Genres

Visitors Review

slayrrr666 2012-05-24 11:05:13

A great guilty pleasure

"Long Time Dead" is one of the better Ouija board thrillers around.**SPOILERS**Tired of partying all night long, Liam, (Alec Newman) convinces friendsStella, (Laura Belmont) Rob, (Joe Absolom) Webster, (Lukas Haas)Spencer, (James Hillier) Annie, (Melanie Gutteridge) Lucy, (MarshaThomason) and Joe, (Mel Raido) to try a Ouija board. As they start todie mysteriously, they find evidence that the Ouija board used may havesummoned a Djinn through it. After finding the same thing happenedyears earlier to a coven of devil worshipers, they search for theanswers for getting rid of the Djinn. Aware the Djinn is one of them,they race to stop it from taking over their friends.The Good News: This is one of the better Ouija board thrillers outthere. The best part about the film is that there's an abundance ofvery creepy scenes during an attack. Each one is predated with somewonderful atmosphere and has their own individual moment. The one inthe boiler room at the beginning is incredibly creepy, as the settinginvolved, the constant off-screen bumps, creeks and groans, and thecrazy camera angles make it a great suspense scene. A couple of othermoments that are quite suspenseful. There is a spot near the end whereone of the teens is hiding in a locker and the monster walks up andstares malevolently inside. Then his eyes shift into evil cat's eyesmode. The other big scene is the external shot of the students' house,where the demon stalks a soon-to-be-victim and switches off the lightson each floor one by one as they walk up the stairs, all seen fromoutside. Even inside, there is a tense moment as that victim quietlywalks around the house trying to get out after conveniently leaving hiskeys upstairs, therefore having to go back up and get them and havingto get out once again. The continuing circumstances around it makes itall the better and creepier. After all that, the film does have somegreat gore and some great deaths. There's some great burn marks overthe body, some ripped throats, having their head rammed against a wallrepeatedly, and being stabbed with a wooden stake, among other greatdeaths. The great news about the gore is that it's never over-the-topand is just the perfect amount for the type. The very rapid pace isquite perfect, keeping it moving along nicely without a lot ofdown-time in between the kills. It's a really decent film.The Bad News: There's relatively few points I can fault with this one.The main one is that there's a real clichéd feeling to everythinginvolved. The Ouija board is brought in with very little creativethought, the fact that nothing really happens out of the ordinary andthe ending twist being so obvious to guess are classic examples ofthis. They are the main examples of what's wrong, as it's nothing newthat's been seen before.The Final Verdict: It's nothing new, but there's at least a lot ofsuspense and some decent deaths to aid things along. It's worthwatching if you're into those kinds of films, but don't expect nothingground-breaking in the process.Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Language and drug use

in-the-fade 2012-05-23 21:47:55

"There's no way I'm doing a Ouija board!"

Saw this when it was released and I didn't think all that much of it.Thought it was quite poor. I hadn't seen it since, until now and Ididn't find it as bad as I last remembered. However there are nopretensions that it's your typical run-of-the-mill, forgettable littlepost-scream British horror flick outing. Almost like a darksupernatural slasher, as a evil entity (Djinn - fire spirit) possessesa human body and goes about killing the college friends who wereinvolved in summoning it through a Ouija board. That who it possess iskept hidden until the film's climax, as red herrings are thrown up andback-stories are revealed. The main problem I had with it were thecharacters themselves… quite an unlikeable, bland and indistinguishablebunch of players. Surprisingly the ones which might have seem importantin some shape to carry it (the few sympathetic turns with somesensibility) were killed off early and this actually made itunpredictable it what order they would dwindle down to. The typicaltraits are there; false build ups, reckless decisions, surprisingrevelations to keep the story moving, roaming shadows, distractingnoises, characters finding out the truth to only be killed, ghastlyshocks with flowing blood, the killer POV shots and a cheap lastingjolt to close up shop. Director / co-writer Marcus Adams' escalatessome suspenseful frights and paces it well enough, but still its slickand flashy techniques are systematically vanilla. Special effects areefficient (sped up visuals and CGI) and the simmering score heightensthe danger with its heart-racing cues. The performances are okayfocusing on a hip young British cast (Hass' the exception) with theladies (Marsha Thomason, Lara Bellmount and Melanie Gutteridge)standing head over heals over the boys (Lukas Hass, Ale Newman, JoeAbsolom, James Hillier and Mel Raido).

Vicky-Pollard 2012-05-14 09:35:54

Stylish Scary Horror

Very impressed by this modern stylish 'British' horror. The plot is notgiven away until the very end of the film. Quite gory in parts for thosearesqueamish, but that doesnt overpower the movie. This is more of a edge ofthe seat, heart in your mouth kind of film, solid debut for Marcus Adamsandaccomplished directing throughout. Watch it!!!

