MelvinJ0's Horror Movie Reviews

I know what you mean, there's so much cheap horror out there, especially with all the direct to video or cable releases.

Murder Party (2007)




Jeremy Saulnier is one of my favorite directors right now, his two most recent films (Green Room & Blue Ruin) are two of the best movies I have seen in the last five years or so. I originally saw Murder Party years ago when it first came out but I was too young to fully appreciate it and didn't really have too many memories of it, once I realized that Murder Party was in fact Saulnier's directorial debut I knew I had to go back and check it out again.

The film centers around a lonely young man (Chris Hawley) who lives alone and has no real plans for Halloween other than sitting at home with his cat watching horror movies. On his way home from the video store he stumbles upon an invitation to a "Murder Party", Chris assumes that this is just an invitation to a normal Halloween party and decides to put on a homemade Halloween costume & attend the party. Upon arriving Chris quickly realizes that the party is anything but normal, instead it is actually a project set up by an art collective made up of some very pretentious artists. Their plan is to murder Chris simply for the sake of art, and everything just spirals from there.

I love the plot of this movie and the overall comedic tone of it as well, the film never takes it's self too seriously and they do an excellent job of mocking the art scene. I was very pleased with the way the characters were all written, I loved how calm and casual they all were through all the insane events that transpired throughout the film.The acting was all top notch for a low budget flick, especially Macon Blaire's performance (who has been featured in all of Saulnier's films so far). It's very rare that horror comedies are able to be genuinely funny but "Murder Party" really succeeds in that sense, it never felt like the comedy was forced or anything which made the jokes really land for me. One of the things I really like about Jeremy Saulnier's films is how brutal and violent they are, and "Murder Party" definitely doe not disappoint there. There is a massive amount of gore and brutal murders (hence the name), even during these scenes though the film still manages to be hilarious and make you grin.

"Murder Party" really delivers on multiple fronts, it's violent, hilarious, bizarre, and at times super witty. If you want to laugh and you are not afraid of a little blood then I highly suggest checking this out, it's a blast.

Great posters, even if the films are duds.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Friend Request (2016)



"Friend Request" follows a college student named Laura (Alycia Debnam Carey) who receives a friend request on Facebook from a lonely girl named Marina (Liesl Ahlers) who has 0 friends. Laura accepts the friend request out of pity but quickly regrets it as Marina becomes obsessed with Laura in a very short amount of time. Once Marina's overwhelming advances of friendship are rejected by Laura, she decides to take her own life, film it, and put it on the internet. After Marina's death Laura begins to lose control of her life and her facebook account due to further harassment from Marina's ghost.

I felt like the plot was an ok lead in to a very familiar concept, college kids getting picked off one by one while one person tries to figure things out and find a way to stop the person or thing that is terrorizing them. After the initial set up this movie really starts to look a lot like a number of previous modern day horror films, it just makes no effort whatsoever to try to shake things up a bit. They took an overused formula and stuck to it pretty much to the tee. I even find it hard to write much about the film because it was so bland and just didn't really offer much at all. You will predict every twist, you will see every death coming, and you will not be shocked by the ending at all.

I tend to like these kinds of movies so I was willing to forgive a lot of the film's cliches, but it got to the point where it just felt like the film makers were going down a list of horror movie cliches and checking them off as they made the movie. It's not the worst movie ever, it looks good, the acting is good enough, and a few of the kills weren't bad. However there just isn't enough here to warrant watching it over many similar films that are much better. "Friend Request" is simply a film that is so luke warm that it's hard to think of much good things or bad things about it.

"Friend Request" distinguishes itself with some nice internet video imagery if for nothing else. Lack of unifying story is the main drawback, but I liked the flick anyway.

The Neighbor (2016)



"The Neighbor" is a brand new horror/thriller from director Marcus Dunstan, who also directed one of my favorite horror movies "The Collector" and it's sequel "The Collection". Dunstan did a great job in putting a spin on the home invasion premise with "The Collector" so I was excited to see what else he could bring to the table. The film stars Josh Stewart who was also the lead in "The Collector" and "Collection". So there are definitely a lot of similarities between those two films and the similarities do not end there.

The film follows John (played by Josh Stewart) who is a low level criminal looking to get one more big payday so he can get himself and his girlfriend Rosie (Alex Essoe) out of the business. But just as John gains the opportunity to get out he starts to realize that his neighbor Troy (Bill Engvull) is up to something very dark that may get in the way of John's hopes for a new life. It was definitely hard to ignore how similar the set up to this movie was to "The Collector", but as the movie progresses it definitely starts to take on it's own form. It does drags a bit in the beginning, it's not incredibly boring or anything but they do kind of take their time to kick things off. After about forty minutes the film really picks up and is a lot of fun, it's still not wildly original at that point but it does enough to feel fresh, for me at least. There are a couple scenes I could have done with out, and there were a few good scenes slightly ruined by some cheesy dialogue but for the most part the movie really delivered in it's third act.

I was pleased with the majority of the cast, especially Bill Engvull. I never would have thought that he would take on a role in a horror movie since he is known for being a very cheesy comedian. I was never really all that impressed with his comedy and the only movies I ever saw him in before this were low bro comedies that were not funny in my opinion. But he does a good job in this, he portrays his character well and actually came off as a little sinister in some scenes. Josh Stewart was good also, he plays almost the exact same character he played in "The Collector" but he does it well so I guess I can't complain. Alex Essoe does alright but there were a few scenes where she was trying a little too hard to be "The Tough Girl" and it just came off as super cheesy and unrealistic.

I enjoyed "The Neighbor", it's a little unoriginal and fairly predictable, but it's a well done movie with some tense scenes and a mostly good cast. Worth checking out for sure in my opinion.

Jack Goes Home (2016)




"Jack Goes Home" is a psychological Thriller (with some horror elements) about a boy named Jack (Rory Culkin) whose dad is killed in a car accident, after hearing the news he returns home to help his mother with the funeral and cope with the whole ordeal. As Jack struggles with the loss of his father he starts to notice strange behavior from his mother while also attempting to uncover possible secrets that his parents have been hiding from him for years. I thought the plot line was interesting enough, unfortunately the movie does a poor job of developing and delivering it.

The movie is essentially about a man's struggle with the loss of his parent and his own mental instability. I like movies that dig into the human mind and really focus on one individual slowly losing it, however "Jack Came Home" does a very poor job of pulling that off. Jack is a pretty unlikable character from the get go, he's emotionless, dull, and really has no interesting character traits so to be honest I really had trouble watching him mope around and complain about everything for almost two hours. Jack's mother (player by Lin Shaye) is an interesting character and makes for some of the more interesting scenes in the movie, unfortunately she isn't featured that much.

The movie tries to keep things interesting by throwing in a little bit of mystery but again they just do such a poor job of developing it, by the time big reveals are made you will have likely figured everything out and be bored with it. I saw the final twist coming a mile away, so much so that I kept telling myself maybe that wouldn't be the twist since it was so predictable. I feel like they had the right idea in a lot of places but then just completely dropped the ball in the points that mattered most.

As far as indie horror movie goes "Jack Goes Home" is far from one of the worst, even though it's barely a horror movie, but it is definitely not anything to write home about. It's predictable, drab, and pretty dry overall.

The Greasy Strangler (2016)



This is one of those movies that if I sat down and explained the whole thing from start to finish you would either say "Eww that sounds terrible" or "I need to see that now because I can't believe a movie like that exists." Everything about "Greasy Strangler" is just so strange and stupid, but at the same time it's hard to look away and throughout the movie I was pretty interested in seeing what would happen next. It's kind of like if Troma and the guys behind "Napoleon Dynamite" teamed up and made a movie.

There is tons of graphic nudity, over the top violence, and buckets upon buckets of grease. By the time the credits rolled I felt like I needed to take a shower, the movie has such a dirty/uncomfortable tone to it, but honestly that didn't prevent me from being entertained and intrigued by it. It's a film that needs to be seen to be believed. The gore/crudeness isn't exactly on the same level as a troma film or some hardcore underground horror films, but I still found myself slightly shocked at some of the stuff that they brought to the table.

Greasy Strangler is so odd and out there that it's almost like an anti movie. It doesn't follow any guidelines or strive to be like any other movie, it just simply does whatever it wants which makes it really hard to know what to expect next. The dialogue, crude humor, and strange characters will likely turn a lot of people away, but those willing to look past the gross exterior of the movie may find themselves laughing a lot.

