Movie Review: The Tag Along (2016) October Horror Fest (30)

The Tag Along is a Taiwanese horror movie from 2015. First of all I must say two things... Well let me do the synopsis and I will tell you what I think.

Synopsis
Ho Chih-Wei (the grandson) is very focused on his work of property agent. He barely sees his girl Shen Yi-Chun (the radio girl) and his grandmother Ho Wen Shu-Fang. Then some old woman who had previously d



isappear reappears and his grandmother starts to act strange and then disappears. First he doesn't understand but then he start to comprehend what his happening because he still feels her presence there. Then something appears, after he went to the old woman's house, and he starts to act strange... One night he goes to her girlfriend and says that he bought a house and he wants to have children (when would he see them?) but the radio girl doesn't want marriage or a child. One night they go to his house to eat with his grandmother which is not in the house. She watches him eat worms, cockroaches and other insects. She quickly grab the security guard (the uncle of the boy) but no sight of the food or the boy. She starts to wonder if it's her mind.

She starts to research about mosien (the pre-credit titles describe them as ghosts that appear in the shape of children) and she had receive a camera where a young girl with a red dress could be seen behind some hikers (including the grandmother). She then watches a moth that sure look like the girl. 

Then the grandmother appears and says that the little girl wants someone for her grandson and she goes to the woods. The girl with a group of rescue team venture behind her and soon find her. The girl then travels deep into the woods (after being separated from the rescue team) and confronts the beast. We later understand that she had a child and gave it to adoption or something like that. We have five or more minutes about remorse and such...

Later on she confronts the girl in red (now a monster or something like that) and still she prevails. Afterwards we see the radio girl, the grandmother and grandson all dining together. A moth then appears in the wall...

Review
My opinion is that this is a great movie. I have seen hundreds of movies and read a thousand books. It's very difficult to innovate or to bring something new. This movie got the idea from that photo (where we see the girl in red behind the group in the wood) and then they took several things from other books and movies... The tree spirits per example and some cliches like the girl on all four common in Japanese movies.

Nevertheless it's a good movie. The picture it's great, the acting again great but I felt that it's never fully explain who the girl is or was. They believe that if we cut down a tree needlessy we are capture by the trees but why did that happened to Grandmother? And if grandmother was willing to die for her grandson why was he capture? And what about the uncle? He was attacked and then what? Oh well.. Nevertheless this movie and others I've seen recently fueled my hunger for asian movies.

In the end thinking about it... This movie is about the destruction of our mother earth, the negligence we give to our loved ones because of work or other personal goals. Then we've feelings. The boy who didn't give importance to his grandmother and then he felt lost and girl who had to face her own personal demons of leaving a child to adoption. It's a horror movie? Yes but not that scary in my opinion bar a couple moments. 

If you enjoyed this movie go read "Classic of Mountains and Seas” where due to human beings's greed and weakness  are able to draw them to the woods planting like trees.  This is a chinese folklore and bear in mind that most Taiwanese are descended by Chinese that colonized Taiwan and escape from the Communist in the 40's.

I think Wei Ning Hsu (Tiffany Ann Hsu) has a great future in front of her because she won a lot of awards because of this movie... and she doesn't even like horror movies. I must watch Battle of Memories coming in December 2016

Movie Review: 7 Sector (2011) October Horror Fest (29)

Driller, Captain, Genetic, Boyfriend, Our Heroine, The uncle, the Doctor, The Other Driller and Comic Relief

Sector 7 was a very good movie to watch. I always enjoy movies with monsters and Japanese movies are the best. And now it seems Korea are also great doing some really interesting monsters.

Ji-won Ha

Before reviewing I know they can do good movies. The Host (2000) is a good example. Tidal Waves (this is not monster movie but I think it's better than The Wave (The Norwegian movie I watched in September).

I have two in my list so far, both with Ji-won Ha (The main protagonist of Sector 7) - first is Nightmare (Gawi 2000) " and  Phone (2002) 

Synopsis

We follow a work team in a oil rig trying to struck gold. But after several failures the uncle of our main protagonist Chae Hae-Joon comes to help. After some tries they finally struck gold. After the initial drill they find out a strange fish coming out from the hole and give it to the Genetic Researcher. After three months strange things start to happen. 

So who do we have in the rig? Well you've got Cha Hae-Joon ( the female hero and one of the leaders of the team);  Captain Lee Jeong-man, Kim Dong-soo (the boyfriend of Joon), Do Sang-goo (a driller), Go Jong-yoon (another driller), Jang Moon-hyeong (Dr.) and  Park Hyeon-jeong (Female Genetic researcher) and Jang Chi-soon (The comic relief of the movie)

(If with Japanese names I can pretty guess which ones are female or male in  Korea I cannot say that ) 

Cute monster... Bad monster!

