13 HOURS IN A WAREHOUSE (2008) – Their
lives were snuffed out… Now they’re back for vengeance! As five underworld
heavies settle in for an all-night stay at an abandoned warehouse and former
film studio, a series of bizarre and unsettling occurrences quickly lead them
to believe they are not alone. It was supposed to be a simple night of babysitting
a single hostage, but when a series of numbers began to appear on the walls things
soon took a dark turn. Later, after the hostage escapes, the perplexed thugs
not only learn that there is a rat in the ranks, but also discover the
unsettling nature of the films that were shot in the warehouse. Now, as terror
takes hold, the thieves are about to discover that they are being stalked from
the shadows and that their odds of living to see daybreak are shrinking with
each passing minute. After five guys pull off the perfect heist they end up in
an abandoned warehouse waiting for their buyer to show up. But it isn’t the 13
hour wait that is upsetting; it’s the strange numbers that keep appearing
everywhere and the feeling like they are being watched. When they finally
figure out that they are not alone, it’s too late to get out alive. Five
violent criminals have pulled off the perfect heist and are now holed up in an
abandoned warehouse, waiting for their contact to show up as agreed. But they soon
get uncomfortable feeling that they are under surveillance and before long,
strange paranormal activities occur. The thieves realize with horror that their
chances of ever seeing daylight again are diminishing with every minute that
passes.
THE 13TH ALLEY (2008) –
Head games are a nightmare! A group of college kids go after-hours bowling. The
fun is suddenly halted when abnormal things begin happening on the 13th
alley. Everyone runs to escape, but all exits have been boarded up! Who is out
for revenge?
1920 (2008) – A love made in
Heaven… A revenge made in Hell… The year is 1920 and the house isolated in the
wilderness has a secret. It is waiting for the curse to come true. For years,
everyone who has bought the house and tried to pull it down has died of
mysterious circumstances. It is like the house has a will and a life of its
own. After forsaking his family and religion, a husband finds his wife is demonically
possessed. A devotee of Bhagwan Shri Hanuman, Arjun Singh Rathod is in love with
Lisa, a Christian, who was sired by an Indian mother and Caucasian father, runs
into problems with his father, who wants him to marry a Hindu. He decides to
break all ties with his family, both turn atheist, get married and relocated to
live in 1920s Bombay. The duo then relocates to renovate a mansion in Palampur.
Shortly after their arrival Lisa suspects that there is something odd about a
particular room in the mansion, but Arjun dismisses her. He will soon regret
this, as well as forsaking their respective religions, after he finds Lisa
possessed by what happens to be a demonic and seemingly invincible male entity.
Arjun marries Lisa much to the
humiliation from his family as she belongs to another faith. Arjun disowns his
family and faith when they try to burn Lisa alive. Arjun an architect along
with Lisa goes to Palampur to take charge of a mansion which is to be raised
into a hotel. The previous architect who ever tried to take charge died a mysterious
death. Arjun takes charge of the mansion but is unaware of supernatural things happening
around. Lisa experiences strange things and while Arjun is away Lisa takes the
help of a local priest Father Thomas who tells her that there is a presence of
strong supernatural power in the house. The head priest confirms that the spirit
wants to attack Lisa and upon returning Arjun finds that the spirit has totally
taken control over Lisa.
In the year 1920 in Palampur,
India, an architect arrives at a large manor house. The manager of the mansion,
MK, discusses how its owner wishes to have it torn down with a hotel
constructed in its place. Later that night, the architect is killed by a mysterious
force. It turns out the first architect who had become before him was also
killed in a similar manner some time ago. Now the third architect who is
brought in, Arjun Singh, is a religious, true devotee of lord Hanuman and
devoted to his family; but he is also in love with Lisa. This meets strong disapproval
form his family because Lisa (an Anglo-Indian; born of a British father and an Indian
mother) is of mixed faith. Arjun decides to marry Lisa anyway. As he travels to
Mumbai, his father and his brothers intercept his car, beat him up, and try to
burn Lisa alive. Arjun fights back and decides to disavow his faith and his family
for Lisa. He ultimately becomes an atheist.
The project of the manor house is
handed to Arjun’s firm and Arjun and Lisa arrive at the house soon after. Arjun
is unaware of the strange things happening such as objects moving by
themselves, but Lisa senses a malevolent presence. She questions Balwant, the
caretaker, but he feigns ignorance. Balwant privately pleads with MK to relieve
Arjun and Lisa of the project for it will claim their lives just as it killed
the others before them. The mansion does not wish to be destroyed and that is
why it reacts to anyone who wants to tear it down, including MK. Balwant
himself is unharmed because he is only acting on orders and does not carry an
intent to destroy the house. MK is aware of the evil presence but silences
Balwant with a bribe. Arjun leaves for Delhi on a business trip, leaving Lisa
alone in the house. She experiences stronger supernatural events and confides
in a local church priest, Father Thomas. The priest arrives at the mansion and immediately
senses a strong evil presence. Later that evening, in his church rooms, he
wakes up to find a Baphomet drawn in blood on a wall. He consults with the head
priest and they quickly conclude that an evil spirit resides in the mansion and
is specifically targeting Lisa. The priest returns to issue a stern warning for
Lisa. Lisa is away and Balwant takes the message but does not mention it to Lisa.
Arjun returns as Lisa becomes ill,
refuses food and water and takes to bed. Arjun spots her eating a dead anima
that night but is unable to make sense of it. The priest attempts to place a
cross on Lisa, who turns violent and attacks the priest. Arjun engages a doctor
but it turns out to be fruitless as Lisa’s evil outbursts and telekinetic
attacks simply overwhelm the hospital staff. Now convinced of a supernatural
presence, Arjun storms into MKs office and demands the truth. MK reveals the name
of the previous owner of the mansion, Radhama and Arjun visits her in Nawanagar.
