Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter has been based on Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2010 novel of the same name, and stars Benjamin Walker with Timur Bekmambetov in the director’s chair. Grahame-Smith is also the executive producers and he told reporters in a recent web interview that both the novel and the film contained a strange amount of historical accuracy.

He said that although to many the premise of the film may sound ridiculous, everything in the film has been treated with great care to ensure historical accuracy. From the backgrounds to the aesthetics, and the way in which Lincoln looks and behaves, through the timeline of how the events actually unfold have been meticulously put together.

Bekmambetov explained why he thinks that Lincoln is a great character for a vampire film by saying that he is a unique kind of superhero. He added that he was very tall, with a huge hat and always wore dark suits and was a very strong man, there is even a legend that he could hold an axe in a straight hand.

Walker has also spoken about Lincoln, saying that what makes him so impressive and fascination is that he was a common man, who was self educated, and through sheer grit and determination made it to President, also making himself a hero.

When Walker was asked how he has prepared for the role, he said that he had read many books and one in particular, about Lincoln’s melancholy, has been particularly helpful. He added that book dealt with his romantic and depressive nature, which leant itself nicely to the gothic tale. Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter hits US theatres on the 21^st June.

Chronicle is pretty much the antithesis to a superhero action film featuring three teenagers that come from different high school social circles that end up with telekinetic abilities after they crawl into a hole in the ground that turns out to be an underground alien hole.  The teens are Andrew portrayed by Dane DeHaan who has a troubled family life making him a loner at school, the preppie class President Steve played by Michael B. Jordan, and the comedian Matt played by Alex Russell.

At first the teens use their abilities for fun and start to bond with each over as they play with their new found superhero abilities.  However, soon the normal angst that arises during the teen years starts to play a larger role in their decisions and they start to use their superpowers will ill intentions.  The narrative continues to grow in strength which keeps it captivating throughout the film all the way until the end grabbing the viewer and keeping them entertained every step of the way.  In essence, the writers managed to take the normally delicate balance of the dark and light side and tossed in some teen angst to really liven things up.

The result however is a lot better than you would think reading a quick synopsis of the plot because the teenage problems make each of the characters unpredictable, much more irrational, and quite a bit more dangerous without adding any sense of responsibility to the equation.  Therefore, you have a combination of characters that are prone to do just about anything, and as the film unfolds you get to see firsthand as they do struggling with the newfound power they hold over the world.  Add in the cfact that it is shot in an amateur style to add a bit more allure to the story and you have some footage that is very captivating.

Of course, the one question left for viewers is just who is editing the story and who is telling it, especially when tragedy starts to unfold you have to question who would stick around with a camera.  However you can say that the trio could be using their levitating powers to self-film themselves which could create a solution.

Like most of the story line, the action scenes grow as the film progresses starting out a bit immature and pretty much what you would expect from schoolboys, but then they start to get a bit wittier and soon become the stuff out of superhero films such as flying.  It is actually quite entertaining to watch them as they develop these skills as they are filled with awe and resembles small children just figuring out what their bodies and minds are capable of.  In the same way, the teens slowly move from innocence to evil as the film progresses and it is the trek that they take to get there that is worth watching.

This is a man with an obsession; to splice together human DNA and plant material. He comes complete with the obligatory assistant, the deformed Mr Lynch, and lives in a secluded mansion with the customary pack of savage dogs. The doctor is dangling a carrot in front of Mr Lynch to keep him helping him in his freakish experiments by promising to cure his deformity. Mr Lynch is played by the wonderful Tom Baker pre Dr Who, and he is a valuable asset to this film.

There is an intriguing plant in the mad doctor’s laboratory that seems pretty innocuous, until we see him feeding it with live rabbits. This film borrows quite a bit of content from the 1932 horror Freaks, and that is no bad thing. Mr Lynch runs a carnival from where he gets the victims for the doctors experiments, and one of the carnival sideshows is ‘Freaks’.

