John of the Dead's Horror Flick Reviews

Director – Freddie Francis, Ken Wiederhorn

Cast – Michael Moriarty, Jenny Agutter, Carol Lynley, Theodore Bikel, Kevin McCarthy, Anne Lockhart

Release Year – 1989

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Dark Tower sat on my horror queue for quite some time after I initially added it to the mix due its sweet poster and seeing that it came directed by Freddy Francis, a man who had given the genre a few notable films decades ago. I stayed away from this one as long as I could because I had a good feeling it would suck, and as usual I finally decided to give this a watch late one night when I was having trouble sleeping. Well, the film did not help me sleep one bit, BUT I was glad to get this piece of junk off my queue once and for all.

Jenny Agutter (this film belongs in a gutter)is a famed architect who begins work on a new corporate building, but her work does not go smoothly when mysterious occurrences begin plaguing the skyscraper and those in it.

With a plot that thin I should have known that this would suck, but I am a sucker for supernatural tales so I bit the bullet and left with the results I should have expected. From the get-go we are thrown into the strange occurrences that would continually plague the new building erected by Jenny Agutter, who along with Det. Dennis Randall (Michael Moriarty; The Stuff, Q: The Winged Serpent, Troll, Masters of Horror: “Pick Me Up”) eventually tried desperately to get to the bottom of the mysterious deaths occurring around them. Eventually they learn of a supernatural force residing within the building, and despite the potential for some decent scares this effort was never scary thanks to poor writing and equally poor direction. The story was uninspired from the start and was already on my crap-list by the time its spooky and engaging final sequence kicked in.

Director Freddie Francis (Tales From The Crypt (1972), Girly, The Skull, The Day of the Triffids (uncredited), Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, The Doctor and the Devils,  The Creeping Flesh, Tales That Witness Madness) and co-director Ken Wiederhorn did a pathetic job executing this piece, literally giving us nothing when it came to the horror aside from their awesome closing sequence. Their atmosphere was OK, but because of the lack of scares the atmosphere was never used to whatever potential it had. Their execution of nearly every element involved was poor, including their usage of characters despite the great Michael Moriarty cast as one of the leads, making for an experience I really do not wish to write on further.

Overall, Dark Tower is a film that I cannot recommend even as a flick to help you sleep. The writing is poor and the direction is equally bad, a shame for a flick with an enjoyable actor executed by a known horror director.

Rating: 4/10

Director – Gus Trikonis

Cast – Richard Crenna, Joanna Pettet, Andrew Prine, Cassie Yates, George O’Hanlon Jr., Lynne Moody, Mary Louise Weller, Robert Viharo, Victor Buono

Release Year – 1978

Reviewed by John of the Dead

My recent search for more haunted house films lead me to The Evil after watching the awesome  supernatural flick Superstition, both of which were produced by Ed Carlin.  I had heard of The Evil previously but always had a very hard time getting a hold of this rare film given most copies are on VHS, but sure enough my time came and I took the opportunity with the biggest grin I could display across my sometimes-handsome face.  Haunted house films have always been a favorite of mine, so naturally I really wanted to enjoy The Evil, and I am glad to say that this piece was as good as I expected/wanted it to be.  The atmosphere is great and despite a low budget there is no shortage of good horror and scares, making for a very worthwhile haunted house film that has remained off the radar for decades.

After purchasing an old mansion, CJ and Caroline Arnold invite their psychology group to join them in cleaning up the home and making it livable.  Soon after entering the old Vargas Mansion Caroline begins to suffer what appear to be haunting delusions, but soon enough the true evil residing within the home will manifest itself and wreak havoc on all who have stepped foot in the plagued estate.

