Frailty (2001)

"We don't kill people, we destroy demons."

"Frailty" is the story of Fenton and Adam Meiks and the strange relationship they have with their father, played by Bill Paxton (who also directs). In the present, adult Fenton (Matthew McConaughey) visits FBI Agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe) who is on the trail of the God's Hand killer. Fenton has just stolen the ambulance containing the recently deceased body of his brother Adam so he could keep good on a promise he made long ago to bury Adam in the rose garden next to where they grew up. He tells Agent Doyle that he believes his brother Adam to have been the God's Hand killer and recounts the strange story of their childhood. You see, 20 some odd years ago, Adam and Fenton's Father claims to have been visited by an Angel who reveals to him that there are demons in the world hiding under the guise of normal, everyday people and that it is their duty to eliminate these demons. The Father (who is never named) is given tools to complete this task that include gloves to keep his hands from revealing the demon's identity until the right time, a lead pipe to knock them out with and an axe named 'OTIS' with which to destroy them. Adam immediately believes his father to be right but Fenton doubts the validity of his claims and believes the father to be insane.

I loved "Frailty" when I first saw it almost 10 years ago and I still love it today. I think it's a hidden gem that next to nobody remembers and that's unfortunate. The performances are all strong here, especially in Paxton, McConaughey, Matt O'Leary (Young Fenton) and Jeremy Sumpter (Young Adam) as they carry a concept that can occasionally feel goofy and unbelievable until the movie is over and you know that truth. I'm too desensitized by horror films to be scared by anything anymore but "Frailty" is definitely unsettling for a variety of spoiler-filled reasons. You really feel for the children as their father appears to be descending very quickly into madness. You hear all the time about people who kill because, as they claim, "God told me to do it." but "Frailty" takes this concept and spins it in a way that has you looking at those crazies who claim they murdered righteously in a whole new way. If you're into horror flicks or just something suspenseful to watch on a dark and rainy night, then "Frailty" is the answer you seek. 4.5/5 -andy

Splice (2010)

"We crossed the line..."

My wife really wanted to see "Splice" when it came out in theaters, but nothing about the movie really interested me all that much initially. Recently I had the opportunity to watch it and I can safely say that if you didn't see it you aren't missing much. Elsa (Sarah Polley) and Clive (Adrian Brody) are geneticists or in this case "splicers" - scientists that work on a cellular level combining the DNA of various creatures. Their mission is to use these slug-like creatures they've created, Fred and Ginger, to harness a particular enzyme that can be used to possibly cure all sorts of human related diseases. Elsa and Clive are hoping to move to the next level and begin using human DNA in their experiments when they are told they must concentrate only on Fred and Ginger and harnessing the enzyme/compound that they have been working on for months. Later that night, in the heat of the moment Elsa locks herself in the lab and combines human DNA with a host of undetermined DNA samples to create a wholly new life form. This life form is Drinn and she has untold evolutionary capabilities...and a long tail that has a huge stinger on the end of it. As you can imagine things don't go well for these two Scientist who crossed the line and sacrificed morality for success.

I sometimes hate giving you these little plot summaries as it is difficult to judge what you need to know versus what you might like to know before you see any film. "Splice" had some really cool moments and at times the story really worked but most of the time it was a lot of science that I didn't understand and a creature who doesn't become scary or interesting until the last 15 or 20 minutes of the film. I also thought Sarah Polley wasn't hardly as good in this as she was in 2004's "Dawn of the Dead" where she carried that film as one of the main leads. Adrian Brody, who for me is pretty consistently good in whatever he is in, carried this picture for me. The special effects are OK but in this day and age its nothing you haven't seen before. The trailer implies this to be more of a horror film and yeah, I guess it is...only because you can't classify it as anything else. If you are curious and feel the need to ignore everything I've told you, I would rent this one before you buy. 2/5 -andy

PS. I always encourage you to read our reviews and then go ahead and see the film (for as cheap as possible) despite what we think and then let us know what you thought. We love your participation and your comments!!

SECOND OPINION

I liked it better the first time around when it was called "Species". Brody is the only thing that holds this movie together. Watch only if you have nothing else. 1/5 -tom

Session 9 (2001)

"Satanic Ritual Abuse Syndrome. It was big in the '80s."

