Movie Diary 2019 by pahaK

I have not seen it, or even heard of it before your post. It does look like something I'll watch one day though so thank you for bringing it on my radar

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The Axiom (2018) N

A young woman has gone missing. Her sister, brother and three friends go to look for her in a National Forest.


In many ways The Axiom is just another typical indie horror but it manages to avoid most of the problems its kind tend to have. While it loans from several bigger films (Evil Dead, The Cabin in the Woods and even Stranger Things) it's different enough to stand on its own. It even gives a vague explanation what's going on and that's rare in modern B-horror that usually seem to think that ambiguity equals being smart.

There's nothing fancy or flamboyant in The Axiom's cinematography but solid and good looking basics. Same goes to technical execution in general, the film knows the limits of its budget and doesn't overreach. Characters are above average and acting is quite decent too. As a result The Axiom doesn't feel as cheap as it probably is.

I tend to watch lots of B-horrors but my expectations for them are quite low. While The Axiom barely misses the mark for being good it's still solid and a positive surprise and definitely worth a watch for horror fans.

The girl on the left is very me .

Did I ever mention The Daisy Chain (2008) to you pahaK? I thought that was a good, different horror film.

I really liked how that girl looked in those scanty shorts of hers

Don't think you have. I added it to my watchlist. I'm like 95% sure I haven't seen it (I think I've seen another film with similar premise though but don't remember the name - I think a sheep barn had somewhat central role in that one).

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) R

Jason continues his search of who he was and how he became the man he is.


A direct continuation to previous film The Bourne Ultimatum does maintain very much the same style as its predecessor. There's little less story in it but quite a bit more chase sequences (little too much in my opinion). Camera doesn't feel just as restless and shaky as in Supremacy (a positive thing).

I think that first two films did better job in involving Bourne into the action. Ultimatum is little more personal in this regard which isn't a bad in thing in itself but suffers from the fact that the angle was mostly omitted in the previous film. I like how connection between Jason and Nicky is suggested and hopefully it'll be opened more in the fifth film (I haven't seen Jason Bourne).

Action is good this time (the fight with Algiers asset is probably the best fight of the series) and despite of going overboard with the quantity the quality of the chases is great as well. Damon is still very good as Bourne and there aren't any major complaints about the supporting cast either. Slightly worse than the second film but still very solid agent action.

Jaws of Satan (1981) N

In a small Alabama town people are suddenly dying of snake bites. Local doctor tries to solve the issue but it's the local priest with crisis of faith (and druidic curse!) who needs to confront Satan himself.


The other day I mentioned that my expectations with these B-horrors aren't usually too high. The main reason for that are the films like Jaws of Satan. It's not the worst of the lot because occasionally it's chucklingly bad but there aren't much other redeeming qualities.

The story and script in general are terrible (could someone explain to me how the romance happened or what was the point of that attempted rape sequence). Acting ranges from bad to worse (that snake expert made my eyes bleed). There's also no attempt to build suspense at all (well maybe if you're ophidiophobic).

List of positives is quite short. There's obviously the unintended humor and for someone who watched Married with Children as a kid it's kinda nice to see Christina Applegate's first role. It's also less boring that you'd expect from all the complaints above so it's kinda OK for such a bad film.



Recommendation: If you want to watch much better B-horror about a demonic snake then Spasms should do the trick.

It reminded me of Danielle Panabaker in Girls Against Boys – her legs are astounding. And she's astounding in the film; unbelievably good .

Yeah, quite a rural area in which it's set. They call it a thriller but there's enough of a scary atmosphere there to say it's a "tale of unease". I was impressed.

The Bourne Legacy (2012) N

Another Bourne film but there's no Bourne in it. Instead there's another program and another enhanced agent that goes rogue. It's the instalment the series didn't need.


The connection to Jason Bourne is forced and feels artificial. We suddenly learn that there are multiple programs with genetically altered agents running. It's almost like they're beta (or alpha) tested on the field since it's only couple of years since Jason went rogue.

I don't like either of the main characters (never been a huge fan of Renner) and the way they're brought together is clunky. The intensity of previous films is gone and the new players don't find their place in the mythos. The Bourne Legacy is part of the franchise only to improve its marketability.

Despite of some nice action scenes and me liking the idea of genetically altered super-agents the film is quite dull and disappointing after three previous movies.

Jason Bourne (2016) r

Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne but the franchise itself continues its decline. The internet surveillance plot is (and already was back in 2016) done so many times and this film brings nothing new to it. It's an important topic in the real world but it doesn't translate well into movies.


Bourne's history unwinding is also following the beaten track and there's yet another villain deeper in his past responsible for the program that turned him into a killer. Jason may care about these new twists but I'm not impressed. The personal grudge with an asset is stale and Vikander's ambitious careerist brings nothing interesting to the table.

Few days back I said I hadn't seen Jason Bourne before. The fact that I actually have tells a lot. I remembered the scenes when they came but the whole film is so bland and soulless that I'll probably forget it again in few weeks. First three films we're solid but after them the only solid thing in this series has been its decline.

