Horror Movie Reviews

Death Hunter: Werewolves Vs. Vampires Review

November 17, 2011 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Death Hunter - Werewolves Vs Vampires Cover Poster

Movie: Death Hunter: Werewolves Vs. Vampires
Year: 2010
Studio: MTI Home Video
Director: Dustin Rikert
Language: English
Length: 92 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Werewolves, Vampires

Plot: When a stranded motorist is tagged by a werewolf in the Arizona desert — mere moments after his wife was attacked by vampires — a werewolf-vampire hunter comes to his rescue and trains him how to fight the creatures of the night.

Review: This is going to be completely a one-sided review because Death Hunter taps into the bottom of the barrel. This is an example of how not to make a horror movie.

Lets get the story out of the way before I go into a vicious diatribe. A couple celebrating there one-year anniversary head out into the desert for a camping vacation. They run out of gas before they reach their destination and come across a strip joint that is the home of a vampire clan. The wife (Shari Wiedmann) gets kidnapped and the husband (Sam McConkey) escapes, but soon gets bit by a werewolf. Low and behold, a mysterious hunter has invented a concoction to stop the man-to-werewolf transformation and tells the husband he is the chosen one. We then get shuffled off to 30 minutes of training sessions, and then the fight to save his wife ensues, hence, a sort-of werewolf hybrid verse weak vampires.

The bads; everything! Death Hunter has extremely poor acting, atrocious CGI, horrible fake sets, outrageously bad music and sound effects, total amateurish video effects, and if it could get more cruddy it does; we get a horror movie that isn’t frightening in the least. This movie is meant to be serious and scary, but it achieves just the opposite.

There is one semi-good computer aided effect when the sensei of sorts, stops the werewolf transformation. It looked pretty good with greenish wobbling effects running through the body. I am lenient of sorts when it comes to independent horror movies, and can usually pick out several positive points in the low budget side of horror, but Death Hunter: Werewolves Vs. Vampires is totally lame and I am disappointed with every aspect of this film. Avoid like the plague!

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 11/17/2011
Rating: 1/10
Recommendation: Avoid

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

11-11-11 Review

November 11, 2011 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: 11-11-11
Year: 2011
Studio: Canonigo Films
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Language: English, Spanish
Length: 86 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Supernatural

Plot: American author Joseph Crone travels to Spain to spend time with his dying father after the death of his own wife and child. While abroad, he is plagued by strange occurrences and the persistent appearance of the number 11. It eventually becomes clear that the number refers to a mystical date when forces will converge and Heaven’s eleventh gate will open.

Review: It has to be fitting to have a written review up on November 11, 2011 for a movie titled 11-11-11. Am I the only one doing this, don’t bet on it. I am sure there will be a flood of reviews for this movie today, but I am glad you came to Horror Palace to get the real lowdown on a boring, predictable, religious-style movie that ultimately fails in all aspects.

You have an Atheist (Timothy Gibbs) who is ready to cease living because his wife and kid perished. The first 25 minutes deals with this guy who can’t find a reason to go on living when ring-ring a phone call comes in from his estranged Prophet brother (Michael Landes) saying that their father is dying in another country.

Well it’s probably not hard for you to figure out, he hops on a plane and once there, starts to get persuaded and gradually becomes a believer. He starts seeing all sorts of things dealing with the number eleven, and with a little research, the date coincides with angels or demons, depending on how you look at it, can pass over and mingle with the living.

Although there are many problems with this movie and story, the biggest fault is the multitude of failed jump scares. They were poorly timed, and the music was bland, which made most of the scenes lackluster at best. The makeup and ghost-style effects were laughably bad and not scary. The ending you seen coming a mile away about halfway through, which really hurts a movie of this style as the buildup is an epic bumbling.

I cannot give this movie much credit at all except for a few actors. Better than average and maybe with a smarter script and more freaky-style scenes could of made 11-11-11 a much better movie. It is the winding down of that time of year for horror movies, and I am sad to say fans, skip this one, save your money, and curl up with a good DVD at home.

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 11/11/2011
Rating: 2½/10
Recommendation: Avoid

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

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) Review

November 5, 2011 By Horror Palace 2 Comments

The Human Centipede 2 - Full Sequence Cover Poster

Movie: The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)
Year: 2011
Studio: Six Entertainment Company
Director: Tom Six
Language: English
Length: 85 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Torture, Thriller

Plot: Disturbed loner Martin is so obsessed with the shock horror film The Human Centipede that he decides to replicate that film’s grisly experiment. In this meta-sequel, the stakes are raised, with 12 unlucky souls enduring surgical hell.

Review: I want to start off by saying that I really enjoyed the first movie, it was highly original and I found it to be very entertaining, sick and demented and I rated it as one to watch. When I heard there was going to be a sequel, I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I was pleased to find out that Amazon’s Video on Demand was playing this film.

For my review I will start with the negatives of The Human Centipede 2; number one and foremost the film is in black & white. The writer/director Tom Six thought that this would raise the bar in the scare factor of the movie and make it out to be more believable. I totally disagree! I think it would of been so much better in color, there were so many kill scenes and blood spattering that color would of made it so much more intense. I love gory movies and the gorier the better and with this movie being in black & white I think it takes away from that so that it doesn’t seem as gruesome.

Another negative I had was there was very little talking in the movie. The lead character does not speak a word, he utterly mumbles a few things and makes some sound effects. It is not so much that I wanted to hear him talk because I think that it made him out to be much more deranged and psychotic, but I think there should of been a little more conversations throughout.

