Hellraiser - Review

Hellraiser is a horror classic from 1987, directed by Clive Barker, based on his novella "The Hellbound Heart". Ashley Laurence, Clare Higgins and Andrew Robinson play the three main roles, and Doug Bradley plays the iconic part of "lead cenobite", later known as Pinhead.

STORY

The story in Hellraiser is about a box. That enough for you? No? Okey, let me explain.
Frank Cotton is a man that has experienced it all, all the earthly pleasures come easy to him and he longs for something more. He buys the legendary puzzlebox the Lament Configuration (or Lemarchand's box), which is supposed to open the gateway to another realm, the realm of the cenobites, when solved. According to lore, the cenobites can grant him the most exquisite pleasure . Turns out that the cenobites don't really do what Frank expect them to, but rather take him to experience eternal suffering, their way of having a good time (SM basically). He is literally torn apart in his house, taken to hell.

 The Lament Configuration

Franks brother Larry and his wife Julia move into the abandone house a while after Frank disappears. Long story made shorter, Julia longs for something else, dreaming about the affair she had with Frank some time ago, and Larry accidentally ressurects Frank when he spills blood where Frank was killed. Frank returns as a skinless zombie, using Julia while lusting for Larrys daughter Kirsty. Julia goes out picking up men, and Frank kills them to absorb their energy/blood/life, and regain his tissue, blood and skin.

Frank ressurecting (in the book because of Larrys blood dripping on Franks last spilled seamen)

But as Frank is regaining his human look, Kirsty finds out about him, and the Cenobites come back to earth as she accidentally solves the puzzlebox. As they are about to take her to hell, she makes a deal with them, her life for the life of escaped uncle Frank. The cenobites agree, but double-crossing as they are (in the movie, not the book), the end turns out both gory and suspensefull.

Frank reaping the benefits of having a seductress on his team

There are differences between the book and the movie, but if you enjoy one you'll surely enjoy the other. Clive Barker is the man behind both, and he's great at what he does.

Clive Barker (anno 1987) with Pinhead

The story here is original, it introduces the universe in which the other 7 Hellraiser movies are set, and most of it makes sense (apart from the very very end, with the hobo. You'll get it if you've seen it).

9 out of 10 points for the story!

T

 The Cenobites (Left to right; Butterball, Pinhead, "Female Cenobite" and Chatterer)

GORE

 Now, the first thing that must be understood about this movie is this: Not the biggest budget, made in 1987. Now, keeping that in mind... The gore in this is great! Early on, you see Franks skin being pierced by hooks on chains, it's a cheap effect and comes nothing close to the standards of today, but it really works when added to his scream of agony. This is also the cheapest looking effect in the movie, and Frank is overdubbed and easily one of the more average actors. The rest of the cast are really good (though I never really enjoyed Julia, and felt she was nothing like in the novel, but she plays her part well enough), with Kirsty, Larry and Pinhead being the greatest highlights.

There is a lot of gore in this movie too, especially for the time. It's got plenty of scenes with half-regenerated or skinless Frank, and several of his kills (some with fingers going into skin, one with a hammer and so on...)
, hooks and chains are also well used in this movie, and all the time while the cenobites are on screen, you expect something grisly to happen. The effects of the cenobites themselves is also great, one of the best makeup jobs ever.

8 out of 10 points for the gore 

"Jesus wept"

MOVIE

I might be a bit biased, since this is one of my favorie movies, one of my favorie franchises, based on one of my favorite novellas, written and directed by my favorite author. That being said, this is a really great movie in my opinion, it's well made, very well written, well acted and has great effects, direction and cinematography. I'll reccommend this to any horror-lover and gore-hound (that can take and appriciate a film from the 80's), cause this really is great all-over!

9.3 sharp hooks on chains out of 10 for this movie!

Angels to some, demons to others. They will tear your soul apart!

Frontier(s) - Review

Frontière(s) is yet another french addition to the gory horror genre, this one is directed by Xavier Gens, starring Karina Testa as our main gal.