Radhama reveals that it started in 1857, during the Revolt of 1857, when she
was a servant at the mansion. The owner had gone to fight the British and she
was left alone in the large mansion with her mother and the owner’s daughter,
Gayatri. A wounded mutineer, Mohan Kant, sought cover at the mansion but turned
out to be a spy for the British forces. He killed Radhama’s mother which was
later discovered by her. Gayatri sent Radhama with a letter to where her father
was. Gayatri seduced Mohan Kant to buy time until her father who was also a
freedom fighter arrived. Her father and his men hanged him. He died looking Gayatri
in the eyes and vowing revenge. His soul has remained in the mansion ever since.
Gayatri died on 18 November 1896 and Lisa was born the same day.
At the mansion, the soul of the treasonous
soldier has now completely possessed Lisa’s body. The priest decides to perform
an exorcism. The ritual begins well, but the evil soul is too powerful for the
inexperienced priest and the priest and Balwant are both killed. The evil spirit
impels Lisa to slit her wrists, so as to die and eject her soul from her body
so he can carry her soul with him to Hell. Unable to physically restrain Lisa,
Arjun is forced to reexamine his lost faith. Lisa, empowered by the evil soul, beats
Arjun badly and emotionally tortures him. Soon Arjun feels that only God can
save Lisa. Arun limps towards Lisa, embraces her with all his might and begins
reciting the Hanuman Chalisa, torturing the evil spirit. He tries to run but Arjun
holds Lisa’s body tightly. After some time, the spirit is in pain from the words
and is finally expelled from Lisa’s body and destroyed. Finally, Arjun and Lisa
embrace each other happily and Gayatri’s portrait is removed and sent away from
the mansion. Arjun is shown saying that the three, Arjun, Gayatri and Lisa,
have completed their task which God gave them.
2012 DOOMSDAY (2008) – An ancient prophecy
foretold. A scientific discovery revealed. On December 21, 2012 four strangers
on a journey of faith are drawn to an ancient temple in the heart of Mexico.
For the Mayans it is the last recorded day. For NASA scientists it is a cataclysmic
polar shift. For the rest of us, it is Doomsday. Four strangers on a journey of
faith to Mexico find themselves drawn toward an ancient temple that may hold
the key to humanity’s continued existence. The final day on the Mayan calendar
finds four faithful strangers convening at an ancient temple in the heart of Mexico
in this apocalyptic thriller starring Cliff De Young and Dale Midkiff.
Centuries ago, the Mayans set a date for the end of time. December 21, 2012.
Now that date is upon us and NASA scientists have noted that a catastrophic polar
shift is about to occur. Could it be that an ancient Mayan temple holds the key
to unlocking the secret that could protect humankind from total extinction?
40 DAYS OF SHROUDED GHOST RESURRECTION
(40 HARI BANGKITUYA POCONG) (2008) – Jessi, who works as a technician in a computer
store, is assigned to do a repair at Kevin’s house. Kevin has a strange aunt
named Alice. When she returns home, Jessi starts being haunted by horrible
ghosts. But love starts to grow between Kevin and Jessi. Nino, her ex-boyfriend
is also terrorized by a “pocong” (a corpse wrapped in a death shroudo0,) “kuntilanak”
and a half-body ghost.
4BIA (2009) – Face your fears. The
first segment, “Happiness” is about a lonely girl who corresponded with a stranger
over hand phone text messaging and soon discovers something strange about this
new stranger that she is attracted to. “Tit For Tat” spins a tale of black
magic and vengeance for a school kid that had bene bullied by a school gang. “In
the Middle” – a group of friends faces one of their worst camping trips after a
water kayaking accident. The final segment “Last Fright” takes horror to new heights
with a psychological thriller that involves a stewardess flying solo in a cabin
with a dead body. Four horror tales revolve around an accident victim, a
bullied youth, ghost stories and a deceased princess. The biggest talents in
Thai horror come together to craft a four part anthology film designed to give
viewers the fright of their lives by offering an unusual twist on the familiar
Asian ghost story in the first tale; a recovering car accident victim strikes
up an unusual relationship through a series of intriguing text messages. The second
story involves a bullied youth who resorts to black magic in order to seek vengeance
against his tormentors and the third revolves around four friends attempting to
scare each other with ghost stories while camping in the jungle. The film draws
to a close with the story of an airline stewardess charged with watching over
the corpse of a deceased princess as it is being shipped back to her native soil
for burial.
First Segment: Happiness – Plot: “Loneliness”
can really influence someone into doing stupid things. This woman is unemployed,
broken-hearted and desperate for companionship. So, when she receives an anonymous
SMS from a possible male suitor she doesn’t think twice being that “life can’t
get any worse”. But life can get much worse when she encounters something she
will regret for the rest of her life. Second Segment: Tit for Tat – What kind
of terrible things could happen if a group of youths stumbled upon a cursed
Manuscript? A foolish teenage gang gets into trouble resulting in expulsion
from school. What they don’t realize is that their careless and carefree ways
have earned them a diploma of death when one of their victims decides to take
revenge by putting a curse on what looks like ordinary pieces of paper. By the
time they come to the dreadful realization that the paper is cursed… It’s Too
Late! Third Segment: In the Middle – Four best friends go camping in the middle
of the jungle, sharing ghost stories along the way. Later at night they argue
over who gets to sleep in the middle of the tent. They have scared one another
into believing that a ghost will haunt whoever sleeps on the end. One of the
boys foolishly answers, “If I die, I’ll come back and haunt whoever sleeps in
the middle first.” He drowns 20 hours later while water rafting. The night before
their final trek out of the jungle the remaining three friends have trouble
sleeping being that nobody dares to sleep in the middle of the tent. Before the
break of dawn, they are startled by the sounds of footsteps walking towards
them! Fourth Segment: Last Fright – Pim is a flight attendant assigned to fly
solo on a charter flight with the Princess of Khurkistan. What was supposed to
be an ordinary flight turns into something tragically more turbulent when the
princess dies due to an allergic reaction to something she ate. The royal house
of Khurkistan requests that her body be sent back immediately for royal
cremation. The airline reschedules Pim to be on duty on what is known in the
flying industry as a quick turn flight. Now Pin must endure the passenger less flight
alone with the dead body of the princess. But is she really alone?
Loneliness – Pin, a young woman stuck
in her apartment due to the cast on her leg, communicates with the outside
world via cell phone and text messages. She complains to her boyfriend, Puak,
who went on a camping trip in Chiang Mai, that she feels so lonely. Every night,
Pin exchanges text messages with a stranger, who asks to befriend her and seems
friendly enough. The stranger says that he is in somewhere “cramped” for 100
days and is oddly only able to be contacted at night. After sending the mysterious
stranger her photo, Pin asks for one in return and is sent the same photo. When
she questions him, he says he is in the picture next to her. A ghostly face is
slightly visible next to Pin’s smiling face. As she researches recent deaths,
Pin discovers that the son of Princess Sophia of Virnistan died and was buried
with a cell phone so he can communicate with Princess Sophia – his mother, or to
connect to someone else whenever he feels lonely. Pin then gets a text from the
stranger, saying that he will come to her place now. All of the lights begin to
go out and Pin cries in fear. She is then assaulted by the ghost and is thrown
out of the window to her death. A scene from the past shows the Prince receiving
a text message from his girlfriend ending the relationship which causes him to commit
suicide by walking in front of a taxi cab causing an accident, the same accident
that was the cause of Pin’s broken leg as she was inside the cab.
DEADLY CHARM – A nerdy student
named Ngid sees his school friends take some drugs and is beaten to death. One
of the ganga’s members, Pink, is worried but fails to stop her friends from bullying
Ngid. Unfortunately, when he is beaten, he curses his friends with a deadly charm,
which requires a photo of a dead person with his/her eyes open. Things get
worse when everything keeps moving by itself when ordered by Ngid’s soul and
one by one the drug addicts start dying. Even though Pink did not beat him, Ngid’s
soul decides not to spare her too because she had seen it all yet had not done
anything to help him. In the end, a police officer comes by to warn her not to
go inside and is shocked to see Pink laughing after having gouged her own eyes,
because the curse requires the victim to see Ngid, he cannot harm her anymore
now that she has gotten rid of her ability to see. It is revealed that the
person in the photo Ngid used to practice the charm is Pin, the disabled young
woman in the first story who died with her eyes open.
THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE – Four rafting-lovers,
Aey, Ter, Shin and Phuak are rafting in a lonely jungle in Chiang Mai. At night
in the camp, Aey tells his friends that if he dies, the person who sleeps in
the middle will be the next to die with him. The next day, when they go swimming
in the river, Aey drowns and cannot be located. The rest are scared but decide
to stay and fight over who gets to sleep in the middle (they are frightened by
Aey’s story). That night, Aey comes back, but strange events start happening afterwards
that make his friends suspicious. Shin then finds Aey’s body. Frightened, they
go running into the woods but are shocked to find their own dead bodies. It is
revealed that all of them had died when the raft crumpled over, but only Aey
accepted his death, while the rest continued to ignore the fact that they had
died. At the end, the four become ghosts together.
FLIGHT 244 – Flight attendant Pin
is secretly having an affair with Prince Albert of Virnistan. One day she is
ordered to go aboard an airliner on a charter flight for Princess Sophia, the
wife of the Prince. Her fellow stewardess, Tui, is unable to attend the flight
as her brother Ter has been found drowned in Chiang Mai. What was supposed to
be an ordinary flight turns into something tragic when the Princess forms an
allergic reaction to Pin’s lunch as it contains shrimp to which the Princess is
allergic to. After the royal house of Virnistan requests that her corpse be
sent back immediately for cremation, Pin is required to remain on the plane and
escort the body – the only passenger – for the return flight. As the Princess
tries to get out of her shroud. Pin’s worst nightmare begins. When the plane
lands, Pin’s body is found lying on the floor, under the feet of the intact enshrouded
corpse of Princess Sophia.
4 DAYS (2008) -11 members of an
Internet suicide site gathered in an abandoned school. They include a former
baseball player who retired because of his injuries, a cancer patient whose death
was declared, and a high school girl being pessimistic of her school score. While
having the last supper after completely preparing the equipment and method for their
suicide, they listen to each other’s stories.
9+1 (Nine Plus One) (2008) – Ten actresses
live in a folk hotel to prepare musical performances. One of the famous actresses
suddenly disappeared without a cause, although less one, but the musical or usual,
but until the end of the show, the missing was still not found, it became a
case. A year later, the remaining nine women each received a mysterious letter.
THE 9TH CIRCLE (2008) –
A woman is abducted by a sinister stranger on Halloween night for a fate worse
than death. The ninth circle of Hell is where things can’t get worse, the
center of treachery. On Halloween at about four in the afternoon, a young woman
enters the waiting room of the Realmsville train station, pulls a book from her
backpack and starts to read. She’s alone. A clown enters, honks a toy horn and
begins to bother her. He offers her a plastic flower, and as we hear the noise
of her train pulling into the station, her nightmare begins. Can she escape?
ABRO NE BAYIE (2008) – Brother Vincent
is a successful young Christian man. He seems to have everything going for him
with a deep involvement in church, a gorgeous young fiancée and a flashy new car
at his disposal. Unknown to him, his mom Dufie is involved with spirits from
the dark underworld and she has promised to deliver them her son’s soul.
However, penetrating Vincent’s faith and succeeding with her evil deeds turns out
to be much harder than she thought. It seems as though the only way to get to
Vincent is to make him break up with his fiancée and get him involved with an evil
spirit in human shape. With her son dating the evil attractive Natasha, will he
fall to Dufie and her spirit companions? His father and the local priest
bravely put up a fight to save his soul.
ACADEMY OF DOOM (2008) – Academy of
Doom is set on the campus of the famous Mil Mascaras Wrestling Women’s Academy.
