Horror Movie Talk

This week we are reviewing Robert Eggers‘ The Lighthouse. It’s a descent into madness that doesn’t hold your hand. The performances of Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson are worth the price of admission, but everything related to the production design, sound, and script are all of the highest caliber. Big thanks to Dustin Goebel (@dgoebel00 on instagram) for the original artwork In his sophomore film, Robert Eggers follows up The Witch with a romcom set in Nova Scotia. Willem Defoe plays an experienced sailor, and Robert Pattinson plays his young and supple protege. In this will they won’t they romantic drama, they fight happiness every step of the way, until it finally wears them down.  Poster for The Lighthouse Here is the trailer. https://youtu.be/Hyag7lR8CPA The Lighthouse Trailer Synopsis for The Lighthouse (2019) Actually, The Lighthouse is about two lighthouse keepers, or wickies, that are stationed in a remote lighthouse in New England. Willem Defoe plays Thomas Wake, an elderly salty seaman, and Robert Pattinson plays Ephraim Winslow a young man trying out a new career. As Wake domineers over Winslow, forcing him to do all the hard labor up-keeping the tattered lighthouse, he spends the coveted watch basking naked in the glow of the lamp. Winslow wants some of that sweet naked basking action, and he slowly descend into madness. Review of The Lighthouse If you are going into this film expecting another The Witch, you are going to be disappointed. This is a much more surreal and confusing film.  However, what this movie does share with Eggers’ first film is a meticulously historically accurate film with a unique and striking visual style. While I might not have liked this film as much as I thought I would, I can’t help but have respect for Eggers’ ambitious artistic vision. Pattinson and Defoe are perfect casting for this film, and they both give amazing performances. There are some really great scenes and monologues in this film. General audiences will probably be turned off by a lot of the choices that were made in terms of narrative and visual style, but film students will be creaming over this movie for years to come. Watch The Lighthouse On Amazon Click Here to Watch Is The Lighthouse a Horror Movie? Is this a horror movie? Kind of. It has enough horror elements to qualify it way more than a movie like Happy Death Day 2U. Most of the focus is on the tension between the two main characters, and the mental instability caused by seclusion and alcoholism. That being said, there are Lovecraftian and folkloric horror elements. Visual Style The most striking aspect of the visuals of the film is it’s aspect. RATIO, that is. It is shot in 1.19:1 aspect ratio, which is basically square. It evokes a kind of claustrophobia and intimacy that is rare in a theatrical experience. This is not to say that we are unfamiliar with this framing in modern times. Instagram, is one of the most popular social media platforms for digesting imagery. It was shot on 35mm black and white Double-X 5222 film using a Panavision Millennium XL2 camera with vintage Baltar lenses from the early 20th century. The film stock required a much brighter light source to get exposure, so they had to use about 15 to 20 times more light on set to actually see anything on film. Because of this, the crew would often wear sunglasses. Sound Design The sound design on this film is great. Along with the anachronistic visual style, the sound on this film is mixed in mono. This doesn’t hinder the film in any noticable manner. The music by Mark Korven stays out of the way, and mostly features wind instruments in an aleatoric style. The one sound that will stick with you is the sound of the foghorn. According to IMDB trivia, Damian Volpe, the sound designer on the film, consulted with J.J. Jamieson, a YouTuber that does tutorials on operating and maintaining foghorns. They made recordings of a period-accurate foghorn that Volpe then manipulated to create a foghorn sound that was uniquely ominous. https://youtu.be/iHCmzvzCmhI This Youtuber was a consultant on The Lighthouse. Production Design The production design on The Lighthouse was very impressive. The look of the film was historically accurate to the 1890s. They even built a full-sized working lighthouse in Nova Scotia for the film, They consulted with a historical lighthouse lens manufacturer to build a period appropriate lens. The full-sized, working lighthouse built for the production. The interiors were shot on a sound stage, but looked they looked like they were right there next to the ocean. The real star of the show was the weather. Eggers stated that a lot of the more dramatic shots of weather were real. The Acting The acting was superb by both leads. Willem Defoe was born to play a crusty ex-sailor lighthouse keeper. He plays with the appropriate gravitas and vulnerability that was demanded by the script. Pattinson really shines here. This might be a

We went and saw Zombieland: Double Tap, and I was treated to a fabulous time! This franchise understands it’s audience and really ends up feeling like an excuse for famous actors to get together and have a blast making a movie – which, as it turns out, means a good time for everyone. Big thanks to Dustin Goebel (@dgoebel00 on instagram) for the original artwork Zombieland: Double Tap is in theaters right now. https://youtu.be/ZlW9yhUKlkQ Zombieland: Double Tap Synopsis Zombieland: Double Tap isn’t a very deep movie that requires much in the way of explanation or critical analysis. It’s a fun time. Our lovable characters from the first movie are all back, living their lives in Zombieland and kicking ass. The controversy in this story starts with Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) proposing to Wichita (Emma Stone), which creates a rift in their relationship due to Wichita’s inability to be close. She and Little rock leave the family with only a note to explain their departure. Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) and Columbus are floored. While on the run with Wichita, Little Rock (Abigail Breslen), the youngest of this adoptive family, decides that post-pubescence is pointless without a cute boy to bang, so she leaves the safety of her family and ventures into Zombieland with a cute boy from Berkley, called…Berkley. The gang decides that they have to go after her, and this is the basis for most of the movie. There are some great cameos and new characters who add quite a bit in the way of entertainment, like the stunning and hilarious Madison (Zoey Deutch) and the strangely Woody Harrelson-esque Albuquerque (Luke Wilson). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-qfyzWBYH4 I love you Zoey. Zombieland: Double Tap Review Zombieland: Double Tap is easy to watch and is great at what it tries to be – fun, funny, over-the-top action, with a little bit of sex thrown in. It’s got great writing, the dialog in-particular is spot on, and the jokes are top tier. If you like guns, the use of guns, explosions, laughing, sex, and witty banter, you will have a blast, especially in the theater. The world that they build is also convincingly zombie-like, so there is that.  I had a fun time with all the theoretical stuff that you dream about if you constantly dream about a zombie hellscape. Want to live in the White House? Cool! Want to propose with the Hope Diamond? Alright! Want to shoot first and ask questions later? Neat! Watch Zombieland: Double Tap On Amazon Click Here to Watch Double Tap may not be the most artistic or scary movie this year; in fact, it’s barely got any scares at all. But it is tons of fun. Weirdly, this is the second zombie movie in 2019 that Bill Murray has been in, the other being The Dead Don’t Die. Score 8/10                                                                                                                                                       Zombieland Double Tap Spoilers Click to Expand Spoilers This movie does not try to be anything it’s not. It wouldn’t be fair to say that it’s not a smart movie, because the dialog and the banter all are at least clever, and at best they are quite funny. It doesn’t have much in the way of a noteworthy story, though, which didn’t really bother me. A heavy story would have been in the way of the things that make this movie work. Nasty T-800 zombie With that being said, there isn’t much to spoil about this movie, and to do a rundown of the plot would end up looking like me trying to explain the plot to a monster truck show, or a wrestling match. Instead, here is a list of fun things that work and don’t work within Zombieland: Double Tap. Fun Stuff That Works Zombieland Rules The rules that Columbus comes up with make sense and always come with an example so that you can apply it to your zombie experience. These function as running gags and are perhaps the reason why the first movie did so well. The most comprehensive list of rules from the first movie that I can find is: Cardio The Double Tap Beware of Bathrooms Wear Seat Belts No Attachments The “Skillet” Travel Light Get a Kick-Ass Partner With your Bare Hands Don’t Swing Low Use Your Foot Bounty Paper Towels Shake it Off Always carry a change of underwear B

There is a reason why The Witch is considered to be the first movie in the “elevated horror” sub-genre. It raised the stakes for what a great horror movie could be. Think that’s hyperbole? Well listen to our review of The VVITCH, and we’ll state our case. Thanks @dgoebel00 (dustingoebel.com) for the awesome post art of Black Phillip The Witch can be found streaming on Netflix and available to rent https://youtu.be/iQXmlf3Sefg The VVitch Trailer Plot Synopsis for The VVitch This film is about a family that is trying to live off the land in seventeenth century New-England after being banished from a Puritan plantation due to ideological differences. The film never tells specifically what these religious differences are, but the father William (Ralph Ineson) is a devout man of god that, while prideful and stubborn, is trying to raise his family as zealous christians. William’s family is made up of his wife Katherine (Kate Dickie) and his five children Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) the eldest teenage girl, Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw) the next oldest boy that is on the cusp of puberty, the young twins Mercy and Jonas, and finally the baby Sam. While the harsh realities of homesteading in 1630 present their own danger, the family is also beset by a witch that lives in the nearby woods.  Poster for The Witch Thoughts on The Witch This film’s original title was The VVitch: A New-England Folktale, and it really is that. Great lengths are taken to make this period piece authentic. From the costume design to the dialogue which is sometimes directly taken from sources from the time. I went in with a certain set of expectations with this film. I thought that the major dramatic tension in a super realistic period film would come from the mystery or doubt surrounding false witchcraft accusations ala The Crucible. Well this is not the Crucible, while realistic, this is still very much a FOLKTALE, and as such, the Witches are VERY real, and the power of the devil is frighteningly apparent. Watch The Witch On Amazon Click here to watch It should be noted that this film is important in the genre as the first of the modern wave of horror films dubbed “elevated horror” that have come out of A24 films. The seriousness and craft that the director Robert Eggers is undeniable, and showed how successful serious, cerebral horror movies could be.  I really can’t say enough good things about this film. It creates a believable world filled with relatable characters, which brings a really unprecedented gravity to some fantastical supernatural elements. There is no doubt in this movie for the audience. They go FULL WITCH, very early on, and the audience gets to witness in horror, the dramatic irony of this poor family being ripped apart by the powers of Satan. Score 10/10 Check out Robert Eggers Other Masterpiece https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/10/30/the-lighthouse-review/ The Lighthouse Spoilers for The Witch Expand for Spoilers The film opens with the father of the family, William, standing before a panel of Puritan judges being defiant. We’re never told exactly what William is on trial for, but my guess is it’s for being kind of a dick. The family is banished from the Puritan plantation and sets out to create a homestead on the edge of the forest. The dissonant music tells us that this is not going to bode well for them. Hail Paimon! Within the first 10 minutes of the film, the families baby is stolen literally right from under Thomasin. Not to waste any time, Eggers establishes that, yes, the witches in this movie are real, and yes, they are scary af. We are shown the witch murder the baby and literally grind it down to bits with a mortar and pestel to rub the remnants over her wrinkled bent body. This movie does not fuck around. While you might think that the entertainment of this movie might come from the over the top violence that that scene might convey, the real good stuff comes from great characters and subtle interpersonal drama. This movie is brilliantly written. It really explores the fragility of human life, and their will resist their weaknesses. As the family works hard to mitigate their disastrous corn harvest, it is made clear that the cards are stacked against them. In the wood is not only the witch, but her master the devil is also exceedingly close. We see hints that outside forces are conspiring against them. We are given hints that some of the animals we see are either the witches familiar, or are inhabited by dark forces. You can tell that they are evil because they have real shifty eyes. https://youtu.be/T55ArHjeR1c Everyone in the family is dealing with their own struggles and doesn’t really notice the obvious signs of satanic interference. Caleb is dealing with his burgeoning puberty. Katherine is dealing with the grief of losing her child. Thomasin is dealing with the guilt of losing Sam on her watch. William is trying to hold everything together. The twins&#82

Pumpkinhead is one of the most straightforward and simple movies I think I have ever seen. You know that motif of, “made for TV movie” that movies like Tremors have? Pumpkinhead has that same feeling. While it does hold a place as a cult classic, that doesn’t mean it’s good. Thanks @dgoebel00 (dustingoebel.com) for the sweet Pumpkinhead moment! Pumpkinhead can be found on Amazon and free on Hulu if you have Hulu right now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqJ8Teiv6YY Pumpkinhead Synopsis Pumpkinhead is the story of a group of young twenty-somethings who are headed out to a cabin in the woods. As far as I can tell this is supposed to be set in the south, which is difficult for me because what isn’t shot on a soundstage is very obviously locations in the hills of LA. This poster is a lie, he never touches a pumpkin! As our group of kids stops at a small local store for some supplies, the rowdiest of the group inexplicably hops on dirtbikes and starts riding around doing sweet tricks. The son of the store owner is fatally injured by one of these sweet tricks, and all but one of the kids head into the hills to avoid having murder pinned on them. Pumpkinhead Full Movie Stream Pumpkinhead on Amazon Click here to Watch The owner of the shop returns and finds his child mortally wounded, so he seeks revenge the only way he knows how – he goes to see a witch to put a death curse on the kids who killed his son. Long story short, Pumpkinhead is summoned by the witch – he is a big ugly creepy looking …pumpkinhead. He cuts a swath of revenge through the kids and anyone who gets in the way of his revenge.  Pumpkinhead Review Pumpkinhead (directed by Stan Winston) is a better than terrible slasher that has a great monster and a cult following of adults who were scarred in their childhood by this gruesome beast. As far as movie structure goes, it’s pretty clear what is going on at all times and why.  Unfortunately, it’s never interesting enough for me to care about anyone or anything. The lighting is intentionally on the pitch-black side of dark (to hide the costume), and the writing is barebones and interchangeable with any other crappy 80’s slasher. Here at Horror Movie Talk, we try to see things as they are, putting down the nostalgia glasses and looking at horror movies to compare them honestly. We won’t pander to you, or your childhood, and only minimally to our own (we hope). Pumpkinhead is a bad movie. What it brings to the table is an easy to understand storyline and a pretty great monster, along with a memorable name.  While you may remember this movie fondly, I think only the most die-hard horror snobs will go down with this ship to be seen as a “true horror fan”. My Score for Pumpkinhead 3/10 Pumpkinhead Spoilers This movie is about as barebones as you can get. I won’t go into astonishing detail because it doesn’t exist. A good looking couple At the start of the movie we get to see a flashback of Ed Harley as a little kid. His family is enjoying a nice evening in, and their neighbor comes to their door screaming about something hunting him. They decline to let in this neighbor and avoid being killed. Dirtbiking Gone Wrong! Cut to present day, and Ed (Lance Henriksen) has a kid of his own. Ed runs a local shop. Some rowdy twenty-somethings show up at Ed’s shop for some supplies, and the rowdiest of the bunch just can’t contain themselves – they MUST dirtbike NOW! While these ruffians are performing sweet tricks, Ed’s son is fatally wounded by dirtbike antics. All except one of the kids escape, Steve stays behind to look after Ed’s kid. Revenge Via Witch Inspired Pumpkinhead Ed heads over to the local witch, as you do when you are seeking ultimate revenge on a pack of ruffians. She warns Ed that revenge comes at a terrible price, but he is willing to accept the charges. She sends him out to retrieve a dead body at the most insane graveyard ever. The witch is so gross, she might as well be pumpkinhead When He returns, she uses the blood oh his kid and him to resurrect this dead body into, you guessed it, Pumpkinhead. Pumpkinhead Does The Thing At this point the kids are feeling remorseful for, you know, murder – buts it’s too late. Pumpkinhead kills them. Yeah, it takes a while, and yeah, it’s boring. Every time Pumpkinhead kills, Ed has visions of the kill from within his own head, as though he also has a pumpkinhead… The Twist https://youtu.be/b2hhdMiOTOE Ed decides he can’t stand watching Pumpkinhead’s rampage and starts trying to stop him. He injures himself, and we see that Pumpkinhead is injured at the same time inexplicably. Now we know Ed and Pumpkinhead are linked. Ed tries to kill himself to end the spree, but ultimately Tracey kills both Ed and Pumpkinhead. Ed is half man, half pumpkin Final Recommendations You may like this movie – that’s fine! Cult classics are cult for a reason; they posses something that keeps people coming back. If you haven’t seen thi

Halloween 2018 would have you believe that Halloween 2 never happened. But it did happen! We watched it. And we’re going to talk about it god damn it!  Halloween II Poster Halloween 2 can be found on HBO Now/Go right now, but is also available to rent on Amazon or anywhere else that you do that type of thing. Here is the trailer: https://youtu.be/RCiuZ9MvdJs Halloween 2 (1981) Synopsis Halloween 2 picks up right where Halloween left off. Michael Myers disappears from the lawn after being shot by Dr. Loomis 6 times. Why do I remember it was six times you ask? Because Dr. Loomis reminds us every time he is on screen. Michael Myers continues killing the youth of Haddonfield in a deadly game of peekaboo with the audience. Now you see him, now you don’t. Wee!  Review of Halloween II This film tries to recapture the moody and dread filled allure of the first Halloween, but doesn’t ever really deliver. Most of the interesting parts of the original were leading up to the killing spree at night when the shape is stalking Laurie and her friends. In this movie, it’s just the third act of the first film the whole time. Efforts are made to tack on a story and motivation to fill out the slasher. Dr. Loomis babbles about the philosophical and historical nature of Michael’s evil, and there’s also a shocking revelation akin to Empire Strikes Back! Other than that, character development and plot is pretty thin in this movie. The only character we really care about is Laurie in this film, and she does nothing for most of it. However, if you enjoy kills, this film delivers them at the slow and steady pace of Michael Myers. Score of Halloween 2 (1981) 5/10 While not a resounding endorsement, it’s more of a confirmation that this is an archetypal slasher. Halloween II (1981) Watch the full movie of Halloween 2 Buy/Rent on Amazon Halloween II (1981) Spoilers Expand for Spoilers Loomis As previously mentioned, Dr. Loomis is really here just to spout off about how many times he shot Michael Myers and wax philisophical about the nature of Michael’s evil. Did I mention the time I shot Michael Myers six times? A lot of his dialogue expanding the lore of the Halloween franchise. When the word Samhain is scrawled on the blackboard in blood, Dr. Loomis explains the significance. https://youtu.be/0PUCi1hJLlc Later on in the car with his colleague, he explains the festival of Samhain as a druid ritual involving human sacrifice. Mentions of witches and ghouls might be there to set up the expanded halloween universe we would only get to see in Halloween 3: Season of the Witch. The opening titles One of the coolest parts in the movie is the opening credits, the jack-o-lantern opening up into a skull will probably haunt my nightmares. Boo! The first part of the movie subverts expectations quite a bit. The first opportunity that Michael Myers has to kill someone is an elderly couple, but he ends up walking away with their knife and murders a teenage girl instead. Also early on, there is a fake out death of “Michael Myers” that later is found out to be just some random kid. Of course we killed the killer in the first 20 mins… The Hospital The bulk of Halloween 2 (1981) takes place in a hospital. From the looks of it, an abandoned hospital. However, this doesn’t keep the skeleton crew of seven of so doctors and nurses from being there. I mispoke. Doctor. There was one doctor in the entire hospital. A drunk doctor. How many reasons do you need to move away from Haddonfield? Deaths in Halloween II (1981) As with any slasher, there are several interesting deaths: Death by claw hammer Death by boiling someones head Death by scalpel Death by needle in the eye Good old fashioned knife-stabbing Being Blowed up Pacing The pacing of the Halloween movies feel really slow compared to modern horror movies, but it does a good job of keeping your attention. This is done mostly from the novelty of the kills, and certainly not from character development. Laurie Strode is Michael’s Sister Laurie is in this movie, but only is in scenes for about 20 minutes of the run time. Her main purpose, other than continuity, is to lend her character to the films most shocking spoiler: Laurie Strode is Michael Myers’ sister. Yeah. Meh. This came a year after Empire Strikes Back, so the cynical part of me says that they were just ripping off the idea. But the idea was easily retconned in later films. In fact the 2018 Halloween completely disregards this film. The Ending of Halloween II There is a final standoff between Michael, Laurie, and Dr. Loomis. Laurie ends up blinding Michael by shooting him in the eyes. This results in the iconic image of blood tears coming down Michael’s mask. In the end, Michael gets blown up by a kamikaze attack by Dr. Loomis. We see Michael burning to a crisp laying motionless on the floor for several minutes. The film goes to great lengths to communicate finality. However, nothing resu

We streamed The Invitation on Netflix, where it has lived for quite some time. This is a movie that I enjoyed watching the second time around almost as much as I enjoyed watching it the first time. It’s tense, and feels strangely real – making it quite effective. The Invitation Poster Logan Marshall-Green looking the way I look at social functions The Invitation Synopsis The Invitation is a 2015 movie directed by Karen Kusama that follows protagonist, Will (Logan Marshall-Green) and his girlfriend Kira (Emayatz Corinealdi) who are on their way to a party that they have been invited to. The party is being hosted by Will’s Ex wife, Eden (Tammy Blanchard) and her new husband David (Michiel Huisman).   The Invitation Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9kJV7c9eKA A bevvy of Will’s old friends are also in attendance at the party, which, everyone agrees, seems weird. This air of weirdness follows the party through conversations and asides in bedrooms, kitchens, and lounge areas until we learn the reason for the party – to introduce everyone to this sweet new cult, known as The Invitation. Eden and David are joined by two personal friends, a flirty woman named Sadie (Lindsay Burdge) and a big, strong, man named Pruitt (John Carroll Lynch).  As the party progresses Will becomes increasingly skeptical and worried about the intentions of his hosts but no one else seems to share his feelings of paranoia and dread. Even when his hosts are caught locking the doors with a key from the inside, the party continues. How will this party end? Short Review of The Invitation The Invitation is an incredibly well crafted movie from beginning to end. It’s use of camera work, acting, casting, direction, soundtrack; it’s all intentional and skillful. This movie plays perfectly to me, the feelings of dread and seemingly unfounded, but strangely well-founded paranoia is right in my wheelhouse. Watch The Invitation The Invitation Full Movie Click Here to Watch I think my favorite part of The Invitation is the discomfort that you feel in a party is so well intoned, and all of the acting matches so well with the characters and their desires/intentions. It feels real, and it feels upsetting, and I love it.   The only real criticism that I have of The Invitation is that the pacing slumps a teeny tiny bit in the middle, but I feel like it makes up for it with an incredible crescendo of an ending.  Score for The Invitation 10/10 What I Love About The Invitation This movie takes a hard look at the human psyche, and at how we experience suffering and loss. It puts a magnifying glass on what we are willing to do to avoid the feelings of pain and suffering that haunt us throughout our lives. It also does everything right. Check Out Our Review of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/08/14/scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-review/ Soundtrack for The Invitation This movie is mostly quiet, which goes a long way to accentuate the feeling of doom and foreboding that they are going for. What soundtrack there is is mostly played on solitary stringed instruments, and boy does it work. The minimalist approach works perfectly here and this movie really can drive a knife through you with only a violin. Lighting for The Invitation See this warm lighting? Gorgeous. The color palate and lighting on this movie are intentionally dim and warm. It feels like a cozy dinner party in a mid-century modern house, and it also feels quite extravagant. I love the lighting in this movie because it simultaneously suggests that you should feel comfortable and is able to pull off the “you can’t see well, and that’s mildly unsettling” vibe. Casting for The Invitation The casting in this movie is superb because everyone so naturally fills the role of their character that I feel like the events of this movie actually took place. Two of the most important characters to cast correctly are Pruitt (John Carroll Lynch) Sadie (Lindsay Burdge). These are the cult members who no one but Eden and David know, and they are there for the express purpose of getting or making people fall in-line with accepting the cult. Check Out Our Review of Paranormal Activity 2 https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/08/07/paranormal-activity-2-review/ Sadie plays an unhinged sex kitten so well that I have a hard time believing that Lindsay isn’t exactly that. And Pruitt is such an impressive force of a man to contend with that I now view John Carroll Lynch in a totally different light. He is well-known for his roles as the suburban dad character, or boss, but now I just see him as a terrifying man. Spoilers for The Invitation Killing the Coyote The Invitation starts out with Will and Kira driving through the Hollywood Hills on their way to this party, and as they are driving the hit a coyote, injuring it. Never is there a dog, or coyote in frame, so for the squeamish, don’t worry too mu

