Tag Archives: C

Campfire Tales (1997)

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Urban Folklore and Legends have comprised some of the best tall tales and words of warning ever created. Often times they’re based on some grain of fact, and can serve as subtext for the dangers of premarital sex, and not talking to strangers. “Campfire Tales” from 1997 is one of the few anthology films that pulls from the catalog of urban legends and utilizes them to produce a pretty great horror film. Directed by a trio of talented filmmakers, “Campfire Tales” is one of the few anthology films that have shrunk away in to obscurity unfairly. In the gamut of anthology horror, “Campfire Tales” is a strong contender for one of the top ten. It’s shocking that the movie is barely discussed when good anthologies are discussed.

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Contracted Phase II (2015)

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If you needed any clarification of what the end result of “Contracted” was, then “Phase II” pretty much shows all of its cards for its audience. That may either be a plus for the audience returning to see how the narrative unfolds, or a major missed opportunity for folks that appreciate some ambiguity. True, both films are in essence body horror movies, but they also transform in to brutally creepy and unique zombie films that rely on the grotesque nature of transforming in to the undead. Basically, “Contracted” builds on a more morbid and damaging form of disease transferred through bodily fluids that begin to take massive tolls on its victims.

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Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (2013) [Blu-Ray]

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If you’re like me, you left “Never Sleep Again” completely sure about your love for all things Krueger, and then wondered if Jason would ever get his turn. Thankfully, the folks at 1428 Films have indulged Jason Voorhees fan boys with an utterly extensive and incredibly detailed chronicle of the “Friday the 13th” series. At an intimidating six hours, director Daniel Farrands pays homage to the series that influenced dozens of copycats and wannabes in the eighties. Narrated by series star Corey Feldman, “Crystal Lake Memories” is another of the classic horror documentaries from 1428 that doesn’t just chronicle the rise of a pop icon, but also pays tribute to independent film.

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Caedes: Forestglade of Death (2014) [Horrible Imaginings 2015]

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Horrible Imaginings Film Festival San Diego 2015

Forest, zombies, Germany, sounds like a match made in horror-comedy heaven. Caedes: Forestglade of Death, or Caedes – Die Lichtung des Todes, follows a group of friends as they go to Happy Camping for a weekend of relaxation and beer, lots of beer. Quickly a leader is established in Dan who approaches a blond babe named Leen only to be shot down. Everyone settles in, meets their camping neighbors, and parties all night. When morning comes, some awake with one hell of as hang over while others wake up as zombies, something clearly having happened overnight. Zombies go looking for food where they can, attacking the remaining campers who defend themselves as best they can. San and his friends Manesh, Jose, and Jorrun all survive along with Leen, Fritz, Tina, and a few others. This band of survivors then works together to live, finds the zombie source, and get out of there.

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Cooties (2015)

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Directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion couldn’t have assembled a better troupe of character actors than the one in “Cooties.” If you’re going to cast some of the best, you’d best put them in a good movie, and “Cooties” is great. It’s part “Class of Nuke Em High,” part “28 Days Later,” and part “Night of the Living Dead.” The team of Murnion and Milott compose a sick and hilarious amalgam of horror comedy that actually manages to build a very difficult premise. How do you fight hordes of children? And even if small children were running rampant and eating people, would you be able to murder them out of self defense?

Clint is starting his first day teaching summer school at Fort Chicken elementary school and is preparing for a hard go of it with some rather bratty children populating his school. Things go from bad to worse when a young girl bites in to a tainted chicken nugget that infects her with a horrible virus that transforms her in to a flesh eating savage.

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Cosmodrama (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

A group of people wake up on a giant starship and wonder why they are there, what their purpose id, where they are going, and why. This group is composed of widely different people including an astronomer, a physiologist, a biologist, a reporter, etc. The film follows their activities and interactions as they question everything and as they wonder the meaning of everything. Not a lot happens besides conversations that do not go anywhere really. Even the apparition of a women on television screens who is not part of the crew on the ship or the multiplication of one character are not explored or taken anywhere, they only bring more questions and very few answers. This is a film about the meaning of live in a way, but it brings no information, just questions through a rather lackluster story.

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Cruel (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Pierre Tardieu lives a quiet life in Toulouse. He does day labor work and goes home to his ailing father at night. Visits to the book store seem to be his only escape along with reading to his father. That is, besides being a calculated serial killer. Pierre picks his victims randomly to purposefully not establish a pattern. He follows them first, and then brings them home where he feeds them and talks to them for a few days before murdering them. One day, as he goes to the bookstore to buy some notebooks, he meets Laure with whom he eventually falls in love. As their relationship blossoms, the cops are moving in on Pierre, not having any proof but strong suspicions as to his possible involvement in disappearances and murders in the city. Laure supports him through this not knowing all that is involved while working on getting his life better.

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