The Square (2017) N

A curator of an art museum in Stockholm tries to wade through professional and personal difficulties.


All I knew about The Square was that IMDb tags it comedy and drama and it's related to modern art. Somehow I missed the comedy altogether (was there something I was supposed to laugh at?) and due to extremely uninteresting characters the drama misses its mark too. What remains is half-hearted critique of contemporary art and failing attempt to put equal sign between hypocrisy and common sense.

First 25 minutes or so are somewhat promising but after that it becomes more and more clear that the purpose is not to laugh at contemporary art per se but to blame its providers and consumers for hypocrisy when they don't live their lives according to noble explanations of the art. The Square keeps telling us that self-preservation is wrong and it's immoral to think anything but the best of others.

So a 2.5 hours long (and I mean LONG) comedy that barely makes you smile, and drama that has characters you don't want to see that keeps promoting a message you don't agree with doesn't sound too good. A film this long needs to have a story, structure, relatable characters, humor or something to keep me entertained - just anything. The Square has almost nothing for me.

The Fifth Cord (1971) N

A giallo where an alcoholic journalist finds himself in the middle of a murder spree.


There's something about these (not too) old Italian films that I like. In general they look extremely beautiful, have their imagery accompanied by great soundtracks which together create an atmosphere that separates them from all other films. All those elements are present in The Fifth Cord as well but its plot is little disappointing and ultimately keeps it from being much better than average giallo.

Franco Nero is great in the lead and acting as a whole is good for a film like this. The Fifth Cord isn't very violent for a giallo and it shows its murders with quite a bit of restraint. Visually there's some similarities to Argento but it's again far more restrained with its style and more rooted to mundane reality.

The biggest flaw is the murder mystery itself. I was sure who the murderer was from the beginning and nothing in the film seemed to suggest otherwise. Also the stroke of genius by Nero (just having fun with words here - in Finnish nero means genius) in the end felt rather flat and didn't even make much sense when the murderer's motives are later revealed. Despite small plot issues it's still slightly above average giallo.

I gave you rep for watching The Square, not for your rating. I loved it and found it really funny.

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Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

Excision (2012) N

A story of a disturbed high school student and her dysfunctional family. Her sister is slowly dying of Cystic Fibrosis, her mother is a control freak suffering from her own childhood traumas and her father just seems stuck on a family life turned sour.


Watching Excision is rather bipolar experience. At times it's dark comedy that never goes full steam, then it switches to drama about a kid suffering from mental disorders and it keeps switching between the two constantly. For me the comedy weakens the drama especially as the family relations are mostly done that way. With the ending being quite obvious I think that focusing more on either the drama or comedy would have build it up better.

There's something similar to Ginger Snaps with the sisters but Grace's limited screen time doesn't allow their relationship to blossom. Maybe some of Pauline's dreams could have been replaced by some quality time between the sisters (or just add some interaction between them as the film is really short). I don't think those dreams deserve that much attention anyway (I kinda felt they were there only to justify the horror tag).

Despite its flaws Excision is still an interesting take on mental issues. It's quite uneven but it never dips into bad and despite of being obvious I still liked the ending.



Recommendation: Celia is another film where a girl has difficulties in separating fiction from reality with dire consequences.

The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018) N

A body of a girl is brought to a city hospital morgue. The ex-cop working the night shift has her hands full when the cadaver turn out to be quite restless.


Practically every review I've seen has crapped on this film so I wasn't expecting much but as it's horror I decided to give it a chance. To start with a positive it's not as direct copy of The Autopsy of Jane Doe as I was led to believe. It certainly loans a lot from that movie but mostly on superficial level; unfortunately the result isn't any better and it even lacks the little creativity its paragon had.

Greatest surprise for me was that The Possession of Hannah Grace is rated R. It's so tame and sanitized mix of Jane Doe (minus the interesting premise), The Exorcist (with family friendly demon) and generic J-horror (without any of their creepyness) that I automatically assumed PG-13. It's a film without a single original idea, a cavalcade of watered down scenes from other films.

It has somewhat decent characters that keep it from minimum rating but even their story arcs are very predictable and there's no attempt to build anything from them. There's no suspense and the capabilities of the possessed cadaver change constantly to match the needs of the script. Basically it's a film that deserves the bashing it's getting.

It doesn't take you long to seek out a recommendation. I'm glad that you liked Excision. Agree that the ending is telegraphed, but it still hit me hard as a viewer and left a hollow feeling in my stomach. The dream sequences might not add much to the movie overall, but visually I thought they were pretty cool. Never heard of Celia, but I've added it to my never-ending watchlist. Same goes for Ghostkeeper.

Never been a fan of the Bourne series. I guess Ultimatum would be my favorite. I hate when action is filmed with a shaky cam and a thousand edits, and the Bourne films are terrible in that regard. The only Lanthimos I've seen is Dogtooth. It's been close to a decade since I watched it, but still I remember it pretty vividly. Very strange, uncomfortable, thought-provoking film. I think you'd like it.

