8th Annual Nic and Mitch's Halloween/Horror Film Bonanza!!! 2021

9.17.21

Unofficial Entry

Starting with the Halloween-adjacent films to really wet the palette for the main event!

If you really want me to rehash this, I'm sorry. I've written so many times about this film. That said, it is the weaker of the two films, but that's not saying much because they're both very strong films. I used to watch this in my childhood all the time and when I think about the Addams family, this is the family I think about.

9.17.21

Unofficial Entry

See above. This is the stronger of the two films, especially given the strong calling out of consumerist culture in the 90s. This is really Wednesday's film and they choice wisely because Ricci is absolutely hilarious and who would have thought that a summer camp Thanksgiving play in the Addams Family would be absolutely laugh out loud funny!

9.18.21

Again, see above above. I've written extensively about this amazing film in previous years. I don't think there's anything left to say other than this film makes me miss early Tim Burton. I can't say that I've really liked much of what he's done in the last decade or so. However, when he was doing Batman, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, etc. it's mind-blowingly amazing. I just love this beautifully weird and hilariously bizarre film!

9.18.21

A detour from the staples, but hey, that happens sometimes. This is the pinnacle of the 90s slasher movies. However, upon a re-watch, it's definitely not aging well. I mean, most of the reasons people die in this film are no longer applicable. Also, random thought, who has a door in their garage door for a cat?

9.18.21

I can't watch the original without immediately watching the second, which is by far the strongest of the franchise. I love the meta-meta quality of it, particularly with the classroom discussions of sequels being better than the originals. It'd only be meta if it wasn't for the fact that this film is also superior to the original, making it meta-meta. Who couldn't love this film more? The stakes are higher, the body count is higher, and it has Laurie Metcalf! I mean, come on!

9.24.21

As a child, I loved this film so much. It has to be a pre-season staple. However, as I keep watching it I can't help but notice that it hasn't aged particularly well. Bill Murray's character continues to come off more and more of a sexists and kind of predatory when he constantly pursues Sigourney Weaver's character. I mean, seriously he's forcing himself upon her constantly. That, mixed with the fact that the creature effects seem to get worse and worse with each watch, haven't necessarily dimmed my love of the movie, but definitely become more prominent. However, I can't help but love this film as I'm particularly affected by nostalgia.

9.24.21

Again, another staple. Can't recommend this film enough. I love Don Knotts and his nervous, frantic acting. Look at past years if you want to know more about this film, but whenever I watch this it's like wrapping myself up in a nice, warm blanket.

"...AND THEY USED BON AMI!"

9.25.21 NEW

So this sounds utterly ridiculous, so I couldn't resist. Killer slacks? lol. Who knows how this will go. It's got like a 97% on RT, but it's a 5.3 on IMDb...so this could go either way. I'm thinking it's got to be a story of how consumerism is killing us all and the fashion industry is a prime example of it.

Oh no! Not experimental Canadian cotton! How could it be killer? I mean, it's Canadian cotton?!?!?

What 16 year old has a dream of working...well, period...much less at a clothing store? This girl is way too excited to be working at a Gap rip off.

Okay, so pretty much like everyone figures...everyone who works at a clothing store is miserable and mean. Wow, they won't even give her a discount yet? Jeesh. That's shitty.

The regional manager is clearly a psychopath.

She gotta go plug her hole? lol. Looks like she won't be plugging anything any time soon.

I don't know. Maybe this movie may pick up the pace, but so far it's not nearly as fun or hilarious as I thought it would be. I mean, the premise is about a killer pair of jeans. You could go all kinds of hilarity and bonkers. Instead, so far it's rather dry and not that fun.

How on earth does the manager believe for a moment that Jenna killed herself? She's literally cut in two and then stuffed under the sink?!?!?!

So the slacks have killed two people and there are now two red marks with two to go. What does it do when it gets two more people? It's there like a mega evolution? Mega Slaxx? lol.

It appears to be like hypnotizing people with it's fairly unremarkable logo.

OMG! It's its eating his hands. He's got no hands now. It's making a face with the top portion of the slacks like it's angry. OK. That's the movie I signed up for! Best kill so far! Let's hope there's more like that in store. I can't wait for the manager to die. It better be epic!

You at least have to give it to the manager...he is one dedicated employee.

The social media influencer also desperately needs to get axed as well. Well that didn't take long. I love how it hops up on the counter and then sort of glares at everyone. Now it's just killing everyone in the building. Of course, our little heroine is going to wake up after a bloodbath.

Let the bitch walk out the door. Yup, he certainly did. Don't blame him for that one!

It's making sounds now like a Gremlin lol. OMG...it's going to dance now?!?!?!? YYYYAAASSS!!!!!

So are these slacks possessed by an Indian spirit?

All it really wants to do is dance to Bollywood music. Just let it dance! Just let it dance!

Well, the cat's out of the bag. It's not unexpected that a company that claims it doesn't use sweatshops and it fair trade, is clearly doing the opposite.

So it's the spirit of a 13 year old child laborer from India who died in a farming accident.

What do you call a group of killer jeans? A murder of jeans? Lol.

So it Craig is a killer as well? He'll clearly do anything for the CCC. He's got that PASSION for FASHION...a little too much. Oh, and he's eaten by an army of killer jeans that are clearly possessed by female child Indian laborers who died to make clothing. I wish his death was cooler. I mean, so far there has been just one good kill and that's it.

Well, this is a 'madness' Monday, literally. It'll be one to remember. The slacks want to kill everyone that comes in. Will the one dimensional heroine be able to stop her? No...but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Wow...how did she hit her head on the ground that hard? Now it's a blood bath. That's honesty how she dies? Hitting her head on the ground? Wow...I mean, I guess the mob she was trying to protect ended up killing her in the end.

This certainly didn't live up to my expectations. This could have been fun, hilarious, a real satire of consumerist/social media culture. Instead, all we get are one dimensional characters, no good kills (outside of the one), and a message that I think gets super muddled in the tone and story. I wanted it to be hilarious. Instead, it was vapid and dull. I hope this isn't an omen of what's to come.

9.25.21 NEW

I'm not always sure about James Wan. He's a hit or miss for me. I love Aquaman and the Conjuring. But then there are the Saw movies and Fast and Furious. We'll see where this film stacks up. I'm hoping it's good after what we just watched. I'm going to need it, but I guess that's the chance you take watching entirely new films. You hope for gems, but you got to get through a lot of crap first.

Already, with the beginning and the opening montage...makes me worried. Let's hope it picks up.

Abusive husband is clearly going to get what's coming to him and I am here for it. You bash a pregnant woman's head into a wall, you should get anything that's coming your way.

So whatever this is has the power to manipulate electricity. This isn't some X-Men/mutant like thing is it? I certainly hope it's not.

It's like they're trying too hard to make this house look scary and spooky. It's almost a little too forced if you ask me. The outside is like that of Psycho and the walls are all dingy. Trying way too hard.

She didn't do anything to her head wound?!?! I mean, come on she's pregnant and hasn't had a successful pregnancy yet and she's just going to go to sleep? That's like the opposite of what you do.

Whatever is in the house with her is giving me some Ring vibes. Another head trauma for the evening! This woman isn't going to be conscious here pretty soon for the rest of the movie.

Why is the detective sucking on a sucker in a morgue? That seems sanitary.

We are only like 20 minutes in and already she's boobytrapping the place all Macaulay Culkin like. lol.

Okay, well that's some interesting trivia that Seattle had a big fire in the 1800s and the Seattle we know now is built on the remnants of the old one. Had no clue about that! But seriously, she's like a tour guide for the spooky underground city.

Who is this lady that the Ring/Shadow monster has taken? It looked really similar to the protagonist. Oh, she's one of the people who worked with the doctor in the opening. So is this Ring/Shadow monster an actual person, because it feels like now they're a real person? I'm confused.

So now she's able to see what's happening somewhere else? She's watching the Ring/Shadow monster that's really a guy (maybe?) kill the doctor from the opening?

OMG, not another head wound! This woman needs to wear a fucking helmet from now on. Seriously.

Random thought...but the male detective is kind of cute...and the other detective is giving me Wanda Sykes vibes.

So this has to be a mutant of some kind.

Why is the police station look like a museum/warehouse? I've never seen something that open before. Odd place to put a police station.

So far this hasn't been scary at all. It's been mostly kind of incoherent. It is a ghost? Is it a spirit? Is it a mutant? How is this woman connected? Why does she had miscarriages? Is she his twin or is he a cancer that was cut out of her? It's gonna be something crazy like that.

Okay, well the Ring/Shadow monster isn't going to win any beauty contests any time soon. I'm gonna bet right now that with all the information I have, they cut something out of the girl when she was younger and it grew up to be whatever it is today.

Every time I see the Black female detective, I'm just a little sad because now I desperately want it to be Wanda Sykes.

Did her mom just say that when she was 9 she 'nagged' her family to have a birthday? Really? Why would you frame it like that? And this home video that her mother has seems really convenient. So Gabrielle is clearly something that was literally inside her head, Gabrielle. That's some pretty bad acting on the part of 9 year old Emily.

Oh! Convenient information dump! Not really, just giving us the next victim. Those photos don't look fake at all!

How did the hot Asian guy not die? So Gabrielle is clearly mortal because he can be thwarted and injured, although he's definitely a contortionist. How is this detective still pursuing him? I'd have given up a long time ago. And of course they end up in a place that's meant to be super atmospheric and creepy. Like why is there so much mist down here? It's just pouring out of the walls and floors. Like it's ridiculously staged.

My assessment so far of Gabrielle is that he's mortal, looks the Ring lady and Freddy Krueger had a child, dresses and can move like he's in the Matrix.

So he's been in her attic the entire time?!?! Oh what an exciting twist!!! NOT. And why did Gabrielle not kill the woman that fell through the floor? I mean, he killed everyone else.

Okay, that call between the detective and Gabrielle was cringe-worthy. So now he's the devil? I don't understand who this thing is supposed to be.

And now the sister is going to something that clearly looks like Hogwarts which was the mental institution. She nearly rolls off the cliff and goes there in the middle of the night. Seriously, that couldn't have been a worse decision. And yet she finds the tapes she needs, goes back to her mom's house without incident, watches the tapes, and we realize the bitch in the attic is her birth mother. Twist! Twist! But hey...why would I care. Oh, now the mother had Gabrielle is with her mother first.

Mom called it... it's full on Voldemort in the first Harry Potter movie...seriously...we joked about that before the reveal but...seriously...this is ridiculous.

Wow...the stereotypes in the jail with Emily are hilarious and quite tragic.

How would they take that off of Emily? How would that not kill her? How would that not leave her entirely scarred? How would just not have huge scars on her back and the back of her neck. So she is the killer! Oh....too bad I really don't care. This is absolutely batshit in the jail and really, all around.

The Wachowski siblings should sue James Wan over the detective bull pin scene...I mean just a blatant ripoff of the Matrix.

Okay, I will say...Gabrielle throwing the chair at the two detectives was pretty awesome...but that's about it.

How is the hot Asian guy with the broken arm going to stop Gabrielle/Emily? lol.

I still don't get the whole electricity thing. How did that happen? How is that a part of it? I don't get that.

All in all, this is a terrible film. No one asked for this film, and no one should have gotten this. I know Wan has some street cred built up, but wow...this is a terrible film. At least with Slaxx, it wanted me to laugh. This film certainly did not, and I laughed hard through most of it. It's ridiculous but is trying hard not to be. Before watching this I honestly couldn't think that a film would be worse than Slaxx. I guess that just shows that you never know when watching new films what you're going to get.

10.1.21 NEW

So no one in this house knew that the 'd' is silent in 'djinn'. Again, not my pick so I'm immediately skeptical based on Mitchell's last pick 'Malignant'. Once again, this has a terrible IMBd rating, but a solid RT rating. This could go either way, however, this is one the lowest rated IMBd scores that I've seen in a while.

This kid's toes point upward. That's freaky in and of itself.

The woman crying in the kitchen and the candle going out was rather anti-climactic. Let's hope the rest of this film doesn't follow that example. I was ready for a twisted face or...well, anything would have been better.

Yeah, I wouldn't fuck with a book called the Book of Shadows. Why in the world do they even have something like that? I mean, come on. That's basically like having the Necronomicon just hanging out in your personal library. You should probably put it in a garage sale.

So his father, who looks pretty old to have a kid this young, plays some pretty awesome music on his radio station. It almost feels as though he's a little out of place.

Honestly, who leaves a book like this in the apartment? Wouldn't the staff go around and check to make sure things were gone? Also, if you were the father you'd definitely have done a walk around, seen a creepy book of spells, and been like 'oh, hell no'.

I hope this kid doesn't think he's going to get the genie from Aladdin, although I'm sure he'll never have a friend like it. lol.

He clearly wants a voice because he thinks that's why his mother left? Hell, I think that's every parents dream! In the grand scope of disabilities, in my view, I'm not sure that'd be a deal breaker of any kind.

Why does this kid have a scar shaped like the flux capacitor on his chest? Wow. That looked like someone opened him up.

Was that the black flame candle they just showed? Please tell me this is all a rouse and the Sanderson sisters are going to pop out of that closet! PLEASE!!!!

So is this Djinn just giving us a tour of the apartment because I'm wondering when the scares will take place. However, I now have a very intimate knowledge of the layout of the apartment...not necessarily something I was jonesing for.

What does the convict dying have anything to do with this? Oh, well apparently it's taking the form of that man. Okay, well I don't know if a demon-like creature turning into a human is going in the opposite direction of terrifying.

Also, why in the world would you touch that substance? It's black and giving off a creepy mist. That's like how to survive 101.

Oh, so the mom killed herself. Okay, that's traumatizing. Got it.

Really? The Djinn is an all magical genie. It literally made the glass stop from breaking in the window, but the kid can knock it out with one blow to the back?

I do like how the Djinn can take on different forms that it finds around the house. That would be terrifying if you lived in a family home with lots of pictures. Just seeing your grandma tearing down the stairs to eat you would be enough. The thing I don't like is how susceptible it is to things like getting hit with the back of a toilet or Raid in the eyes.

The Djinn seems fairly intelligent. I mean, enough to snake the gas hose into the bathroom to try and kill the kid. Why in the world is it getting preoccupied with ripping the AC apart?

Why don't you blow out the damn candle and see if that does anything!!!

Well, this is a handy book filled with the rules of how the Djinn works to help the audience understand how this all works. Pretty convenient. I'm pretty sure that if you find a creepy book of spells, you better be reading the footnotes prior to casting any.

WHY. WOULD. YOU. OPEN. THE. DOOR. SON?!?!?!?!

Was the Ring so culturally impactful that any time you have a woman standing in the shadows she has to look like a near perfect copy? Seriously, that movie wasn't that great and this movie isn't really scary.

How did it get its arm through the wall? Where does that random vent go? Makes no sense.

I will say, props to this little boy. It's basically his movie. He's a one-man-band doing all of this in a tiny apartment. I'm really impressed with his acting, even if he doesn't have any lines.

It has got to be midnight at this point. Now they're just stretching out the time.

Did he really not read the book or understand it? He had the perfect opportunity to blow the candle out and he went for the door? That didn't make any sense! While she was moving away I would have just jumped over the counter and blew it out.

It's a little confusing because it feels like the boy entirely forgets about the candle, but then suddenly remembers. Very jarring.

The music in this is pretty great. Whoever was in charge of that aspect gets an A+. From the soundtrack to the score, it's pretty great.

So I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a twist or what, but I'm not crazy impressed with it. So the Djinn took his father's voice and gave it to the boy. The dad was a DJ and now can't make a living and they'll probably be on the streets.

I will say, the final reveal of the Djinn was pretty good. It looks like a blackened version of the alien in Signs.

All in all, I would say it gets high marks for cinematography and music. The Djinn was a more interesting monster than whatever was in Malignant. However, it just wasn't that scary and the characters were a little flat. I mean, as the credits roll I go...'meh'.

10.1.21 NEW

Okay, so I have high hopes for this. It's a Jordan Peele production and I haven't been upset by him yet, even if this is only the third film I've seen of his and he's not directing this. I wasn't a huge fan of the original one, but I'm hopeful for this one.

So I've heard there is a police brutality angle for this film, which is incredibly apt for this era. I just really hope that I don't feel like it's being overly exploited in this film.

Okay, if someone throws candy out of a black hole, you just plain run. Was that the original Candyman? Well, I wouldn't call that an entirely scary opening at all.

Yay! A bi-racial gay couple in a horror movie! Yay! I'm instantly happy and sad because I know at least one of them, if not both, will die.

So I think that the story he's telling is actually the original film. Maybe we should have watched the original prior to making it. So the projects in the first were destroyed and they built the apartments that the protagonist live in now.

Dang, the Black Manta has a nice booty!

I feel like Candyman could be living in Warsaw with the amount of bees we've had this summer. It's been a plague.

Do they have enough cops down in the laundry room? That's overkill. The man just really wanted to give kids candy, but you do have to admit if that man came out of a dark hole in the wall, with a hook for an arm and trying to give you candy, you'd probably scream, too.

I really like the filler scenes going through the city upside down, especially the cloudy night one.

I'm sorry, but why would you want to summon that especially when you're an adult? I have enough negativity in my life without needing to conjure more up by sheer will.

Really? One piece is just a mirror? I mean, I guess I've seen that played out before with a hard eye roll.

It's the guy from Hacks!!!

I want a nuvaring? Why in the world would you just blurt that out? lol.

Wow, so the white, sexists guy really needs to die. Don't say Candyman before I fuck you?!?!? Yeah, actually in all honesty, they both need to go.


So Candyman is invisible except for in mirrors? And clearly he doesn't just kill those who say his name. He works pretty fast. Very efficient.

Black Manta needs to go to the hospital. That bee sting don't look good.

But man, he thicccccccccc.....

Figures that the elevator is all mirrors. Pretty convenient.

I'm calling it! I bet Black Manta becomes Candyman. I bet he gets fingered for the murders in the art gallery, his hand falls off because of the bee sting. Just saying. Due to the fact that the current Candyman isn't the original, I bet they get replaced when a Black man is killed unjustly for a murder they didn't commit. I'm calling it.

Funny how art critics can change their interpretation based on how fluid the situation is.

GO TO THE HOSPITAL! THAT SHIT DON'T LOOK GOOD!

So I'm glad the art critic is dead, but on the other why does it feel like Candyman is framing him. I mean I know that Candyman can't help who summons him, but on the other hand what is that saying about black-on-black violence?

Okay, I like the idea of multiple Candymen...which is weird to say, but then where were all the others during the original? What was so different about the original Candyman's story that birthed the lineage?

I love how all the white girls get murder, but the minority students are smart enough not to deal with that shit.

I'm kind of disappointed in how lackluster the kills are. There's nothing truly memorable about any of them. Just slashed and dashed, nothing more.

He's so clearly the baby from the original. Yep, sure is.

Why is the guy from the laundromat kidnapping the girl? Why is Black Manta with him? Okay...so he wants to create another Candyman? Okay, I feel like I have no idea what's happening now. He wants to create a Candyman that will kill all the police this time? That will fight back? I'm not entirely sure...

Wow, I hate to say this, but I'm not sure this is as black or white as they film would like us to believe it is.

So by conjuring him up, she has to die right? The other Candyman has killed other Black people before. Does she get a pass because she was his girlfriend? I'm not getting the rules. Maybe I'm missing something because I don't remember the first, but why does the original Candyman take over his face???

So I won't lie, I came into this really really truly wanting to love this film. However, I found it confusing. The kills were EXTREMELY lackluster. I get the social commentary that it was trying to sell me, but I didn't buy it. Whereas other Jordan Peele films make me really think and try and 'peele' (get it) the layers, this kind of hits you over the head with it and is quite frankly reductive. I wanted this film to tell me that it's not all black and white. That didn't happen. This wasn't scary at all. I'm quite frankly a little more than disappointed.

10.3.21 NEW

This film came out at the same time that Psycho did which I think it got overshadowed because of it. However, it has a really good rating on RT as well as IMDb so I thought I'd give it a go.

What kind of camera is this guy using? Did they even have cameras they could just bring about like that where they didn't have to plug them in?

Man, this prostitute is pretty depressing. She just seems to be going through the motions. 2 quid for a go and that's it. What's reflecting off her face?

He's clearly making snuff films which I've always heard about, but thought they were like an urban legend.

So he's not only filming the act of murder, but the aftermath as well.

"What papers sell the most? The kind with women on the front cover and no front cover on the women." lol.

So he pretends to work for a newspaper store, but he's upstairs making risque photographs.

Wow, so that's an interesting model with a huge scar on from her lip to her nose. Not entirely sure if there's a huge market for that, but who knows what gets people off anymore. There's a kink for everything nowadays.

I do love the coat he wears back to his boardinghouse. Very cool. I'd like one of those!

Why would you bring a piece of cake up to a total strangers that still has a candle lit? Especially if it's your birthday?

I didn't realize, but this is one of the first movies in the slasher genre, which I guess makes sense given that it came out roughly the same time as Psycho. I feel like it's sort of the British counterpart to Psycho, which is odd, given that Hitchcock is British.

This guy has kind of a creepy Swedish vibe going on.

Happy birthday total stranger, here's a snuff film to watch!

No, instead he goes for a family film where his father shines a light in his eyes while he's sleeping and then scares him with a lizard. Got to love those home movies! lol. Seriously. Clearly, he has a psychopath for a father.

Great, that's just want you want in your childhood. A scientist for a father that's interested in fear, especially in children.

This actress has a super weird way of dancing. It's giving me a little bit of Crispin Glover vibes in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, only in how oddly interesting it is. She's definitely getting the axe soon.

Love the meta quality of him photographing her photographing him. I do love how he basically tells her he's going to kill her without her actually knowing it. Very devious. He's very creepy.

None of the murder so far happen on screen, which is a touch disappointing, but I believe that's because it was harder to get things pass the censors in Britain.

"What are you worried about?"
"The price of whiskey."
LOL.

So he killed the girl, stuffed her in a trunk, returned to work (aka the scene of the crime) and then filmed the reaction to the actors opening the trunk and find her body. He's definitely a twisted person.

The girl's mother maybe a lush, but she's got the senses of the a cat and has pretty much figured it all out.

Interesting, so he doesn't want to photograph (which is, I guess, an old timey way of saying filming) his new girlfriend because basically anyone he films, he kills. I love how he rips the camera out of her hands because she wants him to film her.

Wow, really creepy. After she kisses him, he immediately kisses the lens of the camera. What does he love more, I wonder.

Wow, momma isn't playing around. She kind of turns the tables on him, sneaking up on him. OMG. She's blind? I had absolutely no idea. And she has a knife on the end of her cane? She's slowly becoming a badass in my mind.

Don't kill the mother! She's like my favorite character in this entire film! Phewww...that was close. Man, she is just like in his head. I feel like she knows without showing her cards. I'm properly impressed with her.

Okay, the director for the major film that they're shooting has a really creepy glass eye and it is very much noticeable. And this actress is cracking up hard. She's clearly way too delicate.

So his father, before he died, was interested in what caused a person to become a 'peeping tom' probably because he realized his son was one of them.

I just really love Mark's coat.

He opened up to the psychologist on set and now they suspect him. He probably won't last much longer. At least he knows he's being watched, I suppose, is kind of meta in and of itself. A peeping tom being watched.

He's definitely going to kill Millie. He has to. Did he?

Oh no, the last thing Mark wants is for his girlfriend to be alone in his rooms. Nothing good can come from this! She's probably on e of the most plainest girl's to be a love interest that I've seen. I haven't been particularly happy with her performance. Even when we're watching her face watch the film. She's just extremely so-so.

Wow, so he's pretty quick to have the cat come out of the bag. Just tells her that he's killed them all, of course.

Now, he wants to kill people who become frightened so he makes his girlfriend stand in the shadows so he can't see her be frightened.

So his father tortured him basically his entire life and he had all the rooms in the boardinghouse wired for sound. He's been listening to all of their conversations. Why on earth would she stay with him much less ask her to be shown all the gory details. It's like she's asking for it.

The most frightening thing in the world is fear? What on earth? Really?

Oh, so he made them watch their own deaths. That's interesting. I like that detail.

So he kills himself, taking photos and filming it while it happens before the cops come bust the door down. His death scene is incredibly fake and rather anti-climactic.

This is said to be one of Martin Scorsese's favorite films. I came into really wanting to love it, but I just couldn't find myself enthralled with the film. I believe Psycho is still a superior film, but this film does do things differently with its killer. I found him more sympathetic, but far more distant and I believe that they most cancelled each other out. It certainly isn't scary and, after watching, I would put this in the thriller category (and that's being generous). I feel like the British censors probably cut it off at the knees. I got where it was wanting to go, but I didn't feel like we reached the place it wanted to take me. I also can't help but think that my perspective is colored by linking this film to Psycho and finding it very much lacking.

10.3.21 NEW

I've heard that this film is kind of a proto-slasher film. Whereas films like Psycho and Peeping Tom were slashers before they even knew what they were, this film was a part of the cusp. Coming out after Texas Chainsaw and before Halloween, this would be one of the very first to market itself as a slasher.

It's interesting how it plays itself off as a true story. This has got to be one of the first of its kind to do this. It's interesting how they have a narrator. It has a very true crime kind of vibe to it like something you would see on the original Unsolved Mysteries.

Okay, how did the creators of this film not sue the filmmakers of Friday the 13th: Part 2? I mean, this literally looks exactly like Jason does with the sack over his head with the cut out eye holes. I mean, whereas this has two, Jason had one, but that literally is the ONLY difference. I can definitely see how this villain does set up the slashers to follow. Leatherface was a little more 'wild' of a slasher than the slow, methodical stalkers like Michael and Jason that would follow.

I love how he opens the hood, rips out the cords, and then shows what he's done to the victims inside the car. That would be really creepy!

The breathing! You definitely get the heavy breathing you would hear in the Friday the 13th and Halloween franchises.

It certainly doesn't take its time in getting down to business with the killing.

She's alive?!?! Good for her! Let's hope she stays that way. Oh, they're both still alive? Wow. He chewed on her? Wow. That's got to be painful.

What? The police threatening people? Who would think of such an outlandish thing?!?! lol.

Wow, the next couple sure do know how to act. Did they literally get picked up off the streets? Apparently Japanese girls know how to scrub a person's back???

Doesn't anyone own a house? Why is everyone parking on lonely roads? These people aren't children. I feel like they could go back to something with four walls and a roof.

This cop seems to know what the hell he's doing. That's a breath of fresh air. Although I love that he has a flashlight in what looks to be broad daylight.

Oh, the girl certainly doesn't look good, tied to a tree and shot in the back. She's been bitten.

I thought I would hate the narration, but I actually kind of like it.

Hysteria hits the community and they take all the locks and guns they could get.

They're getting the most famous ranger in all of Texas. They're really hyping this guy. Too bad they do literally give away the ending to this so we know how this will go.

This is giving me Zodiac (both the killer and the film) vibes, which I like. I'm hoping this film doesn't go off the tracks its currently on because I'm digging it.

I appreciate the little bit of comedic qualities of this film, like when the stupid cop can't find the keys to the car and has to go back into the police station and find them on the key stand. He then goes 100 mph around turns trying to get to the crime scene. Seriously, Sparkplug needs to lay off the coke.

OMG, I sincerely hope they dressed up cops as women in real life. I'm not going to lie, I kind of enjoy the comedic elements. Sparkplug as a girl is hilarious!!!

Why would they play Auld Lang Syne at a Senior Prom?!?!? Isn't that a New Years Eve song?

And to think, those two kids almost made it. That was pretty brave of the killer to hang onto the door while they were driving around. Why the guy didn't drive the door into a tree, I don't know.

For the record, the sack on this guy's head looks way better than the Jason's does.

He's trying to play the trombone? lol. OMG. He's killing her with a trombone?!?!?!

The killer was in the same restaurant as the rangers/cops/sheriffs!!! Cool...

Man, Sparkplug isn't that great of a driver. And Sparkplug lands it in a pond. Wow. He needs to be taken off the force.

The cars are pretty cool in this film.

Lloyd didn't last too long. He's never done a home invasion before.

Man, she's trying. At least she's trying. She's been shot twice, but she's trying. Poor lady...

She survived?!?! Go her! I was for sure she was a goner!

So I'm pretty impressed with this film and don't know why it doesn't have a higher rating on RT. It definitely was the proto-slasher film. I can see how it connects to films like Friday the 13th as well as Zodiac. I know that the film is berated for the acting, but I didn't mind the acting. I appreciated the comedic elements as well as the narration. Basically everything this film is derided for, I liked. I see there's a reboot/sequel and I think I might watch that as well!

10.3.21 NEW

So I loved the original so much that I had to watch the sequel, which actually has a way better score on RT than the original, which I find amazing. I guess we'll see how this one matches up, but I did love the first one. Let's hope this isn't a huge disappointment.

Okay, I instantly love how this film pays homage to the original film by acknowledging that these are real events and that the film is screened during Halloween around the region. It even starts out with narration. It definitely gives some street cred to this film. Okay, it has me so far...

It's starting off pretty much the same. If you saw the Phantom, and you know what the film means, why on earth would you not leave immediately.

The Phantom talks. I don't know if I like that. However, this is probably more in line with the Zodiac killings. She could run, but why doesn't she? Well, she ends up doing it but it doesn't amount to much.

Make them remember? Oh, I certainly hope this one doesn't try to explain too much. I really need it not to.

I like the generational aspect of this film. I also like how the original film plays into this one and that can only really happen due to the true nature of the crimes as well as length of time between the original film and now.

Again, not sure how much I like him talking, but I could very well just be conditioned from the slasher films that came after the original.

So I'm interested in the survivor's angle...the guilt, the shame, etc. It's a very interesting, new age angle that you don't always see.

Wow, they aren't afraid to show some sex and tits...unfortunately small tits. They're definitely a couple that's going to die. OMG...the bone coming out of her leg!?!?! AAAAHHHH!!!

I love how they instantly blame the first film and claim that they'll never view the film again.

Sparkplug?!?!? Who is Sparkplug in this?!?!?

Isn't Lone Wolf a comedian? I think he's the dad in Black-ish.

So wait, your boyfriend dies brutally in front of you and you're flirting with a young, cute archivist?

This film, in and of itself, has kind of an interesting style. The amount of cut shots when killings are happening as well as the letters going over her eyes while she's researching what took place way back when. I will say I'm intrigued.

Okay, so the young, cute archivist is probably being set up to be a suspect.

So a copycat tried to infiltrate the ceremony and someone was killed. You can't be seriously that everyone believes that it's the person who killed the previous three people. That's just a copycat or something more devious.

Is there a gay couple in this that'll get eviscerated? Are they in some in some sign graveyard? Yeah, they're all going to get killed. Poor Queers. Wow. That happened quickly.

Wow, they really took the best kill in the first with the trombone and really went with it in this one.

So the Reverend, which is Richie Rich's father, and someone you'd never suspect of killing anyone is in this and got caught for sending an email.

Wow, never thought I'd see the father in the Brady Bunch remake get a blowjob. That's definitely something that I never thought I'd see and never wanted to.

Wow, so he immediately dies and the Phantom just goes after her relentlessly. Wow. Very quick. Definitely a call back to one of the last victims in the original in the field. Although, that woman made it out alive. She certainly didn't.

So Pierce's son's theory is that because of the notoriety of being a suspect and dying, that generational trauma made the suspect's grandchild commit the current atrocities.

If it's not the young, cute archivist than I don't know who it could be. She's gonna give it up and he's probably the grandchild that's been terrorizing everyone. However, he doesn't have the build for it. Well, that's clearly not the case because he dead.

I think the cop is the killer! But let's face it, the first one didn't identify the killer and I sincerely hope that this one doesn't either.

Oh no, they shouldn't have stopped. He killed her grandma!?!?!?!? That's like three people at the gas station already. He was clearly watching her.

Wait. I'm confused. Are there more than one Phantoms?!?!?

It was the cop and her dead boyfriend that's not really dead. And....the dad kills his son...seriously???? What's going on?!?!?!

Okay. that ended quickly. Now the killers are both dead. I'm not sure how I feel about this ending. I guess that I wanted this film to leave it as open-ended in the first film and that's not how it went. However, I thought it wouldn't be as good as it is, but it's not as good as the first one.

10.4.21

Another staple! You have to watch this film around this time of year. Mel Brooks is a genius. Gene Wilder is a genius. Cloris Leachman is a genius. Marty Feldman is a genius. Madeline Kahn, Peter Boyle, Teri Garr...ALL GENIUSES! All the stars aligned perfectly to give us this gem of a comedic film. This is in my top three comedies of all time. You honestly can't get much better than this! If you want to read more, go back through the many years I've written about it. ABSOLUTE PERFECTION!!!

10.4.21 NEW

Werewolf films are always such a hit or miss for me. You have some pretty bad ones (The Howling) and then you have some pretty good ones (American Werewolf in London). This got some pretty decent ratings on RT so let's hope it's more AWiL.

Oh, I like that guy who comes off as a dumb jock in nearly everything he does. I feel bad for him, but it's definitely his voice that makes me constantly think that he's a burn out dumb jock.

So he starts a fight immediately as soon as he gets into town at the restaurant? That gives me dumb jock vibes all around. Why would you do that? The idiots were literally on their way out the door. They did say 'fag', so I guess they had it coming.

Oh, he's going to propose! Well, something tells me he's not going to make it that far.

What's he doing with a razorblade in the shower? Is he literally shaving himself?

The sheriff seems super duper old to be...well, doing much of anything. This town must be hard up if they're still electing him. Oh shit, I just looked and this was the actor who plays the sheriff's final film. Yikes.

Apparently, the guy who plays his son is the writer, director, and star of this film. I've never heard of him before, Jim Cummings.

It took her vagina? Wow. It was pretty quick to rip her apart and then carefully remove her lady parts.

For a small town, they sure do have some attractive cops. Hot snow cops.

One trope that this film seems to be falling into is that it's quietly setting up everyone as a suspect. It's going a little too far out of its way to do that. We just watched Werewolves Within that did pretty much the same thing.

How does this guy have a 17 year old daughter? He doesn't look like he could even have a 5 year old.

Oh! I like the look of the wolf! Yay! One trope avoided already! I hate when werewolves aren't seen until the very end. It so screams of either: A) they're trying and failing to be like Jaws or C) they're so budget strapped they can't possibly show you until the last 5 minutes of the film.

Wow, he's like a pretty angry, mean guy. For something that happens in your profession, you clearly lose your shit when it does. It was said they have a homicide once every two years, so it's not like they haven't seen murder before.

God, he's so angry. I think they want us to believe that it's him, but that's got to be a fake out. He snaps at his own daughter for nothing.

Is it just me, or when he gets out of the cop car after getting a beer bottle thrown at it, does his canine teeth look pretty big?

Yay! A second killer in the film...meth.

I really like the female cop. If you ask me, if the sheriff croaks, she should run.

Okay, I get that you're probably freaked out by the guy at the restaurant, but why on earth did you have to get out of the car to inspect a dead deer? Why not just drive around it?

OMG! Love the werewolf scene! Oh wow...little girl died, too?!? That's said.

This cop is deranged. Slapping the coroner? Really? Seriously? Now he's drinking...like a lot. Mouth wash? Really?

Does he really ask if women have had to deal with abuse and violence since the middle ages? LOL. No, it's a new issue.

Wow, if her father finds out what she's doing...he will literally kill that guy. And of course, the car doesn't start immediately. I really do like the look of the werewolf.

Wow, good for the daughter. He needed to hear that shit. Now she and his father are in the hospital. And the first thing he does is open up his daughter's phone, find her boyfriend, and then goes to beat up the boyfriend.

Oh shit, his dad died while he was beating up the boyfriend.

He's going downhill fast. Even AA won't have him and he's parked in the middle of the street.

What's with the tooth coming out?

He's supposed to be 39?!? Damn, he looks good for 39!!!

Who's the guy with the tattoos that was clearly burning a body and now is ODing in a really small trailer? Well, now he's dead. I feel like this is a misdirect as well.

Nope, it's has to be him because he's got those canine teeth.

Who is this taxidermist? What's with the needles and thread? Is this the guy that was talking to the lady and her daughter before they were killed? Is this that thing like in Hannibal where the guy made a sabretooth tiger suit?

Yep, that's exactly it. Interesting. Wow. Didn't really think about that. It was a serial killer all along. Wow. He was right.

Yay! the lady cop became sheriff! He's still alive? Wow. And he didn't kill the boys that were talking nasty about the new freshmen girls. Baby steps.

So, I'm a little torn by this film. You have a pretty terrible protagonist and continues to be terrible throughout the entire film. You have a pretty awesome looking werewolf that turns out to not be a werewolf at all. You have a sort of whodunit, but no real evidence that would lead you to the real culprit...and yet, it somehow works. I'm a little surprised and a little disappointed. I don't know which one I am more so. I think, on the whole, a little more surprised.

10.4.21 NEW

So when you have a movie where Jodie Foster is a killer little girl and it has such a high rating on RT, you can't help but want to watch it. Add in Michael Sheen and you just have to say yes to it. Let's hope it's as good as it is in my head!!!

If this is all the film is, where a young Jodie Foster just walks around a beach...I'd probably still give it an 8. This is post Taxi Driver.

Wow, Michael Sheen looks really young. Like super young. He also looks really coked up. Like super coked up. You can see it in his eyes. He's also being super creepy. Wow, like crazy creepy when he rubs on Jodie's arms.

I do love whatever Jodie is wearing. It's like a really weird long, white robe. I'm not sure what it's from, but I'm kind of in love with it. Apparently, it's a Moroccan dress. I really like it.

Wow, so he's clearly a Lester the Molester type situation. He's telling her how pretty she is, asking if she's got a boyfriend, slapping her ass, etc. Seriously. What a creeper.

So this little girl clearly lives alone and is taking money out of safety deposit box. Wouldn't someone know something is up, especially when she asks for her signature back and tears it up. That's not suspicious or anything.

For a second, I thought the woman getting out of the car was Jodie Foster, but today's Jodie Foster. Almost uncanny.

Oh, so the older lady who I thought was Jodie Foster, is Michael Sheen's mother, who clearly understands that her son is a child molester and tells a 13 year old girl not to let her son into the house.

So apparently, Jodie does not like this film and has pretty much shunned it. This was literally one of five films that she made that came out in 1976. It's like that was the year of Jodie Foster.

I hope the cop doesn't die because he's actually really nice, so I guess by definition, he probably has to die.

What kind of 'people' is Jodie Foster? The old lady makes her sound like she's an immigrant. What kind of person does she think they are? I'm very confused.

Even being slapped, Jodie Foster can handle herself. Oh, so the racist old lady clearly found her dead father in the cellar. Jodie didn't kill her, but she might have to. I certainly wouldn't be upset if she did.

Nope, she dead. She really dead. Can't say that I'm sorry for it.

Jodie know where the bodies are buried...or...stored for the time being. LOL.

She's got the fake hots for the crippled magician. And then he automatically asks a 13 year old girl if she's ever smoked hash. LOL.

Can I just ask...is this a horror film? IMBd and and Amazon both say it is one, but I'm not sure so far.

Oh, so he's covering for her ass when the cop shows up asking questions. He tells the cop that he's seen her father. He's getting caught up in it, that can't end well.

Oh no, Michael Sheen comes in. Now it's getting scary. He's found the magician. Let's see who can make who disappear.

Oh no, Gordon gonna be the next to die. Poor Gordon. He dead now.

So now Mario knows. Her mother is dead, her father is dead, and Michael Sheen's mother is dead.

So her father gave her something to give to her mother if she should come to see her. So is her father alive? Oh no, she's killing Mario? Really? Wow. False flag.

That's some pretty terrible music to put on after you confess that you've accidentally killed two people.

So she's roped in Mario. I can't say as I blame him. But this isn't shaping up to look too good for him if/when this all goes south. He's not entirely happy with the situation.

Okay, I'm calling it. How and why IMBd and Amazon call this a horror movie, I'll never know. It's way more of a drama.

What the hell?!?!?!? That can't possibly be her father?!?!?! It's heavy makeup so I'm guessing that it's Mario pretending. It's definitely Mario pretending. Close call.

So I totally know that it wasn't Jodie, but her sister, in the nude scene, but I do have to say that I think that it's entirely extraneous. There was really no need for it.

Oh, so Mario is dying. I hope that he doesn't die! I hope she doesn't kill him!

When does Michael Sheen rear his ugly head again? Oh...right about now.

I will say, I've never wanted Michael Sheen to die so much as I do right now. I've never been a pro-death for Michael Sheen. And now he's dressed as Mario's magician. Oh, he's down to clown.

Their long winter nights together...very creepy.

She poisoned him and it worked! Good. I'm glad he's dying. Again, never been a pro-Michael Sheen dying before, but I'm definitely on that train now.

Okay, so just like I said why in the world both Amazon and IMDb put this as a horror film, I'll never know. This wasn't a horror film. It was certainly a drama and once you look at it through that lens, it's a powerful film. All the acting was absolutely amazing. Jodie is amazing. Michael Sheen is coked up. Mario and others are just great. The plot was awesome...again, when not looking at it as a horror film. I loved this film...as a drama....not as a horror film. However, I'm not rating it as a horror film.

10.8.21 NEW

I decided not to do a moment-by-moment post this weekend, so these will be shorter and just random thoughts overall.

Wow, this is not a great film. It didn't add anything to the slasher genre, but it almost felt like it took something away.

First of all, it was a rather easy deduction as to who was the killer. The masks were 3D printed so the person had to have some kind of resources. The gimmick of the killer donning a mask the resembled the victim's face was okay in theory, BUT THE MASKS DIDN'T EVEN LOOK LIKE THE VICTIMS!!!

The logic also behind who was supposed to die also didn't make any sense. At first, I thought I got it. He killed the bully, then the racist, but then he went after someone who had an opioid addiction, that that just didn't make sense. Punish the assholes of the world, not the people who are suffering. I was almost on the killer's side for the first few, but after that third kill, it didn't even make sense anymore and was frankly a little sad.

The acting wasn't terrible, even though the main protagonist's backstory built up to absolutely nothing.

I was also weirdly attracted the the guy everyone thought was a loner and a sociopath.

Was it just me, or did it make absolutely no sense that the rich kid made all his father's nazi memorabilia into bongs? How would his father not know? After that night, how would his father not either be in jail or completely humiliated. The police would have been all over that house and found his nazi stuff and a death on his property? How would he have been able to even move forward with Corn in the USA (which I thought was cute a clevel).

Also, the corn maze being set on fire made no sense. The movie wants you to think that they're trapped in the corn while it's burning, but forgive me if I'm wrong, but it's fairly easy to walk out of the corn maze. It didn't show the killer lighting the perimeter of the maze or anything.

Let's talk about how terrible the killer is at the end. I was actually a little offended by his reasoning, only because I thought it was so shoddy how they laid it all out. The idea of a white, rich person trying to kill just to keep what he believes is his right...it literally didn't make any sense. If that's the case, why would he kill the first two victims? Why wouldn't he just kill minority people? I got why he wanted to kill his dad, but honestly, it just seemed really forced and shoddily done.

Terrible. Wouldn't recommend at all!

10.8.21 NEW

This film had a great premise, but a lousy execution.

I thought that the whole premise was really interesting. You don't really see Jewish horror all that often.

I did enjoy the protagonist which resembled a poor man's version of Riz Ahmed.

I don't have much to say regarding this film. It wasn't particularly scary at all. The real theme, which seems to be a fad and at the heart of most of horror these days, is trauma. However, on the whole I did appreciate the sense of grief that the film creates around the father who, due to his own inequities, loses his son.

The real reason why this film is so lowly rated due to the underwhelming nature of the ending. It feels as though the film is building toward something substantial, but then falls completely flat. The climax is rather anti-climactic and over within a few minutes. Literally the protagonist walks down a hallway with some really cheap-looking faces and hands coming out of the walls, sees what is a pretty interestingly designed demon, but then it's immediately over.

On the other hand, the reason this film is rated as high as it is, is that after all this, the father who has been disenfranchised with his religion after the death of his son, doesn't 'see the light'. I really appreciated that aspect of the film. He doesn't immediately turn back ot his religion. He just chooses to go on with his life.

10.9.21 NEW

This film felt more like a really good episode of the original Unsolved Mysteries than an actual horror movie. For whatever reason, I don't know if it's the fact that it was made in Australia or what, but this film felt way older than 2008.

It was necessarily scary, but that seems to be a theme this year. I don't think we've actually really watched a good scary movie this year. Nothing on par with Host from last year.

If anything, this film is much more about family trauma and how they pick up the pieces when a sister/daughter dies tragically. I wasn't quite sure at first about the ghost fake out. I didn't mind it as much because the film presents it as a way for individuals inside the family are coping/acting out. However, it does get a little convoluted as it feels like...there's a ghost...there's no ghost...wait, now there's a ghost.

It felt a little out of field when it's revealed that the sister/daughter was having a sexual affair with the neighbors that really didn't amount to anything.

I thought there was kind of a spooky part when they find the sister/daugther's cellphone with the video of her dead self coming at her. I thought that was super interesting and wanted to heighten that aspect, however, again, it didn't amount to anything.

I wasn't super impressed with this film as a horror movie, but if you look at it from a dramatic perspective, it's not a terrible film about a family dealing with trauma.

10.9.21 NEW

Not thrilled about this one. I really don't even feel like writing about it. Not scary. Deranged religious zealot goes ape shit. We've seen it before and this was mostly a snooze fest.

10.16.21

10.16.21 NEW

So I was more than a little worried going into this film. Halloween is my favorite slasher franchise of all time. I was mostly impressed with the semi-reboot in 2018 which was bolstered by a surprisingly high RT score. This one, however, took a bit of a nose dive. It sits at only 39% currently.

On the whole I was not utterly disappointed. I thought, overall, it gave some interesting depth to the town of Haddonfield as well as some interesting new angles on that fateful Halloween night in 1978.

I sometimes feel that the original should remain untouched. It's clearly a classic. While this film didn't necessarily rewrite anything, it did extrapolate on how that night ended. While my initial gut reaction was "how dare you!", I ended up kind of appreciating it. In my head, I had to remind myself that Halloween 2 in this timeline (1 out of 5 currently) didn't happen. I was like, where do these scenes fall in between 1 and 2, but you have to get over that.

I also honestly thought that they CGI'd someone to look like Donald Pleasance and was astounded to learn that it was just a carpenter on the set that looked eerily similar. They slapped on some prosthetics and that was that! Who knew! That man might have a future in acting if they ever need a stand in again.

There's been a lot of controversy over Michael killing all the firefighters. As someone who is way to the left, I honestly didn't have an issue with it. Apparently they weren't actors, but actual firefighters that wanted to be in the movie. It wasn't denigrating firefighters at all. They just happened to be in his way. I didn't care for the whole "we'll attack him one at a time" trope that these movies can get into, but hey, it jacked the body count up substantially.

One area of the movie that I wasn't particularly happy with was the whole notion that Michael just wanted to go home. There is this question about whether he's coming after Laurie or not. I get why they did what they did, but I disagreed. They wanted to get across that it wasn't all about Laurie, but even so, I wanted Michael to go after her if nothing more than he's pissed because she bested him once again and he wants to finish her once and for all. I didn't care for how they sidelined Laurie in this movie, but could bring myself to understand it. She's an old woman that's been stabbed. She's gonna need to sit out for a hot moment.

EVIL DIES TONIGHT! That'll be burned into my brain. I am not a fan of all the heavy-handed language that's used in this regarding the whole idea of 'evil'. It's just not my bag.

I didn't like how they set up the roving groups of only one to three people that clearly were for picking off by Michael. I understood what they wanted to do with the whole mob mentality, but this aspect just made absolutely no sense and a lot of people died because of it. I thought the idea they were trying to get across was most effective during the hospital scene where they were going after the other escaped mental patient. My heart hurt for him and I thought that this side story was one of the most effective things about this film. I wanted more from it. I wanted the people there to see themselves as monsters. We get glimpses into that, but not enough to fully realize the idea.

The biggest issue that I had with this film was there was no one to root for other than Michael. He oddly became the hero of this story and I don't know how effective that is overall. I love Michael, but I want to be terrified for him and not rooting for him necessarily. Scout and her mother are completely sidelined. Laurie is sidelined. The officer who we get more background on and is somehow survives the 2018 movie is sidelined. All we have is Tommy and boy, I was not a fan of his portrayal or how we acts in this movie. I was ready for Tommy to die. So then, who are we left with other than Michael?

Also, while I loved the inclusive nature of the gays that have overhauled Michael's house (and it looks totes gorg) I HATED them calling each other Big John and Little John!!! HATED!!!!

Overall, I did think that the mob mentality, when it worked, it really worked. I liked the winks and nods to the previous films. I can see how this movie doesn't really move the narrative forward, and while that could certainly make people frustrated, I was okay with it. When you're a fan of Michael, just seeing Michael in action sufficed. It left me with a lot of unresolved questions and I, for one, am excited to see how the final chapter unravels.

10.22.21 NEW

10.22.21 NEW