Hypothermia – Why oh Why Michael Rooker

Hypothermia

The project tells the story of two friends. The two have been fishing at the same location for years, but one day a sudden disappearance in the populace of fish puzzle the young men. After initially considering the possibilities, they wonder if the lake was fished dry, or if there was a deeper, darker meaning to the empty lake. This question is quickly answered, as the friends are attacked by a mysterious creature, and more victims are found beneath the icy lake.

Director: James Felix McKenney
Writer: James Felix McKenney
Stars: Michael Rooker, Blanche Baker, Benjamin Forster
Release Date: 2 October 2012
Runtime: 73 min
Production Co: Dark Sky Films & Glass Eye Pix

I really gotta stop doing this to myself; I get bored at around midnight and start scrolling aimlessly around crackflix for something to make my eyes bleed to. I find that with my sleep addled brain and caffeine burning eyes that my choices are always on the questionable side of things. I generally look at the rating to get somewhat of an idea how good or bad a film will be (I don’t put to much faith in ratings), so when I happened upon Hypothermia with its 3 star Netflix rating, decent looking cover and somewhat interesting synopsis, I thought tonight would be different. Wrong!

Sinister – Creepy…yes, groundbreaking….not quite

Sinister.

A true-crime writer finds a cache of 8mm home movies films that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose career dates back to the 1960s.
Release date: March 11, 2012 (initial release)
Director: Scott Derrickson
DVD release date: February 19, 2013
Running time: 110 minutes
Screenplay: Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill
Stars:Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone

Sinister tells the tale of a true crime writer, Ellison Oswalth (Ethan Hawke), researching a series of seemingly unrelated serial murders that have spanned decades. Of course he moves into the house where one of the murders took place. Of course. What better way to get “into” a story than by secretly moving your entire family into a house where a family of four was murdered; strung up and hung from the old tree in the backyard.

Silent Hill Revelations

Silent Hill Revelation. 2012.

Heather Mason and her father have been on the run, always one step ahead of dangerous forces that she doesn’t fully understand, Now on the eve of her 18th birthday, plagued by horrific nightmares and the disappearance of her father, Heather discovers she’s not who she thinks she is. The revelation leads her deeper into a demonic world that threatens to trap her forever.

Director: Michael J. Bassett
Writer: Michael J. Bassett
Stars: Adelaide Clemens, Kit Harington, Sean Bean
Release Date: 26 October 2012
Runtime: 94 min
Budget: $20,000,000

Christopher, Rose and Sharon from the First Film.

I caught Silent Hill Revelation on demand recently, a little late and unfortunately not in 3D; but having been a big fan of the original Silent Hill and all it’s hellish glory, as well as the intensely creepy video game series, I immediately rented it when it popped up. Silent Hill Revelation takes places some years after the original; Sharon (Adelaide Clemens) and her father Christoper (Sean Bean) have been living under assumed identities after the events of the first film. Rose (Radha Mitchell) discovers a doorway linking the world of Silent Hill and the real world; using it, she sends Sharon back, trapping herself in Silent Hill in the process. We learn all of this in a very short flashback, featuring a young Sharon and a grieving Christopher. Christopher, now going by the name of Harry, promises Rose that he will protect their daughter from the evil forces of Silent Hill that are seeking her. Sharon, now 18, is plagued by constant visions and waking nightmares of a dilapidated town and it`s demonic inhabitants. We find out that she has no recollection of the past events or her role in the first film. Silent Hill is calling her back. Read review…

The Lords of Salem – New Trailer

The Lords of Salem, 203. A Rob Zombie Film

The Lords of Salem is a 2012 horror film written and directed by Rob Zombie. It is about the city of Salem, Massachusetts being visited by a coven of ancient witches. Wikipedia.
Director: Rob Zombie
Writer: Rob Zombie
Stars: Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison and Jeff Daniel Phillips
Budget: $1,500,000 (estimated)
Runtime: 101 min
Theatrical Release Date: April 26, 2013

Heidi DJs at the local radio station, and together with the two Hermans (Whitey and Munster) forms part of the ‘Big H Radio Team’. A mysterious wooden box containing a vinyl record arrives for Heidi, “a gift from the Lords”. She assumes it’s a rock band on a mission to spread their word. As Heidi and Whitey play the Lords’ record, it starts to play backwards, and Heidi experiences a flashback to a past trauma. Later, Whitey plays the Lords’ record, dubbing them the Lords of Salem, and to his surprise, the record plays normally and is a massive hit with listeners. The arrival of another wooden box from the Lords presents the Big H team with free tickets, posters and records to host a gig in Salem. Soon Heidi and her cohorts find that the gig is far from the rock spectacle they’re expecting; the original Lords of Salem are returning, and they’re out for blood. (Wiki)

Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door

Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door. 2007.

Based on the Jack Ketchum novel of the same name, The Girl Next Door follows the unspeakable torture and abuses committed on a teenage girl in the care of her aunt…and the boys who witness and fail to report the crime.

Director: Gregory Wilson
Writers: Daniel Farrands (screenplay), Philip Nutman (screenplay)
Stars: William Atherton, Blythe Auffarth and Blanche Baker
Country: USA
Also Known As: Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door
Filming Locations: Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA
Runtime: 91 min

Jack Ketchum’s, The Girl Next door is loosely based on the grisly torture and subsequent murder of Silvia Likens by Gertrude Baniszewski during the summer of 1965; one of the most heinous crimes in American history. The plot centers on Meg (Blythe Auffarth) and Susan (Madeline Taylor) two sisters who have been sent from New York to live with their aunt, Ruth Chandler (Blanche Baker) and three cousins Willie (Graham Patrick Martin), Ralphie (Austin Williams) and Donny (Benjamin Ross Kaplan), in the wake of a horrific car wreck that killed both of their parents. The sisters soon find out that aunt Ruth is a sadistic psychopath that harbors a deep resentment of men and who thinks women are just filthy whores.  David, a young boy living in 1950’s Indiana, is neighbor to the Chandlers and becomes infatuated with Meg.

Never having read the original novel by Ketchum, I was aware of this twisted tale by a wiki article I’d read a few years back concerning the 1965 Likens murder; and was thrilled to see The Girl Next Door appear on Netflix a short while ago.  The film starts off with an older wealthy man reflecting on a past tragedy, things that could have been different, things he could have changed.  We learn that the older man is in-fact David, the protagonist of the film, who as a young boy, befriends Meg and Susan, the tragic victims of the story.  The Film is told mainly through David’s perspective as a flashback to his childhood during the summer of 1958.  The setting was spot on; retro clothing, classic cars and malt shops depicted a simpler time in The Girl Next Door.  One scene in particular involves David and Meg getting a few cheeseburgers and fries which he pays for with fifty cents (I wish).  From the chauvinistic macho attitudes to the smoking is healthy mentality, the film really nailed down small town 1950’s USA.

Read Full Review…..

Next Up: teaching my children well…..