In the Tall Grass is based on a novelette by Stephen King and his son Joe hill, which takes you deep into a mysterious grass field in the American countryside.
The movie begins with Becky and Cal, two siblings on a road trip to meet an intended adoption family for Becky’s unborn child. When Becky feels ill, they stop by a vast field besides by an old church. When they hear a faint call for help from a young boy from within the field, they decide to help him. As they venture into the field, they soon find themselves lost and separated by the dense grass. They try to locate each other, but to their confusion, their voices and location seem to change. Then they hear other voices and when a mysterious young boy approaches Cal, and we learn that there’s something seriously wrong with the field.
Next week you better tune into FEARnet, as they’ll launch their new “Twisted Comedy” block, airing on August 2 at 10pm/est. The block will consist of two series – Todd & The Book of Pure Evil and Psychoville – two wonderfully bewildered and weird pieces, which you wouldn’t want to miss.
Since FEARnet has been so kind to let me see the two premiere episodes, you can read my reviews of, Todd & The Book of Pure Evil and Psychoville, below to get a little head-start.
Todd & The Book of Pure Evil Ep. 01 Review
The story:
Todd is your standard looser, who fantasies of becoming a rock star and about Jenny Kolinsky, the hottest girl around. When he stumbles upon a book of awesome powers, making your deepest, darkest desires come true, Todd’s life is up for changes. However, a book like this shouldn’t be in the hands of a teenager . . .
The review:
The episode starts with Todd, daydreaming about Jenny, while he and his naive best friend Curtis, auditioning for the schools Battle of the Bands event, showcasing their mediocre skills, to the audience’s malicious joy.
As Todd, depressed over the audition, smash his guitar into the ground, three strange dudes start talking to him. They tell Todd that if he wants success, then he must seek out The Book of Pure Evil, which the legend says is stitched together with the foreskin of Judas.
Meanwhile, we learn that Jenny is also on the hunt for the book, as she believes it’s an important clue to what happened to her father.
Shortly afterwards, Todd stumbles over the book and it turns out that the book really does help him – to the cost of a measly behavior change. This leads up to a completely enthralling guitar duel between, Todd and his rival Stewart, which is one of the best scenes in this episode, hands down.
Todd and Curtis at the guitar duel
As Jenny understands that Todd has possession over the book, she sets out to get him to understand just how dangerous the book really is, before it’s too late.
Overall, I think that the series does a good job balancing between the comical and the supernatural elements, preventing it from coming off as cheesy. The story, in its swift and straightforward way, is cohering and amusing to follow. Also, the actors do a good job breathing life into the characters, making them feels interesting and three-dimensional.
I think that Todd & The Book of Pure Evil is fierce, striking and from the start, it’s pedal to the metal intensity, with no looking back. All you have to do is to lean back and enjoy the ride.
The story:
Psychoville is an award-winning British series from 2009, which revolves around five, twisted and seemingly unrelated characters, living in different parts of England. When they all receive a mysterious letter, containing just one phrase, “I know what you did,” their lives go into a downward spiral.
The review:
In the beginning of the episode we get to see a mysterious man, carefully writing five ornament letters, in the light of a black ominous candle. Then an introduction of the characters follows, as they receive their letters we get a glimpse of their twisted lives and own little peculiarities.
The characters are the ones that drive the story forward, holding us spellbound with their twisted life situations. We have Mr. Jelly, a bitter and worn-out clown who’s missing a hand; Joy, a midwife who thinks her practice doll is a real baby; Oscar, a blind eccentric millionaire with a big collection of stuffed animals and Robert, a dwarf actor with telekinesis powers, who’s in love with his Snow White co-actress.
David Sowerbutts in PsychovilleThen we have David Sowerbutts, my absolute favorite character. David is a simple-minded man-child, with a morbid obsession with serial killers, who still lives with mother Maureen, to which he has, to put it mildly, an inappropriate relationship with. David is far from normal, living a truly tragic life, who cannot hold on to a job, something we’ll see plenty of proof of in this episode.
The story is well written and fascinating, focusing on the characters and their wacky mannerisms, in an engrossing way, which make you want to know more about them, their lives and the dark secrets that are surely lurking below the surface.
The acting is flawless and of high standards, with both Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton each play many characters, in an impressive and convincing way, making it a pleasure to watch them.
Psychoville is a series that breaths’ quality, giving us an awe-inspiring story filled with gripping life stories, suspense and psychologic chills, covered with a veil of dark and morbid humor. Once you have seen the first episode, you wouldn’t want to leave Psychoville – ever!
So, whatever you do, don’t forget to tune into FEARnet next Tuesday, for an unforgettable evening with two wonderfully wacky series, which are too good to miss.
After the first Saw movie, which presented something genuine and innovative, I have come to enjoy the sequels, which has for the most part felt like bland copies, mostly for the traps rather than the storylines.
I really hoped that Saw 3D would give me something that was up to par with the first movie, but sadly it felt like the creators once again, stepped right into the repetition trap.
The biggest problem, as I see it, is that the story feels rushed like if they have tried to squeeze two movies into one, which makes it comes off as half-baked, instead of a complete movie.
The story contains too many major characters, elements and references to previous Saw movies, which makes it hard to get a coherent grip of what is really going on.
First there is Bobby Dagen, a man who claims to be a Jigsaw survivor and is now earning a good living from that through his books, but is he really the one he claims to be? Then we have Mark Hoffman, Jigsaw’s wife Jill and the internal affairs’ detective Matt Gibson in something that can be described a deadly cat-and-mouse game.
Having two stories, which doesn’t tie into each other in a logical way, makes the movie a bit baffling to follow. I would rather have seen two movies, one with the Bobby Dagen arc and after that, a movie that ties everything together in an epic Jigsaw way.
That way we could have had two good movies, instead of a just one half-decent movie, that way the poster depicting the gigantic Jigsaw structure would make sense, as well.
The Traps in Saw 3D
Since the first Saw movie, the traps have been the series trademark and biggest assets. Even if a Saw movie has been weak, you could always count on the traps to step in to save the day – like they do this time.
And to be perfectly honest, is it not those gory and limb-ripping traps we look forward to seeing, as we sit down to watch a Saw movie?
Of course it is!
In Saw 3D we can enjoy eleven traps, where some are actually the best and most evil ones to be featured in a Saw movie. Like the garage trap, for instance, where a car is triggered to set of a butchery chain reaction, almost in a Final Destination style.
However, even if the garage trap is disturbingly brutal, it pales in comparison with the fish hook trap, though.
The Fish-Hook Trap
In the fish-hook trap, a woman is strapped to a chair, with sharp metal spikes directed to her neck. In her mouth she has a string, which goes down to her stomach, with a key and a fish-hook attached to its end. To get out of the trap, the string must be pulled up through her mouth, within one minute, or else the spikes will penetrate her. The catch is that if she screams, while the hook tears her esophagus to shreds, the spikes will advance toward her.
With all the traps in the series, the fish-hook trap is my favorite and the only one that have made me squirm in my seat.
The Conclusion
In the end I think that Saw 3D faces a weak baffling storyline and mediocre acting, which the glorious traps cannot save it from completely. Therefore it fails to give us that grand finale we were hoping to see, before the clock runs out!
If you are a Saw fan, chances are that you will enjoy this movie, most for its traps, while others may find the gory traps, wrapped up in a jagged storyline, to be just another repulsive second-rate horror flick.
After all the clocks have run out and the blood has dried, my rating of Saw 3D will be two stars out of five.
Saw 3D Trailer & Details:
Directed by: Kevin Greutert Written by: Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan Staring: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell and Sean Patrick Flanery
Over five million viewers tuned in to see the premiere of AMC’s promising and groundbreaking zombie drama The Walking Dead, making it the biggest success in AMC’s history, beating the premiere of HBO’s series, Boardwalk Empire!
Naturally, the president of AMC, Charlie Collier, where very pleased with the success and said that they’re very proud of the series and its depth of storytelling, which he thinks raises the bar within the genre.
I cannot agree more, actually, as the first episode exceeded my expectations by far!
At the moment “Saw 3D” is dominating the box office, with its lethal and sinister traps, which we never seem to get enough of.
Therefore, I thought I would give you a tip of another movie that is quite similar to the concept of the Saw franchise, except its simply more proficient – 13: Game of Death.
“13: Game of Death” is a gritty drama from2006, skillfully created by the Thai director Chukiat Sakveerakul, which has won numerous awards and currently holds an IMDB rating of 6,8. Surprisingly, for some odd reason, it isn’t that known by the majority of horror fans and chances are that you have missed this ghastly gem.
Box of Horror 