Tag Archives: To Watch Pile

Countdown to Halloween Review #3: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

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One from the re watch pile…
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)


Film: Over the years, Halloween III: Season of the Witch copped a lot of crap. I can still remember a conversation I had with the receptionist at a company I worked for in 1988, Lisa (a fellow horror fan) where she said that when she saw it, the only part that excited her was the image of Michael Myers walking down the stairs on the TV Tom Atkins watches as the Buccaneer Lounge.

I disagreed with her. Irwin Yablans claims that removing Myers from the series was a misstep after having part one and two starring him, but as far as we were concerned, he was dead, and it was time to perhaps take the series in a new direction. The concept at the time was to release a ‘Halloween’ film every Halloween, but each film could potentially be the beginning of a brand new franchise, or a stand alone film.

I think that was a great idea, and let’s face it, Friday the 13th did not an entirely dissimilar thing with its horror subgenre gear changes from giallo to slasher to giallo to zombie to supernatural to science fiction switches throughout its first ten films.

Would this film have been a success if it didn’t have the ‘Halloween’ label on it? Perhaps, but it shouldn’t be punished for it either as I think it’s a pretty good horror film in its own right!


Halloween III: Season of the Witch tells of Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) who teams up with the daughter of a deceased patient, Ellie Grimbridge (Stacy Nelkin) to travel to the town of Santa Mira, home of the Silver Shamrock, run by Conan Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy) in an attempt to find out what happened to her father, but what they find in the small berg is death and horror!

An evil plot is uncovered which may result in the death of hundreds of thousands of children, and does it have something to do with the missing piece of Stonehenge?

Of course it does!


Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a fun horror romp that is creepy and clever and well worth a watch, though the Silver Shamrock song is an insidious jingle, like the very best/ worst of advertising you’ll see at any time on your TV, and it will get stuck in your head for days.

It’s not a perfect film though, and the bad guy’s overall plan is a little murky in its intention, like the worst of James Bond baddies, and the combination of science and supernatural require a small leap of faith at times.

Essentially, the film is a decent watch that didn’t deserve the criticism it received at the time it came out.

Score: ***1/2


Format: The reviewed copy of this disc was the Australian region B bluray release. The film runs for approximately 99 minutes and it presented in a clear and decent 2.35:1 image and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 audio.

Score: ****

Extras: Not a bad amount of extras on this disc:

Stand Alone: The Making of Halloween III: Season of the Witch explores the reasons behind the dumping of Michael Myers from the franchise, and in general, the actual making of the film. There’s interviews with director Tommy Lee Wallace, producer Irwin Yablans, DoP Dean Cundey, actor Tom Atkins, stunt coordinator Dick Warlock and actress Stacy Nelkin.

Horror’s Hallowed Grounds revisits the various locations from Halloween III today. It’s cool to see what all those 80s locations look like now, and it’s pretty funny too.

Stills Gallery, I bloody hate stills galleries, and this is no exception.

There is also a series of TV spots and a trailer.

In addition to all that, there are 2 commentaries, one by Tom Atkins and one by Tommy Lee Wallace. Both are interesting in their own rights, and are thankfully led by interviewers to fill any quiet spots.

Score: ****

WISIA: Even though the Silver Shamrock song gets stuck in my head for weeks after, I can’t resist rewatching this film. I’ve always liked it and never understood the detractors from it.

Countdown to Halloween Review #4: Night of the Demons (1988)

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One from the re-watch pile…
Night of the Demons (1988)


Film: I find it hard to criticise films from the 80s as this was when I really became a super horror fan. I’d liked monster movies before this decade, but early 80s still really distilled my love and made me the horror fan I am today.

It’s with a slight bit of embarrassment that I admit to this being not just because of stories of murder and mayhem, but also due to the ‘scream queen’ culture, and the names associated, like Brinke Stevens, Michelle Bauer, Debbie Rochon and the legendary Linnea Quigley. It was not always necessary due to Academy Award (r) acting performances that I admired these women, but more due to a more physical aspect of their performances.


