Well today mostly sucked but a horror movie and food will cure most ails.
I'm not really sure how to convey my opinions on this film, I feel I'd just be describing scenes and moments and not give much input. Not that it's bad, or dull, or boring, but it is weeeeeird. Okay, so the movie was made in 1932 in Germany, and it's almost a silent film. Doesn't make much sense but the movie pretty much breathes bizarre. It's like 80% silent film with text cards and all, yet the other 20% has a bit of dialogue and sound effects not counting the musical score of course. So the story follows a traveller named Allan Gray who gets embroiled in a bunch of very strange happenings. Shadow people roam the hotel he's staying at, he keep hearing noises that have no origin, and may have unwittingly met a blood sucking fiend. So pretty far from your typical vampire movie by every stretch of the definition, the movie barely clocks in at over an hour and feels more like a prolonged nightmare than a cohesive story driven plot. Which makes it tricky to talk about so this will get scatterbrained but here were a few of my observations. It took me over half the film to put my finger on it but our main character reminded me of someone and it finally dawned on me he looks like H.P. Lovecraft, and once I saw that it was a bit hard to stop. The nightmare sequence where Allan experiences being in his coffin and carried to the cemetary is super effective with POV shots and almost disorientating movement. I felt the eerie quality was felt throughout, and did have a few brief moments where the creeps were rolling over me. The movie has a fair bit to owe to the german expressionism genre, and I'll admit even though the effect of the shadow people is ridiculously simple to figure out at the same time I was like, how did they do that? I kinda like the fact you have no idea who the vampire is until the end, because it's not an obvious Max Shreck/Bela Lugosi look so it keeps a decent mystery about it. Also the lore presented is very different, like never heard of in my entire life kinda lore concerning the creatures of the night, which makes sense because this is still very early days for that idea to set roots down. It's incredibly different, and I'm sure not everyone is gonna grasp it and find it entertaining in it's own way but I'm happy I finally got to see it. I give it 3 stars, 7/10, and we'll dip fully into the silent era next time.
Monday, October 17, 2022
Friday, October 14, 2022
Halloween Ends
Alright! We made it.
You might be surprised when I say this but I went into this movie with less than zero expectations. Not at all that I thought the movie would suck, but I literally don't think I even saw a trailer or piece of footage for this movie, and with the internet being the internet I heard some super brief non-spoiler reactions and people said it was the most polarizing and divisive entry in the series and it would take multiple viewings to settle on a score, stuff I haven't heard since The Last Jedi. But the film starts innocently enough with glowing blue titles like in Halloween 3 so you bet I was a pretty happy camper, but the film at a certain point did have me extremely worried. No spilled spoilers from this mouth, but the film takes what was more the undercurrent of Halloween Kills and leans in deeeep with a more introspective almost dissection of the impact of the killings and how the characters are processing it all. I know, I know, not exactly what people would want but man I applaud the movie for pushing that envelope and fully embracing it, trying to go below the surface rather than the blade's tip of depth. We see Laurie actually in a positive state of mind, getting a new house and living with Allison, being social, accepting and moving past the tragedies of her life, and I just love seeing Laurie happy. Some people might argue it goes against her character especially with the death of Karen last film, but guys are you really going to tell me you hate seeing Laurie happy and living her life? Allison meets up with a young man who had a pretty horrific accident happen to him and they start building a bit of a relationship but I can't delve deeper into that. And Michael, okay. Everybody, come in, sit down. There isn't a great deal of Michael Myers in this movie, it almost goes into Season Of The Witch territory and I almost want to say this is his lowest kill count of the series but I will leave that to more professional hands. And there is certain things I would like to say but it's treading so close to spoilers it might as well be slipping into the deep end of that pool so I'll give the slightest hint. If you are fairly informed about how the production ideas for Halloween 5 were developed and very quickly dropped....just saying. Hence my immense worry and possible razing of this film to the ground. But it's okay. It did what I hoped and the ending didn't disappoint. I feel the acting from all parties was spot on and fully commited, bless Jamie and long may her scream queen rule reign, newcomer Rohan Campbell (what a brilliant name) has a lot of screentime and attention but he pulls through and does good work, the chemistry between him and Andi did feel a notch rushed but for her final performamce in this trilogy (Quadrilogy perhaps?) she went out on a good note. James Jude Courtney still has that imposing presence and honestly seeing Michael move fast if even just for a few seconds kinda freaked me out, but as I said because he doesn't have much time it does affect the score, though not by his physical acting he stays tried and true to the last two movies easily. Now, can I indeed see where people might disconnect and divide into their respective camps over this movie? A little bit. My wishlist was fulfilled, I respect the hell out of the movie for going into uncharted territory, I did like it. However. The question now comes into my mind, how will the film hold up on repeat viewings in the future? I just don't know. It could drop, it could stay relatively the same in terms of score. So please take it with a grain of salt, just hang tight before commiting to a positive or negative viewpoint of it until all is said and done and you can form everything you want to say. It's not for everyone, but that doesn't discount or discredit it either. I give it 2.5 stars, 7/10, at the bare bones of it all the movie has my respect for commitment to the end. And that good friends is the last Halloween movie, we got them all done. It took 7 years but we got there. Next week will be easier, mostly.
