Horror Movie Reviews

Evidence Review

April 5, 2012 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: Evidence
Year: 2011
Studio: RynoRyder Productions
Director: Howie Askins
Stars: Ryan McCoy, Brett Rosenberg
Language: English
Length: 73 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Found Footage

Plot: Four friends embark on a camping trip to an isolated wilderness to shoot a documentary one of them is making. On the first night the group hear blood-curdling cries and see unexplainable shadows surrounding the camp causing them to question whether they should leave. Suddenly the night takes a terrifying turn when one of the group goes missing and the remaining three realize they are being brutally hunted… but by what?

Review: Well, where should I begin? With the past success of The Blair Witch Project and the most recent success of the Paranormal Activity series, the found footage film is alive and well…which most of the time sucks for the horror fan. Let me be honest here, I am not a huge fan of the found footage sub-genre, but occasionally there is something worth writing about. And Evidence just might be that “needle in a haystack”, if I do say so myself.

It is your basic run of the mill story about a group of friends that decide to take a camping trip. One of the friends decides to make a documentary film about his best friend and his first time “roughing it, in the great outdoors.” It does start out giving you that feeling of…”I’ve seen this before.” Well folks, not for long. This movie is not like anything you have watched in the past. I really don’t want to give too much away about this film, but damn do I want to.

The initial opening act of the film deals with some very cool characters that are very easy to connect with, which is mainly due to the fact that they are likable in a sense. The film does have a few slow spots, but the characters keep you into the film. But hey, once this thing gets going…boy does it get going.

In the second part of the film, we start to get to the good stuff. The friends start hearing things and seeing some strange things that peak their interest, and make them want to get the hell out of the woods. In Evidence, you actually get to see some of the strange goings on before it is balls to the wall in the third act.

The third act is an act all unto itself, and that might just be an understatement. Talk about a twist to the end of this film. I think it has more twists, ups and downs, and insanity than a roller coaster. The things at the end of this film, I have never seen before, and I have been talking about this movie all day. I can’t wait to watch it again, and look for things that I am sure I missed.

Evidence will affect you that is for sure…just be prepared to see things that you haven’t seen before. Give this movie a chance, even if you’re not a fan of found footage. You might just be surprised at this little movie. You won’t be disappointed…I know that I wasn’t.

Check out Land Of The Creeps with myself and GregaMortis and “Help Keep Horror Alive.”

Reviewer: Haddonfield Hatchet
Date: 04/05/2012
Rating: 7½/10
Recommendation: Buy

Trailer: Watch
DVD: Amazon.uk
BluRay: N/A
Social Media: Facebook

Followed Home Review

March 10, 2012 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: Followed Home
Year: 2010
Studio: Think Dreamer Productions
Director: Joaquin F. Palma
Language: English
Length: 73 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Slasher

Plot: Young friends on a weekend outing have the misfortune of witnessing a murder…only to be followed home by the killer. Unaware they’re being stalked by a maniac, the traumatized quartet of vacationers try to forget about the carnage…but then, they realize they’ve been followed home. Ever seen something scary and walked away feeling safe? Beware: You may have been…followed home!

Review: I am always excited when a new slasher hits the market, and after the initial scene I was thinking Followed Home had something strong going for it. In typical fashion, in the most clever of slashers, the filmmakers thrust you into the terror with a brutal opening. Followed Home was no exception; an initial stabbing with tension and screaming, but this movie takes a nosedive, and a fast one at that.

We meet 4 friends, Sam (Zachary Ryan Block), a new proprietor of his own website design firm, his girlfriend Lauren (Tammy De Kauwe) and 2 employees. These 4 head out into the mountains for a peaceful romp in a cabin. It’s during these 30 minutes, where you must suffer with the hideously poor dialog and lazy acting. The opening scene girl comes running to their abode which traumatizes them, they then struggle to maintain their own sanity.

