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SPOOKTOBER VI: THE HAMMER OF HORROR

Jesus Christ, Hammer! I wasn’t prepared for this film to be so brutally intense. The movie barely starts before we’re hit with a graphic scene of a little girl being viciously bitten by a dog—guts spilling out and all. And that’s just the beginning; there are several more horrifying moments to come.

The film itself holds up well. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, sticking closely to familiar conventions, with characters making some questionable decisions fueled by grief. To its credit, the story moves at a brisk pace for the most part, though it does drag a bit here and there. The daughter plays the creepy kid role adequately, though she could…

A couple finds themselves grief stricken when they lose their young daughter in a tragic attack. Unable to deal with their loss, they travel to a small town called Wake Wood to start a new life. It's here that they encounter a group of people who perform a ritual that returns their daughter to them for three days. They see it as a chance to say goodbye, but in their desperation they lie to those who facilitate the resurrection. What comes back looks like their daughter, it talks like her too, but appearances aren't always what them seem to be.

After re-watching another low budget horror film titled The Super yesterday afternoon I figured I'd re-watch another little known low…

This was Hammer's first theatrical release in 30 years when it first debuted in 2009. All things considered, a worthy return to form for the studio that dominated horror in the sixties and seventies.

This intense folk horror tale features some truly jarring interludes and a palpable sense of foreboding as it unspools. Though nothing truly original, it accomplishes its shocks with real brio. Overlapping a bit with previous films such as Pet Sematary and The Wicker Man, it still does its thing effectively, especially if you are a parent. (Those resurrection scenes....yeesh!)

An Irish-British co-production, the film was written by David McCarthy, with an assist by director David Keating. Aidan Gillen and Eva Birthistle channel parental concerns and anxiety…

How far would you go to bring back someone you loved? That's the question that is explored in this passable post-millennium Hammer horror film from Ireland.

Patrick and Louise move to a new town after losing their daughter, Alice, in a tragic accident. Once there, they discover that a mysterious townsman has the ability to reanimate Alice through an ancient ritual but because this is a horror movie things don't quite go according to plan.

If The Wicker Man and Pet Sematary got together for a wild and passionate night, Wake Wood is the baby they would spawn. The idea is good but the execution is only mediocre and that's what holds this one back from being better than it…

What if there was a chance, even if for three days, to get a dead child back you lost tragically? A chance to say goodbye but the end result is losing her again? In Wakewood, grieving pharmacist Louise and veterinarian Patrick are offered a chance to have their dog-attack daughter back for three days by ritual thanks to Timothy Spall’s town leader (if the lost person has been gone less than a year). The couple lies to have their daughter back and lots of violence ensues [of course/natch]. Some of the township get too close to the girl when she’s in full psycho killer mode and animals get it harshly, too. Because of the lie, not only does the daughter…

1st David Keating

A modest little horror flick that sees a grieving couple relocate to a small Irish village that has the ability to bring back anyone who has been dead for less than a year. The couple, blinded by their city assumptions, try to cheat the villagers and get more than they bargained for. Like Apostle, it does clearly reference a number of influential (and better) works, in this case Pet Semetary and Don't Look Now, but it manages to do so with its own unique flair and energy. The location of Northern Ireland helps that, a place often not seen in British horror cinema. There are certain scenes that betray its low-budget origins- some bad CGI blood splatters…

This Irish horror film begins gruesomely with the death of a young girl named Alice by a dog. We then follow her parents as they struggle to grieve and cope with the aftermath of what has happened. The mother works as a pharmacist and encounters a woman and her daughter, and things seem somewhat strange. After further inquiring she learns there might be a way she can see her daughter again. The catch? It would only be for 3 days, and no more and she may not be removed from the town of Wakewood during this time. Of course they go for this, but even by temporary re-animation standards something isn't quite right with Alice. Also they may never leave…