#14. The Grudge 3 [2009]

Every Curse Has A Beginning, Every Beginning Has An End



Director: Toby Wilkins
Cast: Shawnee Smith, Marina Sirtis, Johanna E. Braddy, Aiko Horiuchi, Matthew Knight, Beau Mirchoff, Gil McKinney, Emi Ikehata
DVD Release Date: May 12, 2009

The Grudge 3 is the direct-to-DVD sequel to the American horror films The Grudge and its sequel, The Grudge 2. The film was directed by Toby Wilkins taking Takashi Shimizu's place. According to IMDb, filming took place in March 2008. The film was released on May 12, 2009. The trailer was released on October 28, 2008.

Plot
The events of The Grudge 3 occur several months after the Chicago vignette of The Grudge 2. Jake Kimble, (Matthew Knight) the sole survivor, is now institutionalized after the gruesome murder of his family. His caretaker is Dr. Sullivan, who is skeptical of Jake's stories describing a woman with long black hair covered in blood as the murderer. Dr. Sullivan has to leave Jake in his room as she has to take care of the other patients. She reassures Jake by telling him that there is a security camera that will always be watching him. When she leaves, almost immediately the lights start flickering, and Jake realizes that Kayako is here. He screams for help, but the security guard does not pay attention, but it is too late when he does realize what happens, as he sees Jake being flung around the room by an invisible force. When they arrive in the room, Jake is lying in a pool of blood. He has broken almost every bone in his body. Dr. Sullivan has become aware of the truth.

Kayako's sister, Naoko Kawamata,is a young Japanese woman who hears of Jake's death through the newspaper and becomes worried. Naoko knows how to stop the grudge and travels to America, more specifically to Chicago where the last incident linked with Kayako occurred. She is introduced to the Chicago apartment by Max, (Gil MicKenny) the landlord, and immediately begins to feel her sister's presence. She meets Max's little sister, Rose, and she somehow knows that Rose is in touch with the dead and can communicate with Toshio, Naoko's nephew. She also meets Lisa (Johanna Braddy) and they quickly become friends, and they meet other residents of the apartment, including Gretchen, (Marina Sirtis) who is an artist. Lisa begins to grow frightened when she realizes her younger sister Rose is seeing a dead boy all around the apartment.

Naoko is observed throughout the apartment by Kayako, her sister, but Kayako never actually kills Naoko, quite possibly because she still loves her sister. Later that day, Lisa encounters Toshio, who makes her jump. When asking him what he is doing in the apartment, Toshio vanishes leaving Lisa bewildered. A girl is killed when Kayako's hands pull her into her bathtub and drown her. At night, Gretchen is painting a beautiful picture of Rose and when she turns away she finds it almost shredded and in a pool of red paint that resembles blood. Whilst expecting the painting of Rose, it briefly changes to a portrait of Kayako and handprints begin to apear in the red paint and move towards Gretchen. Then another of Gretchen's paintings begins to change and morph into Kayako who crawls towards Gretchen and kills her by gouging her eyes out and ripping off her jaw, presumably because Gretchen's career reminds her of her husband, Takeo. Max discovers Gretchen's body and is horrified to see black blood/paint flowing from her eyes.

Lisa, Max's sister, hears about the grudge from Naoko and realizes that the death of her sister and the deaths in the Chicago apartment - including the death of Jake Kimble - are connected, and to this end she meets Dr Ann Sullivan, (Shawnee Smith) who informs her of what she learnt from Jake concerning a girl named Allison Flemming and a woman named Kayako Saeki, from Japan. Lisa recognizes the boy as the one Rose has been seeing, and to her horror Dr Sullivan informs her that the Saeki family died long ago because Takeo Saeki killed Kayako and Toshio in a fit of anger and jealous rage. Dr Sullivan also informs Lisa that Toshio, the boy Rose has been seeing, is dead, and plays a video of one of her interviews with Jake, who tells Dr Sullivan that Kayako is sitting right in between them constantly and when Jake is about to describe Kayako's face as "looking as though she is dead," Lisa eventually returns to the apartment.

Dr Sullivan examines further evidence and then goes down the corridor out of her office because she sees Toshio on the monitor. Everything seems normal for a few brief seconds until Kayako appears in the hallway. Dr Sullivan recognizes her from her pictures and interviews with Jake and exits via the other door in the corridor, only to have Kayako appear before her in the corridor she is now in. Dr Sullivan screams for help and knocks repeatedly on the door, but meanwhile Kayako is catching up. Kayako litterally walks through the door opposite and Dr Sullivan feels Kayako's fingers go through her hair and touch the side of her face as she screams for the cleaner to open the door, and then suddenly Kayako seizes Dr Ann Sullivan's head and snaps her neck, splattering blood against the window.

Later that evening, Lisa invites her boyfriend Andy (Beau Mirchoff) out to supper, and there she discusses the Saeki murders and her theory that the vengeful ghosts are in her apartment. Andy dismisses her ideas initially, saying "you only make connections you want to see," and persuades Lisa to come to New York with him, but Lisa refuses. Andy returns Lisa to the apartment, and later when he leaves he sees the lights flickering and Toshio's legs run upstairs. He follows Toshio to a black hallway and sees Toshio run before him in the gloom. When Andy flicks on the light switch, Kayako jumps on him and grabs him violently as the door closes to the sound of her death rattle.

Later, Max shows signs of a mental change and becomes violent and aggressive. He viciously attacks his superior when he is fired, and later his superior is killed by Toshio Saeki in his broken-down car. Max kicks out his own sister Lisa after taking out his rage on her, and then he also pushes Rose aside and tells her to go to her room. When Max squats down before the door, ignoring Lisa thumping on it, he starts shivering uncontrollably as if something is possessing him. Lisa, frightened, goes to Naoko for help and Naoko realizes what has happened to Max. She dresses in a classic Japanese kimono and begins to perform an exorcism on the building using Rose as a witness, but halfway through Naoko tells Lisa that Rose has to drink Kayako's blood, which she somehow has obtained.

Naoko begs Rose to drink it, claiming that "the bad will go away". Lisa refuses to have anything to do with this ritual, and begins to leave, only to find her path blocked by Max. Now it is revealed that Max has been possessed by the evil spirit of Takeo Saeki, and he is now out to repeat the same murder he performed on Kayako. He pursues Naoko into the hallway, and when Naoko attempts to reason with him, he breaks her leg, so she has to crawl just like her sister Kayako did. Naoko attempts to crawl away but Max seizes a utility knife, grabs Naoko by her long black hair, and thrusts the blade into her throat. Meanwhile, the murderous spirit of Kayako is back for the final showdown, and she pursues Lisa and Rose through the upper story of the apartment. Lisa and Rose run into the bathroom and find the corpse of her boyfriend Andy, but when she grasps it, Andy becomes Kayako and attempts to strangle her. Rose is thrown out of the bathroom and the door locks Lisa in.

Lisa backs away, and Kayako crawls right up close to Lisa's face and utters her death rattle loudly. Just as Kayako is about to kill Lisa, Rose drinks Kayako's blood and Kayako's evil spirit vanishes. Just then, the evil spirit of Takeo is exorcised from Max, who, when reverted to normal, is horrified at what he has done. When he is sitting, immersed in remorse and guilt, in the apartment's corridor, noises come from the other end of the corridor. The source of the noises is revealed to be Naoko, stumbling on her broken leg. She has taken over from Kayako as the new Grudge. She crawls up to Max and bites into his throat. Now Naoko's new curse is haunting the apartment in the wake of Kayako's demise.

The final scene is of police and doctors removing the bodies and Lisa telling Rose that everything will be alright. However, as she hugs her, the final image is that of Kayako filled with rage and hugging Lisa instead of Rose.



Reviewed :
The Grudge 3 picks up a few months after the end of part 2, with the sole survivor of the curse, young Jake, locked up in a psychiatric hospital. Dr. Sullivan is skeptical of his stories of a ghostly woman out to get him, but after finding Jake dead in his room with every bone in his body broken, she starts to come around.

