Right up front, I'm going to stick a big fat "Will Recommends" on this. If you haven't seen it yet, go do so; don't read this review, and don't read any publicity materials. In fact no: make sure you have seen at least the first 2 original Evil Dead
Still here? You've hopefully already seen the film then, so this will be less of a review, and more my side of a discussion about why it was clever / great.
One more thing - did you watch the closing credits? All of them? If not; back you go... I'll wait.
First up, the reason my opening paragraph says to avoid publicity material; being the kind of person who reads Dread Central, Bloody Disgusting, and so forth, I already knew that the hero of the movie is Mai. This is a crying shame, because well over an hour into this 90 minute move, it looked certain that her brother was 2013's Ash.
Having Mai become the new version of the "Cellar Witch", only to have her recover and be sole survivor was a stroke of genius, playing with our expectations and using our knowledge of horror films (generally) and the previous Evil Dead films (specifically) against us to keep things new.
Indeed, keeping things new is this installment neatest trick; despite the laundry-list of iconic moments being re-worked, it never feels like we've seen this before.
The male-lead's sister is first to be possessed, and is locked in the cellar, A possessed had is chopped of by its (former?) owner with an electric carving knife, male-lead had to bury someone he loves while she pleas with him, there's a tree-rape, the bridge goes down, all the trouble is caused by a creepy-ass book found in the cellar... That it manages to hit all if these points, but make them new is borderline genius!
It's all so similar-yet different that it works as both a reboot and a new story set in the same universe (more on that later).
As we know though, Mai is our "new Ash" and man does she suffer! Ash was famously put through the ringer more than any horror-survivor should be, but his ordeal was a walk in the park next to poor Mia, who has a car-crash, gets possessed, bisects her tongue with a craft-knife, gets scalded, shot in the face with a nail-gun, beaten, burried alive, suffocated, stabbed in the heart with electrified needles, and has to tear (not cut) her hand off! All while undergoing cold-turkey for a drug addiction!
Back to the idea that this film is as much a sequel as a remake; did you notice that the cabin (despite looking like the original and having Ash's car going rusty in the yard) was in a different state? Or that the Necronomicon is a different book - not only in appearance, but it has a new name?
That's because, box office willing, the plan is to have Mai and Ash's stories cross over in the 7th Evil Dead movie (after a sequel to this movie, and then a planned Army of Darkness 2).
Groovy!
Showing posts with label Possession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Possession. Show all posts
Saturday, 31 August 2013
Evil Dead 2013 - Lisa's Review
This week, the 2013 remake of Evil Dead, again starring Bruce Campbell. A group of young attractive types who go to a cabin in the woods and upon stumbling across the Necronomicon (book of the dead) they manage inadvertantly to release evil spirits. All kinds of hell, possession and murder ensues.
That's not to say this is a bad movie, it is far from it. It is enjoyable enough as a stand-alone movie. It's when you start to compare it to the original that we encounter problems.
Sadly none of the cast (apart from Campbell) are memorable and although the movie is not played for laughs like the original, there are parts which will genuinely make you giggle (which certainly was not the intended effect). The gore is a bit OTT and what a human body seems able to take before expiring is indeed inhuman! I suppose believability is not something one should expect from a movie about possession and the evil dead, sadly though, I do.
I didn't find anything was added to the movie by this remake, apart from the obvious updating of it for a modern audience. The cinematography was beautiful in places, but the general 'feel' of the movie, effects and performances just didn't leave me with the feeling of unease that it should have.
The feeling I got from the movie was similar to that of when watching a teen slasher movie and wondering who is going to be next (not difficult to do at all it seems). I felt that the original movie deserved a little bit more than that.
Its quite sad really as this isn't a 'bad' movie. I suppose there was just something 'missing' in what made the original special. That je ne sais quoi just wasn't captured here. I wouldn't go so far as to either recommend it or suggest you avoid it. I could however give it the green light to any younger horror fans who were yet to watch the 1981 original.
That's not to say this is a bad movie, it is far from it. It is enjoyable enough as a stand-alone movie. It's when you start to compare it to the original that we encounter problems.
Sadly none of the cast (apart from Campbell) are memorable and although the movie is not played for laughs like the original, there are parts which will genuinely make you giggle (which certainly was not the intended effect). The gore is a bit OTT and what a human body seems able to take before expiring is indeed inhuman! I suppose believability is not something one should expect from a movie about possession and the evil dead, sadly though, I do.
