Grave Encounters (2011)

When a group of paranormal investigators visit an asylum that is reported to be haunted. The group does the typical rundown of things, shooting footage of the area, investigating some people, recording claims of things, and even bribing someone to say something good for the audience. At first this film plays the part of a “Ghost Adventures” parody, and the parody hits the nail on the head. I was really expecting this movie to be complete garbage at first, nothing but a “Ghost Adventures” parody, I was so wrong.

This movie was a lot of fun, when the investigators enter the building and start their lock down investigation they begin to examine the asylum one floor at a time. Until things get crazy and they realize the asylum is very much alive as they run into dead ends, and some very angry spirits. Things take a little time to build up, once they do though, things start going off. The film picks up in moderation, with quite a few creepy scenes, some good laughs, ghosts, blood, and a few jumps along the way. There’s nothing new here, and the whole film is shot with hand held cameras so if you aren’t a fan of the shaky camera you might not be down, but I do urge you to give it a watch! I only have a few gripes with this film. The acting is really hit and miss, your typical stereotypes, and way too many unnecessary F bombs. The plot was simple enough, the ghosts looked decent to say the least but they have plenty of cheesy moments. Overall: a solid watch, talks about part 2 being made for this upcoming Halloween. I’m very excited for it, just hoping the acting gets a bit better.

6/10 rotting corpses

-C. Vengeance

Apollo 18 (2011)

This film is shot in a documentary style, and is a “true story” as to why no one has been to the moon since then.

Two American astronauts and a pilot head to the moon for a secret mission. As they search different areas collecting different space rocks for further analysis the camera pans out on a few rocks that appear to move.

As the two continue searching they stumble onto another ship they find that it isn’t American, and it is deserted. They soon find a dead astronaut. After some investigating, and no answers they head back to the ship. Over night as they get rest, there ends up being a lot of interference with the cameras and their flag ends up missing. When one of the astronauts goes out to take a better look he starts going crazy screaming that there is something in his suit. You get a quick glimpse of what’s in his suit, he passes out, and his friend pulls him back into the ship.

They lose contact, and the astronaut who claimed there was something in his suit realizes that he has a wound. They pull something out of the wound which doesn’t make sense. As they are running low on oxygen, no way of communicating with the main ship or Houston, the astronaut getting sicker from whatever was inside him, and their ship not being able to fly on its own. Things seem to get worse when their only option seems to be to try to get on the foreign ship to escape.

I won’t ruin what happens from them leaving one ship to the other, but this is probably where most of the action takes place. The ending is kinda messed up and you end up feeling bad for the dude. But just when you think the movie will go on just a few more minutes, it doesn’t. It ends pretty quickly, which I’ve seen some reviews complaining about the ending, if you remember this is suppose to be “found footage” than you should kind of expect it to end the way it did.

The movie itself had an awesome atmosphere to it, the documentary style shooting worked really well. The moon landscaping looked great, the lighting was on point, the plot, for what it was, was decent. Now here’s what knocked it down a bunch, the “aliens” (creatures, space things, etc.) we’re just laughable. I can’t critique it without spilling the beans as to what they look like. But I can tell you this, I love sci-fi movies, I love horror movies, and I love aliens. The creatures in this movie were just plain stupid, I was hoping it would’ve been more, or just something, I don’t know… More “alien-like”. That was a huge let down for me. The rest of the movie was great and everything, but not good enough to save it from the horrible idea of what the aliens should look like.

5/10 rotting corpses
C. Vengeance

Halloween II (2009)

Rob Zombie’s sequel to his Halloween (this is not a remake of Halloween II). Before I get into this, you will either like this movie, or hate it. Me personally? Not a fan. 

Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate how Zombie works. He loves horror, and he definitely pays homage in his Halloween movies. This one was just a bag of mixed ideas thrown into a hat and whatever idea was brought out first is what they went with. 

The movie continues where the first one ended. Zombie didn’t continue from the original Halloween II idea, so don’t expect much of the same. Michael is suppose to be a big bad wolf, who’s a sucker for his sister at times. But in this one they decided to have a huge psychic connection between him, Laurie… And their DEAD mother. Oh, and let’s not forget the spirit of little Michael Myers who is seen holding dead mommy’s hands. 

I don’t know how to summarize the movie without giving too much away. Loomis is an egotistical writer, who really doesn’t play a huge part. Laurie is a cry baby, and not as fun as she was in the first. Still plenty of hippies, booze, and tits. Michael doesn’t have his mask on during the whole movie, which shows some massive beard that he’s sporting. 

There’s an unrated version and a rated version. Both end differently, so that’s worth a watch if you feel like watching it twice. The movie isn’t the worst Halloween out there, despite what some people say. (I’m looking at you Halloween: Ressurection) 

The ending(s) are pretty shitty. They need to stop adding a psychic connection to these killers. I have no problem with throwing a little supernatural shit here and there but c’mon. Watch this if you’re bored and there’s nothing else to watch. Even if you’re a big Rob Zombie fan this might not be the movie for you. 

4.5/10 rotting corpses 
C. Vengeance 

Martyrs: aka Skazani na strach [2008]

*This film was a request by one of our followers. AWESOME request by the way.*

So if you have not seen this movie, I will not post any spoilers. [Or at least I will TRY not to.] Just one warning if you have not seen this movie, and plan on it… It does have very GRAPHIC scenes.

Now, I love me some gory flicks, violent as they come, and anything brutal that may stumble across my screen. When you have a film that legit makes you feel bummed about a character, or even just hoping that they die soon just for the sake of their suffering to end, well, then you have yourself a winner. That’s what MARTYRS is… a fucking winner.

Movie starts off with a little girl running from this warehouse, dirty ass clothes on, and absolutely terrfied. Lucie, one of the main characters ends up in a foster home where she becomes friends with Anna, the other main character. Anna looks after Lucie, she’s her protector, and she makes a promise to Lucie about keeping a secret of what’s haunting her.

The film is a mindfuck through the eyes of what pain would see, when I tell you that there’s violence, I’m not talking that torture violence you see in SAW/HOSTEL I’m talking about straight up violence. Ever see a train hit a puppy? Yeah, let’s just say the puppy has it a lot easier then both of these two chicks.

While Lucie tries fighting her personal demons [or actual monsters?], Anna tries to be the protector she is, and tries to figure out Lucie’s problems herself. Which to make a long story short makes Anna see everything clearly.

What happens when it hurts too much? What happens when screaming becomes more useless than a butterfly trying to make it out of a tornado? What happens when fighting back is just as pointless as drowning at sea and using an anchor as a lifeboat? What would you do if you were left somewhere, defensless, a mere pawn in someone elses bigger plan? What do you do if you’re up against something much bigger than you, much stronger than you, and much more cynical than all your nightmares put together? Do you find the strength inside to fight back? Or do you let go? What happens if you let go? What happens if you fight back? Is there a better place than darkness when you see something darker that lies passed your eyelids?

Watch this film, if you want to see a domino effect of violence, answers to those questions, and maybe during this intense film you’ll be able to question yourself. A story of two friends who have been put through hell, seperatly. A vicious assault on something as fragile as we call life, this film might move you in an uneasy way, this film might make your stomach shake, this film might make you feel like shit, or this film can be a snoozefest for you. Watch it, I dare you to sit through this and maybe afterwards you can see if you know what pain is.

There might be something after life, but no one ever said it would be better.

9/10 ROTTING CORPSES

-C