Halloween reviews 2013

Check out my other blog: mattcottermovies.blogspot.com. I'm hoping to get some up on this blog, soon. Happy October!

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The Conjuring review

You can see my review of the new horror film The Conjuring on my main blog: mattcottermovies.blogspot.com, check it out.

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Apologies to Stephen King

I don't know if any readers recall my very first post on my blog. It was about Stephen King's IT, and I must say, although I stand by my opinion of the film, I feel, if Mr. Stephen King was reading it, I apologize. I was arrogant to start going off and saying your horror books aren't well written or are a bit "out-there". Although, in my personal opinion, I still prefer your sci-fi and drama work (as well as your short stories), I shouldn't have tried to make my opinion sound like fact. I reread a few of your books recently, and have come to appreciate them more, specifically Carrie, Cujo, IT, Gerald's Game, Dolores Claireborne, Misery, The Dead Zone, and Salem's Lot. I was wrong to say that you should only stick to specific genres, I think that you are a very good writer, and I do respect you, and I think you should have the freedom to write whatever types of stories you wish, including horror stories. I'm sorry that in that first post I was an arrogant douche who thought he could tell a respected and influential novelist how to write his books. If you read that post, I sincerely apologize.

Sinister 2: This is Bullshit!!!!! (May contain some spoilers for the first one)

I just heard some shocking and horrifying news: there's a sequel to Sinister!!! Now, I really loved the first film and was looking forward to a sequel, just go to my review of the film on my other blog: mattcottermovies.blogspot.com and you'll see that. Well, although Scott Derrickson and writer C. Robert Cargill aren't officially attached to it, the producers stated they'll begin filming soon for a March 2014 release, or somewhere around there. Now here's the problem, not only does it copy Insidious' "Chapter 2" thing, but Cargill and Derrickson specifically stated if they did a sequel it would not focus on a new family or the deputy character solving the case, as that's just retreading the same old stuff, but this time it would focus on more of the history of the film's villain Buguuhl, which I really thought was an interesting and cool idea. The producers have now stated that the film will in fact focus on another family of dipshits who move into the Oswalt's old home from the end of the last film. Oh, joy! This is stupid, to say you will not be doing the whole horror sequel backtracking bullshit and then you do it anyway is just lazy! I'm unsure if Cargill or Derrickson came up with the concept, but this is just bad. It's the stupid copy-and-paste type of story, the first one was successful, so they just make it again and just tweak things here and there. Absolute horseshit.

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The Purge review

Check out my review of The Purge on my main blog: mattcottermovies.blogspot.com, thanks for the support guys.

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The Lords of Salem: What the FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU--------!!!!??????!!!!

Today I look at Rob Zombie's newest horror film. (Warning: Mild Spoilers, and I will describe certain very graphic images from the film.)

