The Hive is a mindbender sci-fi / horror film that takes you on a twisted journey of an infected amnesiac who slowly figures out just how screwed he and his friends are as his memories progressively return but are accompanied by memories that do not belong to him. These memories from strangers give him and the viewer insight into what is presently happening...

Horror, when you get right down to it, is less about the tales and more about who is telling them. After all, horror stories- warnings of what waits out in the dark- are the oldest and most powerful stories, and with such immovable foundations in place, a good horror movie can live or die by its telling.

The Babadook is a wonderful example of this.....

Nothing is scarier than your first love 

John Paul Young was famously sang that "Love was in the air", but if love is anything like the love shown in this rom-phantom-com I'd be stocking up on air fresheners. Director Michael Steves’ Clinger is a blood soaked, love gone totally wrong horror comedy that shows that it isn't love that survives beyond the grave but a deep and deadly obsession.  

When high school track star Fern Peterson, falls for the charms of high school student Robert Klingher ( see what they did there) it looks as though her life is complete.  She is a rising star in the track, and with a hopeful running scholarship to MIT and a boyfriend who dotes on her at every opportunity things should be perfect, shouldn't they?  

Sadly Klingher's obsession with her soon begins to grate on her, the montage of her growing irritation is one of the highlights of the film, to the point that she decides to dump him.  What she doesn't know is that Robert in his typical over the top creepy way has created a stage to proclaim his love for her, complete with heavy swing sign.  So when she decides to dump him just as he pulls the lever his shock and awe at being dumped results in him getting caught up in the mechanics of the stage and is rather quickly decapitated.  

But as we all know love is eternal. and love will find a way.  Initially everything seems OK their love is rekindled, may be their love will be eternal, but thanks to Klingher's constant interference in her life she decides to end it once again, telling him "It's not that you are dead, it's that I'm alive"  at which point Klingher comes to the conclusion that the answer to his love problems is just that.  So he proposes to make their love eternal by killing her.   Faced with a horror from beyond the grave Fern must turn to her friends and a former ghost hunter, who just happens to be (well you will have to watch it to find out) to fight back against the cold clammy hands of ghost love.  

After attempting to write this a few times without giving much away, I’ve reluctantly decided I can’t talk about this show without talking about it, so please BEWARE SPOILERS, and if you haven’t yet seen part 2, please do so - you really should anyway, because it’s great. See my spoiler free review of Part 1 here

Circle, dot, circle, dot now you've got a Cooties shot.  If only life was that simple, sadly for the us it's just not that easy to get protection from the dreaded playground disease, which is a good thing as it would have meant that this film would have been a lot less enjoyable than it is.  

Horror and comedy has never been a genre that has a had a huge amount of success for every classic like Evil Dead II there are hundreds of unfunny or totally not scary films.  You would think that this would be an easy genre of film to make as both horror and comedy have roots in the same dark place of your brain, so why does Cooties work when most other attempts at comedy horror fail?...

Ascension (2013)

Dir: James Hart

Writer: Dave Jeffrey (based on his short story)

I'd like to confess something to you all, here; I often feel an almost crushing sense of guilt. A kind of paralysing anxiousness that there is so much amazing stuff out there, and I'll never get to read or see it all. This sharpens when I happen to be friends with someone online, or when I've interacted with them. I feel that I should be at least knowledgeable of even one tiny story of theirs. It's a burden. But to give you an example; I've got, roughly speaking, around six hundred unread books in my house, and I'm always buying more. I have at least the same in unwatched films/TV shows. And I truly wish I could read/watch them all; at the very least, I wish I could read faster. It's why I don't often accept items specifically for review, and why I read what I want to read, rather than what I 'have' to.

Harbinger Down is a sci-fi / horror movie written and directed by Alec Gillis, famed Practical FX creator and founder of Amalgamated Dynamics Studios. He has been part of the creature magic on every Alien movie but the first one as well as such projects as Odd Thomas, Death Becomes Her, X-Men and Ender’s Game and even some great creature feature oldies like Leviathan and Invaders from Mars. His Practical FX game is at the top of the heap and yet this movie, Harbinger Down, was made, essentially, to vindicate the continuing value of Practical FX compared to CGI only endeavors. Here’s basically why. 

The Truth is Known To All But One 

This movie is an exquisite gem; full of dark, mystifying patterns pulling us into its bewitching depths. Some films grab you by the throat and won’t let go, while others firmly grip your hand and lead you gently into the wild fairy forest, but the result is the same: you cannot turn back and indeed you do not want to. 

When Animals Dream has many nuances to its storyline but at heart it is a coming of age tale that is both tragic and comic. There is much suffering and numerous trials for our main character Marie, played exceptionally well by Sonia Suhl. Marie’s father and partner in suffering is Thor, actor Lars Mikkelson, a phenomenal performer with much experience, including playing an outstandingly despicable villain on an episode of the Sherlock Holmes TV series. Marie’s mother, Mor, we learn right away has some malady that requires routine injections and keeps her bound to a wheel chair, unable to do anything for herself. Together, Marie and her father must do everything for Mor; feed her, bathe her, and dress her. 

They say don't sleep with dogs in case you catch fleas.  If only someone had reminded Dawn (played by Joanne Mitchell).   Dawn and Bex ( played by Victoria Smurfit) run a small cafe situated in an indoor market, in-between fighting of the unwanted comments and lecherous advances of the male market stall owners, they dream of owning their own proper bricks and mortar coffee shop.  

It is a pity that they only have half of the capital required to see their dreams come true.  The banks won't lend them the money, and with each passing interview with a bank manager their dreams of owning their own shop drift ever further away.  

Enter Jeremy (Jonathan Slinger), a charming local business man who takes a shine to Dawn, and after a bedroom dalliance he offers to put up the remaining capital. Dawn is obviously over the moon about this and when she tells Bex, they agree to meet Jeremy and see their dreams come true.  Jeremy's terms and conditions however are rather extreme  and it is not long until Bex, true to her nature sends Jeremy on his way with more than just a flea in his ear,  but not before he leaves them a little parting gift of "pay me £10,000 in administration fees or face the consequences".  It's not long before Dawn and Bex realise that he means business and their world  descends into an ever decreasing circle of hell.