The first to die was the Genetic Research that fell to their death. They first thought it was the comic relief character because he was courting her for months without any progress and the last time he was a bit violent. They search for her and beat it up. After conducting some experiments the Doctor was killed. They search for the comic relief (he was locked up) and he was killed as well.  Then they learn that the uncle knew about the monsters. He and the genetic researcher where the ones who created from that small fish. Basically they had found out several years before that those fish were made of something akin to oil and they could burn a lot more time than regular oil and could be a possible solution to world hunger for energy sources.

The monster... Good special effects..

The two oil drillers soon die up, almost at the same time after battling with the monster. They were friend until the end. Meanwhile the captain escape in a small sub but the monster kill him breaking his window. Thinking he was the last one, the uncle set the rig on auto-destruct and try to confront the beast setting on fire. He too dies and the boyfriend dies a couple of minutes later saving our intrepid gun-ho rig worker. 

She then fights the beast several times wounding it but in the end she "drill" a hole in it. Then the rig explodes and she escapes....

She endures more pain than any man...

Review
There were several things I didn't enjoy but several I did enjoy. The monster was awesome. The setting as well. The female main protagonist is very beautiful but as she works in the oil rig we learn to respect her manners and hard-working because she stands toe-to-toe with the males. Oh I forgot there were another oil worker who died when he fell into the abyss after the cable he was standing was cut off.

The problem with the movie was the special effects. The race in the bikes on the rig - awful. The slow-motion action scenes were not that good. And the story felt akin to Alien but instead of space ship was a oil rig. Nevertheless, a very good movie and a good addition to my monster collection. 

Movie Review: Grave Walkers (2015) October Horror Fest (28)

Well, I had my son sick so yesterday I had the chance to watch a movie back to back... And it hs some interesting premise (story) but everything else sucked... Grave Walkers. 

This movie is set on Halloween (appropriate) and in the beginning we think that is going one way then goes another way.

Basically a police officer arrests a woman and takes her to the precient but right from the start she knows something is wrong. Other police officers don't see a woman but other evil beings that plagued their own life making each one try to kill it.

Then the dead start to rise.... The undead are quite alike Eddie from Iron Maiden with glowing green eyes. They don't attack people per se, but are going their mind set on some task. They take hostage a priest and bless a rope. They go the precint fighting anyone who opposes them (not even headshots kill them) and fightning also some "possessed" people with glowing red eyes who are trying to escape the arrested woman (or devil if you want).

They drive the devil into the church and make a priest make an exorcism. Meanwhile the humans are going around and around doing stuff but never doing nothing at all...

In the end a red-eyed monster explodes into the church and never really know what hapepns, but we see a little girl with red eyes, probabling hinting that the devil posssessed another person. The humans that were inside the church escape but we never see to where they escape or to what...

Probably a second movie? I hope not. This movie is not good. The special effects are awful - think of sy-fy but worst. The only good thing was really the plot... Zombies vs Devil ? Btw, why were they fightning? We never know...

Movie Review: Feast III - Happy Ending (2009) October Horror Fest (27)

Misleading cover.. Honey Pie (Middle) Dies after 2m of the movie... but yeah they've got boobs so that's what sells is it not? So who am I to complain?

The third movie starts with scenes from the second - so as you can see it's the same movie slashed into two (see what I did there?)...

Synopsis 
Well this one starts where the other left off. Honey Pie waking up after being hit by shrapnel and the gang being confronted by monsters. Honey Pie is almost immediately mauled and beheaded by a monster who quickly digests and excretes her head (.. awful sighting)

Lightning has survive the blast but it's dizzy and stumbles off. The gang in the garage are attacked by the mosnters but they are able to kill the monster. Meanwhile Thunder didn't died from being disemboweled but it's run over by a army man Shitkicker. The rofftop survivors make their way into the jail and meet Shitkicker in the jail. They found out Hobo and kick his ass. We now have inside the jail Biker Queen, Tat Girl, Tit Girl, Secrets, Bartender, Slasher and Greg with a pipe in the head. Greg says that they can leave with Slasher cards. Shitkicker who seems a totally bad ass is killed accidentally by Secrets when he is manly showing how to use a gun. This alerts the monsters who come into the police station. Once they exit Slasher with Hobo and rest of the gang the other way. Slasher kicks Hobo against a monster who bites him but left him live. Meanwhile Slasher goes inside a metal container where there are a lot of people including Tit and Tat. While Slasher is standing in the wall there is a hole and the monster rapes Slasher and impregnates him. A monster then bursts and kills all other survivors inside the metal container (we don't see that). Meanwhile Secrets, Greg and Bartender help Lightning as Biker Queen frees the Biker Girls in the container and flee from the Slasher/Monster Hybrid.

As they are escaping they follow Hobo into a bus which he uses to produce meth but are attacked by monsters and Tat girl is killed. Hobo is also killed when Tit Girl throws him on fire against one monster.  Then they meet the rest of the gang (Bartender, Pipe-Greg, Secrets and Thunder) and escape in the bus that broke down and are besieged by monsters. A man in a cape appears and the monsters escape. That man is Short Bus Gus who tells them that they must go to the sewers.

