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BEWARE THE MOON REVIEWS

Southbound

6/26/2017

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One of my favourite horror types: The anthology! I love a good anthology! And Southbound, for me, did not disappoint.  'Five interlocking tales of terror follow the fates of a group of weary travellers who confront their worst nightmares - and darkest secrets - over one long night on a desolate stretch of desert highway.'

Southbound is a bit weird, I will say, I did think it was very good though and very very clever.  I think most anthologies are, and this one was no different, the fact that each different section somehow all fit together - I love it.  It's exciting and always pretty much leads to some really good twists - and you know I love a good twist... I am going to break this down and review each section on their own and then at the end all together, because I enjoyed each section and they are all pretty much little different stories all rolled into one.
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The first one, The Way Out, is about two guys, smeared in blood and on a never ending road, before being tracked down by some mysterious creatures in the sky... This was a very good starting point for Southbound, I have to say, it really does start the film off well. The fact that the two guys are covered in blood clearly running from something, and you have no idea what it is, is great.  And being that they also keep trying to escape and then being brought back to where they started - pat on the back. It does take a bit of a weird turn, when the things in the sky come along mainly, and the ending comes out of nowhere, but it all ties together really well. I don't want to say too much as they might count as spoilers - but it starts the film off really well, and ends the little segment super well too.  And without giving anything away, this one ends in a hotel...

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The next segment, Siren, takes place as the main characters leave the same hotel, something that the main characters cannot do in the first part.. Oooooh. Anyway, I also liked this segment, it uses a bit of a twist to an old format, a format that so many horror fans would know, the old stranded in the middle of nowhere, and getting a lift from a supposingly nice couple or family...  There are three main girls in this, and what I liked about this segment, one thing anyway, is that one of them is actually horror film smart.  And by that, I mean she thinks, she doesn't just jump into the car with the strange too nice couple, and she doesn't eat what the strange, too nice couple offer them for tea, especially around the rest of their strange too nice friends who are over for dinner.
I really liked this segment as it did have a nervy, uneasy feel to it, as if you knew something bad was going to have, the whole segment is just weird and creepy - and I loved it.

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Along comes The Accident, and with this one, I definitely will not be saying much about it, because I definitely feel it is a spoiler as to the end of Siren and also to this one. This one also is not a bad segment, and I would say is even better than the other two - it's just dark and gory and creepy. The main guy, Lucas, is in a right pickle, I don't like hospitals to start with, which is where it is set, but he is pretty much trapped in this never ending hospital, running down hallways and trying to find a way out.  One of the most effective parts of this segment, in my eyes, is the phonecall - I don't want to give too much away, as again, I hate to spoiler things, but I feel it is so damn creepy and so well done.  It just feels you with dread, and your heart sinks with it, but also gets excited, as it is genuinely creepy.  And who does not like something that is bloody creepy and a shocker. I would say this is my favourite segment out of them all - it just gives me it all.  A twist and some heart sinking moments - you also don't know what is going to come next. The Accident - you are good, next time, make it a full film please?

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Jailbreak is up next, and was my least favourite out of the lot if I have to be honest. It's not bad, but it's not that memorable I guess. Like I really could not remember much of it at all to be fair - I did have to do a bit of the old googling for it...  Jailbreak has its moments, like its a fairly good story and keeps you watching, but I wouldn't say it's anything special.  I did like the tattoo part, and the end scene is quite tension filled, and entertaining, but that's about it.  I feel like I am putting it down, I'm not, I am just mellow with it really. Like I said above about The Accident, I want that one into a full length film, this one, I would not...

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Ironically, the way out is actually called The Way In, and it is a good one... The last one is about a family who are in a vacation house, and they get attacked, end of story? NOPE. Of course that's not the end, well, it is the end, but that's obviously not the whole story. Again, I don't want to say too much, but this one ends it all off very very well.
Like Siren, it is very similar to other horror films, but with a massive twist, this is a family under attack...things happen, LOTS of things happen, not just the old family attack idea. Dear god, you don't see what happens happening at all... Man, this is hard to talk to, I don't know what is a spoiler or isn't! This was probably my second favourite, torn with Siren, and it ends the film and ties it up in a nice neat bow, taking you right round back to the start. Lovely.

