Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon

In the same vein as Scream and Cabin In The Woods, Behind The Mask does a great job of being a reasonably self aware horror flick.  The documentary aspect is a great twist to add to a story that could feel overdone if you aren't careful, and it helped elevate this movie to a great level.

I enjoyed the various moments the movie referenced other killers as well.  It was especially amusing considering the cameos from Kane Hodder and Robert Englund.

The end came as a surprise as well, it made the movie feel worth the watch.

The Texas chainsaw Massacre (1973)

I'm really glad I finally was able to see the OG Texas Chainsaw.  I saw the remake a couple years back and, while I was impressed with how grisly it was, I appreciate it so much more now that I've seen the original.

This movie is just disturbing.  From the stories you hear from the set to the film itself it's just a wild ride from beginning to end.  I didn't really know what to expect when I was getting into it, but I'm 100% happy I finally took the time to watch it.

Anybody who calls themselves a horror fan should watch this, it's possibly the pinnacle of horror at the time and it's aged very well.

House Of 1000 Corpses

As a fan of what Rob Zombie tries to do, I can understand that his movies tend to fall apart toward the end.

Everything about this movie made me think of Texas Chainsaw, which I suppose was the intention.  It made it a little weak in my opinion though, there was a lot of potential that, with this being Rob's first film, I feel missed the mark.

As with a lot of his media, Rob Zombie has a really uncomfortable sexual undertone to his movies.  I understand that's an element that horror tends to employ, but I feel Rob does it a little heavy handed.

And Doctor Satan?  Really?  Nice name dude.

Worth watching for the knowledge of having seen it, but I wouldn't see it twice.

Oceans 8

Oceans 8 is everything I wanted it to be.  I feel it emulated the 2001 Oceans 11 in a beautiful way, without feeling overly much like a knockoff reboot.  Don't get me wrong, there were reboot feeling moments, but all in all I found it to be a very enjoyable movie.

Nobody can argue that the trilogy was any kind of great cinematic masterpiece, but I personally feel that they're some of my favorite movies.  Because of this I was inclined to enjoy this more than I might have otherwise, but I still feel it held up.

The characters really felt like a natural fresh crew for the job, and I feel like everybody fell into their rolls smoothly.  I'm especially a fan of Cate Blanchett.  She filled the role of Brad Pitt's Rusty perfectly.

I'm excited to see what all comes from this.  Personally I'm hoping for a franchise reboot, but I suppose I'll have to wait and see.

Pirates Of The Caribean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

If you enjoyed the original Pirates trilogy, you'll probably like this one a lot.  It feels like the natural progression to the original tale, though there's very little that ties it to the fourth film.

This film still suffers from the issues that the fourth had as well by not keeping Jack Sparrow in check enough.  The reason the first film was so good was because the rest of the case was equally represented.

It's a fun movie to have on in the background though.  The high seas action is the same as you remember with overblown moments, just not as good as the original 3.

My Bloody Valentine (2009)

Can we talk about bad remakes real quick?  Because this was a really bad remake my dude.

I was really excited about this since I really loved the original.  It had a cool idea, a solid remote setting, and a scary antagonist concept.

Unfortunately, the remake didn't really hit any of those points like you'd want.  There were some really awkward callback moments that didn't fit the feel of the movie.  It was so close to being a good reboot, but it majorly missed the mark.

Hereditary

Good lord, what a movie.  I had no clue what I was getting into, so big props to everybody involved in this movie, it was amazing.  It was produced by the same studio who was involved with The Witch if that tells you anything.

The actors and actresses all played their rolls perfectly, making a film with minimal score have a tension throughout that could be cut with a knife.  Honestly, the movie was oppressively tense the entire time, I loved it.

The movie was so beautifully shot as well.  Transition shots from day to night, integration with the model house in the beginning, it was just so good.

Take the time out of your week to see this masterpiece of film.  The trailer called it The Exorcist of my generation, and I'm willing to give it that title.  It's a film that broke some rules, and wasn't afraid to get it's hands dirty, and it worked for it so well.

Obviously though, don't be ignorant, you kinds shouldn't watch this.  I was at a midnight showing and there were kinds under the age of 10 there.  You may know you kids, but don't take them to this.

Lords Of Salem

I really wanted to love this movie, but there's a couple things I just couldn't get past

The main story arc, what with the title cards announcing the day, really felt like The Shining.  The vibes I got from that were really solid, and it just built tension the whole time.  All in all I loved the beginning and middle.

The end was where it lost me though.  I know Rob isn't one to have happy endings in his movies, but the visuals of the end just weren't my cup of tea.  Far too many naked people for my blood.

Rob Zombie get's a bad rap about his movies, but I honestly don't think he's too bad.  Give him a chance, just not on this one.

Sequence Break

In a movie that's 80 minutes I shouldn't be waiting for something to happen at the 40 minute point, or the 56 minute point still trying to figure out what's happening.

The movie was an absolute chore to get through, I'm not sure what they were going for when they made it.  The "twist" was incredibly predictable, the plot was impossible to follow, and it wasn't interesting at all.

I understand that they were going for a much more specific feeling in this, but I don't feel they hit the mark.  Maybe I'm not the intended audience.

I recommend that you skip this one.

P2

A very well done horror film.  One thing I'm always appreciative of is when a movie can work with very few sets, and very few actors.

P2 works with the single setting of a parking garage and 2 characters.  There are a couple side people here and there, but for the most part you only have 1 terrifying stalker to keep track of.

The movie does an amazing job at highlighting someone who just doesn't understand what's going wrong with the situation.  He continually asks "Why are you doing this?" while his victim tries to escape, clearly not realizing he's in the wrong.