While escaping Tit Girl is killed by infected Townies but another hero appears called Jean Claude Segal who kills the three townies. As they are leaving with a martial arts master and something seems to go in the right way a monster appears and bits off one his arms.

Then the group gets separated and Jean Claude and Bartender go one way and the rest the other way. While they are battling a rave made by the townies  the Queen Biker is bit off by one of the townies. Jean Claude who, meanwhile had lost the other arm, stays behind kicking townies as the rest of the gang escape.

Short Bus Gus finds out that his malfunction hearing aid was the one thing repelling the monsters is soon killed. The Slasher monster hybrid then kills Greg but Secrets attacks the monster and kills him with the pipe from Greg's head.

Biker Queen already infected sets off an internal alarm system and droves out in a bike while Bartender, Secrets and Lightning go another way. Bartender then says they are the only one left and must populate the earth. While he is saying that a giant robot steps on top of Secrets and Lightning killing the both. We then see Bartender walking alone murmuring...

Review
In the credits we see a Mexican singing that it's the end of movie three and if there is going to be a movie four will explain the robots... There wasn't a movie four.... This was the worst of the bunch because as I said we have a cliffhanger that should not exist in my opinion... nevertheless, a good movie trilogy with nice moments and very comic. Advisable Overall...

Movie Review: Feast II - Sloppy Seconds (2008) October Horror Fest (26)

When I watch the first I wanted to see the second because I really enjoy the premises. I must say from the start that if you are reading my review BEFORE watching all three movies, then stop at the first. The Second and Third and not that good when compare with the first.

Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds

Synopsis
In this one we follow Biker Queen the twin sister of Harley Mom (from the first movie) who after finding out that her sister was killed went on a revenge. She finds the Barterer alive (also from the first movie) who says it was beasts but she doesn't believe him and then he said it was Bozo. They went to his town (her  and other bikers).


There are also a pair of Mexican wrestlers midgets called Thunder and Lightning. Another survivor is Hobo (arrested after dealing methamphetamine). There is also a car dealer guy called Slasher that wants to find out that her wife is cheating on him.

All hell breaks loose and most citizens are killed. Slasher finds his wife (Secrets) fucking in the car he is escaping with the top dealer (Greg) of his company. All three of them barricade inside a house.

In the next day the biker gang arrive at the city to search for Bozo's house and they cross path with the three survivors. Meanwhile one of the biker girls is killed by the monsters. They all leave the house going separate ways. The gang and the bartender go to Bozo house just to find Honey Pie (from the previous movie) alive but Bartender beats the crap out of her because she had run off living all the first movie survivors to die. Then he throws her to the window but she doesn't die.

slasher, greg, secrets, biker girl, honey pie, biker queen, tat girl, tit girl, bartender and lightning (where's thunder?)

Slasher, Greg and Secrets receive a call from the Mexican wrestlers and the rest of the biker gang all buckle up in one place.

They realize that the only good place in town it's the jail and so the wrestlers go make one in a store. Meanwhile a comic dissection begins as Greg starts to cut a monster but after all receive farts, piss and sperm
he stops touching the beast, not before injuring the wrestlers grandmother. As he is about to stop he touches something on the beast that acts as an alarm and the monsters appear yet again. All survivors, including the wrestlers go to top of the garage.

As they are buckle there they hear a child but nobody do nothing. In the morning Greg goes to save the baby but his plan backfire and he sacrifices the baby to the monsters...

Honey Pie the other survivor is inside a store and is ambushes her. Meanwhile the group sacrifices another biker girl (Splat Girl) so they can built a catapult using the bikers girls clothes (from this moment on two biker girls are naked). They first throw the wrestler's grandmother who was gravely wounded killing her outright - but landing on the top of the police station. They try again with Thunder but this time he is thrown into the street and his disemboweled by the monsters. Greg is hurt when a pipe from the catapult explodes and he is stuck with a pipe from the mouth to the skull (didn't kill him though). Lightning then goes inside a trash can to the police but Hobo throws some dynamite and stuns hims. The shrapnel hits Honey Pie who was leaving the city falling to the floor apparently dead. The others watch as the monsters begin breaking the door. Honey Pie gets up grabs her gun and screams...

The movie ends...

Review
This movie is incomplete. Unless you are planing to watch movie three don't watch this one. It's so incomplete that the third movie follows right after the second with scenes from it. If I was to watch the second in the cinema I would be very very upset.

Movie Review: The Evil in Us (2016) October Horror Fest (25)

I don't know what to think about this movie. It's a critique on the presidential elections? I guess so...

Review
This is not a hard movie to follow. There are some guys and girls that go a island to celebrate the fourth of July. Meanwhile a cop is investigating a crime with three persons (two had died) and the weapons where teeth and claws. 

We follow this six teens in the island, partying, doing some cocaine except one girl - the outsider (she is the new girlfriend of one of the friends) is the only one who doesn't do drugs and is very upset with it - and the boyfriends says he won't do it either. From that moment on one of the guys starts behaving strangely and with rage beyond measure and starts striking down his friends killing one girl and then the mayhe begins.

