Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem: News & Screenshots

Gary Frazee — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:26:35 +0000

After mixed reviews for his remake of Halloween, and his admitted difficult time with Halloween 2, Rob Zombie has decided to give us an original story in the form of “Lords of Salem”. Zombie, who has been known for casting his wife, Sherrie Moon Zombie (thankfully she can act), and an assortment of genre actors from the 70′s and the 80′s, will make no exception for LOS with a cast featuring; Udo Kier, Dee Wallace Stone, Sid Haig, Michael Berryman, Clint Howard, Maria Conchita Alonso, Ken Foree, Billy Drago, Bruce Davison, Meg Foster, Richard Lynch, Jeffery Daniel Phillips, Daniel Roebuck, Christopher Knight, Barbara Crampton, Camille Keaton, and Tim Burton’s ex Lisa Marie.

The story is as follows; a local radio station in Salem, Massachusetts, The Big H radio team (Sherrie Moon, Foree, Phillips) begin recieving mysterious packages with an album that play backwards with a cryptic message from “The Lords”. The team dub them The Lords Of Salem, and more paraphernalia from the band, including tickets, artwork, and news of an upcoming show start to arrive. This is all a front for a three hundred year old coven of witches ready to make their return in order to exact their revenge on the current residents of Salem. LOS finished filming late January, and is deep in post-production. Zombie hasn’t set a release date yet, but I say expect it to release sometime in the Fall. So far Rob’s best work has been his original stuff, so let’s hope this one lives up to expectations.

- Gary \m/

Screenshots

May 15th DVD Releases

Dave Caroleo — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:16:23 +0000

The Devil Inside (2012)

Studio: Paramount

Director: William Brent Bell

Writers: William Brent Bell

Trailer – –

The Grey (2011)

Studio: Open Road

Director: Joe Carnahan

Writers: Joe Carnahan & Ian Jeffers

Trailer

*Note* Also Available in Blu-Ray

Descendents (2008)

Studio: Lionsgate

Director: Jorge Olguín

Writers: Jorge Olguín & Carolina García

Trailer - - - -

Junkyard Dog (2010)

Studio: Naedomi

Director: Kim Bass

Writer: Kim Bass

Trailer

Fever Night aka Band of Satanic Outsiders (2009)

Studio: Gaiam

Directors: Jordan Harris & Andrew Schrader

Writers: Jordan Harris & Andrew Schrader

Trailer - -

Mortuary (1983)

Studio: Scorpion

Director: Howard Avedis

Writers: Howard Avedis & Marlene Schmidt

Trailer

Immortality (1998)

Studio: Echo Bridge

Director: Po-Chih Leong

Writer: Paul Hoffman

Trailer

*Note* AKA The Wisdom of Crocodiles

Zombiefied (2012)

Studio: Celebrity Home Ent.

Director: Todd Jason Cook

Writer: Todd Jason Cook

Trailer

Eye of the Sandman (2009)

Studio: Split Pillow

Directors: Dennis Belogorsky & M.T. Cozzola

Writer: M.T. Cozzola

Trailer

Duppies (2011)

Studio: Indie Camera

Director: Phil Eckstein

Writer: Phil Eckstein

Trailer

Predator/Predator 2 Blu-Ray

Studio: Fox

Predator

Predator 2

The Human Centipede 2 (2011) movie review

Dave Caroleo — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:06:28 +0000

Director: Tom Six

Writer: Tom Six

Starring: Laurence Harvey, Ashlynn Yennie, & Vivien Bridson

Runtime: 88 minutes/91 minutes (uncut)

Rating: Not Rated

Country: U.S., U.K., & Netherlands

Sub-Genre: Extreme, Gorefest

The sequel to the extreme ass-to-mouth torture flick. This time the centipede has 48 legs & 12 assholes. Gone is Dr. Anilingus & in his place for this installment is Martin the pee-pee toucher extraordinaire. Get your galoshes on because this time it’s a total shit-storm.

Posted by: Krys & Dave

Also Recommended: The Human Centipede, Hostel, Saw 1-7, The Collector, Broken, Martyrs, Turistas, Train, Autopsy, The Clinic

Screenshots

Area 407 (2012) movie review

Dave Caroleo — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:56:55 +0000

Director: Dale Fabrigar & Everette Wallin

Writers: Dale Fabrigar & Everette Wallin

Starring: Abigail Schrader, Samantha Lester, Brendan Patrick Connor, & James Lyons

Runtime: 90 minutes

Rating: Unrated

Country: USA

Sub-Genre: Found Footage/Creature

We’ve seen footage of ghosts, trolls, zombies, vampires, cannibals, serial killers, sadists, slashers, exorcisms, aliens and 50 story sea creatures. Now in a Jurasinine turn of events we have top-secret footage of dinosaurs kept secret by the government, now revealed to the public… as a movie… with credits…. for a profit.