2012-05-14 06:10:14

Good for a few chills

This one has the Brits trying their hand at horror, and although at first glance it may seem like a Scream/Urban Legend Clone, "Long Time Dead" is a pretty effective outing from first time director Marcus Adams.Okay, so the story is hackneyed -- a bunch of friends get too drunk and drugged out during a night out and decide to mess around with a ouija board, and in the process set free a djinn or Arabic fire demon -- but Adams throws in a few twists and turns that keep this movie pretty interesting.One nice twist is that one of the kids has a link to the djinn that is connected to the gruesome death of his mother in Morocco when he was a kid. Other twists keep popping up throughout the flick to sustain viewer interest.The best twist though is the one in the ending....This DVD features a gorgeous transfer, almost completely free of edge enhancement and even its darly lit night scenes look fabulous. The soundtrack is terrific too, making great use of the surround speakers. Though listed only as 5.1 Dolby surround, this decodes very effectively even on Dolby Surround EX if you have a 6.1 set-up.

Montgomery A. Lee 2012-05-13 07:14:51

OK movie, but follows a very predictable pattern

Like previous comments, this movie is good to watch late at night withyour girlfriend or spouse. It is a typical teen flick in that it aimsto scare you. However, all the setups are very predictable--just likethose made fun of in Scary Movie. They include the typical "sneak up onyour friend in the dark", pop in front of a window or door suddenly,and very basic "scare" thrills like this. You know they are coming, butthey still get your heart beat up a bit. Overall the movie was good,but a little hokey at the end (the character does a 180 degreeturnaround from what the entire movie portrays them as being--a littleridiculous).

Elfin-4 2012-05-12 15:02:31

Pretty good

As horror movies go this is right up there with Final Destination for the'jumping' factor.Over-acted, same old story, can't understand why they keep walking intodarkrooms but you don't think about these things until it'sover.I went in knowing nothing about the film and ended up being scaredwitless,I recommend this to horror film lovers.

Jenny-Louise 2012-05-03 10:05:50

Walking along the middle.

Okay, so this is not the best horror film ever to be released, but itcertainly isn't as bad as a lot of people make out. One thing I was verypleased to see was that it was an English horror, of which you don't seevery many. I went into this film having persuaded a friend NOT to seeanother film, having seen no trailers or advertising for it, and I waspleased that I'd spent my £3.25 on this rather than "The PrincessDiaries"!This film was the first to make me scream and jump, and produces quite afew"jumpy" moments. i.e. the eyes in the cupboard, I'm sorry, that got me!!Another thing that I was relieved about was there was no "high school"scenes or wannabe Americans. One of the best scenes was where the maincharacter (forgive me for not knowing the name) is trapped under his bed.Twist at the ending, which was refreshing!! Altogether not a bad film, notbad at all!

Richard Brunton 2012-05-02 22:37:47

Some nice touches, but misses the mark with capturing the audiences character empathy.

An interesting attempt at a teen horror flick, and British based too.Performances are strong and believable, and at least there is a plot, unlikemany other similar movies with paper-thin premises. There are a couple ofnice frights, and nicely engineered so as not to be too predictable. Still,the attempt at the big plot surprise just ambles by, and there was noempathy with any of the characters. I found that I didn't really care if anyof them died, nor even what became of the evil creature. It just all flowedby. Some nice touches, but misses the mark with capturing the audiencescharacter empathy.

josh_hartnett_is_fit 2012-04-27 08:30:39

Oh...Right...Well I thought it was scary!

Hello!*******Spoilers*********** (I think)Well...I thought the film was really scary,it had a really good plot! That'sbasically it, actually there's probably not a lot of point in reading this.Ok well Bye!!Ps. Ok there is NO spoilers

The_Vigilante 2012-04-26 16:42:31

Real Bad...