Meanwhile the detective finds out that the person who sold the cocaine was the same guy on the island that first show the symptoms and they find out that the drugs have something very peculiar and strange that makes people behaving with rage and turn them into "zombies".

Then we've got some 20 or 30 minutes of violence as ones try to flee from others and being killed as so. In the end of the Massacre as the police is arriving only the first man survived with another female who shot him (but not kill him). He understood that everything that happened was because of him and tries to kill himself but it's gun was empty so he pointed to the police who kill him.

Then we've got some news about several outbreaks like the one we experience and a politician is telling that he don't understand how noone in the government do anything to stop and vow if he is elected he will do it.

What's more interesting is that between the massacre and before we watch a middle age man, almost as scientist, checking how people reacted being on cocaine with the variant. He and his wife are masochist because they even enjoy the loud screams. That man is the politician. The movie ends with a mother smoking some weed and then go berserk. It seems they are now, doing weed and cocaine...

As the credits g

o, we watch a conspiracy theorist talking to a journalism that this is a plot by the government. That they change and such but nothing really changes and so on and on, while being mocked by the newscaster... This is a critique to the bi-party that exists in America.

Synopsis
I enjoy the movie and enjoy the plot. I enjoy the critique in the end, probably done because of oncoming elections on America. They are all the same... they rule until someone messes up and then there goes the other side and so on. In Europe, on any country, there are dozens parties and most likely to have more possibilities to vote. 

Good movie to watch, beware the gore. 

Book Review: 'Salem's Lot - Stephen King - October Horror Fest (24,5)

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 10 stars

This was going to be part of October Horror Fest count but I wanted to watch 31 movies and this book even if it took a lot more time than the movies will be not be counted towards that goal...

This book felt like love-making.... I am sorry but I am going out to say it...
There are many ways of making love, right? Fast and Furious, Slow with Passion - okay I don't more words to say now but you get it right?

This book felt like a couple in a hot tub, massage, touching, some foreplay and then it's over in a minute in a half....

This movie, starts with 300 pages of knowing every single person of a town - some focus on two or three of them.
Then more 200 pages of building a tension but really nothing happens besides some people dying off and we get to know that the bad guy is trully remarkable...
Then of the last 100 pages we've got 2 pages focusing on final confrontation and that's done! We've got some two saviors...

I wanted more. Why give so much information about some people that felt so unimportanted by the end? I think King should have focus on four or five characters and the final confronation should be epic and not such a failure... Okay the end (after the killing of the master) could have give us a sequel of some sorts but... I felt cheated of 600 pages book that ended the way it ended. Great tension building to fell flat.

Stephen King is a master of world building. He could have done, well he has done a fantasy epic series because he can - but then he lacks the mastery of make ends... Most novels I've read of him I felt rushed in the endings... He spends too much time talking boring things about people we will never read again, or just to be died off but rushes the end. He made a good enemy. A smart enemy and then he kills it when sleeping with no fear or danger for our two guys ...

And why the similarity with Dracula? Damn... At times I felt that I reading Dracula in modern times...

Oh well...

I am still going to read all his books but I need a break.

View all my reviews

Movie Review: The Hatching (2016) October Horror Fest (24)

Well, today I watch The Hatching a British Horror movie. Well I thought it was going one way then he went another... Let us talk about it...

Synopsis

Well Tim returns to the land where he lived all is young life accompanied by his girlfriend Lucy. Tim had left several years backs when he and two friends (Baghi & another) went to a local zoo to grab some crocodiles eggs - but after one of his friends was killed  by a Crocodile he was shipped away. 

Meanwhile some girl has disappear a couple of days before. Lardy and Rusell are fishing in a local swamp (or bog or whatever you call that place) and they see a sheep being killed  (but they don't see what kills it). Then Brittney (Lardy's Girlfriend) disappears. and Lardy and Rusell are tying to find out what happened, after hearing from Tim reporting that they found out a crocodile tooth. They amubush and kill a crocodile. Meanwhile Brittney was not killed by the crocodile but kidnap by two guys (one of them is the town butcher - how convenient) but manage to escape. She then tells Lardy it was the Butcher. There was a brief confrontation and they are able to apreehend both Lardy and Rusell. When they are going to kill them Tim and Baghi come to the rescue (because the Butcher had kidnapped Lucy). There another confrontation an Tim knocks out the butcher and puts him in the boat and throws into the lake (WHY??? - By the gods this makes no sense whatsoever)... then the butcher's friends is killed by an alligator while an angry mob witch pitchforks and torches watches... When we all think ok, this is over, Tim and Lucy are attacked at home by the butcher (after all, nobody searched for him...) but Mrs Wembridge appears and knocks him flat.

In the end we saw some credits of what each character did (like they were real persons) and we see the Butcher escape a psychological facility...

Review
What a bunch of crap. This movie is wrong. All Wrong in so many ways I cannot even begin... first the main character - Tim is plagued by the death of his friend when he was young but it has no consequence in the movie whatsoever. Then he has a girlfriend and he didn't tell her what happened. He has almost no importance whatsoever in the plot. He is just there to someone accuses him that's his crocodile...When

he defeats the butcher he lets him go...

