This movie is kind of a missed opportunity. It has great practical monster effects and it is a pretty fun watch, but there was this small sub plot in the movie that went unexplored much to the film's detriment. If it were an episode of Doctor Who then,
they would have used a part of the body of the grandmother who had died of cancer (who's remains were still on the ship!) to poison the monster, make it grow uncontrollably, and end in a huge heat related explosion due to unchecked growth. They could have even had a great "F U" moment when the explosions in the hull caused the ship to roll and dump the monster into the water where the submarine was. The monster's cancer fueled explosion could have destroyed that ship as well.
But it wasn't that smart. Instead it just follows the
soul survivor
route. In the end this movie was about untapped potential and that means I'll give it 2 Chronenburg monsters out of 5.
Being a happy camper tonight with #2 Sleepaway Camp 2:Unhaappy Campers or Nightmare Vacation 2 if your in the uk i grabbed the 88 Films Uk Blu a few weeks ago so looking forward to checking the transfer out
Mike Flanagan has proven that he is a director to watch for in the horror genre. As with one of his previous films, Hush, this new one is being released in collaboration with Netflix. It seems as if they are a good fit together. Interesting bit of trivia, Flanagan was actually seeked out to direct the Halloween reboot that John Carpenter is currently producing for Blumhouse, he turned it down on the basis that he had already made his own Halloween with Hush.
As for Gerald's Game, the stabbing and stalking scenes have been put aside in favor for some psychological horror. That's not to say that there aren't any squeamish bits to sit through. Those moments are made more effective though due to how scarce they occur and the methods used to film them. This isn't like a Friday the 13th flick where the gore and splatter moments make up the bulk of the entertainment, instead you feel them as they are visceral.
The film also rides at a good pace considering the plot of keeping one character confined to one place. That's also helpful as the subject matter that is covered isn't exactly light. This is a dark and disturbing story where a character is forced to face her current predicament of being handcuffed to a bed while also being forced to face herself and past trauma's. Carla Gugino completely sold it and I consider this to be her best performance from what I've seen. Bruce Greenwood also does a good job in his role and also at making me jealous for how good he looks while also being more than twice my age. I mean, wtf?
There are some issues though. I can't directly blame Flanagan and crew either as these issues come from the novel written by Stephen King which was adapted for this film. There is a certain revelation that occurs that stops the film dead in its tracks. I understand the point being made and what it meant for certain characters, however there were much better ways at achieving the same goal. I haven't read too many King novels, but the complaint that he doesn't know how to end his stories is starting to really make sense to me. That being said, it was great to
see Carel Struycken despite my dislike of his character's twist. I was really digging the supernatural aspect of "the moonlight man" earlier in the story as well.
Oh well, all in all though, recommended.
Verdict: 7/10
Next: Something a bit more fun and lighthearted. After being blown away by my viewing of Memories of Murder a few months ago I'm finally going to watch the director's follow-up and in the process cross off a film that's been on my horror watchlist for years now.
I was on a work trip when this movie was first coming out, so I was watching a lot of hotel room TV in the evenings and the commercial for this movie was playing constantly. I had no interest in it at all as the commercial looked like it was just a bunch of shaky cam jumpscares. Later when it came to Netflix I heard some good words about it and put in on my list of future watches. Right away I was actually surprised there was an actual plot to the film. I thought it would be a paper-thin 'group goes exploring and gets lost' plot like The Descent. Especially since none of the commercials I saw mentioned anything about a National Treasure-like hunt for
the Philosopher's Stone
. The story actually had me interested.
The movie takes a while to get started, but once they actually start exploring the catacombs things get pretty interesting. I liked the characters. They felt pretty real, except for the main girl who kind of feels like she's just there to set up the scenario.
The scares were pretty hit and miss to me. I enjoyed the more subtle things like
Pap's spray paint tag somehow being somewhere he's never been before
and
after the group swims through a pool one of the characters is completely dry but no one notices
. But a lot of what were supposed to be the bigger scares didn't impress me. It's not really a jumpscare movie, but they use some here and there and they didn't work for me. I think the creepy and surreal stuff was better; though some of looked comical. Like the
satan/grim reaper
character in the chair just looked like a goofy costume and makeup you can get from the local Halloween store. The movie is definitely a low-budget production and you can tell, but not in a too distracting way most of the time.
One thing that had me confused was the character Zed. It seems like he was just missing for most of the movie. No one really said his name and he wasn't talking. I was convinced that he was actually
arrested by the cop before the group even entered the catacombs
, but then he's suddenly there when the characters start getting offed.
And he's even one of the final survivors!
I guess it pays off to be a background character.
The story starts off interesting, setting up why the group actually goes down into the catacombs. But after a while it got kind of dumb. I appreciate that they kept the plot throughout the film. So many movies introduce some plot to get the characters to a location, then drop it completely to become just a survial/escape plot. But I felt the
Philosopher's Stone
just added more questions to the climax and it's powers felt out of place. So after watching the movie I thought it was ok, but nothing special. But then I watched an explanation video about it, which talked about a ton of stuff I missed or didn't get the reference of. I never read
Dante's Inferno
and didn't know anything about the
9 levels of hell
, so the video helped explain a lot of things and made me actually appreciate the movie a little more. After hearing about how
Hell
is supposed to be such a horrible and torturous place all my life, it was interesting to see a subdued but creepy take on it.
This downbeat, crowd-funded indie slasher is a thoughtful and engrossing look at life as a final girl who survives. Five years after escaping the clutches of a psycho known to the media as The Hunter, Camryn is a seriously damaged young woman. Friendless, withdrawn, and plagued with recurring dreams of her terrible ordeal, she may have survived but she isn't really living.
That is, until she meets Nick, a new hire in the dry cleaners where Camryn works. Gradually, he and his group of friends and room-mates draw her out of herself, and back into the world. Unfortunately, this new found friendship happens at the same time as Camryn becomes convinced that The Hunter has somehow returned...
With a good script, engaging, likeable characters and some excellent practical effects, I really enjoyed this movie. Akasha Villalobos is excellent as the endlessly suffering Camryn, and the rest of the (refreshingly ordinary looking) cast are also pretty solid. The soundtrack's great too.
Verdict: Good to see something a little different in the slasher genre. Well worth a watch.
Yesss this was a bloody brilliantly written movie. I loved the multiple literal and symbolic portrayals of the handcuffs. This would be a nice piece to show in a classroom, lots of analysis can be done on it.
This was a rewatch for me. While I didn't like it anymore than I did the first time, watching it again did give me another chance to appreciate how gorgeous the film looks. The horror and Argento's style didn't click with me, but damn, does Suspiria look amazing. It's like a vibrant nightmare, the neon, the colors, the lighting and framing and grand architecture. It grows from over-the-top garish to unsettling, a bright veneer over the horrors lurking within.
This was an interesting film. I was kind of surprised that I enjoyed Night more than Dawn. Night's tension from its lean plot and the way the undead are presented - silent, cloaked in shadow, like lifeless husks - really gave the original a unique atmosphere and style. Dawn explodes the scope in every way, and I think it loses some of Night's uniqueness in the process. In the daylight and in color, the early zombie makeup loses its eeriness. The expansive mall has a great sense of place but lacks the claustrophobic nature of the farmhouse. The arsenal of guns makes sense due to the mall setting but made the undead feel like much less of a threat compared to Night. Much like the first, the characters and their interactions were the strongest parts of the film, but Night's intragroup bickering was more compelling than the Dawn's camaraderie. And the campy stuff with the bikers (ie smashing pies in zombies' faces) just didn't work at all for me
However, compared to Snyder's Dawn, I did like how dealing with the zombies inside of the mall was always a major problem and threat throughout the entire film, compared to the remake, where the mall interior was pretty safe once it was cleared out.
Next: Something a bit more fun and lighthearted. After being blown away by my viewing of Memories of Murder a few months ago I'm finally going to watch the director's follow-up and in the process cross off a film that's been on my horror watchlist for years now.
I'm just going to warn you now that while it's a hell of a lot less depressing than Memories of Murder, I would not exactly call The Host lighthearted. Saying more would wade into spoiler territory, but you might want to slightly adjust your expectations.
2. The Girl in the Photographs (2015) - ★★☆☆☆
Oh boy, this was much worse than I had hoped for. It had a cool, title, a pretty okay premise and I thought I had heard some buzz of it at some film festival a while ago. Anyway, it wasn't good. There wasn't any suspense, no scares, no tension, the characters didn't grow or were presented in any way so you would care about them, and the movie's "secrets" were revealed too soon. They played their cards way too quick, and one character - the photographer himself played by Kal Penn, was badly written and came across as incredibly annoying. The one thing the movie does have going for it is how it looks, and it was pretty well shot to be honest.
What a mediocre-bad start I've had on my Halloween watch. I should probably watch Suspiria tomorrow.
