o-mavis Reviews

House on Haunted Hill (1999)

Thrills, Chills, and Naked Girls

[7/10 · 24 June 2008]

I recently re-watched this film, having seen it at the cinema and on DVD when it was released. I wouldn't call this film a remake, but a 're-take', as the original was ghost-free, but judging it on remake scale I'd say it was a pretty good one. An overall jump-fest with plenty of gore for the bloodlovers, a good grippy storyline, and some nice characters. The acting was mediocre from most of the cast, but having watched quite a few interviews with the director I suspect this was just the fault of poor direction. One rather annoying thing (among many I'm afraid) is the abandonment of logic and fact for the purpose of 'film gloss'. For example, several scenes feature naked girls with flowing blonde hair. The female asylum inmates were half-starved and bald-headed. So who are all these 'nymphettes' supposed to be? Hmm? A chat with the director reveals they were put in to up the t*ts rating of the film. How very mature. Other than obvious silliness of this variety, the film is a very enjoyable watch. At first I suspected poor audio production, but realised that the quiet dialogue and overly loud incidental music is perfectly planned. You turn it up to hear the dialogue, and then 'Aaaaah!' you're out of your seat the moment something scary happens. I can't help repeating many other critic's words about the 'Darkness', which is simply a hotchpotch of smoke and bad cgi faces, mirrored to make shapes. It looks like exactly that, and in my book if cgi looks like cgi, it's not worth using it. If this film had been released as book, it would be a best seller. In short, the only things that let it down are visual, and there's plenty of other eye candy (in the form of lushly creepy sets, and to-die-for lighting effects) to feast on. If you've never seen it, do so. For all it's flaws it is still a must-see. Just be warned, the house IS alive...

Cannibal Ferox (1981)

All hype and no substance

[4/10 · 20 June 2007]

This film is much the same as Cannibal Holocaust. If it weren't for the needless animal killing in the name of 'shock' ("Ooh look at us, we're hardcore, we've added real death to our films") these films would make their way onto my dusty classics shelf - I'm a huge fan of cannibal films and zombies. But as it stands, it's another example of shock horror clutching at the last straws of the pile in a desperate effort to make a poor film generate more hype. To sum up, a crusty gore flick with limited appeal. A fan of 70's gore should give this a try, but anyone with modern ethics and tastes should pick something a little better written for their popcorn-fest.