horror movies

[REVIEW] M3GAN or My First Killer Doll Movie is Fun

| Rachel's Reviews

For all of you who have followed my reviews you know I’m fairly new to the horror genre. I grew up thinking I didn’t like to be scared so I mostly avoided the genre and it is only recently that I have been catching up to try and have a more well-rounded portfolio of reviews. Last year I watched Black Phone, Scream, X and Pearl, Barbarian, and The Menu as well as the original Nightmare on Elm Street for my blind spot series (I have also seen Halloween, the original Scream and The Lost Boys.) I am going to continue this trend and watch  more horror this year and the first one up is the killer robot/doll movie M3GAN.

Believe it or not this film by Gerard Johnstone is my first killer doll movie. I’ve never seen a Child’s Play movie or Annabelle or anything else. You can say that makes my opinion less valid because I have nothing to compare it to but it is what it is. Sometimes a fresh perspective can be interesting so perhaps that’s what I can provide?

M3GAN tells the story of little girl and recent orphan Cady (Violet McGraw) who is being raised by her ill-equipped aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) who has designed an interactive doll named M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android). Cady is paired with M3GAN and Gemma is happy to turn the parenting responsibilities for her damaged niece over to the doll. Of course this creates some attachment problems and since this is a horror movie the doll gets more possessive of Cady by the minute.

First, I will say the viral marketing campaign for M3GAN has been hilarious and brilliant. I think I would have been inclined to see it even if I wasn’t a critic because it was so creative. Also the combination of puppetry, animatronics and motion capture to create the doll is seamless and completely believable. My favorite kind of horror has a dose of comedy and M3GAN gives plenty of humor for the audience. There’s the iconic dance in the trailer but she’s a heroine with lots of sass.

The downsides to the movie is it does take a long time to get going. It’s pretty slow for the first 30 minutes and then it finally gets going. Also without spoilers there is one death to a child that surprised me. I figured, even though he or she is a jerk they would just get hurt and not die. That is surprising! I know a lot of people have complained about the pg13 but as someone new to horror I appreciate there being some entries not as violent for us newbies!

I also thought some of the supporting acting is weak particularly Ronny Chieng as Gemma’s boss. He over-acted whenever he is on screen. Fortunately Williams and McGraw are both good and they are the main characters (along with M3GAN). Aside from being funny, the movie has something to say about parenting and how quick we are to turn those responsibilities over to technology these days.

All in all, I’d say my first killer doll movie was a success. If you are wanting to dive into a fun, silly horror movie give M3GAN a shot. From this newbie I’d say it’s a good time at the cinema.

6 out of 10

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Blind Spot 82: A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)

| Rachel's Reviews

Part of the point of this blind spot series is to get me out of my comfort zone and watch  movies I may have been avoiding or putting off. Horror or scary movies definitely fall into that category as I’ve always been a bit of a scary movie wimp. However, I am trying to expand my palate and as part of this series I’ve watched Scream, Halloween, Frankenstein and now A Nightmare on Elm Street.


In watching these scary movies I’ve realized something about myself. I’m actually not that scared by supernatural horror. If I can put some distance between my reality and the horror movie plot I do pretty well. What seems to scare me the most is a scary movie that could actually happen to me. A good example is a film called The Gift from 2015. This is a well done film but it gave me legit nightmares for weeks. The idea of Rebecca Hall’s character being stalked by an old acquaintance of her husband and then what he does to her was terrifying.

So I give this long introduction to explain why I actually had more fun with A Nightmare on Elm Street than I would have guessed. It is gory and graphic. There’s no question about that but it’s all in dreams and over-the-top so it doesn’t feel like something that could actually happen to me. This makes it easier to have fun with the story.

A Nightmare on Elm Street tells the story of a girl named Nancy who lives on a street where a ghost named Freddy Kruger is haunting teens in their dreams and killing them. He is doing this out of revenge for the parents who killed him for being a child murderer.

