31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 31 - Mama (Happy Halloween!)

Day 31: Mama
Via: DVD
Release Date - 2013

Synopsis: On the day that their parents die, sisters Lilly and Victoria vanish in the woods, prompting a frantic search by their Uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend, Annabel (Jessica Chastain). Five years later, miraculously, the girls are found alive in a decaying cabin, and Lucas and Annabel welcome them into their home. But as Annabel tries to reintroduce the children to a normal life, she finds that someone -- or something -- still wants to tuck them in at night.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

Last but definitely not least, Mama. I put this on my list after watching the short a few weeks back, and let me tell you this was a great film to end this 31 day journey. The main plot is my biggest pet peeve about this film, but it did not disappoint. So, like most new ghost or exorcism movies, this was based on a spirit seeking revenge for something. There are so many films with this plot that I wasn't expecting much out of it, even when it was presented by Del Toro. However, the cinematography, editing, use of color and sound, but especially the effects and the acting, made this film very enjoyable. So much, that even before I was at the end, I knew I would be watching it again. 

Ok, so the premise is that a dad kills a bunch of people including his wife. He kidnaps his 2 girls, Victoria and Lilly, and while on the road, they all get in a wreck. They manage to survive but they are lost in the woods. As they walk through the woods they see an abandoned cabin. They walk in, make themselves at home and wait. But not before dad decides the best decision for all of them is for him to kill the girls. He is about to pull the trigger on Victoria when suddenly, a dark spirit grabs him and takes him away, presumably dead at this point. The girls are left all alone, we think,  in the abandoned cabin to fend for themselves. It turns out the spirit who killed their father is the one who takes care of them throughout the years.

Flash forward to 5 years later. The girls' uncle, Lucas, has been on a quest to find them; going into debt hiring people to keep searching in the woods. One day as a team "looks around", they happen to come across the same abandoned cabin where we last saw the girls. They break in and find the girls living but in a very feral state. The rest of the film is about the relationship Lucas, his girlfriend Annabel, and the girls build as Lucas gains custody. They seem to be on a pretty good path until Lucas gets into a mysterious "accident". Annabel is now the one in charge. Let me just take a quick moment to say how awesome it was to see a punk rocker girl be the hero of the movie. It touched me in a very special but naughty place. Ha. 

So, I suggest just watching the film to know the rest of the story. There isn't a surprise ending or anything, but the way all the various relationships between foster parents and the girls develops is really sweet and chaotic. A horror film with a warm underlying narrative. Best finish I could ask for.

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 30 - Evil Twin

Day 30: Evil Twin
Via: Amazon Prime
Release Date - 2007

Synopsis: Evil Twin is a 2007 South Korean horror film. When an accident claims the life of a young girl, Hyo-jin. Her twin sister, So-yeon fell into a coma and awakens 10 years later.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

Asian horror films are always so well made. Right off the bat this reminded me of "A Tale of Two Sisters", another South Korean film that has a good plot but even better timing, editing and acting. Evil Twin is basically that, the story of an evil twin. Like most Asian horror flicks based on ghosts, the spirit at hand is seeking revenge upon someone. Hauntings and murders occur because the spirit is unhappy, there is something unresolved, something that needs closure. So I can't really explain the whole plot in detail because the one thing that kept me from truly enjoying this film was also the most important aspect of the storyline. The subtitles. The subtitles are so bad that I had to pause and guess what they were trying to say. The basic storyline goes like this: There is a young girl who after an accident, cannot recall anything regarding that traumatic event. She gets hints here and there when tragedies begin to occur in her village. As more tragedies occur and the plot of her relationship between her and her deceased twin sister come to light, the more villagers blame her for the ongoing deaths.

SPOILER ALERT - Why the spirit is mad:

We learn that the deceased twin sister is the spirit haunting the victims and she will not rest until she gets satisfaction. But what happened? Well, when the twin sisters were young, they had some sort of incident when they both happen to fall into a lake. Their mother, the only one around with them when this occurred, was not strong enough to save them both, so she had to choose. Simple plot but great execution on setting the mood and creating an atmosphere that displayed chaos, anxiety, fear, sadness and hope.

