“Heavenly Creatures” is thrilling biography film that combines drama and fantasy in a rather unique way. From director Peter Jackson, who would go on to make the famous “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, this film tells the tale of one of the most infamous crimes in the history of his native New Zealand. It’s disturbing, fascinating and inventive in equal measure.

Set in the 1950s, we meet Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey “Up In The Air”) and Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet “Titanic”). They’re two teen girls in Christchurch and they form a very strong friendship. What initially seems like an innocent relationship, grows into something much more sinister. As their bond grows, they develop an obsession with an alternate reality. Their rejection of mainstream society and the Christian religion leads them to a warped worldview and the duo will stop at nothing to prevent anybody from separating them.

Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet are both excellent. I believe that these are both real girls from the 1950s and that they really believe in the morally corrupt fantasy they share. The other performances are good. However, the two main girls just do an excellent job. The fantasy characters look great; Jackson has always known how craft intriguing visual effects (even with little to no money). I do like the sequence where the two girls imagine being followed by Orson Welles. This isn’t the only film of 1994 to feature somebody playing Welles as “Ed Wood” also had a scene depicting him.

“Heavenly Creatures” contains some brilliant special effects but it’s the characters and the writing that make this so grand. Maybe it ends a little too abruptly but that’s just a testament to how much I was enjoying this picture. It really does take you into the mind of two mentally deranged individuals. People want to talk about Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and his “King Kong” remake. I understand that yet it’s undeniably a shame that people overlook this gem.

I can’t believe this is a real film but yes, “Trump vs. The Illuminati” does exist. It’s an animated film but it makes “Foodfight!” look like a Disney film. This is so cheap and amateurish that it feels like something a university student did as a first animation test. The film feels like it was written by somebody that exclusively watches “Ancient Aliens” on tv.

In this insane film, a clone of Donald Trump created by the Chinese government escapes an apocalyptic Earth after the real Donald Trump starts a nuclear war. He’s been living on Mars for 1,000 years. Now, he’s needed to help fight against The Illuminati in an intergalactic battle. Sadly, this hilarious premise is underplayed by this disastrously bad film.

The big problem with this film is the animation on the characters. Donald Trump wears an astronaut helmet throughout the film so we can barely see his face, I’m sure this was a decision to mask the facial animations when he speaks. None of the characters move with any logic. They all seem like they’re part of an animation test; it’s just so awkward. The Trump impression is pretty mediocre. I don’t know why The Illuminati are shown as aliens.

With an absolutely ridiculous premise like this, we could have had a funny film but it’s so badly made. The novelty of the premise wears off after minutes and we’re stuck with looking at clunky animation after clunky animation. This is honestly so embarrassing. I feel like this was never intended to be released because it seems like a draft, like we’re waiting for them to go back in and sort out the animations. Maybe then everything wouldn’t move like they’re characters in “The Sims” videogames. If you want some crazy alien conspiracy stuff, just go and watch “Ancient Aliens” instead.

“Nekromantik” is a sadistic West German horror flick. It’s clearly a very amateurish film. Unfortunately, it’s combination of real violence (involving animals) and it’s more absurd violence make this a film with a rather unclear tone. It’s too brutal and disgusting to be considered amusing yet it’s too campy and ridiculous to actually frighten anybody.

In “Nekromantik”, Robert works clearing up dead bodies. He has a sick fascination with collecting body parts, something he shares with his equally demented girlfriend, Betty. While cleaning up after a grisly accident, Robert decides to bring home a full corpse so that he and Betty can enjoy it sexually. However, she grows to love the corpse more than him.

There is very little dialog in “Nekromantik”; we know very little about the characters other than the fact that they enjoy very violent and perverse activities. Robert and Betty just aren’t interesting. Their sickening fascination is never really explained. I suppose the corpse is essentially a character. The threesome sequence is pretty darn hilarious with Robert and Betty embracing the corpse. The way in which they allow Betty to have ‘sex’ with the corpse is so stupid and funny. The other characters are very bland.

“Nekromantik” does feature some truly shocking violence as we see a real rabbit being killed and skinned. The other stuff is less problematic because it’s obviously fake. The genitals, the corpse and the human gore is all just special effects. There is so little going on, almost every scene just features some crude or disgusting content with virtually no story or dialog. We see people urinate, we see an animal killed, dead bodies, people being killed yet we feel almost like nothing is happening because the plot is so thin. If you’re out looking for bad taste cinema then “Nekromantik” may fit the bill, just don’t expect anything besides the shock value.

Australian supernatural horror flick “Lake Mungo” is done with a mockumentary style with a lot of found-footage parts to it. I’m not a fan of the found-footage style at all but my biggest complaint with this film is that it feels like a complete rip-off of “Twin Peaks”.

The Palmer family recounts the tragedy of the disappearance and death of their daughter, Alice (Talia Zucker), as well as the mysterious and potentially supernatural experiences they subsequently encountered. The secrets of Alice’s life will be uncovered. The family will be drawn to Lake Mungo where they may find something more horrifying than they were prepared for.