The production design is the greatest strength of this film and director Wes Craven has a lot of fun with the horror dream kill sequences. Of course, Freddy has the knives as hands but most of the kills are more elaborate than that might imply. One teen is swung around in circles, another is nearly pulled through the tub and a young man is killed in a tornado of blood from his bed. These are all so over-the-top that they weren’t scary but more fun and inventive.

There is something chilling about being haunted through your dreams- a space you have no control of and can only put off for so long. However, I think some of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers movies are a little scarier in that concept because not only do you die but you become this horrible creature that can hurt other people. It’s one thing to die but another to become a monster that hurts the people you love.

Evidently Robert Englund gets into more camp as Freddy in future installments, but he is good in this first film and all the teens are excellent including a young Johnny Depp and Heather Langenkamp as Nancy.

In the end, I’m glad I finally watched A Nightmare on Elm Street, and I can see why it is considered to be a horror classic. I’ve heard the 3rd film is the best of the sequels, but let me know what you think. And what scares you the most in movies? I’d love to know.

9 out of 10

Smile Worthy

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CANDYMAN and THE GREEN KNIGHT: Two Unpopular Opinions

| Rachel's Reviews

Hello everyone! I hope that you are having a great August and that you and your family are healthy and well. Today I have 2 recent movies to update you on: The Green Knight and Candyman. The 2 films don’t have much in common except for the fact I seem to not enjoy them nearly as much as most seem to be. Unpopular opinions are always an interesting experience for any film fan but let’s break down my thoughts on both films:

The Green Knight

Director David Lowery is one of the most compelling and effective directors working today. I love his version of Pete’s Dragon he did for Disney and appreciated his bold contemplation of grief and our human legacy in A Ghost Story.  Very few directors can so seamlessly move from mainstream fair to arthouse indie with such ease, while still maintaining a clear and obvious point of view. It’s very impressive.

Now we have his take on the Arthurian legend ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ in The Green Knight. I must own when I first saw the film I did not enjoy it. I found it obtuse, confusing and slow. However, almost everyone I know loved it, proclaiming it the best movie of the year that I decided to give it another watch. I rarely do this but they were doing a virtual screening last week so it was convenient so why not?

So what was the result of my second watch? I still don’t love it but I did appreciate it more. It was nice to be able to watch it at home where I could take a break if needed and even have the original story open to provide insight into the confusing sections.

There are positives to the film. Dev Patel is wonderful. I am a huge fan of his. I loved last year’s Personal History of David Copperfield. I love Lion and Slumdog Millionaire is one of my favorite films of all time. He’s great in this film and is easy to root for even when he is being a scoundrel.

The Green Knight is also a beautiful film with gorgeous cinematography by Andrew Droz Palermo. It’s the kind of movie they should make an artbook for because it is so stunning.

All that said I still find the narrative to be unnecessarily confusing. Going from dream, to reality, back to dreams without any clarification is baffling and certain choices don’t make any sense like Alicia Vikander playing two characters. Are they supposed to be twins? What does that mean?

The whole movie in general lacks a sense of purpose. What is it trying to say? I am sure whole video essays will be made expounding upon it but whatever its message is certainly left me cold.

I’m struggling with what rating to give it because I did appreciate it more the second viewing, but I still didn’t love it. In the end, I have to be authentic to my experience and not worry what other people think.

5 out of 10

Frown Worthy

Candyman

Everyone who reads my reviews knows I am not the biggest horror movie fan. However, I have been trying the last few years to get out of my comfort zone and watch movies like Halloween, Scream and more. Being a big fan of Get Out I was intrigued by Jordan Peele’s name attached to the new sequel to Candyman (he’s a producer and writer) I decided to give the movie a try. I was hoping it would be a gripping horror movie with a message like Get Out. Unfortunately, that was not my experience. Others seem to be loving this film but I thought it was a very weak entry into the horror genre.

I will say I have never seen the original Candyman but my brother has and we watched the movie together. He helped fill me in on anything I was missing from the previous film. It’s billed as a ”spiritual sequel” so I don’t think watching the 1992 film is required to understand this film.

Candyman tells the story of artist named Anthony who moves into the Cabrini-Green neighborhood of Chicago where housing projects have been left abandoned in the place of large skyscrapers, which he is now living in. In looking for inspiration for his art he starts to dive into an urban legend of the Candyman which comes to prey on victims when they say his name into a mirror 5 times.

