Published by Kelsey Zukowski February 12th, 2010
in HORROR ON THE TUBE - TV.
Once again Elena finds herself kidnapped by vampires as bait. This time it isn’t about Stefan though. Her captors have no use for him, Damon is the one with the journal with the secrets of opening the tomb and unleashing all of the vampires inside.
Damon continues to act nonchalantly while Stefan desperately tries to find a way to save Elena. As Stefan begs him for any information he might have, he simply says that he hopes they kill Elena. The bigger reason why Elena was kidnapped actually has nothing to do with the Salvatores. She’s there to make sure Bonnie opens the tomb and releases the buried vampires. Elena ends up actually feeling sympathy for one of her kidnappers as she’s only doing what she’s doing to get back at the mother she lost over a century ago.
Continue reading ‘Vampire Diaries: Episode 14, Fool Me Once’
Now that Stefan has agreed to help Damon in his diabolical plan, unleashing Katherine and nearly two dozen other blood thirsty vampires locked by a powerful spell for over a century, Damon puts Elena to work as well. Of course, he so elegantly does this while Stefan and Elena were still in bed with one another, claiming they’re all essentially family now and it’s nothing he hasn’t seen before.
Unpleasantville takes us back to the ‘50s with a rocking sock hop. Feeling in the spirit of the decade Elena tries to find out more about Stefan’s life in this time and tries to get a feel for the poodle skirts and milkshakes that movies have put in her mind. After a little prying Stefan even busts out his dance moves, romancing Elena on the dance floor. Of course, they can’t forget what they are really doing there. The vampire Elena ran over has been stalking her, even dressing up as a pizza delivery boy in order to get the ever so desired invitation in. Elena discovers this after he attacks her after hanging from the ceiling, Stefan arriving just in time to save her.
Well after the 2 month hiatus The Vampire Diaries is back and stronger than ever. This has a lot to do with the deviously charming Damon, which should come as no surprise. He’s as funny as ever with his snarky, sexy, sinful allure. This episode is full of laughs when he’s on screen, adding so much life and spark during his scenes. I’m thrilled that now that they’ve established Damon as this dangerous, selfish character, especially in Elena’s eyes that they’re starting to move on by pairing the two with each other for majority of the episode.
Serial: Amoral Uprising depicts the trauma and awakening of serial killer, Trenton Bracks (Howell). Right from the start the film states that this is a fictional account rather than trying to claim it’s “based on a true story” to try and make it scarier. Even though it’s a fictional account, it still resonates in a certain element of reality, taking it’s inspiration from several notable serial killers and creating an appalling yet completely enthralling character.
Earlier this year I reviewed Ghost Cat, a family friendly ghost story starring a young Ellen Page. It was cheesy and a very tame brand of horror; the supernatural element being the only thing that even allows it to qualify. Still the film was goofy and pretty fun in the end. Since I got a kick out of the friendly ghost cat saving the day, I decided to check out another family friendly ghost film starring an even younger Ellen Page, I Downloaded a Ghost. Once again we are given a friendly ghost who with the help of Page’s character helps track down the true criminals. The effects are pretty horrible, but in a campy way and it’s easy enough to not take much seriously and just have fun with the film.
Hard Love is a short film that ventures in to the relationship between murder and power and love and fear. The movie begins with Sarah greeting her boyfriend, Kevin, when he comes home from work only to turn the tables seconds later when she attacks him. Kevin wakes up tied up, having no clue what’s going on. He sees another dead body being dragged through the room when his supposed girlfriend claims “That will be you in a few days”. It turns out she secretly has a murderous husband, Jack, who is trusting her to do his dirty work for the first time. She is determined not to let him down and doesn’t know how to say no to him, but gleefully enjoys the work during her interrogation. Before too long she realizes that she needs more than intimidating language or even torture to do what is expected of her. Sarah has been around death, but she begins doubting whether she can end someone’s life herself. If she can’t she might be her “loving” husband’s next victim.
Dark Woods is a psychological thriller and character heavy piece taking place in a secluded cabin in the woods. A creepy and dangerous man is involved, but this isn’t your typical stalking killer flick. In fact, there really is no blood at all and limited violence. This creepy man only makes a few appearances, both which he molests helpless women. Yet his real purpose is just to get a few plot points in line. The real suspense and trouble comes through a dangerous love triangle with fatal consequences.
