Board 8 > 2023-24 Horror Topic: Executive Producer - Jason Blum

(+) Yeah! (+)

I just saw A Quiet Place: Day One.

I think I liked it better than the second movie by virtue of just being something different with the franchise. I had very low expectations for this one though so I was pleasantly surprised. Cinematography was solid, but it's really about the interactions between the couple of characters in it, which was done well. I was pretty tired of the parent-chile dynamic in the second movie by the end, so I much rather preferred something like this.

I really don't know what else they can do with this franchise though. It just seems kind of played out unless somebody has a good idea for something to do with it. It's got an interesting universe there to toy with.

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. I did laugh at the one scene that was entirely tacked on there to show a little more LORE about the aliens that was clearly there for the folks who would have been disappointed if they didn't find out something else about these things.

Hell yeah VHS is coming back again.

https://x.com/HorrorCalendar/status/1811055817329680777?t=lzkgsW5OQFgYZ08H_v9YNQ&s=19

Kate Siegel's directorial debut?!

VHS has just been the best Halloween tradition the past few years

Got tickets for Longlegs on Friday, I've seen absolutely zero teasers or images for it other than the official poster but I know it's about Nick Cage as a serial killer and I've been told it walks a tonal line comparable to Silence of the Lambs.

Tickets for the soft open tomorrow night!

A few small thoughts on it: It's really great, especially Cage. I wanted more of him though. I may have been expecting too much from this movie; I wanted it to be the best thing I've seen in a long time but the hype may have just been too much. I do like it, it might be S tier still, but it doesn't touch Late Night With the Devil in my opinion.

Just got back from it

I really enjoyed it! I like that it actually didn't take itself too too seriously, Cage had fun with the role and there were some moments of humor even outside of him. And I'm glad I didn't go into it thinking it was going to be a pure horror film, the Silence of the Lambs comparison was fairly spot on.

I won't be able to see it until some time next week since I'm at a conference this whole weekend! Of all the weeks, they've done this on Longlegs week.

Saw Maxxxine today. I loved it, thought it was an excellent addition to the trilogy, though definitely the weakest of the three. The storyline and thematic connective tissue of the perils of stardom throughout the three films is strong. Maxxxine definitely plays better if you're as reverent to cinema, horror or not, as it wants you to be. So in that regard it appealed a lot to me. One big criticism for me is many of the supporting characters felt pretty generic this time around.

I also saw MaXXXine today! I enjoyed it, about on par with X, but I thought X was a little overrated. I'd agree that the supporting characters felt pretty weak, though I did get a kick out of Kevin Bacon and Giancarlo Esposito. But things like Halsey showing up for 5 minutes in a super-strong accent, then getting killed offscreen left me a little disappointed. Also it built up to the surprise reveal that the killer was her dad, but I fully didn't remember him from X when he appeared, so the reveal fell a little flat, particulary since every killing he does happens offscreen or in shadows.

Pearl was pretty easily the best of the trilogy imo

seeing Longlegs tomorrow

To be honest I pretty much knew the killer was Maxine's dad from the start, it was just too obvious not be, even if they were trying to be all "giallo black-gloved killer" with it. Though I didn't remember what he looked like either lol

Hopefully seeing Longlegs next weekend!

Yeah, Genny called the killer being her dad from nearly the start. It's not always a deathblow or anything to your horror film, though I was a little surprised at the by the books nature of it from this franchise.

Tbh I thought the final act of MaXXXine really drug it down. I found myself kind of underwhelmed by the reveal and everything else following it. Like there was something missing to really make it feel more special, you know? I think I was so much more interested in Kevin Bacon's character, and his character did so much legwork in the film that it overshadows the reveal, and as a result the rest of it just wasn't as good.

Checked out Lowlifes on Tubi. Hard to say much about the film without spoilers:

Be sure you've gone in blind. There's a twist that isn't very predictable at all in the early going, very good gotcha moment I think. We were both really surprised at the RV family being the killers rather than the stock character hillbillies.

I found it to be one of Tubi's better originals so far this year. Not quite the best; it has a few hangups in characterization in my opinion but it's a nice solid offering for sure and worth a watch.

Went to see Longlegs tonight

honestly, it was just alright. I think it may have just been too overhyped? Nic Cage is hard to really take seriously at this point, like even when playing an over the top character, it's hard for him to blend into a role without it just feeling like Nicolas Cage in heavy makeup

There were also a lot of potentially interesting points that were just kind of dropped. Like Lee Harker being a psychic mattered for all of like the first 5 minutes, and then was never really brought up again. The Zodiac-esque cryptic cyphers were interesting, and Nic Cage just delivers her the answer to them almost immediately.

The film also just has so many plot holes. Why is the detective so insistent that voodoo/supernatural doesn't exist after the movie opens with him fully acknowleding that Lee is psychic? If Lee's mom needs to be invited in by seeming trustworthy, how did she get in to the detective's daughter's party at the end, when he knows who she is? Why is he even having a birthday party when he knows there's actively serial killings happening to families with his daughter's birthday? What happened to the rest of the dolls, if they were brought to every killing? The mom is shown leaving the houses without them. Is the devil himself the one calling Lee on the phone, and if so why?

Idk, there were a lot of little things I liked in the movie, but I just feel like it didn't hit nearly as strongly for me as I expected.

Also I dont really get the hype for Alien: Romulus. Seems like another nostalgic throwback akin to the sequel trilogy or Jurassic World that probably wont add much.

Just saw Longlegs! I loved it quite a bit actually. Really compelling story, directing and cinematography felt very special, and there was such a sense of dread and unease throughout the film, largely in part because of that cinematography. The shocking moments hit huge for me.

I read some of Johnbobb's supposed plotholes and I thought the movie either inferred why for all of them or outright explained why. I thought the script was really tight and had no problems with it.

Overall, I may have expected something scarier, but I'm very satisfied.

Also, Osgood Perkins' other film the Blackcoat's Daughter: Both of these movies have the devil talking to them on the phone. I thought that was interesting. It didn't hit me until then that I realized he did two satanic movies. Osgood Cinematic Universe perhaps???