Two irritating teenagers, traveling from New York to California, board a plane on New Years Eve with a camera so they can annoy every passenger onboard with it, asking questions, filming people’s personal moments, and getting footage of the most obnoxious passenger airlines have ever had to cater to. Due to what we’re led to believe is weather conditions the plane makes an unexpected nosedive into a government restricted testing site. But they aren’t testing bombs, or top-secret planes, they’re testing a new breed of weaponry… a prehistoric one.

The plane didn’t make it, but the camera managed to.

There are certain truths the government doesn’t want us knowing about; A) there are rock-spiders on the moon, and B) they are weaponizing dinosaurs because evidently blowing mass amounts of enemies up isn’t nearly as effective as ripping them to shreds one at a time. While some are sick to death of shaky cam/found footage/mockumentary type flicks, I’m personally not. The technique adds a sense of realism to the genre that more traditional films can’t recreate. The illusion of realism is of course shattered once the credits roll, but it’s over by then anyway. That being said this was a pretty bad entry into the sub-genre, though it wasn’t the worst. That would be in my opinion, Atrocious (keeping true to its namesake), and The Tunnel (which was painfully boring & depicted almost nothing at all).

First off the reason for the camera being there and rolling was circumstantial at best. How it survived the crash undamaged is a mystery. And why one would carry it as they run for their life is even more mysterious than that. It’s would be like getting chased down by a serial killer and deciding “let me carry a TV, or a mirror so I can watch him catch me, or a pencil & paper so I can maybe take notes”. For the sake of entertainment I’ll suspend disbelief, as moviegoers we often have to do that to have a good time, but for the love sake of god don’t point it at the ground as you run. If you bothered to carry the son a bitch for no reason whatsoever at least have the common decency to aim it at something.

Anyway; the plane crashes, and they proceed to run from location to location, getting picked off one by one, while the obnoxious passenger, who of course survived the crash, whines the entire time. Outside of a plane crashing in a government testing site that’s pretty much the whole of the plot. Aside from that almost the entire film takes place in the dark, so you don’t really get to see much save for; disoriented commuters getting pulled into the dark, a one second shot of a tail here and there, a shadow flash by a window, some eggs, and a dino-jaw in a door. Of course when anything semi-cool is about to happen the camera conveniently glitches out, robbing the viewer of anything worthwhile, so there’s that as well to not look forward to. When you do finally get to see a dinosaur at the end in broad daylight, for .5 seconds (the moment you waited for), you realize why they kept them in the dark, and unseen for so long. Because of unmistakably bad CGi. It’s at that point you realize you wasted 90 minutes of your life, and who knows how much money.

I don’t want to think IFC Midnight is losing their edge, or didn’t bother to screen this before picking it up for distribution. I’m just going to chalk it up to them really wanting a dinosaur movie in their catalogue. It’s a shame. I really wanted to like this movie. Another good modern dino-horror flick, outside of Carnosaur (which I enjoyed) would have been a welcome addition to the genre, but this one just fell flat on its face. It wasn’t an absolute failure, it was solid at the beginning while depicting the terror of a plane going down, so it gets an E for effort… but little else.

4 out of 10

Posted by: Dave “Captain Insanity” Caroleo

The Shrine (2010) movie review

Dave Caroleo — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:45:08 +0000

Director: Jon Knautz

Writer: Jon Knautz

Starring: Aaron Ashmore, Cindy Sampson, & Meghan Heffern

Runtime: 85 minutes

Rating: Not Rated

Country: Canada

Sub-Genre: Supernatural

Jon Knautz’s (director of Jack Brooks Monster Slayer) sophomore film takes a decidedly different direction than his previous film. Gone is the comedy, and in it’s place is oodles of atmosphere, a Silent Hill-ish fog, a strange village, a mysterious cult, and of course creatures. Headbanger of Horror’s Ball sings the praises of… The Shrine…. as well as carries an ongoing love affair with Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer.

