Mack's Movies 2013: Halloween Horrorfest

October 1st
Overall opinion: GREAT

I've heard people praise Ginger Snaps for years. Finally I've seen it- and I concur! So good! I am not usually into movies set in high school, but this one was pretty great. It's probably the werewolves. Werewolves are great. Coming of age stories are great. Puns are great. And so, Ginger Snaps is great.

October 2nd
Overall opinion: Impressive!

Ooh, this was entertaining. Atmospheric, spooky, really neat visuals. I was impressed. It's a kinda typical voodoo story I guess, but it is so refreshing to see a film that goes beyond the norm. There were some really cool scenes, creative stuff. The characters were good and the plot was good, but the scenes of creepy voodoo possession, nightmares, curses, that was all phenomenal. It was like a breath of fresh air. Or, it was like a breath of zombifying voodoo powder, right in the face. Well worth it.

October 2nd
Overall opinion: okay, but less good if you don't know the game
I completely forget the Dead Space movies were on netflix! Two easy ones to add to the Halloween Hit List. Downfall was okay- I don't think the horror of the game was transferred very well to the generic cartoon style, (would have been neat to see a unique or risk-taking animation style) and most of the enjoyment I got from it was because I know the game: recognized the environments and the different types of necromorphs, knew the outcome of the movie (it's a prequel to the first game in the series). That said, it was still pleasantly gorey, had some mildly interesting characters, and had a fairly good if predictable plot. Just a little over an hour, nothing especially exciting but a good filler movie, and a must see if you're a fan of the game.

October 2nd (rewatch)
Overall opinion: I fucking love this movie

This fucking film! I loved it even more this time. I cannot express the joy I feel during the last 45 minutes of this movie. It is seriously a great ride. I watched it with a friend who had never seen it and he loved it, it took him completely by surprise. It's one of those films I wish I could erase from my memory so I could experience it brand new again. The first time around the twist was awesome and exciting, but the first part felt a little slow. Now, watching with the knowledge of the rest of the film, the first part of the movie is very entertaining. And the gorefest later, I literally laugh with glee. It's. The. Best. I'm psyched it's on instant, lots places that I need to pause and rewatch, so many little details that can be missed the first time through. It's also pretty funny in places. My star rating went from 7 to 9- it's probably one of my favorite horror films ever.

(Watching it made me twice as disappointed at The Evil Dead remake! It's the exact type of movie Cabin in the Woods satirizes, yet it shamelessly fell into horror film cliches that destroy any kind of immersion- and with no comedy to fall back on it was boring).

October 3rd
Overall opinion: Good
I admit I thought some parts were a little slow, but I was never bored. A classic zombie film; it's got all the best tropes, somehow without feeling too cliche, even though this is one of the films the modern zombie flicks often take from. It had a nice balance of gore and humor, the characters are likeable, and their struggles are plausible. I thought they did a great job of showing us very human struggles from the very beginning. Overall, a classic than any zombie movie fan should see and enjoy.

October 4th
Overall opinion: Pretty good

Not really timeless, but still interesting. I find a lot of films made in Hollywood during this time period to tread too lightly, not take enough risks, which is completely understandable for the time period. I wish we'd seen more of the cat people in this movie, I wish they'd made themselves a more obvious threat from the beginning. The main woman was a sympathetic and unwilling victim but without much evidence of her unwanted powers and no other cat people roaming the city the movie felt lacking a strong antagonist. I like the concept though, and I'll watch the sequel and the remake in due time.

October 4th
Overall opinion: HUH

Huh. Wow. I was expecting something different. Something like ghosts, or the million other "Possession of" films. This is not like any other possession film I've ever seen. It scared the shit out of me, first of all. It is pretty much everything I want when it comes to scares. It was all done really well. Subtle, simple, straightforward, did not reveal too much while at the same time showing off some really creepy shit. The visuals were fucking sick. Great effects, all throughout. Nothing was overdone or over the top. The acting was great too, nothing mind blowing but very believable I thought. Especially from Giles Alderson, playing the titular David. His ever increasing panic was infectious. Seriously my only critique is that I understood little to nothing that was going on, I didn't get the plot, but that's because there's no exposition, no explanation, and you rely entirely on the context clues, little bits of dialogue and various writings to understand what's happening. I was way too freaked out to pick up on most of those things- for all I know the plot could just not make any sense, but I want to give it the benefit of a doubt because I enjoyed it so much. I will for sure watch this again, probably soon, because the monsters and gore were so, so good, and hopefully then I'll pick up more of what was going on.

October 6th
Overall opinion: good

October 10th
Overall opinion: Radical

Started kinda slow but I got really into it by the end. It had some really great looking gore! I was... sort of expecting it to be more extreme than it was, but I guess for an 87 film it was great, lots of nice practical effects. Nothing grossed me out too much except when Frank sliced the dead rat open for some reason, yuck. The characters were interesting too, not trying to be a nice apple pie family, loved that. Actually had a story. I'm too used to crappy horror films now, I wasn't expecting that at all. In the end, definitely cheering for Kirsty despite wanting to see more of the cenobites.

October 8th
Overall opinion: okay

White zombie didn't especially hold my interest. It was a decent film and I liked it fair enough, but nothing exciting.

October 17th
Overall opinion: kind of good

I can't talk about this movie without talking about the ending, and I think it's worth watching, so if you don't want to read any spoilers avert thine eyes for thsi first paragraph.

I should have known, since this is a movie about an asylum, how it was gonna end. And props for its ambiguity, seriously. I'm so done with heavy handed "it was all in the main character's head the whole time aren't we so clever" twists. It was still a bit disappointing, though. I'm fine with regular old ghost stories, nothing wrong with a good haunting. Plenty of variations and innovation to be had in the haunting genre. The "mental patient all along" end is sometimes I am 500% done with, though.

Alright, spoilers over.

Anyway, I still found the movie very well done, despite the overdone ending. The acting was decent, some of the voiceover stuff was a little melodramatic, but the subtlety of the rest of the film made up for it. The buildup was great, it set up a cool atmosphere and the building they used was beautiful. The story and acting were plausible, the effects (though few and minor) were nice. It had some good spooky moments, and it kept me guessing until the very end. I really like movies that give you little to go on, unnecessary exposition and backstory is a mood killer. Especially when verbally explained by a character. The only time that happened in this movie was when our poor man's Billy Zane (Stephen Gevedon as Mike) was listening to recorded interviews with an old patient. I already mentioned this as melodramatic, but the recordings were spaced out and not too long, so they weren't too distracting. Overall it's still worth watching, especially if you like ghost stories or asylum stories.

October 15th
Overall opinion: Great

Oh wow, what a classic. Saw this at a screening at my school- this is the first semester I've been able to get out of Tuesday night classes so I get to see their weekly movies now. I was really blown away by Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I didn't know what to expect, I've only seen one film each of Taylor and Newman's, knew they were good but this really took the cake. The supporting cast was great too. This film is brimming to the top with tension and emotions boil over in the southern heat. My jaw dropped several times through the movie, they got the ball rolling and it didn't stop till the end.
After the screening they talked about how Tennessee Williams and Paul Newman didn't like the screenplay compared to the original play. I would like to see the original play, but I can't imagine being as impressed as I was with these actors.