Writing that description it sounds more fun than it is. The problem is director Nia DaCosta fails to build up tension well. There’s a ton of exposition but we aren’t made to care about the characters so when they are put in peril it’s not as tense as it should be. For example, there is a scene with some teens in peril that we barely know, so the horrors that happen are more by-the-numbers than exciting.

There are some gross scenes but that’s not enough to make for a compelling movie, especially in one obviously trying to say so much. Like I said, most of the messaging is in long sections of exposition, not through dynamic character growth. Instead of being enlightening I found myself waiting for the next gruesome scene because at least then something fresh was happening.

Candyman reminds me a lot of Velvet Buzzsaw but not as good because at least that film had top-tier acting (some of the acting leaves much to be desired particularly by supporting players here) and it had a sense of humor about it’s characters and kills. This is blandness masquerading as a socially conscious horror movie.

For an interesting perspective from, Robert Daniels, a Black film critic I admire click here.

As for me, I cannot recommend Candyman. If you see it let me know what you think!

3 out of 10

Frown Worthy

Blind Spot 58: ‘Halloween’ (1978)

| Rachel's Reviews

Part of the reason why I do this blind spot series is to push me out of my comfort zone. As a film critic I want to be able to review any film, with the exception of outright pornography, that an outlet assigns me. That said I’m still a human being with preferences that come into play when watching films. However, by reviewing classics outside of my preferred genres for blind spots it helps me get out of my comfort zone with hopefully well made classic films. This is an effective way of pushing myself rather than watching a new film, which may or may not be a good example of the genre.

Horror, particularly slasher movies, is a genre I especially struggle with. Ever since I was a little girl I never liked the feeling of being scared and it’s still not my favorite; although I have grown a lot over the last few years. This year trying to push myself even further I decided to watch the classic slasher film Halloween from 1978 for this month’s blind spot.

Halloween is directed by John Carpenter who wrote the film with producer Debra Hill and the entire thing was made on a shoestring budget of only $300k. Carpenter also wrote the very memorable score that does a lot of the heavy lifting to bring tension into simple scenes.

Even though Halloween is outside of my comfort zone, I can totally see why it’s a classic and a favorite of horror fans. It is very well directed by Carpenter with leering cinematography by Dean Cundey. Even when characters are doing mundane things like talking on the phone or watching television there is a sense they are being watched and they should be more careful than they are being. We as an audience know the deranged Michael Myers is out there but the characters don’t. This makes us anxious for them and the violence, when it does happen, very effective.

Surprisingly, Halloween is not a very bloody film. It’s violent and there is carnage but most of the movie is about anticipating the kills rather than luxuriating in them. I also appreciate the film doesn’t try to explain away Michael Myers or give him some complicated backstory. We see from the opening that he is the personification of evil and that’s all we need to know. Sometimes evil exists and the devil is a real force so I appreciated that approach.

There is also an ambiguity to Michael Myers as a character that makes him scary. I am sure they elaborate on his nature in the sequels but I like here how he might be human or an alien or something else. We don’t know. Dr Loomis (played very well by Donald Pleasence) tells us he is evil from the start of the picture and we see him as a child murderer and that’s all we need to know to be scared.

Jamie Lee Curtis is definitely the best of the 3 young actresses in Halloween. She’s skeptical when you need her to be and smart when faced with a threat. So many of these ‘final girls’ in horror movies are needlessly stupid (including the 2 other girls) that it’s refreshing to see Laurie as played by Curtis as a character who uses her head.

Halloween is not a movie I am likely to watch again. It’s just not my thing, but I can recognize good filmmaking and that’s what we have here. It’s very well done and I’m glad I finally checked it off my list.

7 out of 10

Smile Worthy

[REVIEW] ‘The Invisible Man’ (Spoiler Free)

| Rachel's Reviews

If you have been following my site for any amount of time you know the horror genre is one of my least favorites. That doesn’t mean there can’t be gems which I enjoy. I especially like creature scares movies like last year’s Crawl or the classic Jaws. I also enjoy a tight thriller like 10 Cloverfield Lane or a Hitchcock film like Vertigo. However, it is in general a tough genre to win me over to.

