Reviews

’31 Days of Horror’ Review – Maniac (2012)

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Frodo’s Gone Homicidal in ‘MANIAC’

by Nile Fortner

A socially awkward serial killer (Elijah Wood) removes the scalps’ of women and attaches them to his mannequins, to bring a new life to them.

A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Last House on the Left, The Amityville Horror, Cabin Fever, and The Wicker Man are all classic horror films. On the other hand, I believe these classic horror films have not been remade into classic remakes. Many remakes fail to capture the energy, wisdom, and likeness of the original. It is very difficult to capture lightning in a bottle twice, especially with horror movies. Many directors, producers, and writers of horror all tend to follow the same format, and end up being predictable, bland, and lifeless nowadays. However, director Franck Khalfoun (‘P2’ and ‘High Tension’) brings some new life into a cult classic, a new direction, and in my opinion a better film. I believe that Maniac (2012) is a rare exception of the remake actually being better than the original.

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Review- The Death of Stalin (2017)

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by Old King Clancy

With The Thick Of It and it’s cinematic partner, In The Loop, covering UK politics, and Veep covering the US, it can be argued that nobody has a better, or funnier, grasp on the ineptitude of politicians than Armando Iannucci. Now with his latest film, The Death Of Stalin, Iannucci tackles historical Russian politics to show that no matter where or when, politicians were and are idiots!

Loosely based on the true story of the Russian governments reaction to the death of Joseph Stalin (Adrian McLoughlin), the film finds the Russian cabinet – Deputy General Secretary Georgy Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor), First Secretary Nikita Kruschev (Steve Buschemi), head of secret police Lavrentiy Beria (Simon Russell Beale) and Deputy Premier Vyacheslav Molotov (Michael Palin) – coming together to help guide the country through a period of mourning. Nikita sees the opportunity to ease up on Stalin’s torturous rule and induct a more liberal approach to the Russian Government, however, Beria starts mobilizing his Police Force to manipulate Malenkov into giving him more power, and seizing the chair for himself.

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’31 Days of Horror’ Review – I Am Alone (2015)

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by Nile Fortner

Here we go again folks, another zombie flick, and another found footage film. A zombie film and a found footage horror flick may not tickle the fancy of a majority of horror fans anymore. I mean, what else can be done in the genres? It feels like we’ve seen it all when it comes to found footage and brain eating zombies.

I personally like zombie movies, and found footage does have a special place in my heart. But lately the two genres have not been doing it for me, and they do not enthuse me like they used to.  With that being said, I believe that director and co-writer Robert A. Palmer, co – writer Michael A. Weiss, and the rest of the crew at ‘Abstract Forces Productions’ will –

Have a special place in my heart because I Am Alone made me enthusiastic again, and is a refreshing flick that I’m glad I had the opportunity to check out.

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