The Grudge series can prove frustrating because of the hopelessness of fighting a curse that can never end, so the introduction of a viable cure in this film keeps it from falling into a predictable rut. The croaking ghost Kayako is as unsettling as ever, despite cheaper special effects than the previous films and a new actress taking over the role. The boy playing her meowing ghost son Toshio, though, seems too old for the role.

The Grudge 3 isn't great -- the characters are a bit annoying, and the script could use a once-over to strengthen some plot points -- but it's fast-moving with a nice twist ending. It's not as good as the first (the American version) but could very well outperform the second, whose overpopulated plot made the pace lag.

Official Website : http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/thegrudge3

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#13. DVD : Deep In The Jungle [2008] (ปฏิหาริย์รักต่างพันธ์ )

Director: Teerawat Rujitum
Starring: Jessadaporn Pholdee, Ploy Jindachote, Sakda Keawbuadee, Pasin Ruengwut
Official website: phranakornfilm.com
Release Date in Thailand: 31st December 2008
Synopsis :A Thai special forces sniper is forced to go rogue in order to protect a mysterious hilltribe woman being sought by a black-ops officer. The woman, named Jin, is actually a member of the ancient race of naga--snake gods who live in human form but can transform into giant serpents.

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#12. Perkins' 14 [2009]

Perkins' 14 is a 2009 horror film originated by Jeremy Donaldson, written by Lane Shadgett, and directed by Craig Singer. The film is produced by Jeremy Donaldson, Matthew Kuipers, and Christopher Milburn. The film was released theatrically nationwide January 9-15, 2009. The DVD which includes the 10 making-of webisodes from the Massify Ghosts in the Machine Competition was released on Tuesday March 31, 2009.

Synopsis
Robert Perkins was just six years old when his parents were brutally slaughtered right before his very eyes. Unable to overcome the incredible trauma of witnessing such a diabolical event, Perkins becomes convinced that the killers who murdered his parents will eventually return to finish the job they started years ago - and he plans to be fully prepared to fight back when they do. Years later, when Perkins turns thirty-four, he kidnaps fourteen people from his hometown of Stone Cove, and sets about reprogramming them to become relentless killing machines. Now, if the killers ever do return, they'll have to get through Perkins' 14 in order to reach their intended target. Trouble is, now that Perkins' 14 are ready for battle, they've become increasingly difficult to contain.



Dark Ride director Craig Singer returns to the helm with this shocking horror film about a delusional psychopath who creates a unified team of fourteen maniacal killers. Produced entirely over the internet, where writers uploaded story details and actors submitted audition tapes, Perkins' 14 was released into theaters as part of the third After Dark Horror Fest. Usually anything branded with the 8 Films to Die For moniker is a watch-at-your-own-risk affair, but I'm pleased to say that this movie is original enough and possesses enough strong performances to elevate it above the usual mess. And it's weird. So damn weird, in fact, that the movie's main shortcomings arise from the fact that it tried to get a little too-out there, and I think the writers wrote themselves into a corner, but more on that in a bit.

The stronger of the two halves of Perkins' 14 is definitely the first half, which is more of a creepy homicide drama than the latter half's zombie-esque horror stuff. O'Kane turns in a fine dramatic performance as Dwayne Hopper, perfectly emoting the characters' pain at the loss of his son all those years ago. The problem is that he keeps the audience from instantly connecting with him. He's ... well, he's scary! Like I said, he does a tremendous job at his role, but his tough, brooding appearance doesn't lend well to the father-figure type. I don't blame him for the miscast though, as much of the film's strength comes from him.

By far the biggest show stealer though, is Richard Brake and his snakey, frightening and downright crazy portrayal of kidnapper-murderer-mad-scientist Ronald Perkins. Brake is fast becoming one of my favorite character actors, never shying away from any role, no matter how creepy or reprehensible it makes him out to be. Here, he's only in the movie for maybe 20 minutes, but his role is pivotal to the plot and makes for the most memorable scenes.

Speaking of plot, be warned -- there isn't much of one. After the child-kidnapping thread is dealt with and the creatures are unleashed, the rest of the movie is a frantic fight for Hopper's family's survival. Whatever science was involved in the transformation of the children into these -- Spoiler alert!! Oh, who cares? -- zombie-like ghouls is never explained beyond a few tables worth of different colored liquids in test tubes. Perkins' motivation for his diabolical experiments is touched on, but I guess because my parents were never killed in the same way his were when he was a boy, I can't see making my revenge scheme against the world revolve around turning kids into cannibalistic monsters. But what do I know?

This is thankfully one of those movies where you won't spend too much time worrying about the hows or whys. This brings us now to the ending. I mentioned earlier that the writers had painted themselves into a corner, and really, there isn't any other way to phrase it. The film just ... stops, kind of. Viewers looking for any real resolution, or answers, or anything will be left holding the ball. The final scene is so strange that no amount of repeated viewings will really clarify why the characters onscreen do what they do, when for the previous hour, they'd preached against such an act. Anyway, this is a decent little low-budget horror film. With its use (maybe overuse) of lots of strobe lighting, extremely solid performances and some really good gore effects, it's a good way to pass an hour and a half.

Source :
Wikipedia,IGN, After Dark HorrorFest [2009]

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#11. The Last House On The Left [2009]

" If bad people hurt someone you love, how far would you go to hurt them back? "



USA [110m] Directed by : Dennis Iliadis, Written by : Screenplay: Carl Ellsworth, Adam Alleca 1972 Screenplay : Wes Craven Music : John Murphy Cinematography : Sharone Meir Starring : Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, Spencer Treat Clark, Martha MacIsaac, Sara Paxton

The Last House on the Left is a 2009 American horror film directed by Dennis Iliadis and written by Carl Ellsworth and Adam Alleca. It is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name, and stars Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, and Sara Paxton. The film follows the parents of Mari, who attempt to get revenge on a group of strangers that have taken shelter at their home, and whom they learn have shot their daughter and left her for dead. This film was released on March 13, 2009.

Plot
Two detectives are escorting a criminal to prison when they are ambushed and brutally murdered.Meanwhile, Mari, a 17-year-old student, is on vacation with her mother Emma and her father John, who is a doctor. Mari asks to sleep in the guest house rather than the main house. Mari's brother, Ben, had died a year earlier, and the family is still trying to adjust to his absence; Mari wears a necklace he had given her. She decides to go into town to see her friend Paige, even though Emma is worried. Mari meets Paige at the store where she works. A boy named Justin attempts to buy cigarettes, but Paige does not sell to him because he is underage. Justin says that if they join him at his motel room, he will give them marijuana, so Paige agrees to sell him the cigarettes. Later, they drive to Justin's motel room and Justin and Paige go in, promising Mari they won't take too long. Mari waits in the car, but eventually goes in to find them getting high.

While they are still high, Krug, Justin's dad and the escaped criminal, enters with his accomplices, Sadie and Francis. Krug says it is too risky to let Paige and Mari live. The criminals steal Mari's car and kidnap Mari and Paige. While they are driving, Mari tells Krug to take a route which passes her house. Mari and Paige attempt to escape by burning Sadie with a cigarette light and trying to jump out of the car, but this causes the criminals to crash the car injuring Francis in the process. Paige attempts to escape again, but is stabbed to death. Krug then beats and rapes Mari. After being raped, Mari grabs a rock and hits Krug with it and runs to the lake. Mari begins to swim away from them and all Krug can do is shoot at her. After several shots he hits her in the shoulder and assumes she is dead.

John and Emma are dining when they hear a knock at the door. Krug explains that their car crashed and they need help. Justin goes into the kitchen and sees a picture of Mari on the refrigerator, realizing that the couple are her parents. He leaves Mari's necklace on the counter to warn her parents. Emma shows the guests their room and returns to the house, where they find Mari on the front porch. They rush her inside where John cauterizes her wound and performs surgery on her. Emma finds Mari's necklace while getting towels and realizes the guests are responsible. John also discovers Mari has been raped and they decide to get revenge.