Posted by: The Headbanger (Horror’s Ball)

The Devil’s Rock (2011) movie review

Dave Caroleo — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:34:29 +0000

Director: Paul Campion

Writers: Paul Campion & Paul Finch

Starring: Craig Hall, Matthew Sunderland, & Gina Valera

Runtime: 83 minutes

Rating: Unrated

Country: New Zealand

Sub-Genre: Nazisploitation/Supernatural

No this isn’t a movie about crack. If the Devil smoked crack, there would be no furniture in Hell. Not that I can really picture him owning a love-seat. Anyways….

The only thing nazi’s love as much as goose-stepping, prompt mass transit, & genocide is the occult. A supernatural means to crush their enemies & conquer the world. A weapon more powerful than any blitzkrieg, or atomic bomb. Two kiwi soldiers are sent in on a covert operation to sabotage gun emplacements so Allied ships can invade a kraut-occupied island. While carrying out their mission they hear screams echo from a mysterious, sparsely guarded bunker and investigate. Inside the labyrinth of dark tunnels they find a nazi officer, his enchanting female prisoner, and a wall to wall massacre.

Right off the bat this move reminded me of The Twilight Zone episode “The Howling Man” as well as the 1983 Michael Mann supernatural horror flick “The Keep”. It wasn’t exactly the same, but all 3 featured devils/demons being kept in captivity. The Keep featured nazis as well, so it bears an even closer resemblance to that… though this film was infinitely superior. Is this a spoiler? Unless you’re illiterate… not at all, as the title of the movie overtly suggests what it’s going to be about. In fact every movie poster also depicts the film’s demon, so even if you are illiterate, not that you can read what I’m typing right now, you would also not have the movie spoiled for you.

That being said this flick could be described as very minimalist, keeping to the adage, “less is more”. And in this movies case a lot more. It managed to accomplish more than movies with 10 times the cast, budget, special effects, etc.. To say the least it accomplished a lot with very little; very little cast (3 to 4 main characters in total out of a cast of 8… 10 if you count the dead germans everywhere), & very little death unless again you count the dead nazis & their disembodied limbs painting every room. Above all it managed to stay intriguing throughout its entire runtime. Matthew Sunderland who plays the Nazi officer Col. Klaus Meyer seemed to be channeling Kevin Spacey the entire time, so as you can imagine his performance is enthralling. The sultry female lead/leads are sparsely dressed the whole time so that manages to keep your attention locked onto the screen, and when in demon form she’s pitch ass naked. The special effects are all done by Weta Workshop (District 9, Black Sheep, The Host, The Hobbit, 30 Days of Night, The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, etc,), so when they rear their head you can be rest assured they are nothing short of pure excellence. If that isn’t enough to get you interested; the atmosphere is, because it takes place in a bunker, lit in such a way that it seems darkness is always looming in the background… ever-present, and threatening to press in. The stone-tunnel settings are painted in the blood of dead nazis, and their severed limbs; mortal leftovers strewn about courtesy of a demonic interior decorator. Despite how minimalist it is, it has something for everyone. All in all, this was a great horror film that will probably go overlooked by most, but it is one you absolutely shouldn’t miss out on.

(9 out of 10)

Posted by: Dave “Captain Insanity” Caroleo

The Orphan Killer (2011) movie review

Dusk2Dawn4 — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:25:50 +0000

Director: Matt Farnsworth

Writer: Matt Farnsworth

Starring: Diane Foster, David Backus, Matt Farnsworth, John Savage

Runtime: 84 minutes

Rating: Unrated

Country: U.S.

Sub-genre: Slasher

My introduction to The Orphan Killer did not come from word of mouth nor watching the trailer. It did not come from an interested click on IMDB nor, as is way too common for me, the random grabbing of a pre-viewed DVD from a bargain bin. No, it came from a car parked outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dallas, home of the 2012 Texas Frightmare Weekend convention. The car was parked behind a replica of the DeLorean from Back to the Future which seemed to be grabbing all the attention from my fellow smokers as we all took our breaks from the crowded halls inside.

My interest, however, was in this vehicle painted up with the movie title, a picture of the killer’s mask, and coloring that looked like it had just been through a carwash in Silent Hill. Heading back into the crowds, walking amongst the visiting stars and lines of hungry fans, the movie was soon forgotten about until my next craving for nicotine. That was until…the final day. With most of the horror fans gone home, the movie stars were either at the designated spots or not depending on whether there were any stragglers that hadn’t yet got their autographs. Some of the smaller booths were now visible and visitable. This was where I was finding my niche. Still excited from the screening of the indie movie Jacob the night before and hungry for more of the unsigned and unreleased I walked around.

