13 Assassins sees director Takashi Miike, the man behind such uncompromising and unforgettable movies as “Audition” and “Ichi The Killer”, indelibly stamping his trademark style on the Samurai genre with an ultra-violent, all-action, blood-spattered epic that is now out on DVD and Blu-ray.

Explore a world of clips, images, review links and much more at the official fanhub: http://www.cult-labs.com/13-assassins/

What you won’t get there though is the chance to win our money-can’t-buy prize of a 13 Assassins sword (ok it’s a letter opener sword but it comes in a natty box!) and a copy of the film on Blu-ray.

To win, just leave a comment below. Competion ends at midnight BST on 24th September. Only 1 entry per person (IPs are logged) and UK only, I’m afraid. As ever judges decision is final.

Set towards the end of the Shogunate, 13 Assassins focuses on the rise to power of Lord Naritsugu (Goro Inagaki). Half-brother to the Shogun, corrupt, sadistic and above the law, Naritsugu threatens to bring about upheaval in peaceful Japan. Appalled by Naritsugu’s behaviour, but unable to do anything officially, the top Shogun official Sir Doi (Mikijiro Hiro) calls on samurai Shinzaemon Shimada (Koji Yakusho) to assasinate the evil lord. Shinzaemon accepts the mission and gathers together a band of elite shogun and ronin for a mission with seemingly impossible odds. (Read the rest of my review here)

Having seen and loved Insidious at the cinema I was curious to see if it worked on the small screen. James Wan and Leigh Whannell’s cute horror flick worked well with a big audience, who had a shared sense of terror then relief throughout the pic. Was that part of the film’s charm? Would it work on a repeat viewing together with someone who’d not seen it before?

I’m glad to say it did. The tension the filn builds up still works admirably and the creepy bits are still as creepy as ever. While some of the bigger jump scares may not work as well as on the big screen, this matters not one jot as the pace and tension still make superb viewing.

It may seem strange to call a horror movie cute, but Insidious is a film that wears its heart and its influences on its sleeve. While Wan and Whannell may like to tell you there’s never been a film quite like it before, any horror fan worth their salt can see any number of references, homages and nerdy moments. This is in no way a bad thing though, let’s be clear and nor does the film feel derivative in any way.

The performances from leads Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are superb, played absolutely straight. (Kudos to Wilson especially, who seems at first to be one of those terrible prickish male characters who refuse to believe weird stuff is happening, but eventually does the right thing, even becoming heroic.) Ably supported by Barbara Hershey and Lin Shaye, there is no melodrama here, and even lines that may seem risible out of context work beautifully. Off-setting these performances you have the characters of Tucker and Specs (played by Whannell himself) who bring a much needed lightness of tone in the middle of the second act.

This is a smart, fresh, entertaining horror flick, that is engaging enough for you to buy into the premise. Mr Moviegrrl watched it with me, and was so creeped out he stopped him enjoying it. (Mr Moviegrrl is from now on to be known as The Big Wuss).

Definintely a film to own, while you may be prepared for the “big” scares, the tension and creepiness of the movie endure.

Are you ready to get scared all over again – but this time in your home? The smash-hit horror movie Insidious is coming out on DVD and Blu-ray on 12th September. You can get into the spirit by swapping spooky stories on the Insidious UK Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/InsidiousUK where you’ll also be able to report sightings of the black Insidious Routemaster bus as it terrorises London streets for the week of release!

We’ve also got something very special for you – a money-can’t-buy ‘haunted’ Insidious t-shirt! How can it be haunted? Turn it over to find out… but to do that you have to enter and win our competition where you’ll also be in line to get a Blu-ray copy of the movie.

To enter the competition, just leave a comment on this review and one lucky winner will be drawn from a hat on the 30th September.

Only 1 entry per person, IP addresses will be logged, and I’m sorry, but UK residents only. Entries close at midnight BST on 30th September and my decision is final. Good luck

God help me I am trying to resist the hype for The Hunger Games, bearing in mind it’s not being released until March of next year. So I approached the teaser trailer for it, shown at yesterday’s VMA’s with caution. Turns out I didn’t need to because this is the barest whiff of a trailer. And of course, it’s a teaser, and it’s supposed to be slight, but I’D ACTUALLY LIKE TO SEE MORE DAMMIT.

Ahem.

