Inferno Bluray review

Dario Argento's Inferno(1980) is the follow up to his masterpiece of terror, Suspiria(1977) and the second of the Three mother's trilogy which was completed by 2007's Mother of Tears.

It stands up as one of the most beautifully shot horror's ever with each scene set up to showcase Argento's love of colour and all things fantastic.

A young woman, Rose buys a book called the Three Mothers and believes that the building she resides in is home to one of the witches in the book and she starts to get a bit freaked out. So she sends a letter to her brother, Mark who is studying music in Rome. Mark's friend reads the letter and get's murdered. By the time he gets to New York Rose is already dead. He meets plenty of people who die along the way as he tries to find out what happened to his sister.

The whole movie is an absolute joy to watch. Argento's use of colour is as evident in this as it was in the spectacular Suspiria and watching this in full HD will probably blind some retinas out there, but damn it it's worth it.

There are some amazing scene's throughout, most of all is the infamous underwater scene in which Rose has to rescue her keys from a submerged room which, being an Argento movie, is home to some nasty surprises.

My favourite scene though is when our hero Mark meets one of the Mother's in a mirror. Argento was given a helping hand on this scene and a few others by legendary Italian horror director Mario Bava , a man who knows how to give a movie the wow factor and is responsible for influencing Ridley Scott's vision of Alien and also providing the blueprint of the modern slasher movie, Friday the 13th was basically a remake of Bava's Bay of blood.

The music is also amazing with Keith Emerson providing some rock opera style keyboards to compliment the violence and give the music a different feel to Argento's other movies which usually contained Euro rock pop group Goblin.

There is no letting up on the violence either with some graphic and painful deaths leaving the screen full of the red stuff in glorious HD!!

The HD transfer on this Bluray is very impressive. There are some scenes where the grain is still evident but for the most of the film the picture quality is crystal clear.

Another plus for this movie is that it is presented fully uncut for the first time over these neck of the woods so finally there is no need to order imported copies.

The final word has to go to Arrow Films who are responsible for this release. Without doubt there is no other company putting as much care and attention into their releases as they are. And it's not just Inferno. Their editions of Dawn and Day of the dead are second to none and they are about to unleash the likes of Battle Royale, Deep Red and Demons 1 and 2.

So what is making Arrow's releases so special? Well brand new artwork with the option of 4 reversible covers, posters, cards, inserts by various journalists/authors and with Day of the Dead and Demons exclusive comics created for the releases.

Inferno is no exception although the new artwork is not really representative of Argento's work being a bit sleazy. It does include 4 covers, 6 postcards, double sided poster, brand new insert by Alan Jones.

There is one bluray disc including an intro by Daria Nicolodi, Dario's Inferno, Acting in hot water, An interview with Nicolodi, Feature on the unofficial sequel 'The black cat' with Luigi Cozzi and a Q and A with star Irene Miracle and Keith Emerson.

The dvd features Argento and Lamberta Bava(son of Mario) on Inferno, Dario Argento 'An eye for horror', Mark Kermode's doc on Argento, A complete Argento trailer gallery

See what I mean!

This is the best Inferno has ever looked. The whole packaging of this movie is outstanding and I cannot praise this enough.

My only complaint is that I have yet to see this grace any shelf in any store in Ireland and had to order this from www.Play.com no doubt Mr New Censor hasn't bothered his bollox to watch this yet and grant it an Irish cert or maybe a cat eating a mouse has horrified him and has banned it in case some cats start eating mice over here. Imagine that, oh the horror of it all.

Gore 8/10

Scares 8/10

Overall 9/10

Extras 10/10

Halloween 2(2009) Review

After my disappointment with Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween I vowed never to spend hard earned cash on any follow up unless it amounted to maybe 2 euro. I stuck with this and eventually got to watch this on Sky.

Before I start the rant I have to say I am a huge fan of Zombies first two movies, House of a 1000 corpses and the sequel, The Devil's rejects. For me they embodied everything Rob Zombie is about. What came across in them most is that this guy is a true horror film fan. He know's what's gonna get gorehounds excited. With Captain Spaulding and the rest of the family he created characters that will grace t-shirts for many years to come.

So why was his Halloween so bad(In my opinion, of course). He took a classic and diluted it into an MTV style slasher.

My main problem with it was the whole back story of how Michael turned into the killer.

That, my friends, is what made the original scary.

