Horror Movie Talk

The House that Jack Built isn’t getting a wide release until December 14th, but we went to a one night only showing of the director’s cut a month early at the Cinema 21 in Portland. So this is a rare instance where we can provide a review well in advance of a wide release. https://youtu.be/c6DuLPGZIoQ The film tells the story of an unassuming, yet prolific serial killer named Jack. It’s told through a series of 5 short vignettes of some of his notable kills. It’s told over the course of 12 years from the mid-late 70’s to the mid-late 80s and takes place in the rural Pacific NorthWest of the United States. Jack’s nom de guerre is Mr. Sophistication, which he writes on the grisly photos he takes of his victims. Watch The House That Jack Built The House That Jack Built Full Movie Click here to Watch Throughout the film Jack’s descriptions of his personal condition, problems and thoughts are told through a recurring conversation with the unknown “Verge”. Jack views himself as a sophisticated man and the story is told through his own mixture of arrogant and narcissistic sophistry. The House That Jack Built Review If that sounds like a pretty pretentious serial killer movie, well, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. The film is directed by Lars Von Trier, who also directed all of those art house movies you meant to see but never got around to. Jack is played by Matt Dillon, which is probably the best part of the movie. I thought he did a fantastic job portraying a psychopath pantomiming normal human facial expressions and when required had great comedic timing. Jack acts as the films unreliable narrator, and tells the story of his failings and mental illness from his elevated perspective of himself and his “art”. Jack’s victims include the likes of Uma Thurman, Siobhan Fallon Hogan (that lady from MIB), and Riley Keough among others. The death scenes where genuinely disturbing, and acted as punctuation for Jack’s ruminations. Check Out Our Review of The Dead Don’t Die! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/19/the-dead-dont-die-review/ I appreciated that they didn’t dwell on the fetishization of the killings themselves, they were handled more or less matter-of-factly which to me, makes them more impactful. It definitely delves into the distasteful and absurd with his storage and… use of the bodies. I could see how this film could be viewed as too pretentious for it’s own good, but somehow it worked for me. We saw the director’s cut, so there was definitely some fat that could be cut to improve pacing and make it slightly less art-housey, but I found myself laughing and cringing at the right moments. My Rating 7/10 Spoilers This is a serial killer movie that definitely pushes the envelope. Many of the killing scenes seem a little too real, and feel a little like watching a sudden snuff film. Uma Thurman’s character all but dares Jack to murder her and he obliges. It’s almost expected. The other murders are expected, but what is surprising is their brutality and grotesqueness. The point at which the film really changes tone is when Jack murders a small family on a supposed hunting picnic. Little does the woman and her children know that they are the ones hunted. The set up sounds like a generic 90’s thriller, but in this movie, it is a cold and brutal sequence where you get to experience the murder of children in the first person. Then to double down on the tastelessness, Jack taxidermy’s one of the young boys to greet him for when he enters his body storage fridge. If you’re like me and can compartmentalize this type of violence and can appreciate the absurdity and gallows humor of the likes of The Human Centipede, then this movie might be of interest to you. The eponymous house of this film is proof enough that Lars Von Trier isn’t as interested in high art as Jack “Mr. Sophistication” is. Check Out Our Review of The Killing of a Sacred Deer! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/07/17/the-killing-of-a-sacred-deer-review/ The real spoiler to share is that the voice that we hear throughout the movie that accompanies Jack’s voiceover is none other than Virgil, the author of the Aeneid who reprises his role from Dante’s Inferno by leading Jack through the depths of hell. This is portrayed very literally in the epilogue, and is one of the most striking sequences in the film. At times indulgent, the epilogue is a uniquely cinematic portrayal of a very mythic style of storytelling. It concludes with Jack faced with the choice of accepting his fate and living eternity in a slightly better hell, or tempting fate and falling into the deepest depths of hell. Given what we are told about Jack and his innate desire for self destruction and wanting to be caught, the choice is obvious, but also an effective moral bow to tie up the movie. Is The House That Jack Built Worth Seeing? I would say yes with the caveat that it isn’t for every

ALL HAIL NETFLIX! Now that we have that out of the way let’s talk about The Ritual, a Netflix original movie that was released on the streaming platform in February of 2018. I can’t believe that movies of this caliber, that is to say, theatrical release worthy movies, are created in the quiet depths of a streaming platform. I didn’t hear much about the production of this movie. Instead, it just showed up on my Netflix suggestion bar, and I watched it. There must be a better way to hype these things, right? Anyway, The Ritual is a well-done horror movie that capitalizes on the natural spookiness of camping and the woods. The Ritual Trailer https://youtu.be/Vfugwq2uoa0 I don’t know if you are a camper, but I am. For years I worked a job that had me camping for a good portion of the year as I maintained trails in a National Forest. I got quite used to camping in the backcountry, but the thought never left some primordial part of my brain, “What if something was out there?” Read the Book The Ritual is Based on The Ritual Full Book Click here to Read The Ritual is very good at capitalizing on this fear of the dark, quiet, forest primeval. It’s the best thing that this movie has going for it – it’s also what makes me a little angry at The Ritual. I enjoy camping – I don’t want potential campers to be too scared to miss the greatness of the outdoors. Before I launch into the review, I want to use The Ritual as an example of a trend I’ve come to expect in horror movies – predictable titling. Horror movie titles have devolved a bit from something interesting like Friday The 13th, or A Nightmare on Elm Street to something extremely cookie-cutter-ish: The Ritual The Strangers The Conjuring The Wailing The Ring The Grudge Do you see a through-line here? Just something that has been niggling at me. Bring back the interesting titles. The one-word titles and the “The” titles are effective but played out. Back to The Ritual review! Quick Summary of The Ritual The Ritual starts off with some old college friends who are having a night out on the town in England (their home). As they leave the bar, two of the five head into a liquor store to grab something to make night-caps with and find themselves in the midst of a robbery. Our protagonist, Luke (Rafe Spall) hides while his friend is beaten brutally and killed for not producing his wedding ring. Fast forward a year. The four remaining friends, Luke, Phil (Arsher Ali), Hutch (Robert James-Collier), and Dom (Sam Troughton) decide to go on the hike that their dead pal would have wanted to go on with them – the Kings Trail in Sweden. As they head down the trail, Dom sprains his leg in a frighteningly realistic portrayal of the kind of dumb movement it takes to sprain your leg. Another Great Netflix Horror Movie – Birdbox! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/01/02/bird-box-review/ The group argues and squabbles until they decide that going off-trail and cutting through the forest would be faster than, you know, being smart and staying on the trail. Once they enter the forest, things break down. It’s a scary forest. It’s got plenty of shots over overly-dense trees with something moving ever so slightly in the distance. It’s got abandoned cabins and all sorts of effective tropes. Throughout The Ritual, Luke is plagued by vivid waking dreams where he is forced to relive the fearful night where his friend was killed, and he stood by doing nothing. My Rating for The Ritual 7/10 This is on the low side of the seven spectra. It is a serviceable horror movie and has a lot going for it regarding production and acting. The script and character development are a bit clunky at times. The four friends argue so much that it prevents any real introspection or interesting character developments from taking place. However, I give The Ritual some leeway in this script and character development department because the panic that would be present in the circumstances that it places these four guys in could easily produce these, somewhat bothersome yelling matches. Spoilers for The Ritual This movie will totally cut it for a fun night of terror. If you are looking to sit down and have something suck you in, tumble you around and spit you out, this is it. In the long-run, this isn’t a game changer. I do expect it to age well and be added to the list of perfectly acceptable and effective horror movies. If you prefer the monster to stay hidden, as I do, you will be disappointed by The Ritual. It has a big, scary, moose monster with a roast turkey for a head. When the remaining two guys stumble upon a village within the forest, they learn that the village is held captive by the moose monster, which is described to them as being a god. Everyone who lives in the village bears the mark of this beast and is expected to worship this moose monster. Check Out Our Review of Mandy! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/01/23/mandy-review/ The vibe I got was that this was a metaphor for fear. The monster cho

