Reviews by Kyle Ellis

I will admit it, I may be biased. I love Christmas movies, such as Scrooge, It's A Wonderful Life, Muppet Christmas Carol and the first two Home Alone movies. But really your Christmas is incomplete without the original Miracle on 34th Street, which is quite simply a timeless Christmas treasure. It is magical, imaginative and in some ways witty as well. The simple but effective and sparkling plot tells of a man believing himself as Santa is institutionalised for being insane, but sets out to prove he is the genuine article. The screenplay is lovely, spirited and pleasant, maybe it needed to be a little more snappy in places but compared to how wonderful the film was I am past caring. The cinematography and scenery are fabulous, the whole film is stunning to watch, and the music is gorgeous. And the acting, one word superb! As Kris Kringle, Edmund Gwenn is just marvellous. He positively twinkles in the role, and did he deserve the Oscar win for best supporting actor. Why am I asking that, of course he did. Maureen O'Hara, who was a stunning actress is so lovely as Doris, and as Fred John Payne also shines. And Natalie Wood is believable and absolutely adorable as Susan. What makes this movie though is that it teaches great morals, without preaching. All in all, a truly great film, that made me believe in Santa. 10/10 Bethany Cox

The two best Muppet movies after Jim Henson's death are this and Muppets Treasure Island. The worst, I think is Muppets Wizard of Oz. Muppets Christmas Carol is wonderful, and deserves the high rating. I also think the rating for Treasure Island is too low, as I loved that film too.

The Muppets are truly funny here, especially Gonzo and Rizzo, who have the funniest lines. Kermit and Miss Piggy were at their most touching here. Scrooge's encounter with the Marley Brothers was the highlight of the film for me. The high point of the movie is the performance of Michael Caine,(like Tim Curry in Treasure Island) who was the best he was in recent years, and his singing was passable. Very convincing! I personally think this is the funniest post Jim Henson Muppet movie, and was my favourite Christmas memory as a kid, and managed to stay true to the spirit of Christmas, and was heartwarming with the character of Tiny Tim. The songs, also, weren't that bad at all, but in comparison to the ones in Treasure Isaland, one or two of them are a little hit-and-miss, but that's just me, and that is my only negative! The incidental music was beautiful though.

All in all, a wonderfully entertaining film, that has enough to satisfy Muppet fans. 9/10. Bethany Cox

It mayn't be one of my favourite Christmas movies, but it is one of the funnier ones for me. I agree some of it is silly, and when I say silly I mean silly, and the story is really quite predictable. But it at least looks good with some nice cinematography and scenery, and the music is fine too. The script has many funny moments and the sight gags while silly are respectable. The direction is competent and the performances from Chevy Chase and Beverley D'Angelo are likable while Randy Quaid gives some great relief as a decidedly obnoxious relative. So in conclusion, no masterpiece but it is entertaining, that's what matters to me. 8/10 Bethany Cox

What a wonderful movie! I didn't realise Bob Clark had a movie in him like this. In fact I had to double check that it was Bob Clark who directed this, because while Black Christmas was good, he also did the atrocious Baby Geniuses movies and the lacklustre Rhinestone. Here in A Christmas Story though, this is not only the best I've seen Clark direct but I think it is his best film too.

I love Christmas movies, and while A Christmas Story is not my absolute favourite, I think it fully deserves its title as timeless Christmas treasure. The film looks great with the cinematography skillful and the locations striking. The script is always witty and insightful, I loved the home truths and the lack of smut and saccharin which may have marred the film slightly if included. The story is beautifully structured and an enormous joy all the same. The pace was spot on too, while the entire cast performed impeccably.

In fact, everything I have to say about A Christmas Story is good. It could have been a little longer perhaps, but overall this film is a classic and never less than hugely enjoyable. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

Have always had a lot of appreciation for horror, even though it isn't my favourite genre, and 'Hereditary' was a film that immediately held my interest in seeing it with such an arresting concept. Although more polarising with audiences it was very positively received films critically, having more than once seen and heard it described as one of the year's best.

Despite reviewing it only now, 'Hereditary' was another film viewed weeks ago but with so many commitments and such a big to watch and review list it's taken a long time to get round to reviewing it. While the polarisation is understandable, count me in as another person who was really impressed by 'Hereditary', very nearly loving it even. Of my recent 2018 viewings, it definitely stands out as one of the better ones and it is not hard to see whether it is considered in as high regard as it is. Can also see why it has been compared to 'The Exorcist' and 'The Shining', having just as much the same amount of dread and hellish atmosphere, and also couldn't help thinking of another slow-burn horror from this year that divided opinion but was also critically acclaimed 'A Quiet Place'. Not in concept and they're different films, but in that they're polarising but mostly positively regarded and both films that were very well made, well acted and unnerving.

