Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Following: episode 15 "The Final Chapter"

***SPOILERS***





Last night's finale found me having my heart in my throat for the last ten minutes. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was heart-stopping.

We start off seeing that Joe has taken Claire to a secluded island with a nearby lighthouse. Joe and Claire still aren't getting along, that's safe to say.

Agent Hardy and Weston, along with the rest of the FBI try and find where agent Parker was taken as they watch a security video showing her being put in a trunk. Hardy sees a little boy approaching the station wearing an Edgar Allen Poe mask. The little guy tells Hardy and the FBI that some girl paid him $20 to wear the mask. Inside of it is written a number in marker.

They call the number to find that it belongs to the cell phone left with agent Parker in her coffin.

The FBI tracks down the car agent Parker was taken in and see that the tire is slashed, realizing that the car was meant to be found. Not a second later they undergo severe gunfire. Hardy is able to sneak away without being seen by the sniper and disarm him. Hardy and Weston take the sniper into a run down shack and demand that he tells them where Parker is or they'll torture him. Not believing them, the follower gets smug to which causes him to get beat down and having Hardy damn near poke his eyes out. He talks and tells them where Parker is buried.

On the way to the burial site, Parker tells Weston and Hardy how proud she is of them and how glad she is she got to work with them. She's breathing faintly and sounds tired. Hardy and Weston arrive on the scene a mere moments later and dig her up, only to find that she didn't make it. After a moment of their mourning, the sniper starts mocking them and Hardy goes over to him and shoots him dead like a dog, a lot like what Brad Pitt did in "Se7en" to Kevin Spacey.

In Parker's coffin, Hardy finds Joe's book and skims through it to find that it's all been planned. Everything. Their arrival to Parker's burial being too late to save her and the shootout that happened earlier. But Joe got some things wrong, in his book Weston got killed at the shootout earlier. Thus leaving them hope to change the story. As Hardy reads on, he discovers where Claire is and what he has to do.
He holds agent Weston at gunpoint and insists that he not be followed.

Meanwhile, Joe and Claire have a heated discussion and Joe kills a man he's taken hostage right in front of her. Showing her who he is and making her face it.

When Ryan arrives, he's greeted by Emma who makes him take his gun and phone out. He is then blindsided by another follower and drugged. 

Ryan wakes up to Claire tied in a chair and Joe holding a knife. This is where Joe and Ryan finally have it out with words. Ryan provoking him to change his ending from killing Claire to killing him. He starts really getting under Joe's skin before he makes a quick attack and chases Joe off. Once untied, Ryan chases Joe into the boat house and they fight their final fight as a fire breaks out from Ryan's gun shooting some gas cans. Joe struggles but is finally defeated by Ryan as he's thrown into the fire that becomes a huge explosion.

Ryan talks the FBI agents into letting him take Claire back to his house and so he does. There, they're about to have a nice romantic dinner. The takeout guy is very suspicious and Ryan doesn't see it because he's in ecstasy over his victory. He hears a bang, as if someone opened and closed his door. So he goes to check and sees nothing, so he locks it. Only to be greeted in the kitchen by his neighbor Molly, who after stabbing him in the stomach, tells him about her being a follower and how her chapter is killing Ryan.

Claire inters the room and is stabbed in the back by Molly and Ryan screams leaving us with a cliffhanger.

I knew the finale was going to pack some punch and it didn't let me down. It was a solid finale to a solid first season. I'm sad agent Parker is gone, but I'm glad they killed her off to stop being so predictable with her near death encounters. 

If I have one issue with the finale it's that I think Weston should have had a bigger part to play. He's been through hell and still there fighting the good fight and I feel like he earned having some spotlight. I get that Joe and Ryan's story was more important, but I think they could have squeezed him in more.

Oh, and Emma didn't die. I'm mad about that...

I can only imagine what's going to happen next season as it looks like Joe's followers will still be going strong and keeping his legacy alive. If anything, his death may be the cause of more followers and you've got to think that they're going to be very angry at Ryan and Claire.


THIS EPISODE GETS 3 1/2 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5



THIS SEASON GETS 4 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5


Monday, April 29, 2013

Frankenhooker (1990)


"A Terrifying Tale of Sluts & Bolts"


RATED- R
RUN TIME- 85 MINS
WRITER(S)- FRANK HENENLOTTER AND ROBERT MARTIN
STARRING- JAMES LORINZ, JOANNE RITCHIE AND PATTY MULLEN
DIRECTOR- FRANK HENENLOTTER



Synopsis taken from IMDb
A medical student sets out to recreate his decapitated fiance by building her a new body made of Manhattan street hookers.