I didn't find anything was added to the movie by this remake, apart from the obvious updating of it for a modern audience. The cinematography was beautiful in places, but the general 'feel' of the movie, effects and performances just didn't leave me with the feeling of unease that it should have.
The feeling I got from the movie was similar to that of when watching a teen slasher movie and wondering who is going to be next (not difficult to do at all it seems). I felt that the original movie deserved a little bit more than that.
Its quite sad really as this isn't a 'bad' movie. I suppose there was just something 'missing' in what made the original special. That je ne sais quoi just wasn't captured here. I wouldn't go so far as to either recommend it or suggest you avoid it. I could however give it the green light to any younger horror fans who were yet to watch the 1981 original.
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Evil Dead II - Lisa's Review
So, I finally check out the sequel (or remake with a bigger budget as some would have you believe) to Evil Dead, aptly named Evil Dead 2.
From the get go, I'll say I really didn't like this movie AT ALL. I know that possibly seems like a complete contradiction given that I really enjoyed the first Evil Dead movie, but this one didn't grab me at all. I hadn't seen it before tonight and I expected something akin to the first movie with better effects. Speaking of effects, while you can clearly see there is a bigger budget with this movie, I felt the effects were needless and in places ridiculous. Looks like Buffy looked here for some of its ideas. All the charm of Evil Dead seems lost in the attempt to bring this one up to date for the time. Ironically it manages to date this movie even more than the first Evil Dead installment.
We have the same premise, albeit without the group of teenagers this time round. A recorded message, which was meant as a warning is played, which contains passages from the Necronomicon (Book of the Dead). This unleashes a demon which sets to possessing various people and inanimate objects throughout the course of the movie.
Bruce Campbell is an iconic character but I found even him irritating in this movie. Its the original Jim Carey of enthusiastic over acting. Also the scream we hear over and over from the lead actress is probably the worst I've heard in any movie EVER. No fear, trepidation, horror, nothing! Just an attempt to be as loud as possible. I didn't care about any of the cast, so any deaths were a bit meh for me.
There were a few slight chuckle moments ('A Farewell to Arms' for anyone who has seen the movie), but no belly laughs were I think they were intended. I just didn't feel anything watching it at all. All in all it seems a bit of a waste of time to attempt to improve the first movie with this offering. The special effects are dated and lack the original charm of the crude effects in the first movie. I was surprised to not see Ray Harryhausens name in the credits at the end given some of the effects in places, I'm thinking especially the dancing decapitated corpse near the start of the movie.
I don't know what else I can say really. I didn't like the effects, especially what felt like overkill with the transformation of the old lady in the cellar under the trapdoor. I didn't like the 'feel' of the movie. I didn't like the characters. In fact I found it quite hard to stay awake, which is saying something from a person who suffers from regular insomnia.
I would definately not recommend this one, but would say avoid and just enjoy the original Evil Dead instead. This one adds absolutely nothing in my opinion and just feels like a waste of time to me.
From the get go, I'll say I really didn't like this movie AT ALL. I know that possibly seems like a complete contradiction given that I really enjoyed the first Evil Dead movie, but this one didn't grab me at all. I hadn't seen it before tonight and I expected something akin to the first movie with better effects. Speaking of effects, while you can clearly see there is a bigger budget with this movie, I felt the effects were needless and in places ridiculous. Looks like Buffy looked here for some of its ideas. All the charm of Evil Dead seems lost in the attempt to bring this one up to date for the time. Ironically it manages to date this movie even more than the first Evil Dead installment.
We have the same premise, albeit without the group of teenagers this time round. A recorded message, which was meant as a warning is played, which contains passages from the Necronomicon (Book of the Dead). This unleashes a demon which sets to possessing various people and inanimate objects throughout the course of the movie.
Bruce Campbell is an iconic character but I found even him irritating in this movie. Its the original Jim Carey of enthusiastic over acting. Also the scream we hear over and over from the lead actress is probably the worst I've heard in any movie EVER. No fear, trepidation, horror, nothing! Just an attempt to be as loud as possible. I didn't care about any of the cast, so any deaths were a bit meh for me.