Since the audience must suffer through the garbage time of the film, you are praying it can only get better when the hooded madman offs the friends one-by-one. It is quite the opposite; the attack scenes are hilariously bad and the scare scenes are utter failures. Not to mention the lackluster music and sound effects.

I racked my brain to think of some positive things in Followed Home, but I came away with basically zilch. This was one of the most boring slashers I have ever seen in my life. Coming in at a shade over an hour, I struggled whole heartedly to make it to the end. I can’t believe in a genre that is never boring you could botch such a thing.

Followed Home was released on DVD 4 months ago, and I am befuddled on how this got such wide distribution in many notable online retailers. This is bottom of the barrel horror fans. Overall, this is an epic disaster in the slasher genre, avoid it at all costs! Final rating is 1½.

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 03/10/2012
Rating: 1½/10
Recommendation: Avoid

Trailer: Watch
DVD: Buy.com
BluRay: N/A
Social Media: Facebook

The Devil Inside Review

January 20, 2012 By Horror Palace 2 Comments

Movie: The Devil Inside
Year: 2012
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: William Brent Bell
Language: English
Length: 83 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Paranormal, Exorcisms

Plot: At once spooky and grisly, this thriller follows a woman’s quest to find the truth behind claims that her mother killed three people during an exorcism. The daughter’s journey takes her to Italy, where she becomes involved in other exorcisms.

Review: The movie opens up with a 911 call in which a woman tells she had just murdered 3 people, then it goes to news footage of the crime scene and we get to see the bloody bodies which was very believable. Jump to present day and we get to meet Isabella who is the daughter of the woman who murdered these people and is now locked up in a mental institution in Italy.

Isabella decides to go to Italy to see her mother and to try and find out exactly what happened and to delve into the world of exorcism by making a documentary and even takes some classes on the subject.

The movie drags a little here while building character references and we meet a couple of priests who are doing exorcisms on people who the church felt were mentally challenged and not possessed. They decide to let Isabella and her camera man in on the action to film and this is where you get to see the first exorcism.

When you first get to see this girl who is kept down in this dark basement it is quite shocking the way her body is contorted and some of the things that she does. Shortly after we get to see an exorcism performed on Isabella’s mother which was a little chilling but not as shocking as what will happen after.

There are quite a few shocking things that happen in this movie that I was totally not expecting, surprisingly there is quite a bit of gore. I cringed a couple of times and was like (Holy Shit). There are a lot of screams throughout the movie that were blood curdling and I really liked the way they ended this movie, totally unexpected and a really good video effect.

My biggest negative for this movie is of course the documentary style and the shaky cam, I absolutely hate it! God if they would of made this like a regular movie it would of been so awesome.

Yes this was my top pick movie for the year 2012 and I knew going into it that it was documentary style but my love for possession movies and with The Exorcist being my all time favorite horror movie I had to go with this one. Besides the shaky camera work I was a little disappointed in the voices of the possessed, I think they should of gone with a deep crackling voice.

To me this movie had enough startling shocking moments and a bit of a twist to spend the money and go see it in the theaters. No it is not the new Exorcist and I don’t think they will ever make a movie that will take the top spot on my horror list but the story, acting and shock factor make this one to watch.

I don’t know where this will end up being on my list of best 2012 horror movies, probably not going to be number 1 but I enjoyed it and I think most horror fans will. If this movie wasn’t documentary style I would of given it around a 9 but seeing that it was my rating is a 7½, GO SEE IT!!

Reviewer: ChrisiFix
Date: 01/20/2012
Rating: 7½/10
Recommendation: See It

Trailer: Watch
DVD: N/A – In Theaters
BluRay: N/A – In Theaters
Social Media: Twitter

The Tenant Review

January 19, 2012 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: The Tenant
Year: 2010
Studio: ReelDreams Productions
Director: Ric La Monte
Language: English
Length: 94 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Monster, Thriller

Plot: Dr. Walter Newman is bent on ridding the human race of deficiencies via genetic manipulation. When his wife gives birth to twins, he realizes that one of his experiments has gone seriously awry. Years later, his abominable creation seeks its revenge.

