shadowfax731 Reviews

Grave Encounters (2011)

Particularly if you ARE a believer in ghosts, demons or evil spirits, do yourself a big favour and do NOT watch this flick alone in the dark!

[27 October 2011]

WOW! I really thought I'd pretty much seen it all, left my frightened inner-child afraid of the moaning wind and dancing shadows outside my night-time bedroom window far behind me...until now! Frackin' "Grave Encounters" brought it ALL rushing back and freakin', goosebump, chills-down-my-spine scared the everlivin' daylights out of me!!! I finished watching it about 40 minutes ago and I'm still shaking and shivering, for Pete's sake!

Now, I'm simply NOT the sort to scare easily (or even truly at all); I thrive on the Horror, Sci-Fi, Fantasy and even Crime Thriller genres. I've seen just about every last bit of shock, fright, gore, suspense, slasher, splatter, scare and supposed "jump-out-of-your-seat" show there is! Across the full spectrum and length of the industry and from every nook and cranny this genre has offered from blockbuster to indy to amateur to schlock to indescribable from the USA, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, France, Germany and even Japan, Korea and Spain!

I don't believe personally in the presence of ghosts or spirits or any paranormal activity (complete joke of a film compared to "Grave Encounters" by-the-by) which cannot ultimately be rationally and scientifically accounted for, but still I enjoy being entertained by the antics of the "Ghost Hunters" and "Fact or Faked" folks all the same. Well, the Vicious Brothers (whoever they may be) got their tribute to that silly genre right on-the-money...

and went sooooo far beyond to craft one helluva jump-out-of-your- skin frightfest extraordinaire! Not since I was a teenager watching Roddy McDowell try to hold it together against the fearstorm of "Legend of Hellhouse" have I been so completely engaged and in thrall of the maker's grip of terror. The performances were superb across the board with Ashleigh Gryzko and especially Sean Rogerson the standouts, but the direction was almost preternaturally deft, the camera-work and editing seamlessly amazing!

I've seen, as I said, quite a few horror films, especially of late. A few of which, "The Tunnel", "YellowBrickRoad", "Prowl", "Outcast", "Exam" and "House of Bones", to name a handful, have actually been somewhere between alright to pretty good. "Grave Encounters", however, stands completely alone at the top of this genre, at least since 1998's Japanese masterwork, "Ringu".

Particularly if you ARE a believer in ghosts, demons or evil spirits, do yourself a big favour…and do NOT watch this flick alone in the dark!

Wired (2008)

An excellent thriller, time well-spent and a production of which ITV should feel proud

[8/10 · 17 August 2009]

"Wired" is a taut, well-written, well-acted thriller guided by a strong director. The star and lead actress, Jodie Whitaker, has delivered a particularly powerful, consistent and believable performance. She is a very attractive and engaging talent who very definitely deserves richer and more frequent opportunities to shine. Ms. Whitaker not only held her own with the likes of her co-stars, Laurence Fox and Toby Stephens, but even occasionally showed glimmers of upstaging them. The previous commenter from the UK (???23) could not possibly have been more wrong or misleading in the misguided bad notice they posted here in January of 2009! So astoundingly far from the truth was that unwarranted rant, that it appears sufficiently suspect to make one wonder as to whether the true source and motivation might be that of a rival network or production company! "Wired" is a not quite a 5-star masterpiece and may not have been worthy of BAFTA's, but it is an excellent thriller, time well-spent and a production of which ITV should feel proud.