Even More Horror Movies
May. 12th, 2020 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
singedsunI come with another round of horror movies, and currently a little less overwhelmed by nausea and migraine pain things to ear drops and meds. I've been collecting other recommendations of good horror movies on Prime and skipping around a bit as I find I need a bit of variety in my horror so there's no like consistency to the type of movies I'm watching here. I'll try to keep my little reviews spoiler-free.
Here's links to my two other posts: One, Two
Since last time I've watched five more movies, and one play, the National Theater's version of Frankenstein with Johnny Lee Miller as the Creature. I did not get to it in time to see the version with Cumberbatch as the Creature role, but from everything I've read online he does much better in Frankenstein's role and OMG does JLM make for an EXCELLENT Creature. He was well worth watching for.
Okay, so the movies, in no particular order:
Hell House LLC
This wasn't on the original list, it was a movie recommendation I got a few times both online and from friends. This I believe is an Australian production about a group of friends led by one particular guy who buys an old haunted B&B to into a Haunted House. It's found footage/documentary style in the aftermath of what happened on the opening night of the Haunted House. So you're watching the tapes of the crew in the build up to the opening as they create the haunts and discover there's more to the house than meets the eye.
I really enjoyed this even though I'm not always into the found footage style kind of movies. The haunting of the crew is pretty great. If you're susceptible to jump scares there might be a few but overall I though this well done and delightfully creepy.
Starry Eyes
I will say this movie should come with some odd content warnings for people that might be important. So CW: self-harm & reference to a non-consensual sexual acts.
This might be one of the most interestingly unique and creative of the whole bunch I've watched so far. Starry Eyes is about an actress in L.A. who is offered a dream role, a gateway role to stardom. To do it she must transform herself. There's a kind of implicit understanding that the production company this role is for is part of something larger, some cult, and they're preparing her to join them. But to do that they're requiring her to cut the toxicity from her life. It's heavy. It's a lot. But, it's so different and I kind of liked what they were trying to do.
The Strangers: Prey at Night
A sequel-ish to the original movies, The Strangers, this movie stars Christina Hendricks as the mother to two teens that she and her husband are moving to some new location so her daughter can start at a boarding school. They stop for a night at a motel trailer park owned by her uncle. Someone knocks on the door, and the game begins.
If you haven't seen the original, I don't think you need to -- the game is the same, but the players are different. This is your typical slasher/final girl type movie, so if that's not your style, this won't be for you. However one of the amusing thing about this one is the music choices the Strangers pick for their kill attempts, this big 80s ballads. The pool scene is particularly amusing. This is just a good time all around for me, but I can be easily amused.
Demon
Another unusual movie. This is a Polish movie about a man moving from London to marry his Polish bride where she's inheriting her grandfather's house. The night before the wedding the groom finds something he things is a body outside the house he thinks is a skeleton and during the wedding the next day, things start to go weird.
There aren't a ton of Jewish dybbuk movies out there, but of the ones I've seen this is maybe the strangest of them. In a way that I did enjoy. It was creepy and haunting. Unfortunately I think the ending was a bit more abrupt than I would've liked, a little too unresolved than all the build up deserved. But if you know Polish or don't mind reading the captions, I think this one is worth watching.
Triangle
HEY LOOK A HEMSWORTH! This was another Australian production with poster art that really doesn't do this movie any service at all. Melissa George stars in this as the overworked, overwhelmed mother of an autistic boy who takes a single day off with a friend to go out on a yacht to meet some of his friends for the afternoon. One of his friends happens to be played by a young Liam Hemsworth. Anyway, an electrical storm takes out their boat and stops them in the middle of the ocean. The come across an ocean liner and board, hoping to find help and instead find a killer trying to take them out one at a time.
This movies is... I don't know what it is. It's better than the art and the description gives it credit for. There's a sci-fi element at play that I was pleasantly surprised for and wasn't expecting at all. I enjoyed it over all.
---
This was a decently good batch of movies.
I did start and immediately stop one movie that's on my list called Blood & Lace. It's one of the older movies on the list about a murdered sex worker who leaves behind a daughter. All the men in the first ten minutes of the movie start talking about how attractive this teenage daughter is and when I heard the words "good breeding stock" I called it quits. Whatever else happens there isn't worth my time.
Here's links to my two other posts: One, Two
Since last time I've watched five more movies, and one play, the National Theater's version of Frankenstein with Johnny Lee Miller as the Creature. I did not get to it in time to see the version with Cumberbatch as the Creature role, but from everything I've read online he does much better in Frankenstein's role and OMG does JLM make for an EXCELLENT Creature. He was well worth watching for.
Okay, so the movies, in no particular order:
Hell House LLC
This wasn't on the original list, it was a movie recommendation I got a few times both online and from friends. This I believe is an Australian production about a group of friends led by one particular guy who buys an old haunted B&B to into a Haunted House. It's found footage/documentary style in the aftermath of what happened on the opening night of the Haunted House. So you're watching the tapes of the crew in the build up to the opening as they create the haunts and discover there's more to the house than meets the eye.
I really enjoyed this even though I'm not always into the found footage style kind of movies. The haunting of the crew is pretty great. If you're susceptible to jump scares there might be a few but overall I though this well done and delightfully creepy.
Starry Eyes
I will say this movie should come with some odd content warnings for people that might be important. So CW: self-harm & reference to a non-consensual sexual acts.
This might be one of the most interestingly unique and creative of the whole bunch I've watched so far. Starry Eyes is about an actress in L.A. who is offered a dream role, a gateway role to stardom. To do it she must transform herself. There's a kind of implicit understanding that the production company this role is for is part of something larger, some cult, and they're preparing her to join them. But to do that they're requiring her to cut the toxicity from her life. It's heavy. It's a lot. But, it's so different and I kind of liked what they were trying to do.
The Strangers: Prey at Night
A sequel-ish to the original movies, The Strangers, this movie stars Christina Hendricks as the mother to two teens that she and her husband are moving to some new location so her daughter can start at a boarding school. They stop for a night at a motel trailer park owned by her uncle. Someone knocks on the door, and the game begins.
If you haven't seen the original, I don't think you need to -- the game is the same, but the players are different. This is your typical slasher/final girl type movie, so if that's not your style, this won't be for you. However one of the amusing thing about this one is the music choices the Strangers pick for their kill attempts, this big 80s ballads. The pool scene is particularly amusing. This is just a good time all around for me, but I can be easily amused.
Demon
Another unusual movie. This is a Polish movie about a man moving from London to marry his Polish bride where she's inheriting her grandfather's house. The night before the wedding the groom finds something he things is a body outside the house he thinks is a skeleton and during the wedding the next day, things start to go weird.
There aren't a ton of Jewish dybbuk movies out there, but of the ones I've seen this is maybe the strangest of them. In a way that I did enjoy. It was creepy and haunting. Unfortunately I think the ending was a bit more abrupt than I would've liked, a little too unresolved than all the build up deserved. But if you know Polish or don't mind reading the captions, I think this one is worth watching.
Triangle
HEY LOOK A HEMSWORTH! This was another Australian production with poster art that really doesn't do this movie any service at all. Melissa George stars in this as the overworked, overwhelmed mother of an autistic boy who takes a single day off with a friend to go out on a yacht to meet some of his friends for the afternoon. One of his friends happens to be played by a young Liam Hemsworth. Anyway, an electrical storm takes out their boat and stops them in the middle of the ocean. The come across an ocean liner and board, hoping to find help and instead find a killer trying to take them out one at a time.
This movies is... I don't know what it is. It's better than the art and the description gives it credit for. There's a sci-fi element at play that I was pleasantly surprised for and wasn't expecting at all. I enjoyed it over all.
---
This was a decently good batch of movies.
I did start and immediately stop one movie that's on my list called Blood & Lace. It's one of the older movies on the list about a murdered sex worker who leaves behind a daughter. All the men in the first ten minutes of the movie start talking about how attractive this teenage daughter is and when I heard the words "good breeding stock" I called it quits. Whatever else happens there isn't worth my time.
