The Innkeepers (2011)

The Innkeepers is a 2011 horror film written, directed, and edited by Ti West, starring Kelly McGillis, Pat Healy and Sara Paxton.

The Plot

During the final days at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, two employees determined to reveal the hotel's haunted past begin to experience disturbing events as old guests check in for a stay.

Reviews

The Innkeepers has received generally good reviews from critics. As of 3rd February 2012, the film has a 76% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 61 out of 80 reviews counted, with consensus "It doesn't break any rules of the genre, but The Inkeepers serves as additional proof that Ti West is a young director that discriminating horror fans can trust". David Harley of horror movie review site Bloody Disgusting gave the film three skulls out of five saying that "once the tone shifts from light-hearted comedy to balls-to-the-wall horror, it makes the two halves feel like separate films" and that The Innkeepers is "just kind of disappointing". Others gave the film more favorable reviews, with Life After Undeath giving the film 8 out of 10 and saying that "it is a slow burn with a wicked punch and it is creepier than that one eyed whore with the deep voice you always avoid on your way back from the 'massage' parlor". Horror-Movies.ca gave the film a largely negative review stating that "nothing happens for a VERY long time, other than the old tried, tested, overdone and predictable jump scenes, and for a film that is over 100mins long, that isn’t good."

The Cast

Sara Paxton as Claire
 Pat Healy as Luke
 Alison Bartlett as Gayle, Angry Mom
 Jake Ryan as Jake Schlueter
 Kelly McGillis as Leanne Rease-Jones
 Lena Dunham as Barista
 George Riddle as Old Man
 Brenda Cooney as Madeline O'Malley
 John Speredakos as Officer Mitchell

Red Riding Hood (2011)

Red Riding Hood is an American/Canadian dark fantasy film directed by Catherine Hardwicke, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and starring Amanda Seyfried as the title role, from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson. It is very loosely based on the folk tale Little Red Riding Hood collected by both Charles Perrault under the name "Le Petit Chaperon Rouge" (Little Red Riding Hood) and several decades later by the Brothers Grimm as "Rotkäppchen" (Little Red Cap).

The Plot

Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) lives in the village of Daggerhorn, on the edge of a forest plagued by a werewolf. The villagers sacrifice livestock so that the wolf won't prey on them, but then Valerie's sister Lucie is found dead. The outraged villagers manage to kill a wolf, but soon a priest arrives, Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), who tells them that a slain werewolf would revert to human form, and their werewolf is still on the loose. Meanwhile Valerie's mother, Suzette (Virginia Madsen), has arranged her marriage to Henry (Max Irons), the son of the wealthy blacksmith Adrien Lazar (Michael Shanks), and persuaded Valerie's childhood friend and would-be lover, a poor woodsman named Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), that he should let her go if he really loves her. Valerie's grandmother (Julie Christie) consoles her granddaughter by giving her an early wedding gift: a beautiful red hooded cloak.

When Valerie sees her mother grieving over the blacksmith, slain in the werewolf hunt, she learns that her mother loved him before she married and that Lucie was his daughter, unknown to her father Cesaire (Billy Burke). The villagers celebrate that night, refusing to believe the priest's warning, even after he explains that during the blood moon - which is happening over the course of these three days - anyone bitten by the werewolf is cursed to become one. Valerie pursues Peter to confront him about rejecting her, and after a romantic interlude in a barn, they are separated and the werewolf attacks. The wolf confronts Valerie and her friend Roxanne (Shauna Kain) and both are horrified to learn that Valerie can not only speak to the werewolf, but can understand it when it speaks to her.

The next morning, Father Solomon kills one of his guards that was wounded by the wolf, despite his brother's objections. Solomon insists that all the cursed men must die. Henry tells Valerie he had seen her with Peter and they call off their engagement. Solomon insists that wolf is one of the villagers and begins to search all their homes. In the process, Solomon discovers Roxanne's autistic brother hiding and accuses him of witchcraft, stuffing him in a Brazen Bull when he will not give them the name of the werewolf. Roxanne, hoping to free her brother, tells him that Valerie spoke the language of the werewolf and accuses her of witchcraft. Solomon releases the boy, though he is traumatized and catatonic from the experience, and Valerie is offered as a sacrifice to appease the werewolf, but Peter and Henry rescue her. The wolf comes, but is unable to cross holy ground to enter the churchyard where Valerie and Henry had gone for sanctuary. Solomon tries to force Valerie to leave and in the conflict the wolf bites his hand off. The guard whose brother was killed by Solomon tells him, "A man bitten is a man cursed," before killing him. Everyone realizes that Valerie was innocent since she was able to take refuge on holy ground.

Valerie suspects Peter is the wolf, injures him and flees to her grandmother's house, but is greeted instead by her father using her grandmother's voice. Cesaire reveals that he is the werewolf and that all in his bloodline can speak to him. When Lucie, not born of his blood, could not understand him, he realized that she was not his child and lost control. He offers Valerie an opportunity to become a werewolf as well, each generation being stronger than the last one, but when she refuses he tries to force her. Peter returns and the two men have a furious struggle. Peter is bitten and then knocked out, but Valerie manages to kill her father using the dismembered hand of Solomon which, as a precaution had been lined with silver fingernails by Solomon himself. Peter, realizing he was bitten and will be cursed to become the werewolf, but instead of killing him, Valerie helps him dump Cesaire's body in the lake and he rows away. He promises to return when he has controlled the beast within, and Valerie leaves Daggerhorn and moves into her grandmother's cottage, awaiting the day Peter returns. Henry leaves with Solomon's troupe to hunt werewolves and other creatures while Valerie's mother, having given up on Cesaire's return, returns to a normal life as well. One night, Valerie sees a werewolf, and smiling, looks to the future.

In the alternate cut of the film, before Peter leaves, he and Valerie make love together and later in the movie when Peter returns, Valerie is holding hers and Peter's daughter.

Reviews

The film received mainly negative reviews. The film currently holds a 11% rating on critic aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus being "Amanda Seyfried is magnetic in Red Riding Hood's starring role, but she's let down by her uninspired leading men and a painfully cliched script."Metacritic gave the film a score of 28 out of 100. USA Today complimented the production design, but wrote "it's a foolish story, marred by a strange blend of overacting and bland, offhand performances."Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four, stating it is "a movie that cross-pollinates the Twilight formula with a werewolf and a girl who always wears a red hooded cape, although I don't recall her doing any riding.... it has the added inconvenience of being serious about a plot so preposterous, it demands to be filmed by Monty Python."Mary Pols of Time magazine named it one of the Top 10 Worst Movies of 2011.

The Cast

Amanda Seyfried as Valerie
 Gary Oldman as Solomon
 Billy Burke as Cesaire
 Shiloh Fernandez as Peter
 Max Irons as Henry
 Virginia Madsen as Suzette
 Lukas Haas as Father Auguste
 Julie Christie as Grandmother
 Shauna Kain as Roxanne
 Michael Hogan as The Reeve
 Adrian Holmes as Captain
 Cole Heppell as Claude
 Christine Willes as Madame Lazar
 Michael Shanks as Adrien Lazar
 Kacey Rohl as Prudence
 Carmen Lavigne as Rose

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is a 2011 American horror film written by Matthew Robbins and Guillermo del Toro, directed by comic book artist Troy Nixey and filmed in Mount Macedon, Victoria and Melbourne, Australia. The film stars Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes, and Bailee Madison, as a man, his girlfriend, and his daughter, moving into a 19th century Rhode Island mansion, where his withdrawn daughter begins to witness malevolent creatures that emerge from a sealed ash pit in the basement of the house. It is a remake of the 1973 ABC made-for-television horror film of the same name that starred Kim Darby.

The Plot

In Blackwood Manor in Providence County, Rhode Island, renowned wildlife painter Lord Blackwood summons his housekeeper into the basement where he kills her with a hammer and chisel. He removes her teeth and offers them to mysterious creatures down an ash pit within an old fireplace; however, the creatures demand the teeth of children. Blackwood begs for them to give back his kidnapped son, only to be dragged down the ash pit by the creatures.