I liked "The Greasy Strangler", it is completely stupid but it is also original and oddly interesting. Definitely not for everybody, but for those who know what to expect and aren't turned off by the idea of over the top disgusting humor this could be a movie experience that you won't forget.

Fender Bender (2016)



By now I think all horror fans know what to expect when they turn on a slasher movie, 99% of the time you aren't gonna get anything ground breaking that does anything new for the genre, we know it's going to be a killer that slowly picks off some dumb kids one by one until there is one left who may or may not survive the night. So really the best we can hope for is some not so annoying characters, a somewhat intriguing killer, and some brutal kills. "Fender Bender" delivers somewhat in those aspects.

Our main character is a naive 17 year old girl who finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her, shortly after that her bad day gets worse when her car is hit from behind while she is stopped at a stop sign, she is un-harmed and there isn't much damage to her car so her and the driver who hit her exchange info and go on their ways. I thought this was an OK way to kick off a slasher movie, and a fairly interesting way to introduce our killer (that's not a spoiler since they make it pretty evident that he is the killer from the get), it was kind of cool to see the main character interact with the killer before all the killing began.

So after a little bit of story development the killing starts, one thing some slasher movies do wrong is wait way too long before they start killing people off but "Fender Bender" does a good job of getting started right as the set up is starting to feel tired. The kills were actually pretty good too, fairly graphic with a decent amount of gore and the effects were well done for sure. The actors weren't the best though and the characters really weren't all that interesting so I didn't care all they much when they died, but at least the kills were entertaining. Everything leads up to a rather familiar finale with a slightly emotional twist which I thought was well done.

I think fans of slasher movies who aren't bothered too much by the usual clichés and the not so great acting will be able to find things to like in the movie. It doesn't really try anything new but it does a good job of delivering what we expect to see from a slasher flick.

Recovery (2016)



Four teenagers (some of the oldest teenagers in the world) venture into the inner city for a night of fun at a sketchy night club, after one of them goes missing the rest of the group goes looking for their missing friend by using the "Find My phone" app to pin point her whereabouts. Obviously things go wrong and they end up going to a house belonging to psychopaths. It's a very generic set up for a very generic low budget horror movie.

So yeah this movie is pretty bad but it isn't just a bad movie, it is also kind of odd (not in a good way). The way the characters act is just so off and unrealistic, and it's not the usual kind of dumb things you see in horror movies that are used to further the story or set up a kill, it's just a lot of random actions done by the characters that don't really have anything to do with the story and have no purpose at all. The actors reactions to things were strange as well, it almost felt like they took some characters out of a Disney sitcom and transferred them into a Horror Movie.

The whole pacing of the film was pretty awful as well, it takes about fifty five minutes for anything to really happen, and even then it's just twenty minutes of the main characters running around the house trying to avoid the killers. There are some kills but none of them are anything special, very basic effects and a relatively small amount of gore. As the movie neared it's end I started getting anxious for it to be over because it was just so stale and boring.

I knew not to expect much when I decided to watch this movie, however I was still disappointed, it's just another cliche ridden horror movie and we didn't even get a high body count or a bloodbath.

I haven't seen any of the movies you have reviewed so far. Get some old school horror in here.

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I try to focus on the lesser known newer horror movies that aren't reviewed by a lot of people, my goal is to try to find hidden gems and help horror fans who have seen everything find something new to watch.

Under The Shadow (2016)



The first thing that stood out about this film was it's unique setting for a horror flick, it take's place in 1980's Iran during War Of The Cities. Our main character Shideh (Played by Narges Rashidi) has just learned that she won't be able to attend Medical school due to her background in activism. On top of all that her husband is being drafted to fight in the war leaving Shideh in a war torn country raising her daughter alone. The whole set up/first half was excellent, the acting is believable and director does a great job of establishing a tense tone. It definitely did not feel like the usual set up to a horror movie, in fact if I hadn't known before hand that this was a Horror flick I probably would have just assumed it was a Drama depicting life in Iran during a war times.

So as the story progresses the horror elements are introduced, Shideh's daughter starts having trouble sleeping because she is afraid of Djinn (Demons). Some paranormal things start happening around the house and eventually things do get a little creepy. This part of the movie started to drag a bit a bit on the tension died down a bit for me. There are some scares that were well done and caught me off guard, however a few were too obvious and came off a bit too cheesy. Overall the second half is good but parts of it just felt like a run of the mill ghost movie. Plus the last fifteen minutes or so kind of fell flat on me, I felt like that was suppose to be a big tense scene but I just wasn't feeling it.