If you want to watch Hereditary, please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. If you haven’t seen Hereditary, and you are reading this, STOP! Watch the movie. It’s available to stream on Amazon. I don’t want to argue about this, go now, watch it. Here is the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/embed/V6wWKNij_1M You should go into this movie knowing nothing about it. I say this with certainty because I went in to see Hereditary without knowing a darn thing about it, and it was a transcendent experience. I didn’t know it was a horror movie; I didn’t know it was about interpersonal relationships, I didn’t know anything. That’s a slight lie; I knew that the movie had a very disturbing scene that polarized viewers and made many walk out of movie theaters. Ari Aster, the director, has made a masterpiece. I go into most movies knowing almost nothing about them. I don’t seek out trailers. I don’t look for release dates, which has had to change a little bit given the launch of this site and the podcast. I went into this movie knowing nothing, and it made for the wildest ride I could have possibly imagined. The build in tension, the crumbling family relationships, the fact that you can see and understand every major character’s point of view even though they are wildly conflicting – this movie is a high water mark in horror and for cinema in general. My Rating 10/10 Hereditary will be so uncomfortable for some that they will generally find it distasteful. This is not a jump scare horror movie. This is an Exorcist, a Rosemary’s Baby, a Psycho. Spoilers There is so much to this movie that one watching isn’t enough. Everything about Hereditary is intentional and of the highest quality. The writing, the characters, the acting, the sets, the tension – it’s all great. The more I watch it, the more I realize how rich the world that they have crafted is and how it turns Hereditary into an experience instead of just another movie. I’m not going to go in-depth with the spoilers here because it just wouldn’t do the movie justice. There is a version of this story that I think would make a powerful novel, but so much of the integral parts of this movie are based on visual keys and clues that I think that film is where this story was meant to be. If you want spoilers on this movie, listen to our podcast, we will be diving deep on this one. The story is centered around Annie (Toni Collette), her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne), son Peter (Alex Wolff), and daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). It starts following the death of Annie’s mother, who as it turns out was controlling and terrible to her family. Toni Collette is a tour de force in this movie. Her acting is so impressive, her emotions so raw that you really can’t help but empathize with her even when she is clearly circling the drain and moving toward a mental break. There are two reasons Hereditary is so effective the first of which is it primarily focuses on a normal family unit, who thanks to circumstances beyond there control, is thrown into extreme strife. Everyone has faced familial issues, but the ones in this movie are your worst nightmare – the things you hope never to have to experience. The second reason Hereditary is so effective is that despite that fact that each family member is essentially pitted against the others, you can see all of their points of view very clearly. As a viewer, you understand and empathize with every family member in this movie. You have experienced every niggling bit of anger, guilt, love, and miscommunication that Hereditary throws at you. You’ve been the guilty son or daughter, you’ve worried about your kids or family members, you’ve hated them at times and felt the guilt that hatred brings. As a horror movie, Hereditary starts out as a single note of dread in an echo chamber – slowly, the note builds in volume and is joined by more notes until you are overwhelmed. If the title weren’t “Hereditary,” it could have easily been “Dread.” There are no real jump scares. Instead, it relies on tension, time, and toying with your emotions to achieve something far more effective – something that sticks with you for weeks after watching. Most modern cinematography has ditched the long, well-crafted panning shots in favor of cuts and close-ups. In this movie, you see a bit of a return to the well-crafted scenes and long panning shots that made movies like Psycho great. Is Hereditary Worth Seeing? Let’s put it this way. A large part of the reason this podcast exists is that of the energy that Hereditary gave to Bryce and me. We saw it with Bryce’s friend Kevin whom I had met minutes before the movie started. After the movie, which was the late showing, we saw fit to sit down at a bar and have drink so we could discuss this movie. Every time I saw Bryce after that, we couldn’t help but gush over how it was still in our heads. At this point, I’ve hyped it too much, which is what I tend to do. I

If you want to watch Overlord, please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon linkto help us support the podcast. Overlord was fun, very loud, and not to be taken too seriously. https://www.youtube.com/embed/USPd0vX2sdc Overlord is a fun action-horror movie with intense emphasis on disturbing body horror and super stereotypical Nazi bad guys. It’s got everything you need for an action movie – incredible sound, crazy intense physical fights, gun battles, chase scenes, you name it. It also has plenty of disturbing imagery that works well and makes you say, “Boy, those Germans sure were mean dudes!” All the elements to make this a “fun horror movie,” are present. Overlord provided me with all my favorite things – WWII, Nazi killing, fun horror, drugs, and a decently tight script. Overlord is a movie about a few American paratroopers in WWII dropped behind enemy lines in France. Their mission is to destroy a radio tower in a church that has been occupied by the Germans and converted into a radio tower, and much more. The main character is named Boyce, played by Jovan Adepo, who is English. His superior is named Ford; I’m sorry I don’t remember the rank. Ford is played by the dreamy Wyatt Russell. They are joined by the most stereotypical set of WWII companions that you can imagine, including Tibbet – the most NY Italian American I’ve ever seen. Tibbet is played by John Magaro. Eventually, they bump into the sexiest French girl I’ve ever seen, Chloe (Mathilde Ollivier) who helps them in their journeys to kill Nazi’s and do drugs. Overlord is Produced by J.J. Abrams, and it feels like it. It was directed by Julius Avery, who is relatively unknown. Rating 7/10 Spoilers This movie starts with one of the most intense action sequences I’ve ever seen. The plane trip to the drop zone the night before D-Day, which quickly turns into a fight for life. I can honestly say that I haven’t seen such an intense action sequence in movie theaters since Saving Private Ryan. Overlord is a great movie to see in theaters because of how incredibly loud and violent it is. Everything about this film screams, “great theater experience.” Head to a theater with a confirmed great sound system to get the full experience. https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/01/02/bird-box-review/ The good portion of the movie is spent inside Chloe’s house where her suspiciously sick aunt and cute little brother live. In this house, we learn of Chloe’s rape relationship with a Nazi SS leader, Wafner (Pilou Asbaek). We also learn about how deep the evil of Nazis run when the little boy rolls his baseball to a Nazi soldier. The soldier picks up the ball, sneers, and hocks a big loogy on it before throwing it back to the kid. What an inhuman monster! This brings up an interesting observation – we all hate Nazis. They are bad. Overlord gives us a look, although maybe a slightly exaggerated one, at the thing we should hate. Intolerance and hatred incarnate. Maybe Overlord gives us something to unite under, a vision of what we should strive not to be. Plus, Overlord slaughter’s Nazis and zombie Nazis in massive quantities, so there’s that. As our American protagonists fight their way to the church, they learn about fiendish experiments that the Nazis have been conducting on the dead, bringing them back to life with some sort of drug they have been extracting from underneath the hallowed ground of the church. Eventually, they get their hands on the drug, run some experiments of their own, and find out that it brings the dead back to life and makes a living into superhumans. Is Overlord Worth Seeing? If you enjoyed Wolfenstein in any capacity, you would like this movie. If you love action, this is a great movie. If you are looking for lots of body horror, this is your thing. If you are looking for a deep, think piece, this isn’t your deal. If you want historical accuracy, this probably should be avoided. If you have a killer sound setup at home, you must test it out with Overlord. Horror Movie News Check out the silliest Vogue article ever, where Taylor Antrim suggests that 2018 was tame on horror. More importantly check out Brad Miska’s Bloody Disgusting article that slams Taylor for such ignorance. Finally, get excited for the most fucked up holiday movie trailer I’ve ever seen, Hanukkah. https://www.youtube.com/embed/4dNdUGbhjY8 If you want to watch Overlord, please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast.

If you want to watch Suspiria (2018), please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. We went and saw Suspiria, and there is a lot to unpack with this one… https://www.youtube.com/embed/3uGIEY7tdg8 Suspiria takes place in the politically tumultuous 1977’s Berlin and follows a young woman, Susie Bannion, played by Dakota Johnson, seeking out her dream to dance in the famed Tanz Dance Academy under her idol Madame Blanc, played by Tilda Swinton. Not everything is right in the dance academy. The movie opens with a frantic and distressed dancer Patricia, played by Chloe Grace Moretz, visiting her psychiatrist, Dr. Josef Klemperer, played by…Lutz Ebersdorf (We’ll get to him later). Patricia’s frantic and panicked statements about the academy come off as schizophrenic and delusional to Dr. Klemperer, but are an omen of things to come. We find out that the dance studio is undergoing a crisis of leadership as the company is split between having the unseen founder, Helena Markos, continue as the president (?) or Madame Blanc, the artistic director. As Susie gets integrated into the dance studio and quickly ascends to the principal dancer, Dr. Klemperer and another dancer named Sara, played by Mia Goth investigate what is going on at Tanz Dance Academy. This is undeniably a good movie, but depending on your tastes and comfort level, it might not be worth seeing. David was HIGHLY disturbed by this movie. The film deals with many different concepts at once, and features many concurrent protagonists, so there is a lot going on at the same time. At 2 hours and 32 minutes, there is plenty of time to explore the characters and themes, but I still came away with questions about what exactly I just witnessed. While trying to navigate the labyrinthian plot, the viewer is exposed to some of the most disturbing body horror in recent memory. The film is very dark, paranoid, and nihilistic. The acting is superb, and fills in the gaps of the script, that really doesn’t do you a lot of favors in spelling out what is going on. It is a very effective film and should stick with you and give you plenty to talk about with your friends. The production design and music are very strong in this movie, even though they may disappoint fans of the original 1977 Suspiria. The production design reminded me of the “Cheer up Charlie” part of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The music is sparse but matches wonderfully with the movie. The score is the first by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, who now joins bandmates Johnny Greenwood and Phil Selway as film composers. I may be biased because Radiohead is my favorite band, but I think the music is a great match for the visuals. https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/01/23/mandy-review/ Rating 8/10 Spoilers One of the first things to call out, and this isn’t really a spoiler about the movie, but more a spoiler about the production: Tilda Swinton Plays 3 roles in this movie. Dr. Klemperer is credited as being played by Lutz Ebersdorf. Ebersdorf roughly translates into “swine town” which is a play on Swinton. Swinton in interviews has stated that she did not play Dr Klemperer, but when questioned about whether she played Lutz Ebersdorf, she confirmed that she in fact did. The allusion to witchcraft in the first scene of the movie doesn’t take very long to be confirmed in the movie. We see that there are supernatural forces at play in the Tanz Dance Academy, and from appearances, Susie Bannion is all on board. Like I said before, the body horror in this film is intense. Early on in the film, as Susie is volunteering to dance the lead in the company, the dancer that she is replacing is meanwhile trapped in a mirrored dance room and tossed about by an unseen force. Tossed about is putting it lightly. I’ve seen McDonalds wrappers treated with more respect than this poor girl. I don’t want to completely spoil it, but here is a reaction video to give you an idea of how you might react. https://www.youtube.com/embed/lLaYDqhp4Ek The finale of the film comes right after the performance of the dance that has been rehearsed throughout that we find is more of a grooming ritual for Susie. After the performance, everyone is led down to an underground lair to perform a Black Sabbath ritual to revive/reincarnate Mother Suspiriorum. It is assumed that Helena Markos will be revived from her degraded state (read zombie Frankenstein state) and be the Mother of sighs herself. What we see instead is a virtual bloodbath. Susie takes her place as Mother Suspiriorum and the movie ends with the only witness’ memory wiped. If you want to watch Suspiria (2018), please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast.

You wanted to know a bit more about your Horror Movie Talk hosts, David Day and Bryce Hanson, so here it is. First of all, we love horror movies – but why we love them is important. In this episode, we delve into what drove us to our horror movie addictions, share some of our horror tastes, and our top five favorite horror movies. Happy Halloween 2018, be safe and have fun! What Got David Into Horror Movies? As a kid, I lead a fairly sheltered life, especially when it came to what I got to watch. I remember begging my mother to let me see Jurassic Park in the 2nd grade because I always loved dinosaurs. I saw it in theaters, on opening night with a friend and it blew my mind. I was instantly hooked. The terror in that movie for a sheltered 2nd grader was high, and I loved it. I remember waking up early quite a bit when I was very young and catching some messed up movies at 4 am on some subscription channel. One of those movies was Frankenhooker, which did a number on me. Frankenhooker had sex, violence, nudity, profanity, drug use, lewd and lascivious acts, you name it. I still carry the scars that Frankenhooker gave me. Watching it now, it’s mostly a shocking comedy, but the damage has been done. I found myself bored quite often and things like horror movies, sci-fi, and fantasy made life a little less common. Jim Henson’s Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, along with The Muppets were always in high demand in my house as a kid, and gave me a strong love for practical effects, as well as puppetry. David’s Horror Movie Taste I love tension and suspense. I like movies that build tension and dread steadily throughout the movie. The more dread, the better. Psychological horror and supernatural horror work well for me. I don’t usually love slashers. Something about knowing the cadence of the movie before I start makes it markedly less enjoyable for me. David’s Top 5 Horror Movies In no particular order, my top five favorite horror movies are: The Witch: A family in 1630’s America is cast out of their community and left to fend for themselves on the outskirts of the forest primeval with only their belief in God to protect them. As it happens, God does not have the power to save them, and it’s dreadfully horrifying. This is a perfect horror movie in every way. The suspense, the acting, casting, concept, execution – flawless. Hereditary: It just doesn’t get much more intense than this. I’ve never been nailed to my seat like I was during this movie. Prepare to care deeply about a family that is put to the ultimate test. Don’t learn anything about this movie, just watch it. This has replaced There Will Be Blood as my favorite movie of all time. Greif, terror, disbelief, tension, perversion – it’s all here. *click* Alien: This movie could have been made yesterday, that’s how well it works and how good it looks. Alien is a quintessential horror classic that deserves every bit of praise that it gets. It’s isolating, quiet, loud, completely alien in every way. This movie never gets old and will always be effective. If you ever find yourself in an argument where someone suggests that CGI is better than practical effects, show them, Alien. John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) plays on human psychology in a way that few movies do. Pair that with the most impressive practical effects ever, and you have a long-standing classic movie. Kurt Russell, playing a man’s man in Antarctica pouring whiskey on a chess computer? Hell yeah! Paranormal Activity (the whole franchise): This works so well for me that I had to include it. I dare you to watch that trailer and not get chills! This franchise is great because it does so much with so little. There is nothing scarier than having a demon attach itself to you and follow you wherever you go. Don’t believe me? Watch Paranormal Activity! What Got Bryce Into Horror Movies? I also grew up in a relatively sheltered situation. I grew up Mormon, and for the most part Mormon kids and even adults made it a point to avoid Rated R movies. However, my parents were rebels and allowed us to watch Rated R movies after we got to a reasonable age. I’m pretty sure my first Rated R movie in the theater was Red Heat, which would have made me six years old at the time. That actually sounds kind of crazy to me now. Anyway, my parents were pretty lenient up to a point. As long as it was Rated R for violence and not sex, it was usually fine. My entry into horror movies came through the IT tv movie in the early 90’s. I think I caught bits of it when it aired, but it always greeted me at the video rental store and made me think of scary clowns. I didn’t watch a lot of horror movies, but I would always be curious about the scary VHS covers that I walked by at the store. The cover of Ghoulies in particular scarred me mentally and was the cause of many a hurried flushings. The biggest influence on my taste in horror movies early on, came from television. I was a big fan of the show Sightings, which aire

If you want to watch Halloween (1978), please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. John Carpenter’s original Halloween released in 1978 is a pillar of the horror movie genre. Halloween helped to pave the way for slashers and created tropes and techniques that are still used to this day to great effect. When it comes to fun, seasonal horror movies, you can’t do much better than this. Today Halloween still stands up on its own but benefits greatly from a form of nostalgia that I have a great deal of respect for. https://www.youtube.com/embed/xHuOtLTQ_1I Halloween focuses on three main characters – Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) who is the virgin teen in distress, Loomis (Donald Pleasence) who is The Shape’s head doctor, and of course, Mike Meyers AKA The Shape (played by seven different actors). By today’s standards this movie is quite slow-paced, but if you feel like you can trade in the pacing for nostalgia and sleepy Midwest towns with old-fashioned values, you probably won’t regret it. I had not seen this movie in ages, so when I learned that The Kiggins Theater in Vancouver, WA was having a showing of it the Friday before halloween, I knew we had to go. Seeing this on the big screen with a bunch of horror movie fans was the best part of this movie for me so that I may be a little drunk on the ambiance, but I will try not to let it taint my review. My Rating 8/10 If you haven’t seen Halloween (1978), you really should. It’s just good, old-fashioned, stabbing the way your mom use to serve it up. This is the movie that created the stamp that we commonly refer to today as slashers. If you have seen a slasher, it was influenced by this, and the spoilers section probably won’t be too much of a spoiler after all. I like to think about the audience in 1978 who paid to see this at the theater and consider what kind of experience they probably had. Were there movies like this previously? Yes, kind of – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977) were similar in style but not nearly so successful as Halloween. The musical score is iconic and created a style unique to horror movies where the audio track truly became part of the scares. Other Halloween Movies We’ve Watched Halloween II (1981) Halloween III Season of the Witch Halloween (2018) Spoilers The movie starts with the camera in the perspective of a young (six years old?) Mike Meyers stalking around the outside of his own house, peeping on his sister and her boyfriend as they make out on the couch. As things get hot an heavy, the couple decides to take things upstairs, and Mike heads into the house, grabbing a gigantic kitchen knife on his way. A laughably short amount of time passes before the boyfriend, now done with his romantic endeavors, decides to head home, walking by a hiding Michael on his way out the front door. Michael heads upstairs, dons a mask, and proceeds to stab his sister to death brutally. The intro ends with Michael in the front yard holding the knife as his parents come home to find him with a cold look of bewilderment. The Movie skips forward in time 15 years to October 30th, 1978 when Dr. Loomis is driving to the mental hospital to visit his pet project, Michael. It’s a dark and stormy night, and upon arriving at the hospital gates, Loomis and his passenger realize that the mental patients have flown the coop. Mental patients are wandering through the stormy night, and as Loomis gets out of the car to check the gate, Michael attacks his female companion, steals the car and drives off into the night. At this point, we join Laurie in her hometown or Haddonfield, which just-so-happens to be the town where Michael grew up. Laurie is a high school aged girl who doesn’t do very well with the boys but babysit quite a bit. She does all the things teenagers tend to do with her girlfriends, smoke pot, drink and carve pumpkins on Halloween. Michael enters sleepy little Haddonfield with Loomis hot on his trail and proceeds with his killing spree. Most of the victims are nude, near nude, and female. He is unstoppable, slow, and very hard to get a read on as he never speaks. Is Halloween Worth Seeing? Halloween has enough fun and funny moments to make this movie charming in a lot of great ways. The feel of Haddonfield is perfect, the characters are fun and believable, and if you enjoy peeping at the house across the street, this is simply a hole in one. The acting in this is very good, and the characters are enduring. Halloween does a great job of setting the stage for the genre and giving everyone who follows it something to shoot for. Panic, jump-scares, the lone virgin, it all starts here. Watching Halloween during the fall is a must. Watching Halloween any other time of the year is similar to Christmas addicts listening to jingle bells out of season – it brings you back to where you want to be. If you want to watch Halloween (1978), please consider renting or purc