Day 2: Alien. Another movie I've seen several times before and one of my favorite horror films. The xenomorph has to be my favorite movie monster just such a cool design and concept. This is one of those movie where the more I watch it the more I appreciate it. The visuals for the most part hold up really well outside of few effects like the head of Ash where its obvious which is an actual head and when its a prosthetic. Just a classic movie in both horror and scifi.
I'm thinkin', there's gotta be a Christmas Horror film out there, and so I looked and lo and behold in my Vudu collection:
2. Krampus
On this second day of the month I finally have an excuse to watching Krampus and it's surprisingly fun despite what at first may seem a lot of ideas clashing. What I really liked were the creature designs, costumes, and how a lot of the effects looked practical, or were laced with CG on top (save for the gingerbread men). It was incredibly humorous throughout and delivered on a fitting ending. Krampus should be up there with Black Christmas or The Nightmare Before Christmas as that weird sub-genre of Halloween/Horror Christmas films (you heathens).
Someone else was watching TV and it was on so I decided to include it. I've been avoiding most of the recent found footage films that came out (This, The Pyramid, The Gallows, etc.) so this is my first time seeing it. Right off the bad it seems like a more interesting concept than a ghost who hangs people or Anubis just hanging out for no reason. Setting-wise there isn't a lot there and the shaky cam can be too much to handle. That said it's better than I was expecting
Did a couple of rewatches this morning; Coraline to see if my six year olds would be ready for it yet (they're not) and Disturbing Behavior to see if this 90's Stepford Wives reimagining holds up (it doesn't).
4. Don't Torture a Duckling - Lucio Fulci managed to make a movie with a somewhat coherent plot, I'm impressed. Duckling is a giallo with all of his fucked-up sensibilities. The mystery aspect works pretty well because most of the characters are seriously disturbed. The fact that the
child molester
isn't the killer and becomes one of the protagonists doesn't sit right with me at all. I'm not likely to watch this again; its creepy in the wrong ways.
"The way I see it...you're damn unlucky."
Movie 1 - I Saw the Devil
As a completely arbitrary challenge this year, I'm going to format my reviews in ≤280 and ≤140 character "tweets".
280
This blood-soaked action-thriller about an aggrieved fiancé seeking revenge for the death of his pregnant lover is not a horror film per se. Ultimately a study on the depths of human cruelty and the willingness of an audience to cheer for barbarism in the name of justice.
140
By the conclusion of I Saw the Devil's sweeping, taut, and violent story, the "I" in "I Saw the Devil" is revealed to be you, the viewer.
Liked:
- The cinematography
- Amazing performances by the two leads
- The deft explanation of plot points that many other films would gloss over
- The manipulation of my emotions over the course of the film
- That one scene in the taxi, you'll know it when you see it
Did not like:
- The third act feels rushed
- The "twist" at the end could've been reinforced in the story a little more
5 crazy bastards out of 5
--
This film was fantastic, and I'll never watch it again.
I think the third act felt rushed because the director didn't really have anywhere to go with the story. It was basically out of steam and becoming repetitive and he needed to wrap it up.
One common thing with the Korean horror films I've seen is that the endings always disappoint me, even if I love the rest of the movie.
I think the third act felt rushed because the director didn't really have anywhere to go with the story. It was basically out of steam and becoming repetitive and he needed to wrap it up.
One common thing with the Korean horror films I've seen is that the endings always disappoint me, even if I love the rest of the movie.
1. (New) Jason Goes to Hell (Vudu) what the heck? Pretty weak fun opener. Overall - boo
2. (New) Trick 'r Treat (Blu) - hot damn I can't believe I slept on this for so long. It was at a time where I was down on what was coming out. Lots of Saw and lame black and white Japanese style demon kids. This is going to be an annual watch. Love the intermixing and variety of the stories. Really like Samhain's presence as well. Overall - Yay!
3. (Rewatch) From Dusk Till Dawn (hulu) - one of my faves. Great dialogue, prime Salma Hayek, and super soakers. Overall - Yay!
4. (Rewatch) The Faculty (hulu) - doubled up on my Rodriguez checking out his studio effort. I've always thought this is an underrated hybrid of The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Always another favorite plus it has the T-1000 coaching football. Overall - Yay!
5. (New) My Bloody Valentine (3d Blu) - this won't be an annual viewing in the future but until the end it had a nice pace. I love slashers that know what a slasher film should be. It was fun, with nice over the top kills, and a very dominant killer on screen. Overall - yay.
