Welcome to Reviews from the Horror Chamber. I’m your chamberkeeper Anthony Thurber.
Before I go into my reviews for this edition, I want to talk about the passing of Maila Nurmi aka Vampira. She passed away on January 10, of Natural Causes. She will always be known as the First hostess of horror. She also notably appeared in Ed Wood’s Plan Nine From Outer Space. I personally never knew of the legend of Vampira besides seeing her in Plan Nine From Outer Space and a documentary on her but I know that there are a lot of old-school horror fans that know her very well. To know more about her and her legend, I suggest you check out Vamipra: The Movie. A very good documentary on her, which I saw, at this past year’s Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival. The film is currently out on DVD. You can find more information on that film at http://www.vampirathemovie.com/.
Guillermo Del Toro Presents: The OrphanageYear: 2007
Director: J.A. Bayona
Stars: Belen Ruda, Fernando Cayo, and Roger Princep MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 115Mins
Spanish with English Subtitles
Review Rating: 5 Stars
The Orphanage is a horror film that has played in many of the major festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. It’s also the debut film from Spanish music video director Juan Antonio Bayona. This Spanish import is about a woman (Belen Rueda) returning to the house that she loved and was raised in. She decides to transform the house into an orphanage. Soon her son begins to talk to an invisible person that haunts the residents. Upon finding out this, she begins to feel that this is threatening her family so she enlists a team of parapsychologist to investigate and find the answers to why the place is haunted before it’s too late. The Orphanage is Executive Produced and presented by Guillermo Del Toro, director of Pan Labyrinth and the upcoming Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.
It is me or do these Spanish director know how to direct horror better than most Hollywood directors these days. It makes me ask that question after seeing this film and seeing past horror films by Spanish directors Guillermo Del Toro (Pan Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone) and Juan Carlos Fresdendilo (28 Weeks Later). The Orphanage was a frightening and suspenseful ghost story. Much of the film’s credit has to do go to director Juan Antonio Bayona and it’s screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez. Bayona really makes this film creepy by making the atmosphere in the film dark and keeping the suspense level up. He also relied on the atmosphere more than gore to make this film scary. His directors of the actors were very good especially the way he directed nine-year-old Roger Princep. I thought he managed to very good performance from him, as it’s tough to direct kids in this type of film. The film kind reminded me a little bit of Poltergeist and The Others. Sanchez’s screenplay was great as makes it a very dark ghost film. I thought his screenplay allowed time to develop the relationship between the Laura and her son, as it play an important part through out the whole film thought the ups and downs of the relationship. I also liked how, he explores the backstory of the Orphanage from the time Laura left until now. The story does give you a little sympathy towards these ghosts, which I won’t spoil more since it’s a major part of the film.
The acting in the film was very good. I thought the actors worked very well with each other. Belen Ruda gives a very good performance as the main character in the film. I thought she brought the mother like charm and emotion that is needed for this type of role. She also had really good chemistry between both actors, Fernando Cayo, and Roger Princep.
Director: J.A. Bayona
Stars: Belen Ruda, Fernando Cayo, and Roger Princep MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 115Mins
Spanish with English Subtitles
Review Rating: 5 Stars
The Orphanage is a horror film that has played in many of the major festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. It’s also the debut film from Spanish music video director Juan Antonio Bayona. This Spanish import is about a woman (Belen Rueda) returning to the house that she loved and was raised in. She decides to transform the house into an orphanage. Soon her son begins to talk to an invisible person that haunts the residents. Upon finding out this, she begins to feel that this is threatening her family so she enlists a team of parapsychologist to investigate and find the answers to why the place is haunted before it’s too late. The Orphanage is Executive Produced and presented by Guillermo Del Toro, director of Pan Labyrinth and the upcoming Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.
It is me or do these Spanish director know how to direct horror better than most Hollywood directors these days. It makes me ask that question after seeing this film and seeing past horror films by Spanish directors Guillermo Del Toro (Pan Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone) and Juan Carlos Fresdendilo (28 Weeks Later). The Orphanage was a frightening and suspenseful ghost story. Much of the film’s credit has to do go to director Juan Antonio Bayona and it’s screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez. Bayona really makes this film creepy by making the atmosphere in the film dark and keeping the suspense level up. He also relied on the atmosphere more than gore to make this film scary. His directors of the actors were very good especially the way he directed nine-year-old Roger Princep. I thought he managed to very good performance from him, as it’s tough to direct kids in this type of film. The film kind reminded me a little bit of Poltergeist and The Others. Sanchez’s screenplay was great as makes it a very dark ghost film. I thought his screenplay allowed time to develop the relationship between the Laura and her son, as it play an important part through out the whole film thought the ups and downs of the relationship. I also liked how, he explores the backstory of the Orphanage from the time Laura left until now. The story does give you a little sympathy towards these ghosts, which I won’t spoil more since it’s a major part of the film.
