Directed By: Scott Derrickson
“What’s an eight-letter word for “slaughterhouse”?”
I don’t know either. Sometimes you plan on watching Hellraiser II and you end up with the fifth film instead. Was it a fair trade? I don’t know, kind of.
Horror
Night #17: The Haunting (1963)
Directed By: Robert Wise
“God! God! Whose hand was I holding?”
There’s no rhyme or reason to why I choose the movies I do. For instance, the wind was howling tonight and for some reason this came to mind. That’s about as deep as my thought process goes. I’m glad I did though since what we have here is a stone cold classic.
Night #16: Friday the 13th (2009)
Directed By: Marcus Nispel
“His name was Jason. And today, is his birthday…”
So here we are, a remake that actually works? Kinda? It’s hard to say. I’ve seen the movie twice now and I certainly like it more than I don’t. Confused? Me too.
Night #15: A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)
Directed By: Samuel Bayer
“Just don’t fall asleep. If you die in your dreams, you die for real.”
I got about fifteen minutes into this movie before I realised that not only had I seen it before but I’d written about it too. So that should sum up all you really need to know about it. Even if I hadn’t physically watched it, it would feel like I had since it adheres so closely to Wes Craven’s original that I’m not sure if a viewing is really needed.
Night #14: Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (1988)
Directed By: Michael A Simpson
“Ooooh, I’m a happy camper, I love the summer sun. I love the trees and forest, I’m always having fun! Ooooh, I’m a happy camper, I love the clear blue sky, and with the grace of God, I’ll camp until I die!”
On some previous iteration of this blog I talked about Sleepaway Camp and how it stands out in the pantheon of 80’s slashers for being just so weird. There’s no way a sequel could live up to that – particularly that insane ending – but here we have a movie that tries. On the one hand it’s too incompetent to really work, but that same incompetence adds up to be something sort of magical.
Night #13: White Zombie (1932)
Directed By: Victor Halperin
“Surely you don’t think she’s alive, in the hands of natives. Oh no! Better dead than that.”
Just a year after scaring audiences at the time with his depiction of Dracula in uh…Dracula, Bela Lugosi returned with a Fu-Manchu style beard (And better english) to play the awesomely named “Murder” Legendre in White Zombie. Yes that is where messy haired rocker Rob Zombie got the name of his band from. So thanks movie.
Night #12: Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
Directed By: Wes Craven
“This is still a script, right, Wes?”
Two years before he brought us the meta Scream, Wes Craven brought us the meta New Nightmare. With the last two films I’ve looked at I’ve realised this is the third film in a row where the reach exceeds the grasp, not that this is anything new for Craven. Even his original A Nightmare on Elm Street had elements of this, though that movie is far more successful than this one is. It’s a shame too, because prior to today I’d always held this movie in high regards (Though the ending has always been terrible).
Night #11: Silent House (2011)
Directed By: Chris Kentis & Laura Lau
“(Female Scream)”
As a technical achievement Silent House is outstanding. It’s basically a home invasion movie that takes place in real time, all in one shot (In reality it’s broken up to about 14 shots, but it’s hidden very well) and with a great central performance by Elizabeth Olsen. As a movie I was less enamoured with it, not least of all for some choices it makes in the last act.
Night #10: Pumpkinhead (1988)
Directed By: Stan Winston
“God is the only thing that can stop what’s out there, Kim.”
So we’re done with found-footage (For now at least, I can’t speak as to when it’ll show up again) and moving on to affairs of a different kind. This time is Lance Henriksen in a rare hero role with the somewhat ludicrously titled Pumpkinhead. Trust me, it’s better than the title lets on (And isn’t as goofy as it lets on either) and boasts one of the more intriguing premises I can remember.
Night #9: V/H/S/2 (2013)
Directed By: Simon Barrett, Jason Eisner, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans & Timo Tjahjanto, Gregg Hale & Eduardo Sanchez
Sequels are tricky things. Horror sequels are even trickier. Pick any horror sequel and it’s more than likely just more of the same. More sex, more gore, more everything. V/H/S/2 isn’t alone in that regard, but it’s one occasion where “more” has worked out in its favour. Even being a sequel to an anthology, where there’s no characters to bring back or lip service to be paid to fans can backfire, just look at Creepshow 2 or even worse Creepshow 3. Clearly they missed a trick by not calling it S-VHS but it makes up for it in other ways.
Is This Thing On? 