In the present day, 8-year old Sally Hurst arrives in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex and his girlfriend Kim, both restoring Blackwood Manor to put it on the market for their client Mr. Jacoby. Sally is depressed due to her mother forcefully putting her in Alex's care and giving her copious amounts of Adderall. On the first night of her stay, the melodious tune from a carousel-styled nightlight awakens the creatures in the ash pit. The next day, Sally wanders the grounds and finds the hidden basement's skylight. One of the workman restoring the house, Mr. Harris, warns her, Alex and Kim not to venture into the basement, although they do regardless. Sally takes interest in the sealed fireplace where she hears the creatures calling her name and follows the mysterious voices.

Sally opens the fireplace to meet the creatures and finds one of the old housekeeper's teeth. The creatures quickly prove to be hostile, stealing Alex's razor and shredding Kim's clothes. Alex immediately blames Sally and finds a 19-century silver coin in her possession, which she found under her pillow after the tooth disappeared. Alex and Kim head into town on a business trip and Sally sneaks to the basement to talk with the creatures, but Harris sends her away and tries to seal the fireplace. The creatures emerge and brutally wound him with his own tools and he is hospitalized. Sally's increasingly frightening encounters with the creatures prompt Alex to call a therapist to talk to Sally, who draws a sketch of one of the creatures that attacked her under her bedsheets.

Kim visits Harris in the hospital, who tells her to find the unpublished artwork of Lord Blackwood in the local library. The librarian reveals the artwork, one of which is of a creature whom he describes as being like tooth fairies, which every now and again turns a human into one of their own. Kim races home as Sally is attacked again by the creatures while having a bath, the lead creature being a transformed Lord Blackwood who proclaims the creatures will make Sally one of their own. Kim finds an undiscovered mural painted by Lord Blackwood in the basement, depicting his son being devoured by the creatures. Kim confronts Alex who is more interested in hosting a dinner for Mr. Jacoby and friends. However, he finally realises what is happening when Sally is trapped in the library by the creatures, but she fends them off by using her camera flash to distract them.

Alex and Kim decide to flee the house with Sally, but both are ambushed by the creatures so they can literally drag Sally to the basement for her transformation. Kim awakens and confronts them, cutting Sally free only to get caught in the ropes and her leg broken as she struggles. The creatures drag Kim into the fireplace, as a distraught Sally crushes Lord Blackwood to death with a large flashlight. Alex arrives just as Kim disappears, and father and daughter mourn their loss. Some time later, both return to the abandoned mansion to leave a drawing of Kim there, but a gust of wind blows the drawing into the creatures lair, where the transformed Kim is heard convincing the creatures to forget Sally and wait for others to come, claiming they have "all the time in the world".

Reviews

The film has received mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 59% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 154 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. Many critics agreed that "While it's pleasantly atmospheric and initially quite scary, the film ultimately fails to deliver the skin-crawling chills of the original". Bailee Madison's acting was generally well-received by critics, who have also praised the idea of turning the protagonist into a little girl, as opposed to an adult in the original film.

The Cast

Bruce Gleeson as Buggy Driver
 Eddie Ritchard as Edwina Ritchard
 Garry McDonald as Blackwood
 Bailee Madison as Sally
  Katie Holmes as Kim
 Guy Pearce as Alex
 Jack Thompson as Harris
 Julia Blake as Mrs. Underhill

Attack the Block (2011)

Attack the Block is a 2011 British science fiction comedy horror film written and directed by Joe Cornish. The film stars Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones, Simon Howard. Set on a council estate in South London on Bonfire night, the film follows a street gang which have to defend themselves from hostile alien invaders. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 11 May 2011. Attack the Block is the directorial debut of Cornish.

The Plot

While returning home on Bonfire Night, nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker) is mugged in Kennington by a gang of teenagers: Pest (Alex Esmail), Dennis (Franz Drameh), Jerome (Leeon Jones), Biggz (Simon Howard), and leader Moses (John Boyega). The attack is interrupted when an object falls from the sky into a nearby car, giving Sam the chance to escape. Moses takes advantage of the situation to search the car for valuables but is attacked by a small creature; the object which fell from the sky. Together, the gang manages to kill the creature. Hoping to gain fame and profit they take it to drug dealer Ron (Nick Frost) to gain advice.

Moses asks Ron's boss, Hi-Hatz (Jumayn Hunter), for permission to keep the creature in their fortified "weed room" while he decides how to proceed. More objects begin to fall from the sky. Eager to fight more of the creatures, the gang arm themselves and go to the nearest crash site. They find the new aliens to be much larger, bearing huge claws and multiple rows of luminescent fangs. While running from the aliens, the gang are intercepted by the police and Moses is arrested, identified as a mugger by Sam who is accompanying the police. The aliens kill the police and attack the van, leaving Sam and Moses trapped inside. Dennis manages to reach the vehicle and drive the van away. While fleeing, Dennis crashes the van into Hi-Hatz's car. Sam runs away while the rest of Moses' gang catch up and they confront Hi-Hatz. Enraged about his car, Hi-Hatz threatens them with a gun, refusing to believe their story of aliens. However, his henchman is suddenly attacked by one, distracting Hi-Hatz and allowing the gang to escape.

The gang attempts to flee to the Block, their apartment building, but are attacked by the aliens, forcing Biggz to hide in a rubbish container and resulting in Pest's leg being mauled. While carrying Pest into the building they see Sam and discover she lives there. They force their way into her home and convince her to treat Pest's leg. An alien bursts into her home and Moses manages to kill it. Sam reasons it is safer to stay with the gang than on her own and joins them. The gang move to the apartment of neighbourhood girls believing their security gate will keep them safe. There, the aliens instead attack from outside, smashing through the window and killing Dennis. As one alien is about to kill Moses, Sam manages to stab it through the head, saving him.

The girls note that the aliens were coming straight for Moses and kick the gang out, believing them to be the focus of the creatures. Outside the apartment they are attacked by Hi-Hatz and more henchmen. The gang manages to escape while an alien pursues Hi-Hatz and his henchmen into a lift. Hi-Hatz manages to kill the alien, though his henchmen perish, and continues his search for Moses. Attempting to make their way to Ron's weed room, the gang again encounter aliens. They use fireworks as distractions to get by but Jerome becomes lost in the smoke and is killed by an alien. Entering Ron's apartment they find that Hi-Hatz is already there. Hi-Hatz prepares to shoot Moses but hordes of aliens smash through the window and kill him. Moses, Pest and Sam, joined by Ron's weed customer Brewis (Luke Treadaway), retreat into the weed room while Ron hides in the apartment.

Biggz, still trapped in the bin by an awaiting alien, is saved by Probs and Mayhem, two children, using a water-gun filled with petrol and a flame to torch the creature. In the weed room, Brewis notices a luminescent liquid on Moses' jacket under the ultraviolet light. Brewis theorizes that the alien which Moses killed was a female, and left a pheromone on him that the aliens have been tracking. The gang form a plan for Sam, who has not been stained with the pheromone, to go to Moses' flat and turn on the gas oven. Before she leaves, Moses forces Pest to return the ring they stole from her, feeling guilty for having mugged her. Sam successfully avoids the aliens, turns on the gas and leaves the Block. Moses, with the dead female alien strapped to his back, rushes out of the weed room and into his apartment. There he throws the female into the kitchen and the males follow. Using a firework, Moses ignites the gas-filled room and leaps out of the window. The explosion destroys the aliens.

Moses is shown to have survived, clinging to a Union Jack flag hanging from the side of the building. In the aftermath, Moses, Pest, Brewis and Ron are arrested, considered responsible for the deaths around the Block including the two policemen who had earlier arrested Moses. In the back of the police van, Moses and Pest hear the residents of the Block cheering for Moses, causing Moses to smile. When Sam volunteers that she witnessed the killing of the two officers, police ask if the locked-up boys were responsible; she says no, these are her neighbors and they protected her.

