Board 8 > 2022-23 Horror Topic: Yes Chef!

(+) Yeah! (+)

Watched Knock at the Cabin and I'm mixed on it. It had strong performances by the stars, and I do love a movie that takes place all in a singular location with nothing else to distract you, but I think its biggest weakness is stopping short of actually saying something about the world.

It was entertaining and interesting enough but the film was content with throwing around buzzwords and stereotypes without anything getting said. It's like "Oh, you guys are just internet forum weirdos" or "We're gay and we get discriminated against!" And that's it. Just the issue gets mentioned and then moves on to another topic without ever really confronting these real issues head-on. Horror just does these things so much better nowadays and Knock at the Cabin felt really empty as a result.

That being said, Bautista's schtick is still fun to watch especially and Shyamalan even brought back his penchant for gut-wrenching found-footage news like the Alien sighting in Signs, which got my blood pumping here.

It's an unusually overly straight-forward film for him, and it is worth a watch if you're in the mood for something both a little silly and tense at times. Ultimately, it just lacks substance.

saw Cocaine Bear and horror-comedy is definitely the best name for it. Very silly and very violent. Kinda like Violent Night in that you shouldn't really go in expecting it to be anything more than what it is

FINALLY got around to watching Mad God. It's hard to judge as a movie in the traditional sense, it's just incredible and disgusting stop-motion work portraying just awful vibes for an hour and a half

and I probably won't see any other 2022 horror movies for a while so my (basically) final list:

Excellent
The Menu
Nope
The Black Phone
Bones and All
Speak No Evil

Great
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Barbarian
Wendell & Wild
Prey
Jujutsu Kaisen 0
Mad God
Werewolf By Night

Solid
Men
Bodies Bodies Bodies
We're All Going to the World's Fair
Crimes of the Future
The House
Scream
The Innocents
Don't Worry Darling
Pearl
Kimi

Alright
Something in the Dirt
Spiderhead
Incantation
X
Smile

So Bad It's Good
Choose or Die

So Bad It's Bad
Terrifier 2
The Invitation
Fresh
Morfius

Upcoming slate for us:

Tonight: Bunker
Friday: Children of the Corn
Sunday: Cocaine Bear
Monday: Hunt Her, Kill Her

Is that the original Children of the Corn or did they remake again for the 15th time

It's another reboot that's been stuck in hell for a couple of years now and is finally seeing the light of day. Apparently it opened up with a 0 on Rotten Tomatoes, though that's just off 9 reviews.

Despite the subpar reviews, I found Bunker to be pretty competent and enjoyable. If there's a criticism to be levied at the film it's that the film doesn't take that many chances with the overall plot. But honestly, sometimes taking a chance doesn't make you a better film. I feel like with a lot of modern horror, especially the last couple of years, films try to be different just for the sake of it instead of worrying about how that might affect the audience's enjoyment of the film. The acting, setpieces, sounds and directing are all pretty good. I haven't seen too many horror films set during major wars as this one was, so that was something different. I'd give it a recommendation if you want to check our a traditional horror film that's set in a confined area and heavily features themes of paranoia and mistrust.

1. M3GAN
2. She Came From the Woods
3. Knock at the Cabin
4. Bunker
5. Infinity Pool
6. Consecration
7. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
8. Fear
9. The Outwaters
10. Skinamarink

I feel like I'm supposed to like Infinity Pool more but I have to be honest with myself. I know Mia Goth is the big "it" girl right now in the scene, but the film just has some flaws and things I didn't like so I'm going to place this one above it, popular opinion be damned. Just a few minor spoilers I'll note below about Bunker also:

I feel like a lot of people didn't like this film because they didn't want there to be a real monster down there, rather have it be totally about paranoia and all in the heads of the protagonists. Again, I'm kinda burnt out on that concept. It's rarely executed in a way that doesn't irritate me, as in having strange sounds being made by a character or some long, awkward sex scene that's designed to make people uncomfortable. Anyway, I think if you like a film like The Thing you should like this one. It's pretty similar in setup.

A very Children of the Corn experience was had. I have a soft spot for it but it's truly hard to believe the franchise has more films under its belt than Nightmare on Elm Street, Child's Play and even Saw (though I bet that won't be for too long at their pace). The first film, while not superb or anything, holds a very nostalgic part of my heart as it was one of the first horror films I can recall seeing. I even like the second one in that original line of sequels. This one, I mean it's "okay" I think. It has some moments and I appreciate it attempting to show how it all got started rather than just remaking the film entirely so characters are learning about the town's existence and state.

I think my main issue is how the main character is written. One of the most passive and shoulder-shrugging leads I can remember. There are things that happen early in the film, before shit has even hit the fan, where a normal person would question just what the hell is wrong with those children. This characters just sort of goes, "Hmm?... well anyway, ... ". There's also the decision to show He Who Walks and show him quite a lot later in the film. I think the original films were better because of their secretive nature when it came to the cornfield spirit. This time, it's a little updated for the modern world by mentioning GMOs and all that sort of stuff. It's a little odd because I can actually feel sympathy for what I assume is a demon or a pagan god or something, because the adults in this film outside of like one guy are totally detestable and the movie intentionally wants you to know that. It gives what is supposed to be the villain here more of a good reason to be killing, not only out of self-preservation but because wow a lot of these guys are insufferable.

I mean I really didn't expect greatness. Even with my bias towards the first two films I understand that this franchise despite it's prolific nature has never really had a banger under its name. I don't think it's nearly as bad as some of the reviews have let on though, but still squarely in the slightly subpar range.

1. M3GAN
2. She Came From the Woods
3. Knock at the Cabin
4. Bunker
5. Infinity Pool
6. Consecration
7. Children of the Corn
8. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
9. Fear
10. The Outwaters
11. Skinamarink

Instant Classics:

1. M3GAN

Very Solid Offerings:

2. She Came From the Woods
3. Knock at the Cabin
4. Bunker
5. Cocaine Bear

Flawed, But Good

6. Infinity Pool
7. Consecration
8. Hunt Her, Kill Her

Some Issues:

9. Children of the Corn
10. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
11. Fear

Not Enjoyable:

12. The Outwaters

Torture:

13. Skinamarink

Two more on the list. Cocaine Bear was a lot of fun. Obviously it's pretty silly but the hijinks and character work go a long way to make this a pretty good offering. I really enjoyed Margo Martindale and the two kid actors in this one, but most of the casting is pretty solid. The only real knock I could give this film is that early in the goings, I was thinking to myself, "what happened to the bear!?". This is as they introduce the rest of the cast, and there are a substantial number of different woven in stories here. I never get the impression the film is taking itself seriously though, and by the end I was glad they had the number of characters they did for the most part. It does about as well in my rankings as a true horror comedy can probably do.

Hunt Her, Kill Her is pretty straight forward and direct in its approach. Not much in the way of story here; it's a true cat and mouse horror all the way until the end basically. I think the way I'd describe this film to others is imagine someone created a film that was based on an indie horror game where various things pursue you through a seemingly endless labyrinth of a building. Some of the stuff here is a bit heavy handed and honestly, I found some of the acting (not from the lead character, but from the killers) to be a little bad at times. That sound, I think the film does a good job of creating what's essentially one long chase sequence for well over 2/3rds of the run time. The horror is gritty and realistic; it's just mostly better if the killers aren't speaking very much.

After attempting to watch Infinity Pool, it's safe to say Brandon Cronenberg is not for me

Still on the fence about watching Consecration, I'll probably get around to it

Obviously Scream VI is the big star release this weekend, but Unwelcome is also out in limited locations as well. I've mentioned it before, but Scream is my favorite horror franchise and the film has opened up to a very strong review score on RT. Super hyped about it.

I feel like I'm the only one who has still seen From here, but the season 2 trailer looks amazing. Big recommend for everyone! Quality horror show!

https://twitter.com/FROMonMGM/status/1633181051161042945?s=20

Instant Classics:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN

Very Solid Offerings:

3. She Came From the Woods
4. Knock at the Cabin
5. Bunker
6. Cocaine Bear

Flawed, But Good

7. Infinity Pool
8. Consecration
9. Hunt Her, Kill Her

Some Issues:

10. Children of the Corn
11. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
12. Fear

Not Enjoyable:

13. The Outwaters

Torture:

14. Skinamarink

Another banger from the Scream franchise, in my opinion. I feel like it's really the only big horror franchise that features slashers that "gets it". I'm not sure why other series of films find it to be difficult to make competent films on a regular basis. Even though 3 isn't well liked by most, I feel like there's not a weak movie in the franchise. I'm still a little salty about Dewey in the last movie, but well, I think it's just because there aren't a lot of "good dudes" that end up alive by the end of horror films, especially slashers.

That being said, Chad is just unkillable. They really had me going for the last act figuring it was yet another slasher where only a handful of female characters get to live. I'm glad Scream continues to subvert tired tropes. The idea of there being 3 Ghostfaces this time was interesting, and the reveal was pretty shocking except for perhaps the cop. I did like all the nods to the previous films we get here, even a little cheeky reference about Stu being alive possibly to play with the fan theories on him lately. There's just a lot this particular film did right. Gale has long been a character I just have not liked; I told myself, especially after they were willing to kill Dewey, that I wouldn't miss her if she were to die in this film. I sort of figured she might even, but then at the moment when she was just about dead and I figured this would be her end... for the first time I started to actually think about it. I started to get a little upset inside and didn't want to see her die. Was relieved she managed to survive.

I'm curious to see where they go now. This film I felt was an homage to Scream 2. There were tons of moments that hearken back it, right down to the motive of the killers being familiar revenge on the protagonists for killing their loved one in the previous movie. It makes me curious to see if the next film is that same homage to Scream 3, which I feel gets a bad rap. I think another film that features this sort of "mastermind of it all" angle would be interesting.

Run to the theaters to see Scream VI. Incredible.

So alright, yeah. Scream VI is amazing. It's currently having a franchise record for opening night. Everything good is happening with this franchise. Easy top 3 for me. It makes me so happy because I thought with Wes Craven gone they wouldn't be able to bring this franchise to what makes it so special, but they have. It's a movie that doesn't give you soulless sequels and instead shows love to the series. It doesn't need to reinvent everything, but it just needs to use all of the tools already there to deliver something that people love and continue to subvert expectations in a satisfying way. And it does that on so many levels.

So yeah, this film is great. The opening was great this time and was just so damn clever. Loved how they played with it, and I loved the stinger at the end of it. The characters were all amazing and I think this is the best acted movie of the franchise. Everyone brought their A-game and nobody underdelivered for even a second.

I was floored at the reveals, and I kept running into my head who it could be. And then we get the reveal, monologue, and it's all just wonderful. The action and kills (or "kills") in this are so damn good. They keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. The tension is palpable and the director is a master of making these scenes every bit as nail-biting as possible. They just find a way to make this movie one of the best that Scream has to offer in every good way.

And Gale Weathers, love her or hate her, is great. She's flawed, selfish, ego-driven, and she's constantly teetering the edge of it. She knows she plays a dangerous game and that she's probably the one who deserves to die the most of anyone else, but she's a fighter to the end. She's fascinating and her character continues to subvert everything you'd expect.

The script on this was outstanding too. I loved the dialogue here. Nothing felt overly cheesy or anything and a lot of the Ghost Face dialogue was probably the best it's ever been, and this may be Roger L. Jackson's best showing too to supplement that.

So yeah, go see Scream VI. I positively loved this one and was shocked how much I loved it. I definitely consider it up there with 1 and 2.

Another thought I had, and absolutely do not read the following until you watch the movie.

I love that they left literally everyone alive but Mindy's new girlfriend. Some people are calling it gutless but there's not a soul that expected every one of them to survive for a moment. Up to the last moment they are attacked, nobody. They built it up with Mindy telling everyone that nobody is safe. Everyone can be killed. Legacy characters are getting the axe. Their friend group is definitely getting axed. Reminding us constantly of times where Randy got axed despite being beloved and popular. Telling Gale that she is expendable now.

And then everybody survives, defying all logic sometimes. Laughed out loud at Tara's boyfriend surviving because these people just suck at securing kills. But not for one moment did I believe everyone was safe here. And by the time the next movie rolls around, I definitely don't feel safe that these same characters are safe at all. I'd be floored if they all survived. Just masterful that there's a kill count of one and still some of the best scenes in this franchise.

Instant Classics:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN

Very Solid Offerings:

3. She Came From the Woods
4. Knock at the Cabin
5. Bunker
6. Cocaine Bear

Flawed, But Good

7. Infinity Pool
8. Consecration
9. Unwelcome
10. Hunt Her, Kill Her

Some Issues:

11. Children of the Corn
12. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
13. Fear

Not Enjoyable:

14. The Outwaters

Torture:

15. Skinamarink

Unwelcome was... definitely not the film I expected it to be. I think I couldn't rank it much higher than that not because it was bad or unenjoyable, but because tonally it was all over the place. The film begins pretty dark and grounded in reality, though I knew what the main idea was of this film from its synopsis so I knew it would delve into mysticism and folk horror. That being said, until around the final third or so of the film it remained very grounded and dark. Then... I don't know. It's one of those movies that makes you ask the question, "Am I supposed to be laughing here?" because like, there are just moments that seem to make you ask that question and while there are zany things that happen all the way until the very, very end I am still uncertain if the film was intentional with that. This never felt like a parody or that it was self-aware, so yeah, I don't know. I still liked it okay but I am a little underwhelmed also (as is typical with most folk horror films for me).

Instant Classics:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN

Very Solid Offerings:

3. She Came From the Woods
4. Knock at the Cabin
5. Bunker
6. Cocaine Bear
7. 65

Flawed, But Good

8. Infinity Pool
9. Consecration
10. Unwelcome
11. Hunt Her, Kill Her

Some Issues:

12. Children of the Corn
13. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
14. Fear

Not Enjoyable:

15. The Outwaters

Torture:

16. Skinamarink

Oh hey, that's right, another film besides the two I mentioned opened this weekend. I had kinda seen this trailer so many times and I wasn't really sure if it classified as a horror film, but sure, it definitely is after seeing it. I had heard this movie described as, "The Last of Us, but dinosaurs", and that's basically true. It might do TLOU a little bit of a disservice to compare it to this film but I don't agree with the critics consensus that this isn't a enjoyable thing to watch. I quite liked it personally. When you have a film that basically consists of two characters (only four people are even billed) the strength of your narrative relies on their acting, I really liked Adam Driver and Ariana Greenblatt here. Really good chemistry and I felt invested in them by the end of the movie. There have been some really good casting choices this year already for young actors/actresses and this was another example, though I was shocked to learn the girl who plays Koa is 15 years old. I guess maybe that's why she was more convincing than a standard person of the age her character would be.

But yeah, it was actually pretty well done. Feel a little bad for sleeping on it and ignoring it a bit.

I bet Sins of Our Mother is better religious horror than Consecration

Why would they climb back up there?

https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1636785562035298304?s=20

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Why would they climb back up there?

https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1636785562035298304?s=20

what an absolutely bonkers movie to try and turn into a franchise

also not calling it Fall 2: Fall Harder is a terrible wasted opportunity

Also I saw Scream VI! This has to be the most consistently solid-to-great horror franchise, probably of all time? Like the absolute worst of Scream is like average and like 5/6 are pretty good to excellent. Even the TV show was solid

speaking of the TV show, I thought for sure they were going to finally acknowledge it here since they put so much focus into "it's not a series anymore, now it's a franchise." Next time, for sure.

I was really excited to see Samara Weaving was going to be in this one, but then of course she dies off immediately. Which, sure, that's fitting for the franchise, but man I thought she might be a new member of the main cast, which I'd be fully down for.

I think it's about time to kill off Gale Weathers. The series so desperately wants to evolve but it's still tied down to its original cast and Gale's ability to survive just to go back to being awful to everyone is getting to the point of being goofy

I loved cute boy next door. His gruff himbo personality doesn't fit the rest of the cast at all and it makes his scenes all pretty great.

The end twist was really cool. Not so much the cop being the killer because I kinda saw that coming (acab) but the family twist and the daughter's death being faked. In particular, the coolest part about it didn't click with me until after the reveal. This is the 2nd film since the series revival (Scream V just being called Scream again) so the fact that the finale takes place in a theater only to reveal the real killer is the parent of Scream (V)'s killer is such a cool and well-done parallel that I'm annoyed at myself for not picking up on it until after the reveal.

Downsides of the movie: It made a whole fuss about how everyone was a suspect and everyone was expendable, including protagonists and legacy characters. And then it proceeds to kill off almost every single new character introduced (of the named cast, only cute boy survives) and every single character from previous movies survived. My other big gripe is the Billy Loomis factor, where it keeps suggesting that she's actually secretly a killer and then the big payoff reveal is that... she killed the antagonist of Scream V. Which we already knew. So that entire subplot is just for nothing.

It sounds like I'm being down on it but I really did enjoy it a lot. Scream, the original, is one of my all-time favorite horror movies, and I'll absolutely keep seeing every one that comes out.

My ranking right now:

1. Scream
2. Scream II
3. Scream VI
4. Scream (V)
5. Scream IV
6. Scream III

Fall was such a big shock to me as to how great it was; I can't believe they'd want to ruin the magic with a second film. No idea what you even do with a movie like that...

And yeah, I don't think any horror franchise can match Scream's overall quality. They're always thinking up new things and reinventing the wheel. There isn't another franchise that springs to mind that even comes close to it in terms of consistency.

Nothing opened up this week, that played here at least. The Ghost Within is a movie that looks pretty standard ghost girl haunting stuff, but the limited theatrical release didn't span to Southern Hollywood somehow. We might go check out Inside with Dafoe next week since there are some showings here for it, but I'm pretty sure it isn't going to be a horror movie that really fits into the category with all the rest of these. Probably fringe stuff like Missing was.

I have determined that X is the best Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel, after rewatching both

Instant Classics:

1. Scream VI
2. M3GAN

Very Solid Offerings:

3. She Came From the Woods
4. Knock at the Cabin
5. Bunker
6. Cocaine Bear
7. 65

Flawed, But Good

8. Infinity Pool
9. Inside
10 Consecration
11. Unwelcome
12. Hunt Her, Kill Her

Some Issues:

13. Children of the Corn
14. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
15. Fear

Not Enjoyable:

16. The Outwaters

Torture:

17. Skinamarink

So we saw Inside... is it a horror film? I still don't know really. The reference sites I use are UHM, which don't list this film, and Bloody Disgusting, which did post a review of the film. The latter does seem a little more loose and global though, and has more namebrand recognition at this point. I decided to put it on my list for now at least because of it's similarity in setup to Fall, which I did include on my list last year and considered one of the year's best offerings. This one isn't as good as that one, and it does lack a few of the scenes that I felt made Fall distinctly horror, but it does focus on the feelings of isolation and confinement just like that one did and does have a few disturbing scenes here and there. The trailers paint this movie as a survival film where the protagonist has to use his wits and ingenuity to try to escape his predictament, and I think those things classify as horror so there we go I guess.

Ultimately though, I do feel the movie is a little flawed. Dafoe is great obviously, and even though he usually isn't in films I would say are superb, his performances are always really great. I know a lot of people here really liked The Lighthouse for example, but I wasn't a huge fan of it. I also don't think it's any closer to be a horror movie than this one was, which is another reason I decided to include it on my list. I do prefer his performance here personally, mostly because as much as I like him, I basically needed subtitles to even understand his character half the time in Lighthouse. He gets a little bizarre here of course as well, but I do like his character much more. I think the film's main weakness is that as others have said about it, it does feel a bit like an endurance test of a film. It lacks that tension Fall had for sure, though it never ventures into the realm of Skinamarink like endurance. It's still a pretty enjoyable movie.