-------------------------------------------------------------------
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).
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Apartment 7A EH/OK
Prequel to Rosemary’s
Baby, which is one of the best, if not the
best, Satanic films. Yes, I like it
better than The Exorcist and The Omen; it’s also a great example of
what one might label cozy horror too.
Was a prequel really necessary?
Prequels and sequels never really are, unless they’re planned from the
get-go. (There was also a TV movie
sequel in 1976 and a TV movie update in 2014).
I didn’t hate this film, nor did I think it was necessary either. I mean, we already know what goes on in the
apartment building, what the old couple’s intentions are (as well as some of
the other characters), and ultimately what befalls the main character (here, a
young woman aspiring to be a dancer), so there was no mystery to it. I tried giving it the benefit of the doubt,
as I always try doing, judging it as a standalone film. It kind of worked as a character study
initially, there being a slight Black
Swan quality to it, but it eventually just suffers from sequelitis (ahem, prequelitis) and comes off as a remake
more often than not. There is only one Rosemary’s Baby. 1/2/2025
Bonus reviews:
The Front Room B
Brandy in a horror movie?
Research tells me the last time that happened was I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. This film is labeled a horror/thriller, but
it’s really just crap; it was gross more than once too. I’d take that mediocre sequel from 1998 over
this any day. Brandy isn’t even the
problem here, not really; that dishonor goes to her stepmother-in-law played by
Kathryn Hunter, whom comes to live with her and her husband after her own
husband passes. She is one of the most
irritating, despicable characters I’ve ever seen on film, and I care not if
that was the intention. I hated this
movie. Hated, hated, hated it. Definitely one of the worst of 2024. 1/3/2025
The Old Man in the
Rocking Chair G
Short modern giallo film (roughly 20-minutes) released two
years ago (currently available on YouTube; popular composers Pino Donaggio and
Goblin are included on the soundtrack).
[Giallo is basically an Italian slasher film, for those that don’t
know]. The violence in this is so
over-the-top, but is the sole reason it totally works. I recommend this one. I actually wish it was maybe 20-to-30-minutes
longer, not necessarily feature-length (an hour total, at most), because I feel
there’s a bit more to this story that could be interesting. And apparently this was a remake of an even
shorter film released in 2019, also written and directed by Eric Yoder, which I
couldn’t find anywhere to view, but I have a sense this updated one is better…12/30/2024
That Christmas G
(haiku review)
New film on Netflix.
Charming and not quite sappy.
I think I liked it. 12/21/2024
Other movies and TV show(s) I’ve seen and their ratings (see above):
Amber Alert (2024) >>>OK
Bird (2024) >>>OK
Birder >>>OK
Cuckoo (2024) >>>B/EH
(Sometimes in German and French with
subtitles)
Here After
(2024) >>>EH
(Sometimes in
Italian with subtitles)
How the Gringo Stole Christmas >>>OK
The Inheritance (2024) >>>EH
Last Straw >>>OK
Mind Body Spirit >>>EH/OK
The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge >>>EH/OK
Nightbitch >>>EH
Rap World >>>OK
(Available on
YouTube)
Sweetpea (Season
One) >>>OK
(6 episodes)
Trim Season >>>OK
An Urban Allegory >>>EH
(Short film; In
French with subtitles)
You Are Not Me >>>OK
(In Spanish with
subtitles)
---Sean O.
1/4/2025
