Absintian's Horror Reviews and Thoughts

Andre witnesses his son being pulled by some unseen force violently from his room into the night. 10 Years later, Andre has researched and developed a drug to hopefully look into the afterlife to find who or what took his son. For the final test of his serum he invites his team to a large home where they can monitor the effects of the drug as all of them take it. As the night progresses they find that the serum also lets the other side see them as an especially nasty entity, the smiling man, makes itself known. The characters, other than Andre, seem to only be there to serve the plot’s purpose. Within the first few moments of seeing these assistants on screen they display their use in the plot, one to be scientific, then artistic, and finally the philosopher. With only so much to work with, the actors did their best to try and bring these characters beyond what they were written as. There is no way to grow in the story so they end up being there to carry it. Andre is the only character...

The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books are the primary reason I like reading today. I would always check these books out any chance I could especially when I would be going to camp. The trilogy of books are collections of folklore, myths, urban legends and rhymes that were reimagined for easier reading without lessening the macabre themes. Add in a very talented artist to generate haunting ink drawings to accompany each story, a few of them even now I get chills looking at, and you have a classic anthology series.  When I heard that Guillermo Del Toro was going to produce a movie I was ecstatic. Guillermo has a talent for paying proper attention to what his source material is made of aesthetically and to use that for his films. Look at Crimson Peak for an example trying to bring out the classic Ghost story mixed with Italian giallo film. So if anyone could make a good rendition of the Scary Stories series it would be him. I’m happy to say that the crew hit that mark. With some sma...

After a zombie virus outbreak London is considered a no-man's land. The potential cure or way to stop the spread of the virus is found by a scientist who has holed himself up within London. A team of international special forces is sent in to locate and bring the scientist out so research can continue. They soon find the zombies are more than just learning, they have progressed to organizing into armies of their own and using weapons. The premise is good for a blood soaked action film with the use of both guns and martial arts. What we get is a wandering plot with action scenes that barely spark even a little adrenaline.    The characters are given such a small introduction it felt like the movie wanted us to sit back and not care about the character’s emotional well being. The creators had other plans. This movie wants you to care for the characters but without a lead in and time for us to bond with these soldiers this information came spoon fed in tangent scenes that only served ...

A group of investigators stake out a night within the Potter Street Station in Saginaw, Michigan. This is a documentary in the vein of Ghost hunters and similar shows but a full movie. The investigators split up to go into different locations of the station. This movie is a catalogue of their findings including some full visible apparitions and movements along with a decent amount of EVP. The editing is workable for a show like this but there are moments where an event would occur and the replays would be inconsistent. EVPs you may get a couple replays while a quick movement or apparition may get more to the point of redundancy. One sequence had something cross a doorway, there were 4 full replays with one of those zoomed in and slow motion. This was overly excessive and felt very much like a slog. Other sequences had an event occurring right during the cut, which supposedly if everyone had separate cameras and recordings we should have seen the lead up to the event which is important ...