Slashers

4 of 6 viewers "Like" "Slashers" (2001, Canada)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

The Great Hornito - "This movie had a lot of potential but the bad acting and horrible writing made it fall short. The slashers were hella cool though." - 2 Stars

Book Wyrm - "If you like "Battle Royale" chances are you'll like this too. A classic death game with a low budget, "Slashers" has something for everyone." - 5 Stars

Lord Battle - *Spoiler* - "Decadent Japan hosts a show that features slashers killing greedy people, Awesome right?! Only problem is terrible writing. I really loved the film but as it rolled on the dialogue and acting killed it. The worst part is two of the three slashers die in such a way that guarantee no one will ever respect them." - 3 Stars

Huntress - "A movie can only get away with so much before it's un-watchable... this one really dared my patience." - 3 Stars

Bug - "The characters were well done but the lines and the acting was bad." - 3 Stars

Brewha - "It lost me at Megan." - 2 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

The problem with "Slashers" isn't the low budget because it actually kinda works for it, like if you have ever been to a local haunted house on Halloween, it ends up feeling like that. The real problem is the fact the 80% of the film is the characters analyzing the situation via poor dialogue, I mean the whole people dying on TV for a chance at money is pretty thought provoking (even though its done to death, pun intended) on it's own, we don't need the movie constantly reminding us. Also it's a little strange the film is supposed to take place in America but the cast all share some pretty obvious Canadian accents... Still the slashers were pretty cool and  it is a very cool concept, this film is at least worth one watch.

- Lord Battle

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

World War Z

1 of  7 viewers "Liked" "World War Z" (2013, USA)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

Bug - "My main issue with this movie was the zombies running around and screeching which was just too weird. Other than that I'd say it was lacking." - 1 Star

Ice Giant - "They basically paid brooks millions of dollars for the name "World War Z" because other then the name it has nothing in common with the book, they didn't even keep the zombies the same they changed them into crappy running zombies. I understand it's hard to make movies faithful to their books but to not even try was really a crappy move. People who haven't read the book or have never seen a proper Romero zombie movie might enjoy this but for someone like me who loves both it was a real let down." - 2 Stars

Lord Battle - "George Romero created perfect zombies in his trilogy, Resident Evil ruined them in their trilogy. WWZ chose to follow Resident Evil they just added raptor sounds and the ability to climb over each other. The climbing zombies was about as laughable and scary as a Sharknado." - 1 Star

Huntress - "Unimaginative, predictable and the "zeeks" sounded like something out of "Jurassic Park". All this movie did was make zombies laughable." - 1 Star

Book Wyrm - "I don't know if this was a dinosaur movie or a zombie one. Other than that the suspense of it all pulled me in to an otherwise dreary and unrealistic film." - 3 Stars

The Great Hornito - "I already hated zombie movies this movie didn't help me to change my mind. Leo should have won the bid." - 1/2 Star

Brewha - "Too long and too predictable." - 1 Star  

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

The Overlook Theatre was pretty harsh on this film but I can't imagine fans of horror really enjoying this one. It broke a few common rules like having such a big star play the lead, or having zombies that no zombie fan could love. The noises they made came up a lot in the discussion after the film and it was pretty clear no one found it scary, in fact it became a source of laughter. It's strange the film started with what I thought was some pretty solid homage to past zombie films but I dislike this movie so much I refuse to go back and get references, sorry guess I'm a bad blogger tonight.

 - Lord Battle

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

Scary MoVie

2 of 8 viewers "Liked" "Scary MoVie" (2013, USA)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

Drumachine - "Exactly what you would expect from a Scary Movie film." - 2 Stars

The Great Hornito - "Funniest movie I've seen since "House Party 3"!!!" - 5 Stars

The Berkeley Blazer - "What it lacks in charm and consistent hilarity it doesn't quite make up for in sheer off beat rhythm as well some truly masterful special effects gags. A generally terrible endeavor but quite watchable with like minded and likeable people." - 2 Stars

Ice Giant - "It had 1 or 2 good jokes but for the most part one of the worst movies ever." - 1 Star

Lord Battle - "An avid fan of horror will find a few of these jokes truly inspired but the choice to parody movies from 4 years ago and the general awful jokes of the Scary movie series kill this film." - 3 1/2 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

"Paranormal Activity 2" would always show a shot from a camera aimed at the families pool. This shot of course amounted to nothing other than the pool cleaner jumping out, like the ghost was playing a very lame prank. Surprisingly Scary Movie 5 took a rare chance at making a joke horror fans would appreciate, too bad they didn't do this before the Paranormal series released 2 more movies. Still I love the scene and just had to share it here, since I'd never ask someone to watch the whole film (other than the citizens that is).

