(David Gordon Green, 2022)
Hello, yes, I would like to know why there's a Fear remake in this Halloween sequel. What a shame these last two installments have been given how much I loved the 2018 film. Michael Myers and Laurie Strode prepare to face off for the last time, but in the meantime enjoy this story about Laurie's granddaughter falling for a murderous outcast getting pointers from The Shape. The idea itself isn't bad, just the execution is off. I did like the shot of them riding on the motorcycle and the whole mode of that scene, but it's not what I want from a wrap-up of this trilogy. Like Halloween Kills, Ends at least sticks the landing and delivers a very good final 15 or so minutes. With Rohan Campbell, Andi Matichak, and Jamie Lee Curtis. GRADE: C-
HOST
(Rob Savage, 2020)
Shortish film about a Zoom seance gone wrong. Released two years ago amidst the pandemic, this had a lot of buzz at the time and it was fully earned. Superior to the similar Unfriended films, this could have easily been expanded to full feature length. I'm glad it avoided that franchise's main problem of too small boxes of information/text popping up in the frame. Apparently the director's follow up film, Dash Cam, wasn't very good so I'll probably skip that one. The cast is believable in their respective parts, though I was left wanting to know how they knew each other given the cross-continental friendships. GRADE: B+
(Jessica M. Thompson, 2022)
I think this hit every annoying thing modern horror movies do: blue/green tint, too dark, loud sounds, unlikeable or outright obnoxious characters, cheap digital look, and PG-13 rating primarily to bring in tweens. Plus, it rips off the title of a much better film, in this case Karyn Kusama's film from 2016. This was at one point called The Bride. A struggling artist finds out she is related to a wealthy British family and accepts an invite to attend a wedding at their massive country estate where the family has sinister intentions for her. Not scary and not even entertaining. With Nathalie Emmanuel and Thomas Doherty. GRADE: D+
MEN
(Alex Garland, 2022)
Fantastic actress Jessie Buckley plays a woman trying to overcome the suicide of her partner by going to a country cottage. She finds herself fighting off the attention of the various local men (all played by Rory Kinnear) who initially creep her out before their intentions turn violent. I really liked this until the final act when it just loses itself in obvious allegory. My opinion of it since watching has already lowered a bit, which sucks because some of the film's early scenes were quite unnerving. Buckley, however, remains an absolute marvel. GRADE: B-
(Jordan Peele, 2022)
The nature of spectacle and its impact on us is examined in this science fiction mashup, as a brother and sister find their horse ranch threatened by an alien life form hiding in a cloud directly above them. This was frustrating because there's something about this that just didn't totally work for me. I'm not sure if it was the screenplay needed another polish or what. Because, man, when it does work it has some absolutely enthralling moments and the cast is just terrific. (Though in his second collaboration with Peele, Daniel Kaluuya seems to be sleepwalking.) It may have the best sound design of the year, too. With Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, and Brandon Perea. GRADE: B
PREY FOR THE DEVIL
(Daniel Stamm, 2022)
Typical PG-13 exorcism film in which a young nun (Jacqueline Byers) joins the Roman Catholic Church's exorcism school to help a young girl who is possessed by a demon - possibly the same one that took the nun's mother when she was just a girl. It proceeds exactly as you imagine it will if you've seen any other film of its ilk, but the feminism angle is probably the most interesting aspect about it. Apparently nuns aren't allowed to perform exorcisms!?! The ending is an eye-roller and was kinda ruined in the early trailers. With Christian Navarro who looks hot in the priest uniform, and genre fave Virginia Madsen. GRADE: C-
Q THE WINGED SERPENT
(Larry Cohen, 1982)
This 1980's B-movie unquestionably has it's fans (Bong Joon-ho, for instance!), sad to say I'm very much not one of them. I found most of this to be a snooze. A winged Aztec creature is wreaking havoc on New York City, and only a conman knows where the nest is. The effects were probably awful looking even at its release, and most of the characters are annoying. I did like that the film's depiction of New York City felt vivid and not like a typical movie. With Michael Moriarty, David Carradine, and Richard Roundtree. GRADE: C-
SMILE
(Parker Finn, 2022)
Currently a pretty big hit, this film proves what many of us have known for a long time: that someone smiling at you is really unsettling. A psychologist (Sosie Bacon, Kevin's daughter) witnesses a patient commit suicide, and in the days following begins having supernatural hauntings and visions mostly associated with people eerily smiling at her. There's no doubt about it: this "borrows" pretty heavily from both The Ring and It Follows. It still works pretty well, and the last act has some potent nightmare fuel. I really dug the score, too. Also with recent genre Scream king Kyle Gallner and the great Rob Morgan. GRADE: B
And some rewatches...
THE RING
(Gore Verbinski, 2002)
Happy 20th! Obviously, this is a rewatch though one of these days I'll have to finally view the original. I think this film is probably to blame for a lot of the cliches of modern horror, though it still works so well as an elegant, old fashioned mystery. Naomi Watts (in her first of several horror remakes) stars as a reporter whose niece mysteriously dies in a conspiracy involving her friends watching a videotape in a remote cabin. The film probably came out at the last possible moment given the advancing technology, or perhaps this was just the final nail in the coffin of VHS. Beautiful cinematography (I don't think any genre entry since has topped this filtered look but Jesus H. Christ have many of them tried) and Hans Zimmer's haunting score masterfully aid Verbinski's tight direction. With Martin Henderson (seen this year deliciously tighty whitie'd in X) and the always great Brian Cox. GRADE: A-
...a trio of early Wes Craven films.
THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT
(1972)
Craven's first film and original shocker turns 50 and hasn't lost any of its potency in the half century since its release. I saw this first in the late 90's and didn't care for it. It's a pretty crass film, and not one that I would ever consider recommending to casual film viewers. You almost forget about the weird, goofy police subplot and only remember the visceral violence and the whole gross atmosphere. It's a very simple premise: a quartet of criminals kidnap, rape and kill two wholesome teenage girls. The criminals find themselves in the home of one of the girls where the parents slowly realize what happened and plot revenge. It was also the plot of Ingmar Bergman's great The Virgin Spring. (And, of course, 2009's very good but more polished Last House remake with Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, and Garret Dillahunt.) Wes proved a force to be reckoned with, one capable of making bold statements about violence's place in society and what ordinary people can be driven to do. GRADE: B+
THE HILLS HAVE EYES
(1977)
Five years after Last House, Craven examines more familial violence in this tale of dueling tribes: one a modern clan on a trip through the desert and the other the desert's inbred, cannibalistic dwellers. Hills is equally grainy, grindhouse-y as Last House, though slightly more polished. The film's centerpiece, in which one brood violently assaults the other in all sorts of ways, still holds power. It sadly suffers from comparison to 2006's remake, which ups the ante in terms of the brutality of the violence depicted. I haven't seen the sequel to the original film, but I have seen the sequel to the remake. (The remake's sequel is not a direct remake of the original sequel. Have a headache yet?) Apparently, Craven borderline disowned the follow-up, which was filmed just before he did A Nightmare on Elm Street. GRADE: B
SWAMP THING
(1982)
Craven also had some behind the scenes issues with this, his first foray into more mainstream filmmaking. An adaptation of DC Comics comic books, the film follows a scientist who after an accident is turned into a swamp plant monster. And he tries to get revenge! This is a nice plot instead of cities being leveled, monsters from other planets trying to destroy ours, etc. Remember when the stakes were so much more simple? Swamp Thing is pretty fun, an old fashioned science fiction yarn with some enjoying 80's action thrown in. The script was aggressively trimmed during production, and the film could have used a little more breathing room. Adrienne Barbeau is the perfect Beauty to Swamp Thing's Beast (Ray Wise, in human form), and I loved her sidekick, Jude (Reggie Batts). Craven never really directed another "mainstream big budget" film in his career, sadly. I'm not sure when exactly I even saw this for the first time. Possibly in the early 90's, before I even knew who Wes Craven was? GRADE: B+
I managed an even higher number this year than last year, which was my all-time highest number of horror & horror adjacent films during the Sept/Oct period. *pats self on back*
Happy Halloween!
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