The Tour Review

The Tour (2014)

IMDb Genre: Short/Horror

Director: Alex Mathieson, Damon Rickard

Writer: Alex Mathieson, Damon Rickard

Starring: Jessica Cameron, Heather Dorff, Tom Gordon

As I’ve previously mentioned on this blog, I’m a big fan of horror shorts. The scares can be just as intense and without all the confines of a studio they can be incredibly creative.

This effort from my very own England is no exception. The plot may be a little familiar but the ending is spectacular and when it’s done well who cares? I think the film really is the whole package so I’ll talk about one element at a time.

First of all the acting and directing. There’s a wealth of talent at play here and the directors pull great performances from their cast. This is particularly important in this short as the tone changes drastically very quickly so believable performances are key to the audience’s enjoyment. As it was the same two men who wrote and directed I would like to think that we’re seeing the film they had in their minds and it’s definitely a success.

In my opinion, the script is the highlight of the film. There is some well-timed comedy at the beginning that hints at what is to come but the smart decision is made to shelve the comedy once the horror kicks in which makes the scares more effective and for a fifteen minute film there are quite a few scares! Without giving too much away, the film builds to a perfect ending that is worth your wait.

There’s a good mix of filming techniques and the locations are stunning so visually the film is very appealing.

The music is all original for the film and matches the tone perfectly, I would love to hear more from the composer.

The film is let down a little by the effects work but you can tell this is just due to budget constraints so when you consider that the team have pulled this short off with a small budget it's completely forgivable and makes you more excited about the prospect of seeing a film made by the same team with a larger budget.

I’m going to keep this review fairly short and leave it there as it’s becoming apparent that it’s very hard to review this short without giving too much away! I highly recommend catching this film once it’s more widely available after it’s finished the festival circuit. I know Damon Rickard has more projects in the pipeline at the moment and I will be eagerly waiting for them and after checking out The Tour, I think you will be too.

General Opinion:

 

Scare Factor: 

The overall tone is eerie more than outright scary but there’s a few great scares.

Gore: 

Injuries are hinted at more than seen.

Clowns: 

The Gallows Review

The Gallows (2015)

IMDb Genre: Horror/Thriller

Director: Travis Cluff, Chris Lofing

Writer: Travis Cluff, Chris Lofing

Starring: Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos

Upon writing this review it’s been a few weeks since I watched the film and the more I think about it the more annoyed I am by it. The reason for this is that I went in with such high expectations and the film just doesn’t match up.

Whoever did the marketing campaign deserves a lot of praise; I’ve seen the phrase ‘so scary it’s hard to watch’ in relation to this film for a while now. The first trailer made it look dark and the acting top-notch, when they leaked the first scene it gave you just enough plot information so you could get excited and the second trailer made it look action-packed and fast-paced. Really none of the things the promotional footage promised were true.

For starters, the film is found footage which I didn’t think was obvious from the trailers and as someone who is getting bored with the trope this disappointed me from the start. Secondly, the film is very slow at the beginning with over half an hour (I actually checked my watch) of teens rehearsing a play and being mean to each other. I know many films start this way but this opening was overly drawn out and gave us no character development so I was watching characters I didn’t care for. I think this had an impact on my enjoyment of the rest of the film as the few deaths there are have been spread out unlike a typical teen slasher as though I’m supposed to feel bad for them.

For the majority the film was tolerable as an average teen slasher but the end ruined what redemptive qualities the film had as it clearly thought it was a clever horror and decided it was above the ‘vengeful ghost picks off teenagers’ plot it had set out up until then. The problem with the ending it presents is that it feels forced and it doesn’t entirely make sense. The ending is something you really need to get right; if people leave the cinema saying ‘I don’t get it, someone needs to explain it to me’ as they did with this it does not leave a good impression.

The film does provide some decent jump scares and there’s some good gore effects work. I also like that, unlike other found footage films, there are a couple of times when the death happens off-camera and the action carries on until a suitable point then we see the death on the secondary camera a little later. This is a new technique for found footage and it’s welcome.

Overall The Gallows is disappointing, maybe good for a laugh but that’s about it.

General Opinion: 

Meh.

Scare Factor:

Some effective jumpy scenes but ultimately nothing that will stay with you.

Gore: 

Not very gory but the gore was probably my favourite part as the effects work was great but it wasn’t over-played.

Clowns: 

There’s the odd teen prank silliness towards the beginning but the characters are too annoying for it to be very funny.