The Lords of Salem:
Heidi, a local rock DJ in Salem, plays a record she and her two co-DJs received from a group dubbed "The Lords", which the DJs re-dub "The Lords of Salem", assuming they're a local band. She then plays it on-air. This record as a strange effect on the women of Salem, and as strange events start happening around Heidi's home, she begins to discover that The Lords of Salem are more than just a band, they're a coven of witches from colonial days, and they're back for blood.... The cast for the film includes Rob Zombie's wife Sheri Moon Zombie, Academy Award-nominee Bruce Davison (in a subplot story arc that was more interesting than the rest of the film), Jeff Daniel Phillips (most famous for being featured in several GEICO commercials, and Zombie's Halloween II), cult actor Ken Foree, Judy Geeson, Patricia Quinn, Dee Wallace (ET, The Hills Have Eyes, The Stepford Wives, The Howling, 10, Cujo, Critters), and Meg Foster (TV's The Scarlet Letter, Ticket to Heaven, They Live). This is an.... odd film. The movie is not as bad as Halloween II, but is nowhere near as good as The Devil's Rejects, or even House of 1000 Corpses. The movie is very upsetting. It goes way too far. I believe this is the very reason that Zombie has decided to discontinue making horror films, at least, for the mean time. You see, when a director with a very unique but dark style is given absolute free reign to do whatever they want, it doesn't always come out great. I'm not condoning censoring the artist at all, but here's a little breakdown. Zombie has always made his films independently (i.e. the way he wants to make them), but he's always had Lionsgate (a fairly large movie company, responsible for such hits as Saw, American Psycho, and The Hunger Games) backing him up, and making sure he never crosses that line of too much. Sure, he walks that fine line quite often, but rarely stumbles over it, and when he does, it's usually overshadowed by how well made his movies are. (Well, at least not his remakes, anyway.) This film was produced completely independently, it was supposed to be released last October, but it only did so in film festivals, it is only know getting a wider release. This film was picked up at the last minute by Alliance Films (another fairly large company which has produced such horror films as Insidious and Sinister, which unfortunately was bought out by a bigger company recently), who just took the film as it was. This was a big mistake. And this had happened before: flash back to 1990, Warner Bros. was very happy, as newfound director Tim Burton used his dark and unique style to produce three major hits for them: Pee-Wee's Big Adventure in 1985, Beetlejuice in 1988, and the mega-hit Batman in 1989. They decided that because Batman was such a huge hit, that Burton could do whatever he wanted with the next film. Although Batman Returns was a good film, it was an awful Batman film. Batman was placed secondary to the villains, who were grotesque and tragic characters, and the style and plot of the film was far too adult and creepy for children. it was infamous for having McDonald's pull the plug on the Happy Meals due to overwhelming complaints from parents that they took their kids to see the movie and it was far too violent and scary. It was also infamous for leaving kids in the theater crying and parents shocked and appalled. Burton and star Michael Keaton were booted off the next Batman film. Now, this is not quite the same case (this is not a beloved franchise which was advertised to children), but the imagery here is more shocking than anything we've seen from any of Zombie's previous work. The ending sequence is appalling, shocking, gross, disturbing, extremely offensive, sacrilegious, and fucked up beyond belief, and makes no sense, and the ending is total bullshit. It also feels like a Rob Zombie music video on a bad acid trip while watching fucked up horror films. The acting is sub-par for a Zombie film, and I'm not accusing Zombie of being sacrilegious, but there is some heavy emphasis of anti-religious material here. I know it was only here to make the witches seem more evil, but the witches (and even a heavy metal rock star character) constantly call religions, particularly Judeochristian religions, "evil" and call Jesus Christ "the deceiver of all mankind" and call his followers cruel names, and I believe they call Virgin Mary a "whore". There's also a great deal of disturbing, somewhat anti-religious imagery. In the surreal and gut-wrenching montage of horrors at the climax (which honestly is where the film loses you completely, due to the content and due to the lack of good storytelling) there are several extremely disturbing things. (i.e. severely burned demons in priest outfits appearing to make masturbation gestures with dildos, an infant doll crucified with barbed wire in hell, a gang of hypnotized women naked with disturbing demonic masks, the violent birth of a spider/squid creature, showing a friendly local priest as a pervert in a nightmare sequence, and a coven of nasty old witches: bare-ass naked.) Now most of these are only a few seconds long, but still, the disturbing factor is very high, and this is the main bit where the film goes too far, even more so than before. I'm assuming this was supposed to be a disorienting, nightmarish, hellish, artsy segment, and it did that well, if Zombie was going for that. Hell, I was somewhat offended by much of the imagery here, and I'm pretty nonchalant about gory films, and also pretty nonchalant about religion. The film also has a few plot holes throughout, and, unlike other Zombie films, really has no resolution or conclusion. Now, I could go on about the negative of the film for a long, long time, so here's some things I enjoyed. I thought Bruce Davison did a good job, I liked him the best of all. The supporting cast were good, too. The music and atmosphere are very surreal and creepy. The editing is pretty well done, and the cinematography is great. The references to classic films are clever, and the bits where it's genuinely scary (not just shocking) are genuinely frightening. The dream sequences throughout are creepy and disorienting. The news bit at the end is pretty creepy, but doesn't make up for the abysmal ending. I give Zombie props for trying to do an artsy, but balls-to-the-walls horror film, even if it goes way too far in a lot of places, and isn't all that good. The Lords of Salem is a very effective film, but not in a good way. Zombie's quality of films started in mediocre, then got very good, then sank into pretty bad. This film doesn't match the quality it was supposed to have. It is not on par with Insidious, Sinister, or even Zombie's own The Devil's Rejects. Zombie tried something new, it didn't work, he'll try again. I hope that he remains successful enough to do another film like Rejects. I was especially disappointed because I was very excited for this film. The previews in front of the film (for films such as The Purge, The Conjuring, The East, No One Lives, and You're Next) were better than the actual movie. I only recommend Lords to only the hardcore Zombie fans or hardcore horror fans, and they might not even like it. 2.5/5 stars.



(Images: Wikipedia, IMDb.com)

This is bad-ass!!!

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Scary Movie 5: Oh my fucking god.......

Today, I look at...ugh...it doesn't even need an introduction. Now, before I review this, here are some thoughts on the previous installments in this abysmal series (No spin-off films like A Haunted House, Epic Movie, or Meet the Spartans.) Scary Movie: Now, while this film is extremely stupid, it's that kind of so-dumb-it's-funny type of humor, not nearly as good as the Zucker's previous spoofs such as Naked Gum. Scary Movie 2: More gross-out gags, less funny humor. Still somewhat funny. Scary Movie 3: Series takes a serious dip in quality, as if it wasn't bad enough, especially due to PG-13 rating. Scary Movie 4: Worst in the series, parodies everything and anything. Still PG-13.

