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Malignant (2021)
All Over The Place, Flat Characters, Cringe-y Twist
Pros:
1. Cinematography
2. The title
3. The poster
4. The trailer looked decent. Sigh. I hate when trailers lie.
Cons:
1. Cinematography. The movie just tries TOO hard with it that while it delivers some interesting angles, all shown in the trailer, the rest is just too over the top. We get it. You like CGI and interesting angles, now can you just tell a good story? No, then sorry I wasted my time.
2. Flat characters. The characters are boring, flat, lifeless, created from a million cliches.
3. Too referential. The first half of the movie you'll swear you're watching Lights Out, it's so shamelessly identical. The second off is like watching The X-Files Episode about the "secret" twin that detaches itself and murders people, except here, the secret twin is more like Freddy Kruger meets a Marvel Superhero. And that's where it goes wrong. It mixes too many things and none of them work. It's just this weird mix of I'm bored because you're trying way too hard to be edgy and cool and scare people.
4. The story just isn't good. It's really, really stupid, and literal.
5. The twist is dumb. I wanted to be more open-minded, like, okay, a throw back to 80s horror, fine, it's stupid but let me roll with it, but then there was nothing more to the "trick". It was a dumb 80s twist, and thats it. It didnt save the movie. It didnt make it better. Then it just got cringey, and I was like, how many millions of dollars went into this and why aren't better writers/directors out there? Right, because the rich ones are paying asian companies to post fake 10 star reviews to gaslight people into thinking this was actually a great film. It wasn't. But will it make money? Probably, because a good concept, a good trailer, and a ton of fake reviews will do that.
But if you want a horror fan's opinion? It was a waste of time.
The Mosquito Coast (2021)
good so far
So far is pretty decent. Well paced. Acting is good.
Scream (2015)
Season 3 isn't that bad...
Once you get to episode 4, Season 3 finds it's groove and becomes a decent horror series.
Of course it's never great, but neither were seasons 1 or 2.
Season 1 is the best, season 2's quality dropped, and season 3 does start out as bad as you've heard.
With that said, horror shows are always in short supply, so if you're bored, I'd check out all seasons.
Happy Death Day 2 U (2019)
Boring
The film is nothing like the first. I was bored within the first 5 minutes, and by the time it was over, I wanted my money back.
Who Killed Garrett Phillips? (2019)
Innocent Man Exonerated
Very compelling docuseries about Nick Hillary, a man accused of killing 12 year old Garrett Phillips. What I found the most shocking was that Nick Hillary had two air tight alibis proving his innocence and yet was still charged in the murder of Garrett Philips.
Then to top it off, you had Jones, the ex-boyfriend of the victim's mother, who was law enforcement and very eerily embedded himself into the investigation from the very beginning, was also on camera the day the boy died within proximity of the child riding down the street. Jones and Nick BOTH happened to be within close proximity of the boy as he rode down the street, and NEITHER saw him. Based on video shown, it was a gloomy, rainy day and I'm sure both men had priorities elsewhere. YET, because Nick was near the boy, he became a suspect, but Jones, also near the boy and on camera, was never seriously looked at. The double standard was clear.
It's beyond belief that law enforcement wasted all this time and energy investigating a man with an alibi all because supposedly this kid didn't like him, because the kids at school made fun of him because his mother was dating a black man. This magically becomes a motive for why an otherwise upstanding man murders a child. This makes no sense. Especially not when you consider that Nick and Tandy were separated at the time of the murder, and while Nick wanted to be back with Tandy, he wasn't being aggressive about it. In fact, he was slowly interacting with her less and less. That's not the sign of someone obsessed with you. It's clear Nick was moving on. Who wasn't moving on? Jones. He clearly became attached to Tandy from the hip right after the murder. If someone did kill the child to get to the mom, who exactly made headway doing that?
Jones is also the one with a temper. Tandy had stated that she was afraid of him, and feared for her children. Does it get clearer than this? Not to mention that when Jones suspected Tandy was seeing Nick, Jones went to NIck's home (a stranger to him) to confront him. Who does that??
A normal person would simply ask their girlfriend for the truth. If you don't trust her or think she's lying, why are you still with her? In the interviews, Jones acted all nonchalant like he couldn't care less about who Tandy dated, yet clearly the second he heard a rumor she might be seeing Nick, he went over to his house to confront him about it. That's not normal behavior.
Ultimately, there isn't enough evidence for me to say Jones is guilty. But he looks like a better suspect to investigate than Nick ever did.
The Boys (2019)
Cliche
I was hoping for something a bit more original in terms of the superheroes being not so heroic, but it was just a mashup of "Hancock" and "American Gods" neither of which I was a fan of. This just isn't for me. Then again, I'm not a huge DC/Marvel fan, so I'm just not the demographic. I went to the show seeking some good villains or antiheroes, but the definition of this on the show are male actors who act like any human creep: sexual perverts, no accountability, thinking they are hotshots. Once you remove the high concept (which is brilliant, by the way), the actual content is just a show about superpowered guys acting.
