Stake Land (2010) #382

"Stake Land" is an interesting blend of vampires and survival horror set in a post-apocalyptic setting. The vampires are feral and mindless which make them feel more like zombies, travelling both solo and in packs during the night, are difficult to kill, and are just plain nasty. The human survivors live in tightly guarded communities, trying to live normal lives. In the outskirts, a dangerous band of religious cannibals known as the Brotherhood rule the highways and pick off and terrorize innocent travelers. It's a combination of elements that are typically not presented so smoothly in a horror film, especially one that presents all of the horrific moments with a gentle touch of humor and humanity. The characters are likable and relateable and are brought to life by a very talented cast which includes Danielle Harris, Kelly McGillis, and Larry Fessenden. Although the film's stars, Nick Damici and Connor Paolo, are both new to mainstream horror, they carry the weight of the film wonderfully and I would love to see them in this genre in the future.


A vampire hunter known only as Mister takes a teenage boy as an apprentice after saving him from vampire. The two travel from town to town, steadily travelling north to "New Eden". Along the way they met and save other survivors, the Brotherhood and their leader Jebedia Loven, and a host of animalistic vampires. For every triumph to achieve, they suffer a tragedy. As they near the borders of "New Eden", Mister and Martin come across a thinking vampire, a creature that tests their resolve, wits, and skills.


Favorite moment - The scene where the Brotherhood demonstrate how deranged they are by dropping vampires inside the confines of a secured town, killing innocent victims in an instant bloodbath.

YellowBrickRoad (2010) #375

Some movies have such unique and creative concepts but end up failing to deliver a solid film from beginning to end, which only frustrates the horror movie loving fan. "YellowBrickRoad" is such a film, beginning with a strong first half but somehow losing its way, just like the characters in the movie do, in the final half. The story introduces elements that are never explained and the ending feels like the writer had just given up and threw in a random final scene just to be done with it all. Watching the film, I felt cheated by the ending because the movie did introduce a very unique element in particular and I enjoyed the journey that the characters were forced to endure.

I honestly don't know how they could have explained the "why's" and "how's" of some of the questions that are left unanswered within the film. It may have been best if the film makers had decided to use tried and true story elements rather than trying one that they themselves could not explain. Luckily, only one of the several characters is left to deal with the odd and wonky ending.

What I did enjoy about the film is that the characters do die off in believable and interesting ways, including one of the more unique and violent acts I've seen in a few months. I also appreciated seeing how the characters dealt with their individual emotional and psychological break downs after they passed the point of no return.

The movie is about the residents of a small New Hampshire town who one day left en mass up a trail that headed north and was called the Yellow Brick Road. All of the residents either died from hyperthermia or were killed in violent ways; some were never even found. There was only one known survivor but he was delirious and couldn't help the authorities figure out what had happened. 50 years later, a group of professionals, including two cartographers and a psychologist, embark on a multi-day hike up the Yellow Brick Road to see if they could find any clues.

Choose (2010)

"Choose" begins extremely strong and slowly loses steam until it barely manages to find it's ending. The concept in the beginning is simple, a mysterious stranger forces his victims to choose between one gruesome fate or the other and if they don't within a minute, they'll suffer both fates. It's disappointing and had so much potential even after the connection is found between the various victims of the shadowed villain. It was also frustrating to see how easily Kevin Pollak's character blew off his adult daughter's concerns. It's little wonder that I've never heard of this film since it's release in 2010.


A deranged man is going around town and forcing his victims to choose between one horrible decision or another, giving them only 60 seconds to decide before inflicting both options if a choice isn't made. Worse yet, he forces his victim to commit the choice take. For example, a teen is forced to decide who should live, her mother or father, and then is forced to make the killing blow. Two other scenes like this soon follow. Meanwhile, Fiona Wagner is trying to study for her Master's degree when she begins receiving messages from ISO_17, giving her inside details of the crimes. She tries to tell her dad, Sheriff Wagner, but he waves her off as just being paranoid. But soon he finds out that he's on the lunatic's list and that both he and her daughter are in imminent danger.

Who lives, mom or dad?

Do you keep your fingers or your hearing?

Trying to choose what books to check out at the library.

The Roommate (2010)

"The Roommate" is a low, low budget Japanese film that feels more like an amateurs ode to the genre of recent Japanese ghost films than an original movie. I didn't mind the acting, the story line, or the visuals but the sound effects were sometimes very grating, especially in one scene where there is supposed to me a stabbing sound. (shudder). Even though the film is full of Japanese ghost cliches, the ending was still unique and the movie was overall enjoyable. The short run time of only 70 minutes also helps.


