Archive for Horror

Quarantine (2008)

Movie: Quarantine (2008)

“Television reporter Angela Vidal and her cameraman are assigned to spend the night shift with a Los Angeles Fire Station. After a routine 911 call takes them to a small apartment building, they find police officers already on the scene in response to blood curdling screams coming from one of the apartment units. They soon learn that a woman living in the building has been infected by something unknown. After a few of the residents are viciously attacked, they try to escape with the news crew in tow, only to find that the CDC has quarantined the building. Phones, internet, televisions and cell phone access have been cut-off, and officials are not relaying information to those locked inside. When the quarantine is finally lifted, the only evidence of what took place is the news crew’s videotape. Written by Screen Gems”

  • Director: John Erick Dowdle
  • Release Date: 10 October 2008 (USA)
  • Run Time: 89 min
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Drama , Horror , Mystery , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for bloody violent and disturbing content, terror and language.

Tagline: On March 11 2008, the government sealed off an apartment complex in Los Angeles. The residents were never seen again. No details. No witnesses. No evidence. Until now.

Trivia: Unusually for a Hollywood production, this film does not feature a musical score.

Goofs: Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the bio-suited CDC doctors enter the building, you hear the sounds of a self-contained breathing apparatus. However, the doctors are wearing standard gas masks with NBC filters, which are almost silent and don’t use an external air supply.

Låt den rätte komma in (2008)

Movie: Låt den rätte komma in (2008)

“Oskar, a bullied 12-year old, dreams of revenge. He falls in love with Eli, a peculiar girl. She can’t stand the sun or food and to come into a room she needs to be invited. Eli gives Oskar the strength to hit back but when he realizes that Eli needs to drink other people’s blood to live he’s faced with a choice. How much can love forgive? Let The Right One In is a story both violent and highly romantic, set in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg in 1982. Written by John Nordling, Producer”

  • Director: Tomas Alfredson
  • Release Date: 24 October 2008 (Norway)
  • Run Time: 115 min
  • Country: Sweden
  • Genre: Drama , Horror , Romance , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for some bloody violence including disturbing images, brief nudity and language.

Tagline: Oscar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl who turns out to be a vampire.

Trivia: Though the film takes place in Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm, the film principle photography was shot in Luleå in the north of Sweden, to ensure enough snow and cold weather.

Goofs: Crew or equipment visible: The entire crew is visible in the reflection of the glass at the opposite end of the swimming pool hall when the three bullies enter the scene.

Mirrors (2008)

Movie: Mirrors (2008)

“In New York, the former NYPD detective Ben Carson is hired to work as night watch of the remains of the Mayflower Department Store that was partially destroyed by fire many years ago. Ben became alcoholic and was retired from the police force after killing a man in a shooting. His marriage was also destroyed and now he is living in the apartment of his younger sister Angie. However he has not been drinking for three months and sees the employment as a chance to rebuild his life. When he goes to the rounds in his first night, he finds that the mirrors are impeccably clean and his colleague explains that the former night watch was obsessed by the mirrors. After a couple of nights, Ben sees weird images in the mirrors, but due to the lack of credibility of his past, his ex-wife Amy believes he has hallucinations as a side effect of his medication. When Angie is found brutally murdered in her bathtub, Ben discovers that there is an evil force in the mirror that is chasing him and jeopardizing his family. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil”

  • Director: Alexandre Aja
  • Release Date: 15 August 2008 (USA)
  • Run Time: 111 min
  • Country: USA , Romania
  • Genre: Horror , Mystery , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for strong violence, disturbing images, language and brief nudity.

Tagline: There Is Evil……..On The Other Side

Trivia: In the final shot, as Ben approaches the mirrored building, a little Korean girl in white with a bright pink sweater and her mother pass by the window. The characters are identical to those in the final shot of the original film, Geoul sokeuro (2003).

Goofs: Continuity: The second time Ben fires his sidearm into the mirror, he fires 6 shots and leaves 2 bullet holes. Considering how slowly the mirror originally ‘healed’ itself, it is unlikely that four of the holes had sealed over in the brief period between firing and when we see them.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008)

Movie: The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008)

“Molly Hartley looks to put her troubled past behind her with a fresh start at a new school, where she sparks with one of the most popular students. But can her secrets stay buried, especially as she learns more about the horrific truth that awaits her once she turns 18? Written by IMDb Editors”

  • Director: Mickey Liddell
  • Release Date: 31 October 2008 (USA)
  • Run Time: 82 min
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Drama , Horror , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated PG-13 for strong thematic material, violence and terror, brief strong language and some teen drinking.

Tagline: This Halloween her past is yet to come.

Goofs: Continuity: In the first bathroom scene Leah pushes the stall door out, scaring Molly. But later Molly pushes the stall doors inward looking for the person whispering.

Passengers (2008)

Movie: Passengers (2008)

“After a plane crash, a young therapist, Claire, is assigned by her mentor to counsel the flight’s five survivors. When they share their recollections of the incident — which some say include an explosion that the airline claims never happened — Claire is intrigued by Eric, the most secretive of the passengers. Just as Claire’s professional relationship with Eric — despite her better judgment — blossoms into a romance, the survivors begin to disappear mysteriously, one by one. Claire suspects that Eric may hold all the answers and becomes determined to uncover the truth, no matter the consequences. Written by Anonymous”

  • Director: Rodrigo García
  • Release Date: 26 September 2008 (Spain)
  • Run Time: 93 min
  • Country: USA , Canada
  • Genre: Drama , Mystery , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated PG-13 for thematic elements including some scary images, and sensuality.

Tagline: The Truth Can’t Hide Forever

Trivia: The license plates used in the film feature the slogan “Beautiful Evergreen State”, a combination of the license plate slogan of British Columbia (”Beautiful British Columbia”, where the movie was filmed), and the state nickname of Washington State (The Evergreen State).

Goofs: Continuity: When Claire and Eric are painting together in his apartment, Claire’s brush strokes are missing when we see the painting again.

Splinter (2008/I)

Movie: Splinter (2008/I)

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  • Director: Toby Wilkins
  • Release Date: 3 April 2009 (Turkey)
  • Run Time: 82 min
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Horror
  • MPAA: Rated R for violence/gore and language.

Tagline: It will get under your skin.

Goofs: Continuity: The center blocks which are in the background during the freezer scene are stacked side by side when first seen, but when seen again to break the bone in the arm of “Dennis” they are stacked one on top of the other.

The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

Movie: The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

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  • Director: Ryûhei Kitamura
  • Release Date: 7 August 2008 (Russia)
  • Run Time: 98 min | USA:100 min
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Crime , Drama , Horror , Mystery , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for sequences of strong bloody gruesome violence, grisly images involving nudity, sexual content and language.

Tagline: The most terrifying ride you’ll ever take

Trivia: ‘Patrick Tatopoulos (I)’ was once attached to direct this film.

Goofs: Crew or equipment visible: When Maya is searching through Mahogany’s bathroom, at one point the white t-shirt of a crew member is visible in the mirror.

Saw V (2008)

Movie: Saw V (2008)

“”

  • Director: David Hackl
  • Release Date: 24 October 2008 (USA)
  • Run Time: 92 min
  • Country: USA , Canada
  • Genre: Crime , Horror , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, language and brief nudity.

Tagline: You won’t believe how it ends.

Trivia: When Agent Erickson talks to Jill Tuck, the picture on his desk is a real photo of actor Mark Rolston and his wife.

Goofs: Boom mic visible: In the scene when Jill (Betsy Russell) is talking to the FBI Agent in the Office, a huge boom shadow can be clearly seen above their heads

Changeling (2008)

Movie: Changeling (2008)

“Los Angeles, 1928. A single mother returns from work to find her nine-year-old son gone. She calls the LAPD to initiate a search. Five months later, a boy is found in Illinois who fits the description; he says he’s her son. To fanfare and photos, the LAPD reunite mother and son, but she insists he’s not her boy. The cops dismiss her as either a liar or hysterical. When she joins a minister in his public criticism of the police, they in turn use government power to silence and intimidate her. Meanwhile, a cop goes to a dilapidated ranch to find a Canadian lad who’s without legal status; the youth tells a grisly tale. There’s redress for murder; is there redress for abuse of power? Written by {jhailey@hotmail.com}”

  • Director: Clint Eastwood
  • Release Date: 31 October 2008 (USA)
  • Run Time: 141 min
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Drama , History , Mystery
  • MPAA: Rated R for some violent and disturbing content, and language.

Tagline: To find her son, she did what no one else dared.

Trivia: Some scenes were filmed at a train station in San Bernardino, CA during the 2007 California brush fires. The whole set was thick with fire smoke.

Goofs: Anachronisms: In the film the character Detective Lester Ybarra (played by Michael Kelly) uses the term “serial killer”. Coinage of the term serial killer is commonly attributed to former FBI Special Agent Robert Ressler in the 1970s. “Serial killer” entered the popular vernacular largely in part to the widely publicized crimes of Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz in the middle years of that decade.