Reviews

Attack the Block has received widespread critical acclaim. It currently holds a 90% 'Certified Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has a score of 75 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating 'generally favorable reviews'.[8][9] Scott Wampler of The Examiner rated it A+ and said it was officially the best film of the festival and likened it to other debuts such as Neil Blomkamp's District 9 and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.[citation needed] Matt Patches writing for Cinemablend said "Attack the Block, even on its small scale, may wind up as one of the best action movies of the year". IGN gave it four stars saying "Cornish directs with the confidence of a seasoned pro" and calling the film "a blast from start-to-finish." Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy awarded the movie four stars, saying that it is "exactly the kind of distinctly homegrown product that the British film industry should be making". Mark Kermode gave a mixed review saying he did not dislike the film, but "wanted it to be funnier" and "needed it to be scarier". Upon its release in the United States, Attack the Block also received critical praise. In his positive review, Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert praised the film's use of character development and the performance given by John Boyega.

On its opening weekend in the UK, the film came 3rd in the box office garnering £1,133,859. In North American limited release, the film has grossed $1,012,223 (£659,040).

The Cast

John Boyega as Moses
 Jodie Whittaker as Sam
 Alex Esmail as Pest
 Franz Drameh as Dennis
 Leeon Jones as Jerome
 Simon Howard as Biggz
 Luke Treadaway as Brewis
 Jumayn Hunter as Hi-Hatz
 Danielle Vitalis as Tia
 Paige Meade as Dimples
 Michael Ajao as Mayhem
 Sammy Williams as Probs
 Nick Frost as Ron
 Maggie McCarthy as Margaret
 Gina Antwi as Dionne
 Natasha Jonas as Gloria
  Selom Awadzi as Tonks
 Haneen Hammou as Bubbles

Fright Night (2011)

Fright Night is a 2011 3D comedy horror film directed by Craig Gillespie. It is a remake of the 1985 Tom Holland film of the same name. The film had its premiere at The O2 in London on August 14, 2011, and was widely released on August 19 in Real D 3D.

The Plot

The film opens with a vampire (Colin Farrell) systematically stalking and killing an entire family in a suburb of Las Vegas, Nevada. The film then focuses on Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), a teenager who discovers that a new neighbor has moved in next door to him. Charley is an average teen, who has recently been accepted as one of the 'cool' kids after a nerdy adolescence. Upon arriving at school, Charley's former friend, "Evil" Ed Lee (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), informs him that many fellow students have gone missing. Charley disregards this, but Ed blackmails him into coming to an old friend's house, the same house seen at the beginning, to check if he is alright.

When Charley goes home after school, his mother (Toni Collette) introduces him to Jerry Dandrige, their new neighbor. Charley eventually remembers to meet up with Ed, who informs him that Jerry is a vampire. Charley becomes fed up with Ed and leaves. On his way home, Ed is harassed by a bully (Dave Franco). He manages to escape but is confronted by Jerry, who bites him. The next day, Charley realizes that Ed is missing and decides to go to his house to investigate.

As Jerry begins to attack more people throughout the neighborhood, Charley sneaks into Jerry's house and finds out that he keeps his victims in secret rooms. Charley manages to free one of his victims, but she burns the moment she steps into the sunlight during their escape. Charley goes to Vegas magician Peter Vincent (David Tennant), a supposed expert on vampires. Unfortunately, Vincent doesn't take him seriously, and kicks him out, leaving an angry Charley to deal with Jerry on his own.

Jerry comes to Charley's house the next night and complains to his mother, but Charley convinces her not to let him in. Reasoning that if there's no house, he does not need an invitation to enter in order to claim his victims, Jerry ignites the natural gas in the house and blows it up. Charley, his mother, and his girlfriend, Amy Peterson (Imogen Poots), barely escape with their lives, fleeing through the desert in their minivan. Jerry chases them with his truck, forcing them to crash. When their disabled car is then hit by another vehicle, Jerry kills the driver (played in cameo by Chris Sarandon). Jerry then attacks Charley, and is only stopped by being staked by Charley's mother (with a real estate sign stake). She then faints from a head injury sustained in the crash.

Charley's mother is then admitted to a hospital. At the hospital, Charley gets a call from Peter telling him to come over. Peter gives Charley advice on how to defeat Jerry, but midway through the conversation Ed (now a vampire) shows up, posing as a package delivery boy. Charley and Ed fight while Vincent hides in his panic room. Jerry, who survived the attack from Charley's mother, also arrives, and Amy manages to fight him off. Charley kills Ed, who briefly reassures Charley before dying that it's okay. With Jerry in pursuit, Charley and Amy then run into a club where they get separated in the crowd. Amy is bitten and taken by Jerry.

The next day Charley tells Peter that he is going after Jerry and he needs his help. Peter refuses and reveals that both of his parents were killed by a vampire (later revealed to be Jerry himself). He does, however, give Charley a stake that will kill Jerry and turn all of his victims back into humans. Charley goes to fight Jerry at his house where Peter decides to join him after all. The two break all of the windows to let sunlight in.

They are led into Jerry's basement where they are attacked by many of Jerry's victims, now vampires, including Amy. Charley, having outfitted himself in a flame-retardant suit, lights himself on fire in order to burn and disorient Jerry while he tries to stake him. Peter assists him by shooting a hole in the floor above to allow sunlight in which burns Jerry. Charley quickly stabs Jerry in the heart, killing him instantly and returning his victims to their human form. Afterwards, Charley's mother recovers from the hospital and goes to shop for a new house as Charley and Amy have sex in Peter's penthouse.

Reviews

Fright Night received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 75% of 147 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.4 out of 10. On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 64 based on 30 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B-minus" on an A+ to F scale.

Robert Koehler of Variety, writes Fright Night has "a cleverly balanced mix of scares and laughs".

The Cast

Anton Yelchin as Charley Brewster
 Colin Farrell as Jerry Danridge
 Toni Collette as Jane Brewster
 David Tennant as Peter Vincent
 Imogen Poots as Amy
 Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Evil Ed Thompson
 Dave Franco as Mark
 Reid Ewing as Ben
 Will Denton as Adam
 Sandra Vergara as Ginger
 Emily Montague as Doris
 Chris Sarandon as Jay Dee
 Grace Phipps as Bee
 Chelsea Tavares as Cara
 Lisa Loeb as Victoria
 Brian Huskey as Rick

Let me in (2010)

Let Me In is a 2010 American romantic horror film directed by Matt Reeves and starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloë Grace Moretz. It is based on the 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in), directed by Tomas Alfredson, and the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist. It tells the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a vampire child in Los Alamos, New Mexico in the early 1980s.

Interest in producing an English version of Let the Right One In began in 2007 shortly before it was released to audiences. In 2008, Hammer Films acquired the rights for the English adaptation and initially offered Tomas Alfredson, the director of the Swedish film, the opportunity to direct, which he declined. Matt Reeves was then signed to direct and write the screenplay. Reeves made several changes for the English version such as altering the setting from Stockholm to New Mexico and renaming the lead characters. The film's producers stated that their intent was to keep the plot similar to the original, yet make it more accessible to a wider audience. Principal photography began in early November 2009, and concluded in January 2010. The film's budget was estimated to be $20 million.

Let Me In premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 13, 2010 and was opened wide in North America on October 1, 2010. The film received highly positive reviews from critics, becoming one of the best critically reviewed films of 2010 and was placed on several critics' top-ten list. Many critics noted it as a rare Hollywood remake which stayed true to the original film from which it was based, while some criticized it for being too similar to the Swedish film in light of Reeves promoting the film as being a new take on the original novel. The film earned $24 million in box office revenue worldwide, of which $12 million was earned in the United States and Canada. Chloë Moretz won several awards for her performance with critics praising the on-screen chemistry with her co-star, Kodi Smit-McPhee. Let Me In was released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on February 1, 2011 and in the UK on March 14, 2011. An official comic book miniseries prequel titled Let Me In: Crossroads was released after the film which establishes the back-story of Abby and ends where the theatrical film begins.

The Plot

In 1983 Los Alamos, New Mexico, a police detective (Elias Koteas) enters the hospital room of a disfigured man and tries to question him about a recent murder for which he is a suspect. The detective concludes by telling the suspect that he will catch whoever else he is in league with; the detective is then called to take a phone call outside the room and is told that the man's daughter is downstairs. While he is on the phone, a scream is heard, and the detective finds that the suspect has fallen out of the window to his death.

