The Devil Inside: How Not To End A Movie

Horror films involving possession come out pretty much twice every year, and found-footage horror films have been coming out pretty much once a month lately, so it was only a matter of time before someone capitalized on the success of both genres (although The Last Exorcism followed these same guidelines in 2010)

The Devil Inside had a very interesting and gripping story. It begins with an eerie 911 call  in which a woman casually confesses to murdering three people and then shows a crime scene walkthrough of the murders which took place during an exorcism. It is then revealed that the film is a documentary being made by the woman's young daughter, who is searching for answers to the questions about her mother that have haunted her her entire life.

Found-footage horror is very hit or miss. It seems like some films just do it because it's what is popular right now, and often do a mediocre job, turning it into a silly mistake. However, other films such as The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield have done a fantastic job with this newly emerging genre. The Devil Inside is sort of caught in the middle. There are parts of the story that only work in a found-footage film but then there are other things that might've been done better in a "normal" horror film. Overall though, I found it to be pretty effective and didn't have any major complaints regarding the style of the film.

Like I said before, the actual plot was very interesting and involved what is known as Multiple Demonic Possession, a phenomena in which more than one malicious entity uses a single body as a vessel. If, like me, you're interested in the paranormal or even just in real life exorcisms, you won't find yourself losing interest in the film at all, which is the main problem with how the film ended.

I won't spoil the ending, but all I will say is don't look forward to it. The Devil Inside had one of the worst endings in horror history. Many people complain about how the TV show Lost left plenty of loose ends still unexplored when it ended, however, The Devil Inside left every loose end still open when it came to it's conclusion a mere hour and twenty seven minutes in. The audience left the theater feeling cheated.

The worst part of the ending was how interesting the rest of the film was. It drew you into to this deep, dark story involving otherworldly entities out of a William Peter Blatty novel and had you fascinated with the idea of real life demonic possession and exorcism, and then just threw it all away. It was as if the film got tired and gently shoved the audience out of the theater because it was done with them.

I usually find myself disagreeing with people who say that the bad ending of a film ruined the entire thing because I do feel that every horror film has some good qualities, however, The Devil Inside's abrupt and meaningless ending so heavily overshadowed the thick plot of the film that I really didn't know if I liked it or not as a walked out of the theater. It was as if an unhappy producer turned on the rest of the crew involved and quickly ended the film with no regard for the plot or characters. It wasn't as terrifying as the trailer made it out to be, but it was a very interesting film that may prompt some people to look into real life exorcisms because it can be a very interesting topic, but the ending felt as if it almost arrogantly told you not to.

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Top 5 Horror Inspired Fashion Lines That Should Exist

After recently hearing about H&M's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-inspired fashion line, I started thinking about how many horror or grindhouse movies could be used as inspiration for some interesting clothing. Here are my top 5:

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The Human Centipede 2 Full Sequence: It's Back

Where to even begin a review of Human Centipede 2 Full Sequence...

The film opens up with the ending of the first movie, and reveals that we are seeing it being played on the computer screen of a parking garage security guard. The strange, disturbed man, named Martin, immediately decides to set forth his own plan to mimic the film and create a real-life, 12-person human centipede. He begins capturing helpless victims in the very parking garage he's supposed to be protecting, using a crow bar to knock innocent people unconscious for use in his demented experiment, which takes place in a deserted building. He even tricks an actress from the first Human Centipede into coming to his little hellish warehouse by telling her she's auditioning for a Quentin Tarantino film. With the use of a staple gun, some duct tape and a knife, the 12-person monstrosity is soon complete.

Surprisingly, the real disturbing sequences don't even happen until after the centipede is already complete and has been revealed to the viewer. The last 10 minutes of the film are probably the most disturbing 10 minutes in recent horror history, beginning with Martin injecting every victim with strong laxatives (keep in mind, Martin's centipede was created with a staple gun and no surgical precision, so if just the thought of feces passing into the other person's mouth in the first one was bad without actually seeing it, don't watch the sequel.)

I won't give away every "interesting" scene in the film but it should be said that if you're even the tiniest bit squeamish, it'd be a good idea to skip this film.

There was a lot I liked about The Human Centipede 2, one these things being that the whole film was in Black & White. This managed to add the the overall feel of the movie and made it even more gritty and disturbing. By not showing the color of blood or other bodily fluids, it eliminated the possibility of the amount of gore on screen appearing cartoonish or dumb.

Where the first film was scary in the idea of someone doing this to other people, the second film added the extreme graphic violence and torture, combining Ero Guro elements with Hostel-esque violence. I can definitely see why the film was initially banned in the UK. The overall premise was unsettling: a man watching the first film and acting it out on real people for his own sick pleasure.

