kaylin

The Norwegian film Whore didn’t manage to do a great job of building on films such as I Spit on Your Grave or similar films. It takes only the basics from them and the only thing it adds to the awkward acting is the fact that there are scenes that can captivate, disgust, or arouse you, in the sense that you suddenly stop falling asleep during the film and think that maybe it would be worth it to finish watching this horror film after all.

Dead Story is a horror film for the undemanding, for people who don't expect a good horror film, or for people who don't actually want to be scared or entertained by a horror film. This is exactly what Dead Story is. It piles horror scenes on top of horror scenes that should scare - they are conceived that way - but thanks to the poor direction and general incompetence, they just come off as obfuscatory cluelessness where nothing interesting happens.

Demented isn't a film that impresses much in terms of being a revenge film, and it doesn't impress in terms of being erotic either, but it has pretty good momentum on both counts. The problem is that it’s never once seen through to the end, and so you're ultimately glad that there's some pretty gritty, dramatic scenes in the last part, but they were necessary for how Linda's character developed throughout.

Exit 14 is a classic botched horror film that offers nothing satisfying in terms of horror, or really in terms of cinematography or narrative. The immense limitations of the filmmakers and the actors only ensure that you end up watching a story that is uninteresting, uninspired, and ultimately not very explicit. It’s a mess in every respect, lacking anything at all to make it interesting.

Inside the Whore is a film that shows that Reinert Kiil wanted to shock us. He may have even succeeded in some cases, which is alright. There are some shots worth watching if you like explicit nudity and violence. But there’s really not that much of it, and it's adapted to the cheaper found footage form, which I find rather soul-destroying because most of the time there's nothing interesting going on.

Shelley is somewhat of a contradictory film. It has a clearly defined storyline, which is fine on the one hand, but on the other it's simply boring. It has scenes that are breathtaking in what they depict and how they depict it, and then suddenly it seems like it's almost hippie agitprop. It's very unbalanced, which is a shame and the reason why I give the film only an average rating.

Bethany is basically the standard in its genre, essentially being a psychological horror film. By standard, I mean the plot. As far as the other elements go, it's below average. From the acting, which is just too uninteresting, to the atmosphere, which rather than being one of escalating madness, is simply one of strange bizarreness that seems to be slightly rooted outside of reality.

Death Ship is a good film. It has a good atmosphere of growing madness and a great setting where you just need a couple of actors. However, it's also convoluted in places, and unfortunately, the picture quality isn't always what the film deserves. Sometimes you should really see more than you actually see. I'm still definitely giving it a positive rating, because this is a film I enjoyed watching. I'd love to watch it again sometime.

The horror murder-mystery Fender Bender plays it safe and doesn't offend, but unfortunately doesn't excite either. The killer is one that could be quite iconic, but it would be just as easy to confuse him with other films and misplace him. Some of the scenes where the viewer is supposed to be scared are almost awkward, but I appreciate the effort that was put into it. However, it just wasn’t enough for a great result.

Deadgirl is a film that has a very good idea, and it's relatively original in that sense, but trying to cram a story into it that is ultimately very boring just doesn't work. This film is great in the way it shows how people can treat each other, and in how realistic and how unafraid it is. Yet it's still a step short of perfection. It’s definitely an above-average horror film though.