Oh, I am such a knob, I have just realised the first Segment is called The Way Out and the last segment is called The Way In! You smart buggers!!

Overall, I really really enjoyed this film, I love a good anthology and this one really did not disappoint. Each segment tells a different story but still are all linked together, and with added bonuses, which is fantastic. I shall be watching it again soon, and so should you. You should just watch it anyway... Cost me £2... DO IT.
My friend who I also watched this with had this to say, that it played a lot of mind games with you, and a lot of the time you would be sitting there, scratching your head and say "WTF?!?!". A mind f*ck , basically.
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The Void

6/22/2017

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Ohhhh, third film out of four, getting near to the end of the film day reviews! This was, obviously, the third one of the day, after a few hours of shopping, and was watched a little bit by the parents too. We were in the living room, they came home, and the comfiest seats are pretty much in the living room, so they didn't really have a choice. The third film, was The Void, the film that is pretty much one of the biggest talked about films because of it's NSFW trailers. 'Shortly after delivering a patient to an understaffed hospital, a police officer experiences strange and violent occurrences seemingly linked to a group of mysterious hooded figures'

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I had been waiting to see this film for a longer while to be fair, the trailer did it for me if  I am honest. It had it all, it was very much like The Thing, but more updated, (which I am not saying that The Thing needed at all!), and obviously set in an entirely different setting - still with some added snow though. I would like to think that that is like a little cute nod to it, because that would be a wee bit cute...
​Anyway, I was impressed by The Void to be fair, one of my other friends told me she saw it and that it was weird - so all I had to go on was that and the trailer. Woo. (I try not to look into films, so to not spoil them for myself, but I do like to watch a trailer or two...) But The Void isn't too bad or too weird.  Right from the start where you see some men chasing a woman and setting her on fire, you're intrigued.

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The Void throws two different fears at you, one is stuck outside and one is inside, with all the characters.  Outside you have the creepy, similar looking KKK people, who appear out of nowhere; one minute there is just one, and you think you can take them, next minute, there are at least three or four and you're getting to the point where you might need to change your pants.  Inside a building, on paper, should be safer - but not in The Void! You're just as bad inside as you are outside really.
Now, talking about what is inside is a tricky one, because I am not sure what are spoilers and what aren't... There is something inside, very much like the The Thing, it is there, but where it it, well you are as clueless as the characters. No one knows, and, again very much like The Thing, it shows itself in very gory and brilliant ways.  There is skin peeling, blood, guts, a more painful and nasty than normal pregancy, and then don't forget the things outside... Those sudden appearing cloaked things outside are still hanging around...

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The Void is a tense and well thought out movie, but it is fairly complex... Like I said, it's fairly similar to The Thing, creature wise, but with more of a story - as in it being called The Void, and it not being called The Void for the laughs. Come face to face with the good old holes in the walls leading into another place/time/whatever the hell you want.  And none of the old Dale Winton Hole in the Wall, even though I did love that show... (sorry for any none English people reading this who have no idea what I am talking about. Basically, Hole in the Wall was an English TV show where a big wall with holes headed at a slow-ish speed towards celebs in silver jumpsuits, and they had to try and make that shape to get through the hole and not get pushed into the water. Make sense? Nope, didn't think it would either...).  Gheeeez, did I really just talk about an old TV show?! Normally that happens with a bad film, but I actually did enjoy this...

