Toon Closet Review: Ghost Hunt

So out of respect for Halloween here's Ghost Hunt which premiered on October of 2006. The series follows the Shibuya Psychic Research Center as they investigate paranormal activities around Japan. The main characters in question have interesting character chemistry among each other throughout the series. Mai Taniyama high school student who joins Kazuya Shibuya after the first three episodes. Kazuya Shibuya a paranormal researcher in charge of the Shibuya Psychic Research Center but he goes by through the series as "Naru the narcissistic" a nickname given by Mai. Hōshō Takigawa a Buddhist monk who is apparently in a popular band and wears fashionable clothes through the series he goes by Monk. Ayako Matsuzaki a self-styled shrine maiden. John Brown a young Catholic priest from Australia...very interesting. And then there's Masako Hara a famous spirit medium with her own TV show no less. There are two other characters in the series Lin Kōjo a Chinese onmyoji who is Naru's solemn and taciturn assistant and Osamu Yasuhara who is a high school student who joins SPR after the Forbidden Pastimes arc. With most of the main characters (except for Osamu Yasuhara) have their own abilities to confront paranormal forces. Mai begins to develop a few psychic abilities which includes postcognitive dreams, clairvoyance, and astral projection as the series progresses. The entire series has up to seven story arcs that are split down into three to four episodes. Minus the "Ghost Story in the Park" story which only had one episode. Each of the story arcs are set up rather nicely with a beginning, a middle, and an end that doesn't feel too short or too padded out. Furthermore, each of the story arcs have satisfying conclusions not feeling like some guy in a monster mask ending which that's a real plus.

My Final Verdict: This series is well-thought out and entertaining. Some of the story arc are actually scary at points and are really subtle. The main characters have chemistry with each other and are enjoyable to watch. If you can't get the DVD box set then you can watch the complete series on Funimation.com both dubbed and subtitle.

The Film Vindicator Announcement

Hello everyone I regret to inform you that I won't be able to review Teeth. Oh not because it's a bad film I actually like this film. It's that I don't have any videos to watch to give it a proper review. YouTube, Hulu don't seem to have the film at all and of course there's Netflix which does have the film but I'm still unemployed to make any monthly payments. Yeah I'm so I could use Wikipedia as reference but that would feel plagiarism and lying. So for now my review on Teeth is put on hold but don't worry I'm not ending this year's Halloween special like this. So as back up I'm doing a Toon Closet review of Ghost Hunt so stay tuned for that.

The Film Vindicator Review: Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps is one of those werewolf movie gems that tells you two things. One if done right CGI sometimes doesn't solve everything in most films. And two Twilight can go screw itself with its pussy-whipped werewolves.

The film starts off on a normal day in a normal small town of Bailey Downs; until a woman finds her mutilated dog in the backyard. And apparently the near neighborhood kids playing street hockey don't seem to care. We're introduced to two sisters who are the main characters; Ginger (played by Katharine Isabelle) and Brigitte (played by Emily Perkins). Visually explained through the opening credits, the two of them have a hobby of making staged deaths which is their high school project. Now believe me when I say that these two have far better character development than Belle Swan; oh yeah I went there. The film explains that there's the Beast of Bailey Downs that goes around town mutilating dogs. And yet the people in this town don't seem to be worrying all that much. Ginger and Brigitte sneak off at night to steal Trina Sinclair's (played by Danielle Hampton) dog and make it look like the Beast of Bailey Downs killed it. That plan goes as "The Beast" appears, attacks Ginger, and drags her off into the woods. Brigitte gives chase until she comes across Ginger fleeing from the Beast. The Beast catches up with Ginger and continues to mutilate Ginger. I like how this scene doesn't show much of the Beast almost the same way as Dog Soldiers just show bits and pieces of the creatures. With the power of Polaroid, Brigitte hits the Beast with her camera causing the Beast to stop attacking Ginger as she escapes. They manage to get away as the Beast turns into roadkill as it gets hit by a van. Man don't you just hate when that happens when you're a werewolf? One minute you're chasing your next meal and then BAM! Some asshole with a Buick runs you over; there outta be some werewolf insurance. Not for the assholes with their cars I'm talking about for those poor werewolves. Back home Brigitte checks out Ginger's wounds which are already starting to heal; Ginger asked Brigitte to keep this a secret and that she's OK now. Everything seems to be normal at first. The next at school as Ginger hangs out with some students in a van smoking marijuana. Brigitte begins to notice that it's the same van that hit the Beast the another night. Here we're introduced to its driver Sam (played by Kris Lemche) who's a drug dealer in secret at the school. Brigitte questions Sam of what he hit and Sam surprisingly gives a straight answer that it was a lycanthrope (werewolf). Brigitte slowly believes Sam and that Ginger may become a lycanthrope. Later Ginger and Brigitte notices weird hair growths on Ginger wounds and started bleeding from her vagina. But they think that it's coincidentally Ginger having her period.

