Reviews

SPOOKTOBER chapter 22: A Blumhouse film

After seeing this, it almost seems that the better movies Blumhouse distributes come out silently and sort of under the radar - "Soft and Quiet" last year, and "The Passenger" this year. They both are, perhaps, not straight up horror, but to me they're made into ones by ways of disturbing themes and visceral violence. "The Passenger" is so far my second favorite horror film of 2023.

Carter Smith ("The Ruins") helms a script by Jack Stanley, which sees a young man in early 20's, beat down, anxious, with no self-esteem and otherwise an absolute mess with a certain trauma in the past start his work day in a remote fast food joint. A particularly stuck-up colleague bullies him so much, that another, more mysterious colleague, has enough of that and goes to the car to get his double-barrel. What follows is a life-changing (for the characters) and thought-provoking (for us) on-the-road thriller, with spurts of high octane violence, dark topics of conservation, and thick, down-beat atmosphere.

While, perhaps, never outlining a bigger point, "The Passenger" is written and directed compellingly, and has excellent production design, photography and aesthetic. What's even more amazing, are the two lead performances. The timid, silent young man portrayed by Johnny Berchtold, and the impulsive, equally wise and demented Benson - by Kyle Gallner, who is slowly becoming a favorite via some good indie and horror flicks ("Scream", "Smile", "The Cleansing Hour", "Red State" etc.).

It's my favorite kind of horror, all proposed and executed by highly human forces and characters. "The Passenger" bears similar vibes to such great and effective horror films like "Speak No Evil" or "Coming Home in the Dark", and these have a tendency to stay with me for a while. This one ends on a rather uplifting note for its kind, in a very good way though. My rating: 8/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 20: A Horror set on Halloween

Have a lot of mixed emotions after "Bad Candy", enjoyed it more than expected, but it's also a considerably bad movie all around. "Trick'R'Treat" has been, and still is, by a mile, the best, definitive Halloween horror comfort film to me, and "Bad Candy", as badly as it might wish, doesn't ascend half as high. Nonetheless, in this intensively colorful and feverishly edited anthology where every story somehow mysteriously feels the same, some seasonal fun is to be had.

I went for some candy because it's a Halloween themed horror anthology, narrated by Corey Taylor, leader of one great band called Slipknot. Well, vaguely narrated... He's "Chilly Billy" on his radio show of the same name, and together with his co-host Paul they tell horror stories live on Halloween night, on Psychotronic FM.... Sounds pretty cool, but, as the stories kick off, we quickly get the gist of what we're in for, and it doesn't really get better, or any different moving forward.

I love for the amount of effort that has gone in "Bad Candy" - the lighting department went demented at some point, the production team probably bought out every Halloween store within a 50 mile radius, the editor and DP's must've been on 10 red bulls a day, because it's a fast paced frenzy where space and time is mixed up sometimes, and at least half of the actors are having good fun in their pastiche roles. While there's always something going on, the budgetary constraints and silly writing, and choppy overall direction remain active flaws throughout, there's some quite bad cgi sprinkled throughout, the acting is wonky frequently within the many characters, dialogue can be pretty kooky, and every story, while different in plot, somehow manages to feel too similar to each other. If there would've been more variety, if "Bad Candy" would be an anthology in a more distinctive way, I would've given it that 5 I was considering.

It's like a C grade horror flick, it's cheap and feels amateur, or like a YouTube video more often than not, but the heart is in the right place, and "Bad Candy" should find its way to those who are true suckers for Halloween vibes. Regardless of quality, it can be felt that makers of "Bad Candy" love the topic. The list of downsides is hefty, so it might be hard to love it, but not very hard to have fun with it. My rating: 4/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 20: A House Invasion Horror (Re-watch)

I'd say "The Strangers" is one of the 'classics' of the 2000's horror era, a neat house invasion thriller flick, written and directed by horror maker and lover Bryan Bertino ("The Dark and the Wicked", "The Monster"). Even after what's probably the 4th re-watch over the years, this remains a grimly effective suspense horror, served with such cold simplicity that it can go either way for you, tight and engaging, or empty and boring.

Presented as being based on true events, and emphasizing the amount of acts of violence in the statistics, "The Strangers" begins with a couple returning to their remote nice suburban home in the middle of the night from a friend's wedding, but the mood is low, as something bad has happened between the two. Unfortunately for them, something much worse is lurking around, and will begin a deadly cat & mouse game with the two lovers. Three mysterious figures stalk them through the night and mean harm, serious harm, but they mean to play the game even more, for the villains seem to take plenty of pleasure in being the hunters.

"The Strangers" is basically a random act of violence, appropriately grim and scary. Bryan Bertino keeps the atmosphere on level, the suspense reasonably stable, and leaves us with a rather depressing ending, except for a single note, which might've as well been a demand by a producer or two. It's technically, aesthetically well made, and also features good performances shared by its small cast, with the highlight certainly being Liv Tyler, who should try out her hand in more horror flicks!

It received a sequel years later, which was a notch below in comparison, but it doesn't end there, for an entire new trilogy, reportedly more story driven than the existing material, is in the works, as announced earlier this year. Why not, let's see. My rating: 7/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 19: A Brand New Franchise Installment

You know, if not for that slight misstep called "V/H/S: Viral" (part 3), this would be my favorite horror franchise ever. The brand of found-footage anthology belongs to this franchise, for it continues, despite its continuous but slight decrease in budget, to find endless creativity to entertain and engage, creep and weird you out in the best ways the genre can offer.

