Saw VI

About Saw VI, i'm sorry to say it's just a little bit more of the same. The saga is actually getting annoying, having too much gore and presenting some details from the old movies just to fill up empy spaces. Yet again, good acting, great special effects and a scary soundtrack made Saw VI an awsome installment of the saga.

In my opinion the saga doesn't make so much sense anymore since Jigsaw and Amanda are dead, because i feel like somehow the cop who continues the legacy was a character planted on a last-minute decision. I was amazed how they grabbed agent Perez again, i really thought she was dead. Other thing that surprised me was the role of Jill since i never expected her to keep up the game in the end.

The movie quite follows the line of the 4th installment, meaning, we have a man, his family at stake and 4 tests he must pass, What's new is that he has to choose the ones he saves.

Overall, a movie with a lot to it.

Disturbia (2007)

When i first saw Disturbia, i was expecting something a whole lot worse. But turns out this was a quite awsome movie. About the story, there's not much to it, i thought the idea was original (since when i saw the movie i didn't knew it was a remake of Rear Window) and, overall it was a scary thriller. Shia LaBeouf proved to be improving in acting, and the rest of the cast is also really amazing, specially Carrie-Anne Moss playing mom. Also, the presence of a few less known actors (at least for me) was quite good.

The plot was indeed entertaining, not exactly full of action, but it still makes you expect the next scene with anxiety. So, overall, an amazing thriller to watch.

Mustang Sally's Horror House (2006)

Oh my, never in my life i thought i would see a movie this bad. It's like the worst movie ever. Maybe the lamest low budget movie ever. Quite what you should be expecting from a movie with a name like that. But still, they could have tried a little bit harder.

The plot was awful, way too predictable and didn't made any sense at all. About the acting - lame. Soundtrack - lame. Let's face it, this movie has really nothing to it. Not even a little bit of gore, or decent special effects. The first half of the movie is basically just like the beginning of a really lame porno, at least untill the whores decide to grab the knife.

Then again, the house shoudn't even be called as " of horror" since the whole movie made me laugh my ass off.

Overall, a movie you shouldn't add to your "want to see" list.

Inception (2010)

And he does it again. Christopher Nolan shoots and scores once more. I was already expecting greatness from Inception, but the movie left me breathless. With a lot of action, brilliant special effects and an awsome soundtrack by the hand (and ears) of Hans Zimmer, Inception is the perfect recipe for an amazing movie afternoon. More than ingenious and coherent, the plot is definetly breathtaking, making you almost dive into the movie.

The shooting scenes are amazing, and to be honest, the whole movie made me grab my seat and pay a lot of attention to the action. Besides, the ending was perfect for the rest of the story, it was not like in one of those films where you feel something's missing in the end or that the ending doesn't quite match the story.

Overall, Inception is a brilliant job, by the hand of Christopher Nolan.

Taken (2008)

This was a surprinsigly good movie. The plot is very interesting, and it will make young girls think twice before travelling alone or with a friend. It has awsome scenes with Liam Neeson kicking those albanian asses, and high tension moments in which you'll wish you could bite your nails (i would if i could). The ending was quite typical, since everyone would expect the guy to find his daughter and they would leave (and live) hapily ever after. Also, i thought it was really amazing the fact that they had recovered the initial idea of the daughter wanting to be a singer, with Holly Valance helping her in the end. So, after all, this movie is the recipe for an afternoon well-spent.

The Gravedancers (2006)

I really hate it when i'm actually liking a movie an then it just turns out to be a big joke. About The Gravedancers there isn't much to say. It all starts with a curse, that a group of friends accidentally read on the graveyard. Mostly, the whole movie is a cliché, people being chased and haunted by spirits. It is quite scary, as the matter of fact, i kept jumping out of the sofa in some scenes. Others, however, left a bitter taste in my mouth and a hole in my brain that was asking for more (and better). About the acting, there isn't much to say, it was quite good, and i particularly liked the role of the parapsychology assistant. Although the set-up was quite promising, the ending of the film was a huge disappointment.

Overall, i think that The Gravedancers would be a highly sucessful movie in The Exorcist era.