Halloween is the direct sequel to the original Halloween released in 1978 that ignores the story lines and continuity of the 9 other sequels and/or reboots. There have been so many Halloweens, that this is the third one called, just, Halloween. This round is helmed by David Gordon Green who wrote it with Danny McBride. Yes, that Danny McBride. If you want to watch Halloween (2018) please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. Halloween (2018) maintains its place as the archetypal slasher movie. Here is the trailer: https://youtu.be/ek1ePFp-nBI Review of Halloween 2018 This film does the franchise proud and plays to all the strengths of the original. If you haven’t seen any of the Halloween movies, like me, you don’t have to worry about catching up. This is the simplest form of the slasher: A dude in a mask that just wants to kill people. The dude is Michael Myers who is treated with the utmost morbid reverence by two journalists (podcasters ala Serial) in the opening sequence seeking out answers to the killing spree that Myers went on 40 years ago. Several times i throughout the movie it is underlined that we have no clue as to what Michael Myers motivation for killing is, and that is what makes him truly terrifying. Jamie Lee Curtis of course reprises her role as Laurie Strode, this time 40 years older and ready to brandish a stockpile of guns to kill Michael before he kills her. Along for the ride are her daughter Karen played by Judy Greer and her Granddaughter Allyson played by the newcomer Andy Matichak. https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2021/10/20/halloween-kills-review Read our review of the sequel Halloween Kills This was a high quality slasher that lives up to the spirit of the original. There is no gimmickry, nothing is too over the top. It’s just the slow pursuit of a psychopath with a knife. You truly feel that no one is safe. As with most other slashers, it is pretty easy to predict killings before they happen if you are inoculated to slashers. However, there are some great sequences that toy with your expectations, and some genuinely great gore. It’s not all surface level, there is tasteful and believable character development of Laurie Strode in regards to the fallout from her trauma and PTSD. In short, the writers and director, understand what works about the Halloween franchise, and use it to the maximum effect. Rating 9/10 This is a great movie. Probably one of the best slashers that I have seen. I highly recommend seeing it this Halloween season. Check out our review of the original Halloween https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/10/31/halloween-1978-review/ Spoilers David and I agree that it was a relief that this film didn’t go “full torture porn”. There was death and gore, but it didn’t go for the cheep shock value. There was a scene early on after Myers has escaped jail, that there is a baby crying in the house. The movie plays with your dread as Michael goes towards the sound, but ultimately ignores and passes the crib, leaving the house. This is not to say that there is no gore in the movie. There is a head stomping scene, which is tantamount to a head explosion. Also, Michael creates, what I can only describe as Cop-O-Lanterns. For the most part it’s just straight up stabbing/impalement/and beating deaths throughout the movie. One of the tensest moments is when Laurie’s granddaughter is stuck in the backseat of a police truck with a knocked out Michael Myers. It is a very effective moment, since we all know that Michael Myers isn’t going to be asleep for long. The film ends with Michael trapped in a burning house with no escape. But looking at the box office numbers, makes me think that Michael Myers might have survived… If you want to watch this movie please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast.

If you want to watch Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. Synopsis of Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich is a reboot of one of the most popular cult classic horror franchises in the past 30 years, and it’s fun for all the right reasons. It is irreverent, funny, fun, completely gratuitous and extremely violent. If you are new to the series, it doesn’t do a fabulous job of introducing you to the puppets, but it does a great job of explaining the premise of the puppet master, Andre Toulon, played by Udo Kier. Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich has enough familiar faces to make you feel at home, and the cast you (probably) don’t recognize do a wonderful job of giving admirable performances. Thomas Lennon (Lt. Dangle from Reno 911) plays Edgar, the main antagonist who is a recent divorcee and comic book creator who has fallen on tough times and is living with his parents until he can sort his life out. Nelson Franklin plays Markowitz, Edgar’s buddy and employer at a local comic shop, provides most of the comedic relief throughout the movie. Jenny Pellicer plays Ashley, Edgar’s new girlfriend. Edgar finds a puppet in his parent’s house and quickly realizes that it was created by the infamous Andre Toulon, a Nazi who also happened to be a skilled puppet maker. He finds out that there is going to be an auction of Andre’s puppets and decides he could use the money, so he takes a trip to the hotel where the auction is taking place. Coincidentally this hotel is near to the puppet master’s residence, and the gathering of puppet collectors in this hotel is the perfect place for the second Holocaust. Horror movie veteran Barbara Crampton, who also starred in Dead Night, is a retired cop who introduces us to the history behind the puppet master, you will also probably recognize Charlyne Yi, who plays Nerissa, a hotel restaurant employee who has a decent role. My Rating 7/10 Spoilers I saw seven boobs in Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich. That sentence tells you more than you need to know to evaluate whether or not this movie is for you. It is completely inappropriate, and that’s what makes it fun. Nazi puppets who are bent on killing Jews, blacks and homosexuals are the antagonists who provide extremely creative and gory deaths to anyone who gets in their way. Here is a list of completely insane deaths that took place in Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich: A Jewish couple was burned to death while mocking their puppet, calling it a Nazi souvenir that was meant to remind them of Hitler’s failed Reich. A pregnant woman suffered, what I will call, an abortion with extreme prejudice. A dude was decapitated while taking a leak and ended up urinating on his head in the toilet bowl. One young man was completely disemboweled while chatting with his mom on the phone. One guy had his back torn open, a tiny “Junior Fuhrer” climbed into him and controlled him as one would control a puppet. This puppet looks like a baby Adolf Hitler. This movie reminded me of something Mel Brooks said during an interview. “I said: Listen, get on a soapbox with Hitler, you’re gonna lose — he was a great orator. However, if you can make fun of him, if you can have people laugh at him, you win.” Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich takes everything sacred and rips it to shreds. If you are offended by anything, this will do a damn good job of finding what it is and trying to bother you, if not make you quite upset. If you can sit back and stop taking everything so seriously, suddenly all those things have no power over you anymore. I don’t want to get too far into a life lesson while writing a review about the 13th Puppet Master installment, but it’s as good a time as any to say, chill out and have fun. To be fair, this movie knew me way too well and might have scored a few extra points by having comic books featured prominently, as well as a nod to black metal, grindcore, death metal, and a few other extreme subgenres of metal that I like quite a bit. If you would like to learn more about the series, the Puppet Master Wikipedia page is amazing and offers an in-depth look at every movie, every puppet, and every cast member. It’s actually very interesting. Is Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich Worth Seeing? There is a part of me that loves a horror series that has more than a dozen installments, the fifth of which is titled, “The Final Chapter” or something close to it. There is also a part of me that wishes, “the final last one” was indeed what it claimed to be. In this case, Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich does a good job of making me happy that it exists. To be completely honest with you, this is the first of the series that I’ve seen, and now I want to watch them all. I know from experience that I will probably deeply regret watching 12 killer puppet slasher flicks, but this is a labor of love, and l

