This movie turned out to be a true scare-fest. And it’s not just about the cheap, jump scares which were mostly appropriately done here.First, there were the sound effects which nothing this loud or scary has ever been heard in a cinema before.

What Raimi and his sound department have achieved was so eerie and sharp that they cut straight into your core and you could feel it in your bones. Even those shriek whenever the eye appeared in the original version of Ring, or the lengthy croak whenever the creature was approaching in Ju-On, they were nothing as scary compared to the bone-chilling sounds from Raimi.

Then there was the highly stylised horror combined with bizarre humour which only Raimi can mix it up in such over-the-top extravaganza. The best example of a mesh up between shocking, terrifying, disturbing and hilarious, was the first big “action” sequence in and around Christine’s car with Mrs Ganush involving dentures and staplers. That certainly set a high standard for the rest of the movie to follow.

The cast were all very capable in their portrayals. Alison Lohman was perfect into her role, Long is his ever-likeable self playing the supportive boyfriend, Paymer and Lee provide some mild comedy, and Raver is fantastically scary as the unforgiving old woman. Only the housefly and the handkerchief don’t really tie in properly into the story.

As mentioned before, there was nothing new in terms of storyline for any horror movie-goers. But with Raimi to bring in his own spin to things, he was able to cleverly insert flourishes to each scene, making them something different from what’s been done so many times before.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7 / 10

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So without the help of other writers, Goyer seems to be a little lost, both in writing and in direction. And the beauty of Odette Yustman couldn’t help save this unoriginal movie from becoming another typical Hollywood horror flick.

A big question mark surfaced when the exorcism was performed because Yustman wasn’t being possessed yet. If she was, then the demon spirit would have won since that’s his goal. So why exorcise Yustman in the first place?

Either Goyer has confused himself with his own writing or the reason just didn’t come through enough for the audience.

Goyer also looked like he was going for that Japanese horror-movie feel, like so many other imitators before him. And so far not many have done it right.

Even after Goyer has done his research, he only managed to include the dybbuk from Jewish mythology and the perverse experimentations performed on Jewish twins in World War II by the Nazis as a background story.

Everything else has zero originality as Goyer recycled ideas used in other recent horror movies. His execution however left a lot to be desired as the scares and frights landed with a big resounding thud. Haven’t we seen enough mirrors usage in horror movies? There’s even one called Mirrors recently which was much better.

And Goyer decided to throw in bugs and other creepy crawlies at some point but really now, what’s the point or the significance of it all? It’s old and served no purpose to the storyline.

And Cam Gigandet, playing the supposedly supportive boyfriend, somehow disappeared throughout the middle of the movie with no good excuse.

In the end it boils down to one question and one question alone, how did the writer who co-wrote The Dark Knight think that this was a good idea for a horror movie? The Joker must still be pulling a prank on him.

Rating: 3 / 10

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I always have my reserves for horror flicks. The ridiculous scares that make no sense, the thin plot, weak storyline – all compromised just for the sake of making the movie. This movie, although comes with multiple plotholes that the story has ignored for the sake of development,  does have a solid story.

Perhaps it’s because this movie is a remake but I didn’t know it. While watching it, I kept thinking, this doesn’t feel like a Hollywood storyline, it’s too Japanese or Korean – like Ring and Ju-On. And sure enough, it’s a remake of the Korean Into The Mirror.

 

The first half as the story was developing, the scares were aplenty and not lacking in gore but it felt it dragged on for a little too long. It was the usual story of discovering, denial, unconvincing to frineds and family, acceptance and solving the mystery.

Some will dislike the revelation and the way it ended, but I thought those were the best parts as I didn’t see it coming. And it wasn’t a typical happy ending that I was dreading.