John rushes to the boat house to grab weapons. Francis comes into the house while Emma is gathering more weapons. Emma realizes Mari's picture is still on the fridge and seduces Francis in order to distract him. He then walks into the living room and sees Mari. As he realizes that they are her parents, Emma breaks a bottle over his head. He fights back but John walks in and together they attempt to drown him in the sink. They finally turn on the garbage disposal while his hand is in the sink and hit him with a hammer, killing him. They then go to the guest house where Justin gives his gun to John. Krug and Sadie awaken when John cocks it, but John manages to wound Sadie. Krug escapes but Sadie is killed by Emma. Emma then helps Mari out of the house and onto their boat to hide.

When Krug realizes why John and Emma tried to kill him he taunts John. Justin then holds a gun to his father's head. Mad at himself for being too timid to stop what happened to Paige and Mari, Justin tells his father that he is ending it. However, the gun doesn't fire and Justin is stabbed by Krug. John, with Emma's aid, seem to kill Krug. John and Emma take the boat to get Mari and Justin immediate medical attention. The following morning, Krug wakes up to realize he has survived, but John informs him that he is paralyzed from the neck down. He puts Krug's head in a microwave and, as John leaves, Krug screams while his skull burns and his head explodes.



Of all the horror remakes in recent years -- Friday the 13th, Prom Night, My Bloody Valentine, etc. -- The Last House on the Left seems the least likely to revisit. Not only is its controversial content -- including rape, torture and murder -- difficult to watch, but it also wasn't a huge hit, earning about $3 million in 1972. And unlike the similarly uncomfortable The Hills Have Eyes, which was remade in 2006, there isn't a clan of inbred cannibals to lessen the realism. But as Hollywood eyes every horror film of the past 40 years, I guess it was only a matter of time before they reached an unlikely choice like this.

The Last House on the Left isn't a great film, but it's a worthy retread that offers enough to justify the existence of a remake. It thankfully eliminates the odd slapstick-y element of the original that involved police officers seemingly culled from Hazzard County, and the acting and overall production value is, of course, much more professional.However, it's the gritty, low-budget nature of the original that helped make it so realistic and impactful. The polished remake isn't nearly as grim as the original, but it manages to at least be uncomfortable, if not truly disturbing.

One aspect that hurts the film's impact is the decision to leave Mari alive. In the original,the hoodlums kill her,making her parents' vengeance all the more poignant, powerful and appropriate. Having Mari survive undermines the Collingwoods'motivation for revenge; wouldn't they be more willing to commit murder if they had no children left alive and thus nothing to live for? As it stands, they could be sent to jail, leaving behind a minor daughter to care for herself.

In addition to a certain grit, the remake misses the original movie's reflections of then-contemporary social turmoil, including feminism, class conflict and "white flight" from the cities to the suburbs. The 2009 version is, as remakes tend to be, more shallow, but it deserves credit for not going the total Hollywood route and turning the parents into MacGyver or the A-Team, building extravagant traps out of popsicle sticks and Lemon Pledge.

That said, the parents' actions actually could've used some of Hollywood's typical heavy-handedness. One of my biggest complaints with exploitive revenge flicks like The Last House on the Left is that the villains' comeuppance rarely seems on par with the initial assault, and this remake is no exception. Lacking the hyper-realism of the original, the remake would've been more open to flourishes of over-the-top violence. A tacked-on ending strives in that direction, but by then, it's too late and actually cheapens the film's finale.

Still, the film's structure is refreshing. Though not a unique experience, it's fun in this era of torture porn to see the tables turn on the villains, with the hunters becoming the hunted, the tortured, the maimed and the murdered.

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#10. The Butterfly Effect 3 : Revelations [2009]

" Death Repeats Itself "



USA[90m] Directed by : Seth Grossman Written by : Holly Brix Music : Adam Balazs Cinematography : Dan Stoloff Starring : Chris Carmack, Rachel Miner, Sonya A. Avakian, Melissa Jones Release Date : January 09, 2009

Butterfly Effect: Revelation is a 2009 science fiction/horror film directed by Seth Grossman that is the third film in the Butterfly Effect franchise.The movie was filmed in Michigan and concluded filming in October 2008. It debuted as part of the lineup for After Dark Horrorfest III, a horror film festival held in January 2009. The film will be released on DVD on March 31, 2009.

Synopsis
Sam Reide (Chris Carmack) witnesses a woman killed, then wakes up in an ice-filled bathtub, his vitals being monitored by his sister Jenna (Rachel Miner). Sam can travel back to any time and location during his lifetime, needing only to concentrate on where and when he wishes to arrive. He has helped the local police capture criminals under the guise of being a psychic. We learn that Sam pays his sister's rent and buys her groceries, and that she rarely leaves the apartment and lives in squalor. That night, Elizabeth (Sarah Habel), the sister of Sam's murdered girlfriend Rebecca (Mia Serifino), arrives at Sam's apartment. She believes that the man about to be executed for her sister's murder, Lonnie Flennonds (Richard Wilkinson), is innocent, and she offers to pay Sam to find the real murderer. Sam turns her down, but goes to speak with the man who tutored him on time travel, Goldburg (Kevin Yon), who reminds him of the cardinal rules: he's not to alter his own personal past, nor travel in time with his body left unsupervised.

We learn that a fire that claimed the lives of Sam and Jenna's parents had claimed Jenna's life, but Sam altered time so that their parents died instead. After Goldburg's departure their bartender, Vicki (Melissa Jones), seductively offers Sam a buttery nipple; he and Vicki have sex, but upon seeing Rebecca's photo, he cannot continue. Sam changes his mind and agrees to help Elizabeth. He tries to help Lonnie without time-traveling, but Lonnie refuses, believing Sam to be the culprit. Frustrated, Sam travels back to June 1998. He first runs into a drunk Elizabeth, telling her to stay in her locked car. He goes into Rebecca's bedroom to find her already dead; while there, Elizabeth is attacked from her backseat. Sam returns to the present, to learn he no longer owns a car, is renting his couch to a roommate named Paco (Ulysses Hernandez), and no longer works for the police, instead being a discarded suspect for Rebecca's murder who has repeatedly asked for the case file.

In 1998 Lonnie had seen Rebecca and Sam talking, and didn't stop this time: as he was not at the murder scene, in this new present he is a wheelchair-bound lawyer. Sam visits Goldburg, who suggests he go back to the scene of the third murder and this time only observe. Sam also visits Jenna, who is significantly better off and living more cleanly; she refuses to help him. Sam travels back to September 2000 and witnesses the third victim, Anita Barnes (Chantel Giacalone), being attacked, only to learn it is her boyfriend attempting to cater to her rape fetish. He is discovered and her boyfriend's punch sends him back to the present, where now Sam is renting a couch from Paco, who is about to evict him for non-payment. Goldburg is missing, and Lonnie is now the third victim while Anita remains alive. Present-day Anita pepper-sprays him; escaping to Jenna's, she tells him that Goldburg was about to implicate him in the murders, and furthermore tells him she fears a future Sam is the murderer. Sam complains he is now "too stupid" to fix things; Jenna pinky-swears him to not time-travel anymore.

Drunk at the bar, he propositions Vicki, who is engaged in this timeline. After Sam leaves, the killer shows up and murders Vicki near an auto plant; her body is found by the police. As Sam left his receipt behind at the bar, he is hauled in by the police. Jenna extricates him; the police put a tail on him as he leaves. As he leaves, he takes Det. Glenn's (Lynch Travis) evidence notebook, which he uses to look at the scene of the crime and travel back to September 2004, before the bodies were found by the police. He returns to the present to find himself on Jenna's couch as she leaves for work, reminding him to clean up after himself and have dinner ready for her — their positions now effectively reversed from the beginning of the film. Sam returns to the auto plant, where the police lie in wait to arrest him. Sam convinces Det. Glenn to release him by telling him how his wife mistook him for M.C. Hammer on their first meeting. Visiting home, Sam accidentally inhales some burundanga flowers from Goldburg's greenhouse, and barely can haul himself into the bathtub before time-traveling back to the abandoned auto plant, where he finds a severely injured Goldburg, and, running for help, is felled by a foothold trap.

