Aliens in the UK= We should call the police? You'd be better off calling the Ghostbusters love.

If horror is still an area where you're scared to step, why not start with Attack the Block (2011) 

This film is classed by most as action, comedy and sci-fi but personally I feel it has the makings of a great monster horror film. It makes you jump in all the right places but due to the comedic side makes you feel that little bit more at ease, similarly to the way Shaun of the Dead does.

First things first the basic plot follows a typical council estate, teen gang. It is set in South London where they defend their block of flats from an alien invasion.

Apart from having a predictable plot, this film was a pleasurable watch. Funny and clever with some of the best designed monsters I have seen in a film for a while. The monsters/aliens do not resemble anything I have ever seen a film or real life (apart from maybe after a few beers!)

This film gave me a great feeling afterward as it was an original story and made me think very fondly about British cinema again, which is a big well done for Joe Cornish, the writer and director who is new to film. 

Personally, I feel Mr Cornish has found his calling and will be much loved very quickly in the world of horror.

An other reason I am so keen on this film is that it made myself and the boyfriend jump several times which is an impressive feat in my eyes as it is easy to be too predictavble and lose the suspense.

I enjoyed this film as much as the critcally acclaimed Gwoemul (2006) (that's Host for anyone who doesn’t know South Korean) which is an amazing movie. I hope this might lead to a resurrection of B-movie-esque monster fun that holds a bit more credibility than the Roger Corman "sharktopus" films that get repeated on SyFy constantly. 

Here's hoping...

with alien zapping love 

Madame Deggly Bones

Be good or i'll send you to dad!

(picture found on http://watch-movies.ro/movie/mum_and_dad_%282008%29)

As promised, here is my (Slightly belated) Fathers Day movie special.
Fathers Day is the one day a year which we look at our fathers and father figures and thank them for just being them! Whether they piss us off or drive us nuts, all is forgotten and forgiven.

But now Dad’s day is over think yourselves lucky that the Dad in this film isn’t yours!

Mum and Dad (2008) is a British Horror movie directed by Steven Sheil. Steven is a cinematographer and Mum and Dad is his first full length film.

The basic story is as follows.

Mum and Dad, and their adopted children, work at an airport.

The family live off anything, and I mean anything, they can scavenge from cargo holds, offices and hotels.

When main character Lena, is "adopted" into the family, she finds herself i a nightmarish world of torture, murder and perversity (sounds good doesn’t it?). She is Imprisoned in a suburban House of Horrors and designated 'Mummy's Girl'.

Lena has to decide whether to become an active part of the family or risk becoming ‘Daddy’s girl’.

Two reasons why I reviewed this film are, one, that it's British and two, it was father’s day last week.

I started watching this film alone and it made me get that weird taste in the back of my mouth, the one you get before your sick.  I still continued to watch.  The film didn’t make me jump, it is not that kind of horror, it did however fill my stomach with crazy-ass moths, because of the way Dad's character, played by Perry Benson (This is England), switched from utter psychopath to normal, caring Dad, making the situation so much creepier and disturbing.

The classic line threatened by millions of Mums, ‘be good or i'll send you to Dad’ means so much more in this film.

There are scenes in the movie that if it weren’t for the subtle fucked up, out of place, occurrences in the background of a room (e.g porn playing on the TV during breakfast), it would seem like watching a normal, everyday family.

I love the underlying theme of the movie that every family is somewhat messed up under the surface.
There is an abundance of gore in this film for the splatter fans and it quite comfortably fits into the current trend of human suffering and hopeless situations that feature in such films as Hostel or the Human Centipede.

I wouldn’t say this is a must see film for people new to the horror genre, but for a horror fan who wants to see a British movie that tries to do something different for a change, Mum and Dad is well worth a watch.

Slighty fucked up hopes and dreams,

Madame Deggly Bones

shh!!! Lights off there’s a Witch

As you know i am new to the horror genre but my new found addiction has quickly spread out of the realm of film. The x-box 360 is the first place I found a new horror outlet and one of my fav games is left 4 dead.

I played Left 4 Dead in cooperative survival mode with my other half.

