Director: Oren Peli
Release Date: December 3^rd, 2009
Lead Actor: Katie Featherson
Running Time: 86 mins
Genre: Horror

Review by Fraser Green

Finally!! It’s here! I managed to get into a Halloween preview screening and, it is a proper horror film which I would gladly rank as one of best horror flicks of all-time – no violence and extreme suspense. The film stars Katie Featherson, Micah Sloat and Mark Fredrichs.

After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.

Made on a budget of just $US15,000 – to put in contrast, the latest Harry Potter (Half Blood Prince) was made on a budget of $US250 million, even ‘Saw VI’ was made for $US11 million – director Oren Peli has created something quite unreal. Much like the form of a Hitchcock film as one of my mates pointed out after the movie, it builds up to a freakish ending. Also like the Hitchcock film The Birds, it has no music. The actors are great and the suspense has been turned up to maximum, relying on the atmosphere to get it scares rather conform to violence and gore and techniques in horror films that are long since overused and clichéd – this is in a league of its own. The film also has plenty a good humour, as strange as that might seem. Much like The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, it is made in the sense that everything that happened actually happened, and we are watching something that is real. You have to see this and experience it for yourself – for the first time ever I’ve been to see a film in the cinemas and have heard screams throughout the audience. This is an A-grade horror movie, which is masterfully suspenseful.

My Rating: 4 and ½ stars

Director: Kevin Greutert
Release Date: October 22^nd, 2009
Lead Actor: Costas Mandylor
Running Time: 90 mins
Genre: Horror/Mystery

Review by Fraser Green

Another year on and another Saw film has been made, however this new installment in an improvement on ‘Saw V’. The film stars Costas Mandylor (Saw IV, Saw V), Tobin Bell (The Quick and the Dead, Saw), Betsy Russell (Tomboy), Mark Rolston (The Departed), Peter Outerbridge (The Wrong Man, Land of the Dead) and Shawnee Smith (The Island).

Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw’s (Tobin Bell) legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw’s grand scheme is finally understood.

Kevin Greutert has taken over the helming duties, marking Saw VI as his feature debut. There is more of a story to this film, which was only isolated in Saw V and not as interesting. Although I managed to guess some of the plot details, the film remained interesting, despite a flimsy script, as it further dives into Jigsaw’s back story and that of Hoffman. All of the ‘horror’ aspect seems to have been completely drained out of this franchise, but it continues as an excessively violent mystery series, answering loose ends left from the previous film, and creating more paving the way for a seventh installment – the plan from LionsGate is to continue the series up to Saw VIII. The film still isn’t as good as Saw or Saw II, but it is certainly an improvement on the previous film showing cleverness throughout and making the games as grisly as always, which will please most fans of the series. I must say, that the final shot of the film is a keeper, and a great one to finish on for what is still seen as a ‘horror’ film. You’ll understand when you see it.

My Rating: 3 stars

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Release Date: October 1^st, 2009
Lead Actor: Benicio del Toro
Running Time: 120 mins
Genre: Drama/War

Review by Fraser Green

The first part of Steven Soderbergh’s (Ocean’s Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen, Erin Brockovich) epic account of the iconic Cuban revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is one not to be missed. The film stars Benicio del Toro (Sin City, Traffic), Demian Bichir (Weeds), Santiago Cabrera (Heroes) and Vladimir Cruz.

In 1956, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (Benicio Del Toro) and a band of Castro-led Cuban exiles mobilize an army to topple the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista.

This film is s well made by Steven Soderbergh – his techniques and staging of sequences make you feel really involved with the movie and the characters in it, and the action scenes are realistic and tense. Benicio del Toro dominates his role as the famous iconic revolutionary “Che” Guevara, who put the good of the common people before anyone else. The film is reinforced by flashing back-and-forward by a few years when ‘Che’ travels to the US as an ambassador of the new government to hear his political opinions, views and beliefs – it gives the story that extra kick of interest, and provides a reason (even though it doesn’t need one) to why we are watching the movie in the first place. Using Spanish as the main dialogue works very well, giving it that extra authenticity with a great cast line-up of actors that actually look South American, probably because they are, instead of using a series of Hollywood actors! Although the film is slow, it is excellent and very interesting (for me anyway), giving the audience a respectable grasp on the Revolution, even though they may not know anything about it (like me)!

