wales_42 Reviews

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

A gripping sequel which matches its equally impressive predecessor.

[8/10 · 14 September 2013]

****Contains only minor spoilers - the plot is not revealed here.******

NOTE: Despite the 15 rating, I saw 3 children around that age leave towards the end so it may be worth bearing in mind if you're thinking of taking the family!

After just watching the sequel to the 2010 film Insidious, I would highly recommend anybody who was a fan or interested in the first film should get off their backsides and rush to the cinema ASAP. The ending suggests there will be a 3rd film in the near future and I have absolute faith that this franchise will know when to stop for the sake of quality film production.

Patrick Wilson continues his fantastic run of horror film roles in Insidious: Chapter 2. He plays the role of a man struck by an unexplainable dilemma in a superb fashion, even channeling shades of Jack Nicholson's character in The Shining when his possession appears to be in full force. Rose Byrne also plays the role of the mother to a tee once again with a seemingly natural display of a mother who is watching her life be toyed with.

The jumpy moments and scary scenes are in full force and perfect positioning. As a man who is rarely scared by most horror films, and found the first Insidious to be mildly terrifying, I will assure you that this film had me briefly toying with the idea of leaving out of anticipation for a real fright. I'm so glad I stuck firmly to my seat! Despite the real horror elements, there is a good plot and general explanation for why everything takes place in the film. Any questions are tied up and are not merely thrown in whenever is convenient for the director. There are brief comedic moments,featuring the two assistants to the medium in the first film, as well as a cleverly placed reunion scene towards the film's conclusion.

In short, this is a film which went against the stereotype that quality horror movies generally fail to answer with an equally impressive sequel. It has great actors, great special effects and a gripping plot which had me hooked from start to finish. I would strongly support that any fan of high quality, slow-burning horrors/thrillers should ensure they see this movie in cinemas or when it is released on DVD.

Colin (2008)

Good, relative to its production costs and cast,

[4/10 · 26 December 2012]

The one thing which makes me not appreciate the scathing reviews of Colin is that with films which are made with such a uniquely low budget and mainly cast of people who aren't even obscure actors, it is key to try and review this film with some relativity to the fact it does not measure up in production values and acting talent.

With that considered, Colin has several plus points which conventional and modern films will always lack. For example, the low quality camera-work and special effects (i.e. blood) is effective because the entire film is marketed in such a manner. It isn't a blip on an otherwise high-budget film, and has to be appreciated as a low-budget make. If only as a cheesily realistic look, the effects actually serve to make the film better. The second thing I really enjoyed was the unique outlook on a zombie flick from the perspective of a lone zombie without actually changing the traditional features of the modern zombie in horror films. Colin is still virtually mindless, unable to communicate and wants to eat people. We get to see the same zombie on his own travels whilst the world around him crumbles, and its a nice change from the lack of importance of zombies in the like of 28 Days Later.

Finally, the story itself was very interesting despite the lack of great dialogue. The story basically demonstrates the change from Colin's death to his undead status and life as a zombie, with a nice twist and a flashback at the end which changed my perception of the zombified Colin . It doesn't contain in-depth plot changes or massive swerves, but with the films basic story and lack of obvious building blocks; the tale remains unpredictable throughout and relatively gripping.

But of course, the obvious downside is the lack of dialogue. Even the non-zombified characters barely speak and parts of this could be vastly improved by a simple bit of conversation which alludes to or at least hints at the vague resemblance of a sub-plot.Instead, we have what turns into more of a diction-less documentary of someone who doesn't really do that much when its all said and done. As I will concede also, the low budget cannot be an absolute defence to the shoddy camera-work and poor acting/lighting at times. The acting and fight scenes are sometimes heavily drawn out and don't help people who really try to enjoy the simplicity of the film. It has been reported that even the director himself was not happy with some key parts of the film. My point is merely that some critics have over-criticised this aspect without contextualizing it or appear to have ignored how it was marketed to the public.

In short, this film was never destined to be a golden bloke/movie award winning piece and lives up to its low budget status. Definitely to be regarded as a marmite style cult horror/thriller which will either intrigue you or bore you to tears.

Secret Window (2004)

Depp's acting makes this slow-build film a very enjoyable watch.

[7/10 · 24 December 2012]

Being a fan of Depp's acting for years through the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, I chose to buy a series of his older films and this was the first to come through the post a little more than two years ago.

This film is a very interesting attempt at a thriller/drama and I can't fault much of the content at all. I will try not to give away too much of the story in this review. Depp is a writer, estranged from his wife who he discovered had an affair. He's approached by a man named Shooter who accuses him of stealing a story which Depp doesn't recognize. The main positive I took from this film is that the plot completely morphs as it progresses; starting with one issue which soon becomes irrelevant in the face of another. Whilst this might suggest poor writing, let me assure that it is not. Alongside this, the acting skills of Depp are very impressive; demonstrating his ability to act in virtually any role. Whilst his character as a lazy, cynical writer might appear very easy to portray, Depp left me feeling different emotion at different times for his character: something a lot of actors have struggled to get me to do in similar roles.

