Halloween Night 2018

Anyone who knows me or is a regular reader of this blog (If such a thing exists. Hi) will know that every year on Halloween night I like to close the curtains, grab a blanket and watch some seasonally appropriate content (usually a triple bill of horror movies). This year was no exception. So without further ado let's get straight into my thoughts and reviews of what I watched last night. Be warned that there are spoilers ahead.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Believe it or not I had never seen this movie before. Sure I'd heard about it and knew it was the great outlier, the only movie in the Halloween franchise not to feature the iconic Michael Myers, or indeed connect to the overall narrative in any way. I read a while ago that the intention at the time was for the Halloween franchise to transition into anthology stories, linked only by being connected to the night of Halloween itself. This is abundantly clear when watching the movie as it feels less like a complete film and more like an average episode of something like The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Not bad but hardly worthy of the Halloween brand name or the talent involved from it (for example John Carpenter and Debra Hill returning as producers).

The story presented is a deeply strange mixture of occult horror, corporate satire and a heavy dose of science-fiction, the latter of which really threw me and rather unravels the film's verisimilitude (fabricated reality). There are some times when this clashing of genres works by coming off as eerie and unnerving but sadly the overall effect is just a mish-mash, a story at odds with itself and which ends up with zero internal logic. The evil scheme of the films villain is, for my money, never really explained to any level of satisfaction. Something about the old Celtic ritual of Samhain (pronounced Sah-Wen. No idea). The implication seems to be that he's appeasing some evil force or appealing to it for prosperity maybe? But if that's the case the man has an army of ultra loyal, hyper realistic androids, almost indistinguishable from real people and able to replicate them in a matter of hours (As with the heroine. At least a subversion of the "final girl" trope that this franchise created). Why engage in a bizarre and convoluted plot involving stealing a huge chunk of Stonehenge (it's never explained how, just that they had a rough time transporting it. Sure), microchips in Halloween masks and organising everyone around a signal pulse? Just use the android army if you want to rule the world. And if you want riches, you have a fleet of super advanced androids and you're selling latex masks! Maybe it was just for the "craic" (the Irish villain is said to love a great practical joke) or maybe he just really hates children. Certainly he seems to blame the corporate assimilation of the day on them, like a militant Christian who wants to murder everyone in a Santa hat. Whatever the case this whole plot is beyond hokey and impossible to take seriously, a far cry from the visceral real terror of the two preceding entries in the franchise.

There are some good points though. The early sense of atmosphere that the film sets up is actually pretty evocative of the earlier Halloween movies, helped along by lighting and photography. There's a lot of usage of the "man hiding with his back to frame" shots that were so disconcerting when it was Myers on the loose (here it's the killer androids). And of course the musical score co- written by the great John Carpenter himself is hard to fault. And as much as I hate the bloody jingle that seems to pepper the film every two minutes it is damn catchy and will stick in your brain.

Some of the kills too are memorable, but for very different reasons. The special effects rather let the film down at times when things are explicitly shown but there are some things you don't see directly which are effectively unnerving (a skull ripped apart, a drill through the face and a pretty epic decapitation by sheer pulling force being the stand out kills). Unfortunately there are as many killings that are memorable for the wrong reasons, soliciting laughter instead of scares for this viewer. An initial crushing by car looking like someone lost their favourite sex toy, a headless robot and a fight with a loose limb being the worst offenders here.

Overall then the film starts quite well. It's eerie, the villains seem menacing and unknowable (like Michael Myers) and most of the kills are good for their day. But around half way through the film completely devolves into a terrible schlock B-movie and never recovers. Indeed the resolution of the film is literally non-existent. An extremely nihilistic and affecting end (which reminded me of the likes of Invasion of the Body Snatchers) is awesome but not really earned. And so the overall impression is that you have half a story when you exit the experience. What exactly was the villainous endgame? What happened to the real heroine? Where did all these resources come from? Just what is the power of Stonehenge and where is it from? These are questions to which I will never get an answer. Mostly because they don't matter. And that's weak storytelling.

This film was not the worst time I've had watching a scary movie. I know there are some real fans of it. The basics of the premise are really intriguing and could have made for an interesting story with more work, ac rewrite and more attention to internal logic. And if you're just looking for a schlock B-movie then it's more than passable. But for me there are zero memorable characters or performances and despite the name the film can't hold a Jack-o-lantern candle to its predecessors.

**1/2 (2.5/5)

Ju-On: The Grudge 2

I bought this particular film a long time ago (literally years ago) and have just never got round to watching it. I absolutely love the first movie (the Hollywood remake is ok too) and bought it on sale because I was really intrigued to see more.

The plot of this film centres around the same cursed house and it's inhabiting ghosts as the previous movie, this time menacing and murdering the cast and crew of a paranormal investigation TV show that is filming there. Specifically the main character (other than the returning ghostly Kayako and Toshio) is the "horror queen" Kyoko and the through-line of the plot involves her pregnancy. This is creepy and affecting from the start immediately setting up a plot point that is both baffling and terrifying.

I refer to a through-line because the film is told in a series of vignettes. These are non-linear and occasionally overlap as well as skipping indiscriminately through time. This left me finding it very difficult to engage with the story. Events would happen then in the next "vignette" would not have occurred for the characters yet, leading me to be very confused for a large chunk of time. Dead characters reappeared before their deaths but after I'd witnessed them and then the film even gets into areas of showing dreams of events that never happened or dreams within these dreams. This is unsettling but really confusing. Additionally there are moments where effect can precede cause. A particularly powerful and awesome vignette concerns a woman bothered by banging on her wall at the same time every night, only for us to learn that she is hearing her own murder echo backwards through time. As a huge fan of sci-fi and time travel stories I really dug this but I can easily see how even this could leave some viewers lost. The film maintains this level of complexity and does not hold the viewers hand through it. Whilst this can make for some excellent emotional depth and surprises I can't help but feel that it may be an unnecessary gimmick and that the story told chronologically would be just as effective and certainly easier to understand and engage with.

There's lots to love here though. The ghosts that appear throughout are as memorable as ever. Whilst I was more unnerved than scared I can certainly see how some viewers could find these scenes terrifying. For me they were just incredibly inventive and instantly iconic. I don't want to spoil too much but there are lots of haunting deaths, all very different but brilliantly shot. The ending (a scene in a hospital) in particular is one of the best horror scenes I've seen in a while, a perfect combination of shock, terror, disgust, emotional trauma and white-knuckle intensity that will probably stay with you for a long time, especially if you're a woman.

The acting is impressive throughout with perhaps a little bit of generic character for some of the lesser "cannon fodder" background characters being all I could criticise. The whole thing looks incredible with some truly commendable direction, lighting, effects and sound design (the iconic sound of Kayako is very present and still creepy as heck). The ending is again rather nihilistic and open but left me intrigued to see more and hoping that the story developed the ideas here in future sequels. I would have preferred leaving with firm answers but that's just personal preference and the ride was excellent, if a little hard to engage with due to the story structure. I highly recommend this though.

**** (4/5)

The Simpsons Halloween Special V (aka Treehouse of Horror V)

Full disclosure; I did actually have a third film planned to watch on Halloween night. Thematically it fitted into a theme of sorts that I was running with but alas it wasn't to be. Quite simply time got away from me. Feeling tired I began reconsidering that the movie I planned to watch may be more appropriate for a separate review soon, and without spoiling it you'll see why when the time comes. And so, with the Halloween spirit still upon me I decided to spend a brief 22 minutes watching one of my favourite TV specials.

Sure it's not strictly horror but the episode leans heavily on these tropes to parody them. The Shinning spoof on Kubrick's The Shining is simply pitch perfect. Copied shots, familiar beats inverted for humorous effect and some ingenious gags make for perhaps my favourite Simpsons Halloween vignette. If you have any familiarity with the movie then you must watch it, you won't be disappointed.

Time and Punishment is more of a Twilight Zone style sci-fi horror tale, playing with the idea of the butterfly effect really cleverly (although this theory is never directly referenced). The concept allows for multiple "what if" scenarios to be seen, each fascinating and often unsettling in various ways. There is even room for cameos by the great James Earl Jones, Peabody & Sherman, the aliens Kang & Kodos and possibly the greatest ironic punchline I've ever experienced ("oh look, it's raining again").

Nightmare Cafeteria, whilst the weakest of the stories, does contain the line of the episode ("Oh I'm bad at this") and present a memorable take on a familiar story which even allows for the hilarious inversion of a now iconic Bart Simpson line.

No scares here then but masses of laughs, great reverence for all things horror and an amusing overall special presentation from a show at the height of its powers.

****1/2 (4.5/5)

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween. Be seeing you soon.

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

MM

Halloween (2018) - Review

In this review I will be discussing the movie in broad terms. I will allude to, but not divulge, plot points and character motivations. However, everyone's spoiler sensitivity is different and if you truly want to go into the film blind and not even being coloured by my views then I recommend reading this after seeing the movie for yourself.

There's an old, rather overused, phrase that goes "don't believe the hype". Although I have no idea of the intention of whomever first said this phrase it has come to mean that something which is praised or lauded is actually terrible. I bring this up because this applies on so many levels to my thoughts on the new Halloween movie. I really want to say "don't believe the hype" on a basic language level but not to say this movie is terrible, or even bad. And so I'm conflicted, torn about how I feel and what I really think. And ironically that is a perfect metaphor for the way I felt after watching this film.

 Firstly there are some things you should know before even setting foot into the cinema to see this movie. Don't worry, they're not spoilers;

Whilst the film obliquely hints at these things in dialogue I think it's best the audience know in advance, and for the purposes of this review it's important because it raises a question that could apply a lot; why? Why does the film throw out all of the other sequels/reboots/timelines etc? It should be for valid story purposes. Some may even feel like it is. But I left with the overall sense that it was more to build up hype than anything else. By positioning this movie as the only definitive sequel to the original classic Halloween (1978), this movie is basically assuring you before you buy a ticket that it's better than all of those movies. For me personally, this is not the case. Although I don't want to start the game of ranking this alongside other sequels or against similar examples of the genre I do feel it's fair to expect that given it's function as a direct replacement for a couple of existing movies (Halloween 2, Halloween H20) that it's of a high enough quality to earn it's usurping of them. I'm not sure that's the case, and thinking on it I truly believe that I personally prefer at least Halloween 2, and would argue that it's a better movie. It's worth pointing out that this film even copies a couple of important plot beats from it, which also seems rather like a cheat, or at least a bit lazy. 

The only other possible reason for this film's retconning of the franchise is a legitimate story one. Without getting too spoiler heavy it should be obvious that this film wants to set up that Laurie Strode (a returning Jamie Lee Curtis) has both a daughter and a granddaughter (thus contradicting previous sequels in various ways). This film is unashamedly a feminist story about three generations of women from the same family finding power and fighting against an aggressive, predatory male force. Read into that what you will, I'm not prepared to step into that powder keg. I will say though that I found the treatment of male characters in service to this narrative to be just a tad troubling to me. It's a minor niggle but the father of Laurie's daughter is never even mentioned, even when it should be important to the plot. Other men are either inept or inexplicably evil. It's not a big deal though and not really noticeable within the movie, and there are male characters who get to be funny and somewhat caring if you really go looking as well.

This is the women's story though, and especially Laurie's. The decision to have her be basically Sarah Connor in Terminator 2 could have been handled badly but actually makes perfect story sense, and the one part of the hype machine I will agree with wholeheartedly is that Jamie Lee Curtis absolutely knocks it out of the park. Although I feel it would be unfair to expect this movie to come anywhere near the original I will happily say that her performance is greater than anything from 1978. Kudos should also go to the rest of the cast, but especially Judy Greer and Andi Matichak as Karen and Allyson Strode, who manage to hold their own alongside such an outstanding bit of acting. 

But this is a horror site reviewing a horror film and I should definitely take some time to examine through that particular lens. My thoughts on the original Halloween are pretty clear (just do a search on this blog). I feel that it's greatest strength is the spooky and menacing atmosphere it creates throughout. Does this new movie do that? Sometimes. Tonally the film is certainly interested in that mood, but not all the time. As such it almost seems to have ADD, as if we'd be bored to feel one emotion for a protracted amount of time. But what about the kills? Despite a couple of iconic moments the '78 film isn't really all that bloody or gory and kills remain mostly off screen. For the most part this is true here, and that would be fine except that the movie itself points out (through a character's dialogue) that audiences in 2018 are far more desensitized and less easily scared. The film says that but then at every opportunity to really shock completely chickens out in ways that make certain scenes baffling and again left me asking that big question: why? Why was this scene here? At least a couple of times I didn't really find a good answer to that. 

Let me point out however that there are still a few moments that are gory, and more sensitive viewers might well find them really extreme. I personally didn't but maybe I'm just one of the desensitized generation the film hints at. Likewise the film has lots of "jump scares" but they're almost all "Lewton's bus" situations. Named for the scene in Cat People (1942) where the director, Val Meet in, builds tension then pierces it with a shock that is a perfectly normal non-scary event, like a bus pulling up. I find these types of scares in 2018 to be cheap and ineffective myself. Some people will jump, several in my screening did, but it just annoyed me as I sat scowling at the lame effort. There is one really good and effective scare but unfortunately it's spoiled by being included in the trailer. It's still a great moment though. And there are some nice horror moments like these to be found alongside the other attempts to scare, certainly I wasn't scowling the whole time. 

On other positive notes if you are a fan of the 1978 Halloween movie as much as I am then there is a lot you'll get a kick out of. Moments including camera angles, shots, props, kills and even the on-screen naming of Myers as "The Shape" all call back to that original film. It never comes off as just fan service though and is pretty pleasing to watch throughout.

As for Myers, yes he remains a force of nature. The film has no interest in humanizing (like Rob Zombie tried) or trying too hard to add complexity and extra ability. He still doesn't talk, run or even move especially fast (although in fairness he is a man in his 60s at this point). As such he remains as eerie and powerful a presence as ever, for better or worse. It fell down on the far more positive side for me. 

In conclusion the film has an overall rather incoherent tone, veering between moody horror, extreme gory horror, comedy, revenge flick and PTSD drama. Things that shouldn't work often do though. I heard some people annoyed at the comedic moments when a lot of others were laughing and I myself found them to be some of the best parts of the movie. Additionally the film takes the idea of using shadows to it's extreme and to a point where several times I literally couldn't make out what I was seeing, on a giant cinema screen. There was honestly a murder which I suspect had a gruesome aftermath but I'm judging purely on another character's reaction because all I saw was smudged blurs against pitch black. In 2018 spooky atmosphere should be possible without making your audience literally unable to see what's on screen. What really works here is the film's subversion of the traditional "final girl" trope. Far from damsels in distress struggling to survive the ladies in this film are capable and pro-active, although outside of the Strode family there is still vulnerable teenagers for The Shape to hack his way through. A particular story moment that occurs around the middle of the film is something I can see being very divisive. The movie seems to be playing this as a huge shock moment but it just fell a little flat for me. The film is also not really interested in exploring it, or anything outside the Laurie vs. Michael dynamic and moves on quickly. This is a problem throughout as characters disappear from the story never to be addressed again, leaving us wondering exactly what their fate is and what their purpose was to the story being told.

Halloween 2018 overall though was not bad. I was just hoping to come out of this film with far more glowing things to say than "It's not bad". Don't believe the hype but do go and see it and decide for yourself what you think if you have any interest in this franchise. 

***1/2 (3.5/5)

MM

Venom - Spoiler Free Review

Let's get this out of the way early and start by saying that Venom is nowhere near as bad as some people are making out. If you went in for immature humour, cartoony violence/references and a badass looking character then it delivers. There's a LOT of problems but it's a fun ride, just with no real substance. It seems short and flies by. You can see the potential throughout which gets frustrating when it's squandered but there's plenty to like.

  There's no getting around the fact though that this movie should never have been attempted without any reference anywhere to Spider-Man and it ends up feeling very slight with no sense of threat, conflict or menace. In that respect the post credits scene should have been the movie that was made instead of a tease of a movie that will most likely never happen.

Tonally the film and it's star don't know what they're doing, veering between drama, buddy comedy, dark humour, superheroics and action, whilst that's never boring and some of the acting and interactions are really good there's absolutely no exploration of the horror aspects of the character with an opportunity wasted to deal with things like body horror, possession and identity (i.e the monster within). None of that is remotely touched on in this movie, heads are bitten off bloodlessly and mainly off screen and this is inexplicably played for laughs, with the characters on screen acting accordingly. There's a particularly bad scene where a character addresses having done something horrifying for a second then basically shrugs and goes back to making goofy jokes.

There's a handful of neat cameos and moments for hard-core fans of the comics but there's no real impressive-seeming threat as I mentioned and the finale comes down to watching two balls of near-identical sticky tar trying to hump each other. The movie absolutely should have embraced a higher age rating and leaned into the violence and truly dark humour. A good solo film of Venom really should be darker too (meaning in tone and subject, not like this movie where everything is 100% at night and it's often hard to make out what's going on).

There'll be people who really enjoy themselves and I agree that on a schlock B-movie level its a success, it's weirdly greater than the sum of it's parts and often works despite it's flaws. Decide for yourself if you're interested in seeing it, but go in with no expectations.

*** (3/5)

MM

Green Room - Film Review

Spoilers warning: there aren't huge spoilers in this review but it does contain some.  Should you like your viewing experience totally untainted, please scroll to the very bottom of the review for the final score.

Green Room is a brutal film - in the same way that Hostel is brutal.  It starts off with some relatively light exposition, showing a punk band doing a gig for a very small amount of money and ending up stealing some gas whilst on the road.  Clearly they are down on their luck despite the backstory indicating that they have some talent.

The band end up at a skinhead bar for a gig, but after their set they come across a murder scene.  The locals are desperate to keep the event from law enforcement - to the point of even murdering the witnesses.  Now, being in a few bands in my time I wanted to like this film, I really did.  But it was tough going.  Here's why: style over substance.

It was never actually clear what the hell the murder was really about.  I don't care if you have Patrick Stewart (a legend by the way) doing his best to appear extremely menacing.  He simply will never be a neo-Nazi for me.  More to the point though is why he felt he had to cover up a murder committed by some random at the venue?  Perhaps I missed this entirely but it seemed like this was glossed over.

The acting was generally okay in this film.  There were some moments of genuine high tension but Stewart and Anton Yelchin (God rest his soul) were clearly where the money went.  That's not to say that the other performances were poor, but simply that they were present and delivered... with little more.

If you are having a chill and there's nothing else on, there are certainly worse films to watch.  There are, however, undoubtedly better things to catch either in your DVD collection or on YouTube.  Green Room may show some shock injuries (such as dogs ripping throats out) and have some suspense, but most of what you see has been done elsewhere to a better standard.

2/5 - Mr Butterscotch

The Darkest Universe - Film Review

Spoilers are ahead: in order to give a real flavour of why we have covered this film on the blog and also why you should see it, there are spoilers afoot.

The Darkest Universe is a very simple premise - it is about a man named Zac who is looking for his sister Alice.  She has gone missing with her boyfriend Toby and they have apparently disappeared on a narrowboat.  The film was BAFTA nominated and would on the surface sit in the drama/mystery genre.

However - I always do like a good however - the realest of horror sits inside all of us.  Whilst ghosts, monsters, zombies and things that go bump in the night can give a thrill, the real horror is us.  It sits inside us.  It is the realisation that we should have interacted with others in a completely different way and that the outcome has perhaps damaged us.

The real horror in The Darkest Universe isn't the mystery of what has happened to Alice and Toby.  The horror is the pathos shown throughout this small and yet expertly insightful film.  Throughout Zac's interaction with Alice he is frequently seen to be pushing her away. 

He describes her as 'strange' and is overbearing to the point of being abusive.  At one point he shouts and screams in her face.  Alice is absolutely strange - with a suggestion at one point of possible autism but this is quickly dismissed.  She seems to meet a kindred soul in Toby, who is also very much in his own world - or perhaps his own 'darkest universe'.

Zac and his girlfriend Eva are wrapped up in their own lives; she with her shop and he with his finance work and the state of the flat in which they live.  He appears on the surface to offer Alice a boon in the form of her moving to the narrowboat, but his 'generous' offer quickly turns to a discussion about money.  Alice is the free spirit whilst Zac is highly driven to the point of losing his shit quite often.

The film itself is told in a variety of flashbacks and it is plain that Zac deeply regrets some of his behaviour, even if he continues down his path of self destruction in trying to find Alice.  Some people are absolutely doomed to their own fate and Zac is clearly such a man.  There is some humour in the film but there is also much poignancy and even a sense of tragedy. 

The way in which Zac acts and reacts to others would suggest underlying mental health, whilst Alice seems to be so disconnected she is willing to drift through life.  This represents the antithesis of Zac's existence and provides an excellent foil to his constant pushing for perfection.

Whether Alice and Toby did vanish in a flash of light to 'The Darkest Universe' or that is indeed the Earth on which they found themselves is immaterial.  What is clearly apparent though is that this film is an excellent mirror to some aspects of modern life and all the horror it can represent.

Watch this film with an open mind, I strongly recommend a viewing.

4/5