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.   

  

Movie Review : "It"

Friday night my daughter and were talking about what her mom was going to do I told her she was going to go see “It”.Because 7 year olds know everything My daughter replied “No she is going to see a movie about a scary clown. I then tried to explain to her what the title of said scary clown movie was . But if you are wanting to see a movie about scary clowns you might be better off with the current season of American Horror Story. As “it’ doesn’t limit itself to just being about a scary clown and the bigger more sinister picture is well painted . itself among the some of the better Stephen King adaptations to film, this movie falls short of the Shining or the Mist in terms of scares , but has a lot of heart.This is only the first chapter so if you go in wanting to for them to return to Derry as adults then you better stock up on pop-corn and wait for the next movie. Generally speaking I think the director nailed the personalities of kids. This was the studio putting a ton of faith in a director whose other work “Momma” was luke warm. This film does a better job than the Tim Curry tele-vision miniseries. The big question you are really going to ask here is how does Pennywise stack up?

So you are asking Bill Skarsgard to stuck up against Tim Curry. If you strip away any cgi that was augmenting Skarsgard’s performance and kept it do who delivered their lines better than Curry would win.This also outline’s one of the movie strengths that blows the nostalgia horror fans are known for hanging onto out of the water. That is no saying we need to re-make “The Exorcist” of “the Shining” with today’s effects. In fact since this was originally a made for television mini-series and not a full length theatrical release then technically it’s not a remake. So it’s 2017 and has a bigger budget than the televised version, so it looks better. This is not just from a effects perspective there are some well placed shots, most of these you have seen in the trailer. Though a few like right before Pennywise starts dancing in his lair, so effective.

Pennywise never goes full out bug in this version, just like we are once again not shown the kids giving it to Beverly in sewer, I think that is something you can only see in Second Life. The sexual tension was more present. Not just with the kids, but a few of the townspeople and her father. Much like the lesson Joss Whedon taught us in Buffy that highschool is a terrifying place. The early adolescent world of these kids is just as scary as anything they encounter in the sewers. So it is much truer to King’s vision in this regard. I think the maniacal head shaking charge we see repeated by Pennywise was the only part of the movie I did not like, though the inclusion of the Wolf-man the protagonist sees in the book would have been a nice touch but perhaps Universal had too tight a reins on those rights. I haven’t read the book since it’s release in 1986. But the impact the book had still made me able to weigh it against the film and able to chant”he thrusts his fist against the posts, and still insists he sees the ghosts” which could have been given a little more context. So even the overblown drama of the Hollywood moments was not able to diminish the films entertainment value. If you are a horror fan you might find it lacking in the scares department, but it’s still a fun ride for Stephen King Fans.