The killer approaches the trapped Sam, removing the mask as they approach to reveal ... Jenna, who can also time travel. She has an incestuous love for her brother, having killed the women either because she perceived them as rivals for Sam's affections or because they were new witnesses introduced by Sam's rescue attempts. Sam travels back in time to the day of the fire that killed his parents; instead of saving Jenna, he traps her in her room. He awakes in a new timeline where he had fallen in love with Elizabeth (not Rebecca), and he, Elizabeth, and their daughter Jenna (named after his now-dead sister) (Alexis Sturr) are pulling up to a family barbecue, where he is greeted by his now-living parents and a perfectly healthy Goldburg. The film closes as Sam's daughter puts her Barbie doll on the grill and smiles as it begins to melt.

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#9. Friday The 13th [2009]

" Welcome to Crystal Lake "

USA[77m] Directed by : Marcus Nispel Screenplay : Damian Shannon, Mark Swift Story : Damian Shannon, Mark Swift, Mark Wheaton Characters by : Victor Miller Music : Steve Jablonsky Cinematography : Daniel Pearl Starring : Derek Mears, Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Aaron Yoo, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle Release Date : February 13, 2009

Friday the 13th is a 2009 American horror film directed by Marcus Nispel, and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. It is a reboot of the Friday the 13th film series, which began in 1980 and whose last film was the 2003 crossover film Freddy vs. Jason. Nispel also helmed the 2003 remake of Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), while Shannon and Swift wrote the screenplay for Freddy vs. Jason. It stars Derek Mears as Jason Voorhees, with Jared Padalecki, Amanda Righetti and Danielle Panabaker portraying the male and female leads.

The film follows Clay Miller (Padalecki) as he searches for his missing sister, Whitney (Righetti), who was taken by Jason while she was camping in the woods at Crystal Lake. Originally starting out as an origin story, the film ultimately became a re-imagining of the first four Friday the 13th films. Along with bringing the film back to its roots, Jason was designed as a leaner and faster killer, with a backstory that could provide a little sympathy for the character but not enough that he would lose his menace. Although this film reboots the continuity, Jason's iconic hockey mask,which was not introduced until the third film in the series, is acquired through the progression of the film. In keeping with the tone of the film, Jason's mask was also brought back to its roots, created from a mold of the original mask from Part III, though subtle changes were made to keep it unique to the new film. Friday the 13th also incorporated some of Harry Manfredini's music score from the original Friday film series, as the producers recognized the iconic status it held.

The film was released on Friday, February 13, 2009 to the most theaters of any of the Friday the 13th films. Although the film was met with primarily negative reviews, it earned approximately $19 million in its opening night and $40 million for its opening weekend. With its opening weekend, Friday the 13th broke two records, having the largest opening day for the film series, and the largest opening weekend for any horror film.It currently sits as the second highest grossing film in the Friday the 13th franchise with $64.7 million, and has earned an estimated $87.8 million worldwide.

Synopsis
On June 13, 1980, a young Jason Voorhees (Caleb Guss) witnesses his mother (Nana Visitor) get beheaded by a camp counselor (Stephanie Rhodes) who was trying to escape Mrs. Voorhees's murderous rampage around Camp Crystal Lake. Approximately 30 years later, a group of vacationing friends—Wade (Jonathan Sadowski), Richie (Ben Feldman), Mike (Nick Mennell), Whitney (Amanda Righetti) and Amanda (America Olivo)—arrive at Crystal Lake on a camping trip, and to find some marijuana that was planted in the woods. As Mike and Whitney explore the abandoned Crystal Lake camp, Jason (Derek Mears) begins to kill the rest of the group one-by-one. Jason also kills Mike, but instead of doing the same to Whitney he decides to kidnap her because she resembles his mother at a young age.

Six weeks later, Trent (Travis Van Winkle), along with his girlfriend Jenna (Danielle Panabaker), and their friends Chewie (Aaron Yoo), Chelsea (Willa Ford), Nolan (Ryan Hansen), Bree (Julianna Guill) and Lawrence (Arlen Escarpeta) arrive at Trent's summer cabin, which sits on Crystal Lake, unaware of the events that occurred a few weeks prior. Also in town is Clay (Jared Padalecki), who has come to Crystal Lake searching for his sister Whitney. Clay eventually makes his way to Trent's cabin, where Jenna agrees to help him look for his sister on the other side of the lake. As Clay and Jenna search for clues to Whitney's disappearance, Jason kills Nolan and Chelsea out on the lake. Clay and Jenna reach the old Crystal Lake campgrounds, where they witness Jason hauling a dead body into one of the abandoned camp houses. Clay and Jenna run back to warn the others about Jason, who arrives shortly after them and cuts the power to the cabin.

After killing Chewie and Lawrence, who ventured outside the house, Jason sneaks inside the cabin and kills Bree. Trent, Clay and Jenna escape the house, but Trent is killed shortly after when he reaches the main road. Jason then chases Clay and Jenna back to the campgrounds, where Clay discovers Jason's lair and finds his sister chained to the wall. Clay frees Whitney, and all three attempt to escape as Jason arrives. The trio find an exit, but Jenna is killed before she can get out. Jason comes after Clay and Whitney, who use Jason's love and memory of his mother to distract him long enough to stab him in the chest with his own machete. Afterward, Clay dumps Jason's lifeless body into the lake, but before he and Whitney can leave Jason bursts through the lake dock and grabs Whitney.



Official Website : http://www.fridaythe13thmovie.com

Note: In my research I discovered that the scientific name for fear of Friday the 13th is paraskavedekatriaphobia. I envision a new franchise: "Paraskavedekatriaphobia: A New Beginning," "Paraskavedekatriaphobia: Jason Lives," "Paraskavedekatriaphobia: Freddy's Nightmare," etc.

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#8. The Broken [2009]

" Face Your Fears "



UK [88m] Directed by : Sean Ellis Written by : Sean Ellis Music : Guy Farley Cinematography : Angus Hudson Starring : Lena Headey, Richard Jenkins, Asier Newman, Michelle Duncan, Melvil Poupaud

The Broken is a horror/thriller written and directed by Sean Ellis and starring Lena Headey, which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Synopsis
On a typically gloomy day in London, Gina, a young and beautiful radiologist, is sure she just saw herself driving by--in her own car. When she follows her mysterious doppelganger into an unfamiliar apartment, she isn’t quite sure she can trust her own eyes until she spots a photo of herself and her father on the entryway table. Understandably spooked, she dashes back down to her car. Soon she finds herself in the hospital, unable to remember what has put her there or much about the strange woman. What Gina does know is her boyfriend seems different, the ceiling above the bathtub leaks blood in her dreams, and broken mirrors are becoming a recurring theme in her life. Increasingly paranoid, Gina is experiencing a bizarre and horrific version of her former life, and as things spiral out of control, she must escape from, or come to grips with, her new reality.



Cashback, Sean Ellis’ first film, gained the director many fans, many of whom should be more than excited to see his follow-up. Maybe it’s because The Broken is very different in style, maybe it’s because Mirrors has a superficially similar theme or maybe it’s just because this film could be quite difficult to market. While Cashback was quite light, humorous and even poetic in tone, The Broken is simply dark and menacing. Something Ellis’ claims to be closer to his home territory, and who can contradict him after seeing his newest film? Every part of the film is tweaked to inject some sense of real dread into the audience.

So far, this is the best of the “8 Films to Die For” in the 2009 After Dark Horrorfest. Rather than filling the screen with gore, violence, and cannibalism, THE BROKEN works from an intriguing premise to create an enigmatic mystery-thriller with overtones of paranoid horror. Shot in cool colors with slick production values and solid performances, it is consistently engaging until the mystery wears thin for lack of an adequate explanation. Is it supernatural, science fiction, or fantasy - or is it all in the character’s head? Writer-director Sean Ellis is not saying, and much as we admire his courage for going the David Lynch route and leaving it up to the audience, one wishes for a few clues that would at least point us in the right direction. Without these, the film is ultimately unsatisfying, squandering its better qualities with a lackluster ending. In this regards, it parallels the 2007 After Dark Horrofest entry THE DEATHS OF IAN STONE, another British film that was more speculative fiction thriller than horor movie, and which also frittered away its premise on a weak third act. (Which leaves us wondering: Are the Brits the only ones making modestly budgeted genre films that rely more on good ideas than gore? And if so, why can’t they bring those good ideas to a satisfying resolution?)

