Board 8 > I'm going to watch a Horror Movie every day in October

(+) Yeah! (+)

Movie #11, Poltergeist. Bizarrely I'd never watched this all the way through. It's definitely good, if 80s as fuck

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Alright, I'mma cheat a bit later and use Haunting of Bly Manor as Day 10 since I did technically watch (part) of it then, and then yesterday I also watched Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension to finish the Paranormal Activity series.

Write ups tonight!

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DAY 10: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV Series)
On Netflix

So I absolutely love The Haunting of Hill House (I'll probably make a small blurb about that later!) and was extremely excited for this follow-up series. There are strong horror elements in this, but it is absolutely a gothic romance, and it's an amazing one at that.

The Haunting of Bly Manor follows an American girl in the 80's moving to Britain to be a caretaker for a pair of kids in a creepy mansion. The kids act strangely, there are strange occurrences in the house, and it all seems decidedly random.

Nothing is random. Because this show is crafted so meticulously that each question you have will be answered by the end. It crams so many amazing details into this series and while it doesn't hit it's stride until episode 5, when episode 5 is done, it's a deluge of following through on every single thing they set up in the first four episodes, and it does it masterfully.

You shouldn't go in expecting a ton of scares. When they do scares, they do them effectively. When they want you to be unnerved, it does it effectively as well. But this is where you need to understand it's different from Hill House. The Haunting of Hill House is a story about coping with death, and moving on. Bly Manor is about acceptance of death.

It's a poignant look at just... acceptance. Death is inevitable. Death isn't fair. But death doesn't mean you need to give up. It's about embracing the beauty in life, and what you had, and not taking any of it for granted. In ways, it overlaps with those themes from Hill House, but it makes something stunning by weaving together each character's point of view of death. When Bly Manor is at its best, it creates something beautiful.

I don't want to get into it too much, but I could talk about it for hours. The Haunting of Bly Manor is a wonderful gothic romance with scares peppered in. Just watch it. It's better than anything American Horror Story craps out on a yearly basis.

Rating: 9.5/10

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DAY 11: Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension
On Amazon ($4 rental)

This movie has nothing to do with ghosts or dimensions.

With that out of the way, let's talk about the last entry in the Paranormal Activity franchise!

A new family moves into a home and then creepy stuff happens, but this time they have a fancy paranormal-seeing camera so we can see the demon and then the little girl is acting weird.

Yeah, this movie kind of sucks. So like... take Paranormal Activity, but then reveal what the demon looks like, and then it's a super generic demon when you see it, and before that it's just demonic poo gas. I mean, I guess it adds a little bit more when you can actively see what the demon is doing? I guess? But it defeats the whole purpose of the franchise because then it's like every horror movie ever, you know?

The story is extremely convoluted and they had to throw so many parts into this to try and get the conclusion and wrap up everything they could. It has like nothing to do with the movie before this at all. Like it's pretty stupid when you see what they want to convince you is going on. But they go into full on stupid horror at the end at least, and it almost seemed like a comedy horror before the last scene.

If we're operating under 2 and 4 being the worst, and 4 is better because the characters don't suck, let's say the characters are just as good as 4. And then you do end up with them trying something new and the plot, as stupid as it is, being slightly better. So we're looking at this being slightly better than 4. Let me give my full Paranormal Activity rating:

3 > 1 > 5 >>> 6 > 4 > 2

So... yeah. I can say I've seen the whole franchise now. It's... you know, it's there. It would've been a lot better if they had a more concise and less convoluted story, or they leaned into 5 where they looked at other paranormal stuff other than invisible spooky demon. But the franchise is really lacking.

For real though, there are no fucking ghosts in this movie. And there's no dimensions. Just time travel which I guess almost works.

Rating: 3.5/10

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See you guys for another one tonight!

