Archive for the ‘Horror’ Category
Halloween films to binge on ( at least for that night)
Top Ten Halloween film to binge on (at least for that night) vol.6
IT CHAPTER 2 wears out its welcome
Whatever the flaws the first IT movie made, it is amplified again by director Andy Muscutti inability to improve Stephen king’s second half of the novel. The main characters are grownup in the form of James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, and Bill Hader. All the adults return after twenty-seven years to again confront the evil Pennywise, reawaken once more to terrorize kids in Derry. The actors are serviceable in their roles with Bader being the stand out as a comedian who hides a bitter secret from his childhood.
The storyline is no different than the first, only bigger, louder and annoyingly longer in its running time. Muscutti must have thought he was doing his own horror version of Endgame. Whereas at least with that behemoth there were some poignant moments that were earned after so many years. Here the past and present are piled on top of each other, flip-flopping between the entire cast having nightmarish visions, with that much abundance it drags toward the three-hour mark as if this warrants a clunky showdown that was done slightly better in chapter 1.
Bill Skargards as the antagonist Pennywise keeps the film on track as well as Hader whenever they’re on screen but their absences call attention to the structure that sinks it whenever their not. Mention should be made of the very noticeable CGI in making the kids young as they were in the original, The overused jump scares scattered about or the odd scene in the restaurant where the adult characters are smashing chairs over tables fending off Phantasmal images, with barely a reaction from the hostess/ patrons on the vandalizing carnage.
The beginning of the film starts promisingly enough, a horrendous hate attack shows the indifferent decline of empathy in Derry as Pennywise’s evil expands emotionally beyond and just not simply gobbling little children. Had the film dealt a bit more with the town, it would have given a little much-needed gravitas to the situation instead of cheap scares.
Admittedly the first IT wasn’t that impressive, but the kids dealing with their adolescent problems and Pennywise at least afforded some emotional connections. Here IT 2 is just a pretend horror epic with no substance.
I give it a quick domestic beer with very little taste.
Top Ten Halloween movies to binge (at least for that night.) Vol.5
It’s that time of year again, so as you remove the razor blades from the apples and wonder why certain candies taste funny, check these flicks out.
BLACULA ( 1972)
Despite the black exploitation nature, it really isn’t a bad vampire picture with William Marshall giving a very commanding performance, A Nubian prince is bitten by Dracula himself, reawakens to the present day to seek out his lost love now reincarnated again.
Nightlife will never be the same.
SCARY FUN
What keeps you alive (2018)
Two women in love realize they’re really not cut out for each other. See what I did there?
CHILLER SUSPENSE
Wishmaster (1997)
This movie doesn’t get enough recognition. An evil djinn grants your most desirous of wishes, with the results of getting more than you bargained for. Plenty of cameos of horror icons like Robert England and Tony Todd passing through to give it a bit of class. There is a good deal of humor but the horror is played straight.
SCARY FUN
Crawl (2019)
In the tradition of JAWS, comes this triple down feature with Crocodiles munching their way through a river soaked town. Mangia everybody.
SCARY FUN
The Void (2016)
Possibly the most Lovecraftian story that Lovecraft didn’t write. This throwback gives a nod toward old school practical effects and delivers in spades. Throw in killer cults, failed experiments and a doorway to wherever and you got a party going on. Sit tight, the gore is going to hit the fan.
SCARY FUN
Beyond the Door (1974)
Not remotely in the same class as The Exorcist, but in an odd way it certainly sits at the back of the room. A young mother pregnant with her third child behaves erratically, which may be due to the unborn child being the antichrist. Expect the usual tropes that were already cliche even at that time. Still there’s a few creepiness to be mined here.
SCARY FUN
The girl with all the Gifts (2016)
Zombie films are such a tired genre, but along comes Train to Busan to give us a new perspective. The Girl with all the gifts offers up another unique approach. The world is already ravaged by hordes of infected zombies because of a fungal disease, but hope lies with an intelligent but curious little girl imprisoned by a military/ science facility. Suffering from the same affliction, and being a hybrid may hold the key in finding a cure, only things don’t go as planned in this dystopian landscape.
