If you are reading this you may have heard about the hype surrounding A Serbian Film, and if not then it is an extreme and graphic movie that tries to push the limits of cinema. Does it succeed in pushing the limits? Yes and No. It is definitely very graphic and unless you can handle extreme situations it might make you sick, but remember it is just a movie. Unlike a lot of shocking, disturbing, graphic, etc films out there, A Serbian Film does make a decent movie out of itself also. It has a plot, direction and does make a statement with an ending.

Will people enjoy the movie? Enjoy is not the word, but it should bring up many emotions in the viewer and succeeds in that aspect. Some may wonder what happens exactly in the film to make it so disturbing, but I won’t put any spoilers and just say the situations involve lots of sex, torture, killing, heavy subject matter involving children and more. If you try to think about as many bad subjects as you can you will probably miss some of the subjects gone over in the film. Overall it is a decent film, but is not for everyone and people looking for the most disgusting movie ever will be disappointed and people not knowing what they are getting into will turn it off. Looking at the movie as a whole it mixed cinema with horror and did sicken me while watching it, but I understood the message the film brought and did succeed in that aspect.

My Rating: 7/10

10: The Chaser (2008) - Released in South Korea February 14 2008 .

Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by a same client whom one of his girls is meeting with right now. The Chaser is a very good thriller that also mixes in action and some humor. Unfortunately The Chaser is being re-made in 2010 for American audiences, but you should definitely see the original first.

9: Madeo (2009) – Released In South Korea May 28 2009.

A mother lives quietly with her twenty-eight-year-old son, Do-joon, providing herbs and acupuncture to neighbors. One day, a girl is brutally murdered, and Do-joon is charged with the killing. Now, it’s his mother’s call whether to prove him innocent or to leave him imprisoned. Madeo is a very good but slow moving drama-mystery, but will reward the viewer with an interesting experience and outcome. Madeo is very cultural heavy, but most people should be able to follow the events whether or not they have knowledge of Korean culture.

8: Spirited Away (2001) – Released In Japan July 20 2001.

In the middle of her family’s move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and monsters; where humans are changed into animals; and a bathhouse for these creatures. The only animated film on the list, this Japanese Anime film features an amazing world that will suck the viewer into. There is an English dub of the movie for those who do not like subtitles, but I’d recommend watching the subtitled version if possible.

7: Shaun of the Dead (2004) – Released in the UK April 9 2004.

Shaun doesn’t have a very good day, so he decides to turn his life around by getting his ex to take him back, but he times it for right in the middle of what may be a zombie apocalypse… But for him, it’s an opportunity to show everyone he knows how useful he is by saving them all. All he has to do is survive… And get his ex back. Somewhat of a cult classic, if you Haven’t seen Shaun of the Dead you should it features a funny spin on the zombie horror genre. Shaun of the Dead is filled with British humor, so may not be for everyone, but it’s still worth checking out.

6: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) – Spanish Film released at Cannes May 27 2006.

“Pan’s Labyrinth” is the story of a young girl who travels with her pregnant mother to live with her mother’s new husband in a rural area up North in Spain, 1944, after Franco’s victory. The girl lives in an imaginary world of her own creation and faces the real world with much chagrin. A fantastic movie that ties in fantasy with reality and a must see if you haven’t had the pleasure to watch it yet. Even though there are lots of fantasy elements the movie has a dark overtone.

5: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009) – Released in Sweden February 27 2009.

Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson’s novel about a journalist and a young female hacker.  Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family.A very good suspense film which develops the characters who are part of a trilogy. Along with the main plot the subplots help towards the development.

4: Let The Right One In (2008) – Released in Sweden October 24 2008.

Oscar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl who turns out to be a vampire. It isn’t very scary, but is one of the better Vampire movies out there with the way the story is told and how well the child actors portrayed their parts. Let The Right One In is being remade as “Let Me In”  in the US as we speak , but there is no way they can top the original and anyone interested in the tale should see the sweedish version first.

3: The Secret in Their Eyes (2009) – Film made in Argentina released August 13 2009.

