The Forest (2016 Movie)

Gramercy Pictures

My rating: 4.5 of 5

Rated PG-13/Trigger warning for suicide

Sara Price receives a phone call from Japan informing her that her twin sister Jess was last seen entering Aokigahara Forest–a place legendary for people going to commit suicide–and is presumed dead. But Sara knows better. Ever since they were kids, she’s been able to sense Jess’s existence, tell when she’s in trouble. So she knows that Jess is still alive, and as so many times before, that she needs Sara’s help. Arriving in Japan, Sara is warned off numerous times, told of the yūrei that haunt the forest, driving people to madness and luring those with sadness in their hearts to kill themselves, even if that wasn’t their intention. But Sara refuses to be dissuaded, and teaming up with reporter Aiden and trail-guide Michi, she sets off into the forest in search of her sister.

I initially picked up The Forest for the simple reason that Eoin Macken is in it. For the record, don’t do that. His role here isn’t that big, and while I liked his character, the writing here simply did not do justice to his immense skill as an actor. Having said that, I very much do not regret watching this movie. It’s an unexpected horror/thriller that refuses to fall into any of your typical genre niches neatly. There’s an Asian horror feel to it that goes beyond just the setting, but it’s not strictly an Asian horror film. Nor is it your typical jump-scare, blood and gore fest that so many horror movies are. In fact, although it seems strange to say this in regards to any horror sort of movie, The Forest is remarkably clean. Still not family friendly, obviously, what with the scariness and allusions to suicide that are prevalent, but it’s not all the sex and language and blood that so many movies of this sort seem to stoop to. Rather, this movie is a slow, atmospheric build of emotional, mental, and psychological horror over the course of the entire movie. If you’re not a fan of the slow burn, it will probably drive you crazy; give this movie a pass. But if you’ve got the patience, the atmosphere of tension that builds is quite well done–the lighting, music, acting, sets, backstory, everything working together quite brilliantly. There’s a sense of mystery that plays in well, and of course, the supernatural element as the yūrei here are real . . . at least in Sara’s head. And that’s where things get really interesting as we have this slow descent into madness from her perspective, so we as the viewers aren’t always able to tell what’s real and what isn’t either. I’ve seen a lot of controversial ratings for this movie–some very positive, others negative in the extreme–but personally, I feel The Forest is one of the best horror/thriller movies I’ve seen, period. Recommended, at least for those who have the patience for the slower pacing.

Written by Ben Ketai, Sarah Cornwell, & Nick Antosca/Directed by Jason Zada/Produced by Tory Metzger, David S. Goyer, & David Linde/Starring Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, & Eoin Macken/Music by Bear McCreary

Advertisements

My Bloody Valentine (2009 Movie)

Lionsgate

My rating: 3 of 5

Warning: Mature Audience/Rated R for all the reasons–sex, language, nudity, blood and gore, violence, you name it, you’ve been warned

Tom Warden returns to the small mining town of Harmony after nearly ten years away to settle things following his father’s death. But it seems the past is coming back to haunt him as a series of violent murders sweeps across the rural community . . . murders that parallel closely those that devastated the town on Valentine’s Day ten years ago. And people can’t help but wonder, since Tom was in a way responsible for the previous murders, or at least for the mining accident that created the monster responsible for them.

My Bloody Valentine is a great reminder of why I don’t watch slasher films–but I couldn’t resist the awesomeness that is Jensen Ackles anymore, I just couldn’t. And I have to say that if this were my kind of movie, I would likely have given it quite a high rating. There’s more story to it that just a random collection of bodies building up, so points for that. The casting and acting are well done, too–and yes, I have to gush a bit over the great job Jensen did with this role. There’s a lot of subtlety and suggestion that goes into this part, and he pulls it off with his typical aplomb. But I have to say that the other actors did a great job with their parts, too, which again made the whole thing much more enjoyable. Having said that, there’s a lot of violence and just cringe-worthy, graphic murders–kudos on the CG, by the way–that are just kind of awful, even though they’re executed well. So yeah, fair warning and all that; this is likely to induce nightmares. I did enjoy the twist at the ending, even if it was a bit predictable. Of note, this is a remake of the 1981 movie of the same title, which I haven’t seen, so I can’t comment on any comparisons between the two. Recommended for Ackles fans and for slasher fans, but probably not otherwise. And I’ll always love Ten Inch Hero waaaaay more.

Directed by Patrick Lussier/Produced by Jack L. Murray/Screenplay by Zane Smith, Todd Farmer, & John Beaird (1981 screenplay)/Story by Stephen Miller (1981 story)/Based on My Bloody Valentine by George Mihalka/Starring Jensen Ackles, Jaime King, Kerr Smith, Betsy Rue, & Kevin Tighe/Music by Michael Wandmacher

EXPIRED | Deal Alert: Pop Culture Survival Guide Humble Bundle

From Quirk Books, the publishers who brought us such awesome stories as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and William Shakespeare’s Star Wars, comes a bundle filled with pop-culture fun. You’ve got quirky horror stories, a couple of volumes of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, whole volumes dedicated to pop icons, and a number of survival guides of various sorts. Frankly, this collection looks absolutely quirky and definitely fun. If you’re interested, you can check this bundle out here.

Bloodsucking Bastards (2015 Movie)

Shout! Factory

My rating: 2 of 5

WARNING: MATURE AUDIENCE/Not rated, but would be rated R for language and blood and gore

Live in corporate America is completely unfair. You really try to do your job, and on the one hand your best friend who works with you thinks you’re lame for trying so hard, while on the other your boss overlooks you for your expected promotion–only to high your college nemesis from outside the company instead! Evan finds it all a bit too much, especially when his girlfriend Amanda (who works in HR) is currently shunning his as well (although it really was his fault). But really, finding out that the new company strategy is to turn its workers into vampires?! Truly unfair, and also a bit disturbing.

