November 13, 2011

Review: 11-11-11 (2011)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1712159/
Earlier this year, director Darren Lynn Bousman gave us his remake of Mother's Day, which was a great film in many ways. He knocked that movie right out of the park. With 11-11-11 though, we're not really sure what the hell happened, because in many ways it didn't even leave the infield.

The story revolves around a famous writer whom is suffering greatly from the death of his wife and kid, so he heads to Barcelona to visit his ailing Dad, whom he pretty much hates. His wheelchair-bound brother loves Jesus, and he has a sexy, sexy stalker, who really should have been under some sort of suspicion since the beginning, despite her sexy hotness.

So, we're off to a great, sensible start.

They dead.
The number 11 keeps showing up in our hero's life, and it's obviously pointing towards some cataclysmic event that's coming, but what is it? Is it like the Mayan Calendar? By all of the spooky dreams of Demons, and random Demons standing around in the shadows and looking ominous, we're guessing it involves Demons. The kind that stand around and look ominous.

Kinda cool, but make it do something!
11-11-11 started out pretty strong, giving us some interesting stuff to chew on and anticipate. We weren't thrilled with the acting, but we figured it was passable, especially if the story was heading somewhere interesting, which it felt like it was. Unfortunately, the first two thirds of the movie were rather slow moving an uneventful, and were spent letting us know how faithless our hero was, and how much his crippled brother loved Jesus. Over and over again.

Yes, yes, you have no faith. We get it.
As slow and plodding as things were, the real crime was that nothing was particularly creepy or captivating about any of it. There were too many subtle things that happened that were supposed to spook us out, but just didn't. Couldn't might be a better word. Worst of all, the plot gets way over-complicated and has no action to counter-balance it. There's really no forward progress with the plot, and a bad narrative will kill a story every time.

Things were so slow in this movie for so long, by the time the action kicks in towards the end, it felt a bit rushed and confused. I mean, after getting shot, you're still running around all half cocked, trying to do everything but stop your wound from bleeding so that maybe you don't die?

Up in flames... now that's fitting.
It felt like "Gotta save my brother!" was the only thing running through our hero's head as things began to unravel, and we get why he'd be so adamant about saving his only living loved one, but the results of that sentiment came off as comical. The wheelchair-bound brother exclaims "I'm not leaving without my books!," which prompts the hero brother to run through the house with an armload of books, dodging Demons and fighting for his life. With an arm-load of books. The whole time. It was kinda goofy. And really, wouldn't you just roll his ass out of the house and be done with it? Come on.

We will say that the movie had a nice look to it, and in that aspect, Bousman did a great job.

Yes, we feel the same way.
This is a messy, bland, and utterly confused movie that had a few good parts, but failed as a whole. You should skip this one and stick with Bousman's far superior Mother's Day remake; it was truly under-the-radar and definitely worthy of any Horror fan's time. 11-11-11 however, was just underwhelming and bland.

 D
 
Wendy Glenn is in this.

November 10, 2011

Review: Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings (2011)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1865567/
The latest installment in the "All West Virginian's are creepy, inbred Hillbillies" series takes us back to yesteryear, when our favorite mongoloid killers were younger and carefree. We find out that in 1974, Three-Finger, One-Eye and Saw-Tooth were locked up in the retard ward of a local Sanatorium, and were treated like monsters, mainly because they were retarded monsters. They got their revenge though; they pretty much kill everyone in the Hospital, all slow and messy like.

Who's the retarded monster now, eh Doc?
Flashing forward to present day at some random College, we are treated to an orgy, which is promptly broken up by the movie's snotty bitch prude of a Final Girl, because she and her gang of too-attractive College friends are heading out on a snowmobile trip into the W. Virginia hills. You knew that had to happen. Of course they get lost, and after night sets in, the blizzard begins. Luckily for them they find an old abandoned Sanatorium to hole up in for the night which is bad news... because it's the same Sanatorium, you see?

By all means, explore. That's usually when the killing starts.
From here on out it's stalk-and-slash, Mongoloid Hillbilly style. People are cut, chopped, sliced, flambeed, hung, decapitated, drill, peeled and eaten... there's no limit to the carnage! Will anyone survive the mutant onslaught? Will a black chick finally get to be a Final Girl? Will there be a Wrong Turn 5? Far be it from us to spoil anything for you here, but we will say that the movie is titled "Bloody Beginnings" and not "Happy Endings."

Stop daydreaming and run!
 
Usually when you get to a "part 4" in a movie series, you kinda expect shit, and usually tend to get shit. (F13th- The Final Chapter doesn't count, because it was awesome.) Wrong Turn though, is an odd series; these movies may not be the pinnacle of filmmaking (even Horror filmmaking), but damn us all to hell if they don't deliver the goods.

