I am Zozo (2006)

AKA Are You There?

Director:Scott Di Lalla .
Starring.Demetrius Sager,Courtney Foxworthy, Kelly McLaren, Caleb Courtney USA. 1h 25m.

As part of my Occult A-Z I have been watching some of the best and worst that cinema has to offer and pretty early on I was easily set on this being the end of the list but i’m afraid that the list will end on a low note.

I‘m a huge supporter of lower budget movies but what they lack funds they do have to make up with some passion, some drive, a bit of energy!! But this is little more than entry level horror, which is a shame as the whole Zozo mythos is pretty interesting and usually harbors a few jumps and sleepless nights.

Selfie from Hell (2018),

Director: Erdal Ceylan.
Starring. Alyson Walker, Tony Giroux, Meelah Adams. USA. 1h 15m.

Selfie from Hell, started out as a 2 minutes horror movie that for millions of views on YouTube years ago, but now we have this full length feature that’s supposed to up the ante and the short answer is that.. “nope” it just doesn’t come across as being more frightening or more compelling than the horror short.

So some girl gets terrorised by a shadowy figure which is stalking her in her selfies, any other photo is totally fine but whenever she takes a picture of herself this dark monster begins to get closer, until one picture later and boom it’s upon her and while she’s now bedridden her “niece”? (I really couldn’t care for the relationship, the build up to this point was slow and .. boring) visits to help look after her, and starts to dig into the story and is soon hunted by the same entity but luckily she has a laptop and starts to find answers on the dark web…

Howling VI : The Freaks (1991)

Director: Hope Perello
Starring: Michelle Matteson, Bruce Payne, Carol Lynley, Deep Roy, Brendan Hughes, Antonio Fargas . USA . 1h 42m

(Loosely) based on The Howling Series of novels by Gary Brandner especially Howling III Echoes.

Have you ever woken up from a hazy dream and tried to piece it back together to make a story..that’s kinda how this installment of Howling plays out. Loosely based on the third Howling book, it’s set around the life of a unusual drifter who stumbles on the wrong town. Despite his natural ability to look like Charlie Chaplin he actually has a much more dangerous and darker secret, being part of the Howling series it’s no surprise really but there’s more, just follow him down the rabbit hole…

The House on Mansfield Street (2018)

Director: Richard Mansfield
Starring: Matthew Hunt, Daniel Mansfield, Kathryn Redwood, . UK . 1h 14m

 

I’m a proud defender of found footage and was eager to see this new british indie horror, it follows Nick Greene (Hunt) who’s an amature film maker, recording his own film of his move from London to Nottingham. The Movie starts strong and has many merits but .. It’s a PG 13 and doesn’t really give the chills that I was expecting,

As he settles into his quaint miniature historic cottage, he has two weeks before he starts work, after a brief encounter with his lovely neighbour Emma (Redwood) he’s back to filming his adventures in his new hometown. Visiting some of the local attractions he’s more mystified by what’s going on back at home. Emma gifts him a small craft pouch, something that her sister makes for good luck, he’s been instructed to hang it in his home to ward of evil spirits, after hearing some scratching in the walls and ceiling, he finds a similar more pungent pouch in the loft but the noises stop… but this is only the beginning.

Devil’s Domain (2016)

Director:Jared Cohn
Starring: Michael Madsen, Madi Vodane, Linda Bella. USA

This generic horror with a skeletal plot manages to detail scary elements of cyberbullying along with the moral conundrum of revenge,  but with so much being regurgitated from olde fables and other films it only has a few minor saving graces.

Lisa Pomson (Vodane) is a troubled teen who has been drawn to the drama and tribulations of social media and  is totally addicted,  as for  most of the teenagers she  clashes with her parents on a regular basis, her father Bill, ( Marsden) tend to just laugh everything off assuming that she’ll just  learn from her mistakes, while her mother tends to come down on her like a ton of bricks judging everything and making her come parents this with the Bible.  it’s a good thing they don’t know about her other bad habits,  and even seem totally unaware of her eating disorder,  but I think we’re supposed to believe that they are good parents!?

Don’t Blink (2014)

Director:Travis Oates .
Starring. Brian Austin Green, Mena Suvari, Joanne Kelly, Zack Ward, USA. 1h 32m.

SPOILERS KINDA

The overall feeling of this film is like a drawn out Creepypasta, and not one of the good ones either.

The principles is simple but the story doesn’t go anywhere, let me explain. A group of 10 friends are heading out on vacation divided into 4 cars, their destination is a small resort village in the middle of nowhere. When they arrive at the picturesque town, they are shocked to find the town is totally abandoned, despite finding this quite odd they are forced to stay as they have very little petrol and no cell phone reception.(but there’s always a signal!!) So they make the most of the resort and act like nothing is odd until one by one they begin to disappear. Because a deserted town doesn’t mean anything that you should run for your lives..