Haven't seen Onibaba yet, so maybe that's why I was more impressed than you with Kuroneko. Some of the cat stuff, like the woman's hair wagging like a tail, was a bit laughable, but overall I thought it was a very impressive film. Especially loved its atmosphere (I'm a sucker for fog). The Big Gundown has been on my radar for awhile since I love Van Cleef and a good spaghetti western. Unless you want to be disappointed every time, you can't compare other spaghettis to Leone. I'm sure you've seen The Great Silence, but if not, give it a go sometime when you're in the mood for such a flick. Very atypical spaghetti western with one of the bleakest endings you'll ever see.

I listened to Take Me to the Disco and Queen of the Murder Scene from your albums list. Fairly indifferent to the latter. Not bad, but no particular song stood out to me, and I thought the music bordered on being generic at times. I like the dark themes, but the lyrics were subpar anytime I paid attention to them. I'm enjoying Meg Myers, though. Really like her voice. Good songwriting as well. I've listened to "Jealous Sea" a few times now, although admittedly that might have something to do with the music video and how sexy and possessed she looks in it.

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Or you've just forgotten. I mean, you've liked my review of it at least It's one of my earliest reviews so the rating may be a bit too harsh.

I'm under impression that all Lanthimos until The Favorite have that terrible style of acting with monotonous and emotionless dialogue. I hated that in The Killing of a Sacred Deer and would assume I'd hate in Dogtooth as well.

I'm a sucker for fog too. You can't have too much fog in a horror film.

It's probably my favorite spaghetti after Leones. The ending is just great.

Maybe it's just me not listening that much to simple rock music but Queen of the Murder Scene sounds really catchy to me. I haven't really delved into their lyrics but I'd probably be somewhat forgiving because they're written by 12-18 (about) years old girls in non-native language.About Meg Myers being sexy, yeah, I completely agree with that (have you seen Desire from her previous album?).

Zeder (1983) N

A young writer gets a used typewriter as a gift from his wife. When the ribbon is finished he gets curious and starts to look what was written by the previous owner.


A film that was marketed in the US as a zombie film and is described as a ghost story by several IMDb reviews. To me Zeder brought some Lovecraftian vibes (The Case of Charles Dexter Ward mostly but my brother, who's surely more knowledgeable about H.P.L., didn't really see the similarity) with distinctly Italian presentation (like less bloody Fulci). There's also some similarities to Pet Sematary but it appears that neither is ripping the other off as they've been made at the same time (film was released couple of months before King's book).

While some of its pseudo-science sounds really silly Zeder is still quite interesting take on the search of immortality. There are some minor issues with writing (like too many people just being in the right place) but the married couple and characters in general are pretty well written and even have somewhat believable motives. The investigation itself is mostly fine too with only couple of clunky steps. All in all pretty solid slow-tempo horror and positive first acquaintance with the director Pupi Avati.

The House with Laughing Windows (1976) N

A young restorer is hired to restore a fresco of St. Sebastian in a church of a small village. The original painter, a local who has died recently, was mentally disturbed and obsessed with death and suffering.


I watched The Fifth Cord just couple of days ago and now The House with Laughing Windows. While both are consiodered gialli they act as a great reminder of how vastly different films carry that moniker. Today's film is way more horror and considerably bleaker. Just like the previous film by Pupi Avati, Zeder, it also reminds me of Lucio Fulci (the closest giallo I'd compare this with would be Don't Torture a Duckling).

The House with Laughing Windows keeps it secrets pretty well so in order to avoid spoilers I'll have to keep this review shorter than it deserves to be. On very generic level I did like the writing a lot. There's very creepy and disturbed atmosphere, there's the feeling of isolation and paranoia. It's more violent than Zeder and far more brutal in other ways as well. Definitely one of the best gialli I've seen but I need to warn that it's rather slow paced too.

Haven't seen The Favourite yet, but I think that's just a trait of modern Greek films. I watched a few by different Greek directors and they were the same way. It's like this country's filmmakers value a very subtle and unexpressive acting style, so that the characters seem kind of cynical, repressed and quietly "off" until they "explode emotionally" at the boiling point, and do something disturbing.

I've observed this to some extent in German films too, and of course those of Michael Haneke (Austrian).

The Conjuring (2013) R

A family moves to an old farmhouse and soon they become convinced that an evil presence occupies their home. They get help from famous paranormal investigators.


The Conjuring is a great example of how to make a good horror film. It tells a familiar story and it's comfortable with that. Instead of trying to invent some wild and obscure twists to stand out it relies on well-written characters that feel real and are easy to root for. I'm not saying that new and unique stories are bad but in majority of cases the characters are more important - there's nothing wrong with well-made same old.

The story isn't the only retro thing in The Conjuring. For the most part it also looks like a film from the 70s (it's mostly the colors, I suppose, that have this vintage feel to them - I can't really describe it). It doesn't go for fast edits (I might have preferred even less edits) and it uses the darkness effectively. There are some jump scares but due to their rarity and quality they actually work to film's advantage.

As a whole The Conjuring manages to combine the suspense and character development much better than modern horrors usually do. It's easily one of the best horror films of this decade.