Paranormal Activity The Marked Ones movie review

This supernatural horror/thriller has two distinctions: it's the first new release of 2014 and another installment in the highly successful, low-budget franchise. Unlike its predecessors, it's not set in a haunted house in middle-class WASPy suburbia. Instead, the story shifts into a working-class Latino apartment complex in southern California -- with an ethnically diverse cast of characters.

It begins as Jesse (Jorge Diaz), a recent Oxnard High School graduate, awakens to find an odd bite mark on his arm. Pretty soon, he's experiencing some extraordinary powers, like the ability to levitate himself and others, along with inexplicable mood swings. This mystery coincides with the sudden death of Jesse's downstairs neighbor, reclusive Anna (Gloria Sandoval), whom many suspect was part of a coven of witches performing Santeria blood rituals. Curious, Jesse and his friend Hector (Jorge Diaz) peeked into Anna's apartment after the police left, unearthing her collection of occult artifacts and documenting their discoveries with Jesse's new camera. When Hector and Jesse's sister, Marisol (Gabrielle Walsh), become increasingly concerned about Jesse's transformation and increasing inability to control his violent temper, they consult Ali (Molly Ephraim), who recognizes the telltale symptoms of demonic possession. And so it goes.

Screenwriter Christopher Landon, who contributed to earlier sequels, directs, and it's certainly a step up from the last chapter, "Paranormal Activity 4," which was truly disappointing. One of the elements introduced this time `round is the sinister use of Simon, an electronic Milton Bradley game, which begins answering yes/no questions like a Ouija board. Fittingly, in the finale, it adds to and expands the previous mythology, as a harbinger of "Paranormal Activity 5," which is scheduled for an October release.

For those who have forgotten or missed the 2009 original, the basic concept is based on "found footage," similar to "The Blair Witch Project," but focusing on various incarnations of a malevolent spirit named Toby.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones" is a fright-flick 4, a spin-off that's specifically aimed at adolescent Hispanic chiller/horror fans.

Trailer:

Haunter movie review

Call it one kind of hell on earth: In “Haunter,” 15-year-old Lisa is the only member of her Reagan-era suburban family who realizes that they are reliving the same day, over and over. Yet, unlike Bill Murray’s weatherman in “Groundhog Day,” they are absolutely, positively dead. And the lingering menace in this serviceable ghost story from the director Vincenzo Natali and the screenwriter Brian King is that things could actually get worse.

Lisa (Abigail Breslin) exists in a picture-perfect house with routines that are like a mild adolescent parody of family banality: Mom assigns chores and summons her for sit-down meals; Dad is square and nice; her little brother wakes her up every morning with a walkie-talkie squawk. When Lisa (wholesome, not bratty, in Ms. Breslin’s hands) questions the supernatural order of things, the film’s boogeyman emerges, along with the macabre underpinnings of the past.

The implication of life after death as a risky search for meaning subtly refreshes the notion of eternal suffering, even if the movie is itself haunted by influences from “Poltergeist” to “Insidious.” Another undertow is generated by the specter of fatherly rage.

Mr. Natali muscles his frights, along with flashes of light and close-ups, freely shuffling between ghostly dimensions. But this director of “Cube” and the bigger, bonkers “Splice” scales the ambitions of his new movie appropriately, even cautiously. And lifted by the sepulchral Stephen McHattie as Lisa’s nemesis, the film’s frazzled thought experiment becomes an adequate yarn.

Trailer:

Carrie movie review

I'm not the biggest fan of remakes, but there are a few of them that have been made over the years that have been just as good or better than the original. I was pretty disappointed when I learned that Stephen King's Carrie was going to get a remake. I wasn't really familiar with the director of the film, Kimberly Peirce, but she managed to cast a group of very talented actors led by Julianne Moore and Chloe Grace Moretz, who were both awesome in the movie! 

