DEATH NOTE - Adam Wingard knocks another one out of the park!

Death Note is officially out on Netflix and last night I watched it. Let's talk about it!

 DEATH NOTE 2017

It's like you said, sometimes you gotta choose the lesser of the two evils. 

Directed by Adam Wingard (You're Next, The Guest, Blair Witch) Death Note is a Netflix original film and is based on the manga series by the same name. The series was written by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. I've read the manga series and it's INCREDIBLE but for this review I'm going to just review this as a stand alone story and not compare it. It's an adaptation and I'm over just nit picking adaptations for missing every little detail. So I'm going to look at this film as a separate entity.

Death Note is a simple premise with a lot of complex rules - set in Seattle, high school student Light finds a notebook with the words "Death Note" engraved on the front. As he picks it up a Death God named Ryuk appears and explains to Light that if he writes the name of someone in the book and a way of death, that person will die. He encourages Light to put in a school bully's name and Light watches horrified as that kid is suddenly decapitated.

At first, Light is terrified by the book and Ryuk, but when he puts the name of the man who killed his Mom in it and realizes the true power this book could wield, he quickly changes his tone. Soon he teams up with a classmate named Mia and the two of them start killing off bad guys left and right, leaving the name Kira in their wake. Soon the world comes to idolize Kira and sees him as an all powerful god of justice. But not everyone likes what this Kira guy is doing, and soon the police and a mysterious detective who goes by L are on Light's trail.

This is a solid cast - Nat Wolff plays Light and does a pretty decent job of handling the high powered emotions that this character goes through. Margaret Qualley stole my heart with her portrayal of Mia. Mia is a very complex and psychotic character and Margaret made it incredibly believable. Lakeith Stanfield (Get Out) played L and OH MY GOD WAS HE AMAZING?!?! L is such a cool character - he has no family, has been trained since he was a child to be the best detective in the world, and lives off of candy. He really stole the show.

What did I like about it?

• I loved Ryuk, voiced by Willem Dafoe. I loved that they kept him to the shadows and never ruined your perception of him by CG-ing the hell out of him in the daylight. He's always just off to the side, or with his back facing and he's so incredibly evil and well done.
• The final showdown was really great and super confusing but in the best way. At the very end when it all unravels you're just like holy shit and your mind is blown.
• The movie looks SO cool - the scenery, the coloring, the death note, the characters, the shots, the music!!!!!!!! Solid all the way around.
• It moves quickly - there's no fucking around. Within the first half hour you know the entire story and quickly find yourself in a cat and mouse chase. In some parts I do wish it could've been extended, get a little more story, but I'm not going to complain that a movie isn't three hours long. This is a solid running time and you don't feel cheated.
• Wingard's black humor is prominent in this film and I like that. Some moments felt very Final Destination like which made me SO happy!
• It's surprisingly very gory - again giving me Final Destination vibes.
• I only wish we got to see more of Montauk because that was an incredible couple of scenes.

Overall

Death Note may not be perfect, but it's a hell of a ride and I'll definitely watch it again and again!

9/10

Stay Spooky!

XX - amazing female driven anthology

Stating the obvious - but XX was fucking awesome! Let's talk about it!

XX  2017

Released this year, XX is a horror anthology created entirely by women - each short was written and directed by females and each short follows one woman's journey touching on motherhood, being a wife, and being the odd one out. This movie is a milestone and something I think we should all be proud of for having out in the world. Quite frankly, there's a lot of anthologies out there and XX is a lot better than most of the male-dominated ones. I really hope they re-visit this and do another highlighting more women directors and writers.

The Box:

Written and directed by Jovanka Vuckovic, this short is based on the shorty story by Jack Ketchum. A family is riding the subway when the young boy asks a stranger next to him what's in the present sitting on his lap. It's a red box with a bow on top. The stranger shows him and from that point on the young boy refuses to eat and starts wasting away. When asked what was in the box, he responds nothing. It soon starts to spread to the rest of the family as they slowly starve to death.

The vibe of this short is incredible - it builds this sense of dread that sits with you long after it's finished. I'm seeing a lot of people not loving the pay off at the end, but I didn't mind it. I like that whole leaving it up to your imagination situation. It reminded me quite a bit of the ending to the original Martyrs.

