What I did in November: Fought off Vampires and Zombies, Slayed Dragons and avenged a dead childhood friend.

From now on I will some up for you my adventures on a monthly basis. These will be told through the movies I see every month. Alas should you think I have no life, In November I actually also traveled to Austria for 4 days and went to see Arcade Fire at the Alexandra Palace so there!

**SPOILER Warning: I may well go into details about the films below so if you don't want anything spoiled for you then do not read on.

30 Days of Night: I really enjoyed this film its perhaps one of the best horrors of the year. The original graphic novel by Steve Niles takes about ten minutes to read and luckily they have fleshed this out a bit longer and made some changes in order to service the transfer to the screen. Vampires have been around in film for a while now, we have had the classic Nosferatu types, the punk 80's types with mullets, the poncey sensitive types and the splatterific ones in From Dusk Til Dawn. Its been a while since they have been scary though and so it is with great surprise that the vampires in this movie gave me a chill down my spine. The way they move and their black eyeballs and open mouthed stares really put me on edge during this, the fact that they don't speak any English also adds to their mystique. Danny Huston is a really underrated actor at the moment and will no doubt make a good Batman villain some day and he walks away with the film as the head vampire. Its a bit of a shame that the humans don't match up to his performance. Josh Hartnett and Melissa George are both pretty bland unfortunately as the estranged husband and wife struggling to survive. There is some great gore though especially the severed head towards the end that takes two chops of the axe to remove. The scary 9 year old vampire is also a chilling highlight. Ultimately though I would agree with most of the criticisms of this film which are with regards to the timeline. Its supposed to be set over one month of darkness and yet we never get that impression. It seems more like a week. Still for a fresh take on the vampire legend you can't go far wrong with this. No doubt there will be some kind of unrated cut on DVD with more gore. Bring it on! ****

Dead Silence: This film was released in the US in April and flopped hard even though it was from the director of the original Saw. It went more or less straight to DVD in the U.K and that is where I caught up with it. Its a film that is very much a throwback to an old style of horror with its misty graveyard settings and strange rich types in big old mansions. The premise revolves around a dead ventriloquist artist who was blamed for a child murder and now seeks her vengeance from beyond the grave. If you imagine The Grudge crossed with the old Anthony Hopkins film Magic then you have this film. Thing is it actually works and is scary. Ventriloquist dummies are up there with Clowns for me in terms of childhood iconography that suddenly takes a sinister turn when you reach a certain age. Added to this the fact that the ghost can only kill you if you scream and you have a genuinely tense hour and a half which will no doubt be a big hit with teenagers on Halloweens to come. Love the scene with the 100 dolls in cabinets turning their heads too. Worth a rent if you are looking for a scare. ****

Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix: I have been slow to get in to these films. I saw the first one and whilst I didn't hate it, I didn't exactly enjoy it either. It had all the marks of a movie that was rushed to meet a release date with bad effects and acting. After that I didn't rush to see the rest of them, how wrong I was. In the last six months I have watched Chamber of Secrets (Great!), Prisoner of Azkaban (even better!) Goblet of Fire (Awesome!) and now Order of the Phoenix which is perhaps the darkest so far. I love the fact that these films get better as they go along, at this rate the final part Deathly Hallows will be one of the best films ever made. Director David Yates did a good job here making a film that is scary, funny, sad and uplifting and somehow seems fresh whilst being a recognisable part of the series. No I have caught up with all this I can go see Half Blood Prince next Autumn. ****

Beowulf: Wow, just wow. If there is one way to watch this film then it is in Imax 3-D. This was an awesome movie which is the best example of what motion capture technology can do so far. After about 30 minutes you forget that you are watching animation and become absorbed by the story which luckily is equal to the wow factor of the tech on display. This has got great scenes of carnage and one of the best Dragon scenes in any film ever. Its amazingly violent for a film which is rated PG-13/12A and has a 3D basically nude Angelina Jolie which is just incredible. In amongst all this though the story at the centre is a very human one. You may be a nearly seven foot warrior who tells a great story but you are human like the rest of us pal. When confronted with a nude screen goddess you wouldn't say no either. I love the final scene in this as well, its so ambiguous and yet so perfect as well. My only fear is that once this is on DVD it wont stand up to repeat viewing's.Although the fact that its been a big hit gives me great hope for further adult themed 3d Animations and James Cameron's Avatar in particular. Time to start saving for that 50 inch HD Ready TV! *****

The City Of Violence: This is the latest film from Korean director Ryu Seung-Wan who directed Crying Fist a few years back. The story is the kind of tale that was told many times in the Hong Kong Heroic Blood Shed movies of the late 80's/early 90's. Childhood friends reunite after the death of one of their friends and seek vengeance, only to find that one of their own is involved. Now don't get me wrong this has some great scenes. Including a Warriors inspired four way gang fight and a flashback to the 80's and the friends fleeing a gang who is after them. The fight choreography is also very impressive, especially in the last 30 minutes.Ultimately though this is pretty much seen it all before as far as the story goes. The same story was done by John Woo with better results in A Bullet in the Head. Still worth watching for the crazy fight scenes though. ***

Planet Terror: The first half of the failed Grindhouse experiment is without doubt great fun. It plays out like the missing link between Escape from New York and The Thing and anyone who enjoyed the films of that period will get a big kick out of this. Remember when prosthetic effects had a dirty and cheap look that made you feel sick? well Planet Terror does and there is some awesome goo in this film. Ultimately though I prefer Death Proof as its really grown on me after seeing it again recently. The problem is with Planet Terror is it almost descends too far into Naked Gun style spoof at some points, especially towards the end. I'll probably watch it quite a lot on DVD and maybe when drunk it will seem like the best film ever made just like The Toxic Avenger once did. ***1/2

The Nines: There are some really interesting independent films coming out at the moment and most of them seem to want to mess with your mind. Shamefully most of them seem to play on one or two screens only so need to build up word of mouth to be a hit on DVD. After seeing the trailer for this I knew I had to see it asap. So trek to London after work I did with the girlfriend in tow and I was surprised that far from being a psychotropic Lynch style trip into hell, The Nines is really quite sweet and a bit of a love story truth be told similar to The Fountain. All is forgiven Ryan Reynolds, although you ruined Blade;Trinity after your performance here playing three characters I am convinced you have genuine talent. Reynolds plays three characters who are connected by different threads throughout their stories. The first is a bad-boy Robert Downey Jr type on house arrest, the second a gay TV writer who is the subject of a reality show and the last a married father who is a big time game programmer. The fact that the final revelation doesn't induce groans and actually makes you think and go awww is a testament to Reynolds performance as he pulls all three characters off with aplomb and you actually care what happens. This is a great little independent film which we need more of, so go see it! ****1/2

Daywatch: If you thought Nightwatch was a bit overrated and overhyped then I would agree with you. Looking back now it seems very much like it was a prequel to this film where it kicks off properly. Everything about this film is better, it looks more expensive, its easier to follow and the special effects are impressive and truly original in a few scenes. Its unclear at this point if we are going to get a third part as from what I hear this one has wrapped the story up and it seems pretty much closed at the end of the film. There are plenty of other stories to be told around the Night and Daywatch though I am sure and it would be a shame if we were denied another film. Timur Bekmambetov recently directed a film of the comic series Wanted. Now if ever there was a perfect pairing of Director and Material then this was it. If you have read the comic then watch the recent trailer and feel the disappointment. ****