Wonderful time, I heavily recommend it.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

It's half space western and half heist, but I honestly had a blast with Solo.  I hadn't anticipated enjoying it, but the whole movie, though cheesy at times, was something I enjoyed greatly.

Donald Glover as Lando 100% stole the show during his scenes, as I expected.  The guy is hilarious, and the raw charisma the character extrudes feels real.

As far as Star Wars goes, this sits in a really weird spot for me.  It's a good film, but it doesn't feel like a "Star Wars movie" like the main story arc feels like.  Personally, I'm more than ok with that, but I understand why some people wouldn't like it.

There's a scene with a crime boss, and he has a set of Mandalorian armor set up with weapons like you'd see somebody do with samurai armor, and that made me pretty happy.

Less enjoyed by me is a scene in which the Falcon flies toward total blackness.  Thalassophobia is something that just horrifies me, and the scene in question was enough to trigger that a little.  Just as a heads up kind of thing.

Deadpool 2

I mean let's be real, you should know what you're getting into if you're watching DP2.  Seeing the first one is kinda must, as elements of some jokes might not make as much sense without the backstory.

That being said, the movie is incredibly standalone.  The story is rather self contained, and I feel like it might actually be leading up to something better that I had originally expected.  The minor issues I had with the first one really weren't a factor in this movie, it feels like they already found what direction to push and just how much to do it.

I was also a huge fan of the opening credits, which mimicked the James Bond style wonderfully.

I think you could honestly say this movie, outside of language, was less inappropriate than the original as well.  Worth catching if you're a fan of Superhero movies but just don't feel like watching another Avengers movie right now.

Deadpool

In honor of the new Deadpool movie being out, I'll share my original take on Deadpool from my old personal notes.

It's round about what I expected it to be.  Not being super familiar with DP as a character I didn't realize exactly what I was getting into, but it was a blast.

The sex through the holidays was kinda funny (mostly Lent), but all in all I kinda felt like a good number of jokes in that regard went a little too long or far.  I get pushing the envelope is kinda DP's thing, but still.

The story isn't as memorable as I'd like, there's a lot of scenes that don't stand out and sit in my mind as I'd prefer to have.  There's some good stuff still though, solid 8/10 I'd say.

The Cottage

There's some times that I really enjoy horror with a comedy undertone (Dead Shack, Cabin In The Woods), but then there's times I don't like it as much.  This would be one of those examples.

There were moments where I thought this would be a serious movie, but after the first 8 minutes I kinda killed that vibe.

The movie works, but you need to walk into it knowing it's a joke film.

You're Next

This movie is everything I want out of a home invasion movie.  It has violence, a lot of victims, and an actually competent cast of characters.  Well, one of them is at least.

You get believable weird family dynamics too.  From the brothers Crispian and Drake arguing about who's the better man to the  daughter Aimee saying "You never give me credit for anything (spoiler)", you get the idea that none of these people  really care about each other.

There's a couple good jumps to the movie, but more importantly the death moments are very intense.  The whole thing brings a light in the dark feeling with how one of the characters really helps rally the family and get to that happy ending we all know comes from every horror movie.

No joke though, it's a pretty brutal movie, don't watch if you aren't ready for some blood.

Bedeviled

Let's get this out of the way right now, this is an awful movie.  The whole thing is basically a really bad interpretation of Nightmare on Elm Street, and it's really not worth your time to watch, like, at all.

However, it is pretty fun to watch when you have a good commentary track to run parallel to it!  A horror based YouTuber called Dead Meat did a commentary to listen to while watching this burning trash heap of a movie.  It 100% makes it better, honestly.  Bearable at least

Please don't waste your time watching this seriously though.  It's a good movie to riff on, but that's literally all.

10 Cloverfield Lane

It took me long enough, buy I finally watched 10 Cloverfield Lane.

I'm so happy with how this movie progressed.  They didn't answer every question that they could have, and I think that lent itself to the story.

The whole thing highlights the dread of what if the world ends and you have no idea who you're trapped with.  The whole thing is an exercise of suspense that John Goodman pulls off beautifully.  I had no idea what all my expectations were based off of, but it lived up to almost all of them.

It even ended well, so there's that.

Infinity War

#ThanosDemandsYourSilence

I want to talk about this movie, because it's one of the best things I've seen this year, and I'm absolutely in love with Black Panther, so that's saying something in and of itself.

To avoid spoilers, I'll give background instead.

Over the last few years, I've been incredibly unimpressed with the state of Marvel.  Thor 2 was a joke, Winter Soldier was average, and let's not talk about Iron Man 2 or 3.

Ragnarok, Homecoming, Ant Man, Black Panther, and Civil War (which was basically Avengers 2.5) were the only good ones coming out, and I wasn't even a huge fan of Civil War.

That's changed up with Infinity War part 1 though.  It was just so good, and they didn't back down from doing what they needed to.  It's the strongest turn Marvel has taken yet, and I can's recomend it enough.

Creep

This movie was horrifically tense.  I loved the pacing of the whole movie, and it was one of the few movies to give me a genuine sense of unease the entire time.

I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll hit minimal points.

The whole thing is shot in the found footage format.  Usually, I don't like that, but this one really worked well.

Secondly, you never know throughout the movie exactly how it'll end.  That made it really great in my opinion.

The only bad part is that it relied a little heavily on jumpscares for it's scare moments.

Casino

I don't know why I never got into Martin Scorsese movies more, cause he makes all the stuff I want in a non horror movie.  That stuff being gang violence and crime.

I finally watched Goodfellas awhile ago and it turned me toward his work.  I can't explain how much I enjoy Casino in a short post though, so I'll leave you with a quick thought.

If you like movies about the American Mob, Vegas, and Joe Pesci being an absolute psychopath, this is the movie for you.  The 3 hour run time may be a little daunting, but it's well worth watching.