Lurker > v_charon

Part of me likes that, part of me a little reserved on it. It remains to be seen and I know there are varied opinions to the contrary, but as I've said before I feel Pearl as a step back. But I'm not really sure how much of that was for the fact it had a sequel in production before it came out and how much was on the fact I didn't like the premise as much.

With this sequel, I'd be very shocked if it wasn't about the backstory of the hand. Very shocked.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Talk to Me
4. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

5. Re/Member
6. Beau is Afraid
7. The Blackening
8. She Came From the Woods
9. Knock at the Cabin
10. Bunker
11. Cocaine Bear
12. Insidious: The Red Door
13. Final Cut
14. Haunted Mansion
15. Renfield
16. 65

B Tier

17. The Boogeyman
18. The Pope's Exorcist
19. Infinity Pool
20. Cobweb
21. Stalker
22. From Black
23. Inside
24. Nefarious
25. The Ghost Within
26. Til Death Do Us Part
27. Malum
28. They Wait in the Dark

C Tier

29. Meg 2: The Trench
30. You're Killing Me
31. Kids vs. Aliens
32. Enys Men
33. The Strays
34. Consecration
35. Trinket Box
36. Spoonful of Sugar
37. Unwelcome
38. Hunt Her, Kill Her
39. The Black Demon

D Tier

40. Leave
41. The Headmistress
42. Children of the Corn
43. Fear
44. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

45. The Outwaters
46. Skinamarink

Forgot to update the numbers from Meg 2. Saw Til Death Do Us Part last night; despite the advertised Bride vs. Groom plot, it subverts it a good bit from previous offerings that had the same basic synopsis. I give it a lot of credit for doing that since I wasn't expecting some of the plot elements that it had going on here. It's a pretty fun experience; especially for a movie that intentionally gave none of the characters names at all. The fight scenes are the highlight here as well as the "fatalities", so to speak. If you like that sort of thing this one will be a little treat I think. It does suffer a bit from something I'm usually a bit critical on, and that's having a likable protagonist. But I don't think you're really supposed to like the protagonist that much, so it being intentional a little more forgivable.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Talk to Me
4. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

5. Re/Member
6. Beau is Afraid
7. The Blackening
8. She Came From the Woods
9. Knock at the Cabin
10. Bunker
11. Cocaine Bear
12. Insidious: The Red Door
13. Final Cut
14. Haunted Mansion
15. Renfield
16. 65

B Tier

17. The Boogeyman
18. The Pope's Exorcist
19. Infinity Pool
20. Cobweb
21. Stalker
22. From Black
23. Inside
24. Nefarious
25. The Ghost Within
26. Malum
27. They Wait in the Dark

C Tier

27. Meg 2: The Trench
28. You're Killing Me
29. Kids vs. Aliens
30. Enys Men
31. The Strays
32. Consecration
33. Trinket Box
34. Spoonful of Sugar
35. Unwelcome
36. Hunt Her, Kill Her
37. The Black Demon

D Tier

38. Leave
39. The Headmistress
40. Children of the Corn
41. Fear
42. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

43. The Outwaters
44. Skinamarink

I decided to make a few minor adjustments and drop a few films from the B tier. C tier films for me are ones that I'd say aren't bad, aren't great. They won't waste your time if you watch them, but I also wouldn't go out of my way to say "watch this" at all either. Ultimately, I felt I liked Meg 2 more than a couple of B tier films but I was thinking to myself that there's no way I'd put the film itself as a B tier movie. So I decided to let it lead off my C tier for now. It is what it is; Jason Statham vs. Sharks. You wouldn't even have to see a trailer for this movie to imagine some of the scenes, but I will say that they just lean in heavy on the silliness which makes for some pretty fun moments. Other than this just not being an engrossing film, the weakest element was the cast of villains. They were super lame and pathetic, and not in any sort of redeeming way. Super annoying, like all 3 of them to varying degrees. Statham is fine here, which is good because it's like the only role he knows how to play after all. I wouldn't recommend it, but it could make for a good time with some drinks for sure. Okay enough, and hey, it's the best shark film so far this year!

Seeing Meg 2 tonight. What's the opposite of hyped? I dunno, I doubt it'll be too bad but this is the sort of film that has a clear ceiling and while the first one wasn't great (and not bad either), I feel like that ceiling was probably reached. But we'll see I guess.