There were a few slight chuckle moments ('A Farewell to Arms' for anyone who has seen the movie), but no belly laughs were I think they were intended. I just didn't feel anything watching it at all. All in all it seems a bit of a waste of time to attempt to improve the first movie with this offering. The special effects are dated and lack the original charm of the crude effects in the first movie. I was surprised to not see Ray Harryhausens name in the credits at the end given some of the effects in places, I'm thinking especially the dancing decapitated corpse near the start of the movie.
I don't know what else I can say really. I didn't like the effects, especially what felt like overkill with the transformation of the old lady in the cellar under the trapdoor. I didn't like the 'feel' of the movie. I didn't like the characters. In fact I found it quite hard to stay awake, which is saying something from a person who suffers from regular insomnia.
I would definately not recommend this one, but would say avoid and just enjoy the original Evil Dead instead. This one adds absolutely nothing in my opinion and just feels like a waste of time to me.
Saturday, 3 November 2012
HALLOWEEN SPECIAL: Evil Dead : The Musical - Will's Review
PLEASE NOTE: This review is based on a screener copy made at the "Just for Laughs" festival a few years ago. This has never been released to the public, and the only legitimate way to see this musical is to go see it live.
Saturday, 7 January 2012
The Evil Dead - Lisa's Review
***SPOILERS***
As I write the word spoilers at the top of this review, I wonder if indeed it is possible to 'spoil' anything here, as has any horror fan NOT seen this movie?
We follow a group of young teenagers into the woods and a shack where they discover a recording of a Necronomicon. Slowly they all become possessed and start to kill each other. Thats the basic plot folks and all you really need to know.
This is Sam Raimis first venture into the world of horror and its quite fitting that he makes his debut alongside Bruce Campbell who goes on to work with him in many many more projects in the future.
The Evil Dead is a favourite amongst most horror fans and although it is full of terrible (even laughable) effects which look exactly like a GCSE students plasticine project, the movie is still enjoyable on every level. I found the zombie makeup on some of the characters really good in saying that.... It does have genuine scary bits, fantastically gorey bits, laugh out loud funny bits, some great acting (which is novel for these movies) and just a general eerie feel that is missing in most movies these days. I don't know why but when I first saw The Evil Dead and when I watched it again for this review, it reminded me in style a lot of 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (one of my favourite movies). It manages to grab that feel and style sought after so much but usually missed by a mile, that feeling where you feel a little uncomfortable in places, but want to keep watching all the same.
I generally HATE comedy/horror mixes, but this one works. Weirdly the things that make it fall down (poor effects) also add to the charm of the movie and if they attempted to remake it (I hear nasty rumours about this being the case.. and no I don't mean Evil Dead 2), I don't think they could capture the same cult movie feel.
Scenes to watch out for are the possessed hand, the montage of melting plasticine figures, the dismemberment and twitching body parts, the white eyeballed and terribly face painted zombie lady under the trapdoor in the ground, spectacular hatchet kills, spewing severed limbs..... the list goes on and on.
In short, I definately recommend this to any horror fan. A must for the collection!
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
As I write the word spoilers at the top of this review, I wonder if indeed it is possible to 'spoil' anything here, as has any horror fan NOT seen this movie?
We follow a group of young teenagers into the woods and a shack where they discover a recording of a Necronomicon. Slowly they all become possessed and start to kill each other. Thats the basic plot folks and all you really need to know.
This is Sam Raimis first venture into the world of horror and its quite fitting that he makes his debut alongside Bruce Campbell who goes on to work with him in many many more projects in the future.
The Evil Dead is a favourite amongst most horror fans and although it is full of terrible (even laughable) effects which look exactly like a GCSE students plasticine project, the movie is still enjoyable on every level. I found the zombie makeup on some of the characters really good in saying that.... It does have genuine scary bits, fantastically gorey bits, laugh out loud funny bits, some great acting (which is novel for these movies) and just a general eerie feel that is missing in most movies these days. I don't know why but when I first saw The Evil Dead and when I watched it again for this review, it reminded me in style a lot of 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (one of my favourite movies). It manages to grab that feel and style sought after so much but usually missed by a mile, that feeling where you feel a little uncomfortable in places, but want to keep watching all the same.
I generally HATE comedy/horror mixes, but this one works. Weirdly the things that make it fall down (poor effects) also add to the charm of the movie and if they attempted to remake it (I hear nasty rumours about this being the case.. and no I don't mean Evil Dead 2), I don't think they could capture the same cult movie feel.