The story has radiologist Gina McVey (Lena Headey) haunted by her doppleganger - literally, her reflection - after it breaks out of a mirror (off screen). While making a phone call, she sees her double driving away, and then follows her home. Driving away after a confrontation that we do not see, she collides with a cab and ends up in a hospital with only fragmentary memories of what happened earlier that day. As more mirrors break, Gina finds herself growing paranoid, believing that her boyfriend and family are being replaced by duplicates. Eventually, a trail of clues lead her back home to unravel the mystery hiding behind her lost memories…

THE BROKEN plays the gambit that plauges films of this type: in order to “play fair” with the audience and make all the pieces fit together, the “surprise” ending is predictable to anyone paying attention; the only way to concela it is by withholding vital information. Unfortunately, once you notice what is being withheld, the solution becomes that much more predictable. Why does Gina move in with her boyfriend after the accident, instead of going back home? Could it be that the filmmakers do not want us to see something in her apartment? And are we to believe that her friends and family never went to her apartment to fetch her clothes and toiletries while she was recovering in the hospital? (Ironically, the biggest unanswered question - what happened to the driver of the other car - does not figure into the mystery at all - you keep expecting some surprise in this regard, but the film never bothers addressing the subject at all.)

Ellis started out his career as a fashion photographer and it shows in his films. He is very keen on eye candy and he likes to show off. Even though the photography of The Broken has little in common with the flashy and glamorous look of fashion photography, Ellis’ attention to detail and almost perfect use of color owes more than a little to his former line of work. The film looks dark and gloomy from start to finish, with no bright or strong colors ever penetrating the darkened haze lying over the film. The editing is timid and the camera work often slow and even a little off-key. Intentionally so, as one strong scene with a mirror breaking off screen just after the camera has had it in frame for a good 30 seconds demonstrates. It’s scenes like this that add a lot to the mystery and uneasy atmosphere in the film.

Ultimately, the story would work better if it sustained the interpretation that what we are seeing really is the paranoid result of Gina’s post-traumatic stress from the accident. Unfortunately, too many objective scenes (in which her character does not appear) confirm that the doubles are real, robbing us of the best way to rationalize the logical shortcomings in the scenario.Worse, the film never bothers to offer any explanation for what is happening; the phenomena is simply presented without hint or rational. This would be acceptable if it viewers were given a few clues and invited to fill in the blanks, but there is no mention of parallel worlds of the folklore of mirrors or anything else; the doppelgangers remain an elusive plot device, their motives and behavior a complete mystery. They seem to be mirror images of the originals (down to their hearts being on the right side of the chest), but we never even know to what extent their memories duplicate the originals or even whether they can recognize each other. At times they manage to impersonate the people they have replaced; at others, they act like cliched pod people from INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS.

Visceral horror is, thankfully, kept to a minimum. Its one obvious outburst is a tad ridiculous, when a double kills its original by shoving a hand into her mouth - a method that looks at least as painful to the perpetrator as to the victim.The score is nice and atmospheric, though could’ve contributed a little more to the film. While it definitely adds to the atmosphere, it’s only in the last minute (and during the end credits) that Ellis shows how much more should have been done with it. The broken electronica of that last track fits so well with the film, but it’s the only time such an effect is applied. A missed opportunity, even though the rest of the score remains more than decent enough.

It’s not the visuals or music that will keep audiences away from The Broken though. The film is only 90 minutes long, but even in that small time frame Ellis keeps things vague and slow. Even though the uneasy atmosphere is ever present, there is not much happening on screen. There are two or three pretty effective scare scenes, but that doesn’t draw an audience to the theater anymore. The biggest problem with The Broken is that it never reveals much about what is going on. We follow the main character while stuff happens to her. Weird stuff that is never explained, not even hinted at. We see the “what”, but never understand the “who” or “why”. While this will definitely kill the movie for many, to me it was Ellis’ most brilliant move. It elevates The Broken above all those horror flicks trying to explain the unexplainable with some weak or badly thought up story twists. None of that here. And even though there is some kind of twist at the end of the film, it is hinted at a lot earlier so it shouldn’t really come as a big surprise. Ellis confirmed himself he didn’t set the film up to have a twist ending and by letting the audience in on it bit by bit he simply increased the mysterious feel as the film progressed.

Fortunately, Sean Ellis manages to sustain a creepy sense of paranoid dread thanks to the fear of being replaced by these mysterious usurpers. Visually, the film is very assured. The crucial car accident is spectacular, echoing the bullet-time slow-motion of Dario Argento’s climactic crash in FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET. In the grand tradition of modestly budgeted features, the editing contrives to show us this footage over and over (gotta get your money’s worth out of such a big piece of the budget), but the great thing is that the script justifies the repetition, because Gina frequently flashes back to the scene while trying to reconstruct her shattered memories. In a way these strong points makes THE BROKEN more frustrating than a film that is bad from beginning to end; it grips your attention throughout, only to leave you unsatisfied at the end. Nevertheless, the journey is worth taking even if the destination is disappointing.

Whether you can stomach being left behind in the dark is up to you, but if you think you can handle the lack of information on what the hell is happening, there is a little masterpiece hidden in The Broken. Ellis’ style is refreshing in between all the horror flicks fighting to be the goriest. Ellis’ focus is an uneasy atmosphere by leaving the audience in the dark and simply showing the facts from one point of view. By far one of the most stylish horror films to come out of England in quite a while. Ellis proves himself a great director, who can handle more than one style.

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#7. Eden Log [2009]

France [Imperia Films/Bac Films/Magnolia]101m Directed by : Franck Vestiel Music by : Jerome Wiciak Cinematography : Thierry Pouget Starring : Clovis Cornillac, Vimala Pons Release Date : December 26, 2007 [France], February 13, 2009 [US]

Eden Log is a 2007 science fiction film directed and co-written by Franck Vestiel. The film was Vestiel's first as a director, who shot the entire film using only hand-held cameras. The story follows Tolbiac (Clovis Cornillac) after he wakes up naked and disoriented in an underground cave, not knowing how he arrived there. Reviews were generally positive towards the film, which received an aggregated score of 60% from Rotten Tomatoes. In North America, it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2008.

Synopsis
A man wakes up deep inside a cave. Suffering amnesia, he has no recollection of how he came to be here or of what happened to the man whose body he finds beside him. Tailed by a mysterious creature, he must continue through this strange and fantastic world. Enclosed, Tolbiac has no other option to reach the surface than to use REZO ZERO, secret observing cells in this cemetery-like abandoned mine. He embarks upon this journey guided by the roots of a plant, leading the way and the main subject of attention of the REZO.

This is the story of the rise of a forgotten man, sometimes informed by the archives of abandoned laboratories, which punctuate this subterranean network and at other times by his own strangely amplified instinct. During his search for the surface, Tolbiac must uncover the secret of what once lived in this network; but has this "mystery" truly left?



The film was Franck Vestiel's first as a director. Eden Log uses a muted palette. The film is shot with only hand-held cameras in underground locations 60 feet (18 m) below the surface, as well as in a sewer. A gray and blue multilevel set is used in Eden Log, which, according to Vestiel, was designed to "avoid the look of the usual science fiction future. The last thing I wanted was for Eden Log to fall into the trap of those science fiction films where the characters live in super-sterile, bathroom-like environments. And I did not want people to be able to date the film by identifying the technology, which is why I have no apparatuses, no dials, no buttons." The surrealistic landscapes of Eden Log were inspired by Vestiel's favorite films, such as Escape From New York and Dawn of the Dead, and comics and literature, such as Frank Miller's Daredevil and Screaming Metal.