And there it was. It was a small table with nothing but a couple of DVDs and Blurays, a few posters, and a computer monitor looping a few seconds of footage. It was these few seconds that made me stop, and view the loop for a few cycles, before handing over my $20 for my copy of the Blu-ray packaged with a CD of the soundtrack. You see, I watch an absolute TON of low budget independent horror movies with widely varying degrees of quality, but the professional work in this small piece of film was beyond anything I’d seen outside of the big names. The film showed a woman bound in barbwire trying to pull her hands free. More impressive than the amount of blood that was running was the way the wire seemed to be not just cutting but gouging and digging into her wrists. It almost looked like one hard pull would just rip the skin from her hands. Tony, meet The Orphan Killer… is that a machete in your pocket or are you just really happy to see me? Yes please, I’ll take a copy and could I have it signed, please? Thank you so much.

So here we are safe at home & away from the bustle and noise, in the comfort of…The Orphan Killer. After wanting to watch it all the way back there I finally viewed it. Was it worth it? Do the words FUCK YES mean anything to you? This movie was more a time machine than the Back to the Future car that the mobile advertising sat behind, wrapping me up, and shooting me way back to when slasher movies used to be my favorite sub-genre. Back when they still felt hard-hitting and weren’t dulled down with an over-reliance on reasoning. When gore was visible wounds rather than just blood stains and pools. When a machete in the face was shown in all its glory, brains being pushed out of the back of the head as the blade was pushed in and in rather than a swipe then a body on the floor.

Yes, it’s easy to see that this movie came from a love of old-school slashers. There are hints of Voorhees, Myers, and Leatherface in this movie’s ultra-violent killer. But this bag also contains a love for the best of the modern; the torture, the pain-giving. The Orphan Killer really does gather the best of the best and throws away the time-wasting filler that haunts too many of the post-80s movies of this ilk.

Of course, that’s not to say that this movie is plot-free. Admittedly, anyone outside of the lead actors are just flesh for the cutting, but the story is there told in rumors and flashbacks among the carnage never being allowed to slow the movie down. The reason for all the bloodshed is simple… when they were children Audrey and Marcus Miller were placed into an orphanage when their parents were killed by home invaders. Once there, the traumatized Marcus defends his sister when he believes she is being attacked by another child by bashing the boy’s head in. Branded evil by the nuns who take care of them Marcus is punished cruelly and continuously; locked away in solitary, regularly whipped, and forced to wear a mask so that the other children are taught to fear him. This just serves to feed his hate which ends up being directed at his sister when she is taken into a family and leaves him behind.

Now he is back wanting to teach his sister the meaning of loyalty; first by killing everybody around her then when she is all alone forcing her to feel the physical manifestation of the mental pain he has been feeling for all these years. What he begins to find out, though, is that Audrey is willing and able to fight back meaning the will to kill and the will to survive are just as strong between these siblings.

Just as big as the actors that do a fantastic job of portraying the characters are the messy, long, and effective death scenes. Limbs are sawed off, heads are crushed, blades pierce everything, not including the initial impressive barbwire bondage I was seeing. A lot of care went into the gore as the camera likes to show everything and there is a lot to show. The makeup and effects were top notch and while I’m not sure what the budget was in this, it was financed independently, so I’m guessing the end result belies the money that went into this. The team behind this, everybody included, I will be very disappointed if I don’t see them anywhere else in the near future starting with The Orphan Killer being picked up by Lionsgate or some such label and given the release it deserves. Particular praise needs to go to Matt Farnsworth, who, according to end credits did almost everything for this including being in front of the camera. For such a busy man he never let the quality slide in any aspect of this flick, and I strongly hope will be back soon with a follow up.

Keep an eye out for The Orphan Killer and grab it with both hands as soon as you possibly can. It really is above and beyond and lives and breathes in a league of its own. Gorehounds and slasher fans take note… a future classic could be born.

