Moviewatcher122's 2017 Horrorfest

October 1



"I should have known something was up with this place. I mean think about it. What the hell kind of summer camp has waterbeds?"

*demonic voice* You didn't think I was going to forget this year, did you? Let's get it started.

So, this is a movie I didn't know much about beyond the premise, but I thought it was pretty good. It's a nice love letter to the slasher films from the 80's that has a ton of creative ideas, a good sense of humor and pokes fun of the tropes in a charming way. It even has a decent amount of heart to it which was also a part of what gave this movie's edge.

However, there is one elephant in the room that I have to address and that is the fact that this is a PG-13 slasher. I wasn't aware of that going in, but after looking up information about it later on it turns out that it was supposed to be R, but wasn't due to studio interference bullshit. While the PG-13 rating doesn't particularly ruin this movie it was clearly meant to be an R rated slasher, so this film being mostly bloodless is jarring. Again, it doesn't hurt the movie that much, but it would've been better if they just went all out with the sex and gore that was a huge part of the 80's slashers. It also isn't particularly scary either, but it was still a fun way to start off the month and is worth watching all things considered.

October 2



"You will never escape my vengeance, or of Satan's! My revenge will seek you out, and with the blood of your sons, and of their sons, and their sons, I will continue to live forever! They will restore me to life you now rob from me!"

This may be disgraceful to say as someone who claims to be a horror fan, but I had never seen anything directed by Mario Bava. I've even been meaning to see this particular one last year, but never got around to it for whatever reason. Better late than never though, I guess. Anyways, this was a good one to start with. It's a very interesting story and it has this chilling atmosphere to it. Barbara Steele delivers a really good performance as well and the technical aspects like the cinematography was just stunning. While it didn't reach that line of greatness for me, I still think it's a classic horror film and I'm now curious to see what Bava's other work is like.

October 3



"Never touch the cage."

This is one that had an interesting concept, but didn't really live up to it. On the one hand the scenes with the tiger were decent and were executed well, but the rest of it didn't do much for me. I wasn't really invested in the characters and while they weren't unlikable, there wasn't really anything special about them for me to truly care. If the writing and character development was improved, I would probably consider this to be good, but as it stands it's just OK.

October 4



"You seen Spencer?"
"I seen Spencer, alright."
"You find anything?"
"Something found him. He's dead, Leroy. I think scared to death."
"Y-you sure?"
"You thought he was white before, you should see that sucker now!"

I think this might be one of Wes Craven's more underrated films. The concept of The People Under the Stairs is creepy and the whole thing was unsettling to watch at times, but at the same time is effectively mixed with some dark humor. While this probably wouldn't be among some of Wes Craven's best movies, it still is really solid and is one of the many reasons why he was such a great director.

October 5



As far as campy horror goes, this one is entertaining. The story and acting is delightfully cheesy and for a low budget film, the effects here are actually decent. It's not essential viewing, but if you love campy horror films then you might like this one.

October 7



"You have to be taught to leave us alone."

I have been curious about this one ever since I saw the remake a couple years ago which was surprisingly weak which was a shame as I like most of John Carpenter's work. Now that I've seen it, I think it just goes to show that not all horror movies need to be remade. Most of the time I don't find classic horror movies to be scary at all despite my love for them, (Although it's hard for a horror film in general to truly scare me.) but this one actually got under my skin at times. The children in this movie were easily the creepiest part of it all, but the way it opened was really effective and there were quite a few great moments as well. The whole thing was just so bizarre to the point where it felt like watching a feature length Twilight Zone episode which appealed to me since I love that show. This is easily a classic of the horror genre and is worth checking out if you haven't already.

October 9



"I believe in the life eternal, as promised to us by our Lord, Jesus Christ."
"That is good. For believing what you do, we confer upon you a rare gift, these days - a martyr's death."

This was one of those horror classics that I've been meaning to see for years, but never gotten around to seeing it until now. With that said I'm kind of glad I saw it now as I'm not 100% sure if I would've appreciated it if I watched it say, four years ago. I found this to be a very well-made film with great writing, excellent performances and I really dug the mystery aspect of it all and the weird cult stuff kept me interested. However, while watching it I was debating to myself if it was truly a horror movie as it felt more like a mystery thriller to me, but by the time the second half started I decided that yeah, this qualifies as horror. By that point it was starting to creep me out and it had the elements of horror.

One thing that bothered me though that wasn't really a problem with the movie per se, but the fact that the poster pretty much spoiled the ending. I assumed that it would be a part of the film early on, but it's literally the last 5 minutes of the whole thing. It's still an iconic scene and a great ending overall, but this is just a little thing that bugged me. Other than that I didn't really have any real problems with it, but it does fall short of being a perfect 10. Still, it's a great look on religion and a great horror film in general and definitely deserves the reputation it has.

