TEMPLE (2017)

Three American tourists venture to Japan for vacation when they come across a map and diary to a secret temple in the film TEMPLE (2017).  The set up is pretty basic with Kate (Natalia Warner) taking her boyfriend James and best friend Christopher (Brandon Sklenar and Logan Huffman, respectfully) on a trip to hopefully get Christopher to reconnect with the world.  Since Christopher speaks Japanese, he’s the best person to help them all navigate through an unfamiliar country.

When they come across an ancient diary detailing an exotic temple the three decide to go on an adventure.  It’s a short trip away but it is far from civilization and anything they’re ever known.  When they get to the temple, they realize that they are not alone and that spirits of the dead prevent them from leaving the temple twisting their minds and what they believe to be real.  Their hope to survive the night continues to fade as one by one they become consumed by that which inhabits the temple.

Although the story is pretty derivative, the actors do a really good job of bringing life to their characters and to the film itself.  You’ll get more nuance to the characters than is typical of these types of films.  The script is written by Michael Barrentt (who also directs) and the story is by Neal Edelstein, Shinya Egawa, and Mike Macari.  If you enjoy the slow burn then you might enjoy this film but if you’ve already had your fare share of ghost stories (with haunted locations) then you can skip this film as even though it is well made it doesn’t really offer anything that you haven’t seen before.

Film Review: AMERICAN POLTERGEIST 2 (aka THE POLTERGEIST OF BORLEY FOREST) (2014)

Originally released in 2013 under the title “The Poltergeist of Borley Forest”, AMERICAN POLTERGEIST 2 is not a sequel but more a stand-alone film that has nothing to do with the previous film.  This film has a pretty standard plot in which a teen out partying goes into a forest that the locals call haunted.  She unexpectedly brings back with her a ghost that has become infatuated with her and then she spends the rest of the film trying to get rid of the ghost.

Written by R. Presley Stevens and directed by Stephen McKendree this is a pretty standard ghost story that lacks any defining traits to separate it from all the other dreck being produced.  This film is brought down by the bad acting of generally every actor in the cast and the lack of interesting ghosts or any make-up FX of any kind.  The film meanders through a lot of bad jump scares and incompetent cinematography that produces no suspense whatsoever (this can also be attributed to the horrendous editing). 

This is just a bad film all around with absolutely no redeeming qualities (not even entertaining ones).  It’s a shame that ghosts/haunting/poltergeist films have become a new dumping ground for indie film-makers because even with zombie films I’ve seen more creativity than what is on display here.

Film Review: AMERICAN POLTERGEIST (2015)

Over the years there have been just as many ghosts & poltergeist films produced as there have been zombie films and for the most part they are truly forgettable.  The same can be said for AMERICAN POLTERGEIST (2015) in which five friends move into a house with only one other tenant that just isn’t really there.  One of the friends Taryn (Ashley Green Elizabeth) starts to feel a strange connection to the house but the more she learns, the more she comes to realize the malevolent past of the house and how she is connected to a serial killer whose spirit is tied to the house and to her.

This being said, this is a pretty standard and bare bones poltergeist film with the jump scares (that don’t actually make you jump) but little in the way of logical plot or interesting characters.  I would forgive the film if it had any interesting gore or action sequences, but all this is lacking as well.  The poltergeist, when revealed, does very little that you haven’t seen before (and done better) and isn’t at all that interesting despite being based on an actual story.

The film is written by Nicole Holland and Michael Rutkowski (who also directs) and despite following the conventions of a typical ghost story it isn’t really executed in any way that would interest either lovers of horror film or ghost stories.

Film Review: GHOST WARRIOR (aka SWORDKILL) (1986)

In Ghost Warrior (1986) the body of a 400-year old samurai warrior entombed in ice is discovered by a couple of skiers exploring a random cave.  The body is then delivered to a lab in the United States where it is revived through the science of cryosurgery.  The samurai warrior is trapped in a time and place he doesn’t understand and soon escapes the lab in search of where he belongs.  As he explores the city and gets a taste of this new age that he doesn’t understand he realizes that his code of honor and conduct are two things lost in time just as he is and he finds himself on a journey to find a place where he belongs. 