Review: The Tenant begins with an engaging scene and 2 quick kills where then the movie shifts back in time to an asylum where a doctor is trying to come up with a cure to many human disabilities while ignoring his patients. This is where the story starts to drag. Half the movie focuses on a backstory when we finally jump to current day.

Michael Berryman does have a brief role in The Tenant, and he was phenomenal as always. During these experiments the doctor actually gets fluid out of his body, and this “juice” gets injected into twin fetuses in the womb, which causes one of them to become a deranged, retarded, monster so to speak.

It is this monsterized human who is terrorizing the halls of the old asylum which is now boarded up and in decay, but, it just so happens, a van-load of people breakdown right where the asylum is. The rest of The Tenant is a typical horror movie with some good kills, scary scenes with mediocre acting.

My favorite parts of this movie are when this monstrosity jumps and breaks through walls which really ratchets up the freak-out factor, giving you several startling scenes and leaves you on the edge of your seat as you never know where this creature is lurking. He also makes strange noises which is always a good thing.

Concluding the review of The Tenant; the beginning stages got boring, the characters were not that interesting after 10 minutes, be warned, then you have another 30 minutes of nothing really happening, for a horror movie that is a huge negative. It did redeem itself once you see this deformed human and what he does to some people, but taking The Tenant on a complete package, I am winding up right down the middle, and recommending a rental. It’s worth seeing but it is one that you forget shortly thereafter.

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 01/19/2012
Rating: 5/10
Recommendation: Rental

Trailer: Watch
DVD: Amazon
BluRay: N/A
Social Media: Facebook

Don’t Let Him In Review

January 14, 2012 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: Don’t Let Him In
Year: 2011
Studio: Straightwire Films
Director: Kelly Smith
Language: English
Length: 80 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Slasher

Plot: A fun-filled weekend getaway turns into a real-life nightmare for two couples who find themselves targeted by a serial killer. To make matters worse, the revelation of a dark secret divides the group when they need each other most.

Review: As in all slashers, the tension is ratcheted up from the get-go. You see some deranged man sawing off body parts while another woman is struggling with getting free. From there we jump back in time 2 days earlier.

We meet 2 couples heading out into isolation for a peaceful getaway. One of the ladies (Gemma Harvey) just had a one-night stand with a macho guy (Gordon Alexander), who is actually the younger sister of the other gentleman (Sam Hazeldine). That leaves one character left, Paige (Sophie Linfield), who was the tied up chick from the beginning.

You meet 3 other characters along the way in Don’t Let Him In; a hitchhiker, a sheriff, and a palm reader. This is a small cast, but nothing out of the norm for a low budget slasher. The story unfolds at a quick and steady pace which is always a positive for any movie, plus, you learn about “The Tree Surgeon,” a sadistic serial killer who hangs body parts from tree branches. There is not much down time, and the acting was fine, so at no point are you taken out of the film.

As slashers are my forte, Don’t Let Him In had some decent kills and some scary moments. Even a few back-and-forth twists are thrown in which made it enjoyable. There are some excellent throat slices that the camera focused on, giving gore fans a treat, outside of that, there were no inventive kills or nothing you haven’t seen before. The music and score was sort of a letdown. I would of liked a more chilling and bone-jarring track.

On a whole, Don’t Let Him In is a better than average horror flick from the UK, and one that needs to be seen. The movie was released less than 2 weeks ago on January 3rd of 2012, on DVD, BluRay and even for a 3-day rental at Amazon VOD, and if you have a Roku set-top box, it is available there also. My recommendation is; rent it or stream it, there is plenty there for horror fans to embellish one-time.

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 01/14/2012
Rating: 6/10
Recommendation: Rental

Trailer: Watch
DVD: Overstock
BluRay: Amazon
Social Media: Facebook

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