Raymond Did It (2011)

I saw this film at HHW and to be honest it left such a small impression on me I had forgotten that I had seen it, says so much to me about this film. I am not a fan of low budget amateur film making and to be honest having been to my first convention that shows amateur films I will not be rushing back to see a lot of them in the future.

In my experience it was not actually that bad of a film, some of the kill scenes were actually inventive and gory and looked good, but the acting was pretty bad and the whole thing felt like it was dragging on, I think that if this film was cut to 60 minutes from the 85 minute run time then it could have been more engaging but it did drag quite a bit in the middle and I did not really care for any of the characters.

I am going to be generous and say 2 stars for the sheer effort of the director and I think that if given the opportunity and a bit of guidance he will be able to go far, there were some glimmers of great ideas within the film.

Absentia (2011)

Horror Hound Weekend, Indianapolis 2011, 25th March

This was the second film that I tried to see at Horror Hound Weekend in Indianapolis the first will not be mentioned as it was horrible and I did not see the end of it, so going into this film I had no idea what to expect.

It is tense in bits however it did drag quite a lot I came out of it and felt it had been closer to 2 hours than the 90 mins it was on for. There is also a bit of confusion over the story, they try not to give to much through exposition within the film, however it does not deliver the information it needs to to make you care that much.

Also due to the basic premise of the film, man has been missing for 7 years before you can declare them "Dead in Absentia" and the story starts with his wife who is pregnant, you think that the story could go so many ways and then goes some where different and i felt that while it was interesting the directions for a horror film I came up with in my head seemed to be more fun to me at the time.

I will not be rushing out to see this film if it gets a release but would recommend that horror fans and people who like a bit of thinking in their films should go and see it. I will give it 3 stars for a good effort.

Tucker & Dale Vs Evil (2010)

Horror Hound Weekend Indianapolis, 26th March 2011.

I saw this film when on holiday at the Horror Hound Weekend, Horror convention based in Indianapolis, IN. This is a festival that show for short films, unreleased and amateur films and Tucker & Dale vs Evil was there as well.

This film is awesome and it is hilarious, it is College kids go to the woods and meet Hillbillies but you get to follow the Hillbillies, Tucker and Dale. The two groups run into each other throughout the film and shenanigans ensue.

This is a dark comedy and I laughed so much throughout it. I think that part of this is due to the atmosphere I was surrounded by slightly drunk, horror loving Americans and it was a reactive piece. The only problem was that some of the effects had not been completed and also there were a group of idiots sitting beside us talking and being distracting.

When this film gets the wide release it deserves (fingers crossed) I will go and see it in the cinema and hopefully the crowd that time will be better behaved but they will still laugh at the funny scenes. I am going to give the film 5 stars as it was very funny and gory and hit all the right marks and it would be unfair to mark it down because of the audience I saw it with.