Kill Theory (2009)

"Kill Theory" falls into the group of movies in which a single stranger forces a large group to do horrible things to each other with the promise that one of them will be able to leave the horrid event alive. These other films include "Vile" and "Hunger".  In "Kill Theory", a group of friends are forced to turn each other to prove the point that sometimes you have to kill your loved ones in order to survive. The unseen killer had been convicted of manslaughter when he had to cut the rope and kill two or three friends below him while they were out mountain climbing. To prove his point that he was innocent and had to do it, he finds a group of friends out at a remote summer house and sets up traps to ensure that they don't escape and are forced to play his demented game. As always, favoritism comes up as well as feelings of being bullied and former flings come to light, testing the loyalty and will power of the group. Some die early on while others stick it out and last longer than you might imagine. The movie has some heart churning moments of betrayal and keeps things interesting. Most definitely worth watching at least once.

The Deaths of Ian Stone (2007)

"The Deaths of Ian Stone" is a horror film that feels partially like "The Butterfly Effect" meets "Quantum Leap". The main character, Ian Stone, is killed over and over and comes back to life as a different person who is surrounded by familiar faces from his previous lives. It's an interesting concept and when it's revealed why he keeps being killed, the viewer has a nice "Aha" moment. What makes this different that either "The Butterfly Effect" or "Quantum Leap" is that Ian is perfectly settled in his new life as if he has always lived it and it's only after he begins to remember his other lives does he fall into danger of being killed again by the shadowy demons known as the Harvesters. Why the Harvesters keep killing Ian is at the base of the story and the mystery that he must solve before they kill his reoccurring love interest Jenny. The special effects for these ghostly creatures is fun to watch even though they are mostly CGI based. The most has some decent scares and only a fair amount of violence and gore, so this is a perfect film for the casual horror film watcher.

Lake Mungo (2008)

First of all, "Lake Mungo" should not have been a part of the After Dark HorrorFest 4 series for the simple fact that this movie is not scary in the least. The film is presented as a mediocre mockumentary and this format doesn't allow for tension or scares to be built or delivered. As for the movie itself it is extremely slow, difficult to understand the people who are being interviewed, but has an unique and interesting "twist" that is eventually revealed at the end. It takes an incredible amount of patience to watch the film from beginning to end and I'm pretty sure that the majority of horror fans will find the film to be a waste of time.

A teenage girl named Alice dies while swimming at Lake Mungo, a damn in Ararat, Australia. The family tries to move on but their home begins to have ghostly occurrences taking place. Slowly the family learns the truth about their daughter and some of the details in her life that she was afraid to share and ultimately how she faced her own death.

Borderland (2007)

"Borderland" mixes a Mexican drug gang,  human sacrifice, American tourists, and Sean Austin as a convincing murderous cult member into a thrilling horror film. It's about three friends enjoying a weekend of booze and loose women before moving on with their lives. When one of them is kidnapped for use in a Santeria ritual that is supposed to grant the cult members the power of invisibility, the two other friends do what they can to save him. With the help of a bartender and a former cop whose partner was brutally murdered by members of the cult, they break into the drug lord's compound moments too late. Retribution on both sides is sought and leads to a bloody, violent climax. This movie is one of After Dark Horrorfest's 8 Films to Die For.

Slaughter (2009)

“Slaughter” rounds out this week’s theme of stalker movies, a film from the After Dark Horrorfest 3 8 Films to Die For collection. In this movie we see the stalking element in full effect as a reckless teen from the county goes to the big city and lures men back to her family farm, has an intimate evening with her date who goes missing in the morning. If any killer was going to be compared to a spider, then Lola is the perfect example. She spins a delicate and devastating web that entraps Faith, a young woman on the run from an abusive and obsessive ex-boyfriend. This movie claims to be based on real events although it never says which ones and research into this matter has proved that there are several stories that this could be inspired by.

Faith is moving to Atlanta to escape her abusive boyfriend Jimmy. While out in a bar one night, Faith notices a guy being rough with a very young woman who looks distressed by the situation. She comes over and tells the woman that she’s been looking for her all evening; the girl plays along and leaves the guy behind. The girl, Lola, thanks Faith for the help and after a while the two become friends. Faith visits Lola at her family’s farm and the two go out to the bars later that night. Faith joins Lola on a date with a well to do but much older guy, and when he asks if they are sisters, Lola says yes; they are about the same height, build, and have similar hair. Faith stays the night in the barn that Lola lives in and catches the teen having sex with her date. In the morning her date is gone but has left his expensive watch behind. Lola is afraid that Faith thinks that she’s a slut but Faith is only concerned about Lola’s safety. When Faith returns home she finds out that Jimmy has found out where she lives. She tells Lola this who then invites her to stay at the farm, to which Faith agrees to.

 As Faith stays, and helps out with farm chores, she learns that her father and her brothers live in the farmhouse and won’t talk to Lola. Faith becomes suspicious of Lola’s father and the missing dates that Lola brings home. After snooping around the slaughter house and discovering the family’s dark secret, Lola’s father knocks Faith out and drags her to the pond, ties and concrete block to her legs, and pushes her in. As Faith comes to, she sees a graveyard of cars that have once belonged to the many dates that Lola has brought to the farm. Faith blacks out and is saved, but by who and why?

Favorite death scene – the on screen killings don’t really begin until later in the film and some of these are pretty horrendous, context-wise. I can’t say that I have a favorite because they are a little unnerving. 