Flashback two weeks earlier, Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is an unhappy and lonely 12-year-old boy, who is neglected by his divorcing parents, and continually harassed at school by bullies. One evening, when Owen is alone in the courtyard of his apartment complex, he is approached by Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz), a girl who has moved into the apartment next door. Abby tells Owen that they cannot be friends, but regardless, she and Owen grow closer and start communicating by Morse code through the walls of their apartments. At school, the main bully, Kenny (Dylan Minnette), scars Owen with an antenna rod; when Abby finds out, she tells him to defend himself and she will help him if needed.

Abby's "father", Thomas (Richard Jenkins), occasionally goes out to kill local residents to acquire blood for the vampiric Abby. During his first murder, he accidentally spills the blood and returns home empty-handed; a furious Abby leaves, kills, and feeds on a jogger who lives in their neighborhood. One night, Thomas hides in the back of a high school student’s car in order to subdue him, but the student picks up a passenger, completely altering Thomas's plans. While the driver stops at a gas station, Thomas subdues the passenger and tries to flee. He crashes the car in a nearby ditch and becomes trapped inside. Thomas douses his face with acid so that his connection to Abby will not be discovered. He is taken to the hospital; when Abby learns of this, she climbs up outside his window to see him. Thomas leans forward to offer his throat to Abby, who drinks his blood. Thomas passes out and falls to his death. The detective gradually learns of Thomas's connection to Abby.

The next day, on a school outing to a frozen pond, Kenny threatens to push Owen into an ice hole. Owen defends himself with a metal pole, splitting Kenny's ear. A body is also discovered under the ice. Later, Owen takes Abby to an abandoned area of their apartment complex, where he cuts his finger to make a blood pact with her. Abby is drawn to the blood; thirsty, she licks it up and Owen sees her vampiric form for the first time. Not wanting to attack Owen, Abby flees and instead attacks Virginia (Sasha Barrese), a woman in the complex park. Owen then confronts Abby at her apartment, where she admits that she is a vampire. Owen also discovers that Thomas was not her father. Owen sees a black and white photograph of Abby and a young boy, suggesting that she met Thomas when he was Owen's age. Horrified, Owen immediately leaves. Abby tries to block his way, but eventually lets him go. Meanwhile at the hospital, Virginia transforms into a vampire, but when a nurse draws the curtains, the daylight causes her to burst into flames, killing them both.

Abby visits one night while Owen's mother (Cara Buono) is away. Owen opens the door for her and she tells him he needs to invite her in. He asks her why, so she enters without an invitation, which causes her to bleed heavily until he verbally acquiesces. The next morning, the detective finds Abby asleep in the bathtub, but Owen startles him, allowing Abby to grab him from behind. Abby kills the detective and feeds off him. Later, she leaves in a taxi.

During an evening gym class, Kenny, his older brother Jimmy (Brett DelBuono), and their friends start a fire outside to distract authorities and clear out the swimming pool. Jimmy tells Owen that if he can hold his breath underwater for 3 minutes, he will cut Owen's cheek; if Owen cannot, he will poke out one of Owen's eyes. As Owen is held underwater, chaos ensues as Abby slaughters the four bullies. Abby and Owen then make their escape.

Later, Owen travels on a train with Abby in a trunk beside him. They tap out brief messages to each other in Morse code as the film ends.

Reviews

Let Me In has received generally positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 90% based on reviews from 202 critics, with an average score of 7.6/10. Among Rotten Tomatoes selected "top critics" the film received score of 81% based on 32 reviews, with an average score of 7.8/10. The consensus is that "similar to the original in all the right ways — but with enough changes to stand on its own — Let Me In is the rare Hollywood remake that doesn't add insult to inspiration." Let Me In was included on Rotten Tomatoes list of the ten best reviewed wide release films of 2010 in addition to being the best reviewed horror film of 2010. Metacritic gave the film an average score of 79% based on 35 reviews, judged to be "generally favorable reviews". According to Metacritic, Let Me In was one of the ten best-reviewed wide release films of 2010 and the best reviewed film of the year in the horror category. Particular praise was given to the film's two leads, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Moretz, for their chemistry and maturity on-screen.

Acclaimed horror author Stephen King wrote "Let Me In is a genre-busting triumph. Not just a horror film, but the best American horror film in the last 20 years." Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the film "is more than a respectful remake; 'Let Me In' is quietly stylish and thoroughly chilling in its own right." Lou Lumenick of The New York Post called Let Me In "the scariest, creepiest and most elegantly filmed horror movie I’ve seen in years — it positively drives a stake through the competition." A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote "what makes 'Let Me In' so eerily fascinating is the mood it creates. It is at once artful and unpretentious, more interested in intimacy and implication than in easy scares or slick effects."Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film while comparing it to the original. He stated, "Reeves understands what made the first film so eerie and effective, and here the same things work again." Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers, who was initially skeptical, gave the film a positive review while writing, "I thought for sure that any Hollywood remake of Tomas Alfredson's artful Swedish vampire film, Let the Right One In, would be a crass desecration. Well, color me blushing" and "Prepare to be wowed. It's a spellbinder."Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, stating, "Reeves has Americanized a very good foreign film without defanging it."

Let Me In was not well-received by all critics. Some disputed Reeves' claims that he was not remaking the film but re-adapting the book, criticizing it for being too similar to the Swedish film. Josh Tyler wrote "The movie he’s made is absolutely a direct remake of the 2008 film, the two are so similar that it’s almost impossible to differentiate between them." In a similar vein, Jamie S. Rich noted that while there was plenty of content in the original novel that the Swedish film omitted, "Reeves hasn't really ferreted out anything new; on the contrary, there is actually less plot in Let Me In than in the Alfredson version."Beth Accomando wrote, "How Reeves can take the credit 'written and directed by Matt Reeves' seems almost laughable when you note how similar the script and the direction are to the original." In comparing the two films, she opined that the remake "makes obvious all that the original film made subtle and does so with less complexity."Mark Kermode called it "the most utterly redundant remake of the year". According to Sukhdev Sandhu of The Telegraph, "Let Me In doesn't need to exist unless, that is, the very notion of Swedish cinema is strange and unpalatable to you....What’s missing is the alluring otherness of Let the Right One In. That film's brittle textures and haunted ambiance seemed in some strange way to have sprung organically from the nation in which it was set. This remake, by contrast, smells of boardrooms and calculating machines."

Let Me In was a critics' pick as one of the Top 10 Best Films of 2010 at CNN and at MSN Entertainment for the 2010 Year in Review Special Features.

The Cast

Kodi Smit-McPhee as Owen
 Chloë Grace Moretz as Abby
 Richard Jenkins as The Father
 Cara Buono as Owen's Mother
 Elias Koteas as The Policeman
 Sasha Barrese as Virginia
 Dylan Kenin as Larry
 Chris Browning as Jack
 Ritchie Coster as Mr. Zoric
 Dylan Minnette as Kenny
 Jimmy 'Jax' Pinchak as Mark
 Nicolai Dorian as Donald
 Rebekah Wiggins as Nurse
  Brett DelBuono as Kenny's Brother

Paranormal Activity (2011)

Paranormal Activity 3 is a 2011 American supernatural horror film, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. It is the third film of the Paranormal Activity series and serves as a prequel, set 18 years prior to the events of the first two films. It was released in theaters on October 21, 2011.

The film broke financial records upon release, setting a new record for a midnight opening for a horror film ($8 million), the best opening day for a horror film in the United States ($26.2 million), the highest opening for any film in October, highest opening for a film in the fall (September–October), and setting a record opening for the franchise ($52.6 million).

The Plot

In 2005, Katie delivers a box of old videotapes to her pregnant sister, Kristi, and Kristi's husband, Daniel. A year later, Kristi and Daniel's house is seemingly ransacked and the tapes are missing.

In 1988, a young Katie and Kristi live with their mother, Julie, and her boyfriend, Dennis; Kristi begins interacting with an invisible friend named Toby. Dennis notices that since Kristi's friend appeared, strange things have been happening in the house. Dennis and Julie try to make a sex tape, but are interrupted by an earthquake. While they look for the girls, the camera shows dust fall from the ceiling and land onto an invisible figure in the room. The figure then moves and the dust falls to the floor.

