Horror Challenge #50: "Sinister"

This is a movie that had a lot of hype surrounding it for me before I even got a chance to see it.  A few of my friends were so scared by the movie that they had to leave the room, so I was kind of dreading watching it while being excited to see it at the same time, and hoping it lived up to the hype.  The verdict is that it was a good movie and very well made, but not as scary as I expected.

The movie stars Ethan Hawke as a writer who moves his family to a small town and into the house where another family was murdered so that he can investigate the case and write a book about it.  As soon as he moves in, strange things start happening (and of course he's too dumb to realize that this is a very BAD SIGN) and he soon discovers that this murder case may be connected to many others throughout the years, and there's a component of the supernatural at work here (which of course he doesn't believe in, despite truckloads of evidence to the contrary, because like I mentioned, he's a GENIUS). 

I don't want to give anything away, because I think the plot had a lot of cool ideas and more originality than I've seen in awhile.  I figured all the twists out long before they were revealed (because of my highly honed observational skills and because I've seen a zillion horror movies before) but even knowing what was going to happen, it was still compelling to watch because I liked this guy and his family.  The characters were very well drawn.  My only complaint, besides guessing what was going on, was that the movie didn't scare me as much as I thought it might (meaning it didn't leave me in a terror induced coma) but now that the movie is over with and the lights are off, I find myself acutely aware of every creepy noise in the house around me, so maybe this will be one of those movies that takes awhile to take effect but ends up putting me in therapy for years to come.  Either way, this was a great movie and I loved every minute.

Horror Movie Challenge #49: "23:59"

I realized today that I haven't watched any Asian horror films yet for the challenge, and this seemed like a glaring oversight to me, since those are usually my favorites.  I decided to rectify that by watching this movie about a platoon of soldiers who are haunted by mysterious ghosts.  Supposedly, legend has it that anyone who dies at 23:59 (11:59PM Military time) will haunt the world because his soul cannot rest.  After hearing this legend, one insecure soldier convinces himself that he will die, and he obsesses about it until he actually disappears.  As the mystery unravels, it covers family curses, pregnant women who give birth to demon-possessed children, and a soldier who doesn't want to believe that he can see ghosts.  The whole plot is a little confusing, but it was a spooky idea and it's done well, so I had a good time watching this one.

Horror Movie Challenge #48: "A Haunted House"

After theprevious movie I watched, which was very depressing, I needed something to lighten the mood, and this comedy hit the spot.  It makes fun of the "found footage" movies and has lots of laughs, which is exactly what I needed to see.

Horror Movie Challenge #47: "Hollow"

This is one of those movies where I liked the characters, and that made me sad because I knew that bad things were going to happen to them.  It's another "found footage" type movie, this one taking place in a small village where 4 friends are gathering for a weekend getaway in a creepy cottage where one of the girl's grandfather just committed suicide (really people?  You've never watched a horror movie in your lives, have you?)  It turns out that there's folklore surrounding a tree in the village where many young lovers have hung themselves over the years.  Something about an evil spirit in a black cloak, and an evil force within the tree that makes people kill themselves.  It actually works though as it's revealed in this movie piece by piece.  The group of friends staying in the cottage has their share of troubles in the love department, which adds some depth to the story.  It did get kind of depressing, so I sort of wanted to hang myself too by the time it was over, but it was very well done.

Horror Movie Challenge #46: "Grave Encounters 2"

 

The first "Grave Encounters" was one of those movies that was overhyped for me, like everyone told me how scary it was, so when I sae it I was underwhelmed.  The movie was good, just not as bone-chillingly terrifying as everyone told me it would be.  This movie, on the other hand, was disappointing to most of my friends, so I wasn't expecting much when I saw it.

This movie takes place years after the first movie.  A college student who posts video movie reviews on youtube pans the original "Grave encounters" and starts to get messages indicating that the movie was real, and that there's been a massive cover-up from the studio.  He goes to investigate, finds the original hospital where the events of the first movie occurred, breaks in with a crew of his friends, and sets up to film a night of terror that turns out to be way more than he bargained for.

I liked the premise of this movie, and for awhile, I enjoyed it more than the first film.  I think it had some better scares, and I liked the idea of one of the "found footage" movies being real and some snotty college kids stumbling onto the actual location.  It has the ring of truth for me.  Unfortunately, as the movie heads into its final act, things get so stupid that I started stealing glances at my watch and wanting it to be over.  I know it thinks it's being clever with that final twist, but it's just annoying at that point.  In the end, I think this movie is just a tired cash-in on what was a good horror idea.

Horror Challenge #45: "Sorority House Massacre"

So I totally thought I'd seen this movie before, and I wasn't going to watch it again, but I popped it on today because I'd liked it back when I first saw it, and to my surprise I discovered that I hadn't seen this movie before, that I was confusing it with "House on Sorority Row," so I was geeked to watch an 80s slasher movie that I'd never seen before.  I loves me some slashers.  This movie wasn't anything special (a girl joins a sorority and when she moves into the house keeps having dreams of a killing happening there while a killer escapes a mental institution and comes to the house to wreak havoc) but it was still pretty fun.  Some nice nudity and gore and enough jump scares to keep me awake.  It's nothing to write home about, but it was good cheesy fun.

Horror Challenge #44: "Silent House"

Ok, so when this movie came out, I really really really wanted to see it because I love movies where there's something spooky in the house and people don't realize it until it's too late.  The movie make me uncomfortable, because they get under my skin and whenever there's a strange noise in my house, I convince myself that it's a ghost or monster or killer or something.  The characters in these movies hear noises in the house, and like we do they brush it off and figure it's all imagination, until they find out THERE REALLY IS SOMEONE IN THE HOUSE OMG!  That scenario never ceases to scare me.  So this movie, which happens in real time with no cuts to the next morning where you're safe (no, you're trapped in the DARK CREEPY NIGHT FOR THE WHOLE MOVIE) .  these movies get to me, is hat I'm saying.  So I wanted to see this movie, but friends of mine saw it and said it was less than stellar, so that kind of put a damper on my enthusiasm, so I waited awhile before I watched this one, but I'm really glad I did, because I LOVED it.

So the premise of this movie is that a young woman named Sarah is helping her uncle and her dad fix up their old abandoned house so they can sell it.  Once in the house, things begin to unravel and Sarah keeps hearing noises and getting scared.  To be honest, for awhile this premise was getting old, because I felt like she spent the entire movie running around the house with that look on her face that's in the poster, and nothing seemed to be happening, but once things start to happen, the movie goes pretty quickly and I felt dazed and confused and scared, really identifying with Sarah as she rushes around scared of her own shadow because she's not sure what's going on but she knows some evil is going to happen.

I totally understand why some people wouldn't like this movie.  Like I said, it spends an inordinate amount of time showing Elizabeth Olson running around looking scared, and while I LOVE the ending, I can see why it would annoy some people.  Mostly it's Elizabeth Olson who pulls it off for me.  I really like her as an actress, she manages to look distress without looking weak or helpless, which encites empathy from me instead of pity.  I wanted her to be ok.  Caring what happened to the character is what kept me engaged with this movie, and I liked it enough to buy it.