Inês Marina (AshSuicide)

This was quite and enjoyable and pleasant experience. I had been eager for a good movie, so i chose a classic, old one by the so-called master Clive Barker. Expectations weren't high, but the movie was good enough - acting is quite good, special effects were awesome (for 1987) and the story itself is quite creative and original.

But what in the world has Hellraiser to make it such an awesome story ? Let's face it, nowadays we watch a bit of everything in a movie: there's always some guts that await you. And i suppose the question lies exactly there - it's hard to find a good horror flick. Hellraiser has guts, torn out bodies, body parts all over it - but its story is way too intelligent, like some sort of mix between sci-fi and horror. Everything starts with this puzzle box that unleashes evil. Julia and Larry Cotton, man and wife, are moving to this old house where the wifey had a love affair with her husband's brother. Seems like the brother, Frank, had been taken by the Cenobites (the otherworld creatures, whose names are Butterball, Pinhead, the Female, and Chatterer), for a world of hell that brought him pleasure and then killed him. Thing is, some drops of Larry's blood brought Frank half back to life - and of course, the wife found Frank in the attic and started killing people to raise the dude from hell. But it gets more complicated - the Cenobites are unleashed by Kirsty, the daughter, and they are eager for Frank's blood. There's a bit of a twist in the end, and it builds up a bridge for the second film (and, eventually, the eight others that follow).

About the acting, i especially liked Frank and i was the entire movie waiting for Pinhead to appear (when he did, i really liked the character). The daughter and the wife were kinda strange and Larry was too absent from the story. The music is quite freaky and scary, which is a huge contribute for the general atmosphere of the movie.

Overall, Hellraiser is sort of Clive Barker's first born son, and i must admit that the formula was freakin' successful. The way i see it, it is definitely a top 10 movie - totally worth watching.

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark is that typical type of horror film full of genre cliches. Nonetheless, it is promising, having a screenplay with lot to it, a great set and some pretty cool special effects and great photography. Also, acting was brilliant.

Let's start with the story. Overall, it hasn't got much to it, i mean - a little child goes to this huge house and finds out strange, mean creatures that act like the tooth fairy (they rip off their teeth and leave them a dollar). Obviously, the child is mentally disturbed and her father doesn't believe her - after all, he's a lot more worried about his job than his kid. There is also the step mom, that is the worst person in the world at the beginning of the movie and then turns out she isn't so bad (as Sally sees it), a housekeeper and a contractor that seems to play the part of the weird butler (and *spoiler alert* died somewhere in the middle of it).

As i said, this story is filled with horror cliches, such as the mansion in the middle of nowhere, a bath scene (this time involving a kid), a scary basement - oh well, this movie has it all. Even the soundtrack was sort of a cliche, with all those strange and scary scores and so on. Special effects are okay, nothing to surprising or genius, just quite average.

Acting was pretty amazing, i really liked Bailee Madison as Sally - she was quite awesome, playing the role of the little disturbed kid who is really disappointed with her dad, her mom and her life in general and then evolving to the scared and terrified little girl. In general, i thought the kid was really brilliant. Guy Pearce was pretty awesome as well, with a quite believable performance, although Katie Holmes was good but not brilliant (her performance had a few flaws, i didn't bought it completely).

Overall, this is quite and interesting film, with a good beginning (that will take your breath away, a reasonable development and a finale that left a bit to be desired. It's not exactly the 8th wonder of the world, filled with cliches and having a few raccord flaws, but it is quite good in general. The soundtrack, as i said, is proper to the type of movie (although it seems like you're watching some black and white film - after all this is JUST a remake of a 1973 movie...) but the general atmosphere is quite good, and there are a few unpredictable scares that await you at the movie theater.