While reviewing the footage, Dennis notices the strange incident. He invites his friend Randy over to view the footage, who suggests that Dennis place cameras throughout the house to capture any other incidents. That night in the girls' bedroom, Kristi wakes up and begins talking to someone off-camera before going back to bed. When Dennis questions her the following day, Kristi tells him it was Toby. After more disturbing nights and strange occurrences, Dennis discovers a strange symbol in the girls' closet. He finds the same symbol on a picture of women in a book about demonology. Dennis explains to Julie that the symbol belonged to a witches' coven that brainwashed girls of child-bearing age into having sons, and then force them to forget. Julie dismisses his claim.

When Kristi falls ill, Julie and Dennis take her to the hospital. Katie is left with Randy, and she asks him to play Bloody Mary with her. They go into the girls' bathroom and say "Bloody Mary" 3 times and turn off the light. When nothing happens, Katie insists they try again. Randy is stricken with pain and the lights reveal a large scratch up the side of his body. They try to leave the bathroom but a black figure moves past the door. When Randy tries to leave a second time, furniture is violently thrown around. After Julie and Dennis return, Randy leaves in a rush.

The invisible demon terrorizes Katie and Kristi, harming Katie and later dragging her into a closet in the girls' bedroom until Kristi agrees to do what it asks. The next day, Kristi asks her mother to take them to her grandmother Lois's home, but she refuses. After Julie encounters frightening activity herself, she agrees to go to Lois's home. Dennis sets up another camera in the new bedroom. At 1am, they are awoken by the sound of a car outside. After hearing more disturbances, Julie goes to investigate. When she fails to return, Dennis goes to look for her. In the background, the camera captures a shadowy female figure. When Dennis returns and picks up the camera, the figure is gone.

He heads out of the room and calls for Julie and the girls but there is no answer. Downstairs, Dennis notices a human silhouette behind a curtain. When he pulls back the curtain, nothing is present, but the room he enters has strange imagery on the walls, including the symbol from the girls' room, which had been concealed beneath framed paintings. Noticing that the backdoor is open, Dennis goes outside to investigate. In the garage, he discovers Lois and several other women, all dressed in black. He flees back to the house, with the women in slow pursuit. In the house, he finds Julie at the top of the stairs. As he approaches, he sees that she is levitating unconscious above the floor. Her body is thrown at Dennis, knocking him down the stairs. He gets up and sees Kristi, and then retreats with her into a closet. The demon growls and bangs on the door but eventually leaves.

Dennis and Kristi leave the closet. As they walk through the kitchen, Dennis sees women outside in the garden, circling around a bonfire. As they move into the next room, they find Katie crying by Julie's body. He approaches Katie from behind, and places his hand on her shoulder. Katie turns and unleashes a demonic scream that throws him to the other side of the room, injuring his leg. Katie runs away. Dennis tries to crawl toward Julie's body but Lois walks in front of him. As Lois looks down to him, Dennis's body is suddenly and violently contorted, snapping backwards and killing him. Katie goes to Lois, who beckons to Kristi. As they head upstairs, Kristi calls to Toby. There is the sound of movement and a monstrous growl as the footage stops recording.

Reviews

The film had received generally positive reception from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 67% of 102 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.9 out of 10. The website's consensus is, "While the jolts and thrills are undeniably subject to the diminishing returns that plague most horror sequels, Paranormal Activity 3 is a surprisingly spine-tingling treat." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 59 based on 25 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "C+" on an A+ to F scale. Conversely, Roger Ebert gave the film a single star out of four, stating that "the appeal has worn threadbare", but predicting that the film will fare well in the box office nevertheless.

The Cast

Christopher Nicholas Smith as Dennis
 Lauren Bittner as Julie
 Chloe Csengery as Young Katie
 Jessica Tyler Brown as Young Kristi
 Dustin Ingram as Randy Rosen

Funny Games (2008)

Funny Games is a 2008 psychological thriller film written and directed by Michael Haneke, a remake of Haneke's 1997 Austrian film of the same name. Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, and Michael Pitt star in the main roles. The film is a shot-for-shot remake of its predecessor, albeit in English and set in the United States with different actors. Exterior scenes were filmed on Long Island.

The Plot

The film begins with a loving family - George Farber (Tim Roth), his wife Ann (Naomi Watts), his son Georgie (Devon Gearhart) and their dog, arriving at their lake house. Their next-door neighbor, Fred (Boyd Gaines) is seen with two young men, Peter (Brady Corbet) and Paul (Michael Pitt), who seem to be their friends or relatives. The two young men come over to borrow eggs. Ann is in the kitchen cooking while George and Georgie are outside by the lake, tending to their boat. They seem friendly, and they use George’s golf club. When the men depart with the eggs they soon return with them broken. After asking for more eggs which also end up broken, Ann becomes frustrated, but when George tries to force the men to leave, Peter breaks George's leg with the golf club and they take the family hostage. Ann goes to call for help on the family's cell phone, but finds it unusable, having been earlier dropped in the sink by Peter. Paul then guides Ann on a hunt to find the family's dog, which he had killed with George's golf club. When the family's other neighbors arrive for a visit, Ann passes the two men off as friends until the visitors leave.

The family is forced to participate in a number of sadistic games in order to stay alive. Paul asks if the family wants to bet that they will be alive by 9:00 in the morning, though he doubts that they will be. Between playing their games, the two men keep up a constant patter. Paul frequently ridicules Peter's weight and lack of intelligence. He describes a number of contradicting stories of Peter's past, though no definitive explanation is ever presented as to the men's origins or motives. At one point, Georgie tries to escape and runs to the gate. He attempts to climb the locked gate but changes his mind and goes to the neighbors' house passing through the water. Inside the house Georgie attempts to shoot Paul with a shotgun, but the gun fails to go off. Paul returns him to the living room, along with the shotgun. After a few more games, the men play a counting-out game between the family members on the basis that whoever gets counted out will be shot, but Georgie suddenly panics and makes a run for his life, which results in Peter shooting him dead. He and Paul then leave, Paul a little annoyed that Peter didn't follow the rules of their game to the letter.

George and Ann weep for their loss, but eventually resolve to survive. Ann flees the house while George, with a broken leg, desperately tries to call for help on the malfunctioning phone. Ann struggles to find help, only to be re-captured by Peter and Paul, who return her to the house. Stabbing George, the men attempt to force Ann to choose for her husband, between a painful, prolonged death with the knife or a quick death with the shotgun. Instead, Ann seizes the shotgun on the table in front of her and kills Peter. Enraged, Paul confiscates the shotgun and starts looking for the television remote. Upon finding it, he literally rewinds all the occurrences back to before Ann grabs the shotgun, thereby breaking the fourth wall. On the 'do over', Paul snatches the shotgun away and admonishes her, saying she isn't allowed to break the rules. They then kill George and take Ann, bound and gagged, out on the family's boat early the next morning. Around eight o'clock, they nonchalantly throw her into the water to drown, thus winning their bet. They dock at the house of the neighbors that had previously visited the family, and request some eggs, thereby restarting their cycle of murder.

Reviews

The film received mixed reviews from critics. As of September 6, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 51 percent of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 132 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 41 out of 100, based on 33 reviews.

Todd Gilchrist from IGN called the film "Unrelenting and brilliant, Funny Games is a truly great film – an incisive, artistic triumph that doubles as a remarkably thrilling and unique cinematic experience." Conversely, Joshua Rothkopf from Time Out New York called the film "a sour project that defines anti-imaginative." A.O. Scott of the New York Times wrote: "At least with the remake Funny Games, Mr. Haneke shows a certain kinship with someone like Eli Roth, whose Hostel movies have brought nothing but scorn from responsible critics." The Chicago Sun-Times review of March 14, 2008 gave the film a mere half-star out of a possible four.

The Times ranked it No. 25 on its 100 Worst Films of 2008 list.

The Cast

Naomi Watts as Ann
 Tim Roth as George
 Michael Pitt as Paul
 Brady Corbet as Peter
 Devon Gearhart as Georgie
 Boyd Gaines as Fred
 Siobhan Fallon as Betsy
 Robert LuPone as Robert
 Susi Haneke as Betsy's Sister-in-Law
 Linda Moran as Eve

Red State (2011)

Red State is a 2011 American independent action-horror film, written and directed by Kevin Smith, starring Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Stephen Root. The film co-stars Ralph Garman, Kevin Pollak, Kerry Bishé, Haley Ramm, Kevin Alejandro, Anna Gunn, Kyle Gallner, Michael Angarano, and Nicholas Braun.

