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Sarah Cook's FrightFest 2017 Reviews: Double Date - Rating: * * * *

9/14/2017

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One of my favourite films of the weekend was director Benjamin Barfoot’s feature debut. Hilarious, extremely well-written and quite gory at times, Double Date is one of those rare gems you discover and you just don’t want it to end! It follows the story of 29 year old Jim; (the very talented Danny Morgan who also wrote the script) innocent and afraid of women he finds himself recruited by best friend Alex (the comical Michael Socha of This is England fame) to go out on the eve of his 30th birthday and finally prove his manhood. The pair thinks they’ve struck lucky when they bump into stunning sisters Kitty (Kelly Wenham) and Lulu (Georgia Groome) at a bar. They agree to go out with the boys and have a fun-fuelled night on the town. However, what Alex and Jim don’t realise is these girls are anything but what they seem and are looking to take much more than Jim’s virginity…

Right from the eye-catching opening credits sequence this film just packs a punch and feels like it’s going to be a lot of fun. The striking soundtrack is catchy and works really well with the story and considering this is the first feature-length film from the director, it looks clean and polished and bodes well for his future projects. The cast are superb. Danny Morgan is fantastic as lead Jim and gives an awkward, quirky performance and you instantly love him. Having written the script as well he is a bright, young talent to watch out for.

Kelly Wenham and Georgia Groome are both brilliant as the femme fatale sisters. Wenham is fierce and forthright while Groome is the more innocent and shy of the two and the pair play really well off each other and share great chemistry on screen. The real standout performance for me personally though was Michael Socha as cocky best friend Alex. Socha has natural charm and charisma and just elevates every scene he’s in with comical one liners and character. Benjamin Barfoot has crafted a really special film here; a comedy horror with ounces of heart and lots of laughs. It’s entertaining and memorable for all the right reasons. I can’t wait to see what these guys do next!
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Spintires: MudRunner Trailer

9/14/2017

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There are some heavy duty vehicles entering the trailer park this morning as Spintres: MudRunner makes its way to home consoles this October.

Spintires: MudRunner puts players in the driver seat and dares them to take charge of incredible all-terrain vehicles, venturing across extreme landscapes with only a map and compass as guides

This looks like an interesting little game, but what do you think? let me know in the comments below.
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Cold Moon - Rating: * * * (Reviewed by Chloe Davies)

9/12/2017

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‘Cold Moon’ is based on the horror book ‘Cold Moon Over Babylon’ by Michael McDowell, and tells the story of the murder of a teenage girl and her murderer losing their mind as supernatural forces start haunting them. What’s refreshing about the story is that it doesn’t take too long before it reveals the identity of the killer; it isn’t so much meant to be a thrilling mystery but is more of a drama. In addition, the horror in the film doesn’t try too hard and isn’t the only focus – it’s mostly psychological in the sense that it shows certain characters falling apart (not just the killer). If you wanted this to be a typical supernatural horror movie with jump scares, you may be a bit disappointed, but its mixture of horror and drama feels unique and is worth giving a chance.

The performances are very good overall, especially Josh Stewart, and the film even boasts an appearance from Christopher Lloyd – as well as the most random cameo of the year from Tommy Wiseau (yes, that really weird guy responsible for ‘The Room’). There’s nothing about the film that I can single out as being particularly bad since the camerawork is good, the setting is interesting and has a really nice aesthetic to it, as well as having an atmospheric soundtrack that sometimes reminded me of the music from ‘It Follows’. It perhaps wasn’t as scary I would have liked, but the good characters and drama make this seem less important.

This is a very interesting film as there’s something different about it that sets it apart from other recent supernatural horror films. The horror isn’t necessarily the primary focus, but rather the psychological unravelling of the characters is. It’s difficult to pinpoint why exactly, but it does feel like a unique story while also being simplistic. It’s good to see a horror film that tries a different way to scare and isn’t so concerned with making its audience jump.
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Unlocked - Rating: * *

9/5/2017

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With a cast of big named Hollywood actors like Orlando Bloom, Micheal Douglas and John Malkovich you would be forgiven for thinking that this film would be an entertaining action packed spy thriller....you would be wrong. Unlocked lacks any kind of major punch with a story that couldn't even pass for a decent midweek ITV mini-drama.

