Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Yeah, another lie, I watched Drag me to Hell right after I watched Last House on the Left last night, but I enjoyed this one much more.
Continue reading “Night 2 of 31 nights of horror!”Night 2 of 31 nights of horror!
Tag horror
31 Nights of Horror!
Okay, the title is a little misleading, *cough* a lie *cough*, but I only thought of the idea yesterday, so I was late before I even started. The plan is to watch one horror movie a night, for each night of October up to and including Halloween and give my thoughts on them. Not so much as a review, but just describe how the films made me feel, what they made me think, did I enjoy them, would I recommend them… okay, I guess maybe they are reviews.
My brother and I used to watch tons of scary movies when we were younger. He wanted to be a movie makeup and effects person, I just loved horror and the supernatural. Given all the films we’ve seen over the years though, I didn’t want to re-watch things that I already had an opinion on, so I’m going to watch ones I’ve never seen before.
Since I’m behind schedule, I watched two movies last night. Wes Cravens first movie and Sam Raimis latest terror flick.
Continue reading “31 Nights of Horror!”watched Pontypool
It’s a tradition for me that once the kids stop showing up for candy, the decorations are put away and the lights are turned off, I watch scary movies while eating nachos with a dip made of cream cheese, salsa and cheddar. Okay, as traditions go it’s not the most imaginative, but I like it.
There are a lot of zombie movies out there but Pontypool is different. No guns, no machetes, axes, swords or chainsaws. The gore is minimal and most of the violence happens in the viewers imagination.
I first heard about the movie from an article on films that take place in only one room, this one is set in a small town radio station in the basement of an old church. Since everything happens in just this one location it really places the viewer in the shoes of the main characters. We, like them, can’t see what is going on in the world. The reports about the outbreaks of violence are something we only hear via the calls from the stations traffic corespondent and interviews with the police. The atmosphere builds as we try and build a picture of what’s happening in the world outside of the station.
I liked Pontypool, it’s a refreshing take on the Zombie genre, even going a different route with the method of infection (which I won’t spoil) and I loved the emphasis on suspense over brutality, but it wasn’t perfect. I think it would have benefitted from a few more script revisions. Instead of building the clues to the mystery into the conversations with people on the outside, they rely on an info dump in the third act from a character who literally comes out of nowhere. In addition, their version of the zombies themselves is a cool idea, but really high concept. It probably works great written, but is difficult to try and convey on screen.
Overall, the acting is great and it’s a movie worth watching, but I also would not mind watching a re-make that tweeks things a little to allow the viewer to figure things out and maybe fleshes out the infection better so that it makes more sense when you discuss it after the movie is over.
started watching Penny Dreadful
It’s Downton Abbey with monsters, blood and vertical sex! Okay, I’ve never watched Downton Abbey, so it’s probably nothing like it, but it does take place in England. It’s actually a lot more like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, taking 1800s literary characters and populating the story with them.
“Which girl is Penny?” my wife asked while we were watching the 2nd episode. Showtimes new series actually gets its name from the cheap pulp publications, characterised by violent adventure and crime, that were popular with the working class and poor of 19th century Britain. The tone is dark and has a deeply suspenseful mood. The pacing is slow, but never feels like it drags, there is an atmosphere to this show that made me feel like it should be Halloween outside my door.
The acting is exemplary. Timothy Dalton, Eva Green, Josh Hartnett, Harry Treadaway, hell even the corpses do a great job here. The controlled rage that emanates off Daltons Malcolm, while Vanessa is possessed and accusing him of leaving his son to die, can almost be felt through the TV screen.
I don’t know how long John Logan has been working on this series, but it looks to me that this first season is well planned out. They don’t give you everything right away, but do a slow build so that you are eager for the next episode to reveal things a little at a time. What’s the relationship between Vanessa and Malcolm? What did Chandler do that he had to flee America? Where is Mina? Is she a vampire now, is she dead?
My only trouble with Penny Dreadful so far is the accents. Well, not so much the accents, it’s the mumbling and the accents combined. I watch Coronation Street religiously, and grew up with a grandfather whos first language was Gaelic, not English, so I have no trouble with accents, but Billie Piper mumbles most of her lines making about half of what she says incomprehensible to me. I’m looking forward to the rest of the episodes, and glad that Showtime has already renewed it for a 10 episode 2nd season.
Watched Woman in Black
That, Possession, that is how you do a scary movie. I know it’s a little late, Halloween was two nights ago, but it’s tough to watch a scary movie when underage monsters are knocking at your door. Glad we finally got around to watching this though.
it’s a period movie, I don’t recall seeing a date anywhere, but it seems to be set during whichever time period steam locomotives were popular, automobiles were scarce and people still sent telegraphs.
The movie has a slow build, lots and lots of quiet scenes with no dialog, but incredible atmosphere that really sucks you in. It’s a mystery that doesn’t give everything away right at the start, but unfolds slowly. You learn what’s going on at the same pace as the protagonist.
