Well, today’s a very special day. It’s a day where children get to pig out on sweets while dressed as their favorite super hero, role model or cartoon character. Meanwhile, those older get a thrill from being frightened, whether it be in a movie theater or a walk-through Haunted House. Yes, that special day, which is also one of my favorite holidays, is Halloween.

To celebrate this day that is very dear to my heart, I will in-turn celebrate what makes horror great, it’s monsters. For a horror film to be considered legendary, it has to have an equally legendary monster. Let it be their design, story, or how lethal they are, the monsters of a movie are the real stars of their respective films. First, I want to go over two rules for this list. As a first rule, the monster cannot be entirely human and has to have some supernatural power. So, no normal human psychopaths. (Sorry Michael Myers). As for the second rule, the monster has to be a single entity, it can’t be a species or race of monsters. (No zombies or the Xenomorphs from Alien, sadly.) So without further adieu, let’s get this list started . . .

5. Samara (The Ring)

To start off this, we have what I consider to be one of, if not, THE scariest vengeful spirt in all of cinema. Samara (or Sadako as she is called in the original film) is the ghost of a little girl that haunts a VHS tape. For those unfortunate enough to view the tape, they experience the most terrifying video they have ever seen. When the video is finished, the phone rings and there is only one answer, “Seven days.” When those seven days are up, the person (or people) that viewed the tape will mysteriously die.

I love many things about Samara. Although her appearance would be considered generic in this day and age, she pretty much kickstarted the “long, black haired, drooping over face, pale skin girl wearing a white dress” look so I’ll give it a pass. But what I absolutely love about Samara is her back story and her use of the cursed VHS tape. I don’t want to spoil her back story, but just know that it’s pretty sad and it makes you feel bad for Samara. The VHS tape she haunts is absolutely freaky. The full video is available on YouTube, so if your feeling brave then give it a watch. (Don’t worry it’s not actually cursed, at least, I hope its not.) I should also add that what happens after those dreaded seven days is something truly unexpected and frightening, although you most likely already know what happens at the end. The only thing that is keeping Samara from a higher rating is she doesn’t really have a personality. I’m not saying that she needs one to be memorable, but I just like it when my supernatural killers have something more than just being scary. Nonetheless, I absolutely love how creatively freaky Samara is and she takes my number five spot.

4. Pennywise (IT 2017)

So I’ll be honest, when I first saw the new remake of IT last year I went in without seeing the original. All I knew was that there’s this creepy killer clown named Pennywise who kills kids. At first this didn’t sound so scary because I’m not really afraid of clowns. But that may of changed, since this thing scared the daylights out of me. Pennywise may look like a ordinary clown, but he, or IT I should say, is much more than what he seems. It is actually this nightmarish being from another dimension that is taking is taking the appearance of a friendly clown to lure and kill children. What REALLY makes this thing scary are it’s supernatural abilities. Pennywise can suddenly appear ANYWHERE, none of the characters are safe no matter where they are. Without spoiling anything, one such scene that showcased this ability in a frightening, yet creative, way is in a certain projector room. For those who have seen the movie and know what I’m talking about, you know how much this scene startles you. Unlike Samara, Pennywise does have a personality. There is this sickening air of humor around him at all time, as if he takes joy in everything, even when traumatizing the main cast. It’s absolutely disturbing and I love it.

3. Freddy Kruger (Nightmare on Elm Street)

When making this list, I wanted to put both Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees in separate spots on this list. They’re both legendary horror icons and I felt they both deserved to be on this list. But, as I started to think of more horror monsters that I could add to the list, I decided to pick one out of the two to be on this list: Freddy or Jason? Ultimately, I had to pick good old Freddy. What I love about Freddy, that also separates him from Jason, is how he goes about terrorizing teenagers. While Jason is an immortal brute that can take blow after blow, Freddy prefers to be a supernatural entity that manipulates people’s dreams. The concept of a sadistic killer that can only kill his victims in their nightmares is such a crazy, yet wildly imaginative, concept that I can’t help but to adore. One of my most favorite scenes is the famous blood geyser from the first Nightmare on Elm Street. It’s such a crazy and out there scene, but it fits right at home with the 80’s horror style of the first film. Much like with Pennywise’s personality as well, Freddy has fun in every scene he’s in (except his death scene) which makes him all the more frightening. Lastly, Freddy’s appearance is such an iconic figure that I have to mention it. With his red and green striped sweater, his fedora hat, his gruesome badly burned face, and famous claw glove, Freddy Kruger has all the makings of a legendary horror villain.