A lot of people who think they know everything about the horror genre are going to completely disagree with everything I'm about to say about this film. Others will just plain think this movie is boring. Still others won't ever even give it a chance because it went straight to video almost 10 years ago, before going straight to video wasn't as bad a thing. Well, you're truly missing out on one of the most creepy and unsettling experiences in horror cinema if you listen to anyone of those people. From Brad Anderson, who is quickly turning into the guy to watch in the horror/suspense genre these days, "Session 9" tells the story of a Hazmat crew cleaning the asbestos out of a condemned asylum. The best moments of this film follow the same formula that all the great films of the 70s followed: less is more. What you don't see can be and is often as scary as anything the filmmakers could show you. One scene in particular involves one of the Hazmat crew looking out the window of a cell, staring down into the yard at an empty gazebo. You never see anything...or do you? Its all about what your mind comes up with and you always feel as if something is just around the corner. The movie begins to progress faster when one of the men finds a series of tapes documenting various therapy sessions with a schizophrenic patient who also happens to have multiple personality disorder. As he goes from tape to tape, these various personalities manifest and allude to one very bad character who you will meet in the tape documenting session 9, hence the name of the film.

Some surprise performances come in the way of CSI Miami's David Caruso and rising star Josh Lucas. Paul Guilfoyle from CSI also makes an appearance near the beginning of the film. It has a sort of twist ending, which was all the rage 10 years ago, so that may turn you off. I assure you however, that this film's ending was satisfying and as good as the rest of the film and better than anything M. Night Shabadoo could come up with. While a little rough around the edges, it makes up for it with an amazing atmosphere and interesting setting. If you like original horror or Independent films that don't' disappoint, you owe it to yourself to pick up "Session 9". 4/5 -andy

Planet Terror (2007)

"Don't shoot yourself. Don't shoot each other. And especially... don't shoot me."

"Planet Terror". Wow, where do I start? I've been a fan of zombie movies for a long time. There's no denying that George A. Romero is the king, or at least used to be the king of that subgenre of horror films. In 2007, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez released Grindhouse; a two part tribute to 70s grindhouse cinema. While Tarantino's "Death Proof" was supposed to be a slasher movie where the killer kills with his car instead of a knife, Rodriguez' effort proved far more entertaining in this gory, dirty and fun zombie film. The conventions are all there: a group of survivors and a few unlikely heroes try to survive a zombie apocalypse - except one of them has a machine gun leg and the other is Kyle Reese from "The Terminator". Like Romero's films, the zombies are a bad bunch, but regular humans are often just as violent, if not more so. It doesn't break any new ground but that was never the point. If you can imagine one of these low budget, gory 70s films with their over the top gore and bad dialog and then imagine that same scenario done inentionally with some slightly updated visuals and effects, then you have this movie. Not to be missed for fans of horror or zombie films. 4/5 -andy

A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)

"Can you change the past? Can you bring the dead back to life? I didn't fuckin' think so!"

Love 'em or hate 'em, remakes are a major part of cinema right now and no more than in the horror genre. There are some films that many horror fans consider to be untouchable; films that should never be remade and amongst those I believe you'd find "A Nightmare On Elm Street". You could argue all day long about how Hollywood has no original ideas left and that this is why they have turned to rehashing older and often much better ideas or you could get over yourself and give these movies a chance. Not that they are all winners, some of them suck really, REALLY bad (I'm looking at you "The Fog") but some of them are down right awesome (2004's "Dawn of the Dead). By now, anyone familiar with the horror genre knows who Freddy Krueger is. He is as much an icon today as Dracula, Frankenstein or the Mummy. This time around, we get a vaguely familiar Freddy except with a little more detail on his history prior to becoming the cripsy critter we all know and love. Freddy was a groundskeeper/gardner at a local daycare, which rested innocently enough at the end of...yep, you guessed it, Elm St. Seems some of the kids accused Freddy of touching them in all the wrong places and the parents chased him down and burnt him alive. Now he haunts the dreams of the children of the parents responsible for his murder, picking them off one by one. Is Freddy guilty or was he falsley accused; the impressionable children coerced into telling a false truth. This is the crux of this new Nightmare and overall it works pretty well. You could probably guess how this ends and what the truth may or may not be but I won't ruin it for you here.

Despite some dumbed down dialog and cliched teen characters, the film mostly succeeds. The Freddy make up is awesome and crazy realistic and Jackie Earle Haley's performance as Krueger is the highlight of this film...even if he still sounds like Rorschach. 3/5 -andy