#Horror Movie Review 2017

[iamamymarch]

Teehee 🤭 another Jordan Peele film.

I enjoyed this even more than nope, the acting was insane and the soundtrack was beautiful

(All photos off of pinterest)

[mayorofloserville69]

The final saw movie with wife :(

[eff-ston3mblogs]

[james-stark-the-writer]

hey, Saw V But Again is actually really fucking good! genuinely had a blast with this and the third act was so fun to piece together, genuinely that last 30 minutes saves it from being kind of generic and mediocre; but the rest of the movie was still pretty fun, the third act just really sells it. also the closest one of these movies comes to actually saying ACAB, especially compared to the plot of Saw IV, where the plot was "the police cares too much about people."

My ★★★★ review of Jigsaw on Letterboxd

[kdnss77]

Creep (2014) + Creep 2 (2017)

basic info: both movies are an original creation form the Duplass brothers - including directing, story, as well as character writing (the plot is believed to have been was alternated multiple times whilst making of the film, therefore various takes on different scenes have been created, although not necessarily used in the final cut). they've been recorded in found footage convention (produced by Jason Blum; ever heard of Paranormal Activity?), mostly being rather fragmentary (as the only source of the viewer's cognition is the picture recorded on a portable camera). it could be also described as a psychological horror or a thriller - preferably for the reason of an overall sense of tension or uncanniness, caused by some acts performed by the odd protagonist in both cases.

overall ratings: imdb: 6,3/10 + 6,4/10 rotten tomatoes: 91% + 100% letterboxd: 3.3/5 + 3.3/5

plot summary: plots of both movies are quite similar in opposition to each other - they feature a thorough, motion-picture documentation of the turnabouts of unusual confrontations between a cameraperson and a seemingly harmless, although pathologically deceitful man (who later on is revealed to be a serial killer with no criminal record registered). in Creep, the individual brought into remote premises of a rental wooden cabin is Aaron - tempted by an offer of a financial opportunity, which includes helping a cancer-infected, an overly affectionate man make a short film about himself, for the reason of it being shown to his still unborn baby in case he dies sometime before that. they engage into lighthearted activities, some of them particularly intimate (like Josef taking a tubby with an imaginary Buddy - his alleged baby - and descending into a depressive spiral right after, later turning trying to drown himself in the bath into a bad joke) - Aaron doing his job behind the camera and Josef gradually losing control over his beforehand scripted craft. after leaving the cabin and cutting ties with the strange man, Aaron begins receiving unnerving cds along with generous gifts - a video showing Josef burying brimful trash bags (perhaps a warning, because he didn't manage to kill him back then?) or a baby wolf plushie stuffed with a necklace with their cut-out photos inside. upon finally and ultimately meeting with Josef, Aaron - deceived by his naivety - is killed by the other man, him all dressed in the beloved Peachfuzz mask and by smashing his prey's brains with an axe.

the events of Creep 2 take a kindred turn, excluding the ending alone. this time a woman - Sara - decides to familiarize herself with the origins of a self-proclaimed and burned out serial killer's motifs for murder, for the sake of gaining minimal popularity for her internet show called Encounters (where she engages in potentially uncomfortable situations with strangers posting various announcements online, covering their pitiful stories and trying to understand their sorrow). for that reason, she insists on staying in the face of presumable danger and is determined to get to know Aaron (Josef changes his name to this one after dealing with his victim in Creep) as conscientiously as possible, bringing his most sensitive aspects to the daylight - by provoking him to confess about his abduction experience during his breakdown in the hot tub or signing him up for a game of two lies and one truth (this way revealing that he has never slept with a woman). along with a growing passion that Aaron holds for Sara, he convinces himself into a double suicide performed by him and his companion, which would thrillingly end with them both crawling into a freshly digged grave together. but later on is made to knock out his so-called soulmate, who had tried to run away in terror. however, he's the one ending up unconscious, as Sara manages to get out of the hole she had been dragged into, just in time to incapacitate Aaron with a shovel. so, in the very ending of the movie and in contrary to Creep, the victim survives. although this could be easily debunked, as the closing scenes include an unspecified individual following Sara, unaware of being the central frame of the device. she realizes the identity of her follower, obviously petrified, only after they begin their quiet whistling. this vague and obscure ending is either a foreshadow of a decent continuation or a terse message, that Aaron hasn't given up on his priorities yet.

