These days you cannot just pick up the TV remote and say I want to watch a good movie. There is a good chance that all the movie channels are airing movies that you have seen n number of times. It's much better to scan the prime-time menu in advance and set reminders for the ones that you wanna watch.
Last week, Z Studio aired a good thriller/movie almost every night. I managed to watch three such movies. Check them out if you are fond of the things that go bump in the night:
1. The Fourth Kind
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when someone says 'Alien Abduction'? If you are a fan of X-Files like me, you will say Samantha and Fox Mulder! Jokes apart, a casual search on the internet will reveal that in the scheme of earthly visits by extra-terrestrials, the Fourth Kind refers to the most violent form of interaction - Alien Abductions. And that's exactly what the movie is all about.
The format is as if the movie is based on real-life events - there are snippets of interviews of supposedly real-life people. This is a story of a place called Nome in Alaska. For years people have been disappearing off the face of earth here and there have been investigations by the FBI. Dr. Abigail is a psychologist in Nome. During her routine hypnosis sessions with three of her patients, she notices a bizarre fact - all of them mention seeing an owl outside their bedroom window at night. Before she can piece together what is happening, one of the patients ends up shooting his entire family before killing himself. An assistant is badly shaken by something that she hears in the cassette that Dr. Abigail had given her for transcription. And another of the doctor's patient ends up getting paralyzed during a hypnosis session. The cops, already investigating the possible murder of Dr. Abigail's husband, now start looking at her askance. But she seems to be inching towards a very strange, but not impossible, explanation for whatever has been happening in Nome.
Aside from the fact that many people have indeed been reported missing for years from Nome (though they have never been identified as abductions) and the movie seems to have exploited this for commercial purposes, it is a different take on the 'Alien Abduction' theme. The events happen at a fairly fast pace but unfortunately, you cannot help but feel angry at Dr. Abigail's stupidity in not making sure that her sessions are witnessed by at least one representative of the law enforcement agency.
A good movie to watch if you want to watch an alien flick without the little green men :-)
2. The Midnight Meat Train
There are some horror movies that manage to bring horror into the mundane everyday life that so many people live on this planet and in the process thoroughly creep us out. This movie is one of them.
An amateur photographer, Leon, is trawls NYCs streets in search of photographs that capture danger. Late one night, he comes across a girl getting harassed by a gang at a Metro station. At first, he just takes photos but then feels compelled to intervene to save her. He sees her boarding a train and so is surprised when he reads about her disappearance in the newspapers the following day. Upon further investigation, he comes across a butcher who might have had something to do with it. But when he tries to share his knowledge with the cops, they don't pay much attention to him. Instead, he is questioned about why he decided to help the girl after taking some snaps. Undeterred, Leon decides to get to the root of the matter and begins follows the butcher. But he soon realizes that things aren't as simple as they appear to be.
Definitely a movie that would make you think twice before boarding a late night train!
3. The Presence
Tired of the city's traffic, noise and pollution? Want to take a break and stay at some place that is miles away from the nearest civilization? Think again for you may get more than what you wish for as the woman writer who retires to her father's cabin on an island finds to her horror. She doesn't see the ghost that is haunting the place and doesn't even feel his presence at the beginning. Even when the birds keep colliding against the makeshift lavatory in the jungle and dying, she doesn't think much about it after burying them. Then her boy friend not only makes a surprise visit but also proposes to her. Things start getting downhill from there as the boy friend notices sudden shifts in his fiancee's moods.
What's the story of the ghost that's haunting the cabin? Is he the one causing a rift between the lovers? Will the lovers finally notice the Presence?
The movie does leave behind a lot of questions. A search on the net revealed that there is a lot of discussion about them but no clear answers. That said, I liked this movie because it is very differently made from the rest of the horror movies. The dialogues are minimum, there is no creepy music or creepy sounds and yet it manages to keep you constantly at the edge of your seat. You simply dare not miss a scene or a dialogue for fear that you might miss some vital clue to the happenings.