Thursday, October 13, 2022
Halloween II (2009)
Well that was an experience.
I may not like it as much as the first one but I didn't really hate it. We pick up one year after Michael got shot in the computer at point blank range, and Laurie is irrevocably damaged from the experience still having nightmares and trauma from that night when guess who's coming over Halloween night? It deals a lot more with just the fallout of the first film than killing is Michael's business and business is good, and takes almost a more cerebral/psychic drive with both Laurie and Michael and their familial connection. I mean duuuude, if you thought I was upset with how much shit Laurie had to go through in the first film I was about ready to riot here. There is no cathartic victorious ending, if anything it firmly sets in just the horror and the heartbreak which occurs when something terrible happens like a killing. The deaths are absurdly grisly, I learned the hard way don't watch this movie while dining, but all the more that goes to show how super well done the effects artists at work are here. And somehow it got more angry, it makes the first movie look like Michael was just kind of annoyed when he's knifing people I mean Jezuz Cuhryst man! But I feel the emotions and the drama haven't been lost, though we don't spend a lot of screen time on Danielle and Brad my heavens above the acting and cute family dynamic they have is amazing. Like I firmly believe, if I have to set up a petition for this then so be it, but there has got to be like an Academy Award show based around the horror industry. Brad Dourif is such a commited actor and I love him to pieces, Danielle Harris still brings it and I was severely upset emotionally seeing her not survive this time, Scout is my heart shattering into tiny fragments throughout this movie I think she's wonderful conveying all this emotional and psychological baggage, friggin' Malcolm McDowell just being this heartless capitalizing son of a bitch is far from Sam Loomis but the guy nails it! I know people have grievances with the psychological connection and hallucinations Michael and Laurie have but guys this is so not a new thing in the Halloween series, people rolled with it at Halloween 5 you can look past it here. It gets artsy, and I'm not really sure what the implication is of it all, but it's more in the background. I guess I can't say I hate it, and knowing this production being even more of a pain in the ass for Rob Zombie and even fiercer meddling from the studio I don't blame the guy for doing what he did. They were gonna make a theatrical mockery out of his shit man, and he wasn't gonna stand for it. So he made it weirder, more out there, pushed it to the outskirts of the playing field this series has been on for at that point 31 years. I can't fault him, it wasn't a bad movie, it turned a lot of people off and didn't perform well, but I can live with it existing. I give it 2.5 stars, 6/10, maybe it won't get some re-evaluation like the first movie but I still think it has it's own merits. Does it truly end tomorrow? Does Halloween ever really end? If they stick to their guns and just f***ing do it no matter what, it'll have my respect at least. We'll see.
