Micro Review: The Rite

Decent acting and interesting ideas do not a good movie make. I'm not saying The Rite is bad, because the performances of Anthony Hopkins and Colin O'Donoghue are too good for the movie to fail. Plus I defy any genre fan to not like a story about exorcisms. But we've seen a lot of this stuff before and little actually happens until the third act. There are some minor scares thanks to Hopkins's performance and some nifty visuals, but the film is too long and kinda dull. A Bad for me on The Rite.

Micro Review: Triangle

A smart, twisty, turny mind fuck of a movie from the imagination of writer/director Christopher Smith. The film is a slow burn of tension and revelation with a kicker of a pay off. Triangle is tonally similar to Smith's first movie, Creep, and is lacking the laughs of his second, Severance. Melissa George is great as a woman who goes on a yachting trip with friends only to become stranded in a time loop on an abandoned cruise ship. Solid suspense, some scares and worth watching more than once. A Good from this Basement Dweller.

Wanna see a creepy pic from Insidious?

Bet that image will keep some of the faint of heart up at night! Thanks to the boys at Bloody Disgusting for digging it up.

James (Saw) Wan's return to straight-up horror is due out in April, and we're pretty jazzed about it here in The Basement. The plot is as follows: "Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) make the terrifying discovery that the body of their comatose boy has become a magnet for malevolent entities, while his consciousness lies trapped in the dark and insidious realm known as The Further."

Sounds creepy, no?

Micro Review: Paranormal Activity 2

A lean, mean scare machine that lacks some of the punch of the original film but still delivers the goods. This is actually a prequel to Paranormal Activity, and it does a fine job of blending the events in this film with those of its predecessor. Audiences are treated to one of the best jump scares in movie history, the creation of a solid mythology for what is obviously an ongoing series, and Katie Featherston's tremendous rack. And yes, it's pretty darn scary at times. A Good review from this Basement dweller.

Disturbia scribe on for Paranormal Activity 3

The boys over at Arrow In the Head and Bloody Disgusting report that Christopher B. Landon (Disturbia) and Michael R. Perry are on board to write the third installment in the Paranormal Activity series.

Perry is credited with the script for PA2, which Shawn and I have yet to see as catching the new releases right away isn't our gig. But we're big fans of the original and I enjoyed Disturbia. As for the plot of PA3? No damn idea. Paramount Pictures is keeping story details under lock and key pending the film's release Oct. 21.

I don't know if I care about a third movie. Paranormal Activity never struck me as a franchise but, if they make money, then Hollywood is going to beat the idea to death.

Oren Peli, who directed the original, is back as a producer.

Micro Review: The Last Exorcism

So much of this mockumentary is so well made and brilliantly acted that one can't help but be disappointed when it takes such a giant misstep during the final 10 minutes. It's not that the ending is bad, it just takes away from all that was good during the first hour and 15 minutes. Up until then we're served a riveting and downright creepy tale of a charlatan preacher trying to rid a girl of what appears to be demons of a more personal nature than supernatural. Patrick Fabian is riveting as Cotton, our "exorcist," and Ashley Bell is awesome as the "possessed" child. Too bad the filmmakers couldn't come up with an ending the both of them deserved. A Bad review on this one.

Wahlberg says no to The Crow

Thank F-ing God! The boys at JoBlo.com and Cinematical report that Mark Wahlberg has decided not to step into Brandon Lee's shoes for a Crow reboot, remake, whatever. And we applaud that.

In Wahlberg's own words: "We never committed to making the movie. They talked to me about it and there was a director attached who I was a fan of, and he's no longer doing it. We just thought about it – 'is there something cool to be done there?' But we're not committed to making the movie."

The director he mentions is Stephen Norrington, who had this to say about Wahlberg's involvement with the project after he left: "I think Wahlberg could be cool if they take a gritty blue-collar approach. He's a truthful actor. I think he could really ground the supernatural stuff."

Shawn and I voiced our displeasure at Wahlberg's potential casting here. Now if they can just deep six the project altogether we would truly be happy.

WTF? Mark Wahlberg could be the new Crow?

It could be time to break out the goth makeup, Mark Wahlberg may be taking over from the late Brandon Lee in the new version of The Crow.

Word across the Interweb says an official offer hasn't been made yet, but the Oscar winner is apparently in talks with Relativity Media to star in the upcoming remake/reboot of Alex Proyas’ 1994 comic book-based movie. That film is notorious as Lee was tragically killed on the set when a prop gun misfired.

The news is slightly surprising because Wahlberg is considered an A-list star and the series, which degenerated into straight-to-video fair by the time it was done, hasn't lent itself to such talent. Then again, his recent efforts, including the incredibly shitty Max Payne and The Happening, might mean his star has fallen.

Personally, Wahlberg seems a terrible choice. Then again, it's hard to top the work the late Lee did. He owned the role and producers should have left well enough alone after the first one.