The Pool (a.k.a. Swimming Pool)

A group of "high school students" break into a closed down pool for a graduation party. I'll be honest, if you've rad any of my past reviews, you'll know I tend to be on the forgiving side of a lot of slasher movies. This... is not going to be one of those cases. I like a couple of the performances, namely the performances by a young Isla Fisher and a young James McAvoy before either of them really got big. There's at least one kill in the movie I think is genuinely entertaining. A couple of scenes are directed decently enough, I suppose. Isla Fisher's character in the film is only in two scenes. The backstory given to this character feels more interesting and thought out than the backstory given to the actual final girl. Okay, even by slasher movie standards, most of these characters feel incredibly stock. A couple of them are also really hard to tell apart from one another. Literally, three of the male characters in this movie have similar build and short black hair in a buzz cut. The killer's costume also looks stupid. It doesn't look like the costume I would expect out of the villain in a slasher movie. It looks like a costume worn by a lame supervillain. 

 But, this movie commits what is perhaps the greatest sin a movie can commit. It is just plain boring, especially in the first half. I've already mentioned that I don't particularly care about most of the characters. So, that probably doesn't help that much at all. Even as someone who is a bit of an apologist for cheesy slasher movies, I can't bring myself to recommend this. It really isn't worth your time or effort. 

4 / 10 

Headless Horseman

 
Headless Horseman is 2007 made-for-television movie about a group of college kids who find themselves stuck in a small town where the townsfolk offer them up to the Headless Horseman as part of a ritual sacrifice. Is this movie good? No. It is, however, my kind of bad. It has sort of an 80s slasher feel to it, and that is usually something that is going to appeal to me on some level. It has the quality of acting you would expect in both a slasher movie, and a made-for-television Sci-fi channel movie. It is noticeably low budget. The costumes and sets look cheap and fake. The CGI is awful. The gore effects are pretty inconsistent. Sometimes, it's clear the blood is digital. When you have those moments, it looks really bad. When I can tell the blood is not digital, it tends to be among the more impressive effects in the movie. The characters aren't very deep. Again, I don't really care about that in a slasher movie very often. I do, however, think they were mostly pretty likable. If you are a fan of cheesy, bad, dumb movies, then I would recommend this flick. I can't guarantee it's going to be your kind of bad. But, I also can't guarantee it won't be either. If you're not into this kind of movie, then I would say to skip it altogether. 

5 / 10 

The Mummy (1932)

 

The high priest Imhoetep intends to bring his long lost love back from the dead. Boris Karloff is easily the best part of this movie. I kind of love the sense that he has this hypnosis over this woman he's trying to use to resurrect his love. I should also say that I quite enjoy her as well. She's not necessarily a damsel who does nothing but scream. I actually feel like she has some form of personality to her. That said, she is still sort of just a prize. I can be a little forgiving of that because this was from the 1930s. This movie is short, and is pretty well-paced. However, I can't say it's my favorite of the classic Universal monster movies. Other than Karloff and Zita Johann as the female lead, Helen, the rest of the cast was just alright to me. The actors were fine, but I didn't really get much out of their characters. The effects also look pretty good for the time as well. Overall, The Mummy was a fine enough movie. I'm glad I finally got the chance to see it this year. Is it going to be a yearly watch for me? Probably not, but I still do recommend watching it at least once. 

6 / 10 

Hocus Pocus

Three witches (played by Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker) find themselves resurrected three hundred years after their deaths, and they begin to wreak havoc on modern (circa 1993) Salem, Massachusetts. A couple of kids are the only ones who can stop them. This movie is just some good, dumb fun. It's probably better if this is a movie you have some form of nostalgia for. To give an example, I can easily recognize that some of the fish out of water humor with the witches can be inconsistent. Yet, this is something that has never really bothered me too much. The absolute best thing about the movie is the acting from Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker. These women are clearly having a ball. That's not to say the rest of the cast is bad. For example, I actually do enjoy Thora Birch as the little sister of the main protagonist. She does a pretty damn good job as the annoying, bratty little sister. It helps that she's just sympathetic enough that she can still be likable. In short, she actually feels like a kid to me. Some of the visual effects haven't entirely held up, but they don't look awful either. In short, this movie is just a fun little watch around Halloween, especially if you're looking for something to show to kids. 

6 / 10 

A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting

Teenager Kelly Ferguson has to find her charge when he is kidnapped by a monster on Halloween. This is a movie I could easily see kids getting a kick out of. There are some moments that I think work well enough to creep younger audiences out a little bit. Looking at this movie as an adult, I saw mostly as a fun little Halloween watch, nothing more. The best part of this movie is easily Tom Felton as the main villain. The man just seems like he is having a ton of fun. I do think there is something of an 80s vibe to it. There is some stuff in this movie I thought was actually pretty imaginative. I will say that the main character is just okay as a character. I actually think one of the supporting players would have worked better as the lead. She has a more interesting backstory, and a better tie to the main villain. The CGI isn't really anything special. I did find it to be less distracting as the film went on. Overall, I think this movie had just enough imagination to keep me interested while I watched. I also could see this being a decent gateway movie for younger kids trying to get into horror. 

7 / 10 

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