Venom

Yes this brings back memories, the times were movies that were classified under horror were rated R. It also gets credit for having two slasher movies come out in the same week, though technically speaking, Cry Wolf isn't a slasher.

The movie would have probably done much better during the 80s, a time when a Friday the 13th sequel hit the screens so many times, people lost count. The movie is your typical, teens outside in a wild area (this time a swamp instead of the woods) and are stalked and brutally murdered off by a killer who is literally unstoppable.

If you want to go see a movie were people get killed and their is a lot of blood and gore, then go see this now. If you want a movie that has good acting, great story, and is smart and suave, hold off of this and check out Cry Wolf.

Or better yet, try to go out and see booth.

Boredom + watching VENOM. Actually, I was surprised that I enjoyed this. It is your typical beautiful boys & girls safe horror but it does have a couple of things going for it. First, it has a nice, original voodoo plot and great Southern atmosphere (it was filmed in Louisiana; Miramax dumped it in limited release after Hurricane Katrina...huh?). Second, it runs a quick 87 minutes. Finally, the film has a vicious streak in it. For example the end takes place in a underground vault. The possessed killer keeps the bodies of his victims in a pile. To escape capture the young heroine hides among the bodies. Her unconscious boyfriend is thrown on top of her. Later she has to witness her boyfriend wakes up and gets a screwdriver in the brain right in front of her eyes. Nothing groundbreaking but for a Dimension release, where it is expected the young lovers both survive, it certainly is. Director Jim Gillespie also did I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. It is kinda sad that it is 10 years later and he has come back full circle with his only "major" accomplishment in between being Stallone's D-TOX.

I saw this movie at a screening as well and it must have been a different version than the reviewer who thought it was "pure $hite". While the acting for the most part is typical teenager and a little disappointing except for the bad guy, the film looks fantastic, the actions sequences are great as well as the kills, some of which were hard to watch due to their realism. In this version at least, the cheesy special effects seem to be gone or at least vastly improved from what the other reviewer saw. It moves pretty well except for a few scenes of obligatory explanations regarding the voodoo deal and "teen angst", but there are a couple of really good scares as well as a good sustained overall tension throughout. The kills are brutal for the most part with one exception thats kind of lame, but the fight sequence close to the end is especially effective and looks just great as well as what has to be some new scenes, possibly even a new ending, since the lighting and overall look is so different from the rest of the film, but it still looks great. In my humble opinion it's definitely worth seeing and an R rating based on the blood and gore if thats what you expect from a horror movie. Gillespie definitely knows how to make an audience squirm.

***May Contain Spoilers***

This movie is a pleasant surprise. While it is marketed to resemble a dozen movies similar to it, Venom has better than average plot development, an effectively eerie mood, and good suspense. The actors are unknowns, but they are believable. The film also avoids many horror movie clichés that would have otherwise dragged it down to a lower level.

Venom is evocative of many Wes Craven movies, especially Cursed, where another kind of "monster" is out attacking young people. In both, there is constant mayhem and suspense and the plots are easy to follow and moves quickly. I enjoyed the voodoo subtext here and even wished the story explained more of it and its role in motivating the killer.

Well worth a view on cable or DVD.

This was okay. The beginning was really good but as it kept going I thought that it was nothing special I've seen movies with plot like this hundreds of times but it was still nice to watch it sure had its suspense. The main character which I've seen in other movies really carried this whole film and saved it from complete disaster. I still think they should have done a better work in this it could have been a gem.