Southbound Review by Paul Downey

The anthology horror is definitely becoming flavour of the month right now. As you may know from reading our previous reviews, we are big fans of Trick ‘R Treat and The Tales of Halloween here at Bloody Flicks.

Although the V/H/S series and ABC’s of Death had their highlights, it seems a more winning formula to have less story in the anthology and give us more time with the characters and more importantly the story.

So we come to ‘Southbound’ coming from David Bruckner (who was until recently attached to the Friday the 13th reboot), Roxanne Benjamin, Patrick Horvath and Radio Silence who all direct one segment.

All of the stories are interconnected but all have different themes. We begin with two men covered in blood looking to outrun something, on the road…. you guessed it southbound.

This sets the bleak tone for the entire film as we delve into devilish territory and never really come back into the light until the final credits.

Whereas Tales of Halloween and Trick ‘R Treat had their lighter moments to break up the mood, Southbound offers no such escape from this twisted world.

It is violent, twisted and disturbing at times; make no mistake these are four memorably gory tales. The special effects are decent too with plenty of guts and blood for the gore fans.

The recurring theme here is that there simply is no escape, from going round in circles, locked doors – all of our characters are trapped in this desolate hell.

Clocking in at just over 90 minutes ‘Southbound’ does not feel bloated either. It says what it needs to say, gives enough to crave more then the credits roll.

‘Southbound’ is a dark twisted highway to hell that demands your attention from the first minute until the final one.

Southbound Review by Paul Downey
http://bloody-flicks.co.uk

Nina Forever Review by Paul Downey

The Blaine brothers’ ‘Nina Forever’ has been billed as a messed up fairytale, but there is a lot more to this tale than meets the eye.

Our main protagonist is Rob, a grieving boyfriend who’s girlfriend Nina is killed in a car accident.

At work he is billed as an lonely outsider, until he catches the eye of Holly. She instantly takes a like to him, and sets out to make him mine.

Little does she know that when they have sex for the first time, they get an unexpected visitor. With some whispers of Hellraiser, given Nina’s resurrection, it is at times quite bleak but with plenty of dark humour there is a healthy balance.

We deal with the subject of bereavement from Rob’s point of view, as well as Holly and even Nina’s family as they all deal with her death in different ways.

Rob is a very sympathetic character, who does make mistakes but all with the end goal of moving on with his life. Holly on the other hand seems to be on a self-destruct mission and is determined to take Rob along for the ride.

Fiona O’Shaughnessy’s Nina is at times funny but sometimes downright cruel, especially in her mocking of Holly.

All of our three main characters are complex, which certainly lifts ‘Nina Forever’ to a higher level than your standard horror.

It is also beautifully shot, with some rapid cuts filling in the relevant back story, ‘Nina Forever’ moves along at a fast pace, which keeps the story evolving and interesting.

There also doesn’t seem to much filler, as every scene feels relevant to allow the story to grow, so when the credits roll it feels like a complete story; albeit a very twisted one.

By Paul Downey
http://bloody-flicks.co.uk/

Goosebumps - Review by Paul Downey

I’m sure (as I’m a certain age) some of you felt a bit against the news that hit book series Goosebumps was becoming a live action film.

Of course given the success of Trick ‘R Treat, Tales of Halloween, ABC’s of Death and the V/H/S series it would have been easy for this have become an anthology horror, but gladly this is the most fun horror in a while.

It’s influences go from Gremlins to even the aforementioned Trick ‘R Treat and the recent festive horror Krampus; as we don’t just one monster, we get hundreds!

Zach (Dylan Minnette) and his mum have just moved to a new city to help cope with the loss of his dad.

What Director Rob Letterman isn’t afraid to do here, is give his characters real emotion as we see Zach still in the mourning process over his father.

We don’t dwell on this too long as he meets Hannah from next door who’s father is none other than R.L Stine (the author of the Goosebumps book series). After thinking he hears a commotion in their house Zach accidentally opens one of the books on his shelf and unleashes the monsters from within.

Now Stine must reluctanctly team up with Zach, Hannah and bumbling sidekick Champ to defeat his monsters.

Although the premise may seem quite straight forward, Goosebumps really works as it doesn’t take itself too seriously and very much in a Cabin in the Woods style; there’s always a different monster to deal with.

Jack Black revels in the role of Stine, in what is easily his best role since School of Rock.

Goosebumps very much arks back to the Amblin Entertainment era of Gremlins, The Goonies and although featuring a young cast, allows us to understand them and invest in their journeys.

It’s a fun rollercoaster ride, which has a few scares, plenty of heart and a fun story oh and of course a twist…..

Goosebumps definitely has the potential to become a cult classic for years to come. Volume 2 anyone?

By Paul Downey

http://bloody-flicks.co.uk

Lazer Team - Review by Paul Downey

From the minds that brought you Red Vs. Blue, comes Lazer Team a throwback to 80’s feel-good science fiction.

An unlikely group of misfits is thrown together with just ONE mission; save the planet.

After decoding a message from a friendly alien race we find out that a more sinister race of extra terrestrials is heading for planet Earth. It’s aim is simple; destroy the planet.

To do this though it must defeat a champion appointed by the planet. From here on in the American military start to engineer a being who will be talented in all areas and can then defeat the aliens when they arrive.

The only thing he will be missing is his armour.

This custom armour sent by the friendly alien race is discovered by accident by the group, who each take a part of the armour suit – which gives them special powers.

The most entertaining thing about ‘Lazer Team’ is the fact it doesn’t take itself too seriously. There are laughs from the get-go as our unlikely band of heroes trip and stumble their way to their final showdown with the alien.

And as always the message here is that we can become stronger together than the meer sum of our parts.

There are winks and nods to classics such as Ghostbusters and Independance Day, but this is very much a modern film and as such it uses social media as a catalyst to drive the narrative forward.

Action scenes throughout are a bit over the top, but given how entertaining they are you just go with it. We also get to each of the Lazer Team, and delve a little deeper into their pasts which gives us motivation to really care about what happens to them.

‘Lazer Team’ might just be an early contender for science fiction film of the year.

By Paul Downey
http://bloody-flicks.co.uk