Monday 3 October 2016

31 days of horror part 2

October 2nd 2016 
Internet problems at home are meaning I'm a bit behind on Blog posts at mo, but hopefully it should all  get fixed soon and I should be able to catch up.
Meanwhile, I thought I'd kick off today's post with a few recommendations for films to watch over the Halloween period - starting with a couple of favourites of mine.

1) Contracted - I've talked about this film before, but this is a great gross-out film to start off your 31 days of horror viewing. A young girl is date-raped at a party, only to wake up next morning to realise she has contracted a sexually transmitted disease that slowly causes necrosis. 
Over the next three days, we, the viewer, witness as her health rapidly starts to decline - leading to all sorts of nasty moments that to describe here, would only spoil your viewing pleasure.
A sequel that followed is not so good, but this film stood out for me and I loved every minute of it!
For a full review featured earlier, simply search Contracted in the search bar at the top of this Blog.

2) + 3) {rec} and {rec} Genesis - Again, I have talked about these films before, but Spanish horrors {rec}and {rec} 3 remain two of my favourite horror films of all time. There are 4 films in total in the series, but of them, these two, in my mind, are the strongest so far.
In {rec}, a film crew documenting the lives of people working the night shift find themselves at a local fire station recording all that goes on there. All is fairly boring and mundane until the point when they are called out to help an old lady, trapped in her apartment.
The film crew go with them, but shortly after arriving, the whole apartment complex is put under quarantine and it soon becomes clear that something is very, very wrong. 
The old lady is sick, and the sickness is spreading - infecting anyone and everyone she comes into contact with and turning them into violent and deranged killers who simply refuse to be stopped.
With nowhere to go, the film crew desperately try to uncover the cause of the virus before it is too late!
{rec} is a brilliant film - at 90 minutes, it is intense, claustrophobic, and shocking to the extreme with plenty of shocks and thrills to keep the adrenaline pumping. 
The contrast between the slow start, and what follows afterwards, is simply sublime and everything happens so quickly, you are sure to be left by the end credits with your heart pumping as this is certainly a film that leaves nothing to the imagination.
{rec} 3, or {rec} Genesis as it is better known, occurs at the same time as {rec}, but outside the city and instead based at a wedding. It receives mixed reviews because unlike the previous two films, it is more light-hearted in tone and the found footage style is quickly abandoned but you know what, I love it simply because it is so different.
It starts like a wedding video, with shots of the happy couple getting ready for their big day, but before the end of the night, everything has all gone to hell. 
One of the guests at the wedding is a vet, bitten by a dog owned by a family who live in the original apartment building, and it isn't long before he begins running amok and infecting everyone else.
I love this film, and not just because it features a chainsaw wielding bride, but also because of the unique twists and turns the story takes.
There are plenty of surprises here and those who dismiss this film as being too different from the others are simply missing the point.
Like the sorbet course in a meal, this film is almost like an interlude, a little break or refresher, before things go back to being serious for the fourth and final chapter.

For me, these three films are a perfect start to Halloween and your 31 days of horror movie viewing.

Look out for more recommendations soon...

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