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Reviews
Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
laziest demon ever
paranormal activity one was a found footage snore feast taking the concept of the fear isn't what you see but what you don't see and failing to use it effectively giving us a weak story and bad acting in what could have been a good independent film.
paranormal activity 2 pushed the horror so far it became comedy of the year with the lazy demon throwing temper tantrums. then it tired to lead up to the events of the first film making a weak story line even weaker.
paranormal activity 3 (the only good one) had good ideas and got me scared at the end when we're introduced to the cult responsible for this mess. the film led on the normal of boring and bland but that ending and little things made me forgive it. also this led itself to be the last one meaning we can forget about this failure of a horror series and make some real terror on the screen.
but it was clear the suits at Hollywood were going to make another one because originality has dried up over there. so we have paranormal activity 4 with a dofus family and conflicts that go nowhere and no beats of emotion within.
right from the get go the film tries to tell you what happened in the activity 2 and leads on to 2011. we have a teenage girl, a boy and parents who want a divorce (don't worry, it comes up once and then is never mentioned again)
the major problem with all these films is that ITS NOT SCARY. activity 4 picked up on this and decided to let the audience know a jump scare was on the way just short of going 'look look a chair is about to move can you see? well we wouldn't want this to get scary would we?'
the demon normally is confused about what its doing in the films, it cant decide if it wants to be a prankster toying with meer mortals or just rip someones spine out. when the demon in question does get round to it your wondering where this came from and more so here. the demon in activity 4 doesn't seem interested in doing anything and frankly i sympathise.
the family going though the haunting have no reason to be experiencing the activity of the demon apart from hunter staying over when Katie is in the hospital (yeah i know just go with it) the family and children have as much charisma as bricks on camera dilvering one liners, over acting, under acting and Katie failing at acting processed again, how she still gets work is amazing to me, you would figure after one you would boot her off for a more capable actress but no she here for fan service nothing more. her big scene involves her breaking into the house and starting the blood bath just short of singing 'total eclipse of the heart'
this is the worst kind of film. it does not continue the story of the cult, its poorly acted, poorly edited for a found footage style of film. we have 5 laptops, 2 mobile phones and a xbox and the demon is still acting like its on strike.
your being tricked, fooled, stupefied into going to see something you saw before and your being ripped off. paranormal activity 4 doesn't want a audience this unoriginal half hearted film, it just wants a few brain dead children it can carry around on leads, show them some scenes of a cats behind and smack them when they don't look impressed.
paranormal activity has not so much worn out its welcome as it has been a fly buzzing around bashing into things and making a 12 year old jumpy.
Bedlam (2011)
weak uninspired ghosts and unsolved mysteries put this in freefall
I believe in ghosts, demons and all thing in the supernatural, we all know mental houses are prime targets for ghosts so when this series was announced i got excited to see what the show was going to do... it blew.
i mean its generic, bland, dull and it doesn't think outside the box for its hunting's. and the series ending annoyed me and others as the questions it had set up weren't solved or explained and the ghosts don't get interesting back stories.
if your doing a show on a haunted mental home, try to home in on the mental illness side of things and this show makes a poor attempt at that. mostly as its set in modern times and the story centres round a family business trying to turn the place into a residential home (ya know cause people love living in places were the previous tenant smeared poo on the walls)well they plan covering up what the building was originally for but they don't do it very well. and enter our main character.
our main character is your typical guy who sees dead people. he just wants to help them move on to the next life. then he gets a call to go to bedlam and off he flies from confused, upset ghosts to ghosts who try to kill him or someone every episode. good question why was it just one ghost attacked someone every episode and i mean just one? hell the pilot showed that place to be crawling with paranormal activity and just one ghost attacks every so often. people should be coming out in body bags and broken noses, laziest bunch of ghosts i ever saw. adding insult to injury the ghost don't have any back story to them. at all. its just they died and they want to kill someone for reasons never explained. these were mental patents, they might have even been sane and locked in against their will. what was their condition? how did it show in them? how were they treated? why do they want to kill someone as ghosts? WE DON'T KNOW!!! its never explained. coming neatly into my next problem, the mystery.