Review by: Tony Sullivan

The Burning Moon (1997) movie review

Jthedemon — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:25:37 +0000

Director: Olaf Ittenbach

Writer: Olaf Ittenbach

Starring: Olaf Ittenbach, Ellen Fischer, Ronald Fuhrmann, Rudolf Höß

Runtime: 98 Minutes

Rating: Unrated

Country: Germany

Sub-genre: Gorefest/Anthology

The Burning Moon is seeing its release on DVD for the first time! German horror has carved a gory niche all to itself with extreme films that are generally banned, and build up a cult following as such. There are a few infamous names that are associated with extreme German horror, and one of those names is Olaf Ittenbach…

As The Burning Moon starts off, we are introduced to an unnamed person (played by Ittenbach) as he is interviewing for an office job. We find out pretty quickly that he is a slacker, a drug addicted trouble-maker just wasting the interviewer’s time. After his intentionally poor performance at the job interview, our antagonist gets together with his friends to stir up major trouble, which further defines the character as a violent hoodlum. As the day gets rolling, we see that our antagonist’s home life is no better. After getting into a scuffle with his parents, they leave him to babysit for an evening out, so he decides it would be responsible to shoot up. Jealous of his kid sister, he resolves to read her two horror oriented bedtime stories to torment her… and this is where the fun begins…

The 1st story is called Julia’s Love and is about an criminally insane murderer who escapes from a mental hospital, and openly wreaks gory havoc as he courts a young, naïve woman.

The 2^nd story is called The Purity, and is about a servant of the almighty who moonlights as a Satanic serial killer. His dabbling in the black arts winds up unleashing gory hell of Dead Alive proportions!

This flick is kinda sorta an anthology; a main outlying story/plot wrapped around two independent stories that make up the bulk of the film. Right off the bat I need to say that this flick is for gorehounds only. Fans of the cheesier side of horror might enjoy it as well, but it was definitely made with gorehounds in mind. The wraparound story is clearly defined, and while we have a sense of what is going on, it is paper thin, and the ‘why’ is never really considered. The two inner stories are pretty much the same way. When it comes to serious cinema, the average cinephile will cut this movie down for its vague pieced-together storytelling, amateur acting, and its low-budget 80’s look; but that’s not what this flick is about, it’s about an excuse to go nuts with gory special effects.

The acting is fairly mediocre and not really anything worth mentioning; it just seems as if everyday people were yanked off the street, paid $50, and filmed in the moment… I like to write, and I like to consider myself to be somewhat analytical, but there’s nothing really worth going into about the acting other than Olaf himself plays the delinquent antagonist…

The way this movie was shot makes it look like an 80’s B-movie trapped in the 90’s. It’s fairly low-budget with the gritty look of being shot on a camcorder, or something similarly as crude. That’s not to say that the cinematography is all bad. In the 2^nd story, The Purity, the lighting and visual effects, although basic, run wild and are enjoyable … albeit campy. When the gore and insanity finally erupt, the look reminds me of the hospital scene in Jacob’s Ladder, though the lighting effects are not as grim and dark, but are instead more trippy & surreal, bright, and a bit more colorful if you will.

Tying the story all together; the editing itself isn’t an issue so much as there just isn’t any kind of in depth character or situational development, nor any logical storyboard continuity, so the editing is relative. At 98 minutes, the movie doesn’t drag, in fact it’s just the opposite, we aren’t given enough information as to what is going on in the two inner stories nor the wraparound story. The opening plot-line is fairly coherent, but very stiffly acted, and it seems odd that the parents would leave their younger child home with an obvious addict/delinquent, especially after a fight.

Julia’s Love is coherent enough, but there is little character development outside of a brief gory backstory to the killer. It also seems like the escape psychotic just kind of strolls through the situations totally care free, in a city mind you. He escapes rather easily from a mental facility, creates a life for himself, and dates Julia with no explanation at all as to how he accomplished such a feat. Having thrown that heap of negativity your way I can say that there is an escalating amount of blood, guts, and gore which is the saving grace that makes this segment worth seeing, and part of what makes this film a cult classic of the sickest variety.

The The Unity, as far as continuity goes, is just a mess, though it more than makes up for that in gore, atmosphere, and an unapologetic, exploitative plot. We see a woman riding her bike at night when she’s attacked by a man who looks disturbingly similar to the BTK killer. After he completes his slaughter in gruesome fashion, we see that the killer’s daytime gig is the priesthood, and he is giving a sermon over said victim’s funeral. The town’s people suspect an innocent man (who is an unknowing friend to the priest) of the numerous murders that have been taking place. After we see the priest in a grisly Satanic ceremony, the town’s people take vengeance against the aforementioned innocent man with mega-gory consequences!

The overall vibe of this segment is total exploitation, and the splatter and gore take center-stage… and that’s not a bad thing This short moves fairly quickly, but again almost too quickly, and really doesn’t bother explaining the relationship between the priest and the innocent scapegoat very well, nor does it elaborate on what sets off the supernatural slaughterfest that is the finale.

