The Hole

This week I watched The Hole (2001)

Directed by Nick Hamm

Starring Keira Knightly (Frankie) and Thora Birch (Liz) - the little girl in Hocus Pocus all grown up! Desmond Harrington (Mike) and Laurence Fox (Geoff).

Another gorey horror / thriller which by now from previous reviews you know what my favorite film genre is! The film opens with the image of a bloodied girl staggering along a country lane.The lane is covered in bouquets of flowers and missing posters with some of the girls face on them.We quickly find out that she and three other teenagers have been missing for weeks. Liz is in a private English school with an infatuation with Mike the school jock from America. Liz tells her friend a geeky boy called Martin and the two come up with a plan so that Mike will notice Liz. There is an upcoming field trip that no one wants to go on including Mike , Frankie ( the cool girl) and Geoff Frankie's boyfriend who is also Mikes best friend. Martin proposes a plan to Liz that she and the other three stay in an underground bunker until the field trip is over. Stocked with booze , food and bedding Liz , Frankie , Geoff and Mike go in the bunker and Martin locks them in. The three days pass and there is no sign of Martin to let them out. Leaving you think that Martin is spying on them.

Until he is found by the Police and brought in for questioning.This is when the cracks begin to show in Liz's story as there is a twist to the whole plot we have seen so far. Turning it that Liz was also a 'Cool Girl' was best friend with Frankie but like the previous storey had a crush on Mike. With the crush so uncontrollable she locks them into the bunker as each teen dies one by one due to Liz's infatuation.

With superb acting from the four main characters especially Thora Birch which is hard to believe she all grown up since the last time I seen her as a little girl in Hocus Pocus. The film really makes you question the sanity of both main characters and with so many twists even your own! The horror stems from human emotion with each teenager apart from Liz meeting a very nasty bloodied end. The sound is fantastic and very atmospheric especially when one of the bodies in covered in swarming flies.
Watch it , Watch it , Watch it!!!!!!
Until next time Dawn:)

Cabin Fever

This week I have watched Cabin Fever (2002) which I shamefully admit for the 10th time.Its is yet another so bad but yet so good horror film. Directed by Eli Roth who also produced and wrote Cabin Fever.

Starring Jeff (Joey Kern) ,Marcy (Cerina Vincent) , Paul (Rider Strong) and Karen (Jordan Ladd).

Again five unsuspecting teens take of for a weekend in a cabin in the forest unbeknown to them that there is a rotting corpse in the water. Jeff and Marcy are lovers with Paul pining after Marcy it leaves their old friend Bert alone to shoot squirrels. On his shooting trip he meets a tramp who is covered in a rash and appears to have some thing like the Ebola virus instead of helping the tramp Bert shoots at him.Later in the night the tramp appears at the door asking for help and the teens set him on fire sending him into the water reservoir and to his death.

Creepy visitors materialize out of the woods. Another camper, Justin accompanied by a vicious dog he calls Dr. Mambo, offers them marijuana. The dog later returns to the group, who fend him off with gunshots. Then there is Winston , a leering young sheriff's deputy obsessed with partying.

The first teenager to fall ill is Karen, whom the others immediately quarantine by locking her in a shack. The disease eats its victims rapidly from inside out. Lesions are quickly followed by massive hemorrhaging. As one camper after another develops symptoms, the five friends panic and turn on each other.

TRUE horror fans, get this tasty,bloody bit and enjoy!You get gore,guts,a bad dog,a nasty flesh-eating bacteria,hysteria,and even.. pancakes! Don't drink the water people! Although it looks like most of the budget went on the blood it is a very entertaining and enjoyable 90 minutes .

And the good news is there is a part 2 out this summer!!!!!

Until next time

Dawn:)

Rear Window

My review of Rear Window.
Sorry for weeks Absence.

-Dane

My Summer of Love

This is a 2004 British film about two young women who develop a romantic relationship with each other. It stars Emily Blunt and Natalie Press. The two girls are very different from each other and come from different backgrounds and yet they develop a connection. Together they get in trouble as their relationship develops.

One of the girls wants to make her life seem more interesting so she lies about the death of a brother. The other girl finds out about the lie, though I won't ruin the movie and say what happens with that.

I quite enjoyed this movie. It's only about 86 minutes long so I recommend it if you are looking for some movie entertainment for a short while. I would definitely like to watch this movie again sometime. This movie may not change your life but how many really do?