The acting in the film was very good. I thought the actors worked very well with each other. Belen Ruda gives a very good performance as the main character in the film. I thought she brought the mother like charm and emotion that is needed for this type of role. She also had really good chemistry between both actors, Fernando Cayo, and Roger Princep.Before I end this review, I want to personally thank Guillermo Del Toro for putting his name on this film because it probably would have been stuck in my local art-house theater or not play in my area completely. Also, I look forward to more films from Director Juan Antonio Bayona in the near future. The Orphanage is frightening ghost film that will scare and leave you goosebumps.
StashYear: 2008
Director: Jacob Ennis
Stars: Kevin Taylor, Karen Boles, and Debbie Rochon
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 77 Mins
Review Rating: 4 Stars
Official Site: www.myspace.com/stashflick
Stash is from first-time feature film director Jacob Ennis. The film is about a drug dealer named Bud (Kevin Taylor). He was a good person who minded his own business as he was brought up the right way. Soon two people try to take everything away that he has succeed with his business. Unknown to them, Bud has a very dark and sadistic secret that lies from rural hills of eastern Kentucky, as they are forced to do his bidding by abducting women or end up dead themselves. When that happens, blood will definitely spill. Debbie Rochon co-stars in this film.
When first watching the trailer for this film on myspace, I thought this would be a Hostel or a Saw rip-off but surprisingly this was neither. This was a very good serial killer type film. I thought director Jacob Ennis direction was very good, as the film didn’t slow down or get silly. The pace of the film kept the suspense up for me. His screenplay does a very good job covering all sides of the abductions from the abduction to the interrogation to the victim’s families. Other thing that I thing that I thought was neat was putting the title of the film twenty minutes in to it, as it transitioned to the second act very well. The acting was very good as helped drive the story and the tension up. I thought Kevin Taylor was good, as Bud is very menacing and sadistic character, which horror fans will get a kick of.
Director: Jacob Ennis
Stars: Kevin Taylor, Karen Boles, and Debbie Rochon
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 77 Mins
Review Rating: 4 Stars
Official Site: www.myspace.com/stashflick
Stash is from first-time feature film director Jacob Ennis. The film is about a drug dealer named Bud (Kevin Taylor). He was a good person who minded his own business as he was brought up the right way. Soon two people try to take everything away that he has succeed with his business. Unknown to them, Bud has a very dark and sadistic secret that lies from rural hills of eastern Kentucky, as they are forced to do his bidding by abducting women or end up dead themselves. When that happens, blood will definitely spill. Debbie Rochon co-stars in this film.
When first watching the trailer for this film on myspace, I thought this would be a Hostel or a Saw rip-off but surprisingly this was neither. This was a very good serial killer type film. I thought director Jacob Ennis direction was very good, as the film didn’t slow down or get silly. The pace of the film kept the suspense up for me. His screenplay does a very good job covering all sides of the abductions from the abduction to the interrogation to the victim’s families. Other thing that I thing that I thought was neat was putting the title of the film twenty minutes in to it, as it transitioned to the second act very well. The acting was very good as helped drive the story and the tension up. I thought Kevin Taylor was good, as Bud is very menacing and sadistic character, which horror fans will get a kick of.Stash is starting to make its way through the festival circuit. So check it out if you’re into serial killer films or looking for a good old horror film than Stash is it.
Before I go, I have an announcement to make. This column will now be weekly, so stop by FilmArcade.net every weekend to get your weekly horror fix.
Filmmakers, If you’re interested in having your horror film reviewed in the horror chamber, you reach the Chamber Keeper himself at his new email adresss at Anthonythurber@filmarcade.net or the head of FilmArcade TonyD@filmarcade.net Until next week, have a frightening week!
I was hoping to see The Orphanage today, but never got to. Will be seeing it soon hopefully.
Stash sounds interesting. Excellent work
Excellent reviews.
The Vampira documentary sounds great.
Good reviwing. =]
Great stuff. I really want to see THE ORPHANAGE.