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[oh-the-horror-reviews]

FILM REVIEW: We're All Going to the World's Fair.

The film that genuinely made me question everything.

Today I finally watched WAGTTWF after procrastinating on it for a while. I had expected it to be good but it not only managed to subvert my expectations while still being good, but made me pretty emotional at points.

The film wasn't as slow as I expected and I never really got 'bored' during any of it. Any brief snails pace moments were quickly picked up by something interesting.

SPOILERS BELOW CUT: TW// MENTIONS OF MENTAL BREAKDOWNS AND PEDOPHILLIA

I didn't expect an entire subplot with what I assume (again, this film made me question A LOT) is an implied pedophile. At first I thought I was just being paranoid but by the end I was about 80% certain JLB (played very well by Michael J Rogers) was supposed to be in love with the teenage Casey (also played very well by Anna Cobb, in her feature debut). He helped give the film a little boost, as well as giving us an outside perspective and narrator on certain parts of Casey's story.

Speaking of Casey, her mental breakdown really affected me. Usually in film it's pretty obvious whether it's possession or not. But here, I'm genuinely not sure whether she's just triggered an episode in herself or if she's actually being transformed by a supernatural fair beyond our computer screens.

Based on Casey's experience alone, I'd assume the fair was metaphorical for mental illness, etc. But what about the man with peeling, 'mouldy' skin who pulled tickets out of his body? There's absolutely the possibility he did it to himself but that's also pretty damn hard to do to yourself.

It could be the fair is 100% real, it could be the fair is just a placebo trend that ends up triggering people into breakdowns or full on episodes of mania, psychosis, etc. Likely preying on pre-existing mental illness. Maybe it's both.

The film never confirms anything. Unless they did behind the scenes. And y'know, I like it a lot better that way. Opens everything up to discussion and keeps you thinking about it.

RATING

Audience: Definitely for people with a withstanding for realistic portrayals of mental illness, mental breakdowns, etc. If you can handle that, I would recommend this to intermediate horror watchers and people looking for a unique, grounded film with a mystery. If you're looking for a film that uses more experimental filming techniques and incorporates technology into the story without an obnoxious "back in the good ol' days" message, I'd recommend it.

Spookiness; the feeling of being unsettled, disturbed or uneasy: 6/10

Scariness; the feeling of being terrified, horrified or shocked: 2/10

Enjoyment; the feeling of taking delight and/or pleasure in: 8/10

I'll definitely be giving the actors and filmmakers involved with this film a second look, to see if they've made any other horror films. Definitely give it a try!

[oh-the-horror-reviews]

FILM REVIEW: Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)

As a FNAF fan, this film finally getting released made my year. A comfy night me and my little brother spent using the movie tickets I won at a coffee cart raffle, eating candy and popcorn and then having Thai takeout to wrap the night up. A nostalgia trip for both of us.

WARNINGS FOR: heavy plot spoilers for the film and original games, mentions and descriptions of gore, child death, child abuse (physical) and blood

POSITIVES

And that's really what this movie is, a nostalgia trip. Because I want to make one thing clear. If you haven't seen anything about FNAF, especially the silver eyes trilogy of novels, you probably aren't going to enjoy the film. If you only know fanon information and nothing about the canonical lore you probably aren't going to enjoy this film either... that's two things (/ref).

The final 'twist' isn't well set up because that's not what they were trying to do. From the very start a FNAF fan knows that 'Steve Raglan' (played by THE Matthew Lillard! One of two original Ghostface killers!) is absolutely William Afton. The final fight is just fan service for us fans and not a well plotted, set up reveal. What's the point of it? Acting as if we don't already know?

The choice to make the characters like Mike, Abby, Garrett, the missing children, Vanessa, etc parallels of existing characters in the FNAF universe instead of new people or exact adaptations is something I actually liked as well. I've heard some people are confused about it or just don't like it but a lot of that comes from expectations before the film released.

A LOT of people had it in their heads that the movie was going to be some hardcore jumpscare and gore-fest because "FNAF is so dark!" when... let's be real here. The darkness of FNAF has always come from lore behind the games and not visual representations of it. The closest we've ever really gotten to gore is some red pixels during one of the FNAF 3 minigames depicting William Afton's death in the springlock suit.

It's 2023 we can like kids horror either out of nostalgia or genuinely thinking it's good. Plenty of adults like Goosebumps and whatever. This movie was never going to be an R16-R18 horror. Imagine cutting off a good 3 years of your fanbase for 'accuracy' that isn't even accurate! Knowing how trapped and lost the missing children are after having their lives cut so short by such a selfish monster is already dark and way more accurate to how the games handled the lore.