These can be uncomfortable to watch as you are unsure whether these are people who are really deformed, or it is excellent make up. This would have been pretty controversial at the time but as it isn’t considered to be a video nasty so you go with it, but you do wonder how it got past the censors. There is a dinner scene that is also very reminiscent of the 1932 Freaks, as well as the part when the freaks here turn on one of their own.

Donald Pleasance is his usual softly spoken creepy persona, and Tom Baker, albeit almost unrecognisable under all the makeup, make the most of the parts and give good performances with the material they are given, but the plot lets them down badly. The special effects haven’t aged well, and the giant rubber suited mutant ends up looking like a Venus Fly Trap. Despite all this it is entertaining, in the strange, psychedelic way that the  70′s did so well.

After being imprisoned in a stone coffin for 200 years, Barnabas Collins is set free by a groundskeeper named Willie Loomis, who is of the Renfield ilk Barnabas takes up residence in an abandoned mansion of the grounds of the Collinwood estate and introduced himself to the family as a long lost relative from England, and they believe him.

Barnabas falls in love with Maggie Evans under the misconception that she is the reincarnation of his beloved Josette, his fiancee of a couple of hundred years ago. Josette met an untimely end when Barnabas revealed to her that he was a vampire, and she threw herself off a cliff and died. There is someone else who is taking a marked interest in Barnabas however, and that is the family doctor, Dr Julia Hoffman.

She believes that vampirism is actually a disease and tells him that she can cure him. There is a downside however, and when Barnabas spurns the advances of the good doctor, she refuses to treat him and he starts to rapidly degenerate into a horrific looking old vampire, thanks to the great make up effects from the master at the time Dick Smith.

If you are one of the legions of fans of The House of Dark Shadows, you will probably over the years thought how well it would lend itself to a spoof, and now we have one. The only concern that aficianados have voiced is that the story is so familiar, what else can be done with it, but in the hands of Mr Burton and Mr Depp, anything is possible.

Perseus is happy enough with his life until one night his father Zeus (once again played by Liam Neeson) appears and tells him of an ominous prophecy. Mankind has now moved away from the gods, which has caused them to lose their powers. This had consequently led to the walls of Tartarus being weakened, the underworld prison to where the Olympians banished the Titans, including the heinous Koronos; father of Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.

Zeus needs the help of Perseus to hold Tartares together, but the former is reluctant to return to battle. His mind is changed for him, obviously, when the fiendish Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and another son of Zeus, Ares, take prisoner the god of lightening and start transferring his life force into the now dormant Kronos.

The fate of the world is in the balance, so Perseus, like you do, recruits a couple allies in the form of an old friend, Queen Andromeda, and the demigod son of Poseidon, Agenor. The intrepid trip then set out on the dangerous quest that takes them into the underworld to rescue Zeus, and stop the evil Titans from breaking fee and unleashing their havoc on the world.

The Wrath of the Titans is a marked improvement on its predecessor, whose wooden acting, video game style progression, poor use of 3D and lacklustre action sequence made audiences laugh rather than be enthralled. The problem is that even though it is better than the first one, which isn’t difficult lets be honest, it still isn’t a good film by any stretch of the imaginations, but there will be some who like it.

Jonathan Liebesman, of Battle Los Angeles fame, takes the place of Louis Leterrier in the director’s chair. A good move on paper but sadly they are both on the same skill level, distinctly average, and both have many shortcomings, albeit different ones. Leterrier’s contrived action choreography is replaced by the the kind of claustrophobic, shaky cam perspective that kind of worked in Battle Los Angeles, but falls short of the mark here.

It does improve as the film progresses thankfully, and the bigger set piece and epic sequences are filmed smartly in the greatly improved 3D format. While Perseus flying on Pegasus is almost a carbon copy of the first film, it looks so much better here, and war simulation is definitely Liebesman’s strong point. This film could have been a lot better, but if Leterrier had stayed at the helm, it could also have been a lot worse.

