Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth (1992)

In the continuation of our series review, Hellraiser: Hell on Earth is the third entry in the series and the first to take everyone's favorite cenobite leader on a walk through the city streets for a large dose of destructive action.

After the events in Hellbound, Elliot Spencer has been free'd from the grips of hell and is no longer forced to be the leader of the cenobites. Unfortunately, the force of life surrounding Pinhead is much too strong to just die and starts to take on a life of it's own, on earth.

Now, with the help of her dreams, news reporter Joey Summerskill must try to stop Pinhead and send him back to hell.

Directed by Anthony Hickox and starring Terry Farrell, Paula Marshall, Kevin Bernhardt and Doug Bradley reprising his roles as Pinhead and his human counterpart Elliot Spencer.

Being that the storyline is a little different than the other two entry's I was kind of skeptical about this film when I had first watched it. After about the halfway point of the movie I realised it was probably the smartest thing they could have done with this series and it made the remainder of the film a real treat to watch giving us a whole world of greatness.

The greatness I am referring too is of course all the new aspects they added into the film. First off, the new cenobites looked awesome and is always a great idea to keep secondary characters of this nature fresh just so people don't get bored of them and of course the scenery change was beautiful!

Having the cenobites in the streets of a city was another genius idea! Not only is it fresh, but they have a ton more they can do with the environment that doesn't just involve the use of chains with hooks on the end.

The storyline itself was a little confusing but like I've said in the past for this series and surely, it will be said again with some of the next films, it's mainly used to show off gore which again, everyone who likes the 80's type of slasher horror films, will enjoy this one for that reason.

Don't get me wrong, I love a great storyline, but most times in this genre you just have to take what you can get.

Better storyline than the first, more confusing that the one from the second but the new baddies and scenery really took the cake for me in this one and so i will give it a 7 out of 10!

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Book Review: Kristopher Rufty's Jagger

While racing against time, a man is forced to kidnap a large breed dog in order to use it to win a dog fight and recoup money he has lost for a very dangerous man. But when desperate times call for desperate measures, Clayton finds out that he may have caused himself an even bigger problem.

CUJO ON STEROIDS! 

That is the best and simplest description I can give you of this book!

The opening chapter get's you hooked into the book immediately and keeps you reading for more thanks to a very great use of description to detail every little aspect of the different characters throughout the book as well as the environments the scene's are set in.

The last 3 chapters were amazing and the ending was awesome. I thought I had this novel figured out after the second chapter but Rufty kept the surprises coming which kept me on my feet throughout most of the book.

Otherwise, I had two slight issues with it which both ended up being resolved prior to the ending of the book, one being that I could not get into the characters until it seemed like it was too far into the book. With the exception of the character of Janice and her son, I was not a fan of anybody till about 70% into the book. After that point in time I felt like I was better able to connect to most of them but it still felt like it may have been too late.

The other issue that I had was I noticed a lot of repetition in the middle of the book which slowed down the momentum for me. But, once again, it picked itself back and and finished strong which I enjoyed thoroughly.    

I am looking forward to reading more of his work and hope to eventually check out some of his film contributions as well

With that being said I will be giving Jagger a 7 out of 10.

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Savages (2012)

Entrepreneurs Ben, a peaceful and charitable marijuana producer, and friend Chon, a former Navy SEAL, run a lucrative, homegrown industry - raising some of the best weed ever developed. They also share a one-of-a-kind love with Ophelia.

Life is idyllic in their Southern California town until the Mexican Baja Cartel decides to move in and demands that the trio partners with them. When the merciless head of the cartel, Elena, and her enforcer, Lado, underestimate the unbreakable bond of the three friends, Ben and Chon, with the reluctant assistance of a dirty DEA agent, wage a seemingly unwinnable war against the cartel. And so begins a series of increasingly vicious ploys and maneuvers in a high stakes, savage battle of wills.

(Synopsis from Universal)

Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Oliver Stone, Don Winslow and Shane Salerno. Starring Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Travolta, Benicio del Toro and Salma Hayek.

More of a thriller than horror, Savages is a very interesting story. An unconventional relationship mixed with a fair amount of gore, action packed scenes and great dialogue created a unique viewing experience.

All three leads are in a polyamorous relationship which helped grab my attention from the start and kept me engaged in the story to see if this scenario would play a factor throughout the film.

The all-star cast made this one a real treat to watch although it was nothing close to what I was expecting to see after viewing the trailer prior to it's original release. My mindset was that it resembled something along the lines of the "Army of Two" video game series, thanks to how the theatrical trailer was played out and it's use of heavy weaponry and face masks which reminded me of said video game.

Thoroughly a great watch! The story was so different that it made it much more interesting and enjoyable in comparison a lot of other movies from the action / thriller genre which leads me to giving Savages an 8 out of 10.

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Pontypool (2008)

An odd plague starts taking over the small Ontario town of Pontypool where Grant Mazzy, a radio show host, is on lock down in the local station.

As he is reporting the odd behavior of the towns folk on his morning show, he learns that he may be the root cause of it all and must make a choice.

Does he keep quiet and save those who are yet to be affected or does he relay the necessary info over the air waves and risk infecting the entire population.

Directed by Bruce McDonald, written by Tony Burgess, starring Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly and Hrant Alianak.

Pontypool was based from a book  titled "Pontypool changes everything" which is the second book in a trilogy written by Canadian author Tony Burgess.

I heard nothing but great things not only in regards to the book, but the film adaptation as well. It took me a while to get around to it but I finally picked myself up a copy. And my only regret is not having done so sooner.

I highly enjoyed this movie to the fullest extent possible due to its originality, the concept behind it, the fact that it's taking place in the same province I reside in and it's ability to make me use my imagination in the fullest extent possible.

They use a series of descriptions to inform you as to what is happening with the citizens of Pontypool and how their behaviors and reactions are impacting the city as opposed to having a full out gore-filled movie. With the exception of one visual scene and the remainder being sound, there are basically no special effects being used through the film.

With that being said and I have to stop talking about this one in order not to kill the surprise of it all for anybody and just go out and give it a 9 out of 10.

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