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Showing posts with label Kristen Connolly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kristen Connolly. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

MOVIE REVIEW: THE BAY




Three years after a massive government cover-up involving a parasitic outbreak in a small seaside town, a reporter unearths chilling footage that reveals the terrifying truth in this ound footage-style shocker from Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson. On July 4th, 2009, the town of Claridge, Maryland experienced an unprecedented biological disaster. An isopod parasite typically found in fish somehow found its way into a human host. As the town gathered for its annual Independence Day celebration, the parasite began to spread at unprecedented speeds, consuming its victims from the inside out. Now witness the terrifying events that unfolded that fateful holiday weekend as captured on the security cameras, mobile phones, and webcams of the people who witnessed them firsthand, but never lived to tell their stories. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Barry Levinson

Cast: Christopher Denham, Stephen Kunken, Frank Deal, Kether Donohue, Kristen Connolly

Release Date: Nov 02, 2012

Rated: Bloody Images, Language and Disturbing Violent Content

Runtime: 1 hr. 24 min.

Genres: Horror

Review:

I remember seeing the trailer for The Bay and being vaguely intrigued by it because I’m a sucker for found footage films plus Barry Levinson was directing it. Strangely it came and went with very little fanfare. Thankfully it pop up on Netflix streaming recently which, truth be told, made me wonder if it was just a bad film. I was rather surprised at how effective it was and am still rather left wondering why it was mostly ignored. The premise is kind of a hodgepodge of found footage, suppressed footage in this case, plotted with a sprinkling of Jaws and Contagion. It’s fairly graphic once the infection / infestation starts spreading. It does its job well enough to leave you feeling kind of icky afterwards and wondering about your drinking water. Its green message isn’t very subtle which might be a turnoff for folks looking for a straight up horror film. That being said it works most often than not, rarely relying cheap scares. The whole thing feels rather authentic throughout although there are a few people in the town taking the whole thing far too well. Its overall authenticity is probably aided by the fact that Isopods are real albeit living in their natural habitat, the deep ocean.

B


Thursday, September 27, 2012

MOVIE REVIEW: THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

ON VIDEO

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS



Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard team up for this bloody horror satire that offers an inventive twist on the familiar stranded-in-the-woods sub-genre. ~ Rovi

Director: Drew Goddard

Cast: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Richard Jenkins

Release Date: Apr 13, 2012

Rated R for strong bloody horror violence and gore, language, drug use and some
sexuality/nudity

Runtime: 1 hr. 45 min.

Genres: Horror, Suspense/Thriller

Runtime: 1 hr. 31 min.

Genres: Comedy

Review:

Cabin in the Woods is a Meta film on steroids. The characters as written are archetypes and played as such just like the usual tropes of any generic horror film. Joss Whedon’s film is full of clever twist and nods throughout even though it thinks it’s a lot cleverer than it actually is. As a film, it’s a mash up of the underrated sci-fi horror film Cube and Wes Craven’s A New Nightmare. It’s an interesting and fun little ride that takes itself less and less seriously as the film moves on. Director Drew Goddard gets what Whedon is going for and they both hit the marks they are looking for. Someone looking for a scary movie though won’t find it here, outside of a few jump scares, it’s never really unsettling. More than anything it’s a love letter to movie fans and horror fans in particular. In the process Whedon turns the mirror back on us as viewers of the horror genre, poking plenty of fun at it to, but pointing out all the tropes we’ve become so accustomed to over the years. It all works fairly well even if it’s not perfect or totally original.

B-


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