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The Broken is probably the best reviewed movie to come out of this year’s Horrorfest. By best reviewed movie I mean better than average. However, once you start reading the reviews you find that people fall into either one of two categories. Either they loved it or they hated it. Unfortunately for me I fall into the latter and had a real hard time getting through the entire movie. The only thing that keep me going was that I wanted to get some answers, but they never came. In the end, the viewer is left to figure out the movie on their own, which is not always a bad thing, however, The Broken, doesn’t give us enough content or interest to make it thought provoking.

In The Broken, Gina McVey (Lena Headey) is a radiologist who encounters her doppelganger. The doppelgangers for her family and friends begin to show up after they attend a dinner party at her father’s, John McVey (Richard Jenkins), house and a mirror breaks for no apparent reason. The doppelgangers true meaning are left for the view to decipher for themselves, since director Sean Ellis leaves only a few clues. Sean leads us down the path thinking he will unravel the mysterious but all a long sets up the viewer for a twist many will see coming a mile away.

But the worst crime Sean Ellis commits is focusing on meaningless shots trying to draw some artistic aspect out of them. The soundtrack is an equal offender, which cranks up to loud annoying levels when there is noting happening on the screen. Did I miss something or is this the work of an amateur. The only thing worth watching he is the cast and both Lene Headey and Richard Jenkins gave great performances.

Review By Brad Peterson

Release Date: March 31, 2009

DVD DETAILS
OWN DVD

After Dark Horror fest is suppose to be a compilation of the scariest movies there are. It suppose to give the audience a never ending feeling of fear, mistrust, or repugnance. Unfortunately, in my case I have not seen a movie in this series that have appeal this feelings, I had a laugh with the Nightmare Man last year, and the year before I was not impress with Reincarnation, so when they offer me this time around the option to do one of the movies from this year‘s edition, I had already lost faith in this series, nonetheless I gave it a try, and I have to say that this time around Horror fest managed to somewhat catch my attention with Slaughter.

First of all, I got to say that of all horror fest movies I have seen this one is the best. This does not mean that Slaughter is a classic of horror genre, but at least it will catch you attention for a good 80 minutes. The story without a doubt is very basic and in one dimension. The first scene opens with an interesting sequences that suggest to the audience a completely different thing of what it is actually about to happen. The characters are appealing to the audience and are easy to relate to, and the storyline gives the audience passages of surprising and shocking scenes and a good dose of mystery.

Each actor in the movie did an acceptable job performing its part, out of all of them the most impressive ones were Lucy Holt, she really understood her character. Lola is one of the reasons this movie does not lose its audience at the middle of the movie and Amy Shields supports her perfectly with her role as Faith. Which says a lot about the casting director, since they found the perfect actresses, since not only their skills were impressing, but their looks also play a key role in the movie. Technically the movie is also superior to last year’s features. The image is more clear and the settings are much better worked this time than previous movies. The sound and music also goes according to the movie and adds somehow emotions to it. However the movie lacks impact. There are parts of the movie where the story somehow loses its momentum, also seems that the director decided to work more the psychological than the visual element, for a movie called Slaughter it seems that it does not have enough blood in it, the characters are not that original, and finally it is easily to predict loosing interest at the ending.

Summarizing, Slaughter gives you some kind of hope, it is not a most seen horror flick, but at least it causes some anxiety in the audience, it was a good choice for a Horror fest. This one unlike previous ones will not make you laugh as much, it will show you some scenes of pure distress and it has a good suggestive ending for a horror movie. It is said that this movie is based in true events which also adds some more value to it, since it manages to entertain and disturb the audience keeping each situations real and possible, something rare in horror movies based in true stories. Keeping in mind of the kind of movie this is I would recommend this movie for fans of the horror fest series, horror in general or fans of movies like Inside, and hostel.

Review By Milo

Release Date: March 31, 2009

DVD DETAILS
OWN DVD

It’s that time of year again. For the third year in a row After Dark Pictures goes on the hunt to find some of the scares movies, or so they claim, in what has become known as Horrorfest. However, of the 24 movies this festival has given us, only a small few are worthy seeing. Sadly Perkins 14 isn’t one of them – a fan inspire movie where hundreds of filmmakers pitched their ideas and selected the cast. Similar to last years Mulberry Street the movie attempts an original stab at the zombie genre but ends an uninspiring heap.

In Perkins 14, a man named Ronald Perkins (Richard Brake) kidnapped fourteen children in the small town of Stone Cove. Ten years later Officer Dwayne Hopper (Patrick O’Kane), whose son was one of the of the kidnapped, shows up for duty and is told that in the holding cell is Ronald Perkins. Dwayne beings to question him and becomes suspicious of Perkins when he see he is missing a finger. Dwayne visits Perkins’ home and confirms he is the kidnapper, but what has become of the children? Perkins has create zombies out of them to exact revenge on the town. Now Dwayne is face with either killing his zombie son or trying to save him.

The best actor here is probably Perkin since he has the right level of creepiness. Sadly we don’t see much of him once the movie gets going. All that we are left with are less than stellar performance by the rest of the cast. However, the biggest flaw is that this movie is just another re-hashing of the basic zombie formula and it is not even a good one. Once the movie sets up the premise, it just becomes a race to kill or be killed. As for the scare factor the movie isn’t that scary either and intense scenes are so dark I could barely make out anything. For those who like their horror with blood and gore there is some of that here, but without a decent plot I just lost interest in the whole thing.

Review By Brad Peterson

Release Date: March 31, 2009

DVD DETAILS
OWN DVD