Spiral is an independent horror film that we got an advance screener for. The filmmaker for Spiral reached out to us on Facebook and invited us to review the movie. This made us feel like hotshots, so of course we’re going to do it. It was… interesting. If you want to watch Spiral, you should be able to watch it on Amazon Prome Video. If you want to watch a better movie, please consider renting or purchasing through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. Here’s the Trailer. https://youtu.be/ssYfhz4M8WQ Spiral is being released through iTunes and Amazon on October 16th. They are also holding a premiere at Arclight Hollywood on that same day. Synopsis of Spiral A group of college friends reunite in small town Iowa for a wild bachelor party that goes off the rails and results in a missing Groom. This film is made completely outside of the studio system by writer/director Joe Clarke. The film stars a bunch of young unknown actors, some of which are much much prettier than I would expect in an independent movie. I’m talking about the men mostly. Ellis, played by Anthony Stratton arrives at a bachelor party, still reeling from the loss of a girlfriend. His comedian friend Corey, played by Tyler Thirnbeck, is getting married and all the old college buddies are invited. This includes Will, played by Hays McEachern, who was the bro that stole Ellis’ girl. They have a rager of a bachelor party, and Ellis quickly realizes that these friends are nothing like they were in college. As always one morning at the strip club turns into chasing a legless man through a cornfield in Iowa…and before you know it night has fallen along with that impending sense of existential dread…THEN you know what happens next…right….you see Abraham Lincoln lit by an oil lamp in the woods…and you know its just downhill from there. Spiral is a very ambitious movie, that while beautifully shot, is a hot hot mess. First half of the movie is great and sets up the characters and the situation very well. The last half drags on and made me ask “can we get to the point?” It’s an avant garde film that really doesn’t give you enough to go off of to understand what the point/statement actually is. It ends up being too ambitious for the writer and, unfortunately, it isn’t very enjoyable. It’s like The Hangover 3 mixed with Donnie Darko 2, and not in a good way. My Rating of Spiral 2/10 Spoilers: The Rundown Spiral begins with some trippy scene with some people talking backwards in gas masks, and then quickly turns into a conventional Bachelor party movie, before finally turning back into a trippy multi-dimensional time-warp that just devolves into anarchy. It’s hard to give any spoilers for this movie, because, honestly, I’m not sure what really happened in the movie after the night of the party. What I could tell was that the villain (one of the villains?) turns out to be an older version of Will, and that there was some kind of multi-dimensional time-warp in a corn field. Is Spiral Worth Watching? I would suggest you be heavily intoxicated on any viewing of this film. Outside a some very curious film students or film professors, I can’t imagine enjoying this sober. For a more enjoyable and interesting independent film, check out The Evil Within. If you want to watch this movie please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. Interview with Robin Block, Executive Producer of In Search of Darkness Robin Block has been working in media and content creation for his entire career. Before founding CreatorVC, He ran an award-winning production company and a thriving thought-leadership business. He’s also produced long-form documentaries for major broadcasters including BBC, Channel 4 and Discovery, as well as having his own DVD label. Robin started CreatorVC because he saw an opportunity to serve special interest audiences and bring together the right people to make great ideas happen.” We chatted with Robin over Skype about his latest project: In Search of Darkness. This documentary will bring together 80’s horror icons, modern horror greats, and popular horror influencers to create the most complete retrospective documentary of the genre ever made. https://youtu.be/bJzt4FV69r4 Together, they will bring their unique perspectives as we take a nostalgic journey back to revisit the unforgettable heroes, monsters, and movies that thrilled and chilled us. Go to 80shorrordoc.com to see more details on their Kickstarter. Horror Movie News New Line Horror Pics Will Own The Post-Labor Day Space Through 2022 Michael Chaves Directing ‘The Conjuring 3’ for New Line Cinema ‘Friday the 13th’ Screenwriter Wins Rights Battle Against Producer R.I.P. Scott Wilson, Who Played Hershel On “The Walking Dead” Horror Movie Talk Episode 10: Spiral Review and Robin Block Interview Outline Links and Plugs I Like Comics Website and their Ebay StoreScariest T

Hellfest is a traveling horror night that rolls into town and a group of friends get VIP passes to go and enjoy the spooks. Think of it as a haunted house that covers an entire theme park. Little do they know that hidden among the park employees is a masked killer that picks off visitors that aren’t scared. Hellfest is Directed by Gregory Plotkin, and I feel he took a huge Plotkin on the slasher genre. Plotkin has spent most of his career as an editor, most notably Second assistant editor on Weekend at Bernies 2, as well as Get Out, and Paranormal Activities 2-5. His only other feature length film directing credit is Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension. It stars Amy Forsyth as Natalie, the protagonist returning home from school to visit her grade school BFF Brooke played by the distractingly beautiful Reign Edwards. Along for the ride and generally being an annoying presence is Taylor played by Bex Taylor-Klaus. Each one has an arbitrary boyfriend to accompany them to the park that might as well be nameless for all the character development that they get. Want to Watch Hellfest? Click This Text to Watch it on Amazon! Check Out Our Review of Evil Dead (2013) https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/01/evil-dead-2013-review/ The film suffers from terrible dialogue and annoyingly vapid characters. The cast overacts like they are in a Disney channel show, to the point where I actually welcomed their deaths. The setups for the murders are unbelievable even for horror standards, and waste opportunities to take advantage of the unique premise. There are a few good death scenes, but on the whole it falls flat. My Rating 4/10 I originally gave it a 3, but because it had a head explosion, it gets an extra point. Spoilers: The Rundown My main gripe with Hellfest is that there is an inherent flaw in some of the death scenes. The park is stuffed to the gills with visitors and employees. The characters even need a VIP pass to skip the massive lines. Even with the VIP pass, there are lines. EXCEPT when the killer is chasing them! Check Out Our Review Of The Ruins! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/08/the-ruins-movie-review/ At one point they are running away from the killer, but get distracted by the spoopy scares from the maze. They take a leisurely 10 seconds to pause and look at the room. There is no animatronic that can compete with the actual possibility of murder. Even when they get to a room with a bunch of reaching out hands, they freak out instead of, you know…asking for help from the people attached to those reaching hands. There could have been several ways that the writers or director could have addressed these chase scenes creatively. Just a few off of the top of my head: The park is in cahoots, and is an accomplice to the murderer The park employees hear the screams, but decide among themselves that it is just a normal patron being scared The killer could have killed any employee trying to help them One of the park employees reaches out to help the girls, but it ends up being the killer without the mask. The capper to the movie is a lame and predictable epilogue that for some reason tries for one last scare the second after it undercuts the premise. The killer goes home to a generic suburban home and hangs up his mask before going inside and hugging his daughter. For some reason the director was trying to make it seem like the girl was in danger, but… we are already shown that he lives there. Is Hellfest Worth Watching? I can’t recommend seeing Hell Fest in theaters, but it might be worth watching at home when it gets to Netflix. Even then, you will probably enjoy making fun of it with friends more than actually watching it for scares. Tell us what you think about Hellfest Did you see Hell Fest? What did you think? Have you ever seen a movie that had a distractingly implausible premise for getting trapped by a killer? Leave your comments below. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts. Horror Movie Talk Episode 9: Hellfest Review Outline Intro/Trailer Synopsis 6:06 Score 9:06 Thoughts on the film 11:32 First “Bryce Called It” 15:30 Spoilers 26:26 Taglines 40:49 Second “Bryce Called It” 43:15 Horror Movie News 45:01 Game: Lifetime Movie or Horror Movie 52:30 Outro 59:02

The Evil Within is the first and only film from writer, director Andrew Getty. The film follows a mentally handicapped thirty year-old man named Dennis (Frederick Koehler), and tangentially, his older brother John (Sean Patrick Flanery). Dennis is haunted by his dreams, where a nefarious presence played by Michael Berryman, seeks to torture and ultimately possess him. The nightmares quickly become reality as the evil presence communicates to Dennis in his waking hours through his reflection in a creepy antique mirror that his brother John has thrust upon him. His manipulative reflection quickly instructs the befuddled protagonist to commit heinous acts to escape from his nightmares and show the world he is smarter than they think. If you want to watch The Evil Within, please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. David found this movie by browsing the horror section of Amazon Prime Video. Watching the trailer convinced me that this movie was going to be an entertaining train wreck; my favorite kind of train wreck. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ_sduGRt_w I wasn’t that far off. The film suffers quite a bit from the terrible and, at times, pretentious script. However, there are some really great and disturbing moments, and commendable acting throughout. The highlights of the film are the many scenes with an impressive mixture of practical and visual effects. For example, the opening nightmare sequence features the evil presence unzipping Dennis’ back and climbing into his body. This is done with a mixture of stop-motion and makeup that is truly disturbing in a way that CGI and jump scares just can’t touch. Also, lots of camera movements and optical effects are pulled off in a way that shows the first-time filmmaker had flashes of genius. Frederick Koehler did really well with his portrayal of the mentally handicapped protagonist. He adhered to Tropic Thunder’s admonition to “never go full retard”. The Gollumic switch between Dennis’ voice and that of Legion in the mirror is creepy and well acted. Michael Berryman, the perennial horror favorite due to his unique appearance is used sparingly, but to good effect throughout the film. You might recognize him from The Hills Have Eyes or One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. The scenes with Sean Patrick Flanery (Powder, Boondock Saints) and Dina Meyer (Saw, Starship Troopers) were probably the worst parts of the movie. The dialogue-driven subplot of John and Lydia’s relationship suffers most from the weak and, at times, confusing script. The film in these scenes steps into The Room territory. As with the Room, even these scenes can be entertaining, if only because of the ham-handed exposition mixed with the non-sequitur word vomit. Overall, the good balances with the bad. There is enough going on visually that is genuinely interesting and creepy that you can overlook the sins of its storytelling. My Rating 5/10 If You Like Experimental Independent Horror Movies, Check Out Our Review of Kuso https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/15/kuso-review/ Spoilers: The Rundown The film opens with a dream sequence where a sesquipedalian narrator, Dennis, opines about the nature of dreams, storytelling, and reality. The David Lynchian visuals lead to the appearance of the “Cadaver” that attacks the Dennis and literally climbs into his skin. When Dennis awakes, it is revealed that unlike the wordy narrator, in life, he is mentally handicapped. We are introduced to his brother John and Lydia as they all enjoy a picnic together. After the picnic and a visit to Dennis’ crush at the ice cream store, John surprises Dennis with an antique mirror. John insists that the mirror “really ties the room together,” but Dennis is very upset that John moved his belongings to get it in his room. Soon, Dennis’ reflection starts talking to him and compels him to begin killing. First, Dennis kills small animals, and then eventually is convinced to kill children and adults. Meanwhile, John is dealing with commitment issues with his girlfriend Lydia (Dina Meyer). They argue about whether or not Dennis should be sent to a mental institution, and the decisions impact on their long-term relationship. Both of them are clueless throughout the movie to Dennis’ activities as a newly minted serial killer. As Dennis continues to follow the wishes of his evil doppelganger reflection, it begins to gain more and more control over his actions. The evil presence identifies itself as the same group of demonic spirits from the Bible called “Legion.” Eventually, the reflection swaps places with Dennis and Dennis is trapped in “the dark place.” The film ends with Dennis murdering pretty much every main character and hollowing out their bodies to perform a macabre puppet show for his brother John, where it is revealed that Dennis’ mental h

When was the last time that you had a total blast watching a movie? For me it was this weekend at The Predator. This movie is a blast from start to finish. While not technically a horror movie, The Predator is tied to a “horror/action/sci-fi” franchise that is subsequently tied to the Alien franchise.  If you want to watch The Predator, please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. If you have seen any of the other movies in the franchise, you know you get lots of action, some horror elements, and lots of sci-fi elements whenever you sit down to watch one of these titles. Well, Like Gremlins, The Predator adds comedy into the mix. I wasn’t sure what direction they were going to go with this movie, it could easily have been scarier, but I’m glad that they made it what it is, which is hilarious, action-packed, and completely irreverent. The Predator hearkens back to the action movies of the early 90’s, definitely pulling from its Predator and Predator 2 roots for its sense of humor and it’s snark. This movie even pulls the music from its predecessors, and it feels great! Quick Summary of The Predator The Predator is set in the current day and follows our elite sniper protagonist Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) as he is hunted by and as he hunts the predator and the US Government. McKenna makes first contact with the Predator and seems to be a worthy opponent. The US Government wants to get their hands on the predator, and all of it’s sweet sweet technology, and they obviously don’t want any witnesses, aka loose ends like McKenna hanging around. The Govt. briefly employs the help of biologist Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn) who is infatuated with what she see’s to be the most fascinating biological specimens ever. Eventually McKenna and Casey team up with an unlikely band of armed forces men who need some serious psychological help which include Nebraska Williams (Moonlight’s Trevante Rhodes) and Coyle (Keegan-Michael Key) to fight against the US Government, and two factions of warring predators who arrive on earth at roughly the same time. My Rating for The Predator 8/10 While this is not technically a horror movie, it does prominently feature monsters, has plenty of intense gore, and is part of a franchise that has horror elements. If you are looking for scares or spookiness, this isn’t on the menu. If you are looking for a seriously great time and some gut-laughs, check it out. Spoilers for The Predator This movie understood what it was from start to finish and it made the most out of all of it. It had blatant product placement, gratuitous violence, completely inappropriate jokes, and lots of handicapped people who were made fun of. The nitty-gritty of the plot was a predator crash-landed on earth to help humans combat another, much larger predator who is a collector of sorts. What kind of collector, you ask? The genetic kind. The big boy predator is part of a clan that concerns itself with collecting genetic traits and genomes of all the bad-ass species throughout the universe – er, galaxy. Once it has a genetic trait, it seeks to alter it’s own genome, you know, for self-improvement reasons. McKenna and his unlikely crew of psychologically unstable veterans wage war on the big boy predator who has his sights set on McKenna’s child. McKenna’s kid is seen by the predator as genetically superior because he has a special mental abilities thanks to Asperger’s syndrome. Is The Predator Worth Seeing? I’m a pretty hardcore predator fan. I enjoy the original movies and 2010’s Predators with Adrian Brody. I’ve read a lot of The Predator comics and one or two of the novels, and I love the Alien franchise and the nods the two give each other. Not a fan of AvP unless we are talking about the games. This movie scratched every itch in my body! It was well executed in every appropriate sense. Was there obvious exposition? Yes. Was it appropriate to the storyline and well-executed? Yes! Were the Predators badass? Yes. Were there tons of cool weapons and action that made you excited to be watching an action movie? Yes! Was it a total blast? Yes! I would recommend this movie to anyone who loves action, sci-fi, horror, comedy…I would recommend this to anyone who doesn’t mind some gore and irreverent humor. Check Out The Trailer For In Search Of Darkness In horror movie news we talk a bit about the upcoming horror movie documentary, In Search Of Darkness, which just released this trailer that has us pretty amped. Check it out! https://youtu.be/SBRieE4i8a0 What Do You Think? Leave a Comment Below How do you think The Predator stacks up against the other movies in the Predator series? Leave a comment below and let us know. If you want to watch this movie please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast.

The Nun is another entry in the Conjuring Universe. This film delves into the backstory of the scary painting from The Conjuring 2. If that seems unnecessary to you, than you will probably find it unnecessary to watch this movie. If however, you just can’t get enough of the world of the conjuring, then this is a decent entry in that series. https://youtu.be/pzD9zGcUNrw The Nun Trailer The Nun is set in 1952 at a Romanian convent is tormented by an evil presence. A tragedy involving a young nun gets the Vatican’s attention and they send in Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and tell him to take along a young novitiate Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) who “knows the territory”. When they arrive at the convent, they are met by a low-key Pepe Le Piu imitator named “Frenchie”. Check Out Our Brightburn Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/29/brightburn-review/ The biggest twist comes when we learn that Frenchie is actually… French Canadian! Actually, they find out that convent is super creepy and the superstitious townsfolk deem it cursed (spit). They are definitely not off. The convent is haunted by an ancient demon that comes in the form of a scary looking nun. As they investigate the history of the convent and the recent happenings, it is revealed that the situation is much more dire than originally suspected. The Nun is a good horror movie. There isn’t anything truly exceptional about The Nun, but it executes the tropes of a haunting/demon story better than most. Like The Conjuring, it is a light, but very effective R-rated feature. The jump scares are there, but aren’t overdone. The director Corin Hardy does an impressive job in this, only his Sophmore feature film. Written by James Wan, the script is tight, though at times bluntly expository. The main bit of background exposition was blatantly recorded in post production that it makes me wonder how it was done originally. The acting is fine, but takes a back seat to the creepy production design and effective editing. My Rating for The Nun 7/10 The Nun Add The Nun to your collection Buy on Amazon Spoilers The Nun is closely tied to The Conjuring 2 in that the main protagonist in both movies is the same demon: “Valak”. If you’re looking for an origin story of how the demon got into a creepy painting, not much is explained in The Nun itself. The Conjuring 2 explains that the demon uses imitation to obfuscate itself as the true villainous ghost. The Nun briefly touches on the fact that Valak chooses the form of a nun because, well, it’s in a convent, and nuns trust nuns (?). Check Out Our Review of Tetsuo: The Iron Man! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/22/tetsuo-the-iron-man-%e9%89%84%e7%94%b7-review/ Valak is given a backstory in a ham-handed and slightly jarring flashback. The convent was previously a castle owned by an evil duke that tried to summon Valak through witchcraft. Right as Valak was emerging from cracks in the ground in the form of Nickelodeon Gak, the heroic CATHOLIC CHURCH burst through the door and saves the day. The crusaders bursting in is right out of Monty Python’s “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition” sketch. https://youtu.be/1N6OOWtCYQA To continue the Monty Python references, they expel the demon by using a holy relic containing the blood of Christ that looks suspiciously like the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. https://youtu.be/xOrgLj9lOwk Despite the noble efforts of the crusaders, the demon is later released because of a bombing run in WWII opened up the cracks in the floor, and Valak got out. Check Out Our Review of Kuso! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/15/kuso-review/ In an odd twist, The Nun goes for a relatively happy ending despite the foreknowledge that Valak would later torment the Warrens in The Conjuring 2. At the end of The Nun, Sister Irene expels Valak with the same relic as the Crusaders, albeit much more unceremoniously. Then we are shown that Frenchie was actually marked by the demon, thus serving as the connecting tissue between the two movies. Is The Nun Worth Seeing? I would recommend seeing it in the theater since much of the enjoyment from viewing it comes from the audience reaction. It is a great example of a general audience horror movie. The exception being the slightly higher production value because of it’s connection to The Conjuring universe. If you’re not too snooty about horror movies and liked the other Conjuring movies, than this is worth the ticket price. What Do You Think? Leave a Comment Below How do you think The Nun stacks up against the other movies in The Conjuring universe? Leave a comment below and let us know. If you want to watch this movie please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast.

The Little Stranger is a little known horror film that came out in 2018 that toes the line between murder mystery and horror movie. It is very English in it’s sensibility and might remind you more of the Turn of the Screw or The Remains of the Day than The Conjuring If you love scary movies, but wish they were more like The Remains of the Day, then you might like The Little Stranger. It can be found in theaters right now. The Little Stranger is about Dr. Faraday (Domhnall Gleeson), an english country doctor that starts making calls at the estate of the wealthy Ayers family, Hundreds Hall. Think Downton Abbey, but sadder. Dr. Faraday has a history with the estate, as his mother used to work as a housemaid there. Nowadays, the estate a run-down shadow of its former self and is only inhabited by the eligible bachelorette, Caroline Ayres (Ruth Wilson), her horrifically battle scarred brother Roderick (Will Poulter), her mother played by Charlotte Rampling, and the lone housemaid Betty. But are they the only Ayers living there? We…slowly find out that the house is haunted sorta kinda, and then the movie ends. My Rating for The Little Stranger 4/10 It was a slow movie that could only be generously classified as about 5% horror movie. It’s slightly interesting because of the human drama, but the scares fall flat. The Little Stranger Watch it now, or add it to your collection. Buy/Rent on Amazon Spoilers for The Little Stranger Expand for Spoilers There is a lot of ambiguity and subtlety in this movie. I walked away wondering if there was any supernatural occurrences whatsoever, and if all of the calamity could be just explained by surreptitious actions of Dr. Faraday and/or human error. The only thing that keeps me from definitively making that conclusion is that the spontaneous scratch marks that appear on Mrs. Ayers, seem to have no other explanation than supernatural phenomena. Check Out Our Review of The Perfection! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/12/the-perfection-review/ So it could either be one bad dude, or it could actually be the ghost of a dead Ayers child that creates all the havoc at Hundreds Hall. There is talk of poltergeists and a heavy emphasis on Dr. Faraday’s covetousness and forwardness. The poltergeist could be just an extension of Dr. Faraday’s sub-conscience, which is an idea alluded to in the script. I’m tempted to read the book that the film is based on to get a little more insight into the character of Dr. Faraday, but to be honest, the movie wasn’t interesting enough for me to spend more time delving into the story. Check Out Our Review of Ma! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/05/ma-movie-review/ Needless to say, everyone dies because of some curse that befalls Hundreds Hall, and Dr. Faraday is seen in the epilogue wandering the halls staring off into the middle distance. The last shot is of Faraday as a child looking over the balcony that Caroline was pushed over. Does that mean he did it? Was Caroline’s “It’s you” referring to Faraday? I dunno, maybe. Is The Little Stranger Worth Seeing? I wouldn’t recommend seeing it in the theater, but it would make a fine “Netflix and chill” movie. It’s not a good horror movie, and it is only a middling drama. If you are the Dowager Countess of Downton Abbey, you might like it, but everyone else can probably find something better. https://youtu.be/rA9OPdojcuI Horror Movie Talk Episode 5: The Expand for full transcript This episode of horror movie type brought to you by Costco Meatballs. I don’t know. Maybe we should just do Costco meatballs and rice for when dinner comes around and you’re barely more ambitious than sandwiches by Costco Meatballs in the frozen aisle of Costco today. Hello and welcome to horror movie talk. The horror movie podcast were too schlubby. Guys talk about spooky movies with your hosts. Bryce Hanson, the cool collected nihilist and David Day a public urinate er who is always right. Hey, this is a podcast for lovers of horror movies, old and new. You want to hear about what’s in theaters, what streaming fresh takes on old classics and terrible movies that are bad enough to be good. I’m Bryce Hanson and I’m David Day, and I’ll have you know, I Rice changed the intro on this, and I was not made aware until until I heard it. I don’t appreciate that it’s true, though. I mean, just because it’s true doesn’t mean I mean doesn’t mean it’s got to be part of my intro. Yeah, hey, disgust me. Look, man, look. Any red blooded American male who says that that there you there who says that they don’t pee in public. Is either is either a liar or there rare a liar, right? No, I I admit I’ll I’ll pee in public, but we’re talking about, like, campsite on a tree hidden. Tell the audience about your public urination. Look, the details. I know what I’

The Meg is a run-of-the-mill, but well-executed monster movie starring Jason Statham and the sovereign nation of China. Jason Statham plays Jonus Taylor, an expert rescue diver who is retired after a tragically failed rescue, which Jonus blames on a giant fish or something (but no one believes him). He is brought out of retirement after another diving accident befalls his ex-wife who was researching the deepest, hidden depths of the ocean. Before her video feed cuts out, she says “Jonus was right!”. If you want to watch The Meg, please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. The big fish ends up being a megalodon, a giant shark, that they inadvertently lead to surface waters. From then on, it’s a paint by numbers monster movie that hits every beat you would expect it to. The Meg also stars a cast of disposable characters played by Bingbing Li, a Chinese actress you might have seen in Transformers Age of Extinction, Ruby Rose channeling Aeon Flux, Rainn Wilson phoning it in, and others. The Meg is an enjoyable movie if you don’t go in with lofty expectations for a movie about a giant shark that eats a bunch of people. It is the epitome of general audience popcorn fair, and an amusing spectacle. My Rating 5/10 It hits all the marks, the witty banter is slightly less cringy than most generic action movies, but there isn’t anything notable that makes it better than average. If You Like Shark Movies, Check Out Our Review of 47 Meters Down: Uncaged. https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/08/21/47-meters-down-uncaged-review/ Spoilers There really isn’t much to spoil here. The shark eats many people, but not the protagonist. They kill said shark. The end. The only notable aspect of the movie is how custom tailored it is for the Chinese audience. Several of the main characters are Chinese, Mandarin is spoken throughout, and the main set piece action sequence at the end is on a Chinese beach. The strategy has paid off though, The Meg has made one and a half times as much in China as the domestic box office. Is The Meg Worth Seeing? The Meg would be a great movie to watch on cable. It’s not necessary to see it in theaters unless you are really into monster movies. It is a truly average popcorn movie that is tailored to mass appeal. The plot doesn’t have a lot of “bite.” All of the deaths are righteous or noble. In summary, This movie is great for middle-aged dads that like shark week and drinking beer. If you like dumb monster movies, then this will be a fine notch in your belt. If you want to watch this movie please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast.

The hardest part about watching Slender Man, for me, is having to sit down and write about it now. Don’t get me wrong, the watching of the movie was not fun in any way, shape, or form. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the individual parts of this movie because there really weren’t any. It was one big confusing mess that director Sylvain White cobbled together from writing duo David Birke and Slender Man character creator Victor Surge. If you want to watch Slender Man, please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. This thing is rough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySy8mcceTno Not redeemable, not enjoyable, not so bad that it’s good, just bad in the same way as when you realize you have explosive diarrhea – there is no good time for it, and you just wish it never happened. Slender Man (the character) was created in 2009 by Victor Surge and has been featured in thousands of creepypasta stories, videos, video games, and movies since his creation. He’s an abnormally tall looking humanoid figure who has elongated legs and arms, wears a suit, and who often shows up in the woods to torment or abduct kids. In 2014 there was a stabbing in Wisconsin where some pre-teen girls stabbed their peer 19 times in the woods to try to appease the fictional, woods-dwelling slenderest of men…they are both serving lengthy periods in mental health facilities for their heinous act. The victim survived. All this to say, Slender Man has taken on some pretty serious folklore and followings among the youth of America. This movie is rated PG-13 and aims to target to youth of America, and dear sweet jeebus help us all if this thing gets through to them. Not because I’m worried that they will commit horrible acts, but because if they liked this movie I would lose all faith in our future. My Rating 2/10 Like Movies About Kids Fighting Evil? Check Out Our Review of IT (2017) https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/09/04/it-2017-review/ Spoilers: The Rundown There is nothing to be spoiled in this movie because most of it is impossible to follow. You would do much better to listen to the podcast for the rundown, but here it goes anyway. Here is every Slender Man appearance in the whole movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5RHzn1XpEU Four teenage girls learn about Slender Man. Knowing about Slender Man is enough to infect them with Slender Man-itis. He haunts their dreams, and causes them to see him everywhere. One by one they are picked off by this skinny boi until only one or two are left. They try to fight against him but his tall, thin frame is too much for them to resist – they all eventually die? I’m not sure what happened in this movie, honestly, I am still confused. How Slender Man Stacks Up It does not stack up. This movie takes being bad very seriously. There was no point where I was scared, except for about 15 minutes into it when I realize I had an hour and 15 to go. If you want a real scare involving Slender Man, look up some of the top tier creepypasta that has been written about him. Please, do not support this movie. May Slender Man take mercy on our souls for creating this abomination. Agree or disagree? Let us know! to our podcast and give us a listen. Our most recent Episodes include Unfriended: Dark Web and The Devil’s Doorway. Check out our latest blog about how slashers killed horror and why good horror is on it’s way back If you want to watch this movie please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast.

Unfriended: Dark Web is the sequel to the 2014 movie, Unfriended, and if you saw the first movie you might be bracing for impact – don’t. Dark Web is a great deal more enjoyable than the first movie, and only ports over the computer screen viewing format of Unfriended. If you want to watch Unfriended: Dark Web, please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DJAWGXkvq8 There isn’t much else that ties this sequel to its predecessor, which is a good thing. Frankly, I’m not too sure why they chose to keep the series going instead of just starting over, but there you have it. Having seen the first movie, I was ready for a big letdown walking into the theater on the opening weekend. The setup and lead-in to Dark Web let me dangle and confirmed my worst fears, this was going to be a rehashing of the original. The acting and script seemed corny, and the movie relied mostly on the strange and slightly jarring format of watching someone use a computer. If You like AI Gone Wrong Listen to Our Review of Child’s Play (2019) https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/26/childs-play-2019-review/ Stephen Susco, the same man that brought us the classic, The Grudge, brings us this, and I can’t say that this is quite as iconic. If you are familiar with this format, it’s just as mentioned – watching someone use a computer. Imagine standing behind someone who is using a computer and watching their mouse drag slowly across the screen. Maybe the cursor sits for a little bit on a button or circles around a piece of dialog to emphasize it’s importance. This describes almost the entire movie. At first, it’s very distracting, it later becomes pretty easy to follow and is executed well. I could see the format being confusing enough to my parents for them to turn this movie off immediately. My Rating 6/10 Spoilers: The Rundown It starts with Matias, the protagonist, trying to login to a computer that he took from a cyber-café that he works at. The action starts with a group of friends meeting online over Skype for a long-distance game night. The protagonist, Mat and his deaf girlfriend, Amaya have several asides that point to relationship tension over his neglecting to learn sign language. While the game night ensues, Mat begins getting strange and alarming messages from a Facebook account that claims he stole the laptop he is using. Eventually, Mat finds some alarming videos on his stolen computer, videos that nod at things like rape, human trafficking, and human torture. He does his best not to get sucked into this world but ends up being entrapped by the owner of the computer and told that if he doesn’t keep up his end of a twisted bargain he, his girlfriend, and all his friends on Skype will be killed. Stuff happens, and it ramps into a sort of Final Destination style kill-fest with a pretty decent twist. To cap it all off, Unfriended: Dark Web was released to theaters with two different endings. There is no easy way to find out which theater has which ending, but I would suggest asking the employees which one they got – it could work! How Unfriended: Dark Web Stacks Up Once the action starts to kick in, and you realize that the antagonist in this movie is a real person who is willing to do horrible things to people in real life and not a supernatural killer like in the first movie, it really comes into its own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lve29BQ69MM The acting pulled a fast one on me in the beginning, making me think that this was going to be a poorly acted, generic and forgettable horror movie, but all the actors gave an admirable performance when called upon to be believable. If continuity errors bother you tremendously, there will be plenty of spots in Unfriended: Dark Web that will niggle you. My suggestion would be to go in, suspend your disbelief, and have a good time. As far as I can tell, they were shooting for a PG-13 rating while making this but the darker concepts of human trafficking and torture, while not substantially present, were enough to push it to an R. It’s a light R. This is a fun movie that surprised me in a good way; I think you should see it. If you want to watch this movie please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast.

This found footage movie focuses on one of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries, which you would think would provide enough basis for solid terror to be spooky on its own. As it turns out, The Devil’s Doorway is not terribly spooky, it’s not even spoopy, it just kind of is. If you want to watch The Devil’s Doorway consider renting or purchasing the movie through this link to help us support the podcast. This movie focuses on two priests who are sent to investigate some reports of miracles that were made by those that inhabit this particular Magdalene Laundry, and they end up finding a demonically impregnated young woman who is imprisoned by some pretty questionable nuns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF6wtgdJ8B4&t=2s I was excited for this movie because usually, Catholic horror movies capitalize on all the weirdest in a long line of weird stuff that Catholicism offers us. You have everything from officially recognized possession, to ancient architecture, to clergy that has something terrible or perverse to hide. This movie touch on all these aspects, and still manages to be pretty forgettable. As mentioned above, this is a found footage movie, but they put their flavor on it by setting it in 1960. I have no idea how large the film camera that Father John (played by Ciaran Flynn) carries around must be, but it can’t be small, and for that, I applaud his efforts. If you aren’t a fan of found footage, this has all the things that you dislike the most about the format, lots of jiggly-running, plenty of out of focus shots, and lots of panning around looking for something that isn’t there. It even adds what I call “the strobe effect.” The strobe effect involves the light that is attached to the camera (and is often the only source of light) very reliably going out for about one out of every ten seconds for a good portion of this movie. If you like the found footage format, the only thing that might bother you about this is the aforementioned, “strobe effect.” It’s clear that director Aislinn Clarke cared about this movie, it just didn’t translate very well. My Rating 4/10 Check Out Our The Dead Don’t Die Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/19/the-dead-dont-die-review/ Spoilers: The Rundown Father Thomas (Lalor Roddy) and Father John (Ciaran Flynn) are dispatched to a Magdalene Laundry by the Vatican to investigate some purported miracles. They are met by a steely Mother Superior ( Helena Bereen) who is not thrilled about being investigated by the Vatican. https://youtu.be/FOYRKjimCSA As the older Father Thomas and younger Father John talk, we learn that Father Thomas has essentially lost his faith in God. He has investigated many miracles for the church and has always found the culprit to be a person of faith. Similarly, he mentions that the worst evils perpetrated on earth are done by man. Check Out Our Child’s Play 1988 Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/24/childs-play-1988-review/ We meet Kathleen (Lauren Coe) who is imprisoned in the bowels of the laundry and chained to the walls. Kathleen is a pregnant virgin who seems to be the polar opposite of the Mother Mary. As we wade through the plethora of jump-scares, Kathleen eventually gives birth. I’m going to be honest, I don’t think I saw the baby, and I didn’t even know there was one. Jump-scares bring us into a system of tunnels below the laundry, where more jump-scares lead us on a demon-baby chase. Stuff happens, and the end is pretty underwhelming. How The Devil’s Doorway Stacks Up This movie misses plenty of opportunities as it progresses. The setting is great – the subject matter is hard to mess up – the acting is pretty darn good. It’s forgettable and has some annoying tendencies. The strobe effect soon became the focal point of my annoyance as I waited for the next reliable light’s out moment. The jump-scares were fast and furious. The audio was terrible, and I mean terrible. Check Out Our Child’s Play 2019 Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/26/childs-play-2019-review/ The Devil’s Doorway is great for those who have a good time with jump scares. Other than that, it fails despite having a lot going for it. If you want to watch The Devil’s Doorway consider renting or purchasing the movie through this link to help us support the podcast.