When it’s all said and done, The Burning Moon isn’t going to win any awards, but it is a classic piece of German Splatter, and given the mediocre acting, rough pacing, and vague continuity, it’s still a very fun movie

- JtheDemon

The Raven (2012) movie review

Manic Exorcism — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:09:50 +0000

Director: James McTeigue

Writers: Ben Livingston, Hannah Shakespeare

Starring: John Cusack, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, & Luke Evans

Runtime: 111 minutes

Rating: R

Country: U.S.

Sub-genre: Serial Killer

Out—out are the lights—out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”
And its hero, the Conqueror Worm.
- Edgar Allen Poe

He is the undisputed master of the gothic tale, and the unrivaled forerunner of modern day horror. He is one of the greatest compliments to American literature and the chief inspiration for hundreds of gothic writers to follow in his deep shadow. His name is synonomous with the macabre, tragic beauty, and superior story-telling. He is Edgar Allen Poe, a name that is timeless as the poems and tales he penned down.

The macabre tales of Edgar Allen Poe are not lost on the dark hearts of horror enthusiasts from all across the world! His literary melancholy has been the subject of countless horror films all around the world, and his timeless imagination of murder and madness have a way of reaching out to each new passing generation. Many of his most prominent epics have been immortalized on the silver screen, many such films have become beloved classics in their own right, and to be honest without the works of Edgar Poe would Vincent Price be as prominent in our minds as he is today? The art of film benefits greatly from Poe’s works. Yet of all the films made based on his stories there has not been a movie quite like this one before.

‘The Raven’ pits the legendary horror genius against some of the most ghastly of his own creations. The movie begins when a double homicide bears a sickeningly dreadful likeness to one of Poe’s stories. Played by John Cusask, Poe is then brought in for questioning and as more hideous murders accrue, all of which are solely based on the poet’s tales, his unique expertise is called upon in hopes to end this reign of horror.

The very notion of using Edgar Poe’s writings as a tool in the dripping hands of a madman is simply ingenious! The plot revolves around the mystery of this maniac who uses Poe’s most famous works for the brutal inventions to unleash his carnage and mayhem. The audience is treated to some of Poe’s most classic and violent incarnations as the madman embarks on immortalizing this black craft in quite visceral details. Fortunately the movie is a solid R-rating, meaning such moments like the Pit and the Pendulum are a real delight to watch for a gore hound. And yet, there is plenty of story and tender moments to make this endeavor far deeper than just another torture porn.

Does it work though?
The movie itself is just as dark and dreary as an Edgar Poe tale is intended to be. The fog-heavy streets of 19th century Baltimore are cold and heavy with melancholy. The tight structures in which the maniac inflicts his madness on various victims are viciously claustrophobic and tight, as though we ourselves may be buried alive as well. And no, it does not skimp out on the blood when need be. The death scenes are satisfying and should appeal to any horror fan.

I admit I was not sure about this movie prior to seeing it. Ever since I was a kid I’ve been a huge Edgar Poe fan. And it was the classic The Raven that made me fall in love with the master’s works. So how would a movie with the same name stack up, especially with the current stagnation of class on Hollywood’s behalf in making a decent modern horror film? Honestly my chief concern was with the lead role and who was portraying it. I have nothing againt Cusack’s acting, but I was not entirely sure about him filling the shoes of my all-time supreme inspiration. Then again, I’m not so sure who I’d like seeing play Edgar Poe, so I went in with an open mind. To my relief Cusack pulls off Poe with respect and a powerful presence. His portrayal of the tortured genius was a worthy one, and getting a chance to see some of Poe’s masterpieces come to life on the big screen is a real treat that has to appeal to any Poe fan!

Do NOT enter this film with a mind for historical accuracy! You may be disappointed. The movie plays on the final days of Poe’s life, and surrounds the strange final words of the tormented writer, and what they might have meant. It is a work of fiction that focuses on bringing Poe’s works to life while making the man himself the hero of this drama.

The movie is heavy with atmosphere, provides some decent death scenes, and keeps the audience in suspense with its mystery as Poe desperately hunts down this lunatic in order to save the life of his love. For a recently released horror film this is one of the best ones to come out in a good long time. And on a personal level it was great to see a movie based around one of my favorite writers.

I highly recommend this one, especially if you’re an Edgar Poe fan. Or if you’re just a horror fan wanting a good movie to see. ‘The Raven’ will not disappoint.

This has been Manic Exorcism and I give this 8 out of 10 skulls.