Drychron Red Reviews

Someone's Knocking at the Door (2009)

SKATD is a fresh take on horror

[8/10 · 26 August 2010]

If you've watched Someone's Knocking at the Door then you know the visceral violence and suspense Chad Ferrin and co. put into the film. It has been controversial. My take is that Mr. Ferrin won't compromise on his vision, and that's a good thing. You sit down to watch the movie, expecting to be entertained, and if you're used to watching horror movies, you're expecting to only be mildly affected. Mr. Ferrin doesn't let you get away with that. He lets you sit down and push play while he's smiling, but then he grabs you by the collar and drags you through exactly what he wants you to see and feel and you have absolutely no choice but to just deal with it. Brilliant! You can argue about this or that and analyze small nuances if you want, but in my book the film overwhelms you with gripping terror and doesn't let go and that makes the film work. The plot is unique, the characters interesting, and the pacing is great.

Part of what I like is what you don't see. In an independent horror film you expect to hear lousy muffled audio, bad colouring, contrast, white-balance, too low or too high lighting, or any one of a number of bad technical issues with the film itself, not to mention bad editing and bad camera work in general. You won't find that here. SKATD looks and sounds like an "A" budget movie. I only had one small complaint in one scene that the background music was too loud for the character to be heard properly. That's it - one small technical issue. Mr. Ferrin has such a distinguished career already that by this production he has "movie making" down.

SKATD really made me think, really made me feel, and really made me want to turn the f*cking lights on. That's what a good horror movie is supposed to do.

Cheers!

Lost Junction (2003)

'Lost Junction' is well-paced and entertaining

[8/10 · 17 February 2003]

Although 'Lost Junction' is not going to win an Oscar, it's a very entertaining movie, which is the first gauge I always go by. The characters are very believable, although the character development does not go that deep. The main characters play well off of each other, and everything slowly escalates until the last act, where relationships are strained and it's anybody's guess how it will turn out. It's a unique romantic comedy as it does not go down the comedy road so far as to make the romance unbelievable. In fact, I would go so far as to say it's a light drama with some really funny parts to it. 'Lost Junction' is a great curl-up-on-the-couch and eat popcorn movie. It's editing is well-paced, and the cinematic style is interesting. The twist at the end has you going, but it too is believable.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

Worth every Penny

[9/10 · 17 July 2001]

FF is without a doubt the first movie of a new genre of movies that will begin to ultimately replace (IMHO) traditional films. The quality of the animation and hyper-realistic characters is extremely impressive.

The plot of the movie is more of a 7 out of 10 than a 10 out of 10, but it is still an amazing movie.

I envision that soon actors will be valued for their acting through their voices, and not for anything else. I believe characters like Aki (imagine her as an actress playing the part of Aki in the movie) will have box-office draw in a totally different, unrelated movie. It will happen.