Premature (2014)

 

A High School teen keeps reliving the disastrous day he loses his virginity, each time getting a chance to 'get it right'.
The most obvious description of first time director Dan Beers 'Premature' would be 'Groundhog Day' meets 'American Pie' with an 80's High School Ferris Bueller topping. Rude, crude, but with two charming leads John Karna as the luckless Rob and his 'best friend' the delightful Katie Findlay as Gabby and a movie filled with wacko characters, a Tutor on the verge of a mental breakdown, the usual Jocks, a slightly psychotic nerd, overbearing Parents etc. 'Prelature's' an enjoyable blast of filth with plenty of heart amongst the crudeness.

4/5

The Possession Of Michael King (2014)

 

Following the sudden death of his Wife, Michael King (an excellent performance from Shane Johnson) sets out to prove the existence, or non-existence of supernatural phenomena, recording every moment, but soon, after various experiments in the occult, Michael begins to fear he is indeed possessed by a frightening force.

First time director David Jung takes obvious nods to found footage stalwarts such as "The Blair Witch Project" and the "Paranormal Activity" series, but he packs more than enough jumps and scares into this movie to recommend it, I made the 'mistake' of having the surround sound on, at least half a dozen times Jung had me jumping out of my skin!

A fine raw, creepy horror flick, it's final third is slightly weaker, but it still packs a mean spirited punch through out, and is a very competent debut from the rookie director.

4/5

Almost Human (2013)

 

A man disappears from his home in a brilliant flash of light, his best friend Seth was the last to see him, years later a series of grisly murders make Seth believe his friend Mark is back.This is pure low budget 80's style straight to video shlock I used to watch late on a Saturday with my mates after a night on the tiles. Cheap and tacky gore, minimal story, a messy mix of Sc-Fi, 'The Blob', 'Xtro',with an 'Evil Dead' style rape and even a 'homage' to 'The Shining'! Cheap, not very cheerful, with a limp ending, and not much to sadly to recommend.

2/5

Locke (2014)

 

On paper it doesn't sound too exciting. A successful business and family man's Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) life is changed for ever by a phone call, a woman he had a one night stand is giving birth to his child, he makes the journey to be by her side, this film is the course of that journey as his life as he knows it starts to slip through his fingers.The entire movie is set inside the interior of Locke's car, this is movie making at it's simplest, and most powerful, Tom Hardy puts in an incredible shift as Locke, a mesmerizing performance from an actor at the top of his game, you are a passenger in the car witnessing a man's life implode in this top quality piece of film-making.

4/5

Bait (2012)

 

A freak Tsunami wave on the Australian coast traps shoppers, staff (and robbers!) in a Supermarket, oh and to really put the icing on the cake, a 12 foot Great White!!

It's "Jaws" meets "Deep Blue Sea" with "The Poseidon Adventure" thrown in with loads of wooden acting, dumb ass dialogue, some slightly dodgy CGI (though the initial Tsunami wave is quite impressive for a low budget), it's all very cheesy, but like Dairylea, it's tasty and a guilty pleasure.

Good honest cheap and cheerful B Movie monster fun!

3.5/5

Noah (2014)

 

Russell Crowe is Noah who has a dream or a vision or something (I wasn't really paying attention) that the world is going to be engulfed by a great flood to cleanse it of evil, his job is to build a big boat to put all the animals on to save them, don't worry though Noah, the Lions will leave the antelopes alone!
To help him he enlists some creatures that look like giant Twiglets and were to silly looking for Lord Of The Rings, Ray Winstone turns up (you almost expect him to give us betting tips "6/4 you'll turn this crap off after 60 minutes!!!") so does Anthony Hopkins (cos this is a serious movie). The flood comes, everyone on the ark is pissed off, it turns into a one hour "Eastenders-The Thames Floods!" special of abject misery and melodrama, apparently it's adapted from a book, I hope that's a lot better than this wet weekend in Weston of a movie.

1/5

Willow Creek (2014)

 

It's 'Blair Witch' goes Bigfoot in a found footage horror!

Bobcat Goldthwaite, whooooo? well he starred in the second 'Police Academy' movie as the bad guy with the funny high pitched voice but has made a name for himself in the US as a stand-up comedian and very accomplished director ( the excellent 'Worlds Greatest Dad' and 'God Bless America') and for this flick he's dipped his toe into the POV/found footage  horror genre, and a good effort it is too.
The comparisons to 'Blair Witch' are obvious, but thankfully no close up snot shots, just a genuinely creepy and tense horror flick about a couple hunting  Big Foot and camping out in the middle of nowhere (bad idea!) only to be haunted by a lot (I mean, a lot) of strange noises outside, the sound fx guys go banana's believe me, and all finished off with a WTF! finale.

4/5

Big Bad Wolves (2013)

 

"Best film of the year-Quentin Tarantino" screams the movie poster, well not quite in my opinion but one well worth sniffing out. A series of brutal child abductions result in a Father out for revenge and a Cop operating above the legal system kidnap and torture a man they believe responsible. It's an Israeli 'Hostel' style revenge flick but as well as lashings of brutality, it's punctuated with a dark, neigh, thick black humorous vein, with witty mean dialogue and good leads from the relatively unknown cast and a suitably mean denouement

4/5

Cheap Thrills (2013)

 

Craig (Pat Healy) is down on his luck, a family man, he's just lost his job and threatened with eviction. During a quick drink in a bar he runs into an old friend Vince (Ethan Embry), and in turn they befriend a wealthy couple (David Koechner, Sara Paxton) from snorting coke to a strip bar, things start to spiral out of control when they indulge in innocent dares, upping the stakes, all with big cash incentives.
An intriguing wickedly black comedy, headed by a great cast, especially Koechner ('Anchorman'), this movie asks what would you do for money, how far would you go, and the answer is "how much?"
Dark, disturbing, and very funny, highly recommended.

4/5