Certificate:

Directors: Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig

Release Date: 6 January 2010

Tagline: In 2019, the most precious natural resource… Is us.

Main Cast:

Ethan Hawke … Edward Dalton

Willem Dafoe … Lionel ‘Elvis’ Cormac

Sam Neill … Charles Bromley

Another good vampire film! First we had 30 Days of Night, and then Let The Right One In. Daybreakers has a very good look and feel (Edward Dalton reminded me of Constantine – a moody, chain-smoking antihero) and it drew me in very quickly. It has just the right level of gore and humour to balance it out, and despite its grim setting it never slips over the line into pretentiousness.

I liked the story and thought that it brought something new to the genre, which is quite hard to do as we all know the ‘rules’ concerning vampires (as ludicrous as that sounds!)

Yes, there was a formulaic side to it, but it was done so well that I didn’t mind. I’d be more than happy to watch it again.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Oren Peli

Release Date: 25 November 2009

Tagline: What happens when you sleep?

Main Cast:

Katie Featherston … Katie

Micah Sloat … Micah

I was looking forward to watching this as I love suspense films. I sat there waiting for something happen, and I waited, and waited then there was an ok bit, and then I waited some more and then it ended.

The whole thing is ludicrous and very, very boring. There are so many instances of why didn’t they do this or that (the major one being not turning the lights on) that you just end up getting frustrated at the characters.

Basically, what happens is this:-

Boy follows girl with a camcorder.

We watch them sleep.

Loud noises wake them up, boy runs around with the camcorder.

And so on.

What happens when you sleep? Not much, going by this! If this scares you, then I recommend that you watch Finding Nemo. The ‘mild peril’ element will have you quaking in your boots.

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Release Date: 7 October 2009

Tagline: This place is so dead.

Main Cast:

Jesse Eisenberg … Columbus

Woody Harrelson … Tallahassee

Emma Stone … Wichita

Abigail Breslin … Little Rock

Zombieland is a very good spoof of zombie films, and sits quite happily alongside Shaun of the Dead in terms of quality. All of the ‘how to survive a zombie infestation’ clichés are there, and somehow they have managed to make a very funny film in a genre (spoofs) that is itself infested with mediocrity.

If you love zombie films and are familiar with the ‘rules’ of survival, then you’ll like this. And yes, sometimes only a Twinkie can hit the spot!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Karyn Kusama

Release Date: 4 November 2009

Tagline: She’s evil… and not just high school evil.

Main Cast:

Megan Fox … Jennifer

Amanda Seyfried … Needy

Johnny Simmons … Chip

Jennifer’s Body is a surprisingly entertaining black humour with American teenagers as the central characters (that’s why it’s surprisingly entertaining!)  Basically, high school ‘Miss Popular’ Jennifer gets more than she bargained for when she got in a van with a rock band.

I have a slight niggle with the fact that she was supposed to be a succubus. Succubi don’t tear men’s throats out to draw energy, they shag them until they can take no more. However, I’d far rather watch the throat tearing, so I’ll not worry about that too much.

If you’ve seen Ginger Snaps and liked it, then you’ll like this. If you haven’t seen it – why not, it’s great?

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Glenn Standring

Release Date: 16 August 2007

Tagline: Humans and vampires have lived in harmony… Until now.

Main Cast:

Dougray Scott … Brother Silas

Saffron Burrows … Lily

Leo Gregory … Brother Edgar

This should have been ‘right up my street’, but it wasn’t. It’s very visually stunning with clever use of colour, but the look of the film is its best quality. For some reason I found that it couldn’t hold my attention. It has a strange and completely bereft of emotion love story element and in some cases is just plain pretentious. I also found the mix of  Dickensian and the 1960’s somewhat silly.

I really should have liked this, and it’s a shame that I didn’t.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Sam Raimi

Release Date: 27 May 2009

Tagline: Christine Brown has a good job, a great boyfriend, and a bright future. But in three days, she’s going to Hell.

Main Cast:

Alison Lohman … Christine Brown

Justin Long … Clay Dalton

Lorna Raver … Mrs Ganush

It’s so good to see a Sam Raimi horror back on the big screen! He’s been gone too long (in this genre).

Drag Me To Hell is everything you’d expect from him – over the top “ewww” factor and funny scares. It’s great to see flying eyeballs back where they belong (so to speak).

