Contracted: Phase II – So It Continues

Length: 78 minutes

Release Date: September 4, 2015

Rating: NR

Director: Josh Forbes

When I saw Contracted originally, I thought I would never have sex again. Luckily for my boyfriend, that didn't last long. When I heard there was a sequel, I went in expecting to see the same kind of gore and unsettling scenes from the first film.

Despite having a completely new director, Contracted: Phase II picks up exactly where the first one ended. Samantha climbs out of her car completely infected and freaks out. We then cut to Riley, her poor unfortunate lover from the first film. After what happened between the two of them, he wisely decided to get checked out. The doctor takes some samples and tells him that STDs don't typically affect men in the same way they do women. He then heads home where he lives with his grandmother and drinks from her glass without thinking.

Throughout the film, he flashes back to the events from the previous movie. We learn that after finding his close friend's (Alice's) dead body, Alice came back to life, tried to attack him, and he killed her. He also flashes back to the sex he had with Samantha and reveals that he actually saw her having sex with BJ, the man who infected her, that night outside the party. Though he does meet someone new, he's hesitant to start anything up with her until the doctor calls and tells him he has a clean bill of health. We all know this is wrong.

At the same time, Crystal Young joins the cast as the detective in charge of figuring out what the hell is happening. Young is a little suspicious of Riley but believes his story that he's just an innocent bystander. Despite us learning that the cops caught BJ in the last film, we now learn that he's still alive and still “hunting” others, which eventually leads to Riley trying to track down the man too in the hopes of stopping the infection and saving himself.

Don't get me wrong, Contracted: Phase II has some – excuse the pun – killer parts. You cannot possibly watch Riley in the doctor's office trying to squeeze puss out of the scratches that Samantha left on his back without wincing. The same holds true of a few key scenes between him and his new lover after he infects her and with what happens to his poor grandmother. When I think of the first film though, my stomach literally turns. There are moments from that film, like with fingernails, that make me want to look at pictures of cute puppies and kittens online. Contracted: Phase II doesn't have quite the same effect, which I why I can't understand how it has a higher rating online right now.

I will give props to Matt Mercer though. His Riley in the first film was more of a background character than anything else. He was that sad and mopey guy we all know who has a crush on some chick he'll never land. Mercer's Riley in the second film really comes into his own. We see that while he might be a little pathetic, he generally is a good guy and cares about the people in his life, though he doesn't necessarily go about things in the right way.

When Contracted: Phase II ended, the roommate – my boyfriend refuses to watch either film because of our descriptions – looked at me and said he liked the first one better. While I have to agree, it does have some good moments. Even if you aren't a fan of the film, the ending makes it all worthwhile. Here's hoping we get some resolution in another sequel.

Saw 4 Movie Review – Where the Tide Turns

Runtime: 93 minutes

Release Date: October 26, 2007

Rating: R

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman

Following the events of the last film, the police send John Kramer's body for an autopsy after they find him dead in the room with all those other bodies. The coroner finds a tape in his body and passes it along to Detective Hoffman. Lieutenant Rigg later finds Detective Kerry and begins his own investigation into the Jigsaw killings. This becomes more complicated when a new body appears and he learns that a man actually escaped the trap.

The problem with the later Saw movies is that there is usually too much going on. Most of the early films featured a few traps and gave us more information about Jigsaw, which kept us interested and entertained in the movies. This one had so much going on that I found myself drifting off into la la land and trying to keep up when I came back.

One of the best scenes in the film is the end of Donnie Wahlburg, aka Detective Eric Matthews. Though most of us assumed that he did in one of the previous films, it turns out that he's still alive, for the time being anyway. The new killer leaves him tied up on a block of ice with a noose around his neck and Hoffman strapped to a series of electrodes next to him. As the ice melts, he keeps slipping and sliding, but if he falls off the ice, the trap will kill them both. When he finally does slip and gets his head smashed in, it was probably the best moment of the movie. Unlike poor Amanda's death, this one really does fit the character.

Rigg, who we barely saw in any of the other movies, suddenly becomes the main focus of interest. The new Jigsaw killer sends him on a mission across town, and he must complete a series of different tasks in the hopes of saving Matthews. Given what I said in the last paragraph, you can guess how well he does.

The problem isn't Rigg the character, it's the fast that we don't really know him. I wish they left Kerry alive long enough for her to get her own movie. Since she really did have a connection to each film, it would have been nice to see her stick around a little longer. Rigg suddenly becomes our lead character, but I care as little about him as I do about Hoffman. Speaking of which, Hoffman is no substitution for the original Jigsaw.

I do like Agent Strahm played by Scott Patterson. It's probably the Gilmore Girls fan inside me, but I think he actually brought something new/good to the series. Though watching Saw 4 now and knowing what happens to his character later made me a little sad, it was nice to see him in this one.

The same can't be said about Jill Tuck. As the former wife of Kramer, she should have a lot of insight into him, but she really doesn't add anything to the film. She's really only there to talk about things we already know and set things up for her role in the next movie. Her character is completely bland and a little boring.

As much as I love the first three films in the series, Saw 4 makes me wish they had just made a trilogy.

Saw 3 – Jigsaw is Back Yet Again

Runtime: 108 minutes

Release Date: October 27, 2006

Rating: R

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman

Remember when Detective Matthews went missing at the end of the last film? Well, he's still missing. Though Detective Kerry feels guilty and blames herself for his disappearance, she promises to work with Detective Hoffman and Lieutenant Rigg to find Jigsaw and hopefully bring Matthews back home again.

During an investigation of the latest victim, Kerry is the only one who realizes there is something different. Unlike all the previous traps, this one was set up in such a way that the victim could not escape. Kerry herself then becomes the next victim of the so-called Jigsaw Killer.

We then find ourselves introduced to Lynn, a doctor who is seemingly unhappy with her life. While working in a hospital, she finds herself abducted and later wakes to see Amanda watching over her. Amanda fits her with a collar designed to blow up if she attempts to escape before introducing her to Jigsaw. It turns out that our favorite crazy killer is dying and Lynn is his last chance for survival.

At the same time, a father named Jeff wakes in a strange house. Still dealing with the loss of his child who was killed by a drunk driver, he can't move on with his life. Jigsaw and Amanda created a series of rooms designed to test his ability to forgive and forget. Each room features someone connected to the case, and Jeff only has a limited amount of time to either help each person or walk away.

