Review: The Last Days of Jack Sparks

The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An absolutely chilling story! Hands down the scariest book I've ever read!

I've always had this idea of going investigating the paranormal as an atheist and writing about findings. I would visit known haunted houses and go on ghost hunts with paranormal investigators just to see if I can be swayed into believing. Now I've read The Last Days of Jack Sparks that idea can go fuck off.

If anyone is looking for a scary book to read this is the book I will be recommending.

Well done Jason Arnopp you have succeeded in terrifying me.

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Grimmfest 2017: Best Bits!

What a festival Grimmfest was this year! This was my sixth year attending the festival and I can easily say that this year had the best overall selection of movies out of them all! Last year I struggled to put a top 5 list of movies that I liked together due to there not being 5 movies that I liked. This year I'm struggling to whittle it down to just 5! You know it's been a good festival when you ask other people what their top 5 were and they all give you different movies. I know you can only show what has been made and that is out of the control of the festival organisers but I left the festival this year feeling positive about the future of the genre.

It has been a funny year for horror with the bullshit phrase "Post Horror" being created, the new IT movie breaking all kind of records and proving it's possible to make a decent adaptation of a Stephen King novel and then two of the largest and most popular franchise of the genre having a straight to digital release. I'm talking about the new Child's Play and Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies which was brazenly pirated before their release. Self proclaimed fans would be on Twitter having the cheek to criticise the films they have just stolen as they hadn't been released yet. Anyway this brings me to the first of my top 5 movies from Grimmfest.

Leatherface

I called Leatherface a remake of The Beginning which it isn't. It's a whole different story and a different take on the Leatherface's origin. As a Texas Chainsaw movie I don't think it works, it leaves you asking more questions than answers like the absence of certain characters from the original but as a standalone film I think it's very good. It has similarities to the origin story part of Rob Zombie's Halloween and quite a good twist towards the end.

I mentioned earlier that festivals can only show what is available... well with Grimmfest it helps when one of their organisers is a filmmaker! Next on my list is Habit.

Habit

A very bleak cannibal movie with great performances set in the streets of my wonderful city Manchester. It's full of broken characters who have no hygiene standards when it comes to meal time.

If Habit is too grimm for you then you will find a more light hearted film in Double Date

Double Date

Alex wants to help his best friend lose his virginity before he turns 30 and thinks they are on to a sure thing when they meet sisters Kitty and Lulu only these siblings are more into human sacrifices than partying. This is a very funny movie with characters that you really care about.

If you like last years Beyond The Gate then you will love Game Of Death

Game Of Death

Drunken teenagers find a board game they all agree to play only to find out once they started that rules are kill or be killed before the clock runs out. Another good horror comedy with over the top special FX.

If you are looking for something completely different then Borley Rectory is what you need.

Borley Rectory

The story of the hauntings of Borley Rectory and paranormal investigator Harry Price are brought alive in this visually compelling movie. It's not a traditional haunted house movie and you won't find it scary but you will find the techniques used mesmerizing.

Well that's my top five but there are many more movies you should keep an eye open for such as Dave Made A Maze, Replace, Freehold and Poor Agnes.

I want to thank all the organisers at Grimmfest and all the festival goers who make this such a great festival to attend year after year. Also to all the filmmakers who put all their effort in to making these movies and all they ask in return is that we don't steal from them.

Grimmfest 2017 : Borley Rectory Movie Review

Borley Rectory is unlike anything you have ever seen before!

The movie is the story of the hauntings at the Borley Rectory known as the most haunted house in Britain which inspired The Haunting Of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and The Legend Of Hell House by Richard Matheson.

If I'm honest I have never heard of the Borley Rectory or it's hauntings before watching this movie. So the way the movie combines different filmmaking techniques you are immersed in an atmospheric story that grips you from the start. With all the different techniques there is so much going on on-screen at the same time that you can't take your eyes of it and that's not even to mention the excellent cast who guide you through the story.

After watching this I was definitely educated on the Borley Rectory and awestruck by the amount of hard work that must have gone into this project! It isn't a scary movie but it is a thing of beauty with subtle humour and not to be missed!

Grimmfest 2017: Dave Made A Maze

The title explains it all! Dave has made a cheap but impressive looking maze out of cardboard boxes in his living room. When his girlfriend arrives home and finds that Dave is inside the maze and that he doesn't know his way out and claims that the maze is much bigger on the inside. She gathers some of his friends and they enter the maze to try and bring Dave out. Unfortunately there are also lots of traps and a minotaur to cause them lots of harm.