For months, Smith had maintained that the rights to the film would be auctioned off to a distributor at a controversial event to be held after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, but instead Smith purchased the film himself which, according to analysts, "might have been a difficult sale for any distributor." Smith originally planned to self-distribute the picture under the "Smodcast Pictures" banner with a traveling show in select cities, before officially releasing the movie on October 19, 2011. Kevin Smith listed Mel Gibson as his inspiration for how he planned to distribute this movie, citing Gibson's The Passion of the Christ as an example of a successfully self-distributed movie.

On June 28, 2011, Smith announced a one-week run in Quentin Tarantino's New Beverly Cinema (making the film and its actors eligible for Academy Award consideration). The film was released via video on demand on September 1, 2011 through Lionsgate, was released in select theaters again for a special one-night only engagement on September 23, 2011 (via Smodcast Pictures), and was released on home video October 18, 2011.

The Plot

Being driven to school by his mother, Travis (Michael Angarano) notices first a fire station siren being removed from its pole and then members of the Five Points Trinity Church, led by Abin Cooper (Michael Parks) protesting the funeral of a local gay teenager who was found murdered. During Travis' first class, his teacher talks about how Cooper and his church had their town ridiculed for his actions and beliefs. Later, Jared (Kyle Gallner), a friend of Travis, reveals he received an invitation from a woman he met on a sex site for group sex with himself, Travis and Billy Ray (Nicholas Braun). They borrow Travis' parent's car and travel out into the country to meet with the woman.

Along the way, they accidentally sideswipe the vehicle of Sheriff Wynan (Stephen Root), while he was engaged in a homosexual affair in his car. Afraid, the boys drive off. Sheriff Wynan returns to the station and tells his deputy Pete (Matt L. Jones) to go and look for the vehicle. Meanwhile, the boys arrive at the trailer of the woman who sent out the invitation, Sarah Cooper (Melissa Leo). She encourages them to drink, and after being drugged by the beer, they pass out while undressing. Jared wakes up while being moved in a covered cage. He realizes he is in the sanctuary at Five Points after he identifies Cooper. Cooper begins a long, hate-filled sermon before identifying another captive, a homosexual they lured in through an internet chat room. They bind him to a cross using plastic cling wrap, execute him with a revolver and drop him into a small crawl space where Travis and Billy Ray are bound together.

Cooper then begins binding Jared to the cross, but stops when he notices Pete driving up to the church. Travis and Billy Ray use a protruding bone from the corpse to cut themselves free, which is heard by Caleb (Ralph Garman). He lifts up the trap door just in time to see Billy Ray escape and runs after him. Billy Ray is not able to help Travis out of his tight cling wrap cuffs and leaves him for dead. Caleb chases Billy Ray into a room stocked with weapons, where the two end up shooting each other. Pete hears the gunshots and calls Wynan for back-up, but is shot and killed by Mordechai (James Parks). Cooper then blackmails Wynan, telling him to stay away or he will reveal Wynan's homosexuality to his wife using explicit photos the church has taken of him. In despair, Wynan calls ATF Agent Joseph Keenan (John Goodman), who begins setting up outside of the church.

While the family mourns Caleb, Travis (who had broken free and feigned death alongside Billy Ray's corpse) arms himself and makes a run for it, eventually making it outside where he is shot and killed by Wynan, who mistook him for a member of the congregation. Keenan tries to reason with the family but a shoot-out erupts instead after ATF Special Agent Brooks (Kevin Pollak) is shot in the head. In the midst of the shooting, Agent Keenan receives a call from ATF higher-ups ordering him to start a full raid of the complex to ensure that no witnesses remain of the operation to give details of the events. Another tactical agent named Harry (Kevin Alejandro) struggles with this decision and argues with Keenan in private against doing this. Keenan dismisses Harry's protests for personal reasons, rationalizing his decision based on personal gain and the
reputation of the ATF, and Harry storms off in disgust. During the shoot-out, Cheyenne (Kerry Bishé) escapes and is captured by an ATF agent (Marc Blucas) who is about to shoot her (per orders) but he is instead killed by Cheyenne's mother, Sarah. Cheyenne returns to the house and unbinds Jared, begging him to help her hide the congregation's children. Jared refuses due to the fact that the church had killed both his best friends, and her pleas turn into a fight. Sarah notices them and attacks Jared. Cheyenne tries to break up the fight and accidentally shoots Sarah in the process, killing her. Cheyenne sends the children up into the attic, and Jared changes his mind and decides to help Cheyenne hide the children. They run outside to plead with Keenan to spare the children but are killed by Harry, who has come around to accepting Keenan's rationales, though Keenan is now visibly disturbed by Harry's actions. The shoot-out is then suddenly interrupted when a mysterious loud trumpet blast echos across the sky. The remaining Coopers lower their weapons and run outside rejoicing, claiming that "the Rapture" has come upon them as the trumpet continues to play. Abin calmly approaches a stunned ATF team and confidently taunts them that God's wrath is upon the Earth. He raises his arms and stands in the face of a confused and worried Keenan in a moment of triumph, daring him to defy God as the trumpet blares.

Several days later, during a briefing before high-ranking government officials, Keenan reports that he then head-butted Cooper and took the rest of the congregation into custody. He explains that the trumpet noises were not the Rapture but came from a group of marijuana farmers who lived down the road and were irritated with Cooper. As a prank they rigged up an old fire truck siren to an iPod with loud trumpet noises, unaware of the shootout taking place over the hill. Keenan is promoted despite disobeying a direct order from his superiors at the time to kill everyone at the compound. Keenan is surprised that he is not punished for his insubordinate actions but his superiors explain that their initial decision to kill the members of the congregation was mostly personal and that they are satisfied with the alternative punishment of taking away the prisoners' constitutional rights to due process, locking them up without ever letting them go to trial. They also laugh at the irony that Abin, who views homosexuality as an abomination, will more than likely be raped numerous times by his fellow male inmates. Keenan laments this outcome in a story he shares about a couple of hungry brawling dogs he once knew that taught him about the darker side of human nature and the way simple beliefs can turn humans into bloodthirsty animals.

Abin is finally seen pacing around his cell singing to himself until he hears "Shut the fuck up!" being yelled by another prisoner (voiced by director Kevin Smith).

Reviews

The review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes reports that reviews of the film have been mixed to positive. The film currently holds an overall approval rating of 58% based on 77 reviews with an average score of 5.9/10. Edward Douglas of Shock Till You Drop panned the movie saying that, "it feels like one of Smith's Twitter rants fleshed out into film with equal portions of bile sprayed at both church and state." Katey Rich of Cinema Blend reporting in her review, "Messy, overwritten, visually stylish, but kind of a bore. More like Kevin Smith than it looks because nobody ever stops talking. And it's not a horror movie by any usual definition. More like teen horror movie morphs into Waco disaster. Melissa Leo overacts, Michael Parks is impressive as Fred Phelps figure but the character's meaning and purpose in the narrative (or lack thereof) is fuzzy." Jordan Hoffman in his review for UGO also panned the film, saying, "Kevin Smith, a wonderful public speaker and genuinely fun guy, has yet to master the basics of movie making." According to Drew Mcweeny of "Motion Captured", "Kevin Smith's 'Red State' fails onscreen and off at its world premiere...A shoddy film and a bait-and-switch event fail to satisfy on any level." Raffi Asdourian of The Film Stage wrote that, "While there are glimpses of Smith's wry humor scattered throughout, Red State can't help but feel like a B action movie that started off with ambitious ideas but collapses under it's own preachy weight... it's clear that the smart alec writer still has some things to learn about making a great film." Matt Goldberg of Collider.com wrote that, "Red State is a radical departure for Smith and yet he lacks the confidence to properly execute the action-horror-thriller he's devised." James Rocchi writing for indieWire wrote that, "...Smith has gotten as far as he has with his comedies because it is a writer's genre more so than it is a director's. Horror is the genre of a director—pacing, feel, shots, editing—and Smith's skills are not up to the task..."


