Wrong Turn (2021)

0.5/5 Screams.

AKA using the franchise as a hook and then ignoring everything fans loved from the original movies.

I was beyond excited when I heard that they were bringing back a trashy franchise that lives close to my heart – Wrong Turn. In 2003 audiences were introduced to the sexy blood baths, the unbelievably messed up ways people die, and a family of insane, inbred cannibals. I freaking love this franchise. I remember watching one of them for the first time around Christmas time, and I was just so immersed in the gore and effects and black comedy of it all. The low production adds to the shaky-cam, student-lead atmosphere. And if it weren’t for plenty of inventive kills, Wrong Turn would have been a much less popular franchise. You take away the gore and you’re left with idiotic cannibals and sex-obsessed teens wandering around the woods.

But, and it breaks my stone cold heart, THIS WAS NOT WRONG TURN FOLKS! This movie had the audacity to utilise the title of Wrong Turn as bait and then hit you with some strange love child of ‘The Ritual’ and ‘Slenderman’. I was so disappointed, I was waiting for my cannibal hillbillys to pop up and slash up some topless teens, but nope. This film is not ‘Wrong Turn’ so if you even want to watch this piece of crap please go into the (ha, not cinema anymore) living room with an open mind and tell yourself it has nothing to do with the franchise. Honestly, if I hadn’t seen title I would have had no idea this movie had anyyyy connections to the franchise.

Main point of advice: Do not watch this movie thinking it is Wrong Turn.

Also, I’m sorry but, what is with the young, gorgeous people. They jog and shit, I can barely get up my flight of stairs without needing an inhaler.

The whole production of the movie felt so far removed from the previous films, the lighting and camerawork are less gritty and comedic which was what made the first films so enjoyable. The traps aren’t as gory or as intelligent, or even as sadistically funny. Although i’ll allow the snake pit, that was a pretty good one.

One of my main issues with this fraud of a movie is that the film goes from nought to one hundred very quickly, we have no character building or tension building. I mean I wasn’t expecting a tonne of character developments but just a little bit.

Slight question for the main characters though…How can four teenagers get their phones stolen without even one of them noticing their TikTok hasnt pinged in a while of something,

Overall it was about humans, a cult. Yes, cults are scary and I admire the eyeless people as that was a shocking image (but the only one in the whole run time), Once again it just ISN’T WRONG TURN.

Sighs, the ending is even more infuriating. I wanted to slap the woman.

All in all… Don’t watch this film.

Crawl (2019) Review

AKA a tepid creature feature rehash that left me bored, annoyed and surprised – surprised that it got an 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 75% audience score. I was also left with a bitter aftertaste of confusion – how did the same guy behind the fantastic ‘Don’t Breathe’ have made this forgettable frolic into a Florida hurricane.

2/5 Screams

MATURE CONTENT AND SPOILERS AHEAD:

I had high hopes for this summer alligator romp, having loved Sam Raimi’s first delve into the mysterious world of gritty, postmodern psychological horror. But, I was already doubtful about how captivating it was going to prove to be because it seemed to give every single important event in the story line away in the bloody trailer. And I mean everything.

For those of you unfamiliar, this film follows a young woman called Hayley – we learn she is a struggling child swimming prodigy, lazy foreshadowing if you ask me, along with ‘apex predator’, wince – who tries to track down her father in amongst a vicious Florida storm. She tries to find her Dad as her street floods and suddenly alligators have infested their crawl space. The next 87 minutes are just man vs predator. There’s no real intelligence to their survival, no passion seemed to be injected into this project. It came across as if the producers and creators were themselves bored whilst making it.

Side note: Kaya Scloderio really doesn’t suite blonde. The whole film lacks pzazz, creativity and inspiration. There’s no real gore nor jump scares. The CGI is pretty good but the alligators are just hurdles, minor bumps in this pointless story. There’s barely even any characterisation or connection with the father and daughter – they could have done so much with that relationship and tugged at the heartstrings, but they didn’t. They just made them somewhat estranged and aw now they’re all patched up, I mean he had to lose an arm for that but okay.

The attention to detail wasn’t even very good, for example: she would have winced when lowering her very injured leg into the water. And her CPR on her dad at the end is far too fast. Honestly, the scariest part of this film is the horde of spiders crawling – ha, double meaning – all over her face. Nope, nope. My worst nightmare – give me hungry ‘gators any day. The deaths such as Wayne don’t rouse any reaction from the audience because, you guessed it, we’ve seen it all in the trailers. Her arm being bitten? In the trailer. Wayne’s death? In the trailer. Baby gators? You get the picture. Her trapped in the shower with a gator? In the trailer. I could go on.

My lasting impression once the credits rolled to the hilarious ‘See ya’ later alligator’ was that this film was a waste of time, good thing it was short. And…I really have nothing else to say because this film as so bland it was like Rivita crackers trying to be bruschetta. Sorry, Raimi – try better next time. My question for you guys is: would you rather be trapped in a house with a blind, serial killing psycho (all I have to say is turkey baster… yuck) OR trapped in a rapidly flooding house with a group of alligators hunting you? Let me know in the comments below:))

Tokyo Gore Police (2008) Review

AKA A lot, and I mean a bag load of, WTF moments. Spurting blood from every angle and every oriphice, this film is a work of art in the shock for shock’s sake factor department, to an extent that it makes this film very funny yet so disconcerting too. I’m still trying to boggle my brain about what this film was trying to convey.

3.5/5 screams.

SPOILERS AND MATURE CONTENT AHEAD:

Hello again friends, foes and figments of my imagination. It’s been a while. I finally have my trusty laptop back, and BOY do I have some reviews coming at you. I was hit, like a bird in the sky flying over a large estate house, with a horrid stomach virus and so had a week of watching horror films (as well as a vast number of Netflix shows). It’s been a productive week…ha. But the silver lining is that I have notes for the next five reviews coming at you so yay for my sickly, tired noggin’.

Anyways, let’s delve head first into some serious J-body horror to take our minds off of Brexit, shall we? The dawn of October is nearly upon us and you know what that means, sweets galore and gore galore. I’m actually not a big Halloween fan…I know, I’m sorry. It’s just that it’s an American, pointless import to support commercialisation. BUT I do love eating some weirdly wrapped sweets, turning down the lights, watching a shit tonne of horror movies and getting no judgement for it – people seem to judge me when I’m watching Craven or Kronenberg or James Caan or Tom Six in July. In October, we can get our freak on!