I may not like it as much as the first one but I didn't really hate it. We pick up one year after Michael got shot in the computer at point blank range, and Laurie is irrevocably damaged from the experience still having nightmares and trauma from that night when guess who's coming over Halloween night? It deals a lot more with just the fallout of the first film than killing is Michael's business and business is good, and takes almost a more cerebral/psychic drive with both Laurie and Michael and their familial connection. I mean duuuude, if you thought I was upset with how much shit Laurie had to go through in the first film I was about ready to riot here. There is no cathartic victorious ending, if anything it firmly sets in just the horror and the heartbreak which occurs when something terrible happens like a killing. The deaths are absurdly grisly, I learned the hard way don't watch this movie while dining, but all the more that goes to show how super well done the effects artists at work are here. And somehow it got more angry, it makes the first movie look like Michael was just kind of annoyed when he's knifing people I mean Jezuz Cuhryst man! But I feel the emotions and the drama haven't been lost, though we don't spend a lot of screen time on Danielle and Brad my heavens above the acting and cute family dynamic they have is amazing. Like I firmly believe, if I have to set up a petition for this then so be it, but there has got to be like an Academy Award show based around the horror industry. Brad Dourif is such a commited actor and I love him to pieces, Danielle Harris still brings it and I was severely upset emotionally seeing her not survive this time, Scout is my heart shattering into tiny fragments throughout this movie I think she's wonderful conveying all this emotional and psychological baggage, friggin' Malcolm McDowell just being this heartless capitalizing son of a bitch is far from Sam Loomis but the guy nails it! I know people have grievances with the psychological connection and hallucinations Michael and Laurie have but guys this is so not a new thing in the Halloween series, people rolled with it at Halloween 5 you can look past it here. It gets artsy, and I'm not really sure what the implication is of it all, but it's more in the background. I guess I can't say I hate it, and knowing this production being even more of a pain in the ass for Rob Zombie and even fiercer meddling from the studio I don't blame the guy for doing what he did. They were gonna make a theatrical mockery out of his shit man, and he wasn't gonna stand for it. So he made it weirder, more out there, pushed it to the outskirts of the playing field this series has been on for at that point 31 years. I can't fault him, it wasn't a bad movie, it turned a lot of people off and didn't perform well, but I can live with it existing. I give it 2.5 stars, 6/10, maybe it won't get some re-evaluation like the first movie but I still think it has it's own merits. Does it truly end tomorrow? Does Halloween ever really end? If they stick to their guns and just f***ing do it no matter what, it'll have my respect at least. We'll see.
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Halloween (2007)
Alright guys I'm stumped, why is this hated?
Well okay, maybe it's not hated now but I think it was kind of a given in the late 2000s the new Halloween movie sucked. I fail to see any serious issue here. Rob Zombie was flat out told by John Carpenter to do whatever he wants, and by his account the production more specifically pressure from studio execs was a damn nightmare (sit and spin on a flaming sword by the by Harvey Weinstein you waste of atoms). I knew it was going to be something different so I dropped everything, settled down and started watching it. People can bitch all they want about the childhood stuff, but me personally I think I get what Rob was going for here. It's not so much the fact that Michael had a severe dysfunctional and trashy family so therefore he becomes a killer, it's more that something that becomes this horrific mass murdering monster can spawn from anywhere and any family dynamic. And I'll admit, that portion of the film had a strong grip on my attention delving into some drama, dare I say compelling storytelling, I would watch a movie that takes a serial killer documentary style feel with Loomis and Michael as the years progress, seeing Loomis try and fail more and more to reach this young boy and it genuinely upsets him. The acting from Sheri, Malcolm, and Daeg are rock solid in my opinion. And even when we break on through to more familiar grounds it's still fairly unpredictable. Laurie is a lot more extroverted and fun, I'd guard Scout with my body and soul forever she is such a sweetie, and by God you would never want something bad to happen to her in this movie. In fact, I like all our main girls and even their parents a great deal and thus when the bodies start dropping you feel upset. This is far from the case of annoying little shits that need to drop dead and fast in other slasher movies. You think I would root against Danielle Harris? Get f***ed. And I know, I know. She wanted the role, she wanted to show off some skin, that is your life and your career hun, go for it. Me though? Oh no! No no! You're going the wrong way movie!! You need to turn around! Turn the f*** around!!! STOP! No thank you. And speaking of said kills, holy balls of fire it is rough. I mean the effects are very well done, but it's just so....angry and just messed up to watch. I honestly think Michael hasn't been this dominating and looming and scary since the first movie. When Tyler Mane gets that mask on and he can just stand there and I'm just over here like ohhhhh shiiiiit me, clearly he is embodying the role well. He does blindside you at times, cause you think well he's got the silent stalking part down perfectly, and you think he's gonna stalk just a bit longer. He ain't got time for that, there be no stealthy kills here, he will kick your shit in after breaking some more shit. And I found the fundamental idea of babysitters being attacked by a killer to work impressively well after all this time. I just don't get it. It's a good movie, it's not a masterpiece, it sure as goddamn hellfire ain't Resurrection bad. It has plenty to like, the characters are handled well, the horror is still felt, it's shot quite well, you just have to let it be and judge it on it's own merits. It's not a remake, it's a reimagining. I am also aware of some cuts and versions out there, just go watch The Kill Count break it down, I mean seriously if there is friggin' one thing you should be watching regularly this month and every month it's those good people. So 3 stars from me, 7/10, not too sure what to expect from the sequel but we'll find out soon enough.
