The Last Horror Movie

And by that I mean if the last scene freaks you out or not depends on how your watching the film... For me, I had walked to blockbuster one evening and browsed the horror films available, chose this one from reading the back of it, and walked to a friends house that night and we watched it around midnight, I then had to walk home alone...

if you've seen the film, you might appreciate that this is a far more scarier way to watch this than watching now where you'll either download or order online, or watch on TV, which kind of kills the films ending.

Not sure how I'd feel had I seen under different conditions, but as a teenager and with the above circumstances, had me looking over my shoulder a little bit...

THE LAST HORROR MOVIE uses the clever ruse of mimicking a rented horror film that has been recorded over, allowing the main character, Max (Kevin Howarth), to tell his grisly story to the viewer with words and horrific deeds. Max is nonchalant about his actions, sticking to his narrative, regardless of what heinous crimes he commits.

Filmed by Max's "assistant" (Mark Stevenson), this "documentary" takes us along with the killer as he merrily relieves his victim's of their boring lives. This is one of the better examples of the "found footage" subgenre, fitting in neatly between such classics as MAN BITES DOG, and THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES. One bizarre twist is the way Max mingles visits with his family in with the carnage. This makes it all even more unsettling.

The cameraman's subplot is also quite disturbing.

The dialogue is, at times, fascinating, as we hear Max ask some rather philosophical questions of his audience. In spite of this, we're never unaware that we're witnessing the vile actions of a monster.

Mr. Howarth is terrifying in his unflinching role. It's just too bad that VHS tapes are no longer available from video-rental shops. That would have made this quite a find...

Grand Rapids,Michigan.A radio announces that a serial killer,responsible for the deaths of six teenagers at a holiday camp,has escaped from prison.A waitress closing up an isolated diner hears a noise,steps on a Haloween masked,and is stabbed again and again and...Suddenly the face of an English man,Max Parry(Kevin Howarth),appears, declaring "The film you borrowed from the video store,I recorded over it...I think you'll find this more interesting" -and what follows is a homemade video of Max in London,murdering people,serving meals for his friends and family,shooting wedding videos for his day job("the best place in the world to meet women"),trying to persuade his retiring camera assistant(Mark Stevenson)to take a more participatory role,lecturing to camera on the moral underpinnings of his way of life,and slaughtering more people."The Last Horror Movie" by Julian Richards is a truly disturbing and grim horror film with hauntingly realistic central performance by Kevin Howarth.The film is clearly inspired by "Funny Games","Angst" and especially "Man Bites Dog",but it still manages to disturb.The killings are cold,merciless and extremely brutal and the violence is genuinely unnerving.Don't miss this one.8 out of 10.

Though the title of this film might suggest conventional horror forthcomings, don't despair. The last Horror Movie is a unique cinematic exploration in to the mind of a serial killer. Wedding filmmaker Max Parry [Kevin Howarth] is a London bachelor who enjoys looking after his sisters' kids, entertaining friends and honing the art of murder. He decides to make his own horror film in order to help him discover his victim's attitudes to death. The commonsensical style of this movie is its real charm. It lacks the sardonic comedy that makes Rémy Belvauxs' Belgian film Man Bites Dog an obvious fiction, but henceforth the horror becomes much more feasible. Howarth conceivably becomes someone we could know, and like. His charismatic portrayal of Parry makes us open to his rational debates of art vs. humanity. The last horror movie takes the horror genre and turns it on its head; it pushes the viewer to challenge why they enjoy purveying murder and brutal senseless acts of killing. It forces us to consider the value of a human life and then contradicts our opinion with the general antipathy shown for human life in the third world. It tries to make us believe that murder is in essence a force of nature. The protection and reassurance of your own home is no longer a safe haven but a fruitful opportunity to gratify the predator among us. If you can stomach horror and gore then go and see this film. It's a powerful piece of British filmmaking with an unnerving edge. Director Julian Richards commented that the real horror of this film starts when you leave the cinema, a concept that entertained me, as I lay awake, convincing myself that the squeaking floorboards below were not as innocent as they sounded.

If you watch the movie on TV,it loses at least 80% of its frightening power,so take my advice and rent it.You will find out why.

You can call it bad taste ,cynicism ,but this movie is more ABOUT horror movies than a horror movie.Many people may be disappointed .Something like Michael Powell's "Peeping Tom" -which is anyway highly superior to this one and which in 1960 was already a horror movie which made the viewer ill-at-ease - revisited with a faux cinema verite treatment.Kevin Howarth is excellent as the killer who makes all the peeping toms like us feel guilty.

And "the last horror movie" could really be your last one!