Fire City: End of Days (2015)

Review: Fire City: End of Days (2015)

By William Pattison

 

Vine, a disillusioned demon, secretly lives with others of his kind in the world of humans sustained by their misery. Forced into a choice to save his brethren or an innocent human girl, the delicate balance between human and demon kind is threatened, which may result in war.

I’m usually not a fan of film distributed by UnCorked. They are usually low budget, badly acted, and badly made crap. This film is a diamond in a sea of crap.

This film has an interesting concept, of a city where demons and humans live together, the demons feeling on the human suffering on the streets.

 The acting in this film is far better than than your usual UnCorked maturefest. The makeup work on the demons really work, though most of the artistry is lost by the fact that this film is shit in low light with color filters. Still the action and the gritty plot saves the day and brings some entertainment into the mix, which is a miracle for UnCorked. But that is just my opinion.

All in all I’ll  give this film a 3.5 out of 5 on the Oogie Boogie scale, thus I can recommend it.

 

Review: The Beast of Walton St (2023)

The Beast of Walton St. (2023)

By William Pattison

 

Our next review is the low budget arthouse werewolf film, The Beast of Walton St.

As the homeless population of an Ohio town is ravaged by brutal deaths in the dead of winter, two outcast women defend their turf and fight back against the deadly creature - a werewolf.

I loved this film. The filmmaker used his budget well. The script was well written and had great characterization, which is a plus when you don’t have a ton of money. The werewolf was outstanding. It had an American Werewolf in London vibe. It was shown in little bites, mind the pun, which actually worked well. Also the girls playing the leads worked well with each other and felt like close buddies.

All in all I say it would be a serious mistake to overlook this film. I say it is actually awesometacular and a must see for low budget arthouse afficianados.

l

 

Review: Automata (2014)

Automata (2014)

By William Pattison

This time I’m reviewing the science fiction film, Automata.

2044. The climate change and a series of solar storms have turned in a desert the surface of the planet and annihilated to the 99.7 % of Earth's population, leaving alive 21 million people across the world in a single city covered by mechanical clouds (zeppelins anchored to the city) to make rain. Trying to rebuild the world again, a robot company named ROC Corporation create Automata Pilgrim 7000 with two security protocols: 1st, a robot cannot harm human beings, and 2nd, a robot cannot alter itself or another robot. But this situation changes when police officer Sean Wallace shoots and destroys a robot claiming that it was altering itself. With the company worried by the possible implications if the case were known by the people, insurance agent Jacq Vaucan is chosen to investigate the happened, while Vaucan tries to convince his boss, friend and brother-in-law Robert Bold to transfer him and his pregnant wife Rachel to the coast, with Bold accepting the request if Vaucan solves the case. Going with Wallace to a brothel, they meets a robot in blue wig named Cleo, who is shot by Wallace in the belief that Cleo will be sent for repairs by mysterious repairperson that Vaucan calls The Clocksmith. However, Cleo is sent to mechanical workshop ran by  Dr. Susan Dupré, who informs Vaucan about a terrible possibility: that the robots can alter their second protocol themselves to acquire self awareness, implying a non-human intelligence that easily it should overpass the human brain after a test where she mixed a biocore from the Wallace's shot robot with Cleo's own biocore. Vaucan reports secretly to Bold about it, but ROC's chairman intercepts the message. When Dr. Dupré is killed in front of Vaucan by a ROC's squad group, amusingly a couple  of children, he and Cleo run from the assassins, ending outside the city, lost in the white desert that surrounds the city. Forced to meet ROC's chairman,  Bold  is informed about the secret of the two protocols: that the Pilgrim 7000's prototype was created without the protocols, and due to its unlimited intelligence and learning, it overcame to its human owners just eight days later. After all the next Pilgrims were created with the protocols to limit their capacity in order to have them under control. Fearing the extinction of human race if all the Pilgrims evolve beyond the protocols, ROC's chairman blames Vaucan of Dupré's assassination and the alteration of the robots to cover up to the public, and Wallace is hired to find Cleo and Vaucan and kill them.  Vaucan, Cleo, and three robots travel across the desert to the forbidden and radioactive zone to meet The Clocksmith. Arriving Vaucan finds himself  witness to something that would change the world.

This film is pure science fiction. There are no ray guns or spaceships. It is a morality tale that deals with humanity and how it deals with technology and a non-human intelligence. It is more akin to the Robot Chronicles that were written my Doctor Issac Asimov. The robots in this film have firm rules about how they deal with humans, it is the humans in the film that show their inhumanity when it comes to the robots and their fellow humans.

This film feature a royally distopian vision of the future. It also features excellent performance s. Also the robot designs look perfectly industrial.

All in all this is an outstanding sci fi film that will resinate will true sci Fi fans, but I don’t  know about casual film audiences. So, though I found this film awesometacular it won’t  be a film for the kiddies or the uninitiated in serious science fiction. I guess that is why I just happened to discover this film on Tubi TV.

Review: Devil in the Dark (2017)

Review: Devil in the Dark (2017)

By William Pattison

In Washington State, Adam visits his estranged brother Clint to reconnect their relationship after fifteen years apart from each other. Clint has always been the favorite of their father Glen and Adam feels grief and sorrow. The plan to go in a hunting party along the weekend to hunt deer and supersede their problems. When they stumble upon a cave surrounded by deer antlers, they flee from the spot. But they are chased and stalked by a supernatural creature. Will they escape alive from the being?

This was a film that had the potential of being a half way decent horror film, but unfortunately for some reason it was wasted. It had good atmosphere, characters, performances, and a kick assed creature design. But from what I can tell during production they lost funding and had to discontinue filming with the film only two thirds done. Then, they had to try and salvage the film in the editing room. The resulting film is a mess with obvious missing scenes and even subplots. It leaves the viewer scratching their head. The very ending of the film actually even cuts off unexpectedly and is horribly jarring. Seriously this film is a waste of time in its present form, thus I cannot recommend it.

Review: I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

Review: I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

By William Pattison

 

When five friends inadvertently cause a deadly car accident, they cover up their involvement and make a pact to keep it a secret rather than face the consequences. A year later, their past comes back to haunt them and they're forced to confront a horrifying truth: someone knows what they did last summer...and is hell-bent on revenge. As one by one the friends are stalked by a killer, they discover this has happened before, and they turn to two survivors of the legendary Southport Massacre of 1997 for help.

This is an excellent new installment in the franchise, even though it was made out like it is a reboot. This one is worlds better than the straight to video third installment. I loved all the references to the first film. I also was blown away with how they included Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character. This was truly a superior sequel.

The only thing I wasn’t thrilled with was the very end of the film. I felt they had too much after the actual story was satisfactory concluded. Thus, I give this film a B rating rather than an A because the studio had to give us an extra few scene to reinforce “The Message.” But still I will recommend this film.

Review: Wer (2013)

Review: Wer (2013)

By William Pattison

 

In France, the Porter family is slaughtered while camping in the woods, and only Claire Porter survives, seriously wounded. She reports that her husband Henry and her son Peter have been eaten alive by a strong man. Talan Gwynek, an Eremite who lives in the woods with his mother, is accused of the murders and arrested. Defense attorney Kate Moore is assigned to defend him, and she comes to the police station with her investigator Eric Sarin and animal expert Gavin Flemyng to interview Talan. Unwilling police inspector Klaus Pistor is sure that Talan is the murderer but must let Kate and her team work. There is turmoil in the precinct and Talan scratches Gavin. Then they visit Talan's mother and learn that Talan has a rare disease. Further, the government wants her lands to dispose nuclear waste and her husband has recently died in a car accident. Soon Eric discloses that Mr. Gwynek's death was suspicious and Pistor was in charge of the investigation. When Kate succeeds in sending Talan to a hospital for examination, she discovers the effects of Talan's disease and that he is in fact something primal and near indestructible.

The first thing I have to say is this film has found an amazingly original take on its subject matter, I won’t  say what exactly the subject is but I think you can guess by the title. The writing on this film is great. The story starts out like a legal drama dealing with the subject of canibalism but then this story alters into a brutal horror story and is full of gore and action. The acting is outstanding. The actor that plays Talan is both disturbing and sympathetic at the same time. The style of this film works great. The filmmaker even had sections that had a near documentary feel.

All and all all I can say if you want a film they puts you through your paces, like Barbarian, this is the film for you. You won’t  be disappointed. It is awesomtacular!!!

 

Dark Was the Night (2014)

Dark Was the Night (2014)

By William Pattison

This time I’m reviewing the 2014 thriller, Dark Was the Night.

A mysterious force hidden within the trees outside the small town of Maiden Woods, strikes fear in the townspeople as Sheriff Paul Shields attempts to overcome the demons of his past while protecting those that he loves.

This is a wonderfully atmospheric film. The performances are excellent, especially that of Kevin Durand who plays the sheriff. It is light on the gore, but it isn’t missed because you are locked into the mystery the sheriff is trying to solve. I love that it is inspired by the case of The Devil’s Footprints.

To put it simply this is the type of horror film I cherish because it keeps my attention and doesn’t disappoint in the end. I highly recommend it because to me it is awesomeyacular!!