Krampus (2015)

Be careful what you wish for this Christmas, It may just come true....

An extended family is forced to spend the Christmas break together. Things start badly with a lot of infighting, but when the youngest member of the family destroys his wish list for Santa Clause and stops believing in Christmas, it awakens an ancient being...

A paralyzing snow storm is the perfect setting for the family to discover the true meaning of the festive season. If they can work together, they may just be able to defeat a being, Hell-bent on ruining their Christmas

 A perfect comedic-horror romp, just in time for the holidays. Dark enough to frighten the kids, but comedic enough to allow adults to nervously laugh at things which go bump in the night.

It is a very hard task to mix horror and comedy and make it credible and this movie, fails to really achieve this. The cast; led by easily recognized comedy actor Adam Scott (Tony Engel) - Whose last outing was a very creditable showing the dramatic "Black Mass", he now returns to his favourite genre and although he does well, a more serious role, does seem to suit him better.

Australian actress Toni Collette, does well as "Sara Engel", the long suffering wife of Adam Scott, giving a convincing performance, as the stressed host of a large family holiday gathering.The true star of the show comes in the familiar form of  Conchata Ferrell (Better known to the world as "Berta" from 9 seasons of Two and a Half Men) - Pretty much reprises her role as the very comical "Aunt Dorothy".

Twelve year old Emjay Anthony takes on the biggest role of his young career with the semi-lead as "Max Engel". His disbelief in Santa Clause, starts all of the trouble and he does really well throughout. Austrian actress Krista Stadler, deserves a strong mention for her role as "Omi". Her wise words seemingly going unheeded as the story unfolds, but the rest of the cast learns to listen to her by the end.

The special effects team are the ones who deserve highest praise on this one, creating some very interesting, if somewhat unbelievable festively themed monsters to antagonize the family. This was an enjoyable film throughout, although I found it hard to take seriously with a well known comedian in the lead role.

5.5/10

The Conjuring (2013)

An evil spirit latches onto a young family and its up to a pair to Ghost Hunters to try and save their lives...

When the Perron family move into their new home with their five daughters, they have no idea of the history which comes with the house. Soon they are being terrorized by an evil spirit and they have no option but to turn to a pair of professional Ghost Hunters. The Warrens, are recognized by the Catholic Church for their skills in finding and removing evil, but even they have trouble in coming to terms with what is inside the Perron house. If they can keep control over their own emotions they may be able to stop the presence which seeks to destroy both their and the Perron families, lives.

In what seems to be a glut of "based on true events films", Malaysian director James Wan (He of "Saw" and "Insidious" fame), brings us the next film which is meant to make us cling to our seats and watch the screen through our cool drink bottles as he tries to scare us. In this he does quite a decent job as the movie certainly will make you jump a few times, and even elicited the odd screech of fright from the audience. On the back of that, it does drag in places, and is a little predictable, but all in all is a quite good film.

Vera Farminga and Patrick Wilson play "Ed" and "Lorraine Warren", she a psychic and he a demonologist, who go around college campuses discussing their "trade" with whoever will listen.  Both give decent performances, but you come away from the film, not really convinced by their characters. Some of her "experiences" are far from believable, but the couple does keep the film chugging along.

Lili Taylor, spends most of her time on TV screens, in the likes of "Hemlock Grove" and "Blood Ties", but makes a good step onto the big screen as "Carolyn Perron". Her transformation from courageous home maker and mother to five daughters, into possessed maniac with a blood lust for killing children is impressive. She may well have found her niche in horror and should be interesting to see how her next few showings pan out. Ron Livingston completes his seventh project for 2013 with his role as "Roger", but never really brings anything to the party and is almost forgettable in this one.

John Brotherton grows a mustache and gives a very decent performance as "Officer Brad" in this film, reminding me a lot of "Deputy Dewey" out of the "Scream" franchise, and even managed to bring the odd laugh with his antics. It would be interesting to see him in a more serious role next time.

The undoubted star of the show is the young Joey King, whose career continues to go from strength to strength in the role of "Christine".  The fourteen year old, who we saw recently in "White House Down" and "Oz The Great and Powerful" is a true joy to behold in this film, despite having a far smaller part than she deserves. It is hugely encouraging to see a youngster with this much talent and viewers should look forward to each and every project in which she is involved.  A truly inspirational performance in a film which made it hard to do so. Another talent to keep an eye out for is the much younger Kyla Deaver, whose showing as "April" shows she also has a big career ahead of her.