One of the production companies is "Bloody Disgusting", an all-time favorite source of horror news and reviews for me, which is pretty awesome. As always, we have a pretty satisfying team of directors, this time 5: Scott Derrickson ("Sinister", "The Black Phone"), David Bruckner ("Ritual", "The Night House"), Mike P. Nelson ("The Domestics", "Wrong Turn" reboot), Gigi Saul Guerro ("Into the Dark" & "The Purge" TV-Series) & Natasha Kermani (Shudder's "Lucky"). The Timeline is 1985, and welcome to television, the very messed up kind! Switch the channels of a delicious horror television service called V/H/S.

Our 6th installment begins with Nelson's "No Wake", getting nice, odd and creepy already, ending abruptly and disappointing you heavily... but little did we know, it picks up later, and the bonus is great. Guerro's "God of Death" sees Mexican morning news live, during an earthquake hit, perhaps of the supernatural kind... Not bad, but if I had to rank them, this one would probably sit at the tail end. By far the most known of the bunch, Scott Derrickson, serves a tale of police being frustrated by receiving tapes of murder that happen only days later, and it's a very entertaining concept. Another heavyweight, David Bruckner, conjures up another intriguing tale, a documentary about scientists experimenting on a captured shape-shifting alien, and it fits right in the eerie mood of "V/H/S"/. Natasha Kermani's "TKNGOD" was not the best, but perhaps the weirdest, and that's enough. However, the form of this short felt a little out of place in the genre of found-footage.

To me, 2nd part is the best by a little margin, but 1st, 4th, 5th & this, the 6th, are interchangeable, for each and every one is effective and fun, they might even appear the same in a way, but the creativity comes anew every time, and genre feels change along with directors, writers and actors. I dig this franchise a lot, and am happy to know and say that the 7th is coming next year! My rating: 7/10.

SPOOKTOBER DAY 18: A Horror set on Halloween

Finally a new horror movie with some of the distinct Halloween vibes I love that's actually quite awesome. In the face of its reasonably serious flaws, "Dark Harvest" proves to be a visceral and moody entertainment, set in an intriguing world, and featuring the best original horror villain character and design I've seen in a while.

Based on one of the best known horror novels revolving around Halloween themes, "Dark Harvest" by Norman Partridge, and in the hands of always welcome David Slade ("Hard Candy", "30 Days of Night", "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch" etc.), this film is well built and can happily relish in the two things these men brought to the table, precious seasonal vibes and vivid visual treatment.

In a small Midwestern town, a rather messed up yearly ritual is coming up, where a mythical monster by the name of Sawtooth Jack rises from the cornfields, and proceeds to battle town's boys and teenagers in a bloody fight of survival. The story provides plenty of very intriguing and cool details, and boasts serious amount of potential, however therein lies the biggest flaw of "Dark Harvest" - it's really shy on answering questions and explaining points of intrigue. There is a lot I still want to know, and perhaps it can be found within the novel, but questions were posed by the film. Internal logic felt a little wonky at times as well.

Cinematography and coloring felt a little too clean at first, but really grew on me, and overall I consider this to be a very pretty visual horror, pleasant to watch. To top it off, there's Sawtooth Jack, one of the main attractions, the better, more eerie, both scary and sympathetic Pumpkinhead. As a bonus, the acting is really good all around. Best performance might've been delivered by Luke Kirby, who very effectively portrayed a character you will hate with all your guts.

It wouldn't compete for the top 5 horror movies of the year for me, but it was a very pleasant and engaging mid-October horror that I can see myself re-watching in the future. My rating: 7/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 17: Re-Watch of a 2000's Horror

Perhaps not as polished, iconic or unique as some other horror franchises, but in 2006 (might as well have been 1986) a new slasher legend was born. To this date having collected 4 movies and many heads, Victor Crowley began his killing spree in the swamps of New Orleans 17 years ago.

"Hatchet" franchise is almost entirely born and bred by Adam Green, a horror director, writer and admirer whom I like very much, both as a filmmaker and character. His portfolio includes "Frozen", "Spiral", "Chillerama", the overlooked found footage piece "Digging up the Marrow" and, of course, other "Hatchets".

A couple friends on a holiday dig too deep into the available local attractions, and wind up taking the New Orleans haunted swamps boat tour with a bunch of other tourists of various vibes. They find out way too late that the legend of disfigured Victor Crowley, done wrong by bullies long ago, might be all too true. Well, it's basically Jason Voorhees, but surrounded by more comedy, gore and the genre 2000's traditions...

"Hatchet" is happily aware of what it is, a gorily entertaining horror comedy with glorious moments of blood splatter. Some may want "Hatchet" universe to be more dark and grim, but the comedic clothing helps the overall dynamic. There's a good cast who seem to enjoy their time, top it off with a cameo by Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), and Kane Hodder (A horror icon known to most as one of the Jasons) portraying Victor Crowley himself, plus another additional role. And it's all visually appealing enough as well, like an expensive B horror flick, all-inclusive with practical FX.

The whole romp is quite predictable, it's undeniably a flawed slasher homage, but certainly a fun addition to the appropriate genre lists. Besides "Hatchet 3", which fell a bit, perhaps because of Adam Green skipping director's chair, the rest of the sequels are at least on the same level as the beginning of the massacre. Don't miss it if you like slashers! My rating: 6/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 16: A Prequel Horror Movie

Never have checked out the sequel to the 80's "Pet Sematary", for the general consensus seems to say it was unnecessary, and never thought there will (or should) be a sequel to the remake. "Pet Sematary: Bloodlines" makes a hell of a good point on why "sometimes dead is better".

For, after this film, the franchise will stay dead, and shouldn't have risen in the first place. The reason is that "Bloodlines" don't add anything to the universe, anything worthy anyways. The story, looking for meat to cover its bones all throughout, never really finds it, and offers only particles of interesting world, story and characters.

Don't get me wrong, all by itself, "Bloodlines" is a decent horror film - slow paced, with a rather cliché overall plot and team of characters, no surprises along the road, but with good cinematography, FX and acting. The story revolves around the little town and it's secret cemetery back when good, ol' across-the-street-neighbor Jud was young and wild. A heartbroken David Duchovny does the forbidden thing, and the rest of the entire plot you can easily guess. Given what's the film's purpose, idea and brand, it's summary of quality certainly drops a couple points, for it's simply just very disappointing for the most part.

Jackson White in the lead does a good enough job, and I'd say Forrest Goodluck takes the best performance, and we also have a little stiff performances from big names like David Duchovny, Henry Thomas and Pam Grier.

I can't dislike the film much in aesthetic terms, can at least somewhat accept on entertainment terms, but, as a film called "Pet Sematary: Bloodlines", I can unfortunately only be very disappointed and almost bummed out by it. My rating: 4/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 15: A Horror set on Halloween

It all began with me full of glee and excitement when I found out about "Natty Knocks" on its release day, beloved genre faces like Bill Moseley, Robert Englund and Danielle Harris listed in the lead roles was an immediate sell, and it's set on Halloween, so basically I had no choice but to watch it. Director Dwight H, Little, too, is reputable enough and perhaps most known for directing Halloween 4, so what can go wrong.

Everything can go wrong! "Natty Knocks" may somewhat have the heart in the right place, but this is hands down one of the muddiest, messiest, logic-lacking, badly structured and consistently downhill going horror movie screenplay I've ever seen. Well familiar with these actors filmographies, I was all pumped for a highly risky B grade slice of horror, but set against some even cheaper genre pieces, "Natty Knocks" manages to be the more flawed one.

The intro, energetic and kind of out of nowhere, was, frankly, one of two best parts of this film. It lasted about three minutes, and (spoiler) introduced us to a certain career woman by the name of Natty Knocks who gets lynched by the neighborhood wifes for serving their husbands on the premise that Natty is a witch, and as she dies Ms. Knocks screams she'll return for their descendants. Cut to 2023, Halloween day, and it all starts go to hell with odd structures, shabby dialogue and characters, offbeat, and not in a good way, story lines, disappointing pay-offs, and plenty of other nonsense details for your brain to stew on.

That other good part of "Natty Knocks" is Bill Moseley. Well, Englund too, but he's not here for a long time, more for a good time... Danielle got a character one couldn't care much for. Moseley eats more screen time and portrays the leading villain, and, well, does his best with what's been given. Other than that, there's not enough gore, madness, pleasant aesthetic or anything else that would help redeem the obvious flaws.

With portions of frustration on the way, it all led into a very lackluster finale, and just left me... disgruntled? "Natty Knocks" strived to be a throwback-type 80's summer horror blockbuster tribute, but exploded into a massive misfire, and, as I found out after the consumption of this film, for the story/screenplay writer this is the very first IMDb credit, so... Approach at your own risk. I wanted to like it, I really did. My rating: 3/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 14: A Horror with Rats!

I've been pulled in or pushed away by this movie many times - I love the Stephen King's short story of the same name, I really dig the setting, the posters and Brad Dourif is in it. The critical reception, however, is discouraging. Finally I've done seen it, and am reasonably happy with it, although I can't see myself ever re-watching it.

Stephen King, who uncharacteristically heavily disliked this adaptation of his creepy crawly atmospheric rat horror tale, said that this is just a cheap exploitation horror flick, and I agree, indeed it is. However, it's a rather charming one. Forget about any real substance, enjoy sweaty men busting a*s in an ancient textile mill years 70 or so back, and watch them go on an unpleasant mission to clean out wet, moldy, dark and creature-infested basements, under the awful leadership of their corrupt and near comical foreman. Monster rats will be encountered! Dourif gleefully plays the exterminator, and, frankly, the whole cast provides good entertainment. The script allows for a bit of horror goofiness, for its main task is certainly not being compelling. Macho dialogue, drifter mysteriousness, amusing rat interactions and more. "Graveyard shift" almost looks more expensive than it is, and comes off as a pleasantly looking 90's horror, despite losing its precious charms a bit once descended into basements too deep and too dark, the latter part being literal.