I first saw this movie just two nights ago and instantly fell in love with it. I've seen it around before and I've heard of it, but I'd never watched it. Now, I'm very glad I did. "Frankenhooker" had all the ingredients to make me a happy man.

I love how although it's very loosely based on Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" novel, they still throw out little homages. Like the lead character Jeffrey's last name is Franken, and his fiance's last name is Shelly, it's little touches like that that'll make me appreciate this movie. They knew they weren't making an Oscar winning movie, they were making a good, fun horror comedy.

When Jeffrey's fiance Elizabeth gets chopped to pieces by Jeffrey's remote controlled lawnmower I couldn't help but laugh. I knew from the beginning this was going to be a fun watch. The effects are so corny and cheesy, yet they're endearing. This falls right into the category of "Re-Animator" and "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark" with it's humor and entertainment quality. It's not as good as either of the films mentioned, but it's in the same class and one I'd definitely watch again, and with friends.


There's so many funny parts that're so memorable. One of the things that really had me going was the super crack that Jeffrey concocts in order to get the hookers high and in a catatonic state so he can take the limbs from each hooker he wants. He first tests it on a gerbil, and the crack is so potent that the little guy explodes.  Needless to say when the hookers take it the same thing happens to them, which is hysterical.  And Jeffrey doesn't need to surgically cut the hookers' limbs off because their bodies are all over the floor and in pieces. So he can just take what he wants and go.

After using all the limbs he's gotten off of the prostitute, Jeffrey gets to work on making his fiance whole again. But it never works out like they plan it to, does it? Elizabeth comes back and is a horny, greedy hooker. All the parts used to create her from prostitutes caused her to become one. Elizabeth storms the city looking for a good pay day.

The whole movie is enjoyable, even Jeffrey hunting her down to bring her back home. And yes, it does have an expected ridiculous and funny ending that perfectly fits this film.

Believe it or not, there's not any serious or hardcore sex scenes in this movie. It's actually not that type of movie at all, it's just got some nudity but just about every horror film does. 


I really liked Elizabeth's look. It's cheap, but fitting and she looked cool. She'd be a very cool Halloween costume, if you've got the body for it. She was the perfect female version of Frankenstein's monster and Patty Mullen was on point playing her.

There's not too much to analyze with this movie. It's pretty straight forward and is what it is. The only thing that there is to say is that this is yet another movie that shows how playing God never works out for anyone. If anything it goes ten times worse than you can even imagine when weighing the consequences out. It's about the abuse of power men would have if we had such an ability to create life and it shows how stupidly we'd waste it. "Frankenhooker" is a black comedy that tells this story in an entertaining and lighthearted way.

I'll be buying this one on DVD or Blu-Ray soon. I must own this. I've got a few people I'm going to turn  onto this movie as well. I know they'll enjoy it as much as I have.



THIS FILM GETS 3 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5







Sunday, April 28, 2013

Netflix Original Series "Hemlock Grove"





"Hemlock Grove" is a show based on McGreevy's book of the same title. It's a supernatural series that takes place in the fictional town of Hemlock Grove in Pennsylvania.

From the trailer I wasn't really sold on this show, but since I'm a Netflix hound I figured I'd give it a shot. And when I commit to something I'm in it until the duration. Unless it's Madmen. Christ almighty, I couldn't get into that show to save my life. But I gave "Hemlock Grove" the benefit of the doubt since it's yet another horror show going on right now.

The show picks up with Peter Rumancek (Landon Liboiron) and his mother move into the town of Hemlock Grove. They move into an old trailer in the woods and are instantly looked down upon for being Gypsy's. From the way Peter and his mother act, we can tell they're used to the cruel treatment and have learned to deal with it.

Roman Godfrey (Bill Skarsgard) and his mother Olivia Godfrey (Famke Janssen) are the rich and wealthy of the town. They're snobs. Roman has an obsession with blood and likes cutting himself. He has a sister who's extremely disfigured and freakishly tall. She has a blue glow to her that informs the viewer that she's not just a  deformed circus freak, there's something to her.


Suspicion arises all around town when a teen is brutally mangled by what local authority believes to be an animal. Instantly the heat comes down on Peter and his mother, claiming that they are werewolves. Yet again, they deal with the pressure and keep moving forward.

Eventually, Peter and Roman befriend each other and the really crazy stuff begins. I'll stop here since it's a new show and some of you are probably still watching it. It took me about 3 days to watch all 13 episodes in between working.

What I can say positive about this show is that there is one hell of an awesome werewolf transformation scene, and while it isn't an original idea I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a true werewolf scene. Gritty and painful and they don't hold back on the gore. This idea however, was first done in 2004's blockbuster "Van Helsing".