The film follows CIA operative Alice who is tricked into interrogating a known terrorist into  revealing the whereabouts of a deadly virus. On the run she teams up with a former solider Jack (Orlando Bloom) in a race against time to save London.

The film has an interesting premise, and if this was a more US based film could have maybe been a little more interesting but what Unlocked lacks is a likeable cast of characters, and decent action. Most of the shoot outs and chase scenes are slow, the action is clumpy and dull and the acting is sub par. Bloom does a great London accent but that is about it. Douglas is in the film for a a minute at best and Noomi Rapace is terrible. Her acting is very droll and in all honesty it could have been done much better but a better, yet maybe lesser known, British actress instead.

Is you are looking for a compelling spy thriller then turn away now, this one really isn't a buy you should be making. Wait till Netfilx.  
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Circus Kane - Rating: * * * * (Reviewed by Craig Beecham)

9/5/2017

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​Circus Kane One could be forgiven for thinking that this is a cheap imitation of a more popular movie due out very soon, the poster isn't holding back, using a scary clown and a red balloon to market the film. However i'm pleased to say that that is where the similarities between Circus Kane and IT end.

Circus Kane follows the exploits of Balthazar Kane (devilishly played by Tim Abell), down on his luck he invites a group of nerdy social media hounds to his house of horrors, promising £250,000.00 to an​yone who can survive the night and hopefully relaunch the career of Kane.

The characters aren't the usual mix of jock, prom queen, nerd, rock chick etc. Instead we get a group of people who seem ordinary enough and although there isn't a great lot of development I found the cast to be likeable, look closely and you will notice one of the characters is actually played by Jonathan Lipnicki of Jerry Maguire and Stuart Little fame.

The movie does suffer from certain budget restraints, the house never feels as big from the inside and it does the out and there are some drawn out periods of conversation that border on boring but this is more than made up for with what the movie does right. Aside from the casting we have some great practical effects, although the blood splatter was abit watery looking everything else was bang on. The acting is more than passable and the make up effects are incredible, the set design is good but limited.

Overrall this is one of those B-Movie gems that I very rarely have the pleasure of reviewing but I had a bloody good time with Circus Kane, think of a mash up between Saw 2 / Killer Klowns / Cube / 31 and your just about there.
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The Vault - Rating: * * 1/2 (Reviewed by Chloe Davies)

9/5/2017

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‘The Vault’ is a heist/horror film about a bank robbery, led by 3 siblings (Leah, Vee and Michael). Things start getting weird when they open an old vault in the basement, which unleashes some malevolent spirits. That last part in particular sounds like it should be pretty good, but sadly the film doesn’t achieve many scares – even the jump scares didn’t have much effect – and part of the problem may be that the combination of the heist and horror genres wasn’t smooth. It seemed like the it didn’t know what it was meant to be, and the fact that it takes so long to get to the horror aspect only makes this worse; if I’d had no clue about the film’s premise before watching it, I would’ve had hardly any evidence from the first 20 minutes that this was also going to be a horror film.

There’s nothing that really stands out about ‘The Vault’, but Francesca Eastwood has the best performance which only gets better as the film goes on. There wasn’t much going on with the characters individually which can be expected since there’s quite a few of them, but there was a good attempt to make them interesting through their relationships with each other without too much exposition.

​Unfortunately, there’s not much else to say about the film. It’s serviceable but it’s difficult to form a strong opinion on it; it’s not necessarily bad but it’s not good either, and will probably leave a lot of viewers feeling indifferent. It would have been significantly improved if the tone of it had been more focused as it feels underdeveloped, like two different movies rather than a smooth integration of horror into the heist genre. The performance from Eastwood gave the film a boost, although anyone watching it for James Franco will probably be disappointed as his role is limited in screen time.   
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