Now, like my last two reviews, I did not watch this alone, my good friend Lauren joined me, and so you can see two sides, this is what she had to say:
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I can't really fault The Void, it is quite complex in storyline, and I did have to Wikipedia it after, but it wasn't too much or anything, the confusing parts of it didn't ruin the film. I like the mystery to the film, not knowing what was after them, who had it in them, when the next death would be, it was an exciting ride! And a  bloody gory one too, my favourites! It also has an 80s feel to it, similar to It Follows, The Guest or even Stranger Things, and for me, that is a massive thumbs up.  I do feel though, I need to see it again, I feel I missed somethings and actually would like to go and rewatch it sometime.  See, must be a fairly good film for me to want to do that!   You should watch this, and then watch The Thing. Original and then if you really want the new The Thing, because, lets be honest, there are worst out there than that.... But watch this first!

Like someof the others, I watched this with my close friend, and she thought this was good but weird.  Good but creepy when the cult people would just randomly appear. She did say she wouldn't really class it as a scary film though - a horror maybe, but not scary.
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13 Sins

6/12/2017

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Here we go, second film of the four on Saturday, 13 Sins, 'A cryptic phone call sets off a dangerous game of risks for Elliot, a down-on-his luck salesman. The game promises increasing rewards for completing 13 tasks, each more sinister than the last.' I was excited by this film to start with, I love games in horror films, like The Game and Would You Rather, they seem to really get my horror blood going.  I just really love a good twist and a chase. Sounds like some type of relationship.. ha!

13 Sins was a nice surprise to be fair. A very nice one. I bought the DVD from a poundshop, and I had never ever heard of it, so, I kind of wasn't expecting much from it, and it had a fairly big actor as the main character; none other than Hellboy! Ron Perlman! I have always liked him, always thought he had a very likeable face. And I liked Hellboy so...  Butttt, I think this outdid Hellboy for sure. This is a good film. Like a very enjoyable film.
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One thing I thought when it first started though, was that it would never happen to me, well, not by phone anyway. The gameshow host rings people up on their mobiles, and obviously they answer, and bam, it starts. I hate talking on the phone to start with, let alone answering the phone to unknown numbers - smart cookie, me. And you thought cold callers were the main things to hate about the phone...
The host rings up, and asks the person to do something for a certain amount of money, with the tasks getting more and more awful and the money getting higher. Without giving too much about the film away, one of the tasks Michael is told to do is to make a child cry, now, how would you do it? I'll leave you be just to think of it... Okay, had a think? Good. I had a think and I would do it, (I'm not saying I would, but y'know..), I would do it by just walking into the child and knocking them over. Cruel, but it looks accidental and no one is really hurt, maybe a grazed need and that's it. How does Michael do it? He tells a little girl her mum doesn't love her and then is wanted as a paedophile.. Good going there, Michael.. 

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Obviously, none of that ruined the movie, actually, it made me and my friend debate how we would do it, it got our brains going and that is never a bad thing. We discussed a lot of this film to be fair, like how we would do things and was that an Emu or an Ostrich?! Let me explain, in one scene, it is said that Michael swapped a homeless mans clothes for an ostrich; 1) where did he get one from, seconds before he had just come out of church?! And 2) me, my friend amd my dad could not work out of it was an Ostrich or an Emu, I thought Emu, friend thought Ostrich and dad really wasn't sure.
Still one of the worlds little mysteries...