2. The Thing (The Thing)

Oh my goodness this Thing is straight up nightmare fuel. The Thing from the movie of the same name is an extraterrestrial shape-shifter that can perfectly mimic any living creature. It can fit in with any group with ease, but that’s not the only thing that makes this abomination scary. I consider this creature to be the best example of “body horror.” Not all kinds horror can get under my skin, but films that deal with body horror can not only get under my skin, but also make it crawl. If you haven’t seen a movie that has the theme of body horror, here’s a scene from The Thing, but only watch it if you don’t get sick easily. Although it may seem like cheating for putting a monster this high on the list, despite not having one thing that I look for in a monster, such as some kind of personality, I included The Thing because I liked the concept and execution of this creature in the film so much.  (It mimics other people’s personality so I guess it technically counts. But other than that, The Thing mostly just lets out an utterly terrifying roar, like in the scene I linked.) The Thing is still a nightmare of cinema, and it earns 2nd place.

1.Dracula

Out of all the classic movie monsters, such as Frankenstein, the Werewolf, and the Mummy, Dracula is my most favorite out of the bunch. You may noticed that for this entry, there is no movie title next to Dracula’s name. That is because there are so many films that have their own vision of Dracula. Let it be the 1931 film, the Dracula in Hotel Transylvania or from Dracula Untold, there are so many versions of Dracula that I decided to dedicate this entire entry to just Dracula as a whole.

When he first appeared in the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, which later got adapted into the classic movie you know today, he was the first to bring the concept of vampires to the world. Since then, there have been many films on vampires that I love dearly, such as 30 Days of Night. But not only is this monster on this list just because he is influential, but also because I just love the concept of this character. The Dracula that I know is this otherworldly creature that drinks the blood of humans and has magical powers, such as the ability to turn into a bat and immortality. His appearance is also just iconic, with his black cape with red on the inside and his famous fangs, anyone can tell by these features alone that this man is Dracula. I know that the other characters on this list probably sounds more interesting to you, and I don’t blame you. But, simple based on how influential and important Dracula is to horror, I believe Dracula deserves this #1 spot.

Around this time of the year, Halloween haunts begin to pop up all around the country. For those who do not know, they are basically manmade haunted houses/mazes that have actors dressed up as monsters who jump out and spook attendees. They’re very popular attractions in October and are great fun, especially with friends. These haunts are usually harmless and no one gets hurt, but some, however, take things a little too far. Some haunts, known as “extreme haunts,” will get physical with guests. There are many examples of these attractions that can been seen on YouTube, but be warned, they are not for the faint of heart. I’ve known about these kind of haunts for a while, but I’ve never been to one of them (and never will). So for the longest time, I always thought that these extreme haunts would be an excellent premise for a horror movie. Luckily, my wishes were answered in the 2014 found footage horror film, The Houses October Built.

Story

The film follows a group of five life long friends, filming a documentary on Halloween haunts, while also trying to find the most extreme haunt. However, as their search continues, strange things start happening to the group. They start to be followed and stalked by a group of seemingly haunt workers in costume. Including a freaky porcelain doll lady, who I absolutely love the design for. As the story progresses, a question remains among the group, “Is this still a part of a haunt? Or are we actually in danger?”

First off, I absolutely adore this premise. It’s so unique and interesting and as far as I know, before this movie’s release, there hasn’t been a film that is centered around Halloween haunts. So kudos to the filmmakers for doing something original and making it really interesting as well. Secondly, I love how the film always kept me guessing. When the group is interviewing different people working at the haunts, you, along with the characters, learn some questionable things about these attractions. So when strange things start happening to the group, I kept thinking “This is still a part of the haunt . . . right?” Lastly, the haunts featured in the film are super cool, yet scary. The best part is that some of the haunts featured in the film are actually real life haunts that you can visit! Thankfully, they aren’t considered to be the extreme haunts like mentioned before, so I, and maybe some of you out there, may feel more comfortable visiting these attractions.

