Dark Summer

Directed by: Paul Solet

Written by: Mike Le

Year Released: 2015

Sub Genre: Ghost / Supernatural

Cast: Keir Gilchrist, Stella maeve, Maestro Harrell

A 17 year old kid is placed under house arrest after being convicted of cyber stalking and hacking into social media accounts owned by a local girl. This prompts him to lose all access to social media up to and including complete loss of the Internet.

After convincing his friends to bury a router in his neighbors yard, he logs online only to find the girl who he has been stalking, sends him a skype request and kills herself in the video.

Soon thereafter, he starts seeing things  happen around the house that start to drive him mad.

It's a very slow film that doesn't fully explain itself very well. The mother of this 17 year old is absent throughout the entire film, even when the police officer is present at the start of the film to place the ankle bracelet. I'm pretty sure some sort of question should have been asked on the officers part.

They had the officer claim that the kids computer was taken away and that his I.P. address had been tagged. He never realized that the kid had a smart phone with him? Something he can easily use to access the outside world via phone call, text messaging and any form of communication through the Internet which is easily accessible over a freaking smart phone.

Another gripe I've had with this was the fact that they constantly called him a hacker. The guy had a damn set of papers with words he could possibly use as a password when attempting to get into someones account. That's not hacking, that's just being annoyingly persistent.

Most of the effect were lame with the exception of the underwater pool kill which looked pretty excellent.

The fact that this guy is being attacked and haunted is perfectly fine with me. The jerk's  incessant attempts at getting into this girls different social media accounts says to me that he deserves ever last bit of it right till the end.

They close with an "Ironic joke scene" which reaches back to the beginning of the film which was pointless and killed what decent ending they did have in place. 

Conclusion:

Maybe use this as background noise or if you're incredibly bored. You may want to use this however as an introduction movie to the genre for someone who's typically too scared to watch a horror film or has been too young to watch them previously.

2 out of 10

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Cold In July

Directed by: Jim Mickle

Written by: Nick Damici

Year Released: 2014

Sub Genre: Thriller / Murder

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Sheppard, Don Johnson

During a home robbery,  a father and husband shoots and kills an intruder, who, unbeknownst to him was unarmed.

Shortly thereafter, the father of the intruder comes to town to seek revenge. He stalks the family in order to terrorize them but is quickly apprehended by police.

But after a few days of being able to rest, the father finds out the man he killed is someone completely different than who the police have identified him as leading him to unravel a highly corrupt sheriff's office.

I was feeling in the mood for some Micheal C. Hall and thankfully Netflix delivered with this nice little IFC flick.

Hall delivers a very realistic performance of a man faced with a terrifying situation and hits the roll right on the nose as he always does without error. If you don't believe me, watch a few episodes of six feet under followed by a few episodes of Dexter and try to tell me otherwise.

Most of the remaining cast were very strong in their performances which made this viewing that much more pleasurable.

With that being said, the story line took an exciting turn but unfortunately turned predictable and rushed  by the end of the film.

It's feels like a mix of Walking Tall meets Walker, Texas Ranger with a dash of Dexter to garner people's attention. There is some comedy and the acting is far superior to a lot of what IFC may offer but it sadly falls flat by the end.

The biggest problem I had was that this small town family man who happened to have killed one person by accident instantly turns into some kind of bad ass for about two minutes and then reverts back to a useless tit. It's honestly upsetting and, once again, really aid's in the demise of greatness it had initially started with.

Conclusion:

I would suggest this only for the first 3/4 of the movie as the remainder is predictable and better left to the imagination. And only because of that first 3/4 of the film.

5 out of 10.

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Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort

Directed by: Valeri Milev

Written by: Frank H. Woodward

Year Released: 2014

Sub Genre: Slasher / Incest / Just An All Around Bad Film

Cast: Anthony Ilott, Chris Jarvis, Aqueela Zoll, Saddie Katz

AKA: Hopefully the last film in the franchise. A movie so poorly liked, that's when you check out the synopsis on IMDB it only states "Danny and his friends go to Hobs Springs."

Don't believe me? Please, go take a look at it. I'll wait right here.

WTF right? So let me try to shine a little bit of light on this entry into the Wrong Turn franchise.

After learning that he is the only living heir, Danny inherits a resort from his deceased family.

