L’Ours Noir (The Black Bear) (France) (2015)
Written and directed by Méryl Fortunat-Rossi and Xavier Seron, L’Ours Noir is a film based on a safety pamphlet about black bears in the north of Quebec. A group of hikers go in a forest to explore the land, when they meet a black bear for which they were supposed to learn the rules before going. The film they build is absolutely hilarious and gory, sporting a talented cast with a great sense of timing. The cast is composed mainly of Francois Neycken, Jean-Jacques Rausin, Terence Rion, Catherine Salée, and Jean-Benoit Ugeux who all give great performances in the crazy circumstances they are thrown in. The film also boasts fantastic special effects that fit just right with it. The bear used might be cuddly looking but his attacks are vicious, funny, and bloody. This short is possibly the funniest horror-comedy this reviewer has seen this year and in a long while. It’s absolutely fantastic and must be watched if you get the chance.
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
ClownTown (2016)
If you think Rob Zombie is the only director releasing a schlocky survival horror film about evil clowns, you’d be mistaken. Here comes Tom Nagel’s “ClownTown,” a film a group of hapless travelers that wander in to an abandoned town ruled over by psychotic clowns that want to kill them a lot. After an unusual and tacked on prologue that copies John Carpenter’s “Halloween” almost shamelessly, we enter in to the actual tale of a group of friends heading to a concert. When they’re accidentally run off the road in a seemingly abandoned town, they and two other travelers find themselves being victimized and terrorized by psychotic and murderous clowns.
The ReZort (2015)
A woman dealing with the aftermath of her father’s death in the war against zombies decides to go on a zombie safari on a remote island. Written by Paul Gerstenberger and directed by Steve Barker, this zombie film doesn’t really bring anything new to the genre, it uses a few newer, or less used, ideas and freshens it up a bit. Their zombies are fast moving zombies, the bad people are clearly so, but the good guys are decent and easy to watch with a few you can root for. These characters are a bit basic and a bit predictable but they work in the story and are decently entertaining.
Nighthawks (1981): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]
Director Bruce Malmuth’s “Nighthawks” is easily one of the most eighties action thrillers ever made. It’s a teaming of various talents from the decade, and further paves Sylvester Stallone as an action hero. Stallone is quite convincing in his role as renegade street cop Deke DaSilva who goes to great lengths to stop criminals alongside his partner Matthew Fox, as played by Billy Dee Williams. Most of the concept for “Nighthawks” revolves around the uneasy pairing of Stallone’s more rough neck street cop going up against Rutger Hauer’s international villain. Hauer is excellent the villainous bomber Wulfgar who delights in terrorizing people with planting bombs and infiltrating the local populace.
The Unspoken (2015)
Written and directed by Sheldon Wilson, The Unspoken is a pretty tame horror film. It follows the tropes of haunted housed films well without adding a whole lot that is new until the very end when a twist changes the whole story. A single mother and her son move into a house that has been abandoned for seventeen years following multiple deaths. Angela, whose single father has been laid-off for a while, is hired to look after Adrian, the non-speaking new child in town. The script up until then is fairly routine: a scare here, scare there, jump scare, lots of set up. Unfortunately, this formula falls a little flat for this big horror fan. However, this does not mean that it won’t scare of unnerve the casual horror fan, or the ones looking for their yearly scare.
Genghis Khan Conquers the Moon (2015) [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2016]
In director Kerry Yang’s epic short film, Genghis Khan meets with a Wizard as he’s busy conquering the world. This Wizard shows him the Moon and Khan sets his sights on the unconquered “land”. Written by Steve Emmons and Kerry Yang, the film is historical sci-fi fantasy at its best. The characters they build and put in this crazy situation are entertaining to watch. The cast of actors chosen for the leads in this epic short are very impressive.
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
IN SELECT THEATERS OCTOBER 28TH – Although Henry Selick does a damn fine job of directing what is one of the most entertaining stop motion animated films, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” has Tim Burton’s stamp all over it. It’s about an outcast, a love for the Gothic and Halloween, and it’s unabashedly menacing. Though Henry Selick’s animated movie was originally touted to kids, the film is very much a dark and harrowing narrative about monsters from the Halloweentown infiltrating the Christmastown, and using the traditions and rituals to terrorize random victims. One montage even features kids getting very creepy presents like a shrunken head, and a snake. Jack Skellington is the pumpkin king who is the anti-hero that finds himself restless with Halloween and accidentally becomes the villain when he falls in love with Christmas.