The film is one of those which will make you jump and laugh nervously afterwards, but does not go as far as to truly frighten the audience. As a story it is decent and worthwhile of your time, but for hardened horror fans will be a bit of a joke. For those not too familiar with the genre, it is a good stand alone film and left itself open for possible sequels.

6/10

Attack the Block (2011)

A race of Aliens attack a block of flats in one of the worst part of London, but the residents fight back...

After a local resident is mugged by a group of young thugs, she reports the crime to the police who quickly arrive to round up the suspects. While they are doing this there is an alien invasion and together the victim and the criminals are forced to fight for their lives, all the time, trying to dodge the police and angry drug dealers.

Together this motley crew of unwilling participants have to muck together with whatever makeshift weapons they can find, in order to wipe out a race of alien life forms who feel nothing for killing as many humans as they possibly can. In a society with little respect for or from the police, the youngsters have to take the law into their own hands in order to save the planet.

If they can stick together and stay alive they might just fight off this deadly invasion...but it's unlikely that would ever happen...

Having watched the trailer for this I was not sure really what to expect from this film, but was rather pleasantly surprised with what director Joe Cornish delivered. The film is a decent watch, with some good acting a surprisingly good special effects. It was difficult to gauge exactly what sort of audience this film was trying to entice, as not everybody in the audience would understand the language and expressions used by the youths in this film, nor the culture of council estate blocks in London.

The acting in this was a lot better than expected too. The biggest name in the film is "Paul" and "Hot Fuzz" hero, Nick Frost who plays the role of the long haired drug dealer "Ron" and does a very good job of it.

Yorkshire born Jodie Whittaker gives a very decent performance as the strong willed "Sam", first a victim of crime, but then one of the leaders of the fight back against the invading aliens. She brings a decent amount of gravity to the role, but also provides a few good lines to add to general comedy of this film. I look forward to seeing more of this talented actress, who has proven that she is well versed in both serious and less serious roles.

The real surprise of this film comes from English/Nigerian actor John Boyega does a fantastic job in the role of "Moses", the leader of the young gang of thugs. His performance is very decent indeed, showing a lot of depth, for somebody who is only 20 years old. He is good in the action scenes, sincere in the ones he needs to be, and also stoic and determined in the causes which his character chooses to take up. It would be good to see a lot more of this talented actor in the future.

Alex Ismail does a good job as the paranoid pot head "Pest", while Leeon Jones performs admirably in his big screen debut, as the determined "Jerome".

This is not a film that everybody will enjoy, and I believe it was aimed at a very British-centric demographic and that a lot of people will not understand half of what is said by the younger members of the cast. That being said it is still a decent watch and the special effects are rather pleasing. There are some good laughs in the film and a couple of tense scenes, but this is no way a horror as advertised.

6/10

Piranha 3DD

It's not yet time to go back into the water....

Everybody thought that the outbreak of killer piranha's at Lake Victoria had been contained and they would never see the horde of pre-historic killer again, but when a new water park opens up ahead of Spring Break, the owners get more than they bargained for.

Between a mad scientist, a crooked cop, an amputee with a shotgun, a celebrity lifeguard and rather crooked park owner, it's difficult to see anybody getting out of this one alive.

The trailer for this film did not promise very much and that is exactly what it delivered. It had some big names (or at least formerly big names) as drawing cards, a fair amount of nudity, some decent special effects of the piranha's and a good few laughs, but there is nothing really concrete to hold this train smash together.

Danielle Panabaker (She of "The Crazies" and "Friday the 13th") fame takes the lead in this one as marine biology student and part owner of a water park, "Maddy". The role is not particularly challenging but she does better than most in this film to somewhat hold up the script. David Koechner brings one of the familiar faces to the screen in the role of "Chet" the corrupt and rather smarmy co-owner of the water park. He is a character you will truly learn to hate and applaud when he reaches his untimely end.

"Baywatch" and "Knightrider" legend David Hasselhoff is the glue which holds this film together and makes the audience wonder, just how much acting he is doing in this film, portraying an egotistical, womanizer who looks down on all of those around him. His one liners are superb and bring some really good comedy value to the film, but it still lacks substance. "Back to the Future" hero Christopher Lloyd almost reprises his role in the iconic trilogy, playing marine scientist "Mr Goodman", his wild eyes and broken speech bring a fair bit of comedy value to the role and his time on screen is enjoyable.