There was one particular sequence which was a dream moment where I actually audibly gasped because it was so shocking and outside of what the short was doing. It was really great.

8/10

  
The Birthday Party:

This one was my personal favorite - written by Roxanne Benjamin and Annie Clark, and directed by Annie Clark. It is one morning in the life of Mary, a wealthy suburban mom who has a seemingly perfect life - money, nice house, one beautiful little girl, and a Nanny. But as the short continues on you realize this woman has many anxiety issues and is having trouble coping. Something happens to her husband, but she has a birthday party for her daughter happening so she is forced to cope with the more and more bizarre situations that are arising.

I would love to see this one somehow developed into a full movie because there were so many paths that could've been followed - I was so curious about the Nanny, and the husband, and the strange neighbors. I also loved the coloring of this short. Really well done. Also the reveal at the end of the full title is really hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud a few times in this short - very dark humor.

10/10

Don't Fall:

This was my least favorite - it was by no means awful, or badly done, it just wasn't for me and almost felt a little out of place compared to the other three. Written and directed by Roxanne Benjamin it follows four friends who have found a camp spot in the middle of the desert. They found the spot after bribing a guy at the nearest gas station. When hiking they find a beautiful lookout and on the wall are some sort of creepy cave drawings. That night, back at camp, everything quickly falls apart and we come to realize what those cave drawings were warning us of.

The characters were really fun, I liked all of them immediately. They had some great dynamics and it all felt really natural. The scenery was beautiful, the effects were great, and it felt very wrapped up - beginning, middle, and satisfying end. And honestly, if this short had been in another anthology I think I would've really enjoyed it. But again, compared to the other three, the tone of this didn't fit for me personally.

7/10

Her Only Living Son:

Written and directed by Karyn Kusama, who previously brought us The Invitation, this short plays like a love letter to Rosemary's Baby. A mom is struggling with her teenage son who's acting out in more and more horrific ways. He's about to turn 18 and his Dad is out of the picture. But as the short unravels we start to realize his Dad is not who we think it is, and this young man is going through way more changes than just puberty.

It's a really creepy piece that ends in a shocking, yet satisfying way. There's many things at play here including white male privilege when the Mother is confronted about his actions in the school, and obviously the exploration of coming of age and single motherhood.

Screencrush.com called it Rosemary's Baby fan-fiction and I kind of like that - it's very much a follow up to the book/film and what happens after that final scene when Rosemary is confronted with what she produced.

Although side note - in 1997 Ira Levin put out the sequel to his original, Rosemary's Baby, called Son of Rosemary. While it's nowhere near as amazing as the original, the sequel is a kind of fun, crazy thrill ride - very quick read. Go pick it up!

9/10

In between each short is the connective tissue provided by stop-motion artist Sofia Carrillo who brought some incredibly disturbing and heart breaking images to life. And quite frankly the stop-motion doll parts moving around is the creepiest part of this anthology. She really did an incredible job.

Overall I'm giving XX a solid 9/10, I'll definitely re-visit and recommend, and some of these shorts will stick with me for a long time.


Stay Spooky!

.....and....WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!!!!!!!?!

(I couldn't resist)

The Bye Bye Man is not that bad! (And neither is The Dark Tower)

The Bye Bye Man is not as awful as the critics made it out to be - so let's talk about it!

THE BYE BYE MAN 2017

 Don't think it. Don't say it. Don't think it. Don't say it. Don't think it. Don't say it. Don't think it. Don't say it. Don't think it. Don't say it.

Look, I fell for it too - back when this movie first came out in January, everyone was jumping on the hype train and hating on this movie. So I just went with it and didn't bother to watch it. But over the past few months I've been making a conscious effort to form my own opinions on films and not jump into the circle jerk of it all.

Most recently I saw The Dark Tower in theaters, which is getting destroyed by critics and fans. As readers of this blog will know - I am a MASSIVE Stephen King fan and have read all his books, a lot of them multiple times. I saw The Dark Tower and had a really great time. It's exciting, it's fast paced, the gunslinger scenes are awesome, Idris Elba is a damn powerhouse, and while I wasn't a huge fan of Matthew Mcconaughey, it didn't ruin anything for me.

So please, I'm begging you, King fans and non-King fans, if you've read the books or you haven't, go see The Dark Tower or rent it when it comes out on DVD. It's a super fun, exciting ride and while it's not a perfect (or even close) adaptation, it holds its own.

Anyway, the point of that derail is that I've decided to make a conscious effort to make my own decisions on films - even if they're rated like 5% on RT or whatever, I may still like it!

Which leads me to The Bye Bye Man which recently popped up on Canadian Netflix!

Directed by Stacy Title and written by her husband Jonathan Penner, who was also on one of my favorite seasons of Survivor, the story is based on a chapter from the book The President's Vampire by Robert Damon Schneck. Apparently this book is about real supernatural events that happened in America.

This movie follows three college students who rent a big old house off campus and discover some old coins in an old dresser that then lead them into a terrifying real life nightmare involving someone called The Bye Bye Man.

The film's lead, Elliot, is played by Douglas Smith, who does a great job of slowly sinking into madness. Once he learns the mystery of The Bye Bye Man he realizes that he can't speak it, think it, or say the name or it gives this entity power. His girlfriend, Sasha, is played by Cressida Bonas. While I'm sure she's a wonderful actor, I was actually quite disappointed in Sasha's role in this movie which seemed to be mostly just sleeping a lot and saying maybe three words. The third player is John, Elliot's best friend, played by Lucien Laviscount (who you might recognize from Scream Queens). He did a really good job, and while his character wasn't completely fleshed out, he made it interesting at least.

Carrie-Anne Moss plays the Detective, and she's amazing as always! And Doug Jones plays the Bye Bye Man himself, Jones is of course famous for playing lots of spooky roles like the Ancient in The Strain, the ghost in Crimson Peak, and one of the Gentlemen in the scariest episode of Buffy EVER - Hush. 

The story was twisty and turny and I liked that, the Bye Bye Man plays tricks on those he's haunting, he makes them see things that aren't there. So for a lot of the movie while all is being revealed to you, it's fun to try and figure out what is a trick or not.

The backstory was good too, I like that it kind of leaves it up to you to think about how long the Bye Bye Man has been in existence. We see a lot of flashbacks from 1969 which help pull the story along.

When the Bye Bye Man is finally revealed, it does rely quite heavily on some not so great CG for some of it, but it still does give off a creepy effect. He's very imposing and kind of looks like the fisherman from I Know What You Did Last Summer. 

Overall I think this movie got a bad rep for nothing. While it isn't ground breaking or anything new, and it does have its' flaws and some not so well thought out characters, it does its' job. For the casual horror viewer I think they would find the jump scares and spooky vibe effective. I wasn't bored once, and I had a great time watching it.

7/10

Stay Spooky! And don't let those critics sway your view!

Saw Franchise Watch - Saw 3 and 4

 

Last night I watched Saw 3 and today I watched Saw 4 and I am left with a lot of questions and concerns, but I was also taken on a journey. 

Let's talk about it!

SAW 3 2006

"Death is a surprise party"

Darren Lynn Bousman takes up the director reigns again and worked from a screenplay by our favs Leigh Whannell and James Wan. This is the highest-grossing film in the series.

Kerry returns in this sequel along with Rigg (Lyriq Bent) who finds the aftermath of a Jigsaw game while looking for Matthews. Kerry is quickly captured soon after and put into her own trap. But we quickly realize these new traps are not meant to be survived which is very unlike Jigsaw.

A Doctor is kidnapped (Bahar Soomekh) by Amanda who is Jigsaw's apprentice and held captive as she tries to save Jigsaw's life. While this is all happening - a man is going through a series of Jigsaw tests seeking revenge for his child who was killed.

Overall

Ohhhhh boy....I LOVED this one. This might actually be my favorite so far of the series. There were so many twists and turns and I was kept guessing until the very end. There were even more intense scenes where I was clutching my face and freaking out - when Lynn is performing brain surgery on Jigsaw, when the husband is going through the test with the judge drowning in pig guts, and that final scene. Amanda was phenomenal in this - and I loved the reveal of how much and for how long she's been involved. Lynn and her husband's story I did not see coming at all.

The traps/games to me took a back seat in this movie and let the characters really take the lead which I enjoyed so much. Learning all about Jigsaw and his relationship with Amanda was really well thought out and acted.

Games/Traps

#9 - Jeff's Final Test
This one aggravated me because Jeff is an idiot. At this point he should've learned his damn lesson and also listened to his wife and Jigsaw and saved everyone BUT NOOOOOO, he let his anger and bad attitude get the best of him
 

#8 - The Freezer Room
Honestly, this one is really intense but could be stopped pretty quickly if homeboy had just sucked it up and reached for the key. Also when he put his face against the freezing cold pipe and ripped his skin off?? Bud?? You're wearing like three layers, take one off and cover your face before going in for the key....

#7 - The Rack
This is pretty fucked up and complex, but ultimately it depends on the other person getting the key and unlocking you. 

#6 - The Angel Trap 
This one is unwinnable and pretty intense. You've got a contraption locked into your rib cage and you're hanging from the ceiling. The key is in a jar of acid and there's a timer. I kind of love these one's where it's like "here's the trap...BUT ALSO THERE'S BROKEN GLASS AND IT'S RAINING"

#5 - The Shotgun Collar
While this is a simple premise - the idea of your life being controlled purely by another person's, specifically the person who put you in this situation, is really intense.

#4 - The Pig Vat
This one was DISGUSTING - and also so emotional. Also there were maggots and I almost lost it.

#3 - The Classroom Trap
This one was super gross. And also cheating - because it was unwinnable. But the psychology behind this one is fucked and I couldn't imagine having to rip chains out of my body.

#2 - Amanda's Test
The most complex of all of these - ultimately trying to teach her a lesson that taking people's lives is far different from giving people a choice to take their life or not. It took a hell of a lot of work to set this one up and I had NO clue it was a test until the end when it was revealed. 

#1 - Jeff's Trial
I think ultimately this one is the most clever and emotionally damaging. Putting a guy in the situation to exact revenge on everyone who played a part in his son's death.

Ultimately this is another solid 10/10....I am LOVING these movies!

 SAW 4 2007

"You think it is over, but the games have just begun." 

Directed again by Darren Lynn Bousman and written by Marcus Dunstan, Patrick Melton, and Thomas Fenton.

Rigg is back and he's found Kerry's body, but he still hasn't found Matthews so his hunt continues. But now the FBI are involved, Strahm (Scott Patterson) and Perez (Athena Karkanis), and they believe a third person is involved in all of this. When Rigg returns to his apartment he finds himself in the middle of a Jigsaw run game and is shown his boss Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) and Matthews are a part of it.

Overall

This one was....confusing? Most Saw movies so far have confused me but at the end I'm like OMG TWIST I GET IT. But this one? I'm still lost. I have a lot of questions. Like who the fuck is Hoffman and why did he get involved with Jigsaw so long ago? How did we get from the end scene with Strahm getting locked in the surgery room to the opening scene in the morgue? How much did Donnie Wahlberg get paid to just hang there in a jump suit? What happened to Jeff's daughter? And how is this all happening at the same time? WHAT TIME FRAME IS THIS?

Me right now tbh:

So I don't know how I feel about this movie...I spent most of it confused and feeling like I was trying to catch up on a story I should've already known. Some of the traps were cool and ultimately I was riveted. But....SO MANY QUESTIONS. I'm hoping 5 will answer most of them...

I did really appreciate all the backstory about Jigsaw and his wife and his lawyer and how he came to be the way he is. I really found that interesting. 

Games/Traps

#7 -  The Bedroom Trap
Homeboy had to choose between damaging his eyes or his body....which I didn't really understand? But it didn't seem to matter because he damaged an eye and then his whole body got ripped apart soooo....

#6 - The Ice Block Trap
I don't think I fully understood this one....right around the time this one was revealed was when I started losing track of the plot. But the melting giant ice cube while someone's hanging and resting their feet on it is pretty cool.

#5 - Rigg's Trial
This was so complex with one of those great Saw trap endings where if you basically do nothing, you survive. 

#4 - The Scalping Seat
This one fucked me right up because I have incredibly long hair and I swear I could feel this one physically just by watching it. 

#3 - The Spike Trap
I liked this one a lot simply cause that guy seems like he deserved it. And making the abused wife do it was pretty cool - that's some exposure therapy if I've ever seen it.

#2 - The Knife Chair
This is one of the more simpler Saw traps that just remains incredibly effective and scary. I can't even begin to imagine what I would do in this scenario. Cry a lot, probably.

#1 - The Mausoleum 
This was incredibly fucked up - two guys wake up chained together, one has had his eyes ripped out and the other has his mouth sewed shut. So they can't communicate whatsoever and basically lose their shit.

I'm giving this one an 8/10 due to confusion. 

Alright! Another two done and three more to go!

Stay spooky!  

Saw Franchise Watch - Saw 1 and 2

It's a long weekend here in Canada and since I've been so busy for the past two months I decided this would be the perfect weekend to do absolutely nothing at all EXCEPT watch the entire Saw franchise. Last night I watched #1 and #2 and I am already head over heels in love. I want to go back in the past and apologize for all the bad shit I said about these movies and for being too chicken shit to watch them. These movies are INCREDIBLE.

Let's jump into the first film!

SAW 2004

 "There's a slow-acting poison coursing through your system, which only I have the antidote for. Will you murder a mother and her child to save yourself? Listen carefully, if you will. There are rules."

Released in 2004, Saw is the directorial debut of the incredible James Wan. The screenplay was written by Leigh Whannell and James Wan helped to create the original ideas based on nightmares the two of them had as kids. The team tried to get this film made in Australia but instead had to travel to LA to get anyone to help make it. They made a short film (specifically using the bear trap scene) to sell the film and it worked, enticing Evolution Entertainment to form a horror genre production label (Twisted Pictures) and help the film get made.

It took 18 days to film and all of the bathroom scenes were shot in 6 days without barely any rehearsal time due to budget. In fact, a lot of the scenes you see are the actual rehearsals. During post production they realized they didn't have enough shots and so Wan and his editor had to get tricky and film some of themselves. 

When it premiered it grossed more than $100 million worldwide and became (at the time) the most profitable horror movie since Scream. After the opening weekend, Saw 2 was green lit.

So what is Saw? 

It opens on two men waking up in a decrepit bathroom with their ankles chained to the wall. Adam, played by Leigh Whannell is a photographer and Lawrence, played by Cary Elwes, is a doctor. The two at first have seemingly nothing in common and when they find cassette tapes on themselves they listen to a terrifying voice telling them that if Lawrence doesn't kill Adam by six o'clock, his wife and daughter will be killed.

Between flashbacks and the two characters digging through the room we learn about the notorious Jigsaw killer who kidnaps people and makes them play sick games. If they escape, they live - Amanda, a previous victim of Jigsaw, is the only person who has survived one of his games - a reverse bear trap. At first the cops, played by Danny Glover and Ken Leung believe Lawrence to be the Jigsaw killer but soon realize it's not that simple.

Overall

This was an incredible movie and story - I was kept guessing until the very end and lost my absolute shit when it was all revealed. It's like a super gory Catch Me if You Can. I loved all the performances, most notably Whannell's and Michael Emerson as Zep. Danny Glover was also incredible, and if I ever get kidnapped, please call him to find me. I got completely invested in this movie and was screaming and yelling and covering my face and I had a really good time watching it. Mitch joined me near the end as he came home (he's actually seen a lot of the Saw movies) and at one point I was screaming the house down when Lawrence began cutting off his foot. I mean...HE JUST WENT FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Ughhhhh!!!!!!

So yeah, Saw is incredible - I loved every moment of it and it's a solid one-off film as well as an incredible opening for a franchise.

Games/Traps

For each movie I want to rate each game/trap from #1 being the most fucked up and so on. At the end of the franchise I'll try and rank them all.

#7 - The Quadruple Shotgun Hallway

This one, while clever, is avoidable if you pay attention to where you step and don't pull the damn trip wire!

 

#6 - The Drill Chair

This poor guy - what was he? Just a janitor or a warehouse guy or something? And now he's trapped between two drills that at any moment are going to drill into either side of his head. This would be so painful. 

#5 - Adam and Lawrence's Test

This is clever because it's so complex - there's clues everywhere and there's so many opportunities for them to kill themselves or kill each other or even escape. But because of the high pressure environment and time limit, it's so easy to panic and miss the smallest details.

#4 - Zep's Test

I feel like this one is worse than Adam and Lawrence's because if it all goes wrong, Zep is ultimately responsible for killing four people, one of which is a child. 

#3 - The Flammable Jelly 

This one is number three purely because it has SO many fucked up elements. There's a safe with a key inside, the code to the safe is all over the wall but the wall is covered in 100's of numbers. The room is dark and all there is to see is a candle. The guy is covered in flammable material so if he slips the flames will instantly set him on fire. And to top everything off? The floor is covered in broken glass. I mean....COME ON.

#2 - Reverse Bear Trap

I mean....jesus christ. I'd rather have a trap that released bears on me than have this contraption wired to my head. Just imagining what would happen if you didn't make it..UGHHH

#1 - The Razor Wire Maze

This is the most fucked up to me - I just couldn't even imagine that scenario and it made me sick to my stomach. A guy wakes up trapped inside of a maze of barbed wire and is forced to make it to the end to escape but instead gets tangled up and bleeds out.

10/10

SAW 2 2005

"Those who don't appreciate life do not deserve life" 

 

Onto the sequel! Directed and co-written by Darren Lynn Bousman with the help of Whannell, Saw 2 was given a larger budget and more time to shoot. It continued to be a financial success. The sequel opens up with an informant wearing a spike filled death mask locked to his neck. Jigsaw appears and tells him the rules of the game. He fails. 

At the scene of this murder we see Detective Kerry (played by Dina Meyer) again from the first film and she's working with her former partner, Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg). At the crime scene is a message specifically for Matthews. Matthews is currently having a rough go of it - his wife has left him, his son seemingly hates him but he joins the SWAT team as they figure out where Jigsaw is working out of. It's a factory and inside they find John Kramer, Jigsaw himself, who is dying from cancer but they also find TV's showing a current game going on - and one of the participants is Matthews son.

Overall

I really loved the sequel - the traps were grosser and more shocking, there were more characters to get invested in, and the story was just as twisty and turny as the first. Tobin Bell gets to have more screen time and show off his incredible acting chops as Jigsaw. Erik Knudsen plays Matthews son and he does a really good job. All of the characters inside of the game are so unique from each other and it's easy to get invested in them. Shawnee Smith returns as Amanda and the twist with her caught me completely off guard. The sequel didn't lose that sort of gritty thriller cop chase type which I really enjoyed. It was really fun and I had a really great time watching this one too! My only complaint was reading about this movie and finding out all the backstories of the characters - most of it was removed for pacing which is a shame. 

Games/Traps

#9 - The Electrified Staircase

Pretty cool how it works but ultimately again, pay attention to where you're walking in Jigsaw's territory cause this dude loves trip wires.

#8 - The Magnum Eyehole

This one was just frustrating, "don't use the key for the door"....they instantly use the key in the door and get shot through the eye. I mean...you kind of deserved that?

#7 - The Furnace

This one is frustrating because Obi could've just leaned in and grabbed the antidotes but instead he throws himself fully into the furnace cementing his own death.

#6 - The Antidote Safe Room

Putting the safe numbers on the back of everyone's necks is so simple yet so effective. None of them worked as a team, and even at the end when it was figured out by Xavier, he chose to murder instead of just look at the back of people's necks.

#5 -  The Nerve Gas House

I love how big this game is - they have an entire house to run around and try and find clues. And again, if they had just stayed calm in the first room they would've found a way out. Instead everyone panicked and ran and ultimately dug their own graves.

#4 - The Death Mask

First off - hiding the key in the guy's own eye is some fucked up shit. And then putting him in a death mask on a time limit. CRUEL. But amazing.

#3 - Eric's Test

This is just clever - Jigsaw knew Eric so well and even though he told him all he needs to do is sit and talk for the time limit and he would see his son, he panicked and let his anger get the best of him. But ultimately, if he had just sat there and talked, he would be alive and his son would've been returned to him at the end. 

#2 - The Razor Box

Ughhhhhhhh....this one is great simply because it's so obvious. You can actually see there's a lock on the outside of the box so if anyone took the time to look at the contraption you would realize you wouldn't even need to stick your hand in there. But that's the beauty of these traps - you're dying, you're on a time limit, so you just stick your hand in there in a panic. Although when she sticks her second hand in...I mean...come on....

#1 - The Needle Pit
This is some fucked up shit right here. Could you even fucking imagine?! And even filming it I bet was quite traumatic, even though the needles are fake I feel like the brain would still be like OMG NEEDDDLLLEESSSS NOOOO. So clever, so fucked up. So good.

Another solid 10/10

Alright, I will be watching Saw 3 today and hopefully Saw 4 but there's also a massive fireworks show tonight that I'm going to go watch so we'll see how much I get through! But that's okay - there's still two full days left of this long weekend.

Stay spooky!

 

Don't Hang Up 2016

DON'T HANG UP (2016)

 "You'll need to give me something in return, a life for a life."

A morality tale for the millennial age - a "harmless" prank, filmed for a youtube page, goes terribly wrong unbeknownst to the prankers. One man decides to take revenge and turn the tables on the young guys who spend their time drinking and pranking their neighbors.

The directorial debut of Damien Mace and Alexis Wajsbrot, Don't Hang Up follows Brady (Garrett Clayton), Sam (Gregg Sulkin) and Mosley who enjoy making prank calls - one specifically involves calling a mother in the middle of the night and pretending to be the police. They tell this young mom that there's an intruder in her home and her daughter is in danger. They upload their prank videos to the internet and live for all the views and comments they get, giving them a bit of internet fame.
One weekend, Sam, who's girlfriend Peyton (Bella Dayne) has just broken up with him, is partying with his friend Brady and the two of them decide to prank some neighbors and friends to cheer Sam up. But when they receive a phone call from someone called Mr. Lee, they realize the tables have been turned on them. Only Mr. Lee isn't fucking around.

Overall

This is like Saw meets Unfriended. But not as good as either of those movies. I completely get where this movie is coming from - I like this sort of morality tale gone wrong story about the quest for internet fame and taking things too far. We see stuff like this all the time nowadays - nasty prank videos, young kids filming awful stuff just to get hits. Hell, last month a girl live streamed a fatal car crash of her friends and is now facing jail time. This story is relevant. But it doesn't hit as hard as you'd like it to.

First off the main characters are quite awful to watch - in no way are you rooting for them, but you also don't care if they die. They're very basic stereotypes of young men. Sam with his high school sweetheart who just wants to get her back. Brady is a young guy who wants to go to film school but he knows his grades aren't good enough so he's joining the military. (Which - side note - you don't need good grades to get into film school ya'll - you just need $24K and a great story idea). They're very cookie cutter version of bros we see nowadays in school. But maybe there's just too many of these in movies lately, or maybe these just weren't fleshed out enough. I did not like these characters at all and found them very boring to watch. When they went through the inevitable realization that they are not good people and they should've made better choices, it's almost eye rolling.

BUT...let's talk about the good stuff...

 
Positives:

• The Mr. Lee character was incredible - from the voice, to the mask, to the games he plays, it's all spot-on and really well done. He was really spooky and I found myself looking forward to the scenes he would be in.
• Also Mr. Lee's backstory was really great and while you could figure out some of it, seeing what really set him off shocked me. I had no idea. And that final scene with the mom and her child was really shocking and well done. 
• err....Mr. Lee?

Negatives:

• It got really confusing, and not in a fun twisty turny way, more so in a "we've lost the plot" kind of way. It was hard to keep track of what was a prank and what wasn't.
• The camera angles were strange and the entire film was odd in the way it was handled - sometimes it was like weird zooming around drone footage, sometimes it was hand held, sometimes it was a regular shot. It didn't flow well at all and just added to the confusion.

Don't Hang Up is an alright movie - I didn't get bored, but I wasn't losing my shit. So I'm going to give it a 6/10

Now I'm off to watch the entire Saw franchise!

Stay spooky!
  

Stephen King News - because I don't care about anything else

Well, well, well......

I have returned....

( credit for gif )

People who have been following this blog for the past few years know I basically disappear every summer and I apologize for that. This summer has been notoriously worse because I travelled quite a lot and I got promoted at work so I've been busy living out my career dreams ~~~

So let's check in with the summer so far shall we? We've had some insane trailers coming out, some interesting movies have premiered and lots of great old and new movies added to Netflix and Shudder. I also got cable and so have spent most of my time watching things like America's Got Talent and Dr. Phil and letting my brain get melted. I REGRET NOTHING!

I actually haven't watched a horror movie in months? I think the last one I watched was when I re-watched Get Out with Mitch. I'm missing out on a lot and I'm pretty bummed about it but then I get home and I'm like ahhh yes, "my daughter is my mother is my uncle who's a sex predator" ...SIGN ME UP. But I am recognizing my bad habits and trying to move on....."trying" being the important word here...

Let's talk about some horror news I've been excited about lately:

First up of course is IT, it's crawling closer and closer and we just got our third trailer which looks incredible. It premiered during San Diego Comic Con and honestly, I'm trying not to let my expectations get too high but holllllyyyyy shiiiitttt does this movie look scary or what?! Joe Hill recently saw the full film and said it was one of five scariest films he's ever seen. I MEAN HOT DAMN! I am absolutely going on opening night and I am ready to get my pants scared off of me.

The adaptation is brought to us by director Andy Muschietti and stars Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise.

In this new trailer I like that they showed the adults not seeing what's happening to the kids, they just turn a blind eye as all of this is happening and at first you think it's because they're dumb adults but soon realize the town is doing something strange to them. I'm so glad they're including this because it's such a great part of the book where you feel such fear and frustration. We hear Pennywise talk and it's perfect. We get even more balloons. We get an extended look at that terrifying scene of Georgie in the cellar. We see what I hope to be that horrifying refrigerator scene with the leech like creatures. Also that score is just so incredible and jarring. WE JUST SEE SO MUCH WITHOUT GIVING TOO MUCH AWAY AND I'M SO FUCKING EXCITED!!!!!!!!

Check out the final trailer here and let's start counting down the days until IT premiers in theatres on September 8th.

Speaking of Stephen King, Mr. Mercedes premiers next Wednesday (August 9th) on DIRECTV and I'm hoping iTunes the next day for those of us without fancy cable. The trailer has given me a lot of hope that for once a Stephen King TV show will work, and early reviews are positive so woohoo! The casting is spot on and the vibe is a match for the book. I'm really excited for this and here's the trailer which premiered recently:



Executive produced by Stephen King, David E. Kelley and Jack Bender, Mr. Mercedes follows the story of a serial killer taunting a retired police detective. This trailer has got me hyped and I'm totally going to re-read this book this weekend.

The Jigsaw trailer came out a little while ago and I am 100% onboard. I've never been a huge fan of the Saw franchise. I used to be really sensitive to torture scenes in horror movies but two years ago I actually watched Saw for the first time and it was incredible! I would like to actually watch the whole franchise before the premier of Jigsaw.....challenge...accepted? Maybe? Next week?

One of the highest grossing horror franchises is coming back with a bang and it looks like it has a lot of the stuff people love about Saw with some fun new twists. Directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig, it premiers October 27th. I'm going to try and convince my coworkers to go on a work trip to see it for Halloween week.

Check out the trailer below

Lastly - Eli Roth and AMC have been incredibly busy lately bringing us the horror content we deserve. AMC will be creating three new horror anthology series - the first is a horror/sci-fi mix called Shock Theatre which the incredible Greg Nicotero will direct and produce. Every week a new episode will pay tribute to those B movie classics we all love.

Teaming up with A Fish Ladder, Chris Hardwick's production company, AMC will also be premiering a show called Underbelly which will take a hard look at the dark side of pop culture like fan obsessions, greed, vanity etc. This one is intriguing as I have no idea what kind of format this will be and if it's just going to be hella depressing.

Then there's Wicked West coming from Jason Blum, obviously from Blumhouse, which was will be a non-fiction series about some of the most horrific and true tales of the wild, wild west. This is super awesome as I am a huge fan of the gritty old west and all those depressing but insane stories.

Lastly, what I'm most excited for is Eli Roth's new show. We all know Eli Roth is a massive horror nerd and this show will be a 6 part series about the history of horror. "Sadly, we lose more of these masters every year and with them go their stories and experiences. This show will serve as a record for future generations..." Eli commented. This is such a solid idea - obviously we've lost some horror greats in the past few years, most notably to me Wes Craven and most recently George A. Romero so this show sounds like a really thoughtful idea.

Also huge shout out to AMC for bringing us horror nerds from real quality programming lately!

And that's it for my news wrap-up. Hopefully I'll be back on this thing more now that summer is coming to a close. And hopefully I watch some more horror movies because my life is lacking miserably.

Stay spooky!