Post by tav7623 on Mar 21, 2010 19:54:12 GMT -5
Hey everyone tav here with part one of my British Horror Comedy Double feature. Now I originally planned on posting this on Friday but got a temporary case of March Madness, in a few hours I will be posting part two which will focus on the film Severance, now that I've gotten that out of the way I can begin with my review of The Cottage. The film is written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams who also brought us The Children which was released last year on dvd under the Ghost House Underground label (which I have yet to see though I hear its good). This film stars Gollum actor Andy Serkis, Reece Shearsmith, Jennifer Ellison, Steven O' Donnell, and at the very end of the end credits a brief cameo by pinhead actor Doug Bradley as Arnie the strip club owner/mob kingpin. The film centers around two brothers (Serkis and Shearsmith) kidnapping Arnie's daughter (Ellison) and holding her for ransom at a small countryside cottage, but things don't work out as planned and the trio find themselves having to deal with a disfigured homicidal (possibly cannibalistic) farmer.
Pros: excellent make up, excellent practical effects, some decent acting (especially from Serkis), competent editing, good cinematography,and some funny/great scenes (walking the head/predator homage)
Cons: music sticks out like a sore thumb because it is used to point out oh look were about to have a laugh instead of keeping to the background, some bad screenwriting (the brother (Shearsmith) is a pussy who is afraid of moths), some visual jokes that either fall flat or come across as too cartoonish ( the green light/red light scene in the village involving creepy old people/ the well known walking into a rake moment), and the comedic/horrific elements of the film are lopsided and not evenly spread out (the first half hour to hour is almost exclusively a comedy with the second half is almost entirely a horror film).
Overall I give this film a 5 out of 10 for good practical effects, some good laughs (the brother freaking out after walking into a room full of moths, the head butt scene, and the axe/machete to the balls), some brief female nudity ( 2 pairs of breast)and homages to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ( disfigured farmer with a taste for blood hunting people down), Silence of the Lambs( The faces, oh the faces ...they're on the wall... ) , slasher films (the creepy old guy warning a character to lock their doors and to not wander out in the woods or else), and as mentioned above a Predator homage. The only problems I have with this film is that at moments it becomes very cartoonish/outlandish in its violent comedy (sadly it's not the good kind like what is found in Evil Dead 2/Army of Darkness, and Dead Alive, etc.), an uneven mix of horror and comedy elements that splits the film in half , and the music is very obvious and at times used to hit the audience over the head to say hey something funny/scary is about to happen like we can't figure it out from watching the fucking film (also the music has a Men in Black vibe going on). Overall half of this film is a solid horror film and the other half is a half baked comedy of errors, I would recommend this film if you are a fan of either British cinema( which was the reason why I checked it out in the first place) or if you are interested in checking out the other genre film Paul Andrew Williams has made back in 2008. Well that will do it for this review I hope you enjoyed it and I will be back in a few hours to bring you part two of my British Horror Comedy double feature.
Pros: excellent make up, excellent practical effects, some decent acting (especially from Serkis), competent editing, good cinematography,and some funny/great scenes (walking the head/predator homage)
Cons: music sticks out like a sore thumb because it is used to point out oh look were about to have a laugh instead of keeping to the background, some bad screenwriting (the brother (Shearsmith) is a pussy who is afraid of moths), some visual jokes that either fall flat or come across as too cartoonish ( the green light/red light scene in the village involving creepy old people/ the well known walking into a rake moment), and the comedic/horrific elements of the film are lopsided and not evenly spread out (the first half hour to hour is almost exclusively a comedy with the second half is almost entirely a horror film).
Overall I give this film a 5 out of 10 for good practical effects, some good laughs (the brother freaking out after walking into a room full of moths, the head butt scene, and the axe/machete to the balls), some brief female nudity ( 2 pairs of breast)and homages to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ( disfigured farmer with a taste for blood hunting people down), Silence of the Lambs( The faces, oh the faces ...they're on the wall... ) , slasher films (the creepy old guy warning a character to lock their doors and to not wander out in the woods or else), and as mentioned above a Predator homage. The only problems I have with this film is that at moments it becomes very cartoonish/outlandish in its violent comedy (sadly it's not the good kind like what is found in Evil Dead 2/Army of Darkness, and Dead Alive, etc.), an uneven mix of horror and comedy elements that splits the film in half , and the music is very obvious and at times used to hit the audience over the head to say hey something funny/scary is about to happen like we can't figure it out from watching the fucking film (also the music has a Men in Black vibe going on). Overall half of this film is a solid horror film and the other half is a half baked comedy of errors, I would recommend this film if you are a fan of either British cinema( which was the reason why I checked it out in the first place) or if you are interested in checking out the other genre film Paul Andrew Williams has made back in 2008. Well that will do it for this review I hope you enjoyed it and I will be back in a few hours to bring you part two of my British Horror Comedy double feature.