My Review
I agree that the new Dawn of the Dead bore no similarities to the original other then taking place in a mall. Actual scenes, dialogue, everything was totally new. That worked for Dawn of the Dead.
The contrast between light and dark, bank robber girl has long straight dark hair, while mother has long straight blonde hair. They're yin and yang. Just a thought.
The sound effects throughout the film were pretty cool, but the music was definitely homage and a little high pitched for me. The sound effects, when walking down a hall, or door closing, were really cool. The loud music when the killer appears at any given moment are a bit over the top , the killer does swing a knife exactly the way Michael does in Halloween, there were definite details adhered to in being an homage piece, though in it's defense the movie would have been alot gorier if it were a ripoff, and I think they were going for atmosphere over just sickening us out, and that was a good choice I feel.
Too bad no one makes insanely original death sequences like Fulci anymore, eh?
Malevolence had a naturalness that just feels lost in most horror movies nowadays. They feel contrived, too much money thrown at it, so drowning in a sea of CGI, camera effects, like a salad with way too much dressing. Malevolence in it's simplicity, it's pure homage, and bad acting, is enjoyable, if a little slow at times.
The last horror movie I saw that I liked were City of the Living, Dark Water (the original), Ring 0, A Tale of Two Sisters, The Ring (USA and Japanese). I'd say 1 out of ten horror movies I see are worth mentioning, so where does Malevolence measure up?
It's not for those who want to figure something out, it's a straight homage slasher flick. The movie did succeed in making me jump a few times, I liked how everyone was so ordinary, except for the first girl, who was deliciously bitchy. The scares were very simple too, like a window closing all of a sudden, that was so simple, and original.
Also, we never find out what the real bank robbery plan was which feeds in well with the tension of the movie, the life blood of a horror movie.
The ending can make or break a horror movie, and Malevolence delivered right to the end.
The ending definitely got me too, I confess ~ a lot of us in laughed too because we should have seen it coming.
9/10
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