HughesRoss
Posts: 5641
Joined: 19/12/2008
From: Merthyr
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What is it all about?
When lawyer and proud family man Chris Cleek stumbles across a wild, feral woman bathing in a woodland stream near his isolated country home, he makes a decision that will dramatically change both their lives.
Capturing her, Chris chains The Woman up in the fruit cellar below his house, intending to tame and civilize her. But when the task at hand proves to be more difficult than first imagined, he sets in motion a collision course for a brutal showdown between his family and the wild female force of nature...
 The Verdict!
Before I start, I did not realise that The Woman was a sequel to the 2009 unknown cult hit Offspring!
Somehow this little detail was not mentioned to me even though I am one of the last of the HCF critics to set my horror eyes on this new horror that has caused waves of excitement and controversy at many horror festivals during this year. It was a good twenty minutes when I realised that I had been here before, way back in 2009 in fact when I was first introduced to this character of The Woman. As soon as my eyes clapped on the figure of Pollyanna McIntosh (who reprises the role), I realised to my shock that this was the same character that appeared in Andrew van den Houten's Offspring, a straight to DVD horror that has gained many fans. How I missed this information is a shocker for someone who prides themselves on gathering as much info on new horror films, so you can imagine my surprise and even more new found added excitement towards a movie that I was already looking forward too!
The cause of my excitement was two things:
Reason number 1 was a man who helped generate all the publicity this film needed to succeed. His stand up routine during the Sundance Film Festival, in which he started screaming when the film was being played, in which he aired his disgust at what he claimed was a terrible portrayal at women. His words that the film should be "burned" had the film makers laughing all the way to the path of success because like The Human Centipede 2 has proved, bad press is good press if you are a horror film.
Reason number 2 was the man behind the camera, a certain Lucky McKee who fans will know directed the underrated 2002 horror masterpiece MAY and while he has never really followed upon that promise he showed, the fact he was back in the genre that served him well and reunited with MAY star Angela Bettis, (even though she has appeared in all his films since) made The Woman an attractive figure to look at.....so was the wait worth it?
My main surprise was that the film is not the original plot experience I was expecting! Memories of the equally good Dead Girl lingers long into the air with both films sharing a common theme, the imprisonment of "a woman" but instead of a zombie, this time we have a cannibalistic she-bitch who was last seen in Offspring fighting for her life after some humans fought back. Now with her clan dead and all alone, she lives in a cave where see her with a new baby, which if my memory serves me right, is some kind of cult tradition explained in the previous film. Her life is interrupted when she is spotted by the bastard Chris (Sean Bridgers), who captures her,chains her up and then subjects her to abuse while his family watch on!
Now I call him a bastard because he is! A horrible and I mean horrible creation who rules the family with an air of violence. His kids are scared of him, his wife tip toes around him and its his word or nothing. He really is in the mould of Stepfather Jerry Blake, a hideous man who in fact is the monster of this film and not The Woman who he keeps in the cellar! To be honest the biggest surprise of the film is the fact that the title character is a backdrop to the plot. The evil is all centred around Chris and there are strong currents of plot threads that surface now and again that even suggests that the father is in fact raping his own daughter Peg (Lauren Ashley Carter).
With a son who seems to be following in the path of his father, the film is heavy on the family theme and this plays more like a sick drama than a downright horror. The scary uncomfortable scenes is when Chris uses his fists on his family,everything else is just normal horror trait and I found it strange why a film would cause such fuss for a member of the audience. The constant rape scenes in the Dead Girl should have caused more ripples but then maybe the impact here is more stronger because the acting is fantastic and the direction by McKee is exquisite, it is without question his finest film since May and I really hope this kicks him in the right direction because I really do not want to wait another nine years for his next one!
The Woman is a fine watch that shows you can still make a challenging horror film! There is a great shock or better words "twist" at the climax which I never saw coming, and while it loses a few marks for the predicatable outcome, at its core this is a strong family horror with two of the best performances of the horror year in Bridgers and McIntosh who her in particular excells once more as the mute killer. They are both are so good that you be asking the question......which one is the real monster!
