GFF Reviews

Author: gffreviews

  • Patchwork

    Patchwork is fucking awesome!

    It’s pretty much the binary opposite I was worried it might be from the trailer. Although it was billed as a comedy, the trailer still makes it look like it’s heavy with gore and the kinda pulling-women-apart-like-they’re-merely-a-collection-of-bits. But it’s actually fucking excellent. It’s like a BFFs, chick empowerment, monster rampage movie. It’s like Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants meets Herbet West Reanimator. It’s fucking hilarious.

    Favourite line: Release the owl-cat! 

  • The Mind’s Eye

    Telekinetic lovebirds vs. evil scientist in straightforward, enjoyable, eye-bleeding, head-exploding fun. Early Carpenter influenced style and kick-ass synth-heavy score, favourite Frightfest film so far. 

  • Pandemic

    Standard zombie apocalypse movie shot in video game first person shooter POV. Welcome just for the fast-paced action.

  • Anguish

    An attempt to make a possession movie played for the emotion rather than horror. The downside is it makes for rather slow and boring watching.

  • The Hexecutioners

    Gash B-movie Hexecutioners never really gets going with either atmosphere or tension. Seems to take forever to end. 

  • Frightfest freebie!

  • Couple in a Hole

    Couple in a Hole is about a couple who live in self-imposed exile in a hovel in the forest where their son died. Paul Higgins and Kate Dickie (Jamie from The Thick of It and Lysa Aryn from Game of Thrones) give absolutely heartbreaking performances as this deeply loving couple trying to survive the unspeakable power of grief. 

  • The Forest

    Here’s the plot to The Forest:

    “Don’t go into the forest. If you, don’t leave the path. If you leave the path, definitely don’t stay there after dark.”

    “Okay”

    *runs in random circles through the forest for hours*

    I expected to feel a little annoyed by the cultural appropriation aspect of yet another white lead in a Japanese set horror movie, but actually what became my biggest annoyance was that not since The Blair Witch Project have I seen a main character just make consistently awful decisions throughout the entirety of the picture. Points for nice filming, obviously a beautiful location, but it was over-reliant on jump-scares.

  • Truth

    A Hollywood paperwork drama about the CBS news report into George W. Bush’s draft-dodging and subsequent fallout. Cate Blanchett is luminous as always but the movie was awash with the kind of self-righteous smaltz that made West Wing unwatchable for me. That combined with the overdone score being played to the nines over slo-mo every five seconds, it just frayed my patience. Despite the self-engrandising style, the movie was actually really predictable, with standard scene of career woman struggling/failing to be a good wife and mother. I could just call it scene for scene until the end arrived with mundane boredom and orchestral crescendo accompaniment. Ugh.

  • The Daughter

    An American shows up in an Australian town with Pandora’s box under his arm and becomes a rolling bombshell of mayhem.