Producer Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions continues to successfully churn out top notch horror projects left, right and center. But not only that he is has been able to help carve out a number of new horror franchises that keeps audiences flocking back to theatres. Horror prequel ‘Ouija: Origin of Evil’ hits theatres later this week and we managed to score some time with the man himself to discuss the new prequel along with his other projects currently lined up.

Richard: Hi Jason, thanks for speaking to us today. I saw Ouija: Origin of Evil this morning and I really enjoyed it.

Jason: Thank you very much.

Richard: I wanted to start by asking you how you got director and scriptwriter Mike Flanagan on board, he did such a great job with the atmosphere and tension.

Jason: This is our third collaboration which started with Oculus and Hush. Mike did quite a bit of work on the first Ouija movie and we really wanted to go straight to him for the sequel. We were open to do whatever he wanted, to do a prequel and make it period and we supported his vision on that.

Richard: Do you have any more projects planned with Mike?

Jason: Well we have a couple but one is coming out in early 2017 called Gerald’s Game, It’s based on the Stephen King novel and it’s something Stephen has been trying to get made for a long time.

Jason: Do they still sell the Hasbro Ouija boards in the US?

Jason: Yes they do, do they have them in the UK?

Richard: We do but they’re not sold as children’s toys! Would you call it a board game?

Jason: A board…something..!

Richard: It struck me as quite an unusual way to use product placement as the board is the star of the movie, can you tell me more about working with Hasbro?

Jason: Well we wanted to do a film about a spirit board so we looked into getting the rights. When you talk about ‘speaking to ghosts’ the Hasbro Ouija board is the first thing you think about and the process of getting the film made was deeply organic because of that. We made the film with Hasbro and they were involved with the production and marketing of the film. Hasbro has a TV and film production company, Brian Goldner, CEO of Hasbro is a real movie lover, he’s produced the Transformers movie and his focus is on content based around Hasbro brands.

RM Could the film be a warning not to use the board?

Jason: You’d better think twice before you pull that Ouija board out! In some territories, I don’t think the UK they’re not available as I think people are scared of them and won’t stock them in their stores.

Richard: I’ve only seen them here in Spiritualist shops but I’ve seen online Hasbro have sold pink boards and I wonder whether you ever discussed pursuing a different aspect of the Hasbro Ouija story with the characters contacting positive spirits?

Jason: I think we’ll work that into the third movie if we get that far!

Richard: (Scoop!) You have plenty of horror projects in the pipeline, what are you most excited about?

Jason: That’s like asking me which is my favourite kid! I’m definitely excited about M. Night Shyamalan’s Split, coming out early in 2017, it’s a really great thriller harking back to Sixth Sense, it’s really in that vein. There’s also a great movie by Jordan Peele called Get Out. It’s driving a lot of people crazy which I love to do. It’s super original and it’s very odd.

Richard: If you had the freedom to pick any horror film for the remake treatment what would it be and what would you change?

Jason: I’d love to remake Friday the 13th but they’re already doing that at Platinum Dunes, I’ve missed the boat! The other remake I’ve always wanted to do was Halloween and I’m really pleased we’re doing it. It’s going to be amazing when we’ve figured it out.

Richard: Am I right in thinking John Carpenter’s involved?

Jason: He’s directly involved, we’re trying to get him to do the music and we’ve been talking a lot about all the different directions we could take it. I think it’s going to be a home run.

Richard: Jason, thank you for speaking to Horror Asylum it’s been a pleasure.

Richard Mansfield

The post An Interview with Jason Blum appeared first on Horror Asylum.

It’s 1967 and the Alice Zander is struggling financially after the recent death of her husband. She has daughters Paulina and Doris to take care of and to make ends meet, the three of them work as sham-mediums. Alice justifies her fraudulent trade believing she brings her clients a sense of relief and closure with their grief but as customer numbers dwindle and the purse strings are tightened further Alice buys a Ouija board to tempt more customers through the door. It’s not long before Doris tries to contact her dead father alone (breaking the board’s rules) and something rather nasty comes through the board claiming to be ‘a friend’.