I also like how the show is a true horror show. It's got it's pop culture touch to it, but it's definitely a non watered down version of  the CW's "The Vampire Diaries". HBO's "True Blood" still holds dominant for best show about werewolves and vampires though.

The cast of this show struggles, but I feel that this show is just getting off it's feet. The last few episodes really start to show it's potential. So hopefully if we get a 2nd season it'll pick up at a much faster pace. The story unfolds well, but still leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions.

This show certainly has it's character flaws and one of the main things I found wrong with it is that I don't really like a single character on the show except for Peter. So they need to throw some more character development in there. Too much time was wasted on the investigation of the "animal attacks" and not enough time dedicated to making the characters more than one dimensional.

"Hemlock Grove" has just begun to bare it's fangs and if we have another season I think the gloves are coming off. Not the best first season to a show I've seen by far, but far from the worst.



THIS SEASON GETS 3 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5


Saturday, April 27, 2013

Tom Hiddleston to possibly play Eric Draven in "The Crow" remake



Sources state that Tom Hiddleston is on his way to being the lead in "The Crow" remake. It was up in the air for a while as to if Bradley Cooper will be getting this part, but in the end it didn't work out. Thank God for that. I don't think that Bradley Cooper would have been good for that role at all.

I don't personally think "The Crow" needs to be remade, nor do I think it should be remade. Brandon Lee died doing that role and he'll forever be immortalized as that character. He put a face on the character and movie for good.

However, a remake is inevitable I suppose. I think Tom Hiddleston is a better fit for the role than Bradley Cooper. With his angular face and features as well as his build. If he has his hair like he had it as Loki in "Thor" and "The Avengers" than I think I can see it working. How he'll perform is another story. Let's hope he does good.

It isn't final yet that he's gotten the role. He has to pass the makeup test to see if he fits what they're looking for. So we'll have to wait and see. I can't say I'm not scared that they aren't going to butcher what the original created, but I remain optimistic.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Hannibal: episode 5 "Coquilles"





Now I just found out that episode 4 is online to watch, so I've already watched last nights episode so I'll just roll with the punches. Episode 4 was pulled from the lineup due to controversial content. So now you all know to watch it online, if you haven't already. I'll be watching it tonight most likely but I don't think I'll be reviewing it since we're an episode ahead now.

"Conquilles" starts off with Will Graham not waking up in the middle of the forest and not knowing how he got there, though he is conscious of where he is. The local police look at him like he's crazy.

Will goes to a therapy session and seeks Hannibal's advice. Hannibal comforts him with his knowledge and courtesy and ultimately puts it in Will's head that Jack Crawford is the reason he's losing his mind. Jack and all of his investigations he makes Will go on, knowing how it effects Will.

Downtown, we see a suspicious looking guy looking at a couple and from his perspective, their heads are balls of fire.

Later, Jack calls Will to a crime scene in a hotel where we see the couple knelt down at the end of the bed in prayer poses. But they're dead and their backs have been skinned in order to appear as if they have flesh wings. The wings are holstered up to the ceiling with fishing line. They discover that the bed is soaked in sweat and the nightstand is covered in vomit. The murderer couldn't stomach what he did.

Back at Hannibal's house, Jack Crawford and his wife Phyllis are being served dinner by Dr. Lecter. Hannibal smells Phyllis and says she has a lovely perfume on, but we know they're another reason. During dinner we get serious reason to believe that Phyllis and Jack aren't getting along lately and Hannibal observes.


Another crime is committed and Will is able to figure out that their killer is targeting criminals. This also leads him to believe that their unsub is having issues with his own faith and that something bad probably happened to him recently. 

Phyllis begins seeing Hannibal for therapy sessions and we discover that she has cancer and that's what Hannibal smelled on her earlier in the episode when she and Jack were having dinner with him. She's scared to tell Jack and face him, she's mentally beat up and physically tired.

A woman comes to Will and Jack and gives them information that leads them to believe her husband is who they're looking for.

After finding another victim, Will and Jack realize that the deceased is actually their killer. He killed himself and sacrificed himself. Will and Jack have words when Will snaps at Jack about how he's sick of the job and it's ruining him. We're really beginning to see a decrease in Will's stamina and ability.

Jack goes to Hannibal's office to confront his wife and Dr. Lecter leaves them his office while he leaves. Phyllis tells Jack about her cancer and how she isn't doing chemo sessions. She also tells him that there's nothing he can do to comfort her.

Later, Will joins Jack in his office and says they need to talk. They both sit there in silence as Will knows Jack's not thinking clearly and the episode ends.