One final negative, I wanted to see more of the actual surgeries of attaching 12 people together. There were only a few brief scenes where you see some cutting and some stapling of the mouths to the anus. I am the type of horror fan that likes to see everything, the gorier the better. Just would of liked some more in there.

Now for the positives; I really like how they incorporated the first movie into this one with the lead character watching the actual movie and attaining his disgusting sadistic and inhuman idea. Also I liked the fact that they had one of the actual stars in the first one, which is Ashlynn Yennie. This sequel is much more vulgar, disgusting and downright nauseating. Plenty of bashing in heads and blood spattering kills.

The lead role played by Laurence Harvey was perfect! You could not of gotten a better person for this role. He had me convinced that he was totally out there I mean outer space out there in his role. His demeanor, fat belly, bulging eyes and evil sick little chuckles made this the perfect part for him.

I will finish up by saying that the director left the film open for another sequel. This movie is definitely not for the weak or faint hearted and you might want to have a vomit bag handy especially for one of scenes near the end of the movie. I really liked the ending, I was surprised and shocked! True horror fans, this is one movie you will want to see, that is if you can stomach it!!!

Reviewer: ChrisiFix
Date: 11/05/2011
Rating: 6½/10
Recommendation: Stream It

Trailer: Watch
VOD: Amazon Instant Video
BluRay: N/A
Social Media: Wikipedia

Vlog Review

November 2, 2011 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: Vlog
Year: 2008
Studio: Iceblink Films
Director: Joshua Butler
Language: English
Length: 71 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Slasher

Plot: The grim extremes of a world of live webcams are on graphic display when an attractive female “vlogger” is murdered online for all the world to see. The hunt for her killer brings to light even more grisly deeds in this crime thriller.

Review: Vlog is yet another horror movie trying to fool the viewer into thinking you are watching real footage. It is filmed in a fashion making you think what you are watching has actually happened. Come on filmmakers it has been done, over-used and ultimately has failed except for a few lucky movies.

This film is touted as “From the Producers of Saw” to try and garner some sort of recognition. Producers and Studios will throw out all sorts of malarkey to suck the horror audience in. The thinking behind this is; if you like Saw then you will buy this, well we are not that stupid. When you throw low-grade movies out to the fans like Vlog nothing will help. Also, this wrapped in 2008 and it took 3 years to get released on DVD. I guess the Producers from Saw were sitting on this gem.

Lets touch on the story somewhat; if you are not Internet savvy, Vlog stands for Video Log, and it is basically a series of videos which documents someone’s life and posted on the net. In this movie, a young, cute blonde goes through her daily life documenting sexual encounters, friends and other things like that. The table turns on her though when an unknown assailant starts offing her acquaintances in horrific fashion.

I must point out that there are some good things about Vlog, specifically the kill scenes. They are brutal, violent, sickening and very convincing. The premise is; the killer must completely destroy the bodies leaving no trace of existence, and some of the things filmed are bloody disturbing. So credit goes to makeup and the effects department.

As an overall horror movie, the acting was weak and camera shots were poor and annoying, never-ending changing. The last climax did have a shocking revelation I didn’t see coming, but after the final credits rolled, I was happy it was only slightly over an hour in length, because I barely made it through this film, wanting to stop it midway.

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 11/02/2011
Rating: 3½/10
Recommendation: Avoid

Trailer: Watch
DVD: J&R
BluRay: N/A
Social Media: N/A

Paranormal Activity 3 Review

October 27, 2011 By Horror Palace 2 Comments

Movie: Paranormal Activity 3
Year: 2011
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Language: English
Length: 85 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Paranormal

Plot: A malign and murderous spirit continues to dwell within a San Diego home in this second creepy sequel to 2007’s chilling Paranormal Activity. Hoping to catch photo evidence of Bloody Mary, the residents soon become victims in their own horror film.

Review: Just in case you don’t know, I literally loathe handheld, shaky cam, documentary, home movie style horror movies. I think for the most part they are a directorial cop out, and what really makes my skin boil is the flood of these horror movies that have hit to the streets since “The Blair Witch Project.” Now after those scathing remarks you will no doubt assume that this will be a poor review for Paranormal Activity 3, well continue reading as you might be surprised.

Paranormal Activity 3 is a prequel happening before the original movie. We do get a brief clip of the star Katie Featherston in the beginning of the movie, but for the most part the story revolves around her family when she was a pre-teen along with her younger sister, mother and step-dad.

The family begins to experience supernatural happenings that gets progressively worse as in both Paranormal Activity 1 and 2. But this time around they actually show more diabolical phenomenon’s, and what they show is quite disturbing and generally scary. This time around it effects children and it effects them hard. One of the girls has an imaginary friend that turns violent and very abusive.

The last 20 minutes are downright creepy, and the director pulled off some scenes that were unbelievably freaky. The story ends in a completely shocking nature you never seen coming. This goliath of a franchise will, I predict, have a 4th installment, no doubt whatsoever.

I enormously appreciated that this movie doesn’t have an abundance of shaky cam, most of it is stationary, and there is even an ingenious part where the step-dad concocts an oscillating fan with a piece of wood to make a smooth panning shot. Even the sounds grab you making for a half a dozen jump scenes. I still can’t believe that this style film has garnered a recommendation from me, for the first time ever might an add. This is by far the best unprofessional video camera movie ever made. I am here to tell you, go watch Paranormal Activity 3 at the theater, you will be scared!

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 10/27/2011
Rating: 7/10
Recommendation: Go See It

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

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