(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.

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. 

Passion - 2012 **

Am embarrassed that this is Brian De Palma. He's usually superb. This was a very poor remake of the French thriller 'Love Crime' with the superb Ludivine Sagnier about cruelness and backstabbing in the workplace, and the repercussions. Unlike that one, the acting is wooden (from both McAdams and Rapace) and the story is very disjointed. I didn't think much of this really. If you want to see a good story with good acting it's best to stick to the original.

Detention - 2011 ***

It's getting three stars for total originality because iv never seen anything like this before. It's slasher/comedy/sci fi/ all mixed together, and you are never quite sure which scene will inhabit which. It's a very dry almost black comedy, not a laugh out loud one, its or not scary enough to be a slasher. It's very weird. I can't say I loved it, but hats off to the director for manoeuvring such a fresh idea.

(NOIR) D.O.A. - 1950 ****

A very interesting and different film. The iconic first scene where Edmund O'Brien walks into the police station and tells them that he wants to report a murder, his own. We are then taken back to the beginning of the story to find out why exactly O'Brien believes he is going to die. It's a fascinating film, and completely original, I haven't yet seen a film noir with such originality. I do love films where the film goes backwards. O'Brien (who I have never heard of) does a great job of playing a condemned man. As the film is available in the public domain I recommend it to everyone.
PS I originally thought DOA stood for Dead or Alive, it's actually something completely different, and very fitting to the movie.