It is hard to know where to begin praising something with so many positives. 'Hereditary' is incredibly well made visually, one of the most audacious and best-looking films in the genre in recent years. The photography is both dream-like and nightmarish, while the film is slickly edited, atmospherically lit and the spacious house, with a mix of the audacious and the ghoulish, is like its own character.

The music is haunting and adds to the unnerving atmosphere as does some of the most effective sound editing and design of the year, never being obvious or cheap and providing a lot of eeriness. The writing flows well and never becomes corny or overly-wordy, sometimes even thought-provoking in particularly in what it has to say about grief and trauma.

While a deliberate slow-burn for me 'Hereditary' was not dull at all, helped enormously by the atmosphere and the near-perfect balance of family drama, which was often very poignant and packs a powerful emotional wallop, and horror, where there is not any over-reliance on predictable horror tropes and cheap scare tactics and actually was frightening and suspenseful. It always is interesting seeing film debuts and there are some fine ones out there, Ari Astor's directing is remarkably well accomplished with a fine eye for detail and an adeptness for how to pace such an atmosphere.

Characterisation-wise, 'Hereditary' is quite compelling and there is a realism to it. The performances are near-perfect, with Gabriel Byrne occasionally slightly under-playing but generally it is one of his best performances in a while. The star here is Toni Collette in a truly marvellous and often moving turn that calls for a mix of grief and terror, Collette grieves with pathos and conveys terror with intensity. Alex Woolf is the other standout for similar reasons though Milly Shapiro is not to be neglected.

It is a shame that the ending is rushed and that plausibility loses its way at this point, instead coming over as silly and like the film had run out of steam.

Otherwise, a very good film that was very nearly excellent. 8/10 Bethany Cox

While not a fan of found footage films, there are exceptions out there. There are also examples of good horror films. After putting off watching 'Paranormal Activity' and its sequels due to the divisiveness being so extreme both ways, the decision was made to watch them all to see what the fuss was about.

'Paranormal Activity' is one of those very divisive films where you can sort of see why it was hyped up positively, at the same time one can totally see why it wouldn't appeal to all. For me, 'Paranormal Activity' was nowhere near as good as the hype and wasn't really for me, but it did have its moments and redeeming merits so can't be as hard on it as most negative reviewers have been (not so much as to attack anybody who liked it).

There are times where there was a genuine sense of dread and tension, heightened by some creepy lighting and eerie if effectively low-key sound effects and noises. The ending may have been a little overblown somewhat, but was also gut-wrenching and the scariest the film got. Some of the occurrences are suitably ominous.

Katie Featherston is pretty good and brings some normality to the proceedings, while Mark Fredrichs provides the one memorable supporting contribution.

Micah Sloat however is disadvantaged by an underwritten and annoying character with zero development and acts blandly and obnoxiously. The rest of the supporting cast are forgettable.

While there are some good scares here, more so than given credit for by those who didn't care for it or disliked it, they didn't come consistently. Too many of them suffered from being far too predictable and veering on the ridiculous. The lack of music was a brave choice but while it was appreciated to not have anything overbearing what was going on parts did cry out for some scoring of subtle eeriness.

Unfortunately, too much of 'Paranormal Activity' drags badly, with downtime scenes that are ridiculously and dully written with lots of cheese and no substance, a big problem for a film with a good deal of that. Dialogue is poor and the storytelling relies on atmosphere to work but is paper thin to the point of non-existence elsewhere. Really didn't care for the excessively unfocused and gimmicky camera work either.

In conclusion, not as good as the positive hype and not worth losing sleep over, but while the less than positive reviews are understandable some of the extreme negativity is over the top to me. 5/10 Bethany Cox

'Final Destination' is most notable for two things mainly. The first being that it was the introduction of a fascinating and clever premise that is pretty unique for a supernatural horror. The other being that it was the feature film directing debut of James Wong, best known beforehand as a veteran of 'The X Files'.

It spawned four sequels with the fifth film being released in 2011. While it is flawed and somewhat of an uneven film, the first 'Final Destination' is still, six years after the fifth film, one of the franchise's better outings. Perhaps even the best, and the one where the premise feels the freshest. The more stale the concept got, the more the novelty wore off and the less effective the film. Could 'Final Destination' have executed its premise better? Perhaps. Mostly, to me, it did it quite well.

Visually, 'Final Destination' looks pretty good for low budget. It's slickly shot and very atmospheric, while the plane effects in the Flight 180 plane scene/explosion are quite impressive. The music score has a suitable eeriness.

The film is never dull and is a vast majority of the time fun and suspenseful, with elaborately creative death scenes that are ingeniously unsettling. The film's highlight is the opening Flight 180 scene, anyone already with a fear of flying will have their fear exemplified and it is likely to turn people from boarding a plane for a while. Wong does competently with the directing and the portrayal of Death is an interesting and well done one.

