The Pyramid (2014)

Have seen this one advertised on and off but as it looked a bit cheap and uninteresting I decided to skip it until now, when a friend of mine recommended it online.

So as you can imagine the film takes place in a pyramid, during an archaeological dig in Egypt and with little persuasion a team which as luck would have it includes a camera man, end up exploring the deep hidden tunnels of said pointy building.

As it's a horror they are useless and stupid and end up getting stuck and of course they are not alone because as we all know pyramids are famous for housing long buried ancient monsters.

A little let down that it wasn't a scary mummy to be honest, the film world has had it's fill of vampires, werewolves and zombies, there isn't enough sea monsters or mummies.

No, what hunts them is a series of scary Egyptian C.G.I nasties the awful animation of which Egypt has not seen since The Rock turned into a giant scorpion.

All in all it's not a bad movie, the plot has it's charms, the "found footage" is minimal and there's enough shocks and gore to hold your interest.

Aside from the terrible C.G.I there is one other factor that either ruins or saves the whole thing. This is the inclusion of James Buckley, best known for playing Jay on the TV show (and films) The Inbetweeners. You can't see him in any other light but as Jay. Fwiend?

5/10 Masks

Unfriended (2014)

I've been waiting to see this one...and as it often is with films that you can't watch NOW! NOW! I just want to see them even more!

So actually, even though the concept was something that I was a bit iffy about, it was worth the wait.

Unfriended (also known as "Cybernatural) is sort of a found footage but not, it all takes place on a computer screen through the eyes of one user talking to a group of close friends. Looking as if it is filmed all as one shot the camera never leaves the screen and instead we have our heroine clicking between Skype, Facebook, YouTube and Google. When I come to think about it now, it's one of the only films that I can think of that use the actual names of these platforms instead of invented ones (Finder-Spyder etc).

The action takes place on the one-year anniversary of the suicide an ex-friend/school mate of the group. She was a victim of cyber-bullying which is thought to be the cause of her suicide.

With all friends on screen, communicating via iMessage, Skype and Facebook the deceased friend starts to communicate to them through her old accounts, revealing hidden secrets about the group of friends and the events that led to her suicide.

Add to this the viral posting (we've all seen them) of a website claiming that if you are contacted by the dead on the internet, not to ignore them as they can possess you to commit suicide. Sort of a "if you don't share this...." thing.

As more is revealed the tension rises and suddenly the viral warning doesn't seem quite so silly.

It's a horror movie so of course we get scares, gore and suspense. There are several things that lead me to giving Unfriended a good score in my books.

The way it is shot gives you front row action, as most people would be watching on some sort of laptop or device it would actual take "first person" to another level. I've not seen a film made quite like this before but I'm certain that there will be more to follow. It really does glue you to the screen.

It makes valid points about some very real things, mostly Cyber-Bullying but also things such as: that you can be who you want on the internet, that people who appear perfect often hide secrets, that bullying is often done out of low self-confidence and that sometimes your best friends are not who they appear.

Rumour is that a sequel is in the making, going to be hard to top that!

8.5/10 Masks

Director: Levan Gabriadze
Writer: Nelson Greaves
Stars: Heather Sossaman, Matthew Bohrer, Courtney Halverson

It Follows (2015)

It Follows is truly the stuff nightmares that are made of, I will try and make this review as spoiler free as I can but I don't think it's going to happen.

The plot is lifted straight from a deep, dark recess of the mind - we first get introduced to "it" which does follow when a young couple, Jay and Hugh are out on a date and are pointing out people that they could chose to be instead. After a few turns Hugh says "what about that woman in the red dress" and Jay says "there's no woman in a red dress...". Boom. It's one of those "I see dead people" or "why did you let her live?" lines.

Later that night they have sex and Hugh explains that now she has "the curse". She will be followed by a "something" that can take whatever form it chooses. Only she will be able to see it.

Then, she is followed.

The only way to get rid of the curse is to have sex with someone else, like some supernatural STD - it's not explained whether or not using protection stops it.

It's a great plot as of course you're never sure if it's "the thing" or someone else and it does tend to show up, looming out of the dark or trailing behind. You can run, you can drive off but eventually it will catch up.

Creepy as hell, great cast, full of stuff that you don't see coming, or do but can't look away, I loved it.

8/10 Masks

Initial release: March 27, 2015 (USA)
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Running time: 1h 47m

The Babadook (2014)

If your idea of a horror film is listening to the wild screams of an annoying child for 90-odd minutes then The Babadook is the film for you.

If however you prefer scares and chills and a decent plot then by all means try something else.

This 2014 movie was ranted and raved about all over, I remember first watching it under the influence of pretty bad tonsillitis and then giving it another go a bit after.

The imagery is good enough, the idea even quite original and if you delve deeper into the movie's symbolism and underlying metaphor then it makes quite good artsy sense.

Yet, I do not crave these things from a horror movie. A good book perhaps but not a visual feast which I expect to scare me and make me cringe.

The only thing making me cringe in this movie was the annoying cast - a withered old mother lacking the backbone of the most simple of mammals and her son that spends the entire film screaming in a high-pitched whine that will make you run to protect your wine glasses.

What's it about? On the surface - a single mother raising a difficult child that finds a scary pop-up book, the monster that is featured manifests itself and off we go. Underlying - a single mother's struggle with a difficult child and her desire to do harm to him.

If you want something a bit avant garde of an evening then by all means try this one, you may even enjoy it, but if you watch it expecting a horror flick, you're going to be left disappointed.

3/10 Masks

Initial release: 2014 (Australia)
Director: Jennifer Kent
Running time: 1h 35m

Spring (2014)

Looking for the great horror movies of 2015 I came across this on a top 10 list - there wasn't much said about the movie as they didn't want to ruin any surprise. Well (and spoiler alert) I will and save you the job of watching it.

You know how Shaun Of The Dead was billed as "a romantic comedy, with zombies"? Well this is a romantic love story, that just happens to have a (sort of) monster in it.

A young American loses his mother and gets into a bar fight so decides to go travel and ends up in Italy. He meets a nice young lady, they get jiggy and he falls in love.

Alas, she has a secret to hide and....well basically she has to decide whether to stay with the guy and fall in love and eventually die, or continue her existence as immortal.

So yeah, it's The Little Mermaid. Or worse....Twilight.

Spoilers coming...

She is 2000 years old and replenishes her youth via injections and getting pregnant (where her body re-absorbs the youth) she is subject to changing into an odd lizard/squid being from time to time. That's it - she's not even a rampaging monster, she tries to hide it.

It's a slow burner that even when it gets to the point was not worth the wait. It is essentially a romance movie, not a horror. In fact if you had a partner or a friend that didn't like horror but liked romance, you could let them watch this to introduce them to the genre.

As a story, apart from being lame, it's an OK watch. but as a horror it fails and as "top ten" material... never.

3/10 Masks.

Directors: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
Writer: Justin Benson
Stars: Lou Taylor Pucci, Nadia Hilker, Vanessa Bednar