The story is set a few weeks after the infection of Patient Zero, four immune survivors of the outbreak named Francis, Zoey (who I always play as, cos im a girl!), Bill, and Louis.
We help them make their way through the zombie infested town of Fairfield, only to discover that the virus is creating new, even more dangerous mutations as you go along.
Without spoiling the game for new players, these mutations of the zombie-like infected make certain parts of the game creepy as fuck and the words ‘shh!!! Lights off there’s a Witch’ makes your heart start pounding faster and the hairs on your body start to tingle as you wait to bump into her in the dark.
The enjoyment of this game is indeed increased by playing in the dark with a partner, as team work is important. A warning though, if one player is an experienced gamer and the other one still a bit of rookie (even-though I kicked his and his mates arses at Halo Reach) expect to hear lots of ‘shit I’m lost/or dead’ followed by ‘WHAT AGAIN!’ many, many times.
The game also features an A.I. director, which changes the positioning of enemies and attacks every time you play. This means that usual game tactic don't work. Usually, if you enter a room, die and try again, you may throw a grenade in to deal with whatever got you the first time. On Left 4 dead though, Chances are that very room will be empty when you revisit and the ghoulies will be waiting for you further along. This feature is great for keeping the suspense levels up and keeps even experienced gamers on their toes.
Over all this game is a must play for a horror loving gamer. The relentless horde, numerous fluids projecting at you and of course the surprise attacks make this game worth playing again and again. Perfect for romantic nights in with the one you love, because nothing is more romantic than a zombie holocaust.
zombie killing hopes and dreams
Madame Deggly Bones X

Friday 13th Series (1980 - 1993)

This is an overview of the classic Friday 13th films and not the 1987 TV series.

On Friday 13th of May 2011, myself and some friends decided to have a marathon session through the classic slasher movies of the same name.
I hadn't watched any of these films before and the plan was to watch 9 films in total.

These films are based around a character called Jason Voorhees who drowned as a boy at Camp Crystal Lake. This was due to the so called negligence of the camp staff who were too busy enjoying some sexy time to watch the kids.

Years later, the lake is rumored to be "cursed" due to his untimely death and is the setting for a series of mass slayings, in numerous creative ways.

Jason is featured in all of the films, as either the killer or the motivation for the killings.

As with all classic slashers, each one features a bunch of teens with short life spans, lots of nudity and those stupid twats who think its a good idea to investigate that sound in the dark, alone and with no weapons.

We managed to make it through 7 of the 9 films planned. I must say films 1, 4, and 5 were my favourites. The first is a classic and parts 4 and 5 are, in my opinion, when the series was at it's best. Everything afterwards starts to become a bit old, stale and increasingly far-fetched.

It is difficult to review a whole series of films without mentioning any spoilers, but there is fun to be had later on in the series when trying to work out if the killer is actually still Jason or somebody else. Also, Some of the death scenes are repeated throughout the series, as a sort of trademark. For example, throwing a dead body through a window to scare those inside and the grisly killing that befalls a certain famous face in part 1.

Because of the themes and occurrences running through the entire series, we managed to enhance the session with a little drinking game!
Some rules were as follows:
Drink whenever you hear Jason's 'ch-ch-ch' theme music.
Drink whenever anyone died.

Drink once for every nipple on show.
Down your drink if there is full frontal nakedness (luckily this doesn't happen very often!).

Drink whenever Jason goes through a door without opening it.
and everyone picks a way to die (i picked decapitation) and if someone is killed in your chosen method, everyone else takes a drink.

Overall this was the perfect way to spend Friday the 13th and, I think, the best way to be introduced to Jason and his machete. These are not intelligent films that demand a lot of concentration and therefore are great to watch with like-minded friends, snacks and drinks.

Friday 13th was remade in 2009. I will watch it eventually, but am not going to rush as most remakes have been great dissapointments. I would, however, love to be proved wrong!

Decapitations and kisses
Madame Deggly Bones X

Popping my horror film cherry

This blog is for anyone new to the horror genre. I myself am a newly converted horror fan and have completely fallen in love with it. I will be reviewing old and new films, books, comics and discussing the "mythical" Rules of Horror Movies. I am basically sharing my newfound love for this genre, which may of course include a bit of ranting!

My cherry popped properly around 2007. I had tried many times before, but never felt much care for the genre. After watching a fair few films with my horror buff boyfriend and learning about the scene and the in-jokes,  I started to feel a real passion for splatter!
 
I realised I was hooked when I made my first Zombie Survival Plan after watching the George A. Romero classics, Night of the living Dead ,Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. An obsession with zombies had started and I had also begun to branch out via Hellraiser to Children of the Corn and beyond. I was addicted and this is where this blog starts.

I am not a film critic, but because I am still new to this genre myself and have still so many films to see, I'd like to share my journey with other newcomers and perhaps help them to feel the same way that I do.

with zombie munching hearts and kisses
Madame Deggly Bones X