Change Your Image
jjzzaahh
Reviews
The Dark Side of the Moon (1990)
An abject lesson in fear
I have seen this movie twice and although the actual plot could be deemed as a little far fetched, it really works.
Basically, after a systems failure a ship gets trapped upon the darkside of the moon, where all kinds of weird goings on begin to take place as slowly the crew members are picked off one by one by an unseen assailant/assailants.
The actual film idea itself is excellent and it really does use darkness in the film for the right reasons and as always, desolate space ships make excellent places for horror to hide round every unlit little corner. Add the fact that there is nowhere to run and the horrible feeling of claustrophobia and you have a gem of a move that is slick, doesn't seem over-produced and has a genius idea of a story running through its core.
It is nice to see a film made to scare and not to shock.
The Fog (1980)
Lighthouses are just plain scary!
This has to be one of my favourite horror films of all time.
'The Fog', one of John Carpenter's films from what many regard as his golden era, takes a simple, run of the mill ghost story about 'wronged' leprosy sufferers seeking revenge from beyond their watery grave and sticks the tension levels up from the first scene.
From the intro with the old sailor telling a ghost story on the beach to all the children, to the 'shock, didn't see it coming ending', this film pushes all the right buttons.
To be honest, what I really like about this film, and let this be a lesson to many other present day horror makers, is the way that from the moment the film rolls to the final moments in the film it does not let-up. Whereas many films slowly build to a shocking finale this starts with it (the scene on the boat), it also manages to keep shocking you with minor scares all the way through the film, and doing this without showing any red stuff whatsoever (a classic Carpenter trait). Plus the semi-narrative from Stevie in the lighthouse as the Fog creeps into Antonio Bay was and still is a fantastic way of building the terror.
It also has a great deal of thought put into the film with lots of intertwining stories that Carpenter manages to link together in the final 10 minutes.
Jamie Lee is as good a scream queen as ever and while the rest of the cast is strong it is the radio DJ Stevie Wayne, played by Adrienne Barbeau who catches the eye.
Plus the Carpenter score, as always, is fabulous.
If only JC could go back to what made him great in the first place...
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Real Horror
The BBC decided it was about time to show John Carpenter's classic 'Assault on Precinct 13', and even though it's over 20 years old, it still frightens the hell out of people.
The the basic idea of the film is that cops kill gang members, gang members seek revenge, gang members kill ice cream man and little girl, girls father seeks revenge, girls father kills gang member, gang members seek revenge, girls father runs into closing down empty police station, and then were back to the original story of gang members wanting revenge on police.
The film is set in LA and draws parallels with the battles between the LAPD, the Sheriff's department, and the hundreds of gangs around metropolitan Los Angeles, and it really hits home with its 'to the point' acting and frightening violence, which for the first time in a long time looks correct in a film. The story is simple and there are no big names in the film itself, but thats maybe the appeal, because it doesn't need Oscar attempts at speeches or even award winning camerawork to look and sound good. One of the most impressive things is the sound effects, or lack of them, apart from Carpenter's haunting score, it is very quiet, all of the gang members guns have silencers on them and this gives you the idea that its a silent force the inhabitants of Precinct 13 are facing, and he creates a horrible claustrophobic feeling which he recreated in 'The Thing', as most of the film is set in the station.
He also gives the gangsters a zombie like feel, if anyone has played Resident Evil 2, where the zombies are bursting through the walls and windows of the police station, then they will appreciate the beauty of the set pieces where gang member after gang member is picked off in bloody style by the stations inhabitants.
It goes to show, you don't need a monster to create terror.
Alien Resurrection (1997)
Gore does not maketh the film
The fact of the matter, if you take away the suspense from the first film, the gun toting of the second and the atmosphere of the third, and replace it with just blood and guts, then the film will fail!!!
And it did, the spilled guts could not gloss over the fact that it was a huge let down, although the storyline was very topical (cloning) and Weaver looked very cheeky. The ending was embarrassing, the characters were wooden and they tried to humanise the aliens, which defeats the fact that they are, well, aliens.
A huge let down.
Suspiria (1977)
Forget 'the only thing scarier...' tagline, its all scary!!!
When Dario Argento was born, he was born with a gift, a gift that he decided to share upon the rest of the world through the camera and this film was perhaps the greatest gift to the horror genre.
From start to finish Suspiria is a complete assault on the senses from the opening scenes of the rain soaked Black Forest, to the final scenes in the convent. It hits you like the proverbial ten-tonne-truck, and keeps hitting you until the closing credits roll, leaving you emotionally exhausted and absolutely scared out of your wits end, not wanting to look out of the window!!!
What really sets this film apart from the rest is the way its shot in an almost dream like way, everything is so bright but yet so clouded.
The camera work is top-notch and many of the set pieces are of the highest quality, films like Lucio Fulcis 'The Beyond' have borrowed some of Argentos set pieces all to degreeing effects.
As for the acting, well if there is a downside to the film it could be that the script leaves a lot to be desired. But maybe thats because it is such a visual masterpiece that the script would have to be of Oscar standards to top the film. But to be fair, theres not a lot said as most of its shot involving the camera and the actor/ess and rather than have someone jabbering on taking the viewers mind away from whats happening. People don't get scared while someone is talking, they do get scared when the person is running away from some unseen assailant.
It can be a little bloody at times, but since when has the murdering of somebody not been bloody, Argento just lingers on the scene a little longer, forcing you to look at whats happened, and be repulsed at it, just in the same way as you would if it was real.
The Tagline says 'The only thing scarier than the last 12 minutes are the first 92.' thats wrong, it is all scary, believe me.
Duel (1971)
Mirror, Signal...Scream!!!!
I saw this film when I was about five years old, and even now, when I'm driving over the snake-pass in England it still makes me shudder, and when I see a lorry coming over the brow of the hill, I nudge the accelerator that little bit harder.
Duel just about creates a David against Goliath syndrome, and then turns it on its head by modernising it and giving it a far more sinister edge by leaving it on the open road with nothing else there apart from David Mann and the scariest looking truck in the history of films.
In my opinion, what makes it such a great film is the fact that you can believe it could happen, and because it leaves it creates that belief it makes you think how you would handle the situation which always has always been Steven Spielberg's greatest strength, the ability to involve the viewer.
He did this film almost perfect, there's little to no dialogue in it as there wouldn't be out on the open road, and the dialogue that is used asks the same questions we would ask. He made it so all you see of the truck driver is his arm and his outline, giving the truck almost a supernatural edge which couples up well with its frightening appearance. And he used a very barren and unpopulated area to film in, all of which add to the atmosphere of the film.
Although not technically a horror film, sometimes the best type of horror is the type that you can touch, and when I approach a slow moving truck, I have a habit of leaving at the next exit.