The original Ouija was based on the Hasbro board game, which was based on the popular Victoria parlour game. It was a financial success (hence me writing this) but fared less well critically.

I’m happy to report that more care has been taken this time around to make it an entertaining experience. Director Mike Flanagan has clearly been allowed to stamp his artistic influence on the movie with the period setting making good use of a very colourful palette and great soundtrack. There are some lovely moments too with the lighting and cinematography adding to the richness of the autumnal setting.

The cast are great, particularly Lulu Wilson who plays Doris. She’s both wide-eyed and innocent and creepy as a possessed devil-child from hell. Her strangulation monologue to Pauline’s boyfriend is both chilling and wryly amusing thanks to Flanagan’s darkly comic script. The jump-scares are present but not over used. There are even some nice creepy moments that are allowed to play out and it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

OVERALL SUMMARY
Most horror fans will have seen it all before but Ouija: Origin of Evil is a fun Halloween treat to spill your popcorn to.

Richard Mansfield

The post Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) appeared first on Horror Asylum.

The original film claimed to be the missing footage of three film students who headed into the Burkittsville woods in search of the legendary Blair Witch who was reported to haunt the woods. The footage seemed to suggest the students were killed but their remains were never found.

This time another group of unlucky campers head to Burkittsville woods in search of answers. Leading the expedition is film student James Donoghue who has a very personal connection being the brother of Heather who went missing with her 2 fellow film makers when James was 4 years old.

James wants to find his sister and make a documentary of their findings. New footage has surfaced on the Internet and it seems to hint that Heather is still alive so James sets out with a group of plucky friends armed with a bevy of the latest camera equipment and go on the trail. They meet up with a local couple who claim to have found and uploaded the tape containing the sighting of Heather and set off into the woods.

Blair Witch covers the ground of being a direct sequel as well as a reboot. Whereas Heather and co had 2 cameras to record their demise this group have loads. Each has a personal ear-mounted camera as well as DSLRs and a drone. This allows us to see everything from each characters viewpoint. The original was rich with atmosphere but in 2016 mainstream horror is all about the jump-scare and Blair Witch is no different. There’s very little time for any atmosphere to build so keen are the filmmakers to shoehorn in the next jolt which is usually someone appearing in the frame or suddenly grabbing a camera. The cast in 2016 are all a little too perky. It almost feels like they know they’re in a Blair Witch sequel. The original was improvised but the dialogue felt very authentic, here everything feels scripted. I re-watched the original the day after and the performances are in a different league, maybe the new cast just look too perfect, too ‘Hollywood’. There are the inevitable bullshit arguments and calls to ‘turn the damn camera off’ somethings fans of found footage will have seen a million times. The film has been meticulously put together in terms of its found-footage aesthetic, but it remains nothing than a simulation. The more they have added the faker it feels coming off more like more like Blair Witch: The Ride or a video game. Admittedly, the ending is fraught and claustrophobic but I didn’t find it particularly scary. It becomes such a bombardment of screaming and shakeycam there’s never a moment to feel any terror.

If you’re a fan of the original you may get a kick out of seeing a new take on the story but I think the films main achievement is the fact that it was kept a secret until the recent unveiling which felt very in spirit with originals marketing campaign.

OVERALL SUMMARY
A competently made re-tread of The Blair Witch Project

Richard Mansfield

The post Blair Witch (2016) appeared first on Horror Asylum.

First off I’m a big James Wan fan. I love ‘Insidious’, ‘The Conjuring’ and even ‘Dead Silence’so I was pretty excited the sequel was getting rave reviews. I have to say I was pretty disappointed. It’s not that ‘The Conjuring 2’ is a bad film; it just isn’t a particularly good one. I think my main issue with it was that it felt completely false. The original had a sense of reality about it. The locations felt real and atmospheric. In Enfield everything clearly looks like a set, aged with damp and mould overkill. I’d say it is pretty suspenseful but most of the scary bits are all jump/startle scares that are in most cases deafening and quite forgettable. Although all the entities are real actors there are some really nasty CGI enhancements particularly to the demon Nun who has some really ropey roaring-mouth-teeth-rubbish going on. Apparently her scenes were filmed in March this year only 3 months before therelease. The Nun replaced a previously filmed ‘red-eyed demon’. It would be interesting to see what the original demon was like. The nun is reported to have her own spinoff film (Like Annabelle)entitled ‘The Nun’. There is also the Babadook-a-like Crooked Man who inhabits a haunted musical toy but like the other spectres, his appearances are completely bombastic and raise very few chills.

