Cult

Only a few episodes in and I like it though with the whole college campus game subplot that emerges by episode three, I can see where this show might be molded for the Cw, but other than that it is probably the best show you aren't watching. Timing is unfortunate because the Following has a similar theme if you just take it as a horror themed show about a cult, but that would be a very surface judgement as I think Cult has more layers and is closer to being horror than the Kevin Bacon vehicle. Not to say I don't find the Following entertaining, I'm going to post another blog on that this weekend.

Cult is the darkest show on Televison right now, since American Horror Story isnt on and I'll go ahead and say its darker than the Walking Dead where zombies have become the window dressing for the Hatfeilds vs the McCoys. The whole show within a show, element add to it as does the conspiracy elements. The show is set it grimerier locations which might not seem too appealing for the CW demographic and as I watch it I wonder what viewers of shows like the Vampire Diaries and Arrow think of this. Sure Smallville got into conspiracies at some point and there is the claustrophobic feeling of some greater than the characters keeps the desperation alive, which is what a zombie show should capture but I think walking dead has kinda missed the mark there.

It's not weighed down with pretty people's you would expect a show on CW to be though the computer chick and the Indian girl are attractive in way that appeals to me more than the overly groomed way they normally portray girls on the Vampire diaries are arrow where they are just too skinny. I think Cult's writing is better at keeping you on your toes than other show who sometimes try to hard, it feels like a natural spiral into this world, which the show in the show sucks their viewers into this Cult of its own which I'm sure will get brought up sooner or later. The gore is well not at the level of Supernatural we have gotten a suicide and some stabbings , but some of the death has been pretty creative and more Poe like than the Following where Poe was a theme at one point.

I thin there is an audience for it and I hope they reach beyond there normally demographic to capture it, while this isn't there American Horror Story it's closer to that than the Following and despite shared subject matter still a very different showand less of a crime drama.

Bates Motel

So i saw an advance of the new show that is billing it's self as a prequel to the 1960 classic which is not only a crowning achievement but one of the greatest directors Alfred Hitchcock but could also be one of the greatest films ever made , that that is what we are weighing this against...not another teen thriller on the CW but a movie that changed the game and created the horror subgenre we now know as slasher films ...you what paved the way for the likes of Halloween, Texas chainsaw Massacre , Hostel ..etc. In and of it self the show is entertaining when it stays out of high-school, lets face even on their best days the whole highschool thing has been done to death and after Buffy is it even needed to go there, not like there is a lack of that sort of thing on tv in the first place.

The major strike against the show is it's modernized ,now im not sure how a prequel to something set in 1960 ends up in 2013...yes there are ipods and iphones... so a key plot device of the original film is rendered a mute point as Janet Leigh could have gotten on her iphone and looked up triple a or a less creepy hotel or used mapqwest to know a better highway was built. So its silly really, they missed an opportunity to have retro feel , made a horror version of madmen...oh yeah before you say well why copy madmen...well why copy a thousand high-school shows.

Another think is i understand nerd is the new hipster but a car full of girls fawning over a dorky Norman Bates who has a overbearing mother is a little much more me to suspend my disbelief on and he needs to be more fucked up over chicks thats why he grew up to get all his voyeuristic kicks out of the peep hole shower. This show has the momentum of a lot of unfounded hype over it, based off of what commercial? their are a ton of people liking it on Facebook when it was sight unseen so they are all going to feel pretty stupid once they actually watch it. Its not horrible, it for the most part want to be the parts I like least about Dexter the teenage flash backs. But it was still watchable despite this, part of this was there is a rape in the first episode, though a pretty tame on, and on A&E I have low expectations for the shower scenes to come.

The Norman Bates character does capture some of his mannerisms and his awkward communication disconnects though the dynamic with him and his mother needs some work, but im not totally sold on this kid or his mother who is almost too likable at this point, though she is passive aggressive enough for you to see where its going. The problem with prequels is we know whats going to happen, he cant get killed or caught, so the stakes aren't as high as Dexter as in some ways this is the vampire diaries version of Dexter. Sure there wouldn't be a Dexter with out Psycho but that's not stopping these writers.

I don't see this being able to hold its own as a series, the modernization is going to drag the show into lowest common denominator teen fodder, and the horror elements are going to remain on par with Vampire Diaries, though Im not sure the looming Hannibal Lecter series is going to be much better and have yet to check out Ripper Street, though I plan on it once i get caught up with everything else, consider this a lesson in be careful what you like before you see it as its not as offensive as what I expected but misses the mark of respecting the source material.

Last Exorcism 2

I'm not opposed to found footage films, I might be in the minority here. I think you can take what was a gimmick used back in 1999 with the Blair Witch and do some interesting things with it , I mean the fact it's being used fourteen years later says something, I think the first Last Exorcism did this well. I liked the way the tone changed and was not bothered by the more fantasy infused ending. The sequel had some balls to abandon this format and strike out on its own path, but doesn't have the tonal shit just got real shift the first film has.

Ashley Bell reprises her role as Nell Sweetzer and she makes the movie. Her character is more interesting in the setting of a half way house where she is trying to find her way since surviving the backwoods cult. Her acting is on
Ar with the first film though the actually possession doesn't get much screen time. The Demond Abalam is smitten with her and wants to get her back so perhaps this is a horror romance, Nell doesn't play hard to get as much a sorry devil it's not you it's me and I've decided you aren't real.

The coming of age plot uses what most films do sex and it's temptation as the plot device, there's a crush on a boy, a fist kiss, and then listening to a couple in the next room of the hotel she works at fuck that really pulls herin. I liked how the infection of lust seeped out from the wall paper. The scen where her hand is possessed to masturbate is not only very relatable but I think served the film well, in some ways it reminded me of Danny in the Shining.

I think there was a lot of stuff that could have been fleshd out more, the cult in New Orleane , we are aware there were was something sinister going on just like there were the voodoo good guys who came to help I think having the bad guys more defined would have added more tension, I suppose it could be argued Nell was hallucinating someon that but the preacher would have been scarier if there was more of a tie. Ok we got dead ravens and some creepers at Mardi GRAS which which strangely uncrowned for Mardi GRAS . The connection to her room,ate was a little two dimensional, was her room mate reall out to get her , the smiles were subtle. I think the tension level and emotional investment could have been expanded on maybe the zoo trip trimmed down and some of the time spent vacuuming.

I will say the other big thing that hampered the film was its pg13 rating. Horror movies should all be rated r . Make it a law and allow the directors to give audiences what the want, there needed to be a lesbian scen with her and her room mate. The gore was pretty tame, I can understand taking a Hitchcock position and what your imagination sees I your minds eye is always scarirer but it seemed like it was toned down from the first film. The first film felt creepier as you knew they were secluded at the farm house, there needed to be something to make up for that. The whole End of Days feeling could have been expanded upon, I think the first film was just a lot scarier l the opening scene worked great but the tension dropped once we got to the half way house. It was however not a bad movie as sequels go. I liked most of how it was shot I think it could have been darker in tone, and not sure why I felt it wasn't dark enough, it was better than End of days , Stigmata and the Possession and well most other movies of thi silk since the first film with only Devil Inside being better and the second Paranormal Activity. So if you are Adam of this exorcism sub genre or Omen like supernatural end of times sort of thing check it out. If not its worth a rainy day on net flicks.