Crimson Screens returns from the dead, with "The Cavern" and "Darkroom"...
Crimson Screens returns from the dead with "The Cavern" and "Darkroom"...
Hello all! This is the first new post in nearly three months. I had a lot of stuff going on in life around Halloween time and I had to get all of that taken care of. Unfortunately I pushed this site to the side for a while. Laziness had a lot to do with it too. Things are back on track here, so I will update a few times a week, just like before. I have seen a few good movies since the last post and a lot of horrible ones, so look forward to reading about them on here soon. Thanks for reading!
With the popularity and success of "The Descent", it was inevitable that more cave horror movies would surface. Well, there was "The Cave", which came before "The Descent" but hey, that movie sucked so enough about that.
"The Cavern" is about a group of people who find a new and unexplored cave and they are all eager to be the first ones to see new things and be somewhere no one has been before. There is some background to one of the cahracters about him being involved in a cave accident a couple years back and that is mentioned a few times and plays into what eventually happens.
Ok, there is this scene, the night before they actually go into the cave, where two people are having sex inside the cave and the girl thinks she hears something and the camera peers up over them and looks into the darkness of the cave and its such an effective shot. I was just waiting for something to jump out. Great tension there! The tension continues once they get in the cave. There is a lot of hand held camera work, like point of view shots, and the cave is already dark, so whenever something scary happens, you totally do not see it coming. Eventually the cast gets lost because something is fucking with their safety line. Well the semething seems to be a monster of some sort who picks through the cast in a few pretty damn scary attacks. The monster moves so fast and the lack of light all go into making the attack scenes effective. There is one in total darkness that you only hear what is going on and it is done very well. Up until this point, the movie is pretty damn good. Once most of the cast is gone, the pace slows a bit because its just them running away from the monster and getting even more lost. Toward the end, the movie takes a giant turn and goes off in a direction that I totally did not expect. But then they go and ruin it with one of the dumbest and sudden ending ever. Nothing is explained and I wanted to throw my remote at the TV. The movie is so effective for almost the entire running them and it is ruined by the end. Grr!
I would like to say that there are a few what the fuck moments, where something happens and we dont know why it happens and here, it is never even explained why it happens. Like when they are in the cave and they see the bright red light. What the hell was that? It is never explained.
Oh well, this is a pretty damn cool movie with a crappy end. I still say check it out, since almost all of the running time is tense and scary. There is some cool gore too.
"The Darkroom" was a recommend from someone else. The movie stars Reed Diamond, who I was a big fan of when he was on Homicide: Life On The Street. Here he plays a man who was found walking down the road, covered in blood fifteen years ago. No one knows why. Well, a doctor has this medicine that is supposed to help him remember what happened. It doesn't work, but he does start seeing a giant monster killing people. Then he escapes from the mental home he is in. He meets a boy who is having a hard life, being pushed around by bullies, not a lot of friends and a crappy home life. The two set out to find out what happened to the man and also solve little mysteries, like what the boy stepdad is keeping in his darkroom.
This is the best straight to video movie I have seen in a long time. The cast is very good. The plot movies along without any dumb or slow spots. There are some cool effects. And most importantly, it is interesting.
Towards the end, it is pretty obvious where they are going with the plot, but it is so well done, that I didn't care. The monster is explained, a mysterioius scar is explained and the exceptional cast carries out the cool story in a very good manner. Once the plot reveals what is going on, the way the truth is intertwined with what the characters think is going on, is so amazingly well done. I love the weird twitch thing Reed Diamond does at the end showdown.
I give 'Darkroom" the highest A+ everyone must see. Horro fans and thriller fans will like this movie. It is scary and well done.
Hello all! This is the first new post in nearly three months. I had a lot of stuff going on in life around Halloween time and I had to get all of that taken care of. Unfortunately I pushed this site to the side for a while. Laziness had a lot to do with it too. Things are back on track here, so I will update a few times a week, just like before. I have seen a few good movies since the last post and a lot of horrible ones, so look forward to reading about them on here soon. Thanks for reading!
With the popularity and success of "The Descent", it was inevitable that more cave horror movies would surface. Well, there was "The Cave", which came before "The Descent" but hey, that movie sucked so enough about that.
"The Cavern" is about a group of people who find a new and unexplored cave and they are all eager to be the first ones to see new things and be somewhere no one has been before. There is some background to one of the cahracters about him being involved in a cave accident a couple years back and that is mentioned a few times and plays into what eventually happens.
Ok, there is this scene, the night before they actually go into the cave, where two people are having sex inside the cave and the girl thinks she hears something and the camera peers up over them and looks into the darkness of the cave and its such an effective shot. I was just waiting for something to jump out. Great tension there! The tension continues once they get in the cave. There is a lot of hand held camera work, like point of view shots, and the cave is already dark, so whenever something scary happens, you totally do not see it coming. Eventually the cast gets lost because something is fucking with their safety line. Well the semething seems to be a monster of some sort who picks through the cast in a few pretty damn scary attacks. The monster moves so fast and the lack of light all go into making the attack scenes effective. There is one in total darkness that you only hear what is going on and it is done very well. Up until this point, the movie is pretty damn good. Once most of the cast is gone, the pace slows a bit because its just them running away from the monster and getting even more lost. Toward the end, the movie takes a giant turn and goes off in a direction that I totally did not expect. But then they go and ruin it with one of the dumbest and sudden ending ever. Nothing is explained and I wanted to throw my remote at the TV. The movie is so effective for almost the entire running them and it is ruined by the end. Grr!
I would like to say that there are a few what the fuck moments, where something happens and we dont know why it happens and here, it is never even explained why it happens. Like when they are in the cave and they see the bright red light. What the hell was that? It is never explained.
Oh well, this is a pretty damn cool movie with a crappy end. I still say check it out, since almost all of the running time is tense and scary. There is some cool gore too.
"The Darkroom" was a recommend from someone else. The movie stars Reed Diamond, who I was a big fan of when he was on Homicide: Life On The Street. Here he plays a man who was found walking down the road, covered in blood fifteen years ago. No one knows why. Well, a doctor has this medicine that is supposed to help him remember what happened. It doesn't work, but he does start seeing a giant monster killing people. Then he escapes from the mental home he is in. He meets a boy who is having a hard life, being pushed around by bullies, not a lot of friends and a crappy home life. The two set out to find out what happened to the man and also solve little mysteries, like what the boy stepdad is keeping in his darkroom.
This is the best straight to video movie I have seen in a long time. The cast is very good. The plot movies along without any dumb or slow spots. There are some cool effects. And most importantly, it is interesting.
Towards the end, it is pretty obvious where they are going with the plot, but it is so well done, that I didn't care. The monster is explained, a mysterioius scar is explained and the exceptional cast carries out the cool story in a very good manner. Once the plot reveals what is going on, the way the truth is intertwined with what the characters think is going on, is so amazingly well done. I love the weird twitch thing Reed Diamond does at the end showdown.
I give 'Darkroom" the highest A+ everyone must see. Horro fans and thriller fans will like this movie. It is scary and well done.
posted by Crimson Screens at 2:52 PM
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