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“Thirteen Ghosts” (Thir13en Ghosts?)
Horror fare from Dark Castle Entertainment. A down on his luck guy inherits his Uncles glass mansion and its collection of ghosts. Campy, overblown with CGI, quite good ghosties designs (“The angry Princess?”, MMMMmmmmmm) and a “twist” I saw coming from the start. Throw in Matthew Lillard (squeaky high pitched “Scream” guy) and an utterly annoying kid, and it starts to grate on ones nerves. Still, its quite fun in places if uninspired. “Ghost Ship” was better, but “house on Haunted Hill” is still the best of the Dark Castle movies. I know they are total crap, but I can’t help but have a soft spot for these remakes of classic, if of varying quality horror movies. Lets hope the next one on the agenda, the “House of Wax” remake, is better. At the very least, it's going to be presented in the glasses-required 3-D format no less, so that'll make it an amusing night out at the cinema.
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“Se7en”
The film you all know and (some) love. Watched without commentary because I wanted to reacquaint myself with the movie before viewing with all the various commentaries (I love commentaries)
A surprise to see that it hasn’t dated very much at all, and still manages to project an extremely uncomfortable and unnerving atmosphere even though I know the plot inside out from previous repeated viewings. I'd go as far as saying its got the Film Noir feel nailed down almost perfectly, particularly the extremely brave (for Hollywood) and bleak ending.
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“Broken”
I’ve probably mentioned this before on these forums, but this is the first time I got the opportunity to view this movie in its entirety.
This is a promo movie recorded for the industrial band “Nine Inch Nails”, is banned, and unlikely ever to be released due to the subject matter.
It’s basically a journey into a serials killer’s madness. As “Pinion” starts, a toilet flushes and we journey through the pipes to a figure encased in rubber, with the overflow pipe over its mouth. “Wish” starts off with a man being forced to drink petrol, and as the song finishes, his front teeth are removed with pliers. “Happiness is slavery” starts with a man lighting a candle at a shrine and removing his clothes before sitting in a chair suspended above flowers. As the chair comes to life and a claw starts clawing at him he begins screaming. The claw rips his torso to shreds, and eventually the chair is enclosed by a machine, which minces the man in order to feed the flowers (this might sound amusing. Thrust me, it’s anything but.)
The final song in the movie is by far the worst. “Gave up” begins by showing a man hung by wrists in a dingy room.
There follows scenes of torture which I would say are too graphic to be described in detail here, as I’m aware children frequent these forums. Lets just say there are straight razors, blowtorches and chainsaws involved, as well as necrophilia and genital torture.
I hope even that is not too graphic for this message board, but I’ve read far worse in some of the short stories posted here.
This final segment of the movie (and all the short in-between segments showing the killer kidnapping his victim) is filmed with a hand held camera, which moves in and out of focus and constantly jumps with static. It gives the impression that you are part of the scenario being played out, and videoing this mans horrible crimes. With the banned nature of the movie, and it being a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy etc, the impression of watching something totally illegal and just plain immoral is achieved. I felt dirty, upset and totally freaked out after watching it. A friend I showed this final segment too just sat there muttering “Jesus Christ” repeatedly, and he’s a hard-core gore hound.
Its not illegal to download (it was available at a NIN fansite which has since closed) but is difficult to get hold of. Worth the effort if you are a NIN fan, or just want to see a part of NIN folklore. Hell, even if you like horror movies, its worth a look.
I cannot stress how utterly appalling this movie is. Even though I *know* it is fake, it contains a quality that makes it seem like you are viewing a real “snuff” movie. It’s not something I’ll be watching again soon, but for sheer shock value, I have never came across anything more hard-hitting and upsetting.
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> Thrust me, it’s anything but
Thats quite a Freudian slip :)
"Trust me"
-=-==-=-=-=-
“Thirteen Ghosts” (Thir13en Ghosts?)
Horror fare from Dark Castle Entertainment. A down on his luck guy inherits his Uncles glass mansion and its collection of ghosts. Campy, overblown with CGI, quite good ghosties designs (“The angry Princess?”, MMMMmmmmmm) and a “twist” I saw coming from the start. Throw in Matthew Lillard (squeaky high pitched “Scream” guy) and an utterly annoying kid, and it starts to grate on ones nerves. Still, its quite fun in places if uninspired. “Ghost Ship” was better, but “house on Haunted Hill” is still the best of the Dark Castle movies. I know they are total crap, but I can’t help but have a soft spot for these remakes of classic, if of varying quality horror movies. Lets hope the next one on the agenda, the “House of Wax” remake, is better. At the very least, it's going to be presented in the glasses-required 3-D format no less, so that'll make it an amusing night out at the cinema.
-=-==-=-=-=-
“Se7en”
The film you all know and (some) love. Watched without commentary because I wanted to reacquaint myself with the movie before viewing with all the various commentaries (I love commentaries)
A surprise to see that it hasn’t dated very much at all, and still manages to project an extremely uncomfortable and unnerving atmosphere even though I know the plot inside out from previous repeated viewings. I'd go as far as saying its got the Film Noir feel nailed down almost perfectly, particularly the extremely brave (for Hollywood) and bleak ending.
-=-==-=-=-=-
“Broken”
I’ve probably mentioned this before on these forums, but this is the first time I got the opportunity to view this movie in its entirety.
This is a promo movie recorded for the industrial band “Nine Inch Nails”, is banned, and unlikely ever to be released due to the subject matter.
It’s basically a journey into a serials killer’s madness. As “Pinion” starts, a toilet flushes and we journey through the pipes to a figure encased in rubber, with the overflow pipe over its mouth. “Wish” starts off with a man being forced to drink petrol, and as the song finishes, his front teeth are removed with pliers. “Happiness is slavery” starts with a man lighting a candle at a shrine and removing his clothes before sitting in a chair suspended above flowers. As the chair comes to life and a claw starts clawing at him he begins screaming. The claw rips his torso to shreds, and eventually the chair is enclosed by a machine, which minces the man in order to feed the flowers (this might sound amusing. Thrust me, it’s anything but.)
The final song in the movie is by far the worst. “Gave up” begins by showing a man hung by wrists in a dingy room.
There follows scenes of torture which I would say are too graphic to be described in detail here, as I’m aware children frequent these forums. Lets just say there are straight razors, blowtorches and chainsaws involved, as well as necrophilia and genital torture.
I hope even that is not too graphic for this message board, but I’ve read far worse in some of the short stories posted here.
This final segment of the movie (and all the short in-between segments showing the killer kidnapping his victim) is filmed with a hand held camera, which moves in and out of focus and constantly jumps with static. It gives the impression that you are part of the scenario being played out, and videoing this mans horrible crimes. With the banned nature of the movie, and it being a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy etc, the impression of watching something totally illegal and just plain immoral is achieved. I felt dirty, upset and totally freaked out after watching it. A friend I showed this final segment too just sat there muttering “Jesus Christ” repeatedly, and he’s a hard-core gore hound.
Its not illegal to download (it was available at a NIN fansite which has since closed) but is difficult to get hold of. Worth the effort if you are a NIN fan, or just want to see a part of NIN folklore. Hell, even if you like horror movies, its worth a look.
I cannot stress how utterly appalling this movie is. Even though I *know* it is fake, it contains a quality that makes it seem like you are viewing a real “snuff” movie. It’s not something I’ll be watching again soon, but for sheer shock value, I have never came across anything more hard-hitting and upsetting.
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