#johnofthedead

My thirst for a creature feature lead me to this 90s effort, DNA. I honestly did not expect much going into this piece, and for obvious reasons: it has a really low budget, is virtually unknown aside from those who see it on the discount rack at your family-owned video rental store, and contains no actors I have ever heard of. On top of that, the director is not known as a director and the writer has some very low-rated films tied to his name – all things that normally equate to a film you should stay away from. Well, I was glad to see that the film exceeded my low expectations and wound up giving me a pretty fun experience in the end despite its flaws. This is not a great creature feature but it gives enough positive action to warrant a borderline-positive review, and goes to show that you never really know when a “bad” film will turn out to be an enjoyable one.

I was pretty stoked when I first heard about Intruders because I’ve remained a Clive Owen fan throughout the years as well as a fan of director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 Weeks Later. I then began to winder why the film did not see a wide theater release, and after finally viewing this film I can tell just why. Fresnadillo does a pretty swell job executing this experience, but the story does too little with what it had to offer and did so with bland writing execution. This is not a bad film, but this is not a good effort either and left me confused on how to feel about it – about as confused as the film’s writers must have been.

After viewing the pathetic Hellraiser: Inferno I ventured to the next film in the series, appearing two years later, Hellraiser: Hellseeker. Much like its predecessor, Hellraiser: Hellseeker was written as its own film separate from the Hellraiser series but was then purchased and rewritten a little to match up (somewhat) with the Hellraiser story. While this effort was definitely an improvement over Hellraiser: Inferno it did not come without its numerous faults, and ultimately failed to deliver a good story and instead just a less messy one.

Most of us devout horror fans are on an ever-long search for horror film that fell under the radar when they debuted, and that search lead me to Head Trauma. A low budget psychological horror film, this effort does a lot with what little the filmmakers had to work with and delivers a pretty darn good story that took its time developing. I do understand why this flick did not achieve greatness when it debuted as it does have its faults and the low budget is obvious ($126,000), but in giving credit where it is due I must say this was a pretty worthwhile watch that I enjoyed.

Sinister is one of the few films had been looking forward to here in 2012, aside from V/H/S, the amazing Cabin in the Woods, and sci-fi/horror geekfeast, Prometheus. With the “found footage” element now in full swing these past few years, Sinister takes the tactic and gives us a different take on it, much like V/H/S did with slightly less success. Coming in without the cliches of most other films of its type, this effort gives us great chills, good thrills, lots of tension, and a storyline that had me engaged from the get-go. Sinister may not be the best horror film of the year, but it is one of them, and definitely worth a watch.

The Apparition is a flick I had no interest in seeing when it debuted, partly because I had never heard of it and because it just seemed lame after doing a tiny bit of research. I did not view a trailer going into this film, but I knew better than to pay top dollar theater prices and waited for this to hit my local dollar theater, and even then it was not worth the price. The script is dull, lazy, and the direction suffers the same fate, becoming evident when the viewer comes across the numerous “scare” sequences yet leaves the viewer afraid to waste their money on another modern day horror film.

Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things is one of those films that I immediately found interest in due to its awesome title. In addition to that, I also wanted to see this because it comes directed by the late Bob Clark and written by the awesome Alan Ormsby. A prime example of low budget filmmaking done right, this effort delivers the goods with an enjoyable story and manages to do so with a PG rating as well. The horror is zany and there are plenty of zombies, and with the film’s only major flaw being its overly long development this wound up an enjoyable piece aimed at fans of cheap 70s horror.