Day 22: Nightbreed Via: Netflix Release Date - 1990 Synopsis: Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer) is haunted by terrifying nightmares of a city of monsters. He goes to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Decker (David Cronenberg), for help. But what Boone doesn't know is that Decker is really a serial killer. Decker frames Boone to take the fall for his murders, and Boone is killed by the police. But Boone is brought back to life by the monsters of his dreams, the Nightbreed, who in turn join Boone in his quest to stop Decker from killing again. SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read. Hmmmm...this was an interesting film. When watching a Clive Barker flick, one must remember to always be open to the ridiculousness that is Clive Barker's creatures and twisted imagination. With that said, it wasn't a bad movie, it also wasn't a good movie. It was pure entertainment. Our main character is Boone. Your typical "bad boy" renegade who is apparently mentally disturbed. Or so his psychiatrist, Dr. Decker, wants him to think so. The film has several stories going on which made it a bit messy. I believe if they had made a separate movie about Dr. Decker and Boone it would have been a great slasher film. The fantasy story line with the monsters would have been a great separate movie in itself. In any case, Boone is haunted by his thoughts. He knows of an unknown, dark world that calls to him. This world is inhabited by the Nightbreed. Tortured souls left to live in the underground of a cemetery. Meanwhile, Boone's psychiatrist is trying to convince Boone he is guilty of murdering several families in his sleep, when in fact, it is the doctor himself, who is carrying out all of these deaths. That's basically it. Tons of explosions, an exorbitant amount of weapons owned by the Canadian police or mounty, hunting Boone and the Nightbreed, a love story that has tragedies and extreme french kissing, and lots of boobs. Also, very funny parts due to some dramatic acting by all characters. This is a movie you have to watch and just enjoy.
Day 2: The Babadook Via: Netflix Release Date - 2014 Synopsis: A troubled widow (Essie Davis) discovers that her son is telling the truth about a monster that entered their home through the pages of a children's book. SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read. Netflix kept insisting I watch this, as did several friends. I wanted to see what the hype was all aboooot, so I made it a point to watch this for my "31 Days of 31 Horror Movies". So, let's dive in. Also, The Power Rangers make an appearance. Ok, so already it's been less than a minute and the narrative of the film is dark, depressing and real.
There is an accident/dream sequence that takes place at the very start that may or may not end up being real later. We are introduced to a single mother (Amelia) who is clearly tired and disheveled from taking care of her rambunctious son (Sam). He seems to have a great imagination and lots of energy, which for the most part, seems to annoy his mother. However, there are several times that we see Amelia backing off from her child's displays of affection. Why so cold, mama? I guess we'll find out. So we find out that 7 years ago, Amelia and her husband were on their way to the hospital because Amelia was in labor. That night, there was a big rain storm which caused the terrible conditions for an automobile accident that killed the father but not Amelia or unborn Sam. The accident scene sets the tone for the doomed relationship between mother and son. Amelia is a good mother; she takes care of Sam but does not go out of her way to show much affection towards the child. Sam, meanwhile is overbearing with affection but is a troubled boy. He gets into a good amount of trouble at school and seems wired all the time. Tension seems to build throughout this introduction to the main characters and we get a peek of The Babadook. As Sam gets suspended from school for bringing a weapon, we see the repercussions of his actions affecting his mother to the point of madness and exhaustion. To make matters worse, both start taking medication to relax and sleep. Meanwhile, we see that Sam has an obsession with having to hear his favorite book (The Babadook) read. Even though it clearly upsets him. Ok, just a quit rant about the book itself. The craftsmanship and artwork of the book seen in the film, is amazing. Subtle and creepy with a limited color palette. The handmade aspect really gives the book a life of its own, which I believe helps sell the idea that this may be haunted or have an evil nature. All is well throughout the first half. Sound effects, cinematography, acting, editing, mood setting, writing; all of it, solid. Amelia reminds me of Carrie through her demeanor and overall look. Essie Davis (Amelia) and Noah Wiseman (Sam), are phenomenal. You really feel the tension between a woman who feels guilty for wishing her son was dead and a child who just wants to protect and love his mother unconditionally. They suck you in with their subtle gestures and facial expressions while their tone of voice and mood illustrate a deep undertone of sadness, confusion and despair. This movie was really amazing until The Babadook "entered" Amelia. After a chaotic uphill and warnings from Sam about The Babadook, we finally get to see hints of it and its dark nature. Here, is where the mood changes. It's almost as if the director wanted to do the first half of the film European-style, and the second half, like an American horror flick. By that I