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Review by Nia Edwards-Behi

Deliver Us From Evil seems like the latest installment in the mainstream, 15-cert haunting/possession trend of horror films. Director Scott Derrickson previously brought us The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister, and just as Emily Rose was as much a courtroom drama as it was a horror film, here Derrickson brings us a horror film wrapped in a cop movie.

Inspired by real-life characters, Deliver Us From Evil follows NYPD officer Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) as he investigates some of the city’s most violent crimes. His partner, Butler (Joel McHale) gleefully works with Sarchie, who he thinks has a ‘radar’ for the most interesting cases. When two separate cases seems to be linked, Sarchie meets the Jesuit priest Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez), and discovers that his radar might be more than just a joke his partner makes. While struggling to balance his life between his wife Jen (Olivia Munn) and daughter Christina (Lulu Wilson) and his work, Sarchie finds himself drawn into his most unusual and terrifying case to date.

Although the theatrical marketing of Deliver Us From Evil relied heavily on its ‘inspired by actual events’ strap line, the lightest amount of digging reveals that the film simply takes the character of Sarchie and makes up a new story for him. The priest Mendoza is an amalgamation of two Irish priests, and the apparently specific decision to have him be Hispanic rather than Irish is quite a welcome change. I’m not sure how well-known a figure Sarchie is (I wasn’t familiar with him), but I quite like that the case itself has been created especially for the film. There’s little room for cries of ‘it didn’t happen like that!’, as indeed, it didn’t happen at all.

Overall, I certainly enjoyed this blend of cop drama and possession horror. The film is around 20 minutes too long, though, and I could easily identify which scenes I would have cut: scenes of Sarchie’s family life, his wife and daughter at first feeling somewhat abandoned by the hardworking cop (though there’s a refreshing lack of nagging from Jen Sarchie, as tends to be the norm for depictions of such relationships), to then becoming intrinsically linked to the case keeping Sarchie away from them. Admittedly, maybe we’d care less about Sarchie without his family background, but in a film like this I’m not hugely bothered about in-depth characterisation – we’re on-side with Sarchie enough through his friendship with his partner Butler. In fact, Sarchie’s guilt about neglecting his wife and daughter might even have been better portrayed had we never seen them in the film. His focus is on the job, and it felt like the film needed to keep its focus there too.

The scenes in which some spooky things start happening in Sarchie’s own home, centred on his young daughter, are probably the most predictable of the whole film. I suppose the scares are really mostly generic throughout, but if you’re a sucker like me, they’ll actually work quite well in parts. Strangely, I find myself falling for these sorts of bumps in the night when I watch films like this at home than I do when I watch them in a cinema. However, if you’re more likely to roll your eyes at mainstream jumps and spooks, then you might find yourself rolling your eyes at quite a lot of the film.

The film’s performances are decent, if a little bland, but thankfully there’s quite a strong script to be found here. In particular, the cop banter is quite nicely done, without ever feeling too forced or false. Bana gets to shine through a little during some key scenes, and indeed the quiet, extended scenes of dialogue between him and Ramirez are some of the film’s best. Otherwise the film’s most notable performance probably comes from Sean Harris as Santino, with a suitably horrifying depiction of demonic possession. There are some really nice directorial flourishes from Derrickson, meaning that the film never felt too boring to me, even if I did feel it was somewhat long-winded. A scene in which Sarchie recalls a previous case in which he investigated a child murderer stands out in particular, as does a brief scene in which he listens to a recording of a demonic possession from Mendoza’s past. Alongside these flourishes there are some pleasingly grotesque moments, including a crucified pet and the final, crucial exorcism.

The weakest thing about the whole film, for me, was it’s godawfully generic ‘horror movie’ score, and I say that as someone who quite enjoys the work of Charlie Clouser. However, while a lot about Deliver Us From Evil is quite generic, there’s enough going on in the film that’s interesting enough to make it an enjoyable film nevertheless. It’s an easy and very entertaining watch, and a film I’d happily revisit again.

Deliver Us From Evil is out now on UK DVD and Blu-ray, from Sony.

Review by Ben Bussey

Whilst it may be a dish best served cold, revenge has been pretty damned hot in indie filmmaking in recent years. Pretty much any neo-grindhouse movie to have come along since Rodriguez and Tarantino set that particular ball rolling has featured at least one lone survivor with a serious score to settle. More often than not these movies have also taken place in an arid desert setting, and in most instances vintage muscle cars, strip clubs and hard drug use wind up playing a key role. Every one of these boxes is ticked by Ravi Dhar’s directorial debut Vengeance Road (quite why it was decided to ditch the rather cooler original title American Muscle for the UK is beyond me), and as such it’s inevitable that the movie carries more than a slight sense of been-there done-that. However, if you stick with it you may find it doesn’t wind up following quite the path you think it will.

John Falcon (Nick Principe) is a bad-ass motherfucker who we meet just as he’s released from a decade in the big house, and we quickly learn he doesn’t expect to be out, or possibly even alive, for a particularly long time. As soon as he manages to get back to his old stomping ground (by way of a convertible-driving cougar kind enough to give him a ride, in both senses), John immediately sets about finding and killing each and every member of his old crew – and the big name at the end of the list is his own brother Sam (Todd Farmer). Quite what went down ten years earlier is not entirely clear at first, but as John’s quest for bloody retribution proceeds, we’re granted more glimpses of the job that went wrong in flashback. But as much as John’s motivation is to get back at the former friends who fucked him over, there’s one faint light at the end of the tunnel: his estranged wife Darling (Robin Sydney), a drug addict whose troubles would seem to have inadvertently sent John down the criminal path in the first place. John’s mission would seem straightforward enough – kill the bad guys, get the girl – but it soon transpires things might not be quite that simple.