He takes his friends up for the weekend in order to check the place out but is shocked to find out that his friends are being hunted down and that the killers may be close to him than he ever expected.

This has to be the funnest intro I've gotten to write about in this series. Now, it's time to get down to business and bow our heads in shame for even having watched this non sense!

So let's start off with the normal complaints just to get them out of the way.

Like in the two previous entries in the series, all the freaks are alive and well so we are once again aware that they are going to live.

The special effects were pretty bad, but I have seen worse in the franchise. They actually seemed to try and avoid using computer imagery which I can give a plus to them in my books for this one.

The masks used by the inbreeds however? Worse make up effects yet. No mouth movement at all and nothing but muffled sounds when Three Fingers is yelling at his brothers about something. Of course the moment he turns around, they add in his laugh which is clear as day and does not match his voice levels or muffles at all.

Now, the story could have been decent had they actually had a real story line and not just a bad idea to go on. Everything in this script was just horrifyingly bad from start to finish, especially the disgusting excuse for a finish.

The actors were mildly entertaining at best but one of them stuck out like a sore thumb.

Saddie Katz character looked like she was on drugs through half the film and the other half, she looked normal. Now I don't want to be the guy who is specifically bitching about anybody in the industry but Christ, either get some sleep or lay off the crack pipe!

Conclusion:

The last three films in this series have no reason to exist next to someone trying to make a quick buck off the name of the series alone.

And thanks to a lawsuit, this franchise may never see the light of day again until it gets rebooted or re-imagined or re whatever the hell they do. (Info is on IMDB and Wikipedia)

Do not bother with this movie. Avoid it if you can as it has nothing to do with the franchise.

0.5 out of 10

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Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines

Directed by: Declan O'Brien

Written by: Declan O'Brien

Year Released: 2012

Sub Genre: Slasher 

Cast: Doug Bradley, Camilla Arfwedson, Simon Ginty

A group of kids venture out to the Mountain Man Festival for the biggest party of the year on Halloween night.

They end up being at the wrong place at the wrong time when a group of cannibals start to target them in order to help save a friend in need.

Great news everybody! We found a sequel that is rated higher than it's predecessor! Bad news is that the movie is only getting a higher rating because Doug Bradley was one of the leads in the film and he acts his freaking ass off in it!

Now, they weren't specific but I'm assuming that this was a follow up to the prequel that was part 4.

These three killer are once again together and once again, I get pissed off because I know that none of these Inbreeds are getting killed off and we have to sit through another insufferable piece of crap. So thank god the legend himself, Doug Bradley decided to join the cast of this non sense, otherwise I don't think I could have even finished the film.

The story was ridiculous, the acting from everyone, but Bradley, was piss poor, the special effects were laughable and abundantly ridiculous, the kills were boring and the ending make no sense.

Conclusion:

I could continue to complain about this film but why even bother. Watch a compilation of Doug Bradley's performance on Youtube and that should be enough!

1.5 out of 10

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Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings

Directed by: Declan O'Brien

Written by: Declan O'Brien

Year Released: 2011

Sub Genre: Road Trip / Vacation / Slasher

Cast: Jennifer Pudavick, Tenika Davis, Kaitlyn Leeb

A group of friends set off for an adventure in the great outdoors in the middle of winter. Everyone gets on snow machines and start heading towards their destination but are stopped by in their tracks by a hectic storm.

The gang, unable to bare the weather, find an abandoned building along the way and decide to set up camp for the night.

Unfortunately for them, what lurks in the shadows of the old sanitarium may be too much for them to handle.

My first thought coming into this film was "Shit! There are only three In-Bred's and they all happen to be the same ones as in the first movie!".

Of course this already gives away the big secret that this sequel has to offer. No freaks are going to be getting killed off in this film and all those attempting survival, will in fact, be pegged off one by one till there are no longer and survivors.

Now, without any hope of a happy ending, I was forced to hope for some amazing, original and preferably gore filled kill scenes.

This was also taken away from me as they took the easiest route they could to kill everyone off.

There were way too many repetitive deaths, mainly the amount of beheading's which were performed.

The special effects were pretty good compared to some of the crap this series had to offer up in the past but they still couldn't put a decent budget into the make up for the villains making them look yet again, worse than they did in the prior film.

This was basically used as an origin story that was not necessary as the first film explained perfectly what they are and why they kill.

