An American Werewolf in London - Will's Review

2 young American backpackers are attacked in the Yorkshire dales, one of them (Jack) is killed; the other (David) is badly injured and sent to hospital in London. The Dales' Locals cover up the truth behind the savage attack, claiming it was a madman; but when David comes too, the spirit of Jack is on hand to tell him the truth; they were attacked by a werewolf, and only the distraction of the wolf's "bloodline" can rescue his victims from purgatory.

David, naturally, questions his own sanity, rather than simply accepting the visions as fact... But the full moon is in its way.

The Others - Lisa's Reviews

This is a movie that I have watched quite a few times, but one where I forget the finer details, so I watch it with 'almost fresh eyes each time.  So after yet another watch, on to the review.

The Others stars Nicole Kidman as a conservative, religious woman called Grace, widowed by war, who lives in a a large isolated house with her 2 children Anne and Nicholas.  The children suffer from a condition which means they are light sensitive so all the windows and possible sources of light are covered, making for a very dark and dreary home, hence giving us the mood for the movie.

The Sixth Sense - Will's Review

When we first started Video Nasty A Week (the forerunner to this very blog) the idea was that people could watch along at home, then use the comments section as a discussion area... Kind of like a book club, but with less books and more horror movies; our audience was originally intended to comprise of people who had actually seen the movies being discussed.  It never panned out that way, and so many of our reviews are now actual reviews in the more orthodox sense of the word. 

This week though, I feel the movie is old enough and popular enough that chances are good that you've already seen it; further I can't really talk about any of the things I want to talk about /without/ spoiling something. 

So, if you've never seen The Sixth Sense, if you've somehow got this far without learning spoilers; go now. Bookmark this page, go watch the movie, come back later. Seriously. 

The reason I was so keen to get rid of people who haven't seen the movie yet, is that I want to talk about the ending. An ending can make or break a movie, a movie which is perfectly good all the way through can be elevated to greatness, or ruined completely, based on the ending. This is never truer than in the case of a twist ending. 

The trouble is that with a truly great twist ending there should be enough clues throughout the movie that anyone looking for a twist ending should spot the exact twist coming a mile away; it's these moments that make the twist so shocking, providing a feeling that all of the information was there, and leaving you feeling that the twist is completely, obvious, and gels with everything you have seen. 

The Sixth Sense has such an ending. 

If you go in, knowing there is a twist, then it is almost immediately apparent that Willis' character dies in basically the first scene. We never again see him interact with any object when other people are around (he never so much as moves a chair to sit down) and no-one but Cole speaks to, or even looks directly at him, for the entire movie. Cole even tells us that ghosts do not realise that they are dead. 

The fact that all these clues are right there in the open is testament to Shyamalan as both a writer and a director; even if his subsequent films wold never quite recapture that spark, at least from a writing point of view. 

Up until the twist is revealed, the movie is still a good one; child star Haley Joel Osment puts in a star turn, and even Bruce Willis actually acts (another testament to Shyamalan as a director); but it's the ending that makes it a great one. There's some interesting shot choices, including a couple of incredibly long takes. These long takes are superb in their own right (most especially the handheld shot which follows Cole's mother as she moves from the kitchen to the laundry and back again, only to find her cupboards all open) but break the mood of the movie by 'standing out' a little to much (again, most especially the hand-held shot). 

I first saw this movie at the cinema when it came out, the twist suckered me completely, and I loved it. I was wondering how well it would survive a second viewing (even 15 years later) with the twist known; surprisingly well! The moments I mentioned that hint at the twist are interesting second time around, and the main story is, as I've said, still a great one. 

Pulse (2001) - Lisa's Review

FINALLY I get around to posting a review for 'Pulse'.  Apologies - A family trip to Yorkshire and subsequent catch-up with other aspects of life has me running behind on a lot of things.

So, to the movie.  This is a very difficult one.  I am usually a big fan of Japanese horror and I don't argue that this movie is definately unsettling and has a great score throughout, but for me, there is more lacking than there is positive about the movie.  Having watched the movie, I was left feeling rather confused by some aspects of it.  I did some reading...all I can say is, how the viewer is meant to come to the conclusions about the supposed social commentary and reflections on the evils of the internet is beyond me.

The movie has two stories running parallel.  In one a young woman is concerned about the disappearances of first one and subsequently more of her work colleagues.  We follow her search for answers as to what has happened and then why.


The second story follows a student who has just had the internet installed (ahhhh I remember that old dial-up noise well).  All of a sudden his computer is logging onto the internet by itself and he is being shown images of different people in what seems to be a repetitive loop of activity.  These images are rather creepy, but only in the same way that some CCTV images of today are creepy when you know something is amiss.  We follow his search to find answers as to what is going on.

Asides from a few creepy images, there was nothing in this film to produce any scares usually associated with Japanese horror movies.  It all boils down to a ghostly conclusion and explanation as to why ghosts are present in our world and to be honest that thought is the scariest aspect of the movie for me.  I'm a person that takes a lot of scaring, but do this subject correctly and you'll scare the bejezus outta me.  Sadly, this movie didn't deliver for me in this respect, although I will say I will think about it later in bed when I really shouldn't.

I would recommend this to any lovers of Japanese Horror, but most definately not to a casual horror viewer. The confusing attempts at a warning as to the evils of technology and the internet within this movie seems to be more of a priority for the director than how the movie would translate for the viewer.

In all, no big thumbs down or up from me this time around.  One to watch if the genre interests you.  ne probably best to avoid if you're not a lover of confusing movies with social messages.

Mother of Tears - Will's Review

And so, we bid farewell to the Three Mothers Trilogy - Meh.

Sorry for the delay by the way - I've been struck down with a nasty (and rather persistent) cold; In fact, I have been toying with the idea of giving this one a second watch-through before reviewing it, feeling I may have missed something. On reflection though, looking back at the other two films in the trilogy  a clear head is likely to have made little difference.



All that said, I'll keep this very brief, as I still feel like crap.

The "Mother of Tears" is revived when her remains are found and examined by archaeologists  and she sets too taking over Rome - and with no small success; seeming hours (at most a few days) after her resurrection  the city is crawling with witches (who look like nothing more than a very large, "The Craft" themed hen night).

The Main character (who's name I forget) is assisted by the ghost of her mother (a white witch) and the whole thing is really kind of hokey.

Worst of all; it doesn't feature any of the touches that make Argento so watchable - the cinematography is below par, the trademark primary colours and odd lighting are no where to be seen, I didn't notice any insects foreshadowing death scenes, and the whole thing (gore effects aside) looked incredibly cheap - due in part to the fact that it clearly wasn't shot on film (given its age I'd say it was DV, but if you told me it was shot on video, I'd believe you).

Some great deaths, including a woman being strangled by her own intestines; other wise a below-average effort.