J*A*S*M

Not nearly as bad as it may seem from other reviews. It’s probably the only game show that I’m able to watch on Czech commercial TV.

I’ve become allergic to films that confusingly mix dreams, imagination and reality. It’s no wonder then that when that began happening in Sight, and the creators tried to scare me with ghosts with pale skin and long black hair on top of that, I turned the film off and didn’t finish watching it. Can’t be bothered.

Big disappointment, something I didn’t expect after so many positive reactions; it is way behind [REC]. The handheld camera here lacks any meaning, it doesn’t contribute anything to the story and the film often feels it was shot in an ordinary way. The fear never has a chance to get a grip, when not even the characters are scared for most of the story, what can the viewers do? And the worst is that Diary of the Dead bored me, which is a very bad sign for a zombie flick. Those few moments when we get to see a zombie are OK, but the chatty filler between them is lethal (I’m exaggerating perhaps, but it is lifeless). This film is certainly slightly above-par, but I think that in a week I will only remember one jump-scare at most, and that’s why I’m rating it with “only” three stars, when compared with [REC] and Cloverfield, Diary of the Dead is the weakest in terms of tension and entertainment.

Quite good. The film is divided into three parts and they’re all pretty different from each other. The first part has a good apocalyptic atmosphere, the second part is permeated with dark humour and the third irradiates chilling and brutal paranoia. We follow the story (mostly) from the point of view the mentally affected, which is pretty interesting, and the killers, who have retained the ability to think, are a nice and original alternative to the dumb zombies, making the film feel refreshing and unpredictable. The Signal holds together well, but I can’t avoid the feeling that if it was made in a more uniform way, the result would be a bit better (the transition from hopeless apocalypse to black comedy felt quite rushed). I’m taking away one star for that, but I’m very satisfied.

Incredibly boring and I would strongly argue against it being called horror. This film doesn’t have anything in terms of horror, or anything original, and the worst is that you can’t find any liveliness at all. The interesting premise about the creature in the walls deserves a much better treatment. Awful waste of time.

Very good for Czech standards. The best parts are The Water Sprite and The Wedding Shirt.

Big disappointment. Unlike The Brood, for instance, Videodrome is not intense enough. Cronenberg keeps his feet incredibly close to the ground and we don’t get anything special from all the possibilities offered by the topic of hallucinations, which is utterly unexploited (yeah, the cassette in the belly is interesting, but can’t be called brutal, disgusting or shocking, as other users have written). Unlike David’s other films, this one keeps the viewer at arm’s length and never brings them into the story, which takes place only on screen instead of within the viewer. Totally depersonalised and neutral, this time for also the viewer.

A couple of days ago I read a glowing review of this film on a Czech horror website, so I went out and procured it. Well it didn’t turn out to be that great. The second half is pretty bloody and, considering that it is direct-to-video, the film manages to generate a surprisingly decent atmosphere in several parts. That was the good bits, now let’s go to what made me give it a below-average rating: bad performances, very illogical behaviour by all the characters, confusing direction and editing of the action scenes, and an ending that came 15 minutes too late. But I can’t fully condemn it, it was quite fun at times. In the hands of a more competent director and with a bigger budget The 8th Plague could be top of the range horror…

An average representative of the teenage-slasher subgenre. Formally speaking, it’s good, but when it comes to the story and everything around it, it’s a dud. It has a lot of shallow and cheap jump-scares that, if anything, at least manage to keep the viewer conscious during the leisurely pace of the first 60 minutes. Prom Night is one cliché after the next, the murders are hardly seen (they take place mostly out of frame), and the ending is something that only someone who’s never seen a slasher can’t see coming. This isn’t a film for horror fans, it’s only for American teens and that is bloody clear.

Well, I expected a better horror experience. The pretty realistic violence and its consequences are worth praise, and that’s pretty much all. Everything else is either average (which doesn't deserve praise), if not below-average, especially the actors – I didn’t believe the suffering heroine for a second and the villain didn’t have any effect on me. What hurts the film the most, though, are those incredible holes in logic (SPOILER: if they already got the key and undid the chains, why don’t they at least tie the psychopath if they don’t have the heart to kill him? Twice!), which for a moment made me consider two stars. But the ending improved the overall impression, so 60%.