In Carpenter's movie Michael is just a kid who snaps and kills his sister, doesn't speak a word for years and then goes on a murderous rampage. No motivation, nothing, just that he is the embodiment of pure evil.

Showing this 'poor white trash' background, drunk abusive stepdad and various bullying being the springboard for Michael's bloodlust is taking all mystery out of the equation.

My other gripe was the mask. The original features a ghostly white, expressionless face. We have one quick glimpse of adult Michael's face in one scene so to the audience Michael is the little kid at the start. It's a scary thought.

Zombie, to be fair tried to be accurate with Michael hiding his mask under the floor hence the 'beat up' look. But it doesn't give the creeps like the originals.

Enough about that, onto the sequel..

So the day before Halloween I sat down and watched it, forgetting the bad reviews I read about this follow up.

This movie is basically a direct follow on to the first movie, set a year after the event it follows Laurie Strode(Scout Taylor Compton) who is Michael's sister. She is living with Sheriff Lee Bracket(Brad Dourif) and his daughter Annie(Dannielle Harris) who was brutally attacked in the first movie. Michael is skulking around like a hobo waiting for the word from his dead mom and her horse.

Yes, his dead mom(Sheri Moon Zombie) and a white horse are guiding Michael in his latest quest for blood. Ridiculous as it may sound it is a mystery why we need to be subjected to this. Zombie is basically spelling it out to us why Michael wants his sister dead(so they can be a family again!). Come on for fuck sake lads! Also if that wasn't bad enough, his mom and horse are joined by young Michael. Adult Michael is being guided by(and in one scene helped by) the ghost of himself when he was younger.

There is also a hilarious scene when Laurie(who is constantly having visions of killings and other horrible things) sees her shrink(Superman's Margot Kidder) who attempts to give her patient more sleepless nights. Laurie explains the visions and states that she knows Michael Myers is dead but Kidder puts a seed of doubt in her head by saying he might still be out there coz they didn't find the body!!! Who needs enemies!

Also, Michael spend half of the movie without his mask and then gets half of the mask ripped off so the image of Myers is not really gonna give you sleepless nights.

Gripes aside Halloween 2 could have been a pretty decent horror movie as there are plenty of good things.

Firstly the gore is fantastic and very graphic. There are multiple stabbings that seem to go on a little too far, which adds to the brutality of the act. There are some really graphic murders and scenes that will get the gorehounds salivating.

Secondly Zombie has a gift when it comes to filmmaking. This movie is no exception in that it is looks fantastic.

There are some great performances in it. Brad Dourif is excellent as the sheriff and both Taylor-Compton and Harris(who is a surviver from the original series) are pretty good as hysterical teenagers! Even Malcom McDowell is very believable as the horrible character of Sam Loomis.

So after seeing it would I be tempted to spend money on it? Maybe! If the director's cut omitted all the 'dead mom' footage this would be a pretty decent and violent movie worthy to sit along side Zombie's first two films but somehow I doubt the director's cut is like this.

In conclusion I enjoyed this movie much more than it's predecessor but it has quite a few flaws that bugged the hell out of me.

Score:

Gore 8/10

Scares 2/10

Nastiness 7/10

Overall 5/10 Without the 'mom & horse' 8/10

Gemma Hayes, Tripod,Dublin April 29 2008

Gemma Hayes made a welcome return to the Dublin live scene with a date at Tripod having played a few other Irish dates of her own and helping out buddy Joe Chester for his album launch.
Support came from Ann Scott who played without a band and with just her trusty guitar and keyboard/sampler for company. She only got to play a handful of songs (Mountain being the highlight) and those who cared to listen were not dissapointed. Playing all her own material except a Mark Lanegan cover her music is not a million mile away from Ms Hayes. You won't find many happy fun KT Tunstall pop hits here(thank god).
Gemma took to the stage early enough with Joe Chester on guitar, Karl Odlum on Bass and Binzer on drums and opened with a nice upbeat 'Happy,sad' and 'Something in my way' from her second album 'The roads don't love you'.
Some new material followed 'Out of our hands' and 'In over my head'. These are both featured on her new album 'Hollow of the morning' and the new songs are a definite return to her best.
She slowed things down with a surprising 'What a day' from her debut 'Night on my side' before unleashing the absolutely gorgeous new song, 'This is what you do' which will surely become a fans favourite.
'Nothing can' from 'roads..' followed before a trio of singles from 'Night..' ,'Back of my hand', 'Tear in my side' and the highlight of the night, 'Hanging around'. On record this song is a great short rock song but live new life has been breathed into it and given a real shoegaze feel. Not surprising considering she has been spending some time on her new album with My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields.
After this noisefest she finshed with a brand new track and 'pin drop quiet' song called Oliver and the gig came to a halt after a great version of ' Let a good thing go'.
Throughout Gemma spoke candidly to the crowd but never went into any Spinal Tapesque cliche's, asking who had won the Champions league semi final and launching into a story of beating up a boy who kissed her when she was a kid.
The sound was pretty good but the guitars could have been given some better treatment.
If this gig and the quality of the new album are anything to go by, this year could be a very good year for Gemma Hayes.