Scary Movie 5:
The first film not to feature Anna Faris and Regina Hall. Guess they finally got in their right minds and ditched. This film stars Ashley Tisdale, Simon Rex, Erica Ash, Sarah Hyland, Bow Wow, Kat Williams, Jasmine Guy, and Heather Locklear. It also features cameos by celebrities such as Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Jerry O'Connell, Mike Tyson, Snoop Dogg, Mac Miller, Sheree Whitfield, and Big Ang. The film crams in four parodies into 85 minutes: Mama, Paranormal Activity, Black Swan, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It also has "side-parodies" of films such as Sinister, Insidious, Inception, and Evil Dead (which must have been shot in the past week as that film came out a week before this.) It even has a "parody" of The Cabin in the Woods, which was self-parody to begin with, and is 5x funnier than this film. The "parody" is simply saying the title 8 times over and over. It also parodies pop culture such as Fifty Shades of Grey, Madea, and Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo. It also makes reference to Army of Darkness (one of the original Evil Dead movies), which in itself was a reference to The Day the Earth Stood Still. The film lacks any subtly, with only a few moments that made me chuckle, I was laughing because the people next to me were enjoying the film so much (they quietly informed me they were high, but who knows, they could have just been stupid). You know, this film would probably only be funny to a pothead, it's random, weird, and just all over the place. How they got all these actors and celebrities to be in this piece of shit is a mystery. I can't believe this is from the same people who made The Naked Gun, Airplane, and the original Scary Movie. This is the first film in the series to come out in nearly a decade, and I hope this effectively kills an already dying franchise. This is still in theaters, and isn't doing very well at either the box office or in the eyes of critics, so I hope this is the last film in this franchise. Scary Movie 5 is an awful, unfunny, uninspired mess. Why can't horror spoofs be more like The Cabin in the Woods or Tucker and Dale vs. Evil? That's all I have to say. 1/5 stars.

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The horror classic "The Evil Dead" gets a darker reimagining, will it be something to remember?

Last weekend I saw the reboot of the classic horror-comedy Evil Dead Trilogy.

Evil Dead:
Five friends go to a cabin in the woods to help one of them, a young college student named Mia, detox from a drug addiction. But when one of them discovers a mysterious book of the dead ("Necronomicon") in the basement, and Mia becomes possessed. The trip then becomes a gruesome nightmare, and it's a fight to survive the night. I was initially worried about this movie, but when I heard the original director Sam Raimi (who also directed Spiderman, Drag Me to Hell, The Gift, and Oz the Great and Powerful) and original star Bruce Campbell (Raimi's childhood friend who is also a cult star) endorsed the film and even produced it. The film, although being the first film not to be directed by Raimi or feature Campbell as the bad-ass character Ash, it's surprisingly effective. The red band trailer went all over the Internet, making it top at the box office in it's opening weekend. The film packs in a much gore as it can in 90 minutes. Whereas A Good Day to Die Hard was 97 minutes and felt like it was a half hour long, this film is several minutes shorter, and feels a lot longer, but in a good way, like you got your money's worth. The film, although much darker than the original, which played most of the violence for dark slapstick, was entertaining, thrilling, terrifying, and shocking. There were moments where people couldn't even look at the screen. I feel that the found-footage films are dying out, as the torture porn films did back in 2010, and I hope this is the direction horror films continue to go in. But a fair warning: if you are squeamish, just avoid this movie. The movie also showcases things that we saw in the original Evil Dead: strange and surreal camera angles, excessive gore, and practical effects. Something this reboot is being praised for is it's used of practical effects over CGI. The film also packs in a bunch of references and subtle homages to the original trilogy. With the success of this film, the filmmakers are thinking of coming out with a fourth Evil Dead film (as in a continuation of the original series).That would be awesome. If you like Sam Raimi's film, the Evil Dead franchise, or horror films, Evil Dead is a must-see. 4/5 stars.
(Note: One thing this film does well, is turn hot chicks into disgusting demonic monsters with the magic of special effects.)

 (Images: Google, Wikipedia, Chud.com)

Some news about director James Wan

I was researching director James Wan recently, and, from what I've read about his upcoming projects, he's branching into new genres. For those of you unfamiliar with the young, Malaysian-Australian film director, he has filmed and written macabre hits such as Saw and Insidious, as well as some mediocre flops such as Dead Silence and Death Sentence, as well as directing a commercial for survival horror game Dead Space (similar to crime filmmaker Guy Ritchie's popular Black Ops II commercial from late 2012). He has had several projects announced that never went anywhere, such as Fall Night, a vampire movie based off a graphic novel. Even a neo-noir/action film called X-Ray was announced in 2009, and it never got any more news. He even had a film called Haunts announced for release this year that was never mentioned again. But it appears he's gotten some big work recently. He was signed on to direct an adaptation of the MacGyver series. He also is to begin shooting Fast and the Furious 7 this summer, as he is directing it. A young filmmaker known for work in horror films moving to action blockbusters? Let's see how it works out....

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The Last Exorcism films

I'm going to take a look at the found-footage film The Last Exorcism and it's recent, non-found footage sequel. (I recommend you listen to spill.com's audio review of the second film.)

