Suspect's October Horror Movie Thread

28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

10-01-15

Every October I watch a horror film a day, this year is no different and this is the thread to document everything.

HOPEFULLY *fingers crossed*, I will get the wife included this year and it will be great!!!! She is terrified of scary movies!!!

Day 1: Frailty

Day 2: The Babadook

Day 3: Dead-Alive

Day 4: Poltergeist

Day 5: Pontypool

Day 6: Stage Fright

Day 7: Psycho

Day 8 Deliver Us From Evil

Day 9: Absentia

Day 10: Jessabelle

Day 11: Blood Punch

Day 12: Horns

Day 13: It Follows

Day 14: The Hills Have Eyes

Day 15: Cursed

Day 16: Oculus

Day 17: Ouija

Day 18: Joy Ride 3

Day 19: The Skin I Live In

Day 20: Anaconda

Day 21: The Box

Day 22: Muck

Day 23: Insidious

Day 24: Insidious Chapter 2

Day 25: Sorority Row

Day 26: The Visit

Day 27: Knock Knock

Day 28: The Final Girls

Day 29: The Green Inferno

Day 30: Basket Case

Day 31: Misery
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Suspect's Reviews

Last edited by TheUsualSuspect; 09-11-18 at 01:30 PM.

the samoan lawyer

Unregistered User

10-01-15

Nice one TUS, looking forward to this thread. I can't get my wife to watch horror it all, although it does mean that when i do get to watch it its late at night and everyone's asleep.

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honeykid

MoFo Whisperer

10-01-15

I was thinking of doing this.... Then I remembered who I was and knew there was no chance of it happening.

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TheUsualSuspect

28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

10-01-15

October 1st

Frailty

Directed By: Bill Paxton

A pastor wakes his two sons up in the middle of the night to tell them he had a vision from God. He tells them that God has chosen him to rid this world of demons. His youngest son believes he is doing good, while his oldest thinks his dad is simply crazy. What is the truth?

The story is mostly told through flashbacks from Matthew McConaughey, who plays an older version of one of the brothers. The killing spree his father went on was unsolved and McConaughey claims to have information about the murders. Paxton plays double duty here as the director and the father on a mission from God. Here he manages to create an atmospheric tale of one family torn apart by these horrific acts. Paxton balances the line of "is he crazy or is this real?" tightly until the ultimate reveal. He crafts a superb story that takes multiple turns to keep the viewer, not only guessing, but engaged.

This is my second viewing of the film and I'm surprised to say that I honestly couldn't remember how the film ended. Was he really doing God's work, was he just a loony that needed to be stopped? I knew McConaughey's role in the story, but there are numerous reveals that one or two of them got lost in the bunch.

The film is a severely underrated low-key horror thriller. After showing so much promise with Frailty, Paxton went on to direct The Greatest Game Ever Played, which was a decent golf flick that no one saw. With two good movies under his belt, I'm surprised the man hasn't tried his hand at yet another film.

Derek Vinyard

Msg

Fly Eagles Fly

10-01-15

I love that flick! Nice one US

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honeykid

MoFo Whisperer

10-02-15

As someone who's never liked Bill Paxton (despite my love for Near Dark) I thought this was fantastic and instantly wished that he stopped acting immediately and started directing full time. I've not seen this in ages, but as you said, he builds such a atmospheric film that for someone like me who adores a film which builds an atmosphere (especially a horror film) I'm still always pleased to see this mentioned and well received.

TheUsualSuspect

28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

10-02-15

Never liked Bill Paxton?!?!?!?! Whaaaaaaa????

honeykid

MoFo Whisperer

10-02-15

If it wasn't for a few other things (such as that ****ing kid) he'd be the worse thing about Aliens. And that's saying something.

I don't like Bill Pullman, either. I always link them because they both annoy me and their names are similar.

TheUsualSuspect

28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

10-04-15

October 2nd

The Babadook

Directed By: Jennifer Kent

Here is a film that has received a lot of positive buzz this past year. Receiving especially high acclaim from The Exorcist directed himself William Friedkin. So, being the horror nut that I am, I knew I had to give it a chance. I'm glad I did.

A depressed and troubled widow, Amelia, has raised her six-year-old son Samuel alone. It's extremely difficult for her because the kid is beyond troublesome. Constantly yelling, threats of violence and an obsession with weapons has driven her to her boiling point. One day a children's book appears on his bookshelf. She reads it to him...big mistake. The grotesque pop-up book details murder and mayhem for the young child at the hands of The Babadook. Throwing the book away doesn't help, because he has already been unleashed.

The first thing I noticed, besides how annoying this kid was, was the art direction of the house. How incredibly blue and grey everything was. It was striking how drab the interior was and how it matched her depression. Kent, the director, has cited Polanski and Lynch as influences. This film feels like an odd mix between Eraserhead and Rosemary's Baby. So those inspirations shine through here and it makes for a well done horror film.

Very few horror film rely on real genuine scares, they instead opt for the cheap jump scares that heavily rely on sound rather than sight. The Babadook doesn't really go that route. Thank heavens. It slowly builds the tension and releases the horror at the right moments. We see glimpses of 'him', like Bruce in Jaws, which amps up the fear.

I can understand people being put off of the film due to the kid. He does ruin the picture at times. I get that he is suppose to annoy, irritate and make the viewer want to inflict pain onto the poor lad, much like the mother feels, but there is a breaking point. He does a good enough job, but I totally understand where people are coming from in their dislike for the film because of his performance. The mother does a good job here as well. We feel tired like here throughout the beginning of the picture. Kent manages to switch the fear here. We fear for the mother, then we fear for the kid. It was an interesting move between characters.

With real scares, The Babadook is this years The Conjuring. Enjoy yourself....ba...ba.....DOOOOOOOK.

False Writer

NJPW: King of Sports

10-04-15

Interesting thread! Good reviews on Frailty and Babadook, I enjoyed them both as well. I also agree that Frailty is underrated.

Will be following throughout the month.

TheUsualSuspect

28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

10-04-15

October 3rd

Dead-Alive

Directed By: Peter Jackson

My original review of DEAD ALIVE.

Not much has changed since then. I still love this film to death, no pun intended. I made the mistake of giving the wife the option of which movie to watch. She picked this one because the cover looked "goofy". I asked, "Are you sure? It does say The Goriest Film of All-Time on the cover."

Yeah, pop it in.

So I did, she was disgusted. Which confuses me because she likes The Evil Dead films, it has the same tongue in cheek humour and gross out horror. Nope, she was not a fan. "You WOULD own this movie." She said to me. Yup, and a whole helluva lot of other people do too. This is Peter Jackson, he did Lord of the Rings for crying out loud!!!

I know who Peter Jackson is, I still don't care...

Oh well, you can't win them all.

Dead-Alive is pure cheese on top of the gross corpse. It has blood, guts, laughs, kung-fu, nazis, rat-monkeys, blood, guts, love, baby-zombies, zombie-sex, blood, guts....did I say blood and guts?

This film is fun, pure and simple. It holds up in my mind, years later. Probably my favourite Peter Jackson film outside of his LOTR films. I still love the poster, I think it's one of the best horror posters around. Great comedic bits of dialogue - "That's my mother you're pissin' on" or "I kick ass for the lord!".

Horror fans know about this film, I don't think you can call yourself a fan without seeing it. So if you haven't seen it. Get out there and watch it already!!!.

Iroquois

Welcome to the human race...

10-05-15

Good picks, Suspect. Trying to process how someone can like Evil Dead yet not like Braindead on the basis of its comically disgusting gore.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

TheUsualSuspect

28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

10-05-15

You and me both....

cricket

Registered User

10-06-15

I liked The Babadook and Fraility, although my feeling is that somehow the latter has gone from underrated to overrated.

Hated Braindead, too over the top for me, yet I used to love Bad Taste .

Derek Vinyard

Msg

Fly Eagles Fly

10-06-15

Originally Posted by cricket

I liked The Babadook and Fraility, although my feeling is that somehow the latter has gone from underrated to overrated.

Hated Braindead, too over the top for me, yet I used to love Bad Taste .

same as me Crick ! Right on

TheUsualSuspect

28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

10-07-15

Boo-urns. The over the top nature is what makes it a classic.

TheUsualSuspect

28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

10-08-15

October 4th

Poltergeist

Directed By: Gil Kenan

No no no, this is not the Tobe Hooper classic from the 80's. This is the horror remake cash grab of the last decade genre. I'm not going to compare this film to the original. I feel like that would be a bit unfair. Instead, I'll simply judge it on its own merits. But first...why did I bother to watch this film?

Well mofo, it's because the house they filmed at was literally down the street from my high school. I've driven past that house many-a-times. In the IMDB trivia section, you'll notice the director claims that the house is actually haunted. Nope, pure marketing that has obviously failed. There is simply not a single bit of haunt to be found in the home. I smirked every time they showed the exterior or the streets. American flags? White picket fences? Mailboxes for each individual house at the end of their driveway? These things do not exist in this suburb. This is Hollywood magic people....oh yeah, Rockwell was really cool off-set too, also kind of short. I digress.

I would love to continue to talk about the shooting of the film (how one guy was probably paid an obscene amount of money to be the 'garbage wrangler'), because that would be more interesting than what the Hollywood-ized Horror System has given us. Poltergeist is a shallow remake with; no scares, tension, surprises or people that seem to give a damn. Rockwell in my opinion looks like he is literally sleepwalking through the role. The amount of "this is for a paycheque" written on his face is undeniable. Rosemarie Dewitt, who plays his wife, does seem like she cares though. She agreed to do this film because her husband was in The Conjuring and she witnessed first hand the type of fear it struck in the audience. She wanted to be apart of that experience....unfortunately she decided to star in Poltergeist.

The film simply feels unnecessary. It brings absolutely nothing new to the table. Why am I paying to see this film? If I'm not paying, why am I dedicating two hours of my life to watching this? There is no answer because Kenan doesn't deliver anything of note here. We have a by the numbers PG-13 Horror flick shot in 3D. Yes, expect to see some "coming at the screen" moments, which make me cringe in embarrassment and a little bit of disappointment, considering Kenan also had a hand in the animated haunted house flick, Monster House.

TheUsualSuspect

28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

10-10-15

October 5th

Pontypool

Directed By: Bruce McDonald

Here is a low budget Canadian horror flick that puts a unique spin on the zombie genre.

A radio host has to deal with a number of strange and unusual calls. They receive a report from their helicopter reporter of chaos in the streets. A broadcast informs people to stay indoors, don't speak to anyone and don't let anyone in their homes. A virus is spreading, but how...

Pontypool has the hard task of keeping you terrified through sound alone. We don't really get a chance to see too much of the terror, we only get to hear about it. That works to McDonald's benefit here. He lets our imaginations run wild. What waits for us outside those doors?

Very reminiscent of Welles' The War of the Worlds, which terrified people into thinking that the world was actually under attack. If I heard this film on my local radio station, I might very well believe the same thing.

With so many films that feature sprinting zombies and walking dead style zombies, it's fresh and exciting to see a different take on the genre. I won't dare spoil anything here, just know you'll probably love it or hate it.

Pontypoolhas just the right amount of creepy underlying the film's runtime and McHattie does a superb job for a film that sinks or sails on his shoulders. Plus, it takes in Ontario, my own Province, so I have to give it props for that.

TheUsualSuspect

28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

10-10-15

October 6th

Stage Fright

Directed By: Jerome Sable

There haven't been many horror/musical mash-ups in the film world. So when I saw Stage Fright available to watch, I thought I'd give it a shot. Much to my surprise, this was a well shot film. It walks a fine line of self parody with the musical numbers, but the horror elements all feel straight laced. The final result is an odd mix that I feel that I wanted to like a lot more than I eventually did.

Broadway star Kylie Swanson opened the musical The Haunting of the Opera, an obvious spin on Phantom of the Opera. That same night she was murdered, the killer never found. Ten years later, her two kids help her old manager run an theatre camp for kids. The manager decides to bring back The Haunting of the Opera in an effort to be back on top. Once the rehearsals start, so do the killings.

That Broadway star is played by Minnie Driver and her scene is in the opening of this film, that's all. The manager is played by Meat Loaf, his voice isn't the same as if Rocky Horror Picture Show days. The rest of the cast is made up by no name Canadian stars. Yes, this is another Canadian film.

The deaths are somewhat creative. The killer seems to like ROCK and ROLL and absolutely HATE theatre musicals. There are a few scenes where they have fun with some red herrings, but not enough in my opinion. If you don't know who the killer is before the reveal, then you don't watch many films.

The laughs are few and far between, as are the deaths. It honestly felt like they gave up on the musicals numbers for 2/3's of the film. This attempt at this mash-up tells me one thing. It's not ready yet.

honeykid