New wave of horror-Toetag Pictures

The horror genre has had it's ups and downs over the years and at the moment is seriously on a downward slide. The majority of horror movies coming out today are either remakes or money grabbing sequels.
There are very few new ideas left in Hollywood and the big players have seen the reasonable success of remakes like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Omen and are cashing in big time much to the delight of the thrill seeking audiences.
What about the true horror fans. People who spend fortunes on the latest uncut, remastered, signed and numbered editions of their favourite gore fests? People who spend their hard earned cash going to horror conventions to meet and greet their horror icons? People who have always being there for the genre when most look down their noses at on screen atrocities? Who cares about them?
The answer to that can be found in the underground of horror. Magazines like Rue Morgue and websites like Severed Cinema are flying the flag and shining a beacon for anyone out there who truely cares for the survival of scary movies.
One of the best independent movie companies is Toetag pictures. Led by Fred Vogel they created a genre bursting movie called August Underground in 2001. The movie is basically a pseudo snuff movie following a killer and his camera wielding partner in crime. It is a horrific experience to sit through this movie as it is so realistic. That my friends is what horror should be like. Horror movies should never make you feel comfortable, that's missing the point. You should be scared, horrified and disgusted. This movie does all three and will never leave you.
Toetag followed this with two sequels Mordum and Penance. Both shot again in a similar home video fashion. Mordum is officially the sickest movie ever made and Penance is not a walk in the park either.
They produced a more conventional horror called the Redsin Tower which is another masterpiece of sickness but with more traditional horror film elements.
The point is this. People were not being scared anymore and these movies have breathed fresh life into a dying genre and should be applauded and more importantly, supported.
Go visit them at www.toetagpictures.com and see what all the fuss is about.

Friday the 13th-A review

This is the movie that started one of the most famous horror franchises and launched the most famous horror icon of modern times.

It's 1980 and John Carpenter's Halloween has been a huge hit at the box office despite it's very modest budget. Sean Cunningham is a filmmaker desperate for success see's this as a way to make some quick money so he picks a 'famous day', prints an ad of the words Friday the 13th breaking through a glass window and started a real buzz. At this point there was no script or story, just a title! It proved to be a masterstroke in marketing as the hype built up for the movie and Cunningham delivered the goods with a lot of help.

Tom Savini came on board and came up with some very graphic deaths. Henry Manfredini created one of the most chilling scores in film history. Betsy Palmer put a big name into the film. And the rest is history.

The story is simple. A group of kids open a camp at Crystal lake for the first time since a massacre at a different camp nearby. One by one they start getting killed in gruesome fashion. Who will survive? Who is doing the killing? By now you should know!! If you don't, stop reading and buy the dvd. If you do well read on.

The film was never intended to spawn a sequel, it's 10 and counting. But it is so well set up and written that the whole history of Camp Crystal Lake leaves the viewer intrigued. The legend of how Jason, the young son of one of the camp workers drowned while the kids who were supposed to be taking care of him were too busy getting busy with dope, booze and sex. The return of his estranged mother who has revenge burned into her brain.

The acting is pretty good from Crazy Ralph to Pamela Voorhees with all the dumb kids in between all very convincing as dumb kids! Kevin Bacon started his career in this and this is by far his best movie!!

Savini's effects are what really made this film stand out. Graphic and bloody but cut short enough to leave an impact without going into too much detail.

Manfredini's score is so creepy that without it the film wouldn't have been as scary.

All in all a 10 out of 10 horror movie. It is a slasher flick worthy of the slasher title.

All horror fans should own a copy of this. Thankfully the eurpean edition is the same cut as the US version so censorship is not an issue with this.

