Scary Stories (from a Dark Allie)

So I suppose this is the Fast and the Furious of the Final Destination franchise. Or, I’m sorry, it’s probably The Fast and the Furious since it’s The Final Destination.

What does that mean anyway? That they thought it really would be the last in the franchise but then decided they couldn’t resist making just one more?

Anyhow, I will say one thing for this franchise – it knows how to entertain. And it has Tony Todd. So I guess that’s two things.

So we’re getting to the point in the franchise where I start to wonder…is there a point to the franchise? There’s nothing new here.

While it’s vaguely reminiscent of the Saw franchise in that the appeal is largely in the intricate death scenes, this franchise seems to be marketed towards a completely different target audience.

The Saw franchise is torture porn, through and through, but somehow the Final Destination franchise feels more about survival than torture. The stars of these films are the ones trying to make it out – see the other side of “death’s design” as they call it.

I’m a bit sick this weekend and looking at computer screens isn’t helping so I’ll be brief.

This is a decent sequel, though it feels a bit more dated – it’s like they try to use technology to seem hip (like…Mapquest) but it’s not working so well over a decade later.

Was it a necessary sequel? Not really, but few are. Still, this one was reasonably well acted and reasonably entertaining.

I don’t have much to say about this one but it definitely takes me back. I remember when this came out! I don’t think I saw it in theaters, but I know I liked it because I had a huge crush on Devon Sawa (I mean, so did most of the other girls in school at the time).

Anyway, it’s well paced, interesting, and well acted (y’know, for a bunch of post-teenagers trying to play high schoolers). It was really scary the first time I saw it (I mean, Tony Todd is in it!) but less so the second, third, or fifteenth time. I’d still recommend it pretty broadly if you’re into scary movies – it holds up pretty well 16 years later!

I’m feeling less sleepy tonight (I caught up on sleep last night!) but I have very little to say about this one.

I’m a bit tired tonight, but I liked this movie. The acting was good (I love Robert Englund), the story was interesting and original, and the twist was done well.

It’s definitely disturbing but it’s also scary as hell so I’d recommend it if you’re into that kind of thing.

Ah, Desmond Harrington. I like him. This certainly doesn’t depict his best side (well, not for most of the film anyway), but he’s good in it just the same. Add in Thora Birch with a weird British accent and Keira Knightley to round out a beautiful cast (oh wait, and Embeth Davidtz!) and, well, you’ve got yourself The Hole.

I’m not sure where I heard about this movie originally, but IMDb had it listed under the Horror and Thriller genres and the cast looked interesting so I figured I’d give it a try. I almost regret it. Not quite, but almost.

This movie is definitely weird, but not the kind of weird that I usually like. It’s hard to even tell it’s a horror movie until the last twenty minutes or so, and it definitely doesn’t feel like a thriller at any point.

I don’t know if I’ve said this yet, but I really like Peter Stormare. He’s not the star of this film, but he’s definitely the best part.

I don’t have too much else to say about this one. It’s reasonably well paced, though it is one of those slow-feeling stories throughout. It doesn’t drag on, at least.

It’s pretty creepy when it gets going and it’s not as predictable as I expected it would be.

I don’t have too much to say about this one, but I did like it. I mean, it is about family and love and loss, after all.

This one is weird. And I know, I know, I like weird – and I do like this movie – but it’s still weird. And it takes on a subject that’s really easy to do poorly and offensively.

I was disappointed with this one. I blame myself on that front, because I went into this with my expectations way too high.

I never saw this until tonight. I remember really really wanting to see it when it came out just over twenty years ago but for one reason or another it never happened. So I was excited about getting to watch it for this blog, and even more excited when I realized it would fit into a Throwback Thursday review quite nicely (after July 18, of course).

I’m surprised I only just learned this existed. It’s got a pretty high-profile cast (Radha Mitchell and Kevin Bacon are the stars, but Paul Reiser and Ming Na-Wen make cameos as well!) and apparently a decent production crew.