Well okay, maybe it's not hated now but I think it was kind of a given in the late 2000s the new Halloween movie sucked. I fail to see any serious issue here. Rob Zombie was flat out told by John Carpenter to do whatever he wants, and by his account the production more specifically pressure from studio execs was a damn nightmare (sit and spin on a flaming sword by the by Harvey Weinstein you waste of atoms). I knew it was going to be something different so I dropped everything, settled down and started watching it. People can bitch all they want about the childhood stuff, but me personally I think I get what Rob was going for here. It's not so much the fact that Michael had a severe dysfunctional and trashy family so therefore he becomes a killer, it's more that something that becomes this horrific mass murdering monster can spawn from anywhere and any family dynamic. And I'll admit, that portion of the film had a strong grip on my attention delving into some drama, dare I say compelling storytelling, I would watch a movie that takes a serial killer documentary style feel with Loomis and Michael as the years progress, seeing Loomis try and fail more and more to reach this young boy and it genuinely upsets him. The acting from Sheri, Malcolm, and Daeg are rock solid in my opinion. And even when we break on through to more familiar grounds it's still fairly unpredictable. Laurie is a lot more extroverted and fun, I'd guard Scout with my body and soul forever she is such a sweetie, and by God you would never want something bad to happen to her in this movie. In fact, I like all our main girls and even their parents a great deal and thus when the bodies start dropping you feel upset. This is far from the case of annoying little shits that need to drop dead and fast in other slasher movies. You think I would root against Danielle Harris? Get f***ed. And I know, I know. She wanted the role, she wanted to show off some skin, that is your life and your career hun, go for it. Me though? Oh no! No no! You're going the wrong way movie!! You need to turn around! Turn the f*** around!!! STOP! No thank you. And speaking of said kills, holy balls of fire it is rough. I mean the effects are very well done, but it's just so....angry and just messed up to watch. I honestly think Michael hasn't been this dominating and looming and scary since the first movie. When Tyler Mane gets that mask on and he can just stand there and I'm just over here like ohhhhh shiiiiit me, clearly he is embodying the role well. He does blindside you at times, cause you think well he's got the silent stalking part down perfectly, and you think he's gonna stalk just a bit longer. He ain't got time for that, there be no stealthy kills here, he will kick your shit in after breaking some more shit. And I found the fundamental idea of babysitters being attacked by a killer to work impressively well after all this time. I just don't get it. It's a good movie, it's not a masterpiece, it sure as goddamn hellfire ain't Resurrection bad. It has plenty to like, the characters are handled well, the horror is still felt, it's shot quite well, you just have to let it be and judge it on it's own merits. It's not a remake, it's a reimagining. I am also aware of some cuts and versions out there, just go watch The Kill Count break it down, I mean seriously if there is friggin' one thing you should be watching regularly this month and every month it's those good people. So 3 stars from me, 7/10, not too sure what to expect from the sequel but we'll find out soon enough.
