Horror Movie Talk

1BR is one of the most interesting movies that I’ve watched in 2020 as I feel like it fooled me at the start and made me love it at the end. I worry that the somewhat goofy beginning of this movie will make people jump ship in the first act, but I really hope they watch it to the end, because it’s got some interesting tricks up it’s sleeve. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/IGzb01GrsxQ Synopsis 1BR is the story of Sarah, a young woman who moves to LA in order to start a new life away from her troubling family. She finds a great apartment complex that seems strangely kind and welcoming.  Sarah sneaks a cat into her new apartment and soon realizes that’s too much pussy for a one bedroom apartment.  Watch 1BR Watch on Amazon Click Here to Watch Review 1BR is written and directed by David Marmor and stars Nicole Brydon Bloom as Sarah. This is a somewhat unique movie as it’s a bit of a bait and switch and I fear that will hurt it on a streaming platform like Netflix where people can switch to watching The Office at a moment’s notice. Strange Start 1BR starts out as a kind of silly, jumpscare-laden spookfest – and a lot of the themes early in the movie left me laughing at what I thought to be a pitiable attempt at a story. The characters felt fake, the scenarios felt unbelievable, and I kept asking, “Yeah, but why would anyone care?” Solid End At ⅔’s through, 1BR threw me for a real loop as I realized the movie had played me the same way the characters had played Sarah. The start of this movie felt like a facade to me, and the end left me with a lot of respect for it. This is really, at its core, a social commentary, or a warning tale meant to alert people to complacently accepting social movements at face value and believing it’s the right thing not to fight back.  Parts of this movie are very similar to one of my favorite thrillers of all-time, The Invitation. Makes me feel…trapped That Gas Lighting Feel I’ve said this before, I’m a big fan of movies gaslighting me, and this one did exactly that, it played me like an instrument. I thought it was a silly little thriller and it ended up smacking me in the face with cold-hard truth.  This is a particularly timely movie to watch right now, and one that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a solid thriller.  My biggest fear with 1BR is that people will turn it off before it heats up, the start seems intentionally goofy to me, and at the end I think the viewer will appreciate it. Score 8/10 Final Recommendations If you enjoy thrillers, or the feeling of being gaslit, this is a wonderfully strong movie for that. 1BR will age very well with time. I just hope people will make it through the somewhat silly feeling start of this movie.

Saw may have dulled over time, but it is still a good horror movie and was definitely influential during the 2000s. The simple premise of catch-22 torture traps is an effective hook, but sometimes the twisty turny plot is a bit forced. @dgoebel00 on instagram Synopsis Saw is mainly about two strangers trapped in a High School boys bathroom with a mysterious dead body. They are both chained to pipes just out of reach of each other and the dead body in the middle of the room. They find that they are being toyed with by a villain named Jigsaw, who set up a trap to pit them against each other in a race against time. They are both left with the tool to escape, a saw blade too dull to saw through metal chains/pipes, but just the right sharpness to saw through an ankle. Wacky hijinks ensue. Saw Poster https://youtu.be/S-1QgOMQ-ls Review of Saw Saw has dulled over time, but it’s still a good horror movie. It was the first film of the now well established horror director/writers James Wan and Leigh Whannel. It feels like a short film stretched to fill a feature length film, and Wan and Whannel did make a short before this movie, but it was originally written as a feature length script and the short was an excerpt from it. It’s undeniable that this movie and it’s sequels have made a mark in the pantheon of horror movies based off of the simple concept of catch-22 torture traps. The problem that the franchise faces and has from the beginning is the need to stretch out the simple premise with overly complicated labyrinthian plots and character motives. The original Saw is well constructed and has an engaging plot that unravels nicely, but it’s still at its heart, a cheap exploitational premise. Score 7/10 Saw Add the Blu-ray to your collection or stream on Amazon Buy/Stream Now https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2020/07/08/hellraiser-review/

Se7en is one of the most enthralling and horrific crime thrillers ever made, right up there with Silence of the Lambs. With an all-star cast all delivering incredible performances and some of the most depraved imagery and ideas ever to make it into a big budget box office movie, Se7en is a work of art. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/SpKbZ_3zlb0 Se7en Trailer Synopsis Se7en is the darkest buddy cop story you will ever find. It is directed by David Fincher, and is one of his best movies, which is saying something.  It’s the story of detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman), a disillusioned PI at the end of his career, and Mills (Brad Pitt), a baby-faced newbie who has something to prove.  They arrive on the scene of a grizzly and totally strange murder of a man who was tied up and force fed until death. As they find more murder scenes they begin to realize that there is a pattern emerging – the seven deadly sins: Lust  Gluttony Greed Sloth Wrath Envy Pride We are taken through the lives of these detectives and learn how they cope with the total depravity that they see on a daily basis. We are given a look into the incredibly perverted and seamy underbelly of a big city with huge crime problems. Mills and Somerset end up getting more serial murder than they bargained for. Review Se7en stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kevin Spacey and all of them give career topping performances. The storytelling in Se7en is beyond compare and the twist is one that will leave you gasping for air. The idea that a human could do these things to others in the name of God is simultaneously vile and extremely true to life. The story isn’t exactly a detective story, even though it involves detectives. It’s very formulaic, while holding the audience’s interest through the sheer depravity of the murders and backdrops. Watch Se7en Watch on Amazon Click here to Watch Se7en is, at its core, a character study of a young man who wants to be a real detective and his older counterpart who helps guide him through the most insane settings that any city could offer. I’m going to quote Roger Ebert who I think explained this movie best: “What’s being used here is the same sort of approach William Friedkin employed in “The Exorcist” and Jonathan Demme in “The Silence of the Lambs.” What could become a routine cop movie is elevated by the evocation of dread mythology and symbolism. “Seven” is not really a very deep or profound film, but it provides the convincing illusion of one. Almost all mainstream thrillers seek first to provide entertainment; this one intends to fascinate and appall.” https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-seven-1995 Spacey’s performance is one only he and very few other actors I can think of could pull off. He is the embodiment of evil, almost the devil in the flesh. The end of this movie could have gone a few different ways, and I think the way it went was, by far, the best version that could have possibly been told. It’s shocking, and cruel, and the perfect end to one of the most twisted mainstream movies you will ever see.  Se7en contains some of the darkest subject matter that I can think of and it has stuck with me since I saw it as a young teen. This is storytelling at it’s finest. Score 10/10 Final Recommendation Everyone who can handle some serious imagery should see this. It’s a fabulous and dark story that will leave a mark on you for as long as you live.

This week we review the 2012 horror hot, Sinister. A film with properly disturbing imagery, but improperly matched script. Later on we check our voicemail and answer questions from listeners. @dgoebel00 on instagram Synopsis Sinister is the story of author Ellison Oswalt moving to a new town to research for his next true crime novel. His wife, son, and daughter make up the most passive aggressively unsupportive family in the world. Unbeknownst to Ellison’s family, they have moved into the house of that family whose deaths his book will be based on. https://youtu.be/_kbQAJR9YWQ Review of Sinister Sinister is a serviceable, average horror movie. It heavily forecasts it’s twists from the very beginning in a “whatever you do, do not push that button” sort of way. I can see why people like this movie and keep bringing it up to us. It’s got a distinctive dark tone while still being very approachable for mainstream audiences. It’s like if The Crow had a baby with The Nun from The Conjuring. There were a couple effective jump scares and attempts to create believable relationships and stakes, but never has any moment that will keep this movie from melding with countless other horror movies in your head. That being said, Ethan Hawke offers up an excellent performance, and the ending was slightly better than expected. Score 6/10 Sinister Add the Blu-ray to your collection or stream on Amazon Buy/Stream Now

We watched Host on Shudder because everyone has been talking about it and found out that you can make a pretty effective movie that impresses everyone as long as theaters are closed and there is a global pandemic. Host doesn’t do anything new, but it doesn’t waste your time and it delivers fairly well compared to many found footage movies. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis Six friends decide to cure their Corona-19 blues by hiring a medium to hold a seance over a Zoom conference call. One of the friends doesn’t take the whole thing seriously and decides to make a joke at the expense of the seance – this angers the spirits who are also probably pretty bored of being on lockdown.  The friends get more evil spirits than they bargained for https://youtu.be/SNlKbqHqGcY Watch Host This link will bring you to Amazon where you can sign up for Shudder Click here to Watch Review Host brings literally nothing new to the table at all. Everything I saw during my watching of this movie is stolen whole cloth from another found footage movie of varying title.  The most obvious borrowing is the  movie’s format from titles like Unfriended, but I caught stuff from the Paranormal Activity series, Blair Witch, and about twenty other very common scares and tropes. That doesn’t make Host bad, it just makes it pretty common. The thing that I really appreciated from this movie was that it was less than an hour in length.  Nothing about this movie will stick with me for very long, mostly because I didn’t feel empathy for any of the characters. With these computer screen found footage formats the characters need to be really strong in order for them the break through to the audience and build empathy. Instead what you have with Host is a bunch of Friday the 13th camp counselors who you barely know and don’t care about.  The scares work to a middling extent and I wasn’t upset with this movie in any way. I will say that I had heard a lot of positive reviews and opinions of this movie before watching it and it just didn’t have enough substance for me to recommend Score 4/10 Final Recommendation Bryce seems to love this movie if you listen to the podcast attached to this episode but for me it falls pretty flat. I think those who love the found footage genre will appreciate this, but mostly it’s a bunch of used up tropes and scares.

Event Horizon is the best movie that Paul Anderson ever made and ever will make. It’s one of the most late 90’s movies you will ever see and has very Hellraiser aesthetic. Actually, now that I think of it, this movie is a mashup of Hellraiser and Alien mixed with a gimmicky action movie. It’s beloved by many, which makes it hard for me to do what I’m about to do. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/OVlnER8SxfQ Synopsis Event Horizon starts with a very strong intro describing the far-flung future of 2015 and beyond! By 2015 we have already set up a colony on the moon. By present-day in the movie (2047), we have launched and lost a spaceship called Event Horizon that was meant to explore the boundaries of the solar system. The Event Horizon was lost around Neptune in order to avoid jokes about your butthole, and our ill-fated crew has been sent to determine what happened to the missing ship. Onboard the rescue vessel is Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) and Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill), who was the creator of the Event Horizon ship. Apart from them, you have a crew of stereotypical, disposable clods. Everyone is soon told by Dr. Weir that the Event Horizon vessel that he created was not a vessel made to explore the outer regions of the solar system, but a faster-than-light vessel meant to catapult humans around the universe. Everyone ends up with more existential terror than they bargained for… Event Horizon Review This is the first time that I’ve sat down and watched this movie from beginning to end, and I must say, I am not impressed. Granted, this movie is talked about lovingly by only the people who love it, and is almost never talked about at all by anyone who doesn’t like it. It seems to fly under the radar of movie hatred that other, more controversial movies are stuck with. I’m not saying that Event Horizon is bad – it’s not. It’s just that I heard so much praise for it from so many people that it probably inflated my expectations a bit. Watch Event Horizon Watch on Amazon now Click here to Watch The main thing that this movie does well is borrow from other films that are quite successful at what they do, like Alien and Hellraiser. The aesthetic and setting of this are like a Warhammer 40k gothic sci-fi meets real-world futuristic scenario. The visuals are graphic and disturbing. The story is of a man gone mad by the invention he created, almost like Frankenstein. Everything else is not for me. The action is very run-of-the-mill fast cut bologna. The disturbing imagery, while disturbing, does absolutely nothing to amp up the tension or frighten. The concept is cool enough, but without great execution, it just falls flat. I want to like Event Horizon; it just doesn’t do a damn thing for me except remind me of a bunch of actually good things that were probably going through Paul Anderson’s dull head while he was creating this. Score 4/10 Paul Anderson’s Horrible Career Even though he married Mila Jovovich, I think Paul should be a little embarrassed about the life he leads. It’s based on the shoddiest of work on the most braindead of all projects. Event Horizon is his best work. Here are his biggest ventures to date. Directing: Mortal Kombat Soldier Resident Evil Alien vs. Predator Drift Death Race Resident Evil: Afterlife Resident Evil: Retribution Resident Evil: The Final Chapter Writing: Resident Evil Alien vs Predator Resident Evil: Apocalypse Resident Evil: Extinction Death Race Resident Evil: Afterlife Death Race 2 Resident Evil: Retribution Death Race: Inferno Resident Evil: The Final Chapter Death Race 4: Beyond Anarchy Kids – follow your dreams. This is America; if Paul Anderson can be a multimillionaire married to Mila Jovovich for writing and directing all these gigantic steaming piles of zombie shit and Hotwheels wet dreams, you can make it doing anything! Final Recommendation If you remember this movie fondly, by all means, love it. I just can’t recommend seeing this to anyone who doesn’t get off on sci-fi and horror combos. It’s not great at what it does.

Patrons voted last month, and now we’re reviewing Ghost Ship, and it’s… from the early 2000’s. If you are in the mood for some modern schlock, then maybe it’s worth the $3 to watch the whole movie. But really, this movie’s opening scene sets expectations way too high for itself. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/a7xNXTpQA5Q Ghost Boaty McBoatface is available to rent on multiple streaming platforms.  Synopsis Ghost Ship is about a Ghost Ship filled with Ship Ghosts that’s discovered by a salvage crew that eventually become Ship Ghosts on the Ghost Ship. The salvage crew aboard the tugboat HMS Whogivesafuck, are given a lead on an abandoned ship in the Bering Strait. The information is brought to them by Jack Ferriman, a Canadian Air Force pilot who insists on coming along with them on their salvage operation because he looks too handsome to be in just one scene. The crew sails out to the ship and discovers it’s a missing 1960’s Italian ocean liner called the Antonia Graza, which suffered a tragic boating accident that bifurcated most of it’s passengers.  As they lazily wander around the corridors talking about working, they find out that this SHIP has more GHOST than they bargained for. Ghost Ship Poster Review of Ghost Ship (2002) Ghost Ship is described by Roger Ebert as “It’s better than you expect but not as good as you hope.” Which is pretty accurate, but still pretty generous considering expectations going in are scraping the bottom of the barrel. The movie starts out with one of the best schlocky gory sequences in all of horror. Really, If you watched the opening scene and just walked away, you wouldn’t be missing much. The rest of the film is a pretty standard slow burn haunted house story set on a boat. The problem with that set up is that it requires the supposed professional salvage workers to do exactly zero work for an hour and 4 minutes of the 91 minute runtime. There is a little bit of mystery unraveling going on during that first hour, but most of the action happens in the last 20 minutes. It’s not a good movie, but it has a good cast, and it is salvaged by the bookends of it’s ridiculous beginning and ending. If you would like to watch something better from the same time, check out Dead End, which could easily have been called ghost car. Score 3/10 Ghost Ship Add the Blu-ray to your collection or stream on Amazon Buy/Stream Now

This week we follow up David’s favorite “horror” movie of all time, with my favorite horror movie of all time: The Exorcist. Every time I revisit it, I’m reminded that it truly is a masterpiece. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/YDGw1MTEe9k The Exorcist Trailer Synopsis The Exorcist, if you don’t know, is about an exorcism of a little girl. Regan, played by Linda Blair, is the 12 year old daughter of single mother Chris MacNiel played by Ellen Burstyn. Regan starts complaining about her bed shaking at night, and then as days pass, her personality slowly changes and she starts behaving erratically. Chris exhausts every medical and psychological avenue, and is still left hopeless as her daughter continues to get worse. Some doctors reluctantly mention Exorcism as an option. Father Karras, played by Jason Miller, is a reluctant skeptic, but is recruited to perform an exorcism. With the help of an older more experienced exorcist, Father Merrin, played by Max von Sydow, they struggle to expel the demon or demons that are tormenting Regan. The Exorcist Poster Review of The Exorcist The Exorcist is the center tentpole of the horror genre for me, and probably for a lot of people. It’s often at the top of best horror movies of all time lists, and for good reason. Some of the themes and scenes from this movie are still genuinely disturbing nearly 50 years after it’s release. It deals with a lot of conscience and subconscious fears about life, reality, and little girls. A lot of the notoriety about the film comes from it’s marketing and stories of people fainting or leaving the theater. However, it doesn’t owe it’s longevity to these gimmicks, it is still held as one of the best critical and commercial successes in horror. The special effects might not hold up to modern audiences, but everything else is timeless. The acting is great, the themes are handled maturely, and the director had an unhealthy conviction to get his vision of the story. All of these work together to create a film that has spun off a whole subgenre of exorcism and demonic children. Score 10/10 The Exorcist Add the Blu-ray to your collection or stream on Amazon Buy/Stream Now Final Recommendation If you are a horror fan, and want to see the original “elevated” horror movie The Exorcist is a must see.

Alien is an incredible movie that did amazing things for horror, sci-fi, and cinema as a whole. It imagined an incredible amount of very real-seeming possibilities for space travel and contact with other life forms that impresses me to this day despite being 41 years old. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis Alien is the story of a deep-space commercial towing vehicle, named Nostromo, and it’s crew who are bringing a tremendous amount of ore back to earth.  There are seven crewmembers and they seem to be mostly blue collar folk, with the exception of the Chief Science Officer, Ash. They are awoken from stasis following receiving a transmission from a nearby planet and are bound by their contract with “the company” to check it out.  They discover some eggs near a spaceship crash-site and end up with more alien than they bargained for! https://youtu.be/LjLamj-b0I8 Watch Alien Now Watch on Amazon Click here to Watch Review Alien is one of the most impressive pieces of cinema in history. It set the bar so high for horror and sci-fi that I think it’s still the apex of both.  Every single aspect of this movie is carefully thought-out and crafted to the highest of standards. The setting is bleak and cold, very much unlike how space is typically portrayed today, with Guardians galavanting around galaxies and such. It’s completely unforgiving and inhospitable in almost every single way.  With Dan O’Bannon writing the story and screenplay and Ridley Scott at the helm as the director, this is one of the most accurate and impressive imaginings of the far-flung future as I can find, with much of the tech they dreamed about being in use today.  The xenomorph is, without a doubt, the coolest and most insane diabolic biological lifeform ever dreamed up. While everyone is very familiar with the xenomorphs at this point, you don’t get to see it almost at all in this movie, even though it seems like you do. This may be my favorite movie of all time, and is definitely the best horror movie in my book.  I mean, someone MIGHT be able to hear you scream if they were really close… Score 10/10 Final Recommendation If you don’t have a massive boner during your viewing of Alien, I don’t want to know you. This is a classic that trumps most classics, and should be seen by everyone within the sound of my voice and beyond.

This is a different kind of episode. You can’t see this movie yet, well at least not with some difficulty. This is a feature that I saw at the Portland Horror Film Festival, and it was by far my favorite. This will be available for streaming probably at the end of the year. It’s making the festival run right now, so if you can catch it at one, definitely do. Dustin Goebel, the man, the myth, the @dgoebel00 on intstagram made this. https://youtu.be/w-KbcVlzn1s Synopsis The Brain That Wouldn’t Die tells the story of mad scientist/surgeon Bill Cortner as he tries to defy the laws of nature and resurrect the dead. In a tragic car accident, Bill’s wife Jan is decapitated and he rushes to save her head with science! While Jan’s disembodied head begs to die, Bill and his lab assistant Kurt search far and wide for the perfect replacement body for his wife. Preferably one with big’ole titties. UP TOP! Review of The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (2020) The Brain that Wouldn’t Die is a loving remake to the 1962 film of the same name. You might recognise it from Mystery Science Theater 3000, when they lambasted the original reanimated head-on-a-table film.  The Original on MST3K This film is surprisingly faithful to the original with a lot of the original dialogue, but with a distinctly more humorous tone. It’s in the realm of B-Movie homage comedy/horror films like Re-Animator and Young Frankenstein. That may sound like hyperbole, but this film is very similar to those two, and really funny. Most impressive is how well they pulled off this film with an estimated $80,000 budget. To give you a sense of how little that is, the original that was actually filmed in 1959 had a budget of an estimated $62,000, which would be over half of a million in 2020 dollars. The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (2020) Poster The lead played by Patrick Green is pitch perfect, and the acting from the rest of the cast really sells the serious, but not serious tone of the movie. If you would like a more modern take on brains and how they work, check out our review of Possessor Uncut. Score 8/10 MST3K The Brain That Wouldn’t Die Since you can’t watch this version, let the MST3k episode tide you over. Buy/Stream Now Final Recommendation Definitely go see it if you can. If you are a fan of Mel Brooks style humor, this is well worth your time to seek out. Look for it at film festivals near you, and on streaming services later this year. Spoilers Expand for Spoilers It’s kind of silly to care about spoilers on a remake of a 60 year old movie, but here are some points of discussion that we had on the episode. The opening black and white credits are copied from the original film. This is underscored by the original music. This really sets the stage for a 50s-60s B-Movie experience The tone of the film is established right out of the gate. The acting is intentional overacting, and sight-gags start immediately. As Bill is performing a surgery in the opening scene, a comical amount of perfectly timed blood sprays directly into his eyes. The next sight gag, which is a favorite of the writer producer Hank Huffman, is the two doctors ripping off their scrubs to reveal full suits and ties underneath. A lot of the dialogue is taken directly from the original movie. Even seemingly comedic lines like “our baby isn’t going to be a test tube baby” is in the original. Some of my favorite lines are: The response to “let me die” is “we should do as she asks” “I am the only man in the world capable of reviving a human head.” “She’s been decapitated”, “What!?”, “it means beheaded” “never mind her, she’s recovering from a brain injury.” Mentioned in The Episode https://youtu.be/FcVmC1NOWrA https://youtu.be/8-v2BHNBVCs

The Lodge is a movie that is heavy in tone and aesthetic, that went to great lengths to disguise the danger and keep the audience guessing as to what or who may be behind the nefarious details of the story. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis The Lodge is a story of two families, both with a tragic past that meet to determine who has it worse. We have the Hall family, who are a fractured family of four, father Richard (Richard Armitage), mother Laura (Alicia Silverstone), older son Aiden (Jaeden Martell), and younger daughter Mia (Lia McHugh). Laura and Richard have clearly been taking a long break from their marriage and this has treated Laura much worse than it has Richard. We also have Grace (Riley Keough), who is the only surviving member of a now dead, death cult which just so happened to be led by her father.  Needless to say, both of these families have their fair share of problems.  As the story unravels, the audience is left guessing as to what and where the danger may be coming from, but the tension is undeniable. https://youtu.be/ZN4E-NV2bpo Watch The Lodge Watch on Amazon Click here to Watch Review The Lodge is a very interesting movie for a lot of different reasons. The directors, Severin Fiala, and Veronika Franz made a lot of wonderful choices that put this squarely in my “favorite movies of 2019” box. The framing and location choices were bleak, cold, and clinical. This is an easy movie to compare to Hereditary based on many of the filming and set styles used. Lots of the shots are on the pretentious side of artistic and that’s just fine by me. The mood was mostly sad, and strangely dangerous, with the story constantly dangling danger at the periphery of the audiences vision but never quite letting it come fully into the light.  Just when you think you have a good handle on what is going on, the rug is pulled out from under you, which happens several times in The Lodge. There is lots of allusions to danger, and coincidences in this slow burn thriller to keep any hardcore thriller fan happy.  While I had quite a good time with the movie I must say, the content is deadly serious and fairly heavy, which left me with a gross taste in my mouth at the end, but that’s part of the allure. Here at Horror Movie Talk, we are family people, and have made it very clear that one of the horror elements that work best for us in movies is the breakdown of the family structure, and The Lodge has that in spades. Score 9/10 The Lodge Spoilers Click here to expand spoiler for The Lodge Re-imagining of “The Turn of the Screw” I didn’t know this going in, but after the 2/3 point I started to realize that I was familiar with this story. The Lodge is a re-imagining of “The Turn of the Screw“. It’s much better than another “Turn of the Screw” based movie, The Turning, which was released at almost the same time as this movie. While the characters all have vastly different pretenses for their being in the situation, the story is still very much the same. This story gives a much more contemporary and compelling reason for the caretaker character, who is Grace, and an alarming background to her and the children she is in charge of. So let’s take a brief look at how The Lodge unfolds and compare that to it’s original counterpart. There is definitely some symbolism going on here with the turkeys The Kid’s Backstory The movie starts with Laura Hall, the mom, dropping her kids off at their dads house. Richard asks Laura if they can finalize their divorce noting that it’s gone on long enough and heis going to marry Grace in several month. Laura storms out and, in a very shocking scene, commits suicide. The movie jump-cuts to a “6 months later” screen and we get a sense of how distraught Aiden and Mia really are. They argue with their dad that they don’t want to go to their vacation lodge with Grace because she is crazy. They are often shown playing with dolls in a playhouse built to look just like the vacation lodge that their family owns. With this playhouse they seem to act out scenes that come true, indicating they are somehow manipulating those around them. Grace’s Backstory Grace has an even darker past than the Hall kids. She is the only remaining member of a, now dead, death cult that was led by her father. There is footage shown early in the movie that is shot by a young Grace, finding all of her family and friends dead in this gruesome mass suicide. How it Comes Together As Grace and the remaining Hall family settle in to the lodge for Christmas, Richard gets called by work for something urgent, and leaves his fiance Grace in charge of the kids. At this point we are ever so slowly dipped into hell as a series of inexplicable events turn this lodge into a purgatory of sorts. Everyone’s belongings go missing, the

Clive Barker’s Hellraiser is a transgressive journey into a world where the lines between ecstasy, pain, heaven, and hell are blurred. It stands as a unique counterpoint to the one-note slashers of the 1980s. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis Hellraiser is about a psycho sexual sadist named Frank that seeks out a personal pandora’s box. He believes that by opening the mysterious puzzle box, he will get everything he ever wanted in life. Turns out he was mistaken and he didn’t end up liking eternal pain in Hell. Whodathunk? When Frank’s brother Larry and his wife Julia arrive at the family house that Frank mysteriously disappeared from, flashbacks reveal that Frank made his brother a cuckold by sleeping with Julia. When Larry accidentally cuts his hand and bleed on the floor of the attic, he inadvertently helps Frank begin resurrecting himself. When a mostly goo Frank is discovered by Julia, he recruits her to bring sacrificial singles in their area so that he can become a real boy. The only thing standing in their way is Frank’s niece Kristy, and the hell-demon Cenobites that seek to recapture him. https://youtu.be/8mOn4h0lgKQ Original Hellraiser Poster Review of Hellraiser This film is Clive Barker’s best film, and it is a unique mix of family dysfunction, sex, sadism, and gore. At times it feels like a 50’s melodrama, other times like a nightmare, and sometimes like torture porn. The tone that it sets is hard to put a finger on, but it is definitely dark and icky. The surreal imagery and goopy special effects are really the best parts of the film. The acting isn’t particularly great, but the imagery and themes of the film overwhelm any shortcomings it has. Score 9/10 Hellraiser Add Hellraiser to your collection or stream it now. Buy/Rent Hellraiser

We watched tremors and I have to say that this may be the epitome of a made-for-TV-movie feeling movie. I’ve seen it 20 times and I’ll see it 20 more during my life, and that’s a good thing. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis Tremors follows Val (Kevin Bacon) and Earl (Fred Ward) in their attempt to leave Paradise Valley, Nevada, while doing odd jobs and handyman work. As they make their way up and down the valley between odd jobs and quirky small-town characters they begin to notice a string of seemingly related ground-level killings.  Upon meeting up with a grad student, Rhonda (Finn Carter) who is doing some important if timely seismic research, they learn that there are a bunch of little earthquakes – or tremors – happening all over the valley.  Before they jump the gun on declaring that there is a 100 foot tall, 200 ton serial killer on the loose, they find evidence of a subterranean suspect. A worm of sorts.  The rest of the movie is spent running for their lives from an unlikely, if terrifying phenomena with a ton a quirky townsfolk. https://youtu.be/liJfZvXdiTE Watch Tremors Now Watch on Amazon Click here to Watch Review Tremors, by director Ron Underwood, is one heck of a solid movie. It’s basically a monster movie, but it feels a bit more like an action-thriller to me because of all the action and adventure that takes place, along with lots of changes of scenery and methods. Tremors is a nearly perfect movie in terms of it’s script, who we have S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock to thank for . Everything that is said or mentioned is followed-up on or ruled-out at some point in the movie. Almost nothing extraneous or unneeded is mentioned, and all the characters play a wonderful role in making Paradise Valley a believable place. Maybe the best part of Tremors is it’s intense focus on the characters instead of the monster. Sure, we see the monster but the focus of every scene is on the characters and getting the audience to empathize with them. This forces a pivot in the otherwise fucked-out monster movie paradigm. It’s why Jaws was great, and it’s probably no coincidence that this is essentially a Jaws remake – even down to the movie poster.  It’s terrifically ironic that a movie that focused so much on the characters instead of the monster spawned five completely monster-focused sequels that lack most of the charm of the first, with exception of the second movie, Tremors II : Aftershocks. Many horror skeptics will say that this movie is not a true horror movie noting the goofy fun and light ambiance, but I beg to differ. Not only is Tremors definitely a horror movie, it’s the most important kind of horror movie – entry level horror.  This is the stuff that I watched as a little kid and sent me scrambling for the rocks. It hooked my pint sized imagination and lit up every corner, making me wonder if it really was safe to play tag on the playground or if I should seek the high-ground. Tremors is interesting, has wonderful tension, and most importantly is fun as any movie you will ever watch.  Score 8/10 What Makes Tremors so Great? From an entertainment and rewatchability standpoint this is a bit of a sleeper, but upon review, it holds up quite well. a big part of this is the horror aspect mixed with good, old fashioned humor. Humor in Tremors The humor in this movie is goofy, and downright wholesome, but it’s good enough to make you smile on every viewing. The wholesomeness of an early 90’s feel good sitcom mixed with the horror elements of Jaws really works. It’s directly responsible for the late success of the movie on television. In theaters, Tremors did poorly with a 5 million dollar take on what cost 11 million to make. But the real success of this movie kicked in with syndication on cable TV. I watched it probably 20 times on TV because it was fun, funny, and always on. You Can’t Beat Burt! Burt (Michael Gross) and Heather (Reba McEntire) Gummer are just as much the leading actors as Val and Earl in this one, and how couldn’t they be? They are preppers and gun enthusiasts without being insane, instead just a little quirky. You probably know a Burt, which is what makes this character so fun. But the character of Burt isn’t so over-the-top as to make him not human. He’s passionate, but not a caricature. Burt brings the boom in this movie, and it’s just what the doctor ordered. Graboids are Awesome In my personal experience, it’s rare for monster design to work out well. It’s even rarer to have monster reveals work out well, but in this, Graboids are handled perfectly! The monster design is simple, believable enough that it’s not totally jarring (unlike Pumpkinhead), and the presentation is fabulous. Each Graboid is killed in a totally different way, but they follow the same rules. For example, the first on

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a fictionalized, and harrowing vérité portrayal of real life serial Henry Lee Lucas. This is a movie that will stick with you and make you feel dirty. We’ve been sitting on this review for a while, but are excited that it is finally seeing the light. We recorded it back in September of 2019 to be a backup episode when we needed to take a week off. Turn’s out, we rarely take a week off. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/IU3P6WXzvXU Synopsis Henry played by Michael Rooker,  is serial killer constantly on the move, but is momentarily staying with his former cell mate Otis (Tom Towles). Also living with them is Otis’ out of state sister Becky (Tracy Arnold). She flys in to escape her abusive boyfriend and to try to find work to bring her daughter down to live with her. The drama in the film is in the interaction between these three characters. The trio is a powder keg trauma, sociopathy, and victimhood. However, as the title of the film suggests suggests, the main purpose of the plot is to paint a stark and unflinching portrait of Henry as a serial killer. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Poster Review of Henry This is one of those films that feels a little too real. Even though it is definitely a narrative driven Hollywood film, it shows the realities of killing in such plain detail that it almost feels like a documentary. When I told David about this movie I described it as “Taxi Driver, but without the touchy feely parts”. You are thrust into a world of people that are deeply broken and are dangerous to each other and themselves.  It feels like a snuff film, mainly because within it, is a snuff film. Watch Henry Now Watch on Amazon Click here to Watch Henry reminds me of a couple of my favorite movies in terms of subject matter and tone. First is David Fincher’s Seven, and even more so, Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream. It’s a film that sticks with you and makes you feel dirty just watching it. This is because unlike most narrative driven Hollywood movies, this one has no glamour or spin. It is full of dread and terror even in scenes that on the surface are innocuous.  It is undeniably a great film, just from the fact that I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it and it deeply affected me.  Score 10/10 Spoilers Expand for Spoilers The film opens strong with flashes of hyper-realistic crime scenes with brutally murdered corpses. This communicates one thing: buckle up. It feels very real early on. There is no veneer on this film. Compare this to another serial killer movie made the same year: Manhunter. Manhunter is highly stylized and a romanticized, fetishized portrayal of serial killers, Henry feels like a documentary in comparison. This feels like it’s the first movie of it’s type, and probably the greatest because of it’s commitment.  The character of Henry is loosely based upon the real-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. As in the film, Lucas was acquainted with a fellow convict named Ottis Toole (although in the film, the character’s name is only given as Otis). Additionally, Lucas became the lover of Toole’s eleven-year-old niece, Frieda Powell, who lived with Lucas and Toole for a while, and often went under the pseudonym of “Becky” (although in the film, Becky is Otis’ sister, rather than his niece, and is considerably older than Powell was). Also as in the film, Lucas ultimately killed Becky. Furthermore, like the fictional Henry, the real Henry’s mother worked as a prostitute from her house, often forcing him to watch her while she had sex, and occasionally making him wear a dress. The real Henry’s father had also lost both his legs in an accident, prior to which he had been a truck driver, just like the fictional character. However, the actions of the fictional Henry are inspired not by Lucas’ real crimes, but by his fabricated ones. In prison, Lucas confessed to over six hundred murders, claiming he committed roughly one murder a week from 1975 to 1983. Ultimately, however, the vast majority of these claims turned out to be false, while many of the rest could not be substantiated. Lucas was simply confessing to every unsolved murder brought before him, because doing so ensured better conditions for him, as law enforcement officers would offer him incentives to “confess”. Such confessions also increased his fame with the public. In the end, Lucas was convicted of eleven murders, and sentenced to death for the murder of Frieda Powell, although his death sentence was later commuted to life in prison by the then Governor of Texas George W. Bush. The characters in this film is a group of completely broken people. Henry and Otis are raised in abuse and become predators, and Becky turns into an ideal victim. She has a real casual attitude about getting abused and sexually assau

Scream is maybe the best slasher ever made. It’s also the horror movie of the 90’s in every way that you can imagine. More than that, it’s a meta take on the genre of slashers. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis for Scream Scream is the story of a bunch of 20 somethings that haven’t managed to graduate high-school yet and their quiet town of Woodsboro that has a serial killer problem and its fair share of quirky characters. Our main girl Sydney, whose mother was murdered a year ago loses a friend to a horrific double homicide and quickly becomes the focus of the deranged and seemingly horror movie obsessed killer.  As the killer cuts a swath of … killings… through the town the very old teens begin to realize that they are dealing with someone who strictly follows the rules of slasher flicks. And they end up with more death then they bargained for. https://youtu.be/AWm_mkbdpCA Watch Scream on Amazon Click here to Watch Review Directed by Wes Craven and sporting an impressively sexy and notable cast, Scream defined and poked fun at horror movies for the casual movie going audience. It was one of the most easily accessible horror movies of my generation, being mainstream enough that parents all around the world wanted to watch it, which meant kids got to watch it too. While it was accessible, it was also shocking and legitimately disturbing because it focused on uncontrollable teens as the killers – who doesn’t find that scary? Not to mention, Scream was released in 1996, a mere three years before the Columbine school shooting, edging out reality by mere inches. It is the most solid slasher I have ever seen – it’s disturbing when it’s supposed to be, fun when it’s supposed to be, and has a fabulous premise. Score 8/10 Spoilers Scream is an impressive who-dun-it, that throws an interesting and disturbing twist in at the end. As it turns out, Billy and Stuart, the movie obsessed hot-heads, have been doing the killings in tandem for shits and giggles, but also because Sidney’s mom slept with Billy’s dad and caused his parents to break-up. The thing that really gets me about this movie is the dedication to self-harm between Billy and Stuart to avoid having the finger pointed at them as part of their master plan. When they start stabbing each other and willingly taking severe damage, it upsets me to my core. There is something about watching two people who are emphatically engaged in nearly killing each other but not in a fight, on purpose, that is so sick and twisted. Couple that with the excitement they have about re-enacting their favorite horror movie killers – it’s just gross. Final Recommendations Scream is a solid movie and it’s probably the best slasher I have ever seen. I have to say, if you haven’t seen it, you must. It’s a 90’s nostalgia machine that will leave everyone with something to think about at night.