Eden Log receives an aggregated score of 60% from Rotten Tomatoes, based on five reviews. The Toronto International Film Festival described the film as a "stunning sci-fi vision", in which Vestiel "created a decaying universe for his bewildered yet resourceful hero to explore". They noted that Eden Log appears to have been influenced by role-playing games and the works of Luc Besson, Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and Darren Aronofsky, as well as channeling the "rich visual history of French comics, or bandes dessinées, from magazines like Métal Hurlant and its American counterpart, Heavy Metal". Chris Cabin of Film Critic credited the film for its first 20 minutes of attention-grabbing action, but notes that the journey that Tolbiac takes is "more suited that of a video game programmer than a young filmmaker". Cabin wrote that the film does not emotionally connect with the viewer, and he gave the film 1.5 out of 5 stars.Variety remarked that the film is "bold", despite rehashing some cinematic qualities and sound design, concluding that the film "the most bang for limited bucks, with an eye-popping finale.

Official Websites : France [http://www.bacfilms.com/site/edenlog]
US [http://www.sixshooterfilmseries.com/edenlog]

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#6. The Uninvited [2009]

" Fear Moves In.. "



USA [DreamWorks]87m Directed by : Charles Guard,Thomas Guard Screenplay by : Craig Rosenberg, Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard Original Screenplay: Kim Jee-Woon Music by : Christopher Young Starring : Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel, Elizabeth Banks, David Strathairn, Maya Massar, Lex Burnham Release Date : January 30,2009 [US], April 23, 2009 [Malaysia]

In 2002, producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald produced the hit horror thriller, The Ring, a remake of the Japanese film Ringu that signaled the start of a new trend in genre films – the thought-provoking thriller. They would subsequently produce the film’s successful sequel The Ring Two in 2005. Since first starting this new cycle of Asian horror film adaptations, Parkes and MacDonald searched for a project they felt was as ingeniously conceived and executed as The Ring, and finally found it when producer Roy Lee brought the original Korean hit movie on which The Uninvited is based to their attention.The Uninvited is a 2009 American remake of the 2003 South Korean horror film A Tale of Two Sisters. It is unrelated to another 2003 Korean horror film and a 1944 American film of the same name. The film was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia. Most of the film was shot at one location, a waterfront property on British Columbia's Bowen Island, a short ferry ride west from mainland Vancouver.

Synopsis
The movie begins with a young girl, Anna (Emily Browning), making out with her boyfriend Matt on the beach at a party. After he tells Anna he loves her and has "a condom", she gets up to leave. As she goes, her sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel) asks if everything is all right. On her way through the woods to her house, Anna encounters three white garbage bags. When she goes to open them, the cadaver of a redheaded girl falls out. As Anna recoils, the girl's head snaps around and speaks. Screaming and afraid, Anna runs home. She then hears a bell, that her terminally ill mother rings when she needs something. Anna is concerned because her mother is not supposed to be alone. However, after she leaves the boathouse her mother is in, it explodes into flames and a piece of debris comes flying towards her, burning her. It is then revealed that this is a dream Anna is having. She has been in a mental hospital since the death of her mother ten months earlier, but her psychiatrist believes she is ready to leave.

He tells her to "finish what she started". As Anna packs, another patient comes in, asking Anna who she will tell her stories to now that Anna is leaving. Anna's father takes her home, where she is joyfully reunited with her sister, Alex, who is angry, asks why Anna never responded to the mail she sent her. Anna then tells her that she never received any letters; Alex yells at their father for not sending them. He ignores her. Anna also sees Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), her mother's former nurse who is now dating Anna's father. Later that night, Anna overhears Rachel and her father having sex, so she turns up her music to a louder volume. She also has nightmares about a dead body trying to grab hold of her, but when she wakes up, it is merely Alex standing over her.

The next day, Anna meets with Matt, her former boyfriend. Matt tells Anna he knows what happened the night of the fire. However, Rachel comes before he can say anything more and sends him away. That night, Anna wonders to herself if the fire that killed their mother was not an accident. The next day, she and Rachel go into town so Anna can talk to Rachel. At a diner, Rachel discusses her former patients with Anna, telling her that the only way she got through it was by reminding herself that the people she was caring for would be dead soon. She also showed Anna her pearls, saying they were a gift from one of her patients. Anna sees the little redheaded girl from her dream along with two little boys sitting on the chairs, but in a moment they are gone.

When Anna meets up with Matt, he tells her he will meet her at "the rock" that night to tell her what he saw. Anna and Alex wait on the rock for a while. When Matt doesn't show up, Anna goes back home and upstairs to her bedroom. Matt comes into her room through the window, saying he hurt his back. They speak for a few minutes and then begin to kiss, but when Anna runs her hand down his back, she touches a bone, which had snapped. He grabs her arms as she recoils in horror. Anna runs out of the room, but when she opens the door again, Matt is gone. The next day they find out that Matt had fallen into the water, snapped his back, and drowned, on his way to see Anna. Anna shows Alex that there are bruises on her arms where Matt grabbed her. Alex explains that Rachel had gotten rid of Matt because he saw what she did on the night of the fire. With Matt gone, only Anna and Alex are in the way of Rachel and her obsession with their father. Alex becomes scared for them both.

Later that night, Anna and Alex start research session and learn that Rachel is perpetrating identity theft. Anna confronts Rachel, who becomes angry and tells Anna if she says anything, she'll be sent back to the mental hospital. That night, Rachel has a dinner party that Anna inadvertently ruins after the red-haired girl comes out from under the stove, telling Anna that "she's next". The girls' father goes for a business trip on the day of Matt's funeral, and the redheaded girl shows Anna to the gravestones of a family of five. Later that day, she researches the children of the family. The suspected killer was a woman named Mildred Kemp, who was the nanny of the three children after their mother had died in a car accident a year before. The killer had heavily sedated the children before stabbing them repeatedly. In a picture, Anna sees the mother wearing a pearl necklace just like Rachel's. The two sisters begin to think that Rachel and Mildred are one and the same.

Alex and Anna try to get to the pearls as evidence for a case against their father's girlfriend. A struggle ensues between Anna and Rachel, but Anna manages to get the pearls. When she goes upstairs to check if Alex is okay, she finds that Rachel has heavily drugged her with the needles Anna and Alex found earlier, and she must leave Alex behind. Anna finds Rachel's car keys and tries to drive away, but the car stalls and Rachel catches up to her, only to be dragged to the ground once Anna manages to start the car again and drive off.At the police station Anna explains everything, begging the police officer to hurry because Alex is still at the house. He leaves, and while he is gone Anna falls asleep and dreams about her mother, but as she gets closer to her, the dream ends, replacing her mother with Rachel, who, with the police officer's help, sedates Anna and takes her back to the house where she suspects Rachel will kill her. As Rachel prepares to dress Anna in her pajamas, Anna reaches for the knife on the dresser, but can't grasp it. As the drugs are taking over, Anna sees Alex creeping up behind Rachel before she finally blacks out.

Once Anna wakes up once more, she sees a trail of blood that leads to the body of Rachel outside in a dumpster. Alex steps out from the woods covered in blood, holding the knife and exclaiming that she had to do it. They hug and clasp hands when their father pulls up into the driveway. Anna and Alex begin explaining what happened. Alex tells her dad that he never listens to her, but now he should. Anna and Alex tells their father what happened, and when Anna kept asking Alex to tell their father what she did to Rachel, her father grasps her and tells her that Alex is dead; she had died in the fire a year ago (which would explain why nobody paid attention or listened to what we knew as Alex earlier in the film).Anna looks around for Alex, but realizes she is alone. Suddenly, she notices Alex standing in the shadows. As Anna slowly walks toward her, she sees that it's her reflection in a mirror, with the blood-stained clothing and holding the bloody knife instead of Alex.