my thoughts: seldom does it occur, that the descendant is better than the sacred original. well, that's the case for me. i highly enjoy releases kept in found footage style, and that's one of the main reasons which had drawn me to Creep as a whole at first. however, the movie from 2014 seems more of an prologue something more, to me - not a separate entirety, as i feel it should. without a sequel, or at least if i had decided not to watch the second installment at all, it would be consistently complete - had it not been for some threads picked up and left afloat just as quickly, this incoherence would have been much more valuable. on the other hand, i'm prone to considering it an advantage; bending upon the figure of Josef, a remarkably impostorous individual altering his narration depending on the situation, so as to make himself look extremely lonely or vulnerable and find himself in favor of his victims, the inconsistency (like, for instance, in case of his potential mental issues, for which he was treated but never managed to feel any better or to fit into society; basically putting up a show about him being a poor, unwanted human being. it's never confirmed, whether he was factually unwell in a psychological sense and it was the thing that supported his violent and weird behaviors or he was straight out a reckless murderer, using those mercy-seeking tricks for his own satisfaction and fulfilling his twisted needs) would have been deliberate and acceptable.

i also feel that the performance we're given in the entirety of Creep is a quite reliable, and therefore a realistic portrayal of a serial killer. firstly and foremostly, Josef/Aaron is negatively intimidating on several levels, but just by his very existence when in direct contact. not exactly terrifying, especially from the start alone, but always unnerving in a way. and chaotic in his thinking patterns or their complete lack of, mostly acting irrationally. at least that's what i'd say makes Mark Duplass's performance so authentic, despite its voluntary amateurism, resulting from the found footage convention. and the portrayal of this character reaches its peak in the second installment - he's more straightforward, more insane and more disturbing, yet electrifying. in Creep, the boldest to which Josef confesses to is raping his alleged wife (also presumably interested in animal pornography) in his beloved wolf mask - at this point, its genuineness is questionable, especially when taking into consideration his way of being and the fact about no sexual contacts withe the opposite sex revealed in Creep 2. but what bugs me about it, is the thing Aaron mentions in the movie from 2017 - right after uncovering Sara's actual intentions, he mentions, he never entirely lies and always remains true in his eyes or heart. it just plain points to him having those tendencies either way. or never meaning to say anything that comes out of is mouth, seeking enjoyment in pretending on a daily basis. however, in the sequel - although implicitly provoked by Sara - he shamelessly claims to have murdered 39 people so far and aims for 40, confesses to pleasuring the act of murder, describes the time he was abducted and almost killed in his teens or kindly asks his companion to end his life. pure madness, just as if he was on the verge of insanity - if the state of mind he has already been suck in could get any worse by then. and it seemed like all of these things mentioned were true to him. he meant them - with his words, eyes and heart.

coming down to that, there's another thing i want to mention - the matter of trust and naivety. Aaron, in the first installment, has boundless faith in Josef's misery and non-culpable loneliness haunting him, those connected to misjudgment of his odd personality. so, he doesn't turn around when supposed to meet him by the lake and, consequently, is killed - literally - by his lack of reasoning. the same goes for Aaron in the second part of the series - he continues speaking to the camera, praising Sara's greatness and importance into the numb silence of the woods, when she's preparing herself to beat him with a shovel in the meantime - just behind him, ready to swing it anytime. he also could've turned back. i perceive it as a very nice parallel, just like the question Sara asks Aaron when he's chopping wood with the infamous axe; that is, if any part of him intends on murdering her with that tool. ring ring, the same thing was raised in the 2014 film, although the question came from Josef and was about whether Aaron had any doubts about being attacked with it. he also shows the video he was working on with his previous victim, just like a well maintained souvenir, of him sticking that same axe into Aaron's head to Sara. really, really nice. what's also nice is Xiu Xiu's track played alone with the credits. a sublime, but a forceful touch. on spot, even. that brings me to an unfortunate statement - Duplass's acting - first as Josef and then as Aaron - carries the whole series, crafts the appropriate atmosphere and is the reason for the originality of the movies among others of similar kind. he does it all, story aside. 

my rating (on a scale from 1 to 5): 3/5 + 4/5

favorite quote: "Well, this is my destiny. Sara loves her juicy fruit. And Aaron loves to kill."

favorite scene: (because why not) i'd actually name two here; one from Creep and the other from Creep 2. the one regarding the first release would be Josef standing high up the cabin stairs, his face swallowed by the dark and almost desperately insisting on Aaron staying overnight. the tension accompanying this scene was something else, almost as if that one drink with Josef was a matter of life and death. because it was, in the long run. at least an extremely crucial decision. in terms on Creep 2, i'd point to the shot consisting in Aaron sitting in the bathtub - with this disturbing kind of gaze in his eyes - and telling a story about his favorite song, smoothly moving onto describing his earliest trauma. this whole sequence felt strangely intimate, so as not to state that it felt intimidating - because most of Josef's/Aaron's acts could be labeled this way.

the images were found by me on the internet, credit to their original uploaders.

