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

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

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

DAY NINETEEN – BAD MILO! (2013)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you back here tomorrow!

Stay Spooky!

DAY EIGHTEEN - The Others (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY EIGHTEEN – THE OTHERS (2001)

This film is such a joy to watch, and absolutely terrifying. This is probably my third or fourth time seeing it and I still jumped a few times. It’s a perfect gothic horror film complete with haunted mansion and a lot of fog. It’s a Spanish-american horror film written, directed, and scored by Alejandro Amenabar starring Nicole Kidman.

It’s hard to talk about this film’s story without destroying any of the illusion of what it’s really about. So I will say very strongly SPOILERS ahead. If you haven’t seen this film, stop reading right now. Seriously. You don’t want this amazing twist ending spoiled for you.

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The Others tells the story of a very religious mother taking care of her two sickly kids (they’re allergic to the sun) in a giant, run down mansion. Although the war has just ended, her husband has not returned home. Three housekeepers show up after her own housekeepers mysteriously disappeared and help her take care of the home.

The film is wonderfully creepy. Because of the children’s sickness, there can be no light in the rooms they’re in. So the family move from room to room only using the light of a lamp. They also make sure one door is closed before the other is opened to ensure there is no light at all seeping through.

The kids are a joy to watch – both extremely talented. They play off as creepy sometimes, but also loving, sheltered and innocent. Nicole Kidman does a wonderful job of playing the haunted and slightly manic mother who depends on her religious beliefs to get her family through their days.

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We are lead to believe the house is haunted after very creepy things start happening, but then we are lead to believe that in fact there are intruders hiding in the house. Then the housekeepers begin to get very creepy and soon we realize they are in fact dead, and have been so for a century. But…one more final twist…the mother and her children are also in fact dead. The ghostly things happening are in fact the real alive owners of the house.

It’s a wonderful twist that I never saw coming, and honestly took my breath away. Re-watching it I obviously knew the twist ending so I focused mostly on how the movie actually tells you what will happen. The lead housekeeper makes many comments that should make you think, and when the children are sleeping, they look dead. But I just never caught that stuff the first time around because I was so immersed in the story.

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The scenery is stunningly beautiful, it’s a ghost story for the ages. I love this film to death and it is really so terrifying. There are so many jump moments that just completely catch you off guard. It’s just so immersive and haunting. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone, especially gothic horror fans. 10/10

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Guys, that "cheese" "pizza" I ate was awful. It tasted like rubber and the cheeto powder at the bottom of a bag of cheetos. I'm so sad. I miss pizza. BUT I did get an awesome alien shirt in the mail today:

And the new Star Wars trailer comes out tonight, plus tickets go on sale for the movie. So could be worse. See you nerds back here tomorrow!

Stay Spooky!

DAY SEVENTEEN - Cooties (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY SEVENTEEN - COOTIES (2014)

I've been waiting so long for this film!! I just loved the silly concept of it; a group of teachers are trapped inside of a school after tainted chicken nuggets turn the children into flesh eating zombies. The movie was written by Ian Brennan (co-creator of Glee and Scream Queens) and Leigh Whannell (writer of Saw, Insidious and Dead Silence), directed by Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott. It has a great cast including horror favorite Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson, also Jack McBrayer, Alison Pill and Nasim Pedrad. It was produced by Elijah Wood's production company Spectre Vision.

It's really funny! Elijah Wood is subbing for the day, trying to pay the bills, because in his every day life he's a "writer from New York", which he brings up at every second. He's back living with his mom in the small town of Fort Chicken which he grew up in. The book he's writing is about a possessed boat. "Like Christine," "....what?". But when a child in his class bites the face off of another, shit gets real.

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The teachers are amazing and all given enough screen time to truly show of their comedic talents. The kids are minor characters, just zombies to be killed, which I kind of love. In fact, the kids before they turn are already monsters - cell phone using, foul mouthed, asshole monsters. Which is pretty much how I see them anyway. Then when they turn they become mindless blood thirsting monsters. Which is also how I see them anyway.

The movie is filled with stereotypical horror movie tropes but they do it in a fun way that stops you from rolling your eyes. I mean, zombies themselves have been completely played out but Cooties gives a tiny bit of fresh air into the genre.

I had a really fun time watching it, and so did Mitch who watched it with me. We were both laughing quite a bit, especially in the first half. My only complaint is the movie felt so long. Near the end both of us were kind of sitting there like, is this still happening? There were a tone of scenes that could've been cut. It would've been way more fun if it was a quick horror comedy romp, but the length felt exhausting near the end and took me out of the experience.

But like I've said, I had a tone of fun watching it and I'll watch it again for sure. Go rent it on itunes!

8/10

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 Anway, I'm off to go eat a dairy free, gluten free pizza because my life is the worst and food allergies are not fun. But I am super excited I finally found a "cheese" "pizza". See you back here tomorrow!

DAY SIXTEEN - Girl House (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY SIXTEEN - GIRL HOUSE (2014)

THIS MOVIE WAS AMAZING!!! Yessssss!!! I was in such a funk because everyone's been asking me about this challenge and I've had to be like...yeah, they're okay, nothing's standing out. Except Backcountry. I loved that damn film. BUT NOW ALL HAS CHANGED. Because I watched Girl House. And this movie fucking rocked.

It's a canadian film directed by Trevor Matthews and starring Adam DiMarco and Ali Cobrin. Our lead girl Kylie decides to join an X-rated reality web series, like Big Brother for porn, called Girl House. She moves in and is assured the house is completely safe from anyone. There's
a few other girls in there who make her feel at home but there's a fan boy of the house called Loverboy who becomes enraged when the girls drunkenly make fun of him. He hacks into the house's system and begins killing them one by one.

It's an absolute joy of a film. It's very 80's slasher, super aware of itself, lots of hacking and slashing, lots of boobs. The girls are all unique characters and Kylie is a wonderful lead - confident, but damaged, who knows she's doing the right thing but is still conflicted. I could've watched another hour of the girls just interacting and Kylie falling in love. Loverboy is the perfect villain. Creepy, believable, and when he breaks into the house he wears a face he ripped off of one of those sex dolls.

The two guy characters, one being Kylie's boyfriend, and the other his room mate, are a great dynamic and I was freaking out as they watch the murders happen in girl house and try to stop it from happening. It reminded me of Halloween Resurrection, but like....a better version of that story.

 
It's such a unique concept and carefully thought out. I just love it so much, and it is so refreshing. This is why horror can be so great and so much fun.

Beautifully shot, great dialogue, flawless story lines, and so much fun to watch. I will aggressively recommend this to everyone and will for sure watch it over and over. 10/10.

Now I need to make the tough decision on which movie to watch for day 17....I just took a browse through itunes to find Knock Knock, Cooties, AND THE FINAL GIRLS are available for rent. I'm screwed. Thank god it's a Saturday so I can do nothing and probably just watch all three. Or four....Poltergeist is there too....dammit.

Stay spooky!

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

DAY FIFTEEN – ALL CHEERLEADERS DIE (2013)

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

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

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

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

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

Watch the trailer below:

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

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

Stay Spooky!

DAY FOURTEEN - Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY FOURTEEN – ALWAYS WATCHING: A MARBLE HORNETS STORY (2015)

Oh boy, this movie suckkkked. I kind of expected it though. Slender Man works only as an obscure internet scary story. I first watched the Marble Hornets videos when I was out of work, 20 years old, and living in a small town. It was super effective back then. I was absolutely terrified. In the past few years it seems Slender Man has really taken over and a lot more people are aware of his presence, most of the younger crowd completely overlooking the fact that he was created on a forum…not actually a real folk lore.

Last year two girls attempted to murder their friend in real life all in the name of Slender Man. They were 12 years old and stabbed their friend 19 times, leaving her for dead. The young victim was rescued and hospitalized and survived. The two girls committed this crime because they believed that Slender Man was real, and this was the best way to get his approval.

I know this is a marble hornets movie, BUT it didn’t feel the same. It felt too polished. I know that’s a stupid thing to complain about but it’s the reason I didn’t enjoy the film. The youtube series was so raw and scary, you never quite caught a long enough glimpse of Slender Man, just enough to scare you silly. You’d watch a 4 minute video of static just knowing that at some point Slender Man was going to show up. It was so intense. Slender Man in this film is just too cgi-ish. It doesn’t feel real.

Always Watching follows three characters who work for a news station and are investigating home closures in the area. In one home they discover a family has seemingly disappeared. After finding a box of tapes in the basement, they watch them to find that the family was being stalked by a tall, faceless man wearing a suit. But now this strange figure is stalking the three main characters and they must hit the road and out run him to survive.

Milo, the main character who controls the camera (this film is obviously found footage) and first discovers Slender Man, is awful. Just awful. He stalks the female main character, Sara (played by Alexandra Breckenridge who is in AHS season 1 and 3) because she turned him down when he asked her out. He straight up stalks her. He’s miserable, rude, and a dick. Sara is a pill popper addict and the other man, Charlie, is just empty space.

The story itself is pointless, mundane, and nothing new. It doesn’t explain who Slender Man is, why he’s stalking these families, how to stop him etc.

I’m just going to stick with my wonderful memories of watching the original Marble Hornets videos, hunched over my laptop, chain smoking in the dark, terrified.

The only fun part I had with this movie was spotting Slendy ~~ just like Waldo.

4/10

Guys, I need to show some restraint. There are so many great horror movie themed t-shirts/hoodies etc. coming out right now and I'm just blindly throwing my money at it all. I've got like 7 things coming in the mail. Why can't this great stuff be available all year 'round so I don't have to spend all of October obsessively checking my bank account.

As you guys know Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension comes out soon and they've been upping the game in advertising. The original Paranormal Activity house has gone up for sale, so the film makers decided to create an open house...

Amazing.
I would be devastated to realize it was all made up. When that mirror cracked I'd be handing over my cheque book like yes please I'll take it.
Read the full article here

Anyway, see you back here tomorrow for the start of "all-girl" movies!! Yeyyy!!! Girls!!!!

Stay Spooky!

DAY THIRTEEN - The Houses October Built (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY THIRTEEN – THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT (2014)

 Lucky number 13! The Houses October Built. I actually watched this around Halloween last year but we had a few friends over so it wasn’t really watching, more talking and yelling over it while the movie happened in the background.

This is a found footage film following a group of friends who are on a quest to find the scariest haunt they can. A haunt being the haunted houses that people create and set up every year for Halloween. This group have heard of a really obscure one that you need a password to get into, and so they travel around the back country of America, going into haunts and searching for this unique, secret one. But along their journey they are slowly being terrorized by a group of people dressed up in costumes. When the friends finally discover the password, the haunt is WAY more than they bargained for.

Houses is the directorial debut of Bobby Roe, and as far as first films go…he did a great job! When they’re in the houses, the found footage camera work is almost nauseating unfortunately and the ending is a hogwash of mess that you can’t quite figure out what’s happening…in a bad way. But aside from those flaws, it’s fine.

The idea of the film is unique and fun, especially for the holiday season, and the cast do a fantastic job of being natural and realistic. The costumed group of attackers remain creepy instead of cheesy and the interviews with the locals keep you entranced.

As far as scares go? There aren’t any for me, but maybe someone not so conditioned to horror films might get a little jumpy. The costumes are super spooky though and scared me more than the film itself.

Won’t watch again, twice is more than enough, and probably wouldn’t recommend unless it was for like a party/background noise type thing. 4/10.

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Almost half way through now! See you back here tomorrow for day 14.

Stay Spooky!