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 27 - Spring

Day 27: Spring
Via: Amazon Prime
Release Date - 2015

Synopsis: An aimless young man (Lou Taylor Pucci) takes an impromptu trip to Italy and becomes involved with an alluring genetics student (Nadia Hilker) who harbors a transformative secret.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

Aw. I feel all warm inside after watching this "horror" film. No, but really...it was good.
A unique love story about a troubled American dude who has nothing to live for back at home. He is jobless, without family and no direction. When trouble finds him at his workplace, a dive bar, he has no choice but to find another path. A booty call turns out to give him so good advice. Travel, get away.

He does. He decides to go to Europe where he befriends some guys who are ready to party all night. Which, they do, several nights. As they travel through Europe they come across a restaurant in Italy where our main fella meets a dashing Italian lady. She is quirky and upfront but our shy guy seems hesitant about her. Their first meeting ends with her running off and him making a spectacle of himself. His newly found friends go on their merry way and our fella has to find a job and a place to stay, which he does. As he roams around the city he runs into our dashing lady and quickly resumes his pleas for a date with her. She finally gives in and they embark in a love story worthy of standing side by side with other love stories like "The Notebook". 

The film really takes its time developing the deep relationship between our couple. However, it's still a horror film of some sort, so we get a glimpse of the true identity of our leading lady. She seems to be negatively affected by the sun or by a lack of flesh on which to feast on. There are clips of her as a vampire or werewolf or squid. It's a bit confusing. Alas, the bloody effects, the sound, the editing and cinematography are really great. It can get a little lovey-dovey at times but not to the point where I wanted to puke. This is a horror film your sissy girlfriend might like, or your cool, goth girlfriend might want to act out. Either or, you win...if you have a girlfriend. There is a point where all goes to hell and our couple's story hits a point of no return...or does it?

Watch it, enjoy it, act it out with your ghoulish chick.

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 25 - Out of the Dark (Chinese)

Day 25: Out of the Dark (Chinese)
Via: Netflix
Release Date - 1995

Synopsis: Tenant Mr. Li of an apartment high-rise is weary of the return of his late mother's ghost. When she appears in the apartment, she haunts Li and his wife, who she blames for her death. Caught in the commotion is a crazy girl named Kwan and the apartment building's inept security guards. They are repulsed by all the paranormal activity; therefore, they seek the unlikely help of an escaped mental patient, Leon, a Professional-type wannabe who just happened to be passing by the apartment high-rise when all the ghostly events were taking place.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

I have NO idea what I just watched. The synopsis kind of explains the gist of the film but it doesn't really tell you how insanely confusing it is. I really have no idea what the plot was. There is a story of a mother haunting her family who takes possession of her grandson. Some crazy punk chick who is just weird. There's also a group of security guards who make bets to see what items fall from the apartment building they guard and where all these characters reside. Also, there is a mental patient who is a ghost hunter/buster? There is a drag queen that causes one of the guards to puke a lot, oh AND a pot of flowers that can sense when a ghost is around. Um, yeah. None of this made sense but was pretty damn entertaining. I can't explain anything because there is way too much to list.

The main chunk of the film is spent with the mental patient ghostbuster trying to teach the guards, the punk chick and other characters how to beat fear. He blows himself up quite a few times with some cheesy dynamite and challenges them to touch poop to get over their fear. There are parts with all of them flying, chats about ghosts not liking milk and a death with the use of a banana peel. Yeah...just watch it.

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 23 - Housebound

Day 23:  Housebound
Via: Netflix
Release Date - 2014

Synopsis: A would-be thief (Morgana O'Reilly) is remanded to the custody of her estranged mother (Rima Te Wiata), who turns out to be correct in her assertion that evil spirits are afoot in their family domicile.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

At first it appeared like this was going to be the same ol' haunted house movie. A household falling prey to various spirits whose origins are later explained. It seemed even more predictable when a cop joins the plot and pretty savvy regarding the paranormal. So, let's dive in and explain why it wasn't your typical haunted house movie.

