LazySod

Influenza. Most people get it at least once in a lifetime. Most people suffer from it for no more than a few days and then go on with their normal lives. What would happen though if we were met with a more serious strain? One with a higher mortality rate and even higher contagion factor? This film tells such a tale. Starting as patient zero is admitted to the hospital with unknown ailments, and going on from there, getting worse at an alarming rate. This is one of the best things about this film - the way the sickness progresses is more than believable and sometimes even too close for comfort. It is not impossible to believe how the people respond to it and the actions they are willing to do to be able to survive.

What works against it in my eyes is the appearance of a plethora of big time actors and actresses, where it really does not need them. It feels like the directors didn't feel too sure about the film and tried to apply the age old trick of adding known faces in hopes to improve the film (it never works, and in this film it makes it worse by pulling the attention from the backing story).

Add to that the final minutes were unnecessary - the film could have done (and in my opinion should have done) without them and you get to the final result: a very good film which is hindered by just two problems, but rather drastic ones at that.

8 out of 10 needles in a haystack

Remakes of classics usually end up being pants. Every once in a while though some comes through holding up to their original counter part - or at least enough to be worthy of cinema time.

Fright Night is one of these. It's a typical vampire story where one person detects the unbelievable truth and then needs to repair the damage before it gets really out of hand. It has a very nice pace and doesn't wait long with making sure everyone knows who is who and where things are going - it's as predictable as the average soap opera but it plays out fun.

Adding to that the fact that it doesn't take itself serious and you can add good bits of laughter to the otherwise gruesome effect of having people close to you being hassled by a vampire and you not being able to do much about it. It rolls on and never looses track and all in all its highly enjoyable.

7 out of 10 bite marks on the neck

A group of friends consisting of kids of about 12 years old works together to make a film. Using a Super 8 camera and whatever scenery they can find they attempt to put together their master piece so that they can send it in for a competition of sorts. Things get really interesting for them when they see something they shouldn't have seen during one of their sessions.

And so the story rolls. Story wise this one isn't exceptional. It begins with people being at the wrong place at the wrong time and from that point on being the unwilling victim of sworn secrecy. Most of the things that happen make some kind of sense and that makes the story good enough.

The way it is played out, carried on the shoulders of the children, is cool. Their way of acting is both natural and designed and this works wonders, especially as part of the film hinges on them making a film themselves so there's plenty of acting to be acting so to speak. Most of the adults feel to be at their place too.

The first thing I was reminded of when seeing this film was The Goonies, a feeling that never went away during the rest of the film. That film had the same kind of touch to it, but it's a good touch so nothing lost there.

All in all, surely worth a watch, even though it's based on a story that is a little too overused 7 out of 10 shots in the dark