After multiple patrons and listeners requested, we sat down and watched Tusk on Netflix. We regretted our decision. This film is all blubber and no craft. Kevin Smith proves his limitations with this failure of a body horror film. In this Tusk Review episode we break down what went wrong and what went right with the execution. Tusk Poster Also, the face I would make if I was forced to watch this movie again. Tusk Trailer https://youtu.be/BCQJnOn0ru0 Tusk Official HD Trailer Tusk Movie Synopsis This horror movie is brought to you by the same guy that brought you Yoga Hosers and Cop Out. He now brings you a body horror movie based on a joke craigslist personal ad. In Tusk, Justin Long, plays Walrus, I mean Wallace Bryton, who runs a podcast with friend Teddy Craft (Haley Joel Osmond). Their podcast is mostly based off of making fun of internet cringe videos, and as such, Wallace flies to Canada to interview this movie universes equivalent of the Star Wars kid. Watch Tusk Tusk Full Movie Click to Watch Tusk When Wallace arrives, he finds out that unfortunately, his interviewee has killed himself. Desperate to find material for their upcoming episode, Wallace then discovers a bizarre personal ad in the bathroom stall of a bar. He goes to meet an enigmatic retired seaman named Howard Howe played by Michael Parks. Mr Howard tells tale of his adventures at sea and of a particular shipwreck where he was miraculously saved by a passing walrus. Before long, Wallace finds himself drugged and captive to Howard’s twisted plot to recreate his walrus savior at Wallace’s expense.  Short Review of Tusk Sound interesting? It’s not. Tusk is what you get when you make a movie based on a joke. The premise is entertaining enough for a fake trailer, but not a feature length film, and definitely not with Smith at the helm. I expected a lot more, but the commitment and budget did not pull off the intense and twisted body horror tale necessary to hold my attention. It was shot in 15 days with $3 million and it somehow feels more rushed and cheaper than that. Check Out Our Review of IT (2017) https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/09/04/it-2017-review/ Instead of focusing on the dread of slowly being turned into a Walrus, Smith focused on creating a panoply of redundant characters delivering redundant dialogue at length. For a body horror film, there is very little care given to the design and shooting of the actual body horror. Smith blows his load halfway through the film and really has nowhere to go after that. Score for Tusk Movie 2/10 Origin of the Idea of Tusk The movie is based on a fake ad from Chris Parkinson from Brighton, England. He offered free rent to anyone willing to dress in a walrus suit and pretend to be the animal for two hours a day. The advert was a hoax, but after Smith discussed it on his Smodcast podcast with co-host Scott Mosier, he began to think about mull the idea of turning it into a feature film. “Something snapped in my brain, and it’s only happened one other time in my life.” That other time was 20 years ago, when “I wondered why people didn’t make movies about me and my friends talking about movies and pussy and ‘Star Wars.’ So I did, and it was ‘Clerks,’” Smith said. The Good Elements of Tusk Michael Parks is undeniably, a great actor, and he gets to display his talents well in this movie. Kevin Smith states that he wrote the film specifically for Parks, and wouldn’t make it without him. My favorite moments in the film were him doing a little delighted dance watching his victim, and him yelling ferociously as a whining Justin Long. Spoilers for Tusk Expand for Tusk Spoilers The first thing you need to know about this film is that director Kevin Smith is a bullshitter, and he writes like a bullshitter. All of his characters sound like bullshitters, and it’s bullshit. Much of this film is taken up with repetitive dialogue and unnecessary exposition. Kevin Smith’s Failures The direction on this film is truly terrible. Arbitrary flashbacks, forecasted super obvious plot twists, and terrible pacing marred the movie. But the real tragedy is the fundamental misunderstanding about what makes a body horror film work: dread, and disgust. Check Out Our Review of Ready or Not https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/08/28/ready-or-not-review/ In terms of storytelling. the movie blows its load way too early. No care is given to extending out the dread or body transformation. The main spoiler of the film is that Howard Howe surgically transforms Wallace into a Walrus. The Walrus-Man Reveal The reveal is terrible. It looks so much worse than I expected. If you were to imagine in your mind a human surgically turned into a walrus, take that idea, but then think of what a cosplayer of that idea at a Topeka, Kansas comi-con would look like. That’s along the lines of what the walrus-man looks like. Parks and Long sharing a moment of regret for appearing in Tusk. Smith made the worst possible deci

We saw It Chapter Two, and I have to say, I can make plenty of criticisms about this movie, but on the whole, this is a well done ending to a high budget franchise that has delivered the scares. It Chapter Two Trailer https://youtu.be/xhJ5P7Up3jA It Chapter Two full movie is available to pre-purchase and rental on Amazon, and probably other places It Chapter Two Watch the full movie of It Chapter Two Rent/Buy on Amazon It Chapter Two Synopsis If you would like to be reminded of the first chapter of this series which is also directed by Andy Muschietti, check out our review from last week, where we go over the whole first chapter. It Chapter Two picks up 27 years later and details the lives of the kids turned adults from the first movie. As a quick recap, our character list is: Bev – The girl in the group played by Jessica Chastain Ben – The fat boy/new kid turned CEO hunk played by Jay Ryan Bill – Stutterer turned author played by James McAvoy Rich – Biting wit who wears glasses turned Comedian played by  Bill Hader Mike – Token black kid who stayed in Derry played by Isaiah Mustafa Eddie – Munchausen by proxy kid turned Munchausen by proxy adult played by James Ransone Stan – Feeble Jewish kid turned feeble Jewish adult played by Andy Bean Mike, Rich, Bill, Bev, and Ben, but no Eddie… Mike, has begun to notice nefarious happenings in Derry and as you might guess, it’s been 27 years since the Loser’s Club made their pact to fight It if it ever came back. Mike sends the call out to all of his long-lost friends, and they respond with dread, but come home anyway.  Check out Our Review of It (2017) https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/09/04/it-2017-review/ The Loser’s Club has a cloud of forgetfulness that has descended upon them in the time since their Derry days, and Mike, being the only member to stay in Derry has to help them recall what happened and how they can beat it. As the Loser’s Club sets out on Derry, they are reminded of the reason they left, the clown, the fear, and the life they left behind. It Chapter Two Movie Review It Chapter Two is similar enough to the first movie that you can rely on many of the same things that worked. The intense subject matter, your mom jokes, and the camaraderie are all there. We even get the kids cast back for a bounty of flashbacks and memories. It also has a hefty bag of very effective scares, that are less frequent, but more potent. “How about a hand?!” No thanks PW… Where It Chapter Two differs is the length and interesting subject matter. At 2h 49min, It Chapter Two is more than a half-hour longer than the first entry. I’ve never been a fan of long movies because at the 2h 30min mark I just feel like any reasonable story can fit everything and the kitchen sink in there. My mind wandered multiple times through the emotion-driven dialog, and it was a bit boring. I wasn’t a big fan of the action-laden ending either. That being said, this is a solid horror movie that may be one of the most successful franchises ever, and it’s not without good reason. The cast, acting, direction, and story are great. There is fun to be had, and the scares are for real. I wish they kept it tighter. Score for It Chapter Two Movie 8/10 Spoilers for It Chapter Two Introduction to Our Adult Characters It Chapter Two opens with a few recollections from the first movie, including a shot of Bev in the trappings of the Dead Lights, but the most notable first scene is the savage beating on some gay men in Derry. These men are having a fun time at the local carnival and are then picked on by the local hate group. The group beat one of the gay men to the point that everyone in the audience was audibly uncomfortable. Then they tossed him into the river, where, you guessed it, Pennywise was waiting for him.  Time to see the dentist! This scene was somewhat out of place but extremely notable. I get it, it’s meant to set up that fear is back in town. It shows that this movie is about brutality. It just didn’t involve any of the main characters at all, and it felt strange. The movie then brings us up to speed with every character in the Loser’s Club – that’s right, all seven of them. This is a theme in the movie, “let’s check in with Bill for five to ten minutes.” which would be fine if there weren’t six to seven people to catch up with the whole way through the movie.  Thankfully, Stan takes pity upon the audience early in the movie and kills himself in the bathtub when Mike calls him to tell him about the return of Pennywise.  Midsommar! One of the Best Movies this Year! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/07/10/midsommar-review/ The Loser’s Club has become an adult version of themselves. Bev is in an abusive relationship; Eddie basically married his mom and does risk assessment; Rich is a comedian.  The old Bowers boy was arrested as a youth after killing his father and has been placed in a priso

In preparation for IT Chapter 2 coming out this week, we watched IT (2017) as well as the 1990 Miniseries starring Tim Curry. If you haven’t seen IT and are a horror fan, you are probably in the minority, since it (IT?) is the highest grossing horror movie of all time. IT 2017 Poster We watched It. We already have seen it, but we watched it again. It was good. We liked it. THE MOVIE IT! https://youtu.be/hAUTdjf9rko IT is available to rent on Amazon Prime, Youtube and other places probably. IT (2017) Watch the full movie of IT (2017) Rent/Buy on Amazon IT 2017 Synopsis IT (2017) is a total rip off of Stranger Things. It features a group of boys in the 80s who discover a young girl with the special power to give them boners. Actually, IT (2017) is based on the Stephen King novel “IT”. The film follows “the losers club” which is a motley crew of six young boys and a girl who find themselves haunted by Pennywise the Dancing Clown played by Bill Skarsgård. Pennywise is very literally dread incarnate, and torments the group of kids with their worst fears. Upon research, the group finds out that Pennywise has been tormenting and killing children for millenia.  IT Movie Review The film tackles the source material admirably. It’s hard to capture on screen the concept of the monster being fear itself. You get a real feeling of dread throughout, and it remains one of the best group coming of age stories, second only to King’s other adaptation: Stand By Me.  Check Out Our Review of Ready or Not https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/08/28/ready-or-not-review/ I’m glad I got to watch this again, because my first viewing was so colored by my nostalgia for the 1990 TV miniseries starring Tim Curry. And while I still do like the direction of the Pennywise character a little better in the miniseries, I think that overall IT 2017 is a far superior film. We watched the miniseries to be able to compare it to this film and the upcoming Chapter 2, and I don’t know what to tell you, it does not hold up. https://youtu.be/cmOLwrvH-Ag IT 2017 is one of the best mainstream, general audience horror movies to come out in the last decade. Director Andy Muschietti keeps most of the dread from the source material and includes some modern production and jump scares to appeal to fans of the Conjuring universe. Overall, I really liked it even more the second time. This film has probably the best child cast of all time. Comparisons are readily made to Stranger Things (especially since Finn Wolfhard is in both) but the acting from these kids in IT (2017) is far superior in my opinion. Score for IT (2017) Movie 8/10 Check out our review of It Chapter Two https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/09/11/it-chapter-two-review/ Spoilers for IT Expand for Spoilers The opening scene with Georgie losing the paper boat that Bill made for him. This is the scene that really sells every version of this story, whether it’s the novel, the miniseries, or the modern iteration. The main difference here is that Muschietti leans into the “hard-R” when Georgie’s arm is graphically ripped off by Pennywise. Georgie, giving Pennywise a hand. Pennywise isn’t the only danger in IT. Henry Bowers and his gang torment the group of friends on the regular throughout the film. And torment is putting it lightly. Henry doesn’t just bully them, he tortures them. In another scene that shows the commitment of making the film a heavy into the paint of an R-rating, Henry deeply carves his initials into poor Ben’s stomach. All of a sudden, the gimmicky side kicks obsessed with fire or belching seems strangely out of place. But, come on, who doesn’t like a character named Belch? BRRRRAAAAAUUUUUUPP The Losers Club Fears Throughout IT, there are scenes that show the different fears of the Losers Club. Bill’s fear of actually accepting that his brother Georgie is dead. Mike’s fear of burning alive like his parents Stanley’s fear of a creepy painting Stanley’s creepy painting coming to life. Ben’s fear of the headless kid he discovered during researching the town’s history. Bev’s fear of the sink Eddie’s fear of germs / Lepers Richie’s fear of clowns Some of these work better than others. Stanley’s creepy painting feels like it is straight out of The Conjuring. Wait… It is taken straight out of the Conjuring. Look Familiar? Richie’s fear of clowns also felt very tacked on. It seemed like an excuse to include a room full of clowns. Ben’s fear also felt kind of tacked on, but at least it made sense in the moment. As he was researching about the town’s past tragedies, he notices a decapitated head in a tree. Can we also just take a moment to point out how shitty the librarian is for encouraging Ben to stop studying and go play with friends? Why you reading tho? The Ending of IT 2017 Explained The ending of the film is very satisfying. The ch

We saw Ready or Not in theaters, and while my expectations were extremely low, I can honestly say that this is one of the best new movies I’ve seen all year. It’s a dark comedy that has plenty of high stakes and tension which made for a fabulous experience. https://youtu.be/ZtYTwUxhAoI Ready or Not can be found in movie theaters now! The full movie! Watch Ready or Not Full Movie Available for Pre-order on Amazon Ready or Not Ready or Not Synopsis Ready or Not is the story of a beautiful, young couple, Grace (Samara Weaving of The Babysitter) and Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien of Arrival) on their wedding day at Alex’s family estate. The Le Domas family are the heirs and proprietors of a Milton-Bradley esque board game company and are the kind of wealthy that begets butlers, maids, and like 20 dumbwaiter’s in their palatial mansion.  The Le Domas family are made up of Alex’s brother, Daniel Le Domas (Adam Brody of Jennifer’s Body), father Tony (Henry Czerny), mother Becky (Andie MacDowell of Groundhog Day), and the rest. The Le Domas family are as proud as they are superstitious and cruelly witty.  Right before they consummate their marriage, Alex tells his new wife that in order to be accepted into the family she has to play a game with them at midnight. She agrees, and through a ritualistic choosing method she learns that she will be playing Hide and Seek. She soon learns that Hide and Seek is the only game you don’t want to play with the Le Domas family, as they are now going to attempt to kill her to hold up their end of a bargain with the devil that their great, great grandfather made. Ready or Not Review Ready or Not is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who are most notable for the underground horror favorite V/H/S. Lots of the people who worked on this film have some horror chops already, which may have some role in how well it turned out. I think most of the credit for this coming together can’t be attributed to any single source. Everyone did a great job on this movie. Truly witty banter mixed with horrendous scenes of shocking brutality punctuates, the “just another day” feel of this black comedy. The Le Domas Family out for blood! I was so impressed with this movie from the 15 minute mark and on, that I have no choice other than to score it highly. I will be watching it again the same way I watch Cabin in the Woods and Tucker and Dale vs Evil – to have fun while laughing at incredible dark comedy.  Score for Ready or Not 9/10 Spoilers for Ready or Not The movie starts with Daniel (the brother) helping to kill a guy in the family house. To be precise, a guy is clearly trying to run away from other adults, and the child Daniel outs him to everyone. They then drag the man to his doom in the “family only” room. The Family The family is made up of a bunch of rich people stereotypes, all of whom have a biting dry wit, and plenty of personal foibles. There is the: Overweight brother-in-law Menacing aunt Coked up sister Unbearable rich kids Man-in-charge father Woman-in-charge-of-man-in-charge mother Unenthusiastic but well-meaning brother Come-from-the-streets sister-in-law Alex explains to Grace that they play a game at midnight, and it could be chess or checkers, or any game, but you don’t have to win, you just have to play.  Recent Classic Horror Movies? Check out Our Review of Evil Dead (2013) https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/01/evil-dead-2013-review/ I would like to take a minute to point out that the family name that she is marrying into is Le Domas – which you may know is French for, “The Dumbass”.  Hide and Seek Begins They funnel the family into a private, family, only game room and proceed to tell a story about the beginning of the Le Domas family fortune. They explain that a small box will shuffle some cards and spit out a card with the name of the game to be played. The box says Hide and Seek, and everyone bites their lip except Grace. Grace is a little buzzed and gets sent off into the house to hide while the Le Domas family plays a goofy record that lasts for 100 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLm6Z3If5OU Yay, let’s play a game! The soundtrack to this movie is fabulous, consisting of goofy and off-putting older songs mixed with classical and orchestral pieces that really make Ready or Not feel grand. The family arms themselves with some old-timey weapons and turns off the camera system to pay homage to the way the game was meant to be played, and they set out to find and sacrifice her. Check them kicks One thing that stood out to me while enjoying this movie – hide and seek works really well for a horror premise. Besides the fact that many horror movies are made as a big game of hide and seek, you have the inherent excitement that comes with empathizing with the hidey…hider? You also have the tension involved with being the seeker. The game itself works for me. Fabulous Acting Every bit of acting in

This week we are reviewing 47 Meters Down: Uncaged. This film took a great premise and solid jump scares, but still bored me for half of the film. It definitely delivers on crunchy shark action, but if you want more than on-the-nose expositional dialogue and tissue paper thin character, maybe just rewatch Jaws. https://youtu.be/AvXjx8SZbv8 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Trailer 47 Meters Down: Uncaged can be found in theaters now. The full movie! 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Synopsis 47 Meters Down: Uncaged is the sequel to the 2017 film, 47 Meters Down. It is by the same director, Johannes Roberts, but an all new cast of disposable teens. The film is about four American teen girls in Mexico that go scuba diving into a secret submerged Mayan City inside underwater caves. The Mayan caves hold more than just the Mayan version of the terracotta warriors, it also contains deadly albino Great White Sharks! The sharks are blind, but that presents no problem for them, since their other senses are heightened, and these basic bitches keep screaming and clamoring about. With their air supply dwindling in the claustrophobic space, the girls and others get picked off one by one by the insatiable eating machines as they try to make their way out. Watch 47 Meters Down: Uncaged 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Full Movie Stream On Amazon Review of 47 Meters Down: Uncaged This movie has a lot going for it. It has a great premise, plenty of quality jump scares, and delivers on the promise of brutal shark attacks. For me though, all of this is undercut by a boring, paint-by-numbers, super on-the-nose script. Much like The Meg, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged has a script that is obviously simplified so that it is easier to translate for international audiences. What the script doesn’t contain is a character that I care about, or any interesting dialogue. The strength of the film is the design of the sharks and the shark attack sequences. The action sequences are visceral and come fast and sudden. Also, Quenton Tarantino would probably be a big fan of this movie since about 1/5 of it is devoted to close ups of women’s feet kicking towards the camera. In the end, I was cheering for the sharks to kill everyone, because at least that ending would make it interesting. This isn’t a movie that I would recommend running to the theater for, but if you want to see a movie about sharks eating people, then you will definitely enjoy this. While I did enjoy some moments in this film, I was checking my watch any time that someone wasn’t getting eaten by a shark. It’s not terrible, but it’s also not very good. Score for 47 Meters Down: Uncaged 4/10 If you like horror movies based in Mexico, check out our review of The Ruins: https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/08/the-ruins-movie-review/ Spoilers for 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Expand for Spoilers One of the features of this film is the weird soundtrack. It’s an amalgamation of 80’s pop music juxtaposed with an atmospheric electronic score. Which would be fine, but when you see a young black man absolutely rocking to an INXS song, it tends to distract. The Opening The opening of the film features the main character, Mia, played by Sophie Nélisse, being pushed into a pool by some stereotypical mean girls. The setting is in Mexico on the Yucatan peninsula, but there is nary a Mexican to be seen, nor Spanish to be uttered. This is one of the many things in the movie that never get explained. Check Out Our Review of Tusk https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/09/18/tusk-review/ We find out that Mia’s Sister Sasha, played by Corrine Foxx, isn’t a big fan of Mia, because reasons. Their dad is an underwater archaeologist(?) that just made a new discovery. He can’t spend time with Mia because he needs to set up the new site, so he gets them tickets to a glass bottom boat ride to see sharks feed. A Fateful Decision Mia and Corrine ditch the boat ride with the mean girls and instead go with two of Sasha’s friends, Alexa (Brianne Tju) and Nicole (Sistine Rose Stallone) to a secret lake. Come oooooooon! They discover scuba equipment meant for the archaelogist and decide to dive to see the sunken Mayan City. Why is the Mayan City under 47 Meters of water, you ask? Don’t! Albino Shark Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo… The Mayan City is barely explored by the girls or the script before they start getting eaten by giant blind albino great white sharks. Mostly the people that get eaten are the ones that the girls meet at regular intervals. Finally when they find Mia’s father, he takes them to the surface and shows them a rope to climb up. The sharks show up soon after and start attacking before the first girl can climb up. When Corrine tries to clambor up,the rope breaks. Pause. The rope breaks from the weight of two skinny teen girls. This is the caliber of script we are dealing with. The Ending of 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Explained The film ends with Mia and Sasha, the last survivors, finding their

We went and saw Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and it was average with a smile. Those ingrown hairs make for the best pops! Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Trailer https://youtu.be/A11tX8iu0zQ Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Synopsis Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a movie about four stereotypical kids (Stella (Zoe Margaret Colletti), Ramon (Michael Garza), Auggie (Gabriel Rush), and Chuck (Austin Zajur))who enter a haunted house on Halloween and find a book that has more scary stories than they bargained for! As the teens fight bullies and work their way through early November, they begin to realize that the book they took from the house is haunted, and the spirit that haunts it has a penchant for writing scary stories about the teens and their acquaintances that always come true. Watch Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Full Movie Click here to Watch As the teens wrestle with teen hood and their own demons, they are forced to come to terms with the reality that this book and the woman who wrote it are trying to kill them in scary story ways. There are lots of chases, jumpscares, racist cops, and nostalgic feels to be had in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. It even culminates in exactly the way you might think it would, which we will mention in the spoilers section. The Boo Book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a movie loosely based around the 1981 book of short stories of the same name, which spawned two other books. More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1984), and Scary Stories 3: More Tales To Chill Your Bones (1991).  All three books are available for purchase on Amazon for a pretty good steal, and they still hold up. Want To See Short Stories Done Right? Creepshow Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/01/30/creepshow-1982-review/ Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Review The movie takes some of the stories and ideas from the books and throws them together into a mashup of jumpscares and dark sets. The screenplay was adapted from a screen story written by Guillermo del Toro and rewritten by Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman, who, I feel may have done it less service than del Toro might have. While Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark wasn’t terrible, it was only a little bit more interesting than average. The plot made sense, the acting was on point, the production was pretty good. It’s nothing to write home about, and the payoffs are completely underwhelming. The nostalgia was nice, but isn’t it always? Maybe that’s what makes these nostalgia grabs so offensive, it works every time, and it’s so low effort – but I guess you could say the same thing about jumpscares, and I love those. Score for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 6/10 Wanna See a Fun Summer Blockbuster? Check Out Our Review of The Meg! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/08/24/the-meg/ Spoilers for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark The movie starts with a bully who says, “Let’s go scare some kiddies tonight, guys!” This is, perhaps, the goofiest line I can think of and teed off the movie well.  The main bully, Tommy (Austin Abrams), is the least assuming bully on the planet, small in stature, slight of build, fair of complexion, and is constantly drunk and rattling off goofy lines like this. It’s a joy to behold, and one of those touches that makes it goofy and real at the same time. Dean Norris is the only cast member you might recognize in this movie, and he is a great actor, who plays the main character’s (Stella) dad. The only problem with this is anytime I see Dean Norris I just think, “They’re not rocks, they’re minerals, Marie!” If you play the main detective in Breaking Bad, you ARE the main detective from Breaking Bad. Which makes me feel sorry for Dean, but at the same time, “Jizzus Christ, Marie!” https://youtu.be/yDVIrp8XaWI I’ve got some geodes coming! I just love this. There are a few different spooks going on in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, so I will try to lay them out for you in a way that doesn’t ramble as much as the movie does. Keep in mind; this is the spoilers section: Harold the Scarecrow Harold is the fattest, ugliest, most desiccated corpse of a scarecrow I have ever seen in my life. I’m not sure, but Harold may be the dead body of Tommy’s (the bully) stepdad, whom Tommy hated very much. There is no backstory here; there is only Tommy beating Harold constantly with a bat and beer bottles to impress his friends? Harold has his revenge on Tommy by turning the cornfield into an endless maze and stabbing Tommy with a pitchfork that gives Tommy straw man syndrome. The effects of straw man syndrome include coughing up hay, having hay come out of your fingers, and hay fever. If not cured, the patient will become a scarecrow. Just hanging out with Harold Sarah Bellows, author of the Scary Stories Book Sarah was part of the Bellows family, the founding family of Mill Valley, PA. She was also a little different, and therefore the shame of her

We re-watched Paranormal Activity 2, and it still holds up. It takes everything that works from the first film and ever so slightly expands on it. It’s not perfect, but it is highly effective. It also happens to be one of the most profitable horror movies of all time. Listen to our review in this episode of Horror Movie Talk. Paranormal Activity 2 Poster https://youtu.be/07XbSk7Rjt4 Paranormal Activity 2 is directed by Tod Williams and can be found can be wherever you rent or buy your movies. Synopsis for Paranormal Activity 2 Paranormal Activity 2 takes place before and briefly after the occurrences of Paranormal Activity. However, this time, the movie focuses on Kristy Rey’s (Sprague Grayden) family of 4. Kristy is the sister of Katie from the first film. A year after Kristy gives birth to their son Hunter, strange occurrences, Activities even, start happening, and the Rey family eventually figures out that they are being tormented by a demon. Paranormal Activity 2 uses the same found footage techniques found in the first film, but expands the scope of the story beyond the recent hauntings and delves a little more into Kristy and Katies past. Katie and Kristi Review of Paranormal Activity 2 Paranormal Activity 2 expands the scope of the original film and uses aome very effective devices that take full advantage of the found footage genre. Whenever your marketing focuses almost exclusively on genuine audience reactions, you know you’re doing something right.The movie expands the “lore” of the Rey sisters in this movie, but never over extends like in the later films. The mystery, dread, and dramatic irony are all there in the movie, and it somehow is just as memorable as the first. You’ll walk away wondering how the filmmakers created more tension with a static shot of a pool vacuum than most of the tension contained in most horror movies. The subtle audio and visual cues are enough to carry you through to the end when they go full jumpscare and finally have some payoff. Hi honey, we’re having spaghetti tonight. Score for Paranormal Activity Score 8/10 Paranormal Activity 2 Add it to your collection or rent it today Buy/Rent on Amazon Spoilers for Paranormal Activity 2 Click to Expand for Spoilers Chronology of Paranormal Activity and Paranormal Activity 2 If you’ve seen Paranormal Activity, you should know what to expect from the sequel. There aren’t many surprises in the overarching plot. The family sets up a bunch of cameras and they are increasingly haunted by a demon presence. The differences are small between the two films, but this film does introduce some great gimmicks. To start out, we should establish the timeline of the two films. The events of the film start out a year before the events in Paranormal Activity 1. The opening sequence is a series of family videos right before and after their son Hunter is born. Check Out Our Review of Tusk https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/09/18/tusk-review/ The film then jumps forward to two months before PA1, and it shows a video of them documenting damage to their house for an insurance claim. This gives them a great excuse to set up security cameras around the house. The security cameras document the family tormented by a demon for several days and in the end, Kristi through a ritual, transfers the demon over to her sister Katie (from the first film. Check Out Our Review of Slender Man https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/08/13/slender-man/ The events of the first movie happen off screen and then Paranormal Activity 2 ends with Katie appearing in Kristi’s house, now possessed by the demon, and kills everyone except Hunter. Elements that work in Paranormal Activity 2 “The sound” is one of the best things about the Paranormal Activity franchise. The low rumble that communicates the presence of a demon makes even plain shots of an empty room dreadful. https://youtu.be/GkwepzU7moE “The Sound” They up the stakes in this film in a couple of ways. They include: Abbie the dog A weirdly compelling pool More cameras More skepticism More background story More people Should you watch Paranormal Activity 2? yes Check Out Our Episode on the Worst Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/24/ghost-dimension-review/ Special Thanks Thanks to The Benevolent Badger for the new theme song to Kill Count Thanks to our friends at Scariest Things Podcast for the mention. As always thanks to our supporters on Patreon. Become a patron today for access to exclusive bonus content!

Did I just do something I’ve never done before and use three exclamation marks to punctuate the title for a post?! I did. Why? Because this week is special, it’s our one year anniversary! David, Bryce, Brennan We go over what we liked and hated in the movies we reviewed over the past year and take a deeper dive into our insecurities and triumphs that we have had throughout our first year podcasting. We would like to thank you, yeah, you. Thanks for listening to us once, thanks for listening to us a few times, or every episode. Thanks for talking to us, thanks for laughing with us, thanks for cringing at/with us. Without you guys, we are just talking to each other, which would be enough, but not nearly as fun!

Oof. Seriously though, while watching this movie, I was quoted as saying to Bryce and my poor wife, “I didn’t realize they still made this kind of movie.” Dead Night is a movie that gets lost on it’s way to the end – where that is, I’m still not sure. https://youtu.be/tyKyboTBsU4 I was decently excited to watch this. The poster and summary had a “cabin in the woods” quality to it, and I love horror set in the deep woods. I think my brain did some subliminal math with the title and the poster as well. I saw the two-word title starting with “dead” and the snowy woods in the poster and remembered Dead Snow (a Nazi zombie flick that’s great fun). Don’t let your brain make the mistake my brain made. Want To Watch It? Click the Picture to watch on Amazon Dead Night is for people who love bad horror. If you like to laugh at continuity errors, zany and confusing plots, large portions of unexplained but seemingly important elements – this is your swan song. I would liken the feel of this movie to something that would be shown in the middle of the day on the Sci-Fi network in the 90’s. It starts off with fun dialog, a decent setup, and mildly interesting characters, then at some point a switch is flipped, and everything goes so far off the rails that you are left confused as to how things ended up this way. My Rating 2/10 Spoilers The movie starts out showing a couple making out in a convertible in the woods in 1961. The young lady hears something, and of course, the young man goes to check it out. A horrifying figure makes swift work of them both. An alien looking monolith is in the shot for a moment, and we are left wondering. Cut to 2015. The Pollack family is on a trip for rest and relaxation, but more importantly because James Pollack (AJ Bowen) has something incurable and his wife, Casey Pollack (Brea Grant) has it on good authority that their vacation rental was built on restorative minerals. Their son Jason (Joshua Hoffman) and daughter Jessica (Sophie Dalah) are less than enthusiastic to be going on this vacation. Jessica has her friend Becky (Elise Luthman) along for the ride. Jason and Becky clearly have a little bit of a crush on each other. The family gets to the cabin and begins to get ready for their stay. At this point in the movie, the framing, dialog, and lighting are done well – so well in fact, that it tricked me into believing this was going to be great. It has plenty of artsy shots on the cabin and surrounding woods that last a little bit too long but are sometimes indicative of hints at later plot points. Check Out Our Review of Slender Man https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/08/13/slender-man/ As the movie progresses, I began to realize that all those artsy shots were for naught. The husband heads out of the cabin to find some firewood and eventually stumbles upon Leslie Bison (Barbara Crampton) who is pretending to be passed out in the snow and ends up being the main antagonist. A switch flips. Enter mid 90’s made-for-tv Sci-Fi channel vibe. For brevity’s sake here is the quick and dirty rundown of the second and final act: It turns out that a coven of witches don’t like the way things are going in this part of Oregon, so they decided to give Leslie Bison, who is running for some office, some powers in hopes that she would take the election and sway the future in their favor. Powers Leslie has bestowed upon her are: Control over alien monolith that produces rocks that zombify people when applied to their body The ability to teleport The ability to induce hallucinations Other things? Casey, the mother, doesn’t like that Leslie is zombifying her family, so she tries to fight back but ends up killing most of her zombie family with an ax at the behest of the witches. Oh, yea, she met with the witches, and they told her that the only way to make this stop was to kill her family. Check Out Our Review of Gremlins https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/26/gremlins-review/ Some minor explanations are made using a crime investigations show that pops up throughout the movie. How Dead Night Stacks Up If you want that 90’s Sci-Fi channel nostalgia or love seeing super cheesy made-for-streaming horror movies – this is for you. Barabara Crampton really hams it up in this, and she is a seasoned vet in the horror movie industry, so if you dig her maybe check it out. Everyone else, remember, some of the biggest stars in all of Hollywood got their start in garbage horror movies that you wouldn’t like to watch. I look forward to being able to say, “I saw so and so in Dead Night, and it was terrible!”

The Gremlins are back, and this… new batch…is crazier than ever. Yeah, yeah, yeah it’s barely horror, but it’s horror adjacent and stupid fun. Can you just give us this? Gremlins 2: The New Batch movie poster Gremlins 2 can be found streaming on Shudder as of the recording of this podcast, but I don’t know if it’s still on for you. You’re a big boy, you can Google it. https://youtu.be/AdCp0qLqnCY Gremlins 2: The New Batch Trailer Gremlins 2 Synopsis Years after the events of Gremlins, Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) and KAte Beringer (Phoebe Cates) have moved to New York and are working in a new high tech, highly automated, highly satirical skyscraper. Guess who else is in the skyscraper? That’s right, Gizmo the Mogwai. Rules get broken, hijinks ensue. Watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch Gremlins 2: The New Batch Full Movie Click Here to Watch Review of Gremlins 2: The New Batch If you liked the Gremlins part of Gremlins, then you will love this movie. We got all kinds of Gremlins. Bat Gremlins, googly eyed gremlins, Gremlins with 8 legs. We got brainy gremlins, dumb gremlins, electrical gremlins, hell, we even have a vegetable gremlin. More Gremlins than you can shake a stick at. Check Out Our Review of Gremlins https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/26/gremlins-review/ Where the original films tone was inconsistent, Gremlins 2 comes out very early on and establishes itself as a goofy as fuck comedy/horror. While it’s tempting to say that this movie was a hot mess, I honestly can’t. It is ridiculous, yes. But it’s not supposed to be taken seriously. There are a lot of fun moments in this movie that break the fourth wall. The film acknowledges and pokes fun at the logical inconsistencies of the original, including Kate’s weird asides about personal tragedies on holidays. There is also some top quality satire of 80’s business tropes that ranks up there with Robocop. Score for Gremlins 2: Muppets Take Manhatten 6/10 Spoilers for Gremlins 2 Pretty much everything can be covered in this Key and Peele sketch: https://youtu.be/wHtH_SHhc6E Key and Peele Gremlins 2 Sequel Script Doctor Sketch Should You Watch Gremlins 2? This is a great example of a movie that you should watch if you flip by it on cable (do people still have that?). I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it, but if it is in front of you, you will enjoy it. It’s goofy fun, and is entertaining in intentional and unintentional ways.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is artsy, cold, clinical, and touched on a disturbing theme that many will find difficult to deal with. This is subject matter that we have discussed on a few other movies we have reviewed as being deeply disturbing. The Killing of a Sacred Deer Trailer https://youtu.be/CQFdGfwChtw I dare you to watch this trailer and not want to watch the movie after. If you want to watch The Killing of a Sacred Deer, please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. Currently, you can find this on Amazon Prime for free with a Prime subscription. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is, as far as I can tell, a modern-day retelling or rendition of the Greek tragedy of Agamemnon and Iphigenia, where Agamemnon accidentally kills a sacred deer and ends up offending the gods because of it. The goddess Artemis demands that he pay for the killing with blood from his own family as payment in what is called blood for blood. Check Out Our Review of Midsommar! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/07/10/midsommar-review/ The interesting thing about this movie is that it takes a Greek tragedy, which I think we can all agree, seems distant and hard to relate to at best, and makes it relevant to today’s audience in a very real way. What’s even more interesting is that while they are making this hard to relate to Greek tragedy more relevant and easier to relate to, they simultaneously make the whole movie very cold and clinical. So it’s a bit of a mixture, making it more relatable and also harder to comprehend. Because it isn’t a literal retelling of the story of Agamemnon, it becomes a unique story of its own. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is, at its core, a psychological thriller. The acting is delivered in a way that makes you feel mildly alarmed because it’s so deadpan and void of real human expression. There is a bleakness that pervades the whole script, even the sets, camera angles, and framing are set up to invoke minimalism and clinical feelings. Alicia Silverstone is still sexy as hell There are plenty of topics that The Killing of a Sacred Deer touches on that are meant to make the viewer at the very least intrigued, and usually, a little bit disturbed. Lot’s of strange sexual undertones pervade this movie but never make it to the surface. The overall effect is an oily residue that coats your brain with the thought of, “that was awful and strange… I want to know more.” The actors did a great job of doing what they were told to do by the director – act detached. The Killing of a Sacred Deer centers around Dr. Steven Murphey (Colin Farrell) who is a surgeon, and his wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) who is a clinic owner, and their two children, Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and Bob (Sunny Suljic). A key role is that of Martin (Barry Keoghan), a teenage boy whose father died in the hands of Steven on the operating table. Young Martin has taken an interest in Dr. Murphey’s profession, and Dr. Murphey obliges Martin by allowing him to do a kind of job shadow thing when it’s convenient. Like These Cold and Clinical Movies? Check Out The House That Jack Built Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/05/the-house-that-jack-built-review/ Interestingly, Martin’s mother is played by Alicia Silverstone, who has made a fabulous transition from being my teenage heartthrob to being my middle-aged heartthrob. Bravo, Alicia! Although it’s a small part, her character is effective and deeply sexual. This scene is like most of the aesthetic, cold and clinical The Killing of a Sacred Deer was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who did The Lobster, which was also an A24 distribution, and starred Colin Farrell. Lanthimos and a Greek man named Efthymis Filippou wrote The Killing of a Sacred Deer. My Rating 8/10 If you love psychological thrillers, this is a must-see movie. Spoilers The whole movie feels “off” from the start. There are tons of sexual undertones that are brought up to hang in front of the viewer like tawdry details of private moments that shouldn’t be discussed in public. The Killing of a Sacred Deer sets out to make its audience feel odd, and it does a great job of it. Nicole and son, Bob The basic premise of The Killing of a Sacred Deer is Dr. Murphy accidentally killed Martins father during surgery that he was performing on the man’s heart. Martin has become close to Dr. Murphey under the guise of being interested in becoming a surgeon himself. As it turns out, Martin is only interested in setting a cursed upon Dr. Murphey’s family that goes a little something like this: “You killed a member of my family; now you gotta kill a member of your family to balance things out, I can’t tell you who to kill, that’s for you to decide. But, if you don’t they will all get sick and die.” Paralysis of the limbs Refusal of food until starvation Bleeding from the eyes (once this starts death is not far away) Death Soon, Dr. Murphey’s kids begin to show signs of the curse, and eventually, he

Midsommar is the antidote for “spooky house syndrome“. If there is a more idyllic horror movie, I don’t know of it. This slow burn pagan horror film will stick with you and give you plenty to talk about afterwards. It certainly gave us a lot to talk about. This episode of Horror Movie Talk comes in at just over two hours. https://youtu.be/1Vnghdsjmd0 Midsommar can be found in theaters now. Midsommar Synopsis Writer/Director Ari Aster has followed up his dark drama-filled cult-based horror movie with this bright drama-filler cult-based horror movie. Midsommar stars Florence Pugh  who plays Dani, an anxious young woman who experiences a horrible family tragedy, and then accompanies her boyfriend and anthropology doctoral student Christian (Jack Reynor) on a trip to Sweden to experience a traditional summer festival of a certain rural commune. Watch Midsommar Full Movie Midsommar Click here to Watch Christian and his friends Josh and Mark were invited on the trip by their friend and classmate, Pelle who grew up in the small Swedish commune. Unbeknownst to Dani, Christian has been planning to break up with her for a while, and unbeknownst to everyone but Pelle, the once in a lifetime midsommar festival is actually a vicious pagan cult ritual. My Review of Midsommar Midsommar was everything I wanted it to be, and I had high expectations. It’s a breath of fresh air in the horror genre, and like Hereditary, takes a lot of concepts from older horror movies and melds them to create a new and compelling story for today. Ari Aster’s strength is his focus on character and relationship drama, and the characters and relationships in this movie are very familiar and believable. They serve to ground the horror elements so that they also seem very real. The bright and idyllic setting of the movie does a lot to mask and inoculate the viewer to the horrific rituals that occur in the festival. Also, the framing of the events as a rare and sacred cultural event, along with the generous drug usage creates a logical reason for why the American characters are slow to react to the more extreme elements of the festival. Check Out Our Review of The Ritual https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/11/28/the-ritual-review/ If you like pagan or ancient rituals in your horror, check out our episode on The Ritual. It’s a slow burn, and while there are horrific and surprising scenes, they are intentionally dampened with the over saturated visuals and muted sound design. The tension and anxiety that I felt ramped up very slowly throughout the movie, to where I didn’t realize how much I was being affected. Towards the end I was on the edge of my seat with a lot of nervous energy watching the inevitable and dreadful fate of the American party.  Score for Midsommar Score 9/10 Midsommar Spoilers Expand for Spoilers and Deeper Discussion… The opening act of Midsommar The film’s opening act is really about setting up the relationship between Dani and Christian. Dani is very needy and has a lot of family drama so she leans on Christian very heavily. Christian isn’t as self sacrificing and long-suffering as he portrays to Dani, and is actually working up the courage to finally break up. Ari Aster has described this movie as a “break up movie”. So it’s very important to frame this relationship early on. Check Out Our Review of It Chapter Two https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/09/11/it-chapter-two-review/ The latest scare for Dani is that her sister isn’t returning her emails, and after she calls and and expresses her worry to Christian, he (after the call) commiserates with his buddies, and they encourage him to finally break it off. Well, Dani’s fears become very real when it is revealed that her sister poisoned herself and her parents with carbon monoxide in an apparent murder suicide. Cut to shot of Dani screaming in utter dispair, ala Hereditary. Obviously not the best time to break up. Dani is Invited Christian finds himself in a tough spot when Dani finds out about a long trip to Sweden that he is taking with his college friends in the coming week. Dani and Christian get into a super believable argument, and Dani ends up being invited on the trip. Christian’s friends all seem to be studying anthropology and specifically rural pagan festivals. One of the friends, Pelle, came from a rural village in Sweden and he invited them all to a once in a lifetime midsommar festival. He describes it as a “nine day festival with lots of pageantry“. Traveling to the Midsommar Festival The trip to the midsommar festival features a lot of great shots by Aster. These include a great transition between an apartment bathroom and an airplane bathroom, and an homage to The Shining‘s opening sequence driving through the woods. Once they arrive at a field outside the entrance to the festival, they are given psychedelic mushrooms, and there are some trippy visual effects. As for

Who would have guessed that after that train wreck of a sequel, Annabelle: Creation, we would get this awesome ray of horror themed sunshine? Not me! Annabelle Comes Home is a spooky, funny, and jump-scare-riffic addition to the conjuring universe that holds it’s own on almost every front. Annabell Comes Home Trailer https://youtu.be/bCxm7cTpBAs Synopsis of Annabelle Comes Home This entry into The Conjuring franchise takes place almost exclusively within Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren’s house. While the Warren’s leave to fight demons and ghosts, they hire the hottest babysitter in the universe, Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) to watch their daughter, Judy (Mckenna Grace), and watch their house for them.  While The Warrens are away the children do play and Mary Ellen’s friend Daniela Rios (Katie Sarife) invites herself over to hang out at the Warrens. Daniela breaks into the Warren’s ‘no touchy’ room storing all their super-haunted shit, and ends up letting Annabelle out of her cage. Pretty quickly these girls find themselves with more doll than they bargained for! Mary Ellen’s crush, Bob (Michael Cimino) also shows up to provide a great amount of comic relief. I included Bob in this synopsis because his role is critical to this being a good movie and Micahel Cimino did a great job in the role. Other Conjuring Related Movie Reviews? The Nun! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/09/12/the-nun-review/ Review of Annabelle Comes Home While the Annabelle series had a strong start with the original Annabelle, the sequel (Annabelle Creation)was nothing short of bad. Annabelle Comes Home was enjoyable in almost every way. It had a strong script with believable and lovable characters who were acted well by a very capable cast of young adults and children, which is a tall order. While the pacing was a bit too fast for my taste, the movie didn’t suffer from it too much, and it did an admirable job of hearkening back to the long-drawn-out dread tension build’s of The Conjuring 1 & 2. These actresses were great. The premise was solid. The execution was skillful. The experience was very enjoyable. If you are looking to have a fun time with some jump scares and fake-outs, this is an even better option than Child’s Play 2019, although not as goofy. Watch The Original Watch it on Amazon Annabelle Watch the Sequel Watch it on Amazon Annabelle Creation Score for Annabelle Comes Home 8/10 More Conjuring? Our Review Of The Curse of La Llorona! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/04/24/the-curse-of-la-llorona-review/ Annabelle Comes Home Spoilers Annabelle Explained The movie starts out with the Warrens acquiring Annabelle from some dirty hippies, or at least that’s what I wanted them to be. They were probably more like young adults out of college?  The Warrens have a long drive to get home and Annabelle is sitting in the back seat, enjoying the ride with that nice smile on her face. The Warrens are diverted from the normal highway route by some late night construction, which seems questionable, but go with it! As they pass the creepiest graveyard in the creepiest part of the creepiest state (Connecticut), the car breaks down. Creepy car breakdown in front of creepy graveyard means its creepy As Ed happily hops out of the car to check the timing belts, Lorraine notices a bunch of creepy happenings transpiring, and before you know it, the whole graveyard student body is present! A zombie/ghost kicks unknowing Ed in front of a suddenly there semi-truck which manages to swerve just in time! Remember the Buzz About Bird Box? Check Out Our Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/01/02/bird-box-review/ Lorraine then summarizes Annabelle by saying, “This doll is a beacon for other spirits.” Now we know, Annabelle is a tuning fork for bad stuff. Or maybe an amplifier for evil? Something like that. The Warrens go to great lengths to contain Annabelle in their artifacts room because she is causing all the other artifacts to act up. As the priest is sanctifying the room and Annabelle they contain her in a glass case (you know the one) made out of glass that they obtained from some church before it was remodeled. Now, as long as no one messes with her, we will be fine… Look at all those haunted objects! You just know the samurai is gonna do something cool! They Mess With Annabelle! Of course they mess with her! It wouldn’t be much of a movie if they just left her in her glass house – something, something, throwing rocks? Daniela, Mary Ellen’s friend, is obsessed with the Warrens and what they do, she can’t help it. She lost her dad tragically when she was young and has blamed herself for the incident ever since. Daniela decides that there must be something in the Warren’s artifact gallery that can give her closure with her deceased dad, so she break into it! Smart, Daniela… She fiddles with every crazy and mundane object in th

Child’s Play 2019 is probably the first movie that we’ve reviewed that I can whole heartedly say is so bad that it’s good. This movie has almost nothing to do with the original movie, and makes a bunch of bizarre choices, but in the end it is very entertaining. Child’s Play 2019 Poster https://youtu.be/ZFy8ZgLd574 Child’s Play can be found in theaters now, and you can also watch the original for a limited time for free on amazon prime. Synopsis Child’s Play 2019 is a hard reboot of the 1988 film of the same name. However, it bares little resemblance to the original. Basically the only elements that hold over are… kind of the design of the doll, and that there is a doll, and that it’s name is Chucky. Child’s Play 2019 tells the story of a child’s doll for teenagers that looks like an anime version of a little person, and has the voice of a middle aged man talking in a child’s voice. This doll isn’t like any ordinary doll, though, it connects to your home automation system! Because that makes sense. Also, the doll has an advanced AI that it uses to learn how fun it is to kill people.  Check out Child’s Play 1988 Watch the Original on Amazon Child’s Play 1988 Check out Child’s Play 2019 Watch the Full Movie on Amazon Child’s Play Remake Review of Child’s Play 2019 This movie is kind of a hot mess, but it still kind of works. It’s the first movie that we are reviewing that I can give a heavy stamp of “So bad it’s good”. This movie goes beyond head scratching horror movie logic, and into the realm of the absurd. Watching the trailer and hearing about many of the elements of this film before hand, made me think several times “that’s a weird choice”. I assumed that upon watching the film that it would all come together and make sense as a whole. Nope. All those things still seem like weird choices still.  Why would you give a child’s doll home automation integration?  Why would a teenager have/want a doll?  Why Aubrey Plaza?  Why that face?  Why Mark Hammil as the voice?  These and other questions are answered with “because”. The movie suffers from the “and then this scene happens” syndrome, with very little happens in term or story arc after the initial set up of the plot. But who are we joking, it’s a movie about a murderous doll. This is not a thinking man’s movie, and really, in terms of entertainment value, this movie was enjoyable to watch. I laughed and winced several times throughout the movie, and I consider that a win in any horror movie. There are a lot of effective death scenes, and the schlock value is high enough to let me laugh off the bad jokes and ridiculous elements of the story. Remember The Original Child’s Play? Check Out Or Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/24/childs-play-1988-review/ Score Score: 7/10 Child’s Play (2019) Spoilers Expand for Spoilers First of all, lets talk about the company that makes Chucky: Kasdan. This company has the worst business model that I can think of in recent movie history. What is the target market for a child’s toy that integrates with your home automation and Uber equivalent? I try not to be a snob about movie logic, but in this case it actually pulled me out of the movie. But like I stated previously, this is not the thinking man’s movie, and really, neither was the original. Instead of having a doll literally possessed with the soul of a serial killer, in this version, Chucky is a poor innocent AI that has had his safety protocols removed by a disgruntled Chinese factory worker. Want a Well Done Scary Movie? Our Review of Evil Dead 2013! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/01/evil-dead-2013-review/ Throughout the film, we are shown Chucky in earnest trying to learn how to best “play” with Andy. Since Andy and his group of friends are teenagers, they are kind of dicks. Through observation, Chucky learns that they enjoy swearing and more importantly, watching death. After Chucky is exposed to Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and sees the gleeful expressions of Andy and his friends, he starts to imitate the psychotic behavior he sees on TV. Since he has “imprinted” on Andy, Chucky also gets insanely jealous of Andy’s time and attention. This results in many deaths because side characters (including a cat) are bothering Andy or just keeping him from playing with Chucky. The original film didn’t have a lot of humor, but when this one tries, it really falls flat. After the black detective finds Andy’s Mom’s Boyfriend’s body mangled in a watermelon patch, he states, “White guy dead in a watermelon patch, poetic”. I still don’t understand why that is supposed to be funny. Also, there is a scenario taken straight out of a sitcom where Chucky returns the boyfriend’s face to Andy, and Andy accidently(?) wraps it in wrapping paper and gives it to a neighbor. Then wacky hi

Tom Holland‘s original Child’s Play (1988) holds up well even by today’s standards. I think people tend to forget what the original Child’s Play is, which is harsh and disturbing. It’s easy to see why it has become a cult classic that has spawned so many sequels, because it’s a niche horror movie that really doubles down on terror. Read below or listen to our review. Child’s Play 1988 movie poster Child’s Play (1988) Trailer https://youtu.be/sjiyV8mtXiU Child’s Play 1988 trailer #1 Child’s Play (1988) Plot Synopsis Andy and Chucky in bed…yeesh! Child’s Play is a movie about a serial killer named Charles Lee Ray (Chucky) who, in his dying breath manages to transfer his consciousness into a Good Guy brand doll, which ends up in the home of Andy Barclay – A sweet young boy who just wants a friend. As the story progresses Chucky cuts a swathe of terror through the Chicago neighborhood where the Barclays live and Andy finds himself with more doll than he bargained for! Own The Chucky Anthology Add all the old school Chucky Movies to your collection. Buy on Amazon Is Child’s Play (1988) Worth Seeing? Yep. This is a classic that set the stage for one of the most memorable slasher series ever made. While the sequels can be hit or miss, the original is strange and interesting from start to finish. Charles Lee Ray before he transfers his consciousness into the Good Guy doll. The original Child’s Play is not for the faint of heart because it goes heavy in the paint when it comes to disturbing and suggestive themes. Mostly, I was shocked because of how sweet and innocent young Andy was, and how much he loved this doll who has a psychopathic serial killer living within him. While young Andy (Alex Vincent) is not the best actor, he is charming and believable to the point that I felt tons of empathy for him. The empathy that I felt for Andy and his mother , Karen (Catherine Hicks) really went a long way in making this a disturbing movie, because it felt like they were in true danger and didn’t even know it. Child’s Play 1988 Add Child’s Play 1988 to your collection Watch/Buy On Amazon Child’s Play 2019 Interested in the Goofy, New Child’s Play? Watch/Buy On Amazon While the original Child’s Play is not the most gruesome or splatter driven slasher from the late 80’s it is a superb exercise in audience manipulation. While the premise is a bit goofy, the execution is taken deadly serious by writer/director Tom Holland, and it ends up paying off. Catherine Hicks thinking about making things HOT HOT HOT! The one thing that Child’s Play lacks is levity of almost any kind. There are a few brief moments of minor lightheartedness, but mostly this is a deadly serious movie that could have a lot more fun than it does. Our Score for Child’s Play (1988) 7/10 Child’s Play (1988) Spoilers The film starts with the police chasing a wanted criminal through the mean streets of Chicago. Charles Lee Ray is the criminal and he is wanted for being the worst kind of criminal – a serial killer, namely a strangler. The chase ends up in a toy store and Charles takes a few bullets in the chest before he falls to the ground cursing the detective and promising vengeance. With his dying breaths, Charles grabs a Good Guy doll and begins whispering some incantations. Immediately the sky begins to roil and turn black with storm clouds. These were some serious clouds, even for the Windy City. Lightening hits the building and the whole toy store explodes in a complete fireball… which seems extreme, but we are talking about a movie where a killer sends his soul into a doll, so… Child’s Play 1988 toy store explosion. Next We Meet The Unsuspecting Family From here we head on over to Andy, the lovable little boy who brings his mom a balanced breakfast in bed. JK, he brings her pure sugar mixed with milk that splashes everywhere. Despite the fact that this milky sugar mixture has been splashed around her house, Andy’s mom hugs him and they head out into their living room to open up Andy’s birthday presents. It is revealed that Karen couldn’t afford the one thing that Andy really wanted, you guessed it, a Good Guy doll. But, she does find a street peddler who is selling a slightly off-brand Good Guy doll with some added features behind her work. Let this be a lesson to all you working moms out there, pay the big bucks for the real thing, it’s always worth it not to have a possessed doll in your house. https://youtu.be/lAxGx9qfFOk This is a re-imagined trailer mashup for the first two Child’s Play movies that I really enjoy. Once Chucky is in the House Things Get Alarming Once Chucky comes home, the tension really begins to ramp up very quickly. The way the camera follows this doll around the house, being touted by this sweet little boy is extremely effective in building dread. The audience knows the terrible evil within t

This movie is a lot of things. It’s hard to label it with genres without going into a run on sentence. You could call it a meta socially conscious zombie dark comedy horror film. Read below or listen to our review. Theatrical Poster for The Dead Don’t Die Trailer https://youtu.be/bs5ZOcU6Bnw The Dead Don’t Die Trailer #1 The Dead Don’t Die can be found in theaters now. Plot Synopsis for The Dead Don’t Die The film is set in Centerville USA, “A Real Nice Place” and follows two police officers, Chief Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray) and Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver). Their sleepy routine of handling minor misdemeanors is disturbed when a grizzly double homicide at the towns one and only cafe. Since Centerville is such a nice place, the first assumption is that it was some animal…or several animals that did it, but Ronnie Peterson correctly guesses that it’s “zombies, you know, the undead…ghouls”. Apparently the “polar fracking” that they have been hearing on the news has inadvertently caused the earth to go off axis and…the dead to rise from their graves. Watch The Dead Don’t Die Check out the movie on Amazon The Dead Don’t Die Is The Dead Don’t Die Worth Seeing? What follows is a great mix of fourth wall breaking, social commentary, and sardonic comedy horror. This movie has a definite indy feel, which isn’t too surprising, since writer/director Jim Jarmusch has made a whole career staying on the edges of mainstream. This is actually his first film that opened in more than 300 theaters. Regardless, you have likely seen or heard of some of his other films, such as Broken Flowers, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Dead Man, and Only Lovers Left Alive. This film actually features 8 actors that have worked in previous Jarmusch films, which has resulted in an embarrassment of riches, including Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, Chloë Sevigny, Rosie Perez, and RZA. The dialogue is as dry as a Mormon wedding, but the world and characters that Jim Jarmusch has created are as charming as the prototypical little american town that Centerville represents. It is a precisely written, directed, and acted. There is very little fat in this movie, but the story and dialogue is given plenty of room to breath. RZA! The Predator! What a Fun Movie! Check Out Our Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/09/19/the-predator-review/ I’d hesitate to say that general audiences will enjoy this movie as much as Avengers Endgame, but I think there is truly something for everyone. There were many moments throughout that delighted me, and I found myself laughing out loud as well as feeling intense existential dread. While watching it, my score kept going up and up. I highly recommend it. Our Score for The Dead Don’t Die 9/10 The Dead Don’t Die Spoilers Expand for Spoilers The film opens on a graveyard with Officers Robertson and Peterson responding to a call that Hermit Bob stole one of Farmer Miller’s chickens. Already I’m on board. Any movie with a character name Hermit Bob is a movie that I’m on board with. As they drive back and have small talk about how much of an asshole Farmer Miller is, they begin noticing that “something’s weird”. They notice that it’s still daylight when it’s well into the evening hours, and that their watches and some of the electronics have stopped working. Officer Peterson comments: “This isn’t going to end well”. It should be noted that this film starts off very meta, very early on. After the opening scene, the credits role to Sturgil Simpson’s “The Dead Don’t Die”. https://youtu.be/xiukuoSjDj0 The Dead Don’t Die Theme Song. After the credits play and the song finishes, we return to the cab of the police car. Officer Peterson turns on “civilian radio” and once again Simpson’s song starts playing. Officer Robertson mentions how familiar the song is that is playing on the radio. to which Roberson points out that “it’s the theme song”. Polar Fracking News reports are caught in glimpses in the opening scenes that describe that there is a environmental disaster happening because of “polar fracking”. The “industry experts” are quoted as saying there is nothing to be alarmed about, but shots of tsunamis and burning forests tell a differnt story. Apparently, the polar fracking has caused the earth to go off it’s axis. This leads to the underlying thesis of the movie that ignoring global warming is essentially as dumb as zombie movie logic. Want To Know How The New Child’s Play 2019 Was? Check Out Our Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/26/childs-play-2019-review/ Zombi Iggy Pop Eventually the dead rise from their graves, starting with a couple of dead roadies played by Iggy Pop and Sara Driver. They invade the sleepy coffee shop and brutally ki

For this week’s episode of Horror Movie Talk, we watched The Perfection on Netflix, and it is what I would consider goodbad. It had some nice visual flares, and definitely some unexpected twists. However, it’s major failing is not committing to the underlying schlock of the plot. Synopsis for The Perfection Netflix wants their own Get Out, so they hired Allison Williams from Get Out to star in The Perfection. Williams plays a former cello prodigy named Charlotte that was sidelined because she had to take care of her dying mother. When her mother dies, Charlotte calls up her former Dean at the prestigious Bachoff Academy of Music to try to re-enter the world of world class cellists. https://youtu.be/q57D6kF5B1k The Trailer for The Perfection, available for streaming on Netflix now. Lizzie (left) and Charlotte (right) playing together. She meets the latest prodigy, Lizzie played by Logan Browning and the become close very quickly…suspiciously quickly. When Charlotte and Lizzie take a trip to China, Lizzie becomes extremely sick, and Charlotte might have something to do with it! The rest of the movie swings back and forth in time and perspective to eventually reveal Charlotte’s true motives and the audience may or may not experience whiplash. The Nun was a pretty big 2018 hit – Here is our Review https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/09/12/the-nun-review/ The Perfection is Not Quite My Tempo The perfection is not a great movie, but to me it is on the precipice of greatness. I wish they had committed more to some of the more ridiculous and/or tasteless elements. Parts of this even reminded of my wistful favorite, The Human Centipede. Mainly the ridiculous reveals and the mustache twirling level villain. Stephen Weber does a great job of playing the pretentious dean of the Bachoff School of Music. In an age where no one is surprised by Shyamalan-esque twists, instead of upping the ante on the world building or character development, writer/director Richard Shepard ups the ante on the number of twists! Score for The Perfection I’m giving it a 6/10 The Perfection is not without it’s charm, and it gets a B+ for effort, but overall it’s a pretty average flick. The Perfection Movie Spoilers Expand for Spoilers First of all, lets talk about the elephant in the room. The Trailer gives way too much information about the plot away. It basically undercuts the first half of the film, since you know Charlotte has nefarious motives for Lizzie from the beginning. Not to worry though, there are plenty of twists throughout! Twist #1: Charlotte Poisoned Lizzie This is the least surprising since they pretty much give it away in the trailer. The whole bugs in vomit, and bugs under the skin was a red herring. Charlotte used some of her dead mothers’ medication to make Lizzie suggestible, purposely drove her to temporary insanity, and getting her to cut off her own hand. Remember The Ruins? You Should Read Our Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/08/the-ruins-movie-review/ Charlotte accomplishes her purpose, because once Lizzie returns to Bachoff, she is unceremoniously kicked out of the school. Because… who has need of a one handed cellist? I guess since, the wound was self inflicted, Lizzie couldn’t prosecute Charlotte, but that doesn’t keep her from kicking her ass! Lizzie brings Charlotte to Anton, and soon after, the next twist is revealed. Twist #2: Bachoff is a Sex Dungeon Conservatory The namesake of the film is a certain room where Anton (Weber) touts as being accoustically perfect. As such, he demands that only perfection of anyone that plays in that room. If you make a mistake, the punishment is rape. This is the moment that the movie really goes off the rails and makes you wonder what type of movie that they were really trying to make. I posit that the reveal of the rape aspect of the school, would have been an opportune time to dive headfirst into schlock. This could have been the modern Human Centipede. However, they went the safe route and blurred out Weber’s junk. What a shame. The Most Disgusting Movie Ever Made? Check Out Kuso! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/15/kuso-review/ Anton again demands that Charlotte play “The Perfection” and instead of threatening her with rape, he says he will rape the blissfully ignorant new young student. Charlotte apparently makes a mistake, but Anton reveals that raping the young girl was just a bluff, and that they were actually going to rape Charlotte after all. Two men and Lizzie approach, and Lizzie begins the motions to rape Charlotte with her stump arm. I know! This is when another twist occurs… Twist #3: Lizzie and Charlotte are in Cahoots! Apparently Lizzie had been working with Charlotte ever since she attacked her in her home. Apparently Charlotte explained that getting Lizzie to cut off her own arm was the only way to get Lizzie to escape Anton’s grasp. I dunno… maybe just

We went and saw Meh, er, I mean Ma, in theaters and it it was nothing new or exciting. If you take the stalker subgenre of horror or thrillers, add an academy award winner and a cast of pretty teens, you have Ma. It’s very by-the-books. Ma is an interesting enough movie that features darn good acting and solid direction. My problem with Ma is that it’s not notable enough to spend your money on it. It feels like many of the straight to streaming entries that Netflix provides us with, solid but forgettable. She cares for you deeply… Ma Synopsis Ma follows Maggie (Diana Silvers), who is new in town, just having moved from the West coast to this town in the midwest where her mother, Erica (Juliette Lewis) is from. Maggie quickly befriends a group of gorgeous teens, and they begin their quest to party. The most important part of any party quest is finding an adult to buy you booze, and Ma (Octavia Spencer) fills that niche nicely. Want To Watch Ma? Check it out on Amazon! Ma Movie As the group continues in their quest, they realize that they need a safe place to party, another niche that Ma is happy to fill. Finally, their quest to party leads them back to Ma’s house over and over, but now it’s the teens who must fill a niche – Ma’s need for acceptance and control. As the group becomes less enthusiastic about Ma’s parties, Ma becomes more and more overbearing until she has a full break with reality and becomes unhinged. Ma Movie Trailer https://youtu.be/eIvbEC8N3cA Ma Movie Review I don’t know what I thought movie reviewing was going to be about when I started doing it. However, it’s not a terribly glamorous thing because of movies like Ma. This movie didn’t commit any mortal sins, and frankly, it was pretty well done. It’s just forgettable and uninteresting, which adds to the tedium of much of life. Ma hates beer…JK She just parties super hard Score for Ma 6/10 Ma Spoilers Here’s the lowdown on Ma, you’ve seen it. Remember Greta? Yea, same movie essentially. Have you seen The Gift? If not, you should watch that instead of Ma, because it’s actually scary and keeps the audience on their toes. Here is a list of movies that do a much better job of accomplishing essentially the same story as Ma, but did give you a more interesting product: Cape Fear One Hour Photo Red Eye Fear Misery Fatal Attraction Scream Hush The Gift is Really Good Watch The Gift on Amazon Click the button below to watch The Gift The Gift The Good That being said, I think Ma is a well put together movie that has a lot of good things going for it. Here is the good about Ma. The direction is solid. At no point in Ma did I feel like I was watching a poorly put together movie. All of the actors were on point; all the camera work made sense and accomplished what it set out to do. There wasn’t much artistry to the direction in Ma, except for staying out of the way of the story, which helped to make this watchable. Wanna Watch a Similar Stalker Horror Movie? Check Out Greta! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/03/06/greta-review/ The acting was very good. All of the characters were acted well, of course, it helps to have probably one of the most notable Academy Award winners in recent memory, Octavia Spencer, as your star role. Octavia stole the show in terms of believability, and in this kind of stalker genre movie, that’s probably the most important part – having a believable stalker with a solid motivation. All of the other actors and actresses did a great job as well. Ma also has a fabulously solid soundtrack of disco and club hits from the ’70s and early ’80s. The party vibes feel simultaneously fun and foreboding, which is a plus. Check Out Our Review of Brightburn! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/29/brightburn-review/ The Bad There was no way to make the stakes very high. The vast majority of this movie was Ma trying to get the kids to party with her. When the kids started pulling away, she resorted to lame high school level attempts to raise the stakes. Things like stealing your boyfriend, your jewelry, and show up at your house to talk to your mom – these aren’t scary. They don’t raise the stakes in Ma until the very end, at which point it’s almost like they realized that nothing had happened the whole movie and decided to throw the kitchen sink at it. This movie didn’t rely on jump scares; I think it had one or two. Mostly it relied on building tension, which it didn’t do well. Mostly the premise is pretty flimsy. You guys like IV drug use? How Ma Ends It is revealed midway through the movie that Ma has pent up shame and anger about how she was treated by her peers back when she was in high school. She begins to hatch the plan to get back at all of her old classmates by ruining the lives of their kids. There is a particularly disturbing flashback that Ma has about her high school crush asking her for a blowjob in the school janitorial closet. She obliges him, which I can only assume a girl would regret a

We went and saw Brightburn, and it was as advertised, but even more gory than I expected. It’s not a perfect film, there isn’t a lot of character development past the perfunctory set up, and there are some plot threads are fully dropped without explanation, but overall it delivers a very good horror film riffing on the superhero genre. Brightburn Plot Synopsis The synopsis for Brightburn is very simple. It’s the superman origin story, but instead of him being good, he’s bad. The Breyers are a young couple in Sma… Brightburn, Kansas, that desperately want a baby, but can’t have one of their own. One night, a meteor crashes into the woods near their house. Inside is a little baby that they name Brandon and raise as their own. https://youtu.be/oD1vbhicJUY You can find Brightburn in theaters now. Brightburn Watch the full movie Buy or Rent on Amazon When Brandon reaches puberty he is awoken and summoned by voices in his head that lead him to the spacecraft he arrived in hidden in the Breyers’ barn. Brandon soon discovers he is completely impervious to harm, has super strength, and can, get this… fly. Brandon does what every good middle american farm boy would do with these new found super powers… He kills and maims anyone that gets in his way towards world domination, including those closest to him. He’s just a good ol’ mid-western boy Brightburn Critique David is going to complain that this story has been done dozens of times with Superman in the comics. But if you like me aren’t a FUCKING NERD, then this is probably the first depiction of a truly evil superman origin story, at least on film. I think this film accomplished exactly what it set out to do, and was very enjoyable to me. While it is exactly what I expected in terms of plot, it exceeded my expectations with how dark, and especially how gory they went with it. Brightburn is directed by a relative newcomer David Yarovesky, but produced by James Gunn, who is the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies as well as Super, another anti-superhero movie. It is well cast with Elizabeth Banks as Tori, the mother in denial, and David Denman as Kyle, the father that immediately is suspicious. Brandon Breyers, the anti-superman, is played by Jackson A. Dunn which does a great job of maintaining a steely enigmatic gaze. The script doesn’t delve too deeply into character development, but the characters are three dimensional, and react to the events of the film in natural ways. Super Buy or Rent James Gunn’s first Anti-Superhero film. Buy/Rent on Amazon They keep the intentions and internal motivations of Brandon intentionally mysterious up until the time that he starts wreaking havok. Although it didn’t explore as many facets of the anti-superman story as they could have, it delivered on the promise of a really dark story in an effective and efficient manner. I really enjoyed it. Score for Brightburn 7/10 Brightburn Spoilers Expand for spoilers The most important thing to get out of the way is that Roy from The Office is in this movie. David reminded me about 50 times throughout. The first shot we see in the movie is the camera panning over a bookshelf full of books about infertility. In the background, the Bryers are having sexy time and talking about their inability to have a baby. We get it. The find Brandon ala Kall-El in the woods. and then there is a montage of baby Brandon looking neutral. Check Out Our Review of Child’s Play 2019! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/26/childs-play-2019-review/ The thesis of the movie is basically stated when Brandon in class describes wasps that have lost their ability to create nests, so they use their strength to get other wasp species to raise their young. That pretty much sets up how Brandon’s purpose on earth is going to be for the remainder of the film. Brandon is summoned to the Barn in the middle of the night by glowing red light and voices in his head. He seems possessed. He later finds out that he has superpowers by flinging a lawnmower 200 yards and then shoving his hand into it’s spinning blade. At Brandon’s birthday him and his dad have a spat, and it seems as though Brandon’s anger affects the electronics in the restaurant. The parents are determined to “give a shit” about what is going on with Brandon, but chalk it up to puberty. When they go through his room they discover some innocuous bra ad porn quickly followed by pictures of open body cavities. Ever Hear of Piercing? You Should Have! Check Out Our Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/02/06/piercing-review/ Brandon’s father (Roy from the office) take Brandon on a camping trip to have “the talk”. Brandon mistakes his father’s explanation of bodily functions and hormones as a tacit endorsement to be a huge creep to a girl he likes in class. He proceeds to use his superpowers to creep on said girl. When she catches a brief flash of him be

We watched Tetsuo, The Iron Man (鉄男 ＴＥＴＳＵＯ) on Shudder and jesus christ; I don’t have any words. Tetsuo is a David Lynchian / Cronenberg-esque film that aims to disturb with intensity and extreme imagery. Everything about this movie is turned up to the max. It’s full of intense mutilation, body horror, and sexually provocative fetishization and imagery. I wouldn’t go so far as to call Tetsuo, The Iron Man a good movie, as I would call it an important movie. With that being said, I found this unpleasant to watch in just about every way. There isn’t much dialog, the story is paper thin, and the intent is unclear. It is clear that there is a decent amount of symbolism here, or at least that people will reason that this movie is symbolistic. For me, it’s hard to tell whether writer/director Shin’ya Tsukamoto intended for the obvious symbolism, or whether he was banking on you wanting to read too far into it. It seems equally plausible to me that Mr. Tsukamoto has some crazy kinks, and needed to work them out on screen. Tetsuo, The Iron Man Trailer https://youtu.be/uROMTzJsfOI If you watch the trailer, you kinda watched the whole movie but you’ll miss all the dicks. Tetsuo, The Iron Man Synopsis Tetsuo is not an easily understood or interpreted movie, and it’s not supposed to be. The synopsis of Tetsuo seems to be that a man known as the “metal fetishist” (Shin’ya Tsukamoto) is obsessed with pushing pieces of metal into his body, which gives him some sort of high. At the start of the movie, he is getting off while pushing scrap metal into his legs and ends up running into the road in some metal obsessed stupor. At this point, a man credited as “salaryman” (Tomorô Taguchi) hits the fetishist while driving in his car with his wife or girlfriend (Kei Fujiwara). Want To Watch It? Watch Tetsuo: The Iron Man on Amazon Tetsuo: The Iron Man The story transitions to following the salaryman, who begins to notice metal objects quickly taking over his body, which is alarming to him – shocking, I know. From here it spins out of control, and the salaryman begins his rage and sex-fueled journey into metal oblivion. Tetsuo, The Iron Man Score 4/10 I feel that it is important to say that this is an important film. For More Boundary Pushing, Check Out Our Review of The House That Jack Built! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/05/the-house-that-jack-built-review/ Tetsuo, The Iron Man Spoilers Inspiration for Tetsuo Tetsuo felt heavily inspired by Eraserhead and also, meth. That is to say, I vividly remember the feeling I got when I saw David Lynch’s Eraserhead, and Tetsuo gave me many of the same feelings. It was also frantic from beginning to end, feeling almost like an hour long music video, constantly moving and changing frame – always moving to the next strange medium. This was shot in black and white on 16mm film with tremendous amount of intense lighting and with lots of stop motion animation and special effects. Troubles Shooting Interestingly, this film was just as hard to shoot as it was to watch – most of it was shot in Kei Fukiwara’s (cast as “woman”) apartment. By the end of the production most of the crew had quit or been replaced because the conditions were so atrocious. Taguchi, who played salaryman, was one of the only crew members who didn’t live on set and he was quoted as saying: “It was very tough so I quickly sensed that if you would stay with them all the time, you would inevitably get the urge to escape. So I figured that if I could keep some distance, I would be able to last much longer and keep a good relationship with them. It’s true that almost every day I went there another crew member would have left. One day I arrived at the house and the lighting crew had gone, so I had to do the lighting for Tsukamoto’s scenes myself. Toward the end, only the actors were still around. Nearly the entire crew had given up and left by then.” -Tomorô Taguchi Director Tsukamoto said years after shooting that he had contemplated burning the negatives of the film because it has been such a bad experience. Like Disturbing? We Got You Covered With Our Review of Susperia(2018)! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/11/07/suspiria-2018-review/ Soundtrack and Audio Elements This movie feels a lot like a music video partially because of the extremely grating soundtrack of industrial and metallic clanging that is constantly being piped into your ears. Strangely, near the start and end of Tetsuo, The Iron Man, there is a chill sort of jazzy number that is laid over some strange imagery. The jazzy number, ironically, is the one that’s totally out of place, and the industrial seems to fit right in with the theme. Themes in Tetsuo The Iron Man Rage and sexual frustration seem to be the mainstays and the feeling behind Tetsuo. Rage as a transformative force in the human body, and the desire to self destruct while watching the world burn with you is something that, I think, many can r

Since there aren’t any new releases out this week, this week we are covering another listener suggestion. This one comes from Anthony F. in San Antonio, TX. “I have listened to almost every episode. I dig what you guys are doing. keep up the good work.I would love to hear your take on Kuso, it’s available on shudder. It is one of the most fucked up films I have ever seen.” Anthony K. We watched Kuso, and as advertised, it is the most fucked up movie I have ever seen. And I’ve seen The Peanut Butter Solution! Kuso Poster https://youtu.be/PDRYASntddo Kuso Trailer It is a Shudder exclusive. So if you are interested in seeing it after hearing our review, feel free to subscribe to shudder using the code HMT at checkout to get a 30 day free trial. Want to Watch it? Watch Kuso on Amazon Kuso I found it surprisingly hard to give a summary of this film. Even on IMDB, it only has the following plot summary: Events unfold after a devastating earthquake in Los Angeles. IMDB Kuso is a film directed by Flying Lotus, which is the stage name for Steven Ellison. It consists of 4 of what I hesitate to call, “Storylines” that are written by Steven, Zack Fox, and creator of salad fingers, David Firth. The plots of these vignettes are secondary to the surreal and disturbing imagery and production design of the whole affair. There is only one piece of trivia listed in IMDB for this movie: Received a large number of walkouts at Sundance and was deemed in an article written for Verge as “The grossest movie ever made. IMDB The Four Story Lines in Kuso Royal: a young couple with some interesting Kinks Mr. Quiggle: an Up-and-coming female rapper “B” goes to an alternative medicine doctor Smear: a young man has digestive issues Sock: a woman in search of her lost child But really replace all those story lines with poop and that’s probably a better description. I provide a more in-depth description of these story lines in the spoiler section further below. The First Movie We Ever Reviewed – The Devils’ Doorway https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/07/24/the-devils-doorway/ Review of Kuso This is a type of movie that is almost impossible to review. If you say it’s terrible, you aren’t hip enough, if you say it’s great, you’re a pretentious douche bag. It’s the type of film that you would find playing on a loop in a modern art museum. alternatively, it’s like a David Lynch student film project, but weaponized. I’ll just say that I didn’t enjoy it, but I think that is kind of the point. This film is truly one of the most consistently, visceral disgusting films I have ever seen. Most of the film just wallows in its own filth, but there are some moments that stand out. First being the Mr. Quiggle story line featuring Zack Fox playing Manuel who is treated by Doctor Clinton, played by George Clinton. The second being the finale, which somehow ups the ante of grossness after an hour and a half of pure grossness. Score for Kuso 2/10 Watch Kuso on Shudder Use the code “HMT” at checkout to get a 30-day free trial Stream Kuso Kuso Spoilers Expand for Spoilers The opening scene is frenetic and features a spoken word jazz, and throws you off kilter immediately. https://youtu.be/yodbDPX0DO0 Buckle up, because this is nothing compared to what is to come (literally, sometimes). I’ll break down the four main story lines below. Royal Royal starts out with Kenneth listening through his paper thin walls to his neighbors having sex. His girlfriend Missy comes in and she chokes him with a rope as he masturbates. She says her hands are growing and soon “She won’t need a rope”. The most striking thing about this is the disgusting makeup and production design. Read Our Review of Unfriended: Dark Web https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/07/27/unfriended-dark-web/ All of the production design looks like it was done by the show Hoarders. The pillow that Ken is laying on looks like it was a replacement for the notorious cumbox of reddit fame. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/t0ynr/throwaway_time_whats_your_secret_that_could/c4imcva/ In terms of makeup, both of them have the most vile boils and sores all over their mouths and faces. This is a recurring thing, but the boils are heavily featured in Royal. Also, post ejaculation, Kenneth turns and smears his jizz all over Missy’s face. So there’s that. Later in the film, when we return to the couple, it’s revealed that one of Missy’s boils is sentient and talks. After reasoning with Kenneth, the boil fellates Kenny boy and Ken bequeaths it with the name “Royal”. Smear Smear features a young man named Charlie that lives with his single mother. His mother serves him the weirdest rotten looking soup I’ve ever seen. It reminded me a lot about the Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared series on YouTube. https://youtu.be/9C_HReR_McQ Charlie and his mother reminisce and worship (?) his dead father. As Charlie i

The Ruins is the ultimate 2000’s horror movie – way more budget than it’s worth, and interesting enough premise, and tons of schlock. It also stars the most notable nobody of any film ever, Jena Malone, whom you have definitely seen in something but probably can’t remember what. This is the most notable movie by director Carter Smith. I went into The Ruins movie remembering people calling it ‘distasteful,’ and I came out of it rather delighted. The Ruins Movie Synopsis The Ruins focuses on a group of five spring breakers in Mexico who wander off the beaten path and find more than they bargained for. The group gets wind of a hidden and archeological site where some Mayan ruins have recently been uncovered. They hitch a ride to a remote section of the forest and do everything in their power to find what was supposed to be kept hidden. A group of locals has gone to considerable effort to keep the path to the ruins hidden, but our bumbling crew of 20 somethings managed to stumble their way onto a giant Mayan ruin, WAY out in the open, which is covered intermittently with vines. Upon finding the ruins, the group is confronted by a band of locals with guns who chase the group onto the pyramid after one of them touches some of the plants that are growing on it. The group tries to find the previous party whom they came to unite with, and are met with a mystery along with a few human remains. As time goes on, they start to realize that their GROWING desire to LEAF may not be as FRUITFUL as the new ROOTS that they have laid down on their pyramid DIGS. If that series of puns seemed stupid to you, good, that should prepare you for this hokey thrillfest. The Ruins Trailer https://youtu.be/vzdto154_to The Ruins Score 5/10 The Ruins Watch it now or add it to your collection Rent/Buy on Amazon The Ruins Spoilers and Discussion The premise behind The Ruins is as 2000’s era as you can get. Good looking party kids meet up with a foreigner from Munich, Mathias, (Joe Anderson) and decide to head way off the resort they are partying at to see if they can find Mathias’ brother. His brother is doing archaeology work and has found previously undiscovered Mayan ruins in the jungle. Another Movie that Features Plants – Creepshow! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/01/30/creepshow-1982-review/ How Did The Ruins Stay Hidden? I don’t understand how this site has remained undiscovered because it’s not covered up by the jungle at all. Given the fact that Google had maps in full swing by 2008, and government agencies had satellites capable of seeing such ruins from space for many years before this movie, it’s unlikely that this site would remain hidden from anyone. I guess that’s beside the point. The locals understand and respect the site and how dangerous it is, because they guard it at all times, trying to keep the dangers of the site from infecting the rest of the world. Duh, what’s this pyramid? Let’s touch it! When our party of kids, lead by the most prolific actress you’ve never heard of Jena Malone (who plays Amy) runs into the ruins, they also have a run-in with the locals. The locals are extremely agitated and armed with bows, and guns, which they use to imprison the group of kids on the temple. They shoot the throwaway sixth member of the party Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas) after he touches the plants that surround the temple. A key feature of the temple is at the top there is what amounts to a hole to the center of the structure. On this hole, there is a makeshift pulley system to drop people and gear down into the structure. Presumably, this pulley system was set up and left by Mathias’ brother. The Hole at the top of the ruins. From within the temple the party, now trapped atop the structure can hear a cell phone of the previous party ringing. This is intriguing to the party because, of course, their cell phones don’t have service out here. One by one, the party succumbs to injuries and accidents while trying to either escape the temple outright or retrieve the phone within. Mathias Is injured while heading down into the temple, and he ends up breaking his back. Check Out Our Review of Greta https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/03/06/greta-review/ Stacy (Laura Ramsey) is sent down into the temple to try and help Mathias and ends up getting a pretty severe cut on her leg from a sharp object. Amy follows her to help try to get Mathias onto the makeshift gurney and hears the cell phone ring while she is down there. At some point, the group tries to reason with the locals who are guarding them on the temple, and our main hunk, Jonathan Tucker (mah name Jeff) throws a chunk of vine at a local child. The vine hits the child in the chest and the locals quickly execute the boy. This does a great job at ramping up the stakes. Won’t be needing these anymore. Mathias had his legs amputated because of plant infection. After dilly-dallying forever, they head back down into the temple to find the cell phone, and

In our Evil Dead (2013) Review we talk about how it is a great example of a horror remake done right. The bones of the original are still there, but Fede Alvarez creates something unique with this new film. While the original The Evil Dead is essentially a student film with a subversive streak, the 2013 Evil Dead is a high budget mainstream Hollywood horror movie with the gore turned up to 11. Evil Dead 2013 Synopsis The film is about a group of five friends that unwittingly summon ancient demons to a remote cabin in the woods that possess them one by one. Mia, a heroin addict played by Jane Levy, is the reason for the five of them being at her parents’ cabin in the woods. With the help of her brother David ( Shiloh Fernandez), his hotty girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore), the brainy Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), and Nurse Olivia (Jessica Lucas), Mia is attempting to quit drugs cold turkey. This comes after a series of failed attempts and a particularly bad overdose where she actually died and had to be revived. What none of them realized is that while the cabin was abandoned by David and Mia’s parents, it was broken into and used for a demonic exorcism. Left behind was an ancient Book of the Dead that has been wrapped in a garbage bag and barbed wire. Despite the safeguards and very obvious warnings written in blood, Eric, opens the book and proceeds to read an incantation that releases a powerful force of evil. This evil first attacks and possesses Mia in the woods, and then one by one infects the other cabin dwellers, until only one remains… https://youtu.be/lWG_w5w8ZLs Evil Dead Remake Review Evil Dead is a remake of Sam Raimi’s 1981 The Evil Dead. It keeps some of the building blocks from the original, like the Necronomicon, the cabin in the woods, and the five friends,  but this is definitely its own movie. The tone is dramatically different. While The Evil Dead is essentially a student film with a subversive streak, the 2013 Evil Dead is a high budget mainstream Hollywood horror movie with torture porn influences. This movie, to me is an example of a remake done right. This isn’t just an attempt to rehash a script with a higher budget. This remake really does create something different from the same ingredients of the original. The story and visual elements that are taken from the original are respectfully handled and well integrated into the new version. I found the storyline of Mia attempting to quit heroin to add another dimension to the plot. It helps to define the characters through their relationship to Mia, and give the whole party a motive for being there. https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/01/23/mandy-review/ The violence and blood is turned up to 11 in this movie and veers more towards the torture porn of the early 2000s. While there were some moments that were very disturbing, I thought it was artfully done and didn’t ever cross the line into tasteless or exploitative. Overall, I really liked this movie, and I think it stands alone as a great horror movie Evil Dead (2013) Score 8/10 Evil Dead (2013) Watch it now, or add it to your collection. Buy/Rent on Amazon Evil Dead (2013) Spoilers and Discussion Expand for Spoilers The film opens strong with what we assume is a “final girl” being chased through the woods by hillbillies. They capture her and take her to a basement full of hanging dead cats. Countless felines take their own lives each year… We find out that among her captors is her father that reveals that she has killed her own mother. An old woman reads out of a ancient tome that the only way to save the young girls’ soul is to burn her alive right there. So they do. It’s dark early in this film. We are then introduced to the main characters, which are as follows: David (Dudebro) Eric (Nerd) Natalie (Hottie) Olivia (Nurse) Mia (Junkie/David’s sister) The reason that they all go to the cabin is to help Mia quit opiates cold turkey. Mia’s drug addiction serves several purposes in this movie: It allows for quick character development by showing each of their relationships and attitudes towards Mia and each other It gives a good reason for them to all be in a super secluded cabin all together. It gives Mia’s friends an excuse to themselves why Mia would be acting crazy. When they arrive at the cabin, Mia notices a rank smell in the cabin, but the others don’t seem to notice or care. Soon they do investigate and find the scene of the burning at the beginning of the movie. Dead cats and all. There among the swinging dead cats, they find a book wrapped in a garbage bag and barbed wire. Erik, curious about the obviously dangerous item, unwraps the barbed wire and bag to reveal a book bound with human skin. The Necronomicon. The book of the dead Despite many obvious and ominous warnings from the text and notes in the book (writen in blood), Erik proceeds to read from the text and unwittingly releases an evil power into the wo

This week we saw The Curse of La Llorona and wow, what a disappointment. This is the only ghost who is 100% kept out by shutting the door or window. This movie could have been so much more than it ended up being, which is just another low effort, jumpscare factory. Even the jumpscares were boring and predictable. The Curse of La Llorona just wants to take your money and give you next to nothing for entertainment value. I don’t know a lot about Mexican folklore, but I don’t think that this does the actual story any justice at all. The Curse of La Llorona Synopsis The Curse of La Llorona is directed by Michael Chaves and follows a family of three who recently lost their father, who was a cop. Anna (Linda Cardellini) is the mom of Chris (Roman Christou) and Samantha (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen). Anna is also a social worker who works for CPS in LA, and at some point, early in the movie, she receives a tip that one of her cases is being handed over to her co-worker because she is too overburdened by single-motherhood. She fights her boss for the right to check on Patricia Alvarez (Patricia Velasquez) and ends up with more than she bargained for. The Curse of La Llorona Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojuqj8_wWo8 Through a series of boring events, Anna releases Patricia’s kids from a closet that was protecting them and the kids are gobbled up by a deadish bride called La Llorona. Patricia seeks vengeance on her caseworker, Anna, and prays to La Llorona that she take Anna’s kids and return her own. What follows is a predictable and slow jumpscare movie that failed to make me care about anyone at all. I would have been just as happy had La Llorona eaten the whole family. The Curse of La Llorona Score 4/10 The Curse of La Llarona Pre-order the Blu-Ray for your collection Pre-Order on Amazon The Curse of La Llorona Legend Facts After doing some reading and checking out the Wikipedia article, I have compiled the basics of the La Llorona Legend. The Curse of La Llorona starts in 1673. The folklore for the real story begins with a beautiful but poor woman named Maria. Maria catches the eye of a wealthy man who decides to marry her, much to her chagrin, and they build a life together, complete with two kids. As the man works in many faraway lands, he frequently leaves for work, and each time that he does, he becomes less interested in Maria. Image taken from this blog. Finally, one day he returns with a new wife and Maria is so distraught that she takes her kids down to the river and drowns them to spite her husband. She realizes what she did, and drowns herself. Upon trying to get into heaven, she is told that she can’t get in until she finds her children and brings them with her. Check Out Our Review of a Legit Movie, Terrified https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/03/20/terrified-aterrados-movie-review/ La Llorona is the ghost or spirit of this sad, crying woman, who hangs out near rivers looking for her kids. She frequently mistakes other kids for her own and drowns them upon realizing that they aren’t the right ones, which seems extreme. This is a pretty compelling folk tale that has been passed down through many generations of Mexicans, to the point that I have found lots of interesting comments about how people’s grandmothers would warn them about going near the water for fear of being caught by La Llorona. The Second Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGUiHfX1qpk This is a great way to get your kids to respect the power of rivers and bodies of water, by scaring the shit out of them. Among her wails, she is noted as crying “¡Ay, mi hijos!” which translates to “Oh, my children!” or “Oh, my sons!” If you hear her crying, you are probably marked for death. The Curse of La Llorona Spoilers The movie starts in earnest in the 1970s in LA. Anna is a caseworker and takes it upon herself to visit Patricia Alvarez, who has her kid’s locked in a closet with a bunch of eyes drawn on the door. She has Patricia’s kids taken into protective custody, and Patricia is fit-to-be-tied. While the kids are in some sort of CPS prison for kids, they are haunted by La Llorona and are low-speed-chased down a series of corridors by the ghost. This was a fairly effective spook within the movie. Once Patricia’s kids are killed, Anna is called to the “scene of the crime,” which is where the bodies were found, under an overpass in the middle of the night. Because she is a single mother, Anna brings her kids and does the most 70’s thing in this movie – leaves them in the car alone with the doors locked. Chris, Anna’s son, doesn’t follow instructions well, and ventures out into the night to view the dead bodies. Of course, he meets La Llorona, and she puts hands on him. The car scene, where the kids are holed up in the car with the ghost trying to get in really works well. The rest of the movie is a big mash-up of slow pacing and predictable jumpscares that culminates in a showdown between a local

The Wind is a Western Horror movie that is a spiritual successor to The Witch. The harsh landscape and interpersonal paranoia are in the forefront of this tense thriller. We review the film and attempt to unravel the non-linear narrative to make sense of what actually happened to the four main characters. The Wind Synopsis The Wind is the first feature film for both the writer Teresa Sutherland, and the director Emma Tammi. It is a Western Horror film that tells the story of two young families living on harsh untamed Western frontier of the US in the 1800’s. Caitlin Gerard plays Lizzy Macklin, who with her husband Isaac (Ashley Zukerman) own a homestead on the windy, dusty plains. They are soon joined by a newlywed couple, Emma and Gideon Harper played by Julia Goldani Telles and Dylan McTee. The Harpers are out of their depth trying to survive in the unforgiving environment. Emma soon starts to show cracks in her psyche, and is driven mad by the pressure. When Lizzy starts to also experience some of the visions and unexplained phenomena described by Emma, she starts to question whether she is also going mad, or is it an actual evil presence seeking to destroy them? https://youtu.be/WVZBNT0Ap-A The Wind – Official Trailer Review of The Wind Comparisons to the Witch are inevitable and apt with this movie. The harsh environment and the pressures of surviving off the land are basically a main character in both films. The trailer also makes comparisons to The Babadook. Being two of my favorite horror movies of the last decade, those comparisons made me set my expectations fairly high. The good news is that this film, for the most part, met my expectations. Want To Watch it Now? Click the button to watch The Wind on Amazon Watch The Wind It is a simple story injected with convincing human drama and told artfully through a non-linear narrative that keeps you engaged and on the edge. Coming from a first time feature film screenwriter and director, it’s actually really impressive how all the moving parts worked so well. You’re fed bits of information piece by piece, which lets you assemble the puzzle of the story’s timeline. Just enough information is withheld throughout to make you question whether the cause of all the trouble is simply paranoia and madness, or if it is an actual demon. The tone is set early with the first scene featuring a dead baby, and the menace is maintained throughout the whole movie. The score and sound design are excellent, and scared me as much as the visuals did. The film relies on inter-relationship drama, and psychological horror more than jump scares, but those are represented as well. It never quite reaches the greatness of The Witch, but the same thematic elements are represented very similarly here. Score for The Wind Movie Score 8/10 The Wind Horror Movie Spoilers Click to Expand for Spoilers Chronology of The Wind Unraveling the timeline of the film is one of the engaging aspects of the film. Below I have to the best of my abilities tried to lay out the chronology of events in The Wind. The first scene chronologically would actually be Lizzy being “haunted” alone in her own cabin. The wind knocks at door, blows out the candles, and generally terrifies Lizzy. All the while she is pregnant. Next, Lizzy is comforted by Isaac and she gives the creepy eye to the camera. Lizzy gives the creepy eye. Isaac sees that Lizzy has been reading the demons of the prairie book and burns it. Demons of the Prairie Pamphlet Isaac gives a shotgun to Lizzy to shoot demons Macklins lose baby Samuel and bury him with the Bible. The Harpers move in and the four of them all have dinner together. It is readily apparent that Emma and Gideon Harper do not get along well as newlyweds. Read Our Review of The Meg https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/08/24/the-meg/ Isaac makes good on his offer to lend Gideon some help and a plow. Emma has the hots for Isaac and seductively serves him some water. Emma comes over in the rain and commiserates with Lizzy about how useless Gideon is as a homesteader. Emma starts going crazy, hides under a bed and reveals to Lizzy that she’s pregnant. Lizzy drugs Emma and tells Gideon to tie her up. Emma still tied to the bed recites demons to Lizzy, who then in turn tells Emma to calm down Lizzy shoots Emma with the shotgun (in rain) Lizzy goes home and sleeps, wakes up, throws up (in rain), takes medicine, falls asleep on some kind of bags. Isaac and Gideon wake her on bags, and ask her to operate on Emma. Lizzy cuts out baby. This is actually the opening scene of the movie. Lizzy is in the bath scrubbing to get Emma’s blood off her. Isaac comes in and lays down the shotgun and there is definitely tension in the air. They bury Emma with her baby. Read Our Review of The Little Stranger https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/09/05/the-little-stranger-review/ Isaac and Gideon leave, Lizzy forgets that she shot Emma. Isaac off to get supplies and Gideon is going

With Pet Sematary 2019 I was bracing for a bad movie because I enjoy the original so much, although much of that is nostalgia. Even though I was guarded, Pet Sematary proved itself to be a stellar remake that I would venture to say was better than the original. This remake used the first movie as a foundation to build a familiar but different enough movie that had lots of call backs, and was, in many ways, a response to the original. Pet Sematary (2019) Synopsis Pet Sematary tells the story of the young Creed family. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) is a doctor moving to the small town of Ludlow, Maine with his wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz) and his two children Ellie and Gage. After following a procession of spooky children through the forest, Ellie meets the kindly old man Jud Crandall (John Lithgow) who is their neighbor. Jud warns Ellie and her mother against the Pet Sematary The crux of the plot, however, relies on what lay beyond yonder Pet Sematary. A Mic Mac Indian burial ground holds the secret to resurrection. https://youtu.be/zK0LNzU2TQI The 2nd Pet Sematary 2019 Trailer After the loss of a family cat “Church” Jud takes Louis to the Indian burial ground which has the unique feature where whatever is buried there will come back to life while the feline resurrection saves Elle the grief of losing her favorite cat. The knowledge of a power to restore life is a Pandora’s box that only results in misery for the Creed family. Pet Sematary (2019) Review This movie surprised me in a lot of welcome ways. It was similar enough to the original that it felt like you knew what was coming, which would be boring. The great part of this remake, it twisted and moved around your expectations to surprise and titillate. There were moments where you were sure you knew what was going to happen, the setup was there, and then nothing – a deep breath. Other places where You expected A and got Q – who expects Q?  Pet Sematary (2019) Score 8/10 Pet Sematary (2019) Pre-order this movie for your collection Buy on Amazon Pet Sematary (2019) Spoilers If you want the bare bones of how Pet Sematary spoilers play out, I would suggest listening to the episode of HMT right before this one, where we talk about the original Pet Sematary from 1989. The spoilers section on the remake is mostly going to be talking about how the remake differs from the original, things that it did well, and where it could have been better. https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/04/03/pet-sematary-1989-review/ They Fundamentally Changed Jud Pet Sematary begins with Ellie finding the pet sematary because she saw a procession of children walking on her property down the path. In the original movie, Jud brings the family to the cemetery, which kicks off the whole downward spiral. This is relevant because it shifts a bit of the blame from kind, old Jud, to no one in particular. This is kind of like, “Han shot first” in Star Wars. In the original cut, Han shoots Greedo in Mos Eisley, implying that he is a bad man, a murderer. In the late 90’s re-release, they changed it, so Greedo shot and missed Han, implying Han was a good guy all along. This is a fundamental character shift, and while it’s not as weighty in the Pet Sematary remake, I think it’s at least relevant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKxOEUhRMt0 A great side-by-side comparison of the Han shot first debacle. Jud takes to Ellie and begins to form a relationship with her, the kind, old man has a soft heart for the little girl next door – it’s sweet. John Lithgow does the role of Jud proud, which means that I have to eat my words from our review of the original Pet Sematary. We Learn Much More About Zelda The Zelda sub-plot in this is much better in every way. Zelda was the older sister of Rachel, and she had some kind of horrible degenerative disease, and Rachel has lots of flashbacks to being a little kid who had to take care of her terrifying older sister. To make matters worse, in this movie, Zelda resents Rachel for not having a degenerative disease and seems to wish her harm. The scares surrounding Zelda are probably the most intense scares in this movie, and while many of them are jump-scare oriented, the tension is built quite well. https://youtu.be/JxWMMul5-i4 Zelda in the original Pet Sematary wasn’t as fleshed out Zelda’s death in this Pet Sematary is truly upsetting, and something that would haunt a kid forever. The flashback that Rachel experiences is her being left home alone with Zelda again, and being responsible for feeding her dinner. Because she doesn’t want to see Zelda, she places the food in the dumbwaiter and sends it up to Zelda automatically. You can hear Zelda approach the broken down dumbwaiter, and soon you hear her fall into the shaft. This is a shocking moment, and it’s well executed. Victor Pascow is Greatly Diminished The Victor Pascow sub-plot was vastly different as well in that there was much less of Victor. This worked well because frankly, Victor w

With the Pet Sematary remake right around the corner, we decided it best to give the original 1989 Pet Sematary the full Horror Movie Talk treatment. Pet Sematary is not really about a pet cemetery, but is really about what lies beyond…the pet cemetery. The only horror trope more predictable than a Stephen King story set in Maine, that’s right, an Indian burial ground. And as with every movie with an Indian burial ground, the moral to the story is: don’t mess with an Indian burial ground. The movie, directed by Mary Lambert and written by Stephen King is based on his novel of the same title. Pet Sematary 1989 Synopsis Pet Sematary tells the story of the young Creed family. Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) is a doctor moving to the small town of Ludlow, Maine with his wife Rachel (Denise Crosby) and his two children Elle and Gage. Immediately they meet the kindly old man Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne) who introduces them to the features of the property. Mainly a busy road filled exclusively with speeding 18 wheelers, and a spooky forest where people bury their dead pets that were killed by those same 18 wheelers. The crux of the plot however relies on what lay beyond yonder Pet Sematary. A Mic Mac Indian burial ground holds the secret to resurrection. After the loss of a family cat “Church”, Jud takes Louis to the Indian burial ground which has the unique feature where whatever is buried there will come back to life. While the feline resurrection saves Elle the grief of losing her favorite cat. The knowledge of a power to restore life is a Pandora’s box that only results in misery for the Creed family. Original Pet Sematary Trailer https://youtu.be/JMao8sg4DPA Pet Sematary (1989) Trailer #1 Review of Pet Sematary (1989) Pet Sematary deals really well with the concepts of loss and the folly of trying to cheat death. It’s surprising how much is packed into this movie and how well it still delivers. It deals with the loss of a pet and teaching about the afterlife to your children. It deals with protecting your children from physical and psychological trauma. It deals with resentment of caring for people on their deathbed. Ideals with the grief of losing a loved one, and the desire to get them back at any cost. And it does these all really well. Check Out Our Review of Pet Sematary (2019) https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/04/10/pet-sematary-2019-review/ The acting is not particularly good, but the writing makes up for it. The dialogue can have weird asides like those found in Stephen King’s novels, but they are done tastefully and they add to the tone of the film. The script does a really good job of laying out the plot very logically and creating moments of escalation in ways that aren’t always predictable. The film has equal parts dread, jump scares, and gore. All of which are very effective. The special effects are good, save for the fight with the Gage doll at the end of the film. Score for Pet Sematary (1989) 7/10 Pet Sematary (1989) Add this classic to your collection Buy on Amazon Spoilers Expand for Spoilers You can pretty much surmise from the trailer that at least the cat will get resurrected, But the real turning point for the movie is when Gage Creed is run over by a truck. Lewis in his distress is fate driven to use the powers of the Mic Mac burial ground to bring his son back to life. He does this regardless of the warnings of Jud. Gage, like Church the cat, does not come back the same. In the place of this innocent adorable toddler, Gage comes back as an evil killing machine. His first target is Jud, whom he carves up like butter with his father’s scalpel. Zombie Gage then kills his own mother before being tracked down by Lewis and put down like a rabid dog. The imagery and emotional pull of seeing Lewis reunited with Gage is truly the best part of the film. The conflict and grief that Lewis feels when he puts down Gage feels intense. Deadly Serious Slasher Fan? Check Out Our Child’s Play 1988 Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/24/childs-play-1988-review/ The movie ends with Lewis learning nothing and proceeding to take Rachael, his wife, towards the indian burial ground. Final Recommendation Pet Sematary is a must see for any fan of family-based horror. The impact of the film is hightened if you have children of your own, but the themes in the film touch on all levels of death and grief. Also, see it before you see the remake, because from the trailer, the remake has made significant changes to the story. Horror Movie Talk Episode 37: Pet Sematary (1989) Review https://youtu.be/jbPKcNysjg0 Full Transcript of Episode 37 of Horror Movie Talk This episode of horror movie talk brought to you by Uncle Wally’s Child Coffin warehouse. No one likes to lose a child. Funerals are expensive, and mortuary services often take advantage of people’s pocketbooks at their most vulnerable moment. So skip these expensive funeral homes and come on down to Uncle Wally’s

We went and saw Us, and while it was an incredibly solid horror movie, it did not live up to the hype. Yes, it had good social commentary and implications. Yes, it is by one of the most respected (if only because of his single debut horror movie, Get Out) writers, directors out there, Jordan Peele. Yes, it starred an all-black cast. It’s hard to follow something like Get Out with something even more impressive, and that’s the only sin that Us committed. Us Overview At its core, Us is a home invasion horror movie. Us is also a smart critique on America today, both politically, and socioeconomically. Even more, it’s a fun, and at times, funny movie that everyone can probably appreciate. https://youtu.be/1tzFRIQfwXg One of the many things that Us has going for it? It’s a conversation starter. My Score 7/10 While it’s all the things I described above, it’s not particularly impressive in any stand-out way. It’s a solid movie that people will talk about, but it’s just not THAT thrilling. I was fairly bored during about ⅓ of this movie, and a lot of that was while the cat and mouse game between these two mirror families was playing out. It is an intricate, well-crafted film, with an eye on symbolism and obvious deep meaning. It just didn’t entertain me like I hoped it would. Us Pre-order the Blu-Ray for your collection Buy on Amazon Us Movie Spoilers Us begins in 1986 on the Santa Cruz boardwalk, with young Adelaide having a fun time with her parents. At some point, she wanders off and discovers a House of Mysteries below the boardwalk, which is where she first comes into contact with her tethered-self. https://youtu.be/Adlemia_V7o The international trailer This intro is nearly perfect in the way it builds tension and sets the atmosphere. I was enthralled immediately. The beach at night is a very scary place, and I think he captured that feeling quite well. Adelaide is deeply traumatized and stops talking following this event for some time. Check Out Out Review of Pet Sematary (2019) https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/04/10/pet-sematary-2019-review/ Fast forward to the present day, and Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) is driving with her family to their vacation house near Santa Cruz. Adelaide is nervous about returning to the scene of the crime that caused her so much agony as a child. The family has a few strange run-ins at the beach and a small scare. From here they meet up with their friends, the Tylers (Tim Heidecker and Elizabeth Moss). I can’t take Tim Heidecker seriously, for me, this is a miss-cast role, but to be fair, for most it’s probably a high point in the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyn6g6JFkIY Say No, no to the purple scare no no’s. One of the many reasons I can’t take Tim Heidecker seriously. Yes, these are real commercials for real mattresses. Her husband (Winston Duke) believes that she is overreacting when she starts having panics about the safety of her family, and the area in general. When they are getting ready to go to bed that night, the action ramps up when they see a family standing in their driveway. Check Out Our Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich Review https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/10/17/puppet-master-the-littlest-reich-review/ There is a lot of chasing and being chased in Us, which is the least fun part for me. There weren’t very many genuinely disturbing moments, there were few scares, and overall the middle of the movie felt very soft compared to what it could have been. Thinking back on Get Out, it wasn’t a movie that went over-the-top with scares, it did what Us did, created ambiance, and mood quite well. Us is well cast and acted, every single character was compelling and made the movie better except Tim Heidecker, whom, as I said, I just can’t take seriously. https://youtu.be/fa7f-Q-Bq9Q Jordan Peele’s Rotten Tomatoes interview on Us So, when we meet the tethered people or the doppelgängers, the Adelaide tethered tells the story of who they are and how they came to be. The happy middle-class family that is the Wilson’s has an inverse family of tethered people who are forced to live underground and have lives that are the inverse of their above-ground counterparts. Read Our Halloween 2018 Review https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/10/24/halloween-2018-review/ The doppelgänger family lives in a place where suffering and cruelty is normal. This family has the last name Red. They hate their above-ground counterparts for obvious reasons and have decided to take their lives. Us had a wonderful, original score, that reminds the audience that choral music and analog sounds do produce the creepiest vibe. https://youtu.be/WFGmO1e_sAU Creep on it… At the end, it is revealed that the underground copy of Adelaide kidnapped and swapped places with the above-ground girl in 1986. This insinuates that “We are them and they are us.” It’s the environment that makes the person. One thing I noticed was that none of the Red family could talk except for Ad

We saw Terrified AKA Aterrados on Shudder (it’s a Shudder exclusive) and goddammit, it was a scary ride. This is an Argentinian horror film that knows how to terrify you – and holy jesus is it a blast! This movie is worth the price of entry and then some, if you are a horror fan you must check it out! Also, if you are a horror fan, you should check out Mondo’s Hottest Horror Products Now! Terrified (Aterrados) Overview Terrified is an 87 minute powerhouse of scares that skips all the story and exposition, instead choosing to head straight for the meat on the bone – scares. It utilizes a super-interesting format that allows it to focus on a few different story lines at once. As the movie progresses the story lines intertwine into a cohesive web of terror. https://youtu.be/Svhmi1wTs-A Terrified introduces us to a neighborhood that is plagued by an infection of sorts. The symptoms of this infection include the dead brought to life, strange creatures that resemble corpses, and invisible/visible spooks that seem to live in the dark corners of houses and apartments. A team of researchers and cops spend a night in the three houses affected by this plague and end up finding more than they bargained for. Check out Our Review of Evil Dead (2013) https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/05/01/evil-dead-2013-review/ Terrified is remarkably effective at what it sets out to do – scare. It utilizes some great camera work, sound design, acting, and visual effects to produce a real terror of a film. It doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not, and as a result the viewer doesn’t get much of a chance to breathe. It’s tight, and it gave me real scares, which seem to be hard to find anymore. Our Score 9/10 Join Shudder to Watch Terrified Use code “HMT” at checkout for a 30 day free trial Watch on Shudder Terrified (Aterrados) Spoiler Terrified starts out in a couple’s apartment. Juan (Agustín Rittano) and Clara (Natalia Señorales) are plagued by what they believe to be their neighbor hammering on some DIY project every morning at 5 AM. After a couple mornings, Juan wakes up to his bed empty of Clara, but the hammering is still in full swing. Juan walks outside and buzzes the intercom in his neighbor, Walter’s (Demián Salomón) front yard. No one answers, just heavy breathing. As he walks back into his house and into the bathroom he witnesses his partner levitating, lifeless, and vertical in the bath, being slammed back and forth between the two, tiled walls. Check Out Our Review of Pet Sematary (2019) https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/04/10/pet-sematary-2019-review/ The focus then changes, and we get to see a bit of their neighbor, Walter’s week. Walter lives alone in this duplex he shares with Clara and Juan – or so he hopes. Walter seemingly lives in constant fear and mental anguish of something else inhabiting his house. Something is constantly unplugging his nightstand lamp and alarm clock, things move throughout the house, and Walter appears to be on high alert. As the viewers, we are granted a look at the thing that lives in Walter’s duplex with him. Check out Our Review of Us https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/03/27/us-movie-review/ Finally, a small child is killed when coming too close to Walter’s apartment. The child rises from the grave and makes his way back home to take his place at the dining table, a decomposing little boy. His mother, Alicia, is understandably beside herself and contacts the authorities, who show up to investigate. Want to Watch Terrified? Click the button to watch it on Amazon Watch Terrified At this point the three storylines morph into one when two detectives and a paranormal investigator who had been called by Walter when he was of semi-sane mind. The three decide to spend a night in the three houses in question and find quite a bit more than they bargained for. Deadly Serious Slasher Fan? Check Out our Child’s Play Review! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/24/childs-play-1988-review/ Terrified (Aterrados) Sound Design The sound and sound design in Terrified is fabulous, and really understand how to work around tension and scares. Terrified (Aterrados) Camera Work The camera work is adept and is great at building tension with slow, back and forth panning shots that work to block the viewers at key points in the tension builds. Terrified (Aterrados) Final Recommendations and Summation This movie does not need lots of exposition, story, or plot. This is a vehicle to scare the shit out of you and it works. The subtitles don’t get in the way one bit. If you are a jaded horror fan that just want’s something unnerving and spooky to scare you, Terrified is your jam.

Muuuuuuhhhhh the Frensh Champangg This week we chose to give a quick summary of every movie that we haven’t reviewed, but have watched over the past few months. Within, you will find a quick summary of each movie, and our opinion on whether or not it’s worth your time. Not a lot to say on this episode, guys and gals. Next week we will be back up with our normal format. Thanks for the support, remember to share the pod with a friend! Like Episodes Like This? Check Out The Beginnings of HMT! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/11/01/the-horrific-beginnings-of-horror-movie-talk/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs5YwFONswQ Make sure to check out our favorite drop…Orson Welles killing it in this commercial shoot.

