Horror Movies

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first one. High on the hooters scale too. The only part that made me look away was the achilles scene. Fuck I hate that in movies. Everything else I can handle.

Yea that's a difficult one to watch. That and the eyeball pussing made me want to vomit.

Only other time I can think of the achilles happening was in House of Wax (2005). But I sort of recall it happening in other movies but can't pinpoint it. Maybe Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007)?

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Yeah, I caught that one as well. Figured if nothing else, there'd be something to look at, no dice. Have pretty much exhausted all of the Christmas horror movies (saw a few other complete wastes over the break, think Sint might be the only watchable one I saw this go around).

Have you seen the newest rendition of Black Christmas? The original from 1974 is a favorite of mine. Don't recall watching the 2006 one, but the trailers for the newest one looked decent.

 

[Taddy Mason]

Have you seen the newest rendition of Black Christmas? The original from 1974 is a favorite of mine. Don't recall watching the 2006 one, but the trailers for the newest one looked decent.

Didn't catch the newest iteration. Did catch the first two. Figured the newest would be more of the same with a slight twist as to make it whomever had no other ideas own.

watched silent night deadly night part 2 and man was that terrible. somehow I think they made another 3 in the series after that (not counting remakes).

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Hostile (2017)


Post-apocalyptic tragic love story? Don't know if I've ever seen one of those before. Didn't gather that from the trailer so I was blindsided by it. I got the hint about 10-20 minutes into the movie when the flashbacks started. Those flashbacks went into detail of the protagonist's life (primarily of the building of a relationship) prior to the chemical bomb, and they were FREQUENT and lengthy. Made it very difficult to watch since I was expecting horror film, not a love story.

The creatures in this film were what lured me in. They were freaky lookin and did not disappoint. It also had a decent amount of gore, even if it was scattered throughout the film. I had a lot of problems with the creature's apparent strength & use of it during the film, but once the climax happens it suddenly all made sense, in a disappointing sort of way lol. Because once the tragic love story is unveiled, you realize what you were just dragged through for 70 minutes.

The acting from the lead actress was decent, and the cinematography was good. But this film's plot dove far too deep into the love story for me to rate it as even average. Hard pass! Which is disappointing given how good the creatures are.

BM: 0/10

Swing & a miss for me... 4.5/10

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Didn't catch the newest iteration. Did catch the first two. Figured the newest would be more of the same with a slight twist as to make it whomever had no other ideas own.

watched silent night deadly night part 2 and man was that terrible. somehow I think they made another 3 in the series after that (not counting remakes).

Yea I'm sure this newest one isn't going to be anything special. The reviews so far aren't all that great.

Don't believe I've ever seen Silent Night Deadly Night, or any of the like. The most recent terrible Xmas horror film that I watched was Red Christmas (2016). That was a steaming pile of garbage. The antagonist's voice was laughably absurd. It did sport some decent kill scenes even if they all felt contrived.

 

[Taddy Mason]

Yea I'm sure this newest one isn't going to be anything special. The reviews so far aren't all that great.

Don't believe I've ever seen Silent Night Deadly Night, or any of the like. The most recent terrible Xmas horror film that I watched was Red Christmas (2016). That was a steaming pile of garbage. The antagonist's voice was laughably absurd. It did sport some decent kill scenes even if they all felt contrived.

yeah, that was another watch this past Christmas. trying to remember the other two really horrible ones. One was All the Creatures Were Stirring, had Constance Wu in it and it was form 2018, figured she wouldn't be in something that bad that recent. Have to see what the other one (or maybe two or three were, I really tried to forget some of them).

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Searching (2018)


Mystery thriller with dramatic & tech-savvy flair. No horror elements to this film, but it does provide a pretty good mystery that keeps you engrossed throughout the film. It hit very close to home for me in one of those "what would you do" type of thought processing. Being a father has changed a lot of these movies for me, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

This film takes the concept of filming everything through the lens of mobile & PC devices, much like Unfriended (2014), Unfriended: Dark Web (2018), Open Windows (2014), The Den (2014), etc. This film made perfect use of such filming as it showed lots of methods that are available to all of us to investigate things online. Some of the previous movies that I mentioned sort of felt gimmicky at times, whereas this film never felt that way. It was a much more enthralling film.

The plot was a basic "search for a missing person" type but provided some decent twists along the way as the mystery unravels. The scenario quickly escalates from the start of the movie so the tension & suspense is felt almost immediately. I thought it was pretty interesting how the character relationships were built (or rebuilt) through the investigation as the father dug through all of his daughter's social media accounts. The daughter he thought he knew was not necessarily the same as the girl that she presented to the world. It was very tragic and it helped us connect to the characters quickly.

The director did a great job making sure that the plot & characters were never overshadowed by the tech focus of entrancing visual concepts. Strip away all the technology and do this film in a more traditional method and it would still be a solid & suspenseful mystery thriller. Another thing it does well is it doesn't ever try to put the morality of technology into question, rather it simply uses it as a compliment & truth to the very real & terrifying online world and our vulnerability to it.

Overall I enjoyed this film. The climactic finish felt somewhat implausible which was my biggest gripe with the film. The twists were somewhat predictable as things unraveled, but the nature of this filming style in relation to the mystery sort of kept you 1-2 steps ahead of the father (if that makes sense) so it was understandable. As I stated before, this movie may have been a higher rating for me as it struck some personal cords... But if you're into mystery thrillers then I'd highly recommend it.

Mystery thrill ride through an online world... 7.5/10

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

IT: Chapter Two (2019)


This film was tough for me to review because its supposed to be reviewed as a "complimentary" piece to the first film in 2017. But the time gap between film releases & the director's decision to separate timelines made it more difficult to digest it that way. As a standalone film one would think this film deviated way too far from its predecessor in that it dove deeper into the sci-fi realm and took the horror focus away. But the original TV mini-series (1990) was shown as 2 episodes spaced 2 days apart which made it much easier to view the story as a whole. I think that is a major reason why this newest part II isn't being received very well. The horror groundwork from the 2017 film should not be dismissed when reviewing this film. So keep that in mind!

However, I will say that the original episode II had more horror elements. This film took a lot of that away by getting too carried away with cultural agendas & all the cgi/fx in the 2nd half of the film. It may have worked for newer generations for terrifying visuals, but for me it was a lame attempt and removed too much fear from the Pennywise antagonist.

The progression of this film wasn't very fluid. The first half was solid, but it sort of plateaus and drags more often than it should have between the rest of the good scenes. Making this a 3 hour movie was not a great idea even if the story was well thought out & well written. This is sort of an inevitable problem with many of Stephen King adaptations. As we have seen in the past, the more faithful the adaptation, the more it exposes the difficulty of translating King's novels to the big screen. There is a lot of thought invoking that goes between the lines in the books, so the films don't always land the same for the viewers. I did like how Muschietti broke the timelines apart because the book sort of got confusing with all the back & forth timeline jumps. Separating it helped the viewer digest it easier, and also gave us clear & concise character arcs. I enjoyed the individual scares as each character went out into Derry on their own. Beverly's scene at her old apartment was a highlight. That old lady was creepy AF! However much of the runtime is spent weaving connections between past & present to make us care about the character arcs more than it should have, as well as concerning itself with the Loser's club re-establishing themselves as the Losers once more, which took away a lot of the cohesive & emotional connections that were built with the kids in the 2017 film.

As expected, the acting & cinematography were top notch. It features all kinds of hallucinogenic imagery. From the superb camera angles & ambiance, to everything that the gore department delivers. It all feels smooth in relation to Chapter One. The actors meshed pretty well with one another, but were stronger as individual performers. The removal of the emotional connection didn't deliver the friendship aspect very well. But it was passable. Kudos to the casting & script department. It incorporated a lot of comedy, much like the 2017 film did, but it never felt forced. I didn't care for how much time was devoted to the confused love triangle between Beverly, Bill & Ben. Nor did I care for the forced gay relationship between Richie & Eddie, because it was never materialized but rather contrived to appease a minority audience. Not a fan of doing stuff like that unless its better written. All of it was a reach at one of the bigger themes of King's novel: that love can conquer all kinds of evil. Ultimately the friendship theme serves that purpose, which should have been more of the focus.

Overall the film is well-made & entertaining. I enjoyed Chapter One more because of the horror elements, whereas this Chapter Two had more of a cultural & character relationship agenda that dissolved a lot of the groundwork that was established. It sort of devolved into a convoluted mess of plotlines. Not in a bad way, just sort of an inevitable conclusion to the 2-part film.

A devolved jumble of plotlines & cultural agendas, but still entertaining... 6.5/10

 

[Sparhawk]

Searching (2018)


Mystery thriller with dramatic & tech-savvy flair. No horror elements to this film, but it does provide a pretty good mystery that keeps you engrossed throughout the film. It hit very close to home for me in one of those "what would you do" type of thought processing. Being a father has changed a lot of these movies for me, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

This film takes the concept of filming everything through the lens of mobile & PC devices, much like Unfriended (2014), Unfriended: Dark Web (2018), Open Windows (2014), The Den (2014), etc. This film made perfect use of such filming as it showed lots of methods that are available to all of us to investigate things online. Some of the previous movies that I mentioned sort of felt gimmicky at times, whereas this film never felt that way. It was a much more enthralling film.

The plot was a basic "search for a missing person" type but provided some decent twists along the way as the mystery unravels. The scenario quickly escalates from the start of the movie so the tension & suspense is felt almost immediately. I thought it was pretty interesting how the character relationships were built (or rebuilt) through the investigation as the father dug through all of his daughter's social media accounts. The daughter he thought he knew was not necessarily the same as the girl that she presented to the world. It was very tragic and it helped us connect to the characters quickly.

The director did a great job making sure that the plot & characters were never overshadowed by the tech focus of entrancing visual concepts. Strip away all the technology and do this film in a more traditional method and it would still be a solid & suspenseful mystery thriller. Another thing it does well is it doesn't ever try to put the morality of technology into question, rather it simply uses it as a compliment & truth to the very real & terrifying online world and our vulnerability to it.

Overall I enjoyed this film. The climactic finish felt somewhat implausible which was my biggest gripe with the film. The twists were somewhat predictable as things unraveled, but the nature of this filming style in relation to the mystery sort of kept you 1-2 steps ahead of the father (if that makes sense) so it was understandable. As I stated before, this movie may have been a higher rating for me as it struck some personal cords... But if you're into mystery thrillers then I'd highly recommend it.

Mystery thrill ride through an online world... 7.5/10

I had similar thoughts about this movie.
Found it to be very engaging and paced very efficiently and effectively.

On a side note, while not a movie, I binge-watched 2 seasons of You on Netflix.
Had never heard about this show, but it's about a stalker/potential killer.
Thought the second season was better than the first season.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

I had similar thoughts about this movie.
Found it to be very engaging and paced very efficiently and effectively.

On a side note, while not a movie, I binge-watched 2 seasons of You on Netflix.
Had never heard about this show, but it's about a stalker/potential killer.
Thought the second season was better than the first season.

Never heard of You. I'll check it out! Thanks for the rec!

 

[Yo Tee]

Can't wait for his new stuff. I have yet to see something of his that I've been disappointed in.

 

[Taddy Mason]

I had similar thoughts about this movie.
Found it to be very engaging and paced very efficiently and effectively.

On a side note, while not a movie, I binge-watched 2 seasons of You on Netflix.
Had never heard about this show, but it's about a stalker/potential killer.
Thought the second season was better than the first season.

keep seeing so much mention of you on twitter but had no clue what it was about. might check it out in the future.

 

[Taddy Mason]

okay, so the other two i watched were A Christmas Horror Story (this one has Santa and Krampus on the cover, figured someone mentioned wanting to watch one of those but settled for that horrible slay belles one) and All Through the House. Don't think I'm going to get pleasantly surprised by any next year.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Searching (2018)


Mystery thriller with dramatic & tech-savvy flair. No horror elements to this film, but it does provide a pretty good mystery that keeps you engrossed throughout the film. It hit very close to home for me in one of those "what would you do" type of thought processing. Being a father has changed a lot of these movies for me, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

This film takes the concept of filming everything through the lens of mobile & PC devices, much like Unfriended (2014), Unfriended: Dark Web (2018), Open Windows (2014), The Den (2014), etc. This film made perfect use of such filming as it showed lots of methods that are available to all of us to investigate things online. Some of the previous movies that I mentioned sort of felt gimmicky at times, whereas this film never felt that way. It was a much more enthralling film.

The plot was a basic "search for a missing person" type but provided some decent twists along the way as the mystery unravels. The scenario quickly escalates from the start of the movie so the tension & suspense is felt almost immediately. I thought it was pretty interesting how the character relationships were built (or rebuilt) through the investigation as the father dug through all of his daughter's social media accounts. The daughter he thought he knew was not necessarily the same as the girl that she presented to the world. It was very tragic and it helped us connect to the characters quickly.

The director did a great job making sure that the plot & characters were never overshadowed by the tech focus of entrancing visual concepts. Strip away all the technology and do this film in a more traditional method and it would still be a solid & suspenseful mystery thriller. Another thing it does well is it doesn't ever try to put the morality of technology into question, rather it simply uses it as a compliment & truth to the very real & terrifying online world and our vulnerability to it.

Overall I enjoyed this film. The climactic finish felt somewhat implausible which was my biggest gripe with the film. The twists were somewhat predictable as things unraveled, but the nature of this filming style in relation to the mystery sort of kept you 1-2 steps ahead of the father (if that makes sense) so it was understandable. As I stated before, this movie may have been a higher rating for me as it struck some personal cords... But if you're into mystery thrillers then I'd highly recommend it.

Mystery thrill ride through an online world... 7.5/10

I was curious about that one. Your description sounds like exactly what I thought it’d be. I might wait until it comes on a premium channel to watch it.

IT: Chapter Two (2019)


This film was tough for me to review because its supposed to be reviewed as a "complimentary" piece to the first film in 2017. But the time gap between film releases & the director's decision to separate timelines made it more difficult to digest it that way. As a standalone film one would think this film deviated way too far from its predecessor in that it dove deeper into the sci-fi realm and took the horror focus away. But the original TV mini-series (1990) was shown as 2 episodes spaced 2 days apart which made it much easier to view the story as a whole. I think that is a major reason why this newest part II isn't being received very well. The horror groundwork from the 2017 film should not be dismissed when reviewing this film. So keep that in mind!

However, I will say that the original episode II had more horror elements. This film took a lot of that away by getting too carried away with cultural agendas & all the cgi/fx in the 2nd half of the film. It may have worked for newer generations for terrifying visuals, but for me it was a lame attempt and removed too much fear from the Pennywise antagonist.

The progression of this film wasn't very fluid. The first half was solid, but it sort of plateaus and drags more often than it should have between the rest of the good scenes. Making this a 3 hour movie was not a great idea even if the story was well thought out & well written. This is sort of an inevitable problem with many of Stephen King adaptations. As we have seen in the past, the more faithful the adaptation, the more it exposes the difficulty of translating King's novels to the big screen. There is a lot of thought invoking that goes between the lines in the books, so the films don't always land the same for the viewers. I did like how Muschietti broke the timelines apart because the book sort of got confusing with all the back & forth timeline jumps. Separating it helped the viewer digest it easier, and also gave us clear & concise character arcs. I enjoyed the individual scares as each character went out into Derry on their own. Beverly's scene at her old apartment was a highlight. That old lady was creepy AF! However much of the runtime is spent weaving connections between past & present to make us care about the character arcs more than it should have, as well as concerning itself with the Loser's club re-establishing themselves as the Losers once more, which took away a lot of the cohesive & emotional connections that were built with the kids in the 2017 film.

As expected, the acting & cinematography were top notch. It features all kinds of hallucinogenic imagery. From the superb camera angles & ambiance, to everything that the gore department delivers. It all feels smooth in relation to Chapter One. The actors meshed pretty well with one another, but were stronger as individual performers. The removal of the emotional connection didn't deliver the friendship aspect very well. But it was passable. Kudos to the casting & script department. It incorporated a lot of comedy, much like the 2017 film did, but it never felt forced. I didn't care for how much time was devoted to the confused love triangle between Beverly, Bill & Ben. Nor did I care for the forced gay relationship between Richie & Eddie, because it was never materialized but rather contrived to appease a minority audience. Not a fan of doing stuff like that unless its better written. All of it was a reach at one of the bigger themes of King's novel: that love can conquer all kinds of evil. Ultimately the friendship theme serves that purpose, which should have been more of the focus.

Overall the film is well-made & entertaining. I enjoyed Chapter One more because of the horror elements, whereas this Chapter Two had more of a cultural & character relationship agenda that dissolved a lot of the groundwork that was established. It sort of devolved into a convoluted mess of plotlines. Not in a bad way, just sort of an inevitable conclusion to the 2-part film.

A devolved jumble of plotlines & cultural agendas, but still entertaining... 6.5/10

From what people have told me, they said that the first half of the movie or so was very boring and could’ve easily been trimmed down but the last hour was solid. I’ll probably watch this sometime soon on dvd or blu ray.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

From what people have told me, they said that the first half of the movie or so was very boring and could’ve easily been trimmed down but the last hour was solid. I’ll probably watch this sometime soon on dvd or blu ray.

True. Since the timelines were separated it was necessary to reestablish the characters in their new lives and the affects that Derry had on them. And bringing them back together to rekindle that friendship... All of it took time to build. Yea it was more boring if you're just looking for shock value & Pennywise.

 

[Taddy Mason]

part i was such a let down for me, enjoyed part ii a lot more. still wish they used that kid throughout the movie which each member of the losers club freaking him out.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Searching (2018)


Mystery thriller with dramatic & tech-savvy flair. No horror elements to this film, but it does provide a pretty good mystery that keeps you engrossed throughout the film. It hit very close to home for me in one of those "what would you do" type of thought processing. Being a father has changed a lot of these movies for me, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

This film takes the concept of filming everything through the lens of mobile & PC devices, much like Unfriended (2014), Unfriended: Dark Web (2018), Open Windows (2014), The Den (2014), etc. This film made perfect use of such filming as it showed lots of methods that are available to all of us to investigate things online. Some of the previous movies that I mentioned sort of felt gimmicky at times, whereas this film never felt that way. It was a much more enthralling film.

The plot was a basic "search for a missing person" type but provided some decent twists along the way as the mystery unravels. The scenario quickly escalates from the start of the movie so the tension & suspense is felt almost immediately. I thought it was pretty interesting how the character relationships were built (or rebuilt) through the investigation as the father dug through all of his daughter's social media accounts. The daughter he thought he knew was not necessarily the same as the girl that she presented to the world. It was very tragic and it helped us connect to the characters quickly.

The director did a great job making sure that the plot & characters were never overshadowed by the tech focus of entrancing visual concepts. Strip away all the technology and do this film in a more traditional method and it would still be a solid & suspenseful mystery thriller. Another thing it does well is it doesn't ever try to put the morality of technology into question, rather it simply uses it as a compliment & truth to the very real & terrifying online world and our vulnerability to it.

Overall I enjoyed this film. The climactic finish felt somewhat implausible which was my biggest gripe with the film. The twists were somewhat predictable as things unraveled, but the nature of this filming style in relation to the mystery sort of kept you 1-2 steps ahead of the father (if that makes sense) so it was understandable. As I stated before, this movie may have been a higher rating for me as it struck some personal cords... But if you're into mystery thrillers then I'd highly recommend it.

Mystery thrill ride through an online world... 7.5/10

I believe I gave this either an 8/10 or an 8.5/10. I thoroughly enjoyed it as well.

I take it, you are an Mandalorian fan? We might disagree on that one lol.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

I believe I gave this either an 8/10 or an 8.5/10. I thoroughly enjoyed it as well.

I take it, you are a Mandalorian fan? We might disagree on that one lol.

Good show but far from great IMO. My avi has a lot more to do with my love for Boba Fett (and TJ Watt obviously) lol.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Can't wait for his new stuff. I have yet to see something of his that I've been disappointed in.

Yep... ANYTHING Flanagan related is MUST-SEE material. Dude is red hot in the horror industry.

Side note. Finally saw Doctor Sleep over the weekend. Pretty badass flick. I'll get a review up on it at some point.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Anyone else feelin this one? CGI looks epic... But..... Kristen Stewart is a huge turnoff for me. She's a terrible actress. The rest of the cast looks good though.