The family in this film just doesn’t seem believable. For all the horrifying and messed up things that they go through, they seem rather calm recounting everything. You would think they would be in an insane asylum at this point. The Alice character just seems incredibly like Laura Palmer from “Twin Peaks”; the surnames are even the same. I wasn’t invested in her problems at all. There are supernatural visions that appear throughout the film but unfortunately, a lot of the footage we see has such poor quality that you could almost be looking at anything.

There are some creepy ideas in here and I think the way in which the film is presented as at least somewhat realistic. However, I just could not care less about stupid ghosts. They are not scary in the slightest. This is infinitely more watchable than other found-footage films such as “Paranormal Activity”. I think that’s because a lot of it is not done in the found-footage style. Therefore, we get breaks from all the issues associated with using the found-footage style. If you like ghost films then you may find this really scary and engaging but it just didn’t hold my attention.

The original “Night of the Living Dead” was really the start of the zombie film. Yes, there were technically zombie films before it such as “White Zombie” but in terms of giving you the core tropes, nothing can compare with the impact of the George A. Romero’s first zombie flick. While I was never a fan of the original film, I’m in no doubt that the “30th Anniversary Edition” is a butchery of it.

With some new scenes shot especially for this new version, we see that the first zombie to appear was actually a depraved killer. His funeral doesn’t go to plan when his dead body starts to walk. A band of survivors must try to survive the zombie outbreak. With more zombies on the attack, the group must attempt to flee the area before they are overwhelmed.

While I was not a fan of the original characters, they are infinitely better than the new ones. There is a new priest character, who is just awful. The performance is almost laughably bad; it feels like something out of a comedy skit. Some shots feature new zombies too. The problem is that all the new characters stick out like a sore thumb because of the way it has been filmed. Merely filming in black-and-white does not make it look like it was filmed in the 60s.

The original film at least flows fairly consistently but this newer version makes it a total mess. The new beginning and ending sequences are just stupid. Also, we have a new score that is just so weak. The “30th Anniversary Edition” is one of the worst re-releases I’ve seen for a film as it makes it worse in every conceivable way and just destroys the pacing of the film. Romero apparently did not make this but one of the original’s co-creators so at least Romero is blameless in this.

The first “Hostel” film really was a mess. It started like a teen sex comedy before descending into “Saw” meets “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. “Hostel: Part II” is pretty much just more of the same. This one is even worse because there’s not even any mystery to what is going on this time. I’m sure many viewers would find this film shocking and disturbing. However, I just see it as rather tedious and lazy.

Beth (Lauren German “The Divide”) and her fellow American university students get talked into visiting Slovakia. Unfortunately, they’re about to check-in at the infamous hostel where they will soon be kidnapped and prepared for slaughter at the hands of rich psychopaths wanting to mutilate and murder them. It’s essentially the exact same formula as the original movie but this time, it is girls getting cut up instead of guys.

The characters in the first “Hostel” were abysmal (even by horror film standards). The characters here are not really any better. I wasn’t interested in seeing any of the kidnapped girls survive. The rich people paying to kill are also frightfully dull. Most of the characters’ deaths are pretty lousy. A horror film like this needs to be more creative with the violence.

Fans of the first “Hostel” are likely to enjoy this sequel because it delivers more sadistic torture with lots of gore. Personally, I just think this is about as bland as you can get. It just seems like depravity for the sake of it. There are some great horror films with graphic torture in them such as “Audition”. Unfortunately, the “Hostel” films just don’t engage me at all. If you have any sense of hope in humanity left, I’m sure you can find better ways to spend your precious time than sitting through a “Hostel” sequel.

Japan’s 2009 horror flick “Grotesque” caused a stir when the British film rating authorities refused to certify it. I find that rather odd because there’s nothing here that makes any more disturbing than “Saw” or “Hostel”. This is definitely an incredibly gruesome film and it’s unrelenting in its sadism. However, I think at times, it actually does a reasonable job of building up some tension.

A doctor (Shigeo Ôsako “Brutal”) kidnaps a young couple on their first date. He restrains them as he carries out evil acts on their bodies as he mutilates and molests them. He claims that he will release them if they can satisfy his sick urges. He will push them to the very limits of human experience both physically and psychologically.

The unnamed doctor doesn’t have any motivation involving money or teaching his victims some grand lesson, he just wants to satisfy himself in some sick and demented ways. The acts he carries out are truly despicable. Unfortunately, I don’t think that the performances from the cast members playing the couple are very good, which weakens the interest I had in their struggle. The special effects are actually pretty impressive and convincing at times as the doctor continues to mutilate them.

If you’ve seen “Saw”, “Hostel”, “Human Centipede” or even the old “Guinea Pig” films from Japan, you’ll probably know what sort of thing to expect. “Grotesque” is about as violent and disgusting as films come. I think that some better performances from the couple could have helped keep me more engaged because when you lose interest in seeing them try to survive, we just end up with nothing but a series of excessive gore. If you are into your extreme films, I think you’ll agree that this is certainly up there with many other sadistic horror movies. I definitely don’t recommend watching this on an actual first date.