The casting of Todd Farmer in the key villain role is an interesting move. As the screenwriter behind Jason X, the My Bloody Valentine remake and – most notably for our purposes here – the enormously underrated Drive Angry, he’s most recognisable from his cameos in those movies. With the whole recently liberated convict out for blood with a gun and a muscle car angle, there are clear echoes of Drive Angry to be found in Vengeance Road – but one thing this movie has which really works to its advantage is a lead actor who genuinely looks capable of the things we see him do (sorry, Nic Cage, you know we love you). A 6′ 7″ skinhead covered in tattoos and a long way from conventional leading man handsome, Nick Principe – best known to some of us as the dude behind the Chromeskull mask in the Laid To Rest movies, and most recently seen in Seed 2 – is pretty much what you expect to see if you look up “someone you don’t want to run into down a dark alley” in a dictionary. Casting such a dude as the hero – even an anti-hero like this one – is a ballsy move, and happily it really pays off. An even more pleasant surprise is that Principe proves a bit more versatile an actor than we might anticipate: whilst he comes off every inch the unstoppable killing machine from the get-go, there are moments of vulnerability which are handled surprisingly well.

Also surprising is how seriously the film handles the subject of drug addiction. Again, drug use is pretty much a given in these retro-exploitation movies – after all, most of them seem custom designed for an audience already under the influence, and Vengeance Road is no exception, as evidenced by the psychedelic overtones, lurid visuals, plentiful nudity and moments of outright weirdness (look no further than the final seconds of the trailer below for evidence of this). It’s not surprising that the cover art highlights Malice McMunn as gang girl Sassy Fanny; as a heavily inked Suicide Girl type with a giant mohawk and no readily apparent hang ups about being naked, she’s a striking and memorable presence for sure. However, Robin Sydney deserves particular praise for her turn as Darling, taking what initially seems a fairly standard damsel-in-distress role but delving deeper into shades of grey, asking realistic questions about just how easily such a person can really be ‘rescued.’ Sure, both the actress and director milk it for maximum sex appeal, with countless sultry scantily clad shots flashing up from John’s memory – but these ultimately stand to highlight the contrast between his idealised recollections of what was, and the ugly reality that these characters truly face. (Credit is of course also due here to writer John Fallon, who also co-stars – and I can’t help but love that he all but named the hero after himself.)

In short, Vengeance Road does what so few neo-grindhouse movies manage: it delivers all the old school sleaze you hope to see, but doesn’t neglect to tell a well-rounded story in an intelligent way. Perhaps it suffers slightly from its low production values, and I know I won’t be alone in wishing it hadn’t been so reliant on CG gore, but all things considered this is definitely one of the better films of its kind that we’ve seen recently. I doubt it’ll do anything to change your mind if you’re not already a fan of the new grindhouse, but otherwise this it’s well worth giving a shot.

Vengeance Road is released on Region 2 DVD on 5th January 2015 from Metrodome.

Review by Matt Harries

‘Art House horror’. I don’t know about you but that term immediately causes an arterial explosion of words to issue forth from my mental recesses. ‘Bloody’, ‘visceral’, ‘warped’, ‘unconventional’, ‘non-linear’…’Lynchian’ of course. There are conventions even within the language of the unconventional. Reference points which we check off, co-ordinates we follow, that take us to the territory we recognise as being somewhere beyond the well trodden path.

We make this journey away from the typical, the popular, the easy, essentially because it affords us a different way of looking upon our lives. A different lens to look through which offers a new perspective upon the normal. The only problem we have here in 2014, in fact one of the biggest challenges to cinema and other creative forms, is that the less trodden path does not quite lead us to the virgin wilderness it once did. Look back the way you came; see, a path has been made. Not quite a highway, but a discernible trail nonetheless. Others have been here before.

What more can art house horror say when the likes of Cronenberg and Lynch have produced works which set the gold standard for the style? And more to the point for this article, to what extent does Coyote offer something which places it within the category of innovative rather than merely derivative? The key thing for me would be the question of whether it could engage with me on something other than the level of mere shock or disgust. Having watched it once, I certainly feel like it needs to be watched again to be fully appreciated and absorbed. In terms of its ability to make a lasting connection, it was perhaps only a partial success.

Coyote follows Bill, an insomniac writer, and his journey through hallucinogenic nightmares that occur in both waking and sleeping hours. Themes of paranoia, murder and physical transformation dominate his mind, afflicted by fear of sleep and a growing disconnection with reality. Unsurprisingly the story, such as it is, does not follow a linear pattern. Instead it lurches, disintegrates and reforms. Sinks into black depths and and emerges only to return writhing into the earth again. Bill seems to exist in a number of different guises; voyeur, fantasist, loner, worker. Violence simmers close to the surface of his personality and is an ever present theme of the nightmares he constantly experiences.