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or                                              "Like" but that   does not effect the rating.

A personal goal achieved! ...Well kinda

Last night I was up at 3 in the morning surfing the web, like the good blogger I am, when I came across this...

          If you're not familiar with the movie "Race War:The Remake" don't feel too bad, I'm sure you're not alone. It's a low budget film produced by DWN Productions that marked a few firsts for the Overlook Theatre, like the first screener I had ever received (I'm still surprised I got one so early on). Screeners are the main reason I even started this blog, since the idea of people sending me their movie to help publicize it is still kinda magical to me. Keep in mind I'm the type of film lover that can watch anything and see it through, even if I know I hate it in the first 10 seconds. Also I am a hopeless collector who will cherish a DVD even though I'll never watch it again. Race Wars also marked the first review poster I had ever created (Below), which leads me to the reason behind me writing this post....

          Taglines. Taglines are the reason I made the whole review system the way it is, basically so people could easily produce tag lines from sending me a screener. In fact I myself pick the best (at least what I think are the best and as a fan of taglines I feel like somewhat an authority) taglines out of the reviews and throw them on the movie poster to display. That's my master manipulation at work and if you noticed in the above photo (I know it's a bit tiny) it totally worked!

Here's the Race War poster I made and in the middle is the quote they used. 

Imagine how excited I was to see that, not only did they use a quote from the poster, but it was mine! 

          I couldn't help but laugh at the fact they didn't credit The Overlook Theatre or even Lord Battle but gave the honor instead to the damn Overlook Hotel, like that hotel needs any more attention. I guess it's just another one of Kubrick's mysteries, but honestly it's just more funny than anything. I'll probably send them an e-mail about it a little later. 

Unicorn City

9 of 9 viewers "Liked" "Unicorn City" (2013, USA)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

Lord Battle - ""Unicorn City" succeeds at both portraying a realistic group of gamers and making a pretty good comedy. And I thought that was impossible." - 3 1/2 Stars

Drumachine - "A more imaginative "Napolean Dynamite", also less annoying." - 3 Stars

Brewha - "Even LARPing couldn't cover up this true love story." - 4 Stars

The Great Hornito - "Surprisingly terrific!!!" - 4 1/2 Stars

The Berkeley Blazer - "Charming and poignant,  and surprisingly appealing out-side of it's niche-genre focus. Believable looking actors who add to the legitimacy of the world make this unique among nerd-themed comedies." - 3 Stars

Huntress - "I got more than I was expecting from this... But I think once is enough for a while." - 3 Stars

Math Mage - "He couldn't have rented that pimp bus; why does he own a pimp bus!?" - 4 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

This film was screened with "Wild Hunt." I'd highly recommend watching these films, they complement each other like a film yin-yang. Seriously though, I have seen many table top game movies and 99% of the time they leave me angry. I can honestly say this is the best nerd based table top focused film I have seen, not that it means much.

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

"Room 237" Out Today

          This is one of my favorite films recently and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in film theory and or Stanley Kubrick. "Room 237" is a film centered around different theories that try to explain the true meaning of "The Shining". My personal favorite part of the film is the images they used from "Demons", its just something about hearing cool theories of a film I love over images of a totally different film genre that is also love that I find very relaxing... Anyway you gotta gives this one a chance and its out today so go get it! Also once I pick this up you can expect a review.

Mark from "The Room" Tells All in "The Disaster Artist"

         Greg Sestro aka "Mark" from "The Room" has written a book. This book pretty much explains itself from the cover and if your experience of "The Room" was anything like it was for me then this book is a no brainer. Check out this video that was made to promote "The Disaster Artist".




          This kinda seems like an egomaniac telling his sob story but maybe I'm just bitter. I had the pleasure of meeting Greg and Tommy in person way back in 2005 and they were not the humble people I imagined. If you have seen "Best Worst Movie Ever" the film about "Troll 2", Tommy Wiseau is much like Claudio Fragasso and totally believed his film was awesome and deserved credit. Also Greg seemed like he had won an Oscar that year and we should treat him accordingly. Since then I think Tommy unlike Claudio has realized making a horrible film isn't so bad and will now admit "The Room" isn't the masterpiece he claimed it to be. In fact back in 2009 Tommy was on "Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job" poking fun at his success. Still I don't know about Greg I guess I'll have to get the book and decide then.