Ralph S. Singleton has only ever stamped one film as a director, and as a King adaptation, it's a tonal failure, but as a practical effects driven 90's creature horror flick with more than one familiar genre name in the cast, it's quite entertaining at the very least. I'd say it's a good B horror with a good portion of all that people loved in horror during the appropriate times, cheese included. My rating: 6/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 13: A Re-watch of an installment from a long running horror franchise

The first, but not last prequel in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" franchise is helmed by the consistent but rather tame Jonathan Liebesman ("The Killing Room", "Battle Los Angeles"), and sets out to tell a story taking place before 2003's remake of the original. One of the bits of the series I haven't re-watched the longest time. So, good news is that it is more of the same, which is all gory and groovy, but the bad news is that even the entire plot is practically the same.

It's 1969, and two brothers, before going to Vietnam, take their girlfriends on one last road trip, and after an unfortunate accident they start crossing paths with members of the heartwarming Hewitt family, winding up in the famous murder house, where certain someone is wielding a big ol' chainsaw.

The structure, idea, the skeleton of the film is practically the same as Marcus Nispel's remake, but it's undeniably full of what we the bloodthirsty fans want, violence, mayhem and killer insanity. Forget about any real substance, you're in for a happily splattery, down and dirty adventure. Storywise, "The Beginning" at least does the minimum and explains some details from the previous film, for example why Grandpa Monty don't have a leg. Just like in the remake, the unique R. Lee Ermey and his filthy sheriff shtick steals the show at times here as well. The man was a menace.

It's a straight-forward freakshow, mean and without a message, and nothing new by the franchise's standards. If the 2000's brand of horror, gore, torture and insane southern murder families is up your horror alley, it probably won't disappoint. My rating: 6/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 12: A Horror set on Halloween

Saw the 1988 original a couple years ago, and wasn't a big fan, didn't delve deeper into the trilogy, but figured, in time for Spooktober, the re-imagining could be fun, starring greats like Edward Furlong. Basically, I knew I'm signing up for a low budget B horror, but any relation to Halloween is enough for me. Fun in a trashy it was, reasonably, Furlong looked hangover and sweaty, reasonably, but by the 60 minute mark the warm welcome felt already worn out.

In a spooky (not visually, really) house with a tame 1920's occult backstory, a Halloween party takes place during present times, and it's filled to the brim with horny, drunk, naughty and otherwise boring young adults. Unfortunately for them, the demons are even hornier. Not sure if they're less boring though. Eventually we're left with a handful of characters, your standard teen horror kind, to be picked off by the evil seducers. Seducers, because almost every kill and danger begins very sexually. Night of the Demons" is a sleazy and trashy horror romp that I feel like wishes to be a true 80's throwback, but instead comes across like a typical straight-to-dvd 2000's B flick. Which it, well, is. There are glimpses of gore and practical effects to be appreciated, acting could've been worse, the general story is bare bones acceptable, but eventually every ingredient of this demonic night wears itself out before the sunrise. The last 20-30 minutes dragged considerably, with a drawn-out and cliched showdown between the final survivors and the screeching demons that wish they were as awesome as those in "Evil Dead".

Altogether, while being spiritually quite similar, this remake is inferior to the 1988 source of inspiration. Regrettably, I once again have to say it's another Halloween-set movie that doesn't offer any more of the precious holiday vibes than the minimum threshold standard requires. My rating: 4/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 11: An 80's Horror

My only voyage into the Puppet Master franchise was with the 2018's "The Littlest Reich", chosen mostly because one of the writers is S. Craig Zahler ("Bone Tomahawk", "Brawl in Cell Block 99"), plus it seemingly has a bigger budget than most entries. Finally I decided I have to see where the spawn of 15 sequels and spin-offs began.

Reasonably a legend in the horror world, Charles Band had some interesting ideas, especially back in the beginning of "Full Moon Pictures", a fully fledged B to C to Z horror film production company. Director David Schmoeller, the creative leader of Band's produced, underrated and awesome 1979's "Tourist Trap", brings on some beautifully campy puppet mayhem and an offbeat plot 10 years later.

A puppet master by trade, Andre Toulon leaves behind some of his eerie and too lively companions hidden in an old and famous hotel, where many decades later one of the managers of said hotel has just died, and a group of eccentric, goofy and near caricature-like psychics are "called" to there to find out, or otherwise interfere with dark powers brooding around the mansion. The master-less dolls, they too are lurking about.

Brightest highlights are certainly the delightful low budget practical effects and creepily-designed doll murder mayhem, as well as some odd story beats, and cheesy acting performances, however, Dolls take only about 5 minutes of the total screen-time, and most of the plot is built on too much silly melodrama. Nonetheless, "Puppet Master" as a whole holds a consistent, palpable atmosphere that only an independent 80's horror can possess. With all its unevenness in engaging us with what we came her for, "Puppet Master" is considerably quick about, taking only 89 minutes.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 10: A "Guilty Pleasure" Re-Watch

I was 12 years old when I first saw this massive bomb of a now so ancient feeling 2000's mainstream horror culture, and I enjoyed it so very, very much. Naturally, years later on a re-visit, the quality of it dropped big time, and more so after seeing it with my today's perspective, however, even with all of the burning flaws, this is a very fun, mighty silly yet imaginative B horror. Yes, forget that it's a big budget Hollywood horror creation, enjoy it on the terms of the cheap shelf horror.

David S. Goyer could've, should've done better for sure. A veteran screenwriter (Nolan's "Batman" trilogy, "Dark City", "Blade" etc.), he also takes up the directors duties on "The Unborn", and wraps some genuinely creepy horror imagery and a few shocking action moments in a script that's far too inept, underdeveloped and straight-shooting for its own good.

