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Life of Belle (2024)
Disturbing AF
This movie consists of both handheld and home-surveillance footage. It is recovered after police discover dead bodies in a home, which we view via bodycam footage. A camera is also discovered and what's documented are the events leading up to the disappearance of Annabelle, who was given a camera as a gift and uses it to film her imaginary internet show, "Life of Belle."
The first half hour or so of the movie is a bit of a chore. The news segment portion is a bit fake as they usually are from movies of this nature, and the acting is really, really bad. However, once we get to the family footage, what transpires is a rather disturbing concoction of Paranormal Activity (2007), Baby Blues (2008), and Skinamarink (2022). We learn early on that the mom is a bit unbalanced, but it only takes a few days without the dad to see how badly unbalanced she is as she's left to watch the kids in his absence. The question that we're wondering throughout this is if the threat is paranormal or psychological. The kids, sadly, are the ones dealing with mom and that's where the disturbing elements can really get to you.
I honestly did not care much for this movie on an entertainment level, but as a work of horror, it's definitely one that creeps on you after the rather rocky beginning. The acting by the family is very good and the final moment before the credits roll is terrifying and memorable. This is one that definitely deserves to have an audience, which is why I took the time out of my day to review it on here. It's not for everyone, but as a found-footage flick, this one has a bit more bite to it compared to most.
8 out of 10.
Terrifier (2016)
Drops the Ball
All Hallows' Eve was an enjoyable, if a bit flawed, anthology, but Art the Clown was indeed the highlight. Throw him in an 80s-styled slasher as the main antagonist and the movie should already have an advantage. This could have been awesome. Unfortunately, it wasn't.
I won't go into the gore and atmosphere. The movie isn't a complete loss in those regards. Where this film (and many other slashers lately) lose footing is the failure to formulate a story incorporating protagonists we can pull for. The problem was not at all Jenna Kanell's Tara or Catherine Corcoran's Dawn, our two leads who find themselves being followed by the clown from Hell on Halloween night. Until these two were captured and subsequently killed off, things were moving along quite nicely and eerily. I feared what was to come for these two, and they developed a level of likeability where I didn't want to any harm come to them.
Focus then shifts to Samantha Scaffidi's Victoria, who COULD HAVE been a great surprise final girl. Yet, when it came down to it, the character continued to make completely stupid decisions to the point of frustration. This I will never understand about these movies. Sure, some have themselves an incredibly creepy, capable antagonist (and, make no mistake, the scenes with Art the Clown were GREAT), but the characters we are supposed to root for are created with little to no regard. My opinion is that behind every boogeyman, there should be a resourceful final girl to pull for to balance the forces of good and evil. All the good slashers have that component, but many lately seem to be going for shock instead and fall into obscurity as a result.
For that reason, I say bin this one and hope that the next one will be better. 5 out of 10.
The Monster Project (2017)
We like to pretend monsters are real
A man hires an odd group of filmmakers to help him with The Monster Project, a documentary where he interviews three people who truly believe that they're monsters in today's society. The production, of course, takes place at a boarded-up house used for satanic rituals back in the 60s. On the night of a lunar eclipse, no less. While everyone who has ever seen a horror movie would see something seriously wrong with this scenario, this group thinks they're just making a film and press on to get their interviews. That is until all Hell breaks loose and they're fighting for survival. Oops.
Has it been done before? Yes, but we all come back again and again for more scares so I can't knock the story for being a bit cliché. The effects were really good and easily the best part of this movie. The acting was serviceable, with the exception of one cast member (not saying who) who overacted a bit. I will say that I was most impressed with Toby Hemingway and Yvonne Zima, and I found the interaction between their characters strangely compelling and effective. Even the 'found-footage' device was handled fairly well.
The horror genre in general is a tough one to rate. On one hand, some movies are so well done and scary that it's hard not to rate them high. On the other, some are just entertaining and fun. The Monster Project falls a bit more into the latter camp in that it's a well-made movie that gets a lot right, but unfortunately it just doesn't have that scare factor I was hoping for. It doesn't appear to sell itself as a comedy, so I suspect that they were going for a truly scary experience but I just wasn't feeling it for some reason. I can't hate on it though. I can tell a lot of heart and passion went into this, and I want to thank the crew for making a good movie.
6 out of 10.
Cabin 28 (2017)
1981?
I hate to be too hard on what seems to be a low-budget production, but some of the greats were also low budget. Yet, many have managed to become something amazing despite so little so I have to speak frankly on what didn't work about this one:
1) The film didn't at all look like a representation of an event that took place in the early 1980s. The hook of this movie was basing it off of a real-life murder/kidnapping case of 1981. Unfortunately, neither the house nor the family conveyed a vibe of the 80s which put me off from it from the start.
2) The loud, over-dramatic music that told viewers when something major was being revealed or happening, as opposed to trusting your audience to know it for themselves. It got to the point where it became funny when this music played, which is a bit awkward of me to say about a movie with such grim subject matter but it almost seemed to border on parody at points. Ultimately, less is more and that's a weapon that low-budget productions need to utilize (and well) in order to succeed.
3) The look of the masked killers/intruders was not scary. I understand that ski masks and brown-sack bags with eye holes cut out have been done in other movies, but they at least look menacing as compared to these cheesy Halloween masks on display here.
4) I understand the concept of filler, but a movie as slim as this one shouldn't need it. Yet, there seems to be a lot of that going on here.
5) Finally, did we really need to hear "Night of the Living Dead" being played in the background on the TV? Did this really happen? Again, their hook was basing this on something that really happened, granted they did say that some things have been dramatized for effect at the start. Yet, it would have been nice for them to be a bit more choosy on WHAT they dramatized. Moments like this just remind you that you're watching a horror movie, not immersed in the terror along with the characters. Also, far too many self-aware horror-comedies play these classic horrors in their films (often as a loving wink by the creators to their favorites). So, it didn't do this one good to fall into that mix if it was trying to achieve something genuinely scary.
2 out of 10. I just could not get into this movie at all, though I will give it credit for having me look into the real-life case and learning about these poor people and what happened to them all those years ago. Movies like this remind us that the real horror resides not in the cinema but with us... in the real world.
Feed the Devil (2015)
Ominous Enough, But Seemed Aimless
Three young adults venture deep into the Alaskan wilderness to claim a stock of quality marijuana, only to find trouble instead.
I saw this title on the store shelf and read the back to see that it was set in the Alaska. So, I decided to give it a go, mostly because Alaskan horrors haven't really disappointed me thus far. After all, Alaska can be such a hard place to survive, even before throwing in some boogeyman to stalk some doomed protagonists. I was curious needless to say, so I gave it a go.
If I were grading solely on setting and atmosphere, this would get a stellar rating. The movie OOZED dread in that aspect, and I wanted to run 100mph to the nearest town FOR THEM because those damn woods were so ominous. Add in that mute native girl who wouldn't talk for any reason along with those creepy ghosts watching our characters from the woods, and you have at least a few elements of creepiness to look forward to. Location was definitely utilized in this movie to convey isolation and hopelessness.
Characters were not remotely likable or sympathetic, save for perhaps the third-wheel character who clearly would rather be with her trouble-making sister and boyfriend than to be abandoned and all alone. Subversions to horror conventions do ensue, but unfortunately not really in a remotely satisfying way.
My biggest complaint has to be that the movie sort of plods along to a conclusion, and a lot of my biggest questions were left unanswered. Characters disappeared for long periods of time, others were introduced and killed off unceremoniously, and what an abrupt ending to boot? And why would the guy who told them about the marijuana stock send them to this evil location in the first place? I'm all for drawing my own conclusions, but please help me out at least a little bit...
If you enjoy creepy settings, maybe give this a shot. Many things could've been done better, though. Proceed with caution. 4 out of 10.
Thirst (2015)
A bit more of the same
I wasn't expecting the world with this one, though I rarely ever do when it comes to lesser-known movies. While it was a passable flick that doesn't really let up once the monster attacks and our doomed group finds itself in peril, what really dooms this movie was just how clichéd it was, from start to finish.
Another movie with a somewhat similar plot (2008's Grizzly Park) really should be no better than this one, but that one at least had a few tricks up its sleeve to stray itself off the all-too-beaten path a bit. There was a movie that used its quirks for its comedic advantage, but here was a movie that didn't do much to stand out from the many other monster movies seen before it. And, sadly, the unoriginality here really hindered the entertainment value of the movie.
If you want to see a mish-mash of several of your favorite monster movies with the all-too-familiar slasher premise, then go ahead and check this one out. It's not bad by any means, just plain and average.
Dogman 2: The Wrath of the Litter (2014)
A good guilty pleasure gets so-so follow-up
I first want to say that I'm easily pleased by movies. While the first isn't one that I would openly recommend to all my friends, I still enjoyed it enough. It was an odd viewing experience, for sure... yet it was memorable in my mind. When I heard a sequel was on the way, I made sure to keep my eyes open for it. Luckily, I saw it on Amazon Prime the other day and quickly watched it.
What the two movies do extremely well is putting emphasis on characters which is HUGE for me. Hank, his wife Dorothy, Francis, and Meg... I can say after seeing the two movies that I love all these characters. They feel like real people, especially Hank and Dorothy who look and act like a real couple in a rural setting.
Though I admire the character and the cute actress who played her, Meg was terribly miscast in the first movie as a deputy but this movie acknowledges that by having her give up her badge to be a bartender instead - even having the character remark that it wasn't a good fit as though it was a clever wink to the audience.
I was most interested to see Francis back. The original's ending was puzzling and left for a lot of possibilities for the sequel, which is why I had my eyes on it. Had Francis joined forces with Dogman and become a more sinister (yet dynamic) character than we were led to believe she was in the original? That was a huge question mark for me.
Storytelling wasn't the greatest. Still, for what the movie lacks in that and special effects (yes, the dog monsters did look cheesy but I can shut my brain off and enjoy a movie, even without booze), these two movies succeeded in creating characters you care about which is rare in under-the-radar efforts such as these. The sequel is a so-so follow-up, if only because it's nice seeing so many original actors back to play the characters I grew to care about in the first.
I can say that I like both movie more than a lot of other people probably would.
5 / 10 for both movies.