Rating: 5 / 10

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The Happening is M. Night’s first R rated, and his most gory, film to date by using a mass suicide plot. The scenes are disturbing, no doubt – a move that could very easily be seen as a gimmick. And at this point in time, for him, it’s a fine line between desperation and brilliance in this move. But if it was indeed a brilliant move on his part, than the movie would have come out better as a result of a brilliant move. Instead, that feeling of a good movie, much less a great one, just wasn’t there.

And the fact that there wasn’t a “conclusive ending” to the story didn’t help his case at all. Usually his twists are what tie the whole movie together nicely in the end be it a revelation or just a mere explanation. This time, to explain the mystery behind the mass suicide, it came from a random doctor giving, only, his opinion in light of the event.

I wanted the Mark Wahlberg to discover something. I wanted him to explain to the audience what just happened, not find out from a guy on the TV! I wanted something to tie everything up in the end that makes sense and make me go, “Oh, I see… I get it now.”

And because I was expecting all those things to happen, I was disappointed. But was that my fault to expect a similar style from Night? Was that Night’s fault for going in a different direction? I honestly don’t know.

One thing I know was how bad some of the cast were. The strongest performance was John Leguizamo. Zooey Deschanel was the weakest link. Ashlyn Sanchez wasn’t impressive and probably hurt the movie more than helped (Dakota Fanning would have been brilliant in this setting). And I was sorely disappointed with Mark Wahlberg’s performance as I thought this was one of his worst.

There was a scene with Deschanel and some other travellers asking Wahlberg what they should do in a close-up shot. Then suddenly the shot changed to Deschanel walking away but looking back at Wahlberg first. Her expressionless face was confusing as hell because I didn’t know what that shot was going to convey. This should have been edited more properly and there’s only Night to blame for overlooking this detail.

Also, to fault Night, some of the dialogues were really random. Especially when Wahlberg was trying to have his “revenge rant” on Deschanel. And progression wise, one big, big flaw was when the train stopped and forced everyone off to the platform, only Wahlberg bothered to pester the conductors. That was really, really bad on Night’s part as it was too unrealistic that I must point it out.

Another random event was how the two teenagers were kicking and screaming at the people inside a house. Maybe it can be explained from being a moment of crisis but that really felt random to me. I would have done it differently for that scene.

The final scenes in the hut just weren’t good enough. It was far too simple and didn’t carry too much weight as a conclusion to the suspense.

As for the good, it had suspense, thrills, scares, gore; his unique storytelling and trademark directions were present, and there’s this feeling of the old scary movies like Alfred Hitchcock’s (I only know of Hitchcock) – an updated version of a retro horror movie. But these qualities were not enough to save Night from his worst movie ever made.

I think it’ll take a second viewing for a fairer judgement as my expectation of the movie was wrong since I never received the “no twist” memo. But as for now, it was neither here nor there.

Rating: 5 / 10

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All these questions were never attempted with an explanation by the writers and it’s a little difficult to sit through these scenes without feeling stupid.

And it all began with the opening scenes when Diane Lane’s character was trying hard to make her career job look exciting, involving and fun all at the same time; because ultimately this job is just plain boring and this Hollywood effort has also failed to spice it up some like how they are usually able to.

At least it’s not a stupid serial killer backdrop. The murders were all well thought-out with reasons. At least the actors were all competent in their portrayal, which was what saved the movie from being even worse than it already was. But Lane’s ending pose was a little over indulgent and became very silly five seconds later when she’s still in the same pose.

The trailer was able to draw the crowd by tagging on the YouTube age and the voyeuristic characteristics that came with it. But the movie was quite boring overall and lacked the intelligence and gore found in the Saw movies, which its killing devices admittedly could rival.

Rating: 4 / 10

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Maybe it’s because of a chance to work with the director, Andrew Lau, one of the recent “exports” of Hong Kong. It’s not a bad suspense-thriller and it was shot quite well, but the story itself wasn’t something to die for really.

It’s very difficult to relate to the characters as the story emphasised on the job at hand and very little on character background or development. The relationship between the two leads was also never given much focus.

