Tag Archives: horror

Heretic

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If you had said that Hugh Grant would be horror/thriller movie villain and completely rule at it, I might not have believed you. However, he absolutely does and he is one of the major factors to the new A24 horror flick, Heretic, being as exceptional as it is.

However, I could see how this movie might be polarizing considering its main topic is religion and the discussion of how and if religion is relevant.

Hugh Grant is the standout of the movie, but the two female co-stars, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East, who play Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton respectfully, carry their own against the powerhouse performance from Grant. Both Thatcher and East are given characters with their own quirks that work very well in the context of this movie.

There may not be as many scares in this movie, but the script gives the film an uncomfortable feeling throughout, especially with the uneasiness provided by Grant’s work. You can tell that everything is just not quite what is being shown and you are anxious waiting for that hammer to drop.

However, while they are waiting and building the unease, the writing is sensational, with the debate between the different religions of the world. I loved how this was basically three people talking for much of the first act (or two) and it is able to build the anxiety. The writing was top notch. I also do not believe that it took one side and argued that in a preachy way. I do believe that someone could find their own opinions of religion given voice in this film.

I loved the writing when Sister Barnes retorted against Mr. Reed’s (Hugh Grant) metaphor comparing religion to Monopoly. This whole diatribe was expertly written and delivered.

The ending might have been a little weaker than the first half/two-thirds of the film, but I do love how these characters are smart and are shown to be smart.

4.4 stars

The Substance

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Very disturbing.

I have never been a big fan of body horror films, but The Substance has a few things going for it that a typical body horror film does not have. Namely, one Demi Moore providing one of the best, albeit horrific, performances of her career.

According to IMDB, “Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? You. Only better in every way. Seriously. You’ve got to try this new product. It’s called The Substance. It changed my life. It generates another you. A new, younger, more beautiful, more perfect, you. And there’s only one rule: You share time. One week for you. One week for the new you. Seven days each. A perfect balance. Easy. Right? If you respect the balance… what could possibly go wrong?”

The dialogue was limited, but the performance from Demi Moore was so great. It was impressive how much she was able to emote from her face and her reactions.

The effects are unbelievably creepy and frightening. The imagery of the movie is horrific and mostly practical.

I do think the ending was not good. The last fifteen or twenty minutes felt truly more silly than most of the film and did drag down my feelings overall. Most of the movie was really good and creepy. It just did not finish well. However. Demi Moore should be recognized for an astounding performance.

3.8 stars

Bates Motel S5 E1

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Spoilers

“Dark Paradise”

The final season of Bates Motel got underway with a bit of a time jump. I just talked about time jumps in the Battlestar Galactica season 2 finale write up. This is another year jump.

Norman is running his hotel with ghost Norma hanging around making him breakfast. Ghost Norma is quite the helpful hand… baking, laundry, killing hitmen and helping to dispose of the body. Not sure how the physics of any of that happens.

The funniest moment in the show was when Ghost Norma grabbed Norman by the ear and dragged him up to the house to show him the body of the man she killed. All I could picture was Norman with his head tilted to the side, with no one actually pulling on his ear, but he acting as if someone was. If only someone could have seen that.

Dylan and Emma had a baby girl. Awwwww…. I did not remember that from the first time I saw this series and I thought that was great. Of course, Caleb showed up looking for some kind of connection. This story was very nicely handled and showed some emotion. Its funny that a teenage rapist who got his sister pregnant is not the worst one in the family.

One would think that after having a baby, Dylan might have reached out to his mother or brother…even once maybe. Didn’t Emma have a good relationship with both of them. Keeping them isolated does feel a bit convoluted, though I understand they would be building toward something.

Romero is beating the hell out of that punching bag in prison. He had parole denied and he apparently hired the guy that tried to kill Norman. I think Romero is meant to be seen as the bad guy, but I still feel like I understand his rage toward Norman.

They introduced a new female potential victim for Norman. Maybe she will be okay since she reminds Norman of Norma. Or maybe not. Females do not have a good track record around Norman.

Nine episodes remaining for this rewatch. I really have enjoyed revisiting this show. Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga have been on the top of their game every week.

