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Being stuck in the woods with a bunch of sarcastic teenagers is no-one’s idea of a good time. In fact, in Eden Lake two people found out just how bad it could really be for them. Now this year sees a similar storyline emerge in the new film from Julian Richards, director of the excellent The Last Horror Movie.

In this film a group of school kids decide to bunk off school on a hot summer’s day with one of them stealing a moped to bring along. Deep in the woods they hang out, take the piss out of each other and eventually take turns on the moped, but when two of them crash into a dishevelled drifter who introduces himself as Peter things begin to turn from a laugh into something far more sinister.

Before we start I should say that the comparisons to Eden Lake are apparent from the start but this film was made in 2006, and in fact director Richards states that the crew of Eden Lake actually visited him on set to ensure that the two films would not be too similar.

However the real themes and ideas behind Summer Scars do share a similarity with the later film but this is told from the perspective of the children themselves and their performances are mostly excellent here. Writer and director Richards crafted the story from a real life experience from his youth when him and a friend were terrorised in the woods near his home town by man with an air rifle and it is this very real idea that makes the film so compelling and down right scary.

He has used children from a local drama group as they are not the usual drama-school types (for that see Tormented) and because of this they really imbue the film with an air of almost documentary believability that carries you along from their first encounter with Peter (an excellent Kevin Howarth) who at first seems to be their mate, showing them a couple shagging in the woods and teaching them to stand up for themselves when some other older boys come into the woods and bully a few of their crew. But things get gradually stranger and you begin to question Peter’s motives, why is he in the woods and where is he from?

This is a tightly shot and plotted little film that uses its simple woodland locations well and creates a real and palpable sense of claustrophobia and tension and as we learn a little about all of the children involved you begin to actually feel for them despite their social standing as at the end of the day they are just teenagers and at the mercy of an adult. Howarth as mentioned is great in his role here, creating a mystery in Peter as it is never explained where he is from and why he is doing what he does, it is kudos to Richards that he is intelligent enough to let the audience decide about him.

Overall, Summer Scars is an excellent film that raises some interesting questions about the youth in Britain today, and also about mental healthcare in the 21^st century. See this as an antidote for all the other clichéd horror out there at the moment!

Mark Cappuccio

Horror remakes have become big business again in the last few years, especially the work of Wes Craven.

Now, while the Nightmare on Elm Street remake is in production, the new version of his very first film The Last House on the Left, hits cinemas. The original was banned in the UK for years and has only only recently been released onto DVD completely uncut.

The film poses the simple question of how far would parents go when confronted with the killers of their children? Would they turn them over to the police or take things violently into their own hands and exact bloody revenge?

Craven’s 1972 debut film offended many with its brutal murder of two girls and the revenge taken by one of those girls’ parents when the criminals seek shelter in the parent’s house after a car accident. Watched now it is not in the slightest bit shocking, has aged appallingly and is so cheaply shot as to be laughable. However, the simple message behind it is as relevant today as it was 30 odd years ago.

This time it is debut director Dennis Iliadis and screenwriters Adam Alleca and Carl Ellsworth who have managed to craft a film that is not only better than the original but delivers true moments of horror and fear and a believable backstory for the three criminals which was lacking in the old film.

The Collingwood family of dad John (Tony Goldwyn) and mum Emma (Monica Potter) are having a summer vacation in their remote lake house with daughter Mari (Sara Paxton) and her friend Paige (Martha MacIsaac). The girls are bored and go out for a drive but are kidnapped by a psychopathic escaped prisoner called Krug (Garret Dillahunt), his mad girlfriend Sadie (Riki Lindhome), his sadistic brother Francis (Aaron Paul) and Krug’s weakling son Justin (Spencer Treat Clark). The crew are mean, bad and downright evil as they torture and kill Paige and leave Mari for dead in a river. A severe storm causes them to take shelter at a nearby house, which unbeknownst to them is the home to Mari’s parents, and things start to get a lot more bloody and serious.

From the gruesome start where we see Krug violently escape from being escorted to prison and brutally killing the two cops with him you know that this is something that will not only shock and scare you but does something that many new horrors do not and that is actually ‘horrify’ its audience.

There is a palpable sense of tension and impending horror in the excellent set up towards the inevitable final confrontation between Krug’s sick crew and the Collingwood Parents that is played out in some scary and exciting set pieces that not only keep you guessing but carry you along with the story. The performances in horror films are not usually that good as there are so many clichés thrown in that distract from an actor’s work, but here all the cast members (MacIsaac aside) are excellent. Dillahunt makes Krug truly sick and horrible and is ably backed up by his co-stars Lindhome and Paul who have an onscreen chemistry that makes their actions truly frightening. Potter and Goldwyn do well in showing a human side to the parents and carrying us along with their fated decisions, and Paxton is also good in her role as Mari. However MacIsaac is a tad annoying as Paige and Krug’s son Justin played by Clark is a little clichéd and stereotypical.

