CultDB

Dark Country (2009)
Director: Thomas Jane
Writer: Tab Murphy
Cast: Ron Perlman, Thomas Jane, Lauren German
A couple en route from Las Vegas are forced to deal with a body out in the desert making their honeymoon one hellish ride.

Hell House The Book of Samiel (2008)
Director: Jason D. Morris
Writer: Michael Anthony Carlisi, Sheila Kraics, Geof Libby, Jessica Marie
Cast: Jennifer Brugman, William Martin
Before the beginning of time demons covered the darkness. After humans took possession of the earths several books came into existence.

Trick 'r Treat (2008)
Director: Michael Dougherty
Writer: Michael Dougherty
Cast: Quinn Lord, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker, Anna Paquin
Four interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: An everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the one guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband.

The Hills Run Red (2009)
Director: Dave Parker
Writer: John Carchietta, John Dombrow
Cast: William Sadler, Sophie Monk, Tad Hilgenbrink, Janet Montgomery
The movie tells the story about a film fanatic who heads into the deep woods with some friends, to find a print of a lost slasher film 'The Hills Run Red', in which production mysteriously stopped and the crew went missing. However, the friends find more than they bargained for when they realized production never ended.

Tormented (2009)
Director: Jon Wright
Writer: Stephen Prentice
Cast: Alex Pettyfer, April Pearson, Dimitri Leonidas, Calvin Dean
The best days of your life become your worst nightmare in TORMENTED, a high school comedy with a very sinister twist. At the exclusive Fairview High grammar school all is not what it seems, although you wouldn't tell from its seemingly normal veneer. With a budding romance between head girl Justine Fielding and popular hunk Alexis blossoming for the whole school to see, a sinister undercurrent begins to sweep through the halls. Alexis is a part of a group of friends headed by Bradley; a clique who victimise the weaker kids for sadistic pleasure. One such victim was poor Darren Mullett bullied so badly during the previous summer, he took his own life in order to escape their diabolical onslaught. Now, with a newfound confidence and absolutely nothing left to lose, Darren is back from the dead to take hisp revenge in the most bloody and inventive ways.

Light school based slasher about suicide victim Darren Mullet, who returns from the dead to take revenge out on the gang who bullied him. A few amusing moments and death scenes rolled around a bland been there done it to death story, which frustratingly doesn't even try to give a reason why Mullet came back from the dead. Best suited for the teen crowd.

(5½ out of 10)

Call Back (2009)
Director: Ben Ross
Writer: Ben Ross
Cast: Chantelle Barry, Rob Benedict, Elisangela, Monica Gambee
After trying to seduce a naïve young actress, an overly cocky young horror director has the tables turned on him when the actress and her girlfriend restrain him and proceed to torture him in the same manner he had tortured people in the film that made him famous.

The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009)
Director: Rob Zombie
Writer: Joe Ekers, Tom Papa
Cast: Rosario Dawson, Danny Trejo, Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley, Sid Haig
The story follows the adventures of El Superbeasto, a washed-up Mexican luchador, and his sultry sidekick and sister Suzi-X as they confront an evil villain by the name of Dr. Satan. The adventure, set in the mythic world of Monsterland, also has a character named Murray the robot.

What's good on paper (this is based on an original Rob Zombie penned comic) doesn't always transfer to features. Mr Zombie gets all his old mainstays in on the act but sadly Haunted World of El Superbeasto doesn't really work. For starters it doesn't really have a flowing story its more a series of segments joined together in the hope it'll amuse the cult movie crowd. Zombie knows his horror so pretty obviously Its packed with horror in-jokes, its fun to see characters like Nicholsons The Shinning & The Fly turn up. The downside is it tries to be hip, retro & sexy like a Ralph Bakshi film only it comes across as just crude, maybe throwing in tits if a live action movie blows helps, but repeatedly doing in an animation just gets dull quick. It may of worked better cut up into 20 minute Adult Swim styled cartoons, and even though I didn't really enjoy the main character of El Superheat I loved the teen nazi loving Suzi X.

(4½ out of 10)

Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Director: Sam Raimi
Writer: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi
Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao
Christine Brown is responsible for loans in a bank and expects to be promoted to the open position of assistant manager after dealing a big contract. However, the new hire Stu Rubin is a collusive coworker that scheming against Christine to be selected by the manager Mr. Jacks to the position. When Mrs. Ganush, an old gypsy with appearance of witch that has been evicted by the bank, requests a third extension of her mortgage, Mr. Jacks tells Christine that it is her call. Christine denies the loan to prove her boss that she can take tough decisions. Mrs. Ganush begs for the loan but Christine shames the woman calling the security. In the night, Christine is stalked by Mrs. Ganush in the parking lot and they struggle. Out of the blue, Mrs, Ganush removes a button from Christine's coat, curses it, returns the button to her and vanishes. Later, while going home with her psychologist boy-friend Clay Dalton, they pass by the fortune teller Rham Jas, and Christine decides to consult him. He advises her that Christine has the fiend Lamia, the Black Goat, upon her. When Christine is haunted by the dark spirit during the night, at home, she tries to fix the situation releasing the loan of Mrs. Ganush.

Hokey plot and a few intentional/unintentional laughs aside, Raimi deliverers a horror movie for the masses that while not exactly groundbreaking does exactly what it sets out to do and make the crowd jump. Plots about Christine Brown a bank loans clerk who while trying to pursue a management vacancy she forecloses on a house loan of an elderly gypsy woman. The woman then places a curse on Christine which involves a goat demon and trying to save her soul within an allotted 3 day period. I'm sure the fanboys among our genre (me included) would of liked to have seen Raimi back doing horror more in keeping with his earlier ballsy evil dead period, what we get is pretty much a perfect take a date teen horror movie. Take it for what it is and sit back and enjoy.

(7½ out of 10)

Transition (2008)
aka Prehod
Director: Boris Palcic
Writer: Vladimir Nardin, Boris Palcic
Cast: Jure Ivanusic, Iva Krajnc, Anita Kravos, Matjaz Tribuson
An innocent affair with a mysterious woman takes an artist into the dark world of corporate conspiracy and mind control games.

Giallo (2009)
Director: Dario Argento
Writer: Jim Agnew, Dario Argento
Cast: Adrien Brody, Elsa Pataky, Emmanuelle Seigner, Robert Miano
In Italy, a woman fears her sister may have been kidnapped. Inspector Enzo Avolfi fears it's worse. They team up to rescue her from a sadistic killer known only as Yellow.

When a woman suspects her model sister has been abducted, she seeks help in loner Inspector Enzo Avolfi. Turns out hes working on a case involving a crazed jaundice taxi driver who abducts attractive women and then slowly kills them. One of the true masters of Italian giallo cinema returns to the genre which any horror fan who knew the 80's still remembers him so fondly for. Trouble is the story and characters are painfully derivative, with the always reliable Adrien Brody being sadly wasted in a role/roles that echoes the TV series Dexter. Another of the flaws is Argento seems to have embraced modern horror movies like 'Hostle' & 'Saw' a little too much with way too much of the film set in the grimly lit dirty factory of the killer. Only segment of the film I did enjoy was the flash backs to Enzo/Brodys childhood. Seems 'Mother of Tears' split horror fans somewhat, I personally liked that as I did with both his Masters of Horror entries 'Pelts' & 'Jenifer' unfortunately as much of a fan of his I am Giallo was a let down.

(6½ out of 10)