EvilPhoEniX

Giallo/Pinku from Japan paying tribute to Dario Argento. An interesting character study of a twisted maniac whose wife gets killed by a guy in a motorcycle helmet and then kills himself. The main character then takes revenge on society and goes on a killing spree on the streets of Tokyo as he feels he has the right to take someone else's wife. The hero suffers from severe depression and survives in company. There's plenty of nudity (If you like attractive Japanese women, there's a lot to look at), there's punk-rock music, there's interesting camera work and colour filters, the main character has impressive philosophical musings (I really enjoyed his monologues about women, the world, politics, justice), and there's some gore, though it's a bit weak in that respect, nothing to remember or nitpick, they could have done a better job here. The short running time makes it a passable and unconventional genre film. 6/10.

What happens in La Tolqa stays in La Tolqa. The best Brandon Cronenberg yet, who has only now fully matured as a director and is following in his daddy's footsteps. Cronenberg's signature is very much in evidence, and those who don't like his films probably won't change their minds now either. Infinity Pool, however, is more of a psychedelic thriller than a horror film that relies on the unsettling and uncomfortable. Twisted more by theme and idea than explicit violence – there's less of that here for my taste than I expected based on overseas reviews, but again, other elements balance it out. The central couple are enjoying an all-inclusive stay at a fictional resort, but the idyllic holiday is altered by a sudden fatal accident that changes the lives of everyone involved. Rough local rules with a perverse local subculture, psychological hedonism and original cloning are all interesting elements. The direction and execution are on a high level. Alexander Skarsgard is great and Mia Goth delivers another affected and insane performance – Pearl 2 Evolved. (that girl really amuses and turns me on at the same time), and there is one psychotropic and hallucinogenic sex orgy scene that is a delight and I can understand the NC-17 rating, albeit more for the nudity than the violence. The gore is practically non-existent (apart from one nicely smashed head there's almost nothing), but the unsettling atmosphere where something unpleasant hangs in the air works well, and script-wise it's quite unpredictable and quite properly wild. I definitely had more fun than I'd hoped. The film won't please everyone due to its controversial approach and lack of any significant horror scenes, but that's typical of Cronenberg. It's got depth, great actors, impressive ideas, brilliant direction and perverted nudity, pluse the make-up effects are perfectly creepy, too bad they didn't use them better and more often... All that was really missing was proper gore to complete satisfaction.

The third installment of the Mortal Kombat Legends animated series and it's once again wholesome carnage full of fatalities and juicy gore. Violence lovers of all kinds will get a boner. Scorpion's Revenge, the first entry, may still be unsurpassed, but this is also a very impressive affair with animation that doesn't bother me as much as, say, Japanese anime. We have the warrior Kenshi, who loses his eyesight but is taken under the wing of Sub-Zero, who gives him proper training so he can get his revenge on Black Dragon and Kane, who here plays the ultimate bastard. The biggest plus, of course, is the action itself. There's a lot of it, it's insanely brutal, some fatalities are breathtaking and the creativity knows no bounds, blood spurts in hectolitres, I can't be unhappy. The film passes quickly thanks to the short running time, sometimes you can laugh at the funny lines and it's just good brutal fun.

A solid action flick from South Korea. Rarely does it happen that an unknown director and unknown actors come up with such an action romp, which also has very positive reviews abroad. I was pleasantly surprised. We have a main character nicknamed Goblin who spends 10 years in jail for someone else. Once he returns he decides to live a peaceful family life, only to have his daughter kidnapped to make sure he keeps his mouth shut, and he has no choice but to announce the return of Goblin in revenge mode. The opening minutes begin with a brutal action scene where no blood is spared and I knew this was going to be something for me. There's plenty of action, going from one action scene to the next except for the middle of the film, where they slow down considerably and focus on the story, which is understandable so they can step on the gas again in the final third and get a decent action inferno going. The entire film is fought with knives! There's no shooting and not much use of hands, everyone fights with either baseball bats or mostly knives, and knife fighting is my weakness, so I enjoyed all the scenes. It's got great cinematography, great choreography, plenty of blood, the main character uses his knife fighting skills to the max, and there are some decent opponents so action-wise I'm very satisfied. I was in mute awe of some of the fatalities and combos (one evoked The Raid 2, where Uwais dismembered an enemy in 5 moves at the end). I wasn't that interested in the story, but that's beside the point here. 8/10.

Based on a short from the VHS2 short Slumber Party Abduction, the film is a likeable retro horror B-movie, with a lighter Stranger Things feel and references to older horror films. While the first half comes across as a teen genre flick, with a group of kids who like to play and one dude who bullies everyone and is a first class asshole. It all goes wrong at a house party where everyone is ambushed and kidnapped by aliens who need human skin as fuel for their ship. There are brilliant alien costumes, they look pretty creepy and the practical effects are a delight. The second half is quite suspenseful and there is a bit of gore (the best was the spilling of alien acid on a human), but I was expecting a bit more cutting and a wilder ride. The film looks slightly like it fell out of the 1980s, which will be a plus for fans of older films. The short running time of 85 minutes is an advantage, but I can't pull it off to better than average. 6/10.

Vampire baby borefest. Brad Anderson is usually a whiz and his movies are usually entertaining and smart (The Call, Fractured, Stonehearst Asylum). This was supposed to be the kick-off to the vampire season that's been rolling in on us this year, but it's so woefully dull and uninteresting that I can't even believe Anderson made it. A young boy is bitten by an infected dog and becomes a vampire, but instead of murdering half the town, his mother feeds him blood in a bag. Meh. In terms of craftsmanship, it’s fine, so at least it's not underfunded dreck. The actors do their thing too, though I didn’t like the little boy and I'm not too fond of Monaghan either. But the plot is too safe, formulaic, without surprises and very predictable. There aren’t any significant genre thrills here either, let alone gore or an action packed finale. There is no suspense or atmosphere, the whole thing is so bland. It's more of a family drama with light vampire elements and I didn’t enjoy it at all. 4/10.