There is lots of bloodshed and death left in the wake of the samurai warriors path making him enemy number one with the cops as the scientists who revived him realize that they are on a ticking clock to get the samurai warrior back into their custody before it is too late.

This is a standard fish out of water story handled with more bloodshed than the normal film and more action.  Even though you get a sense of how the samurai warrior got into his predicament, you never get a sense of why he continues to do what he is doing beyond the obligatory reason (and to progress the plot and film forward).  Because of the use of cryosurgery the film is very dated yet is entertaining in a mediocre ‘80s action movie kind of way so it will definitely appeal to fans of those types of films but for everyone else it’s just a product of its time.

Film Review: A BLOOD PLEDGE (2009)

When you’re a teenager, life can be hard especially for four young girls who decide to make a suicide pact that goes horrible wrong in the South Korean thriller A Blood Pledge (2009).  Jeong-eon’s sister Yoo-jin’s (Yoo Shi-ae and Oh Yeon-seo, respectfully) suicide is anything but normal.  As she investigates further into the death of her sister she realizes that Yoo-jin and her friends Soy, Eon-joo, and Eun-yeong (Son Eun-seo, Jang Kyeong-ah, and Song Min-jeong, respectfully) entered into a suicide pact the night of Yoo-jin’s death but only she ended up going through with it.  As Jeong-eon gets closer to discovering the truth each of three remaining women are hunted down by Yoo-jin’s ghost who want them all to finish fulfilling their pact.  The closer Jeong-eon gets to the truth, the more she discovers about her sister and of the nature of the pact itself. 

Written and directed by Jong-yong Lee the film is an atmospheric thriller that follows the trend of other revenge ghost stories.  This is but one of several Korean ghost stories that takes place in a school in the series that started with ‘98s Whispering Corridors and includes Memento Mori (1999), Wishing Stairs (2003), and Voice (2005).  These are all films that delve into haunted schools or people haunted by other people yet take place in and around schools.  This film is very much in line with those films and if you’re a fan of this series then you’ll at least enjoy this one.

This is not one of the stronger films in the series as it doesn’t provide anything different than what came before it but it is a well done film with high production values and an interesting story that entertains and never drags despite containing the typical ghost story clichés.  Most fans of Korean horror films will immediately take a liking to the film but casual watchers will be turned off by how mundane everything is presented especially in terms of the fact that this film deals with the real life tragedy of suicide.

Film Review: GHOST TEAM ONE (2013)

The comedy Ghost Team One (2013) straddles the fence of being both a comedy and a found footage horror film as it takes two hapless twenty-somethings who would rather drink and party than to do school work and try and get ahead.  When one of them has a paranormal encounter during one of their parties they decide to put together their own paranormal investigation.  Sergio and Brad (Carlos Santos and   

J.R. Villarreal, respectfully) are best friends whose roommate Chuck (Tony Cavalero) doesn’t take too kindly to their sudden interest in the paranormal and insistence that the house is haunted.

 

It’s not long before Sergio and Brad’s investigative team gets larger with an additional cameraman and Brad’s girlfriend Becky (Meghan Falcone) and Fernanda (Fernanda Romero), a very attractive woman who is more interested in the paranormal than they are.  Soon all kinds of crazy things start to happen as Sergio begins to fall for Fernanda while Brad has his first sexual encounter with a ghost.  It’s not long before the group discovers that their house used to be a brothel and that several people died in unusual circumstances.

Written by Andrew Knauer and Arthur Pielli the film balances the comedy well with the suspense of a found footage horror film without delving into a complete spoof.  The entire cast manage to keep their characters genuine and realistic in the face of the paranormal and unlike in the Paranormal Activity films the haunting is not nearly as nefarious.  This film could have easily fallen into the spoof (i.e. A Haunted House) territory but it manages to keep the comedy character based rather than joke based.  

Overall, this isn’t a bad film but if you’re looking for something that is either a comedy first or a horror film first then this is definitely not for you.