Another solid episode from this show! I'm loving it. I'm actually really intrigued to watch the 4th episode now. I don't want to miss a second of this show!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Funny Games (1997)






RATED- UNRATED
RUN TIME- 108 MINS
WRITER(S)- MICHAEL HANEKE
STARRING- SUSANNE LOTHAR, ULRICH MUHE AND ARNO FRISCH
DIRECTOR- MICHAEL HANEKE



Synopsis taken from IMDb
Two psychotic young men take a mother, father and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.




Recently, all that I have on my Netflix instant queue is foreign horror films. I've watched just about every other English horror film I've added. So now I'm chomping away at watching 30+ foreign movies, little by little and day by day. This is one of the ones I've had on there for a while and have never gotten around to viewing it, until the other day when I finally decided that "Funny Games" should surface to the top. It seemed the most appealing. What I do is I pick 3 movies on my queue and then view the trailers for all three on youtube, whichever looks the most appealing is the one I go with.

One of the reasons that I chose "Funny Games" is because it's content is extremely close to "The Strangers" and Ethan Hawke's new film "The Purge". If you haven't seen the trailer for "The Purge" you may do so now and thank me later. It looks as though it's going to be a very creepy movie and with Ethan Hawke as the lead it should be promising. Ethan Hawke is a very strong actor and is utterly convincing in some of his roles. Like "The Purge" and "The Strangers", "Funny Games" is a home invasion movie.

What's so scary about home invasion movies? It's the shock of not being in control in your own house. The not so good feeling of being helpless and ultimately it's the invasion of privacy. Your home is your domain, it's your castle, so to speak. When someone trifles that, it strikes home and hits you where it hurts. Here you are paying rent, working a job (possibly even multiple) and some stranger comes along and makes it all go to hell. 


Permanently scaring you and causing you paranoia whenever you're alone. Scarring you for good. Ruining your vision of your comfort zone and constantly reminding you that no matter where you are, you're never safe. To feel that helpless in your own home, a place that you've put all your earnings into, is unsettling. I can't even imagine the mental state some families are in when they go through this. To be a victim in the one place that you feel safe and feel you can hide is not only chilling but terrifying.

"Funny Games" starts with Georg, his wife Anna and their son Georgie arriving at their Austrian lake house with their dog, Rolfi. They seem like an average happy couple and people we all can relate to, and thus making the characters known to us so we can sympathize with them during the events of this movie. The film surprisingly doesn't take long to pick up the pace and start rolling the ball.

Two young men by the names of Peter and Paul arrive at the house, saying they're with one of the neighbors and need to borrow 4 eggs. They're liars, of course, and are only using the egg situation as a means to disable Anna's phone and to scope the house. When Anna picks up something's strange with the boys she asks her husband to make them leave, only to make the situation worse. 

Peter and Paul take the family into the living room after crippling Georg with a golf club. From here they start mocking the family and start to play games with them. What I found truly disturbing is that Peter and Paul have no remorse. They're heartless bastards who need a good old ass whooping from their daddy. They're actually amused at taking this family and terrorizing them. It's all fun and games to them, no pun intended.

There are several parts where Paul looks at the screen and addresses the audience and thus reminding us, the viewer, that this is only a movie despite how screwed up it is. I believe they did this because the movie's so horrific and tragic with how the victim's are terrorized. But despite being unrated, the film hardly has any violence in it. Most of all the brutality happens off screen but we get the idea of what happened. This shows you that you can create enough tension and terror that you don't need to show gore or overly violent deaths or tortures.


The whole movie you're just waiting for Anna to make her move and take atleast one of the young men out. They toy with her son by sacking his face (cover picture) and threaten to hurt him unless Anna undresses and shows them her body. Peter and Paul also do some major damage to Georg, and I couldn't help but get upset at how smug these guys are. They really played their parts well. Unfortunately, Anna doesn't get to get redemption. None of them do. 

And Anna watches her family murdered in front of her eyes before she herself is tied up and thrown into the lake, meeting her demise. What really unnerved me was that not only do Peter and Paul get away with this atrocious crime, but they continue the cycle as the movie ends with them going to Anna's neighbors house and asking to "borrow some eggs".

"Funny Games" was definite a good watch and it gets my seal of approval. It's the realism of it that unsettles you. However, I couldn't help but think that if I was Georg or Anna I would have done more to stop the evil scum terrorizing their family. I understand Georg's leg was messed up but unless my legs were chopped off I would have still severely hurt Peter and Paul and it wouldn't have been pretty. I'm afraid it's Anna and Georg's lack of action that results in their death and their son's death.



THIS FILM GETS 3 1/2 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5 




Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Bates Motel: epidsode 6 "The Truth"

***SPOILERS***





The "Bates Motel" is certainly on of the best shows on right now and even though it was off to a somewhat slow start, it looks as if it's picked up for good.

