1. A Tale of Two Sisters

   Two young sisters return home from a mental hospital where they spent time recovering from the shock of their mother's death. However, it is soon apparent that there is something very wrong in the house - could it be that the sisters' mental health is deteriorating again? Or is there a supernatural force in the house that is beyond its inhabitants control?
   
   The two actresses that play the sisters - Im Soo-Jung and Moon Geun-young - are superb as young girls confused by the death of their mother and the appearance of a stepmother. However, it is the beauty of the cinematography and the use of colour that make this film so outstanding, particularly when combined with the horror and goriness of the story. This is a taut psychological thriller that, in my opinion, is head and shoulders above most Hollywood equivalents.

2. The Harmonium in My Memory

   A young man fresh out of Teacher Training College is sent to the middle of the countryside to teach a group of teenagers just approaching puberty. His kindness to Hong-yeon, who is bullied by her mother because she is not male, leads to her developing a crush on him. But he is in love with another teacher. Is Hong-yeon's heart destined to be broken?
   
   Do-yeon Jeon gives a remarkable performance as Hong-yeon in what was one of her first film roles and has since won awards for her acting. Byung-hun Lee is also excellent as her teacher. The cinematography is simple, yet effective - set in the countryside, watching the changing of the seasons is a real pleasure. This is a coming-of-age story, simply, yet beautifully told and should appeal to anyone who enjoys a good drama.

3. Christmas in August

   Jung-won is dying and just wants to live out his days in peace. His family is aware of his illness, although he is determined to keep it a secret from his friends. Then he meets a beautiful traffic warden, with whom he quickly falls in love. Will he share his illness with her? Or will he cut all ties with her to protect her?
   
   Suk-kyu Han gives a very understated performance as Jung-won, but this is exactly what the role calls for and so he turns the film into something truly special. The cinematography is nothing out of the ordinary - in fact, the set is quite drab, which helps to highlight the fact that Jung-won is the centrepiece of the film. This is not an overly tragic story, despite the subject matter, but is a rather noble way of dealing with death.

4. Oldboy

   Oh Dae-su is in prison, but this is no ordinary prison - he has no idea why he is there or who is responsible for his incarceration. After fifteen years, he is finally released with a wallet full of money and a mobile phone. Slowly, he begins to piece together the reasons for his imprisonment and realises that the woman he loves is in danger of dying because of his misdeeds. Can he put things right before it is too late?
   
   Min-Shik Choi is exceptional as Oh Dae-su - I found his performance so mesmerizing and convincing that I couldn't take my eyes off the screen for the entire film. The director, Chan-wook Park, has done a great job of creating clever camera angles that help develop the creepy, doom-ridden atmosphere of the film. There are also some very violent fight scenes, which may not appeal to everyone. Oldboy is one of a trilogy of psychological thrillers - the other two are called Lady Vengeance and Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, but as each film is a stand-alone story, it isn't necessary to watch them in order.

5. A Bittersweet Life

   Sun-woo works for a hotel, but is far from being a regular hotel employee - he is an enforcer and deals with any problems the hotel owner, Mr Kang, comes up against. Then Mr Kang asks him to follow his girlfriend, Hee-soo, whom he suspects of having an affair. Sun-woo does as he is asked, but soon falls in love with her and decides not to tell Mr Kang of her affair. When Mr Kang finds out, he is furious and wants revenge on Sun-woo. Will Sun-woo manage to come out alive?
   
   Byung-hun Lee gives the performance of a lifetime as Sun-woo. This is very much an action film and as such Sun-woo has little to say, yet manages to convey a whole range of feelings convincingly and naturally. Director Ji-woon Kim uses a lot of black and white and light and dark, which complements the simplicity of the story. There are no hidden twists to this film, yet it never becomes boring - partly because of the fight scenes, which, although violent, are also very balletically executed.

Frightmare begins as it means to go on with the death of onetime Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs, killed after a visit to a funfair to see a clairvoyant. This opening scene was a shot in colour but later turned to black and white because the vision of gore you see was just too much for that moment in time. This event sees the condemning to prison of an unknown party, and at this point the movie moves forward from the 1950's to the 1970's. Frightmare is all about extreme family secrets and a thirst for something that you really are not meant to have, cannibalism.

Of all the Pete Walker movies of this time, Frightmare offers the most striking vision with some of the worst acting. The memories of Frightmare really stayed with me for years after seeing it, and were given a stark reminder when I made my most recent return to this horror movie as part of a self imposed Pete Walker season.

