The last horror, thriller or suspense film you watched

October Horror Challenge - Day 25



40. Doctor Sleep (2019; Mike Flanagan) - I had seen two of Mike Flanagan's earlier films, Before I Wake and Ouija 2 and thought they were solid but nothing special. Than I tried watching The Haunting Of Hill House and gave up quite early. It was moving at such a glacial pace that I lost interest very quickly. This might explain why I waited so long to watch Doctor Sleep and why I opted for the shorter theatrical version instead of the Director's Cut.

For long stretches this feels more like sidequel than a sequel. Even though Danny Torrance is the protagonist, I felt he wasn't optimally used.

Had this focused on Danny overcoming his childhood trauma it might've actually worked, instead it feels like two or even three movies in one.

We get the young girl who too has the gift of Shining whose scenes seem to belong to an X-Men-like superhero story. It's not quite clear why she would need Danny at all, being so strong and competent on her own.

And then there are the antagonists, a bunch of evil hillbillies who steal people's souls. Which sounds about as silly as it is. I mean, I like Rebecca Ferguson, she's a sweet lady and a fine actress but about as scary as the Cat in the Hat.
McGregor is very good delivering a mature, un-showy performance up until the end that is when he is forced to step into his daddies' shoes. Here he fails to radiate any sort of menace, not surprising considering that very few actors could compete with a mad Jack Nicholson.

From the replacements Carl Lumbly makes for an excellent surrogate for Scatman Crothers, Henry Thomas on the other hand just feels off playing Jack Torrance.

This is a competently directed movie, but when it comes to the scares Doctor Sleeps fails to deliver. The last act with the return to the Overlook feels like pure fan service, a lame copy of the original, which fails to add anything new. The Shining sequence in Ready Player One was more fun to watch.

Generally speaking the new ideas here are not strong enough to stand on their own, while the recycling of the old ones comes over as lame.

Actually the parts I liked the most were the calm dramatic moments like Danny's conversations with the dying patients at the hospital.

With better villains, less slavish devotion to the original and a stronger focus on the protagonist's personal struggle this might've been good. As it is, it's a bit of a mess.

5.5/10

Oculus (2013).

The Dare (2019)

October Horror Challenge - Day 26



41. Lake Mungo (2008; Joel Anderson) - Last time I watched this movie was for last year's challenge. I have to say I only chose it this time, because it's so damn short with only 81 minutes - it was already late, I was tired, I wanted to cram in a quick movie for the day.

This is a film that asks you to really pay attention. It packs a lot of plot into its short running time, particularly the second half bursting with twists. And yet somehow it never feels rushed or suffering from its own over-complexity.

In a small Australian town a teenage girl, Alice Palmer has disappeared. They soon find her dead body, but her ghost seems to be returning to haunt her family.

This is like the condensed Australian version of Twin Peaks. Or as the tagline for the series Banshee ran: Small town, big secrets. Many people have something to hide, they keep lying to each other.

The fact that the movie mostly consists of interviews with talking heads might turn some off. There's also some grainy news footage, but thankfully almost no shaky-cam. The scares are very subtle, sometimes vague ghostly shapes appear on photographs or one can make out something weird in the background on low quality video footage.

It's a slow-burn that relies heavily on atmosphere. Director Joel Anderson (shocking that he still haven't made a follow-up movie to this excellent debut) manages to create both, a sense of grounded reality as well as a place where more mysterious supernatural forces could intrude any time.

A subtle little gem of a movie, one recommended for people who usually don't watch found-footage films.

7.5/10

Exists(2014) A group of not very likable young adults staying at a cabin in the woods get on the wrong side of Bigfoot. Shaky hand held camera doesn't help. 3/10.

Believe it or not, despite my calling myself a fan of director Sam Raimi I’d never seen The Evil Dead (1981) before because I figured it’d be a gorefest. And it is. But I kinda liked it anyway. Raimi’s script is full of clichés, probably on purpose, but his direction is stunning—clever, surprising, funny. The oodles of gore are at least creative and intriguing; the makeups are beautifully imaginative. Bruce Campbell is Bruce Campbell, here in the role that made him famous. The giggling, demonically possessed girlfriend is genuinely creepy. And the first half has some good atmosphere-building, as I should have expected from a stylist like Raimi. I’m not sure I’d see the movie again, but I’m happy I saw it once.

45. Backtrack (2015; Michael Petroni) - I see dead people - the Australian version.

Adrian Brody plays a psychotherapist who one day finds out that the patients he's been treating have been dead for quite some time. He realizes that they want him to confront a childhood trauma he had been supressing for too long.

This is the sort of movie that will never make anyone's top ten list, but it's not without moments of interest. Adrian Brody for one is very good here really elevating the material he is given.

It's a strange movie. As a mystery it's surprisingly clever and layered, as a ghost story it's pedestrian relying on cheap jump scares and unconvincing CGI spirits. A weird mixture.

5.5/10

This may sound like an odd question, but does that skeleton on the cover actually appear in the movie? Because I could swear that that's the same skeleton (right down to the missing teeth and the hood) that stands in for Peter Cushing at the end of Dr. Terror's House of Horrors.