The Academy finds itself the focus of seemingly disparate events involving the villainous
Luctor; an eccentric Baron; and a series of bizarre murders. The most famous
figure at the Academy, La Torcha, joins forces with Mil Mascaras to unravel the
mystery and ensure that justice prevails. Academy of Doom is a 2008
Mexican-American lucha libre film directed by Chip Gubera and starring the
legendary Mexican wrestler and film star Mil Mascaras. Mysterious deaths
coincide with the arrival of a mysterious Baron from Salinia who wishes to
enroll his daughter into the Mil Mascara Wrestling Women Academy. The Baron
makes a financial donation to the Academy that thwarts a takeover attempt by
the villainous Luctor. After cadets at the Academy are nearly killed by a mini
assassin, La Torcha calls in her friend Mil Mascaras to assist with the investigation.
They discover that Luctor orchestrated The Baron’s visit and has plans to kill
anyone who stands in the way of his efforts to take over the Academy Luctor is
killed when The Baron discovers that he (Luctor) has been manipulating him and
his daughter. The Baron is mortally wounded in the conflict and gives a dying confession
to Mil Mascaras and La Torcha.
Academy of Doom is set on the campus
of the famous Mil Mascaras Wrestling Women’s Academy. The Academy finds itself
the focus of seemingly disparate events involving the villainous Luctor; an eccentric
Baron and a series of bizarre murders. The most famous figure at the Academy,
La Torcha, joins forces with Mil Mascaras to unravel the mystery and ensure
that justice prevails. Academy of Doom weaves a complex storyline involving
mysterious characters and stolen brains. Shot in the psychotropic style of the
no-budget Mexican “lucha” films of the early 1970s, the film tells the story of
a series of bizarre murders at a famous wrestling women’s academy. Featuring:
Mil Mascaras, La Torcha and Luctor.
ACOLYTES (2008) – Nothing stays
buried forever. Three teens blackmail a serial killer into helping them get rid
of a violent bully. A tension-soaked stalk and chase thriller. In their senior
year of high school, James and Mark find a way to stop being the victim, they’re
going to kill their nemesis… That is when they stumble upon the serial killer who
will do the killing for them. The chase of their lives begins into graves of
the killer’s victims… Three teens (Sebastian Gregory, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Joshua
Payne) blackmail a serial killer (Joel Edgerton) into helping them get rid of a
violent bully (Michael Dorman). Three teenagers find their longtime friendship
crumbling after enlisting the aid of a ruthless serial killer in ridding
themselves of a relentless bully in this dark thriller from Redball director Jon
Hewitt. High school has been a living hell for shy teens Mark and James, classroom
bully Gary Parker has made it his life’s
mission to ensure that their suffering doesn’t end until they graduate and its
obvious he relishes his work. Now that gradation day is drawing near, Mark and
James begin making plans to strike back at Gary with a vengeance. Then, shortly
after the disappearance of a female classmate, Mark discovers a fresh grave in
the woods near his quiet suburban neighborhood and witnesses a SUV speeding
away from the scene. Returning to the site later that day with James and his
girlfriend, Chasely, Mark decides to grab a shovel and go to work. No one
expected to find anything more incriminating than a dead family pet, so when
the earth splits open to reveal the corpse of a Canadian backpacker, the trio
makes it their mission to track down the killer and blackmail him into exacting
violent revenge on their old nemesis Gary. But this is one killer who doesn’t
play by the rules and by the time he turns tables on Mark, Gary and Chasely,
the three teens realize that their only hope for escape is to confront their
darkest fears head-on.
New Wave French horror meets
stylized Australian exploitation in Acolytes, an unpredictable and effective thriller
elevated by some exceptional cinematography and a clever script. Tantalizingly deliberate
and unapologetically grim, it begins like a typical teen serial killer flick
and gradually morphs into something far more insidious. Take three disaffected
teens, a volatile bully and a serial killer, throw them together in the
Australian suburbs and something nasty is bound to happen. James (Joshua
Payne), Chasely (Hanna Mangan Lawrence) and Mark (Sebastian Gregory) are your typical
bored teenagers. They’ve got an ongoing feud with heavily tattooed hooligan
Gary (Michael Dorman) and that already-strained relationship takes a
particularly ominous turn when the three teens discover the identity of a local
serial killer and attempt to blackmail him into killing their tormentor. But
Ian (Joel Edgerton) isn’t the kind of killer you want to mess with – even if
you think you’ve got the upper hand – and before long, their little game has
taken on a malevolent life of its own.
From the gorgeous opening shot of
a girl silhouetted in sunlight, it’s obvious that there’s some real talent
working behind the scenes here. Fortunately for thriller fans, that talent
extends beyond cinematographer Mark Pugh to include screenwriters Shayne Armstrong
and Shane Krause as well. Armstrong and Krause know the tropes of the genre inside
and out, which allows them to effortlessly invest them and create something truly
unique. While at times this has the effect of making the film seem somewhat convoluted,
Acolytes requires a certain amount of patience and trust on behalf of the viewer.
Those willing to put their faith in the filmmakers are rewarded with a vicious
little story that skillfully skirts the line between thriller and horror. Clever
editing and a chilling performance by Edgerton (looking like the clammy-skinned
love child of Bryan Cranston and Jeffrey Dahmer) help to maintain some dark momentum
during the occasional lull, making Acolytes the kind of deeply sinister,
blackly cynical indie thriller that gingerly works its way under your skin
while creeping toward a deliciously desolate climax.
James and Mark are teenagers in
their final year of school and victims of Gary Parker, who raped them when they
were younger. They still live in fear of him after he is released from prison
for this crime. A brain damaged teenaged girl named Tanya who has gone missing is
run down by a car and killed while walking in a pine forest. Later, wandering alone
in the forest, Mark secretly witnesses a man burying a body. The two friends
decide to go dig up the grave to see what was buried, bringing along James’
girlfriend Chasely. To their horror, they partly uncover the body of a young
girl and beside her is a small Canadian flag, implying she is a Canadian
backpacker. After an aborted attempt at reporting the body to the police, they
search for the presumed killer from Mark’s knowledge of the vehicle he saw driving
away from the forest. They place the Canadian flag on his four-wheel drive and
then the two boys secretly enter his house. They find out his name is Ian
Wright and see a picture of him with a woman and baby, presumably his wife and
child. They later phone him and try to blackmail him into killing Gary Parker.