October 10



"We're being quarantined here. We are being kept here to die!"
"This doesn't happen! Four Americans on a vacation don't just disappear!"

The only reason this was even on my radar was because there was a little bit of backstory between me and this movie years ago. I was 11 when my dad rented it back when video stores where still a huge thing and he was watching it in the background around the time I was trying to sleep. I remember being terrified by what I heard in the background to the point where I ran to him crying when it was over. Because of that I was scared off (no pun intended) from the horror genre for a few years until I started to gain interest in the genre where I started off with ones that I knew wouldn't scare me and then worked my way up from there.

I was curious of what I would think of it now considering that I've seen much worse and to see how it stands on its own merits. Now, I kind of anticipated this reaction going into it, but I didn't find it scary at all. In fact, I found it to be really lame. This movie not being scary wouldn't be a problem, but the supposedly scary scenes feel like they're trying to be all like "ooohh, scary thing right here! Be scared by it!" I'm surprised they didn't hammer it in even further by having a live audience scream whenever something happens. That's how stupid this movie thinks its audience is. Beyond that the characters are dull cliches that you've seen in many other horror movies, the dialogue is really poorly-written and the acting sucked. I guess some of the effects were OK and the setting of this movie was interesting. There were also a couple of OK moments that kept this movie from getting the lowest rating possible.

So, yeah this is nowhere near as scary as my 11 year old self thought it was. Hell, I'm sure he wouldn't be as scared if he actually saw what was happening since "The Ruins" are a pile of fucking leaves and vines. It was just really dull to sit through and the experience I had with it years ago is more memorable than the film itself.

Friday the 13th



"You're doomed! You're all doomed!"

Because Friday the 13th landed on an October this year, I decided to celebrate it by watching Friday the 13th... yeah, I know. What a cliche idea. No, but seriously, I was due for a re-watch anyways and it holds up pretty well on the second viewing. While certain aspects haven't held up as well, it's still a really fun slasher film. It's also funnier than I remembered with some funny moments here and there and of course I can't talk about Friday the 13th without mentioning how top notch Tom Savini's gore effects are. It may not be a great film, but it's still a classic of the genre and no other sequel in the series has topped this one. Part 2 only came close to doing so.

October 15



This one had a really good premise and the end result turned out to be decent. Dennis Christopher was convincing enough as the main character, the ideas they came up with from this premise were good and I liked how they referenced a range of other films even including obscure classics. However, there were a few shortcomings that keeps it from being really good. There were a couple moments where I felt like they over-explained what movies they were referencing. Right after the first kill, the main character literally states the title of what film he based his kill off of and then lists the entire cast.

That and the conclusion near the end just wasn't very satisfying. This is still a decent movie, but I think it could've been better and the premise wasn't executed as well as it should've been. I'd honestly like to see a remake of this one as it's a horror film that could actually benefit from being remade.

October 16



"Two guys got murdered in their car last night."
"Holy shit! Were they boning each other?"
"Yes, Chaz, they were boning each other."
"Ha ha! At least they died doing it, right?"

As far as slasher movies go, it doesn't really break much ground other than the fact that it's gay-themed, but I still really enjoyed this one. It kind of reminded me Cruising if it was a slasher instead of a crime drama. The plot was executed well, the characters were interesting, the effects were good for a low budget film and the dialogue was very humorous at times. Like I said, it's nothing groundbreaking story-wise, but I still had fun watching it.

October 17



"There is nothing a man cannot do once he accepts the fact that there is no god."

This is hands down the scariest film I've seen this month so far. I'm normally not a fan of home invasion films because a lot of them seem to follow the same formula and because I feel like the whole concept has been played out. Don't Breathe however subverts the formula by having it focus on the point of view of the people robbing the house instead of the other way around. Because of that I was invested in the story a lot more and the characters development was perfect. It did a good job of showing their motivations for why they were robbing people's houses and when they get themselves stuck in this one situation, I was rooting for them.

While the overall scenario and the atmosphere was scary enough, Stephen Lang gave an outstanding performance as the blind man and really adds to the scare factor of it all. This was just really effective all around and it just might be one of my favorite horror films of the decade.

October 20



"I know it was you, Fredo. I know it was you. "
"Was that Lord of the Rings?"