Despite much of the horror being comedic, there are some genuine scares (not for a seasoned horror pro like me, but going by the squeals of the audience I can tell there was!) I spent much of the film grinning as I really like Raimi’s brand of gross-out horror.

We have, at last, another great Sam Raimi classic!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Christian Alvart

Release Date: 17 November 2006

Tagline: The Good is the Evil in it.

Main Cast:

Norman Reedus … Polizist Schmitz

Christian von Aster … Polizist Wagner

André Hennicke … Gabriel Engel

Antibodies is the thinking man’s Silence of the Lambs. It’s a quiet paced drama that gets slowly murkier and the lines between good and evil get somewhat blurred. It’s a far darker story than the above, and is, in my opinion, better. Don’t get me wrong – I really liked Lambs, but it was undoubtedly ‘Hollywood’. Antibodies is a far more disturbing experience. I like disturbing films. They really get under your skin and make you question not only life in general, but also aspects of yourself.

Can’t say much else really, as to do so would spoil the film.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a very good film and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Thomas Alfredson

Release Date: 10 April 2009

Tagline: Eli is 12 years old. She’s been 12 for over 200 years and she just moved in next door.

Main Cast:

Kåre Hedebrant … Oskar

Lina Leandersson … Eli

Per Ragnar … Håkan

Patrik Rydmark … Conny

Let the Right One In, is, in a word, stunning. It’s going to be hard for me to tell you quite why it is, so bear with me. It is a story about love, loneliness and finding your place in the world. It’s a very tender and innocent film despite the fact that it is a film about a vampire. Indeed, to describe it as such is doing it a great disservice. It is so much more than your average vampire film. In fact, it’s not really about that at all. It’s about Oskar and Eli. Two children who are outcasts and share so much in common despite their obvious difference. You could even describe it as a love story.

It’s not like watching a film. Both Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson are so utterly perfect that it feels like you are watching real events. I can’t remember the last time I saw two young actors that are so talented and natural. And their on-screen chemistry is a joy.

It’s beautiful, touching and sad, and it deserved to be shown in more cinemas than it was. I live in a city, but neither of our cinemas (Vue and Odeon) showed it. Doubtless, there is not much money in showing ‘foreign’ films when most cinema goers lap up the Hollywood crap that is churned out at a frightening rate. I shake my head at those who say that they don’t watch a film to read. I bet the same people don’t read books as ‘if it’s any good they’ll turn it into a film’.

Rubbish like Marley and Me plays for weeks, but LTROI wasn’t even given so much as a single screening. I was fortunate enough to be in London during its release and was able to (after some searching) watch it there.

Wonderful.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Directors: Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza

Release Date: 11 April 2008

Tagline: One Witness. One Camera.

Main Cast:

Manuela Velasco … Ángela Vidal

Ferran Terraza … Manu

Jorge Serrano … Policía Joven (as Jorge Yamam Serrano)

Pablo Rosso … Pablo

[.REC] is by far the best of the first person films I’ve seen and is really quite creepy and powerful. The tension builds slowly and then all Hell breaks loose! It follows a TV crew that are filming the night shift of a fire station. They are called out to what seems to be a routine job at an apartment block to assist the police with forcibly entering one of the flats. What they find there, however, is far from routine.

I found it much easier to watch than The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield as there is far less erratic camera movement. It also has a degree of believability about it and has a great ending.

I’m not sure that a first person film will ever be truly outstanding as I just don’t think that the style lends itself to brilliance. [.REC] is, however, a very worthwhile film and no self respecting horror fan should miss it.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: James Watkins

Release Date: 12 September 2008

Tagline: An unforgettable weekend.

Main Cast:

Kelly Reilly … Jenny

Michael Fassbender … Steve

Jack O’Connell … Brett

Eden Lake makes for very uncomfortable viewing. It’s tense, bloody and very brutal. The most shocking thing of all though is that the youths’ behaviour requires no suspension of disbelief whatsoever. This film would not have been made a few years ago because none of us would have believed that adolescents could behave in such a deplorable fashion. Sadly, we now live in a shocking and morally bankrupt age. Incidents of mindless brutality and behaviour are becoming increasingly common in this country.

In a way, Eden Lake isn’t actually a horror film in the traditional sense. It’s horrific yes, but only because it’s far too close to reality.

Definitely one to watch. A sad comment on the state Britain is in.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars