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Reviews
Terrifier (2016)
Gore galore, but hard to sit through
I admit going in to this film with a trying to like it mindset, I have to say I believe some of the films downside is to be blamed on budgetary restrictions, which is why I am rating this a bit higher than I would a larger studio production churning this grade of cinema out, not to mention some of the people behind this film are pretty stellar individuals, but that said, this isn't a film I would recommend to audiences look to feel scared.
But let's start with the obvious, Art the clown itself, is terrifying, creepy and grotesque, he is truly a well crafted killing icon, who unfortunately just does not receive the calibre of film he truly deserves with this one.
The plot is quite simple, which is not a flaw for this genre of film, deranged clown on a psychotic and gruesome killing spree, on Halloween night, which means people in costumes, and a whole lot of capability to get away with, murder, literally. The film has an interesting start that I did not expect, unfortunately it is upon pressing play immediately that you have to decide if you're willing to stick with the film as its budget shows immediately, and the actress in the opening scene, needs more time to hone her chops before taking on another opening kill type of role.
Now for the male horror fans, there is some decent nudity if that is what draws you to the film, albeit with a sinister sensibility, and the gore for the most part is top notch, well done especially for its lower budget, but unfortunately it is the acting which truly drags the film itself down, with the exception of the actress playing Tara, the presumed lead of the film
Dawn does good during the films most truly horrific sequence which I did find hard to sit through, which I give them props for, very ballsy scene, impressive. The film makes its biggest backstep when it attempts to throw a plot twist at us and kills off the only character with enough acting prowess to cause us to care for her wellbeing, Tara, to refocus the rest of the story on meaningless muder and the sister who is not wholly bad in her role, just isn't strong enough to have us worry for her, and in this kind of film that's quasi problematic.
The film itself has decent audio, score and there were a few moments of tension through out, however it does not leave you in the edge of your seat but after killing off Tara, any of those kind of sequences are thrown to the wind, simply because we truly don't care about what happens after that, at least not nearly as much as we tried to care before it.
I watched this film two times to see if maybe it was just my mood the first viewing, or if maybe it was just the plot itself. I was in a good mood the second viewing, so you do the math. I must say I really really wanted to love this film, I pushed myself to enjoy it but at the end of it all, it was just subpar, which again I must admit I think has a hell of a lot to do with its budget.
A higher budget could have afforded higher calibre cast and crew as well as possibly someone to say hey, we don't have a strong enough second lead to kill off the first one, let's maybe not do that.
I rated this a five despite the negatives because to me it was different, not a remake and an indie feature which I think all horror fans should try to be more supportive of otherwise all we will ever see are remakes and sequels to the same tired franchises which ultimately disappoint us.
Most of the movies I've reviewed have been below five, so this does not fall into the worst films I've seen this year category, but even with me understanding it's budget, and sympathizing with that, it is nowhere near the top films either and falls slightly to the middle, forgettable unless gore is the only thing you need to entertain you, because then you may love this film, because it does its gore well, and has plenty of it.
Please do not hate me. Lol
Halloween (2018)
rest easy this Halloween!!!
The good things about this sequel are obvious to any Halloween franchise fan, the score was great (Carpenter slays any score he touches), the homages to the previous films (although it removes all sequels from its canon) and having Jamie Lee back, made it a film that felt familiarly comfortable enough to enjoy. That being said, for me that is all this sequel got right.
40 years after murdering Laurie strodes friends, Michael Meyers returns to Haddonfield for another vicious (mostly offscreen) merry go round of horror. Unfortunately for the film, his pursuit of Laurie is no longer warranted or logical given the removal of his sibling ties with her, established in the sequels previously. It feels like he is now simply targeting her for essentially no reason, none at all.
But now Stode is a PTSD ridden, agoraphobic (thanks Rob zombies H2) survivalist who has prepared the rest of her life for a moment like this, this being his escape and sudden return to Haddonfield.
While this does serve the plot, it also is a bit illogical, if she truly was that PTSD ridden she would not have remained in such close proximity to where her former assailant was housed, and Curtis performance ranges From excellent to disjointed in some scenes.
The addition of her daughter (Judy G) and her grand daughter (Andi M) provided two new generations to be terrorized at the hands of Meyers, and both actresses succeed in my eyes at playing these roles, however the film could have entirely survived without the grand daughter character with a few simple line changes and name swaps, which makes her role a bit redundant, as it does feel when watching, as she serves nothing to the plot beyond coaxing her grandmother out of reclusivity.
The opening shot with the two pod casters at the psych ward was far fetched as no professional establishment would have allowed them to come in and wave that mask in his face and taunt him the way they did, however these two characters were my favourites of the new faces in the film, albeit short lived.
The plot seems to stumble for the majority of the film, with essential Meyers traits being eradicated from the film itself, no more stalking of his prey, and very little character development which in itself lets the film down massively.
There was only one character who was murdered that we feel anything for, in my opinion, that being the babysitter who did a very good job of what little she was given, when she slips because of the type of socks she is wearing, I could feel that fear in my bones because it was a very natural incident that could happen to any of us, very well done.
Unfortunately the film holds very few scares, if any, this film was definitely made just to squeeze a few more bucks out of us movie viewers, because there was very little in the film that warranted its production, twenty years later was a far superior film to this one, curtis is clearly lying through her teeth saying it was the idea of the film that had her jump back into the role, it was clearly the money because the film holds no genuine unease or tension beyond a few pop up jolts which you can predict coming.
It isn't as bad as those who disliked it feel it was, but it was nowhere near as good as the ten star reviews I've been seeing. It is a wholly watchable film, but to me most of the sequels are, and in fact I could say I would watch it again because it does hold nostalgic sentiment, but it could have and in fact should have been a scarier, superior film than it wound up being.
Vox Lux (2018)
Do not fall for the hype, completely worthless film
Brady is a handsome fellow, he is no sort of director, and this movie proves it, how he got any of these actors involved with such drivel is beyond me, not everything that glitters is gold, and here all you get is fools gold, sloppy, irregular and not an enjoyable film, not because of the subject matter but the film itself, one gigantic mess.
wait to rent it if you must pay to see it, otherwise do yourself a favor and skip this one, you're not missing out.