There's disagreement between the sisters as Brigitte tries to convince Ginger that something has change about her but Ginger isn't listening. Brigitte is approached by Sam returning her photo of the Beast (now to be a lycanthrope) further convinced that what he hit was a lycanthrope. Back home Brigitte discovers that Ginger started growing a tail; this forces her to go see Sam the next day. However, she lies to Sam that it's herself who's turning and ask for help. They both agree that "her" metamorphosis is like a virus and it can possibly be cure; So Sam gives her a earring made of pure silver in the hope that it may purify her. We cut to Ginger with Jason (played by Jesse Moss) soon to be having sex in his car. Some really rough painfully and unprotected sex. Ginger returns home with blood on herself; but it turns out it wasn't from Jason but from some neighbor's dog Norman as she mutilated him off screen. Brigitte convinces Ginger to have the silver earring pierced to her navel. We cut to the next day in the school's restroom when Jason starts to urinate blood and freaks out. Ugh...it’s that time of the month. Well no it turns out that through unprotected sex with Ginger he's now infected and turning. Upon Brigitte and Ginger arriving at Sam's place he disclosed that there's a plant called monkshood that acts like a detox and might kill the infection. Later Trina shows up at the sisters’ house blaming Ginger that she stole her dog. This breaks out into an argument that lends Trina to slip hitting her head on the corner of the kitchen counter, and dies...ouch. The sisters quickly hide her body in the freezer as their parents return home. When the parents went to bed they bury Trina in their backyard. Again not a good place to bury a body. However, their mother find Trina's finger that left behind in the yard and does discover the body later on. The next day at school Brigitte is confronted by the infected Jason freak out and confuse of what's happening to him until the school janitor interrupts him. Back home Brigitte discovers that their mother brought home some monkshood and can now cure Ginger. Brigitte locks Ginger in their bathroom as she heads off to Sam's place to work up a serum. Upon returning home with the cure Brigitte finds the bathroom door ripped open and proceeds to look for Ginger but only to cross paths with Jason attacking a trick-or-treator. As Jason attacks Brigitte instead she takes the syringe to his neck and injects him with the cure. The cure actually works and Jason is completely returned to normal.

With the knowledge that the cure works she heads to the school only to find a guidance counselor Mr. Wayne (played by Peter Keleghan) killed by Ginger. I'm gonna skip a few scenes and head to the end a bit. We cut to a party at Sam's place as Ginger arrives with a wolf-like appearance. She finds Sam and proceeds to seduce him. Brigitte arrives and decided to let Ginger infect her in order to regain her trust. Sam drives Brigitte and Ginger home where there's more monkshood to make the cure. However, Ginger starts to transform into a fully lycanthrope and believe me it's a pretty gruesome transformation. Well not as gruesome as the transformation scene from Doppelganger; I'll talk about that when I get to review it. Upon arriving home, werewolf Ginger breaks out of the van and runs into the house. Brigitte and Sam manage to make another serum before werewolf Ginger grabs Sam and drags him off. So it's down to Brigitte armed with a kitchen knife and syringe as she comes face to face with werewolf Ginger feeding on Sam. Werewolf Ginger eventually kills Sam and chases Brigitte down to their bedroom. Werewolf Ginger continues to stalk Brigitte until she finally attacks her. But Brigitte was able to stab her with the kitchen knife ultimately killing. The film ends with the still infected Brigitte lying on top of werewolf Ginger as she gasped her last breath.

