If you’re willing to ignore the obligatory self-aware jabs at slasher films in the first half hour that derails the story for a good portion of the prologue, “The Hills Run Red” is actually quite an entertaining slasher film, and one that dabbles in that classic formula of teens wanting to uncover a legend and meeting pure evil and chaos face to face. If you keep knocking on the devil’s door, eventually he’s going to answer, and two aspiring filmmakers learn that lesson when they team up to find the mythical grindhouse flick “The Hills Run Red” a controversial gory film in the vein of Ruggero Deodato’s classic that mysteriously went missing along with its director and co-stars.
Tag Archives: Horror
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010): DVD/Blu-Ray Combo Pack
While scouring reviews for “Nightmare,” I read a comment online that suggested the reason why Samuel Bayer’s absolutely lethargic lazy remake of the horror classic is so bad is because he wasn’t recruited by Platinum Dunes to re-imagine this world, but to simply lens it for them. And that’s an apt observation when you’ve managed to sit down and actually watch Platinum Dunes latest cinematic slap to the face of movie goers and horror lovers everywhere. “A Nightmare on Elm Street” 2010 is possibly one of the worst remakes of all time, it’s a lazy, unimaginative, nonsensical, and absolutely tedious piece of hogwash that doesn’t try to do anything new with the material before it, nor does it re- invent much, but instead merely goes through the motions as a routine horror affair focused on squeezing in as much shocks as possible and moving on to the next scene.
Rammbock: Berlin Undead (2011)
Fans of the zombie sub-genre are ensconced in the walking dead these days as Hollywood and filmmakers all over the world in every corner have found taking to the living dead to be a source of creativity and an unlimited audience who want to see who can take the belt from Romero. “Rammbock” has an hour long to tell multiple stories and screenwriter Benjamin Kressler is up to the challenge staging the end of the world in modern Germany at the hands of raging infectious monsters, all of whom have a taste for blood and are relentless.
Community of the Dead
If you’re one of the many TV viewers right now being disappointed, you’re not alone. Most of the returning shows are horrible this year, and FOX Television has been pulled from Cablevision subscribers thus most of the television now is a drab affair. Every year Halloween comes down on our doors, and every year many shows are up to the task to create something inventive. Sometimes they ignore it altogether (Shame on you “The Big Bang Theory”) and sometimes they’re up for some fun.
The Walking Dead: Episode One, Season One – Days Gone Bye
I think AMC has expressed an enormous amount of faith in Robert Kirkman’s award winning critically acclaimed comic book series “The Walking Dead” by taking it seriously and investing in to it as they would a normal drama or thriller series. Kirkman’s black and white horror comic about the zombie apocalypse and the man trying to find his wife and son in the middle of it is possibly my favorite comic book series ever made, and AMC has treated it with dignity and respect. Any other network may have toned down the violence, and made it much sleeker and action oriented, but director Frank Darabont manages to treat this series with the same character study and emotion as he has with masterpieces like “The Green Mile,” and “The Shawshank Redemption” where the supernatural element is much more secondary to the human story. Deep down “The Walking Dead” is actually a human story with much of the tone from the series transplanted on to a full color epic television scope and while it is different from the series it is also very loyal to Kirkman’s original concept and even lifts some scenes from the original first issue.
Wolf (1994)
In 2000, the Canadian low budget horror movie entitled “Ginger Snaps” was a bonafide metaphor for coming of age and a girl getting her period. Expanding on Red Riding Hood, “Ginger Snaps” was a full on series of metaphors about a young girl blossoming in to adult hood with lycanthropy acting as a symbol for her becoming a predatory sexual being that was brought out from her wolf-like tendencies after surviving a mauling from a vicious werewolf. 1994’s “Wolf” however is a tongue in cheek social commentary that examines almost the same themes except acts as a metaphor for male dominance in a youth obsessed consuming society.
Long Pigs (2007)
At first glance of “Long Pigs” and screen captures, many movie goers will be quick to dismiss Chris Power and Nathan Hyne’s mock documentary as merely a low budget film attempting to shock us in to submission and while in many ways “Long Pigs” is a gruesome and shocking film, “Long Pigs” also has a sense of sardonic humor and intelligence to it that makes it much more than just a movie about a cannibal and his fixation on the fine art of grooming human corpses to be eaten for his cooked delicacies. The directors behind this clearly were influenced by the likes of the classic film “Man Bites Dog” about a documentary crew anxiously trying to get in to the mind of a criminal who get too close for comfort, and “Long Pigs” is very influenced by that title engaging in a long moral and social breakdown of the greatest of taboos: cannibalism, and what repercussions they have in today’s society.