Movie Time!

I hardly read anything over the weekend, 'Man of Iron' was the exception (plus a few pages here and there of 'Siege of Vraks') but I wasn't good for much, on Saturday, apart from watching movies and then on Sunday, I spent the day with my kids and that ended up being more about buying books than reading them. More on that another time ;o)

For now, lets cycle back to the movies. Work is relentless right now so when I get to the weekend, the day where I don't have my girls is spent in front of the telly trying to make a dent in my watchlist. Let me take you through the films that I spent time with over the weekend...

'Howl' (2015)

When a train breaks down in the middle of its last run of the day, the passengers are resigned to waiting for rescue. Their need is about to become desperate though, there is something in the woods outside and it's hungry...

'Night of the Living Dead' on a train, with werewolves instead of zombies. What's there that's not to like? :o) 'Howl' may not do anything that's particularly new but it's still a neat little riff on Romero's original message that humans are their own worst enemy. This time though, it's all about how the lone wolf can be a detriment to the pack as a whole, and I'm not talking about what's outside the train carriage. Like I said, not particularly original but 'Howl' does a lot of good stuff with what it has; a really tense and claustrophobic affair.

'Zombies: Christmas Apocalypse'

As winter rolls into a small mid-western town, the locals are ready for a spot of Christmas cheer; they weren't ready for zombies though...

Well bloody hell that was dreadful. I get that not every movie is going to be big budget. and that's fine, I do object though when most of that budget has clearly gone into the image above. I'll object even more when the actual movie shies away from anything to do with Christmas and decides to concentrate on being a cheap 'Walking Dead' instead. Don't tell me that I'm getting something and then give me something different and make sure that what I do get is engaging. This movie failed on both of these, the only good thing about watching it is that I now know not to watch it again ;o)

'Slugs' (1988)

It all began in a sleepy midwestern community, a place that had never know evil... until now. Something has spawned in the lake, born of nature and corporate greed, and it is headed to the surface. Something with a hunger for flesh, human if they can get it...

When I spoke about Shaun Hutson's 'Slugs' book (a few years ago now), I mentioned that,

'There's a lot going for 'Slugs' then but ultimately, what you get out of this book will very much depend on how far you can suspend your disbelief as to how dangerous a horde of slugs can be.'

Well, there's never anything bad about carnivorous slugs attacking people but seeing it on the screen really brings home that keeping your eye open and then just walking away, if you have to, is all you really need to do in a 'Slug Invasion'. Having some salt handy will help but even that isn't necessary.

'Slugs' isn't a bad movie but it's nowhere near as scary as it wants to be. It does make up for that though by having some decent death scenes. Our chap in the restaurant wins the prize for 'Best Death', if you've read the book or seen the film, you'll know exactly what I mean ;o)

'Demons 2' (1986)

A group of residents, and visitors, are trapped in a high rise tower block after a sudden demonic attack. Will anyone make it out alive?

I suspect this is one of those films where the 'why?' is pushed to one side and forgotten about. I personally couldn't quite figure out why these demons had come to this particular flat. Oh well... :o) Don't do what I did, just slip your brain into neutral and have fun with the rest of it. There's plenty going on and a lot of spilt blood to accompany it. Don't ask me about anything else, I followed my own advice and had a great time. There's no plot but a lot of gore and a little demon that I think should have been adopted by the pregnant lady (nothing that chirrups like that can be really evil, just a little bit at the most). Turns out that I wasn't after much in the way of plot and happy with the gore. It worked for me, your mileage will inevitably vary.