Horror Movie Talk

Don’t go anywhere, We’re about to get crackalackin on our review of Misery, one of Stephen Kings most successful and critically acclaimed novel adaptations.

Synopsis

When world class author Paul Sheldon takes a spill he falls under the care of Annie Wilkes, his Nurse. As Paul regains his strength to learn to walk again, he also finds himself learning to love again. Little does he know that Annie Wilkes is his #1 fan. As Annie becomes his muse for his next novel, Annie tries to remain professional and hide her true feelings. From the Director Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally comes the feel good romantic comedy of the 90’s, which asks, why unrequited love can lead to such… Misery.

Review of Misery

Misery is a horror movie that proves you don’t need all the bells and whistles of the genre to be truly terrifying. Sometimes all you need is one truly unhinged person and no escape.

Kathy Bates performance is truly impressive and well deserving of her academy award win. She is convincingly able to portray a cavalcade of mental health disorders at the flip of a switch. Going from Manic fan girl to menacing anger, to unnerving disassociation. James Caan comparatively has light work being nonplussed at Annie’s theatrics.

William Goldman’s adapted screenplay deserves a lot of credit for its tight pacing, the smart addition of a sheriff character, and great dialogue.

Rob Reiner had a lot to prove with this film in expanding his credibility as a director outside of comedy. It undeniably is a great thriller, but my one criticism is that it is often visually uninteresting. It might be intentional, but the over reliance on monologue long closeups felt claustrophobic at times. It’s said that Reiner studied the films of Hitchcock before shooting Misery, but I don’t see anything close to that level of visual storytelling.

Overall, this is a great movie. The tension never lets up and Kathy Bates performance is required viewing.

Score

10/10

Synopsis

Ohm is a writer struggling to let go of his past. In an effort to move on, he travels to Ireland to spread his parents’ ashes. When he checks into the very hotel his mom and dad stayed at on their honeymoon, Ohm learns about the witch said to haunt the building. Some shady business is afoot. But, having some shady business to attend to himself he goes to his bedroom with a rope and a dream. Fiona, an employee at the hotel stops him from committing the ultimate L, and is later discovered to be missing. Ohm sets out to find the woman who saved his life and hopefully return the favor. 

Review of Hokum

Hokum is directed by Damian McCarthy, who also directed both Caveat and Oddity, which are both great movies. Hokum follows suit with the same feel and spooky imagery. If I could describe Damian McCarthy’s style in one word, I would call it unsettling. While I think I like the premise of Caveat and Oddity better than Hokum, the themes were better in this film. At hokum’s core there is a message about self-forgiveness and allowing yourself to heal what is broken within. The main character Ohm, played by Adam Scott, who you may recognize from Krampus (or like Parks and Rec and Severance), is a man who did something terrible and never let himself forget it. He became the villain in his own story and lets that show in the conversations and interactions he has with others. But just like the story he is writing, maybe our character will learn to do something selfless. It’s beautiful, shocking, and unexpected. I will say that I was hoping for a little more out of some plot lines. The witch feels like a subplot that barely makes it into the movie, but maybe I’m just being nitpicky.

Score 9/10

Synopsis

Verónica takes place in 1991 Madrid, Spain, where, during a solar eclipse, a teen girl and her friends decide to try and contact their deceased loved ones using an Ouija board. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned, and one of the girls, Veronica, begins to experience horrifying supernatural events while trying to care for her 3 young siblings. As things ramp up and she becomes more isolated, it is up to her to try to right her wrong.

Review of Veronica

I was super happy when this won the Patreon poll. I saw this movie when it first came out, and it brings a lot of nostalgia for me. I was working on my bachelor’s in Spanish, and it was definitely a hot topic among my classmates. With that nostalgia aside, it’s just a great movie. You get everything that you could want from a possession/haunting film and although there are a lot of horror movie tropes, they are well executed in unique ways. The addition of her 3 young siblings really ups the steaks especially considering that she’s only 15 and is constantly caring for them. The film is well-paced and takes its time, but gives you plenty of scares along the way. I love the design of the apparitions. I feel like you don’t see that a lot. I also like all of the mouth horror. The film also covers themes of isolation, self-doubt, and grief in a beautiful way. The cuts between scenes are well done, and the integration of the true story isn’t too heavy-handed. It’s honestly hard for me to find any big criticisms of this film.

Score: 9/10

Synopsis

After the sudden disappearance of a journalist’s young daughter in Cairo, his family is left shattered. Eight years later, they receive an unexpected call that their daughter has been found, although she is not quite the same. What begins as a moment of overwhelming joy turns into something much more disturbing. As unsettling events begin to unfold, her father and others start to dig into the mystery of her disappearance to find out what really happened to Katie during all those years.

Review of Lee Cronin’s The Mummy

I was really excited going into Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, the intro had me hooked and invested in these characters and the film is beautifully shot, even the gory parts. It does feel more like The Exorcist and Evil dead than a mummy movie but it was a solid attempt at doing something different. The special effects are incredible, I genuinely felt nauseated at certain points and had to look away. Unfortunately this doesn’t make up for an unnecessary 2 hour and 13 minute run time. Parts became repetitive and there were many scenes that were unnecessary or could have been compiled concisely into other scenes.What really lost points for me more than anything was the awful ending that was also way too long and turned almost comical but not in a good way. 

Score

5/10

Synopsis

A single mother and her two teens travel to a rural house inherited from a family member. News reports tell of a serial killer that targets families, killing the parents, and living with and torturing the surviving teen girls. You can guess what happens next. But can you guess what happens AFTER that? Probably not.

Review of Incident in a Ghostland

This is an effective psychological horror that really plays with the audience in some impressive ways. It keeps you guessing exactly what kind of movie is this? Is this a torture porn slasher? Is it a supernatural horror allegory of unprocessed trauma? One thing is certain, this movie is fucking with your expectations.

Incident in a Ghostland is directed by Pascal LAugier, who is probably most known for Martyrs, so the amount of brutality should be adjusted accordingly.

It is a very dark movie, and only lets up briefly. It borders on too uncomfortable to watch and enjoy. However, it’s so darn interesting, that you have to keep watching.

My one complaint is that the production design is cliche,a nd a little too over the top creepy with all the creepy dolls in the house. 

Another shortfall, is that the main antagonists never really get fully fleshed out, and remain kind of 2 dimensional. They feel more like scary video game monsters to avoid versus characters whose motivations are known and can be interacted with.

I can’t say it’s an enjoyable movie, but it is good. I enjoy it on the level that it truly did play with my expectations and perception, which for a grizzled horror movie reviewer counts for a lot.

Score

7/10