Ian finds Gary and sees him going
into a club, as he’s leaving he is bashed by two men who tell Ian it was “for what
he did.” Ian helps him back into his car and holds a gun to his head and asks
him to explain about “the kids” who want him dead. He forces Gary to find the teenagers
and hunt them with his dog and crossbow. Ian follows them and shoots Gary’s
barking dog. Mark is shot with the crossbow, but eventually manages to beat Gary
to death with a rock. Just as Ian is about to shoot Mark, Chasely comes up behind
him and hits him in the back with a pole, allowing the three to escape. They go
back home and treat Mark’s wound. James goes out on his own and is captured by
Ian. Later, Mark wakes up to see that Chasely has gone to find James. Mark receives
a call from Ian to meet up with him and sees he is accompanied by Petra, a
female backpacker from Norway. The killer taunts Petra and calls Mark his acolyte
but Mark refuses to participate. A terrified Petra is let go from the car on
the deserted forest road. Ian tells Mark that he didn’t kill the missing
teenager, that it was Gary who accidentally killed her and found Tanya buried
in “his territory.” He takes Mark back to his house where it is revealed that
James is dead, wrapped in plastic in the bath. Mark then finds Chasely chained
to a wall in the basement. Ian holds a gun to her head and makes Mark confess
that it was in fact he who brutalized Tanya, but he didn’t intend to kill her. As
she was running away from him, Gary had accidentally hit her with his car. Gary
and Mark had apparently decided to keep it a secret and bury her body.
Ian’s deaf wife is Kay revealed to
be a willing accomplice with Ian and promptly stabs Mark in the stomach. She takes
out her hearing aids and disappears back upstairs. Ian bends down to taunt
Mark, but Mark stabs him with a blade he had taken from the garage, allowing
Chasely to uncuff herself with Ian’s keys. However, once she gets to the front
door she finds it is deadlocked and must return to the basement. She goes back
down and is nearly strangled by Ian, but she pulls the knife out of his side
and stabs him until he dies. Mark dies from his wounds. She then grabs the keys
and makes her way out. The scene cuts to Ian’s wife bottle-feeding their baby
and ends with Chasely staggering up the night road into the path of a halting
car.
James Tresswick and Mark Vincent
are victims of a brutal bully Gary Parker who has maltreated both boys, marking
their bodies and spoiling their young lives. In their last year of high school,
James and Mark find a way to stop being victims. They’re going to kill Gary.
Wandering alone around an isolated forest – the suspected site of the
disappearance of a local girl – 17-year-old Mark strays upon an adult male
filling in a trench. It’s suspicious and tantalizing. Mark returns with his friend
James and Chasley Keys and they bring shovels to exhume what will probably be
rotting garbage or someone’s dead pet – or so they tell themselves. They find the
ghostly white body of a woman. She’s a tourist – a Canadian backpacker. The “trench”
is a grave. The “adult male” is her killer. And they’ve got him by the balls.
Responding to Mark’s intimations James floats an idea to seek out “the sicko”.
It’ll be a bit of fun. He’s confident the guy lives in their suburb; Mark saw
his car parked on a trail; Mark knows what the car looks like; Mark knows what
he looks like. It can be done. Chasely goes along with it. No surprise. James
has done all her thinking since they started a relationship. Mark agrees, but
mostly Mark agrees because he carries a culpable secret. They find the car and
the killer 24 hours later. He’s got the same house as everyone else and a kid
and a wife. Jeez, it’s anticlimactic. Then, in Chasely’s bedroom, as the girl
cleans up the latest damage done to Mark’s face by an animal called Gary
Parker, James floats another idea. What if the killer were contacted and told
the name of the guy that they’d like to see dropped in a hole of his own? He’s their
secret, isn’t he? They kind of own him, don’t they? If he thinks they might let
him go he’d do anything, wouldn’t he? What could go wrong? James, Mark and Chasley
are about to cross a line of no return as serial killer Ian Wright lures the
vulnerable teenagers into his violent world.
AFFLICTION (YANGGAW) (2008) – A young
girl develops an unknown infection that causes her to evolve into a horrifying
monster.
AKANBO SHOJO (TANAMI: THE BABY’S CURSE)
(2008) – A beautiful girl, Yoko, gets lost one night during an air raid and is
taken in by an orphanage. Eventually, she is reunited with her own family and
goes home to live with them. But there, an unexpected fate awaits her as she is
subjected to horrific brutality from these people who are tortured by a past
mistake. Tanami: The Baby’s Curse is a 2008 Japanese horror movie based on a Kazuo
Umezu manga directed by Yudai Yamaguchi. This Japanese horror film based on the
subversive and terrifying manga by Kazuo Umezu tells the story of Yoko, a
fifteen-year-old girl who’s just discovered that despite the fact that she’s
grown up as an orphan, her parents are, in fact alive – and they want her to
come home. She reunites with her long-lost family, but soon it becomes apparent
that she was better off alone. Her mother is a vengeful ghoul, her father is a
half-sane professor and an evil baby lives in the attic, crazed with the mind
of a vicious adult serial killer. With healthy loads of blood, gore and campiness,
this scary movie is directed by Yudai Yamaguchi, who’s best known for wry,
over-the-top comedies like Cromartie High.
