One of the most iconic horror characters of all time is back, but this time we get to see him as a teenager....for some reason. Yes ladies and gents Leatherface is making its way to DVD and VOD and as with Texas Chainsaw 3D adding to the original series of chainsaw films by being a direct sequel to the Tobe Hooper classic, Leatherface goes to other way and prequels the events that made Leatherface the icon he is today. Well....they at least try.

Taken away from his famly at a young age (after the sawyer boys kill the sheriffs daughter) Young Jed (Leatherface to me and you) is take to a mental hospital where he is given the name Jackson. 10 years after the death of the sheriffs daughter we find Jackson in the mental hospital, somewhat oblivious to his past and his family, considering dim witted inmate Bud as the only family he has. Enter the young nurse to will gain Jackson's affection in the form of Lizzy who thinks she can help the patients work their way to a better life. Oh how wrong she is. After a series of events opens a way to escape Jackson, Bud and the twisted Ike and Clarice go on the run with Lizzy along for the ride as a hostage. The plan? to head to Mexico but Ike and Clarice have a blood lust that needs to be itched.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of ‘Perfect Blue’, an anime about a pop idol called Mima who leaves her girl group to pursue her dream of acting, but becomes tormented by a stalker watching her every move. Fantasy and reality collide as she has an identity crisis, fuelled by the decisions she makes that go against what her pop idol persona stood for.

The film is interesting to watch on several levels, but mostly because of how thoughtful the themes are. The decisions that Mima makes to further her acting career (e.g. posing for nude photos) says a lot about how women in the media industries are viewed – they are allowed to be sexualised but are made to feel guilty about being sexual, which is what leads to her being haunted by her old persona. The topic of celebrity persona is also interesting in this, as Mima strives to separate herself from it but has clearly become attached to it – and it can be argued her stalker feels some sense of ownership over her and rejects anything that goes against the idea of Mima that was sold to him and her entire audience by her agents.

Secondly, Mima’s journey to madness is presented brilliantly and is made wonderfully disturbing through clever writing, which seamlessly incorporates a plot within a plot using the TV show that Mima is working on that starts to mirror her life. This all leads to an incredible sequence that feels like a nightmare; the lines between her fictional TV life and reality become completely blurred and she becomes increasingly spaced out. The use of match-cuts to emphasise this, which are used frequently during the film but especially during this scene, are really effective and just goes to show the thought that must have gone into composing the shots.

Even as someone who’s generally not a fan of anime, I really enjoyed this and will definitely be re-watching in the future. It’s something that will leave most viewers thinking about it long after they’ve finished watching it, and will leave you with the feeling that a lot of effort went into making it.

‘68 Kill’ is a crime comedy starring Matthew Gray Gubler in the lead role as Chip, a naive sewage worker who’s infatuated with his girlfriend Liza (AnnaLynne McCord). Living in a crappy trailer, they don’t have the most attractive lifestyles; Liza sleeps with a creepy older man for money to pay rent, but Chip believes their relationship is the one thing they have going for them. That is, until Liza suggests stealing the $68, 000 in her client’s safe, but completely breaks her promise to not hurt anyone about 5 minutes into the job.

Based on the real-life courtship between Comedian Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, Portlandia, Central Intelligence) and writing partner Emily Gordon (The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail), The Big Sick tells the story of Pakistan-born aspiring comedian Kumail (Nanjiani), who connects with grad student Emily (Zoe Kazan) after one of his standup shows after she heckles him. However, what they thought would be just a one-night stand turns into the real thing, which complicates this in the life of a muslim man who is expected to have an arranged marriage.
 
When Emily is diagnosed with an unknown illness, Kumail is forced to get through the medical crisis with her parents, Beth and Terry (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano) who he's never met, while dealing with the emotional battle between his family and his real love.

While this film is touching at points the film just feels too long, with added bits of Nanjiani stand up. Kumail was good in this but he would be, it is a story of his own relationship with his wife But what the film really does well is show the interaction between Kumail and Emily's parents, it is awkward yet once they start to get him it is actually touching. Ray Romano is really good in this as Emily's dad, you can get that real sense that he is a nice guy and Holly Hunter is brash with Kumail but under all the bravardo she gives off she actually warms to him and gets to learn more about them in one of the most awkward first meeting of parents you will ever see.

While yes this film is a little slow at times the overall story is touching one. It is heart warming, it is sad and it is a real visual display of love between two people and the stresses of two cultures colliding. 

Dubbed as one of the greatest action films of all time Terminator 2: Judgement Day, or T-2 for us movie fans who grew up with this, is making its way to 4K Blu-ray. The question is....does it still hold up today?