The acting across the board is decent but falls prey to a clunky script littered with obvious exposition and English cockney stereotypes, ‘Gor blimey guvnor’ etc. Madison Wolfe playing Janet is great and natural despite her false crooked teeth. Her scenes with Farmiga are moving and tense and show the potential for a much more subtle and creepier approach to the story that could have been made.

The Warrens reportedly only visited Enfield for one day (uninvited) so a lot of the story elements from the actual case have been borrowed from other real life characters. Wan’s narrative paints the Warrens as the heroes determined to save the day. I’m not asking for accuracy in a Hollywood version, particularly one that adds Crooked Men and Demon Nuns but it does seem a little bit cheeky.

Before seeing the film I watched some of the original real-life family interviews on YouTube and the production team have done a very good job recreating the details form the original footage from the clothing, casting similar looking actors in some of the more minor roles. Even the Purdey (Joanna Lumley in the New Avengers) poster hangs on Janet’s bedroom wall which I thought was a nice touch.

What ‘The Conjuring 2’ does have going for it is two highly likeable leads. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are very charismatic and work well together. The opening scenes which take place in the Amityville murder house are cleverly filmed with Lorraine creepily experiencing the original crime before the famous haunting commenced my favourite part of the film.

I’m clearly in a minority and many seemed to have loved the film so maybe you’ll get a kick out of the fairground jolts but for me this ranks alongside ‘Insidious Chapter 2’ as a bloated and messy sequel that throws everything including the kitchen sink at the screen with very few genuine chills

OVERALL SUMMARY
Abloated and messy sequel with some enjoyable moments and a lot of loud bangs.

Richard Mansfield

The post The Conjuring 2 (2014) appeared first on Horror Asylum.

The premise is simple. Lecturer Thora travels to Hungary with one of her students to a sight where the Mothman has been recently seen. They arrive armed with camerasand investigate the mystery. Thora is also an aspiring actress and has hopes the film they make could boost her profile.

Moth is a found footage horror although some scenes have been filmed as a traditional narrative.

Moth is quite an unusual experience. Although filmed in Hungary the cast speak English. Thora is Ukrainian and her companion Adam is from Sweden. This gives the film a somewhat detached feeling. It almost feels at times that they are repeating their dialogue phonetically. You would think that this could make the film difficult to engage with but I found it added to the general strangeness and off-kilter vibe. It’s as if the characters exist in their own world with some moments reminding me of David Lynch’s ‘Inland Empire’. ‘Moth’ has some quite suspenseful moments but its main strengths come from its heavy atmosphere and beautiful location.

I have seen many films similar to Moth and switched them off after 10 minutes but I was engaged throughout. My husband who absolutely hates found-footage films sat through it too and quite enjoyed it, so that’s a pretty decent recommendation.

OVERALL SUMMARY
If you enjoy found footage you’ll probably enjoy Moth, just embrace the weirdness. It’s simply a strange and atmospheric found-footage mystery.

Richard Mansfield

The post Moth (2016) appeared first on Horror Asylum.

She’s acting differently, setting new rules requesting total peace, quiet and darkness. Her treatment of the boys is harsh and begins to border on the abusive. The boys suspect she is an imposter and set about finding the truth by taking matters into their own hands with dire consequences.

‘Goodnight Mommy’ is pretty much a three hander between Mommy (Susanne Wuest) and the two boys (Elias and Lukas Schwarz). At a brief Q&A after the screening the directors revealed the twins had never acted before and they’re really great. The whole production is excellent across the board. The film drips in atmosphere thanks to the performances, beautiful cinematography and haunting score/soundscape. It evokes many horror tropes but refuses to give what’s expected. The result is a taught and uneasy experience.

