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 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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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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The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014)

Directed by: Charles B. Pierce

Written by: Earl E. Smith

Year Released: 2014

Sub Genre: Slasher

Cast: Addison Timlin, Veronica Carthwright, Gary Cole, Anthony Anderson

The year is 1946 and the town of Texarkana is in shambles.

There is a killer among them stalking and murdering young couples who are looking for privacy in secluded areas.

After many arrest attempts and investigations, the killer, better known around Texarkana as the phantom, had evaded police and lived free among the townsfolk.

The phantom has since become something of a legend, even inspiring a film under the title of "The town that dreaded sundown" which is played at a drive in once a year for Halloween. That is until, the phantom strikes again.

I'm going to start off by saying that the idea of this film is seems somewhat exciting on paper but is a little too close to a Scream sequel for my liking. This comes from the use of a film being one of the main focuses inside the actually movie.

Now, if you don't understand what I mean, here is a quick, possibly confusing look at what they did: Take a film from back in the day. Use said film as if it was created specifically for use in this movie and then proceed to build a new story around it using the same kills as displayed in the original.

Sounds like it could be interesting right?

Well think again!

The use of the original film in this movie ruins a lot of scenes that had the potential to be enjoyable but ultimately lost all it's effects thanks to the scenes of the original film being shown before hand.

The biggest issues I had were the miss use of the excellent supporting cast they had available to them including Anthony Anderson, who's role could have easily been thrown out as it did not have an actual affect in the narrative in any way.

And of course, I can not forget to mention the unfortunate use of bad special effects throughout the movie.

A portion of the time a very obvious display of CGI was used in a car murder scene to show off blood spatter on the windows. The effect was done so poorly that even in darkness you could tell it was added in.

This was not my only gripe with special effects.

A good portion of the film had use your usual practical effects for the bloody murder scenes which looked good. However, in a flash back scene where the lead characters parents die in a car crash the blood effects look ridiculous and absolutely fake. Basically looked like someone came up with a paint brush and put a few lines of bright red paint on their bodies and figured nobody would notice.

Hell, they way they placed the bodies on the outside of a rolled over vehicle (one laying on the top of the car and the other next to / half under the vehicle) made no sense on it's own. How poor of a driver do you have to be in order to not only flip a vehicle on it's side, and have every passenger tossed outside the vehicle without even smashing a window?

Moving on!

Easy to watch but even easier to stop paying attention to at most times. This would make it very difficult to follow had the story had any complexity to it at all.

Conclusion:

This is something good to watch if you are bored or need something playing in the back ground while you're busy doing other things. It could also be good a starter horror film for someone above the age of majority but I would not suggest it for anything more than that.

2 out of 10

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It's been a while but we're coming back!

Hello once again old friends!

It has been a while since we've been up and running as this review blog is usually seasonal, typically coinciding with the fall season.

Last season I tried to keep the reviews coming year round but alas we were unable to continue due to various reasons. The main one being I had to disband my office and lost my computer to my wife for her Netflix addiction.

Among other reasons were failing health ( no need to worry we are all safe and back in good health ), the joys of a job change and the time it takes to settle into place ( my old job was a horrible place to work in general so this was a welcome change ) and the hardship of finding the  time to read and review books which are much more time consuming.

After careful consideration, we here at Horror Shoot have decided to make a few changes to how we do things around here and figured we should share them with you!

-  We are officially removing ourselves from book reviews. If someone if interested in starting them up again for us you are more than welcome to send us an email for details.
(Heads up: we this wouldn't be for monetary gain just for the love of the genre.)

- Instead of going full spoiler free, we have decided to delve into some of the finer details of the films in order to keep the reviews from sounding repetitive, which has been a complaint in the past.

- And finally, just for the love of nostalgia and greatness, we will occasionally have  an "old school" review. Maybe we will make it a weekly event, maybe it will fall by the wayside. We will figure that out once we get to that point, but until then here's how it will work.

Any thowback film we review will have to be a minimum of 20 years old and possess either a blockbuster status or have to be considered to have a large cult following.

Now that our new rules and regulations have been set up, I can give you the fine details.

We will be starting up, at the latest, on September 10th. Reason behind this is that our seasons typically start after the yearly release of everyone's favorite drink, the Pumpkin Spice Latte. (Yes, I'm one of those people. But let me assure you, I was doing pumpkin spice everything, before it was cool!)

