Tag Archives: Horror

Lego Scooby-Doo!: Haunted Hollywood Review

Posted on by
2

Lego_scooby-doo_haunted_holllywood_poster
It’s time for another Scooby Doo adventure. This one is back to the Lego style. What I like about Scooby Doo venturing into all of these different styles is it means that the films can come out more frequently. Think of the Lego films as a hold over while waiting for the traditional ones. As long as the writing is on point, it will still make for a fun story. Fred steals the show once again, but the rest of the gang do their best to keep up with his lead.

Shaggy and Scooby Doo have finally had enough of Fred and the gang. They refuse to be tricked by Scooby Snacks any longer and have decided to stop eating them for good. The gang takes them on a field trip to Hollywood to celebrate, but it turns out that the place is haunted. Shaggy and Scooby might have to go back to Scooby Snacks if they want to survive this experience. Luckily, with all of the real film producers running away from the monsters, this is Fred’s chance to take the limelight and make the best film possible!

This film plays out like your average Scooby Doo adventure. The animation isn’t my favorite as it is lego style, but it’s not all that bad either. If anything, the one thing about Lego style that irks me the most is how Legos can’t eat. As a result, there’s always an excuse for Shaggy and Scooby to not eat their food or a quick cutaway. We need to find a way to get past that limitation. As for the soundtrack, I can’t remember any of the tunes, but I’m sure that they were decent enough.

The subplot of Scooby and Shaggy deciding not to eat Scooby Snacks anymore was decent, even if you knew from the start that the franchise would never dare change the status quo quite so much. It’s still good to see the heroes have some restraint and go for actual food instead. The other subplot with Daphne wanting to be a film lead was annoying. She could have at least been halfway decent at being a supporting character instead of actively trying to wreck Fred’s film. I’d say that the plot was definitely too over dramatized. Velma didn’t really have a plot this time. As a result, she wasn’t as bad as she usually is although she’s definitely still not much of a likable character to be honest.

Luckily, Fred’s got this. Once he gets the film producer role, he does a good job of putting everyone in their place and completing the job to the best of his ability. He didn’t have much to work with, but Fred pulled through with the project anyway. He stopped most of the monsters on his own and came up with the plans needed to save the day. I can’t imagine where the gang would be without him. I don’t imagine that they would last long, that’s for sure.

Naturally, we’ve also got a few characters who were made up for the film. There weren’t a whole lot of them this time. One character was an actress who decided to help out in Fred’s film. She handled the role fairly well and definitely had an air of professionalism. The only problem is that she never felt like a suspect. I don’t suppose that she was ever supposed to be considered as one, but then you really only have 2-3 actual suspects with one of them being the culprit. The film does its best to weave around that, but it’s quite difficult.

There’s also the horror fan who doesn’t like the fact that Hollywood has decided to go with Rom Coms instead of more horror. Fred and the gang don’t sympathize all that much. This kid has to perform just about every job at the place himself since everyone else ran off. He’s brave and has a motive, that’s reason enough to add him onto the suspect box. There’s also his boss. He likely stands to gain a lot if Hollywood is shut down since he is probably insured. He half heartedly tells Fred and the others to film a movie themselves, but it could just be his way of getting them out of the picture. You’ll want to keep your eye on this guy. Finally, we’ve got the inspector who is looking to buy Hollywood. As more and more people run away from the place, the going rate will continue to drop so that’s likely a good proposition for the man. He stands to gain a lot from this monster.

As for the actual monster(s) in question, the designs aren’t bad. They’re all based off of the original monsters like Dracula and the Werewolf so they aren’t new designs, but they are tried and true. They make some effort to get to Fred and the gang, but the Mystery Inc had a larger advantage than usual this time. The monsters were actually on the defensive for most of the film. They simply lacked the ferociousness that most of the other villains had.

The film’s pretty short as you’d expect and since there were a short mission at the start of the film, the main one didn’t get too much screen time. Relatively speaking of course since it probably only took an extra 5-10 minutes. That may have been why the cast was so small this time around. The pacing is still solid though and maybe it was for the best as the original characters here are all likable. The best character was probably the investor to be honest, but the horror fan did a decent job of keeping everyone in check. The boss would probably be the blandest character, but he serves his purpose.

This review ended up being a little on the short side so let me use this paragraph to make a suggestion on where Scooby Doo can go from here. I like the current formula as much as the next guy, but there is one addition that could really help the series. The franchise needs a rival team. Granted, the team could be obnoxious if handled wrong, but stay with me here. Imagine a Mystery Inc that only cares about profits and uses any means necessary to catch the crooks. Even if they don’t become main supporting characters, one film like this could be genius. I believe that the films have dabbled around with having other sleuths once in a while, but I’m talking a full team here. Just think about it, a rival team could really be awesome. Fred’s competitive nature would ensure a fun dynamic as well.

Overall, If you’ve seen the older Scooby Doo films, then you should like this one. It stays pretty true to the overall formula and sits comfortably away from the lower tier films. Everyone is in character, which actually is not a given since in recent films some characters have been a bit dicey. Daphne didn’t bring her A game this time and was easily the weakest member, but even she could have been a little more exaggerated. Fred’s been looking really good these last few films so I’m hoping that the franchise can keep it up. Next up, the Wrestling sequel is arriving and that should definitely be a fun film. The first title was one of the better Scooby Doo films so I’m certainly hoping for more of the same from its sequel.

Overall 7/10

The Boy Review

Posted on by
Reply

tumblr_o0igdnDUg81ruok98o1_1280
It’s time for another one of those dime a dozen horror films. If you thought that I would somehow enjoy The Boy more than the others, then it’s time to be enlightened. To be honest, this film actually started out all right. It was fairly reserved. No exploitation, No super violence, No dark pasts…and then…the film continued. It brought all of those problems into the mix along with language and animal violence. This film was PG-13 from the get go so it’s all not too extreme, but every negative adds up. Throw in the terrible twist at the end and you’ve got yourself a stinker!

Greta has found herself a babysitting job at a mansion in the middle of nowhere. This is the perfect way to escape her unhealthy connection to a demented villain. As long as her friends don’t tell him where she went, it should be impossible for anyone to find her. The job gets a little odd when Greta realizes that she has been tasked with looking after a doll. The doll’s parents claim that it is real though and give her a lot of rules to follow. If she does these things, then all will be well. Greta eagerly agrees and the instant they are out the door she proceeds to break as many of the rules as possible. After all, what can a doll do? Malcolm is the local errand boy who acts as a negative role model for Greta and encourages her to do all of the wrong things. Will she listen? Of course she will!