The ones doing everything are Lardy and Rusell the town drunks. They killed one crocodile and go search for the cannibals - although they are knock out. They are the movie comic characters bringing some interest to the plot. 

The butcher is probably the most interesting character. One question remains... They had two crocs and they have been taking care of them. Why noone went missing before only after 10 years? Why the need to kill people when they could give meat? Why the use of human bones, flesh and such to give the town people? Are they crazy? It makes no sense... 

This movie is slow to a stop. It's boring because it try to hard to be something it's not. It's not a mighty beast who comes to terrorize a village and its a cannibalistic hillbilly freaks like Wrong Turn and such. I really hate it.~

Edit: WAIT! What's that cover? The crocodile looks like it's bigger than the human. WTF? Was I watching the wrong movie? There were 2... TWO crocs. Why the second cover features a lot of eggs? This movie has nothing to do with Nature. It's about humans. Humans being sick bastarts feeding people to Crocs... That's it. Oh my..  I feel cheated...

Movie Review: Spiders 3D (2013) October Horror Fest (23)

The twentieth third movie I watched was Spiders 3D from 2013. This movie appear after I heard about Arachnophobia on TV ( a old movie with killing-spiders). In that movie some hidden-new spiders from the amazons mix with more traditional american spiders produced some hard killing spiders and the town became under-siege. There is more phobia feeling - that I never really forget. 

So, I wanted something new, and this was it. 2013 Spiders 3D.

Synopsis
There were some spiders in a URSS space station that basically killed everyone but stay there... One day a meteorite crash into the station and it crash into new york. Right from the start the spiders start killing rats and such. The rats escape and they close the metro station. They try to find out what was happening and some people living in the subway were already dead. 

Meanwhile - the spiders become more adventurous and expanded. The military kicks in and says there is a virus in air and evicts several blocks. We later find out that these are not normal spiders (yeah, the size of them didn't gave that away) but they are not even earthlings. Basically URSS found out a ship and use that DNA into earthling creatures so they could inhabit - but apparently only spiders in zero gravity worked.  As they fell to the ground, they deposited a queen which will give birth to a lot more spiders - but apparently the males are capable of producing other males... the american army are in it for the queen because she makes webs than turn things invisible... 

Meanwhile we've got a man, who with his soon to be ex-wife, are trying to get to their child that turn 12 (this is very important...) As the spiders go up into the ground the military try to kill them but it seems they were trained by the StormTroopers of Star Wars because they almost fail everytime...
Meanwhile the spider queen was found and it's a big nasty girl - check the cover (Btw the cover has a guy holding a child and a weapon; that doesn't happen...)

In the end, when bazukkas, tanks and helicopters fail the man who was trying to find her daughter kill it by exploding the tunnels they were in...

.

Review
Oh my god, this movie is bad in so many ways... the special effects, the spiders plot, the army plot, the man and soon to be ex-wife that come out together again - basically, everything. And the actors? Oh the pain to see the man and his wife... the child was the only one who stand out... And child? She turn 12 on the movie but I think she was a lot older... She look a lot older, almost a 16/17. I dig up a bit, she is 19 now, so she was 15/16 then? Look a photo...
OK look - does she look 12? I think not... but Hollywood always did that... Yeah.. I once watch a movie that the son was 5 years younger than the mother (in real life of course...)
  

Movie Review: Lemon Tree Passage (2013) October Horror Fest (22)

This was I Started one week ago but couldn't finish in one go but I was enjoying the horror elements so re-watch it.

Basically this movie deals with somethin

g that I've watch before in Sintra. There was a horror movie that dealt with filming while driving in a car in the mountains of Sintra and something would appear - a ghost of some sorts...  Filme Sintra A CURVA aka Teresa Fidalgo Ghost

This one deals with a couple of american friends bonding with some Australian who say that if they travel in a road at x miles at hour and if they look back they will see a light of girl or boy who had died...

They tried and the light appears. They went home to one of the Australian dudes which they meet their brother. Next night they went out again but this times one of the Australian stay on the road while the others drove. The others see the light but not him. Afterwards they went back to get him but can't find him. And then things start going to damn wrong. One by one they died, mostly the same way that the true story happened. Basically a woman was raped and killed...

The spirit of the woman then start to control one of the Americans and tie one of the Australian in a tree while her brother confronts the ghost. It seems the Australian's brother killed the woman. She makes a promise to him... If he kills himself she wills stop everything. The man, ridden with with guilt kill himself and the ghost disappears..

The movie the ends with the two remaining survivors leaving in the car as the light appears yet again...

This movie is not that interesting. It serves it's purpose but nothing new is created here. Btw, this is a urban legend of an actual urban legend on Lemon Tree Passage (Australia)

Movie Review: Uzumaki (2000) October Horror Fest (21)

I've seen some weird movies and this one is right there on the top.
One of the most interesting things I've enjoy anime and Japanese movies is the contemplation of something totally different from the European and USA made... There are other reasons... Sometimes it's weird good and sometimes is plain weird. But not everything is to my liking of course.