Scenes to watch out for are the possessed hand, the montage of melting plasticine figures, the dismemberment and twitching body parts, the white eyeballed and terribly face painted zombie lady under the trapdoor in the ground, spectacular hatchet kills, spewing severed limbs..... the list goes on and on.
In short, I definately recommend this to any horror fan. A must for the collection!
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
Saturday, 23 July 2011
The Boogeyman - Will's Review
RELATIVELY MINOR SPOILERS
John Carradine!!! An actual actor!
That's what when trough my head as the opening credits rolled.... unfortunately, it was a case of "lets book a 'name' for one day and film 3 scenes with him in an inconsequential roll, that way we can get his name on the poster without going over budget" a trick that rarely, if ever, indicates a great film...
The film opens with a couple of kids, Lacy and Willy, perving on their mum getting it on on the sofa with her latest boyfriend (who has one of her stockings placed over his head as part of their foreplay - whether this is because he is a foot fetishist, or she's a bank-robber fetishist is never explained), mum spots them and is complicit in (indeed, encouraging of) her partners selected punishment - the little girl is sent to bed scot free, while her brother is gagged and tied to his bed, while mum and her (still stocking faced) fella go of to finish what they started in the master bedroom.
The little girl decided to free her brother using the biggest fucking knife in the house, before her brother traets us to an 'Halloween' "homage" then stabs the abusive bastard who tied him up (sadly, he lets his mother get away with her part in events).
Years later, Lacy and Willy are all growed up, and live on their aunt and uncle's farm, along with Lacy's husband, Jack, and son, Kevin. Willy is mute, and both siblings seem to have issues with knives (which I get) and mirrors (because Lacy watched the murder in a mirror, and Willy.... was watched in a mirror... okay, so I don't know why Willy has mirror issues - but he does!).
Speaking of the farm, having used the above 'Halloween' POV shot, The film-makers obviously decided to cover their asses using the old adage "Steal from one and it's plagerism, steal from many and it's research", because this is the farmhouse:
Lacy and Willie get a letter from their mother requesting they visit, which never happens and is never mentioned again, and to make a long story short (and to break the pattern of my reviews being little more than a cynical synopsis) Lacy's therapist (Carradine, badly underused as I mentioned) suggests that she goes to the house where she grew up - in order to form new memories of the house, which do not involve "that night".
Speaking of the shrink, the hypnosis session leads to another "better movie 'homage'" scene:
By the way - does anyone else think it odd that the slightly-perturbed sibling has a shrink, but the one who actually killed someone and hasn't spoken a word in the 20 years since is left to his own devices to collect knives?
Anyhoo, as luck would have it, the old house is up for sale, so Lacy and Jack go to see the place, where they encounter the (ahead of his time) brilliantly named "Timmy", who lives in the house with his 2 older siosters (and their parents, who are away). Why brilliantly named? well, this:
Thankfully, Timmy and his siblings are cannon fodder, and don't last long after our leads leave (although one of them is incredibly soft skulled, being killed my a tap on the noggin with a medicine cabinet door).
While they are there, Lacy visits her Mum's old bedroom (where Willy did in the asshat) and she is convinced she sees old stocking face in the mirror; this being a movie, she has no qualms whatsoever about picking up a chair in someone else's house and battering the mirror into pieces! Her husband pays for the damage, and takes the pieces of mirror home to glue back together (!) in an attempt to demonstrate to his wife that the mirror is safe (except for all of the sharp broken-glass edges, obviously) and jebus, is this guy good at puzzles?!
All of which amounts to set-up as, finally, 45 minuets into the movie's 80 minuet run time, the haunted mirror and the traumatised duo are all where they need to be! Huzzah!
From here on in people get possessed, other people die, priests are called, a mirror fragment flies across the room and embed itself as a ghoulish monocle, and being stabbed in the back causes a certain character to bleed profusely... from the top of his head (!).
From a technical point of view, the film is reminiscent of John Carpenter; before you get too excited, I want to to remember that Carpenter is a very overrated film maker! There; I said it! yes, I know it's horror heresy, but lets remember that he didn't just bring us "Halloween", "Halloween II", "The Thing" and "In the mouth of Madness"; he also gave the world a dreadful segment "hair" from the movie "Body Bags", the gadawfull (and utterly unnecessary) "Village of the Damned" remake, the risible "Vampires" and the decidedly average "Prince of Darkness" (worth seeing mainly for the bit where Alice Cooper runs someone through with a bicycle), so when I say "reminiscent of John Carpenter", I mean "...but not on a good day".