Casey is being tormented by visions and other odd experiences, and she's changing for the worse, as the creepy boy with the terribly chosen nickname of "Jumby" is getting closer and closer to Casey in her mental nightmares. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and Gary Oldman turns up to perform an exorcism with little enthusiasm. While Odette seems to do her absolute best in her role of fighting off a creepy little rascal, it felt like some of the rest of the cast were there just for the paycheck. You know, they should've just slightly re-written it to be a horror comedy, and it'd be 2 levels better. Probably.

It fails in being thoroughly scary, creepy, fails at having any real substance, and fails to compel in any sort of way, but what's not to like about a mute elderly wheelchair-bound man suddenly becoming an upside down contortionist and running at you on the walls in the middle of the night? My rating: 5/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 9: A South Korean Horror

Having glanced this movie ranking high one some Asian horror film lists over time, I unfortunately had set my expectations too high... "Phone" is a by-the-numbers J-horror spawned from and striving to be the likes of "Ringu", "Dark Water" and "Ju-On" or "The Grudge", but instead of Japan it's made in South Korea.

Investigative reporter Ji-Won begins to receive mysterious phone calls, and they continue to haunt her despite changing numbers and moving houses. Could it be one of the men her journalistic achievements have put on trial of law, or is it a vengeful ghost in form of a pale woman with long, black hair, who needs her story told in order to stop her from killing people? Yeah, you got it right.

Alright, "Phone" takes itself seriously, and puts effort in building atmosphere and telling a compelling, dark story, however, the outdated and sometimes silly jumpscare tactics don't fortify the creepiness. The ghostly entity lacks character, and absolutely does not distinguish itself anyhow from most horror flicks of the same kind. The key portion of "Phone" or the long mystery, juggling betrayal, jealousy and mad love, never truly engages deep enough emotionally, or has any shocking surprises at the end. This call ends exactly how you'd expect it to. The aesthetic face of "Phone" is consistently grey, cold and drab, which works great half of the time, and makes you a little tired the other half. A commendable part of "Phone" is the acting work, especially that by the little can't-be-more-than-5 girl who had to go through demanding phases of possession, and did so impressively.

"Phone" is by no means a bad or wholly ineffective supernatural horror tale, but it is, however, a very average one. A lesser echo of other horror films its more than just inspired by. I'd say it never got as popular as its similars for a reason. Recommended to enjoyers of the old-school recipes of a J-horror. My rating: 5/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 5: A Horror set on Halloween

This is one of them dusty, lonely titles on my watchlist, added to it near a decade ago or so, mostly because of the plot taking place on Halloween night. I went in expecting very little, keeping in mind that it's a feature debut for Anthony C. Ferrante, who goes on to helm the entire Sharknado franchise 8 years later, along with some other shabby titles I don't dare to venture about. I did reasonably enjoy Sharknado run though, have to admit.

Four college students, most of whom are looking for a good thrill on the unholy night, decide to pay a visit to an abandoned, rundown hospital, which might just be haunted by the patients gone long ago in a fire. Meanwhile, a... guy is looking for his sister who went lurking around the same hospital days ago and never returned, and he is paired up with his policeman friend who is also a veteran Blaxploitation action movie star. Interesting, but the characters go nowhere for most part, bland and shallow and often not acted too well.

The unwitting flock wanders the grounds of the hospital - which is one of the couple decent elements of "Boo", props to the location scouts, because the halls and the rooms were damp, desolate and grimy, and would've been highly efficient in a movie orchestrated by better hands. The pacing grows more tedious, as the film continues to throw cheap scare tactics, dry dialogue, barely engaging story, and real cheap acting, lighting and digital FX in your face in a repetitive manner. To not be so harsh, there were cool couple moments where the practical FX team was given a chance instead.

It all culminates in a climax that frankly is extremely hard to care about and might be the worst act of the whole "Boo" Boo flick. And, once again, another horror set on Halloween that has practically zero of that seasonal spirit. It gets the mark it has only because I'll give "Boo" this - there was enough going on at all times, however ineffective that turned out to be. Can't recommend this one, go get scared elsewhere. My rating: 3/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 6: Paranormal Horror

To me Clive Barker is like "the other" Stephen King, that's not to say they're similar, but they both try to scare you, creep you out or immense you in some dark insanity. Everyone knows that screen adaptations of these Men's work range from disastrous to impressive - "Book of Blood" lands in the very middle, among the painfully average.

I read nearly all of the volumes of Barker's "Books of Blood" a couple years ago, so memory's a little fuzzy, but what I remember about this same story is better than what I just saw. This film capitalizes only on portions of Clive's work, and is marginally different from Hulu's anthology approach with 2020's "Books of Blood", and also inferior to it.

Film's story is somewhat compelling until the end, despite becoming predictable fast, for the core concept is very intriguing for those into paranormal horror. An expert of such paranormal phenomena comes across a house that's also an otherworldly intersection of "highways" that are transporting souls in the afterlife. I do recommend Barker's short story on this. The film, however, seems to relish in sexually charged melodrama more than in the eerie horrors I came for. Now, these bodily themes are reasonably common in Barker's portfolio, but "Book of Blood" doesn't manage to elevate them and eventually come off as tiring.

