-------------------------------------------------------------------
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).
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Carved OK/G
A killer pumpkin? I
had to! It isn’t a killer with a pumpkin
head like Jack-O; no, this is an
actual killer pumpkin. The only other
time I recall seeing that was in a segment of Tales of Halloween. This
isn’t an expansion of that segment, but it is one of a 5-minute short film of
the same name released in 2018, both directed by Justin Harding (you can view
the short if you Google it; this one is available on Hulu). In it, a pumpkin is taken from a field and
about to be used in a pumpkin carving contest in a small town festivity. It isn’t long before the sentient gourd
starts attacking and killing those in attendance with a bunch of tendrils it
creates, in addition to other weapons.
There is violence, yes. A group
of people then hide in a nearby barn and try figuring out a way to escape this
killer fruit. (It takes place in the
early 90s, so no cellulars, and the only means of escape involves keys not
handy). Was this great? Nope.
It was fun enough in that ‘90’s VHS’ kind of way though. (There was definitely a nod to Jack Frost 2 at the end). The effects and creature design may not have
been stellar, but they were passable, looking mostly practical (not when it
appears more like a giant spider while walking with its tendrils in the
distance); the pumpkin undoubtedly looked better than the one used in the short
film. Happy Halloween! 10/22/2024
Hysteria! (Season
One)
1989. Satanic
Panic. A metal band. Bruce Campbell. I was definitely in for this Peacock series. (All eight episodes, roughly between
50-60-minutes each, are available). A
trio of teenagers (2 guys, 1 girl) in a small town (somewhere in Michigan,
filmed in Georgia) are in a metal band and use the whole Satanic Panic theme to
get more attention, which inevitably leads to one misunderstanding after
another (amongst peers, townsfolk, authorities, etc.) following the murder of
one of their classmates. Bruce plays a
cop that tries to get to the bottom of it all.
A reveal halfway made this less dark than I thought it would be; a
rather pedestrian one too, and nothing much is done with it afterwards either. There were sometimes hints of leading to dark
places, but it always seemed to wimp out.
Plus, there were suggestions of a supernatural presence (right up to the
very end), but I’m not sure whether any of it was real or not. Cons aside, I did enjoy following the three band
members and was curious to see where all of this was going (more so before that
reveal, yes, but still a bit after). There
is no confirmed second season yet, but maybe I would welcome one. Perhaps it might make this season (when all
was said and done) feel less of a letdown…10/27/2024
Bonus reviews:
Catnado
They did it with sharks (six times!) and clowns, so why not
cats? And what’s next, right? This actually came out two years ago, but
wasn’t released until now (at least on streaming and DVD). It wasn’t entirely
what I expected, because I assumed it would be a single narrative, but it’s
actually an anthology film consisting of six tales, one a take on an original Twilight Zone episode. The titular disaster does appear in each
segment though. Now, does anyone (at
least most people) actually expect a movie called Catnado to be any good? Especially
for one that didn’t get nearly as much publicity (apparently none until now) as
the shark ones? It is awful. Aw-ful.
The acting is bad, the effects are really
bad…what did you expect, right? Curiosity
will surely get people to check it out, but we all know what curiosity killed,
right? (Wink, wink). I will admit though that it is often pretty
funny at how ridiculously awful it is…10/27/2024
WNUF Halloween Special B/EH
I finally got around to watching this film from 2013
presented as a live news broadcast set in the Eighties. One segment of this broadcast involves a crew
entering a haunted house that hasn’t been occupied in 20 years after a boy
killed both his parents there. Now, of
this roughly 83-minute film, only about 20-minutes of it focuses on this particular
segment. If they were going for an
authentic news program with tons and tons of commercials, they definitely
succeeded. My goodness was there a
shitload of ads! I hate commercials when
watching a real movie or TV show, let alone an entire film containing them;
fake ones too! The majority of the ads
weren’t compelling either; I think I might’ve enjoyed them more had they been
from the actual 80’s (I might’ve even remembered some of them). The segment in question was totally lacking
too, containing a reveal that made me think “Really? That’s the best they could
come up with?!” This “movie” was a waste
of time. 10/24/2024
Other movies and TV show(s) I’ve seen and their ratings (see above):
American Horror
Stories (Season Three, Part 2)
>>>EH/OK
(Hulu; 5 episodes)
Azrael >>>OK
The Beast Within (2024) >>>EH
Deer Camp ’86 >>>OK
Don’t Move (2024) >>>OK
(Netflix)
Family Pack (2024) >>>OK
(Netflix; In
French with subtitles)
MadS >>>OK
(In French with
subtitles)
The Phantom Carriage >>>OK/G
(Swedish
silent film)
A Quiet Place: Day One >>>OK
Woman of the Hour >>>OK
(Netflix)
---Sean O.
10/28/2024
No comments:
Post a Comment