Took Rick up on his suggestion for Primal last night.

I have mixed feelings here, but for the most part, my feelings are negative.

So many glaring ridiculous things going on, many downright laughable.  As I say very often, this once again suffers from a really piss poor premise and setup, which kills a very cool and well done intro scene.

This is pretty low budget and it shows quite often, but the big problem is that the film maker, Josh Reed, chose to show his hand over and over, when he wasn't holding a winning hand, in terms of FX or just cheesy stuff like the "primals" fighting, growling, or just staring for long moments.  Also, the finale is loaded with what I'm pretty sure was stop motion photography effects, that looked pretty weak.

But, in the same breath, I'll say that the movie did go places most don't, including the finale which I sure didn't see coming.  It would have been very easy to end this exactly where all the other such movies end, and it's cool this one went a little further "out there".

Could have/should have been much better if they simply would have concocted a better, more believable setup, written the characters and their actions to be more realistic, and cut out the vast majority of the Primals completely onscreen for long moments.  I think anytime you show your creatures over and over...in broad daylight even, you run the risk of losing the scares, especially when you've got an extremely limited budget for effects and even more especially     when your creatures look downright goofy.

Not horrible by any means, but definitely not good, either.

Black Death - 2010

Here's one I've been wanting to see for awhile and was thrilled when I found it streaming.

This is a hybrid 1300's Period/Crusades Piece and horror/witchcraft, starring Sean Bean.

It was released in an extremely limited run, and quite frankly, I don't know why.  I can't find anything about its budget, but I thought everything looked pretty damn good.

It's a dark and very serious look at Europe during the deadly bubonic plague.  I found it to be quite scary at times, just based on thew way it was written and shot.  Great, creepy performances by Carice von Houten and Tim McInnerny as the leaders of the mysterious marsh village.

There are some very cool twists at the end which I sure didn't see coming and for me, made this a very strong and rewarding movie.  It doesn't pull any punches at all, is played for reals all the way through, and delivers a strong message on top of everything else.

Some may find it rather slow, but for me, it's a definite recommend!!!

In case anyone hadn't noticed I Saw the Devil is up. Definitely check this one out. its violent, gritty, and a shitload of fun. it's a korean revenge flick and although its not as revolutionary as some others have thought, its a great way to spend 2 hours.

oh and they took Black Dynamite off instant. color me pissed.

Net Games - 2003

While this is laughably bad in so many ways, looks shockingly cheap with horrendously fake sets, overall, in a very strange way, it kinda works...for what it is.

It stars C Thomas Howell and a few other recognizable faces and names.  The acting is atrocious and laughable throughout, but every now and then, the actors and actresses actually do a great job with a scene or some lines.  I mean, it literally goes from as bad as you can imagine top surprisingly well done.  Must be the script and the fact that most of the "talent" actually does have some talent...or did at 1 time or another.

Cheesy plot, ridiculous leaps of faith, and completely impossible goings on throughout, but enough red herrings to keep things mildly entertaining.  Lots of sex, nudity, and titillation, that, at times, actually works, while at others (and most) it comes off as downright comical.

Since it's from 2003, it comes across as very dated, especially in its theme and core, but the funny thing is, I don't think sex chat sites were brand new then, even...were they?

Anyway, it's interesting to see just how far C Thomas Howell has fallen.  The guy can still act, but it's quite sad here, most of the time.

If you're up for a late night "mystery thriller" with lots of nudity, and unintentional hilarity, give it a shot, and don't give up when you think it's terrible, cause it does get better as it goes along.

Quoted from Dreamscale Took Rick up on his suggestion for Primal last night. I have mixed feelings here, but for the most part, my feelings are negative. So many glaring ridiculous things going on, many downright laughable.  As I say very often, this once again suffers from a really piss poor premise and setup, which kills a very cool and well done intro scene. This is pretty low budget and it shows quite often, but the big problem is that the film maker, Josh Reed, chose to show his hand over and over, when he wasn't holding a winning hand, in terms of FX or just cheesy stuff like the "primals" fighting, growling, or just staring for long moments.  Also, the finale is loaded with what I'm pretty sure was stop motion photography effects, that looked pretty weak. But, in the same breath, I'll say that the movie did go places most don't, including the finale which I sure didn't see coming.  It would have been very easy to end this exactly where all the other such movies end, and it's cool this one went a little further "out there". Could have/should have been much better if they simply would have concocted a better, more believable setup, written the characters and their actions to be more realistic, and cut out the vast majority of the Primals completely onscreen for long moments.  I think anytime you show your creatures over and over...in broad daylight even, you run the risk of losing the scares, especially when you've got an extremely limited budget for effects and even more especially     when your creatures look downright goofy. Not horrible by any means, but definitely not good, either.

Fair comments, I think. It was a mixed bag.

