Sunday, May 2, 2021

Creepshow (Season 2)/In Search of Darkness: Part II

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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).
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Creepshow (Season 2)                                                            OK
Bring on more seasons!  That’s what I wrote at the end of my review for the first season, which you can read in its entirety here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2020/01/creepshow-season-onejay-and-silent-bob.html.  I really enjoyed the first season of this Shudder series based on the film franchise, the first two films of which I’ve been a fan of since way before I was of legal age, enough to name it the best TV show of the year it came out.  I was also a fan enough of the two specials released, the animated and holiday one, both of which you can read my review for here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-dark-and-wickedthe-mortuary.html.  As you can see at the end of that review, I stated this about this particular season---I, for one, am looking forward to it and hope it’s as good as the first season.  Well, I hate to say it, but I didn’t enjoy this season as much, making it a contender for “Most Disappointing TV Show” of this year.  No, I don’t regret watching it, because I was looking forward to it and I will watch any future seasons released, not only due to my admiration for the franchise, but also due to my love for anthology entertainment (as much as I always say it).  The only two episodes that stood out for me this time were “Dead and Breakfast” and “Sibling Rivalry,” and even they weren’t so spectacular.  “Model Kid” utilized worthy creature designs, but was ultimately a typical revenge story.  As much as I love The Evil Dead, it overstayed its welcome in its own spinoff series (Ash vs. Evil Dead), let alone used here in “Public Television of the Dead,” but it still wasn’t bad for fans of that franchise…I guess (I thought this was a Creepshow property).  “Pesticide” did use practical creatures (as this franchise is known for), but that was the only thing barely memorable about that forgettable segment.  “Pipe Screams” involved a silly creature even though I don’t recall ever seeing it done before, and that’s not necessarily a compliment for this ultimately lame episode featuring a typical comeuppance for a reprehensible character.  The final episode, “Night of the Living Late Show,” was basically just watching clips of two movies (Horror Express and Night of the Living Dead) with the current actor (Justin Long) digitally added in due to a VR device created.  There was a worthy ending although it wasn’t really deserved and there was a creative Night of the Living Dead videogame in the beginning that incorporated its two subsequent sequels (Dawn and Day) at the end, but more movies should’ve been featured, especially since this segment was the length of two (40-plus minutes opposed to 20-plus minutes).  The remaining two, “The Right Snuff” and “Within the Walls of Madness” were probably the worst ones, “Snuff” involving Ryan Kwanten (of True Blood fame) and Breckin Meyer (where the hell has he been?) in a space-set tale, “Madness” being a Lovecraftian one that didn’t work at all.  I didn’t hate this season, but it doesn’t hold the brightest candle to season one, and I hope I like season three better, otherwise I won’t be saying Bring on more seasons!  4/30/2021

In Search of Darkness:  Part II                                   OK/G
Part deux of this Shudder exclusive documentary on Eighties horror films (you can read my review for the first part here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2020/08/three-horror-documentaries.html).  I’m just going to crib from that review since the same synopsis applies here---What they did was discuss horror films from 1980 to 1989, picking a handful from each year, while other topics were discussed in between.  They can probably make an endless amount of these movies since another almost 4 ½ hour film obviously didn’t cover the entire genre for each year during the “iconic” decade.  That’s fine with me since part of the fun in being a movie fanatic is discussing movies and/or hearing others discuss them visually or in writing.  [I would like them to take the same concept and cover Seventies and Nineties horror as well].  Sometimes I don’t mind hearing movies I’m not a fan of discussed to gain another perspective and just to hear other opinions; film criticism is very subjective after all, and, like one of my past professor’s once said (along these lines), “a film isn’t a classic just because people say it is.”  I should’ve put ‘sometimes’ in big, bold letters at the beginning of the previous sentence because there were quite a bit of titles featured in this documentary I haven’t seen (nor do I plan on seeing) or I’m not too keen on, more so than last time it seemed (yes, as much as the Eighties put out good movies, the decade probably put out an equal amount of shit, but, again, that’s a subjective opinion).  It makes me wonder how the titles are picked to be featured for each year.  Even though it was 4 ½ hours though, and I did split my viewings into 2 segments, it seemed to go by rather quickly as I enjoy the topic of movies, especially from a genre I’m obviously obsessed with (for those that know me and/or read my reviews) and coming from a decade that put out some of the best.  I may not have liked it as much this time, but I’m absolutely not dismissing it for those that enjoyed the previous entry and are fellow fans of the subject matter.  4/28/2021

Bonus review:

Shudder Guides                                                           G
(haiku review)
Five five-minute eps.
Horror subgenres discussed.
Brief and to the point.  4/29/2021

*Obviously available on Shudder*

Other movies and TV show(s) I’ve seen and their ratings (see above):

Attack of the Demons  >>>G

Deadhouse Dark  >>>EH/OK
   (Shudder; 6 episodes)

Driveways  >>>OK

The Mitchells vs. the Machines  >>>OK
            (Netflix)

Ms. 45  >>>EH/OK

Semper Fi (2019)  >>>EH/OK

Things Heard & Seen  >>>OK
            (Netflix)

---Sean O.
5/2/2021

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