Ed's Review Dot Com

New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, Evergreen Media Group,

Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Frances O’Connor, Madison Wolfe, Lauren Esposito, Patrick McAuley, Benjamin Haigh, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Simon Delaney, Franka Potente, Simon McBurney, Shannon Kook-Chun, Abhi Sinha, Steve Coulter

We heard of the warrens, Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) in the original conjuring (and some of their offspring) and they are back in The Conjuring 2. Ed and Lorraine are based on the real Warrens and gets them the notation “based upon a true story” in the opening credits. We all have heard of their most famous case, The Amityville Horror, but this story from their files is just about a bad, but takes place in the late 70’s in England where a single mother Peggy Hodgson (Frances O’Connor) is struggling to make ends meet for her 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. The middle child, Janet(Madison Wolfe) has starting having some problems in school and is complaining of seeing things which is how things usually start. But as things escalate quickly, the story gets out around town about the history of the house, and when it hits the airwaves, the church is anxious to bring Ed and Lorraine over to figure out if it’s a hoax or a real haunting. They learn that there is something much more sinister at work here then meets the eye.

This film starts out so cheesy (as all of these films set in the 70’s do, mostly I think to set the mood) that I was rolling my eyes and thinking I blew a lot on what would be a lousy movie. But boy was I wrong. This story takes a while to get going, mostly because we’re tortured with the Warren story one more time for the folks that aren’t keeping up. But once it gets rolling, this is a horror film of great worth. This team really has it down as all the related movies are pretty good. This is a long film. It took well over 2 1/2 hours but it was really intense.
Miss Wolfe did a wonderful job as the middle child who the movie is based around. All of the actors are pretty good, but this gal really nailed it. She had a very difficult part (as this is an R rated film from start to finish with the scares and violence) but she was certainly up to the task and I could find no fault in her performance. The house is extremely ugly which helps to creep us out, and the special effects, sound editing, and cinematography all join to make this a really scary film. The sound system in the theater I saw it in must be brand new, and it was amazing. For a while I thought we were in “sensurround” (ala Earthquake in the 70’s) with all the shaking going on. The building vibrated when things started flying through the air and crashing into walls and windows. Major kudos for the script, and the lion’s share to the actors who performed very well. This is a top notch, first class horror film, and an excellent example of how to do it right at this time in cinema history. See this one in the theater if you possibly can.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Launchpad Productions, A Bigger Boat, RCN Films & e-nnovva,

Peter Facinelli, Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos

David Reynolds (Peter Facinelli), an American widower heads to Columbia to retrieve his daughter who went there on a trip and did not come home. He is driving her and her friends, when a friendly police officer stops to tell them the road they are driving is not safe. There is a terrible storm and the road is very dangerous with flash floods and the like. One of the girls suggests that she is native to the place, and that she knows the way, but the press on, only to get stranded in the middle of nowhere. They are lucky to find an old closed up Inn that is nearby and they beg the owner to let them stay until they can get some help. But when the find a young girl locked in the basement, they determine to set her free. But when they find out that the little girl is not really a little girl, and they have unleashed hell, none of them may survive the night in this horror movie.

This is a so-so, low budget horror film. There are moments, and it’s rather scary, but it is totally low budget and there are no really good acting and the story is rather tame. It’s not a bad B film as long as you know what you’re in for and realize this is not going to be a classy film. It’s certainly a decent low budget horror flick, and wasn’t hard to watch, and is certainly worth streaming. I was glad to get this movie for nothing, but if I paid for it, I would have been a bit discouraged. If you’re a fan of horror, and don’t mind the <> prompts from time to time, this is a decent time waster of an amateur scary movie, so don’t expect too much, but don’t hesitate to stream this one or catch it when it’s on the Saturday Night late movie!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), New Line Cinema,

Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer, Charles Dance, Brendan Coyle

