John Carpenter tagged posts

October 17, 2018, Posted in  Reviews Comments: 2 comments

Director: David Gordon Green

Writers: David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Jeff Fradley

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Haluk Bilginer, Rhian Rees, Jefferson Hall, James Jude Courtney, Nick Castle

Cert: 18

Running time: 106mins

Year: 2018

What’s the story: 40 years after the events of Halloween, Laurie Strode (Curtis) must protect daughter Karen (Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Matichak) from unstoppable killer Michael Myers when he escapes from prison.

What’s the verdict: For a franchise with an unkillable boogeyman, a 40^th anniversary movie was always likely. Less certain was if said movie would be any good.

Halloween’s 1998 20^th anniversary instalment, H20, was a worthwhile reuniting of Jamie Lee Curtis and her most enduring co-star...

September 2, 2017, Posted in  Features Comments: No comments

You may not have heard of Todd Tucker, but you will certainly have seen his work. A Hollywood make-up artist for over twenty-five years, he has worked on such films as Pirates of the Caribbean, Watchmen, The Boy, Ouija: Origin of Evil and more.

Tucker is also co-founder of movie make-up and prosthetic company Illusion Industries. So, the man knows something about fantasy films. All of which is why his latest outing as a director, The Terror of Hallow’s Eve, is a winner.

A tale of bullied young horror movie fan Tim, and the accidentally deadly deal he makes with a malevolent spirt to get revenge, it’s an affectionate funhouse frightener with characters you can root for.

Tucker’s film is also an unabashed homage to classic 80s movies in the John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg tradition...

July 23, 2016, Posted in  Reviews Comments: One comment

Directors: The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy

Writers: The Duffer Brothers, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Justin Doble, Paul Dichter, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock

Cast: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Matthew Modine, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Charlie Heaton, Natalia Dyer, Joe Kerry, Ross Partridge

Cert: 12

Running time: 395mins (8 episodes)

Year: 2016

What’s the story: The town of Hawkins, 1983. Joyce Byers (Ryder) is convinced something supernatural has taken her son Will, and she and her son Jonathan (Heaton) enlist troubled sheriff Jim Hopper (Harbour) to help rescue him...

February 19, 2015, Posted in  Reviews Comments: One comment

Director: David Robert Mitchell

Writer: David Robert Mitchell

Cast: Maika Monroe, Kier Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe, Jake Weary

Cert: 15

Running time: 100mins

Year: 2014

Blu-Ray Region: B

The lowdown: Five-star horror from writer/director David Robert Mitchell, on only his second feature film outing. The Guest’s Maika Monroe delivers another attention grabbing performance as Jay, a high school girl informed by her new boyfriend she is cursed and must avoid the mysterious figures now tormenting her. Familiar horror trappings – death, sex, bogeymen – are given a fiendishly clever makeover in what could be 2015’s The Babadook.

The full verdict: When done well, the curse is a fantastic horror device (see Night of the Demon, Ring and Drag Me to Hell).

It Follows adopts the cu...

July 20, 2013, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Edgar Wright

Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, Rosamund Pike, Michael Smiley

Cert: 15

Running time: 109mins

Year: 2013

The lowdown: The final bite of the Cornetto trilogy zings with the taste of 90s Britpop nostalgia and memories of 80s sci-fi horror movies.  Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are joined by Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine for a trip down amnesia lane.  Five one-time friends, their aim is to complete the Golden Mile 12 pub crawl in their hometown, a challenge that bested them years earlier.  But, with the locals acting distinctly odd, the “five musketeers” have more than a big head on their pints to worry about...