Understanding my bias, one of my goals for 2020 is to try and expand my palate in the horror genre. This will hopefully make my portfolio of reviews stronger and open a new world of moviemaking to me. Unfortunately most of the horror movies so far this year have looked atrocious, so I didn’t see any of them. That changed with this week’s release entitled The Invisible Man.

Very loosely based on the original 1933 Universal Monster movie and the novel by H.G. Wells, this contemporary adaptation is directed by Leigh Whannell and stars Elizabeth Moss. I don’t know if it is her role on The Handmaid’s Tale that is to blame but Moss has become a pro at playing the battered, tortured woman and her performance is the strength of this film. She commits to every scene and you feel invested in her character throughout.

invisible man2

While the movie is focusing on her paranoia caused by her abusive husband it is very effective and chilling. I won’t give any details away but suffice it to say he has been so controlling that when she starts to sense his presence it isn’t entirely clear whether she has gone into full mania or is actually sensing his spirit (or an invisible man…).

invisible man

Unfortunately the last act of the film abandons this initial premise and becomes more of a generic monster/ghost movie and that interested me a lot less. Everything that was unknown and hidden becomes obvious and as a result a lot less scary. It honestly became kind of corny with over-the-top kills and cheesy set pieces.

However, I can still recommend The Invisible Man, especially for horror buffs. Moss is very good and there are enough scares in the first half to be entertained. Just manage your expectations. Some of the hyperbole has been a little nuts on this film. In fact, I’m not sure why this film is getting so much more praise than last year’s Greta? They are both about lonely women who get pushed to the breaking point by a megalomaniac who is stalking them, and they both have slightly cheesy finales. Who knows? All that matters is I found them both entertaining enough to recommend.

If you get to see The Invisible Man let me know what you think. It is rated R for “strong bloody violence and language” and especially at the beginning it earns its scares.

6.5 out of 10

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[REVIEW] ‘Black Christmas’: A Lump of Coal for Horror Fans

| Rachel's Reviews

black christmas4

Let me state upfront that I am by no means a fan of the horror genre. However, I am a fan of Christmas movies, and am trying to expand my palette as a critic. So when I heard that the remake of Black Christmas was coming out and it was PG13 I jumped at the chance to see it. Unfortunately jumping out of my comfort zone was not rewarded as I was presented with a sloppy, poorly written, unfunny film that evidently has little to nothing to do with the original 1974 classic.

I know there are some women who connected with this film and found watching it to be a cathartic experience for their own suffering at the hands of men. That is not my experience in life and it certainly isn’t my experience with this movie. In fact, from my perspective the movie waters down the stories of women so we are no longer unique beings with different opinions, tastes and experiences. Instead, it’s like we are all made from a mold that’s been approved by feminist think tanks.

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What particularly annoyed was a character who is viewed as the traitor of the women, only to be then rejected by the men she so stupidly followed. She dared to go against the correct definition of femininity and paid the price! All the characters who question the activist character suffer in the end. In fact, it’s kind of interesting that a film with such overtly political messages would also have so little actual diversity of thought…

All the men in this film are problematic and all the women are expected to respond to the men in the same way. I kept thinking of the quote from the new Little Women when Meg says ‘just because my dreams are different than yours doesn’t make them less important’. This film tries to stand as a feminist mantra to young women but what about the tomboy or the shy girl who doesn’t want to be a kick-butt female against the evil men? At least last year’s Anna and the Apocalypse had some variety of men and women fighting zombies!

black christmas3

The other problem with Black Christmas is it isn’t scary at all, and I’m a super horror movie wimp. If I’m not scared that’s really bad. Most of the kills come to people we don’t care about and in ways that don’t provide any real dread. Everything is so predictable and bland that it’s not entertaining as some kind of escapist revenge feminist fantasy. It’s actually kind of dull.