The film follows two women, the pretty and likable Tamaki, and the plain hard working Ayako. They live together in an apartment in Tokyo. You can tel pretty quickly that Tamaki has more than just a crush on Ayako and that Ayako is beginning to feel the same. One night, Ayako is surprised by a phone call from her father, who she hasn't in over ten years since moving to Tokyo. Her father shows up while she is out and Tamaki is mistaken as Ayako. Ayako's father apologizes and admits that it's been too long since he's seen his daughter. In the next scene, Ayako comes home but her father has left and Tamaki says that she couldn't convince him to stay. That night, Ayako begins to have visions of a female ghost; this ghost continues to appear throughout the film. The more that Ayako sees the ghost, the more people around the two women begin to disappear. Will Ayako find out the secret of the ghost or is Tamaki trying to hide something form her roommate?

Trolljergeren (2010)

"Trolljergeren", also known as "Troll Hunter" in English, is a fantastic Norwegian horror/fantasy film that highlights the mythical creatures in a way that has never been seen before! What's great about this movie is that it touches on several different kinds of trolls and finds a perfect reason to connect them all together into one story. Each type of troll is given it's fair share of screen time and demonstrates their various traits. Otto Jespersen is amazing as the lead character, Hans the Troll Hunter. Best known as a comedian in Norway, Otto plays his role extremely straight and without too much emotion throughout the film which allows the college students working with him to have the excitable reactions one might have when encountering a troll.
The special effects vary throughout the film, with some trolls looking better and more detailed than others; this is too much of a distraction but is noticeable.


A trio of college students are following a hunter named Hans who they suspect is an illegal bear poacher. At one site where a dead bear is found, local hunters remark how the bear tracks look odd but Finn Haugen, the head of the Norwegian Wildlife Board, reassures that the bear tracks are real. The three finally track down Hans one night as he comes running out of a forest yelling "troll"! The commentator, Thomas, is bitten by something in the dark and the three also find that their vehicle has been destroyed. They ride with Hans back to his camp and ask if they can come along and film whatever it is that he's doing. He thinks about it, asks if any of them are Christians, and after they say no, he allows them to come along. The next night Hans takes the three to another forest where they find a three headed troll. Hans allows it to chase him and leads it back to his Land Rover where he activates a high powered UV light that turns the creature to stone. Hans begins to break down the stone remains as Finn arrives with a bear carcass and begins imprinting fake bear tracks. The three college students soon realize that they are privy to a secret government organization and the trolls are indeed real. They continue their travels with Hans as he tries to figure out why there is so much troll activity all of a sudden.

Oh, that's not good!

UV lights turning an older troll to stone

Hans the troll hunter and Johanna the sound tech

That's a large one!

Lair of the Mountain Kings!

The Crazies (2010)

The 2010 remake of "The Crazies" is a more enjoyable and creepier version than the original. There are several reasons why this movie is an overall stronger film and the main reason is because this version focuses solely on a group of survivors who are trying to escape the town; trying to follow both the residents and the military broke the tension too much, having to keep track of several characters rather than a small handful. The talent of the actors is higher, the budget is heftier, and the suspense and pacing are kept tight. This version also shows the survivors having to defend themselves from their "crazy" neighbors who only want to kill.

David is the local sheriff of the small town of Ogden, Iowa. During a local baseball game, a local resident comes stumbling into the field with a shotgun in his hands. David asks then orders the man to drop his gun and is forced to kill him when the man raises the weapon at him. This is the first of many such occurrences that David and his deputy Russell begin to notice happening around town. The two soon find a military aircraft that had crashed in a nearby swamp, and that it's payload has been introduced to the town's drinking water, contaminating it. Within hours of the discovery the military happen to show up and place the town under martial law and take all of the residents into quarantine at the high school. The camp is overrun with "crazies" and David and his wife Judy escape with the help of Russel and a teen named Becca. They spend the rest of the night trying to hide form both the military who are now shooting anyone who might look infected on sight as well as trying to survive the onslaught of assaults from their former neighbors.

Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)

"Resident Evil: Afterlife" is the fourth film in the franchise and marks the glorious return as Paul W.S. Anderson as both writer and director, and it shows! This films feels more like the original in terms as a horror film with a sense of desperation and being trapped by a horde of zombies. The film's pacing is a bit slow at times, more so than needed, but it still has plenty of action scenes that keep the movie going forward. The issues about Alive being overly powerful and cloned are quickly dealt with in the beginning of the film, a perfect way for the proverbial "reset" button to be pushed in a very satisfying fashion.