SCARY FUN
The Body Snatchers (1945)
Why get your hands all dirty digging up cadavers when they’re are live victims about. Mood period piece courtesy of Robert Wise and Val Newton. They don’t come better than this.
OLD SCHOOL CLASSIC
Overlord (2018)
What’s a world war 2 movies without a few nazi soldiers and inhuman creatures trying to obliterate our American GIs, Hey…would I be mistaken if somehow this seems like an adaptation of the video game Wolfenstein…no; Nevermind.
SCARY FUN
Zodiac (2007)
If you’re ever wondering what inspired Netflix’s Manhunter series, look no further than David Fincher’s crime thriller, based on a true story on the procedural hunt for the real-life serial killer Zodiac. Not technically a horror film but the eeriness may have you looking over your shoulder now and then.
CHILLER SUSPENSE
Top ten Halloween movies to binge (at least for that night ) vol.4
A Cure for Wellness (2016)
Possibly the most misunderstood horror flick, dismissed by mainstream critics as being cold and uninteresting is quite the opposite, this picture is retro throwback to the Universal and Hammer films of old. Visually beautiful in every shot, it can actually be framed it into a picturesque novel. A management firm sends a very unscrupulous analyst to a wellness spa in the Swiss alps to retrieve a CEO representative responsible for the mishandling of company funds. What he finds there are rich residents dyhydrating despite drinking tons water, a young waif seemingly out of place, staff behaving strangely, aquatic eels showing up where they shouldn’t and a doctor straight out of a mad scientist handbook. Planet fitness this isn’t.
SCARY FUN
Lake Mungo (2008)
A faux documentary of a young girl’s suicide and the haunting that may be affecting a family, but there are some twists that prove something more mudane and even that is questionable. Layered in puzzles, the film is a slow burn that has a scene at one pivotal point had the hairs on my head stand on end. Take note found footage fans, this is how you really do it right.
DOWNRIGHT DISTURBING
The leopard Man (1943)
Like fine wine, this vintage movie just gets better and better. A leopard escapes from a dance act and wreaks havoc on a small town. But certain evidence might say otherwise. Horror aficionados take note of all the tropes that to this day is still used.
OLD SCHOOL CLASSIC
A train to Busan (2016)
Tired of zombies yet?
Don’t give up yet, this gives new life from the walking dead boredom from that cable show. Estranged father and daughter are traveling on a non stop train filled with infected passengers at one end. Terrific Set up that honestly play no games with heartfelt moments and kinectic thrills.
SCARY FUN
Annihilation (2018)
It’s debatable, it leans more to Sci-fi than horror, but there are elements of Cronenbergian influence in parts coupled with a horrid mutated monster that chills just based on the concept of it. An expedition of military and scientific women take a journey into a isolated spot called the shimmer, an area that transform all organic matter into something else as it slowly expands outward across the land. A laid back film with a sense of maturity to the subject of what is life
CHILLER SUSPENSE
Incident at ghostland (2018)
I told you that Martyrs was disturbing as fuck, well the director is back to do it again, so expect a little misogyny and sadistic violence in the process. Brutal rampage is visited on a mother and two daughters that survives a horrific home attack. One of the daughters years later returns to the same house to assist her mother in taking care of a still traumatized sister. But is the emotional scars really dealt with or is there’s a sinister reality ready to emerge that may be even worse. A decent psychological thriller.
CHILLER SUSPENSE
The Green Room (2o15)
The first mistake of a punk rock band to do is play anti nazi songs for a racist skin head crowd, the second is to witness a murder, which could lead to not getting paid but also not getting another gig …….permanently. Patrick Stewart almost steals the scene as a grandfatherly nazi, what more could you ask.
SCARY FUN
Don’t Breath (2016)
Three young niave thieves break into one particular house too many. A grizzled blind war vet has a few surprises for them as well as a horrid secret kept in the basement. Villainous Stephen lang lookin’ buff and definitely taking no names, is kicking ass as a would be victim turn vicious predator.
