Penny Dreadful – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
Penny Dreaful – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
“Young Penny goes on a retreat with her psychologist; the intention is to help her overcome her phobia, an intense fear of cars. Unexpected events find her in a nightmarish situation where her worst fears come true.”
This is one of the better movies from this series. Penny has a trouble past and she’s on a trip with her psychiatrist to face her fears. In a strange twist of events that only happens in the movies they hit a stranger on the road and give him a ride “up the mountain” she he doesn’t sue. As per usual he is clad in dark hooded sweatshirt and doesn’t say a word during the trip. Of course he’s going to kill them.
The car gets a flat tire as they make their get away from Mr. Scary and so they have to try and find their way out in the dark. Penny gets separate from her doctor who soon meets her end at the hands of the stranger.
Penny (who stayed with the car) wakes up to find the car pinned between some trees and she can’t get out. Her doctor is now strapped into the driver’s seat. The unknown figure then spends the rest of the night tormenting and torturing her.
There are several more victims as people hear and try to rescue Penny from her plight.
The film is dark and gloomy and the killer pulls off his acts with Penny left helpless to watch.
Once again, there isn’t a whole lot of point to the movie and why this torment has been unleashed on Penny. And while the killer has had plenty of chances to have his way with Penny he only torments her while he kills of those who come to help her without hesitation.
And of course in the end there is that shadow of dread that even though the killer had been bashed and battered his twitching hand suggests he is going to start his spree all over again.
Even though there isn’t really a point to this one it’s still a pretty good movie. It has a constant sense of fear and dread. It also takes place at night so there are plenty of chances for things to show up and cause a jump. Overall one of the better movies in this series and is worth renting.
Other Articles of Interest:
- Reincarnation – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- The Abandoned – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- The Hamiltons – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Unrest – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Wicked Little Things – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- The Gravedancers – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Dark Ride – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Time to bring out the scary movies
- The Number 23 – Rating 2.3 out of 5
- Dead Silence – Rating 3 out of 5
Unrest – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
Unrest – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
“Alison Blanchard begins her journey to become a physician in her Gross Anatomy class, where she must confront rows of cadavers and her own fear of mortality. When the sheets are drawn back revealing her cadaver, Alison senses a presence in the lab. Her jaded professor chalks it up to first year “jitters” but her worries increase when a friend is found dead in the basement. Alison must find out the truth behind her cadaver before its angered spirit can wreak further vengeance on those who dared to disturb the body.”
This movie starts off with a good premise – first year med student working with cadavers. And with that I figured there would plenty of creepy things to work into the scenes. For the most part, that’s about right.
Alison is a young student who has to live in the teaching hospital until she gets her financial aid worked out. Of course, the teaching hospital is where all the students work on the bodies down in the morgue. Four students come together to work on a body that has been shipped in. Alison is very concerned over how the woman has died. With multiple cuts all over her body and face Alison gets the sense that something is wrong.
With the other three students we get an ultra religious one, the prankster and the more serious but still grounded in reality one. This is of course the guy Alison falls for.
Despite the obligatory shots of Alison running around with just a bra on, this movie was pretty decent. The body apparently has a curse on it and all those who touch it meet with a terrible end. As they start to die off, Alison begins to lose her grip on reality and what she needs to do to stay alive.
The movie has a dark tone and you feel like something is coming around every corner. However, there really isn’t anything moving in the shadows and you begin to wonder what all the fuss is about. New bodies keep turning up in the morgue but there is no “force” to reckon with that keeps putting them there.
There is a creepy scene with Alison and her man friend jumping into the formaldehyde tank to get the “possessed” body out so they can destroy it with other body parts are floating all over the place.
Overall it’s decent movie, but the tension keeps building but there is no specific resolution. We’re unclear about how all this got started, why all the bad “Juju” in the first place? The movie is good for a few creepy scenes and shows a lot of promise for the writers and directors.
If you’re looking for something new, this is worth renting, but don’t expect too much, remember, these are low budget productions.