Ratings for First 11 Days!:
The Haunting of Bly Manor - 9.5/10
Hellraiser - 9/10
The Mimic - 8.5/10
The Beach House - 8/10
The Room - 8/10
He's Out There - 7.5/10
Paranormal Activity (5): The Marked Ones - 7.5/10
Devil's Gate - 7/10
Knock Knock - 7/10
Mama - 7/10
The Ruins - 6.5/10
The Neon Demon - 6/10
As Above So Below - 5.5/10
Behind You - 3.5/10
Paranormal Activity (6): Ghost Dimension - 3.5/10
Coyote Lake - 3/10
Paranormal Activity 4 - 3/10
Deacon - 1/10
When a Stranger Calls (2006) - 0.5/10

Recommend:
CAM
Hereditary
I See You
The Lodge
The Wretched

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Movie #12, Silent Hill. This is actually really good. Definitely in my top three videogame movies (not that that's a high bar)

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I actually dislike the Silent Hill movie. Lol I think it's kind of a mess and when I saw it in theaters my buddy who wasn't into Silent Hill at all was ready to walk out.

But I'm doing a bunch of chores so I'm going with an easy watch today. Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

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DAY 12: Killer Klowns from Outer Space
On Netflix

Killer Klowns from Outer Space is about killer klowns that come from outer space that harvest people in cotton candy to consume them.

You don't need to know anything else. Just watch it. It's so much dumb, campy 80's fun. You just have alien clowns running around with funny clown and alien jokes. They're hideous rubber suited monstrosities that look more like puppets, but they're just so comical looking.

The acting is terrible, but who gives a fuck. It's Killer Klowns from Outer Space. They knew they were giving you a campy movie.

It's been way too long since I've last watched this movie. I'm just typing to fill in space at this point.

Watch Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

Rating: 8/10

Enjoy the theme song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMP42SoWajQ

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There was supposed to be a sequel to that very recently, but it was shot down during the Disney buyout of Fox

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Disney continues to be evil.

Anyway, I am now watching the Child's Play remake.

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Oooh, can't wait for this write up.

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DAY 13: Child's Play (2019)
On Hulu

So let's get this out of the way first: I miss the old Child's Play. I prefer the actual horror ones to the comedy ones, even if the comedy ones are good in their own right. But you know what? This was actually really good I thought.

The Child's Play remake is about all of the safety features (like VIOLENCE feature which how is that even a thing lol) are removed by a renegade programmer and then a kid named Andy ends up with it since it was busted AF. Soon, it begins to learn how to be more violent.

I'm just going to outright say that I wish this was it's own brand new franchise. This didn't need to be Chucky. It's a good enough of a movie that this didn't need to be hooked onto another franchise, and it could have very well kickstarted its own new franchise in itself, since I understand the Chucky movies are all doing rather well now before this.

The strength of this movie is the slow progression and danger of technology. Yeah, if we get an AI this advanced all it takes is a slight switch off of one of the 'features' and you got a murder toy. Sure, it's way more advanced than anyone would guess, but I found myself enjoying watching Chucky get more and more violent as the movie went on. It made it more satisfying when it did end up going on a rampage. Everything wove together pretty well plot-wise that nothing felt particularly wasted. Because of this, I think it did a great job making the murder doll actually scary. Mark Hamill, obviously, tears up this role like he does everything else. He just does such a great job with knowing exactly how to sound so eerily menacing with simple lines.

Everyone else does a good job in this movie too. Literally everyone, even the kids. They were believable in this situation and I really liked what they did with each character.

It's not a movie that really changes everything in the genre. Sure, we've had plenty of movies about rogue AI, but this movie manages to be a fresh take on this concept. I found myself enjoying it quite a bit.

I guess I don't really have a tremendous amount of complaints. I do think there was something special about the idea of a serial killer in a kid's toy, but I don't know that I would've liked a remake of that. I think we honestly may have ended up with a worse movie than this. Chucky is known far more nowadays for being comical, and it feels almost wrong to pull back on that now since people like it a lot and make it a serious serial killer in a doll movie again.

I guess I'm conflicted on whether or not I like the franchise becoming this. I'd definitely like to see a sequel to this--I think it did a great job. I don't know if I'd want to see a modern take on the original Child's Play movies though. But hey. We got a really good movie out of this. And the credits song is probably the best credits music I've ever heard, start to end.

I recommend this movie though. I think it's very good for what it is, even if it might not be what you wanted.

Rating: 7.5/10

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Aww yeah, glad you liked it! I went in not knowing about the new angle and I found it feeling super refreshing, even though as you said we've seen plenty of rogue AI films before.

Some of the IoT related deaths felt so darn clever to the point that the movie feels maybe even a bit ahead of its time, since fears over this sort of stuff will be way more prevalent probably less than a decade from now.

Also yeah Mark Hamill was godly here but that's to be expected.

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Movie #13, Return to Horror High. What a strange, strange movie this was, lol. A few people film a slasher movie on the site of a murder that happened a decade ago. Except then a real killer turns up to start knocking off the cast. Except maybe that's also part of the movie they're making. Except when it isn't. It felt like a proto-Scream with how self aware everything is

Also George Clooney is in this, looking like 18 years old

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I'm about to watch some shit. We're going into fear dot com boys and girl.

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oh no that movie's so bad

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DAY 13.1: fear dot com
On Amazon Prime

Holy fucking shit this movie is so much worse than I even imagined.

People investigate an website that gives internet ghosts to people and they die in 48 hours to their greatest fear.

Literal website ghosts. Who the fuck wrote this and thought it was a good idea? I have never been so checked out of a movie. Like this is dreadful. I'd watch 100 movies about overacting children going "WOAH THE INTERNET IS GUNNA GET US" before I watch this movie another time.

I get this movie was in 2002 to show us the evils of the internet, but the entire thing was absurd. The website itself looked legitimately like a flash game on Newgrounds with photorealistic gore and stuff. It's just a bunch of sadomasochistic weirdness. Nothing about this movie is satisfying or enjoyable. The mystery of it is so who gives a shit. The acting is atrocious.

Website ghosts. Even though When a Stranger Calls is dreadfully boring with bad acting and nothing going on, at least the visuals were moderately appealing, and at least when something does happen it's not completely terrible. Everything with fear dot com is terrible. There is nothing redeeming. Nothing even passes the threshold of "not awful". This movie is so unsatisfying and it's stunning this actually made it to theaters.

Rating: 0/10

It's that bad. I'd rather watching DEADCON over this.

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I hope to clean the bad taste out of my mouth by watching Scanners.

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DAY 13.2: Scanners
On HBO Max

You know that picture of the head exploding? Yeah, that's from this movie.

I don't know what I expected from this movie, but I liked it.

Scanners is in a world with people with psychic abilities wherein a private military group has been rounding up all the Scanners to do psychic things. But there's betrayal, and subterfuge, and people trying to end them!

So I don't know if this is really a horror movie. It was under the horror category, but it felt like a sci-fi spy film in ways. But then I thought about it more and when they use their abilities, that shit does get scary. So yeah. It's got horror elements in it I guess.

Jumping off that, the effects in this movie are impressive for their time and they still honestly work today. Exploding heads, bulging skulls, people on fire, explosions galore. This movie really does a good job with making these abilities are horrifying as possible.

As for the plot, yeah. I lulled out of it at times, but I almost directly after that got sucked right back in. It has an interesting plot that sometimes spins in circles, but when I liked it, I really liked it.

I do think the strength comes from when they are using all of their abilities and the action. It's pretty clear the rest is just a picture frame to show this sort of stuff off. The climax of the film, even, is pretty unnerving.

I say if you're looking for a sort of sci-fi spy thriller with some truly terrifying effects, check it out.

Rating: 6.5/10

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I thought Child's Play remake was terrible.

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I am now watching Haunt.

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DAY 14: Haunt
On Shudder

Haunt is about a group of friends going into the scariest haunted house attraction in the area. They sign waivers and then they go inside and--surprise! The haunted house has deadly traps and people who want to kill them.

Super generic, right? I've been ambivalent on some of these haunted house movies. There was the one that came out in theaters called Hell Fest that I thought was "okay" (except for a surprisingly amazing stinger at the very end) but this one was actually better. It had clever traps made and actually gave you a better sense of dread for the most part.

The characters don't completely suck, but where this is an improvement: they actually make villains out of the people working there. Like, they actively give you a reason to be invested in the villains in this movie and give them a twisted personality and distinct look so you actually have investment in them. I was rooting for the kids in this movie, which I'm usually who cares, simply because the villains were just distinct enough from each other and evil. That's really all it takes.

Plenty of scares, they actually try to give a little bit of development for the characters involved, and good villains. Yup, that's all I can ask for in this kind of movie.

Shudder still hasn't missed for me yet on their original movies! I can't encourage people check it out enough if you like horror!

Rating: 7/10

Also check out this awesome cover of Dragula by Rob Zombie they featured in the credits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbUVVxoCkBE

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Movie #14, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. A+ movie, would recommend to everyone

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I am now watching The Nun, so I can officially say I've watched the entirety of The Conjuring Cinematic Universe.

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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

I am now watching The Nun, so I can officially say I've watched the entirety of The Conjuring Cinematic Universe.

Including La Llorona?

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I saw La Llorona on a flight almost exactly one year ago from today. Lol

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DAY 14.1: The Nun
On TNT

So I mean, not all of the Conjuring spinoff movies have been bad. Just, you know, most of them. Like The Nun. The Nun is bad.

A nun kills herself when a demonic nun comes at her and then a priest, a nun, and a local to solve this mystery of The Nun and its horrible demonic curse.

The guy who did The Hallow directed this. Watch The Hallow instead of The Nun. It's a much better movie, and it's honestly surprising that this is what we get out of his efforts. A truly unique and gripping film in The Hallow, and then he has to make this utterly mainstream horror film.

And mainstream horror, I'm talking a film in which they just fill it with jump scares, a bland story, and then toss in a few scares specific to the story/monster. This movie did absolutely nothing for me. I felt absolutely nothing watching this film. I wasn't exactly bored, but I wasn't really entertained by most of it.

The only saving grace is that Corin Hardy is a good director, and this movie has very nice cinematic shots. But that's it. He didn't write this movie. He just directed it. But he did the best he could with the plot being what it was. I don't recommend this film unless you're trying to round off your Conjuring Cinematic Universe viewership.

As for me, I finally watched all of them.

Conjuring 1 > Conjuring 2 >>> Annabelle 2 > Annabelle 3 > Annabelle 1 > The Nun >= La Llorona

Rating: 4/10

So how many of the Conjuring Cinematic Universe movies have you guys watched?

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All of 'em, and the ranking is about the same, though I liked C2 better than 1.

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I need to promise myself I'm going back to good movies tomorrow. But tonight I watch The Gallows because it's a film I was interested in seeing, knew it got bad reviews, but I want to know what it's about.

Edit: I regret everything 6 minutes in.

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DAY 14.2: The Gallows
On AMC

God damnit. This is another found footage horror movie.

When doing a play 20 years ago, one kid accidentally gets hung at the gallows for real instead of play. In the present, they decide to do the play again in commemoration of the kid who died and a few kids sneak in at night to wreck the set so one of them doesn't have to perform. But when they do spooky stuff happens.

This movie takes 50 fucking minutes before anything interesting happens. I shit you not. The rest of it is just teasing weird stuff is happening.

But let's take it back a bit. This movie opens up with a decent IDEA. A bunch of kids preparing for the play. I thought this might just be a group of kids preparing for it late and then they get stuck. No, instead we go to four specific kids and they all go in there to wreck the place so one of them doesn't have to perform...? And then NOTHING happens forever?

Before it got to them sneaking into the school, it was obnoxious high school stuff, but I thought maybe it would have promise. But then... nothing. Like it gets to the point that nothing really makes a lot of sense when you get to the end of the movie. If they had more characters, it would have given us a chance to turn some of them into fodder and just kill them off and also give other characters some kind of character development or just give a little more life into this movie. But instead it's just 50 minutes of nothing. It's just the spooky ghost doing mild spooky ghost things. That's really it. Until the ghost decides to be violent.

HOWEVER, I have to give the movie props in a few spots. There are some good ideas here. Some of the scares were actually extremely clever. It's clear they had these really good ideas in mind before they made this movie and said "Ah shit, we actually need to make this like 80 minutes (82, actually, with credits)." It's just... man. There's a way to do this movie, even with found footage, and make it something good. There's a way to do it, but this isn't it. Because there are moments of greatness here.

Hell, even the twist at the end is actually really well done! Even if the last bit was a bit, uh, weird. But here's the deal: this movie apparently costed $100,000 to make. They were clearly seeing how much they could get out of so little. So that's why we don't have good ideas that can work. We get... The Gallows and spooky executioner noose man. By the way, why is he a generic executioner looking dude? The kid wasn't an executioner in the play and I don't think anyone in the play dressed up as one either.

The Gallows is an idea that can work. But you got to give people something before 50 minutes into a movie. I don't get what it is with some of these found footage flicks where they just don't do anything for long periods of time and think the payoff at the end is worth it. No, it wasn't worth it. Even all the actually good stuff wasn't worth it!

I do not recommend The Gallows.

Rating: 2.5/10

I'll end up watching The Gallows: Act II at some point later in the month. Just because I want to see how it becomes somehow worse.

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I liked The Nun somewhat. The story isn't great but visuallly it's pretty frightening.

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Recommend: Slasher (TV Series)
On Netflix

So hey guys, Slasher is actually a really good horror show. It's an anthology series on Netflix that takes on a new serial killer in a new setting. The effects aren't incredibly high budget, but it's usually got entertaining enough of stories to make up for it. I always find myself really enjoying each season of it. It's basically B-movie schlock, but it knows what it is. You never know what is going to happen and it's mostly carried by its plot.

I recommend it if anyone is looking for a fun little show to enjoy! My ranking of the seasons is 2 > 1 > 3, but they're all pretty quality. Check it out!

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I am now watching The House of the Witch.

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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

DAY 10: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV Series)
On Netflix

So I absolutely love The Haunting of Hill House (I'll probably make a small blurb about that later!) and was extremely excited for this follow-up series. There are strong horror elements in this, but it is absolutely a gothic romance, and it's an amazing one at that.

The Haunting of Bly Manor follows an American girl in the 80's moving to Britain to be a caretaker for a pair of kids in a creepy mansion. The kids act strangely, there are strange occurrences in the house, and it all seems decidedly random.

Nothing is random. Because this show is crafted so meticulously that each question you have will be answered by the end. It crams so many amazing details into this series and while it doesn't hit it's stride until episode 5, when episode 5 is done, it's a deluge of following through on every single thing they set up in the first four episodes, and it does it masterfully.

You shouldn't go in expecting a ton of scares. When they do scares, they do them effectively. When they want you to be unnerved, it does it effectively as well. But this is where you need to understand it's different from Hill House. The Haunting of Hill House is a story about coping with death, and moving on. Bly Manor is about acceptance of death.

It's a poignant look at just... acceptance. Death is inevitable. Death isn't fair. But death doesn't mean you need to give up. It's about embracing the beauty in life, and what you had, and not taking any of it for granted. In ways, it overlaps with those themes from Hill House, but it makes something stunning by weaving together each character's point of view of death. When Bly Manor is at its best, it creates something beautiful.

I don't want to get into it too much, but I could talk about it for hours. The Haunting of Bly Manor is a wonderful gothic romance with scares peppered in. Just watch it. It's better than anything American Horror Story craps out on a yearly basis.

Rating: 9.5/10

Definitely wasn't as high on Bly Manor as you were.

It is also based on a book.

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DAY 15: The House of the Witch
On Netflix

So I said "I want to have tomorrow with good movies" and I meant it. But I watch stuff that may or may not be good but it looks like I don't need to pay a ton of attention to during the day. I usually watch stuff while I work from home now. Multitasking. Good stuff. The House of the Witch was perfect for this.

This movie is about a bunch of college kids going to their local witch's home. Then a bunch of random and bad stuff happens to them in increasingly more deadly ways such as curses and stuff.

The highlight of this movie was the beginning where local shit teenager with a black t-shirt and white lettering saying "whatever." on it goes to the house to bust it up and is promptly murdered by the witch.

From there, it's downhill. It's just a generic 'locked in a haunted/demonic house' movie. I just don't get why this was even made. It brought nothing new to the table and didn't really do anything particularly good. It's a bland, forgettable movie that lost my attention at record pace, because nothing that happens is particularly interesting aside from gruesome stuff that happens to the college folks.

That's really all there is to it.

Rating: 1.5/10

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DAY 15.1: Lore (TV Series)
On Amazon Prime

While I've also been watching movies, I've been watching some TV shows too. I decided to finish up Lore on Amazon Prime during my work days.

Lore is a series of individual real-life horror stories.

That's really all it is, and that's all it needs to be. It has two seasons and I'd probably say it's a mixed bag. Some episodes is great, some are not so great. I don't have a whole lot to say about it really, except that overall it's actually really interesting to see re-tellings of horrible events and people. A nice history lesson.

It's got two seasons, and I believe it was cancelled, so don't expect more. But if this sort of almost documentary re-enactment style interests you, I recommend you check it out.

Rating: 6.5/10

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Lore was great, wished they were doing more seasons. At least there's still the podcast.

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Yeah, I enjoyed most of the episodes, honestly. I really just liked learning about real life horror BS. It's a shame it's done.

But hey! I am now watching the original My Bloody Valentine.

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DAY 15.2: My Bloody Valentine (1981)
On Hulu

We got ourselves an 80's slasher here!

My Bloody Valentine is about a horrible serial killer who was also a miner that went on a rampage, killing people on Valentine's Day. Now, many years later, the serial killer is back and killing everyone on Valentine's Day all over again!

I mean, it's a standard slasher, but it's pretty enjoyable. See, we get a guy in a miner's outfit with a pickaxe. That's actually unique and cool, frankly. Big ups for the design. The killer is imposing, no nonsense, and just dead ass murders everyone in creative ways.

The plot itself is actually pretty good too. I actually quite enjoyed it. Plenty of twists and turns, even if it mostly follows a slasher formula. The location of a little mining town is fun and interesting and I also need to give it credit for that. There were good ideas behind this.

Overall, My Bloody Valentine is actually a really good movie. If you like slashers, check it out. If you don't, it doesn't do anything that groundbreaking to suck you in though.

Rating: 7/10

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Movie #15, Hostel. Lousy, and yet somehow still better than Cabin Fever as far as Eli Roth movies go

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Because I know I'll forget to recommend if I don't do it now...

Recommend: Head Count
On Amazon Prime

So I kind of love this movie. It is really, really, really good. It's about a group of teens on a summer getaway in the desert. But then they accidentally summon something supernatural.

I don't want to give away anymore than that, because I think it's so much better if you go into it not knowing what's up. When you realize what's going on, it is such a good film. It has minimal effects, but use them well. What's the best is that it does create a chilling sense of dread when it gets going that lingers and leaves you second guessing most everything.

This movie got no buzz, and it got no acclaim. But man. I really recommend you check it out. It is just such a clever movie, and I'll be satisfied if I get even one person to watch it.

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I'll watch it tonight or tomorrow.

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Then I have done my job.

Anyway, I am going to do Good Movie night, so I'm starting with The Wailing as I've heard many good things!

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I haven't heard about Head Count at all, but I'm interested.

Also I actually think Hostel is pretty decent all things considered!

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It took me forever to even find the movie on prime video. Starting it now tho.

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It was aight. No boobs is a hard thing for a horror movie to overcome. Ending could have been better. Was decent.

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DAY 15.3: The Wailing
On Amazon Prime

Oh my god this movie. THIS MOVIE. It is so incredibly good. Bar none, the best movie I've watched this month. What the hell.

The Wailing is a Korean film about a police officer and his family. He is investigating murders from people who appear to be very sick and zombie-like. The police officer's daughter begins to get sick, which correlates with a local Japanese man who people claim is a ghost.

I don't know where to start, but this movie has a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. It deserves that 99%. I am actually in awe of the film I was just a witness to. It begins with a good amount of comedy, but it works well to help set the scene of the story.

Then we get some gruesome murders of people who appear to be ill, murdering their own families. Still, we're left lulling into a sense of comfort, until we see the extent of things. The director of this movie is a master at being able to put this movie together and keep scenes as light or as heavy as needed to contrast what you're seeing. You're laughing one minutes, then fucking terrified the next. It's masterful.

The plot absolutely blew me away. Just completely. This final act is INCREDIBLE. It was so tense and you actually have no idea what is going to happen at this point. Legitimately, it is done so well you just don't know what is going to happen. Jaw on the damn floor for this film when it was over. Such an awesome narrative that it brought us to this point that you just don't know what's going to happen and time passes and it's almost excruciating figuring out what is going to happen. Just a perfect conclusion.

This movie is two and a half hours long. Let me repeat. Two and a half hours long. But it kept me engaged through the whole 2.5 hours. I was just wanting to see what happens next in this film. I put this movie off for YEARS for reasons I don't really know, and I still don't know. But I wish I hadn't.

Go out of your way to watch The Wailing. You will not be disappointed. It's a masterpiece and a must-watch for horror fans.

Rating: 10/10

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I think my biggest problem with Hostel is that it took the old 20 Minutes With Jerks trope and went on and on and on with it. Like, if you're going to do a slasher movie, the trick is to make the protagonists likable enough that I don't want to root for the serial killer. Or if you're going to do the latter, you better make the serial killer charming enough that I go all in on cheering for their success. Hostel couldn't do either, I just wanted everyone to die already

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Whoop I missed Corrik's post.

I can understand not loving Head Count. It's a very slow burn movie, and if you're expecting a huge payoff, you don't necessarily get that. I just really like the way it's structured and what they manage to do on a shoe string budget and a first time director's magnificent directing as well.

Re: Hostel, don't expect me to be watching any of those movies this month. I hate them and they just come across as torture porn to me, and they're absolute trash. I'd watch the 0-2/10 movies again before I'd ever watch a Hostel movie again.

But I'll tell you what I am going to watch: Alien!

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DAY 16: Alien
On HBO Max

So I don't need to tell a single soul here Alien is good and a classic. But here goes.

A bunch of factory workers in space awaken a terrifying alien that begins to murder everyone on their ship.

I don't need to tell anyone anything else about Alien. But it's a truly special movie. Just outstandingly so. It's been forever since I last watched it, so I decided to so I could recall what made it so good.

The xenomorph is so damn iconic. Sure an ingenious design that cemented its place in pop culture for good reason. It's a terrifying, chilling creature that you can look at any part of its body and just be horrified. It's ruthless, calculating, and massacres anything in front of it with ease.

The setting is unique. Random schmucks doing space factory work is just perfect. They have a good banter and rapport and you feel it when they all start being murdered. Ripley, need I say more? It always bugs me about when people neglect her when they talk about strong female characters, because she's really just heads and tails better than most characters, gender aside.

The cinematography is what really sells this. You rarely see full shots of the alien until the end. Or you see it in glimpses. There's so much mystique around it, but every single way its filmed is done perfectly. And the chest burster scene? How could that possibly be done any better? Hell, even Ash is done so damn well.

If you haven't seen Alien yet, but you've seen any other Alien movie, just go watch Alien. You'll quickly understand why it caught on like it did.

Rating: 9/10

And now I start Lovecraft Country for my spooky show.

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