Like I said before, the later Saw movies get a lot of flack for being too confusing or just plain bad, but Saw 3 was actually a lot better than I remembered. One of the worst deaths is easily what happens to Kerry. She finds herself stuck inside a butterfly trap with the key stuck in the bottom of a glass of acid. Since the trap was designed to fail, she naturally loses. Seeing a beloved character die by having her insides literally ripped out of her was almost a little sad.

Then we have some of the deaths that occur when Jeff is moving through the building. There is one with a woman who actually freezes to death slowly with cold water sprayed over her body in a freezing cold room. Plus, we get the scene of the man getting literally twisted to death one body part at a time. I give you props if you can get through that scene without wincing or screaming.

Since a Saw movie isn't complete without at least one twist, the twist in this one comes near the end. Though I'm sure many people saw it coming, I definitely did not. We learn that Lynn is actually the wife of Jeff. As we first see her in bed with another man, most of us naturally assumed that the two had no connection.

This is also the movie where Amanda finally dies. Though she's an evil bitch character, her death didn't exactly seem fitting. To have her die via a brand new character shooting her in the neck was somewhat of a sad end to her. We also get to learn a little more of the backstory of Jigsaw/John Kramer, including his life before he became one of the most infamous killers in fictional history. Say what you want, but Saw 3 had a lot going for it and was probably the last great film in the franchise.

The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death

Runtime: 98 minutes
Release Date: January 2, 2015
Rating: PG-13
Director: Tom Harper


Eve Parker is a school teacher working in London during World War II. After a series of bombings, the headmistress decides to take the children of parents who couldn't leave to Crythin Gifford, the same town from the first film. Along the way, Eve meets a handsome pilot named Harry and later encounters an odd man who seems most displeased at her bringing kids to the town.


The two women take the children from the house from the first movie, so you know this won't end well. Not long after arriving, Eve has a dream that reveals she once had a baby and gave it up. When she wakes, she has an encounter with the mysterious lady in black, who makes comment revealing that she knows about Eve's history.


Though Eve initially doesn't believe in ghosts, she's forced to change her mind after a series of experiences in the old house. One young boy, Edward, shares a closeness with Eve and seems to look at her as his surrogate mother. As his parents died and he no longer speaks, she struggles to maintain that closeness and to protect him, which is hard given that the other kids bully him.


After several of the children die at what appears to be their own hands, Eve locates an old record that tells the story of what happened to the female ghost and why the woman in black haunts the old house. She also discovers that Harry has his own secrets and his own reasons for not wanting to get stuck in the house. As it becomes clear that the woman in black is targeting Edward, Even must fight back to save the child, herself, and her new love.


Oh dear god. I cannot explain how much I disliked The Woman in Black 2. The best word I can find to describe it is long. Despite running less than 100 minutes, it's the type of movie that feels like it takes hours to finish. I literally kept checking the time because I kept thinking that it had to be over, and it seemed like the movie just kept getting longer.


One of the only things it had going for it was its atmosphere. That house is so damn creepy that I think you could set any ghost story there and still have a great background. There were also a few too many jump scenes that tried too hard to scare viewers. Since most of those scenes ended on such a down note, none of the later jump scenes really paid off. As someone who loves older buildings, I got a kick out of the settings, but that was about all I will remember of this one.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown – Damn You, Leonard!

Runtime: 86 minutes
Release Date: October 17, 2014
Rating: R
Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon


Jami and Corey are two hot kids at the local drive-in to see The Town That Dreaded Sundown, which in a meta twist was based on an actual series of murders that happened in their town. After making it clear that she isn't into horror movies, he drives her out to the old lovers lane. Before they can get too far into it, a man in a sack mask who looks just like the original killer, shows up. He drags them both out of the car, makes Jami turn away, and kills Corey. She runs into the woods, and while he finds her, he lets her go after giving her a warning to pass on.


A few days pass before the killer strikes again. It's just enough time for Corey's funeral and for her grandmother to deny that she remembers the original murders. It's also enough time for Jami to start her own investigation. The killer next targets a young woman and her military boyfriend home on leave. After decapitating the boyfriend and slamming his head against the hotel room window, he chases her outside and brutally kills her in her own car. The killer continues on his spree all the while coming back to urge Jami to make others remember what happened in the past.


The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a movie that I actually enjoyed. I love that they did the meta thing. Not only do they set it up that this was the town where the original was filmed, but they also keep showing scenes from the original and harkening back to the original. I think I squealed when the killer brought out the trombone for one scene, but the friends I watched it with had no clue what was going on. I also liked seeing Dennis O'Hare. He's been so good in the past seasons of American Horror Story, especially the first season, that I loved seeing him here. He plays the son of the original director and is just the perfect character. He's a little strange, suspicious, and kind of loveable all at the same time.


Speaking of people I loved seeing, this movie was a who is who. Addison Timlin, who was so great as Stormy in Odd Thomas, plays Jami. Gary Cole pops up as the chief of the small town police department and has one of the most memorable scenes in the entire film. I don't want to give it away, but something a little unusual happens while he's getting a blow job. Edward Herrmann, who I admittedly only know as the grandfather on Gilmore Girls, turns up as the local pastor who thinks the killer came back because the town is full of sin. We even get Anthony Anderson as a Texas Ranger who rolls into town to solve the mystery. Did I mention Josh Leonard from The Blair Witch Project is in it too? It's nice to see him in a horror movie rather than that piece of crap If I Stay I was forced to sit through a few months ago.


The Town That Dreaded Sundown is my favorite horror movie of the month and maybe the last few months. The acting was good, and it had some great death scenes too. There's the two young gay men who get attacked before they get to their good stuff, a body left chopped into pieces on the railroad tracks, and a poor little old lady stabbed/slashed in the throat. What more could you ask for?

See No Evil 2 – What Happens When You Put Well-Known Horror Actors in One Film

Runtime: 90 minutes
Release Date: October 21, 2014
Rating: R
Director: Jen Soska & Sylvia Soska


Amy (Danielle Harris, every horror movie in the world) is working late at the city morgue on her birthday with Seth and Holden. Seth has a crush on her but hasn't worked up the nerve to tell her, which causes Holden to pick on him almost every night. Just as she's about to leave for her birthday party, they see on the news about a mass murder at an old hotel. Yes, despite eight years passing between the movies, this one takes place hours after the first film. Though they encourage her to leave, she decides to stick around and help.


