Rosewood Lane (2011)

REVIEWER RATING: 
4/10


ATM (2012)

REVIEWER RATING: 
4/10


It's hard to properly write and execute a good film when it's centered around only a few characters in one location and ATM is no different, in fact, it's pretty much what you'd expect it to be -- from the idiotic characters making many illogical decisions, to the killer having little-to-no motive for everything that transpired. As interesting as it managed to be, you'd have to really ignore all the holes in the script to enjoy this.

The "story" focuses on a few co-workers as they head home during the holidays, but make a quick stop at a nearby ATM first, so one of'em can get some cash and grab a bite to eat. Naturally it takes three people to withdraw from an ATM, so they all crowd around the machine and as they're about to leave they spot a large creeper in a coat standing in the distance between them and the parked car. Their fears of being robbed turn for the worst when they witness the mystery man violently murder a passerby, who was simply walking his dog. Now the trio are tripped within the confines of the ATM, while the coated man on the outside tries to flush them out.
Chronicle (2012)

REVIEWER RATING: 
7/10


The Woman in Black (2012)

REVIEWER RATING: 
7/10


The Woman in Black has a long history in the UK -- before receiving this recent remake from Hammer Films, there was a successful book, which was later adapted into a long-running stage play, which was then turned into a creepy underrated made-for-TV movie in the late 80s. I liked the original film, but also don't deny that it had some room for improvement. This remake does manage to develop certain aspects better than the original, but also falls short in others, making it a good, but not a great remake.

Set in the early 1900s, the story follows a young lawyer sent to a small town to gather documents from a recently deceased woman that would aid his employers into selling the estate. While there he's forced to stay in the woman's secluded mansion home, where he encounters various strange unexplained sounds and visions of a dark figured woman. He soon learns of the town's ghost story of the "Woman in Black". Apparently she's the vengeful spirit of a woman who lost her own child and now she's determined to kill the town's remaining children.
The Grey (2012)

REVIEWER RATING: 
7/10


Underworld: Awakening (2012)

REVIEWER RATING: 
8/10


Zombie High (1987)

REVIEWER RATING: 
3/10


When I think "Zombie High" I think of a fun flick with a group of high school students taking on their zombified classmates in an epic battle on school grounds. Instead, what we're actually given is a excruciatingly dull movie about lobotomized students becoming successful in life (WTF??). That's essentially the story for the misleading "Zombie High," as we follow a young Virginia Madsen who accepts a scholarship at a prestigious boarding school where she notices something amiss with her fellow classmates.

Things are especially dubious when one of her peers is a rebellious outspoken sonuva bitch one minute, then an emotionless creeper the next. Virginia eventually discovers that the students are undergoing brain surgery against their will and the school's elder staff are benefiting from it. Apparently they extract certain parts of the brain and mix it with blood to create a means of eternal life. Now Virginia must find a way outta the school before she too becomes yet another science experiment.
Sector 7 (2011)

REVIEWER RATING: 
5/10


South Korea has been slowly trying to recreate the success of The Host since its release in 2006, but have since failed. At first it seemed as though Sector 7 would finally rectify the situation, but after having seen the movie, I'm sad to say that it didn't. The film is just all over the place and the questionable CG didn't help matters either.

The story revolves around a small group of oil-riggers working off an aged drilling station dubbed Sector 7. With years of non-existent oil, the crew are close to calling it quits until the old captain returns to suggest drilling one last time. Success!! And Sector 7 is saved from its seemingly inevitable closure. However, this comes with a cost, as the crew soon discovers when people start mysteriously dying off. The death's are quickly revealed to be thanks to a large aquatic creature roaming the station and it's up to the surviving crew and its resident "touch chick" to put a stop to the foul beast before it devours everyone.
The Innkeepers (2011)

REVIEWER RATING: 
6/10


After tackling sequel territory with Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, Ti West returns to moody horror with The Innkeepers -- a movie that I had been anxiously awaiting since I saw the spooky trailer. Much like West's previous slow-building effort, The House of the Devil, this pic focuses on a really slow-paced character driven story, as opposed to your standard ghost tale and manages to be a slight improvement over the man's previous additions to the genre.

The story revolves around a couple young 20-somethings as they work the remaining days at a supposedly haunted hotel named The Yankee Pedlar. The duo spend their lasting hours bantering back and forth, while occasionally attending to the mere handful of guests left in the hotel. Determined to find absolute proof that the place is haunted (in hopes that it will somehow save the place from closing), the starry-eyed and easily impressionable, Claire (Sara Paxton), sports a EVP meter and sets out through the halls in search of the resident spirit, Madeline O’Malley.
Hostel: Part III (2011)

REVIEWER RATING: 
5/10


The first Hostel was a movie I surprisingly enjoyed. It was gory, creative, and ballsy for a theatrical release. I admired Eli Roth's attempt to (along with Saw) bring forth a very dark and incredibly gory approach to death in mainstream horror. The sequel was a disappointment for me, as it was simply more of the same, but at least the gore was amped up and we were given a little backstory on the society that runs these torture chambers. Now, four years later, we're given a low-grade straight-to-DVD sequel that's nothing more than an obvious cash-in on the Hostel name.

Eli Roth takes a step back and lets his friend Scott Spiegel (Intruder, From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money) take the reigns, which I wasn't entirely against since the last two horror fares from Spiegel offered some clever camera tricks that I had hoped to see him revisit with this sequel. Sadly that's not the case here, as aside from a lot of gratuitous shots of the camera following someone's ass (for whatever reason), it's all a pretty straight forward directorial effort.

Pages