With everything settled, I have to say thank you for your continued support even after we go on hiatus.

Talk to you all again soon!

- Kyle
  Owner / Writer - Horroshoot

If you have any questions regarding our review blog please message us on Twitter @horrorshoot or email us at horrorshootreviews@gmail.com

Suspiria (1977)

Suspiria is the story of an American dancer who takes an available spot in a world renowned German dance school in order to improve her abilities.

But the dance academy seems to only be a front for something much worse and much more evil.

Directed by Dario Argento, co-written by Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi, Starring Flavio Bucci, Stephania Casini and Jessica Harper as Suzi Bannion.

I bought this movie in 2003 when I was working in the electronics department at the local Zeller's store. I found it among several other classic horror movie titles in a boxing day bargain bin.

Because I worked there, I had first dibs on any of the goods that our bargain bins had to offer and sure enough, I stocked up on everything that was deemed scary.

Now, this is where my dilemma came into play. I was unable to ever get into this film. No matter how many times I have tried to do it, I could only get about half way into it and without a second thought, I would turn it off.

Because of this, I decided to go to the internet and explain my thoughts on a forum and got blasted by about 50 different people when I said it was one of the most boring movies in the genre that I have seen thus far.

I then packed it up and never spoke of that day again. Until now.

People have been referencing this movie a lot lately for whatever random reasons, so I decided that my being 10 years older  I would give it another shot and see if my opinion has changed at all.

Especially after watching the entire film this time around.

Unfortunately, the same issues that I had suffered from in the past, seem to be the same problems I am currently having with watching this movie. A good portion of the scenes are played out for an unnecessarily long period of time which seems to makes this painfully long for me.

Any time a scene starts up that could lead to a cool kill or gore filled event, we are graced with a lot of bright light and colors which just threw me right out of the movie. It reminds me of some sort of weird art picture that you would find at any specialized film festival.

I understand this thing has a cult following but I can't suggest this film as something good to watch. I don't care who hates me for it and that's cause it's my opinion and nobody else's.

It's a really odd movie all around and not anything I will ever be watching again, so I believe a 1.5 out of 10 will suffice from me. The death scenes were pretty neat but dragged out way too long, which ruined any of their effects on me.

Other than that I seriously could not get into it no matter how hard I tried and will honestly have to say, I am disappointed that so many people tried to bash me over 10 years ago about this thing when I was right about it this entire time.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!

Godzilla (2014)

The U.S. government has been keeping a few secrets from the public. Secrets that, if revealed, could plague the entire world with an evil so intense that it could potentially wipe out all of mankind,

One day, these secrets awaken and start causing chaos, leaving the King of monsters no choice but to awaken from his deep slumber and take on these evil forces head on.

Directed by Gareth Edwards, written by Max Borenstein, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen and Bryan Cranston.

Godzilla is one of those awesome, classic monster movie creatures that will be around forever. And every 10 to 20 years or so the story is revamped and it's goodness is given to us through a newly made film.

The start up for this film made me smile, as they used historical facts to make it look like governments had already dealt with and taken out Godzilla. Of course, years later they have a series of events that lead up to none other than an appearance by Godzilla.

As a fun fact, I would like to mention that they started up the first scene of the film in 1999. For those of you who recall, this was they year released Godzilla 2000, which was hated by everyone I know including my own father. But I was 11 and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Now a days... not so much.

So basically what they tried to do is erase the memory of that part of the franchise's history. And I do not blame them.

Anyhow, On with the show!

I loved the old school concept Godzilla they used in this remake, reminds me of a DIY movie monster model that I had when I was a kid, the design seemed flawless and with today's technology, makes his actions and movements look amazing.

The acting was alright, nothing spectacular with the exception of the one and only Bryan Cranston.

That man can steal the show no matter what he does!

The story was slightly harder to follow than I expected it to be, but eventually they were able to make it clear as to what was happening or what they were attempting to have happen.

All in all it was a good pop corn flick, the special effects were extremely well done and they didn't over do they monster fight scenes. With that being said I will be giving this new version of Godzilla a 6 out of 10.

It seemed very predictable what they would do with Godzilla after the plot was revealed, but it was still an enjoyable film to watch for the graphics and for some of the fight sequences.

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment, e-mail (horrorshootreviews@gmail.com) or follow us on twitter @horrorshoot!

Have a great day!