leominosa

There are some decent ideas in this film, which makes it more of a shame that it's not very good.

A straight-forward set-up is established in which a team of young paranormal investigators arrive at the somewhat original setting of a large, reputedly haunted, Californian wine-making estate with a history of bizarre suicides, in order to record footage for a TV show that they hope will win them a network contract.

Sure enough they get more than they bargained for and find themselves in grave peril, but it turns out that there's more going on than a few malevolent spirits bumping off twenty-somethings in imaginative fashion. In fact there's both a nefarious threat very much of the earthly plane, and otherworldly forces that give the plot an unexpected dimension, at least genre-wise. There are other plot strands at play relating to these; probably too many in fact, and certainly too many to mention. Incredibly, despite all of this the film still feels predictable.

The group of six paranormal investigators form three couples of sorts (one ostensibly a pair of childhood friends) who have varying relationship "issues". This is made explicit in an interwoven scene in which all three couples are bickering at once. Are they being influenced by sinister forces, inadvertently provoking said forces, or neither? I'm still not sure. This element, along with the general tone of the film, seems to be aimed squarely at a multiplex teen audience.

That said, at times it feels as if the filmmakers are having fun with genre clichés, and might even have originally intended to set this up as a standard teen ghost flick in order to wow us with the aforementioned genre switch-up, but overall the tone remains cheesy and earnest throughout.

Some will enjoy this as it has more going on than the average mainstream ghost story, but overall the familiar teen-horror tropes form an uneasy combination with the ambitious, and at times daft, plot.

Delinquent serial-offender Kylie is sentenced to nine month's house arrest at her family home in a small town on New Zealand's Twin Coast Highway, forcing her to move back in after many years with her slightly loopy mother, who we learn has long been convinced that the house is haunted. Initially more than a little sceptical, Kylie soon begins to experience unexplained phenomena herself, and before long local security contractor/probation officer Amos (who is principally responsible for ensuring Kylie doesn't leave the premises) offers his services as an amateur paranormal investigator.

Part ghost story, part murder mystery, it would be counter- productive to know any more about the plot before viewing, as various revelations and red herrings keep the mystery quotient high. There are also underlying themes relating to family and loss that lend the film a welcome human dimension.

One slight negative is that the many twists and turns stretch out the runtime beyond the ideal for this sort of film, and there are times when it starts to drag. Also one particular character is presented in a manner that pushes the film firmly into farce territory; one of a couple of aspects that could have been executed slightly more believably, as absurd as that sounds in relation to a film of this type.

The performances are all top notch; Morgana O'Reilly has great fun with Kylie's mardy persona, Glen-Paul Waru is perfect as likable doofus Amos and Rima Te Wiata excels as Kylie's dotty but ultimately caring mother. Refreshingly, the main characters all develop convincingly over the course of the film, which is far from a given when it comes to horrors, comedies and indeed horror-comedies. You'd have to be pretty hard-hearted not to care about them by the end.

Horror-comedies are difficult to pull off, and it's rare that a film strikes a genuine balance without ending up as a full-on horror with a darkly comic edge, or an out-and-out comedy with horror themes, but Housebound gets very close to doing so. At time it leans more towards comedy and farce, and the tone is often light-hearted, but there are enough moments of tension – and violence – to ensure that there are plenty of thrills among the laughs.

Here's your set-up: preposterously well-educated and pretty Lara Croft-ish young British woman, motivated by her dead Dad, is on the hunt for the apparent Holy Grail of archaeology (no not the Holy Grail, the Philosopher's Stone, which I always thought was supposed to be an elusive substance rather than an actual physical stone, but she seems to have new information). Luckily for us, and the executive producers, a guy happens to be filming her quest for a documentary. She ends up in Paris for reasons that were probably explained and hooks up with an old acquaintance; a not unattractive American who spends his time fixing old church bells without permission (!). Clues are followed that eventually take them into the Parisian catacombs with a trio of locals who were persuaded to help with the promise of "treasure". Really.

As with many mainstream, commercial horrors I was cringing myself inside out within a few minutes of the film starting. Some parts are offensively stupid. For instance, somebody translates some text from Aramaic out loud, and lo and behold it translates into perfect rhyming couplets in modern English.