Still as good as ever! Jamie Lee Curtis has the best worst Halloween of her life, well, up until that point. She's great, the filmmaking is great, the score is great, it's all great! It holds up over the years, and though it's not as bloody, it makes up for it in tenseness and quality. I've seen this movie so many times, haha.
I think I might keep the Carpenter train going and watch The Thing next.
After entering the realm of cinematic horror through the haunted cinema itself of Demons, my second night of horror sees me traveling back to one of horror cinema's most iconic, if not so beloved any longer, entries -- and the focus of many of planned entries this year:
2. Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931)
Dracula probably kickstarted my love of gothic horror as a child, although even then I was cognizant of how much the story lost traction once the action moved from Transylvania to London. And while that's certainly true, thanks to some incredibly inept performances and dull writing from the characters we are meant to sympathize most with, I have taken for granted how eerie some of the best moments of the film are. It functions best when it's akin to a silent movie (and this movie is at times truly silent thanks to the lack of a score) focusing on some brilliantly composed images and gorgeous sets/mattes. And the film is paced rather quickly, so even as it bogs down in dialogue heavy scenes you're never too far away from the incredibly effective performances of Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Dwight Frye as Renfield -- the former giving the film a captivating sense of stately dread, and the latter offering the film's most unhinged and genuinely chilling moments. While it's not nearly as refined a storytelling feat as Frankenstein, Dracula makes up for its (considerable, I admit) rough patches on the strength of its captivating iconography.
I'm pleased to say it's held up for me far more than I thought it would, and it's well worth a revisit on a dark night provided you don't mind all the cobwebs.
The third act is when things not only hit the fan in terms of sheer bugfuckery and horror, but all the layered themes and clues coalesce into something that transcends the chaos surrounding it, and more than justifies the length imo.
The Mist was excellent. From the Raimi-esque guerilla camera work, to the breakdown of human society, and the batshit crazy ending. I loved it. We need more cosmic horror movies, if watching this and Event Horizon have taught me anything.
Day 2 is down, and my Universal Monsters walk continues.
Frankenstein (1931) was damned good. A very short runtime, but compared to Dracula it felt much less like a silent movie given sound, and even in the short runtime the characters felt quite well realized. Interesting to see no real villain, as Frankenstein is perfectly sympathetic even as his experiment goes out of control, as is the monster, naturally.
They may have even gotten a few morals in there, beyond the obvious "don't play God", as the monster only becomes violent once he's treated violently by the hunchback. On that note, Karloff does a fine job of making his grunting lumbering monster feel like a real character to take seriously rather than silly or campy as it could so easily have been.
As I said above it felt less like a silent film, with a lot more camera movement and more natural performances. The continuous walking shot of
the farmer carrying his dead daughter through the celebrating crowd
was very effective and wouldn't be out of place in a modern film. The climax was also a hell of a lot more exciting than the fairly limp ending to Dracula.
I hear the sequels to this film are very strong and look forward to seeing them later in the week.
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), I use that title loosely, as apart from featuring a guy called Dupin, an ape, and some murders in Paris this has absolutely nothing to do with the Poe story. Only a single scene from the story is present in the film, and even then it's heavily modified into just being some comic relief. Trying to separate the story from the film, this was very short (at a mere hour long) and featured a lot of corny dialogue and was lacking in atmosphere compared to Dracula and Frankenstein, but it was watchable all the same, especially thanks to the presence of Lugosi (and a unibrow) as the villain, who gives a more campy performance than he did as Dracula.
The third act is when things not only hit the fan in terms of sheer bugfuckery and horror, but all the layered themes and clues coalesce into something that transcends the chaos surrounding it, and more than justifies the length imo.
There are romantic zombie comedies, and there are romantic zombie comedies directed by Peter Jackson. Back during his splatter days in New Zealand, he adopted a distinct "start at 11, and ramp up from there" policy that helped to define him early on with the riotous Bad Taste, which threw as much at the screen as the tiny budget was able to afford. His follow-up, Meet the Feebles, furthered his commitment to the outrageous, and while it's gone unseen by me for now (only for now, mind you), the fact that Jackson beat Avenue Q to the punch by over a decade for debauched knock-off Muppet madness goes a long way to showing just the kind of naughty fun he loved to get into. Good taste would finally be knocked into him once Hollywood came a-calling, but not before unleashing his magnum opus of gore in Dead Alive.
