Horror Movies

[Chef99]

Watching The Forest. Didn't have high expectations for it, and found that I enjoyed it very much.

Not really original, nor did it have any earth-shattering scares, but it was pretty damn spooky and was well written/acted.

@FaCe-LeE-uS , I'm sure you have reviewed it, got a page number?

 

[BrockForBroglio]

I watched "May" Friday and have to say that that was one quirky movie. Too bad that it did drag a bit. Could have started the mayhem a little earlier in the film.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Watching The Forest. Didn't have high expectations for it, and found that I enjoyed it very much.

Not really original, nor did it have any earth-shattering scares, but it was pretty damn spooky and was well written/acted.

@FaCe-LeE-uS , I'm sure you have reviewed it, got a page number?

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Horror Movies

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Wish Upon (2017)


@Taddy Mason hit the nail on the head with this one by comparing it to Final Destination. The look, the feel, the deaths & the attempted "twists" were all very reminiscent of that horror franchise. I'd also say it was almost the exact same movie as Netflix's Death Note. In a nutshell this movie was clichéd and not very good. Never did I feel any sort of suspense or scare. Felt like the entire movie down to every concept & scene were a total rip-off of numerous movies that came before it. Maybe if I was a young teenaged girl having a sleepover with my friends I might have enjoyed this film. Sadly the only way I enjoyed it was by making fun of it. There were many moments that were outright laughable. The acting was very one-dimensional. With so many deaths circling this one character arc you would think at some point you would be able to connect with her on some emotional level. But I never did. Joey King's acting felt very wooden in that regard. I liked her much better in The Conjuring, but she wasn't the lead role thankfully. She might be better suited for supporting roles. Ryan Phillipe being cast in his role was a waste. Not sayin he is a great actor, but they probably paid him a good amount of money to essentially be a side note to the entire plot.

Nothing new or exciting about this one... 5/10

 

[Chef99]

Page 37

Horror Movies

It appears we are on the same page here, sir.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

The Belko Experiment (2017)


Not sure why it took me so long to review this movie. Watched it quite some time ago when it was in theaters but never got around to reviewing it. First off, it's pretty easy to see that this isn't a well rounded horror film. So in that regard don't be upset if you are looking for something more dramatic than what this movie is. But don't let that deter you if you're simply thrill-seeking! The concept of this movie is simple yet very entertaining. An ultimate WWID type scenario where you are suddenly pinned in a game of survival vs all of your coworkers. Let the bloodlust begin! This movie managed to accomplish the difficult feat of never being boring, not even for a minute. It takes almost no time getting going and at any given moment it is either action packed or taking a break from action by descending into dark humor. Both of these were well-executed, with one particularly memorable action piece in round 2 and a spattering of hilarious side characters. The technical parts of this movie were very well done. The practicality of the gore made it much more realistic. The cinematography was impressive. The setting didn't offer much but they made the most of it. Allthewhile keeping lots of the screen shots up close to give off a claustrophobic feeling. Even the different uses of lighting during action scenes was awesome. Where this movie falters however, and I admit this is getting really nitpicky here, is with originality, depth & the ending. The 'battle royale' formula has been done time & time again, and with this movie we get the straightest form of it with zero deviation & unique perspective other than a closer-to-home type setting in the workplace. The ending of this film is different. It didn't really set up the ending all that well and left the audience wanting something a bit more. It didn't ruin the fun of the movie but with a better ending it could have been a lot better. Overall this movie is definitely a shallow thrill ride, but is still well-worth seeing.

A bloody good time! 7.5/10

 

[jakedog56]

The Forest (2016)


Not exactly the movie I had hoped for but an overall decent horror flick. The cinematography was great. The way they used the forest to supplement each scene really added a good horror ambiance. The acting was really good as well. Natalie Dormer did an excellent job handling dual roles (she played twin sisters). Her acting paired up nicely with the setting and added a good "unsettling" vibe, as well as elevating subpar performances from supporting roles. What lost me was somewhere in the writing. They did a good job keeping up the suspense throughout, but the climax sort of falls flat somehow. Not to mention you are left with a few questions that bugged me. I also didn't care much for all the jump scares in the beginning of the movie. The progression of the story built the suspense alone, so the jump scares were unnecessary. I'm probably being overcritical of it so don't knock it til you watch it. Maybe I'll like it better the next time. One thing worth rementioning is this is Jason Zada's first full-length movie that he has directed. IMO it's an excellent building block for his career. I'll look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.