Right off of the bat the opening is odd, it just feels uncomfortable for seemingly unattainable reasons. The backstory is shown well, not forced but also easy enough to understand motives and exposition early on in the narrative. I also enjoyed the camera lingerings on the faces, it adds to the uncomfortable atmosphere. And, damn, if you think the mood and tone are the most uncomfortable things about this film just you wait, just…you…wait. Actually, no, I take that back – don’t destroy your night’s sleep with girls with teeth for nipples, men with pipes for eyes, girls slicing and slicing their own arms (oh, yes, they went there – I’ll get to that!), enough blood spurting out of cut off limbs to last you a lifetime. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Self-harm. We need to talk about self-harm in this movie. I said I’d get to it. Self-harm is an incredibly serious, sensitive and personal problem that affects an awful lot of young people, children, adults and even older adults. It is stigmatised in the media and by word of mouth (not aided by psychiatric reports from the 90’s etc.) and this meant that it is known as a method to gain attention. Whilst this may be true with some people, it is definitely not the general consensus. I don’t mind films dealing with sensitive topics such as this but they have to do it in a manner that respects the issue – this film did the complete opposite. There are scenes of the girl slashing and slashing repeatedly at her own, scarred arm and wrist. It is gruesome, fairly realistic and f***ing unnecessary! It was made in 2008 for Christ’s sake, not the 80’s or 90’s where I could give them a bit of slack for misunderstanding being even worse in those days. I would rate this film so much higher if it weren’t for this issue! Bloody hell film makers, if you’re going there go there with style and pathos and awareness and maybe, even, a little bit of humanity.

Phew, sorry about that tangent. Back to this splatter fest. The overall feel of this film was like Robocop meets the Texas chainsaw massacre meets Brain Dead. It’s a fascinating premise and, in my opinion, actually does a fairly good job of speaking about technology and power, morality and motor, rational and robot. Whether this was the main drive for the, admittedly twisted, writer I don’t know. I haven’t researched the matter because, frankly I need to spend the rest of my night (home alone) looking at puppy videos to cleanse myself of far too much shock-horror. For those of you who don’t know, this, urm, special movie is a body horror slash sci-fi action feast of flesh, the love child of ‘The Fly’ and ‘Kill Bill’ is one way to view it. It follows a policewoman in a futuristic, dystopian version of Tokyo where injuries miraculously become weapons. Yes, weapons. Due to genetic experimentation – it’s always down to shit like this, please guys in the white coats I know we’re all curious as kittens but, please, do us a solid and stop messing with our genomes. Otherwise, well, stuff like this happens. The privitised policeforce hunt down the ‘engineers’ who are a special breed of evil (the ones who grow weapons). And that’s pretty much it for plot, besides Yoshihiro’s revenge mission against the assassin who killed her father. But this film isn’t about plot. It doesn’t need to be. It’s honest and raw about what it is – a shocking, humorous delve into the Lovecraftian extremes of merging with technology. The line where human advancement halts and malfunctioning hybrids begin.
I was curious about what the key shaped tumours could mean symbolically, a key to knowledge, opening doors – technology opens doors, contains wisdom, there are secretive and speculative parts of tech. Maybe it is just a simple key and I need to stop going full ‘English degree’ on it.

The film is rife with little nods to dystopian fiction in general – repetitions of slogans and advertisements like in George Orwell’s seminal ‘1984’, this film has its own type of newspeak and a focus on commercialisation being the death of morality and even the death of rationality. Despite the grotesque nature of this odd little film, it’s impossible to stop watching. You instinctively want to see the next awful, stomach-churning hybrid that these whacko designers came up with. I must admit that the strange, gimp-mask-wrapped, ‘pet’ with machetes for limbs is excellently designed, beautiful in this horrible way that I don’t want to look into any further.

The sex scene is creepy. Got to love the fetishism of innocence. The bottles with the blood spurting into them instead of out of the body is oddly effective. Creepy yet intriguing. The imagery throughout is that concoction, to be honest. Mysterious enough to peak your interest but disgusting enough to make your make strange faces whilst watching it. The ‘Heaven’s Punishment’ necklace is pretty evocative in itself. The music is also a fantastic part of this film’s tension.

One of my particular favourite notes I made whilst watching this: ‘Um, what? Why is he peeling off his own scalp and turning himself into a fountain?’. Haha. Also, this film centres around humans who can instantly grow metal from injuries, out of nowhere, and yet their mobile phones look like they’re from the late 80’s. A part of me thought this may be intentional, some contrast to the advancements. Then again, it’s probably me overthinking again. Oops. Occupational hazard of, well, being alive.

Surrealism is a large part of this film. In visuals, in sounds, in logic. Logic is a dirty tissue thrown out of the window in this mess of organs, tin and (very lightly coloured) blood fountains. The dialogue is actually the most bewildering part of this film for me personally, it’s nonsensical and commercial and intentionally antagonistic. It’s almost assaulting. The ‘Remote Control Exterminate’ is hilarious, I just had to put that somewhere in this review. The dialogue even shifts to poetry in some parts, ‘the snow of death falls and accumulates.’ The overhead voices singing bizarre sentences that would make Edward Lear jealous – ‘Older brother licked me so my eye has a sty’. *Shudders*. Seriously, how much acid were the writers on?

You do have to hand it to the design team, the make-up department, the amount of hours sat in chairs having gruesome body mods plastered all over you. Back to the creatures, the scene that had me saying ‘what?’ the most was the half human half chair – yes, you did read that correctly – pissing on strangers, followed swiftly by a girl with teeth for nipples biting a man’s penis off. You see the crudely amputated penis just kinda flop on the floor. It’s bound to make most men wince and cross their legs. And, just in case it doesn’t, they’re a second penis amputation scene. Two for one. I personally thought it was hilarious. There’s some serious girl power in this movie. Another very integral part of this film is its cultural heritage – anime esc. production and bizarre scenes such as a girl with alligator jaws for a vagina, of course – only in Japan, folks, only in Japan.

Overall this film is assaulting, strange, funny, bewildering, metaphorical and intriguing. A fun film – if you enjoy bizarre body horror – with some important underlying messages. I enjoyed it, I got cross with it, I laughed with it. Just watch it and you’ll understand why it’s actually rather hard to summarise in a few sentences. Go watch it and you’ll understand. Or save yourself a headache and don’t. Your move, boss.

Hell Fest (2018) Review

AKA a boring film with a boring premise, boring characters and…nope, f**k this, I’m too bored to even write a witty intro.
0.5/5 Screams.