When the tables are turned and Lukas and Elias take their revenge on Mommy, the tale takes a more nasty turn. I’ve sat through all the Saw films and consider myself to have a pretty high tolerance of grim things but one of the last scenes really got me. It just felt real and very dangerous. ‘Goodnight Mommy’ won’t be for everyone, its arthouse style and ambiguous story may frustrate some but I’d recommend you give it a go.

OVERALL SUMMARY
Atmospheric and gripping art house thriller

Richard Mansfield

The post Goodnight Mommy (2014) appeared first on Horror Asylum.

The only rule that must never be broken which of course Maria does break is to never open the door. Maria returns to her family but something has come back with her. It starts off with invisible footsteps pattering about the house then plants start to die. Maria senses Oliver is back with them and is secretly happy. Soon however the haunting takes a sinister turn, a horrible figure covering its face is glimpsed in the shadows getting closer and closer and creepy thin men with the ash of the dead painted on their faces keep hanging around and pointing at her. Yikes.

I generally lap up any kind of spooky cobblers and with the offer of a cheap ticket (and a few good reviews) I thought I’d give it a go. ‘The Other Side of the Door’ has lots of potential but unfortunately it is depressingly generic. The performances are pretty mediocre and the script dull. I couldn’t buy into Maria’s grief or the couple’s relationship.

The exotic location makes a nice change to the usual USA set films but for all the effort that has gone into it you will barely remember a frame once you set a foot out of the cinema. The suspense in some scenes is quite good thanks to ‘Insidious’ regular Joseph Bishara’s score but rather than allowing the creep factor to edge in, every scare ends with a CGI face screeching at the audience. It isn’t scary and It is films like this that give the horror genre a bad name. I’d sit this next to recent release ‘The Forest’ in being a complete waste of time. If you’re looking for a good horror then go and see ‘The Witch’ or ‘Goodnight Mommy’. Both are excellent and on release now.

OVERALL SUMMARY
Depressingly generic haunted house thriller

Richard Mansfield

The post The Other Side of the Door (2016) appeared first on Horror Asylum.

The Witch follows the lives of a puritan family banished from their village, forging a new life in the New England wilderness. Eldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) is looking after her baby brother and during a game of Peekaboo he is taken into the woods and something terrible happens. As a result Thomasin comes under the scrutiny of her family who are already feeling the pressure of their self-imposed isolation. Whisperings of Devil worship and Witchcraft start to tear the family apart as paranoia and fear take hold.

So is The Witch as scary as the early reviews made out? I was surprised I didn’t find it particularly scary. Ultimately it suffers from the similar scare- hype as It Follows and The Babadook. This is not a bad thing just a note to take the marketing with a pinch of salt. The Witch is still one of the best and most unnerving horror films you’ll see all year.

The cast are all excellent. Kate Dickie and Ralph Ineson make a formidable pair as parents Katherine and William. Their unquestioning dedication to their beliefs is completely believable. An early scene when they gaze at the awaiting woods with fixed grins on their faces is chilling. The Devil may be scary but Protestant extremists are even more terrifying. The score is excellent, eerie strings and vocals are striking and unnerving. The dialogue is authentic having been taken from diaries kept at the time (early 1600’s). As the family unravels the sense of claustrophobia is brilliant. The sense that something terrible is going to happen is twisted like a corkscrew and feels very intense. The film is written and directed by Robert Eggers

The Witch is my favourite horror of the last year so far. It may not be the scariest but I urge you to give this slow burn classic a chance. It’s refreshing to see a film like this getting made and getting so much publicity. It may not inspire a slew of creepy period drama copy-cats but The Witch is an atmospheric and disturbing fairy tale that will stay with you long after viewing and probably make you a little more suspicious of goats.

OVERALL SUMMARY
Unnerving and atmospheric period drama that chills.

Richard Mansfield

The post The Witch (2015) appeared first on Horror Asylum.

Despite The Blair Witch being one of the first found footage features to hit it big in recent years it remained a bit of a one off in terms of spawning slews of copycats. A decade later and PA comes out and a lot has changed. Technology advances have meant making a found footage film can be incredibly cheap. You could film and edit on your phone if you wanted. One of the many issues with found footage is the un-cinematic nature of the footage. As the actors are filming themselves in character the footage is often choppy, jerky and badly framed. PA 1 made up for this with its scare factor. The footage wasn’t cinematic but its formula was. The night time set up was the same and each time the familiar frame of the bedroom with the open door filled the screen I was filled with an increasing sense of dread. The cast were great too with Katie Featherstone and Micah Sloat making a very charismatic and convincing couple.

Mega box office returns ensured 4 more films followed. It’s generally thought that the odd number sequels have been better received than the evens. I found PA 2 and PA 4 to be the least interesting. Relocating the familiar story to Oxnard California with a Latino cast for the 5th instalment felt fresher, it was more action than scares but at least it tried to do something different. This brings us to part 6 and The Ghost Dimension. The trailer and press said that for the first time you would be able ‘to see the activity’ and answers to the mystery would be found.

So does the mystery get solved, is the activity terrifying and does the PA franchise go out on a high? The answer is no to all three, it’s the worst in the series.

The action begins with the ending to PA 3, the one set in the 80s with Katie and her sister Kristi as Kids. Between the first and 6th films a lot of mythology has been added. I have to say I’ve found this rather frustrating and distracting. The reason the first was so scary was its simplicity. Now there are covens, conspiracies, time travel and none of it had any real impact and just served to make the simple scares convoluted and increasingly un-scary and usually it meant the final scene of every film featured extras with black eyes wandering towards the final victim or someone screaming into camera.

The most interesting element of the new film was the finding of the old video camera that had been modified so that the Paranormal Activity could be viewed through it. This was all shown in 3D although I saw it flat. The activity is represented by a floating murky soup that darted about and formed different shapes. Toby (the main demon/entity of the series) is shown too as a murky mass of human shaped goo. The jumps scares are all present and correct and there’s very little attempt to actually wring any tension from any of the scenes.

OVERALL SUMMARY
The Paranormal Activity franchise goes out with a whimper.

Richard Mansfield

The post Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015) appeared first on Horror Asylum.

From the start things seem a little off. Doris and John make them feel welcome but they do seem to be a little strange. The kids are asked to go to bed early at 9.30 and instructed not to leave their room. When Rebecca ventures out in search of a snack she witnesses Doris wandering in a trance and projectile vomiting. This is just the start of a whole host of weirdness that unfolds over their week-long trip.

The Visit is the first film from M. Night in quite a while and the real shocker is that it’s been quite decently received. I’m not quite sure what to make of it to be honest. There’s quite a lot to like in the mix but there’s also a hell that could make you want to roll your eyes and switch off. For starters it’s found footage (Generally I quite enjoy the format) but I have to say it has been done quite well here. There’s quite a lot of decently framed static shots and atmospheric scenes of the winter landscape.

Giving Tyler his own camera was a good move too meaning we get to have a double perspective on the action. The whole documentary narrative also gives the kids another reason to keep filming and I can’t remember someone shouting to ‘turn the camera off’ as happens in most FF films. I think my problem with the whole production it that I didn’t find it that funny or scary. It has really odd vibe to it and not in a good way. The actors are all decent but feel like they’re all from different films. Deanna Dunagan is game in playing the crazy granny, running around at night naked and gnashing into the camera but her character is pretty one-note as is Peter McRobbie as John.

It has decent suspense but most shocks are Doris suddenly appearing in frame with a suped-up sound effect. Having Tyler as an aspiring rapper is hideous, the results are toe-curlingly cringe worthy and it happens a few times. The key here is believability and I didn’t believe a frame of it. What kind of mother sends her kids off to the parents she ran away from and is still so emotionally distraught about whilst buggering off on a cruise? I think The Visit would have worked better if M. Night had had some scary ideas other than ‘getting old is gross’.

OVERALL SUMMARY
Horror comedy found footage rom the director of The Sixth Sense

Richard Mansfield

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