YOU EUROPEAN WEIRDOS...

TROLLHUNTER (2010)

(Norwegian: Trolljegeren)

A group of students investigate a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter...

Trollhunter is made in the form of a mockumentary and it features a mixed cast of relatively unknown actors and well-known Norwegian comedians, including Otto Jespersen. According to director André Øvredal, the team tried to maintain maximum secrecy around the project. They kept both the title and cast secret until shortly before the première; instead dropping cryptic teasers to create a viral effect. Producers Sveinung Golimo and John M. Jacobsen reported great international attention around the film. Already before the première, several American companies had expressed interest in doing a remake.
The day the movie opened in the United States, Deadline.com announced that director Chris Columbus's company, 1492, along with CJ Entertainment & Media had acquired remake rights to the film.
The song “Mjød” by Kvelertak, a six-piece metal band from Stavanger, Norway, appears over the closing credits and at the end of the final credits, there is a notice in English, claiming that:
"No trolls were harmed during the making of this movie"

Director: André Øvredal
Writter: André Øvredal
Starring: Otto Jespersen, Hans Morten Hansen, Tomas Alf Larsen, Johanna Mørck, Knut Nærum
Running Time: 90min
Country: Norway
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLEo7H9tqSM

Rating: 9/10


THE BROKEN (2008)

In London, the radiologist Gina McVey organizes a surprise birthday party to her father John McVey with her boyfriend Stefan Chambers, her brother Daniel McVey and his girlfriend Kate Coleman. On the next day, she sees herself driving a car on the street and she follows the woman to her apartment, where she finds a picture of her father and her. While driving back, she has a car crash and loses parts of her memory...

The inventive spelling of the title reads somewhat silly in Norwegian and Danish since the Ø in broken is a letter in the alphabet in these languages and sounds like the "u" in "burden". In addition "brøken" is a Norwegian word meaning "the fraction".
The film premiered on 18 January 2008 as part of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. It also was the first choice in Horrorfest 2009 and was part of Sitges Film Festival 2008, where Angus Hudson won the award for Best Cinematography.
Sean Ellis is British film director, writer, and producer and he is best known for his film Cashback (2004). For the same film in 2006, he was nominated for an Oscar Award in the category "Best Short Film, Live Action".

Director: Sean Ellis
Writter: Sean Ellis
Starring: Lena Headey, Asier Newman, Michelle Duncan, Melvil Poupaud, Richard Jenkins
Running Time: 88min
Country: UK
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0nKZd9UxuI

Rating: 8/10


OUTCAST (2010)

Cathal (Nesbitt) is a killer who is pursuing his former lover Mary (Dickie). Mary, a woman who comes from an ancient and magicalceltic race, and her son Fergal (Bruton), hide in an outlying district of Edinburgh and use magic to protect themselves, but Cathal is determined to outsmart them...

Director: Colm McCarthy
Writter: Colm McCarthy, Tom McCarthy

Starring: James Nesbitt, Kate Dickie, James Cosmo, Niall Bruton, Hannah Stanbridge, Karen Gillan

Running Time: 98min
Country: UK, Ireland
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH5bbbn3vZs

Rating: 7/10

FOUND FOOTAGE GENRE TIMELINE

1980 CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST

A New York anthropologist named Professor Harold Monroe travels to the wild, inhospitable jungles of South America to find out what happened to a documentary film crew that disappeared two months before while filming a documentary about primitive cannibal tribes deep in the rain forest. With the help of two local guides, Professor Monroe encounters two tribes, the Yacumo and the Yanomamo. While under the hospitality of the latter tribe, he finds the remains of the crew and several reels of their undeveloped film...

Cannibal Holocaust achieved notability because its graphic violence aroused controversy. After its premiere in Italy, it was seized by a local magistrate, and Deodato was arrested on obscenity charges. He was charged with making a snuff film, due to rumors that some actors were killed on camera.

Director: Ruggero Deodato
Writter: Gianfranco Clerici
Starring: Robert Kerman, Carl Gabriel Yorke, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, Luca Barbareschi
Running Time: 96min
Country: Italy
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ-Xp6VC7RQ

Rating: 6,5/10

1999 THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

Three film students travel to Maryland to make a student film about a local urban legend... The Blair Witch. The three went into the woods on a two day hike to find the Blair Witch, and never came back. One year later, the students film and video was found in the woods. The footage was compiled and made into a movie. The Blair Witch Project...

The film relates the story of three young student filmmakers (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams) who hike into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch, and subsequently go missing. The viewer is told that the three were never found, although their video and sound equipment (along with most of the footage they shot) was discovered a year later. This "recovered footage" is presented as the film the viewer is watching.

Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Writter: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Starring: Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams
Running Time: 86min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZu1cTg-xUM&feature=related

Rating: 9/10

2007 PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

In 2006, Katie (Katie Featherston) and her boyfriend, Micah (Micah Sloat), are a young couple who recently moved into a two-story tract house in suburban San Diego, California. Katie claims that a ghostly presence has haunted her since her childhood and believes that it has followed her to their new home. She hires a psychic, Dr. Fredrichs (Mark Fredrichs), who assesses that she is being haunted not by a ghost, but by a demon...

Originally developed as an independent feature, the film was acquired by Paramount Pictures after representatives attending to a screening were impressed by it.

Director: Oren Peli
Writter: Oren Peli
Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Running Time: 86 min., 99 min.(Director's cut)
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074

Rating: 8/10

2010 THE LAST EXORCISM

The evangelical Reverend Cotton Marcus was raised by his father to be a preacher. He agrees that the filmmaker Iris Reisen and the cameraman Daniel Moskowitz make a documentary about his life. Cotton tells that when her wife Shanna Marcus had troubles in the delivery of their son Justin, he prioritized the doctor help to God and since then he questions his faith. Further, he tells that exorcisms are frauds but the results are good for the believers because they believe it is true. When Cotton is summoned by the farmer Louis Sweetzer to perform an exorcism in his daughter Nell, Cotton sees the chance to prove to the documentary crew what he has just told. They head to Ivanwood and they have a hostile reception from Louis's son Caleb. Cotton performs the exorcism in Nell, exposing his tricks to the camera, but sooner they learn that the dysfunctional Sweetzer family has serious problems...

It was announced that a poster for the film was banned in public UK places, due to the nature of the poster (described as "offensive", "distressing", and "unsuitable for public viewing") which received 77 complaints, of which two people claimed the girl in the poster seemed to have "suffered a sexual assault". It was then decided the advert was not allowed to be seen again in that format.

Director: Daniel Stamm
Writter: Huck Botko, Andrew Gurland
Starring: Patrick Fabian, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum
Running Time: 87min.
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NcYXzZCQsE

Rating: 7/10

LATEST OBSSESSIONS (7)

SAUNA (2008)
As a 25-year war between Russia and Sweden concludes, two brothers who are part of an effort to outline new border accords become undone by their actions, and their mistreatment of a young woman during their journey.

Director: Antti-Jussi Annila
Writter: Iiro Küttner
Starring: Ville Virtanen, Tommi Eronen, Viktor Klimenko
Running Time: 83min
Country: Finland
Official Web Site: http://www.bronsonclub.com/sauna/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si8IqpZc8Fo

Rating: 9/10

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 (2010)

In 2006, a "burglary" occurs at the home of Kristi (Sprague Grayden) and Dan Rey (Brian Boland). Every single room is completely trashed except for their infant son Hunter's bedroom. The only thing stolen is a necklace that Kristi's sister, Katie (Katie Featherston), had given to her. Dan installs a number of security cameras throughout the house to watch over their baby son, Hunter. The family starts to hear noises and see items fall or move on their own. Martine (Vivis Cortez), the family housekeeper and nanny, believes evil spirits are the cause and attempts to cleanse the house of "evil spirits," and Dan fires her after catching her burning sage. Katie and Kristi talk about being tormented by a demon or unknown spirit when they were children. Dan's daughter, Ali (Molly Ephraim), begins investigating the mysterious happenings. She discovers that on occasion, a human can make a deal with a demon for wealth or power by forfeiting the life of their firstborn son...

The film is a parallel prequel to the 2007 film Paranormal Activity, beginning two months before and following up with the events depicted in the original film.

Director: Tod Williams
Writters: Michael R. Perry, Christopher Landon, Tom Pabst, Oren Peli
Starring: David Bierend, Brian Boland, Molly Ephraim, Katie Featherston, Seth Ginsberg, Sprague Grayden
Running Time: 91min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07XbSk7Rjt4

Rating: 9/10

BURIED (2010)

Paul Conroy, a US truck driver, awakens buried alive, bound and gagged, with only a Zippo and a BlackBerry. Although he initially has no idea as to how he got there, he soon starts to piece together what has happened to him. Gradually, Paul remembers that he and several other convoys were ambushed by insurgents, then all the other truck drivers were killed shortly before he blacked out. After finding the cellphone, Paul attempts to contact his wife and his employers (who gave him a safety number if anything like this should occur) but is able only to leave a message for both of them...

Director: Rodrigo Cortés
Writters: Chris Sparling
Starring: Ryan Reynolds
Running Time: 94min
Country: Spain, United States, France
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Yyhxq56Xg

Rating: 9/10