Kylie, Eugene, Amos and Dennis are really the only names you will need to know. Kylie, our main character, is introduced by botching a burglary of an ATM. Her punishment is to be on house arrest for a period of time. While there, she seems to get on her mom's nerves which leads to various altercations. While learning more details about Kylie's relationship with her mom and stepdad, we also start to see hints of paranormal activity happening in the house. Kylie's probation officer, Amos, is called in when an incident triggers her ankle bracelet. As Amos searches the premises,  Kylie and her mother notify him about ongoing paranormal activity. Amos is somehow a bit of an expert regarding the matter and he quickly helps the family out.

Dennis, Kylie's counselor, is introduced and he is the only one not phased by the paranormal stories from the family. He believes Kylie has a mental disorder that is causing her to create these wild stories about apparitions. As the film continues, we find the origins of the house was a place for mentally troubled teens who were mysteriously murdered. The place shut down and the murders were never solved. Ok, so the neighbor is a suspect, then we really find out who Eugene is and the origins of Dennis. I actually won't give away the ending because it's good. The film keeps you guessing for a bit.

Ok, so this film was entertaining for various reasons. It is cheeky and funny at times so it doesn't take itself too seriously. However, there are some really good jump scare parts and other scenes that turn out to be really creepy. The effects are fun and overall the plot was not predictable. The final kill scene was hilarious and bloody. Acting was good and cinematography and editing made the whole film very enjoyable. The bear image is actually of one of the creepiest scenes in the whole film.

I have 8 days left and I am pretty happy to be getting close to the end. This has been a good project but very exhausting at times.

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 21 - Nude for Satan

Day 21:  Nude for Satan
Via: Amazon Prime
Release Date - 1974

Synopsis: Italian Gothic horror that tells the tale of a man who stops at a remote castle hoping to get medical help for an injured woman, only to find the inhabitants mirror the darker sides of the woman and himself.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

Regardless of what you're thinking, I did not put this on my list merely because of its title. Amazon recommended it and I haven't seen anything from this time period yet. Ok, I have seen some terrible horror films, but all those others tried for real, to be good. Effort was put into the narratives, the casting, the editing and execution. Nude for Satan, however, is so deliciously horrendous, it can be put into the category of bad cult films like The Room and Troll 2.

This movie is from the 70's, so have that mindset when reading the following...
For starters, it is dubbed from Italian. Whatever was lost in translation didn't help the nonsensical dialogue. Here are two actual quotes.
"Don't think about the present, think about the now."
At another point in the film: "Make yourself at home." Not more than 10 seconds later... "Think of this as your house."

The sound is the first strike. The sound stops abruptly at many times and doesn't match the video. ALL of the footsteps, regardless of location onscreen, are those of someone walking inside of a house with wooden floors. This is especially hilarious for the outdoor scenes.
The first door we see is clearly big and heavy but the sound effect used was that of a regular, small, wooden, old door.
The lightning doesn't match the thunder, not to mention there is absolutely no rain present throughout the "big storm".
The cat is obviously some man going "meow".
Mouths half-closed while laughing is clearly the audio.

The kissing is incredibly awkward and funny from both of our main characters. This is basically a soft-core porn trying to be a horror film. However, a soft-core porn has some sort of sense of reason. This, not so much.
The spider looks like a piece of dirt with sticks as legs and two cherries glued to it for eyes.

The plot makes absolutely no sense and new characters without explanation are introduced throughout the film. For some reason there are people in this "castle" who are shady and appear to be from the 1900's according to their attire. When two "modern", stranded characters wonder into the castle, they encounter (separately), their dopplegangers. I am halfway into the film and still have no idea what the hell this is about. Oh, and yes, there is nudity.

Abstract ideas can be good, but they need structure. You can't explain your film as artsy and abstract just because you don't know what the fuck you're doing.

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 20 - Death Tube

Day 20:  Death Tube
Via: Amazon Prime
Release Date - 2010

Synopsis: Hideaki is kidnapped and he wakes up the next day in his classroom along with his classmates. They are all trapped and held captive by by hooded figures and everyone is forced to play a brutal and violent game or be killed.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

I haven't really seen any gory horror films yet, besides Dumplings, that was just more disturbing than gory. Any Asian horror flick will not disappoint in this realm. Welcome, Death Tube.

Death Tube is within the genre of the internet video chat horror flicks like Smiley. Except this one goes further into the world of the taboo and explores the subject matter of live snuff films. This is almost like the first Saw movie combined with the Darknet. Picture a sadist kidnapping his victims, putting them in separate rooms and toying with their lives by making them play games to save each other. That's the plot. Done and done.

The beginning of the film is pointless so we will skip to the games. There are various victims trapped in their own individual rooms. They can communicate with each other via their webcams. They can see each other and have all been presented with different tasks to complete. If they all complete their challenges within their respective time frames, their lives will be spared. As each one completes a task, the timer begins to wind down. One player down. The story keeps going until all players make it to the unexpected second round where they are all put against each other in yet more challenges. The whole film is just disturbing and awkward in a good way. For God's sake, did you see the picture above?

No factors were terrible. The real kicker is the ending. The unexpected comes to be the final "a-ha!" moment. If you've seen any Japanese movies or television then the crazy acting and over-the-top characters will not surprise you. It's a dark film with a dark nature but entertaining because it doesn't try to be anything else but a weird snuff oriented movie. Humorous at times and annoying at others.

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 18 - The House at the End of Time (La casa del fin de los tiempos)

Day 18:  The House at the End of Time (La casa del fin de los tiempos)
Via: Netflix
Release Date - 2013

Synopsis: Dulce encounters apparitions in her house and unleashes a terrible prophecy. Thirty years later, Dulce, now an old woman, returns to unravel the mystery that has terrorized her for years.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

I love, LOVE, movies that loop. This seemed like your typical scary movie. A woman, Dulce, and her family, 2 boys and husband live in somewhat poverty. There seems to be a spirit that haunts them and the film follows the pattern of scare here, scare there, possible explanations of the activity but nothing solid. The film is mainly focused on our main character, Dulce, who goes to jail for allegedly killing her husband. We only see a glimpse of said murder in the beginning scenes. We move forward in time to 30 years when she is out of jail and goes back to her move where the murder occurred. Ok, so before I go on, the only bad thing about this movie was the makeup on Dulce when we see her as an old woman. It looks really fake and plastic-looking.

The movie was a bit slow but the ending made it worth sticking with it.  I won't go into too much detail regarding the ending, but the story explains Dulce's troubles with her husband, a former marriage, the death of one of her boys and the actual murder we see in the beginning. Here is the kicker, all of this is explained through time travel. Yup. That's all I'll say. Because of its originality I believe this can be put in the same category as Cabin in the Woods. It starts out as any horror flick but the ending is so vastly different that it keeps you interested.

Great sound, editing, acting and plot. I was mad, sad and confused until the last moments.

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 17 - The Ward

Day 17:  The Ward
Via: Netflix
Release Date - 2010

Synopsis: No one believes the claims of a young woman (Amber Heard) that a dead patient is stalking the residents of the psychiatric facility.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

Wow, um, ok. This was terrible. I was hoping John Carpenter would blow me away like he did for The Thing or Halloween, but instead he yawned my day away. 
The plot is super simple and lame. Some girl gets put into a mental institution where she meets other girls like her. They are all haunted by some ghost that may be trying to get her revenge.

First of all, the editing is horrendous. There are several scenes where the timeline is in real time, but the way it is edited makes the viewer think more time has passed. It got really confusing. A lot of the beginning felt like they had too much footage of nothing and decided to make it into something. The acting was terrible, the effects were subpar and the ending tried too hard. The plot already had enough holes and lacked explanation for some important details but they just decided, hey, let's end it like Identity. Problem solved.

Nope. Didn't work. The only good thing was the cinematography and the sound engineering was pretty good. Other than that, this movie was not worth even a background noise position.

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 16 - A girl walks home alone at night.

