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kleinjeremy
Reviews
Kings of Pain (2019)
Very, very fun series.
This is a fun series that's educational, silly, insanely tense, and even strangely edifying. Definitely ends on a high note. but yeah, I could never recommend this to my family members. There's something really admirable with the way the main actors approach the subject, though. Progress through suffering, and all that.
As for the show being a copy, that Coyote guy (from what I've heard in Youtube comments) plays everything up way more than the guys here do. But you can be the judge of that!
Kings of Pain: Execution Day (2020)
Possibly the most insane thing I've seen on television.
If you've seen this episode, you know exactly what the deal is here. Everything with that python is absolute insanity. Amazing ending to a very good show, for now. Just hope Caveman's doing better now!
We Go On (2016)
Shockingly optimistic and happy little horror film.
The beginning of the film strikes all of the nihilistic tones that you tend to expect about horror movies related to death, but by the end, there's actually a much more light-hearted and joyful tone. As a religious person who tends to find that most horror films and media today lean towards the depressing end of secular thought, I was quite pleasantly surprised with this one. Likable characters, some good emotional moments, and a warm vibe throughout. Give it a watch, especially if you have Shudder!
Outlander (2014)
This has sincerely become one of my least favorite shows.
I'm watching this series with my family (there are no children for what it's worth) during quarantine. We're on season 2, and as the show has gone on, I've found it more and more grating, annoying, cringey, and simply stupid. The first season is pretty good for the most part. High adventure, a fun cast of characters, a very natural flow, a wholesome loving relationship, and so on.
But the second Claire and Jamie get married, this show goes downhill, HARD. The plot gets more aimless. The sex scenes and cringey dialogue multiply five-fold (some particularly egregious examples include the FOUR EPISODES IN A ROW WITH EXTENDED SEX SCENES, the stupid conversation about Claire's "shaved honeypot," and the discussion about 69ing). By the time season 2 comes, they completely abandon all of the supporting cast from season 1 in a decision that comes off as one of the most thoughtless ever. (Imagine if Game of Thrones abandoned all of its characters except for a few- it's that bad!) Characters make completely unrealistic decisions solely so that the show can come off as more woke (i.e., Claire offering a sick woman being treated in a convent if she would like an abortion... in 1700s France... with the active Catholic Jacobite rebellion going on... after she has already been accused of witchcraft and nearly killed. You'd think she would hesitate, but nope!). It's a deeply frustrating show that goes from a fun adventure with interesting characters to a plodding nothing-fest that introduces characters solely as plot devices that it can brutalize, like the innocent woman who doesn't even know how sex works who gets brutally raped within the episode.
The show pretends that it transcends all of the fantasy tropes of the past, with its perfect leads who go from relatable and likable characters in a hard situation to Mary Sues and Gary Stus who are "special" for no good reason, and a disrespect towards all of those superstitious things like witchcraft, magic, and religion... but it just comes off as pretentious and annoying. (Moreover, with the latter case, the plot device of the magical stones that transport people through time are far stupider than anything else I've seen in fantasy!)
Season 1 is a 6/10, Season 2 is a 2/10 at best, and it apparently doesn't get any better from there.
And no, I don't hate it because I'm some alt-right troll. Although sometimes this show makes me wish I was.
Baskin (2015)
Completely nonsensical, but emotional and worth it for the villain alone.
Look, everyone has already spoken about the rest of the film in length. The thing that stuck out to me about this film, though, is the villain, "The Father." He's one of the best horror film villains I've ever seen, and I'd go so far as to say he would rival Hannibal Lecter and Leatherface had he been in a more popular film. The casting for this character was complete perfection. The way the actor dominates the screen whenever he's on it, with an extremely creepy demeanor and a strong sense of charisma, is unparalleled for horror villains in my opinion. After you see the film and do a tiny bit of research, you'll get it.
The rest of the film is good too. I like the father-son relationship between two of the main characters, and found it very emotional. The plot makes no sense and mostly went over my head, but the experience is worth it, and it does make you think...
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Actually Pretty Good
I'm surprised to see how much hatred this trilogy has gotten. I like the Original Trilogy and the Prequel Trilogy, and this one is great too. I care less about the tightness of the plot and more about the characters and their stories. By the end of this movie, I cared a lot about all of the characters involved.
Due to revelations in this movie, planned from the beginning or not, Rey feels like a real person with real problems. Kylo Ren is great in this film too. Watching this film also made me like Po, Finn, and even Rose more as characters. Moreover, each of the characters from the first three films are given serious justice, and the ending is satisfying and feels truly conclusive. Palpatine, meanwhile, is at his best here, delivering a very creepy vibe in the scenes he's in.
I really enjoyed the film, despite a few moments I wish hadn't been in there. It's not the best Star Wars film, but like The Last Jedi, there's a lot of good in here. 8/10.
Street Trash (1987)
Great start, but not what was advertised. Not a good watch with friends.
I was very interested in this film after seeing the plot synopsis on Wikipedia and hearing it talked about on my favorite horror podcast, Sick on Cinema. Melting hobos? That's awesomely silly! Paranoid Vietnam vet living in a garbage kingdom? That's so cool! I needed to watch this with my friends.
What I wasn't expecting, and hadn't heard about at all, was the extremely poor scene at the half way point of the film. I was not expecting a gang rape scene at all. My friend group skipped ahead and saw a character approaching the dead body of the woman who was raped, and we turned it off, pretty much knowing the direction that scene was going in.
I actually would give the first half of this film a 9/10. The melting is super funny, characters are wacky, and so on. I genuinely wish there hadn't been rape and necrophilia in the film... The Wikipedia summary and popular reviews should advertise that this film has some truly messed up stuff in it. I can tolerate it, but my friends couldn't. I didn't walk in this film wanting to watch Cannibal Holocaust.
I'm probably gonna finish this on my own though. So I kind of recommend it.
Gisaengchung (2019)
Great film!
Oh my goodness. This is one of the best films I've seen in a while. If you choose to see this film, I plead for you to go in blind. That's the best way to view it.
I'm trying to not say anything about it here. If one person sees this review and decides not to look anything up before watching, then I'll have succeeded.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Great film, even today!
It's rare that I actually end up staring at the screen for a minute after a film, but The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had me doing this. It took me a second to process the way this film ended...
The plot isn't complex, but it works fantastically for the film. The cinematography is top notch; this is peak low-budget horror, that gets scares without unnecessary gore and torture. The acting is fantastic as well, with main characters Sally and Leatherface being highlights. We get so much character out of so little with these two! The special effects are amazing too- again, this film is a great example of getting a lot out of a little. I highly recommend this great classic!
To address the most popular negative review, which frustrated me a bit to read... Yes, there's a lot of noise in the final act of the film. But what did you expect? This is a film about a man who violently murders people with an *actual* chainsaw. If you went through what Sally did in this film, are you telling me you wouldn't be screaming too? Furthermore, just because a chainsaw can't break a door on the first go doesn't mean it won't break it on the second. Be charitable. That's almost definitely what the director was going for.
Funny Games (1997)
I just don't get it.
I just finished this film, and the strongest emotion I felt was anger. The sadists in this film just act like frat boys jerks, and I simply didn't like them. I also felt somewhat angry at the director for coming off as prideful, even if I get the message he was going for. Sometimes, I did feel emotion for the family's plight, but I accidentally spoiled the villains would rewind time by the end of the film, and it immediately broke my suspension of disbelief for the rest of the time. Honestly, most of the emotion I felt towards this film occurred in the first half. By the time I reached the second half, I was fast-forwarding, looking at other pages on my computer, and overall not caring much about the film anymore.
Is it supposed to be a very real depiction of violence to make us not like violence in films? It sort of accomplishes its goal, but... then it doesn't. Or, is it supposed to be fantastical and call its viewers perverted? Well, it kind of accomplishes that goal too, but then, it's a bit too grounded for that to work. Furthermore, the fact that the film elicits such a strong reaction from people probably shows that the films depicting violence in silly ways, such as Kill Bill, aren't a problem at all. And most of the time, they truly aren't.
There's no real winning in reviewing this film, though. I didn't like it, but those who did like it would tell me I wasn't supposed to. I didn't hate it, but people who did hate it would tell me it was completely pointless and I should hate it more. Some people would say that, either way, the film "wins" in a sense. But, no, films don't really win anything, because they're just that... films.
You might be reading this review thinking that I don't have anything to say, and I guess I really don't. I wouldn't be writing a review about this film if people weren't so impassioned about it on both sides, though. I just don't have a huge amount to say about it, and other than the minor anger and emotion I felt, the film just didn't really stand out to me either way.
I do have a few opinions on things in it, though.
-The second act of this film is definitely the strongest. I was most engaged when Georg Jr. was trying to escape, and when he saw his friend dead.
-I cannot stand the song they played in the intro and later in the film. I don't know why they chose it unless they were genuinely trying to be unpleasant, in which case... Okay? I guess? It's just a weird choice.
-The father was characterized very well by the end. He was the most interesting character.
-Some of the antics of the villains are actually a bit funny. The beginning scenes, where Tom (is that his name? Did he even have a name?) breaks a bunch of eggs. It was just a really awkward scene, and it felt oddly playful. And, although I can understand the intent behind it and think it's kind of genius in its own way, the killer literally rewinding time with a remote at the end is one of the silliest things I've ever seen in a movie. I couldn't take it seriously after knowing that would happen. I was literally trying to convince myself it wouldn't, but then it did. The director, Haneke, would probably say I'm part of the problem for thinking this, but... Violence in movies is not all bad.
-This film makes me want to purchase a handgun to protect myself in case of home invasion. Something tells me the director wouldn't be too happy about that, though.
So all in all, I'd say this film is a 4/10 in my book? I don't know what else to give it. Even for all I've written, I don't feel like I have any actual opinion on the quality of the film as a whole. Give it a watch if you can stomach it, and form your own opinion.
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
Very split on this one.
This is a good film made by a pretty shoddy director who made some bad choices that really muddy up the film somewhat.
The discussion of the intersection of civilization and civility is actually pretty powerful, but the animal cruelty is unnecessary, not scary, and just flat out gross. Clearly, as many people know, the director wanted to make this film as realistic as possible so people would think it was real. The problem, though, is that this didn't work out, the director was arrested (and understandably so), and now everyone knows the film is fictional... with the exception of the animal killings, which aren't frightening, but gross and unethical. Some people say it's no different from the meat industry, and you'd be correct, but if you want to watch a film about that, go watch a vegan documentary.
Still, for some people, I think the film might be worth a watch. It's not a bad film overall. I would try to find a version without the animal deaths, though. The soundtrack of the film is very good, the special effects are great (notwithstanding the real animals), the acting is good at its peak and charmingly cheesy at its trough, and I actually like the film. I don't like the director, though.
Midsommar (2019)
A masterpiece!
I watched this film last night after my friend and sister did. I knew it was violent, but holy moly does this film stretch its R rating to the max. Funnily enough, it was rated NC-17 at a point- albeit not for the reason I would have thought- though director Ari Aster managed to get it down to an R rating. However, in terms of artistic merit and thematic cohesion, this film absolutely rules.
The acting in this film is stellar. Florence Pugh provides so much soul in her performance, and at times, you can truly feel her grief towards what has brought her into the situation she gets stuck in for most of the film. The themes of the film are brutal and harsh, but not nihilistic, drab, or self-absorbed in the way that other experimental, artsy horror films can be (if you want to hate yourself, go watch the needless and pretentious film "Begotten" instead).
The cinematography of this film is just outstanding too. The pacing is slow, but the film has such a profound beauty in its sheer madness that I never got bored for a second (again, I'm looking at you, Begotten...). The film starts very simple and with a fantastically peaceful melancholy, but by the end, the film becomes the most chaotic thing I've ever seen on tape.
I didn't even like Hereditary all that much, but this film just rocks. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Begotten (1989)
My absolute least favorite film.
This was the first extreme horror film I watched, and honestly, it's just awful. I mean, it gets the job done with the disturbing factor, but I had heard this was an insightful film about the human condition, filmed very interestingly, but I just didn't get it. The film is completely unappealing in every way, and unlike some of the reviewers here, I don't see that as a perk. This film could have been much more interesting if it had some kind of human element to it, as all good Lovecraftian horror does, or if it had some kind of beauty to it. However, the style is ugly, the "meaning" is flat out edgy and void of reason, and the film doesn't have the heart to compensate.
I do, however, have to admit that I wouldn't watch the film again due to the creepiness factor- so, if that's all your looking for, you might find this film interesting. Personally, though, I found it to be extremely snooty in its execution, and I honestly get the same vibe from a lot of the reviews that film this interesting.
And before someone thinks I'm an idiot for not liking the film, I understand it completely. It's a film about how man thinks he has overcome God, and about how we completely destroy the environment before it completely destroys us, only to start the cycle again and again in an endless life of misery, exploitation, and nihilistic pain. I understand that it's meant to be a mythological film that, in a way, is a dark expy of the Biblical Genesis, among other creation stories. However, I don't like it because I understand it. This film is hollow and pretentious.
If you want to watch the film this one aspires to be, go watch Midsommar. It's better in every way.
August Underground (2001)
Gotta appreciate good special effects, but the film is boring!
This film is simply boring. I could only make it half way through before stopping, and it wasn't the gross-out factor that made me stop; the film is just kind of boring. I think Fred Vogel is probably a pretty cool guy, and having learned a bit about the history of this film series from the Sick on Cinema podcast (which I entirely recommend), I find his long-term goal to make the scariest possible horror movie genuinely interesting. He also seems like a very affable guy, and he sure knows his special effects... but other than that, there's very little here.
In the time I watched this film, I saw a rape, some torture of a woman, a few corpses, and a genuinely funny scene where a man makes the serial killers look ridiculously weak and stupid. All in all, there just isn't much here to enjoy unless you're interested in films solely for their special effects, or you're looking for some deeper existential take on the film about the corruption of man. However, like some other extreme films, I've found that just hearing about them is more interesting than watching them.