Nevertheless it's a relatively fun premise, and of course once they get into the catacombs and things get a bit supernatural, implausibility becomes a valid element of the plot and it's pretty much a ghost train of a ride from thereon. The underground setting is actually quite dull, but a blandly entertaining mix of claustrophobia, mystery and mythology keeps things interesting in the quieter moments between the scares and deaths, even if it's a load of nonsense. There's not much more to it than that.

I have complaints about the way the "found footage" format is employed, but the problems are so common and inherent that they should just be taken for granted.

Ultimately this film hasn't been made for the type of horror fan that loves the genre, it's for people who like going to the cinema and occasionally watching a relatively scary film. If the latter is your thing and you're easily pleased then you may enjoy it (some of the people in the screening I was in apparently did), otherwise steer clear.

A sickeningly loved-up, newly-married couple head off on a remote getaway for their honeymoon, but things get increasingly disturbing for Paul after he finds his new wife Bea alone in the woods in the middle of the night, with no recollection of how she got there.

Plot-wise, Honeymoon is a fairly straight-forward, relatively old-fashioned horror, which is by no means a bad thing. However, the strength of this film is in the execution. The two leads are excellent, and the director allows the sense of dread to build gradually without allowing the story to drag; a difficult balance to pull off judging by the many films that fail in this respect.

Although it's pretty obvious from early on, knowing the sub-genre of horror/sci-fi that this film belongs to in advance would remove the mystery element, so I won't mention it directly, but it's fair to say that it's a sub-genre with a strong allegorical heritage. Nonetheless it's still a testament to the elegance of the film that it feels as if there are numerous subtexts at play, in what on the surface is a simple and not especially original psychological horror.

I'd be curious as to whether this stands up to a second viewing (not possible at the time of writing having caught this at a festival), as it's then that the better films of this type begin to reveal themes, references or other elements that you missed the first time round.

I didn't know until afterwards, but the fact that this is writer/director Leigh Janiak's debut feature film is scary in itself. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next.

I watched writer/director Nacho Vigalondo's Timecrimes a few years ago and was very impressed by the film generally, but especially by the unabashed ambition and imagination on display in what was a first feature-length effort. Open Windows demonstrates that Vigalondo's ambition and imagination is undiminished, but he could do with a little more restraint.

The set-up has echoes of Rear Window and Phone Booth, as Elijah Wood's super-fan Nick (a supposed competition-winner in town for a meeting with his favourite actress) finds himself let down. The curiously London-accented "campaign manager" for said actress (equally curiously named Chord) gets in touch, but evidently has motives of his own as he begins to manipulate Nick. The situation gets increasingly disturbing as the suspiciously tech-savvy Chord continuously ups the ante. To summarise the plot from here would take as long as the film given the density of events and twists, but overall the story gets progressively more bonkers and convoluted before careering off the road in admittedly entertaining fashion.

Vigalondo might be too imaginative for his own good at times, and I'd class Open Windows as a noble failure, but it's entertaining nonetheless.

The most revealing indictment of Life After Beth's failings is that there isn't much to say about it. A girl who was supposedly bitten by a snake has died, she then comes back to life, and her boyfriend perseveres with her as best he can as her condition deteriorates in humorous fashion. Meanwhile a zombie outbreak is gathering pace as more and more people are rising from the dead.

A slight plot needn't be a terminal problem, but there's not much else going on besides Dane DeHaan moping about. It's not consistently funny enough to stand up as a comedy, and the complete absence of tension or peril means it was never going to work as a horror (not that I think that it was intended to do so). There are occasional laughs, and Aubrey Plaza is good value as the titular zombie girlfriend, but this is a short film or skit stretched out to 90 minutes.

Occasionally funny but tonally awkward; there just isn't enough here to carry a feature film.

When considering the elements that make up Begin Again, it's apparent that this could have been a disaster. A heartwarming tale featuring Keira Knightley as an under-appreciated singer-songwriter, plucked from obscurity by a washed-up music executive who hears something special when he accidentally catches her only live performance in a New York bar? Keira Knightley singing? James Corden as Keira Knightley's acoustic-guitar-strumming best buddy? The guy from Maroon 5?

Well it is quite heartwarming actually, and it largely works. Much of this can be put down to Mark Ruffalo's relentless likability even when playing flawed characters. Reminiscent of his recent performance in 'Thanks for Sharing', his character's renewed enthusiasm for music is genuinely infectious and therefore believably so in the context of the film. Knightley's singing is fine, though it hardly stops you in your tracks, while the songs are generally good enough to feasibly convince as minor, middle-of-the-road hits. There are various subtexts regarding the music industry and its relationship with artists, among other things, but these always feel secondary to the life-affirming central story of a pair of people helping each other to pursue what makes them happy.