Ok, because they were nude quite regularly, and I’m a fan of boobies.

So what is this film about?

Weirdo Angela (Amelia Kinkade) and her friend, the facile Suzanne (Linnea Quigley) have decided to hold a Halloween party for their friends, but what they don’t realise is, is that she is holding the party at the notorious Hill House, an old mortuary that has several legends of awful things happening associated with its history.


Of course, the moronic groups of sex-crazed teens decided to hold a seance, which of course causes one of them to become possessed, who then passes the ‘infection’ on, slowly turning all the group into demonic distorted images of themselves, but who will survive, and what sort of condition will they be left in?

Badly acted and a stupid story with bloodshed and bodacious boobies: it’s all the great things about 80s horror condensed into 90 odd minutes of fun.

Score: ****


Format: The reviewed copy of Night of the Demons was the 2004 release, region 1 DVD from Anchor Bay, and it hasn’t really aged to well, especially with our fancy new equipment that we have now, 12 years later, that’s not to say it’s unwatchable, but it could do with a touch up here and there. This edition is the unrated version with additional gore and violence (the cover slick’s words, not mine) and is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen with a Dolby Digital ‘Ultra Stereo’ soundtrack.

Score: ***

Extras: There’s a couple of extras on this DVD, of which the video quality on them all is lacking.

My Demon Nights is an interview with Linnea Quigley looking back at her career at her experiences on Night of the Demons. It’s interesting but ultimately superficial.

There is also a commentary with director Tenney, executive producer Walter Josten and Producer Jeff Geoffray.

There are two trailers, one the theatrical and the other the video, and three TV spots for the film.

Promo Reel seems to be a promotional piece for video store owners to tempt them into taking Night of the Demons into their shops for rental. It’s actually quite an interesting piece of propaganda!

Score: ***1/2

WISIA: It’s one of my true loves from the 80s, and it gets a regular spin at my place.

Happy Halloween Week!!!

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN WEEK!!
For those of us who love horror movies, Halloween isn’t one night. For some of us, it’s the whole month, for others: the entire year! I love it when Halloween decorations hit the store as it means I can decorate my house in the fashion that I wish it were decorated for the entire year: zombie decals in the window, grave stones in the front yard, a ‘Caution: Zombies’ sign on the gate and a carved pumpkin grinning it’s candle-illuminated grin on the front step.

It’s truly a wonderful time.

Usually in October, I would watch a horror movie a day and they would always be favourites and the closer to Halloween it got, the more ‘Halloween-y’ the viewing became. 

Almost always the franchises would get a look in, be it the Friday the 13ths, or the Nightmare on Elm Streets, the Saws; one of them would at the very least get a full series view, but always, without fail, I’d endeavour to make my way through all the Halloween movies… I mean the Michael Myers ones, obviously, though Halloween III: The Season of the Witch would make an out-of-order appearance!

This year though I didn’t get to do this as, quite simply, not only have I been working on content for this site, but my alter ego started a new job, which means my life has been in a strange, constantly fluctuating place, so instead, I have managed to make my way through 7 reviews, all which have a Halloween slant in it… or at the very least a suggestion that the film takes place around this wonderful time.

So I hope you all enjoy my week of Halloween tricks and treats, and come back every day for the next 7 days to see what movie is going to pop up next!

Warcraft (2016) Review

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One from the to watch pile…
Warcraft: The Beginning (2016)

 

The Australian Bluray cover to Warcraft.

Film: Unfortunately for video game to film adaptations, there have been several cinematic crimes committed over the years that have scarred the eyes of all who watched them: Super Mario Bros., Far Cry, Alone in the Dark, Doom, House of the Dead and Double Dragon. I do have to own up and claim that some of the ‘guilty pleasures’ in my regular spin list, even though they aren’t the greatest movies, are video game based: DOA and Pixels (sure not a ‘proper’ video game film, but there are enough 8 bit legends in that film for me to count it).