And this one will definitely make you think again before you make that plan of camping out in the wilderness.
Last week, Z Studio aired a good thriller/movie almost every night. I managed to watch three such movies. Check them out if you are fond of the things that go bump in the night:
1. The Fourth Kind
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when someone says 'Alien Abduction'? If you are a fan of X-Files like me, you will say Samantha and Fox Mulder! Jokes apart, a casual search on the internet will reveal that in the scheme of earthly visits by extra-terrestrials, the Fourth Kind refers to the most violent form of interaction - Alien Abductions. And that's exactly what the movie is all about.
The format is as if the movie is based on real-life events - there are snippets of interviews of supposedly real-life people. This is a story of a place called Nome in Alaska. For years people have been disappearing off the face of earth here and there have been investigations by the FBI. Dr. Abigail is a psychologist in Nome. During her routine hypnosis sessions with three of her patients, she notices a bizarre fact - all of them mention seeing an owl outside their bedroom window at night. Before she can piece together what is happening, one of the patients ends up shooting his entire family before killing himself. An assistant is badly shaken by something that she hears in the cassette that Dr. Abigail had given her for transcription. And another of the doctor's patient ends up getting paralyzed during a hypnosis session. The cops, already investigating the possible murder of Dr. Abigail's husband, now start looking at her askance. But she seems to be inching towards a very strange, but not impossible, explanation for whatever has been happening in Nome.
Aside from the fact that many people have indeed been reported missing for years from Nome (though they have never been identified as abductions) and the movie seems to have exploited this for commercial purposes, it is a different take on the 'Alien Abduction' theme. The events happen at a fairly fast pace but unfortunately, you cannot help but feel angry at Dr. Abigail's stupidity in not making sure that her sessions are witnessed by at least one representative of the law enforcement agency.
A good movie to watch if you want to watch an alien flick without the little green men :-)
2. The Midnight Meat Train
There are some horror movies that manage to bring horror into the mundane everyday life that so many people live on this planet and in the process thoroughly creep us out. This movie is one of them.
An amateur photographer, Leon, is trawls NYCs streets in search of photographs that capture danger. Late one night, he comes across a girl getting harassed by a gang at a Metro station. At first, he just takes photos but then feels compelled to intervene to save her. He sees her boarding a train and so is surprised when he reads about her disappearance in the newspapers the following day. Upon further investigation, he comes across a butcher who might have had something to do with it. But when he tries to share his knowledge with the cops, they don't pay much attention to him. Instead, he is questioned about why he decided to help the girl after taking some snaps. Undeterred, Leon decides to get to the root of the matter and begins follows the butcher. But he soon realizes that things aren't as simple as they appear to be.
Definitely a movie that would make you think twice before boarding a late night train!
3. The Presence
Tired of the city's traffic, noise and pollution? Want to take a break and stay at some place that is miles away from the nearest civilization? Think again for you may get more than what you wish for as the woman writer who retires to her father's cabin on an island finds to her horror. She doesn't see the ghost that is haunting the place and doesn't even feel his presence at the beginning. Even when the birds keep colliding against the makeshift lavatory in the jungle and dying, she doesn't think much about it after burying them. Then her boy friend not only makes a surprise visit but also proposes to her. Things start getting downhill from there as the boy friend notices sudden shifts in his fiancee's moods.
What's the story of the ghost that's haunting the cabin? Is he the one causing a rift between the lovers? Will the lovers finally notice the Presence?
The movie does leave behind a lot of questions. A search on the net revealed that there is a lot of discussion about them but no clear answers. That said, I liked this movie because it is very differently made from the rest of the horror movies. The dialogues are minimum, there is no creepy music or creepy sounds and yet it manages to keep you constantly at the edge of your seat. You simply dare not miss a scene or a dialogue for fear that you might miss some vital clue to the happenings.
And this one will definitely make you think again before you make that plan of camping out in the wilderness.
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