Director Leigh Wannell plays to Insidious’ strengths with scare by numbers sequel…
Film Review: 28 Days Later – 9/10
Even one girls horrific acting doesn’t make Danny Boyle’s bleakest work any less nightmarish…
Zombie films had gone seriously out of fashion during the 90’s but Danny Boyle brought the classic genre back with a bang in 2002 with 28 Days Later. Whilst the ‘infected’ in Boyle’s horror masterpiece are not technically zombies as they don’t die and come back to life, in every other sense they are the same as the army of the undead made so popular by George A. Romero’s classic Night of the Living Dead franchise. What Danny Boyle did is move away from shuffling, groaning corpses to sprinting and screaming lunatics crashing through your front room window. It is such a simple idea to have the zombies running rather than stumbling but it reinvigorated the genre and paved the way for Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake as well as the Resident Evil franchise, World War Z, Zombieland and many others.
28 Days Later is more than just a zombie film though, taking in isolation and man’s inhumanity or ‘people killing people’ as it is described so succinctly by the always reliable Christopher Ecclestone, there is a haunting quality that lingers long after the final credits. It is Cillian Murphy in the main role who really impresses, seeing his character completely transformed in the third act whilst still maintaining a believable performance. In support Brendan Gleeson and Naomie Harris are both a little over the top and this grates at times but much worse is newcomer Megan Burns as Gleeson’s daughter Hannah. Almost every one of Burns’ lines is delivered so robotically it is hard to watch and it is no surprise she never acted again after 28 Days Later.
Megan Burns stinks the place out as Hannah.
In the opening ‘Hello’ sequence and the climactic ‘In a Heartbeat’ conclusion, Danny Boyle has crafted two of the most perfect scenes in the history of horror and it is these bookends that ensure that 28 Days Later will always be considered a horror classic.
Film Review: 28 Weeks Later – 6/10
28 Days Later but for a dumbed down American audience…
Director Danny Boyle took zombie films to the next level with his seminal classic 28 Days Later, unfortunately 28 Weeks Later feels like two steps back. This is especially disappointing as it all starts off so well. The opening scene is a frenzied and harrowing introduction and a reminder of how terrifying the world has become in the wake of the rage virus. It is mostly downhill from there as England is now a military state in the hands of the American army which means Rose Byrne putting on an American accent and Jeremy Renner playing an unimaginative stock soldier character.
The scenes with British trio Robert Carlyle, Imogen Poots and Mackintosh Muggleton work best as this most brings to mind what made the original so good. Hails of bullets and massive explosions are a mile away from the isolation and claustrophobia of the first film. The behaviour of the infected has changed as well with them becoming a lot more ‘bitey’ to suit the common perception of zombies and there is even suggestion of retained memories and a survival extinct which is both unexplained and at odds with 28 Days Later.
Another disappointment is that key moments from the first film such as eye gouging and the unforgettable soundtrack are recycled here although the opening and the helicopter scene are powerful and wholly original which makes 28 Weeks Later a frustrating watch as it is evident the potential for a great piece of work was present.
There have been much worse horror sequels but 28 Days Later was so good it didn’t really need the story to be continued.
Film Review: Tales of Halloween – 4/10
Should be called ‘Fails of Halloween’. Am I right? Tough crowd…
Film Review: A Short Vision – 8/10
Sometimes when it is a Sunday night and your girlfriend has been out all day and you have spent too long staring tensely at the cat and you are waiting for Match of the Day 2 to start and Monday is breathing down your neck like a two headed dragon, you may find yourself tumbling down the rabbit hole that is the more weird corner of the web. It is here that I discovered A Short Vision…
Amazingly broadcast in prime time on both the BBC in the UK and the Ed Sullivan Show in the US in 1956, A Short Vision is a strange animated short about the end of the world. Packing in a lot of nightmarish imagery and disorientating repetitively primitive language as well as some unsettling rudimentary animation and a screeching score, it is impossible to imagine this ever being shown on any channel at any time in this day and age, never mind when people are just sitting down to enjoy their smiley faces and turkey dinosaurs.
The message is more than simply ‘nuclear war is bad’ and I ended up watching it a few times such is the haunting nature of the subject matter. Still very much pertinent and perhaps even more shocking than when first released, A Short Vision is a good if odd way to spend six minutes of your time.
Watch it here:
Film Review: Paranormal Activity 4 The Marked Ones – 6/10
Paranormal Activity Homes!
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Film Review: ABC’s of Death 2
While the first ABC’s of Death film had more disappointing segments than good ones, it did at least have a few interesting directors on board in Ben Wheatley (Kill List), Adam Wingard (You’re Next), Ti West (The Sacrament) and Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun). The most famous contributor on offer for the sequel is probably the surprising entry from one half of The Mighty Boosh, Julian Barrett – One of a number of British directors to work on the project.
Film Review: Friday the 13th (remake)
25 years and 8 films after Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Jason Vorhees returns for one last swansong…
Jason employing his trademark look.
Film Review: Sinister 2 – 6/10
Nowhere near as sickeningly frightening as Sinister…
Film Review: The Gift – 7/10
What it lacks in Katie Holmes’ breasts, The Gift makes up for in tense thrills…
The Gift contains a typically fine performance from Rebecca Hall but it is the cat and mouse game between Jason Bateman and Joel Edgerton that rightly takes first billing. Edgerton wrote and directed The Gift as well as starring and he gives an excellent performance in what is obviously a passion project for him. If you watch Edgerton’s confident turn in another 2015 success Black Mass compared to his more socially awkward character here, you will see the amount of range that he possesses and the flexibility of his acting skill.
The stalker tale is a typical horror trope but The Gift isn’t out to break new ground, only to tell a good story and tell it well. The performances in general are far superior to that of the average horror flick, with Fargo‘s Allison Tolman rounding off a talented cast.
The Gift is not really a horror film in reality. It is more a tense thriller and whilst Jason Bateman is an odd choice for such a straight character, he takes his opportunity to play against type here. Bateman made me change my mind about who was the protagonist and who was the antagonist numerous times throughout The Gift which is also a testament to Edgerton’s writing.
Joel Edgerton or Murray from Flight of the Conchords?
Indeed this is Joel Edgerton’s movie. Aside from the gripping script and the focused direction, Egerton puts in a sympathetic but offbeat turn as Gordo in a role unrecognisable compared to his recent fare.
The Gift is in many ways old fashioned in it’s story and style but it is a modern twist on a familiar fable that will appeal to a mass audience. Caps off Joel Edgerton.