People seem to forget about the actual hits though: the first Tomb Raider was good enough to spawn a sequel, Resident Evil is a multi-sequeled series of various quality, but generally enjoyable, the Silent Hill films have ticked several boxes and I liked the Hitman films as well.

Warcraft (which has had the subtitle “The Beginning” attached to it here and there) is based on the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) World of Warcraft, the sensation from entertainment company Blizzard who also gave us Starcraft, Overwatch, and Warcraft associated games like Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm, and none of that is to mention my favourite game from them, Diablo (and it’s sequels).

You have to give the filmmakers credit for attempting this film. Not only do they have millions of World of Warcraft fans to keep happy, but a big budget fantasy film in a post-Lord of the Rings/ The Hobbit genre would be a difficult sell to, well ‘normal’ people.
Perhaps in the hands of director Duncan Jones, who previously gave us Moon and Source Code, it could be successful. Jones co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Leavitt, who also wrote Seventh Son, another not entirely bad fantasy film, but different enough from the Hobbit films for it not to be associated, which brings us to the problem this film faced.

Ben Schnetzer as Khadgar

In a world where those aforementioned ‘normal’ folk have become fantasy fans (pfft: ‘muggles’) it’s difficult to sell the tropes of the fantasy genre without seeming to be merely emulating it, even though those of us who have played Dungeons and Dragons or Warhammer, or read associated fiction, have been familiar with ‘orcs’ and other fantasy beasts for our entire fandom, and we are accustomed to them being borrowed from Tolkien’s tomes and other traditional mythologies.

This film does however break the bonds of the traditional fantasy film, and tells a different tale than the ‘a band of brothers of different races overcome their prejudices to fight a common evil’, which is the plot line of SO many fantasy films. Warcraft instead tells the story of two sides of war: of the trials the humans have to endure when an invading force enters their realm, and also that of an army under control of a corrupted leader who don’t all necessarily agree with his motives.

Seeing a fantasy film… or any film that deals with war, fantasy or otherwise, that shows that even in the enemy’s camp there may be dissent is an interesting concept to me, as you perhaps stop and think about the deaths of the bad guys. Though not like in Austin Powers, where it is dealt with in a comedic manner.

I have not played World of Warcraft, but I am a Hearthstone player so I am aware of some of the races and images and even with my limited knowledge it was pretty cool to see some of the beasts and locations that appear in the game pop up here and there (I have to admit to be delighted by the image and sound of a Murloc popping up!)

Haters of CGI are definitely not going to like this film, as there is an astonishing amount of CGI characters and environments, and seeing as how they are keeping to that video game aesthetic, it does all look very artificial. This is no doubt to not alienate those who love the game as they are the people you don’t want to aggravate. I don’t think it’s detrimental to the film at all as the orcs, locations and beasts in general look great. Bare in mind that occasionally the film has little ‘real’ elements in it and it could be best described as an animated feature!

The acting is fine and the direction and fight choreography is exciting, and the production design is certainly on a grand scale. My favourite actor choice though is that of Ben Foster as Medivh. I’ve liked him since I saw him in the teen flick Get Over It and he is quite the intense human being when playing these sort of roles.

Toby Kebbell as Durotan

All in all I enjoyed this film for a couple of reasons. The first is the fact that it is a first, and doesn’t have the plot weight that continuing series’s of films have. This could be just because it’s the first, but I suspect that after the six Tolkien films (which I am still angry at for dumping Tom Bombadil and Goldberry in The Two Towers, but had no problems adding a whole pile of extra crap to three Hobbit films) it might just be a relief to see something free of the shackles of continuing plots. The second reason is it’s just damned fun: just fun with orcs and dwarves and elves and traitors and kings and magic and wizards and giant animals and all that good fantasy stuff.

In my research of this film, to the casual observer and not the obsessive fan, they have certainly been quite faithful to the game with some of the characters and kingdoms appearing, though some of the motives for decisions made may not be entirely fleshed out in the film, but I imagine it is hard to adapt such an open plotted, character driven game in a story driven environment. They managed to do this without that weight I mentioned feeling at all present, but this is due to the fact we are at the origin of the war between orcs and humans. That’s not to say that there perhaps aren’t unresolved plot lines, but we are at the beginning of these plots, rather than halfway through.