All in all, it's not so bad, but it's not great either - I want to tell you that it's terrible and don't bother, but I think I'm just losing patience with these films, as I gave both Absurd and Anthropophagus a pass as forgiveable time-killers, and it's better than either of those!
Body Count: 8
Animal Body Count: 0
Boob Count: 1 pair
Most Memorable Death: French kiss kebab.
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the "Reader Reviews" post for this movie.
John Carradine!!! An actual actor!
That's what when trough my head as the opening credits rolled.... unfortunately, it was a case of "lets book a 'name' for one day and film 3 scenes with him in an inconsequential roll, that way we can get his name on the poster without going over budget" a trick that rarely, if ever, indicates a great film...
The film opens with a couple of kids, Lacy and Willy, perving on their mum getting it on on the sofa with her latest boyfriend (who has one of her stockings placed over his head as part of their foreplay - whether this is because he is a foot fetishist, or she's a bank-robber fetishist is never explained), mum spots them and is complicit in (indeed, encouraging of) her partners selected punishment - the little girl is sent to bed scot free, while her brother is gagged and tied to his bed, while mum and her (still stocking faced) fella go of to finish what they started in the master bedroom.
The little girl decided to free her brother using the biggest fucking knife in the house, before her brother traets us to an 'Halloween' "homage" then stabs the abusive bastard who tied him up (sadly, he lets his mother get away with her part in events).
Instant 'Halloween': Just add eye-holes...
Years later, Lacy and Willy are all growed up, and live on their aunt and uncle's farm, along with Lacy's husband, Jack, and son, Kevin. Willy is mute, and both siblings seem to have issues with knives (which I get) and mirrors (because Lacy watched the murder in a mirror, and Willy.... was watched in a mirror... okay, so I don't know why Willy has mirror issues - but he does!).
Speaking of the farm, having used the above 'Halloween' POV shot, The film-makers obviously decided to cover their asses using the old adage "Steal from one and it's plagerism, steal from many and it's research", because this is the farmhouse:
The Boogymanville Horror.
Lacy and Willie get a letter from their mother requesting they visit, which never happens and is never mentioned again, and to make a long story short (and to break the pattern of my reviews being little more than a cynical synopsis) Lacy's therapist (Carradine, badly underused as I mentioned) suggests that she goes to the house where she grew up - in order to form new memories of the house, which do not involve "that night".
Speaking of the shrink, the hypnosis session leads to another "better movie 'homage'" scene:
"Your mother sucks boogymen in hell!"
By the way - does anyone else think it odd that the slightly-perturbed sibling has a shrink, but the one who actually killed someone and hasn't spoken a word in the 20 years since is left to his own devices to collect knives?
Anyhoo, as luck would have it, the old house is up for sale, so Lacy and Jack go to see the place, where they encounter the (ahead of his time) brilliantly named "Timmy", who lives in the house with his 2 older siosters (and their parents, who are away). Why brilliantly named? well, this:
BOOGYTIMMEH!!!!
Thankfully, Timmy and his siblings are cannon fodder, and don't last long after our leads leave (although one of them is incredibly soft skulled, being killed my a tap on the noggin with a medicine cabinet door).
While they are there, Lacy visits her Mum's old bedroom (where Willy did in the asshat) and she is convinced she sees old stocking face in the mirror; this being a movie, she has no qualms whatsoever about picking up a chair in someone else's house and battering the mirror into pieces! Her husband pays for the damage, and takes the pieces of mirror home to glue back together (!) in an attempt to demonstrate to his wife that the mirror is safe (except for all of the sharp broken-glass edges, obviously) and jebus, is this guy good at puzzles?!
Willy admires his brother-in-law's mad jigsaw skillz.
All of which amounts to set-up as, finally, 45 minuets into the movie's 80 minuet run time, the haunted mirror and the traumatised duo are all where they need to be! Huzzah!
From here on in people get possessed, other people die, priests are called, a mirror fragment flies across the room and embed itself as a ghoulish monocle, and being stabbed in the back causes a certain character to bleed profusely... from the top of his head (!).