The Brain That Wouldn’t Die Portland Horror Film Festival, the Pacific Northwest’spremiere horror genre film festival, is going virtual! Horror Fans cansoak up over 60 short and feature films over the 6 night eventbeginning June 10th with the first shorts block and a preview of thefestival’s upcoming features. The terror continues June 17-21st withmore short and feature films from around the world. Central Dental In the midst of this pandemic, some businesses are finally starting tore-open, but there is no way to know when theaters in Portland willfinally open, and how many people will be allowed inside once they do.Many events have had to postpone again and again due to this uncertaintimeline. First Night Festival Directors Brian and Gwen Callahan believe the right thing todo is follow the lead of amazing festivals like Fantasia and CFF, andpresent Portland Horror Film Festival as a dynamic streaming event forhorror fans all over the US. While going virtual creates challengesfor the festival, independent filmmakers, and distributors, thedirectors believe it is important to continue to evangelizeindependent film and show the year’s best horror films to thecommunity. Rather than cancel or postpone the festival until thingsare “safe”, which only increases the stress and uncertainty of thesetimes, going forward with a streaming event offers important reliefand a sense of stability to horror fans who are stuck at home. Beyondhelping horror filmmakers and fans, ticket sales will also benefit thehistoric non-profit Hollywood Theatre, the seat of independent cinemain Portland, which is currently closed due to the pandemic. Karaoke Night All films will be integrated into carefully curated nightly shows andsecurely streamed during limited event hours for ticketed audiencemembers. Because a film festival is more than just watching movies,nightly programming will feature both pre-recorded and live content,including film introductions, interviews with horror icons, and livefilmmaker Q&As that the audience can take part in. “Our goal is tofoster the sense of community that makes our fest so magical, with afun and eventful stage and screen show… just on a virtual stage,”said Brian Callahan. Little Willy This year’s feature film lineup opens on Wednesday, June 17th withWild Boar, starring Augie Duke and Daniel Roebuck as geocachers whoquest for a legendary treasure, only to end up as fodder for mutantpig-men. Wild Boar was written and directed by Oscar winner BarneyBurman, known for his makeup effects on JJ Abrams’s Star Trek,Zombieland: Double Tap, and the TV series Grimm. Thursday’s doublefeature kicks off with Sunset on the River Styx, a surrealist andcontemplative story of two lovers who fall into a vampire death cult,from writer/director Aaron Pagniano, winner of the Funny Bone Awardfor last year’s horror comedy short “We Got a Monkey’s Paw.” Come forthe vampires, but stay for the zombies! Witness Infection is ahilarious tale of mobsters and zombies directed by Andy Palmer,written by Carlos Alazraqui (Reno 911) and Jill-Michele Meleán (MadTV,Reno 911), who star alongside Robert Belushi, Vince DonVito, ErinnHayes (Children’s Hospital), and Tara Strong (Rick and Morty). Don’tmiss fan-favorite Justin Harding’s Making Monsters, The Curse ofValburga from Slovenia, with its hilarious splatterfest ofinternational tourist stereotypes and jaw dropping kill scenes, UnclePeckerhead with its punk-rock demon action, written and directed byMatthew John Lawrence, winner of the 2016 Funny Bone Award for hishorror comedy short “Larry Gone Demon,” and the World Premiere of TheBrain That Wouldn’t Die, a crowdfunded love letter to the 1962B-movie, filmed here in Portland. Making Monsters Short film offerings include a wide variety of seriously terrifying,thoughtful, funny, and Weird films from all over the world, includingthe Czech Republic, Russia, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Iran, TheNetherlands, France, Spain, Canada, the UK, and the US. Fans of thebizarre will want to tune in Saturday night for the “Shorts Gone Wild”block of the most unhinged films on offer. Sunset on the River Styx Even if you’re not in Portland, you can immerse yourself in theexperience with a Deluxe Patron of Horror Ticket Package that includesan exclusive t-shirt, souvenir lanyard, and a Portland Horror FaceMask, so you can forage for toilet paper in style! For more information on tickets, deluxe packages, and the festival –please visit https://portlandhorrorfilmfestival.com/ Buy tickets through Hollywood Theater’s website here: https://hollywoodtheatre.org/events/portland-horror-film-festival-2020/ You can join the Facebook Event athttps://www.facebook.com/events/2774301782590900/

Candyman 2020 was supposed to be coming out in theaters this week, but that obviously isn’t happening. To tide over your sweet tooth for Candyman, we’ll be reviewing the original this week. Also in this week’s episode of Horror Movie Talk, we discuss our new logo, play a new game, and read comments from social media from listeners like you. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him. Synopsis The film follows grad student Helen Lyle as she researches for her thesis on urban legends. When she stumbles across the legend of Candyman, whose story seems to be alive and thriving in the poverty stricken projects of Chicago. The legend involves an African American, Bloody Mary-eque apparition that appears when his name is called in front of a mirror. Instead of the three “Bloody Mary’s”, you must say Candyman five times, in some sort of supernatural 3/5ths compromise. When the skeptical Helen calls Candyman five times in her mirror, she seals her fate and is led through a terrifying journey to discover the reality of the film’ boogey man. https://youtu.be/CeLZMhkFTuU Candyman 1992 Trailer Review of Candyman (1992) Candyman is impactful, and multifaceted. Tony Todd is an instant icon in horror with his unique silhouette and hypnotic disembodied baritone voice.  There is an uneasy balance between Candyman being a sympathetic and seductive figure, and that of being the realization of some deep seated racist fears. While watching this, my wife pointed out that some of the racist connotations of the plot, and my knee jerk reaction was to defend the film and say she was grasping at straws. But as time went on… there was actually a compelling argument to be made for it relying on long held racist stereotypes about the dangers of black men. Regardless, it’s a compelling gothic horror tale told well with the backdrop of nineties urban Chicago. Candyman is an iconic monster, and is one of the best horror movies on the topic of an urban legend. Watch Candyman Now Watch on Amazon Click here to Watch Score 8/10 Final Recommendations This is definitely a nineites horror movie that is worth seeing. While it’s not perfect, it does create a great mythology and monster in Candyman. Mentioned in the Episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmHEv7pmB-g B. Marks’ horror themed movie room.

We watched Evil Dead 2 on Amazon and this movie has been a favorite of mine since I was a little kid. The combination of stop motion, practical effects, and Bruce Campbell’s amazing physical acting makes for one of the best comedy horrors ever made. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/6lM3NPeEG24 Evil Dead 2 Synopsis Evil Dead 2 is the story of Ash and his girlfriend Annie who drive deep into the woods to have a nice time breaking and entering into a cabin that isn’t theirs. Following their felony, Ash stumbles upon the Necronomicon Ex Mortis – the book of the dead. The book served as a passageway to the evil worlds beyond. Written long ago when the seas ran red with blood, and this blood was used to ink the book. in the year 1300 AD the book disappeared. Ash plays a tape recorder with a translation of the pages from the book, and that’s enough to unleash more evil than they bargained for. Watch Evil Dead 2 Watch on Amazon Click Here to Watch Evil Dead 2 Review Evil Dead 2 (1987) is sort of a remake of the first movie that started it all The Evil Dead, by Sam Raimi. It’s not a step by step remake, and it differs in a lot of ways, but the premise is very similar – people go to a cabin in the woods, find the book of the dead, and are attacked by a long-dead evil. Where the first movie is deadly serious and quite disturbing, Evil Dead 2 takes a more comedy-based approach while maintaining an incredible array of shocking visuals. The effects in this are so over-the-top that it’s pushed into goofy, nervous laughter territory. Couple these super-cool effects with Bruce Campbell’s most incredible performance of all time. He carries this movie in a way that amazes me every time I watch it. For almost half of this film Campbell manages to act alone, with almost nothing to react to and his energy is unbelievable. Finally, I really enjoy how this movie manages tension with silence and stillness juxtaposed with loudness and chaos. It’s a classic that’s based on a classic, and Ash gets a sawed off chainsaw for a missing hand coupled with a sawed off shotgun – the most bad-ass pairing of weapons since peanut butter and chainsaws for hands. Score 10/10 Spoilers If you haven’t seen this movie, you really must. Evil Dead 2 takes a very simple premise and creates a playground of special effects around it.  There isn’t a tremendous amount to spoil in this one, it’s mostly the story of how a long-dead evil is summoned at an old cabin in the woods, and what Ash does to put it back in its place. The end result is the most fun you may ever have in a horror movie, action is everywhere. The violence is so insane and prolific that you can’t help but laugh at the spectacle of it.  No one but Sam Raimi could have pulled this thing off, and to be honest, no one ever has. The 2013 remake, Evil Dead is technically a remake of the first movie. So, number two continues to stands alone. Final Recommendations Everyone you know should watch this movie.

This week we watched As Above, So Below on Netflix. This tight package of a found footage adventure horror holds up very well over the years. Maybe we’re too easily impressed, but when a horror movie sets up a compelling premise, has interesting characters with motivations that makes sense, and a plot that maintains interest, it’s hard to be displeased. On today’s episode, we review As Above, So Below, play a new trivia game with Ben Warrington, and read the latest from Horror Movie Talk’s social media accounts. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/Fq358xHbzN4 Synopsis Loosely based on the classic literary work Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, this film follows a ragtag team of archeologists as they follow clues to find the legendary philosopher’s stone. Their search takes them into the labyrinthian catacombs under Paris. Paris, France. As they wind themselves deeper into the claustrophobic caverns and through the nine circles of Hogwarts, they fight against their own demons and encounter far more than they bargained for . Review of As Above, So Below As Above, So Below is to found footage movies as your racist uncle’s one black friend is to all black people: It’s one of the good ones. The film is a combination of Indiana Jones, The Descent, and… let’s say… a haunted house movie. It starts off very strong, and sets up a full fledged plot, which is surprisingly rare in a found footage film. The subgenre usually leans heavily on gimmicks and “unscripted” banter, and it’s a welcome relief that this one doesn’t. Also rare in found footage movies, the characters are actually fleshed out with relationships and backstories. It gives you enough of a reason to be hooked and interested early on, and has enough mystery and scares to keep you interested throughout. The idea of setting a horror movie in the Paris Catacombs is brilliant, and they take full advantage of all the elements that make them scary in real life. It’s huge and maze-like, it’s claustrophobic, caves be caves, and spooky bones. It’s not without it’s flaws, but they are few and far between. The phrase “we gotta keep moving” is uttered one too many times for my taste. Like, really? We can’t rest and reflect  for a minute after a lifelong friend just died? But honestly it’s hard to find things to complain about with this one. Score for As Above, So Below 9/10 Final Recommendations This is a must watch in my eyes. It is accessible enough for fans of Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy, and scary enough for fans of The Conjuring. Watch it today on Netflix or, buy it on Amazon. Other found footage movies that we have reviewed that might be of interest are The Taking of Deborah Logan, and Quarantine.

We watched It Follows on Amazon Prime, and to me, it remains one of the very best movies released this century. I have seen this movie mentioned in many “Best of” lists and quite a few “Worst of” lists, so it’s controversial, but it will give you something to talk about either way.  @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkZYbOH0ujw Synopsis It Follows is a story that focuses on a group of kids and one girl, in particular, Jay (Maika Monroe).  At its outset, this is something of a romantic story that soon gives way to terror. As Jay’s new relationship with Hugh blossoms, she allows herself a glimpse of happiness before being forced into hell. Watch It Follows Watch on Amazon Click here to Watch It’s hard to say much about It Follows without giving away spoilers, but suffice it to say there is a monster, and it follows specific, defined mechanics. Review for It Follows When I first saw It Follows, it was in theaters, and I knew nothing about it other than that it was a horror movie. When I walked out of that theater, I had a distinct impression that I had seen horror history. The care that went into making everything about this movie is immediately apparent. The musical score, the framing, and attention to detail, the use of extras – it’s flawlessly executed. Add to that a concept that is unique and taps into the core of our humanity, and I think you come away with a perfect movie. It’s more than just a chilling concept or a well-executed film – It Follows feels like a new thing in horror. It feels like a movement toward the conceptual idea of what drives horror. Strip down the overburdened tropes and monsters that make up what horror was for decades, and leave just the essentials. Like it or hate it, I can promise you that this movie will give you something to debate with your friends about for years to come. Score 10/10 Spoilers for It Follows It Follows is such a wonderfully done movie that is so simple that once you understand what’s going on, there isn’t a whole lot to spoil. Instead, let’s take a look at what works in this movie. Endless Ambiance The mood of this movie can be described as heavy melancholy, which is an exciting and unique choice in horror movies. The acting and the bleak settings tee up this feeling of sadness and innocence lost that works, especially with this perverse subject matter. The acting is especially impressive when you consider that there are almost no adults at all in It Follows – just a bunch of teens. They all feel real, and they all seem like they are being left alone by uncaring or unavailable parents. These teens bond and end up sleeping wherever they end up at night. The setting shifts between suburban Detroit and abandoned Detroit. The use of abandoned buildings and houses adds to the ambiance in such a fantastic way without being full of effort. Maybe I enjoy the setting so much because we never get to see movies that are set in these bleak and downtrodden areas. Perhaps it’s because I have a soft spot for Detroit. Incredibly Perverse Subject Matter Done Right It Follows is about a shapeshifting, slow-moving monster that is a sexually transmitted disease. If you have sex with someone who is infected, they pass the monster’s invisible leash to you, and suddenly you are granted the ability to see this monster. The catch? The monster can look like anyone, even people you know and love. It can use these people to get to you and kill you; once you are dead, it moves on to the person who passed it to you. It Follows could have been a raunchy sex-capade with a bunch of crass, boring, overused bullshit – but it’s not. Every sex scene is either tender and loving, or a deception, and many instances of sex are merely insinuated and take place off-screen entirely. The result is a very classy and thought provoking film that doesn’t take any of the easy routes. Think about it. There are three ways to pass this disease on to the next person so you can avoid being killed by the monster: You trick them into loving you and have sex with them You love them and have sex with them whether they know you have it or not You rape them Those are the options and none of them are appealing. Compelling Monster Mechanics The way that this movie is laid out sets the stage for endless gameplay theorycraft. The age old question of “What would you do in a zombie apocalypse” is reimagined with the workings of this monster. The best chance for your continued survival if you are infected would be to create a monster user manual that you can pass to your next partner and they can pass to their next partner. But sometimes you just need to take a rest from all the running, which might mean having a quicky with someone you view as disposable. There are multiple confounding factors to add to the basic rules that make the game harder or easier. Are you good looking? Are you a male or a female?

The hits just keep on coming over here at Horror Movie Talk! During quarantine, we’ve been catching up on all the classic slashers. This week we rewatched the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, and reminded ourselves why this franchise has such staying power. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. A Nightmare on Elm Street can be bought or rented on amazon or your favorite video thingy. https://youtu.be/dCVh4lBfW-c Synopsis A Nightmare on Elm Street wastes no time introducing you to one of horror’s greatest villains. Tina Gray, played by Amanda Wyss, is being chased in a dream by an unknown assailant with knives for fingers. Before the fedora wearing pizza-faced man can introduce himself with a M’lady, Tina wakes up in cold sweats. Later we learn that this vivid nightmare is shared by her group of friends, including Nancy Thompson, played by Heather Langenkamp, Glen, played by Johnny Depp, and her boyfriend Rod, played by Jsu Garcia.  Soon we learn that the scary man in everyone’s dream is a formerly alive child killer and pedophile (?) named Freddy Kreuger, played by the inimitable Robert Englund. Review of A Nightmare on Elm Street This slasher upped the ante of 80’s slashers by unabashedly adding fantasy elements into the genre. The Freddy franchise became one of the most lucrative horror franchises of all time. And for good reason! The premise of a killer that comes to you in your dreams and can kill you in real life is truly unescapable. No zombie fortress, or gun can save you from Freddy. Everyone sleeps. The film not only introduced one of horror’s most iconic figures, it also the bloodiest mainstream horror movie up to that point. It’s a tightly packaged and thoroughly conceived film. Most of the scenes and special effects hold up even today. Some effects, admittedly fall flat, and a few enter the realm of so bad their good. Regardless, it still deserves its place as one of the genre’s tentpole films and cemented the creator, Wes Craven, as one of horror’s greatest minds. Score 10/10 Robert Englund Interview Robert Englund himself called in to talk with Horror Movie Talk about his latest project, JJ Villard’s Fairy Tales on Adult Swim. Skip to time code 54:06 in this episode to listen to Freddy himself chat about his life in horror. Like Classic Slashers? Check out our review of Friday the 13th!

We watched the original Friday the 13th on Shudder, and while it definitely represents the film version of pulp, it’s the original upon which so many slashers have been based. It delivers in a charming way and the twist is still impressive after all these years. It’s 40th birthday will be this Saturday, May 9th, 2020.  @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCO4v-pFBns Synopsis Friday the 13th is the story of a group of teen counselors who are setting up a summer camp at Camp Crystal Lake. It details the short story of the final days of these teen counselors. We also get a glimpse into small town americana, which is unbearably quaint. There isn’t a lot of story to this one, and that’s the point. Watch Friday the 13th Watch on Amazon Click here to Watch Review Friday the 13th was the first independent film of it’s time to secure distribution in the U.S. by a major studio (Paramount). Directed by Sean S. Cunningham (who went on to write and produce many sequels) and written by Victor Miller, Friday the 13th was the second of the big franchise slashers to hit the scene, following the success of 1978’s Halloween. This movie birthed so many tropes and trends that it’s almost comical. It is also a great place to see Kevin Bacon in one of his earliest and sexiest roles.  While it’s no crowning achievement in filmmaking, Friday the 13th does set the stage for 80’s horror very nicely with a parade of sexy but disposable characters, great practical effects by Tom Savini, and tense music by Harry Manfredini.  Friday the 13th is a classic that is only dwarfed, in my opinion, by the sequel, Friday the 13th Part 2. If you haven’t seen this movie, don’t expect to be blown away, instead expect to gain a better understanding of the foundation of the slasher genre. Score 7/10 Friday the 13th Spoilers I’m going to level with you, even though there is a hefty twist at the end of this movie that is made better with time, you’ve had 40 years. Get with it. First-person killing A huge portion of Friday the 13th is spent stalking the campers with the camera in first-person perspective. This places the audience square in the feet of the killer and while that’s not a big deal today, it was in 1980. Sure, Halloween and Black Christmas had done this to a small extent, but it’s like the calling card of this whole movie. To make the first-person perspective even more important, we are given clues throughout the film. We get to see the big work boots worn by the killer, and the rough leather gloves they are using. We automatically assume that these manly accouterments lead to a big burly man – you know, the myth of Jason! But that just makes you a big sexist pig! Who is the killer? The one who is stalking around the camp and killing young lovers and camp counselors is none other than – Mrs. Voorhees! That’s right, she’s been stalking the camp for the last 20 years, taking revenge on those who she blames for the death of her son, Jason. Critics were furious at this movie for a variety of reasons, mostly for being a n exploitation film that was sexist and distasteful. Apparently the irony of the killer being a woman was lost on them. Packaging horror in the neatest of boxes Friday the 13th accomplished such a beautifully simple packaging of the slasher genre into a neat little package that it’s no wonder why it spawned so many copycats. It was so chalk full of sex, murder, and weird, cautionary morality lessons that it was bound to be duplicated. It threw caution to the wind and it’s sails caught a big breeze that allowed it to crank out a new sequel every year for most of the 80’s. Think about that. When was the last time you saw something with so much appeal? Harry Potter and Marvel Cinematic Universe come to my mind. Final Recommendations This movie is so quaint and tame by today’s standards that I really would recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it, so long as they are interested in horror. This is a great entry to bring a new horror head into the genre because it gives the viewer such a strong idea of where all the tropes come from. Don’t Miss JJ Villard’s Fairy Tales on Adult Swim! JJ Villard is our guest on this episode and gives us a peak behind the scenes for his new show, JJ Villard’s Fairy Tales. Check out the trailer and the premier on May 10th at midnight on Adult Swim! https://youtu.be/pYadXQv-9r8 Fuckin metal!

The one, the only (well not really), the original! Yes the time has arrived to finally unleash our review of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This episode we recorded over a year ago, back when we were zygotes. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis Texas Chainsaw Massacre stars Mike Myers as a San Francisco poet who fears commitment and suspects his girlfriend may have a knack for killing off her significant others. Oh wait, that’s So I Married an Axe Murderer. Watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre Watch on Amazon Click here to Watch No, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the story of a massacre that happened in Texas that involves a chainsaw. Maybe the intro crawl to the movie explains it best. https://youtu.be/KGj1ZbM_4eQ (narrated by John Larroquette) https://youtu.be/T3TILW0O_C0 Texas Chainsaw Massacre can be found on Shudder right now. Use our promo code to get a free 30 day free trial. Texas Chainsaw MAssacre Poster Review of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Texas Chainsaw Massacre is obviously regarded as one of the greatest horror movies of all time and has been highly influential in the genre. If I had to describe this movie in one word, it would be “unhinged”. A lot of elements from this film and the low budget could have made this movie a hot mess, but somehow Tobe Hooper pulls off a coherent and terrifying masterpiece.  Score 10/10 Inspiration for TCM This movie is one of three horror classics inspired by Ed Gein. The other two being Psycho and Silence of the Lambs (Buffalo Bill). Ed Gein “only” killed two women, so he’s not technically a serial killer, but he would dig up dead bodys and make stuff from their skin and bones. Soon after his mother’s death, Gein began to create a “woman suit” so that, as he stated, “…could become his mother—to literally crawl into her skin”. Gein denied having sex with the bodies he exhumed, explaining: “They smelled too bad.”  Here is some of the items authorities found in his house: Whole human bones and fragments A wastebasket made of human skin Human skin covering several chair seats Bowls made from human skulls A corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist Leggings made from human leg skin Masks made from the skin of female heads A heart “in a plastic bag in front of Gein’s potbellied stove” Nine vulvae in a shoe box A belt made from female human nipples A pair of lips on a window shade drawstring A lampshade made from the skin of a human face Final Recommendations It’s a must see. If you are into horror movies, you just need to see it. It goes down in history with the likes of Halloween and Friday the 13th for supremely influential slashers movies.

We watched Quarantine for free on Crackle and it hasn’t lost it’s luster. This is still a staple of the found footage genre, and one that sticks out in my mind for a number of reasons. On this episode we go over the movie, play a rousing game of Attack of the Rotten Tomatoes, and talk about what happened to us over social media over the last week. We also discuss a bit of what it’s been like in our own quarantine. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis Quarantine is a 2008 American recreation of the 2007 Spanish film REC. It’s very similar to REC in just about every way, but because it’s out of Hollywood, it seems to have dwarfed the original, despite not being as effective. Quarantine follows a reporter, Angela, who is doing a slice of life piece on some local firefighters in LA. As she goes on a routine call with the crew, they end up at a small tenant building that houses a variety of residents. Watch Quarantine Stream it or buy it on Amazon Click here to watch It soon becomes apparent that there is some kind of infection going around the building as matronly and old tenants begin to brutally attack those trying to help them. The firefighters, camera crew and the tenants are all locked inside and soon they find themselves with more quarantine than they bargained for! Quarantine Trailer https://youtu.be/GQ4EyBGKDM4 Review of Quarantine Quarantine was directed by John Erick Dowdle who is also known for some staple cult favorites like As Above, So Below and The Poughkeepsie Tapes.  It stars Jennifer Carpenter who we love when she acts in the horror genre. We just reviewed The Taking of Emily Rose, which also starred her. I enjoy this movie because it has a great start, middle, and a decent ending, although it’s impossible to beat the ending of REC even though this tries. It has all the elements that make a great found footage movie.  Watch REC Stream it or buy it on Amazon Click here to watch The story is compelling, the situation is extremely relatable…now, and there is plenty of shaky-cam footage to keep your eyes clawing at the edges of the frame for whatever that thing was that just ran by. I will say that Jennifer Carpenter’s acting gets in the way of the ending of this movie. She hams it up to such an incredible degree that I couldn’t stop thinking about every middle school girl nervous breakdown I ever witnessed or had myself – and there were more than a few. A freakishly pretty Jennifer Carpenter Even with the overacting, I think Quarantine stands out as one of the classic found footage examples. If I had to point people to a movie to watch, I would point them at REC before this. You can find REC right now on prime for a few bucks. Score 7/10 Spoilers for Quarantine After watching this movie, it’s a lot more simple than it seems as it’s unfolding – not that it seems terribly complicated. It has a learn-as-you-go structure and there is a mystery that slowly unravels: why are we being quarantined and what is this sickness? It starts with some engaging banter between our reporter and her firefighter subjects. I always enjoy horror movie beginnings that are light and breezy and fun. It’s a refreshing palate cleanser to what is going to become a horrendous scenario. Queue the horrendous scenario. They get to the apartment building and they meet some creepy old grannies who are obviously afflicted with some malady. Ms. Espinoza, one of the old ladies in question, attacks a firefighter and rips out his jugular. Ms. Espinoza…this bitch… What is the infection in Quarantine? The only real spoiler in this movie is what the malady is that affects the tenant building. In the first act we learn about a little girl in the building who has a mild fever. She has a little dog, who is also sick and was taken to the vet yesterday. Well, this little dog was infected with some sort of super rabies it attacked some other animals in the vet that they took it to, and those animals started showing signs of rabies after only one hour, which is about a month too fast. The CDC was notified about the dog and they traced it back to this building. Turns out, there are some rats loose in this building that exhibit the signs of rabies. Good thing too, because while normal rabies is nothing to scoff at, this is sooo much worse! Rabies public service announcement To avoid rabies, these are the signs that animals with the disease portray: Aggressiveness Agitation Hallucinations Muscle spasms Seizures Paralysis Sensitivity to bright lights, sound, or touch So, these rabies rats come from the attic, where a tenant who rents it keeps a bunch of experimental rodents and news clippings of his satanic death cult. Turns out, he’s been working on weaponizing the rabies virus, and either he set some rats loose in the building on purpose, or they escaped by accident. I haven’t seen Quarantine 2 but

This week we watched The Wicker Man (1973) which can be found streaming on Netflix, and it lives up to the hype. On this episode, we are joined by Ben Warrington with his recommendations for movies to stream during quarantine, and we also read comments and questions from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis The Wicker Man is about a wicker man. No, it’s actually about a scottish constable, Sargeant Neil Howie, played by Edward Woodward who is called to investigate the disappearance of a little girl off of the secretive and secluded Island SummerIsle. The main thing that you need to know about Sargeant Howie is that he is tired of your shit. The main thing you need to know about SummerIsle is that this Island Fucks. The Wicker Man Poster As Sergeant Howie investigates the disappearance of Rowan Morrison, it becomes quickly apparent that the islanders are not to be trusted. They have shifty eyes from the outset, and even worse, they are Pagans! The devout Christian Sergeant Howie is ill equipped to face the strange rituals and attitudes found to be taught and practiced on the island. These blasphemous rituals include singing and dancing around the maypole and … premarital sex! Blasphemers! As the mystery of the missing girl gets unraveled, Howie learns about the agrarian origins of the island and its reliance on the old gods to provide a plentiful harvest. Sometimes the old gods demand sacrifice. Just sayin. https://youtu.be/a-tDnavDCwI Review The Wicker Man focuses on the true horror, feeling uncomfortable around weird people. This movie is a classic for a reason, it is very discombobulating, and you experience the confusion that Sargeant Howie does. Anyone with a conservative christian upbringing might not have as extreme reaction to the Paganism as Howie, but the feeling of discomfort about sex and blasphemy is probably familiar. The darkness at the root of this island is felt throughout, but isn’t overt. Mostly it’s a feeling of being toyed with and mocked. The island is like a bunch of Mean Girls. The enduring legacy of the film is it’s conclusion and I don’t want to spoil it for those that haven’t seen it. All I can say is it made me feel lots of emotions, almost like a religious experience Score 10/10 The Wicker Man (1973) Add the Blu ray to your collection or stream it right now Buy/Rent on Amazon Spoilers Expand for Spoilers I pretty much knew the plot of the Wicker Man from the Radiohead music video for Burn The Witch, and also heard that the ending of Midsommar was very similar, but I was genuinely effected by the ending of The Wicker Man. https://youtu.be/yI2oS2hoL0k This music video is based on The Wicker Man. There are spoilers. The pacing of the film really lulls you into a false sense of security. You know pretty much from the get go that these islanders are acting suspicious, but the immediate conclusion is that they are covering for someone in the village that commited the murder. However, as we see the islanders, especially the landlords daughter Willow, continue to fuck with him, it seems like there might be a larger conspiracy. Along the way, there is enough clues revealed, that it feels like the secret is that Rowan is alive and going to be sacrificed. I’d let her fuck with me… The conclusion arrives, and it is revealed that Sargent Howie was the target all along. They had specifically researched him and identified him as the ideal sacrifice to the gods for a plentiful harvest. He was: An Adult Male A Virgin He comes with the power of a king in that he is a police officer He is a Christian He is a fool When it is revealed that the method of sacrifice is to have Howie burned alive in a wicker man, it is genuinely terrifying. The camera stays with Howie as he sees the fire licking up at him in his final moments. It was deeply affecting. Imagine this is the last thing you see before you die. Final Recommendations If you want to delve into the classics, I would definitely add this to the list. If you watched Midsommar and want more of that. Videos Mentioned in This Episode https://youtu.be/4m2WutlqBk0 Wayne, were you ever attracted to Christopher Lee in drag? https://youtu.be/SHcsubkm0tg New intro song be like…

We watched The Platform on Netflix with a bunch of HMT fans over the Chrome Netflix Party extension and boy, I love this movie! While I am certain that lots of purists will debate whether this is horror or not, I assure you, it’s worth the watch and will definitely find some way to make your skin crawl. The timing of this release makes me wonder if Netflix has a bunch of totally apropos titles just waiting in the wings to be released whenever they are most relevant.  @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. The Platform Synopsis The Platform is about a prison called the pit where there are three kinds of people; the ones above, the ones below, and the ones who fall. This is a twisted place where every cell contains two people and is stacked on top of a seemingly endless column of other cells.  https://youtu.be/6gVAIx7OeyI Every day there is a massive banquet comprised of everyone in the prison’s favorite dish. This banquet contains enough calories for everyone in the pit to survive. The catch is the banquet is placed on a platform that stops at every cell for a short time, and it starts at the top and works its way down. Some prisoners are there by choice, some are there because of a crime, but there seems to be a promise that is made to all of them upon entry into the pit – if you do your time and make it out, you will be granted increased social standing.  Our protagonist is a man called Goreng (Ivan Massagué), who spends time with several of the inmates of the pit. As he learns the ropes, he also seems to take issue with the inherent societal problems that it represents: greed and desperation. The Platform REVIEW The Platform is a Spanish film by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, and it’s one of the most unique ideas that I’ve seen put to the screen since Cube.  Watch Cube on Amazon The spiritual predecessor to The Platform Click Here to Watch The minimal but rigid design of the pit echos in the sci-fi dystopian walls of the film itself. You know the sick and twisted world that lay in the basement of Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs? That terrifying and perverse reality that we like to forget exists in the real world? That feeling is magnified in The Platform and made the subject of the entire movie.  MMM, tastes like class oppression! To make it even more hard-hitting, The Platform is clearly a commentary on humans and society today. While it’s hard to draw many direct analogies with the real world, the standout one seems to be human nature and the greed inherent therein. The Platform is not without hope, but it is chock-full of extreme violence, imagery, and ideas that make this a real stomach turner.   This movie stays with me, and I wouldn’t mind watching it again. It doesn’t hold your hand, and there is clearly a lot of theorizing that one can do to try and determine the symbology and lessons within.  Score for The Platform 9/10 Spoilers The Platform does a lot of things right. It maintains mystery, drama, tension, and is clearly meant to stand for something. Anything that you might be interested in, this movie probably touches on it. On top of all of that, it doesn’t hold your hand, leaving you free to interpret it’s message or take it at face value. ECHO, ECho, echo In favor of spoiling the movie point by point, I will instead share with you a few basic premises of this movie that I find the most relevant and exciting. The Rules of The Pit The prison known as “the pit” is a mostly lawless place with a few given rules. They are as follows: Some prisoners have opted in, others are being punished, but upon serving your time in the pit, you will be granted elevated social status. Everyone is allowed to bring one item with them to the pit. The platform contains everyone within the prison’s favorite meal made to perfect standards. The platform arrives on each level containing a live person once a day for some short amount of time. Each set of prisoners spend one month on the level that they are randomly assigned. If you lose your cellmate, you will be given another upon placement next month. At the end of a month, all prisoners are put to sleep by gas and placed, randomly on a new level. Anything goes within the pit. There is no law or order that can be broken. If you try to hold on to food for later, the temperature of your cell will be raised or lowered until your death. The Meaning of The Platform I really enjoy movies that clearly have a purpose or message, and that purpose or message is left somewhat obscured. I won’t tell you what it means because I don’t know for sure. I will tell you what it could mean. Hell Allegory There is an obvious allusion to the pit being hell because there are 333 cells within it, which means there are 666 prisoners. Besides, it’s just about as hellish as you can imagine, especially on the lower levels, which seems like a nod to Dante’s Inferno. At the very least it’

Magnus, one of our longest listeners has consistently asked us to review The Bye Bye Man. So this is his fault. Because of social distancing measures and out of an abundance of caution, Me and David recorded our thoughts on The Bye Bye Man separately. Stay safe out there. Artwork by @dgoebel00 on instagram. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/ZGdOnCiQRpQ The Bye Bye Man Synopsis The Bye Bye Man is about a Bye Bye Man. A reverse three’s company of two guys and a girl move into a house together and one of them discovers a dresser with disturbing scribbling on the inside that repeats the phrase “Don’t think it, don’t say it.” When he rips out the drawer liner, underneath is written the words “The Bye Bye Man”. Turns out he thinks it and says it. WACKY HIJINKS ENSUE. Bryce’s Review This movie is bad. We knew it would be bad going in, but ugh, it was rough anyway. The major flaw in this movie is that the writers were so enamoured with the concept of “Don’t think it, Don’t say it” that they forgot to include an actual plot in the movie. The film is actually based on a really badass sounding urban legend. The original story had a much more complex mythology for the Bye Bye Man: He was an albino born in New Orleans in 1912 who ran away as a child and became a derelict who lived in a train yard. After going blind he began murdering people and cutting out their eyes and tongues, which he sewed together and brought to life using voodoo. The resultant creature became the Bye Bye Man’s literal seeing-eye dog, helping him hunt his prey. Several elements from the story- notably the dog and the motif of trains– were retained for the movie, though their purpose is left undefined. So much so, that if you only watch the Bye Bye Man, your only knowledge of him will be that: He exists, and He’s bad. Bryce’s Score for The Bye Bye Man 2/10 Watch The Bye Bye Man The Bye Bye Man is streaming on Netflix, but is also available to rent or buy on Amazon. The Bye Bye Man Add the Blu ray to your collection or stream it right now Buy/Rent on Amazon

The Bye Bye Man. What can be said about this extremely average film? Maybe you shouldn’t see it or think about it, but in all honesty, if you have some family that likes bad slashers, you should probably see this film on Netflix right now. https://youtu.be/ZGdOnCiQRpQ The Bye Bye Man is an average slasher that features a bad guy who is an amalgam of The Candyman and Freddy Kruger. This isn’t one of our normal reviews as Bryce and I have been forced to record two separate podcasts due to the quarantine. Check out Bryce’s episode here. Score for The Bye Bye Man 5/10 The Bye Bye Man Add the Blu ray to your collection or stream it right now Buy/Rent on Amazon

We watched The Taking of Deborah Logan on Shudder because right now, this virus is threatening all of our old people. I have to say, while my initial first watch impressions of this movie were much better, this is still a solid horror movie about the compelling topic of old people gone crazy. Sorry for the artwork. Dustin Goebel, our normal artist has had a lot of instability with this whole virus thing, so he had to take a break this week. This picture is courtesy of an art staffing agency, a man named Ben B. drew this….thanks Ben.. https://youtu.be/DnZNojsjlQM Help Your Local Theater Through the Shutdown! Cinema 21 in Portland, OR needs your help. They offer a bevvy of wonderful snacks and beers for you to enjoy while seeing reasonably priced entertainment. In the time of the virus, it’s important that we help our community stay together, so please, consider buying a gift card from Cinema 21 in one of the links below. $10 Gift Card $25 Gift Card $50 Gift Card $100 Gift Card The Taking of Deborah Logan Synopsis This is a 2014 film by director Adam Robitel who brought us Insidious: The Last Key and Escape Room. A film crew shows up to Deborah Logan’s (Jill Larson) house where she and her daughter, Sarah Logan (Anne Ramsay) still live. The setting is very East Coast rural, and there is only Harris (Ryan Cutrona), the groundskeeper who hangs around to help Sarah and Deborah. Watch The Taking of Deborah Logan Watch on Amazon Click here to Watch The film crew is there to document Deborah’s descent into Alzheimers. The agreement is that the crew gets to make Deborah the focus of their documentary, and they will pay handsomely for that privilege. Sarah realizes that they need the money if Deborah is going to continue living and maintaining this home, but Deborah is private and would rather the crew not be there. As the days progress, disturbing signs of Deborah’s mental health quickly arise and give way to questions about whether this is the signs of a degenerative aging disease, or whether it’s something else. There are lots of signs of cult activity surrounding Deborah and her life of secrets as the town’s original telephone switchboard operator, but how much of it is nonsense, and how much is real. In the end, Sarah and the film crew end up with more Deborah than they bargained for. The Taking of Deborah Logan Review The Taking of Deborah Logan is a bit of an odd duckling on my second viewing. On my first viewing, I was so struck by the pacing and shocking nature of the visuals that I overlooked some of the film’s more problematic issues.  Don’t get me wrong, this film can almost stand on it’s disturbing scenes and tension built cleverly around a very real issue that many people have to face. But the wires begin to show a bit on a second viewing when you aren’t dazzled by the initial shocks in The Taking of Deborah Logan. I feel like a lot of the camera work for the documentary is extraneous, but not in a good way. Paranormal Activity 2 is a shining example of extraneous footage that works to build tension, but Deborah had a hodgepodge of silly angles and shaky cam footage that didn’t work in favor of the movie. That said, I really love this movie! The imagery, the cult aspect, the old person who can’t be controlled – It’s great. The execution of the whole thing is pretty darn good too. The pacing is really what makes this movie a must-see because it’s so fast that there is never a chance to get bored.  Did I mention the impressive and shocking imagery? Score 8/10 Spoilers This film is about Deborah’s descent into a weird kind of cult possession. It starts out looking like Deb just has some severe form of Alzheimer’s, but ends up looking like she is a snake possessed by Desjardin’s ghost. So… pretty typical. Deborah Logan before snake cult photo Deborah Logan after snake cult photo In seriousness, the real spoilers here are that Deborah was the town switchboard operator for a long time. This required her to keep a lot of secrets for a lot of people or risk losing their business. One of the secrets that she was required to keep was of a dying man named Henry Desjardins, who, in an effort to gain immortality began sacrificing virgins on the date of their first menses. Again, pretty typical stuff. Desjardins got 4 of the 5 virgins he needed to complete his pentagram shaped ode to the serpent cult before he bit the big one. But it was Deborah who made sure that Desjardins didn’t accomplish his goal. She stopped him the only way she knew how; the old fashioned killing him method. His 4 out of 5 virgins did get him a pretty potent ghost form that allowed him to possess and severely mess up Deb in her later years. Deborah Logan says, “Get off my lawn” In the end, Desjardins was driven from Deborah when they burned his remains, freeing her from his serpent ghost grasp. The imagery at the end of this movie is some of the best and most shocking I’ve ever seen. It has stuck w

Wrong Turn is a blast from the past, but was it a blast to watch it? Eh. It is what it is. It’s a guilty pleasure horror movie that features psychotic inbred mountain men. If that sounds like your bag, give it a watch. Regardless, listen to our review, because we probably had more fun reviewing it than watching it. Artwork by @dgoebel00 on instagram. Follow him and check out his website. Wrong Turn Poster Wrong Turn Synopsis The synopsis is simple. A group of random people in their early twenties are attacked by inbred homicidal mountain men. Some of them have paint by numbers backstories and archetypes, really their purpose and motivation is to be fodder for a slasher. Everyone that you think will die dies, and everyone that you think will survive survives. Review Wrong Turn came out in 2003 and I genuinely forgot how long ago that was. Nokia phones, bare midriffs on women, and pooka shells on men. It was a simpler time. And this is a simple movie to match it. This is a good old fashioned, dumb slasher. The only unique twist on the generic formula is that the antagonists are a family of inbred homicidal hicks. Oh wait, that’s not unique, that’s a rip off of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Whatever, who cares, the people that want to watch slashers just want to see people getting chased and cut up. In that respect, this movie excels, because that’s basically all that happens. People get chased and cut up. Rinse and repeat. Score for Wrong Turn 5/10 Wrong Turn Add the Blu ray to your collection or stream it right now Buy/Rent on Amazon Spoilers Expand for spoilers There really isn’t much to spoil. This is a highly predictable slasher, and everyone that you expect to die, dies. What next? If you are in the mood for another slasher, you can’t do better than Sleepaway Camp.

We rented The Exorcism of Emily Rose on Amazon, and while Bryce couldn’t seem to stay awake, I was reminded of one of my favorite possession movies ever made. This was a Patreon pick of the month, and they voted on it, so we reviewed it. Synopsis of The Exorcism of Emily Rose The Exorcism of Emily Rose is directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister) and is the story of a court case where The People are prosecuting Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson) for the negligent homicide of Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter). Good news for Father Moore, Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) is on the case. https://youtu.be/cmLfRVVRbmg As we are walked through the trial, we get glimpses into the hellish end of days that made up Emily’s life. She was a deeply devout catholic girl in a deeply devout catholic family, and that never seems to be a good combination in possession movies.  Watch The Exorcism of Emily Rose Watch on Amazon Click to Watch The defender of The People is Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott), and he makes the claims that Emily was epileptic and psychotic, which could have been treated medically.  Erin has to come to terms with her own lack of faith to depict this priest in the light of his intentions and the reality that the possession was real, and the exorcism was vital to save Emily from the devil. Review of The Exorcism of Emily Rose The Exorcism of Emily Rose is an interesting and well-executed movie that really floored me the first time I watched it several years after it’s 2005 release. I’ve seen it a handful of times since then, and it continues to be compelling to watch. The visuals in this movie work best on the first go-around, so it didn’t have the same disturbing impact on me this time as it did my first viewing. I appreciate the new twist on an old classic – being told from the perspective of the homicide case made it much less of a movie about possession and much more of a movie about faith and religion. The Defense attorney had her own brushes with the demonic during her trial, which gave the movie stakes in the present. This movie respects the audience and shows a lot of restraint in favor of fewer terrifying moments. The result is that these very disturbing scenes have a heavier impact. I’m a sucker for a well-made possession movie, and this is exactly that. Score 8/10 Spoilers for The Exorcism of Emily Rose This starts with a great ambiance shot of a dreary farm-house in a mist-covered field. A medical examiner shows up to find Emily deceased, surrounded by her family, and in horrific condition. He can’t conclusively say that the cause of death is natural, which makes a great allusion, not only to murder but to the possibility of satanic possession. How’s eating bug for ambiance? The Religion/Science Dichotomy The Exorcism of Emily Rose asks the interesting question of, “What is possession, real or explained away with mental health diagnoses?” I love the way this movie tackles that question. First, from the side of the Prosecution (science), then from the side of the Defense (religion). Many times we will see Emily acting possessed, and horrible things will happen to her that appear to be because of the supernatural. For example, she will be out in the field in the throws of possession, and stigmata will appear on her hands. When viewed from the side of the Defense telling the account, it will appear as it the mark on her hands show up without any outside influence. When viewed from the side of the Prosecution, it shows that Emily grabs tightly onto a barbwire fence, producing the wounds in the palm of each hand. Ouch! I enjoy the way this movie walks the line between religion and science – never tainting the audience with a “true” fact one way or the other. The Exorcism We only get to see bits and pieces of the actual exorcism of Emily, but what we do see is harrowing. The actual (real-life) exorcism of Emily Rose (a girl named Anneliese Michel) included 67 exorcism attempts. One of the best parts of the movie is when we learn that Emily has not one, but six demons residing in her. I really can’t explain this and do it justice, so check out this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvTVqWhssoM The Verdict As the trial draws to a close, we get to see the closing arguments made by both sides. The Prosecution makes the case that this poor girl died a horrible wasting death while in the care of Father Moore. The Defense makes a great closing statement. If you scroll up to the top of this page and listen to our podcast episode, you will hear her whole closing statement at timestamp 1:02:54. Final Recommendation If you are in the mood for a possession movie, this is one of the best. It’s an interesting movie told from a unique perspective and it has aged quite well. The only other possession movie we have reviewed as of the release of this review is The Devil’s Doorway, and Emily Rose is a much better choice.

The Invisible Man is the first horror movie of the year worth… seeing. Writer/director Leigh Whannel reframes the H.G. Wells source material in a thrilling and fresh adaptation. After two months of truly mediocre horror releases, The Invisible Man is a gasp of fresh air. Artwork by @dgoebel00 on instagram. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/Pso0Aj_cTh0 The Invisible Man can be…SEEN in theaters now. Film Synopsis The Invisible Man follows Cecilia, played by Elizabeth Moss, as she fearfully escapes her manipulative and violently abusive boyfriend Adrian, played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Soon after she leaves him, he commits suicide and leaves her a considerable amount of money in his will. Her deceased ex was one of the world’s foremost experts on optics and was very wealthy. Cecilia is still mentally scarred by their abusive ex, that she finds it hard to believe that he is actually dead. This seemingly unreasonable paranoia gets confirmed to her as she is haunted and by an unseen tormentor. This Invisible Man ramps up the terror and violence to the point that everyone around Cecilia assumes that she is having a mental break. Even her closest friends and family don’t believe her, leaving her hopeless as she tries to defend herself. She struggles to prove that her ex is still alive and continuing his abuse while he actively tries to frame her for murder. Review of The Invisible Man I’ll tell you what. This movie is a breath of fresh air after a stagnant two months of new releases in the horror category. It’s is written and directed by Leigh Whannell who you might know as the writer/director of Upgrade, or as an actor in The Bye Bye Man. He shows himself to be very competent at writing and directing with this film. Want to Watch The Invisible Man? Click here to watch on Amazon Click to Watch The skill of Whannel is shown in the opening of The Invisible Man, which follows the motto of “show don’t tell”. So much is communicated about Cecilia and Adrian’s relationship just from her actions and facial expressions in the first 5 minutes of the film. The film also shows a lot of well tuned restraint by not focusing on the sci-fi elements like most other Invisible Man movies do.  It’s themes explore the topic of abuse in a really interesting and thought- provoking way. Abusive partners are often “invisible” to the world since that side of the abusers personality isn’t often shown to others. The historical abuse of Cecilia in this film feels real and tangible, even though it’s never shown in flashbacks. It’s communicated through the aftereffects and trauma that Cecilia displays. This is a great example of a thriller that leans into the horror aspects of that label. There are genuinely surprising moments and many times that I jumped out of my seat. This is a very very good movie, and you should definitely see it. Score for The Invisible Man (2020) 9/10 Spoilers Expand for spoilers section Adrian The Adrian character is pretty “invisible” to the audience throughout the whole movie. This isn’t just because he is physically invisible, but also because his motives are murky, and we are only given second-third hand information about him from the other characters. We briefly get a glimpse of him when he attacks Cecilia in the car as she leaves, but we don’t get a good look at him until the very end of the movie. It’s very effective. Once we do see him, the charmed veneer is completely undercut by what we have witnessed throughout the movie, allowing the audience to experience the distrust that Cecilia experiences first hand. Cecilia’s disbelief Cecilia when she is informed of Adrian’s death, it is is obvious that she is very suspicious. She is used to being ghostlit and manipulated. Only until she sees the will and the urn with “Adrian’s ashes” does her countenance change to relief. Once she starts experiencing unexplained sounds and occurrences, it seems like she immediately recognizes the presence, even without seeing Adrian. Empty Shots A lot of shots of this movie were of empty space, ala Paranormal activity. It was actually very effective. The premise of the movie tells us that something could be there at all times, and the audience is always looking for movement to betray Adrian’s presence. James Lanier The one stand out presence in this film was definitely Aldis Hodge playing James Lanier, the cop who is housing Cecilia. He made us question our sexuality. The Best Scene in The Invisible Man The best scene by far is when Cecilia invites her sister to dinner to reconciliate, after Adrian sends a cruel email from her account. The scene feels like it is setting itself up as a turning point for Cecilia getting her only family member back on her side. All of a sudden, a knife floats in the air, and then swiftly slits the sister’s throat. It is an instantly iconic scene that is genuinely shocking. Adrian&#8217

We saw Brahms: The Boy II in theaters and it was so bland and unfulfilling that I questioned whether or not I want to spend my free time reviewing movies of this caliber. As soon as I asked that question of myself, I realized that the answer is obviously –  yes. I need to watch these boring hunks of junk to make sure you don’t have to. @dgoebel00 on instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. https://youtu.be/ytxEldPKnyA Synopsis The Boy II is a stand-alone sequel to the somewhat more interesting movie, The Boyfrom 2016, which you can currently watch on Amazon for $3.99. It was directed by William Brent Bell, who has been directing horror movies like The Devil Inside, and the original The Boyfrom 2016. This is the story of a family of three, Liza (Katie Holmes), Sean (Owain Yeoman), and their son Jude (Christopher Convery) that escape to the countryside to heal after a burglary gone wrong at their house in London. Watch Brahms: The Boy II Pre-order on Amazon Click here to Watch Jude, the young son stops talking following the attack, and when the family shows up at the guest house on the Heelshire estate (where the original The Boy took place) he finds a doll buried in the woods.  The doll and Jude share a lot in common: not talking, staring blankly at whoever addresses them, generally being boring, and desiring to kill whole families. Through a notepad that Jude uses to communicate, we learn that the doll is named Brahms, and he has a bunch of rules for the family to follow.  You would be surprised how stringent these rules are, so they are broken often and the family is thrown into an uproar each time. Eventually, we find out that Brahms is more doll than this family bargained for. Review Brahms: The Boy II is a sincerely boring movie that does everything technically correct on paper. Casting, acting, pacing, direction – it’s all passable. The end result is boring as sin, though. At least movies like Fantasy Island are so zany that they are fun in an ironic way. Brahms: The Boy II bored me to tears and I don’t believe that you should ever watch it.  Score 3/10 Spoilers Click to Expand for Brahms: The Boy II Spoilers As I write this I am bored to tears at the prospect of having to relive the minutiae of The Boy II, but here it goes. Jude is Mute The burglary/attack on Liza and Jude really did a number on them, and Jude ends up going mute. Great, now we have to hear two nagging parents dote on their child throughout this already tedious script. Jude going mute is supposed to add to the spook factor of the whole thing by making us relate to the parent’s further challenge of reaching their troubled child. Instead, Jude having to write out his every response adds padding to an already slim movie. Jude not talking also helps to draw a closer parallel with him and Brahms, the doll. By the end of the movie, Jude is dressing, doing his hair, and wearing a mask that makes him look just like the doll Look exciting? Right, it’s not. The Brahms Doll MORE: Click Here for our blog about some of the most deadly horror movie dolls Brahms is truly one of the most uninspired and generic horror movie dolls that I’ve ever seen. He has no hook, nothing that makes him interesting at all. What are Brahms origins? There was once a boy on the Heelshire Estate that killed his family. His soul got into his doll. That’s it. The End Brahms: The Boy II ends in the least satisfying way it possibly could have – a history lesson. The groundskeeper tells the family about the backstory of the doll and gives us a bit of a montage of the destruction the boy doll caused. The dad smacks the doll’s head and a weird creepy face is revealed beneath his smooth veneer. Then the cliffhanger at the very end, once the danger is gone, is that Jude still enjoys wearing doll-like masks and might still kill his family. Neat. Final Reommendation for Brahms: The Boy II This isn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen but in terms of something that’s worthy of your time, it ain’t. Don’t support this; we want less of this. Horror Movie News with Ben Warrington Spiral: From The Book of Saw – Darren Lynn Bousman takes the helm of the 9th installation of the Saw franchise. Written and starring Chris Rock, this movie has an expected release date of 15th May 2020 worldwide. Also starring Samuel L Jackson, so get ready Mother Buckets! Borderlands Movie – Hostel director Eli Roth is helming Gearbox’s long-in-the-works Borderlands movie. A film adaptation of the popular post-apocalyptic comedy shooter was first announced all the way back in 2015, with development being handled by movie studio Lionsgate. Orphan Prequel – William Brent Bell, the helmer of such horror films as The Boy, The Devil Inside and Wer, has come on board to direct Esther, the prequel to 2009 hit Orphan. A24’s Saint Maud– The debut film of writer/director Rose Glass, “Saint Maud” is the latest bold h

We went and saw Blumhouse‘s Fantasy Island, and it was exactly as good as you would expect it to be. It’s a needless remake of the campy 70’s TV show of the same name. It’s entertaining, but nothing to write home about. One this episode of Horror Movie Talk we give our full review and breakdown of the film. https://youtu.be/a6O30nJ02PU Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island can be found in theaters now Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island Synopsis In this film adaptation of the campy 70’s TV show, five guests played by hot supple young actors and Jimmy O. Yang arrive at an exclusive and secretive island resort run by the mysterious Mr. Rourke, played by Michael Pena. Each guest gets to experience one and ONLY one fantasy until it plays out to “it’s natural conclusion.” And get this… [SPOILER WARNING] the natural conclusion…is spooky-scary. Review My assessment of this movie upon leaving the theater was “This is a 10/10 for a 5/10 movie,” and I stand by that. This is not a great movie, but it does meet the table stakes of being entertaining. The premise is interesting enough, the dialogue isn’t completely awful, and the acting is actually pretty good. The fantasies each have their own unique flavor, and end up intermingling in interesting ways. The “12 inch pianist” genie level twists are different levels of tacked-on. The most natural dark twist comes with the revenge fantasy from Lucy Hale’s hottie character Melanie. It makes sense that actually hurting other people that hurt you might not be as pleasurable as you would imagine. Other fantasy twists range from weird but interesting to completely eye-rolling-ly artificial in premise. The first 3/4s of the film go down a predictable and competent path to set up the premise, develop the characters, explain the fantasies, and show the dark side of each. The last fourth is a series of “surprises” and reveals that feel like the film version of a run-on sentence. Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island isn’t deep or earth shattering, but giving credit where credit is due, it is entertaining. Score for Fantasy Island 5/10 Spoilers for Fantasy Island Expand for spoilers The characters and their fantasies JD and Brax are the super bro brothers played by Ryan Hansen and Jimmy O. Yang. Their Fantasy is to “have it all,” which equates a huge party with thirsty hotties of both sexes.  Former mean girl victim and current THOT, Melanie is played by Lucy Hale. Her fantasy is to get revenge on her high school tormentor. Gwen, played by MAggie Q, wants a second chance at life by reliving a marriage proposal. Patrick, played by Austin Stowell, wants to play soldier and be a hero. The “natural conclusions” of the fantasies JD and Brax’s party gets crashed by the drug lord that wants his house, money, and coke back. Torturing people isn’t as fun as it sounds. Oops, she chose the wrong regret. The dead dad ends up not having a heroic reaction to his impending death, but ends up still being a hero. The actual ending As the film speeds towards it’s conclusion, all the fantasies seem to be intermingling and closely related to each other. Patrick’s soldier father is actually trying to rescue hostages that end up being JD and Brax. After Gwen realizes the implications of her fantasy and demands that she get to relive out her actual regret. She tries to save her upstairs neighbor who was killed by a fire started in her kitchen. It turns out that almost all of the Fantasy Island guests had some relation to the tragedy. JD and Brax were the fire victim’s room mates. Patrick was a cop on the scene that was too cowardly to go in and attempt to save anyone. Melanie was supposed to go on a date that night with the guy that got killed. The big reveal of the movie is that all the guests are actually living out Melanie’s fantasy of getting revenge for he boyfriends murder. There are actually a lot of twists and fakeouts in the last 10 minutes before it gets to that final reveal. In the end, good conquers evil, and Jimmy O. Yang gets to be Tattoo forever. Final Recommendation This is not a great movie, but there really isn’t much wrong with it either. It would make a good date movie. High schoolers that aren’t super jaded about horror movies will likely really enjoy it as well.

(Hansel and Gretel Movie) We saw Gretel & Hansel in theaters and I was pleasantly surprised with something that might not be the most groundbreaking film we’ve ever watched, but it succeeds admirably at breathing new life into this classic Grimm fairy tale. @dgoebel00 on instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Gretel & Hansel Trailer https://youtu.be/QZblQLhKcZQ Gretel & Hansel Synopsis Gretel & Hansel is a reimagining and retelling of; you guessed it, Hansel and Gretel – the classic tale that warns kids not to take candy from strangers. Well, the kids are back and they have a sweet tooth. Gretel & Hansel is the third film from director Oz Perkins, who also did a cult favorite, The Blackcoat’s Daughter. This story retains all the crucial elements of the story. There are two kids (Sophia Lillis from IT as Gretel and Samuel Leakey as Hansel) who are unceremoniously kicked out of their house in the times of yore by their mother who can’t afford to feed them.  Watch Gretel & Hansel On Amazon Click here to Watch They kick around the woods for a while, starving and scared, jostled by a world that is cruel and spooky before stumbling upon a house out in the woods.  This house is owned by Barbara Crampton’s final form, Holda the witch (Alice Krige). The witch lures the kids in with delectable food, but she seems, kind of evil. Well, she is evil. Gretel & Hansel Review To me, it is surprising that Gretel and Hansel got as wide a release as it did because it has “current indy horror movie” written all over it. Also January, February, and March of 2020 is about as chalk full of horror as any year that I can recall. Gretel and Hansel takes a slightly different approach to the classic and makes it a coming of age story for our female protagonist. This movie drips with aesthetic and I swear to God the witches’ house is made by the same architect as the house from Ex Machina. Very sparse, norse sensibilities are present in the scenes, which, if you are a fan of our show, you know we love the Scandinavians and their sensibilities.  The brooding, doom-laden feel of this movie is a great way to take something as classic as Hansel and Gretel and make me care. Every corner of this film is foreboding and off-feeling.  The lighting is so dark that it reminded me of the Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln flick from 2012. Lots of candles used for lighting made me feel like I was right there with the kids in this strange and terrifying house. I love the acting and the style that Gretel & Hansel goes with and the atmosphere is dead-on. My only problem with this movie is that it droops throughout. As far as slow-burns go, this is as slow as they come, and while it works to an extent, I wish they would have stopped chewing the fat and cut some of the more indulgent walks in the woods and dream sequences in favor of keeping my attention.  At 87 minutes, it’s a pretty short movie, but I feel it could have easily been 70 minutes, and it would have felt very appropriate. Score 7/10 Spoilers Click to Expand Spoilers Backstory on the witch The movie starts describing the origin of the witch. There is a gifted child, and an illness befalls her. The father of the child is told to be brave against the darkness and takes the girl to be healed. The child is gifted with something called “second sight”. She is healed, but the gift of healing comes with an unseen curse.  This little girl, the witch, is evil. She kills her dad and others in the village before she is taken out into the woods and banished. Here we are given the tagline of the movie, “Beware gifts because those that offer them might mess you up hardcore.” The World is a Cruel, Scary Place The kid’s mom is not a nice lady. Actually, she is legit nuts. She aggressively pushes her kids out of the house and into a world that wants nothing more than to gobble them up. There are close calls, zombies, and a bunch of menacing figures in the background who are swallowed up by the thick, milky mist.The atmosphere is bleak and terrifying, and it works really well. The Witches House and Possible Anti-Semitism Eventually, the kids stumble across the witch’s house, and just like everything else in this movie, it’s dripping with aesthetic. The door of the house is made up of a Star of David pattern, which really flipped a switch in my brain. An evil person who steals and eats children has the Star of David patterned across her door? hmmm The house is sparse and dark, lit only by candles – it’s also hard to tell exactly how large it is. In the secret room that is hidden below the house, there is also a candelabra or bastardized Menorah that makes an appearance. This feels noteworthy to me because I know that the Brothers Grimm who wrote Hansel and Gretel had some very anti-semitic fairy tales, like The Jew Among The Thorns. How is Gretel & Hansel Different than Hansel and Gretel?

We have a packed episode this week. We review the surprisingly good Color Out Of Space, interview the lovely Tara Westwood from The Grudge (2020), and play a new game called “fNICt or fCAGEtion”. Hold on to your alpacas, and listen to the latest Horror Movie Talk! @dgoebel00 on instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. We went and saw a screening of Color Out of Space, and turns out the color out of space…  was purple Ya don’t say! https://youtu.be/RfYAXMwCpk0 Color Out of Space Trailer Color Out of Space Synopsis Color Out of Space is a documentary of a normal Tuesday for Nicolas Cage. Sorry, that’s wrong, it’s actually based off of an H.P. Lovecraft short story of the same name. The film tells the story of the Gardner family living on a remote homestead inherited by the patriarch Nathan, played by the old god, Nicolas Cage. The rest of the Gardeners are the mother Theresa (Joely Richardson), daughter Lavinia (Madeleine Arthur), and two sons Benny (Brendan Meyer) and Jack (Julian Hilliard).  One night a meteor from SPACE came crashing down into their front yard, and infects the space time continuum with a color that has never been seen before, but is somehow nefarious. Color Out Of Space Poster Review of Color Out Of Space You might be asking yourself… how do you film a story that revolves around the concept of a color that hasn’t been seen before? That’s a good question. I don’t have an answer, but I can tell you that Richard Stanley has somehow pulled it off. This is probably one of the best depictions of cosmic horror that I have ever seen on film. Not that I have seen many, but this one is actually a really impressive adaptation of HP Lovecraft. It falls in that genre of “Weird Tale” that most recently represented in theaters by The Lighthouse. There are direct quotations from the source material, and the tone is very Lovecraftian, save for two aspects.  It’s set in modern times It’s not told via a third person recounting of a third person recounting of another third person account. The parts that are very Lovecraftian are the madness, corruption, ineffective magical rituals, and the scientist that exists only to state that something is beyond science. The corruption of the land and people happens very gradually, but builds up to a crescendo of sensory overload that is really impressive. It’s a very visually impressive movie and definitely one that you might want to go to high as balls. Score 9/10 Color Out Of Space Add Color Out Of Space to your collection Buy on Amazon Interview of Tara Westwood We had the special honor of interviewing the lovely and talented Tara Westwood. Horror movie fans will know her from her most recent role in The Grudge which is still in theaters around the world, as well as some other horror movies you might have stumbled across on Amazon Prime such as Hell Girl or A Haunting at Silver Falls. Follow Tara on Instagram, Twitter to stay apprised of her new projects. Photo by Noel Sutherland and Makeup by Bobby Spielman. Photo by Noel Sutherland and Makeup by Bobby Spielman. Photo by Noel Sutherland and Makeup by Bobby Spielman. David’s dream scenario fNICt or fCAGEtion In our newest game, I read a series of Nic Cage “facts” to David, and he had to guess if they were fNICt (fact) or fCAGEtion (fiction). Here is the list of insane Nic Cage facts. See if you can spot the fake ones. Answer key to follow. He was born Nicolas Coppola and he decided to change his last name after actors resented him because his uncle is the renowned director Francis Ford Coppola. He chose “Cage,” as his last name because he was inspired by the African-American comic book superhero Luke Cage. When he was four, he would have this recurring dream in which “I was on the toilet and this giant blonde genie woman in a gold bikini would reach into the bathroom window like King Kong and pluck me off of the toilet seat and laugh at me.” He once had a pet octopus He bought a stolen T-Rex Skull He owns an egyptian mummy He once slept in the ruins of Dracula’s Castle In Birdy (1984), he played a ladies man who was severely wounded in Vietnam, and during production, he decided to get his teeth pulled so that he could “connect with some kind of physical pain.” Jim Carrey offered him a role in Dumb and Dumber, but that he turned it down for a part as an alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas (1995) He named one of his sons Kal-el, after Superman’s “Kryptonian name. He named one of his daughter’s Zod, after Superman’s Kryptonian nemesis He sometimes wears two pairs of sunglasses His favorite sandwich is roast lamb on white bread with “a bit of mayonnaise and arugula,” He got a “large” back tattoo of a lizard in a top hat and cane During shooting Ghost Rider, on scenes where he transformed into Ghost Rider, he would act with a railroad spike up his rectum. HE has already bought a

We saw The Turning in theaters and it’s got a ton of jumpscares and some great acting, but it is hamstrung by a script that never had a clue where it was going despite having a very clear and high-quality roadmap of the story that it was based upon – The Turn of the Screw. @dgoebel00 on instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. The Turning Trailer https://youtu.be/rl33gU2APIs The Turning Synopsis While I have never read the 1898 novella, The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James, I have a feeling that it would not lend itself to the silver screen without a fair amount of changes to the original story to make it more appealing for audiences today. After having read some briefs and synopses of the novella, this movie mimics it almost point for point.  We have a young teacher, Kate (Mackenzie Davis), who is hired on a palatial estate to teach and govern a young child, Flora (Brooklynn Prince). There is one other inhabitant on the grounds, Mrs. Grose, who is the cook and maid. Watch The Turning On Amazon Click here to Watch After a short time, Flora’s teenage brother, Miles (Finn Wolfhard) appears following being expelled from school. He is quickly set up to be the antagonist of the story, seemingly very crude, lude, and rapey. The story of Kate then unravels itself in shockingly slow, slow motion that is fraught with the most exhausting bevy of jumpscares and twisty-turny bologna that I can recall. The ghost of the previous teacher is hanging around, and the ghost of her killer, Miles friend, Quint, is too.  The Turning Review I would be lying if I told you I understood what exactly there was to be scared of in this movie. I believe The Turn of the Screw was originally a very well written spooky ghost story. This movie is not adapted well to the big screen, probably because it didn’t expand much on the original novella.  The acting was actually pretty good, especially from both child actors, and the setting was pretty effective as well. The script was the real issue here, as there is just nothing around for it to hang its hat on and make it memorable or interesting. A better version of roughly this same story, is found in 2018’s The Little Stranger. The Little Stranger understood ambiguity and how to use it. Is the main character losing his mind or is this place haunted? I think ambiguity is what the source material is about, and it’s replaced in The Turning by confusion. Score 4/10 Spoilers Click to Expand for Spoilers Kate is called to act as the new governess for the children, who are recently orphaned. More to the point, she is supposed to watch Flora and later Miles shows up because it is revealed that he is expelled from his school for shocking violence. Wait… You know it might just be easier if you read the actual plot of The Turn of the Screw novella from this Wikipedia article. Yes, this movie occurs in almost exactly the same timeline as that section of the wiki. Seem uninspired? Yeah, it kind of is. Kate and Mrs. Grose share a sweet embrace The Jumpscares There are lots of jumpscares in this movie, some good, some not so good. But there are tons! There are so many jumpscares that I started to become shellshocked, or at least exhausted by them. Every day in the story contains light frivolity and a pang of weirdness, and every night contains a healthy dose of jumpscares and dark hallways. The House This house is seriously huge and suffers from a major case of spooky house syndrome (SHS). It’s got lights that turn on and off for no reason, sewing machines the pop to life, and dozens of mannequins ready to terrify as Kate backs into them, one after another. While the house is plenty spooky, it’s not utilized in the way that it could have been. There is an eerie line delivered at the start of the movie by one of the children about the East wing. “We don’t go there.” The ‘why’ to that could have been explored and expanded upon to such a degree that the movie would be substantive. The Lack of Ambiguity The thing that made the original story work, from what I have read, is ambiguity. There is supposed to be a question of whether or not this house is haunted or whether Kate is losing her mind. Is young Miles actually a terror who wants to have sex with his governess or is he being controlled by the spirit of Quint? None of this ambiguity makes it to the audience in The Turning. Instead, it’s a mishmash of confusing maybe-it-happened maybe-it-didn’t dream sequences and nightmares. The End Holy hell. First, we get a false ending. Kate drives the kids off of the property under extreme duress and escapes. But then she wakes up and is scolded for being crazy by the children and the maid. Don’t ever talk to me or my daughter again! There is a half-baked attempt to suggest that Kate is exactly as her mother is – totally insane, then the movie ends. There is no follow-through, no explanation – it just ends. Final Recommendations Kids and teens mig

Our patrons voted for this week’s movie review, and they selected Crawl. This was a movie we let slip by us when it was in theaters. However, now we know, you don’t just slip by gators, they will look for you, they will find you, and they will kill you. @dgoebel00 on instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Crawl Trailer https://youtu.be/H6MLJG0RdDE Crawl can is available for rent or purchase on your favorite video platform. Synopsis The movie follows Floridian Haley (Kaya Scodelario), a competitive swimmer that goes to check on her father before a category 5 hurricane hits. She discovers that her father Dave (Barry Pepper) is in the CRAWL space below his house with a broken leg from an alligator attack. She finds out quickly that there are not one, but two hyper-aggressive gators that will stop at nothing to kill them both. What proceeds is a game of gator and mouse where they try to escape the gators in a labyrinthian and increasingly flooded crawlspace. Crawl Poster My Review This movie has a simple set up and delivers exactly what you would want out of it: ridiculous gator action. Before coming to Dave’s crawlspace, these gators must have stopped by Tony Montana’s and consumed the mountain of coke on his desk. These gators are ridiculously aggressive. The two main characters are constantly in danger, but are protected by the most powerful substance known to man… plot armor. So for an hour and a half, as we watch them try to outsmart the gators to accomplish the impossible task of… you know crawl a couple feet to the stairs, we are introduced to a steady stream of possible saviors who are immediately attacked and torn apart by ravenous gators. Oil me up daddy, it’s dinner time, and I’m a little soup-boy. Chompa. Chompa. I’ve said it before. I’m not a huge fan of monster movies. But I can appreciate the ones that are done well. This is one of those. The situation is creative, the pacing of the plot is great. Even the tension is high throughout the movie because of the rising water. It really is a great device to move the plot forward. There is also a decent amount of character development between Haley and her father.  If all that bores you and you are only coming for alligator attacks, you will not be disappointed. Everything from just plain gator bites to being completely drawn and quartered by a congregation of gators is covered. Getting Drawn and Quartered by Gators Overall it’s a really well written and executed creature feature that maintains tension, has the proper amount of ridiculous action, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Score for Crawl 7/10 Crawl (2019) Add Crawl to your collection Buy on Amazon Spoilers Expand for spoilers The Good CGI The CGI is really good in this movie. The alligators looked very real. The only thing that would tip you off that they are CGI alligators is that there are certain lunges and movements that a real gator couldn’t pull off in real life. However, these moments are used to great effect, since there is a shocking and creepy factor that comes with them. Water Induced Tension The water rising as a tension building device is fantastic. It almost acts as a meter for their peril. As the movie goes on, the rate of the water rising increases. By the half point of the film, the crawlspace is about halfway filled with water. As the film speeds towards it’s conclusion, the levee breaks, and all of a sudden, the water reaches the second floor in minutes. https://youtu.be/uwiTs60VoTM Character Development I don’t expect much from Character development, but this movie checks enough boxes for me to say that it has a decent amount. The relationships within the film feel real, and the audience is allowed to establish empathy with the characters. Which, in turn, gets the audience to actually care whether or not they get eaten. Last weeks film, Underwater, failed in this regard. Gator Action Alligators bite people. What more do you want? The Bad There isn’t a lot to complain about with this film. The only minor complaint is that it suffers from the “bitch-get-out-tha-house” syndrome. This is where the protagonists fail to make very simple and obvious decisions that will get them to safety. This is a common trope in horror movies, and is really a foundational element in a lot of ways. So overall, there isn’t much to dislike about Crawl. https://youtu.be/px8o_9-QV2c https://youtu.be/p_NS2H55dxI https://youtu.be/gKQOXYB2cd8 https://youtu.be/M7zrHiqoJ6k

Underwater is in theaters right now and I did not expect much, which left me pleasantly surprised when I didn’t have a bad time. As far as underwater spooks and adventure go, Underwater is unique enough to hold my attention, but it doesn’t pull off anything amazing.  Dgoebel00 on instagram provided this amazing pic. Follow him for more great horror art. Also, check out his website. Underwater Synopsis Underwater stars Kristen Stewart as Norah, T.J. Miller as the unnamed goofball, and Vincent Cassel as the captain who looks just like my friend Brent. https://youtu.be/Rszr56AH3Co This is an incredibly simple story that starts with Kristen Stewart describing life  – underwater – in this massive – underwater – facility that is made to support a drilling operation at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, which of course, is – underwater.  Want to watch Underwater? Click the button to watch on Amazon Click here to Watch After a few minutes the facility begins to implode, and our leading lady is forced to begin her – underwater – quest to escape.  Along the way she runs into a few friends who have miraculously survived the facility being torn to shred at this crushing depth. Once she meets up with the captain, they hatch a plan to escape but soon find themselves in over their heads! Feel the intense teeth-brushing action! Underwater Review Underwater is a by-the-books movie that reminded me of Sphere (1998) mixed with Aliens and The Abyss.  T.J Miller does exactly what you think he is going to do, and so does Kristen Stewart. In fact, all of the characters do the things you think they are going to do. Does that make it bad? No, just predictable. Pretty cool poster, if I do say so. I liked the monster design in this, which is saying something because I rarely enjoy monster design. Score for Underwater 6/10 Spoilers for Underwater Expand for Spoilers There isn’t a whole lot to spoil in this movie. If you read my synopsis, you kind of get it. The monster(s) are really the x-factor and the interesting part of this movie, along with the journey to the bottom of the sea. Kids Piloting Multi-Trillion Dollar Drilling Rigs Ok, this is going to make me sound like a wet, old fart, but goddamnit I’m going to say it anyway. Twenty somethings are not who I would expect to be the focus of this movie. There’s a freaking intern for Christ-sake! For another totally implausible underwater scenario, check out our review of The Meg https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/08/24/the-meg/ Haggard men in their thirties and forties are the key demo here, both in real life and in movies of old based on similar situations. Call me sexist, but it’s true! Here is a list of movies that show remote places and bad situations for what they are – stinky and men-ridden: The Thing Blood Diamond Alien Aliens Alien³ “But David, three of those movies have a female lead!” That’s the exception that proves the rule. Apart from Aliens, Sigourney Weaver is almost the only female in the whole damn movie, and she looks as stinky and gross as the men she hangs with. I’m not sure where I’m going with this because to be honest, Underwater wouldn’t be nearly as attractive without Stewart at the helm. So maybe I’ll just swallow my vaguely sexist criticism and enjoy the kids piloting the world’s most expensive/dangerous drilling project. The Monster(s) We are introduced to the monsters early and often, but rarely do we get a solid look at them until the very end, which I appreciate. We get to see fleeting quick glimpses of strange blurry hands and octo-faces darting around. Mostly we get to see the remains of others that the monsters leave behind. Eventually, at the crescendo, we see a bevvy of the monsters hanging from – you guessed it – the bottom of the Roebuck drilling station that our surviving crew needs to enter. As the crew make their way through the forest of limp floating arms of the creatures, the awake. My friend Brenners, AKA the captain from Underwater They are hideous and effective, but obviously small compared to something else that we hear throughout the movie – the leviathan! The leviathan is a truly massive monster, larger than most Kaiju I’ve seen. probably on par with Cthullu. The most interesting part about the leviathan is that the smaller humanoid creatures seem to live on it, and do it’s bidding. I liked the monster(s), which is rare for me. Final Recommendations If you like monster movies, godzilla/kaiju, or Cthullu then Underwater is for you. It’s a action oriented monster movie that has a quippy T.J. Miller and a sexy Kristen Stewart – standard stuff. It’s not great but I thoroughly expected to hate it and I didn’t. I would watch this again while drunk or high.

We went and saw The Grudge, and I feel like I’m taking crazy pills, because I liked it. That’s because it’s a dark and moody sequel/reboot of The Grudge. Nicolas Pesce wrote and directed the film, and brings a more serious and weighty tone to the proceedings. This is the first Grudge film to earn an R-rating, and it is warranted not only for the violence, but also for the mature subject matter. @Dgoebel00 on instagram provided this amazing image. Follow him for more greatness. https://youtu.be/O2NKzO-fxwQ See The Grudge can in theaters now The Grudge 2020 Synopsis This film is a soft reboot sequel of the American Grudge from 2004. It tells the story of a single mother Detective Muldoon (Andrea Riseborough) as she moves to a new police force and discovers a dead body in the woods. Muldoon’s partner Detective Goodman (Demián Bichir) is disturbed when the body is connected with previous murder cases he investigated. As established in the previous Grudges and the opening credits, when someone is killed in a violent rage, a curse is formed around the place of death. Goodman mysteriously tries to dissuade Muldoon from investigating too deeply, and DEFINITELY NOT GO IN THE HOUSE. As you can guess, she goes in the house. As Detective Muldoon investigates the current and previous murders, the film flashes back to tell the story of three families in different stages of life all being haunted, and hunted by the same curse. Review of The Grudge (2020) I haven’t seen any of the previous Grudge’s or the original Ju-On, so I was going in blind. However, the information I needed was provided in the opening credits: Murder bad. Make curse. Curse Bad. This technique I actually liked, but I admit it does lessen the mystery a bit. But since this is a sequel, all that information has already been established. Dark Tone The director Nicolas Pesce sets a measured pace and a moody tone for this movie, which for me, helped to build up the dread. There isn’t much mystery, or any real surprises in terms of the plot, but it does still feel compelling because of the inevitability of what you know is going to happen. It’s like watching a slow-mo train wreck.  The first act takes it’s time to develop characters. Each family is introduced in turn with a unique situation that inspires empathy. Therefore it does feel like there are stakes. The most interesting of the bunch is probably the elderly Matheson family that is dealing with dementia and assisted suicide.  R-Rated Horror This is definitely a one trick pony though. Along the lines of The Conjuring movies, it’s more of a vehicle for jump scares. Some of the scares are effective, but they are generally pretty sparse until the end. With the R-rating, it is able to delve into some more graphic violence. This is a pretty “light R” since there are only a few moments that earn the rating, but they are effective and pack a punch. When we left the theater, both David and I thought it was a good movie. Despite it’s slow pace and general predictability, it’s a well crafted movie with a distinctive tone and gravitas. We covered Nicolas Pesce’s last movie, Piercing a while ago and I think he has an really interesting style. Negative Reactions on Twitter Upon checking twitter, we are in the minority on this movie. People and critics apparently HATE this movie. It has worse scores on Rotten Tomatoes than CATS, which is ridiculous to me. I felt like I saw a completely different movie. I don’t know what people were expecting from it, but apparently they were VERY disappointed with the film. Most of the criticisms about it are that it is “boring” or that it didn’t feature the original girl ghost “Kayako” as much as they wanted.  Score for The Grudge (2020) 6/10 The Grudge (2020) Pre-order on Amazon.com. Pre-order Now Final Recommendations I stand by my original impressions upon leaving the theater. I think it’s worth a watch.

2019 treated us very well in terms of how our podcast is doing and in terms of great horror movies. I would even go so far as to say we were spoiled by 2019. So let’s take a look at what we love and hated about the horror movies that we reviewed in 2019. We had such a great time with horror in 2019! Worst Horror Movies of 2019 The Prodigy This was such a boring movie that I resent it for technically being decent enough to be called mediocre. This is a movie that holds the title of “mediocrity” high above it’s head and smiles. From Miles, the boring antagonist child, to his boring parents that boring birthed him, this movie is one that I will not watch again. Click here to watch The Prodigy on Amazon. Greta While not committing any mortal sins, Greta manages to be more forgettable than The Prodigy. This PG-13 thriller has a great trailer that leads one to believe that things will get real crazy, real fast. All that ends up happening is kidnapping and some Boo-box play. Yawn. Click here to watch Greta on Amazon. The Curse of La Llorona Looking back on this, we only gave it a 4/10 but this movie was (in my mind) a 2/10. The real curse was having to sit through an hour and a half long movie that could have been 22 minutes of witless bullshit. This was a clear cash grab that the studio behind The Conjuring franchise, and hopefully not a sign of things to come. Click here to watch The Curse of La Llorona on Amazon. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark To be honest with you, SStTitD was not that bad. It was really my fault for getting my hopes up about a movie that is nodding at my childhood nostalgia and winking. This is a fine movie to introduce young teens to the genre, but if you are looking for interesting concepts or a fun time, look elsewhere. Click here to watch Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark on Amazon. Best Horror Movies of 2019 The Dead Don’t Die The Dead Don’t Die is lowkey one of the best movies of the year in terms of entertainment value, star power, script, and acting. Taking a totally fucked-out premise like zombies and making it fun and funny again is always impressive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs5ZOcU6Bnw You can’t do better than this cast: Bill Murray Adam Driver Tom Waits Chloë Sevigny Steve Buscemi Danny Glover RZA Tilda Swinton Iggy Pop Selena Gomez Sturgill Simpson Click here to watch The Dead Don’t Die on Amazon. Midsommar Think cults are spooky? What about being drugged? Bright colors? Yea, this movie mashes up some of the most unused tropes and ideas into a terrifically horrific masterpiece. https://youtu.be/1Vnghdsjmd0 As director Ari Aster’s second hit horror movie, this is a ride and a half for the viewer. The whole movie resembles a drug trip in a very innocuous way, and the end crescendos into one of the most upsetting things I witnessed all year. You must see this. Click here to watch Midsommar on Amazon. Ready or Not Ready or Not came straight out of left field and clocked me. Everything about this movie was charming and fun. This will go down as one of the great meta-horror/comedies of all time. https://youtu.be/ZtYTwUxhAoI Our podcast review of Ready or Not makes me believe that scream queens are back. Make sure to listen to our podcast review of Ready or Not to hear the Debut of our best game to date: Horror or Porno. Click here to watch Ready or Not on Amazon. Doctor Sleep I can’t believe how much I enjoyed this adventure horror movie! I thought for sure that any movie trying to follow The Shining would fail miserably. How wrong I was! https://youtu.be/BOzFZxB-8cw Everything about this movie enthralled me. The story was fun, the characters were believable. The baddies in this movie were so bad, so evil, it made me want nothing more than to see them suffer! Click here to watch Doctor Sleep on Amazon. Here’s to 2020! Thank you for listening to the podcast and supporting the show! We couldn’t do it without you!

We streamed Rare Exports, and much like Finland, it was cold and dark. This horror film has more to do with Lovecraft than a run-of-the-mill slasher or monster movie. There is a lot of dread and high-concept build up. While the ending might not be satisfying, it stands out as the most entertaining part of the movie, and is worth the wait. @Dgoebel00 on instagram provided this amazing pic. Follow him for more great horror art. Rare Exports can be found streaming free on Crackle, or on Amazon Prime or Hulu if you subscribe to either of those. https://youtu.be/PwT3wtUCv9Y Rare Exports Synopsis Rare Exports tells that tried and true christmas yarn of a young boy discovering that Santa Claus is real. This heartwarming tale set in Finland follows Pietarri and his widowed father as they try to make ends meet in the frosty North. But tragedy strikes when the winter livestock tragically dies, it’s up to Pietarri to discover the magic of Santa and save Christmas. Review of Rare Exports This movie is a lot of fun in retrospect, but to be honest you really have to be in the mood for this type of film. Like most scandinavian films it is very dry and has a real particular type of slow drip black humor. It has a very unique mix of lovecraftian horror and schlock that you really don’t see very often. Like most Lovecraftian stories, a lot of the exposition is third hand and can feel rather clinical. However, the ideas in this movie are genuinely fun if you can endure the desert-level dryness of the humor. The film is played SO straight that it is easy to miss how crazy and fun the concepts are within it. Erin walked in on the ending scene and upon explaining the plot to her, I realized how fun the movie must sound.  It’s at the top of a lot of Christmas Horror Movie lists, but it’s not personally my favorite. That spot is still reserved for Silent Night, Deadly Night. Score for Rare Exports Score 7/10 Rare Exports Watch the full movie now on Amazon Prime Watch on Amazon Rare Exports Spoilers The film opens with the excavation of big hill. It feels straight out of Lovecraft, specifically At the Mountain of Madness. There are allusions to a discovery of ancient origins underneath a layer of insulation sawdust. Pietari and Jusso watch the men excavating, later Pietari discovers a bunch of ancient legends of Santa Claus being an evil entity with horns that punished naughty children. Mysterious footprints show up around Pietari’s house, and he assumes they are from Santa. On the yearly hunt, it’s discovered that all of the reindeer have been slaughtered close to the mountain with the drilling. The men want compensation from the drilling company for their lost livelihood. …Rudolph? Pietari studies more about Santa legends and discovers ancient tales of Santa being captured in ice. Wolf trap is tripped and an old bearded man is discovered. Pietarri’s father and his friends try to communicate with the man, but are unable. The old man seems to be drawn to Pietari. This convinces Pietari that the man is Santa. The group decides to sell santa to the drilling company. When the American running the excavation arrives he informs them that it isn’t Santa, it’s one of his “helpers”. All of a sudden they are swarmed by hundreds of naked old men “helpers”. When they escape to a hanger and discover that there is a giant block of ice with horns sticking out of it. All the towns heaters, hairdryers, and radiators are pointing at it. Also, all of the towns children are sacked up around the ice block. Disney’s Santa On Ice They use all the bagged children as bait for the helpers and blow up iceblock santa. With all the excess helpers no longer under Santa’s spell, they spend the whole year training them to be mall santas and ship them out all over the world at a price. Santa Training Final Recommendations Rare Exports is worth seeing. It is a high quality, quirky christmas horror movie that deserves acclaim. Keep in mind that it is more of a high concept horror than an actual slasher or monster movie.

Bury Christmas everyone! ROFLOLOLOL!!!! No, but seriously folks, we like to joke… This week we review the new 2019 Model of Black Christmas. It’s a genuine attempt to reimagine Bob Clark’s 1974 classic through the lens of today’s modern woman. Listen to our full review on our latest episode or read the summary below. Also in this episode, we play Taglines and a new game called “Black Christmas or Black Christmas or Black Christmas”. Enjoy. @Dgoebel00 on instagram provided this amazing pic. Follow him for more great horror art. Synopsis of Black Christmas 2019 Sabina, Elena, and Jane are working for the mysterious Charles Townsend, whose security and investigative agency has expanded internationally. With the world’s smartest, bravest, and most highly trained women all over the globe, there are now teams of Angels guided by multiple Bosleys… Oh wait that’s charlies angels Black Christmas is the second in the increasingly loosely based remakes of Bob Clark’s 1974 Black Christmas. The story follows 4 close-knit Hawthorne College sorority sisters named Riley (Imogen Poots), Kris (Aleyse Shannon), Marty (Lily Donoghue), and Jesse (Brittany O’Grady) during the very beginning of winter break. While most of the campus is abandoned by students going home for the holidays, these bold gen-z women opt to stay on campus and party with the other christmas holiday “orphans”. Soon it is apparent that they are being stalked by a mysterious man or men who are attacking and killing sorority sisters one by one. As we follow Sophie and company, it is revealed that the stalker/stalkers are part of a larger more nefarious conspiracy: THE PATRIARCHY. Black Christmas (1974) Add the BLuray to your collection or stream it now. Buy on Amazon Written, directed, and led by young women, this film’s diva cup runneth over with female empowerment. It is so loosely based on the original that it barely maintains the scaffolding of women at college being stalked by a killer. What it does bring to the party is straight ahead, unsubtle social commentary for today’s generation of women.  Quick Review of Black Christmas 2019 I imagine that this film is going to get a lot of hate, and there are a lot of creative and studio decisions that hinder its success, but I must say that I admire the creative vision of this movie. This film seems like a genuine attempt to reimagine Black Christmas through the lens of today’s generation, with today’s technology. Supplanting the themes of abortion rights and women’s lib, are the modern themes of rape culture and well, still women’s lib… I guess we’re still working on that. Watch Black Christmas 2019 On Amazon Click here to Watch  Like I said before, it is not subtle in its message of social commentary, but in this case, I prefer the straight ahead messaging vs lame tacked-on virtue of other “woke” horror films. In terms of plot, this film goes charging off the rails in the third act. The end is truly ridiculous, but it is good campy fun.  The biggest hindrance and distraction of the film was its pg-13 rating. It’s so distracting and jarring at some points that it resembles a television edit from the late 80’s. But since they wanted to market the film to the younger generation of women movie goers, they had to say “yippee ki yay, mr. falcon” to their R-rating. https://youtu.be/DuQP4d_r_Gs?t=233 Score for Black Christmas (2019) 6/10 Spoilers for Black Christmas Expand for spoilers The film doesn’t go to great lengths to create a mystery over who the killer is. It is shown early on that the killer is obviously from the same fraternity that Riley’s rapist is from. Riley stumbles into a secret ritual involving an old bust that is weeping black goo. I cry because of my dying privilege If you’re wondering if they ever explain what the black goo is. Don’t hold your breath. It’s bad, and it makes men bad. That’s pretty much the extent of it. The bust is of the founder of the frat, and apparently he dabbled a bit in black magic and left instructions on how to use said magic (and goo?) to put women back in their place. It is eventually revealed that the killer is actually killers. The whole frat is out to kill or force into servitude all the women on campus. It’s pretty crazy. In the end, the women come off victorious. Final Recommendations With the holiday season and Star Wars coming out, it’s slim pickings for horror movies in the theater. This was a fun movie that genuinely tried to be some thing new. It’s not terrible, and is a little bit better than average. At the very least it will spark conversation. I’d recommend you see it. Star Wars will still be there in a week.

We saw Backcountry on Netflix, and it is an effective enough one-trick pony. Unlike The Ruins movie we reviewed earlier, there are no super-natural elements, the threat is just a plain ol’ bear. I laughed and cried, and sometimes it wasn’t ironic! Oh my God, @Dgoebel00 on INSTA provided this amazing pic. Check him out on his site as well. https://youtu.be/46uwmzTf5nA Backcountry Synopsis Backcountry is the 2014 story of a woodsy kind of guy named Alex (Jeff Roop) and his urban girlfriend, Jenn (Missy Peregrym), who are heading into the woods for a late-season camping trip. It’s directed and written by Adam MacDonald. Watch Backcountry Watch it on Amazon Backcountry Movie Early in the movie, we meet a Park Ranger (Nicholas Campbell) who warns the couple that they should probably bring a map and look out for inclement weather, but Alex don’t need none of that shit! He’s a man’s man who knows these woods like the back of his country, and he don’t need no stinking map. As the couple heads into the woods they quickly end up with more camping trip than they bargained for. Backcountry Review Backcountry is a one-trick pony that relies on a surprisingly well-grounded theme – The woods are scary, and so are wild animals. Most of the movie left me scratching my head and rewinding to try to make sense of dialog or acting that didn’t seem to fit the situation. Why are they worried about a single snapped tree? Why didn’t the movie make a point of that tree before it was snapped to show the audience that this is certainly out of place? Lots of little details like this made the movie a little frustrating for me.  Overall, I do appreciate the simplicity of this movie and its premise and the stakes. It was fun to watch with a friend and plays on a very reliable fear, being alone in the woods at night. Score for Backcountry 6/10 Spoilers for Backcountry Backcountry is a barebones kind of movie. Lots of it is composed of vaguely wandering through the woods, with little to no dialog. There are only four characters in the movie, our two protagonists, the park ranger at the beginning, and Brad in the first third of the movie. Unless you count the bear, I mean. So beware, those are the stakes. Check Out The Big Knife on Brad! After they canoe across the lake and set up camp initially, we meet Brad, a dreamy outdoorsman who starts to chat up Jenn while Alex is off gathering wood. Alex is cagey upon meeting Brad, and this causes a rift in the new relationship. Stupid sexy Brad! Brad shares his fish with the two before doling out his machismo upon Alex. Brad reveals that he is an outdoor guide who is well-versed in the area. He also reveals a huge skinning knife and his disdain for the snap judgment that Alex made on him and his kindness. Brad leaves our couple after dinner, a wink, and a slug of whiskey, which left me extremely uneasy. Humans in the woods are, by far, the scariest thing to me. People represent a very creepy and unreliable X-factor, in a place that’s far away from law and order. Brad is a great addition to the story because he sets up the stakes, which feel alarmingly high for a hike in the woods. The Path Less Traveled As our couple gets on their way, there is a point where Alex chooses the path less traveled. He seems sure of himself, so Jenn follows, and they eventually set up camp. Every night we get to see them sleeping and hear the creepy sounds of the woods. This is effective in all the right ways. Who knows what’s out there? The couple wakes up each day to a campsite that is a little different than they left it. As Alex recognizes the signs that they are almost to the waterfall they set out to see, he quickens his pace. When they walk out into the open, they both realize that they are not in the right place at all – they are totally lost. Until this point in the movie there has been a lot of filler of the couple just walking through the woods, almost like a montage set to bird and woods sounds. It is at this point where the action begins, and thank God. I couldn’t take five more minutes of boring plodding. Panic Sets In Jenn is confused and scared, and rightfully so. She throws a series of questions at Alex: Where are we? I don’t know. How did we get here? I guess I don’t remember the area as I did in High School. Are you stupid? Yes. Concern grips the actors. The couple has a big argument, and it is revealed that Alex was going to propose to Jenn once they got to the waterfall. The fight feels like it erupts out of the blue, which it does. It was decently setup with the campfire banter throughout the movie thus far. It’s just a bit comical how it plays out with high school relationship levels of volatility. Backcountry Bear Attack One morning they wake up, and their food is gone, they frame a raccoon, but we all know who the culprit really is. They are panicked, foodless, and one toke over the line, trying to make sense of where they are. They go to bed and wake up looking at