The Last Exorcism:
Reverend Cotton Marcus has performed several exorcisms in the past, and is working with a documentary crew to prove they are all a scam. He claims to have performed at least a dozen fake exorcisms, and the documentary crew is here to film his last one. He travels to the countryside to meet Louis Sweetzer, a man who claims his sweet (no pun intended) daughter Nell is possessed by a demon, named Abalam. Cotton begins his usual tricks to show that the exorcism is fake, but when strange things begin to happen while the cameras are on, Cotton and his team begin to feel that this troubled girl's issues may be a little too real. The performances by the main cast are pretty good for a horror film (especially nowadays). Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, and Louis Herthrum give pretty good performances as the main characters. There are some scenes in here that are absolutely terrifying, others kind of fall flat, a rather mixed bag, to be honest. But the final sequence is very disturbing, even if it goes a little overboard. The horror elements work very well, as does some of the drama. This film isn't a modern masterpiece, but it's one of the better scary movies that have come out in the past 5 years. The Last Exorcism is a worthwhile horror film, checkit out some time. 3/5 stars.


The Last Exorcism Part II:
Nell Sweetzer has no recollection of what happened to her in the first film, but is put in a girls' home in New Orleans, and life seems to be going good. But when strange things start happening to her again, she must take the help of a secret society of voodoo priests to stop Abalam's destructive power. Although Ashley Bell tries to give another good performance, this script just doesn't work. Many of the scares are funnier than they are scary. The romantic subplot for Nell is stupid, and the fact that the voodoo priests are barely helpful makes their whole part in this movie useless. The movie's ending sounds like the middle of a movie. And at the end, Nell does the most selfish thing anyone can do, and it makes her an unlikeable c*nt. Yep, that's what she is. It's totally called for. The special effects are dreadful, the ending is awful and nonsensical, and the entire film is dull. 1/5 stars.

Halloween reviews: The Omen

Today, I look at the classic demonic horror film The Omen, directed by Richard Donner (Superman, Lethal Weapon, The Goonies, Tales from the Crypt) and starring Gregory Peck.

The Omen:
The US Ambassador to Great Britain, named Robert Thorn, after the miscarriage of his and his wife's child, adopts a young orphan, and raises him as his own. The child, named Damien, begins exhibiting strange behavior around age 5, when he freaks out in front fo church, and when his nanny hangs herself screaming "It's all for you, Damien!" Thorn begins investigating, and finds that his son may be the spawn of Satan. He and a photographer try to stop Damien from taking over the world, but they begin to notice there are "omens", such as strange photos which predict the way a person dies... Gregory Peck gives a strong performance as Thorn, who at first defends his son, but begins to notice Damien's true nature. His performance as a troubled father who slowly falls apart is breathtaking. Lee remick plays Thorn's wife, Katherine. She is a concerned mother, but isn't quite as strong as Peck. David Warner (The Lost World, Tron, Time Bandits, Star Trek V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Titanic) plays Keith Jennings, a young newspaper photgrapher who assists Thorn in his investigating into Damien's origins. Billie Whitelaw plays Mrs. Baylock, Damien's new nanny who turns out to be a demon in service to Satan. She has a truly creepy and threatening prescense around her, as, with Thorn, she is (literally) so close to home. Harvey Spencer Stephens gives a good perofrmance as Damien, a sweet little boy who just happens to be Satan's son. This little satanic hellspawn just has creepy things happen around him, such as animals at the zoo run in fear from him, and having a demonic Rottweiller always at his side. Pretty good performance for a kid. Patrick Troughton plays Father Brennan, and old, half-crazy priest who tries to warn Thorn of Damien's origins, including his strange birth mother. The film, unlike The Exorcist, is low on special effects, but the music is really creepy. Jerry Goldsmith's iconic "Ave Satani" is truly haunting and disturbing. I found the mystery and the overall plot a little more far-fetched but a lot more disturbing than The Exorcist, due to the fact that the evil villain wins at the end, and people actually get gruesomely murdered in this film. The Omen is a truly original, creepy and haunting horror film, and Richard Donner works surprisingly well as a horror director. It's a shame he didn't do more. 5/5 stars.
(Also, the film had a mediocre remake that was released on June 6, 2006, and was marketed as "Coming 6-6-06". That's pretty cool.)

Halloween reviews: Donnie Darko

Today, I look at the acclaimed, cult sci-fi/horror thriller Donnie Darko, produced by Drew Barrymore, and starring the then-newcomer Jake Gyllenhaal, and his sister Maggie Gyllenhaal. (Mild Spoilers)

