Drag Me to Hell

Some of this movie was a bit more subtle that I was used to, but it still had me on the edge of my seat wondering whether Christine Brown would be able to break the curse or not. As I've said before, anything is possible. She could manage to break it and get away at the last minute, or she could ultimately fail and be dragged to hell as the name implies.

Christine Brown

 It started in 1969, which didn't really surprise me since evils are usually ageless, so it's unsurprising when it shows up later. This was supported by the last thing that was said was 'We'll meet again' suggesting it would show an older version of the woman later. By the way, this was an older movie, being released in 2009, so I'm assuming that's the year it takes place and it's 40 years later.

 

Old Woman Ganush

At first I didn't quite understand how the Ganush being reject for a loan extension was Christine's fault, she was just the employee. It seemed her wanting a promotion helped her do what aligned with what the rules said she should do. But I guess the manager did put the option in her hands to give an extra extention... (She had had two already). Furthermore, it took several moments for me to figure out why Ganash said Christine shammed her, but since she had never begged before, she probably didn't want everyone in the building's attention on her which Christine caused when she called security because she wouldn't leave.

Afterwards, when they had an intense encounter in the parking garage, Ganush snatched one of Christine's buttons, cursed it, then returned it.

Side note, I knew Ganush was going to die, so I was surprised at first when her granddaughter directed Christine to where she could find her later on. However, the granddaughter directed her to a wake and it turned out Ganush had, in fact, died.

At one point when she was being tormented in her house, she suddenly heard someone enter the house and come up the stairs. I assumed it would've been the boyfriend, until it showed he was elsewhere. When she was held in midair by something invisible, my first thought was that she needed to call John Constantine. He was good at solving those kind of problems.

When Christine got the chance to gift the cursed button to someone, I considered if she gifted it back to the old woman, but that would've been problematic since she died. Who knew she would do it anyways?

Damn this girl got very dirty digging up a grave to regift the button to the dead woman. Gotta love a good cemetery in a movie, particularly when it involves digging up someone at night. The inanimate corpse did a good job fighting her which was creepy. I was very convinced that she had finally seen the last of the curse. The rain ended and the sun came out. Nothing else weird happened while she showered and went to meet her boyfriend at the trainstation at the end.

Too bad she got dragged to hell anyways right before she could be hit by a train. Even though I had considered it as a possability from the start, it was still a shocking ending as I thought it was over.

Overall, I'd give it a 4 out of 5. This movie had no boring moments, even in the beginning. There was pretty good plot, I just felt it was stretched a little to make her worthy of needing to be cursed. Definately a big believer in shocking endings. Finally, there was well placed and done horror in it. As much as I like horror, I also believe in a storyline. I don't want horror from start to end with no rhyme or reason. This movie did that very well.

Annihilation

 

I came across this movie because it had Natalie Portman in it. I've watched several movies with her in it and have always been impressed. Black Swan. Star Wars I, II, and III. Anyways, because I was familiar with her,  I figured I'd give this one a go. 

The first thing I want noted, was the chronology of the way it showed things. The story line was starting off fine, but it was doing a lot of bopping from past, present, and future. Or present, past, and further past, depending on how you look at it. I wish it had showed them interrogating Lena (Natalie Portman) all at one time either at the beginning or later on, rather than spread out like they did.

On the other hand, memory loss, like what they experienced upon entering the shimmer is always intriguing. Wondering what they've been up to. Wondering whether they were still acting like themselves during that time or not.

I've gotta say, there were definitely some disconcerting scenes, which I'm all for. It wouldn't be much of a horror movie if it was easy to watch. And the scenes where people were mutating in gross ways definitely classified.

When it showed the skeleton in the lighthouse, I wondered if Lena was thinking 'at least you died a human'. I assumed it was someone who died at the start of the event, until it showed the footage and revealed that her husband blew himself up with a flash grenade even though he had returned at the beginning of the movie.

I guessed that creepy faceless creature was going to morph to mimic Lena's appearance, though it took longer than I expected. Though I think looking like an actual person would've made the scene a bit less creepy.

 

Lena vs. the faceless creature

I think the ending was brilliant. How Lena asked the man who turned out not to be Lena's husband, if he was Kane, and he said 'I don't think so.' Then he asked her 'Are you Lena?' She didn't answer, but it showed her eyes change, suggesting she had changed while she was in there. It leaves you wondering whether or not the main character actually survived or not.

Overall, I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars. The jumping between time frames was the only thing I didn't care for, and even then it didn't get in the way of following the story line. But there was as great plot, great characters, and horror that required more skill than just putting a blender on someone's head and spewing blood everywhere.

You're Next

    First thing I've got to say, is that I love a movie that pulls you in very quickly. This was one of those movies. Only a few minutes in, and those ominous words, 'You're Next' sent a shiver down my spine. Great, great way to start a movie. Then it can go on to show some other stuff that introduces you to the characters, now that that thought has been put in your head.

     

    I was noticing how two of the characters actually owned the house, rather than simply staying in it, as is sometimes the case. Though, later I did note how they said he had recently gotten it.

    Something I didn't like, was how much arguing it seemed like they were doing at one point after the first murder. It seemed excessive to the point that the horrible situation they were in was just a background detail. To me it seemed like it diluted what was going on a little.

    Once it got going, and the bodies started dropping it was pretty good though. Most of them put aside their differences to focus on how screwed they were. At the time, I thought it was all of them, before I knew that it was a brother (and his girlfriend) who actually orchestrated the whole thing. 

    An observation I couldn't help but make, was how the assailants were wearing masks. Though, unlike in Happy Death Day, they were creepy animal masks, not a happy (but creepy) baby mask.

