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Pulse 2: Afterlife (2008)
More Babadook than Pulse
Spoilers, but the same ones that are in the official description of the movie.
This is a decent low budget movie. Not great, but good for those of us that like the genre. Most of what is "wrong" with this movie is the way it is presented. The main story has very little to do with Pulse. The supernatural infection is not truly tech based, but it could be shown in a similar enough way to title it the same but then piss off the audience. The little that connects it is crammed in, almost seeming like whomever gave it the treatment to connect it only read the description of Pulse rather than watched it.
What's left is rather poignant, at least from the mom's POV. It is actually just a kind of heartbreaking drama about a family falling apart in the worst way highlighted by horror aspects. Unfortunately, that is fairly ruined by the description if you read it before watching the movie, and since it was direct-to-video it's likely almost everyone did. You aren't supposed to know the ex-wife is a ghost until late in the movie and you are supposed to figure out that the mental breakdown that the movie is playing out both literally and figurately as you go along. The description really flips who the actual protagonist is which is very confusing when the movie follows her.
You see things in flashes that lead back to Pulse, but they feel like what they are: added in just to be able to tag it as a sequel. It would have been so much better as a stand alone movie.
It is filmed in a really off-putting way with all of the actors using greenscreen against photographs. If you don't notice what they are doing or are so annoyed at how little it had to do with the "first" one that you don't care why, it just feels cheap. It is actually meant to give that uncanny valley effect that makes you feel like none of the characters quite fit into their surroundings. They literally are living against this static seeming background. I think it's actually a neat visual language, knowing it was intentional.
My favorite thing about this movie was Lee Garlington as Aunt Carmen, the most realistic character I have ever seen in a horror movie. She is just tired. It's days or weeks into this thing (because of the way it's crammed together, neither timeframe really fits) and she has survived. She has gone through the fear and come through to the other side where the terror has normalized. She is desolate and exhausted, and I think most of us would be just like that if we had made it that far but had lost everything, and it still wasn't over.
If you like lower budget movies and appreciated Drag Me to Hell, The Babadook, and Lights Out, give this one a shot. Ignore the "Pulse" parts, know that the weird way the characters stand off the screen is on purpose, and try to forget you read the description and just let the actual plot unfold.
Invasion of the Undead (2017)
Zombies vs. Demon animated corpses
Only watch this if you are a fan of B movies. The special effects are meant more for coding than realism, which they fully embraced. I love movies where actors take a ridiculous script and throw themselves in fully, and these folks pulled it off. The story itself has some relatively new takes on old elements. The main point seems to be to highlight the difference between magical zombies contrasted with demon possessed corpses, with no brain eating ghouls in sight. I really enjoyed this one as a fun diversion, especially since I tend to sound a lot like the talking head insisting on the importance of language in discussing fictional monsters.
The Watch (2020)
Better than I expected, but I have to watch it twice
"Lightly inspired" by the books, the first time a fan of the original medium watches each episode is a special kind of torture. The shock of the way each character and plot point has been twisted tends to result in anger. But once that shock wears off, it gets better. They captured the essence of the humor. It's like they wanted to play in the sandbox, but didn't want to be accused of ripping anything off - so they took the pieces directly from the set and built their own model.
Here Alone (2016)
Slow burn that leaves you cold
Well written, well acted. Very slow, with a dread that gets worse with every flashback. Very, very bleak. Good movie that I will never, ever watch again.
Trolls World Tour (2020)
Lzzy Hale for Rock Queen
My kids enjoyed the movie, 6 and 7 year old girls. I enjoyed the message, and it even swung back and forth on it as if the view was maturing throughout the movie. The original song in the middle was the best on the movie, and almost seemed like intended irony. All of the Rock songs were poorly done, and the other covers weren't great. The movie would have been so much better of they'd gotten Lzzy Hale from Halestorm to play Queen Barb.
Into the Dark: Pilgrim (2019)
Not very frightening, but honest
I quite enjoyed this piece. I am one of those grumpy anti-Thanksgiving people, and it isn't just based on celebrating that time the Natives Americans saved European settlers who turned around and slaughtered them. We are taught in elementary school that the pilgrims came here to find religious freedom, and then it isn't really touched on again once we are old enough to understand the harsher aspects of our history.
The pilgrims were Puritans. They believed in extreme austerity and supposed moral purity as defined by the most intense parts of the Old Testament, generally disregarding the teachings of love and forgiveness embraced by other Christians. They felt it was their duty to impose their version of the religion on everyone around them. They weren't seeking freedom for themselves, but wanted to get away from the freedom allowed to their peers back home. There were too few of them to force everyone around them into their strict lifestyle, so they felt they had to escape so that they could create a new home in order to control their community to the cruel and extreme degree they believed was right. To live in peace away from people who didn't appreciate being judged and threatened, who offended the Puritans by not choosing to live as if suffering were a virtue.
In this episode, the pilgrims come in with an invite with an unhappy past from which they are trying to escape. The people welcome them with no idea what to expect, assuming that they will follow the standard decency of their own culture. The pilgrims were not satisfied with the society they left, and want to practice their cruel and extreme lifestyle. They are polite at first, taking shelter in the homes of the modern natives (in this sense, Americans who are typical of the current culture, not a particular race). They attempt to sway each person to their own beliefs, and when their efforts fail, they force it upon their hosts. It is easily the most accurate portrayal I have ever seen of the attitudes of those "freedom seeking" settlers, and the comparison to the way it originally happened is apt.
I actually found the women of the family to be multi-dimensional, with good and bad aspects that the viewer can empathize with by the end if they wait to judge. The kid is sweet and cute, and brings out the best in the other characters. With typical American family bickering in the beginning, it is a relief that both love him and do their best by him.
As a horror movie, it isn't particularly scary and some of the gimmicks feel kind of forced, especially the ending. It's like they took a thriller and switched to gorefest at the climax. Both ends are decent, but the tonal shift is a little off-putting. But as commentary on the truth behind a part of our history we take for granted, I absolutely loved it.
Pet Sematary (2019)
One of the better movies I'll never watch again
I watched the original as a teenager, and it really spooked me. As a horror movie fan, this was a good thing. I was very excited about the remake when I heard it was closer to the original story. However, I have had kids since then who are between the ages of the children in the movie, and it was a bad idea to watch it at all. The movie is well acted, the effects are convincing, and it flows smoothly. There is just enough characterization to give you investment in the characters, but no real depth or dimension. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, the movie went by like a short story. It is hard to believe it was longer than 45 minutes. Overall, decent movie, it does the original story and movie justice - but, parents beware.
Navy Seals vs. Zombies (2015)
Great work with a low budget
This is not an A-list movie. It's not even a B-movie. Watch it with that in mind. I personally love when actors do well with a poor script, and if you can get into that as well, try this movie.
The script is mediocre but not terrible - the dialogue is a little forced but the actors pull it off, and they do a few small things that we haven't seen in other zombie movies. The actors are not built like what you would expect from "elite SEALS," but that's because they aren't. They are actors, and the casting probably decided to split the difference between people who could act and who had the look. The characters are likeable if you aren't set out to hate everything in the movie, and the makeup is decent. The CGI was pretty rough, but seriously - this isn't Hollywood. It's like going to a steakhouse and getting annoyed that the meal isn't gourmet quality.
Don't watch this movie as the Next Greatest Thing. Watch it when you want a cheap, fairly laid-back horror movie that is guaranteed not to give you nightmares.