MAY (2002)

Man! This film was something else!

I hadn't heard anything about the film (not even sure I'd heard of the film) before viewing it, but got it from a friend of mine with highest recommendations. She had said before that it started out a bit like a 'chick flick' and degenerated into a full on horror movie from there. She wasn't wrong

The film itself centers around May, who is an awkward and socially mal-adjusted young lady. May has no self confidence and has never had a boyfriend (or maybe never had any real friends) and upon meeting a boy for the first time she becomes obsessed by him. He of course freaks out and dumps her. May then takes things to the next level to be with her man. This is where it gets hard to describe anything further in the movie for fear of ruining the movie for you guys.

May is perfectly cast by a young woman I'd never heard of before (Angela Bettis)... she is creepy, introspective and morbidly obsessed with the idea of finding companionship. Her performance really allows the viewer to feel for her, and in my case fall for her a little.

Overall I found the film rather fun to watch and captivating from start to finish... Its not a big budget affair but rather well shot and executed. I have no complaints about this film at all.... the gore levels are high enough to keep most gore-hounds happy with proceedings while the story more than holds up on its own. All in all "May" is one creeeeepy film!

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A DEADLY BELSSING (1981)

This one, directed in 1981 by a then relatively unknown,  but rising star after his directorial effort in "The Hills have Eyes" in 1977, Wes Craven  revolves around a group of women who find themselves in the unfortunate situation of living in bible belt America surrounded by a backward religious sect known as the "Hittites".

Modelled on the Amish community they fear god and everything else they deem falling outside his teachings. Nothing really too bad in that I guess if that's how you feel you want to live your live but one of the flock (the same guy who played the inbred in "The Hills have Eyes / Goonies") starts taunting (well in this day and age it would be victimizing) the young women on fear they are incubus, sent by the devil to temp men.

This one stars a very young Sharon Stone as one of the sisters. The other two sisters are really good looking too so at least there's some eye candy as an added bonus. On another note, it's interesting how many big stars seem to have gotten a leg up in horror films and in particular Wes Craven's works. This one I would have to say falls closer to the "thriller" territory than straight out horror but either way I think it's a great watch.

Anyway back to the plot, one excommunicated member of the religious sect dies under a tractor in mysterious circumstances, then the big slow guy William is knocked off next... the mystery deepens as to who is killing off the locals but of course I won't go any further than that for fear of ruining the story for you, rest assured there are some good plot twists that keep the viewer interested for the duration of the film. While I wouldn't go so far as to say its a classic its a great watch and definitely worth seeing if you can get a hold of the film.

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EATEN ALIVE (1980)

Another one from the vault of politically incorrect over the top exploitation flicks from the late 70s/early 80's. Directed by Italian director Umberto Lenzi, also responsible for Man from Deep River (widely regarded as responsible for starting up the Cannibal film genre and featuring a few of the same actors as this film) and Cannibal Ferox after this film

Basically this one follows the story of a wealthy cotton farm heiress, Sheila who is investigating the disappearance of her older sister suspecting that she may have become involved in a strange religious cult in jungles of Asia (New Guinea). She then heads off to find out what has become of her sister. Along the way she partners up with Mark, an ex Vietnam vet for protection before making her journey through the savage and cruel jungle. After an eventful run through the jungles she finds her sister in a settlement/commune type set up run by cult leader Jonas, which is of course surrounded by cannibals and dangerous animals.

The usual assortment of gore, animal killings, ritual sacrifice, nudity, primitive and violet rituals and of course cannibalism one would hope to see when watching a film like this are present to make this a pretty confronting but entertaining watch. Shot in the same grizzly reality style as other films in the genre,  it does not have quite the same feel as Cannibal Holocaust, but this will pretty much appeal to anyone  who liked that film. Probably not quite at the same level of extremity but not far off either, it holds it own in terms of gore thats for sure. Probably not recommended for the easily offended or those new to the horror genre. This is some pretty full on stuff, its sleazy and filled with atrocity after atrocity and would have been one of the most extreme movies ever committed to film at the time. Either way its a solid watch and defs worth the time to watch it.