Characters

I felt that the personalities of the characters were a bit generic. The characters in the main cast are:

• Brandy. The person who interviews all of the haunt workers and the only female of the group.
• Mikey. A party animal and the lovable goofball of the group.
• Zack. Brandy’s boyfriend and is sort of the leader of the group.
• Jeff. The camera man of the documentary they are shooting.
• Bobby. Sometimes the voice of reason in the group besides Brandy. Also the real life director of this film.

I don’t think these characters are terrible; for the most part they get the job done are a well acted. I just feel for a movie that has such an engaging premise as this, this could have been something done a little better. But one thing that I do love about all of these characters is how their relationships with each other makes them feel like real friends. Which makes sense, since the real life actors are actually close friends and some of the scenes, when they are just having a conversation, aren’t scripted. Many of the interviews with people working at the haunts are actually not actors but real people. Despite the fact that the events in this movie are fictional, it is so well grounded in reality that if you went into this film completely blind, you’d have no idea if this was a real documentary or not.

Scare Factor

At times, The Houses October Built can be pretty creepy, but I wouldn’t say the overall film is downright terrifying. But I can say that the porcelain doll lady that I mentioned earlier does unnerve me a whole lot. The ending of the film has to be the scariest moment, however. Mostly because it has an abrupt ending that leaves the audience guessing what happens next. To some, this may be annoying, but I loved it because it definitely had be wondering what happened next.

 

Final Thoughts

The Houses October Built is a great horror film that blurs the line between reality and fiction. This is a movie that is so grounded in the real world, with an abundance of improvised dialogue and genuine reactions from the cast, that it will make audiences guess if this is a real documentary or not. Despite the characters’ individual personalities being nothing special, their relationships with each other are so genuine that you can’t help but to like them. But most importantly, this movie just oozes the spirt of Halloween. Overall, I think horror fans should give this film a watch. The Houses October Built is available on Hulu and DVD.

 

For this week’s blog post, I’d like to take a little detour from writing horror movie reviews, and instead write a little rant. It still sort of has to do with horror movies, and I have lot to say about this topic. So nonetheless, I hope you enjoy.

So last week, I reviewed the film Train to Busan. To give a brief summary, I gave it a glowing review and a recommendation for people to watch it. That same week, it just so happened that an announcement of an American remake of the movie is being put into production. This announce got a lot of negative feedback from fans. Many believe that this remake is unnecessary and the original is already perfect, and I agree with them. This isn’t the first instance where a foreign film has gotten the Hollywood remake treatment. Famous (or infamous I should say) examples would be:

• The Korean film Oldboy and it’s remake of the same name directed by Spike Lee.
• The Spanish horror film Rec and it’s remake Quarantine.
• The Japanese horror film The Eye and it’s remake of the same name.

(There are film remakes, however that I, along with others, consider to be very good. But I’ll go over that later.)

The foreign films listed received generally good responses from audiences, while their remakes aren’t as positively received. The biggest reason being that the remakes don’t do the original justice. There will be so many changes made to this one when compared to the other that the remake will just feel like a completely different film. It could either be because the director wanted to make the remake better than the original, or try too hard to be like the original.

So why would an American studio decide to put their own spin on a foreign film? I couldn’t find a solid reason online, so if I have to guess it would either have to be to make money or to introduce American audiences to these films. The “to make money” may sound generic, by I find it to be a solid reason. A lot of these films became popular and even became cult classics, so studios may find this as a way to sell on an already popular idea. Then there is the second idea, and if true, then I do find it commendable wanting to introduce more audiences to a film. But as stated before, there is so much change in these films that it does not accurately represent the original.

However, at this point it may sound like there are NO good American remakes at all. Well, . . . not really. There are some very good ones out there, masterpieces even. Movies such as The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese which is based on a film from Hong Kong, Internal Affairs. Scorsese’s film drew critical acclaim among critics, sitting at a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and even won four Oscars, including best picture. But since I haven’t seen either film, I can’t really talk much about it. One film remake that I did see however, that I also absolutely love, is The Ring, based off the Japanese horror movie, Ringu. Now I don’t find The Ring to be better than Ringu, but I don’t think Ringu is better that its remake either. I think this is better than the remake being inferior to the original.