Greta is an anagram for great, which this film is not. In this episode of Horror Movie Talk, we discuss this new thriller out in theaters starring Isabelle Huppert and Chloë Grace Moretz. Later on we do a round of Taglines and cover the most recent horror movie news. Greta Movie Synopsis Greta is one of those films that gives you pretty much everything in the trailer. You can pretty much figure out everything that happens in the movie by rearranging the sequence of the shots in the trailer to the most logical sequence of events. https://youtu.be/WAEoJkL_8zU Greta is directed by Neil Jordan and tell the story of Frances McCullen (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young woman that comes across a lost purse on the subway and being a good Samaritan, she returns it to its owner Greta Hildeg (Isabelle Huppert). The two strike a quick surrogate mother/daughter friendship and start spending time with one another. Frances soon discovers that the purse was really a ploy that Greta has used many times before to lure in young women into her orbit. She gets progressively creeped out  and discovers Greta’s evil secrets too late to save herself. Want To Watch It? Click the button to watch Greta on Amazon Watch Greta Review of Greta (2019) Greta is an ok film with good acting, but heavily contrived danger. If you can get scared by middle aged, slight, 5’3” women, this movie will terrify you. If you, like me, realize pretty much anyone short of a child could immediately overpower her, it loses some of it’s edge. The real power of this movie is when it focuses on the creep factor of having a stalker that progressively gets more threatening as she is pushed away. This isn’t a horror movie, but it does have some ok gore and some genuine darkness in the third act. It was entertaining enough, but never really grabbed me. Score for Greta 4/10 Greta Add the Greta Blu-Ray to your collection Buy on Amazon Spoilers Expand for spoilers As stated before, there aren’t a lot of spoilers to be had with this movie. The only mystery left is “what does Greta do with the girls?” and “why does Greta do this?” Both questions have unsatisfying answers. She imprisons them in a hidden room (or a box for punishment) until a replacement comes along and she kills them Because she’s crazy The official tagline for this movie is “Who is Greta?” So I guess that is supposed to be an interesting spoiler as well. The answer is she is a Hungarian woman posing as a sophisticated French woman. Because reasons. Check Out Our Review of Susperia 2018! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/11/07/suspiria-2018-review/ Of note, this is the second Hungarian villain in the last month of episodes. The Prodigy also featured a Hungarian serial killer. The main draw back of this movie is that the character of Frances is smart enough to immediately recognize danger when she discover’s Greta’s multiple purses, but to dumb to know when to break a window to escape. Final Recommendations for Greta This would be a decent date movie, but you might want to wait till it’s on Netflix. Videos and Trailers Mentioned in Episode 33 of Horror Movie Talk https://youtu.be/VFevH5vP32s Muhuuuh the Frensh! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCx-M8dcDhk Boo Box scene in Hook featuring Glen Close https://youtu.be/cfaDM0Os_Qc Pet Sematary Trailer Mentioned in Horror Movie News Segment https://youtu.be/ZsBO4b3tyZg New Hellboy Red Band Trailer mentioned in Horror Movie News Segment https://youtu.be/gukMGtZoaKk IT: Chapter Two Spoilers from Jessica Chastain https://youtu.be/27RtJp-rhHk Hail Satan? documentary trailer mentioned in Horror Movie Talk segment https://youtu.be/I0UWIya-O0s Midsommar Trailer mentioned in Horror Movie Talk segment

We watched Summer of 84 on Shudder, and it was nostalgia-rific. Teenager Davey Armstrong is mired in conspiracy theories and the Weekly World News stories. Davey begins to suspect that a neighboring police officer is a serial killer who targets kids in the Cape May Oregon area (which is made up) called, “The Cape May Slayer. With some help from his friends, Davey begins investigating the perp, which eventually turns into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Summer of 84 Overview Summer of 84 was a pretty fun nostalgia trip. This isn’t as crazy or pandering as movies like Turbo Kid, or Ready Player One,  which seeks to pile on all the nostalgia they can. Instead, this movie takes a close look at a boring old summer turned exciting, aka dangerous. It’s very similar in feel to Stranger Things. It’s basically a Stranger Things remake of Rear Window. https://youtu.be/vkalLfx229o While it slumps a bit in the middle, it holds up well and is able to pull off a high-quality production. In fact all of the Shudder exclusives I’ve watched so far have been worth my time. Want To Watch It? Click the Button to Watch Summer of 84 Watch it on Amazon My Score 7/10 Summer of 84 Spoilers To me, it’s always impressive when a movie seeks to create a new town that doesn’t exist in real life, and Ipswich, Oregon is no different. I’m a Washingtonian, but I live right next to Oregon and have most of my life, and I was tricked by Summer of 84 into believing that not only Ipswich existed, but it’s geographical location of Cape May existed when it does not. This speaks to the authentic feeling that this movie portrays. It’s authentic in its location, and in the believable characters. Check Out Our Review of Overlord! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/11/14/overlord-review/ The sets were done well, which is always impressive to me in these period piece movies, even if the period is only the 80’s. The soundtrack is pretty much what you would expect it to be with lots of edgy, synth wave and Kavinsky-esque tracks in the original score. Let’s take a look at the main character, Davey (played by Graham Verchere of The Good Doctor). Davey is the quintessential 80’s movie star character – think Elliot in E.T. The Extraterrestrial. He’s slight of build, he’s relatable to the every-man, dorks but not jocks, and basically the human equivalent of vanilla ice cream. Davey’s three friends fill the appropriate roles: you have the nerd, Curtis (played by Cory Gruter-Andrew), the bad boy Tommy (played by Judah Lewis of The Babysitter), and fatty, fatty two by four Dale (played by Caleb Emery). These friends provide all the humor in the movie via boys-will-be-boys styles masturbation and your mom jokes. The humor is juvenile, but it feels like it’s in the right place. The next door neighbor/heart-throb is Nikki (played by the beautiful Tiera Skovbye). Mackey (played admirably by Rich Sommer who has done a bunch of shows you’ve seen) is the ultimate foil. He is a cop. They guess it’s him early on in the movie, leading you to believe that it’s probably not him – but it is – but is it? Ultimately the boys do their best to prove that it’s Mackey until Mackey takes matters into his own hands as a police officer. He decides to find a patsy to pin the murders on and is celebrated as the man who found the Cape May Slayer. Check Out Our Review of Hereditary! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/11/21/hereditary-review/ The capture of the fake Cape May Slayer kicks the boys into high gear, and they decide to break into Mackey’s house where they find a room full of a few of his victims, both alive and dead. At this point, the movie flips a switch. Mackey goes on the lamb and eventually grabs Davey and Caleb, the large lad, and plays a big game of manhunt with them. This is where the movie turns into a hard horror. Mackey leaves Davey with a truly disturbing monologue that would leave any kid shaking in their boots. The two problems that I had with Summer of 84: The pacing wasn’t terrible, but it certainly could have been faster. They could have kept it at this pace if they had done thrown a little bit more to the audience in terms of fun visuals or intriguing dialog. The suspense falls flat until the last act of the movie, which means it’s mostly a love story and a fun whodunit until then. The jump scares are excessively loud and completely dangling in the wind. Most of the jump scares have no build up and therefore aren’t releasing any audience tension. The effect is minor confusion. Final Recommendations Summer of 84 was a fun movie that any casual fan of horror would enjoy. If you get done with Stranger Things and feel like you need more 80’s nostalgia, this is a great movie to scratch that itch. The Hole in the Ground Trailer https://youtu.be/BxY2vnJiByw

Happy Death Day 2U is the direct sequel to Groundhog Day plot stealing slasher Happy Death Day. Even though the slasher elements take a backseat in this entry, the fun and fresh tone of the original is maintained. This film has more of a sci-fi comedy than a horror movie and tries to extend the scope of the first film while maintaining the premise of living the same day over and over again. Happy Death Day 2U Synopsis The film starts out following Ryan Phan (played by Phi Vu) on the morning after the events of the first film. Ryan was only a bit part in the original Happy Death Day, but plays a much more important role in the plot this time around. In a welcome bait and switch, after rerunning Ryan’s day a couple times, the plot switches focus back to the original protagonist of Happy Death Day, Tree Gelbman (played by Jessica Rothe). Check Out Our Review Of Silent Night Deadly Night! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/19/silent-night-deadly-night-review/ If you’re not familiar with the premise of the original, it is simply a horror version of Groundhog Day. Tree is forced to relive day of her murder over and over again until she solves the mystery of who her killer is. This sequel throws in a wrinkle this time because despite being the same day, Tree is in a different dimension, so not everything is the same. https://youtu.be/THq6KlWgiqw HDD2U Lowdown Happy Death Day 2U maintains the fun and playful atmosphere of the original but basically switches genres. It’s much less of a horror movie, and more of a sci-fi comedy, ala Back to the Future. In trying to keep the premise fresh, they end up over-extending and there are multiple loose ends and skimmed over plot points that make this movie much less cohesive and tight as the first movie. Happy Death Day 2U is more enjoyable than the average movie nonetheless, and that is thanks to the performance of Jessica Rothe. Want To Watch It Now? Click the button below to watch on Amazon Happy Death Day 2 U Our Score 6/10 Final Recommendations for Happy Death Day 2U If you liked the first one, you will still like this one. Very light horror, so if you are going for a slasher, you might be disappointed. Bonus Trailer: Ma https://youtu.be/dvpKRSHIkzM

Today we review The Prodigy, which, if you recall from horror movie news a few weeks ago was pulled back into the edit bay because they claimed it was too scary. Well, mission accomplished, The Prodigy is no longer too scary. In fact, it isn’t too much of anything; it’s more of a forgettable horror movie that had decent promise and delivered on very little. The Prodigy starts with two stories happening simultaneously: One is a mother giving birth. Another is a woman escaping from the clutches of a deranged serial killer’s house minus a hand. The escaping woman notifies the authorities, and a swat team begins closing in on the serial killer’s house. As the baby is born the serial killer is gunned down, the insinuation being that the soul of the serial killer is reincarnated into this newborn baby. And, just like that, I was bored into oblivion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC4cyYRxjFk The Prodigy was a highly hyped movie that ends up falling flat. It was made up of a lot of hand-holding and exposition that was WAY too convenient for the story. It felt like lazy writing with a decent concept. The most notable stars of The Prodigy are Taylor Schilling from Orange is the New Black, and Jackson Robert Scott, who was the little Georgie in the It remake from 2017. Check Out Our Review of The Ritual! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/11/28/the-ritual-review/ The men to blame for The Prodigy is the writer, Jeff Buhler (Midnight Meat Train), and director Nicholas McCarthy (The Pact). The Prodigy’s writing is so predictable that it sometimes feels like a paint by numbers for horror movies. The direction is just boring, leaving you wishing the movie ended an hour before it does. There are a few decent jump-scares but good god man, it’s just not worth it. That being said, it’s not a “bad” movie, it’s just bland as bland can be. Score For The Prodigy 4/10 It’s not fun, and it’s barely entertaining. Does that make it bad? I don’t think so, just pretty sub-par. The Prodigy Add The Prodigy to your collection Buy on Amazon The Prodigy Movie Spoilers The bones of The Prodigy are pretty good. The idea that a killer could be reincarnated is not a new one (Child’s Play, The Omen, and plenty of others), but it is compelling and could be made very scary. I think the way I would like to see a story like this play out is with a Rob Zombie flair. Miles is the formulaic evil child who has been placed in the formulaic evil child script to act out formulaic evil child things. Here is a brief rundown on the structure of The Prodigy: Mom has evil child Evil child is gifted but evil Doctors note gift, also note “some evil” Mom takes child to a brain quack who diagnoses evil within child with far greater accuracy than many doctors can diagnose the common cold Child confirmed: evil Evil deeds by evil child Evil child splits up family Evil wins, probably So, with the boring script stripped away, this becomes a movie that you have probably seen before, which would normally be fine. There are no original stories left to tell. The sin that The Prodigy commits is that it doesn’t add anything new or interesting to the story to make you care. Check Out Our Review Of The House That Jack Built! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/05/the-house-that-jack-built-review/ Keep in mind, the bones of this story are the bones for many of the best horror movies ever made: Hereditary Rosemary’s Baby The Exorcist The Omen It wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t fun or original or interesting. It made sense, and it wasn’t like the acting was poor. It was just boring and long. So, what’s so boring about The Prodigy? Well, let’s talk about a game that was played two, maybe three times in this movie – staring match. Can you think of a more bland activity for a movie than a staring match? I can’t, and I’ve seen some real piles of shit. Sarah and Miles play a game called, “staring” with each other, and it’s every bit as pointless as it sounds. The idea behind the direction is, “Let’s show off his different colored eyes that are the big tip-off that he is the killer reincarnated.” It flops hard because staring matches are inherently boring. Check Out Our Review of Black Christmas! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/12/black-christmas-review/ There were some interesting bits and some decent scares. There was even an extremely unnerving scene where Miles, a ten-year-old boy, climbs into bed with and creepily caresses his mother. It didn’t go anywhere interesting or terrible from there; it just kept going in monotone until it ended. Final Recommendations Teenagers or equivalent who have no barometer or taste. The movie has decent production but falls flat otherwise. Upcoming Horror Movie Trailers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwSr1KnGPTo The Trailer for Greta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNp1LPm3Krs The Curse of La Llorona Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKXvex7b1Ew The Intruder Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK0LNzU2TQI Pet Sem

Piercing is the story of man named Reed (played by Christopher Abbott) who is encouraged by his newborn baby to drug, kill, and dismember a prostitute in a hotel room. Murder isn’t as easy as it sounds, and after a Sitcom-esque introduction of Jackie the prostitute (played by Mia Wasikowska), his plans are inadvertently foiled. What follows is a weird sitcom trope of “will they, won’t they”, only referring to murder and not fucking. Piercing is a stylistic short film plot that was convincingly stretched to a feature length film. The director Nicolas Pesce borrows skillfully from many of my favorite directors. There is a bit of Tarantino, some Wes Anderson, and a healthy dose of David Lynch are included throughout. There aren’t many scares, but lots of tension and surprising moments. The performances of both lead actors were captivating to watch and provided foundation for the unhinged plot. https://youtu.be/7pj5u4r_eSE The plot of Reed trying to kill a hooker only really serves as a framework to explore a murky dreamscape of Reed’s psyche and the mysterious intentions of Jackie. If you want a movie with a beginning, middle, and an end, you might have to settle for 2 out of 3. However, I can definitely say that Piercing was an enjoyable movie, and I can definitely recommend seeing it if you like art-house horror. Want To Watch It Now? Click the button below to watch it on Amazon Piercing Score for Piercing 7/10 Piercing balances psychological horror and dark comedy adeptly while maintaining a fresh yet familiar style. Piercing Movie Spoilers Stylistically, this film reminded me of several other directors’ work: Quentin Tarantino – The 70’s cool, yet time period ambiguous setting Wes Anderson – The use of miniatures and the matter-of-fact absurd comedy David Lynch – The surrealistic drug trips and dream logic Paul Thomas Anderson – Specifically Punch Drunk Love with the slightly twisted yet still somehow wholesome interaction between the leads. Reed is an unreliable narrator and several times throughout the film, he is encouraged to go through with killing a prostitute. Those encouraging him in order are: His newborn baby The hotel clerk His wife It is obvious that something is not right with Reed, and that he is at the very least a paranoid schizophrenic, and could also just as likely be dreaming. Check Out Our Review of Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/24/ghost-dimension-review/ Dream logic abounds with strange actions and conversational non-sequiturs. Towards the end of the film when Reed is tying up Jackie, he does so in a impotent and lazy wrap of the rope only around her wrists. Piercing starts out with small doses of hallucinations and slowly descends to full a full on bad trip with a little girl stabbing bunny. It’s a wild ride, but enjoyable if you like stylistic psychological horror. Final Recommendations This is a great movie for people that like foreign films but don’t want to read subtitles. That sounds sarcastic, but if you watch it (which I suggest you do) it will make sense. Check Out Our Guest Spot on We Shouldn’t Be Here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exvW7TbHEF8

I had a lot of fun watching Creepshow (1982). It’s presented in an entertaining way, has a ton of big names, and if you aren’t into the story, you can wait 20 minutes and see a new one because it’s a compilation of five horror stories. This was the only George A. Romero film to open at number one in the weekend box-office. It was a sleeper hit in theaters, and its charm is mostly to blame. Creepshow Trailer https://youtu.be/owdnnaNs2RI Creepshow is a cult classic that has remained low on horror fan’s collective radar since it was released. It was directed by the great and powerful George Romero and written by Stephen King, so it already has a huge amount going for it. Add to it a cast that includes Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Ed Harris, Adrienne Barbeau, and Stephen King himself, and you have a horror gem. Creepshow is comprised of five short horror stories that are each compelling and envelope-pushing and memorable. The acting is hammy, the actors are having fun, the stories are spooky but not hard to handle for the easily spooked horror fan. This movie is like a trip down to nostalgia town. Creepshow is a fun, funny, and scary movie that I had not seen before this, and will now revisit year after year. Want To Watch It Now? Click the button below to watch it on Amazon Creepshow My Rating 8/10 While Creepshow is an excellent example of a cult classic, it’s too light and breezy to be much higher than an 8/10. Spoilers Creepshow is presented in a comic book format. They do some interesting paneling shots where the video is shown in the same way that a comic book panel would be presented. The motif is made to look eerily similar to the classic comic titles, Eerie and Creepy did, almost down to the T. It’s clear that these comics made a big difference in Stephen King’s childhood, and probably Romero’s as well. This was Stephen King’s screenwriting debut, and it’s pulled off without all the confusing bullshit that is known to accompany much of his writing. Father’s Day The first of the stories that Creepshow has to offer is titled, “Father’s Day” and is the story of a well-to-do family who is reprehensible human beings whom each get their comeuppance. The dead father was killed by his daughter, Bedelia, on Father’s day while being a real jerk to her. The rest of the family is rich and living off of daddy’s fortune. On this Father’s day, dad comes back from the grave to exact revenge on his ungrateful and equally terrible kids. Father’s Day presents a bit of a lesson to the audience, which I took to be, you get what you give. Alternatively, don’t be a dick, especially when family is involved. Check Out Our Review of Gremlins! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/26/gremlins-review/ The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill The second story is titled, “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill”, which is based on the short story “Weeds.” This is a one-man-play starring the King himself as a goofy hillbilly who finds a meteorite that crashes to earth on his property. He touches it, which is enough to spell his doom. King, bumbles and stumbles around as his luck grows worse and worse until he finally is overcome by the plants that the meteorite brought to earth. The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill was reminiscent of pulp mags and stories from the ’50s and ’60s. I enjoyed the special effects on this story quite a bit – tons of plants! Something to Tide You Over “Something to Tide You Over” is the third story in Creepshow, and it’s one of my favorites. This one stars Ted Danson as Harry, who is the victim to Leslie Nielsen’s wealthy psychopathic killer. Leslie’s wife has been cheating on him with Ted, and he exacts his revenge in an extremely creative, ocean-themed way. What he doesn’t bargain on is his revenge coming back to bite him. Check Out Our Review of Bird Box! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/01/02/bird-box-review/ The Crate “The Crate” is probably the longest and most notable story in Creepshow, and features a college janitor who drops a quarter underneath an old, forgotten stairwell. Upon closer inspection, he finds an old, forgotten crate under the stairs that dated back to the 19th century. He notifies Dexter Stanley, a college professor. They open the box to find one of the craziest movie monsters I can recall. Of all the great practical effects, this monster, coined Fluffy, is the best. Fluffy has an incredible appetite and seems happy to live solely within the box that it’s been locked in for over a hundred years. I can’t believe how much room Fluffy has in his belly, because he ate, three, maybe four people. The Crate had a great story about Northrup, whose old lady was a real bitch. The amount of revenge and comeuppance in The Crate works well. This short left me with the same feeling that Raiders of the Lost Ark left me with – some treasures are sitting in some vault somewhere, waiting to be rediscovered. Check Out Our Review Of Escape Room! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/01/09/e

Have you ever lit your worst enemy on fire, decapitate them, and use their still burning severed head to light your cigarette? Better yet, have you seen Nicolas Cage do it? Mandy is an exercise in world bending drug trips, fantasy novels, 70’s & 80’s horror movie tropes, and insane revenge. It starts in the woods in 1983 and ends up in some crazy fantasy land that I don’t understand, but I love it nonetheless. There is this trend in shows and movies right now that seeks to capitalize on the nostalgia of the 80’s. Some things do it quite well; others just make me feel like I’m being taken advantage of – Mandy is the former. Mandy is like a strange amalgamation of Turbo Kid, The Amityville Horror, Raising Arizona, and Stranger Things. The whole production is slow, methodical, and feels quite unhinged. Mandy Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI054ow6KJk Synopsis of Mandy The story starts with Nicolas Cage and Andrea Riseborough (Mandy) living their best life in a nice little cabin in the forest. There is something slightly supernatural about Mandy, and she infatuates Cage. A van full of “Jesus Freaks” see Mandy walking down the road one day and the cult leader decides he can’t live without her. After that, this movie descends into some of the strangest territory that I can recall. Watch Mandy Mandy Full Movie Click here to Watch Written and directed by Panos Cosmatos with additional writing credits Aaron Stewart-Ahn, Mandy makes sure to pay homage to its roots. There are tons of callbacks and references to old-school horror, fantasy novels, music, and tropes. It’s mostly a mood piece, and the mood is drug-fueled. Check Our Our Review of The Killing of a Sacred Deer https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/07/17/the-killing-of-a-sacred-deer-review/ The music drones loudly and angrily, the setting morphs into a dark fantasy land, Cage turns into a bad ass narco messiah, it’s nuts. My Rating 8/10 Mandy is insane. It features Cage in quite possibly the best way you can feature Cage, the same way Raising Arizona features him, as a normal, everyday lunatic. Mandy Spoilers Once the aforementioned Jesus freaks catch sight of Mandy and decide they need her in their cult, they make use of an artifact whistle that summons the four quad-men of the apocalypse. They are a motorcycle gang who has been turned into something eternal and perverse by some sort of trucker crank. This drug has altered the biker gang into super mutants who can be controlled by anyone who gives them more insane drugs. The Jesus freaks give the quad-men some drugs and demand that they help kidnap Mandy, which they do while Cage and his girlfriend are asleep in their bed. Check Out Our Review of Gremlins 2: The New Batch https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/07/24/gremlins-2-the-new-batch-review/ The Jesus freaks give Mandy some heinous psychedelics from a giant wasp, and the cult leader, Jeremiah (Linus Roache), tries to convince Mandy to sleep with him in front of his followers. Mandy openly laughs at an mocks Jeremiah, so he decides to sacrifice her in front of a bound and gagged Cage by lighting her on fire. As it turns out, that was a mistake on Jeremiah’s part. Enter the rage Cage. Cage becomes a man with a purpose – to kill anyone who was involved with the kidnapping and murder of Mandy. The movie morphs into a dark fantasy-horror landscape that was inspired by 70’s and 80’s fantasy novel covers. Is Mandy Worth Watching? To answer the question of, “Is Mandy worth watching?” please refer to the following list. Do you enjoy: Revenge Cults Destroying cults The 70’s The 80’s Fantasy novels Psychedelic vibes Bad ass weapons Insane drug trips Revenge Apocalyptic themes and tropes Burning religious imagery Dark and sinister characters Lude sexual acts Horror movies Tigers Nicolas Cage in his element Revenge If you answered yes to some of these things, it’s probably worth a watch. Mandy is clearly on it’s way to becoming a cult classic of sorts, so watch it now on Amazon or in a limited release theater so that you can say you saw it on release.