This movie is the life adaption of a manga. But there are some differences, which I explain later.

Basically the movie consists in four parts. First is "A Premonition"; "Erosion"; "Visitation" and " Transmigration".  But before I say anything, I will say that this horror story is not pure horror. It's a mix of cosmic Lovecraftian characters that are struggling against a force incomprehensible to them. It has deep meaning in symbols that in Japan are thought to be positive and twist them around.

In this story we follow Kirie and Shuichi who have been childhood friends. They are bound to be more than friends, probably lovers but they are young. I must say from the start that I dislike Shuichi. He is a strange boy, walking strangely and talk strangely. He is very very odd looking guy (...as a person not a character)

Basically some people have been behaving strangely, focusing on Uzumaki (Spirals) patterns, like snails, spinning wheels, washing machines and so on... They are really obsessed with them and they must have it. When they don't have them they make one with their eyes spinning them. Meanwhile other people are transforming... walking slowly, drinking dozens upon dozen litters of water and even growing things on their backs - transforming into like snails.

After a while it gets the news and we see some strange videos of human-snails and such... Oh Shuichi's dad dies and his wife becomes obsessed with ridding the world of Uzumakis... She even cut her fingertips off.  The boy wants to leave but the girl doesn't want because of her father (who also have show some symptoms of falling to Uzumaki. When they go to Kirie's house we learn that her father died and Shuichi begs Kirie to go away because he too is being killed (his body is twisting in odd angles) but she pays him no heed and grabs him. He then dies and he come back to her telling her to fall into the Uzumaki. The movie then ends...

One of the things I know is that the manga is different. The manga most things happened as in the movie. They did leave the town but the tunnel where they are leaving lead them back to the town where several years have passed and the town transformed into a spiral. They then go to Kirie's house where they learn they cannot leave and embrace one another and die entangled one another.

This movie is good, mark my words - IF, you are into japanese culture and anime and weird fiction. If you don't enjoy any of this things, you will feel boredom and many "wtf" moments. I read some reviews on imdb of people who didn't enjoy the movie and the main complains were the total weirdness and it's not a regular horror movie. I can't even say this is horror - okay, there are some parts that I could say it's horror...

Movie Review: 4bia / Phobia (2008) October Horror Fest (20)

After watching this tale I thought two things... First was - I've seen this before somewhere and the second thing was... Meh!

The two hour movie are in the end - four interconnnect short movies. The story & timeframe are all connected.

Synopsis
The First Story was one of the best. All story is without any kind of voice acting and made almost entirely using technology appliances (in this case a mobile phone). A young teen - Pin - is stuck alone in her apartment as her boyfriend is away on a camping trip (Puak - from the Third Story). She had an accident several months earlier. She starts to receive some messages from a guy who says he can only be contacted at night and is cramped for 100 days. She then sends her picture and when she asks for a photo he sends her photo back saying that he is in there. A ghostly face is slightly visible in the photo. She starts to get nervous and stop messaging. She then discovers that the son of Princess Sophia died and was buried with a cellphone so he can communicate with anyone. Later that night she receives a message from the stranger telling that he is coming to her house. The lights from the streets and building start do disappear and she is attacked by the ghost throwing her out of window into her death. We then watch the scene that made her accident. The Prince receives a text message from his girlfriend ending the relationship and he throws himself under the cab.

The Second Story is probably the one who is less connected to the others. Some guys are bullying a nerdy guy called Ngid and then beat him to death. One of the gang members (Pink) is upset but don't stop them. When he is beaten he curses them. It seems he needs a photo of a dead person with their eyes open to make it work. And one by one the gang starts do die. Even Pink, who had done nothing is targeted to be killed since she was guilty by omission. She is then taken to the police station and none believes her. She then gauges her eyes because the curse is only possible if the ghost of Ngid can see the victim eyes. It seems Ngid phot is of Pin (from the first story) who had died with her eyes open.

The Third Story is set not in the city but in a forest near some river. Four guys are going on a rafting descend., They are Aey, Ter (connects with the fourth story), Shin and Puak (the boyfriend from the first story). At night, while they are all in bed Aey says that if he died he will hunt the one who sleeps in the middle. As they are going on rafting an accident happens and Aey drowns and they can't find them. As the rest of the gang is in camp they decide they must go warn the authorities in the morning but then a strange Aey appears.Then Shin discovers Aey body in the water and try to tells him and Aey (who was a normal kid) becomes a dead person and starts chasing the rest of the friends. As they band together in the river they see across Aey and ask him to leave them alone and Aey points to the water and we see the body of Shin in the water and soon afterwards we also see the bodies of Ter and Puak. It seems they all died but since their soul hadn't seen the body it was not able to fully recognize it was dead. Afterwards they say they will all be friends in the afterlife.

