Before Mike Flanagan wrote and directed “Oculus’ there was his award-winning short “Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man With The Plan.” Despite being the third chapter, far as I know there were no prior editions. I have been looking for a link to the actual short, but I have yet to find it. As soon as I do, […]
If you have an opportunity to see any of the [Rec] series of horror films –”[Rec],” “[Rec] 2,” “[Rec] 3: Genesis” and “[Rec] 4: Apocalypse” – do it, subtitles or not (They were filmed originally in Spanish). And in case you’re wondering, ‘REC’ is short for quite a few things, such as: Renewable Energy Certificate, Regional Examination Center, though the […]
I like the work of Scott Derrickson (and I hope that he’s being considered for Marvel Studios upcoming Doctor Strange feature, along with Don Coscarelli). Heck, I even like his remake of “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” if only because he was able to find a role for Keanu Reeves that made that actor’s wooden […]
“Oculus” Is A Decent Thriller, But Seemingly Fails The Logic Test I enjoyed Mike Flanagan‘s “Oculus,” a slow-burn thriller about a haunted mirror, and the lives it has destroyed because I sometimes like a movie in which stakes are a little more personal, as opposed with threatening the world with annihilation, or anything along those lines. […]
“Stephen Sommers’ “Odd Thomas” Is An Interesting Diversion And Unfortunately Little Else.” I haven’t read any of ‘Odd Thomas’ books by Stephen Koontz, but I did enjoy that last movie based on one of his novels, Joe Chappelle’s 1998 movie, “Phantoms.” The director handling Koontz’s work this time around is Stephen Sommers, and that may be what makes […]
Commercials are made to inform about a particular service or entice you to buy something you want (but don’t yet know that you want). Though in practice, most do the exact opposite. They confuse instead of clarify, and irritate to such a degree that there are some DVR’s designed to skip them entirely. Though there are times when a […]
“”Devil’s Due” is slightly more ambitious that most found-footage movies, though suffers from problems built into the format.” Having seen Matt Bettinelli-Olpin‘s and Tyler Gillett‘s “Devil’s Due,” about a newly married couple destined to give birth to the Antichrist, it’s obvious that the found-footage trend, ushered in by the 1999 film “The Blair Witch Project” and made mainstream with the […]
Part 1: It’s All About The Benjamins I imagine that M. Night Shyamalan, coming off the blockbuster success of 1999’s “The Sixth Sense,” thought that he literally ruled the world. That movie, on a $40 million budget, earned almost $673 million dollars. His followup, 2000’s “Unbreakable,” cost $75 million to produce, almost doubled the cost of […]
Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm series is very interesting, though not necessarily for good reasons. The original film that started it all is pretty amazing, but the more sequels that Coscarelli did, the more apparent it became that that he was running out of ideas. Which is why the latest film, “Phantasm: Ravager” is so interesting. This time […]
Welcome to “Postmortem,” a feature that goes behind the scenes of some of your favorite films, and asks: What the heck went wrong?! Paul W.S. Anderson (the Resident Evil films, “Soldier,” Event Horizon,” “Pompeii”), if you’ve ever seen him in a interview, like the one above, appears very knowledgable about the films he chooses to […]
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