Hand Held

Cloverfield [2008]
After having seen the two films I will review below, I thought it only fitting that I check this one out also. I quite like the whole hand held camera style to be honest, but as usual, too much is always bad. What promise this film had in the first 20 minutes was quickly destroyed, leaving us with yet another stupid American horror film, and though it tried to be different, it's down-right rediculousness simply made it into a disaster. You see far, far too much of the daft monster, the "cameraman" stands there filming the monster until it eats him, the main characters decisions are all implausible, etc etc. I'm just glad I borrowed this and didn't buy it.
(1 out of 5)

[REC] [2007]
Despite having the cheese-ridden premise of humans being turned into blood-thirsty savages upon being bitten by an infected other, this film isn't the disaster it could have been. Yes, you can't take it as seriously as you'd like, but with the amount of mystery and a decent dose of realism involved, you can certainly suspend your disbelief long enough to get sucked in. I actually jumped during a scene at the end, which is very rare for me.
(4 out of 5)

The Blair Witch Project [1999]
It has to be a personal thing, I guess, since I've heard a lot of slagging off of this film, but I actually loved it. I mean, you can nit-pick all you want, saying why is the guy still filming while he is running away [from whatever] but for fuck's sake, let it go. Unless the guy is blatantly filming while a monster eats him, I'll be willing to look past it for entertainments sake. I guess it must be because the idea of being lost in the woods at night genuinely scares me that I find this film so creepy. So I guess I can't really bitch too much at those who call it boring. If the fear isn't there, then they obviously aren't going to relate to the film. I also don't care that the girl is an annoying mouthy bitch, I still got chills running down my spine during the final icy moments. And for those people who didn't get the end, try listening during the early part of the film. In a genre blighted by silly rubbish, this is a shining gem.
(5 out of 5)

Batch #1

Here are some short reviews of my recent purchases:

Consumer Electronics "Crowd Pleaser" LP [2009]
Philip Best is joined by Gary Mundy and Mattin in this latest vinyl-only release, limited to 500 copies. Obviously, this was a must have. Truth is, Philip's vocals make this record. Without them, it would be a rather dull noise affair. The vocals are processed and savage, tearing out from the jet-engine thunder and harsh white static, full of the cyptic brutality previously heard on Whitehouse CDs. Noise wise, not as good as "Nobody's Ugly", but the vocals kick your head in.
(4 out of 5)

Current 93 "Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain" CD [2009]
I read some reviews before buying this and discovered that Tibet and co had gone for a rock guitar sound. Bad bad bad, I thought. I know this isn't the first time, but previous results were pretty crap. Nevertheless, I bought it and upon first listen wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. A mixture of electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, violin, etc, all with David's usual incomprehensible lyrics. Further listens convinced me that it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. "Invocation Of Almost" being a solid opener, "On Docetic Mountain" being my favourite and reminding somewhat of "Moonlight, You Will Say", to the dulcet folk of "UrShadow". A pretty good album, albeit with a few dull points, especially the boring repetitive electric guitar on "Not Because The Fox Barks".
(4 out of 5)

Sally Doherty "Electric Butterfly" CD [2009]
I haven't been into Sally for very long, I bought the reissue of her (and the Sumacs') "Black Is The Colour" album the other month and absolutely loved it, so I thought I would explore her music even more, so here I am buying her new solo record. I knew that "Electric Butterfly" would be more pop sounding, which isn't what I usually listen to, but what I have heard is fucking amazing. A hundred times better than anything in the charts these days, this woman has a beautiful voice and superior songwriting skills. Superbly written and expertly executed, eleven emotive songs with are going to be played on my stereo for a long while to come. Especially "You're Falling" and "Where Have You Gone To?".
(5 out of 5)