As above, So below, a review. This film is set in France as a young woman pursues the legend of the Philosophers stone. Caught in the catacombs they descend into the dark and into a supernatural horror that seeks to devour them.

 

As above, So below. A review of this camera footage horror film.

    As above, So below is a film carried by the performance of Perdita Weeks. Her character is intelligent, strong, and highly capable. Unfortunately, not all are so well fleshed out or convincing in their performances. Ben Feldman delivers a good performance as Scarlet's friend and colleague, George, with his own trauma played convincingly. The others feel there just to fulfil the story, bystanders to the events that unfold around them. The story is rather simple, but some elements depend on your suspension of disbelief. There is reliance on certain principles of philosophy, of things beyond the realm of the material alone. I enjoyed the claustrophobic atmosphere of this film, with it being underground made everything much more daunting. The supernatural elements feel heightened by the existing tension.

    The film follows Scarlett as she attempts to find the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary artefact used in alchemy. Scarlett undertakes a journey into Iran, seeking something to help her locate the Stone. With help from a friend, she finds the Rose Key, a kind of Rosetta Stone, but experiences a strange vision while in the tunnels. After narrowly escaping being buried, her friend tells her that everyone that searches for Flemel's Stone is crazy. More so, that her father was crazy. We flash then to Scarlett being interviewed, introducing herself and what she is pursuing. We get information on Nicolas Flemel, the supposed alchemist that created the Philosopher's Stone, and how he would have had immeasurable wealth and immortality. That when people went to dig up his grave, they found his body was missing. There are many tales of Flemel being an alchemist, and these came about after his death, and Scarlett is convinced he will lead them to the Stone. Others believe that the Stone does not exist, that alchemy is a failed science, and that she is on a fool's pursuit. Scarlett found a way to translate the alchemical symbols into Aramaic. However, she cannot read Aramiac but knows someone who can. This is where we are introduced to George, but he is unhappy to see her. It turns out that Scarlett left George in a Turkish jail, that she chose her pursuit over him. George likes to fix things, is mid-fixing a church bell, and reluctantly agrees to do the translation. And the translation has a part that any Green Lantern fan will recognise, and well done to whichever writer snuck that in there. This leads them to Flemel's headstone, and after some dodgy science, they discover where they should be looking for the Stone. It turns out that they need to go to the catacombs. However, they soon realise they will need someone to guide them to where they need to get. This is where we get a stranger telling them they need to find Papillon and giving directions to a club. As they quickly look away and then back, the stranger is gone.

    They find Papillon in the club, and he agrees to take them. They meet his team, Souxie and Zed, as they prepare for the journey into the catacombs. Soon the group are heading for the access point to the underground, George accompanying them but adamant that he will not go underground. Things go wrong, and they have to flee underground, and George is forced to go with them. Here it is relaid that his little brother died in a cave, that George doesn't go underground because of that experience. They travel to a point in the system, and Papillon insists they take a route that Benji, the cameraman, is hesitant to take. Seeing another passage available, Scarlett wants to take that one, but Papillon is utterly against it. He insists that something is wrong with it, telling of how a friend went in there and was never seen again. At this point, the strangeness begins. They take the tunnel but wind up where they started, which should not be possible according to Papillon, and even on the map, it shows that they couldn't have come back. With no other choice, they take the other passage. Things rapidly become stranger, with phones ringing, a piano found perfectly preserved, and La Taupe emerging from the dark to lead them. La Taupe has been missing for two years and strangely needs no light to travel in this lightless place. That alone would be enough to make me hesitant to follow him. They travel deeper, somehow finding ways to travel downwards until they find the chamber where the Stone resides. And so does a trapped treasure.

    Plummed into darkness, La Taupe seemingly dead, the group finds themselves buried. Thankfully, such sites always have a secret escape route, and Scarlett soon discovers it. But once free find themselves in a copy of the chamber, and the tunnel disappears behind them. They keep moving downwards, which puts them deeper than should be possible. And the strangeness shifts into terrifying experiences, Souxie the first to be killed, followed by Benji. Soon those left find themselves before a narrow passage with an inscription above it. It reads, 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.' which is supposed to be above the gates of hell. Worse, they have to travel in a near crawl to enter. The quartet becomes a trio after Papillon is killed in a gruesome manner. The trio is then pursued by a towering figure in black. After George is injured, Scarlett backtracks to find the Stone and faces a series of trials on her way to and from them. George is healed, and the trio eventually find their way free of this hellscape.

    The film does a great job of growing the tension and fear as the group travel further. The minor incidents grow in intensity and creepiness until they are terrifying for our dwindling group. They are all haunted by something, some experience coming back to bite them, most notably George seeing his little brother and Scarlett, her dead father. Whilst there are several good things about this film, it fails to be anything other than a little creepy, never reaching heights of terror. The characters outside George and Scarlett are rather bland, never really being fleshed out. The whole pursuit of Flemel's Stone seems somewhat ridiculous, with only a sparse explanation of why it is so important. There is no explanation of how it is supposed to affect things beyond some metaphysical rubbish. This is a weakness in the writing, which is to the detriment of the film's overall premise.

    In all, I give this a 7 out of 10. It is a solid film but lacks that spark which could make it a great watch. It is good, especially for a fan of the camera footage style. It fails to be creepy enough to scare the viewer and thus is never truly memorable. 

Evil Dead 2013, review. With Evil Dead Rise soon to be released I thought I'd give this one a re-watch. To be fair it remains a solid entry into the world of the Deadites, if not the best of them.

 

Evil Dead 2013, a review.

    I have watched the original trilogy films more times than I can count. They remain some of my favourite movies, with Evil Dead 2 being the peak of the trilogy. The added humour elevated 2 over The Evil Dead for me. I was hesitant to watch this film when it first came out, it had a lot to live up to, but in time I had to watch it. And, it wasn't as good as those that had come before, but neither was it a bad film. With a new young cast, the cabin in the woods, and a familiar book in place, this film kept close to the core elements of what had been done before. There are a few issues, but I'll get into those later on.

    The film opens up with a young woman being pursued in the woods before she is quickly taken captive. The scene switches to some interior with the young woman bound to a wooden post and her father before her. It quickly becomes clear the young woman is possessed, having killed her mother, and is set alight before being shot. We then move to the opening credits. We are introduced to our main characters and learn that David is here to support his sister, Mia, as she attempts to go cold turkey. Mia's friends Eric and Olivia are determined to ensure she kicks the habit this time. Olivia tells David that Mia overdosed and clinically died, that they might have to force her to stay and work through this against her will if it came to that. David is reluctant to agree to this as he is here to repair his relationship with her. As Mia begins to feel the effects of her withdrawal, she becomes sensitive to smells, convinced that the cabin has a foul scent within, though the others cannot detect it. It isn't long before their dog Grandpa is scratching at the carpet, pulling it back to reveal a trapdoor and blood smeared over the wood. Obviously, they are shocked, and they proceed down into the root cellar to investigate. They find dead cats strung up around the main room, with signs that something has been burnt, and a book bound in black bags wrapped in barbed wire. This is the Necronomicon.

    For anyone that has seen any of the previous films, this book is a doorway to a supernatural force that lives in dark places. A kind of entity that wants to possess and destroy the living. And it is inevitable that some idiot, in this case, Eric, has to read from the book. If I find a book wrapped up in barbed wire and depicting some horrible stuff, I might use my common sense, wrap it back up and put it out of reach to be safe. Eric doesn't do that, and we have something summoned on our unsuspecting group. And poor Mia is the one it goes after first. What follows is Mia's initial spiral as she sees something watching in the woods before she flees into the woods, crashes her car, and has an encounter that always makes me very uncomfortable. It is a scene taken out of the original Evil Dead, and it was never a scene I enjoyed, something passing from demonic Mia and slithering into the bound Mia. They find Mia but don't believe her story, convinced this is just her withdrawals and desire to use overwhelming her. What follows is a descent into chaos and bloodshed as Mia succumbs to her possession and the demonic force moves through each of our protagonists. A minor point, but the evil force coming to life after claiming five souls seemed convenient, given that there are five of them, but it works given the premise and isolated location. There are callbacks to the original trilogy throughout, with the use of the chainsaw, shotgun, and removal of a hand gone bad. They use a lot of fake blood in this film, an almost obscene amount, with the film's finale featuring blood raining down on Mia as she fights against a vile reflection of herself.

