Scalene - 2011 ***

I had really not been expecting much from this film, but was really amazed at how clever it was and how much I enjoyed it. The very first scene shows a woman appearing manically at a woman's door with a gun and trying to break in. This looks crazy and makes the whole movie seem like it's going to be very bad indeed. But it's not, so stick with it.
It's similar to 'Rashomon' in that it's one story told from 3 points of view, involving a brain damaged boy who is possibly being abused by his mother, a rape committed by the boy and murder.
I finished watching it and had to sit and take in what I had seen for a time afterwards. That doesn't always happen. Clever and twisted in equal amounts, although the acting is probably the weakest point.

(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) Among Friends - 2012 ***

Average, independent horror movie about a group of self obsessed friends who go to a lieder mystery evening held by the snobbiest friend of all. Things start getting a bit creepy when she goes loopy and starts cutting off her friend's scalps and decapitating their fingers after revealing home truths about each one of them. 

It's quite original and not badly acted although a bit silly.

(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.

The Husband She Met Online - 2013 ***

What actually happened here? It was like the director suddenly decided he had to drop everything with only a day's notice. The story, having started out at a good pace about a successful businessman who meets and falls in love with a beautiful and attentive woman suddenly takes off at a roaring pace and within twenty minutes *spoiler* the woman is chained to the bed, the couple are married, the woman is kidnapped by the husband who has suddenly turned into a maniac of epic proportions, the couple are found and the husband is arrested. It's a bit of a shame, because it could've been a much better film if it had slowed itself down a bit. 

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.

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 Haunted Mansion - 2003 ***

I've never watched a film based around a ride in a theme park before. Quite interesting idea I think.
Jim is brilliant at his job. So much so that it does tend to interfere with the other areas of his life like his marriage and his children.
After missing his wedding anniversary he promises to make it up to his wife by taking the family away for the weekend, which then goes off the rails when they are contacted by the occupants of a scary old mansion, and asked to go there and do business. Arriving in a torrential downpour, they are greeted by the butler and persuaded to stay the night in one of the beautiful rooms. That's when the fun starts...
For a children's movie, this creeped me out quite a bit, and I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I anticipated i would. Murphy is very funny, and his two children are adorable.

The Ex - 1997 ***

It's quite bizarre that Yancy Butler has actually been in serious trouble with the police in real life. It sort of adds to her downright terrifying character. Here she plays a psychotic ex wife who cannot accept that her husband has moved on and married someone else despite years of being in a mental institution. Its actually quite scary how unhinged she is.

(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.

Stoker - 2013 ***

I've seen the 'Vengeance' trilogy by this director, and they all have the same weird slightly creepy vibe. I was expecting something else from 'Stoker.' I'm not sure what though. The story is (apparently) loosely based on Alfred Hitchcock's 'Shadow of a Doubt.' I sort of wish that I hadn't known that before I saw the film.
After her beloved father is killed in a suspicious automobile accident, India retreats into herself, that is, until her hypnotic and mysterious uncle Charlie appears, supposedly with the idea of looking after India's mother in the large old house that they have been left with. Charlie's intentions however, are much darker and obsessive than either India or her mother could ever have imagined. Nicole Kidman's performance isn't very strong either.
Worth a watch, but altogether disappointing compared to his trilogy of Tartan Asia Extreme movies.