Movie Database

Cat People (1942, Jacques Tourneur). Surprisingly watchable psychological drama, and the origin of the jump scare. 🏆 👩👨🐈💕👰‍♀️🦜🚍🏊‍♀️🐈‍⬛🧐 Trying to wash the bizarre taste of Cronos out of my mouth, I saw Cat People from 1942 in the Max recommended movie list, and didn’t realize there was a version that preceded the Nastassja Kinski/Malcom McDowell version, so I watched it. Nobody ever listens to the cats. I imagine this was a scandalous movie for a variety of reasons in 1942, but that might just be my media-distorted view of past generations. Otherwise it’s surprisingly watchable, though it isn’t very scary, except for the lack of assurances that no animals were harmed in the making of the movie. But wait, there’s a genuine jump scare at 44:15! The first one in movie history? It is!! It’s no wonder generations of people feared psychology after movies like this. Nice touch that Irena’s costuming changes from light to dark over the course of the movie. (Max.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_People_(1942_film)

Cronos (1992, Guillermo del Toro, Spanish, English). I don’t know what this was supposed to be. ⏰👨‍🦳🥱🤷⏩⏩😑 Sometimes listed as 1992 and sometimes 1993. Supposedly Guillermo del Toro’s first film. Don’t know what to make of it. Didn’t find it mysterious, interesting, scary, funny, sad, or innovative. Only gross. The horror is all body horror stuff which is gross even when it looks fake, unless you’re really into the art and science of prosthetic gags. But mostly the story is … stuff happening that doesn’t make much sense. Got bored and started fast forwarding. I guess it’s kind of a vampire story? I think? Anyway, it’s not for me. (Max.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronos_(film)

In The Tall Grass (2019, Vincenzo Natali). Started well but fell apart in the middle. 🚗⛪️🌿🌿🪨🌿🌿🥱😐 A Netflix original, and a Stephen King (and Joe Hill) thing I hadn’t seen. A ragtag bunch of regular folks get lost in tall grass and things get spooky. My kind of horror story. The sound mix got on my nerves because they made the distant voices too quiet to hear even though they were part of the conversations. Not exactly powerhouse acting performances. The setup is better than the conclusion. Somehow it morphed from an interesting supernatural mystery to a plain old fashioned survival chase full of gimmicky scares, and I struggled to pay attention beyond the halfway point. (Netflix.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Tall_Grass_(film)

Let Me In (2010, Matt Reeves). Not as good as the Swedish version. 👦👧🩸🩸🩸💕⏩⏩😐 Hammer Films is still a thing?! English remake of the Swedish film Let The Right One In. You can tell very early on it’s not as good. I had no idea it ever snowed in New Mexico. Needlessly grotesque. Needlessly American. Needlessly 80s. Poor SFX. They got the gist of it more-or-less, but it wasn’t the same lightning-in-a-bottle and I fast forwarded through most of it. Definitely watch the Swedish one instead. This one isn’t bad, it’s just okay. (Max.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_Me_In_(film) https://nerdgirlthoughts.game.blog/2023/10/22/spooktober-movie-madness-what-i-watched-week-three/

Bone Tomahawk (2015, S. Craig Zahler). Character-driven period western with a survival horror twist. 🤠🌵🏇🚶🩼🧌😀 Star power. I like a good western, and there aren’t many, but this is one of them. It’s a minimalist character-driven period western that only veers into survival horror in the final act. A posse of eclectic characters on the trail of (as far as I know, entirely fictional) mute, cannabalistic, cave-dwelling kidnappers, who kill with ghost-like savagery, like proto-Predators, so it’s okay for the audience to view them as straight-up soulless video game monsters (or at least, that’s certainly the hope). Somewhat clumsily distances itself from the problematic tropes of older westerns, but doesn’t go as far as re-writing history. Another horror director who wants to do his own music. Luckily there isn’t much, except the oddly out-of-place operatic end title music. Character performances drive most of this movie. The lack of Hollywood-style over-the-top sound effects and music during the scary bits somehow makes it even scarier. Can’t decide if I liked it or loved it. It’s an indescribably odd duck. (PlutoTV.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_Tomahawk

Alone (2020, John Hyams). Beware passing strangers on a mountain road. 🚗🛻🏠🌲🏃‍♀️🌲🏃‍♀️🌲🏃‍♀️😀 Not to be confused with the zombie movie of the same name in the same year. A character smoking on camera again! 2020 is apparently the year where everyone smokes in movies again. Blue Ridge Mountains? Suitably creepy antagonist. Suitably creepy driving alone at night situation. Taps into the modern cultural fear of the vaguely rural white man who acts like the serial killer in every true crime docudrama. The key to this kind of survival story working is for the victim to survive using their own ingenuity, and they mostly did. Lots of tension. I liked it. (Hulu.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alone_(2020_thriller_film)

Let The Right One In (2008, Tomas Alfredson, Swedish). A sad but engrossing story about a kid befriending a vampire. 👦👧🩸💕😀 The search for more 2008 horror movies than just Cloverfield. Drenched in slow, depressing, nihilistic Swedish film drama. A sad but engrossing story about a kid befriending a vampire kid. Nobody ever listens to the cats. Some occasional “how did they film this without breaking any labor laws” vibes. Lots of visual storytelling. Good flick. Good music. There’s an English remake. (Amazon Prime.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_the_Right_One_In_(film)

