Reviews

The film contains some brilliant acting and is atmospheric and well filmed and edited. However, I was disappointed that an interesting fact about Whitney was left out of the film: In 1976, she was reportedly the first black woman to eat a croissant which resulted in an obsession with all things croissant. She spent tons of money on croissants every single month, an addiction she could never shake. Apparently, a half-eaten croissant was found next to the bathtub where she met her untimely end. Including this in the movie would have certainly lightened the mood of the story and maybe even gone to explain her other addictions.

Where even to start with this steaming pile of excrement? I've seen quite a few Asylum films but this is definitely one of the absolute worst I've ever seen. The 'actors/actresses' must have been cast in the local shopping mall as none of them will ever win any merits for their 'acting'. The plot is terrible and doesn't make any sense at all. The film set which consists of ramshackle cabin can't have cost more than $100, if it did, the producers were ripped off. The gore is ridiculously cheap for a company that has produced this kind of films for what feels like centuries. If you want to see something more creative, stare at a blank wall for 90 minutes instead.

I was surprised that this film that certainly hasn't been seen much outside of the German speaking countries has been rated so many times but hadn't been reviewed. The reason for that is that there's not much to say about it: the story is uninteresting and falls flat, the characters are without any depth and the solution of the murder case that is central to the story is implausible and disappointing like the entire film. The only positive about the film is that some of the dialogue is witty but that's not enough to save the film and not feel like you've just wasted 1 1/2 hours of your life.

The topic of this documentary is quite interesting: were German game shows, and in return American game shows that the former were based on, nothing but a psychological experiment unwittingly played on the general public to gain knowledge on how the nation ticks? Unfortunately, the documentary never really answers that question, and just goes around in circles for what seems like an eternity. Chances to get a clearer idea of the motivation behind those shows by interviewing people involved are wasted, and the constant drone of the narrator eventually makes you switch off. Shame, an interesting subject completely wasted.

The best thing about this short is that it is indeed really short.

The acting is terrible, the special effects show that there was absolutely no budget for anything else than terrible computer graphics that seem to have been devised by a 3-year old and the story line is so stupid that Sharknado is like Sha(r)kespeare compared to it.

Still, good for a quick laugh.

I've seen a few movies filmed and produced in Russia recently, partly because they get more of an airing as Russia is hyped as an up and coming movie producing nation.

If this film is anything to go by, the hype is not to be believed: this film is at best boring as nothing ever happens. It takes an hour to get to the point which is that Lady Bathory is helping all those orphan kids for her own, cruel reasons, and even then, the movie still goes on without any major upsets.

Judging by the synchronized version, it might be well written and the settings seem to be accurate but it still leaves you feeling empty and that you have wasted your time watching this.

If you want to see a film about Lady Bathory, the 1971 Hammer film 'Countess Dracula' might hit the sweet spot a lot more than this.

You know how you sometimes don't expect much from a film and then are taken by surprise by it? Well, this is not one of those films.

It is entertaining, feels older than it is thanks to the coloring, the story line (VCR, really?) and especially the music score which all seem to have been taken from a film from the 90's but sadly, it's not original and the story is very patchy.

For a no- to low-budget film, the gore is pretty decent (and not always hidden in dim lighting) and the casting is mostly spot-on, however, you don't really care about the fate of any of the actors in the film as the characters remain flat.

Still, it's a lot more entertaining than some high-spending horror movies out there and will make for a decent night in watching films you wouldn't want to spend too much money on at the cinema.

This one really took me by surprise: for a film made in 2016, it had a feel of a production from the 70s/80s to it. It is basically a B movie without looking really cheap like a lot of them do. It owes a lot to Herschell Gordon Lewis with a lot of over-the-top blood and guts and not bothering with any explanation why Art the Clown goes around and simply kills everyone. It also borrows quite a few bits from the early Halloween films, especially the last scenes.

There aren't really any edge-of-the-seat scenes and scenes that make you jump as right from the start it's clear that no one is safe but especially the latter makes it interesting: as soon as you think you know who the heroine/hero of the film is, she/he is usually slaughtered. This makes it difficult to identify and hope with any of the characters which is usually a staple of horror films, but that's also quite refreshing.

As it is not that original, I wouldn't give it really high marks, but among all the disappointments that modern horror films usually are these days, this one is definitely entertaining.

Schattenmoor (shadow moor) is a German suspense movie produced by the privately owned German TV channel ProSieben. It was originally broadcast online over 9 episodes before hitting TV screens.

ProSieben hadn't produced any movies for quite a while, seven years, but unfortunately, it wasn't worth the wait. There's so many things wrong with this film that it's hard to list them all.

The plot is confused and stupid, the camera work is desperately trying to be arty but failing on every level as it just looks constrained, the dialogues are wooden and unbelievable, and the acting is so bad (all young hopefuls) that after only 20 minutes, you hope that a serial killer will polish every single person off.

Avoid like the plague; there's so many better things you can do when you've got 2 spare hours.

I have to admit I have a soft spot for the Leprechaun films, from the first one with the brilliant Warwick Davis and Jennifer Aniston who showed her comedic talent here first to the numerous sequels, most of them ridiculously over-the-top, trying to be funny and scary at the same time (which often didn't work out). Admittedly, they are not great films but quite tongue-in-cheek and thus entertaining.

I was expecting something along those lines with this one, however, this apparent reboot has nothing to do with the previous films (although its title is clearly implying that it has) and the humor and the kinda cute Leprechaun had to made place for a way scarier creature.

The film itself is pretty formulaic: Young people getting themselves into a life-or-death situation - Check Local people not being as friendly as it seems - Check A cabin in the middle of nowhere - Check Blurred pictures to imitate the less-than-perfect vision of the creature - Check Most scenes shot in the dark/twilight - Check A chase through the woods - Check

A lot of people have based their criticism on the fact that this film has nothing to do with the previous films but I suppose that's what you can expect from a reboot.

Although I was disappointed to not see the expected Leprechaun, I don't think this is a bad film and deserves a better rating than is reflected right now. Sure, it's not outstanding as it's too predictable, but the acting is decent, there are a few, well filmed scares and it is entertaining.

Let's be honest: the Lake Placid series was never going to be an exciting feast for the eyes with intelligent plots and extraordinary effects. At least the first film was star-studded and had some decent scenes and scares. Every film after that was just getting dumber and dumber and looked cheaper and cheaper. This one (hopefully the last one) isn't any different: young eco warriors go into a restricted area to be picked off one by one by the crocodile living peacefully there. So far, so seen a thousand times before. A lot of the scenes are filmed in dark/twilight conditions so you don't get much of a glimpse of the creature. When you finally get to see it fully, it is obvious that the CGI effects have cost even less than the never-heard-of-before actors. Certainly not one for your watch list.

Hoping to find a hidden gem, I was unfortunately bitterly disappointed. This just follows the typical story line of about every catastrophe film made exclusively for TV out there, apart from that parts of it are even more hare-brained and have more plot holes than usual. The film features a few decent actors from the 'I've seen him/her before' category but mainly the acting is just as bad as the story. The leads are generally disappointing, especially Tonya Kay who apparently has watched the Sharknado movies preparing for this role so she could channel Tara Reid. Some of the minor roles are decently acted but hardly worthy of any awards (not even a Golden Raspberry). Okay for trash fans and if you have absolutely nothing else to watch and want to give your brain a rest, otherwise no real reason to watch this.