Child's Play (2019)
Tired of fake "9 & 10" reviews for bad movies.
This movie is 100% garbage.
I was willing to watch it even though the doll looked terrible and the trailer was so-so. I knew not to expect "Chucky" but more of an AI gone wrong. I also had seen plenty of negative reviews, so my standards were pretty low.
I thought that guaranteed at least somewhat of a good time. When you expect nothing you can't be disappointed, right? Wrong.
The movie is everything I hate about bad horror movies:
1. Gore replaces originality. You get over the top scenes of gore that are so tonally off with the rest of the movie.
2. Dialogue was written by a toddler. It's so generic and amateurish even for a kid's movie it would insult the kid's intelligence. That's how low it is.
3. Character act unrealistically. They find dead bodies and just move on like nothing happened. No real reaction. No trauma. No long term effects.
4. Another movie that needlessly adds a "cast of kids" to ride the wave of Stranger Things. Only these kids are generic, flat, and have zero story or any kind of objective want/need to drive their stories. They are just tools. Boring ones.
5. Chucky is a mess. He sounds ridiculous. He's not funny. He's not cute. He's certainly not threatening.
6. Humor is bad. Oh, plenty of laughs, but mostly at how absurd and ridiculous it was. The actual jokes rarely landed.
7. The storyline is just bad. It's a paint-by-numbers story that is still off. I'm used to barely there plotlines as a horror lover. But when it's barely there, and still patchy, I can't stand it. How do you ruin "generic". It's generic for a reason.
8. Chucky has no personality. None whatsoever. He just repeats and mimics and then randomly kills to be Andy's friend.
9. Andy and Chucky share very few scenes prior to the killing, yet andy act very emotional when chucky needs to be put down. It was just so emotionally unrealistic. He seemed more disturbed by shutting down a doll he had for 2 seconds than finding the ripped off face of a human being.
I don't mind bad horror movies. I do mind stupid ones that don't make sense. That are generic, and still inconsistent, and pointless.
I can't think of a single positive thing about this movie. Even the acting as very basic, and not at all good.
You (2018)
Each season gets worse than the other.
Updated:
Season 1 is insufferable because of the characters. It clearly wants to be Dexter, and I wasn't opposed to have a Dexter 2.0 so I gave it a chance, but Dexter had a likable protagonist. YOU does not.
Season 2 was worse than the first. It introduced an even more unlikable victim than beck, and she was pretty unlikable. The season felt too much like a rehash and the twist was unoriginal. Here go murder couple, like we haven't seen that before.
Season 3 is unwatchable. It's melodramatic and trite. Every flaw it has in full view. Characters are terrible. It's painful to watch.
Trinkets (2019)
Refreshingly good!
Watched it all in one day. Very addicting in an easy-flowing way where you don't feel like you're doing anything other than having a good time.
Booksmart (2019)
The trailer is better!
I don't normally watch comedies, but the trailer for this movie was so good, that I couldn't resist. Instantly, I regret it. 10 minutes into the movie, and i could tell that the trailer was a misrepresentation of the movie. The movie seemed fast-pace, exciting, hilarious. The actual movie was slow, boring, and not at all funny. I probably smiled once. The plot which seemed fresh, also kind of felt like a one-trick pony. I was expecting complexities, more to the plot than meets to the eye, enganging subplots. But we get none of this. To top it all off, the "super original premise" I thought is a rip from a movie called SuperBad. Not watching comedies very often, I hadn't watched it, but decided to watch it after watching this one. Although not a favorite, I'd rate that movie a 6 star. It was quietly funny, competent and I'm sure had I seen it 12 years back, the humor would have felt fresh. I could see how much more this idea shined in the hands of the original writer. I really wanted to like the story. I love movies with female cast, I think these actresses are so talented, but the story wasn't there. Super disappointed!
The Perfection (2018)
Bizarre, but decent!
Most stars off are because I don't like bizarre/weird horror, so for my tastes, thi is actually a good review. It's a bit Tarantino-esque (Kill Bill, era). Each act of the movie takes a twist you don't expect, so the ending is pretty much unpredictable even though it's not original. It had potential to be a lot more, the story is almost too simple, yet it's still crazy enough to be satisfying.
What/If (2019)
Fun if you know what you're getting into!
The show is pretty much "Indecent Proposal" meets "Great Expectations".
If the mix sounds intriguing to you, you'll enjoy the series.
The show is pretty consistent in what it does from episode 1 to the end, so if you enjoy the pilot, then you can sit back and enjoy the rest of the season.
The main downside for me were the subplots. You can fast-forward through most of the scenes without the core characters and still get a wicked ride. I hope season 2 has less characters. More isn't always better!
I feel like this is a show that will have a "cult" appreciation.
Slasher (2016)
Season 3 was fantastic!
If you want to now whether season 3 is worth it? I'd say, yes, give it a chance!