Til Death Do Us Part on Sunday. Sounds like a blend of Ready or Not and The Invitation; can only hope it's closer to the first of those films. Not sure what's up with wedding day horror films over the last couple of years.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Talk to Me
4. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

5. Re/Member
6. Beau is Afraid
7. The Blackening
8. She Came From the Woods
9. Knock at the Cabin
10. Bunker
11. Cocaine Bear
12. Insidious: The Red Door
13. Final Cut
14. Haunted Mansion
15. Renfield
16. 65

B Tier

17. The Boogeyman
18. The Pope's Exorcist
19. Infinity Pool
20. Cobweb
21. Stalker
22. From Black
23. Inside
24. Nefarious
25. The Ghost Within
26. Malum
27. They Wait in the Dark
28. You're Killing Me
29. Kids vs. Aliens

C Tier

30. Enys Men
31. The Strays
32. Consecration
33. Trinket Box
34. Spoonful of Sugar
35. Unwelcome
36. Hunt Her, Kill Her
37. The Black Demon

D Tier

38. Leave
39. The Headmistress
40. Children of the Corn
41. Fear
42. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

43. The Outwaters
44. Skinamarink

Haunted Mansion is one of those "you know what you're getting" sort of movies, which is why I placed it into my A tier because Genny and I both love the ride. On our last trip to Disney World I think we rode it 4-5 times, many of those back to back when we caught it with a light line. The film is a much more faithful representation than the Eddie Murphy version, which I don't have but I feel suffers a bit because at the time this was Eddie at his "most" Eddie; meaning that he sort of steals the film because he has such presence. It wasn't as much about the atmosphere as this one was. This is an ensemble cast where no one really dominates any of the scenes; they're just all capable actors. I really enjoyed finding the little references sprinkled throughout the film to the ride itself, and I've read some critics say it's basically a 2 hour long advertisement for the ride, which I guess... sure? I think it tells a more compelling story than that though, and while the setting and haunts are the stars of the show, I enjoyed the different characters they had here. It's not winning any awards, but as a big fan of the Haunted Mansion attraction I was very happy with it.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Talk to Me
4. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

5. Re/Member
6. Beau is Afraid
7. The Blackening
8. She Came From the Woods
9. Knock at the Cabin
10. Bunker
11. Cocaine Bear
12. Insidious: The Red Door
13. Final Cut
14. Renfield
15. 65

B Tier

16. The Boogeyman
17. The Pope's Exorcist
18. Infinity Pool
19. Cobweb
20. Stalker
21. From Black
22. Inside
23. Nefarious
24. The Ghost Within
25. Malum
26. They Wait in the Dark
27. You're Killing Me
28. Kids vs. Aliens

C Tier

29. Enys Men
30. The Strays
31. Consecration
32. Trinket Box
33. Spoonful of Sugar
34. Unwelcome
35. Hunt Her, Kill Her
36. The Black Demon

D Tier

37. Leave
38. The Headmistress
39. Children of the Corn
40. Fear
41. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

42. The Outwaters
43. Skinamarink

I probably placed too lofty of expectations on it, but that being said Talk to Me is still an excellent experience. It hits pretty hard and fast and comes out of the gate with the main plot without taking too much time to get you seeing what you came to see. I was impressed by the practical effects of the movie; they really do a great job with it to keep things very scary by leaving it mostly grounded in realism whilst still being a supernatural film. Another amazing thing is the lack of experience this cast has; many of the actors don't even have Wikipedia pages and the main actress Sophie Wilde only debuted two years ago apparently. Typically what makes a really great indie film is being able to get a good cast on board, which can be difficult given the nature of these lower budget projects because more established actors are going to demand a bigger payday. But yeah, this is a good one to check out in theaters. Ours was sold out last night for this one and it deserves it.

Talk to Me at this time tomorrow. Big hype.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. The Blackening
7. She Came From the Woods
8. Knock at the Cabin
9. Bunker
10. Cocaine Bear
11. Insidious: The Red Door
12. Final Cut
13. Renfield
14. 65

B Tier

15. The Boogeyman
16. The Pope's Exorcist
17. Infinity Pool
18. Cobweb
19. Stalker
20. From Black
21. Inside
22. Nefarious
23. The Ghost Within
24. Malum
25. They Wait in the Dark
26. You're Killing Me
27. Kids vs. Aliens

C Tier

28. Enys Men
29. The Strays
30. Consecration
31. Trinket Box
32. Spoonful of Sugar
33. Unwelcome
34. Hunt Her, Kill Her
35. The Black Demon

D Tier

36. Leave
37. The Headmistress
38. Children of the Corn
39. Fear
40. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

41. The Outwaters
42. Skinamarink

While everyone was busy seeing Barbie and Oppenheimer we made our way over to Cobweb's limited release in theaters. Much to my surprise, the theater was fairly well stocked with others (possibly from people who couldn't get into the sold out blockbusters, many people arrived 15-20 minutes after the movie itself had started let alone the advertised start). Despite some of the worst theater eating I've ever heard from our nearby neighbors, this was a pretty good experience. Another member of my B tier... I guess that's not too surprising, I'm a lot easier to please than disappoint generally. The acting from the parents in this film is so unnerving though. They are so over the top and haunting, it's really jarring considering most of the time "bad parents" is a reveal much later in a film than it was here. The monster design is pretty cool, sort of a reversed evil Rapunzel in look and backstory. I get why she'd be angry at her brother, but he did help and free her so I was hoping she'd have been at least a little more kind to him. The ending could have been better and I feel like they shoehorned in the bully character and his family from earlier in the film to up the body count, but I still left the movie pretty satisfied. Plenty tense moments throughout, and again, especially from the parents.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. The Blackening
7. She Came From the Woods
8. Knock at the Cabin
9. Bunker
10. Cocaine Bear
11. Insidious: The Red Door
12. Final Cut
13. Renfield
14. 65

B Tier

15. The Boogeyman
16. The Pope's Exorcist
17. Infinity Pool
18. Stalker
19. From Black
20. Inside
21. Nefarious
22. The Ghost Within
23. Malum
24. They Wait in the Dark
25. You're Killing Me
26. Kids vs. Aliens

C Tier

27. Enys Men
28. The Strays
29. Consecration
30. Trinket Box
31. Spoonful of Sugar
32. Unwelcome
33. Hunt Her, Kill Her
34. The Black Demon

D Tier

35. Leave
36. The Headmistress
37. Children of the Corn
38. Fear
39. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

40. The Outwaters
41. Skinamarink

The Ghost Within is a British based horror that had a limited theatrical run here in the US back in March. Unfortunately I couldn't locate any showtimes for it, after having recently boasted about how lucky I was to live in Atlanta. Eventually caught up to this one on Prime. It's good, definitely better than some of the other British films I've already seen this year. It's classically horror with a lot of good jumps and spooks, and they do well (mostly, until the end maybe) with the limited budget to keep things scary despite lacking a lot of resources. It does begin to suffer at some point from having unlikable protagonists and characters it's hard to root for, but the ensemble is good enough where I can mostly overlook that.

2/3rds of the list is from movies from the last 3 years; the more of these projects that have been done, the less there are in the catalog of older, well-known films to pull from.

I vaguely remember seeing Hypnotic advertised but I never found much evidence it really should be categorized as horror so I brushed it off. 65 million budget and 6.7 from the box office? Yikes, that's bad for any "horror" feature.

Of the theater stuff for the rest of the month:

21st: Natty Knocks & Cobweb

I can't seem to find any nearby showtimes for Natty Knocks (which sucks because I'm interesting since Danielle Harris stars in it and it reads basically like another version of the original Halloween). Cobweb is showing in multiple locations nearby so definitely checking that out next weekend.

28th: Haunted Mansion & Talk To Me

Though I am a big fanboy of the ride, I don't really know what to expect from this iteration of the film. The trailer makes it look pretty promising, but I'm on the side of the fence that the Eddie Murphy version of this was... definitely leaving something to be desired of. Talk To Me is what I'm really looking forward to though. With A24 putting their name on distributing this and a hot 97% of Rotten Tomatoes right now, this can the potential for an instant classic.

There's also Sympathy for the Devil with Nic Cage coming out this same weekend, though I am not super convinced it's really up for being classified as a horror movie.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. The Blackening
7. She Came From the Woods
8. Knock at the Cabin
9. Bunker
10. Cocaine Bear
11. Insidious: The Red Door
12. Final Cut
13. Renfield
14. 65

B Tier

15. The Boogeyman
16. The Pope's Exorcist
17. Infinity Pool
18. Stalker
19. From Black
20. Inside
21. Nefarious
22. Malum
23. They Wait in the Dark
24. You're Killing Me
25. Kids vs. Aliens

C Tier

26. Enys Men
27. The Strays
28. Consecration
29. Trinket Box
30. Spoonful of Sugar
31. Unwelcome
32. Hunt Her, Kill Her
33. The Black Demon

D Tier

34. Leave
35. The Headmistress
36. Children of the Corn
37. Fear
38. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

39. The Outwaters
40. Skinamarink

Managed to get to that late screening of Final Cut (and we were the only ones there; everyone else came to see Rocky Horror Picture Show, which this theater plays every Friday night). It was a pretty interesting movie! I had no idea what to expect from it going in, and for the first 30-45 minutes I had no clue what was happening in certain spots and why. But stick around and keep watching it; things get interesting for sure. I was pretty pleasantly surprised with this one, and seeing it on the back of the latest Insidious film makes me wonder which I liked more. I gave the nod to the traditional horror in this case because I feel critics have been way too hard on it in most cases, but these two films couldn't really be more different in tonal styles. I would recommend both to any fan of the genre tbh.

Also that's 40 films down for 2023. Still have so many on my list though, will try to tackle one more some time this weekend.

Final Cut is getting a limited run on our art theater here, probably going to see it. Technically it is listed as a 2022 film (several that I have seen are as well), but I've been counting the American release as the release date. Not the foreign release or if they debuted it at a filmfest; that just doesn't really seem like the "actual" release date to me.

My only hangup is I've been trying to call the theater to verify if there are subtitles. It's a French film, and I would just assume there are going to be English subtitles, I just want to make sure before we drive all the way to that part of town. With foreign horror, I've only been focusing on stuff that has been getting dedicated western release dates. I'm not super stoked for it (horror comedy), but it has decent enough reviews.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. The Blackening
7. She Came From the Woods
8. Knock at the Cabin
9. Bunker
10. Cocaine Bear
11. Insidious: The Red Door
12. Renfield
13. 65

B Tier

14. The Boogeyman
15. The Pope's Exorcist
16. Infinity Pool
17. Stalker
18. From Black
19. Malum
20. Inside
21. Nefarious
22. They Wait in the Dark
23. You're Killing Me
24. Kids vs. Aliens

C Tier

25. Enys Men
26. The Strays
27. Consecration
28. Trinket Box
29. Spoonful of Sugar
30. Unwelcome
31. Hunt Her, Kill Her
32. The Black Demon

D Tier

33. Leave
34. The Headmistress
35. Children of the Corn
36. Fear
37. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

38. The Outwaters
39. Skinamarink

It could be that this year has been a little light on jump-scare reliant horrors, but I found the latest chapter of this divisive franchise to be pretty good overall. Sure there are moments of "eh" and things that seem a little too over the top, but there are a handful of really well executed jumpscares that don't go the way you'd predict, even if you know something is about to happen. Nothing got an audible response from me, but several of them did get some good actual jumps, which has been pretty rare so far in 2023. I found it to be a likable film, plus Ghost does the outro track so that's always a positive thing. If you found the last film to be bad, this one is very unlike that one in most every way so perhaps give it a shot.

Please let this die in development.

Seeing Insidious: The Red Door tomorrow night. Reviews seem mixed to poor so far, I guess that's probably about par for the course lately for this franchise, though I will say I liked The Last Key well enough.

Yeah, I saw a Google ad for that film, some review saying "the next Hereditary and The Babadook" then I looked at the review score and thought better of choosing that movie right off the bat. Sure we'll watch it soon, though still behind 1 other film on Netflix but I haven't had that much interest in We Have a Ghost yet.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. The Blackening
7. She Came From the Woods
8. Knock at the Cabin
9. Bunker
10. Cocaine Bear
11. Renfield
12. 65

B Tier

13. The Boogeyman
14. The Pope's Exorcist
15. Infinity Pool
16. Stalker
17. From Black
18. Malum
19. Inside
20. Nefarious
21. They Wait in the Dark
22. You're Killing Me
23. Kids vs. Aliens

C Tier

24. Enys Men
25. The Strays
26. Consecration
27. Trinket Box
28. Spoonful of Sugar
29. Unwelcome
30. Hunt Her, Kill Her
31. The Black Demon

D Tier

32. Leave
33. The Headmistress
34. Children of the Corn
35. Fear
36. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

37. The Outwaters
38. Skinamarink

You're Killing Me watched. Follows a pretty standard formula, but the acting performances are strong. They carry they film. This was one of Anne Heche's final roles as well. She's pretty dastardly here for sure. I will say that very often I was left questioning the character's motives, so the writing here I wouldn't say was on point and probably the weakest aspect of the film as a whole. It felt like the production value was good, because it wisely used just a single location to film the entire film, which I've noticed works quite well since I've been watching these indie horror films. I'm torn where to place it on my list exactly, but for now I would give it a decent recommendation so I have it trailing my B tier. I had to adjust Kids vs. Aliens just a bit, and made a few other minor adjustments as well. Nearing 40 films watched for 2023!

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. The Blackening
7. She Came From the Woods
8. Knock at the Cabin
9. Bunker
10. Cocaine Bear
11. Renfield
12. 65

B Tier

13. The Boogeyman
14. The Pope's Exorcist
15. Infinity Pool
16. Stalker
17. Kids vs. Aliens
18. From Black
19. Malum
20. Inside
21. Nefarious
22. They Wait in the Dark

C Tier

23. Enys Men
24. The Strays
25. Consecration
26. Trinket Box
27. Spoonful of Sugar
28. Unwelcome
29. The Black Demon
30. Hunt Her, Kill Her

D Tier

31. Leave
32. The Headmistress
33. Children of the Corn
34. Fear
35. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

36. The Outwaters
37. Skinamarink

Wasn't planning on seeing a film tonight, but wound up watching Kids vs. Aliens while we were visiting some friends. Despite the intoxication and atmosphere, I tried to look at this movie as objectively as I was able. It's pretty good stuff. It isn't at all like I had imagined it (it's been on my watch list for several months now). I was thinking this would be like... Mars Needs Moms but with horror elements. Kinda a hokey bad kids movie, but it's definitely not a movie for children despite starring them. Most of the characters aren't particularly deep and many are just outright tropes, but the acting is above average and I enjoyed the cheesy 90s vibe I got from it. Nothing groundbreaking, but a solid effort and well written. Placed in the recommend category.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. The Blackening
7. She Came From the Woods
8. Knock at the Cabin
9. Bunker
10. Cocaine Bear
11. Renfield
12. 65

B Tier

13. The Boogeyman
14. The Pope's Exorcist
15. Infinity Pool
16. Stalker
17. From Black
18. Malum
19. Inside
20. Nefarious
21. They Wait in the Dark

C Tier

22. Enys Men
23. The Strays
24. Consecration
25. Trinket Box
26. Spoonful of Sugar
27. Unwelcome
28. The Black Demon
29. Hunt Her, Kill Her

D Tier

30. Leave
31. The Headmistress
32. Children of the Corn
33. Fear
34. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

35. The Outwaters
36. Skinamarink

The Blackening was a pretty strong horror comedy, probably the best one this year (I ranked it under Beau, but I don't consider that in the genre even if some list it as such). Very self aware and with a lot of good laughs. It isn't the perfect film or anything, but among things I'd praise it on are the acting and the writing (except for one thing I'll mention). I was a little worried as they started to introduce the cast, because it's done so after the intro and it seems like there might be too many of them for a film with a shorter runtime, but they made everyone very distinct and the actors put on really bombastic performances that set their characters apart from each other very well. The one knock I'd mention is I was able to see the twist very early on and call out who the killer was, though perhaps it was intentional. I wasn't super thrilled on the sort of lazy "white rednecks with the Confederate flag" as henchmen, a little bleh for me. Even with those reservations though, I did like the "villain" before the reveals, sort of has a Jigsaw or Ghostface style inspiration to it. But yeah, good stuff, gets a strong recommend from me.

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

I just saw Sick that came out this year on Pe

I have this on my master list file of things to try and watch for 2023, but as I don't have Peacock and not sure I want to commit to another service I'll barely use, I'm not sure how I'll get to watch a few of the films on my list.

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

The last bits are what made the movie make sense though!

I dunno about that. It still found it hard to tell what really happened by the end, but maybe I don't have the galaxy brain evoked right now. I still liked it, it's just super weird and I'm not one to dwell that much on hidden meanings and messages enough.

The Blackening tomorrow on Juneteenth, haven't had enough time to watch any new indie stuff on platforms, but can't miss a theater film.

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (what a title) is out in limited theaters, but sadly too limited even for Hollywood South as I can't find any showtimes for it around here. Bummer. More fuel for Amazon Prime probably.

Seems like it's a Frankenstein drama horror story; interested to eventually check it out for uniqueness sake.

Well among the film's flaws I'd list:

Sadie's subplot with her former best friend and the "high school mean girls" crowd felt a little shoehorned and ended up unresolved completely. The film's runtime topped just over 90 minutes so it's difficult to add in too many plot threads. I also felt all of those characters were just tropes, and not one I enjoyed seeing and not ones that felt self-aware.

I really would have liked to see more subtle, psychological horror in this. Considering it is PG-13 and a bit bound to not show blood and gore, though it implied the death of a very child early on that's about it as far as boundary pushing went. Boogeyman is supposedly a monster driven by grief and seems to possess an array of different powers and abilities; I'd have liked to see something like they did in the IT movies with Georgie; some on the screen stuff and can give you a chill. Perhaps they were being true to the source material (I haven't read it) and maybe doing that would have made him too much like Pennywise, but yeah.

All that being said, I consider the films I put into my B tier to be good movies. I'm not a terribly hard to please person when it comes to movies usually, so I would say I like things more often than I dislike them. B tier films are ones I would say I recommended seeing, but that they may have some flaws here and there to stop them from achieving greatness (in my opinion, at least). C tier movies are the sort of "take it or leave it" kind; they're not bad, but you aren't missing out by missing out either. Stuff below that I would recommend against seeing, of course.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. She Came From the Woods
7. Knock at the Cabin
8. Bunker
9. Cocaine Bear
10. Renfield
11. 65

B Tier

12. The Boogeyman
13. The Pope's Exorcist
14. Infinity Pool
15. Stalker
16. From Black
17. Malum
18. Inside
19. Nefarious
20. They Wait in the Dark

C Tier

21. Enys Men
22. The Strays
23. Consecration
24. Trinket Box
25. Spoonful of Sugar
26. Unwelcome
27. The Black Demon
28. Hunt Her, Kill Her

D Tier

29. Leave
30. The Headmistress
31. Children of the Corn
32. Fear
33. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

34. The Outwaters
35. Skinamarink

The Boogeyman was... it's interesting, because looking at it by the end I would say it was a pretty good and effective film, though I think at times it is a little too by the numbers and predictable. But at the same time it did several things very well; I did like the monster design, but at times I was wanting a little more unnerving scenes. They were there, it just wasn't quite to the heights I had wanted from this movie. But I sort of expected it after I noticed this was a PG-13 rated film, which are a lot of times coming into the theater with their hands tied a bit. It's solid enough, but not quite A tier for me. That said I did think it was a little better than Pope's Exorcist so I had to demote that one down into the B tier as well.

I mean I certainly wouldn't say the original Evil Dead film possessed much in the way of characters I'd consider to be intelligent.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. She Came From the Woods
7. Knock at the Cabin
8. Bunker
9. Cocaine Bear
10. Renfield
11. 65
12. The Pope's Exorcist

B Tier

13. Infinity Pool
14. Stalker
15. From Black
16. Malum
17. Inside
18. Nefarious
19. They Wait in the Dark

C Tier

20. Enys Men
21. The Strays
22. Consecration
23. Trinket Box
24. Spoonful of Sugar
25. Unwelcome
26. The Black Demon
27. Hunt Her, Kill Her

D Tier

28. Leave
29. The Headmistress
30. Children of the Corn
31. Fear
32. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

33. The Outwaters
34. Skinamarink

Finished a Shudder movie we had tried to watch a week or so ago, From Black. Pretty solid one that focuses on the grief of child loss and what lengths people may go through to get those children back. I was interested initially because it stars John Ales, which I bet is probably an actor most people would "huh" at by I watched Nutty Professor about 50 times when I was a teenager so I remember him well. I did think the main character made a really bizarre decision near the end which I couldn't really comprehend, but overall it does a good job at building dread and the monster design is pretty good for an indie film.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. She Came From the Woods
7. Knock at the Cabin
8. Bunker
9. Cocaine Bear
10. Renfield
11. 65
12. The Pope's Exorcist

B Tier

13. Infinity Pool
14. Stalker
15. Malum
16. Inside
17. Nefarious
18. They Wait in the Dark

C Tier

19. Enys Men
20. The Strays
21. Consecration
22. Trinket Box
23. Spoonful of Sugar
24. Unwelcome
25. The Black Demon
26. Hunt Her, Kill Her

D Tier

27. Leave
28. The Headmistress
29. Children of the Corn
30. Fear
31. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

32. The Outwaters
33. Skinamarink

More indie horror! They Wait in the Dark was another high scoring film with minimal watches; the reviewers were pretty divided on the film with most saying it was great and others criticizing the acting and dialogue. I personally thought it was fairly well done; it felt well shot and any effects used were practical and realistic looking. It tells a pretty good story with a twist that's hard to see coming for sure. It's a nice short film to check out if you'd like something decent while we're in the midst of this lull between mainstream releases of horror.

Boogeyman is out next month; expecting big things out of it.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. She Came From the Woods
7. Knock at the Cabin
8. Bunker
9. Cocaine Bear
10. Renfield
11. 65
12. The Pope's Exorcist

B Tier

13. Infinity Pool
14. Stalker
15. Malum
16. Inside
17. Nefarious

C Tier

18. Enys Men
19. The Strays
20. Consecration
21. Trinket Box
22. Spoonful of Sugar
23. Unwelcome
24. The Black Demon
25. Hunt Her, Kill Her

D Tier

26. Leave
27. The Headmistress
28. Children of the Corn
29. Fear
30. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

F Tier

31. The Outwaters
32. Skinamarink

New film added to the list, The Headmistress. It's uh... a movie. Found it on Amazon Prime. It has really high ratings from the people who have actually seen it, which doesn't appear to be very many. Sky high score on RT audience score and a pretty high mark on IMDb, which is always really difficult. That said, I'm not sure what those people were thinking. This is a really flawed film. There's a good premise here but that's about it; the acting is pretty subpar, there's really strange editing choices and the film doesn't do a great job of setting the plot up initially. It improves some as it gets going, and there are a few jumpscares here and there. It's just one of those low budget horror projects though, checks all those boxes. Tropes, one note characters, cringy dialogue and a really nonsensical ending.

I also decided Outwaters was bad enough to put down there with Skinamarink after all. There's just nothing redeeming about that final third of the film and it was pure torture to sit through.

Tried to watch a movie on Shudder but my speakers suck, must upgrade

It's been a big success in the box office too which is always nice to see from a horror release.

What in the world... I mean I voted for it, but that sort of result is unexpected in a semi-final of former champions.

Oh right, whoops. And I liked that one a lot more too.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. She Came From the Woods
7. Knock at the Cabin
8. Bunker
9. Cocaine Bear
10. Renfield
11. 65
12. The Pope's Exorcist

B Tier

13. Infinity Pool
14. Stalker
15. Malum
16. Inside
17. Nefarious

C Tier

18. Enys Men
19. The Strays
20. Consecration
21. Trinket Box
22. Spoonful of Sugar
23. Unwelcome
24. The Black Demon
25. Hunt Her, Kill Her

D Tier

26. Leave
27. Children of the Corn
28. Fear
29. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
30. The Outwaters

F Tier

31. Skinamarink

Two films watched. Firstly, we watched one called Stalker a few days ago. I first heard about this film because Bret Hart had a small part in it, so it had been on my radar and we ended up watching it on Prime. Pretty good film honestly, only thing that drags it down a bit is the "twist" near the end. I didn't really see it coming, though I thought about it a couple of times throughout the film also. The biggest issue with that is the audacity of her plan... she's duct taped a guy in an elevator, cut off his dick and then slit his throat. Also she drugged him. I mean no investigator is going to buy for a minute she was innocent, but perhaps that was intentional as she is only a B-list actress after all. But outside of that, it's a pretty great experience. I felt uneasy the entire way through until near the end. It creates a feeling sort of like Fall did, though it's not quite as masterclass when all's said and done.

The other is the year's first Man vs. Nature film, at least that I've seen so far, The Black Demon. Yay, a megladon movie! I know Meg 2 is due out later this year so I guess I look forward to comparing these movies, maybe? I wouldn't call it bad or good, it takes an idea that's been done a lot and adds a little more supernatural element to it, which I do appreciate over "here's a prehistoric shark that's survived somehow!". The acting can be a little choppy in places but as a whole I think the film is at decent. It's hard to really make a great, or even good, shark movie for some reason.

Jakyl25 posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/3/0/AAAOt_AAEcI2.jpg

One voter didnt even put Jokic Top 5

Who let Kendrick Perkins vote?

I didn't watch Northman because it wasn't a horror film. A little too much on my plate to watch every single film (and I avoid epics usually because of the length, though this one seems manageable).

Hereditary > Get Out > Us > Beau > Nope > The VVitch > The Lighthouse > Midsommar

Aster has my favorite film, but he also has my least favorite as well. Get Out is a really high placer for me all time, close enough that with Us being pretty good (retroactively, I feel like I liked it more than I thought I did). Nope is... underwhelming a massive disappointment in my opinion, but I really feel VVitch and Lighthouse are just super overrated. I guess I just don't like Eggers' movies that much. They're not "bad", just sort of I guess not my cup of tea.

Ultimately I have to go with Peele > Aster > Eggers

No.

I can definitely see someone hating Beau. I think it has all the potential to be one of those hugely polarizing films where there's very little in-between ground. I may have ranked it a little too highly but I'll have to revisit those thoughts later perhaps, but I still think it was good to me because I expected so little of it. Hereditary was one of my favorite films of all time so when Midsommar was on its way out, I was super hyped. Considering it was his debut, I expected something huge out of that film from Ari Aster's sophomore session and I was very depressed by the time Midsommar's credits were rolling. I'm not really sure how I'd feel about that film if Hereditary hadn't existed; I still think I'd not look at it very fondly, but perhaps I wouldn't have complete disdain for it as I do now. I can't really think about Midsommar and look at it without remembering the way it completely failed my expectations.

It was just reverse for this film. I went in expecting a shitshow, and it kinda still went down that way, but in a more pleasant format that what I was expecting. It does create an interesting feeling in me for whatever he does next though, I feel like it tempers my belief that he was only able to create one great film. While Beau is nowhere near Hereditary's near perfection, it did renew my faith somewhat in the director and writer that brought me one of my favorite movies.

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. Beau is Afraid
6. She Came From the Woods
7. Knock at the Cabin
8. Bunker
9. Cocaine Bear
10. Renfield
11. 65
12. The Pope's Exorcist

B Tier

13. Infinity Pool
14. Malum
15. Inside
16. Nefarious

C Tier

17. Enys Men
18. The Strays
19. Consecration
20. Trinket Box
21. Spoonful of Sugar
22. Unwelcome
23. Hunt Her, Kill Her

D Tier

24. Leave
25. Children of the Corn
26. Fear
27. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
28. The Outwaters

F Tier

29. Skinamarink

We've survived Ari Aster's seemingly endless odyssey... but, and I'm pretty surprised to be saying this, it didn't seem like a 3 hour film. I had a ton of reservations about this one but ultimately I found it to be a unique and enjoyable experience. "Experience" is certainly what you can say about this movie. How much of a horror film is it? I'm not really sure, there are certainly plenty of classical horror moments but they are here and there and this is again a very long one. But A24 classifies it as a horror film so I will go with them on it. I think the difference between me liking this and not liking Midsommar is that this one didn't have a tonal shift halfway through like that one did. Ultimately, because Midsommar presented itself as pretty classical in its first half or so caused me to create expectations of the film, which it failed to live up to. I didn't like the direction the film decided to go in, like at all. This one however... it really has basically the same sort of tone the entire way. Not that you ever really know where it's going, and the film doesn't usually seem to know either, but it's in a good way. Pretty surprised to be ranking this one up high.

Ugh

The Shinigami
Death

Manny

Yet to Come
Mr. Grimm

Im Still Here
Youll Be in My Heart
How Far Ill Go
We Dont Talk About Bruno
Let it Go

Davy Jones
Ryuk

Zero to Hero
Let it Go
Whats This?
Bells of Notre Dame

Castlevania
Yet to Come

Davy Jones
Ryuk

S Tier:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN
3. Evil Dead Rise

A Tier:

4. Re/Member
5. She Came From the Woods
6. Knock at the Cabin
7. Bunker
8. Cocaine Bear
9. Renfield
10. 65
11. The Pope's Exorcist

B Tier

12. Infinity Pool
13. Malum
14. Inside
15. Nefarious

C Tier

16. Enys Men
17. The Strays
18. Consecration
19. Trinket Box
20. Spoonful of Sugar
21. Unwelcome
22. Hunt Her, Kill Her

D Tier

23. Leave
24. Children of the Corn
25. Fear
26. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
27. The Outwaters

F Tier

28. Skinamarink

Two films. First we watched Shudder's exclusive "Leave", and well out of all the movies I've seen this year... it was one of them. Pretty underwhelming stuff. The premise is interesting and I was engaged at around the 20 minute mark but things really fizzled out in the second half. I was looking for something a lot less grounded in reality. I think the biggest flaw in the film was the acting though. Not that most of the cast wasn't fine, but the lead actress could not hold an accent properly. I know this movie was filmed in Norway and the cast is mostly European but seriously, don't write your film and say that your main character is American then. It's just not going to work if you don't have someone talented enough to hide their natural accent, and she just couldn't do it.

Secondly, tonight we checked out Evil Dead Rise. It delivers on what you think it should; a bloody, gory mess that pulls very few punches. Did I mention blood? It's a great revisit to a franchise that I'm usually not sure what it wants to do. There are very few of those "zany" moments that Army of Darkness introduced, though I can think of one little callback to that perhaps. But it's dark, twisted and again, very bloody. It's definitely firmly in the realm of what most people would think about being classically horror, at least in modern times. Tons of great moments and over the top disturbing delights.

Beauty and the Beast
Ill Make a Man Out of You
Hellfire
Circle of Life