Luckily for Amy, her friends sneaked into the morgue and surprise her by jumping up from sheets on tables. It would give me a heart attack, but it makes her laugh. Among the party guests are her extremely overprotective brother Will, close friend Kayla who has a major crush on her brother (Chelan Simmons, Final Destination 3), and her whorish friend Tamara (Katharine Isabelle, Ginger Snaps) and her boyfriend Carter.


It doesn't take long before Tamara and her boyfriend leave to find a bathroom and instead stumble on Jacob's body. Rather than run screaming in the opposite direction, Tamara gets off on seeing his body. This leads to a truly uncomfortable scene, where she climbs on top of his body, straddles him, kisses him, and does some grinding to get herself in the right mood. As she and Carter go to town, she suddenly looks over and realizes that Jacob is gone. Jacob isn't happy about those other kids killing him, and he makes that clear when he goes off on another killing spree.


Taking See No Evil from a hotel to a morgue sounds interesting in theory, but there was something about the sequel that I just didn't like. It wasn't a bad movie, but it won't ever replace the original in my mind.


This is clearly one of the largest city morgues in the entire universe. It consists of multiple floors, underground tunnels, and dozens of locked areas. In a series of scenes that irritated the hell out of us, Seth has dozens of keys on his ring that give him access to various parts of the building. When they get stuck in one area, he doesn't have keys for that space. However, he later has keys that operate all the cage and prison-looking doors at the underground levels that clearly look like no one used them in years.


And I know that Harris has a lot of fans, but she just doesn't do it for me. I prefer her in films where she takes a backseat than those where she has a starring role. After watching the Hatchet films, every time I see her, I think about that annoying fake accent and it grates on my nerves. There came a point in this one where I actually said, "see? This is why I don't like her. She's just around to make sure that the characters I like die."


Speaking of those characters, I have a soft spot for Simmons. Every time I see her, I get a little excited and have to point her out. She is just so cute, and she tends to add a breath of fresh air and some humor to most films. She has a cute scene with Amy's brother in this one, where she keeps throwing herself at him and finally asks why he won't go for her. When he tells her that he sees her as a sister, she just throws herself at him. I kind of want to hang out with her in person.


As for Kane/Jacobs, he does what he does best. Since he now has a massive hole in his eyesocket, he grabs a mask from the morgue to hide it and grabs some tools too. He breaks through security doors that others can't dent, attacks people with a bone saw, and generally acts like a mad man. The sad thing is that See No Evil 2 turns Jacob into just another slasher. We never hear the creepy song from the first movie, we barely see those gruesome finger nails, and there are hardly any references to the eyeball removals until the very end.


I was excited about a sequel to See No Evil 2, but I was hoping for a true sequel and not a film that changed Jacob's character and turned him into yet another generic slasher.

Wrong Turn 6 Movie Review aka Wrong Turn VI aka Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort

Runtime: 91 minutes
Release Date: October 21, 2014
Rating: NR
Director: Valeri Milev


An unnamed man and woman are out riding their bikes when they decide to take a dip in the hot springs. This leads to some near full frontal nudity and a quick sex scene. Hopping back on their bikes, they head off again until the man calls off his bike and screams that someone shot him with an arrow. Out comes three resident hillbillies to take care of them both.


Danny and his girlfriend Toni take a trip to the middle of nowhere along with some of their closest friends. After working on Wall Street for far too long, Danny snapped and tried to kill himself. Not long after his suicide attempt, he received word that he inherited a large old hotel from his family, and he convinces his friends to go with him to check things out until he can decide what to do with it.


Sally and Jackson are the caretakers of the old hotel, and after making out for a bit, we learn that they are also brother and sister. They welcome Danny with open arms after making it clear that they didn't expect him to bring any friends. After showing him the hotel, the group decides to look around themselves, which leads to them finding a hidden chamber designed for people to watch others have sex. It doesn't take long before our favorite group of hillbillies come back to get rid of the friends and bring home their long lost brother/nephew/cousin/uncle/whatever.


I have mixed feelings about the Wrong Turn franchise. I loved the first one, which became one of my "can't flip through the channels, see it on, and keep going" movies. Thanks to Henry Rollins and that opening scene, the second one became one of my favorites as well. Bought the third one and was so disappointed that I assumed they would never make another one. I can't remember the fourth one, but I liked the fifth one. I almost figured this one would turn out to be pretty awful too. Guess what? It really isn't that bad for the sixth film in a franchise that most people thought would never make it past a first film.

One complaint I had is that the film doesn't explain how it connects back to the others. We suddenly have this amazing hotel in the middle of nowhere that actually sees guests coming and going despite the rednecks running loose through the woods. Are they related to those from the other films, or is this an entirely new group? We also learn that they have a huge shanty town in the middle of the woods that no one else seems to know about. Also, Danny is part of the family, but we never really get an explanation about how or why his family left.

As a female who likes horror movies, I've seen my fair share of tits and ass over the years, but Wrong Turn 6 takes it to a whole different level. The first sex scene literally came before the credits rolled, and it seemed like half the characters only cared about getting some, which led to even more scenes. When a movie has to rely more on sex and less on scares or gore, you know there's a problem.

While there aren't many scares, there are some gory scenes. One kill involves a woman's head going through a piece of razor/barbed wire, and another has two hillbillies literally ripping a woman's legs off while she's on a sex table. Oh, and did I mention the woman who has an orgasm while suffocating a man and the scene that shows a woman getting her face shoved in boiling hot water? If any of that appeals to you, you'll want to watch Wrong Turn 6.

Movie Review - Sharknado 2 : Yes, They Come Back

Runtime: 90 minutes
Release Date: July 30, 2014
Rating: NR
Director: Anthony C. Ferrante


Fin and April are back from the first movie and ready to tackle New York. Actually, April wrote a book called How to Survive a Sharknado, which shockingly my Spellchecker say is not a word, and she gets to shill it on Live with Kelly & Michael. Fin is clearly unhappy about things, pointing out that he did in fact lose several friends and apparently no longer cares about the other survivors from the first movie. Fin also isn't happy because he has to see his sister Ellen and her husband Martin. The two were once best friends, but I guess he didn't want his friend marrying his sister.


When Fin looks out the window, he sees a sharknado forming in the sky. In a nice twist to The Twilight Zone, we have to wonder if it's really there or all in his mind. Of course it's really there! The sharks attack, April gets attacked, a bunch of people die, and the plane makes an emergency landing. Emergency workers carry April off as she lost a hand in the battle, and Fin goes off on his own to save his family from the sharknado invading NYC.


I didn't necessarily like the first Sharknado movie, but I definitely didn't love it either. I think the roommates (of which I now have two) were probably a little surprised that I picked it out. I have to say though that I kind of loved it and I thought it was a lot better than the first. A bunch of reviews claimed it was a far cry from the first one, not as good, and something that even fans of the first wouldn't care for, so I must be in the minority.


Ian Ziering gave an interview where he talked about how they went overboard and just threw in as much as possible, and that's pretty clear within the first few minutes. The number of cameos in the movie is just insane! Here's a quick sample:


-Kelly Osbourne
-Andy Dick
-Tiffany Shepis
-Perez Hilton
-Billy Ray Cyrus
-Peppa
-Biz Markie
-Richard Kind
-Al Roker


There were a lot of times when those cameos pulled you out of things and made you remember that you were watching a bad horror movie. How can I possibly pay attention when I'm constantly looking to see who will be next and what I know him/her from? I'll also point out that I had a hard time believing that Vivica A. Fox and Ian Ziering could have been former crushes of each other until I found out that they are literally the same age. Eh, the roommate didn't even realize Vivica Fox was the same woman from Independence Day when he saw this one.


Can we also point out that the director could have replaced Tara Reid with a cardboard cutout or a wooden box and got the same results? I know that it's one of the things fans laughed about with the first one, but she was even more annoying her. She had so little emotion on her face that I was just praying for a shark to eat her head off. Sigh.


At least we did get Kari Wuhrer! As a long-time Sliders fan, and yes I even watched the "bad" seasons, I did a little happy dance when she popped up. Unfortunately, she doesn't get nearly as much screen time as the other characters. I also had to give it up for seeing Judah Friedlander. It was so weird seeing him without his glasses that it took me a few minutes to figure out who he was, but it did make me want to go back and watch Feast for the first time in years.


Sharknado 2 did have some fun moments, and it kept me and my roommates laughing and singing the theme song. What more could you ask for?

The Purge: Anarchy – Exactly What We Wanted from the First One

Runtime: 103 minutes
Release Date: July 18, 2014
Rating: R
Director: James DeMonaco


The main problem that myself and a large number of other people had with The Purge is that it was too much of a condensed story. Once a year, everything you can imagine is legal. People roam the streets, attacking, raping, pillaging, and murdering anyone who gets in their way. Instead of showing us that violence, we got a story about one family stuck in a house for the night. The Purge: Anarchy finally gives us what we wanted to see.


Eva is a single mom working as a waitress to support her daughter Cali and her father. On the night of the Purge, she stops by the pharmacy to get her dad his medication. He lectures her about spending money on things they don't need and mentions that the medication doesn't do anything and that he doesn't have much time left. After he tells them he wants to take a nap, he leaves a note on his pillow and sneaks away.


Shane and Liz (Kiele Sanchez, "30 Days of Night: Dark Days") are a married couple on the way to Shane's sister's house. The two are in the middle of separating, and she wants to tell his sister, while he wants to keep it a secret until after the Purge. When they leave a grocery store, a man jumps on the the car (and literally made me jump in my seat) just as a reminder of what's to come. On the way into the city, their car breaks down, and just minutes before the Purge starts, they find themselves stranded and alone.


Sergeant (Frank Grillo, "Mother's Day") is a man mourning the loss of his son one year ago. His ex-wife stops by to check on him and sees pictures of the man who killed his son on the wall. Realizing that he plans to go out, she tries to change his mind, but he tells her to go back to her new husband and leave him alone. He then reveals a souped up car that he made bulletproof just for the night.


Eva and Cali find the note from Papa, which says that he sold himself to a wealthy family for the night. She explains to her daughter that the rich by people to purge for themselves and that they mainly choose those who are sick or desperately in need of money. When a man breaks into their apartment with plans to rape them both, they try to fight back. A large semi pulls up outside and a group of military-looking people climb out.


As the man comes at them, a series of shots ring out and come straight through the walls and windows. Though they try hiding in the closet, two of the military men find them and drag them outside, claiming that they picked them especially for an unknown figure. Sergeant comes down the street at the same time, and though he promises himself not to get involved, he winds up saving the two women. Shane and Cali manage to hide in the backseat of his car, and despite his best wishes, the five decide to work together to get through the night.


I went to the drive-in this weekend to see Lucy and The Purge: Anarchy. While Lucy was fairly blah in my mind, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen for this one. Frank Grillo has leading man written all over him, and while I fondly recall him from his days on the soap Guiding Light, it's nice to see him on the big screen. The role of Sergeant almost seems written for him. Though he doesn't talk much, he conveys everything he needs to say with his eyes and facial features.


The movie does a smart job of introducing just enough characters to keep the film moving without bringing in so many stories that we struggle to keep up. Papa, the father of Eva and grandfather of Cali, is probably the only throwaway in the film. He's really only there for us to understand what the rich do during the annual Purge, but after a few lines, he's gone and never mentioned again.


The film delves deeply into the dichotomy between the rich and the poor. The poor find themselves stuck in the city slums with barely any hopes for living through the night, while the rich throw elaborate parties and spend money to kill people, while turning it into a fun event. I won't get into the political side of the film, but trust me, it's there. All I will say is that there's a group on the fringes who believe that the Purge is wrong and they create a viral campaign around bringing an end to the annual event.


My only minor issue with the film is that The Stranger from the first movie makes an appearance in this one. He turns up as one of the fringe fighters and helps our unlucky heroes, and while he makes it clear that he doesn't agree with the Purge because of what he went through before, he's really just a throwaway character. If they wanted to bring him back, they should have given him more than two scenes and a few lines.


The Purge: Anarchy was exactly what most of wanted from the first film. It takes the action outside of one setting and lets us see what happens to people living deep in the city. We see people hiding in the subways, the rich spending their money to kill and maim people just for kicks, the middle class kicking back with wine and music, and how people go to great lengths to make money during the Purge. If you wanted to see more action in The Purge, you'll want to see this one.