“Morbius” is an embarrassingly bad film based on a Marvel comic book character. This was made by Sony, who still have the rights to Spider-Man and related characters. After the success of “Venom”, Sony hoped to make more films using the characters from Spider-Man’s list of friends and foes. Unfortunately, this is a total failure.

Jared Leto (“Requiem For A Dream”) stars as Michael Morbius, a scientist trying to find a cure for his significant blood disorder. He thinks he has found a solution involving vampire bats. It’s now a new curse as despite gaining superpowers, he lusts for blood. He must try to find a way to reverse this before he’s forced to feed on human blood but somebody else may now also have his powers.

I’ve never been fond of Jared Leto and he’s so unremarkable here. I never believed that he was a scientist or that he was suffering from a debilitating condition. The special effects for Morbius when he turns into a vampire creature are just awful. This comes more than two decades since the first “Blade” film from Marvel yet the vampire effects here look way worse than “Blade”. Matt Smith (“Last Night In Soho”) plays Michael’s childhood. The two share the same condition. Smith tries to have some fun with his role but it just comes across as awkward.

I enjoyed the first “Venom” but found its sequel very bland with disappointing special effects. “Morbius” is even worse. The acting is bad, the special effects are laughably bad, the action is poor and the plot is mundane. Also, the cameo at the end is stupid. It’s a very forgettable vampire flick that just seems to borrow elements from “Blade”, “Underworld”, “Van Helsing”, “The Relic” and a bunch of other films from the 90s and early 2000s. This film failed at the box office and pulled from theatres, it returned to screens when Sony misinterpreted online traffic about the movie. However, it failed again. I don’t know if that’s ever happened before with a film from a major studio.

“Irreversible” is one of the most shocking and disgraceful films ever made. Directed by Gaspar Noé (“Climax”), “Irreversible” features a reference to “2001: A Space Odyssey”, almost comparing itself to the classic as another great experience of cinema. However, “Irreversible” is almost like the polar opposite. While “2001” is beautiful and majestic, “Irreversible” is vile and repugnant. The subject matter is depraved and the depictions of sex and violence extreme. Even worse is that the technical aspects of the film, make it dangerous.

Shown with the scenes in reverse-chronological order, we see the graphically violent rape suffered by Alex (Monica Bellucci “The Matrix Reloaded”, “Malena”) in a Parisian underpass by a sadistic stranger. Alex’s boyfriend (Vincent Cassel “The Black Swan”) and her ex (Albert Dupontel “Dead Man’s Hand”) go to avenge her.

Monica Bellucci suffers for her ‘art’ in this film as the lengthy rape sequence looks like it would have been rather unpleasurable even as simply part of a mere film. The interactions she has with her boyfriend and ex-boyfriend and not particularly engaging. There is an awful lot of nudity in this film and a sequence near the begin contains some of the most disgusting and depraved sexual activity in a film that was widely distributed.

We see some truly unsettling levels of violence and sexual depravity but perhaps even worse is the technical aspects of “Irreversible”. The camera moves in a really disorientating way but then there is also strobe effects and the sound design has caused many viewers to become physically ill. This is dangerous filmmaking for no real reason. This is not some test for military recruits, this is just meant to be a film but it seems to go out of its way to make viewers feel literally sick. I get that the subject matter is shocking and the film maybe trying to convey that but to try and physically damage your audience is just irresponsible. I hated this film for its disgusting depravity with tons of despicable acts graphically shown but it is the technical aspects that are unforgiveable.

“Flower Of Flesh And Blood” is the second instalment in the infamous “Guinea Pig” franchise. This one is actually the most well-known (at least in the western world) because Charlie Sheen apparently once saw this film, thought it was a real snuff film and got the F.B.I. to investigate. I could understand somebody being tricked if they were handed a blank tape with the first “Guinea Pig” but this one is so absurd with some cheesy effects that it’s pretty funny to imagine Sheen being frightened by it.

Like the first film, this is all about a woman being tortured. Instead of being tortured by three generic men, this new woman is tortured by a man in a samurai costume. He beats her, tortures her and dismembers her with lots of impressively gory but undeniably cheesy special effects. I suggest that you don’t expect anything even resembling a plot beyond this.

The samurai guy says evil things every now and then as he makes his way through committing all sorts of depraved acts against the poor woman. She’s just there to be sliced and diced by the sadistic killer. The special effects are pretty darn creative but you’re unlikely to be fooled by what you’re seeing.

While this one is a little more visionally engaging than the first film due to better lighting and having the samurai man, any sense of realism has gone out the window. The first “Guinea Pig” at least felt vaguely like it could be a real video of torture. However, this sequel is just ridiculous at times. Like the first one, it is pretty boring and repetitive. Again, it’s so funny to picture Charlie Sheen being so shaken by this that he got the authorities involved but I imagine that many substances may have affected Mr. Sheen’s cognitive abilities.