Bullying works! I finally made the guys watch a David Lynch Film!SynopsisFire Walk With Me serves as a prequel to the hit 90s tv show Twin Peaks, following the seemingly inexplicable murder of a high school girl named Teresa Banks, investigated by FBI Agent Chet Desmond (Chris Isaak) and Agent Sam Stanley (Kiefer Sutherland). Flash forward to a year later and we get to go back to Twin Peaks to see the last few days of the tragic Laura Palmer’s (Sheryl Lee) life, and the events that led to her untimely demise.ReviewI originally watched Twin Peaks in high school due to seeing so much about it on Tumblr and it ended up being my intro to Lynch’s work. I love the show so I checked out the movie afterwards and it blew my mind. This is either the third or fourth time I’ve seen it, and it’s just as effective as the first. It’s eccentric and unsettling enough to keep you on your toes as you watch, but it also keeps so many secrets to the truth about Twin Peaks, about Bob, about Laura that it … [Read more...] about Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me Review
Presence Review
SynopsisWhen a family of four moves into a new house, the teenage daughter Chloe (played by Callina Liang) suspects they are not alone, and with the recent passing of her best friend looming in her mind, she thinks the presence in the house is the ghost of her late friend. Her mother, Rebecca (played by Lucy Liu) and brother, Tyler (played by Eddy Maday) choose to not believe Chloe because of her state of grief, while her dad, Chris (played by Chris Sullivan) tries to help his daughter. When the whole family witnesses Tyler’s bedroom become destroyed with no logical explanation, they all start to believe Chloe’s grief filled fantasies might have more basis in fact than fiction.ReviewI had not heard one single thing about this film, I hadn’t even seen a trailer for it, but when Bryce said, “we gotta review the new Soderbergh horror movie that comes out this week,” I was very intrigued, and I was not disappointed. This movie hit home for me in ways that I did not expect, and I usually … [Read more...] about Presence Review
Nosferatu (2024) Review
SynopsisTell me, does evil come from within us, or beyond?This film follows Ellen (played by Lily-Rose Depp), and her husband, Thomas (played by Nicholas Hoult) as Thomas takes a new job that requires him to go to a strange land to broker a real estate deal with the mysterious Count Orlok. While Ellen begs him not to go, he does anyways, and she starts having nightmares and fits of madness while he’s away. Thomas quickly realizes he’s in for a lot more than a house sale once he arrives at the Count’s castle, and Ellen, Thomas, and a gang of professors and doctors have to work together to defeat the darkness.ReviewExcellent is not a good enough word to describe this movie. It is exceptional, phenomenal, show-stopping, incredible, stupendous. This is truly a spectacle to see in the theater. The costuming is gorgeous and intricate. Every single actor brought their A-game. The atmosphere and set dressing completely immerse you into the world of 1838 Germany and the mysteries of the … [Read more...] about Nosferatu (2024) Review
Red Christmas Review
SynopsisRed Christmas follows a blended family headed by matriarch Diane (Dee Wallace) as they prepare to celebrate Christmas together. When an unexpected cloaked figure pops up on their doorstep and insists on reading a letter he wrote for his mother to the family, long time secrets Diane has been keeping are revealed, along with a suspicious murderous spree. ReviewThere is a fine line between a campy movie and a really bad movie, and this film toes that line swimmingly. The movie is insane, it makes no sense at times, it’s funny, it’s wacky, it has really good kills, and it’s a Christmas movie. What better way to get into the Christmas spirit than to watch someone get axed hotdog style. I like this movie for its campiness, it’s very entertaining and while a lot of the plot is not logical, it is a fun slasher movie that you can enjoy with a cup of hot cocoa and some figgy pudding. It’s not the best movie of all time but it’s not trying to be. It’s trying to be a campy slasher romp, … [Read more...] about Red Christmas Review
The Blackcoat’s Daughter Review
SynopsisOz Perkins’s debut feature film follows two girls, Kat and Rose, who attend a Catholic boarding school in upstate New York. When both of their parents fail to pick them up for February break, Rose is put in charge of taking care of Kat. We also follow an older girl named Joan, who seems as if she has escaped a psych ward and is on the run, when she meets a respectful couple who offer to take her to where she needs to go. Kat believes her parents have died and they are no longer going to pick her up, while Rose struggles with the possibility of being pregnant and does not look after Kat like she was supposed to. Suspicions about Kat’s late night unsupervised hijinx and Joan’s motivations for traveling rise as the mysteries unfold to the viewer’s unsuspecting but curious eyes.ReviewI love this film. This is either the third or fourth time I’ve watched it and I always forget how it ends. The mystery of all of the characters and their motivations is intriguing and special. Right … [Read more...] about The Blackcoat’s Daughter Review
Darling (2015) Review with Jordyn Wilson
