What I Watched - March 13-19 2016

WHAT I WATCHED - MARCH 13-19 2016

Very much a down week in terms of movie watching. I don't know what it is about March - looking back over the past few years (I've kept note of every movie I watch since May 2011) it always seems to be a slow period for me watching films.

 

Leprechaun (1993) DVD

- Naturally I watched this movie on March 17, St Patrick's Day, because what is more Irish than a killer leprechaun, right? Embarrassingly I don't think I'd ever seen this movie up until now. Not that I was missing much. Beyond getting to see a young Jennifer Aniston in action, and some minorly amusing scenes, I didn't enjoy this one much at all. How do you screw up a movie about a killer leprechaun? I haven't seen any of the sequels either, are any of them worth seeing?

Storm Warning (2007) DVD
- This on the other hand I enjoyed immensely. It's a good backwoods, killer hillbilly movie ala Wrong Turn, with the major point of difference being that it's Australian. A city couple get lost while out yachting and end up on a secluded island where a family of rednecks (or yobbos as the Aussies would call them) are growing pot and killing anyone who gets too close.
What makes Storm Warning work so well is some great acting (especially by David Lyons as inbred Jimmy) and the way director Jamie Blanks (Valentine, Urban Legend) builds up the tension for a good long time before unleashing the inevitable violence. And when that violence arrives, it is gloriously brutal. The bodycount might not be high, but the way people meet their end will have any gorehound cheering their ass off.
Not as torture porn-y as fellow Aussie flick Wolf Creek, Storm Warning still packs a major punch and is a damn good time.