There are 442 posts filed in Shocktober (this is page 31 of 64).
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is a film I can recommend to anyone. Sure, it caters mostly to horror fans, poking fun at familiar tropes, but it has a wider appeal as well. Tucker & Dale is a laugh-out-loud comedy with over-the-top violence and no shortage of sight gags, but it still has heart. Tucker & Dale are backwoods bumpkins, but they are backwoods bumpkins with hearts of gold… and chainsaws.
Though I doubt few outside the world of horror have heard the name “Jim Mickle” this NYU educated writer-director has in ten years already carved out an impressive filmography. Breaking out with the low budget Mulberry Street in 2006, Mickle has since made three films; Stake Land, We Are What We Are and Cold in July, all of which have been well reviewed. I think it’s time some of us take note not only of the quality of Mickle’s films but the content. I can’t remember the last time I watched films from a horror director who spent so much time on character development. Mickie’s characters are never props to the actions or monster bait with targets pinned to their backs. They are living, breathing people with defined motivations and fleshed out personalities. Perhaps one of Mickle’s best examples of this is the 2010 film Stake Land. Although it may sound like a gory vampire romp (and it is occasionally) the film flashes a few moments of brilliance.
I definitely sympathize with insomniacs. Wrestling with the biological need to sleep versus the intellectual, existential concerns of unconsciousness? That’s my jam. But honestly, it doesn’t take too much to miss some sleep; maybe it’s just a fun new video game, a night out with friends, or an early meeting. And it’s amazing how quickly, once some sleeplessness takes hold, that all your priorities can shift and suddenly some bed time sounds like the greatest thing in the world. That’s been my experience not getting a lot of sleep for like, a week. In The Machinist, Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) hasn’t slept in a year.
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You see, the thing about doing a month of movies revolving around Netflix, is that sometimes they take movies off of Netflix that you blindly assumed you’d be able to watch in time for a Shocktober review. This happened to me last night when I sat down to watch 2004’s Open Water, only to discover that it’d been taken off of this almighty streaming service that we are at the mercy of. So in order to keep the continuity going, I was able to settle on a movie that pokes fun at horror movies (for the most part), and also happened to come out in the early ’00s. Now I’d be lying if I said I was expecting much from Scary Movie 3, but that made it all the more mildly pleasing that this movie isn’t absolutely terrible in the way that I was expecting it to be absolutely terrible. Continue reading
Sleepy Hollow is the first film on this year’s list I have a history with. I remember the film’s trailer back in the day; a full scene from the movie of a young boy hiding from the Headless Horseman as his parents are butchered before his eyes. I also remember seeing the film in theaters, and my mom spilling an entire bag of popcorn on a random stranger after a jump scare from a witch. And who could forget the highly detailed action figures from McFarlane Toys? Truly, it was my Woodstock. But is it any good?
I have never felt this guilty about giving a film a subpar rating. Not only because it’s a film starring a paralyzed actor doing his best, but because it was one of that actors last roles. Apart from a few guest spots, this made-for-TV movie that premiered on ABC on November 22nd, 1998 was one of the last times any of us had the pleasure of watching Christopher “Superman” Reeve. Though what would pleasure be without pain?
It’s easy to forget how influential Scream was to the horror genre. Not only did the series pave the way for meta movies it paved the way for horror-comedies. Would we have movies like Shaun of the Dead without the Scream franchise? Scream was a trendsetter, but what about Scream 2? Well, I’m happy to say that not only is Scream 2 just as influential, it’s just as good.