American Psycho is, without a doubt, one of my favorite movies of all time. This thriller is one of the most hilarious and disturbing tongue-in-cheek movies ever made.  Oh my God, @Dgoebel00 on INSTA provided this amazing pic. Check him out on his site as well. American Psycho can be found on Netflix right now for free, and just about everywhere else for a nominal rental fee.  American Psycho Synopsis This is the story of Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street investment banker who is wealthy, materialistic, and totally insane. As you get to know Bateman, you will realize that you are witnessing an interesting turning point in his life. The emptiness that he feels inside is forcing his addictive habits further into the open than is wise.  American Psycho Streaming Watch it on Amazon Click Here to Watch By day he frets about having the perfect business card, or the best suit, or reservations at the most trendy restaurant. By night he is a psychopathic serial killer.  But how much of this lunacy is real? With Patrick as our unreliable narrator, we get a behind the scenes look at the mind of a real nutjob – a true “happy camper”. American Psycho Review American Psycho is, in my opinion, a masterpiece that looks directly at the human condition as it is today. This movie is based on the 1991 Bret Easton Ellis novel by the same name and is set in the late ’80s, amid the extreme excess and consumerism that marked the time. And it holds to this day.  The restraint shown in this movie is perhaps the most impressive part of an already very impressive movie. The acting is perfect. To my mind, this is the movie that put Christian Bale on the map as one of the best actors we have ever seen, and definitely my favorite method actor.  https://youtu.be/RjKNbfA64EE What to do if your face is a little puffy Mary Harron, the director of the film, describes it as “feminist,” which may not be as accurate as saying it relishes all of the most despicable masculine traits. It’s an exercise in rage, lust, vanity, and boredom. I love the message, I love the presentation, and I love the story. The character of Patrick Bateman is as strangely relatable as he is totally alien. Score for American Psycho 10/10 Spoilers for American Psycho Before spoilers, do consider listening to the podcast instead of reading my review. We go very deep into this movie, and it would be a shame for you not to listen to our analysis of it, at least, that’s my opinion. Bateman is an Utterly Insane Narrator Patrick is lots of things, and top of that heap is nuts. He is also our narrator. This is important because the whole way through the movie, we get to see him doing and saying things that are absolutely horrific, and no one seems to bat an eye. Is it because they didn’t hear him, don’t care, or did he actually do that? I think the more important point that this movie makes is, it doesn’t really matter. GOTDAM! Lethal! So much of what we do and say and excuse is completely unacceptable, yet totally accepted in today’s culture. We all have a little Bateman in us. His morning routine is where we start, and boy is it a doozy. He is extremely superficial, vain, and egotistical, and it’s all apparent from the opening scene. Did You know Joker is basically American Psycho? It’s true, While American Psycho maybe one of the most unique movies I’ve ever seen, Joker is essentially the same movie with an antihero who starts from the bottom instead of the top. Bateman is the Boss He tells his receptionist, Jean (Chloe Sevigny), what she should wear. He refuses to marry his fiancé, Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon), because he doesn’t want to take time off work. He threatens to kill his dry cleaner because she speaks a different language and can’t get some … stains … out of his bedsheets. It’s clear that Patrick is the boss of his world, and he doesn’t care who gets hurt because of it. https://youtu.be/TerDDWpE-iE Are you trying to say “Bleaching?” People Don’t Matter To Bateman I say that people don’t matter to Bateman, but people don’t even really matter to each other in American Psycho. Every character is having an affair with every other character, and no one seems to mind. All anyone wants is, “…to fit in.” As long as everyone gets what they want or who they want, they are happy. He’s Just a-rockin’ and a-rollin’! As I write this out I am beginning to wonder why I revel so in the abominable messages and themes of American Psycho. It’s damn depressing that this is somewhat true of American culture today and for the past several decades. It’s also a breath of fresh air. It’s nice not to be lied to. It’s fun to see something and call it what it is – sickening! Business Cards DO Matter To Bateman People may not matter to Patrick, but things certainly do! The business card scene where Patrick almost has an aneurysm over his peer’s cards is perhaps one of the most iconic scenes in all of movie histor

We decided it would be a good idea for all you regular listeners to get a taste of the exclusive Patreon content, and let you know that there is a whole lot more where that came from! This Afterpod was recorded with our guest who we had on for the American Psycho review that will be released later this week – my buddy Marc! Every post needs a picture but we don’t prepare very well. Listen to us wax about what makes a horror movie a horror movie, what “feminist movies” do wrong, and what we did for Thanksgiving. As always, click the green Patreon button at the top of the page to become a Patreon member for more exclusive content!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Since it’s so close to the holiday, we decided to review ThanksKilling this week. It’s dumb and bad, but in the best way. In this episode, we give out review, play a round of Taglines, and share what Horror Movie Talk is thankful for. @Dgoebel00 on instagram provided this amazing pic. Follow him for more great horror art. The full movie of Thankskilling can be found streaming for free on Youtube and also on Amazon Prime. Here is the trailer: https://youtu.be/nPlg9U5YbY4 ThanksKilling Trailer ThanksKilling Synopsis Thankskilling is about a group of “teens” that are terrorized by an ancient killer turkey. The turkey, named Turkie was summoned after the very first Thanksgiving by a disgruntled Native American. Turkie has laid dormant for over 500 years until he is awakened when a dog pees on his grave. A group of friends on their way home for Thanksgiving are then terrorized by the fowl fowl. They then band together and work to destroy the homicidal turkey. Watch ThanksKilling Stream it on Amazon Click here to Watch Review of ThanksKilling This movie is not a great movie. It’s actually pretty terrible. But it does hit the sweet spot of being bad enough to enjoy, which is exactly what they were going for. The acting is bad, and the writing is awful, but there are some shining moments. Any scene that features the killer turkey is very entertaining, mostly because it’s so cheap and stupid. But, I’m a sucker for cheap and stupid, so the steady drip of Turkie moments kept the viewing experience from being completely miserable. It’s only 66 minutes long, but you will definitely feel every second of that 66 minutes. Considering this movie was filmed on a budget of $3500, it is actually a rousing success. Score for ThanksKilling 3/10 Spoilers for ThanksKilling Click to see spoilers The Opening This movie has what I call a strong opening. The very first image, even before the soundtrack plays is a big ‘ol boob. Just one. Taking up the whole frame. Then it pans back to a frightened Pilgrim woman with chest exposed running away from an unseen terror. When she trips, the villain is revealed. A demonic turkey utters the first line of the movie: Nice Tits Bitch! -Turkie And then a feathered hand raises holding a bloody axe and comes down killing the chesty milkmaid. Cultural Appropriation The legend of Turkie is that he was summoned by a disgruntled Native American to murder the pilgrims. He is essentially eternal, but only kills every 505 years. In the current generation, Turkie is summoned by his grave being peed on by a dog. Please note that Turkie’s grave marker is a tiny totem pole. This is, I assume, because it is a close approximation of a cross? The Crew You can’t get more generic than the horror archetypes in this movie: Johnny Football – Johhny Nerd Guy – Darren Hick – Billy Slut – Ali Not Slut – Kristen I make fun, but it’s shocking how even terrible writing and filmmaking is improved with strong and even cliche character types. You may laugh at how dumb the characters are, but at least you know the characters. Best Scenes The best scenes are any that involve Turkie. However, the best of these are those with Turkie and Kristen’s father, and then the resulting disguised Turkie that wears the fathers face. Give Daddy a kiss… Final Recommendations If you are looking for schlocky horror this Thanksgiving, look no further than ThanksKilling. It’s bad enough to be enjoyable, and short enough to not thoroughly overstay it’s welcome. Trust us, we’ve reviewed worse. Here’s to independent horror!

We saw Dawn of the Dead for free on Youtube because it’s available for free on youtube. This is a Patreon request, so if you want to have a say in what we review, join our Patreon and you will get to weigh in on what we review once a month. This movie is the classic sequel to Night of the Living Dead by George A. Romero that really upped the ante on the zombie concept, and shock factor of the time.  @Dgoebel00 on INSTA provided this amazing pic. Check him out on his site as well. One of our listeners called us “Moronic Man Children”, and they are depicted here as a zombie writing in their own blood…Don’t cross us! https://youtu.be/FlQ_DgOPrBg Dawn of the Dead Synopsis Dawn of the Dead starts in an emergency broadcast television station with lots of disarray and confusion before it settles on some National Guard troops who have set upon some public housing with an outbreak of zombies.  Pretty soon the movie settles in on the lives of four individuals – two National Guard members (Peter played by Ken Foree and Roger played by Scott H. Reiniger), a traffic reporter (Stephen played by David Emge), and his TV Exec girlfriend (Francine played by Gaylen Ross). This group sets their sights on a Mall in the rust belt and try their best to fortify the mall. Eventually, things calm down, and life returns to ), pace before outside forces beyond their control throw everything into disarray. One of the most iconic movie posters ever, Dawn of the Dead Dawn of the Dead Review The time has passed for Dawn of the Dead to be a shocking movie, while it was crucial to the horror genre in upping the stakes of gore and satire, it’s just not that impressive anymore. What Dawn is still good at is taking a hard look at the human condition and posing the question of what would you do in the event of a zombie apocalypse.  There was a period where I watched every single zombie movie I could get my hands on with the intent of breaking down my own obsession with building a firm tactical plan for some such zombie occasion. Goofy? Yes, but man was it satisfying building “fool-proof” plans that my friends would tear apart with zombie-like fervor. Buy Dawn of the Dead Buy it on Amazon Click here to buy Dawn of the Dead is an important movie, and it’s has a historical place in the vaults of horror, but it’s slow for today, and it’s not that shocking when you compare it to any modern horror. Like I mentioned, it does do a great job of exploring the human condition and posing fun and interesting questions about all kinds of societal ailments.  For anyone who wants to check it out today who hasn’t seen it or hasn’t seen it for several decades, remember to parse it through the lense of “this came out in 1978”. https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/19/the-dead-dont-die-review/ Check out or review of this OTHER zombie movie! Score for Dawn of the Dead 8/10 Spoilers for Dawn of the Dead Click to Expand Spoilers Dawn of the Dead is a pretty barebones movie and as such, there isn’t much to spoil. People living in zombie hellscape, find mall, settle down, are overrun by biker gang. “But David, there is so much more to this movie than just that story structure!” I agree! Most of what Dawn of the Dead brings to the table is conversation fodder and philosophical debates. So let’s take a look at some of the more interesting talking points that are found in Dawn. We Are Already Zombies! This is a theme that we are presented with a few times. Why are these zombies here at the mall? Why are they picking up items and using them in a vain attempt to act human? Because this is what they know, this is what is familiar to them. When you boil that down, what these zombies knew before death was just going to the mall and buying stuff, the real terror starts to set-in. We are just slaves to commercialism! Our very purpose is to consume what is put in front of us until we die and have to eat brains! Ok, maybe not that brains part, but still. What’s even scarier is that our four alive protagonists do the same damn thing! They play in the mall and have a great time until the novelty wears off, and they start to fall into the rut of mall life. And then the marauding biker gang came. C’est la vie. The Death AlleGORY Zombies take what scares us the most, and shoves it in our face in the form of an insatiable horde who wants us to join their ranks. They force us to look at our fear of social collapse and civil unrest. Unruly mobs scare us. Social unrest scares us. Death scares us. Zombies are the personification of all of these things. They force us to deal with these issues face to face. The Death Reality Dawn of the Dead forces us to deal with the real life issue of death as it enters our life. What do I mean by this, and how is it different than the death allegory? I mean the fact that at some point in every single zombie movie you are invested in the protagonists, and at least a few of them become zombies that the grou

This week, we are reviewing the prequel to Doctor Sleep, Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, and Stephen King’s least favorite adaptation of his work: The Shining. Plue we have a big announcement in “It Came From Social Media” and play another round of “Horror or Porno”. https://youtu.be/5Cb3ik6zP2I Synopsis of The Shining The Shining is the tale of an aspiring writer Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson) taking his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and son Danny (Some kid named Danny) to The Overlook Hotel. It lies secluded, deep within the heavily forested mountains of Colorado. He is hired to be the caretaker of The Overlook in the winter off-season. While there he intends to write the next great american novel whose protagonist is worn down by the pressures of capitalism and the lack of leisure time. Meanwhile Danny Torrence is tutored by a magical negro about Danny’s ability to see the future and read minds. Also, the hotel is haunted and Jack goes crazy. Do you really not know the plot to THE SHINING? https://youtu.be/WJfhB3Vj_G8 Review of The Shining OK, here we go. I appreciate this movie. It is one of Kubrick’s masterpieces. It’s visually stunning and meticulously crafted. It’s undeniably an great and important movie. I just don’t like it. It’s slow. The characters are empty shells of people that lack most semblance of humanity and motivation, other than to: be scared, or be menacing. To be frank, I couldn’t figure out what was going on and why most of the time. The book was better. COME AT ME HORROR FANS, I don’t like your precious SHINING. Original artwork by Dustin Goebel whose Instagram you should follow @Dgoebel00 Score for The Shining Score 8/10 FIGHT ME. (It should be noted that this is the opinion of only one of the hosts of Horror Movie Talk, David gives it a 10/10) The Shining Add The Shining to your collection or rent the full movie on Amazon. Buy/Rent from Amazon Spoilers for The Shining Expand for Spoilers Differences Between the Book and the Film The start out, I wanted to talk about the differences between the book The Shining, and the movie The Shining. Dick Halloran In the book, Dick Halloran lives and ends up being instrumental in saving Wendy and Danny In the film, Dick gets pretty much instantly murdered, and only helps circumstantially by bringing up the snow cat. The Overlook The hotel is a real entity in the book, it is very literally trying to consume the Torrence family In the film, the hotel seems to be haunted and there are hints that it is steering Jack, but the connection between Jack’s psychosis and the hotel is unclear. Tony Tony in the book is Danny’s “imaginary friend” that talks to him and shows him things. But really, Tony is a spirit that is more of a guardian angel. In the film Tony is… What is tony? He seems to be Danny’s subconscience or a spirit possessing him… or something. Hedge Animals (The one welcome change) In the book, there were a bunch of topiary animals that would move and eventually attack Wendy, Danny, and Dick. In the film, the hedge animals don’t exist, but there is a hedge maze, which figures into the ending. The Ending In the book, Jack is distracted by trying to kill his family and forgets to release pressure from the aging boiler in the basement. As a result, the boiler explodes, ripping a hole through the Overlook, and causing it to be burned down to the ground. In the film, Jack gets lost in the hedge maze and freezes to death. https://youtu.be/uGOd_cM_voY Needless to say, Stephen King wasn’t a huge fan of the film. Differences in the Doctor Sleep Movie/Book The differences are very interesting given that a sequel to the book and a sequel to the movie were created. So the sequel to the book The Shining includes Dick Halloran being a personal mentor to Danny, and the Overlook no longer existing. The sequel to the movie uses the source material from the book sequel, but doesn’t have the physical presence of Dick, and does have the Overlook still standing in it. Considering the problems that presents, Mike Flanagan does a great job. https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/11/06/doctor-sleep-review/ Speaking of the sequel, check out our review of Doctor Sleep from last week. It goes without saying that Jack Nicholson is fantastic in this film. He is 100% Jack. Shelly Duvall is also iconic in this film. She is also the weirdest proportioned human being on film imo. The Good Bits There are a few shining moments in this film, where people act like humans. They are: Wendy speaking to the pediatrician, and Dick Halloran speaking with Danny about the shining. Music is also a huge part of what makes this film work. The score is filled with mid-20th century composers like György Ligeti , Krzysztof Penderecki, and Béla Bartók. The aleatoric music of Penderecki has in particular become the de facto style of modern horror films. The Confusing Parts I still have questions about th

We saw an early screening of Doctor Sleep, and I was treated to what I believe to be the best horror blockbuster of the year. This is the movie that Brightburn told us it would be. A compelling superhero story with a horror twist. On top of all that high praise, I truly believe that this is a worthy spiritual successor to The Shining, which is one of my all-time favorite movies ever. Doctor Sleep is impressive, serious, and fun. Doctor Sleep can be found in theaters tomorrow evening and this weekend, and I highly suggest you see it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2msJTFvhkU4 Doctor Sleep Synopsis Doctor Sleep isn’t so much a sequel to The Shining as it is a continuation of the story of Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor then Danny Lloyd), from The Shining. It loops in lots of other interesting characters who also shine and does a better job of defining what “the shining” is than Kubrick’s film did. Danny boy by Dustin Goebel whose Instagram you should follow @Dgoebel00 It follows Danny through some of his childhood immediately following the death of his deranged father, Jack, and it picks up the timeline in 2011 and again in 2019. This movie uses a parallel plot structure to introduce us to the important players in the story, which weaves together into one cohesive tale that had me fully bought in.  Danny grows up, beats his demons, and settles down into a job where he excels, and then his life gets flipped – turned upside down by a little girl who shines. He eventually takes her under his wing the same way Hallorann took Danny under his. Doctor Sleep Review There is a definite “bad guy” in this movie, which I won’t go into until the spoilers section. From what I can tell, the critical response to Doctor Sleep the book was favorable with exception to the bad guy. I can see how it might not translate well on paper but, the baddie in the movie was fabulous and iconic to me. The sound design was impressive as hell to me. It kept me in the moment and feeling tension the whole way through.  Want to Watch The Shining? Check it out on Amazon Click here to Watch The Shining The visuals were well thought out, slow and meticulous. This movie had some very cool panning shots, which I mentioned in our last episode which covered, The Lighthouse. Heeeere’s Danny! The characters and storyline were top tier, and the casting was maybe the best I’ve ever seen. They re-enacted scenes from The Shining to a truly impressive degree. The set design was incredible. Of all the things I was impressed with about Doctor Sleep I think the most telling one is that I don’t feel any resentment at all about it being the sequel to one of the most iconic horror movies of all time. The artistry behind this movie was impressive, and Mike Flanagan clearly held Kubrick’s work in a sacred place.  Want to Watch Doctor Sleep? Check it out on Amazon Click here to Watch Doctor Sleep I love Doctor Sleep because I love great stories. It’s a fabulous story, full of wonder and terror. I love the way Flanagan chose to adapt this story for the big screen. Doctor Sleep Score 10/10 Spoilers for Doctor Sleep Click Here to Expand Spoilers I don’t want to go too far into detail in the spoilers section for Doctor Sleep because I don’t want to do a disservice to the craft of film making that this movie features. Instead I’ll break it down into what I liked and didn’t like about the movie. Be forewarned, this is still spoilers! The Callbacks to The Shining There were so many visual callbacks to The Shining hidden in plain sight in Doctor Sleep that I couldn’t keep them all straight. The movie starts with a flying shot similar to the iconic opening shot of The Shining and it also recreates that same opening shot as they approach the Overlook Hotel at the end of Doctor Sleep. Redrum, so popular these days… Dr. John Dalton, the man who employed Danny when he got sober, has an office that looks exactly like Ullman’s office in The Shining. Danny Lloyd, the kid who played the original Danny, has a cameo during the baseball scene. The first hospital room that Danny walks into when he finds his gift of sending dying people off into death is 217. Room 217 is the room that Timberline Lodge (the location used for panoramic shots of the Overlook Hotel) changed to 237 for the original movie. All of these and so much more. They recreated so many scenes and so many sets from The Shining, and it all plays so well. I really had a lot of nostalgia while watching Doctor Sleep, and it wasn’t the cheap, easy to create kind – it was the earned kind. The True Knot is Seriously Messed Up As far as bad guys go, The True Knot is unassuming and impressive. They look like normal people and act a bit like gypsies, traveling around the country in a caravan of motorhomes and trucks, looking for their next meal. Rose the Hat When we learn what The True Knot does to get their next meal, my stomach turned. They find little kids who have the shining, and they brutally t