Arkham Sanitarium: Soul Eater

Director - Julian Grant (The Defiled)
Starring - Shannon Brown (Graybeard), Rinska Carrasco (A Faustian Tale), and Marc Edwards (Poetic)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     A topic I generally don't discuss is my love for H.P. Lovecraft and his writings.  I first came across his short stories when I was in high school when I saw Re-Animator and From Beyond for the first time.  The films really impressed me so I started checking out his short stories.  I quickly fell in love with his writing style.  Over the years his stories has been adapted into several films and even his mythos has inspired films and other stories.  One of those films inspired by the writings of Lovecraft is Arkham Sanitarium: Soul Eater.  This found footage film takes stories written by Lovecraft, specifically Cthulhu, and tried to make an original film using that as a basis.  I was sent this film to review and I thank you for that!

     This found footage film follows three paranormal investigators who travel to Arkham Sanitarium to investigate it.  Arkham was once home to a Lovecraft sex cult that killed some of the patients in the basement.  The three was once a team but the young girl cheated on her husband with the other man.  They heard he was going to investigate the sanitarium so they decided to follow so he wouldn't steal the show.  However, once they are there her husband becomes possessed by a demon and attacks her.  She bludgeons him with a crowbar and runs for her life.  She rushes off and finds her former partner who also becomes possessed once her boyfriend is set free.  She then encounters various spirits while hiding from the possessed until she finally encounters a hulking man wearing a Cthulhu mask.  She is then forced to team back up with her unpossessed husband and former partner to survive the night.

     Found footage has so much potential to be the greatest horror sub-genre but fails to capitalize on the potential.  Found footage has the opportunity to be the most realistic of all horror films but it ruins the realness of the film by trying to be authentic.  I know that doesn't make sense but let me explain.  Found footage has the potential to make a horror film that can seem to be real.  With found footage we can have films catching a wide range of things on film.  We can have a realistic snuff film. big foot, and even ghosts caught on film.  However, they try to make the film feel authentic and make the film shaky, grainy, and out of focus.  Arkham Sanitarium tried to make the film authentic as well and this made the film hard to watch.  I don't understand why filmmakers cant make a found footage film with great camera work and film quality.  The acting in this film is solid by the entire cast.  All the characters are believable and that makes the film flow a little easier.  The story for this one is one that has been told time after time again but with a Lovecraft twist.  We have seen so many films recently where paranormal investigators get possessed and kill each other.  One film that comes to mind is the slasher Hazmat.  However, what sets this film apart is the attempt to throw in some Lovecraft mythos if only in passing.  This story could have worked if the film was not a found footage flick.  Finally, the film does not really have any on screen kills nor are we treated to any real special effects.  The film tries to get a rise out of the viewer with jump scares and suspense which the found footage look ruins.  Overall, Arkham Sanitarium: Soul Eater is a valiant effort at the found footage sub-genre but their attention to detail only ruins the viewing.  I can not recommend this one.

Don't Blink

Director - Travis Oates (Ask Alphonso)
Starring - Zack Ward (A Christmas Story, Resident Evil: Apocalypse), Mena Suvari (Day of the Dead), and Brian Austin Green (Monster Heroes)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - "You might be next"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Sometimes I will come across a movie that I have never heard of but I am so intrigued by it that I have to see it.  Most of the time these movies tend to let me down because they can never live up to the expectations I have set in my mind for the film.  Not long ago I was sent a press release for the film Don't Blink.  I typically stay away from thrillers because they take the educated route and give the viewer a film that makes them think.  However, Don't Blink looked so damn good that I had to see it.  I reached out to the fine folks that sent me the press release for the film and they were kind enough to send me a review copy.  Thanks guys for sending me that!