The story, set in 1999, is told in flashback form: in June 1974 a federal justice agent, Benjamín Espósito, becomes spellbound by and subsequently entangled in the investigation of the crime of a young woman, brutally raped and murdered inside her house in a Buenos Aires neighborhood. He then plans to write a novel about the murder and starts to revisit the events that took place. A mystery filled with fantastic dialogue and character development and winner of the 2009 Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

2: Shutter (2004) – Released in Thailand September 9 2004.

A young photographer and his girlfriend discover mysterious shadows in their photographs after a tragic accident. They soon learn that you can not escape your past and begin to be haunted by it. One of the best horror films made with some very effective scares and a good story to compliment it. Just make sure you avoid the American remake of Shutter since it does not compare at all to the original Thai version and changes most of the details.

1: City of God (2002) – A Brazilian film released at Cannes May 18 2002.

Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer. Wonderfully told story and one of the best movies of all time that everyone should see at least once.

Doghouse is an addition to the comedy/horror genre and will probably be most compared to Shaun of the Dead since it deals with comedy, zombies and from the UK. It doesn’t quite live up to Shaun of the Dead if you were wondering, but the movie in itself wasn’t too bad. The comedy aspect provided some laughs and didn’t go overboard too much. Some of the characters were more likable than others, but that was probably by design. The horror aspect of the movie was hit and miss since some of the zombies looked pretty gross, but others were kind of dumb however that might be because they were intertwining it with some comedy. There was some decent gore, but you can tell they held back a little with the potentials.

As you read the review you probably can tell the average tone from it and that just about sums up the movie. It wasn’t too bad, but wasn’t too great either and throughout the film it was always hit and miss with things. I was a little disappointed with the ending because it started off with cool potential, but when the credits started to roll it left a little to be desired. I’d recommend the movie to fans of comedy/horror or zombie movies in general since it does have some things you will enjoy, but don’t expect to be blown away.

Doghouse Trailer

My Score: 6/10

Scary clown movies have always intrigued me and the trailer looked decent for Clownstrophobia, but the film falls terribly flat. The story had some potential, but was a little off the wall and at times was confusing, but all that could have been forgiven if the clown was scary and the kills were good. My biggest complaint is that the poster with the clown on it looks creepy, but when you get the clown in the movie he isn’t very scary. When you see a movie about the “Fear of Clowns” you expect to see a creepy clown to project some of the fear to the viewer. The clown was weird, but not any creepier than your average slasher. Not to mention when he tortures some people I found myself laughing mostly when it probably shouldn’t have been funny.

The acting was terrible, so bad that I was laughing at half the things they said. For example calling the clown “Snuffles” was pretty hilarious and each time 1 of the characters used the name I couldn’t help but laugh. For fans of gore, the kill scenes were pretty anti-climatic and weren’t anything special. Clownstrophobia fell short in every aspect and I’d only recommend it to fans of hardcore cheesy movies.

Clownstrophobia Trailer

My Rating: 3/10

Trick R Treat The Movie

It is said that Halloween is the night when the dead rise to walk among us and other unspeakable things roam free. Trick R Treat is four interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: An everyday high school principal has a secret life; a college virgin might have just met the one guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband.

There was a lot of hype around Trick R Treat since it won the Audience Award at 2008 Screamfest. The big question was did the movie live up to the hype? The simple answer is Yes it did. Trick R Treat does a great job intertwining the 4 stories and jumps between them while telling them. It gives the movie a non-linear feel and adds to some of the surprises I won’t spoil. There are no big name actors, but overall the acting was pretty solid.

The movie wasn’t too scary, but had a few scares throughout mixed in with some laughs. The best part was how the story was rolled out and some of the suspense trying to figure out what happened. The overall experience of the movie was enjoyable since none of the stories dragged on. I’d definitely recommend checking out the movie to all horror fans.

Trick R Treat Trailer

Rating: 8/10

Moon is basically a 1 man show brought to you by Sam Rockwell. Fortunately for the sake of the movie Sam Rockwell did a very good job with his character. As the story develops you start to feel a lot of emotion for the character. Kevin Spacey adds to the element with the voice of GERTY and between his emoticons and voice adds more human than robot characteristics. In fact there are some points where you think GERTY is controlled by someone instead of being a program.

