The Last Exorcism (2010)

Under the many slots of horror movies, exorcism has its own niche, its own little chapter. It may not be big, but, if done right, can stay within living memory for a long long time. Take The Exorcist (1973) for example. It is still ranked as number 1 of top 100 horror movies of all time. And that was what? 37 years ago? So what is it about demonic possession that still sends chills down our spine? Is it the idea of evil crawling under your skin and living there? Or is it the distorted version of ourselves once we've been possessed? Or is it something else quite literal, the deep guttural voice, the evil grin, the twisted body?  Or is it the intelligent evil that mocks us and our beliefs? Evil has many faces, and the scariest of all is the one we're familiar with the most: our own.

The Skinny: A documentary crew led by a protestant minister does a documentary on a live exorcism. Horror hijinks ensues. 

The Helmer: Daniel Stamm - A Necessary Death (2008), Off Hollywood & Wiine (2004)

The Casts: Patrick Fabian, Ashely Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, Caleb Landry Jones, Tony Bentley, John Wright Jr

Release Date: 27th August 2010 

The Prediction: This film has the gravitas of having Eli Roth's name attached to it as a producer. Is it a good thing? If you consider him as a heavyweight for all things gruesome and troubling, then it can be seen as good endorsement. Otherwise, if you want to see a film which seems to be an honest representation of demonic possession done in 'real TV' format, then its all systems go. The trailer makes the movie look very compelling, but the schtick about good versus evil, this versus that is kinda thin on the ground. Which means, enjoy this movie for the simple scares and the shock value it wants to communicate. Live documentary crew filming horrific subject matters have been kinda stretched, so it must have something more than that, it must have good ole fashioned spine tingling chills made real.

Wiki Possessed

Trailer

Official Site

I Spit on Your Grave aka Day of the Woman (2010)

I honestly have major questions for people who enjoy torture-porn the likes of Hostel and the Saw series. Do they really enjoy seeing other people get tortured to death? It also makes me wonder if as a society, our level of tolerance for violence and torture has been so desensitized that horror flicks like the original I Spit on Your Grave (1978) , banned in several countries (notably the UK) is making a new millennium comeback. Wasn't once enough? What is it with the studios need to remake something which is extremely distasteful and obscene? 

The Skinny: A young woman is raped and left for dead by some hill-billies. She survives and hunts them down one by one adopting literally the adage "Revenge is a Bitch". Weapons of choice includes a really large pair of rusty clippers, applied in the nether regions ... ouch.

The Helmer: Steven R Monroe - Mongolian Death Worm (2010 TV), Complacent (2010), Ice Twisters (2009 TV), Wyvern (2009 TV), Storm Cell (2008), Ogre (2008 TV), Dual (2008), Left in Darkness (2006 V), Sasquatch Mountain (2006), It Waits (2005), House of 9 (2005), The Contract (2002), The Beach Boys: Nashville Sounds (1996 TV)

The Casts: Sarah Butler, Chad Lindberg, Daniel Franzese, Tracey Walter, Jeff Branson

Release Date: 8th October 2010

The Prediction: I'm going to give this one a miss. I'm just putting this prediction up for those who may have heard about this movie, and wants to know what its about. Its about vengeance, in a very nasty way. The original has been billed as a 'video nasty' by the British so you should know what you're in for.

Trailer  

Wikipedia 

Official site 

Pirahna 3D (2010)

Yawn. Buncha fishes feasting on buncha dumb coeds on a party holiday. Whats the big kick? Sharp-teethed fishes feeding into bellies of screaming swimmers? Been there done that with Alien, All Zombie movies. But wait! This time its different! How? These razor-teeth man-eating fishes are PREHISTORIC pirahnas! They were around during the time when the DINOSAURs roamed the earth! Wow! ... Erm. Okay, still not working for me. I'm just curious, why would a Hollywood studio spend money on something so un-exciting as this? I mean honestly. 

The Skinny: Tectonic movements have shifted the seabed unleashing a school of hungry PREHISTORIC pirahnas, and they're all headed for food, in the form of squealing nubile young things in two-piece bikinis and their dumb-as-shoes boyfriends. 

The Helmer: Alexandre Aja - The Esseker File (2009 V), Mirrors (2008), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), High Tension (2003), Furia (1999), Over the Rainbow (1997)

The Casts: Richard Dreyfuss, Ving Rhames, Elizabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, Eli Roth, Jerry O Connell

Release Date: 20th August 2010 

The Prediction: I'm wondering why? Why this movie? Whats with using a noted, talented horror helmer to do this campy beast-feast flick when there are tons of good material out there? Is it a vehicle for almost-stale starrers such as the above almost-A listers? The trailer plays it pretty serious, which I'm wondering where they're going with this. Granted, I kinda dig the cast, and I dig Aja more as I was severely impressed with his unapologetic take on The Hills Have Eyes, which rocked monkey boats, and he did do the French horror hit Haute Tension, aka High Tension. So its a bit of question mark this one. But having said that, I'm still game for this movie as I am curious the extent they will go to grab my attention and hold it there for the length of the movie. So yeah, give this one a try. What will be disappointing however, if the studios are just trying to cash in on the 3D hullaballoo and just snatch any 'horror' like themes they can grab just so to make money ... but hang on, thats what everyone is doing isnt it? Man, I'm dumb.

Trailer

Official Site 

Wikipedia Takes a Bite

Something Evil (1972 TV)

And you thought Steven Spielberg did cutesy movies with adorable characters just waiting to be made into toys, action adventure with the world's most athletic archeologists, aliens resembling a pile of doodoo with eyes ... well you thought WRONG! Ole Steve-o also did horror movies. Well at least this one horror movie, which scared the living crap out of me when I was a young critter back in 1976. Granted it was back in the 70s, and that I was a young critter and all ... but it did the near impossible: it gave me nightmares. What caught me in the jewels was the idea of pure evil in the form of the devil. It was creepy as hell, and it made me remember about the creepiest thing I have ever seen until today: a jar of jam screaming. Yep, you read that right. This movie has a jar of jam possessed by the devil until it could scream out "mama ... mama .... mama ..." Hows that for horror? 

The Skinny: A farmhouse is haunted by the devil with poltergeist activities causing havoc to a small, innocent family. Initial distrust of the chain of events soon leads to full fledged acceptance of the nature of the devil. Horror action ensues. 

The Helmer: Steven Spielberg - he did helluva lot of films. Just click on his name and movie oracle imdb.com will reveal all ... 

The Casts: Darren McGavin, Sandy Dennis, Ralph Bellamy

The Verdict: When everyone thought The Exorcist (1973) was hot shit back in the day, this little TV movie was scarier, at least to me. Why? Because you don't see the face of evil, instead you feel its presense throughout the whole thing. But honestly, horror movies of the 70s far exceeds any generation of horror movies to date. What we have now are just feasts for gore hounds and nothing more. It can make you sick to your stomach, yes, but it doesn't crawl under your skin to chill your spine. 70s horror movies did that, and they did it with low budget, excellent score and weird camera angles to disturbing results. 

Trailer

Wiki on Something Evil

The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) flashback

This is one of those horror movies which still gives me a nostalgic chill whenever I think about it. Was it the hand crawling out from the soup bowl? Was it the spinning hammer and pike hovering menacingly above Bill Pullman's family jewels as he sits strapped down on a metal chair quivering in fear? Was it the hellish descent into a neverending grave with hands grabbing from all sides? Or was it the horror of being buried alive? With a spectacular opening scene where Pullman discovers his true inner animal and walks 3000 miles out from the depths of the Amazon basin, this film carries the audience through a roller-coaster ride of spills and chills in downtown Haiti and introduces one of the most underrated but memorable villain committed to the silver screen.

The Skinny: Anthropologist gets mixed up in some voodoo shit in Haiti as he tries to uncover the secrets behind a zombie making potion. imdb.com has a great synopsis: 

Dennis Allan is an scientist who visits Haiti on the strength of a rumour of a drug which renders the recipient totally paralyzed but conscious. The drug's effects often fool doctors, who declare the victims dead. Could this be the origin of the "zombie" legend? Alan embarks on a surprising and often surreal investigation of the turbulent social chaos that is Haiti during the revolution which ousted hated dictator "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Often a pawn in a greater game, Alan must decide what is science, what is superstition, and what is the unknown in a anarchistic society where police corruption and witch-doctory are commonplace. Written by Murray Chapman

The Helmer: Wes Craven - Scream 4 (2011), My Soul to Take (2010), Paris, je t'aime (2006),  Red Eye (2005), Cursed (2005), Scream 3 (2000), Music of the Heart (1999), Scream 2 (1997), Scream (1996), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), New Nightmare (1994), Nightmare Cafe (1992), The People Under the Stairs (1991), Night Visions (1990 TV), Shocker (1989), The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), The Twilight Zone (1985 - 1989 TV) .

Deadly Friend (1986), Casebusters (1986), The Hills Have Eyes (1985), Chiller (1985 TV), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Invitation to Hell (1984 TV), Swamp Thing (1982), Deadly Blessing (1981), The Evolution of Snuff (1978), Stranger in the House (1978 TV),The Fireworks Woman (1975), Last House on the Left (1972).


The Verdict: Wes Craven is a basically a giant in the wonderful world of horror. He was instrumental in the release of 3 successful horror franchise: The Hills Have Eyes series, the Nightmare on Elm Street series and the Scream series. But even before he went mainstream he did a number which today still has the power to scare, with The Last House on the Left; a detailed study into the crazed minds of evil people. Which is no wonder why this little gem still shines after all these years - it has the Craven touch. The images, the ideas, the concept successfully combined to make a truly effective horror movie: the fear of being buried alive, of being persecuted even through your dreams and the fear of facing your demons for one last final confrontation. Pullman shines as a embattled man staring down true horror in the guise of a mad dictator who refuses to let him go. This is a classic.  

Trailer 
Wikipedia on Serpent and the Rainbow

Super 8 (2011)

Just what is Super 8? Its a cine camera, a model of film making way before digital film making was available. But what is Super 8 really? Its a super-secret JJ Abrams movie which is either on the tail end of production, or its in post-production. Why the all the hush-hush? Its Cloverfield (2008) all over again isn't it? Yep. You got it. All secrets until ... wham!! You get hit by a monster movie, or in this case with Super 8, an alien movie. 

The Skinny: A cargo train delivering an alien species on the way to / or from Area 51 gets derailed, and the alien species on board escapes. Sci-fi mayhem ensues. 

The Helmer: JJ Abrams - Undercovers (2010 TV), Star Trek (2009), Anatomy of Hope (2009 TV), The Office (2007 1 episode TV), Mission Impossible III (2006), Alias (2001 - 2005 TV), Lost (2004 TV), Felicity (1998 TV)

The Casts: Unknown 

Release Date: Somewhere in 2011

The Prediction: You can put your money on this little pony. How can you go wrong with Abrams helming and writing it? AND produced by everyone's favorite uncle STEVEN SPIELBERG. You just can't. I'm currently watching JJ Abrams produced TV series Fringe, which I love to bits. so I'm very partial to this guy. Which means I'm rooting for this one.If you check out the trailer, you can see that Abrams is not going by way of Cloverfield handheld videocam look, i.e. all jerky and realistic. This one looks pretty slick and obviously not handheld. Which should be good. 

Trailer

Official Site 

Jackass: 3D (2010)

Now this requires no introduction, explanation or any form of justification. Its a bunch of guys hurting themselves, engage in toilet humour and laughing till it hurts. Turned sideways, rolled up, tightened and shoved up the patootie of common deceny and sense. And hey, its all good!

The Skinny: buncha guys finds hilarity through pain and defecation. 

The Helmer: Jeff Tremaine - 30 For 30 (2010 TV), Nitro Circus (2009 TV), Jackass 2.5 (2007), Jackass Number Two (2006), Wild Boyz (2003 TV), Jackass: Gumball Rally Special (2005 TV), Jackass: Volume 2 (2004 V), Jackass: The Movie (2002), Boob (1999).

The Casts: (All as Themselves) Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Jason Acuna, Ryan Dunn, Preston Lacy, Dave Enland, Ehren McGhehey, John Taylor.

Release Date: 15th October 2010

The Prediction: more pain, more laughs, more poo, more pee but IN 3D!! Nuff said! Woohoo!

Trailer
Official Movie Site
Wikipedia on Jackass