My Rating: 4 stars

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Release Date: October 1^st, 2009
Lead Actor: Benicio del Toro
Running Time: 135 mins
Genre: Drama/War

Review by Fraser Green

The second half of Steven Soderbergh’s epic biopic is still technically striking, but isn’t as absorbing as it immediate predecessor. The film stars Benicio del Toro (Traffic, Sin City, Che: Part One), Carlos Bardem (Dance With the Devil), Demian Bichir (Weeds) and Joaquim de Almeida (Behind Enemy Lines).

In 1967, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (Benicio del Toro) leads a small partisan army to fight an ill-fated revolutionary guerrilla war in Bolivia.

Upon starting to watch this film, you are expecting it to commence immediately after the previous finished, but it doesn’t. It jumps to long after ‘Che’ has returned from his diplomatic venture to the United States, which gave the first film so much more to work with, and this is simply just a narrative of ‘Che’ last days when he tried to spread the Revolution beyond. Although Soderbergh has still made this with brilliance, arguably more so than Part One in terms of technicality, the missing segment that was evident previously doesn’t seem to make it as absorbing. This is still a very good film – Benicio del Toro once again gives a mesmerising performance as ‘Che’, as well as great support from the rest of the cast, and it a great sequel to this informative biopic. It possesses all the right ingredients that were used in Part One, except for something to give it that little more interest, referring of course to ‘Che’ in the United States as an ambassador.

My Rating: 3 and ½ stars

Director: Laurence Olivier
Year: 1955
Lead Actor: Laurence Olivier
Running Time: 162 mins
Genre: Drama/Historical

Review by Fraser Green

This production of Richard III is interesting, clever and well-handled by director Laurence Olivier. Also taking the lead role, Olivier is riveting as Richard, Duke of Gloucester, dominating the screen as the character is intended to do, but the film’s length loses the interest of the audience, and the additional language makes it hard to use as supplementary study material.

My Rating: 3 and ½ stars

Director: Roger Mitchell
Year: 2004
Lead Actor: Daniel Craig
Running Time: 99 mins
Genre: Drama

Review by Fraser Green

Based on the novel by Ian McEwan, Enduring Love is well filmed by Roger Mitchell (Notting Hill), but it diverts away and changes too much from the compelling story that exists in the book, resulting in a relatively short, uninteresting and rushed film that is merely a mindless jumble. Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, Layer Cake) does the best he can with the material available, but loses grip on his performance towards the end.

My Rating: 1 and ½ stars

Director: Fred Zinnemann
Year: 1966
Lead Actor: Paul Scofield
Running Time: 120 mins
Genre: Drama

Review by Fraser Green

Although it omits the famous key role of the character of “The Common Man”, this film manages to overcome this problem by keeping the audience fascinated throughout, and effectively gets Robert Bolt’s message across to the audience without being preachy. Very well structured by director Fred Zinnemann, and the additional scenes work to the film’s advantage.

My Rating: 4 stars

Director: Elia Kazan
Year: 1951
Lead Actor: Marlon Brando
Running Time: 122 mins
Genre: Drama

Review by Fraser Green

This film adaptation of the famous play by Tennessee Williams is smartly directed by Elia Kazan considering the materials available. The actors, headed by Marlon Brando (The Godfather) and Vivian Leigh (Gone With the Wind), make the film absorbing and very thought provoking, staying true to the original play.

My Rating: 4 stars

Director: Paul McGuigan
Release Date: 27^th August, 2009
Lead Actor: Chris Evans
Running Time: 111 mins
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi

Review by Fraser Green

This thinly developed actioner about people with various telekenetic powers doesn’t live up to the hype the trailer made it out to be. The film stars Chris Evans (Sunshine, Cellular), Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds), Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator, Blood Diamond), Camilla Belle (10,000 BC) and Cliff Curtis (Die Hard 4.0, Sunshine).