That said, I thought they got 80% of it right. Unfortunately the 20% was pretty noticeable. There's a couple of laughable moments:

EXTREME SPOILERS AHEAD

EXTREME SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Mel's attacks and the kangaroo in particular and that slug thing at the end slamming into the heroine's vagina!

I enjoyed it though overall...it was almost there for me. Liked the idea of the primals..thought it was a nice twist on the modern 28 days later type scenario.

Think they could have been used a bit better, and a bit more tension built, but for the evident budget I think they did a fair job.

It was well-paced, had some good lines in it as well. Good use of the C word, in particular.

I definitely think it's worth a watch.

  I liked the roo attack!

The Slug thing ramming her "vagina" was pitiful in that she had shorts on...crazy!  Made no sense.  It should have stripped those things off her if they really wanted to go over the top, like they appeared to.

I don't know, Rick...I'm very surprised you enjoyed this, but seem to trash so many better horror movies.  I'm very confused...

Which horror movies have I trashed?

Horror is my favourite genre.

I didn't like your favourite one, Hostel, but I generally like horror.

I think the vagina smash was its failed attempt to get inside her, but because it was a dumb, primal slug it didn't understand the fact she was wearing pants. When it realised it had its tentacles try to take them off..which gave her a chance to escape!

Silly, but makes sense in a way.

I don't know exactly what you've trashed, Rick, but it seems like the vast majority of movies I either bring up or praise...not that that's a bad thing though...

Please don't tell me you liked The Rite...please...

The Rite....fantastic film IMO. Slow burning, but deep with great performances. Particularly from Hopkins who gives his best performance in a long time.

The best exorcism film since the Exorcist.






Nah, I haven't seen it yet.

You had me very scared there for a moment, Rick...

Trolhunters definitely worth a watch.

Both impressive and amusing at times. Outstays its welcome a bit in the middle, but it's realtively easy to forgive that.

Quite a joyful little creation really.

I'll second Bert's recommend for Ip Man.  Just watched it and was quite impressed.  The story is actually based on the man who taught Bruce Lee.  While its not really too interested in historical accuracy, the fight scenes are very cool and the characters are compelling.

Just caught a Korean flick called The Chaser. No, it's not a revenge movie but a pretty damn good thriller with some brutal fight scenes, interesting twists and turns and a surprisingly fast pace. For two hours, it really flew by. Honestly have yet to see a single bad Korean film of any kind.

I think someone mentioned Black Water - 2007, earlier.

Let me be very clear...THIS MOVIE ROCKS!!!!!

What a great surprise to see a little $700,000 Aussie flick totally kick ass.  Not as good as Rogue, but some 35 times cheaper, so major Kudos has to go out.

Performances are all great from the 3 main Protags, especially Maeve Dermody, who I see is Sam Worthington's honey.  Just very convincing, genuine performances all around.

Crock FX are also great, although we really don't see a whole lot of the croc.  But, that's one reason this really worked for me.  I can see where some will say it's slow and dull and not much happens, but it's intense and the setup works, the characters work, and I was fearing for their lives the moment things went bad.

Highly recommended!!!!!!

Some quick takes, browsing back through my instant-viewing history:

Monsters:  There was a lot of hype surrounding this one, and they did accomplish quite a bit with a small budget, but I was mostly underwhelmed.  Good, but not great.

Let the Right One In:  Love this one.  Quiet, but powerful, with lots of different levels to it.  I thought this one was really unique and special and just great. (and I am talking the original here, not the Americanized remake)

Donnie Darko:  Have loved this one for years.  Do yourself a favor and queue this one up if you have not seen it.  Again, very unique.  Nothing else quite like it.

Brick:  Lots of people really like this film, but I could not get past the intentionally stilted dialogue and soon became bored with the whole affair -- though I did watch it to the end and it was OK, I guess.

Thankskilling:  A killer turkey who talks like Triumph the insult comic dog.  I was amused by this one, and you probably already know whether you will like this movie or not.

Tales from the Script:  Just letting you know it is there.  See it.

Grace:  Parts were ridiculous and parts were really creepy.  A great deal of breastfeeding in this movie, and I still have not decided if I like this movie or not, actually, so tough to recommend. An interesting effort, for sure.

Troll 2:  'Nuff said.  See comments for Donnie Darko.
  
Black Christmas:  Grandaddy of slashers from 1974 that predates Halloween by about 4 years.  Not too bad, either, and a must-see for students of the genre.

Frozen:  People stuck on a ski lift leads to gruesome fun.  Pretty good, and further recommended on these boards in particular for its superdy-duper low budget.

Brush with Death:  How could I have forgotten this one??  Totally craptastic horror with very little to recommend it apart from its being penned, at least in part, by our buddy Jordan Wiebe (boy who could fly)!!  I think the director is his brother.  It is rumored to be the lowest-rated horror film on all of Netflx, so everybody see it this weekend and give it 5 stars so their programmers will all wonder WTF.