Livide- Alexandre Bustillo/Julien Maury

   
     I have been waiting for this longer than Monica Bellucci was waiting for the rape to end in Irreversible. Inside gutted me and I have been patiently waiting for a follow up from these madman of France. Well it is here and it is about as different as James Earl Jones and the other James Earl.
     The plot is basically like City Slickers two except instead of looking for Curly's gold they are looking for a dance teacher's(who happens to be in a coma)treasure.  Lucy tells here degenerate boyfriend about the treasure and he and his friend convince her to take them there. They break in and shit gets real.
     Livide is shot with the precision that it would of taken Lee Harvey Oswald to hit Kennedy from the observatory if that was the case.  That is for another time though. What I am saying is this is beautiful. Not surprising after seeing Inside. Every scene is a painting that was given more love that Van Gogh's prostitute. The acting is excellent across the board with Chloé Coulloud as Lucy being the standout.  She sells every scene with her eye.  The music is perfectly executed and the effects while not as bloody and grotesque as you might expect from this duo are fantastic and effective and have plenty of gross out value.
     Livide is a perfect follow up. It is nothing like Inside and that is a good thing. Inside is one of my favorite films of the last decade but if they had just tried to rehash it they would have to change their names to Zombie or Roth. They have made a fantastical supernatural film with nods to Halloween three and an overall tone that owes itself to another French god, Jean Rollin.

4/5

Tromeric

The Ward- John Carpenter

     John Carpenter is one of my favorite filmmakers. In his long career he has made some amazing contributions to the horror and action genres. Halloween still is one of my all time favorite films and The Thing, Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China are not far behind. He has also brought us plenty of other great films such as The Fog, Christine, In the Mouth of Madness and  so many more. Even his less than perfect films ala Vampires, Ghost of Mars are entertaining and keep me watching from time to time.  A few years back he made episodes for both seasons of Masters of Horror. The first Cigarette Burns was one of the best of the series and made me have high hopes once he returned to film he would still have it. His second entry Pro Life while not as unique as Cigarette Burns is at least fun, had Ron Pearlman and I love anything with abortion in it. We now arrive at his return to film with Ward. Was it worth the wait?
     The Ward is so predictable, cliche, boring and has an ending that even M. Night would shake his head in disapproval at.  I wanted to like this. I assumed it would be no masterpiece but I at least thought it would be a fun ride. It's not. Moments of it work. I love Amber Heard and a lot of the supporting cast is great but none of them shine. This movie is so average. I think that's what bothers me. Anyone could of directed this. The story is basic, a few of the shots are cool but overall nothing even happens exciting there. The music is forgettable. Yeah in a Carpenter Film. I have nothing else to say. Its a sad day when I have to say anything about John Carpenter. I am going to go in the corner, curl into a ball and cry.

2/5

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The Redsin Tower- Fred Vogel

     Toe Tag has made a name for themselves over the last decade or so.  Their August Underground trilogy are among the sickest of the sick. I mean that in the nicest way possible. Growing up I would always seek out anything I thought would gross me out. The problem was most of the time even movies I had heard were the sickest things this side of Patrick Swayze's last week alive were tame and kind of boring. Jump ahead to hearing about these infamous films. I saw Mordum first. My mind was blown. In fact I am pretty sure somehow I shit and pissed all over my dead grandmas body while raping her decomposing foot. I had to see the first one(at this time Penance was still not out). I was so impressed with the effects that I had to show everyone. While not being the most plot driven films I have ever seen the gore was enough to warrant multiple viewings. I then saw they did the effects on Murder Set Pieces and was insanely impressed with that. I had high hopes. It was nice to see the effects inside of a story I actually enjoyed. 

     This brings us to The Redsin Tower. A Toe Tag film with plot and acting and story. I was ecstatic. It starts out as a breakup story, turns into a revenge story and somehow mixes in some supernatural possession for good measure. It is very reminiscent of 80/90's films like Night of the Demons or The Convent both of which I am huge fans of. 

     It is a very different kind of film than most are used to. Everyone involved seems to care a lot about the film and it shines through. While no one in here strikes me as actors they all do an insanely believable and great job. The story flows like a Anemic on her period and as you can guess the effects are mind blowing. Buckets of blood, heads being chopped up, babies being eaten(Brother Lynch would be proud) one dude read Where the red fern grows one to many times and puts his hatchet to use more than Victor Crowley.

     

4/5

30 Day Horror Challenge day 7

     Day seven brings us supernatural film. I am right off the bat automatically narrow this down to ghost film as otherwise it is to vague for me and I have no fucking clue where to go. Ghost films are weird. Some are amazing but overall it is one of my least favorite sub genres.  Sure there have been some greats that people like William Castle have pumped out and I really liked The Others, I thought The Sixth Sense was a one trick pony similar to Blair Witch  or Paranormal Activity. The Eye was excellent and so was Ju-On and Ringu before Asians made me hate creepy kids with black hair.  In the end I narrowed it down to three. The Abandoned which is in my opinion one of the best of the After Dark films and after Aftermath I will watch anything  Nacho Cerda does. Next up is from far left field Ghost Dad. Now I know I will get a lot of argument for this but for my money Ghost Dad is a great film and makes me happy every time I watch it, plus it is way better than Leonard part 6.  I do understand that this is barley a horror film which is why opted for my final choice which is none other than Mr Mike I made The Convent and Real Killers Fucking Mendez's .......

    This movie blew me away and I would say is the best of the After Dark films. It has it all, it is creepy as fuck and witty as me(see what I did there?).  I live right next to a graveyard and sometimes I drunkenly end up in it.  The next day when I wake up covered in dirt and confused I always think of this and am like at least even drunk I know not to disrespect the dead. I cant promise however that I haven't danced on any graves which is why this movie scares the shart out of me.


Tromeric