It’s not an easy role either, as Carrie is the tale of a loser high school student that is driven crazy by her mother, picked on constantly by her school mates, and after being set-up for embarrassment at her high school prom decides to get revenge.  However, after filming Kick-Ass Moretz must have gotten a taste for gore because she is going to have plenty to contend with in the role of Carrie.  Although it is not known yet if the remake will take place in the seventies like the original or brought to present day, it is interesting to ponder how the details could be altered to fit Moretz.

First off, there is the classic puffy pink prom dress that Carrie role when she was played by Sissy Spacek, but this could easily still carry through in a modern design. Next up would be the iconic nightie worn by Carrie, but this could be potentially turned into a vintage frock similar to what Moretz wore to the premier of her film 500 Days of Summer.  After all, looking disgusting in a nightie is not all that hard to do, but looking ugly and stylish at the same time is something that Moretz ought to be able to pull off.

Finally, there is of course the whole pig’s blood thing, but Moretz does look good in red so maybe abit of pig stained blood on her clothes will not be so bad after all.  At any rate, it should still be just as gory as the first time around when audiences were shocked by the crazy Carrie.  Of course, after all is said and done the real question is who is going to take on John Travolta’s part in the film, but so far the director and Moretz are mum on that one.

During the two year gap the star of Cabin in the Woods, Hemsworth, has gone on to play Thor in two separate films including once in the Avengers which will release into theaters just three weeks after Cabin comes out onto the big screen.  Goddard was finally able to show audiences Cabin in the Woods on March 9^th when his film opened up the South by Southwest art festival in Austin.  Although the wait is not quite over for fans that were not at the festival, the April 13^th release should come soon enough.

Those wanting a sneak peak ought to head over to EW where there are five new images of the film and a bit of the back story to tempt diehard fans that are tired of waiting.

The plot line is not all that thrilling, as it just features five college kids that drive out a cabin in the woods as the name implies.  However the movie features plenty of twists designed to make audiences forget about the generic opening and there is enough horror portrayed throughout the film to keep even diehard Scream fans satisfied.

Co-star Bradley Whitford stated that it’s clear the duo had a fierce vision in mind when they created the film, and after seeing it viewers should have more than just a few fierce visions in their dreams/nightmares as well.

However, it seems if you are part of the Peplum genre you simply turn to some of the secondary characters that were not killed.  While Demetrius and the Gladiators may not actually be a Peplum film, it sure comes off as one which is why this strategy works out.

One interesting fact about the film is that the novel is pretty much tossed aside as is most of the concern in it about historical truth and religion as the director chose to focus instead on spectacle and pageantry.  The film kicks off with the final scene from the novel The Robe featuring Victor Mature in the role of Demetrius giving the robe that Jesus wore when he was crucified to Peter played by Michael Rennie.  The robe has to be hidden away because Emperor Caligula played by Jay Robinson has heard that the robe may offer eternal life to the man that wears it and sends out a search team for it.

While you might think this is the main plot line, it is actually just a side plot as the main focus is the hunt is only used as a purpose for getting Demetrius involved with Claudius’ sexy wife and then later into the gladiator arena where he must kill some tigers and test his faith.  This is the main way that The Robe differs from Demetrius and the Gladiators because whereas the first film was all about faith, the sequel is mostly about adventure.

The only distracting fact is that Mature is not as great as a lead character as he was as a secondary character because it seems as a lead actor he really lacks depth and believability.  At times he seems frozen and unattached and most of the time the audience feels like they are physically separated from him because he does not convey much emotion; which is a shame because to get the most out of the adventure the audience should feel connected to his journey and adventures.

On the other hand, Messalina as the sultry wife of Claudius is excellent in her role as she pretty much steals the attention in every scene she is featured in.  her manipulation and ability to get out of just about anything is frustrating and alluring to watch as you almost start to respect her ability to play up to her womanly qualities.  Smaller characters that make stunning appearances as well include Ernest Borgnine and Anne Bancroft, the first of which plays the gruff head of the gladiators’ school quite well.  The only disappointment is that Bancroft does not get much face time even though she is billed as a major character in the trailer.

