2018 Halloween Season Viewings
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- DirectorMichele SoaviStarsRupert EverettFrançois Hadji-LazaroAnna FalchiA cemetery man must kill the dead a second time when they become zombies.One of the darkest dark comedies you’re apt to see.
- DirectorJeremy GillespieSteven KostanskiStarsAaron PooleKenneth WelshEllen WongShortly after delivering a patient to an understaffed hospital, a police officer experiences strange and violent occurrences seemingly linked to a group of mysterious hooded figures.Meh. A few solid visuals. Other than that, nothing to write home about.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsRoddy PiperKeith DavidMeg FosterThey influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.I had some issues with the plot of this one. For instance, upon putting on the glasses and seeing all of the non-humans, the protagonist is magically able to make the connection between pervasively enforced society-wide obedience and the non-humans he sees before him. The level of comprehension for this character that early on just isn’t believable. That being said, the 3-minute fist fight in the alley is classic. And the practical effects are cheesy but endearing. Not a bad Friday night flick if you can turn your mind off for 90 minutes.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsNobuko OtowaJitsuko YoshimuraKei SatôTwo women kill samurai and sell their belongings for a living. While one of them is having an affair with their neighbor, the other woman meets a mysterious samurai wearing a bizarre mask.Far more than a horror film. This is a meditation on youth, authority, and survival. The motif of the tall blades of grass blowing in the wind also creates a surreal atmosphere, like an ocean in which all of the characters risk being swallowed whole.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsBrad PittTom CruiseAntonio BanderasA vampire tells his epic life story: love, betrayal, loneliness, and hunger.I was literally on board until the VERY end. Christian Slater’s driving over a bridge and suddenly, there’s the Tom Cruise character by his side inexplicably. What did I miss? How did the Cruise character know where he’d be (particularly seeing as he’d never met Slater’s character before)? Did the Brad Pitt character fill Cruise in? And why target the Slater character? What’s the rub? It was a solid movie with (what I saw to be) a ham-handed ending.
- DirectorJeremy DysonAndy NymanStarsSamuel BottomleyDeborah WastellAmy DoyleAfter receiving a file with details of three unexplained cases of apparitions, skeptical professor Phillip Goodman embarks on a terrifying trip.An anthology film that has its moments. I particularly liked the actor in the beast-in-the-woods segment. Good acting all around.
- DirectorPanos CosmatosStarsEva BourneMichael J RogersScott HylandsDespite being under heavy sedation, a young woman tries to make her way out of the Arboria Institute, a secluded, quasifuturistic commune.It’s got a style all its own. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to save an undercooked script with one of the most unintentionally humorous finales to a film I’ve ever seen.
- DirectorBuzz KulikStarsScott JacobyPippa ScottJohn LarchA perverted teenage boy who lives in the walls of a house finds the house sold to a family after his mother dies, then he falls for one of the new residents.An odd but wholly worthwhile 70s horror/thriller in dire need of a remake.
- DirectorKevin ConnorStarsPeter CushingIan BannenIan CarmichaelAn anthology of four short horror stories revolving around a mysterious antique shop owner and his antique pieces, each of which hides a deadly secret.This one was a bit of a slog. Don’t bother.
- DirectorM. Night ShyamalanStarsJames McAvoyAnya Taylor-JoyHaley Lu RichardsonThree girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities. They must try to escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th.An ambitious outing for James McAvoy. Perhaps his most ambitious. And he succeeds admirably. I’m also a huge fan of sequel segue scenes at the end of movies. And this one has a really neat one that harkens back to the year 2000. : )
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsHaruhiko KatôKumiko AsôKoyukiTwo groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.One of the worst films (horror or any other genre) I’ve ever seen. My score of “3” was solidified when a CGI-ed airplane crashes into the harbor master’s office where the protagonist is running to locate a key to the motorboat she wants to escape on. Just dreadful. Skip it.
- DirectorMichael AndersonStarsRichard HarrisCharlotte RamplingWill SampsonA hunter squares off against a killer whale seeking vengeance for the death of its mate.Another Jaws-esque film capitalizing on the success of the 1975 blockbuster. This one is remarkably campy. Shots of the whale in the “ocean” were clearly filmed in a tank; some of the death scenes were laughable; and the requisite sob story from the protagonist feels forced, underdeveloped, and ultimately unnecessary. And yet, it’s for these shoddy writing and production points that I find it so endearing. It’s a fun “horror” film to laugh to (at?). Just don’t ever make the mistake of taking it seriously (as you should its inspiration).
- DirectorJack ClaytonStarsDeborah KerrPeter WyngardeMegs JenkinsA young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.A very Victorian horror film. The scary stuff of this one’s rooted in the dialogue which is superb thanks to the joint forces of Henry James and Truman Capote.
- DirectorLeigh WhannellStarsLogan Marshall-GreenMelanie VallejoSteve DanielsenSet in the near-future, technology controls nearly all aspects of life. But when the world of Grey, a self-labeled technophobe, is turned upside down, his only hope for revenge is an experimental computer chip implant.Hyped up and worthy of it. I suspect it earned a “horror” moniker on imdb strictly for its gore (which was impressive), but the storyline ended up tackling some of the more sinister implications of AI. Thought-provoking and chilling all at once.
