Shocktober Day 21: Train to Busan

Train to Busan (2016)

Train to Busan begins with a disturbing image that I wish the movie explored more. A farmer drives his truck into a quarantine zone and becomes distracted trying to reach his vibrating phone in the passenger seat. While his eyes are off the road, he runs over a deer. The farmer gets out, inspects his vehicle for damage, then resumes his journey. But the camera lingers in place and the dead animal suddenly lurches back to life. This begs so many questions, like what animals are infected? Do they only want to eat their own kind or will they attack anything they see? Unfortunately, Train to Busan is not the zombanimals movie I’ve been waiting for. It is, however, one of the most fun zombie movies I’ve seen in a while.

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Shocktober Day 20: The Love Witch

The Love Witch (2016)

In our era of constant reboots and reimaginings, it’s not uncommon to find genre films that are homages to certain eras and styles. However, it’s rare that a film is an homage to such a specific era and such a specific style in the way that The Love Witch is. In fact, it feels a little weird talking about the film in regards to 2010s horror, considering it feels like such a product of the late ’60s/early ’70s. Yet, it has enough modern themes thrown in to make it a distinct product of 2016 while indulging the sultry, kitschy images of the past. Continue reading →

Shocktober Day 19: Green Room

Green Room (2015)

Green Room represents exactly the things that have created my general resistance(?) to horror movies and why I’ve still seen so many of them. Green Room is a thrilling movie and on paper I like lots of movies that are exciting… but most of those are action movies. Here, the intensity is in service of creating dire situations that you have to hope you’ll never face in real life. You could go as far as to describe them as miserable. And yet, the movie is smartly made with fully-realized characters, beautiful imagery, and all the other film criticism cliches. It adds up to an all-too-familiar picture: a movie I respect a helluva lot more than I like.

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Shocktober Day 18: Another Evil

Another Evil (2016)

I was supposed to watch a plus two-hour South Korean movie for today’s review. I had an opportunity last night, but instead I watched Joe Flacco get sacked nine times on Thursday Night Football. That game. That was true horror. So coming off the bench for today is Another Evil a little horror comedy that deserves way more love than it’s received.

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Shocktober Day 16: Bone Tomahawk

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

The month-long celebration of Patrick Wilson continues with S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk, a brutal, modern send-up to John Ford’s The Searchers. While John’s made it no secret he’s a big fan of Zahler as both a writer and director (though I don’t think he’s ever gotten the chance to write about him on the blog), I have to admit I approached this film with a bit of trepidation. For one, it has a reputation for having one incredibly gruesome scene and I wasn’t sure I’d want to see something like that. Moreover, Zahler’s devil-may-care reputation made me wary investing my time in a potentially unsavory character. Is he someone who’s rejected Hollywood and embraced the taboo to aid in his storytelling or does he actually have a warped view of the world? Bone Tomahawk makes me believe the former.

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Shocktober Day 15: The Blackcoat’s Daughter

The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015)

Today wasn’t the first time I tried to watch The Blackcoat’s Daughter. I gave it a go a few years ago and fell asleep thirty minutes in. I didn’t finish it. Second times the charm, right? Let’s just say the Sandman was lurking over my shoulder. It’s not that the The Blackcoat’s Daughter is a bad movie but it is an endurance test. The film is a slow burn, shown out of sequence, clouded with an ambiguity that finishes with an abrupt ending and no easy answers. Only answers that the viewer must decipher. I’ve read two or three blog posts that decipher the film which does give me respect for how the pieces fit. That being said I never would have been able to put them together on my own.

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