Will Traynor (Sam Clafin) is a very lucky man. He’s from a wealthy British family that owns a castle, and he’s grown into a very handsome young man with a beautiful girlfriend, a high visibility job, and an active lifestyle filled with skiing, surfing, climbing, and all sorts of activities. But in a split second it’s all taken away when a single moment rips away all but the money. Two years later, bubbly and happy Luisa Clark (Emilia Clarke) loses her job as a waitress when the cafe closes. With her father out of work for a long time, the family depended on her waitress salary to stay afloat, so she needs a job. She applies and gets a job as a caretaker for Will, but it’s only for six months. Will is deeply depressed and very disturbed, and Lou sets out to make him smile a little and try to bring some meaning to his life. Little did she know how determined he was to be sad and grumpy at what he has lost.

Based on a novel, this film is a true romance story, but with lots of heartache and sadness, and some terrific highs. My wife and I went to see this film on a Tuesday (aka discount night) date night and I wish I could blame this “chick flick” on her choice and my graciousness of bending to her will, but the truth is that I have been wanting to see this film. As a youngster I had no doubt that I was an unusual kid. I loved sharing music with my grandmother and became a fan of old music, and I loved books and movies. I’ve never been a big one for fast cars, and can’t tell a Dodge from a Toyota, and never really got into playing sports. I had a much bigger enjoyment of the arts and nature and travel and things of that nature. As a teen, name a song, and I could tell you who it was by, what label it was on, how long it was, and what was on the other side, and I amassed a treasure trove of 45’s and LP’s and my record player my Dad rescued from someone’s trash and built into a really nice stand for me for Christmas was probably one of my most treasured Christmas presents. So I am a sucker for “relationship” movies and a lot of what people call movies for girls. Now my favorite genre is horror, and I love comedy. Favorite films would have to include Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, all the Star Trek movies, and so on. But I do like really good people stories too. This is certainly a touching (can I say tear-jerking) film, but dang it was a really good story as well. With a British setting and with British actors, the accent was there throughout, but unlike some films that I have a really hard time understanding, this was really easy to follow. There are a lot of twists and turns, although the truth is that it is completely logical step by step. I don’t know any of the actors in this movie which really made it a lot more believable to me as well, and I must admit I was totally invested in this story. It is a bit intense for very young kids, and even though it’s a PG-13 film, I would hesitate to bring children under 13 as it would be tough for them to understand, but for older kids and adults, this is a really touchingly bittersweet story but one that I’m very glad I watched. If you have a heart, I highly recommend this story. Get out and see it while you can!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday June 7, 2016

• 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
• Anomalisa
• Colonia
• The Confirmation
• The Funhouse Massacre
• Hail, Caesar!
• Mr. Right
• The Other Side of the Door
• Touched with Fire
• A War
• Zootopia

Cliffbrook Films, Onset Films,

Melanie Papalia, David Schlachtenhaufen, Matt Riedy, Adam Shapiro

Elizabeth Benton (Melani Papalia) is a young woman who takes on the task of studying what people do on chat rooms and web cams. She joins up and basically keeps the camera on all the time. But when she realizes she has witnessed a murder, and tries to notify the police, she realizes that she is in way over her head and has lost control of the situation. She gets her boyfriend to help her try to solve the case, but as the bodies start to pile up, she can see it’s way out of hand.

This is a relatively creepy psycho thriller much like many others of this “computer hacker terror” horror film, and it is relatively scary. Even the acting isn’t all that horrible, even though this is real low budget. The biggest problem I had with this one is that the vast majority of the movie is either a computer screen, and smart phone screen, or video from a web cam, and it’s all very hard to watch and keep up with. It’s more of a cyber horror film that might be more suited to watch on your smart phone. It’s available for streaming, but I can’t see much more value. The tiny screen might actually help this one out a bit. If you are a big fan of horror films, and you can sit through things like this, then you have nothing to lose, but just don’t be expecting to be wowed by this movie, as it’s really only half way there. I have seen much worse, but I’ve also seen a lot better.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog