DAY TWENTY-THREE - Housebound (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY TWENTY-THREE - HOUSEBOUND (2013)

Housebound is one of my favorite films ever I think. This is my second time watching it and I enjoyed it just as much. It's a 2014 horror comedy from New Zealand, written and directed by Gerard Johnstone.

Kylie gets caught trying to steal an ATM machine and it's the last strike on her record, she is sentenced to house arrest and has to return home to live with her mom, Miriam, and her step dad, Graeme. Kylie doesn't get along with either of them and spends a lot of time moping around the house and being a brat. Miriam plays a mom so damn well. Just everything about her and the way she talks is completely on point. She's absolutely hilarious. And Graeme who barely says anything is just as funny.
Another character is the security contractor, Amos, who tracks Kylie's house arrest bracelet. When Kylie learns that her mother thinks the house is haunted she relentlessly teases her. But soon after she begins to experience the hauntings too. When her house arrest bracelet goes off for no reason, Amos shows up. To everyone's surprise he's also a paranormal investigator, and so the madness begins.

Kylie and Amos learn that the house Kylie grew up in used to be a sort of half-way house/hospital for the mentally unstable youth. A young girl was violently murdered in Kylie's room. As the two begin to dig deeper they begin to suspect Kylie's creepy neighbor was the murderer.

I won't say much more because the twist in the movie is absolutely hilarious and unexpected. 

Housebound's got that really dry wit that I find so hilarious and every single character, no matter how small a role, does a fantastic job.

The acting is pheneomenal and the story is perfect. It's an absolute joy to watch. Although it is quite a hilarious movie, there is a lot of blood and gore, and some jumpy parts. So it's definitely more horror than comedy.

I love this movie, you will too, I love it so much I named my blog after it. Go watch it! 10/10

So I didn't make it to Fright Nights, the damn trains in this city are so useless lately and they were broken down. Instead I carved my first pumpkin and watched my movie.

It's Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas!

Now today I will carve the other three pumpkins and watch two horror movies so I'm back on track. Tomorrow begins Halloweek and I am so freakin' excited!

On Halloween night my besti Brenna is joining me for the annual watching of Halloween. This will be her first time watching it so I'll be interested to get her feedback!

Stay Spooky!

DAY NINETEEN - Bad Milo! (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

WHAT AN EXCITING NIGHT LAST NIGHT WAS! I’m completely mentally exhausted today. Not only did Canada finally get a new liberal Prime Minister, the new Star Wars trailer premiered. And oh boy. It was everything. Star Wars tickets also went on sale, and it took four of us an hour and a half to get tickets for the movie. All of the damn websites were crashing. IT WAS SO STRESSFUL. But now we’re all set to go see The Force Awakens in 58 days. V and I went to the Disney store today to celebrate and I got myself a wookie backpack and a t-shirt.

I also received the signed postcard/artwork for the new comic book written by and starring the twisted twins, my favorite lady directors and girl crush – Jen and Sylvia Soska. Cannot wait for this book!! And yeah, those are real kisses. I'm dead. Check out their new TV show premiering tomorrow night Hellavator

DAY NINETEEN – BAD MILO! (2013)

Another horror comedy! I just can’t get enough ya’ll. Also these are the only horror movies Mitch will watch with me, and I enjoy his company. I saw this last year but I barely remember it so it’s kind of like watching with fresh eyes.

Bad Milo! Is written and directed by Jacob Vaughan and stars the beautiful Gillian Jacobs and always hilarious Ken Marino. It’s also produced by horror favorites – the Duplass Brothers.

Milo is basically just an angry demon that lives inside of Duncan’s butt. Duncan is having a very stressful go of things with his job pressuring him, his wife pressuring him to have children, his mother dating a much younger guy, and his body reacts in a bad way. By creating a tummy demon that rips out of his butthole when he’s angry and kills the person causing the stress. Whether it’s Duncan’s boss or therapist. Duncan is worried Milo will go after his wife and so needs to find away to control Milo and get rid of his stress and anger. He can’t kill the little guy because it will basically turn Duncan into a zombie.

Milo is absolutely adorable in a sick freaky way. He’s got these big old dark eyes and gross wrinkly skin but he makes the cutest little noises and honestly, he’s just trying his best. I also love that he’s a puppet and not CGI. Keeps it nice and old school. Is it weird I cried at the end?

The film is hilarious and extremely bloody. When Milo kills people, he goes crazy and tears them apart with his sharp teeth and claws. Ken Marino does a great job carrying the film as he is the center of the story, you really feel for him when he gets so stressed and we all see ourselves in him. We’ve all been there. And thank god we all don’t have little wrinkly demons living in our buttholes otherwise the world would be a lot bloodier.

It’s a super fun, quick ride and I applaud it for its originality and creativity. It takes itself just serious enough that it pulls off very easily the absolutely insane story. I’m sure I’ll continue to re-watch and would recommend it to any horror comedy fan. 9/10.

My next two movies are documentaries, one about a horror film, and one about the paranormal, and I’m super excited to watch both. I honestly can’t believe Halloween is next week and I have to do my presentation of The History of Horror and frankly I’m terrified. I also don’t want the movie challenge to end. I’ve never made it this far before so it’s all very exciting.

See you back here tomorrow!

Stay Spooky!

DAY FIFTEEN - All Cheerleaders Die (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY FIFTEEN – ALL CHEERLEADERS DIE (2013)

This movie was so cute!!!! All Cheerleaders Die is written and directed by Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson. It’s about a group of girls in high school who are chased off the road by the football team and die in a car crash only to be revived by the witchy goth girl at school. They come back with a thirst for blood and the ability to drain the life out of someone. They then seek revenge on the boys that did this to them while dealing with their new found powers, and internal drama.

Mitch watched it with me and found it super cheesey, but I found it cute and fun. It’s like a lesser version of The Craft. There’s definitely some cringe worthy moments and over the top dialogue….but that’s what most horror movies are like. All the girls are believable and emotional and fun to watch. All the boys are just awful and I’m glad they died. The effects were pretty good considering the budget of the film. The story itself had unique parts and was great to watch and follow along. The ending leaves it very open to the possibility of a sequel, although I haven’t heard anything yet.

There’s no jump scares. It’s not a scary movie in any way. It’s more of a slasher if anything because the girls, when killing, are quite violent and bloody. I would suggest it for sure and I’ll definitely watch it again. 7/10. - it's just charming. Watch it.

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 You guys remember in the first day of the challenge I spoke about a new show coming to Destination America called The Demon Files? We've got a trailer! And actually it looks pretty good. I'm excited for it. It's premiering November 1st at 10pm ET. Check out the trailer below:

I also watched a great trailer this week for an upcoming movie called The Boy. It stars Lauren Cohan from Supernatural and The Walking Dead and tells the story of an older couple who need a nanny for their little boy. Except the boy is actually a doll. Spooky shit.

Watch the trailer below:

The movie comes out in January of next year. Speaking of January, I just booked my tickets home today for January and I'm super excited to see my family and Oprah!! Fourth annual Oprah and Gayle sleepover!

Alright I'll see you guys back here tomorrow as we continue on this journey.

Stay Spooky!

DAY TWELVE - Horns (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY TWELVE - HORNS (2013)

So I read this book a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was complex, deep and very emotional. I tried to just completely forget the book while watching this movie so I could just enjoy the movie. And for the most part I was able to. Except the ending. Just read the book.

Horns is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Joe Hill, published in 2010. The movie is directed by Alexandre Aja, who has been directing since the age of 18. It stars Daniel Radcliffe in the lead role of Ig (short for Ignatius which translates from Latin to “fiery one”).