Blindness (2008)

Movie: Blindness (2008)

“A city is ravaged by an epidemic of instant “white blindness”. Those first afflicted are quarantined by the authorities in an abandoned mental hospital where the newly created “society of the blind” quickly breaks down. Criminals and the physically powerful prey upon the weak, hording the meager food rations and committing horrific acts. There is however one eyewitness to the nightmare. A woman whose sight is unaffected by the plague follows her afflicted husband to quarantine. There, keeping her sight a secret, she guides seven strangers who have become, in essence, a family. She leads them out of quarantine and onto the ravaged streets of the city, which has seen all vestiges of civilization crumble. Written by Festival de Cannes’ Editor”

  • Director: Fernando Meirelles
  • Release Date: 3 October 2008 (USA)
  • Run Time: 121 min
  • Country: Canada , Brazil , Japan
  • Genre: Drama , Mystery , Romance , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for violence including sexual assaults, language and sexuality/nudity.

Tagline: Lust is blind.

Trivia: The music video of the song “Intocable” (”Untouchable”), released by Mexican singer/composer ‘Aleks Syntec’ in 2007, is also based on the novel ‘Blindness’ by José Saramago.

Goofs: Revealing mistakes: When the children steal the supermarket trolley, and the camera is above the street, you can see clearly that the children push the trolley around a car and the sidewalk - yet they are supposed to be blind.

House (2008)

Movie: House (2008)

“In rural Alabama, two couples find themselves in a fight for survival. Running from a maniac (The Tin Man) bent on killing them, they flee deep into the woods and seek refuge in a house. They soon realize the killer has purposely lured them to this house and that they are now trapped. As they huddle around an old fireplace, a tin can falls through the chimney. Scrawled on its side is a message from the killer, establishing his House Rules. The rules call for their deaths unless they kill at least one of the four. They have less than 12 hours to find a way to survive. At sunrise the game is over and everyone dies if the killer’s demands aren’t met. What they quickly learn is that the only way out… is in. But going further into this house–where unknown challenges await them–is equally deadly. Written by Anonymous”

  • Director: Robby Henson
  • Release Date: 18 March 2009 (Egypt)
  • Run Time: 101 min
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Drama , Horror , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for some violence and terror.

Tagline: The only way out… is in.

Goofs: Continuity: In the flashback with young Randy hunting, his father loads shells into an over/under shotgun. Immediately after that, he is shown taking aim with a scoped hunting rifle.

Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

Movie: Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

“In the year 2056 - the not so distant future - an epidemic of organ failures devastates the planet. Out of the tragedy, a savior emerges: GeneCo, a biotech company that offers organ transplants, for a price. Those who miss their payments are scheduled for repossession and hunted by villainous Repo Men. In a world where surgery addicts are hooked on painkilling drugs and murder is sanctioned by law, a sheltered young girl searches for the cure to her own rare disease as well as information about her family’s mysterious history. After being sucked into the haunting world of GeneCo, she is unable to turn back, as all of her questions will be answered at the wildly anticipated spectacular event: The Genetic Opera. Written by Lionsgate”

  • Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
  • Release Date: 20 November 2008 (Czech Republic)
  • Run Time: 98 min | USA:150 min (original cut)
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Fantasy , Horror , Musical
  • MPAA: Rated R for strong bloody violence and gore, language, some drug and sexual content.

Trivia: The video that Shilo (Alexa Vega) watches when she gets to the Genetic Opera was actually edited by Kevin Greutert, who edited the Saw films.

Goofs: Revealing mistakes: In the picture which shows Pavi skinning the woman’s face, Ogre’s real face is shown, instead of Pavi’s scarred face.

Rogue (2007)

Movie: Rogue (2007)

“An idyllic wildlife cruise disintegrates into terror when a party of tourists are stalked by a massive man-eating crocodile. Pete McKell, a cynical American travel writer, joins a disparate group of holiday-makers on a river cruise through the waters of Kakadu National Park. Initially Pete clashes with their tour captain, Kate, a feisty young woman who assumes he is just another ‘city-slicker’ in search of a quick thrill. After an uneventful day cruising the river, Kate is reluctantly persuaded to steer their boat into unexplored territory. They discover a secluded lake but terror strikes when their craft receives a powerful blow from beneath the murky depths and begins to sink. With little choice, she beaches the vessel on the closest dry land -a tiny mud island. With a rising tide and only half an hour of daylight left, fear grips the group as they realize they are trapped in the lair of a ‘rogue’ crocodile, governed only by its need to hunt and kill. Begrudgingly, Pete and Kate join forces to keep hysteria at bay and in the process start to see beyond their initial impressions. Their first attempt to escape fails, but then Pete has an idea - they must trap the crocodile to enable the group to flee to the other side of the island whilst Kate swims for help. Pete volunteers to stand guard, but without warning, the beast breaks free and targets Kate who fails to resurface. As darkness descends and the muddy waters rise, a terrifying struggle ensues with only one probable outcome death. Written by The Age 6th of May 2000″

  • Director: Greg Mclean
  • Release Date: 8 November 2007 (Australia)
  • Run Time: 99 min | Germany:89 min
  • Country: Australia , USA
  • Genre: Action , Adventure , Horror , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for language and some creature violence.