Two young Americans (Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning) with special abilities must race to find a girl in Hong Kong before a shadowy government organization called ‘Division’ reaches her first, to prevent ‘Division’ from performing any more tests on her that has resulted in death of previous participants.

Let me start by saying, I fell asleep for about 10 minutes of this film – that may give you an idea on how bored I was with it. It was formulaic and treads very familiar ground with the ‘X-Men’ series, in which the Hong Kong setting doesn’t cover up at all. The characterisation is thin, the back-story is brief and poorly set-up and the film then focuses too much on the plot which ends up being convoluted and inefficient. To add on top of this, the script doesn’t offer much, but actors Chris Evans and Djimon Hounsou do their best with the material they’ve got. Paul McGuigan’s directing is messy, so is the editing of the film and the music doesn’t fit at all. The only real positive for the film is that it avoids conforming to many Hollywood films of this type, as it does not overload on action scenes, but instead makes them something good to watch – apart from the muddled direction of McGuigan. Other than that and a couple of the performances (considering the material they have to work with), this film is a bore. It seems McGuigan has a liking to convoluted plots, which was evident with his last film “The Wrong Man” (called “Lucky Number Slevin” in the U.S.), but it was well executed that time round, yet fails drastically in this.

My Rating: 1 and ½ stars

Director: Pete Doctor (co-directed by Bob Peterson)
Release Date: September 3^rd, 2009
Lead Actor: Edward Asner
Running Time: 85 mins
Genre: Animation/Comedy

Review by Fraser Green

I don’t know what it is about these two companies, but Disney & Pixar have yet again managed to put together another a fantastic film for their 2009 release feature, being marked as easily the best animation this year. The film stars the voices of Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer (National Treasure, A Beautiful Mind) and Bob Peterson (Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc.).

By tying thousands of balloons to his home, 78-year-old Carl Frederickson (Edward Asner) sets out to fulfil his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn’t alone on his journey, since Russell (Jordan Nagai), a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.

Director Pete Doctor (Monsters, Inc.) and co-director Bob Peterson have executed this animation right to the finest detail, making it as adventurous as ever while keeping a quite touching side to the story evident throughout the film. It is frequently funny and very absorbing, with a strong script to support the great characters in the film. There isn’t a whole heap to say about this, other than it is fun, adventurous, emotional and very humorous – the best animation of the year (as Disney/Pixar films always are), and this would’ve been aided by the fact that the producers didn’t give away too much in the trailers for the film, which many animations from other companies do, and when it comes to watching the movie, the audience has already seen the hot-spots. Although it’s not my personal favourite from the Disney/Pixar collection, it is certainly up there with the best and definitely one to buy when it comes out on DVD.

My Rating: 4 stars

Director: Joe Wright
Release Date: September 3^rd, 2009
Lead Actor: Robert Downey Jr.
Running Time: 108 mins
Genre: Drama

Review by Fraser Green

Based on the true story by the lead character, The Soloist is a very charming and absorbing story to watch develop on screen, but other aspects of the film detract from this great plot. The film stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, Zodiac), Jamie Foxx (Collateral, Ray), Catherine Keener (Synecdoche, New York, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and Tom Hollander (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest).

A Los Angeles journalist, Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) befriends a homeless Julliard-trained musician, Nathanial Ayers (Jamie Foxx) while desperately looking for a new article for the paper.

This is a really great story – it has happiness and emotion, and I was surprised I became so absorbed in the story considering that I don’t have a spice for films of this nature, about musicians. Downey Jr. and Foxx completely mesmerise their roles and really keep the film going when it seems to detract from the interesting plot into the small, undeveloped romantic progress between Downey Jr. and Catherine Keener’s character. It also seemed to be quite uninteresting when the film went into ‘flashback’ mode, describing Nathanial’s past, which I can see is an important part of this true story, but didn’t fit right for me. The film also raises some questions about morals relating to treatment for the mentally ill, and it gives a good look at the change in character of Lopez who is established quickly and very well at the beginning of the film. Other then some of those scenes that could’ve probably been removed completely, this is a very interesting film to watch and the relationship between the two leads is absorbing.