- DirectorBen WheatleyStarsNeil MaskellMyAnna BuringHarry SimpsonNearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.Convincing acting and a wtf ending that’ll send you to reddit threads searching for answers. Even still, it’s an intense unsettling horror/thriller mashup.
- DirectorGuillermo del ToroStarsMarisa ParedesEduardo NoriegaFederico LuppiAfter Carlos - a 12-year-old whose father has died in the Spanish Civil War - arrives at an ominous boys' orphanage, he discovers the school is haunted and has many dark secrets which he must uncover.A poetic synthesis of both imagined and historic horror.
- DirectorMichele SoaviStarsDavid BrandonRichard BarkeleyBarbara CupistiA group of stage actors lock themselves in the theater for a rehearsal of their upcoming musical production, unaware that an escaped psychopath has sneaked into the theater with them.Great! Sufficient gore, passable acting, ingenious kill scenes, and a stellar synth soundtrack. I really enjoyed this one!
- DirectorPanos CosmatosStarsNicolas CageAndrea RiseboroughLinus RoacheThe enchanted lives of a couple in a secluded forest are brutally shattered by a nightmarish hippie cult and their demon-biker henchmen, propelling a man into a spiraling, surreal rampage of vengeance.A HUGE improvement on “Beyond the Black Rainbow.” There are a few “in-submersible” scenes in the movie (Cage drinking in the bathroom/ the cult leader’s first scene with dialogue) that completely sucked me into this one. It channels Lynch and Kubrick for all of the right reasons.
- DirectorGyörgy PálfiStarsCsaba CzeneIstván GyuriczaGina MorenoThree generations of men, including a pervert that constantly seeks for new kinds of satisfaction, an obese speed eater and a passionate embalmer.One of the most original films I’ve ever seen. I don’t know to what extent you can call it “horror.” Nonetheless, it’s a film all its own that shies away from nothing. The director’s eye is unflinching. That’s either a good thing or a bad thing depending on what type of viewer you are.
- DirectorWilliam Peter BlattyStarsStacy KeachScott WilsonJason MillerAn ex-marine psychiatrist attempts to rehabilitate his patients by indulging their fantasies, and seeks to prove the existence of a loving God to one especially troubled inmate.It has its flaws, no doubt. For instance, there was no reason to play San Antone in its entirety at the beginning of the film. It just came off as tedious. And the end scene has perhaps one of the most glaring continuity errors I’ve ever seen in a major release. Putting those things aside, though, the dialogue digs up some philosophical meat rarely found in a “horror film” (which I’d hardly call this movie despite being labeled as such on imdb). Furthermore, it has a top-notch sense of humor. I broke out laughing at numerous parts. All in all, despite its flaws, this one’s a keeper.
- DirectorGuillem MoralesStarsBelén RuedaLluís HomarPablo DerquiThe story of a woman who is slowly losing her sight whilst trying to investigate the mysterious death of her twin sister.An intense supernatural thriller in the vein of “Wait Until Dark” with a dash of “Silence of the Lambs” thrown in towards the end.
- DirectorPaco PlazaStarsSandra EscacenaBruna GonzálezClaudia PlacerMadrid, 1991. A teen girl finds herself besieged by an evil supernatural force after she played Ouija with two classmates.At the end of the day, it’s a fairly generic ouija-board-conjuring-up-otherworldly-spirits sort of flick. There was nothing markedly wrong about this one. There was also nothing markedly impressive about it.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.That’s when you know it’s good, when a scene filmed almost 100 years ago (the silhouette on the staircase) can still give you the chills. Masterful.
- DirectorDavid Gordon GreenStarsJamie Lee CurtisJudy GreerAndi MatichakLaurie Strode confronts her long-time foe, Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.Pros: I like the novel approach of hitting the reset button and having this film directly follow the original ‘78 film. Nice touch.
Mouthy black kid getting babysat. He was hilarious.
The doctor goes cuckoo for cocoa puffs towards the end of the movie and kills the cop to protect a scientific asset and embark on some weird fetishized exploration of Myers in the first person.
Cons: Generic kill scenes.
Journalists at the beginning are developed and then aborted, leaving us unsure whether to invest any emotion in them or not.
Opening scene with the journalist beseeching Myers to speak didn’t seem like a strong enough opener to usher in the title sequence.
Myers’ “death” scene was pretty weak.
The closeup of the granddaughter’s hand holding the knife at the end felt ambiguous. Is this a nod to Halloween 4 wherein an innocent turns homicidal due to proximity to Myers or is this closeup intended to show how she too will become a hyper vigilant paranoid individual like her grandmother is? Who knows? - DirectorSteve MinerStarsJamie Lee CurtisJosh HartnettAdam ArkinLaurie Strode, now the dean of a Northern California private school with an assumed name, must battle the Shape one last time, as the life of her own son hangs in the balance.Great when it first came out in ‘98 and still great today. It’s no wonder some fans of the franchise vehemently regard it as the series’ official finale. Not only is the film’s conclusion appropriately shocking; the pacing of this one is brilliant. At a svelte 86 minutes, the action never lets up!