STORY

When a gang of robbers escape from riot-ridden Paris, they decide to stay a night at a family-run inn at the countryside. Of course, not everything is what it seems. Not to make it sound silly, cause it's really done pretty well, but the innkeepers turn out to be nazi family with both murderous and canniballistic tendancies.

The story isn't great, but it's set up well, and except for a few really strange side-tracks (such as the monstrous children that live in the dark... Don't ask), it all seems fairly believable within its own context. The story works for the movie, and leads into a few scares and a bunch of gory and suspenseful encounters.

5.5 points out of 10 for the story

GORE

Now, obviously, I have no idea how much you know about this movie, or if you've ever heard of it before, but when I saw it, it had been hyped up to no end. I'd heard that this was a really brutal and gory movie, and I was really exited about it... And I was disappointed.

Now, it's not that this movie isn't gory! It has a guy melting (again, it makes sense in context), a guy cut on a large saw (my favorite in the movie), a few shootings, cutting of feet and fingers and a bunch more. It's just that it never goes that far over the top, and you'll see little here that you haven't seen before. But what you do see here is all good, and it's well crafted and shot. Cinematography is good, as is directing. The acting is great on the side of the main acress, and none of the others go below average, making it a good ensemble overall. Just don't go into this expecting too much (like I did), and you'll be satisfied by the end!

7.5 points out of 10 for the gore

MOVIE

Over all, this movie is a good horror flick, with good gore. It's well made, and if you've enjoyed the previous french movies I've reviewed here (Inside and Martyrs), you'll probably enjoy this one as well. It fits in the new-wave of french extreme-horror, and it's by no means a bad flick, just not as good as the others. France, you've spoiled us with your gory movies!

7 sharp buzzsaws out of 10 for this movie!

Martyrs - Review

Martyrs is another French movie, directed by Pascal Laugier, starring Morjana Alaoui and Mylène Jampanoï.

STORY

Martyrs is about two girls, Anna and Lucie, who grew up together at an orphanage. Lucie was tortured and abused as a child, held captive in some sort of a dungeon. The relationship between the two girls is something that held them both up, even though Anna seems to want more than just friendship, she's happy to settle with that. Early on in the movie, Lucie manages to identify two of her captors from childhood, a husband and wife, and she breaks into their home killing the entire family, including two children, with a shotun. Anna helps her through it, but demons of the past catch up with them, terrible tragedy occurs, and one of them is sendt to a new dungeon, abused for a spesific purpose. (Sorry if that seemed vague, but saying more would spoil the movie)

The movie feels like it has two parts to it, based on how the story evolves. I, for one, much prefer the first part. The first part has more action, more character development, relationship and a little bit more gore. The second part is gruesome enough, but features a slow-paced part that can be sleep inducing, and the story veers of to something that can either be brilliant, or really dumb, depending on how you see it. I'm somewhat on the fence, and even though I do think it's a bit dumb, I still enjoy it.

6.5 points out of 10 for the story

GORE

The gore in this movie is plentyful, starting early on. Shotgun blasts are shown somewhat realisticly with large entry and exit wounds, blood spraying all over. There is a lot of cutting, stabbing, bashing and even skinning in this movie, and the blood is all over. The effects are really well crafted, and mixed with the great acting in this movie, it truly looks painful and real. A few scenes definately stand out, but everything is well done.

While the real suspense in the movie dissappears after the first part, it's always got a special mood to it, a feeling that can stick with you for a while after watching the movie. Parts of this movie is made to make you feel uncomfortable, and you probably will. It's a great gorefest, while having deeper content and great acting, cinematography and direction.

9 out of 10 points for the gore!

MOVIE

Just like Inside, this movie is a french horror gem, and if you're a gorehound or a horror-lover, there are bits of it you'll love. However, the entire feel of this movie makes this a movie that doesn't really suit all gorehounds and horror-lovers, but if you can take the gore, the slow pacing of the end and the scares of the start, you'll come out loving this movie. Go see it!

8.5 sharp fingernails out of 10 for this movie!