Something of a cult figure in the world of low budget horror, the workaholic Bill Oberst Jr. plays Bill with an impressive intensity which will be familiar to anyone who has seen his work before. Like some kind of cross between the younger De Niro and Jurgen Prochnow, his wiry physicality and steely blue-eyed gaze form a magnetic focus to a performance of real gusto. You get the feeling that he enjoyed getting his teeth into this one, especially considering the somewhat formulaic nature of so many of his roles (Werewolf Rising for example).

Considering the relative micro-budget, Coyote director Trevor Juenger shows admirable invention behind the camera. Super close-ups, the ever present fish-eye lens, strange perspectives and some decent lo-fi gore effects are some of the many techniques used. Perhaps the resultant air of chaos was deliberate, perhaps it was merely an inevitable result of a limited crew. I found though that the narrative of descent into mental illness could have been better served with a modicum of greater subtlety.

Given my disdain for the dreary recycling of form and formula in the world of big budget horror, it seems churlish to criticise a film which tries and largely succeeds to make a bold statement without pandering to the modern focus-group oriented approach. Juenger is certainly someone to watch; hopefully he will start to ally his experimental techniques and disregard for commercial success with the kind of storyline and characterisation that allows the viewer to make a real connection with the events within the film. As it was I was left a little cold upon the film’s climax, as thought I’d seen a montage of moments plucked from Taxi Driver, Deliverance and The Fly, thrown together and shaken about like some kind of mind-warping backwoods cocktail. In the end memories remain of certain shots and sequences, but no sense of having been on a journey.

Overall Coyote is well worth a look if you are tired of the modern horror film, or if you are interested in seeing Travis Bickle re-imagined by Ken Russell. Hopefully director and leading man will have more chance to bring our nightmares to life in the not too distant future.

Coyote is out now on Region 1 DVD from Wild Eye Releasing.

Review by Svetlana Fedotov

With the tagline ‘horror comics like a motherfucker’ and an avatar of a dinosaur with a metal jaw, the indie comic company Attackosaur may come off as another small fish in a big pond, but what it lacks in size, it makes up in quality. Boasting a small collection of single shot horror works, the publishing company is slowly stirring waves among the small press market and with comics like The Watchful Sea, it’s easy to see why. A Lovecraftian tale of deep sea monsters and unfathomable madness, the twisted tale harkens back to that primordial fear of the unknown and why some things are never meant to be seen by human eyes. While it’s easy to brush off this work as another attempt to capture the Weird Tales spirit, trust me, it definitely does justice to the genre and is well worth the read.

The story opens up with the funeral of our protagonist, one Dafydd Thomas, as his family stands at his grave, oddly unconcerned with his passing. As his daughter opens up a letter addressed to her, we soon learn of the hellish nightmare that drove him away from his family. Once upon a time, Thomas was just another fisherman scraping a living together from the dwindling shores of his village. One day, the ship travels past its usual spot and finds an oasis of fish among the mysterious rocks of the far shore. As they begin hauling in their riches, they capture a mysterious figure in their nets, one that is not entirely dead. Unbeknownst to them, this creature is unlike anything ever seen before and those who come across it are quickly burdened with the madness of the ocean.

The Watchful Sea is just as much of an ode to old horror as it is a new addition to the tome of the bizarre. A beautiful throwback to a very particular time in the entertainment of terror, the work also manages to stir up new fears that we thought were long gone. It great exploration into the unknown nature of the world; that strange tingle in the back of your head that tells you something is just a bit askew. It’s good, is what I’m saying. I gotta admit, I was completely worried that was going to be another failed attempt at a spooky story, full of silly tropes and monologuing leads, but I was pleasantly surprised. The writer Martin Smith (who writes all of Attackosaur’s works) does a great job of bringing the ‘lurking fear’ aspect to the forefront of the work while still tying it back to the main character, creating a solid anchor between the two.

Thankfully, the art by Nicolás Giacondino is just as good as the writing. It’s a wonderful mix of old print style and modern indy, creating an excellent companion to the story. The subtle usage of shadows to prevent ever seeing the creature in its entirety is a clever way for the reader to fill in the blanks with their own nameless terror. It’s pretty fantastic.

If you’re interested in picking up this work, your best bet might be online at attackosaur.com. If you are a UK local, it might be in stores, but I wouldn’t quote me on that. Either way, definitely check out The Watchful Sea, hell, check it all out. These guys are going places.

Review by Quin

The further I get from my rebellious teenage years (which, truth be told, weren’t very rebellious at all), the less tolerance I have for the fictionalization of young rebellion on screen. The old man in me is getting stronger every day and he wants to yell out to these kids in all of these movies about how sniffing glue will rot your brain. Just this weekend, I watched the James Franco-penned film Palo Alto and the awkwardness coupled with a stubborn know-it-all attitude made me really annoyed. The very same attitude is on full display in Jason Banker’s low budget film Toad Road – but I stuck with it, and it ended up being an interesting little film about coming of age and an urban legend.

