J*A*S*M

I’m surprised, but this redneck/zombie quasi-parody was pretty good fun. It’s a straightforward snack that (in a nice way most of the time) quotes from what it can, has good cinematography and pretty fun (though not likeable) characters. OK for me.

I didn’t like all that pseudomysticism, at all. There are moments with a decent atmosphere, but the, without exception, unlikeable characters don’t let you get into the story. A weak average.

Different from the previous two episodes, but I’m not complaining about that, I don’t care – actually, I’d consider a different approach to the template as a plus. What bothers me is that things become incredibly stupid after some time, especially considering how seriously the film takes itself. Patient Zero is relatively effective in some of the scenes (for instance, the underground sequence is nicely atmospheric, and the gore – for those who are into gore – is also good), but when you look at the bigger picture, it’s laughable, rather. Dime a dozen contagion horror, without any original ideas, which shouldn’t be a surprise coming from the director of the awful Altitude. And the one “memorable scene”, I’ve seen it somewhere, I think it was lifted from Excision. PS: I would give it two stars, but that’s what I gave the first one by Roth and this one is significantly worse.

The border between entertaining and energetic madness and annoying and overcooked bullshit can be bloody thin sometimes. For about 60 minutes, I was having fun rather than suffering, but some time around the entrance to the underground, Iglesia stopped paying attention to things and the witches started to lean into the bullshit territory.

After looking at the poster or watching the trailer nobody could expect an ambitious horror movie. The story is like out of the 90s, with A LOT of nudity and even more cheap one-liners, but I was expecting more blood and fun. A weak third star for the performance of Paz de la Huerta, which is so (I hope) intentionally silly that’s impossible to forget. 5/10

I surprisingly liked this piece of Japanese brutal nonsense, unlike other nonsense from Japan. It’s a weird mix of mysterious and unsettling perversion and very black humour that’s hard to rationalise (especially by the end, the last 15 minutes are utter insanity). This time I liked it, probably because I enjoy stories about people that get into conflict with secret sects, clubs, powerful societies, etc. It’s true, however, that R100 is a tad more bizarre and absurd than other similar movies, so, to fully understand it, I will have to wait another 80 years or so. PS: The earthquake breaks were probably the best thing in the movie.

I’m giving it the only one star as a proud native of Budějovice for the Budvar that the American kids are drinking in the opening scenes (with the background of LA’s Hollywood sign), but there’s no reason for any more stars. I find this kind of brutalised aesthetic from the 1980s pretty uninteresting.

A horror blockbuster from Venezuela, and a good one at that! Professionally made, with an effective atmosphere. At first, the story looks very traditional, but it gradually becomes tangled and the outcome is very interesting. I’m satisfied, even though the scariest thing in the film is the monstrosity the make-up artists perpetrated for the older version of the female protagonist.

Very solid psychological thriller about three characters: a mother, her son and his new wife. The plot doesn’t surprise even a bit, but the direction and the performances are very good, the tension is not lacking and there isn’t a hint of boredom. Worth a watch.

Well… how to take this… certainly one of the candidates for the weirdest film of the year. At first, Borgman looks like it would be another addition to the family of classic home-invasion thrillers. But the moment that, besides the shabby hirsute bloke, the house is invaded by giant dogs, to whom the hirsute bloke says: “You’re early. Off with you", and they listen to him, it’s clear that we’re dealing with something a bit more supernatural. The movie has a pretty unsettling and gripping atmosphere, it’s a lot of fun despite not being very forthcoming, and it’s a pleasure to watch from the technical standpoint. But if you need a clear plot and answers to the questions that arise during the story in order to have a proper movie experience, then better go elsewhere, because this is a very bizarre thing, about the spread of evil. Maybe.