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REVIEW: ‘The Collection’

Arkin (Josh Stewart) goes up against the new hidden face of evil in "The Collection"

It’s no secret to my contemporaries, I am a horror snob. For the most part, I keep my recent viewing list to a select list of strong films that challenge me mentally and emotionally. It’s quite a shame really since some of the more delightful delicacies of the horror genre are so deliciously low. You shouldn’t always have to eat filet mignon constantly – every now and again you need a nice big juicy burger with a big kosher pickle and French fried potatoes.

In that case, serve me up a nice order of “The Collection.”
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REVIEW: ‘The Possession’

Clyde (Jeffery Dean Morgan) rummages through his daughter's box in "The Possession".

Somewhere out in the universe, in a vast Jungian conceptual tangle is a library. In this particular library – since it is an imaginary construct – there are only two books. One thin volume is a collection of foundational stories: these stories are the basis of ever told. The other is a massive tome that, in a less fanciful environment, would fill all the world’s libraries.

This is the thesaurus.

It contains countless variation of the core stories. A rare few of these variants are something special – evolutionary leaps in the material that make it better than the original. Most, however, are pale shades of its progenitor. Neither better nor worse, they could, at best be called, “unnecessary.”

Such is the case with “The Possession.”

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REVIEW: ‘The Apparition’

Patrick (Tome Felton), Kelly (Ashley Greene) and Ben (Sebastian Stan) get their fear on in "The Apparition".

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who stopped talking midway through a sentence? Not the comfortable shorthand that comes with a long term friendship but the half-mad ramblings of a drunken stranger at a party – you know the type. He’s the guy that hems you into a corner with no one in eyeshot of rescuing you. But wait, there’s more. Occasionally, your incoherent companion has a moment of clarity and in place of his mad ramblings, you now have abject tedium.

The cinematic equivalent to this would be, “the Apparition”.

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REVIEW: ‘Rites of Spring’

Rachel (Anessa Ramsey) has no choice but to hang around for the "Rites of Spring".
Rachel (Anessa Ramsey) has no choice but to hang around for the "Rites of Spring".
Rachel (Anessa Ramsey) has no choice but to hang around for the “Rites of Spring”.

A good solid rule for most movies is, “Make sense.” Even the most avant of garde films makes sense in their own kind of way. If a film doesn’t have a claim to that particular edgy conceit, then one would think it would be that much easier to follow that simple directive.

However, it’s something that “Rites of Spring” fails within its first ten seconds.
I never recovers.

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The Fair-Haired Child (2005)

Tara (Lindsay Pulsipher) and Johnny (Jesse Hadock) get close in "The Fair-Haired Child".
Tara (Lindsay Pulsipher) and Johnny (Jesse Hadock) get close in "The Fair-Haired Child".
Tara (Lindsay Pulsipher) and Johnny (Jesse Hadock) get close in “The Fair-Haired Child”.

from Showtime’s “Masters of Horror” series

The Fair-Haired Child (2005)
Directed by: William Malone
Written by: Matt Greenberg
Starring: Lindsay Pulsipher, Jesse Hadock, William Samples, Lori Petty

PLOT
A warlock couple abduct a young teenage girl to sacrifice her to a mysterious and evil entity as an offering to resurrect their long-dead boy. (from IMDb)

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