Another aspect I liked was the ending. I won't give too much away, but the conclusion, much like the first film, was fairly ambiguous and left the viewer to make their own assumptions about what happened.

Basically, The Human Centipede 2 Full Sequence blew the first film out of the water in terms of truly disturbing horror films. It was not a film for the weak of heart, and I can definitely see even seasoned horror fans cringing at the film.

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New York Times on VHS Horror

Louis Justin, 21, the owner of the one-man company Massacre Video. (via nytimes.com)

Just recently, the New York Times ran this pretty interesting piece in their movies section about the appeal of horror films on VHS as opposed to on DVD. It was pretty interesting and definitely made me want to get more of these 80's slashers and other horror films on VHS. You can read the article here

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How American Horror Story went from the new hope for horror on TV to just another show

In my previous review of episode 1 of American Horror Story, I enjoyed to show. It had a seemingly cool plot, weird characters and some creepy, unexplainable things going on.

American Horror Story tells a very Amityville-Horror-esque tale of a family who, after a life-changing affair and tragic miscarriage, decide its time to start a new life in an old home. Unsurprisingly, after their arrival, strange, supernatural occurrences begin to plague the family.

However, the show very quickly went downhill. To put it simply the show got sort of...well, it got sort of dumb. The first episode was filled with cool homages, stunning visuals and a scary plot, but as the show progressed, it lost its allure and has become a bit unwatchable. The idea of unlikable characters worked in the first episode, however, it's hard to follow an entire series with characters that you just don't like.

It's unfortunate that the show couldn't live up to the hype after episode one because television really does need another great horror show to stand up there with The Walking Dead. 

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Vintage Horror Review: The Thing (1982)

With the utter disaster known as 2011's The Thing being released this past week, I figured I'd skip that terrible prequel and rewatch the original masterpiece.

The Thing (which is a remake of The Thing From Another World) tells the tale of a group of researchers in the frozen planes of Antarctica. The team, led by Kurt Russell as MacReady, stumble upon a dead team of former researchers and a strange artifact buried deep within the snow. Soon, members of the team are dying off....or are they? The question of who is or who isn't human lingers over the isolated research station in the middle of the frost, and soon it's an every-man-for-himself battle for humanity.

The Thing is, in my opinion, one of the greatest horror films ever made. It is so deeply scary and compelling and really conveys the feelings of isolation in the arctic wasteland.

One of the most impressive things about The Thing is how well it really makes you feel how alone the characters are. One of the reasons this feeling is conveyed so effectively is the chilling soundtrack by none other than Ennio Morricone, known for his Spaghetti-western soundtracks. Morricone's soundtrack lacks the fast-paced, high pitched songs that are a staple in most horror movies of the 80's, instead, it creates a very haunting atmosphere, letting the story play out without the sudden interruption of a Psycho-esque string effect. Morricone sets the mood of the film with a soft, low soundtrack, letting the dialogue and actions on screen be what scares the viewer, rather than startling bursts of high pitched orchestra music.

Along with that, The Thing falls into a genre of horror films that I truly love due to their no nonsense approach to what is essentially a creature-feature: It never truly embodies the monster, leaving the titular "thing" extremely mysterious. A lot of monster films that try to keep the creature a mystery fail to do it for long enough (Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Super 8), and as soon as the monster is revealed, it loses that scare factor that audiences were looking forward too. The Thing, however, never reveals what this creature really looks like when it is not in the form of another being, and also never explains if "The Thing" is an actual monster or some sort of strange airborne disease or creature.

The Thing perfectly pits man-against-man, which also contributes to how scary the film is. As much as you can condemn MacReady for some of his more aggressive actions, it forces you to think about what you would do in his situation. The internal conflicts within each character really bring the film to life, deeply developing each team member in a very short amount of time.

The ambiguous ending of the film is another thing that makes it such a truly great movie. The main problem that I have with the new prequel is that anyone who's seen the original already knows how it ends...with every member of the previous research team dead, so what's the point? To cash in on a classic film? I can't see 2011's The Thing being anything but an hour and a half of different actors redoing the same scenes as the original film except all ending up dead. It's just stupid. The original film was one of those few movies that leaves you truly thinking when it ends, where the new version will leave you thinking about how much money you wasted on your ticket. You can't even compare the two.

To conclude this piece, I barely even need to say anything. The Thing is one of the greatest horror films ever made and if you haven't seen it, make sure you do as soon as possible.

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Red State: Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see Kevin Smith's Red State when it was in theaters due to its very limited release. However, Netflix recently released the film on instant.

Kevin Smith is one of my favorite non-horror directors who is mostly known for his comedy films, so when I heard about him taking on the horror genre, I was both excited and skeptical.

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