It is revealed that the night of the party, once Anna had come home, she had seen Rachel and her father having sex. Disgusted, she went to the boathouse to fill a watering can with gasoline so she could burn down the house. However, she did not shut off the faucet all the way, and when she slammed the door, Alex accidentally knocked over a lantern. Once the gasoline reached the lantern the boathouse exploded, killing her mother and Alex. Through a series of flashbacks, we see that Alex had never really been there, and that Anna had been the one who killed Matt (because he knew what really happened on the night of the fire) and Rachel, and that Rachel was not truly evil. Rachel was only about to drug Anna because she needed to be sedated, because she was imagining things. Anna is arrested and institutionalized once again.While Anna is back at the institution she says to her psychologist that she did what he had told her to, she had "finished what she started". It is also revealed that the institutionalized woman at the beginning was "Mildred Kemp". (Which makes sense, because Mildred asked "who am I going to tell my stories to?," which means that while Anna moved back into the house, she was remembering the stories Mildred had told her, and putting them into her own version.) Anna smiles and the credits roll.




Though this is nowhere near the vein of the painfully recent The Unborn, The Uninvited does have the same teen target demographic. This is unfortunate, because the film works better as an overall thriller though it does have some plot holes and flaws. British brothers Charles and Thomas Guard direct this remake well and show promise of precision and atmospheric balance. The script by three writers paces the film well to its finale, but once one goes back to think of all the events that occur in the second half of the film, not everything adds up. The intentions are well taken, but the overall execution is questionable.

Young Emily Browning, in her first role since appearing in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, is a gifted actress that has perfect cheekbones. Her performance is the centerpiece of this film and without a solid actress playing this role, the character is more vivid. Elizabeth Banks takes a different turn as the step-mother in waiting Rachael and is at her menacing best. The great David Strathairn is engaging as always, but he has the least interesting character, who is merely a dad blinded by the attraction to the much younger Rachael.Though nowhere near as entertaining as other Eastern remakes like The Ring, but not as dumb-witted as The Eye or The Grudge, The Uninvited is a thriller that has a nice pace and relies more on plot than gore.The film’s final calculation does not add up, but the direction by Charles and Thomas Guard is promising.

The film received mixed reviews from critics.Rotten Tomatoes reported that 36% of critics gave positive reviews based 26 out of 72 reviews with an average 4.6/10. Metacritic also score the film of 44/100 (mixed or average) from 22 reviews. Bloody Disgusting gave the film 6/10while On Yahoo! Movies Critical Response, the average professional critical rating was a C according to 11 reviews. It also received 3/4 from Fangoria magazine. As of February, 09 it holds a 6.5/10 rating at the Internet Movie Database, based on 1,287 votes votes from film fans. Rated PG-13 for violent and disturbing images, thematic material, sexual content, language and teen drinking.

Official Website : http://www.uninvitedmovie.com

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#5. 'Underworld: Rise of the Lycans' [2009]

" Every War Has A Beginning "



US/New Zealand [92min]Color Directed by : Patrick Tatopoulos Written by : Len Wiseman, Danny McBride Music : Paul Haslinger Cinematography : Ross Emery Starring : Bill Nighy Michael Sheen, Rhona Mitra, Kevin Grevioux, Steven Mackintosh and Kate Beckinsale Release Date : January 23, 2009 [USA]

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is the third installment in the Gothic Underworld film series, focusing primarily on the origins of some characters and the events leading to the Vampire-Lycan war. The film was shot in Auckland, New Zealand and in Roxboro, North Carolina.

Synopsis
The film tells the story of the origins of Lucian (Michael Sheen), who was the first werewolf able to take human form - to be called Lycans. Viktor (Bill Nighy), the ruthless elder of the vampires, took him home after killing his werewolf mother in a raid. Viktor envisions a race of werewolf slaves for his vampire clan that, conceivably, could keep guard during the daytime hours and toil for the vampires. As Lucian grows up at Viktor's home, his young daughter, Sonja (Rhona Mitra), develops an attraction to the young Lycan, and Lucian becomes fond of Sonja as well. It is revealed that Viktor has a tacit relationship with the human population of the area, whereupon he agreed to protect them from the wild werewolves that roam the countryside in exchange for a tithe. As a collection of human nobles come to meet with the vampire council for protection from the werewolves in exchange for this aforementioned tithe, Sonja goes out to guard them. Lucian hears the Lycans near Sonja and steals a horse and sword from a nearby Death Dealer. Wild werewolves proceed to attack and kill the nobles, causing Lucian to engage in a battle with them.

When Lucian takes off his collar and changes into a Lycan in order to protect himself, the wild werewolves back down to his howl and leave before Lucian is shot down by Viktor's men. Viktor, despite grudgingly acknowledging that Lucian saved his daughter, notes that Lucian still transgressed the laws of the coven by taking off the collar that kept him in check (by preventing him from changing into a Lycan) and feels betrayed by what he thinks of as his favorite pet. Subsequently, he locks Lucian away after having him whipped thirty times with a three pronged chain-bladed whip. Lucian escapes, kills several of the Vampires and begins to liberate the other Lycans from what he perceives as their unfair imprisonment. The guards are alerted and start to slaughter the Lycans. When Viktor discovers that Sonja has an illegal relationship with Lucian, he imprisons his daughter. Lucian learns about Sonja's imprisonment and sets out to rescue her. On their way out they are attacked by the Death Dealers. Viktor is also involved in the chase and when it comes to the fight, it is Sonja who confronts Viktor. When Sonja discloses to him that she is pregnant with Lucian's child, Viktor overpowers her with a knife to the throat and imprisons both her and Lucian with renewed hatred. Sonja is sentenced to death for her crime against the coven at a trial presided over by her father and the Council.

After Sonja's death, which Lucian is forced to witness, Lucian attempts a further escape. Failing, he is able to verbally summon both the wild werewolves and the freed Lycans, who attack the coven and overwhelm it after a fierce battle. Finally Lucian faces Viktor in a fight and they battle their way to the dungeons. The fight continues back and forth until Lucian knocks Viktor down a well. Lucian tears at chains hanging from above, making a hole in the roof and allowing sunlight in and cornering an enraged Viktor in the darkness. Viktor's 'final' words attest to his regret at not having killed Lucian the moment he was born, to which Lucian sarcastically agrees before forcing his sword through Viktor's mouth and head and letting the body fall into the water below. Lucian declares this victory as only the beginning of what will surely be a war between the races, one bred for slavery and the other born into privilege. In one of the closing scenes we see Tanis leading a very alive Viktor, who survived due to his status as an Elder, into a hibernation chamber on a boat. The film ends with the opening scene of the first Underworld, with the audio from the scene where Kraven tells Selene that it was Viktor who murdered her family, rather than the Lycans. That Viktor spared her because she reminded him of Sonja, the daughter he condemned to death.



Underworld: Rise of the Lycans was distributed to 2,942 theatres on its opening day (23 January 2009) in the United States and grossed an estimated US$8,050,000, debuting at number 1 at the box office. The film received mostly "mixed or average" reviews. According to the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, 31% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 71 reviews. However, viewers on the website were more positive, rewarding the film an 81% "Fresh" rating. At the website Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 46, based on 13 reviews.

Official Website : http://www.entertheunderworld.com

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#4. Donkey Punch [2009]

" This Party Has Gone Overboard "



UK[99m] Directed by : Oliver Blackburn Written by : David Bloom, Oliver Blackburn Music by : François Eudes Cinematography : Nanu Segal Starring : Nichola Burley, Tom Burke, Julian Morris, Robert Boulter Release Date : July 18, 2009 [UK], January 23, 2009 [USA]

Donkey Punch is a 2008 British thriller film about a group of British people on holiday in Spain who end up fighting for their lives. The film was written and directed by Oliver Blackburn and David Bloom, and stars Nichola Burley, Tom Burke, Jaime Winstone, Robert Boulter and Julian Morris. The movie was filmed in 3 weeks with a budget of £500,000.