So, where to start here? Well, Greta’s a terrible main character. Seriously, let’s forget for a moment that this is a horror film so Greta’s doomed anyway. Is it really so hard to follow the rules that she was given? Talk to the doll a little, play it some music, feed it, etc. It’s not exactly rocket science and she is getting paid for this so she may as well do the job right. Since the doll doesn’t have any other needs, she still has a very large amount of free time. It’s not enough for Greta though and she has her “Miller Time” (Using Wine though) as quickly as possible. Greta also insists on insulting the doll and pushing it around since its face offends her. After she realizes that the doll is real, she quickly tries to warm up to it, but it’s a little too late for that. It’s good that she’s making amends, but she was well past the point of being even slightly likable.

At this point, I was expecting the doll to help her out against the insane Cole. (Yes, the friends decided to tell him where Greta was hiding in order to save their own skins. Great friends right?) Greta asks the doll for help, but then it’s destroyed in a single hit and the plot twist occurs. Are you ready for this? Are you? If you don’t want spoilers, leave now. This twist is far too terrible not to mention here! Well, the doll really was fake. There are no supernatural elements in this film whatsoever. Instead, there’s a guy living in the house all along. He quickly shows up and destroys Cole, but decides that Greta and Malcolm have to die as well.

The direction of the film certainly changed rather drastically here. It was good to see Cole gone, but this twist was terrible. For starters, it makes no sense. He moves around very quickly and silently as Greta somehow doesn’t notice when he’s around, even when he goes to the bathroom where she’s taking a shower and snatches her clothes. He gets to her boots immediately after she enters the house in the first scene as well. His secret passages go everywhere apparently and he’s a bodybuilder who has a good amount of super strength. He’s able to survive being directly stabbed and gets multiple injuries that do nothing but slow him down. Why couldn’t we have just had a supernatural doll who could destroy people and warp reality? That would have been more entertaining at the very least. This guy was about as interesting as your average psychotic villain, which means he wasn’t interesting in the slightest.

Malcolm is a terrible character as you’d expect so there’s no reason to talk about him much. The instant that he appears, he decides to flirt with Greta and since this is a film, he succeeds and they instantly have a one night stand. From there, he just gets knocked out a lot and eventually escapes thanks to Greta. As for the parents who ran off, they decided to destroy themselves since The Boy was too strong. They left Greta as a human sacrifice since they’re also pretty corrupt. You’d think that they would just run off and call the cops, bringing them back to the house to save everyone right? Not in the cards for them.

As for the rest of the negatives, this film falls into every trap in the book. As mentioned earlier, we have the obligatory shower scene which serves no purpose in the film other than to remind us that the villain is terrible and has nothing better to do than watch. We have the terribly written romance that undermines both of the main characters. The friends are hilariously bad as they basically don’t mind sacrificing Greta’s life. Her subplot with Cole involving the past is naturally super dark because every horror film likes a dark backstory. It’s not the only one though as we find out that the original Boy already had destroyed other kids back in the day and nobody ever stopped him. He literally got away with murder thanks to everyone being so weak willed. Apparently people at the bar knew about this, but decided not to tell anyone.

There is animal violence as well as Greta is in charge of looking after the traps and taking the rats down once and for all. The final part of the film is also pretty violent as the Boy starts to destroy everyone as cruelly as possible. You’d think that Cole would be pretty tough, but he goes down like a sack of rocks immediately. Even when he was fighting The Boy, it was impossible to root for him though. I’m sorry moviegoers, but this guy’s even worse than the main villain although they’re both completely terrible. It’s a short film, but the Boy quickly became your average horror slasher with every possible trope that it could squeeze in.

The design for The Boy also isn’t very good at all. I’ll take the classics like the Xenomorph over him. To be honest, Freddy and Jason aren’t much better either, but at least their designs are classic. Jason’s mask is also more impressive. I suppose that The Boy could beat the original Jason, but both Freddy and Jason have long since surpassed this guy thanks to their never ending sequels. They keep getting stronger while The Boy will likely never appear again.

Overall, The Boy is rather terrible with the final twist solidifying this as a sad experience. Without the twist, maybe the film could have clawed its way up to a 2 or a 3, but it depends on where the film would have gone with the ending anyway. Adding in Cole was a big mistake if you ask me. None of the characters are likable and the film is filled with a ton of generic jump scenes and toons that you won’t remember in the end. There is a final scene as all horror films have a twist. As it stands, it’s a pretty subdued one and a generic ending that any horror film could pull off. I guess this film just didn’t have much originality. There’s no reason to watch this film and you’re better off just checking out Bleach: Hell Verse if you want a spooky title that’s also hype at the same time.

Overall 1/10

Sssssss Review

Posted on by
Reply

517KGH9SFML
Uh oh, looks like it is time to review another film that puts the word rotten in rotten tomatoes. It’s no exaggeration to say that this is one of the worst films I have ever seen as it joins the exclusive 0 star club. There really isn’t anything redeemable about this film and every minute will have you cringing and wincing while looking at your watch and wondering why you aren’t ordering a nice pepperoni pie at Pizza Hut instead of watching this. Sometimes things get worse before they get better, other times they just stay bad. This is one of those times.

A college student named David is a pretty smart guy. He gets bullied a lot though and is happy to go along with Professor Carl when he is recruited to help with some Snake experiments. David doesn’t realize that this ordeal is actually quite sinister despite the Professor constantly injecting him with many needles along with the fact that the previous assistant mysteriously vanished. Can David save himself or have the dice already been cast? I’m afraid that it is the latter and the Snakes begin to wreck everyone!

Well, where to start with this mess? I suppose the first thing to remember is that this film is centered around Snakes. The problem with this is that the film uses it as an opportunity to include as much animal violence as possible. Snakes are choked, killed, and roughly handled by the characters involved. Carl decided to use Snakes as sport by taking one outside only to humiliate it and poke a stick in its face all day. Apparently he does this just about every day simply to show off his power. None of the snakes are handled well as all of the humans try to show their “dominance” by grabbing their necks and messing with them the whole time. I was rooting for the Snakes to take them all down and you’ll be happy to know that most of the characters don’t make it through this. When you mess with the Snakes be prepared for them to mess you up!