Donnie Darko:
Young Donnie Darko, a socially awkward schizophrenic in 1988, begins having visions of Frank, a dead man in a disutrbing bunny costume 9the most iconic image of the film), who warns him that the world with end in 28 days. He begins to try to cope with friends, these strange visions, his surreal home life, the discovery of time travel, and a new love interest. But, will Donnie be able to prevent this doomsday prophecy?... This film is surpirsing. It did poor at the box office, mainly due to the fact the MPAA only allowed it to be show in 58 theaters, and that was because they were pissed off at the trailer, which prominintely featured a scene in which a plane crashes. (The film was released about a month after 9/11.) The cast are excellent. A young Jake Gyllenhall plays Donnie to a tee. He's awkward, strange, intelligent, and funny. He stands up to aauthroity, but also crosses the line on occasion, and is considered a sociopath and an overall weird kid. Jena Malone plays Gretchen, Donnie's new neighbor and love interest, who is a little weird, like Donnie, and finds his outbursts at the idiotic authroity figures of the town amusing. Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osbourne plays Rose and Eddie Darko, Donnie's caring parents. They're not like most movie parents, who are oblivious to their childrens' problems. They are involved with Donnie's psychologist and genuinely care for the mental state of their fragile son. Speaking of which, Katharine Ross turns in a great performance as supporting character Dr. Thurman, whom is Donnie's uneasy psychologist, often losing hope for Donnie the more his mental state detiorates. Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jake's rela-life sister) plays Elizabeth, Donnie's sister and rival. Daveigh Chase (Lilo and Stitch, The Ring ) turns in a good supporting performance as Donnie's kid sister Sam, who got her own direct-to-DVD sequel. (S. Darko, skip it.) James Duval plays Frank, the strange imaginary friend of Donnie, who warns him of the end of the world. Drew Barrymore and Patrick Swayze plays opposition roles as Karen Pomeroy and Jim Cunningham, respecitvely. One is a sweet teacher who wants her students to challenge authority and ask tough questions, and Cunningham is a feel-good Christian speaker who is later found out to be a pedophile. Beth Grant plays Kitty, a local teacher and neighbor of Donnie's, who Donnie depsises for being a bitch, being blind to Cunningham's con-man act, and for being so simple-minded. Also worth a note are Alex Greenwald and Seth Rogen (back in his days of Freeks & Geeks) in small roles as some bullies. The writing and direction by Richard Kelly is fantastic. The strange hallucination scenes and the scenes of dark comedy in this surreal universe seem to blend together well. This is thanks to the fact that Kelly makes the scenes feel the same tone, and not drastically and noticeably opposite like in some movies that attempt the mixing comedy and horror thing. The music is also done well, and adds to the scenes of tension or strange visions. The special effects are below par, and minimal, with a 4.5 million budget and under a month to shoot, they had to not include so many effects, which makes the film all the more unique and cool. Donnie Darko manages to be funny, surreal, scary, thrilling, and intriguing, sometimes at once. 5/5 stars.

Halloween reviews: Dawn of the Dead

Since yesterday I reviewed the zombie classic, Night of the Living Dead, I've decided that today i will review it's sequel, and arguably the better film, Dawn of the Dead... (Mild spoilers)

Dawn of the Dead:
In 1978, the zombie plague has spread past the countryside, and has been recently invading populated society. The apocalypse is now looming more, everpresent now as small towns fall to the zombie hordes. But, a small band of survivors, including some SWAT members, stake out a small mall, but, a violent biker gang and endless swarms of flesh-eating monsters threaten their dream of peace and quiet... This film offered more gore, action, and death, all in gruesome color. The opening of the film shows a SWAT raid on a project in the slums, showing it overrun with zombies, and the news stations are running 24/7 in order to warn the masses. This shows that the epidemic is even worse, especially as in the last film, it seemed that the local cops were wrapping up the zombie situation, at the expense of Ben's life. The cast are great, cult actor Ken Forree (The Devil's Rejects, From Beyond, Keenan and Kel) plays Peter, another George Romero black protagonist, who is a SWAT member. He's a bad-ass, and another black hero who just takes charge. Scott Reiniger plays Roger, Peter's smart-ass best bud and fellow SWAT member. He's cocky and likeable, which makes his death halfway through the film more tragic. He also has a great line ("We got this man, we got this by the ass!!") David Emge and Gaylen Ross play Stephen and Francine, a young white couple,w ho know Roger, and get smuggled out on a chopper by the two after the SWAT raid. Francine works at the news station, and Stephen's her boyfriend. Tom Savini (special effects artist on this, Creepshow, Friday the 13th, and others) has a minor role as Blades, a motorcycle gang member. The tension and special effects are great. The slow-moving zombies create a more slow-moving suspense scene, and Savini's graphic special effects are great. There's some funny comedy, too. Also, the political message stays as well.  This time, it's a message about consumerism, as the zombies stumble around the mall mindlessly. This film was released in Italy under the name Zombi, and got unofficial sequels like Zombi II (a cult film, called Zombie in the US, as it's msotly unrelated). The film also escalated Ken Foree, Tom Savini, and, of course, George Romero to cult stardom.Overall, Dawn of the Dead is an excellent horro film, and the best zombie film ever made. 5/5 stars.
















 The film is famous for having a darker, alternate ending:(Spoilers) In the original ending, after Stephen and Roger become zombies and get killed, Francine starts up the hlicopter (evne though she can't fly), and Peter kills himself before being eaten by zombies, and Francine, realizing there is little hope, chops off her own head with the chopper's blades. In the theatrical ending, the director decided to have a more light ending, so as Peter is about to kill himself, he springs to action and kills some zombies, and he and Francine fly away in the chopper....

Halloween reviews: The Blair Witch Project

Due to the recent release of the fourth in the Paranormal Activity franchise, I've decided that I should review the hit found footage film that, well, founded the found footage genre. This kick-started films like The Last Broadcast, REC, and Paranormal Activity, and often seems to be forgotten nowadays.