I don’t care when it was made, a haunted house film will always intrigue me because it allows me to envelop myself given I have been fortunate enough to reside in a home my entire life and can imagine my own home suffering the hauntings in the films.  So long as you get a few essentials right, like atmosphere and scares, then you can pretty much tell any haunted house story and come away with a good flick, and The Evil gave us atmosphere, scares, and more.  Writers Galen Thompson and Gus Trikonis did a swell job giving us an engaging storyline that while employing the usual haunted house template still managed to keep my attention throughout.  For starters we are given an awesome opening sequence taking up the first 10 or so minutes of the film, drawing out the tension and giving us a taste of the great horror that would soon erupt as the story continued.  I loved the idea of the Arnolds buying the home and bringing their friends over given I am a big fan of haunted house films where the new homeowners take on a home with a dark past that they had no idea of, and of course suffer the horrific consequences of their decision.  The Arnolds bringing their friends over just provided more characters to be killed off by the evil force in the home, and I was very glad to see that we were given many memorable kill sequences in this story – a big reason behind why I never once looked away from this piece.  Some of the kill sequences were not as gruesome as you may want them to be, but considering the low budget I was very happy to see a good number of kills period.  The majority of the film plays off of our characters slowly succumbing to the evil force around them, eventually finding themselves barricaded within the home and forced to fend off an attacker that can take on many killing forms.  The low budget also results in some “what you don’t see is scary” horror, which I never balk at given it comes with its own spookiness that I enjoy and respect.  Naturally there are faults with most horror films, and while this one did not have any major ones I did find some fault during the final sequence.  The final sequence was a bit silly and came seemingly out of nowhere, and according to what I have read there was an alternate version shot to alleviate the complaints regarding the scene in question, but the version I saw was not the re-edited one and regardless I was very pleased with the end result.

Co-writer Gus Trikonis also served as the film’s director, and I must applaud him for doing a lot with what little he had to work with.  His atmosphere and sets are excellent and provided a great background for the film’s numerous spooks, and his execution of the horror itself was great and shot in a very full-frontal and shocking manner.  We are not given much as far as gore goes, but the kills were still enjoyable and actually came with pretty good special FX for the time the film was released.  The acting performances are standard for 70s horror films, and each of the numerous actors involved sold their roles and played their part in this great haunted house film that I found so darn enjoyable.

Overall, The Evil is a great and vastly under-appreciated haunted house film that despite a very low budget still managed to deliver a good story, awesome kills, and good spooks.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Hideo Nakata

Cast – Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Asami Mizukawa, Fumiyo Kohinata, Fu Tokui, Isao Yatsu, Shigemitsu Ogi

Release Year – 2002

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I was first exposed to the Dark Water scene when I viewed its American remake back in 2005, and while I do not remember if I really liked the film or not I knew that the original effort had garnered much praise from horror fans and has been deemed one of the absolute best Japanese horror films of all time. I cannot say that I agree about this being one of Japan’s best in regards to horror, but it really is a good film with a great story from Ringu director Hideo Nakata. Dark Water joins another 2002 effort, Ju-on: The Grudge, as two Asian horror pieces that helped in bringing Asian horror to the western part of the world, which inadvertently resulted in the American fad of remaking good Asian horror. Personally I did not enjoy this effort as much as I wanted to, but I blame that mostly on my personal preferences, and in the end I will say that Dark Water is a darn good horror effort worth a viewing for die hard Japanese horror fans.

While suffering the stresses of the custody battle for her 6 year old daughter, Yoshimi moves her and her daughter to an old but cost-efficient apartment. Things go well for Yoshimi at first, but soon the apartment begins to fall apart when a running water leak permeates her roof. The apartment is not only suffering physical damage though, and Yoshimi soon learns that the water results from a haunting past associated with the apartment.