This is also the kind of film where one night stands happen quite regularly. The class bully gets one of those moments for no real reason only to be murdered by a snake in the next scene. David and the main heroine also have one of these moments even though they only just met each other a few hours ago. He also gets it afterwards since he has to fight a Snake Eater and those don’t play games. The main heroine manages to make it out of the film alive, but just barely and mainly because Carl didn’t want her to get hurt. Everyone else was fair game.

There was also a fairly mean professor who likes to mess with Carl. He was actually right on the money that Carl was insane, but his reaction times weren’t enough to save him. Even after he solves Carl’s riddle, snakes murder him anyway. Let’s face it, none of these characters were safe from the snakes. They wanted their vengeance and made sure to grab it as quickly as possible. The Cops come to check out matters since they know that someone never made it back out after working for Carl. Surely they’ll do something right? Unfortunately not as the film portrays the cops are terribly unintelligent characters. For starters, they’re scared of the snakes. Even after that it is lightly implied that they suspect something, but they decide not to actually make any moves based on their info. Instead they decide to wait and see even though more people have been murdered and another teenager has vanished. By the time they make a move, it is far too late for them to really be of help to anyone.

This film plays out like a classic horror film as every character is bumped off one at a time. There is no twist ending here though as it just abruptly ends with another death. The film never stays classy though and there were no good parts in the entire film. After all, all of the characters either suffered for a long time before dying or just died. There is no happy ending here in the slightest and the villain literally got away with murder and crazy experiments for years. You’d think that the film would have tried to save someone, but no…it opted for the dark ending. The first teenager who vanished had the sad fate of being forced to lie down in a corner while people laugh at him for ages and ages. Definitely way too dark a plot if you ask me.

Now, could this film have had potential if there was no animal violence, no one night stands, and if Carl had been stopped before he had mutated David? I’d say not really since the previous assistant’s fate was still rather terrible, but maybe the film could have gotten a 3 instead of a 0. It would still be an improvement I suppose. The plot in and of itself is what really doomed the film and it couldn’t recover from that. This is one film that I hope never gets a reboot or a remake.

Overall, Sssssss uses all of the classic horror tropes and cliches that it can find, but that only succeeds in making the film worse and worse. None of the characters are even remotely likable as even the mean teacher is technically a bad character and only serves to be the lesser evil. We even find out that a gas attendant is a mean, unlikable character just for the lolz since the writer wanted to ensure that you couldn’t like anyone. Did I mention that Carl also gives his snakes a lot of beer to drink so that they’ll be drunk? It certainly shows that he is always doing something morally wrong even when he is not murdering and experimenting on people. You also have to question the point of his research since turning people into snakes doesn’t really help with anything. They may outlive humans in his fantasy, but transforming people one at a time in such a slow fashion will ultimately not make even the slightest bit of difference. His research died along with him and the film.

Overall 0/10

The Wolf Man Review

Posted on by
Reply

THE-WOLF-MAN-1941-POSTER-Beyond-Horror-Design
It’s time for another super old horror film. Compared to the last films that I’ve reviewed, this one looks great, but as a film overall it is not that good. It’s a lot more fun and charismatic, but if you’re looking at this like a horror film, then it’s going to disappoint you quite a lot. There is nothing scary about this film at all and for the most part it plays out like a comedy. The main character really reminds me of Bill Murray though, to the point where the main character here looks almost identical to him. Hmmm…maybe I just haven’t seen enough Murray movies though.

Larry moves to a little village to meet up with his father after a relative’s untimely demise. They haven’t talked much before this so the situation is rather tricky for a little while, but they soon get along quite well. The main problem now is getting the other villagers to like him. Larry doesn’t worry about that for very long though as he looks through his window and happens to see a lady. He quickly believes this to be love at first sight and hounds her until she agrees to a meet up along with one of her friends to get their fortune told. One thing leads to another and Larry/Gwen decide to ditch the friend for a few minutes. Larry sees her get murdered by a Werewolf and destroys it, but now he is being framed for murder and turning into one himself. Will his will power hold out?

The whole romance plot here is quite bad though. First off, Larry is persistent to the point of being a nuisance the whole time and then we find out that Gwen already has a fiancee. (I think it was a fiancee, could have just been a normal boyfriend) Yet, she continues to hang out with him which is basically giving him hope even if he’s the one who is constantly following her. She’s sort of playing the field which is always sad to see. Larry’s a pretty bad character though so it’s hard to feel all that bad for him.

At least Larry can be amusing though. He gets a few good one liners in and his voice was made for comedy. That being said, his will power is incredibly weak and if he was going to run, he should have done it right away. He waited way too long for his plans and that’s why they didn’t end up working out very well. As a Werewolf, he wasn’t all that impressive either. He has slight super strength and a little extra speed, but apparently it is not enough to deal with a human who is holding a blunt object. Both Werewolves don’t look so good once the fight is on.

Larry’s Dad was probably the best character in the film. He kept on reminding everyone that there were no such things as Werewolves and even decided to tie up Larry so that he could watch this and be freed from his paranoia. His main mistake was deciding to leave Larry alone after that. The ending would typically be super tragic, but it’s not handled too heavily. It’s given appropriate emotional value, but it isn’t beaten to death like a modern film would probably do. Extended crying scenes and all of that, the Wolf Man skips all of that.

For once, there actually was a bit of a soundtrack here. Mainly because this film has a big contrast between happy and evil scenes. It’s something that newer films don’t really do, but the older ones were well known for this. For example, whenever the main heroine would appear, the music would quickly go up and the tone would be lighter. When the Werewolf appeared, the music would suddenly slow and get very tense. It’s a nice contrast and I’m also just happy to finally have a soundtrack to talk about as well. It feels like it has been quite a while.

While I am still an advocate for all movies being as long as possible, the short length works pretty well. After all, if a film’s writers don’t know how they could stretch a film out without watering it down, then it’s not worth it. For a film like Batman V Superman or Avengers, I could easily see it being 4 hours and not really being any worse. Those scenes would be useful character development, but what would the Wolf Man do with an extra hour? No, the short length is for the best and as it is, we get a nice array of different scenes. Seeing the doctors and cops subtly question Larry while also insinuating that he is the culprit was a well done scene. Again, I’ve got to give Larry’s Dad some props here for also talking a good game. He reminds Larry that nobody can remove him from the premises, not even the cops. Apparently the rich family name has even more clout than I could have dared imagine.

The weak romance is really what hurts this film. It makes Larry look unreasonable and turns him into an unlikable character while it also makes Gwen look bad for even going around with him in the first place. It didn’t really need to be in this film and if that time was used for more dialogue with Larry’s Dad or something like that instead, the film could have definitely sneaked in a 7. As it is, I think that aspect weakens the film enough to justify taking the star away. If the Werewolves didn’t have such weak will power, it could actually be useful to have the ability of transformation.

Overall, The Wolf Man is certainly one of the better classic movie monster films from Universal. It’s definitely aged a lot better than Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy. This film has quite a few sequels and crossovers so who knows, I may end up being on the Wolf Man’s side for just about all of them. That being said, he is easily one of the weakest so I’m not sure if he’ll really have much of a future in those fights. He’ll definitely have to use a lot of tactical strategies. By the end of the film, you should hopefully know the Werewolf legend word for word since it is repeated over and over again by many different characters. If you want to get the most enjoyment from this film, go in expecting a comedy. Trust me, it’ll feel like one as you watch it.

Overall 6/10

The Uninvited Review

Posted on by
Reply

The-Uninvited
This film was an interesting one. It’s another blend of horror and comedy which works pretty well. Surprisingly the late middle/early ending of the film is the part that starts to drag a bit. I thought that the beginning and ending were the strongest parts of the film, but in a way..maybe that’s how it should be. Films should hook you in and reel you out, the middle is the most expendable part I suppose.

Roderick and Pamela decide to buy a house. These siblings both have a use for it although Roderick is very skeptical the whole time. He doesn’t want to break the bank on this house, but the two of them are given a good price for it. Roderick can now work on his papers from here and Pamela can enjoy the forest life. Everything is going well, but then the daughter of the previous owner lets them know that they’ve made a grave mistake. The siblings find out that the house is actually haunted and this ghost doesn’t play by the rules. It will use any means necessary to drive the heroes out and with its mild, mild, mild telepathic abilities it keeps trying to get Stella to commit suicide. Can Roderick stop this?

Let’s quickly go over the weaknesses of the film. For one, the romanc- Hold it DReager1, this romance wasn’t all that bad was it? Actually, I’m afraid that it was. While the romance was more conservative and proper than the ones I tend to bash, it still happened way too suddenly and out of the blue. It came out of nowhere and a proper romance shouldn’t evolve after a few minutes like that. It also doesn’t really add anything to the film so it was hardly necessary in the end.

As I mentioned, the middle is a little uneventful. After the heroes learn that the place is haunted, they start going around and digging up clues. Ultimately they learn things like who the ghost actually is and why it is so upset, but I can’t really say that this plot went anywhere in a hurry. It certainly took its time. Of course, dragging on a little is not a big weakness and the film is still a solid adventure. On the whole, I enjoyed the atmosphere. The characters were good and the ghost made for a good villain. The film did a good job of balancing the two genres without going overboard at any point.

Dealing with the ghost was also well played at the end. It’s a strategy that more protagonists should try out in these kind of films. The spirits and ghosts always do seem rather strong, but are they really? Or are the humans making them that way. That’s the question that you’ve always got to ask yourself before tackling them in combat. This ghost was admittedly one of the weaker ones that I’ve seen though. It was good as wailing/laughing/crying during the night though and even unnerved Roderick quite a bit. I don’t think it would fare too well in an actual fight though.

From all of the characters, I have to say that Stella was probably the most annoying. Mainly because of her low will power as she nearly died twice. She should be able to resist the ghost’s calls a little better if you ask me. Not to mention that she was fairly unreasonable about the whole thing. Her plan to just hang out with everyone wasn’t terrible I suppose and you’d think that everyone would be home in the dead of night, but it wasn’t to be. At least it gave the fortune teller/rich lady a role. For a while there, I wasn’t sure where the film was going with her character arc. She almost seemed like filler for a bit.

Before I wrap up the review, I definitely have to disagree with anyone who finds this movie scary though. The movie is many things, but scary isn’t one of them. Making the top 11 scariest films of all time from one list is rather surprising. With all of the comedy undertones and good one liners from the main characters, I don’t see how it can really scare you that much. Ah well, different things scare different people. Back before I watched dozens of horror films and became immune to being scared, I did get the chills from a horror movie aimed at kids so everyone has to start off somewhere. This is the kind of film that probably wouldn’t do well as a remake so it should probably stay in our memories. It already has the honor of being one of the better horror films out there after all. That’s good enough for it!

Overall, The Invited is a charming relic from the past. There isn’t a whole lot to say about it though because the cast is small and the film gets to the point right away. It’s fun, but aside from briefly talking about the ghost and the characters, there’s nothing more to elaborate on. I may as well not drag this review out so let’s finish this one up. The Uninvited doesn’t particularly excel at anything, but it captures the charm and fun that an old horror/comedy film like this one can bring to the table. It’s not all that long so even if it has some mild pacing problems, it finishes rather quickly. The characters are all likable for the most part and this film doesn’t make a lot of big mistakes. It may not be remembered as the years go by, but at the very least, I will always remember the cool ending.

Overall 7/10

The Car Review

Posted on by
Reply

the-car-movie-poster-1977-1020465734
It’s time for an old horror film, but unfortunately this one is quite bad. It decides to add in some dark themes and extra grit for no real reason and most of the subplots have no place being in the movie at all. The Car itself also makes some very odd choices during the movie like sparing the main character for no real reason. Somehow this film is listed as PG as well. I suppose this was before PG-13, but if you had to choose, you may as well go all the way with this film’s rating. Brace yourselves!

The film starts out with a car murdering three people. One of those is run over several times as the car vents out its frustrations. An abusive man notices this and calls in the cops. We’re barely 10 minutes into the film and it already doomed itself. Why does this guy have to be abusive? It doesn’t contribute to the plot in the slightest. The worst part about this is that the characters in the film never do anything about this. They all know that he is committing these acts, but they don’t do anything about it. Moreover, they actually ask him for help and he gets to stand in the sunset with the other characters at the end. The film glorifying this guy for even a second is loony and this was a negative that I simply couldn’t forget. He took away any fun that could have been in this film.

When the cops are called in to stop the car they quickly find out that they are outmatched. Their road blocks don’t work and this car is able to break into houses and assassinate people that way. Nobody is safe anymore! Unfortunately, the film still cannot focus on this plot and it’s plagued by an array of other issues. We have one cop who ends up reverting back to his old drinking habits. This causes him to forget about warning the town’s inhabitants and results in more people dying. One cop decides to go for a “Miller Time” moment (Drinking beer) but gets run over by The Car as a result. Even the students are fairly cheap as one of them draws inappropriate pictures of the teacher as a past time. Again…what does this do to advance the plot? Nothing, but the teacher approves this action just to remind us that she’s rather odd as well. Why can’t we have any likable characters in this film?

The writing’s pretty bad as well. The characters are all unlikable tanks to this and we have some language issues as well with the characters swearing when the going gets tough. Most of the characters aren’t all that smart either. For example, one of the cops decides to corner the evil car on a cliff and then watches for about 5 minutes at the villain slowly starts to push him to the curb and then off the mountain. Backing up would have done him wonders or at least jumping out. No, he had to just wait and accept his fate.

As this is a classic horror film there is a twist ending so you’ll want to stick around. It’s more or less what you’d expect and the scene would probably have more impact if it had gone a little further. Maybe showing something/someone at the police station and then an iconic sound as it all went black. That being said, maybe the producers and directors were counting on a sequel at some point. I don’t see that happening anytime soon and that’s a good thing.

There’s only one real positive about the film and that’s the fact that it has a good soundtrack. It has a lot of mysterious themes and fitting villain themes for The Car. I also like the sounds that The Car makes and the fact that it has some mild wind manipulation abilities. Add to that the fact that it is bullet proof and you’ve got yourself a powerful vehicle. Maybe the strongest sentient car that we’ve ever seen! Speaking of the Car, naturally you’re supposed to make your theories on what exactly it is. It seems like it’s a demon if you ask me. It probably found a car and possessed it, augmenting its physical abilities or it transformed itself into a car for the lolz. Needless to say, it is definitely a villain so there’s no plot twist about it actually being a hero or something like that.

This Car definitely doesn’t hold back though and it aims to eliminate everyone eventually. It also likes to mess with its victims a little before doing anything as well. Like when it decides to scare the main character a lot before doing anything and even sparing the guy. That being said, that scene was where I had to draw the line. There was no logical reason to spare the main character. Especially when the car had not spared anyone else up until that point. It was just out of character and the only explanation is that the guy survived purely because he was the main character. Just another example of bad writing although I like the fact that he got knocked out just because the door opened and the light was really bright. That’s a pretty bad defense feat.

At least the horses all seem to have escaped the car so that’s good. A lot of the humans didn’t quite make it, but that’s the nature of a horror film or a “slasher” in the sense that the villain started picking them all off one by one. The only reasonable character here was probably the person who kept taking the calls. She even let the main guy know that his translator actually betrayed him and only told part of the story. The other guys were either sketchy, had unfortunate subplots, or didn’t do anything. Even the main character wasn’t that good as his whole first scene was just incredibly wince-worthy and the fact that he is seeing the heroine in secret to an extent is suspect as well. He certainly got over his wife rather quickly, showing off once again how fake a lot of these romances are. The film didn’t have a whole lot of that which is definitely good though. I doubt it would have been handled well here at all.

If there’s anything you can learn from this film by the end, it’s not to let your guard down. More than once the evil Car would simply stop. The human would lower his gun as well and then the Car would start up again and take him down. If you’re on the hunt for a dangerous vehicle, you shouldn’t care if it stops. Just quickly blast it and keep on moving. Of course, the car was ultimately bullet proof so it didn’t matter, but it’s good to at least try. The village didn’t handle the situation all that well, but with a little plot hax I suppose that they almost did all right. We even got to see the car’s true form thanks to all of the fire!

Overall, The Car is definitely a pretty underwhelming horror movie and just makes for a really bad experience. It’s short so at least the pacing isn’t a huge concern, but it’s not all that good either. Some scenes do go on for quite a while like when the heroes were cornered at the cemetery. I was never bored, but there were many times where I couldn’t wait for it to be over. If they cut out the abuse subplot, the film would have instantly been quite a lot better. It could have at least grabbed a 4 I’d say. Maybe it’s a sign that even the writers didn’t think this plot could stand on its own which is why they added the many subplots. Definitely a bad move on their part all the same though. You definitely shouldn’t watch this film and I’d advise you to check out Superman vs The Mole Men instead. It makes for a more enriching experience.

Overall 1/10

The Little Shop of Horrors Review

Posted on by
Reply


Remember the Bucket of Blood? Well this film’s very similar since it is made from the same guy with just about all of the same actors and a verrrrry similar plot. It is a little better since there is no animal violence but it’s still a pretty bad film. At least this way you can say that the film lived up to its name though right? There were definitely a lot of horrors to be found here to say the least. Who knows, maybe the remake is better…maybe. Well, let’s jump on in!

Seymour is a demented murderer who never really had the courage to do anything too drastic. That changes when he grows a man eating plant and ends up feeding it a body to cover up his murder. Seymour then starts going around murdering people until he finally decides to stop. It’s too late though since the plant has leveled up and now it knows how to mind control people. Seymour’s certainly in a sticky situation now, but at least he is getting rich!

There are two detectives looking into the murders, but it is tough going since the movie takes place in a rough neighborhood where people die just about every other second. Still, they’re doing their best. One guy even lost his son, but just reminded everyone that those are the brakes when you live in the area. Everyone solemnly agrees. The shop owner knows that Seymour is destroying people, but he doesn’t want to say anything because of all the money that he is earning. See the similarities between the two films yet?

What helps Seymour realize that destroying people is wrong is getting friend zoned by the main heroine yet again. Unfortunately it is just too late at that point and will power was never Seymour’s strong suit. Once the jig is up we get a very similar chase scene to the last film and Seymour decides to destroy himself, but this time he’ll also take the plant with him. Once again the ending tries to have some humor as Seymour gets one last line of vengeance. Yeah…it’s an interesting line at the very least.

One advantage that this film has over the Bucket of Blood is the fact that the plant makes for a decently cool antagonist here. I like the fact that he’s always yelling for more food. It makes him a bit more realistic and likable even if he is very unreasonable. Having basic telepathy was also very impressive. The heroes should have tried a little harder to stop him, but I suppose that they realized how outgunned they were. After all, the plant was able to take down a robber at one point without any real effort. The guy even had a gun, but I guess he didn’t suspect that the plant could be alive. Who would right?

The best character in the film is easily the guy who likes to eat flowers. He comes out of nowhere and is another really insane character to add to the rest of the cast. The film really wanted to make everyone as insane as possible, but this guy’s gimmick actually worked really well. Whenever he’d eat a flower you couldn’t help but grin at how crazy the whole thing was. I also liked the way that he confidently walked into the store and basically acted like he owned the place. He didn’t even buy the flowers he just went in and started eating them. Now that’s what I call an unexpected action!

Meanwhile, we also had a crazy dentist guy who is psychotic and likes to make people feel pain as he drills through their mouth. No worries, Seymour destroyed him, but then he meets a pain addict and decides to pretend that he is the dentist and messes with the guy for a while. It’s a very odd scene that comes out of nowhere and it reminds you that there are no sane people in this town. No wonder everyone ends up dying every day over in that place. It must be due to only having one flower shop in the whole town. Hoe can anyone enjoy the nice fragrances that way?

Parts of the film can sound humorous as a result of how crazy this whole situation is, but in the end it tends to be more wince worthy than anything else. The film’s fairly short, but at the same time it feels like you’ve already seen it all. All of the characters are really unlikable and annoying aside from the flower eater. I suppose that Seymour’s boss isn’t all that boss though. He’s the main comic relief of the film and does a pretty good job in the role. He may be corrupt, but he gets the most one liners in the film. He consistently makes sure to hint that Seymour may not be what he seems even if nobody ever picks up on his hints. At least halfheartedly trying to Seymour is better than nothing I suppose. Seymour’s definitely lucky that he ended up being in this town with the plant. With the death count being so high, it makes it a lot easier to raise the plant in secret.

I didn’t really talk about the negatives all that much since I basically covered them in the Bucket film, but this is a separate review so I should go into it at least a little. The main problem here is naturally Seymour. He’s a terrible main character and is someone that you cannot root for. The movie tries to present him as someone who is very reluctantly murdering everyone, but I can’t buy into that. He knows what he is doing the whole time and could choose not to do so. He’s simply trying to justify the whole thing to himself and isn’t doing a great job of it. It can be pretty sad to see everyone getting murdered by the plant as well with all of the sad slurping sounds. Even a poor drunk guy isn’t spared as he steps in front of train tracks and Seymour was in the area. The problem with this film is that it just isn’t all that fun half the time and the fact that none of the main characters are likable just ends up hurting it a lot. I do appreciate the friend zone card though.

Overall, The Little Shop of Horrors is certainly an improvement over the Bucket of Blood, but I wouldn’t say that it’s a huge one. It is still a bad film, but at least the humor was a little better in this film. It is interesting how all of the characters were so reused here though. This film almost feels like an AU or remake of Bucket of Blood, but just with a slightly different plot. Regardless at least we got a talking plant who happens to be evil. I’m sure that a lot of people weren’t expecting that plot to make it to the big screen. If that’s your cup of tea and you want a lot of insane characters then go for it. If you want a cooler film, then go watch Batman V Superman. Now that one brings the hype!

Overall 3/10

A Bucket of Blood Review

Posted on by
Reply

Corman7
It’s time to take a look at one of the worst films that I have ever seen. It ranks up there with Sucker Punch and Amityville Horror. This film is so horrendously bad that you will be staring at your watch through most of it and the film feels like it is 3 hours. There’s not a single redeemable part of the film and it just keeps going from bad to worse. Of course, the title was a fairly obvious indicator that this film was going to be terrible, but I don’t think anyone suspected just how terrible it would be.

The main character is named Walter and he’s a psychotic mass murderer who works as a waiter for a small restaurant. One day he sees a cat and realizes that he can finally realize his ambitions and destroys it, turning it into a statue. That’s his favorite hobby after all and slowly but surely he starts to murder other people and turns them all into statues. Nobody can tell that there is a human body of rotting flesh inside of the clay though so their noses must all be stuffed from the super large amounts of smoke inside of the cafe. The shop owner knows that Walter is going around murdering everyone, but he also knows that each murder increases his profits tremendously so he turns the other way. Can he afford to do that forever or will he have to make a move?

The police also send an agent into the restaurant to stop the ongoing drug problem there. Everyone is always high in this establishment so it is tricky to find out who is actually dealing the goods. Especially when everyone has a hand in it. The detective decides that it’s just too much trouble and decides to attack Walter. Walter destroys him of course since police training is no match for a very scrawny fellow with a frying pan. The cops never find out what happened to the detective and barely seem to care as they are written out of the film completely.

Walter has a lot of friends to stick up for him as well. The shop owner’s daughter loves the paintings and encourages Walter to get more by any means necessary. There are a few drunk guys who are always yelling nonsense about acorns and reality who love Walter’s paintings as well. They think that he is a visionary and while they don’t like money, they like what you can buy with money. More beers for everyone! If only they knew the truth about Walter! Well, in the climax we get a chase scene as Walter tries to destroy the main heroine when she rejects him and places the friend zone card. Walter outruns everyone for quite a while and proves that he’s used to fleeing the scene. Eventually he destroys himself since the stress was too much for him. The drunk guy even makes a pun about this and the film ends on that chipper note.

“Is It Over!” I found myself thinking as I fled the scene as well. This film was just so preposterously bad that it was a thrill so see it all over. The film tries to be funny by having as many extreme and unrealistic characters as possible, but the end result is actually that everyone simply comes off as being unlikable instead. Also, I’ll never be fine with the idea of a mass murderer being the main character. The whole point of a main character is that he or she should be a likable protagonist. Someone that you can root for. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the main character has to be a hero, but if he is a villain like in this case, then it better be something comically mild like theft or it’s about the villain becoming a hero. A full fledged villain with no morals as the main character? That’s really not going to bode well for the film in the long run.

The film may even be more cringe worthy than Sucker Punch if you ask me although it’s tough. Sucker Punch is more depressing, but it also doesn’t have any animal violence and it has action scenes. A Bucket of Blood is just tough to watch since it’s so terrible and wince worthy, but it’s not nearly as repulsive as Sucker Punch. It’s definitely a tough fight and at least I can guarantee that I’ll never see this film again. I’d highly recommend taking a pass on it if I were you readers as well.

Overall, A Bucket of Blood is even worse than the title would suggest. All of the characters are nonsensical, unlikable, and corrupt characters. There is nobody to root for, there is animal violence, and the pacing is horrible. There is no soundtrack and the film’s effects are terrible as well. If you want to watch an old film with a lot of class, check out Superman vs The Mole Man. It fixes just about all of the problems that I had with this film and then some. It’s the kind of film where you’ll walk away with a grin instead of a groan.

Overall 0/10

The Forest Review

Posted on by
Reply

getmovieposter_the_forest_5-1
Looks like it is time for another horror film. They have a fairly bad track record and I’d say that it may actually be even worse than the romance film’s rep. That being said, I’ve seen many more horror movies than romance titles so it’s not really a fair fight. This one came out in in 2016 so it’s actually fairly modern. It’s not a good film regardless, but at the very least I can say that the first half of the film is actually better than around 90% of the horror films that I’ve seen. It goes downhill from there though. I don’t really bother with the spoilers moniker unless the film is new, but this one is 2016 so I’ll say it now…there are spoilers ahead!

Sara was trying to enjoy an ordinary day when her twin sense started tingling. She finds out that her twin sister has vanished inside of the Suicide Forest. Her husband tells her not to be dramatic, but she knows that her sister is currently still alive since her twin sense lets her know if she is alive or not. Sara must hurry since nobody can survive in the forest for long. After all, there are many demons lurking among the trees and they will pounce on anyone with a little sadness in their hearts. Sara knows the stakes so she heads to Japan and enters the forest…but not before getting a drink! She enjoys a good beer and meets a guy named Aiden. He claims to be a reporter and doesn’t mind having her tag along as he goes through the forest the next day. The catch is that he will be recording what she says as they go through. It’s a price that Sara is willing to pay. (For a little while) With the backup at the ready, Sara steps into the forest.

The film is short, but still takes its time getting to the ghosts and jump scares. The first 40 minutes or more is just Sara walking around Japan and learning about the forest from supporting characters. She goes to sketchy morgues and talks to suspicious teenagers along the way. It may not be the most engaging group of scenes, but there are none of the usual negatives from a horror movie like animal violence or violent sob stories involving the main character or a house. Unfortunately, things start to go seriously downhill once Sara finally gets into the forest. Sure enough, all of the usual horror tropes quickly start to appear.

For starters, the simple car crash quickly turns into a domestic accident. There’s no shock value here since this twist has been used to death and just reminds you that this film has no originality in the slightest. I wish that the car crash could have stuck. Then Sara also begins to let the demons overwhelm her towards the middle of the film and ends up murdering an innocent person and herself as well. When Sara was trying to cut someone’s hand off of her, she actually ended up cutting her arm instead. Either her eyes were not working properly or the spirits subtlely moved reality around with an illusion to make her arm look farther away than it actually was. It’s still a stretch of the imagination though and I’m not sure that I buy it. The spirits were also nice and overpowered since they could create illusions on the phone as well which made things tricky.

I don’t think Sara necessarily made the wrong choice all of the time, but she definitely did in the first place. If you meet someone in a bar who immediately tries to hit on you…you probably shouldn’t take this sketchy character to the middle of a dark forest to be alone for a full night. I definitely wouldn’t trust anyone like that and then she starts to doubt him a whole lot. That’s fine, but then try to run til you see a path and get out of the forest. Sara isn’t concentrating all that well and ends up falling in a ditch. Good thing that the villains in this film are so slow right?

As per horror film rules, there is a quick twist towards the end. It makes sense and you’ll feel bad for the nice supporting character, but he probably should have ran in the car with the police when he had the chance. I don’t think he’ll be able to win against a full fledged demon so it’s game over for him. Seriously, it wouldn’t be a horror film without an end twist and I’d say that it is practically a requirement at this point. There are a few other “jump” scares during the film like an old man laughing through a mirror and an old lady who tries to choke Sara. I don’t see anyone jumping during these moments unless you’re just sensitive to noise so the sound automatically makes you move a bit.

Still, many of the dicey situations could have been avoided in the film if Sara had any common sense. When she was camping in the middle of the night, she was supposed to not move from that spot. Instead she runs into the forest where the demons start to feed her their misinformation. Yes, keep on believing the sketchy characters who show up out of nowhere and are constantly grinning. They can’t possibly be lying to your face right? Even demons have standards of what they can and can’t do….no, that’s probably just a rumor. Also, it doesn’t help that Sara can’t really fight for beans so she can talk tough to Alain, but then what? Alain got a rough situation for this film, but that’s probably why you shouldn’t get too close to someone in a bar when both of you are super drunk. Sara letting herself get drunk on the very first day of investigating probably isn’t a very good idea either.

One plot angle that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense is the fact that Jess is actually still alive after a few days. Unless she has absolutely no sadness in her and just went into the forest for the lolz, then the demons should have grabbed her by now. Being absolutely alone…for days in a forest where everyone wants to eat you is a bit of a stretch. You can say that the demons kept her alive so Sara could show up, but then why didn’t they quickly finish her off at that point? They had plenty of time to take them all down so that no survivors would make it through. They are slow though since they couldn’t catch someone who had a broken arm and a badly injured leg so maybe they were still talking along the path.

Overall, The Forest isn’t a great horror movie and it’s not a good one either. I’d call it a sub par film in the end. From the score you can still see that it beats a whole lot of other horror films, but that’s what happens when you can successfully stay away from animal violence and for the most part the film wasn’t even all that grotesque. The demons purposefully look ugly of course, but they’re not over the top like usual. The domestic plot twist was horrid, but at least its screen time was fairly small. If you like horror films then you probably won’t like this film and if you don’t like horror films then you won’t like it either so it will be very hard for this title to appeal to any crowd. Maybe The Woods, or The Mountains can have a better time of it someday.

Overall 4/10

Godzilla in Hell Review

Posted on by
5

61QstObKzvL._SX328_BO1,204,203,200_
This comic review is a pretty big landmark for me because it is the first Godzilla comic book that I have ever read. That is probably a little surprising to hear since I’m such a big Godzilla fan, but my library simply doesn’t order the comics very often. I’m a comic reader, but not necessarily a collector. It’s the opposite with video games. When I saw that the library had picked this trade paperback up, I grabbed it instantly. I heard that this comic was quite different from the average Godzilla adventure and that is certainly true, but I suppose that it’s as good a way to enter the Godzilla comic part of the franchise as any other. It is a good comic although I feel like it could have gone a lot farther with this ambitious concept.

On the back of the book they have a quote from legendary comic reviewer Daniel Alvarez of Unleash The Fanboy about how this is the most unique Godzilla tale of them all. It is a little…sketchy how they completely took the quote out of context although I certainly agree with it and would argue that the reviewer would as well. This is the most unique Godzilla tale of them all and there will likely never be another one quite like it. That doesn’t mean that it is the best Godzilla tale of all time. Certainly not, but it’s a good one and that’s why I feel this mini series should have ran for a little longer. Another 5-6 issues would have given it time to really explore Godzilla’s time in hell. Who knows, if this sells well enough then maybe we will get a sequel.

As the title outright states, this series is about Godzilla being in Hell. (Or is he really there?) It works as a bit of an anthology as each issue has a different team behind it and Godzilla faces a new threat each time. The stories are still held together by the loose plot of Godzilla trying to get out and most anthologies have some kind of string holding the plot together, but for all intents and purposes, the comics are all separate. As such, I’ll review this in the style of an anthology with a paragraph for each individual issue rather than talking about it as a whole until the end.

The first issue sees Godzilla literally fall into Hell where he fights off a Dark version of himself who turns into a very deformed version of Biollante and threatens to eat him whole. Godzilla fends off his attack and makes his way into the next layer of Hell. It is a solid start to the collection and I dare say that it is the most compelling issue of the bunch. It doesn’t have as much action as some of the issues coming up, but it handled the concept better than the others. The big sign saying to abandon hope is something that you would expect to find in Hell, at least conceptually. Once you are in Hell, there is no hope at all. Simply put, the race is over and you made the wrong choice. Of course, Godzilla is not dead yet so he is not truly out of time. Plus, let’s face it, Godzilla doesn’t feel fear. The art for this issue was solid. It did a good job of showing the facial expressions for Godzilla and the fight was well done. This is really what a comic version of Godzilla should strive to look like and I definitely liked the design of the made up villain.

Following that strong start was the worst comic in the collection. The series tried to go for a live action look and it didn’t work. As far as I’m concerned, if DC’s Kingdom Come event couldn’t pull it off, nothing ever will. The fight scenes are very choppy and it’s a shame since this issue could have had the most action. This level of hell has demons transform into lookalikes from Godzilla’s past. Fake Rodan, Anguirus, Varan, and Ghidorah all attack the hero. Godzilla fends them all off and it should have been a really good issue. The art just takes you out of the adventure. I do like the use of the word bubbles here as they add more context and hint at what is actually going on here. Godzilla passes this trial with flying colors as he proves that he is more than a match for any demon. Of course, the trials will get stronger from here.

The third issue was the most colorful and went for more of a cartoony feel than the other two. This made for a great fight between Godzilla and Space Godzilla, but the facial expressions could be a little odd at times. It was uncharacteristic for Godzilla, but the fight scenes were worth it. Space Godzilla is definitely a worthy opponent for the King of the Monsters. This was also the strangest issue in the collection. So, this trial is essentially that Godzilla must defeat Space Godzilla without resorting to the temptations from both sides. Half of Hell wants him to become their god and rule while the others want him to work for Hell. You are led to believe at first that half of them worship God and want Godzilla to join, but they quickly switch to believers of Godzilla and also don’t seem trust worthy. Regardless, Godzilla eats them all and crushes the rest, but neither side seemed to have a clue as to what they were doing.

They were yelling about submitting to peace the entire time. Godzilla just kept on blasting them which is probably a safe bet. Why would angels be in Hell anyway unless they were fallen ones? I guess some Earthlings tried to come here as well since we saw that Moguera was toasted. It was an odd comic, but it also helps support the argument that this is all real and not simply a dream the most in my opinion. I don’t have a lot of concrete arguments to support that, but this issue felt like it could be real. More on that at the end.

Issue 4 also had some pretty nice art. It was a little more realistic, but still pretty vibrant which is good because the whole issue is a big fight with King Ghidorah and Destoroyah. Godzilla has to use his wits to defeat these two since their combined might is far greater than his. It is cool to see him actually using strategy like dividing the opponents and taking them out on at a time. He loses though and the second half of the issue sees him die over and over again. The problem is that since he is in Hell, he cannot die for good. He has been cursed with immortality and it is a somber thought. At the end he breaks out of this part of hell and makes his way to the final challenges. This was my favorite story. As a big action fan, it was fun to see some fights here and Godzilla being portrayed as more than a mindless monster is always good.

Finally, the collection ended with Godzilla facing off against the elements and the actual demons from Hell. In their true forms, they were finally playing for keeps here. Unfortunately, they got a little too overconfident and after destroying Godzilla, they reanimated him with fire, which was enough to jump start his body and allow him to regenerate. They should have quit while they were ahead. It ends with Godzilla rising out of the water and you have to ask, did this all really happen or was it in his head? The answer will come in a moment. Meanwhile, the art here was not as good as the last few issues. The final shot with Godzilla rising it great and it’s better than the live action issue, but it is too gray-scale for me. Comics don’t always have to be vibrant, but it just didn’t look that good and everything was just too faded. Still a good issue, but it’s always sad to see Godzilla lose due to sheer numbers. It is part of why I don’t like the Megaguirus film.

In the end, my answer is that this was all a dream. The final issue does state that winning against yourself is greater than a thousand victories. It said that such a win can never be taken away and those lines of dialogue really support the fact that this was in Godzilla’s head. It is still a little iffy as Godzilla is not the type to ever doubt himself and I don’t think he would need to conquer his inner demons. Still, I suppose that even Kaiju have things that they need to think about so it is not totally unreasonable to believe that Godzilla has to come to terms with himself now and again. I’ve never been all that opposed to reading a series that ended with the plot twist of it all being a dream so it is not all that bad. It is open to interpretation so feel free to choose another theory to follow, but this is definitely the one that I follow.

Overall, I think this series definitely could have benefited from being longer. Of course, it could have had the opposite effect as it really depends on an issue to issue basis. If the writers started to run out of ideas, then it is always best to quit while you are ahead. I definitely recommend this to any Godzilla fan. The concept is simply too priceless to pass up. I think the average comic reader should be able to enjoy it as well. There is very little dialogue here so it is more of a visual experience than anything else. That’s something that everyone can ultimately appreciate in a comic as long as there is some kind of interesting plot/good characters to go alongside it. I’ve finally entered the world of Godzilla comics, hopefully I am able to read another one someday!

Overall 7/10