​‘Madhouse’ is a horror film from 1981 about a woman who is terrorised by her psychopathic twin sister and her dog on their birthday. I didn’t dislike this film and there’s nothing in particular that I can point out to be really wrong with it, but it doesn’t feel like it fulfilled its potential and that it could’ve done better. Trish Everly’s performance as Julia is what I enjoyed most about it, however, as it’s easy to sympathise with her character due to her sweet, sincere performance. Julia is a teacher for deaf children and her scenes with them do a lot for her character, with one scene where she’s explaining death to them being one of the best in the film. On the other hand, the killer’s performance when they’re revealed is annoyingly over the top and almost cartoonish – and their reveal isn’t as dramatic as it should be.

Some enjoyment can at least be taken from the gory scenes of the film, just because the puppet when the dog attacks looks obviously fake which gives it a certain charm and adds some black humour, especially in a scene towards the end of the film during an attack on Julia’s boyfriend. The make-up used on Mary (Julia’s twin played by Allison Biggers) for the scars caused by her disease also leave a lot to be desired and it’s a little difficult to take her seriously when her face is visible.

​There’s not much else to say about this film, because as I mentioned, it doesn’t quite reach its potential with its concept and promising opening scene. It’s a quick watch despite being slow to build up and is never quite as intense as it should be, so it’s not exactly a must-watch but is something to try if you want to kill some time.  

If you are going to have a one night stand before you get married don’t leave your phone, but more importantly DON’T DO IT, Something Tara (Played by Jaimie Alexander) finds out when she sleeps with barman Patrick (Wes Bentley) on a weekend break with her friends.

Immediately regretting her actions Tara flees his apartment, not before the creeply intense Patrick tries to block her way. Tara heads home, full of regret to her fiancée who ironically has cheated on her previously. What Tara doesn’t realise is she has left her phone at Patrick’s apartment, and this creepy intense guy isn’t one to just send it to her by FEDEX. Patrick begins to harrass Tara, he breaks into her home, cancels her bookings for her wedding pretending to be her boyfreind and evening hunting down her sister. Events get more intense as Patrick arrives at Tara’s wedding where things become VERY heated.

​As thrillers go Broken Vows has a TV movie feel to it, which isn’t particularly a bad thing, it is just one of those films that feels like it minus the bad acting, because overall the acting is actually pretty good throughout. Wes Bentley is pretty creepy, VERY stalkery and you actually believe that he THINKS Tara will save him, while the Tara character is the type of character that you struggle to care about at times. A stupid mistake leads to horrible consequences, and while she does try to sort this out, you would have thought maybe you would tell the police straight away at least….The guy is a psycho!


Broken Vows is a decent watch with good acting and an interesting story. It did lose my interest at point but these moments are minimal. Worth a watch, catch it on Netflix.

We have had many a good, person trapped somewhere, thrillers over the years, Phone Booth and Buried being two of my favourites. While a more quieter film than Phone Booth, The Wall joins this class of great thrillers, with a great performance by Kick Ass star Aaron Taylor-Johnson, something which is very hard to pull of being more or less the only person in the whole film other than WWE Megastar John Cena (who is only really in small sections of the film) and Laith Nakli as the voice of the enemy sniper Juba.

The film follows Issac (Taylor-Johnson) and Matthews (Cena), two soldiers who have been sent to scope out an area of Iraq that has called for assistance. Finding the area full of dead workers, all taken out by sniper fire, the two men have been watching the area for hours before declaring the area clear. Unfortunately for them they are not alone, and a lone Iraqi sniper takes Matthews out leaving him defenseless in the middle of the desert. As Issac attempts to help his fallen friend the sniper takes aim at him, shooting his leg and forcing Issac to take cover behind a crumbling wall. When I say crumbling wall, it is the most flimsy badly built wall you have ever seen. This really builds the tension in the film, especially early on when Issac is trying to make a hole to place his scope and gets part of his hand caught in the falling rubble.

The film continues as Issac and The sniper, who we find out is named Juba, a myth among the soldiers as a ghost sniper, start to talk with Juba trying to get inside the head of Issac.The mind games continue as Issac tries to figure out where Juba is hiding, all the while not knowing if his friend is still alive.

The Wall is tense, and Taylor-Johnson does a great job here, but overall the film does a have a few moments of tedium. You don't get the same race against time feel that you get with Buried or Grand Piano but what really works in this films favor is the performances.

This is a good watch, and if you like your war films tense you will like this one. Cena is good for the small scenes he is in and Taylor-Johnson is amazing throughout. 