With all of this said, am I looking forward to the remake of Train to Busan? Not really. Although I just gave two examples of good film remakes, I still don’t see a remake of Train to Busan as necessary, or any foreign film remake for that matter. But who knows? Maybe I’ll be surprised.

 

Since my last film review was a horror film, I’ve decided that I might as well review horror films for the rest of October. Tis’ the season after all . . .

Unless you’ve been living under a tombstone, one of the most popular horror genres currently out there is the zombie genre. This genre started with George Romero’s Night of The Living Dead and continues on in the present with shows like The Walking Dead. Despite being such a popular trend and genre (not only in film and television, but also books, comics and video games), some people have been getting tired of seeing zombies everywhere, and I’m not talking about tired co-workers. With the abundance of zombie media going around, some people have been getting a case of “zombie fatigue” and if I may be honest, I was starting to get it too. It wasn’t always like this though, there was a time in my life where I was OBSESSED with zombies and consumed everything about them. But eventually, I started to grow tired of them, that is until I saw this one film that rejuvenated my excitement for zombies. That film was the 2016 Korean zombie horror movie, Train to Busan, directed by Yeon Sang-ho.

 

Characters

For this review, I’ll be doing something different. I’ll be talking about the characters first, then the story. Why? Because unlike other zombie movies, the characters in this film are interesting and great.

Our main father character, played by Gong Yoo, is not only a great actor, but his character is very realistic, likable and relatable one at that. At the beginning of the outbreak, he only focuses on his own safety, but more importantly his daughter’s safety. He doesn’t really think of the other passengers at first. But as the movie progresses, he grows to learns that he and the rest of the passengers are all in this together. I always like seeing this growth in horror film because usually it’s the monster that’s the most interesting and not the characters. But here however, not only are the zombies cool, but so is our main characters.

Now, I just want to talk about the daughter character, actor Su-an Kim, because she absolutely kills it. In the film, she is this really smart kid that made me concerned for her safety throughout the film. But what was most important was her performance towards the end of the film. I won’t spoil anything, but you’re definitely going to cry. Unless you’re dead on the inside like a zombie.

If there was one minor gripe I had about the characters, is the main antagonist. Besides the zombies, the film’s villain is decent and is certainly despicable at some parts of the film. But sometimes I felt he was a bit too much of a cartoony bad guy, and less of a realistic protagonist. Thankfully, this did not bring down the entire movie for me.

Story

This film takes place in modern day South Korea and follows a man and his young daughter traveling by train to visit his recently divorced wife in Busan. While on the train however, a zombie outbreak takes place and all the passenger have to do everything they can to survive. At first glance, this may seem like a generic zombie movie. You have your average man who is suddenly in the middle of the zombie apocalypse and has to rise to action to protect others and those dear to him. What makes this tale of the undead different however are three things:

1. Characters and how they grow.
2. The setting.
3. The zombies.

You already know about the characters, so let’s talk about the zombies first because they are terrifyingly awesome. What make the undead menace in this film scary when compared to other films, is that these guys don’t slowly walk towards their prey. Oh no no no, they run. Scratch that, they SPRINT towards their food. Now this isn’t the first instance of running zombies, as other films before like 28 Days Later had them. But I can’t think of many films besides this one that do have running zombies, which is a shame because they are much more scarier here than in other films. The undead in this film are also very durable. There are scenes where the zombies fall from huge heights, one where a normal human could not survive. Yet, they still get up as if nothing happened. The undead cast of this film is without a doubt, ruthless. I love it.

I also absolutely adore the train setting of Train to Busan. Reason being that it is a unique setting the characters (and filmmakers) fully utilize this environment to their advantage. For instance, there is a scene where a group of survivors have to get through a narrow train car that is full of zombies. Instead of fighting them off one-by-one, which would be a stupid idea, they decided to be smart and crawl above the baggage shelves where the zombies could not see them. I really like how the filmmaker knew they were filming in a train and was able to use all of this environment to the best of their filmmaking abilities.

 

Final Thoughts

You may realize that unlike my other reviews, I do not have a music section here. That’s because the music isn’t really all that memorable. It gets the job done by setting the tone, but it was nothing that I find myself humming to. Well, there is this one song that whenever I hear it, I think of this movie. That song being “Aloha Oe.” If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll understand why.

In the end, definitely give this movie a watch this holiday season. Not only are the zombies awesomely terrifying, but it is so engaging to watch this great cast of characters survive this ordeal within such a unique setting. Even if you have “zombie fatigue” like I had, you should still give this movie a watch. You won’t be disappointed. But please, don’t wait for the recently announced American remake to come out. Like most remakes, it won’t live up to the original, along with being completely unnecessary.

Train to Busan is available for streaming on Netflix.

As a child, I hated horror movies. This should be expected of a child, but compared to other children, I was a real chicken. As I would grow up however, I started to become pretty fond of horror movies. It became fun to get scared and I’ve developed an appreciation for how horror movies are made, specifically to frighten the living daylights out of their audience. I absolutely adore films like The Shining, The Babadook and The Conjuring. Recently however, I feel that horror films are becoming stale. Don’t get me wrong, there are still great films out there that bring the word of “horror” to justice, like 2017 It. But I feel like horror movies nowadays are trying too hard to scare the audience. A popular trope that shows that and is in about every horror flick out there, would be the overuse of jumpscares. I find them to be a cheap way to scare the audience, when a much better way would be to keep tensions high for the audience, letting the dread and fear crawl right up their skin. A good recent example of doing horror films like this, and the review for today, is 2016 The Witch, (or The VVITCH as seen in the marketing material) directed by Robert Eggers. Huh . . . fitting that my first movie review for October is a horror movie.

 

Story

The story takes place in 1630 and follows a pilgrim family who has been banished from their village, on suspicion of being cursed. As the family retreats to their new home in the woods, they soon become stalked by a witch living in said woods. Over the course of the film, this extremely religious family and their relationship slowly falls apart. Because of this, The Witch could also be considered a drama. You are experiencing this family that is being torn apart and eventually turns against each other, all because of this supernatural force that they themselves cannot fully explain. It’s honestly hard to watch this fall out occur, and I love it.

Horror movies usually do not have this kind of family drama. In horror movies where a group is being stalked by a monster, that group is usually just a group of friends. However, this is not to say that there were never horror movies that focused on a family. Popular examples are Poltergeist and the aforementioned The Conjuring. But here in The Witch, this focus on the family is the best I’ve seen in a while. There is also this unrelenting sense of dread throughout the film.  I fell the film was also very well researched, at least to my knowledge. The characters speak in an Old English language and their clothing, along with the house they are living in, looks authentic for the time period.

Characters

At first glance, the characters in The Witch, can seem a bit basic. But as you get to know them and begin to piece things together during the movie, they turn out to be much more complex characters. Out of the main cast, the characters that stick out the most are Thomasin the eldest daughter, Caleb the middle son, and William the father. Not only are they the most interesting characters in the whole film, but the actors that portray these characters provide an amazing performance. Especially Caleb’s actor Harvey Scrimshaw, who is an amazing child actor and there is one scene that he is in that chilled me to the core. William and Thomasin, however, are probably the most complex characters in terms of writing. The actions they take during the events of the film, although questionable, makes sense when real thought is put into it. The film does not explain everything however, which may be a good thing or a bad thing to some. I’m not saying there are any plot holes concerning characters, but you probably will have to give this film a second viewing to get the full picture. Especially since the characters speak in Old English, which although it is historically accurate, it can be hard to follow at some points, so I recommend subtitles. Additionally, I do like how the director does not spoon feed the audience all the information needed to understand the film because it is so satisfying to learn everything on our own. However, even if you watch The Witch in a single viewing, you’ll still find it a delightfully horrifying movie.

Sound Design

The score in The Witch is perfect for a horror film. You may of notice that I changed the title of the section from “Music” to “Sound Design.” This is because there really aren’t any songs in the film, besides for one during the credits. But oh my goodness, the score is so tense. In some scenes, the music does a terrific job of building tension, it just builds, and builds, and builds. Not only is the score good at building tension, but also at keeping the audience on edge.

Final Thoughts

The Witch is an utterly terrifying, yet well made horror film. It is well researched and tells a simple story, yet it weaves together such deep characters with the theme of religion. All of this, coupled with a strong score, creates a horror film that will keep people awake at night. I should add, if you are a very religious person, you’re most likely not going to like this film. I myself am religious, and there were some scenes that were hard to watch. But, if you also love horror films like I do, definitely give The Witch a watch. This film is available for streaming on Netflix.