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Now, as people may have seen from all the pushing I have done for this and some other recent reviews, I didn't watch this alone and nor will this review just have my say. Aren't you lucky! My friend Lauren watched this with me, and this was hands down her favourite film that we watched that day.  I asked Lauren for her thoughts on the film, and she did not let me down!
As I mentioned before, 13 Sins was her favourite out of the four films, "For the simple reason that it had a good storyline, (see!), good actors and a good ending - which might I add, I didn't see coming, (again, SEE.) I love game show horror films, such as Would You Rather and The Task, (you can see why we are such good films from these film choices..), I feel as though they gave a lot more of a thrill factor to them and give you a lot of aadrenaline as the watcher. You find yourself asking questions such as "are they going to do it?" or "is he going to live or die?" or even "would he really risk it all?".
I felt sorry for Michael. Honestly, I wouldn't have wanted to be in his situation. Losing his job, having a fiancé soon to be wife, a wedding to plan, a disabled brother to look after and an elderly (slightly crazy) father.
You could tell when this guy got the creepy phone call offering a very substantial amount of money for swatting and eating a dead fly he was going to do it.
13 Sins definitely has a moral behind it though. And not even a scary one. I think it shows how serious an addiction can get. Whether in this case it be gambling, gaming, betting. I think it's trying to portray to the audience an message of how serious of an impact the aftermath of a serious addiction can do to you, as well as other people around you.
The film shows both sides to this story. A man trying to get money to pay for his family, as well as showing the affect of what could happen if you try to fix things the wrong way with greed and moneybags for eyes.
Overall, without trying to give too much of the story line away.. I very much enjoyed this film. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a horror and partly gory film with a good story line."   
See, she did not let me down.

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Looking back at 13 Sins, I would definitely say it's a pretty underrated movie, the whole film is entertaining and keeps you on your toes. There are some stupid parts, like how he does the tasks in the most difficult ways he could, but it has some charm. The gore is good, the twists are good, and the ending ties it all together - the ending is very well thought out to be fair.
Like, I always say an ending can ruin a movie, this ending ties it together, like a nice, bloody and covered in guts, bow. I won't mention it as I really really would not want to spoil it, and this review is already long.. But I'm just going to say it's good, unless you're my mum... She hates cliffhangers and this one kind of leaves a little one... I've said too much! Go watch it! I got it for a pound, you can too! Bargain!

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Franklyn

6/12/2017

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Franklyn, my dear, I didn't give a damn...about this film. - See what I did there?!

First film on the horror day, a film that turned out to be a very slow and slightly comfusing Sci-Fi film... 'A portrait of the broken lives of four people (a vigilante detective, a worried parent, an awkward man looking for love and a suicidal artist) as they all struggle to cope in their religiously-dystopian city.'  Franklyn has a slight horror look to it, the whole scary mask and dark setting thing, but if you think that, it could not be further from the truth...

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This film is a sci fi, end of, and not a good one. I'll be honest, I am not a fan of most sci fi films, and this film sums up why. It is confusing, this film is all over the place and it has many storylines wrapped up and many characters, but not a good enough storyline to keep them all going. I got bored after a very very short amount of time if I am honest.
Franklyn was one of those films where you want to end it and start something else, but you also think it might get better, but it still doesn't...

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The reason I say that I felt it might get better was because it did have some clever ideas. The whole story is about different people in different universes and near the end they do tend to overlap and different people from the different times kind of meet - which is clever. But that is not until the end and it is not enough to make this film massively enjoyable or make me want to watch it again. 
And I was not alone with that.. I asked my friend, this is her input, "Franklyn was boring, slow and very confusing. It was only at the end I worked out the SPOILER end I worked out the futuristic world was in the minds of the people that don't believe in religion...I think. It confused me a lot".

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N'aww, what a lovely friend I have! She was nice enough to note it all down for me, even that she would only give it one out of five, and she watched most of it while I was getting pizzas stuck in the oven...
We both did not like this film, at all. Neither would recommend it but both would watch it if paid lots and lots of money.. we are both human after all... The concept is good, different universes merging and all, but it is not done well. The characters are confusing and there are too many, too many stories too. Just too much. Watch something else, please. Casino Royale or Cruel Intentions instead - you'll see why...

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Woot Woot - Another Horror Day!

6/12/2017

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See the above title, yup, that's right, ANOTHER HORROR DAY WAS HAD. And in total, FOUR films were watched but not all enjoyed.
One of my closest friends came round mine and for a total of twelve hours, we watched horror films, with a break of shopping in the middle for a couple of hours... Twas a very very good day, and those four reviews are coming soon, with a little added input from my friend!

Let me see ya excited faces!
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    Meg

    Watching horror films since like 2003, when I could stand dead bodies.. 

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