Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is something special. Whether or not you can call this a "good" movie is most certainly up for debate. The story centers on Dr. Daniel Challis (played by Tom Atkins) and Ellie Grimbridge (played by Stacey Nelkin) as they try to uncover a coverup involving Stonehenge and killing people using Halloween masks.

The movie opens on a man running, raving about how "we're all doomed." It doesn't say that exactly, but the idea is there. The man we'll soon find out is Harry Grimbridge. He runs into a gas station attendant who drives him to the hospital. Right around now, we meet the main hero of the movie, Challis. He leaves the hospital to go home to his family. His wife and family kind of matter, but not really. To be fair, this is the scene where we meet the real star of the movie

Back at the hospital, Harry is killed by a mysterious stranger in black. What I love about this is, when you watch the movie, nobody really pays attention to the guy. Challis is called back to the hospital by a distraught nurse. Naturally, he automatically agrees. He tries to chase the man in black, but the car he's in blows up. Well, I think that's what happens anyways. Harry's daughter Ellie soon comes into play in the movie.

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Because she is suspicious, Ellie and Challis take a road trip to the town where the Silver Shamrock factory is located. We meet an unassuming family, the patriarch being a salesman. We also meet a
woman staying in the next room over from the motel, who dies suspiciously one night.

 The creepy owner of Silver Shamrock, Conal Cochran, chalks it up to a tragic accident. Truth be told, it makes more sense than what the dean from Urban Legend says.

When Challis and Ellie start getting too close, some of Cochran's employees kidnap Ellie.

One of the nurses Challis has been in contact with is murdered by one of those mysterious men in black. Challis, meanwhile goes to the factory intent on finding Ellie and helping her. Unfortunately, things don't go the way he expects. The men in black kidnap him and bring him to Cochran, who explains his plans (sort of). He does explain that a little bit about the old ways. But the explanation doesn't really go beyond that, Oh, and Stonehenge is involved for some reason.

Cochran shows Challis that he is holding Ellie, and he's holding the family hostage (even though they don't know they're being held hostage). It's here we learn the importance of the commercial and the masks.

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Challis escapes and blows up the factory. He even manages to rescue Ellie. Cochran and his robot henchmen (something I forgot to mention earlier and I apologize) are destroyed in the explosion. But then, we learn the terrible truth. Ellie is a killer robot now, and Challis must destroy her.

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Challis makes it back to his hometown, and runs into that gas station attendant from the beginning of the movie. Challis desperately tries to prevent the oncoming apocalypse that was never explained. The movie ends with Challis pretty much failing.

Yay?

I won't lie, I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. It was bizarre, but a ton of fun. Definitely worth watching as a guilty pleasure every Halloween. 

6 / 10  

  

Leatherface

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Leatherface has a similar idea as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning did nearly ten years ago. That idea is exploring the origins of Leatherface as a character. I don’t necessarily think this is a perfect movie, but it does a far better job at what it’s trying to accomplish than Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning ever did. This movie actually wants (and tries) to explore the character. For the most part, the acting was actually pretty strong. Stephen Dorff and Lili Taylor really stand out. Dorff plays a sheriff whose daughter was murdered by the Sawyer family. For most of the movie, he is on a path of vengeance, and you really buy into his anger, bitterness, and pain. Lili Taylor, on the other hand, plays the matriarch of the Sawyer family. She’s a mother with psychopathic tendencies, and she never really tries to hide her anger when she’s mad. The one actor who doesn’t feel that strong is Finn Jones as the deputy for Dorff’s sheriff. His delivery is pretty weak (but not as bad as he was in Iron Fist). The fortunate thing is that he wasn’t in the movie for very long. While I did feel this movie handled Leatherface’s origin better than that other movie I mentioned, I still don’t think it was perfect. The movie never really gives a descent into madness. One quick act makes him snap in the last 20 minutes of the movie, and that’s really where Leatherface is born. The rest of the movie, he just acts like a normal human being. By no means do I want to knock Sam Strike’s performance. He’s actually really good. I also really want to compliment the gore in the movie. It’s actually practical. I’m one of those people who thinks practical gore tends to look much better than CGI gore. Overall, I don’t think Leatherface was a “bad” movie, but its flaws are honestly pretty hard to ignore.