the mystery of the series. this seems to be the 'in thing' right now with doctor who with mysteries like bad wolf. the series has a mystery about missing girls and the main characters sister which somehow relate to the Mental house. the way this should work is with bit by bit giving clues to the mystery hinting at what it might be. Doctor who executed this brilliantly with relaunching the show. Bedlam gives us the mystery in the pilot and then abandons it all together. the missing girls are never mentioned again and the sister no one mentions again. hell suddenly it get booted for a mystery of whats behind a wall. focus on one mystery you stupid writers don't set one up then abandon it for something you might think cool. hell the punishment for this is that we arnt given closure to the series. none of the questions were answered, we're none the wiser for the mysteries it gave it. well worth investing my Monday nights.
series 2 just begun and its stupider than the last. most of the original cast are gone, the new girl a complete moron and the new characters seem more like stereotypes than fleshed out characters. hell it carries the mystery from last series but im not holding my breath solving it.
as you can tell this was a major let down for me and i suggest leaving this show alone
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
was their any need for a American version?
im currently reading the girl with the dragon tattoo and its not for a faint of heart. the Swedish version got me into the series by accident. i saw it at a cinema without knowing what it was about but by its poster. i was shocked and entertained by a well written story and the message of violence against women. Lisbeth was a scary but interesting character to watch. and then moments after the last film was released i heard of a American version being done. a thought came into my head 'what already? are Hollywood this out of ideas that they need to do this?' since their already remaking batman and a ton of other films that arnt that old or are still ongoing franchises. but i saw at the cinima and said to myself. 'please lord, make this be good' and my prayer was answered and not at the same time.
this is pretty much the same film as the Swedish version just with better camera work. i like Rooney's vision of Slander, she made her more alien and less of a human being and it shows on camera, in the parts were their should be pure emotions coming though she covers them up with this weird childlike expression. its hard to describe but i think she did a good job as the computer hacker.
daniel craig for me doesn't work as Mikael. he does a good job at being all dark and broody. but his face in this is like hes been in a scrap and he still got his body of james bond, so its hard to take him seriously as a journalist. they could have cast anyone and it had to be james bond. in fact the advertisement seems to rely on this. the poster looks like 007 movie and the title credits are like that of a james bond opening as well. its a really cheap way to get people into the seats.
its a decent attempt to relaunch the series for a new audience but the fact of the matter is it has been released way too soon for it to be good, it takes a few scenes from the next book and doesn't do enough to stand out from its superior. if you haven't seen the original Swedish version you might enjoy it, but if you have this will seem like a waste of time and talent
Hellraiser: Revelations (2011)
please just let the series die
when the first hellraiser film came out, it was a British production that gave us a unique icon, interesting characters and pretty good story. it had a lot going for it as the master of horror Clive Barker who wrote the book had written and directed it. love or hate it the impact it had on the horror genre was huge. it spawned a lot more sequels than the Saw francise i think. and the francise has been going down hill from there.
its been 6 years since hellworld and it pretty much destroyed the Francine that you would think Dimension would have learnt their lesson and let the franchise die quietly. but they milking it for what its worth and its so blatant with this title.
the story is uncreative and obnoxious. the characters are one dimensional and stupid, they react to their situation like children. the main problem is pinhead... hes not in this, a new actor is playing him as Dorif was offered a too low salary for this trash and quite right he said no. if your leading man walks out of your film your in trouble. the new pinhead is a poor impressionist. he tries to be exactly like the original and doesn't try to interpret the character in a new way. the first time you hear his voice you break down laughing. he spends most of the film pulling silly faces and talking like hes been kicked in the privates. and whats with the stupid mini me pinhead? it made no sense.
this is the worst type of film including direct to DVD films. it was rushed, under budgeted and slaps Barker in the face more times than i can count. its insulting to think that this series was made by him. this is not the last hellraiser film count on that because Dimensions entertainment just wont let the series die already