The grudge “V” Ju-on

It’s been so long that this post is a double special it’s horror review squared.

The evil eye

Toshio says "Meow..."

Plot

A women and her sick mother move into a new house ignorant of its twisted past and dark legacy. It isn’t long before the sins of the past come to relentlessly haunt the new “innocent” residents and anyone unlucky enough to visit the home of young Toshio.

I loved the idea and story behind these films. Moving house is always scary, I should know, I have done it at least 7 times. But, the added fear of  unexplained house guests that seem to appear and disappear at will, as well as the dark presence that causes disturbing visions and the deaths of all the people who visit your house, makes this a potentially great franchise.

In theory this has all the markers of a good Japanese or American horror, however, is the original or the Americanization better?

Lets look at the fact shall we?

Original:

• The Japanese have really mastered the art of the obscure, and the darkness of the set paired with the natural progression of the Japanese themes makes for an unnerving viewing.

Americanization:

• The Americans are blessed with a plethora of good acting stock and financiers with deeeeeeeeep pockets who take this small budget Japanese horror into a blockbusting cinematic experience with top of the range writing and special effects.
• Sarah Michelle  Gellar

If you couldn’t guess from my bullet points I do believe the American version is better, but only by a nose hair. In my honest opinion, although the storyline has such promise to be a weird and haunting gorefest, the execution is lacking. The Japanese version was too obscure and the American version was too reserved and they both took too long to develop whilst also failing to bring the tension required to make this film scary.

Whatever you think about the film one thing is certain; You won’t forget it in a hurry!

I give The Grudge and Ju On

5/10 and 4/10 respectively

Please comment and let me know what you think ^_^

Trivia: The character of Toshio is almost always found with his cat. In real life, the boy who plays Toshio, Yuya Ozeki, was terrified of cats.

Audition

I have a passionate love of the spine chilling and innovatively creepy horror films that hail from Asia. This particular gem, from Japan, taught me a valuable lesson: B*tches be crazy!!!

The Plot: long after the death of his wife a director decides to hold auditions for her replacement.

Yes, you heard right, he holds auditions for a new wife. It’s inherently creepy to begin with but not entirely unusual. I mean sometimes auditions are just an excuse to flirt with actresses you’re not going to use anyway. However it all starts to go sour when the widowed auditioner finds what he thought he was looking for.

The reasons why I love this film so much is that Japanese directors seem to have mastered the art of the obvious and gets under the skin of the main characters. You know from the start what could happen but you don’t entirely suspect anything until 3/4 of the way through, when the flashbacks of the female lead’s agony starts and begin getting more frequent. It starts to feel like you’re having them alongside her and just as you begin to sympathize with her plight something truly twisted happens.

All in all it’s a good film, although the acting could be better. The camera work is perfect and it is truly one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen!

I give it 8/10.

Fun bit: The dog (By the end of the film you’ll know what I mean.)

A break from the norm

Last night around about this time I stumbled upon a rom-com: Dan In Real Life. I’d love to say I’ve never watched one and wouldn’t be caught dead in front of one of those cheesy films which attempt to make fun of everyday relationships by putting them in increasingly implausible situations but sadly boredom gets the best of me (come on, don’t act like you haven’t been in the same situation).

The Plot – Dan Burns is a single father who dedicates his life to his children, but one day he meets Marie at a bookstore. They get to know each other, but then Dan finds out that Marie is actually dating his brother, Mitch Burns…

So basically the plot is that this guy has lost the plot and his mind by falling in love with someone who is already in a loving relationship with his brother. Reasons why I watched this movie:

1. Steve Carrell (guy from The Office (US)
2. Extreme boredom
3. Insomnia (which may or may not be horror related)

I watched the movie against my better judgement, a choice I didn’t regret. You could say that this is the teddy bear part of the tdbearhorror blog, but don’t expect him to come out too often as if you couldn’t tell from the intro or the general tone of this blog I’m not a fan of romantic comedy. I do however love comedy with a passion, and the irony and awkward moments presented definitely tickled my funny bone. By the end, this movie becomes more than just a a subjectively look at an inherently awkward relationship, it actually becomes a message about life and love in general.

Something’s happening to Dan. It’s confusing. It’s awkward. It’s family.

It isn’t the most funny movie I’ve ever watched nor is it the most interesting or the most insightful. However what it does have in abundance is character and charm. It’s not sappy or entirely unbelievably as you would expect. Dan in Real Life is  genuine and comically one of a kind but in all honesty I wouldn’t have watched it if it didn’t star Steve Carell, a natural comedic genius from the likes of Date Night, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Evan Almighty (all epic comedies =P ).

I give it 4/10

Easter eggs – For those of you who do regularly trip down the sappy lane of film romance there is a very clear reference to Heaven Can Wait in the first scene of the film. Other than that there really isn’t much more, except a million quotes I have not personally been able to forget 😀

P.S. Please don’t hate me this really is only the result of boredom and yes I’m very aware this movie is nearly 4 years old *begs you to stay then threatens you with the meat cleaver*

P.P.S. If you plan to leave you better duck (just a suggestion) ><

*Disclaimer* Please feel free to come and go as you please, the writer in no way means to threaten your life and doesn’t mean a word of it, he promises and he apologizes for all the post scripts…”you can trust me….” >P

Scre4m

It’s time we talked about the latest addition to the horribly honest scream series. With almost an entirely new cast of actors (save the main three survivors of course) and a new killer, the horror series with the sadistic sense of humour is back and and more twisted than ever.