Watching Black Christmas reminded me of a cheap knock off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s like they got to female empowerment and stopped. For a movie to be empowering we have to be presented with characters we care about, with dialogue that feels authentic to those characters. Otherwise we can read an article or watch a documentary and be done with it. Fiction needs to draw us in with more than just a message.

Black Christmas fails because of its sloppy script, poor production values and total lack of scares. Avoid it and support female stories with rich and dynamic characters. 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Babadook or the Happy Death Day movies are 3 recent examples that do a far better job. Even Coraline does a much better job of showing a layered interesting female character in a horror environment. Check them out instead.

Also if you want a truly feminist film watch the documentary Maiden from this year.

1 out of 10

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Current Mini Reviews

| Rachel's Reviews

Hi friends! I hope you are doing well and enjoying the end of your summer. I have been writing a lot of reviews lately but, I still have a few films that I need to catch up on. This means it is time for one of my ‘Current Movie Reviews’ posts. If you got to see any of these films let me know what you thought of them.

Sure love ya!

apollo 11

APOLLO 11-

I was very disappointed I didn’t get to see the documentary Apollo 11 at Sundance this year but I missed it. Now catching up to it I think I prefer it more as an interesting experiment than an actual movie but it still has lots to recommend. What they do is they use archival footage, interviews, sound/video recordings merged together, to recreate the events of the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon. They do it in a way that feels like real time including each step along the way from politicians, to training, to the accounts of the astronauts themselves. While I missed having a narrator to guide me through some of the moments it still is a fascinating documentary with a very unique approach.

6 out of 10

Smile Worthy

once upon a time

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

I honestly wasn’t going to see Quentin Tarantino’s new film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood because it didn’t interest me. It is only the 2nd Tarantino film I have seen; the first being Pulp Fiction, which I did not enjoy. I understand why other people love it but it was not for me. However, enough people wanted to know my take on Once that I decided to give it a watch. My thoughts? It was fine. It has a lot of problems but overall I think the good outweighed the bad. I loved Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio in their roles. I love the sense of time and place Tarantino evokes and much of the dialogue and recreated media from the 60s made me smile. Julia Butters from American Housewife practically steals the film as a young actress who inspires DiCaprio’s character Rick Dalton to give his best performance. What I didn’t like was the exorbitant running time, the meandering story and the long sequences of driving and walking for no purpose at all. That said, it was a fun lark but mostly forgettable if you ask me.

As for the violence, particularly at the end, it is so over the top and ridiculous it didnt bother me much but I know others will find it alarming so you’ve been warned.

6.5 out of 10

Smile Worthy

scary stories

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK

When I was in middle school I remember my friends reading the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books. Being a scary movie/book wimp they didn’t interest me, but I definitely was aware of them especially their creepy illustrations. Now director André Øvredal has made a movie version of these stories with a pg13 rating designed for teens. I am no horror pro, but I found this film to be quite entertaining. I liked the 1960s throwback. I enjoyed the teen performances and found all the horror set pieces to be quite well done and scary. It’s the kind of scary you get going through a haunted house. You know it is silly and not realistic at all but it’s done with enough style to get you and make you smile. That’s how I felt watching it. Sure there are flaws but the overall experience was fun.

6 out of 10

Smile Worthy

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2

I had mixed feelings about the original Angry Birds Movie. I liked the animation and some of the characters but I felt the messaging was off and the story wasn’t my favorite. Now in the sequel they have improved upon the original in most ways. The story is equally as bland but the characters are better, messaging more nuanced and the humor is way funnier. I particularly liked any of the jokes involving music. Overall, I had a good time with The Angry Birds Movie 2 because it kept me laughing throughout.

6 out of 10

Smile Worthy

So there you have it! I am quite the positive person on this week’s mini-review post. Smile Worthy for all of the films! Let me know what you thought about any of these films.

‘Crawl’ REVIEW

| Rachel's Reviews

I bet I will be the only critic that compares the new creature scares movie Crawl to a good Hallmark movie but that’s just what I’m going to do. I spend many hours watching Hallmark movies for my podcast The Hallmarkies Podcast and I’ve learned that the good ones know what they are and execute it well. They don’t try to be anything other than a sweet romcom, with nice chemistry between the leads, and a warm holiday message.

