Ed's Review Dot Com

20th Century Fox,

Sadie Katz, Anthony Ilott, Aqueela Zoll, Rollo Skinner, Billy Ashworth

Danny (Anthony Iilot) suddenly inherits a run down resort in Hobb Springs, so he and his friends head out to investigate his good fortune. But while there they run into a bunch of inbred locals who hang around the place. Turns out they are long lost relatives and they try to turn Danny against his friends and to join their family, and they help by killing and eating his friends one at a time.

This is the 6th film in the Wrong Turn series, and by far the weakest. The story is lame, and the concept has been rather stretched. After all, the original idea what someone who accidentally ended up taking the wrong road and ending up where they definitely shouldn’t be, but in this one, they know where they are going. Perhaps you could say it was a wrong choice, but they chose to go there. The kills are very graphic and the unrated version is rather nasty, but the story is just kind of lame. I was bored though this, and it took about 3 tries before I could make it through the whole film without falling asleep. I am a fan of horror, and usually not too hard to please, but this one is pretty bad. You might find this on late night cable, and if you’re a fan of the franchise, feel free, but I don’t recommend wasting the time on this one. Just sex and gore, blood and guts and disgusting people. Not worth it.

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Atomic Monster, Grey Matter Productions, New Line Cinema,

Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander John DiPersia, Rolando Boyce, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Maria Bello

Young Martin (Gabriel Bateman) lives alone with his Mom Sophie (Maria Bello) since his father was savagely killed. Sophie is a bit crazy, having spent a time in a mental institution, but Martin thinks something worse is happening at night when it’s dark, and he’s been falling asleep in class because he is unable to sleep at home. The school calls his half sister Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) to pick him up, and though she left her mother years ago, she comes back to help the family battle some real demons in one of the most horrific horror films of 2016.

This is a very terrifying piece of film making by David F. Sandberg who apparently made a short film version of this story in 2013. He expanded it to a hour and 21 minutes which must have taken a lot of effort. I would love to see the short film, as it sounds really good from what I’ve heard about it, but this feature version suffers from the lack of material. That is the weak point of this movie, and it shows a lack of depth in the story. We don’t get enough of the back story, nor is it clear what it’s all about. There are many ways this could have developed, but the intent was I’m sure to leave you guessing. The threat appears to be gone, but we don’t really know what quite happened to make this all possible. But setting that aside, it is a really terrifying movie, and one that will certainly scare the bejezus out of you. It’s done with real suspense and horror but has excellent sound effects and jump scares as well that are actually pretty well done. I am really glad I went to see this film, as it was really fun, even though it could have been better with a bit more material, perhaps. Still, it made me jump. At one point there is some strange noise going on in another room behind us, and the sounds that were coming out of the back left speakers made everyone in the theater turn around and look to see what the heck was going on back there. About the time we figured out it was part of the film. we turned back to the front and got slammed. It was one of the cleverest horror moments I’ve ever experienced. This was about a 2/3 full theater, and the crowd, including us, screamed a couple times which shows that it was really worth it. If you love horror, ignore the haters and watch this.

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42, Fire Axe Pictures, Kriti Productions,

Jeremy Sisto, Sarah Wayne Callies, Javier Botet, Logan Creran, Sofia Rosinsky

Maria (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Michael (Jeremy Sisto) live on the other side of the world with their daughter Lucy (Sofia Rosinsky) and Son Oliver (Logan Creran). When a horrible tragedy befalls them, Maria and Lucy survive, but Oliver has died. Not able to get past the loss of her son, Maria pulls away from the family and is struggling to survive. An elderly Hindu woman promises Maria that an ancient ritual can give her the opportunity to speak one last time to her son behind a locked door in an ancient shrine, but she must promise to not open the door, no matter what happens. But overcome by grief Maria opens the door and brings terror and destruction to her family in return.

This is one of the most unexpected surprises I have had in a long time. This is a first rate horror film with an honest to goodness really creepy plot. Set in India, this touches on some of the Hindu beliefs and practices which are probably pretty new to most of us, which gives this film a really good anchor to build on. The actors are very good, and though they are essentially TV actors, they have the chops to give this one all it needs! The little girl is also excellent, and one of the best kid actors I’ve seen in a long time. The story itself is unlike anything I’ve seen, and it’s nice to get a current horror film that is so exciting and new. I was very impressed with this film, and had to watch it several times I enjoyed it so much. If you want a good old fashioned believable horror story that will truly scare the bejeezus out of you without relying on loud noises and startles to simply make you jump, but to chill you to the bone, this is perhaps the best classic horror film I’ve seen in a long, long time. I highly recommend this movie for any horror fan, and this is a gem of a scary flick that appeared out of nowhere. This film can truly create nightmares.

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Columbia Pictures, Ombra Films, Weimaraner Republic Pictures,

Blake Lively, Oscar Jaenada

Nancy (Blake Lively) misses her mother who recently died from cancer. She is looking for some alone time, and she just quit medical school and fled to Mexico searching for a hidden “secret” beach that her mother loved. But things go wrong when she runs into a very angry and persistent shark who would like more than anything to have her for lunch!

This is a solo shot for Blake Lively who really throws herself at it will all her abilities. It’s a very hard role. Stranded at a remote beach with little hope of survival. This is a highly suspenseful film, with beautiful scenery and a very ornery shark. It’s a tough role to play, with lots of activity and a whole range of emotions. This is hardly classified as horror, yet it’s not a mystery, though it is very suspenseful. All in all it’s a roller-coaster ride of epic proportions. The packed audience was completely silent for long periods when there was little sound on the screen, and it was kind of eerie. Suddenly the shark would appear, and everyone was screaming again. All in all, this is a pretty good film. I really enjoyed the suspense and found a lot of times, I was holding my breath without knowing it I was so into the story. That is rare for me, and and an interesting experience. It’s not very often I get sucked into a film so completely, but this is an immersive movie, in more ways than one. I really liked it and I would like to recommend this one.

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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.

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