The Plot – For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the Scream series follows the sad story of Sidney Prescott [Neve Campbell] who on the anniversary of her mother’s tragic and unexplained death is persistently plagued by a sarcastic homicidal maniac adorned with a “ghostface” who seems to know exactly how to mark the passing…

I must say that I was quite excited for the return of the iconic series that satirizes the slasher genre, firmly defined the rules for surviving a “slasher” film (view here) and then promptly showed how easy it is to break them. In fact it’s so self aware it even begins to take responsibility for it’s effect on society. I think it is this devil-may-care nonchalance and extreme self awareness that makes this realistic thriller series so iconic (it stays real to the genre and says ‘screw you society I make the rules’). It is one of the most parodied and quoted film series out there so if you haven’t already it is definitely worth watching the other 3, if not for notoriety then for subtext for the new installment.

“New decade. New rules.”

The new film didn’t entirely reward my anticipation. It could be that I built it up far too much to enjoy it. It could be that I broke a cardinal rule and compared it to the other horrors. I don’t exactly know what it was about this film that had me expecting the twists and turns but that’s exactly what happened. I found it hilarious in parts, which is definitely not supposed to happen, and I could not avoid the fact that there was way too much “dialogue”. I enjoyed it for all the wrong reasons and despite this something about the very intelligent film still managed to speak to me. It was cheesy and twisted but it still had a message. It still had me asking what would I do and who would I be when faced with the situation posed?

This film was spoiled for me in part by the numerous parodies made of it (namely the “scary movie” series from whom they seem to have plucked a couple of scenes) and in part by it’s own saturation of pop culture which made it predictable. The acting however was on point and all the characters played their parts well and it was a good watch despite the fact that it wasn’t at all scary and I often found myself rooting for the killer. It might be good one to take your dates to ^^.

I give it 5/10 (it’s as good a film as it is unsurprising and unscary a horror movie)

*easter eggs” – try and see how many films horror and otherwise you can recognize that are mentioned, referenced or even just hanging on the walls. 😛

As always enjoy the film and let me know what you think…

 

A post of firsts…

Hey hey,

This as you may have guessed is my first post. It is not my first blog but is currently the only full blog in existence by me, Tdb34r the ninja teddy 😀 (good luck finding others). I won’t waste any more time other than to tell you I am a bit scared (ironic I know). I am scared because this is my first official review. I’ve done reviews before for school etc. but I have never published any of it until now! So here goes…

Insidious /inˈsidēəs/Adjective

1.  Producing serious harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner
2. Intending to entrap
3. Treacherous; Describing a disease which worsens with few or no symptoms to signal its gravity

All in all the perfect way to describe this haunting thriller. View trailer here

The plot – A couple and their three kids move into a new home and it isn’t long before they begin experiencing the presence of something malevolent. The next day their son falls into a mysterious “coma” and that’s when the real haunting begins…

“It’s not the house that’s haunted.”

I have seen this film not once, not twice but three times and each time I reacted to it the with the same inevitable terror even when I knew what was coming. The darkness and the surround sound of your local cinema will only help to further immerse you into the already gripping tale of the family haunted by malevolent spirits. It had me gripping my seats in fear for the first time since I was a young and “innocent” 13 year old stumbling upon his father’s copy of Nightmare on Elm Street. The fear of the insidious spirits even followed me home and when faced with the dark hallways of my semi detached house I found myself grabbing a flashlight and locking the door behind me (as if that would stop them). This after-effect is atrociously rare in modern horror but very popular in films by Alfred Hitchcock. The constant state of suspense in this film, directed by James Wan, the writer and director of the first and fourth Saw film (both also indelibly creepy), was enough to make me run out of the cinema and not look back.

“Insidious is…”

As fear is subjective I wouldn’t be as naive to say that this film is definitely scary. It does however have great writing, a good and thrilling story, decent enough acting (although Dalton [Ty Simpkins] and Josh [Patrick Wilson] didn’t emote enough for my tastes but this didn’t entirely detract from the film) and well rounded characters. There is also a little humour in the form of the “ghost busters” who come to survey the home which is used not so much to break the tension as to lull you into a false sense of security before the more sinister themes of the film come into play. The monster however is odd and subjective enough for you to imprint your own fears unto him (you hardly see him in his entirety which I think is better). In summary, if you allow yourself to you will experience a plethera of suspended twists which will leave you gripping your seats so as always please go into it with an open mind. The key to enjoying this movie appears to be looking in the background and being very eagle eyed – if you blink, a lot of the time you’ll miss something scary.

I give it a 7/10

* Easter eggs*- for those of you who enjoy looking for them you will find jigsaw from the saw series drawn in chalk and the name of the director James Wan double underlined. Happy hunting 🙂

Enjoy the movie and tell me what you think…