It’s the same idea in Crawl. It absolutely knows what it is and executes it well. It doesn’t try to be campy or silly. It doesn’t add annoying characters or convoluted subplots. Crawl knows it is a creature scares movie with 2 people dealing with gators and it executes that concept very well. It’s as simple as that.

crawl

Crawl stars Kaya Scodelario who starts out the film trying to rescue her father from the basement crawl space of his Florida home. Unfortunately when she gets there she learns he is stuck with 2 gators in the basement (behind some large pipes). Getting out is then the main plot of the movie. Unfortunately, this task is made more difficult by a huge hurricane that threatens to drown them before the gators can eat them.

crawl3

Director Alexandre Aja does a great job moving the characters around enough within the small space to create different set pieces by which to fight the gators. They also keep the movie a lean 87 minutes so you never have time to get bored. It feels relatively grounded and realistic and for a small budget film the gators/special effects look great.

CRAWL

Barry Pepper and Kaya Scodelario do great work as a father and daughter and the film gives us just enough of their backstory and relationship to attach us to them without becoming boring. As they are basically the only characters on screen, their chemistry also adds a ton to the film’s success. It kind of reminds me of 10 Cloverfield Lane in that respect. I was rooting for both of them throughout the entire movie which made the scenes with the gators more intense and fun.

crawl5

I suppose if there are negatives to Crawl, there are some moments where we must suspend disbelief. In particular the injuries the 2 lead characters have seem to ebb and flow depending on the needs of the script. However, I was invested enough in the story and characters to not care. There are also definitely side characters introduced to be kill candy for the gators, which gets a little predictable.

All that said, I had a great time watching Crawl. It’d be a wonderful choice to go with all your friends and have a good tense time at the movies. Nobody will be too traumatized, and they will all have fun.

Go see it! It’s a blast

8 out of 10

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‘Us’ Review

| Rachel's Reviews

Anyone who follows my reviews knows I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to horror movies. I get scared very easily and I particularly hate anything that has exorcisms or involves the rape/murder of women. However, in the last few years I have been trying to expand my pallet so that I am a well-rounded critic. For the most part this has been a great experience and one of the highlights of this journey is Jordan Peele’s 2017 film Get Out. It’s a movie I liked well enough to start but it stayed with me and I kept thinking about new layers beyond the fun scares. In the end, it ended up being one of my favorite movies of 2017.

Naturally I was pretty hyped for Pelle’s follow up film Us (especially after a fantastic trailer!).

So with all that hype what did I think of Us? Well for the most part I really enjoyed it. I also think, like Get Out, the problems I have could become less important upon multiple viewings so take this review with a bit of a grain of salt.

us family

Let’s start with the positives. Us is centered around a family of 4 that goes to the beach for a summer holiday.  Unfortunately their family fun is interrupted by a zombie-like doppelganger family just like them attacks their home. This makes it both a home invasion and zombie horror movie and there are a lot of chilling moments. I was definitely very scared by Us and that’s a fun experience when done well.

I also thought the entire cast did an amazing job playing both normal and zombie versions of their characters. Lupita Nyong’o is especially strong pulling off so many notes in her 2 characters. But everyone was good including all the child performances.

Us also uses music (Michael Abels) very well with a wonderful haunting score and carefully selected soundtrack tunes.

us3

What didn’t work as well for me in Us is the final act where we get a lot of the allegory explained to us but I honestly still didn’t quite get what Peele was trying to say. Perhaps he meant it to be a little ambiguous or maybe I’m just dumb but it didn’t quite make sense. Subsequent viewings may elaborate this for me but for now I don’t really get it.

Also, my audience kept laughing and for the most part I didn’t really understand why? I was scared but never laughed  so who knows? The humor in Get Out wasn’t my favorite so perhaps it’s just my sense of humor doesn’t jive with this style? Who knows?

But overall, Us is a good time at the theaters. It’s scary with great performances and engaging kills/action. It definitely earns its R rating with strong language and violence but if you can stomach that then check it out.

 

7.5/10

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