Day 16:  A girl walks home alone at night
Via: Netflix
Release Date - 2014

Synopsis: Residents of a worn-down Iranian city encounter a skateboarding vampire (Sheila Vand) who preys on men who disrespect women.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

Ok, this is going to sound weird, but this movie was good, not great, but nothing really happens. It's not really a horror movie. I wasn't scared or jumped from anything. It is a love story, but not cheesy like any other sparkly vampire show or movie nowadays. I honestly cannot write much about this, just telling you the characters in the movie tells you all you need to know. There's a drug dealer, a junkie, a whore, a "bad boy", an innocent child and the skateboarding vampire. Acting was great, editing and cinematography was amazing but the plot was weak. Original but weak. I finished the film and wasn't sure how to feel. Like I said, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. I would not watch it again, but DO recommend anyone watches it once.

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 15 - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Day 15: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Via: Netflix
Release Date - 1920

Synopsis: At a carnival in Germany, Francis (Friedrich Feher) and his friend Alan (Rudolf Lettinger) encounter the crazed Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss). The men see Caligari showing off his somnambulist, Cesare (Conrad Veidt), a hypnotized man who the doctor claims can see into the future. Shockingly, Cesare then predicts Alan's death, and by morning his chilling prophecy has come true -- making Cesare the prime suspect. However, is Cesare guilty, or is the doctor controlling him?

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

Well, I'm pretty positive this is the film that inspired Tim Burton's style.
Sunken eyes, sharp corners and a woman whose physical attributes look very much like Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. This is another film I would prefer not to divulge in terms of the ending. It's from the 1920's, yet still threw me for a loop. I'm so used to quick edits, effects, sound, voices and anything that stimulates the senses that I grew a bit bored. That wasn't the film's fault. It's our current state of affairs with over stimulation via technology. I actually enjoyed this film very much. I can see why its ratings are so high. It's a classic. Great acting and editing and incredibly imaginative sets and atmosphere. The only I had a problem with was the lack of detail. There are many parts where the film leaves you guessing as to what the actors are saying. They try to fill in the gaps with actual text but some of the parts are just completely lost.

The story revolves around Dr. Caligari and Cesar. Cesar is a man who has been sleeping for 23 years straight and is a fortune teller. There is a string of murders that happen around the same time Dr. Caligari and Cesar show up. Who is really to blame?

That's basically it. Keep watching until the end.  

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 8 - ABC's of Death 1

Day 8: ABC's of Death

Via: Netflix

Release Date - 2012

Synopsis: An anthology of stories helmed by more than two dozen directors details 26 ways to die, each corresponding to a different letter of the alphabet.

SPOILER ALERT - No plots given, only my like and dislike.

Like the ABC's of Death 2, I will just write if I liked it or not since plots are so short.

However, before you read the rest, click the link below for a story of an Ohio teacher jailed for 90 days for showing this movie to her Spanish class.

Ohio teacher jailed story here

*Liked

**Loved

A is for Apocalypse - Not a bad start to the series. Good effects, good emotion and surprise ending.

B is for Bigfoot - Meh, storyline is overdone and effects are lame.

C is for Cycle - Confusing plot, bad acting and worse effects.

*D is for Dogfight - Unique story with surprising ending and very well shot.

E is for Exterminate - Super cheesy CGI completely killed 

F is for Fart - Leave it to the Japanese to make a fart-horror flick. Alas, it was just dumb.

G is for Gravity - This was by far, the stupidest short ever. It's as dumb as the title suggests.

H is for Hydro-Electric Diffusion - This one was just odd, and not in a good way. People dressed up as furries. Nazis and a giant killing machine. Unique but not worth watching.

I is for Ingrown - Boring. Just a typical killing scene from any other horror film.

**J is for Jidai-geki (Samurai Movie) - This was HUGELY entertaining. The effects alone made this worthwhile. It's humorous and disturbing.

*K is for Klutz - Although the death scene kind of a last thought, this cartoon short was pretty funny.

**L is for Libido - WOW! Disturbing in so many ways. Highly sexual and lots of bodily fluids. Awesome!

M is for Miscarriage - Dumb, just dumb.

*N is for Nuptials - Funny and unique plot with a parrot.

**O is for Orgasm - Beautiful concept of the word and a fetish. Creepy, sexy and stimulating.

*P is for Pressure - Deals with an unknown, disturbing fetish and has a real world narrative.

