Film Review : "Terrifier 2"

Who are these people who passed out in the theater or threw up? For horror I suppose it is one of the smartest marketing ploys you can go with, and it seems to work as this sequel to what was largely a cult film, gained a great deal of momentum from this hype. the movie is a great deal of fun. It took the formula from the first film and has built a story onto it with character you care about. Which considering the first film trying to out gore themselves would not have worked, nor did they attempt that. There is nothing equal to the inverted pussy saw scene of the first film. He does put the bodies to better use after they are killed. It could be reasoned from the perspective of Art the Clown since he is working on the go there is less time to prep and he is just working with what is most accessible. 

The budget is bigger, so it generally benefits from that, as it is set in more populated regions. We are not just stuck in the warehouse building. A year's time passed for the bulk of the story to take place. Art has been re-animated in the first film, but the supernatural element in regard to him is not milked, though he does haunt dreams in a Freddy Kruger like manner in some cases. In this way the movie is all over the place. It is most ground when the new protagonist Lauren LaVera is center stage as she is the best actress of the film. Here story takes an unexpected turn, and you think the back story is going one way, which it still might in future films, but the seed in the story is planted, but never grown when the movie makes its climax in the Funhouse. 

The gore is pretty Troma level low budget.  The blood does not look real more often than not, heats are pulled off with no spinal column ever existing and, bones break like rubber hoses. If this was a Gwar concert it would make more sense. I have a hard time being repulsed by gore that looks this fake. Art's mean-spirited intent is the only thing that seems to balance it out. The bulk of the victims you hope get what is coming to them, so most of the time you are rooting for Art. Are there sharks jumped and plot holes the movie threatens to fall into? Yes, but it manages to hold itself together off sheer momentum of the story. It is clear Art is a slasher that can now take his place alongside the Jasons and Leatherfaces of horror's hall of fame. I am looking forward to seeing where they go with this, so the movie had to succeed when you take away the technical aspects of film making that it still is grinding through the growing pains with. 

Film Review : 'TERRIFIER (20016) "

 With the sequel generating a great deal of hype based off reports people were being hauled out of the theaters in ambulances after vomiting and fainting, makes you wonder if people have seen the first film. While Art the Clown is becoming an iconic figure of modern horror how warranted is it?  I went back and re-watched it after only being able to recall the one scene with the girl hung upside down and the saw being used on here. Art the Clown is silent, much like Michael Myers, but more expressive, even if his motives are not clear as to why he is brutally murders total strangers, or what connection he has to the building the killing in this movie take place in. But much like other elements of this movie you could take apart in some ways the things like the lack of a backstory are the movies strength in equal measure to beings it's weakness. 

The fact it does not need to explain everything, sets it apart from other horror movies, who perhaps take that too far. It is what you do not know about Art the Clown that creates the characters mystique. The only fair criticism of this movies lies in the fact that not all actors are created equal. The antagonist perhaps the strongest performance, as the budget scream queens, all show pretty equal distress in the poor survival choices they made. Also, if we are going to look at suspension of disbelief, people do get carved up almost too quickly, with one person being turned into a skull pumpkin, in record time.  The dread and tension are pretty high on this one as well as the fore, which makes the most of the meager budget it was constructed with. 

If you are not a fan of 80s slasher flicks this movie is almost a tribute to them. If you are a huge fan of 80s slashers and have not yet seen this film, I am not sure what you are waiting for. The budget is not going to bother, you as it gives this movie it's charm when it comes to the lighting and set pieces. This is violence for the sake of violence which I appreciate. Not sure where they are going to go with the sequel, but you can bet I will be back on here to let you know.  Though if they are going to top the saw vagina scene them, they have their workcut out, though not sure it is going to require a theater issued barf bag.   

  

Film Review : "Halloween Ends"

The Halloween franchise has passed its expiration date. After the 2018 film has really been a disrespected corpse of its former self. Where there might have been potential in the first 30 minutes as character development seemed to be a focus, the film goes off the rails, when the character of Coery Cunnigham becomes a waste of time that in an attempt to create a diversion, to avoid this picking up where the last movie left off, is instead a walking plot hole that sidetracks the film. I am fine with Michael Myers living in the sewer. Maybe he is out of his prime, though if we are saying based on the two previous films and the mythos of the character who has proven himself to function at a super-human level of indestructibility, this should be the kind of constitution that keeps him from getting rusty after hiding in the sewer for a few years

. This kind of inconsistency is what this incarnation of Michael Myers runs off. Sometimes he can stab a woman into the wall and lift her off her feet with one hand while at others a woman can crucify him onto a kitchen table and break his arm. In the last movie we just saw him using superhuman strength to crush people with his bare hands. Here we get a 21-year-old man who gets bullied by high school kids, not buff ones either, only to later find himself able to wrestle with Myers. What kind of shitty writing is that? After wasting time on a love story that tries too hard to dial up the tragic elements, we get a halfhearted fight between Laurie Strode and Myers. We have already established that even at her most prepared, Strode is the pretty and Myers is the predator.

