Reviewer: Stephen King
Film: The Brood
Year of Release: 1979
Age Rating: 18
Date of Viewing: 03/10/08
Score: 9/10

What can I say about this film? The late great Oliver Reed stars, David Cronenberg directs and it's bloody terrifying! Just when you thought that Don't look now was the ultimate in scary midget films, another emerges that has scarier midgets!

The story is about a woman who is undergoing an experimental kind of psychiatry, and how she has been separated from her husband and daughter. The father would prefer not to have his daughter visit her mother at all but he is bound by law. Soon it emerges that the daughter shows signs of being abused by her mother. Couple this with some deaths and you have yourself the making of one scary plot

I love Cronenberg's work and this film I am pleased to say is no exception to his usual excellence. Everything is perfect, the score the scares, the acting and the constant feeling in your belly that something could go wrong at some moment in time. One thing in this film that shocked me more than anything else, was the fact that when people were being savagely attacked, the child actors they had would witness it happening! If that was me as a kid I am sure I would have been scarred for life.

In short (no midget joke intended) I would recommend this film for any horror occasion. I perfect example of how this type of film should be made. I just wish that perfect examples of horror would rear their ugly heads more often. Sadly, modern shock flicks are proving a little lacking. I can only pray that David Cronenberg gets back to making the kind of films that matter!


Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078908/ (IMDB)

http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/66715... (PLAY)

Reviewer: Stephen King
Film: Paperhouse
Year of Release: 1988
Age Rating: 15
Date of Viewing: 29/09/08
Score: 6.5/10

Well, I figured it was about good time that I started reviewing again. Things have changed a little, and now I am just going to review any film I feel like, good or bad. Maybe that way people can not only avoid films, but want to watch them too.

Having looked into the people starring in the film, I found out that the little girl who played the lead role, never acted again after this film. Another interesting fact was that the actor playing the young boy died at the tender age of 21; with the internet yielding little results on the reason for his death. The score of the film I believe was also written by the now famous, Hans Zimmer! I love his work, and to find out he started out with such humble beginnings was rather refreshing.

Anyway let's start this review up with a little bit about the film. A young school girl is gradually becomes ill with glandular fever, and as a result is bed ridden for a little while till it clears past the worst. She begins to draw a house in her sketch book one day and then falls asleep only to find out that she has been transported to the very house she created. Living in this house is a small disabled boy who has been left there, but is not sure why. It is brought to light that the doctor treating the young girl has a patient matching the description of the little boy she meets in her sleep.

As time progresses she befriends the young boy, drawing more and more things for them to enjoy when she falls asleep. However, things begin to take on a new quality when she attempts to draw her father; who isn't around very often due to work. The drawing goes all wrong, and her dreamland becomes a nightmare.

To be honest I didn't really know what to expect from an 80's Brit horror film, but by the end of it I felt that watching it had been worthwhile. The film did not really rely on gore, and loud noises to shock you. Instead, there was a great sense of fear brought on by the disturbing dream world she lived in. The addition of an evil character to this fantasy made me feel extremely uneasy every time she would fall asleep.

The film itself is almost like a slightly more cerebral Nightmare on Elm Street, maybe throwing in a few elements of Labyrinth. Unfortunately, I by the end, it was dragging on a little, and that their problems were all to easily solved. Despite this, the film was still a pretty good. A few little down points here and there bring the score to a respectable 6.5. I would recommend watching this movie if you enjoyed Nightmare on Elm Street and other films in the same vein. For what looked like a low budget horror flick, they certainly made it work with what money they had.

Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098061/ (IMDB)
http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/10992... (PLAY)

So...I have a given it a lot of thought and have decided that I would like to make my very own horror film. I'm not talking atmospheric horror genius, but more of a blood filled splatter film.

Script is currently in development, and by that I mean I am going to be drinking beer and writing about the best and goriest death scenes I can think of. After that I will shoe-horn in a plot of sorts.

Anyone interested in providing services for the making of the movie would be much appreciated. Which would mean no pay, but I would be very grateful!

Well time to sign out.

SK (BMBJ)