Unrest (2006)

Okay, i kinda liked it. First, because there were some scenes that scared the crap out of me, and secondly because the music was creepy. In my opinion there's nothing better than a bad movie with a good soundtrack. The soundtrack wasn't good, yet it was scary, which added a whole new atmosphere to the film. About the movie itself, i thought it had a catchy story in the beginning, but then i started to think they should have done things in a different way than get those aztec weird thingies. In the end, it is a quite entertaining film.

Scream (1996)

Scream was an incredibly good movie. Really smart, it mocks about the clichés in most horror movies, making its story quite interesting. The ending was extremely unexpected, and rather impressive. I really agree with someone that said that this movie reinvented the world of horror in the 90's. Before Scream, Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees were dominating the scary movies, so this movie acted like a breath of fresh air to the horror lovers.

Wes Craven is one of the masters of horror and mystery, and with a movie like Scream, he had a chance to prove what he is made of. About the acting, it is amazing the number of breakthrough performances in this movie, not that i particularly liked anyone (i watched this movie a few years later). Still they're all quite good.

Overall, an impressive and good horror movie.

Stay Alive (2006)

I like to think of Stay Alive as an amazingly good surprise. The story is very original, and i particularly liked the fact that it is based on truthful facts, since Countess Elizabeth Bathory really existed. I thought this was rather interesting, and brought to the movie some sense of reality, since the main plot involving the game and all is a perfectly good anecdote.

Overall, the movie is quite good, when it comes to a story. About acting, there are a few known actors like Frankie Muniz (from Cody Banks), Samaire Armstrong (from the OC) and Sophia Bush (from One Three Hill) that are quite amazing.

Overall, it is a cool movie, with an original plot based on an old story.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

What about Sweeney Todd ? It is originally based on a Brodway musical, and Tim Burton managed to put togheter all the pieces to make a succeful horror musical, able to be shown on the big screen. Of course, thumbs up for Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter, two actors i never even thought i would see singing.

It is becoming more and more evident that the director chooses both Depp and Bonham-Carter for his movies, starting by The Corpse Bride, and so on. Still, Swenney Todd is a rather impressive movie, not only because of the amazing and totally unexpected ending, but also because of that dark and creepy atmosphere.

Also, i forgot to mention the presence of Sacha Baron Cohen, the actor who plays stupid characters like Brüno, Borat or Ali G. Thumbs up for him in this movie, although he died in the beginning, it was like a breath of fresh air to watch him play something different.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

This is like, one of my favourite movies of all time. Not only because i think that Tim Burton is a total genious (and togheter with Henry Sellick, it's even better), but because i love the characters and the songs. It is a dark movie, for sure, really the director's style. But the story is really sweet and it is a movie you can watch any time of the year, not only on chrismas nor on halloween. Also, the movie itself brought a trademark that is very common between several urban tribes (specially emos, always addicted to Skeleton Jack).

Still, i love the movie, and i'll love it forever.

Identity (2003)

Surprisingly good movie. It's engaging, full of twists and turns, that can make you bite your nails or grab your seat while watching it. The amazingly good cast, of course, also contributes to the success of a movie like Identity. The story itself is extremely ingenious, and keeps you wondering "who the fuck is the killer ?" for almost the entire movie. What i liked the most about Identity was definetly the unexpected ending, and the fact that it is not such a gory movie (except when the head is found inside of the washing machine). Gore distracts us from the plot, i think, but in this movie we don't have that sort of problem.

That said, a confusing ending, and confusing beginning can make of Identity one of the greatest thrillers of all time.

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Didn't liked it that much. You see, it's not right to put togheter two of the most awsome serial killers of all time. Specially in some stupid story where they compete with each other to see who kills the biggest amount of people. Freddy has to face the fact that Jason will always be a better serial killer than he is. At least he is much more frightening, Freddy makes me laugh. And all that stuff about appearing in people's dreams... Let's talk about fiction, shall we ?

The movie itself is not like the worst thing i've ever seen in my life, but still could be a whole lot better.

The Crazies (2010)

This was a good movie. It was not what i expected at all, since i saw this without reading anything about it or even watching the trailer. To be honest, i was expecting a whole different story, so i was really surprised (in a good way) with the movie. Got a few good scares watching it, and it is not too gory. So i guess it is an awsome movie to watch when you got nothing else to do.

Dead Silence (2007)

I thought this movie was really good. Kinda predictable, yet, good. The whole idea was sort of original, with all the dolls and the scary ventriloquist. I suppose that stories that involve urban legends are rather suicessful, specially this one, since it was able to grab the myth and turn it into something different and unexpected. There were some scenes that scared the hell out of me, yet others were almost able to make me laugh. I absolutely loved the presence of Ryan Kwanten and Donnie Wahlberg, and James Wan is a director i pay particular attention to since Saw. I suppose he made the most of the legend, grabbed the dolls and made them scary as hell.

It is, overall, a good and entertaining horror movie.

The Ruins (2008)

At the beginning, this movie can be a little bit boring, since there's no action at all. At first, i thought all those native people that were surrounding the ruins were some sort of cannibals gthat were going to sacrifice the characters one by one. But no way. Further in the story, we find talking vines that move. I thought that was kinda weird, but the story was well orchestrated, so i was quite impressed. When it comes to goryness, it is just so-so, since there are not people's insides flying everywhere. Still, some scenes at the movie were really shocking, for instance, when Stacy goes crazy and cuts herself, or when the medical apprentice makes the amputation to Mathias' legs.

One thing to consider is that, like every book-based movie, it is very hard to put all the book's ideas into the big screen. I haven't read the book yet, but i suppose that all the main ideas of the story were present in the movie.

Overall, it was a good and different movie, with a shocking and unexpected ending.

Saw IV (2007)

In this movie, it is proved that everything we have in excess might annoy us. Although i think that the Saw creators are total geniouses, and quite inventive to come up with all those traps. The 4th Saw movie cleary has too much gore, too many impressive scenes (such as the autopsy, or the frozen woman), overall, too much of everything. And too much of everything is too much. Thumbs up for the positive add of new pieces to the puzzle, that make the plot even more interesting and confusing, bringing up the need of the last two films to complete it.

Saw III (2006)

The thing about sagas, is that after a while you start getting tired of them. The 3rd installment of Saw is not even close to any of the first 2 movies. The gore is excessive, and the formula caught in the other movies is slowly starting to fade. I liked the movie, the heavy metal based soundtrack has much to it, and the maintenance of the original storyline, fitted in the rest, is done in a rather interesting way. The thing about Saw movies, overall, is that we must watch them with close attention, otherwise we might lose ourselves in the story, by missing some details that complete the puzzle.

The ending of this movie was particularly dissapointing, since i wasn't expecting for them to kill Jigsaw so soon. C'mon, the story without him will lose all the... "magic". But overall, the movie is good.

Saw II (2005)

Saw II is, undoubtely, the best movie of the whole Saw saga. Much lighter when it comes to gore, and introducing Darren Lynn Bousman to the Saw world, the movie follows a confusing and rather interesting storyline, marked by the awsome appearance of Tobin Bell during the whole movie. The amateur acting is frequent, and very typical of the saga movies, therefore we have a bunch of new faces that act like a breath of fresh air. The story keeps the same, just with some new secrets revealed. It seems like the Saw team has discovered the golden formula, and won't get rid of it so soon.

Saw (2004)

In many ways, Saw is quite impressive. Not so much for its goryness, but for the psychological games that can make a viewer wonder if life's really worth it. It's a brilliant job (my mere opinion). The actors are really amazing, and the whole scene of the movie is quite well orchestrated. It's a really good example for extreme graphic violence movies.

Okay, so, about Saw there isn't much to say. It has a very original storyline, the soundtrack is just so-so, and it brings a few newborn talents into the cinema world. It might be a good bet for your Halloween night, although it isn't a movie which major priority are good scares. Saw is mostly made out of gore and blood, shocking images and torture by a master (and extremely disturbed) mind, who happens to never get caught.

Overall, an horror movie filled with gore and action, and in my opinion, an awsome way to start a saga.

A must see for any scary movies appreciator.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

Leatherface is one of the most imponent serial killers in the scary movie history. So as the cannibal family. It's quite impressive, for it's goryness, and the jump-of-the-chair factor. In fact, Leatherface shows up when you least expect. Nobody has talked so much about this slasher since 1974. That's right, Texas Chainsaw Massacre has a sequel, a remake and another sequel, actually, counting them all, there are eight Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies.

The movie is surprisingly good, especially because it has it all. Gore, blood, good scares, an amazing plotline... Well, no need to say more! It's a job well done, even if it is a remake. Slashed bodyparts, a collection of ears, teeth, fingers... they made Leatherface one of the most scary and awful serial killers in movie history.