October Horror Movie Challenge 2016 - THE LIST

Alright....it's that time of year...October is THIS WEEKEND and so begins the Horror Movie Challenge - 31 horror movies in 31 days. The premise is how it sounds...watch a horror movie every day of October. This is my fourth year doing it but last year was the first year I managed to complete it. Soooooooo the odds are not in my favor. But I'm determined to do it again this year, even with a vacation in a different country happening on the last three days.

I'll post my list on here and you are more than welcome to join in! But...I do change movies a lot last minute and this list is completely catered to my personal choices. I would encourage you to make your own list with our own films but if this is your first year and you're freaking out how to jump in, feel free to use mine! And keep me updated on your challenge! I wanna know how ya'll are doing, what movies you're watching etc. Send me links to your blogs, comment, or just tweet at me.

(are you super impressed by my graphic? I know right, I'm sooooo talented HAHAHAHA....thanks addtext.com)

NEW RELEASES WEEK
Oct 1st - The Purge: Election Year
Oct 2nd - 31
Oct 3rd - The Conjuring 2
Oct 4th - Cell
Oct 5th - Clown
Oct 6th - 10 Cloverfield Lane

NEW RELEASES/WATER THEME WEEK
Oct 7th - The Shallows
Oct 8th - Black Water
Oct 9th - Frozen
Oct 10th - Reef

90'S THEME WEEK
Oct 11th - Candyman
Oct 12th - Leprechaun
Oct 13th - The Good Son
Oct 14th - Idle Hands
Oct 15th - The Frighteners
Oct 16th - Ravenous
Oct 17th - Vampires

2015 RELEASE WEEK
Oct 18th - The Hallow
Oct 19th - Bone Tomahawk
Oct 20th - Krampus
Oct 21st - Bloodsucking Bastards
Oct 22nd - Crimson Peak
Oct 23rd - The Witch

HALLOWEEN WEEK
Oct 24th - Digging up the Marrow
Oct 25th - Home Movie
Oct 26th - Chernobyl Diaries
Oct 27th - Lake Mungo
Oct 28th - Christine
Oct 29th - An American Werewolf in London
Oct 30th - Halloween 3
Oct 31st - Halloween (remake)

That's it! For now...
We'll see what changes get made.

Good luck on all of yours, may the odds be ever in your favor and what not. See you on the weekend!

Stay spooky!

Most Likely to Die....OF BOREDOM...AYOOOOOOO

Hey guys!
October horror movie challenge is coming up quick and last night I finally scribbled together my game plan. It's subject to change because of so many reasons but at least I've got a basic outline now. I'm also busy planning this years' Halloween party at my job like I do every year...and this year we're doing Halloween Jeopardy!! Which I realized after I'd promised that, I actually had no idea how Jeopardy works. But I've got some time. We're also doing a costume competition for the first year ever. I can't believe October is next week. WHAT IS HAPPENING. But October also means I get to leave on my Hawaiian vacation (with my parents) and pretend I'm wealthy for two weeks (shout out to my parents for paying for this entire vacation) instead of pretending my cracked, infected tooth isn't such a big deal because I can't afford the dentist. HAHAHA....sobbing.

Also last night, my quest to get Mitch to like horror movies continued with me showing him The Purge: Anarchy. Obviously I'm a huge fan of the Purge franchise and can't wait to watch Election Year during the challenge. Mitch watched the original Purge with me last year and he enjoyed it a lot more so for the concept of the purge than for the film itself. But boy oh boy did he LOVE Anarchy. He even thanked me for showing it to him at the end which made me feel quite chuffed. Hopefully during this years' challenge he can find some more horror movies to love.

Anyway,
What I'm actually here to chat about is the steaming pile of garbage I just watched called Most Likely to Die. Luckily I was doing laundry while watching it, so it wasn't a total waste of my time.

Let's jump into it...