*Q is for Quack - Funny take on their short's subject matter. Not great, but not bad.

*R is for Removed - Very interesting ideas here, effects were pretty good and storyline was bizarre.

S is for Speed - Very Robert Rodriguez. Started out good but the grim reaper was really lame.

**T is for Toilet - Amazing claymation short about a simple and humorous subject.

U is for Unearthed - Non-imaginative and dull.

**V is for Vagitus - Very unique story and the effects are pretty well done. Great little action short.

W is for WTF! - Too random and poor makeup.

**X is for XXL - Very disturbing and sad. Great effects and ending.

*Y is for Youngbuck - Disturbing subject matter, great cinematography and editing. Makes you feel dirty.

*Z is for Zetsumetsu - Just plain bizarre scenes filled with gore an nudity.

31 Days of 31 Horror Movies for Halloween: Day 5 - The Woman in Black

Day 5: The Woman in Black

Via: Amazon Prime

Release Date - 2012

Synopsis: Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), a lawyer, is recently widowed and grieving the loss of his wife when he is sent to a remote village to put a deceased eccentric's affairs in order. Soon after his arrival, it becomes clear that the villagers are hiding a terrible secret. Kipps discovers that his late client's house is haunted by the spirit of a woman who is trying to find someone and something she lost, and that no one -- not even the children -- is safe from her terrible wrath.

SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.

Woke up with a nasty migraine, alas I have to write this to keep my goal. Better late than never.

Ok, so let's get right into it. Harry Potter 9 -  The Bitchy Witch! We see Harry as a father and apparently Ginevra Molly and their two other kids have died or gone missing, or somethin'. Harry has to visit a village haunted by a dementor and the only way to get rid of it is by swimming in mud. 
Wait, um, I'm being told by my producers this is not Harry Potter 9.
My bad, sorry.


Nothing sets the tone to a film more than children leaping to their deaths. 
Arthur Kipps (Harry Potter), is a lawyer who is dealing with financial issues as well as still grieving the loss of his wife. He has to prove to his boss at the firm that he is willing and capable of being successful. He takes a case that seems simple on paper; get all paperwork from a deceased woman's household regarding her will and other legal matters not finalized. He leaves town for a few days in order to get the paperwork himself. Arthur seems determined but also worried for his future and that of his son. A warm but quick sendoff captures the love Arthur has for his son. He arrives at his destination but is met with hostility from the villagers. His presence angers and frightens them. Arthur makes several attempts to get his work resolved but is quickly met with villagers trying to get rid of him. Arthur ignores their behavior and insists he be able to do his job. He bribes the man who is supposed to take him back to the station to take him to the house of the deceased woman. It's very island-like and access to the house is limited according to the tide. 

He visits the house and encounters some odd activity. When finished he returns to the village only to find out  there has been a a tragedy involving one of the village children. The villagers look at Arthur with heightened anger as he walks through town. He doesn't know how. Arthur befriends a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Daily. They seem to be the only people in town who are sympathetic to Arthur's work. They reveal to him the nature of the house and the woman who lived there. The woman had a son out of wedlock and was forced to give him up for adoption to his wealthy sister. The boy's new family was involved in a carriage accident that left the boy drowning to his death and never knowing his true mother. The mother kills herself and haunts the village to take her revenge on the families. If she can't have a family, no one can. The story is that if anyone disturbs her at her house, a child will die. 

There are a lot of good moments throughout the film that create a deep and depressing atmosphere as well as some good jump scares. I felt the tension, I felt the sadness, the sympathy for Arthur, the desperation and his fear. Until...it got cheesy. Yet another film that seemed to be so good towards the beginning, but then turned predictable and unimaginative at the second half. As soon as I found out the woman's back story, I knew she would have to be reunited with her son to get the closure she craved, or at least Arthur would have to do something to please the spirit. 

At the end of the film we do get to see an ending not fit for American audiences, which was good. However, it was done so fast and without real narrative that it just felt forced. Our protagonist and his son die in a train incident caused by the woman in black. Arthur is reunited with his deceased wife and they all live happily ever after even if it's the after life.

This leaves an open door to a bad sequel.