[scary-movies-on-netflix]

IMPOSSIBLE HORROR (2017)

This was a super low budget movie, a “micro” budget as some might say.  Some productions in this situation lean into the budget, offering a winking meta commentary on the limited funds.  This movie, “Impossible Horror,” doesn’t do that.  It simply does what it can with what little it has. 

We start with Lily, a young woman with insomnia.  Her apartment is haunted.  She aspires to live a creative life.  She goes for a walk one night and hears a mysterious scream!  She begins to go for night walks and encounters another young woman, Hannah.  There are also strange hoodie people.  Each night, after the scream, they find a random object where the scream originated.  One night there is a typewriter, but the hoodie people take it first.  Hannah fights them in a rather neat, low budget, fight.

Lily decides to make a movie of their adventures.  She films them with her smart phone.  One night the scream leads them to a buried journal, which she hides from Hannah.  Lily reads the journal, which is by Amber, Hannah’s former girlfriend, who killed herself and now haunts Lily’s apartment!  Turns out, Amber and other people were also hunting the scream, all for their own purposes, but each of the people ended up killing themselves.

They visit one dude who did not succeed in killing himself.  Lily goes to talk to him, and he tries to munch of her feet.  She grapples with a sheet before Hannah pulls her free.  Lily then cuts herself and enters a crazed state.  The scream leads them to a buried notebook, inside of which are Polaroid-style photographs of people who were hunting the scream, including Lily!  There is an extended fight scene between Hannah and the hoodie people over the notebook, but she and Lily escape with it. 

Hannah wants to destroy the notebook.  Lily needs it for her movie, and she and Hannah have an extended struggle over the books.  It’s nothing like the fight from “John Carpenter’s They Live” (1988), but it’s actually not bad.  Lily ends up stabbing Hannah and then chases her into an underground garage.  Lily stalks after her with a little metallic shove.  She finally sees Hannah, but a security guard interrupts her.  Lily approaches him and stabs him in the stomach with the shovel.  Hannah runs to Lily’s room and hides in the bathroom.  The ghost tries to help Hannah, but Lily finally stands outside the bathroom tell and tells Hannah that she should kill herself: “Aren’t you tired of failing?  There’s nothing wrong with giving up.”

Hannah removes her own picture from the notebook, and there is a razor.  She is about to slit her own wrist, but she hears Lily watching their filmed adventures.  Hannah leaves the bathroom and joins her.  “This is pretty cool,” Hannah says.  “Yeah,” Lily says, “It’s not terrible.”  Hannah says that Lily should keep working on the film.  Lily says that she needs an ending.  “What did you have in mind?” Hannah asks.  Lily smiles at Hannah, and then the hoodie people attack!  They overwhelm Hannah and knock the notebook out of her hand.  They are about to stab Hannah, but Lily picks up the notebook and starts to tear out a page!  She kicks her laptop to Hannah and tells her, “Film it.  Please.”

The hoodie people attack Lily and disembowel her!  She still manages to destroy the notebook, and the hoodie people disintegrate.  Before Lily dies she has a vision of Hannah and herself going to a movie theater and watching her movie, “Impossible Horror.”  Hannah gets up and stumbles to the porch, where she hears people screaming everywhere.

This was surprisingly…good.  It’s a weird Lovecraftian horror movie about an unexplainable eldritch threat that drives people insane, but the filmmakers limited the scope to just two young people, so the plot didn’t overwhelm the skills or budget of the production.  The filmmaking techniques drew from many inspirations, from found footage to your run-of-the-mill teenager terror flicks to kung-fu action movies.  Most scenes were successful.  The fighting scenes looked like a lot of fun to film, but I felt that they detracted from the overall creepiness of the movie.  The acting was…competent.  Lily and Hanna’s banter was reminiscent of a mumblecore movie from the early 2000’s.  Hannah was flat and emotionless, but she was meant to be that way.  Lily showed a bit more range, but even then her reactions were constrained by the typical young-person-only-speaks-ironically trope.  Her physical acting was excellent.  Early on, she walks outside with a baseball bat, but before she leaves the building she performs an awkward practice swing.  Later on, as she’s chasing Hannah, she embodies menace and terror.  She extends the blade of her metal shovel with a practiced flick of her wrist.  She was creepy and deranged.

[rues-films]

Kuso (2017)

I turned it off after pushing through twenty-five minutes of (literal) faecal garbage. Without direction, this incomprehensible “art” just comes across as what can only be described as “bodily excretion shock porn.” There is no meaning. It’s just trying to see if you’d sit through a gross mess. I didn’t.