The fourth story deals with Pim a Flight attendant, being call out to work in a charter with only Princess Sophia. As she arrives at the plane she is informed that her collegue will not be flying because it was discovered that her brother (Ter, from the previous story) died. Since the beginning we see a distant Princess Sophia maltreating Pim, including burning her harm with a tea. When she is being asked to dine she says that she wants to eat Pim's food instead (rice with shrimp). Pim then discovers that Princess Sophia knows about her affair with the Prince. When they land we see Princess Sofia sick and coughing. Later we learn that she died that night and they are being ask to travel her back to their own country. Again, the plane is empty, only a corpse on a seat (what a heck? who would travel some dead person that way??)  and she starts hearing coughs. From this moment on we are always in doubt what is happening and is really Pim fabricated some apparations and such or is really Princess Sophia revenge.  Pim is acting like a lunatic even  says to the captain that the Princess is after her. She tries to smash the plane's window but it's stop by the Captain who bound her to her chair. When the plane stops and some men entered the plan they see the corpse of the Princess in her place and Pim dead on the floor. 

Review
Did I enjoy? Some stories. The first is very interesting tale and it was done in a very interesting way. Without lines and some scary moments.. but not that many. Good brief tale. Go watch One Miss Called instead.

She looks like Jessica Alba... does she not? - No, that's not from the movie. There are no sex scenes or even cleavages whatsoever....

The second story is probably the weakest of them all. The CGI effects in the end are truly truly awful. It made me sick to watch them. The story is something we've seen before, a boy dwelt in the dark arts is on a revenge rampage.  Nothing particular interesting... The least connnected story of the bunch.

The third story is quite good and reminds me of some gothic tales from 1800's and such. We've got some dead dudes who don't know they are dead running around until they find out. Good plot. There is also a comic moments where they spoil several horror movies plots... and Titanic. Good stuff and the best of the lot.

The Fourth story is story focus on mystery and horror building. More a thriller than a horror (with the exception of the last few minutes - interesting two characters..).

Movie Review: The Windmill Massacre (2016) October Horror Fest (19)

I've not seen that much of horror films from Europe (excluding UK). So when I found out that this movie was dutch I had to watch it... It feels like almost a slasher movie..

Synopsis
The movie follows several characters in Amsterdam. One is an Australian woman (Jennifer) fleeing a house after being discovered that her name was not the same in the passport. We also follow a father (Douglas) and a son (Curt) on a trip (but the dad only concentrates on work); we also follow a Japanese guy (Takashi), a strange man with a scar in her face (Nicholas) and a wannabe she-photographer who is task on finding a spooky windmills (Ruby). We also follows a young British guy on the red district - probably a war veteran, Royal Marine, after hearing some war noises (Jackson)...

Jennifer joins a group of tourists who are going to visit several Windmills throughout Holland... Like they said, God created the World and The Dutch created Holland.

The bus stopped in a area near a windmill but no phones work. There a lot of spaces in america and Europe without cell phone coverage... Jackson and Jennifer then go to the nearest windmill to het some help. Jackson then starts to see things that happened when he was in red district (that he stroke  down a prostitute - probably killing her). Soon afterwards both his legs are cut through the bones by a man dressed as a grim reaper; with the Scythe and everything... He died...

It seems Jennifer suffers from mental problems and think she is making it up since they found out that she is taking pills. Meanwhile the Japanese guy gets separated and follows a dog that he calls Misha. Oh, he has some unresolved issues with his grandmother - it seems he abandoned her in the end. When he sees her he tries to explain his actions and try to redeem herself and the grim reaper appears behind him....

Oh, it seems the windmill they are in is a former house of a miller sentenced to dead because he consorted with the devil.

It seems the Doctor also made some mistake in a operation table after drinking or doing some drugs and now and a woman died because of it... He doesn't try to redeem himself saying that she's got no knowledge the pressure they (the medics) are in.... After his own apparition he was killed by the Miller.

Hmm -it seems Jennifer was being beaten by her own father and her own brother. So she set the van they live on fire - but as she block the door she made her own brother die in the flames. The french photographer also made some mistakes.. She pay some Yakuza to beat her photographer rival and she killed herself. She doesn't feel remorse saying that she was weak... And then she died drowned like her rival...


Ohoh... What did the father did to Curt's mother? He killed her ex-wife because he never let him see his own son. Then they watch him died on their phone.. Meanwhile the Japanese guy says that they must burn down the windmill. The bus driver is the only who hear him and killed him. He is in consort with the miller and explains that the miller takes the sinner and he must do what he must to the ones not sinner (in this case they Curt).

When they arrive at the Windmill the Bus Driver reveals to Curt and Jennifer and let Jennifer be taken out by the Miller while saying to Curt that unfortunately he must be killed. Curt cuts himself loose and burn down the Windmill making the Miller to disappear. Jennifer goes back to the burning Windmill and cuts Bus Driver's throat and escape. While the Windmilll is disappearing in flames the Miller appears and launch a iron rope with a hook and kills Jennifer making Curt scream.

