home invasion tagged posts

August 25, 2018, Posted in  Reviews Comments: 3 comments

Director: Pascal Laugier

Writer: Pascal Laugier

Cast: Crystal Reed, Anastasia Phillips, Mylène Farmer, Emilia Jones, Taylor Hickson, Kevin Power, Rob Archer

Cert: 18

Running time: 91mins

Year: 2018

What’s the story: Years after a violent home invasion, successful horror writer Beth returns to the house where her mother and traumatised sister still live. But, the pain and horror lingers on.

What’s the verdict: Six years have past since Pascal Laugier’s criminally underseen The Tall Man snuck out straight-to-DVD. With Incident in a Ghostland he returns to the themes and screams of his brutal sophomore feature Martyrs for another astonishing five-star experience.

As with Martyrs this centers on two young women, here sisters Beth and Vera, trapped in a large mysterious house with ...

February 18, 2017, Posted in  Cinematic Greens, Reviews Comments: No comments

Welcome to Cinematic Greens

#5 – Cul-de-Sac (1966)

Director: Roman Polanski

Writer: Roman Polanski, Gérard Brach

Cast: Donald Pleasence, Françoise Dorléac, Lionel Stander, Jack MacGowran

Cert: 15

Running time: 112mins

Year: 1966

Accolades:
1966 Berlin International Film Festival
Golden Bear

Contemporary review:
“Pleasence, in a role that requires him to run sideways most of the time with his head at a crooked angle, is hilarious and frightening as a man going mad, and the film has an eerie appeal.” –
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times, 1967

Electric Shadows rating:
Criterion Extras:

What’s the story: Two gangsters, one badly wounded, arrive at remote castle on Holy Island in Northumberland, England...

September 11, 2016, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Fede Alvarez

Writer: Fede Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues

Cast: Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, Stephen Lang

Cert: 15

Running time: 88mins

Year: 2016

What’s the story: In economically depressed Detroit, three thieves plan to break into the house of a local blind man, who they believe is stashing a small fortune. But, the old man, an Iraq war veteran, is a tougher opponent than they realise.

What’s the verdict: Fede Alvarez previous movie was the raw, bloody, surprisingly successful Evil Dead remake. Remember this before watching Don’t Breathe, because this thriller packs knockout horror punches.

A swooping opening shot provides an intriguing teaser of things to come before the film flashes back to introduce its trio of young ne’er do wells, mid-burglary...

October 12, 2014, Posted in  Reviews

Director: Daniel Barber

Writer: Julia Hart

Cast: Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld, Muna Otaru, Sam Worthington, Kyle Soller, Amy Nuttall, Ned Dennehy

Cert: 15

Running time: 95mins

Year: 2014

The lowdown: Ferocious American Civil War horror from director Daniel Barber, taking a major step up from his debut Harry Brown. Brit Marling and Hailee Steinfeld are Southern sisters besieged by two Yankee soldiers, including a dead-eyed Sam Worthington. Grim Southern Gothic, laden with atmosphere and dread, and graced by performances as intense as the subject matter.

The full verdict: Featuring rape and triple murder in the opening minutes, The Keeping Room sets out its stall from the get-go.

An unflinching look at war’s brutalising effects in an already brutal time, although there are plenty of s...

August 17, 2014, Posted in  Reviews

Director: Simeon Halligan

Writer: Ian Fenton

Cast: Pollyanna McIntosh, Lee Williams

Cert: 15 (TBC)

Running time: 80mins

Year: 2014

The lowdown: After making a terrifying impression in Lucky McKee’s The Woman, Pollyanna McIntosh is the one terrorised in Simeon Halligan’s low budget suspenser. An English couple cross the border to Scotland, moving into a large, remote farmhouse. But, what the local welcoming committee lack in congeniality they make up for in violence. Nothing original, but Halligan stages a number of well-executed shocks in the lean running time.

The full verdict: An opening shot prominently displays a “Welcome to Scotland” sign, eliciting a knowing giggle: any film named White Settlers starring Pollyanna McIntosh is not going to be Local Hero.

And these Scots...

March 23, 2014, Posted in  Reviews

Director: E.L. Katz

Writers: David Chirchillo, Trent Haaga

Cast: Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, David Koechner, Sara Paxton

Cert: 18

Running time: 88mins

Year: 2013

The lowdown: With thrills to die for, there’s nothing cheap about this viciously entertaining chiller. Debuting director E.L. Katz and writers Dave Chirchirillo and Trent Haaga have concocted a riveting endurance marathon which pits two old school friends against each in a gruelling game of cash prize one-upmanship.  Imagine I’m A Celebrity but with more dismemberment for a hint of what’s in store, and despite the presence of Anchorman’s Dave Koechner as the sadistic ringleader the laughs here are frequently replaced with gasps of shock. Funny Games for the recession generation.

The full verdict: Home invasion films are ...

August 23, 2013, Posted in  Reviews

Director: Adam Wingard

Cast: Sharni Vinson, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Rob Moran, Barbara Crampton, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, Amy Siemetz, Lane Hughes

Cert: 18

Running time: 94mins

Year: 2011

The lowdown: After scoring recognition with 2010’s A Horrible Way to Die director and writer duo Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett here provide numerous horrible ways to die for a family who find themselves under siege from murderous assailants.  Tense, frightening, violent and blackly funny, it is bizarre this 2011 movie has taken so long to reach cinema screens.  No mind, it is one of 2013’s best horror releases – a slasher movie with brains and guts.

The full verdict: Indie horror (or “mumblegore”) alumni band together for Adam Wingard’s irresistible horrorshow, reworking tired slasher clic...