As a teenager, Yoko discovers that
she is not really an orphan when her wealthy but very strange family welcomes
her home to a mansion that many claim is haunted. Beware of babies! Based on
Umezu Kazuos well-known manga Tanami: The Baby’s Curse (A.K.A. Akanbo Shojo) from
director Yamaguchi Yudai has all the blood and guts that any J-horror lover
looks for. Newcomer Mizusawa Nako plays a teenaged orphan girl Yoko who
suddenly learns she’s actually not an orphan and will be moving back in with her
birth family. But the happy reunion she hopes for may not be in the cards. Waiting
for her in a mansion that all the townsfolk think is haunted, is an insane
mother and an evil housekeeper. Although she is welcomed by the father that has
searched for her for many years, even his love can’t protect her from what lives
in the attic!
THE ALCHEMIST’S BOOK (DAS BUCH DES
ALCHEMISTEN) (2008) – A book, that attacks the reader’s sanity – Severin’s long-forgotten
childhood angst. One night, all his fears resurface when he gets his hands on
the dreaded pages and every line seems to confirm his most powerful fears.
Severin dares to read the book and delves into the alchemist’s spell.
THE ALPHABET KILLER (2008)- Based
on a true story. Former cop Megan Paige (Eliza Dushku) investigates a murder similar
to one that drove her crazy. Wrong Turn director Rob Schmidt takes the helm for
this thriller inspired by the grim true-life exploits of an alphabet-obsessed New
York serial killer and starring Timothy Hutton, Cary Elwes, Eliza Dushku and
Michael Ironside. When Rochester, NY-based police investigator Megan Paige (Dushku)
discovers that ten-yea-old Carla Castillo was brutally raped and murdered in
nearby Churchville, she becomes convinced that the department is dealing with a
serial killer. Paige is a driven detective whose devotion to her job often
crosses the border into obsession. Her fiancée, Kenneth Shine (Elwes) is a
Lieutenant with the Rochester Police Department and as both jockey for the same
promotion, the cracks in their relationship begin to show. Later when Megan
becomes haunted by visions of Carla and fails to solve the case, a concerned Captain
Gullikson (Tom Noonan) takes her off the case. Suffering a nervous breakdown
shortly thereafter, Megan is diagnosed with adult onset of paranoid schizophrenia
and placed in a psychiatric hospital, where she promptly breaks off her
engagement to Kenneth. Two years later, Megan has returned to the precinct as a
records clerk and Kenneth is now the head of the department. Over time, Megan
begins developing a friendship with wheelchair-bound Richard Ledge (Hutton).
When a local girl named Wendy Walsh is abducted, raped and murdered in Webster,
Megan convinces Kenneth to let her ride along with Detective Steven Harper (Tom
Malloy) as an advisor to the case. But the gruesome nature of the case once
again prompts strange visions for Megan. Now she is haunted by two murder
victims and to make matters worse, she’s beginning to develop embarrassing involuntary
ticks and stops taking her medication. As the hallucinations get worse and the
case starts to run cold, Megan struggles to find the one piece of evidence that
will lead them to the killer before her dark side takes over once again.
A ten-year-old girl is found
brutally murdered outside the small blue-collar city of Rochester, New York and
obsessed police officer detective Megan Paige suffers a mental breakdown while trying
to solve the crime. But when the child-killings resume two years later, Megan’s
return to the investigation also brings back her own horrific hallucinations.
Even if she can prove a “double initial” connection to the slayings, will she
hang onto her sanity long enough to catch a psychopath?
Megan Paige an investigator for
the Rochester Police Department, is investigating the murder of a young girl
named Carla Castillo. Her body was found in the nearby village of Churchville,
New York, along with traces of white cat hair. Opposing her colleagues and
boyfriend Kenneth Shine Megan insists that the murder is the work of a serial killer.
Despite Megan’s considerable efforts, she fails to catch the killer. Stress and
obsession over the investigation causes Megan to hallucinate the victim’s
image. She ultimately has a nervous breakdown after being kicked off the case
and unsuccessfully tries to commit suicide. Following two years of medical treatment
and attending a support group headed by a wheelchair-bound man named Richard
Ledge, Megan rejoins the police department in an office job. Following a similar
murder of another young girl, Wendy Walsh, whose body is found in Webster along
with some white cat hair, Megan successfully lobbies to join the investigation.
Partnered with Steven Harper, they try to find links between the victims.
Then another girl, Melissa Maestro,
is killed in Macedon. They find a number of commonalities between Wendy and
Melissa but fail to connect these to the first victim. The Webster Police Department,
who has jurisdiction over the latest murder are uncooperative, receive a call from
19-year-0ld Elizabeth Eckers who tells them she is being held hostage in a
house. Megan is convinced the suspect is not the Alphabet Killer and breaks
procedure to preempt a police raid. Megan almost defuses the situation but an
officer shoots the suspect through a window and kills him. Webster police declare
that the Alphabet Killer is dead and announce the discovery of white cat hair
in the house. Megan spirals into another nervous breakdown. Certain that the Webster
police planted the evidence in order to justify killing an innocent, Megan
continues the investigation on her own. Megan discovers that all three girls
attended St. Michael’s Church in Rochester. Still suffering from hallucinations
of the victims, Megan visits the church and tries to question the Pastor but
suffers another breakdown and is hospitalized.
Megan escapes the hospital and takes
refuge in Ledge’s home. There, she finds out that he used to work as the Math
teacher for St. Michael’s Church, which finally reveals that he is the Alphabet
Killer. Before she can act, he leaps from his wheelchair – having only pretended
to be disabled – and attacks her. Ledge knocks her unconscious and drives to a remote
spot near the Genesee River to drown her. Before Ledge can inject her with a
sedative and dump her into the river, Megan breaks free and after a struggle,
shoots him in the foot with his own gun. Ledge falls into the river just past a
large waterfall, though it’s unclear if he is dead or not. Unsure whether Ledge
is dead and confused by her surroundings, Megan is driven by the intense situation
to another, longer breakdown.
Megan is again hospitalized and
kept under intensive psychiatric care. The final scene of the film shows Megan
heavily sedated and strapped to a bed in a psychiatric ward. There is no one
else in the room, but in her state, she envisions the spirits waiting for her
to return and seek justice for them. The final scenes of Megan are intercut
with scenes of a survived Ledge altering his appearance. He is shown in church,
receiving Communion and exchanging glances with a potential victim. It is unclear
if these scenes of Ledge are actually occurring or are part of Megan’s psychosis.