In this episode Norma is faced with the reality that the girl Norman found is in fact a victim of her precious Deputy Shelby. She acts erratically and panics, jumping into her car to speed off and look for Shelby. But before she can do anything irreversible, Norman jumps into the moving car and luckily talks sense into his mother.

Norman and Norma are conflicted with their options. Clearly turning Deputy Shelby over to the police is the best and most logical option. But Shelby still has the belt that is evidence that Norma killed Keith Summers earlier this season. So turning Shelby in may only cause her own demise. That is until Dylan steps up and offers to help Norman find the belt, to rid them of any ties to the murder.

While on the way to Deputy Shelby's boat, Dylan tells Norman about his new place and how he wants Norman to live with him and get to have a normal life away from his mom and her smothering. Norman seems to accept.

Once they're on the boat, they instantly begin to search at a steady pace. 

Back at the house, Norma is waiting for her boys to get back and hoping they have good news about finding the belt. Instead, Deputy Shelby pulls up and starts talking sweet on Norman. This is a bad situation seeing as Norma has Shelby's kidnap victim only a few rooms down the lot.

Meanwhile, Dylan and Norman are chatting while searching the boat and Dylan has an idea it's in the pipe overhead. After unscrewing it we see he's right.

At the hotel, Norma isn't enjoying Shelby's love making too much. You can see she's got other things on her mind. But when Shelby pics up on it, she instantly cheers up and offers Shelby a second turn. That is until Shelby hears a noise from the house and realizes that someone is in the hotel with them, he can hear the water from someone taking a shower a few rooms down.

Back at the boat, Norman and Dylan get rid of the belt by throwing it into the lake. Absolving them of any future blackmail or guilt. Dylan tells Norman that Norma killed his father. Then they begin to head home.

At the hotel, Shelby walks by each one of the rooms to the hotel until he finds the one where the water is coming from. Then he knocks and demands the door be open. Norma instantly comes up with a paper thin lie saying that it is a painter she said could stay. Just as they begin to argue the door opens and Shelby sees his kidnap victim. She screams and runs off into the woods and he pursues.

Finally, Norman and Dylan show up and before Norma can tell them the chaos going on, Dylan tells her the belt is gone forever and that Norman's moving out. You see the light in her eyes dim and defeat her. She then tells them what's going on with Shelby and the kidnap girl, before Shelby comes back and holds them at gun point. He walks them up to the house where they can "figure this out".

At the house, Shelby babbles on and on. Blaming Norman for this all happening and then he begins to scream at and slap Norma. Meanwhile, you see Norman sort of spacing out and losing focus. He looks like a drone. Something tells you that he's about to make a move. After Shelby hits Norma so hard she falls out of her chair, Norman jumps up and grabs Shelby, knocking the gun out of his hand and Dylan is quick to retrieve it. Shelby knocks Norman out and then gets into a shootout with Dylan. Dylan takes a slug to the shoulder and Shelby takes on in the leg.

Amidst the gunfire, Norma brings Norman outside and gets him into the car after calling the police. 

Shelby is searching the house for Dylan, who's upstairs hiding while he reloads his empty gun. Dylan begins to ascend the stairs.

In the car, Norma realizes she forgot her keys in her bedroom, so she and Norman are stuck. All the while, Norman is in his dream state still and we hear 3 gunshots. Everything goes silent as we're awaiting to see who is the survivor between Deputy Shelby and Dylan. We see someone come out of the house and as they get closer we begin to realize who it is-Deputy Shelby. Only he's shot twice in the chest and stomach and once in the right eye. He aims his gun at Norma and Norman in the car but falls dead before he can do anything.

Soon after, Dylan comes from the house and greets his mother and tells her this time they're going to tell the truth to the police. No more games with lies and deceit. Only Norma tells him it's not that simple. Norma retells the beginning of the very first episode with Norman's father dying and explains how it didn't go down as we were lead to believe. It turns out Norman went into his dreamlike phase that he's currently in, and killed his father by hitting him upside the head with a blender as result of Norma being beat up by his father. Norma set it up to look like he fell in the garage and Norman doesn't remember anything other than waking up to finding his father dead. 

Dylan asks Norma what's wrong with Norman and she says she doesn't know, but he needs to be looked after. This leads us to believe that Norman won't be moving in with Dylan as we all already expected.

Solid episode of this show and probably the best one yet. Can't wait for next week. I really like how they're going into Norman's blackouts more and more, building to his inevitable breakdown. And I'm really curious as to what happens with the police and the Bates' after Shelby's death. 

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Following: episode 14 "The End is Near"

***SPOILERS***





"The Following" packed another heavy punch with last nights episode. Joe Carroll's "rewrite" is in effect and so things got crazy. 

