I think I remember seeing this one back in the day randomly on TV. Now I'm seeing it air on FLIXe channel. It's inspiring for young middle school viewers. Some parts reminded me of myself when I was that young, how sometimes strict parents tend to be unsupportive of what we do, and being one of the best spellers in my class. While Akeelah's rhythm has to do with keeping time, my little thing that I did was count my fingers. My 6th grade class thought I was weird when I did that. So when the next big word came, and I didn't use my fingers due to previous embarrassment, I misspelled it; completely lost my rhythm. There's a lesson to be learned from that.
Anyway, there's a familiar cast here. Every time I see Laurence Fishburne, I kept thinking Morpheus from The Matrix (1999). I also remember Lee Thompson Young, who was Jett Jackson/Silverstone, and had sadly passed away some years ago. It's nice to see the soulful support Akeelah received from her neighborhood and community.
Brought some friends to see this one tonight; We liked it; thought it was alright, not great though. It's a neat update with some newer tech thrown in, more camera views, but even the latest technology won't do you any good in these woods. The many jump scares, shouting and screaming may be quite annoying.
Parts of Blair Witch (2016) remind me of other horrors such as Evil Dead (2013), The Descent (2005), REC (2007), and especially P.T. (the Silent Hills demo game from Konami). Of course, being directed by Adam Wingard, there's a resemblance to some of the shorts from the V/H/S series.
Shadows in Lights Out
will surround you in the night
One must fight with light
#HorrorHaikuesday
a pleasant origin story starr. John Lithgow as the main villain; hard to believe that John Carpenter was supposedly the original director but was rejected, I would've loved to see how it would turn out
Predictable, but at least there were some cute faces. I do like some of the songs they played for a few scenes. I'm trying to find who they are by even though they weren't in the end credits.
If Breakfast Club turned into a slasher horror film, this would be it.
Brett and Erica are perfect for each other.:wink:
This is the first one I rent on FandangoNow, and watched it with a friend tonight. Interesting characters and a plot that'll keep you guessing and trying to connect the dots, splits you off into multiple directions towards the final act, then pulls you right back on the original track. It's a thriller with some horror elements where some parts reminded me of I Saw The Devil (2010) and the Fatal Frame horror game series which I've been playing throughout the month of October. There's also some very nice photography of the horizon planted in there as well. Just be careful not to fall for the trap.
Finally getting around to seeing this after all these years. I caught it tonight on Showtime Beyond about 30 minutes in, and getting the gist of what the film is about. Its got a pretty cool concept, and just as I thought it'd be, it's pretty much a MAD MAX set at the open waters/the oceans. I recognized some of the faces; Dennis Hopper always makes for a humorous villain. The action sequence towards the end definitely has that typical Universal Pictures directing style to it. I miss original action movies like this that uses practical effects and hand-built sets. I don't know why it's got so much flack back then or even to this day. But I personally enjoyed it for what it is. There was even an NES game based on Waterworld, and was just as "bad" as the film. The soundtrack sounds great too in this. The end scene reminded me of the end scene in Vampire Hunter D (1985); just the way it was shot is just so similar to each other - coincidence maybe. Too bad there was never a sequel, or at least not one I'm aware of.
I really like the concept of this. It's one of those topics that linger in our human minds long after seeing the film. I like the added sunglasses touch to contacts, and oh man that extended fight scene was the longest. Just when you thought it was over, they just keep on swinging, haha. Then jumping through portals which was very well shot, kudos John Carpenter. The music however could groove up a bit. The Blu-ray release from Scream Factory is definitely a must own. It would be interesting to see how this would fair in a modern take.
Slotherhouse is possibly my favorite of the year
I give it three toes up!
#RushSloth #KillerSloth
Influencer was a decent indie spooker, fresh faces, nice soundtrack reminiscent to some of the 2012 era songs I would find while browsing Soundcloud, makes use of trendy tech of now, parts of it reminded me of Shutter and Cast Away, I'd give it a Yes
Come get some!