At its core, what we're dealing with is an hokey yet deeply earnest love story between Lionel (Timothy Balme as a consummate dork and rather handy with the physical humor) and Paquita (Diana Peñalver, nicely feisty), as the bonds of their budding love are tested at every juncture: a jock more interested in talking about sports, Lionel's truly evil uncle, the racial divide between them, Lionel's overbearing mother, Lionel's overbearing mother after being bitten by a Sumatran rat monkey, and finally, by the hordes of zombies that Lionel's overbearing mother has created due to the bite of a Sumatran rat monkey being cursed. Not even Scarlett O'Hara had to go through so much for love, and she had the Civil War to deal with. That strange sense of wholesomeness is rather refreshing in a genre not known for gentle moments, and gives the film something to root for that, though a foregone conclusion, is a lot a fun to watch as they do everything they can to be happy together when the whole pesky zombie invasion is over.
But what a zombie invasion it is that they must endure! Seldom has the screen seen so much in the way of blood and guts, and it certainly hasn't seen the kind of insane creations that Jackson and co. are able to come up with, including an actual sentient pile of blood and guts. I can only imagine that the R-rated version of this film is less than a half hour long, as the sheer amount of viscera on display staggers the imagination in not only the sheer shock of wondering what the hell was going through the minds of the filmmakers, but how they were able to accomplish so many delightfully unique moments on a fraction of the budgets that Jackson would later come to enjoy. The practical effects in this astonishes at every turn, but Jackson is also willing to stage delightfully bizarre moments that aren't notable entirely due to the gore, such as a fight scene in a cemetery where a priest knows his kung fu, or a mad romp in a park as a zombie baby gets lose for some mischief. It's all so wild, and yet the spark of genuine inspiration that each effects-driven scene manages to pump out is the kind of thing you wish more gore films would be able to do more of.
Perhaps it is because that the film boasts a kinder soul that it's able to work as well as it does, because for as absurdly gory as it gets, it never feels truly disgusting as everything is pitched well beyond the heights of Looney Tunes-esque cartoon logic. Truthfully, the most disgusting scene in the entire film involves the eating of custard, and that had more do with custard being super gross itself rather than the things that got put into it throughout the scene. Going strictly comedic was a wise decision in the end, as you can't help but fall in love with Lionel and Paquita falling in love as the world goes crazy around them. These are good people who earn their respite, rather than having it handed to them, and that is so much more satisfying to watch. A lot of people pine for Jackson to go back to these kinds of films, but I don't know how he could possibly begin to top this one, which says a lot on how much he was able to accomplish here in the first place than anything else. This is one of the most fun horror movies in existence, and while it's not scary in even the slightest, it has so much heart put into it that it's impossible to ignore, even when the film is shoving beating hearts in your face.
Film for October 3: It's time to get just a tad more serious, and what better way than with a first for my marathons? Billed as the Indian equivalent of The Exorcist, Raat promises to be a rather unique for its setting and striking central figure, whose eyes are more than enough to intrigue me into finding out what kind of horror lurks behind them. I do love me a good supernatural possession story, so all the better that I'm able to watch it through the eyes of another country.
Did some final adjustments to my list tonight and finally cemented all of my picks. Mostly excited for I Saw The Devil, I Spit On Your Grave, Event Horizon, The Lords of Salem, The Begotten, The Others, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Orphanage, all of which I have never seen.
Tonights pick(s) is/are The Void and Cult of Chucky if it launches at midnight. My friend and I are just getting The Void ready so Ill be posting my review a bit late.
Did some final adjustments to my list tonight and finally cemented all of my picks. Mostly excited for I Saw The Devil, I Spit On Your Grave, Event Horizon, The Lords of Salem, The Begotten, The Others, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Orphanage, all of which I have never seen.
Tonight's pick(s) is/are The Void and Cult of Chucky if it launches at midnight. My friend and I are just getting The Void ready so I'll be posting my review a bit late.
Did some final adjustments to my list tonight and finally cemented all of my picks. Mostly excited for I Saw The Devil, I Spit On Your Grave, Event Horizon, The Lords of Salem, The Begotten, The Others, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Orphanage, all of which I have never seen.
Tonights pick(s) is/are The Void and Cult of Chucky if it launches at midnight. My friend and I are just getting The Void ready so Ill be posting my review a bit late.
Stuck with Friday the 13th for the second film in a row (part 3) and man they spend a lot of time with recaps in these movies. Im honestly surprised they cared so much about continuity early on in such a trashy franchise.
now that he has the hockey mask I feel like its gonna settle into very samey territory
but Im gonna stick with it as I had only seen Jason X as far as the sequels go until this year
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation First off this wasn't actually on my GAF watch list; its actually on my Letterboxd list, but it arrived today and is about serial killers so with the lack of Peeping Tom in my life I decided to call an audible and add it here as well.
There are no good reviews of this that I could see quickly. I think its pretty universally panned and rightfully so. That first hour of setup was ok. Matthew McConaughey's tow truck driver was pretty good though. I think he nailed the unhinged redneck very well. There are some kills and just when you think it should start wrapping up, you look over at the remaining time and see there's like 40 minutes left.
It was here that I was losing focus and checking out my phone but then something amazing happened. McConaughey's brutal treatment of Renee Zellweger's character pulled me back in, like immediately. I think if they took out some of the stupid elements like McConaughey's weird leg thing that this could have been a lot better received. The weirdo in the limo was odd too but whatever.
When this was at the halfway point I was thinking fuck this turd, lets see if it ends on a 1.5 or 2 but then it really redeemed itself for me. So I rate this three dead skin masks!
A transgender Leatherface...and who says horror films are not progressive!
This movie made my skin crawl. The kid, the slide into madness, and the depressive tone made for an uncomfortable watch. I oddly enjoyed it but I don't think I'll ever do a rewatch.
Absolute garbage. Girlfriend regrets adding it to the list. It wants to come off as gothic and high minded like The Innocents or The Changeling, but it's plot is too thin and disjointed and meanders to be effective. So is the woman in the wall? Can the ghosts go through time? Is Lily just so scared she makes it all up in her mind? Does any of this matter or is it scary - more on the latter part below - but no none of it matters a bit. As I was saying, the scares ...well there are none to be found. 0. Nadda. Ruth Wilson was alright, but really all she did was wonder a house looking on edge the whole time. It's hard to build tension when your lead character is already at the nth degree of scared before the film starts, and then nothing happens, and when it does,... well if THAT was suppose to be the pay off... 1. That's terrible CG; 2. If you're going to explain the ending up front make the journey interesting or suspenseful. The film didnt manage to create dread or rely on jump scares. I was bored the entire time.
I don't think I've ever disliked a film I've watch for 31Days31Films here on GAF before, but there is absolutely nothing redeeming about this movie. I take that back, the soundtrack is actually pretty good, but wasted here. I'd listen to it, it would make an effective drone/ambient noise collage to relax to. I just wish I could do so without this shitty movie over top of it.
It's interesting how many misconceptions there are about this movie. You mention "Friday the 13th" to anyone, and most often they'll immediately think of the towering Jason Voorhees and his iconic hockey mask. Funny thing is, Jason wasn't the killer in the first movie, and he doesn't put on the hockey mask until the third one.
Divorced from all of our preconceptions of the Friday the 13th film series as a whole, Friday the 13th still holds up, but nowhere near as well as the film it's most often compared to, John Carpenter's masterpiece Halloween.
What I loved most about the film is that we don't find out who the killer is until the third act (before then we always see the kills from the killer's point-of-view, but not the killer themselves). And of course I'd be remiss if I didn't say "and Kevin Bacon".
I'm just going to warn you now that while it's a hell of a lot less depressing than Memories of Murder, I would not exactly call The Host lighthearted. Saying more would wade into spoiler territory, but you might want to slightly adjust your expectations.
You weren't lying. I almost died of laughter during the scene where
the family first get together and are writhing on the floor in agony since the girl was taken. Of course Joon-ho couldn't resist throwing in a dropkick for good measure either.
By the end I wasn't laughing anymore. It's definitely not as depressing as Memories of Murder, but somebody was definitely cutting onions at some point.
A few months back I finally saw Memories of Murder for the first and absolutely loved it. In the process I got introduced to director Bong Joon-ho and his methods of madness. I knew I had seen that name somewhere before, and low and behold he's the director of that South Korean Creature Feature that's been sitting on my 31 days of horror watch list for years. Now that I was properly introduced I decided that this was the year I'd get to experience The Host.
As with Memories of Murder, on The Host Bong Joon-ho demonstrates this amazing genre shifting talent where in one scene you will be busting a gut laughing, then maybe either shrieking or even reflecting in sadness at what just happened. It never feels abrupt when he does this, and instead makes it seem very organic. Much of this has to do with his writing and characterizations. These are characters that we feel for and care about. They are not perfect, sometimes they are a bit stupid, but all the same you are glued to the screen rooting for them. I also realized that I dig Korean horror movies that focus on father-daughter relationships.
