1408

The premise for this movie, is that 'mythbuster' Mike Enslin goes around to haunted locations and proves they are frauds. That is, until he stays in 1408 and gets more supernatural than he bargained for.

My favorite type of horror movies are psychological thrillers. Don't get me wrong, I'll give any horror movie a watch, but I find psychological thrillers really make me think. And this is coming from a guy who isn't that deep. But movies, especially ones like this, are, at times, close enough to real life that you can make that connection, rather than being so far from real life you can tell yourself it isn't real.

Since I watched it the first time, I've put a lot of thought into how to escape this room. Like, a lot of thought, and I can safely say that Enslin explored pretty much all the avenues. Course, I had a long time to study and debate the options; he only had an hour. 

One of my favorite scenes from this movie was when he was in a post office, and the work crew started tearing down the walls and it was revealed Enslin hadn't escaped the room and he had still been there the whole time. Namely because, of all the weird stuff it showed, it was the most psychologically concerning for being relatable. I've had bad dreams, I'm sure unrelated to the many horror movies I've consumed, that I've woken up, gotten out of bed, only to later realize it was still a dream. So, I could totally relate to how he was feeling, almost.

I rewatched this movie recently, and the interesting fact about that was that I didn't know how it was going to end. I was aware it had multiple endings but didn't know if the first one I had seen was the alternate, or original. Later I discovered there were actually three endings. Alternate endings have always fascinated me. Especially when they show up on live TV, vs a youtube clip.

Overall, I loved this movie. As I stated in that last paragraph, I've watched it more than once. I highly recommend it. 

 

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.

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.

New Blog

My blog has always been about horror movies that I watch. Recently, I've been thinking about posting about a few movies that aren't horror movies. I've been wondering whether I should create an exception for those movies. Later I got to talking with my friend Adam a bit about blogging. He has a blog about food, but created a new blog to talk about restaurants. With that said,  I decided that I should start a new blog to talk about all the movies I want to talk about that aren't horror movies. My new blog will be here.

Rob Zombie and his movies part 1

I have seen a lot of Rob Zombie's movies. I believe the first movie of his I saw was Grindhouse. It was interesting, to say the least, as there were two movies, one right after the other, Planet Terror and Death Proof. I like the part that Kurt Russell played in Death Proof. He was main character so I think it really brought to the movie him being played well. I was just a little surprised at how long it took to show his character, it was about 14 or 15 minutes in. Of course, that was counting a few credits at the beginning of the movie, but , I thought it was going to show him first, rather than after a few other people. Still, I think his opening scene was good, and started off well. At about 45 minutes in, I like the way Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) watches the three girls red car drive off, than smirk before throwing his cigarette aside. All the deaths in the first part are well played. The second part, is.. unexpected, to say the least. The second part picks up about 12 or something months later. The movie brings in a few more girls who stop at a convenience store and catch Mike's eye. The girls drive off and end up borrowing someones car. One of the girls, Zoe Bell I think, gets on the hood of the car holding herself on with only leather belts, while her friend is driving the car at top speeds. Mike follows them. He hits them, attempting to get them in an accident. Both him and the girls end up off the road and Zoe get thrown off the car into some bushes. The first surprise, is how Zoe gets thrown, but a few minutes later turns up unharmed. The second surprise, is how Mike ends up getting beaten up at the end of the movie.

Kurt Russell centered.

 This other one, Planet Terror, as I mentioned earlier, was played at the same time as Death Proof. I noted how Rose McGowan was in both of the movies. Her part was some what larger in latter of the two, compared to the former movie. The most details I remember about the movie was the zombies, thousands of them, and someone had to kill his wife because she had been turned into one. Though, a few of the main characters, including McGowan end up surviving. At the end of the movie, I think that the zombies could and should have cause more damage and deaths than they did. Two other Rob Zombies that I liked, that I have previously done posts on was Halloween I and II. Next, there is House of 1000 Corpses, which is, of course, made by Rob Zombie. What was interesting about this movie, was that if you know who is who, and/or you read the credits, you'll know that Rob Zombie made an uncredited and his wife was one of the more main characters. I just think the whole movie was wonderfully put together. With the picking up a hitchhiker, and the whole legend idea, and the car breaking down (epic!) and the whole ex-husband bit. Lots of good deaths through out the entire movie. The last movie I want to mention is, 31 the Movie, which I'm still wait for it to come out. I want it to come out soon, but I've heard they can't make a movie that fast. As they only got the funding for it just over a month ago, it probably won't be finished at least until the end of 2015, if not somewhere in 2016 or early 2017.

My thoughts on the Saw Franchise.

    The Saw franchise had some of the best horror movies I have ever seen. The Franchise includes Saw I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII. It is something that I would love if they could carry it on for a 9th movie. I would hope that it would be in 3-D just like the last one. It was a rather successful franchise.
    Saw I was the original Saw, the beginning, and where it all started. Jigsaw, saw it all as a giant test. He was, of course, insane but it was his mind that gave the show its splendor. Also, right of the bat you don't know who the Jigsaw is, there is accusations and then you find out who really is the Jigsaw and culprit. The way his game is talked about at certain points, it makes it sound-like its unwinable, however, someone did make it out alive so it may be hard but it is not impossible and not completely unfair. Close to the beginning, when the two men (Adam and Dr. Gordon) are chained in the bathroom, no one understands what is going on. Then they hear what is going on and realize they are in real trouble. You want to hear what is a real nightmare, especially if you can't wake up, I'll tell you what, having a poison in you and an antidote for the poison in your body from a safe, and the combination is scrambled on the room's walls, while you only have  a candle for light while yourself being covered in a flammable substance and having to walk over broken glass. I told you that, that would be a real nightmare. Saw I was a good start to the franchise.
    Saw II was the sequel to Saw I. Saw II picks up very close to where the first one ends.  First thing it shows is a small game that someone can't bring himself to win and he loses and gets killed. After that Jigsaw is caught be the police but doesn't even lose his edge. On the screens in front of him there is another game in progress, this one involves 8 people. Daniel (Eric Matthew's son), Amanda (who was sentenced to prison after being framed by Daniel's father, Gus (a businessman), Obi (who had aided Jigsaw in kidnapping the other victims in the house), Jonas (who is implied that he had been part of a gang), Xavier Chavez (who is a sociopathic drug dealer), Laura (who becomes physically weaker as the game progress), and Addison (a prostitute). Everyone gets picked off, theoretically even Eric, and Amanda is revealed to have been on Jigsaws side the whole time as his protégé.
   Saw III is the third part to the Saw Franchise. At the start, it is revealed that Eric Matthews escaped, in a rather painfully manner, but escaped alive nevertheless. Some time passes after that is revealed, and then Jigsaw does someone called Jeff Denlon a "favor". He sets Jeff up with some people that are have let his sons killer get away and eventually the killer himself.. The first person is Danica Scott who refused to testify against his son's killer. When he goes through a door, he enters a meat freezer. Danica is being suspended in mid air by chains which are holding her hands together while being out stretched completely naked being sprayed at random intervals with freezing cold water. Danica and Jeff have a conversation and either Danica is very charismatic or Jeff is a really nice guy, because despite there past conflict he attempts to retrieve a key that would save her life. However, he takes to long and she freezes to death before he can save her. Next, he finds himself with a large vat with Judge Halden chained at the neck at the bottom in it. The vat starts to fill up with liquefied pig corpses, but Jeff (more reluctantly this time) attempts to and succeeds in saving the Judge. The pair (Jeff and Halden) come to a room where Jeff's son's killer  is chained up. The killer (Timothy Young) is immensely tortured and Jeff (being a nice guy) eventually is convinced by Halden to let Young go. Jeff does so but accidentally releases a trap that kills the Judge and the killer gets killed anyway. In the scene that follows it seems like everyone loses, almost... Lynn ( Jeff's wife) is in a room with a bedridden John Kramer (Jigsaw) and Amanda. After hearing John declared his love out loud to a hallucination, Amanda  leaves the room distressed. When she returns she shots Lynn in the back as Jeff comes in who retaliates by shooting her in the neck. With Amanda's last minutes of life, John reluctantly tells her that she had failed a final test. After she dies, John offers Jeff to call an ambulance  for Lynn in the form of a final test. He tells Jeff that he must choose between killing John and forgiving him. As Jeff says he forgives John, he slashes John's throat with a circular saw. The sickroom seals itself as John plays a tape recorder, which in turn, reveals that Jeff has failed the test by killing John, who was the only person to know Corbett's (Jeff's daughter) whereabouts. The tape ends as John dies, and the collar simultaneously activates and kills Lynn, leaving Jeff to despair, trapped in the locked sickroom.
    Saw IV is the part after Jigsaw (John Kramer) is killed. In this part, it is revealed that Jigsaw had another protégé (fellow apprentice of Amanda) who was also assisting him with the killings and tests. The movie starts off having a waxed covered tape removed from the dead body of Jigsaw.  The entire movie takes place on the tape. At the end of it, you see who the protégé is and then it ends.
   Saw V continues not long after Saw IV. Jigsaw is still dead and his attorney is administering his will. Traps are still flying everywhere, Hoffman is still out there and Jigsaw's ex-wife has received a box and a videotape, in which John stresses the importance of the box's contents. Hoffman gets promoted to detective lieutenant. Meanwhile, 5 people get trapped in a underground room and 3 out of 5 of them get killed. More finger pointing is made, this time at who is the accomplice. Although none realizes who the real accomplice is.
  Saw VI, I watched this one on October 23, 2009. In this movie, Hoffman escapes from his glass and the police get close to catching him. Erickson and Perez bring Hoffman to a site where a technician is unscrambling a voice. The technician succeeds and after Hoffman hears his own voice, he slashes Erickson's jugular vein and stabs Perez to death. Erickson is still alive as Hoffman pours gasoline over him and sets the lab on fire to destroy the evidence. However, the film ends with Jill Tuck attempting to kill Hoffman.
   Saw VII, also known as Saw 3D or Saw: The Final Chapter. This movie wraps up the entire franchise. Hoffman survies and Jill goes to turn him in. Hoffman infiltrates the police headquarters and kills everyone up between him and Jill. When he reaches her he knocks her out and puts the original Reverse Bear-trap to her head killing her graphically. Lawrence Gordon enters. and then it is revealed that Lawrence has been helping Jigsaw in secret. Lawrence was supposed to be watching over Jill. He brings Hoffman to the bathroom from the first film and shackles him by the ankle. He tosses the hacksaw he had sawed his own foot off with far from Hoffman's reach, and then seals the door to the bathroom, leaving an outraged Hoffman to die.