6 / 10     

Happy Death Day

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In Happy Death Day, a woman named Tree must relive the same day over and over Groundhog Day-style to find out who has been killing her on her birthday. When I saw the trailer for this movie, I thought it looked intriguing. I was a little worried when I found the director of this movie was the same guy who directed Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. Fortunately, this was actually really fun movie. The main character starts out pretty unlikable, but she does grow and go through an arc. Honestly, I think 2017 has been a pretty solid year for slashers between this, Cult of Chucky, and The Babysitter. All of them have really offered something different for the genre. Of the three, this one was probably my favorite. I love the idea of a slasher where the same victim dies over and over. This movie doesn’t take itself too seriously, and has a genuinely good sense of humor. Lead actress Jessica Rothe is fantastic. The woman certainly pulls off the growth her character has to go through, and actually has pretty solid comedic timing. As much as I honestly did enjoy this movie, it isn’t perfect, by any means. The ending reveal of the killer’s identity is something you can see coming from a mile off. To be fair, the red herring that the movie adds actually does work pretty well. The biggest disappointment I have with the movie is that it is PG-13. It doesn’t make the movie bad; I just wished there could have been more gore involved. Overall, Happy Death Day was a movie that had its flaws, but was a really Halloween watch nonetheless.

8 / 10  

Stranger Things - Season 2

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Just in time for Halloween, Netflix has released a new season of Stranger Things. The second season takes place one year after the events of the first season. Much like the first season, this season plays out less like a television series, and more like a 9-hour movie. The main returning characters all feel like they belong and had a part to play. Eleven's storyline is probably my favorite. They build up a sort of father-daughter relationship between her and Hopper (something the end of season 1 actually teased at a little bit). There were about six new characters added to the mix to talk about. There was a girl named Kali I hope a third season explores a little more. Without spoiling too much, she has ties to Eleven and her backstory. The second major character introduced was a journalist brought in to investigate Barb's disappearance. He kind of had some importance to the plot, and was enjoyable enough to watch.The problem is by the time I was done watching the show, I had forgotten his name, and I really felt this character could have been connected to the plot better than he was. The same could also be said about the character of Billy. Don't get me wrong. I understand why he was there, but he never felt integrated enough into the rest of the main cast. For most of the season, he felt a little too one note. However, one scene near the end of the season put the entire character into perspective for me. Bob as a character was fun enough. He was just a dweeby normal guy that was trying to help Joyce and her boys out. I also really liked Paul Reiser as Dr. Owens. At first, I was afraid he was going to be a retread of Matthew Modine's character from the first season. By the end of the season, he actually was one of the most likable parts of the season. That brings me to my favorite of the new additions to the cast. The party gets a new friend in the form of Max, a tomboy who likes to skateboard, play video games, and dresses up like Michael Myers on Halloween, while the guys are dressed up as the Ghostbusters. Despite his fate at the end of the first season, Matthew Modine appears in a couple of episodes. This is something I like because he still casts a shadow over Eleven. Outside of Eleven and Hopper, I like the stuff they do with the rest of the returning main characters to. I like the idea of Dustin taking in a new pet, that may be more than it seems. I like how Will isn't a fan of his friends and family treating him like he's fragile. I like that Nancy's trying to movie on with her life, but is still too hung up on Barb. I like that there were a lot of moments within the show's plot where I legitimately wasn't sure where it was going. Do I rank season 2 as highly as season 1? No, but it's more Stranger Things, and definitely worth your time to watch. 