My Rating: 3 and ½ stars

Director: Brad Anderson
Release: 2004
Lead Actor: Christian Bale
Running Time: 97 mins
Genre: Thriller/Drama

Review by Fraser Green

Although this treads familiar ideas with Fight Club, it remains an original and enthralling story that keeps you guessing and talking right up until the last minute. A competently made psychological thriller and Christian Bale puts on a very good performance looking very ghostly weighing just 55kg.

My Rating: 4 stars

Director: Richard Loncraine
Release: 1995
Lead Actor: Ian McKellen
Running Time: 105 mins
Genre: Drama

Review by Fraser Green

This alternative take on one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays doesn’t live up to the dramatic effect of the play itself with the Elizabethan dialogue failing to fit in the 20^th century setting. But, Ian McKellen keeps it interesting as well as the creativeness of Loncraine’s clever filmic techniques.

My Rating: 3 stars

Director: Sofia Coppola
Release: 2006
Lead Actor: Kirsten Dunst
Running Time: 123 mins
Genre: Comedy/Drama

Review by Fraser Green

Sofia Coppola’s vision of the infamous last Queen of France is great at visually mocking the monarchy of France during a time of crisis, proving to be quite funny. But, it fails to establish anything out of the royal palace in Versailles not making the ending as effective as it should’ve been – don’t use this film as a historical study, merely just a bit of entertainment through the predominantly visual mockery of the royals.

My Rating: 3 stars

Director: Sam Raimi
Release: 2007
Lead Actor: Tobey Maguire
Running Time: 140 mins
Genre: Action

Review by Fraser Green

This third addition to the commercially successful franchise is drowned with messy CGI effect and disjointed, over-the-top action sequences, lacking the fun, believability and thrills of its predecessors. It also suffers from multiple convoluted characters that prove inefficient causing the film to run for too long – however the actors remain great in their roles, especially considering the material they have to work with.

My Rating: 2 stars

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Release Date: August 20^th, 2009
Lead Actor: Brad Pitt
Running Time: 149 mins
Genre: War/Drama

Review by Fraser Green

The 7^th film by Quentin Tarantino (if you count Kill Bill as two separate films) Inglourious Basterds, intentionally miss-spelt, is a triumph mixing the pure classic Tarantino filmic techniques with a World War Two setting. The film stars Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Cutton), Diane Kruger (National Treasure), Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Death Proof), Melanie Laurent and Mike Myers (Austin Powers: The International Man of Mystery).

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) soldiers known as “The Basterds” are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl (Melanie Laurent) who runs a movie theatre in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

This is a fantastic war film – it not your conventional war flick as it contains long drawn-out scenes with lots of dialogue and very character based. This is what makes Tarantino so unique, as dialogue is all-important in his eyes. Some scenes last as if they run for about 30 minutes – no joke, they literally feel that way – but I wasn’t timing them as I was so intrigued by each and every sequence. I wouldn’t be surprised if some scenes were that long. You may forget that you are watching a war film, but you will always know that it is a Tarantino movie – the long scenes of extensive dialogue are somehow so absorbing and interesting, with all the actors selling everything they do. The long scenes also create fantastic tension with the outstanding performance stolen by Austrian-born actor Christoph Waltz who plays a Colonel in the SS – he is utterly unbelievable and after his presence in the very first scene, every time thereafter he appears on screen you can’t help but shiver. He is just enthralling to watch on screen.
And of course, the typical Tarantino music (with a couple of familiar songs from previous films he has done) works with this film so incredibly well. Also returning are the different “Chapters” that separate the film (which were absent in his last film Death Proof) and the brutal violence that you could only expect in a film by Quentin Tarantino. It is also authentic how majority of the film is in German or French, not English, to match the origin of the characters. However, in spite of these positive comments, it is a bit too long – even though I was absorbed the whole way through, it did drag on for probably a little too much. Nevertheless, this tense and absorbing war-drama is a new and stupendous addition in the vast library of Quentin Tarantino, with a great script to support everything that also manages to initiate some good humour among the seriousness of the story, but it is all polished off by the highlight of the film, Christoph Waltz – extraordinary.