 The misdirection of Corey seemingly picking up the mantle, is a waste of time that could have been better invested in the aspects of the Halloween movies that has worked better in the past without retreading the same ground. After all it is not like it is the job of Hollywood filmmakers to tell the best story. Instead, we end up getting a garbled mess. Many of the characters are so annoying there is no investment if they live or die. The bullied young adult is not even a role that earns you sympathy. At this point the Rob Zombie movies did a better job capturing the spirit of the character than what is happening here. There is too little Michael Myers, in this ending feud with Strode. Characters who have an emotional journey just fall apart. Andi Matichak, who plays Laurie's granddaughter does a better job than Curtis.  The gore is slim considering this is one of the staples of the slasher genre. Sure, there are deserving teenagers who revenge should be extracted upon, but it never feels satisfying. If it seems like I am nitpicking about the details, then why are you so ready to accept any piece of shit Hollywood rolls off the assembly line to us

Film Review: "Hellraiser"

Hulu's Hellraiser, makes the most of its budget, to create visually striking costumes, but also highlights a problem within fandom. Horror fandom is not exception to this malady, that mirrors the human condition, where the vast hole inside the audience is never filled. The culture is in need of constant entertainment. Streaming services have a hard time keeping up with the demand as after fans have binged on one thing, they immediately require another distraction from their lives. Much like an addict with drugs or an alcoholic they invest their personality into what they consume. Thus, objectivity becomes annulled. Hellraiser looks good and works off a story that covers it plot holes with the fantasy world it is set in. The big problem is Pin head. 

Pinhead's design looks good, but when she speaks, she whispers like a ghost. At time when given more dialogue her voice is layered with a lower tone to create a marginally more demonic sound, but it lacks the dominance and the authority of the original. When Dough Bradley spoke, you knew they had fucked up, even before the chains came out. There was a command to his voice that is just not present, no matter the lines the new Pinhead delivers it is not convincing. The character seems like just another cenobite, even when they are the only one on screen. When they stand outside waiting on the scream queens to escape, there is no menace because they are like a yard gnome, a frail figure with none of the physicality. The chattering cenobite is bigger and more menacing.  If Pinhead doesn't work, the movie doesn't work no matter what they get right.      

 Cliver Barker's production credit on this one included his signing a clause that said he would support whatever they decided to do with the franchise and say it's great as long as they add another zero at the end. After all it is not like studios are beating down his door for the rights to "Imagjica" or "the Great and Secret Show". . the Hellraiser property aka Hell-bound heart / the Scarlet Gospels and "Candy-Man are the cash cows he milks. Bradley who was not given the same cut of profits Barkers was put it best 

" Pinhead wore a skirt in the original it doesn't. Matter what gender Pinhead is only that the character is terrifying. That simply is not the case, the movie might have worked better if it was "Hellraiser rise of the Cenobites" and it was an origins story where they retconned it to where Voight turns into Pinhead , but left as is the iconic figure looked great, but had none of the menace that made the originals great. It's an alright movie that entertained for the bulk of it, despite some corners being cut in CGI and some of the blood effects, though not the first in the franchise to do so, yet it is not a good Hellraiser movie in its current state, perhaps the least scary of the franchise. 

Film Review: "the Blonde"

 The only reason this beautifully crafted movie is getting negative feedback is people who have made Monroe an icon and are having a hard time reconciling this with what a tragic figure she was. So called Marilyn Monroe historians who are little more than fans of the former actress, seem to have a greater difficulty adding up the facts, when you die at 36 in the manner, she did she either killed herself or was killed. Based on the book by Joyce Caroline Oates, while some portions might be over dramatized, it does capture the tone of Hollywood in the 1950s. Back before there hash tags much less one that said Metoo. When the unspoken rule of the casting couch was in place for attractive women like Marilyn who were not the most talented to rocket into the spotlight. 

A friend of mine was saying how they heard people could not make it through the first 12 minutes. First off, these people must be incredibly stupid if they do not know how fast forward works on Netflix. Secondly just because something makes you uncomfortable it does not mean you have to run from. In fact, the only way you get stronger is by sitting through discomfort. As this movie shows, no one even the so-called icons of our day were ever promised life was going to go their way. Babies do not have the coping skills to sit through discomfort but as we get older, we learn how to handle it, or should. I did not like watching child abuse, but I am an adult enough to know while it was supposedly a reenactment of real events the actors were not actually hurting one another. Especially the child actress.  But it triggers you because you were abused, well so was I welcome to the club, your cookie is in the mail, this movie was a reminder that no matter what you go through as a child as an adult it is your responsible to do the work and take care of yourself, and do not rely on the rest of the world to meet those needs for you or you will end up death at 36.

Despite not being curvy enough for Marilyn I thought Ana De Armas, did a fine job of playing her to the point that the physical difference faded into the background. She was most believable portraying the confusing and the mood swings, I think one of the most powerful points the movie made was showing how she wanted to be Norma Jean not Marilyn Monroe who was just a character she played to the public, the toll that double life had on her and how her untreated mental illness became worse in doing so. It was also interesting how when she started figuring out the Hollywood game, she began to crack, and they controlled her with drugs.  This movie shows that perhaps when picking our idols, we need to see how flawed they may have been as until you see that side you are not getting a full picture of them.