Of course this being an Asian film there has to be some sort of vengeful ghost element right? Well, yeah, but this adaptation Koji Suzuki’s novel does not give us the typical angry ghost that some love and many love to loathe. I really enjoy storylines where someone moves into a new home and then suffers the effects of prior bad acts that occurred there, and obviously Dark Water falls into that category. There is a bit of development that takes place at first, exposing the viewer to Yoshimi’s legal struggle with her former husband who now all of a sudden wishes to have custody of the daughter he rarely saw or paid attention to, and combined with Yoshimi’s former mental issues this proves to be a volatile time for her mental state. Of course, things only worsen when her apartment begins exhibiting odd and ever-growing water stains, and her lowlife landlord doing nothing to fix the issue only further aggravates the single mother. Eventually the story moves on to the supernatural element, which involves the story of a young girl who used to live in the apartment, a young girl who leaves her belongings in the home and occasionally makes her visible presence known to Yoshimi and the viewer. Once the supernatural element kicks in we are provided with a few decent scares, but I never once found myself scared or freaked and that is one of the reasons why I did not enjoy this film as much as I expected to. In all fairness I did not see this film as one that purposely aimed to scare the hell out of you like Ringu and One Missed Call, but nonetheless I expected at least a few good jolts but nothing sufficed. Because of the type of story this is and the heavy drama provided, the story does move pretty slow and may turn off some viewers looking for a good time. Paring a slow story with a lack of scares is never a good thing, but in the end the story managed to be a good one overall, but obviously one that will take much patience.

Director Hideo Nakata did a fairly good job executing this piece, giving us his usually great atmosphere heavy in gloom and dread. The apartment location was great and played very well into the spooky atmosphere, and his execution of what little horror was provided managed to be worthwhile in the end. I mentioned earlier that there are very few scares, and while the “scare” scenes were not very scary at all I really do not blame Nakata for this but more the screenplay which called for scenes that were simply not very scary. Of course, he is not one to fail on the scare mark and managed to provide one good scare at the end (hallway scene) that I found to be the best highlight the film had to offer.

Overall, Dark Water is one of the better Asian horror movies out there thanks to great atmosphere and a slow-burning story that provides good elements of horror in a package not meant to scare you outrightly. While this is not a personal favorite of mine as I found it slow and a bit boring, this is nonetheless a great effort from one of Asian horror’s brightest minds.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Franck Richard

Cast – Émilie Dequenne, Benjamin Biolay, Yolande Moreau, Philippe Nahon, Georges Lini, Philippe Résimont, Brice Fournier

Release Year – 2010

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I read about The Pack a few months back and was immediately intrigued after reading its storyline and it being a French given France’s insane ability to deliver good horror in creative and well-shot fashion these days. From start to finish I was enamored by what The Pack had to offer, and despite some faults found it to be an enjoyable and somewhat guilty pleasure of mine after reading many negative reviews on this piece.

While traveling a lonely road to nowhere Charlotte(Emile Dequenne; Brotherhood of the Wolf) picks up Max, a hitchhiker, and they stop at a truck stop for a bite to eat. Soon after arriving Max disappears, leading the worried Charlotte to search in vain for him, only to realize that she has fallen into a trap involving immortal blood-lusting ghouls.

The plot is as simple as it gets, and I never look down on plots that give me a simple and well-executed story. Things start off a bit slow, with character development and play going on between Charlotte and Max at first, then followed by Charlotte’s search for the first guy in a long time to treat her well and not be a prick (although her “type” is what pricks prefer). Soon after that Charlotte’s search for Max brings her face to face with a sect of people planning to use her for some sort of pagan ritual, and that is when the story starts to get good. It did not take long for all of this to happen, occurring during roughly the first 25 minutes of screen time. The next 20 minutes or so develop quite slow, focusing on Charlotte and her desperate search to free herself from her captors, but once the 45 minute “halfway” mark kicks in things REALLY get good with the introduction of our star players. During a late-night ritual we are introduced to a group of dead miners rising from the earth to feed on those who have been captured by Charlotte’s captors. The miners were very much like the “living dead” of long ago, slow moving and suffering an insatiable thirst for human flesh. However, in this case the miners cannot be killed with a shot to the head. Eventually we learn most of the reasoning behind what is going on with the miners, and while it was mostly predictable and not very creative the writing execution was good and kept me engaged even during the film’s many slow and dialogue-less sequences during the first half of the story.