Ving Rhames  reprises his role of "Deputy Fallon" from the 2010 version of "Piranha", his one legged, shotgun wielding character is decent value for his five minutes on screen, adding even more gore to this fest of horror. Gary Bussy is on screen for less than a minute in this one, as "Clayton", but he gives a valuable showing and the director would have done really well to have him on for a lot longer than this short cameo.

If you are up for gore, blatant nudity, bad script and some decent underwater filming with good fishy special effects, then this is the film for you. This movie should be seen by all horror fans, but be warned there is not much to be scared of here. The wounds inflicted by the fish are almost comedic in their effect, but the final scene, despite being harsh, has to be the highlight of the movie, also keep and eye out for the DD's

3.5/10

Chernobyl Diaries

In a deserted town, nobody can hear you scream....

A group of American, British and Nordic students, bored with their travels in Europe, decide to stop in the Ukraine and while there take in some "Extreme tourism", by visiting the city of Chernobyl. Their guide "Uri", manages to bypass the guards at the entrance to the restricted areas, taking the six tourists into the neighbouring deserted town of Pripyat.

Once in the silent town their guide allows the tourists to walk around and take photos, also encountering a rather large and rampant hungry, brown bear, but also very aware that he should not keep them there after dark.

On returning to their van they discover that the starter motor leads have been gnawed away and they are forced to spend the night in the deserted town. When "Uri" is killed by an unknown life form it is up to the group of young tourists to survive against whatever or whoever is left in the town that is meant to contain no living souls. If they can survive the night, and can stay away from reactor four at Chernobyl, they might just make it out alive...

This film basically does what it sets out to do. It makes you jump in places and provides you with a slightly above average thriller. The story has the potential to be really gripping, and keeps the audience well occupied for the first 40 minutes of the film. Sadly it goes downhill after that and fizzles out, except for a nice surprise at the very end.

The film is described as a horror by the production house, but should be classed as a bit more of a soft thriller, with the audience never really feeling truly scared at any point during the film. I wish director Bradley Parker had done more with this script, it was so promising and started off as something really good.

Little known Dimitri Diatchenko moves away from the video games and tv series which have been his bread and butter and makes a very decent visit to the big screen as the "Extreme Tourist guide, Uri". He is convincing and keeps the story going along nicely until meeting an untimely end. It would have been good to have him on screen for a far longer time.

Singer/Songwriter and now actor Jesse McCarntney, does a reasonably good job as "Chris" and might look to take on more challenging roles as he looks to break into the acting world. He does a good job and I look forward to seeing more of this talented young man. Jonathan Sadowski, does fairly well as his wayward older brother "Paul", while Olivia Dudley and Devin Kelley, give decent showings as the rest of the party.

The film doesn't drag, but also doesn't excite, chugging along at a pace that won't keep you on the edge of your seat, but will keep you interested, if not enthralled. Worth a watch, but don't put it top of your list.

5/10

Prometheus

The crew of a space ship in search of the origins of man, land on a foreign planet, but what they find is not what they expected...

After various archaeological discoveries on earth, which they believe proves the existence of the human creators, a group of scientists persuades a company to invest in a mission to a distant galaxy. After two years of travel, having slept most of the time, the group of doctors, geologists, scientists, archaeologists, one robot and general flight crew find the planet they have been searching for, and it's time to go exploring.

One by one, the crew starts getting killed by weird occurrences on the planet. Unexplained happenings on the ship also seem rather weird and the only non human member of the crew "David" exploring the planet by himself, his motives, completely unclear.

Instead of finding the race which created the humans, they find the last surviving remnants of a culture that wanted to destroy us, and a little something extra. Beware of what you look for, you might just find it...

There were many rumors circulating that visionary director Ridley Scott was making a prequel to the legendary "Alien", and although they were strenuously denied, there were far too many references in the film, for the audience not to connect the two. The closing scene alone proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that although this film could certainly stand on its own, somewhere in the back of his mind, the director saw this as part of the series.