CHILLER SUSPENSE
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
One of the few titles that lives up to its name. Witchery is afoot as a Father and son mortician duo tries tries to peel back (literally) the body of Jane doe, trying to find clues to who she is and the phantasmal events closing in around them. Straight up horror the way you like it.
SCARY FUN
Hereditary (2018)
Few horror films very rarely deal with grief and loss with any real convictions. Toni Collette pulls a Academy award performance as a mother dealing with the unraveling of a family as tragic circumstances leads her down to even darker roads. A slow burner with a nasty nihilistic streak through it.
Beware the clucking sound.
CHILLER SUSPENSE
IT
There are at least three requirements I need when it comes to big budget Hollywood horror films, I call it the Poltergiest (1982) test, either scare, creep or thrill me. Some films very rarely do all if any. IT based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, falls somewhere between being interesting enough that I didn’t fidget to much in my seat and wasn’t bored, fact is for all the money spent on this, its very light on the scares or rather the ineffectivenes of it. What works are the performances from the young stars but the two that impressed me the most were ( Jeremy Ray Taylor ) as the bullied fat kid and (Sophia lillis) the lone female of this little band of outcasts, privately struggling with her own sexual maturity and the problems that comes with it. she is the shining star out of the group and probably the best jailbait ever on screen for teen boys since Ally Sheedy from Wargames.
The overall premise is meshed with a coming of age tropes mixed with childhood fears. A sewer dwelling entity called Pennywise ( played with obvious menace 101 by Bill Skarsgard ), using various visages of a circus clown and other nightmarish images to terrorize the youngsters of Derry Maine, consuming their life and fears for immortality every 27 years. Director (Andy Muschietti ) telegraph the spectoral situations with a pedestrian eye suited more for a Halloween parade in daylight. As sadly suspected loud clanging music and a generic jump scare style follow, making no lasting impression. The movie is listless, lacking a grounded urgency to give any gravitas to the events thát we the audience should be invested in. Despite all this the film still holds our interest when the kids are on screen dealing with earthly problems like social acceptability or personal difficulties. It is the Stand by Me moments that actually work best.
Unfortunately when the supernatural starts getting in gear, the film falters, missing some really needed complexities to flesh out the town’s history and a few minor character aside, but at least IT has a reasonable running time.
Bring on part 2.
I give it a decent Pabst blue ribbon, but a chaser is neêded.
Top Halloween films to binge on (at least for that night) vol .3
You’ve read the last blog so the ratings remain the same. so a quick reminder to categorized the tone of each film.
SCARY FUN
DOWNRIGHT DISTURBING
CHILLER SUSPENSE
OLD SCHOOL CLASSIC
now get those sickening sweets you collected from strangers and chow down and shiver with these chillers.
Horror Hotel 1961
Probably the last place you want to vacation at, what with the constant fog and murderous witches and all.
SCARY FUN
A tale of two sisters 2003
The tragic complexities between sisters and present family gives full range to ghostly events.
CHILLER SUSPENSE
Prince of darkness 1987
Lovecraftian in tone as evil entities lay out the red carpet in the form of possessed human bodies, a demon -god never had it so good under John Carpenter’s directorial style.
SCARY FUN
Island of lost souls 1932
There’s been other updated remakes of HG Wells mad science gone wrong, but this original got the frightening macabre tones just right. {see full review}
OLD SCHOOL CLASSIC
Horror of Dracula 1958
Who knew someone could make a lively version of Stoker’s novel, Christopher lee makes the count to cool for school while Peter Cushing is a kick ass Van Helsing.
OLD SCHOOL CLASSIC
Homicidal 1961
Tarantino said this was better than Pyscho, ( spoiler alert?) a matter of opinion of course, still a fine William Castle romp in shlock horror.
OLD SCHOOL CLASSIC
Audition 1999
Dating is hard enough and made even more so when lying that your a casting agent. Results of mutilations have a way of dampening a romantic evening.