Overall, Demetrius and the Gladiators sits somewhere between the serious nature of the Robe and the goofy feel of Steve Reeves films, and still manage to stand on its own two feet.  With an A-list cast and plenty of action packed into every minute of the film the movie is worth taking some time out to see.  It is certainly not going to be an award winner, but it should do quite well in terms of Blu-Ray rentals and purchases.

In films like Freddy Kruger you knew what you were getting, but in this film where the monster takes pudgy cheeks and more off of little kids in order to wear them so that people love him the horror gets a little confusing as it seems that this horror fiend just wants people to like him.  Perhaps the monster just came from a restrained family where love was not displayed enough.

As if this idea is not a bit out of left field, Fresnadillo sets up the film like a puzzle giving audience’s material that is from the past but portrayed in a modern setting.  One of the opening scenes sets up the premise of the film as a young Juan played by Izan Corchero tells him mom Lusia played by Pilar Lopez de Ayala a story about a ghost about that preys on children.  Of course, this turns into the premise of the film as Juan grows up to become this very ghost and flips to Clive Owen as a father who is trying to reassure his daughter played by Ella Purnell when it becomes clear she is the ghost’s next target.

In true horror fashion, a psychiatrist and priest, played by Kerry Fox and Daniel Bruhl respectively, come into the film to help banish the ghosts and ascertain that it could never happen in real life before the two narratives come together and everyone believes the threat is real.  The real problem of course is that it is hard to believe that this could really happen because of the forced atmosphere and plot line; which in turn makes it hard to truly get scared.

The idea of Hollow Face as a villain is intriguing, and it is creepy enough at points that you may get uncomfortable watching it, but as the narratives move back and forth it is too distracting to actually build any real suspense and hence fear factor.  Instead of anticipating the scare, viewers will instead start looking for the solution to the situation which ends up in confusion and disappointment.  It does not help that the ending is less than sensational, and instead leaves viewers let down as if they just wasted their time.

One major problem with the plot is also the fact that it centers on nightmares, which any horror fan knows that it is an omen.  However, due to the fact that Hollow Face is not suppose to be real, it ends up getting ridiculous because viewers do not really believe in anything that is featured.  Instead, they start to think that it’s about getting to the core of the illusion when in reality the final surprise has little to do with either.  It would have been better to find out Hollow Face was real and a killer as it would have at least shocked audiences.

The pace of Intruders is also distracting because it seems to think that less is more and that a few good scares will be enough to suffice, but sadly this is far from the case.  A few more scares would have actually done the film some good, and while Owen is great in his role, for the most part the audience is not allowed to bond with any of the other characters making it a drag to watch without any special effects tossed into the mix.

The film is set in 1921 in an England that is recovering from WWI still and is focused around an author played by Hall that is invited to visit a boarding school in the country by a headmaster that is played by West.  The headmaster is looking for information after rumors start circulating that the school may be haunted.

However, just when Hall thinks that she has proved there are not any ghosts, she has an encounter that makes her start to second guess her previous thoughts.  Director Nick Murphy does an excellent job of making the audience rethink their rational thoughts as well as the hair on your body will be standing straight up by the time it is finished.  This is due to the fact that instead of using gore the setting of the film does it.

The cast performs extremely well, in particular Rebecca Hall who offers an emotional performance as she watches her beliefs turn around. Hall and West have excellent chemistry as they hide what they are discovering from others and turn to each other for comfort.  Imelda Staunton also gives a stellar performance that can be just as creepy as the overall film.

If there is one flaw with the film it would be the ending that has some people in an uproar, but overall the reveal actually was surprising and works out quite well.   Overall, for those who want a truly thrilling film The Awakening is a great pick.