The wonderful remake of Halloween I and II

A poster from Halloween.

Another poster, only from II

Halloween I and II were two of the best remakes I have ever seen. They were both absolute masterpieces. After Halloween I, I was thinking "That was one of the best remakes ever, however it'll probably not get a sequel like other movies." Thankfully I was wrong and two years later the same producer made Halloween II. Personally, I think they would have come out nicely had they been in 3-D. With all the violence, murder, shooting ect how could it not? Coincidentally, the director's name fits right in with the movie he was producing. [(Being a horror movie (His name being Rob Zombie.)] Also, his wife (Sheri Moon Zombie) is in it, so it fits in well. Micheal Myers is threat that keeps coming back time after time after time again, that's something that I like about him. He has been hit with several shots multiple
times, burnt, electrocuted, and thought decapitated. Something I really appreciated about the remake of Halloween I is the extra background information it gives, compared to the original Halloween I which gave a minimal amount. At this point they probably (and I could be wrong again) won't remake Halloween III, IV, V, VI, VII, or VIII. It's a shame really, I can only imagine how good they would have come out. Though I suppose they weren't that bad, just could have been filmed better with better technology. I was very pleased when I read in the paper that Halloween I (remake) was doing well and was popular, and I was glad that the reviews agreed with my opinions on the movie. Two years later, I couldn't believe it when I heard that Halloween II (remake) was going so poorly in the polls.  Halloween I and II are both worth rewatching unlike certain other horror movies.

My personal review on Jennifer's Body.

This is the poster for the movie I'm giving a review on, Jennifer's Body. I went and saw (saw as in watched, not Saw the movie) this movie in 2009. On September 19 I believe. First off, something that caught my attention about this movie is that it takes place in a school and I'm in college, so yeah given similar places comparing the movie and me it caught my attention. I liked in the trailer how her friend tells her (astonishingly) "Your killing people!" and she replies "No. I'm killing boys." She claims to find such a difference and yet later goes to kill her friend (who is a girl).
Because it's a horror film, it only makes sense the way it ends, in two ways actually. Both of which were some of my favorite parts. One, the main character gets killed in the end which doesn't generally happen, even in horror movies. This gives me the feeling that when watching it you don't know who will survive instead of automatically knowing that the main character will some how survive like in other movies (like Prowl). Second, is how nearing the end of the movie the friend (Needy) escapes from the asylum and does her own share of slaughtering. It is, in fact, a movie I would recommend to other people who watch horror movies.