-------------------------------------------------------------------
In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated
1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going
to review every single movie I see. I’m
going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the
rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future). You can always ask me why I gave the ratings
for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses
under the ‘About Me’ section).
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Clown Motel EH/OK
Social media has its pros and cons; a con being most people
have access to it at their fingertips every waking moment of every day (yes,
some of us, myself included, still prefer using the internet the old-fashioned
way with a computer screen, keyboard and mouse, but that doesn’t mean us
“old-fashioned” types aren’t consumed by it either); a pro being I come across
ads in which I can view movies for free before their release date, as was the
case with this movie involving the real motel located in Nevada.
Not only am I always interested in new horror
movies being released, but I’m even more interested whenever it involves clowns
(don’t even ask me why I’ve always had a fascination with evil clowns because I
can’t even answer it).
Granted, they’re
not always good and unfortunately there’s more bad than good ones or even just
okay ones, but that never stops me from watching them.
If you took away the clowns and the story
took place at another hotel in the middle of nowhere, this would be just
another unoriginal haunted location film.
My biggest gripe was that the clowns weren’t frightening at all
(coulrophobes might think otherwise, but if you’re afraid of clowns in general,
wouldn’t you be afraid of innocuous ones like Ronald McDonald and Krusty the
Clown as well?), nor were any of them particularly memorable (two of them were
even played by the original Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers!).
There is a bit of violence, but not enough to
make me feel any different, although I have never seen someone murdered with a
windshield wiper before (that I will remember)!
Although I may have been disappointed with this, I don’t regret watching
it and still want to visit the real location.
That is how you know if you like a movie or not, by watching it, is it
not?
And although it may be
disappointing when you don’t like a movie you’ve been looking forward to
watching, I think it’s worse not being able to see it at all (thanks again
Facebook)!
Perhaps my fellow clown
lovers will like it better---we need as many clown horror movies as we can
get.
I just hope one day there’re more
good/okay ones than below-average/bad ones.
Check out these websites for more info on the film:
(
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/clown-motel-dark-horror-film-finishing-fund#/),
(
https://www.facebook.com/ClownMotel2016/).
5/14/2019
Bonus review:
Wolf Creek: Season One G
Six-episode series, totaling roughly 5 hours with the
longest one being an hour, based off the film of the same name that’s claimed
to be a ‘Shudder Exclusive,’ but you can also get it On Demand via Lionsgate
for $2.99 an episode. If you really want
to watch it though, I suggest you try Shudder free for a week or month
depending on which promo you get (Rue Morgue gave me a code for a free
month, thank you!). I would imagine fans
of Wolf Creek and maybe Wolf Creek 2 as well (I enjoyed the
first one, the second one was decent) will be the only ones to care checking
this out, even though you don’t necessarily have to watch those first. I don’t recall any direct references to
either film, but the same wisecracking serial killer Mick Taylor (played by
John Jarratt again) is back. In the
first episode, he murders an American teenage girl’s entire family while
vacationing at a billabong (an Australian lake) and she manages to escape, thus
vowing revenge even if that means traveling all across Australia (which she
largely does). She comes across other
troubles during her trek and kudos to the creators for that since a 6-episode
spinoff would’ve been rather lame had it solely consisted of a cat-and-mouse
plot with the occasional, and likely formulaic, murder by Mr. Taylor. The episodes generally go by pretty fast and
I grew quite fond of the main characters, namely the teenage girl and a police
officer sort of on her trail from the get-go.
Greg McLean, the writer and director of both Wolf Creek and Wolf Creek 2,
only returns here as the director of the final episode, ironically titled “Wolf
Creek,” where we get a bit of a backstory on Mick Taylor that doesn’t
necessarily ruin anything we’ve seen already (every serial killer, fictional or
not, does have one after all). Since I
knew a season two was already made (currently not available on Shudder or
Demand apparently), I had a feeling Mick wouldn’t be defeated, much like his
indestructible American counterparts (Jason, Michael), but why can’t movie/TV
characters (especially in this day and age) ever make sure the person is
actually dead before leaving their body?
Anyway, this spinoff series may have been unnecessary and predictable at
times, but I still enjoyed it, as should anyone that was even just a casual fan
of the first film (I, myself, didn’t love the first Wolf Creek, but I liked it).
5/16/2019
Other
movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):
Cold Pursuit >>>OK
Lake Bodom >>>OK
Terrified >>>OK
Toad Road >>>EH
Vice >>>EH
---Sean O.
5/16/2019
