Horrorfest: The Rest of the Fest

THE CANAL
(Ivan Kavanagh, 2014)
A film archivist finds his new home in footage from a crime scene that occurred a century earlier. I was let down by this because I had heard some good things, but it didn't seem to have its own voice and was only an amalgam of several (better) films. The ending seemed to be a little bit of a cop out. If you're looking for horror films revolving around tunnels, Absentia is much better. Rupert Evans, an actor I've had a crush on for over a decade, is good as the lead. He oddly doesn't seem to work in mainstream projects anymore. I just watched this 2 days ago and have already forgotten most of it, so that's not good. GRADE: C

DARK WAS THE NIGHT
(Jack Heller, 2015)
This was a little frustrating because there's a very good horror film in here somewhere. A small town sheriff must fend off a monster that is killing off people and animals at night. The problem is that the first hour is comprised almost entirely of a 5-10 minute scene explaining what happened the night before, followed by a minute of suspense. By the time the film gets to its climax, the up and down nature of the narrative has sucked out most of the suspense. The film does manage to capture a mode, so I wouldn't be surprised if the filmmaker puts out something good at some point. It also wisely keeps the creature offscreen for most of the runtime. Kevin Durand - a very reliable character actor - acquits himself nicely in the lead role. He pulls off the backwoods sheriff look nicely. Also with Lukas Haas (still looking like he's a teenager) and Nick Damici (a modern day genre fave). GRADE: C

THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT
(Bobby Roe, 2014)

A documentary crew, err...well, I'm not sure what they were? A group of friends with access to a lot of modern video recording technology go on a RV tour of famous haunted attractions, ultimately looking for an underground one that holds more in store than they bargained for. I think there's an interesting film to be made about these places, as the film hints on the fact that many labor laws are violated in the name of scaring the crap out of people. Many locations also hire ex-cons and sexual predators. There's also the socio-economic aspect of it, too. Obviously, this is just a silly horror film but that's not a bad idea for a film. Some elements of this work, but it's anti-climatic and the horror aspect isn't as good as the haunted house travelogue. GRADE: C+

POLTERGEIST
(Gil Kenan, 2015)
Shock of all shocks, I enjoyed this. Maybe it's because I love Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt so much I just want to watch them for 90 minutes? Remake of the 80's classic centering around a family that moves into a new home situated on an old burial ground that may have been tampered with. Modern touches (like the tinkering with electronics) are added but it still retains most of what made the original work. Truth be told, I haven't seen the original since I was, like, 13 and I remember not caring for it. Another nice touch: the kids are actually tolerable and decent actors. I did also like how this incorporated the current economic climate. Jane Adams and Jared Hess co-star as the ghost hunters.
GRADE: B

PRESERVATION
(Christopher Denham, 2014)
Another horror film in the great outdoors, following  my recent viewing of Backcountry. This one focuses on a man, his wife and his brother going on a hunting and hiking trip in the woods only to have to fend off a trip of masked murderers. Basically, it's Deliverance meets The Strangers only nowhere near as good as either. Some suspenseful moments and decent performances, but like Backcountry it's a little too stylized for its own good. Why can't horror just be stripped down anymore? The best part about this was Orange Is the New Black's Pablo "Pornstache" Schreiber as the soldier brother suffering from PTSD. He was, like, ungodly hot in this. Yum. GRADE: B-

Hey, I kind of went this entire horrorfest without bitching about no video stores....

Until now.

I'm a little frustrated by my choices this year. Yes, I'm aware they are the films I chose to watch and some were decent. However, numerous older films I still have not seen are now not available on Netflix. I don't have access to other streaming sites, though hopefully next year I'll have a subscription to Shudder as that would be integral to the success of my annual tradition. This is where video stores would really come in handy. Teen Wolf, which I made a point last year in saying I would watch this year, is not available on Netflix. The original The Town That Dreaded Sundown is not available. (The remake is, and being a purist I can't watch that first). Maximum Overdrive or Graveyard Shift? Nope. Ravenous? Available on streaming, not physical. Jeesh.

As a result, I'm left with mostly recent films, many of which bypassed theaters after playing on the horror festival circuit. I also didn't get a chance to watch some of the blindspots in Wes Craven's filmography. That was my choice, because it'll be a sad day when I have no new Wes Craven movies to watch.

Anyways, The Final Girls rather stupidly comes to DVD/Blu on Tuesday, so I'll probably review that next week when I get the chance to watch it.