The Blair Witch Project:
Three film students: Heather, Josh, and Mike, head out into the woods to film an indie documentary on the "Blair Witch", the evil spirit of an old woman who has haunted the Black Hills forest in Blair, Maryland since colonial times. They are non-believers, and, ignoring the warnings of the townsfolk, spend a few days filming in the woods. But, when disturbing and eerie things begin happening, they realize that the Blair Witch may be more than just a legend. This film is praised for it's interesting approach: due to extreme constrictions of the budget, the filmmakers literally show nothing. You only hear subtle noises, and see creepy little wicker statues in the forest, but that's it. Is it the townsfolk trying to drive the young people out of town? Is it the filmmaker's paranoia? Is it the real witch? No one knows until the end, and the ending truly is a shocking and disturbing one. I first watched this late at night, camping with my family and a friend. Me and my friend just sat there as it ended, and looked around, noticing the cold, barren, dark woods around us, and looked at each other. I said "Well, guess we'll have to watch Gremlins to calm ourselves, cause I can't just fall asleep after that." We did. That's how scared we were after watching it. And the rest of our friends and family had gone to another trailer on the camping site for a card game, no one was there with us. Little light was around the campsite. Truly shit-your-pants-scary stuff here. Part of what makes it more real is that the trailer just shows the infamous scene where Heather weeps into the camera, apologizing to their family and friends. She says "it was a mistake", and "we're gonna die out here". She then title-drops: "This was my project, the Blair Witch project." The marketing campaign consisted of posters including Heather's disturbed face, and of "missing" posters. TV channels aired fake documentaries about the history of Blair Witch, and the search for the filmmakers. The official movie website, to this day, still treats the material like it is historical fact. It was the first movie to convince the whole world they were watching an actual documentary, and that unsettles you. Sure, Paranormal Activity was scary, but did anyone by 2009 buy the "it really happened" thing? This was the first film to pull it off, and no movie has reached that level of phenomenon and that level of fear, because it was the only found footage movie that actually pulled the "true story" angle off. Even horror movies that actually are based on fact don't do that, usually. Also, the three main actors used their real names for the characters, making it even more realistic. The only thing that lets you know it's fake is the directing credits at the end, but some people didn't make it to the credits when it was first released in 1999 (ten years before Activity). This makes The Blair Witch Project one of my favorite horror films, and one of the creepiest and most shocking in recent memory. 4/5 stars.

Halloween reviews: Hot Fuzz

Although not really a horror-comedy (more of a spoof of action-thrillers), I'm reviewing the trio of Wright-Pegg-Frost's follow-up to Shaun of the Dead. (Check out my other blog: mattcottermovies.blogspot.com for more film reviews and news.)

Hot Fuzz:
The second of Edgar Wright's "Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy", a reference to the Italian "Three Flavours" trilogy. (The first movie being Shaun of the Dead and the upcoming World's End.) Simon Pegg plays top cop Nick Angel, who is a metropolitan investigator, who is demoted to an investigator in a small, perfect village by the name of Sandford. He begins to become friends with Sgt. Butterman, the police inspector's son who is obsessed with buddy cop films. He begins to notice a string of strange, gruesome (and I do mean gruesome) murders thoughout the village, and begins to suspect several powerful figures throughout the town, and decides to investigate, possibly with fatal consequences. A hilarious spoof/mystery/action/horror/thriller film, this movie tops even Shaun of the Dead. The cast are top-notch. Instead of playing a slacker, Pegg plays an uptight and serious character who's girlfriend ignores him due to his over-serious committment to his job. He becomes looser throughout the film, becoming a fun, likeable guy by the end of the film. His bonding with Butterman helps him get looser. Frost plays Butterman like in Shaun, a slacking, drunken, funny guy. He is well-meaning, and hopes to become an action hero. Pegg and Frost have great chemistry, but instead of being best mates from the get-go, they have to work on it, as at first, Pegg considers Frost an idiotic jackass who just embarasses himself. Timothy Dalton (one of the best Bonds ever) plays Skinner, the grocery store mogul who is slimy, creepy, and suspicous, and is Pegg's first guess as the killer. Jim Broadbent plays the police inspector Butterman, Sgt. Butterman's loving father. He is a likeable, nice fellow, but has his odd quirks, like many members of the town. In fact, besides Pegg, every characters has odd and weird quirks, reminiscent of Edgar Wright's films, which often have strange settings and surreal characters. (Scott Pilgrim is a good example.) Martin Freeman, Steve Coogan, and Bill Nighy make cameos at the opening of the film as Pegg's awkward and hilarious superiors who demote him. Cate Blanchett makes an uncredited cameo as Janine, a British police officer. The writing by Pegg and Frost is hilarious. They make the plot smart and complex, but that doesn't get pushed aside, because, unlike Seth McFarlane (no offense intended), they tie all the jokes straight to the plot. The jokes have that British flavor to them that an American writing staff couldn't capture. Also, as Doug Walker of thatguywiththeglasses.com pointed at, there are so many jokes, you can't catch them all.  The story, like Shaun, moves along quickly, due to the fact that Wright's direction and editing are impressively fast. The music is cool, with a fast-paced techno beat. The horror elements are truly creepy, but aren't so scary they overshadow the jokes. The chemistry works because the director and duo worked on the show Spaced even before Shaun. Hot Fuzz is a smart, complex, hilarious, gory, and thrilling action-slasher-comedy with great acting, jokes, writing, editing, music, and scares. Great movie anytime, and one of my favorite comedies. 5/5 stars.

Halloween reviews: Jeepers Creepers

Today, I look at infamous horror director Victor Salva's film Jeepers Creepers. Why is Salva so infamous? Well, he was convicted of molesting a young star in one of his films, now, I'm not sure if he's really guilty, but it was an awkward way to kick off a review, and has nothing to do with this film whatsoever, but it does play in the sequel a bit. Why have this as my next review? Well, this is just a rumor, but there might be a sequel in the works in the next couple years, of couse, it's been in development hell for the past few years. Plus, #2 came out in like 2002, and it was announced for a 2011 release a couple years back. Obviously, that didn't happen. I'm not too optimistic. Well, enough sequel talk, let's get to the movie itself. (Spoilers)

Jeepers Creepers:
The title is taken from the old song "Jeepers Creepers" from the 1938 movie Going Places, which MGM/United Artists (the producers of the film) happened to have the rights to. Of course, the song is used to very creepy effect in the film, but has nothing to do with the plot, it's just creepy. It follows two college kids: Trish and her brother, Darry, taking the back road home for spring break, and stumble upon a creepy truck driver who si disposing of bodies in a pit behind a creepy old chapel. They discover he has thousands of bodies stored in the pit, in a Sisteen-Chapel of corpses. They go for help, but this creepy truck driver continues to stalk them. The kids are continually bombarded with cryptic phone calls from an elderly psychic with strange warnings, and the truck driver is more than he seems.... The cast are surprisingly pretty good. Gina Phillips is Trish. She's kind of dumb, but she's not tood bad. Justing Long as Darry is also a little stupid, but he's pretty likeable and you don't want him to die. Jonathan Breck gives a good performance as "The Creeper", the mysterious truck driver who has murdered hundreds upon hundreds of people. and has apparently cannibalizes pieces of his victims. But, this creeper is more than a man. He is in fact an ancient demon who must eat body parts to regenerate rotting parts of his own body. He is incredibly fast, strong, and stealthy. He has a creepy presence and oura of mystery than make him truly terrifying. Patricia Belcher plays Jezelle, the elderly psychic who lets on less than she knows, and has a mysterious knowledge of this demon. Eileen Brennan plays The Cat Lady, a mysterious old woman who has thousands of cats who seems to have a history with this demon, as the psychic mentions her before the kids meet her. She gives a good performace, albeit brief. The cast are good, and the script is pretty damn bizarre. The universe presented in the film is strange, with surreal things happening around the creeper's lair that just don't make sense. The dialogue is okay, and the shock moments are truly disturbing. The special effects are pretty good. Sure, the CG sucks, but the make-up on the Creeper is pretty impressive. The music is pretty good, too. Albeit mediocre, Jeepers Creepers is a fun popcorn horror film with a creepy monster and a somewhat haunting ending. 3/5 stars.

Halloween reviews: Sinister

Today, I look at the hyped-up horror film Sinister.

Sinister:
The film, written by C. Robert Cargill (Carlyle, former critic of renowned website Spill.com), follows former true crime writer Ellison Oswalt, who moves into a new home, where a gruesome murder took place 9 months before. He plans to write his biggest book ever to re-start his career. He finds a box of old Super 8 films and a projector in his attic, and watches the films (titled with double entendres) which depict families having fun, then being brutally murdered. He begins to notice a mysterious, cultist symbol throughout the videos, and sometimes spots a disturbing, demonic figure in the background. When weird things begin happening around the home, Ellison digs deeper, unearthing a history of a Pagan deity known as Bughuul, who ate the souls of human children. The writing in the film is brilliant, and that is brought to life by the acting. Ethan Hawke as Ellison is just a normal guy. he can be an asshole, but you can also relate to his struggle to return to that limelight, to regain his 15 minutes. Renowned British actress Juliet Rylance plays his wife, Tracy. She loves her husband, but believes he's crossed the line by moving into a crime scene house. Fred Thompson plays the sheriff, who does not like Ellison, he has a good reason, though. Ellison is known for being critical of incompetent, small-town cops in his books. James Ransone plays the deputy, a funny side-kick who helps Ellison uncover more about the case. His scenes are not cheesy and do not feel forced, but are out of place when compared to the other, very disturbing scenes. Vincent D'Onfrio plays Professor Jonas, a historian who helps the police in researching illegal cults, and tells Ellison the legend of Bughuul.  The writing is fantastic, and the conversations sound like how real people would talk. The shock moments are truly great. Carlyle and the director, Scott Derrickson, know how to scare. There are very suspenseful scenes, and they keep the demon mysterious and shadowy, rarely showing him. There are some jump scares, in which one works very well. The home movies he finds are truly disturbing, appearing like real snuff films. They are scored well, making them 10x scarier. The music is terrifying. It goes from chanting, to subtle humming, to shrieking sounds. The talent behind the film is remarkable, from Acadamy Award-nominated stars, the good writers, to the director (who made Exorcism of Emily Rose), to the producers (one is Oren Peli, director of Paranormal Activity and producer of Insidious), to everyone else involved. I give credit to Carlyle for his excellent writing, and to the production team, and to everyone involved. Sinister is a deeply disturbing, creepy, shocking horror film with a great writer behind it all. 4/5 stars. (By the way, has anyone noticed the lack of creativity in horror titles lately? It seems like they just use negative-sounding words like "sinister" or "insidous" nowadays, or meta-titles like "cabin in the woods" or "house at the end of the street". Well, I guess it's what the public wants because it sells.)