I also thought that the monster himself was well designed. Of course there were some budget constraints and the creature could go from looking great to not so great all in the same shot. This isn't for a lack of trying by the filmmakers though and it all comes down to money or lack thereof. I'll stomach so-so effects as long as the director's heart is in it.
Verdict: 8.5/10 "Very Good"
Next: It's time to dial it back a bit. I mean, giant monster movies?!?!? C'mon. I'm going to need something serious, maybe even a bit dry. Definitely a movie that doesn't have an ounce of ridiculousness in its runtime. There's only one man I have in mind right now. It's time to get my Frank Henenlotter on.
I went into the film completely blind, low expectations and still wound up disappointed. Im not quite sure what the vision was here.
I really appreciate the commitment to practical effects
well, until the very end...
but the acting and narrative were downright pathetic. I cannot honestly detail the plot because I simply have no clue what it is. Theres a clear Cronenberg/Carpenter influence but theres no substance to back it, just a slavish commitment to aping the look of body horror genre films of the 80s, but theres none of the tension, atmosphere or quality narrative that made those films special. The cinematography and lighting were incredibly poor and did a complete disservice to the phenomenal practical effects - were talking about some Alien vs. Predator: Requiem lighting here. Entire scenes are drowned in darkness.
Though, unfortunately, thats far from the biggest issue with the film. Its a dry, poorly acted, poorly filmed, poorly told story with some impressive practical effects that unfortunately arent enough to save it.
Day 2: XX (neat little horror anthology), Night of the Living Dead 1968 (boring imo but I'm betting that's a bit sacrilegious), and Society (that ending, huh).
A Netflix original film written & directed by Osgood Perkins(The Blackcoat's Daughter) and stars Ruth Wilson(The Affair, Luther) in a slow burn ghost story about a easily frightened hospice caretaker moving into a home of an elderly horror novelist. She soon finds out that the home has a past and not all of the horror novels in the house are fiction.
At the moment I'm very indifferent about the film, I enjoy then tension building & atmosphere, but does that tension building & atmosphere pay off? I'm not so sure. Ruth Wilson is basically one woman banding this movie and she does a wonderful job playing the meek & curious hospice nurse, and her narrating is pretty effective(I watched this movie with headphones and she has a great & creepy whispery voice, love it) The overall story unfortunately doesn't really have much payoff. Without going into spoilers, the movie feels like a flashback in a modern ghost story movie that some teenagers discover or something, but this flashback happens to be an hour in half long so it becomes a little tiring/boring by the end.
3. Bloodsucking Bastards
aka Office Space with vampires?
I really liked this movie. It was hilarious with a lot of great characters. It's a story about a guy who thinks he'll get a promotion to become sales manager but the boss sideswipes his idea and brings in a total douchebag who used to bully him in the past.
In quick succession these slobby tele marketers, that do nothing all day, become VERY efficient but their attitude change.
I'm not sure when it happened but at some point I realized "Well this awesome." It started out like an average 80s slasher film, above average really, but it kept building and building until I was all in.
1957 and Mary Lou Maloney is the hottest, meanest, and most sexually freewheelin' girl at her high school. Prom Night rolls around and she ditches her date to get it on with a different guy backstage much to her date/boyfriend's dismay. Angry as hell, he takes a large improvised stinkbomb and drops it on her when she is being crowned Prom Queen and boy does Mary Lou light up like a christmas tree.
Cut to the present(the delicious 1980s) and we meet Vicki, a sweet and average girl with a nice boyfriend, a loving dad, and a terrible, terrible mother. Her mother is so terrible in fact she won't let her buy a new dress for Prom("Your green one will be just fine."). She skips out on breakfast when her boyfriend shows up on his motorcycle to which the mother remarks: "Some punk on a motorcycle and she jumps for him." Vicki's dad then casually responds: "It is young love. Remember?...I guess not."
And here was the first blip on my Hmmm-o-meter. I couldn't put my finger on it but a few minutes later it all started to become clearer, this movie has a humorous script but the filmmakers don't have a humorous touch, no one plays to the humor so it just sits their awkwardly. For instance there is a scene in class with a fellow student giving a presentation about their potato-radio and it is clearly supposed to be funny to some degree. Vicki is talking to her friend who is bemoaning the fact that she doesn't have a date to the Prom(while shooting down Vicki's suggestion that she ask this other student who clearly likes her) all the while a guy next to her nervously asks if he can talk to her and she responds with "Get lost, asshole." and then "So why don't guys ask me out?" And it cuts and the 'humor' lands with a thud. But it is not off-putting somehow, it's odd but kind of fascinating, it gives the film a weird tension that I can't quite describe.