Ryan Hardy and the rest of the FBI have narrowed down where Joe and his followers are staying. After arriving and kicking the doors in, they find only one single male follower who has hung himself in the middle of the house. Thus making a statement that Joe is still in control.

Meanwhile, Joe takes Claire with him to a suburban house, Emma and Jacob as well. When they arrive at the house they realize it's inhabited and Joe quickly takes action in tying the couple up. All the while, Joe's being extremely over generous as he always is. Meanwhile, Jacob is starting to show his doubts with Joe's plan.

A news team is doing a report on Joe's cult and interviews a nice young woman, who babbles on and on about "The Masque of the Red Death". It becomes obvious that she's a cult member and she stabs the news reporter and kills her. She's then taken into custody by Ryan and agent Weston and interrogated. Ryan gets rough with her and she tells him the reason Claire has to die is so he can be reborn.

Back at the house, Joe is serving dinner and being polite to his hostages and Claire. Claire offers to help him open a bottle of wine for dinner and Joe unwillingly trusts her. But when two police officers arrive at the house as part of a sweep, Emma shoots them dead. When Joe gets up from the table to see what's going on, Claire nails him in the back of the head with the wine bottle and frees the couple and they all run off into the woods together.

Ryan, Parker and Weston figure out that the rest of the followers are at the shelter, mixed in with hundreds of normal people. And since the FBI doesn't know what all of the followers look like, it makes their task of hunting down the followers nearly impossible. Once they arrive at the shelter, they break into groups to search out any cult member by looking for odd behavior. Ryan gets a track on one of them but is at a loss when the electric goes out. In the darkness, we see people with knives and axes and other deadly objects coming up behind people and butchering them. 

Luckily, Ryan and the other agents take most of them down. There are a handful of casualties, but they did all they could. A mass slaughter was staged to take attention off of Joe's leaving.

However, Parker gets taken by two followers who outnumbered her in the dark.

Back at the house, Claire and the couple are running through the woods when a car drives up and they flag it down for help. Only to find that Jacob and Emma are the ones inside. Claire gets captured and taken back to Joe while the couple gets away. 

When Jacob and Emma give Claire over, Joe takes her on a boat and locks her in a room before taking off to sea. Jacob and Emma are to meet him at their planned destination, but yet Jacob yet again, shows weakness and doesn't want to follow Joe anymore. He tells Emma that he loves Joe and appreciates what's been done for him, but he doesn't want to die for Joe. He asks Emma to join him in running and after sharing a kiss, Emma confesses that she loves Jacob and Joe and she cuts Jacob's throat.

Then, we go to Agent Parker and her kidnappers as they carry her down some stairs into the woods and bury her alive. She screams as the dirt falls over her coffin she's nailed in and the screen goes black.

Next weeks finale is going to be insane! I love this show so much, it's my favorite new show this year. I know with a show like this, it's going to pack a nasty knockout punch for finale episode this season. I was extremely mad at Emma killing Jacob because I was really hoping that Emma would get hers. And after what she did to Jacob and Paul, she deserved to die. I really thought that Jacob would kill her, but unfortunately he got soft and didn't stay strong.

And if there's one thing that I have to complain about it's Agent Parker's being captured. No one comes that close to dying that often. If she were a real FBI agent she would have been retired long ago. I think that if they're going to keep putting her in these situations they should kill her. If not, then stop putting her at near death almost every episode. Either that or someone higher up should realize she's not able to be in the field by herself and reduce her to desk work.

Nonetheless, another great episode of this awesome show.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Get ready for murder,mystery and mayhem with "Mummy Cop"



"Mummy Cop is about the adventures of an average everyday detective...who happens to be a mummy. This season of Mummy Cop details the aftermath of crime lord Don Canoli's death, his daughter Lisa Canoli (Kim Graf) has stepped up in his place and has taken over the city's crime empire. Mummy Cop (Antonio Piluso) has to bring Lisa to justice but must also face his superiors such as The Mayor (James Royale), The Chief (Phil Calabro) and District Attorney Dracula (Seth Linehan). With a little help from Franken Fed (Erik Searle) he will make sure justice gets served. Get ready for murder, mystery, mayhem, MUMMY COP!"



I found out about "Mummy Cop" through Twitter and I'm already overly enthused. This is definitely the type of thing I'd watch.

It's spoofing the classic movies while giving a modern take and twist. This is definitely a show you make popcorn for and prepare to laugh. You have to love shows and movies that pay homage to the classics. That's what keeps the classics alive and adds to their immortality. Showing how they still, in this day and age, influence work being done is proof that the classics will forever live on.

