"What makes Begotten a truly unique film, is that for all its simplicity it achieves what most religious horror films fail in their overly ambitious approach. Faithful to the 'silent movie' there's no spoken dialogue, but there are no captions either (discounting a vaguely expository opening). Regardless, Begotten is effective because it focuses on the non-human. God, Mother Earth and the Son of Earth are frightening spectres, but what happens to them is equally horrific."
Jigoku slowly builds this sombre atmosphere, made weird through discordant jazz music, giving the viewer the impression of chaos taking over as Shirō's life crumbles around him and he begins his spiritual descent into Hell. But once the tension starts spilling over, the plot becomes a succession of violent trespass after violent trespass."
"By building on events from the first movie, Hellbound is able to expand the concept beyond the confines of the personal and into a deeper exploration of its vision of Hell. The Channard Institute, a psychiatric hospital, makes the perfect vehicle for expanding the concept. Before we even arrive at the inevitable splatterfest, there's a feeling of 'wrongness' pervading the hospital."
"Phantasmagoria, most notably, represents the folly of a games industry at its most bloated. This game came on 8-discs, had a script five times as long as the average movie, and had a Hollywood special effects team working on it as well as its own choir. I believe Sierra spent somewhere in the region of $4 million developing this piece of shit. It looks and plays out like it was shot for a tenner exclusively for the Horror Channel."
Forget the film, this poster is where it's at.
"If you have ever seen an Umberto Lenzi film before, then you know what to expect. The director cut his teeth making giallo films in the 70’s, as well as cannibal films such as Man From the Deep River and Cannibal Ferox.
Unsurprising, then, that this paper-thin plot is used as a vehicle for eye-gouging, throat-slitting, breast-tearing, head-popping."
"Romero is satirising a decade that ushered in 'me,me,me' politics. In Night and Dawn, there remained the faith that humanity will always (eventually) pull together. Day doesn't have that optimism: the humans are worn down and feel put out by the needs of their fellow survivors when they're thinking only of themselves. "
"Savage Harvest is evocative of the days where you'd walk into your local corner shop and come out with the dodgiest-looking video tape grabbed from the back of some shelf. The sort of film you can sit and watch with a few beers, not worrying about getting invested."
"Part of Green Room's humour comes from it being set in the woefully underwhelming world of the local band.
If you’ve been in a band or know people who have, then the early scenes of the band travelling miles in a cramped van to play to a venue of 5 unenthusiastic people, only to be paid $6 dollars each for their trouble, will hit home. "
"Part of Halloween III’s appeal is how it's essentially a smorgasbord of everything that was great about horror from that era.
The whole affair has an incredibly seedy vibe, and, as mentioned previously, reminds me of a time when I would sneakily stay up till 2am - on a school night no less - to watch the films I would never normally be allowed to watch. "
