The Snowtown Murders

Not a horror movie or thriller
This is not a horror movie. It's far more frightening, if considerably less entertaining. It's not a suspense thriller; its agonizing tension comes from the dread of witnessing the inevitable.

I don't know whether to envy or pity the reviewers who found this "boring," "slow" and "dull." Since "Silence of the Lambs," we've become slowly inured to the titillating entertainment value of the serial killer. (The current nadir is the incredibly bland, implausible and desensitized TV show "Criminal Minds.")

"Snowtown," by contrast, feels horribly real. Killings happen not in stylized torture chambers but in the same dreary, downtrodden homes the rest of the movie takes place in. Nearly unbroken, subtly handheld camera shots take us from social backyard bonfire to bagged and barrelled corpses, from front porch on a balmy day to kill zone, with a documentarian's unblinking eye... as if murder is one more mundane thread in the fabric of everyday life. For John Bunting, it...

believable, offbeat, original, well written, well filmed movie.
this is a good movie. customer reviews are getting so hard to trust anymore. i almost didn't watch this because of some of the reviews. this is worth watching. it's based on a true story. the acting is really good. the dialect is thick at times. it's nothing you can't figure out though. it's IS English. some of these reviewers would probably complain about southern, east coast, urban accents and dialects too. every single film doesn't need to be so dumbed down to fit into small, closed minds. the u.s. is only one small part of the planet. also, this film won't give you nightmares for a week. it has some pretty chilling moments however they're surrounded by a lot of mystery and suspense.

watch this movie if:

1. you enjoy films that don't fit into the standard, mainstream template
2. you have something between your two ears that you can use to fill in the gaps. everything isn't spelled out and handed to you.
3. you enjoy stories based on true events...

Brutal Australian True Crime Drama
This is a film by director Justin Curzel who, with Warp Pictures, had to get reporting restrictions lifted on the real life case that this film depicts, in order to screen his work. It is about the `Bodies in Barrels' murders that took place in South Australia between 1992 and 1999. In the film we start with a low rent family in Adelaide's suburbs, a place that is beyond bleak, full of slots, smokes and squalor. The mother (Elizabeth Harvey) has three sons and an elder one (half brother) who comes in later. They have a `special uncle' who lives across the road, and whilst he seems to be interested in Elisabeth, he is actually abusing the young boys. She finds out and goes `ape' to coin an oft used vernacular.

Enter new guy John Bunting (Daniel Henshall) he appears as a knight in rusting armour and sets about ousting the paedophile. Now ensconced as a vigilante hero, he takes on the mantle of local moral guardian and enlists the help of others in his `work'. Jamie (Lucas...

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Steve Niles' Remains

a nice surprise
After seeing the "made for television" 2012 Zombie Apocalypse, I had little hope for Remains, thinking it was going to have a lot of the same production value; mainly over used and cheesy C.G.I. affects and a thrown together story line with a poorly written script, which would all lead to annoying, clichéd characters that were under developed. Well, zombie movie lovers rejoice! The Chiller Channel has got their stuff together and made a durn fine, rooting, tooting zombie movie! Yes, it does have a slight "made for television" feel to it, in that there is no gratuitous loads of gore and blood and the intelligent actors don't have "f-bomb" diarrhea of the mouth! Some folks like that in their zombie movies, I however prefer a though out and well written story and script! And I got just that with Remains!
Now in other zombie movie reviews I have read where folks are disappointed that the movie didn't add "something new" to the zombie genre... sorry, but Remains is not a movie...

THE BEST THING YOU EVER DID WAS ME!
This zombie film starts on international "Peace Day" when some undisclosed process will neutralize radiation and make nuclear weapons useless. While these sketchy details are televised in the background, Tom (Grant Bowler) and Tori (Evalena "cleavage" Marie) go to a bomb shelter to get it on at a Reno hotel casino. When they emerge I expected to see Burgess Meredith looking for his glasses, but instead there is a full blown zombie food riot going on outside. Like "Dawn of the Dead" the first rule is to secure the perimeter and eliminate zombie hazards within the safe zone...which isn't that easy as this appears to be the only hotel casino that doesn't have a gun stashed anywhere.

Our non-zombie people group narrows down to four, with one openly gay character. (Guess who dies first because killing off the brother first has become too cliche?) The radioactive zombies require head shots and are a combination of fast moving and foot dragging zombies, whichever suits the mood of...

Not bad, not great. Totally watchable.
Maybe its just because I've watched so many terrible zombie movies that were made with more money and less love, but I thought this was kind of okay. It could have been better, yes. But it was enjoyable. There were a few moments that made no sense, but there were also a few moments where i cringed, and a few moments where i unexpectedly laughed my butt off at something that was SUPPOSED to be entertaining. SO i call that a win in this genre. I believe that this movie is a good example on the positive influence the success of "The Walking Dead" TV show is having on networks and studios throwing a couple dimes behind a director with a bit of vision. Now... if they could just start throwing them at BETTER directors with MORE time to work ..

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