Behind the Couch

2006 Dir. Rick Bota Two years after the death of their friend, who died while playing an online game based on the Hellraiser mythology, a group of teenagers find their own lives endangered. Accepting an invitation to an underground rave party at an isolated mansion, they’re told by their sinister host that the Cenobites and the puzzle box of Hellraiser infamy are actually real. Before long, the gamers are picked off one by one as nightmarish fantasies become entwined with disturbing reality... The eighth instalment of the on-going Hellraiser series, Hellworld , like Deader before it, didn’t actually start out as a Hellraiser film. Based on a story by Joel Soisson (writer of Mimic 2, Hollow Man 2 , and various Prophecy sequels) called The Dark Can’t Breathe , Hellworld unfolds as a strange and rather bland fusion of slasher flick and creaky haunted house yarn. The narrative essentially consists of teens partying at a spooky mansion, splitting up to explore said mansion, ve...

2002 Dir. Rick Rosenthal Four years after mistakenly killing a man she thought to be her brother (really, Dimension Films? Really ?), long-suffering Laurie Strode is eventually hunted down by her actual not-really-dead brother, the murderous Michael Myers. Making his way back home to Haddonfield, Myers discovers the crew of an online reality show has taken over his house (!) to broadcast a Halloween special featuring a group of teenagers dared to spend the night in the infamous house. Naturally he goes on yet another killing spree. And it's all caught on camera and broadcast online for all to see. Yes, all of this actually really happens. It really fucking happens. The silent stalker of the original Halloween is a distant memory - Myers is now the reluctant star of an internet reality show.  Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later did not warrant a sequel. It was initially intended as a twentieth anniversary celebration of John Carpenter's classic chiller . It also broug...

2010 Dir. Paul Ziller When Jacob Glaser (Misha Collins), a renegade astrophysicist and underground radio host, is alerted to unusual electromagnetic energy fields occurring throughout the globe, his initial investigations lead him to Stonehenge. Somehow, the stones have begun to move independently and are building up enough energy to vaporise anyone who comes within a certain range. Jacob’s theory is that Stonehenge is a key part of a massive alien terraforming machine connected to other historical sites around the world...  Meanwhile, in the US state of Maine, a former colleague of Jacob’s has discovered an underground pyramid linked to the ongoing events at Stonehenge and is actively working towards the destruction of mankind in the hopes that he and his followers can survive the coming apocalypse and be the rulers of the next era of life on earth. When Jacob discovers the existence of a key that he believes is capable of switching off the doomsday machine, he sets about ...

1983 Dir. Dick Maas Lift technician Felix (Huub Stapel) is called in to repair an elevator that has been at the centre of several bizarre deaths. As the deaths continue to mount, Felix begins an obsessive investigation that causes ructions with his family and colleagues. Joining forces with reporter Mieke de Beer (Willeke van Ammelrooy), he uncovers the involvement of shady multi-national corporation Rising Sun, who have installed an experimental computer chip in the elevator. An evil computer chip! Take the stairs, take the stairs. For God's sake, take the Stairs!!! I assumed that De Lift was going to be an immensely trashy affair. It’s about a killer lift. It's a Dutch horror film from the early Eighties - about a killer lift. Surprisingly, it’s a competently put together thriller that, after plodding around for about an hour with too many exposition-heavy scenes and bland characters, settles down to become a taut and suspenseful ride - albeit one with a very sil...

iMurders is a forthcoming horror film directed by Robbie Bryan. After a bizarre love triangle leads to a tragic shooting, the members of an online chat-room begin to fall victim to a mysterious assailant who stalks and kills them in the privacy of their own homes. The key to unlocking the savage murders lurks in the dark past of the one of the chat-room users. But will it be too late to prevent more murders? The film stars a few familiar faces and stalwarts of the genre, including Gabrielle Anwar ( Body Snatchers ), Tony Todd ( Candyman ), William Forsythe ( The Devil’s Rejects ), Billy Dee Williams ( The Empire Strikes Back ) and Charles Durning ( When A Stranger Calls ). iMurders is the directorial debut of screenwriter Robbie Bryan ( The Stand-In ) and promises thrills, chills and many bloody spills. Behind the Couch caught up with Robbie Bryan recently for a chat about filmmaking and the sinister side of the world wide web… How did the idea for iMurders germinate? Well ...