Go buy it now

Proud to be Irish..yeah right

Its great to be Irish sometimes, isn't it? Especially when 'one of our own' wins an oscar or something. The hysteria that arises from such event it sickening to me and raises the point that we couldn't give a shit about anything from our own country unless some foreign voice tells us it's great.
The Oscar won by Glen Hansard and Markita Irglova(sp) was well deserved. The Frames have had a hard slog over the years to get both national and international recognition for their music. Anyone with a decent ear for music can recognise the talent that is bursting from Mr Hansard. Their album 'For the birds' regularily appears in the 'Top Irish albums' polls and to be honest they don't have a bad album in their back catalogue. Their live album 'Setlist' is one of the greatest live albums ever, capturing every drop of sweat and every last voice heard in Vicar St on the nights they were recorded. So why are the public so surprised and overwhelmed? Because thats what we do.
It all became clear to me when Glen and Markita appears on Tubridy(sp) tonight. Ryan eagerly placed his tongue so far up Glens arse I'm sure he could taste his lungs. Mr. Tubridy is someone that wouldn't know the Frames unless he was putting a photo in one and it really sickened me to see this. I don't blame Hansard. After years in the wilderness they must bask in the light of success but it just illuminates the problem we have.
Kevin Shields of legendary shoegaze band My bloody valentine (yes they are Irish too..not many of us know this or care) once said he was advised to go to Germany or anywhere except Dublin to try and make it. Sound advice. He did and they became one of the most influential bands of the nineties. With U2 and Smashing Pumpkins a tiny sample of artists who claim to have been influenced by their classic album Loveless. Still today you'd do well to hear any of their songs on Irish radio, with the exception of Dave Fanning who once did a 'John Peel' and played a song twice in a row because 'it was so damn good'. This is what we should be doing. I'm not saying we must all worship certain bands but for god sake their is so much talent in this country going to waste and the majority of us are keeping our money for overrated bands that only grace the cover of NME.
It's like the fascination with Arcade fire. Yes I like them. I have Funeral and its pretty good but it's nothing special. It's musically no better than the Frames. Or what about the Irish band Jimmy Cake? Ever heard of the them? If you want ten people with loads of instruments other than the conventional 'drums,guitar and bass' why not check them out. Their gigs are incredible. Like a mixture between Scottish rockers Mogwai and a David Lynch movie. Bands like Jimmy Cake are trying something different and the results are incredible. Go see them once and you'll know what I'm on about.
Fair enough their are certain bands that deserve 'hero' status in any country they visit but for christ's sake lets give the local guys a chance.
We are bursting with musical talent.
Damien Dempsey is one of the singers getting a lot of recognition but there are so many who find his 'thick dublin accent' a put off. Ok Damo time to put on the American twang so you sound like every other gobshite! Anyone passionate about Irish music and history should open their arms (and ears) to his music and at least go to one gig. Never have I seen grown men weep while they sing. They care about what he sings about because it's real and not a load of flowered up bollox.
Gemma Hayes from Ballyporeen is someone who is trying something different away from the other singer songwriters. Her music ranges from soft piano songs or slow acoustic numbers to loud melodic shoegaze noisefests. She has been nominated for the Mercury music prize with her first album(pity she didn't win that, tubridy would have loved the taste of her) and is all set to release her third studio album with the help of Kevin Shields.
Alphastates is the result of Gerry Horan and Catherine Dowling getting together to make some great music and again is so different to most of the bands doing the rounds over here. Their mixture of rock, electronica and pop is a breath of fresh air. Their first album Made of Sand is a joy and an album everyone should own. They are set to release their new album soon.
I've already mentioned the Jimmy Cake but there are so many out there that deserve our attention. So don't wait for the oscar.
Check out Irish bands/singers, Irish movies(how many of you only saw Once after the oscar??And for god sake get up off your arses and go and support an Irish team(and I don't mean going to Glasgow to see Glasgow Celtic) I mean an Eircom league team. Yes the league is not a patch on the Premiership as the money Ronaldo earns in a week would probably pay a teams wages for a month. But the league will never get anywhere without our support. Every year people moan about how we do crap in european competitions but what about when St. Pats drew 0.0 against Celtic away or Bohs beating Kaiserslauten? These were times when crowds were going and there was a real buzz about the league. Tardelli went to Richmond park last night to watch Pat's beat Linfield so why can't you go.
Rant over and point made!