Wolf Creek 2 Movie Review: A Pale Imitator

Runtime: 106 minutes
Release Date: April 17, 2014
Rating: NR
Director: Greg Mclean


Two police officers working in the wilds of Australia want to catch a speeder and get some action. After noticing a truck driving a little too fast, they decide to pull him over. The driver, Mick Taylor, acts like he's surprised they stopped him and attempts to leave before they reveal that they're serious. Mick gleefully kills them both, shooting one and decapitating him before tying up the other officer and setting him and the car on fire.


Cut to two German tourists backpacking through the wilds. After heading to Wolfe Creek, they try to get a ride back to civilization but find themselves stuck. They decide to camp overnight and try to find a ride the following morning. While fooling around in their tent, they see a bright light outside. Mick steps out, warns them that it's illegal to camp in a national park, and offers to drive them to the nearest town. The man feels a little uncomfortable and denies his request, which leads to Mick stabbing him in the back.


Instead of running, the female tourist goes into shock and literally cannot function. Mick grabs her, forces her to the ground, and attempts to rape her, but her boyfriend pops up and smacks him over the head. This is the point where my nurse roommate went off about how the guy should be dead. As they fight, the girl continues to basically lay on the ground and cry. Katarina, the girl, later wakes and sees Mick chopping her boyfriend into small pieces.


This is the point where she realizes that she should probably get her ass in drive. While he's distracted, she runs off into the wilderness and manages to hide from him. Katarina gets to the road, flags down a car, and jumps inside. The driver, Paul, is a surfer visiting from Britain, and while he can't necessarily understand her, he does offer to help. Mick chases them down the road and manages to fire off a shot, which kills Katarina on the spot. It then becomes a cat and mouse game between Mick and Paul, and once Mick catches him, all bets are off.


Wolf Creek was a great movie. When Blockbuster went out of business, every store around here somehow had dozens (and sometimes hundreds) of copies in stock, and I ended up buying a replacement for my missing copy. Most of the horror movie fans I know were undecided on the film, but I liked it. As soon as I heard there was a sequel that featured the same guy and the same director, I couldn't wait to see it. That said, I wasn't crazy about Wolf Creek 2.


This is the classic example of a sequel showing way too much of a villain. I was a big fan of Vacancy 2 just because that movie set up the characters from the original and showed why they did what they did. This one seemed like it wanted us to learn even more about Mick, but I don't really need to know that much about him. Do I care that he hates the British? Not really. It would make sense if the film revealed some big reason why he would hate tourists and go after them, but it seems more like he just doesn't like people.


Wolf Creek 2 occasionally felt more like a remake than a sequel. While the opening moments were amazing, we then get stuck following two annoying tourists. The scenes of them backpacking together, talking with other tourists, getting rides, and basically sightseeing left me checking my watch and wondering where this was all going. Then, as soon as we finally get invested and want to see Katarina survive, she's dead. We then need to invest in an entirely new character, and in the end, the movie pretty much ends in the same way the first one did.


Though Wolf Creek 2 got some good reviews, I'll stick with the original.

Joy Ride 3 Movie Review: This is Not Rusty Nail

Runtime:96 minutes
Release Date:June 17, 2004
Rating:R
Director:Declan O'Brien


I almost didn't even want to write this review because the movie is so bad but I'll do my best.


Joy Ride 3 opens with a girl clearly strung out on either meth or crack fooling around with a guy in bed. Literally three minutes after the movie stars, they're having some rough and tumble sex, but she stops him when she realizes they're out of drugs. He comes up with an idea to talk to a truck driver, lure him into the room, and rob him because all drivers carry large amounts of drugs. She makes the mistake of hitting on good old Rusty and inviting him to their room.


When Rusty learns of their scheme, which he apparently does before he gets there, he attacks them both. He then straps them to the front of his truck and gives them a chance. If they can hold on for a certain amount of time, he'll let them live. If they let go, the chains holding them down will drag them under the truck. The girl lets go, and they both die. It's a great way to open the movie but it just goes downhill from there.


There are a bunch of highly annoying twenty somethings planning to enter some random race. As a NASCAR fan, I have my questions about what level they're racing at and what's going on. I also didn't bother to learn any names because most of the characters seem fairly interchangeable. There's the douchy guy, the slightly less douchy guy, the annoying female girlfriend, the other annoying gal, etc..


After stopping along the way for some food, they decide to take the race car, which is very expensive buy the way, out of the trailer and drive it the rest of the way to the race, which is a very stupid thing to do because those cars aren't decide for regular roads. They naturally come across Rusty, piss him off, and he decides to kill them all.


Joy Ride is one of those hidden gem movies that I found by accident. Featuring the too cute for his own good and gone too soon Paul Walker and the adorable and hilarious Steve Zahn, a bought a copy back in the days when I would buy new movies that looked interesting without knowing anything about the plot. I love it so much that I recommended it to all of my friends. Sadly, Joy Ride 3 makes me wish they had stopped with the first film.


One of the things, okay the thing, that made that movie so great was Ted Levine. His voice has that deep and throaty quality that makes you want to look under your bed and check your closets before going to sleep at night. Instead of letting us actually see the psychopathic Rusty, we only saw him in profile and heard his voice. Our imaginations let us figure out what he looked like.


Joy Ride 3 apparently decided that we need to see the killer. Just as I finished telling my roommate that we never saw Rusty's face, the film cut to a scene of his face as he stared down at a victim, and trust me, he's nothing to make you check under the bed. He looks like some random guy off the street, and seeing his face really takes away from the horror. They show Rusty full on so many times that it seems like just another generic slasher movie. I'd skip this one and reach for the original instead.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones – AKA Paranormal Activity 5

Runtime: 84 minutes
Release Date: January 3, 2014
Rating: R
Director: Christopher Landon


After getting a new camera as a graduation present, teenage Jesse decides to use the camera to document the things that he and his friends do. Not long into the film, we learn that his downstairs neighbor Anna tends to keep to herself and people think she's a witch. Late one night, he and his friends see a neighborhood man named Oscar running from Anna's apartment, and the police later find her dead body.


Jesse and his best friend Hector gain access to the apartment and plan to look for evidence. They find a bunch of photographs, including one of Jesse as a child, and they also find some videotapes that show Kristi and Katie from the previous films. After sneaking some girls into the apartment, Jesse rushes off to find a condom, and his date discovers a trapdoor hidden in the floor. When she opens it, Oscar pops up and attacks her before running away. At the same time that all this happens, Jesse discovers that he can do things that he could never do before. In order to uncover the reason for his new abilities, he needs to find out how he's connected to Anna and the women from the earlier films.