There are too many young people to possibly keep track of in Toad Road. Many of them look the same and most of them act the same. However, they all seem like real kids. I read that director Jason Banker put an ad in the paper asking for kids who were fans of Vice Magazine and wanted to be in a movie. The results he got were brilliant. They all look like they’re right out of a Larry Clark book of photography. The two at the center of the film are Sara and James. James tells Sara about the legend of Toad Road, which she has never heard of before. Sara is a city girl and as James puts it, “It’s a York thing.” He goes on about how years ago there was this mental institution on Toad Road in York, Pennsylvania. Behind the spot where the building once stood is a red gate surrounded by woods. Legend has it that this is the first of seven gates that lead straight to Hell. Oddly enough, the real legend is from a place called Hellam Township (also in Pennsylvania) so I’m guessing the gates just lead to Hellam. Sara is intrigued by the legend and she immediately says she wants to do drugs and explore the area. James, who seems to be thinking about slowing down his party animal lifestyle, warns her that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea. They eventually end up there anyway and this is where the film kicks in with the horror. The hike down Toad Road doesn’t begin until the final thirty minutes of the film.

The rest of the film leading up to the exciting part is pretty much just watching all of these kids do ridiculous amounts of drugs. There is also drunkenness, fart lighting, games of Gay Chicken, doing acid in a river, doing mushrooms in a cave, wrestling, bike riding, vomiting and endless humming Sonic Youth-style guitar music. The antics in the film are no different than that of Kids or Gummo. In fact, Mike Spies of vocative.com said that Toad Road was like The Blair Witch Project directed by Harmony Korine – which is a pretty amazing description. Spies has also written a great article on the lead actress in the film that I suggest you all read. It’s called American Ghost Story: The Brief, Eerie Life of Model Sara Anne Jones. Her real story serves as a path that veers off of Toad Road. During the end credits, some text reads: “Dedicated to the memory of Sara Anne Jones.” I immediately thought how weird it was that the main female character’s name was Sara… could this be the same person? This sent me on an internet search that I’m glad I went on. In fact, I think Sara’s story somehow added to Toad Road. You’ll have to see it for yourself to understand what I mean. It’s very sad that she died, but I think you’ll agree that on first glance, it seems very possible that the dedication was something added to make the story scarier. Unfortunately, she really did pass away of an accidental drug overdose, just after the film’s premiere.

If you just want to see a straight up horror movie with gore and monsters and stuff, this isn’t it. Toad Road is a low budget, mostly psychological horror – with that coming-of-age spin that I was talking about before. Think of it as a mumble-core Stand By Me with hard-core (non-straight-edge) East coast kids, and where they all drop acid instead of just smoking cigarettes. But Jason Banker is a talented filmmaker who is more than competent with a less is more kind of approach. If you’re tired of Adam Wingard and his lo-fi horror, then give Banker’s lo-fi Toad Road a chance.

Toad Road is available now on region 1 DVD from SpectreVision (Elijah Wood’s company) and it is streaming on Netflix and Hulu in the US.

Review by Nia Edwards-Behi

I have a soft spot for horror musicals. This may have somewhat coloured my immense enjoyment of Stage Fright, a film about which I hadn’t heard great things. This might be partially because it’s very musical-y. This isn’t a goth opera like Repo! The Genetic Opera, or a rockabilly B-movie homage like The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, nor does it really have the same indie quirkiness of a film like the hugely under-rated The Dead Inside. Stage Fright is indeed an homage in two parts – an homage to slasher films, and an homage to musical theatre, and admittedly it does tend to get the musical theatre bits done better than the slasher bits. However, I had a hell of a lot of fun with this film. It’s gory, ridiculous, affectionate and really quite funny.

The film starts with an amusing twist on the ‘based on true events’ preamble, something which normally puts me off a film right away. This is quickly followed by a very gory, very over the top, very entertaining death scene, which sets the tone for what’s to come. We flash-forward: Camilla (Allie MacDonald) and Buddy Swanson (Douglas Smith) work in the kitchen of a musical theatre summer camp run by washed-up Broadway producer Roger McCall (Meat Loaf). Roger took the youngsters in ten years previous, when their mother was brutally murdered after their hugely successful opening night of their new show, The Haunting of the Opera (no prizes for working out the plot to that one). Camilla desperately wants to follow in her mother’s footsteps, so when Roger announces that this summer’s production will be a revival of The Haunting of the Opera, she convinces Roger to let her audition and rehearse for the show. As rehearsals plough on and Roger increasingly sees Camilla’s involvement as a great marketing opportunity, terrible things start to plague the production once again as it becomes evident that a killer is stalking the students of Camp Center Stage…

Considering the gory opening sequence, it takes a long time for the horror to come back into the film. However, its parody of a musical theatre summer camp is a joy to behold. The songs are tone-perfect, and there are references and homages in there that are mostly obvious but regardless manage to raise a chuckle. What’s intriguing is that the musical theatre stuff seems like complete fluff, but there are some truly dark moments, and while the horror proper takes a while to reappear in the film, there is quite a bit of the dark underbelly of showbiz – albeit amateur showbiz – on display. The pacing of the film is a little bit off, because of the film’s dual-parody, but for me it didn’t detract too much from my overall enjoyment of the film. I suspect, however, if your tolerance is already low for the musical theatre stuff, this is going to be much more of an issue.

Allie MacDonald heads up a talented cast, but really steals the show as Camilla. It’s a charming performance, and her softly-spoken comic timing is wonderful. Meat Loaf is, well, great, and the other youngsters play their relative stereotypes well. The red herrings as to who the killer might be are a bit too on the nose so the reveal is a little bit underwhelming; however, this is saved by a neat, if not hugely surprising, double-reveal. The combination of a ‘putting on a musical’ climax and the slasher movie climax works really well, even considering the slight pacing issues beforehand. The film’s very last scene might make some horror fans roll their eyes, but I thought it actually tied in quite nicely with the extensive earlier establishment of showbiz all being a bit, well, rotten.

The production of The Haunting of the Opera which is central to the film is directed by a talentless sleazeball of a boy who decides the play should be re-envisioned in the style of a kabuki play. The setting does allow for one of the funniest jokes I’ve seen in a horror film this year, which genuinely made me roar with laughter, but it also allows for some slightly dodgy costuming and dance routines that go a bit culturally insensitive. However, I don’t think we’re meant to think this is a good production of the play, nor that the director is very good, and therefore it kind of works, but a bit more sign-posting of that would have been nice.

All in all then, if you’re not fond of musicals, you’re unlikely to enjoy Stage Fright, even if it does have some great and gory kills in it. However, if you do, you might well get a kick out of the combination of high-camp Broadway theatrics and ridiculous slasher movie quips and kills. While at no point is Stage Fright particularly original (it’s a parody, how could it be?), nor particularly ground-breaking, it is, for me, one of the more entertaining films I’ve seen this year.

Stage Fright is released to UK DVD on 26th January 2015, from Metrodome.

Review by Quin

Imagine Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as directed by Ken Russell. I think it’s pretty safe to say that would be a puzzling yet effectively strange film filled with startling visuals and powerful symbolism. In what I find to be the most surprising film I’ve seen this year, Mr. Jones takes us down that road to a philosophical dreamscape that is never boring, and it doesn’t get too bogged down by doing the things that we are conditioned to think these kinds of movies are supposed to do. The structure is very free-flowing and in a way, stream of consciousness. This will undoubtedly turn off many viewers who might prefer things a little more cut and dry. But if you are okay with something different that is thought provoking and eerie as hell, then you will definitely want to see this movie.

The first line of dialogue in Mr. Jones is, “What does the map say?” Which I believe is designed to trick you into thinking that this is just another typical found footage film. A brief discussion that suggests they may not know where they are going lasts only a few seconds and it has an almost sarcastic tone that serves as a wink to the viewer. Scott and Penny are the couple at the center of this film, and they are headed to a remote location so Scott can make a documentary. It is quickly revealed that Scott doesn’t have any clue as to what his film is going to be about and just to make things even more interesting, he has stopped taking his medication (it’s not clear what the medication is for, but I am guessing it’s probably for bi-polar disorder). Penny is irritated with this news. They have a little argument about it, but all is forgotten as soon as they stumble upon these creepy looking scarecrow-like totems.

Penny recognizes the look of the figures from a book she has. She tells Scott that they are the work of a reclusive artist/shaman/enigma known as Mr. Jones, “It’s like we’re living next door to J.D. Salinger or Banksy.” Her excitement transfers over to Scott and now he has a subject for his documentary. Scott leaves Penny alone in the middle of nowhere with the creepy artist guy lurking around while he flies off to New York to track down and interview some experts who know something about Mr. Jones. A few of them are big wig art dealer types, but there is this one guy who claims to have received one of Mr. Jones’ totems in the mail and ever since he has been plagued by horrific nightmares. He is gravely serious when talking to Scott and offers a not-so-nice word of warning.

When Scott returns, things start to get weird. I won’t say too much more about it, but I will say that Mr. Jones is kind of like the thinking man’s Freddy Krueger. The lines of reality are blurred; and the waking world and dream world becomes interchangeable. Don’t expect many answers to the hows and the whys. I would suggest just enjoying the final third of the film for the visual ride that it takes you on. There is a bit of the shaky cam disorientation that we have come to expect from found footage films, but since it’s all being shot by a professional, we get a much more interesting look at things. It’s the shifting of reality that is more disorienting than anything; but I enjoyed the complexity and strangeness of the challenge.

While I did say that Mr. Jones is the most surprising film I’ve seen all year, it’s definitely not the best. There are problems with the pacing of the film, particularly in the first half. And the ending is somewhat unsatisfying. But I think it’s one of those films you’ll either get or you won’t. I think the interest I already had in philosophy, mythology, art and dreams had a lot to do with my enjoyment of the film. It’s important to remember that each person’s experience of a film isn’t just what they see on screen. You bring with you all of your knowledge and experiences to a film viewing and those things determine how you interpret everything below the surface. Judging purely on what the film gives you to work with – every single performance in the film feels natural and real. This is the best place for a found footage film to start. Almost all of them have someone that doesn’t quite deliver their lines in a way that doesn’t remind you that they’re acting and what you are seeing isn’t real. Mr. Jones feels real and if you think so too, it will probably get inside your head and under your skin.

Mr. Jones is available on Region 1 DVD from Anchor Bay and it is streaming on Netflix in the US.

Review by Tristan Bishop

Whenever I’m set to review a new film I try to avoid as much info as possible about it before viewing in order that I’m not swayed by anyone else’s opinion, or by my own presumptions. Whilst this is undoubtedly useful for giving as unbiased an opinion as possible, it can be a double-edged sword – occasionally a film will take me completely by surprise, whether it be a different take on a well-worn genre, or by a startling twist that comes right out of left field, but occasionally a film can surprise for different reasons entirely. Let’s be clear here – I had heard murmurs about Left Behind being given a critical panning on release in the US, with many considering it Nicolas Cage’s worst film (and oh my what a gallery of awfulness that would have to contend with), but, being a fan of Mr Cage’s more unhinged roles, I thought it might be worth giving the film a chance.

Although Cage is top-billed here the main role belongs to Cassi Thompson as Chloe Steele, a bright blonde college student who has flown home especially for her father’s birthday. Her pilot father Rayford (Cage) however was not aware she was coming, and her mother (Lea Thompson, better known as the young Lorraine McFly from Back To The Future) greets her instead. It transpires Rayford has been spending more time away from home since his wife’s recent conversion to Christianity, and when Chloe goes to meet him at the airport she notices he has removed his wedding ring and has been flirting with a sexy air hostess (Nicky Whelan from Rob Zombie’s Halloween II and, er, Neighbours). Chloe’s suspicions that her father is involved in an extra-marital affair seem to be confirmed when she discovers he has gotten hold of U2 tickets for two in London on his birthday (don’t you get those free with iPhones these days?) Back at home Chloe’s mother engages her in conversations about religion which Chloe reacts to with anger, and she ends up taking her brother to the mall to get out of the house. However, when they get there, Chloe’s brother disappears, leaving just his clothes behind, and it soon becomes clear that this is not an isolated incident – people are disappearing left, right and centre. Of course, this causes a few problems with people vanishing when driving cars, planes, and heavy machinery – and sure enough Rayford’s flight to London is also affected, when not only do all the children on board disappear, but also his co-pilot, and the rest of the film follows Chloe and Rayford in their attempts to deal with the disasters brought on by the mysterious vanishings.

Left Behind has been billed on promotional materials as an ‘apocalyptic thriller’, and whilst this isn’t *quite* untrue, it does deflect away slightly from the true nature of the film. I spent much of the first half wondering where the apocalyptic or thriller elements were, as all I was watching seemed to be a platitudinous soap opera about a dysfunctional family. However, as soon as the first pile of vacated clothes appeared, a little light bulb lit up above my head and I recalled that this film had the same name as another film I had read about, and sure enough it transpires that Left Behind is a remake of a 2000 film of the same name, based on a series of books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (which also spawned a series of video games). The reason you might be unfamiliar with this apparently extremely popular series is simple – they are basically Christian propaganda works about the Rapture (for the heathens out there this is the event whereupon the innocent are taken up to Heaven and the sinful are left on Earth to face the end of days, which explains all those missing children). I must admit to being a little surprised to see such a venture being released into the mainstream – although rapture tales are extremely popular in Christian America, their releases are usually confined to church circuits (with the films often being shown in churches themselves) or Christian book and video shops.

So with this particular ‘revelation’ (sorry) out of the way, we can assume this film isn’t really one tailored towards the general tastes of the Brutal As Hell readership, but the major problem with Left Behind is that I can’t really see it appealing to any kind of audience whatsoever – and a quick look at the box office records backs that suspicion up (although apparently it did pretty well in the Philippines). I guess the intention was to disguise the religious aspects of the film by making the heroes the ‘sinners’, but the Christian believers in the film don’t come off well at all, with all of them coming across as unbalanced and, well, a little bit weird. So any believers going to see this won’t see themselves painted in a very good light (aside from the whole ‘being saved’ thing), and non-believers will doubtless feel more than a little cheated that they’ve been served up a slice of God propaganda.

And what about that breed of us who enjoy bad films with Nicolas Cage in? Well, I’m afraid we’re a bit out of luck too. Cage never gets the opportunity to get crazy or do much acting at all here (incidentally Cage was raised as a Catholic which might explain why he agreed to do this gig); a problem shared by the rest of the cast, who spout basic, badly-written dialogue whilst looking TV pretty. In addition the pacing of the film is dreadful, generating no suspense or tension whatever (a pretty difficult thing to achieve when dealing with the end of the world itself), and the special effects are barely above the level of an Asylum Syfy Channel production. In fact, you’ll have a lot more fun with any of their films, or indeed with any other film ever. So be on the side of the angels and leave Left Behind as far behind you as humanly possible.

Left Behind comes to Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray on 5th January, from 101 Films.

Review by Ben Bussey

In opening, a note on title changes. Though the DVD artwork bears the title Ragnarok: The Viking Apocalypse, this film was released in its native Norway as Gåten Ragnarok (which I gather essentially translates as The Riddle of Ragnarok), and in the opening titles it is dubbed simply Ragnarok. It’s of course not remotely uncommon for films to reach UK shelves with a new title, particularly if the original title is in a foreign language, but this one seems particularly arbitrary, not to mention rather misleading. First off, it’s not as if the term Ragnarok is completely unheard of; most of us in Britain have seen at least one of the Thor movies, for crying out loud, so I really doubt that explanatory subtitle is needed. And, of course, it’s misleading because this is in no way an apocalyptic movie, nor do the Vikings feature too prominently beyond a brief prologue scene and a couple of flashbacks. Instead, this a contemporary survivalist adventure with heavy overtones of Spielberg, in which a group of courageous if somewhat naive explorers venture out to a remote woodland island in search of historical artifacts and/or treasure – only to find themselves in the lair of an almighty beast.