MOST LIKELY TO DIE (2015)

I saw the trailer for this awhile ago and I thought to myself it looks like someone trying to revive the 90's slasher trope. I was intrigued. Then I saw Perez Hilton was in it and was completely turned off by the whole thing. I get irritated with a lot of people but I rarely hate people. I HATE Perez Hilton. I had the unfortunate luxury to spend 4 weeks of my life watching him on Celebrity Big Brother for three hours a day and he is a TERRIBLE person. He is the definition of "vile".

But today while I was doing my laundry I thought, what the hell, maybe I'll give it a try. For all I know Perez is a great actor and I won't even be annoyed because he'll be a different character. I was wrong for thinking that. He is a terrible actor. He's an over-actor. And he basically just plays himself the whole time. There's a pretty important scene where his character reveals why he quit drinking and the tragic circumstances that led to it. It was delivered so badly and unemotionally, my dog could've done a better job.

Enough Perez bashing though because this film is filled with flaws.

First of all the premise is that a group of friends who were on the year book committee are reuniting the night before their 10-year high school reunion. They spend the first bit reminiscing on basically all the terrible things they did in high school including tormenting one particular guy, John. Then as the night goes on they start getting murdered one by one by someone dressed up in graduation garb and a mask that matches the scratched out, defaced senior picture of John in the yearbook, which was a prank the group pulled back in high school.

So what happened to this movie? It has all the trappings of a good slasher flick along with a great costumed killer, the likes of which we haven't seen in awhile. But there's too many characters which aren't introduced properly and you can't get close to any of them. The only character I liked was Gaby, played by Heather Morris, and that was only because she got the most screen time and I could actually keep track of who she was.

The actions of the characters made no sense. After the first murder they all start turning on each other immediately and keep accusing Ray, who I can't even keep track of who that is. And when Ray finally shows up at the end, I'd completely forgotten about him. In fact when writing this review I thought Ray was the name of the bullied kid, but I just re-watched the ending and turns out that kids name was John. 

The kills were basically non-existence and watered down. If the kills had been more slasher esq, I would've enjoyed this movie a lot more. The only kill that got me back to paying attention was when the killer whips his graduation cap at one of the characters and it slices her throat open. Not sure how that happens but it was a great watch. Other than that? Nothing.

Most Likely to Die was written in the 90's during the slasher hay day but was shelved until now. I think if this movie had been given some more love and attention it could've been a great romp. But it was handled badly and cheaply and now we're left with this mess. Not even the "twist" ending could redeem it.

Garbage. Don't waste your time. Now I feel like I need to watch another horror movie to cleanse my pallet. Good lord.

Alright,

I'll be minimal on here until the challenge starts in 6 days and then I'll be here every day until you're sick of me.

Stay spooky!

Ghost Team and now I'm emotional

GHOST TEAM (2016)

I'm not crazy, my fiance was abducted by aliens

When I saw this trailer awhile ago I thought it looked hilarious and was excited to see last night it was on itunes. But what I was not expecting was to watch a very emotional, character driven film. I'm actually still undecided about it. I don't even know if I would classify it as a horror, or a comedy, or a drama. It's like a weird mix of all three.

Directed by Oliver Irving, Ghost Team was released this year and stars Jon Heder as the lead role of Louis, David Krumholtz as his very depressed best friend Stan, Melonie Diaz as the gorgeous and adorable Ellie. Then there's also Justin Long as the security guard Ross who completely gives himself to this role, the hilarious Amy Sedaris as Victoria the "psychic" and Paul W. Downs as Zak, Louis' nephew.

I felt quite connected to this film because Louis and Stan are two people who spend their nights watching ghost shows like Ghost Adventures and Ghost Hunters, only in this film it's Ghost Getters. And in fact Jason Hawes from Ghost Hunters plays a member of Ghost Getters in this movie. Louis and Stan feel like if they can hunt ghosts too then their lives will have meaning.
I remember when I was in between schools and working part time at a dry cleaners and just felt completely lost. I would obsessively watch ghost hunting shows and Oprah and I would spend our nights running through graveyards trying to find any evidence.

Louis works at a copy store and Stan lives out of his car, completely depressed after his fiance never showed up on their wedding day. Stan deals with this by believing his wife was abducted by aliens. Which is quite heartbreaking really. He can't face the reality of her leaving so instead creates an implausible reason for her disappearing. Ghost Getters are holding a competition where if you can send in the best evidence of the paranormal, you can join their team. This is a dream for Louis and Stan who decide to get together a ghost hunting team of their own.

This includes Ellie who Louis has a bit of crush on who works next door to him in the salon. Ellie herself is interested because her brother overdosed a few years back and she wants some closure. Zak who is working at a Best Buy type store will be their tech specialist. Louis considers him a genius because he believes Zak graduated college two years early with an engineering degree when in reality Zak quit after two. Ross is the security guard of the mall and joins them to protect them, he also comes with his own sad back story - after attempting to join the police he is turned away because he's not "tough enough". And lastly they have Victoria as their psychic who is in fact a fake TV psychic trying to make a living.

This mismatched team head to an abandoned farm house/barn and proceed to fumble along capturing some EVP's, some thermo cam evidence and seeing footprints. But when each one of them start disappearing one by one, Louis and Ellie are left alone to discover what is really going on here.

Qualms with this movie? Amy Sedaris is very under used. She's a power house of comedy and yet is barely given any screen time. The scares were very minimal and I feel like they could've upped the creep factor to make the ending and the comedy land better.

What I loved? How emotional this movie was. It really asks the question about those of us who are obsessed with the paranormal and why we are. Is it because we lost someone, or we're stuck in our own boring lives, or we're trying to run from something, trying to prove ourselves? For as long as we have known, the world has been obsessed with the paranormal because ultimately it answers the question of what happens to us after death.

I really loved how everyone's characters developed and came into their own. One night has changed all of these sad misfits forever and made them closer to each other, forming a group of friends. During the climax of the film, all of these characters are given a chance to redeem themselves and prove to themselves that they're better than they believe they are.

Stan was my favorite. He was the funniest and the saddest and was given the greatest chance to show himself that life is worth living regardless of what happens to us after death.

So yeah, Ghost Team was completely unexpected. I went in to watch a horror comedy expecting lots of laughs and gore and instead felt very introspective and emotional.

I quite enjoyed it!

That's it for now,
Stay spooky!

Serial Mom - 1994 and why have I put off this classic for so long?!

Hey guys! I'm back!
Sorry for the delay there. To be completely honest I got a little freaked out. Blog shy, if you will. I always assume no one reads this thing, which is totally fine, I made it for myself to be able to talk about the movies I love and keep track of what I've watched. Because if you're a horror fan, you are constantly getting people asking you for recommendations and I sort of lose track along the way of how many horror movies I've watched. And of course your opinion changes over time. You sort of get beer goggles about them. You watch one and you're like holy fuck that was awful, then 6 months later you're like, it wasn't that bad, then a year later you're like that movie was SO GREAT. Then you re-watch it and you're like....wtf was I thinking?

Anyway, point is - I get like 20 - 40 views a day depending on what I post. Which I always assume are accidental clicks or pity clicks from my friends. But my last post got over 800 views and I panicked. What happens if people actually read this thing?!?! Luckily the out pour of love I received was really comforting but I really had to take a few days to be like whaaaaaaattttttttt.

BUT I'M BACK!

And I watched Serial Mom...let's talk about it!

SERIAL MOM (1994)

The only "serial" I know anything about is Rice Krispies. 

Well this movie was a fucking delight! Written and directed by the incredible John Waters it stars Kathleen Turner as Serial Mom herself, Sam Waterston as her doting husband, a very young Ricki Lake as the daughter and an also very young Matthew Lillard in his first movie role. There's also a tone of great guest stars like Patty Hearst, Joan Rives and Suzanne Somers. 

It follows the story of Beverly, the perfect mom and housewife who holds a deep secret - she's a serial killer. You see, Beverly likes things a certain way and believes in following strict rules like no gum in the house, and not using the "brown word" aka shit. So when people break these rules, or upset her children....well...she delivers justice.

This film is absolutely hilarious as it all unfolds, introducing amazing character after amazing character like the nosy neighbor, the divorcee who Beverly harasses for fun by sending threatening messages, and my favorites - the two rowdy garbage guys.

It's a great story that sort of thumbs its' nose at the hysteria around people who are fascinated with true crime and horror. And of course the hysteria itself that happens when there's a big "shocking" murder. The scenes are colorful and completely over done that gives it this very sanitized fantasy type feel to it. The only thing I wish was that when the killings happened they were far more gory. I feel like that would've been such a hilarious contrast against the stark set pieces.

I love Lillard's character, a horror movie obsessed teen, who when faced with the fact his mom is a serial killer decides to sell her life rights to make a tv show. In fact the whole family's reaction is hilarious and insane. In the end when Beverly walks free, there's a moment where the family look at each other like....well fuck, we know she killed these people, but we have to support her soooooo let's just not piss her off for awhile?

Lillard did a fantastic job for his first movie. And Kathleen Turner just completely knocks it out of the park. She never gets too crazy, she dances along that line of psycho to the point where you don't want her to go to jail and you're rooting for her. You start to justify all her killings. Beverly is an awesome character.

Serial Mom is a joy to watch and I can't believe I waited this long to watch it!!!!

Till next time...
Stay spooky!

American Mary and my rampage

 
So I'm going to get real here for a minute....being a girl in horror sucks. It's tough. At times it feels disgusting and you feel like you need to take a shower. For a genre that prides itself on its strong female leads and final girls, the audience sure can be hypocritical.

On some of the community forums I participate in (I won't be naming any names) once you're "outed" as a female fan, your views and opinions instantly become null. And that's part of the reason this blog came into play because it was a safe space where I could talk about the movies I love without being judged for something as minor as my gender. I've watched hundreds of horror movies, my opinion matters, oh yeah, and also I'm a girl. So...?

As you know if you follow this blog, I'm a big support of the Soska twins - two female horror directors who are carving their way through the industry. They are two of my personal heroes for many reasons, one of them being they don't shy away from speaking out about the sexism they've experienced while trying to get their films made or noticed. They're two tough bitches because unfortunately they have to be to survive. I am not. I shy away from conflict and it makes me feel sick in my tummy.

But the other day I was scrolling through one of my usual forum haunts and found a post about the Soska twins show Hellavator and I jumped into the comments to talk frantically about how great it is and awesome they are. But instead I was affronted with horrible sexist comments about them.

Things like "they only got their movies made because they're hot and probably slept with someone" or "their movies are too girly for me" or "i don't like their movies, but I'd sleep with them."

I was horrified. You don't see those kind of comments on posts about Jason Blum, or Eli Roth, or Rob Zombie. No...it's people discussing their films and not bringing their looks into it. But all of a sudden looks are important because why? Because the Soska twins, two talented horror directors, happen to be girls. And of course, when I finally put my foot down and commented on the sexism happening I got called "adorable" by some condescending asshole. 

Why? Why is this still allowed? Why does the fact that the Soska twins have a vagina mean their movies can't be good, or that they didn't work their asses off to get their movies made, it must ONLY mean they slept their way to the top.

It's disgusting. And I'm sure most of the horror audience doesn't feel this sexist type of way, maybe the bad ones are just more vocal. But every time I feel like I've got a footing in this community, I'm knocked back down by these "vocal" audience members.

Which brings me to the movie I watched last night, and one I have watched many times, but actually never really talked about on this blog:

AMERICAN MARY (2012)

Don't you ever devalue what you do, Mary. You make sure they deserve it, and don't waste a minute of your time thinking about them when you're done. 

American Mary was released in 2012 and is a Canadian horror film written and directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska. It stars the ever talented Katharine Isabelle as our lead character Mary, Antonio Cupo and the Vancouver local gem Tristan Risk.

It tells the story of Mary, a struggling medical student, who is an incredibly talented surgeon but is struggling to pay the bills and make her way through the rest of medical school. Her teacher Dr. Grant pushes her incredibly hard and is a total dirt bag. Mary applies for work at a strip club to make her way through the rest of school but during her pervy interview, the club owner offers her 5 grand instead of a job to sew up a man he knows who has been tortured. She takes it on a whim and saves the mans life, takes the money and runs, thinking it was the last of it.

But a few days later Beatress (Risk) approaches her from the strip club and offers her 10 grand to perform a controversial surgery on her friend Ruby who strives to be a real doll. Mary reluctantly accepts and finds herself doing a surgery in the back of a vet clinic. Once it's over with she is ready to focus back on her studies with her new money and graduate. But when Dr Grant invites her to a party filled with distinguished surgeons and doctors, she is drugged by him and raped while he films the whole ordeal. When she returns home the next morning she quits medical school and pays the strip club owner, Billy, to kidnap Dr. Grant. Mary then creates her own business performing controversial underground surgeries for the body modification community while torturing Dr. Grant and practicing body modification on him.

This movie is brilliant. For SO many reasons. The acting is phenomenal by Katherine Isabelle and Tristan Risk, Katherine going so far as to attend medical school to research the role. All the visual effects are practical, Tristan's makeup took 2 hours a day to apply. But most importantly, the movie was written while the twins were trying to sell their first movie, Dead Hooker in a Trunk, after being faced by horrible film industry experiences like meeting sexist, sleazy people. This movie is made out of real emotion.

It also continues to be prevalent in our society. American Mary underneath it all shows how horrible it can be to be a woman in the working world. It shows what it's like for anyone to strive for greatness only to be knocked back because of your gender. To be taken advantage of by those in power, to feel like you have no control over your life. And most importantly how it feels to not feel connected to anyone because your trust has been destroyed.

It's a beautiful, gory film and I love it with all my heart. Mary is a character I can get behind and root for, even when she's getting out of control. And I love the Soska twins for sticking with their dream and pushing through all the murk to get to it, all with a wicked smile on their faces.

So yeah, sorry to get so down on you all but American Mary always brings that out in me.

Go out and be nice to people okay?

Stay Spooky!

Upcoming Horror Movies - a completely biased list

Upcoming Horror Movies - a completely biased list

Let's take a look at the upcoming horror movies and the ones I'm excited for!
Aka this is a completely biased list of upcoming horror movies that I'm excited for but you may not be.
But that's how I role.

Of course - first up is the new Blair Witch. I am still shook from that reveal and I'm trying to be brave enough to go see this in theatres. Premiering September 16th this movie follows Heather's brother after he's sent a tape that supposedly shows Heather and her friends. The brother heads out to the Black Hills Woods with a group of his own friends and shit goes down.

I'm trying to ignore all the trailers and the hype about this film as I just want to see it myself and not let my expectations get in the way. Which is kind of why I want to see it in theatres as soon as possible.

I'm also hoping so hard that they don't show the witch, which rumor has it they don't.

Check out the latest episode of Shock Waves on iTunes where they sit down with the writer of this new Blair Witch, Simon Barrett.



Next up is Jack Goes Home which premiers on VOD and in select theatres October 14th. It has a phenomenal cast with Rory Culkin in the lead role as Jack, a guy whose Dad just died and now he's headed home to deal with everything. But when he gets home he finds a tape from his Dad telling him to go to the attic. When he heads up, shit gets wild. I'm guessing. The trailer doesn't reveal too much, thank god. It also stars Nikki Reed, Natasha Lyonne and Lin Shaye.



Then it's time for Rob Zombie's 31 which ya'll know I've been hyped on for a long time now. I can't WAIT to see this movie. It had an initial release on September 1st and some of the reviews I've read (people are SO critical of Zombie...what's with that?) say it's very "rob zombie" which to that I say....good? That's why I like his movies? The actual premier date, I believe, is October 21st but I don't think it's getting too wide of a release. So I'm hoping for a quick VOD release.

Sheri Moon Zombie of course stars in all her glory in a story about 5 carnival workers who are kidnapped and forced to play a game where only one of them can survive. There's violence, there's clowns, there's probably nudity.....I mean....gimme that VOD.


This next one I am EXTREMELY hesitant about because I despised the original. Ouija came out in 2014 and I turned it off half way through and angry blogged about. It was garbage. I was insulted. But damnit if this sequel doesn't look 100000 times better? I'm just a sucker for horror movies set in the 60's and I'm fascinated with the whole faking séances thing that used to happen a lot back then. Those con artists got so creative. And in this movie those fake séances turn into real ones after the mom brings home a Ouija board and her youngest daughter basically go nuts. It looks so good but I'm not holding my breath. It will probably be shit.
The movie is called Ouija: Origin of Evil and is premiering October 20th I think? Premier dates are so confusing.


Coming October 28th is the much awaited sequel/remake/reboot/who knows anymore to The Ring and The Ring 2 ....Rings. 14 years after the original adaptation we have a new story which is basically the same story. The video is no longer a V/H/S it's online and it still kills you after 7 days. Samara is still kicking around only this time it looks like she's trying to possess the main character instead of simply killing her. So maybe Samara is finally sick of living in the bottom of a well? We'll find out! Hooray! I'm really rooting for this one.


Shut In looks pretty spooky and intense so I'm adding that on here. Naomi Watts plays the mother, Jacob Tremblay plays the little boy and Charlie Heaton (aka baby Norman Reedus) plays her son. Naomi Watts' character is a widowed child psychologist who saves a little boy in a winter storm and then...he dies? I think? I have no idea, the trailer is kind of confusing but I am HERE for this spooky, isolated, winter horror film. Released on November 11th. Probably? Again, don't trust me on these dates.


It's been a great year for horror so far, and in fact horror movies were really the only ones who made a splash at the box office this summer. Looks like the rest of the year will hold up too!

Tomorrow Mitch is off to Victoria and my weekend of horror movie binge watching BEGINS!

Stay spooky!

ps; can I just toot my own horn for a second? look at all the videos I finally managed to embed....it's been a long, useless road...but we've made it.

THE BUZZ IS BACK.....I can't with this movie but I love it with all my heart

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986)

No secret, it's the meat. Don't skimp on the meat. I've got a real good eye for prime meat. Runs in the family.

Good lord. I have never seen this one before and what a hot mess it is. In a good way. But damn it's all over the place haha.

First of all - the secondary title to this film is Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2: The Buzz is Back which....wow...I mean...can I get that inscribed on my gravestone? Released in 1986, it's obviously the sequel to the successful 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It stars Dennis Hopper (who considers this the worst film he's ever been in) as Lefty the cop investigating the sudden surge in chainsaw murders and my new favorite girl Stretch, the radio DJ, played by Caroline Williams. Bill Johnson plays Leatherface in this one and Jim Siedow who reprises his role as The Cook.

 This sequel is like the exact opposite of the first film - it's super gory, bigger budget, and less subtle. From the get go there's chainsaws flying everywhere and blood spurting. Which, don't get me wrong, I loved. This film also has a tone of dark humor and cheesy moments which were a lot of fun. When it was released originally it bombed, grossing only $8 million in the US but over the years it's become a cult fan favorite.

The premise of this film is that it's set 13 years after the original events and two bro douchebags are calling into a radio station run by Stretch. They're driving down the highway and being assholes which is being sent out live over the radio. During the phone call the two bros are attacked by a pickup truck with Leatherface in the back wielding his trusty chainsaw.

Lefty aka Lieutenant Boude Enright is the uncle of Sally and Franklin from the original film and  has spent the past 13 years investigating their disappearances. He's also keeping an eye on the mysterious chainsaw killings that keep cropping up over Texas. Stretch brings her phone call evidence to Lefty to provide him with some proof because all the other cops are convinced he's nuts. Lefty asks Stretch to replay the violent phone call every hour on the radio, which she does. But unfortunately that attracts Leatherface and Chop Top who show up to the radio station to try and shutdown the evidence of their killings.

This movie is NUTS.

Let me just explain some of the scenes to you:

• Lefty showing up to the Sawyer home wielding three chainsaws.
• Leatherface has a crush on Stretch and so goes easy on her.
• A chainsaw duel between Leatherface and Lefty.....A CHAINSAW DUEL.
• A grenade blowing up for seemingly no reason.
• A shrine to the grandmother where her dead body holds a chainsaw. (ideas for my funeral though)
• "Listen. It's not going to work out. I'm trying to be open with you." Stretch says that to Leatherface at one point as if they were seated in a therapy session and not in an underground carnival graveyard?!

Although I do love the final shot of the film which is of course an homage to the original, only this time it's Stretch who has lost her mind and is swinging the chainsaw around.

"Hi, I love you, here's your friends face as a token of my love..."

Regardless of its flaws I loved this movie a lot. Leatherface is such a hot mess and he has a special place in my heart. Honestly, when I saw Texas Chainsaw (too cool for massacre) I thought it was just a piece of fan fiction I wrote about me and Leatherface being bros.

Watch it, love it for its flaws, and look at that goddamn poster!!!!!!!!! It's a play on the Breakfast Club and why don't I have this hanging on my wall yet?!

Stay Spooky!

It's thriller time ~~ Faces in the Crowd

Guys! Mitch is out of town this weekend. And while I will miss him a lot....that also means 48 hours solid of horror movies on the big TV.....SO MANY MOVIE POSSIBILITIES!!
Seriously. I'm going to plow through that list this weekend.

But right now I want to talk about a thriller I watched called Faces in the Crowd which was a total mind fuck and has given me a new phobia.

FACES IN THE CROWD (2011)

Faces are the barcode of the human race. Ever since mankind went tribal, we're constantly looking at each others faces trying to decide whether they're friends, foes, or lovers.

Now, it didn't blow my hair back or anything but it was fun to watch because it was so mind fucky.

Released in 2011, Faces in the Crowd was written and directed by Julien Magnat and stars the stunningly talented and beautiful Milla Jovovich.

SPOILERS - because I'm lazy and don't want to tip toe around the story.

Anna (Jovovich) is leaving the bar one night when she witnesses a murder by a serial killer that is wreaking havoc on the city she lives in. He's called Tearjerk Jack because he slits women's throats and then cries on them. Which...like....what? (the motive behind this is never explained)
The killer chases Anna after she sees him murder his latest victim, and after a grapple together, Anna falls off a bridge. She wakes up a week later and is diagnosed with prosopagnosia also known as face blindess.

Now, I'm pretty sure I've seen face blindness a few times before in movies and tv shows right? Like...didn't Hannibal do an episode of it? Or was it Bones? Either way, I was like meh that sounds like a lot of work. But this movie made me fucking TERRIFIED of ever developing this.

When Anna wakes up she's surrounded by her two best friends and boyfriend, none of whom she recognizes. When she looks in the mirror her own face changes multiple times. When she finally tries to go back to work (she's a teacher), all the children have the same face. IT'S SO SCARY.

Anyway, Detective Kerrest enters the picture and is frustrated because Anna's the only one who's ever seen the killer, but can't even recognize him. Anna is convinced the killer is after her after she finds her purse returned to her and senses someone watching her. She goes to a therapist/doctor situation who's deaf but reads lips incredibly well, named Dr. Langenkamp (named after Heather from Nightmare on Elm Street) who starts teaching her tips and tricks to remember people. Because although she can't remember people's faces, and they change constantly, she can remember the way people walk, talk, their specific mannerisms, the way they dress etc.

But the killer could be anyone, including her boyfriend. (I was convinced it was - what a weirdo)
But it's not.
It's Detective Lanyon, Kerrest's partner.....
Right?
What?

I mean, obviously this movie isn't believable in any way and takes many liberties, but it is super enjoyable. And some of the scenes where we see the world from Anna's point of view are quite terrifying. The final showdown between the detectives and Anna is suuuuper intense and you honestly have no idea who is who.

The very ending though is kind of a cheesey mess. But that's okay!

I'd recommend for any thriller fan to check it out and then join me in my fear of now developing face blindness.

See you this weekend...

Stay spooky!

Green Room

GREEN ROOM (2015)

I've got a dumb idea...

Months ago I saw the trailer for this movie and got immediately hyped. Sir Patrick Stewart playing a psycho neo nazi?! Sign me the fuck up.
I was also psyched because I was pretty sure I could convince Mitch to watch this movie with me since it had punk bands in it and a great soundtrack. Luckily, two months ago Mitch came to me and suggested we watch this movie. I didn't even have to convince him!

So last night we rented Green Room on itunes and settled down to watch it.

Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier it stars the late and great Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots and of course Sir Patrick Stewart. It made it's premier at Cannes in 2015 but was widely released in May of this year. Sir Patrick Stewart accepted this role after he read the script in his home in England and was so terrified at the end of it that he turned on the security system and poured himself a scotch.

The poster is an homage to The Clash's London Calling album cover.

(SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT)

A punk band called the Ain't Rights are on tour and after being told about a show where they could make a fare bit of cash, they drive to Portland only to find it's a neo nazi show. The band decide to open with the classic Nazi Punks Fuck Off song by the Dead Kennedys to a not so thrilled crowd.

After their show they are hustled out pretty quickly, but Sam forgot her phone in the green room so Pat runs back in to grab it only to find a girl lying dead on the floor, a knife sticking out her head and three neo nazis standing around her. Her friend Amber is cowering the corner. And so the neo nazis are stuck in a tough position....this visiting band has witnessed something they want kept secret. And they don't want the cops sniffing around, especially with what they're keeping in the basement. So the band ends up basically quarantined in the green room, fearing for their lives, and trying to find a way out. While outside the neo nazis, led by Darcy (Stewart) plan their deaths, wanting to make it look like an accident.

First off - was this a horror movie? Not really. It was more of a really violent thriller. Of course there are horror elements in a sense - neo nazis are pretty horrific, and there's some flesh hungry dogs running around. But I was expecting more of a jump scare, horror type film. Which it isn't.

Now, that doesn't make me disappointed in any way. I still enjoyed the movie and found it very intense.

It had a nice slow burn beginning to it where we got to know the main characters and care about them. And what I will say is the deaths in this film - they are mostly pretty quick, violent, and shocking. It's incredibly upsetting once you've gotten to know these band mates.

I really loved Amber a lot. She was pretty fucking bad ass. Pat, played by Anton, was really really great too. Such depth to that character. Sam, played by Alia Shawkat was a joy to watch too. Her death really upset me. It was so damn violent!!

No part of this film felt too long to me, every scene felt like it needed to be there. It's a dark, gory film that I really enjoyed watching.

Mitch on the other hand seemed to get very confused at the beginning. He couldn't follow along with the characters or story line. BUT he was also very drunk. So I'm not sure if that's the film being too convoluted to start, or too much beer in Mitch's tummy. I followed along just fine.

Overall - Green Room is pretty damn great. Is it as great as everyone is saying? Nah. People have a real circle jerk going on for this film and while it was awesome....if I had paid attention to the hype and had incredibly high expectations...I think I would've been disappointed.

But...WATCH IT! It's unique, it's independent, support it.

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Alrighty, I've got a list of a tone of movies for September and October and I'm going to knuckle down and watch them. Although as I type this I'm watching Hellevator which I talked about awhile ago. It's that reality TV show that puts three people into a horror movie type setting and if they survive they win money. It's hosted by my favorite female directors; the amazing Jen and Sylvia Soska.  It's on Netflix now yeyyy!

Stay Spooky!