          If you've been living under a rock since 2003 and have yet to see "The Room", it is arguably one of the most entertaining bad movies ever made. I myself love films like this and try to screen them often and my personal experience would say "Miami Connection" and "Troll 2" do much better in crowds. But then again I have seen this film screened at the Red Vic on Haight Street (R.I.P.) and that was one rowdy crowd. I guess you will just have to see it for yourself.

The Number 23

3 of 6 citizens "Liked" "The Number 23" (2007, USA)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

Book Wyrm - "This movie was awesome. I never knew what to expect. There was a surprise around every corner pulling me in like the number 23." - 4 Stars

Bug - "It had a decent storyline but the execution was a bit weak. The twists were okay though, more of a movie for laughs." - 3 Stars

The Great Hornito - "23 reversed is 32, 3 minus 2 equals 1, which is exactly the amount of stars I'm giving this piece of shit." - 1 Star

Brewha - "With a lot of possibilities this movie still managed to fall short, just like Jim Carrey's acting." - 2 1/2 Stars

Lord Battle - "This is one of those movies that seems dumb but you watch it anyway, then just as you think it might be okay the third act kicks in and proves you should always trust your instincts. I will say I liked how they put 23 chapters on the disc which is cleaver. If the director knew how the finished product would turn out I'm sure he would have credited himself as Topsy Kretts." - 1 Star

Huntress - "This movie had the eccentric acting of a high school play. but the plot was distracting enough not to focus on that." - 3 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

The poster comes from Gee4411 on deviantart. I like going with alternate posters for the reviews and I'm very happy to come across Gee4411's. As for the film, it might have actually suffered from having Jim Carrey play the lead, since a lot of his dramatic scenes inspired laughs over tears. 

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

Insidious Webisodes 1 & 2

          It seems people can't get enough of the dark fantasy that is the world of "Insidious", so thankfully they have given us some more.  The webisodes star Specs (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Samspon) before they met the Lamberts. 

          When the last one is i'll be sure to share it but this goes to show supporting horror in theaters has its rewards. "Insidious 2" almost opened as strong as "The Conjuring" (40.3 Mil to 41 Mil). "Insidious" opened at 13 Mil so a huge improvement there.

Halloween Blu Ray & Triple Feature

          To help celebrate the release of the 35th anniversary edition of John Carpenters's "Halloween" a number of theaters have been selected to screen John Carpenter's "Halloween", "Halloween 4", & "Halloween 5" back to back to back. This is the first time something like this is actually hitting a good number of theaters, to find a theater near you head to screen vision's web site here.

           For some reason California has 38 locations but not one in San Francisco... This is annoying but not a deal breaker. The Blue Light Cinema in Cupertino will be participating and that really isn't to far so I'm excited. The showing dates are October 28-31 and the Blu Ray comes out Tuesday.

The Soska Sisters and "See No Evil 2"

          The Twins have been busy getting "See No Evil 2" ready to shoot. I haven't been covering their progress much since they have really only announced the casting since my last post. And although most of the names are not that exciting, a couple totally add to the anticipation. First Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps, Freddy Vs Jason, American Mary) will be joining the twins again adding to her growing list of horror film roles, Second is Danielle Harris (Halloween 4-5, Hatchet 2-3, etc...) who is horror royalty and totally an awesome grab, defiantly a direction WWE wouldn't have gone in without some outside influence. As excited as I may sound about the casting it sadly was not the reason I felt the desire to write this post.  The inspiration came from an interview I read on Craveonline.