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Halloween Resurrection
This f***ing day has been coming since 2015.
So what did I think of the final movie of the original series? Bullshit. That's what I think. Total f***ing bullshit. The fact I spent 3 dollars on this is a travesty. I am so not happy guys. Resurrection my ass, this put the series into the ground for good until Rob wanted to do his own spin, and there's no resurrection! It's a sham!! It's all a lie! Ughhh, okay let's do this shit. So unfortunately, we pick up about 2 years after 20 Years Later with Laurie in a mental hospital because and you're gonna love this, Michael did not get his head knocked clean off with an axe to the face but swapped places with one of the paramedics at the crime scene, crushed his voicebox so the man couldn't speak, and has been on the loose ever since. So thanks for taking that final huzzah, the big V for Laurie right the shittin' hell away, Michael then offs Laurie in the first maybe 15 minutes, which is a nice additional nod to her mom Janet Leigh of Psycho fame, but frankly my dear I'm happy you didn't give a damn and wanted out as quick as possible. So an indeterminate period of time has passed before we meet up with our new group of veal lined up for the slaughterhouse, who really can be sectioned off into stereotypes I mean I know, this is a horror movie it is a part of the fundamental DNA of a slasher film, but it's fairly egregious. Main girl, dopey best friend, actually a pretty likeable and fun black dude, awkward nerd, philosophical brainy girl, wiseass guy just wanting some tail, all we're missing is some shit heel jock and we could be summoning Captain Planet. And if you don't get that reference, that is NMFP (Not My F***ing Problem)! And they're so goddamn infuriating and annoying and stupid! Sweet Jesus God I was ready to start throwing fists at the wall man! I'm serious, anyone ANYONE who says Halloween Kills is the worst of the Halloween franchise is officially on my shit list and I will fight you on the side of the street!! Ohhh, oh hohoho, I feel the rage coursing through me today boy! Let's at least try to name some positives. The effects I feel in terms of kills and gore are pretty good. The movie was a bit ahead of it's time with this sort of livestreaming interactive video thing our host of victims are participating in, granted the technology is dated as all get out but that's some forward thinking for a movie made 20 years ago. I will say in all honesty, Busta Rhymes is not a bad actor, you can say and you are correct on what he does in the movie is ridiculous and punks Michael Myers out hardcore, but the man is commited to this goofy ass dialogue and actually pulls it off with a lot of charm, likeability, even charisma, and is pretty funny! I'll admit hearing Busta Rhymes shout in a Michael Myers mask and cussing up a storm made me laugh my ass off unironically. The kung-fu is a bit much but I cannot say I entirely hated his performance. Uhhhh....what else? Props to the redhead for showing off some skin, woman's got more gnards than I do, respect to you. Uhmm, the kills were inventive? This bit is over, we're moving on. I will say it was a bit hard to watch this film, I know ha ha funny funny, but the actual swapping between grainy, fuzzy ass, static kinda shaky filled POV cameras and the crisp, decent, professional cinematography was affecting my eyes a bit. I don't think it should cause any serious issues to people with epilepsy or motion sickness or anything, but it did fiddle with my eyes a wee notch. I don't know what else to say, I just...shit! I have been dreading this day more than getting to Halloween 6, when I dropped Halloween 1, 2, and 3 waaaayyy back in 2015 I doomed myself, I knew I was gonna get to it. Was it worth it? Not particularly. I should have called it quits at Season Of The Witch, we didn't get better than that until 2018. Oh my God, just run, leave, abort, abandon ship, avoid, fly into the event horizon of a black hole, just stay away. 1 star, 3/10. Moustapha Akkad I respect and appreciate what you and your family have done for this series, I would never besmirch your good name or any of your realtives, the affinity you hold for these movies, not now not ever, but was Resurrection really the right step forward? The world is far from perfect, we're on a rough timeline here folks, bad things happen, but look to the mistakes of the past to craft a better future in all it's avenues and facets. Learn and progress. And just a mere 5 years later, after the horrible death of Moustapha and his daughter Rima in 2005, Rob Zombie took up the reigns in 2007 for his own version and sequel which we will be covering next time.