Conclusion:

Hot garbage is what I'm going to go with on this film. Avoid at any costs of you can as it's once again unnecessary to the series.

1 out of 10

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Don't forget to check out our friends at The Gory Details Horror Show Podcast! The Best New Horror Podcast out there! 

Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead

Directed by: Declan O'Brien

Written by: Connor James Delaney

Year Released: 2009

Sub Genre: Stranded In The Woods / Slasher

Cast: Tom Frederic, Janet Montgomery, Gil Kolirin, Christian Contreras

A prison bus taking a back road in order to transport a high priority convict is attacked and thrown off the road.

The convict, thinking the attack was done by his team to spring him, is suddenly surprised to find that the bus was attacked for dinner and not for his freedom.

I read the premise, I thought it was an excellent idea and of course they just ruined it completely.

I was expecting a lot of advantage changes between the good guys and the bad guys but the criminals had the advantage 95% of the time.

Another sub plot in the story had to do with the group finding a burned out cash truck in the middle of the woods. Of course they would find a burned out vehicle in where the cash was totally unharmed and nobody went looking for.

This just adds greed to the equation and makes for a very annoying back and forth between all the criminals vying for a piece of the pie. They could have easily done without this and it would have turned out to be a much better movie.

And of course, with the advances in CGI technology, studios have to take advantage of paying more money for worse looking effects. This is displayed in a pendulum style kill that removes half the face of one of the characters. The resulting CGI looks like a frame by frame Photoshop picture that actually moves around and looks god awful. This is also displayed in a kill scene at the beginning of the film where a guy gets cut in three equal pieces, resulting in a CGI misting of blood which just disappears into thin air.

The acting was sub par on all parts and some of the criminals were highly annoying and whiny. I did not want anybody to survive next to the final girl.

Conclusion:

This rendition of wrong turn was horrible but yet again the worse is yet to come. They ended it properly but really did not sell the idea to me of several armed criminals being attacked by a single hick. And with the crappy CGI where they could have used practical effects really took me out of the film.

3 out of 10

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Wrong Turn 2: Dead End

Directed by: Joe Lynch

Written by: Turi Meyer and Al Septien

Year Released: 2007

Sub Genre: Stranded in the Woods / Slasher / Reality game Show

Cast: Erica Leerhsen, Henry Rollins, Texas Battle, Aleksa Palladino

A new game show is coming to town! Ultimate Survival is a reality game show where teams of competitors try to make their way through a make shift apocalypse. The only problem? Not even the apocalypse can come close to competing with a family of In-Breed cannibals.

Now, let's start with what this movie opens with. Some bitch of a has been celebrity runs over one of our cannibalistic friend's. She get's out to check on him and sure enough, she get's attacked.

Yes, I know this looks like your typical horror movie intro but I can assure you, they messed this one up royally. One of the inbred's takes an axe and chop's this actress right in half and all have and behold, guts hit the floor but no more than maybe a cup's worth of blood! They even drag the two body pieces away, open side rubbing on the pavement and still barely leaving a smear mark.

Most of the kills were fairly conventional with the exception of the aforementioned celebrity kill and of course the finale kill. Because you've always got to save the best for last, no matter how bad the movie has gotten.

The acting was pretty atrocious at times with the exception of the lead army vet, but it was not so bad that I became bored.

The prosthesis and make up for our friendly hillbilly creatures were still pretty good but you could tell that it looked a tad bit less realistic than in it's original showing but all in all was able to make the creatures look real yet again.

I really had a higher expectation for this film just based on the reality television in the bush angle as it seemed much more intelligent and entertaining than a certain rapper in a certain Halloween film. You all know what horrible waste of a film I am speaking of!

Conclusion:

Once again, I hate to point to the future while describing this film but it still beats the hell out it's sequels. But the worse part being that this is still a fairly awful movie which just goes to show you what you may expect from the upcoming entries.I can only rate this by the kills and the use of effects and the acting of one individual because everything else was just not working together.

4 out of 10

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Wrong Turn

Directed by: Rob Schmidt

Written by: Alan B. McElroy

Year released: 2003

Sub Genre: Stranded in the Woods / Slasher

Cast: Eliza Dushku, Jeremy Sisto, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Desmond Harrington

After an emotional break up, Jessie's friend's decide to take her on a road trip in order to help clear her head. They end
up getting stranded in the middle of the forest where they meet Chris after he accidentally ran into their vehicle.

