Continuing on with my "theme":
Food of the Gods <--- Link to more detailed thoughts here
A footballer and his buddies go to a remote island for some target practice and hunting, and instead find the island full of gigantic animals who seem intent on putting them on the menu instead.
Oi.
This is a Bert I. Gordon film. I didn't know that going in. But I was still optimistic, because even though his films are cheesy they're still usually charming. Not this one though. It's based on the H.G. Wells tale, but it's turned into an Eco-horror instead. And not a good one, either. The plot barely makes sense, the effects aren't even any good, and the characters are annoyingly dumb. It feels like they're just making decisions based on their character archetype, rather than the plot going on around them. And I'm still trying to wrap my head around how a bunch of people would continue to listen to some random football player, when it's been established that his decisions aren't really all that smart.
Also watched....
Malevolent
A brother and sister team pretend that the sister is some kind of psychic who can tap into the spiritual world. The brother claims it's to help people "get over their grief", but really they're just doing it to con gullible folks out of their money. But, perhaps inevitably, they pick the wrong client and things take a gnarly turn when they're asked to exorcise an old orphanage where several young girls were brutally murdered.
Nice atmosphere and good acting. But as prfsnl_gmr said it's also very predictable, but good for what it is. So, a good time waster, but doesn't contain anything that really makes it stand out. I did like the ending, though.
And finally...
The [Rec] Series
Film 1) A reporter and her cameraman follow the members of a fire truck into a building on what is supposed to be a routine call, but instead get trapped with everyone inside when the building is sealed due to some mysterious "plague".
Film 2) A SWAT team is sent into the same building to retrieve vital information that could help in containing and curing the strange disease sweeping the building, but quickly realize their mission isn't exactly what it seems.
Film 3) An elaborate wedding reception quickly goes to hell when the "plague" hits, forcing the bride and groom to scramble in order to find one another and survive.
Okay, so I was sitting through most of the first film scratching my head and wondering why the hell the film seemed so familiar yet completely new, only to realize right at the end that, "Oh! This is what that Quarantine movie is based on." Derp. I need to go and re-watch that movie again, but clearly it didn't leave too much of an impression. This one though, I thought was very good, and I can see why it's held up as one of the "better" found footage films.
The sequel picks up a couple of minutes before the ending of the first film (the descriptions say "15-minutes after", but the ending clearly establishes they were in the building before that film ended, so those descriptions lie), and feels much like a continuation of the first film, just with different point's of view from more than one camera. Still pretty good by found footage standards, so if you like the first one then you'll probably like this one too.
The third one though, switches things up a bit. It starts out from the usual first-person camera angle, but then about 20 minutes in the camera "breaks" and the rest of the movie is viewed in the standard 3rd person. Which is weird, because the series is literally called "Rec", as in "record", so it seems odd that they would so suddenly abandon their theme like that. But whatever. Not my movie, not my call. Though if you don't like found footage films then the change in point of view is likely a bonus. Other than that, the movie just feels like your standard ho-hum zombie flick, so I can see why this one isn't as highly rated. Still okay and has a couple of good moments, but otherwise "meh."
Though this does mean I've knocked out one more full horror series, so go me.
And I see I got not one, but two recommendations for the Annihilation book, so I'll be adding that to my shopping cart (not that I need any more books, but when have I ever let that stop me before
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