Day 31 - Halloween - Horror Movie Challenge

HALLOWEEN (2007)

Inside every one us, there exists a dark side. Most people rise above it, but some are consumed by it. Until there is nothing left, but pure evil. 

It's Halloween in Haddonfield and young Michael is living inside an abusive home and being picked on at school. But today he's had enough. After murdering one of his bullies in the woods he goes home to trick or treat. Unfortunately his sister Judith isn't interested in taking him, his mom Deb is at work at the strip club and Deb's boyfriend is drunk and in a wheelchair. Michael heads out by himself but it isn't the same. When he gets home, Ronnie, Deb's boyfriend taunts Michael until he kills him by taping him up and slitting his throat. Next up is Judith's boyfriend, and then Judith, who he stabs 17 times.

Deb arrives home to find her son sitting outside covered in blood and holding his baby sister in his arms, who he didn't harm.

Michael is of course found guilty but placed into Smith's Grove Sanitarium under the care of Dr. Samuel Loomis. Michael doesn't remember anything from Halloween night and works with Dr. Loomis, but soon slips into his own mind. His Mom visits him every week but as Michael gets worse and worse and stops speaking and becomes obsessed with making and wearing masks, his Mom and Dr. Loomis are giving up. Then one day Michael kills a nurse violently and Deb can't take it anymore, she goes home and commits suicide, leaving her youngest daughter behind.

Over the next 15 years Michael lives in the Sanitarium making masks quietly. Loomis attempts multiple times over the years to reach him but it never works. Then one day Michael snaps after being tormented by a guard and his drunk cousin and kills them. He's able to escape and heads home, which is now an abandoned house that local residents are scared of.

His baby sister who was left orphaned has been taken in by the Strodes who live down the street and renamed Laurie. She's got a good life now but little does she know that her murderous brother has returned home and is watching her.

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• Daeg Faerch puts on a powerhouse of a performance as young Michael Myers and Tyler Mane makes Michael even more terrifying as an adult, if that's even possible. At 6'9" he's a horrific slowly walking force.
• Amazing soundtrack, but that's usually to be expected from Rob Zombie.
• Sheri Moon Zombie can honestly do no wrong in my eyes and she's best in these strong but beaten down women type roles.
• The backstory on Michael is a refreshing touch on the series, seeing what made him into the psycho he is, and seeing how his Mother was left to deal with the aftermath of it all.
• Malcolm McDowell is so fucking great as Loomis.

What didn't I love?

• Waaaay too long. Slasher flicks have no business being over 2 hours.

Overall?

Firstly, ya'll know I'm a big Rob Zombie fan so I'm not here for your hate. Secondly, every year I always end the horror movie challenge with Halloween so this year I thought I'd shake it up with the remake.

I love the remake. I think Zombie did a great job putting his touch on it, like I mentioned above I love the backstory, the depth of Michael Myers. I get why it can be scarier to have no idea why he snapped at 10 years old and stalk Laurie for 100 movies. BUT I do love that we also have this option to watch to learn more about why he did what he did. We get to learn about the mask - why it's so important to Michael and why he hides behind it, such a devastating concept. And our hearts break watching Deb's horrific life and devastating ending.

Is this a Rob Zombie film? Yes. You can feel it in every conversation, every scene, every actor choice etc. But is it a good Rob Zombie film? Yes! It's a slasher flick with 17 violent kills and lots of spooky moments, but it's also a think piece with the prequel part of the film.

I adore this remake and believe it can sit side by side with the original series. Is it better than the original? Of course not! But there's room for both.

9/10

I've got two days left of my vacation and then I'm headed home! Highlight of this week so far? Getting to fly to the waterfall used in Jurassic Park in a helicopter! It's on protected land and can only be reached by helicopter and you have to wear protective booties on your shoes to protect the environment. It's absolutely beautiful and was honestly the coolest thing that's ever happened to me.

And here's a pic! Don't judge me for my fanny pack and safety vest wrapped around my waist:

Day 30 - Halloween III: Season of the Witch - October Horror Movie Challenge

HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982)

 Halloween... the festival of Samhain! The last great one took place three thousand years ago, when the hills ran red... with the blood of animals and children. 

