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shadylanes
Reviews
The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013)
The Cliché in Connecticut..
This movie would be awesome if nobody had ever made a supernatural horror flick before. As it is, "The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia" is so riddled with clichés that it almost strays into parody. Horribly cast actors who look like TV commercial models? Check. Ghosts wailing "help us"? Check. Young children talking to "invisible people/things? Check. Actors in period costume pretending to be spirits? Check.
The list goes on. Basically, this film is like a feature length re- enactment from an "it happened to me" TV ghost show. I score it one for at least being competently shot and one for having the nerve to feature an ending with the "good spirit" waving to a little girl and walking away, gradually fading. Absolute dross.
Rising Damp (1974)
Time has not treated this show well..
My wife and I recently re watched this show after many years, and although it has all the markings of a great sit-com - hilarious story lines, superb acting etc - I really could not sit through more than a handful of episodes. The reason? It is just cringingly racist. Although Rigsby is supposed to be the bigot, I found myself inwardly cringing at some of De La Tour's and Beckinsale's lines too.
I'm not an overly politically correct type of person - 'Till death do us part' is, in my opinion, a hilarious comedy and my personal favourite from this era is 'On the buses', a show which often featured jokes that could be described as questionable by todays standards.
I can only think that a large proportion of the jokes in this show used racism as a replacement for good writing.
Plasterhead (2006)
Better than average low budget horror
Low budget horror films can usually be spotted a mile off - poor acting, poorly recorded sound, unconvincing sets and crude digital video cinematography usually make them films to avoid. I was, however pleasantly surprised by Plasterhead.
Although the story and characters were as clichéd and derivative as they come, the standard of acting was pretty high for a film of this nature, although some of the actors did look a little too young for the parts they were playing. On the plus side, the lead characters were believable and likable - a nice change from the pot smoking, obnoxious teen "hero's" in many Hollywood horrors. It was also nicely paced with a good build-up establishing the back-story, all leading up to a final half-hour which contained moments of genuine tension - a very rare quality in the world of low budget horror.
Visually this film was good. Although some of the locations had a "best friends house" quality to them - particularly the "abandoned house", which was cleaner and more modern looking than my own house! - the choice of camera shots was pretty faultless and the continuity good.
Soundwise, certain scenes suffer slightly from obvious ADR and unconvincing "local" accents. However, this is compensated for by the use of atmospheric incidental music and effects.
Overall, possibly not a film for the casual Hollywood horror viewer, but if you own the entire "friday the 13th" series or if you are a film maker with an interest in horror then you could do a lot worse. Recommended.
The Boston Strangler (2006)
uninspired and awful
This is a good example of a interesting idea horribly executed.
The only positive thing i can say about this film is that Mauro Lannini gives a credible performance as the unbalanced DeSalvo. This, however, can not save this low-budget effort.
The sparse sets are mostly dreadful - there is no period detail whatsoever and therefore very little atmosphere. Apart from Lannini, the quality of acting is mediocre and the script itself is uninspired and instantly forgettable.
The director relies too heavily on "flashback" sequences giving the film a disjointed feel and the numerous overhead shots of Boston in-between scenes soon got on my nerves.
On a lighter note, the film concludes with one of the most amusingly awful "aging" effects i've ever seen as Jason David wears a tonne of make-up to portray an old detective Riley.
Overall - definitely one to miss.