films

American Scream King Review

May 5, 2012 By Horror Palace 1 Comment

Movie: American Scream King
Year: 2010
Studio: Brain Damage Films
Director: Joel Paul Reisig
Stars: Jordon Hodges, Joel Paul Reisig, Aranzazu Diez, Kristin Mellian
Language: English
Length: 71 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Slasher, Horror/Comedy

Plot: When two sleazy street hoods wind up in possession of a video camera, they decide to make it big by shooting their own horror movie. Not ones to let a lack of funds, actors, or filmmaking experience stand in their way, the psycho duo opts to simply kill young women for real and record the grisly results.

Review: When you pop in an ultra low-budget horror flick, I always get excited. You never know before the movie begins if you have a gem in your hands. Well that feeling fades immediately with American Scream King. This is yet another one that tries the “Grindhouse” feel with black lines and weird squigglies running through the film. What these filmmakers fail to realize is that the 70’s cheap video camera style doesn’t work. You need some spit shine and polish to pull off the dated look, a la Death Stop Holocaust that the Grisly Zone team reviewed on Episode 028.

Off to the story; 2 lowlifes are wanting to make a horror film, they write 3 rules on a chalkboard when coming up with a concept. They state you need “Boobs, a Beast and Blood” and the rest doesn’t matter. While contemplating the effects portion they realize they have no idea what they are doing, so they concoct their ultimate plan of just killing the abductees, in effect, needing no special effects. What transpires is a group of women tied up in a basement (most topless or each one will become topless) while the 2 high school dropouts play little “games” with them.

Because American Scream King is a short movie, thank god, you still have to sit through the 2 leads “trying” to be demented, all the while making a “mock” on the genre I so dearly love. It’s amazing to me that filmmakers enter into the horror genre, have no idea how to make a movie, and can pass this off to us (horror fans) knowing that we will buy them. And we do, we love horror and support indies, but we have got to draw a line somewhere. Even more unbelievable and astonishing is that the writer/director/actor Joel Paul Reisig has his own “How-to Film School” at Be Your Own Hollywood. If you want to produce low-grade schlock that no one will like, and ruin your career, take the course!

Lets keep the ripping going on American Scream King, horrible audio quality, the screaming peaks and distorts making it unbearable, atrocious acting all around, and this one I am adding a “Stupid” factor of a 10. You may be thinking, I am coming in with the lowest possible overall score of a 1, but I always give credit where credit is due; there is one part with a drill that was actually passable (at least they did a little work there), and some of the girls were easy on the eyes.

American Scream King found distribution in February of this year and is available on DVD if you want to see how bad a horror film can be. After the review I shouldn’t have to say it but avoid American Scream King at all cost. It is not worth even a one-time rent.

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 05/05/2012
Rating: 2/10
Recommendation: Avoid

Trailer: Watch
DVD: Red Tag Market
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

Panic Button Review

December 1, 2011 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: Panic Button
Year: 2011
Studio: Movie Mogul Films
Director: Chris Crow
Language: English
Length: 92 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Thriller

Plot: Four young people win a competition of a lifetime; Jo (Scarlett Alice Johnson), Max (Jack Gordon), Dave (Michael Jibson) and Gwen (Elen Rhys from Season Of The Witch) are heading off on an all expenses paid trip to New York courtesy of the social network site “all2gethr.com.” As they board the private jet, they must relinquish their personal items and take part in the in-flight entertainment – a new online gaming experience. Once airborne the games begin, and it soon becomes evident through a series of twisted tasks, that the passengers are in for more than they dared imagine.

Review: With the increasing number of users year after year using social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, I found the concept of this movie to be a fresh idea, and wondered how they could turn a relatively friendly atmosphere into a horror movie. For the most part, I think they pulled it off.

You have 4 friends on this all2gethr.com social site, really strangers, board a plane heading from the UK to the USA, with a chance to win expensive prizes while airborne by playing these sickening games. You soon realize after Stage 2 of these mind games that the trip has a more grandiose purpose that leaves you on the edge of the seat wondering what this demented person behind this flight has in store for the passengers, and their families and friends.

Panic Button actually shies away from showing the kill scenes. You do get the picture, but the movie flashes the images by so quickly it loses its effectiveness. While this “higher purpose” story does come into play about 60 minutes in, the ending was completely predictable especially when you have seen as many horror movies as I have.

On a whole it was an intelligent story, and very relatable to the younger internet savvy teenagers. Panic Button lets you know just how public everything you do online is, both searchable and traceable. The dark tones with social networks really hits hard and is very true to real life. For me, I would of liked more of a chilling track and more violent scenes shown on camera. The acting was very good, but these characters were generally shady, and I just didn’t “feel” for them. With all that said, Panic Button is definitely worth a watch, get your hands on it, you will be entertained for the most part.

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 12/01/2011
Rating: 6/10
Recommendation: Rental

Trailer: Watch
DVD: Amazon.co.uk
BluRay: Amazon.co.uk
Social Media: Facebook

Grey Skies Review

November 26, 2011 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: Grey Skies
Year: 2011
Studio: Little Engine Films
Director: Kai Blackwood
Language: English
Length: 82 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Aliens, Sci-Fi

Plot: Kai Blackwood’s sci-fi thriller Grey Skies tracks a group of college friends reuniting for a fun weekend at a rented cabin whose drinking and carousing is interrupted by flashing lights, and the appearance of aliens who seem intent on taking over the planet starting with this house.

Review: I was anticipating a good alien style horror movie when the initial scene happened. It was very scary and left you wondering what in the heck is going on. The opening juts in your face with a creepiness tone and thrilling sets leaving you excited for what is to come. The credits then flash by and you meet the cast of characters that you will come to hate.

A clientele of friends meet-up at a desolated cabin for a gathering and good time. The story is character driven and if the actors weren’t so unlikable it just might of worked, for awhile anyways. When you finally get to the invasion, the director unbeknownst to me played off the aliens by making them blurry with a wobbling picture. I could see this happening once or twice leaving you in suspense, but for the whole film, it is totally weak.

There could have been many jump scenes and outright scares, but instead, we have to deal with actors making stupid remarks, which totally loses all credibility of a frightful movie. I will give Grey Skies some credit though. There is one scene in particular where the aliens are performing surgical procedures that was quite chilling, especially with the instruments that were used. One actress named Annie (Anne Griffin) did hold her own and should have been on screen more.

The ending is poor and makes little sense, which really I didn’t care because the movie had fizzled long before that. The music and sound effects weren’t the greatest either. There hasn’t been many good sci-fi, horror movies in the past decade, and Grey Skies is just another one that ultimately fails. Pass it by and maybe time travel to Alien or Event Horizon.

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Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 11/26/2011
Rating: 4/10
Recommendation: Avoid

DVD: Redford Films
BluRay: N/A
Social Media: Twitter

Official Grey Skies Trailer

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

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Official Grey Skies Trailer

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