Writer Franck Richard also serves as the film’s director, and I felt that he shined with The Pack, his debut film. From the get-go we are thrown into his dark and gloomy atmosphere, with was complimented by equally gloomy sets and locations that provided a heavy sense of dread in anticipation over the horror that would eventually kick in. Once things do get going his horror is incredible, giving us some very creepy dead miners that looked more like ghoulish creatures suffering the “zombie walk”, which only made them creepier. His execution of the actors involved was good, and while none of them stood out they each held their own weight and did not detriment from the film. In addition to the live-action FX used with the miners we are also given some good gore as well, which sometimes came in hilariously awesome fashion and others in horrific fashion, all of which I found very much enjoyable in this underrated (at the moment) piece.

Overall, The Pack is an enjoyable creature fest sure to please fans of such films. The story is an interesting one that should keep you engaged if you give it the chance, and despite some slow points it managed to give us plenty of horror as well. The direction is good and complimented the horror written into the film with some very creepy antagonists and good gore, making for a film that is far from spectacular but nonetheless one that I really enjoyed despite its faults.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Victor Cook, Tad Stones

Cast – Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, John Hurt, Doug Jones, Peri Gilpin, Jim Cummings, J. Grant Albrecht, James Arnold Taylor

Release Year – 2007

Reviewed by John of the Dead

The animated Hellboy series continues after Sword of Storms with Blood and Iron, an equally enjoyable piece that once again gives us Hellboy & co. kicking supernatural ass in animated fashion.

We follow the crew as they investigate a large mansion purchased by a friend of the senator who funds the paranormal ass-kicking force. The mansion holds much significance to Professor Broom, who in 1939 defeated the powerful female vampire Erzsebet Ondrushko at that very mansion, and he joins the crew to ensure the the mansion is still safe. When it becomes apparent that someone is trying to bring Erzsebet back from the dead, Hellboy & co. aid the professor in finishing unsettled business after over half a century of waiting.

I really enjoyed this storyline, adapted by Kevin Hopps from Mike Mignola and Tad Stones’ story, thanks to it involving Professor Broom to a much higher level than usual. Told in the past and present time we follow Broom as he fought to vanquish a woman who believed that bathing in the blood of young beautiful women would keep her young. Of course, this dilemma was ultimately left unsettled and Broom saw the need to investigate the mansion before the senator’s friend turned it into a ghost-themed hotel. I loved watching the storyline develop with constant flashbacks to the events that Dr. Broom saw occur at the mansion, events that are now occurring all over again. Each of our characters was used positively, especially our main characters in Hellboy, Professor Broom, Liz Sherman, Abe Sapien, and newcomer Oliver Trombolt. There is plenty of action written into this piece, which I assumed would be so, and it was great in giving us numerous antagonistic character for Hellboy and his troops to destroy, including: ghosts, wolves, witches, harpies, a giant werewolf, and Erzsebet herself in several different forms. In addition to this Kevin Hopps defied cliches often associated with animated films and gave us fantastic dialogue that aiding in presenting and developing the characters so positively.

Directors Victor Cook and Tad Stones did a great job with this one, giving us awesome visuals, great sets, and the usual enjoyable elements associated with these Hellboy films. The vocal acting performances are great, and much like Sword of Storms Hellboy, Liz, Abe, and Prof. Broom are voiced by the same actors who portrayed them in the Hellboy live-action flicks, making this piece all the more enjoyable for that reason. And the action? The action was fantastic and consisted of awesome looking antagonists and plenty of brutal confrontation in this epic battle between good and evil.

Overall, Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron is an awesome animated flick sure to please fans of the Hellboy series thanks to it giving us all of the same sweet elements found in the live-action films.