My Rating: 4 and ½ stars

Director: Neill Blomkamp
Release Date: August 13^th, 2009
Lead Actor: Sharlto Copley
Running Time: 112 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Action

Review by Fraser Green

Director and co-writer Neill Blomkamp, the man behind the Halo ‘Landfall’ short-films, has helmed his feature debut with District 9, and in unbelievable fashion too. The film stars Sharlto Copley, Robert Hobbs (Catch a Fire) and Vanessa Haywood – many of these lead actors making their acting debuts as well.

An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly find a kindred spirit in a government agent, Wikus (Sharlto Copley), that is exposed to their biotechnology. This also leads to the true exposure of Multinational United (MNU), the organisation assigned to manage the extraterrestrial presence.

This is a brilliant achievement in modern filmmaking and in the alien genre itself. Neill Blomkamp, who has based this film on his 2005 short-film “Alive in Joburg”, has filmed this as a fiction-documentary style, linking it in with the progression of a normal film. Blomkamp has created a very realistic world and makes it so seamless that it could actually be true. His references to racism, human corruption and the human conscience gives the audience a lot of insight to the story and his underlying message of human behaviour and our sometimes irrational resolution of crises. The film is also extremely tense and has great emotional punch, especially for the very likeable character of Wikus, played brilliantly by Sharlto Copley, as well of the couple of aliens that the story mainly involves, backed up by a very effective musical score. The score may have been overdone at times, but worked very well in the scenes that it intended to do so. District 9 is also incredibly sharp, as Blomkamp manages to execute everything down to the finest detail, linking everything into the absorbing plot with a great script to go with it. I can’t get past the tension of this film – you really sit there and consciously ask yourself “how can this be happening” or “how are they going to get out of this”, and it’s fair to say that the emotional side of the film played an important role in making this so effective.
Now of course, the action – Blomkamp uses real stunts that are seemingly mixed with state-of-art CGI effects in the way which these usually drowning effects flourishing through Hollywood action-blockbusters should be used, creating exciting action scenes that are never too over-the-top and never fail to impress. Also, to top off these realistic scenes, plenty of violence that may bring about some good laughs – you will understand what I mean when you see this film. The film is also very witty, which is something I wasn’t expecting, with all actors – many of the lead ones never appearing in a film before – proving to be excellent in their roles. I could keep talking about District 9 for hours, but I look forward to seeing future pictures by Neill Blomkamp, as he has created a near-masterpiece of a debut movie.

My Rating: 4 and ½ stars

Director: Henry Selick
Release Date: August 6^th, 2009
Lead Actor: Dakota Fanning
Running Time: 100 mins
Genre: Animation/Adventure

Review by Fraser Green

Although visually stunning and driven with a unique story, the cleverly made Coraline fails to grasp me in the way I hoped it to. The film stars the voices of Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds), Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives), Jennifer Saunders (Shrek 2), Dawn French (The Vicar of Dibley), Keith David (Hollywood Homicide, Crash) and Ian McShane (Death Race).

An adventurous girl named Coraline (Dakota Fanning) finds another world that is a strangely idealised version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.

Writer/director Henry Selick (A Nightmare Before Christmas) has created something quite unique here – it is a very alternative animation that is well scripted, very originally and visually astounding. However, there was something about this film that didn’t captivate me. Perhaps it was the absurd plot, but it is definitely not your general everyday children’s animation. On that note, the stop-motion animation is splendid and the visuals Selick and his animators use to create the story leave you wondering how they managed to do this. The humour is frequent towards the beginning, but quickly dries up as the film becomes more serious and less of a children’s movie. This is a supernatural adventure that is very well done, but doesn’t extend beyond into the ‘magnificent’ film range that I can watch again and again – it is to be commemorated for its technicality for the way it made.