The story of Frightmare is incredibly slow moving, but this is not a criticism; because this slow delivery makes the terror at the end all the more striking. But don't be fooled into thinking the movie is about build up, all the way through there is an unhealthy amount of deaths to contend with, and some really quite extreme gore.

It is rumoured that director Abel Ferrara took a liking to this movie when conjuring up the story to his long banned movie Driller Killer, and as the movies killer moves through a choice of weaponry onto the electric drill you can see some real similarities, hard to believe that a small budget movie not really seen in America would be responsible for such a thing.

Pete Walker's regular cast favourite Sheila Keith plays Dorothy Yates the movies cannibal and drill obsessive, I have ruined nothing in this reveal, it's made blatantly obvious from the movies offset just who the villain of the piece is. But in Dorothy you feel a touch of sadness because the character is a victim of mental illness, and it's this slow development and understanding of mental illness that give Frightmare its extreme but winning formula. Upon first sight this aging woman seems charming, but as the "headaches" occur you can see the delivery of messages into Dorothy's head. Sheila Keith was the sort of actress that could be both charming and menacing, an aspect that director was more than aware of casting her more often than not in his movies as the villain.

Where you get this tug of love situation with the movie is in her husband Edmund Yates played by Rupert Davies, you discover that despite the fact that he never committed murder, that he shared the same sentence in prison as Dorothy for being fully in the knowledge of her actions. As the movie progresses your heart does go out to Edmund as you can see the years of recovery that he believes Dorothy has had falling around his feet. You see him wrestling with his emotions as he tries to prevent the inevitable all the time just thinking it's on the horizon, unaware this time that Dorothy is actually killing.

But this is not a two way relationship Jackie (Deborah Fairfax) and Debbie (Kim Butcher) are the grown up children of the couple, and it seems that Debbie the younger of the two sisters has the same sort of diabolical thirst for blood and raw meat that her mother has.

Frightmare is 34 years on (at the time of writing) pretty extreme, in fact it's not an uneven offering to partner off with movies like Saw and Hostel, if you have seen either they you might be just starting to get a feel of exactly how hardcore this movie was for the time.

While I cannot say that Frightmare scared me, I can easily see it scaring some, yes the acting is terrible, but the gore is extreme and although I was not frightened by the movie it is one that I will never forget for as long as I live.

British horror of this era was somewhat tale in comparison to American and European horror, Pete Walker single handily changed this making British horror far more extreme, while this would now be welcomed it almost became the death nail for British horror with most of Walkers films becoming either heavily censored or completely banned like the movie Frightmare. The Comeback is one of Walker's best received movies, but also the movie seen least of all of the directors work.

What makes The Comeback a strange offering is the casting choices for the movie, joining Jack Jones is Pamela Stephenson one time comedian now psychologist and wife of Scottish comedian Billy Connelly. David Doyle best known as Bosley from Charlie's Angels stars as Nick Cooper's agent, and in a fairly shocking moment exposed as a transvestite. Then Bill Owen best known as Comp from Last Of The Summer Wine provides a sobering straight laced performance as the loving husband of Mrs. B played by regular Walker actress Sheila Keith. Jack Palance's daughter Holly Palance playsa most unusual role as a corpse from the movies offset; while popular novelist Peter Turner plays a bizarrely abysmal Harry, Coopers right hand man. Finally you have June Chadwick, who would later appear in the Sci-Fi spectacular V. In fairness if you are not from the UK or up on UK culture this might not mean very much to you but to put it most effectively it's a collection of the most unlikely people gathered together for a shockingly graphic horror movie. It was a strange thing that Walker had, a certain hold over certain celebrities that he could somehow command the most unlikely people to star in his incredibly low budget movies, most of his movies are like a who's who of British culture at that particular point in time, and here with the Comeback you get the most striking pointer to what was going on in British society.

Trivia put aside The Comeback begins with the estranged partner being horrendously hacked to death by a crazed old woman with a sickle. Unbeknown of the death of Gail in his penthouse on Londons Docklands, Cooper returns home from the States (his homeland) to work on his new album . Webster Jones or Webby, Cooper's agent finds a county house mansion for Cooper to work on where he won't be disturbed, however upon arrival he finds he is haunted by sounds and images from the past. As Cooper begins to have a mental breakdown, the roles of his careful aging housekeepers Mr & Mrs B change, but can Coopers career be stopped from falling into freefall?

I appreciate that the storyline might not sound the most compelling of movie offerings, but things are surprisingly better than they first seem. After a really quite shocking murder (considering this is British) things for a time slump into almost soap opera style storytelling, however as the story moves full circle it gets really quite extreme.