An amazing B-movie action ride with and an excellent Butler! The skilful French director Jean-François Richet hasn't made a bad film for me yet, I even have his Mesrine: Killer Instinct among my favourites, and Plane is such a guilty pleasure that it meets most of my requirements. It benefits from an appealing premise that is perfect for a proper action film. It's part disaster plane survival and part fight for your life in hostile territory with the Philippine Guerillas, and I really enjoy that. Gerard Butler plays exactly the leading charismatic likeable guy he is wont to do here (he even drops a decent wisecrack here and there), and Mike Colter, who plays the prisoner-killer aboard the plane, is excellent. Butler, of course, has no choice but to work with the prisoner to get rid of the greater evil. A very unconventional team-up that works great all round. Colter is also a member of the French Legion, so he is in his element, and his experience gives him the edge over everyone. The action is excellent, there's only one fight, but it's very intense, but the shootouts are properly bloody and nicely shot, (there was even some awesome jungle “Splinter Cell” stealth action!) and sniper action has never been more impressive than here. The airplane scenes were also nice, with no shortage of dense atmosphere and more than solid build-up in places. There's absolutely no sparing of tension throughout the film and the bad guys are excellent, especially the two central scumbags, you can respect the hell out of them. I must also praise the scenes where they search for the missing plane. Tony Goldwyn gives a great performance, there's some solid dialogue and I enjoyed a lot of the behind the scenes stuff. For me, this is definitely a film I'll happily watch again due to its briskness, fun, action and the insane adrenaline rush it pours. My quibbles are mostly directed to the occasionally dodgy stunts and it's a shame there wasn't some deeper investigative line about the prisoner at the end. But regardless, great fun and satisfaction. 85%.

After a long time, a solid werewolf horror film with Norwegian mythology. The film is set in the Norwegian town of Nybo, where a young girl moves in with her police officer mother to start a new life, only to soon feel the horror very keenly when she and her classmates are attacked by a "wolf". At first the film feels like a Norwegian crime drama, where instead of the hunt for a killer, we have the hunt for unknown beasts. We also have a predator expert who points out that it's a lycan. The film feels very authentic and the you get the feeling that this could easily happen, even though you know it is fantasy and myth. This is what the Norwegians are good at. I liked the wolf’s background from the Viking period and the whole mythology around Lycans is explained nicely. I also have praise appreciate the look of the werewolf itself – the Norwegians have their own interpretation on it, so it looks more like a wild wolf, but with the characteristics of a werewolf. Finally, we get a proper monster that that makes a mockery all the stuffed animals we've seen over the last few years. The film also has decent performances, nice Norwegian scenery, and decently brutal shots of mutilated corpses. The sequence in the cave doesn't lack for great atmosphere either, and the finale in the streets is delicious – though I could have imagined a much bigger carnage. Good for me, a fan of werewolf and animal horror shouldn't grumble too much, among genre relatives this is definitely above average. Viewers uninterested in material only focused on the script and ignore the rest will be disappointed. And good for them! 7/10.

Balaguero off the chains and still in good form! After his cult hit REC, he may have made his best horror film. Finally this year I can shout my favourite phrase ‘What a fucking ride’! Balaguero cleverly combines two sub-genres here, where on the one side we have a crime drama with drug dealers and on the other side occult horror with witches, and both genres fit very well, so the result couldn't be bad. It has a highly attractive protagonist, Ester Expósito (after watching it I immediately went check if she has a video on pornhub and at least lick the TV!), who plays a dancer who escapes from work with a backpack full of drugs and hides in her sister's apartment. Pissed off drug dealers are scouring the city, but other dangers lurk for the main character: there are also witches in the apartment complex who want to resurrect a demon, The first hour is just things getting going, but it's a good watch thanks to the beautiful Esther, and things only to erupt into a pretty decent brutal massacre at the end (nothing crazy, but the bloodiest genre film so far this year without a doubt). The atmosphere, which is uncomfortable in places, is also good, there's some minor plot twists, the whole film has a great pace, it builds up nicely, and in a few scenes the film evoked Martyrs and Inside, which is a great calling card! The finale is a bit of a stretch though, the main character gets a crazy beating, she's slowly covered in blood and full of open wounds, but when she picks up the shotgun it's proper Female Heroism with all the trimmings. It's a bit of a shame that the demon only gets one scene, because it looked awesome and deserved more space, and of course Esther doesn't show her tits, which is the most disappointing thing, otherwise I wouldn't hesitate to give it a full score. 8/10,

A likeable little sibling to Top Gun about the first black pilot during the Korean War. Very underrated in our country, but the reason is obvious (racism and most comparing it to Top Gun, which is a losing battle beforehand), if you get away from that, you're in for an enjoyable war movie with fighter jets, of which there aren't many. Director J.D. Dillard tends to make cheaper films, and Devotion is his first major A-grade work, and he's certainly handled it decently. As for the cast, absolutely no reservations here. Jonathan Majors is a young talent and Glen Powell was in Top Gun as well, so he was downright born for these roles. Visually it's very good, it looks realistic and it's a good film to watch. The first hour is slower though, we have the classic character introductions and immersion into the plot, but I wasn't downright bored. Once the first action scene starts, the film picks up a decent pace and it's a ride to the end. The action scenes are very well done and look spectacular. I was pleased to see that it wasn't just in the air, but there was some ground combat as well, albeit brief, but the atmosphere could be cut. I also enjoyed the whole final mission, which oozed fatality and emotion, and the music was good too. So for me, a decent job. 7/10.