MATURE CONTENT & SPOILERS AHEAD

Oh, Netflix, what would I do without your constant influx of mediocre-at-best horrors? Hello, all, happy end of Summer (it won’t stop bloody raining here). I’ve been MIA due to my laptop kicking the proverbial bucket, twice just to toy with me. We can take a moment of silence later.

Due to the premature departure of my Lenovo, I had the joy of watching this trashy film on the 2×4 screen of my phone. But, honestly, I’m unsure a high definition seventy inch would make this film any better to experience. It’s lazy, uninventive and poorly conceived. The main thing that deeply just pissed me off about this movie is that it’s been done one hundred trillion times, there is no credibility and nothing new. It’s just yet another identical teen slasher. This begs the question…what the bloody hell is the point? What is the point in rehashing every other sub-par teen scream that doesn’t even bother to make the gore worth staying for. What a waste of money.

Speaking of unoriginal content, within the first three minutes of the first scene we’re hit with our first cliche. Really I should have spent the duration of this film just counting the cliches. ‘It’s not funny’, I feel like I should have tried to play teen scream bingo dialogue, why do these teens always come across so hard done by and thus are made to seem superficial in their emotions. I hate it when all films do this, utilise stereotypes about adolescents in order to somehow diminish their status or intellectual worth. And, of course, the bloody nursery rhyme whistling. At least this scene had the advantage of being so early on that I had hopes it could translate into some meta-commentary which – it didn’t. Or if it did it was used as a poorly constructed excuse for why this film suckssssssssss.

other first impressions:
!!! The lighting is so dark, the saturation needs to be hella turned up ladies and gents
!!! Boredddd
!!! No real gore, no interesting foreshadowing and sluggish, dull tension building
!!! Is that the girl from S3 of ‘Thirteen Reason Why?’ … nope, never mind.
!!! The young girl looks like Naomi Campbell pre-botulism
!!! A very easy watch, if it manages to grab your attention for five minutes then congratulations, you have the attention span of a fruit fly with narcolepsy.
!!! The villain’s mask is fairly eerie, I’ll give them that

‘Pop goes the weasel’…lucky bastard, shoot me too. Seriously, writers? Three hetero-normative couples? At least killing off the love interest first was an interesting choice and the final girl being alone on the ride compared to the two couples is relateable on a deep level. It says a fair amount about the film that I got past the halfway mark and knew one out of five of the protagonists’ names. Also, why the heck make this film an 18 certificate? There’s hardly any gore or violence, the ennuculation scene was the only real piece of gore. Surely the only thing to strive for with this sort of B horror flick is to make it bloody, make it stupid and light, make it the kind of gross, ‘Wizard of Gore’ shit that preteens watch on Halloween. But this doesn’t even bother to do that! It somehow manages to completely ignore all the audience brackets it should be marketing to.

Main character: “We’re going to Spain!” ha, ha, haha – Nah, baby, you ain’t. At the worst you’;; becomes a very maroon ice cream sundae and at the best you’re going to need some serious therapy. I do like the hair drying scene though.

Lastly, before I go cry into a pillow that this was an hour and a half of my life I’ll never get back, even the continuity in this film is shite. When the MC is on the toilet and the camera cuts from bird’s eye view to something else, then back again. One frame shows that the toilet paper holder has paper on it, the next shows and empty roll. Boooo. Plus she doesn’t even pee whilst on the toilet, got a UTI, hunny?

Final note in my notebook: ‘Ugh’.

Cockneys Vs. Zombies (2013) Review

AKA a very stupid, yet perversely enjoyable celebration of zombies and Britishness. Although it is basically a shitter version of ‘Shaun of the Dead’.
2.5/5 screams.

SPOILERS AND MATURE CONTENT AHEAD:

Here we are, the last horror comedy I’ll be reviewing for, hopefully, a while. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed changing the sort of horrors that I instinctively punt for; but I have predominantly been reminded about why I never had much time for this sub-genre. In my experience, they seem to try to hard yet somehow, paradoxically, be underdeveloped and steer more towards yawn-fests than straight up, shaken not stirred, horrors or comedies.

But that’s by the by. This Matthias Hoene, boisterous zombie flick basically does what it says on the tin and never seems to extend any higher than the material used in the trailer. The laughs certainly don’t seem to surpass then scene involving Richard Briars’ character – oh, how the mighty have fallen – utilising only a slow moving zimmerframe to evade the bloodthirsty undead. Granted, this scene was comedy gold but lost all the magic and spontaneity necessary for such a sketch to really hit the high notes because it was such a focal hook in the trailer. That, an aged Pussy Galore and a spirited Michelle Ryan are the main titbits that grab you from the trailer. That may be one of the best sentences that has ever left my noggin’. Also, Pussy Galore in a zombie movie? Is this something I, unknowingly, desperately needed in my life?

A few tangents later, we’ll get into some tangible points that I actually made notes on. Eventually. I was, ignoring my better instincts, quite excited about this film (I know I say that a lot, for a cynic). Despite the fact that it has been staring at me from the abyss that is Netflix for several years. But I was excited for a gritty, exuberant and unflinchingly British, zombie horror that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Granted, this is exactly what I got – I suppose some points should be handed to it for living up to expectations. The sad thing is that it could have been so much more if it hadn’t been lazy about it, It could easily have ranked up there with ‘Zombieland’ and ‘Shaun of the Dead’. yet it does fall short, primarily because, well, it’s not that funny.

She is pretty badass, you have to admit.

The premise is simple. A group of Cockney runarounds attempt a pretty amateur bank robbery which happens to coincide with the collapse of the East End as it fills up with animated corpses. Corpses that still seem to maintain gang mentalities and football hooliganry… why not? I did appreciate that some of the zombies were little more than disintegrating skeletons. It’s a big pet peeve of mine that so many zombie blockbusters have these plump, human-looking cadavers despite the natural processes that would disrupt their physicality such as starvation, muscle deterioration, lack of blood supply etc. (Although – these are new zombies so i’m unsure how much dystrophy would actually have taken place. Frankly, if we’re going super scientific – if rigor mortis were setting in…how are they moving? And, now my head explodes). Moving swiftly on before I have an aneurysm, these sorts of zombies are less intimidating than the fleshy, quick boys and gals but there is more of a hint of realism about the decomposition which I appreciate. This decaying subgroup hark back to the sort of 80’s cult walkers like in ‘Return of the Living Dead’.

