All posts in the '2008' category
October 22nd, 2009
Written and Directed by Steven Kastrissios, 2008
The revenge thriller is a tough nut to crack. The key to success is diving brain first into a unique angle on a time-tested formula. If you’re Pierre Morel with TAKEN you throw Liam Neeson on a plane to Paris and have him throat chop every scumbag that gets [...]
September 10th, 2009
Written and Directed by Jonas Quastel, 2008
If a movie exceeds expectations by being exactly what it should be can I call that the TAKEN effect? If so, can I then say that I was TAKEN by SCOURGE? Hopefully that makes grammatical sense, because after being pleasantly surprised by my first two NWI picks, [...]
June 24th, 2009
Directed by Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel, 2008
Written by Trent Haaga
Before watching DEADGIRL I was reading a recap at EvilOnTwoLegs.com of Fangoria’s most recent Weekend of Horrors in NYC. Jon was recounting actors and directors across multiple panels who all lamented America’s new remake fueled industry, an industry that leaves no room for risk taking. [...]
June 22nd, 2009
Written and Directed by Sopon Sukdapisit, 2008
It’s no secret that I am partial to Thai horror. Because the US has no counterpart to it, I envy the genuine superstition for the afterlife found in Thai culture. We have no nation spanning fears of spirits, which is precisely why American horror pales in the ghost department [...]
April 15th, 2009
Written and Directed by J.T. Petty, 2008
It took a movie about subterranean carnivores to dig me out of the sodding horror rut of spring. I’m kind of geeking out right now, as a matter of record.
The past three or so weeks have found the playlist slogged with amateur productions possessing a death grip on the [...]
March 8th, 2009
Written and Directed by Pascal Laugier, 2008
Watching MARTYRS is like staring into a blast furnace. Pascal Laugier’s film is a smoldering cell of anger and heat and hate and marvel. It’s difficult to watch head on and downright painful to endure over time. To be honest the experience is one I hesitate to recommend. However, [...]
February 17th, 2009
Directed by Toby Wilkins, 2008
Written by Kai Barry, Ian Shorr
SPLINTER is the most frustrating horror film of 2008. Kair Barry and Ian Shorr’s script has interesting material, but it is Toby Wilkins direction of said sequences that makes SPLINTER borderline intolerable.
I love independent horror. I love the resourcefulness of filmmakers who ebb the constraints of [...]
January 25th, 2009
Written and Directed by Eric Red, 2008
Having just been released from the pen for murdering her abusive husband Mike, Marnie (Famke Janssen) begins her final year of servitude by way of house arrest. Should she stray more than the titular distance from her ankle monitor’s base unit in the center of her Brooklyn brownstone, said [...]
January 19th, 2009
Not necessairly the most important headlines of 2008 (yes, the writer’s strike ended), rather the, “Oh, I remember that” variety. Note there is no chronological order to the listing of these events, the majority of which are derived from the creation/cessation of various production houses with the potential to shape the horror flow for the [...]
January 13th, 2009
Written and Directed by James Watkins, 2008
More and more I find myself musing, “Now normally I don’t like movies about a couple being tortured in the woods, but…” It has gotten to the point where I wonder if I do harbor some undeclared love for pieces of garbage. Then along comes a film like EDEN [...]
December 30th, 2008
Not much to say other than enjoy Part Four of Horror’s Not Dead’s 2008 Retrospective. Wasn’t a bad year, but now that all the major titles are in it, it wasn’t, as I like to say, good sex.
Part 1: January to March.
Part 2: April to June.
Part 3: July to September.
Part 4: October to December.
Part 5: [...]
December 29th, 2008
July to September, always anemic pre-Halloween hump for horror to get over. Two thousand and eight twas no different.
Part 1: January to March.
Part 2: April to June.
Part 3: July to September.
Part 4: October to December.
Part 5: Events.
Part 6: Awards. (coming)
December 25th, 2008
Not much to say other than enjoy Part Two of Horror’s Not Dead’s 2008 Retrospective, Festivus celebrating extravaganza.
Oh, and Happy Kwanzaa.
Part 1: January to March.
Part 2: April to June.
Part 3: July to September.
Part 4: October to December.
Part 5: Events.
Part 6: Awards. (coming)
December 22nd, 2008
Part 1: January to March.
Part 2: April to June.
Part 3: July to September.
Part 4: October to December.
Part 5: Events.
Part 6: Awards. (coming)
This was fun. I set off to do a roundup of 2008’s horror output, good and bad, and ended up with a rather nice guide, a work in progress to be broken into 6 [...]
December 2nd, 2008
Published by Valve, 2008
I realize there has been dearth of horror movie reviews on this site of late. I could blame the onset of winter months, which are the weakest weeks of the year as far as horror is concerned, but that would be a scapegoat. I was out of the country for a few [...]
December 2nd, 2008
LEFT 4 DEAD
Produced and Developed by Valve Corporation
Given my recent reviews and trailer impressions, it seems only fitting a zombie apocalypse game should come around that I get to review. Being a PC gamer, there is some bias in favor of Valve and everything they make. Ask any PC Gamer and they will agree that [...]
November 25th, 2008
Directed by Danny Lerner, 2008
Written by Les Weldon
I cannot review SHARK IN VENICE so much as I can form sentences under a headline that categorizes said words as a review. Danny Lerner’s 84 minutes of strung together visuals do not qualify as a film. To be fair, I have no clue what they qualify as, [...]
November 9th, 2008
Created by Charlie Brooker, 2008
“DEAD SET” may be one of my favorite horror productions of 2008 if only because it would never exist in the United States. Shot, cast and set largely in and around the “BIG BROTHER” house in England, “DEAD SET” is a five part miniseries chronicling a zombie apocalypse whose eve coincides [...]
October 26th, 2008
Directed by David Hackl, 2008
Written by Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan
Due to an obscene obligation to see every horror movie that comes out theatrically within the first week of release, SAW V has the honor of being the first of the SAW films I’ve seen in theater.
Due to the obscene awfulness of SAW V, it [...]
October 20th, 2008
Directed by Gregg Bishop, 2008
Written by Joe Ballarini
DANCE OF THE DEAD will charm the zombie hell out of you. That’s a one sentence, back-of-the-box review if I’ve ever seen one. And for the record, I have.
See it, enjoy it. ‘Tis a rather linear experiment, really. If you do step one, you’ll arrive at step two. [...]
October 19th, 2008
No, that is not a typo in the title, for the first time ever HND has multiple reviews for the same item. Today we talk DEAD SPACE, a survival horror video game on 360, PS3 and PC from Electronic Arts. I’ve always wanted to have multiple perspectives on the same thing run at the same [...]
October 12th, 2008
Directed by John Erick Dowdle, 2008
Written by John Erick Dowdle & Drew Dowdle, based on 2007’s [REC]
QUARANTINE is nothing to me but a surrogate for everything wrong with Hollywood horror. Production began on it before [REC] had even left post-production in its native Spain, which may just be a world record for fastest Hollywood remake. [...]
October 11th, 2008
Review written by R. J. Sayer, a very angry, vulgar, perfunctory but damn insightful fellow. I’m busy as hell and rushing off to the Renaissance Festival for the day, so I haven’t even read this raving endorsement yet, but I couldn’t wait.
Written and Directed by Michael Dougherty, 2008
I’m going to try and keep this short. [...]
October 8th, 2008
I know, I know. I was supposed to have MetalsNotDead.com up for Randy by the end of September. I done got busy. Enjoy:
Review: Metallica – Death Magnetic, by Randy Mull
Rating 8.5/10
I must preface the review of this album with the fact that I’ve been a fan of Metallica since the ripe old age of 13. [...]
October 7th, 2008
Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, 2008
Written by Jeff Buhler; shory story by Clive Barker
Theatrical delay after delay found Lionsgate dumping MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN first run in small town dollar theaters, a marketing move about as lucrative as rainbow insurance. I’m told by Hal Masonberg, who still has a Clive Barker involved film languishing in producer intervention [...]
September 15th, 2008
I’ve prefaced this before, but just in case we’ll go around again. A one Randall Mull, a man whose office I visit often throughout the day when trying to avoid doing work of my own, happens to have dual hobbies of metal and writing. One day we were joking about my site, as it is [...]
September 8th, 2008
Created by Alan Ball, 2008
Pilot episode STRANGE LOVE Written and Directed by Alan Ball
HBO doesn’t make bad shows. Mind you the bar may not always lock up a notch, but a bad show they’ve never put to series. After the pilot episode, my personal jury is still out on whether they’ve raised the bar or [...]
August 20th, 2008
Directed by Alexandre Aja, 2008
Written by Alexandre Aja & Grégory Levasseur, based on INTO THE MIRROR
Looking into mirrors we tend to only see our flaws reflected back. Not me of course. I am a fucking Adonis, but I understand the effect self inspection has on normal people. How appropriate, then, that when we all look [...]
August 12th, 2008
Created by Tim Haines, Adrian Hodges, 2007
No, this is not a series version of the passable giant crocodile film of the same name. “PRIMEVAL” is a British Sci-Fi series from 2007 already in its second season across the pond. Here in the colonies, however, BBC America is just now airing the first season. Taking place [...]
August 6th, 2008
Written and Directed by Edward Neumeier, 2008
I’m sure there is someone out there who is a greater STARSHIP TROOPERS fan than I, who has a replica ‘Death From Above’ tattoo on their right bicep, but this clay tablet remains; before undergoing eye surgery, I chose STARSHIP TROOPERS to be the last film I potentially would [...]
July 29th, 2008
Directed by John Landis, 2008
Written by Victor Salva
Is it fair to say that John Landis has fallen from grace? Judging from his episode of “FEAR ITSELF”, yes. Yes. Far, far from grace. Eons from grace. Fallen through time, through space, to some twilit zone where Landis is a sleep walking, brain dead, unoriginal, talentless know [...]
July 21st, 2008
Directed by Gregory Hoblit, 2008
Written by Robert Fyvolent, Mark Brinker, Allison Burnett
UNTRACEABLE is 4th rate direction scattered with 2nd rate actors giving 3rd rate performances of a 5th rate script. But until BRAINSCAN comes in from Netflix, I suppose it will suffice as something to review.
A horror movie in the most watered down, procedural sense, [...]
June 22nd, 2008
Directed by Ronny Yu, 2008
Written by Daniel Knauf
Now here we go. The early reviews of “FEAR ITSELF” all indicated that the show failed to kick off until episode three. The early reviews were right. FAMILY MAN, written by “CARNIVALE” creator and scribe Daniel Knauf, has an excellent script tailored specifically for the rise and fall [...]
June 22nd, 2008
Directed by Brad Anderson, 2008
Written by Matt Venne
Brad Anderson is a name that bodes much hook with me. He is a director whose television stints on “THE WIRE” and “SURFACE” are work I’ll go out of my way to detour for, so I feel fortunate when his job falls in line with my (non)job. Thus [...]
June 14th, 2008
Written and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, 2008
Last week’s Science Friday on NPR featured an interview with M. Night regarding THE HAPPENING. It wasn’t a bad interview and Shyamalan was his usual enthusiastic self, that is until host Ira Flatow asked Shyamalan if he, and I’m paraphrasing here, ‘liked the ending of his movie’. [...]
June 8th, 2008
Directed by Breck Eisner, 2008
Written by Mick Garris from a Del Howison short story
I am all about serialized, non-contiguous horror. I dig standalone storytelling and the familiar face bit casting, so I feel the ageless form always has a place on television. If we are judging from a first episode basis, however, that [...]
May 31st, 2008
Written and Directed by Bryan Bertino, 2008
Wrong people conducting a wrong focus group comprised of more wrong people. Why else would Rogue Pictures show zero confidence in their product, relegating it to some cobwebbed shelf in a warehouse for a year and a half, letting no less than two officially announced release dates slip [...]
May 26th, 2008
Written and Directed by Steven Kostanski, 2008
Einstein is back from the dead again(!) in LAZER GHOSTS 2: RETURN TO LASER COVER, a timeless 2008 sequel to Canadian auteur Steven Kostanski’s own groundvaporizing subversive classic. Our unsung hero of heroes Trance (Matthew Kennedy) is still shaken up over the death of his best friend Bennedict [...]
April 13th, 2008
Directed by Nelson McCormick, 2008
Written by J.S. Cardone
Normally if I’m going to oblige my ‘review all theatrical releases’ rule for something I care nothing about, I’ll go early Saturday morning in order to reward the film as little of my dollar as possible. This time, however, Christine, my fiance, knew from my ranting and [...]
April 4th, 2008
Directed by Carter Smith, 2008
Written by Scott B. Smith
I hope with desperation that THE RUINS does well at the box office. DreamWorks, Red Hour Films and Spyglass Entertainment deserve the financial reward. Carter Smith, Scott B. Smith and the film’s five producers deserve the commercial approval, which is the only approval the [...]
March 25th, 2008
Written and Directed by Michael Haneke, 2008
Michael Haneke is a difficult filmmaker for me to review. The man is a dense master worthy of the Kubrick comparison ax. He can cut a scene like no ones business and he can stretch a take to the limit and beyond. His rapport with actors is boundless, coaxing [...]
March 23rd, 2008
Directed by Declan O’Brien, 2008Written by Berkeley Anderson, Ron Fernandez
I’ll never forget a quiz from a geology lesson in a sixth grade science class. One question stands out to this day; "What is the difference between a rock and a mineral?" Faced with such a diabolical question, the girl to my left – I’ve forgotten [...]
February 28th, 2008
Written and Directed by David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, Dan Bush 2007
THE SIGNAL is a janitor at MIT who spends evenings with a mop in one hand and a piece of chalk in the other, casually redoing mathematical formulas on blackboards. Except THE SIGNAL is no wunderkind. No Ivy Leaguer should be fooled, no matter how [...]
February 3rd, 2008
Directed by David Moreau, Xavier Palud 2008Written by Sebastian Gutierrez; original screenplay by Jo Jo Yuet-chun Hui & the Pang Brothers
I did not want to see The Eye, nor do I now particularly want to write about it. The whole thing is an issue of non-importance, like the election of School Board officials. [...]
January 19th, 2008
Directed by Matt Reeves, 2007Written by Drew Goddard
The bittersweet truth of Cloverfield is that the fans were right and the filmmakers were wrong half-right. With the materialization of a vague teaser trailer before Transformers, JJ Abrams opened the gates to an empty amusement park and proceeded to tell no one what [...]
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