I have to give special kudos to Daniel Radcliffe. He quickly makes you forget about the boy wizard and portrays a very believeable and sympathetic character. I think this is someone who can survive being a child actor and have a long future acting.
It’s been a long time since I saw a really good ghost story, most of the horrors these days are serial killers or torture porn, this was like a trip through a really great haunted house.
Played The Walking Dead Episodes 3 and 4
An episodic horror adventure that’s really more of an interactive story than it is a video game, and that’s a good thing.
I was a big fan of the graphic adventure games of the 80’s and 90’s. I must have played every Quest game Sierra Online ever produced and have always been kind of sad that the genre died out. Part of the attraction was the puzzles to be figured out, but most what was fun in those games were the stories and humor. Telltale Games The Walking Dead brings new life to the adventure game, and puts more of an emphasis on story and character than on the point and click gameplay.
Fans of Robert Kirkmans graphic novels and the TV show on HBO don’t need to worry about seeing the same story retold in a new medium. The game takes place in the same world, but features all new characters with their own stories. I won’t give too much away, but one of the things I really liked was that instead of making the protagonist a clone of Rick Grimes, he’s almost his complete opposite. Rick was a Sheriff, while Lee Everett is a convicted murderer on his way to prison when the Zombie outbreak occurs.
The look and feel of the game is fairly unique. It’s done in a 3D cell shading style that borrows heavily from the graphic novel, and instead of the static camera point of view that is most common to these games, much of the story is presented in a handheld “shaky cam” style often used in dramas today. Combined with changing camera edits, you really get the feeling of directing a story, not playing it. You decide how to respond to people’s questions, how to distribute food when low on rations, and who lives or dies when the walkers are swarming your group of survivors. The game is delivered in an episodic format (except the iOS version apparently), each ending with a cliff hanger, much like both the comic book and show do. 5 episodes are planned for season 1.
I love this game, it gets my heart pounding like few games do, and has only a couple of negative points, which aren’t big enough to stop me from recommending it to everyone I know. The first is the controls. They are a little finicky. You have to have your cursor on exactly the right spot to work, and I got stuck at one point in episode three where I knew what I neede to do, but just could not figure out how to make the controls do what was required. I re-played the same scene about 10 times before getting it to work, which was frustrating, but fortunately one of the few times it was that difficult to play.
My second complaint about the game is more of a disappointment. One of the key features advertised was that the story of the game would change based on the decisions and choices you make. It even says it right at the start of each episode, “This game series adapts to the choices you make. The story is tailored by how you play.” Which sounds AWESOME! Except it is misleading. Dialog changes, and people’s attitude towards you changes, but the story will always unfold in the same way, no matter whos side you choose in an argument, or what you say to anyone. Even when you choose to save character and another dies, it ultimately doesn’t matter as they both play the same role in subsequent episodes. So the re-play value was nowhere near as high as I thought it would be. What is cool about it is that at the end of the each episode the game shows how your choices compared to those of others who played the game, and when each new episode starts, the “Previously on The Walking Dead” clips reflect your decisions.
Overall, it’s one of the best games I’ve played in a while, simply because of the emotional impact the story and characters deliver. I can’t wait for the climax in episode 5.
watched Possesion
It wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but I’m glad I saw it on half price Tuesdays.
The biggest problem this movie had was it’s predictability. Almost every seen you knew what was going to happen, to such a degree you could almost even predict the dialog. People talk about movies they see being formulaic and this one really looks like someone had a checklist that read “scenes to be put in exorcism movies”. I saw so many scenes that were lifted from other movies, towards the end I started openly laughing at them. Would be a good trivia game for Halloween, watch the movie with friends and everyone writes a list of stolen scenes, and whoever finds the most wins, or you could turn it into a drinking game I suppose.
The second problem. For a horror/suspense movie, it just wasn’t very scary. You could see the film makers tried to build the atmosphere, but the tension scenes were few and far between, and There were too many things that didn’t make sense when I dirst watched it. If the spirit is trapped in the box, why didn’t it wan’t the box destroyed so it could not be shoved back in? If the spirit is so powerfull it can toss people around like they were nothing, why then, when it is being excersised, all it does is kick and scream? I could easily make up some answers if we wanted to argue about it but I shouldn’t have had to do it myself, they movie should have spent more time explaing the mythology of the demon, and less on the main characters relationships with his ex wife, his daughters, his job. Or maybe the marketing was bad, this was really supposed to be a drama, and It was my fault for thinking this was a horror.
I like Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgewick, but I don’t think I’ll be watching this one again. If I feel like watching a movie about someone who’s been possessed, there are a lot better choices, like the obvious ones of The Exorcist or The Amityville Horror. There’s also the excellent, yet underrated The Prophecy, or even The Fallen which, while much of it was boring, had an awesome scene in the middle (if you watch it, you’ll know whatnI mean, I don’t want to spoil it) and and ending twist that totally redeemed the movie and was better than anything M. Night has come up with since The Sixth Sense.
Late to the party, as usual 