The Woman is the third chapter in a series of books by Jack Ketchum which just leaves the adaption of Off Season to be made.......This horror fan is waiting for that day to come!
4 Out of 5
THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN!
There is something quite alright about this horror that many will call just another The Hills Have Eyes rip off!
What I liked about this horror and also what is the strongest aspect of the entire film, is that there are moments when the word unexpected will soak into your brain. What is the normal trait of all horrors are totally ignored, one point that emphasis this is that at the beginning we spend an enormous amount of time with one character who we all think must be the hero of the piece. The build up is quite nice, and just when you think that this one human will fight back, we are stunned by the fact that they die so brutally and harshly. It was that on that moment when this horror put me on a path of uncertainly and the unknown, and for that, I can only admire it.
For such uncertainly we do start with certainly, in a title sequence that is becoming a norm for horrors these days. Newspaper cut outs in which you probably have to read, tell the story of a lighthouse family who went missing over 100 years ago in a storm. Never to be found, over the years people, especially children have gone missing never to be seen again, and the myth is that the missing family survived the storm that engulfed the area and lived in the dense forest. Over the years and a lot of inbreeding, they now live us cannibals, and their need for human flesh, results in many innocent people being killed and eaten. They also have a bizarre upbringing rule of stealing children to either have as their own or to kill, for the latter reason the film never quite explains. It is this rule that brings them to the family of the Halbards, who have friends over and a newborn baby.
How it all began for The Woman
After a prolonged start in which the film does not quite build the impending doom, maybe to do with the sub acting that at times gets on your nerves, the film kicks off when we visit the cave in which the humans animals live. We witness a sex scene in which one of these very young looking things gets on one of their relatives who is chained up and called a cow by their language of grunts which thanks to the aid of subtitles we get what they are saying. While she is jumping up and down in what is an uncomfortable scene due to the fact that there are very young children creatures watching the whole show, the leader of this clan is making plans to go the house and do what they do best.
Please forgive me as well, I usually manage to put all the name of the characters in my reviews but its very hard here. With names of Rabbit, First Stolen and Eartheater, it was quite impossible to know who was playing who, the only person I pinpointed was the character of Steven played by Eriick Kastel but I get to the reason for that in a bit!
When the attack happens, its here that the film mightily kicks off. The normal family is having a night in, there is a knock on the door and all of a sudden blood, death, rape, it all happens in what is a relentless horror assault and despite its quite low budget status, it really is a very strong horror set piece, that will delight all gore hounds.
The film does not stop there, those who die are left there and the unlucky ones get dragged back to the cave, and again this where the strong aspect of the film, the unexpectedly again kicks in. Having been stunned at who dies, we then see kids die. Ok not everyone's cup of tea but there is a reason here, its not added on for shock value like some films do. When you fighting off survival and have these kids dressed in primitive clothes coming to attack you, what would you do, especially when they are holding knives and hatchets. You do anything to survive in those circumstances even though if it means killing young children. Its not done in a gruesome way as well, its what would happen if normal people are confronted with blood thirsty children.
So lets get to Steve. Now this is the clever part of the film. An ex husband of one of the family who get attacked and who is on his way to the house to cause trouble, he really is a disgusting excuse of a human being. When we first meet him, he picks up a female hitchhiker and then sexually assaults her. By the time he gets sucked into all the terror, the film makes you think who is the most brutal human being. These things that only know one way of living and at no fault of their own, or this man, that does things in here that you can can not help but shake your head in disbelief. When the two attitudes clash, it brings a scene of shockness to the lengths at which Steve goes to and its this theme that harks back to the 70's when this social debate was a strong fore in horror films.