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It’s hard to explain the story because it’s such a bizarre one. Basically Ig wakes up one day after the death of his girlfriend to find he’s grown horns. People can see the horns, but the minute they look away, they forget all about them. When they’re looking at the horns they have the uncontrollable urge to confess their sins, they also do whatever Ig tells them to do. Ig sets out to discover who really murdered his girlfriend and why, using the horns and the power given to him.

Daniel Radcliffe did great in this role, he really is a wonderful actor. He was also quite handsome as Ig. Juno Temple plays Merrin, the girlfriend, and does an absolutely amazing job. I enjoyed all the acting actually, it was all very believable despite the fact Ig is walking around as a fallen angel/devil.

I found the book made way more sense, obviously it had the luxury of taking its’ time to explain why this is happening to Ig and how. If I hadn’t have read the book I’m not sure if I would’ve completely understood the film. The scenery in the film is beautiful and the tree house that all of the events revolve around is exactly as I pictured. Ig’s horns were fantastic, but when he completely transforms in the end, I was a little taken out of the moment because of the effects.

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Honestly, I would kind of love to have those horns just for a few days. As bad as it could be. Sometimes you just want to listen to Marilyn Manson and watch the world burn.

Also, I watched this on Netflix with the subtitles on because I do that with a lot of films to make sure I don’t miss any dialogue. But the subtitles were absolutely awful!! About 90% of the time they didn’t match up with what was being spoken at all. So that’s kind of random and annoying.

Horns was a great, dreamy watch, though a little too long. It’s not scary by any means, its more fantasy/drama than horror. The characters are rich and beautiful and in a lot of pain, so it’s quite entrancing to watch. I may watch it again one day, but I will continue to recommend the book to everyone I meet, but not the movie.

6/10

Obviously Sofia hasn’t been around for a few days – she’s busy passing high school. But she says hello, and tells everyone to watch the Chucky movies. Hopefully she can join us for a few movies this week.

My awesome Nightmare on Elm Street hoodie arrived today from ShirtPunch!

Check out ShirtPunch! here, they have 4 new designs daily that are available for very cheap for 24 hours. They have lots of horror designs and team up with nerd/horror block every month to give us our t-shirts. You can order the design in a tee, long sleeve, zip up hoodie, or pullover. The one I chose is a pullover.

See you back here tomorrow for Day 14!

Stay spooky!

DAY TEN - Curse of Chucky (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

Well we had a little switcharoo because the movies we'd originally planned for the next few days were too hard to find. So I dug through my Netflix list and chose some different ones. Today's movie is Curse of Chucky. I am a MASSIVE fan of Chucky and all his movies. So obviously I've already seen this movie and own it on DVD but it was actually only my second time watching it. I threw on my Chucky t-shirt, grabbed my Chucky doll and got down to business.

DAY TEN - CURSE OF CHUCKY (2013)

This movie is so great. I love when franchises really pay attention to the original films and put in tiny details that franchise fans can obsess over. This is the reason I love the Final Destination franchise so much. Curse of Chucky was a straight to VOD written and directed by Don Mancini who created the franchise we know and love. Brad Dourif returns as the voice of Chucky and as the human version of Charles Lee Ray, whose soul is trapped inside of the doll.

The family in this movie are actually tied to Charles Lee Ray as we find out later on in the film that Charles knew the mother and kidnapped her while she was pregnant with her second child. In modern day, Chucky gets mysteriously mailed to this family and the mother mysteriously dies. The night before the funeral Chucky is unleashed on the house and goes on his murderous rampage.

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Our final girl is played by Fiona Dourif (daughter of Brad Dourif!), and she does a great job of fighting off Chucky. Unfortunately at the end she succumbs to insanity and is blamed for all the murders. The deaths in this film are far more subtle and less violent than the original films which is surprising. But overall the story is super fun and full of great easter eggs. The ending is amazing, with Jennifer Tilly showing up to rescue Chucky from the police and then mailing him to the little girl he was trying to put his soul into before our final girl stopped him.

My favorite part about all of these movies is how damn long it takes the family to realize the doll is moving on its own. Anytime anything in my house is out of place I notice it instantly and am convinced there's a ghost. Chucky wouldn't get past me. The only part I didn't love about this film is that Chucky doesn't even talk until about 40 minutes in. Chucky's one-liners and his evil giggle are the best parts about these films, so this one felt lacking. Although my absolute favorite part of this film is when the little girl goes, "Chucky, I'm scared." and he responds with "you fucking should be."

Don announced on twitter that there will be a Chucky 7, I haven't heard anything else about it so we'll see. I'm always down for more of my favorite franchise films. I honestly don't care how bad they are, I'll keep watching.

BTW if you watch this on Netflix they're actually missing the post credit scenes which is almost the best part! I'll post it below:

I love the Chucky films, always have, always will and this is just a great addition to the family. Although it's not the best one, it's nice to have a new movie so many years later that was put into the right hands to create it. 8/10.

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I'll post Sofia's review when she sends it over. Happy thanksgiving fellow Canadians!!!

DAY FOUR - THE DIRTIES (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

So full disclosure – I am fully aware The Dirties is not a “horror film” per say. BUT school shootings are pretty fucking horrific and this movie is great and it’s my challenge so suuuuuck it.

DAY FOUR - THE DIRTIES (2013)

I first heard about this film 2 years’ ago on Smodcast. Kevin Smith was talking with the star and director, Matt Johnson and the plot of the film peaked my interest. Also, if Kevin Smith told me to eat dirt – I’d probably do it, so him telling me to watch this movie was a no-brainer. So Kevin Smith helped release this film by presenting it through the Kevin Smith Movie Club, and he called it one of “the most important films of the year.”

The movie was a festival darling and won multiple awards. Although it is primarily a “school shooting” type movie, it features bullying prominently and is really more about the cause than the effect. Matthew Johnson, writer, director and star said “My goal is for when people go to see this film is that they walk away surprised at how they view the main characters….I want people to look at these kids in a different way and not just as the monsters they turn into after they commit these violent acts.”

The Dirties is the story of two bullied and eccentric kids at a high school who are working on a film project called The Dirties. The Dirties they refer to are the bullies at their school, and in their film project they kill them all. When they show this to their class, the bullying intensifies so they decide to shoot the kids for real, making it more realistic.

The two guys are Matt and Owen. Matt is easy to love, anyone who’s a film buff sees themselves in him. He’s constantly quoting his favorite films and extremely excitable. He starts to struggle to see the difference between reality and story. Owen comes off more as his sidekick. He agrees to everything Matt says and gets himself into some silly situations because of it. But Matt doesn’t take Owen for granted, in fact Matt helps Owen get the girl of his dreams. He takes charge and gets the girls number and helps Owen woo her. He’s a great friend and super supportive.

Owen, once he is accepted by this girl Krissy, who is one of The Dirties, starts to pull away from Matt. And once he realizes Matt is serious about shooting up the school, he pulls away even further.

The film plays on how easy it can be for kids to pull off a school shooting, and how even with all this extra attention school shootings get, they’re still happening. I mean, even last Thursday there was a new one in Oregon. Matt easily gets access to the school’s blueprints, he makes a film where he kills students, and he even tells two different kids he’s planning a school shooting. Hell, even Owen knows its happening. But still, no one does anything.

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What I’m constantly impressed by in this film is the two main guys. This film was virtually unscripted and the two just played off of each other which is incredibly impressive. It reminds me very much of Elephant and Zero Day.  

The film’s message may be a little fuzzy…is it bullying? Is it school shooting? What’s the ultimate message we should take from it? But regardless, it’s an enjoyable film that hits you in the heart and anyone who’s been bullied can relate. When Matt says, “…that’s the first time I was bullied just for being myself, ya know?” your heart goes out to him, because you can remember that day it happened to you.

I could talk about this movie for hours, but I am not Kevin Smith, so I’ll wrap it up. The Dirties, though not a horror film, will still scare you. It’s a fine piece of art made by a first time movie maker, and deserves all the credit. I look forward to what Matt will bring to the cinema world in the future. I give the Dirties a 10/10.

SOFIA'S REVIEW:

Well hello there! Quick intro, my name is Sofia, and I am a 16-year-old budding horror enthusiast. My lovely friend Charlotte asked me to join her on her 31 day challenge, and I undoubtedly agreed, despite the fact that I am a total wimp. Since I am an aspiring writer, you could imagine my excitement when she asked me to co-write on her blog for this wonderful spooky month. You can find me on my personal blog, www.memoirsofanerdgirl.wordpress.com , and join me on my adventure of my life! Now, onto the review!

Where do I begin with this one?
First, it hit me really hard. With the school shootings that have happened in the past couple years, this movie is more relevant than ever.
It shows escalation of bullying and how it can push someone over the edge and change their personality so much.

The movie starts out with two best friends, Matt and Owen, shooting a movie entitled "the Dirties" for a school project. In the movie, they kill a 'gang', the dirties. The pair are severely bullied throughout the film, including have a rock thrown at Owen's head. The real dirties are the bullies that the two boys have to deal with throughout the entire movie.

After consistently being harassed, Matt says that the movie would've been better if he had actually killed the dirties. Owen goes along with him, but quickly realize Matt is on a different track and actually is considering murdering their harassers.

Later, the two get into a fight and Owen leaves because he states that Matt is always acting, always talking about a good scene and is never just himself anymore. Matt, furious, continues with his plan. He ends up setting cameras in the hallway of his school and shooting two of his bullies, Josh and Jackerman. He sees Owen running away and chases him, finally cornering him in a classroom and saying, "What are you doing? It's me!"

This movie really is a slow build. You're wondering the entire time if Matt is really joking around, or is he serious. You can never quite tell, as it puts you in Owen's place of hovering in the line of going along with Matt or being scared. Not a horror movie in a typical sense, but scares you in a real life way.

Thinking about this movie after, I really imagined what it would be like to encounter a school shooting, to see my friends lose their lives at the hands of someone insane. And it was terrifying.
8/10, a good thought provoker.

See you guys tomorrow for Day five!
Stay Spooky!

DAY THREE - YOU'RE NEXT (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

This was one re-watch I was really waiting for. I had to stop myself from re-watching it all last month because I just remember this film being so great and so much fun. And luckily, it was even better the second time around. So let's jump right into it.

DAY THREE - YOU'RE NEXT (2011/2013)

Oh you guys, this is such a great movie. Home invasions scare the ever living shit out of me - show me any alien or ghost film, show me serial killers, idgaf. Show me a home invasion however and I'm fucking terrified. But You're Next gives me a sense of comfort because our main character, Erin, is so goddamn BAD ASS. She is the ultimate final girl and it makes me believe that maybe I could also use a blender to kill someone in a home invasion.

You're Next was released independently in 2011 at TIFF but wasn't released for everyone to view easily until 2013. Directed by Adam Wingard (whose film The Guest we will watch later this month) and starring Sharni Vinson in our lead role of Erin aka an Australian goddess.

The first part of the film introduces us to a family with adult children and their spouses showing up to this gorgeous rustic mansion in the middle of the nowhere for what I'm assuming is just a weekend away. But the mother hears someone upstairs as soon as she arrives at the house and things go downhill from there. In the mothers defense, she did the right thing. She went straight outside and begged her husband to leave, but instead he goes upstairs and does a half ass sweep of the house. Ya'll...when you think there is someone in your house you need to either gtfo and call the police, or make sure you search every damn corner of that house. This morning I woke up because I heard someone running through my yard. I was so damn unnerved by the whole thing I couldn't fall back asleep until I was sure the door was locked. Even then, I was up for the day.