I mean it’s not gonna change your life, and the comparisons it receives both to Peter Jackson’s films, and to the Dungeons and Dragons movie from 2000 are certainly unfair for different reasons, but it certainly is a hoot.

Score: ***1/2

Warcraft bluray menu screen

Format: Warcraft was reviewed on the Australian, JB Hifi exclusive release (with extra extras which will be discussed in ‘Extras’) and runs for approximately 122 minutes. It is presented in an immaculate 2.40:1 image with an outstanding Dolby Atmos soundtrack. I must point out that the colours of this film have been amped up for what I guess would be to firstly give it its own identity in a world where the natural-looking Lord of the Rings series exists, and also to have a slightly artificial look to connect it to the video game.

There is also a 3D edition of this film available, as well as a UHD 4K one, for those who have those home cinema capabilities available to them.

Score: *****

Extras: The disc opens with a trailers for Jason Bourne, and one for the Harry Potter-land thing at Universal Studios before we get to the guts of the disc.

Disc one has a bunch of extras:

11 deleted and extended scenes which are interesting, but as one would expect, not necessary.

Gag reel: I love me a good gag reel, and this provided several smiles and a giggle, but no guffaws.

The World of Warcraft on Film is divided into 6 mini features, including Origin Story, The World of Talent, The World of VFX, Outfitting a World, The World of Mo-cap and The World of Stunts. These features explore all the aspects of making the film, as can be seen by the titles, are are each interesting in different ways, though I think they could have been merged together into one single interesting feature.

Travis Fimmel as  Anduin and Paula Patton as Garona

The Fandom of Warcraft is a cool look at the fans of Warcraft, though it may appear to be a little disturbing for non-fandom folk. From the gaming to the cosplay, the fans are pretty hardcore, and awesome! I totally get people who meet friends from gaming as I made really good friends both from Warhammer and Call of Duty, all of whom are still friends today.

Warcraft: Bonds of Brotherhood Motion Comic is one of those special features I’m not really a fan of. I’d rather buy a comic or see a proper animated feature rather than something half animated with a voiceover. That’s not to say it’s a bad story, but I just don’t like this sort of extra.

Warcraft: The Madam Tussauds Experience explores the beautiful waxwork characters Tussauds have created for the Warcraft display.

ILM: Behind the Magic of Warcraft shows the CGI breakdowns of some of the VFX in the film.

Warcraft Teaser is, as you would expect by the name, the sneak peak trailer for the movie.

The second disc is a JB Hifi exclusive in Australia and is a DVD with even MORE extras on it, including Welcome to Warcraft, which explains the origins of the Blizzard game, The Weaponised Magic of Warcraft looks at the physical performance of magic used in the film and The World Within Warcraft explored the locations within the film.

The consistent theme throughout all the extras seems to be the efforts taken to accurately represent the Warcraft game and lore accurately. I reckon that is a pretty cool aspect to take when basing a film on an existing product.

Also, the packaging contains a digital copy of the film, and some bonuses from Blizzard for the games World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone.

Score: *****

WISIA: I don’t think it will be on high rotation, but I doubt if it will gather a year’s worth of dust.

 

 

The Cabin in the Woods (2012) Review

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One from the re watch pile…
Cabin in the Woods (2012)


Film: Occasionally a film is made that adapts the tropes of an aspect of horror and creates a new fun way of making we, the movie fan, re-evaluate why we like those types of films, and maybe, like I do, revisit the older films of it type with not just the nostalgic affection, but with a wry reflection and a different appreciation.

Wes Craven’s Scream did it for me when it came out in the nineties, and my love of the slasher increased and made me seek out more. Cabin in the Woods is another of its ilk, but this time, we taste, obviously, the stories that take place in forbidden places (like cabins in the woodses) and teens who dally with forbidden objects d’evil.