1/10. A tasteless, excessive, appalling attempt at an “art” film. I cannot begin to tell you how much I hate this movie.

[nsabuzz]

How tto Watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies in correct order

[firespirited]

Stephanie 2017 is a straight to video horror film that I'd never heard of despite being pretty clued in to film releases.

I understand why it didn't make it to cinemas as it's quite a slow burn with a child actress doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of screen time and the two adults a little too muted in their acting to try and keep 'the twist' at bay for as long as possible.

With that said, the story is fan.tas.tic and this had the potential to be a 9/10 psycho thriller if the actors had been given free reign to embody what's going on (or been shown using substances to help).

It's a fine line storytellers have to walk between a big reveal for the thriller/horror (which needs padding with more action which they could have done with the R rating) or leaning more into something that's more of a character drama (which requires trusting a horror audience to accept arthouse pacing). In this case, they hired actors who totally have the range and didn't get to fully use it... but I can also see how hamstrung the filmmakers were by expectations for the horror/sci-fi genre.

If you have the patience, this is a very clever little story. Watching a little girl navigate the household dangers of the kitchen for the first twenty minutes was excruciating, the horror remains in all that went unsaid and brief flashes of how the parents are feeling. If they'd unleashed the actors, this had the makings of a cult classic.

I can only hope it gets remade abroad with a tonal change or copied into a tv show where the audience is primed and ready to genre-bend more than for film or where a 40 minute format would trim all the fat and give this a lot more kick.

[toomuchlovereviews]

Better Watch Out (2017)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What no bitches does to a mf.

The dialogue knocked me off my feet so many times for being stupid and funny. I have been looking for more Christmas horror movies, and this one was such a great one to start with.

The actual meat of this movie is crazy, I kept gasping because of how fucked some sequences were. I was genuinely afraid of the antagonist at times. Especially by the ending. The only thing that could have made it more terrifying was the addition of gore (because most of it is shown off screen or in a flash bang), but I am nitpicking at this point.

Watch this if:

you like that poem about ‘the crime of being small’

home invasion with a twist is your cup of tea

you like Adventure Time, many references in here

Similar titles:

Home Alone (1990) (I did just recommend this one as a similar title for a romantic comedy, but it’s another Xmas home invasion!)

Orphan (1996) (It’s coming from inside the house)

[harley-quinns-girlfriend]

Oh my I love Tragedy Girls (2017) 💖 girls that murder together stay together

[spookytuesdaypod]

spooky tuesday is a (now not so new!) podcast where we’re breaking down all of our favorite slashers, thrillers, monster movies and black comedies on the new scariest day of the week.

watching a movie where there’s some sort of secret meaning you’re supposed to interpret can be a risk — but if you didn’t get mother! (2017), don’t worry, you’re not alone. writer-director darren aronofsky had to practically go on a press tour explaining all of the nuance that went over audience members’ heads, but here at spooky tuesday, we’re actually the leading authority on what may or may not be the story of a certain author who famously wrote about a raven. on our latest episode, we’re unpacking all facets of the jennifer lawrence-led psychological thriller with a special friend as we debate javier bardem’s appeal, kristen wiig’s casting, and michelle pfeiffer’s real housewife potential.

give spooky tuesday a listen on apple podcasts, spotify, iheart radio, or stitcher

[squirrellyshorrorreviews]

The Bye-Bye Man (2017)

Three friends stumble upon the horrific origins of a mysterious figure they discover is the root cause of the evil behind unspeakable acts.

where can I watch it: tubi

review: 1.5/10 (as horror) 6.5/10 (as roast fodder)

Oh, Doug Jones. I know they can’t all be winners, but DAMN.

This movie is frustrating. It has a lot of interesting ideas that it makes…. Incredibly silly by not thinking through its premise enough. “Don’t think it” is… a silly mantra.

Also, if you give your monster a Silly Name, an Origin story might be prescient. Just saying.

what I will say, is the movie looks pretty great. The acting of the main throuple kind of sucks, but there is some decent acting in it otherwise despite the VAPID script. It’s well rendered.

but “well rendered” is meaningless if your fundamentals aren’t great. What is your monster a metaphor for? Jealousy? Doubt?

All that being said, this movie is PERFECT for the roast list. Excellent to watch with other people and tear apart, which was how I saw it.

[fistsuptitsup]

Ghost Stories (2017) is a fucking amazing horror movie.

Sacred me shitless multiple times and got me looking around in my dark room because I swore that I see something in the corner of my eye because of this film. My favorite moment would have to be when Simon Refkind (Alex Lawther) just straight up said "FUCK THAT! 😰" after the demon he ran over got into his car and demanded that he "stay" with it. Pure gold moment.