     The film follows a group of young men and women as they head out to a secluded resort out in the middle of the woods.  However, when they arrive they noticed a few things are out of order.  They find a bunch of cars with the keys still turned on in the ignition but the cars have ran out of gas.  They also find food in the kitchen of the resort that have been prepared but not touched.  Not long after arriving one of their group goes missing.  Her new boyfriend rushes off to look for her as everyone begins to panic.  They soon begin to fight amongst themselves with some wanting to leave thinking that the people previously there evacuated while the others want to stay due to running low on gas and not knowing what had happened to everyone.  As they fight and bicker they start to notice others are missing.  They quickly realize that when someone is left alone they disappear.  They try to stick together but members panic and a gun is brought into play.  Over time they drop like flies until on two is left...and then one.
     I would enjoy thrillers more if they were just simple stories without the technicalities and twists.  Thrillers try to go above and beyond their means and tries to mind fuck the viewer.  Don't Blink didn't try to make an over-complicated thriller.  Instead, it made a simple, yet effective thriller.  Hell, Don't Blink is your working class thriller that does not try to change the thriller genre but give the viewer something fun to watch.  The acting in this one is fantastic.  The entire cast is amazing but Zack Ward's performance is fucking outstanding.  Many of you may remember Ward as Farkus in the Christmas classic, A Christmas Story.  He went on to have minor roles in several horror films but after seeing him in this it is a shame he does not have more leading roles.  I could honestly see him wielding a knife and hunting down kids partying while cracking cheesy one liners.  The story for this one is one that I have seen a few times but never like this.  The story for this one is very simple and very effective.  We have seen other sci-fi films where people go missing in the same manner but never in such a serious tone.  Lucky for us the cast and crew is able to pull that off.  Finally, the film does lack on screen kills but there is still tones of blood and great practical effects.  We do get a few gun shot wounds and these scenes are painted with blood.  Overall, Don't Blink is a solid thriller that has some great suspense and a powerful cast.  If you are looking for a brilliant yet simple thriller then look no further!

Moorland

Director - Jordan Kantola
Starring - Clayton Miles (Forward/Backword), J.T. Taylor (Hunger Unholy), Jordan Kantola (All You Can Dream)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "The lost footage from the infamous disappearances"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     The found footage sub-genre is one that I tend to not enjoy.  They usually bore me to death and lack any real story or substance to pull my attention in.  With that being said, I have seen several found footage flicks that are actually worth watching which is why I have not shunned off the sub-genre altogether.  Not long ago I was asked to check out the supernatural found footage flick Moorland.  The title was not that intriguing but I wanted to check it out anyway.  I put it on my list of films to review where I forgot about it until recently when I was moving info from my old laptop to my new one.  As soon as I saw that I forgot it I had to check it out as quick as possible.  

     The film begins with a mother who is missing her son.  He has been missing for sometime and the only thing she has that could lead to his whereabouts is a series of videos that was found.  She has hired a production company to piece the videos together.  We then jump to the videos where we meet three amateur filmmakers.  While on a weed run they learn that their drug dealer is an amateur paranormal investigator and his recent video has over 5000 hits in one week where there videos are struggling to hit 400 in a month.  They decide to change their focus to paranormal investigation and decide to check out a location where a man murdered his family in a ritualistic fashion.  However, while they were there something attacks one of them which pushes him to dig deeper into it.  At this points they decide to hold a seance and then call in a holy man to cleanse the place.  This does not sit well and shit gets real!

     What I don't like about most found footage flicks is that they take so fucking long to get to the good portion of the story.  They all feel they need to be authentic and have a major portion of the film consisting of character's interaction with one another in a manner that has nothing to do with story or plot.  They are trying to mimic home videos but for a movie it fails miserably.  Moorland did not go that route which is praise worthy but what they did is all wrong.  The acting in this film is decent by indie standard.  The entire cast is solid but they did lack experience but they all show a tremendous amount of talent.  I would love to see them all in other films.  The story for this one is one that has been told before.  So many films have been made where people visit a location where a massacre or mass murder has taken place only to wish they hadn't.  However, so very few of these films have went about it in a found footage angle making this one rather unique.  However, unique does not really save the film.  The film has horrible pacing which when you have a film open up with a woman talking for 5 minutes about what you are about to watch is a pretty bad omen.  Editing would have helped this film.  Finally, the film lacks on screen kills and special effects.  The film tries to get a rise out of the viewer with supernatural scares in the same vain as Paranormal Activity and sadly, they can't pull it off.  Overall, Moorland is a found footage film that just falls in the pile with the other ff films.  It offers up nothing new nor entertaining.  I can not recommend this one.

Mrparka Review's "Franklin: A Symphony of Pain" Video Review

Cut

Director - Eric Pabon
Starring - Shane Byrd (Shut Up and Kiss Me!), Mark DeMicco (God Is On Their Side), and Julie Ann Hamolko (Sloppy the Psychotic)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "When the director yells cut...he may get more than he bargained for"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     The slasher sub-genre is one of the most impressive of all the sub-genres but also one of the most predictable.  The same formula has been the basis for so many horror films from the late 70s and all throughout the 80s going from the slashers in the woods, to the college campus, sorority houses, and high school.  That formula, someone wronged dons a mask and kills those that wronged them, has been the basis for so many slashers.  We then enter the 90s and the slasher formula changed it up with the rise of the self-aware slasher made famous by Scream.  That formula lasted well through the 90s until the 2000s until the late 2000s when rabid slasher fans started making their throwbacks to 80s slashers and variations of the like.  However, we do sometimes get a slasher that breaks the mold and gives us a strange and usual slasher unlike ones that have been released before.  Not long ago the Facebook page for Cut reached out to me and asked me to check their short out.  I agreed and now prepare for the review!