Acting varies, with personable Devon Sawa, affecting Ali Larter and Tony Todd's creepy cameo coming off best. Really liked the characters' surnames, that were nifty homages to horror/suspense icons.

Not all the acting works however. The others are saddled with one-dimensional and flatly written roles and are a mix of bland (Kristen Cloke) and irritating (Kerr Smith), also found myself not being able to take Seann William Scott seriously.

The biggest issue is the script, which is very high in the cheese and awkwardness factors and there is some clumsy exposition that often feels under-explored and not really going anywhere. Generally the story is nice, but things could have been explained better and explored more and it's a little too reliant on coincidence. Things also take a dumb turn towards the end before the film concludes on a logic-defying note.

Overall, patchy but entertaining. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I wouldn't say that Pumpkinhead is an outstanding film, but it has always been a film that I've enjoyed immensely in a way that none of its sequels matched. It is not perfect, with a plodding last third(though the very end is great) and some under-characterised exposition. However, there is so much to like about Pumpkinhead. The best two assets were the atmosphere and Pumpkinhead himself. The atmosphere has that sense of eeriness and the scares and killings(not relying on cheap gore like the sequels did thankfully) are genuinely creepy. Pumpkinhead is wonderfully played by Lance Henrikssen, the monster does look good and moves methodically while having that sense of dread. For my tastes, he was too ruthless in the sequels which diluted that sense for me. The sets look beautiful, and the music is very haunting. The story unfolds slowly, but necessarily for the tension to be more effective, and the script and characters are decent, not the most well-developed but likable all the same and all of them have a point to the story. Of the cast, nobody reaches Henrikssen's level, but nobody is bad either, no real sense of blandness or serious over-acting. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

That is not to say this Fright Night is terrible. It is not, in fact it is watchable, it's just that it didn't ignite my fire as much as the original Fright Night(an 80s classic) did. As far as remakes go, Fright Night is somewhere in the middle, not amazing like The Thing or The Thief of Baghdad but not abominations like Psycho or The Wicker Man. Starting with what was good, it is very well made, I'd say it is somewhat slicker than the original in terms of effects and how it was edited. The music is also great and very memorable as well as successfully enhancing each scene. The direction shows moments of imagination too particularly in the impressive gory moments, and the acting from David Tennant, Imogen Poots and especially Colin Farrell was excellent. However, there are two weaknesses, Anton Yelchin who was likable enough but bland and Christopher Mintz-Plasse who was really quite awful. The story is not as well paced, and seemed drawn out to me with some awkward scenes such as towards the end with the mother, while the script has the odd witty moment but lacks bite, fun and could've done with being more creepy too. The characters aren't as well written or as incorporated either, some of the relationships also felt rushed and forced. All in all though, definitely not bad or pointless, just didn't entirely satisfy me. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Have an appreciation for horror and had been interested in 'The Howling' franchise for a while, with the first film being highly recommended. Also know that werewolf films have been done well on film, the obvious example being 'An American Werewolf in London' (over 35 years on and that film is still a classic). So decided to continue my "watching and reviewing all films from horror franchises" quest, and did so with 'The Howling' series.

While not as good as 'An American Werewolf in London', not quite a classic and not without imperfections, 'The Howling' managed to be a highly effective and solid film of the genre and as an overall film. If asked whether it seems like it has held up well, my answer would be it seems as though it has. It's entertaining and has unsettling moments, while also being surprisingly well made and made by someone with a clear love for the genre with quite a number of affectionate touches. As far as 'The Howling' franchise goes, this is by far the best having found the follow-ups a very mixed bag. When it comes to films centred around werewolves, it's also one of the better ones.

'The Howling' may take too long to get going, with a relatively uneventful first stretch, and is not without its dull spots.

Regarding the acting, it is variable with Christopher Stone looking as though he was not very interested in his role or the film, his acting resembles that of sleep-walking. Dee Wallace fares much better, she is appealing and looks engaged but she is not without her not so good spots, particularly in some of her reactions.

On the other hand, 'The Howling' does look great. There is a lot of atmosphere and it is very stylishly photographed, the secluded setting also adding a lot. In this regard though, faring best are the pretty amazing special effects/make-up. The score looms ominously very effectively and Joe Dante directs with an assured hand, never ill at ease or losing control of the material, and with clear affection of the genre.

Standing out too are the sharp and witty script, a very successful attempt at turning genre cliches on their heads and doing things fresh with them and some quite decent characters that don't bore or annoy, some named after horror incons such as Freddie Francis and Terrence Fisher. In particularly the second half when things do properly get going, there is a suspenseful and unsettling atmosphere and actually did think there were some nicely timed scares. The werewolf transformations are highly imaginative and look great even today. Although the acting is variable, the horror stalwarts involved fare very well, they are accomplished and clearly know what they were doing. John Carradine is the clear standout here.

In conclusion, solid atmospheric fun with bite. 7/10 Bethany Cox