Also, Andy Nyman's performance was really good too in this movie, I liked his character. Amazing job! 👍🏽

20/10 would absolutely buy and watch this again!

[neptunehenriksen]

2/60 Watching Every Non-US Shudder Original Film (Not Sponsored)

Content Note: This is a rape-revenge film. It is written, directed, and edited by a woman, Coralie Fargeat, but please proceed with caution if needs be. (timestamps to avoid the assault scene are provided at the bottom)

Film: Revenge (2017)

Country Of Origin: France

Language: French and English

Runtime: 108 minutes

Shudder Synopsis: Jen is enjoying a romantic getaway with her wealthy boyfriend, which is suddenly disrupted when his sleazy friends arrive for an unannounced hunting trip.

Director: Coralie Fargeat

Writer: Coralie Fargeat

Cast: Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe, and Guillaume Bouchède

Pre-Thots: I knew nothing (as I prefer), but the title gave me a clue that turned out to be accurate.

Post-Thots: I’m honestly still processing this one. I don’t think revenge films are for me generally, certain scenes were tough to watch, not just the assault, but also scenes of Jen being trapped in conversation, and physically cornered. I also didn’t love the music, it was different, but it didn’t work for me.

Posi-Thots: This film is beautiful. It’s stylised, highly gory at times, with a surprising sound track, and some interesting flipping of the script in the third act.

Techni-Thots: As I say, this film is stylised, it has a particular look, it’s bright, takes place mostly in the daytime, and has a bold use of colour. It also takes full advantage of it’s desert setting. Director (Coralie Fargeat) has her vision and it was executed. I can’t think of another horror film that looks like this. AND the suspense really worked for me. Cinematographer (Robrecht Heyvaert) did the damn thing. The desert shots are beautiful, and a welcome respite from more high-energy, or gory, scenes. Though I didn’t love the music, I adored the sound design. It added so much to the story, and a few times, it was used to have us as the audience see things from Jen’s perspective. E.g. When she first fires a gun, the sound design moves to a dulling of the noise and a ringing in the track, to simulate the gunshot's aftermath.

Harsh-Thots: I didn’t need to see or hear the assault scene, and I also wonder if Jen could’ve had something else happen to incite her revenge. But I understand this is important for so many to see and experience, so I’m not trying to dismiss the power of this film, if someone is ready to see it.

Personal Sub-Genres: Action, Thriller, Survival Horror

Rating: 4/5

Who Might Enjoy It: Someone open to a rape-revenge film by a woman; also anyone who enjoys foreign films, gory films, stylised films, or a high-octane action-horror.

Who Might Not Like It: Anyone who’s not ready to watch a rape-revenge film. As I mention it does depict the assault, mostly verbally, and shots of the assault are waist-up. If you’d like to skip it entirely, the scene takes place from 22:00 to 22:45. However, be aware there’s a face slap that takes place at 25:15. To skip the first act entirely, start from 30:40.

[spookyfilmz]

It (2017)

My Overall Rating: 5/5 ★★★★★

Scare Rating: 4/5 ★★★★☆

Suspense Rating: 4/5 ★★★★☆

Gore Rating: 3/5 ★★★☆☆

This is one of my all time favorite horror movies but if you're afraid of clowns, this is not the movie for you. Based off of Stephen King's 1984 novel the screen adaptation was written by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman and directed by Andy Muschietti. The storyline of this film kicks into action when Georgie Denbrough chases his paper sailboat, made by his older brother Bill, down the flooding street where it falls into a gutter. Inside this gutter is none other Georgies unfortunate fate at the hands of Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The next summer we meet Bill's friends Richie, Ben, Eddie, Stan, Mike, and Beverly. Ben is quite interested in the seemingly patterned disappearances of children in their small town of Derry, Maine. Ben is targeted by a group of bullies but manages to escape leaving Patrick, one of the bullies, to look for him in the sewer but he is soon taken by Pennywise and is never seen again. On Bill's way home from the store he goes into an old abandoned house because he believes he saw his little brother Georgie, who soon turns into Pennywise telling him "You'll float too". This experience made the gang realize that they were dealing with a child killing clown who comes to Derry to feed every 27 years. Will Bill and the gang defeat Pennywise once and for all? Stream "It" on HBO Max to find out.

Cast: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs

𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖞 𝕾𝖕𝖔𝖔𝖐𝖞 𝕭𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍𝖊𝖘,

𝕯𝖆𝖓𝖎 ⊂(´･◡･⊂ )∘˚˳°