Autopsy (20008)

“Autopsy” is a fun horror movie that takes advantage of some simple plot points, classic make-up effects, and good casting choices. The film never tries to take itself too seriously or to push the limits on a particular style or theme. The more films I see from this series, the more I come to love the “After Dark Horrorfest” film selections. This movie is from the 3^rd series of the 8 Films to Die For.

The story is simple; a group of young adults who were in New Orleans for Mardi Gras end up hitting a tree on a lonely deserted road. They’re all ok but discover that they also managed to have hit someone as well as a tree. Before they know what to do, an ambulance comes driving up the road and the orderlies get out and collect the man. When they notice the kids, they suggest that they come to the hospital for an evaluation for trauma and to call a tow truck for their vehicle. They all go and end up at Mercy Hospital. Once there, they are slowly separated one by one for various reasons, the first being Bobby who was actually injured during the accident. Slowly, Bobby’s girlfriend Emily realizes that something is wrong when she isn’t allowed to see him after a few hours and she begins to sneak around the hospital. The reveal is that the hospital was closed down after Hurricane Katrina and is being run by a nurse, two orderlies who were former prison mates, and a mad doctor intent on saving his wife with whatever means necessary; she’s suffer from some kind of terminal cancer that they never explain. Emily’s friends are slowly killed one by one by either the doctor’s experiments or by the orderlies who are having a little aggressive, violent fun. The end result is the same as the victims have various organs taken as replacements for the doctor’s ailing wife. Emily uses her cunning and luck to survive the encounter and finally finds the wife and how she’s being kept alive….

Favorite moment – there is a scene when Emily kills one of the orderlies and the effects are great and realistic without the use of CGI.

Dying Breed (2008)

“Dying Breed” blends two real life events into one storyline that is both entertaining and gruesome. The main source of inspiration comes from Alexander Pierce, a convict that escaped multiple times from Tasmanian penal camps and hid out in the bush. While on the run, he and his fellow escapees turned to cannibalism to survive before they were finally caught and hung. The movie claims that he started the small township named “Sarah” and that his decedents live there and also practice the tradition of cannibalism. The second event that the film focuses on is the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger and the various claims people make at seeing one alive. This is what brings the unfortunate zoologist and her friends to “Sarah” and the surrounding wilderness. “Dying Breed” is part of the After Dark Horrorfest Season 3 and features Leigh Whannell (writer of “Saw”) and Nathan Phillips (“Wolf Creek”).

Nina’s older sister went to Tasmania to study and to find a living Tasmanian Tiger but eventually ends up drowning. Eight years later Nina follows in her sister’s footsteps to complete her work. With the help of her friend Matt, the trip into the wilderness is made possible by Jack and his girlfriend Rebecca. They make their way to the isolated town called “Sarah” where they find the locals odd and different. One even points out a pair of shackles and says that those belonged to his great grandfather who founded the town. The four leave early the next morning and travel down the river by boat before landing and hiking for several miles. They find a small cave and camp inside, waking up in the middle of the night and believing that they see a Tasmanian Tiger in the distance. As they grab their cameras, and Jack grabs his crossbow, they make the fatal horror movie flaw of splitting up and that’s when the action really begins.

Favorite moment – The scene where Matt and Jack find Rebecca’s body and how, in his traumatic pacing, Jack falls onto two large man-traps, once snapping onto his legs and the other onto his head. The pacing and visuals are perfect for this intense moment and is acted out extremely well.

Dread (2009)

Quaid is a mentally disturbed young man. As a small child, he witnessed his parents being killed by an intruder with an axe who had come to their front door asking for help with his broken down car. His suffers from flash backs, hallucinations, and vivid dreams of this event. Quaid meets Stephen, another college, who has he own dreadful experience; when he was 15, his brother went out driving and was killed in a crash, leaving Stephen to wonder if he had driven would his brother still be alive. From this, Quaid proposes that they begin a study on the causes of dread for their final thesis. Stephen agrees and enlists the help of Cheryl, a film student who worked with Stephen on previous projects.

Quaid finds the first round of interviews as useless so Cheryl takes a sit in front if the camera to share her story of how her dad, who worked at a meat packing factory and come home late every night stinking of blood, would come and molest her while her mother slept in the next room. Because of this she can’t eat meet or stand the sight of it. Quaid loves it and says that’s what they need more of, real traumatic events. So the next person that they interview is a man named Joshua who tells them how he was hit by a car as a child and lost his hearing for a while. Now, whenever he hears a ringing in his head he fears that he’s going deaf again. Joshua delivers the best line of the movie, the one that sums up the entire film. “It brings back a feeling of dread. And I suppose that is the worst part of it all. You live with the notion that the thing that causes you the most terror, could come back at any time.” Stephen then films an interview with a girl named Abby, who has black birthmarks over half of her body. She has a crush on Stephen and undresses in front of the camera while it’s still recording. Stephen doesn’t feel the same and leaves, asking Quaid to pick up the interview…which he does.

While dealing with his inner demons, Quaid believes that people have to address their fears. After a huge fight with Cheryl over how he treated an interviewee who lied about her experiences, Quaid destroys all of their equipment. Cheryl and Stephen leave only to find out later that Quaid had saved the film on an external hard drive and turned in their report. Quaid then tells Stephen and Cheryl that it’s time to take their fear study to the next level. First he plays the video of Abby on a looping feed at the college right before spring break; Abby doesn’t take this very well. Quaid then invites Joshua to his house only to tie him up and shoot a handgun next to each ear, bursting both eardrums; he also doesn’t respond very well to this. So what does Quaid have planned for Stephen and Cheryl?!

Favorite moment – Nothing really stood out in this film. It was overall interesting and worth watching but I like the concept more than the presentation.