Rating: 8/10

Director – Ti West

Cast – Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis, George Riddle, Alison Bartlett, Lena Dunham, Jake Ryan, John Speredakos

Release Year – 2011(VOD)

Reviewed by John of the Dead

After making a name for himself with slow-burner horror films The Roost and 2009′s The House of the Devil, Ti West returns with one of the best horror films of 2011(VOD)/2012 in The Innkeepers. Once again blessing us with a slow-burner in the vein of 80s horror, Ti West delivers another positive horror experience that comes with not only more laughs than usual but also great horror as well. Fans of the supernatural will be glad to see Ti West taking a shot at the paranormal, a shot that he gets right – proving that he is here to stay as one of horror’s best modern day auteurs.

It’s the final weekend of existence for the Yankee Pedlar Inn and the employment of its two employees, Claire(Sara Paxton) and Luke(Pat Healy). Both have a heavy interest in the paranormal, and with their boss out of town they seek to expose the hotel’s haunted past – a past that is brought to light when strange guests check in for the weekend.

I have always given Ti West props for his good direction, but after viewing this piece I must also give praise to his ability to write a damn good story. First off: the setting and the overall elements involved in the story are fantastic. We have an old spooky inn that is near closing, so if anything crazy is going to happen it has to happen before the weekend is over, and with our protagonists being ghost adventurers of sorts you can bet your arse we are going to get some good spooks before the credits roll. The story does start off a bit slow, typical of West’s work, but unlike his other films we are given a fair amount of comedy thanks to the quirky antics going on between Claire and Luke, which aided in keeping my interest until the horror surfaced. I admit that there were several times where I literally laughed out loud over what was going on, and much to my surprise there were simple yet crafty jokes that I never saw coming nor would have experienced in the horror genre. Once the first act is over we start receiving our first bits of horror as strange/odd guests begin checking in at the hotel, which just so happen to coincide with strange events that occurred and are still occurring at the old inn. Our protagonists employ some of the usual paranormal detection equipment, which despite seeming lame was not very lame at all, and was used to full potential given it not only proved a paranormal existence in the inn but angered whatever presence there was. Most of the horror is fairly subtle during the second act, however once the third act kicks in the horror hits the viewer with full force and delivers lots of enjoyable spooks and results in a climax that I not only found a bit unconventional for the genre but pretty enjoyable too for that reason. There are a few faults in the storyline here and there, mostly having to do with a few useless characters (the estranged wife hiding out at the hotel), and of course the fact that I wanted more horror during the earlier acts – which I know by now is just the way Ti Wests writes, but still.

West’s direction rivals his writing, expertly executing his story in high detail and securing my attention for the entire 100 minute experience. The character play between Claire and Luke is fantastic, with both Sara Paxton(Shark Night 3D, The Last House on the Left remake, Return to Halloweentown) and Pat Healy(Rescue Dawn, Ghost World) providing excellent performances in unique and quirky fashion – which I would expect from two crafty innkeepers with nothing better to due but surf the web and consume vegan products. Their chemistry was fantastic and provided for much of the “fun” feel the film brings, even during the scariest sequences. Speaking of scary, Ti West gave me some delightful scares that I was not sure would be made present due to the “fun” feel of this piece, but he showed his established prominence as director in giving us a harrowing third act that contained all the horror I need to find this film and enjoyable one – although I did want more horror. The look of the ghosts was great, especially the older gentleman, and West’s camerawork made for some pretty good scare sequences without actually showing anything, a tactic perfected by Sam Raimi and other greats decades ago. The sets used were fantastic and provided a nice spooky feel to the film, and throughout the entire piece I marveled at his cinematography and crafty camerawork that seems to come naturally to this awesome director.

Overall, The Innkeepers is one of the best horror films of 2011 and once again proves Ti West has what it takes to solidify himself as a genre filmmaker.  The storyline is great and highly-engaging thanks to many unique elements going on, and his direction sells the storyline and the horror involved in equally engaging fashion.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang

Cast – Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller, John Corbett, Evan Turner,
Theodore Turner, William B. Davis

Release Year – 2007

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I remember being pretty stoked when I first saw a trailer for The Messengers back in 2007 due to it being directed by The Pang Brothers, whose film The Eye is one of my all-time favorites, and produced by Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Productions.  Supernatural films have always interested me, and taking place in a rural farm environment usually provides nice creepy atmosphere, but despite those positive elements the film never amounted to what it could have been.