Other Articles of Interest:
- Reincarnation – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- The Abandoned – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Penny Dreadful – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Wicked Little Things – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- The Hamiltons – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- The Gravedancers – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Dead Silence – Rating 3 out of 5
- Saw
- Time to bring out the scary movies
- Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XIX
Reincarnation – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
Reincarnation – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
“Nagisa Sugiura (Yuka) is a young Japanese actress who comes face to face with a slew of ghosts. These restless spirits begin to appear when she signs on to star in a horror film which tells the true story about a crazed, local professor whose murderous rampage at a hotel left 11 guests dead, including his young son and daughter. The movie is being filmed at the very site where the killings took place.”
This movie is the best in the series so far from the director of Ringu and Ju-On. It has an interesting plot in that a director goes on location to where are a series of murders took place so he can make a movie about the people who died.
After getting a role in the movie an actress begins to see strange visions of the people who died. In typical style of The Ring and The Grudge there is a lot going on in the background rather than the main scene. Something will move in the background or just out of the scene to make you wonder if you saw something.
As the movie unfolds the visions get more and more blatant. The young actress is reliving the murders and seeing them as though she were there.
Takashi Shimizu is used to working on a low budget and he makes this movie work. The minimalist style also makes the movie seem more dreadful and bleak. It has a solid plot and you get drawn into what’s happening. This was a fun movie to watch and if you’ve seen his other J-Horror this movie sticks with his style. More of a thriller than a gore fest this might end up being reworked into another American-ized release.
This one is worth renting and stands a benchmark for budget horror film making.
Other Articles of Interest:
- The Abandoned – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Penny Dreadful – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- The Gravedancers – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Unrest – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- The Hamiltons – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Wicked Little Things – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Dark Ride – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Dead Silence – Rating 3 out of 5
- Saw III
- Deer Woman – Masters of Horror – Rating 4 out of 5
Wicked Little Things – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
Wicked Little Things – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
“Recently widowed Karen Tunny and her two daughters, Sarah and Emma, move to a remote mountain home which Karen has inherited from the family of her late husband. However, she is unaware that the home is situated near an old mine, the site of an early 20th century tragedy in which many children where buried alive…”
Animal sacrifice, a creepy abandoned house in the woods, the strange woodsman who seems to know what’s going on, and the spirits of children who were trapped in a mine, what more could you ask for.
A mother and her two daughters go to live a home she has inherited after her husband’s death. The house is a wreck with barely any electricity and running water, but that doesn’t stop our teenage heroine from making out in the backseat of a firebird on a lonely road.
There appears to be a curse on this land from the children who were killed in a mining accident hundreds of years earlier. Now they seem to want revenge for the misdeeds suffered against them. They roam the night in an ill tempered band killing anyone they come across. Why their hungry for blood isn’t really explained, nor is the reasoning for their feasting on pig carcasses or the bodies they slain. I guess their hungry. Of course at the rate their killing people there would no one left in this town after a week let alone the amount of time their supposed to have been around.
But anyway… The youngest daughter falls in with the wrong crowd and gets lost among the cursed children. Mother and daughter must figure out a way to save their own lives and get the daughter back. Of course they need the help of the crazy mountain man to understand what to do.
Actually this movie isn’t too bad. It has some overtones to the Amityville Horror where the house is build on cursed ground. Or at least it’s sitting on cursed ground now. Although the “undead” children look like a bad rendition of the “Little Rascal” and their motives for killing just anyone seem a little ridiculous the movie has a good pace and keeps things moving. The movie is more bizarre than scary, but it’s decent one to watch with the lights off. It’s not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.
Other Articles of Interest:
- The Abandoned – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Reincarnation – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- The Hamiltons – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Penny Dreadful – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Unrest – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- An American Haunting – Rating 2 out of 5
- The Gravedancers – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- Dead Silence – Rating 3 out of 5
- Dark Ride – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
- When a Stranger Calls – Rating 2.5 out of 5
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