I specifically bought this cheapo multi movie DVD (10 movies on 2 discs) because it includes the film Summer School, which was only released previously as a DVD-R, and although I’ll buy bullshit recordable media when there’s no other option, I’d still rather have a valid pressed disc, even if it is crammed onto a single disc with 4 other films. As is often the case with these sets, a couple of the films have already been on another multipack. I blog about All God’s Creatures and Ashes here.
That leaves seven more flix I never would have watched if they hadn’t weaseled their way into my collection. So which one was my favorite?
ALL ALONE (2010)
All Alone is more of a thriller than a horror film, but it’s totally watchable in its simplicity.
Two couples go camping together in the woods. They run into a free-spirited girl who they may or may not be able to trust.
Eventually they end up turning against each other, leading to some cliché cat and mouse stuff.
It kind of reminds me of a direct-to-video thriller of the 90s, with deception, backstabbing, and a great bitch battle between the two main female characters—one of who might as well play Eddie in a reboot of Ab Fab.
As basic as it is, you still can’t help but watch to see how it’s going to turn out.
THE PURGATION (2015)
I actually find the first segment of this film to be the best part.
A bunch of young kids sneaks into an abandoned asylum to make a horror movie. It’s creepy, atmospheric, and scary, with the kids being terrorized by a demon nun!
The rest of the film focuses on one of the girls as an adult. She wants to go back into the asylum to make a documentary about what they experienced. She reconnects with her friends to talk to them about what happened, but most of them are pretty messed up.
Trippy and gory things take place, to the point that she thinks she might be going mad as well. And of course she goes back into the asylum to face the nun one more time…with a twist.
BLOODLINE (2013)
The cute leading man in this film also wrote and directed it.
It’s basically a backwoods/cabin in the woods flick with a bit of a religious twist…considering the leading man plays a priest in the making who goes away to party with his friends at a cabin in the woods, where he is tempted by sin.
Things become intriguing immediately as they hit a dog in the road, only to have it disappear…and then keep reappearing once they’re settled in at the cabin.
There are some encounters with strangers, but the creepiest scene comes rather late in the film, when one girl discovers her friend outside the cabin acting demonic weird.
Yep, it turns into one of my favorite clichés…everyone turning demon. No excessive demon makeup or anything, but still the usual fun of being terrorized by people you think you know.
They’re like fast crazies with black demon eyes. It’s just a fleeting final segment though since it takes so long to get to it.
BILLY’S CULT (2013)
It’s good to see Debbie Rochon in a leading role as a detective in this film, but the plot is of the all over the place whacky indie variety (which gives it its charm while simultaneously making it feel aimless).
Essentially, there’s a serial killer brutally slaughtering people, bringing together the lives of prostitutes, a priest, and several detectives.
There’s a lot of exposition and character development here, not that it explains much of anything.
For me, the best part is the twist involving the priest…but even with the promise of a demon subplot, Billy’s Cult just doesn’t go anywhere.
And the most gruesome part is when we find out—in gory detail—what the killer does to pregnant women.
PHOBIA (2013)
Despite the fact that it does a few things that really annoy me—it’s a period piece, the actors trying to speak like they’re from the 1800s is fricking annoying, and dialogue vacillates between English and French with subtitles for a while—the eventual cheap indie gothic feel of this one was bizarrely entertaining to me.
a young woman studying abroad undercover as a man gets sucked into a project her professor assigns to her—use his hypnosis techniques to treat a group of people with various phobias.
They hold the sessions in the mansion of an old lady who is afraid to leave her home and sleeps in a coffin. That’s convenient, because one of the other patients thinks he’s a vampire, another patient is terrified of confined spaces, etc. You know, six degrees of insanity.
Eventually weird shit begins to happen, leading to deaths, séances, and the vampiric angle of the plot, with a few twists along the way. The final act is old school hokey vampire crap—my favorite part of the film.
VANISHED (2011)
This is a nonstop action-packed kidnapping film…that I couldn’t follow in the slightest.
A couple’s son is kidnapped…oh no wait, it was their daughter…and those people must be the grandparents…oh, they’re just some people who helped the couple out…everyone in the town appears to be in on the kidnapping…now everyone hates the husband because they think he killed his kid…
Seriously, I was so getting a headache trying to stick with this one. Little clarity comes when it is finally clarified at the end that there are two different women—one who lost a son, the other a daughter. Seriously, when you make movies like this, cast one blonde and one brunette, because bitches all look alike these days.
I couldn’t even follow the entire final act, which is spent explaining everything…with adult abduction, torture, delusions (or is it ghosts?), people in masks, flashbacks, and a battle and chase scene between the two women.
I would say I should watch the movie again to try to make sense of it now that I have a better idea of where it all leads, but that is way too much time and energy needed to enjoy—and understand—a movie.
STEVIE (2008)
If you missed out on movies like Orphan and Mama—or just want more of the same—then Stevie is for you.
A couple adopts a young girl, despite no one believing the wife is ready to be a mom. The girl is very sweet, but weird stuff starts happening.
Fridge magnets spell things out, a dog reacts badly to the girl, the wife is attacked by a steamy bathroom, the girl’s dollhouse redecorates and remodels itself for Lionel Richie’s “Dancing On The Ceiling” video…
The wife believes it’s the girl’s imaginary friend Stevie. The husband thinks his wife is going nuts. The wife delves into the girl’s past and…you can guess the rest based on all the other movies you’ve seen that are just like this one.