The film opens with an exciting showdown between Albert Whesker and the Alice Army. Both Albert and a power-stripped Alice survive.

Later, Alice finds the helicopter that the survivors from Las Vegas used to fly to Alaska. She is attacked by Claire, who is under the control of a mind control device. Alice is able to disable the device and Claire is left without any memory after finding the Arcadia. The two travel to LA where the Arcadia has traveled to (it's a ship) and find more survivors. Together, they fight zombies, find the Arcadia, fight Whesker, fight more zombies, and claim the Arcadia as their own. And then the Umbrella air force arrives and the credits begin to scroll.

ATM (2010)

"ATM" is an example of a movie that has a great concept but less than stellar execution of that idea. When there are only three characters on screen for the majority of the time, the casting choices become incredibly important and the casting of Josh Peck is what dooms the movie (for me at least). The film feels slow in a way that doesn't help build any tension. The ending also leaves the viewer wanting more, such as a motive or reason behind the attacks, but is ultimately left without.

David has a crush on Emily, but she's leaving her job to work at a different company. David's coworker Corey teases him until David finally talks to her. David offers to drive Emily home and she accepts but a drunk Corey tags along. On the way home, Corey demands that they stop at an ATM so he can get some money to buy food with. David finds one, a single unit in a enclosed windowed room in a parking lot. For reasons of absurdity, all three end up inside the ATM and become trapped when a man in a winter parka begins acting strangely, eventually killing people and wrecking David's car. The stranger plays a game of cat and mouse with the three as they slowly freeze in the ATM.

A Serbian Film (2010)

“A Serbian Film” is listed as the most disturbing film in the horror section at Scarecrow Video, a video store that I rent many of the movies I review. I will agree that the content of the film is disturbing and that the film loses any entertainment value it had after the film hits the 50 minute mark, but I can’t say that the movie itself is disturbing. Perhaps it’s because I read about the disturbing scenes in advance but I don’t think that is entirely the case. While the movie has some scenes that have caused it to be banned in various countries, the way that those scenes are presented takes off the edge somehow. Another way that the movie takes the edge off is by choosing what to show and not show on screen; other films with less disturbing content come across as foul and disgusting by showing too much while this movie bluntly implies some of the time. The character that is involved doesn’t want to be and it’s this acknowledgement and the choices he makes while in control of his facilities makes this character as a victim in his own right. As I said, the entertainment value is lost at the halfway point at which time the film becomes more of a case study in which to compare other movies to.  

Milos is a retired porn star who is trying to support his wife Marija and his young son Petar. He’s offered an unbelievable amount of money to take a role in an “artistic” porn movie but he’s not allowed to know what the script is but his wife talks him in to accepting the role. After a few days on the set, being followed around with men with video cameras while he’s wearing an ear piece and being told what to do by the director, Milos tries to quit after seeing the direction the film is going, a direction that he is not comfortable with. The director tries to bargain with Milos by showing him one of his early films. Milos reaction to the film sets him over the edge, quitting in the spot and leaving the compound in a hurry. Milos ends up being drugged and wakes up three days later with scattered memories of what happened. He find a set of films that he watches as well as visiting various films sites and slowly recalls the horrors that he caused and lived through.  

Milos and the director

Saw 3D (2010)

It’s 2010 and everything is being made into a 3-D movie, including the final installment of “Saw”. This is easily the weakest entry in the series. During production, it was decided that this would be the final film and that there wouldn’t be an eighth entry. It’s obvious that there are some different stories ideas that were tossed around because the movie doesn’t feel like it has a real solid story arc like the other films. The theme of redemption and rebirth is completely gone at this point. Detective Hoffman is a madman and a killer.

The strength of the film, compared to the previous few films, is that it focuses on only two storylines instead of several. The new storyline is about Bobby Dagen, a man who claims to have been a survivor of a Jigsaw game and is profiting from his lies. While at a survivors meeting, Dr. Gordon makes an appearance and mocks Bobby on film. Bobby is eventually kidnaped and forced to play a series of “games” that involve his wife and entourage. The first test he survives. The second “game” is for his publicist, where he has to pull a key and hook out by a string that’s in her stomach. She dies. The third “game” is for his lawyer, where Bobby has to lift and hold a heavy weight with his shoulders while his legs are impaled with short spikes; he fails to hold up the weight for 30 seconds and she dies. The fourth “game” involves Bobby’s best friend who it blind folded and has to walk across some thin planks before the timer runs out and hangs him; he dies. The next “game” forces Bobby to pull two of his teeth in order to find the combination of the lock to the door. The final “game” forces Bobby reenact the “game” that he has been lying that he survived; he needs insert hooks into his pictorials and climbing chain in order to connect two extension cords. He falls to the ground when his muscles tear. When the timer runs out, his wife is encased and cooked to death while he watches.

