The River (TV Series 2012)

There's magic out there... 

The River (2012) is a pretty good paranormal / action / horror / found-footage TV series.

There are eight episodes: Magus; Marbeley; Los Ciegos; A Better Man; Peaches; Doctor Emmet Cole; The Experiment; Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

Synopsis: Six months ago, Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood), adventurer and host of The Undiscovered Country, disappeared while on an expedition deep in the uncharted waters of the Amazon River. He was presumably dead. One day, out of the blue, his emergency beacon is found activated.

Upon this discovery, his wife Tess (Leslie Hope) organizes a search party to find him. The team comprises her estranged son Lincoln (Joe Anderson); The Undiscovered Country producer Clark (Paul Blackthorne); lead cameraman AJ (Shaun Parkes); Magus mechanic Emilio (Daniel Zacapa) and his daughter Jahel (Paulina Gaitan); Lena (Eloise Mumford), daughter of cameraman Russ who disappeared along with Cole; and security guard Kurt (Thomas Kretschmann).

What they don't know is that this journey will take them to a place where magic comes alive and things are never what they seem...

For your information, The River is co-created by Oren Peli who also created the Paranormal Activity movie series. All eight episodes of The River are shot as found footage and thus, the visual approach is quite similar to Paranormal Activity. However, you won't find it boring because the story is told based on the crew's perspective, camera footage, flashbacks, and occasional fleeting glimpses of spirits. In fact, you get to see quite a number of vicious spirits and demons throughout the episodes as the team stumbles into forbidden territories along the Amazon River.

Overall, I find The River very entertaining. With a strong cast and you-don't-know-what's-coming-up-next moments, every episode will keep you glued to your seat. 

A very good show and indeed, there's magic out there...

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Movie: Hell's Gate (2011)

Mark the date. You can't stop what's coming.

Hell's Gate or 11-11-11 (2011) is a horror movie written and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, III & IV).

Synopsis: Joseph Crone (Timothy Gibbs) is a successful dark thriller novelist who's constantly haunted by the tragic death of his wife Sarah and son David. As random happenings begin to unfold in his life, he discovers a pattern in which all of them are related to the number 11:11. One day, his estranged brother Samuel (Michael Landes) calls him about their dying father and Joseph travels to Barcelona, only to find himself entangled in a series tale of faith, superstition, and demons.

Sadly, this movie is a huge letdown. We spend a good 45 minutes patiently watching and enthusiastically believing that the strange supernatural clues in the movie will eventually reveal something really awesome about 11-11-11.

But, what we really get is a long-winded movie mucking around with dark shadows, eerie music, boring conversations, some cheap jump-scares, and [spoiler] some idiot-looking creatures in costumes! Basically, this so-called horror movie is devoid of horror of any sorts.

And the biggest "horror" is the ending. If the director really believes this sort of twist ending works fine, he ought to be re-educated about how to direct a horror movie. I'd rather watch M. Night Shyamalan's movies, seriously.

If you don't believe me, read this. "Hampered by a garbled mashup of Christianity, occult beliefs and numerology, Bousman's screenplay never gains momentum, due to its episodic structure, clichéd plot developments and consistently stiff, generic performances. No attempt is made to mine the deep vein of Christian belief in Spain, a setting that's tossed off with little regard for visual or narrative potential. Bousman opts for playing it cool with the overheated script, bathing dimly lit scenes in chilly blue tones while leveraging distinctly low-grade visual effects for most of the horror elements, but evincing few other stylistic distinctions. Whether surrounded by superstition or just the victim of urban legend, 11-11-11 is likely to prove equally as uneventful as Bousman's unremarkable film." [via]

Okay, don't watch. 'Nuff said.

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Movie: Blood Curse (Coisa Ruim) (2006)

Blood Curse (Coisa Ruim) (2006) is a Portuguese supernatural horror movie. 

Synopsis: A successful biology professor Xavier Monteiro (Adriano Luz) moves to rural Portugal with his family - his wife Helena (Manuela Couto), eldest son Rui (José Afonso Pimentel), daughter Sofia (Sara Carinhas), youngest son Ricardo (João Santos), and their grandson (Sofia's son) after inheriting a huge house from his ancestors.

