Oktoberfest 2016
This years schedule for my 31 days, 31 horror movies experience. A solid mixture between films I've seen and liked and films I haven't seen.
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31 titles
- DirectorDavid TwohyStarsBruce GreenwoodDavid CrowMatthew DavisThe crew of a U.S. Navy submarine in World War II rescues survivors from a sunken ship, only to face a series of mysterious deaths and supernatural occurrences.Always starting with Below.
- DirectorAlejandro AmenábarStarsAna TorrentFele MartínezEduardo NoriegaWhile doing a thesis about violence, Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that the girl was a former student in her faculty...First time viewing.
It was a good and tense movie filled with quality acting, directing and score. It kinda lost me in the third act a bit. I mean it didn't get bad or confusing or anything. I just lost interest somehow which is a shame because A: I have no idea what caused me to lose interest, and B: It was an otherwise pretty great movie - especially for a directoral debut.
The movie earns a personal 6 or possibly a 7/10 - DirectorBrad AndersonStarsDavid CarusoStephen GevedonPaul GuilfoyleTensions rise within an asbestos cleaning crew as they work in an abandoned mental hospital with a horrific past that seems to be coming back.I grow to appreciate this movie more the more I watch it. I do consider this a hidden gem, I do consider it one of my favourite horror movies and I do consider it one of the greatest american horror movies of the 00's.
- DirectorNeil MarshallStarsShauna MacdonaldNatalie MendozaAlex ReidA caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.First time viewing, kind of.
It was the first time watching the movie but I knew pretty much all of the plot points and twists and subtleties. But nevertheless it was a fun ride and not boring in the slightest. I knew that the video game Until Dawn had taken some inspiration from this but I wasn't prepared for how much it had taken inspiration from it.
8/10 - DirectorRobert EggersStarsAnya Taylor-JoyRalph InesonKate DickieA family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.First time viewing.
Holy sh*t that was a pretty f'king great horror movie. It expertly builded tension and suspense. I did watch this with a friend and we were both very tired. Naturally we got distracted by several things so I have ordered it on blu-ray and will probably watch it again before the month ends. But even so I remember a lot of details about the film, unlike some other horror movies from this year.
I'll say this: If The Shining was made this year, it would've been like this.
8/10 - DirectorGuillermo del ToroStarsFederico LuppiRon PerlmanClaudio BrookA mysterious device designed to provide its owner with eternal life resurfaces after four hundred years, leaving a trail of destruction in its path.First time viewing.
Guillermo Del Toro is a director that I don't quite get. I've seen most of his films and haven't been that impressed - with the exception of Pan's Labyrinth. But The Devil's Backbone, Hellboy and Crimson Peak were all really bland and forgettable to me. Cronos was not any different. It was slightly better than the ones mentioned but I still don't get what the big deal is about this movie. I mean I get why some people would like his style but it's certainly not a masterpiece. Also I think the ending was kind of stupid. He made a decision that was completely unnecessary that ultimately initiated the climax - so I think he did it just so the film would actually have a climax. To sacrifice logic for something else is not uncommon in horror movies though.
6/10 - DirectorBong Joon HoStarsSong Kang-hoByun Hee-BongPark Hae-ilA monster emerges from Seoul's Han River and begins attacking people. One victim's loving family does what it can to rescue her from its clutches.First time viewing.
Memories of Murder is one of the greatest movies of all time. And after being pretty underwhelmed by Snowpiercer I needed this movie. Oh yes this reminded me why I fell in love with Bong Joon-Ho's directing. It certainly have the same charm to it as Memories of Murder. It blends horror and drama with comedy extremely well. It had a lot of actors that I recognised and that's always fun. The visuals are fantastic - both the directing and cinematography and visual effects of the monster. True, some of the cgi looked fake (like the fire). But the rest of it was great - Kind of makes you wonder why the cgi couldn't be better in Snowpiercer. If you haven't seen this movie then do so.