Tales from the Crypt retrospective part I: Top Ten Episodes

Today I start the first part of my Tales from the Crypt retrospective, I'm sorry this is so delayed, but I was busy with my birthday and other things over the weekend. Also, check out part I of my Twilight Zone retrospective on mattcottermovies.blogspot.com, part II of these series will come out next weekend. (Also check out Cinemassacre.com's top 10 episodes list) Based on the infamous EC comics of the 50's, this HBO show aired uncensored, and most episodes had over-the-top gore, and usually revolved around bad people getting gruesome punishments, and if not, usually involved something creepy or surreal. Although named after the EC comic book Tales from the Crypt, many stories were taken from the other EC comic books. Also, this was not the first time this was done, there was a 1972 British anthology film based on the comics, and George Romero's Creepshow was a funny/creepy homage to the comics. Both of those were good, as was this show. But this had twice the gore and talent. The producers include Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis (who featured as a guest director), and each episode had celebrity directors, cameos, and guest stars. So, let me go through the top 10 of my favorite episodes.

10. Television Terror- Morton Downey Jr. plays an asshole host of a true crime show, who is doing his biggest show ever, the house of an elderly woman who let old men stay at her home, only to butcher them. He goes into the house with his television crew, but when creepy things start to happen, the host discovers they are not alone. The suspense in this episode is pretty good, and there are some creepy moments. You at first want the host dead, but near the end, you feel bad for him.

9. The Swithc- Directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, this episode is great. A rich, elderly bachelor wants to get with this young girl, but she doesn't like him because of his body. He begins to switch pieces of his body with a younger man, via a mad science operation. The twist ending is great, and the episode is so over-the-top and goofy, you have to love it.

8. Three's A Crowd- A young couple take a vacation to their friend's cabin. Then, the wife and the friend begin to spend far too much time with each other, and then the husband thinks they're having an affair. He decides they deserve to die. The twist ending is so sick and so horrible, this episode gets a spot on the list.

7. The Third Pig- The only animated episode, which is far better than the cartoon Tales from the Cryptkeeper. In Season 7, all episodes were shit. Then, this sick, gross re-telling of the Three Little Pigs (with a drunken wolf, a perverted group of pigs, and a franken-pig) blows onto the scene and mind-fucks the viewer. One of the few episodes played completely for laughs.

6.  The New Arrival- David Warner (Tron) plays a radio psychiatrist for children who's ratings are dipping. In an attempt to boost them, he visits the home of the woman from Poltergeist, and finds her daughter is quite disruptive, and psychotic. This episode is creepy, mysterious, and suspenseful, and keeps you guessing until the end. It's a truly great episode, but is often forgotten.

5. None But the Lonely Heart- Directed by Tom Hanks, this episode follows a con artist who woos and marries elderly women for their money, then murders them, gains their inheritance, and then moves on to the next con. He does this to one more woman, but then, this  come to bite him in the ass. A suspenseful episode with a psychotic main character, and a great, gruesome ending.

4. Tie: Til Death, and Death of Some Salesman- The first follows a man who woos a rich woman with a voodoo potion, only for her to die. But, the potion makes sure that she's his, in life AND in death. Next, a sleazy salesman is kidnapped by a deformed, backwoods family (all played in a triple role by Tim Curry, who was nominated for an Emmy for this role) who hates salesman for no good reason. Both are suspenseful, and have creepy and gruesome endings.

3. Split Personality- Joe Pesci plays an asshole con man who tricks two reclusive, rich, and beautiful twins into dating him by pretending he has a twin brother. But, these women are not to be double-crossed. Great episode, with a funny asshole character, and a great ending.

2. Yellow-  In WWI, a s young soldier, who was forced into the army by his asshole general father, gets his fellow soldiers killed because he was a coward in the line of duty. This episode contains no elements of the supernatural or anything horror, it's the only episode that's an hour long, it's directed by Robert Zemeckis, and is a war-drama. An oddball episode that proves one of the best in the series. A good twist ending though.The general is played by Kirk Douglas, whose son Eric Douglas stars as his son in the episode.

1. Strung Along- An old puppeteer begins training a young animatronics pioneer in the ways of marionette puppeteering. But, his young wife does not want the other guy around, and this causes a rift and conflict in the old guy's life. His puppet Cocoa begins to talk to him, and this reveals a dark secret about the puppet. A good episode, with suspense, good build-up, and has a creepy ending.

Next: Part II!

No Halloween review today :-(

Unfortunately, due to my busy schedule, I will not be posting a review today. But I am working on something big for tomorrow, so good night to you all. :-)