It's October 23rd and a man is taken into emergency, Dr. Dan Challis looks over him but that night a mysterious man appears and kills the sick man. When the doctor runs outside to try and catch him, the madman sets himself on fire.

On October 24th, the dead guys' daughter Ellie arrives and speaks to Dan. The two of them agree something isn't right about the way her father died and set out to investigate. They track back the last few days of her father's life which leads them to a small town called Santa Mira. The company Silver Shamrock Novelties has a factory there where they create awesome Halloween masks that all the kids are buying up this year.

A woman staying in the room next to them is suspicious of the masks and finds a microchip in the one she's studying. It kills her and while Dan and Ellie are trying to help, they're pushed away by a strange group of men dressed in lab coats.

The two realize that the Silver Shamrock has something to do with all this and go on a tour of the factory. But what they find in the factory is shocking and may destroy the entire world on Halloween night.

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• The awesome music by John Carpenter that plays throughout the whole movie.
• Halloween plays twice on the TV in this film...SO META...
• The annoying Silver Shamrock tune is amazing and constantly stuck in my head. Remind me to play that over and over during the last week of Halloween next year.
• There's a fight scene and the fake punch noises are so bad that they are amazing.

What didn't I love?

• Mostly just the logic of this movie....
• How did the car explode? Homeboy lit himself on fire and then the car exploded. I mean...what kind of dramatic nonsense?
• Ellie and Dan start hooking up immediately? Like okay, let's track down your dead dads last days...so romantic?
• When Dan first sees what happens to the kids wearing the masks....how do the giant snakes happen? Like how does a mask create giant snakes?
• SO MANY QUESTIONS

 Overall?

Obviously this film is famous purely for not having Michael Myers in it at all but still being a part of the Halloween franchise. It's easier just to watch this one as a random Halloween plot to kill everyone movie and forget you're watching the third installment of a slasher franchise. In fact it takes another six years for Michael to even return, in the fourth movie - Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.

It's not even really horror - it's more of a sci-fi, folk lore type tale what with all the lasers and robots. It does have a decent amount of gore though. Particularly the scene at the beginning where the Shamrock robot dude thing just shoves his fingers through Ellie's Dad's eyes. Also...you know...violence against children which, if you read this blog, you know I'm always a big supporter of in horror movies.

When it was first released critics and fans alike hated this flick, but overtime we've all learned to appreciate it for what it is. Just your basic 80's horror/sci-fi movie trying to take a stand on large corporations and the mass consumerism of America.

This little nugget was directed by Tommy Lee Wallace and was his first film, previously he had worked on the Halloween series but as a production designer and art director. He then went on to direct the amazing miniseries It, released in 1990.

Really it's just a great little Halloween flick that does what it set out to do and is a fun watch.

7/10

Still at it over here in Kauai! I have one more review to post and then the October horror movie challenge is done and OVER WITH. I have a giant list of blog posts I need to write after that but I'll save those for when I get home. SO MANY THINGS TO TALK ABOUT YA'LL!

Yesterday I got to explore a creepy ass cave that reminded me of The Descent so much I freaked myself out.

Stay Spooky!

Day 29 - An American Werewolf in London - October Horror Movie Challenge

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)

The undead surround me. Have you ever talked to a corpse? It's boring! I'm lonely! Kill yourself, David, before you kill others.

David and Jack are two college kids from America who have decided to backpack across the moors. They find a pub called The Slaughtered Lamb filled with unfriendly locals and a pentagram on the wall. Jack decides to ask them about the pentagram but it instantly turns the locals even more hostile and the boys leave after being warned to stay off the moors and beware the moon. Out on the moors (because these are two american students who don't listen) they are quickly attacked by a large wolf-like animal and Jack is killed.

David wakes up in a London hospital three weeks later not remembering what happened and a police inspector tells him he was attacked by an escape lunatic who was then shot by the locals. But David is sure he was attacked by a wolf and the scratches on his body make sense with this memory. Then suddenly Jack appears to David as a corpse and tells him that David is about to turn into a werewolf and to just kill himself before the full moon.

As the full moon quickly approaches, is London in danger? Is David really going to turn into a werewolf or is he losing his mind? And what are the locals hiding?

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• The scene where the boys enter the pub for the first time and everyone turns and stares at them. I have totally experienced this in small pubs in England. It's intense.  
• The transformation of course is ground breaking and still stunning when watched this day.
• I loved Nurse Alex, played by Jenny Agutter.
• Really great soundtrack!

What didn't I love?

• This is advertised as a horror comedy, but I totally missed the comedy element. Sure there were some great British dry moments but other than that I kept forgetting it was supposed to be a comedy. 
• I liked Jack way more than David and was bummed when Jack died so quickly.
  

Overall?

First time watching this movie and I kind of wish I'd watched it earlier when I was younger. I didn't fall in love with it like I'd hoped. I get why this is a classic and I mean, that transformation scene....goddamn. In fact the makeup in this film won the first ever Oscar for Best Makeup.

It's a great little flick and mad props to John Landis for writing and directing it and even bigger props to the special effects done by Rick Baker.

I'm thinking the more I watch this film the more it will grow on me. It probably didn't help I watched this for the first time on a plane which isn't reallllly the best place to watch horror movies which I keep learning.

I will re-watch for sure.

7/10

I'm here in Kauai! I've had an amazing time so far so apologies for the delay of the last three movie reviews but they are coming, I promise. I also watched Stitches yesterday when I had some down time and I want to talk about that one!

So far here I've been stung by a jelly fish, found a creepy house and secret river, saw dolphins out in the wild and seen a lot of gorgeous land. Also today I visited a crumbled temple where locals back in the day used to speak to the Gods.

Stay spooky!

Day 28 - Christine - October Horror Movie Challenge

CHRISTINE (1983)

Let me tell you a little something about love, Dennis. It has a voracious appetite. It eats everything. Friendship. Family. It kills me how much it eats. But I'll tell you something else. You feed it right, and it can be a beautiful thing, and that's what we have. 

Arnie is a loser in high school with his one long time friend Dennis who's on the football team and has a girlfriend. But Arnie's pretty content, he's more focused on buying a car. One catches his eye, a 1958 Plymouth Fury nicknamed Christine. It's pretty banged up but Arnie buys it, despite Dennis telling him not to, and his parents refusing to let him park it in their driveway. He ends up renting a space where he can work on Christine and rebuilds her to her former glory.

But the more time Arnie spends with Christine, the more he changes. He gets rid of his dorky glasses, he dresses better, becomes more confident which turns into arrogance. Dennis does a little research and discovers that the previous owner of Christine became obsessed with her as well and eventually died in her.

A group of bullies at Arnie's high school, who look to be middle aged men but sure we'll say they're in high school, decide to vandalize Christine. Arnie is of course completely devastated by this but watches in awe as Christine magically begins to mend herself.

But now enemies of Arnie are mysteriously being killed and people are saying they're seeing Christine out and about, with no one driving. Dennis is becoming very worried about his friend and how much he's changed. Will Christine claim another owner?

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• I mean....it's a Stephen King adaptation...that's actually good.
• Artie when he's in his nerd form is so cute. And his transformation throughout the film is genius. A beautiful display of acting. In the scene where he picks up Dennis near the end and they go for that terrifying drive on the highway, the look in his eyes is completely mental.
• That epic scene where Christine is on fire and chasing after that 40 year old John Travolta lookalike....beauty of a scene.
• All of the acting in this movie is great really.

What didn't I love?

• Honestly, nothing. It's a pretty damn great film.

Overall?

Christine, directed by the ever amazing John Carpenter, is of course based on the novel by Stephen King. In fact during this time Stephen King was so popular that the film went into production before the book had even been released.

Unfortunately the reception at the time of this film was dismal. Stephen King fans weren't happy (but when are they?) and neither were John Carpenter fans. But I think this movie holds up over time and I really enjoyed it. I remember reading the novel when I was about 15 but actually watched the movie a few years before when I was 12. It's fun to re-visit and I'll have to re-read the book later this year as Christine is one of the only Stephen King books I've only read once.

Also...the actor who played Arnie, Keith Gordon, also acted in Jaws 2! Double booking this week!

Christine is a fun return to the 80's and I recommend people taking a re-watch because it's really become a classic I think.

8/10

Alright, I'm off to the airport! See you fools tomorrow when I'll be reporting from a beach. Except reality will be from my hotel room because I actually don't love beaches. I'm just there for the dolphins and the Jurassic Park island, and the haunted abandoned temple.

Stay spooky!

Day 27 - Jaws The Revenge - October Horror Movie Challenge

JAWS THE REVENGE (1987)

When there is no factor motivating an event, no case of cause creating effect, what triggered the action: fate or circumstance? What you are about to see concerns such an event. Maybe you can determine whether we are dealing here, with circumstances, or fate.

SURPRISE...we're back at Amity. Brody has died of a heart attack leaving his wife Ellen and his two sons Sean and Mike behind. Mike is married with a young daughter and Sean is engaged. Sean is following in his Dad's footsteps and is a police deputy but one night when he's clearing a log from a buoy a great white shark attacks and kills him.

Ellen has a complete breakdown, and rightfully so, believing that this shark intentionally targeted Sean because clearly this family has killed more sharks than any other family on this planet. After the funeral, Mike takes Ellen back to the Bahamas with his family. Which doesn't really make much sense as Ellen is now convinced they're being stalked by a shark. BUT OKAY. Maybe try something inland next time?

At the island Ellen falls in love with a dashing, carefree airplane pilot while Mike gets back to work as a marine biologist. But as life begins to settle Mike encounters the same shark that attacked and killed Sean.

How is this possible? And is this shark really out to get the whole Brody family? And is Ellen mentally connected to the shark? WHAT AM I EVEN WATCHING...

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• Michael Caine playing Hoagie?! WTF?! What a happy surprise. He honestly made this movie for me.
• Lorraine Gary is back as Ellen Brody and absolutely nuts but kicking ass!
• The flashbacks were sweet and emotional.

What didn't I love?

• Wtf was going on with that psychic connection? And are you telling me this shark swam all the way from Amity to the Bahamas to kill the Brody family? Who the fuck is this shark?
• There was not enough shark attacks in this movie. So much dialogue, so much character development, KILL SOMEONE ALREADY.
• This movie basically pretends Jaws 3D never happened. Which is fair.

Overall?

Basically this movie is usually what happens when you're four films deep into a franchise. You try and flip the story on its head and the creature becomes more and more powerful. We see it with Freddy, we see it with Michael Myers, after a certain amount of movies they basically become god like. This is what happens here. You're given a shark that is apparently so powerful it's become sort of psychic and all being.

The story was fun at first but then got boring and then got fun and then the shark exploded.

Weirdly enough...out of all the Jaws sequels I think Jaws 3-D was my favorite? Then Jaws 2 and then this one.

5/10

Tomorrow I fly to Kauai and try to become a shark whisperer! And today was my Halloween extravaganzaaaaaaa. I will keep blogging for the rest of this challenge. I'll just be doing it from another country.

Here's some photos from today:

My coworkers' husband made me my own banner because I am the Halloween QUEEN.

At one point I removed my Negan costume, put on a cape, then wore a spider like a backpack and then stole a skull staff....why? because I'm the Queen of Halloween...

Also our office neighbors pranked us after we pranked them but they did it better. This is one part of it and I love him. We are putting him at my desk while I'm gone. Won't be much difference. I LOVE YOU TALENTCORPSE!!!!!!!!

Stay Spooky!

Day 26 - Jaws 3 - October Horror Movie Challenge

JAWS 3-D (1983)

"It was a shark. It was a shark with a bite radius about a yard across." "Don't be silly. That would indicate a shark of some 35 feet in length..."

Mike Brody is all grown up now and working at SeaWorld, he helps build the parks and his girlfriend, Kay, is the senior marine biologist. One day while preparing for a celebration, a group of water skiers accidentally let in a baby great white shark without realizing into the sea world lagoon from the ocean. The dolphins are terrified but no one knows why so one of the assistants dives into the water to fix the gates, thinking that might be the problem. While he's down there he's killed by the baby shark.

The next day the park finds out about the assistant's disappearance and so they take the SeaWorld submarine (cause that's a thing right?) down under the lagoon to look for him. During the search they find the baby shark and get excited. They want to capture it and have it in the park to be the first sea park ever to house a great white. The shark is eventually captured by Kay and a weird British hunter who I still don't really understand why he's there and Kay and her staff nurse it back to health. But unfortunately the lil' baby dies.

When they finally find the assistant's corpse they see bite marks on him and Kay realizes that the baby shark was too small to do this much damage which means the mother shark must be in the park somewhere......

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• BABY DENNIS QUAID!!!!!
• I like that this story focuses on the brothers as adults and although I don't really understand what Sean does except wear cowboy boots, it was nice to see him.
• Those 3-D effects were so awful and dated but it made the movie EVEN BETTER.
• The dolphins rescuing them from the baby shark were super cute.
• The slow motion glass shattering at the end for ultimate 3-D effect had me cackling and the final shark explosion was bad ass. How many sharks are they gonna explode though? These are close to becoming endangered animals you bastards!
• Not gonna lie....I cried a bit at the end when the sun was setting and everyone was safe and the dolphins were jumping around. Pretty emotional. I'm also in the midst of a total stress breakdown so that might be to blame.

What didn't I love?

• You're telling me that this man, Mike Brody, who has now been apart of TWO SHARK EPISODES including one where he almost died, sees a shark under water and his response is to yell "WHAT WAS THAT, WHAT WAS THAT???" Wtf do you think it was Mike? You work in goddamn SeaWorld, I'd hope you'd know what a shark was.
• Also after watching Blackfish I was much more scared by Kay playing with the Killer Whale in the water than the shark. HE'S GONNA BITE YOUR ARM OFF KAY...

Overall?

You know what...as nuts as this one was, I actually had a tone of fun watching it. Like...it's so over the top and makes no logistical sense and literally jumps the shark but I'm on board?

I mean what can I really say? There's nothing here to digest or talk about it really. It's another Jaws sequel, this time it's in 3D and this time there's two sharks. I wish so badly I could see this in theaters in 3D to really experience the glory of this very typical 80's movie.

I loved it, in a cheesey this is a good way to pass the time on a rainy day kind of way. Also I'm a sucker for Denis Quaid. Also did Deep Blue Sea steal a lot of scenes from this movie? You know it.

7/10

In personal news...tomorrow is my Halloween party costume contest jeopardy pizza candy extravaganza at work and I've finally put together my Negan costume...

Pissing our pants yet? Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close. It's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon. 

Also I tried to find my fake axe in my trunk of fake weapons and IT'S MISSING!! Because did anyone else notice by the time Negan was dragging Rick into the RV, Negan had shoved a gun and an axe in his pants...like...chill bud? Anyways, I shoved a fake knife in my pants instead cause I'm sure Negan had one of those in there anyway. 

Stay Spooky!

Day 25 - Jaws 2 - October Horror Movie Challenge

JAWS 2 (1978)

But I'm telling you, and I'm telling everybody at this table that that's a shark! And I know what a shark looks like, because I've seen one up close. And you'd better do something about this one, because I don't intend to go through that hell again! 

We're back in Amity! And divers have discovered the Orca, but it looks like someone is still lurking around it and quickly takes a bite out of the unsuspecting divers. Meanwhile there's a new hotel opened up in Amity and summer is busier than ever. Chief Brody is back in business dealing with the locals' complaints about the summer folk.

But one afternoon a shark attacks a water skier and the boat and causes an explosion which is seen from off shore. Shortly after they find a killer whale that's been killed and the wounds look an awful lot like a shark. Brody is concerned that perhaps there's a shark that's come back to terrorize his town but no one believes him.