    The film's pacing remains constant throughout, and its runtime is short. Once it gets going, it doesn't relent, moving from possession to the next. The character development is handled well, as we see changes in David through the film's events,  along with Mia as she is faced with this evil alone upon the death of the others. In all, the film is good, with decent characters, a tight storyline, and tension maintained throughout. I recommend this film to anyone who enjoyed the original films and the series, along with any horror fan. This is an easy 7 out of 10, a solid entry worth watching.

Ouija, a film review. A film that is overshadowed by its sequel and filled with some seriously dumb teenagers. Have you never watched any horror films? Talk about asking for trouble.

 

Ouija, a film review.

    Why is it that in any modern film, no one seems to know about the dangers of using an Ouija board? I heard stories about them when I was a kid, and that's heading back to the late eighties/early nineties. And yet, in these films, they seem not to know that you don't mess with the dead. This is a running theme with these types of films, with some idiot always trying to mess with these things and bringing trouble to them. It does seem strange that these characters have no in-world knowledge of these things. It must be a choice on the side of the screenwriters to leave out this knowledge so the story would play out. This is an okay film, but some things weaken the narrative. The characters are a large part of that.

    The film opens up with two young girls playing with an Ouija board, laying out the rules for interacting with it. The film then moves to a young woman sitting before a fire, throwing an ouija board and the planchette into the flames. She appears haunted as if shaken by something the viewer is unaware of. We get introduced to the film's protagonist, with a phone call shaking Debbie from her reverie. Lanie wants her to join her, to get out of the house, and after a brief conversation in person, she declines to join her. Debbie returns inside to eat, and strange things start happening. Returning to her room, she finds the planchette on the floor, picks it up and looks through it. Her eye turns white, and Debbie enters a fugue-like state. She then kills herself by hanging, and we flash to Laine and her boyfriend in a diner. We're introduced to her boyfriend, Trevor. She receives a message to come home and learns of Debbie's death. Understandably devastated, she and her family attend the wake, and we see that she is asked to watch the house whilst Debbie's family is away. Looking through Debbie's room upon checking in on the house, she found the Ouija board and its planchette. Laine comes across as someone that needs to be in control, acting as a surrogate mother to her younger sister even though it isn't taken that well. It seems to come from a good place, but she can be overbearing. Though to be fair to her, her sister is kind of a selfish brat which seems typical of teenagers in these types of films. She convinces herself that Debbie is still around, that she wants her to know something, and, of course,  convinces the others to use the board with her. And so begins all the fun.

    None of them is entirely comfortable with this, most noticeably Isabelle. Things soon take a turn. I always find this stupid, using an Ouija board and thinking contacting the dead is just a game. There are enough stories about these things to make any sensible person wary. And Laine's need for it to be Debbie leaves them open to something else pretending to be her. Though it is worth mentioning that the thing never calls itself Debbie, Laine jumps to that conclusion. After Laine takes the board home, each of them experiences a visitation, the words 'hi friend' written in one form or another. Laine is convinced it is Debbie and convinces the others to use the board again. It amazes me that they don't ask who they are talking to until it is too late, that no one thinks to question this entity. And they learn that it is not Debbie they are talking to, that they had never been talking to her. After being scared off, Laine watches a video of Debbie playing alone, something you're not supposed to do. Isabelle is the first one killed off, far more directly than  Debbie was. This sends the rest into a panic, and Laine and Pete begin to search Debbie's house to learn more. They discover the house's history and those that lived there. Of course, nothing is quite what it seems, and after a visit to the older sister Laine thinks she has a way to stop this haunting. By all the gods, is she wrong! 

    After learning of being tricked, Laine, and those left, attempt to put Dorris to rest before she kills them. Not the simplest of tricks. After a showdown below Debbie's house, they succeed, though the ending suggests they might have failed. The film is overall watchable but lacks something that could push it into being good. It managed to spawn a prequel featuring the family that lived in the house before Debbie, though reinventing some of the narratives. The weaknesses of this film are obvious. The characters make stupid choices and aren't convincing in their roles. It failed to be scary overall, though a couple of jump scares might catch you off-guard.

    I'd rate this film 6 out of 10. It's an okay watch, but there are better versions of the same story. The prequel is a much better film. I'd probably watch that one if I had to choose between them. I will review that film when I get around to rewatching it.

The Night House. A film that seems to be as much about loss and depression as it does about a strange haunting. A good film that leaves you feeling unsettled.

 

The Night House. A film by David Bruckner and starring Rebecca Hall.

    This is a strangely sad and creepy film. And when I say creepy, I'm referring to the film's atmosphere. The film centres around Beth, newly a widow after her husband's sudden suicide. Still reeling from his unexpected demise, she is attempting to hold herself together, going through the motions as she begins to unravel. Beth is lost as to why Owen killed himself, saw no warning signs and is confused and angry with the unanswered questions she is left with. During this time, she drinks a lot and is not sleeping well, which is noticeable throughout the film. In short, Beth is barely holding it together, and that is before things begin to take a creepy turn.

    It starts slowly, with a knocking on the door downstairs as she rouses from sleep. Obviously hesitant, she makes her way downstairs, and we see nothing outside. However, as she opens the back door, she looks back to the front door,  the door swinging open behind her. In the reflection, we can make out the shape of a person, with eyes flashing in the darkness before the door closes and the figure vanishes. This is the first time we get the hint that something is lurking in the background. Beth takes back to school, she is a teacher, and it is easy to see that she is not ready to be back. After an encounter with the parent of one of her students, we see that her mental state is not good, along with losing time after appearing to doze off. Beth goes through Owen's things, clearing out much of his stuff before she stumbles on one of his architect books. Here we get to see strange puzzles and notes contained within and what appears to be a copy of the house he built for them. Now things start to take a worrying turn. Woken by music, Beth gets a text from Owen and phones him, and it appears that he answers. Then she wakes up on the bathroom floor again, apparently without any memory of how she got there and checks her phone. The message is not there. Convinced to go out, Beth joins her friends for drinks. I have to say, she has crappy friends. The line of questioning is inane, and how do they expect a woman who lost her husband a week ago to be entirely rational after everything she has gone through. But, we do learn a few things from this encounter. Firstly, Owen left a note, and secondly, Beth is beginning to believe she is being haunted. And after Claire gets Beth home, she has yet another strange encounter. Before that happens, she tells Claire of the time that she died. Beth tells Claire that whilst she was dead, she saw nothing, that there was no bright light or anything to experience. The word nothing is important to note, as it refers to the note that Owen left.

    Things begin to take another turn from this point. As she begins to experience dreams or visions, Beth learns of another house that Owen had built in the forest. She finds a picture of another woman on Owen's phone that looks like her. Beth begins to obsess over this, determined to discover what Owen had been up to while believing that Owen is visiting her. It is shot in such a way that the viewer may think that this is nothing more than wishful thinking, that her grief is getting the better of her. However, Beth finds the woman in the picture and learns that Owen has been seeing her for some time. The haunting continues, with Beth learning that there may have been more than one woman. Also, her neighbour had known of this after a chance encounters in the woods, Owen coming to him claiming that it would never happen again and that he had 'urges' that he had found a way to manage. As Beth begins to spiral, the haunting becomes more intense, and she discovers that Owen had killed women that looked like her. Beth may be imagining this. Her grief and depression may be getting the better of her. Reaching a climax, the events around her grow darker, and she discovers that this being haunting her is not Owen. She discovers that this entity is what she encountered upon her death, that it has been with her ever since and corrupted Owen to get him to send her back to it. As this dark encounter plays out, we learn that Owen had tried to trick it by sending women that looked like her to it. This encounter leads Beth out on the boat, as the thing looking like Owen attempts to convince her that she has nothing to live for. Her best friend had come looking for her, and her calling out to Beth helped her to push this desire away and cling to life. 

    This film is about a haunting, at least on the surface. But, it feels as though it is more a look at depression, at the emptiness that can swallow up the joy of life, and that is never far from those suffering from depression. Beth had always suffered from dark thoughts, and Owen had held them at bay. He had brought joy to her life, and upon his death, they had returned. Her grief had broken her defences, and she spirals without him. Everything else may be her imagination, or some are real but coloured by her grief and depression. The film does a great job of leaving that open to the viewer.

    I recommend this to any fan of horror, more so psychological horror, and it is an easy 8 out of 10. It is a haunting and sad film that leaves the viewer unsure how much is real and what is merely in the mind of Beth. Definitely, one I would watch again.

    

Barbarian, the movie review. A good film with a familiar premise, though a different play through than I expected. Also a different role than I had seen Justin Long in before.

 

Barbarian, a review.

    I was unsure what to make of this movie at first. It opens slowly, centring around Tess sitting in her car after pulling up to a house in the rain. She gets out and attempts to get the key out of the lockbox, only to find it is not there. The place looks empty, and she phones the company she had made the booking with, hurrying back to her car in the meantime. At this time, a light comes on in the house, and Tess rushes back to knock on the door. It is opened by a very tired-looking man with a confused expression. The two talk back and forth, and it is swiftly discovered that the booking company for the house has double-booked them. From there on, the pair work out a deal, Keith offering her the option to stay there and take the bedroom. Reluctantly, at first, Tess takes the deal. The pair soon begin talking, and the initial tension between them fades. Eventually, they retire for the night, and we get our first inkling that something isn't right at this house. Tess wakes up in the night to find her door open. She is obviously nervous, and moving across the room, finds Keith asleep on the sofa. As she moves to him quietly, we see something move behind her and a door close at the end of the corridor. This is the first sign of something suspicious going on in this building. Tess wakes Keith, and he is obviously startled. After questioning him, Tess returns to bed, and we flash forward to her waking in the morning.

    Both of them head off to their respective days. Tess head's to her interview, and we see her do well. So well that it looks as though she has the job in the bag. However, when she mentions where she is staying, her new employer seems surprised and unsettled by the information. This is another hint that something is odd about the house and the area. Tess returns to the house and begins looking around, ending up in the basement. She ends up being trapped inside after the door closes behind her. This leads to her investigating and discovering a secret door. A door that leads to another room, a room with a bed, a bucket, and a camera in it. Tess is obviously freaked out by this and returns to the basement proper, looking for a way out. Keith returns at this moment, looking for the key she was supposed to leave for him, and she manages to get his attention. Together, they open the basement window, and Tess passes the key to Keith. He comes to a panicked Tess, and after a few moments, he leaves to investigate this room. Tess waits and then calls to him, he doesn't answer, and she goes to look for him. He isn't in the room, and Tess looks about in confusion, finding yet another door. A door leads to stairs that lead down into darkness. She calls to Keith, and he shouts back, his voice distant and scared. Stumbling through the tunnels, she finds him hurt moments before a woman comes out of the dark and brutally murders him. Then the film flashes to our next protagonist. 

    Justin Long plays AJ. A Hollywood type enjoying his drive until he gets a phone call. And things are about to take a bad turn for him. And it turns out in the long run that he probably deserves everything that happens to him. I've always enjoyed Justin long, as an actor, but this character is one of the sleeziest that he has ever played. AJ is not a good person, but he believes that he is, to such a degree that he cannot see how he treats others.And it will be his downfall. After his new series drops him, and accusations are made against him, he has to liquidate his assets. It turns out that the house Tess and Keith were staying in is owned by AJ. This leads Aj to the house and what awaits him there within. He finds what Tess did before him, and like her he wanders into the dark below the house. Also like her things do not go well for him. 

    The tunnels below the house lead to roughly carved out room and worse. The woman is living in this space and treating her new guests like they are her babies. She even tries to feed them, until Aj freaks out, leaving Tess still trapped in her cage. Until she manages to free herself and the two of them attempt to flee the tunnels separately. We get a flash back to this space to another time, looking to be the 70's by the clothes and cars on display. A man leaves the house that Tess and AJ are below in the future, heading off in a car. We see him buy things for a new born and then stalk a woman, dressing up a gas man and lying to get into her house. After leaving a window unlocked he leaves and returns to the house, and then down to the basement. In the present Aj and Tess aren't doing so well but they manage to escape the house, helped by a homeless man. With Tess hurt they listen to the man's story of what happened to the area, and what led to this woman being born. Moments before she bursts into their place of safety and kills the old man. Fleeing the pair find themselves atop a water tower, where AJ throws Tess off the tower in an attempt to save himself. The woman jumps off the tower after her, managing to catch her though it looks as though she dies in the effort. Of course that isn't the case and Aj finds that out just before he meets a grizzly end. 

    This is a strange and intense film. It gets its hooks into you and doesn't let go. The performances are good, the 'creature' oddly sad and horrifying, and the overall story grim but interesting. I enjoyed it immensely and would recommend it to any fan of horror. I rate it 8 out of ten, and would watch again.