Honestly, if it wasn't for the giraffe's praise for this film, it probably would've took me a while before I got around to seeing it. I mean, the only think I knew going in was that McG directed it which... isn't a great sign. After seeing it though I think this is the best thing that the guy with a stupid fake name has directed. It's a horror comedy that's more funny than scary, but that's definitely not a bad thing. A lot of the jokes work, but the way the story is told and I like how they established the main character's relationship with the babysitter which was done in a charming way. It does feel like an 80's horror comedy in some ways which was pulled off well. I had a really fun time watching it and it's easily worth checking out.

On a side-note, I would've liked having Samara Weaving as my babysitter all things considered. ;)

October 21



"I mean, in a sense we're all vampires. We drain energy from other life forms. The difference is one of degree. That girl was no girl. She's totally alien to this planet and our life form... and totally dangerous."

I've wanted to see this film for years ever since I heard about it and the premise behind it which sounded awesome. Even with the lukewarm ratings on both sites, I still thought that it was going to be an underrated gem that just hasn't been given a fair chance.

I wish I could say that, but it unfortunately has its problems. The way it's paced is very inconsistent and has no idea what it wants to be and it shows throughout the entire film. It doesn't know if it wants to be a slow space thriller, a vampire movie or an alien invasion movie. The idea of space vampires sounds great on paper and it should've been good off paper, but the ideas aren't explored very well. The movie being almost two hours long doesn't really help its case either. It really drags most of the time and there were times when I was just waiting for something to happen.

By the way I'm describing Lifeforce makes it sound like I dislike it, but I don't. There are still moments in it that I really liked. It really started to get interesting near the end, but even before there are some decent scenes like the one with Patrick Stewart which was good. Plus the fact that there's an alien woman in human form that's naked throughout most of it did keep me interested when nothing else was happening. Overall, it's a film that can be entertaining at times and has some good ideas, but it's way too undercooked and I wish it was a lot more consistent than it actually is. Wouldn't advise anyone not to watch it or anything, but be warned.

October 25



"Man should live and let live, and without any interfering."

I actually tried watching this one earlier this month, but wasn't in the right mood, so I stopped watching 20 minutes in with the intent of trying again before the month ends. With that said, this was a solid b-movie. Not only that, but it's one that is important to the slasher film as it's one of the earliest of its kind. The story is kind of lacking by today's standards and the acting can be cheesy at times, but it's still a fun movie with some great kills and effects and the ending was really surprising.

October 31



"Once in his lifetime, every artist feels the hand of God, and creates something that comes alive."

By the time my birthday (aka Halloween) came, I had realized that I hadn't watched anything with Vincent Price this month. I wasn't going to let this be the first horrorfest without Vincent Price, so by the time I got home after celebrating my birthday I chose House of Wax. Price is great as always here, but what really had me interested was the concept itself. The whole wax museum scenario was executed very well and it was really nice to look at. In terms of how scary it is, I feel like this is one of those movies that was a lot more scary back then than it is now. That scene with the wax statues melting in particular felt dated. Still, it is still entertaining and it was a good choice for the annual Vincent Price pick.

October 31



"You must really like Halloween."
"You mean Samhain?"
"What?"
"Samhain, also known as All Hallows' Eve, also known as Halloween. Pre-dating Christianity, the Celtic holiday was celebrated on the one night between autumn and winter when the barrier between the living and the dead was thinnest and often involved rituals that included human sacrifice."

I normally end the month with John Carpenter's Halloween, but it's not a tradition I follow every year and this time I felt like ending it with something different and this was the perfect film to end the month on. It's the perfect film to watch on Halloween as well. This is a fantastic love letter to the holiday. I love the way the story was told in a way that's kind of like an anthology, but also plays out in a Pulp Fiction-y way which I loved. Trick 'r Treat does get scary at times, but it never takes itself too seriously. In fact, this film has a twisted sense of humor that had me laughing throughout the whole thing. I would say more, but I just can't do this film justice, so I'll just say that I loved every minute of this and I can't wait to watch it for years to come.

October 18



"We've got brains, skills, skipping rope?"
"It's a lasso."
"Whatever."

There was no way I was going to let this one leave theaters without seeing it first. I did however lower my expectations just a little bit since I heard a few people say it was disappointing, but I have to say that this is what I wanted from a Kingsman sequel. Matthew Vaughn's involvement in the sequel definitely helps as it has the same magic that the first Kingsman had. It has the same sense of humor that made the previous one work and the action scenes are just as exciting if not even more so the last time.

The returning cast members do a good job of reprising their roles and I was enjoying the new characters as well. Julianne Moore who is one of my favorite actresses is awesome as the antagonist who runs a secret drug cartel and even Channing Tatum who I normally don't like was decent here. Also there's a cameo involving Elton John which they utilized really well. While it is not on the same level as the first Kingsman, it's still a very solid sequel with the same amount of heart put into it and I can see myself revisiting this one along with the original.