Evil Dead Rise was a bloodbath! It's a vicious non-stop roller coaster ride all the way, and I enjoyed every bit of it. Aside from the Ash vs Evil Dead show, it's possibly the bloodiest of the past films thus far, practical effects galore, with the fresh grittiness of the previous 2013 entry, Evil Dead. A person sitting to the right for me was a bit skirmish by some of the body horror that occurred, so the film is definitely doing what it's set out to do. I was smiling and nodding much of the way through at how dark, creepy, and gruesome some of the scenes were. Maybe not to the level of The Sadness (2021 Taiwanese spooker), but still pretty well done. Alyssa Sutherland (Ellie) and Lily Sullivan (Beth) did grate :wink: and I look forward to seeing more of their work in future films. To have most of the event take place within the old LA-based apartment building reminds me of a lot of other spookers like Argento's Demons films, Child's Play, Rosemary's Baby, and even some Archive 81 with the extended lore. Some of the hallway, elevator scenes, and a child in mind remind me a lot of The Eye 2, Dark Water, and The Shining while the parking level was like P2 (2007 holiday horror). I did enjoy some of the punchlines from the character dialogue, especially from Kassie. I and few others in the theater couldn't help but giggle and laugh at some of the lines while still maintaining some of the bleakness of the 2013. A few nods here and there to past Evil Dead films are noted, which is always nice. Though, I was expecting to see more lore about the past of the building like what happened in the later half of Archive 81 (which had sadly been cancelled by Netflix). You can definitely see the contrast of how the family is like at the beginning to how they are like by the end of the film. Having this Evil Dead entry focus on a family is a good direction for the franchise that I feel would hit home for a lot of folks, so I'm glad they went this route. It would also pave way for even more strange hellish (Silent Hill-like) deadite designs for future iterations. By now, I've already heard and seen interviews with the cast members stating how some of the alternate endings would've been like, some of which didn't make it to the final cut of the film, but I'm hoping they would add them to the Blu-ray release at some point. Otherwise, I look forward to even grater Evil Dead films in the future! :cheese::cat:
F*CK SPACE!
Kids vs Aliens was a blast! It was everything I was expecting from the V/H/S/2 segment with even more neon, Nickelodeon slime, monsties, and post-The Goonies/The Gate/Fire in the Sky/Stranger Things action! :space_invader: Expect a lot of F-bombs and practical effects. It would be cool to see Sam meet up with Sienna (from Terrifier 2) within a crossover realm of indie spookers ⚔
Just got back from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, 'twas a FUNtastic family film, lots of neat Easter eggs for life-long fans of the old-school (like myself)! :spades: Having Jack Black cast as Bowser is probably one of the best things about this because character-wise they match so well (along the rock music which made me think of his band Tenacious D and School of Rock). Charles Martinet voiced a couple of side characters as well; sharp listeners will know whom :wink:. I always thought that if they could make an original animated film like Wreck-It Ralph, imagine if there would be a new Mario movie in similar fashion; well finally this would be it. This time, Illumination with Nintendo's involvement, it's done just right. I grew up with the games, the Super Show animated series (along with Captain N and Legend of Zelda), as well as the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, so having the Mario Rap at the beginning couldn't have been more perfect. This 2023 reboot is more in line with the 1986 Japanese animated film, Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach but done in modern 3D-CG style. The pacing is a bit on the quick side, but I think it works well to keep the audience, especially the younger ones, more attentive, as there's always something happening, with a couple of resting points here and there. The music cues were on point, and I think original games' composer Koji Kondo must be proud to hear each of the classic melodies orchestrated as each character and areas are introduced on screen. There are some licensed classic 80s pop/rock songs thrown in too for general fun (The Beastie Boys, A-HA, Bonnie Tyler). Story-wise, it's as simple as one would expect where the hero(es) fights the villain, resulting in a satisfying ending much like recent video game related films such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. NES era references can be spotted like Kid Icarus, Punch-Out!!, Wrecking Crew, Pauline (from Donkey Kong), Duck Hunt, Ice Climbers, as well as the Arwing from (Star Fox), Luigi's ringtone is the GameCube intro, DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64, Super Mario Bros. 3/World/64/Sunshine/Galaxy/Odyssey, and of course the Mario Kart series. There were even some older Nintendo references in there like the Nintendo Playing Cards Spade logo on one of the buildings, "Help Me, Jump Man", and a "Disk-kun" on one of the shops which is a reference to the Famicom Disk System. There's also a mid-credits and a little something at the end of the credits, so stick around for those. :egg::star:
- knocks on door seven times * :door:
Knock at the Cabin was alright for me, simple but still an interesting topic; good to see on a Sunday as it taps on certain beliefs, but I probably won't see it again for a long time.. a couple of amusing moments though, and mentions of Boston/Massachusetts, and I noticed Shyamalan's been using those second-person shots lately like in Old and Servant ⛱
There were moments where it reminded me a bit of American Ninja (1985) and the Hannibal TV series, and then Bryan Fuller's name scrolls up during the Special Thanks credit hah, pretty fun but okay watch :deer:
Catching the original classic '54 Godzilla on Shout! Factory TV just now hosted by John Carpenter as part of the Masters of Monsters marathon for Godzilla Day! (November 3, 2022).
I've seen the US cut with the typical inaccurate English dub back when it aired on TV in the early 90s which I believe was a marathon on the TNT channel. Really neat to see it again in its original uncut Japanese form, thanks to the recent remaster/edit from Criterion. As Carpenter mentioned, it's a great representation of the post-war "somber" portrayed on film. :popcorn::dragon_face:
We're continuing Masters of Monsters on ShoutFactoryTV's Twitch tomorrow with Rodan (1956) and Carpenter commentary!
Loved it! Gore, lore, Art, and music from The Midnight and Miami Nights 1984 :sunglasses: I paired Terrifier 2 (currently on Screambox) along with the new Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXIII (on Hulu) tonight and found a couple of coincidences :clown::knife::gun::hamster::jack_o_lantern:
These Halloween films will always be a mixed bag, like a bag of Halloween candy. I thought it was fine; plot-wise probably not everyone's cup of tea, and I recognized a few surprising faces that appeared in Ends that probably would fly over folks' heads (original actor for The Shape and Darcy :wink:), some neat little details and references sprinkled in there (transition of the jack-o-lantern pumpkins in the classic style intro, The Thing '82 on TV, old photos from the '78, reflections on the knife and blood, key notes on the piano, camerawork). Overall, I still think the trilogy of sequel films is a nice alternative timeline told by Blumhouse, and it was just neat to see one way of how one would tell an ending to this story.
Lock the doors or let
himitevil inside :knife:
Anyway, I'm already waiting for there to be a Season of the Witch trilogy! :jack_o_lantern::mage::skull:
Prey was prey-ty decent and met my expectations knowing the premise. I would place it at third, Predator '87 still best and Predator 2 at number two (big fan of them as a kid), then the others after, and there's one cool connection in Prey to the older film that I'm glad about that most probably won't catch :gun:
Watching in Comanche language reminded me of another similar film with native action, The Dead Lands (2014), got it on Blu-ray, which I think was one of the first in Maori language. This one's definitely different, but I didn't notice it using the iconic Predator theme at all, could be the audio selection. One scene also reminded me of The NeverEnding Story (1984), you'll know once you get to it :wink:
Good thing I decided to watch Rumble today as I solved today's Wordle! Owe it to this King :dog: #RumbleMovie #ParamountPlus
The Summit of the Gods is a definite yes for me :white_check_mark: I've always been fascinated by French animation, and this one offered something different with a great message at the end, left me teary-eyed. The art/animation style and soundtrack are great. It features an old-fashioned camera (obscura?); at least I think it's a more compact camera obscura since I've been replaying a Fatal Frame game as of late. :camera: It also reminded me a bit of Cursed Mountain, the survival horror game on Wii, that I played and live-streamed on an old streaming site (Ustream) back when the game launched in 2009 and was among the first to upload gameplay footage of it (on YouTube). But yeah, this one pairs nicely with A Boy Called Christmas, both are on Netflix. There was also the 2015 Everest if you want more like this story and feel (in live-action) starring Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Josh Brolin - the three J's! :sweat_smile: and the 2016 live-action take on the manga that this was based on called Everest: The Summit of the Gods :snow_capped_mountain:
It's a slow one, more on the drama side with close to no action, some pop references thrown in (Bram Stoker's Dracula, Blade), nice visuals though and lots of neon, so unless that's what you're looking for, have at it. Two of these actors could go well as Leon and Ada Wong for the live-action Resident Evil movie. Night Teeth is another one to pair this up with, kinda similar, but not sure if I should.. sink my teeth into it hah. Meanwhile season three of What We Do In The Shadows tho :eyes:
They really set the tone for the 90s slasher film right from the get go; very Scream and Urban Legends style mixed with Goosebumps, and rightfully so because director Leigh Janiak did a couple of episodes of the Scream TV series. I find it to be a perfect fit for this three-part Fear Street film series based on the books by RL Stine. The pacing is great, keeps you interested throughout, but do expect the typical horror tropes of this era. I was able to spot a Stephen King novel and a few of the Fear Street books (as Robert Lawrence aka RL Stine :wink:) in that book store, a Nintendo Game Boy at school, Josh using AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), wearing an Iron Maiden shirt, playing Castlevania on Sega Genesis, and soundtrack included songs from Nine Inch Nails, Garbage, Radiohead, Cypress Hill, The Prodigy, White Zombie. It was oozing with 90s nostalgia, even if they were inaccurate with them. I liked the use of colors reds and blues, and the lighting for the night time scenes. I won't say much about the story, but these three films do involve going through different periods of time which I find really intriguing. The end of 1994 got me really excited for the next two installments which will have us go to a 1978 camp setting :camping: and then 1666 when the cursed started :mage:. That's also what I noticed on the movie poster art is that each of the weapons represents the generation or year that each of films are set in. It's a fun one, so I recommend watching this (and the rest of the trilogy) with a friend who also enjoys spooky time if you can. :knife:
Superdeep definitely had The Thing vibes and reminded me of other similar ones like The Void, Alien vs Predator, and a little bit of Pandorum. I'm super glad Shudder picked this up 'cause the premise sounded super intriguing. The directing style and soundtrack was interesting, and the practical special effects were very well done. Expect a lot of dark scenes and lots of red. Be warned, it's a slow-paced sci-fi spooker (all the S'! :sweat_smile:), but still an interesting and solid one from Russia. The English dub matched the characters well though.
