Orphan

What a good thriller-horror movie! Really! The first good horror film I've watched in 2010 is one of the best movies of 2009! Unfortunately this movie only opened in France late last year... but it was worth the wait.

At the beginning you may think "Orphan" turns around this little girl, who gets adopted and as soon she arrives at the new home... bad things happen. True. There's nothing new around the story... but, something caught by surprise: the actress who plays the main role! I was amazed how this 10 year old kid (at the time of filming) looked, behaved and talked like a killer! :-O Plus, this "little" american actress had to pretend this russian accent!

I may sound like her agent, but I'm not. Besides this amazing performace, the film is very well paced, great suspense and a twister at the end. An original twist regarding the killer's reasons...
During the movie, I was enjoying the acting so much that I was on the killer side! eheheh Like we all do with "Dexter". :-P

I've seen some good horror movies in 2009 like Drag Me to Hell, Paranormal Activity or even the amusing Final Destination 4 - 3D. "Orphan" will be at the top.

I totally recommend this movie, but no need to watch on the big screen. Just watch it.

We still don't know this year's Oscar nominations... but the best killer-actress is definitely Isabelle Fuhrman! Amazing!

Paranormal Activity

The ultimate horror movie? Well, these days marketing is the best tool to get clients... and audiences (like Microsoft does with Windows!).

I had a strong curiosity to watch this movie: horror movie, home made, unknown actors, a strong online buzz... and it was based on true events. Well... it had "Blair Witch Project" written all over it!

I enjoyed the movie. It stays 95% away from the Hollywood clichés... still, the ending is not the original one. Accordingly to the rumors, director Steven Spielberg suggested to change the ending but to keep the rest of the movie intact. I suppose the original one wasn't a seller.

Is also interesting to watch at the movie theater just to see how people react to the best scenes. Here you don't have music to create suspense, neither a shaky camera running all the time... so the final result can be very thrilling.
The story is told in a slow pace, so we can better know the characters and their beliefs. Every night, when the camera records every minute, is when the anxiety tends to rise. Everyone wonders what's going to happen, in a very natural way without the typical Hollywood tricks.

What didn't I like? Well, the movie trailer shows some of the best scenes and almost shows the end of the movie! I wasn't surprised some of the time "thanks" to the trailer! :-P
And I was also "sad" to see the ending was changed by request! So the concept of amateur/home made movie is lost somewhere.

The original movie trailer show an audience completely scared (read: marketing), but the problem is that audience didn't know what movie they were about to watch. For sure it was more scary for them than for everyone else.

Either way, it's a good movie to watch with popcorns and some scared friends. It was the first time I've witnessed a FULL audience screaming! (no, not me... thanks to the movie trailer! *sigh*). But you still find those who laugh... just to decompress ;-)

The Blair Witch Project is still my favourite one! ;-)

Happy nightmares...

Drag Me to Hell

Thank you Sam Raimi! No, I wasn't dragged to hell, even if sometimes the Paris subway feels like that! eheheh
I've watched the latest Sam Raimi's horror movie "Drag Me to Hell", and I must say I really really enjoyed an old school horror movie. Unfortunatelly nowadays an horror movie means one of two things: you have a serial killer who kills a group of teenagers one by one, or you have a a pshycho who loves to torture people.
Before "Spider-Man" Sam Raimi was known for horror movies like "Army of Darkness" and "Evil Dead". A mix of humor and horror... very 80's. At the time he had written the script for "Drag Me to Hell", but he only managed to produced and direct it 20 years later. And you can see the difference from your typical Hollywood horror movie. Even the Universal Studios logo shown at the beginning of the credits, is the same one from the 80's! :-D

I loved the plot, the surprises, the suspense, the humor and the... unexpected ending. I left the movie theatre pleased with the experience... and nowadays I don't find too many movies which have a positive impact on me.

Take a look at this movie... and let yourself be dragged to a new "old" experience ;-)