Mad God (2021)

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The October 13 of 13

What a trip.

I went searching for a film to wrap up the October 13, which to be fair has been a touch underwhelming so far. I was really hoping to find something epic to end out the thirteen.

Well, I found something original for sure.

On AMC + on Prime, I found a stop-motion film called Mad God and it looked interesting. That would be an understatement for this.

According to IMDB, “Equipped with a gas mask and a crumbling map, the Assassin, an iron-clad humanoid, descends into a rusty, peril-laden underworld of grime, blood, and unsettling monstrosities. As the stealthy invader meanders through the labyrinthine post-apocalyptic wasteland on a mysterious mission, going deeper and deeper in the nightmarish realm, the Assassin gradually reaches his final destination: the heart of this grotesque tower of torture. But what cruel, vindictive deity allows fear and suffering to take its most complete creation further and further into despair? Only a Mad God would revel in humankind’s ordeal.”

That synopsis from IMDB is well done, but to be honest, the story is not anywhere near as straightforward as that description. I would venture to say that this film has a very limited narrative structure. The story seems secondary to the goals of this film.

Mad God has amazing, masterful stop-motion animation that creates an atmosphere unlike few movies that I have ever seen. It is frightening at times, disturbing at others. It imbues this nightmare realm with such darkness and alarming imagery that you can help but be taken aback from the visual daze.

The sound effects and score are very effective keeping you uneasy as the images build a surreal experience of monstrous creatures and violent despair.

Written and directed by stop-motion guru Phil Tippett, this passion project takes you deep into the mind of the director. And what a bizarre and warped experience it was. I usually prefer more of a story, and that is just short here, but this is an experience that I would not have passed on. I am conflicted on how I feel after watching this, which, I suppose, is a desired result.

Bates Motel S4 E9, E10

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Spoilers

“Forever”

“Norman”

In my mind, I thought I remembered that the whole gas thing was an accident. I misremembered that because, seeing episode nine again, it was painfully clear that Norman had intended for them both to have died in that room. Had it not been for Romero, they both would be dead.

I will forever remember Alex desperately trying to give Norma CPR and holding her corpse, sobbing uncontrollably. It was a horrific punctuation to this relationship that, in very short order, became one of my favorite relationships in the history of TV.

Norman really goes crazy in the season finale as he kept waiting for Norma to tell him the plan and eventually digs her up out of her grave. We know that Norman from Psycho did dig up his mother’s corpse, although it sounded as if his relationship with his mother was considerably different than the TV show. In Psycho II, Norman says he poisoned his mother when he was young. I know that Bates Motel Norman may not be exactly the same version of Norman Bates from Psycho. Perhaps he is a multiversal variant.

The cruelty of Norman not telling Dylan about his mother was unbelievable. Yes, there were some strange coincidences with Dylan, so he remains unaware of the death. They felt a little too on the nose, but I know it works for the story.

When Norman glued Norma’s eyes open… I mean… how creepy was that. Was that Vera Farmiga being the dead body because, if so, she was brilliant.

When I originally watched this show, I really thought that these episodes ended the series, but there is a whole fifth season to go. This felt like a good wrap up for the series, at least for Norman and Norma, but there are 10 more episodes to go. The side characters all need more of a wrap up, but I could see this having been the end of Bates Motel.

Not sure I liked the Christmas lights popping on at the end of the episode though.

The Changeling (1980)

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The October 11 of 13

So The October 13 has been a little lower of quality than I would have preferred this year. However, we came across a good one today. The Changeling, starring George C. Scott, is one of the best haunted house movies I have seen.

The film grabs your attention immediately as it sets up the tragedy for George C. Scott’s character, composer John Russell. His wife and daughter are killed in a tragic accident and this sends him spiraling out of control. Renting a house in Seattle, John goes to hopefully work on his music.

However, once in the house, strange sounds and events started happening, leading John to investigate what had happened in the house’s past.

Honestly, the seance scene was one of the scariest seance scenes I have ever seen. The way that the psychic approached the actual execution of the seance was great. I had never seen a seance handled in this manner before and it really set the stage for the rest of the mystery that would be at the heart of the film.

There is also a horrifying scene with a young boy and a bathtub that I will not go into further description of because it is unsettling.

George C. Scott is a tremendous actor and his very presence in the film give it a credibility that a lot of these haunted house movies lack.

I am happy that this film made the October 13 list this year and I am happy that it has helped put the list back on track.

Kill List

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The October 10 of 13

After a poor stretch of films in The October 13, I was hoping for a really great one to balance out the list. I had been watching The Breakroom, which is a YouTube show from the New Rockstars and they gave a list of horror movies to watch before you die. One of the panelists brought up Kill List and I had never heard of it, so I hoped that it would break the unfortunate run I had been on.

It did. It was good. It was not great, but I found it a good time.

According to IMDB, “Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.“

This is a British psychological horror film directed by Ben Wheatley. It was a real slow burn, so slow that after the first act, I was afraid that this would be just another failure in the October 13. However, the film absolutely picked up and wound up with a batshit ending that tied the whole film together in a tragic tapestry.

Neil Maskell played Jay and Michael Smiley played Gal, out two lead protagonists in the film. They were partners in this hired killers job that led to them getting involved in this story. MyAnna Buring played Shel, Jay’s wife and the mother of his son Sam (Harry Simpson).

Throughout the first two parts of the film, you can see the mental instability of Jay as the killings he was hired to do became all the more brutal as they progressed. You would begin to think that the horror would come from inside Jay’s mind, but then things got considerably more real.

Hit List was not what I expected when it started, but it morphed into a wild ride that kept the tension to the final moments and a dramatic final scene.

Smile 2

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The original movie Smile was a surprising hit a couple of years ago. With it making a lot of money, you knew that there would be a sequel. This weekend brought us Smile 2.

Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is a hugely loved pop star who was preparing to make a return tour after being involved in a tragic accident the year before. When she was trying to get pain killers from her drug dealer friend, he brutally killed himself in front of her, transferring the parasitic demon to her. This demon goes into the victim’s head and slowly drives them crazy.

Naomi Scott does a fantastic job in this lead role. She carries so much of the movie on her shoulders, with so much fear and confusion and anger. She is easily the strength of the film.

The film keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, filled with anxiety as you want Skye to get through the problem. There may be too many jump scares in the film, but a lot of them are effective.

The film does feel too long at 2 hours and seven minutes. I think it could easily have shaved off 15-20 minutes of playtime and it would have helped the movie. However, the finish of the film was just horrifying. I really thought the final shot of the film worked very well.

Smile 2 was a worthy sequel to the huge hit. Is it better than the original, I’m going to say no, but this is very solid. Naomi Scott does tremendous work and the effects are great. The film will keep you thinking.

3.75 stars

I Was a Teenage Zombie (1987)

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The October 9 of 13

I found this on HBO Max and, because of that, I mistakenly believed, this movie would be a good one to include for The October 13, or at least was a real movie. It was five minutes into it when I discovered that this was the most amateurish, ridiculously bad film I have seen in a long time.

When the sound quality of a film does not reach the quality level of Birdemic: Shock and Terror, you know there is something wrong.

According to IMDB, “Six high school buddies accidentally kill a drug pusher and dump his body in toxic waters. When the pusher returns as a zombie and goes on a killing spree, their only recourse is to dump the body of one of their own recently dead, and have him return as a “good” zombie to face off with the “bad” one.“

I have seen this referred to as a cult classic, but if this is a classic in any form, I have to question the choices of the viewer. I know film is subjective, but I don’t think anything should be that subjective.

The budget of this movie must have been $25 dollars and a box of donuts.

I take that back, they did have some real music involved in the film, with a soundtrack involving real bands and musicians. At times the music was played so you could not hear what was being said. Best part of the film.

I seen better acting on SNL, you know when the host clearly has not learned any lines and is just reading off the cue cards off screen.

How bad was the dialogue? I don’t know, you could barely hear it.

This was not fun. There was a time or two where I laughed at the movie. Not because it was funny, but because it was so embarrassing that the only thing you could do was laugh.

The zombie make-up was more like blackface. Or eventually green face.

Then there was a zombie rape scene. I’m not kidding. Offensive as it could be.

The quality of the movies in this year’s October 13 has been really down. With Piranha, Sorry About the Demon, and this film, I really need to find a good film for #10.

Piranha (1978)

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The October 8 of 13

Piranha, a movie directed by Joe Dante, was a film that I never had any interest in seeing. Those type of B-movies were never in my taste. However, for the October 13, I decided to watch the original Piranha on Prime to see if it was more enjoyable than I thought.

It was pretty much what I expected.

According to IMDB, “An insurance investigator and her local guide search the Lost River Lake area to find too missing teenagers. When stumbling on an abandoned military facility, they release by accident in the river some flesh-eating piranhas that were bred to use in the Vietnam war. The piranhas are heading straight to a nearby summer resort’s lake and its guests.“

A Jaws rip-off, Piranha is a low-budget film that had some terrible special effects and the story about as simple as you could get. The acting was not very good either, especially with the secondary characters. The dialogue was atrocious for most of the film.

I have seen reviews of Piranha saying that it is a parody of Jaws or that the film was tongue-in-cheek humor. I didn’t think much of any of this film was funny, and the time when the film tried to add humor, it fell flat.

I can see why this may have become a cult classic, because there is so much awful about this that you can look at it an laugh… not with it but at it.

This would be a perfect film for Rifftrax Live as there is so much comedy to mine around what is on this screen. It was actually worse than I had thought and proved that I was right for avoiding it all these years.

Psycho II (1983)

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The October 7 of 13

One of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock films of all time was 1960’s Psycho. Twenty three years later, there was a sequel to the film featuring the return of Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates.

Of course, I have been watching Bates Motel for the last several months, which is not necessarily canon in the Psycho universe. It gave me the opportunity to start to love the character of Norma Bates. So with this October 13, I thought it would be a good thing to watch the sequel to Psycho.

While this is nowhere near the level of the iconic original, Psycho II was not bad. Anthony Perkins was wonderful in his return to the role of Norman Bates. You could never be sure whether or not Norman had actually regained his sanity. I wasn’t sure until the very end, which was nice.

The story had an impressive twist to start off that I did not see coming. I am not sure it worked all the way through, but when we found out the surprise, it worked for most of the middle of the story.

It did feel like it went a little too long and I am not sure I loved the resolution of the film… at least part of it. No spoilers from me, but I did like the very end of the film… just not what led to it.

This was better than I expected it to be, but if you were to only watch one Psycho movie, make it the original Hitchcock classic.

The X-Files S7 E1, E2

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Spoilers

“The Sixth Extinction”

“The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati”

It has been awhile since I ended season six of The X-Files, which was a first part of a three part story that would help to reboot the mythology of the series.

Honestly, the X-Files does such a great job of creating villains. Many times, villains are created to be cool, and people love them, despite of the terrible things they may have done. However, I hate these villains on the X-Files. I want Smoking Man dead. So badly. Same goes for Krychek or Diana Fowley. Of course, this episode saw the end of one of them… off camera. Diana Fowley dies at the end after the show tried to redeem her in the eyes of the viewers. It did not do that for me. The whole ‘she helped out Scully, find Mulder’ did not do it for me. In my book, she was never with Mulder in any way but the selfish way.

The show’s mythology took a turn here and set up the final push for the series. This became more of a sci-fi series than it ever had before. The whole old man Mulder arc was a bit much too, which again tried to show Smoking Man in a more positive light. I just want that smug bastard dead. Great performance from William B. Davis, as always.

The minute Albert Holsteen showed up in Mulder’s apartment, I knew what the show was going for. It was clearly a spirit coming to help Scully and that whole bit was quite a cliche.

The end where Mulder and Scully claim to be each other’s ‘touchstone’ was well acted, but I have never felt any sort of romantic relationship between Mulder and Scully. I could see them being something deeper than romantic and I choose to see this scene in that light.

This trilogy ended season 6 and kicked off season 7 well, and helped keep the show on track moving forward.

Sorry About the Demon (2022)

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The October 5 of 13

So, this one was a horror comedy. I found it on Shudder, as most of the list for this The October 13 is this year. I found it to be really silly.

After dealing with a bad break-up, Will (Jon Michael Simpson) rented a house from a family. What Will did not know was the family, the Sellers, had rented him the house because they had made a deal with the demon that was in the house, Deomonous (voiced by Tony Vespe), to possess him and take his soul to Hell instead of their daughter Grace (Presley Allard).

This movie was funny at times. At least I chuckled here and there. Otherwise it was fairly messy with the plot and just silly as it can be. It was absolutely corny and silly. I am not sure if this was intended to be a parody or if it is just meant to be a horror/comedy. Either way, the film was not the worst thing I ever saw. I did not like the way it started, as it seemed fairly stupid to me. However, Jon Michael Simpson had a charm about him that made me want to keep watching, even though I wanted to stop watching at first.

Overall, it was not the worst film I have seen. It is not great, but if you are in the right mood, this could be a fun family horror/comedy for Halloween.

Hell House LLC (2015)

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The October 3 of 13

I watched the most recent Hell House movie, called Hell House LLC: Origins- The Carmichael Manor for this year’s June Swoon. I had no idea that this was the fourth film in a franchise. So I figured the first film of the franchise would be a good film to use for The October 13.

This was filmed in a documentary style of a supposed incident at a haunted house called Hell House opening during the Halloween season where fifteen people died in, what authorities were calling an “unknown malfunction.” The documentarian, Diane Graves (Alice Bahlke), found the sole survivor of the crew from the haunted house, Sara (Ryan Jennifer Jones), and Sara gave her several recording made by the others at the Hell House.

At this point, the movie became a combination of documentary and found footage film, and it was absolutely insane.

The footage was remarkably creepy as it showed so many frightening moments inside the Abaddon Hotel, which was deserted and had signs that there may have been a Satanic cult here at one point in its history.

As the crew worked to get their haunted house constructed inside the Abaddon Hotel, strange things began to happen, especially with some of the clown mannequins.

Some of the stuff they got on film was frustrating at times because it never seemed to matter to Hell House CEO Alex (Danny Bellini) even when his crew was clearly suffering the effects of the hotel. There was a mystery reason that Alex was so determined to stay and, though referenced, it was never revealed. I have seen speculation that it was a financial reason and I have also seen that the answer might come in the actual sequel to this. Maybe that one has to go on a watch list too.

I found this really intense and I enjoyed this whole film. The found footage was fun and filled with anxiety. Those clowns were absolutely creepy and the little things made this all the better. This was a wonderful film for The October 13.

Speak No Evil (2022)

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The October 2 of 13

Recently, I went to see the new movie starring James McAvoy called Speak No Evil without the knowledge that there had been a Dutch version of the film just a couple of years before it. When I discovered that, I placed the original version on the list to watch for The October 13.

Man, I feel like I have been kicked in the gut.

The first two acts of the new movie was very similar, if not a shot for shot replay of the Dutch film. However, the third act took a drastic turn and ended up in one of the darkest endings I have ever seen for any movie. Legitimately, I feel a little sick to my stomach after this one got over.

According to Wikipedia, ” The film centers on Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch), a Danish couple who are invited by Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders), a Dutch couple, to their country house for a weekend holiday.”

It is difficult to not compare the two movies since I saw them so close to each other, and since I saw the 2024 American version first, it feels as if that is the original to me. I know this Dutch version is the first one, but it is bouncing around in my head in the other order. Fedja van Huêt plays the role that James McAvoy would play in the American version. I think I enjoyed both performances. McAvoy’s was a touch more unbalanced while Fedja van Huêt was a touch more sinister.

That third act though. Holy cow. I can’t describe it sufficiently to make it clear how disturbing it is without spoiling, so let’s just say that this is completely different from the American version.

This is one of those movies that will stick with me for a long time. I do expect that I will never want to watch this again because of the way it kicked me in the gut. If I had watched this before the American version, I cannot imagine wanting to go see the remake.

First time I have given something two ratings…