But these are minor quibbles in a film that is genuinely disturbing and horrific and one that will have many of you covering your eyes in many scenes and having deep conversations afterwards about what it all meant. This is an excellent and intelligent adult horror film that deserves to be seen on the big screen and will stay with you long after it ends.

Mark Cappuccio

If you were a man going through a messy divorce surely you would want your mates to rally around you and ensure that you were happy and had a good time to take your mind off of it all?

In this new film from Evil Aliens director Jake West that is exactly happens but things go a little pear-shaped for Vince (Stephen Graham) and various mates when they take him to the little village of Moodley where the women apparently outnumber the men three to one. On arrival they find body parts strewn about the place and blood everywhere and when the local women seem to have turned into zombies, they must fight for their lives in order to survive.

From the get-go you know that this film is not going to be either politically correct or ashamed of its B Movie roots. It stars Danny Dyer as Neil, a man so sexist it’s scary, and we are introduced to his character at the start of the film with him running out of a girl’s house, forgetting her name and insulting her on the way out. I know many people will switch off now, but he really is good in this film, playing a role he has perfected and providing much of the movie’s comic relief. Noel Clarke also appears as (Mikey) one of Vince’s five other friends and once again shows the comic timing he displayed in Doctor Who.

There is much running around of course, and we find out that the female zombies (or “Zombirds”) were created by an Army experiment gone wrong, and that they are going to mutate and get stronger and more vicious over time.

Yes it is really, really silly and cheap and cheerful but is a whole lot better than the awful Lesbian Vampire Killers, and although not Shakespeare it does what it says on the tin and provides a good 90 minutes of great, gory and often funny entertainment.

Writer Dan Schaffer has crafted a cute and clever addition to the pantheon of zombie films, and horror-comedy fans will find this a hoot.

Mark Cappuccio

The French have a knack for making excellent thrillers as they proved when they took Harlan Coben’s Tell No One and, despite transporting it across the Atlantic, crafted a brilliant film from it.

This time it’s an original story from co-writer and director Fred Cavaye about happily married couple Lisa (Diane Kruger) and Julien (Vincent London). They are still passionately in love and lead a normal life with their young son Oscar, but one morning their world comes crashing down around them as the police storm into the house and arrest Lisa for a brutal murder. She is quickly found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Julien is convinced she is innocent and sets about proving this and will stop at nothing it seems to get her out of prison and back with him and their son. How far will he go to save her though, and is she really innocent?

From the cracking opening sequence showing Julien speeding towards a mystery destination with someone bleeding in the back of his car you are thrown right into this film, and your intellect and powers of observation are tested throughout.

This story of a man who loves his wife dearly and will do anything for her and his son is a well-written and thought out idea that in American hands I am sure would end up being cheesy and clumsily handled.

First time director Fred Cavaye does extremely well in creating tension and suspense, and is helped massively by the excellent central performance of Vincent London who makes his character believable. Diane Kruger is good too although spending a lot of the film looking depressed and ugly when visited in jail, but it is London who carries the piece.

This is a cracking thriller that is intelligent enough to leave it up to the audience to decide whether Lisa is guilty or not and whether Julien’s actions in the film are justified in trying to save his wife. See this for sure!

Mark Cappuccio

It’s not often you get a grown up love story as well written and as beautifully acted as this, so Harvey is something to savour, like a fine wine or cognac.

Director Joel Hopkins has picked two of the finest actors of their generations to play Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman), a New York jingle writer whose life has somehow flown away from him, and Kate (Emma Thompson) a witty, intelligent woman who has been let down by love too many times.

When Harvey comes to London for his daughter’s wedding he bumps into Kate and there is obviously an immediate attraction between them. It’s not the searing passion of immature love, but a connection at a deeper level that makes them so easy in each other’s company it is as if they have known each other for years. Over the course of a few days and brief hours spent together, the couple come to realise they are on the brink of something profoundly life-changing, but can Harvey make the commitment to be with Kate, and can Kate trust any man enough to really let him into her heart?

This is a slow, gentle, bittersweet movie all about nuance and tone and Hoffman and Thompson don’t put a foot wrong throughout. Indeed, in one scene where Kate sits in Somerset House courtyard watching life going on around her, observing the range of emotions that play across Thompson’s face as she steals herself for yet one more disappointment is deeply moving. The location work is wonderful, London, and especially the South Bank, have never looked more cosmopolitan and inviting, while a supporting cast including Eileen Atkins as Kate’s fussy mum add a lighter touch to proceedings.

So, a mature, adult film with an upbeat ending suggesting it really is never too late to fall in love and there are second chances for us all.

Dee Pilgrim