Moore absolutely stole the show as Carrie's insane religious mother. She was scary as hell, and gave an incredible performance, one that I think is actually award worthy. I don't know if she'll get nominated because it's a horror film, but damn she was creepy. She just had this look in her eyes that can stab a person's soul. She's the type of person you wouldn't want to piss off. Then there was Moretz in the title role, who pulled it off flawlessly. She was perfectly cast for this role, and had an actual sweetness about her that made you really care about what happened to her, which is one of the things I really liked about this movie. I cared more about the character in this movie than in the original. In the original, Carrie was more of a scary type person, and she was harder to relate to. In this newer film, I think people were able to connect with the character a little more, and it really sucked when things didn't work out for her the way she and the audience wanted it to. You knew what was coming at the end, but you still really wanted to see this poor girl have a happy ending. 

The other thing about the casting in this movie was that all of the characters felt like they were actually real high school students. If you recall in the original version, they all looked like 30-year-olds playing high school kids. So that aspect of it made it feel a little more believable. And most of everyone they cast in these secondary roles did a solid job bringing their characters to life. 

This is actually one of those rare moments where I will say that a remake was better than the original. Now I love the original, and there's a nostalgia about it that this remake will never have. But, in terms of filmmaking, this one was an all around better movie. I was pleasantly surprised by how it turned out, and it seemed like the audience I saw it with enjoyed it as well. It was a very satisfying horror movie, and if you haven't already seen it yet, I suggest that you do! After all, it's the Halloween season, and for those of you itching to see a really well made horror movie, this one might fulfill that need for you.

Trailer:

We are what we are movie review

There's much to savor in Jim Mickle's "We Are What We Are," a horror film about a kind of religious fanaticism that's gone way off the rails. The movie saves most of its modest number of jolts for its last quarter or so, which makes them all the more intense. They stick in your craw - and be warned, they're not for the squeamish.

Something's off about the Parker family, who live in a depressed part of the Catskills under the strict reign of God-fearing, bearded patriarch Frank (Bill Sage). Teenage daughters Iris (Ambyr Childers) and Rose (Julia Garner) have the ethereal look of 19th century portrait paintings. Their young brother, Rory (Jack Gore), seems perpetually hungry.

As the film opens, their mother abruptly collapses and dies of an unspecified illness during an errand in town. Despite his grief, Frank insists that the family continue its annual preparations for a ritual that involves several days of fasting. The event is called Lamb's Day, and we see in flashbacks its origins in dire circumstances involving the family's 18th century forebears.

The girls, who are really the film's focus, carry out their extremely unpleasant duties with great reluctance. Meanwhile, the local doctor (Michael Parks) has done an autopsy on Mrs. Parker, with a disturbing finding. We learn that years earlier, the doctor's daughter disappeared.

Soon comes a report that another young woman is missing. Torrential rains uncover human body parts. Iris, who's retained some hint of a yearning for normality, attracts the attentions of a young deputy. The doctor presses hard to get to the bottom of things.

Director Mickle ("Stake Land") uses the basic story, with many changes, from a 2010 Mexican movie of the same title, made by Jorge Michel Grau. Mickle's version has all the American Gothic trappings, maybe even pouring it on a bit thick at times. Despite the generally somber tone, there are a few moments when he seems to be tweaking genre buffs' memories of movies by the likes of Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper.

But I don't think he's kidding about his main point, which is that in certain remote corners of America, nightmarish, crackpot religious beliefs take root and grow, and are passed on from generation to generation.

A final note, mainly for non-buffs: Be prepared for an ending that's genuinely berserk

Movie trailer:

The possession movie review

The film title pretty much says it all. Years after The Exorcist (1973) was made, filmmakers still seek inspiration from the horror classic. What distinguishes 'The Possession' from 'The Exorcist' is merely the mention of demons in Judaism. Barring the Jewish angle, The Possession, too is about a young girl who's been possessed by a mysterious evil spirit.