Amongst the positive reactions to the film, Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called the movie, "A potent cinematic hand grenade tossed to bigots everywhere." Jeff Sneider of TheWrap.com said, "The truth is that I didn't really know what to expect from 'Red State,' but regardless, I still had high expectations and am pleased to report that the film lived up to them. It brings something new to the genre, and that something is faith." Germain Lussier of /Film also praised the film, saying, "This is a maturing, confident Smith who proves, after Cop Out, he still has a unique voice. With Red State, that voice isn't saying anything incredibly groundbreaking, and at times it gets a tad preachy, but the director has expanded out of his comfort zone and given audiences a genuine piece of art." Director Richard Kelly also offered his take on the film and Smith while appearing on Smith's SMovieMakers podcast. He said "I have never seen a filmmaker reinvent himself the way you just have. I won't say anything else because I don't want to spoil anything. It's really really exciting…" Smith blogged on his official film website that filmmaker Quentin Tarantino saw the film and gave him positive feedback about it. Former collaborator Ben Affleck also loved the film and is casting Goodman, Parks and Bishe in his upcoming film Argo as a response.

In October 2011, Red State won the Best Motion Picture award at the 2011 Sitges Film Festival, while Michael Parks was named Best Actor. Parks' character, Abin Cooper, received a nomination for Villain Of The Year from the Virgin Media Movie Awards.


The Cast

Michael Angarano as Travis
 Deborah Aquila as Mrs. Vasquez
 Nicholas Braun as Billy-Ray
 Ronnie Connell as Randy
 Kaylee DeFer as Dana
 Joey Figueroa as Route 9 Friend
 Kyle Gallner as Jarod
 Anna Gunn as Travis' Mother
 Matt L. Jones as Deputy Pete
 John Lacy as Travis' Father
  Alexa Nikolas as Jesse
 Stephen Root as Sherrif Wynan
 Betty Aberlin as Abigail
 Kerry Bishé as Cheyenne
 Ralph Garman as Caleb
 Melissa Leo as Sara
 Molly Livingston as Fiona May
 James Parks as Mordechai
 Michael Parks as Abin Cooper
 Haley Ramm as Maggie
 Jennifer Schwalbach Smith as Esther 

The Woman in Black (2012)

The Woman in Black is a 2012 horror-thriller film directed by James Watkins and written by Jane Goldman, and is based on Susan Hill's novel of the same name. It is produced by Hammer Film Productions. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer, Sophie Stuckey, and Liz White. It was released in the United States and Canada on 3 February 2012 to generally positive reviews, and was released in the United Kingdom on 10 February 2012.

The Plot

In the Edwardian era, young solicitor Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) lives with his four-year-old son Joseph (Misha Handley) and his son's nanny (Jessica Raine). Kipps' wife Stella (Sophie Stuckey) died after childbirth. Kipps has visions of her and is facing financial problems along with stress from his firm. He is assigned to handle the estate of Alice Drablow, who owned Eel Marsh House of England, where she had lived with her husband, son Nathaniel, and sister Jennet Humfrye (Liz White). Although the locals are unwelcoming, Kipps befriends Sam Daily (Ciarán Hinds), a wealthy landowner, and his wife Elizabeth (Janet McTeer).

At Eel Marsh House, located on an island in the marshes, Kipps repeatedly hears footsteps and sees a woman dressed in black. He reports the sighting at the local police station. While there, two boys bring in their sister Victoria (Alexia Osborne), who has drunk lye; she dies in Kipps's arms. She is not the first child in town to commit suicide and the townspeople believe the "Woman in Black" comes for their children as revenge for her own child being taken from her.

Kipps and Sam arrive at the house of Jerome, the local solicitor. The house is empty and they hear a noise from the cellar. Kipps peers through a hole in the cellar door and is startled when the face of a young girl, Lucy Jerome (Aoife Doherty) suddenly appears and screams at him to go away, believing he was responsible for Victoria's death. After returning to the house, Kipps discovers that Nathaniel drowned during a carriage accident and Jennet hung herself. Kipps also discovers notes claiming that Jennet was mentally unstable and was not allowed to care for Nathaniel, who was actually her son, although this fact was hidden by Alice, who raised him as her own. The villagers desperately want Kipps to leave but he refuses, wanting to protect his job. Sam and Elizabeth reveal that their only son drowned and that he communicates through his mother, Elizabeth, by possession; Elizabeth then draws a hanging woman who Kipps realizes is Jennet.

Throughout the night at the house, Kipps has many paranormal experiences with the Woman in Black and all the children that committed suicide. The next morning, Sam and Kipps return to town to see the local solicitor's house on fire. Kipps rushes inside to rescue Lucy, the solicitor's daughter, who has been locked in the cellar. There, he sees the Woman in Black manipulate the girl into setting herself on fire. Kipps visits Mrs. Daily, who reveals in a trance that Joseph is the next victim. Kipps realizes he must put Nathaniel to rest by giving him a proper burial. Kipps and Sam go to the Marsh, locate Nathaniel's body, and lay him out in the nursery. The Woman in Black appears and attacks Kipps but they finally lay Nathaniel to rest by burying him with his real mother, Jennet.

Kipps is reunited with his son, Joseph, at the railway station and plans to leave immediately. While bidding Sam goodbye, Kipps turns to Joseph, walking along the tracks towards a fast approaching train. Sam notices the Woman in Black along the platform as Kipps jumps onto the tracks to save Joseph. As the train passes, Sam looks through the windows to see the unrested souls of all the children the Woman in Black has claimed. Still standing on the tracks with Joseph, Kipps looks up to see the now deserted platform. Joseph asks, "Daddy, who is that lady?" to which Kipps replies with a smile, "That's your Mummy." Realizing he and his son have died, he kisses his son and takes his wife's hand, the three of them reunited in death.

Reviews

Reviews for the film have been generally favourable. As of 4 February 2012, the film has a 64% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 144 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10, with a consensus that says: "Traditional to a fault, The Woman in Black foregoes gore for chills -- although it may not provide enough of them for viewers attuned to modern, high-stakes horror." The film has received a rating of 62/100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Based on 10.172 users, IMDb rated the movie with a 7.2 out of 10.

The Cast

Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps
Ciarán Hinds as Sam Daily
Janet McTeer as Elizabeth Daily
Sophie Stuckey as Stella Kipps,
Misha Handley as Joseph Kipps
Liz White as Jennet Humfrye
Aoife Doherty as Lucy Jerome
Roger Allam as Mr Bentley
Alexia Osborne as Victoria Hardy
Ashley Foster as Nathaniel Drablow
Jessica Raine as Joseph's Nanny
Shaun Dooley as Fisher
Mary Stockley as Mrs Fisher
Sidney Johnston as Nicholas Daily

Saw 3D (2010)

Saw 3D (released on home media as Saw: The Final Chapter) is a 2010 3D horror film directed by Kevin Greutert, written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, and starring Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Sean Patrick Flanery, and Cary Elwes. It is the seventh and final installment of the Saw film series, and the only film in the series to be in 3D. The film focuses on a man who untruthfully claims to be a Jigsaw survivor and writes a book detailing his experience, becoming a local celebrity. He soon finds himself part of a real Jigsaw game where he must ultimately save his wife. Meanwhile, Jill Tuck explains to an internal affairs officer that rogue Detective Hoffman is the man responsible for the recent Jigsaw games; Tuck is put under police protected custody while officers search for Hoffman.

The Plot

In a flashback sequence following the first film, Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) crawls from the bathroom to find help after sawing off his foot. Along the way, he reaches a steam pipe and uses it to cauterize his ankle stump. In the present, Ryan (Jon Cor) and Brad (Sebastian Pigott) awaken in a storefront window in a shopping area in front of a crowd of people, their wrists bound to a worktable. In front of each man is a buzz saw, and their mutual lover, Dina (Anne Lee Greene) is suspended above a third saw. Jigsaw's puppet tells them that they can either kill one another or allow Dina to die, and after realizing her betrayal, they decide to save themselves and allow her to lower onto the saw, killing her.