So much for resisting the hype then. Seriously though, if you haven’t already read Suzanne Collins YA trilogy, you really should. While lovers of Battle Royale will recognise the conceit, this is a much more emotive experience. With an exciting cast and a screenplay co-written by Collins and director Gary Ross, this should be a huge hit next year.

The Hunger Games opens on March 12th 2012

As mentioned previously, I love the Final Destination movies because they follow the Joe Bob Briggs principle of sequels:

– Anyone can die at any time
– If you’re going to make a sequel, make the exact same damn movie

So I’m sure you’ll all be pleased to know that Final Destination is pretty much identical to the four movies that preceed it.

Nicholas D’Agosto, on a business retreat with a coach full of work colleagues gets that old familiar tingly “bad feeling” when the coach is on a suspension bridge. Cue the disaster set piece, which utilises 3D brilliantly and has a raft of unpleasant deaths that made the audience cheer. (Bloodthirst lot!). He manages to get seven of his fellow passengers off the coach before his vision becomes a reality, but at the funeral of the 17 deceased Tony Todd steps up to tell the survivors that “Death doesn’t like to be cheated.”

From there on in we get a number of cute set pieces, with a high squick and ick factor (the laser eye surgery is particularly hard to watch if you’re squeamish about eyes) that contain the usual misdirection and anticipation. The 3D effects never really reach the heights of the main disaster, but the deaths are so ridiculous that you can’t help but laugh and applaud the creativity.

The Final Destination franchise has always had the spirit of fun and horror!fluff that I associate with old horror movies of the 1980s and Five maintains that tone. Never really and truly scary, these are supernatural thrillers that are totally reliant on inanimate objects to cause chills and scares.

However, and this feels a bit churlish, it’s not totally satisfying. The trailer hints that “the rules have changed” and Tony Todd’s coroner suggests that there may be a way for the feckless teens to escape Death’s icy grasp. It’s a bit of a cheat – firstly the only rule in a Final Destination movie is that death will come and will be messy and possibly prolongued. Secondly… well I can’t really explain the secondly without being spoilery. Suffice to say that the Eric Heisserer’s script tries to be smarter than it actually is and it doesn’t quite work. The twist isn’t flagged in a blatent fashion but observant audiences will not be as surprised as the filmmaker’s might hope.

Performance wise there’s not much that stand out here but then strong characterisation has never really been a feature of the movies anyway. None of the performances are terrible (and none of the doomed characters overly likeable) and Courtney B Vance, Tony Todd and David Koechner show the kids how it’s done.

Ultimately, I suspect any plot niggles I have will be largely redundant. This is rollercoaster horror that wants the audience to have fun. The tagged on recap of deaths from earlier movies as the credits roll is silly and unnecessary but allows plenty of 3D blood splatter.

If you liked the previous movies, chances are you’ll love this. Joe Bob Briggs would be proud.

Final Destination 5 opens in the UK on August 26th.

Amazingly (and worryingly), Hellraiser:Revelations is the NINTH Hellraiser movie. How the blue hell did that happen? And more to the point, dear God in heaven, WHY?

Interesting to note that Doug Bradley is not involved in this, and, more cuttingly, Clive Barker is extremely unimpressed. On Twitter today he said

Hello,my friends. I want to put on record that the flic out there using the word Hellraiser IS NO FUCKIN’ CHILD OF MINE!

He then elaborated

I have NOTHING to do with the fuckin’ thing. If they claim its from the mind of Clive Barker,it’s a lie. It’s not even from my butt-hole.

And you can’t blame him for his anger, because oh my dear sweet god, this trailer is trash incarnate.

No surprise, Hellraiser:Revelations is coming straight to DVD on October 18th

Let’s not kid ourselves. The first Ghost Rider is truly dire. Nic Cage gurning through a pic that had even less charm and excitment than Spawn.

So I don’t think it’s overstating it too much to say that the thought of a sequel held much appeal for anyone until it was announced that Nelvadine and Taylor would be helming the project. With their enfant terrible style of direction, as evidence in the frankly insane Crank movies, this sequel started to have some legs.

Certainly the tweets from SDCC suggested that this was a darkly bonkers foray into the franchise.

The first trailer is a chain of set pieces with no coherent story whatsoever. Frantic, lunatic action once again seems to be the order of the day.

Ghost Rider:Sprit of Vengeance opens in the UK on February 22nd 2012. Bring it on.

Lord it’s been a while since we had a competition around these here parts. Still to make up for it, I have got an absolute DOOZY for you. Hell yeah.

To celebrate the 1st August UK DVD and Blu-ray release of Hobo With A Shotgun starring the legendary Rutger Hauer we have extremely limited edition t-shirts to give away! Specially created and not available to buy we have three t-shirts to give away but before we tell you how you can win them please do stop by the official FanHub website for the film – www.cult-labs.com/hobo – click on ‘Win!’ and there you’ll get the chance to win yourself drawn into the Hobo With a Shotgun poster!

All you have to do is leave a comment, no questions, no obscure having to look things up on Google, just leave a message after the beep and you’ll be put into a draw to win one of these beauties.

Comp ends on 12th August, only 1 entry per person (IPs are logged, so no being sneaky) and my decision is final.

While you’re waiting, why don’t you pop over here and read the interview with Rutger Hauer about this new grindhouse classic….

Hobo With a Shotgun is released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK on 1st August.

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED, WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED BY THE END OF THE WEEKEND.
Thank you to everyone who entered, good luck x

Having skimmed back and forth far too many times, I’m pretty sure it’s not.

The face is too square to be Tennant, pretty sure of that. Similarly I’m not convinced that this big a secret could be kept. (Although perhaps the DT/Karen Gillen shot in the Radio Times is a genuine teaser…)

So who is it? And what is their story?

Looking at the hair and clothing though reminds me of possibly feudal Japan, the exaggerated sideburns, the shape of the top, and is that possibly a top knot? Hard to tell, the shot is so dark.

It can’t be Eleven as this is clearly not Matt Smith, also it doesn’t have the golden glow we’ve associated with recent regenerations.

Absolute kudos for the spot, a real blink and you’ll miss it moment, and one more thing to possibly get very excited about.

Edited to add – another fan has pointed out this chap appears ealier in the trailer at the 23 second mark. (See screenshot below). So most likely not a regeneration…, more a MacGuffin. MOFFAT!!!!!!

Not content with plenty of attention and a panel for Torchwood yesterday, today San Diego ComicCon gave itself over, heart and soul to Doctor Who.

The panel, featuring Karen Gillen and Matt Smith, was a huge hit, and recenived a rapturous reception. Best of all, the teaser trailer for Season 6 Part 2 was revealed.

Excuse me, while I get my breath back. Daniel Mays, Portal type turret guns, creepy dolls, River with an eyepatch, the return of The Silents, more Weeping Angels, Amy kicking ass with a katana, Winston Churchill…

Wow.
The first episode of the second half, Let’s Kill Hitler, is due to air on BBC One and BBC America on 27 Aug.

Hat tip to Doctor Who TV for the screen shot.

Since the original announcement that Nelvadine and Taylor (Crank, Crank 2) were taking the reins on Ghost Rider 2, I’ve shyed away from other news. With the first film being so flat out terrible, I really didn’t see the point. However, I may have been a bit wrong, because the tweets coming out of San Diego Comic Con tonight seem pretty positive.

Total Film tweeted:

“You will see real bones breaking in Ghost Rider” promise the directors of Ghost Rider 2 #comiccon2011

and then followed it up with:

Ghost Rider 2 footage is white hot – grubby, handheld and absolutely mental. Amazing #comiccon2011

Meanwhile Shock Til You Drop said

Ghost Rider 2 teaser: Another has him vomiting fire in a man’s face. Another actually has him urinating fire.

then added that Nic Cage on the GR” panel said

Ghost Rider 2 panel: Cage, “The first film was designed for children, but this one is made to be scary. ”

Empire Magazine also covering the Q&A quote Idris Elba:

Idris Elba on his Ghost Rider character: “I play a French-speaking, wine-drinking, motorcycle-riding warrior monk. Yep.”

I mean, look, I know it’s SDCC and it’s hardly a neutral crowd, but doesn’t this sound like (gasp) it might actually be fun?. Nelvadine and Taylor are something of an acquired taste, but let’s face it, part one was so terrible, there isn’t that high a bench mark.

Not to mention that the plot is barking

As Johnny Blaze hides out in Eastern Europe, he is called upon to stop the devil, who is trying to take human form.

Dear Columbia, can the rest of the world have a trailer please?

Ghost Rider 2: Sprit of Vengeance is due for release in the UK on 22nd February.