The girl starts displaying bouts of violent and bizarre behaviour. Her divorced parents fail to decode her dilemma and evidences of demonic possession. The father ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan), however, senses trouble eventually and wages war against the demon, seeking help of a Jewish exorcist (played by reggae-pop star Matisyahu). Will the demon let go of the girl?

The Possession is high on suspense. It even manages to keep you engaged throughout with its haunting background score and quaint big houses. The actors do a fine job. The very young Natasha Calis is extremely convincing.

The film, however, is low on originality and pace. Bornedal's storytelling drags and gets repetitive, thus diluting moments which could have been scarier. The suspense unfolds a bit too late for it to be too creepy. Tracks like the parents being divorced and the girl vomiting bugs seem cliched.

The Possession is Jewish Exorcist. It's gripping but lacks novelty.

Trailer:

Paranorman Movie review

Coraline was good, but Laika’s new stop-motion animation marvel ParaNorman takes it to another level. Their first zombie animation knows how to add warmth to the proceedings and make its moral lessons stronger by helping the viewers arrive at their own conclusions rather than pushing clichéd values down their throats.

Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee), the cutest antihero ever, speaks to dead people and pets (to great comic effect, at times). His caring Grandma (wonderful Elaine Stritch), who’s been dead for a while, is his only true friend – she knows very well she has to keep an undead eye on him since he is treated as a ‘freak’ by everybody else around him.

His parents (Jeff Garlin and Leslie Mann) constantly fight over his embarrassing paranormal skills while the town is about to get infested with zombies because of an ancient curse. Norman has to stop the witch who promised to wake the walkers but she turns out to be a little girl who was brutally murdered for being a kid different from the crowd – some 300 years before. Norman has to learn to break his way through her rage and save the townspeople, who aren’t much help at all.

Childhood the best of times?

ParaNorman paints the world of childhood as a dark kingdom of horror and ugliness. Every living creature (except the dead ones) is the vision of spastic, useless cruelty. His sister is a mindless phony. The kids at school are stupid bullies who misspell hateful nicknames. The neighbours look like they’d burn him at the pole – gladly. His parents are of no help: at one point Norman is talking to a belly and a bottom (his mother and father, as seen to us from his perspective).

His dad is the biggest bully of all. The abuse he inflicts is the kind of abuse that may leave scars for life. At least those are complete strangers in his school and in the street – they don’t have to love Norman; seeing his own father reject the very essence of him (his supernatural gift) is heart-breaking. No one coming out of ParaNorman will say sweetly that childhood as one’s ‘best years’ – and I would like to especially thank writer/director Chris Butler and director Sam Fell for shooting that idiotic cliché right through its dead head.

ParaNorman gets subversive quickly. We are not afraid of the zombies eating the children, we are afraid of the parents burning the children alive. Surviving in the midst of ugly (in and out) adults like the monstrous Teacher (with her green mask, she is almost indistinguishable from zombies) and the angry, blood-thirsty mob is no easy feat. Norman is the last boy standing – and it’s not the best way to learn about the world when you are a kid.

On the fun side, ParaNorman is a crazy fiesta of vibrant colours and amazing imagery. Norman looks like a child top model with his huge asymmetric eyes, crooked nostrils and Will Smith ears, which light up like overweight fireflies when the sun shines through them. His room is a haven of zombie paraphernalia – from wallpaper and bedcover to nightlight and slippers, all in the most eye-popping, juicy hues.

The whole idea of the zombie apocalypse hasn’t been so reinvented and turned upside down since Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later as it is in ParaNorman. The zombies (slow again) possess intelligence (and sometimes make more sense than humans), communicate with each other and are basically ‘good’ despite smelling terribly and groaning all the time. The focus here is on psychological horror and the intertextual fright potential of the zombie metaphor (we know they might be a threat, so we are scared – just in case).

Verdict: A movie about a bullying epidemic that is like a zombie one (once bitten the virus begins to spread, where former victims become aggressors) couldn’t be timelier. It’s beautiful. It’s very funny. It startles and scares. And it teaches us not to fear. What’s not to love?

Movie trailer: