Director: David Amito, Michael Laicini Starring: Nicole Tompkins, Rowan Smyth. Canada. 1h 35m
I have to admit that before seeing Antrim I had no idea what the word actually meant so I did have to Google it. Turns out that it means, “A nearly closed cavity or chamber…” Well ok, How does one make a movie about a nearly closed cavity? Somehow directors, David Amito and Michael Laicini managed to turn this notion into a retro cursed movie project and argue that the film is (loosely) based on a movie by David B. Earle titled Dining Room or There is Nothing. Believe it or not if you have ever seen any of the creepy movie compilations on YouTube then you probably have seen this short but were unaware of its title, and here is the movie in all of its esoteric glory.
Director: Mike Slee Starring: Mark Stong, Jock McLeod, Joan Gregson, Ian Downie .UK/Canada. 1h 30m
It’s often quite typical for a mockumentary to just detail a single little project or some kind of investigation using the found footage format to make the most of a small budget and hopefully to give chills and thrills for its audience, however The Great Martian War goes a step beyond to rewrite human history with a War of the Worlds fashioned World War.
The team has model their creative documentary with the flare of the (Sky) History Channel and goes as far to have the logo in the corner and a lot of the formatting looks quite genuine although it is lost halfway through the movie for some random effects that I’ve never personally seen any type of TV documentary but maybe this is artistic flare? It does hold up to the high standard of a professional job and it doesn’t go out of its way to explain certain details in the same way that a normal history show would expected it’s audience to have a grounding knowledge around the subject which is quite a clever stance. Continue reading The Great Martian war 1913-1917 (2013)→
Director: Seth Grossman Starring: Lara Vosburgh, Morgan McClellan, Kate Whitney, Brian Flaherty . USA . 1h 5m
Demonic Possession Found Footage can almost be defined as its own sub genre as there are so many movies on the subject now. Through this process there develops a hierarchy, at the top are those trailblazing movies which introduce new fears, and thrilling viewing experiences, the lower half tend to be regurgitation of the same old ideas, but with slightly different titles, but for me Inner Demons sits neatly in the middle but just needed some grit and conviction to really earn those brownie points.
Seemly inspired by a host of other possession movies and tales of strange drug addiction and habits, this chilling movie lurks into the world of addiction and the touches on the greed of television producers who might try to interfere with situations to make things more sensational but it’s not a major part of the films message..Continue reading Inner Demons (2014)→
Director:Eduardo Sánchez, Kevin Foxe Starring: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard. USA. 1h 21m
It feels strange reviewing this so long after it gave me such a wild night out at the cinema, so this review is going to be a trip down memory lane, so grab you member berries and hop on the fuck train.
I was the gothist kid in my highschool, just one step away from shooting the place up if only I had some other trench coat kids to help me out, I might have been on the news, instead being the loner I was, I had to make do with being the go to person with horror movie info, by the time the Blair Witch had hit my radar, the magic was nearly over, it had already been screened and the amazing movie website showed images of people out searching the woods for the missing students, while the message board were filled with links to stories titles “Blair Witch is an elaborate hoax” or conspiracy stories claiming that “the story is real, ignore the hoax stories they are trying to stop you from finding the out the TRUTH”
Sadly I realised that this was just a modern day wicca version of Cannibal Holocaust (1980), yep I knew about all these classics already, I was an early horror bloomer. I sent the main website link to my bestest friends on MSN and ICQ and we arranged to meet up and see the film at the Odeon. It was a late night horror screening on a weeknight and therefore the cinema was filled with kids, I rarely remember anyone checking us in the Odeon, it was like a creche. Continue reading The Blair Witch Project (1999)→
Director: Zak Bagans. Starring. Zak Bagans, Jay Wasley, Billy Tolley .USA. 1h 51m.
Fitting somewhere in between a documentary and mockumentary it’s easy to see the appeal with Demon House. not just based on real events the film struggles to remain a proper found footage movie with a few added dramatisations and real interviews about a real haunting in Gary, Indiana. The full details of the Ammons haunting case were documented and followed by Zak Bagans, who then purchased the house after the family moved and his attempts to coax out the entity.
Demon House starts with the great deal of promise and effective film making, opening with the purchase of the property the look and feel of the film is spot on as a documentary which is how the film has been labeled. Zak buys the property, sight unseen and just on the knowledge of the mass hysteria that broke out when an African American family were experienced demonic possession in what was called a “Portal to Hell”.Continue reading Demon House (2018)→
Director: Joel Anderson Starring: Rosie Traynor, David Pledger, Martin Sharpe, Talia Zucker. Australia. 1h 27m
Lake Mungo takes a slightly different approach to the world of Mockumentaries/Found footage films, there’s a gentler hand involved in this deeply personal and sentimental story of a missing teen. Often the film shocks and attempts to scare it’s audience but these are often long drawn out tension filed scenarios more than faux jump scares which is a credit to some brilliant film making, although in the attempts to make everything so very real these scenes are often displayed as terrible quality home video recordings showing phenomena in a “bigfoot” blur and the scare is often lost in the quality.
Alice Palmer (Zucker) is just like any other team girl, but one fateful day on a trip to a local camping site at Lake Mungo she goes missing. Her distraught family and emergency services go to the limit to find her, unfortunately all this is pulled form the lake is her body.Continue reading Lake Mungo (2008)→
Starring. Aaron Poole, James Gilbert Canada. 1h 24m.
Usually found footage movies are cheap and easy to make, often addressing unusual subjects and laced with fears and shocks. Conspiracy has all of these elements along with a convincing storyline with an unusual compelling ending
The film starts with Aaron and James mocking a guy on YouTube who spends his days trapsing around with a box, a loud speaker and a board of information, and spends his days proclaiming various conspiracy theories, while James is happily laughing at him, Aaron is intrigued by the amount of people in the comments agreeing with him (along with the usual YouTube troll patrols). It’s clear that Aaron and James are both playing “themselves” and that Aaron is the (Mulder) believer while James (Skully) is totally sceptical about all of this but he tags along for this documentary.Continue reading Conspiracy (2012)→
Director/Writer/Producer: Andrew Parkinson. Starring. Giles Aspen, Ellen Softley. UK. 1h 18m.
For this debut feature film writer/director/producer Andrew Parkinson has come up with a personal and cruelly dark mockumentary detailing the demise of a single man from a zombie virus.
The mockumentary opens with a woman talking about the disappearance of her ex-boyfriend Mark in past tense, the restarts with mark coming home to Sarah who’s making the finishing touches to her event, which Mark regretfully has to skip to collect samples, the couple argue and the scene ends, Mark is then seen trekking through a wooded area, the botanist is searching for moss samples (slime mould I’d imagine) when he stumble on a decaying station wagon intrigued he follows another path and eventually finds an abandoned agricultural building . He enters and explores the rooms when he finds an injured man leaned up against the wall, hearing a female scream he rushes in to help, finding a decaying woman having a seizure on a rotten mattress he tries to pick her up to get her to safety but she bites his neck, he drops her and rushes into the forest.Continue reading I Zombie (1998)→
Totally one of those nights where I got totally bummed out from the first movie that I had to make up the rest of the night by watching some awesome movies to make up for it.. So low and behold the shitness that is….
*The Bigfoot Project (2017) –I adore bigfoot movies, books, documentaries and even those creepy videos on YouTube, so seeking this mockery was a huge disappointment. But I just about managed to sit through it…A group of amateur filmmakers embark on a tour of some backwoods in Georgia (even though it was filmed in California) in search of Bigfoot. Everything that could go wrong does, and the lame collegehumor requires more than a couple of blunts in order to really be appreciated. It’s hard to distinguish the difference between a tree and actor for most of the film and there is a long enough pause after each “gag” in order to the audience to process the joke. It’s filmed as mockumentary, and it feels largely ad libbed, the improv is often ballsed up but the camera work is on point. I was so exhausted by the end of the film I can’t even remember if they found proof of Bigfoot or Bigfeet existence, and I won’t be re watching to find out.
1/10
Lone Wolf and Cub – Episode 3 and 4 (1972) – My mother is a huge fan of Asian Cinema, and one of the films I was restricted from until I was about 9… was the legendary Shogun Assassin, she thought it was a bit too much for me as she managed to wrangle an amazing (nearly) uncut version, I fell in love with the film from the first viewing but the film seemed a bit odd, after some research I found out that there are many more movies. We both instantly fell in love with ALL the films and it’s become a bit of a family tradition to watch them all around the Christmas Holiday season. Although after years of watching 1-2 I rarely watch them now, I usually start with the 3rd movie and carry on which was going to be the attempt tonight to try and erase the Bigfoot Tragedy from my mind.
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades – this should have been titled Baby Cart in a Brothel.. They don’t actually enter a brothel but they do have to save a girl who’s being sold into the business. Along with a massive battle against Ninja’s these two amazing gents really know how to show a girl a good time. The amount of killings in each film is probably on the verge of a world record, Shogun Assassin I think still has the No.1 spot for the most kills in a movie.I know Ogami Itto has the most kills for his character as the lone wolf and no one better try and take that from him.. Goddam I love Samurai’s.
10/10
Next
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril – This episode is one of my favourites as there is a grown ass man who is afraid of a little boy, like petrified of a small kid with a stick. There is also a female assassin with tattoos on her boobs to distract people, she reminds me of me… But still it’s a detailed and brutal journey for the peaceful family as they have to fight for their survival yet again and against a new foe from the past. There is so much honour and love in these movies, but what sets this one apart is that the cub starts to really come into this own and shows signs of taking on the Samurai code himself.
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