It’s been interesting to see how, little by little, Norway seems to be establishing itself as a real player in genre filmmaking in the last five years or so, notably with the international success of Dead Snow and Troll Hunter; movies which owe a great deal to Hollywood, but bring a uniquely Nordic sensibility, thanks not only to the country’s striking scenery but also its distinct folklore. Ragnarok, with its dragons and Vikings, very much continues down that path, but the results here are a fair bit more family friendly, and wind up maybe a little too Americanised in tone and content. The publicity in the run-up to the UK DVD release has dwelled heavily on the echoes of Jurassic Park, and these are indeed very much in evidence from the beginning, along with other tropes familiar from the likes of Stargate. Indeed, it all feels so familiar that really the only thing that makes Ragnarok stand apart is – well – the fact that it’s a Norwegian film.

Struggling archeologist single father Sigurd (Pål Sverre Hagen, who at times looks uncannily like a bearded Jennifer Anniston) has a wild theory that no one will believe: that the Vikings travelled up to Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost point, further than previously believed – and that the myth of Ragnarok was in some way inspired by actual real-life events. Investors laugh at him, the museum curator is embarrassed by him, and even his own kids seem to think he’s a joke. The one person backing Sigurd up is his buddy Allan (Nicolai Cleve Broch), who has found a curious artefact which seems to point the way to a potential jackpot of Viking archeology on a small, remote woodland island – and that’s just where they head out, with Sigurd’s kids in tow, plus assistant Elisabeth (Sofia Helin). I think you’ve already got some idea of what they find.

So, a couple of adults and kids in a remote wilderness in grave danger from a giant monster or two – yep, the Jurassic Park influence is readily apparent. There’s also more than a hint of Jaws about it too, given that the monster is typically hinted at rather than shown, the camera often cutting away or pulling back just as it threatens to rear its massive head. We can but assume this move has more to do with budgetary concerns than anything else – FX work ain’t cheap, obviously – but as impressive as the creature is (and at least partially practical from the look of things), it does get a bit frustrating how little we get to see of it. Still, there’s plenty of other stuff going on to stimulate the senses, with the group having to traverse caverns, zip-wire across a river, and trek through a whole lot of that eye-catching Norwegian scenery we were talking about. It’s all very nice, but it might have been a bit nicer had it been more than window dressing on a story which, ultimately, we’ve been told a great many times before, and better than this.

Still, Ragnarok is well-paced, pretty well-acted, boasts a cool monster and has some fairly exciting moments, so if you’re after a reasonably family-friendly fantasy adventure that isn’t just the latest Hollywood blockbuster, then you could certainly do worse. Whether you’ll find it particularly memorable or have any great desire to revisit it is another matter entirely – but again, it’s nice to see Norwegian genre cinema continuing to make waves beyond its own shores.

Ragnarok: The Viking Apocalypse comes to Region 2 DVD on 2nd February 2015, from Studiocanal.

Review by Quin

There are so many things that I did not like about the horror anthology film Hi-8 that I stopped writing it all down. It was simply too much. From the minute long test pattern at the beginning complete with high pitched audio tone, I knew pretty quick this wasn’t going to be the movie for me. But I stuck with it. I sat through all of the bad acting, bad dialogue, poor sound quality, and ridiculous comic relief (which incidentally was not relief from horror, but relief from boredom). I just sat there and took it all in. The movie wasn’t without its somewhat positive aspects, but there is one glaring mistake it makes that I hope I can correct right now and maybe make the viewing experience a little more pleasurable for some people. (You’re welcome, producers of Hi-8. No charge of course. Just doing what I can to match this movie up with the right audience. I know those people are out there.)

The mistake I am speaking of happens near the close of the end credits. The filmmakers post a list called 8 Simple Rules For Hi-8. This list should have been posted in place of the annoying test pattern at the beginning, and it should have been there long enough so viewers could read the whole thing. If you aren’t familiar with something called Dogme 95, it was an avant-garde filmmaking manifesto created by Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg as a list of rules that they had to follow when making a film. These rules kept everything stripped down, and uncomplicated – such as only natural light and no special effects. The filmmakers of Hi-8 seem to have something similar in mind and while it’s not nearly as restrictive as Dogme 95, I still find it rather admirable that they are challenging themselves in this way. The 8 Simple Rules For Hi-8 are as follows:

Running time: Each short can be no longer than 10 minutes but no shorter than 8.
Format: Choose your weapon, be it VHS, Hi-8, Digital 8, mini DV. No HD, 1080P, DSLRs.
Lighting: Use no more lights than you’d find in a standard lighting kit. Don’t be afraid to use the best and cheapest light source – the sun!
Camera Work: Hand held or tripod only. No dollies or elaborate jib arms, steadicam rigs, etc…
Sound: Outboard boom mics are accepted, but using the onboard mic is also acceptable, as long as all dialogue is clearly audible. For exteriors, wind noise is OK and encouraged.
Special Effects: Old school makeup effects are encouraged, the gore the merrier. No CGI, Visual FX, Greenscreen of any kind are allowed.
Editing/Post: Edit on whatever program you want. Keep sound and picture editing relatively basic and simple, imagine you are cutting on a non-linear system. No high tech post effects allowed.
Aspect Ratio: All shorts must be full screen, 4×3 just like the good old days before (real and fake) letterboxing.

