Tag Archives: Supernatural

Masters of Horror: Jenifer

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The story of Jenifer is the tale of the ultimate jealous girlfriend, who is a subservient, but very jealous person who claims her mates and then clings on to them serving what she feels they desire. To the monster Jenifer, she sees eating humans as eliminating rivals and basically giving her mate her own gifts. The story not only confronts the whole aspect of this grotesque girl, but examines the lolita-esque attraction with this man who–in spite of her face–still possesses a sexual obsession with her. As per Argento’s style, the tension is ripe from the very beginning, as the mystery Argento usually works on mounts. And there’s a great amount of gore that Nicotero works on including some genitalia munching (literally), and gorging on innards that never cuts away. So–this is all they gave Dario Argento to work with, eh?

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Birth (2004)

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birth-2004-01-gA man is running in the park one snowy day, and collapses under a bridge dying from a heart attack, years later, still grieving, Anna attempts to move on with her life and is confronted by a little boy who says he’s her dead husband Sean. Is he really her re-incarnated lover, or just a young boy conning this grieving woman. For the whole time I sat, watching this, I kept thinking to myself “The makers are trying to convince us of  something”. What? I’m not entirely sure, but through the arduous time I watched “Birth”, it seemed like from the beginning to the climax, that everyone involved in this movie were attempting to convince us of something, but the closest verdict I’ve come to, was that they were trying to dissuade us in to thinking this was a good movie.

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Masters of Horror: Dreams in the Witch House

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Perhaps I set myself up for this, perhaps the first episode just had me on this orgasmic euphoric high only set to be lowered by anything. Director Stuart Gordon of “Re-Animator” takes center stage this time in the second episode of the series with an entertaining albeit disappointing installment based on HP Lovecraft’s story of the same name. I’ve never read a story from Lovecraft, but I know he’s an immense influence for many horror masters that borrow the elements from his story for their own. Gordon manages to create a very entertaining installment for Masters of Horror that’s sometimes surreal, many times whimsical and all times filled with dread.

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The Skeleton Key (2005)

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Perhaps I was expecting nothing, because in the end I was truly surprised that “The Skeleton Key” ended up becoming a truly inspired and genuinely creepy supernatural thriller that deserves a chance. Director Iain Softley along with writer Ehren Kruger of past supernatural exploits, creates a rather spooky and all around morbid thriller surround the Louisiana bayous, and its undercoating of hoodoo and religious fanaticism. Much a mixture of “The Serpent and The Rainbow” and “Rosemary’s Baby”, the main character, a heroine of rather innocent background discovers she’s in a web of conspiracy and potentially evil deeds that will decide her life if she’s not careful.

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Masters of Horror: Incident on and off Mountain Road

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The pilot episode of “Masters of Horror” pretty much brings to the table what I was expecting. Gore, good acting, and plot twists. and it’s just what I got, thank god. The story, compacted within a fifty minute window, is smart enough and well written enough that it doesn’t feel rushed. The plot for the pilot is simple enough to be squeezed in to a small segment, yet manages to give us enough character depth and subtext we would desire. Not to mention some brutally gruesome images of torture that make the viewing all worth it. Bree Turner (I think I’m in love) gives a good performance as Ellen, a young woman who crashes in to a deserted car in the middle of a road.

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Darkness (2002)

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darkness-2002It’s weird how the biggest houses with the most windows at the top of a hill on the countryside always manage to somehow be the darkest. I live in a large apartment with many windows and it’s often too bright, but somehow the setting here is dark and gloomy even in a beautiful house such as the one in “Darkness”. “Darkness” is unequivocally one of the most embarrassingly derivative “horror” films I’ve seen in years. It’s a film that borrows and yanks elements from other better horror movies just to tell the nonsensical and utterly pointless story we see here. You could guess the story before I even spelled it out for you. A small family, relocating to a job in Spain where seemingly no one speaks the native language, moves in to a great house haunted by ghosts. Cue an unnecessarily large back story, many obligatory plot twists, and surprisingly bad acting from the great cast featured.

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Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor) (2004)

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night-watch-02And then when they said there’s no more original ideas, out comes “Nochnoy Dozor”. If you’re unfamiliar, “Nochnoy Dozor”–or “The Nightwatch”– it is a Russian fantasy epic, the first of a planned trilogy that just finished smashing box office records in Russia becoming the highest grossing film of all time there beating out “Spider-Man 2”.  Though it’s not as if Russia is a Mecca for light-hearted epics, “The Nightwatch” has made quite an impact there, and will soon be released and then remade here in the US. Before the Hollywood butcher shop decided to hack their way in to a crappy remake, I decided to grab a hold of the original film, and I wasn’t disappointed.

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