And that is where Offspring belongs, its heart is firmly in the exportation era. Its not shocking has those films, in fact its quite tame, and the movie may struggle to find much of an audience. What I mean by that is the low budget and dubious acting will put many off, and those who are a fans of the modern Wrong Turn may laugh at what is on offer, but there are a few who remember when these kind of films were the rage, will get a lot of kicks from watching and like I said before, the lack of any hero and character base means you will never know who will survive and for that, the unexpected edge is a huge bonus for a film that does what many has done before, and it needs to be watched just to be introduced to the character of The Woman which the role is played brilliantly in both films by Pollyanna McIntosh, and for that both films need to be watched!
OVERALL: 70's horror revisited, this may be a clone to many superior films of this nature, but it delivers when required, and not many horror films make you root for characters who kill little kids..........
3 out of 5
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Our first ever HCF MOVIE AWARDS
http://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/2012/01/horrorcultfilms-movie-awards-of-2011-all-the-winners-right-here-of-our-first-ever-hcf-awards/
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Printable Version
RE: Hughes Horror Collection - 
GIMLI: and ALSO SPOILERS FOR THIS WEEKS SUPERNATURAL
The Hughes Verdict 
THE HUGHES VERDICT 
The Hughes Verdict! 
THE HUGHES VERDICT 
I have to tale my hat off to the makers for also giving the older fan a cast to actually die for. Anton Yelchin takes over from William Ragsdale in the role of teenager Charley Brewster, the vamp itself Jerry Danridge which was played with relish by Chris Sarandon is now played by Colin Farrell while the role of Peter Vincent which has become iconic thanks to the performance of Roddy McDowall has been given to David Tennant, a role that is supposed to be the breakthrough for the former Doctor Who! The rest of the sub characters are still an eye opener with Toni Collette playing mum Jane Brewster, Imogen Potts taking over the role of Charley's girlfriend Amy and the other most important role of best friend Ed going to Christopher Mintz-Plasse. So you can see how intriguing thie whole film is, why I sat down and thought maybe just maybe, this remake will be worth the feeling of deja vue and something I can actually rave about! Sadly though, once again I was badly wrong! Fright Night 2011 differs from the original storyline with alarming consequences even though the thrust of the storyline stays the same. Charley thinks that his new neighbour is a Vampire and needs help to prove it before he gets either bitten and turned forever or killed. That is the core central premise but the remake changes the plot from how we get to the final battle between good and evil. First we start with a rather clever scene that will fool all the old fans. Its virtually a shot to shot opening minute of the original that turns into something else that was brilliantly done and actually shocked me. In fact the first twenty minutes serves the film well, we get an opening shock, the introduction of the characters is well done and things really boded well, until of course we get to the first change and one that may well piss off all Fright Night fans. Ed is no longer best friends with Charley! The reasons being is that Charley is now too cool to seen with his weird and geek old friend, a scene that results in this new version Ed uttering the infamous words "You so Cool Brewster!" which will delight many fans. The trouble is and the first sign that all is not going to be right with this film is that its Ed himself that tells Charley that his new neighbour Jerry is a vampire. This rocked me because the fun of the original is seeing Charley running around telling everyone what he thinks and with no one believing him. With one full swoop we see the "fun" factor swept away from this redo, and it gets worse. The treatment of the character of Ed is appalling because I am telling you now fans he appears in about three scenes and its so frustrating that an actor like Mintz-Plasse is wasted in the role that had more meat to the bone from what I remember. Its this moment of the film and its right in the first half hour that you can not help but feel the whole set up is being rushed, there is a stunning pace to the film that may delight the young audience but when you see Ed being chased by the evil Jerry in the first 30 minutes even though its not been established to the viewer that Jerry is in fact a vampire, you will see that the plan here is not for character development or for teasing the viewer, just a simple film, where Charley needs to kill Jerry! 
This logic sadly does not work because we get none of the scenes where Charley looks out of the window every night to spy on his new neighbour. The lack of "Rear Window" style imagery goes totally against what the original was all about and in fact its Jerry who comes looking for Charley. There is no hiding or denial from this Jerry Danbridge, he is quite happy to go around killing anyone in sight, there is no mystery or suspense with this character and while I can not fault Farrell with the performance, simply because Farrell playing a vamp is a great thing, the character is now straight and evil which means even when Charley tells his mother and girlfriend that he believes that he is a vampire, there is no build up for the scene where Charley is proved right, because as soon as he tells them, Jerry is trying to kill them all. Of course its all to do with the pace again and you can not help but realise that making Fright Night 2011 a rollercoaster where chase scene follows chase scene, this logic means the film loses the heart that made the original stand out from the crowd! The interesting aspect of the remake is the character that does not appear until nearly an hour into the film and its all according how you get the ” of the Peter Vincent character. 
2 OUT OF 5
WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT 
THE HUGHES VERDICT! 
We start off quite well, the first sign is of an abandoned wheelchair (another Session 9 riff) that we see move on its own while one of the members of the crew have their back turned. We then see doors shut tight and then the best bit in which poor Sasha (Ashleigh Gryzko) has the fright of her life when someone lifts her hair in which the crew scream and run down the corridor, like any other sane person would do. At this exact time I was really feeling good about this film, the scares were small but set the pace lovely and the atmosphere of dread was pouring out of the TV screen, but just when I thought I was into something really special, the makers make a fundamental mistake in which the concept never recovers from. Before we know it, Lance is downstairs telling the guys to pack up because the night is finished and it will be daylight soon. At first I actually thought I heard him wrong, but then I realised that I didn't and soon Grave Encounters started to complicate things badly. When the Caretaker fails to turn up, the crew decide to smash down the front door of the building and when they do its here the film moves away from the simple pleasures of Blair Witch and Paranormal and into the realms of fantasy. Not a good move when you need the viewer to believe in what they are seeing is actual footage of a true event. When they break open the front door they are not greeted with the outside world but another corridor that leads deeper into the Asylum. Panic engulfs the team and soon they realise that there is no way out, every exit door leads to a new corridor, there is no roof top because the route is blocked with stone walls and soon the spirits are coming more and more and this time they want to do more and play with their hair. Moving the concept from such a simple premise to fantasy is a huge mistake. All the wonderful tension they managed to create is completely ruined because I no longer believed in what was happening. The reason why films like Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch is universally loved and will stand the test of time in the found footage genre is because we the viewer believe that what is happening to them could happen to us whether in our bedrooms or on a camping trip! Grave Encounters becomes too loaded with ideas from what it originally set out to be and it really jumps the shark when we see members of the team disappear in a cloud of smoke (this does actually happen), the crew wake up and see patient tags on their wrists, and also words cut into their skin. Its just too much for the genre and the film suffers badly. One moment that sums all this up is when one of the members comes across a tongue on the floor. Now the set up is perfect, the crew member mutters on the camera "what is it?....what is it?...." the camera he holds pans down and we see this human tongue. Now it would have been better if we saw this and then the film moved on, leaving our imagination to go over drive, but sadly the makers feel the need to add the money shot and it just loses the quality. There will be those who argue that REC 2 went the same way as Grave Encounters but that followed on from a classic original and needed to do something different while keeping what made Rec work. It does not work with Grave Encounters because they fail to realise that the best horrors are the ones who believe "less is more!". With everything thrown in, the film just does not become scary and towards the end it trots along the lines of tedious. By not sticking to what they originally promised and that is a Reality TV Crew being stuck over night in an Haunted Asylum the makers shot themselves in the foot by over thinking the scares, so for that maybe we should change the title from Grave Encounters to Grave Mistake!.......... FINAL VERDICT! By trying to overcomplicate things, the movie fails to live up to what the trailer promised. You can not help but feel a little bit frustrated and a little annoyed because the premise cries out quality! 2 OUT OF 5
The Hughes Verdict! 
The Hughes Verdict! 
THE HUGHES REVIEW 
The Hughes Verdict 
THE HUGHES VERDICT 
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 
THE HUGHES VERDICT! Its amazing really, just when the studio's were worried that the had milked every last drop out of their guaranteed Halloween box office gold SAW franchise then along comes another title to take over the mantle. At the moment everything Paranormal Activity is gold for the horror genre. The second sequel has broken its own takings and the critical acclaim it has received has only gained more positivity to the franchise, already they are plans for a 4th film to be released-yes you guessed it-next Halloween and for me who was seduced by the beauty of the original only a mere three years ago, I was excited to sit down to watch the new film even though I am one of the last HCF critics to do so. 
