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🍿 movie challenge: halloween 2020
It's that time of year~~
Where I try to watch a horror movie every day for 31 days for the month of October. I haven't really managed to finish it every year because it's an effort to watch movies I haven't seen -- whereas many channels on tv show movies I've seen all multiple times throughout the month.
So while I would end up watching horror movies all month, it's not always ones I need to actually watch lol.
In the comments will be my reviews for the ones I've got for this year 🎃 🎃 🎃
day 1 - mary shelley's frankenstein (1994)
I know the whole point of this movie is to be a horror tragedy and it definitely goes out of its way to show how much Victor brought all of this entirely on himself. But there's just something about it that doesn't work as well as all the other elements seem to.
The sets are great, the costumes, score, and art direction are great, the cast is top-notch. But it's something about the camerawork and the way things go from a quiet zero to a camera-circling yell fest 100 without warning. Some scenes are lovely in their setup and others are like I'm watching a fever dream. Some of the violence is truly shocking and even horrific with its brutality, as well.
I can't seem to figure out of it's the pacing that doesn't work or the script needed to be better. Or if it was the editing.
By the end I'm just like Justice for Elizabeth and Justine. Both of whom deserved far better fates than this (which I'm pretty sure was Shelley's point).
day 2 - psycho ii (1983)
Is it as good as the original? No.
But it's a hell of a lot better than I thought it would be. There's a lot of twists I wasn't expecting and reveals I kept trying to piece together. The visuals and camerawork for this are really well done, the house looks just as creepy and foreboding in color, and everyone is committed to their roles.
A surprisingly good sequel to a classic.
day 3 - jack's back (1988)
I came for the premise but stayed for James Spader being awesome. It feels like there was a good idea in here somewhere but it didn't commit to what it could've been. A shame tbh.
Spader and his leather jacket deserved better.
day 4 - apostle (2018)
A slow burn that takes its time setting up all the players and giving us beautiful scenery to look at (and I don't just mean Dan Stevens shirtless).
Violent, gory, weird, and at times infuriating, Apostle feels like it would've been better as a miniseries because the pacing is slow and methodical at first and then decides to really kick it up in the third half.
However, to its credit, it still does a good job getting me to care about characters and loathe others. Some decent jumpscares and one particular scene in a tunnel that felt like pure nightmare fuel (followed by an equally nightmarish flashback).
I wish there had been more fighting scenes with the lead when it's made clear he knows how to. But I'll accept a graphic (and cathartic) death of the character I hated the most in its stead.
Hope this director makes some more period movies in the future. They could definitely use his particular style in them.
day 5 - black sabbath (1963)
First story: suspenseful and creepy
Second story: not really feeling it but I liked the sets and the wind sounds
Third story: ups the creep factor and atmosphere and I enjoyed it
Decent watch for Halloween, might get some scares and some laughs. It just needed a stronger middle to be really good imo.
day 6 - wer (2013)
This is a movie that was on the edge of being good for me. There are kernels of good stuff in here and the new ideas introduced near the end were far more interesting than what we got. I can't go into them because of spoilers but let me just say: for most of the movie, the pacing felt like it was dragging and then in the twenty minutes, I was more invested than I had been for most of the movie. I wanted more of what was being introduced in the final act and then it just... ends.
Which, honestly, sucks.
The way this movie is shot also doesn't do it many favors. The docu-style technique can work with some horror movies but with this it sometimes makes it look cheap (other times it doesn't so it kept making me frustrated).
It also didn't seem to commit to either thing it was trying to be until the final 30-20 minutes and by that point it's just frustrating.
So yeah, there are good ideas and there was potential but it fell short for me.
day 7 - swamp thing (1982)
You know what, I was going to only give this three stars. Because compared to Batman V Superman, this movie that was made in the early 80s (with all the limitations and problems that entails), is clearly the superior DC movie to that one.
I was only going to give it three stars.
But then Manbearpig showed up with a motherfucking sword so I'm gonna give it four stars just for that.
day 8 - jack & diane (2012)
First half, I was digging it, waiting for the horror aspect to show.
Middle, not liking where this is going.
Last half, this is lame and never should've been listed under "horror".
The ending, sweet but too little too late.
I love it when tapes and music are incorporated into things but this really wasted it. Same with the whole script and "werewolf" aspect. It was that dumb thing writers do where they make the monster a representation of emotions or hormones (the only movie I have ever felt did this effectively and WELL was The Babadook).