So what did I think of the final movie of the original series? Bullshit. That's what I think. Total f***ing bullshit. The fact I spent 3 dollars on this is a travesty. I am so not happy guys. Resurrection my ass, this put the series into the ground for good until Rob wanted to do his own spin, and there's no resurrection! It's a sham!! It's all a lie! Ughhh, okay let's do this shit. So unfortunately, we pick up about 2 years after 20 Years Later with Laurie in a mental hospital because and you're gonna love this, Michael did not get his head knocked clean off with an axe to the face but swapped places with one of the paramedics at the crime scene, crushed his voicebox so the man couldn't speak, and has been on the loose ever since. So thanks for taking that final huzzah, the big V for Laurie right the shittin' hell away, Michael then offs Laurie in the first maybe 15 minutes, which is a nice additional nod to her mom Janet Leigh of Psycho fame, but frankly my dear I'm happy you didn't give a damn and wanted out as quick as possible. So an indeterminate period of time has passed before we meet up with our new group of veal lined up for the slaughterhouse, who really can be sectioned off into stereotypes I mean I know, this is a horror movie it is a part of the fundamental DNA of a slasher film, but it's fairly egregious. Main girl, dopey best friend, actually a pretty likeable and fun black dude, awkward nerd, philosophical brainy girl, wiseass guy just wanting some tail, all we're missing is some shit heel jock and we could be summoning Captain Planet. And if you don't get that reference, that is NMFP (Not My F***ing Problem)! And they're so goddamn infuriating and annoying and stupid! Sweet Jesus God I was ready to start throwing fists at the wall man! I'm serious, anyone ANYONE who says Halloween Kills is the worst of the Halloween franchise is officially on my shit list and I will fight you on the side of the street!! Ohhh, oh hohoho, I feel the rage coursing through me today boy! Let's at least try to name some positives. The effects I feel in terms of kills and gore are pretty good. The movie was a bit ahead of it's time with this sort of livestreaming interactive video thing our host of victims are participating in, granted the technology is dated as all get out but that's some forward thinking for a movie made 20 years ago. I will say in all honesty, Busta Rhymes is not a bad actor, you can say and you are correct on what he does in the movie is ridiculous and punks Michael Myers out hardcore, but the man is commited to this goofy ass dialogue and actually pulls it off with a lot of charm, likeability, even charisma, and is pretty funny! I'll admit hearing Busta Rhymes shout in a Michael Myers mask and cussing up a storm made me laugh my ass off unironically. The kung-fu is a bit much but I cannot say I entirely hated his performance. Uhhhh....what else? Props to the redhead for showing off some skin, woman's got more gnards than I do, respect to you. Uhmm, the kills were inventive? This bit is over, we're moving on. I will say it was a bit hard to watch this film, I know ha ha funny funny, but the actual swapping between grainy, fuzzy ass, static kinda shaky filled POV cameras and the crisp, decent, professional cinematography was affecting my eyes a bit. I don't think it should cause any serious issues to people with epilepsy or motion sickness or anything, but it did fiddle with my eyes a wee notch. I don't know what else to say, I just...shit! I have been dreading this day more than getting to Halloween 6, when I dropped Halloween 1, 2, and 3 waaaayyy back in 2015 I doomed myself, I knew I was gonna get to it. Was it worth it? Not particularly. I should have called it quits at Season Of The Witch, we didn't get better than that until 2018. Oh my God, just run, leave, abort, abandon ship, avoid, fly into the event horizon of a black hole, just stay away. 1 star, 3/10. Moustapha Akkad I respect and appreciate what you and your family have done for this series, I would never besmirch your good name or any of your realtives, the affinity you hold for these movies, not now not ever, but was Resurrection really the right step forward? The world is far from perfect, we're on a rough timeline here folks, bad things happen, but look to the mistakes of the past to craft a better future in all it's avenues and facets. Learn and progress. And just a mere 5 years later, after the horrible death of Moustapha and his daughter Rima in 2005, Rob Zombie took up the reigns in 2007 for his own version and sequel which we will be covering next time.
Friday, October 7, 2022
Tourist Trap
All you mannequin and dummy phobia people may want to skip out on this.
This movie strangely feels like it should have come out in the early 80s but debuted in 1979, combining elements of Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and House Of Wax with a group of travelling young folk through a deserted old road and finding a wax museum that looks like it needs a few new attractions. Basic so far until you get about 5 minutes in and then it becomes a very very different movie. Turning almost into a fever dream of surreal and supernatural occurences but I won't say much more. I legitimately like our cast throughout, Chuck Connors is more or less our lead and I knew for a fact I recognized him from somewhere in the western genre and it turns out he was the star of The Rifleman. Showing my age once again, but I thoroughly enjoyed his performance and would have gladly seen him in more horror movies, not only does he have a strong physique literally carrying our co-stars like a babe in arms, and towering at 6'6" (same height as me by the by), but his acting shows mighty good range here showing off quite a bit of charm and emotion. He was undoubtedly the highlight for me. Jocelyn Jones is a fine final girl, and while her survivor mantle isn't obtained till near the end she did pretty good. Kinda was shocked to see Tanya Roberts in this, and my lord that lady never lost her beauty through time and it's a true shame she passed away this year, so it was a definite treat to see her again. For such a small roster of a cast the movie doesn't feel sparse with good locations but more importantly some unusual extras, now I don't have any kind of problem with mannequins I quite adore Kim Catrall and weathered Autons in Doctor Who with ease, but man it was just a tiny bit creepy in this movie. You don't see them slowly shambling through the sets with the intent to kill, but you sure don't feel settled when a shot is peppered with them. The story moves at a pretty good pace and even got some reactionary kills from me, and I do suggest people give it a go if only just to spread awareness and discuss their own opinions of it. For such a bizzare premise, it's a decent little movie and not by a long shot a bad way to cap off the first week of October. I give it 3 stars, 7/10, and we are wrapping up some unfinished business with a popular horror franchise next week so stay tuned.
This movie strangely feels like it should have come out in the early 80s but debuted in 1979, combining elements of Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and House Of Wax with a group of travelling young folk through a deserted old road and finding a wax museum that looks like it needs a few new attractions. Basic so far until you get about 5 minutes in and then it becomes a very very different movie. Turning almost into a fever dream of surreal and supernatural occurences but I won't say much more. I legitimately like our cast throughout, Chuck Connors is more or less our lead and I knew for a fact I recognized him from somewhere in the western genre and it turns out he was the star of The Rifleman. Showing my age once again, but I thoroughly enjoyed his performance and would have gladly seen him in more horror movies, not only does he have a strong physique literally carrying our co-stars like a babe in arms, and towering at 6'6" (same height as me by the by), but his acting shows mighty good range here showing off quite a bit of charm and emotion. He was undoubtedly the highlight for me. Jocelyn Jones is a fine final girl, and while her survivor mantle isn't obtained till near the end she did pretty good. Kinda was shocked to see Tanya Roberts in this, and my lord that lady never lost her beauty through time and it's a true shame she passed away this year, so it was a definite treat to see her again. For such a small roster of a cast the movie doesn't feel sparse with good locations but more importantly some unusual extras, now I don't have any kind of problem with mannequins I quite adore Kim Catrall and weathered Autons in Doctor Who with ease, but man it was just a tiny bit creepy in this movie. You don't see them slowly shambling through the sets with the intent to kill, but you sure don't feel settled when a shot is peppered with them. The story moves at a pretty good pace and even got some reactionary kills from me, and I do suggest people give it a go if only just to spread awareness and discuss their own opinions of it. For such a bizzare premise, it's a decent little movie and not by a long shot a bad way to cap off the first week of October. I give it 3 stars, 7/10, and we are wrapping up some unfinished business with a popular horror franchise next week so stay tuned.
Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Alice Sweet Alice
Oh Jesus God man!
F***ing hell movie, for something not widely known I know this could be up some horror hounds alley. Okay, gotta get settled and try to relay the plot. So our story begins with a mother and her two daughters Karen and Alice, with Karen being the much more behaved and praised of the siblings while Alice is reaching that angsty teenage phase and is not given a lot of love and is accosted by others, and one day when they attend church Karen is murdered, quite horribly at that. 15 minutes in and an innocent little girl is murdered and burned in a church, and you will recognize a heavy predilection for religious imagery in this movie, this film has more religious stuff in it than The Exorcist. So right away the mystery solving begins as to who killed Karen, and it's not obvious as to who did it despite the title, and for an almost 2 hour film the pacing is kept up super well. However, I can firmly say I've just never quite seen a movie presented like this. The film is unabashedly 70s from fashion, the more washed out film stock, and overall vibe but it's the combination of cinematography, editing, and acting which is an entirely different beast. There is a lot of framing done from a POV even when there isn't anyone there who is watching someone, the editing is peculiar and may seem choppy almost I dare say experimental so this really isn't a movie you watch super casually while doing other things. It demands your full undivided attention but you get something out of it, whether it be production techniques or the story itself. It is a fairly eerie horror film, the music just bugs me out a wee bit, and the killer's choice of attire is most unnerving. That mask man, I will say this straight up without hyperbole or for the purposes of comedy, if I saw anyone regardless of age or gender wearing a yellow raincoat and that mask staring dead straight at me on the sidewalk on Halloween night, you could count the bricks I would shit. Michael Myers wouldn't get me to blink, that would get me to sit in a corner with a loaded rifle until the sun rises. It gets fairly bloody and the stabbing effects did garner squirming and blech sounds aplenty, and yeah it did actually get me to jump even when I saw it coming. It's no hidden horror masterpiece but it did the trick pretty well for me, and for the low low price of $1 on Prime Video I certainly wasn't robbed. Give it a chance, see what you make of it, I was onboard and was pretty happy about seeing it. I give it 3 stars, 7.5/10, and the mask wearing killer trend may continue next time and the week beyond.
F***ing hell movie, for something not widely known I know this could be up some horror hounds alley. Okay, gotta get settled and try to relay the plot. So our story begins with a mother and her two daughters Karen and Alice, with Karen being the much more behaved and praised of the siblings while Alice is reaching that angsty teenage phase and is not given a lot of love and is accosted by others, and one day when they attend church Karen is murdered, quite horribly at that. 15 minutes in and an innocent little girl is murdered and burned in a church, and you will recognize a heavy predilection for religious imagery in this movie, this film has more religious stuff in it than The Exorcist. So right away the mystery solving begins as to who killed Karen, and it's not obvious as to who did it despite the title, and for an almost 2 hour film the pacing is kept up super well. However, I can firmly say I've just never quite seen a movie presented like this. The film is unabashedly 70s from fashion, the more washed out film stock, and overall vibe but it's the combination of cinematography, editing, and acting which is an entirely different beast. There is a lot of framing done from a POV even when there isn't anyone there who is watching someone, the editing is peculiar and may seem choppy almost I dare say experimental so this really isn't a movie you watch super casually while doing other things. It demands your full undivided attention but you get something out of it, whether it be production techniques or the story itself. It is a fairly eerie horror film, the music just bugs me out a wee bit, and the killer's choice of attire is most unnerving. That mask man, I will say this straight up without hyperbole or for the purposes of comedy, if I saw anyone regardless of age or gender wearing a yellow raincoat and that mask staring dead straight at me on the sidewalk on Halloween night, you could count the bricks I would shit. Michael Myers wouldn't get me to blink, that would get me to sit in a corner with a loaded rifle until the sun rises. It gets fairly bloody and the stabbing effects did garner squirming and blech sounds aplenty, and yeah it did actually get me to jump even when I saw it coming. It's no hidden horror masterpiece but it did the trick pretty well for me, and for the low low price of $1 on Prime Video I certainly wasn't robbed. Give it a chance, see what you make of it, I was onboard and was pretty happy about seeing it. I give it 3 stars, 7.5/10, and the mask wearing killer trend may continue next time and the week beyond.
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