Last Seen Contemporary Movie

[Amalthea_unicorn]

[ImmortalSlasher]

My reviews that I never posted because the forum went down before I got the chance last time.

*Reviewed in the order I watched them.

The Conjuring -

I'm late to this one but I was surprised by The Conjuring. I think it's one of the most well made modern horror movies I've seen. For those who haven't seen it, I'll try not to spoil it as from the title alone, I didn't know what kind of horror movie it was going to be. I only vaguely heard of the spinoff called Annabelle and thought that The Conjuring would involve her.

The movie breaks almost every single stupid thing that happens in horror movies rule which I thought was cool. Right at the beginning a character states "you did what?" in almost shock at the stupidity of another character. Also, we also get reasons for why characters are doing stuff that would seem dumb in lesser movies. The only thing I wasn't fond of was a trope that happens in animated movies with a certain character. That was the one thing that could have been left out or rewritten somehow. But this is a really good horror movie. I like the hero couple as well.

The Cabining -

I watched this because it was about a couple guys writing a horror movie and I'm still sitting on a few horror movie projects myself. Plus the trailer was ok. I thought it might be worth watching after noticing a few cute actresses too. But it really felt amateurish with High School or College type acting at times and almost home movie framing. There were few good shots in the movie. I thought only the actress who played a foreign type was good. Apparently she even did the vocals for the credits song. I usually like stuff like that when a performer does more than just act in a movie. But other than that, you won't miss anything by passing on this movie.

It Follows -

For It Follows I had my few drinks before watching and was paranoid as hell during and after the movie. This is the real deal. It shows what a piece of crap something like The Cabining is. It Follows is worth the hype. It's very close to the original Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and the feel of Friday the 13th movies. The director is a guy who obviously loves those classic horror movies and made his own version instead of going the bad remake route.

It Follows made me debate if I even want to make that ultimate Friday the 13th project that I've been working on. I did have some issues with the movie but then I thought about it some more and realized something.

SPOILER TEXT!!!

At first I was a bit disappointed in the ending. The final result at the swimming pool and lack of reveal of the creature. I saved some article links before seeing the movie, one in particular from Tarantino as I was curious what he thought. But then I think I concluded something that I haven't seen posted around the Internet. At least not yet. Even though the movie is almost the ultimate slasher in that if you have sex you will die. The creature itself isn't in the mold of a Jason, Myers, or Freddy but is more like The Thing. What we see in the swimming pool is the real form of the creature.


It's too bad this movie didn't make more money. It deserved to be promoted far more than all the recent horror remakes. But this is a classic horror movie not to be missed.

Girl House -

This movie is a mess. I thought going from the trailer which I watched some time ago that it would be good. But it pretty much gives a reason to hate the shallow, show off, manipulative girls right from the beginning. The movie almost shows a hatred of them with the vicious death scenes. Especially the origin kill and one with a sex object. They just took the whole girls stripping on the Internet for money, added a killer complete with origin story, fairly good cinematography, pretty girls, and threw together a movie. I really didn't care for it at all.

Why Horror -

This is a horror documentary. There are a few of these on Starz. Just an interesting talk about horror movies and why people watch them. It won't do horror fans any harm to check this one out.

The Conjuring 2 -

This is a good sequel. I like that if you are paying attention there is stuff going on the in the background. However the basement of one house seemed like too much of a horror set. I can't imagine someone's basement really looking like that. I would think a city or town would condemn the house if that was beneath it. But other than that the couple from the original are the stars again. They are just a cool horror team and you care about them and their investigations.

The Darkness -

I thought this was going to be good. It has Radha Mitchell from Silent Hill and in many ways it seemed like she was playing a similar character. Also Kevin Bacon so I figured it couldn't be that bad. And it does start off ok when they are in the mountains. But then it just starts to feel generic and thrown together as a quick buck type horror movie.

Within -

Another waste of time "horror" movie apparently ripped from the headlines. It's not really believable as without spoiling it, the monster in this movie comes off like one of the more popular X-Files monsters. And the twist is so obvious you can't really call it a twist. In many ways, this could be similar to the remake of When a Stranger Calls as the movie basically focuses on the daughter character. But there isn't anything interesting about the sets or character to make this a passable horror movie. And I hated the ending.

Bait -

I was waiting to watch this in 3D but as there was nothing else on I just watched it normally. I guess there is nothing really special about this movie though except the 3D gimmick with the shark. Another ripped from the headlines horror movie with the focus on people trapped in a supermarket while a shark swims around due to something that happens with the environment.

Hellraiser: Revelations -

Easily the worst in the series. And the guy who wrote this is writing and directing the next one. Which is a really bad sign. The whole thing feels direct to video and low budget. I believe I read here that the studio makes these quick sometimes to keep the rights. And this one is obvious. Also Pinhead is played by a different actor in this one. One thing you can say about the other bad Hellraiser movies is that at least Pinhead is consistent.

Purge Election Day -

I'm part of the problem watching these Purge movies. I guess the first one had a good story pitch to get made. But it didn't go into discussion on the real effects of the Purge. And it's been like that ever since. Some commentary at the opening then violence. At least this should be the last one.

Originally Posted by The_Return

Back to back: Logan (2017) & Ghost in the Shell (2017)

Logan was fantastic. One of the best comic based films out there, and easily the high point of the franchise.

Ghost in the Shell was a goddamn mess. A pretty looking mess, but still a mess. Soulless, dumb regressive bullshit.

Side note - has anyone tried this newfangled "4DX" nonsense some theatres are offering now? It's like a theme park ride: the seats move, there's huge fans, they spray you with water, pump scents into the theatre - on top of your standard 3-D, of course. Like William Castle gone corporate. Ghost in the Shell was my first time trying it out, and probably my last. Super distracting and unnecessary. There's a fight scene in a reservoir kind of thing which was really cool with the spray, but otherwise it just seemed arbitrary.

Used in moderation, or as part of a schlocky 50's revival deal I could theoretically see it being a cool gimmick, but so far I've just got a headache.

I think if they made a movie specifically for 4DX then it could be ok like a theme park ride. To help you believe you are in the moment with the characters. I remember the Terminator 3D movie ride was like that in the early days. This was some 20 years ago I think? But for the average movie it will be a gimmick. People were telling me that Ghost in the Shell was bad. Anime geeks and Scarlett fanboys were trying to promote it. But nothing could save that disaster except starting over from the beginning.

[SerialKiller]

The Conjuring 1 & 2. Very impressed.

The Good Son- 1993. Depressing.

[NightOfTheLiving_Sam]

We Are Still Here and Beyond The Gates: I'm hoping to find more movies like them.

[Tommy Jarvis]

Get Out: Good film somewhere on the edge between horror and thriller with a vibe reminiscent of The Stepford Wives.

[Amalthea_unicorn]

[The Villain]

Originally Posted by NightOfTheLiving_Sam

We Are Still Here and Beyond The Gates: I'm hoping to find more movies like them.

Enjoyed Beyond the Gates. It was a cool throwback.

Didn't like We are Still Here though. Found it kind of boring.

[Amalthea_unicorn]

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[horcrux2007]

Wow I didn't think I'd be back here. I'll post some thoughts on movies I've seen recently later.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by horcrux2007

Wow I didn't think I'd be back here. I'll post some thoughts on movies I've seen recently later.

What's the best film you've seen (for the first time) in the last 3 or so months? Doesn't have to be a 2017 film.