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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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Thanksgiving G
There may be a plethora of Halloween and Christmas horror
movies, but there aren’t too many taking place during that time sandwiched
between the two holidays (I’ve never really been a fan of Thanksgiving; I’m
just not crazy about the foods associated with it; I can eat turkey any time of
the year, and I prefer it as a deli meat anyway, thank you). There’s Blood
Rage, ThanksKilling, (its sequel)
ThanksKilling 3, and The Last Thanksgiving (which I just
recently saw), none of which are exactly spectacular (ThanksKilling was kind of fun, lasting a little over an hour, not quite
deserving of any honors, but far better than the abysmal sequel that only has
an Evil Dead II reference going for
it); Pilgrim (part of the Into the Dark franchise) was decent. Here, we have a slasher film based on a faux
trailer created for the Grindhouse
double feature. Now, there’s not much
one can expect from a slasher movie (now or in the past), whether you are a fan
of them or not (like yours truly)---someone kills people and the motive is
generally based on revenge or territory, as a Fangoria article recently
affirmed. My expectations were a bit
higher for this one though given Eli Roth was behind it (as well as the
aforementioned trailer), a filmmaker whom always proudly wore his lifelong love
for the horror genre on his sleeve, even hosting a show based on the history of
it (you can read my reviews for all three of the seasons in these blogs---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2018/12/mooby-reviews-12218.html, https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2020/11/growing-up-with-i-spit-on-your.html,
and https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2021/11/chapelwaitenight-at-eagle-inn.html;
the only film of his I penned a review for before was the gateway horror flick,
The House with a Clock in Its Walls,
in here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2018/10/mooby-reviews-10718.html). The killer here, primarily donning a mask of
the town’s first mayor, the town being Plymouth, Massachusetts, is out for
revenge (motive!) after a Black Friday incident the year prior (does Black Friday with Bruce Campbell count
as a Turkey Day flick? It’s not even
that great, if so). This holiday slasher
delivers enough to receive a passing grade.
I wasn’t too impressed with the first kill (I’m referring to the slashed
victims, not the Black Friday ones), but the succeeding ones were, by and
large, suitable (I can’t say I ever saw someone murdered on a trampoline before). The rest of the film when people aren’t
biting the big one is engaging enough too.
Not a perfect movie, but definitely a worthy addition to not only
slasher flicks, but to the meager list of Thanksgiving horror films as
well. 11/17/2023
Bonus reviews:
Goosebumps (Season
One) OK
New series consisting of ten episodes (roughly 40-minutes
each, give or take, currently available on Disney+ and Hulu) loosely, not
directly, based on the books by one of my favorite authors, R.L. Stine. It is a narrative show, as opposed to the
original anthology one, taking place in a Pacific Northwest town involving a
group of teenagers and their parents whom did something wrong when they were teenagers. I didn’t dislike this new iteration, but I
wasn’t wholeheartedly impressed with it either.
I wasn’t a fan of most of the effects (particularly those in the
episodes “The Cuckoo Clock of Doom” and “Go Eat Worms”) and the story just
didn’t appeal to me that much. Slappy
was passable here, and it does have its moments (i.e., the puppet people), but
why couldn’t they just make another anthology series, if anything, even if they
remade some of the books that were already adapted? [I wish they kept the Are You Afraid of the Dark? revival an anthology show too]. I wasn’t even the biggest fan of the original
Goosebumps TV series, but I still
enjoyed it somewhat in terms of gateway horror (and anthology shows are always
fun). As of now, there are no second
season confirmations, but the story obviously isn’t over. Yes, I’m still going to continue if there is
one (I can’t stop now, right?), but I think I just prefer the original book
series from the Nineties over any adaptation.
[The two Goosebumps films were
just decent (my review of the second one is in here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2018/10/mooby-reviews-101718.html)]. 11/17/2023
Crazy Fun Park (Season
One) OK/G
Ten-episode series (all barely a half hour each; currently
available on Hulu) from Australia taking place primarily in the titular
abandoned amusement park. This fun park
contains dead teenagers (whom all died in the park somehow) that only come out
at night. They mustn’t be seen by the
living (which, of course, does happen), cannot exit the park (with exceptions,
of course), and must be in the park by sunrise (if they happen to go out). If the living happen to be in the park, they
must exit before sunrise lest they remain with the dead forever. One living teenager visits the park basically
every night since his best friend died there (he’s given a pass for being his
friend and for bringing the other dead teens food and other items). It was a fun series, for the most part, containing
intro music redolent of Danny Elfman in a Tim Burton film. Some parts are sappy, but others could be heartfelt,
which should be expected, I guess, given there are dead teenagers and surviving
loved ones. I saw no plans for a second
season as of yet, and, while it did end well enough if this is it (despite
there being a few things I wouldn’t mind getting answers for), I don’t think
I’d mind at least one more round. 11/10/2023
Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):
The Bad Guys >>>EH/OK
The Breach (2023) >>>OK
The Killer
(2023) >>>B/EH
(Netflix)
The Last Thanksgiving >>>OK
Susie Searches >>>OK/G
---Sean O.11/19/2023
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