Terrible film yet strangely watchable. It features possibly the most boring character ever who spouts lists of whatever he's discussing.

Probably a bit like Bizarre_Eye. ;)

Cheeky barsteward! :tongue1:

Harker will be over here like a shot!

A group of teens get together on Skype on the anniversary of a friend’s suicide. However, things take a dark turn when someone claiming to be the dead friend shows up on the conversation, while leaking a few dirty secrets too. Shot from the perspective of one teen’s laptop, the screen constantly switches from Skype to Facebook to Google to YouTube as they try to deal with the malevolent force. It’s the future of cinema, everybody.

As easy as it would be to dismiss the found-footage genre, there are a few gems in there. Films like .REC and Troll Hunter sort of make up for dreck like The Devil Inside, Apollo 18, Paranormal Activity and Area 51. This leads us to the unfortunate situation that we can’t automatically write off any new film from this genre as it may turn out to be quite good. Which brings us to Unfriended.

Unfriended is not a brilliant film. It’s not a great film either. And I’d be hesitant in calling it a good film too. But, it is not a lazy film. A lot of these found-footage films are often the result of bland filmmakers trying to make a quick cynical buck but, Unfriended shows genuine effort. A lot of research was put into social media and its pitfalls, as well as using internet technology to tell its story at a reasonable pace. There were many times where I caught myself saying “wow, that was pretty clever.”

But, Unfriended is greatly let down by its silly, generic script. Any terror is diffused when you remember that the villain is a ghost using Facebook from beyond the grave. I found myself laughing a lot throughout (the blender scene is a laugh riot). Had the film dropped the ghost angle and maybe focused on how social media plus irrational anger can destroy lives, this could have a neat little horror film.

Unfriended suffers mostly from the same reason video-game adaptations fail – they lack that interactivity that keeps the player / user engaged enough to continue. Maybe if it had been an interactive web-series like the Marble Hornet series, it might have done a better job at telling its ghost-hacker tale.

Even though I consider Unfriended to be a failure, I still recommend checking it out at least once. There is some really good stuff in here, and it’s borderline intelligent at times. But, its strict adherence to the teen-horror formula will probably have you logging off.

The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
 

The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)

What if all the top echelon of politicians and scientists were corrupt and perverted and got together for satanic orgies? What if a diabolical mad man wants to take control of the planet and spread a bubonic plague to create a cursed earth..Well once the American elections are over im sure we will have the answer to some of these questions.Dracula now under the guise of D. D. Denham, a rich Industrialist,has a country manor run by inscrutable Chinese lady Chin Yang,in between sacrificing chickens,and nubile young ladies being brought back from the dead,she also keeps a dungeon full of scantily clad vampires. Its just another day for British secret service,as they try to thwart a vampire coven with the help of Lorrimer Van Helsing and his granddaughter Jessica Van Helsing. I don't mind that it makes no real sense,I mean how did Drac become the next Clive Sinclair? Its wonderfully kitsch and trashy,with a basement full of vampiric beauties and bikers for henchmen its silly but fun.You can kind of tell that Mr Lee was only doing it for the money seeing as he does not seem to be doing much apart from standing around looking in different,but good old Pete Cushing as usual gives the role everything he has got,and with the lovely Ms Lumley in tow giving the film some added glamour to the proceedings. Its not the greatest Hammer movie ever made ,but it is quite possibly the most entertaining.

Screams of a Winter Night (1979)

http://primer.a.ltrbxd.com/resized/f...g?k=ece66bbb17

If this one spent more time and effort on its anthology segments rather than the drawn-out wraparound story then it may have been a great deal better than it was.

It's main emphasis is on atmosphere, which it sets up with the creepy, creaky cabin locale on a dark, stormy night and of which is to be the abode of a group of college kids replete with ghost stories to tell each other. It's just a shame that the stories are all oft-told uninspiring urban legends.

39/100

Don't take this the wrong way, B_E. But you seem to watching some shite.

You sure these films aren't from your Nightmare USA month?

Dark drama that follows the adventures of a mentally-challenged man as he struggles with his dysfunctional family, as well as trying to introduce himself to “normal” society… Ah, who am I kidding? Two morons take the wrong road and are sliced worse than the average James Ferman session. Ken Foree and Viggo Mortenson star as well.

Now that Freddy and Jason were coming to an end, New Line Cinema needed a new horror franchise to milk. Enter Leatherface, whose last offering, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, met with a very polarised reaction. Many were taken aback by that film’s black comedy tone, and the film underperformed at the box-office. New Line promised fans that the new film would be a return to the original film’s horror, as well having more realistic effects and better production values. Fans had no reason to be concerned.

It bombed hard. Both critically and commercially.

Leatherface is essentially the first film, but with none of the unique atmosphere of the original. I didn’t feel grubby while watching it. Storywise, it’s trying to do the ultra-horror of the original, but it is filmed in the clean, stylised aesthetic of TCM2. That’s not exactly a bad thing but it just inspires the same question that Highlander 3 brings up, “why don’t I just watch the first film instead?”

There’s nothing specifically bad about Leatherface, but nor is there anything striking. It moves at a tolerable pace, the production values are adequate for the most part, the acting is alright but, barring the great Ken Foree, nothing lingers in the mind.

However, it’s a miracle that the film turned out anywhere near decent. New Line started production before a director had been hired. When they got one (the unfortunate Jim Burr), they fired him within days, only to rehire him when they couldn’t find a replacement. And, just to add insult to injury, they reshot sequences without informing him. Burr had the misfortune of seeing a different ending only at the premiere.

I think the problem with Leatherface, and with TCM sequels in general, is that the first film is one that doesn’t lend itself to follow-ups. It was a nasty nightmare from a disturbed vision that ended with no clear resolution. Tobe Hooper realised that trying to capture that again within a studio assembly would have been a fool’s errand, so he took it in a whole new direction. This one (and the god-awful Texas Chainsaw 3D) just repeats what we’ve already experienced. The faces are different but the motions are familiar. And familiarity just isn’t as terrifying.

You can have that in the case of Screams of a Winter's Night, but you take that back about Vampires' Night Orgy! :fencing:

#4

Eden Lodge

I recorded this off the Horror Channel. Didn't know anything about it and hoped it would maybe have something to do with the fantastic Eden Lake. But, alas, the two films are completely unconnected.

This one is about a couple and their young child whose car breaks down in the English Countryside and a sinisterly friendly farmer chap happens upon them and points them in the direction of Eden Lodge, a quaint little hotel, where they can stay till their car is mended. The couple's relationship is on the rocks following some infieldelidy on the part of the husband. Add this to the fact that Eden Lodge has its resident babe who hangs about the hot tub in a bikini, that the motor mechanic is a big hunk, and everyone they meet going missing one by one, blah blah blah.

The film had a couple of reasonable, but short, gore scenes, but other than that there's not much to say about it.

2/10

PS - you can see what made me think the films were connected.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...0f1474dc5c.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...b81d3b6e09.jpg


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