Sunday, November 19, 2023

Thanksgiving

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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.htmlhttps://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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