Category Archives: Horror

May 25, 2014

To Horrify or Not to Horrify That is the Question…

By Carrie

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The Rite, 2011

Another exorcism film based on real events (is it just me or are there a troubling number of these?!) directed by Mikael Håfström.

I was mostly drawn to this film because I have a bit of a crush on Colin O’Donoghue (Captain Hook/Killian Jones in Once Upon a Time) and I’m generally a fan of Anthony Hopkins.  While it wasn’t entirely what I was expecting, it was a somewhat intriguing and entertaining film.

Colin O’Donoghue plays Michael Kovak, the son of an undertaker (Rutger Hauer).  It doesn’t bode well for him that Michael has one of two career choices ahead of him – undertaker or priest. He chooses what he considers to be the lesser of two evils – becoming a priest. After 4 Years of training as a priest, Michael is thinking of quitting, but Father Matthew (Toby Jones) recognizes his potential and encourages him to travel to Italy to do a course in exorcism.

A keen student of psychology, Michael is clearly sceptical about demonic possession and isn’t overly secure in his faith in general. He is running away from his past into a future that he’s not so sure about either.

Michael is not convinced of the presence of demons and deep down thinks that believing in them gives ‘them’ (the victim’s psychosis) power.  However, he is introduced to an experienced exorcist by the name of Father Lucas Trevent who proceeds to show Michael how exorcisms are performed.  Hopkins plays the wonderfully tormented ‘less conventional’ priest Father Lucas, and Ciarán Hinds is suitably severe as the ‘exorcist trainer’ Father Xavier. 

I must admit I watched this film expecting to be scared in the usual exorcism horror movie way.  This film is less a horror film and more a film about a young man rediscovering his faith and it just happens to involve some very clichéd possessed people and exorcisms.  As a non – religious person I enjoyed Michael’s skepticism even in the face of things that looked clearly supernatural to the audience.  He manages to explain almost everything that happens using psychology. He is skeptical to the point that even I was thinking “Come on! It’s clear she’s possessed, just deal with it!”.  However, I was also a bit disappointed by how quickly and drastically his views changed.

Overall I enjoyed the film as more of a study in human nature and what motivates our decisions, than as a genuine horror movie. Don’t expect big scares in this one.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in 2010's, Drama, Exorcism, Horror

July 24, 2013

Finally the Return to Old-school Horror!

By Carrie

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The Conjuring, 2013

*Warning* – if you’re not a fan of horror, if you don’t love to be bat-shit scared, DO NOT see this film.

Finally a decent return to the real horror genre. With tastes from classics like The Exorcist and Amityville Horror, this film will scare the pants off you!

As with most of the best horror classics, The Conjuring is set in the 1970s when exorcisms seemed to be slightly more commonplace (?) and houses in Connecticut were über isolated and surrounded by woods (oh hang on they still are!). The story centers around two families, the Warrens and the Perrons. The Warrens are a couple of demonologists with a young daughter, who spend their time investigating paranormal/unusual phenomena and occasionally assist with exorcisms. The Perrons are a family of seven (5 daughters) who have just moved to their new home in a beautiful wooded area in Connecticut – beautiful, isolated and haunted.

Again, as with most great horror films, this one opens with the simple newsprint type pre-amble telling us about the Warrens, and that this is based on true events that were so terrifying that they’ve been kept secret for many years.

This film is brilliant for several reasons – including the scares, the casting, and the filming/editing. The scares are what separates this movie from the basic “scary movie” and brings it into the horror genre. There isn’t any over reliance on CGI , they simply rely on your fear of things that go bump in the night, that something behind the door, or under the bed. They begin subtly, and for the connoisseur of the genre, just when you think you know there’ll be a scare, there’s that false sense of security, and then BAM they hit you when you weren’t expecting it. As always, the sound track is integral to the success of horror.

Patrick Wilson plays Ed Warren, the only non-priest demonologist to be recognised by the Catholic church. Wilson plays a character who could come across as tortured with great strength. Vera Farmiga plays Lorraine Warren, the talented clairvoyant wife of Ed and an important part of their team. Farmiga is stunning as always with a gentleness and tenderness yet a strength to her character. The Perrons – especially Lili Taylor as Carolyn Perron – were perfect. Even the skeptical cop was just right.

The filming/editing make a massive difference to how a movie can come across. The use of unusual camera angles during particular scenes allowed the audience to empathize more that usual with the feelings of fear and disorientation that the characters were experiencing.

I was expecting to be scared by this movie, I enjoy being scared by horror movies – I was not disappointed. Take a friend or loved one along to see this movie, you’ll need someone to cling on to!

1 Comment   |  tags: , | posted in 2010's, Drama, Horror

June 20, 2013

28 Days Later & 28 Weeks Later

By Carrie

Well here I am, sick in bed. What could be more appropriate than snuggling up with a couple of horror movies that I haven’t watched in a while…

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28 Days Later, 2002
This is a very eerie and unusual film in the zombie movie category, far from what has become the typical Hollywood approach to the genre. Despite the violence of the opening scenes, the rest of the film is uncharacteristically non-violent. This gives what violence there is much more intensity and shock value – a fact often seemingly forgotten by film makers. It also features very little in the way of a sound track, and what little there is ads to the lonely, helpless feeling of those alone in a world full of ‘infecteds’.

There is, of course, the obligatory frolic in the supermarket which you will find in a lot of zombie movies – tapping in to our desire to go on an unlimited shopping spree with very few consequences.

It is the behavior of the uninfected people that is most disturbing. What a bunch of soldiers will do when left with no hope and nothing but rank and orders to hold them together, instead of friendship, family, and free will.

Directed by Danny Boyle (The Beach, Trainspotting) and starring Cillian Murphy in his break-out role (Batman Begins, Inception), as well as Naomie Harris (gorgeous in Skyfall and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest), a nasty Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who, Elizabeth), and lovable Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges, Braveheart).

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28 Weeks Later, 2007
Now this is a completely different film. This is an example of what happens when Hollywood gets their hands on a low budget horror film and make a sequel – and it’s not a terrible example, just very different from the original. They clearly have a higher budget, and are going for a very different audience. The violence is far more extreme and constant, and the soundtrack is far louder.

We find ourselves in post-infection England. ‘Infecteds’ have died of starvation and the survivors are being reunited and rehoused with their families. However, to use a much beloved Jurassic Park quote – Life will find a way – or in this case the rage virus will.

The violence is far more gratuitous, thus losing a lot of the shock value. It is much more typical of the modern Hollywood zombie slash-fest (think Resident Evil). But the action is decent, even if the storyline has some flaws. As an aside, I love the reference to FUBAR (f**ked up beyond all recognition) which is an acronym dating back to WWII.

Stars Jeremy Renner, a year before his big break in The Hurt Locker, Aussie Rose Byrne (Damages, Troy), Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, Trainspotting) and Harold Perrineau (Romeo + Juliet, Lost)

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in 2000's, Zombie Movies