't fare much better. The film combines the past lives of the brother and sister with the present, as all the awful things that happened when they were younger centred around/next to the star of the show; the mirror. The mirror makes normal people do horrible things, and turn into vicious psychopaths, and will take said people 'into the parallel universe. It's all a bit complicated. Worth a watch I guess.

Compulsion - 2013 ***

I don't know what I was expecting with this film, but whatever it was, it didn't happen. In fact nothing happened. The most shocking thing according to film critics was how much padding Heather Graham was wearing to 'big herself up' into a typical 1950s housewife. Apparently the look made her 'a bit overweight' which scared the living daylights out of me, as there is nothing overweight about her and makes you worry about the American size system. 

A woman obsessed with food spends her days cooking amazing meals for her grumpy, parrot obsessed boyfriend who couldn't be less interested in her if he tried. An anorexic, former child star moves in across the hall and doesn't speak to anyone for love nor money. 

Gradually the pair open up to each other and form a bond that proves fatal.

A strange film, very weird and quite surreal, just appeared to move a bit slowly. 

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.

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. 

The Moth Diaries - 2011 ****

A surprisingly haunting and eerie film, and Lily Cole is just extraordinary to watch. She has a certain beauty to her that reminds me of a Japanese doll, with huge eyes and a tiny mouth.
She plays Ernessa, a mysterious girl who turns up at an all girls boarding school and gradually integrates herself into the middle of a close friendship between two girls. Ernessa isn't all that she seems however, and before long she is threatening the close bond the two girls already have.
I enjoyed the film a lot, found it tense, and found the Marina and the Diamonds track 'Numb' at the end summed up the whole ethereal quality of the film.

(HORROR) Open Graves - 2009 *

A sort of poor version of 'Final Destination' where each main character is doomed and cannot cheat death that comes in the form of a dragonfly.
In Spain a group of friends stumble upon an eerie board game of Mambo, which curses all who play it. None of them believe it however, and of course horrific things start happening. Pretty poor offering really, even with the beautiful Eliza Dushku.

Stalked at 17 - 2012 ***

A young student named Angela begins a relationship with an older good looking man named Chad. Things start well, but as time goes by, Chad becomes more and more controlling towards Angela, especially when she finds out that she is pregnant. Her parents are disgusted, especially because of Chad's age.
Angela is content to let Chad go, but Chad has other ideas.
Quite hard to watch, but even so, worth a look.

(HORROR) Twixt - 2011 **

'Twixt' is a veritable head trip. Val Kilmer is past it in more ways than one, and plonking him in these bizarre horror films is a complete waste of time. Kilmer plays a writer specialising in horror related literature. After being approached by the local sheriff of the town that he finds himself passing through, he finds himself caught up in a nightmare of epic and surreal proportions. I get where Coppola is coming from, but I didn't think this worked as a film at all.

(HORROR) Dead Souls - 2012 **

'Dead Souls' is particularly gruesome, but also ridiculous in every possible way. It starts off with a flashback that I can only describe as disgusting, and then flips backwards and forwards for the rest of the film which leaves the audience rather confused. The main character is a rather wimpish year old who discovers on his birthday that not only was he adopted, but that he has been left a house. And a terrifying, evil house at that. Once he arrives he finds a strange girl has been living in the house (a bit squat-like if you ask me) and they find themselves mixed up in the horrific stories of the house.
It's certainly atmospheric but I cannot possibly say that I enjoyed it.

Rubberneck - 2012 ****

A weird name for this eerie thriller, but worth a watch nonetheless. A socially awkward scientist has a one night stand with one of his colleagues but cannot seem to let go, even after months have gone by. When he sees that she is taking an interest in a new member of the department, he becomes obsessed, and his internal rage gets the better of him.
A nervous and unsettling film. Not well known but good anyway.

(HORROR) The Haunting of Helena - 2013 **

A not too original horror based on the twisted version of the evil tooth fairy. A young girl begins to have visions of the tooth fairy coming to kill her after she bumps her head in a car crash. Her mother soon begins to experience the tooth fairy as well, and finds out that she is the entity of the wife of a terrifying man who had all her teeth pulled out by him for smiling at another man.
It's pretty disgusting, even more so for me as I have just had two teeth pulled out and spent over 6 months with agonising toothache!

(HORROR) The Suicide Manual - 2003 ***

Freaky and very disturbing film. I only watched it because someone on IMDB was raving about it after watching the 'Whispering Corridors' films. The story as you can probably imagine centres around a manual found on a suicide chat room that talks about what the best ways are to kill yourself. It's like an even more disturbing version of The Ring. A depressed and solitary cameraman stumbles across the manual after meeting a suicidal girl who swears by it and tries to uncover the whereabouts of the mysterious girl 'Rickie' who presents it.

It's very eerie. Japan does eerie so much better than anywhere else. 

(HORROR) The Innkeepers - 2011 **

Sorry, but this was a very poor excuse for a horror film. Sara Paxton is pretty rubbish and nothing much was going on here that would hold anyone's attention for long.

The Yankee Pedlar inn is closing, and the two employees who have been chosen to work until the end are determined to reveal and document the hotel's haunted past. This includes making a website and filming 'ghostly' activity.

Some of it was a bit eerie, but on the whole what annoyed me the most was Sara Paxton's stupid face looked concerned and worried in equal amounts. There is only so much of it one can take.