This is the second time I've watched this and was able to absorb it a little better than the first time I watched and reviewed this film a few years back. One detail I missed the first time round was the amount of animal deaths, ie: animals eating and preying on each other. It really paints the jungle as a violent place and sets the tone for the violence of humans to not seem out of place in the jungle.

I've managed to find a version on you tube that looks reasonably sharp if you want to check it out for yourself

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BLOOD FEAST (2016)

It's easy to say "Groan... Not another remake of a film that didn't need to be remade" but lets face it... while the original Blood Feast from 1963 raised (or lowered depending on how you look at it) the bar for cinematic depictions of gore, it was hardly a cinematic masterpiece.

This remake has a few things going for it... It's quite reasonably shot and produced.. as a stand alone movie its not too bad at all... The gore effects are really well done as well.... which of course will put it at odds with fans of the original film. 1963s Blood Feast was a B Grade explosion of hammy acting, and gore ... the likes of which had never been seen before.

One question I know you're all going to ask is "How is the gore in this film?" … With this version the gore  is stepped up again, and there's some definitely cringe worthy moments for even seasoned horror fans in this one. It s a lot more convincing than the original... and while I would have to say it builds into one of the more extreme climaxes out there, its definitely got a few squeamish moments - Enough to make most of the hardened gore fiends out there wince at least a little.

The plot is a little different featuring of course Ramses who in this movie is running a little American Style diner in France and financially struggling. He works a night job at the museum with the hopes of pulling himself out of debt. Obviously working two jobs is stressful and things are getting a bit much for poor old Ramses and he looses his medication and starts seeing visions of the ancient Egyptian goddess Ishtar. Ramses then sets about to hold a "Blood Feast", a cannibalistic ritual feast in the hopes of resurrecting and then becoming one with the goddess Ishtar.

Ramses has a family, not the least of whom is his daughter played by the stunning Sophie Monk (a definite plus for this film) who he hopes will join him for the climatic crescendo of blood and meat.

Overall I quite enjoyed this film and while I don't get precious about remakes this one really didn't have that much to live up to anyway. In some ways it surpassed the original and in other ways it didn't have the same punch as the original would have had. It IS however immensely more watchable for people who don't get the old school horror, and lets face it most of us weren't born when the original came out...  and for that it could be a useful tool in introducing a new generation of gore fans to some *cough* classic horror.

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THE SHINING

This is one of those moments that make being an hopelessly addicted horror fan worth it. There is nothing I can fault with this film. The film is of course an adaptation of genre leading horror novelist Stephen King's book of the same name, but it is IMMACULATELY filmed and executed by legendary director Stanley Kubrick who has a knack for creating atomspheres that are suspenseful and virtually "unearthly" (***my description for lack of any other words***). The characters are perfectly cast in this film. My understanding of Kubrick is that he is basically and obsessive tyrannical director who would push his cast to the point of breaking, but in this film it has worked perfectly. You can feel the tension of the characters who in the film are pushed to breaking point (in the film and quite likely reality).

This of course stars Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrence the asshole husband and wannabe writer who scores a job as a care taker of a hotel that shuts down over the winter season. The job works well for Jack as it lets him write his novel but also provides a steady paycheck to keep his family going. Mr Nicholson has carved a niche for himself in cinema history for playing the asshole (the Joker etc...) and in this film he does it very well, a little too well in fact....  it's quite unnerving.

Jack drags his wife and son up to the hotel where they will spend the season virtually hibernating in an awake state for the snow season. Cut off from virtually all other human contact they will have to survive in an insular environment till the summer thaw.

This is a hard film to review for fear of ruining surprises for you, but two major things happen … Jack starts to develop a "Cabin Fever" type response to being trapped inside the resort and starts seeing things that aren't really there and basically loosing his mind at a rapid rate, and Jack's son who possesses an ability, known as "The Shining" to see the atrocities that haunt the house realizes that the house is evil and begins to worry that his father will hurt them.

What follows is an enthralling documentation of Jack Torrence's descent into dementia and depending on how deeply you want to analyse the film, an analysis of the human psyche when put under pressure.

All I can do is recommend this film whole heartedly to you... and hope that you guys get the same reaction that I did out of watching this film.

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