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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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Midnight Mass OK/G
New limited series available on Netflix consisting of seven
episodes totaling roughly seven hours (yes, each one is around the hour mark,
give or take). It was created by Mike
Flanagan, who also gave us The Haunting
of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly
Manor, as well as films like Ouija:
Origin of Evil, Gerald’s Game,
and Doctor Sleep. I was disappointed with Hill House because I expected straight-up horror, but it was
equally a drama and I didn’t think the combination worked (you can read my
review for it here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2018/11/mooby-reviews-11718.html). I did like Bly Manor a bit better because I knew to expect more of a gothic
romance going in (you can read my review for that here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-haunting-of-bly-manor.html). I expected this to be a horror series and,
while it does contain horror elements scattered here and there, it doesn’t
truly show its horror self until the end of the sixth episode into the last
one. Part of me thinks it was worth the
wait, but the other part of me didn’t think it needed to occur so far into the
series (prepare to be patient during the first couple episodes). I think this could’ve sufficed as a 3-hour
feature, give or take. There are too
many lengthy scenes of dialogue, and not in the compelling Quentin Tarantino or
(pre-Jersey Girl) Kevin Smith kind of
way, but more in the “let’s get this wrapped up” kind of way. As much as it dragged at times though, I did
want to continue, and that might be because I sensed something horrific was
always right around the corner and
that it was only seven episodes. It’s a
vampire story, at least set up like one (the v-word is never mentioned), that
takes place on an isolated island of people where religion appears to be a
commonality. I was really hoping it
would make organized religion look bad, and it sort of does, but that could be a
topic up for debate. Cons aside, I think
it’s a limited series worth checking out, although it definitely could’ve been
condensed. 9/26/2021
Bonus review:
Witches of Blackwood OK
This film comes from Australia and you’ll recognize the one
chick from the continent’s Wolf Creek
as the protagonist. She plays a police
officer that travels back to the small town (Blackwood maybe?) she grew up in
and something is clearly not right about this place---there aren’t too many
people and the majority of those that are around are women that look ghostly
(witches maybe?). I was really hoping I
could add this to the list of good witch movies considering there aren’t too
many of the horror variety (the original Suspiria
is probably the best one, The Craft
is decent, and so is The Autopsy of Jane
Doe and The Lords of Salem; The Witch was just okay, definitely
overrated; I don’t count movies that may feature witches either, like Sleepy Hollow). It had the potential to be something good too
(not just okay); I mean, there’s atmosphere and it’s well-shot, but it also had
the feel of a direct-to-video B-movie at times (that’s not a compliment here). I didn’t feel as if there was enough meat on
its bones either, meaning style far outweighed its substance, and the ending
was a bit too upbeat for a movie that generally felt downbeat. It is barely 80-minutes and perhaps that’s
why it felt like there wasn’t enough meat on it, but, then again, it felt
longer than it actually was, so I don’t know.
Someone make a good witch horror movie I can rave about! At least they went with the far better title
considering an alternate one was The
Unlit! 9/24/2021
Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):
Day 13 >>>EH
No One Gets Out
Alive >>>EH
(Netflix)
Sacrifice (2021) >>>OK/G
Sacrilege (2021) >>>EH
Zola >>>EH
---Sean O.9/30/2021
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