I definitely recommend this movie. If you have read the book The House Of Leaves you will notice a lot of similarities only this movie has a lot of humour. It is a really fun movie which never takes itself seriously. It is filmed brilliantly with lots of imagination and even has a fantastic puppet scene when the actors are turned in cardboard characters of themselves.

Grimmfest 2017 : TAG movie review

After watching the trailer TAG was a movie I was looking forward to watching at Grimmfest this year. Unfortunately the trailer was very misleading.

The trailer had a voice over that implied that some kind of government or agency had a grudge against girls and was killing them off. What we actually got was the main character visiting various stages of her life while all the girls around her get massacred in random extraordinary ways including a mysterious wind that cuts everything in half to teachers gunning down their classes.

The movie blends art house and horror. The opening scene is a must see along with other set pieces and all the actresses who play the main character throughout her life all do a great job. Unfortunately the story at the end that tie the movie together is a let down and could have been much better but it is still a fucking crazy movie with some pretty cool effects.

Grimmfest 2017 : Habit Movie Review

Well Grimmfest 2017 has kicked off and what a way to start a horror festival in Manchester by showing a horror film set in Manchester which happens to be directed by one of the co directors of the Festival!

The movie tells the story of Michael who befriends Lee down at the Job Centre who introduces him to a life of cannibalism at a seedy brothel.

The movie looks great and sounds great. It is full of broken characters who are all played great by the cast with a stand out performance by Sally Carmen. The story is really grimm which is fitting for the festival it's nice to see Manchester on the big screen and quite worrying to know I have to walk these streets back home.

Grimmfest 2017: Not Long Now

As you may know already I have attended Grimmfest for the last five years and I intend to see as much as I can this year too!

If you are not familiar with Grimmfest I'll give you a quick update; it is Manchester's biggest horror festival and takes place on the first weekend in October. If you want to know the calibre of movies that have played at previous festivals then please read my past posts on the festival.

This year the festival is showing many films I am excited to see. You can find the full lineup here along with trailers but I just want to say which films I am most excited to see.

Thursday is the opening night and this year has the world premier of Habit which is set in Manchester and is directed by Simeon Halligan who also happens to be the Co-Director of the festival so no pressure Simeon! Following Habit is Ruin Me set at an extreme horror themed camping site where the events turn from fun to deadly.

Due to work I will be unable to attend the majority of screenings on Friday but I do hope to get there for Better Watch Out as everyone loves a Christmas themed horror movie. Also the trailer for Tag has my attention.

On Saturday the movies I'm most excited about is Double Date due to the humour that I love in a British horror movie, Leatherface which is a remake of Texas Chainsaw The Beginning. I know it's not a remake but if you think about it it kinda is. I'm also looking forward to Fake Blood.

Sunday showings I'm looking forward to are Dave Made A Maze, Borley Rectory which is the movie I'm looking forward to the most at this years festival and Attack Of The Adult Babies which sounds fucking crazy!

These are just a few of the movies that are playing at this years festival there are plenty more to see over the four days which I'm sure will be great. I'm really looking forward to this year, if you don't have plans over the these four days you should definitely try and pop in and catch a film or two. Hopefully see you there!

   

Review: The Three

The Three by Sarah Lotz
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Three by Sarah Lotz had a great premise that I really wanted to enjoy but for some reason it just didn’t grip me the way I like books to grab me.

It might have been the format of the book that let it down for me. After the promising opening chapter the format changes to a documentary style where it’s a collection of transcripts from Skype conservations, Twitter feeds, emails, message board chats and documents that tell the story of the world going crazy after four plans crash in one day and on each plane apart from one (or all four?) a creepy child survive.

Although the story does has a few horror elements I wouldn’t classify it as horror. I was over halfway through the book before the story started getting interesting for me. The story did pick up pace and I am happy I finished it. I just wonder what the book would be like if Sarah would have wrote the book in the same format as the opening and closing chapters.

I give the book 2.5/5


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Death Note Movie Review

The latest offering from Adam Wingard has been released on Netflix and it’s safe to say he’s done it again. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve seen so far from Adam Wingard and just like You’re Next, The Guest and last year’s sequel to The Blair Witch Project, Death Note is a fun movie to watch.

It’s probably worth noting that I’m not familiar with the Japanese Magna that the film is based on but that puts me in a better position to judge the film on its own without any emotional connection to the source material.

The movie follows a high school student named Light who discovers a mysterious notebook called Death Note. He is then visited by a Death God named Ryuk who goes over the rules of the notebook and tells him that he can cause the death of anyone he writes in the pages. All he needs is the name, be able to picture their face in his mind and the way he wants them to die. Along with his girlfriend he then proceeds to rid the world of criminals under the guise of Kira. This starts a cat and mouse chase between Light and a super detective known as L who tries to track down Kira.