Is it bad that I didn't know this film even existed until it was already in theaters for a few weeks? Is it bad that I completely forgot that it even came out until I saw it at Redbox a few weeks ago? It's not that I necessarily hate the Paranormal Activity movies. In fact, I hated the first one, but I've come around and actually found them fairly enjoyable. It's just that it didn't look very entertaining.


According to the producers of the film, this isn't a reboot or a sequel to the earlier films but a cousin to those films. That's fine and dandy except that it clearly connects its story to the other films by bringing in the Katie and Kristi videos, showcasing a character from the last film, and then actually bringing back Katie herself. What is odd is that this is the fifth film in the series but a Paranormal Activity 5 comes out later this year.


Despite getting some favorable reviews, I wasn't happy with the movie. It honestly felt like the producers and directors aimed this film at a younger generation and not necessarily the same people who made the original films such a hit. Sure it's nice when the boy who gets picked on gains superpowers that let him fight back against his bullies, but we've all seen Spiderman before. The scenes that should have made my jaw drop seemed more like something I might catch on YouTube. It just felt like it didn't bring anything new to the franchise.


Though Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones wasn't my favorite, it made more than $80 million at the box office and there are plans for several more in the series.

Hatchet III – The Legend Never Dies

Runtime: 81 minutes
Release Date: June 14, 2013
Rating: R
Director: BJ McDonnell


Marybeth (Dannelle Harris) is a real bad ass. Hatchet III starts right after the second film ends, which means that she just took down Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder). Since this is a Hatchet film, nothing can really stop Crowley, not even Marybeth and her chainsaw, which she uses to cut him in half. Completing her work, she heads back into town, where Sheriff Fowler (Zach Galligan) captures her. Not believing her story, which he thinks is just an urban legend, he arrests her for murder.


Fowler then makes the mistake of taking a team of men deep into the swamp to discover what really happened. His ex-wife, who just so happens to be an investigative reporter, heads to the jail and interviews Marybeth. Though Amanda doesn't really believe her story is 100% true, she does agree to take her and another cop to investigate her claims. As Amanda's father was one of the ones who originally helped kill Crowley, she thinks that she knows the answers to why Crowley keeps coming back.


I really, really loved Hatchet. I watched in once, took it back to the video store, and immediately bought a copy and watched it again. It's one of those movies that I recommend to people who love horror movies and those who don't really love horror. Everyone I ever recommended it to loved the movie too. When I heard it was a trilogy, I couldn't wait to see the rest of the films. The way I feel about Hatchet 3 is the same way I felt about Hatchet 2: meh.


On their own, the sequels are fairly good films, but when compared to the first one, they are definitely lacking. I absolutely love Parry Shen, and I love that they find a way to bring him back after his character died. He's incredibly funny and easily the highlight of the movie. The rest of the characters are just kind of meh.


Seeing Zach Galligan, who I absolutely loved in Waxwork and Gremlins, was fun, but once the fun and excitement wears off, he's pretty much a one-dimensional character like most of the actors and characters in the movie. It was a treat to see Sid Haig, but he's unfortunately not in the movie for very long.


One of the problems I had with the sequels is the replacement of Marybeth. I really enjoyed the original actress and thought she brought a lot to the movie, but I don't feel the same way about Harris. Casting her in a horror film at this point almost feels like stunt casting. It was one of those wink and nod moments to horror fans when she showed up in Urban Legend, but now she's appears in what seems like every horror movie ever made. While some horror fans love her, I liked the original actress better.


Hatchet 3 was an okay movie, but it wasn't nearly as good as the first one and it didn't really feel like it added much to the franchise.

The Last Exorcism 2 – Why, God, Why?

Runtime: 88 minutes
Release Date: March 1, 2013
Rating: PG-13
Director: Ed Glass-Donnelly


Remember Nell, that bat shit crazy girl from The Last Exorcism? Well, now she's back. She somehow managed to escape the events from the first film, and some random people discover her crazy ass. The movie then cuts to a few months later and lets us see her new life. She now has a job and a place to live, and she even finds herself interested in possibly dating someone.


Naturally, the demon inside her probably doesn't want her to have a life without him. She starts having weird dreams and seeing strange things during the day and night. The more she tries to escape her past, the more she questions what happened to her. Despite wanting to move on with her life, it doesn't take long before Nell discovers that her old life isn't ready to let her go.


That line up at the top doesn't indicate any quotes from the movies but rather my own opinion. When I heard they were making a sequel to The Last Exorcism, I had to ask why. Are there really that many people who liked the first movie? It was one of those horror movies that left me feeling pissed off and wishing that people would stop making crappy horror flicks. The only redeeming thing about that was seeing the former Professor Lasky from Saved By the Bell: The College Years Acting again. Surprisingly enough, that movie still has a fairly good rating of 5.6 on IMDB.


The Last Exorcism 2 was just plain bad and so bad that it made the first movie look like a piece of art. The movie was just so dull and bland. Just a few hours after watching it, I couldn't remember any of the main points of the film or even what really happened, and my roommate remains convinced that we never even watched it because he doesn't remember a single thing about it. Looking for someone completely forgettable? Watch The Last Exorcism 2!

V/H/S 2 Movie Review

Runtime: 96 minutes
Release Date: June 6, 2013
Rating: R


"VHS 2" opens with a private investigator blackmailing a married man into giving him more money for footage of him and his mistress before he turns it over to the man's wife. He then explains to his partner that a mother called him about her missing college-aged son. The two sneak into the son's house, where they find a series of tapes. Ayesha begins watching the tapes, while Larry searches the house for any sign of the missing man.


Phase 1 Clinical Trials


The first video involves a man getting a new implant in his eye after a car accident left him partially blind. On his way out of the office, he sees a woman looking at him funny, but he doesn't think twice about it. Later that night, he sees someone in his bed, and when he pulls off the sheet, no one is there. He turns to find a dead man standing just behind him. He begins seeing dead people everywhere he goes, and the woman from the doctor shows up to explain what happened.


