Instead of individual reviews I thought I would put my favourite film watches from last week in one place. From Submarine action to devils in the woods. It certainly has been an interesting week for my Blu-Ray player.
5. Below (2002) 4K UHD Kino Lorber
This was a brand new purchase for me. After witnessing The Abyss and Leviathan for the first time last year. I was keen to go underwater once again.The submarine USS Tiger Shark and its crew encounter strange mind altering delusions of the monotonous kind. It’s barely creepy there’s no sea monster just a paranoid crew infighting and going round the twist. The 4K UHD from Kino looked the part. Sadly for me I had no interest in the movie when I released the way it was narratively heading. It’s just really uneventful considering its brilliant location.
Movie Score: 2/5
4. Wolf Wood (2020) Amazon Prime
I’m a found footage junkie therefore I do give these types of movies a pass often. Wolf Wood had some intriguing moments but was overall another forgettable offering from the found Footage sub-genre. The set up left room for an interesting film and some of it was. A filmmaker, his girlfriend and his cameraman follow one of his old acquaintances to the point of harassment. Turns out she’s aware of something visiting the maze of woods that night. Lost and frustrated the crew try to find their way out of the woods. Something from the sky wants to harm them and what started out as simply making a documentary becomes are terrifying fight for survival.
The film had some thing that worked. The narrative was interesting and I wanted to know more about the beastly extraterrestrials. However the final 10 minutes was dull with two of the characters silhouettes in front of a strange light on display as they chatted. As far as ideas go this was a good concept but for a 75 minute movie, it still managed to drag.
Movie Score: 2/5
3. The Enchanted (1984) Blu-ray Severin
Some regional folk horror now, filmed on location in Florida. Booker T reunites with an old family friend. Booker warns him
Of the peculiar forest folk who help on his farm. “They’re hard workers but do not get too involved” Booker warns. Of course the man gets intimately involved with one of them. What follows is strange occurrences and sightings of predators deep in the woods. This was a nice surprise. It feels like a tv movie because although being folk horror it is delivered subtly. This would be a good one to chill to on a Sunday evening. There’s a small amount of violence and weirdness throughout and it is shot in a beautiful location.
Movie Score: 3/5
2. Night Of The Devils (1972) Blu-Ray Radiance
When Nicola escapes a deranged family of devilish folk from deep in the forest. He is then committed to a mental health facility where he’s haunted by flashbacks of the events that transpired. A cool little piece of seventies cinema right here. The devil family are genuinely scary and come across as possessed. The final act is violent and fun and does elevate the premise in my opinion.
Movie Score: 3.5/5
1. Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1972) 4K UHD Hammer
A very enjoyable hammer vampire romp. Set a couple of hundred years ago. The film follows Kronos and his sidekick as they protect a village and kick some vampire butt. This one has a cool little reveal in the final act. One thing that carried this swashbuckling caper was the characters, they have some layers and I felt genuinely captivated. It’s not overly violent or drenched in blood but has a creepy opening scene and a couple of good fights.
Movie Score: 4/5
I’ll try and put one of these weekly rankings out as often as I can. Next week I plan on watching double the amount of movies. Whether I can achieve that is yet to be seen.