The Changeling - Will's Review

Following the tragic death of his wife and child, composer John Russell (George C. Scott), moves cross-country where he rents a large, eerie mansion. It isn't long before a presence makes itself known in the house and John, at first thinking it may be connected top his own recent loss, sets about trying to solve the mystery of his new home's ghost.

The Devils Backbone - Lisa's Review

This weeks movie is another Guillermo del Toro movie to find a place in this list.  From the start, let me make it clear, I am a big fan of his work.  I adore the spanish language, I love the almost poetic nature of his scripts and the beautiful cinematography that always comes from Guillermos movies.  This movie is no different in this respect.

The movie is set during the Spanish Civil war in a remote boys orphanage run by the very strong characters of Dr Casares and Carmen who are married.  They also employ a caretaker (Jacinto) and a couple of teachers, including Conchita who is involved with Jacinto.  As I come to expect of Del Toros movies, the depth of the characters is as strong as usual, as is their scrutiny.  The orphanage is a poor one, but it has hidden gold bullion, which is used to back the Republicans.  Our story starts off following a young boy, Carlos, being dropped off at the Orphanage (unbeknown to him) by his tutor.  It really tugged on the old maternal heart strings when Carlos, upon realizing he's been left behind, runs desperately after his tutors car to no avail.  The emotional way this is played out is typical of Guillermo del Toros work.

The movie follows Carlos settling into the Orphanage and finding his feet amongst existing groups of boys and the ever present bully, Jaime.  There is much talk amongst the boys of a ghost within the grounds.  They refer to it as 'The one who sighs' and everyone seems to be terrified of it.  The one who sighs appeared the same day as one of the boys, Santi, disappeared, causing all kinds of speculation within the orphanage as to what happened to Santi.  Also on the same day that Santi disappeared, a large bomb fell into the yard and remains (supposedly diffused) large and imposing, stuck into the ground.

There are obviously all kinds of ways we could be taken during this movie.  This is one thing I love about Guillermo del Toro, he is far from predictable.  His movies are always a surprise and are always thought provoking, deep and engaging.  This one is no different.  I won't go into any more detail about the movie as if you haven't watched it, DO!! It's obviously sub-titled as it's spanish, but please don't let that put you off.  People who have problems with sub-titled movies are missing out on a whole world (literally) of amazing movies.

I stick a big, fat recommended on the arse of this movie.  Go forth and watch it immediately!  I will leave you with a beautiful quote from the movie:

"What is a ghost?  A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again?  An instant of pain, perhaps.  Something dead which still seems to be alive.  An emotion suspended in time.  Like a blurred photograph.  Like an insect trapped in amber."

The Orphanage - Will's review.

A woman buys the, now disused, orphanage which was her childhood home, and moves her family into it, planning to turn it into a small care home for children with special needs. Her son, Simon, a young boy with an history of imaginary friends, claims to have made a group of new friends in the house, including his new best friend, Tomas.

During an argument with his mother, Simon goes missing, and she starts to see his 'friends'...

I don't want to give too much away about this one, as there are multiple little twists and turns, and a fair amount of misleads; I was sure I had everything pegged by the time Simon went missing, and for a long time it looked like my theory was right. In the final act the rug was yanked from under me, and the truth about Simon's disappearance is borderline genius!

As with Pan's Labyrinth, Del Toro directs a great looking movie, and weaves a compelling story in which reality and imagination are so entwined that, even by the time the credits roll, it is often difficult to tell what is 'real'. 

Save one brief scene, in the aftermath of one of my favorite types of scares (I'm not giving it away, but it's used in Final Destination and Bride of Chucky) there's little or no gore in this film, opting instead for a spooky atmosphere - if you enjoy traditional ghost stories, this is one for you!

I was slightly concerned by the ending which (to avoid spoilers) was supposed to end on a particular mood, but really wasn't that thing when you think about it; indeed this is indicative of the films only problem; if you think about it too much after you've watched it, 'fridge logic' will kick in, and you'll realise that parts of it don't make sense. 

That said, this gripe seems minor when held up against the rest of this compelling, beautiful, spooky, movie. 

The Orphanage - Lisa's Review

Tonight was my second viewing of The Orphanage.  After viewing the awesome Pans Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro, I was keen to catch up on anything else he was responsible for.  As it happens, The Orphanage is one of those movies.

Unusually for me, I don't want to give too much away about this movie, as it's one that I imagine not a lot of people have watched, so I don't want to ruin the movie for you.  I will say that the main thing I need to get across in this review is that if you haven't seen this movie, get your hands on a copy and watch it!