A Ride in the Park


My favorite segment of "VHS 2" is this one. Out for a morning ride, a man receives a phone call from his girlfriend as he hooks his camera up to his helmet. After talking to her, he runs into a woman screaming for help and covered in blood. When he tries to help her, she bits him, and he discovers a group of zombies in the woods. He tries to get away, only to find himself infected and biting those who try to help him. I'm not sure the director intended to make it quite as funny as we found it, but I still liked it, especially when the zombies invade a child's birthday party.


Safe Haven


My least favorite segment of "VHS 2" is this one. A group of filmmakers meet with the leader of a cult who moved his "family" to a compound on the outskirts of town. Though he initially denies their request to meet with his family, he later changes his mind and agrees to the meeting. It doesn't take long until they realize that something odd is going on. He passes out drinks to his people, and some of the men begin killing themselves. All I will say about this one is that my boyfriend fell asleep during this one but stayed awake for the rest of the movie.


Slumber Party Alien Abduction


Left alone for the night without their parents, a younger boy invites his friends over, and they pull a bunch of pranks on his older sister and her boyfriend, including jumping out with strobe lights while they're having sex to film them. Later that night, they see a weird light on the lake and the power goes out in their house. They see some strange men standing outside their door, and they wind up running outside. After plenty of shaky cam work and what seemed like a really long time, we learn that it's aliens randomly chasing them, and we see it all from the point of view of the dog.


I almost rented "VHS 2" on Demand for $9.99 last month, but I'm glad that I waited to rent it for $1 from Redbox. It had some good points, and I really liked the second segment, but it didn't hold my attention like the first one did.

I Spit on Your Grave 2 Movie Review

Runtime: 106 minutes
Release Date: September 20, 2013
Rating: R
Director: Steven R. Monroe


Katie is a former Midwestern girl now living in New York City. After a "friend" points out that her photos look like she's a small town girl, she agrees to meet with a photographer and do some new shots for her portfolio. The photographer tries to convince her to take off her clothes and pose for some even better pictures, which she rightly refuses. She later wakes to find Georgie, the brother (or cousin) of the photographer in her apartment and taking photos of her with his cell phone. He brutally rapes her and murders her neighbor who comes to her rescue before calling his family for help.


One of the men forces her to take a large dose of ketamine before they throw her in a box and she passes out. When she wakes up, they send in their "father," who proceeds to use a cattle prod on her multiple times and rape her. Katie eventually escapes and learns she's in Bulgaria, but she finds herself brought back to the same house for a second dose of abuse. When the men decide to dispose of her once and for all, she escapes again, but instead of heading home, she brings vengeance down on the men who wronged her.


There's a scene in "I Spit on Your Grave 2" where a man puts a cattle prod in a very sensitive spot, which made me wince and close my legs a little tighter. My boyfriend laughed at me, until we got to the scene where she places a sensitive part of the male anatomy in a vice and cranks it. That left us both wincing and wondering what the hell we were watching.


"I Spit on Your Grave 2" is an extremely dark movie, which made me feel a little odd for saying that I liked it. The original film had such an impact on me that I still tell people about the bathroom scene. Even though I only saw it once, it left a lasting impression on me, and I feel the same way about this one. The remake was one of those films that I watched once and promptly forgot about. It didn't seem as dark or as gritty as the original, and it felt a little bland to me. I felt completely different about the sequel.


The movie starts out with Katie talking to a friend about her modeling career, and you think you know where it's going. When they stuffed her full of ketamine, I assumed they were trying to frame her and make it look like she murdered her friend before dying of a drug overdose. She later wakes up and finds herself chained to a pole in a weird basement. When she finally escapes from the basement, she discovers that the men somehow sneaked her into Bulgaria, but that's far from the only twist in the film.


Katie is a likeable character, which is rare in a newer horror film. Jemma Dallender, the actress portraying Katie, goes from a sweet and innocent young woman to a vengeful woman who only cares about tracking down the men who took away her innocence, and she does a great job of making me believe in her growth.


"I Spit on Your Grave 2" also has a few gruesome deaths. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but keep your eyes peeled for a scene involving a man dying of a severe infection brought on by literal shit rubbed into his open wounds. It's the type of film that had me feeling a little squeamish and wondering who comes up with this stuff. Though it's not the type of movie I would watch on a regular basis, it's definitely a solid horror flick and one of those rare sequels that is better than the previous film.

The Hills Have Eyes 2 Movie Review – Don't Freak Out

Runtime: 89 minutes

Release Date: March 23, 2007

Rating: R

Director: Martin Weisz

It doesn't take a lot to make me happy. Throw a guy in the hole in a portie pottie, and I'm a happy camper.

"The Hills Have Eyes 2" completely disregards the fact that several people survived the end of the first one and probably went to the authorities to tell them what happened. It instead picks up with a woman giving birth to a mutant baby before getting killed by an adult mutant. We then see a group of scientists working in the empty desert who wind up being killed by the mutants too.

The film then jumps again to a group of National Guard soldiers, who must go into the desert to look for the scientists. Among them are Amber (Jessica Stroup, "Prom Night"), Missy (Daniella Alonso, "Wrong Turn 2: Dead End"), and Crank (Jacob Vargas, "Devil"). The soldiers split into two groups: one group stays behind to try and use the communication devices, while the other group heads into the desert to look for the scientists.

The group that stays behind is the group that finds the man left behind in the toilet. Turns out that the mutants cut him hundreds of time and dumped him in the poo, knowing the bacteria would kill him. The other group head up the cliffs, have a bunch of problems, someone gets hurt, and they encounter the mutants. Once the groups meet up, they need to figure out how to get away without dying.

Modern horror films get a lock of flack from fans, but damn it if I don't love "The Hills Have Eyes 2." I know I mentioned in the beginning that it doesn't reference the past film, but it does to a point. The writers, which include Wes motherfucking Craven, drop some hints that indicate the survivors went for help and that the government sent the scientists out there to make a satellite device that could track their movements.

This film does a good job of combining humor and horror. The first time I saw this in the theater, I was absolutely disgusted by the man in the toilet. There is something so gruesome about that moment, and you actually feel something for the poor guy. I can't imagine a worse way to die.

"The Hills Have Eyes 2" is a lot of fun, and while it isn't as good as the first one, it's pretty damn good for a sequel.

Grave Encounters 2 Movie Review – This Isn't Narnia.

