Views from the Void

The Hangover
Plot: Doug is about to get married, so for his stag do he takes his friends, Phil and Stu, along with his fiancees strange brother Alan, to Las Vegas for a stag do. The night starts off well with a celebratory drink on the roof of their hotel… ..
But the next morning they wake up, their room is trashed, there is a tiger in the bathroom, there is a baby in the cupboard, Stu has lost a tooth, Phil has a hospital tag on his arm and Doug is totally missing. And no-one can remember a thing about the night before.
They three have to piece together the clues to find out what happened during their stag night, find what happened to Doug and get him back in time for his wedding!
My thoughts: As a Red Darf fan this has striking similarities to the episode ‘Thanks for the Memory’ when the whole weekend disappeared, the jigsaw was completed and two legs were broken! This is a cleverly developed film although the plot is a little cliché at times. All the things you can expect to happen do happen. The clever thing about it is connecting the timeline together as the three friends try to puzzle over the events of the night before. Some leads end up to shocking (for the characters, but obvious to the viewer) events, but produce dead ends in the serach for Doug.
Basically this is a good fun film with an intelligent plot and many laughs! Definitely worth a watch this summer!
Best bit: When the cops finally catch up with the boys. And the tiger!
Score: 08/10

Drag me to Hell
Plot: When Christine Brown turns down Mrs Ganush’s request to extend her loan,Mrs Ganush curses with a Laima, a demon that taunts you for three days then (as the title suggests) drags you to hell. Christine, with the help of medium Rham and boyfriend Clay, has to find a way to lift the curse before the three days are up.
My thoughts: This is a dark ly comic horror and not to be taken seriously. This film had more scenes that made me go ‘eeurgh’ than any horror film I have seen. And not because of the use of horror, blood or gore. But because false teeth are gross! The first attack scene when the old Mrs Ganush (who is amazingly difficult to kill) attacks Christine, there is enough toothless slobbery sucking to make anyone turn away!
The plot itself is straight forward, and you may well see the twist coming a mile off (especially if you wondered why Clay put the coin in the envelope early on). There is of generic horror elements, some of which have a comic touch (I personally liked the goat), and it is worth watching just to see how Christine copes with the dilemma of whether to pass the curse on.
ON the whole it is a worthy comic horror movie to be taken with a pinch of salt… but please keep your teeth in!
Best bits: The attack in the car park, and the séance
Score: 7/10

Terminator Salvation
Plot: It’s 2018 and John Connor is leading the resistance against Skynet. They believe they have found a signal which can stop the machines from working. They need to test it and attack San Franisico’s main Skynet base, but young rebel, and future father of Connor, Kyle Reese ends up being held captice there. Can John rescue the boy before the attack, and can he trust the mysterious new arrival, Marcus Wright
My thoughts: Thanksfully the television showed T3 earlier in the week and I managed to bone up on some opf the plot. T3 was a bit camp and rubbish and in comparison this film is very good. In fact I really enjoyed it! The story is straight forward with few twists, but there is plenty of fast action and machine mashing, and the story connects well with the other previous films. There is even Arnie’s face (badly cgi’d) on the big T800 at the end!
ON the whole this is a fun,fast paced sci fi film which introduces the next ‘chapter’ of the terminator films.
Best bit: The action scene as Marcus tried to protect Kyle
Score: 7/10