Afterwards we see the Bus Driver, again, doing what he was doing in the beginning... making tourist enter his van...

Review
I enjoy this movie. No doubt about it. The characters were different and each one had her own story and reason to be on the trip. Maybe one's guilt is more justifiable than others but in the end we all have to be balanced to make things even. In Christianity it's the Judgement day -the purpose of Purgatory. 

I enjoy the action scenes. They weren't overdue so it didn't felt like a slasher and the all psychological thriller of confront your darkest fears. I didn't felt that Reaper-Miller was over-powerful like some other monsters, because nobody confront him... They confront their own fears and then died. The Reaper was just a "way" of doing it. 

I advice to anyone who wants to watch a good horror flick.

Movie Review: The Other Side of the Door (2016) October Horror Fest (18)

When I was choosing my next movie I chose this one because it has some influences on Hinduism stars Sara Callies (Walking Dead - Lori; Prison Break or Colony) and  also Jeremy Sisto  (Wrong Turn and The Returned). Two children Sofia Rosinsky and Logan Crean and Suchitra Pillai a Bollywood actress. 

Review
We've got these family Maria and Michael who decide to live in India and raise their unborn child there. He is an antique dealer and she is going to be a housewife. We jump 7 years (I think) into the future where Maria is suffering because the dead of her son Oliver and she can't cope with it. She tries to kill herself with pills but Michael saves her in time. When in hospital, their housekeeper Piki tells her that there is a way to communicate with the dead. To make some closure on the subject - since Oliver died tragically and she blames herself. She tells Maria that there is a temple where she must put his ashes and lock herself inside that very temple. She will be able to communicate with the dead through the door but she must not open the door, no matter what.

When she is talking with the boy, she opens the door... What did you expect? - This is a horror movie...

Some Aghori appear and says something uncompreensible things to her (I will explain later what are the Aghori).

She returns home, with a feel of closure, after all she doesn't understand what she did but at least she was able to talk to her son and ask for sorry - which he forgives.

After returning, things start to change, first Lucy starts playing with the ghost of the brother and even Maria was happy because she was reading to him again as he manifest himself. Michael is oblivous to all.

But soon afterwards things start to go wrong. First all plants died and the birds they had. Then Lucy start to show fear towards his spirit and even Maria trembled. Piki confronts Maria telling that as she opened the door she let the dead come in and since Buddhists believe in reincarnation and Myrtu couldn't claim his soul... basically her son is being corrupted until Myrtu (The GateKeeper) can claim him/it. Btw, I couldn't find anything on the name of Myrtu (Why?) She also says that she must burn everything related to him. I must say, at this point I thought the movie was going one place and then he went another...

AS the family leaves the house, Piki gathers all Oliver things and tries to burn it but she starts to hear her own daughter (who had died on a pound) and she is drown in the pound. Meanwhile Maria continues Piki work to burn all Michael things and does not believe Maria's ramblings about Oliver and when Maria asks for help from Lucy she says that she knows nothing about it as well. When they are putting Lucy to bed Maria realizes that Oliver possessed Lucy and feeling that Maria is unbalanced locks her in. As they are leaving the house they see that their house is surrounded by Aghori. As Michael is talking to the police Lucy(Oliver) kills their dog and stabs Michael. Maria leaves the room and tries to find Lucy(Oliver) and she finds her in Oliver's room pin to the ground with half a dozen Aghori. She stops the ritual and asks Oliver to possess her and leave Lucy and so be it. One Aghori stabs a now possessed Maria and as she is closing his eyes she sees the Gatekeeper claiming her.

When she opens her eyes she hears Michael calling her. She realizes that she is the temple - this time on the outside and Michael saying that he can't live without her and he must see her. She realizes that he is openinig the door and screams that he musn't do it... The movie ends...

Synopsis
Hinduism is not a easy religion to understand as Christianity or Islam - is more akin to our pagan beliefs. Hinduism is more than a religion; it's a culture,  philosophy and a way of living. And to a foreigner, no matter what we read we never fully understand all the concepts and such. In Abrahamic religions - there is wrong and bad, white and black, good and evil - and that's it. In Hinduism and some pagan (Celtic per example) there is much more than that. I am not going to rambling about Hinduism and such but I am going to say that his movie focus a bit on it and it tries to pick a bit of mysticism and mix with  horror. 

In other horror movies, the grand majority there is no explanation on the why's and here they explain why the ghost appear, why the ghost turn evil and why they must do what they must do. To me, that's a very interesting way of putting it. I really enjoy this movie and the ending was truly good. It leave us with a wondering of what is happening and to me left me to wonder if there are more good indian horror movies. 

Advisable to anyone who wants a good horror story based on a fear/regret and to all of us... Would you let it go? Or would you open the door? In



Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christiany and Islam) we mourn for our dead and many feel sorrow, regrets and sometimes don't let them go... In other (more Asian beliefs) they mourn (I think) but also they let them go, because they believe in afterlife, reincarnation or other form of transition. And to me that makes more sense...