i'm kael's ghost

You know the drill - there's ALWAYS spoilers. Don't want the movie ruined for you, come back after you've seen it. Also - I'm still without an editor - typos and bad grammar await you! I keep hoping that the cultural obsession with zombies will end; literally every other damn movie that comes 'round seems to feature some sort of shambling, undead being bent on devouring the weak flesh of regular humans. Once upon a time, zombies have have been used as a metaphor for the blind consumerism created by our capitalist society, or the perceived depletion of resources by immigrants, or even the ravages of time and disease on our frail bodies. Now it seems that the deeper social commentary has been lost as audiences mindlessly consume "zombie fiction" in an attempt to keep up with trends. ( How very meta - a film buddy of mine commented on this assessment! ) All of this is just a sideways rant, leading up to my actual point: it seems that zombie may actually...

Spoilers, typos, and bad grammar ahead. You've been warned. I remember a time when horror was still a relatively underground genre and fans slunk around in the shadows, keeping their fandom to themselves for fear of judgement. Now, it seems everyone and their mother is a horror fan and has something to say about the genre - for better or worse. While this does mean horror movies (and related goodies) are easier for long-time genre fans to get their hands on, it also means an over-saturation of the market (leading to an excess of crap.) It also means tons of great opportunities (like festivals and conventions) have cropped up all over the place.  The After Dark Horrorfest (or "8 Films to Die For") was at the forefront of the horror festival circuit and offered directors (and audiences alike) a terrific venue for checkin out new, original horror films. Pros and cons aside, I've often avoided the movies coming out of this festival - not because of the hype and ...

Spoilers, typos, and bad grammar ahead. You've been warned. I don't know why I continually do this to myself but, I watched another made for TV, Stephen King "movie" this week. I think I'm just a glutton for punishment; I know what I'm getting into when I do this, but my morbid curiosity always gets the best of me. On the chopping block tonight is A Good Marriage .  A little leg work tells me that this movie is based on a novella. I often question that translation process and this movie is a good example of why - I'm not convinced that there is enough in a novella to merit 2 hours of film. That's not always  the case but, it certainly seems to be in this instance - and I write that not having read the source material. You regular readers know how I feel about Stephen King . Even in the context of made for TV material, this movie was complete shit. It has some of the worst, stilted acting I have even seen. Joan Allen  (Darcy) & Anthony ...

Spoilers, typos, and bad grammar ahead. You've been warned. I like a good haunted house movie. The problem is that there are significantly more shitty haunted house movies out there than good ones. I also think tonight's offering was sold as a haunted house movie in order to preserve the "twist ending." ( I'm going to reveal that twist herein. Don't want me to ruin it for you? You should stop reading now.) The story of  Dream House  (perhaps better called " Daniel Craig  has a mental breakdown") runs something like this: A successful man (Will) retires from his job and heads off to celebrate with his family in their new country home. This idyllic life soon becomes plagued by a mysterious stalker. As the mystery begins to unfold, we realize this standard little home invasion thriller may be something supernatural which gives way to a plot twist anyone can see coming a mile away. Our hero isn't the quiet family man we believed him to be, nor...

Spoilers, typos, and bad grammar ahead. You've been warned. When I added The Oxford Murders to my list, I couldn’t remember if I’d seen it already or not. Then I realized that the cover does look somewhat like The Skulls (which I DO KNOW I’ve seen). Writing that here probably makes me sound like an ass because the version of the cover I grabbed for this post VERY CLEARLY does not look like The Skulls cover - so you'll just have to trust me on this one. Okay - on to a review. The basics go like this: An American student (played by  Elija Wood  - we'll come back to this in a moment) moves to England to study under a famous mathematician (played by the AMAZING  John Hurt ). This plan goes slightly awry when he realizes the home he's staying in is hiding a dysfunctional family situation that soon turns into a murder. It seems the murder is just the first in a string of serial killings. He and the mathematician become entangled in an attempt to solve the murder. Des...

Spoilers, typos, and bad grammar ahead. You've been warned. I've learned, over the years, that walking into a movie with too many expectations leads to my displeasure. In the case of Late Phases , I had read a couple of good reviews and was only hoping I wouldn't hate it too much - and I'll tell you what, I was quite pleased with the movie overall. The short version of the story reads like this: Getting old sucks. The slightly longer version of the story reads more like: a blind, aging veteran ( Nick Damici of Stake Land ) is sent to live in a remote, assisted living community by his son ( Ethan Embry - who I always think of as just a shitty comedic actor from the 90's). It'll come as no surprise to any horror fan that this "out of the way" village is plagued by "something terrible" and the Norman Rockwell exterior is shattered pretty quickly by a series of gruesome "animal attacks." I think  Eric Stolze  took some risk...

Spoilers, typos, and bad grammar ahead. You've been warned. Tonight's tale of Good and Evil comes to you from the UK. The difficulty with this type of story is that there are really only a couple of ways that they can end: either Good wins, Evil wins, or it's a "draw" and you know  that the fight will be revisited another time (in the sequel, of course.) There's an even greater challenge faced by any  filmmaker these days: creating a compelling story that isn't just a "rip off" or retelling of a story that has already been told . There's this really fine line that exists between being inspired by previous works and not being creative enough to write something unique . I was surprised to find that - for me - Let Us Prey  stayed comfortably on the side of inspired by . Here's how it plays out: Two strangers come to a remote island town. One is a rookie cop (played by Pollyanna McIntosh ), the other is an imposing man of few words ...