Some Horror Movies
Oct. 12th, 2022 12:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
singedsunIt's spooky season and while I watch horror movies year round, this is the time of year I watch something almost every night. So, here's some quick and dirty reviews on horror things if you're looking for something to watch (or not watch) in the lead in to Halloween.
Right now I'm watching the penultimate episode of The Midnight Club on Netflix. It's the new Mike Flanagan series based on the book (and other books) by Christopher Pike. No lie, The Midnight Club has been my favorite book since I read it in the 90s. It's not a great book, but it is my favorite and I reread it often. So far, I've enjoyed the series a lot. It's not an exact match for the book, but I wouldn't have wanted it to be.
If you don't know what it is, The Midnight Club (the book) is about a group of teenagers in a hospice for teens with terminal illnesses. Every night, at midnight, they meet in the library to tell stories (very Twilight Zone style stories). I read it again before the show came out and it was just as good as I remembered it and even knowing how it ended, I was still moved by it. The Midnight Club (the tv series) is done in the same framework, terminal kids who tell each other stories at midnight, but the framing stories of the kids is slightly different. And, the stories for the show are some of the stories in the book but mostly their stories from other Christopher Pike novels. They're well done, Flanagan's style is all over them, it's just that the cast are teenagers and not adults.
The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan - A really really low budget found footage movie about a woman who returns to her small town home to investigate the stories about a haunted home/family. This is so low budget, I actually recognized the lead actress as a woman who does ASMR on YouTube full time. That's not to say it's not good though. It's a little weighed down by the investigation pieces, but if you like found footage and don't like a lot of gore and something just a little spooky, this is a great option. It's also free on either TUBI or Roku. Free somewhere.
Who Invited Them - This is a type of movie I tag in my notes as "rich people" horror. A couple is having a party to celebrate their new fancy home. Another couple they don't recognize attends the party and is still hanging out in the house after the last actual guest has left. This is very much a slow burn thriller, where the end is pretty predictable. The suspense is well done, and it's very much about how far people will go to please someone else in a social situation. This couple keeps going along with the strangers because it would be awkward and impolite not to, even when they know something's wrong. (If you get secondhand embarrassed or cringe, this won't be for you.)
Revealer - This is classic B movie fodder in the modern age about a woman who works at a peep show and another local woman who as a staunch Christian protests where she works. This is gory and gross and really well done apocalyptic horror and it's better if you don't know what the apocalypse is going into it. The acting and dialogue are over the top, but I honestly enjoyed this one.
We Need to Do Something - I think this is a Hulu exclusive, but boy this one really surprised me. This is the story of a family that hides out in their master bathroom during a heavy storm. Except once the storm is over they realize they're stuck. There's no way out and no one comes to check on them. There's some jump scares in this one, but mostly it's the tension about what's outside that's interesting.
We're All Going to the World's Fair - Just don't. It's slow, plodding and meandering and the ends do not justify the means. This is about a girl who gets caught up in what's essentially a creepypasta ARG. We watch her make YouTube videos about what happens to her after the 'game' starts. Like I said, it's boring and not worth the time. CW for depression and a relationship that definitely reads as grooming.
Okay, last one for this post:
Speak No Evil - This is brand new and had some buzz for a foreign film so I probably had too high of hopes after I'd heard the premise. In this, a Dutch family and a Danish family meet on vacation in Italy. One family invites the other to come visit them at their home for a long weekend. Once they get there, they realize something is DEFINITELY off about the family they're staying with. This is slow but tense, awkward and another one that preys on the main couple's need to try and stay polite and grateful for the other family's hospitality. I don't know that it's necessarily predictable, but I don't think it's hard to figure out the scary hook of this story. If you're okay for slower, tense tales, this is an interesting one. CW for kids in this one.
That's all for this time. If you have very specific triggers that you want to know about for any of these, I'm happy to answer questions in the comments. This doesn't catch me up to my most recent watches, but there will definitely be more of these posts this month. I'm not online much so I have to share them with someone, so I hope those spooky movie lovers out there enjoy.
Right now I'm watching the penultimate episode of The Midnight Club on Netflix. It's the new Mike Flanagan series based on the book (and other books) by Christopher Pike. No lie, The Midnight Club has been my favorite book since I read it in the 90s. It's not a great book, but it is my favorite and I reread it often. So far, I've enjoyed the series a lot. It's not an exact match for the book, but I wouldn't have wanted it to be.
If you don't know what it is, The Midnight Club (the book) is about a group of teenagers in a hospice for teens with terminal illnesses. Every night, at midnight, they meet in the library to tell stories (very Twilight Zone style stories). I read it again before the show came out and it was just as good as I remembered it and even knowing how it ended, I was still moved by it. The Midnight Club (the tv series) is done in the same framework, terminal kids who tell each other stories at midnight, but the framing stories of the kids is slightly different. And, the stories for the show are some of the stories in the book but mostly their stories from other Christopher Pike novels. They're well done, Flanagan's style is all over them, it's just that the cast are teenagers and not adults.
The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan - A really really low budget found footage movie about a woman who returns to her small town home to investigate the stories about a haunted home/family. This is so low budget, I actually recognized the lead actress as a woman who does ASMR on YouTube full time. That's not to say it's not good though. It's a little weighed down by the investigation pieces, but if you like found footage and don't like a lot of gore and something just a little spooky, this is a great option. It's also free on either TUBI or Roku. Free somewhere.
Who Invited Them - This is a type of movie I tag in my notes as "rich people" horror. A couple is having a party to celebrate their new fancy home. Another couple they don't recognize attends the party and is still hanging out in the house after the last actual guest has left. This is very much a slow burn thriller, where the end is pretty predictable. The suspense is well done, and it's very much about how far people will go to please someone else in a social situation. This couple keeps going along with the strangers because it would be awkward and impolite not to, even when they know something's wrong. (If you get secondhand embarrassed or cringe, this won't be for you.)
Revealer - This is classic B movie fodder in the modern age about a woman who works at a peep show and another local woman who as a staunch Christian protests where she works. This is gory and gross and really well done apocalyptic horror and it's better if you don't know what the apocalypse is going into it. The acting and dialogue are over the top, but I honestly enjoyed this one.
We Need to Do Something - I think this is a Hulu exclusive, but boy this one really surprised me. This is the story of a family that hides out in their master bathroom during a heavy storm. Except once the storm is over they realize they're stuck. There's no way out and no one comes to check on them. There's some jump scares in this one, but mostly it's the tension about what's outside that's interesting.
We're All Going to the World's Fair - Just don't. It's slow, plodding and meandering and the ends do not justify the means. This is about a girl who gets caught up in what's essentially a creepypasta ARG. We watch her make YouTube videos about what happens to her after the 'game' starts. Like I said, it's boring and not worth the time. CW for depression and a relationship that definitely reads as grooming.
Okay, last one for this post:
Speak No Evil - This is brand new and had some buzz for a foreign film so I probably had too high of hopes after I'd heard the premise. In this, a Dutch family and a Danish family meet on vacation in Italy. One family invites the other to come visit them at their home for a long weekend. Once they get there, they realize something is DEFINITELY off about the family they're staying with. This is slow but tense, awkward and another one that preys on the main couple's need to try and stay polite and grateful for the other family's hospitality. I don't know that it's necessarily predictable, but I don't think it's hard to figure out the scary hook of this story. If you're okay for slower, tense tales, this is an interesting one. CW for kids in this one.
That's all for this time. If you have very specific triggers that you want to know about for any of these, I'm happy to answer questions in the comments. This doesn't catch me up to my most recent watches, but there will definitely be more of these posts this month. I'm not online much so I have to share them with someone, so I hope those spooky movie lovers out there enjoy.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-12 11:51 pm (UTC)I have "We have to do something" on my list maybe I will move it up! Thanks for the recommendations!! I haven't even heard of a couple of these :D
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Date: 2022-10-13 01:17 am (UTC)I kept putting off We Have to Do Something for a long time too. It's one of those descriptions that just doesn't /sound/ interesting? It caught me in the right mood one day and I'm glad it did.
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Date: 2022-10-13 03:17 am (UTC)I'd seen Revealer on Shudder but had no idea the religious protester was a woman. That changes the whole dynamic and I am now very interested in it. And Speak No Evil sounds fun, although I notice it's the second movie on your list about people being done in by their own politeness.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-13 05:20 am (UTC)Um. Yes, I do like a good trope. Funny Games (the American version with Ryan Gosling and Tim Roth) is one of my favorite weird, fun horror movies. I also don't feel much secondhand embarrassment, so I do get a kick out of movies that show just how dumb we humans can be for politeness sake. (Or obedience - if I think about movies like Compliance.)
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Date: 2022-10-13 05:22 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2022-11-28 10:37 pm (UTC)