Being an intellectual family, they are not prepared to what they are going to face when they discover the country's community has many hidden and disturbing secrets where superstition still runs rampant. They begin to hear disturbing stories about the history of their inherited house.

There are a few things about Spanish and Portuguese supernatural movies. They are usually atmospheric thrillers, slow-paced, causes slow-rising tension, and with truly creepy moments here and there. You won't be seeing too much blood and gore because they are usually not slashers or torture flicks.

Also, there will be heavy nuances of outdated Catholic traditions, especially those related to exorcism, chants, superstitions, and of course, the devil. And usually, the movie is shot in lavishly beautiful and breathtaking rural landscape with magnificent structures. This is true with this movie.

Another similar movie is a Spanish supernatural thriller - The Appeared (Aparecidos).

So, if you want to watch something that gives you creeps and jolts, you might want to watch this movie.

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Movie: Colombiana (2011)

Vengeance is Beautiful

Colombiana (2011) is an action movie about a ruthless female assassin from Colombia.

Synopsis: A young girl, Cataleya (Amandla Stenberg) witnesses the death of her parents, Fabio & Alicia Restrepo (Jesse Borrego, Cynthia Addai-Robinson) in the hand of Marco (Jordi Mollà) as ordered by Don Luis (Beto Benites), a drug cartel lord.

Her parents' violent death creates a thirst for vengeance so deep that she (Zoe Saldana) will not back down until all parties involved suffer a similar fate. While working for her uncle, Emilio (Cliff Curtis) as a hitman in Chicago, she also trains to be a ruthless assassin until the day she can find and kill Marco and Don Luis.

Seriously, the only reason to watch this movie is Zoe Saldana's muscular, sleek, acrobatic, and cat-like performance as she glides silently and pounces on her victims ferociously. The intent and vengeful yet gloomy look on her face intensifies the character's ruthlessness. She does look like an anorexic Angelina Jolie, you know, without those luscious top and bottom Jolie has.

Also, Amandla Stenberg's performance as young Cataleya for the first 45 minutes of the movie is pretty solid too. In fact, this part of the movie sets the pace and explores who Cataleya was and is. So, it's up to the audience to accept or despise her for being so cruel and heartless.

The action sequences - gun shootings, blow-ups ala Spanish mafias - are pretty standard and expected.

In summary, this movie is kinda like a hit-and-miss movie for me. You may want to watch it if you're a fan of Zoe Saldana. You should remember her as Aisha from The Losers (2010) and Neytiri from Avatar (2009), don't you? :)

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Movie: The Appeared (Aparecidos) (2007)

The Appeared (Aparecidos) (2007) is a Spanish supernatural horror movie based loosely on the Argentina Dirty War 1976-1983.

The Dirty War, from 1976-1983, was a seven-year campaign by the Argentine government against suspected dissidents and subversives. Many people, both opponents of the government as well as innocent people, were "disappeared" in the middle of the night. They were taken to secret government detention centers where they were tortured and eventually killed. These people are known as "los desaparecidos" or "the disappeared." Read more.

Synopsis: Malena De Luca (Ruth Díaz) and her younger brother Pablo (Javier Pereira) are traveling in Argentina. They are going to give their childhood home a final visit after visiting their comatose father in the hospital. Along the way, Pablo stumbles upon an old diary chronicling murder details committed 20 years ago. The siblings' journey turns into an unimaginable nightmare when the past and present seem to intertwine mysteriously. They begin to see manifestations of victims of those gruesome murders.

Following the trail of 'the disappeared', they discover that they are actually witnessing the murders of some of the 30,000 people who were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered during Argentina's military dictatorship from 1976 till 1983.

Okay, here's what I think about this movie. First of all, the cinematography is considerably good. Shot in Buenos Aires and Patagonia in Argentina, the country's beautiful and breathtaking landscape is impressive and enhances the movie's historical and supernatural theme.