A-

Amityville: The Awakening

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Do you know how I knew this was going to be a “quality” movie? It was originally supposed to come out in 2015. Then it got pushed back to 2016. Then it got pushed back to this year. Earlier this year, it was taken off the release schedule, before getting a very limited release this year. The funny thing is: I was ready to hate this movie when I started watching it. I ended up enjoying aspects of it. The movie centers around a family moving into the famed Amityville house. Teenager Belle Walker (played by Bella Thorne) is the first member of the family to really start investigating the house, and is the first person to really start getting suspicious when weird things start happening. I have very mixed feelings about an Amityville Horror movie following the teenage girl as the main protagonist of the movie. On one hand, the teenage girl is the staple protagonist of most horror movies. On the other hand, this is a staple that the Amityville Horor franchise has never really touched upon. The writing in this movie is not good. Most of the dialogue feels forced, and just isn’t very memorable. The acting is okay. I was a little bit worried about Bella Thorne in the lead role when the movie started. I do like her fine as an actress. When the movie started, she felt a little rough, but I do think she got better as the movie went on. Cameron Monaghan plays James, Belle’s catatonic brother, and he’s wasted here. The same goes for Kurtwood Smith as James’s doctor, who only appears in about two scenes. The scares in the movie are a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them actually feel fairly subtle and creepy (as all scares in a horror movie should be). There’s one thing about this movie that bugged me more than anything. Why do the previous Amityville Horror movies exist in this movie’s universe? And yes, that includes the remake. It’s especially weird because this movie takes place in the franchise. Overall, this movie certainly isn’t good. It offers glimmers of a better movie, but doesn’t quite reach those levels.

5 / 10      

Wrong Turn

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Wrong Turn is a 2003 horror film directed by Rob Schmidt and starring Eliza Dushku and Desmond Harrington. Motorist Chris (played by Desmond Harrington) accidentally crashes his car into a van while he's on his way to a job interview. He meets a group of friends whose vehicle had been sabotaged before he crashed. The group includes Jessie (played by Eliza Dushku), Carly (played by Emmanuelle Chriqui), Scott (played by Jeremy Sisto), Francine (played by Lindy Booth), and Evan (played by Kevin Zegers). Before long, the hapless victims are forced to run afoul of killer mutant cannibals that like to hack their victims up. I really think this movie understands that it should really only give development to the characters you are actually supposed to care about. I will admit that the development they do give to the two leads is pretty thin. The supporting cast is pretty one-note. I don't really have an issue with this because you already know most of the characters you meet are really only here to die. The kills are generally pretty creative and varied. Acting-wise, I think giving the lead roles to Eliza Dushku and Desmond Harrington makes the most sense because the two actually do a pretty decent job carrying the movie. The story isn't groundbreaking or complex. This movie really isn't anything much beyond a slasher-survival movie, but it is pretty decent fun. If you're looking for the next big underground classic, I don't think you're going to fin it here. What I do think you're going to get out of this movie is a fun little guilty pleasure.

7 / 10   

The Babysitter

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The Babysitter is a Netflix horror-comedy film directed by McG. The movie centers around 12-year-old Cole (played by Judah Lewis), whose overprotective parents still force him to have a babysitter. His belief is that his babysitter Bee (played by Samara Weaving) is the coolest person ever. She treats him like an adult, sticks up for him, and actually shares a lot of his interests. His friend encourages him to stay up one night to discover exactly what she does. This leads to the discovery that she is the leader of a satanic cult of teenagers. The rest of the movie is a night spent trying to survive. One of the first things I noticed was that the balance between horror and comedy actually worked better than it should really have. There are some moments that build up genuine tension. I love that the other killers Bee has amassed aren’t very bright, so it’s pretty easy to figure out how she recruited these people. The acting is pretty damn solid. Samara Weaving as Bee really stands out. The actress makes you believe it when she needs to come across as sympathetic. She also does a good job coming off as intimidating. The movie isn’t perfect, however. There’s a lot of times where text will just pop up on screen at various moments, and it can come off as distracting, to say the least. I do love the way this movie actually flips a lot of the conventions of stereotypical slasher clichés. For example, the hero is a 12-year-old. The killers are the idiot teenagers that would be hunted down and killed otherwise. Is this movie the most original? No. Is it groundbreaking? No. This is a fairly simple movie, and despite its flaws, is a fun guilty pleasure sort of watch for Halloween.

6 / 10