Film review: The Haunting in Connecticut 2

I used to be a lot better about staying up to date on new movies, but the fact of the matter is, it's a hell of a lot of work and I sort of gave up the past few months. I have a feeling I'm missing out on a lot by being passive, and waiting for this information to work its way to me via the few channels I still use on a semi-regular basis. So it wasn't until recently that I realized a) The Haunting in Connecticut 2 was out and b) on DVD and c) on Netflix. Yep.

I really liked the first film, I've watched it maybe three or four times now. It's got some of my favorite story themes: spiritualism, haunted house, horror of physical disease, historical content, a mystery demanding to be solved. I find it creepy as hell, and appreciate the hopeful ending. So I gave the sequel a shot, hoping beyond hope.

Film review: The Conjuring

Thanks to a youth spent reading everything I could on the paranormal, I was already familiar with the real Warrens and their reputations. Even better, thanks to Lorraine appearing occasionally on Paranormal State, I was primed for catching her cameo in THE CONJURING.

So part of my interest in seeing the film was based in prior knowledge and an appreciation for ghost stories. But more than that, even early reports on the movie gave a glimmer of hope that this might be one of those rare, genuinely good modern horror films. The casting seemed excellent, and while it's based on a true story that's similar to many other haunted house tales (fiction or not) it's a formula that just kind of works.

Film Review and Freak-out: Kairo (Pulse)

I hesitate to call this a review, because my reason for writing it has more to do with something out of real life that happened while I was watching it. If you're already familiar with PULSE, you'll understand why I was terrified, but if not, I'll explain to the best of my ability.

Film review-ish: Scream 4

During lunch at a recent library training event, somehow the topic of the SCREAM trilogy came up in a somewhat disparaging way. As always, I was the lone weirdo who halted the conversation to say, "But... I like the SCREAM series!" One of my colleagues backed me up on the first movie, but... only the first movie.. Okay, okay...

I don't believe in guilty pleasures, so anyone hoping I'm going to back down and admit that two and three sucked and I have bad taste for liking them is going to be more than a little disappointed. I try to avoid judging other people's tastes, even though I might not be perfect at it, and I hope that others will allow me the same courtesy in return. My theory is, looking down my nose at what someone else likes accomplishes nothing except possibly making that other person feel bad. I don't want to be responsible for that!

So let's address SCREAM.

Film review: The Innkeepers

THE INNKEEPERS has been out for a couple of years, and my most recent viewing was not even the first time I had seen it. But I feel compelled to write about it for a couple of reasons: one, I think it gets a bad rap for the pacing. Two, my opinion of it has evolved over time. I feel better about discussing it now, rather than writing some review back when it first came out without the benefit of hindsight.

Film review: House at the End of the Street

I was sure that HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET was a remake. I could have sworn there was already a movie with this title, but I guess I must have been thinking of one of the other dozens of "house" movies out there.

I really want to be fair to HOUSE, since there are already many polarizing reviews out there. I won't lie that I had a few snarky comments spring to mind while watching it. ...And I'm probably going to include a couple of them here. I had some genuine issues with the way the plot and characters were written, even if I did like the direction they went by the end of the film. I try to avoid spoilers, but I'm probably going to have to get into a couple of them to do this justice.

Film review: Nightmares in Red, White and Blue

I've been hanging on to NIGHTMARES IN RED, WHITE AND BLUE for a while, waiting for the right time to watch it. Not that I knew some way to identify the right time, because in retrospect I didn't realize how appropriate it would be to watch it right now. The past few months I've had some of the most in-depth conversations with people (and admittedly, sometimes myself) about storytelling, themes, what makes them compelling to a reader/viewer and what the films mean to them. This particular documentary touches on all of that, specifically within the horror genre.

Film review: The Possession

I like figuring out how stories work. They all have histories, rules, connections and themes that are waiting to be unearthed. The difference between the good and bad ones, for me, is that the good ones have innards that make sense. They might not be obvious, they might require some work to figure out, and they might even surprise you. I always hope they'll surprise me, I like that part. If they're really good, the next time you go back to the story they'll even change.

The... not-as-good stories don't make a whole lot of sense.

Film review: Absentia

I find that horror fans are a much more diverse group of people than those not actively involved in the scene might otherwise guess. It says something about the wide range of sub-genres within horror that there is such a variety of tastes, preferences, expectations, and experience. But a big part of that is our own individual fears. I, for example, don't find clowns scary. I am 0% scared by clowns. I've seen IT, I've watched all sorts of horror with clowns in them, they remain fun and silly even at their most evil. But clown fear is very common, I've known people who have it. I, on the other hand, am terrified of spiders. One of the scariest movies I've ever seen is ARACHNOPHOBIA. I feel a chill run up my spine just thinking about it.

I say this before I delve into ABSENTIA because I was surprised that an award-winning film that was this good hadn't been rated higher on sites like IMDB.com or Rotten Tomatoes.

Film review: Sinister

 In SINISTER, Ethan Hawke stars as true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt who has brought his wife and two kids to live in a house formerly occupied by the slaughtered family he intends to write his newest book on. That sounds reasonable, right? After finding a box of 8mm snuff films in the attic, Oswalt realizes that the person responsible for this most recent murder may have been attacking families for decades. 

In retrospect, I wish I had thought to live-tweet my thoughts on SINISTER while I was watching it.

Film review: Atrocious

I’ve talked before about my love of the Spanish shaky-cam, found-footage film [REC], so I hoped that ATROCIOUS might be worth a watch, seeing as it’s also a Spanish film in that same style. Not that it makes sense logically, found footage movies from Spain are not automatically better for any particular reason, but the association was there, and the plot sounded promising, so once again I communed with the interlibrary loan gods to acquire another horror film.

Film review: The Revenant

I had heard some good things about THE REVENANT, enough to pursue a copy to watch myself. I love good horror-comedies when I can find them, like SHAUN OF THE DEAD, SLITHER, ZOMBIELAND and my most recent favorite TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL. I can't say that REVENANT knocks any of those four out of their prime positions in that sub-genre for me, but it's original, different and does have some truly funny moments that make it worth checking out.

Film review: Tales From the Darkside: The Movie

When it comes to horror anthologies, it's tough to live up to the standards set by THE TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE or CREEPSHOW. As I found out when watching recent anthology V/H/S, an uneven selection of segments can create a poor viewing experience, no matter how good even one of them may be.  In the case of TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE, the stories again vary in their effectiveness but not in as extreme a way as V/H/S. There is still a uniting theme and visual quality due to the single director that ties the entire film together.

Film review: The Apparition

(Even after seeing the movie, I still have no idea what that tag line means.)

More than anything else, I love a good ghost story. THE APPARITION tries to give the viewer one, but falls short in terms of plot and character while going for creative scares and creepy imagery.

It opens in 1973, with a group of parapsychologists attempting to make contact with a deceased colleague. They appear to be successful. Years later, a group of college students recreate this experiment with the benefit of modern technology that boosts their brain signals, making them over 400 times more powerful. The students are able to unleash an entity that attacks the group and pulls one the participants into a wall.

The story jumps to couple Ben and Kelly, who are moving into a subdivision to look after the house for Kelly's parents. Cue the spooky happenings, and our movie is officially off and running.

Film review: V/H/S

I have nothing against found footage style films as long as they're done well enough. As a lover of both horror and fantasy I am not only willing and able, but eager to escape into many unrealistic scenarios. I don't need a 100% airtight line of logic to justify it, I'm fine with accepting that yes, in the world you present to me that every blade of grass in the world is really a conscientious being that's fed up with being trampled on, beginning an epic revolt, Plant Vs. Man, in which 90% of the population is annihilated via tripping. I am on board, let's do this. When I read the first trade volume of Marvel Zombies, my biggest problem was that I didn't buy Thor being zombified. When I mumbled "Oh come on, there's no way that could happen!" to myself, I had to stop reading and have a reality check. Then I continued, because it's fucking Marvel Zombies and I'm going to read the hell out of that.

I say all this in my review of V/H/S to demonstrate that I am not hard to get on board with whatever kooky plot you may have.

Film review: Excision

I'm not sure how to begin speaking about EXCISION, except to say that I can't remember the last time I was this touched and impressed by a horror film. "Touching" is not a word one can often use when it comes to this genre, which isn't to say that we don't connect to the characters in these films. We often do, at least if they're written, developed and portrayed well. This film is different than the usual fare, though.

Film review: Rec 3: Genesis

The first [REC] is one of the best horror films to come out in the past few years. I was completely unprepared the first time I watched it and, as a result, terrified. I couldn't look out my windows, I didn't want to sleep. It was so well done, so perfectly claustrophobic and realistic that I couldn't turn off that little panic switch in my head.

Before seeing it for myself, I had heard that REC 3 was not like the other two films that came before it, but wanted to give it a chance. Unfortunately the person who told me that was right, it's a different zombie movie altogether.

Rites of Passage

An anthropology professor sleeping with one of his students takes his would-be girlfriend and several of her substance-abusing classmates to another student's family ranch home with an ancient Chumash Indian burial site, his whacked out brother and a looney drug dealer on it? What could go wrong!

Resolution

Much of the movie news I try (and sometimes fail) to keep up with is tossed in a mental junk drawer, rattling around until I come across it again and think "Oh! I remember hearing about that. I think I'll see it." This plan has more holes in it than a moth-eaten piece of lace, but keeping a huge list of movies I came across and wanted to see someday wasn't working out either.

I only take special notice of films that I think I may not get reminded of again, and/or I absolutely don't want to miss. So I read an advance review of the film RESOLUTION recently and had a strong feeling that both of those might be true.

Circus of the Damned

With the overwhelming amount of information the web serves up it's difficult to stay in the know and yet preserve the feeling of surprise at discovering a great new film. Horror can be especially tricky since there are many that never make it to a theater, never get mainstream press, but are still worth pursuing, so you have to seek out that information. Oh, my first-world Librarian of the Dead problems! Weep for me!

It's easy to learn too much about a film, to the point that it affects your reaction to it. I always forget how much damn fun it is be surprised by how good a movie is.