This episode we review the cult classic Sleepaway Camp. This campy slasher combines the most horrifying elements of the eighties: over-the-top teen bullies, and casual pedophilia. Listen to Horror Movie Talk’s take on this fun thriller. Sleepaway Camp is a 1983 teenage slasher that has become a bit of a cult classic. The film follows Angela Baker (played by Felissa Rose), a painfully shy girl recovering from the psychological trauma of a tragic boating accident as she attends a Summer Camp filled with 80’s teen movie villains. She is accompanied to camp with her cousin Ricky (played by Jonathan Tiersten) who at times is very protective towards her. Pretty soon after camp starts, there are a series of murders. The camp owner Mel (played by Mike Kellin) does his best to keep the murders under wraps and becomes increasingly suspicious of Ricky as the victims seem to be people that have bullied Angela. Sleepaway Camp Trailer https://youtu.be/T9K2ARikYzE This movie is a lot of fun and maintains a great balance of passable quality, campiness, and tastelessness that is essential for being granted cult status. The film gets most of its cred from its surprising conclusion, but it isn’t defined by it. This is a great time capsule of eighties teen movies that have that “Should I be watching this” vibe. Too mature for young viewers, and too much teenage sexuality for adults to feel comfortable watching. It’s that elusive 80’s vibe that Stranger Things, IT, and other shows that attempt to exploit. Check Out Our Review of Child’s Play (1988) https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/24/childs-play-1988-review/ The special effects sequences range from 50’s workplace safety videos to straight up graphic, gooey 80’s horror. The real charm of the movie comes from it’s non sequitur writing and acting. I found myself saying “What?!” or laughing out loud at unintentionally ridiculous moments. My Rating 7/10 Sleepaway Camp Watch it now or add it to your collection. Rent/Buy on Amazon What works well about this movie This is a very campy movie, and as such, is tonally all over the place in a good way. Angela’s mother seems picked straight out of a 1930’s talkie. The teen villains are the kind only found in 80’s teen movies. Finally, Artie, the openly casual pedophile could only exist on film in the 80’s. I particularly enjoyed the score of the film. It was repetative, but featured a full orchestral sound, with real orchestra stings to emphasize the horror. I wish more modern horror movies wouldn’t rely so much on ambient spooky soundscapes, and go back to full orchestras. Check Out Our Review of The Dead Don’t Die https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/06/19/the-dead-dont-die-review/ What really steals the show is the abundance of cock outlines. If you can remember that one scene in Juno where she is ogling the cross country team in their runner shorts, imagine that stretching for about 80 minutes. It’s distracting, and dare I say… Immodest. Sleepaway Camp features dick outlines pretty heavily. Most of all, what makes this movie great is it’s charm. What doesn’t work This mustache: Fakest mustache in horror Spoilers for Sleepaway Camp This is the rare occurrence where naming the killer is the least relevant spoiler in the movie. If you don’t know the “twist” at the end, I won’t spoil it here. But just look at Angela’s face. You know she’s hiding something. That being said, Angela was definitely the killer even though they heavily alluded to her brother being guilty. The filmmakers went as far as to have the actor playing her brother appear as a silhouette wearing a wig during one killing. Final Recommendation I highly recommend Sleepaway Camp. It proves that in many very important ways, you can’t recreate 80’s horror. This movie might not be for everyone, but if you are a fan of campy horror, or even just cult classics in general, you should enjoy this one as much as I did. Sleepaway Camp as of the publish date of this episode is available on Shudder. Use “HMT” at checkout to get a 30 day free trial.

Escape Room is a movie best described as tense, fun, and bad in a good way. It has a solid premise and uses it in creative ways to up the tension and suspense for the audience. At times is goes over the top, but mostly in fun ways. Escape Room is a thriller about a group of strangers who are brought together by an unknown presence that sends out a puzzle to each of them. When they complete the puzzle, it gives them an invitation to compete in a new, premier escape room in their area. The invitation claims that if they beat the escape room they can win $10,000! What they don’t know is that they are playing for their lives! Watch Escape Room Escape Room Full Movie Click here to Watch It’s is fun, funny, and terribly written. The dialog is laughable and made up of constant exposition about what is happening at any given moment is what makes this movie laughable. The bones of this movie are decent, and it’s pretty much exactly what I expected. Mostly I had such a fun time watching it with Bryce and being exasperated at the silly dialog that Escape Room ended being more fun than I expected it would be. Watch the trailer here: https://youtu.be/8W6yYBAUxv4 My Rating 5/10 Spoilers for Escape Room Escape Room starts out by introducing us to the six narrators of the movie. I say narrators because every single action taken by every character in Escape Room is narrated with gusto by at least one of these six main characters. Of the actors in Escape Room the two that you will probably notice the most from other projects are Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll) who you might remember as the redhead from True Blood, and Mike (Tyler Labine) who is Dale from Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Tyler is also a producer on Dale and Tucker. One of the main character’s is Zoey (Taylor Russell) who I recognized from the recent Netflix show Lost in Space. Everyone else is an up-and-comer. So, everyone gets the invitation and shows up to what they believe to be the lobby of the escape room. Turns out the lobby is the first room they have to escape, and quickly turns into an oven. They make their way through six successive escape rooms as their numbers are thinned. The one constant throughout all of the movie is that they are being watched by cameras that are set up throughout every escape room. The creators of the escape room use these cameras to monitor the subjects and broadcast the feed of human misery to nameless viewers on the web. The different escape rooms include (in order): Oven (hot) Ice cabin (cold) Upside down bar Medical treatment facility Trippy drug room Squish you flat study Several final levels/false endings The Good and The Bad The biggest problem I have with Escape Room is actually a bit of a strength for the movie – the laughably bad dialog and exposition. Everything in this movie is narrated by the characters; every action, every thought, every single part of this movie is narrated. It was bothersome at first, but then became so ridiculous and so dependable, it became a companion of sorts for me throughout the movie. I was able to look over at Bryce and see him roll his eyes and laugh every 10-15 seconds, and that was terrible and great at the same time. This movie is not disjointed and hard to follow like Slenderman, it’s the opposite. It’s so easy to follow and so heavily narrated that it becomes a joke in and of itself. Actual problems that stood out to me in this movie were some of the puzzles that the participants had to solve to beat the rooms. These puzzles were (sometimes) so specific to a single character’s personal trauma that only that character could solve the puzzle. So, it was movie kismet that happened to allow the participant who won the escape room to actually get through the whole thing. The plot premise on Escape Room reminded me quite a bit of the plot premise of Unfriended: Dark Web. A shady dark web group is paying to see fucked up things happen to unwilling participants on the internet. Many have said that it’s similar to Saw – sure, that works too. Check Out Our Review of Unfriended: Dark Web https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/07/27/unfriended-dark-web/ Overall, Escape Room was a tense, goofy thriller that had a few uncomfortable moments, but never anything bordering on “scary”. Going into this movie I was expecting the worst but ended up having a good time because of the way it was written and some fun acting. Final Recommendation Escape Room is a fun enough movie, but it’s nothing special. Watch it with friends and you will have a good time. Watch it alone at your peril. Horror Movie News The Prodigy Trailer https://youtu.be/BC4cyYRxjFk The director of The Prodigy is reworking some scenes because they were supposedly too scary. I just hope they leave enough scares in! What Qualifies as “Horror”? Check out this article written by Emily Von Seele for Bloody Disgusting about how everyone keeps trying to call horror movies anything other than “horror”. Listen to the podca

This episode we review Bird Box, which is available to stream only on Netflix. It’s probably one of the best horror movies of 2018. Even though it was released the Friday before Christmas, it has already been watched over 45 million times according to Netflix. Bird Box tells the story of Mallorie (played by Sandra Bullock) as she experiences the fallout of a worldwide invasion of monsters that cause people to commit suicide if you look at them. The survivors of the invasion figure out that they must block their view with blindfolds or window coverings to resist the influence of the unseen creatures. Read Bird Box Bird Box Full Book Click here to Read The non-linear narrative jumps between the onset of the global disaster where Mallorie finds herself holed up with a motley crew of survivors, and five years after the fact when Mallorie is floating down a river with two small children trying to get to safety. Will they make it? Is it a happy ending? …You’ll just have to …SEE it. Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INJ2bPFy108 There is a star studded cast that give great performances. Notably Sarah Paulson in her small role as Mallorie’s Sister, and Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight), the love interest. John Malkovich is also in it. It’s directed by Susanne Bier which has mostly just directed dramas and romances, but she has shown her skill with this movie. This is a really high quality movie that I’m kind of shocked wasn’t released in theaters. It would have done great, as evidenced by it’s record breaking first week on Netflix. It’s very tonally similar to A Quiet Place, and that’s only helps it. There is a lot of creative problem solving on display in this movie, but most notably, this movie is a great example of how to not show the monster. Another great compliment I can pay to this movie is that all of the characters’ actions made sense. Any time that I was yelling at the screen, it was from dramatic irony, not because of a stupid character decision. The writing was very good at building the world and communicating the situation in a very short period of time. Lots or really tense moments and great payoffs throughout. My Rating 9/10 Spoilers for Bird Box First, let me say, that this movie has some of the best scared faces of the year. If there was an Oscar for best scared face, I think Sarah Paulson and Lil Rey Howery would get nominated. Second, every time I see John Malcovich, I think of this interview of Matt Damon talking about working with him the first time on Rounders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMaAT_KPSs4 Alright, lets get to the rest of the movie. There are some great moments of tension in this movie that don’t rely on characters making stupid decisions. This is difficult for some horror movies for some reason. Two moments in particular are very effective and had me clutching the air. First, the scene where it is revealed that Gary, played by Tom Hollander, is an acolyte for the monster. Some people may think it’s cheap that this reveal happens as the births were happening, but to me, it just made it more effective. It served as a prime moment of distraction for Gary to make his move. Check Out Our Review of Creepshow https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/01/30/creepshow-1982-review/ The next part that I was clawing at the armrests was towards the end of the movie when Mallorie is separated from the children, and the monster is trying to trick the children to take off their masks in the voice of Mallorie. It was the penultimate scene of the movie and was so effective because at this point, you understand that the detachment that Bullock’s character is displaying towards the children throughout the movie is just a facade. She cares deeply and has masked her attachment to protect the children in case something happens to her. During the scene where they are separated, it is nerve-wracking because all of her effort could be for naught. Well, if you’re reading this spoiler section, you might want to know what happens in the end. Like my wife, who is a horror lightweight asked me: “is it a happy, or a sad ending?”. Well, it’s a happy ending. It might seem like an obvious choice, but throughout the movie, it truly felt like it could go either way. They killed Sarah Paulson’s character within the first 15 minutes, so they weren’t going to shy away from a super depressing ending if they wanted to. Check Out Our Review of Hereditary https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/11/21/hereditary-review/ To say that it is a happy ending, isn’t to say that it is cheap. The ending most of all just feels satisfying. It has a slight reveal that makes sense, but mostly it is satisfyingly because it ties up the thematic material so well. Mainly surviving vs living, and human connection. Final Recommendation If you liked A Quiet Place, then you should like this movie. It’s not as derivative of it as

If you don’t know what Gremlins is about, what the fuck are you doing? This is a movie about a Mogwai, and the sleepy little town of Kingston Falls, that wakes up to a very unusual Christmas day! https://youtu.be/XBEVwaJEgaA If you want to watch Gremlins use this link to rent it on Amazon and you will do your part to help support this podcast. Watch Gremlins Gremlins Full Movie Click here to Watch It’s single-handedly responsible for a HUGE section of horror, now basically known as Gremlins knock-offs. The list of Gremlin knock-offs is long and includes: Troll Critters Leprechaun Cat’s Eye The Gate Munchies Hobgoblins Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowlarama Beasties Elves My Rating 8/10 Gremlins Spoilers Gremlins is an iconic movie in many ways. It’s got Steven Spielberg’s stink all over it despite being directed by Joe Dante. An interesting thing about Bryce, he loves Steven Spielberg, and because he was the Executive producer on this, I bet Bryce has a worthwhile take on Gremlins. Listen to the podcast to find out more on Bryce’s takes on Steven Spielberg. Check Out Our Review of Gremlins! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/07/24/gremlins-2-the-new-batch-review/ Gremlins starts in my favorite way, in a bustling set of Chinatown, where a young boy leads Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) down into his grandfather’s shop of Asian artifacts. Randall Peltzer has an interesting through line in this movie, in that he is a shitty inventor unless you count creating inventions that kill Gremlins well. Anyway, the old Chinese grandfather/curator of the shop, Mr. Wing (Keye Luke), warns Mr. Peltzer that the cute Mogwai isn’t for sale but the grandkid can’t turn down the money, and Mr. Peltzer walks away with Gizmo. But not before being given very specific rules for dealing with the Mogwai. The rules for keeping Mogwai are simple: Keep them out of the light. No water. Don’t feed after midnight. So Gizmo goes home and eventually all the rules are broken, and we are given Gremlins. Gremlins are sadistic and mean, and they mean nothing but trouble for the town of Kingston Falls. How Gremlins Die Gremlins is a movie that holds nothing sacred, except maybe movie tropes. Watch Gremlins to see all the interesting ways that you can kill the Gremlins in your life. We get to see Gremlins killed with: A knife Food processor Microwave Sword Sword/fireplace combo Light Car And more! Tropes in Gremlins Gremlins is a movie about tropes. Here are some of the most impressive tropes that Gremlins sticks to: Black man is first to die. Rules are made to be broken. School as a place of horror. Alien blood, I.E. blood that is colored differently to make it appear strange. Damsel in distress. Mythical creatures. Action mom. Asshole victim. Bad people abuse animals Bungling inventor. Crazy cat lady. Police are useless. The Dad in The Chimney Subplot The dad in the chimney subplot is one of my very favorite parts of this movie for a few different reasons. Kate Beringer (Pheobe Cates) is finally convinced to share the story of why Christmas is her least favorite holiday. She tells the tale of Christmas Eve, the night her father went missing. Days went by, and there was no sign of her father. Finally, it became cold in the house, so she went to light the fire, where she noticed a foul smell. Turns out, Her dad tripped and fell while trying to surprise her for Christmas and wedged himself in the chimney, where he died. So many things are wrong with this: What are you doing on the roof when trying to surprise your child? Why go down the chimney, have you seen a chimney? Why did it take so long to find him? Didn’t he yell and scream? How long does the house go cold for before you light a fire? How much do you hate your father for being a blithering idiot? I love this story. I love this movie. If you haven’t seen it, or haven’t seen it in a while, it’s a fabulous time.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension is available to stream on Amazon and is probably the weakest movie in the Paranormal Activity franchise. This is a Christmas horror movie as the whole thing involves a house with a Christmas tree in it. Let’s face it, that’s as close to Christmas horror as you should want to get. It does do that satisfying thing that all the Paranormal Activities do which is tie back into the others nicely. If you want to watch Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast. https://youtu.be/zR2cc1BwdmI Remember Toby? The demon from the Paranormals is back in this movie, where he focuses on an entirely new family who bought a house that was built on the same site as the house from the third movie. The house from the third movie burned down, and this is what’s there now. This family has a child who becomes the focus of the demon Toby. Watch Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension Full Movie Click here to Watch Ghost Dimension was released in 2015, and it was the scariest thing of all…a 3D movie. They took a good premise and fucked it out, pretty hard. My Rating 5/10 Quick Summary of Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension Ghost Dimension stars a family of three: the dad Ryan (Chris J. Murray), mom Emily (Brit Shaw), five-year-old daughter Leila (Ivy George). It starts light and ends heavy, like most Paranormal Activities. The family who lives in this palatial house is being visited by a super sexy family friend, Skylar, who parades her jubblies around like everyone’s business. Skylar is played by the stunning Olivia Taylor Dudley. Check Out Our Review Of A Truly Scary Movie, Terrified! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/03/20/terrified-aterrados-movie-review/ Mike, Ryan’s brother who is fresh out of a long-term relationship, is also visiting the family during Christmas. Dan Gill plays Mike. Ryan and his brother, Mike find a box outside while putting up Christmas lights. The box contains a bunch of VHS tapes and a souped-up video recorder that would make Doc from Back to the Future jealous. The camera allows the user to view the Ghost Dimension. These tapes reveal a good portion of footage from the ’80s where the original sisters Katie and Kristi were used by the cult present in the third and fourth movie to foretell the future and communicate with Toby. The Problems With Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension One of the many problems with this movie is that it focuses too much on boring 3D visual effects. There is a soupy 3D fog that the viewing audience is constantly forced into by whoever is piloting the ultra-camcorder. It’s supposed to be spooky but ends up being boring. There are quite a few visual effects in this movie that are cool to look at, but not as effective as a real person standing over their significant other for three hours or more while they sleep at night. There is some goop that shoots from floor to ceiling, and some demon figures that zoom around so fast you can’t make out more than a blur of movement. Overall these effects don’t do a lot for Ghost Dimension. Another issue that Ghost Dimension suffers from is showing the spook. The reason the Paranormal Activity series work is partially because you don’t get to see the spook, you just get the aching feeling that it’s there. The Ghost Dimension replaces the effective nothing, with a shitty something, and ruins the whole thing that made the series work in the first place. Check Out Our Review Of Summer Of 84 https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/02/27/summer-of-84-review/ As far as found footage goes, this is a pretty weak entry to the genre. They don’t use the stationary cams that made Paranormal Activity stand out as a series. Instead, they decided to go with, not a shaky cam, but a handheld camcorder. The dreadful feeling of being forced to look at a still frame for 15 seconds at a time is done away with and replaced with a format that tells you where to look instead of forcing your eye to find the action. What Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension Does Right Ghost Dimension does a good job of capitalizing on the story of the Paranormal movies. It’s eerie to see how the VHS tapes refer to the family in real time. Having a little girl in a pre-recorded VHS do live commentary on me watching TV would be enough for me to shit my pants, so I give Ghost Dimension credit for that. It’s also part of one of my very favorite movie franchises of all time, so while I am able to really focus on the bad, overall it’s a solid “C” of a movie. It had a good budget and some decent acting. If you are a sucker for found footage movies, The Ghost Dimension will be right up your alley. If you have friends who are very satisfying jumpers during jump scares, it will be fun. If you want to watch Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, please consider renting or pur

This week, we rented Silent Night, Deadly Night and to be honest, it might be one of my new favorite horror movies. https://youtu.be/hNBJfv5pIdY Silent Night, Deadly Night can be found for rent on Google Play, iTunes, YouTube, and VUDU. If you want to own the recently release Blu-ray edition, click through to Amazon. Silent Night, Deadly Night is about a young man named Billy who witnessed the murder of his parents at the hands of a criminal in a santa suit. Since then, Billy grew up in a catholic orphanage where his traumatic childhood has been stringently repressed by the Mother Superior and has been imbued with a strict and black and white morality. Billy is still terrified by Santa even as an adult, but one fateful Christmas Eve, he is asked to be Santa Claus for the store he works at. That experience along with a series of events brings Billy to the point of a psychotic break, and he begins a killing spree dressed as Santa. It’s awesome. Silent Night, Deadly Night is the best version of this movie that I can imagine. The script is way tighter than it needs to be in terms of setting up and executing the major moving pieces of the plot. This is a exploitative slasher, that doesn’t have any delusions of grandeur, but is more enjoyable than most slasher movies I have ever seen. Check Out Our Review of the New Black Christmas! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2019/12/18/black-christmas-2019-review/ Billy’s character is terrifying as well as pitiable. Some of the killings have real weight to them, though most are as cheap as any slasher death. There is a lot of creativity is the methods of killing, and since you actually kind of care about the main character, there is a constant tension on how it will play out for him in the end. I highly recommend you watch it this Christmas Season. My Rating 9/10 Watch Silent Night, Deadly Night Silent Night Deadly Night Full Movie Click here to Watch What works in Silent Night, Deadly Night A lot of things work about this movie. As I stated before, the writing in this was way better than it needed to be. I expected a movie about a killer Santa to much lower effort and production value than this movie delivered. The motivations of Billy as he turns into a killer are logical and presented in a compelling way. After getting scared by his grandpa about Santa and then having his fears confirmed by witnessing his parents’ death at the hands of Kris Kringle, he undertandable has some baggage about Santa. Not satisfied with that set up alone, the screenwriters augment Billy’s mental issues with Santa with a strict Catholic upbringing, including sexual shame. So needless to say, Billy is a ticking time bomb by the time he is an adult. Another indication that the writing in this movie is of higher quality is that I actually cared about the characters. I cared about Billy and his fate because he was a three dimensional character. I also cared about some of his victims, especially Pamela, whose death seemed tragic in the moment. The other thing I love about this movie is the original music. This is another example of demonstrated artistic care given to a movie that no one on the surface would take seriously. The original Christmas carols in particular are fantastic, and really add to the slightly off feeling throughout the movie. These Christmas carols sound deceptively cheery, but have weirdly ominous lyrics. Here is one that I’ve had stuck in my head ever since watching the movie: https://youtu.be/yp3vpOZ23uk I’m not a big fan of slashers, but I must say that I enjoyed the creativity of some of the deaths. I don’t think that Billy killed anyone the same way twice. We had: Christmas light strangulation Box cutter disemboweling Claw hammer to the head Arrow to the spine Stabbed with antlers Defenestration Axe beheading Axe to the Chest Sometimes these deaths came from out of the blue, and were super effective. What Didn’t Work To be honest, there wasn’t really anything I didn’t like about this movie. I’m sure that others will point out bad acting, and exploitative nudity, but we’re talking about a slasher here. There are always some flaws that come with the territory with slashers. This isn’t high art, but it is entertaining, and Silent Night, Deadly Night is a higher quality slasher compared to most.

If you loved the story of Ralphie and his red ryder b-b gun in A Christmas Story, then you’ll love this other Christmas classic by Bob Clark. In Black Christmas, the Pi Kappa Sigma Sorority receives a strange and obscene phone calls during their Christmas party right before Christmas break. The reactions to the phone call range from disgust and offence to amusement. Barb played by Margo Kidder fires back her own obscenities in return, to which the phone call ends with a sobering “I’m going to kill you”. Watch Black Christmas Black Christmas Full Movie Click here to Watch The faceless killer, which can be described most accurately as a maniac, then stalks and kills several inhabitants of Pi Kappa Sigma. The sorority tries to get the police to take them seriously when they can’t find a missing sister, but the police don’t take any action until a dead body shows up in the park. There’s also a relationship storyline that you won’t care about. Black Christmas Review Black Christmas was an interesting movie, but not the most entertaining. There were a lot of firsts in this movie, and much better horror movies have stolen from it to greater effect: I believe it’s the first movie with the “The call’s coming from inside the house”, but is outdone by When A Stranger Calls It’s not technically the first first-person perspective for the killer, but definitely influenced the much better Halloween It was definitely the first “holiday” horror movie though. With all these interesting first’s you would think that this would be great movie, but the sum is lesser than it’s parts and it ends up being rather dull. It’s not gory enough to satisfy the slasher connoisseur, and it’s not dreadful enough to be a great psychological horror; it’s just…ok at both. It’s dark and has a cinema verite feel to it, but it undercuts itself with clumsy attempts at humor. There are some things that work, mainly the phone calls and the cinematic treatment of the killer, but the main plot and the characters are just meh. Check Out Our Review of Silent Night, Deadly Night! https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/12/19/silent-night-deadly-night-review/ Black Christmas can be found streaming on Shudder right now. If you don’t have a shudder account, use promo code HMT at checkout to get a 30 day free trial. You can also find it on DVD or Blu-ray at Amazon. Be sure to click through the link on our website to support the show. My Rating 4/10 Spoilers You would expect a spoiler to be who the killer was, but in this movie, that is never revealed. The killer is presented as pretty much a crazy person that wandered into their attic off the street. In fact the killer’s face is never shown. It is easy to see how Halloween was originally written as a sequel to Black Christmas. I guess one spoiler is that the killer is calling from inside the house, but given that you are shown that the killer is lying in wait in the attic the whole time, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Overall this was a pretty straightforward film. A killer kills off sorority girls, and more! Is Black Christmas Worth Seeing? Your mileage may vary, full disclosure, I was pretty tired when watching this one, so the 70’s pacing probably wore on me more than normal. The best part of the movie is the killer’s phone calls, but those may be best experienced in clip form so you don’t have to sit through the melodrama of the story line. However, if you are a horror academic and want to see an influential movie, this is a good choice for the holiday season.