Tag Archives: Survival

Storage 24 (2013)

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Despite being featured in an article as one of the lowest grossing movies of the year (It premiered in one theater), “Storage 24” is actually a solid monster movie. If you want to see a vicious monster murdering thirty something Brits, this is the movie you’ll want to watch. Director Johannes Roberts‘ genre entry is a film with big ambitions, but a small budget, so he uses the creature effects wisely and pays off with vicious violence, and a pretty interesting finale. I’m not about to call “Storage 24” a masterpiece, as Roberts film takes too much of its time on back story and set up.

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Proximity (2013)

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Yet another take on “The Most Dangerous Game,” my favorite short story of all time, director Ryan Connolly pulls off an excellent feat in putting a twist on the classic story that works well as a short film, and could easily become a fantastic feature length genre entry. Starring Todd Bruno, “Proximity” is set in a not too distant future where men are being wrangled and set loose to be hunted.

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No One Lives (2012)

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It’s always some sort of karmic justice when a group of utterly inept killers get what’s coming to them, and director Ryuhei Kitamura delivers not only a comeuppance horror film, but a potentially excellent new horror icon with Luke Evans at the helm. “No One Lives” is that classic comeuppance about a band of moronic and bitter thieves that think they have everything about their operations in check, until their members begin to lose sight of their mission to make money and end up screwing themselves in the process.

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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

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Director Francis Lawrence’s “Catching Fire” is set directly after the events of the first serviceable installment of “The Hunger Games,” and sadly Katniss has not emerged victorious. After her attempt to end her life with Peeta, incapable of fighting to the death, the pair became celebrities. Rather than be wounded by their violation of the rules of the Hunger games, the Capital took advantage of this moment. Katniss and Peeta are now a celebrity couple and the world wide sensation, and the capital has done everything they can to exploit this opportunity. Katniss and Peeta started a revolution when they agreed to a suicide pact, and now they have to once again maintain their image.

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The Hunger Games (2012)

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I guess at the end of the day, you could find worse entertainment than “The Hunger Games.” Most of the concept has been nothing but hype that leads in to narrative that’s entertaining in its own right, but is nowhere near being a masterpiece. I wouldn’t even call it a great movie, when pressed. It’s been touted as violent and disturbing for a PG-13 film, but when the centerpiece of the film involving teens and preteens slaughtering one another at the start of the Hunger Games approaches, it’s all so tame. It’s off-screen blood splatter, and suggestive brutality, all softened by a dizzying shaky cam that renders it impossible to make any of the chaos coherent for the viewer.

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This Is the End (2013)

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You would think that “This is the End,” a movie about a group of Hollywood actors that basically play themselves for no reason would be self serving and self indulgent. And you’d be correct. Even in its breaking of the fourth wall and satirizing of its stars (that probably only the stars and their friends really would find laugh out loud funny), “This is the End” isn’t a bad movie. In fact for the first forty five minutes, it’s really funny and works as a goofy apocalyptic horror comedy. The rest is just filler, endless montages, and flat improv (mostly from Rogen).

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You’re Next (2013)

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It’s always funny when you consider studios are spending millions on remaking slasher films, when people like Adam Wingard are literally re-inventing the slasher film. And making it look damn easy, too. Director Adam Wingard’s “You’re Next” is a sick, scary, and exciting amalgam of “Fortress,” and “Straw Dogs,” with a hint of Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game.” It’s clear director Wingard is heavily influenced by late seventies and eighties survival horror films, and he shows off his innate talent for style and suspense with one of the most entertaining horror films of the year.

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