I have a feeling that the failure of the movie may be due to “lost in translation”. It needed a director that fully understood the screenplay, who can delve into the soul of the project, to make it work better. Probably didn’t help much when this is Lau’s first American debut.

On a side note, I was surprised to see Avril Lavigne with a cameo here.

Rating: 5 / 10

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Only problem I had was how Samuel L Jackson was marketed into the movie just to pull in audience. He only had a few scenes and only one that’s memorable. I also wondered why he wanted to be in this movie in the first place. He played a role that any other average actor could do without problem.

In terms of scare, I didn’t mind the popping up of faces once in a while. There weren’t too many of them so it wasn’t so bad for a little lame and cheap thrill. And it wasn’t exactly a “scary” movie per se. But the story was haunting and chilling enough for a get-away horror / suspense entertainment.

Rating: 6 / 10

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The only thing that the old movie probably couldn’t compare to this new one is that this was shot with a newer model camera. It really felt that bad.

The only thing that saved the movie is getting to marvel at Nicole Kidman’s flawless and porcelain skin. Is it possible for her to be any more beautiful? She seems to be ageing well.

Again, loopholes were aplenty with the worst being that when Nicole jumped into a random car after rescuing her son, the key was as-a-matter-of-factly left in the ignition. It was like a big joke that everyone was supposed to laugh at.

Can this be done anymore more poorly?

Rating: 4 / 10

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The idea for the movie was actually not bad. But the execution was a different story. Director Shumacher isn’t known for the horror genre as well. A lot of scenes felt like mish-mash from classical detective movies and horror flicks. Nothing original, but all very cliché and parodic. And the son of Carrey’s character was named Robin! It was almost hilarious when they put on a straight face and used that name during the more serious and important situations.

The worst bits were during the scenes of Fingerling, with a greasy and dirty looking Jim Carrey attempting to bring out his darker side, parading around with a saxophone no less, which could really have had a opposite effect on viewers.

There were many loopholes as well, with many events illogically made just for the sake of the upcoming events.

Virginia Madsen gave the best acting, but some bits of the script were just unmerciful, as well as illogical, on her.

Rating: 6 / 10

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It has a promising story that let’s you keep guessing who the killer is. Halle Berry, Giovanni Ribisi and Bruce Willis (that’s how the credits should line up) all did the best they could with Ribisi stealing the show most of the time. And that’s about it.

Now comes the easy part. This probably should have gone straight to DVD. But with big names under its title, I guess it’s fair to take a shot. But for those of us who took the time and paid money to go for it though, it wasn’t fair.

The plot tries too much to be clever that it’s missing the mark. The many twists and turns and a very, very slow first half just don’t take the viewers in, rather it leaves us wanting to get up and walk.

The director just couldn’t make this engaging enough for the viewers. This movie should have came out a decade ago together with Hackers, Anti-Trust and The Net when chat rooms were still a norm. You just can’t shake the feeling that this is an old movie that’s old enough to not be interesting in this day and age.

Halle Berry’s assets were once again exploited. But even her killer body, killer wardrobe and that killer face couldn’t save this movie. Her portrayal as a strong, independent female journalist living in the big man’s world just didn’t came through as believable – not her fault I’m sure.

Bruce Willis didn’t have much to do other than look good and possibly just be himself, probably enjoying himself throwing a guy literally out of his office.

But Giovanni Ribisi had the biggest role. Being the weird oddball that he usually is, he has made his character work here(or as much as he possibly could as some scenes were just plain weird even for Ribisi) and believable enough that you just might look twice at your office oddball.

This has been a very big disappointment coming from Berry and Willis. Whatever made them agree to work on this project is just beyond me. I seldom fail a Hollywood movie but this definitely deserves it.

Oh and watching this in the local cinema really pissed me off with the many interruptions due to censorship. If you’re going to make so many cuts might as well not bring it in!

Rating: 3 / 10

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