The second storyline is about Detective Hoffman and his attempts to frame Jill as the killer and to get revenge on her and the special affairs agent that turned him in a few years earlier. There is a “game” that involves four racist gang members that draw the attention of the special affairs agent but it’s just a ruse to distract them while Hoffman goes to the precinct and kills everyone. He finally gets to Jill and places the reversible bear trap on her, which goes off, tearing a huge hole in her face and killing her instantly. As Hoffman is leaving one of his lairs, Dr. Gordon and two others in pig suits knock Hoffman out. The big and final twist is that John Kramer nursed Dr. Gordon back to health after he sawed his foot off. It was with Dr. Gordon’s help that the more intricate “games” were set up, and it was his suggestion to use Lynn and Jeff in “Saw 3”. Dr. Gordon was also to protect Jill and if anything happened to her, he was to act with all of John’s revenge. So Dr. Gordon takes Hoffman to the original industrial bathroom, chains him up but tosses the saw out the door, locking him alone in the dark to die. And thus the series ends…

Rammbock: Berlin Undead (2010)

I believe it’s safe to say that the zombie genre has moved in a direction to include those films where the zombies aren’t necessarily the previously dead. The movies such as “28 Days Later” and “REC” are about people who become infected and change into mindless killing beasts, so how is that different from a regular zombie besides being dead? The German film “Rammbock: Berlin Undead” falls under the new-wave zombie movies and adds a unique and plausible new detail to the mythos; once bitten, the infection doesn’t take over until the infected becomes agitated or excitable. I’ll buy that.

This film keeps things simple, showing what it would be like to be trapped within your apartment during a zombie outbreak. How ready are you for an emergency? How much food or water do you have on hand? Do you have the medicine that you need?

The film begins with Michael, who has gone to Berlin in hopes of getting back together with his longtime girlfriend, Gabi. He goes to her apartment and finds that she is gone and two workmen are doing repairs. The older of the two becomes angry while working on the radiator and turns into a zombie (sounds like the Hulk!). We assume that he was wounded before but it’s not very clear. Michael and Harper, the younger repairman, manage to lock themselves in Gabi’s apartment. From there, they communicate with the other residents through open windows. One resident promises food if someone can give him sedatives to keep his wife from changing. Michael and Harper create a battering ram (Rammbock) and bash through into the neighbors unit. There they find pills, more zombies, and become trapped. Harper ends up trapped in the kitchen and Michael luckily finds a ladder leading into the attic. Michael finds Gabi in the attic as well as an uncomfortable truth, and Harper discovers the zombies’ weakness. The movie ends with an exciting escape scene and a touching conclusion for the heart broken Michael.

Harper and Michael

Frozen (2010)

“Frozen” was one of those movie selections that I randomly made on Netflix one night which turned out to be one of the best surprises in a long time. This movie is a wonderful physiological thriller, placing the main characters in a situation that gives them time to think of what to do and to realize how stranded and dire their predicament is. Staring Shawn Ashmore (The Ruins), the movie is about two old friends and a girlfriend who tagged along on a weekend trip to the mountains for skiing and snowboarding. Sneaking in one last run before the resort closes for the weekend, the three end up becoming trapped high above the ground on the ski lift after the operations close down without checking for them. It’s a harrowing situation where they have to deal with the freezing temperatures, a storm that’s coming, hunger, and hungry wolves pacing below their feet.

Joe wants to spend the weekend skiing with his childhood friend Dan, but Dan has brought his girlfriend, Parker, along and she’s not very skilled in either skiing or snowboarding. Dan is also cheap and convinces Joe to bribe the lift operator to let the three of them up. As the day progresses Joe becomes more frustrated that they aren’t going down the hills that he and Dan can handle. So as the resort is closing, the three go up for one last, real run. But since the operator is expecting two people and not three, when the replacement operator sees two people come down the hill, they turn off the lift and go home. Unfortunately the three are still on the lift and no one realizes this.

At first there is plenty of blame among the three. They try to get the attention of a snowcat but the driver doesn’t notice them. Blame turns into worry and despair as they realize that they have been forgotten and a storm is approaching. Frostbite begins to set in as well as hunger. Dan decides to jump down from the lift but lands wrong and breaks both of his legs.  A pack of wolves were waiting nearby and attack and kill Dan.

