The Amityville Haunting Movie Review

The Amityville Haunting
                                                                 

The Amityville Haunting is a horror movie directed by Geoff Meed and starred by Tyler Shamy, Devin Clark and Jon Kondelik. This movie is another of the ‘found footage’ style horror film which is getting too common to be interesting (or innovative) in recent times. This movie is released in 2011.

The Amityville Haunting is the story of a family, who moves in to a new house and starts experiencing paranormal events, but the father refuses to leave the house by ignoring all the evidences.

A scene from the movie The Amityville Haunting

Plot:
The Amityville Haunting tells the story of the house of the famous horror movie  ‘The Amityville Horror’, after 30 years of the massacre. For those who doesn’t know that story, a man killed his family of 6 by being possessed by some kind of demon. Watch that movie if you are interested, that one is a good horror movie, at least, much better than this one.

The  Amityville Haunting starts with the video footage of a few teens, who brakes in that house. Then they were attacked by something (it was not shown what attacked them). Some of them got killed and the others’ fate was not shown.

Next a family comes to that house. The husband (an ex-soldier) likes the house and decides to buy it, but knowing the house’s haunted past, the wife doesn’t agree with him at first. Finally the husband convinces her by telling about the cost and other things. They have 3 children where the mid one is a boy who tapes the whole story in his handycam.

One day, the husband finds a door open in the morning which was closed on the last night. Becoming suspicious, the husband installs security cam in the house. Security cam starts to pick unusual scenes. One night, the husband finds her daughter entering through that door with a boy. The husband throws the boy out of the house and he gets killed just outside the house by some strange thing. Oh, I forgot to mention, the agent who sold the house and a one of the persons who helped them to move in this house has already died in somewhat similar way.  These deaths upset the wife and she doesn’t like the house, but the husband doesn’t seem much disturbed by these.

Anyway, the son (the middle one) gets the phone of one of the teens who entered the house and got killed, but his father doesn’t seem to understand the risk either. Then more strange things starts to happen, like the little girl starts to talk with her imaginary friend, another man gets killed, camera picks up the ghost’s image and so on. All of them want to leave the house, except the husband. Finally he gets crazy and that when the ghost hits its final blow.

My reviews about The  Amityville Haunting:
First of all, I didn’t like The Amityville Haunting at all.

We have seen a good number of these ‘found footage’ or ‘caught on tape unintentionally’ horror movies like The Amityville Haunting lately and now they are not only getting boring, but also getting irritating. Most irritating thing of all is, most of these movies are not well made, just like this one. “Paranormal Activity” is still a legend, where none of these can come near to that, even if they are made following it.

I’ve recently written a review of another movie of this kind, ‘Grave Encounters’ (you can read that here: Grave Encounters Review.). Just like that one, here in “The Amityville Haunting”, the director has totally failed to take the advantage of making a movie of this style. The ghost was seen on the screen several times, which has reduced the appeal of this movie.

A horror movie is supposed to be scary, but The  Amityville Haunting has totally failed to scare me at all.

The plot is too simple to impress. The husband’s wish to stay in this house after all these seemed unrealistic.  The acting, dialogue and the make-up were not good enough. Make-up is specially bad for the ghost. The special effects are one of the very few good sides of The Amityville Haunting, although the effect of the ghost seemed pretty cheap. But I must say, when the ghost attacked (pulled) someone, that scene looked good.

There is nudity at the beginning of the movie The Amityville Haunting, and overall, this one is not for children.

The cause of death of the husband seemed ridiculous. Watch the movie and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I have some confusion about some documents shown at the end of The Amityville Haunting. Are they original? If anyone can say anything about it, please share.

Finally, I’d say, it felt like I’ve wasted my time by watching The  Amityville Haunting  If you are looking for a good horror movie, don’t go for it. 

If you are interested,

IMDB link: The Amityville Haunting IMDB

Wikipedia link: The Amityville Haunting Wiki 

If you want to watch this movie, you can find the best deal from Amazon by clicking here: The Amityville Haunting Movie

Lockout Movie Review

Lockout

                                                   

Lockout is a science fiction action movie released in 2012. It is directed by James Mather and Stephen St. Leger, and written by Mather, St. Leger, and Luc Besson. The major characters of this movie is played by Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Vincent Regan, Joseph Gilgun, Lennie James, and Peter Stormare.  Don’t confuse this movie with the crime thriller ‘The Lookout’ of 2007.

The movie Lockout is about a man who is falsely alleged for a murder and then sent to a high security prison in the space, where the prisoners have become free and has taken control of the whole facility. The man's mission is to save the President's daughter.  

Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace in a scene of the movie Lookout

Plot:

Lockout tells a story of 2079. A man (maybe a spy) named Snow gets wrongly accused by secret service for killing another secret service agent and for trading confidential data. He is shown evidence that he has killed the agent, but he denies it. He is then sent to jail. But before he gets arrested, he manages to slip a briefcase (which was supposed to have the important data) to his friend, who hides it in a locker.

In the meantime, the daughter of U.S.A. president Emilie goes to visit a prison in space, referred as MS1 (for Maximum Security). She interviews a prisoner (Hydell) but during the interview, Hydell brakes free from the chains and then he frees all the prisoners in that jail. The prisoners start a riot and kill most of the security guards and officers of the prison, led by Hydell’s elder bother. They just keep some (including Emillie) alive as a bait and takes control of the whole prison.

Secret service gets informed about this situation and knows about the condition of the President’s daughter. They convinces Snow to go to a rescue mission to MS1 to bring Emilie alive out of there. Snow agrees to go there knowing his friend was in that prison.

At MS1, Emilie manages to run from the hold-up and hides in a room with her bodyguard. But as oxygen gets almost finished in that room, her bodyguard commits suicide to give her a few more minutes. After she becomes unconscious, Snow brakes in that room and takes Emilie out before the prisoners enter the room by cutting the doors.

Snow then takes Emily to a hidden place and helps her to disguise. Then they starts to look for his friend, but only to find him gone insane. Snow cannot learn anything from him about the briefcase’s location.

The next part of the movie is about Snow’s rescue mission, about his fight to get out of that prison alive, about his getting out of the things he’s accused for.

My review about the movie Lockout:

First of all, I’d say, I liked the movie Lockout.

Lockout is a pretty regular science fiction action movie which is not very rare, but this one is well made and well directed.

One interesting thing about Lockout is Guy Pearce’s dialogues. They are hilarious! Its something like the famous ‘Men in Black’ movie series, which is a serious movie itself, but the hero’s dialogues will make you laugh every now and then. Just like that, there is no comedy scene in the whole movie Lockout and Snow is a pretty badass action hero, but his dialogues are massively humorous. Although by reading this review, you may think the funny dialogues may not properly fit with a serious crime movie, but in this one, the dialogues are enjoyable and have not harmed the Lockout’s seriousness, not even a bit.

The acting of the major characters are okay in Lockout , but I won't say perfect. In a movie like this, there were opportunities and they could be better. Same goes for the make up.

The special effects are also good. There is no lack or no over-do of special effects in Lockout. 

I think the plot is the only thing which has kept Lockout away from being perfect. I mean, the plot is good, but there are a few plot-holes or weakness in this movie which has harmed the solidness of the plot. For example, the security system at the prison (MS1) seemed unrealistic. How come such a high priority prison did not have any proper isolation for the prisoners planned for a case like this? The prisoners could break free and could take control of the whole situation very easily in Lockout (for example, we saw a very good illustration of kind of similar scenario in the movie “Conair”). Someone wanted to use sleeping gas on the whole premise, but failed as the rebel leader killed him. How come there was no option to that from the control room? Snow’s identity was not shown in this movie. He could be a criminal, a spy or a secret service agent, but none of them was explained. The way Snow was plotted seemed very weak. Why the right person was on the right place on the right time is also not shown in Lockout. We also didn’t get to see how the president was put back to his post after being pulled from it.

But don’t let this confuse you, as I said, even with this weakness, the plot of Lockout is good. For the plotholes, screenplay can be blamed, but the direction was good.

Although there is no nudity in Lookout, but for violence and language this one is not a good choice for children.

So, overall, the movie Lockout  is good, if not excellent. I’d recommend it to the action movie lover. According to my guess, you may not love it, but should like it.

What do you think of the movie Lockout? Let us know in the comments.

To know more:

IMDB link: Lockout (2012)

Wikipedia link: Lockout (2012) wiki

To buy or rent this movie from Amazon or to watch online, click here: Lockout Movie

Mirror Mirror Movie Review

Mirror Mirror

                                                                

We all have seen different adaptations of the famous story of Snow White by Brothers Grimm and Mirror Mirror is another of them. It is released in 2012. This movie is directed by Tarsem Singh and  starred by  Lily Collins, Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer, Nathan Lane, and Sean Bean.

Mirror Mirror tells the story of the Snow White and the seven dwarfs, and the evil stepmother of Snow White who plans to kill her

A scene from the movie Mirror Mirror

Plot:

Snow White is a princess, who’s mother dies at childbirth. Her father loves her very much and raises her. When she was a child, her father marries another woman. He leaves the castle for a fight and never returns, which, at one point, puts Snow’s new mother as the ruler of the country as the queen.

Snow White grows up to her teenage and wants to visit the land. But she can never go beyond the strict regulations of the queen. The queen never allows her to go outside the castle. Then we can see the greedy nature of the queen. She always lives in her royal comforts, where the costs for those come from the poor people’s taxes. 

One day, Snow White manages to go outside the castle. While passing the jungle (which is rumored to be haunted by a mysterious beast) she meets a prince along the way, who is robbed by some dwarfs. Snow White goes to the nearby town and finds the people’s sad condition. In the meantime, the prince reaches the castle and meets the queen. By noticing his smartness and wealth, the queen falls in love of the prince. She throws a ball to amaze the prince, but secretly Snow White joins the ball. But Snow white gets caught by queen and the queen orders her servant to take Snow White to the jungle and to feed her to the beasts. The servant releases Snow White in the jungle and Snow White ends up at the cabin of the dwarfs.

At first she finds it a little hard to gain the dwarf’s trust, but soon they love her and she helps them to gain the love and acceptance of regular people. The prince meets Snow White and informs the queen that she is alive. 

Being angry, the queen uses her spell and turns her servant into a cockroach. She then uses another spell to make the prince fall in love for her, which creates a ‘puppy love’ in the prince for her. Bound by the spell, the prince agrees to marry her.

Then the queen uses another of the dark magic to kill Snow White and the dwarfs. But Snow white defeats them. Then she, with the dwarfs, crashes the queen’s wedding party and kidnaps the prince. At the dwarfs’ cabin, she breaks the prince’s spell.

Next part of the story is about Snow White’s confronting the queen and bring happiness to the kingdom.

Julia Roberts and Armie Hammer in Mirror Mirror

My reviews about the movie Mirror Mirror:

First of all, I’ll say, I’ve enjoyed watching Mirror Mirror.

If you are looking for a serious movie, Mirror Mirror will disappoint you. This movie is a childish and funny movie, it is made to enjoy in a light mood. It was very pleasant and lighthearted. We know about “Snow White and The Huntsman” which is made on almost same plot as this one and is a rather serious one, but Mirror Mirror gives you a complete different feeling than that one and I must admit, watching Mirror Mirror feels better. 

The plot of Mirror Mirror is nothing new, almost everyone who is reading this blog knows the story of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, so you may find very little twist in the plot. The direction and the screenplay were also good.

The dialogues in Mirror Mirror are good, specially of the dwarfs’. The dwarfs here are very funny characters and pleasant to watch (unlike the ones from the Snow White and The Huntsman). But other dialogues are also a good fit for a comedy movie. 

Acting of all the characters are also good enough in Mirror Mirror. There is no question about the acting capabilities of Julia Roberts, and in this movie, she has done no injustice to her name and reputation. Although Lily Collins has not done a big number of movies, but I loved her acting in Mirror Mirror, pretty fluent and charming. Other characters has also played their parts well, no over-acting or lack of expressions.

The special effects are okay too for a fantasy film.

There is no nudity or violent scene, so feel free to watch Mirror Mirror with children. 

So, finally, as I said, I liked Mirror Mirror  But remember, this movie is a light childish movie, don’t look for much depth or seriousness in it. If you are looking for a movie to lighten your heart, I’d definitely recommend it. Other than that, Mirror Mirror a nice one, watch it. 

What do you think of this movie? Feel free to comment.

To learn more about it:

IMDB Link: Mirror Mirror IMDB

Wikipedia link: Mirror Mirror Movie Wiki

To buy or rent this film on Amazon, or to watch online, click here: Mirror Mirror Movie