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hristi_vasilev
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Clown (2014)
The most unique take on a clown themed horror film, Clown brings us the story of a man who uses a cursed clown suit to his son's birthday party
Clown is directed by Jon Watts and produced by Mac Cappuccino, Cody Ryder and Eli Roth. It brings us the story of Kent McCoy (played by Andy Powers) who is hosting a birthday party for his son. He hires a clown but unfortunately the clown ends up accidentally going to a different party. Luckily Kent finds an old clown suit in the basement and puts it on and goes to the party himself. After the party, Kent falls asleep in the suit and the next day finds that he can not take it off and notices that the body suit, wig and nose all begin to fuse with his body. Having no other choice he leaves for work wearing the costume.
After a few attempts at taking the costume off Kent goes to his wife (played by Laura Allen) and she tries to remove his fake nose. While doing that they notice that the skin on the nose is starting to peel off too. With no other choice he goes to the hospital. There he starts to show some sings of strange behavior and starts developing a strong sense of hunger. After researching a bit he finds out that (mild spoiler) it is not actually a costume but it's the skin of a demon and the only way to satiate his hunger is to devour kids. (end of mild spoiler)
I'm not the biggest fan of killer clowns but the direction that this film took was very pleasant and intriguing. The acting was decent and camerawork was ok but could be better. At the start it felt a bit cliche and cheesy but it started to pick up as the plot progressed. The gore was awesome as well which was surprising for me since I rarely point out gore in films. The pacing was very well too.
However I do think that this movie could have been done much better. I enjoyed it yes but not as much as I wanted to since I really loved the premise of it. It was a fresh take on killer clowns and I really wish it was better since it was obvious that a lot of effort was made on it. But even with it's faults it is definitely a movie that you should watch.
The Ritual (2017)
The ritual is an atmospheric, psychological horror directed by David Bruckner about a group of friends who decide to go hiking trough Sweden to honor their deceased friend.
It starts off with five friends drinking and having fun in a pub, talking about where they want to go on a vacation. On their way back Rob and Luke decide to enter a store to buy some alcohol. While inside they see two muggers coming out of the back room. Luke manages to hide while Rob gets caught by them. Refusing to give up his wedding ring he gets beaten up and dies. Fast forward 6 months and we see the four remaining friends go on a hiking trip trough Scandinavia.
I was very surprised with the creativity of this movie. Both in a positive and negative way. The first part of the movie was very suspenseful, unnerving and it constantly makes you feel like something is not right. What I loved about it most was the way the main plot was mixed along with the "side plot" so to say about the rising tension between the friends, them trying to connect and move on and how that all unfolds under such circumstances.
However as much as I enjoyed it, there were still some issues with the film that almost ruined it for me. Most of the characters were not fully developed and most of the story was focused on Luke which is a shame since it was obvious that the actors had great chemistry and their stories could have been expanded. There was also a definitive shift in the movie which almost ruined the movie for me since it changes the style of the movie from making it a tense, psychological journey of friends who despite the obvious grudges they hold against each other try to ease the tension and get trough the sureal landscape of the forest to a predictable second half with a (mild spoiler alert) small group of villagers who capture them to sacrifice them to an ancient Nordic monster which to be fair had an amazing design.
In the end I would say that the pros outweigh the cons and despite all its flaws it still is a movie that deserves to be watched. It follows a simple concept which is executed in a fantastic way which combined with the gorgeous cinematography and chilling atmosphere make it a must watch for any horror fan. It got me interested in the book as well so I will probably be reading it in the future.
1922 (2017)
A decent take on King's short story of the same name.
The movie starts with an older version of Jane's character writing down his story in a hotel room seemingly afraid of someone (or something) coming for him. A year prior to this, Wilfred's wife was given 100 acres of land by her father. His wife (played by Molly Parker) wants to sell the land and move to St. Louis and use the money to open up a dress shop. Wilfred is displeased with this news and objects to the suggestion since he sees this land as the perfect place. With both of them on opposite sides on what to do, Wilfred's wife suggests that they should just sell the land and split the profit 50/50 and get a divorce on the condition however that she takes their son with her in the city. It is made clear that they do not enjoy being together anymore as the tension slowly rises from the current events.
Wilfred sees that his wife Arlene will not let up on her dreams and selling the farm so he devises a plan. He notices that his son has a liking to the neighbor's daughter and that he loves the farm almost as much as Wilfred himself does so he uses him and devises a plan to murder his wife and keep the farm for themselves.
Overall the main plot of the film revolves around guilt. We see Wilfred as he tries do cope with the consequences of his actions and the guilt of his deeds. It shows in a fantastic way how one bad decision can ruin not only your life, but the life of everyone around you. The best part about this movie is definitely the acting. Thomas Jane delivers arguably his best performance as Wilfred, a man who seems like a stereotypical "dumb, clueless hillbilly" but is in fact a very terrifying, conniving and cunning individual. He captures his descent into madness perfectly. The cinematography was decent with some very gorgeous shots.
The movie is nothing special or groundbreaking but it is still a fantastic film with grizzly and unsettling visuals. It is adapted from King's short story which means that it can be a bit stretched out at times. It captures the source material well but since it is in a different format the pacing is a bit off. But even with the slow pacing the movie did a great job being very tense from beginning to end.
The Eyes of My Mother (2016)
Masterpiece
Some people do not like categorizing this movie as a horror movie and even though I understand where they come from, I highly disagree. It's not a typical horror movie for sure, but it's a film that will follow you and that stays with you long after you watch it. It is a very disturbing movie, but not in the way that you would think. The entire movie is shot in black and white which only adds to the beauty of it. The director uses black and white to try and "reinvigorate" the visual beauty of old movies and to show that black and white can be just as interesting as color (if not more). And it works. The way that it is filmed adds to the story and makes it much more dramatic and gives it an eerie feeling.
As simplistic as the plot is, it really does not take away of the beauty of the film. It starts off with a younger version of Francesca (played by Olivia Bond) who lives on a secluded farmhouse with her surgeon mother and her father. Even as a young seemingly innocent child you can tell that she is no normal child. Something dark and unsettling lingers in her eyes. At this young age Francesca is forced to witness a deeply traumatic event which seems to awaken that darkness from deep inside her.
Fast forward a few years later as a young woman we follow her as she tries to cope with loneliness while falling deeper into the darkness (played by Kika Magalhaes ). She is a dark, brutal character who's actions make you terrified of her but in a weird way watching her try to socialize and live a normal life brings out some sort of an innocence in her that makes you feel sympathy for her and Kika Magalhaes manages to bring out both of those sides of her beautifully.
The bottom line is that it's a movie that you will either love very much or a movie that you will hate. It is a very hard film to digest after all. For me, I was hooked from the first scene. The eerie, hypnotic cinematography combined with the beautiful soundtrack make it a very enjoyable viewing.
That being said, hopefully I managed peak your interest without revealing too much of the movie and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the movie. If you are a fan of unique and different movies you will definitely enjoy this. This was Nicolas Pesce's directorial debut and for his first film he did an excellent job and I will definitely be looking forward to his future projects.
Flay (2019)
A young woman returns to her home after the mysterious death of her drug addicted mother.
We start off with a flashback of a native american tribesman who gets tortured and brutally murdered. Before his death he curses the chains with which he is bound with.
Fast forward, we see Moon(played by Elle LaMont) returning to her home town in order to prepare the wake of her mother. Unfortunately she receives a cold welcome from her brother (played by Dalton E. Gray) who appears to hate his older sister for leaving him behind to take care of their junkie mother by himself. Once home she realizes that her mother may have unleashed an evil spirit that is haunting her and her younger brother.
Considering the budget I think that some of the effects were very well done and the visuals were very decent. The story was unique and oddly enough quite enjoyable considering I am not the biggest fan of the Slenderman franchise. I did not expect to enjoy this movie since it is a low budget movie about Slenderman (a combination that sounded very bad for me) but I must admit that I was wrong. Yes there are a lot of plot holes and confusing points in the movie, combined with bad acting and forgettable characters but there is something about the movie that appealed to me. It does not fail to keep the tension throughout the movie and it keeps you entertained more than a lot of the big budget horror films that have come out lately.
Overall it's a fun B movie has its moments. If you are looking for a random movie to watch it fits the role perfectly.
Happy Death Day (2017)
A young girl starts reliving the same day over and over after she gets killed in a "Groundhog day" style slasher film.
Our main character is Tree Gelbman (played by Jessica Rothe) a cocky, self centered college student who enjoys drinking and partying. She wakes up one morning on her birthday in a stranger's dorm room hungover and confused. She continues on with her day condescending as ever to everyone around her as well as ignoring her father's call and disregarding her roommate's attempts to wish her a happy birthday throwing away the birthday cake she made for her. She also has an affair with one of her professors. That night as she heads off to a party a mysterious man wearing a mask of the campus mascot murders her. Suddenly she awakes the next morning in the same spot in the dorm room. At first she gets the impression that she is having déjà vu and dismisses the previous day but when the night arrived and the mysterious man in the mask appears again and murders her. When she awakes the next day she realizes that she is stuck in some sort of loop and needs to evade her murderer.
Making it a horror film with a mysterious slasher chasing down our main character no matter how she attempts to evade him with an interesting twist at the end make for a fresh take on the concept, as well as the fact that each time that she dies the death takes a toll on her body and she gets weaker each time. The cast does a well job portraying their characters, especially the lead role and it is interesting and quite enjoyable to see her grow as a character during the movie especially since she was such an annoying character at the start.
The repetition of day movies are often cliche and and repetitive themselves but surprisingly this movie was quite enjoyable. It's obvious that the movie does not take itself seriously and neither should you. Just enjoy it for what it is, a fun horror comedy with a few twists and turns.