A title card announces: “In 2006, police exhumed a fireman’s body and posthumously
cleared him as a suspect. To date, the Alphabet Killer has not been found.”
In Rochester, a preteen girl
abducted, raped and murdered. Detective Megan Paige investigates: She works
long hours obsessively and soon she’s seeing visions of the dead girl. The FBI
profiles the killer as a spontaneous drifter, lucky not to get caught; Megan
thinks he’s a local and a methodical planner. She notes that the victim’s first
and last names and the place the body was left start with “C.”. When a second murder
follows the same pattern, Megan is vindicated, but her obsessions get the best
of her and her mental state impedes her work. With the help of medication, therapy
and a friend, can she regain her equilibrium and catch the Alphabet Killer?
ALIEN RAIDERS (2008) – It’s the end
of yet another night at Hastings Supermarket, a grocery store in Buck Lake,
Arizona. But just before closing, a group of masked and armed to the teeth
militants invades the store and takes everyone hostage. It’s the end of yet another
night at Hastings Supermarket, an idyllic family grocery store in Buck Lake,
Arizona. But the normal monotony of rounding up shopping carts and settling out
the cash drawers is broken at 11:07pm, just before closing when a group of
masked and armed-to the-teeth militants invades the store, immediately kill several
of the employees and shoppers and holding the rest hostage. Though the hostage-takers
at first appear to be robbers or terrorists, they reveal themselves to be a
cadre of rogue scientists that has discovered and tracked an alien infestation
to this store on this night and they are determined to find out which of the
survivors are extraterrestrials and end the invasion at any cost. A group of
scientists takes over a supermarket to root out an alien infestation.
A small-town supermarket serves as
the setting for this suspenseful Sci-Fi Thriller about a malevolent alien
seeking to take over the human race. Nothing unusual ever happens at Hastings
Market, so when a heavily armed gang enters the store guns blazing at closing time,
the terrified shoppers and employees at first assume they’re the victims of a
violent robbery. But appearances can be deceptive, as they’re about to find
out. Something inhuman has gotten loose inside Hastings Market – something
that, if allowed to escape, could bring about the downfall of humanity. Now, as
the police surround the building, a mysterious man begins scanning everyone inside
in an attempt to root out the alien invader. Within one of these people dwells
an extraterrestrial with the power to claim our planet as its own. But the worst
is yet to come, because when an off-duty cop attempts to play hero, he inadvertently
destroys any chance of determining which one of the hostages is serving as host
to the alien. Now, the only way to ensure the survival of our species is to
kill everyone in sight or die trying. One quiet night at Hastings Supermarket
in idyllic Buck Lake, Arizona, will rapidly spiral into a terrifying battle between
humans and Alien Raiders! At 11:07pm, just before closing, a group of masked
and armed-to-the-teeth militants invades the store, immediately killing several
of the employees and shoppers and taking the rest hostage. But this is no ordinary
robbery – the masked men are a cadre of rogue scientists tracking an alien infestation.
In this family grocery store, on this night, the deadly gang of alien hunters
is determined to unmask the extraterrestrials and end the alien invasion – at any
cost.
Just as the local grocery store is
about to close, a group of six armed masked people enter the building. They
take the staff and remaining customers hostage and immediately shoot down one
of the employees. One of the masked men named Spooky is then told to check whether
“he” is among the hostages. When he identifies a woman as one of “them”, she
tries to escape but is shot down. Meanwhile, a police officer, who was also inside
the store, manages to kill one of the masked men. He then calls for backup and
shoots Spooky, who hasn’t managed to check all hostages yet. The cop is then
killed too. As the police arrive, the group argues whether or not to leave, but
their leader, a man named Ritter, tells them that they need to finish their
job. They release the hostages. Spooky already managed to clear and move the rest
to the back of the store. As they inspect one of the corpses, it becomes clear
that the person was infected with an organism that breeds inside the person. With
Spooky dead, the group resorts to a different method for checking whether the
rest of the people are infected or not. One by one, the hostages are taken to
another room and have one of their fingers cut off, which Sterling, the doctor
of the group, uses to verify if they are infected or not. Outside the store a
policeman named Seth, whose stepdaughter Whitney works as cashier at the store,
takes charge of the police operation. They discover that Ritter used to work as
a rocket scientist and that the group hunts people that are infected with an
alien parasite that came to Earth inside meteorite, which the cops don’t
believe. Trying to negotiate with Ritter, they come to the agreement that Ritter
will release one of the hostages if the police bring them a woman named
Charlotte, who used to be part of the group and possesses the same ability as
Spooky did.
The group soon discovers another
woman is infected and kill her. They are then attacked by the revived body of the
cop, who manages to kill two of the captors and three of the hostages. Ritter
then explains to the remaining hostages what they were after: The parasites are
divided into two groups, several females and one king. Without the king, the
parasites would eventually go extinct They knew that one of the persons inside the
store was the host of the king, which is why they took the whole store hostage.
Seth and Charlotte then come inside. With Charlotte’s help, the group lures the
infected cop into a trap, while Seth leads the stepdaughter and the store clerk
Benny, who volunteered to have his finger cut off to spare Whitney the ordeal,
outside. Ritter manages to cut the living parasite out of the cop but is subsequently
gunned down by the police who try to kill it. Just as Sterling is arrested by
Seth, Charlotte realizes that the killed parasite was not the king. Inside a
police car, Benny overhears Seth calling the other cops, telling them that
Benny must be the king. Benny realizes that it must actually be Whitney, since
she was the only one who is still alive and wasn’t checked by the captors. As
he aims a gun at her, her eyes and veins change to a darker color and the screen
fades to black, while Benny is heard screaming.
The film begins with a group of
men preparing weapons for a fire fight. Among them, an argument sparks
regarding whether or not a certain person will be at their destination, a local
grocery store. Upon arrival, they find a group of people. The guys from the car
take over the store and appear to be looking for someone and it seems one of
them is “scanning” people by staring into their eyes. The cop who evaded the
raiders, shoots one and calls for backup. He continues to elude the raiders for
a few more seconds and shoots Spooky, the guy who was scanning everyone. The cop
is shot and the dead are moved back to the freezers where one of the raiders
shoot up the dead bodies. The cleared hostages are sent out when the police
arrive and the uncleared are all cordoned off in the back and forced to drink
milk. The raiders then reveal that they are a group of scientists that are
tracking an unknown contagion to this town and to the supermarket. Since Spooky
died, they must use an alternate method to find out who is infected. They take
the first of the uncleared people, the boss of the store and begin to ask
questions. This is all to distract him from cutting off one of his fingers. He
protests and tries to escape showing them he has stolen money from the store.
Meanwhile the hostages begin to plan an escape. As one of the hostages goes
into the freezer to get a gun to escape he is killed by some person. Later, in
the movie it is revealed that the person who killed the hostage is an alien
king. In the end they realize that the person they killed is not the king and a
girl already released is the real king.
ALIVE OR DEAD (2008) – While traveling
down a desolate road, Maria comes upon an apparently abandoned school bus. A girl
has written “Help Me” in one of the windows and Maria quickly discovers the messy
secrets that lie in the back of the bus. Maria soon finds herself hidden and
trapped with the girl as the killer takes them on the ride of their lives.
Their journey leads to a bizarre medieval castle nestled in the desert. While
traveling down a desolate road, Maria comes upon an apparently abandoned school
bus. A girl has written “HELP ME” in one of the windows and Maria quickly
discovers the messy secrets that lie in the back of the bus. As the killer
reappears, Maria finds herself now hidden and trapped as the killer takes them
on the ride of their lives. Their journey leads to a bizarre location in the
desert, where they quickly learn their enemy is no who they think. The girls
must figure out whom to trust, if even each other, if they hope to return home,
alive or dead. A woman (Ann Henson) tries to escape from a compound populated
by deranged cannibals.
A woman traveling down a long and
lonely road happens across a deserted school bus that leads her down a trail of
terror in this backwoods shocker from director Stephen Goetsch. Maria is driving
through the country when she happens across an apparently empty school bus with
the words “Help Me” hastily scrawled on one of the windows. Just as she steps
into the bus to investigate further, a madman steps aboard and starts the
engine. But the school bus wasn’t empty, because there was a young girl hiding
inside. When Maria and her terrified passenger arrive at an unknown destination
deep in the desert, they quickly discover that everything they thought they
knew was wrong. But who can Maria and the girl trust and what will become of
them if they make one false move? On a desolate road, an abandoned school bus
with the worlds “HELP ME” written on a window, Maria stops to check it out. A
killer has left his bloody crime scene in the back. The killer comes back and
takes Maria for a ride to a desert location. But is the killer really her enemy
or is it someone, or something else?
A young woman is traveling down an
isolated country road when her car gets two flat tires. She sees an old bus with
the words “Help Me” apparently written onto the window with blood. She gets onto
it to investigate it and finds a lady chained to a seat with a mask around her
head. Before she can get off it a man drags another body onto the bus and drives
off with her still on it. She winds up the next day at this castle in the
middle of nowhere and spends the rest o the movie trying to escape the cannibals
who live there. While driving down a dark country road, on her way to a night
alone in a cabin with her boyfriend, Maria spots what appears to be an
abandoned black bus on the roadside. After looking at it more closely she sees
the words “Help Me” written in a dark red substance on the rear window. As she
is about to leave, her front tires go flat. Curious, alone and terrified, Maria
goes aboard the bus. As she looks around, she finds a masked woman chained in
the back of the bus, but a man boards the bus dragging a body before she can
depart. After falling asleep on board, she wakes up to find that the bus has
driven into the middle of the desert, towards a castle full of hungry people
and she discovers that she and the other people (both alive and dead) aboard
the bus are inhabitants intended meal.
ALONE IN THE DARK 2 (2008) – Evil
returns. When the night falls and the creatures of the dark are crawling out of
the shadows, there is only one man who stands between us and evil: Edward
Carnby. A witch who’s lived for hundreds of years sets her sights on the soul
of a young woman named Natalie. Natalie’s father Dexter realizes what’s afoot,
but he’ll need some help if he’s to prevent the witch from stealing his
daughter’s soul. Dexter teams with Edward Carnby and Abner Lundberg both of
whom have previously tangled with witches and together they set out to rid the
world of the witch’s brand of black magic. Former witch hunter Abner Lundberg
is forced to come back to fight his old nemesis, a century-old dangerous witch
out on the prowl again. This time, Lundberg joins forces with Edward Carnby and
they attempt to track down the dangerous witch Elizabeth Dexter.
When the night falls and the
creatures of the dark are crawling out of the shadows, there is only one man
who stands between us and evil: Edward Carnby. One of the most popular characters
in video game history, Edward Carnby returns for a second mission. It is
Christmas of 1924, three months after Alone in the Dark. Supernatural Private
Eye Edward Carnby and his partner Ted Stryker are investigating the kidnapping
of young Grace Saunders. The trail of clues leads to an old mansion named “Hell’s
Kitchen” – the home of an infamous gangster boss and his gang. Edward decides
to pick up the trail when he learns of Ted’s disappearance in the mansion.
Unfortunately, Edward soon finds out that Ted has been murdered. Carnby
eventually finds out that the mobsters are the corporeal forms of the spirits
of pirates that plundered the sea hundreds of years ago, the lot having sold
their souls in exchange for eternal life through Voodoo magic. Fighting his way
into the house and ultimately onto a pirate ship hidden in the cliff on which Jack’s
house is built, Edward must survive, discover the world of the pirates’
apparent immortality, rescue little Grace and find out why the pirates are so
interested in her.
