What a waste of my time!!!

That was an excellent one.

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

'Hellions' had a good deal going for it. The cover/poster was cool and creepy, the idea for the story was great, it looked and sounded interesting with it taking a more arty and surreal approach to supernatural horror. The mixed to negative reviews and less than favourable rating made me feel a bit conflicted in seeing it, due to judging from recent experience (being somebody who actually trusts the site ratings and critical reviews much more than most do) those that have either or both are that bad.Decided to see 'Hellions' anyway, and while it did underwhelm considering its potential, with it starting so well, it didn't make me feel ashamed of having watched it, despite its heavily problematic final third that brought it down significantly. As far as recent low-budget horror viewings go, 'Hellions' is up there with the better ones. Not great, not awful, more one of those mixed feelings worth a one-time watch for interest films while not holding up for repeat viewings.There are good things here. 'Hellions' is a surprisingly decent looking film in general, very nicely and professionally shot, some creepy lighting, editing that is coherent and not a hack job and some effects that don't look afterthought-like. The music and sound are ominous and not intrusive. It also starts off really well. The first half an hour especially is very intriguing and atmospheric with a lot of creepiness and suspense. The direction is assured to begin with and the acting is better than average, good in the case of Chloe Rose. The chemistry didn't feel bland and didn't feel random and did appreciate that it didn't rely on gratuitous gore and nudity to convey the horror. Which is why it is sad that 'Hellions' is badly let down by the last third feeling like a different film, where the tension, suspense and creepiness of the first half an hour completely dissipates. Instead becoming a mess of stupid decision making that makes previously sympathetic characters frustrating, senselessness that borders on incoherence, predictability and erratic pacing, it all becomes bland, uncomfortably weird and muddled. Topped off by an ending that feels like the film didn't have an ending at all and like the writers had run out of ideas or didn't know how to end it. They were enough to bring the film more than one star each.Also, the dialogue is far from great throughout 'Hellions', it is a miracle that the actors managed to keep a straight face with the unintentionally funny lines they had to spout. While 'Hellions' generally looks decent, it's not perfect. The pink colour filter is distracting and some effects struck me as unnecessary and cheap-looking.Overall, not bad but considering its early promise it should have been much better. 5/10 Bethany Cox

It's Halloween again and my thoughts about this film, which I saw at TIFF 2015, are as mixed as ever. Bruce McDonald's art-house take on Halloween horror is terrific until the frustrating non-ending. I was loving the eccentric direction, off-kilter cinematography, sympathetic performances, mysterious killer kids, end the whole dream-or-reality puzzle. But then...I suppose the short run time should be a hint this is an unfinished movie, but honestly what were the producers thinking, letting this be released? Why not sit down with the director, point out this glaring problem, and offer to scare up funds for some additional writing and shooting to finish a potentially worthy follow-up to his great Pontypool.All that said, I still can't recommend against watching it; you don't want to miss what there is, but be prepared to imagine a third act.

Hellions (2015) * (out of 4) Seventeen-year-old Dora Vogel (Chloe Rose) learns that she's pregnant on Halloween. After receiving the news she decides to skip a party and stay home where she's soon being terrorized by a group of trick or treaters.HELLIONS got quite a bit of pre-release buzz and the folks at IFC Midnight hyped the film up making people think they were finally going to get another classic that took place on Halloween. The buzz was pretty high for the movie but the end result is somewhat of a joke because I found the movie to be really, really bad on so many different levels. Were horror fans really this desperate for a film set on Halloween that some would praise this thing? There have been several movies based around the psychological issues of a woman who finds out that she is pregnant. That's obviously what this movie was going for but the biggest problem is the fact that the film never really gets inside this character's head and not for a second is there any sort of tension or mind games that scare you. In fact, the "world" created by the various visions here are all rather good looking but they're just flat and contain no energy or scares. THE WIZARD OF OZ these images are not.Another problem with the film is that it's simply deadly dull because there are just so many fake dream sequences that you really grow tired with what you're watching. When your lead character keeps going through a nine month pregnancy over the course of a night you pretty much know what's going on and the eventual twist means zero. I will say Rose was decent in the lead role and it's always nice seeing Robert Patrick but HELLIONS is just a really bad horror film that once again is all hype and nothing else.

Jeez, where to start. OK...Laurie Strode (Halloween) gets knocked up with an H.P. Lovecraft baby and enters a "Trick'r Treat" movie ripoff complete with "Sam" & the "Children of the Corn" who have moved to Salem and are having their strings pulled by, "The Lords of Salem"...I think that about covers it. I actually liked the movie because it did remind me of some of my favorite horror movies, especially "Trick'r Treat", but I think that's not enough to save it from a law suit for copyright infringement. Seriously, the Sam ripoff was just over the top! Are original horror plots that hard to come up with? Must be. Personally I can't wait for the sequel to, "Trick'r Treat". Sam is easily the best Halloween character to come along since Michael Myers & no doubt this is why his twin brother appeared in this film. The music score was excellent, again, because it was a "Trick'r Treat" ripoff. Some might prefer the word inspired to ripoff but I call it like I see it or in this case, hear it. I see some commentators suggest a pro-life agenda, I see where they might get that. I've always thought childbirth something straight out of "Humanoids from the Deep" or "Prometheus" amongst other horror movies and have never quite understood why anyone would want to give birth to a parasite that continues to suck the life out of the mother/father for what must seem an eternity to the parents but that's another topic. One could just as easily see it as a pro-abortion movie so there you go! I gave it 6 out of 10 stars...almost gave it 7 and probably should have, I've seen much worse. I kept waiting for the baby to whip out a tentacle in the last scene of the movie and wave to mommy. That would have got me to 7 or 8 stars, they should have let me write that last scene. If they would have, there would have been money made available for a sequel. Guess we'll just have to wait for, "Trick'r Treat II"...it's coming. Happy Halloween!