         WWE and pro wrestling in general has always been pretty over the top, creating larger than life characters and then parading them down a thin line between reality and fantasy. Nightly they blur the line between sport and "entertainment", presenting super campy soap opera story lines filled with laughs and gags.  Little does the audience know that the villain who recently slept with the hero's wife to cause his marriage to crumble just in time to take his mind off of their PPV title fight, really did so and it has been going on for years. The divorce and drama is all real and this makes the story THAT much better for TV, this particular indecent happened not to long ago with Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett.
         Ultimately I love cheering for larger than life characters (Which also helps explain my love for slashers, Go LeatherFace!) and that means I love wrestling. Now imagine how happy I was when I realized that WWE had partnered up with Lion's Gate again and hired a new polarizing couple of directors, then I read this interview that made me understand how wholly the twins embarrassed the line blurring of the WWE. You will have to read the interview to understand what I'm talking about but it really seems like the marketing and full understanding of the materialism of horror fans means they will be doing this right.
          Talking about reality and fantasy being blurred in wrestling has totally derailed my focus, so checkout the interview here and let me know what you think. I can't wait to see how they make Jacob Goodnight a slasher that people want to celebrate rather than just forget.

The Burnt House

5 of 5 citizens "Disliked" "The Burnt House" (2009, USA)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

Lord Battle - "This is a perfect example of a film that gives arthouse a bad name. If this movie was your typical run of the mill horror with a liner plot and obvious twist it would have at least held peoples attention, Sad thing is this movie also had a cool looking location and descent looking special effects/make up. Oh and the BluRay featured two unrelated music videos, nice money grab. I'm giving it 1 1/2 because as much as I hate this film now I know I'll forget about it until I post the review." - 1 1/2 Stars

The Great Hornito - "Obnoxious, self indulgent arrogant. Whoever made this is a complete narcissist and should be thrown into a burning house." - 2 Stars

Drumachine - "No redeeming qualities. A lot of dead horses being beaten. Insufficient. - 1 Star

Brewha - "The film focused more on repetitive artsy scenery rather than character development." - 1 1/2 Stars

Huntress - "This was the bare bones of a good plot, cushioned with tired editing tricks and over used jump scare attempts. It seemed to be building up to a predictable end, only to leave you dissappointed with the poorly executed "Twist"." - 2 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

Something positive I have to say related to this film is that I really like the way that the Overlook Theatre logo looks on the movie poster!

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

Help Make Penn a Bad Guy

I didn't write anything to lead into the video simply because I didn't need too. I think Penn show cased his charm vs his looks aptly and holy shit does he have me sold on this film, you better run over and grab some cool stuff before this funding finishes. And this funding will finish, that pitch is one of the best I've ever seen and I've seen a lot lately, just not many worthy of wasting your time.

Blog update

          I wanted to just write a quick update that stated my future planes for this blog. First off the reviews are fun and easy to do, so expect a lot more of those. I'd also like to recruit at least another 2 reviewers on top of Math Mage and Brewha but we will see how that goes. I also think I will start writing more in depth reviews from my personal stand point, since it feels like my reviewers are good for a few lines but not that into a lengthy recap.

          On a side note I bought a domain name for the site but have yet to play with that at all but that is a short term goal of mine, once I figure out how to do anything with it. It would also be nice to have a lot more citizen art work to accompany it but i'm finding out talking to artists takes a bit longer when you have a specific vision in mind.

          As For tonight I plan on watching "The Haunting of Helena", which I have read nothing but bad things about. In a strange way watching a terrible movie is a bit freeing since I would feel wrong gathering people to screen something that maybe incredibly boring. On the other hand I feel the reviews will get a bit boring if I just keep picking movies I love... Still for now it doesn't matter and if "The Haunting of Helena" is terrible and not worth forcing on the reviewers I will still review it myself. Which reminds me I also want to review "Hammer of the Gods", since I think I have some interesting comments for that film.

Okay enough spacing out and typing nonsense time for "The Haunting of Helena"!

Insidious Chapter 2

The citizens took a field trip to see "Insidious Chapter 2" (2013, USA) and 5 out of 5 citizens "Liked" it.

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

The Great Hornito - "Scary as hell, better than the first. I like how they mixed a bunch of different horror genres into one movie." - 4 Stars

Lord Battle - "Fans of the first will love this film since those who enjoyed the first either enjoyed or forgave the change of style mid way through the film. With Chapter two there is no confusion as it picks up where the first left off, in a very dark semi-campy fantasy world. Insidious is creating a rich world full of interesting lore, I hope they continue with chapter installments. - 4 1/2 Stars

Huntress - "A tense, jolting story filled with creepy scenes and upheld by all around great acting (Even the kids!). - 5 Stars

Ice Giant - "I never go into a sequel expecting it to be better but "Insidious 2" didn't let me down, they improved upon what made the first movie great, and while the first movie almost feels like two halves chapter 2 moves seamlessly from start to finish." - 5 Stars

Brewha - "Suspenseful & thrilling with great use of various filming techniques." - 4 1/2 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

"The Conjuring" was such an awesome ghost/exorcism story that I'm glad James Wan played up the dark campy fantasy aspects that "Insidious" had in chapter 2. Since I think most people wanted more of the standard ghost story first half of the original. 