It probably doesn't help that Scott helped work on the film and considering he's a devout anti-abortion, donating to homophobic politicians in secret Christian I doubt he would've been okay pushing the gore too far.

If anything, the lighthearted tone touching on the missing children still being actual children and not just murder machines makes the few gore and blood scenes even more shocking. The aunt's team of vandals getting attacked, the babysitter getting CUT IN HALF and the springlock scene at the end of the film are all good at raising the tension in such a colourful environment focusing on a family focused story.

CRITICISMS

The only two things I could criticize are:

1) Elizabeth Lail's acting. As Vanessa, she's noticeably more... exaggerated than her other cast members who all try to come off as realistic as they can for their characters. And not in a Renfield or Jack Griffin type of way where they're just purposefully odd or straight up nuts compared to everyone else. Just some of her line deliveries are a bit 'off' or even a little cringy? It's not that big of an issue and you don't notice it most of the time but I thought I'd mention it.

2) The lack of context for Vanessa and William's father-daughter relationship. It's heavily implied that William abused Vanessa as a child. Seeing how he behaves around her even as an adult, treating her less like a person and more of a tool or a verbal punching bag and with his track record with his kids in other universes (slapping daughters and gassing sons with hallucinogenic gas really doesn't get you father of the year) and the fact he gave a dead kids toy to his own kid as some fucked up 'trophy', it's pretty obvious.

But we really don't get any deeper context for her behaviour during the film specifically. Vanessa constantly lies and hides information in the film and it comes off as very, very annoying for a while. We can see by the end that William put that behaviour in her as a child so he wouldn't be caught murdering kids because his daughter told people what he was doing. But we never get to see much of this other than the brief confrontation at the final fight so it's harder to sympathize with her almost getting Abby killed. The movie's pacing is good so I think they could've pushed a few extra scenes in with her and William without slowing anything down. We all knew who he was anyway and they didn't have to reveal she was his daughter before the end because in the games she's already a brainwashed follower of his ideals.

WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE?

Yes! It's fun, colourful and good for people who don't like non-stop nasties for a movie night but are still interested in something tense. Just don't expect to love it nearly as much if you know nothing about FNAF or the canon lore ("why is Cassidy not a girl?" "why is Cassidy blonde?" tiktok comments are starting to get to me)

A fun watch for fans and light horror fans :)

[oh-the-horror-reviews]

UPCOMING HORROR FILMS: Bad CGI Gator

Recently, a trailer was released for a new Full Moon Pictures film. If you know Full Moon Pictures it’s probably for films like Puppet Master (1989), Demonic Toys (1992), Castle Freak (1995), The Gingerdead Man (2005) and Evil Bong (2006). If you’ve never heard of them… I don’t know whether you’re lucky or missing out, honestly.

WARNINGS: Spoilers for trailer/movie scenes, mentions of gore and animal attacks

First Impressions

A big clap to Full Moon for embracing the trashy budget movie idea and running with it. Not just using bad CGI on purpose but giving the gator the near supernatural ability to float around and defy physics like badly layered digital effects. It takes the idea to a level I wasn’t expecting and I really like it.

The gator does seem like the funniest part of the movie so far, however. The comedy lands a little flat but it could always work better when watching the film as a whole or maybe it’s just not supposed to make you laugh and just add a lighthearted tone to the film. I can respect that. It’s a good way to balance out the maulings and dismemberments we can already see in the trailer.

My biggest criticism is generally that the main characters are supposed to be gen z, but definitely strike me more as millennials. Their humour just seems a bit… outdated. The characters being sleazy, obnoxious, discount influencers is definitely on purpose but the humour missing the gen z culture mark feels like an accident. It’s written like there obviously wasn’t anyone younger than a millennial writing the scripts here. It’s not terrible or a deal breaker by any means but it still makes things feel a little bit off when they make multiple references to being gen z and don’t act like it.

Worth a Watch?

I’d say yes! Ignoring the fact that watching another Full Moon Picture film is a good enough reason to watch it at all (just a low budget weirdness gold mine), the ideas I’m seeing already from the bad CGI gator itself are interesting enough to get me to give it a watch when it releases. Probably won’t be a priority over most other late 2023 releases but it won’t be ignored.

I look forward to reviewing it!