About the storyline, the part about the past and present being intertwined is very interesting. You won't be able to guess the link between the siblings and the supernatural occurrences until the last 45 minutes or so of the movie. Subtle yet powerful hints that are dropped here and there along the movie lead to an impact-ful ending albeit being a bit unbelievable.

I find the ending bittersweet and emotional. The siblings may have survived the bizarre and traumatic incident but they will always have an eye upon the dead. It's kinda eerie and sad but the message is powerful.

Kudos to the Spanish filmmakers for such a thought-provoking and non-conventional movie!

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Movie: Secuestrados (Kidnapped) (2010)

Take your last breath.
 
Secuestrados (Kidnapped) (2010) is a Spanish psychological thriller movie.

Synopsis: A family of three - Jaime (Fernando Cayo), Marta (Ana Wagener), and their 18-year-old daughter, Isa (Manuela Vellés) - has just moved into an upper-middle class Madrid gated community. They are still settling down when three hooded Eastern-European criminals burst into their house. The leader forces Jaime to drive into town to withdraw cash from his bank accounts while his gang members, a crazy Albanian and a young and nervous accomplice stay behind in the house to guard over Marta and Isa.

The storyline is nothing out of the ordinary and the main theme of this movie is tension and terror caused by fear and violence. Therefore, the characters are not explored in depth and they remain just as emotional victims terrorized by the thugs in any possible way.

Talking about characters, Isa is the most emotional of all. Her insistent traumatized whimpering is so irritating and every time she's quietened by the thugs with a gag, I could sigh in relief.

The cinematography is masterful and commendable. I especially like the part whereby split screens are used to show simultaneous actions and at one point, two scenes converge into one. I think I have watched something similar somewhere but I couldn't recall.

However, the ending leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The movie starts off pretty good with a realistic feel of violence nowadays. It gains significant momentum as it roles but soon loses steam when most scenes show nothing else but torture and gruesome death. If you know how torture porn usually ends, then that's how this movie ends.

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[Friday-1] REC

One comment: WOW!

REC is a brilliant Spanish production. If you've watched The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield and could stand the shakiness of camera videos, this movie is highly recommended because it is far, far better.

Another comment: Disturbing...

What would you do if you are trapped in a building, in other words, being isolated/quarantined with a group of panicky people due to a suspected biological breakout? Forget about morbid zombies, it's not about that. It's about the urgency to seek survival, no matter how slim it is.

Final comment: Watch it!

LOL. Minus the lousy subtitles and the eerie howling of the infected people, get ready to watch real live-like scenes, as seen through the eyes of two reporters.

You won't regret. Click here for proof.

And that's the first movie for my Friday Files! :)

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KM31 (Spanish)

KM31 is not exactly one of those movies that I'm expecting to watch. But, why not give this Spanish film a try?

Well, honestly speaking, I thought I was watching an Asian horror movie, especially with the presence of the unmistakable ghost-sought-revenge-for-her-son kind of plot. And, you won't miss scenes such as repeated incidents caused by vengeful spirits, sacrificial acts to appease the ghost, and finally, everybody died and the ghost got what she wanted.

-__-

LOL! Sounds familiar? Almost all Asian horror movies end with tragedy. So did, KM31, a Spanish horror movie. Funny. They should have tried something else such as El Orfanato.

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El Orfanato (The Orphanage)

This is the first Spanish movie that I watch: El Orfanato (The Orphanage). It's labeled as 18PL at Malaysian cinemas.

Genre: Spanish horror/suspense/drama film. More...

Produced by Guillermo Del Toro, who also did Pan's Labyrinth and Hell Boy.

Tagline: Un cuento de amor. Una historia de terror (A tale of love. A story of horror)

This is really a subtly chilling movie based on an orphanage. The storyline is good with touches of traditional, not CGI scares such as bumping noises through walls and doors and children appearing silently. Most of the frights are subtle and chilling, sort of giving you some kind of "aftershocks" that linger for a few moments before they fade away. However, there are a few scenes that really made me JUMP from my seat, something I never do even when I watch K-, J-, or T-horror. In fact, most of the chills in The Orphanage are projected in a sad rather than morbid or gruesome way.

The ending of the movie brought tears though...

Watch it if you have time.

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