mean that the second half seemed lazy and cheesy. The acting went from subtle and rich, to obnoxious and over the top. Granted, she's supposed to be possessed or whatever, but it was too much. Amelia seemed to scream like a banshee every time she got the chance and her creepy laugh needed practice; it seemed forced. Not to mention the sound effects used were even horrific, and not in the good, spooky way. The Babadook's growls sound like some amateur, death metal singer trying to do a pig squeal. In addition, there is nothing more annoying to me than lazy sound engineers. I was deep into the movie, but once I heard The Babadook's scream, I immediately turned my brain into humor mode and the scare factor was gone. The following is why my brain turned to humor: The exact moment we see Amelia's eye open wide after The Babadook enters her body, we hear the screech that was made famous by none other than the Dragonzord from The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Go ahead, take a listen from the Youtube video. CHEESE! Even if they had used a different sound here, the plot falls short and ends like a typical American horror film. It turns into a lackluster yet quick sprint to the end. The film spent so much time creating this somber atmosphere but it did the exact opposite to finish out the story. We don't find out exactly why The Babadook enters the mother, we don't know where the book came from, or its origins, we don't really have closure since Amelia is seen feeding worms to The Babadook. (Why it eats worms, I have no idea). Plus, at the end of the day, The Babadook isn't even scary looking. Everything wraps up into a nice, neat, little package with The Babadook looking like an ill-tempered pet ghost. For an evil being, this thing is mighty whipped. Now watch me WHIP, watcha me...oh wait, sorry. The obvious: The film is beautiful. Shots and edits really set the mood and the color palette throughout is used wisely to enhance the scenes. I already mentioned how much I loved the craftsmanship of the book and the first half's plot and acting. The bad: Falls short of even an "OK" ending. As much as I enjoyed part of it, I would not re-watch this.
Synopsis: A mentally fragile college student (Caitlin Gerard) believes that she will be the next victim of a serial killer who can be summoned through the Internet.
SPOILER ALERT - If you have not seen the movie do not read.
Well, for starters I chose a movie suggested by Amazon after my history of Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal were put into consideration.
Psychotic breakdowns, a weird love story between a pretty girl and a nerd, internet gibberish and kids getting killed through a rip-off of Chatroulette. Yeah, it sounds interesting, but because it lacked good writing and acting, it was subpar at best.
Our protagonist (Ashley) is some big-boobed, young blonde who has issues from the get-go. She is moving away to college and is presented as this innocent, little thing that has been dealing with mommy issues. She is seen throughout the film talking to therapists, talking about her therapy or mentioning her therapy to someone else. It’s like they really want you to know this gal is insane. She’s the typical awkward new kid in town trying to make friends. She befriends some brunette (Proxy...get it? It's an internet thing) who is clearly the one to help her break out of her shell by being the "bad-chick". They end up going to a college party where Proxy introduces Ashley to some of her friends. Enter the cult-like group of hackers who are surprisingly handsome, social and cool. A dweeb crashes the party, gets kicked out, but not before grabbing the attention of our blond beauty. They have a "moment" and shortly after gets thrown out. Nothing really happens for about 20 minutes besides a few kids being killed by Smiley, Ashley acting "cray" and the dweeb getting closer to her. The premise of the “scare factor” is that some unknown killer goes around slicing kids after they type “I did it for the lulz” three times while doing a video chat. It's like signing in to your Facetime or Chatroulette and the person on the other end wishes death upon you and it happens. Swiftly, I might add. Let me tell you right away how ridiculous this idea seems. Even if you knew the exact IP address of the person on the other side, you still have to factor in location, travel time and the skills of a ninja to pull off a Smiley-type of murder. Granted, boogieman stories aren’t supposed to be logical...which explains the lack of urgency from anyone, including the police regarding the murders of all these kids.
Our poor, little, innocent Ash is clearly developing some "cojones" and wants to put an end to the senseless violence so she takes action. I won't go into details, but I'll say this...the ending seems like a rip-off of Scream with the “reveal” of the cult-like group being the ones behind the murders all along. There are several typical horror scenes where our big-boobed girl walks in the wrong direction, gets surprised by the killer walking slow and screams for her life without anybody noticing. Even the surprise at the end showing the “real” Smiley killing the hot friend, Proxy, seemed predictable. This flick wasn’t even good for background noise. Not very exciting for the first of 31 flicks.
The obvious: Writing is weak, acting is poor, plot has holes and is predictable, special effects are cheesy.
The only good thing about the movie was the cinematography; well edited and shot.
I would steer clear from this one and watch Unsolved Mysteries instead.