From a technical point of view, the film is reminiscent of John Carpenter; before you get too excited, I want to to remember that Carpenter is a very overrated film maker! There; I said it! yes, I know it's horror heresy, but lets remember that he didn't just bring us "Halloween", "Halloween II", "The Thing" and "In the mouth of Madness"; he also gave the world a dreadful segment "hair" from the movie "Body Bags", the gadawfull (and utterly unnecessary) "Village of the Damned" remake, the risible "Vampires" and the decidedly average "Prince of Darkness" (worth seeing mainly for the bit where Alice Cooper runs someone through with a bicycle), so when I say "reminiscent of John Carpenter", I mean "...but not on a good day".
All in all, it's not so bad, but it's not great either - I want to tell you that it's terrible and don't bother, but I think I'm just losing patience with these films, as I gave both Absurd and Anthropophagus a pass as forgiveable time-killers, and it's better than either of those!
Body Count: 8
Animal Body Count: 0
Boob Count: 1 pair
Most Memorable Death: French kiss kebab.
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the "Reader Reviews" post for this movie.
The Boogeyman - Lisa's Review
This one is a slightly more modern one in the list being from 1980, but does more recent necessarilly mean better? Having watched this movie, it seems not.
We start this movie with a cringeworthy scene with a couple getting cozy on the sofa. The lady in the scene slowly takes off a stocking and oddly puts it over her beaus face (I think it was meant to be sexy, but I don't know what man would find a stinking stocking over his face alluring, or what woman wants to get it on with a thug).
We see 2 young kids watching these erotic goings on from outside the window and find out these are the womans children - Lacey & Willy. Upon catching them spying (why would you want to watch your mother getting it on???) they decide a suitable punishment for Willy is to tie him (gagged) to a bed... Hmmmm questionable. The amorous couple continue with their shenanigans where aforementioned bloke is asked by mother of the year to take the stinking stocking off as 'she doesn't like it any more'. ....meanwhile..... a young Lacey to the rescue, she comes in to the bedroom with a bloody big knife (they make a poor attempt to have us think she is going to dispense with her brother) and cuts Willy free. He goes in and interrupts his mum and her lover and stabs the lover to death! Lovely boy! (I didn't blame him really).
So we have the background for our movie. Onwards.
We cut to the future and a church. This is soley to show us they are god fearing types and introduce us to the stereotypically irish-named Father Reilly, who we will encounter again later. Lacey is married with a young son and lives with her aunt and uncle and Willy, who appears to be a bit backwards. Funny how they always accentuate this by putting the adult character in dungarees....
We have a nice family meal which is used mainly to draw our attention to the fact Willy doesn't speak, Lacey has not got over what happened all those years ago and keeps getting flashbacks when she see's knives and they get a letter from their mother asking to see them. To build on Laceys problem we are treated to one of her nightmares in which she pictures herself in satin and lace blue underwear laying on a bed (doesn't seem much point with sod all to fill it and I found myself wondering if male viewers were disappointed by the lack or boobs, or if indeed it matters ? Will?) She wakes up and is telling her husband about the dream (as the duvet hovers precariously just above her boobs - I bet Will was poised with that pen waiting for the reveal that never came). Her husband decides she needs to 'Get rid of these ghosts once and for all' and suggests she takes her mother up on the offer to meet up and also to go to see the house again to remember it 'how it is now and not how it was then'. Oddly we never arrange a visit with mum and its never mentioned again...
We then cut to a psychiatrists visit which isnt really worth mentioning. He hypnotises Lacey so she can talk about THAT night and she wakes with a ridiculous scream and a stupid voice, like one you would put on to scare a child. I didn't see much of a point for the character at all to be honest.
My notes next say 'Bra-less tart comes to farm and attempts to seduce Willy'. I don't think I need to elaborate any more on that. Her denim jump suit was appalling, she needed a bra badly, her advances were cringe-worthy (including the line that she didn't care that he didn't speak, she liked the fact he was different). Willy rejects her advances by lifting her off the ground and attempting to strange her *snigger*. He watches his actions in a mirror - quite the voyeur our Willy. He drops her, she runs away - shame that.
We are next treated to a scene where Willy is painting all the mirrors in the house black (much to his aunts annoyance). So there is obviously a mirror problem here....
Next off Lacey and her husband have arranged to go to see the old house which is conveniently up for sale so they can have a nose around. As they walk in, we see 2 young, attractive women (how much to guess if they end up as cannon fodder or get their boobs out I wonder...). Lacey has a bit of a moment in the bedroom where it all happened, when she see's the guy her brother killed all those years ago in the mirror (its that mirror thing again) walking towards her. She does what all daft bints in movies do and smashes the mirror in a complete strangers house with a chair. Her husband picks up all the pieces and brings it back with them to fix.... whats all that about???
