Horror Movies

[Taddy Mason]

It lists Prime as the 3rd option. Or are you sayin it is free & didn't cost anything?

it's free

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

it's free

Well I guess it at least tells you where to look. Cost is subject to change.

 

[Sparhawk]

Overlord (2018)


This film was crazy. After watching the trailer I was expecting some sort of grindhouse film, and it didn't disappoint. The horror elements aren't as prevalent as the sci-fi & action elements, but I still enjoyed it. I do have an affinity for war movies so this was an easy draw for me. It starts off like something right out of Saving Private Ryan, then veers into Frankenstein's Army territory, and finishes with some sort of Outpost & Dead Snow mashup. It's nuts.

Again, this is a grindhouse type film so take it for what it is and you will be entertained. If you're looking for historical accuracy & realism then this film isn't going to float your boat. This film is intentionally over the top... Inordinate amounts of gore, ridiculous plot, mutant soldiers, Nazis, guns, explosions, etc. It's full on mayhem and it never lets up. It does provide some fantastic cgi/fx. This film must have had an immense budget to accomplish it. The opening airdrop scene alone must have taken a lot of hours of computer work to accomplish. Another surprising element that this movie delivers on is in the drama department. For a film loaded with ill-formed characters you wouldn't expect them to be able to draw sympathy or emotion from the audience, but they did a few times.

The bunker scenes are the obvious highlight. Very reminiscent of Frankenstein's Army (2013). The secret Nazi lab with all the crazy experimenting was unsettling, and very well done. As you would suspect, this action-packed film has an intense progression. It takes you through a lot of different scenarios in quickly paced sequencing which was a little difficult to digest at times, but in true grindhouse fashion it focuses on shock value to pull its punches.

This movie is a homerun for the grindhouse junkies. I do enjoy these types of films for the entertainment value every now & then. If you were a fan of Frankenstein's Army and wanted more of a action-packed war element, then this film is right up your alley.

Eccentric, action-packed grindhouse film... 7.5/10

Just watched this on Epix.
Agree with your score.
Very entertaining and unexpected.
Not really any slow parts and the time passed quickly.
Would recommend.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

The Final Girls (2015)


First off, I actually enjoyed this film quite a bit. It's a fun loving satirical stab at the 80's horror genre, primarily Friday the 13th. The comedy wasn't necessarily strong in this film, because most of it felt more like deliberate parody of slasher clichés rather than naturalistic comedy. But that seemed to be in the intention. And most all of the dialogue in 'funny' moments felt forcefully improvised; especially Adam DeVine's character. The blooper reel at the end confirmed his character was ad-libbing most of the time. I think I found the blooper reel to be funnier than the movie honestly.

This movie sported a few moments of cleverness, but largely came off as purely a spoof movie. Overall the acting fit the cheesy slasher part, being pleasantly bad & overdone in a good way. The main character Max was a highlight. Taissa Farmiga reminds me so much of her mother, capable of pulling emotion from the audience at any time without much background or emotional connection to her character. Great performance by her in this film. All of the heartfelt moments in this film landed well, based primarily on a traumatic event & mother-daughter connection. Even the cheesy send-off for her movie-mother scored to the one-hit-wonder Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes". Thomas Middleditch, per usual, was awesome. Wished he got a bigger part. Found it oddly coincidental that Alexander Ludwig acted in 2 films in the same year (3 months apart) with essentially the same title: Final Girl (Aug 2015), The Final Girls (Nov 2015).

Overall I think this movie could have been better from an execution standpoint. Some of the sequencing was lacking, and the twist in the resolution was predictable, but good ideas though. And for a movie that was poking fun at 80's slasher films it ignored some of its prerequisites to fit the parody: gratuitous nudity & gore. It tried to poke fun at it many times, but all of it was done in a covered PG-13 sort of way. The story is fun for a quick watch, but don't go into it expecting much else than a few laughs. It's harmless fun for slasher fans.

Spoof movie filled with parody on slasher clichés... 7/10

 

[Shanemansj13]

The Shed (2019)


Very disappointed with this one. The trailer & premise were absurd so I should have been a little more prepared but I was expecting a surprise and some sort of comedy. It didn't deliver on either.

The plot was confused, absurdly contrived & littered with plot holes. My wife & I called the ending from the beginning. Not about predictability, but rather one of those "why didn't they just do that at the beginning and game over?". I mean, c'mon dude... It made the point of showing how vulnerable the Vamp was to sunlight and yet the protagonist only once decided to use it against him in stupid fashion. Drilling holes? Really? The sequence of events during the climax were more laughable than passable. There was nothing about this movie that was convincing or made your hair stand on end. Everything about this film came off as jokey & defied all logic. It tried really hard to insert some social & moral subtext but honestly it didn't carry any weight at all. It was almost as if the writers were confused as to whether they should be more concerned with how the traumatized people act when facing danger rather than just telling a compelling vampire feature.

The resulting progression was ill-paced and illogical. Had a very hard time understanding some of the decision making in this film. Lot of flip-flopping motives to fit the grand scheme of things. And the slow-to-deliver payoffs during the suspenseful moments really hurt the overall delivery. Every intense moment just dragged on & on to the point where I lost the enthrallment by the time the scare moment happened. Not to mention it relied heavily on jump scares with very little payoff.

Casting was terrible apart from the 2 friends. The protagonist was a complete idiot of a character, but the actor was decent. His friend, aptly named Dommer (akin to Jeffrey Dahmer), was also decent. Had to look him up because he looked just like Cillian Murphy, but no relation. Everyone else was close to or just downright awful and overshadowed the aforementioned. The sheriff was particularly bad... At first I thought there was some sort of comedic element at play with her character, but no... No she's really just that awful at acting the part.

Overall this film suffers from just about everything. Bad plot & script, meager suspense, absurd logic, contrivity, terrible acting, etc. The only part it delivers on is with the gore, and maybe a reminder of how savage vampires can be. But that wasn't enough to save this movie. Hard pass.

A confused melodramatic vampire feature with terrible... everything... 4/10

Yeah I watched all of this...just bc I have to watch the entire movies (at least on most). Pretty disappointing and pretty boring overall

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Yeah I watched all of this...just bc I have to watch the entire movies (at least on most). Pretty disappointing and pretty boring overall

I'm the same way. Call it curiosity lol, but occasionally I do get overruled by the wife and she makes us put on something different.

I wanted to give that movie a 2 or 3, but looking at some of the other films that I scored that low... Sadly it wasn't as bad.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Coherence (2013)


The idea behind this is promising: troubled couples escaping their problems by encountering themselves - other version of themselves. It's a play on the horror of reality itself being disrupted by something unimaginable or inexplicable. The scientific aspects enlisted were passable to enable the story (comet that opens up parallel dimensions), but it wasn't necessarily the focus as it was mainly just used to create tension & direct the plot sequencing. This film is more of a slow burning psychological sci-fi for the intellectual. The emotional spine of this is rooted in psychological & relationship problems: broken marriages, broken hearts, broken selves. My problem with this film was that this psychological subtext isn't really something that can be improvised as it felt like it was in this film. From that standpoint it did not enthrall me as it could have, or give me that emotional connection, especially in regards to following the main girl into her psychological path. With a more structured script this could have been achieved. I don't know how long it took the director/writer to finish the script, but I read somewhere that he finished filming in 5 days. My guess is he took the script off a cocktail napkin, to which I can applaud him for making something this uniquely simple & competent on a shoestring budget. Great execution from a plot standpoint. An important part of this storytelling is that many scenes implored you to grasp & think. Especially in regards to the character arcs which are slowly unveiled via dialogue. Gradually you learn that each character nurses some form of jealousy, regret & spite, which plays into their "encounters" later on.

The progression was slow-building as it had to lay lots of groundwork dialogue for each character to get their balls rolling. But once it morphs into a horror story then things get tense all the way to the climax, or climaxes rather. Basically each character gets their encounter to play out, however brief they may be, plotting against their alternates & scheming to escape to greener pastures through the "open doors". The overall mood during these tense scenes is creepy & surreal. The final scenes hammer home the emotional & psychological subtexts for each character, which essentially boils everything back down to everyone's predisposition of regret.

Camera work was a tad atrocious at times, a la Blair Witch style of filming chaos. I think the director wanted to give this a more close-up feel and gave him more ease to improvise as most of all the dialogue felt ad lib. But the thing that usually hurts these cheap productions is bad sound, whereas it was just fine with this film. He did make good use of low lighting. The cast was surprisingly good, even if some of the character behavior was a bit baffling.

Overall its an inventive & competent film that is worth the watch. It has its flaws, but considering the low budget it should be praised & glorified as to what indie filmmakers should strive to achieve. I'd love to see what James Ward Byrkit could achieve with a bigger budget.

Competent & slow-burning psychological indie with incidental sci-fi... 7/10

Saw this last night...my wife loved it but I wasn't a huge fan of it overall but I do agree, it was a creative idea and worth a watch for such a low budget film.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

The Furies (2019)


The premise of this film was cool (albeit taken from Predators (2010) & Hunger Games (2012), but the execution was piss poor. It provides almost zero foundation or depth, leaves some cool concepts unexplored, and it's littered with flaws. There were a lot of questions that were left unanswered. Honestly felt more like a slapstick indie film to satisfy the gore enthusiasts. The blood & gore department was certainly the highlight. It was mostly practical & well done, and it flows fast & free throughout most of the film. It does sport a pretty epic 'face-off' kill, even though it was a tad overdone & cheesy.

The progression was fairly linear & fast-paced. The brisk runtime and pacing wasn't a major issue though. It's lean & mean & lets the fight for survival take center stage. I'll admit I had hangups with the plot flaws that made it more difficult to digest. When the game element complicated matters by switching up motivations for the characters things got messy in a bad way. How the hell were the slashers supposed to know which "beauty" was their match? Based on the numbered boxes? They would have had to be there when they jumped out to know for sure. Or we have to jump to a baseless conclusion that these slashers were preexposed to their matches. Also had a problem with the eye implants & their feasibility. Felt very unnecessary outside of enabling the perimeter fence. The epileptic visions were just dumb & gimmicky.

The slasher designs were well done, even if they were borrowed concepts. It could be argued that the first 2 slashers were Jason Vorhees & Leatherface reincarnated. Would have liked to see more from the scarecrow & babyface slashers, but sadly their existence in the movie was brief. All of the slashers were surface level only and didn't provide anything else.

The acting & dialogue were atrocious at times, often laughable. Especially the asian girl that they tried to cast into a child roll that didn't work at all. The main protagonist appears to give her all in this role, but the shallow script did her no favors. Just about everyone came off as bland, offering very little emotional connection.

It's far from a successful film for writer/director Tony D'Aquino's feature debut, but there are some elements to this film to deem him as a "promising" horror prospect. The Aussie wilderness setting gave this slasher a unique look to help set it apart from the rest. If you're a gore hound or a die-hard slasher fan that's just looking for a body count, then this Aussie slasher is right up your alley.

Quick & dirty Aussie slasher... 5.5/10

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Satanic Panic (2019)


Yet another horror comedy that pits the common man against the rich. Much like Ready Or Not (2019), this film gives us a brazen heroine in a fight for survival and also follows the formula that doesn't provide much basis for the motivation of the rich other than status quo in maintaining their tradition, or in this film's case: wealth & status. Shmantics. This film sports some devilish cleverness but really doesn't have the naturalistic feel to it. But that was the intention. It often goes over the top. The massive drill-bit dildo scene was fun, but a little 'much' if you catch my drift lol. There were quite a few fun moments to be had, but they never quite lived up to the outrageous level that dildo scene set the tone for.

I loved the cast. Rebecca Romijn & Arden Myrin were devious delights. Even the brief sleaze-bag Samuel character, played by Jerry O'Connell, was a funny bit. The protagonist wasn't necessarily strong in her role, but she had good enough delivery, was easily likable with an odd sort of pathetic cuteness to her. Could have used some background or explanation for Romijn's character as she seemed to have some oft-convenient "bag of tricks" up her sleeve. Apparently if she possesses anything of your belongings then she can harm you or control you? With that sort of power you would think she would be able to better devise her satanic rituals.

The gore & fx was far from practical but it fit the mold. The voodoo scene was a highlight for me. The funny gypsie, the incantation, brief strip scene for Ruby Modine, the worms & mud/worm vomiting, the counter protection spell, etc. Pretty wild series of events there. The bloodsucking "samuel" creature that was cooked up was ridiculous, but fun nonetheless. I mean, first off... WTF!? The sphincter blood sucking made me want to puke lol. Secondly, how the hell was it controlling the bed sheets like that?

Overall this film is an overthetop, bonkers sort of horror comedy but its still reasonably entertaining. The director, Chelsea Stardust, seemed to dial back the lunacy a few times so as not to get too carried away. But it did contain plenty of madness. The climax didn't really materialize very well and felt largely unsatisfactory. I got the feeling that something crazier was going to happen, but it gives you the triumphant sign-off you were more or less predicting. I just couldn't quite fathom how Sam, whom couldn't even finagle a dollar for tips earlier, was able to trick a supposedly more powerful demon with a cheesy "code of sams" line from a previous customer? Was that some sort of full-circle character development? Meh. 6-7/10 territory. Could be seen as both a good & average horror comedy film.

BM: 7/10 (majority is PG-13 underwear variety, but the cult orgy scene adds 5 points alone)

Kooky horror comedy filled with lunacy entertainment... 7/10

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

COMING SOON!


Release Date: Feb 7th

Synopsis: A man in his thirties travels to a remote cabin to reconnect with his estranged father.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

COMING SOON!


Release Date: Feb 14th

Synopsis: A horror adaptation of the popular '70s TV show about a magical island resort.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

COMING SOON!


Release Date: Feb 21st

Synopsis: Avery Malone, a wannabe writer and lonely librarian, gets her big break when she's hand-selected to assist her hero, reclusive author, Caleb Conrad. Whisked away to Caleb's remote estate, Avery is given her one and only task; to participate in a controlled psychological experiment in fear that will serve as the basis for Caleb's next novel.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

COMING SOON!


Release Date: Feb 28th

Synopsis: When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

 

[Rambunctious]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

COMING SOON!


Release Date: Apr 17th

Synopsis: A small-town Oregon teacher and her brother, the local sheriff, become entwined with a young student harboring a dangerous secret with frightening consequences.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Doctor Sleep (2019)


This was a pretty good film overall and I enjoyed it. I'll try not to make too many comparisons to the predecessor because that would be an injustice to an icon. But I do have to say that Flanagan seriously missed on recapturing the style & imagery that made Kubrick's film so iconic. Visually this film looked way too filtered to make it appear dark which was a polar opposite of what Stanley Kubrick did with The Shining (1980). Kubrick made better use of vivid, true colors that gave us chills with contrasting harshness to the surroundings; methodically fixating the viewers eyes on a certain aspects of each scene or on the characters/demons themselves, or simply giving us a feeling of being in a lucid state of mind with all the polarizing colors. This is something that Mike Flanagan failed to recapture, and was a serious disappointment in my book. The resulting imagery came off as pale, mostly forgettable, and redundant imitations of the original. That's as far as I'll go with drawing comparisons... Because like I said, this was a good film.

The cast was mostly good. Ewen McGregor is always solid, but I thought he didn't quite connect with the turmoil of his character as well as he should have. He was good but there were a few moments where his emotions didn't quite surface very well. The film didn't really explore the connection to his father very well. If you recall, part of the power of Jack as a character, both in the original novel & movie, is that his alcoholic rage expressed something more mysterious & deep. By contrast, grownup Danny simply abused his alcoholism to hide his traumatic scars to the point where his terror of realization of a disturbing event spun him toward a moment of truth, the standard AA 12-step program. Its understandable that Danny's past would have steered him away from becoming his father though, just wished they had explored the connection to Jack better. Rebecca Ferguson was perfect in her role. She portrayed the diabolically seductive gypsy perfectly. Didn't care for how they recast Duvall & Nicholson. With this day & age of computer technology you would expect them to have no troubles with getting their younger faces back on the big screen. Especially the scene in which Danny sits at the glowing ballroom bar to have a chat with none other than his fabled father. Nicholson would have impacted that scene far greater. Quite the missed opportunity there. Also really didn't care for the Snakebite Andi role. She could have been better developed since she had a much larger role in the book.

As far as the progression goes... You'll have to forgive me as I don't necessarily recall how the climactic events unfolded in the novel, but I do think it mostly stayed true to the book. It was a sinister ride with good pacing and many good moments without feeling too lengthy or exhaustive. It makes better use of its runtime length than IT: Chapter Two (2019) did. IMO the progression successfully sunk the viewers into a mood of mesmerizing creepiness & ultimately contemplative dread. Rose the Hat & Abra Stone came across mostly how I envisioned them, as well as most of the other True Knit villains. I do recall the ending of the movie didn't stay faithful to the book though. However it was a good twist & resolution. It felt more like a tip of the cap to the Kubrick fans letting all those iconic demons take center stage once again. It was satisfying & eerie.

Overall it was a fun film that I'd definitely recommend. Both the fans of King's novels & Kubrick's Shining will be entertained even if there are contrasting differences. Don't get too caught up in the details because that road will only lead to disappointment. Merely enjoy the ride for how Flanagan envisioned it.

A footnote to its iconic predecessor, but a sinister funhouse all the same... 8/10

 

[Taddy Mason]

Doctor Sleep (2019)


This was a pretty good film overall and I enjoyed it. I'll try not to make too many comparisons to the predecessor because that would be an injustice to an icon. But I do have to say that Flanagan seriously missed on recapturing the style & imagery that made Kubrick's film so iconic. Visually this film looked way too filtered to make it appear dark which was a polar opposite of what Stanley Kubrick did with The Shining (1980). Kubrick made better use of vivid, true colors that gave us chills with contrasting harshness to the surroundings; methodically fixating the viewers eyes on a certain aspects of each scene or on the characters/demons themselves, or simply giving us a feeling of being in a lucid state of mind with all the polarizing colors. This is something that Mike Flanagan failed to recapture, and was a serious disappointment in my book. The resulting imagery came off as pale, mostly forgettable, and redundant imitations of the original. That's as far as I'll go with drawing comparisons... Because like I said, this was a good film.

The cast was mostly good. Ewen McGregor is always solid, but I thought he didn't quite connect with the turmoil of his character as well as he should have. He was good but there were a few moments where his emotions didn't quite surface very well. The film didn't really explore the connection to his father very well. If you recall, part of the power of Jack as a character, both in the original novel & movie, is that his alcoholic rage expressed something more mysterious & deep. By contrast, grownup Danny simply abused his alcoholism to hide his traumatic scars to the point where his terror of realization of a disturbing event spun him toward a moment of truth, the standard AA 12-step program. Its understandable that Danny's past would have steered him away from becoming his father though, just wished they had explored the connection to Jack better. Rebecca Ferguson was perfect in her role. She portrayed the diabolically seductive gypsy perfectly. Didn't care for how they recast Duvall & Nicholson. With this day & age of computer technology you would expect them to have no troubles with getting their younger faces back on the big screen. Especially the scene in which Danny sits at the glowing ballroom bar to have a chat with none other than his fabled father. Nicholson would have impacted that scene far greater. Quite the missed opportunity there. Also really didn't care for the Snakebite Andi role. She could have been better developed since she had a much larger role in the book.

As far as the progression goes... You'll have to forgive me as I don't necessarily recall how the climactic events unfolded in the novel, but I do think it mostly stayed true to the book. It was a sinister ride with good pacing and many good moments without feeling too lengthy or exhaustive. It makes better use of its runtime length than IT: Chapter Two (2019) did. IMO the progression successfully sunk the viewers into a mood of mesmerizing creepiness & ultimately contemplative dread. Rose the Hat & Abra Stone came across mostly how I envisioned them, as well as most of the other True Knit villains. I do recall the ending of the movie didn't stay faithful to the book though. However it was a good twist & resolution. It felt more like a tip of the cap to the Kubrick fans letting all those iconic demons take center stage once again. It was satisfying & eerie.

Overall it was a fun film that I'd definitely recommend. Both the fans of King's novels & Kubrick's Shining will be entertained even if there are contrasting differences. Don't get too caught up in the details because that road will only lead to disappointment. Merely enjoy the ride for how Flanagan envisioned it.

A footnote to its iconic predecessor, but a sinister funhouse all the same... 8/10

it's been a lot of movies since i've seen it, but on his alcohol/drug? abuse, i thought it was to dull his shining moreso than bury the scars of the past, no?

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

it's been a lot of movies since i've seen it, but on his alcohol/drug? abuse, i thought it was to dull his shining moreso than bury the scars of the past, no?

Very true. Shoulda mentioned that. Was more caught up in the thought of trying to connect him to Jack than anything.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

COMING SOON!


Release Date: Apr 17th

Synopsis: A small-town Oregon teacher and her brother, the local sheriff, become entwined with a young student harboring a dangerous secret with frightening consequences.

OH FUCK YES!

I love movies like this. Seems like a wendigo story or something and it's rated R from what IMDB shows.

AND fine ass Keri Russell is in it!? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP! I hope they don't focus TOO much on the weird kid and his 'connection' or whatever with the spirit monster.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

OH FUCK YES!

I love movies like this. Seems like a wendigo story or something and it's rated R from what IMDB shows.

AND fine ass Keri Russell is in it!? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP! I hope they don't focus TOO much on the weird kid and his 'connection' or whatever with the spirit monster.

Agreed. I'm a sucker for creature features littered with gore. Trailer reminds me a lot of The Ritual (2017), but with more dramatic flair.