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I just read a really interesting article on 'Health and Wellbeing'. I know you shouldn't always believe what you read, but this is so appealing I'm going to choose to believe it. According to some research done at the University of Westminster, apparently watching horror films burns calories!

'The Shinning' starring Jack Nicholson pictured on the left burns an average of 770KJ per view!! That's equivalent to me doing a 1 hour combat training class at Fitness First! I knew movies were good for my health. All those times you told me to go to bed and stop watching TV mum and dad, I could've been losing weight. That explains why I'm a chubs now haha. 

If that's true, I'm on the right track with my horror film list endevour. Just need to dig up those really freaky ones, watch a film every night and I'll be a skinny mini by the end of the year.

I wish life was always as simple as this. Read the article for more details on the research & lists of other horror films and their calorie burning capacity. So you can start stocking up this summer :P. It's quite interesting, yet funny at the same time.

Link to article is here http://www.health.ninemsn.com.au/healthnews

 
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Spain, UK & Bulgaria. 2006. Directed by Nacho Cerda. Written by Karim Hussain. Starring: Anastasia Hille, Karel Roden & Valentin Goshev

Rating: ★ 

Second horror film ticked off my list. 'The Abandoned' started out with so much potential. But usually films that build up that much tension & mystery always tend to disappoint because no revelation is going to satisfy you at that point. So if they do succeed, it'll blow your mind! or flop really badly. And in the case of 'The Abandoned' it disappointed indeed.

The first 5 minutes of the film was gripping, it captured my attention immediately. The film had a really great build up. There were lots of twists and turns & the tension continued to build up.Then it got to the point which became too confusing & so many questions where left unexplained. Leaving me feeling frustrated & annoyed. 

There were a few creepy scenes, but the good scenes were very brief followed by some badly made-up doppelgangers that followed the protagonists around. It grew tiresome to watch the same 2 people running around screaming with no resolution. They finally delivered the big reveal, which only left me thinking... what a stupid plot!!

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BOO!! that's as scary as it gets really...
 
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USA & UK. 2007. Directed by Gregory Jacobs. Written by Joe Gangemi, Steven Katz. Starring: Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes

Rating: ★ ★ 

I've seen the first movie from my horror list. Wind Chill! The other films are mostly foreign and are proving to be quite difficult to find. Either that or I found them without subtitles, which didn't help at all. 

Unfortunately Wind Chill was a little too disappointing. There was a massive build up without much explanation. Which made me bored more than scared. There were so many holes in the story it was frustrating to watch. (e.g. what happened to the snow blow driver?!?!) And the ending was even more frustrating no resolutions, no explanations & no twists! It was a pointless film! 

The ghosts weren't mysterious at all! It was meant to scare the viewers by making them think they were regular people trudging around. Then boom! they turn around and they've got crap plastered on their face. As you can see in the below picture. But that failed miserably, because the mysterious element is now out. & because you thought they were just people, the scare factor is also out. 

There were plenty of great mystery build up & uncomfortable scenes throughout the film. But the scenes didn't lead to anything or add anything to the plot. Which made the film even more of a frustrating disappointment. Overall the film was a fail but Emily Blunt was cute, that's it. 
 
One of my favourite things to do is to stay in on a gloomy night, turn out all the lights & put in a gripping horror/thriller. I'm not talking about those cheap gores or scare tactic films. I mean a real bone chilling, dramatic thriller with actual character development & intense yet intriguing story lines. The type of films that start to make you paranoid & fear of going to the toilet. Those twisted films that make your skin prickle & your chest heave. 

The problem these days is the lack of a real build up in ambiance and mood in this genre of film. Horror films always seem to revert to disgusting blood, guts and gore, which tend to leave me feeling sick rather than scared. Or cheap scare tactics with extremely long build ups that by the time the monster/gremlin/ghost/ghoul jump out at you. Your bored and saw it coming about 10minutes ago. Especially if they're American horror films. 

Not that I'm being discriminating against Hollywood (because I do enjoy my fair share of Hollywood blockbusters). But I have to say in this case, the foreigners have got it right when it comes to building up the scary atmosphere. It just seems Hollywood always cheapen the thrill of being scared out of your wits or having that lingering creepiness that makes you look over your shoulders (even when your sitting against the wall on your couch). Clear examples are Hollywood remakes like 'The Eye', 'The Ring' or 'Shutter' which already have the basics laid out for them. Yet they always come up short or lacking, can't quite pinpoint the reason. 

I've seen all the famous horror hits. The last amazing horror story that I watched was 'The Woman in The Black Dress' Loh and behold, it's a British film. So I went on a hunt to find some more great horror films that aren't as widely promoted. I've composed a wish list of horror films below that I'll endeavour to finish by Christmas. That's a lot of freaked out nights & 5 second dashes to the loo, but stay tuned for my experience on these films! 
Please let me know what you think of the films on my list. Any reviews, grievances advice would me much appreciated.