Scary Stories (from a Dark Allie)

I’ll admit, a movie has to be pretty bad for me to rate it lower than 3/5…and this one got pretty close. But as my dad once said (and I happen to agree), “I would watch Eliza Dushku brush her teeth for 45 minutes.” So Eliza Dushku, the extra one’s for you.

This was a movie with a reasonably interesting premise that just missed its mark.

I’m always in the mood for a good Nicolas Cage movie. Unfortunately, Pay the Ghost was not that movie.

I have told people on more than one occasion that this is my favorite horror movie, so I figured I’d watch it again to see if it holds up. About 15 minutes into this viewing, I remembered that I don’t say it’s my “favorite” movie, I say it’s the “scariest” movie. And that definitely still holds.

I’m a big fan of minimalism in horror movies. I think the scariest things are those that could actually happen, and the fewer special effects a movie uses, the more realistic it seems. This movie takes place in a single location and for most of the film stars just five young adults in an old house surrounded by webcams. And then the deaths start adding up.

I may be biased towards anything Wes Craven, but I liked this movie. It wasn’t quite as haunting as A Nightmare on Elm Street, but it was a relatively original story with a decent cast (Frank Grillo is always awesome…and Max Thieriot delivers the quiet creeper like no one else), and Wes Craven’s direction and use of background music elevate it above the typical teen slasher flick.

Sure, the pacing is weird (and changes halfway through) and the dialogue is only partly believable, but Wes Craven yet again delivers terror just under the surface – the idea that one of your friends could be a murderer unbeknownst to you? The idea that…you could be a murderer unbeknownst to you?

I had almost forgotten this remake existed and after watching it again, I wish I had. I know this was technically directed by Samuel Bayer (mostly known for directing music videos), but can we all just be honest and call this Michael Bay’s Nightmare on Elm Street? There were several points at which I thought to myself, “wow, this is Michael Bay as fuck,” which is fitting since that word was used way more in this than in the original. I’m not normally one to shy away from cursing (I love Seven, of course), but it seemed so…unnecessary in this.

Then again, much of the dialogue seemed unnecessary – this Freddy talks too damn much.

This was one of the first movies I remember truly scaring me. “Nightmare” is right – Freddy Krueger haunted my dreams for months every time I’d watch it. And I’d watch it often, because it was also one of the first movies that made me realize…I love being scared.

Wes Craven truly understood how to scare his audience. Every aspect of the movie works in concert to evoke the most fear possible… the background music is perfect (that nursery rhyme sticks in your head in just the worst way), the sound effects are chilling (those “finger-knives” scraping across metal get me every time), and the pacing keeps you at the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

This was another one that wasn’t a bad movie, but wasn’t a good movie either. It started off strong — Ashley Rickards can act, and it definitely had the creepy factor going for it (Michael Massee really helps set that scene…he is always creepy).

Unfortunately, about twenty minutes in the plot holes start to add up and are never quite filled. It’s like they were trying to do too many things in one film, and didn’t excel at any of them.

I have no strong feelings about this movie, in any direction. It wasn’t bad, but…it wasn’t great, either. There just wasn’t anything special about it.

I really wanted to like this movie. The actors are relatively well known and well respected, the concept and story seemed to be good, and the trailer was incredibly promising. Unfortunately…it was a really hard movie to watch, and it completely fell short of all my expectations.

The Babadook was all I heard about in horror movies for months last year, and worried it wouldn’t live up to its hype, I decided not to watch it until that hype had died down somewhat.

Well, I finally watched it! And I was pleasantly surprised to find that the movie started out strong and stayed strong throughout.

I liked this movie more than I should probably admit. I haven’t found too many Australian horror films that I can get into, but this one was engaging from the beginning and didn’t let up throughout. Sure, it’s your average “I’d like to play a game”-type slasher film, but it’s above average in two ways: the acting, and the music.

I thought I’d start my 366 days of horror with a movie about New Year’s Eve…and the dangers of social media.

Okay, so it’s mostly about the latter and only minimally about the former, but it’s great. Take several young, relatively unknown actors with a decent amount of talent and working chemistry, add in a virus that turns its infected into raving murderers and is spread by…well, I don’t want to spoil it for you.

There are some neat effects, particularly when you start seeing what the infected see, and a great scene with a string of Christmas lights.