     Cut follows a film crew who is making a slasher film.  The director then hired on a second cameraman to film them making the film to use as a documentary.  In between scenes the cast and crew fraternize among each other and a bit of a relationship builds between a beautiful young actress and the documentary cameraman.  However, before the two get close someone with an ax to grind enters the set and starts killing the cast and crew.

      I typically dislike slashers that deviate from the classic slasher formula.  They tend to forget everything that made the original slashers so much fun.  However, when it comes to the short Cut they did not.  Cut is a slasher in nature but cuts against the grain.  The acting in this short is fun and solid.  The entire cast did a great job and really dedicated themselves to their roles.  This is honestly one of the best acted shorts I have seen in a long time.  The story for this one is a very different take on the slasher sub-genre.  We get the traditional slasher formula with someone killing because they were wronged and then we throw it into the situation of a crew making a movie while being filmed for a documentary almost makes it feel new, or at the very least unique.  Finally, the film does lack on screen kills.  Sure, we get one or two but nothing impressive or the slasher standard.  That was a bit of a let down.  The special effects we do get are not that great making the kills we do get very lackluster.  Overall, Cut is a great slasher short that breathes fresh air into the slasher sub-genre.  What it lacks in kills and special effects it makes up for in style and substance.  Check it out!

The Mothertown

Director - John Williams
Starring - Daniel Alexander, Pete Bennett (Zombie Women of Satan 2), and Sophie Elsby (Occultist)
Release Date - 2014
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     The zombie sub-genre is at the height of it's popularity and we have AMC's The Walking Dead to thank for that.  The Walking Dead premiered in 2010 and ever since we have seen an abundance of zombie flicks hitting the store shelves depicting a group of survivors fighting their way across a zombie infested wasteland.  Recently, director John Williams reached out to me to check out his first full length feature simply titled The Mothertown.  I knew nothing about this film until I was asked to check it out.  I quickly rushed over to YouTube where I watched the trailer and knew this would be a fun little zombie film that was nothing like all these other zombie flicks that are pouring out of the gutters.  Thank you John for letting me check this out!
     The film begins with two unusual scientists out enjoying their lunch when they accidentally drop a vile containing a toxic chemical in the canal which just happens to be the town's drinking water.  Those that drink the water are turned into flesh-eating zombies.  We then meet two bumbling security guards, an over-protective mother and her son, a coked out news reporter who only cares about his career, and two twenty-somethings who use the zombie infestation as a reason to hit the pub and get shitfaced.  However, things turn from bad to worse for all of them forcing them to go out into the streets where they all join forces with a military group to combat the undead.
     Zombie films from the last few years has made a shift from the zombies being the focus of the film to the drama among the characters taking over the film.  This does work for The Walking Dead because we care about the characters and in some cases it has taken seasons for us to become fond of them.  However, with a film we only get a short time to be with the characters so that bond may not form.  Zombie movies need to focus on zombies...or make the characters funny and fun to watch that way you may get the viewer's attention.  Case in point is the horror classic Shaun of the Dead.  The film took the drama out of the situation and added a ton of humor making the film fun as hell to watch.  The Mothertown followed in SotD's footsteps and gave the viewer a goofy, low-budget take on the zombie sub-genre.  The acting in this film is not consistent.  Some of the cast is great and really makes the film fun and easy to watch while others are just horrible to watch.  Most of the cast lacked experience but had a lot of heart and determination.  The story for this one is one that has been told time and time again with zombies.  A water supply has been corrupted turning those that consume it into braindead, flesh-eating fiends.  This is nothing new but it was done with a good bit of humor which is something I love with horror.  Finally, the film has several on screen deaths and zombie attacks.  They are all typical and something we are used to seeing when watching a zombie movie.  The special effects are decent when it comes to the wounds and gore but the zombies are boring to look at.  When we watch a film about zombies we want ripped flesh, missing body parts, and rotting undead.  Overall, The Mothertown is a fun zombie film that has laughs and some enjoyable characters.  This is Shaun of the Dead meets indie horror and I really enjoyed it.  Check it out!