Vicki ends up going down into the bowels of the school where she finds an old trunk with Mary Lou's crown, sash, and cape from her 'coronation' and this kick starts the events of the film.
But there is a surprise: despite being a sequel to the original and terrible Prom Night, even if only in name, this movie ends up following in the footsteps of A Nightmare On Elm Street more than anything. There are no dream murders but the whole 'plastic reality' idea is very present
(Vicki is in the cafeteria but she sees it as a dark and rotten version of it, she flees into the hallways and they are inexplicably empty, her rocking horse comes alive, etc.).
If you were feeling less generous one might knock the movie for how blatant its aping of Elm Street is, not me though, as a big Elm Street fan this was a welcome turn of events.
Other Random Thoughts:
Those looking for a high kill count should be warned, there aren't that many and there is only one kill in the first hour. Literally.
Michael Ironside!
Young Louis Ferreira!
The film has some uneveness that'll need full spoilers to explain:
Vicki is both our heroine and our villain(she gets possessed by the spirit of Mary Lou) which makes the film completely lopsided when the switch happens. Vicki is very much the Nancy(Heather Langenkamp) of the film, the rest of the kids get notably less screentime and development, so when Vicki also becomes the villain we are largely rudderless.
There is a scene with a pervy teacher who grabs Mary Lou-as-Vicki's ass late in the film but we met that teacher earlier and they never set that any of that up.
Some late in the film nudity. Now I'm not complaining about the nudity itself but for the majority of the runtime this was more Elm Street than Friday the 13th on the sex scale so when Vicki goes full frontal it felt pretty left field.
The nudity moment leads into another bit of sloppy writing. Possessed-Vicki walks into the school shower where her best friend is washing up and proceeds to try to get some lady lovin' going and her friend freaks out and runs away, understandable all things considered. But she ends up running from her like a traditional slasher villain, screaming for help, crying, and trying to hide in the locker room, she is bizarrely running for her life but all she knows is that her best friend just tried to kiss her, that's it.
I think these all stem from the same issue, namely that the first 2/3 of the film is setting up the backstory and Mary Lou's spirit slowly possessing Vicki and this plays a lot like A Nightmare on Elm Street film. The last 1/3 with Vicky completely possessed turns into a more straightforward affair with Vicky possessed by Mary Lou going on a rampage.
I really think the idea to brand this Prom Night 2 really did a disservice to this film in the long run. I never gave this film the time of day because I hated the original and even if one liked the original then this sequel, which is nothing like it, will just be brushed aside. If this had just been Hello, Mary Lou it might've performed worse back when it came out(I have no idea how it performed) but I think it definitely would've been better remembered as a slasher film that tried to follow A Nightmare on Elm Street's path when so few others did.
And this kill. Immediately became one of my new favorites.
A movie that further delves into the Conjuring/Annabelle/Insidious cinematic universe. A nice little insightful story about one of the creepiest dolls in the Ed and Lorriane Warren paranormal history. Paired with Annabelle: Creation, you learn a good tidbit about the history/creation of the doll and some of the evil behind it. I recommend a watch with Annabelle: Creation. Especially if you are a fan of the Conjuring/Annabelle/Insidious movies.
This morning I went with a battle between two 80's King adaptations. Pet Semetary and Children Of The Corn. They are both pretty average if we're being honest about it. I remember liking Pet Semetary a bit more but the acting is horrendous and the screenplay written by King doesn't quite translate well into the film version. Things are rushed or just plain passed over from the book and everything is crammed into the last 10 minutes.
Transversely Children Of The Corn doesn't seem to have enough story to make up a whole feature film, some irony in the fact that there are NINE sequels to this. Isaac and Malachai are the reason we remember this fondly and their parts truly are great but they are few and far between. Linda Hamilton is here as well but doesn't have much to do other than tag around with her dopey boyfriend. It's a far cry from her role as Sarah Connor which also would come out in 1984.
So what sayeth ye Outlander? Which do you prefer? Pet Semetary or Children Of The Corn?
I would love to see a remake of Pet Sematary. On paper it's as creepy as can be and could be a great horror film about dealing with grief. What we have now with the 90's film is lacking in comparison. I haven't seen it in more than a decade though. I will say it does have some creepy moments like Zelda and the cat.