Moon brings several elements such as Sci-Fi, Drama and it’s a Thriller. There are times when the movie feels a little slow, but it picks up just in time with new discoveries to peak your interest. The story is creative and without spoiling it feels like this could happen in the future. The only complaint besides feeling a little slow at times was with the ending. The ending isn’t bad and does tie everything up, but it feels a little weak compared to the rest of the film. Overall Moon is a very solid film and worth checking out.

Moon Trailer

My Rating: 7/10

Dread is one of the 8 movies at the 2010 Horrorfest, and from the other movies I’ve seen it appears to be one of the better ones. Based on a Clive Barker short story, Dread does a fine job of bringing this gruesome story to life. There are a few scares sprinkled through the movie, but Dread is able to bring some fears to life with some very disturbing scenes. If you cannot handle disturbing scenes in movies you may want to avoid Dread.

The story is progressed pretty well throughout the movie and it keeps consistent with the premise of studying fears. The acting was decent and most the characters played their role well. I especially liked Laura Donnelly who played Abby, a girl born with large birthmarks and who is smart, but struggles through life with that defect. Abby represents the main theme of the movie and each character struggles in their own way. Without getting into spoilers the ending was very dark, but overall Dread is a pretty good indie horror film.

Dread Trailer

My Score 7/10

Nazi zombies? What will they come up with next? Dead Snow is a Norwegian film which offers an English subbed or dubbed version. I happened to view the dubbed version which wasn’t too bad for a dubbing in general. The film itself starts off very cliche and goes through a lot of the normal things your standard “slasher” horror flick goes through with someone dying in the beginning, a group of young people getting together, a few cheap scares and an old guy who shows up to scare them. Once all this happens and the real action starts is when Dead Snow starts to shine. Instead of just constantly running from the Nazi zombies the characters do fight back a little and the action is pretty good.

The movie has a few cheap scares, but it is more gory than scary. Any fans of gore should be delighted as there are a few cool kill scenes. The Nazi zombies themselves look just like a Nazi zombie would probably look and instead of being just mindless zombies they had a little more depth to them which made it more interesting. As with the trend with a lot of horror movies today, there is dark comedy aspects to it in-between all the killing. Overall Dead Snow was an average, but entertaining movie. If the beginning wasn’t so cliche and the real action started sooner it would have gotten a higher score.

Dead Snow Trailer

My Rating: 5/10

People who have seen and love the original Boondock Saints will be a little more critical towards All Saints Day and I am one of those people. All Saints Day starts off very slow and after the first 20 minutes I was not liking it at all, but stuck with it and the movie got considerably better as the story went on. My biggest complaint with the movie was the character “Romeo” who tries to replace Rocko as the saints assistant. He tries way too hard to be like Rocko and overdoes most of the jokes making the movie seem really corny. Rocko was a great character and isn’t easily replaced, but his brief cameo was appreciated. Along with Romeo, some of the other characters tried too hard to fit in and it was very evident. Looking past that the film in itself isn’t too bad and the plot picks up where the first one left off and flows fairly well.

The best part of the film were the cameos from characters in the first film and without spoiling it there is a nice one towards the end. In fact as I watched the movie up until the end I started liking it more and more, so if you do watch it and aren’t liking it at first, keep going until it ends to get the full experience. I’m sure All Saints Day will disappoint a lot of fans of the first film, but if you don’t try to compare them and accept All Saints Day for what it is then it will be much more enjoyable.

Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day Trailer

My Rating: 7/10

Before viewing Hellweek I knew I was getting into a low budget horror film, but occasionally they bring fresh elements or have some redeeming values. Unfortunately Hellweek had none of those good qualities, but for the sake of the review I won’t let the feeling of having watched a terrible movie influence my review. It’s obvious that the budget was low for the movie, but keeping that in mind some of the effects and visuals weren’t too terrible. The acting however was atrocious, and really took away from all aspects of the film. Filled with corny 1 liners and actors trying to hard, the whole script felt really forced.

The gore factor was decent given their budget, but took a very long time to get into it and 30 minutes of build up could have been cut to about 5 minutes. Even when the action is happening I couldn’t look past the terrible acting and half the time I felt like I was watching a high school play with actors dressed up overdoing it. It is very hard to recommend this film to anyone, so consider yourself warned if you decide to give it a shot and feel like you wasted 100 minutes of your life.

Hellweek Trailer

My Rating: 2/10