*Based on the average of citizens ratings only.

Rolling Vengeance

9 of 9 viewers "Liked" "Rolling Vengeance" (1987, Canada)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

Lord Battle - "A monster truck takes the role of a slasher in this unorthodox revenge story. This film also features the strangest group of villains, I mean 5 brothers 5 different mothers, you need to check this lost film out." - 4 1/2 Stars

Math Mage - "Our villain runs a bar/stripclub/used car lot, he is the renaissance man of sleaze." - 2 1/2 Stars

Drumachine - "If Dexter killed with monster trucks." - 4 Stars

Huntress - "This is "The Room" of trucker movies!" - 4 Stars

The Great Hornito - ""Doyle rules! Doyle rules! Doyle rules! Doyle I have a feeling your whole family is going down."" - 3 Stars

Ice Giant - Fell asleep - Default 2 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

This film was a lot of fun to watch with a group of people, I don't think it would hold up very well viewed alone. That being said this is a rare Canadian treasure and many thanks to CinemaSewer from all of us at the Overlook theatre for bringing this to our attention!

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

Double F'n Feature Thursday the 12th!

Let me start by saying no I did not download an illegal copy of "Insidious 2". Tonights double feature will be held at Tanforan (my favorite local theater) at 7:00, tickets are $17. Now since most of the readers are not local I would check fandango out for showings. The theater here is offering both in XD which is like a fake IMAX, not a bad deal for $17. Reviews coming soon...

The Sinful Dwarf

                                 8 out of 8 viewers "Liked" "The Sinful Dwarf" (1973, Denmark)
                                    Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

The Berkeley Blazer - "Sensationally entertaining piece of gonzo-horror porn with colorful characters, disturbing imagery, and an outrageous soundtrack." - 3 Stars

Lord Battle - "This film has a lot to offer everyone with a healthy mix of dwarfsploitation, nudity, and deep visual metaphors. A must see for fans of "Troll 2" and awkward not so soft-core porn." - 5 Stars 

Dungeon Master - "Erotic and grotesque, great premise and disturbing visuals with a psychedelic soundtrack. If you like the bizarre and fucked up, this movie will indulge the shit out of you." - 4 Stars

Huntress - "Torben Bille's face totally made this movie way creepier." - 4 Stars

Ice Giant - "The actor did a good job of making me hate him. The sound track was amazing." - 3 1/2 Stars

The Great Hornito - "The soundtrack and the dwarf were awesome!" - 4 Stars

 The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

"The Sinful Dwarf" worked well with a large group of people, my only warning would be... Do not invite acquaintances over to view this film, the sex scenes get a bit brutal and boy does the camera linger. Keep an eye out for the awesome scene at the end, I had a lot of fun trying to guess at the artful meaning of it all.

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

Overlook Theatre Update

          I apologize for the lack of attention to this blog. I swear its not because I've lost interest or have gotten lazy (well maybe a little bit of that) it's because I have been moving for the past 3 days. Loading the theater set up into storage has been heart breaking but the truth is the last location sucked, like how the room had a ton of things stored in it (not mine), lots of dust, and mildew. Still it had a lot of good things going for it, like very little traffic outside, neighbors that never complained, and the room was located far enough from the bedrooms to not be a bother. I don't for a second doubt I will find someplace better though, so I'll tough it out. I also am working on getting a temporary set up going to continue screening and reviewing films. Oh and I will be opening up 4 more review spots due to the interest the original 8 have generated (A run down of the review system and my ideas behind it will be posted soon).
          This post marks the return or regular posting, so start checking again! Also I have reviews I've saved and I will continue to post what the citizens thought of the films I screened. Oh and on a side note, I just watch "Lords of Salem" and I loved it. It felt like Rob Zombie channeled Polanski and Kubrick for this one and I have to say it is my favorite film of his yet! And not just because it had an obvious black metal under tone to it.

  Anyway I look forward to actively posting again, so stay tuned!