"Mummy Cop" is a creative idea as a whole and that works for me. I can't wait to watch it. Independent films/shows are things that are done out of pure love for the genre. So you have to have respect for those that can get it right.

Who doesn't like seeing their favorite classic monsters whenever they can? Especially when it's done in some new light, with new perspective whilst also staying true to it's original core.

This is guaranteed to keep us laughing and entertained. So if you're as into horror humor as me, send a donation to these guys to help this happen. Just watch the trailer and see for yourself. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.



To visit the site and view the trailer click here.
http://www.mummycop.com/

To visit the Facebook page click here
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Sunday, April 21, 2013

The Frankenstein Theory attempts to sparks new life





RATED- UNRATED
RUN TIME- 87 MINS
WRITER(S)- VLADY PILDYSH AND ANDREW WEINER 
STARRING- KRIS LEMCHE, JOE EGENDER AND TIMOTHY V. MURPHY
DIRECTOR- ANDREW WEINER



Synopsis taken from IMDb
From the filmmaker's of "The Last Exorcism" comes a boldly original vision of horror. What if the most chilling novel of all time was based on a true account of a horrific experiment awry ?




Frankenstein is my favorite Universal classic monster, he's the best. Pure and simple. I read Mary Shelly's Frankenstein novel shortly after being introduced to the movies and I liked it the same. It's one of my favorite books of all time. The fact that "The Frankenstein Theory" breathes new life into the book and movie(s) caught my attention instantly.

Professor John Venkenheim (Kris Lemche) pays a film crew to follow him in his adventures of seeing if his theory is true. His theory is that Mary Shelly's book was only sold as fiction to cover up the truth, and that it all actually happened. John has the letters that are the starting pages of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein as proof that she didn't make the details up when writing the book. The film crew believe John to be crazy but follow him anyway into the arctic circle, where he believes Frankenstein is living.



The movie has a really plot and the creativity are huge positives for this movie. The idea of this film is truly genius. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to the potential it had. You could say if it had a bigger budget it would have been a better movie, or you could say that if they had a bigger director with more vision like Guillermo del Toro it would have been better. And it would be true. Kudos for the hard effort though.

As the story unwinds and we get a closer and closer idea of if Frankenstein is real, it would have been nice to have had some more suspense going. This film lacks suspense and that would have been a big helper in improving this movie. There's a few tense scenes, but nothing to scare you or rattle your bones. Even though the story proves well and delivers, it doesn't matter when you're missing so many other key elements, like a cast we care about.

"The Frankenstein theory" is just under 90 minutes and for that, I can't say I don't recommend it. But if you're a big Frankenstein fan, don't get your hopes up. It's a bit of a let down. However, one of the things that I did like about the movie that others didn't was the fact that you don't really get to see Frankenstein. But with me, I enjoy what you don't see as much as what you do see. It would have been nice to get up close and see cool make-up but better to not show details if they're not going to be worth the payoff.





THIS FILM GETS 2 1/2 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5




Saturday, April 20, 2013

Hannibal: episode 3 "Potage"

***SPOILERS***





BEFORE I GET TO MY REVIEW, LET ME ANNOUNCE THAT HANNIBAL'S 4 EPISODE WILL NOT BE AIRING NEXT WEEK DUE TO THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING. THE EPISODE WAS TO BE ABOUT CHILDREN KILLING THEIR PARENTS AND NBC FOUND IT IN POOR TASTE TO AIR IT SO CLOSE TO THE TRAGIC INCIDENT IN BOSTON. I'M NOT CLEAR ON IF THEY'LL SKIP NEXT WEEK WITH A FILLER EPISODE OF ANOTHER SHOW OR A REPEAT. THEY MAY EVEN JUST JUMP TO EPISODE 5.




I've been away for a while so I haven't been doing reviews up until this point for Hannibal even though I've been watching. Better late than never, eh?

I'm a big Thomas Harris fan and an even bigger fan of the Lecter. I read all 4 Hannibal books in one month, non stop! One after the other after the other with no breaks. I liked The Silence of the Lambs the best and thought Red Dragon was a close second. So yeah, of course I'm watching the show and so far I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

This episode centers around Jack Crawford's theory of Abigail Hobbs having helped her father in the murders. Will Graham reluctantly looks into it and Abigail wakes up from her coma. Will takes Abigail to her old home in hopes of bringing back memories of who helped her father. All the while, it's obvious Hannibal was the one helping her father.

Upstairs, Abigail sees blood and goes to investigate and discovers her neighbor Marissa impaled to a wall. The brother of the impaled girl is inadvertently stabbed by Abigail in what wasn't self defense. Lecter cleans up Abigail's mess in a blackmail exchange that she doesn't give away his secret as being her father's mentor.

