Black Christmas Review

                   Black Christmas 4/5

"Black Christmas" is often considered the father of the slasher genre, I couldn't disagree more. I always hear this being compared with "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" and it couldn't be more of a polar opposite in almost every way. The only element in Black Christmas that's remotely similar to any slasher film is that it has a first person killer, its not gory or violent and not particularly suspenseful, the main elements of a slasher. It does however have an amazing built up to the identity of the killer(who you know nothing about) the only clue the viewer has is a series of perverted phone calls. In the end you never know the identity of the killer, it remains a mystery to both viewer and characters. I could swallow this ending, but it was underdeveloped, you cant help but want more, but no sequel was offered, which the ending hints upon. I would never say its even close to "Halloween" or "My Bloody Valentine", but it does offer a very original ending that will either impress or annoy the hell out of you.

The Last Exorcism Review

                    The Last Exorcism  5/5

The best part about this movie was that it wasn’t overhyped or plastered everywhere as the “scariest movie of all time”. Any expectations I had for this movie were completely blow away. This was the first time shaky cam has been utilized properly and has been an effective tool in scaring the audience.  Ashley Bell who played Nell was so convincing and creepy; you really believe this girl is possessed by the devil.  Another great thing was the lack of special effects; they were only used when absolutely necessary. It basically took the best parts of Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist and blended them together, and while it did use things from both these movies it stayed completely original and its own movie. With the bombardment of shaky cam movies over the past 15 years "The Last Exorcism" is the first to truly scare the general audience

Survival of the Dead Review

                                                                 Survival of the Dead 3/5

Ever since 1968, George A. Romero has been filling our minds with gratuitous violence, buckets of gore, and the way we see modern horror. So when I got "Survival of the Dead" I had huge expectations to say the least. Even though his last entry to the "Of the Dead" series was absolutely horrendous (Diary of the Dead). This wasn't quite as bad, but in no way is it in league with any of his other films. The best way to describe this movie is that it's a bitter success. It comes close to being up to par with "Land of the Dead", but fails to escape the terrible production quality of  "Diary of the Dead", which means not so great effects or acting. If you're not a horror purest and are okay with CGI blood than you'll find

Diary of the Dead Review

            Diary of the Dead 2.5/5

Certainly a step down from all of the previous "Of the Dead" movies, and even for a shaky cam movie. It was almost hard to see the downfall of this movie, I will commend Romero for trying something new, but I will crucify him for how bad this made the rest of his movies look.

Land of the Dead Review

               Land of the Dead 4.5/5

After 20 years from making a zombie movie you'd think Romero would have lost his touch, wrong. If anything he improved the campy world of zombies by going completely overboard with the violence and gore, which is a good thing if you ask me. Simon Baker is a moron, but John Lequizamo and Asia Argento make up for his incompetence, by being completely awesome in the ways they bash Zombie's skulls in. George A. Romero has definitely topped himself after a 20 year plus cool down period.

Day of the Dead Review

                   Day of the Dead 5/5

Definitely the weakest in the original trilogy, but still an amazing movie. You can see a lot more connections with modern zombie/horror movies more in this than anything else done pre 90's, with the addition of over the top characters in a setting that really doesn't require them .George Romero creates such a fantastic universe where it seems anything possible that could go wrong does.

Dawn of the Dead Review

                    Dawn of the Dead 5/5

What can one say that hasn't already been said about this powerhouse of American Cinema. Definitely one of the greatest movies of all time. It stayed true to the original and developed its own message that went beyond horror film. Connecting consumerism to zombieism not only made this movie extremely involving but also very scary, to see myself as a Zombie to material possessions scared me more than the apocalypse.

Night of the Living Dead Review

               Night of the Living Dead 5/5

 A completely flawless movie. When I think of one horror movie that has been influential in some way to almost the entire genre its "Night of the Living Dead". When you watch this movie you cant help but be involved somehow, I always catch myself yelling at the t.v. whenever I pop this movie in. One of the only science fiction/horror movies that's completely grounded and set within a real world where zombies could exist. While it is a Zombie movie it also serves as a great social commentary, like most of Romero's films in the 70's. It's without a doubt the crown jewel of horror films.

City of the Living Dead (The Gates of Hell) Review

              City of the Living Dead  4.5/5

Pretty much what you'd expect from Lucio Fulci. Rotted baby corpses, evil demonic priests, and the extra special scene where someone is literally puking their guts out. Whats so important about this movie is that it was the first to connect Zombies to Black Magic (Voodoo). The story is simple containing basically two acts, but it has a sense of bizarreness, that the viewer must throw out all knowledge of critiquing film and in the correct manner in which they are made. Fulici knew exactly what his core audience wanted : Blood  & Guts and he delivers in spades. Don't get me wrong, the movie is well made and has a lot of good in it, its just in a league of it's own as a zombie extravaganza and as a horror film. It almost seemed he skipped all the unnecessary cliche's and stereotypes of horror films and just right to the good stuff.This is the farthest I've ever seen Fulci go with violence and gore. I really liked the story of demonic possession mixed in with zombies and the whole gates of hell gag at the end. This the epitome of Fulici horror.

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden) Review

     The Girl Who Played with Fire  4/5

 It's nowhere near the caliber of the first movie, but good in its own respect. Don't get me wrong, this movie is still fairly worth watching, its content basically interesting if you generally like thrillers, but don't expect the rerun of the original in terms of substance of the script and quality film-making in general, because that's not gonna happen, at least not in this movie. Noomi Rapace continues to impress me as the living embodiment of Lisbeth Salander. My only complaint is the lack of Lisbeth in the movie, it seemed more split between Mikael and her instead of Lisbeth being the main character. It has the disadvantage of being a sequel and the 1st part of a 2 part story, but it was a extremely well made film, with great performances from Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist.

True Grit Review

                             True Grit   5/5

Classics come in all shapes and sizes. Some movies only become classics in the passage of time while others are classics instantaneously and "True Grit" is surely one of the those. John Wayne really puts all of his charisma and talent into one role and gave one of his greatest performances that was well deserved of an Oscar. I cant say I've seen every western, but I can definitely say that True Grit has to be my favorite

Piranha (1978) Review

                            Piranha   4.5/5

 A fast-paced, campy, and humorous ride all the way, Piranha is a genuinely entertaining B film that recalls not only Jaws but many of the classic monster movies of the 50's. Joe Dante's direction is nicely done, keeping the energetic mood of the film high. The special effects aren't half bad, especially considering the limited budget. In fact the movie packs some truly gory images of half eaten corpses and flash torn faces. It also has one the goriest and most violent bloodbath endings in any horror movie, any movie that has small children getting torn to shreds is a winner in my book. Pretty much the holy grail of camp horror.

Kick-Ass Review

                          Kick-Ass   5/5

 I still cant believe how good this movies was. I don't think I've ever been so pleasantly surprised with a movie especially one based of a comic book i love.(dark night based off batman not the comic). Aaron Johnson completely knocked it out of the park as Dave Lizewski, a character almost every comic nerd can relate to. I personally think many will dislike this movie or will just flat out take it as a comedy  based on the fact that they don't read comics or don't understand what they mean to the reader One of the few times where the entire cast works so well with each other, i dint even feel like i was watching a movie, more like an observer in to real life events. This literally puts ever comic book movie to sham(except Christopher Nolan's brainchild aka the dark knight).I don't think I've actually had "fun" in a movie theater until I saw "Kick-Ass".