It’s not the best movie in the world but it serves its purpose of entertaining you. The story is good, all the effects are spot on and the cast all play good roles. Adam Wingard was a perfect choice to direct this as he is very capable of killing of his characters in imaginative ways and I look forward to more movies from him.

I would have been happy to watch this in the cinema but Netflix are cutting out the middle men and are making some really good content and delivering it right to you wherever you are and however you want to watch it.

3.5 / 5

IT: Chapter 1 Movie Review

IT has finally been unleashed upon us all and it is one of the best horror films in such a long time!

After spending years in development and having numerous writers and directors attached to the project we finally have a movie that the book deserves. I will go as far and say it is my best adaption of a Stephen King story. My other favourites are Stand By Me, Shawshank Redemption and The Mist.

  

I'm going to assume you are familiar with the story of IT either from reading the book or watching the TV movie from the 90's so I'm not going to go over the details of the story. This is the first of a two part movie and focuses solely on the Loser Club members when they are children. The movie is set in the 80's as appose to the 50's when the book is set and the next movie will be set in the present day moving it from the 80's when the Losers face IT again as adults.

They really have turned the horror up on this one, from the opening scene you realise that this is going to hold no punches, if it wasn't from the comedy relieve that comes mainly from Richie and Eddie this would have been one hell of a dark movie.

The whole cast are brilliant, some characters outshine others but I can't find fault with any of the performances. Now this can be seen as a double edged sword for the next chapter as the adults that have to play the same characters have a very hard act to follow.

IT Chapter 1 is going to be very successful at the box office and deservedly so. This is a great movie and the marketing campaign has been excellent. I know it must help to be promoting a character such as Pennywise who is already a household name, up there with Freddy, Jason and Michael but there wasn't any big name actors attached. I do hope this success leads to more big budget horror movies in the future or studios putting some good marketing behind some of the great indy movies that are made year after year.

IT: Chapter 1 proves you no longer have to be terrified of remakes apart from the fact that it's scary as fuck. I admit there has been many unnecessary remakes recently but when the movie is adapted from a book I always look forward to see how someone else can bring the pages to screen especially when it's a book I love. You will always have the saying that the movie isn't as good as the book and the same can be said about this version of IT but it's a much better adaptation then the previous outing.

I give IT: Chapter 1 5/5

Stephen King Overload

The last couple of months have been crazy with Stephen King related content so I thought I would gather together what I can in case you missed any of it.

First up is the Castle Rock TV series announcement.

Being developed by Bad Robot for Hulu not much is known about the series but judging by the trailer it gathers up a collection of characters from the Stephen King universe and dumps them into Castle Rock. Really not sure how the show is going to work, I did joke at the time that the plot was that bunch of kids break into Stephen King’s house and find all his manuscripts which have been locked up and when the kids open them it unleashes all the horrors inside on Castle Rock.

I’m not entirely sold with the little information that is known or if it’s something that needs to be done. How much do people want to see Pennywise go on his holidays to Castle Rock and meet up with Danny Torrance and Annie Wilkes who are also on their holidays there? But it’s definitely got my attention and I’m pretty sure I will be watching once it is released.

Something I am completely sold with is the new IT teaser trailer and it seems I’m not the only one with a record breaking 197 million views in 24 hours. I am very excited for this movie as a kid I found the original TV movie comical but as a adult I found the novel terrifying. I feel this is one remake that everyone who has read the book can agree is necessary. I will now avoid all following trailers and look forward to the actual movie released in September.

Sony have released a poster for the upcoming Dark Tower movie but still no footage has emerged. Unfortunately the release date has been push back to August. As much as I’m looking forward to this movie I feel Sony are struggling with how to market it. They need to do something soon just to ride the waves created by the IT trailer.

Other movies and series based on Stephen’s work to look out for this year is The Mist, Mr Mercedes, 1922 and Gerald’s Game.

Now if that’s not enough to look forward to we also have books being released this year. I’m trying my best to catch up and read everything King has released but he is not showing any signs in slowing down in the writing department meaning my to read list just keeps getting longer and longer.

First up is a novella written with Richard Chizmar set in Castle Rock called Gwendy’s Button Box. Later in the year Sleeping Beauties will be released which he co wrote with his son Owen King. Sleeping Beauties is also being adapted into a TV show.

Now you know what I do. If I have missed anything off then please let me know as I possibly don’t know.