Halloween Horror: Cabin in the Woods

Hello, hello!
With today’s movie, we moved to the 2010s. So all other reviews this month will be of quite new productions. Anyway, now I want to talk about Cabin in the Woods which was a big surprise for me!

The Plot:

A group of teenagers gathers in a cabin in the woods for a weekend full of fun. Sounds familiar? Well, what happens next does not…

The Rating:

I tried to keep the plot description as vague as possible. When I decided to watch this film, I didn’t know anything about, I hadn’t seen the trailer or read an outline. That’s exactly why the movie was such a big surprise for me! I want you to have the same great experience. 😉

The next paragraphs will contain light spoilers, so beware in case you read on. For those who want to go spoiler-free, let me just tell you Cabin in the Woods is a smart, funny and fresh film that I can definitely recommend!

Halloween Horror: 30 Days of Night

Hello, hello!
Today I’m reviewing a vampire flick based on a comic book series for you. Starring Josh Hartnett as the lead, this adaptation has sparked rather mixed opinions by critics. Let’s find out why!

The Plot:

A remote Alaskan town prepares for a month of darkness, usually referred to as polar night. However, with the darkness an evil force rises, one the residents hadn’t seen coming and aren’t even remotely prepared for…

The Rating:

The premise of this film is so fascinating! The turnout, on the other side, is not.

Although the acting is great (hey Josh Hartnett!) the characters are criminally underdeveloped. The movie is almost 2 hours long and still, the characters remain pale. We don’t learn anything about them, so, unfortunately, I have a hard time caring for any of them.

Halloween Horror: Silent Hill

Hello, hello!
Today I bring you a horror film adapted from a video. In 2006 the first movie in the Silent Hill franchise was released. So let’s check it out!

The Plot:

In an attempt to figure out what it is that plagues her child, a desperate mother drags her to Silent Hill. It’s a dark place that won’t let you out alive…

The Rating:

Well, this film is mediocre at best.
Full disclosure: I’ve never played the video games but was nevertheless excited to check this film out. Adaptations from games haven’t always turned out all that well (see Tomb Raider or Assassin’s Creed) but I think the story was very promising.

However, the way this turned out was a letdown. How the story is presented it is rather confusing and doesn’t make much sense. A lot of stuff is just irritating and feels slabbed together without much effort or concern. I see the potential (I assume that over the course of several games an intricate world was created) but the presentation was faulty. Maybe they just tried to cram too much into one picture thus creating a huge confusion.

TMP Halloween Edition: Jump Scares that Got You

Hey, guys!
Welcome to another entry for Thursday Movie Picks.
It’s a series hosted by Wandering through the Shelves, so if you want to join the party, head over to her blog! It’s pretty easy: check out each week’s topic and come up with 3 to 5 movies that fit the theme.
This week I’ll talk about some of my jump scares!

#1 Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow might not be the first flick you think of for jump scares, but it has one scene that gets me every time. When Johnny Depp visits the witches cottage and …stuff… happens I jump every time.

#2 Mama

This one is so creepy. Two kids, that are somewhat feral clambering through the house? A protective ghost that lurks in the corners? All the ingredients for a good jump scare!

Halloween Horror: The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Hey guys!
After the abomination of a film called Van Helsing I wrote about yesterday (trying hard to suppress the memory of this picture), today I have a great horror movie for you. Let’s check out The Exorcism of Emily Rose!

The Plot:

Emily Rose was a 19-year old college student when she died. How did she pass away? Self-inflicted wounds and malnutrition following an exorcism. The priest who performed the ritual is no on trial…

The Rating:

If you expect a revamped version of the iconic 70s film The Exorcist, this is not the film for you. As much as The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a horror film it is also (maybe even to a larger degree) a court drama. I may sound like those two things don’t go together but in this case, it works splendidly.

The film is inspired by the true story of Anneliese Michel from Germany who died in 1976 – after an exorcism. Reading through the Wikipedia page of that incident I realized how much Jennifer Carpenter (who plays Emily Rose) looks like Anneliese Michel – it’s downright chilling!

Halloween Horror: Van Helsing

Hello, hello!
Another day another horror review. Today I bring you Van Helsing, 2004 flick, that was one of the biggest disappointments yet. Let’s find out why!

The Plot:

Abraham Van Helsing is known as the greatest monster hunter of all time. When his latest assignment leads him to Romania Van Helsing has to face an opponent not even he might be able to take down…

The Rating:

Gosh, this was terrible. Where do I even start?
The story we are supposed to fall for is super flimsy. In an attempt to create the ultimate gothic nightmare, writers tried to cram in something from every famous bit of horror literature: Dracula, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, werewolves. All of that is held together by non-stop action sequences that try to distract you from the fact that the barely existing story doesn’t make sense at all.

Van Helsing has a run-time of 131 minutes. So in terms of both horror and action movie, it is excessively long. You can make a film this long if you have a good story to keep the audience hooked, but in this case, we only got neverending action scenes with no meaning strung together. I thought the movie would go on forever, I swear it felt even longer than it actually is.