When Roy Solomon(Dylan McDermott; Hardware, “American Horror Story”) moves his family to a rural farm he just purchased he does so in hopes of finding financial success again through harvesting sunflowers.  All is well at the quiet farmhouse until his daughter, Jess (Kristen Stewart; Twatlight) begins seeing weird phenomena around the home stemming from dark events that took place years prior.

Sounds like a storyline you’ve come across dozens of times right?  The Messengers, written by Mark Wheaton, brings nothing new to the table despite my usual enjoyment of films that employ characters moving into a new home carrying a dark past.  Setting the story at a rural farmhouse has positive given it isolates our protagonists from any nearby help, and the old creepy house made for some good atmosphere to aid in the film’s few decent scares.  Wheaton’s story suffers as soon as it begins, giving us the usual cliches that we see in this films and furthering the nonsense with a “twist” that I saw coming miles away with little common sense.  The character play is where the majority of the nonsense occurs, with the usual doubting of Jess’ sufferings by Roy and Denise(Penelope Ann Miller; The Relic) and the inclusion of a passer-by, Burwell(John Corbett), whose purpose was known the second he appeared on screen.  So how is the horror?  Well the scares written into the film are nothing new, however I fell they were written to appease the film’s popular directors…The Pang Brothers.

The Pangs were so-so in this film, giving us fantastic atmosphere and great sets that set the stage for some good horror to present itself, but the horror was hit-and-miss throughout this 90 minute effort.  This being a supernatural film we are given plenty of ghost action, and it comes in the usual execution we see in Asian supernatural films – ghosts with very choppy mannerisms.  Some will find this cliche, as I did, and in addition to that the scenes were not very scary as well.  The acting performances were also mediocre, with none of our actors – Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller - delivering a performance that I haven’t seen before, adding more the cliched experience this film provided.  While I love the Pang Brothers and still find them relevant in the horror genre, The Messengers, their first American effort, may be a  hint that they should stick to the Asian films they have had great success with.

Overall, The Messengers is a muddled experience full of the usual cliches found in supernatural horror films with Hollywood’s blessing – so bad that even the Pang Brothers could not save this one.

Rating: 5/10

Director – Tennyson Bardwell

Cast – Tim Daly, Tom Arnold, Zoe Saldana, Edward Herrmann, Andrea Roth, Robert Prosky, Bruce Altman, Reila Aphrodite, Lea Coco, Sara Weaver, L.J. Foley, Paul Tietjen

Release Year – 2009

Reviewed by John of the Dead

My love for haunted house films lead me to this one, and the fact that I am quite the skeptic myself (on everything BUT the paranormal) I figured I’d like the subject matter. Well, despite starting off very well The Skeptic was not as great as I expected it to be, suffering from numerous writing faults that left it falling flat in the end.

After the death of his unlikable rich aunt, lawyer Bryan Becket, the only heir to his aunt, sees an opportunity to make some serious money by selling him her large home. When he learns that she instead left her home to a college agency focusing on the unexplained, he also learns that she believed her home was haunted, and soon learns that despite his skepticism there is definitely something wrong with the home.

I’ve said it numerous times in the past and I will say it again – I love horror films where someone moves into a new home and suffers the consequences of its haunted past. The first act of the film started off very well, with the first few spooks coming in subtle but effective variety. Our lead comes off as the usual asshole lawyer who believes logic and reason can explain every mystery there is, and boy is he wrong. Immediately after entering the home he is bombarded with odd sounds and unexplainable whispering, which eventually build up into haunting manifestations that remove all skepticism and force him to deal with the issue without the help of logic and science. Sadly, it is when the horror is “supposed” to get good that the film begins to fall flat. The writing execution of Bryan’s past and the ghosts he sees is mediocre at its very best, removing all of the positives earned during the first half of the film and ending on a lame note that solidified my feelings that this storyline cost the film heavily.

