We’d like to wish all our readers and friends around the world a very Merry Christmas…however you chose to spend it. 2014 has been a busy year for us and we can’t wait to share some of the exciting articles and events we will be bringing you in 2015.
Movies
Support Indie Film – Lake Eeerie (2014)
From husband and wife team Chris Majors (director/producer) and Meredith Majors(writer/producer/star); Lake Eeerie is a new indie horror/thriller starring Betsy Baker (The Evil Dead), Lance Henriksen (Aliens/Terminator) and Marilyn Ghigliotti (Clerks). Due for release worldwide in 2015.
Young widow Kate (Meredith Majors) moves into an old house
on Lake Erie to recover from her husband’s death. The house has not been lived in for over 40 years. From the moment Kate moves into the house, she is soon haunted by a dark presence. Kate is taking multiple pills/ medications for her anxiety and depression; therefore, she is not sure if she is losing her mind or if the haunting is really happening.
Kate is suddenly enveloped by a whirlwind of tragedy and dark forces, and must decide whether or not she is strong enough to fight back and figure out the evil truth before it’s too late.
Blu-Ray Review: Day of the Dead (1985) Steel-book
Day of the Dead is widely regarded as the third installment in George A. Romero‘s seminal zombie series; following Night of the Living Dead (1968) & Dawn of the Dead (1978).
This Limited Edition Steel-book release from Arrow Films Video is a re-hash of their 25th Anniversary edition Blu-Ray release; the special features included here are the same.
Blu-Ray Review: Birth of the Living Dead (2013)
Birth of the Living Dead is a documentary detailing the production of the George A. Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead which is widely regarded as inventing the modern zombie genre as discussed in the film; directed by Rob Kuhns.
Documentaries or Shockumentaries? 5 of the best.
The trend in popular documentary film-making of recent years has been the ‘shock and awe’ approach. These are almost (anti)propaganda films in their use of music, graphics and shocking images and boldly covering a wide range of provocative subjects.
It is now also an acceptable and widely used device to include the film-makers difficulties during production in the film itself. Popularised by Michael Moore & Nick Broomfield this technique even forms the basis of MTV’s ‘Catfish: The TV Show‘.
The Corporation (2003)
-A classic of the genre this film describes the concept of a corporation as a person in a way that all can understand and uses a series of well documented examples, interviews (including Moore & Noam Chomsky), excellent polished production and graphics.
Directed by Mark Achbar & Jennifer Abbott. Continue reading
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 – Midnight showing Review
Written by Lewis Mainwaring & Benjamin Gummery
Spoiler Free
Mockingjay, Part 1 is the follow up to the 2013 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and is based on the Suzanne Collins‘ novel, Mockingjay, the third and final instalment in The Hunger Games trilogy.
Directed by Francis Lawrence (who also directed Catching Fire) the film stars Jennifer Lawrence as the captivating Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark and Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne. The film also sees the return of Donald Sutherland as President Coriolanus Snow – The tyrannical President of Panem who reigns with a ‘cold fist’ (insert laugh here), Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee and introduces Julianne Moore to the franchise as President Alma Coin.
This film follows on directly from the previous film with Katniss waking up to the realisation that District 12 no longer exists and that she is now at the heart of the new rebellions base located in the ruins
of District 13. Continue reading
Review: The Lookalike (2014)
From director Richard Grey and writer Michele Davis-Gray, The Lookalike is a gritty noir thriller starring Justin Long (also a Producer on the film), Gillian Jacobs, John Corbett & Steven Bauer.
This plays like any other drug deal gone bad, mixed-morals thriller. I did however find the plot baffling and hard to follow at times. The screenplay seems to assume you will figure out the back story as you go along as there are no real exposition scenes at the start of the film. It uses that old device of introducing us gradually to the characters intertwining tales; but this has been done better by others many times before.
Justin Long plays
Holt, the socially-conscious flatmate of drug dealer Joe who sparks up a romance with junkie Lacey (Gillian Jacobs); but as the story develops we see there is more to this interaction than meets the eye. Long turns in his usual quirky performance. Continue reading
Blu-ray Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past – Empire Magazine Edition
Written by Lewis Mainwaring
After seeing this film on opening night way back in May, I had this on pre-order straight away. 
Available exclusively on Amazon.co.uk this limited edition Blu-ray comes packaged as a hardback book and features the exclusive promotional tie-in covers from Empire Magazine.
Cardiff Film & Comic Con – Sunday 9th Nov ’14
Event Reporters – Ben Gummery & Lewis Mainwaring
This was our first ‘con’ as ‘Official Press’ thanks to Showmasters !!!! This was our third overall convention (having attended CFCC ’13 & LFCC Summer ’14). Held at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena for the third time in a row.
Guests that attended today’s event included:- Harry Melling (Harry Potter Film Franchise), Catrin Stewart (Doctor Who – Revived series), Finn Jones (Game of Thrones), Jeremy Bulloch (Star Wars Film Franchise) & Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Who – Classic series & The Hobbit Trilogy).
Continue reading
Horror ‘B’ Movies – Bats (1999)
In the run up to Halloween this year; I’m looking at some horror ‘B’ movies that are watched mostly for the sheer comic value of the laughable story, production & performances. Horror is a genre which continues to deliver this type of film in spades.
These films have picked up a cult following over the years however.
Bats (1999)
IMDb 3.6/10 – Rotten Tomatoes 17% – Budget £6.5 Million / Opening $4.7 Million
The eponymous ‘batastrophe‘ from director Louis Morneau is a comedy of errors right from the start; but not intentionally so. It also deserves some kind of award for the number of times the characters say the name of the film. The ludicrous plot borrows heavily from many stereotypes of the small town horror/disaster genre and the result is only worth watching for the comic value. It did manage to spawn a TV movie sequel ‘Bats: Human Harvest (2007)‘ for the SyFy channel. The bats here are a poor patchwork of CGI, animatronics and real bats. Continue reading
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