Runtime: 95 minutes

Release Date: October 2, 2012

Rating: NR

Director: John Poliquin

"Grave Encounters 2" wants us to believe that everything that happened in "Grave Encounters" was completely real. When the film picks up, we see a large number of bloggers talking about the film online. Some of them think it was true and that no one ever saw the crrw members again, but most people think it was just a hoax.

Enter Alex, a film student who decides to make a film about the film. Got that? Alex enlists his best friends to help him research the story and the crew members in the hopes of discovering the true story. He gets messages from an anonymous person who tells him to visit the producer. The producer first tells him it was fake, but he later reveals it was true.

The group then head to Collingwood, but they discover security guards doing whatever it takes to keep people out because of the large number of trespassers since the film premiered. They also discover Lance's mom, who tells him his name is Sean and he's alive. They finally find a way into the old hospital, which is when all hell breaks loose. Not only do they find Lance living in the hospital, but they discover that everything they heard is true.

The problem with sequels is that most sequels aren't as strong as the original. The same thing is pretty much true here. "Grave Encounters 2" does have an interesting premise, but it kind of does the same thing that the sequel to "The Blair Witch Project" did. Take a bunch of random people and let them investigate the story behind the first movie.

It did have some entertaining moments though. I loved the man playing the producer. He pops up early in the film to talk on camera about the hoax, and then he does a good job making Alex believe that it was true before making a return appearance at the end.

Thankfully, the character of Lance makes a return for this one, but unfortunately, the way he plays the role leaves some unanswered questions. Anyone who was stuck in an abandoned mental hospital for over a year would probably act the same way he did. So, is he really crazy because of the ghosts, or is he just crazy because of what he thinks he saw?

In the end, it doesn't really matter though. Instead of giving us something interesting, "Grave Encounters 2" just follows the same formula as the first one. Throw a bunch of people into a haunted hospital, give them some cameras, and see what happens.

"The Collection" Movie Review – Better Than the First One

Runtime: 82 minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: November 30, 2012

Director: Marcus Dunstan

Elena wants nothing more than to kick back with her boyfriend and probably watch a movie and have a little nookie. Unfortunately, he decides to be a lying prick and call to tell her that he's stuck at work when he's actually going to an underground club. Her best friend arrives with another friend, and they convince her to spend the night at the same club. After checking her hearing aide, she agrees to go with them, which is a huge mistake.

The club is actually a front for the Collector (Randall Archer), the serial killer from the film of the same name. After the Collector dispatches the people in the club, he turns his attention on the few survivors. Elena finds her way into a small room where she unlocks a chest and out pops Arkin (Josh Stewart) from the first film. Arkin does what he can, but he can't stop the Collector from grabbing Elena and running away.

While in the hospital and recovering from his ordeal, he's approached by Lucello, a man hired by Elena's father. He once pulled her from a burning car after an accident that wrecked her hearing, and he works closely with her dad. They offer Arkin a deal, and he agrees to go back to the abandoned hotel where the Collector takes his victims and help them save Elena.

"The Collection" makes my list of the top five horror films that I've seen in the last year. I absolutely loved the original film, which had one of those truly fucked up endings, and I think I might have enjoyed this one even more. There is literally nothing about this film that I didn't like.

Early in the film, there's a scene that rivals "Blade" for one of the best club scenes. As the dancers shake their asses on the floor, the Collector watches from above. He hits a switch, and suddenly, a large circular blade cuts through the crowd, literally cutting off heads and body parts. Elena's best friend is one of the few survivors who make it off the dance floor, but he isn't done with them. After trapping them, he drops a blade-filled ceiling on them. The ceiling drops slowly, as Elena watches in horror unable to save her friend.

Believe it or not, all of this happens in the first fifteen minutes of the movie, and it just keeps getting better from there! We get some insight into the way the Collector works, including how he kidnaps multiple people and keep them in certain rooms or locked in trunks. Those who perform the best in his little tests wind up as part of his permanent collection, while the rest just wind up dead. When Lucello and his men arrive at the hotel, they face one obstacle over the next, and it's just awesome.

That's not to say that there aren't a few problems with the movie. Early on, we see a news report from a reporter talking about a serial killer on the loose. The reporter makes it clear that people keep disappearing, but since there's no proof that anyone is dead, it's hard to believe that the police would just randomly announce that a serial killer is out there.

There are also a few traps and scenes that seem impossible and hard to believe. Could a woman really survive mounted to the wall like a butterfly? How do these people survive locked in trunks when there's no evidence that he ever fed them or gave them water? Those questions didn't pop up in my head until much later after watching the movie, and I highly doubt that I'll think about that when I remember the movie later. I'll just keep thinking about those great traps and opening scenes.

976-Evil II – This is Why You Don't Call 976-Numbers

Runtime: 93 minutes

Release Date: April 22, 1992

Rating: R

Director: Jim Wynorski

Remember Spike from "976-Evil"? He was the guy who basically set off a string of murders because he called the number 976-EVIL. Ah ha! I bet you didn't see where that one was going. Well, Spike is now back for this pretty terrible sequel that lacks the originality and downright fun of the first one.

Part of this is because Spike basically turns over the film to Robin, who is the same pretty generic blond heroine of many 1980s films. That's not to say that she appeared in them, but the same character usually popped up in the sequels. Robin's dad is a police officer, who believes that Spike is responsible for a series of killings in their home town. He locks him up, leaving Robin as the main figure.

Robin eventually discovers that her former professor is the one behind the actual killings. Even after he dies, he still gets to come back and kill a few people because they make the mistake of calling the 976 number. Robin also learns that he uses astral projection to reach his victims, meaning that no one knows how to catch him or what to do. When she asks her dad for help and he refuses, because hey, your main suspect is dead, she decides to enlist Spike and bring down the real killer.

"976-Evil" is one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies from the 1980s. While the film is pretty bad at times, I still find it entertaining enough to watch every year or so. Not everyone feels the same way though. My best friend hated it so much that he wouldn't even give the sequel a chance. After finally seeing it, I kind of wish that I skipped it too.

It's not that "976-Evil II" is really such a bad film, but it lacks all of the fun elements of the first one. The original wasn't filmed on a large budget, but this seems like someone took that budget, slashed it in half, slashed it in half again, and handed over the few dollars that were left. The acting, save for Patrick O'Bryan, was pretty dull, and most actors seemed like they didn't know what they were supposed to do. By the time I reached the end, I deleted it from my Netflix queue and vowed to forget it existed.