Begin Again leaves you smiling, and that's the measure of success for this type of film.

Employing found footage in a way that actually makes sense in the context of the plot, Creep is the story of an increasingly awkward relationship between two men that feels frighteningly plausible.

The film rests upon – and succeeds because of – Mark Duplass' excellent performance as the type of person we've all met at one time or another; someone a little bit too keen to be your friend, inspiring conflicting feelings of suspicion as to their motives and empathy with regard to their ill-judged attempts at social interaction. Seen through the eyes (or rather camera) of Aaron, the only other on-screen character (played by writer/director Patrick Brice), it's clear fairly early on that something isn't quite right, but should he be worried?

Despite an occasional reliance on cynical jump scares (presumably included to ensure that the tension doesn't sag – the film is dialogue-heavy) the suspense ebbs and flows nicely and keeps you guessing as to where it will end up going. Thankfully, for a film that always feels like it's building up to something, the resolution is well-judged and perfectly executed.

Overall this is a very impressive effort and marks Patrick Brice out as a filmmaker to keep an eye on.

I've never watched Downton Abbey, but I'm guessing that Dan Stevens deliberately sought out very different roles after leaving the show. The Guest is the perfect advert for his abilities. He's convincing as the mysterious but charming visitor and equally capable in moments of action, suspense or humour. I hope the right roles come along for him as he's entertaining to watch and has got everything required to become a major star.

The plot unfolds in a fashion that renders a summary both unnecessary and unwanted if you're planning to see this, but after the initial set-up it progresses at a decent pace and with escalating tension.

A special mention is required for the soundtrack. The electronic score is one of the film's major strengths and is perfectly judged.

An entertaining and self-aware mix of action, suspense and dark humour, the Guest has a retro feel without being old fashioned (a quality that is encapsulated by the score), and features decent performances.

I'd rather forget the experience of watching this film altogether than dwell on it, but this is so bad that I feel people have to be warned. Unlike many people who left the screening I was in (at London's FrightFest) I stayed to the bitter end out of morbid curiosity.

Shockwave Darkside fails as a piece of filmmaking on every level. Unwatchable 3D, faulty colour grading, dull and unvaried visuals, incredibly basic CGI, awful sound, a ridiculous and nonsensical plot, a terrible and pretentious script, two-dimensional and unbelievable characters, high school-standard acting (though I do feel sorry for the actors, especially Bill Sage who doesn't deserve to have this abomination on his CV), silly costumes, poor and muddled exposition, nonexistent structure and sloppy – at best – direction (at one point a major character dies in a period of relative action, but this is only apparent after a few minutes when you realise she's just not there any more so must have been killed). It also features the sort of cod philosophy that you engage in when drunk or stoned as a teenager at 3am.

You might imagine that a film this bad would benefit from a degree of so-bad-it's-good entertainment, but it fails even on that level. While the whole thing is extremely silly, and some quotes are potentially funny, it's way too dull and charmless to justify comparisons with the sort of 70s and 80s low-budget genre films that many of us love to laugh at (or with).

The only thing you could possibly credit the filmmakers with is ambition, including an attempt at a pay-off involving a (totally infeasible) "discovery" regarding nothing less than the origin of life on Earth (I hope that's vague enough to not be a spoiler, but it really doesn't matter anyway). Unfortunately this sub-Twilight Zone reveal is as poorly executed as the rest of the film, involving arbitrary and unbelievable decisions made by characters and preposterous scientific postulations.

I'm genuinely curious as to how this film got made. At any number of points from first draft of the script onwards it must have been clear to at least some of those involved that this was going to be terrible. I feel sorry for the people who made Shockwave Darkside as I can empathise with anyone who tries their best and puts a lot of time and effort into creating something only for people like me to say horrible things about it, but frankly they should consider their futures in filmmaking as I fear it's not for them. In any case any sympathy I had disappeared when I saw that 11 people had given the film 10/10 on here, as this is obviously people involved with the film. While you'd expect that with any film, to make THIS and then do that betrays an unhealthy degree of chutzpah.

There are probably worse films in existence than this, but I don't think I've seen any of them.