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All right, I'm getting a real late start on my reviews but I have watched 13 so far. 1. All Hallows' Eve (2013) (Amazon Prime)    "Who makes this poo poo? Why am I watching it?" - Sarah Hands down the worst movie I watched for the fall challenge this past year was Terrifier, and I'm not sure what I expected out of the director's earlier effort. All Hallows' Eve kicks off with two kids and their babysitter finding a VHS tape in their Halloween candy stash. Unfortunately for them it's not Super Hornio Brothers, but three clips of women being harassed (mainly) by the mute killer Art the Clown. Of the three clips on the tape two are the director's previous short films and a new middle segment made for this movie. The first clip has Art kidnapping women for Satan for some reason. In both this and Terrifier I liked the short sequences where Art is more of a gross annoying clown as opposed to where he's mutilating people. The second sequence features an alien chasing and harassing a woman for some reason. I almost stopped watching at this point but I like to finish what I started. The only connection to the rest of the segments is a painting of Art. The third and final sequence is the short film Terrifier and contains a lot of the same beats (including Art making GBS threads all over a bathroom and shooting someone with a gun). There is a progression of the effects work in this segment, but the misogyny is ramped up to a ludicrous degree, culminating in an ending straight out of an Edward Lee novel. After watching the tape, predictably it can't be turned off! And of course Art the clown comes out of the tape and murders the kids and presumably the babysitter. 1/5 2. Slither (2006) - Re-watch (DVD)    "It's obvious the bastard's got Lyme disease!" - Jack MacReady I haven't watched Slither in about 12 years so I was glad to see it mostly held up, beyond some wonky effects. There are some very enjoyable performances here from Michael Rooker, Nathan Fillion and Gregg Henry, who always seems to play the most lovable douchebags. There's plenty of gross body horror here, which makes sense from a director who got his start with Troma. I don't have much else to say about Slither, but will probably watch it again at some point. 3/5 3. Child's Play (1988) - Re-watch (Amazon Prime)    "This is the end, friend!" - Andy Barclay Of all the horror movies to come out during my childhood (I was born in 1983) this was by far the one that gave me the most nightmares. One of my older cousins had this movie on when I was 6 or so and it caused a lifelong irrational fear of living dolls. Strangely though I had no trouble watching the Puppet Master movies. But it wasn't until a few years ago I was able to bring myself to actually watch the full movie and since then I've seen the entire series and consider it one of the stronger franchises. Brad Dourif is great as Charles Lee Ray and the voice of Chucky, and I appreciate that he's a killer that happened to learn Voodoo along the way. Alex Vincent does a good job as Andy as well, considering his age. Overall this movie holds up, and the battery scene is still a great reveal. I'm just very glad I never saw the end sequence as a child, because burned up melted Chucky would probably have deepened my fears. 4/5
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May 28, 2019 03:39
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4. The Church (1989) (Amazon Prime)   "What's happening is not in God's name, but Satan's" - The Bishop I've been trying to watch more Italian horror, and when someone mentioned this one earlier in the month it piqued my interest. I have seen Soavi's previous film Stage Fright which I remember enjoying. The plot isn't always coherent but there are some strange and cool visuals. Things don't really kick off until the last third or so when everyone gets trapped inside the church, and then things get weird. My two favorite small vignettes were the old woman using her husband's severed head to ring the church bell and the young couple who dig through the floor into a subway tunnel and get hit by a train. Overall The Church is worth a watch. 3/5 5. The Mist (2006) - Rewatch (DVD)    "There's something in the mist!" - Dan Miller This was my second time watching The Mist and I think it holds up very nicely. There isn't really any wasted time and the action never seems to drag. The creature design is really good (and horrifying!) too. I go back and forth on the ending. I do agree that it is better than the novella ending, but I'm not sure Drayton shooting his son after no effort to continue moving forward (iirc in the story they siphon gas from other vehicles to keep driving) fits his character. It definitely is still an ending that sparks debate. As a side note, I tried to watch the TV series but quit after a few episodes. 4/5 6. Deep Red (1975) (Amazon Prime)    "You have killed, and you will kill again" - Helga Ulmann Now Deep Red I can get into. I'm sorry I waited this long to watch it, but like I said I haven't seen much Italian horror. There are some beautiful shots on display and the plot is engrossing. I hadn't had the plot spoiled for me so the ending was a nice surprise. The Goblin soundtrack was really cool too, although I had to laugh when Marcus is exploring the spooky abandoned house and some funky grooves start playing. I'll hopefully explore some more of these older movies in October. 4/5
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May 29, 2019 03:03
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8. Evolution (2015) (Netflix DVD)   "Afterwards a new cycle begins." - La mère This was one of those feature-length movies that probably would have been more effective as a short, or at least not so disappointing. There are some nice images here, but there isn't much plot here and what there is isn't necessarily coherent. The story concerns 10-year-old Nicolas who lives with his "mother" in a small village with other boys his age who are also being raised by their "mothers." Nicolas sees the body of another child with a starfish on his abdomen while swimming one day and this kicks off the story. As the movie progresses it's revealed that the women in the village are apparently incubating fetuses within the boys, although to what end isn't really stated. There are numerous references to starfish, which can reproduce by budding and change sex as they age, although again there isn't any explicit explanation as to why the women are doing what they're doing. There are some interesting ideas here, but like I said nothing coherent enough to be more than mildly entertaining. 2.5/5 9. Before I Wake (2016) (Netflix Streaming)    "That child needs to sleep" - Jessie A movie about a young orphan boy whose dreams manifest in the form of physical objects. When he has good dreams he conjures butterflies and other positive images, but when he has a nightmare the Canker Man appears and kills people. There are some good visuals and the first appearance of the Canker Man is sufficiently creepy. I was a little suprised I didn't guess the reveal of who the Canker Man really represented but it made sense. Overall this was an okay film and would probably be a good double feature with the Babadook. 3/5 11. The Prodigy (2019) (Netflix DVD)    "Blue, or hazel?" - Miles Blume Miles is an extremely smart child who happens to be sharing his body and mind with a resurrected Hungarian serial killer. While the idea is not necessarily new there were some genuinely unsettling scenes here, although I would have liked if the "twist" of the killer being in control the majority of the runtime wasn't quite so telegraphed. I saw some references to this movie being recut to be less intense but couldn't find any details as to what was changed. The Prodigy is worth a watch in any case and I was impressed by Jacob Tremblay's performance as Miles. 3/5
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Jun 1, 2019 02:47
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7. Critters (1986) - Rewatch (DVD) 10. Critters 2 (1988) (DVD) 12. Critters 3 (1991) (DVD) 13. Critters 4 (1992) - Rewatch (DVD)     I found a set of all the Critters movies at my local Half Price Books and had to pick it up. I had watched the first and fourth before but really didn't remember anything about the series besides the general look of the Critters and the poster for the second movie, which used to scare me from the shelves of my childhood rental place. The first two movies I would say are generally fun and worth a watch. The third is still okay but a lot more wacky, while the fourth is just mostly boring. I was surprised the second movie had full-frontal nudity for a PG-13 but I guess that was the early days of that rating. I had hoped to watch the new short series on Shudder but I ran out of time.
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Jun 1, 2019 02:56
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