Friday the 13th (1980, Sean S. Cunningham). Just checking the box. 🏆 🌲👫🔪👩🔪👨🔪⛈️👩🪓😑 Just checking the box. I believe this is the origin of the unexpected explosion in popularity of the low budget “group of teens dying one by one” genre that makes studio executives salivate. Never wanted to see it. Never expected to like it. Turns out, I didn’t like it. Nice to confirm the confirmation bias. I don’t like teen movies even when they aren’t getting murdered. Anyway on to the movie. Wobbly handheld POV shots from the killer. Low budget. Cheesy music. Cheesy 70s acting and dialog. Cheesy Kevin Bacon. It occurs to me the teen slasher is a survival horror at its core, which I like, but it seems to be filtered to remove any stakes, which makes them boring. For example, the plot of Friday the 13th is essentially the same as the plot of Predator and Alien, and while those movies keep me engaged and on the edge my seat, Friday the 13th doesn’t. I have a lot of time to think these thoughts and write them down, because the movie’s pacing is quite slow. On the plus side, I didn’t see any obvious instances of characters acting dumb to advance the plot (not counting the killer, who conveniently forgot how to kill a few times). I also enjoyed how the killer just blurted out their backstory and rationale at the end even though nobody asked them. Finally, I did actually jump at the Carrie-style jump scare at the end, because I was editing this text instead of watching the screen, when the sudden blast of noise from the speaker made me jump. (Max.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th_(1980_film)

eXistenZ (1999, David Cronenberg). The search for a 1999 horror alternative to Blair Witch. 🎮🔫🔌🫀🩸🦠🙂 The search for a 1999 horror alternative to Blair Witch. A virtual reality gaming cautionary tale I never heard of, from back when virtual reality scared people. Star power. Cronenberg prioritizes the absurdly weird and grotesque more than a grounded story or characters. Has a 1950s black-and-white Martian science fiction feel. The surreal dialog is oddly compelling. The gross squicky organic creature gags are utterly irrelevant. But the warning about getting too immersed in games is still a valid message, regardless of the clumsiness (real life death threats against game developers are extremely common now). I didn’t want to like this, but I kind of did. (PlutoTV.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existenz

Stir of Echoes (1999, David Koepp). The search for a 1999 horror alternative to Blair Witch. 😵‍💫🧠👦👻😐 The search for a 1999 horror alternative to Blair Witch. Strange title. Extreme New Yorker Kevin Bacon is kind of annoying. I get the feeling the director wanted a Nicolas Cage impersonation. Reminiscent of Close Encounters with ghosts. Suitable when bored, otherwise not very memorable. James Newton Howard underutilized. (Amazon Prime Freevee.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stir_of_Echoes

The Conjuring (2013, James Wan). The grand tradition of the haunted house, and this time it’s apparently an entire cinematic universe. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🏠👻🕵️🕵️‍♀️😐 The grand tradition of the haunted house, and this time it’s apparently an entire cinematic universe. Seems to be a more spiritualistic version of The X-Files. Nobody ever listens to the dog. The only thing that really distinguishes these movies from one another is the characters, and this family and these investigators are pretty flat Midwesterners. I mean you’d think a married couple of traveling paranormal investigating lecturers would be riveting, but they have all the personality of patent attorneys. Otherwise it goes down the list of required haunted house scenes and checks all the boxes. Easy for the mind to wander. (Max.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conjuring

The Faculty (1998, Robert Rodriguez). I didn’t realize this was going to be a comedy. 🎓🔪👽⏩⏩😑 I didn’t realize this was going to be a comedy. Which makes it somewhat less funny than if it wasn’t a comedy. Otherwise, it’s … a mainstream 90s movie, with a lot of recognizable 90s actors, and a pre-hobbit Elijah Wood. Basically, it’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers with high school kids instead of adults. Couldn’t relate. Not very scary or interesting. Or funny. Fast forwarded through most of it. Amazing to me that a) I don’t remember this movie existing and b) this was the 3rd-highest grossing horror movie of 1998. But then I don’t see many alternatives. (Paramount+.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faculty

Hereditary (2018, Ari Aster). Another “elevated” horror movie referenced in Scream (2022). 🪦👻🚗👧💈🪦🥛👻🧙‍♀️🤔 Another “elevated” horror movie referenced in Scream (2022). Never seen a movie begin with an obituary title card before. Cool camera trickery at the start. Another movie where “elevated” means quiet and slow with an ambient score. It’s not really about anything, except family grief, until a solid 1 hour and 15 minutes into the movie, which is a long time to wait for a story hook. But it’s pretty creepy if you can stand to wait that long. Then it takes a pretty hard left turn and it feels like two different movies smooshed together. Ended on a somewhat confusing note, but worth seeing. (Max.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hereditary_(film)

It Follows (2014, David Robert Mitchell). It was on my watch list for 2014 horror movies, and it was mentioned in Scream (2022) as an “elevated” horror film, so I had to watch it. 👩💋👀🚶‍♀️👀🚶👀🚶‍♂️🙂 It was on my watch list for 2014 horror movies, and it was mentioned in Scream (2022) as an “elevated” horror film, so I had to watch it. Talk about yer STDs, amirite? Elevated, btw, means brooding with long, slow camera pans, pushes, and pulls. Creepy, but there’s a bit of dream logic. The story rules don’t quite make sense and there’s no resolution which I guess makes it extra artful? Anyway it’s not bad. It has a very 70s unglamorous look with a very 80s Stranger Things soundtrack. (Netflix.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Follows

Scream (2022, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett). Deja vu. 👩🔪💀👨🔪👩🔪😂🙂 Deja vu. Ghostface is back for a new generation. Tolerably fresh, but it seems like just a few too many layers of self-referencing to be taken as seriously as the first one. I’m not sure a Gen Z teen slasher even makes sense, given that Gen Z never physically interacts with each other, do they? Shouldn’t a modernized teen slasher be built around SWATing or doxxing or something? (Paramount+.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(2022_film)