My Rating: 3 and ½ stars

Director: Michael Mann
Release Date: July 30^th, 2009
Lead Actor: Johnny Depp
Running Time: 140 mins
Genre: Crime/Drama

Review by Fraser Green

Director Michael Mann (Collateral, Heat) returns to the helm along with someone who hasn’t appeared in a film for about a year and a half, and someone who is in a new film every couple of months – Public Enemies. The film stars Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber from Fleet Street, Edward Scissorhands), Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, Terminator Salvation), Marion Cotillard (Big Fish, A Good Year), Billy Crudup (Watchmen) and David Wenham (The Proposition, 300).

The Feds, initiated by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup), try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and his followers during a booming crime wave in the 1930s, with Field Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) assigned to the task.

The main aspects I love about films by Michael Mann are their sense of realism – he is able to create tense action sequences that are very realistic as they never go over-the-top as most Hollywood films do these days. His filming techniques also allow the audience to see more of the actual gunfights from the perspective of the people involved without the quick-fast messy editing. Although ‘Public Enemies’ is a big improvement on his last film ‘Miami Vice’, it still didn’t live up to my expectations, or the quality of Michael Mann. The lack of character development and missing pieces in the story were surprising from Mann. The start seemed to move along very quickly, without knowing who anyone was or what was really going on. But when things started to settle down, as I was watching the film there seemed to be holes in the story – a scene would jump to the next without a clear indication on what was going on, or how it arrived at that scene or place in the story. Luckily it is not a complex plot and you are able to stay in line with the film. Depp and Cotillard are great and I can finally once again, after many years, understand what Bale is saying on screen – yes, he opens his mouth in this film! The cinematography is beautiful and the stepping back in time is always a great aspect to look at in these types of films. Although the plot is simplistic, it remains interesting and tense but would’ve been much better if characters were better developed at the start and those links weren’t omitted from the storyline. This is a very good film, but it should’ve been much better from a top director like Michael Mann.

My Rating: 3 and ½ stars

Check out this clip below:

Director: Sam Raimi
Release Date: July 23^rd, 2009
Lead Actor: Alison Lohman
Running Time: 99 mins
Genre: Horror

Review by Fraser Green

Director Sam Raimi returns to his roots in the horror franchise, to helm and co-write this original horror piece that manages to satisfy. The film stars Alison Lohman (Beowulf, Big Fish), Justin Long (Die Hard 4.0), Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao (Avatar) and David Paymer (Nixon, Ocean’s Thirteen).

A loan officer, Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) ordered to evict an old woman (Lorna Raver) from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse, which turns her life into a living hell. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.

After being completely shut-off from his origin of film by the massive-budget ‘Spiderman’ franchise, director Sam Raimi presents Drag Me To Hell, which is a piece that I consider to be ‘true horror’ – minimal violence, maximum suspense. Laid down around an original storyline, Raimi manages to drive tension and avoids the modern-day conformity of bloody violence and gore, which keeps you interested in what is going on. Raimi achieves this through some technically stunning scenes, but also from scenes that on face value seem relatively simple, yet he hits the nail! Alison Lohman, however, I found to be boring in the lead – the major flaw with the film and she doesn’t make it as interesting as everything around her is unfolding to be like. Luckily Justin Long in the support was good, providing the alternative view on reality as his girlfriend goes through this experience. The ‘horror’ scenes, so to speak, are also well thought out and more original than your typical horror film. However, I found one scene particularly hard to follow and seemed way over-the-top, detracting from what Raimi had produced in the rest of the film – it was an important scene too! The ending is a stellar and unexpected finish to the story, but it didn’t sit well with me unfortunately. There are a couple too many faults that I personally didn’t think were necessary, but most people should agree with me about Lohman – as she is the central character, she needed to drive the film and stay interesting all the way through, which she failed to do. To add to that, I’m not a big fan of horror films about spirits and ghosts, with only very few I find to be fantastic. But this is still true horror and worth seeing, reminding you of Raimi’s triumphant horror franchise, “The Evil Dead”.

My Rating: 3 stars

Chech out the trailer for the film below: