Meh.. All horrors are boring these days. Even the ones that can make you jump. Nothing really disturbs you anymore so they just make do with being sickening.



I'll pass.

Film's a bit short, no?



(Har! Har! Har!)

To be honest I'm amazed that even some of it was actually quite good, but I guess Eli Roth is as capable of a turnaround as anyone else. I've never seen you look so deflated as you did when you came out of the screening. No flappy hands, no constant babble, you almost seemed lost for words. I guess it must be very disappointing when a movie shows some promise then blows it all at the end. What can you say?

Dear Dr. K,





Can I just say that I really prefer this method of film reviewing because in the studio you and Simon play out a review like a comedic double act (with great impressions) - fine but actually I am genuinely interested in your opinion.



Also it was the kind of review that we all do when we come straight out of the cinema and it was nice to see you in that position for a change!





Bravo - and more of the same please!

I saw the trailer for this the other day, and thought it might be worth a punt. The thing that really narks me is the blatant use of Eli Roth to sell it. The guys more or less talentless. I'll give him Cabin Fever, but anyone who thinks the Hostel movies are anything more than crap are deluded. I came up with this view after comparing his work to the likes of Switchblade Romance and Martyrs. Proof that in Europe, we know what we're doing. We put some plot in there.

Oh, and Quentin. Because he's your buddy, he distracts me every time he's on screen in Inglourious Basterds.

Thank you Dr K!



I was worried about how I was going to go so long without your wittertainment podcasts. This spur of the moment film review should just about tide me over, but come back soon Dr K we miss you!

I find horror these days is just "torture porn". I think a lot of "horror" film makers cannot come up with decent horror films. They are getting lazy.

Good to hear praise for Requiem, a film that too few people have seen. It's not a horror film though, but a drama, a tearjerker first class about the real horror of the disease of schizophrenia.

More of these please!

I enjoyed that. You should definitely do this more often.



The horror mockumentary is getting a little overdone at this point, too many people abuse the style just for novelty's sake and ninety percent of the time it just isn't pulled off well. They put too much money into the production and it comes off as really fake like Cloverfield, or they get caught up in making a "real film", for lack of better term, and start tossing in a lot of slick editing and close-ups. OR they go way overboard with the authenticity and end up flailing the camera around everywhere. Paranormal Activity in particular, being the last one I've watched, was dull and poorly acted to boot. The Poughkeepsie Tapes was downright silly.



Granted there have been a few recent good ones. Leslie Vernon is pretty charming for its flaws and I only managed to see Blair Witch just recently and found it genuinely effective... but mostly I'd rather just leave them. I was going to skip this one too but now I'm thinking I'll give it a rent one night just to see what the deal is.



Serious bummer about the ending. Devil's Rain... please, please tell me somebody turns into a goat at the end.



(P.S. Requiem looks really good. Thanks for the suggestion!)

Haven't seen it yet. Here's how I hope it was done, but doubt it:

1. Set up: say it's all fake

2. Meat: convince the audience it's real, use CGI if necessary

3. Turn: pull the rug from under them, show them it's all a trick after all



In essence, make the film one big sarcastic remark about religion and it's power to make people believe in things that can't exist without CGI..

Oh Dear Dr K



This is honestly one of the worst films I have ever seen. For the first 65 minutes of dull, badly acted exposition and religious waffle, I was begging for something to actually happen to relieve the tedium. I really don't think that any of it is understated, it is full of hammy TV style acting. The last 10 minutes are indeed dire as you say, but at least something was actually happening, which is more than can be said for the rest of the film. Paranormal Activity is by no means a great film, but compared to this is looks like Citizen Kane. At least Paranormal Activity had a good sense of fun.

Dr K,



I'm liking the 'mondo' review style. If only we'd have got this for SATC2. Perhaps you should do it for Tron.



The Last Exorcism does look quite atmospheric and I'm a sucker for films set in the Deep South. But it's now become a must see – only for the last ten minutes.



Agree with Clanger and Amber. Mockumentary and the so-called tour porn is getting over done. Especially with 'Monsters' and the awful-looking 'Human Centipede' in cinemas soon. Getting off the subject (well, still horror) found the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers on some obscure channel the other night – now that's a superb horror film.

@pablo raspberry

Oh yes, invasion of the body snatchers is a goodie!

I look forward to the good doctor's review of The Human Centipede. I shan't be watching it myself :p ewwww!

Must add the praise for Requiem, went and bought it ages ago when Dr. K first sang its praises, and I absolutely loved it. Wonderful performance from Sandra Hüller, and the story itself was quite spellbinding.



Must agree with the others above, can't say I've enjoyed horror much in the last few years - sick to death of remakes, teenage screamers, and torture films.



Talking of new horror though, Monsters looks decent (not sure how much of a horror it is though), as does zombie flick The Dead. 13 Hrs may be decent as well. Hopefully Dr. K will treat us to a Fright Fest special ...

My experience of watching this video mirrored yours of watching The Last Exorcism. At first I was really excited when you said "your chance to come to work with me" - thought it would be some kind of Exocist-related competition question, and the prize would be the chance to come to press screening with you and see you at work for a week. And then, in the last few minutes, I was disappointed that it was just another (sterling and insightful) review. It's going to take a while to get that out of my system.

Er... I saw The Human Centipede.



I'm not a fan of torture porn but the movie is actually quite watchable as long as it's taken for what it is. Part of it is that, unlike Hostel, the Saw series and so forth, it doesn't play itself completely straight - there is a streak of black humor running throughout and the film is completely unapologetic about how absurd it is. It is a ridiculous exploitation movie that knows it is ridiculous and doesn't feel the need to justify the fact with a lot of pretension. It just is. The actor that plays the mad scientist, Dieter Laser, is so entertaining that I kind of wished the movie was focused more on him than his creations.



Which isn't to say it's a masterpiece, but it's definitely a movie about a human centipede so you pretty much get what you pay for. Don't eat before you watch it.

You should definitely do more of these "on-the-hoof" reviews! Somehow I found this very refreshing. When you've got no time to formulate your thoughts into a nice coherent whole, then what's left is 100% pure reaction. Very interesting to see/hear.

Yes, "Requiem" is a great film!

"..review it on the hoof"



I think you're taking this Satanic possession stuff far too seriously Mark.

Over the last Five or Ten years there has a been a huge number of films being released with "Exorcist" or "Exorcism" in the title. I find that the horror genre seems to be very stale at the moment, release after release of The Saw franchise, a huge rise in "Horror Porn", shoddy remakes of older franchises and botched attempts at Japanese and Korean remakes. I seem to remember horror films in my youth being genuinely frightening, but now days the majority of western horror films being released seems to be somewhat laughable. I find that there are no great horror actors today. I am in my twenties now, but I always remember being terrified by Vincent Prices voice and presence on screen.



I am not a huge fan of Eli Roth's work to be honest, they are watchable, but instantly forgettable. I can see with this film that this will most likely be the case. I saw the trailer for it last night, and basically thought no.



Is the camera work within this film all hand held? As films like The Blair Witch have worked well, after watching Cloverfield I left the cinema feeling nauseous. So I could be done with this guerilla based mockumentary style, however I found that District 9 achieved this quite well, and the shift from mockumentary to a standard film was executed very well.



However I will check out Requiem as that looks like it could be very good.

Any writer or director that wants to tackle the subject of possession and exorcism will instantly have a very large shadow looming over them set by Blatty and Friedkin. I really do wonder if one day anyone will manage to break free of that shadow and produce anything superior or worthy of equal praise.

It would be nice but I very much doubt it.

Well if 90% of it was good and the end let it down, it could be due to studio tampering? I haven't got the foggiest about the film's history but maybe there's a decent director's cut in there somewhere. Having said that the original ending of Paranormal Activity was worse than the relesed one. I am getting very tired of these found footage things though, compared to Cannibal Holocaust and Man Bites Dog everything else is just watered down, pre-digested mainstream pap. I haven't seen this yet (I'll probably give the DVD a rent when it comes out), but it does look depressingly familiar. Time to give the genre a rest.

I thought the best film on this subject was The Exorcist? Anyway, you should do this kind of immediate review more often.



Also, the gore warning on this video was funny. I'm sure a 12 year old would have NEVER worked out that clicking the button that says 'I am over 16' would let them watch the video.

I wasn't a massive fan of Requiem - it's well made but very cold and unfeeling. I'm not sure if there was even any music in the film. By comparison The Exorcism Of Emily Rose was more fun, more effective and scarier (I had to look away).



The trouble with "found footage" movies is that the survival instinct never appears to kick in - people seem to be such dedicated documentarians that they keep on filming regardless of the evident dangers, and never once do they think to drop the camera and leg it when faced with zombies, evil spirits, homidical maniacs or whatever. This does not actually make them dedicated documentarians; it makes them idiots.

streetraw wrote:

"people seem to be such dedicated documentarians that they keep on filming regardless of the evident dangers, and never once do they think to drop the camera and leg it when faced with zombies, evil spirits, homidical maniacs or whatever. This does not actually make them dedicated documentarians; it makes them idiots."



An interesting point you raise, but I think you'll see many real-life examples of "dedicated documentarians" who don't "leg it" in the case of many war reporters. Whether they're idiots or not is obviously a debatable point.



I'm trying to remember a movie where this very point was made - that watching events through a lens makes them sufficiently "unreal" to be detachedly observed. It might have been in the commentary to Waltz with Bashir.

Dear Mark,



I was at the same screening with you, ( in fact sitting just a few feet away from you...) and I had pretty much the same feeling about the movie.

I hated the heavy handed music and, as you said, the cheat-cutaways, which made the whole "real footage" feel less and less effective.

HOWEVER, I must say, I was even more surprised to see you getting up before the end credit roll finished... What if there had been some extra scene right after the credits? You would have missed it.



,,,



Don't worry, I can safely tell you that nothing new happened after the credits... but what if...?

i really liked that immediate reaction review, obviously i wouldn't want all your reviews to be like that, but a few more like those wouldn't go amiss



one question though, what does the camera man do while you're watching the film?

On the subject of found footage films, I just recalled that [REC] was really good one.



Alina has a point. Certain real documentarians and war photographers in particular go deliberately towards danger to get their footage. Heck, go on YouTube, there are all sorts of videos on there taken from people in stupid, dangerous positions. Most of these horror films at least try to include a line about leaving a record to warn others or whatever, but even saying that suspension of disbelief only goes so far. During Cloverfield in particular, try as I might to hold onto it at a certain point - and you probably know where if you've seen the movie - my suspension of disbelief flew through the roof, out of the theater and never came back.



A lot of the film makers who do these take for granted how difficult it is to pull off the found footage style with any sort of believability, especially since they're starting with an audience that is skeptical to begin with

[REC] was so fun, I watched it with a massive smile on my face from start to finish. Due to watching Paranormal Activity over the weekend (which left me extremely unaffected) I went back and watched a found footage film that passed me by - The Last Broadcast.



Strangely enough it seemed to work for me, however it was the final twist at the end which I hated! As anything creepy and interesting about the film totally was made redundant. Why is it so many horror flicks seem to totally lose their way in the final act?



PS Requiem was a damn fine film!

[rec] WAS great, but I have a feeling that the look on my face wasn't so much a grin as much as a look of sheer terror

Films that blow it in the last ten minutes now that's a whole new thread Dr K!! Roth has always left me cold mainly due to his lack of subtlety and sheer laziness on times as he 'lays it all out on the table' almost straight away with limited build up.I saw REC at a preview showing with about a dozen of us in there somehow the lack of bods made it that bit scarier.!

The understated stuff works more for me for example The Others, El Orfanato,The Innocents,The Haunting etc less gore is more folks :-)

Well, at least someone other than myself has lost faith in the mockumentary format. It's just a shame it has to be those responsible for its very production.

Don't suppose I could ask again about the Exorcist III: Legion restoration you've been attempting for many years.

Amber wrote:

"A lot of the film makers who do these take for granted how difficult it is to pull off the found footage style with any sort of believability, especially since they're starting with an audience that is skeptical to begin with."



Hmmmmmm. One thing that's just struck me is that arguably a commonality between BlairWitch, Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield, Diary of the Dead, etc. (haven't seen [REC], only trailers) are that the characters are actually quite irritating. I don't know whether this is an attempt to establish verisimilitude, e.g. showing how people behave under stress, but it strikes me that these movies all violate the film rule of having characters that we care about so that when they're finally "got" we're actually quite pleased. Or maybe it's just me.

It's not that Roth "lost confidence in the mockumentary format”; the real problem is judgement. Re-watch "Cabin Fever" and "Hostel" (no, really, don't. I'm just being conjectural.), then chart how clinically Roth falls into a pattern of aesthetic self-abuse by first delivering a set-up that promises to be effective before plunging headfirst into a last-ditch string of in-jokes and semi-ironic gags. The guy can't make a movie without submitting to his fanboy likings, whilst simultaneously making good on his friendship with Quentin Tarantino, of whom said regressive preening he thinks will placate, and is probably right.



Thank you for your time.

The last horror film that I saw that I found genuinely frightening was a french film called "Martyrs".

It's odd narrative structure and very uncomfortable subject matter were well handled and parts were very scary. The slow creep through the sterile/medical underground corridor and finding minor horrors on the journey before the horrible discovery at the end of the corridor was pretty frightening at 2am by myself!

It does come close to copping out with the same old torture porn rubbish at the end, but just manages to avoid disaster with a thought provoking ending.

I strongly recommend it. But don't expect a happy film...



@illustriousJonsey - you are bang on the money! I could not agree more, Roth has been pulling the same rubbish for years now.

"A lot of the film makers who do these take for granted how difficult it is to pull off the found footage style with any sort of believability, especially since they're starting with an audience that is skeptical to begin with."



'Skeptical' Yeah, that's the hard part.

Two that worked with me were Rec:. - and Blair Witch.

This kind of film has to stay true to its style right up to the end.

Blair Witch did that with the video-cam just dropping to the ground (the holder having presumably being killed); but none of the questions had been answered.



Rec: also does that. You don't really get any answers.

If you haven't seen them, the two Rec: films are just good imaginatively shot horror movies. The first also made me really jump, esp' at the end!



I also suggest:: The Mist. Shot in a more conventional style, but very anti-Hollywood; the ending is quite shocking!



See also: The Way of the Gun, not bad; but by a director wanting to do a 'Peckinpah'.

Compare it to Peckinpah's 'Bring me The Head of Alfredo Garcia' and it's a little pale. Both are a tad nihilistic, but 'Garcia'...'.

Though The Way of the Gun is worth sitting through; if you've been a Peckinpah fan.

@Alina

"One thing that's just struck me is that arguably a commonality between BlairWitch, Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield, Diary of the Dead, etc. (haven't seen [REC], only trailers) are that the characters are actually quite irritating."



That's an interesting point. Blair Witch worked for me, Cloverfield didn't. Possibly there's a difference between sympathy and empathy?



Cloverfield featured a cast of glam, socially successful twenty-something New Yorkers that say witty things and even while being brutalized by monsters could be mistaken for Abercrombie Fitch models. You could replace them with cardboard cutouts and nobody would notice the difference. On top of being irritating everything about them assures me that, whatever terrible things happen, it's just a movie. (But then again I live in one of the real backwater pits of the States, so my perception may be off.)



The characters in Blair Witch were fairly ignorant and spent a lot of their time arguing, but more in a way that reminds me of myself and people I know. I could buy into them and so I could buy into their situation.



Standing back from it in a bit more of an objective fashion, the set-up of Blair Witch is pretty interesting. It's a real bugs in a jar scenario - throw them in together, clamp the lid, shake it and see what happens.



@fattbattry: Martyrs was something else.



That's another one that gets hit with the torture porn label but, after considering it a bit, I actually do think some of these films such as Martyrs (and yes, I'd even toss The Human Centipede in there) serve a purpose in attacking one of the central principles that the horror genre has been built on by suggesting that death may not actually be the worst-case scenario. In a lot of these films the idea of death actually comes as a relief in the end rather than something to be feared. I find that a lot of Cronenberg's films have a similar effect, particularly The Fly.



Not a justification, just an impulsive observation.

@fandango87: I really dug The Last Broadcast too, but I know what you mean.



Why is it so many horror flicks seem to totally lose their way in the final act? If I had to throw out a guess, probably because by that point everything is tied up and they use that time to blow their load on a big finale. Which usually ends up being a lot less interesting than what comes before it because now everything is out in the open and the focus on tension and atmosphere is lost.



Rourkesdrifter and jayfurneaux kind of hit on it, but in a more roundabout way. The best horror films, to me anyway, have always been the ones that don't away all of the answers because it leaves you're imagination completely defenseless. The less we understand something, the more frightening it is and the less we have to reassure ourselves with.



Which is a big part of what makes The Blair Witch Project effective as well, I suppose.



I apologize for babbling so much, I just have too much time on my hands, I guess?

I love horror movies and try to watch at least one a week. Only 2 though have ever made me feel properally scared and a bit shakey.

These are 1408 and orphan.

I dont know why these ones inparticular as I have seen lots, maybe my mood on the night etc. But whatever it was, I now love these films.

#41: I think you've got a point there about it being your mood on the night. The scariest horror film experience I've ever had is The Sixth Sense, mainly because the first time I saw it, right after the scene with the girl in the tent a friend tapped on my living room window (not knowing what was going on inside the house), and the friend I was watching the film with and I both completely freaked out. I saw it again a couple of years ago and whilst it was still creepy I didn't have that sense of being genuinely frightened.



Then again, I am a firm believer that what I can imagine is far scarier than anything a filmmaker can put on screen, which is why I find most modern horror just a bit gross rather than actually scary.

I had the misfortune to see the remake of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' the other night. It had to be one of the worst films I've ever seen; it was devoid of...well, everything. It was a 101 lesson in how NOT to do horror; a complete betrayal of the original. Then I saw that one of the co-producers on the film was Michael Bay, which explained a lot (oddly enough in Germany it was known as 'Michael Bay's Texas Chainsaw Massacre'). God it was bad.



Incidentally, I read an interview by Megan Fox ripping into Michael Bay, saying he was "like a Hitler on set", and "had no social skills whatsoever". To think someone like that is being allowed to make films is scary. There are plenty of other directors who may have met those descriptions, but most of those still had credible talent to win people over with. Bay, on the other hand, has none whatsoever.



As for what movies scare me...I'm actually scared of 'Little Man', 'Dance Flick', 'Disaster Movie', 'Made of Honor', 'Bride Wars', 'Good Luck Chuck', 'Fred Claus', 'Superbad', et al. Now THOSE films scare me. See, the point of horror films isn't to scare you; it is to make you realise you are ALIVE. Films like those I've listed actually make you wish you were DEAD. I submit that those films I listed do far more damage to your soul than 'The Exorcist', or 'The Evil Dead' EVER could.

to Amber_



In regards to 'Cloverfield', the only character I actually empathised with was the Marlena character (the one with black curly hair). She wasn't supposed to be in New York; she didn't really want to be at the party; she didn't really know anyone there and didn't really care one way or the other. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. In some respects she, for me at least, represented the audience. But as far as the other characters, yes they are a bit annoying.

I hate it when the ending lets down the rest of the film. It's a bit like bad sex all build up and no satisfaction. I had no hopes of this being a great film as I am not a fan of mockumentary; it always feels a bit like reality TV to me and takes away my ability to get lost in the story but I was not expecting the ending to be so out of step with the rest of the film. All I can say is at least it didn't go on to long

doctor mark, what are your thoughts on ' a serbian film'?

dear dr kermode, i have been a huge admirer of your work for quiet some time but have never bin that compelled to write to your blog (of witch i should do more often now) but after seeing this picture i felt it a must as i am so enraged, take the trailer , looks interesting so why not see it , and yes you are right for the first 70 or so minutes it was working coming towards the end i felt a bit in aww that this was not a supernatural horror as the trailer would sugest but more of horror of the mind to witch around the 70 minute mark i thought hmm nice this is one of the most interesting peices of the year nicely done good characters particularly the lead to witch i thought his arc from begining to....well what i thought was the end and then it happind, the last 10 minits compleatly and utterly obliterated and undid all the good work the first 70 minutes did, dont get me wrong i enjoy a good old fashioned cheesy over the top horror as good as the next person but from the get go would be nice , with this tripe it lets you sit and think maybe im watching an intelligent horror but by the end it undermines and insults not only it's target audience but an audience that generally don't care to much for this type of genre but where pleasantly suprised only to be proven right at it's cheep final and leaving me with the knowledge that im sure you will agree no one can do this subject matter any justice since friedkin and blatty, please lets hope this really is "the last exorcism", fore shame.

@ alina (26)

@ amber_ (29)



****************** SPOILERS ***************



It's true that there are some who will go closer to the front line to get the better shots. But the "camera crew" in The Last Exorcism aren't combat photographers. They're making a doc on how exorcisms are faked, not how they're real. And if you've been told in advance that you're going to end up with your head cut off, and you know that prophecy has a good chance of coming true (because you've just seen Cotton Marcus holding the cross and silhouetted against the flames, precisely as the girl's collage depicted) then legging it is the only sensible thing to do. Plus: he was legging it at the time! He was running away - but never thought to drop this massive camera which is weighting him down. (We occasionally see the camera in mirrors and can tell that it's quite a bulky bit of kit.)



I suspect the ending was the result of a perceived need for some kind of final payoff. Overall, I do in this instance agree with Dr K - it's generally quite entertaining and creepy but it's sometimes obvious there are two cameras, and the ending feels tacked on.