Our film starts in a governmental research facility where two of the workers, Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford) are discussing the fact that only Japan and themselves are able to perform some unknown function after the failure of another institute.

We are then quickly introduced to a group of friends, Dana (Kristin Connelly), her friend, the newly blonded Jules (Anna Hutchison), her boyfriend, Curt (Chris Hemsworth), his friend, Holden (Jesse Williams) and their token stoner, Shaggy-styled buddy, Marty (Fran Kranz) who have decided to take a trip to one of Curt’s cousin’s new cabin, which happens to be in the woods.

Hence the clever name.

What they don’t realise is that conspiracy theorists are right: the government is out to get you, and in this case, the government is offering them up to… Something (which I am definitely NOt going to spoil here as its part of the fun of the film)… Something dark and evil, but why? Who is in charge… And who is REALLY in charge?


The film was written by Joss Whedon (who also produced) and Drew Goddard (who also directed), both of whom worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the light tone with touches of violence and cool monsters reflects that, though I find this film to be far better than any episode of Buffy ever made, mainly due to the cast of this film being totally likeable, and I thought most of the side kicks in Buffy were, well, dicks.

The monsters in this film are the real heroes, and there is a lot of them. If you really REALLY look closely (and explore the extras and rewatch repeatedly), you’ll see so many films being referenced, like Hellraiser, zombie films, The Strangers, The Blob, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Ring, It and others. It also references heaps of more non-cinematic beasts like goblins, and unicorns, and giants. It’s like a Guillermo Del Toro wet dream!

This film is a blast to watch, especially for horror-kids, as it was written and directed and produced by horror-kids. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Score: ****1/2


Format: The Cabin in the Woods was reviewed on a region B bluray, which also came with a digital copy of the film. The film runs for 95 minutes, and is presented in a 2.35:1 image with a Dolby DTS-HD Master audio 5.1 soundtrack, both of which are immaculate, as you would expect a modern film in a modern format to be.

Score: *****

Extras: The disc opens with trailers for Piranha 3DD, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and Lockout before taking us to the main menu, and an extravaganza of special features!

The Audio commentary is performed by Goddard and Whedon, and is a pretty thorough, fun and engaging commentary.

We Are Not Who We Are: Making The Cabin in the Woods looks at the creation and evolution of what became the film we are here to celebrate. It’s really about the process that Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard went through to get the exact look and tone for the film.

An Army of Nightmares: Makeup and Animatronic Effects looks at the monsters that feature in the film and their construction. It’s awesome to see A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Nancy, aka Heather Anderson (formally Langencamp) now well entrenched in the spfx business with her husband, David Leroy Anderson.

Primal Terror: Visual Effects flips the previous extra and now we look at all the CGI in the film.

Marty’s Stash sees actor Fran Kranz explore his character Marty’s collection of fake (one would assume) drug paraphernalia.

Hi, My Name Is Joss and I’ll Be Your Guide sees Whedon tour the set of the actual cabin in the woods, which was actually a set in a soundstage.

Wonder-con Q&A is performed with Geoff Boucher from the LA Times with Whedon and Goddard post screening of the film.

The extras are all quite thorough and go for around 20 minutes to a half hour each, so you come out of the extras line well-educated on the making of the film, and for an extras nut like me, that is well cool.

I have to also highlight just how epic the hero poster is of the film, the Rubik’s Cube Cabin, which is a striking image that really defines the film perfectly, and subliminally.

Score: *****


WISIA: You can watch this film 30 times and still not catch all the homages to other horror films, so rewatching is essential! Geoff Boucher says in the Wondercon Q and A that he wishes there were trading cards of the monsters… I agree!!!

They Wait (2007) Review

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One from the re-watch pile…
They Wait (2007)


Film: Even though for a period everything horror felt like it was a remake of something from Japan, some pretty good films came out, and bare in mind I am not typically a ‘ghost’ horror movie fan, as I like my horror more real… Or inbred… Or angry. It would appear that the so-called j-horror stuff hasn’t completely faded away and occasionally a western film (that’s one not from Asia, rather than one with Cowboys in it) will take some of the elements of those Asian ghost stories and make them its own.