SynopsisA woman called Darling is hired to house sit at a fancy, old, big haunted house in the middle of New York City. As she spends her days alone, she figures out the house’s ghostly past and slowly succumbs to the madness of the house’s, and her own, lore.ReviewI first watched this movie back in high school and thought it was the epitome of slow burn, creepy, woman-goes-insane horror films. As I have a lot more horror movie experience now (and film experience in general), I realize that this is basically a rip off of Repulsion (1965). This isn’t to say it’s a bad movie by any means; the many jump cuts and jump scares keep you on your toes (it could be argued that there are too many of these quick scenes), and there is an overall eerie feeling that is hard to shake once you finish. But, it’s not the best movie of a woman going insane. There are plenty of those, horror or not, that execute the trope a lot better than this one did. The first act is boring as all hell but the second … [Read more...] about Darling (2015) Review with Jordyn Wilson
The Substance Review
SynopsisThe Substance follows Elisabeth Sparkle, a big time celebrity host of an 80s workout tv show, who turns 50 years old and gets sacked in pursuit of someone younger and “hotter” to host the show. After getting in a car crash, she meets a mysterious stranger who tells her about the substance, which can create a younger, more beautiful, better version of yourself. Lizzie decides to go through with this, and the results change the rest of her life forever.ReviewThis movie is a doozy. It’s fun and stylistic and seemingly poses an important question about misogyny in Hollywood, women not being allowed to age, the emphasis on beauty no matter how painful, etc, but the commentary falls flat. In Coralie Fargeat’s first film, Revenge, I noticed a very similar occurrence. There is potential in The Substance for important discussions, but it turns into an extremist monster-esque chaotic clusterfuck instead of really giving us some answers, or at least worthwhile commentary. The film is more … [Read more...] about The Substance Review
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review
SynopsisBeetlejuice Beetlejuice picks up thirty years after the events of the first film, with Delia Deetz being a famous artist, Lydia having her own ghost adventures type show, and her daughter Astrid being a goth angsty teen. The Deetz family has to deal with the sudden loss of the paternal figure in their lives while also grappling with their own individual battles. When Astrid, played by Jenna Ortega, gets stuck in the afterlife and Beetlejuice’s ex wife Delores, played by Monica Belluci, starts stalking him, Lydia makes another glorious deal with Beetlejuice to save her daughter and get Monica Belluci off Beetlejuice’s back. Chaos ensues.ReviewAs I’ve said many times, I am not a big fan of sequels. I was not very excited to see this, since it is a sequel so many years after the first I figured it was another cash grab. That very well might be true, but I unexpectedly had a really fun time watching this. Michael Keaton soars as the titular character once again, and with this star … [Read more...] about Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review
Trap Review
SynopsisTrap is a movie that follows Cooper, a seemingly normal dad who takes his daughter, Riley, to her favorite artist’s concert. Once there, Cooper is told that the whole concert is a trap to catch a serial killer who is colloquially called The Butcher. Plot twist (but not a plot twist because it is given in the trailer) is that Cooper is the Butcher, and he needs to find a way to escape the heavily guarded arena without getting caught.ReviewI was very excited for this movie, I thought the trailer looked awesome and M Night has some good hits (The Visit, Signs, obviously The Sixth Sense). After about fifteen minutes of pure concert, I was completely checked out. This movie is boring, it is unfulfilling, the trailer gives away most of the interesting plot. Even though a serial killer trying not to get caught while surrounded by SWAT teams and the FBI is really high stakes, the movie doesn’t make that apparent whatsoever. The classic ending “twist” that M Night always does falls flat … [Read more...] about Trap Review
Grave Encounters Review
SynopsisGrave Encounters follows a Zak Baggins/Ghost Adventures type crew while they film their first season of the titular show, constantly in search of new scares and not afraid to create their own for movie magic. They go to stay at an abandoned mental hospital in Maryland, where they get locked inside for 8 hours in hopes of getting some good footage and getting the hell out of there. Not expecting to see anything out of the ordinary, they are in for more than they bargained for.Review of Grave EncountersThis is a very fun movie. There’s plenty of things to laugh at throughout to relieve you from the unexpected jump scares of ghouls and goblins. It’s not as serious and dreadful as something like Paranormal Activity, but it’s not trying to be something like that. They don’t waste much time getting into the nitty gritty of how haunted the asylum really is. The pacing is good and the scares are effective even on a repeat watch. The main problem I have with this movie is that the end … [Read more...] about Grave Encounters Review