Director: James Wan Starring: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Madison Wolfe Release Date: 13th June 2016 (UK) It’s unusual for a franchise to offer a prequel before a sequel, with the exception of Star Wars, but James Wan may have pulled off a bit of a masterstroke with The Conjuring, with a film that not only signals the end of the core…
Category: Horror
Review: Visions (2016)
Director: Kevin Gruetert Starring: Isla Fisher, Jim Parsons, Anson Mount Release Date: 20th June 2016 (UK) When you watch the trailer you will think Isla Fisher’s straight to DVD horror looks like nothing more than a cheap imitation of Rosemary’s Baby. No doubt Polanski’s masterpiece was an inspiration to the story, like any horror about pregnancy or demonic children…
Review: 28 Days Later (2002)
Director: Danny Boyle Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston Release Date: 1st November 2002 (UK) One of the films that put Danny Boyle on the Hollywood radar was the breakout zombie horror 28 Days Later. Gritty, visceral and rough around the edges, this tense apocalyptic horror about chemically infected and highly contagious humans would define the sub-genre for…
Review: Friend Request (2016)
Director: Simon Verhoeven Starring: Alycia Debnam-Carey, William Moseley, Connor Paolo Release Date: 22nd June 2016 (UK) If you were unfortunate enough to be horrified by Unfriended and the trailer for Friend Request, it is forgivable to assume this would be diabolical avoid-at-all-costs horror drivel with a silly gimmick at its core. Though it is rather forgettable, fans of the genre…
Review: Godzilla vs Mothra (1964)
Director: Ishiro Honda Starring: Akira Takarada, Yuriko Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi Release Date: 17th September 1964 (US) Any parent will know a child finds comfort in the repetition of the recent past; ask a mother or father how many times they’ve sat through Cars (2006) or Frozen (2013) with their kids. In an unpredictable world over which they’ve no control,…
Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Director: Dan Trachtenberg Starring: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr. Release Date: 18th March 2016 (UK) When one of the leading trade magazine’s in the world begins lobbying John Goodman’s Oscar consideration for what is essentially a horror movie, heads will turn. The award and the genre rarely go hand in hand, but after watching 10 Cloverfield…
Review: Cloverfield (2008)
The image of a headless Statue of Liberty is now eponymous with the J.J. Abrams produced Cloverfield – a horror clearly inspired by the found footage concept championed by The Blair Witch Project, but a film which has also inspired innovation in this ever stale genre. The poster suggests something more polished than you will get, but…
Review: The Witch (2015)
Director: Robert Eggers Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Harvey Scrimshaw Release Date: 11th March 2016 (UK) Billed by Sundance and other festivals as one of the most disturbing horrors of last year, The Witch came to cinemas with a weight of expectation. But make no mistake, this brave horror from director and writer Robert Eggers is not your usual…
Review: The Flesh Eaters (1964)
Director: Jack Curtis Starring: Martin Kosleck, Byron Sanders, Barbara Wilkin Release Date: 18th March 1964 (US) Ask a cook what sort of fare they most enjoy, and chances are they’ll say a simple meal prepared well. It’s not often that meal involves human flesh, though one of the most common ingredients horror directors throw into their pot is…
Review: The Forest (2016)
Director: Jason Zada Starring: Natalie Dormer, Eoin Macken, Stephanie Vogt Release Date: 26th February 2016 (UK) It may not have the most chilling title, nor any major cast hooks. It’s not made by ‘the guys who brought you some other horror you’ve heard of’ and it’s come out at precisely the time when new releases take a back…
Review: Girl House (2014)
Director: Trevor Matthews Starring: Ali Cobrin, Adam DiMarco, Slaine Release Date: 13th July 2015 (UK) The conventions of slasher movies are not only tried and tested, but tiresome and terrifyingly outdated. It’s difficult to break the mould, so in the case of Girl House, director Trevor Matthews shamelessly embraced the motto ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ and…
Review: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Director: Terence Fisher Starring: Peter Cushing, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart Release Date: 2nd May 1957 (UK) “More than a hundred years ago, in a mountain village in Switzerland, lived a man whose strange experiments with the dead have since become legend. The legend is still told with horror the world over…it is the legend of THE CURSE OF…
Review: The Nightmare (2015)
Director: Rodney Ascher Starring: Siegfried Peters, Yatoya Toy, Stephen Michael Joseph Release Date: 9th October 2015 (UK) In Rodney Ascher’s documentary, the horror genre is discussed from a perspective which often provides material for horror films but rarely gets discussed with such candor. Sleep paralysis is a condition which affects a significant number of people around the world,…
Review: Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
Director: Lee Harry Starring: Eric Freeman, James Newman, Elizabeth Kaitan Release Date: 10th April 1987 (US) At the risk of ruining the magic that comes with this festive time of year, you may have the impression life at La La Film HQ sees us scribblers lounging around on furs in some glittering picture palace, summoning our butler Sheen…
Review: The Hallow (2015)
Director: Corin Hardy Starring: Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton Release Date: 13 November 2015 The imagination of our long-dead ancestors has given birth to plenty of horror material for filmmakers to tap into. But while we’ve seen a fair share of Egyptian and Indian demons, a lot of places’ myths and legends have been…
Review: The Vatican Tapes (2015)
Director: Mark Neveldine Starring: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Michael Peña, Peter Andersson, Djimon Hounsou Release Date: 30th October 2015 On the face of it, the premise of The Vatican Tapes is an eminently intriguing one – all the signs of a demonic possession taking hold of Angela (Olivia Taylor Dudley) in LA turn the heads of two senior exorcists in…
Review: The Lazarus Effect (2015)
“You will be left reeling by the closing credits, and even that annoying friend who always knows the plot twists may find themselves guessing until the end”
Review: A Haunting in Cawdor (2015)
Though not delivering the levels of ‘psychological terror’ it promises, A Haunting in Cawdor will be one of your more pleasant surprises this year.
Trailer: Pride And Prejudice And Zombies
Somebody in film land read one of the greatest and most loved novels in British literature and thought “you know what this is missing? Zombies”
Review: The Night of a Thousand Cats (1972)
What makes a dollar in the US can make many a Peso in Mexico, where interest in ‘nature on the rampage’ films had not gone unnoticed. Enter prolific film-maker Rene Cardona Jnr.
La La Film 