DOWNRIGHT DISTURBING
The Wolfman 1941
The great grand daddy of them all, this is where all werewolf tropes originated from, which half a century later is still used by movies and writers today, not bad for bullshit pulled out of the screenwriter’s ass . Make note that Lon Chaney jr’s performance as the doomed protagonist is very strong.
OLD SCHOOL CLASSIC
The Babadook 2014
A distressed mother and her shrilly voiced young son is set upon by a frightful storyboard character come to life. Should have stuck with D.R. Suess. Possibly the most criminally underrated horror movie in recent memory.
SCARY FUN
Splinters 2011
I’ll admit the camera work could have done less with the earth quake jerk about, but for the moments when we do get a look at the titled monster, its worth it. This is The Blob’s visisting cousin, a parasitical lifeform reanimates in a splintery mass and goes on a mindless rampage . fun for the whole family.
SCARY FUN
The Midnight Meat Train 2008
Serial killer give new meaning to the words “dining car” . Probably the most unbelievable part is that the train runs on time.
SCARY FUN
Happy Halloween.
Top Halloween films to binge on (at least for that night) vol 2
If you’ve read the last blog (and you should have) the ratings hasn’t changed and the selections are based on the familiar and the less familiar or rather not the usual fare other blogs constantly trot every year, so a quick reminder to categorized the tone of each film.
SCARY FUN
DOWNRIGHT DISTURBING
CHILLER SUSPENSE
OLD SCHOOL CLASSIC
So let’s get that popcorn a burning and the diet coke flowing and get into the chill factor.
The Children: 2008
Parenticide murders aplenty by tiny tots in this bad seed send off.
Chiller suspense
Dog soldiers: 2002
A lone military patrol squad try to evade being eaten by lycanthropized canines. Let the ass kickin’ begin.
Scary fun
Videodrome: 1983
Hard to describe, a kind of a philosophical ideology about media and television and its effect on a changing society. Whatever; it’s a gorefest with great FX, brought to you by body horror master himself David Cronenberg.
Old school classic
A Siberian film: 2010
Necrophilia, pedophilia, mix murder with sadism and a quick dose of nihilism and you have story about a former male porn star cursed with an insatiable bloodlust, screw the explanation of this film being some sort of political metaphor, this isn’t Salo on that level but it will test your tolerance.
Downright disturbing
The Cell: 2000
An arty version of the Nightmare Elm street kind, Jennifer ( on the block) Lopez, uses high tech science to peer into the mind of comatose serial killer Vincent D’ onofrio. Bizarre and gruesome images unlock clues to a missing victim in danger as time runs out. It looks better than it sounds.
Chiller suspense
Orphan: 2009
Unsuspecting parents seemingly adopts a prim and proper little girl….. that has a sweet tooth for murder, stay for the ending it’s a head-tripper.
Scary fun
Megan is missing: 2011
A precautionary tale done in found footage style about the dangers of online meetings and the tragic consequences of that result. Yeah you need a drink after this.
Downright disturbing
Unfriended: 2015
Exposes the destructive nature of teens in social media, only to have it come back to bite them in the proverbial ass. It is somewhat found footage but it works better in the media device in which you watch it, best to view this Skype like thriller on a PC than your television, it’ll for a few seconds give off an illusionary feel that your part of it.
Chiller suspense
The Haunting 1961:
Forget Jan Debont’s bullshit remake and take this atmospheric black and white version, about paranormal investigators doing what they do best, Investigate. Director Robert Wise gives an eerie and moody ambiance that creeps in the back of your mind.
Old school classic
TOP Halloween films to watch (at least for that night)
Around this time of year just about every website ad nausea , roll out the their top ten or twenty horror films to join in the over crowded recommendation pile. So we at Thoughts on Cinema might as well join in. Below are eight carefully selected suggestions to binge all night long. To help in the order to watch them, there is a fear meter under : Scary fun-frights with a few laughs, Downright Disturbing- well done but uncomfortable subject matter, Chiller Suspense -moments of creepiness and mystery and old school classic - refined horror at its best.