After witnessing Mark Hoffman's (Costas Mandylor) survival from the end of the previous film, Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell) goes to Matt Gibson (Chad Donella), an internal affairs detective at Hoffman's precinct, and offers to incriminate Hoffman in exchange for immunity and protection. Meanwhile, Hoffman abducts four racist skinheads and places them in a trap in an abandoned junkyard that kills all of them. After a gathering of past Jigsaw survivors which includes Dr. Gordon (now wearing a foot brace) among those present, takes place, Hoffman abducts Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery), a self-help guru who achieved fame and fortune by falsely stating that he survived a Jigsaw trap. Hoffman sends videos to Gibson throughout the film, offering cryptic clues to his location and promising to stop the games if Jill is given to him.

Bobby awakens in an abandoned insane asylum and is informed that his wife Joyce (Gina Holden) has also been abducted and will die if he does not save her in sixty minutes. After escaping a cage hanging over a floor of spikes, Dagen navigates his way through the asylum, finding his publicist Nina (Naomi Snieckus), his lawyer Suzanne (Rebecca Marshall) and his close friend Cale (Dean Armstrong) all in traps representing their respective sins. Despite his efforts to save them, all three are killed. Gibson soon discovers the location of the asylum and sends a SWAT team, who are sealed in one section of the asylum and killed by toxic gas. Gibson also finds Hoffman's command center, where he discovers that Hoffman has hacked the police security camera system, and is killed by automatic turret gun along with both of his men. Hoffman, who had been posing as one of the junkyard corpses, infiltrates police headquarters and kills Dr. Heffner (James Van Patten), Detective Rogers (Laurence Anthony) and several officers before finding Jill. After a brief struggle, he restrains her the same way she restrained him, then secures the original Reverse Bear-Trap to her head, which kills her.

After removing two teeth to retrieve a combination to a locked door, Dagen reaches Joyce and is forced to drive two hooks through his pectoral muscles, the trap he claimed to survive, then hoist himself up by the chains to deactivate her trap. However, the hooks rip through his muscles and he falls to the ground, and a brazen bull capsule slams shut around Joyce and burns her alive. Moments after Hoffman destroys his workshop, he is attacked and captured by three Pighead-masked figures and the leader reveals himself as Lawrence Gordon. Flashbacks reveal that John Kramer (Tobin Bell) found Gordon by the steam pipe and helped him recover, and Gordon had worked in secret with John ever since. Tasked to watch over Jill after John's death and to take action if anything happened to her, Gordon brings Hoffman to the bathroom from the first film and shackles him by the ankle. He throws away the hacksaw he had once sawed off his foot with, then leaves Hoffman to die.

Reviews

As with the previous four Saw films, Saw 3D was not screened in advance for critics. The film received largely negative reviews from film critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 10% of 67 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 3.1 out of 10, making it the poorest reviewed film in the series. Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a rating score of 24, based on 17 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B-minus" on an A+ to F scale.

Luke Thompson of E! Online gave the film a "B". He called the film's gore "over-the-top" and "in your face" while admitting the film had an "unusual amount of self-parody". He said the central storyline of the films was beginning to feel "played out". Rob Nelson of Variety gave the film a negative review. He called the film "relentlessly repugnant" that would please fans, but offer no surprise. He went on to say, "Apart from these limb-pulling setpieces, tech credits appear fairly shoddy, as do any 3D effects that don't include flying viscera. The editing relies on lazy flashbacks, while the dialogue remains as horrific as the killings." Kim Newman of Empire gave the film two out of five stars, calling it a "a step down from last year’s much more pointed Saw VI". He criticized the repetition of the plot but thought bringing back Jigsaw survivors was a "nice idea". He closed his review with, "There are a scattering of infallibly cringe-making horrors, but on the whole Saw 3D could do with more depth".

Eric Goldman of IGN Movies gave the film two out of five stars. He was unhappy with the little screen time Bell and Elwes had been given, saying that the time the film did spend with them, didn't have much impact. He said the traps were a step down from Saw VI, but did point out his favorite and highlight of the film as the "garage trap". About the film's 3D effects, Goldman said "The 3D is used as you might expect it to be - which is to say, this is no James Cameron immersive experience. Instead, blades jut out of the screen, and there is some fun had with blood and guts literally shooting forward at several points". Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a mixed review. He said Saw 3D is "consistent both stylistically and thematically with previous editions", but said most of the film's traps lack the "Rube Goldberg-style cleverness that marked the series". Scheck went on to say that it was "unfortunate" the creators killed Bell's character so early in the series and called Mandylor's character (Hoffman) an "exceedingly bland stand-in". He called the visual impact of the 3D "negligible".

Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel gave the film one out of five stars saying, "It’s all bunk and has been for years. These are all no-win scenarios. Whatever moral lessons were presented in the earliest Saw films seem to have been dispensed with as the movies grow more and more gruesome, with filmmakers caught up in 'What would it look like if somebody’s jaw was ripped out, or their skin was glued to a car seat?' Pandering to the 'Cool, let’s see that again' crowd has made Lionsgate rich but done nothing for this unendurable endurance contest of this long-enduring film franchise". Mike Hale of The New York Times called the film the most "straightforward" of the series and the "most consistently (though not inventively) violent". He ended his review saying, "If you see the film in a theater equipped with RealD 3D and Dolby sound, you’ll come away with a pretty good idea of what it would feel like to have flying body parts hit you in the face".

Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News gave the film one out of five stars. She criticized the lack of Bell's screentime saying, "What the filmmakers of the last four Saw movies have somehow overlooked is that Tobin Bell's Jigsaw is the linchpin of these films. It's right there in the title, so you'd think they'd realize what they lost when they killed him off in Saw III. But it's been downhill ever since, and we hit bottom today". She admitted that the performances have become "painfully stilted" and called the script "a jumble of nothing punctuated by barely-trying death traps". She went on to say, "It's also disappointing to watch a once-original franchise morph into a generic slasher series, in which random people are killed in banal ways just to up the body count" and closed her review with, "No matter how much money The Final Chapter makes over Halloween weekend, it's time to acknowledge that this game is over"

Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe called the film the "most gruesome and least coherent of the seven movies". He felt that some of the film's "games" were just randomly forced into the film, saying that kind of "episodic approach" and 3D works for a "far more innovative series like Jackass 3D". Morris closed his review by saying "This alleged final edition trashes the perverse morality of [Jigsaw's] legacy to make him the Jerry Springer of gore". Jason Anderson of the Toronto Star gave the film two out of four stars. He praised Saw 3D's plot for not being as confusing as previous films, for which he described as having to "generally require an encyclopedic knowledge of the series' many plot strands" in order to understand them. He thought Greutert gave the film a "pulpy energy" and described the film's traps and gore as having an "unpretentious sensibility" to films by Herschell Gordon Lewis. Alan Jones of the Radio Times gave the film four out of five stars saying, "though the film initially borders on parody, once the ever-ingenious trapping begins — using fishhooks, superglue, ovens and dental equipment — the chills run on turbo drive right through to the greatest hits flashback finale". He implied that the "shock scenarios" were borrowed from sources such as, A Man Called Horse and the work of Lucio Fulci. Jones said the 3D did not add to the experience saying "the CGI blood splatter something of a distraction to the almost Shakespearean crescendo of anguish and carnage".

The Cast

Tobin Bell as Jigsaw / John Kramer

 Costas Mandylor as Det. Mark Hoffman

 Betsy Russell as Jill Tuck

 Cary Elwes as Dr. Lawrence Gordon

 Sean Patrick Flanery as Bobby Dagen

 Chad Donella as Det. Matt Gibson

 Gina Holden as Joyce Dagen

 Laurence Anthony as Det. Rogers

 Dean Armstrong as Cale

 Naomi Snieckus as Nina

 Rebecca Marshall as Suzanne

 James Van Patten as Dr. Heffner

 Sebastian Pigott as Brad

 Jon Cor as Ryan

 Anne Lee Greene as Dina (as Anne Greene)

 Chester Bennington as Evan

 Dru Viergever as Dan

 Gabby West as Kara

 Benjamin Clost as Jake

 Kevin McGarry as Charlie

 Kim Schraner as Palmer

 Olunike Adeliyi as Sidney

Ishan Morris as Alex (as Ish Morris)

 Carlos Diaz as Coroner Worker

 Elizabeth Rowin as Sara

 Christine Simpson as Donna Evans.