I'm interested to see where this is going. The thing that I really enjoy that wasn't in this episode is the therapy sessions with Will and Lecter. I really like getting inside of Will's head and seeing he and Lector's character development. However, the story in this episode was pretty big, so I understand the time restraints. 


  


Thursday, April 18, 2013

The Lords of Salem is Rob Zombie's Scariest Movie Yet


"We've been waiting...we've always been waiting"


RATED- R
RUN TIME- 101 MINS
WRITER(S)- ROB ZOMBIE
STARRING- SHERI MOON ZOMBIE, BRUCE DAVISON AND JEFF DANIEL
DIRECTOR- ROB ZOMBIE


Synopsis taken from IMDb
Heidi, a radio DJ, is sent a box containing a record-- a "gift from the Lords." The sounds withing the grooves trigger flashbacks of her own violent past. Is Heidi going mad, or are the Lords back to take revenge on Salem, Massachusetts? 




Let me start off by saying how overdue we are for a good witch movie. Witches are creepy, if done right and I don't know if I'm the only one but they seem underused. Luckily Rob Zombie has changed that. Within the first five minutes of the film we see a handful of completely nude women including Sheri Moon Zombie. However, Sheri is the only attractive one of the lot. I never thought I'd praise someone on showing ugly women nude, but it really added to the authenticity of the witches. 
Witches are ugly, horrid women and shouldn't be portrayed as beautiful people, something a lot of people get wrong. 

While the movie is a bit predictable, it isn't entirely a giveaway. The story unfolds well and there are some bits along the way that you don't expect or foresee. Zombie doesn't rely on cheap pop scares with loud music and sudden movements. It's the subtle scares that haunt you and you remember. Although the movie takes place present day, yet again Zombie captured the feel of a good 70's horror film.



Sheri Moon doesn't play a ditsy blonde in this film like in "House of a 1000 Corpses" and "The Devil's Rejects". Instead, she plays a normal girl living a normal life and is harrowed by sudden terror. We also get hints that she's an ex drug user but is currently clean. It was refreshing to see her play a different role. I'm not saying she's a great actress, but she tried her beautiful little heart out and did a good job. 

There's some scenes that are downright disturbing, such as a witch licking the blood off of a freshly newborn baby and then spitting in it's face several times. The church scene was pretty vulgar as well. I'll let you see what I mean for yourselves.

It's great to see a new vision of witches and it's even greater to see scary witches. I'd hate to jump the shark here, but it is my belief that horror is making a HUGE comeback. With the awesome Evil Dead remake being as critically praised as it was, let alone the box office earnings, and other future promising horror films such as "The Purge" I think it's safe to say we're on a streak here. Not to mention Fox's new smash show The Following, A&E's Bates Motel and NBC's Hannibal all keeping their audiences watching. And don't forget The Walking Dead. The Lords Of Salem is one to add to that streak for certain.


If you'd like to read another review in good favor of this film check out Hellbilly Hollywood's write-up.

http://hellbillyhollywood.blogspot.com/2013/05/god-hates-lords-of-salem.html

THIS FILM GETS 3 1/2 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5



"The Shining" prequel "The Overlook Hotel" is in development!




The Overlook Hotel is the story of the grisly murders that happened in the hotel leading up to the events in the classic 1980 The Shining. This news comes in addition to the fact that Stephen King just finished his prequel to The Shining, titled Doctor Sleep. The book centers around Danny as an adult and what's come of him after losing his father and leaving the hotel.

The Overlook hotel is currently in development by Warner Bros. But no clue as to when it'll be hitting the big screen. After parting ways with The Walking Dead, Glenn Mazzara is writing the script for the prequel. It's speculated that Glenn left The Walking Dead due to differences between he and The Walking Dead graphic novel creator Robert Kirkman.

I'm ready to find out what the story is with the old woman in the tub (who still scares the hell out of me), as well as the twins. I've read the book by Stephen King, but I doubt this'll be true to what happened in the book since Stanley Kubrick changed so much for the 1980 film. This is big shoes to fill for Warner Bros. and Glen Mazzara, so let's hope we can get a good movie out of this.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

AWESOME STATUE FROM "THE BEYOND"

This is so bad-ass! I found this through a carrier on Facebook announcing it. It's not too often that underground horror movies such as "The Beyond" get action figures or statues, so this is a must for any horror collector's collection. 

It comes painted and as you can see the detail is fantastic. It's a bit pricey, but where there's a will there's a way. This doesn't come out until September of this year and supplies are limited, so get yours on pre-order now!






Click the link to pre-order!
http://www.otacute.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_8&products_id=35702