Prime Time: Minutes Past Midnight (2016)

Remember when horror anthologies were made by a group of people wanting to deliver a shared vision allowing for more creative freedom than a feature would allow? Me too. I like those horror anthologies. But it seems more and more common nowadays to find that a horror anthology is made up of curated short films. There is a good and bad side to this approach. On the one hand, you get to enjoy an assortment of short films that you woulds most likely have otherwise missed (aside from festival programmes, it's often hard to discover short films "in the wild). On the other hand, the whole thing can feel a bit disjointed, and almost like a disservice to the better films that can be sandwiched between lesser fare.

Minutes Past Midnight is made up of the following tales; Never Tear Us Apart, Awake, Crazy For You, The Mill At Calder's End, Roid Rage, Feeder, Timothy, Ghost Train, and Horrific. Nine tales. Four of those tales are very good, one is visually gorgeous and atmospheric, but lacking a certain something, and the others range from decidedly average to absolutely awful (Roid Rage is the worst of the lot).

Having listed those titles, and mentioned there quality levels, I think it is worth mentioning that there was only the one that I really despised. That's a good ratio for any modern horror anthology movie, and especially good when it is made up of many names who may be less familiar to film fans. Lee Cronin is someone you may know by now, and Ghost Train is a nice display of his talent. James Moran has fun with his short tale, Crazy For You. But those were the only two main names I recognised, although I had seen Never Tear Us Apart before, which helped me to relax as soon as the movie began, knowing I would enjoy at least one of these tales.

The acting throughout is generally good, with Roid Rage once again being the rare exception (I am sorry to harp on about it, but it REALLY stinks), but highlights include both Hannah Tointon and an uncharacteristically murderous Arthur Darvill in Crazy For You, the impressive voice work in The Mill At Calder's End, and an entertainingly unfazed child watching some carnage unfold before him in Timothy.

Despite the fact that none of these shorts benefit from any stylish link, the smallest touch of creating closing credits for each one in a similar style as a clock hand moves forward is enough to make this feel like something that has been handled with a bit more care than some.

Just over an hour and a half, and with none of the shorts outstaying their welcome (except you, Roid Rage, except you *shakes fist in the middle of empty room), Minutes Past Midnight is a decent option if you're wanting some light horror entertainment that's a few steps removed from all of the more mainstream options.

6/10

You can buy the DVD here.
Americans can buy that same DVD, or pay a crazy amount for the blu.

Tower Block (2012)

A simple, effective premise. If you don't mess up the other aspects of a movie then, sometimes, that's all you need. And Tower Block certainly has that. The characters, thanks to a solid script by James Moran, are all pretty good, and this thriller cuts to the chase quickly, proving to be an effective, taut, piece of work.

It all starts off with a quick description of what tower blocks once were, and what many have now become. They were a great solution to the housing problem decades ago, but now have been left to rot away, no longer the vertical suburbs full of friendly neighbours. Then viewers are shown a young man being chased. He's beaten. A young woman (Becky, played by Sheridan Smith) who comes out to help is also beaten, but not as badly. Fast forward to some time later. The police visit the tower block, and are hoping to find anyone who can help them solve the murder of the young man. There aren't many people left, as many have been rehoused and only the top floor is still occupied. Nobody is talking. Nobody wants to get involved, to risk getting themselves in trouble with the wrong people. But they can't avoid trouble when a sniper decides to trap them on their floor, and pick them off whenever he gets a clean shot.

Directed by James Nunn and Ronnie Thomson, Tower Block gets so much right that it's easy to forget any flaws/potential plotholes. Unlike Comedown or Citadel, to name two other movies that tried to effectively utilise a tower block setting, this actually provides some thrills while also feeling grounded in something coming close to reality.

The cast and characters work really well. Smith makes for a likable lead, she's tough and believable, and hasn't let the tower block life grind her down. Ralph Brown and Jill Baker are an elderly couple who quickly show what they're made of, Julie Graham is a mother almost always thinking of her son, played by Harry McEntire, first, and Russell Tovey plays a young man who has spent too much time trying to escape into a bottle of booze. Montserrat Lombard is stuck playing a terrible mother, and Jack O'Connell adds yet another bad boy role to his filmography, playing a man who takes protection money from the tenants without offering any actual protection, until he ends up working with them all to stay alive.

The script certainly gives everyone a great launchpad to start from, making the characters easily identifiable, while also rounding them out as the situation unfolds. While it fair rattles along for a lot of the runtime, coming in at just under the 90-minute mark, it never feels rushed, and none of the character developments ever feel as if they've just come out of nowhere.

Tower Block is well worth your time, as far as I'm concerned. It's a lean, mean, thrill machine. Or you can just take that sentence and replace it with something that sounds better. There's at least one cracking jump scare, a few good bits of gore, plenty of scenes that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and a satisfying final reel. In other words, it's perfect popcorn entertainment.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Tower-Block-Blu-ray-Sheridan-Smith/dp/B00C7A8X1Y/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1404243181&sr=1-2&keywords=tower+block

Cockneys Vs Zombies (2012)

I'm sure that there are many people who heard the title of this movie and rolled their eyes in disbelief and/or disapproval. I, as some people might have guessed, grinned and rubbed my hands in anticipation. I knew exactly what to expect and I only hoped that the film could deliver. Well, it certainly comes close.

Cockneys Vs Zombies is a horror comedy that sees a zombie epidemic happening in London, as you could have probably inferred from the title. While the undead are rising and biting people who are then going on to bite other people and so on and so forth, a couple of young lads (Harry Treadaway and Rasmus Hardiker) are embarking on a foolhardy bank robbery to save the nursing home that provides a permanent residence for their dear old granddad (Alan Ford) and his friends (including Richard Briers, Honor Blackman and a few other familiar faces). The old folk are soon struggling to keep their nursing home zombie-free while, slowly but surely, the bank robbers grasp the horror of the situation and come up with a plan to rescue granddad.

Directed by Matthias Hoene, and written by James Moran and Lucas Roche, Cockneys Vs Zombies sets out to be bloody good fun from start to finish. It's full of energy, there are a number of fun lines and references to other movies and many of the characters are people that you don't mind spending some time with. Sadly, there are so many ways in which everything could have been tweaked just a little bit to make it even better.

One major tweak would have seen Michelle Ryan replaced. She plays a lock-picking cousin of the bank robbers and she goes along with them on the job, as well as Jack Doolan and Ashley Basy Thomas - the former being a bit dopey but with information that should help the robbery go smoothly while the latter is absolutely mental but has access to lots and lots of weaponry. Now, I don't hate Michelle Ryan and I think she's alright. I've nothing REALLY against the girl except for the fact that there are many better actresses out there and if she was picked just to bring some glamour to the film there are many prettier actresses out there. I have an idea that she was just picked for the role because she matched the required criteria AND had appeared in Eastenders and that just makes me a bit sad. If you think I'm wrong in picking her as a weak link in the movie then just watch for her delivery of a punchline that references a well-known Indiana Jones line and then see how you feel. The rest of the cast do very well. Harry Treadaway (who, along with his twin brother Luke, is trying to appear in every half-decent Britflick ever) and Rasmus Hardiker are a likeable duo while Tony Gardner and Georgia King play two very different hostages from the bank robbery now caught up in the middle of the zombie epidemic. Alan Ford is great, as is Richard Briers, and Honor Blackman does well with her limited screentime.

The other suggested tweaks involve a bit more time to polish every line in the script, more opportunities to create enjoyable moments such as the two standouts featuring Richard Briers (who is involved in one of the slowest zombie chase sequences that you will ever see and then later gets to show what he can do with an Uzi attached to his walking frame) and the removal of a subplot about a crooked developer shifting his money. Yes, that allows for the bank robbery to give the lads a bigger payoff but in the world of the movies it's easy enough to believe that all banks hold millions of pounds in their safes anyway so that felt like an added story strand with very little, or no, relevance.

There are quite a few good gore gags throughout and horror fans should enjoy most of the FX work but there are also some weaker gags that are given more attention than they deserve (I'm thinking of one scene, in particular, accompanied by the song "I Predict A Riot") so it's a shame that the movie couldn't have contained even more of the former while removing the latter.

Hmmm, I feel that I've spent most of this review criticising Cockneys Vs Zombies too harshly, which was never my intention. It's a good, fun, film. In fact, it's perfect post-pub entertainment and provides enough laughs to make repeat viewings likely. I'm going to buy it for myself and I encourage others to give it a go, despite the criticisms that I've just listed. You may just be surprised and find yourself having a good time.

6/10

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