DVD: The Collector (dir: Marcus Dunstan, 2010)

"If you're not chosen, you'll never leave this house alive."

The Collector is an odd slow-burner that bravely forgoes dialogue for most of the film and concentrates on the cat-and-mouse contest between a burglar and the titular maniac who has rigged the targeted family home with a number of bizarre (and implausible) traps. The slim premise does manage to hold attention throughout, with clever use of camera and sound to control tension carefully. The director is better known for his writing work on franchises such as Saw and Feast, and his understanding of the genre in both narrative and direction is clear. The Collector may not be particularly original in its set-up or ideas, but it is executed in an interesting and engaging manner.

DVD: 30 Days Of Night - Dark Days (dir: Ben Ketai, 2010)

"This isn't how we did it last time."

Ghost House bring us this direct-to-DVD sequel to the 2007 movie, which opens with a recast replay of the ending of the original and moves the action out of Barrow to urban L.A. by the end of the opening sequence credits. It is this change from the closed, frozen environment of the first film to over-familiar settings that is only part of this movie's weakness, as it is also dogged by numerous cliches of characterisation, sets, props and action set-ups, a laboured script (in spite of a writing credit by series originator Steve Niles), low-end effects and an incessantly droning synth backdrop that becomes very irritating. TV actress Kiele Sanchez takes over from Melissa George as lead character Stella with a dull performance, and the story and dialogue wanders along with little urgency. Even when the ending takes a mildly interesting direction, it ultimately resorts to a very predictable cop-out. The hugely enjoyable original movie is let down by this very disappointingly lacklustre sequel.

DVD: La Horde (The Horde) (dirs: Yannick Dahan, Benjamin Rocher, 2009)

"Brace yourself, kids - Hell's breaking loose!"

La Horde starts off as an emotional Euro-drama, then lurches into a cross between a solid action pot-boiler and a flashily-shot US TV show, but ten minutes in it becomes a full-on, uncompromising and brutal zombie flick. Think Assault On Precinct 13 with the undead as the assailants, as a bunch of cops seek revenge on a gang hiding out in a near-deserted tower block, only for them to be thrown together as the zombie apocalypse arrives. The bleakness echoes early Romero, but these zombies are super-strong and super-fast. The effective cast plays it straight and with considerable enthusiasm, and with only a couple of dialogue-heavy lulls, the film has real drive. Go with the original French soundtrack - the English dub is hilariously over-the-top to the point of parody. A good making-of DVD extra shows the abundant enthusiasm of the directors for their first movie which clearly spills over into the film itself.

FILM: Saw 3D (dir: Kevin Greutert, 2010)

"We've met."

After the disappointing IV and V, the return to form by last year's Saw VI was most welcome, and with this year's (evidently final) entry and contractually-obliged returning director Greutert, Saw 3D shows a reasonable injection of energy, pace and some creativity. The traps are mostly well-constructed (the opening gag in a public booth seen in the trailer is terrific), performances are ramped up to the max, and although the set-up for this film's bunch of victims lacks the political resonance of the previous instalment, it does provide a valid reason for their (wafer-thin) presence and for Tobin Bell's flashback appearance. The 3D - apart from a couple of ill-judged moments of CG offal thrown at the audience - is pin-sharp and used purposefully and effectively, and sound design is excruciatingly superb. Thankfully, the story continues the face -off between Jigsaw's widow Jill and berserk detective Hoffman, but this is only one part of the well-crafted story, which employs the series' usual narrative retro-fitting to good use, and the return of the original film's victim Cary Elwes (with considerably less screen time than the promotion suggests) leads to a neat if rather inevitable conclusion to the entire series.

FILM: Legend Of The Guardians - The Owls Of Ga'Hoole 3D (Dir: Zack Snyder, 2010)

"Just because it's sung doesn't make it a song."

Legend Of the Guardians is a bizarre film and seems like an oddity on Zack Snyder's CV, but its themes of male rivalry, power and heroism are actually a good fit for the director. Everything strives for 'epic': silly names, David Hirschfelder's bombastic and ominous score thunders away, most scenes are bathed in a sunset/sunrise glow, shots are either close-ups or incredibly distant and there are a variety of (unconscious) references to the likes of the Star Wars and Lord Of the Rings mythologies. The story is dense and draws in the viewer from the start, but the mid-section is bogged down by the weight of the film's sense of its own importance, not helped by the inclusion of a montage accompanied by a particularly limp Owl City track. The sense of depth created by the use of 3D is frequently astonishing, and the level of CG-detail is quite extraordinary - this is owls-do-Avatar. With some vicious attacks, an occasionally menacing score and some very weighty dialogue, this is not a film for little children, but at the same time it is difficult for anyone else take it seriously, for all its worthy intentions.