They Wait is such a film.

They Wait tells of married couple Jason (Terry Chen), his wife Sarah (Jamie King) and their son, Sam (Regan Oey) who have to return to America from their home in Shanghai to attend the funeral of Jason’s Uncle Raymond (Colin Foo). They stay in Raymond’s house, which also contained their fabric business, with Jason’s Aunt Mei (Cheng Pei Pei) but after seeing visions of a young Chinese girl with black arms, Sam falls sick and is admitted to hospital in a coma.


Sarah begins investigating the situation and finds that Jason’s Aunt and Uncle’s business may have had a much darker past, and that her and Sam have a gift which allows them to see into the spirit world, but will she be able to find a way to save her son?

There is a lot to like about this film. The three main cast are likeable and feel like they could be a real family unit with some of the issues that a family of mixed origins can face (in this case, the disapproval of older relatives in the lack of Chinese language skills being instilled in Sam). The story is solid, and a few dodgy effects aside, has some great moments.

There’s a few editing faux pas, particularly in a shower scene where a showering King is clearly supposed to be naked and vulnerable, but booby bindings can clearly be seen several times. More bizarrely, the name of a hospital on an ambulance is blurred like a criminal’s face on the news in a rush-to-hospital scene.


There is a few moments of preposterous-ness too. Picture yourself in a forest hunting with a few mates when suddenly you get left behind. You hear a noise and turn to look at a tree that has mysterious scratches appear on it before your eyes, and from those very scratches a red liquid starts to seep from it… Do you freak out and run away? Does your mind snap, Lovecraft style, and cause you to crumble in a whimpering heap?

No, in this film the person in question STICKS HIS FINGER IN THE LIQUID AND TASTES IT. 

Yeah, because that’s what you’d do.

One real disappointing aspect is Michael Biehn is given second billing, but seriously, and with little exaggeration, is in the film for no longer than 4 minutes providing little more than a backstory for King’s character (she used to work in newspapers) and doing some research (which if King used to work in newspapers, she is probably more than capable of using Google).

Anyway, I quite liked the film. It feels like you are watching a j-horror remake due to its trappings be comparable, but with an original tale. When it premiered it was lauded as some kind of amazing horror saviour; it’s not but it’s pretty good.

Score: ***1/2


Format: This film was reviewed on an Australian release DVD, and runs for 85 minutes. The film is presented in a satisfactory 1.76:1 image with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

Score: ****

Extras: Only a trailer.

Score: **

WISIA: It’s a pretty good western impersonation of a Japanese ghost story, and one that I have already enjoyed several times. 

New Rob Zombie shirts from Fright Rags!

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If you liked the Alice Cooper shirts that Fright Rags did a few months ago, you might just dig these Rob Zombie designs announced today!


Now you won’t have to dig through ditches or burn witches to get this lot, they will all be available for  $27 US (plus delivery). Some of these designs are also available as tank tops or baseball shirts.

All photos (c) Fright Rags.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Review

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One from the to watch pile…
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)


Film: In 2008, J.J. Abrams presented us with a film about an alien invasion, that really had one of the most amazing monsters that I have ever seen in cinema history, but for me it didn’t quite work as it used a cinema style that I detest: the so called ‘found-footage’ sub-genre.

This is a sequel… Or is it? You’ll find that I am being deliberately ambiguous in this review as it’s hard to talk about without a massive spoiler, red alert light above my head. Read my synopsis and trust my resolve though, as you won’t be disappointed. The question is, is is this a movie about alien invasion, or something different with the name being the first in a series of clever sleight-of-hand trick to fool the watcher?

Watch and you’ll find out!


Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Michelle, a woman who in her life tends to run from every thing the second in gets too hard; in this case, a relationship. She gets in her car and leaves him, but whilst in the run, she is involved in a car accident.