Ultimately, I wanted to like this movie but I signed up for a different movie than it gave. There was potential here and it was wasted on a weak script, terrible pacing, and fake jumpscares with no real commitment to the horror aspect.
P.S. - I have never watched a movie where so many characters felt the need to announce they had to go pee or "poo". Like what the fuck. Was this originally a watersports script or what. 💦 💦 💦
day 9 - a girl walks home alone at night (2014)
A wonderful atmospheric and gorgeous looking take on the lonely vampire tale. I wasn't sure how this would work exactly, based on the trailer, but it worked far better than any expectations I had. Highly recommend.
day 10 - 10 rillington place (1971)
Deeply disturbing in its dedication to sticking as close to the known facts as possible but also keeping the whole thing very quiet and restrained.
The fact I kept forgetting I was watching Richard Attenborough in the lead role says everything about his performance. In one of those where the actor completely disappears.
day 11 - the sentinel (1977)
Seventies horror rarely seems to fail in delivering impressive What The Fuck moments and this movie has several of them. It all comes together at the end but jfc what an ending.
day 14 - dog soldiers (2002)
Definitely one of the best werewolf movies out there. I had been skeptical but now I see the truth.
Violent, scary, and funny, this movie (and The Descent) prove that if Marshall is left to his own devices, and not held to the whims of a studio, it pretty much leads to good shit.
day 15 - black sunday (1960)
Great atmosphere, wild effects for the time, and some unintentionally hilarious dubbing, Black Sunday probably has one of the best opening scenes of any horror movie. A shame the rest of the movie doesn't really impress the same way but still a decent watch all the same.
day 16 - count dracula (1970)
This movie is one of those movies that proves a "more accurate adaptation" does not always mean it's a good movie. Some books can be brought to the screen and work just as they are. Others require a little more tweaking and expanding.
Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of these two mediums is key to a successful transfer from page to screen, in my opinion.
This movie, for as impressive as it can look with some shots on its limited budget (basically an indie horror movie of the 70s), it's an absolute chore to slog through by the halfway point. The pacing is abysmal, the acting choices are questionable, and the "horror" feels pretty nonexistent (the atmosphere tries but doesn't really succeed).
Also, some of those zoom ins were so reminiscent of The Office that I could not stop laughing at them.
I know a lot of people aren't fond of Bram Stoker's Dracula but damn I love that movie. It hits many of the same story beats as this one and remains entertaining no matter how many times I watch it. And for anyone thinking I just like the showiness and gore of that one, you'd be wrong. I'm a big fan of Herzog's slow burn Nosferatu as well.
It's all about how you handle the material and I honestly don't feel this was handled very well despite the effort there.
day 20 - new nightmare (1994)
New Nightmare honestly is a movie that is not only better than most of the sequels to the original one but also ahead of its time. Sure, we've had older movies provide a meta kind of commentary in them about the movie industry (Sunset Boulevard comes to mind) and Scream later did so on horror movies themselves.
But this one does all that plus talking about the horror movie industry, fans, franchises, and actors and directors being expected to make the same shit over and over again (which is horrific for any creative person).
Is it true the writing and acting could be better in some scenes? Sure. I'll give you that. But overall this movie deserves more praise and appreciation than its gotten in the past (it also has far more effective jumpscares than the sequels).
I feel like if another movie came out with a similar premise and meta approach, people would be over the moon about it. Meanwhile, this one came out in the 90s and it's still considering "the worst" of the franchise. A damn shame.
day 25 - dead birds (2004)
A solid haunted house flick led by a solid cast. Pacing is tight, atmosphere is good. Don't let the bad cgi and trailer fool you, this one was definitely worth watching.
day 26 - the people under the stairs (1991)
One of the best movies Craven made and one of the best horror movies period. Fool deserves to be on the list of Best Horror Protags, dammit. And this movie deserves to be talked about more. Kid literally came out of that wall and punched that sick fuck in the dick. You can't get more badass than that.
The ending was also incredibly cathartic with the abused and oppressed literally busting out of the walls to eat and kill their rich, sick, racist captors. I loved it. Never a dull or slow moment in the whole thing, will watch again.
day 28 - may (2002)
There were times when this movie lost me but the lead actress' performance and the oddly watchable pace of this worked in its favor. The eye gore was definitely not something I could watch and I would've preferred a more psychological horror to the gore overall but there was something very eerie, weird, and sad about it all.
May herself is clearly a damaged person that needed some serious help (and I'm not sure I like how she seems to gain confidence and social ease almost immediately after snapping) but damn if I didn't enjoy her Halloween night romp the most out of the whole movie.