7,5/10 - DirectorDavid Robert MitchellStarsMaika MonroeKeir GilchristOlivia LuccardiA young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.I love this movie. It's an excellent homage to 80's horror - even more so than Stranger Things. And considering how many homage movies we get to old horror it makes me a bit suspicious to why Stranger Things is so similar to It Follows. Oh well, I'm not complaining.
Anyway, I just adore when a horror movie can make you feel so uneasy without relying on jumpscares to do so. I'm not breaking any grounds with this argument, every cinephile ever will tell you the same thing. But it does make me think why Hollywood won't take notice of it.
It seems as every year nowadays has one horror movie that sticks out as great. The one horror movie of 2015 is It Follows.
8/10 - DirectorAlan ParkerStarsMickey RourkeRobert De NiroLisa BonetIn 1955 New Orleans, small-time private investigator Harry Angel is hired by a man who calls himself Louis Cypher to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite, but the investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn.Not as great as I remember it being. It's still good and the acting and score are still really great. But I can tell that if I were to watch this for the first time now the blatant foreshadowing would be so excruciatingly obvious. If you've seen somewhat complicated movies with twist endings before you'll know in the presentation exactly how the story will turn out in the end.
- DirectorJames WatkinsStarsDaniel RadcliffeJanet McTeerCiarán HindsA young solicitor travels to a remote village where he discovers that the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.First time viewing.
It definitely had a eerie tone but it did suffer from having many predictable jumpscares. Only one of them was effective - even though I saw it coming it gave me shivers and it was the only truly scary part in the movie. And it made me question why it didn't do its scares like this for the rest of the movie. Haunted house movies can be done better. However, they can also be done ALOT worse.
6/10 - DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsHal HolbrookLeslie NielsenAdrienne BarbeauFive grisly tales from a kid's comic book about a murdered father rising from his grave, a bizarre meteor, a vengeful husband, a mysterious crate's occupant, and a plague of cockroaches.First time viewing.
Not my favourite Romero film. It really had a Stephen King cinematic feel to it - which unfortunately isn't a good thing. I haven't read any of his books but I'm sure he's a great writer. But his cinematic work have been kind of terrible, which is displayed through his acting in this movie. This includes five segments. The first one called "Father's Day" was definitely my favourite. I think Ed Harris was a winning factor. The last segment was also really fun. The segment "The Crate" was the one I was the most excited for so naturally it was a bit underwhelming. The Leslie Nielsen part was also fun but not breathtaking. And the Stephen King segment was pretty bad.
To sum up, the movie was good but not great.
6/10 - DirectorDanny PangOxide Chun PangStarsAngelica LeeChutcha RujinanonLawrence ChouA blind girl gets a cornea transplant so that she will be able to see again. She gets more than she bargained for upon realizing she can also see ghosts.First time viewing.
This was very creepy. I mean the movie doesn't really make any sense. Because if I'm not mistaken then she shouldn't be able to have nightmares, have memories from the other girl's past and she should definitely not hear weird things just because she got new eyes. I can buy her seeing these creepy things. But in order for her to remember things that the girl she got the eyes from experienced she would have to have a brain transplant as well. As far as I'm concerned your memory doesn't sit in your eyes. Nor would she be able to hear what the apparitions were saying.
But besides from this it was a really creepy movie. I found myself moaning of unease during certain scenes. If it wasn't for the implausibility which essentially moved the plot forward, it could've been an excellent horror film.
6/10 - DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsSam NeillJürgen ProchnowJulie CarmenAn insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational.First time viewing.
Fun and intriguing story and a great score - so basically a John Carpenter movie. Kind of made me wish that I had more of his movies on the list. This movie directed by another director would very easily become way too over the top but Carpenter kept it as down to earth as possible. The weird parts were weird but not excessively weird - and not contradicting to the tone and rhythm of the movie. The acting was solid enough, everyone wasn't great but no one was bad.
7/10 - DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.First time viewing.
I love the Herzog Nosferatu. I have a fondness for silent horror movies. I'm so pissed off right now that I was so disappointed by this movie. I was really bored with it. Because I know this story so well and because it wasn't told in an inventive way it became so tedious and boring. Sure it had some scary shots but I had already seen those before. Visually the movie was extremely inconsistent - mainly with the night scenes. It also felt like the movie has been dumbed down and I think the restoration is to blame for that. The restoration also felt way too cute for a horror movie like this. I was also constantly distracted by the fact that Greta Schröder kinda looked like a guy. Why this movie is mentioned amongst the greats is beyond me.
5/10 - DirectorBob ClarkStarsOlivia HusseyKeir DulleaMargot KidderDuring their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger.Wow! That was so much better than I remembered. It was really well written! Unlike a lot of slasher movies it treated me with a great amount of respect. The directing and cinematography were very stylised and unlike a lot of stylised horror movies it was heavier on its substance. The acting was great - even by people who only showed up for one scene. I really liked the aspect of no one really knowing that there's someone murdering everyone until the end of the movie.
This one will probably become a tradition. - DirectorDario ArgentoStarsLeigh McCloskeyIrene MiracleEleonora GiorgiAn American student investigates the disappearance of his sister and the death of a friend, both connected from New York to Rome by an old alchemy book.First time viewing.
Unlike Black Christmas, Inferno was definitely style over substance. It was just so boring to sit through this movie. The first scene was kind of creepy but the rest of it? I just didn't care about any of the characters and/or sequence of events. Besides the unappealing style another thing that caused my disinterest was the acting - It was pretty bad. It even had a couple of decent actors in it but they still kind of sucked here. The presence of Alida Valli only made me wish I was watching The Third Man. The presence of Feodor Chaliapin Jr. only made me wish I was watching The Name of the Rose. Inferno was Suspiria struck with boredom.
3/10 - DirectorKim Jee-woonStarsLim Soo-jungYum Jung-ahKim Kap-suAfter being institutionalized in a mental hospital, Su-mi reunites with her sister, Su-yeon, and they return to live at their country home. But strange events plague the house, leading to surprising revelations and a shocking conclusion.First time viewing.
My review, spoiler free version. It did pretty much everything a good horror movie should do. It spooked me, it impressed me and it provoked my thoughts. And all without plummeting into its own logic, unlike The Eye. The acting was pretty fantastic. The directing was stylised and well done. It had several twists and turns with a perfect balance of predictability and unpredictability. The presentation laid a bug in my brain and then really went out of its way to make you dig out that bug. It did stick in my head so I saw the first twist coming - but at that point it was apparent that it wasn't going to be the only twist. If this review made sense then I'm glad. Check this movie out if you not only want to be creeped out but if you want to test your brain as well.
8/10
My review - SPOILER VERSION!!
So the ending was rather ambiguous. I'm coming fresh out from the movie with just about 10 minutes of gathering my thoughts. Okay, so I have two different theories.
1. The entire movie is about Su-Mi being in the hospital reflecting over two key moments of her life - When her mother went insane and ultimately killer herself, and when she went insane herself and in this insanity killed her sister. These two moments disguises themselves as one and the same time period and cuts back and forth between each other. The visions of the woman is a reminder of her dead mother popping up in the middle of Su-Mi's reflecting - just like this purple elephant will pop into your head as you're reading my review. The flaws with this theory is of course the last thing I mentioned. It's a little far fetched, not implausible but a bit vague. I also don't quite get why their mother went insane.
2. The entire movie is a battle of identities. Much like the movie Identity. Su-Mi is suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder and she is struggling to take control during the sessions with the doctor we see at the beginning, you know when he asks her "Who do you think you are?". The house is a representation of her mental illness. All of the characters are her different identities. The visions of the woman is a symbolic representation of the harsh reality manifesting itself during the therapy sessions. And at the end Su-Mi has taken control and that is why she is leaving the house and everyone else behind. The flaw here would of course be that it's a bit cheesy, it kinda feels like the easier way out. Also the scene with the visitor having a seizure and then mentioning the woman under the sink t her husband doesn't really fit into either theory of mine.
So my conclusion is that the movie does take place in someone's mind, more or less. Might have to watch it again if I want to be able to wrap my head around it. - DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsIsabelle AdjaniSam NeillMargit CarstensenA woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.First time viewing.
Rarely do you see actors debase themselves like they do in this movie. Probably the best performances from both Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill that I'll ever see. The main theme was awesome - immediate intrigue. I really liked the cinematography - also an immediate intrigue.
Now onto the plot.
It started off as a psychological drama, then it turned into a psychological horror and the last 10 minutes or so gave me the "Putney Swope Panic" (Look up 'Putney Swope Welcome to the Basement'). A lot of scenes are probably not meant to be literal. The things that doesn't make sense probably isn't supposed to make sense. I think that the things that would make me furious in any other movie was in this case intentional, so I can't really state any case against it. So... I don't know. I noticed that they basically only wore one pair of clothes for the entire movie. There were a lot of arm raising and shirt removing.
To give this movie a rating out of 10 would be like trying to light a fire under water.
?/? - DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsCatherine DeneuveIan HendryJohn FraserA sex-repulsed woman who disapproves of her sister's boyfriend sinks into depression and has horrific visions of rape and violence.First time viewing.
I think this is one of those objectively great movies that's not really for me. Other movies like this would be The Holy Mountain, The Revenant or most of Michael Haneke's movies. The acting, directing and story was great. Her descent into madness was gradual rather than instantaneous - which I liked. I hit all the notes that it was going for and it was pretty disturbing. I didn't get the ending though.
7/10 - DirectorVincenzo NataliStarsNicole de BoerMaurice Dean WintDavid HewlettA group of strangers awaken to find themselves placed in a giant cube. Each one of them is gifted with a special skill and they must work together to escape an endless maze of deadly traps.Was worried that I might not like this movie as much on my second viewing but I was wrong. Still a big fan!
- DirectorDrew GoddardStarsKristen ConnollyChris HemsworthAnna HutchisonFive college friends head out to a remote cabin for a getaway, but things don't go as planned when they start getting killed. They soon discover that there is more to the cabin than it seems.First time viewing.
This movie was one thing and then turned into another thing - and I didn't like the other thing that much. It started out as a great satire on horror movies. And the first half is great! I loved pretty much everything about it. But then as soon as they started to figuring things out, and the puppeteers started to develop problems it got much more boring. It probably more unique in its second half but that didn't exactly help the movie. If it had stayed as a satire on horror movies, like Scream, I would've loved it. It would've been an insanely fun movie, but it didn't. It started to take itself way too seriously and I think some of the self-awareness went away. I don't know, maybe my expectations were too high, because they were really high.
6/10 for now. - DirectorJames WhaleStarsClaude RainsGloria StuartWilliam HarriganA scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.First time viewing.
Probably one of the better horror movies from this era. Not a fan of Dracula, not a fan of The Wolfman & Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, even though enjoyable, was pretty forgettable. Claude Rains managed to give a great performance even though you couldn't actually see him until the end. His insanity was apparent but it didn't feel too over the top. And it was only about 70 minutes long so I was never bored.
7/10 - DirectorJaume BalagueróPaco PlazaStarsManuela VelascoFerran TerrazaJorge-Yamam SerranoA television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.
- DirectorJames WanStarsCary ElwesLeigh WhannellDanny GloverTwo strangers awaken in a room with no recollection of how they got there, and soon discover they're pawns in a deadly game.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsBarbara SteeleJohn RichardsonAndrea ChecchiDecades after being executed for witchcraft, vengeful Princess Asa Vajda and her fiendish servant are resurrected and begin a bloody campaign to possess the body of Asa Vajda's beautiful look-alike descendant Princess Katia.First time viewing.