The Digital Dread Report for March 18th

This week we finally get some solid new releases to sink our teeth into, and as sparse as the "Must Own" Blu-ray & DVD landscape has been so far this year, it's a truly wonderful thing!

Scream Factory's Blu-ray release of the classic Slasher flick, The Slumber Party Massacre (1982), tops our "Must Own" list this week. It may not be a Deluxe Collector's Edition like so many of their BD titles are, but it's a great flick that is sure to benefit from a new High Def transfer, and the extras are bound to be fun. We can't wait to watch and review this one.

Here Comes the Devil (Our Review HERE) is one that we'd like to own at the right price point. It was a solid flick, even if it ended on a somewhat odd and vague note. Bottom line is that it's definitely worth a rent/buy.

Swerve and Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz look interesting; the two new Redemption releases, Frightmare and The Flesh and Blood Show, should give us a good Retro fix; and Barricade looks decent, although it's got the guy from Will & Grace in it, so it could go either way.

We didn't like Contracted all that much (Our Review HERE.) We seem to be in the vast minority on that one, so we have to imagine that its DVD release will most likely be a worthwhile watch for most Horror fans.

Everything else on this week's list, is a crap shoot, per usual.

So whatever strikes your fancy, be sure to click below and order through us, because the 10 cents that we'd make from each of your purchases is definitely going to buy us a new house or two... and we need at least two new houses. At least.

Blu-ray Review: In Fear (2014)

There's no writing credit for this movie on IMDB, and for good reason: this film esentially has no script. The movie was shot chronologically, and the actors were given bits of the plot as they went along, with everything else left for them to improv.

Had we known that before we saw In Fear, we may have ended up liking it a bit more than we did.

The actors pulled off the whole Improv thing really, really well, but at the same time, that very same improv aspect made the film come off as directionless, and it made us feel as if we were watching a story that was spinning its narrative wheels for 90 minutes in a futile effort to go somewhere, which it never really did.

Instead of being terrifying, as the title suggests, In Fear is more an exercise in tedious, repetitive frustration.

Tom and Lucy are a new couple who are on their way to a musical festival in rural Ireland. As a surprise, Tom has booked them a room at the secluded Kilairney House Hotel, so that they can do new couple stuff together (wink, wink), and maybe order room service after. Sounds like a nice little trip, eh?

After stopping off at a pub (where Lucy is spied on in the bathroom, and Tom spills someone's drink), a guy in a jeep shows up and leads Tom and Lucy into the country, to show them where this "secluded" Hotel is. When they arrive at a crossroads, the guy in the jeep ushers them to go forward, and he turns and drives off another way at a high rate of speed. Odd, but alright, maybe that's how they are in rural Ireland.

She knows what he's up to with his little "Lovely Hotel" stunt!

They head in the direction in which they've been ushered, and encounter a fence blocking their way, which is also locked with a heavy chain. Now, I'm not sure what kind of legit Hotel blocks off the roads that will allow you to actually arrive there, but again, maybe that's a normal thing in Ireland? So Tom breaks through the barrier, and he and Lucy head down the dirt road, ready to spend a night at the lovely Kilairney House Hotel...

...and instead spend the rest of the movie driving around, trying to find it.

No, that sign is incorrect.

There's more to the plot (which we won't touch on here, so as not to spoil things), but it's basically Tom and Lucy driving around in circles in a creepy backroad maze, following a bunch of signs which point the way to the Hotel, but serve only to lead them astray.

Does the Kilairney House Hotel even exist? Is there some sick, twisted game afoot on these deserted backroads? Will Tom and Lucy ever make it to their music festival?  Far be it from us to spoil things here, but suffice it to say that the only place that any of the characters end up making it is into the grips of fear and madness! Or something.

There will be no happy ending here.

The problem with In Fear, at least for us, is that nothing about the movie rang true. The characters made nothing but stupid decisions, and they showed such an utter lack of common sense, that we were just about completely taken out of the movie by their actions.

Why would they not just say "This all seems really creepy and odd, let's get the hell out of here?" I mean, there's not one thing about this whole "Hotel" idea that seems normal or on the level, from the mysterious guy who tells Tom "I'll come and show you where it is," to the locked gate, to the fact that it's so isolated and they can't find it with any sort of ease.

Seriously, just drive home!

As odd and as creepy as things get, it really perplexed us as to why neither of them said "Screw this, let's turn around." As a guy who has just started seeing a girl who seems to be all kinds of sweet and cool, I'd go out of my way to remove her from any sort of situation that seemed wrong, odd, or potentially unsafe. Obviously then, the movie doesn't exist if I'm driving the car, but all of that is just to say that as a movie, they way that the plot unfolds just felt wrong to us.

Why would they continue to drive around aimlessly, following signs which are obviously not getting them anywhere but lost? Why are they stopping to help a stranger in the night, only minutes after a masked stranger tried to drag Lucy into the forest? And how is it that for the entire movie, Tom and Lucy are lost and unable to find a way out of the maze they are in, yet at the end of the film, the road that leads out is suddenly accessed with seemingly no effort at all?