Director and writer John Harrison, known for participating in both incantations of "Creepshow", "Tales from the Darkside" movie and more, managed to keep me engaged all the way through, but failed to excite, and eventually, after setting out to tell a promisingly deep and wide tale with ups and downs, it ends up just steadily walking its foreseeable course and then disappears into the darkness.

Unfortunately, besides the idea behind the plot, other horror elements don't ascend very high in this adventure. If the story intrigues you or you've enjoyed it elsewhere already, give it a try, but other than that I'd go for Hulu's version or, hell, "Hellraiser". My rating: 5/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 19: A Horror with a Twist

Okay, it may not be classified as a horror movie by majority of the sources, but I've always considered "Identity" to be one, for it feels like one. And it's a great, fast-paced, atmospheric and engaging mystery thriller decorated with the many qualities of the horror genre.

It's 2003, and the well-known James Mangold ("Walk the Line", "Logan", "Ford V Ferrari" etc.) directs a script by the director and writer of... "Jack Frost"? Thankfully, Michael Cooney can write both goofy and dark horror films. In this one, we have ten strangers, who have travelled down the same remote Nevada desert road, encountered the same storm, the same floods, and have become stranded at the same shady roadside motel. Meanwhile a late night court meeting is taking place as a killer, being transported there at the time, is trying to appeal his brooding death sentence. As the strangers at the Motel become acquainted with each other, somebody is also beginning to kill them one by one. Who is the killer and what exactly is going on?

It's a terrific, entertaining who-dunnit taking place on a stormy, dark night, has flashes of violence, and plenty of creepy atmosphere lurking around the motel. The storytelling flows like a river, and it's all neatly packed in a pleasant 90 minute runtime. For a movie with a twist, honestly two of them, it is well structured and holds the good possibility of fooling the viewer.

What's even better, it's filled with awesome actors and cool performances - we have John Cusack, Ray Liotta, John Hawkes, Alfred Molina, Jake Busey, Pruitt Taylor Vince and more. Every character has a different shade of personality, and there's always something going on in "identity", making it a wholly engaging experience. Appropriately to who's involved, this mystery has a great production design, and an overall visceral aesthetic, from today's standpoint also possessing that palpable early 2000's cinematic horror culture feel.

If you haven't seen it, it's worth not looking it up but just going for it - if you like to not be able to predict the outcome of creepy and dark happenings, "Identity" got ya. My rating: 8/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 8: A Halloween-set Horror

A House invasion horror taking place on October 31st gave "Berkshire County" a.k.a. "Tormented" plenty of appeal despite the lackluster ratings, but little did I know, it turned out to be a rather frustrating watch with little to none of the craved-for seasonal vibes.

It all starts out reasonably well, but with a muddy, mean spirit. Our main character is Kylie Winters, a terribly bullied introvert teen, who gets cornered into giving a blowjob, is secretly filmed, and neither the school, parents, friends, the guy or his girlfriend is happy about that.. Impressively enough, throughout the runtime, the writer fails to establish enough sympathy for a character that essentially continuously suffers. Script frustrates frequently, characters, of whom some or unlikable, at times do not make rational decisions, among other things that interfere with the much needed realism.

Amidst the turmoil Kylie goes to a remote "mansion" to babysit two 8 year olds, and this is where three scary piglets come in, and try to break in. Motivation? Still not certain, so that's not so good. Sure, there's a "reveal" sort of move at the end, but it's just void. Although bringing nothing new to the table, the house invasion portion of "Tormented" is the one that works best, and keeps one engaged. A bit of suspense, a bit of gore, and at the very least an average cat-and-mouse thriller.

Eventually Audrey Cummings's directional debut runs its due course without many surprises on the way. Overall, the vibe of "Berkshire County" feels muddy, and not in a good way. The script should've been well revised before being greenlit. Set on Halloween, but has a few mentions of the word and couple pumpkins, so only recommended to die-hard fans of house invasion thrillers. My rating: 4/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 4: An 80's Slasher

Been wantin' to see Jamie Lee Curtis's one of 'other' slashers made in the craze after "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th", so it seemed like a nice addition to this year's Spooktober, but little did I know it's set during New Year's Eve... Anyways, here we have an overall basic, unsurprising slasher, except it takes place on a train and features David Copperfield performing tricks every once in a while.

It sets out in a way much heard of before, a college student holiday party prank goes wrong, and three years later, when the same students set out on their last college party, with a bang - on a moving train in the dead of winter night, a mysterious killer starts killing the horny, drunk young ones one by one.

The good elements include a killer that changes appearance, the setting of a train, David Copperfield in his only fictional role, and Jamie Lee Curtis, of course. However, these powers combined can't muster enough strength to truly elevate what is throughout a paper thin concept stretched over mediocre characters and killings that, honestly, could've been more bonkers. Acting's not half bad all around, and the pacing/atmosphere is far enough from the worst standards of a slasher, but as a single unit, "Terror Train" simply falls short of exciting one much or stand out with anything special. I mean, the idea came to be from a dream writer Daniel Grodnik had - a "Halloween" on a train. He wrote the draft and pitched it in one day.

This train ride never goes off the rails, but it doesn't do anything other than completing its routine route in a steady speed either. I wonder how does the remake compare story-wise, but I won't find out any time soon. Recommended to fans of 80's era slashers and Jamie Lee Curtis. My rating: 5/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 2: Re-Watch of a Backwoods Horror

First saw this effective and depressing piece of horror probably around 2010, and after a couple re-watches not much has changed, it still remains one of the best backwoods / survival / evil youth horror films out there.

2008 debut feature by James Watkins, who later went on to share more horror in "The Woman in Black" and a "Black Mirror" episode, and is currently re-making Denmark's impressively terrifying "Speak No Evil", holds absolutely nothing back. "Eden Lake" is as extreme as it is grounded. A couple in love, with the faces and devoted acting efforts of Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender, travel to a remote part of the United Kingdom, to have a calm and lovely romantic weekend by an abandoned, water filled quarry. It won't be a masked killer, forest dwelling bearded locals or spirits of the woods that'll make sure the couple's holidays are next level nightmare, it'll be the hopeless, misguided and immoral youth, teens and kids, coming from even more misguided parents.

The local unwelcoming British town in the eerie air of a closed-off rural community's spirit has sons and daughters, who roam around doing mischievous, grim and criminal things, craving for a thrill and to release some nasty angst. With the lead of their future psychopath Brett, effectively portrayed by the talented Jack O'Connell early in his career, the gang of delinquent youths will begin to play an increasingly dark game with our two lead protagonists, and the thick forest will be their battle grounds.

Watkins keeps the suspense high, violence visceral, and plot turns, if not always surprising, then definitely shocking, all culminating in a rarely pitch black finale. It's a quality, high-strung horror film all the way through, and provokes one's senses. "Eden Lake" gives off big budget treatment standards, while feeling more like a near obscure, hyper brutal horror piece. It's not ground-breaking, but it is an impressive slice of a genre.

Not putting it down to certainties, it's an all-around well made and efficient horror film that goes out as a recommendation to any fan of this dark, visceral and diverse genre. My rating: 8/10.

SPOOKTOBER chapter 12: A 2023 Horror movie

I was very excited for this vampiric adventure, it had a lot of points of attraction, a good director, a delightful cast, and awesome setting, but I knew it won't be anywhere near a masterpiece, and the resulting experience turned out quite satisfying. While the different, but, in my opinion, weaker "Insidious" and "The Nun" brands raked in the green, "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" flopped big time, and very undeservedly so.

More or less a creature feature, this aesthetically well captured, dark and brooding travel over the seas in late 19th century sees a veteran Captain on his last sea mission together with a rag tag crew and cargo of 40 boxes to be delivered from Bulgaria to London. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of "Demeter", the sender and contents of these boxes are going to put them in grave danger.

Andre Overdal, having entertained us with well above average horror flicks like "Troll Hunter", "The Autopsy of Jane Doe" and "Scary Stories to tell in the Dark", offers a rare and very enjoyable piece of interesting elements combined in a horror movie on a high budget, which include the aforementioned setting, time, place and all the details that come with it. It is also an adaptation of Bram Stoker's "Dracula", the one and only, however, it's based on a certain chapter about a certain captain's log.

With an amazing leading cast of lesser known greats, including Corey Hawkins, David Dastmalchian, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham as the Captain, and, at this point a horror icon, Javier Botet as count Dracula himself. If you know who Botet is, you already know it won't be a talky, charming, plenty of humane kind of vampire. Creature feature is the most apt subgenre for this horror.

The biggest flaw here is the predictability, but more so the unevenness of the story, that feels like it needed a little more flesh on the bones before proceeding. Nonetheless, the atmosphere is strong, and will carry you through the waves well entertained. Spurts of shadowy spookiness and flashy violence, commendable acting, unique environment, and the candy for the eyes is there for us.

An obviously flawed beauty it is, for sure, but I hope it finds its audience as wide as possible. My rating: 7/10.

After all the Zodiacs, Memories of Murder and such have been seen, a further descent into the depths of true crime and serial killer themes in cinema is required, and one of those in there that piqued my interest was "Deranged", a low budget 70's film that, although centered around a man named Ezra Cobb, is considerably directly based on the killer, grave robber and cannibal Ed Gein, who also served as an inspiration for "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Fully prepared for cheese and goof, I actually got an atmospheric, well-acted and very grim portrait of a mentally messed up killer.

Ed Gein, or Ezra Cobb in this movie, is nearly an elderly man, and has lived all of his life under the skirts of his mother, and mentally well behind everything else in life. After the passing of his possessive and manically religious mother, he starts going down the rabbit hole of madness, beginning to bring home bodies, body parts, and eventually victims to keep up his delusion. The late Roberts Blossom (The old, scary guy with the shovel from "Home Alone"!) does an absolutely magnificent job portraying Ezra Cobb succumbing to schizophrenia and murderous, evil urges, and the supporting cast keeps up as well, although not always without a bit of corniness.

For a 1974 film, the simplicity of the aesthetical approach works perfectly, unburdened by shenanigans of stylistic nature, and complimenting the visual presentation of a true crime fiction. And I should mention it's a semi, or at least semi-semi mockumentary, which further adds to the genre. The soundtrack can get repetitive and consists almost entirely of organ music, but it doesn't hurt the atmosphere much. Another ace in the pockets of "Deranged" are the clearly fake, but highly impressive all-practical and hand-made gore and violence effects, brought to us by the early days Tom Savini, one of the legendary make-up and effects artists in Horror history.