Mattias

Ondine

This is an irish film written and directed Neil Jordan. It's a nice film. It looks nice. The acting is also really good. Where this movie doesn't totally deliver though is in story. It's a bit boring and predictable and when new characters are introduced they don't have a big enough impact to move the story along.

When Vladic comes into the picture you are expecting a huge impact but it never really delivers. I was expecting much more action and drama here. Instead he kind of just fizzles out.

I also don't think the whole lighthouse scene was needed. I think that they could have revealed Ondine's history with a bit more of an impact and played more on Syracuse's drinking demons.

I did enjoy this though. I enjoyed it even though I was only 1 of four people in the whole cinema on it's debut night watching this and they had to restart the movie after 20 minutes because of sound problems. I think I mostly enjoyed it though because it's an irish film and the location looked great. I don't ever see this being a huge film but it's directed well and would make for a pretty safe rental. If anything it shows off Castletownbere as a beautiful coastel irish town, which shows Ireland really has some great locations for movies.

By Gerry.

Adventureland

A 2009 film by the same director as Superbad, Greg Mottola. In the leading roles we see Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Martin Starr and Ryan Reynolds.

This film brings us back to the 80's and into the life of James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg). He has just finished school and has BIG plans for the summer. eg: going to Europe. However his plans are put on hold as his dad, who was originally going to support his trip financially, is demoted and can no longer pay for his son's holiday. James is forced to find a job. After much search he finally lands a job as a games person at the local Adventureland theme park. He makes friends quickly with the likes of Jools (Martin Starr) and Emily (Kristen Stewart), whom he instantly falls for. They start a romance but their individual secrets come out and they are forced to be apart. I'll leave the ending open because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it. Lets just say, it's kind of predictable.

The film left me with mixed feelings. I was pleased to see the newcomer Jesse Eisenberg play the leading role but I felt like he tried too hard to be another Michael Cera type character. Martin Starr delivered an excellent performance as the intelectual, weed smoking ,nerd friend and will definitily look out for him in other films. I have little praise for the Twilight star Kristen Stewart though. I felt like she jumped straight from Twilight into this film. Like it was Bella's summer vacation. I feel that she is a one character only type of actress and that doesn't impress me.

If I had to rate it, I'd give it a 6/10.

Vinny

Thirteen

This week I went for a classic cult rebellious teen film Thirteen (2003) directed by Catherine Hardwicke (who directed Twilight!) Starring and co-scripted by Nikki Reed (Evie)- who also is Twilight's Rosalie) , Evan Rachel Wood ( Tracey) and Holly Hunter ( Tracey's Mom Melanie).

Tracey moves to Los Anglos with her mother Melanie and brother Mason.
Tracey is a straight A student and writes deep dark poetry. Melanie is a recovering cocaine addict who works as a hairdresser to make ends meat.

Tracey gets teased at school by Evie and her friends about her clothes. Evie gives Tracey a fake phone number as a mean joke. Upset Tracey takes the bus to Melrose place and steals a purse meeting Evie and her friends they spend the stolen money on clothes and shoes. This is when Tracey begins to fall into the wrong company with Evie.

Throughout the film Tracey becomes more and more detached from her mother as she cannot deal with her parents divorce or the fact that her mother has taken back her drug addict ex boyfriend this leads to her cutting herself on numerous occasions. Although Tracey has new found popularity in school due to hanging out with Evie, taking drugs , stealing and sleeping with boys. Although none of this makes her happy. All the time Melanie has no idea what an impact Evie is having on Tracey. Eventually Melanie begins to see the cracks and tries to get Tracey to live with her father but he does not want her sending Tracey deeper and deeper into a depression.

Melanie decides to keep her daughter away from Evie but not before Evie plants drugs all over their house framing Tracey . At school Tracey is not popular any more and is failing 7th grade. She goes home and begins cutting herself , Melanie sees the cuts and begins kissing them holding her daughter as she sobs. It then ends with Tracey on her own in the park spinning around screaming.

This is a very grim film showing all aspects of teen angst. Nikki Reed used it as a sort of autobiography when co writing with Catherine Hardwicke even saying it was just how life was for her when she was 13. It was written in 6 days which I find pretty impressive considering all the detail and content in it. Evan Rachel Wood is believable and incredible in her role as Tracey for some-one of such a young age to be able to convey such emotions which for teenagers nowadays they could relate easily to the pain , frustration and confusion. No longer a kid, not yet an adult. This movie explains it well. Being a teenager isn't all what it's cracked up to be!

Until next time........
**Dawn **