(HORROR) In Fear - 2013 ***

 

'In Fear' is a strange film. It's rather clever, and rather simple, and actually the acting isn't too bad, but it serves a purpose, and that is to scare.

A young couple, Tom and Lucy, are on their first weekend away together to an Irish festival. After temporarily getting lost in a desolate wooded area, they begin to notice strange things, such as signposts that lead them round and round without taking them to the correct location, and shadowy figures lurking in their rear-view mirror. When they accidently hit a pedestrian they are thrown into a horrifying situation that neither of them ever imagined.

Although the acting wasn't horrendous, the actor playing Tom was a complete idiot, and some of his choices were utterly ludicrous. Added to which, by the time we get to the end the plot has started to make even less sense than before and the motives of all three individuals has started to blur.

The Burning Bed - 1984 ***

 

This is such an awfully difficult film to watch, but probably very necessary to show how useless the police and social services are.

Initially believing she has met the man of her dreams, beautiful Francine falls in love with laddish Mickey, and decides to marry him, despite seeing certain warning signs that he might not be as wonderful as she first imagined.

The Mickey she marries becomes aggressive, controlling, dominating and abusive to her, but she has no where to turn. Her mother believes it is her job as a wife to put up with it, and Mickey's parents don't believe a word she says about him. Every time she runs away, he finds her and blackmails her into coming back,, and when she has children hoping that this will placate Mickey, it in turn makes him more and more angry. Mickey is just the vilest man you might meet, and watching from the outside makes you want to scream at the tv that she shouldn't be allowing another man to treat her this way. Forget setting the bed on fire, he deserved to be hung, drawn and quartered.

Hall Pass - 2011 **

 

'Hall Pass' is just an incredibly stupid film. It's monumentally sexist, and shows men up to be pathetic and weak which probably won't go down too well.

2 friends who have been married to their respective wives for years, are becoming restless in the mundane aspects of their lives. They long to both be single again and to have the chance to sleep around with as many women as they can. When their wives hear about this, they decide to try and double bluff them, and offer them both a hall pass - one week off from marriage where they can do anything they like. Initially excited by this new power they have been given, they are soon realising that they don't have the same urges as they did when they were young and single, and things take a turn when their wives both begin to receive attention of their own.

It certainly doesn't show men in a good light, and to be honest, I find their behaviour utterly appalling, but it's supposed to be funny isn't it, so who cares?!

Disappointing.  

The Guilt Trip - 2012 ***

 

Andy tries to spend as little 'quality' time with his devoted mother Joyce as possible. It's not that he doesn't love her, it's more that he doesn't have room for her in his jam-packed life. But when he decides to go on a once in a lifetime road trip to advertise his new organic cleaning product, his mother convinces him to let her go along for the ride so they can spend time together. What starts off as a possible good idea turns into a nightmare as Joyce takes over his sales pitches, insults various important people and generally irritates him when he is trying to focus.

I go through phases of liking and despising Barbara Streisand and this is one of those times where I found her more infuriating than usual.

The film is quite funny, with occasional touching parts but overall quite disappointing.

Robin Redbreast - 1970 ****

 

'Robin Redbreast' is one of the strangest short stories I've seen. After a break up of her relationship, Norah goes to a remote farmhouse for some relax and respite. Initially impressed with how friendly the locals appear to her, things seem to take a strange turn when the Harvest Festival rears it's head and her friendship and flirtation with the gamekeeper Rob seems to interest the locals much more intensely than would appear normal.

After a while she believes that the residents want to keep her there and use her in their seasonal practices, and will do anything to keep her. It's like a shortened version of 'The Wicker Man'. The last few scenes in particular were incredibly suspenseful and strange and scared me. Worth a watch.

(HORROR) Daylight - 2013 **

 

Trying to uncover the reason for several child abuse reports in a small town called Daylight, the social services soon believe that what they thought was 'run of the mill' abuse may actually be severe demonic possession. It starts off very well, and had me hooked, but then my mind started to wander by the time I had seen half of the film. It reminded me of 'The Taking of Deborah Logan' in that it tried to justify certain behaviours of people who are in dangerous situations when in reality these situations need to be addressed and dealt with head on instead of writing them off as demonic possessions. I was less impressed as time went by, therefore I refuse to rate it highly.

Footsteps in the Fog - 1955 ****

 

I always remember this film from years ago, mainly for Stewart Granger's disturbing and creepy performance. After revisiting it recently and this time watching it with my mum, I realised it was even better than I had remembered.

Granger plays a rich and destructive man named Stephen who realises he is in too deep when he discovers that his manipulative scullery maid Lily knows that he is responsible for murdering his first wife. Lily is no fool however, and quickly blackmails Stephen into allowing her to become head of the house, a move that causes her to fall out of favour with the other staff. And so begins a cat and mouse tale as Stephen plans to murder Lily, and Lily plans to make sure Stephen never leaves her.

Atmospheric, spooky and mysterious! A great film.

 

 

Flight - 2012 ***

 

'Flight' is a nightmare. It shows what happens when people who aren't emotionally or physically stable take on responsibility for other people's lives, and the repercussions of this.

Especially in the last few days it's a film very close to the bone, and can conjure up a tear in a way it would never have done 14 years ago.

Whip Whitaker has a serious problem with drugs and alcohol. Usually he doesn't let it interfere with his job as a pilot, but one morning after a particularly heavy binge he is involved in a plane crash that kills six people. It is only down to his quick thinking that he manages to save the others on board, and although he is initially hailed as a hero for this, it soon comes out that he is completely responsible for the other deaths.

A hard film to watch, but Denzel Washington always gives a fine performance and he doesn't disappoint.

The Amazing Mr X - 1948 *

 

 

This supposedly was made as a vehicle for beautiful Carole Landis before her tragic suicide. I do wish Carole had been a star of this film. I feel it would've been of a much higher quality and considerably more watchable compared to the frankly appalling experience I sat through.

Two years after the death of her husband, widow Christine believes she hears her husband calling her from the beach next to her house. Disturbed and confused, she finds it even more odd when she meets a mysterious medium named Alexis who apparently knows all about her and even offers to give her readings where he will contact her dead husband. What comes to light however, is that Christine isn't the only one who has been fooled by an entity.
Strange, not enjoyable, and no atmosphere whatsoever. Added to which, the quality of the print was so weak that it might've been better binning this than trying half-heartedly to restore it.

It's Not Cricket - 1949 *

 

What a disappointing film! Gainsborough has let us down here. Wayne and Radford are usually so amusing, but there was absolutely nothing here that even raised a smile from me, and the story was slow, unfunny and far too drawn out. Even the brief glimpse of Diana Dors did nothing to cheer this film up. I liked the plot line of the two intelligence officers playing golf with a war criminal on their leave without realising who he is, but other than that nothing stood out at all. It's definitely not cricket, more a gigantic bore.

Miss Violence - 2013 ****

 

'Miss Violence' is one of the strangest and most disturbing films I have seen this year, and I fear the images will stay with me for quite a while. The first scene of this Greek drama shows a children's birthday party taking place in a small flat. The second scene shows the birthday girl on the ground below, having jumped to her death. But why?

Once you reach the end of this film you really are despairing for the human race, and cannot quite believe that people who 'love' each other can behave in such a heinous and despicable way.

I am not going to divulge the plot of this, because I feel it is more powerful to be watched without really knowing what is going on, but I can liken the story to Vinterberg's "Festen" mixed with a tiny dash of Lanthimos' "Dogtooth." Bizarre, unsettling and strange.