The next morning Joe attempts to jump down, which he also hurts himself. But he is able to defend himself with a ski pole and manages to slide down the hill, promising to send help. The day turns into night and in the morning, Parker decides to try to climb down; as she is trying to do so, the lift chair breaks and she falls to the ground. She hurts her ankle but is able to make it down the mountain, finding Joe’s body torn up from wolf bites. She is able to find help and return to civilization.

La posesión de Emma Evans (2010)

“La posesión de Emma Evans” is a Spanish film that takes place in London with an English speaking cast. This film is different than the typical “The Exorcist” inspired possession movie in a few of ways. First, it shows that the teenage girl who becomes possessed actually summoning the demon on her own accord. Second, the exorcism ritual is performed in a series of sessions over several days and feeling more like therapy appointments (that is until you see the recordings that the priest is keeping for himself). Finally, the big twist in the end is unique for this theme and I liked it. The rest of the movie, on the other hand, was a difficult chore to get through. The acting is subpar and the storyline is boring at times. Even Doug Bradley’s appearance (all 2 minutes worth) is dull and flat. This could have been a great movie had the film makers simply cast a talented actor in the role of Emma rather than some typical teen-angst filled teen.

We Are What We Are (2010)

What would happen if a family of cannibals lost the sole provider of fresh flesh? That is the question that “We Are What We Are” examines. This Mexican film is about a standard family, a father, a mother, two sons and a daughter, who need a fresh body so they can complete a ritual before its too late. Father has been the one responsible for obtaining the bodies in the past but he dies in the beginning of the story, leaving his eldest son with this gruesome task. His younger brother tries to help but ends up challenging all of his decisions. The mother doesn’t have faith in him while the sister has nothing but faith and hope. He tries to make his family proud but a hooker is isn’t worthy and so the search continues. By the time someone worthwhile is found, the police have caught on to what’s going on and interrupts the ritual. Only one family member survives with the sole intent on finishing the ritual…whatever that might be.

Favorite moment – I have never been as delighted to discover such a rare and wonderful moment as this! There is a scene in a morgue where the corner is preparing the corpse while the funeral director watches. It took me only three seconds before I realized that I’ve seen this seen before, with the same actors repeating the same dialogue! I researched the actors and found out that they are indeed the same people who were in the same type of scene in Del Toro’s “Cronos”, another Mexican film from 1993. What a perfect tribute as well as a plot device for this movie as well!!

The Last Exorcism (2010)

“The Last Exorcism” is a single camera, found footage movie that’s about a disillusioned reverend who is working with a film crew to expose his secrets on how he performs fraudulent exorcisms. This movie is a great example that not every horror movie needs an R rating (this is PG-13) to be effective. Horror movies don’t have to have endless gore, nudity, and profanity to be scary.

From a very young age, Reverend Cotton Marcus was groomed to be a man of god. As a child he began delivering riveting sermons and even performed his fist exorcism when he was ten. Now as an adult with a family of his own, Cotton has lost his faith and is giving up his career as an exorcist. He always believed that he was helping people and performing a service, for a fee, but after reading about an autistic child dying while having an exorcism performed made Cotton decide to give up this line of work. Before doing so, Cotton has agreed to perform one last exorcism and have the entire process filmed to prove that what he does isn’t real. So with director/producer Iris and her cameraman Daniel in tow, they head to the back country of Louisiana to help a teenage girl named Nell.

Nell is a sweet young teenager who lives with her father and brother out on a secluded farm. The father, Louis Sweetzer, has kept his children at home and away from town since their mother died. Louis wrote to Cotton asking for help after some of his livestock is killed and Nell is found covered in blood and unable to remember what had happened.  After assessing the situation and confirming that Nell is possessed by a demon named Abalam, Cotton rigs Nell’s room with various tricks and effects that he’ll use during the fake exorcism. During the ritual itself, the bed begins to shake and Nell lies on top of it and a speaker programmed with over 800 demon sounds is heard. Afterwards, Cotton declares that Nell has been freed from her possession and leaves with his payment. Later that night while staying at a motel in town, Cotton finds Nell awake but in a trance in his room. As they try to figure out what really is going on, Cotton discovers the dark truth and a reason to find faith one last time. 

Favorite moment – A possessed Nell takes Daniel’s camera , and after beating a cat to death in the barn, is standing over Cotton while he is sleeping, about to bludgeon him to death as well.