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The first kill happens 27 minutes in and from there on it's just a blood bath. In the best way. The family fights to survive with Erin holding ground, using anything and everything as a weapon. The murders are brutal to say the least - a wire is hung across the front door so when one girl goes running out of the house, her throat is instantly slit. Erin bludgeons one guy to death with a meat tenderizer. And now I'm wondering if I have enough potential weapons in my kitchen.

Erin fights to the bitter end only to find that the whole thing had been a set up by two of the brothers, one of them being her boyfriend. They had paid some guys to murder their family so the two of them could split the inheritence. But unfortunately for them Erin is next level bad ass and gives them a run for their money. A run that involves a blender to the head and a screwdriver to the eye.

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The film is just a blast all the way through and the ending is probably one of my top three favorite horror movie endings. Just so satisfying and morbidly funny.

There's also two fun cameos in this film - the guy who gets an arrow to the head? Ti West, the director of our last movie we watched. And the tiger mask wearing killer is the writer of You're Next; Simon Barrett.

I will aggressively recommend this film and Erin is one of the best final girls ever. I give You're Next a solid 10/10.

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SOFIA'S REVIEW:

Well hello there! Quick intro, my name is Sofia, and I am a 16-year-old budding horror enthusiast. My lovely friend Charlotte asked me to join her on her 31 day challenge, and I undoubtedly agreed, despite the fact that I am a total wimp. Since I am an aspiring writer, you could imagine my excitement when she asked me to co-write on her blog for this wonderful spooky month. You can find me on my personal blog, www.memoirsofanerdgirl.wordpress.com , and join me on my adventure of my life! Now, onto the review!

Holy. Crap. I loved this movie!!!
I'm normally not a huge fan of the gory slasher flicks, but this was awesome.

We start out in a very fancy home, with two people doing the do. Of course, we all know they're going to die because as soon as people start having sex in horror movies, they've dug their own grave. The man finishes the nasty, takes a shower, and then when he comes out, he sees a backwards message of "You're Next" scrawled across the sliding glass door. Camera shifts focus, and it turns out his lady friend is dead on the ground and the message is written from her side of the door. Dude then proceeds to die. Yay!

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Switch scene, older white couple arrive at fancy house we later realize is next door to the previous murder site. They're organizing a get together with their three sons, one daughter, and the respective boyfriend/girlfriends.
Fast forward a bit, the whole family arrives. We see some typical sibling rivalry, especially between Drake, or Douchebag A as we will call him and the chubby brother named Crispian. Why the hell did you name your poor child Crispian!? That's just asking for him to be beaten up.

The whole family sits down to a lovely happy meal. Some typical white family arguments take place, but quickly ends because oh no! Aimee the daughters boyfriend Tariq has been shot in the face with an arrow!
Ensue with the entire family screaming, Drake also gets shot in the shoulder.

The whole family huddles, while Erin, Crispian's girlfriend, seems to be calm and take charge. Aimee decides to make a run for the cars, as she is fastest. Cue slow motion running out of house as Dad and brother slow motion open the doors, then run right into a wire that slits her throat and kills her. 2 down, 8 to go!

Mommy become distraught, so is brought upstairs to lie down. Once alone, one of the assailants is found to be in her room and kills her with an axe.

The plot just continues to thicken. We find out that Felix, one of the brothers, and his girlfriend Zee hired the assassins in order to gain the extensive family inheritance. Gasp!
The drama and murders just build and build and build, becoming gorier and more amazing each and every time. Erin is a survivalist and Final Girl, I am super smitten with her. The ending was amazing, although the very last scene was predictable.

Overall, I give this movie a 9/10 and sincerely thank it for reconsidering my stance on slasher movies!

Well, that's a screwdriver in the eye for day three. See you tomorrow for day four! 

Stay Spooky ya'll!