As predicted the scenes which follow in the house when Lacey and her husband leave, involve both girls (and an annoying child who was also there, I think he was one of the girls sons) to meet their end. Bravo to the film makers for even managing to possess both women and have one hack a large opening in her top so we can have a look at her boobs. She then uses the same scissors to stab herself in the neck. The annoying kid is watching this through the window (what is it with perverted children spying on their mothers?) and the heavy window slides down and drops on his neck *snigger*. The second woman wanders into the bathroom with a sliver of mirror, throws it into the sink and it bursts into flames.... the bathroom cabinet then starts shaking and it swings open and biffs her in the face... I didn't quite understand how this killed her, but it hardly mattered.
We go back to the farm and spot shards of the mirror on the floor, some odd things happen, like flying pitchforks, pieces fly out of the mirror that Laceys husband is trying in vain to repair. I'm dying to hit the FWD button at this stage..... Ok ok so the mirror is possessed with the spirit of this dead guy and weird shit is happening.... where are we going with this.
Next we cut to Lacey & her son fishing on a jetty. We spot a piece of mirror glistening on the sole of Laceys shoe. Hmmmm. This however sets up the best part in the film for me. There are 2 couples having a BBQ on the beach not far from where these 2 are fishing. Blah blah blah.. all pretty boring UNTIL one of a rather amorous pair (it makes sure to set up how much they are all over one another) goes to the car to make to leave and gets a skewer through the back of the head, but thats not it!! Thats not what caused a giggle fest here. His girlfriend comes to see whats keeping him and he turns sideways (avec skewer) and looks at her. The door of the car closes on her bum, pushing her into the car and into what you could call 'a deadly embrace'. They are locked into a kiss and she is skewered also (with the same skewer) oooh how I laughed! What made it even more humorous is that their friends think they are having an extra long kiss and just leave them there.
Finally the husband, aunt and uncle realise Lacey was right about the mirror, so Father Reilly is called (remember him?). We can see he is trying to exorcise this spirit from the mirror. We are all at this stage standing in kitchen, the mirror glows red,everyone stares open mouthed (and yes I mean seriously mouth agog). A shard flies out and into what seems like Laceys eye. (this is a really piss poor effect. At this stage the action (if it can be called that) cuts away and into barn. There is muchos commotion and people go to investigate. Uncle dearest is fixed to the roof by a pitchfork and auntie is in a cupboard tangled in a hosepipe (is it wrong that I also found this a bit funny?
We then cut back to house (because I was on tenderhooks about that red glowing mirror and eye glass). Lacey is nonchalantly preparing dinner and doesn’t seem to care that her uncle and aunt are dead. ‘That’s dinner for 4 then’ she utters. She turns around, piece of glass (or what looks like tinfoil) is glinting in her eye. For some unknown reason, her husbands eyes start bleeding. Enter Father Reilly!!!! He approaches her with crucifix (gotta love that god on a stick) She seems to be levitating as she is considerably taller than him, but it never shows her feet or makes an issue of it. As he reaches to remove the shard of glass, he bleeds more profusely from his head. He manages to pull it free, releasing her from the possession. When he turns around, his back is full of a collection of knives we saw earlier in a drawer which we assumed belonged to Willy, who is watching all of this unfolding with no reaction.
We end the story in a graveyard. There is a piece of glass on Laceys sons shoe. He jumps up and down, it comes off and is left in graveyard as they travel home.
Big waste of time, crap movie. I can't help but wonder why they didn't make more of Willys character but seemed to just leave him alone after he dispensed with the bra-less tart. Also we had David Caradine (a fantastic actor we have to admit) who is barely used and to be honest his character (the doctor) is neither here nor there.
I watched A LOT of horrors in the 80's (my dad is a big fan) and I have to say this is probably pretty much on par with some of the worst ones. Pretty typical to be honest. Not something I would sit through again, it has to be said.
How this was ever a 'video nasty' is anyones guess. Ok so it was removed from the list but how the hell did it ever get on there in the first place?
Boring, banal, bland, dull, bad script, predictably awful, non-memorable deaths, failure to expand on the only promising things about the movie. In all, bloody crap!
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