Erin (survivor girl)

    As the survivor girl started knocking attackers off, I was thinking about how this is a horror movie, she's doing great but she could still die at any moment. After she setup the trap with the ax above the front door, I was waiting for her boyfriend to walk into it, especially after it looked like the last of the bad guys had been killed. Though, considering his involvement, perhaps it actually wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world.

    In a way that reminded me of Cabin in the Woods, everyone died in the end since a cop saw her stab someone and mistook her for an attacker and shot her. Even the people attacking them and the cop it showed for 2 minutes got killed. Overall, it had a good start, it slowed down a bit, then it picked up again once the killing got going.

The Cabin in the Woods

 When the movie opened up, I was wondering how the first scene with the scientists had anything to do with the movie since it was going to have to do with college students, but I figured it would somehow lead into it. Recognized Amy Acker there as one of the scientists, though. It was a bit more evident how it was related when it showed them watching the rooms of the cabin through the cameras. That being said, first impressions of the students. 

From left to right. Curt, Holden, Jules, Marty, Dana

Curt, I expected to not go down without a fight. This was mainly because he was played by Chris Hemsworth who would later go on to be known for playing Thor. Jules was a pretty blond but seemed like the type who would probably be the first one dead. Marty was a bit high because of what he'd been smoking, so I imagined that he would last a surprising amount of time, if not survive the whole thing.

When it first showed the cabin, I was expecting the incident to look horrible and rundown, but it actually didn't look that bad. The one-way mirror in the bedroom that looked conspicuously like a regular mirror was cool, in a creepy stalker sort of way. The way the scientists were talking about Jules dyed blond hair made me think they had put something in the dye, though that was the case.

Kind of wish the lake scene had lasted longer. The women looked pretty good there, in their bikini's, take a look.

By the time they went down into the cellar, I was already anticipating it since the scientists had already mentioned it, though I had no idea what was down there. Though was a decent amount of creepy dolls. I was surprised that of all people it was Marty who was the one who was suggesting that they go back upstairs and not Dana who seemed to get the most easiestly scare of the five. Of course, once the Latin was read and the zombies were raised, then I knew the party was really about to get started. When Curt and Jules went outside shortly after that I could only imagine that one of them was about to buy it. In retrospect, at least some of my initial suspicions turned out to be correct. Jules was the first one dead. Additionally, Curt managed to survive his first zombie encounter, somehow. When he eventually did die, it was in a blaze of glory. One of the best parts about this movie, was when I thought the last student was going to get killed and I had no reason to think she would survive. That's what I love about horror movies, you never know who will and won't survive to the very very end. Emphasis on the very, since Dana survived only for her and Marty to get killed at literally the last second before the credits rolled. Every single charactor, good or bad, died in the end. Overall, it was just very suspenseful all throughout and well written and you had no idea whether the students or scientists were going to come out on top, when in reality they both lost.

Cabin in the Woods Trailer

Planning on watching this today, so I decided to post the trailer for it.

Happy Death Day

 

The murderer who is anonymous until the very, very end.

    

    This particular movie didn't host any actors or actresses that I was overall familiar with, but after I saw the trailer, I knew I had to see it. Though, I missed when it was in theaters and had to find it elsewhere. Eventually, I managed to find it on Amazon Prime and watched it with my friend Adam.

    First off, I want to say that there are some movies where you want to yell at the protagonist not to do anything stupid, we've all been there. In Happy Death Day, at the start, you can tell that our protagonist Theresa Gelbman, or Tree as she's referred to, is a bit self-centered, and honestly not the brightest. But in a movie like this, she can afford to be stupid up to and including getting herself killed. Eventually she does get smarter with enough deaths staying alive longer and longer in each encounter with her killer.

    Here's a picture of Tree now, with a guy she keeps waking up in the same room as.

    I think her final death was so surprising it was epic, before she finally confronts her killer and survives, breaking the time loop. I came across an alternate ending for the movie, and thought I'd share it here. It could've ended quite differently than the way it ended up going.

    One of the things I look for in a movie, that I found in this one, is its ability to creep you out after the movie is over. You walk into a dark room in your house and suddenly you wonder whether someone in a creepy baby mask is waiting to step out of your closet and stab you. That's something I look for in a horror movie, its ability to leave you on edge, even after you stop watching it.

    I think that's about it for now. Maybe at some point I'll watch and post about the sequel; Happy Death Day 2U.

Black Swan

Black Swan was a movie I saw in theaters, actually a couple of years ago, now. I was thinking about it, and decided to do a post on it now after watching Jupiter Ascending with Mila Kunis in it. I thought it was absolutely splendid. However, for anyone reading this that hasn't seen it yet I won't be too specific on any of the scenes. I always love scenes that turn out to be hallucinations later on, especially if no one knows that they are in fact hallucinations until a bit later in the movie as it did in this movie.

I like Mila Kunis, but despite that, I think Natelie Portman did a excellent job throughout the movie. Some of the movie seems to be what my friends Lisa and Chloe would watch, up until the part where the hallucinations and horror start. I thought the movie started off a little slow, but once it got started, it really got started. It was intense and I loved every minutes of it. Despite starting slow, I can see how the beginning was needed to set the stage for the rest of the movie and was in fact necessary for the rest of the movie.  I thought the good old fashion competion did wonders for the movie, especially how it twisted with a couple of other things. The fact that both Natalie Portman's charactor and Mila Kunis' charactor had a twisted sort of friendship; being friends and yet rivals for the same position with something else mixed in. As well as the fact that each of them had one role that they were better at than the other one. Though I think Natelie Portman's charater started taking her role as the black swan side very seriously and it started to consume her.