Horror-tober 6: Tormented (Rabbito Hora)

I chose this one this evening because I wanted to watch something fairly short and Joey expressed interest in it and it is always fun to get him to watch horror movies, because I know how much he loves them.

After Kiriko's brother, Daigo, puts a dying rabbit out of its misery and with his tenth birthday approaching, he starts having weird dreams and visions of a giant stuffed rabbit that seem all too real. On top of that, Kiriko's father doesn't seem concerned for either of them. But he is also still distraught over losing Daigo's mother in childbirth, so you can't really be too hard on the guy.

I'm not going to lie, I was intrigued by this one because I wanted to see creepy giant stuffed animals do creepy things. It had that, but the overall story was kind of all over the place, and even though there is a psychological twist, it just didn't really help to explain the finer details of the story. Also pretty predictable. Without spoiling too much, I will say that it did have some good creepy moments. When the cutesy giant stuffed rabbit turns into a more realistic and menacing rabbit and at the end the smaller stuffed rabbit loses its head but then its body crawls off the screen; both of which were a bit unnerving.

Hey, there. Wanna play? Both of these scenes have nice yellow tones too

I just noticed the more realistic giant stuffed rabbit has nipples, that explains some things

The whole time during the movie, Kiriko's father is making pop-up books of The Little Mermaid, not the sweet Disney version, and when shown on screen they are really quite beautiful. It also ties into Kiriko's narrative. She is mute. She lost her voice at some point as a child and it is implied that it was caused by a traumatic event in the past which then affects her situation in the film. Again, don't want to spoil anything for anyone wanting to watch this so won't give away too many details.

The little mermaid creeps into the Prince's room to kill him and get her voice back

In the end she could not do it and dissolves away as sea foam in the ocean

Definitely had some nice visuals and cinematography, but all in all, a little drab and not enough of the creepy giant stuffed animals. Joey gives it 2 skulls and I give it 2.5 skulls, purely for the pop-up books (reminded me of The Babadook, although not creepy like that one).  

Joey's rating:

My rating:

Horror-tober 5: Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead

I really liked the original Dead Snow movie. And although it was not as good as the first, this sequel did not disappoint.

Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead seamlessly begins from the end of the first movie. After Martin (Vega Hoel) realizes he still has a coin from the Nazi's treasure in his pocket (the reason why they came back in the first movie) he is attacked by the Nazi commander Oberst Herzog. He narrowly escapes, but ends up in the hospital after he crashes his car. He is detained in the hospital because the police force believes he is responsible for the death of his friends (again, from the earlier movie). He also discovers that they have reattached his arm only it isn't his, but Herzog's which was amputated and found in the car with Martin after his escape. And no surprise, the arm reacts to the living in a violent way. But Martin discovers he can control it and it has a unique power of its own. The Nazi battalion is found to still be wreaking havoc as they are on the march to a small coastal town to complete the mission they were on before their deaths. Martin enlists the help of some nerdy Americans that call themselves the Zombie Squad (including an appearance by Martin Starr of Freaks and Geeks and Party Down fame) and another resurrected undead army that want revenge on Herzog and his crew (the Red, hint hint).

Getting his picture taken with his first zombie kill

I would say that this one wasn't as good as the first, but it really held its own with similar themes but way more slap-sticky and akin to early Peter Jackson (Brain Dead). It also did not let down on the gore and splatter reminiscent of the first film. This movie had me laughing the whole way through and was a pretty cohesive and entertaining story. Some of the subtleties of the humor were also so well executed that I give this one 4.5 skulls. Sorry there aren't more details, I find that I have less and less time to write these, but I am doing the best I can!

My rating:

Horror-tober 4: Creep

Last night it was actually a choice between Maniac and Creep. Since Maniac was disappointing I broke my schedule of days and chose to watch this one instead. And boy did I make the right choice.

Aaron (Patrick Brice) is a videographer called for a job to record a stranger's life for one day for a $1000. The stranger, Josef (Mark Duplass), is a little strange off the bat, but mostly just in a fun-loving and weird way. At least at first. As a videographer the film is shot in the "found footage" or handheld style. This style of horror movies has become sort of tedious over the years, but this one executes it so spectacularly. Written by both Brice and Duplass and directorial debut for Brice, this film has a good blend of weird and funny, but also has plenty of scenes that make you squirm in your seat. At least I did for a few parts.

Whereas with Maniac I could not believe Elijah Wood's portrayal of a maniac, Duplass is super believable. He is also very quirky and makes you believe he is lonely and just trying to reach out and make a friend, although in a completely, socially unacceptable way. It also, has the creepiest wolf mask in any movie ever. This film really had great moments and a super cohesive narrative that keeps you interested and engaged during the whole thing. Although, Aaron made some really dumb choices. Seriously dumb choices. Even dumber than most people in horror movies. But it was still really good.

Peachfuzz. Just a big old NOPE.

I really liked this movie and give it 4 skulls. Joey liked it so much he gave it 4.5 skulls. 4.5. From Joey. From the guy who "hates" horror movies. *Mind blown*

Joey's rating:

My rating:

Horror-tober 3: Maniac

Maniac is a remake of the 1980 movie of the same title. I have not seen the original so aside from some similar themes (scalping) I am not sure if the story is exactly the same, but after seeing this one have no desire to watch the original. Wood plays Frank who owns a mannequin shop and restores vintage mannequins to their original condition. But he also skulks around finding women, killing and scalping them and then stapling their scalps on his mannequins. No surprise, Frank has some mommy issues which is apparently responsible for his murderous inclinations. However, his motives are not entirely clear. When Frank meets artist Anna, he may have found someone he can truly connect with. She uses mannequins as her portraiture subjects, making them come to life, and Frank sees she looks at them and him differently than anyone else. But will he be able to resist his urges to scalp her pretty little French head?

The film is completely made in first-person. Only in dream sequences do you see Frank in a third-person perspective. It was an interesting way to present a horror movie. Giving the audience the perspective as if they were the serial killer. But because of that it lost a lot of the suspense of a typical horror film and turned into more of an artsy gore fest without a compelling story. You basically know that all of the girls he encounters are going to be killed in some way and there is not a lot of surprise there. That brings me to the other point of the believe-ability of Elijah Wood as a serial killer. There is none. It just did not work for me. Not that he can't be creepy, he was great as Kevin in Sin City. But his role in this just did not feel right.

Overall, I give it 2 skulls. Joey fell asleep after the first half of the movie, but he says he'd give it 1.5 skulls because it was boring and he didn't like what he did see.

Joey's rating:

My rating:

Horror-tober 2: Cursed

I'm kind of breaking my rules this year, just to make it a bit easier on myself when I have busier days than others. That said, I watched Cursed for Creature-Feature Friday even though I have seen it before. I also feel that this year I want to pay homage to the late Wes Craven, mostly because that man made some great movies, some of my favorite horror films of all time, most of which really helped to form my interest and love for the genre.

A brother and sister living in Hollywood, find themselves changed after an encounter with some mysterious creature on Mulholand Drive. Not Wes Craven's best by any means, but it is still pretty good and fun. I like this one because it has some decent effects and good scares, albeit most fairly predicatable. Werewolves seem hard to make well while avoiding being too hokey or unrealistic. But this one does a pretty good job of creating a menacing and pretty believable werewolf character. It also has some good humor. All in all, a decent little film that gets some slack probably because the overall plot is pretty silly, but I don't mind it. 

That's all I really have to say about this one. Again, I make the rules about how I do this so deal with it.

I couldn't resist this gif.

Rating:

Horror-tober 1: Shaun of the Dead

What is there not to like about Shaun of the Dead? I have seen this movie very many times, and each time I find something more to like about this little gem.

Shaun of the Dead is set in a little suburb town in England. Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Liz have been together for 3 years, but she has grown weary of going to the same pub with Shaun and his friend Ed (Nick Frost), so she dumps him. Shaun and Ed go to the same pub, the Winchester, to drink away his sorrows. That night, Shaun decides he will get Liz back and change his life. That morning, nothing seems different except there is a strange girl in the backyard. Shortly after, Shaun and Ed discover there is something very wrong with her.

Alright, enough of the synopsis. That is really just to point out how unique this film is. It is not a spoof on zombie movies. But a comedy, with some romance, and a zombie twist. It is also as much a buddy comedy, as it is apparent how long Shaun and Ed have been friends and how tight that friendship is throughout the film. As can be said for the real-life friendship between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The humor is pretty light-hearted and quite clever. On the zombie end, it stays pretty true to the original zombie standard: they're slow and consumed by their hunger for flesh. They are not light on the carnage in this film either. When poor David (Dylan Moran) is consumed by the zombies, he is eviscerated and torn apart in front of his friends.

A fun little game to play while watching this one is to make note of the people you see that are alive and then later when you see them dead or undead as is the case with those that are zombies. That is something that makes this film so much fun, it is pretty solid in plot and details all the way to the end. I guess, except that the outbreak is contained pretty quickly. But it also brings back the soildity in the details of the film, where early you see some television programs, that later the surviving zombies are featured on.

Snakehips alive

Snakehips dead

There is also this little surprise for fans of Spaced which is something I hadn't noticed until this viewing of it. Bottom right corner, it's Tyres, the raving bike messenger! I knew that Daisy (Jessica Hynes) was in it, but never noticed Tyres until now.

Tyres raving as a zombie

I hold this one in high esteem, and have to give it 5 skulls. Also, Joey has said he will join me on a few movies this year, and he gives this one 4 skulls.

Joey's rating:

My rating:

3rd Annual Horror-tober fest begins!

You think I would be sick of doing this, but I am not! I even find myself counting down the days to the fest all through September. Last year I was unemployed and thought that I would have the time to complete every post, but I did not. So as a special treat, I have created a list of all that I watched, on the days that I watched them, and the ratings for each with a short description of what I thought. Now that I am fully-employed, it may be even more difficult to complete these this year, but that won't stop me from watching all that I can! 

In the meantime, here is a friendly reminder of what the categories are:

Supernatural Sunday Is almost a little too general, but it was hard to think of something that would fit ghosts, witches, vampires, etc. Anything otherworldly that doesn't necessarily fall into any of the other categories.

Zombday I decided that since zombies have (really, always have been) so popular, they should have their own day. And since they don't really rhyme or alliterate with the other days, they just take over the whole day. As they would if there was a real zombie apocalypse. BRAINS! 

Transcontinental Tuesday This was a hard one to come up with. I wanted a day for Foreign horror movies since they are just as good (and often better) than American, but like zombies, foreign doesn't really fit with any of the days. Hence, transcontinental.

Wacky Wednesday Not all horror movies fit into one genre, and not all are serious. So this one was borne out of a need to fit those odd, so-terrible-they-are-funny, fun, and even "childish" movies. A few examples would be; Shaun of the Dead, Hocus Pocus, and Troll 2. But none of those will be on this day as I have also created:

Throwback Thursday In which I will watch movies I have previously seen. They may be some of my favorites, as the aforementioned. Or ones I haven't seen in a number of years, even decades, and wish to enjoy again or wonder why I even watched them in the first place. 

Creature-Feature Friday For all things monster and creepy-crawly. 'Nough said. 

Slasher Saturday Also kind of enough in the title. Slasher's make up a large percentage of the horror genre, and this is a day for them all! EDIT: I have a few "Thrillers" on my list that don't really fit into any of the other categories, so I will probably include some on this day as well as on Sunday. All in all, I make the rules and can do whatever I want, so there! 

Here we go again boys and ghouls!

And as promised, last year's list:

1 - Bad Milo! 2.5 skulls - Stress gives you a killer anus monster. Not great but not too bad either.

2 - Day of the Dead 3.5 skulls - Soldiers are jerks, and get what they deserve in the end. Like, but don't love.  

3 - Orca: The Killer Whale - 2 skulls - Don't fuck with orcas. Was interesting, but pretty hokey and far-fetched.3

4 - You're Next - 4 skulls - Kick ass female lead and some funny gore. Liked it a lot.

5 - The Woman in Black - 3 skulls - Decent, moody ghost story.

6 - Night of the Creeps - 3 skulls - Aliens unleash brain eating slugs that turn people into zombies. Good 80's gore, worth a watch.

7 - Pulse - 3.5 skulls - Psychological, social commentary. Quite spooky and thought-provoking.

8 - Dead Heat - 3.5 skulls - Treat Williams, Vincent Price, and reanimated meat. What more could you ask for?!

9 - Event Horizon - 4.5 skulls - Sci-fi horror on a level with Hellraiser. Aesthetically pleasing to the eye and honestly creepy.

10 - Aberration - 1 skull - Mutated geckos. In the US. In a snowstorm. Nope.

11 - Halloween - 3 skulls - Decent remake of an iconic horror franchise.

12 - The Conjuring - 3.5 skulls - Good scares and story, but too long.

13 - Stalled - 2 skulls - Trapped by zombies in a bathroom stall at a business holiday party. Funny but not great.

14 - Thale - 3.5 skulls - Mysterious Norwegian fairy tale creature. That's all I got for you. 

15 - Dead & Breakfast - 2 skulls - Raucous, musical horror comedy. S'alright.

16 - Dog Soldiers - 4.5 skulls - Still one of my favorite werewolf horror movies. Funny and great effects for low budget. I also adore most of Neil Marshall's films.

17 - V/H/S 2 - 3 skulls - Zombies, demons, and aliens. Oh my!

18 - Would You Rather? - 4 skulls - Torture porn with Jeffrey Combs (Re-animator) as a sadistic millionaire offering desperate people, or just people down on their luck, money if they play his little game and survive. Actually quite good.

19 - Vamp - 2.5 skulls - Grace Jones. As a vampire! But just ok. 

20 - World War Z - 2 skulls - I just still can't handle how this has the same title as one of the best zombie books ever, yet is so bad. More of an action movie than a horror in my opinion and stupid special effects.

21 - Human Centipede - 3 skulls - One that was on my list for awhile, and I surprisingly enjoyed it. It was gross, but not as bad as I had originally imagined. I definitely do not think that I will be watching any of the sequels, it was just too good by itself and like the Saw  franchise, the sequels are probably terrible. 

22 - Transylvania 6-5000 - 2 skulls - Yet, another silly 80s romp, and with a song of the same title at the roll of the credits. 

23 - Thirteen Ghosts - 4 skulls - Another one of my favorites from my teen years. A remake of the William Castle original, but with its own take on the story. 

24 - Sharknado - 1.5 skulls - I had to give it a shot, right? Right? Nope. I sometimes really do not like movies that are purposely made to be terrible. Sometimes they are fine, but in general, they are not. And this was one of those cases. However, I did like the costumes that people began to make after this movie, but they have grown old at this point.  

25 - The Town that Dreaded Sundown - 2 skulls - One that slipped my radar until I read about the remake that was coming out. It was alright and not terribly memorable. 

26 - Dead Silence - 2.5 skulls - I missed this one on purpose when I was working at the video store. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but I still didn't like it. 

27 - The Returned  - 3.5 skulls - After the apocalypse, those that were zombies are cured and "returned." But the life-saving drug and is running out and tensions arise between the living and the "returned." I was pleasantly surprised by this one and felt that it had a good over-arching story and different take on the post- post-zombie apocalypse theme. 

28 - Muoi - 3 skulls - Long lost friends come together once more. A story about a haunted portrait. I don't remember too much. I remembered liking it enough to give it 3 skulls though. 

29 - Wolf of Washington - N/A skulls - I can't justify giving this one skulls because I fell asleep watching it and did not attempt to rewatch it. Probably somewhere between 1 and 2.5 though. 

30 - Cabin in the Woods - 5 skulls - This one has everything, and plays with the genre in such a delightfully clever way. I don't often give movies 5 skulls, but this one SO deserves it. 

31 - HALLOWEEN! This day was a mix of a few different movies, that I watched before going out to some parties. Not worth listing them all, but there were a few I hadn't watched in a really long time and a few classics I watch every year.  

Happy horror watching!