When she wakes, she has her knee strapped, and I.V. plugged into her arm, but she doesn’t appear to be in a hospital… And she is chained to the wall. Very quickly, Howard (John Goodman) enters and tells her he saved her from the car accident and that he is continuing to save her by keeping her in a bunker as something has happened above ground.

Michelle quickly discovers she is also being held captive with another man, Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), but he actually wanted to get into the bunker as he believes he saw something, which he describes quite ambiguously.

So we have Michelle, trapped with an ex Navy officer who is clearly suffering from a psychotic break, and a young man who may or may not be complicit in his psychosis, in a bunker to protect her from ‘something’ that has happened above… How will she survive? Will she get out, and if so, IS there actually SOMETHING out there?

The first thing I have to compliment this film on is the absolutely perfect casting. The leads, Winstead, Goodman and Gallagher Jr play their roles perfectly. Winstead is delicate and resourceful, but not ‘my dad was an army ranger’ resourceful, instead it’s a realistic recourcefulness that comes from her desperation. Goodman’s portrayal of what appears to be a man suffering from some kind of horrific PTSD is so thrilling that from one moment to the next you just can’t tell how he’ll react to a situation. Gallagher Jr is good in his role too as Winstead’s maybe/ maybe not ally, and the evolution of his character is done well.


For a first time director, Tractenberg has created an amazing film that is claustrophobic both physically and emotionally and contains some moments that are so sudden that even my old-seen-everything-can’t-be-surprised eyes went wide and my mouth hung open for several minutes. From a fine point, he uses some fantastic devices to notify of the passing of time, that are so subtle that they are almost unnoticeable, like Winsted’s nail polish going from perfect to cracking off. It’s not a definitive passing of time, but it’s just noticeable. Broadly, he has simply created a film that is a definitive thriller!

This movie was like flipping your egg and finding out it was actually bacon. I’m not sure how many of you have read the book ‘Quake’ by Richard Laymon, but I got a huge vibe that was similar insomuch that whatever is happening outside is ambiguously deadly compared to the immediate danger from being trapped by/ with someone who has appeared to have somewhat of a psychotic break.

The environment of the film is amazing too. For three actors to spend 2/3 of a film in essential one set requires precise acting and direction to work, and work it does. The bunker is weird and lit wonderfully so that it all feels like a doomsday prepper’s actual underground domicile. 

It would also be remiss of me not to mention the wonderful score by Bear McCreary. It’s a traditional sounding score, but has layers to it that suit the film to a t.

I can see that some may compare this film to stuff like Captivity, but it has so many more levels, and when it does finally play its final hand, it shock is resounding. In one of the extras, a description says the film, and I’ll paraphrase, is like a bow being drawn for the first two acts, and released in the third, and that is the perfect description.

Honestly it’s been a while since I saw a film that was actually thrilling, and this is just that. Don’t necessarily take this as a direct sequel to Cloverfield or a film that takes place in the same universe, but instead a film that exists next to Cloverfield but tells a different story. Honestly I think this is where the Alien franchise should have gone instead of focusing on Ripley, it should have focused on the threat/ potential threat of the unknown.

Score: ****

Format: This is a modern film so one would expect that is would look and sound perfect, and it does. This is the Australian bluray release of the film and is presented in 2.40:1 widescreen with a Dolby 5.1 Atmos audio track.

Score: *****

Extras: A decent pile of extras on this disc.


First we have a commentary by director Dan Tractenberg and producer J.J. Abrahms which is an amazing introspective look not just into the making of this film, but filmmaking in general.

A bunch of featurettes also appear: Cloverfield Too (looks at the ideas of the film), Bunker Mentality (looks at the construction of Howard’s bunker), Duck and Cover (about the design of the hazmat suit), Spin-off (looks at the practical special effects), Kelvin Optical (looked at the visual and audio effects department of Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions), Fine Tuned (explores the score by Bear McCreary) and End of Story (is really just a summation of the pervious featurettes). These featurettes essentially were great, but in my opinion could have been mixed together into one pretty awesome filmmaking documentary.

Score: ****


WISIA: Even though the trick has played its hand, the performances give it a lot of rewatchability.