If you don’t see the usual suspects like the Exorcist or the Shining, it was left off mainly because their already “go to” favorites everywhere else online, going to try some curve balls here and there. So get ready with your Netflix or illegally favorite torrent site, get that burnt popcorn going and see what nightmares are really made of.
Diabolique (1955)
Forget the remake with Sharon Stone, watch the french version instead. An abused wife and neglected mistress murders husband, only to find the body missing later and peculiar occurrences plaguing both women.{ Chiller Suspense}
Phantasm (1979)
Mausoleums, flying finger monsters, the tall man, spheres that drill into your head and killer dwarfs from another dimensions, What does it all mean, I haven’t a clue but this is the most original horror fantasy at that time and even now. { Scary fun}
Fiend without a face (1958)
The usual mishaps of science experiments gone way wrong.One of the few Sci-fi with a creepy feel to it. The appearances of the creatures once invisible is especially high on the eek meter.{old school classic}
Martyrs (2008)
Child abuse escalating into violent vengeance, which leads to something even worse. One of the few horror films that actually perturbed me. This is not for the squeamish.{ Downright Disturbing }
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Forget its low budget minimalist leanings, it actually works in its favor. Woman survives a drag racing accident that kills her friends, but the trauma has left her feeling disconnected to things and seeing strange figures that are not there. The atmosphere of unease permeates from scene to scene. { old school classic .}
The Descent (2005)
How dangerous could cave expedition be, our women explorers are about to find out, Oh yeah there is something down there alright. { Scary fun}
Noroi: The Curse (2005)
A found footage that actually has a story to it, this Japanese import deals with a paranormal documentarian investigating a case which in terms leads to his disappearance. The events are put together by the film evidence left behind. After awhile the unraveling tale creates a thick sense of dread to it. {Chiller Suspense }
From Beyond (1986)
Based 0n H.P. lovecraft ‘s short story. A machine called a Resonator is made to stimulate the human pineal gland, giving the person to perceive and enter another dimension where all sorts of big and small critters lurk. When the apparatus goes out of control…. well you can see for yourself. { Scary fun}
Happy Halloween folks!!
Body Double (1984)
Subtle wouldn’t be Brian Depalma’s favorite word as he rummage through Hitchcock’s drawers for this mish-mosh update of Rear Window and Vertigo. Jake Scully (Craig Wasson) suffers from claustrophobia, fear of enclosed or crowded places. A bit actor working in a low budget vampire, looks for a place to crash, a chance meeting with another fellow actor Sam (Gregg Henry) offers him to house sit while away. Using a home telescope, he sets his peepers on negligee wearing female dancing provocatively in a neighboring window, cue the the Pino Donaggio erotic score just in case if you weren’t ĺawake. Voyeurism soon turns into pantomime drama via an open window, uncovering domestic abuse, menacing stalkers and finally her murder. Guilt ridden over the tragic event, he later stumbles across a porn commercial showing a video of actress Holly Body (an air- headed Melanie Griffith channeling Judy Holiday) using the same exact dance movements. Convinced the crime was a set up and the woman involved, Jake enters ( double entendres are abound in writing this.) the adult entertainment as a performer, engaging in record time a role opposite the woman in question and a cameo in a Frankie goes to Hollywood Video. This is simple abc’s for this type of genre, but the camp moments are way over the top. It loses cohesiveness because its laughing at its own indulgence. Conventional cliches are being send up for sure but if the director couldn’t take it seriously why should we. However there is a thrilling scene with a street drill, realigning the balance of dark humor and violence. Unfortunately its the one decent aspect. The most awkward sequence that mars the film further is the climatic ending; interrupted by a flashback that disrupts the narrative. Uninspired; the movie plods along to a flat ending, on screen The whole thing feels lazy, maybe midway through the picture Depalma said fuck it……literally.
Somewhat a very disappointing sex on the beach drink.