Film Review: ELEVATOR (2011)

Parties are for dressing up and having a good time.  A time to be with families and friends and co-workers to celebrate the good times but for nine people on their way to a Wall Street party dressing up and having a few drinks will be the least of their problems.  In the film Elevator (2011) nine people get trapped in an elevator on their way to a party unbeknownst to them that one of them is carrying a bomb. 

Written by Marc Rosenberg Elevator takes nine completely different types of people and throws them into a pressure cooker as each occupant discovers how each of their lives lead them to that particular place at that particular moment and how corporate greed has forced one of them over the edge.  Filmed in one location the film does a great job maintaining the suspense and pressure especially at the moment when the danger of the bomb becomes a ticking clock for all of them.  The set-up is nothing new as it borrows from other single location thrillers with a group of trapped individuals who must discover their connection to one another but it is extremely well done and moves at a brisk pace from beginning to end.   The film may annoy horror fans who have seen this premise a hundred times before but don’t let that deter you from enjoying an otherwise well-made film.

Suspense thrillers have their place and like Buried (2010) and Phone Booth (2002) and Devil (2010) they have varying degrees of success of which this may feel like the lighter and more realistic version of Devil.  For those interested in a realistic suspense thriller than this film is right up your alley.

Film Review: ATM (2012)

What’s the most frightening thing for a horror film?  A serial killer?  A killer car?  Feral children?  Those are all likely subjects but I’m sure an ATM would be nowhere on your list which is what makes the concept of ATM (2012) so interesting.  Three friends after coming home from a party decide to stop at a twenty-four ATM machine and are held under siege by a man in a winter overcoat.  Siege films are nothing new (just look at The Strangers or John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness) but this film is really a pressure cooker of a suspense thriller.  Siege films work when the suspense starts but never stops such as Buried (2010) or Phone Booth (2002) and that’s exactly how ATM is.

What the film lacks in originality it excels in execution.  Chris Sparling’s screenplay does a good job of establishing the characters early on before all hell breaks loose and the fact that the motives of the tormentor is questionable builds tension.  What will turn off most people will be the apparent lack of originality with the film but director David Brooks manages to put together a pretty decent thriller.

This type of thriller is very common as it requires a single location for most of the run time of the film and a limited amount of actors which works in this film due to the talented cast and Brooks’ direction.  For fans of thrillers this is a film right up your alley.  After watching this film going to the ATM in the middle of the night will have you thinking otherwise.

Film Review: GRAVE ENCOUNTERS 2 (2012)

The found footage horror film has become a much needed breath of fresh air for the genre and film-makers in general.  With the low budget Grave Encounters 2 (2012) the aesthetic first utilized in the first film goes one step further.  In this new film, Alex Wright is obsessed with the thought that the film Grave Encounters was a true real life story and sets out to prove that he is right by searching for the hospital in which the tragic events of the first film occurred. 

The film takes a while to get to the point to where Alex and his group of friends find themselves inside the haunted mental hospital of the first film.  This is all background and set up that will ultimately pay off in the long run as writers The Vicious Brothers do themselves up one further for this film improving and expanding upon the world established in the previous film.  There are lots of surprises in store and twists and turns that keep this film fresh.

If there is one detriment to the film it is that the most interesting aspects are when they get to the hospital which it takes a while to get there but the wait will have been worth it since this film strives to offer a bigger story than its predecessor and delivers.  Fans of the original film will not be disappointed although people who don’t like the “found footage” film may be turned away.

Film Review: CHROMESKULL: LAID TO REST 2 (2011)

I can’t say that I was too much of a fan of the original Laid to Rest (2009) but it did have a simplistic charm so when I heard they made a sequel I was actually quite surprised considering how really finite the ending of the first film was.  But you can’t keep a good killer down and therefore the film-makers found a way to resurrect ChromeSkull for a new outing of terror for ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2 (2011) and this time there are some friends that have been brought along for the carnage.  

 

Preston (played to perfection by Brian Austin Green) and Spann (Danielle Harris) are agents working with ChromeSkull who help him manage his killing sprees.  They are fast on the scene of ChromeSkull’s demise to help him overcome his defeat first by getting him through physical therapy and then putting together his next kill spree.  In addition to a new crop of victims, there are police detectives after the elusive ChromeSkull as well as dissonance between the ranks.  This is a much bigger film than its predecessor with a much bigger mean stream and buckets more gore and it is so much better for it.  Written by Kevin Bocarde and Robert Hall (who encores as director) the film delivers the goods as being one of the better slasher film sequels in quite some time because it offers much more than the first film and the subplots and characters add to the world created in the film giving it a bigger canvas.

The special FX are of Hollywood film caliber and the gore effects may turn away the normal audience member while making all us hard core horror fans salivate.  This is a film made for the real horror fans.  There is not a dull moment in this film from beginning to end and all the actors do a great job.  This is one of those rare sequels that is superior to the original.

Film Review: DIE (2010)

With its average title it’s not hard to imagine that the actual film of Die (2010) would be a simplistic and easily forgotten horror film.  Even after the first ten minutes it would seem a pale knock-off of the infamously popular Saw franchise which is how it comes off.  Six strangers wake up to find themselves captives of the elusive Jacob (John Pyper-Ferguson) who wants to play a game with them in which they must decide what is worth living for and how they are all connected.  Pitted one against another they are each given a task that will force them to make a personal sacrifice that may cost the life of another but it is all related and connected to a bigger picture.

On the surface Die is indeed another clone of the Saw films but it is well done despite the similarities and like the Jigsaw Killer, Jacob makes for a very interesting villain with an ulterior motive.   What is the real travesty is that the Saw films got there first and therefore this film will have to live with being a copycat despite being well done.  Written by Domenico Salvaggio (with Story credit to Nick Mead) and directed by Dominic James the films is easily digestible but lacks the punch (or gore) of the Saw franchise so for those looking for that style of film they will be disappointed.  Die doesn’t ask the big questions and therefore doesn’t need to provide any profound answers.