Deadly Friend

 

Deadly Friend is about a genius-level teenager who revives his best friend (and crush) as a cyborg after she is accidentally killed by her abusive father. Of course, when this happens, she isn't quite right. Starting things off with the positives, this movie has what might be one of my favorite kills in any horror movie ever. If you are at all familiar with this movie, you probably already know what kill I'm talking about. If not, I'll just say it involves a basketball. I also actually really enjoy Kristy Swanson as the titular "deadly friend." I think she does a solid job differentiating who the character is before and after her death. I really do feel like these are two completely different people. I also like the movie's ending. In a movie like this, I wouldn't want the main character to get a happy ending, and really, he doesn't. I won't necessarily spoil exactly how and why though. But, this is far from being one of Wes Craven's best movies. I think there are some pretty major pacing issues. At times, the tone doesn't entirely feel pinned down. Part of that could come from the fact that Wes Craven originally intended this to be a slowly paced, more cerebral, gothic romance. But, he was forced to add in more blood and gore. So, it doesn't entirely feel like these two elements always go together. I actually wonder if the original intent would have made for a better movie. It might have actually fit the sort of Frankenstein story better. Judging what this movie is, I think it's one of Craven's more middling efforts.  

5 / 10 

Deadly Blessing

Deadly Blessing is one of Wes Craven's earlier films, and was an early attempt for the man to dabble with the slasher sub genre. The movie centers around a young pregnant woman who finds herself widowed and makes an attempt with a couple of her friends (one of whom is played by a young Sharon Stone) to solve the murders. For those who may not know, Wes Craven is one of my all-time favorite directors. I should admit that I have not seen all of the man's work, and I am currently working to rectify that. This one is interesting for me because I don't have strong feelings about it one way or the other. I think it's perfectly fine. The acting is hit and miss. The only ones I really think stand out are Ernest Borgnine, Michael Berryman, and Sharon Stone. The rest of the cast I kind of see as just there. The characters are hard for me to get a read on sometimes, and not necessarily in the best way. This is a movie that has been described as a transitional movie for Craven, and it really does feel that way. There are a lot of parts to this movie that just drag for me. Overall, I found Deadly Blessing just alright. I feel like this movie had some growing pains for Wes Craven as a director. I'd really only recommend this to hardcore fans of Wes Craven.

6 / 10 

  

Identity

Identity follows a group of strangers stranded at a motel who must eventually work to stay alive when a mysterious killer begins picking them off one by one. This is a movie I had heard of but had never seen until recently. Now that I have had a chance to check it out, I am so glad I did. For starters, I love the cast. The actors in this film include John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina, and Jake Busey. This movie starts off fairly simple, and you think it's going to go one way. But, there are a couple of solid twists in the movie that I won't spoil in my review. Props should also go to director James Mangold. The man does an excellent job building up atmosphere in this movie. I could potentially pick apart the characters for not being too deep. However, in this movie it almost feels like it's by design. That's not me saying they're super shallow either. I personally feel that this movie gives the characters just enough depth. Overall, Identity works as a mystery-horror movie with some legitimately clever twists. It's not one I hear talked about a lot in day to day conversations, But I honestly think it deserves to be. If you get the chance, give this movie a watch.  

9 / 10 

Ouija

Ouija is a 2014 horror movie about a group of idiot teenagers who unwittingly summon evil spirits just because they mess with a ouija board. I'm going to be completely transparent. In my opinion, this is probably one of the worst horror movies of the past ten years. A couple of performances worked well enough for me, I suppose. But, for the most part, the acting is just bland at best. As far as scares go, this is a film that solely seems to rely on shitty jump scares. Every now and then, there might be one scare that almost works. Almost. Ok, there is one thing that really sinks this movie into being among the absolute dreck of horror. Let's talk about the film's twist ending. Our idiotic heroes make the assumption that for all of their nightmare to end, they have to set the spirit of a young girl free. The twist is: the little girl was the evil spirit all along. The ghost of the girl's mother was trying to prevent this from happening. Here's the problem. The mother's ghost is the actually doing most of the killing. So, when you really break it down and give it any genuine thought, this is a plot twist that actually creates plot holes. Honestly, just watch the prequel, and avoid this piece of dogshit at all costs. 

2 / 10 

Deep Blue Sea 3

 

Deep Blue Sea 3 follows a research team and a team of mercenaries as they each try to deal with the surviving sharks from Deep Blue Sea 2. The first thing I want to say is that this is a much better movie than Deep Blue Sea 2. While some of the acting in this still leaves a lot to be desired, it is a good deal better here. I also feel that the effects are noticeably better in this film as well. There are definitely some rough spots in terms of the effects, but the second movie also did them a lot worse too. I should also say I liked some of the characters in this one more than I liked the characters in the last movie too. None of that makes this a great movie by any means. There are some character and story beats that I did find pretty predictable. However, in this movie's defense, I don't really think it matters all that much. Quality-wise, I think I would put this about on par with the first movie. It's not something I would necessarily call good, but I did have fun with it. If you enjoyed the original movie,  I would say give this one a shot.

6 / 10   

Fantasy Island

Where do I begin? Hm. This was written and directed by the same people behind 2018's Truth or Dare. I think that should speak to this movie's overall quality. For much of the running time, this felt like it was going to be nothing more than a generic horror movie put out by the Blumhouse machine. However, the last twenty minutes actually gave me exactly what I wanted. This is a movie that offers up a couple of different twists. Neither of them really work. The first one feels like it was kind of just made up on the spot. The other is so indescribable that I just sort of screamed "What!?" when the credits started to roll. Naturally, I won't give spoilers. I will say that I actually do think the cast works well enough. Michael Rooker is probably my favorite part of the movie, and there honestly wasn't enough of him. A lot of the dialogue is laughably dated. One of the lines in this 2020 movie is two characters sharing the line "YOLO," something that hasn't been said unironically since probably 2013. If the whole movie was more like the climax, I probably would have recommended this as a fun kind of bad movie. Judging the movie as a whole, It's mostly just generic, and really not worth your time.

2 / 10    

Child's Play 2

 

Two years after the events of the first film, Andy Barclay is sent to live with a foster family. It doesn't take long before Chucky the killer doll returns to exact vengeance. Along the way, the doll leaves another trail of bodies. If the first film offered more of a mystery leading up to the reveal that Chucky was the killer, this movie lets Chucky off his leash. Therefore, there's more of a straight up slasher feel to this movie by comparison. I see it as a good thing because knowing Chucky is the killer throughout the entire thing means we actually get more of him. I absolutely love Brad Dourif in the role. I also really like that the movie puts some focus on a foster family. It's not something you really see that often in horror movies. The kills can also be pretty effective. I can think of two of them that are among my favorite Chucky kills of all time. Overall, I see Child's Play 2 as being pretty on par with the first film. It's a movie that actually continues the story of the first film, but doesn't feel entirely restricted by the exact same rules. It also doesn't entirely feel like a movie that does the exact same thing again. There is a little bit of that feeling, but nowhere near enough to ruin the movie by any means. 

8 / 10