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS***Way back in 1996 Master of the macabre Wes Craven had an idea, tore-inventthe teenage horror slasher movie. It was an idea that gave the horrorgenrethe new leash of life that it needed, although, as usual, Hollywood milkedthe concept. After 'Scream' set the critics raving and the audiencesscreaming, Hollywood came up with the theory that as Scream made one hellofa lot of money, they'll make more. Thus 'I Know What You Did Last Summer','Cherry Falls', 'Final Destination' & 'Valentine' (to name but a few) wereborn.After 7 years the British Film Industry must have thought, "Hang on, let'shave a go at that". Unfortunately, they're trying to jump on a bandwagonthat is not there anymore, hence making one big mess. Namely - 'Long TimeDead'.Now, I'm a strong supporter of British films, but this is just plainawful.Dire acting from all parties, the director (Marcus Adams; Also the writer)must have been asleep while the actors attempted to perform. The movieheavily relies on the: `boo...oh I scared you tactic', using a lot ofnon-digetic music weaving in with the digetic noise of the characterseitherrunning or aimlessly wondering before getting 'slaughtered'. Invertedcommasbecause none of the killings actually go on on screen.Literally the plot is scraping the bottom of the barrel. It kind of hasdistant echo's of Cravens superior 'Wishmaster' and the appalling 'I StillKnow ..'. A group of teens for some reason (quite possibly I missed thepartwhere this was explained, but I doubt it) decided to have a go on a Oujiaboard, and accidentally call a Djinn. A Djinn ( for all the people whodidn't see Wishmaster) is a demon. The term Djinn is what is commonlyknownas a genie. But ironically enough (as if you didn't see this twistcoming),the Djinn is evil.For this 'Djinn' to be released it has to kill all those who conjured it.But really, do you even care? The characters are supposed to appeal to theaudiences so we don't want them to die, yet we do.An extremely predictable film from start to finish, if you can't see thesetwists coming then there is something seriously wrong withyou.Marks out of 10 - I'm not even gonna bother. I implore you, don't go andseethis movie, don't waste your money.

John Taylor 2012-04-26 06:26:41

Not a bad little Horror.

although Long Time Dead has nothing new to offer to the diserning horrorfan it isnt at all bad. When you think about it there arent that many filmsthat involve Ouiji boards which is quite suprising when this activity is oneof the most terrifyingly mysterious known.It is also nice to see another good British horror. If you like this then besure to get hold of Dog Soldiers which is even better.There is some nice ( that is not really the apt word!)moments and even agood twist or two that for a change the viewer does not seecoming.Not a cheerleader or token dork in sight. Long live britishhorror.7 out of 10.

Dominic91 2012-04-25 17:01:35

very creepy

I went into this film not expecting much, but i was pleasently surprised.this is a far superior teen horror movie, and it real sends chills up yourspine.i give it a nine, and i urge every one to give this small british achance.it deserves to be a big hit

Gary Ballance 2012-04-25 10:05:47

British horror film, which is gritty, yet stylish.

**SPOILERS**This is one of the rare British-made horror films to be given a mainstreamrelease in quitea while (at least to the best of my recollection.) It is quite gritty (theflat where the friends liveis a bit dingy and the barge is also in a poor situation), but stylish (thehouse lights seen going offfrom the outside).GOOD STUFF: No clear lead character being established makes the film'sconclusion moreunpredictable...The subtle touch of the lights being shown turned off fromoutside...the ouijaboard sequence (although it would have been better if we'd been shown whatwas going on)...good gore...turning the old cliche on its head, as someone actually replieswhen a scaredcharacter calls out "Hello?"- funny stuff..good ending and badguy.BAD STUFF: Slow starting...flashback scenes too flashy (like "The Watcher"-you can barelymake out what's going on...drags a bit in some places.OVERALL: Good- you may think it's low budget, but you can see they went allout withthe explosive climax. Grade- B.

2012-04-24 21:56:27

Long Time dead / horror

This review is from: Long Time Dead (DVD) I really liked this movie, I remembered I saw it on cable TV and thought it was pretty good. I missed the first 15 minites of it so I looked for it on Amazon and ordered it and was not disappointed. It had a good plot and everyoneturned in a good performance. Neat special effects and I liked the characters alot. I hope it comes on cable againit's been 4yrs sense I saw it on cable . I recommend this movie to horror fans. The british accents blended well with the characters.

2012-04-19 16:47:50

Terrible

I am always on the look out for something to scare me and if you are the same, do not get this movie. I watched it for the first and last time yesterday and it is possibly the worst film I have ever seen. It seems as though the film maker pocketed the budget and decided to scrap any special effects. The movie creates some excitment by showing pictures of a large fiery demon only to wait until the end of the movie to find you don't see the demon, it possesses a man who burns people by malling them with his arms. Regardless of a disappointing ending, the script is terrible and there are absolutely no frights throughout it. A terrible movie that has cut corners everywhere and will leave you very unsatisfied.

Katatonia 2012-04-19 00:11:31

Very predictable, basic overused horror plot...

========== Some minor plot spoilers may be ahead =========>I usually like most foreign horror movies, but this one was average atbest.While I was watching the movie I imagined what would happen next in theplot...and surprise surprise, I was 100% right in my predictionsthroughoutthe film. The ending I could clearly see from a mile away, it was soobviousthat it was nearly hysterical. I was very shocked...this film follows avery, very basic horror movie outline with a few ridiculous plot twiststhatare easy to foresee far in advance. It almost reminded me of some lameteenhorror flick, or a bad mainstream horror flick like DarknessFalls.An accidental summoning of a demon while acting like moronic goofballsusinga Ouija board? How many times has that already been in numerous horrormovies as the basic rehashed plot? Scary? I didn't find anything remotely"scary" in this movie.I also found the movie to be quite contrived, slow-paced and downrightboring for the first hour. The last 30 minutes get a little better withmorehappening, but I found absolutely nothing in the movie to be memorable orworth recommending. This one will surely float quickly down to the dustyrental shelves. I can see why the DVD release had absolutely no specialfeatures at all...not even a trailer. If you want a movie about a Djinn,just watch the first two Wishmaster movies.

Aaron 2012-04-18 02:22:51

Oh Dear!! Where was the storyline?

Once again, the team who put together the trailer for this movie did anexcellent job. Shame the actual movie was a horror to watch in itself!!The story line needed a severe jump start to get it going, but basically aDjjin, being the main culprit, was brought into our world through a ouijaboard, and then kills it's victims throughout the film. Last time I cameacross one of these evil characters was "Wish Master" and that was farbetter than this movie. The only part of this film, which held ittogether,was the soundtrack. Not the banging dance music at the beginning but thestandard orchestral accompany of stabbing blasts of music on an autorepeat,just letting us know something nasty was going to happen. Nothing newwiththis film. Very boring and a complete waste of time. I was moreinterestedin the coke that was spilt on the floor next to me than another characterthrashing around (very poorly I would like to add) whilst being killed onscreen! Bless em!

2012-04-17 15:40:16

Inept on every level

Eight young people -with about that number of brain cells between them all-while out of their faces on booze ,pills and with what little intelligence they had to start with muddled by the moronic influence of "rave "culture ,opt to try out an ouija board for a giggle.Bad mistake my intellectually challenged friends because they conjure up an Arabian fire demon -a djinn in the Arab vernacular.Now it just turns out that some years earlier the father of one of their number had conjured up that exact same pesky little demon and under its influence had committed murder resulting in his incarceration in a mental institution .The djin wreaks bloody havoc on the group ,to the considerable benefit of the nation's gene pool ,in my view.When people get offed in a horror movie it helps audience sympathy if they are in some way innocent victims but these imbeciles brought it all down on their own head .As people who believe in nothing but their own pleasure they mock things they do not understand and I enjoyed watching them meet their end and was rooting for the djinn.The shallow ,hedonistic nincompoops deserved their fate and reperesnt no great loss to society .Quite what the great Tom Bell who plays the father was doing in this witless farrago of nonsense is beyond me -he was normally very selective about his roles -but his is the only half-way competent performance . the other performances would not have passed muster in akindergarten playAdd a thumping electro soundtrack of mind rotting banality and the result is a movie painful to thje ears as well as the eyesMay I suggest root canal surgery as a less painful alternative to watching this tripe ?For good modern Brit horror try The Descent ,or dog Soldiers

Steve Carver 2012-04-14 10:56:57

Well intended mediocrity

Hip cast, atmospheric cinematography, pleasing productiondesign, but what lets this promising debut down is it's lack oforiginality. Marcus Adams has a visually confident , kinetic approach, butthere is nothing new or exciting about his take on the genre.Inventive shots (the likes of Argento, Coen Bros and Raimi) andcreative suspense sequences (the likes of Hitchcock andSpielberg) are sadly lacking. Instead the dots are joined together, leading us through a repatative body count reminiscent ofHammer's 'Blood From The Mummys Tomb'. Most scenes begin with a character walking though a room callingout another character's name, their progress towards apredictable demise accompanied by stock string suspensemusic.At a time when the genre is being deconstructed ('Scream') ortreated as extreme realism ('Blair Witch') it is ill advised to followsuch an old fashioned, threadbare formula - as it is to present uswith a rubber masked Djinn in a banaal attempt to scare us.(Didn't they see the studio cut of Val Lewtons 'Night Of TheDemon'? - First rule of horror - never show the monster.The films biggest problem is that it fails to focus its point of viewon one likeable character. As the body count progresses you don'tcare who dies because you are not given an emotional perspective to identify with. In the latter stages there is an attemptto focus, but the character of choice is the least sympathetic andhis backstory only serves to round up the plot and give some kindof context to the killings.One scene worthy of note however involves the spiritualist trappedin a canal barge as the killer moves above her - reminiscent of ValLewton's seminal swimming pool scene in 'Cat People' andRobert Wise's 'The Haunting'.Lets hope Mr Adams learns his lessons in time for 'Octane'currently shooting in the US.

2012-04-14 00:37:47

This will teach you young'uns to fool around with Ouija boards

This review is from: Long Time Dead (DVD) I like this movie , great cast with a good story that weaves in and out and makes for a interesting demons from beyond kind of movie. This is a very tame as far as blood, gore and nakedness but the story does not need it.I hate to say it folks the Brits have really been stepping up to the plate with the horror movie genre and I hope they keep them coming.I bought this used off Amazon for around $3.00 and am very happy I did,