Broken - Review

Broken is a low budget horror movie from 2006, directed and written by Simon Boyes and Adam Mason. Relative newcomers Nadja Brand and Eric Colvin play the two main characters.

 This was a movie I was really exited to see, as I'd heard good things about it, and even someone freaking out about the amount of gore in it over at the imdb forums. This was going to be good... I thought.


STORY
The movie somewhat incoherently tries to tell a story about a woman who is kidnapped along with her daugheter (never explained why or how this went down). For some reason, the kidnapper has a rutine with all his victims that goes something like this: He kidnaps them and puts them in a coffin. A day or so later, he lets them out of the coffin, and renders them unconscious. While unconscious, he cuts them open and inserts a razorblad into their stomach. He then ties them by their neck to a tree, and balances them upon a rock. Once they awake, they have to open up their wounds to grab the razorblade and cut themself free. If they manage this, they can come stay with him as a personal slave, cleaning his pots and pans and caring for his garden while he goes on his everyday journeys... The story in this movie is almost nonexistant, and whenever it tries to explain anything, you're left with more questions than answers. None of the characters are remotely realistic, and the motives of the kidnapper/killer are never explained, and never even hinted at.

2 out of 10 points for the story

GORE

Then again, we're not there for the story... I know I wasn't. I was there for the overall experience, and if that failed to deliver, I was there for the gore.

At the start, there is a good amount of gore. You see a girl go through the tormenting trial of the kidnapper (huntsman, I think he's known as actually). She opens her wound, inserts her hand to get the razor, and a few guts even fall out. She falls to the ground, guts hanging out of her open wound, and she kills herself by using the huntsmans rifle to shoot herself (he offers her this way out). The gore here isn't bad... But it isn't good either, and it's filmed in a way that would make the best of gore appear strange and bad. It just doesn't seem real, and the fact that the acting is awful in this sequence, and actually throughout the whole movie, doesn't make it any better. None of the suffering in the movie seems real, and the gore is only really found at the start and end of the movie, and isn't extremly good. I can appriciated the low-budget try though, and I like the gore for what it is, but with the acting and the filming/cinematography, it just doesn't work at any level. The middle of the movie appears to go for a psychological-torture thing, but that doesn't work either. Again, it might be the acting and filming, but I also think the script is very lacking... Nothing is coherent, and nothing makes sense. No character seems real, and no suffering seems remotely real.

4 out of 10 points for the gore

MOVIE

You've probably figured this one out by now, but I really didn't like this movie. It was a nice low-budget indie try, but it simply failed at all points. The story was poor, the acting, filming and cinematography likewise. The effects were decent, but let down by all the other shortcomings of the movie. I couldn't reccomend this to anyone, both horror-lovers and gorehounds have hundreds of better alternatives to watch before they watch this one.

3 out of 10 dull razorblades for this movie!

Inside - Review

Inside (original title: À l'intérieur) is a french movie, directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, two guys who haven't really done anything else. Bustillo is also the writer of the movie, and it stars Béatrice Dalle and Alysson Paradis in the two main roles.

STORY

The movie is about Sarah, a pregnant girl who stays at home at christmas eve, mourning her husband as she waits for the next day to arrive, when she is to give birth to her child. However, in the evening, a strange lady seeks her out, and tries to break into her house. After calling the police, Sarah is reassured that the lady has gone away, while in reality she's already inside her house. It turns out that the strange lady wants Sarahs child, and is more than willing to cut open her stomach with a pair of sharp scissors and tear the child out of her.

 The movie even starts with a rather gory car-crash, setting the tone of the movie perfectly

The story of Inside isn't bad, but it isn't storytelling genious either. For a more toned down movie, the story might have been a little lacking, but plenty of gory encounters, actionfilled and suspense-packed moments makes up for a mediocre story, and the story turns out suiting this film brilliantly. Some things in the movie doesn't really make sense, and some of the characters decisions would definately never go down in the real world, but the overall pace and tone of the movie makes me really forgive these moments, and it's entirely possible to ignore them almost completely. It's not supposed to be a really smart movie, but for a gore-packed horror, it's above industry standard.

