Friday, April 10, 2015

Be Kind, Please Rewind

He’s an Astral Projectionist. He’s the…

Vidiot

Week of April 10, 2015

Spirits should be sipped, not seen. First up…

 
The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death

The best thing about dating a widow is that closet full of men’s shoes and clothing she has.

Mind you, it’s not a husband the woman in this horror movie is mourning – it’s a child.

Forced to evacuate during the Blitzkrieg, boarding school headmistress Helen (Jean Hogg) and her deputy Eve (Phoebe Fox) escort their students to Eel Marsh House in the serene English countryside.

Once there, Eve encounters the apparition of a woman in black who torments her dreams, and lures her young pupils to their deaths.

Aided by knowledge of the woman’s past, and a stationed soldier (Jeremy Irvine), Eve attempts to end the phantoms reign over the manor and the surrounding town.

While the setting is certainly spooky, this sequel to the surprising original never rises above hackneyed jolts and cheap special effects to bring its second-rate script to life.

Incidentally, English ghosts cease all hauntings during teatime. Red Light

 

A Most Violent Year

The yearly rate of violence in a city depends on whether or not its sports team wins the championship.

However, the brutality in this drama is unrelated to playoff riots.

At the onset of the 1980s, Standard Oil owner Abel (Oscar Isaac) experiences an inordinate amount of truck hijackings.

At the behest of his wife (Jessica Chastain) he arms his drivers, but the violence only escalates.

While trying to figure out who’s behind the thefts, Abel is also brokering a land deal that would see him monopolize the oil import market in New York.

But with his funds depleting fast, Abel is forced to borrow from unsavoury characters.

Despite a promising script and powerful performances, this quasi crime-thriller is sluggish from start to finish with very little violence or payoff at the end.

Besides, why steal from oil companies when you could just buy a dinosaur and make your own?  Yellow Light


 
The Babadook

The upside to your parent being possessed by a demon is they don’t mind you listening to Heavy Metal music.

However, the inhabited mother in this horror movie is more interested in listening to her child scream.

When children’s book character The Babadook begins haunting Sam (Noah Wiseman) his widowed mother, Amelia (Essie Davis), is hard-pressed to believe him.

It’s not until she disposes of the pop-up book and it returns, does she finally believe in the Babadook’s existence; however, she’s already possessed by the dark entity.

Meanwhile, Sam assembles an array of booby-traps around their house to capture his mother and free her from the Babadook’s clutches.

Light on gore and actual imagines of the monster, this Australian import relies on shadows, creative camera work and a subversive story to send shivers up your spine.

Mind you, it would’ve been funnier if she were possessed by one of the Berenstain Bears.  Green Light

***Bad Manors***

 


The Others

The main difference between British and American ghosts is that the English ones say Boo with the letter U.

But no matter how you pronounce the exclamation in this horror movie, the end result is the same.

In the wake of WWII, new servants (Fionnula Flanagan, Eric Sykes, Elaine Cassidy) are hired on at the country estate of Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) to mind after her light-sensitive children (Alakina Mann, James Bentley).

It’s not long before the staff learns of their mistresses’ mysterious migraines and her children’s belief in spirits.

Not until a clairvoyant comes to the manor is the truth behind the hauntings revealed.

Suffused in candlelight and foreboding atmosphere, The Others is a true gothic horror with a wholly original script and a twist ending that’ll shock and depress.

Parenthetically, the best way to get rid of ethereal English occupiers is with the ghosts of deceased IRA members.

He Keeps a Stiff Upper Lisp. He’s the…

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