So . . . picked this up because Fran Kranz. Adorable and fun actor to watch, although this certainly isn’t his best movie. Basically, take The Office and add vampires, and you’ve got the basic plot of Bloodsucking Bastards. I honestly almost didn’t finish this; the first chunk is kind of boring, full of corporate politics, love problems, and bad/awkward comedy à la The Office. But once the action starts–people acting strange, bodies showing up, that sort of thing–the story becomes more interesting, although still full of awkward comedic moments and lots of language (fair warning). There are elements of the story that are clever in an indie-writing sort of way, I guess. Kranz comes into his own as things heat up, showing that he is capable of making even a rather awful movie into something at least somewhat interesting. Still not my favorite role for him, though. Also, fair warning that the vampires in this movie splat something awful–blood and gore everywhere in a goopy, but not really graphic, kind of way. I think . . . if you’re into horror-comedy and enjoy a poke at corporate politics, Bloodsucking Bastards might be fun, but it’s generally not something I’d recommend on the whole.

Written by Ryan Mitts & Dr. God/Directed by Brian James O’Connell/Produced by Brett Forbes, Patrick Rizzotti, Brandon Evans, Colleen Hard, & Justin Ware/Starring Fran Kranz, Pedro Pascal, Emma Fitzpatrick, Joey Kern, Joel Murray, Justin Ware, & Marshall Givens/Music by Anton Sanko

Choices: Stories You Play (Mobile Game/App Review)

Publisher: Pixelberry Studios

Platform: Android

My rating: 4 of 5

Do you enjoy visual novels with solid characters, great music and visuals, and real choices that affect the course of the game? The Choices may be just the choice for you. Find true love, save your kingdom, solve the mystery . . . just remember that the decisions you make matter, so choose wisely.

Choices was quite an interesting find; I’m frankly at a loss as to whether to refer to it as a game itself, or to just call it a platform, like Steam or Tapastic. More the latter, I suppose, although between the visual novels offered on this platform, there is a consistent system and gameplay style, so it’s sort of all one game consisting of multiple stories in that sense. Either way, it offers a variety of interesting stories (which I’ll likely review individually at a later date) including a number of romance stories, at least one epic fantasy, some quirky mysteries, and a couple of horror games. Pros include a solid gaming system that is explained clearly, interfaces well for the player, and is actually interesting to play. You also really do get some significant choices, which is cool, although in my experience the ones I’ve played have kept me from dying so far. And so far, the stories I’ve played have been well written–as stated above, attractive art, good characters, and nice music. Cons are mostly in the way they’ve set the game up financially. Technically, this game is ad-supported and free-to-play, which is cool and technically true. You get one (generally un-obnoxious) short ad before each chapter, and it’s otherwise a clean game without interruption. Where this technicality falls apart is that you have limited keys (stamina, essentially) to unlock new chapters, and you have to wait a good bit of time or pay for more keys if you want to play more than the allotted amount at any given time. Now, that’s not entirely a bad thing, although it can be annoying, since it keeps me from spending hours at a time staring at my phone. More significant is that the games use diamonds to unlock certain options, but you only get one diamond for completing a chapter, and most options require several to unlock them. So your choices are to generally take less favorable/special options and save up your diamonds for where it really counts or spend money to buy extra diamonds. Having said that, I’ve yet to find a place where the story suffers significantly or where you can’t proceed if you only take the free options; you just miss out on some extra scenes and such. So the general conclusion is that, while I have to take points off for being a bit annoying in making me want to spend money when I shouldn’t (and yes, I would pay a lump sum to install a version of this where that’s not an issue), I think Choices still has a lot of potential to be a fun (even addictive) visual novel platform with a solid interface and some enjoyable game options. Recommended.

EXPIRED | Deal Alert: Humble MangaGamer and Friends Bundle

Just an FYI, for those of you who enjoy visual novels, Humble Bundle currently has a pretty nice bundle of them for a decent price ($10 for the entire thing). Looks like it’s got some variety–horror, tourism, looks like some slightly ecchi idol ones, and even one that looks like a nostalgic/romantic shoujo ai one. Honestly, I’m not at all familiar with most of these games, so I can’t vouch for how good they are, though some definitely look interesting. Probably the biggest selling point of this bundle is its inclusion of the first five Higurashi When They Cry sound novels–which, frankly, is enough to be worth buying this bundle in its own right. Because, let’s face it, those games are classic.

If you’re interested, you can find more information at https://www.humblebundle.com/games/mangagamer-and-friends-bundle.

EXPIRED | Deal Alert: Multi-Genre Fiction Humble Bundle

So, this is exactly what it sounds like. Humble Bundle is offering a book bundle from Night Shade Books featuring books from a variety of genres ranging from sci-fi to horror to fantasy to maybe even a little mystery. Included are a few “best-of” short story collections as well as a number of longer novels. I’m not personally familiar with a lot of the authors, although there is a collection of Paolo Bacigalupi short stories. They claim the featured authors include names like George R. R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen,  and Orson Scott Card–I’m guessing in the short story collections. The full-length novels are mostly by authors I don’t recognize, but i looks like an interesting group of books.

If you’re interested, you can find this bundle at https://www.humblebundle.com/books/multi-genre-fiction-books.