DVD: Meatball Machine (dirs: Yudai Yamaguchi, Jun'ichi Yamamoto, 2005)

"Why didn't you help me?"

Meatball Machine is another Japanese body-horror splatter-fest that on the surface makes little sense but revels in its insane internal logic. Even the clumsy exposition scene halfway through does not care whether the 'necroborgs' come from outer space or beneath the sea, but then all the film is concerned about - like these alien parasites - is the infected mutating, killing and eating each other in increasingly manic ways. This is Power Rangers as directed by David Cronenberg, with a side order of Alien, Robocop and Urotsukidoji. The low-budget and cheap effects immediately distance the viewer, yet there is ambition in the direction and use of camera. What holds the film together is the well-played central romance between Yoji and Sachiko, two lonely people in a nicely-drawn soulless industrial society who ultimately battle each other as the parasites take hold. The inevitable influence of Tetsuo is clear, but here the muddled premise detracts from a film that tries hard and occasionally succeeds.

FILM: Paranormal Activity 2 (dir: Tod Williams, 2010)

"I hate it when you don't take me seriously."

To business: Paranormal Activity 2 is much better than the first film, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. One major advantage for this sequel is that it centres on a largely amiable and credible family set-up (the dog and the toddler are excellent!), as opposed to the unattractively smug couple seen previously. The film is structured very closely on the original, with the same enclosed setting and the 'Night' numbered title screens used to prepare the viewer for the next happening, but the more spacious family home here gives the viewer ample opportunity to keep scanning the screen for 'activity' in the oft-used static extra long shots. The sequel employs more overt references to traditional horrors such as The Amityville Horror and Poltergeist, with the shocks being bigger, louder and better placed here. The narrative and time-frame conceits that link the sequel to the events of the original movie are used cleverly and effectively with a good pay-off in the final scenes, which are swift, brutal yet utterly predictable, the latter being a problem which runs through the movie consistently. Unlike last year's film, Paranormal Activity 2's ending points to only one possible and more literal threequel movie, which will no doubt be inevitable as this franchise takes over from Saw as a regular Halloween fixture, a true triumph of marketing over content and substance.

FILM: The Social Network (dir: David Fincher, 2010)

"I DID NOT torture the chicken! I don't torture chickens!"

It is to be expected that a film directed by David Fincher and scripted by Aaron Sorkin will be dense, rich and demanding, and The Social Network delivers on all three fronts. The film's repeatedly static scenarios are given a true sense of energy and momentum by the rapid-fire dialogue and constant narrative shifts. Most scenes are conducted either at desks or sitting around a table, but the interesting characters and unfolding enmity between them make them compelling to watch. Jesse Eisenberg is excellent as Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's 'creator', showing an incredible combination of fierce intelligence and flawed vulnerability on the screen, almost matched by Andrew Garfield as his friend and original business partner and Armie Hammer playing both Winklevoss twins in a seamlessly integrated pair of performances. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross create a restrained and very sympathetic soundscape, and Fincher's superb visual stylings have considerable impact throughout from the very first frames (the only misfire being the odd selective defocusing at the Henley race scenes). The ending comes abruptly, and the viewer is still left wondering how much of this story on film is "imaginations running wild", but The Social Network provides a thoughtful, challenging and very rewarding insight into this still-recent global internet phenomenon and the very human stories behind it.

FILM: Despicable Me 3D (dirs:Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, 2010)

"I said a DART machine, not...."

Despicable Me wisely gets a head start on the similarly-styled MegaMind. Out of all of this year's CG-animated movies, it is most squarely aimed at the younger end of the market, and as a result it is simply (and thinly) plotted, moves at a leisurely pace and is gentle and harmless. Steve Carell gives fading villain Gru surprising pathos, and there are some good visual gags - as given prominence in the trailers, the 'minions' are easily the most entertaining thing on display here. As the CG-animated genre matures, there is an increasing sense of similarity and recycling of style in evidence in films such as this one, but overall Despicable Me offers a pleasant, inoffensive and largely uneventful experience for any but the youngest audience members.