The ending is borderline unpredictable unless you've been following with keen eyes and ears throughout. Small hints are thrown at you without warning and its up to you to try and figure it out before it becomes obvious. Depp's character undergoes a dramatic transformation which ties up all the unexplained factors of the film, and within minutes the issues you thought were going to be solved suddenly become insignificant because you realise they were never issues to begin with.

My only point to warn people wanting to watch this film is that it is a slow-build film. Whilst this is clearly the films intention and done very well, it is not a film which explains much until the very end and I'd advise against watching it if you're not a fan of stories which appear to have an ending relatively unrelated to the beginning. Personally I think the last sentence waters down the effect of the ending but I'm not sure how to word it more suitably. In conclusion, I'd recommend this film to fans of detective/thriller who want a well told story over action-packed scenes.

Chernobyl Diaries (2012)

Scared me, but fell short of what I had hoped for.

[6/10 · 20 October 2012]

As an avid horror movie fan, I'll admit that it impresses me when a film is able to make me actually pause breathing for a split second, or make me clench back in my seat. I give credit to this film for being able to do it twice, which is more than I can say for Paranormal Activity, The Hills have Eyes etc. With that being said, the story did focus on a part of history which I'm very much interested in and this might mean I've rated the film more highly than people who came to see a general horror flick.

The film centres around a bunch of people illegally going to Chernobyl to explore the area affected by the nuclear disaster, before things go drastically wrong and the tried and tested system of people being plucked away is in motion. The film benefits from being mostly in darkness as it helps the jumpy aspects of some of the shock-moments, as well as the eerie music and camera-work which kept me on my toes throughout. As with most horror films, the major failure of this for me was to produce a storyline past the generic "people get attacked/killed by a mysterious thing(s)", instead following the trend and making me struggle to care about who died. The one thing I will comment on is that there is a good swerve at the end of the film which will throw you off guard, but by then you've already seen too much destruction and any hope of a happy ending is virtually impossible.

If this film had lasted twenty minutes longer and had used that time to contain some more structure of a plot, I would have enjoyed it almost twice as much as I did, but I did enjoy it anyway. Would recommend for anyone who is a avid horror junkie looking for something sort of new in terms of the "bad guys", as well as an interesting take on the effects of the Chernobyl disaster.

Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

One more film away from jumping the shark, but not too bad.

[4/10 · 20 October 2012]

Paranormal Activity 4 was a disappointment to put it bluntly. I won't go as far to say it was a film that I didn't think I'd got my money's worth out of, but I certainly wouldn't have paid more to see it and have no intention of buying it once it comes out on DVD unlike Paranormal Activity 1 & 2. The franchise as so many have said appears to be dwindling as the ability to mix up each successive film becomes harder and provides less of a pay off. The introduction of new recording equipment with "cool" features was little more than an attempt to make the film seem considerably different, but it failed to achieve that.

Instead, the film contained a lot more humour during the beginning/middle of the film than I expected or liked. The horror aspect has carried on alongside the previous films in various "shock jumps" which catch you off guard. However, in this film they were seemingly saved until the very end similar to Paranormal Activity 1. I also feel that the film failed to scare me or disturb me as much as PA 3 did, and the limited story around the demise of this unfortunate family is only alluded to occasionally through dialogue between Robbie/Wyatt and Alex.

All in all, I would recommend you go see this film if you want something similar to what the last 3 gave you, but I can't help feeling you'll leave the cinema in two minds. Scared because of the final 10 minutes, and deflated by how little you got out of it. It appears they'll be considering a 5th film judging by the post-credits, and I hope it either delivers or signals the final film of this once great sub-genre of horror film.

Sleeper (II) (2012)

An intriguing story, but fails to get the job done.

[5/10 · 14 October 2012]

Sleeper is your traditional prison escapee style horror film, the prisoner played fantastically by current part-time wrestler Raven (Scott Levy) who is portrayed originally as a deranged murderer with only a thirst for blood without explanation. What sets this film above the standard gore-filled horror fests is that they implement some form of a story between the killing. History between Resnik (Raven) and Kelly (the main girl) is alluded to but not substantially capitalized on until they very end of the film. The plot as you'd expect it gets turned on its head, and the portrayal of multiple characters in the film will be reversed. It beats the commonly acclaimed horror films such as The Hills have Eyes in terms of storyline and plot development.

What lets this film down is three things. Firstly, the non-important characters who effectively play bowling pins for Resnik to decimate aren't adequately characterized much further than being arrogant teenagers and this makes it hard to get emotionally involved when their demise is potentially due. Whilst the storyline does somewhat justify this attitude, it would have been more gripping to have been swerved, much like many wrestling stories have ended being successful (ironically). Secondly, the story isn't adequately ended. Whilst a plot forms, it doesn't close nor does it end in a way which is sufficiently ambiguous for the audience to try and draw multiple conclusions from. Instead, it left me scratching my head and wondering why certain things had happened, knowing I had little evidence to come up with any real theory. Finally, the inability of Resnik to talk at all in the film hurt his character as much as it helped it, as I feel if given the chance we could have seen perhaps a warped, intelligent side to this very one dimensional murderer we see in many similar films.

In conclusion, I would recommend Sleeper for those of us who want to see Raven in an acting role not too similar to his wrestling role as a sociopath and someone who cares little of the pain he inflicts on those around him.