As far as I could tell, these rules were followed pretty closely, apart from one segment that had fake letterboxing – it stretched the image sideways and made everybody look squished. It would be unfair of me to dismiss these filmmakers because they aren’t in the same class as Von Trier and Vinterberg; they are, however, all quite easily on par with anyone who has ever made a film for Troma. One of the directors here – Chris Seaver – actually made the Filthy McNasty movies, and I don’t mind admitting that I enjoyed those. But they aren’t exactly great movies.

Hi-8 is made up of 8 segments and a wraparound story. The wraparound is about some amateur filmmakers making a movie at the old abandoned L.A. Zoo in Griffith Park, California. During filming, real horror occurs. There is absolutely no connection between this wraparound and the individual shorts, and there is no separation with a title screen for each segment. It’s pretty much a garbled mess of unrelated events, some being more significant and more interesting than the others. The best segment was a very tongue-in-cheek story about a tough Chuck Norris type guy breaking some old people out of a hospital during a zombie invasion. There is some red lighting (possibly another broken rule?) that is reminiscent of Romero’s Creepshow. And a big laugh comes when one of the old men says, “In my day I was able to kick ass and chew bubble gum at the same time, but then I ran out of bubblegum.” Nada, is that you?

I’m pretty sure the producers of Hi-8 are after fans of the VHS series. If you hated the VHS movies, you’ll really hate Hi-8. I like the first VHS; the second two did nothing for me; Hi-8 actually makes me want to poke my eyes out. But that’s just me. If you can get around the lo-fi production values (which I think detract from the impact a horror movie can have if the story is lame), and if you can just zone out and have fun with it, then good for you. I sincerely hope this movie finds its audience.

Hi-8 comes to Region 1 DVD – and special edition VHS – on 16th December 2014, from Wild Eye Releasing.

Review by Quin

A couple years ago, I saw a short film on Vimeo called Webcam. It was a pretty disjointed but to-the-point cautionary tale about the dangers of web cam takeovers. I don’t know any of the tech stuff that goes into such a thing, but apparently someone with the know-how can access the webcam on another person’s laptop or wireless device and watch everything they do, as long as the web camera is pointed at them. In the past year or so, I’ve seen this in the news quite a bit as well. It seems most likely to happen if you use a public wi-fi hotspot. I would bet that the chances of this happening are rather slim, but even I put a piece of black tape over my web cam when I’m not using it…and I almost never use it. Obviously other people think about these things too, and when there is fear or concern over a social issue, horror movies are made about those fears. This brings us to The Den, released this last Spring in the U.S. (called Death Online for its Russian release – which might be a better title) that you can now see streaming on Netflix.

The title refers to a fictional website that works like chatroulette.com – a user signs up and logs in to be connected to other users randomly via webcam. Users can then chat face to face with complete strangers from around the world. Unfortunately it isn’t always face to face, sometimes it’s face to crotch, and The Den is shrewdly aware of this phenomena. The Den’s website (TheDen.com, which in real life actually takes you to the IGN website – weird) is filled with many racial stereotypes. It seems to be a misguided attempt at humor, but movies made after the 90s should be smarter than that. Thankfully it’s all in a pretty short montage near the beginning, so if you can overlook that, the rest of the film is worth watching. Still, The Den is light years away from being a great movie. It might feel pretty obvious and cliched to many viewers, but the tone switches about half way through into something that I think many of you will enjoy, even if you have seen it all before.

Elizabeth (played by Melanie Papalia – who was in the 2012 slasher/webcam film Smiley – do with that what you will) is a grad student who has just been given a grant to spend time on TheDen.com and report her findings about the way people behave online – you know, mostly normal things like being gross and flashing their naughty bits. It’s all obviously very academic and serious. Quickly after the stream of racial stereotypes and dick flapping (yeah, they show it) Elizabeth witnesses a murder of a young woman. Understandably, she’s a little disturbed by this, but there is still important research to be done. Such a dilemma! She asks her male friend for advice. He seems to think that it’s fake and probably just a prank where her reaction is recorded and it will most likely go viral on the internet. She can’t forget about it and the more digging she does, gets the attention of the bad guy, and pretty soon everyone she knows is a potential target for a masked serial killer.

I didn’t mention this up front, but The Den is a found footage film. But because it is made up entirely of webcam footage, it feels a little different than the average entry in the genre that fans are so tired of. The all webcam premise was done in Joe Swanberg’s “The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger” from the first VHS movie, but that film and the aforementioned Webcam are both short films. The Den is a whopping 81 minutes, which sounds short for a feature film, but the length is perfect for this material. I also mentioned a tonal shift – while the first half is all setup and mystery, the second half is a straight up slasher film with effective shots in dark hallways, gruesome violence and fast paced action. Some of it reminded me a little of the film Megan Is Missing, but that film is far superior and if you haven’t seen it yet, you must – only a word of warning – expect it to ruin your day completely.

The Den isn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows, but it isn’t humorless either. Some viewers will have fun watching it and will revel in its slasheresque rhythm, which let’s face it, is the same repetition and format as a porno. Others will be bored by a film that is clearly designed to be most effective when seen on a computer screen. For me, I enjoyed it, but I probably won’t remember it in a couple years. As far as the new releases on Netflix Instant go in the horror section, it’s one of the better ones. For what it’s worth, the comments on twitter have been overwhelmingly positive.