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Kenny_Tha_Killa
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The Rite (2011)
One Of Hopkins' Best
I just love it when a film starts off with the words "The following is based on true events" plastered across the screen. It's suppose to lend an ominous tone to the movie, but buy now we all know it's really code word for "We took bits and pieces of something that may or may not have happened and then mixed it in with a bunch of made up BS that didn't happen at all". Now, I'm not saying that what happened in the movie isn't true, I'm just saying you have to take these kinds of things with a grain of salt. Anyhoo....
For thirty eight years Hollywood has been trying to make an exorcism movie to scare the hell out of us (pun intended) like The Exorcist did. Many have tried and failed, though there were some good attempts like Stigmata and The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, but they still couldn't manage to rise to the level of what might be the scariest horror movie ever. The Rite is no exception. While it's a good movie, The Exorcist it's not.
The Rite has a solid cast and Anthony Hopkins gives a great performance as the old seasoned priest that has performed thousands of exorcisms and that everyone regards as the authority on the subject. There's a slight plot twist that you don't ordinarily see in possession movies, but other than that, it's much of the same. There's a possessed girl and a priest that questions his faith, yadda, yadda, yadda, you know the rest.
It really isn't anyone's fault that these movies don't live up to The Exorcist. By now we all pretty much know what the beginning stages of demonic possession entail, speaking in a language not previously know to the victim of the possession (usually Latin), knowing the unknowable, strange marks appearing on the body (usually scratches or letters forming words), superhuman strength, levitation, etc. But back in 1973, these types of things weren't common knowledge and your average moviegoer had no idea what being possessed was really like, so when The Exorcist hit the screens, it was a horror phenomenon like no other.
Fast forward thirty eight years later - we're all pretty educated on the matter and there's really nothing in a movie about possession that is going to surprise us. Having said that, I think The Rite may have come the closest to providing us with that "creepiness" factor that The Exorcist perfected all those years ago. It's a little slow in parts, but that adds to the mood and suspense, so I can't really complain about that. So now that a quality exorcism movie has finally been made, I think it's time they stick a fork in this genre. We've seen it all before, it's time to move on.
There's no pea soup or heads spinning around in this movie, but it's definitely worth watching if you love the genre and love Anthony Hopkins.
Devil's Playground (2010)
Better than I expected and not worthy of all the negative reviews.
After watching some inadequate horror movies over the past couple of days, this was exactly what I needed - a gory, bloody zombie flick with all the trimmings. Devil's Playground takes place in London where a pharmaceutical company announces that they have stumbled across a new wonder drug that they describe as a legal "performance enhancer" (super steroids) which actually (to the embarrassment of the drug company) turns out to be a poisonous cocktail that kicks off a zombie outbreak which quickly sweeps through the UK.
We follow a group of people as they try to survive by finding an area somewhere in London that is zombie-free. Now, there's a plot twist that's pretty much a blatant ripoff of 28 Weeks Later, but I chose to look past it because the character development was adequate and the storyline bumped along at an even pace.
Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the zombies. Devil's playground follows in the new tradition of showcasing athletic zombies that have the same speed and the same appetite as Mike Tyson. Yes, the zombies you know and love from the Dawn Of The Dead remake and 28 Days & Weeks Later are back to hunt people down like a pack of bloodthirsty dobermans that haven't been fed for weeks.
The movie doesn't quite live up to the standards of Dawn Of The Dead and 28 Days & Weeks Later, but it's well worth the time if you're in the mood for a zombie flick and haven't filled your blood and gore quota for the month. Two thumbs up, horror fans.