As lovely as good improv is to watch, reasons like this are exactly why having a solid script in place is a very important thing for a film. Had there been a script in place here, we think that In Fear would have worked much better. Then again, maybe it wouldn't have.

"This Hotel doesn't even exist, does it?"

I'll give the film this: as a piece of improv work, it's pretty remarkable. I may have thought that the story was weak, and that it's characters were annoying, but I had no clue that this movie was being improvised by its cast. That's a seriously impressive feat.

It's also a pretty film to look at. It's not only competently shot, but its Irish Countryside backdrop is a gorgeous thing to behold, even though we get to see it mostly at night.

High concept art and experimental filmmaking are great, but not at the expense of believability. In Fear should have had us on the edge of our seat, gripped by the same fear that the characters were experiencing. We should have been tense with panic, gripped with fear, and anxious for our protagonists to escape their situation with their lives, but it never really hit us that way. Instead, we spent the entire film questioning everything that the characters were doing, and shaking our heads while they were doing it, instead of being sucked into their story.

In the end, In Fear inspires far more frustration than it does any sort of titular fear. 

We do get some beautiful locations though.

As an exercise in how to do Improv the right way, In Fear is all aces. For the actors of this film to essentially improvise everything that they said and did, and make it seem as if they were following a script, was no mean feat. As a Horror movie though, In Fear is mediocre at best, suffering from its directionless improvisation, and giving us a repetitive experience that felt as if it never really went anywhere.

We're sure that lots of people will dig this movie -it's got itself a solid 87% fresh over on Rotten Tomatoes- but for us, it just didn't work.

In Fear is available on Blu-ray/DVD and on VOD now.

C-

Alice Englert did herself proud with her work in In Fear, and we salute her.

VOD Review: Haunt (2014)

"Not to be confused with Haunter."

(aka Not Haunter)
Release Date: March 7, 2014.
Country: USA
Written by: Andrew Barrer.
Directed by: Mac Carter.
Starring: Liana Liberato, Harrison Gilbertson, Jacki Weaver, Danielle Chuchran, and Ione Skye.

When it comes to Horror movies that feature teens in peril, most of them end up falling flat. That's mainly because such movies tend to treat their teen characters like they're lovelorn morons who are all but devoid of any sort of depth or real personality.

We're not talking about the "dumb teens who party too much and get what's coming to them," because those are the kinds of teen characters that usually populate Slasher flicks or Torture Porn, and they don't really need personality. They exist only to up the body count.

We're talking about the "normal" kids next door, who are always somehow crazy attractive, and exist only to be in love, or to sass their parents, or to mope around whining about how no one understands them. Those are the kinds of teen characters that should be more fleshed out, because they're meant to be more than just numbers to add to a kill count... at least in theory.

The cool thing about Haunt, is that for all of its faults, it actually manages to give us a pretty effective Haunted House flick that features teen characters that actually feel real, and end up being likable. Sure, there's still a teen love story going on here, and yes, we have to suffer through a bit of shy moping now and then, but that's alright; because real kids do those sorts of things. At least with Haunt, we get likable, smart characters doing some cliche' things, because that's just how normal people behave.

Haunt begins with a creepy prologue about the cursed Morello House, where all but one member of a family died under mysterious circumstances. The lone Morello survivor is the Mother, and she narrates the house's fateful history, and lets us know that there are ghosts and such most likely roaming around the place.

So it goes without saying that when the Asher Family moves into the old Morello house, things begin to get creepy. Shy son Evan Asher meets Sam, his cutie pie next-door neighbor, and they become fast friends; two damaged souls drawn together by... blah. Point is, that not only do they team up to uncover the mystery of what went on in the creepy house, but they somehow manage to fall in love along the way. Awww.

They are so in love.

Somehow Sam knows that there's a ghost radio in Evan's crawlspace, and she convinces him to try it out with her, so that they can "find heaven" or some such crap. They obviously don't find heaven, instead they unleash a vengeful spirit into the world.. or maybe the spirit was already there, but couldn't be proactive until someone used the ghost radio... we can't say for sure.

"Does this thing get Sirius?"

Either way, the house is full of ghosts, one of which is out for blood, the rest of which just kinda hang around and look creepy. What really went on in the Morello house? Is the Asher Family doomed to suffer the same grisly fate? What's with that ghost radio? Why do we just not trust Sam? We don't know anything about any of that, but we can say that by the time the movie ends, neither will you.

What does this even mean?

Two things keep Haunt from being a disappointing effort: its atmosphere, and the performances of its cast. 

The scares found in Haunt will definitely affect the younger folks in the audience, but we older Horror fans have seen too much to fall for a bunch of jump scares and music cues. Lucky for us, the movie does a pretty solid job of establishing a creepy and tension-filled atmosphere, which was every bit as effective (and even more so) as were its scares.

As far as the cast goes, Liana Liberato is the star here. Sure, mopey and broody Evan is the "main" character for all intents and purposes, but its not until he meets cute little Sam that the movie really gets interesting. Liana can act, she's likable, and the kid delivers here. Harrison Gilbertson (Evan) was equally as likable, and he made a good pair with Liberato.