Out of the 7 films that played at the Frightfest Halloween event, I got to see 4 of them; ‘Hostile’, ‘The Black Gloves’, ‘It Came from the Desert’ and ‘Housewife’. It was a fun day, with a good number of guests showing up to introduce the screenings. Although I wasn’t a big fan of two of these films, they were interesting and unique nonetheless and they all just go to show how varied the horror genre is. ​

‘Hostile’ – Rating * * * *

‘Hostile’ is a post-apocalyptic film that reveals the past of its protagonist, Juliette (Brittany Ashworth), through flashbacks when she becomes badly injured after going on a supply run. There are many things I liked about this – it balances the horror and action with the romantic plot that runs alongside it. Despite this giving it two different tones, it still works and it succeeded in making me sympathise with Juliette’s character. In an over-done genre, she easily could have been a stereotype, but she is complex and flawed. My one criticism would be that I wasn’t a fan of Jack (Gregory Fitoussi); he was meant to be charming but I kept getting a creepy Christian Grey vibe from his character (not quite as bad as that, though). However, I really recommend this film and love the themes that it brings up, particularly questions around what the point of being alive is when there’s nothing and no one left for you. ​

‘The Black Gloves’ – Rating: * * 1/2

Firstly, whilst I didn’t like this film, I really appreciate how unique it is and the experimental aspect of it. ‘The Black Gloves’ takes influence from films of the 1950s and the noir genre; director Lawrie Brewster named ‘Sunset Boulevard’ being a specific influence and it is actually filmed in black and white. It tells the story of a psychologist who becomes obsessed with helping a reclusive ballerina with the same problem as another young patient who disappeared – they both believe that an owl-headed man is after them. It’s certainly visually interesting with its use of unusual camera angles and perspectives giving a surreal edge to it, and the music is incredible (despite sometimes drowning out some important dialogue), but it falls flat with how confusing it becomes as well as with some of the acting. Although I understand that the acting style was most likely trying to imitate that of 50s melodramas, sometimes it becomes too much – for example, Lorena (Macarena Gomez) didn’t take long to get on my nerves with her constant shouting and screeching. Having said that, I’m still excited to see Brewster’s future projects and check out ones from the past, as he seems to have a unique vision and isn’t afraid to experiment. ​

‘It Came from the Desert’ – Rating: * * * *
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Of course, the creature feature with giant ants was my favourite film of the day. Inspired by the 80s video game of the same name, the film follows motorbike racer Lukas and his insecure mechanic Brian as they discover a secret underground facility when they go partying in the desert. Obviously, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and genuinely made me and a lot of other people in the audience laugh. The characters are likeable and the actors bring a natural charm to the table. This film is a great time and I’ll definitely be buying it on DVD when it comes out, because it’s so damn watchable. ​

‘Housewife’ – Rating: * * 1/2

How do I even begin to describe this movie? It completely caught me off guard as I was watching it, because it’s so strange. It’s pretty disturbing, I’ll give it that. The story is about Holly (Clementine Poidatz), who witnessed her mother kill her sister and father when she was a child. As an adult, she’s married but still isolated, still unable to deal with the memory of what happened. After an old friend returns to visit her, she’s introduced to the world of a cult – the leader of which (David Sakurai) gets inside her head and starts showing up in her dreams. This part of the film is the most interesting, like ‘Inception’ and I would have liked to see it explored more. The problem is that nothing makes sense, like it’s just being weird for the sake of being weird. It also felt too short and probably would have benefitted from being longer. This seems like it’s made for a very specific type of audience, but it’s worth watching if you’re looking for something unusual or particularly messed up. ​

CONFESS......

John Kramer has returned in the eighth installment in the Saw Series and this is a very entertaining, sometimes cringe inducing,  return to form for the franchise.

​10 years after the Jigsaw killer was announced dead a new game is beginning. Five strangers, all with criminal pasts that has not be atoned for, find themselves trapped in a room with chains on their neck and buckets on their heads. Across from them is a wall of circular saws. Yep that's right, the extreme starts high in this one as the chains pull our 'victims' towards the saws as they must figure out Jigsaws cryptic clues. 

On the outside the police are faced with the return of a dead man as bodies begin to appear all with signs that John Kramer has returned. But he is dead! I hear you cry. Well the evidence is very clear that this is our killer but who is he working with? This is what gives you a secondary plot to run beside the action in the torture escape room, I mean we don't really give too much of a shit about the 5 people in the room, and as one by one they fall victim to their own selfish ways you find out why they are they and just want them to face a grizzly death. So on the outside this gives the 'who is Jigsaws accomplice? Is it Eleanor? the morbid young woman who works in the morgue and has a collection of Jigsaw death machines hidden in a secret location, or is it the corrupt cop Detective Holloran? a man grizzled and an all round dick bag. It is up to Logan Nelson to figure this all out!