Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 27th, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 10th, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 4th, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 27th, 2005
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Set for no very compelling reason in 1969, this story sees death-obsessed art student Jonathan Jackson walking and hitch-hiking his way along spooky Maine highway in the middle of the night, trying to make it a hundred miles to where his stroke-felled mother (Barbara Hershey) lies in a hospital. Jackson has such a vivid imagination that neither he nor the viewer really knows what, if anything, we see is real, particularly when he is picked up by a messenger of death (David Arquette), driving...a Plymouth Fury (Christine, anyone?). Arquette tells Jackson that either he or his mother will die tonight, and he must choose...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 4th, 2005
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The Amityville Horror (1979) remains one of the most successful haunted house movies ever. Based on a supposedly true story (emphasis on “supposedly”), the film sees George and Kathy Lutz (James Brolin and Margot Kidder) buy their dream home, only to be driven out by supernatural events (little girl makes friends with demonic piggie, blood runs from the walls, and so on). In scenes that have so little to do with the rest of the action they might almost belong to a separate movie, Rod ...teiger overacts to a degree excessive even by his own none-too-restrained standards as the priest who is targeted by the evil in the house. Too tame to be truly frightening, the film succeeds thanks partly to its “true story” aura, but most especially because of the design of the house, whose eye-like windows made it the most recognizable of all cinematic haunted houses.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 1st, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 23rd, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2005
The Ring was an almost overnight success. Based on a Japanese horror film, it was “Americanized” and captured audiences with its creepy cinematography and wickedly sinister story. It was inevitable that the formula would be tried again.
You would think that The Grudge has everything necessary to continue that successful story. The Grudge is based on not one but a well known series of haunted house films in Japan. Spider Man’s own Sam Raimi teams up with Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Ge...lar, and the result is a bit short of mediocre. The first problem I had with this film is how difficult it is to follow. Shifting timelines and choppy editing make you work hard to keep up. Now, I don’t mind putting in a little effort in a movie from time to time. The serious flaw here is it simply isn’t worth it. I never really end up caring for the characters who were in danger. What is perhaps worse, I find no sympathy or interest in what or why things are happening. When the payoff finally comes, it seems like years of your life have been wasted, and frankly I was too weary for there to be any effect.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 21st, 2005
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 17th, 2005
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