Evil Remains

I saw this one today at the Fantasy and Horror Filmfest in Munich. This was very disappointing. Absolutely no suspense at all, apart from the two or three "shock moments" which resulted through the sound effects. A wanna-be-shocker, who tried to copy movies like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Blair Which Project", with exchangeable actors and a storyline told in one second. It could have been so good! As the "monster" was shown the first time, the whole audience laughed because it was everything but frightening (I just say: dog). This movie was one of the worst and most boring movies I have seen in a long time, I checked my watch every ten minutes. No shock moments, instead of that endless talks. Before you spend your money at this movie, think twice.

Stop and think about it...did anyone NOT notice the "old haunted house" that on the outside looked like it just came off one of those new siding commercials, yet the inside looked abandoned? Who was mowing the lawn and taking care of the flowers by the steps - hey this is in the swamps and grass grows year long.

Some of the reviewers comments, especially the ones that rated this film a "10" well, yeah, I used to smoke that stuff too before going to a movie...

I was surprised to see the soundtrack in Dolby, not Ultra-Stereo or some other second rate sound system. Did anyone notice how s-l-o-w the end credits rolled and that horrible sound (some call music) that went with the end credits?

The graduation student Mark (Daniel Gillies) is developing a monograph work about contemporary myths, and he interviews the psychiatrist Dr. Theodore Rosen (Kurtwood Smith), who was treating Carl Bryce (Jeff Galpin), a deranged teenager that killed his parents twenty years ago. The body of Carl has never been found and there is an urban legend that the spot is a cursed place since slavery times, causing madness and death to those that trespass the area. Mark invites his friends Eric (Jeff Davis), Tyler (Clayne Crawford), Kristy Goodman (Estella Warren) and Sharon (Ashley Scott) to help him in his research in the old real estate. Once there, a mysterious killer starts to execute and chase the group, with the survivors trying to escape alive.

"Trespassing" is a predictable and forgettable low-budget movie, with a promising beginning and a deceptive ambiguous conclusion. The story is another rip-off of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", but with an awful handy cam that shacks and trembles the images, most of them too close and without permitting to see the surroundings. Ashley Scott performs the annoying and totally incoherent character Sharon, taking the worst possible attitudes under stress. The conclusion is ridiculous, probably with the intention of a sequel. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Invasão Mortal" ("Mortal Invasion")

I just wanted to write this because the other critic seemed quite harsh. This little movie was quite a fun and scary surprise with very adequate acting and directing. This is a slasher/ghost story that kept me on the edge of my seat and just tense enough to keep me up right now to write this. It does have similarities with some other major motion pictures like Texas and Wrong Turn but also to Session9, because it is subdued in a way and keeps the viewer guessing. The sounds are very well executed as is the lack of sound in some scenes. This silence becomes very threatening at times especially in the darker scenes. All I can say is I really liked it a lot. Watch it alone with the lights OUT.

To be fair, it was watchable. The thing that annoyed me mostly with this movie is that it was very slow moving, the character's you never really got any inside depth of so you was left with that neutral feeling of you don't care if they LIVE or DIE. The acting was somewhat to be desired but what do you expect when they probably picked a handful of people from the street and gave them a few hours to remember their lines. The thing that amused me the most was the actual DVD box, on the back it says "Scarier than CABIN FEVER, more terrifying than JEEPERS CREEPERS" - LOL what planet is this guy from, first off he picked 2 lousy examples of horror movies to compare with and second off it was NEITHER!