The Plot is pretty straight-forward and fates can easily be predicted, but it's about the journey of seeing the madness unravel, to an admittedly borderline exploitative level. Should be more of a hit than miss for all those who enjoy their crime and killers with horror on top. My rating: 7/10.

8 years later comes the second and last theatrical release of any "Children of the Corn" installments, and it picks up the story right after the events of the first part. At this point the story has nothing to do with Stephen King. The tragedy of Gatlin has grabbed attention, and the remaining children are sheltered in the neighboring town, encased in corn fields just the same. A journalist and his rebellious son arrive to write a story, but end up battling evil teenagers instead.

This is a straight-up campy, corny, goofy 90's horror film that might as well been released in 1980 - if you're an enjoyer of this niche, this one entertains. The plot, the characters and acting behind them, are collectively full of cheese and convenience on varying levels. Plenty of garden variety plot clichés with little meat on them. From quick, horny and corny love interests to Indian spirits. Instead of looking for a stand-out performance, given this time to the more likeable character (even if on rather cartoonish terms), I'll soon have to look for the corniest performance instead. All together it makes a silly horror film that's rightfully entertaining on those terms. It has dropped from being a B movie desperately reaching for an A level to a B movie getting much comfier on the B level. The most appreciated change-up is the addition of gore, creative and sometimes hilarious death scenes. It's an ingredient I've to come to love and expect from an average 80's-90's horror film, and this one has the fun variety of B horror kills, whereas the first installment had little to none of that.

There's not much to be said, other than that it's one big slice of camp, and god knows where else this franchise will take me. I don't imagine the reviews will be very long, so enjoy. My rating: 4/10.

I have very, very foggy memory of the short story itself besides remembering having liked it, and same for the movie, except I knew I had given it a 4/10. Not so much of a reader nowadays, so I decided to re-watch the movie, in fact to watch the entire badly rated franchise. One of my hobbies is completing questionable horror franchises, and I'll post about this one for the next many weeks.

"Children of the Corn" feels like it has all the necessary ingredients, but they couldn't toss the particular salad correctly. Of course, one of those ingredients is the cheese, which is to be expected. Starring Peter Horton alongside Linda Hamilton, who starred in "The Terminator" of the same year, "Children of the Corn" tells the story of the little town of Gatlin, surrounded by corn fields, from which the mysterious he-who-walks-behind-the-rows has bent to his will everyone in Gatlin under the age of 19, and ordered them to kill their parents. They live as a little evil kiddie cult in the amish-like ways, led by the goth kid Isaac, until the day the travelling pair of heroes stumble upon the ghost town.

For an 80's horror film, I was immediately disappointed by the complete lack of gore, and the presence of the corniest variety post-production special effects of the early days. The story and atmosphere, although trying hard and taking itself very seriously, can't muster enough scare or creepiness factor, which doesn't help either. Intro is pretty cool, the first act's still giving off vibes of promise, but then, besides a couple moments, the rest goes down the mill quire softly. I miraculously watched a couple of installments in one day, so on the background of the sequel, the acting is honestly pretty good.

I don't know what force possessed me to set unto this mission, but to whoever's interested in these, better like their children of the corn very corny and horror cheap. But if you don't care for franchises, and just want the first, it's not the worst choice from the garden of 80's horror. My rating: 5/10.

Plenty of hype and intrigue has paved the way for Brandon Cronenberg's new horror feature - "Infinity Pool", and I too, especially after 2020's "Possessor" (8/10), expected a lot. Good news is that Cronenberg family horror brand is definitely kickin', alive and well for already the 5th decade, but the bad news is that the sum of it all fell a bit below my expectations, just like Daddy Cronenberg's last year's return to horror with "Crimes of the Future".

James and Em Foster are enjoying a sunny vacation on the beaches of the fictional island of La Tolqa. The resort is separated from the rest of the country by fences and barbwire, and together with their newly made friends, the couple will venture out and find the island's terrible system of laws, perverse subcultures and surreal happenings.

Led by an absolutely terrific cast with some awesome highlights from Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgard, "Infinity Pool" serves up all the best traditions of a Cronenberg horror movie, including neo-futuristic ideas wrapped in old-school aesthetics, practical effects, psychedelic sequences, beautiful cinematography and editing, and a grim atmosphere. Sounds great, but as the runtime goes, the movie seems to explore less and less of the intriguing concepts introduced. "Infinity Pool" doesn't build up many scares, much of suspense or creepiness, but instead seems to opt for shock, disgust and moral perversion. The ground on which the film is built on is fruitful, with lots of potential, but the exploration after comes as... underwhelming and underwritten. Although I enjoyed it all the way through, in the end I couldn't shake the feeling that it could've been thematically more potent, like Brandon could've squeezed more juice out of these ideas of his.

The world of "infinity Pool" is about minimizing the border between action and consequences, stepping over boundaries that can't be built back up. The characters get desynthesized against the vile nature of humanity, and the film itself, too, although visceral and called "disturbing" by many, feels a tad bit ineffective in a similar way as violence does for the characters involved.

A beast with qualities like these is usually right up my alley, but "Infinity Pool", although leaving my eyes entertained, some pictures ingrained in memory, and a great appreciation for the performances inside my heart, also left my brain feeling like the action stopped before letting the climax happen. My rating: 7/10.