I did really enjoy the gore in this film, it was effective without being corny, overtly grotesque nor laughable. My only problem with it is that, I think, there should have been more focus on the gore. Seeing as the film itself is self-awarely pretty low budget and low quality therefore I think it could have benefited from being more visceral, more intuitive and grittier. One aspect I think that nailed the plucky and mettlesome tone is the dialogue. The writers did a bang up job making the dialogue humorously hyperbolic yet still maintain an interesting cultural integrity that I liked. Screw the idea of swish Brits with RP accents, sipping tea out of bone china cups with extended pinkies! You want to know what England is really like? This! Intense swearing, twats in backwards caps, drunken shouting in pubs that always seem to have at least one old ‘geezer’ sat at the bar, sounding like an incoherent farmer. Oh and an awful lot of ripping the living shit out of each other (pun very much intended). Really, take a few lines for example: ‘You yuppy twat’, ‘let’s fuck up some fuckers’. Welcome to London, ‘fuckers’.

I found a lot of the nuances funnier than the outright mayhem, like how rapidly and calmly they accept that it’s a friggin’ zombie apocalypse. I think it’s take me a few more minutes to adjust. One other stand out scene that was pretty entertaining is how the jaw of the zombie just locks onto the man’s arm like a decapitated pitbull. Strangely, details like this are biologically fairly realistic but then there are bits and bobs that are so far away from any sense of realism that they may as well be the love children of Tinkerbell and Freddie Kruger. For example, unless you’ve somehow slipped into a Kronenberg creature feature, it would never be possible to decapitate somebody with your bare hands.

Final notes: Moral of the story = Guns are great, kids!
also…can we just mentioned the fact that the guy drop kicks a baby. You…ugh, don’t see that everyday?

I’ll just leave this here…

Overall, I guess the easiest summary for me to put forward is that it’s a bit of fun. Don’t take it too seriously, don’t expect it to forever change you with some existential reason for being. It’s exactly what you should expect from it – it’s Cockneys and zombies. Bish bash bosh. Now, don’t you want to book your holidays to come see drizzly ole’ England? You don’t? Huh.

Little Evil (2017) Review

AKA a ‘Little’ bit boring. Evil? Really? He’s like a frigging puppy at the end. And…and…and this film got 92% on Rotten Tomatoes?…I just…what?
1.25/5 screams

SPOILERS AND MATURE CONTENT AHEAD:

I had somewhat high hopes for this movie. I remember it being released and the trailer looked promising, but it has sat in my ‘WatchList’ for over two years so, read into that what you will about the premise and the trailer. Honestly, anything was going to be better than the 9 minutes we gave ‘Scary Movie 3’ which was utterly, holy, yawnably (is that a word?) crap. Just pure crap. So anything, anything had to be better….right?

First impressions: the parallels in both the colour schemes and the dialogue are initially pretty interesting. For example; the mother shouting “Time out” and the husband latterly stating “I want a divorce”. Both of these statements have huge impact behind them, yet they’re stoic, to the point, blunt – short sentences with fists behind them. I thought this was clever. Moreover, the colour schemes were very well thought out – visually pleasing. Dark at the start, bright and cheerful afterwards. Everybody’s clothes are plain, unadulterated. There’s something eerie about that, to be honest. Maybe that’s just me. Lucas, throughout the film, is coloured darker than everyone around him. Whether it’s clothing, clouds behind him etc. This sort of breaks when he’s at the fair with the step-dad. Even his eyes seem brighter, thus by comparison the beginning looks far darker than you think.

Seeing Adam Scott being genuine and not saying something sarcastic and deadpan is strange, I keep expecting there to be a punchline but that expectation never really comes because this film, frankly, is not funny.

The shift in pacing every now and then is effectively jarring.

Quotes that did make me laugh:
~ “I just love the smell of an old nunnery”
~“God never gives you more than you can handle” ~ NO NO NO, I cannot stand this quote – Just, no, I’m sorry if you put this in your film with serious intentions I will hate it. -_-
~ The therapist is hilariously accurate: “I see…Hmm” ~ also the Newton’s cradle is very effective for building the tension.
~ “The way they’re paying teachers these days i’m not surprised”

There are little meta hints of connections to ‘The Omen’, ‘The Shining’, ‘Poltergeist’ and, I think (please correct me) ‘The DaVinci Code’. You get points if you can tell me the links between these films and ‘Little Evil’ are.
-The Omen: Lucas’ hair and clothing, the camera focuses sometimes, direct eye contact.
-The Shining: the two (blonde) twins in blue dresses, the puppet seems to be a variation on Tony
-Poltergeist: communication through the TV – darkness except from static, focus on clowns
-The DaVinci Code: The man lacerating himself with a whip ~ self-flagellation

The worm scene was pretty gross, I’ll give the film that. Question: Why the hell is there a fully operational bar at a children’s sixth birthday party? I know kid’s parties suck but jesus, at least hide it in a water bottle of sumthin!

Want to play?” did make me jump. But the humour throughout the film is very hit and miss, almost like it was added at the last minute – they just thought about ripping of somebody else’s story but adding a few shitty comedy scenes. Also, the wife is sooo dumb.

My overall impression: boring, so boring I was just waiting for it to end. Eek, sorry Rotten Tomatoes – we’ll have to agree to disagree!

So, i’m leaving horror-comedies alone for the time being (after I publish my review of ‘Cockney’s Vs Zombies’) phew! What binge should I do next? Let me know what you think in the comments or tweet me! I like a good twittering.

Girls With Balls (2018) Review

AKA a trashy, horny and dull flat line with all the charm and depth of an egg cup.
1/5 screams

SPOILERS AHEAD AND MATURE CONTENT:

Recently I’ve been on a bit of a horror-comedy binge. For those of you who know me, I know you’ll be shocked by this. I’ve always been very, very, anti-horror-comedies. I think, mainly, for most of the reasons i’ll give in this review. They tend to be generic bloodbaths with the odd dark joke or laugh thrown in. I’ve always hated them, so I decided to conduct an experiment. I watched two in one night and decided to compare them mentally. I was going to do a contrast review between ‘Girls with Balls’ and ‘Cockneys Vs Zombies’ but realised that if I were to concentrate on comparing the two then I might lose the initial spark, the description and intimacy.

As part of this curiosity study, I watched it like I would have done at thirteen. Open-minded, unaware of tropes and cliches and reader reception theory. An English teacher I had for A levels once joked that his marriage ended because English destroys your brain so that you can longer enjoy a book or film without intensely over-analysing it. It’s a tough ole’ life being a writer, what can I say. Anyway, back at the ranch this film is a synthetic, shallow exploration of, well, basically nothing.

Even early on in the narrative you can sense the bland atmosphere. There’s no hook, nothing intriguing or even eye-catching. When a film is so uninteresting that you spend the run time scrolling through Twitter, this is not a compliment to the film. One of my main problems with it is the characterisation. The MC’s are unlikeable, nothingy, hypersexualised and as interesting as cotton wool. How are we meant to care about the deaths, the blood, the chaos when the characters themselves are just dull – cardboard dialogue, attempts to be comedic that just crash and burn as they leave the actors’ mouths. BUT, for Morgan’s sexy dance scene…I can forgive them a little.

Side note: who on earth is the singing narrator? Which of the writers of this travesty decided ‘oh, you know what we really need here – a guy with a guitar who plays no real role in the movie, just pops up now and then to sing country narrations’. Just..what? He does not add anything to the film. He’s not amusing or necessary. The first thing that did actually make me laugh was as blondie tries this odd stripping sequence whilst wearing a falcon helmet. As she begins to show her breasts, the two men begin making out and this subverted expectation actually does work pretty well as a small laughing prompt.

I have an issue with Morgan – I’m sorry but her stabbing the team leader twice with a machete just comes straight out of nowhere. Okay, she’s a bit of a bitch but there’s a pretty large difference between being a dick and being a murderer. Jesus, imagine if they were the same. My dating history would just be a list of straight up psychopaths. But, I digress, two of the most visually interesting sequences are two that, I will admit, did make me think. Firstly, the f***ing chihuahua scene. Warn me, people! I cannot cope with dogs dying…it wasn’t funny, just sad and gross. Why, just why? Also the headless body – what is with that guy? I mean it’s not exactly Mike the chicken here (If you have no idea what i’m talking about, please google ‘Mike the chicken’ he lived for two years without his head. What a legend. “Come at me bitches, I’m not becoming nuggets’.) and he stumbles around seemingly with consciousness, for flipping ages. Ugh.

Returning to chickens, briefly, the only scene that made me jump was when an unexpected chicken appears from the bushes. Now, that’s not exactly a compliment for the movie. As I mentioned, the characters are so underdeveloped and so are the villains. They’re not intimidating, disgusting or even interesting. How can you have any emotional connection, fear or disgust when the villains don’t even utter one word of dialogue. We are completely unaware of their motivations, their flaws, their narcissistic pathologies. All we see are men in dress up with a bit of face paint. Bad, bad writing ya’ll. Seriously, this film was 1 hour 17 minutes of my life I’ll never get back.

Second side note: using your only phone call to scald a cheating boyfriend is just utterly ridiculous.

One thing I realised, this film could’ve been fantastic if it was an exploration of Morgan’s devolution into madness and murderous impulses. If it was a character piece, like ‘American Mary’ or ‘Maniac’ it could have been a great watch. But instead we’re given a monotonous, drab and wearisome hunting flick that neither raises your adrenaline nor holds your attention for more than five minutes.

Overall, this film is a tedious, bland, tired rehash of every teen slasher flick, complete with every weatherworn cliche and kinky stereotype to hook in horny preteens. It has no goals, depth or intelligence. (Sadly, I did write far more than this about this particular flick at about 2am last night but somehow didn’t save 3/4 of it so I’ve tried my best to regurgitate the main points).

The moral of our story, as you can plainly see, defend yourself from rapists by learning to volley”. Okay…but they weren’t rapists?

I am so done with this film. Ugh. Do yourself a favour and don’t watch it. Just…don’t.

Howl (2015) Review – Re-watch

AKA me being somewhat befuddled by how much I love this movie.

3.5/5 Screams
SPOILERS AHEAD

Hello fellow ghouls. Despite this blog being more for my benefit than anyone else’s, I’ll apologise (again, oops) for neglecting this blog lately. It’s been half because of my novel and half because of the gorgeous heatwave hitting drizzly ole’ Britain at the moment – I’ve been relishing every second of it.

Funnily enough, I have actually watched and made notes on about five or six horrors over the past weeks but just haven’t got around to writing them up. So, today – ignoring the sunshine beckoning me through my window – I thought i’d choose one. I decided to do a re-watch review because sometimes watching these films multiple times, you really do both watch and internalise them all very differently each time and notice bits and pieces that otherwise go over your head.

For today’s post, I chose a film that I discovered about eight months or so ago. I was bored one evening and was scrolling through Amazon prime, I found this movie – watched the trailer, realised it looked fairly low budget and perhaps a bit trashy but it was evidently very – aesthetically and tonally – British and sometimes I love me a good movie with OTT Britishness involved. The first time I watched it, I fell in love with it. I’m unsure why exactly, the make-up isn’t very good, the acting is varied, the storyline is basic and patchy and the ending is pretty annoying. For all intents and purposes this film should not work, yet it so indulgent, so claustrophobic and so stupidly enjoyable. No surprise that it has this oppressive and cramped atmosphere exists in this movie, seeing as it comes from the creator of ‘The Descent’ which is a fantastic movie. Knowing this, you can see the parallels between the two films – both playing on the natural, human survival instincts and fears of being trapped in confined spaces with no escape. It actually reminds me of ‘Train to Busan’ in some ways, although that is one of my all time favourite zombie movies and it starkly better than this film in many ways.

Let me take on the ride through the narrative – i’m very sorry for that pun, I can do better. We follow a train conductor in England on a night train with a handful of passengers, most of whom aren’t particularly likeable or explored much before they’re picked off one by one by a horde of werewolves. That’s it. A thirteen year old could write that synopsis. So why does this film work so well? Because it’s very self-aware, it knows that it’s corny and a guilty pleasure and runs with it. If it was trying to be something it very clearly isn’t then it almost definitely would not work as well as it does.

For some reason, don’t judge me, I have a crush on most of the characters (besides the old couple, obviously) and I have no idea why. One is actually, oddly, the spitting image of my favourite university lecturer. Maybe that’s why I fancy him – no shame. Anyway, I digress. In the beginning there seems to be a strange reliance of casual workplace sexism and harassment just to move the plot forwards and i’m unsure how I feel about that. Also early on, there’s a comical foreshadowing with the dog under the seat and, admittedly, even after having seen it before, it still made me jump. I’m losing my touch. The tone and dialogue is very heavy on the realism and I appreciate this, it makes it both more relatable – who doesn’t know the frustration of being stuck on a late night train? – and easier to get lost in. The full moon at the beginning makes me smirk, got to love a nicely implanted cliche, am I right? I also think it’s pretty clever to make the driver seem kind and likeable in only one line of dialogue before killing him off to grab the best effect.

BUT, and here comes the fun bit – ripping a film I love to shreds, there are a fair few plot holes in this film. First of all, surely the conductors have radio connections back to traffic controllers and security? Would they not somehow figure out how to call for help? The make-up really is s**t, the werewolf on the poster is better than the actual design. Granted the gore is pretty decent but you just can’t look at the werewolves without a little giggle. Even their claws are stupid looking. Thirdly, what on earth was that toilet cubicle made from? Cardboard? The dialogue was also much cheesier on the second watch than I remembered it being first time round. Moreover, I watched this again with my Dad, and it says little for the writing that he guessed everything before it happened – I suppose it’s objectively more predictable than I thought. A couple of last things: Matt’s death is fundamentally stupid, Jenny’s movements when she transitions are hilarious, the female conductor barely even jogs away from the forest at the end despite Joe having just offed himself for her survival. And, I saved the biggest for last, how on any level of horror existence, folklore or mythical tales are these werewolves STILL werewolves when the full moon disappears and morning comes around. Is this some new strain of werewolfism (is that a word? It should be)?

A few last notes on this strangely entertaining and replayable film: some of the triggers to move the plot along are very obvious. Take the first death of the central characters for example, the girl with no name – side note: good decision to not give her a name, it certainly added some pathos where otherwise you wouldn’t really care that she’s dead cause she was annoying af – it’s fairly blatant that she’ll die first, as she is shown bonding with blondie shortly beforehand and, sure this could just be some final attempts at connection before they all bite the bullet (told you my puns would get better) but it’s short and when she gets dragged from the vestibule you kind of think to yourself ‘oh, that’s why’. Another side note: Wow do they love overkill in this movie. Like, Jesus – calm down you little psychopaths, it’s dead as a dodo. Most of the deaths are okay, until the ending where they all seem to be rushed and meh – except from when cheating-McDickface boots blondie from the carriage to buy himself time, I will never forgive him for that (even if I do find him very attractive, don’t even ask). She had a little daughter you absolute scumbag. Also, poor Zach or whatever his name was – he was a good cookie. Finally, Joe really doesn’t get enough credit in this film. He literally sacrifices himself for somebody he barely has more than a crush on, it also helps that Ed Speleer’s acting is pretty darn good.

Funnily enough, this film gained a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes yet really did not go down well with fans. Personally, I recommend this film if you’re bored, want a fun ride without having to concentrate or worry too much about caring for the characters. Indulge in the utter Britishness of it and don’t try to make it anything that it isn’t, is my advice. I wonder whether it would have the same appeal to other nations because the aesthetics and humour might not translate across cultures. Have you seen this flick anywhere outside of the UK? How did you respond to it?

‘Truth or Dare’ (2018) Review

AKA a run of the mill teen scream, annoying, (secretly) enjoyable and annoying – oh, I already said annoying? Exactly.

1.5/5 Screams

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Hello strangers, first of all I have to say a very big, scary SORRY. I’ve been a terrible blogger lately and my only excuse for being MIA for the past few weeks is that I’ve been immersed in writing my novel which I have, finally, cracked. So It’s been all about the book and so blogging had to take a back seat. But, in between planning and plotting and scribbling, I did have time to watch three horrors. So, without further adieu, here’s the first.

Looking back at the notes I made on this 2018 horror is pretty amusing, I wrote ‘Oh, come on!’ and ‘What?’ multiple times. In CAPS LOCK, no less – so ya know I was really unimpressed.

I’d seen the trailer for this one several times as it was fairly intensely marketed as the new big one to see in the cinemas. The trailer had stuck it in my brain but without any lasting impression, apart from the plastic-lined, stretched out grins that reminded me of the masks in ‘The Purge’.

The beginning is intriguing, nothing remarkable nor terrifying, cliche jump scares and predictable violence. Basically, it starts like any run of the mill teen scream. One of the first things that struck me was the milking of the selfie culture in this film. It’s infuriating and, if anything, conveys the target audience as pretty young preteens. I suppose this film would be okay as a first watch, an initiation into the horror scene for thirteen year olds, but not for people who can identify any tropes or classic scenes that are common in horror. Not to mention the fact that these characters act like they’re fifteen or so, highschoolers at the most, rather than university students – not that i’m saying all university students are the epitome of maturity. Believe me when I tell you that that’s far from the truth. But the characters in this flick would definitely have suited a senior school setting more than university. Especially as the cheap jump scares really are just that, cheap and foreseeable.

Another note that, looking back makes me laugh as i’m so picky, is that some of the exposition and backstory are just lazily implanted into the film. For example, we find out that the protagonist’s best friend’s dad committed suicide through the line (from what I can remember) ‘since dad killed himself’ or something of the sort. This is just unrealistic dialogue, the characters know how he died; the only reason to be mentioning it in that way is to tell the audience. Lazy, lazy, lazy. It’s almost as bad as going: ‘Oh yeah, i’ve been feeling really terrible since dad died of complications from puerperal fever from the…….’. Ugh. Read your dialogue back people!!!

One thing I was curious about in this film is what its point is. Is this just a synthetic, cheap Halloween watch or is there a larger theme? I thought perhaps the whole thing could be an allegory for peer pressure but that may be my English student over-analysis!?!?

Another stand alone note that made me laugh in my notebook: ‘Neck break = Lol but good’. My bullet points are very eloquent, right? Who did the bloody dialogue again – ‘I looked like a Snapchat filter’. Seriously? Again, they’re talking like children. It’s infuriating and because they’re such bland characters you don’t actually care when any of them kick the bucket, thus rendering the entire film emotionally uninteresting and severing any connection with the audience that’s more powerful than ‘Oh, look – he snapped his neck on a pool table. Shame’. Another bone I have to pick with this film is less to do with this film in particular and more to do with the entire sub-genre of teen screams. Specifically, the gaslighting involved. The classic is the main character realises there’s some supernatural forces at work or a serial killer on the loose and everyone around her makes her/him feel like they’re going insane and it’s all in their head. And, quite honestly, this trope is neither effective nor appropriate anymore. It’s just dull and, not to get on my feminism high horse or anything, but this tends to happen to female MC’s more than male. Just my humble opinion.

My second high horse to clamber up onto is to do with the way Penelope’s character is explored, she’s referred to as ‘day-drinking Penelope’. STOP USING ADDICTION AND MENTAL HEALTH AS A LAUGHING POINT! Jeesh, this does my head in in these movies. It’s one thing to romanticise binge drinking and recreational drug abuse but to actively use it as a comedic character arc without exploring it any further than the surface is another. Please, directors and writers, just stop using these serious issues as comedy.

Moreover, the characterisation in general is just meh. None of them are likeable, interesting or more than just obvious cliches. Marki (also, who the hell is called Mar-k-i?) is selfish, Olivia is nothingy and bland etc. And realism is shoved aside with the dust and the lint, for example – nobody would be able to talk even somewhat rationally after over a litre of vodka downed like water. Her death is also infuriating. One plus, this film has a surprisingly okay sex scene – despite the fact that Lukas literally tells Olivia he doesn’t love her whilst he’s still inside, I mean…wow – for what is otherwise a seemingly PG13+ movie.

Final point: Sky Cinema rated this movie 1.5/5 stars and I can seriously see why. The ending was just like the rest of the movie, obvious, unintelligent, easy; leaving me exclaiming to my dog, ‘Oh for f’s sake, come on!’.

Freaky Friday #2: My ‘Little Book of Horrors’:

AKA Sharing the book where I write down horror movies I hear about, want to watch or loved. Including ratings on the ones i’ve seen so far.

Yes, yes – I know what you’re thinking. I’m singing it too…

Happy weekend to all ghouls, ghosts and primordial blobs reading this. I hope that, if you’re in Europe, you’re all enjoying this scorching weather! If you can, stop reading this and get yourself to a beach whilst it lasts. Knowing the UK it’ll probably hail tomorrow just to even things out, you never know. This week’s post is going to be all about lists. A few years ago – when my adoration for all things horror began – I started a notebook (I have notebooks for most things, I’m that kind of person) in which I started writing all the horror movies I researched, watched, heard about, loved etc. It started after I began researching lists on YouTube, like The Most Banned and Disturbing Horrors, My favourite horrors, Best French Extremist Films and realised I would always forget the ones I found out about. So I did, in one place. And since then I always write down classics I haven’t yet watched, films by new favourite directors etc. So, here I pass on the proverbial torch. Almost like i’m giving you my little black book of people i’ve dated…although, that actually would contain just as much horror. *Symbols*

Here it is in all it’s understated glory!

Some Housekeeping:
-I apologise for how many classics I haven’t seen!
-These are in absolutely no particular order
-As always, when I say screams I don’t refer to how scary or horrifying they are, I just mean out of 5 stars)
-Some of the films in the list are not horror movies. This is because they’ve been banned in various countries, or they contain some very disturbing content or are psychological thrillers with horror tropes.
-In some cases, I’ve seen the original/remake of the film on the list but not the one listed and so don’t strike them through
-No, these are not all of the horrors i’ve EVER seen.

As there are so many in my book, I haven’t seen them all and I’m not going to rate them all or review them all. I’ll just rate the ones I have seen. So, in no particular order, here we go:

  • Mother! (2017) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • Cannibal Holocaust (1980) ~ 2.5/5 screams
  • Visitor Q (2001)
  • A Clockwork Orange (1972) ~ 4.5/5 screams
  • Rupture (2017) ~ Seeing as I barely remember watching it i’ll say 1.5/5 screams
  • Pet (2016) ~ I was drunk when I saw this but I remember liking it: 4/5 screams
  • The Last House on the Left (1972) ~ I’ve only seen the remake of this so far
  • The Hills Have Eyes (2006) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • 120 Days of Sodom/Salo (1957) ~ 3/5 screams
  • Caligula (1979)
  • Baskin (2015)
  • Audition (1999) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • Funny Games (Remake – 2007) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • May (2002)
  • V/H/S (2012)
  • August Underground (2001)
  • Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
  • 31 (2016) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • The Void (2017) ~ 3/5 screams
  • Prevenge (2016)
  • House of 1,000 Corpses (2003) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • Begotten (1990)
  • Scrapbook (2000) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • Slaughtered Vomit Dolls (2006)
  • Crimson Peak (2015)
  • The Devil’s Rejects (2005) ~ 2/5 screams
  • Night of the Living Dead (1968)
  • Land of the Dead (2005) ~ 1.5/5 screams
  • Scream (1996) ~ 4/5 screams
  • The Possession (2012) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • Thirst (2009)
  • I Saw the Devil (2010)
  • A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
  • Ringu (1998)
  • The Eye (2002)
  • Martin (1978)
  • My Little Eye (2002)
  • Red, White and Blue (2010) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • Aftermath (1994)
  • Ichi the Killer (2001)
  • Mexico Barbaro (2014)
  • Carnage Park (2016)
  • Teeth (2007) ~ 2/5 screams
  • Hellraiser (1987) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • Irreversible (2002)
  • Tokyo Gore Police (2008)
  • Guinea Pig Series (1-7) (1985-1989)
  • Taxidermia (2006)
  • Eat (2014)
  • The Final Girls (2015) ~ 3/5 screams
  • Schramm (1993)
  • Cat Sick Blues (2015)
  • Hard Candy (2005) ~ 4/5 screams
  • Dead Girl (2008) ~ 3/5 screams
  • Victim (2010)
  • X Gemu (2013)
  • Missing (2009)
  • Inside (2007) ~ 1.5/5 screams
  • Deliverance (1972)
  • Antichrist (2009)
  • Videodrome (1983)
  • The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
  • Scanners (1981)
  • Cujo (1983)
  • The Omen (1976) ~ 4/5 screams
  • The Fly (1986) ~ 4/5 screams
  • From Dusk Til’ Dawn (1996)
  • Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
  • Final Destination (2000) ~ 3/5 screams, for what it is it’s good fun
  • The Girl Next Door (2007) ~ 3/5 screams, solely for acting and being based on a very horrific true story
  • Them (aka “ils”) (2005)
  • Compliance (2012) ~ 3/5 screams
  • Maniac (2012) ~ 3/5 screams
  • Trick or Treat (2007)
  • The Orphanage (2007)
  • Behind the Mask (2006)
  • Possession (1981)
  • Grotesque (2009)
  • Father’s Day (2012)
  • Slenderman (2018) ~ 0/5 screams ~ Damn, we finally got a zero ya’ll
  • The Bunny Game (2011)
  • Veronica (2018)
  • The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael (2005)
  • Hereditary (2018)
  • The Thing (1982) ~ 3/5 screams
  • Identity (2003) ~ 2/5 screams
  • Sleepaway Camp (1983)
  • Dead Silence (2007)
  • Slither (2006)
  • Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) ~ 3/5 screams, solely for the concept
  • Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
  • Annabelle: Creation (2017)
  • Dark Water (2003)
  • Urban Legends (2007-11)
  • Piranha 3D (2010) ~ 0/5 screams, second one boys and girl, ooooooh
  • This is the End (2013) ~ 2/5 screams
  • Revenge (2017) ~ 5/5 *alarm bells ring, the crowd goes wild*
  • The House That Jack Built (2018)
  • The Wild Bunch (1969)
  • Suspiria (Remake – 2018)
  • Mullholland Drive (2001)
  • Psycho (1960) ~ 5/5 screams, of course
  • Carrie (1976) ~ 4/5 screams
  • The Wicker Man (1973)
  • All of the Halloween franchise (1978-2018) ~ still haven’t seen them all.
  • Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)
  • The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018)
  • Pet Semetary (Remake – 2019)
  • Heretiks (2018)
  • Apostle (2018) ~ 2/5 screams
  • Glass (2019) ~ 2/5 screams, if I were rating James McAvoy alone it would be 5/5
  • The New Mutants (2019)
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
  • Don’t Look Now (1973)
  • In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
  • Under the Shadow (2016)
  • Pontypool (2008)
  • Inside (2007)
  • Re-animator: Directors Cut (1985)
  • The Fly (Remake – 2019)
  • Creature of the Black Lagoon (1954)
  • It (1990) ~ 1/5 screams
  • The Orphanage (2007)
  • The Birds (1963)
  • Wolf Creek (2005) ~ 4/5 screams
  • The Howling (1981)
  • The Howling II (1985)
  • My Bloody Valentine (2009)
  • Hatchet Series (2006-2017)
  • Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
  • Annihilation (2018) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • The Endless (2018)
  • Hellraiser: Judgement (2018)
  • Lowlife (2018)
  • Downrange (2018)
  • Goijiam: Haunted Asylum (2018)
  • The Toxic Avenger (1984)
  • City of the Living Dead (1980)
  • Evil Dead (1981)
  • The Beyond (1981)
  • Death Proof (2007)
  • The Dead (2011)
  • The Horde (2009) ~ 2/5 screams
  • Rammbock: Berlin Undead (2010)
  • Unsane (2018) ~ 3/5 screams
  • Upgrade (2018)
  • Ghost Stories (2018) ~ 4/5 screams
  • The Pack (2013)
  • Battle Royale (2001)
  • Society (1989)
  • Wildling (2018)
  • Mandy (2018)
  • Bug (2007)
  • The Wailing (2016)
  • Bad Match (2017)
  • Climax (2018)
  • Carriers (2009)
  • Pyewacket (2017)
  • The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) ~ 5/5 screams
  • Rampo Noir (2005)
  • Strange Circus (2005)
  • Gozu (2003)
  • Shutter (2004)
  • Three Extremes (2004)
  • Zombie (1979)
  • The Wizard of Gore (1970)
  • Suicide Club (2001)
  • High Tension (2003)
  • The Witch (2015)
  • Happy Death Day (2017) ~ 2/5 screams
  • Orphan (2009) ~ 3.5/5 screams, it would have been higher but the ending is rubbish, in my opinion.
  • Cockhammer (2009)
  • Slasher House (2012)
  • The Devil’s Music (2008)
  • Absentia (2011)
  • Us (2019)
  • Stalled (1994)
  • Colin (2008)
  • The Battery (2012)
  • I Spit on Your Grave (Remake – 2010) ~ 3/5 screams
  • I Spit on Your Grave 3 (2015) ~ 2.5/5 screams
  • All Hallow’s Eve (2013)
  • Wolf Creek 2 (2014) ~ 3/5 screams
  • Howl (2015) ~ 3.5/5 screams, I know the special effects are terrible but I just love this film, it’s so very very British.
  • Splinter (2008) ~ 2.5/5 screams
  • 13 Eerie (2013) ~ 2/5 screams
  • Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
  • 47 Metres Down (2017) ~ 2/5 screams
  • A Quiet Place (2018) ~ 3.5/5 screams
  • Silent House (2011)
  • We Are What We Are (2013)
  • Train to Busan (2016) ~ 5/5 screams
  • We’re Still Here (2015)
  • Stakeland (2010)
  • I Spit on Your Grave (1978) ~ 3/5 screams, unpopular opinion: I prefer the remake.
  • Aliens (1986)
  • Alien 3 (1992)
  • Frontiers (2007)
  • Livid (2011)
  • Eyes Without a Face (1960)
  • Terrifier (2016)
  • The Similiars (2015)
  • Conjuring Spirit (2015)
  • Cold Skin (2017)
  • Murder Party (2007)
  • Office (2015)
  • Eremmentari (2017)
  • The Poughkipsie Tapes (2007)
  • Lake Mungo (2008)
  • The Vanishing (2018)
  • Megan is Missing (2011)
  • The Last Broadcast (1998)
  • The Borderlands (2013)
  • Sightseers (2012)
  • In Fear (2013)
  • Wake Wood (2009)
  • Peeping Tom (1960)
  • The Hallow (2015)
  • 12 Feet Deep (2017) ~ 2.5/5 screams
  • Kuso (2017)
  • ABC’s of Death (2012) ~ 4/5 screams
  • Jeepers Creepers (2001)
  • Let the Right one in (2008)
  • Frailty (2001)
  • Black Christmas (1974)
  • Zone of the Dead (2010)
  • Roadkill (2001)
  • Patchwork (2017) ~ 3/5 screams, sick and stupid but very enjoyable
  • The Lesson (2016) ~ 2.5/5 screams
  • Bodies (2016) ~3/5 screams
  • Sawney – Flesh of Man (2013)
  • Cabin Fever 3: Patient Zero (2014) ~ 2.5/5 screams
  • Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) ~ 3/5 screams
  • Baby Blood (1990)
  • What We Become (2017)
  • The Corpse of Anna Fritz (2015) ~ 4.5/5 screams
  • Wilderness (2006)
  • Cheap Thrills (2014)
  • Rabies (2010)
  • Ibiza Undead (2018) ~ 0/5 screams
  • Ruin Me (2018)
  • Wither (2012)
  • Hounds of Love (2017) ~ 4/5 screams
  • The Untamed (2016)
  • The Reef (2010) ~ 2/5 screams
  • Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (2009) ~ 2.5/5 screams
  • The Gore Gore Girls (1972)
  • Trouble Every Day (2001)
  • Mom & Dad (2018)
  • Ginger Snap (2000)
  • Noroi: The Curse (2005)
  • Cold Prey (2006)
  • The Shrine (2010) ~ 1/5 screams

S0, there we are. My ‘Little Book of Horrors’. All billion of them (253). I’m, currently, on 70/253. How many of this spread have you all seen? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll see you next Friday!

And, in case you’re bored or interested or both – here a a few of the original pages: