Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

eringobraugh86 The storyline says the curse began on a plantation where an evil madame practiced experiments on her slaves. Further than that, she was discovered as a witch because her cook was chained to the stove and started a fire. The fire department came to help and discovered a room where they found some slaves dead, some alive, and some not even recognized as human anymore.Here is where my spoiler alert ends, and a little knowledge is dropped on you. For the less educated, who simply say this is another chainsaw massacre, jeepers creepers, or "done to death" teen slasher, I'd like to say that I mean no offense in the "less educated" comment. It is actually true, only because I have studied the case of Madame Delphine LaLaurie of the New Orleans French Quarter. You haven't studied her or her sadistic behaviors, so you would never know that this film is actually based on a real person and real events.Madame LaLaurie's parents were killed by slaves in the Haiti Revolution, she married 3 times, had 2 daughters, and her last husband was a doctor. She was THE aristocratic woman to be in the 18oos, but disdained her slaves. She murdered many, and buried them in the floors and walls of her home, as well as tossed them down the well in their courtyard.Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, taught her voodoo. She then branched out as a Satan worshiper. When the cook set fire to the home, she was chained to the stove. She did so because her grandson was being sent to the attic, where no slave ever returned.Madame would try to practice sex changes on her slaves, would scramble their brains with iron rods, break there bones and reset them to look like sea creatures and then jam them in cages for medium sized dogs, peel their skin back to watch stages of infection, sew mouths shut with fecal matter packed inside, sew body parts of slaves to other slaves, and more... all while the slaves would be alive.She did all of this with the help of her henchman, Sebastian, who was a slave who was also her lover, and kept his rank by doing harm to others for her pleasure. When she was discovered as a monster after the fire, they took off in her carriage across lake Pontchartrain. They were never heard from again, and there is no agreed upon proof of whether she returned to France, died across the lake, or any sort of outcome. Legend says she still practiced her dark magic across the lake, had followers, and lived her days out there. There are still people who go to practice along the lake banks, and make sacrifices to Madame, who was believed a witch.

FieCrier A friend rented this movie, and he liked it so much he wants to get his own copy now. He had me watch the rental. I don't understand what he liked about it! I'm going to have to ask him.In an opening scene set twenty years in the past, as I recall, a couple is concerned about their son, who's killed a dog. I think. They both get killed by someone in a mask before the opening credits begin. Maryam D'Abo plays the mother, and does a convincing accent, assuming she's not dubbed. This scene, apart from the father wandering around a lot in his underwear, and talking talking talking, wasn't terribly bad.However, after that it's a heck of a lot more talking. In a scene with Kurtwood Smith and one of the twentysomethings, they have a conversation in which the scene continually cuts between two static one-shots. How about a different angle, or a two shot, or something to break up the monotony?A bunch of unsympathetic twentysomethings go out to the house from the opening. It's surrounded with a lot of animal traps. It's dark inside and the camera jerks around a lot. They talk a lot. People get killed, though you can barely see them. The end.Even this director's Witchcraft IV, a pretty unmemorable movie in a generally pretty poor series, was better than this.

birdsofpreyrulz This movie is great. I really wish this didn't go straight to DVD because even though I now own it and can watch it over and over again I think that the movie would have done pretty well in theaters. I think that all the stars of this movie deserve the money from theaters seeing as how great of a job they did in this flick. Estella Warren is really the only one I think that doesn't put on a great performance.Daniel Gillies puts on an awesome performance as Mark, Clayne Crawford puts on a brilliant performance as Tyler and Ashley Scott is more brilliant than ever having her role down perfectly and easily steals the show.The killer who wears a mask made out a dogs head looks kind of cool, but not that frightening. Overall though the kills more than make up for it and the atmosphere or the movie is brilliant. I highly suggest anyone of the horror genre to go and pick this up asap.The Ending is really good as well. This is something all horror fans should enjoy.

Li-1 Rating: *** out of **** I'll admit it, the deciding factor that made me seek out this film was Estella Warren. Sure, she displayed little acting talent and almost no screen presence in any of her prior roles, but there's no questioning she's a total hottie and seeing her in the role of a scream queen was a dream come true. To my utmost surprise, both she and the movie are pretty damn good, making this movie one of the more pleasant surprises of the past few months.Evil Remains is about a small group of graduate students (five in all) who head to a long-abandoned plantation estate to help one of the guys do his thesis on myths. The plantation itself is the site of a popular myth, that the land is cursed and whoever trespasses will find themselves with an uncontrollable urge to act on their rage. Upon their arrival, the guys set up the equipment in the house while the two girls (Estella Warren and Ashley Scott), who also happen to be lesbians, go for a short walk in the woods, not knowing their return to the house will be a particularly bloody and messy one.Right from the beginning, Evil Remains is immediately distinguished by the effective direction of James Merendino, who has a knack for developing creepy atmosphere, building suspense, and even delivering a few genuine scares. Despite the fact that natural lighting typically annoys me (and it does make it a bit difficult to tell apart the male characters for a while), it's used to good effect, giving the movie a stark look that works especially well during the nighttime scenes.Merendino handles the stalk-and-slash sequences superbly; the second half of the film is essentially a series of bloody slasher action and exciting chase scenes that utilize both the claustrophobic and wide-spaced settings fairly well. The house itself is only explored to a mildly satisfying effect, but it's an effectively constricted location that immeasurably aids in tightening the suspense, especially in one scene where the survivors find themselves anxiously awaiting the killer on the other side of the door.Taking everything into consideration, I was most surprised by the performances, which are all quite good. The gorgeously hot Estella Warren is especially excellent as the smart, likable heroine who actually thinks the situation through before acting. As a matter of fact, I was quite amazed by Warren's work here, since she showed no discernible acting talent in any other film I've seen her in. The only one in the cast that doesn't quite hold up is Ashley Scott, who's not bad, but the role requires her to do little more than whine.The movie is still obviously not without its flaws. Despite the solid acting, the movie does little to establish its characters, in particular the two brothers with a troubled past that's brought up but dropped just as quickly in favor of some bloody slasher action. The decision to make the lead a lesbian is interesting (the only other slasher I've seen that made its heroine a lesbian was Deep in the Woods, but it only seemed like an excuse for nudity in that flick), but it ultimately makes little difference, as Warren and Ashley Scott could merely have played best friends and no one would be the wiser, but at least it prevents Warren from having a forced romance with one of the male characters.A few of the characters could also show a little more common sense; one guy sees a freaky-looking image on a photo he just took, but neglects to show it to anyone else as incentive to leave. Another guy leaps off the roof of the house to escape but actually ends up backing himself towards the front door! And there's one lengthy scene that'll have you shouting "close the damn door!" Most disappointing is a potentially exciting chase scene through the woods that makes an abrupt segue that temporarily kills the momentum.The plot's also a little hazy, there's no sense of clarity regarding exactly what it is the curse does and how a masked killer would specifically factor into it. Still, the film works for what it is, a fast-paced slasher with a number of bloody kills, exciting chases, and a terrifically secluded setting. Definitely recommended to genre fans.