What I find most strange about the movie is the slowly rotting body of Gail that we keep seeing in quick flashes, and it's not too long before she is joined by another body. It's hard to put into words the way this looks, or even to describe the impact and shocking nature the movie delivered on an unsuspecting British public.

It's a strange combination of melodrama and extreme horror that to be honest I have never seen before, moving from the most horrific extremes, to kitchen sink drama at the drop of a hat. The scenes of Cooper and Linda (Stephenson) at times are almost painfully normal to watch as they sit and contemplate each other's pasts, and Cooper shows of the sort of bizarre and totally anal sort of self possessiveness that you come to expect from medium level celebrities. The story darts about from one to the other at the drop of a hat, with the most unusual red herrings thrown in left right and centre to really keep your mind thinking in overtime.

I cannot pretend for a minute that in my opinion this is one of Pete Walkers finest, for me that crown will always go to Die Screaming, Marianne; but The Comeback is without a doubt one of the most unusually refreshing movies of the 1970's. It has a sort of charm and charisma that literally puts the movie in a category all of its own that no country in the world has ever delivered something comparable. The gore is extreme, the language likewise for the movies location in time. All the while you're getting this incredibly dark and sinister view of England in the 1970's; and this makes the movie all the more special.

The cast whether good or bad in their acting add to the unique flavour of the movie, Sheila Keith plays a typically Pete Walker leading lady role as an aging woman with a secret, while the film is somehow stolen by Bill Owen's unique secret. But of all the bizarre images that you take from the movie by far the most striking is Charlies Angels Bosley in drag, by far the most frightening (and I don't mean that sarcastically) image to take from the film.

In a horror industry now defined by lame torture movies such as Hostel and Saw, I had hoped that Darabont's film might possess some elements of good old fashioned fright films: creepy music, cacophonous sound effects that makes you want to cover your ears, exciting monsters, and edge-of-your-seat suspense. Yet it failed and now we find ourselves on the edge of our seats only when someone's eye is about to be gouged out or waiting for intestines to spill all over. Don't get me wrong-I admire special effects and make-up artists such as Howard Berger and Gregory Nicotero incredibly, but something is clearly wrong when all a horror movie has going for it is effects. It's not horror and it's not suspense; it's shock treatment for a jaded and numbed audience who has forgotten about the horror movies of old.

The kings of horror and suspense such as John Carpenter, Dario Argento, Wes Craven and David Cronenberg knew hot to please an audience yearning for fear without having to resort to tacky and overtly grotesque scenes. Films such as Suspiria, Opera, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Thing, The Frighteners, Carrie, and the original The Wicker Man stand out in horror history. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre puts the remake to shame while Rob Zombie should be shunned for unmasking Michael Myers, perhaps the most infamous psychopath in horror movie history because of his mystical and mysterious nature. Even The Amityville Horror, though mediocre, is a landslide better than the remake. The 70s and 80s breathed life into horror movies and they thrived. The Exorcist, The Omen, Poltergeist, The Shining, Manhunter, Night of the Living Dead, and Rosemary's Baby are more films to add to the list of greats.

And now, what are we left with? If you scroll through a list of horror films produced over the past few years, you will come across The Ring, The Grudge, Dead Silence, The Fog, Ghost Ship, House of 100 Corpses, House on Haunted Hill, 30 Days of Night along with other disappointments. With the exception of a few quality scares such as The Descent, Feast, Behind the Mask, and Slither, the horror industry has taken a deep plunge into a pit and it may not return anytime soon. Attempts to spark the flame under horror lovers bottoms such as the “8 Films to Die For” and the Emmy nominated Series, “Masters of Horror” have succeeded to a degree, yet they don't get as much publicity as the weaker, higher budget horrors. I know that there are plenty of independent films worthy of recognition, but they will never be released in theaters and they will never be recognized so long as Hollywood keeps producing rubbish year after year. The problem is that directors and producers feel as if they have to show more in order to get more from the audience. What happened to keeping the audience in suspense by waiting until the finale to reveal the monster or the breathtaking big murder scene? These new horror flicks are producing a chain reaction. The more creatures and blood and guts that films show, the more the audience will want to see in the future.

I don't know what the solution to this problem is or how to go about finding one. Yet the quality of horror movies is plummeting. Hollywood is sacrificing substance for shock treatment. So my advice is to go rent one of the old classics, watch it, and think about everything it contains that contemporary horror movies don't. Learn to appreciate old school techniques of horror more than graphic and unnecessary disembowelments and hope that someone in Hollywood gets the picture.

 

In 1983 Pete Walker sick of having his films butchered, made his final movie as a director The House Of The Long Shadows, a star studded traditional horror movie aimed not at the minority audience, but the whole family; in an unusual move the BBFC stamped it with a PG certificate in the UK passing it without cuts. Sadly however Cannon Pictures UK ran into financial trouble and the in the UK the movie hard one of the shorted cinema runs for a movie in that time period. Lost in the ether the movie returned to haunt late night movie fans, and its video release in 1988 was the first movie to be released to the general public to buy in a clear video case, making it a success for VCI (Video Collection International) five years after it was released.

Moving on to the movie itself and it's a proper traditional horror, successful author Kenneth Magee (Desi Arnaz) makes a bet with his publisher that he can write a bestselling novel in just 24 hours, heading for the British countryside to get the right inspiration for a Wuthering Heights style novel. Arriving in a remote Welsh manor after a series of bizarre events, he is surprised to find the supposedly abandoned house still occupied by servants Victoria (Sheila Keith) and Lord Grisbane (John Carradine). After the initial upset having realised he is not alone, Magee becomes more and more distressed as well as more distracted from his work as the bad weather brings a flood of surprise visitors to the manor including Mary Norton (Julie Peasgood), Lionel (Vincent Price), Corrigan (Christopher Lee), and Sebastian (Peter Cushing) ; with such horror legends all present it would be rude to not have a killer too.

The House Of The Long Shadows really is nothing like Walkers traditional output, it is very much the sort of classic horror we are familiar seeing with the likes of Cushing, Lee, and Price; lots of loud banging music to create effect, thunderstorms, and horrific weather, and nowhere a nipple to be seen. Essentially despite its horror elements, House Of the Long Shadows is actually a very nice movie, no real horror, no real scares, just three of horrors best acting legends hamming it up in an almost homage to the Great British horror era where England ruled the world when it came to horror (1950's-1960's) .

There is a considerable amount of humour in the movie, an early victim of the killer Victoria spends the first portion of the movie offering every guest hot punch, getting most annoyed at the colourful language (anyone who has seen Frightmare will find humour in this fact alone), and singing like a banshee; when she falls foul of the killer Sebastian simply states "Poor Victoria, he must have heard her singing!" a statement that made me laugh 20 years ago when I first saw the movie, and yesterday when I saw it again (again for the first time in 20 years). When not having a knock at Sheila Keith, there are some highly amusing disguises that raise a little giggle, and some incredibly over the top acting from Ex-Hollyoaks star Peasgood, who has now thankfully given up acting in favour of being a sex therapist, hopefully she is better at that career choice.

Arnaz is an unusual casting for movie, the actor literally lived his life getting work off the back of his successful father; Arnaz's only claim to fame (if you call it fame) is that he was a star in the ill fated 1983 TV show Automan. His lack of popularity is abundantly clear here, as he stumbles around his lines often illegibly, and leaves you with a pretty bad taste in your mouth; thankfully the weight and experience of the cast veterans, and I should not forget Carradine that keep the movie going at a bustling speed.

Having taken its time telling the story 50 minutes in the first death occurs and from this point you have 35 minutes and a pretty high body count to take you to the movies end. And the end for someone will be an unexpected and enjoyable twist, having already weaved you in a number of directions with a highly contorting story.

25 years after the movie was made to be perfectly honest the cheese element stands out a mile, however it's still lovely to see. The charm of the movie is that it really was the last of the traditional British style of horror, and like its title it casts a long shadow across the movie industry. House Of The Shadows is an enjoyable movie, and a clear indication that despite its death the British horror industry still had something slightly unique to offer, the uniqueness being in its final twist.

House Of The Long Shadows is a movie that is now "In The Public Domain" with nobody seemingly wanting to assume rights over the movie. This means you can either buy an old VHS release, or a Public Domain DVD (probably with VHS quality) from the likes of Ebay, or even download the movie without fear of persecution. Alternately if you're planning to enter the movie industry as a DVD producer, I gather you can pick this up at a snip, providing your promise to remaster the image quality, prior to release.

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As far as horror movies goes “Milo” is one that deserves to be recognized has a solid independent film that relies less on FX special effects as those horror movies that audiences have come to expect in the 21st century. The real scary parts of this movie come into play using scare tactics that a person would probably be confronted with in real life.

The horror factor of “Milo” on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 representing the lowest value of the scale and 5 representing the highest value of the scale, then Milo would easily earn a 3 in the range. If you want the pee scared out of you, then Milo would not be a good choice for accomplishing that task. However, Milo has an excellent plot and good acting that makes this movie a fun movie to watch.

The movie “Milo” is worthy of (Renting: Yes - Buying: No)

I mean really, let us think about this. I will not give the entire movie away, but there was a scene where a man's legs had to be amputated because vines had grown into them. I know, you're probably thinking "gross" but that isn't really too gross when compared to how his legs were amputated, they were cut off with an army knife.

Despite the gore, if you like sci-fi horror films, the ruins may suit your palette well. I am not going to say yea or nay on whether you should watch it. I'll leave it up to your personal choice. I am just giving you fair warning.it may not be a movie suitable for a family night out. If I had to compare the ruins to any other film, I am not sure that it could be done.

Starring John Cusack as a skeptical paranormal investigator traveling the country investigating the haunted folklore that are rumored around campfires to terrify naïve little children. Writing novels about his haunted adventures and revealing in the pages the techniques he used to debunk the not-so spooky haunts. Until a postcard arrived in the mail containing a stern warning not to visit room 1408 located on the 13th floor of the Dolphin Hotel.

Curiosity leads the young paranormal investigator directly to the lobby of the sheik lobby of the Dolphin and right in the lap of evil. Stepping up to the check-in desk announcing his having a reservation for the mysterious room 1408, where he is then is confronted by a tall, dark and concerned hotel manager played by Samuel L. Jackson, who invites the uptight investigator back to the manager's office for a brief chat.

During the meeting new information about the deadly history of the room are revealed, but no matter how desperately hard the hotel manager tries to convince his eager young guest not to enter the room - “The keys please” seemed to be the only available response left to say.

As the skeptical young paranormal investigator enters the lonesome doorway of room 1408, the room's first impression is nothing special, just outdated furniture and wicket eerie-framed paintings adoring the walls. The room slowly begins showing signs of life if that is what it shall be called only minutes into the investigation. “No big deal it is not real” was surely zigzagging in the darkest corners of newly arrived guest's mind.

From this point on things start spiraling out of control both in the room and in his mind as madness leads to a reality that no one would have ever expected. Nothing is scarier until it becomes real.

1408 is a psychological thrill ride that you will never forget even when you want it to stop.

The movie “1408” is worthy of: (Renting: Yes - Buying: Yes)

 

1. Drive Thru

   My favorite out of the 5 that I grabbed, it has almost everything a good horror/slasher flick needs: gore (there's lots and a nice variety of deaths too), wiggers (they get killed hooray!), preps (they get killed too! Double hooray!), and an awesome villain in the form of a demonic clown thing hellbent on slaughtering loads of people. The overall plot is a cookie-cutter horror movie but I liked the clown and his personality definitely seems modeled after Freddy Krueger. It's worth watching if you don't have much else to do, and you get bored easily like me. The cover of the DVD is probably one of the coolest things though, nothing better than an axe through a hamburger with lots of blood, or chili or something red and goeyish spilling out.
   

2. Loch Ness Terror

   It's played on the Sci-Fi channel before and it's definitely not the best horror movie out there. The usual beast-terrorizes-town movie, but the characters and some of what they do makes me laugh a bit. This movie has also given me a better appreciation of microwaves and how we should turn them into guns. Also puppets are cool but look nothing like their CG counterparts.
   

3. Blood Dolls

   Completely ridiculous and hilarious for the same reasons. After about the first twenty minutes the hilarity has started to pass and then you just ask yourself, "Why the hell am I watching this?" And the answer is because everyone is scared of 12 in. dolls that can tackle a 250 pound man to the ground. I personally would have enjoyed it more if the dolls talked a bit but you know, it's a pretty low budget movie and stuff so you can't really expect too much. It's only an 85 minute movie so don't expect to be entertained for long, but the fairly short runtime is good because if it were any longer the movie would seem to drag on forever. Worth seeing if you like dolls and stupid movies as much as I do haha.
   

4. Lost Colony

   Yeah, I always wondered what happened to that one British colony in Virginia and now I know the truth! Well it must be mostly true since it is based on real events. Crazy ghost witch things make people disappear all the time. I also learned an important lesson from this movie: vikings don't go to heaven or hell, they just eat peoples souls and stuff. Which is cool because I'm kinda sorta part viking so I guess I can look forward to that fun afterlife.
   

5. Death Tunnel

   Not much more to say about this movie other than "Wow what a crappy movie" but I did like all the crazy noises and flashing images, awesome for inducing seizures. This movie is similar to House on Haunted Hill if you've seen that movie. The story confused me right off the bat and the choppy chronological order of events made my head hurt a lot. So I guess I can suggest this movie to people who like really annoying puzzles? Although you might enjoy it if you like watching women explore haunted asylum places in lingerie, but who says no to a movie like that? (As a side note it's not a porno and the chicks don't have crazy sex with the ghosts).