Tagline: Welcome to the Terrortory

Trivia: The croc’s lair was constructed and shot in a warehouse in Maidstone (Melbourne Victoria Australia) which was the same site for much of internal barn shots in Charlottes Web (2006). With story set in the rugged Northern Territory and much of the shooting done there also many would be surprised to learn that many of the “island” shots were done in a man made lake in country Victoria. The art department and the greens department being responsible for making the rocks and trees resemble those in the Territory.

Goofs: Revealing mistakes: During the scene when Pete is walking through the forest during the early hours of the morning, the sunlight is coming from directly above him as seen by the shadows beneath him and the plants around him.

The Ruins (2008)

Movie: The Ruins (2008)

“While on vacation in a resort in Mexico, the Americans Jeff, his girlfriend Amy, her best friend Stacy and her boyfriend Eric befriend the German Mathias in the swimming pool. Mathias invites the group to visit the ruins of a Mayan temple with his Greek friend Dimitri in an archeological field where his brother Henrich and his girlfriend are camped eighteen kilometers far from the resort. They hire an old taxi and when they reach the spot, they are surrounded by Mayan villagers armed of revolver, rifle and bow-and-arrow that kill Dimitri and do not allow the group to leave the place. They climb a construction covered of creepers with red flowers, and remain under siege of the locals. When they hear a cell phone in the bottom of a well, Mathias decides to seek the apparatus using a rope that breaks and he has a serious accident breaking his back. Amy and Stacy go to the bottom of the mine to rescue Mathias and they find many corpses covered by the climbing plants; further, they realize that they had been lured by the plants that are vibrating with the sound of a cell phone. When they are attacked by the carnivorous creeping plants, they understand the reaction of the Mayan villagers. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil”

  • Director: Carter Smith
  • Release Date: 4 April 2008 (USA)
  • Run Time: 93 min (unrated DVD version) | USA:91 min
  • Country: Australia , USA
  • Genre: Horror , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for strong violence and gruesome images, language, some sexuality and nudity.

Tagline: Terror has evolved.

Trivia: Ben Stiller was involved with this film because he is a friend of novelist / screenwriter Scott B. Smith.

Goofs: Continuity: Amy loses her glasses while trying to escape from the vines. When she and Stacy are pulled out of the ruins, she has no glasses. Two scenes later, she is wearing glasses again. They disappear for the rest of the film.

Doomsday (2008)

Movie: Doomsday (2008)

“A lethal virus spreads throughout the British isles,infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. To contain the threat, acting authorities brutally quarantine the country as it succumbs to fear and chaos. The quarantine is successful. Three decades later, the Reaper virus violently resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists, including Eden Sinclair, is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare. Written by Nicolettea”

  • Director: Neil Marshall
  • Release Date: 14 March 2008 (USA)
  • Run Time: USA:113 min (uncut version) | USA:105 min
  • Country: UK , USA , South Africa , Germany
  • Genre: Action , Sci-Fi , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content/nudity.

Tagline: The End Is Nigh.

Trivia: The APC vehicles were manufactured with real steel plating and armor plated glass windscreens so that actors and stunt people could interact with them authentically. They took four or five weeks to design and ten weeks to build. Two were manufactured, and every piece of them was custom made.

Goofs: Factual errors: No lift will fall down just because of its suspension cable being cut - all lifts have safety devices that will hold its downward motion in case of such an emergency.

Paranoid Park (2007)

Movie: Paranoid Park (2007)

“The teenager and skateboarder Alex is interviewed by Detective Richard Lu that is investigating the death of a security guard in the rail yards severed by a train that was apparently hit by a skate board. While dealing with the separation process of his parents and the sexual heat of his virgin girlfriend Jennifer, Alex writes his last experiences in Paranoid Park with his new acquaintances and how the guard was killed, trying to relieve his feeling of guilty from his conscience. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil”

  • Director: Gus Van Sant
  • Release Date: 24 October 2007 (Belgium)
  • Run Time: 85 min
  • Country: France , USA
  • Genre: Drama
  • MPAA: Rated R for some disturbing images, language and sexual content.

Trivia: Director Cameo: [Gus Van Sant]Makes an appearance in the coffee shop scene, reading a newspaper.

