More movies!
(so many movies....)
Deadly Manor <---Helpful link to full thoughts
A group of kids decide to go camping, get a little waylayed during a storm and decide to break into an "abandoned" house for the night, because they're too lazy to set up camp. But of course the house isn't as abandoned as they thought, and bad things happen.
This is a pretty standard slasher and a rather boring one at that. It's biggest highlight seems to be that it contains some of the dumbest horror teens in existence. Find an altar in the bad yard? Meh. Coffins in the basement? Meh. HUMAN SCALPS INSIDE OF A CLOSET? *shrugs* Whatever, we'll sleep outside the Scalp Closet for the night, who cares.... Seriously, the vast majority of the movie was mediocre at best, but those people.....THOSE PEOPLE. Goodness, were those fools testing my damn patience at every conceivable turn.
The Calling <---Helpful link to full thoughts
A small town police force is stricken with a grisly murder, and soon comes to realize that it may be the work of a serial killer. But the killer's motives may be more complex than your standard serial killer's plans.
This is a decent horror/thriller (with a god-awful poster), that's more heavy on the thriller and police procedural part than it is on the horror. Think
Silence of the Lambs, but not quite as grisly. For the most part I really liked it. Looks good. Interesting story. And excellently acted. The only downside is that it's filled with a lot of tropes and familiar story beats, so if you've seen enough of these you'll likely easily be able to guess what's going to happen well before it happens. Still a decent watch, though.
Severed Ties <---Helpful link to full thoughts
A young scientist perfects his father's limb regeneration formula, just in time for him to loose his own arm. Except the formula isn't quite perfected yes, as the limb in question has a mind of it's own, and can also detach itself...and it kinda has some violent impulses. Which might actually come in handy, because the scientist's mom and her creepy boyfriend want to sell the formula to so seriously unscrupulous people.
This is a horror comedy that I honestly found pretty boring. Which is a bummer, cause it does have an interesting premise. But the comedy, unfortunately is pretty shoddy. One of the jokes, for example, is that the protagonist's name is Henderson Henderson. Oh look, the protagonist's parents are so dull that he has the same first and last name. Hahaha...ha.....ha. Yeah. I mean, maybe you think that's hysterical and you'll really like the humor in this. But if you don't all you're left with is a mid, low-budget sci-fi/horror that ends on a
really dour note (I as honestly surprised and a little impressed by that). So, up to you.
Phantoms
A doctor takes her sister to a remote skiing town to get away for a little while, only to discover upon their arrival that almost all of the townsfolk are either missing or dead.
I actually kind of liked this one...at least at first. It starts off with a lot of mystery and creepy, suspicious deaths, so the story and the effective atmosphere were really working for me. But then you get to the end and find out what's causing everything and.... Well, let's just say I don't think it altogether works. Plus, the CGI ends up being pretty wonky, so that doesn't help. The practical effects were pretty good though, so that was nice. Very reminiscent of Carpenter's
The Thing. But it doesn't really help the ending. So kinda a womp womp at the end, but still mostly fun.
The Wasteland
A young boy and his parents live out in the middle of nowhere. But when the boy's father leaves to deliver something to a visitor's family, the boy and his mother are left alone and soon find themselves haunted by a mysterious dark figure that keeps coming closer and closer to the house .
This Spanish horror movie is...fine. I probably would have liked it more if it had been the monster movie I was expecting, but it's not. Because this is the type of monster movie that's about a monster, but the movie isn't
actually about the monster. It's really about loss, and grief, and how those things can royally screw up your life and the lives of your loved ones. To be fair it's all very well done and looks and sounds really good. But it's also kind of a downer and not exactly what I would call a "fun" horror movie. Still, it's very good, just not very scary and not really focused on the advertised monster. So be prepared for that.
Streaming on Netflix
Eli
A young boy with a serious autoimmune disease is taken to a specialized clinic for treatment. He's told this is the only place that can cure him. But the longer he's there, the more he starts to see strange occurrences and ghostly figures, and pretty soon he starts to suspect that both is parents and his doctors are lying to him.
I rather liked this one, too. Decent effects, and a lovely haunted house type atmosphere to go along with the growing mystery angle. I even liked the twist at the end. But goodness does this one take it's sweet little old time to get going. And unfortunately it's more moody rather than scary, because all the scares fall into the standard "jump" variety, so that's a bummer. So overall not great, but not too bad either. I just wish the pacing in the first half had been a little more brisk.
Streaming on Netflix.
Viking Wolf
Thale and her family move to a rural town from the big city. While getting to know some of the local kids at a party one night, Thale and two other kids are attacked by some sort of wild animal. Thale and the boy survive, but the other girl is dragged off and found mutilated a couple days later. While the authorities are trying to figure out what the hell killed the girl, Thale finds herself slowly going insane, first due to her heightened senses, and then by her increasing violent urges When the authorities track down and kill a large wolf, the locals thing that's the end of the mystery. But unbeknownst to them, they're about to have an even bigger problem on their hands....
Hey! A werewolf movie! I haven't seen a new one of those in a while! This one is pretty good, too But, like most of the other things on my list lately, not great. It too, has some pacing issues. Mostly because it likes to focus more on the simmering family drama aspect of the story instead of the wolf angle. Because when the wolf shit pops up front and center everything moves
really fast. But the wolf also isn't the full focus of the movie either, because it's also tackling things like change, especially in relation to adolescence (though not to the extent of something like
Ginger Snaps.) So that's fine. What's not quite as fine is that most of the characters were kind of annoying, so I didn't really care what happened to them, beyond the little sister. She was cool. But, hey! On the plus side, at least unlike
The Wasteland, this one actually pulls through with the monster stuff and gives us a couple of nice, gnarly blood baths. Oh! And a pretty sweet transformation scene. So, minor pacing issues aside, I liked it.
Streaming on Netflix.
But I'm really digging them, and I think it would be fun to put out maybe one or two other things during October. Maybe I will next year, since Halloween is about a week away already. Although I should keep a look out on November 1st, because you know that's when a ton of retailers want to dump their Halloween stuff (if they haven't already).