Director Tennyson Bardwell did a decent job with this film, giving us good atmosphere and positive sets throughout. The acting performances were decent as well, and Tim Daly’s performance as Bryan started off great but eventually fell just as flat as the storyline did. I mentioned earlier that the horror was great at first, and I applaud Mr. Bardwell for that, but he really let things go for the worst once things began to fall into place and the “horror” kicked in. It was pretty surprising to me that not only the writing but also the direction suffered when the film picked up on the horror, but that is the hand we are dealt with in The Skeptic – a film I wish (here it comes) I was more “skeptical” over prior to watching.

Overall, The Skeptic is a very mediocre piece that started off well but eventually fell to both poor writing and direction. Despite the early positives this is one film that you should most likely avoid if you are looking for a good experience, or just watch the first half and then pop in something better.

Rating: 5/10

Director – Mathieu Kassovitz

Cast – Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., John Carroll Lynch, Charles S. Dutton, Bernard Hill, Penelope Cruz

Release Year – 2003

Reviewed by John of the Dead

This was my first time watching Gothika since it debuted back in 2003, and despite this being a very easily accessible film I just did not want to afford myself the 98 minutes required to watch it again for review. I normally try to stay away from horror/thrillers that involve A-list actors given the films usually aim to appeal to the general public, which I have always found to be a bad idea if you want to deliver some good horror. However, Gothika was surprisingly effective in numerous ways and despite not being very scary it did give me a mostly-enjoyable storyline that along with positive direction made for a mostly-positive film in the end.

After suffering a car crash under mysterious circumstances, psychiatrist Dr. Miranda Grey(Halle Berry) finds herself imprisoned in the very same psych ward she works at – learning that she committed a heinous crime that she not only has no recollection of, but comes with supernatural tendencies involving a terrible secret close to home.

You should know by now that I love horror films that involve the supernatural, as well as psychology, and Gothika managed to blend both of those for me fairly well. Much like The Ward and Fragile, we are thrown into a psych ward with a haunting past of sorts, and it affects our main protagonist in “insane” fashion. I enjoyed the idea of Dr. Grey being committed to the very institution she worked at, an idea I had never seen before, and while it did not necessarily result in any more horror than another setting it was a unique idea that allowed me to find joy in her dilemma – as screwed up as that sounds.

Director Matthew Kassovitz did a fairly good job executing this piece, giving us great atmosphere with dark and gloomy sets that set the tone to provide some good scares.  Sadly his execution of the scares was not very good and I found no scare sequences worth mentioning in positive fashion, but overall I was impressed that he at least provided good atmosphere.  Halle Berry was positive in her role, as was Robert Downey Jr., John Caroll Lynch, and Charles S. Dutton, with each of them providing mostly-positive performances that thankfully did not get as cheesy as I expected them to be given this is a very Hollywood film.

Overall, Gothika is a film that could have been much better had better scare sequences been written and executed into the experience, but overall it is a mostly-positive flick that was much  better than I expected it to be, making it at least worth a one-time view if you have nothing better to watch.

Rating: 6/10

Director – Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Cast – Christopher Nicholas Smith, Lauren Bittner, Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown, Dustin Ingram, Katie Featherston, Sprague Grayden

Release Year – 2011

Reviewed by John of the Dead

This is one film we in the horror community knew was coming when Paranormal Activity 2 raked in big profits last year. Obviously it’s climax pretty much left any advanced storylines off the table, and the only option was to take on Hollywood’s newest trendy way to keep you spending money on the same franchise…a prequel. This time focusing on what lead to the hauntings suffered by Katie in Paranormal Activity and her sister Ali in the sequel, we are given more haunting material shown in the same POV fashion that ultimately results in another fun ride for this franchise.

Before the events that occurred in Paranormal Activity and Paranormal Activity 2, Katie and Ali stumble across a box of old video tapes from their childhood – tapes they have no recollection of. Upon playing the tapes we are thrown into year 1988, in which the young girls befriend an invisible guest residing in their home who has sinister plans for them and their family.