7 out of 10 points for the story

GORE
This movie is really packed from start to end with the gory stuff. The opening scene features a bloody car crash, and even the opening credits go over a gory mess (that doesn't make sense at the time, but is clearer on repeated viewings). After the start, it takes a little time before the blood and gore returns, but when it does, it's in grand-scale! Now, as we all know, not all movies handle gore in a good way, and even good movies can be plagued by bad or cheap effects... Not this one! The gore in Inside is very well made and shot, and you'll probably cringe at certain points (I know I did) when the gore looks really good and the wounds look excruciatingly painful.

The gore is definately helped by excellent cinematography, filming and acting. The screams and moans from the actors seem real enough for the most part, and the two leads are especially good. It seems like everyone had a good time making this movie, at the same time as they took themselves seriously.

Examples of gory points in the movie: Several people are shot in the head, grisly results are shown. Several people are also stabbed with knitting pins, one in the eye. The sharp scissors mentioned are used for slashing the main character in the face and stabbing her arm, but also for severely mangling a mans face, and stabbing his private parts. At one point a character has to cut a hole in her own throat to breathe, and someone is stabbed through the neck with a knitting pin. (These are just some examples, there are more, and some are left out because they would be spoilers... but trust me, they're good!)

So, as I've tried to say, the gore looks really good in this movie. A few cheap cgi effects are thrown in, but they make up very little of the gore, and are really only transitional effects. All in all, the gore looks very good, and is extremely well done, not to mention that there is plenty of it! I am sure any gorehound will be impressed with and enjoy the gore in this movie, like I did.

9 out of 10 points for the gore

MOVIE

 As you've probably already figured out, I really enjoy this movie. It's well directed, decently written, excellently filmed and acted, and it features some really superb effects.

It's an easy film to reccomend to any gorehound and horror-lover... But it's definately not for those who are squeamish, and it's probably not for you if you're pregnant.

9 out of 10 sharp scissors for this movie!

Upcoming Reviews

Here are some of the movies I've watched recently enough to still write a solid review about, and that suits this blog. They will probably all be coming up shortly! :

INSIDE

MARTYRS

BROKEN


TOKYO GORE POLICE


SAW 6


FRONTIER(S)

These are just the ones I could think of real fast, but there will be more coming soon. Others I want to review, but might have to rewatch first include: Subconscious Cruelty, Antichrist, Braindead (Dead-Alive), Hellraiser (1 & 2), The Beyond, Evil Dead (1 & 2), Re-Animator (1 & 2), The New York Ripper, High Tension, the other Saw movies . Again, these are just movies I could think of right now, and movies such a blog will be expected to review, so they'll probably be coming up. For now, sweet dreams!

Flesh N' Blood

While my other blog is meant mainly for myself, and possibly other writers at SW, this blog is for the hardcore horror fans out there!



THIS BLOG
This blog will mainly focus on reviewing and tipping about horror movies... and so since I know that's been done to death by more qualified people and teams out there, this is all about Gory Horror!

AIMED AT
I know a lot of people out there are like me, in that they seek out gory horror movies, because they know that in a collection of many bad movies, you are bound to find really good gems! I love it when a really gory movie has a great story, great effects and is scary at the same time! These movies are mostly outside of the hollywood-department, and not always English ones, but everyone is allowed to this party!

RATINGS
I'll try to write about upcoming (and unseen by me) gory horror, and review movies I've already seen. I'll give them a score from 1-10, maybe breaking it down into categories, and I'll rate the ones I haven't seen as well, on a scale of how good they look or how much I want to see them. I also see the possibilities of reviewing GORY movies that aren't horror, and really good HORROR movies that aren't perticularly gory (though I doubt I'll do this often)... And so we'll see where this takes us!

QUALIFICATIONS
I don't really have any, apart from being an avid horror-movie watcher, enjoyer of the gory stuff, and an avid writer (sometimes about gory horror), but I still hope (and maybe exactly for that reason) that this'll be enjoyable and readable by others!

- Drac