Good movie, but hoped for more. 7/10

Much like Chef, I also recently caught this one.

Pretty good. They could have kicked it up a notch though. The fact that the forest is real and some of the legends surrounding it makes it a bit more creepy.

 

[jakedog56]

Watched "A Dark Song" the other day. A relatively low budget little Irish flick about a lady who hires a sort of spiritalist to help her (very reluctantly) contact her dead son. So they go to a house in the country and spend months performing grueling rituals and slowly (very slowly) make progress in contacting the other side. But she for some reason decides to break the rules laid out for her it cause them to cross over into a nasty dimension filled with weird sadistic creatures.

Overall not bad. I'll go about 6-6.5 range on this one,

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Watched "A Dark Song" the other day. A relatively low budget little Irish flick about a lady who hires a sort of spiritalist to help her (very reluctantly) contact her dead son. So they go to a house in the country and spend months performing grueling rituals and slowly (very slowly) make progress in contacting the other side. But she for some reason decides to break the rules laid out for her it cause them to cross over into a nasty dimension filled with weird sadistic creatures.

Overall not bad. I'll go about 6-6.5 range on this one,

This was quite the slow burner if I recall correctly. My wife was grossed out during that awkward masturbation scene lol.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

The Invitation (2015)


What would you do when old friends with bad history invite you over to their house and things start to get really weird, almost uncomfortably unsafe weird. You get the hell out right? Despite the one characters constant questioning of events that take place here he doesn't seem interested in leaving the party. But honestly if he does, we don't have a film anymore. So putting aside the logic of that huge flaw with the plot and accepting the mysterious thrill ride for what it is will reward you with a great cinematic experience. This movie was a thing of beauty. It establishes a dark theme right off the bat with the coyote scene, which actually turned out to be a core theme to the entire film: uncomfortable choices. More importantly, how uncomfortable are you willing to let yourself be to skirt the lines of moral code & sanity? What motives are at play? Or are you simply crazy? The film lets the questionable actions of many of the characters walk a fine line to make you lean back & forth to keep a very large & mysterious puzzle at play. Allthewhile adding more & more pieces to this puzzle to keep you very off-based with everything you think you know. The Invitation does a great job of keeping an awkward level of suspense within the house, even if you are questioning character actions. Some may gripe over the pacing of this film, but by the 3rd act things get kicked into high gear and the subtlety of the suspense in thrown out the window for a more thrilling approach. The entire film builds up to a predictable climax of confrontational nature, but it worked well. The final shot was perfect and really one of the most memorable moments in the entire movie. The acting & cinematography were top notch. This mystery thriller is effective enough for fans of the genre to enjoy and people looking for a good thriller won't mind it either. Overall it was an intriguing & thought-provoking piece that I'd recommend to all. This was a major step up for director Karyn Kusama, who's only claim to the thriller genre was Jennifer's Body lol.

A very unsettling puzzle that you engages you all the way to the finish line... 8/10

 

[jakedog56]

The Invitation (2015)


What would you do when old friends with bad history invite you over to their house and things start to get really weird, almost uncomfortably unsafe weird. You get the hell out right? Despite the one characters constant questioning of events that take place here he doesn't seem interested in leaving the party. But honestly if he does, we don't have a film anymore. So putting aside the logic of that huge flaw with the plot and accepting the mysterious thrill ride for what it is will reward you with a great cinematic experience. This movie was a thing of beauty. It establishes a dark theme right off the bat with the coyote scene, which actually turned out to be a core theme to the entire film: uncomfortable choices. More importantly, how uncomfortable are you willing to let yourself be to skirt the lines of moral code & sanity? What motives are at play? Or are you simply crazy? The film lets the questionable actions of many of the characters walk a fine line to make you lean back & forth to keep a very large & mysterious puzzle at play. Allthewhile adding more & more pieces to this puzzle to keep you very off-based with everything you think you know. The Invitation does a great job of keeping an awkward level of suspense within the house, even if you are questioning character actions. Some may gripe over the pacing of this film, but by the 3rd act things get kicked into high gear and the subtlety of the suspense in thrown out the window for a more thrilling approach. The entire film builds up to a predictable climax of confrontational nature, but it worked well. The final shot was perfect and really one of the most memorable moments in the entire movie. The acting & cinematography were top notch. This mystery thriller is effective enough for fans of the genre to enjoy and people looking for a good thriller won't mind it either. Overall it was an intriguing & thought-provoking piece that I'd recommend to all. This was a major step up for director Karyn Kusama, who's only claim to the thriller genre was Jennifer's Body lol.

A very unsettling puzzle that you engages you all the way to the finish line... 8/10

Yeah the fact that they stuck around at all was weird. They should have bolted early when th ex started the cult like rantings or after the film scene. I'd take it one step further in that I would have ripped up the invite to begin with and mentally told the ex to f-off before even considering attendance.
That being said, it did turn into a pretty good flick towards the end. A little less of the back and forth weird reaction behaviour to apologizing for said behaviour would have probably speeded things along. Then they could have focused more on the end game craziness. The ending was pretty cool but I would have liked them to stumble into a neighbouring house before the twist was revealed.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Yeah the fact that they stuck around at all was weird. They should have bolted early when th ex started the cult like rantings or after the film scene. I'd take it one step further in that I would have ripped up the invite to begin with and mentally told the ex to f-off before even considering attendance.
That being said, it did turn into a pretty good flick towards the end. A little less of the back and forth weird reaction behaviour to apologizing for said behaviour would have probably speeded things along. Then they could have focused more on the end game craziness. The ending was pretty cool but I would have liked them to stumble into a neighbouring house before the twist was revealed.

If it were my ex I would have wiped my ass with the invitation, reinserted it into the envelope, put a new postage stamp on it and sent it back.

But I agree with your sentiments. Did have a slow burn to it but I still really enjoyed the perplexing nature of the film. There were a lot of things I would have done differently, but it didn't annoy me.

 

[jakedog56]

Watched "The Hatred" recently. A semi low budget haunting movie about a dickhole former nazi who is hiding out in rural US and raising a family. But he has so little tolerance for anyone that does not follow his way that he offs his daughter when she rebels against him. Fast forward 20-30 years and the family farmhouse is newly opened b-n-b. The owners take off for some r-n-r and thier friend of the family and her 3 bimbo college friends hang out while babysitting the young daughter. They slowly start uncovering some nazi and/or germanic memorabilia/literature/knickknacks and getting freaked out by strange happenings. Things esculate (surprise!) and it turns into a mad fight for escape against a pissed off ghost. Some decent fxs, story is pretty cool. A couple of actors do ok but the bimbos and the kid are generally annoying. Not bad but not great. Chef and others will be pissed that we have 4 hot coeds locked up in a farmhouse but nary a breast to be seen. I would put it about a 5.5.

 

[jakedog56]

The Belko Experiment (2017)


Not sure why it took me so long to review this movie. Watched it quite some time ago when it was in theaters but never got around to reviewing it. First off, it's pretty easy to see that this isn't a well rounded horror film. So in that regard don't be upset if you are looking for something more dramatic than what this movie is. But don't let that deter you if you're simply thrill-seeking! The concept of this movie is simple yet very entertaining. An ultimate WWID type scenario where you are suddenly pinned in a game of survival vs all of your coworkers. Let the bloodlust begin! This movie managed to accomplish the difficult feat of never being boring, not even for a minute. It takes almost no time getting going and at any given moment it is either action packed or taking a break from action by descending into dark humor. Both of these were well-executed, with one particularly memorable action piece in round 2 and a spattering of hilarious side characters. The technical parts of this movie were very well done. The practicality of the gore made it much more realistic. The cinematography was impressive. The setting didn't offer much but they made the most of it. Allthewhile keeping lots of the screen shots up close to give off a claustrophobic feeling. Even the different uses of lighting during action scenes was awesome. Where this movie falters however, and I admit this is getting really nitpicky here, is with originality, depth & the ending. The 'battle royale' formula has been done time & time again, and with this movie we get the straightest form of it with zero deviation & unique perspective other than a closer-to-home type setting in the workplace. The ending of this film is different. It didn't really set up the ending all that well and left the audience wanting something a bit more. It didn't ruin the fun of the movie but with a better ending it could have been a lot better. Overall this movie is definitely a shallow thrill ride, but is still well-worth seeing.

A bloody good time! 7.5/10

Yeah, this one was pretty good. I probably underrated it a bit in my review (I think I went 6.5) but I am still baffled by why a bunch Americans were sent to work in an office in rural Columbia, and why they spent so much money on an experiment that they should have already known the results of.
That being said, plenty of gore, violence, and paranoia to make up for it!

 

[jakedog56]

Stumbled on severly dated low budget slasher "Bloody Birthday" from 1981. It's about three kids who were born at the appex of an eclipse and 10 years later go on a killing rampage. The community is terrified but no one believes the kid and his sister when they try to expose the murderous little shits. This of course puts them right in the cross hairs of the aforementioned little shits who do what they can to try and off them.
The overall quality is pretty horrible, the acting is bad, the whole thing seems early 70s instead of early 80s. That being said, it is actually a pretty fun watch in some respects. The kids are are gratifyingly evil, the gore and death is pretty good (considering), and gratuitous nudity abounds (remember Julie Brown anyone? Nice set of ta-tas!). Lots to dislike, but, surprisingly, a bit to like also. I have no idea how I missed this one when I was a kid. I will give it a mixed bag 5.5 with a scream for a remake!

 

[Taddy Mason]

Stumbled on severly dated low budget slasher "Bloody Birthday" from 1981. It's about three kids who were born at the appex of an eclipse and 10 years later go on a killing rampage. The community is terrified but no one believes the kid and his sister when they try to expose the murderous little shits. This of course puts them right in the cross hairs of the aforementioned little shits who do what they can to try and off them.
The overall quality is pretty horrible, the acting is bad, the whole thing seems early 70s instead of early 80s. That being said, it is actually a pretty fun watch in some respects. The kids are are gratifyingly evil, the gore and death is pretty good (considering), and gratuitous nudity abounds (remember Julie Brown anyone? Nice set of ta-tas!). Lots to dislike, but, surprisingly, a bit to like also. I have no idea how I missed this one when I was a kid. I will give it a mixed bag 5.5 with a scream for a remake!

I found it to be an entertaining watch.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Sorry if posted/discussed. Really fired up for Lore on Amazon (starts Friday).


Also intrigued by this one, based off Stephen King works:

 

[Chef99]

Sorry if posted/discussed. Really fired up for Lore on Amazon (starts Friday).


Also intrigued by this one, based off Stephen King works:

Never heard of the Castle Rock one, but it is intriguing...

 

[jakedog56]

The Boy (2016)


Haven't gone to the movies on a Sat night in a long time, and it didn't take long for me to remember why. Theater was full of loudmouthed kids screaming and talking throughout the movie. I'll have to remember to avoid doing that again.

This movie was excellent. Lauren Cohan didn't disappoint! She proved that she is more than capable of handling a wide range of acting roles. All the actors were great. And the director William B Bell kept up his great reputation! He continues to prove that there is still originality to be found amongst the clutter of horror movies being released. Yes the doll-villain/supernatural movies have been done before, but you'll be more than happy to agree with the claims of originality after you watch this movie. This movie is like Chuckie meets Annabelle, meets Halloween or possibly even Texas Chainsaw Massacre considering the 'family secret'. Judging from the trailer I was half expecting this film to contain jump scare after jump scare, but it didn't have nearly as many as I thought. The horror & suspense was delivered without it! The doll itself was enough to give everyone the creeps. There isn't much blood or gore so that might upset some, but it's still a great movie. There is one hell of a twist thrown into the climax that really made this movie IMO. The setting & attention to detail is almost Guillermo-Del-Toro-esque. I would highly recommend seeing this movie! The only problem I had was a question I was left with after watching the movie. Would love to discuss it with someone if they ever get around to seeing it.

Creepy, suspenseful & disturbing... 8.5/10

Finally got around to watching this one. Pretty good at providing a consistent creepy vibe.

What was the question?

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Finally got around to watching this one. Pretty good at providing a consistent creepy vibe.

What was the question?

I cannot even begin to remember what that was lol. Over a year & a half ago...