Soon thereafter, the group takes a walk further down the road in order to look for help but instead find a group of horribly
defaced in-bred hillbilly's who have acquired the taste for human flesh.

Next too a few small lived "Yell at the TV" moments, I adored this film!

The cast was excellent in all the rolls they played and I need to say that Jeremy Sisto as the funny guy was just excellent
and one and only issue I had with that role specifically was that that they killed his character off way too early.

The in-bred's make up looked awesome and incredibly realistic but you could tell that the actors portraying them were
having a hard time seeing out of the prosthesis just by looking at their movements when attempting to attack some of the
stranded individuals. But that's something I can look past in favor of a realistic look.

Another big plus, especially in my eyes, was the magnificent use of practical effects throughout the entirety of the film.
They used all of the effects in the proper way with a nice fair dosage of blood when it was deemed necessary to be used.

I can't say enough good things about this film but trust me when I say, I've watched the following sequels (Yes, all five
sequels) and believe me, I've got a few (for Some of them, Several) choice words for each one of them which I can not wait to
share with you all. If you have seen them all, I am sure you know  exactly what I am talking about.

Conclusion:

Not that I want to make this short and sweet but I have too. This is an excellent film which most of the time makes sense with, once again, an amazing cast, great effect and a pretty solid story line with dialogue to boot. I still would not
consider this a classic for at least another 7 years so it will not get a perfect score.

9 out of 10

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Strange Blood

Directed by: Chad Michael Ward

Written by: Pearry Teo

Year Released: 2015

Sub Genre: Monster / Vampire / Mad Scientist

Cast: Robert Brettenaugh, Alexandra Bard, James Adam Lim

A scientist creates a genetic being that, once matured, will be able to cure any and all diseases. Upon the first attempted testing he is attacked by the being and is soon infected with a strange ailment that starts to change him.

There really is not much more information I can give about this film without fully ruining it.

The story itself, reminiscent of Frankenstein, is your classic mad scientist flick where he has a great idea with good intentions, creates a living being which turns out to have a boat load of repercussions.

With the exception of someone who's squeamish at the site of blood, which in my opinion had been very over used, there is no true horror factor to be found here.

There is however a very good looking practical effects in one scene but is quickly ruined by some very low budget, horrible looking CGI effects.

The level of acting is never consistent and throws you out of the story a quite few times as does the lighting in a few of the scenes. Even in complete darkness, I had a hell of a time making out anything that was on my screen during these specific scenes.

The ending was very predictable even with a plot twist attempting to make you think otherwise but it failed at shifting my thoughts.

Conclusion:

Although enjoyable enough to watch for it's approach towards what a monster movie could look like today using old school principal's, it's lack of lighting, scares and all around good acting really makes it a hard film to want to follow.

So if you have time, patients, focus and a really dark room, you may end up enjoying this one yourself. But I would personally suggest to skip this one.

2 out of 10.

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The Last House On Cemetery Lane

Directed by: Andrew Jones

Written by: Andrew Jones

Year Released: 2015

Sub Genre: Ghost Story / Haunted House

Cast: Vivien Bridson, Lee Bane, Georgina Blackledge

John Davies, a horror film screenwriter, finds a rental ad for a summer home in the country. He is reluctant to take it at first due to a tenant living in the attic, something that was unmentioned in the ad. He eventually decides to take the home and quickly gets to work.

Soon enough, strange things start happening in the house which makes John question his own sanity.

First thing I must make mention too is the profession chosen by the writer for his main protagonist. Being a horror screenwriter and making your lead character the same thing hits a little too close to home if you ask me. But, predictably, it works out in the long run for the story.

I was quickly annoyed with how music is used throughout the film and how loud it was compared to everything else. Best example would be when the stereo in the house starts to play.

There were a lot of unusual camera angles and close ups used which gives the film an art house feel at times but more often than not it will give you a headache or nausea thanks to the continuous shaking of the camera. I did, at one point, believe that the shaking represented something specific but I quickly realized it was just a bad choice made by someone on set.

Now, I'm not a professional videographer by any means but if you're going to do something like this, I believe a stand or tripod would have been an excellent choice while filming.

While creepy and messed up things keep happening over and over in the house, John does not, even once, contemplate leaving the house. I would have been out of there after the second incident occurred.

Conclusion

With the shaky camera work nauseating me, the music being slightly annoying and a fight scene with incredibly poor choreography, you would imagine that my rating would be a zero thanks to this but the story line actually very good as was the dialogue. In fact, it is better than most films I've seen as of late. Had this movie been able to secure a larger budget, I feel as if it would have been a superb film.

If you get the opportunity, I would suggest that you check this one out.

4 out of 10.

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Rites Of Spring

Directed by: Padraig Reynolds

Written by: Padraig Reynolds

Year Released: 2011

Sub Genre: Home Invasion / Torture / Slasher

Cast: A.J. Bowen, Anessa Ramsey, Sonny Marinelli, Katherine Randolph

The film starts us off with a warning that for the past 24 years, groups of girls have been getting kidnapped every spring. And this year is no different.

In order to keep the evil monster at bay each year, the Rites of Spring must be performed.

Meanwhile, a man and his wife whom are in financial need due to a recent loss of employment, have accepted a job with a stranger to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy man in order to extort him.

But once the evil is released, both stories become intertwined and both groups must come together to put a stop to the evil coming for them.

Although both stories were separated for a large extent of the film, they were both able to keep me interested and entertained throughout.

The kidnapping story kept me interested as I was trying to learn what the ritual being performed was going to accomplish or if the kidnapper was just bat shit crazy.

Guess which one was the right answer!

The extortion story line was entertaining due to the simple fact that the people hired, who are complete amateurs, have no clue what they are doing. They also exhibit that they are truly down to earth, nice people and only in it for monetary gain. The story also develops to show that there is a larger reason behind why they have accepted the job.

Question for you. Are running through corn fields in horror films considered cliches yet?

Seriously! I'm sure the last 10 films I've seen with a farm involved have had a corn field run scene incorporated in it and this one was no different.

Maybe, instead of a zombie run for charity, the horror community could start the corn field run. Just a suggestion! Anyways, moving on!

Special effect were very few and far between which made the use of it that much more special when it was actually needed.

There was not an abundance of overly stimulating dialogue throughout the movie but enough to keep my interest throughout the entire story.

On top of it the ending was quick and simple, no follow up for any of the characters, no silly dream sequence and no police questioning. Just a cut and dry ending that put a stop the film and kept me satisfied.

If you get a chance to, check this one out and enjoy the show!

6 out of 10.
                   

                     

   

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Afflicted

Directed by: Derek Lee and Clif Prowse

Written by: Derek Lee and Clif Prowse

Year Released: 2013

Sub Genre: Found Footage

Cast: Derek Lee and Clif Prowse

Derek Lee has recently been suffering from headaches. After a visit to the hospital he is diagnosed with a brain aneurysm and decides to travel the world before he dies, bringing his best friend Clif, a videographer, along to document their journey.

One night, while trying to get lucky in Paris, Derek bring a girl he meets at the bar back to his hotel room. He is attacked by the girl and left for dead. His friends find him in a bloody mess but he is ultimately fine.

Derick soon starts to go through some life altering changes that not only aid's with his current diagnosis but may in fact bring on a fate for him far worse than death.

So, another found footage film is what we are dealing with here today and I have to be the five billionth person to say that I'm sick of these films. Thankfully for this one, it had gotten the seal of approval from a good friend of mine who is a horror connoisseur. Of course I knew I had to give it a chance due to this and I'm incredibly happy I did!

They took the found footage / documentary style of film and turned it on it's head, making the film and the sub genre feel fresh and new. Something I've been hoping for since the release of The Blair Witch Project, even using their proper names in the film as the staring characters.

The use of Derek's illness is used throughout the film and is made mention of at the end of the film tying everything together in an excellent manner.

The acting was on the decent side. I would not start handing out Oscar's just yet but they do a good job at keeping the story looking realistic.

Some of the effects were spot on while others looked a little too glitchy which took me out of the film a bit but was easily sucked back in by the story itself.

Although I predicted what was happening to Derek a few moments before it was revealed, it still did not take down the quality of the movie one bit.

Another moment that I was able to predict was the final scene due to what is said on a few scenes earlier. Anybody who's loved horror theme'd television series over the years will be able to pick up on it themselves.

This is a must see for anybody who is either a found footage fanatic or anyone who enjoys a good horror that you need to piece together in order to get your answers.

8 out of 10

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