To give you an idea of the storyline here, we follow a young couple, Laura and Carlos and their adoptive son Simón.  Laura herself was an orphan and she feels she wants to go on to adopt herself.  The family move back to the orphanage Laura lived in as a child.  They want to convert it into a building that can be utilised by disabled children.  However when they move in, strange things start to happen.  Simón develops what his mum thinks are imaginary friends, but are they?

One piece of information I will divulge, is that Simón does not know he is adopted, but he finds out during the course of the movie.   He is extremely upset about it and argues with his adoptive mum Laura.  The relationship is not as it was and it is during this period of upset that Simón goes missing.  The movie follows Laura and Carlos as they try to figure out what has happened to Simón.

They call in help from the police, psychologists, even mediums in a search to find Simón.  During the hunt, they uncover something that has remained hidden for many years.   A whole other history of Lauras childhood orphanage is revealed.  Events that took place after she was adopted come to light.  Information that threatens to drive a wedge between her and her husband.  How far will Laura go in the search for Simón?

My review probably sounds a lot scanter than normal, but it is for the best if you have yet to watch the movie.  Any more information would spoil the experience.  I have to mention one scene where the special effects are absolutely jaw dropping!  This isn't the kind of movie that has blood and guts, which is maybe why this one scene was so shocking, but look out for it.  Better effects I doubt you'll ever see!

This movie gets a big thumbs up and Recommended from me.  In fact pretty much anything by Gullermo Del Toro is worth a watch.   The movie is spanish and has subtitles, but please don't let this put you off.  Some of the best movies out there are foreign films.  Take the plunge with 'The Orphanage' if you're a subtitle virgin and open yourself up to a whole other plethora of movies!

The Fog (1980) - Lisa's Review

*** SPOILERS ***

So this week we're back to 1980 and to John Carpenters 'The Fog'.  I remember having watched this movie many years ago, but as always is the case with me, a few months after watching a movie, I've forgotten the entire content.  Needless to say, I had to revisit the movie in order to do a review.

This movie has obviously made an impression, as in the years which followed, we had a 2005 version of 'The Fog' and a remarkably similar concept in 'The Mist'.  Anyways, I deviate.

The movie is based around a seaside town of Antonio Bay which is celebrating its centennial.  The movie starts with an old man sat around a campfire with a group of children, telling a scary story, which is unfortunately not a work of fiction.

100 years ago, a group of men, including an ancestor of the towns priest, Father Malone, deliberately caused a ship called 'Elizabeth Dane' to crash into rocks.  They set a fire, which acted as a false beacon and ultimately led the ship and its crew to their deaths.  The ship was full of gold, which the men proceeded to steal and the town of Antonio Bay was built with these ill gotten gains.

The movie tells the story of the towns centennial celebrations which prompt the return of the perished crew to seek revenge from the townsfolk and reclaim what is rightfully theirs.

The cast consists of Father Malone, the towns priest and descendant of one of the original group of criminals, A female DJ Stevie Wayne with the sultriest of voices, Stevies son,  Nick Castle - all round good guy and Elizabeth Solley - an out of town pretty girl, who is picked up by Nick while hitch hiking.

Something I like about John Carpenters movies is the existence of strong female characters.  In horror, females are generally there to provide eye candy (although arguably this is probably the case here too), but also to be a shrieking, screaming mess in need of rescue from the male lead.  Thankfully, this isn't the case here, which is a plus right away.  He obviously also rates Jamie Lee Curtis as she makes a reappearance as a female lead in this movie after the success of her performance in Carpenters Halloween.

I seem to have digressed again... apologies.  Inexplicable things happen, electrical faults, public phones all ringing, devices switching themselves on, objects moving by themselves...  This is the first sign of all not being well.  As Nick gives Elizabeth a ride into town, the cars electrics start to fail and the windows shatter.

As we progress, the ghosts of the fallen crew return on the towns centennial and wreak havoc in the town as they appear in an eerie fog and slay anyone who gets in their way.  This starts with 3 fishermen when their boat is engulfed in an eerie glowing fog.   They see an old boat pull alongside them, which contains the ghosts of the fallen crew and they all meet their end within the fog.

The remainder of the movie follows the remaining characters struggling to survive through the existence of the fog and the attempts to send the ghosts back whence they came.  I won't go any more detail about the storyline in case our imaginary readers have yet to see the movie, but it is all pretty much what you'd expect.