After finding demonic and dark drawings from a fellow Gilbert, Jeremy begins drawing again for the first time since his parents died. He takes this dark direction for his inspiration as well. Jeremy tries being a bit nicer to Tyler when he finds out that he might be dealing with stuff at home that makes him carry so much anger. Meanwhile, Stefan and Damon find they have some leftover business in town just when they were about to leave for good. There’s another vampire in town and the sheriffs found a body he left behind. It doesn’t take long for Damon to figure out it’s Logan, who the Salvatore brothers thought to be dead, and everyone else thought he simply left town. Logan attacks Damon and demands answers, craving to be a day walker like Damon and Stefan are. He doesn’t bother keeping a low profile, trying to get attention from Elena’s aunt, Jenna. Elena and Stefan finally get together, but just in time for Elena to find out the secret of why Stefan was attracted to her in the first place.
Antichrist created quite the stir when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. I can understand uneasiness after watching the film, but the massive critical ignorance upon its premiere is somewhat shocking. I understand the average movie viewer getting aggravated with its slow-moving pace, very subtle approach to conveying meaning and its message, and the non-literal nature of the film. The critics who bashed the film, ignoring beautifully artistic visuals, meaningful content, and the massive number of imagery and symbolism and focusing on the brutal violence and sexualizing, either drastically missed the point, and that all of these things compliment each other, or they just decided to penalize it for the horrific, torturous turn the film took. Luckily, the beauty and brilliance of this film has been acknowledged since then.
As big as the first Twilight film was, the hype for New Moon has been even bigger. With the bigger budget and improved special effects not to mention Taylor Lautner’s new look and enhanced chemistry with Kristen Stewart, the anticipation was high and the film did not disappoint. Most people either love or hate the Twilight series. Although, I think New Moon is a definite step up from Twilight and an all around better film, most likely this isn’t going to gain many new fans (except for those that Taylor Lautner’s killer screen presence converts). It’s in the same spirit as the first, but with more action, tension, and gets deeper in to the world of the supernatural rather than having to bother with all of the introductions.
Bonnie’s supernatural background comes back to haunt her when her dead ancestor, Emily, begins to take over her mind. Damon works even more aggressively to get back Bonnie’s necklace. We learn the significance of this jewel, it turns out it belonged to Katherine. Before Katherine died she gave it back to Emily, [...]
Stefan gets a visitor from his past for his 162nd birthday, Lexi, a 300 year old vampire who is also Stefan’s oldest friend. Stefan is able to let loose with her, but he still can’t seem to stop talking about Elena. After Elena stops over to see Lexi in nothing but a towel, claiming that Stefan is in the shower she thinks that Stefan has already moved on from her.
In this week’s episode we get the aftermath of Vicki’s new life as a vampire. Damon and Stefan give her obviously very contradicting views of how she should act. Stefan tries to teach her his way of a life as a vampire. He gives her animal blood and encourages her to stay in the house, away from people, especially crowds. Damon on the other hand, encourages her to drink human blood, an idea that Vicki is thrilled with. After being cooped up all day, Damon takes her out of the house and they end up back at Vicki’s house. Matt can tell there’s something seriously wrong with her, but he assumes it’s drugs. Elena begs Vicki to stay away from Jeremy since she can’t be trusted to control her urges. Vicki uses her new found powers to shut Elena up and show her whose boss. Vicki meets up with Jeremy at their school’s Halloween party, where there is a crowd of open veins calling to Vicki. Elena and Stefan try to get her out of there before anyone is hurt, but with a hungry, restless newborn vampire on the loose that might be too much to ask.
The Vampire’s Assistant is the adaptation of the second book in the Darren Shan saga, Cirque du Freak. The film covers most of the first novel as well as the second. This was probably for the best since in order for audiences to get involved in a vampire series, they need more than just an introduction; they need to see the vampire lifestyle, mythology, and bloodshed taking place. While The Vampire’s Assistant is by no means a very brutal film, it hits all of these elements. If they only focused on the first novel, there would be far less of this. The Vampire’s Assistant on it’s own isn’t a great film as it is actually over all forgettable. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a fairly fun film with a vivid setting and an intriguing fantasy geared atmosphere.