I enjoyed "Under The Shadow", it has it's flaws but it does enough right to make it a worthwhile experience. If you are interested in watching a decent ghost movie that has very interesting setting then this one if worth a watch, it doesn't do anything mind blowing but it does a good enough job at being an effective horror film.

From a fellow horror aficionado, your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Trash Fire (2016)




Richard Bates Jr's first film "Excision" was a film that stuck with me for a long time after I watched it, it was very unique and incredibly bizarre. So when I saw that Bates had a new movie coming out I was pretty excited to see what else he was capable of. While not nearly as memorable as Bates' first film, "Trash Fire" does have a bit of dark charm and was an interesting experience.

The first thing that really stuck out to me in this film is the fact that just about all the characters are unlikable, everyone is somewhat of a jerk and everyone is pretty judgmental/critical of others. This wasn't a bad thing though, it actually worked pretty well and went smoothly with the premise of the film. As unlikable as all the characters were they were also very interesting, and were the best part of the movie in my opinion. Our main character "Owen" (played but Adrian Grenier) is mean and dismissive to just about everyone he meets and even when he's trying to be nice he still comes off as a dope. But once we learn more about Owen's family it becomes clear why he is the way he is, and that he may actually be one of the more normal people in his family.

The story was alright, although it had a bit of a "Lifetime Movie" feel, but the dialogue really sets it apart from the overly simplified movies that come on that network. The conversations that the characters have throughout the film are actually pretty engaging, something you rarely ever see in a horror film. It's a good thing that the dialogue was well done because there is a lot of it, people who are not fans of dialogue heavy films will definitely be put off for the majority of this. I thought it worked though, and I found myself intrigued to see what the characters would say to each other next.

Another thing that I think is important to point out is that this definitely isn't a traditional horror movie, in fact I've seen a lot of people make the claim that this isn't a horror movie at all. I would disagree though, while there isn't a masked mad man running around or a spooky ghost haunting people, "Trash Fire" does have a overall tone of horror and the final scene definitely creeped me out and left me with an uneasy feeling. It was refreshing to see the genre approached in a different kind of way.

This won't be for everybody, but I enjoyed it, like "Excision" it was fairly odd and a little quirky. Worth checking out for people who don't mind a lot of dialogue and a bit of a slow pace.

The Monster (2016)



I'm a big fan of Bryan Bertino's first feature film "The Strangers", it was a somewhat realistic tense horror film that genuinely creeped me out. Since than Bertino hasn't been up to very much directing wise, in 2014 he released the film "Mockingbird" which was a huge disappointment and received a mostly negative response from fans of the horror genre. Now eight years after his last big hit Bertino gives us "The Monster", which is a super dark and dramatic monster movie that follows the struggling relationship between a young mother and her daughter, and also their encounter with a vicious monster on a desolate road in the woods.

The film gets started with a very somber pace, as we are introduced to our two main characters (A young girl named Lizzy and her mother Kathy) it becomes very clear that they have a dysfunctional relationship. Kathy obviously isn't a good mom; she's rude, irresponsible, and she has a drinking problem. This has lead to Kathy deciding Lizzy will most likely be better off living with her father, and this is where we come in on their story. Well into their trip to meet up with Lizzy's father the duo has a car accident leaving them stranded on a road far off from any populated area, and then monster stuff starts to happen. This set up may sound cliche but the film actually does it in a very unique and interesting way. As the film builds up to revealing the monster we are treated to some character development via extremely emotional flashbacks which highlight the big problems in Kathy and Lizzy's relationship. These flashbacks were extremely well done and really did a great job of getting me interested in the characters. The whole pacing of the film was great, and those who enjoy slow burn movies will appreciate it.

The film is very character driven and the small assortment of actors really did a great job of capturing that. Ella Ballentine, who plays Lizzie, does an outstanding job of playing a little girl who is desperate and angry for her mother to get her life together. She actually out acted her adult counterpoint in the majority of the scenes. Zoe Kazan did a fine job of playing Lizzie's mother Kathy but Ella really stole the spotlight here and really helped to add to the realistic tone of the film. Even the supporting characters with very small roles managed to be believable and played their parts well, something you don't see too often in horror movies. Some of the best acting I've seen in a horror movie since "The Witch".