A drug-fueled orgy aboard a yacht goes terribly wrong in Olly Blackburn's Donkey Punch, and if you're hip to the title's slangy meaning, you already know what happens. If you don't, then Wikipedia's definition will gladly provide the spoiler: "an apocryphal and potentially lethal sexual practice" -- and that's how the party turns ugly.Up to that fatal smack, Donkey Punch is all jiggling bikinis, Mediterranean sunlight, and girly giggles as three lassies from Leeds cruise Mallorca, trying to forget unfaithful boyfriends back home. Tammi (Nichola Burley) is the cute innocent one who doesn't know a donkey punch from a dirty sanchez, but she senses trouble right away when four young men invite her and her friends on the boat they're working on as crew.

This being Mallorca, there's a sunset, bad techno, and ecstasy, and after a few more shots of jiggling bikinis and toned abs, the movie gets down to business with an extended group sex scene. Egged on by tough guy Bluey (Tom Burke) and his video camera, milquetoast Josh (Julian Morris) accidentally kills Lisa (she's the blonde one, played by Sian Breckin). For Tammi and Kim (Jaime Winstone), the giggles turn to screams.This much, more or less, you could have figured out from the title alone. What follows is a misbegotten attempt at a claustrophobic, paranoid psycho-thriller -- a boat at night, six survivors, an incriminating video tape, a sexy corpse -- that is so hilariously over the top that by the the second or third death, my initial dismay turned into delight. Never mind that nobody's motivations add up, that every character's a type, and that Blackburn's direction relies almost exclusively on shaky close-ups and the occasional out-of-place slow motion effect for tension. There are knives on that yacht! Also, flares, guns, and churning outboard engines!

Donkey Punch is by no means a good movie, and it barely even qualifies as passable genre fare. As far as I could tell, it's not meant as self-consciously trashy, Grindhouse-style entertainment either, and that's why I ended up enjoying it after all; its narrative failures and unintentional hilarity are the result of an honest-to-god effort to make a character-based thriller on a small budget. Somehow, the gurgling blood and naked skin derailed all that. When the dying bloke with the butterfly knife protruding from his chest sank his face into a Scarface-size heap of blow, I realized my two hours weren't wasted entirely. Donkey Punch is lusty, lurid, and completely laughable. Here's hoping for a bright future on late-night cable.

Official Website : http://donkeypunchmovie.co.uk

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#3. My Bloody Valentine [2009]

Directed by : Patrick Lussier Written by : Original story: Stephen Miller Screenplay: Zane Smith, Todd Farmer Music by : Michael Wandmacher Cinematography : Brian Pearson Release date : January 16, 2009 USA/CANADA[100m] Starring : Jensen Ackles, Jaime King, Kerr Smith, Tom Atkins

My Bloody Valentine 3D is a 2009 remake of the 1981 Canadian slasher film of the same name. The film was directed and edited by Patrick Lussier, and stars Jensen Ackles and Jaime King. The film had a 3-D theatrical release; It was released on January 16, 2009 by Lionsgate to generally mixed and positive reviews. My Bloody Valentine is the first R-rated film to be projected in Real D technology, as seen in films such as Journey to the Center of the Earth. The film will also be available in 2D for theaters that are not equipped to process new digital 3D technology.

Synopsis
My Bloody Valentine 3D begins with not one, but two flashbacks. A decade ago in the small coal mining town of Harmony, the mine owner's son, Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles), forgot to "bleed the lines" (whatever that means), leading to a Valentine's Day cave-in that trapped six men underground. One of the men, Harry Warden, decided to kill the others to conserve air and was eventually pulled out -- but in a coma. A year later -- on Valentine's Day -- Warden awoke from his coma, peeved about what he'd been through and surprisingly atrophy-less. He proceeded to murder more than a dozen people in the hospital before dressing up in his miner's gear -- jumpsuit, helmet, gas mask, pickaxe -- and returning to the mine to kill a bunch of kids using it for a party. He was about to take out his frustrations on Tom but gets shot and presumably killed.

Ten years later, Tom returns to Harmony -- on Valentine's Day! -- after leaving behind the "unpleasantness" of his youth. He's in town to sign paperwork to sell the mine following his father's death, but no sooner does he arrive than the killings start anew. The prime targets are the people who ran in his crew, including his ex-girlfriend, Sarah (Jaime King), who's now married to his former rival, Axel (Kerr Smith), now the town sheriff. Has Harry Warden returned from the grave? Was he even dead in the first place? And why does my movie ticket cost 14 bucks?



My Bloody Valentine 3D is marketed with the gimmicky 3-D element as the main draw, but the content surprisingly speaks volumes on its own. A remake of a 1981 Canadian film from the "Golden Age" of slashers, it's a fun, freewheeling throwback to that era's lowbrow sleaze. My Bloody Valentine 3D actually trumps the original for pure entertainment value, delivering the kind of over-the-top sex and violence that made slashers so popular -- and so reviled -- in the early '80s.

The film was shot in Pennsylvania, taking advantage of the state's tax incentives for film productions. Filming began on May 11, 2008 in Armstrong County along the Route 28 corridor, in locations including Sprankle's Market in Kittanning, the Ford City police station, and the exterior of the Logansport Mine in Bethel. Kittanning served as main street in the film's fictional town of Harmony. The production spent 13 days filming scenes in the Tour-Ed Mines in Tarentum, a mine that has been out of production since the 1960s and now operates as a museum. A house on Hulton Road in Oakmont, north of Pittsburgh, was also used as a location.

The film was shot entirely digitally, using the new HD 4K format, which records 4,000 pixel images at 24 frames per second, compared to standard HD's 2,000 pixels. The filmmakers used the Red One from Red Digital Cinema Camera Company, and the SI-2K Digital Cinema Camera by Silicon Imaging as digital cameras. Max Penner, the film’s stereographer, found these lighter and smaller cameras easier to use.

The 3-D element is handled remarkably well, coming off not as a mere gimmick, but as something that actually adds value to the film. Our startled jumps are exponentially bigger, and the level of fun is exponentially higher as blood and body parts from the inventive kills come flying at the screen. And it's all quite natural; there's no force-feeding of scenes in which the actors poke objects at the audience for no good reason. One has to wonder, in fact, if the movie would even be half as enjoyable in 2-D (probably).

I doubt that there are many huge fans of the relatively obscure original (as remakes go), so there shouldn't be too many voices rising in unison to complain about the liberties taken with the plot. Most of the adaptations work well enough, except the whole theme of Valentine's Day -- a big part of the original -- is downplayed significantly, and the tie-in of the events to the holiday (Everything just happens to occur on February 14?) is pretty weak. That said, it's a testament to how enjoyable the movie is that you overlook such silliness.Jensen Ackles, of Supernatural fame, makes the jump to the big screen with ease, although his character is required to play it so close to the vest that the likeable charm of Dean Winchester is rarely displayed. Kerr Smith (Final Destination) and Jaime King (Tripper) are solid as well, but genre veteran Tom Atkins (The Fog, Halloween III, Creepshow, Night of the Creeps) steals the show in just a few scenes as the retired sheriff called back into action to take down the murderer.

I don't know how many more horror outings Atkins has in him, but if this is the last (please Night of the Creeps 2...), he's gone out with a bang. (On a side note: Betsy Rue will no doubt have her own fan club after starring in a five-minute full-frontal nude scene.)

Director Patrick Lussier, who's been relegated to the direct-to-video realm since 2000's Dracula 2000 (his last effort being the excellent White Noise 2), makes a striking comeback in a format that has to be somewhat restrictive. He handles it in stride, though, deftly shooting the oft-spectacular death scenes and taking full advantage of the 3-D technology without allowing it to become intrusive.

The film has received generally mixed, but also positive reviews from critics. As of March 21, 2009, it holds a "rotten" 59% rating from critics on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 68 reviews, with the consensus being "This gory, senses-assaulting slasher film is an unpretentious, effective mix of old-school horror stylings and modern 3D technology." It once held a "fresh" rating of 60%, but it had dropped suddenly. Uzma from Insight News By contrast, Metacritic lists it with a 51 out of 100, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on 11 reviews.

Official Website : http://www.mybloodyvalentinein3d.com

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