J*A*S*M

Pleasant, cute, funny, non-conflicting. My favourite was the scene when they’re watching Carpi’s The Thing.

Nightcrawler was exactly what I was expecting it to be, which is basically the only complaint I can have. It was missing at least one moment of bigger surprise or shock. Basically, I thought that Gyllenhaal’s self-confident sociopath (all the good things that’ve been said about his performance are true) would go a little further in his quest for career advancement. It’s a critique of an awful era and the lack of morals, where only viewership numbers have value and ethics are pushed aside. “I will never want from you anything that I wouldn’t do myself.” Impressive, dark, captivating, but I think Lumet’s Network cuts deeper. 9/10

Boorish humour based only on corporeality and Eastern European stereotypes. It looks more movie-like than our Zdeněk Troška, but it’s not that different content-wise. For a moment (let’s say about half-hour) it’s bearable and sometimes even funny, but then you realise that there won’t be any other type humour and it becomes rather dull and cringe-worthy.

This was a pleasant surprise. From the poster I was expecting a silly B-movie, but in the end it was a pretty solid and unsettling film, and I particularly liked their attempt to take on the alien abduction theme with a serious face. There have been quite a few horror movies with UFOs in recent years and this one is among the best of the lot – for instance, this year’s Extraterrestrial wasn’t good at all, it was bullshit for kids. This film, in contrast, tries to build things on the characters, there is some inner drama in there. The performances are a bit weak, though, but I’m still satisfied enough for a strong three stars.

The weakest feature film by Balagueró and also the weakest in the REC franchise so far. And, even if nobody here will agree with me on this, I think it’s actually the first weak REC; I think the much hated third instalment is a solid film, mainly because it wasn’t afraid to be different. Apocalipsis more or less brings back the serious tone, the cramped spaces, Ángela and the bloody action, but the magic of the first two episodes is gone. This was quite shocking for me, I was almost certain that Balagueró was the creative engine behind the duo of directors, but now I feel that what made the first two films what they are may have been in fact the collaboration of two creative guys competing on who can come up with the best idea. Because interesting ideas is exactly what Apocalipsis is missing. It feels ordinary, generic and lazy. Disappointing, pointless, but nicely shot.

I don’t have much experience with the obscure sub-genre of nunsploitation, but I think I will watch more, because Alucarda wasn’t bad at all, even if the first impression pointed towards something else – at the beginning the film looks downright weak, with amateur performances, naive and with cheap softcore erotica. But the moment the possessed girls start to act up, we get quality – or fun, rather – and the film improves sharply. The second half has tempo, with lots of blood and hysterical nuns, and unintentionally funny dialogues. So, in the end it was a pleasure, albeit a little guilty one…

Nicely made ghost story about a haunted house. I must respond to one of the reviewers here who claims that there aren’t many horror movies about haunted houses. There’s a shit load of them. In fact, I think the haunted house is the most common horror setting. This film from the late 1970s is a fairly typical example: a bunch of characters go into an evil building, the building imprisons them and things begin to happen. Nothing that we haven’t seen in more memorable versions, but watchable nonetheless. The ending was alright.

I’ve seen several comments here with the word “tense”, which must have a totally different definition than the one I’ve always thought, because The Possessed is many things, but certainly not what I would imagine under that word. It’s slow, sombre and melancholic-lyrical. Objectively, it deserves praise for its above-average quality. In another mood, its atmosphere would have captivated me, but today it was unfortunately got terribly boring.

Very nicely put together horror with social critique. Chaos and paranoia. Several groups (the wannabe soldiers that live in a small town) fight each other, often without knowing why – actually, few people know the real reason. And on top of that, we have the “heroes”, i.e. the infected townsfolk, we can’t really tell which of their actions are rational, or emotionally impulsive in a normal way, and which are only a manifestation of the madness caused by the disease. It’s a smarter film than it would appear at first sight. It’s actually surprising how many of those interesting plot lines were missing in the remake.

Aja’s remake is so good, that (given its the average rating) I ignored Craven’s original for a pretty long time. Which was a mistake, it’s a surprisingly good horror flick. If there’s something that elevates it above the remake are the redneck cannibals, here they differ both in appearance and character, so they are proper characters instead just murder machines, as in the modern version. And they look so prehistorical, like Neanderthals, I loved it. For one hour, the film is basically excellent – atmospheric, brutal, terrifying. It’s a pity then that the third act slides into a relatively boring massacre, and in daylight to boot. So the final impression is a bit lower, but overall, almost unexpected satisfaction.