With how well done the characters and the story was it's easy to forget that this is a monster movie, an interesting premise and intriguing characters aren't exactly things you expect when watching a monster flick. But I'm glad the film makers went the route they did with it because it really added to the intensity of the monster once he is revealed. It's not the scariest looking monster, and the effects aren't top notch, but it definitely gets the job done. There were few scenes where the monster came off a little cheap looking, but those scenes were mostly made up for by some very brutal attacks by the monster. There isn't a whole lot of gore or kills, but the few that are featured are pretty vicious.

This was a great movie, it's emotional, realistic, and very well acted. Some may find it to be a little slow depending on what they are looking for, it's definitely not your usual fast paced gore fest type monster flick, but it is an extremely engaging dramatic horror flick that some people might really love.

I disagree with you about Baskin. The first half was the best for me while the second lost it a little for me. The first half didn't have great character development, but it was well enough for me to care and it set up the story too as it went a long. You didn't seem to talk much about hell and gateways/passages to hell and the people who can peak in there, which is a lot of what the movie is about. I wonder if you got all that when you watched it?

But anyways, apart from what I mentioned above I simply liked the atmosphere that the movie build. The set pieces were pretty amazing and the cinematography colorful yet grim, filthy and soffucating. Loved that.

The last third or so lost me mainly because it seemed rushed and didn't live up to the build up. The ending itself also was predictable and I had prefered something more open and ambitious than that.

I do agree mostly with your review of Lights Out. Didn't find the mother too bland, I think she was good but her character could have been better. The boyfriend was definitely your typical "meh" character... the kid was good indeed and even great and extremely convincing in a few scenes towards the end.

Some pretty good reviews in here, but I have not seen all the low budget unheard of rubbish you review. The problem with being a horror freak I guess... so many bad movies. (admittedly, I do recognize some of those you gave higher reviews )

Pretty solid reviews in here where you get straight to the point and say what you want. I like that... I wish there was more I had seen so I could read em all.

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MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

Yeah I picked up on the hell stuff in Baskin, admittedly though that was a rushed review and wasn't very detailed.


I don't really spoil anything for the most part in my reviews so you would be safe reading reviews of the films you haven't seen yet.

Thanks. But it's also more out of interest, since there is a lot of bad ones in between.

But I'll read up on your positive reviewed movies that I haven't heard of and maybe check em out. Good work.

Pet (2016)




Seth (Dominic Monaghan) is a lonely mild mannered guy who doesn't have a lot going for him, he has no girlfriend, no friends, and a job at a pet shelter that barely bring in enough cash to pay the bills. One day on the bus he spots Holly (Ksenia Solo), a pretty girl that he recognizes from high school. Seth is desperate to ask Holly out but he simply doesn't have the looks or skills to impress her and ends up getting shut down, after a few more failed attempts at asking Holly out Seth starts to become obsessed. Eventually Seth's obsession drives him to kidnap Holly, but things don't go exactly the way he planned. I'll refrain from saying more about the plot since one of the few things that this film has going for is that it puts an interesting spin on the whole "Captive" premise.

The film starts off pretty dry, the set up is bland and none of the characters really caught my interest at all. I started becoming a little eager for Seth to just Kidnap Holly already because I just wasn't interested in watching him sulk around obsessing over her and stalking her. Once Seth Kidnaps Holly things do get slightly better, but not much. As I said before the film throws a little curve ball here that mixes things up a bit, it was definitely interesting but they just don't do a whole lot with it, the majority of the film is still just a run of the mill captive flick. There is a little bit of gore, but aside from that and the little twist there just wasn't that much content here. It was basically just enough to keep me from turning it off.

Another thing that becomes clear right away with this film is that even though the cast features a lot of familiar faces, the acting is actually pretty sub par. Lots of mono toned deliveries and many lines that you can tell were supposed to be delivered with a lot of emotion but just come off forced. The majority of the actors featured in the film have given much better performances in previous works that they have been in, so it was weird to see them all just fall flat. It's definitely not the worst acting ever, but it does take away from the tone of the film and makes it a lot less captivating, since this is a pretty dialogue heavy film that was a pretty big blow.

Despite the ok premise, this just wasn't a good film. It had some potential but overall it just fails to do anything worthwhile.