Board 8 > The October Horror Movie Marathon Topic (Year 4)

(+) Yeah! (+)

So I'm back at it again by watching entirely too much horror movies and TV. It's the fourth year I've done this and I've been pretty excited to do it again. The hardest part will be dodging all of the movies and TV I've watched before--but hey! I have the handy list I'll be posting directly after this initial one to help with that! I'll give a write up about the movie or TV show after I watch it as well.

I go through with some of the best horror movies you can find to absolute trash and everything in between. I'm happy to take recommendations, and if you're watching fun horror stuff or want to talk about what I've seen, feel free to do so! But let's get this rolling!

My Horror Movie Ratings For October 2020-22!

The Best of the Best:
Aliens - 10/10
American Psycho - 10/10
The Conjuring - 10/10
The Descent - 10/10
Don't Breathe - 10/10
Halloween (1978) - 10/10
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) - 10/10
Midnight Mass (TV Series) - 10/10
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) - 10/10
Poltergeist (1982) - 10/10
Psycho (1960) - 10/10
Scream (1996) - 10/10
Sinister - 10/10
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - 10/10
The Thing (1982) - 10/10
The Wailing - 10/10
What We Do In The Shadows: Seasons 1-3 (TV Series) - 10/10

Must Watch:
The Color of Space - 9.5/10
Drag Me To Hell - 9.5/10
The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV Series) - 9.5/10
Last Night In Soho - 9.5/10
The Medium - 9.5/10
Phantasm - 9.5/10
Psycho Goreman - 9.5/10
Resurrection - 9.5/10
The Ring - 9.5/10
Shining Vale: Season 1 (TV Series) - 9.5/10
Videodrome - 9.5/10
The Woman in Black - 9.5/10
Alien - 9/10
Black Swan - 9/10
The Fly (1986) - 9/10
The Canal - 9/10
Channel Zero: Butcher's Block (TV Series) - 9/10
Chucky: Season 1 (TV Series) - 9/10
Halloween (2018) - 9/10
Hellraiser - 9/10
Insidious - 9/10
The Invisible Man - 9/10
Malignant - 9/10
Martyrs (2008) - 9/10
The Patient (TV Series) - 9/10
Oculus - 9/10
Scream 2 - 9/10
Spiral (2019) - 9/10
Terrifier 2 - 9/10
10 Cloverfield Lane - 8.5/10
The Audition - 8.5/10
Black Christmas (1974) - 8.5/10
Censor - 8.5/10
Child's Play (1988) - 8.5/10
Cloverfield - 8.5/10
Daniel Isn't Real - 8.5/10
Dark Water (2002) - 8.5/10
Dashcam - 8.5/10
From: Season 1 (TV Series) - 8.5/10
Green Room - 8.5/10
Halloween Kills - 8.5/10
Hellraiser (2022) - 8.5/10
Host - 8.5/10
I Know What You Did Last Summer - 8.5/10
Ju-On: The Grudge 2 - 8.5/10
The Lighthouse - 8.5/10
Lovecraft Country (TV Series) - 8.5/10
Mandy - 8.5/10
Mara - 8.5/10
The Mimic - 8.5/10
Midnight Club (TV Series) - 8.5/10
Orphan: First Kill - 8.5/10
Pulse (2001) - 8.5/10
Raw - 8.5/10
Rec - 8.5/10
Rosemary's Baby - 8.5/10
Scream Queens: Season 1 (TV Series) - 8.5/10
Slasher: The Executioner (TV Series) - 8.5/10
Slasher: Guilty Party - 8.5/10
Smile - 8.5/10
Suspiria (1977) - 8.5/10
The Taking of Deborah Logan - 8.5/10
The Terror: Season 1 (TV Series) - 8.5/10
V/H/S 94 - 8.5/10

Great:
The Babysitter: Killer Queen - 8/10
Beach House - 8/10
Brand New Cherry Flavor (TV Series) - 8/10
The Changeling - 8/10
Channel Zero: Candle Cove (TV Series) - 8/10
Come Play - 8/10
The Conjuring 2 - 8/10
Crawl - 8/10
The Empty Man - 8/10
Event Horizon - 8/10
The Hatching - 8/10
Hellraiser II: Hellbound - 8/10
Hocus Pocus - 8/10
The Host (2006) - 8/10
Insidious: Chapter 2 - 8/10
Ju-On: The Grudge - 8/10
Killer Klowns From Outer Space: 8/10
The Midnight Meat Train - 8/10
The Monster - 8/10
The Mist - 8/10
A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors - 8/10
The Room - 8/10
Significant Other - 8/10
Spell - 8/10
Still/Born - 8/10
Revenge - 8/10
Terrified - 8/10
Terrifier - 8/10
V/H/S 2 - 8/10
V/H/S 99 - 8/10
Werewolves Within - 8/10
Antlers - 7.5/10
The Belko Experiment - 7.5/10
Blood Red Sky - 7.5/10
Channel Zero: The Dream Door (TV Series) - 7.5/10
Child's Play (2019) - 7.5/10
Child's Play 2 - 7.5/10
Coherence - 7.5/10
Creep - 7.5/10
Creep 2 - 7.5/10
Demonic (2015) - 7.5/10
The Endless - 7.5/10
Friday the 13th: Part III - 7.5/10
Fright Night (1985) - 7.5/10
He's Out There - 7.5/10
His House - 7.5/10
The Hitcher (1986) - 7.5/10
Insidious: Chapter 3 - 7.5/10
Mayhem - 7.5/10
Nightbreed - 7.5/10
The Orphan - 7.5/10
Paranormal Activity (5): The Marked Ones - 7.5/10
Sleepaway Camp - 7.5/10
The Terror: Infamy (TV Series) - 7.5/10
Unfriended - 7.5/10
The Void - 7.5/10
Wes Craven's New Nightmare - 7.5/10
Absentia - 7/10
Aftermath - 7/10
Annabelle: Creation - 7/10
Bad Ben - 7/10
Bad Hair - 7/10
The Blair Witch Project - 7/10
Channel Zero: No-End House (TV Series) - 7/10
A Classic Horror Story - 7/10
Clown - 7/10
Countdown - 7/10
Cult of Chucky - 7/10
Curse of Chucky - 7/10
Devil's Gate - 7/10
The Fly (1958) - 7/10
Haunt - 7/10
The Hitcher (2007) - 7/10
The House of the Devil - 7/10
The Invitation (2016) - 7/10
Lavender - 7/10
Let Me In (2010) - 7/10
Knock Knock - 7/10
Mama - 7/10
My Bloody Valentine - 7/10
Puppet Master - 7/10
The Seventh Day - 7/10
Summer of '84 - 7/10
Trick 'r Treat - 7/10
Under the Skin - 7/10
Underwater - 7/10
V/H/S - 7/10
The Watcher - 7/10

Pretty Good:
47 Meters Down - 6.5/10
Apostle - 6.5/10
Child's Play 3 - 6.5/10
Crimes of the Future - 6.5/10
The Deep House - 6.5/10
Escape Room - 6.5/10
Eyes Without a Face - 6.5/10
Fear of Rain - 6.5/10
Friday the 13th (1980) - 6.5/10
Friday the 13th: Part II - 6.5/10
Fright Night (2011) - 6.5/10
The Grudge (2004) - 6.5/10
Lore (TV Series) - 6.5/10
Malevolent - 6.5/10
Nightbooks - 6.5/10
The Ruins - 6.5/10
Scanners - 6.5/10
Scream: Season 1 (TV Series) - 6.5/10
Them - 6.5/10
There's Someone Inside Your House - 6.5/10
Willy's Wonderland - 6.5/10
Antebellum - 6/10
Bedeviled - 6/10
Bride of Chucky - 6/10
The Bridge Curse - 6/10
Cat People (1984) - 6/10
Children of the Corn - 6/10
Coming Home In The Dark - 6/10
From Within - 6/10
The Grudge 2 - 6/10
The Hills Have Eyes (1977) - 6/10
Hollow Man - 6/10
The Houses October Built - 6/10
Lake Mungo - 6/10
Mom and Dad - 6/10
The Neon Demon - 6/10
Poltergeist II: The Other Side - 6/10
Prom Night - 6/10
Ringu - 6/10
Scream Queens: Season 2 (TV Series) - 6/10
Sissy - 6/10
Slumber Party Massacre (1982) - 6/10
The Unborn (2009) - 6/10
As Above So Below - 5.5/10
Escape the Field - 5.5/10
Flatliners (1990) - 5.5/10
The Girl in the Woods (TV Series) - 5.5/10
House on Haunted Hill (1959) - 5.5/10
May - 5.5/10
Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight - 5.5/10
One Missed Call (2004) - 5.5/10
Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin - 5.5/10

Below Average:
American Horror Story: Red Tide (TV Series) - 5/10
Darkness Falls - 5/10
Eraserhead - 5/10
False Positive - 5/10
All Hallow's Eve - 4.5/10
The Gallows: Act II - 4.5/10
Halloween Ends - 4/10
Silent Hill - 4.5/10
Halloween Party - 4/10
The Nun - 4/10
Tell Me How I Die - 4/10
Thinner - 4/10
Behind You - 3.5/10
Dark Glasses - 3.5/10
Grimcutty - 3.5/10
Paranormal Activity (6): Ghost Dimension - 3.5/10
Pulse (2006) - 3.5/10
Coyote Lake - 3/10
Annabelle - 3/10
Held - 3/10
A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge - 3/10
Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Tonight 2 - 3/10
Paranormal Activity 4 - 3/10
Rings - 3/10
V/H/S: Viral - 3/10
We Need To Do Something - 3/10

Trash:
The Dinner Party - 2.5/10
The Gallows - 2.5/10
Prom Night (2008) - 2.5/10
Alien 3 - 2/10
The Bye Bye Man - 2/10
Deadstream - 2/10
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions - 2/10
Hubie Halloween - 2/10
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer - 2/10
A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master - 2/10
The Ring Two - 2/10
Sinister 2 - 2/10
We're All Going to the World's Fair - 2/10
Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story - 1.5/10
American Horror Story: Death Valley (TV Series) - 1.5/10
The Curse of Downer's Grove - 1.5/10
The Final - 1.5/10
The Hole - 1.5/10
The House of the Witch - 1.5/10
The Sandman - 1.5/10
Seed of Chucky - 1.5/10
Slender Man - 1.5/10
Slumber - 1.5/10
Teeth - 1.5/10
Unfriended: Dark Web - 1.5/10
Valentine - 1.5/10
Black Christmas (2006) - 1/10
The Boy - 1/10
Brahms: The Boy II - 1/10
Captivity - 1/10
Deadcon - 1/10
The Doll - 1/10
Aquaslash - 0.5/10
Evil Eye - 1/10
Fantasy Island - 1/10
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer - 1/10
A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child - 1/10
Texas Chainsaw (3D) - 1/10
They/Them - 1/10
Things Heard & Seen - 1/10
The Visit - 1/10
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 - 0.5/10
Disturbing Behavior 0.5/10
Don't Blink - 0.5/10
The Fourth Kind - 0.5/10
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare - 0.5/10
The Houses October Built 2 - 0.5/10
The Lazarus Effect - 0.5/10
Open Graves - 0.5/10
The Other

0. Chucky: Season 2 (TV Series) (Peacock)

So I actually finished this one sooner than I intended. So this gets the 0 spot.

If you remember, I gave Chucky Season 1 a 9/10 last year. My basic summary of it was that it's easily the best Child's Play/Chucky thing that's ever been put out. It was a complete surprise just how good it was, and I highly recommended anyone watch it, because it somehow takes all the lore of the previous movies and then continues it in a satisfying way, and it takes a good mix of the goofy Chucky movies and the serious ones.

That in mind, I'd like to maintain that Chucky Season 2 is actually incredible still. Completely blew away my already high expectations.

In this season, after the carnage of the first season, the survivors all get terrorized by Chucky and end up in a church that acts as a boarding school for at-risk youths. And, of course, Chucky follows them there to enact another plan. A different setting than we had last season, which felt a lot more simple, but it's a setting that is welcome. It keeps everything fresh with a new group of characters.

Devon Sawa returns in this season as the head of the church, and he does a blow away job. And the kids make a new friend in Bella Higginbotham as Nadine. And they really help round out the cast in this season and really manages to help flesh out our main cast, who goes through various personal issues, outside of a killer doll ready to murder them again.

However, this isn't our only major story. Tiffany Valentine, who has possessed Jennifer Tilly, played by Jennifer Tilly, picks up where the last season left her with Fiona Dourif's Nica Pierce and their story. And somehow, someway, they manage to bring back the kid(s) from the ending of Seed of Chucky, a movie so reviled by much of the fanbase, and they manage to do a tremendous job with them. Tiffany's life is breaking apart while she's pretending to be Jennifer Tilly, and this story may feel like a B story a lot of the time, but they dedicate an entire episode to just Tiffany without Chucky and the others involved (mostly).

You can probably tell I have a glowing review of the plot. It all weaves together masterfully with twists and turns and insanity, and it all feels compelling, and you care about these characters, even when a lot of this stuff is frankly crazy.

But even better than all of that? This show is hilarious still. Just funny as hell. And they don't hold back with the gore at all either. Just a bloody, grisly mess that the movies could never do. It's honestly freaking wild to see what they got away with in this TV show. Amusingly, Chucky even mentions at one point that the studio allows them to say "Fuck" 10 times in an episode. They gave them the freedom with this show after the first season and Don Mancini ran away with it and created something even more expansive and crazy.

And I said it last year, but it bears repeating that this show has by far some of the best LGBTQ representation in it. Especially with the inclusion of Lachlan Watson as Glen and Glenda.

So I greatly recommend Chucky. It's absolutely a show worth going out of your way to watch. This next season starts this month, so there's still plenty of time to catch up and follow along! You won't regret it!

Rating: 9.5/10

1. No One Will Save You (Hulu)

So my first official October movie was one I was excited to watch for some time! I held off until this month to watch it because it felt like a perfect one to watch now.

No One Will Save You is very simply a home invasion alien movie that ends up far more expansive than just that. Kaitlyn Dever plays a girl who lost her mother and appears to be completely isolated from the community around her. And one night, an alien breaks into her home, and she must survive this alien, but that's not the only threat.

Brian Duffield is the mastermind behind this movie, and he's done a lot of writing and production for things like The Babysitter, which I love, Underwater, Cocaine Bear, and others, and his first feature film was Spontaneous which I liked well enough. I didn't love it, but I liked it. Fun little movie. But this movie shows precisely what he's capable of, and I'm going to follow anything else he makes now.

There's a sense of overwhelming tension and dread, with some moments of levity tossed in as well. When the movie wants to be terrifying and anxiety-inducing, it is. When the movie wants to tug at your heart strings, well it does that too. It's completely unpredictable and there's a lot of bold decisions made in this that all frankly pay off. Perhaps the biggest one is that there are exactly five words of dialogue in this movie. Something that can really fall flat, but they don't need dialogue to tell their story. Everything we get tells the story precisely how we need it.

More than all of that, it feels like a love letter to all things alien invasion films too. Every trope you can think of? It's here. And it does them all so well. There is some nightmarish imagery in it I don't think I'll forget.

If I had any complaints, it's that I feel like this movie could have done with more practical effects. There's a lot of CGI in it, and it definitely feels every bit the $23 million budget as a result.

I would say that the ending felt satisfying enough, while leaving you thinking a lot about what happened as well. It's clear that this was the end goal, and that the film's title was certainly no mistake.

So yeah, watch No One Will Save You. It's an outstanding film that is incredibly ambitious and it really blows it out of the park.

Rating: 8.5/10

Tag

Definitely hoping to see No One Will Save You soon. Definitely not gonna check out the Chucky series

I must say you have excellent taste in 10/10 movies. So much so that I only didnt know one movie on your whole list and now Ill be watching The Wailing soon. Appreciate the suggestion.

Glad you're going to check out The Wailing! You may have missed it because it's a Korean horror. It's notable for winning many, many awards and having an ending that keeps you more tense and uncertain more than maybe any film I've seen. They build this movie up so well that when you get to the climax, you really don't know how it will end up.

Be warned it's lengthy at 2.5 hours long, but it doesn't feel the length it is. I hope you enjoy it!

Don't sleep on any movies I have at the 9.5-8.5 range too. Those are all movies I think are incredible too!

Like I mentioned in the base horror topic, I recently picked up a Hulu subscription with Disney+ and one of the main factors was the things I was hearing about No One Will Save You. Excited to check it out, probably going to be Monday night.

2. Till Death (Netflix... But it's gone now)

So I squeezed this one in right before it left Netflix the day of. I don't know how you can watch this if you're interested now.

Till Death is a movie starring Megan Fox, of all actresses, is a woman married to her abusive ex-husband. After being taken to a remote vacation home in winter for their annivesary, Megan Fox's character wakes up the next morning handcuffed to her dead husband's body. She must now try to escape, but all of the objects that could help her escape are gone. Things get more complicated when people start arriving to the home as well.

So first, I wanted to do a little research to see just what the hell Megan Fox has been in lately. Because this felt like the only movie I saw her in for the past few years. She's been in a few movies every year since 2019, which uh, was a surprise to me. Her career really went into a nosedive for whatever reason. I have only heard of this one and the new Expendables movie.

Of course, I also know her from the new Mortal Kombat game where she plays Nitara where she was, to put it lightly, criticized for her voice acting work. But I defended her saying that she probably recorded those with one or two takes and had very limited direction to do her lines. And then this movie got a really good review score, so I thought I'd see what Megan Fox could do.

Well let me tell you that Megan Fox is a very disjointed performer. I really found myself surprised a lot of times that her acting was so wooden and that people were praising her acting in this movie. And then I was equally surprised when some other scenes, she had legitimately great performances. Very rarely was it ever somewhere in between.

But enough about Megan Fox. The movie itself has a very good script. It's got some compelling twists in it and creative choices that I legitimately enjoyed. They manage to make a tense film out of these constraints, and the danger present to our protagonist feels very real, and none of this seems contrived. All of it is logical. It's a smart script. I also enjoyed the directing choices as well. I was surprised to see that the director hasn't done a feature film before or after this, but I'll at least check out what he does next.

It suffers a bit in where everything feels good, nothing ever becomes great. I never really felt myself loving any aspect of this movie. If you're looking for an easy movie to watch and the premise interests you, I don't think you'll be disappointed. But I had more to say about Megan Fox than the movie itself, so that should tell you something.

Rating: 6.5/10

v_charon posted...

Like I mentioned in the base horror topic, I recently picked up a Hulu subscription with Disney+ and one of the main factors was the things I was hearing about No One Will Save You. Excited to check it out, probably going to be Monday night.

Hulu is kind of weird where they have so many Hulu Original movies that are very obviously movies that they knew would be panned and bomb at the box office, and then occasional bangers like No One Will Save You. Your mileage may vary, but Hulu overall has a pretty great line up of horror movies this year. Definitely worth the subscription this month.

I remember missing out on Hellraiser and Prey last year.

I didn't get a chance to watch Prey last year, but I'm going to definitely watch it this year. Fortunately you can still watch both on Hulu this year! Hellraiser in particular I loved quite a bit, which was shocking. I expected it to be a crappy reboot that would miss the mark, but now it has me excited for more entries.

I wanted to keep watching the Hellraiser franchise this year, but none of them aside from the first two are ever available. I tried looking it up, but Hellraiser 3 is only available on whatever the hell Philo is.

3. The Possession (Hulu)

I remember seeing this movie on a weekday with my one friend and being the only ones there. It was one of my favorite movie experiences because we could just talk freely during it. I also remember thinking it was aggressively okay.

But before I talk about this movie, I want to talk about what it's based off of, because I think it's an interesting story.

During the promotion for this movie, Jefferey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgwick, the director, and even Sam Raimi talked about how the dybbuk box that the movie is about is terrifying and they read about it and the story of it and they thought it was so terrible. This is a story passed down generations until a man posted the dybbuk box for sale on eBay in 2003, with a malevolent spirit inside it. The people who bought it claimed they had awful things happening to them too and sold it, and so on and so forth. Eventually, the box was given to the guy from Ghost Adventures to put in his haunted museum. The whole movie was based on this real life haunted box.

Well, as of two years ago, the man who made the eBay posting for it says he made the whole thing up and carved in the symbols and everything and was just doing it for fun. So this movie is based on a story and eBay posting that one dude made in probably a few hours time. It was never real. I love that.

But that's enough backstory, let's talk about the movie! It's aggressively okay with hints of something great in there. I think the thing that stood out the most is the rather unimaginative cinematography. Another issue is that there's just long stretches of this film that are just going through the motions until they get to the good parts. Oh, and there's no rhyme or reason from what the malevolent spirit does. It just does some bullshit like sometimes it makes the eyes bleed and throws them out a window. Sometimes it makes someone lose all their teeth. Sometimes it possesses someone and makes them stab themselves. None of it really has rules. Just demon stuff, I guess.

Jefferey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick put on good performances though. But it's just... I don't know, it feels pretty silly most of the time with possessed girl just stuffing nonstop pancakes in her mouth and stabbing her father with a fork and losing her shit over the silly box and smacking herself and accusing her father of beating herself. Like it's just shit happening until they get to the last act of the movie where the actually good stuff is happening.

When the demon is crawling out of mouths, appearing on MRI scans, and other stuff, the movie feels good. The rest of the movie is just killing time until then. I frankly couldn't find it in me to really care about it for the most part. I feel like in the hands of a better director, they may have been able to make the rest of this movie at least feel more scary in the other scenes, but it just wasn't there.

So yeah, I don't like The Possession a decade after not liking it originally.

Rating: 3/10

4. Red Eye (Amazon Prime... for a few more hours)

Another movie I snuck in right before it went off the platform. No idea what this will land on!

Red Eye is a film by the legend Wes Craven where Rachel MacAdams plays an overworked girl boss hotel manager who boards a plane. The man in the seat next to her, played by Cillian Murphy, then threatens to kill her father unless she gets a political figure to change rooms so he can be assassinated.

It's a simple but thrilling premise, and it's executed extremely well, just like most Wes Craven movies. It helps that Rachel MacAdams and Cillian Murphy are both outstanding actors. Cillian Murphy, in particular, is an outstanding villain in this. He's basically a master class on how to be a good villain. Their dynamic that fuels the movie works extremely well.

It's extremely interesting too to watch how MacAdams' character tries to find ways out of her situation. The final act culminates everything rather well, allowing for a thrilling conclusion to end this wild adventure.

This movie is also supported by the minor characters being very entertaining as well. It adds charm to the universe of this movie that I feel wouldn't be as entertaining without them.

Overall, this movie is a simple thrill ride that I don't ultimately have too much to say about. It's great. Go watch it. You won't be disappointed!

Rating: 8/10

5. Pet Semetary (1989) (Max)

I've been trying to watch this one for these past three years, but for whatever reason it just hasn't been on a streaming service. But finally, I get to watch it before the new prequel movie!

A Stephen King classic, and I feel like it still holds up rather well. If you're reading this topic, you probably know the story so I guess I can just spoil the big moment. I had difficulty trying to give a summary of it to my girlfriend who has never seen it before we watched. So if you haven't watched it yet, just ignore the rest of this because it's pretty much impossible to talk about without spoiling it.

But a family moves into a home and when their pet cat dies, the patriarch of the family buries him in a tainted burial ground that brings the cat back, only more malevolent. And when his son dies, he does the same to unfortunate results.

There's a lot to love in this movie. I think it's extremely well-crafted in every way to tug at your heart strings and send chills up your spine all at once. It's a movie that slowly escalates the terror and dread. Ultimately, you don't get to anything truly horrifying until we get to the part where Baby Gage comes back. But the feeling of dread and foreboding when we know precisely what's about to happen is tremendous.

It doesn't happen without a superb script that has us seeing Pascow warning us not to bury anything up in that cursed ground. With the cat coming back. With Jud's story about the only person to ever be buried there. And the constant warnings from Jud to never bury a person there. And then everything culminating to the wife trying to come back and stop it. It's built up so well that when we see baby Gage returning, it's just awful. The constant laughing. The baby talk. It's a terrible, awful thing to imagine.

However, without strong characters, this movie doesn't work either. The Creed family are all strong enough as characters to really become wrapped up in their motivations and their character development. Louis being an everyman really helps to sell the grief he feels, just trying to be a good father and wanting to make things right. Because what would any average person do in this situation? Then you have Jud, who is just such a memorable character. I can never forget his accent. Just a friendly old man, probably a bit bored, wanting to help the family as best he can.

There's a lot to love with Pet Semetary, and I think this review is a bit all over the place, but it's a movie that always feels so memorable to me and just hits all the right spots. I consider it one of Stephen King's best works, easily.

Rating: 9.5/10

The 80's one is a classic despite some of the campy moments; I was very excited for the remake a couple of years ago and it left me feeling disappointed. I think the best thing about the original is that most of the actors just felt better fit for their roles than the newer ones did. John Lithgow is a great actor and everything, but how can you fill the shoes of Fred Gwynne in this role? Hard to accomplish.

We watched No One Can Save You last night. Posted my thoughts in the main horror topic... yeah, I didn't love it unfortunately.

I actually really enjoyed the remake too though! But that's a conversation for later.

Sorry you didn't enjoy No One Can Save You! I can see not enjoying it though.

I am currently watching some junk that came out this year about a children's story turned twisted.

Side note, Peacock has an amazing offering of horror stuff this year. Absolutely worth an investment there. They also have so, so, so much crap on it too. I was amazed by how much stuff they just threw on their platform that was garbage I'd expect on Tubi.

6. Winnie The Pooh: Blood & Honey (Peacock)

This is literally the first thing advertised on the Movies section of Peacock on their banner. lol

Alright, so if you haven't heard, Winnie the Pooh was entered into the public domain very recently. So of course, that means we need to make a horror movie out of these beloved children characters. Thankfully, a brave soul named Rhys Frake-Waterfield decided to make this independent film.

The premise is that Christopher Robin left Winnie and his friends to be an adult, and they all proceeded to cannibalize Eeyore. Now they murder people in the woods and they amp it up when Christopher Robin returns to see his friends.

It's not good. But there's some kind of stupid charm in watching it. Like it's your generic 80's slasher film, but with these two doofy lumberjacks wearing a Winnie and Piglet mask, but like, you know, more twisted and dark. But it's actually meant to be Winnie and Piglet. And you just watch them take it so fucking seriously. They don't take the piss out of it at all. It's played so straight when it's complete nonsense watching it.

The acting is awful, the effects are awful too, particularly with the CGI blood spurts. It's just profoundly bad. Directing-wise it barely passes with some wretched scenes of vomit-inducing motion sickness you get from chase scenes with the shaky cam being juggled around.

And yet I came out enjoying it enough. It's terrible, but in a charming sort of way. A way in which you can tell he believed in this vision much harder than anyone would ever do so, and it's hard to hate him for it. Is this something you might enjoy? Maybe, maybe not. But I didn't feel bored at all during it. They didn't waste our time with a ton of LORE. It's just a ridiculous slasher film that's very bad. So if you like slasher movies, you may end up feeling like you enjoy it.

Oh and I feel the need to say that Winnie the Pooh also has the power to channel BEES to murder his enemies.

It's a hard one to rate. I'll say 3.5/10, but with the caveat that you may be able to find some more enjoyment out of it if stupid schlock is your jam.

Rating: 3.5/10

I love stupid horror movies and even then Blood and Honey was a waste of time

Yeah, I get that. Honestly, I expected much worse and went in with extremely low expectations. I think the main point of praise to this movie is that it could have been so much worse. Which is about the most backhanded compliment you can give it.

With these bad horror movies, when they're this bad, it goes to "Well how boring is it?" A bad horror movie that is boring is unbearable. That's why most of the bad ones are as low as they are is because I was so damn bored watching them. I didn't get bored watching this one, at least.

But hey, the sequel is going to come out with a bigger budget! So we'll get to see if it actually improves or if it was dumb luck they didn't bore the hell out of us.

I think I went into it expecting it to be "so bad it's good," because how could it not be with that subject matter? But it's just so bad it's bad. It's just they just made an unrelated boring, terribly acted horror movie, and then threw some vague animal masks on to bank off the name

I think the issue was that the writers/producers were so afraid of legal issues from Disney that they went out of their way to make sure that no one could get it confused with Disney's HAW that it made it borderline unrecognizable.

7. The Autopsy of Jane Doe (Shudder)

Been a minute since I've seen this one. Happy to revisit it!

The Autopsy of Jane Doe is about a father and son duo working in a morgue when they have a Jane Doe arrive. As they begin their autopsy on her, nothing makes sense about it, and weird things begin happening in the morgue.

So I'm sure some people know Brian Cox, who was also in Red Eye that I reviewed earlier, but he is the lead in this film and rather outstanding throughout it. This movie takes its time to build everything else. Things get gradually more strange and bizarre until it reaches the point where it is way too fucking weird, and then things go absolutely haywire.

It's a film I've always loved in that, on another watch, everything makes sense as it's built up. They try to make sense of a strange cause of death they keep finding. And then when it becomes entirely too weird to look past, they don't waste time. I love how decisive they end up and how, if you were in that situation, you'd probably end up doing the very same things. Stupid decisions aren't made here. It's a father-son duo just trying to survive and knowing when things are getting completely screwed up.

The director, Andre Ovredal, who has went on to direct other movies I really enjoy like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and the recent Last Voyage of the Demeter, really does a great job here. We see each grotesque shot of the autopsy. There's so many good usage of imagery and atmosphere that really drives this film home as a tense and uneasy nightmare that gets progressively worse.

It's a film that feels unlike most other movies I've seen. I've watched other morgue movies, but this one is by far the best of the ones I've watched simply because the act of autopsy and actually breaking down what's going on is far above the surface level other movies go for.

I kinda love this one a lot, and I always recommend giving it a watch if you want a unique experience that patiently takes you through this chilling mystery.

Rating: 8/10

Jane Doe hits one of my absolute favorite patterns in horror that I most commonly attribute to The Descent: ratcheting the tension higher and higher until things feel as bad and fucked up as they can possibly get, only to truly horrify you with the revelation that you're not even halfway through the spectrum of horror it has ready for you. The "shit hits the fan" moment of Jane Doe is so perfect that you can practically feel the story flipping the switch into full-blown nightmare territory.

8. Mimic (Paramount+)

A Guillermo Del Toro special, so you know it's good! It's been forever since I watched Mimic, and I think I may not have actually seen all of it due to syndication. It's one of those where I've probably seen the whole movie, but not actually in one sitting.

Mimic is about a scientist who creates a fancy cockroach in a lab to defeat a roach disease hurting people. Years later, they evolve and become cockroach people that can look like humans.

Like with most Guillermo Del Toro movies, the visuals are top notch. These fucking roach men are awful and horrifying. They somehow make a giant cockroach look sinister and daunting, and I kind of love a lot of the visuals early on with it. The visual where they put together the cockroach's disguise always sticks with me, in particular.

Aside from that, it's basically people vs. cockroach men, and I think the script is tight and keeps on the action and shows off the dread of these creatures that they are not to be messed with, as they murder pretty much everyone effortlessly. It always felt like a simple and easy story to watch play out, with plenty of shocks involved.

Mira Sorvino does a great job as the lead and you really feel her plight. Quality main character. The supporting cast also does a great job too in service of the story.

Overall, I don't know that there's a ton to say about Guillermo Del Toro's first American film. But you can definitely see through the cinematography that he had a vision for this. He has a very special directing style, and one you can tell has only gotten better with time.

Rating: 7.5/10

9. Hell House LLC (Tubi & a bunch of other places)

Alright, there's a new Hell House LLC movie coming out so I figured I should just bang out this trilogy before I watch it. I also watched the Director's Cut because I wanted the full experience I guess.

So Hell House LLC is about a haunted house attraction in a hotel that has something terrible happen one night with over a dozen deaths as a result. And some folks are making a documentary out of it and talking to the lone surviving member of the group who created the attraction.

I mean, what can I say here? You obviously know what you're getting here. A found footage with some talking heads with spooky BS happening every so often with action thrown in. It doesn't ever get particularly scary, honestly.

What praise I can give it is that when they reveal what happens during the accident that night, it's particularly well done and surprising. I do remember precisely what happened, so it must have stuck with me in a good way. I also think that from that point onward, the movie does pretty well wrapping up the film. I actually kind of enjoy the last stretch here, with the little twist they threw in.

The problem is you need to do the found footage movie thing where a very long amount of the movie is spent seeing buddies talking and having personal drama before the shit goes down. Which I'm kind of over with for the most part.

It feels a little bit better than a lot of found footage movies on a shoestring budget like this, but you have to be in the right mood to watch it. I understand this series goes downhill from here, so I don't look forward to the rest.

Rating: 6/10

Hey I just rewatched this one too! With my brother who was watching it for the first time. It's pretty hilarious how the documentary crew chose to prioritize visiting the house at the end rather than watching the FULL LITERAL FOOTAGE OF WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT.

Well, I can at least kind of understand that one!

Sarah told them they should check it out, and one of their team stayed behind to piece together the rest of the footage to see what happened.

Still not a terribly smart decision, but I can understand it if they're trying to get this documentary done ASAP!

I guess it coming from Sarah's suggestion lends it a bit more believability but I just felt like if you were making a documentary about the truth of Hell House you'd want to, like, watch the truth of Hell House actually unfold and it kind of seemed like the house already explored by the detectives / cops so there wasn't too much to glean from the actual site anymore (aside from the basement).

Apparently Winnie the Pooh, but horror is popular right now.

https://twitter.com/IGN/status/1709010627924992261?t=EfvOnBEef2gVOUvzpmYUDQ&s=19

I personally liked the new Hulu original Appendage a whole lot more than No One Will Save You. Not as much hype around it, lesser scores across the board, but I think it's very worth the watch.

That one is on my list! I'll probably watch it here soon-ish! Glad to hear it ended up being pretty good.

10. School Spirits (TV Series) (Paramount+)

So uh, every bit of marketing about this show made it seem a lot more horror than it actually was. I can count on probably one hand the number of actual scenes that were meant to be unsettling or scary. But, there's enough spooky elements here that I'm counting it anyway.

School Spirits is about a girl who dies at her school, and now she's a roaming spirit that walks around with other people who had died on the school grounds. This girl, however, can talk to her best friend, which is unheard of. As a result, she can use him to help find out who her killer is while she tries to cope in purgatory at the school.

Apparently this show was a big hit on Paramount+, and a second season is already confirmed. Which, honestly? That's good. Because I thought as far as teen mystery dramas go, this one was actually good. I found myself legitimately interested in the mystery of who killed our protagonist, Maddie, played by Peyton List. They do the whole afterlife thing rather well. The ghosts don't have abilities, as far as they can tell, but they can manipulate their purgatory plane however they want.

The drama with each of the character is solid too. The real life kids got on my nerves a little bit when they're catty with each other, but for the most part they are all solid. The ghosts are all the vastly more interesting characters though.

Ultimately, the mark of a good show is one where I'm actually feeling a bit excited to watch the next episode. And somehow, this show managed to do it for me. It's not a blow away must-see classic or anything, but it's done legitimately well enough that each episode felt like a significant and interesting one as they narrow the mystery down.

And you know what? It delivers on that mystery. When we're at the last episode, piecing together everything, it's a pretty satisfying set of reveals. Enough that I'm actually very interested in how the show continues from here.

It's not particularly scary for the most part, but it's a good mystery with quality character development, and that's frankly all I need. If this overview interests you, I don't think you'll be disappointed in this show. I'd recommend it.

Rating: 7.5/10

11. Veronica (Netflix)

It's about time that I finally got around to this one. It's somehow one of Netflix's crowning jewels of horror and I really don't get it.

The way this movie was marketed was that there were so many people turning this one off before the end that they claimed people were SO AFRAID that they couldn't keep watching. Which, let's be real with ourselves, that's just BS. People probably dropped off because it takes a while to get going and reading subtitles is hard for the regular Netflix user. This was pretty significant at the time though, because Netflix didn't have a ton of foreign films on their American platform. Now, you can barely sift through anything without finding more foreign films than American ones. So a foreign spooky film was easy to sell when it was unique.

But enough about marketing blah blah. Let's get to the summary. Veronica is about a girl named Veronica who plays with a Ouija Board and then is subsequently haunted her and her siblings.

Simple story, simple premise. The short is that I like it. I don't love it though. I think there's some legitimately good, scary scenes and they found good and creative ways to creep you out or scare you. When the movie is good, I like it a lot. But unfortunately, a lot of this movie has a lot of nothing going on that's rather uninteresting. Seeing Veronica go through the motions to figure this out is fine, but it's a bit derivative.

When we get towards the end of the movie, I think it's pulled off rather well. And I think they manage to deliver a mostly satisfying conclusion. I didn't see it coming, but I thought it was pulled off pretty well in hindsight. So I can't hate it.

Ultimately, I didn't get to the point where I was outright bored. And that alone lets me recommend it if you're looking for something that's a bit slow, but satisfying in the end.

Rating: 6.5/10

12. The Friendship Game (Hulu)

So I mentioned Peyton List was in that School Spirits show, and I saw she was in a horror movie while I perused Hulu. So I figured hey, why not just check this one out because I liked her acting well enough.

I did not care for this film though.

The Friendship Game is about a group of friends that get some weird gimmick object without a name at a flea market and they all have to prove they're great friends by proclaiming their most deepest desires to one another. But after one night, one of their friends disappear.

Yeah, this thing is a complete mess. You know those sort of trippy films that feel like they're being a lot more clever than they are, when they're really just a god damn mess of nonsense that is barely cobbled together by some sort of sci-fi/fantasy element? This is one such movie. Basically, we get into multiversal territory here with a barely cobbled together explanation. It all just left me confused with the more they revealed because it frankly sucked and each reveal was more dumb than the last. And for some reason out of nowhere the one girl is babysitting some hacker child who can see into another home for reasons that aren't explained, and that's where we get most of our explanations and reveals. It's really baffling.

They went for a dark, clever film and it comes across as nothing of the sort. The interpersonal relationships are bad, the plot is bad, the directing is mostly decent to good though. It's just a dumb film that is hard to really find a lot of appreciation in. I don't think anyone would get anything out of watching it.

I wasn't bored but I wasn't entertained and it was very, very stupid.

Rating: 2.5/10

13. At The End Of Eight (Amazon Prime)

So I turned on Amazon Prime and this was the first thing listed under my recommended feed. It had a bunch of awards that I wasn't able to make out and I said eh, screw it. It is an independent movie made by a college kid in Texas that won a bunch of local Texas awards.

So keeping all of that in mind... It's not a great movie. Bad acting, bad choreography, and a simple plot. I feel bad dunking on it too hard because it's a college kid's movie and he found success in it. Which good for him! I'm glad! He's got a bright future, because the cinematography was there, and with more resources and better actors, he has a better movie. Not to mention that the story, for what it is, shows more ambition than I'd expect.

At The End Of Eight is about a competition where if you sneak into someone's home and come out in eight hours, you're given a boat load of money. Simple enough, except the person living there is very dangerous.

So I won't get into everything I mentioned before. I'd like to be a bit more positive about the story, in that the characters are all given backgrounds and you understand their motivations. They might not be the best, and the twists and turns the story goes on are alright. And it's got a short runtime of 77 minutes. I wasn't bored by any means, but it's just not terribly compelling.

If home invasion, but flipped around, is your jam, and you want to support a college kid's movie that made it to Amazon streaming, feel free to check it out. The director, Rankin Dean, has a future with this. I'll check out whatever he manages to do this. But ultimately, it's not a great film.

Rating: 3/10

Also, I'm currently watching Slasher Season 3! I still recommend the series to fans of slasher stories!

Sounds like it was a bit inspired from Don't Breathe perhaps.

I thought I'd share my list of what I'm planning (31 films for the 31 days) to see if there's any overlap beyond Appendage perhaps!

1. No One Will Save You (Hulu)
2. Appendage (Hulu)
3. There's Something Wrong With the Children (Prime)
4. We Have a Ghost (Netflix)
5. Clock (Hulu)
6. The Exorcist: Believer (Theaters)
7. Nightmare (Shudder)
8. When Evil Lurks (Theaters)
9. Huesera: The Bone Woman (Shudder)
10. Bad Things (Shudder)
11. Influencer (Shudder)
12. Unseen (Prime)
13. This Land (Prime+)
14. The Communion Girl (Shudder)
15. Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (Netflix)
16. Quicksand (Shudder)
17. The Tank (Prime+)
18. Jagged Mind (Hulu)
19. Dark Windows (Prime+)
20. Brooklyn 45 (Shudder)
21. The Offering (Hulu)
22. Devilreaux (Prime+)
23. The Unheard (Shudder)
24. Murder, Anyone? (Prime)
25. Elevator Game (Shudder)
26. Slotherhouse (Prime+)
27. Five Nights at Freddy's (Theaters)
28. Blood Flower (Shudder)
29.
30.
31.

The last 3 are blank for now because there are 3 limited releases in theaters I can see for this month other than the 3 I know we'll be able to watch. If we don't even up getting to see those 3 (Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, Soul Mates, Malibu Horror Story) I'll probably fill the list with a few more things I'll have to pay Amazon extra to see. I really want to add Organ Trail to this list but I do not want to have to subscribe to Paramount to do it. These films are all 2023 releases, for the record (or at least that is their Western release date in a few cases).

14. Silence of the Lambs (Max)

Ayyy we got a classic that I haven't seen in ages.

Silence of the Lambs is about an FBI trainee that is tasked to get information out of famous serial killer Hannibal the Cannibal to help with an investigation against another serial killer Buffalo Bill before he can take another life.

It's a fascinating film that is brilliant in every aspect. It has so many different winding plots that all weave in one another in such an interesting way. And probably most interesting is how they just show all of this grotesque sociopathy between these various serial killers and maniacs without holding back.

The investigation of it all with glimpses at Buffalo Bill is so well done that every breakthrough hits rather well. And the Buffalo Bill scenes themselves are all so enthralling and different and show another insane aspect of his personality. I'm not touching the specifics of him in Present Day though.

And of course Hannibal Lector is probably the most interesting part, where he's so cold and unnerving at all times. That he's always thinking, always working to get exactly what he wants. You hang on Anthony Hopkins' every word and it's such an incredible performance. My favorite part of this movie is that we hear him talk a big game and everyone discusses how dangerous and unrelenting he is, and then when we see him completely unleashed, it delivers entirely.

Jodie Foster is just great to watch as Clarice. You see every bit of her being an FBI trainee just as much as you see her being bold and getting the job done. You see her vulnerability as much as you see her strength. And there's so many little scenes that really just help poke into this character who frankly feels as interesting as Hannibal Lector does. I always wished we got to see more of her aside from the sequel. Wtf do you mean there was a TV show all about her?

Overall, it's a classic for a reason. A twisted story that manages to be an enthralling thriller, where every scene feels like a brand new and interesting chapter that develops any one of our main characters here, and that's where I find it the best of anything else.

Rating: 9.5/10

@v_charon

I like your list a lot! It's looking like you have mostly stuff from this year selected for it. I've had my eyes on a lot of them, so we'll have to compare notes.

15. The People Under the Stairs (Peacock)

So I decided to check out some of Wes Craven's less prolific films, and The People Under the Stairs was on top of the list. I heard it was underrated and I figured hey, why not check it out. I don't think I liked it all that much though.

The People Under the Stairs is about a boy, Fool, who breaks in with two robbers to steal from a rich couple that hides a dark secret in their basement. Fool must then escape from the couple, who seems far more deranged than expected.

I'll start out by saying I like some of the themes in the movie. It sheds a light on gentrification, capitalism tearing apart city life for those trying to get by, among other things. That's all very good and I liked it.

However, the movie eventually just ends up being two kids trying to escape a comically cartoonist Reagan-era couple. Which is a shame because when it's the kid and the other robber played by Ving Rhames, it's actually very solid. I enjoyed that movie the most when they were being methodical and ribbing each other. That part of the movie was great. But when it's two kids doing childish humor and slapstick? That's where it loses me.

The over the top performances by Everett McGill and Wendy Robie carry the film, but it all feels like it's way too much. I feel like they went too far and that they just ended up seeming far more goofy than menacing as time went on.

It feels like a movie that doesn't age well in terms of comedy, which is fine. But I don't know that it's a strong movie otherwise. I just couldn't find myself interested when it was about the two kids instead of the far more compelling dynamic between Fool and the Ving Rhames character.

So overall, I'm disappointed. It's not a terrible movie by any means, and Wes Craven is always going to have great directing, but I just don't think this movie lands anymore.

Rating: 5/10

16. Beneath (Paramount+)

So I have seen this movie floating on different platforms and for whatever reason I was always interested in checking it out. It's an MTV Original Movie, and I've always been curious what a horror version of one of those looks like.

And let me tell you, this is equal parts the funniest fucking movie and also the most awful and boring one.

Beneath is about a girl who gets into a car accident with her sister, who proceeds to get horribly disfigured and goes up in flames. She survives, but eventually dies. The girl has visions of her sister though, swearing that she was buried alive, among other things that make her death suspicious.

The whole opening montage of this movie is so fucking funny. Just a bunch of random shots of nonsense. The whole scene with the car exploding. The way I laughed at how awful it was. Just made my whole fucking day. I'm smiling writing this out thinking about it again.

But then the movie actually starts and it's a boring slog with horrible acting, corny directing choices, a bad mystery, and it feels like they make progress but nothing is going on because it's just a mess of convenient visions and stuff and it's all so contrived. Like it's bad. And I could not care less about what actually happened. And all of the visions are so annoyingly cut into the movie. I can't explain why they're so annoying, but they just are and I wish they would have just stopped or did them better. And good lord the editing is so bad. Just an awful movie from a technical standpoint too.

At least until the ending. I was so checked out because everything about the movie sucked and I didn't even try to put together any clues. Which is fine because it all comes out of nowhere. The big twist is that after digging up her sister's grave and finding her, it turns out it wasn't her, but her live-in nurse that her sister's husband was cheating on her with that she murdered, her husband set her on fire and claimed she was dead and deformed too, and they kept the sister in the cellar.

And then this melted monstrosity of a person is chasing our protagonist around making these ridiculous hissing/gagging noises that sound so god damn corny. And then she almost drowns but sees her old necklace on the protagonist and stops murdering her. And just as they have a touching reunion, the monster sister's daughter comes out of literal nowhere and stabs her. And that's the end.

One other good part is where the sister is sitting there and the husband's cop friend comes up and is like "Hey guess what? I heard that your ex-wife's sister is here after she FRIED HER!" And then they have to awkwardly tell him that she's sitting right there. Incredible stuff.

Such a profoundly awful film. If it was goofy dumb bullshit like the beginning and end, it would be a far better watch, but you can tell they wanted this to be a very serious piece of cinema. I'm glad I found some enjoyment out of it, no matter how god damn bad it was. It's trash, but it made me laugh quite a bit so I have to give it a 2/10. A literal bookend of hilarity. One point each for two hilarious parts and absolute terrible boredom in between.

If you have an opportunity to only watch the opening montage, I say do it. Unfortunately I can't find a clip of it. I tried to look though for you guys!

Rating: 2/10

Just finished the first episode of Chucky Season 3! Basically a set up episode, but it was pretty great. Can't wait to see what insanity when the White House gets Chucked Up.

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

@v_charon

I like your list a lot! It's looking like you have mostly stuff from this year selected for it. I've had my eyes on a lot of them, so we'll have to compare notes.

Yeah, it should be all stuff from this year. Trying to kill two birds with one stone; can do a little event for October while pushing myself to catch up on 2023 backlog. I doubt watching "every" horror movie of the year is really possible, but going to see how many I can actually get down will still be fun.

I am now watching a CLASSIC from last year based on our favorite October retail store.

17. Spirit Halloween (Shudder)

I did it. I watched the movie that takes place in a literal Spirit Halloween.

Spirit Halloween is about a group of kids who decide to spend the night in a Spirit Halloween, but there's a spirit who is trying to escape through one of their bodies that keeps taking over all the spooky stuff inside.

So the first thing that amused me was that the whole thing is very obviously a former Toys R Us. It looked identical to it on the outside aside from the giant Spirit Halloween banner.

But into the movie proper, this felt a lot like one of those 90's kids movies where they're up to shenanigans as children. They hit all the classics like one kid wants to grow up, one kid wants everything to stay the same, the one kid has a crush on a GIRL, another kid is comic relief trying to keep everyone together. You know, the normal stuff you'd expect. It was an easy watch because of that.

But the movie opens up with the guy who gets turned into the Spirit of Spirit Halloween, played by Christopher Lloyd of all people, who is taking over different buildings that can no longer pay their rent, and I had to think that wasn't a coincidence because it was very amusing. Christopher Lloyd also does the voice acting for the different spooky creatures that are actually kind of clever honestly. I'll give Christopher Lloyd this: he's very old but he still puts a ton of life into his performances, even if it's freaking Spirit Halloween.

Oh, and Rachel Leigh Cook was a parent in this movie, who you might know as Tifa Lockhart. Very cool.

So it's not a good movie. Poorly directed. Barebones plot. Just has the novelty of being in a Spirit Halloween. But I didn't really find myself hating it. I kinda liked the little weird gimmicks and creatures they chose to go with. But it's like... there's nothing here, even as a kid's movie. I can see myself liking it more as a kid, and I think a kid sees this on syndication and enjoys it. But it's got all the depth you probably expected.

Bad kid's movie. But still pretty enjoyable.

Rating: 4.5/10

18. Requiem for a Scream (Tubi)

So while I browsed Tubi for another movie to watch, the first option was a Tubi Original Movie. I've seen a few of them in the feed before, but I've always wondered just what quality is a Tubi Original Movie. So I decided to end my night by seeing precisely what one looks like.

Requiem for a Scream is about some fella in a mask making music by forcing his victims to scream on a certain key. When a budding singer goes to the cabin with her friends, the masked fella terrorizes them as he picks his new performer.

This stars a girl who was in about half of the Sharknado movies, so you know we have star power here. This movie is just created from a concept of a guy making screaming music, and then tacking on a girl as a singer that doesn't want to sing anymore, and her father trying to force her to.

That said, this movie is NOT good. It's your generic slasher cabin movie for the vast majority of it and the music part just bookends the film. The friends all suck and are just lame losers who argue with each other the whole time. The killer is mildly entertaining as he terrorizes them. And... this is just an empty film, really.

Since not a single soul here is going to seek out Tubi Original Movie Requiem for a Scream, I'll spoil a bit. One part that just baffled me was when the victims lie about calling the police, but he calls them out for not actually calling the police, because he had already cut the line or something to prevent it. But then when a police officer arrives, it's really him (for reasons???) and he claims they called him. And that's how they know it's not him. Why is this the killer's excuse? Why pretend to be a police officer? For what reason?

And then there's this one girl who is the certified bitch of the group. You know the one. And everyone slowly turns on her because she's terrible and keeps wanting to ditch everyone. And during one of the last fights she fucking BAILS and escapes and leaves everyone else to die or be kidnapped. And that's it. We never see her again. There's no conclusion to that except this terrible person just runs away to safety, and they move on.

So it's a unique little idea, I guess. A new idea for a killer that is sort of clever. But that doesn't really carry a movie. I didn't care about the film. It wasn't good. Tubi Original Movies are, as you might expect, not very quality films. Mystery solved. I don't plan on watching another one.

Rating: 2/10

I have a few Tubi horrors on my list, but I'm rather doubtful I'll get to them. Pretty low on the totem pole in terms of importance.

19. The Boogeyman (Hulu)

We got ourselves another Stephen King film that came out in theaters this year and got crushed by Spider-Verse and Little Mermaid. I already watched it, but I decided to watch it again because I really enjoyed it!

The Boogeyman is about a family that begins to be haunted by a creature that lives in the dark and wants to straight murder them.

I had low expectations going in first time I watched this, but it blew all of them away. This is by the same director who did two movies I love, Host and Dashcam, and he was trusted to go outside the found footage genre to try bringing this chilling film to life. And the directing and visuals here are completely outstanding too, so I will follow Rob Savage to all of his new films.

In short, they Boogeyman itself is absolutely horrifying. Just incredible work bringing him to life and keeping him in the shadows, only allowing a glimpse at it for a while. The way it stays in the shadows until it's finally revealed as a demented, awful creature that I frankly don't want to describe too much because it's worth seeing for yourself.

The set pieces in this movie stand out so much too. Somehow in this movie, they have these just haunting areas that are corrupted by the Boogeyman that really pop and stand out. I think they're frankly just stunning.

And I think there's a decent enough of a story here. The family is grieving the lost mother in their own ways. This is reflected in their ability to believe and fight back against the Boogeyman as well. The father refusing to acknowledge or talk about the issue and just treat it like it's a psychological issue that needs dealt with. The protagonist daughter just desperate for someone to hear her about it or acknowledge her suffering while they all just try to move on past her. It:s great.

Chris Messina is the patriarch of the family and does a great job, and Sophie Thatcher does a great job as the suffering teenager. They both really sell the drama of it, and I think Thatcher has a real future, especially if you've seen her work in Yellowjackets.

So yeah, if you haven't seen Boogeyman, I highly recommend it. It's definitely a film I can see myself going back to every once in a while. If you want a visually outstanding horror film, this is definitely one to check out!

Rating: 8.5/10

It looks like Totally Killer is getting great reviews! Very excited to see it!