The Hughes Veridct! We all know what Father Christmas does. He goes into kids bedrooms and empties his sack! Ok! All that was missing from that sentence was a Sid James laugh because that opening line I just wrote was such a Carry On kind of gag that I feel ashamed that I have lowered myself to that standard. But my point for all this is that when you actually look at the figure of the man in red then he really is a creepy fella. I mean there are the parents sleeping in their beds and a strange man goes into their kids bedroom and watches over them. Yes he leaves presents but has he ever had a police check? Do we really know we can trust him in the cold air of night? The fact not many horror films have jumped on this notion is a peculiar one, yes we have had the slash flick Silent Night Deadly Night which created such ripples that it caused the start of the "end" of the Slash Boom in the early eighties. A few years back we had Santa's Slay, another horror flick which so tongue in cheek that it could not be taken serious and that is all we have had really because the studio's see Christmas as an ideal time for Kid flicks and not for seeing the man with the white beard carrying an axe and killing everyone in sight. Its with great pleasure then to announce that finally we have a film to fill the empty void, a real and I mean, real good horror film and it arrives in the shape of Rare Exports, a film from the land from Finland that may just yet beat Troll Hunter as best foreign horror flick of the year. Then even just by writing this review I feel bad because I am describing this as an horror film when in reality its not. Yes we see the mutilated bodies of animals and some axe in the head set-pieces, but in reality this is more of a kids action film, a kind of film we all loved when the likes of The Goonies and Monster Squad were all the rage. In other words readers, this is everything Super 8 was not. Deeply dark but a fantastic fun ride that many will cherish from the off. We start with a discovery at the top of the Korvatunturi mountain. Here we see a bunch of workers discovering a massive ice block which has been left undiscovered since ancient times. Looking on is the young Pietari (Onni Tommila) who senses in the air that something is not quite right and when he wakes one morning to find footprints by his window ledge he begins to read about the "true" Father Christmas and this one is not the Ho Ho Ho jolly fellow you see in that "Holiday is coming" TV ad that plays every year in December. This guy is one vicious bastard who takes bad children and "eats them". Oh yes, do not worry about having that new XBox 360 game under the tree, just be happy to be alive if he does not come down your chimney. Yes guys it really is that dark and its a wicked idea. 
While th workers are up at the mountain digging away, Pietari reads up on the history of this crazy man and when mutilated bodies of animals are discovered, it is only he who knows the truth but like all films of this nature-who would believe him?, , Certainlly not his father Rauno (Jorma Tommila) who is more worried that all the reindeers are dead and without no meat to sell, how can he and the local community get by in the winter months. The film takes a dark turn when a trap outside the house "for wandering Reindeers" is filed and when the father and son look down, instead of seeing a dead animal. they see a wounded man with a white beard whose nose sniffs the air frantically when Pietari is nearby. Getting some help, the father cleans up this creepy figure and decides to sell him to the people up on the mountain, but when they get there with his son it tow, the film takes a rather unexpected but rather wonderful sudden turn! Finnish writer-director Jalmari Helander has delivered a rather most perfect anti-Christmas film. The pace is relentless and its so dark than it melted my horror heart. My main problem with the film that it may be just too tame for those who love their horror full of gore, yes we do get moments of pure horror but there are only brief glimpses, this. like all films of this genre is about a journey of a child turning to an adult and we see it here with Pietari who carries the film all on his little shoulders. The yell of the word "TTTTRRRRRRROOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!" may mean that the Troll Hunter has taken the plaudits this year but I can see Rare Exports becoming the cult classic in years to come, a film destined to watch when the big day comes, because not since Phoebe Cates told everyone her nightmare story about what happened to her dad one Christmas have I enjoyed yet another delicious dark snowy tale! 4 OUT OF 5
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