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LeoEff
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Spirit Halloween (2022)
87 minutes of torture... for the watcher, not the characters
I'm a huge Halloween fan, and was once a fan of Spirit Halloween years ago. I really wanted to like this movie, but it's horrific. I heard this was a kids' movie, so wasn't expecting much, but this was a terrible movie even for a kids' movie. I was hoping for a Goonies type of movie, but it was just so bad. Bad acting. Awful plot. The fact it happens in Spirit Halloween makes zero sense. So, when they built the old Toys R Us store that Spirit took over for the season, it was located in an industrial area? And they built it on top of a giant underground void that has a house built underground?
It's just so bad. The characters are lame, but the over the top acting by a couple of them is ridiculous. I urge you not to waste your time... not even your kids' time. How this movie has a rating north of 4 stars is beyond me. I bought it with the hope it might be okay given the slightly below average rating, but its just hot garbage. Its really much worse than people are scoring it, again, even for a kids' movie.
Haddonfield Reaper (2018)
I happened across this short film...
I happened across this short film during a completely different search, and for only 9 mins of my life, I decided to watch this on Youtube. I've fallen down so many Youtube rabbit holes... how much of a waste of time could this be.
I'm not into fan-made films of any kind, and the few that I've seen have been pretty horrific. The Haddonfield Reaper is actually pretty good for what it is. It's a <9 min phone-filmed movie made by a couple of dudes, and you know what... it was pretty good. It's suspenseful. It has a kind of twist. Michael Myers looked convincing. It had really good editing considering it's essentially a no-budget film. It also took a 1970s story and gave a 21st century feel to it.
One very minor spoiler, if you love Halloween's theme music, it wasn't used. I'm guessing there was some kind of copyright issue regarding the theme. I know this is silly, but had they used (or were able to use) the theme music, I'd have given it one more notch on the rating. It really would've set the scene even better.
Well done guys. I appreciate getting a new taste of my favorite horror flick. Btw, I do not know the film makers in any way. This isn't a friend post. If you find and decide to watch this short film, just keep in mind what it is. It isn't a high-budget film with a huge crew. Keep in mind that it's a good short film made by a couple of guys, and you'll likely enjoy it.
The Houses October Built 2 (2017)
I've never seen anything like it...
I've never seen anything like it... and that's not a compliment. I somewhat enjoyed the first movie which I believe qualifies as a horror flick. I've never in my life seen a sequel that ruins the movie that preceded it. This movie literally does that.
I hope I can help someone who enjoyed the first movie even a little from ruining that. I won't provide any true spoilers, but let's just say that this movie changes the meaning of the first from the very beginning. It changed the first movie from a "found footage" horror flick into an everyday-life documentary. You might wonder how they did that. Well, they literally changed the story the first movie ended with. That was a huge letdown. And then you get about 85 mins of extremely boring docu-footage and forced conversation. The "acting" was really bad, and it relied too much on 'splaining the story with conversation rather than letting the action explain itself.
To top it off the "twist" at the end was just stupid, further ruining the story from the first movie. Again, the acting at the end was pretty terrible. As a standalone movie, I might have given this movie a 2, but given it ruins the movie that came before it... deduct a point.
Serenity (2005)
Accidentally found this gem in 2022
The description of this film on cable piqued my curiosity. I watched 10 mins before I realized that I was being dropped in the middle of a story that had an entire season of episodes as a "prequel". After a quick internet search I stopped watching because I realized that I needed to watch "Firefly" first. Highly recommend that you watch Firefly prior to watching Serenity. It makes SOOO much more sense when you understand the backstory.
And if you DO watch Firefly, be sure to research first and watch the episodes in the proper order because they weren't televised in the correct order. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you watch the pilot last, like it was aired. If you don't watch Firefly, Serenity is still an entertaining movie, but you really have no appreciation for the characters and humor. It's easy to really care deeply about the characters after watching a few episodes of Firefly... even Jayne. :)
After you go through all that, Serenity is a fantastic film that does a good job of wrapping up the television series. It was somewhat open ended and should've been picked up by another network, but never was. I wish they at least made sequels to Serenity, but the film does allow for some closure for fans.
Highly recommended for those who like sci-fi and action films with a great story with a western kind of feel.
Paranormal Caught on Camera (2019)
This show is ridiculous
Silly isn't a good enough word to describe this show. I love good paranormal stories, and I've watched so many from this series. I try to like it, and try, and try, and try. They just make it impossible.
My biggest problem is the countless times when the interviewees ignore perfectly logical and probable explanations for the "paranormal activity". I cringe every time they over-describe what is in the video and say how there's no other explanation. Almost every time I have a perfectly realistic natural explanation, or an explanation that might easily be of the human influence. It's so irritating to watch and hear them completely ignore any obvious possible explanations.
Now, there have been a very few that have stumped me, but magicians stump me too. That's what makes it magic. The fact that they NEVER entertain the possibility that the video might be easily explainable is what causes it to lose all credibility. And this isn't coming from a paranormal skeptic. Not at all. I've had unexplained things happen to me, and it makes me very curious to find more evidence, but this show does the paranormal investigation industry NO FAVORS.
It could've been so much better and believable, but I guess when you have episode after episode, season after season, real evidence or believable footage is hard to come by, so they flood their shows with complete garbage.
Btw, a very important point... a person reacting to being "touched" while doing an investigation is NOT "Paranormal Caught on Camera". It's "Person's Reaction to Supposed Paranormal Caught on Camera".