Takashi Miike's Lesson of the Evil trailer

This is the first teaser trailer for Takashi Miike's upcoming thriller Lesson of the Evil. Can't wait to check this one out. But it will probably be at least a year or so before this gets a US release date.  

The Wicker Tree

One weird mess of a movie. A born again Christian couple travel to Scotland to spread their gospel door to door. At first they are shunned by people in the city. But they are soon greeted with kindness and invited by Sir Lachlan Morrison to the village of Tressock. Thinking the people want to here more about Jesus the couple travels along. Only to find out their naive innocence gets them in trouble.

The original The Wicker Man is a huge favorite of mine. When I heard the original director Robin Hardy was writing and directing this I was curious to check it out. I wasn't expecting much at all with this hearing a lot of bad reviews. Also The Wicker Man is an amazing movie which is not an easy movie to live up too. So I can't really say I was disappointed with this movie. What I got to see here was a really weird mess of a movie. It's the same basic story of the Wicker Man told a little differently this time around. It has alot of dark humor poking fun at religion mixed with elements of horror and alot of weirdness. Some of  the camera shots are really cool, strange and interesting. There are also some really strange creepy scenes through out the movie mostly towards the end. But over all it's just a mess where nothing really works as a whole to well. I really can't say it was horrible and I hated it or anything. But it's also nothing great or even close. It's definitely worth seeing once just for it's weirdness but don't expect to much here you will be very disappointed.
4/10

The Darkest Hour

Almost a great post apocalyptic alien invasion movie. Two software designers Sean and Ben from America travel to Russia to sell their new invention. When they arrive they find out the company who wanted to buy their software turned around and stole their idea.They decide then to visit a Russian nightclub. There they meet two girls Natalie and Anne. The nightclub loses power and the people flock to the streets to see what's happening. Out side they are encountered by strange lights that turn out to be an alien invasion. The four of them then go into hiding and must team together to try and survive the alien attack.

 When I first saw the trailer for this one I wanted to see it. I missed seeing in the theater and after watching it I'm kind of glad I did. The movie starts out great and really kept my attention but then really just fizzles out as it goes. The story has been done before but it has some original twists to the aliens. The special effects are really well done in this. It's mostly CG effects but a lot of it is so good you can't really tell it's CG. Having the aliens be invisible also really added to the tension in the movie. I also enjoyed the special effects used when the aliens fried people into ashes. The ashes gave a extra eerie feel to some of the great looking post apocalyptic scenes. I really was enjoying this till about the last 30 minutes of the movie. I'm not sure if it was just bad writing or if they killed off too many characters to early. It has a lot of action and tension up until the last 20 minutes or so then it just fizzles out. The slow weak ending turns this from possibly being a really great post apocalyptic alien invasion movie into a half decent movie worth a watch.
5/10

Scream Blacula Scream

Voodoo vampire cheesy fun. William Marshall returns as Prince Mamuwalde in the sequel to Blacula. A dieing Voodoo Priestess chooses a apprentice as her successor on her death bed. This angers the Priestess's true heir. Seeking revenge he buys a bag of bones said to hold great powers. Using a Voodoo curse on the bones he unwittingly raises Blacula back to life. Blacula then turns him into his vampire slave to wreak havoc on the world again.

Scream Blacula Scream is one of those few sequels that out does the original. It takes itself a bit more seriously but still has a small dose of humor. The story is interesting and darker then it's predecessor. The cast is great and I love the addition of one of my favorite actresses Pam Grier. She always give a good performance no matter what movie she is in. It also has the fun cheesy special effects found in most 60's and 70's horror movies. Some of the make-up is done better in some scenes then in others. I also really liked the soundtrack to this one. It's an interesting mix of a eerie horror score and some great 70's funk and soul music. Over all Scream Blacula Scream is a fun ride with a few good scares along the way. This movie is definitely worth a watch to any fan of classic horror movies.
6/10