The film has some really good special effects, creating an entirely new virtual world and some wonderful work with lasers. The script is respectable, although it does drag in places and has none of the expected suspense or horror which the various trailers would have you believe it contains. This is a bit of a let down, as I went into the film expecting to at least jump a few times, but there was none of that.

Michael Fassbender makes amends for his horror showing in "Shame" and not terrific outing in "Haywire", with a memorable showing as the robot "David". His tranquil demeanor is somewhat disconcerting, the audience never too sure of his motives or intentions, but he gives a very good performance and provides a bit of comedic entertainment when his head gets removed from the rest of his body.

Charlize Theron once again gives a wonderful performance as the incredibly bitchy "Meredith Vikkers", her character summed up in the classic line "It's my job to make sure you do your jobs". It is hard to hate her hard assed attitude and you actually end up respecting her by the end of the movie. Her father "Peter Weyland" is masterfully played by the talented Aussie actor, Guy Pearce, who has to add 50 years to his age to master this difficult role. The make up for his character is incredible and he does very well to adopt the mannerisms of somebody who is at death's door.

Swedish actress Noomi Rapace makes her first outing since "Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows" to do a decent job as scientist "Elizabeth Shaw". I do however wish that she could have chosen one accent and stuck to it. At the start she is Scottish, then English and occasionally lapses into a French twang, so is hard to take seriously. Logan Marshall Green does well as her husband "Charlie Holloway", but does meet his end in rather a too normal a way for a sci-fi film.

For comedic value, look no further than English born actor Sean Harris, who delivers a good few ironic laughs as geologist "Fifield". He seemed to have met his maker far too early in the proceedings and I think the film would have been a lot better, had he survived. Countryman Idris Elba does a find job as captain of the ship "Janek", looking after his crew to the very last. It would be good to see more of this talented actor on the big screen.

The 3D was well used in this film, especially on the surface of the planet, in fact the special effects were probably the highlight. The script does drag in places, but the ending will have people who saw "Alien" squirming in their seats with delight. It also leaves it wide open for a sequel....Maybe this time with Predators?

This is worth the watch, but don't expect an Oscar winning script

6.5/10

Silent House

A girl is trapped inside of her holiday home while an unknown stranger hunts down her father, uncle and her...

A teenage girl, her father and uncle, decide to sell their family holiday house, but decide to do the place up before putting it on the market. With no power in the house it can be a fairly scary place, especially for the jumpy "Sarah". She finds her father knocked out and then the faceless attacker turns his venom on her, chasing the young lady around the house which holds so many happy memories for her.

To add to this, she keeps having visions of a little girl, enduring horrible things and the memories of her life in the house keep flashing through her mind. She meets a child hood friend, of whom, she has no recollection and also keeps finding pictures of a little girl strewn all over the house. As the power in the old building keeps going on and off the person chasing her gets more frantic and images she keeps seeing get more and more frightening. But how much of what she is seeing is real, and how much is just her overactive imagination...

Elizabeth Olsen (The younger sister of the rather more famous, Mary-Kate and Ashley) makes her big screen debut in this wannabee thriller and shows that she has even less acting talent than her older siblings and is one of the worst movies I have seen this year.

She spends 88 minutes, panting, screaming, crying, smudging her makeup and trying her best to save a script, which has maybe 5 minutes of decent writing in it. The story is flat, but for five minutes towards the end where they roll out the reasoning for all the goings on and then end the film, in the most random way possible.

The action is slow, and the thriller element of the film, had the audience actually laughing out loud in places, not really what the directors were going for. There is no real suspense, and although the film deals with a really serious issue, the writers failed to convey this throughout. The finale makes you sit up and take notice, but with such a lame plot beforehand it is hard to grasp the gravity of what the story is really about.

Adam Trese is poor as "John", while Eric Sheffer Stevens, may want to do a few more TV movies before returning to the big screen, (He certainly needs the practice). Julia Taylor Ross is the only one bright light in this complete let down, giving a decent showing as "Sophia", despite only being on screen for a very short time. Maybe the director should have given her more of a role and she might just have saved this film. Keep an eye out for this actress, she could go places.

It seemed that the director was more interested in cleavage shots of Elizabeth Olsen (there are plenty of these), than her actual acting talents. The filming of this is sketchy at best, zooming in and out at will and also battling to stay in focus. If you have 90 minutes of your life to lose, and absolutely nothing else to watch, then this film, might be for you. If not, don't bother.

3.5/10