Originally this movie was meant to be a more supernatural ghost story and not so much a horror containing gore, but the insistence was made to add more length to the movie and make it nastier and gorier for the audiences.  I for one, would have loved to see the original as I thought the kills didn't add to the story at all.  The movie would have been just as powerful had we seen nothing of how anyone met their end.  In actual fact, it may have been more powerful.

I love the ominous feel of the movie, the setting, the casting and the storyline.  I enjoyed it when I first watched this movie and again on a repeat viewing.  I would recommend anyone watch this as I struggle to think of much negative to say about this movie.

Lisa Recommends.

The House By The Cemetery - Will's Review

This movie is one third of the Fulci "Gates of Hell" 'Trilogy' (The Beyond being another third, and the non-DPP 'City of the Living Dead' being the other) As 'The Beyond' is one of only 5 movies so far o earn the 'VNAW Recommended' badge, I was looking forward to this...


From the outset it is a wonderfully shot film, looking so visually similar to The Beyond that i checked if it had the same DP (it did) - even the early exterior shots manage to have a claustrophobic feel to them, and the sequence of the first victim being dragged off is (and it seems odd to say this) beautiful.

Unfortunately, this is limited to the pre-credit sequence; once the film proper gets going, it's just another (albeit competently made) 70's Italian horror movie.

And by 'Just another 70s Italian horror movie' I mean 'Large chunks of it make no sense, and the monster is sub-early Doctor Who quality'

The movie is about a family who move into a house because the dad is reasurching it, the house has its own graveyard, and the basement is boarded up. Clearly, the family have never seen a horror movie before, because the almost imidiatly open the basement, but then when weird stuff starts happening, it takes them fodder to actually attempt to flee the house and never come back.

There's a sub-plot with a girl from the past communicating with the boy of the family but, like all of the supernatural elements of the film, this dissent make sense in the context of, or tie into the reason behind, the murders that surround the house once the 'twist' is revealed.

To be honest, I found this one a little dull, unfortunately, crew aside, the only thing this movie has in common with the beyond, are some decent effects, and a nonsensical ending.

Body Count: 7
Boob Count: 1 Pair
Animal Body Count: 2
Most Memorable Death: Poke her with a Poker.

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The House by the cemetery - Lisa's Review

A nice little movie this week! Another Fulci offering. This movie is apparently a part of an unofficial trilogy with The Beyond which we watched a few months ago when we were still on 'B' and City of the living dead.

*** SPOILERS ***

Although the movie is quite dated as you would expect and the poor dubbing is irritating, I still managed to enjoy this movie. Its a good little afternoon view. I didn't find anything particularly scary, but the makeup in places is very good. Its just in shame in some other places, its so bad.

The basic premis without going into too much detail is a family (Mum Lucy, Dad Norman and young boy Bob) moving to a town called New Whitby due to the the father (Norman) having to research some old houses. The house they move into however is not as innocent as it seems.

We 'the viewer' already have this information on board from the opening scene of a young woman (topless at that... why do women never wear bras in these movies?) who is murdered via a knife to the back of the head (which protrudes from her mouth) as she is looking for her boyfriend. Also Bob keeps seeing the ghost of a young girl Mae who warns him not to go to the house.

Of course they go anyway and the inevitable happens.

They have gravestones in the garden and even in the hallway, of a family called 'The Freudsteins (on a side note, this really bothered me as they were referred to as Freudsteens in the movie, but german pronunciation dictates that with an ie or ei, you pronounce the last letter, so they should have been referred to as Freudstine!) anyways I deviate. We find out that Dr Freudstein does what all historical doctors have done in movies like this....illegal experiements. He also ends up killing his family.

We find out Freudstein is in fact still alive and in the cellar of the house as he is using parts from his victims to regenerate his blood cells. The reveal is kind of disappointing. He looks kind of like a withered ET and a scene which shows only his eyes glowing in the cellar when young Bob comes across him is just laughable.

Nothing much more to the story really. Bad stuff happens, people die.

Points worth noting in the movie are the doggedly determined, haemophiliac bat (very amusing scene), the stabbing by poker (what a horrid way to go and very good effects) and the slow decapitation by knife (again good effects, but let down by the poor severed head rolling down the stairs later).

The movie has its faults, but on the whole, it was a fun watch and something I would watch again. This one gets a 'recommended' from me.

Something I've gained from watching these movies is an appreciation of Mr Fulci!

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