The camera from the original divers is recovered and Brody orders the photos to be developed. Meanwhile, he's back to patrolling the beach, making his wife and the mayor nervous. And after he sees a shadow in the water and begins shooting at it, alarming everyone on the beach, it turns out to be only a school of blue fish.

Everyone thinks he's losing it and when he finally gets the photos back and spots a sharks eye in one of the photos he demands to be taken seriously. Instead he's fired.

The next morning, Brody's son Mike heads out into the water to go sailing with his friends despite his father's warnings and he takes his younger brother Sean. But will the shark follow the group of teens in their boats? And will the town of Amity finally take Brody's warnings seriously, or will it be too late?

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• JAWS IS BACK and this time he's not fucking around. He's killing everyone left and right.
• The helicopter scene was so implausible and bad ass as hell.
• Brody is up to his usual antics of staring off dramatically at the ocean.
• The Orca scene was awesome. 
• "Sharks don't take things personally Mr. Brody."
• Lots of returning cast members.

What didn't I love?

• I mean...it was basically just a replay of the first movie only less awesome? 

Overall?

Weirdly enough as much as I love Jaws and consider it one of the best films of all time, I've never taken the time to watch the sequels. But all that is changing my friends!

As far as sequels go this is much to be expected - lots of explosions and shark attacks and disbelief about the shark. Lots of great one-liners and Brody moments. But it really does just feel like a lesser version of the first film. But I mean, back in the 70's and 80's, that's all sequels really were ya know? Studios were like...oh you liked that first one? Here's more of the same but more violent.

It did incredibly well at the box office though, and at the time of release was the highest-grossing sequel ever made until Rocky II came along. And the absolutely amazing tag line; Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.... is one of the most famous taglines in history.

What's sort of depressing about this film though is that the actor who plays Brody, Roy Scheider, had no interest in returning to the Jaws franchise and was basically forced into it by Universal. He had backed out of another film but still owed Universal more films, so they came to an agreement that if he did Jaws 2, it would count as 2 movies against his contract. He had no interest in being there and fought all the time with the director, Jeannot Szwarc, including once an actual physical fight.

But whatever, how can you not love this franchise? It's the most dramatic behind the scenes with all the movies and it really was the first film to make a shark terrifying. I remember seeing Jaws by accident when I was like 5 or 6 and being absolutely terrified for weeks of any kind of water. But when I re-watched it when I was a little bit older, the shark became my favorite creature and to this day I love sharks more than anything else (except maybe dogs) and am constantly promoting and donating and fighting for the safety of sharks.

In just a few days I'm off to Kauai and there are tiger sharks and white-tipped reef sharks and if I get to see one out in the wild, I may break down and cry.

Stay spooky!

Day 24 - Rec 2 - October Horror Movie Challenge

REC 2 (2009)

We have to tape everything...

Rec 2 picks up a few minutes after Rec ends. Dr. Owen and a team of GEO's are equipped with video cameras and sent into the apartment where we last saw all of its residents go nuts and turn into rabies infested zombie things. Quite quickly things get out of hand and when Martos, one of the GEO's is attacked, Dr. Owen pulls out a rosary and starts performing what seems to be an exorcism on him. The GEO's freak out and demand to know the truth as they're unable to leave the building until Dr. Owen lets them out with a voice controlled system. He admits that he's really a priest sent from the Vatican to receive a blood sample from the girl who started all of this; Tristana Medeiros.

That's right. It's not zombies. It's DEMONS!!!!

They head up to the penthouse where the last movie ended but Tristana isn't there. Larra, another GEO climbs through a secret hatch and finds the original sample of blood that the priest is looking for but during a religious rite on the blood to test its authenticity, the blood is dropped and destroyed.

This leaves only one option - to get a blood sample from Tristana herself.

But where is she? And who are those unaffected teenagers running around with a camera? And how deep is the Vatican involved in all of this?

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• I loved the twist from the first to the second. The first was a goddamn great zombie flick and instead of the sequel being more of the same it twisted the whole genre on its head. 
• Dr. Owen was great - super intense and creepy.
• The effects as always were really well done.
• The cameras made sense in this movie - usually with found footage you're like screaming at them going DROP THE CAMERA IDIOTS AND RUN, but in this movie every reason for the footage made sense.
• The final scene in the dark was terrifying and suspenseful.
• And the twist at the very end was so good and I didn't expect it at all.

 What I didn't love?

• The blood thing confused me - they kept going on about taking the blood samples but then the person they were trying to take it from would die and they would freak out and go find someone else. Why couldn't they take the blood from a dead person? 
• The teenagers were SUPER annoying. SO HYSTERICAL. I just wanted to smack them.

Overall?

Rec scared the ever loving shit out of me. I watched it about 5 years ago and those final scenes with Tristana gave me fucking nightmares. So I was hesitant to watch Rec 2 because I can secretly be a scaredy cat. But I finally took the time to dig through Shudder and saw that on there and instantly decided that was the movie for tonight.

This is a great sequel and I can't wait to check out the rest of the films!

9/10

Alright, so I changed up the last week of movies because my week got INSANE at work and I have my Halloween event on Friday and then fly out Saturday morning so I needed some easier, more low key movies. And most of them are on Netflix so I don't have to fuss around with downloading them. So if you were following along with the list, I apologize.

Here's the updated final week:

HALLOWEEN WEEK
Oct 24th - REC 2 (2009)
Oct 25th - Jaws 2 (1978)
Oct 26th - Jaws 3 (1983)
Oct 27th - Jaws the Revenge (1987)
Oct 28th - Christine (1983)
Oct 29th - An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Oct 30th - Halloween 3 (1982)
Oct 31st - Halloween (remake) (2007)

Stay Spooky!

Day 23 - The Witch - October Horror Movie Challenge

THE WITCH (2015)

Black Phillip, Black Phillip, a crown grows out his head. Black Phillip, Black Phillip, to nanny queen is wed. Jump to the fence post. Running in the stall. Black Phillip, Black Phillip, king of all. 

William and his family are banished from a Puritan plantation in England in 1630 due to his intense religious interpretation of the bible. The family leaves and builds a farm on the edge of a giant forest. They're struggling to grow crops, and those that do grow are infected. Thomasin, the oldest daughter, is playing peek-a-boo with the youngest baby, Samuel when he suddenly disappears.

He was kidnapped by a witch who lives in the woods and she murders him, covering her body in his blood.  But the family believe he was taken by a wolf. The mother, Katherine, is devastated and spends all her time crying and praying while William secretly trades her precious silver cup for hunting supplies. But when he takes his oldest son Caleb into the woods they find no game.

That night the children hear their parents discussing the fear of making it through the winter without food and speak of sending Thomasin to live with another family. In the morning Caleb and Thomasin sneak out to hunt in the woods and try desperately to find food for their family. But something scares the horse and the dog and Thomasin falls to the ground hitting her head, while Caleb runs after the dog. When Thomasin wakes up she realizes her brother is missing.

With the twins seeming to understand what the goat, Black Phillip, is saying to them, and the sudden return of Caleb, naked and confused from the woods, the family begins to fear witchcraft. But soon fingers point to Thomasin and she must convince them of the truth and fight for her life against the religious fury pointed at her.

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• That scenery though.....so terrifying and isolated. Just a small farm in the middle of nowhere on the edge of a spooky forest with just your family to keep your company, anyone would go crazy.
• The score was one of the best I've ever heard. It was haunting.
• Witch scenes - brutal, confusing, freaky.
• Amazing performances all around, specifically from Anya Taylor-Joy in her first movie role, and the mother played by Kate Dickie who was in Game of Thrones.
• Directorial debut from Robert Eggers and written by him as well - can't WAIT to see what he'll send out into the world next.

 Overall?

I'm skipping what I didn't like because I'm really not sure about this movie. I watched it last night and usually I write the blog right after but I slept on it and thought about it all day and I'm still so uncertain. Did I love it? Did I hate it? I don't even know.

I mean, this movie is deep. The symbols were strong with this one. From Black Phillip representing the devil and the poison apple representing old fairy tale witches, and the goats spitting out blood instead of milk. This movie represents so many things from oppression to misogyny to distrust. I didn't trust the film myself. Even the corn, which has gone rotten, is a hallucinogen. So if they were eating this stuff, how can we trust any of it was really happening? Was Thomasin evil all along? Or was she a young girl scared by her faith who misses her old life and is seduced easily into a new life?

SO MANY QUESTIONS.

It's a good film. It's accurate for the times from the dress, to the accent to the dialect. It's beautifully shot and it's easy to follow. But it's so damn....creepy? Thoughtful? Unnerving?

Jury is out on this one for me so I'm not even going to rate it.

Just watch it.

Stay spooky!

Day 22 - Crimson Peak - October Horror Movie Challenge

CRIMSON PEAK (2015)

A house as old as this one becomes, in time, a living thing. It starts holding onto things... keeping them alive when they shouldn't be. Some of them are good; some of them bad... Some should never be spoken about again. 

When Edith was young her mother passed away but returned to her as a ghost to warn her against "Crimson Peak". As an adult Edith is a budding horror writer, not being taken seriously. She is being courted by a young Doctor by the name of Alan but she has no interest in getting married, only becoming a writer. When Thomas and Lucille Sharpe arrive from London, the whole town is ablaze with who Thomas will pick as a suitor. He reads Edith's novel and loves it, in turn falling in love with her. Edith, for the first time, finds herself falling in love as well.

But Edith's father is against this courtship and when he finds some troubling news of the Sharpe's past, he pays Thomas and Lucille to leave and to break Edith's heart. Thomas does so, but soon after Edith's father is violently murdered, pushing her into the arms of Thomas.

Thomas and his sister take Edith away to their family home in England, an old decrepit mansion in the middle of nowhere, built on top of a clay mine. The house is falling apart and red clay oozes from every crack, the house itself is slowly sinking into the ground.

Edith begins to see terrifying spirits around the house and begins to get sicker and sicker. But what is causing it all? And why is Lucille so strange? And what is really buried beneath the house in the old clay mind?

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• WHAT DIDN'T I LOVE? Good lord. This movie is amazing. 
• The scenery and sets are breathtakingly beautiful and the costumes are so delicate and gorgeous.
• The acting is incredible and the script is just mind blowing. "The things we do for love like this are ugly, mad, full of sweat and regret. This love burns you and maims you and twists you inside out. It is a monstrous love and it makes monsters of us all." 
• All the ghosts were terrifying and haunting. The opening scene with Edith's mother returning was so scary. And there was one particular scene where Edith thinks her dog has locked itself in a room but instead it's a ghost and it had me covered in goosebumps.
• Lucille is so amazingly terrifying and the final scene where she's chasing Edith through the snow was just breathtaking.
• When Edith's father is murdered it is shockingly violent but somehow still fits within the film.

What I didn't love?

• Please.

Overall?

I'm a huge Guillermo del Toro fan and it frustrates me to no end that Hollywood doesn't allow this man to make as many movies as he wants. He's constantly being shut down or not funded and I just can't understand why. Pacific Rim is one of my top 5 favorite films of all time, and I'm not gonna lie in saying that Crimson Peak might be up there too. Guillermo is a master of horror and visuals and he is a god send. His imagination must be protected at all costs.

I'm ashamed it took me so long to watch Crimson Peak, but I'll admit it was because I was worried it would suck. A lot of people didn't like it and I was bummed about that. But now that I've seen it, I don't understand why? This movie is a beautiful masterpiece. I want to wrap myself up in the story, I want to run around in long flowing dresses wielding a knife, and I want to live in that beautiful, haunted mansion.

Crimson Peak was built entirely for this movie and I'm so glad this came to be because it brought such a real feel to this story. Unfortunately they had to tear it down after filming which is depressing because I would sell my soul to Guillermo to live there.

This is an amazing ghost story and I can't wait to watch it again!

10/10

Tonight is the premier of the walking dead ya'll! I haven't watched since season 4 because I hated the way the show was going, but Negan has arrived and it looks like Rick's hand is about to get cut off....so I'm back on board!

Stay Spooky!