A Month of Terror Continued ...

Oct 14th - The Frighteners (3 out of 5)

The Frighteners is a dark comedy, that balances at the time state of the art technology with a unique and compelling story lead by the affable Michael J. Fox. It's not as funny nor as scary as it thinks it is, but all the actors involved sell it, making even the more outlandish moments, either of violence or gags, work. Notable for necessitating the creation of Weta Workshop, who would later go on to design the magnificent Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Frighteners is groundbreaking for its use of many special effects techniques that are still used today. The Frighteners was personal favorite growing up, but the times have not been kind to the film as actors had yet been trained to stare at tennis balls on sticks where CGI would take over and very obviously stare blankly into nothingness. The film, like so many of Peter Jackson's oeuvre, is a tad too long and leans to heavily on the effects rather than the story or its characters.


Oct 15th - Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (3 out of 5)

While the Orphanage which I reviewed a few days back projected horror elements unto very real parental fears, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark uses children's fears. Abandonment, not being believed, and more simply, the dark, are all used to alienate young Sally away from her parents and forcing her to confront whatever evil lives beneath the house. Unfortunately every character makes stupid choices simply to propel the plot to a place where scary things can happen, it's very often frustrating as every problem appears to have a simple solution that hilariously eludes all characters involved. The monsters are very particularly aimed at children's fears, they creep around in the darkness and eat children's teeth. The film does a great job setting up the back story for these little creatures, going so far as to making them the inspiration for the  tooth fairy. It's a suitable creepy antagonist for a horror film, but one that is much more frightening to children than a logical adult. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark would probably haunt a young child for years to come, but most adults will simply enjoy the creepy atmosphere and the slowly revealed nature of these beasts.

Oct 16th - Ju-on (3 out of 5)

Ju-on is the film The Grudge was based on, and this original release is an exact replica of the Hollywood remake. Unfortunately I saw the remake years ago and thus this near shot for shot original is less impactful but still plenty creepy, just never truly terrifying as the first time watching The Grudge at age 13. The film is cheaply made and thus some of the horror relies on simple make-up and contortionist skills and that can sometimes be quite frightening as your imagination fills in the rest. There are some legitimately unsettling moments as the filmmakers up-heave the traditional safety nets of horror films, having the spirits strike in the most ordinary places. If you had to watch one, I doubt it would matter which as the two films are near identical, but whichever you watch stick with it as the original nor remake are different enough to enjoy individually.

Oct 17th - The Woman in Black (2 out of 5)

Painfully traditional in its pacing, The Woman in Black gets bogged down setting up a haunted house atmosphere instead of delivering actual thrills. Cliched to a fault, the film never truly comes into its own as it replicates near exact moments from other more famous horror films. The apparition in the film also doesn't have any clear motivation, nor does the main character so the proceedings become increasingly bewildering as any side of this supernatural struggle could just as easily walk away, instead the creaking floorboards and shadows at the end of the hall persist till the end never culminating in a logical and satisfying way. I appreciate The Woman in Black for trying to deliver a creepy haunted house rather than a relentless thrill ride but it doesn't burrow deep enough under your skin to make the few scares memorable.

Oct 18th - Martyrs (2 out of 5)

I still have no clue what this movie was trying to do, it is so many things and none of those things even remotely comes close to being coherent. A brutal revenge film, a psychotic haunting, gruesome torture, violent cults. The film bounces around delivering plenty of thrills but not so many scares, as the insanity of it all makes it more perplexing than outright scary. Though the events that transpire throughout are unquestionably terrifying in their relentless sadism they struggle to deliver anything more than an incoherent string of interesting but poorly executed ideas. The first 30 minutes of the movie are fantastic and fascinating but are quickly dispatched of in favor of a nauseating left field twist that devolves into existential ramblings from an unfocused and unclear script. Martyrs is defiantly the most interesting movie I've seen in the Month of Terror feature, but I also struggle to understand its intent or message. Absolutely crazy and never not entertaining Martyrs is at least a fascinating failure and a brutally savage film that is far more experimental than most entries in this increasingly stale genre.

Oct 19th - Mama (4 out of 5)

Mama scared the bejesus out of me, with a skillful mix of scary lingering images and sounds along with outright terrifying moments. There are some frustrating moments as with any horror movie where character seems to not take a hint and put themselves in danger for the sake of drumming up a few more scares. I also didn't like the tone shifting so often, the film starts off incredibly dark as a father of two young girls is about to shot them and commit suicide until the titular mama comes intervenes. The story then becomes more classic ghost story, with the children being haunted as mama refuses for anyone to get close to them as an over protective surrogate mother. Then in the final moments the story absconds with a satisfying ending with an unnecessarily dark one that didn't sit well with me. But the scares are varied enough and the actors involved deliver convincing performances even when the script is fairly generic. There isn't much depth to Mama and the revelation as to why this supernatural creature is raising these girls is something audiences have seen before but the movie overall is quite an intense thrill ride and easily worth the paranoid way you'll look around your dark house at night.