Slasher season 1 laid a solid foundation for this series. Season 2, unfortunately, was atrocious, replacing a good storyline with buckets of gore. Sure, it was shiny and had a good budget, but I care more about storyline and character development than cheap kills with very little story.
Because of season 2, I was prepared to move on from the series. Thankfully, I decided to give season 3 a chance, and found that season 3 able to recapture what made the original season 1 work so well.
Season 3, like season 1, delivered on the gore, and fantastic kills, but it was backed up by a solid storyline, rich characters, and in terms of the pacing and tightness of the script, I actually think season 3 outdid even season 1, so that was great!
I would sum up season 3 as: Slasher season 1, mixed in with some "Scream" franchise elements, purge-masks, and the heart of the story seemed to be ripped out of the headlines from the true crime story of Kitty Genovese (google her if you haven't heard about this case), who was stabbed to death in her apartment complex, and despite many people hearing her cries and seeing her, no one came to her aid. Add a modern twist full of texting, viral tweets, vlogging, and social media addicts and you have slasher season 3.
Now as much praise as I'm giving this latest season, Season 3, was of course, no without faults, but that's par to the course of most mainstream horror. Mainly, with this type of show, you often find characters who don't always make the smartest choices, so you're left having to suspend belief. Examples: Residents who don't leave the second a serial murderer starts targeting people from their apartment complex. A detective who doesn't even entertain the idea that there might be a copycat murder.
But beyond these minor gripes, the season was good enough to keep me up all night binge watching it from 8pm to about 2 in the morning. :)
***
Lastly, for people who are complaining about the diversity in the cast, yes, if watching characters who aren't all exclusively white bothers you, this season isn't for you. Funny how no one complained how pasty white season 1 and 2 were, but the second you have black, latino, and muslims characters you have some reviewers hyperventilating.
I also read a review that said this is another "we hate white people" show and I laughed because clearly that person didn't make it to the ending.
MINOR SPOILER:
To know how laughable this white-hate thing is, you have to know that there is a character who is a white supremacist. He hates muslims, gays, etc. You'd think if the series hated white people he'd be killed off brutally, right?
The character actually survives. He also has a dynamic "growth" arc in the series, with moments of heroism, and actually survives. Again, this isn't just a white guy. He's a hateful bigot, and yet this series doesn't just hack him up into pieces and throw him away, even though it could have easily done that if the agenda was white-hate.
So please ignore the hysteria that this season hates white people. It doesn't. Stick with the show to the end to see who survives and how things end up.
This show isn't anti-white people. It's really about how detached and overcritical we have become, even of people who live right next door to us. And how often we use social media for clickbait or to get on our high horse to scorn people and take it too far.
That's literally it.
Roswell, New Mexico (2019)
Never watched original Roswell...
So as a new fan who didn't know anything about the original, and as far as CW shows goes, this is definitely one of the better shows. Solid acting, story that evolves and changes enough to keep you guessing but is still consistent enough to satisfy you.
I would recommend to new fans. I thought this would be too "young adult" like Legacies, another show I tried as a new fan without having watched the prior shows it derived from, and I found the tone of that series too immature.
This one had a much more adult feel, but still had a fun youthful energy.
Pyewacket (2017)
Great slow burn film!
I'll admit the first time I tried to watch this film, I made it ten minutes in before finding something else to watch. At the time, I wasn't in the mood for a slow build up. I was lucky enough to see the title again at a different occassion, and remembered being intrigued by the synopsis, so I decided to watch it again, with different expectations. I ended up really enjoying the movie and realizing how good it actually is. Ever since I've recommended it to other people. Today I watched it for the second time, and I enjoyed it even more than the first time I watched it all the way through. It's just a really effective horror story about a young girl who summons a witch to kill her mother. This reminded me of a lot of cases you hear about where a teenager kills there parents. All the elements of those cases are there. The teenager is unahppy, the parent is omething emotionally unavailable or even abusive, and often times there is some kind of Romeo/Juliet aspect where the teen wishes for romantic liberty with a chosen boy (or girl) and the parent objects or is doing something to keep them apart. Things get overblown in the teen's mind and they do extreme things like murder. That's the recipe here. The reason I found it so compelling is because the story feels so real. The person I watched even asked, "This isn't based on a true story, is it?" Yes many complain it's dull, but that's because it's very similar to real life in it's buildup and the movie doesn't bother with cheap jump scares. However, once you get past the first act of the movie, a supernatural story develops that is quite interesting. I wish we would have learned more about the witch and had more input from certain characters to get more of that background information, that would have taken the movie from an 8 to a 10 easily. I understand complaints that the story is a bit on the light side, but it's still enjoyable. What usually makes or breaks these slow burn films is the ending. Does it pack a punch. This one does. The second you actually see the witch, it's like a normal modern horror/thriller. I'd say this film starts more like a drama, then builds up to a thriller, and ends as a horror. So make sure you go into it with that kind of expectation. It's also, as I've stated already, slow burn. It's a simple story, but an interesting one. The body count isn't high, but when someone does die, you feel it.