I watched this new Conjuring on June 6th, 6PM :smiling_imp: thanks to HBO Max! It has a more detective-y mystery vibe going here kind of like what they had in The Conjuring 2 film except it takes place in Massachusetts (my area :sweat_smile:). At least you get to see more of the Warrens and a peak of the couple's history in this. I noticed a lot of reds used in this whereas the first Conjuring was yellow, and the second Conjuring was blue, primary colors, which is quite symbolic for the trilogy. The red may have symbolized the love/passion, and I noticed some of that in the characters here. There was an under-the-house scene that made me think of Dead Silence (2007), the James Wan film. Objects that spawned the spin-off films can be spotted in the cursed objects room of course. A popular 80s song by Blondie is played in one of the scenes too. :telephone_receiver::wink: Overall, this was alright! I think my favorite of the series is probably still the first or second one.
My friends and I (safely) saw A Quiet Place II yesterday, and it was as good as the first one! It's been a while since we've been to the theater to see a movie. The last one we saw was Sonic the Hedgehog (February 2020), so it was nice to be back in my local theater again (even though there were only about ten other people in the room hah :sweat_smile:). We saw the first film in the theater the weekend it came out in April 2018, and it was definitely one that is best experienced in a theater full of people because of the fantastic use of sound for the film :shushing_face:. (I'll need to write a comment/review for that first Quiet if I ever plan to rewatch it). So we're greeted with a thank you message from John Krasinki thanking the audience for coming out to see the film in theaters which was nice. Oh, there was also a trailer for Old which is the new one from M Night Shyamalan, and it looks really interesting! This one has just about the right amount of tension and feels as the first Quiet. Though for the story, it is highly recommended to watch the first Quiet before seeing part II so you know what the characters have to deal with and how they approach the situation using certain techniques and strats. Emily Blunt still plays the strong mother who does her absolute best to protect her children. It still has those The Walking Dead vibes and even a little more Stranger Things vibes now because of the kids who are integral to this entry and the choices they make. I noticed the duality during the tense moments, and how the scenes from two of the characters were edited together; This occurred twice in the film which was significant for this second installment. Again, I really like the use of sound and the song that plays repeatedly on the radio now has a meaning. There's a bit more action going on in this one than what I remember from the first Quiet, well paced, definitely more body counts for sure. I like where the story and the characters are headed so far. If they ever do a third installment, I hope we see the characters reunite to close it up as a trilogy or maybe a fourth since there are still four family members. :wink: Oh, and we saw this in Showcase XPlus for the Dolby Atmos surround sound experience. :sound:
I watched this yesterday and live-tweeted along with the producers and cast of the film with hashtag #RunFilm. Run is a decent suspenseful thriller about a mother and (a disabled) daughter; that reminds me very much of Castle Rock season two (both of which are Hulu originals) and a little bit of Curse of Chucky. There are plenty of neat references to other Stephen King related things within this film that you might catch on your own. :wink: Having just finished watching The Queen's Gambit (Netflix) and seeing Run, I noticed the use of green pills again making it a great segue between the two (one of those coincidences again, I tells ya!). Also, note that there's a deliberate use of the colors green and purple too, so keep a look out on that. :purple_heart: Sarah Paulson (mother) was wonderful in this, and so was new-face, Kiera Allen (daughter).
Pretty fun, but not outstanding; reflects on older properties like The Lost Boys (1987) in a hood setting like Attack the Block (2011) and a few awkward moments thrown in. One of the kids is seen reading Salem's Lot (Stephen King novel), and they watch Blade (1998). The vampires here aren't very bright (no pun intended) and are defeated easily. I was a bit surprised to see Sarah Gadon though, who I last saw and admired very much in season two of Castle Rock. :heart_eyes:
There once was a little girl
who had a little curl
right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good, she was very, very good,
but when she was bad, she was horrid.
I like the smooth transitions from character to character, scene to scene. It definitely has some Home Alone and John Wick vibes. Each of the kill scenes has this percussive rapid heart-beating score attached to it and fits so well. Kevin James plays the lead goon and it was interesting seeing him take on a serious role.