As you can tell by the title, Wrong Turn 4 is a prequel. Now, in a series in which blood and gore is the draw, who cares about story, right? Right. Still, if you ever wanted to know where the mongoloid mountain cannibal men of the first 3 flicks came from, here's your chance. The acting and visuals are all above board here, but it's the gore that takes center stage and makes this one truly fun. Also, there's lots of hot chicks.

It's just generally pleasing all the way around.

This is why girls on their period are NOT invited to orgies...
 
Why in these types of movies are there never groups of fat, ugly, handicapped College friends that go on trips to isolated locales and die painfully, one by one? I mean, I prefer to stare at hot people for 90 minutes as opposed to ugly folk, but the ugly ones deserve to die too, don't they? Some would argue that ugly people deserve to die more than pretty people do. Like maybe have a really hot Serial Killer offing ugly people because they are so far beneath her, or like ugly people raped her Dad or something... it would be different at least.

Not an ugly bitch in the bunch.
Why does there always have to be one snotty bitch in every group of partiers? You know the one; the prude that gives dirty looks and makes shitty comments to anyone not doing what she thinks they should be doing. Good girls with party-killing attitudes should just stay home and stop spoiling all of the bad kids' fun. Even if they're hot. The one in this movie is really hot, but seriously, we wanted her to die first.

Die, prudes!
The first 11 minutes of this movie is basically a gang-bang of gore and explicit violence. Sound good? Well the rest of the movie gets even bloodier. This honestly may be the goriest flick we've seen all year. Of particular note is the long, take-your-time-with-it scene where the cannibals flay someone alive, make fondue out of their skin, and eat them as if it were a dinner party. Seriously, this movie is jam-packed with nastiness.

Awesomeness.
The second scene in the movie is a gang bang. Literally. 3 chicks, 1 dude. It's not often that you see a Black chick and an Asian chick in a pretty lengthy box eating scene, so hats off to the filmmakers for being so diverse in their gratuitous and stereotypical exploitation of lesbianism! Seriously, we dig it. We also get some other sex and nudity throughout the rest of the movie, but the bulk of it is at the beginning. Good stuff.

Never snowmobile in the dark while in West Virginia. Also, all Hillbillies are sadistic killers... and mongoloids.

This is why we do not back up in scary situations.
Not bad, 4th installment in a Direct-to-DVD Torture Porn series, not bad at all. Tits, ass and gallons of blood; Wrong Turn 4 delivers the goods that any movie of its kind needs to, and for that it's a winner. It's actually not a bad movie either, aside from all of the gratuitous exploitation. If you loved its predecessors, you'll love this one too. Even if you didn't, it's bloody good fun.

B+

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GT3XDQ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005GT3XDQ&linkCode=as2&tag=thehorclu0a-20&linkId=5W25MDDW2IURB7CO

This movie was a veritable buffet of poon, and all of it was of the quality variety.

Horror Hotties: The Girls of Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings

These girls earned themselves a little bit of love with the way that most of them died so painfully in this movie.

November 6, 2011

Quick Review: The River Murders (2011)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1738387/
I'm not sure what Ray Liotta is doing with his career lately, but this movie is the sort of thing that shouldn't even be on his radar. Field of Dreams, Goodfellas, Unlawful Entry, No Escape, Copland, Narc... the guy has been pretty amazing in some excellent movies, and now he's not only in this shitty movie, but but he really sucked in his role.

The River Murders is another story about a Cop trying to solve some murders and bring a Serial Killer to justice, so nothing really new here plot-wise, which is fine. This is definitely one of our favorite sub-genres, so we're fine giving some slack to movies of this kind, because while some of them may suck, they still have their redeeming qualities.

Nothing is very redeeming here though. It was flaccid.

The most exciting scene in the movie.
This movie is not only dull and messy, but it contains some of the worst acting we've seen all year long. Sorry Ray, we really do love you, but this one was a swing and a miss for you. Everything about his role and performance was just off here. And Gisele Fraga... well she was just downright painful to watch. Not trying to be mean here, but it was tough to stomach her Broken-English overacting. And while we're at it, what's up with Ving Rhames? That man is Marcellus Wallace for Christ's sake, and he can't get better roles than this? Shame on you, Hollywood casting directors.

If anything about this movie was redeemable at all, it was Christian Slater; it was kinda fun watching him play a complete asshole. Aside from that though...

We know, Ving. We know.
 Just... just pass this one by, and you'll be better off for doing so. Trust us.

Such emotion.
They're in this.