My Final Verdict: Ginger Snaps is those coming-of-age films that's done right when there's a werewolf twist put in to the mix. The characters in the film are more relevant than the characters from Twilight you don't see the social awkwardness from anybody...except for the sisters' mother (played by Mimi Rogers) who is really out there. Even Ginger and Brigitte have better character chemistry than Jennifer and Needy from Jennifer's Body. And that's because whenever Megan Fox tries to act...she not really trying at all. So you can see some actual effort in comparison. It's a real plus that werewolves in this film aren't here to be your friend; so don't except the werewolves here to go horny for a socially dead high school girl. So Halloween is approaching and I'm down to my fifth film to review in this year's Halloween special. So stay tuned next time as I review Teeth...that's right Teeth so prepare yourself folks.

The Film Vindicator Review: 100 Feet

Now most of you may have seen a lot ghost/haunted house movies rather good or bad. But that same question keeps entering your mind. Why don't the main characters just leave the house? And believe it or not 100 Feet is one of those haunted house films if done right does give a good reason.

So we start off with Marnie Watson (played by Famke Janssen) being escorted to her home in a police car after getting an early release from prison. Upon arriving at her house officer Shanks (played by Bobby Cannavale) places an electronic ankle bracelet on Marine telling her that she can't move no more than 100 feet (Name-drop). And that's the plot-convenience Marine is on house arrest and can't go anywhere. It's explained that she was arrested for murdering her abusive husband who was a cop and was Shanks' partner. Marine tells Shanks that she reported to the cops many times over but since her husband Mike (played by Michael Paré) was a cop nobody just didn't believe her. Some of the scenes in the film you can feel the isolation from Marie when she tries to re-connect with neighbors completely avoiding her. Even the scene where it's Halloween and none of the trick or treaters never showed up at her door. However, she does make friends with a teenager name Joey (played by Ed Westwick) who delivers her groceries. Strange things do happen such as Marine recurring gets abused by the ghost of Mike. The film seems to roll with the punches right away with Marine believing to be a ghost while the same time confronting the ghost. Later Marine attempts to get rid of ghost Mike by exorcising the house; getting rid of Mike's belongings. Of course this pisses off ghost Mike in a abusive husband rage.

Each time Shanks would show up to check up on Marine only to notice some unexplained bruises on her face. Shanks believe that someone killed Mike and is setting up Marine to take the blame. Marine tells Shanks that its ghost Mike but he doesn't take her word for it. The next day after getting a close call having her fingers cut off by the garbage disposal. Marine discovers a bag fill with money hidden beneath the bedroom floor boards. The film never explains what Mike was doing with the money or how he got that large amount of money without anyone noticing. So Marine donates the money to a priest and immediately gets attacked by ghost Mike. This for some reason forces Marine to call Joey and ask to come over. After which she immediately jumps his bones; seriously they quickly have sex in her and Mike's bed. And that's not the end of it they're having sex as ghost Mike watches. That's right Marine has such amount of balls that she has sex with another guy as her dead husband watches. Now everything seems to be back to normal the next day right... No ghost Mike goes abusive husband rage on Joey and it is a gruesome death scene that will make your spine scream. Shanks arrives at her house with a warrant as Marine hides Joey's body in the bedroom crawlspace. Of course that didn't turn out so well as his body falls through the ceiling. As Shanks just about to arrest Marine they both get attacked by ghost Mike. Shanks tries to shoot ghost Mike but gets his hand snapped in a different direction and shoots a gas line in the kitchen starting a fire. Marine and Shanks are thrown into the basement as the fire spreads throughout the house. Marine gets the key to the handcuffs and to the electronic ankle bracelet and just before she escapes through the basement window she gets Shanks out of the basement first. Still trapped in the burning basement Marine makes her last stand as she throws her wedding ring at ghost Mike which apparently kills somehow. Marine manages to get out before the house explodes and out of good faith Shanks tells her to go. The film ends with Marine making her escape as a news report claims that she died in the fire.

My Final Verdict: 100 Feet is above average film; the pacing is a bit slow but I believe that the highlights of the film are satisfying at best. The film was directed by Eric Red who back in 1991 directed a horror thriller Body Parts which I will review real soon. Until then stay tuned next week as I go three for three in the anti-twilight werewolf campaign as I review Ginger Snaps.

The Film Vindicator Review: Trick r Treat

Welcome back to my first Halloween special today I'm reviewing Trick r Treat. And I'm not gonna lie this film is more on the treat department as in you're gonna be in for a real treat watching this film. Trick r Treat was originally slated for a 2007 release but was held back until 2009. Just like Creepshow it's an anthology horror film but unlike Creepshow each of the four stories are somewhat interwoven. Meaning that these stories are happening at the same time just at different places. Furthermore each story has a mysterious pint-sized trick-or-treater name Sam (played by Quinn Lord) making appearances whenever someone breaks Halloween traditions.

So we start off with an opening of a couple Emma (played by Leslie Bibb) and Henry (played by Tahmoh Penikett) returning from a Halloween party. Emma goes to blow out a jack-o-lantern by their fence but Henry tells her not to because it's against. But Emma blows it out anyway as Henry goes inside and not before long Emma is killed off by an unknown assailant and we cut to our first story.

We're introduced to Steven Wilkins (played by Dylan Baker) a school principal who spots a boy stealing candy from his porch. Wilkins offers the boy name Charlie (played by Brett Kelly) more candy to him. But little does Charlie know that the candy is poison and shortly dies as Wilkins calmly watches. Later we see Wilkins burying Charlie's body in his backyard...kinda a bad place to bury a body in my opinion. After finishing the burial Wilkins sees his neighbor Kreeg (played by Brian Cox) screaming from his window. But Wilkins completely ignores him and heads inside; more on Mr. Kreeg later on. Later we see Wilkins helping his son Billy (played by Connor Christopher Levins) carving a jack-o-lantern in their basement. But then we see that it's not a jack-o-lantern but poor Charlie's head; Wilkins sure has a really boring life if he's killing people. Well just be happy he's not writing Twilight books...just saying.

We cut to the next story where we're introduce to a group of kids Macy (played by Britt McKillip), Schrader (played by Jean-Luc Bilodeau), Sara (played by Isabelle Deluce), Chip (played by Alberto Ghisi), and Rhonda (played by Samm Todd). They go around the neighbor collecting jack-o-lanterns before heading out to a local rock quarry. Macy tells a local urban legend that a school bus containing eight children that where mentally challenged and disturbed to the point of needing to be chained to their chairs. She further tells them that the bus driver was bribe by their parents to kill them; so the driver crashes the bus into the lake of the rock quarry killing all of the children as he survives the crash. So the kids thought to place the jack-o-lanterns into the lake so that the Halloween School Bus Massacre children may find peace. This leads up with Macy, Britt, Schrader, and Chip set up a prank against Rhonda but turns sour when the Halloween School Bus Massacre children rises from the dead and attack the five kids. Rhonda was the first to reach the quarry's elevator and closes the door. Macy, Britt, Schrader, and Chip reach the elevator begging Rhonda to let them in the elevator. However, as Rhonda remembers the prank from earlier she decided to take elevator up to safety while the four kids are left to die horribly. If I may use this expression...BURNED!!!

Now in between "The Principal" story and "The School Bus Massacre Revisited" story where we're introduce to Laurie (played by Anna Paquin), her sister Danielle (played by Lauren Lee Smith), and their friends Maria (played by Rochelle Aytes) and Janet (played by Moneca Delain). They're invited to a bonfire party and they're trying to find some dates to the party while that's going on there's a subplot during "The School Bus Massacre Revisited" story of a vampire killing off women unnoticed. A little bit later Laurie is being stalked by the vampire and is attacked. At the bonfire party Danielle gets a bit worry about Laurie; everything goes well until a body falls out of the trees. At first you think it's Laurie now dead but it turns out it's the vampire as Laurie appears unharmed. Upon further examination it turns out the "vampire" is really Principal Wilkins in disguise and wearing fake fangs. Seriously his whole life must be really boring if he's going around killing people and dressing up as a vampire. Again be thankful he's not writing Twilight books. He soon noticed that all the male dates now are dead and here's where things get pretty awesome. All of the girls at the party are becoming werewolves in the most gruesomely creative way possible including Laurie who has the shiting-in-his-pants Wilkins pinned. You can tell that the irony is working overtime on Wilkins as Laurie kills him. This scene is no doubt giving Twilight the big middle finger of SUCK IT! And I love it.

We cut to the final story which takes place at the time with "The Principal" story in the film with Kreeg as a grumpy old man who hates Halloween. So much so that he scares away the trick-or-treaters and here I thought Scrooge was a real jerk at Christmas. However, this doesn't satisfy Sam at all oh crap. We cut to Kreeg throwing some photos into the fireplace and retreats to some bags of candy until there's a knock at the backdoor. Kreeg proceeds outside with baseball bat and sees nothing except for Wilkins of course. Upon going back inside his dog notice something on the front porch. So Kreeg heads out to see that his porch is littered with jack-o-lanterns. Kreeg returns inside and pulls out a double-barrel shotgun; you it's getting serious when a character brings out a shotgun. Kreeg is soon attacked by Sam with a bladed candy bar no less. Desperately trying to escape through the front door until he get attack from behind. Continuing to struggle with Sam; Kreeg rips off the burlap sack over his head to reveal that it's...Pumpkinhead Jr... No seriously the kid looks like flipping Pumpkinhead and quite honestly that's just flipping terrifying. You don't understand this would mean that Pumpkinhead may have knocked up some willing hellhound and it gave birth to this kid. Kreeg manages to get the shotgun and shoots him down but Pumpkinhead Jr. is still going even after being shot three times. Just as Sam is about to give the final blow he stabs a candy bar on Kreeg chest and walks away...ugh...OK. We cut to a close up shot of one of the photos in the fireplace revealing the eight Halloween School Bus Massacre children and Kreeg was that bus driver.

The film ends with Emma and Henry returning home which turns out that it was Sam who killed Emma. Rhonda calmly walks home with her pumpkin in tow. Billy in Principal Wilkins clothes passing the possibly poison candy. And Kreeg gets the scare shitless of a lifetime as he's approached by the undead Halloween School Bus Massacre children.

My Final Verdict: This film is ingeniously good in fact borderline good. I can't describe this film any further go watch it and be glad that it's not as crappy as the Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street remakes. Next week I'm taking on a film with ghosts, house arrest, and Famke Janssen. That's right I'm reviewing 100 Feet so stay tuned.

The Film Vindicator Review: Dog Soldiers

Well it's October so let's give it a good start with the review of Dog Soldiers. The film premiered in May 2002 and that you may have seen glimpse of it on the Sci-Fi channel.

So we start off in the Scottish Highlands where a couple is out camping. They have their tendered moment until they hear a howling noise outside from their tent. Their tent is ripped opened and the couples are horrible mauled off screen. We cut to somewhere in North Wales where we meet one of the main characters Private Cooper (played by Kevin McKidd) who is in a special forces training mission. He fails to carry out the order by his captain Richard Ryan (played by Liam Cunningham) to shoot the Special Forces dog. Therefore he fails the training and is kicked off the Special Forces. We cut to four weeks later in the Highlands of Scotland we meet up with Private Cooper and five another British army soldiers on a routine training mission. Sergeant "Serge" Wells (played by Sean Pertwee), Corporal Bruce Campbell...you heard me Corporal Bruce Campbell (played by Thomas Lockyer). Private "Spoony" Witherspoon (played by Darren Morfitt), Private Joe Kirkley (played by Chris Robson), and Private Terry Milburn (played by Leslie Simpson). So the army guys have their complaint of missing the football "British soccer" game of England against Germany and continue on with their mission. While the army guys are wondering through the woods they're already being spotted by Captain Ryan and his special forces. The army guys set up camp and share some funny stories until a dead animal come falling out of nowhere. A little bit later at the Special Forces base Captain Ryan is on watch but little does he knows he's being watch by something. And through creepy POV shots Captain Ryan gets attacked. The next day the army guys reached the Special Forces base to find it in shambles with no one left alive except for the wounded Captain Ryan. So the army guys load up on live ammo despite Ryan's protest that guns won't work on "them". The army guys...you know what I'm tired of calling them army guys so I'm just gonna call them The BAMs (Big Ass Motherfuckers) instead. So the BAMs have their first causalty when Corporal Bruce Campbell is having gun trouble for some reason. May be if you check to see if the safety's on that could be the reason. So Corporal Bruce Campbell makes a run for it until he ran right into a tree branch impaling himself to death. OK this scene is pretty stupid yet so funny because you have to be really stupid to get yourself impale like that. And to top it off he gets instantly mauled off screen and it's really disappointing that he didn't get to say groovy before dying. The Serge finds Corporal Bruce Campbell's body as he get attacked but only to severely wounded quite gruesomely. I mean his intestines are hanging out of his stomach he shouldn't be alive let alone be able to defend himself but he's rescued by Private Cooper.

We cut to the BAMs regrouping while running from their mysterious adversaries until they spotted a car passing by and haul ass. The car stops as one of the BAMs ran right in front of it and this is where we're introduce to a zoologist name Megan (played by Emma Cleasby). Megan picks up the BAMs and manages to get away from adversaries and headed to a lonely house. As night falls the BAMs have set up camp as the adversaries surrounds the house. Megan explains to the BAMs that these mysterious adversaries are in fact werewolves. Of course the BAMs don't believe her right away except for Captain Ryan but that doesn't chance the fact that they're still being attack by the werewolves. It’s explained that Captain Ryan and his special forces knew about the werewolves and plan on capturing one to be used as a weapon. But we all know what happen with that plan. Further explanation that the BAMs were just bait to lure out the werewolves. Now as most werewolf films go that if you get bitten or scratch by a werewolf you become a werewolf. So it discovered that the Serge and Captain Ryan are infected and Captain Ryan was the first to turn before escaping out of the house. The film pads out with a few of the BAM members getting killed off while trying to escape to the nearest town. Things get really tits up when Megan reveals herself to be part of the same pack that's attacking the BAMs and then turns before Cooper guns her down. OK if she was a werewolf this time why did she bother to help out the BAMs if she was just gonna to turn on them anyway. The werewolves finally got inside the house leaving with Cooper, Spoony, and the Serge defending for their lives. We get an awesome last stand from Spoony as he takes on one of the werewolves unarmed before he dies. Oh yeah Spoony has a moment so bad ass it would make Reb Brown so proud. The Serge cuts a gas line of the kitchen stove letting the gas fill in the room while Cooper escapes to a cellar. And before the transformation takes over the Serge switches on the kitchen stove setting off a spark that causes the house to explode. Cooper manages to survive the explosion...somehow but he's not alone. As the explosion did take out most of the werewolves the werewolf Ryan was in the cellar the whole time. So there's a final fight between Cooper and werewolf Ryan ultimately Cooper kills werewolf Ryan with a silver letter opener. The film ends with Cooper walking away from the demolished house while we get to see the final score of the football match between England and Germany; England wins.

My Final Verdict: This film is a sweet level of brilliance the film didn't relay on crappy CGI for the werewolves and it does a good job of keeping the werewolves hidden at some points. Dog Soldiers feels like an awesome homage to Predator when you think about it. There are some funny moments in the film even with the werewolves attacking the BAMs. So if you're that somebody who's sick and tired of Twilight dumbing down werewolves this film will make you feel much better. So stay tuned next time as this Halloween special continues as I review Trick r Treat.