Monsters: Dark Continent

Six years ago a NASA probe returning to Earth with samples of an alien life form crashed in Central America. As deadly creatures began to appear half of Mexico was quarantined as the military tried to contain the aliens in designated Infected Zones.

Now the creatures have spread, taking over more of the planet and the military is struggling to cope. After contact is lost with a unit, a rescue squad is sent in to retrieve them.

Why we’re looking forward to this: The first Monsters movie, written and directed by Brit Gareth Edwards who went on to helm this year’s Godzilla reboot, was an unexpectedly accomplished and enjoyable low budget alien invasion film that succeeded largely because the threat was mostly implied, instead relying on the human reaction to being stranded in the aforementioned Infected Zone.

Though Edwards hasn’t returned to helm the sequel — Tom Green is picking up the directorial reins for his debut feature credit — he is credited as an executive producer and judging by the trailer Monsters: Dark Continent has retained the feel of the original.

Our only slight concern is that, whereas the original was definitely a case of less is more when it came to the creatures themselves, there seems to be much more footage of them this time around, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as though we’ve seen the original creatures in the first one, they may well do a Critters on us and have them mutate into even bigger and badder nasties!

Monsters: Dark Continent is hitting UK cinemas on 28 November.

The Green Inferno

A group of student activists travel to Peru to save the rain forest, but after their plane goes down they find themselves in the midst of a previously undiscovered tribe. The trouble is, of course, that the tribe are cannibals and so see the students not so much as saviours as savouries.

Why we’re looking forward to this: Well, first and foremost it’s written and directed by Eli Roth, and if there’s one thing he knows how to do it’s put together a kick ass horror movie. Love them or hate them, Cabin Fever and the first two Hostel films (the less said about the Roth-less third installment, the better) are raw, violent and bloody.

Secondly, we were brought up on the likes of Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox and quite frankly there haven’t been any decent cannibal films since, so The Green Inferno is a welcome return to the eat-and-greet genre and if early reviews from various festivals are anything to go by, it sounds as though audiences are in for a bumpy, stomach churning ride. There’s no PG-13 compromising here.

Finally, The Green Inferno was actually filmed on location in the Peruvian rain forest, and the tribe featured are a genuine tribe who have never appeared on camera before, so there’s a sense of authenticity here that hopefully didn’t extend to the more visceral parts of the movie.

The Green Inferno was screened at this year’s FrightFest in London, and is due out on general release later this year.

RICH COSGROVE