I admit I was a bit curious as to how these two girls wound up in the hauntings they were in, and my interest grew with every film as more and more details emerged. Disturbia and Blood and Chocolate writer Christopher B. Landon seems to have helped me out with that a bit, and I credit him for coming up with some clever tactics that made what should have been a repetitive experience a fairly creative one instead. Delving into the girls’ childhood forced us into a different era that made for a different “look” for the film, both with the sets used and especially the camera quality. Overall the events that take place are pretty much the same as the other two films: a camera is set up to record suspicious activities, the activities grow in supernatural presence, and in the end we are given a strong final act that bleeds high tension. The only real difference is the time frame and the fact that we already know what happened to the little girls – they became big girls who got in a nasty fight with a demon – so throughout the piece you have the calm feeling knowing that they are not going to die…yet. Each of the characters involved provided positively to the film, with none of them useless or merely used to take up space. The parents of the girls were the usual parents, not believing the girls at first but then soon realizing that they should have been listening all along. This was especially prevalent in the usage of Dennis, the girls’ step-father, and their mother Julie. Dennis is the one who sets up the cameras (it’s always the male doing so in these films) and in this case it is him who is trying to convince Julie that something is going on. This spousal conflict is pretty much a staple in supernatural horror films, with one of the spouses believing in the paranormal and the other being the rational one who believes only in what they can see and explain – sadly for them, what you cannot see or explain is what kills you in this story. I was very surprised to see that it was Julie who refused to believe in what was going on and it was the man, Dennis, trying to convince her. It was the opposite in the two previous films, so it was a nice touch to see something different for a change. So now that I’ve written all of this boring nonsense you probably want to know about the horror right? Well, I am pleased to say that once again this series has provided us with worthwhile horror. If you enjoyed the first two films then you know what to expect with this one and it does deliver. I will admit that most of the scares were pop-up ones, with some of them a little silly (in a fun way, you’ll see), but in the end I was pleased with the scares written into the film. My only real beef with this piece is the climax, which seemed to be what most people disliked about the films in this series, and given that they all seem to end in the same tone it is safe to assume that that is just how the filmmakers wish to end these flicks.

Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost serve as the film’s directors – directors who made themselves known with a little indie documentary film from 2007 titled Catfish. I was unsure as to how the direction would be due to this two director combo, something we had yet to see in this series, but in the end I was pleased with the results. Their atmosphere is great and they use positive sets that allow for creepy angles for the video cameras to be placed in, and their ability to provide good tension left me very pleased. I am a huge fan of drawn-out scenes that force the viewer to squirm in his/her seat in anticipation of what is going to happen, and those scenes were employed numerous times in this 81 minute experience. We were even given a pretty creative tactic involving a panning video camera on a homemade device, an idea that was used to full potential to provide these drawn out scenes that I just mentioned. The acting performances were fair and each of the actors came off as real as can be (an important element in these POV pseudo-documentary films), but my only slight gripe was the execution of the scares. Their execution of the tension was great, but I honestly felt that the scares lacked the punch felt in the first two films. Not one time did I get chills during this piece, which I received plenty of in the previous ones, but I did feel my heart in my throat at times in regards to the tension they created. This could partially reflect on the writing in that Mr. Landon chose to write scares that would have been hard to execute properly, but I just don’t see that and I blame the directors for this. Aside from that this is a well-directed effort that shows these guys have what it takes to hang in the genre for now.

So is the series over? I believe it is. The first two films pretty much closed off the advancing storyline regarding the two sisters, and this one aims to take care of what happened previously to them. I can see how they would continue the series by giving us ANOTHER prequel taking place between this film and the previous two, but I cannot see how the filmmakers could make that interesting enough to give us another solid horror film.

Overall, Paranormal Activity 3 is another solid effort in this series that gives good horror and great tension thanks to positive direction and an interesting storyline who together managed to keep things fresh and interesting for those who have kept up with the series. Recommended.

Rating: 7/10