The real treat of the movie though, was Jacki Weaver. She's devilishly creepy in this one, which may surprise fans of her Oscar Nominated performance in Silver Linings Playbook. She's no stranger to genre work though, her pedigree reaching as far back as 1975's Picnic at Hanging Rock. She was a treat in Haunt, and she definitely classed the movie up a bit. It was also nice to see Ione Skye on screen again (seems like it's been a while), even if her part was a relatively smaller one.

Haunt is not the most original movie, and in fact, it's about as run-of-the-mill as it gets as far a Haunted House flicks go, but it does manage to do some pretty engaging things within its limited trappings. We'll take overly-familiar as long as a movie is enjoyable, and for the most part, Haunt was.

Looks trustworthy to us.

***BEWARE ENDING SPOILERS***

The whole backstory element was really confusing.

So did the old woman kill her kids, or did she just off the woman that her husband was sleeping with? I have to assume that the mistress died first, then her angry ghost killed the woman's kids as revenge, but if that's the case, why would the dad cover his sons mouth and say "Don't make a sound! Don't even move!" as if he were afraid that the Mother would kill him too?

And why would they bring a dead body through their sons room while he's in bed sleeping, and take it into his crawlspace to bury it? Why not wait until no one was home?

All of this leads us to the big question: Where did the box come from? Even better, how did the Morello parents know what it was, and how to use it?

But why?!?

Jump-scares. Jarring music cues. Quick-cut & stuttered movement. Why have do Horror filmmakers still insist on using these lame gimmicks, as if they haven't been tired and ineffective for years now?

Yes, people are conditioned to become alarmed when they suddenly hear a loud noise, or when someone jumps out at them, but when you're going for mood, "loud and sudden" just does not fit. Nuance. That's all we want. We know it's not really that simple to achieve, but execute your big "scary" moments with a bit more style or something. Maybe there's no clear cut answer to the jump-scare issue, but man do they ever take us right out of a scene when done poorly.

As for the whole stuttered/broken movement thing goes though, can we please give that a rest? It was effective for a while in the early 2000's when Asian Horror became so popular, because seeing dead people/ghosts shake, shimmer, and move in quick-cut jumps was new and kind of startling. It was fun.

Years later, it's not really fun anymore. It's like jumping out at the same person, from exactly the same hiding place, every single day; at first, you got them. After a while, you still get them, but it's just not as effective, because you've gotten them before. After a while it becomes ineffective, because they know you're going to be there, and they're expecting you.

We're done ranting now, because we know that none of this will ever stop. It's just all so frustrating!

Don't look at us that way. We're picky.

Haunt has some bloodshed in it, but save for one death scene, most of it is pretty tame. There's lots of creepy imagery throughout though, so it's at least a bit bloody.

We are NOT going to make a "Hammertime" joke here. Not gonna do it.

Nope.

Never open the "spirit box" and play with it. Not ever!

Not ever!

Haunt is a decent little Haunted House flick that is big on atmosphere and character, while being a bit confusing in its mechanics, and feeling a bit rushed towards the end.

It's definitely worth a rental on VOD, just go into it knowing that it's a fairly by-the-numbers endeavour, and you'll be fine.

C+

Haunt is available now DVD and VOD.

Seems like just yesterday that we were watching Liana Liberato for the first time when she appeared on Sons of Anarchy, and now, she's all grown up. She's as beautiful as she is talented, and we expect nothing but big things from her career from this point out.

 

Theatrical/VOD Release Dates for March-May

We've updated our Theatrical/VOD Release Dates through the end of May. We even tried to sneak June in there, but it's looking a bit sparse for the first month of Summer Vacation as of right now.

Still, there's a lot of good flicks coming out over the next few months, both in Theaters and on VOD, so make your plans now! Just do it, it'll make you forget that it's still Winter out there.

Our TV Release Date Page has been updated!

Now that True Detective is all done (sob), we've updated our TV Show Page to reflect both the noteworthy shows that are on now, and the one's that are premiering between now and the end of June.

True Detective ended tonight, Banshee ends this Friday, and Justified and The Walking Dead each only have a few episodes left...

But at least have Hannibal, Those Who Kill, Bates Motel, The Americans, and The Blacklist (amongst others) to tide us over until Game of Thrones premieres in April.

Still, it's sad to see so many of our faves go in such short order.

Anywho, click the links above to visit our TV Show Page, and stay on top of what's coming out, and when.

Also, be sure to peep our Top Six Shows that are airing right now... because if we're glued to the screen when they're on, so should you be!

The Tourist Trap (1979) is now available on Blu-ray!

One of the most genuinely creepy movies ever made, the Tourist Trap (our review HERE), is finally available on Blu-ray.

Amazon has it listed for an April Release, but Full Moon Features is already selling it from their Amazon Store. You can click the poster above to be taken there, if like us, you couldn't wait until April to order it

Our copy is in transit, so we can't say how great (or not great) that this new version is, but we have to imagine that it has at the very least been cleaned up, and will look and sound better than it ever has.

We'll be reviewing the Blu-ray asap once we have actually seen it, so until then, all we can do is be excited!

It's the little things that make our day. Always the little things.