Goofs: Continuity: When Alex walks home after writing “Paranoid Park” in his notebook, the notebook disappears (in the shot from behind) and then reappears.

The Life Before Her Eyes (2007)

Movie: The Life Before Her Eyes (2007)

“A dramatic thriller about Diana, a suburban wife and mother who begins to question her seemingly perfect life–and perhaps her sanity–on the 15th anniversary of a tragic high school shooting that took the life of her best friend. In flashbacks, Diana is a vibrant high schooler who, with her shy best friend Maureen, plot typical teenage strategies–cutting class, fantasizing about boys–and vow to leave their sleepy suburb at the first opportunity. The older Diana, however, is haunted by the increasingly strained relationship she had with Maureen as day of the school shooting approached. These memories disrupt the idyllic life she’s now leading with her professor husband Paul and their young daughter Emma. As older Diana’s life begins to unravel and younger Diana gets closer and closer to the fatal day, a deeper mystery slowly unravels. Written by Marisa_Gabriella”

  • Director: Vadim Perelman
  • Release Date: 5 September 2008 (Poland)
  • Run Time: 90 min
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Drama , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for violent and disturbing content, language and brief drug use.

Tagline: Diana’s life is not what it seems.

Cloverfield (2008)

Movie: Cloverfield (2008)

“Cloverfield follows five New Yorkers from the perspective of a hand-held video camera. The movie is exactly the length of a DV Tape and a sub-plot is established by showing bits and pieces of video previously recorded on the tape that is being recorded over. The movie starts as a monster of unknown origin destroys a building. As they go to investigate, parts of the building and the head of the Statue of Liberty come raining down. The movie follows their adventure trying to escape and save a friend, a love interest of the main character. Written by Pip Carlson”

  • Director: Matt Reeves
  • Release Date: 18 January 2008 (USA)
  • Run Time: 85 min
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Action , Mystery , Sci-Fi , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images.

Tagline: Some Thing Has Found Us

Trivia: The movie is viewed primarily from the point of view of Hud, the character who uses the camera the most. H.U.D. is short for Heads-Up Display, a method for overlaying information onto a view of one’s surroundings such as Timestamps on video footage.

Goofs: Revealing mistakes: When Rob is on the phone to Beth, we can clearly see he is using a Nokia cellphone. However, when he hangs up, it makes the standard Motorola “end call” tone.

Pathology (2008)

Movie: Pathology (2008)

“Harvard Medical School graduate Dr. Ted Grey arrives at one of the nations most prestigious Pathology programs and is quickly noticed by the program’s privileged and elite band of pathology interns who invite him into their crowd. It is also here, where he is introduced to Dr. Jake Gallo, who brings him to a secluded wing, where he and four other indulge in their after-hours, extra-curricular activities…finding ways to commit the perfect murder! Written by suspicious”

  • Director: Marc Schoelermann
  • Release Date: 11 April 2008 (UK)
  • Run Time: 95 min
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Crime , Horror , Thriller
  • MPAA: Rated R for disturbing and perverse behavior throughout, including violence, gruesome images, strong sexual content, nudity, drug use and language.

Tagline: No body is safe.

Trivia: In order to prepare for their roles, several cast members watched a number of real autopsies.

Goofs: Revealing mistakes: When the doctors slam the Asian man’s corpse into the wall (on the gurney), it is clear that the actor puts his hands up defensively before he falls.

Teeth (2007/I)

Movie: Teeth (2007/I)

“Dawn grows up in the shadow of a nuclear power plant. In high school, while her biology class studies evolution, she realizes she may have a hidden curse, an “adaptation.” She lives with her mom, step-father, and hard-edged step-brother. She likes Tobey, a guy at school, and he likes her. She takes a pledge to remain chaste until marriage, so they date in groups, watch G-rated films, and don’t kiss, but the power of teen hormones is great, so temptation beckons. Dawn has an admirer in Ryan, and when she breaks it off unexpectedly with Tobey, she turns to Ryan for help. Will he be her mythical hero and rescue her? Or can she find her way as her own hero, turning the curse into an asset? Written by {jhailey@hotmail.com}”

  • Director: Mitchell Lichtenstein
  • Release Date: 3 April 2008 (Singapore)
  • Run Time: 94 min
  • Country: USA
  • Genre: Comedy , Horror
  • MPAA: Rated R for disturbing sequences involving sexuality and violence, language and some drug use.

Tagline: Every rose has its thorns.

Goofs: Revealing mistakes: At the beginning, in the first shot of dawn in the hallway right after she gives her speech, an extra walking by looks directly and obviously into the camera.