EvilPhoEniX

Cheaply shot in a building, but the director can conjure up a few ideas and atmosphere. The opening is unnecessarily slow, but the final act delivers some proper scares. Overall decent. 6/10.

An original and gripping little survival drama about a girl who wakes up in a truly unenviable place, a sloping area with a chasm from which strange noises are heard. Wonderfully mysterious, suspenseful and haunting, I worked up quite a sweat watching it, so it works as it should. The only problem is the WTF ending, which didn't quite sit right with me, but the film definitely worth watching. 7/10.

The Russians are already making it clear that they are full-fledged competitors to Hollywood, and Mayor Grom is truly a comic book smash! Mayor Grom has a touch of The Dark Knight, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes and Matthew Vaughn's creative camera work! The protagonist is a likable detective who lives in poverty, is not very popular with his colleagues, doesn't take bribes, and is a fair guy for whom the law plays a major role. He is quite similar to Bruce Wayne, he solves everything with intelligence, and the police department and the city resemble Gotham. I loved that they show how the protagonist imagines several possible situations how to solve the case, where he also dies several times during the process. This has a Sherlock feel to it, where he has to solve the best possible equation to succeed, and at times it feels like a time loop movie, which I just love. Everything changes when a villain called the Plague Doctor starts running amok in the city, dressed in a black costume, with flamethrowers and a cool mask, publicly executing corrupt cops, officials and criminals. That's the plot. The whole film has amazing visuals, great CGI, nice locations in St. Petersburg, likeable characters, an engaging plot with some unexpected twists (the reveal of the bad guy and his motive is great), well shot action, the fights are choreographed very well and have the right flair, though I would have liked a bit more of them. It's not R-rated, of course, but that's to be expected. A rather revolutionary film for Russia, which could be a success here too. 8/10.

The Saw reboot didn't quite live up to the expectations, but at the same time it doesn't disappoint in what the Saw franchise excels at: well thought out traps and perfect gore. I like the Saw franchise a lot, it's a bit of a fashion show where instead of models there are traps, and each episode they compete to see which is the best. I enjoy that immensely, but unfortunately I found Spiral a bit off in aspects that the previous episodes didn't have. Chris Rock is a casting misfire and even though this is his dream project, he unfortunately didn't handle his part and his acting is quite cheesy at times. I could still get over that but the voice of the copycat jigsaw is completely off. It lacks the creepy touch of Tobin Bell, and the pronouncements for the various traps are both unimaginative and not interesting at all. Visually, the film feels a bit like a TV detective show, where if it weren't for the awesome gore, it might have aired in prime-time. That it's not a dark crime drama like Se7en doesn't hurt that much, but I was quite disappointed by the unsatisfying ending. For one thing, it's not at all shocking as is usual in the franchise, where final five minutes are usually the best. Here things pretty much fizzle out into nothing and I can't really imagine this bad guy featuring in any further potential episodes. Thankfully the five traps are cool, the gore is top notch and, since along with Army of the Dead there hasn't been anything that brutal this year, I'm glad we have at least this one, but the slight bitter aftertaste remains. The ambition was definitely higher, but a gore fan will be happy for this one too. 6/10.

“If Harry Potter had sex with Jeffrey Dahmer, you’d be their lesbian daughter.” Now that's a new favourite and a screenwriting gem! YouTube made a movie about battle rap, a subject I'm not really interested in. For one thing, I don't listen to rap and I didn't see the first rap battle until this movie, but hats off, I had a royal good time. It's got a pretty likable story about a young kid working on his thesis on battle rap and his infatuation soon becomes an obsession. After he is challenged to a battle rap in a parking lot and shows off his skills in a pretty promising light, he starts going to tournaments and beats various opponents. Thematically I liked it a lot, I like tournaments and the main character (in the vein of Eminem) is a white guy and he's kicking everyone’s ass. (The main character's life turning upside down is literally insane!). It's got insanely pumped up dialogue, lots of crazy wisecracks, insults, pop culture references. There are insults from Asians, women, African-Americans, whites, nerds, celebrities – something from everyone, and some of them had me falling over in laughter. This requires about three viewings and a piece of A4 paper to write down line after line, because these insults are fine to use in everyday life! The finale has an awesome atmosphere, with emotions mined to the max “I just murdered my friend, so you should know I feel nothing!" I was just staring with my mouth open for the whole half hour. All the actors are great, the film has drive, humour, a message, amazing dialogues, creative banter. The whole thing is absolutely awesome and I'm absolutely blown away. 10/10.

What a great feeling to send such a small film into the red! Sacrifice is another extreme, powerful, disgusting, twisted, uncomfortable to watch horror experience that only lasts an hour but depicts violence in its most authentic form! The rules are completely different for these cheaper flicks, here you don't rate the story, the acting, the script or the visuals. Of course, the film doesn't achieve great qualities in this respect, it's all about the level of violence depicted, the crossing of boundaries and how much it can sway the viewer, and this is something the director does brilliantly. The whole film takes place in a bathroom where the main character literally sacrifices himself to the goddess Ishtar! He does some serious self-harm and at times he does some really unpleasant things (using a screwdriver to peel off a fingernail or on a man's privates is really powerful), and at times you will be forced to turn your eyes away! I admit I squirmed uncomfortably on the seat as well and felt some of the pain of the main character. So the purpose of the film is fulfilled. In my head I could imagine even crazier things the main character could have done, but I'm happy with this. 7/10.

If you are in the mood for something nasty on the theme of exorcism you will not be disappointed. I'll mention up front that this film is cheap and underground, so it's only for a fringe audience. It has a simple story about a woman possessed by the devil and the Catholic Church is sending one priest after another to get the devil out of her, and most of them don't make it out of the room alive. So most of the film takes place in one room, and at times you have to suffer through the stilted religious dialogue, just looking forward to the next perversion the director will come up with. I would have gladly cut half an hour to pick up the pace and not bore the viewer, but thankfully the gore is good. The scene where the possessed starts puking all her guts out and then immediately starts sucking them back in lasts about five minutes, and it's definitely the best scene in the entire film. The sex with the priest and the subsequent birth are also good, but unfortunately this doesn't come until the finale. The first hour unfortunately doesn't offer that much of interest. 6/10.

Excellent Conjuring-like scares from Norway! 14 minutes of proper terror with great atmosphere, amazing cinematography, great craftsmanship and solid sound design. It's got everything a proper horror film should have and everything that today's horror films lack. Fans will not be disappointed. 8/10.

This French parody of everything 1980s and 90s is also fairly decent as a homage. It's admittedly very cheap and poorly acted, but it's more about the references, and they are good. There's the occasional over the top gore scene and the fact that it's only sixty minutes long, but I was hoping for more humour (the best scenes are in the trailer). 6/10

A twisted Santa Claus wraps presents in a slightly unconventional way. A fine two-minute short with an unpleasant and twisted setting. I'd love a feature film, it has that sleazy dirty feel to it. 7/10.