The Reaping

I've always been interested in story about religous messed upness. Rogue angels, demons, armaggedon, etc. This falls nicely in there. God sending his 10 plagues down to some small town. Hilliry Swank, who happens to have had a crisis of faith, comes in to figure out the cause.

This one seemed like it was trying really hard to fit into that Creepy Kid mode of suspense movies of late. But Anna Sophia Robb just isnt creepy enough. She is a cute little girl, but has no sense of danger about her, she just ended up being a dry board. and while Im not normally a fan of Swanks, she seemed to do alright in this. No stretching her acting chops for sure, but didn't do a bad job either.

There is a twist at the ending that is almost expected in this day in age. I didnt see it coming, but that dosn't mean others wont. But on a whole the story by the end was pretty interesting, if not used before.

Teeth

I don’t really know where to start with this movie. Once you hear the concept you don’t really know what to expect. It sounds like a mix between a bad horror and porn, or something that Troma would make. But once you actually watch it, you realize it really isn’t either one of those. You’d also imagine it to be filled with many cheesy moments, and horrible actors, again you’d be wrong.

The film makers have managed to somehow fit several messages into the movie, with out it really feeling like it’s trying to have a message. At the core it feels like it’s about abstinence, right from the very first scene. But it does a good job of both putting it in a good light, and showing the negative effects that can be caused by it. By the end of the movie it kind of changes its message and is a combination of sexism and being sexually careful, but does so with a smart transition, while making sense with the story.
The story is pretty much a very twisted take on adolescence and growing up and experiencing changes with your body. Discovering new things that seem out of place and wrong, only in this film, they are very much out of place and wrong. And while the story does have a good progression, it doesn’t really go anywhere. The ending is kind of abrupt, and it doesn’t really explain much. But it does leave it open for a sequel, which I would watch.

I was surprised to recognize several of the actors, and even more surprised that it was filled with actual good acting. Jess Weixler does a great job of making you empathize with her through out the film. And you can really see how her character progresses and grows. Some of the other cast, while doing a good job, are pretty typical roles for them.

The Strangers

This movie really creeped me out. The masks, the ninja like abilities of the strangers, the music, and the fact that I had to go home to an empty dark apartment after watching it. I can admit I jumped once, luckily though I didn’t spray the soda that I was drinking at the moment, for that would’ve been embarrassing.

All the things in this worked so well to make it creepy. The masks they were, while up close and in the light were pretty much all happy nice masks. But in the dark and from the distance they seemed to take on a new shade of scary. The doll-faced girl looked very much like a ghost from a distance, large dark eyes, small mouth, no real way to making out features other then the contrast of the eyes and mouth. But the ‘dad’ figures mask was the creepiest. What can only be described as a burlap sack with a smiley face painted on.

The music for this is was what really set me on edge. Through out the movie they keep playing with a small record player in the house, all the songs they play are very happy and pleasant sounding, but the lyrics seemed to match what was going on with what was happening on the screen. They even used the fact that it was a record, and made it skip all the time to intensify the moment.

The thing I was most curious about was their marketing for this movie. Saying it was based on actual events. And after a little research it seems that it wasn’t really based of one event, but several. There was an event from the writer/directors childhood that made him start this script. And it seems that a lot of the motivations and actions of these strangers were taken from several of the Manson murders. Even one of the games that they used to play on people, where they’d sneak into peoples houses and rearrange items, what they called “creepy crawling”. But the story is mostly taken from murders that happened at a resort in Keddie, CA, where three people were found tied up, stubbed and beaten with a hammer.

My only complaint is somewhat with the story. While I do like that it never explains the motivations of these strangers other then “they were home”. It doesn’t really explain much about the back story of the couple central to the story. Its obvious they had some sort of falling out, but it never truly says what happened, even things like the director making a point of getting a shot of the boyfriends bloodied knuckles, but never saying how they got that way. But, honestly, I completely forgot all about that once the masked ones show up. Was only when thinking back to the story afterwards did I remember these facts.

The Orphanage

Good: Creepy, so very creepy. Even the opening scene of the movie sets your nerves at alert. Everything from the setting, sounds and lighting all add to this intensified creep factor. It did its job of making me uneasy after watching it, walking around an empty dark apartment.

The whole movie has the feel of other movies like The Shining, House on Haunted Hill, The Others, Poltergeist, and a few others. The movie really is much more of a psychological thriller then it is about creepy kids in masks.

The setting is absolutely beautiful. The large house that is the Orphanage is gorgeous, inside and out. I’m not great with house style names, but to me it looked very Victorian. It is surrounded by a deep and rich forest. The house is up on a hill over a spectacular beach/cove. And overlooking all of it is a lighthouse. All three of these are a character in the story as much as the actors. And each of them is very picturesque.

Bad: The Marketing for this was way off. Guillermo del Toro did not direct this, he only helped bring it to America, but everyone seems to think that it’s his movie. They like to do this with movies, just like they did with Hostel. Quentin Tarantino didn’t make that movie, he berly had anything to do with it, it was directed by Eli Roth.

The footage they show in the commercials is also very misleading. They make it look like its all about a creepy kid in a very creepy mask terrorizing this poor lady. While yes the kid is a key figure in the story, he only shows him in a few scenes. The movie is about this mother being haunted, not tormented by a masked child.

There are moments when it does feel kind of slow. While it may bug some people, it worked for me. Made it much more tense and added a sense of despair.

Fear Itself

Good: The general idea for this series is pretty interesting, a new horror director telling a short story in one hour. It goes back to the whole Twilight Zone type shows. The first episode was actually really good. It never really explained some stuff that happened to the guys to that got them into this situation. The whole set up with the three sisters and the commune was pretty interesting and could be looked at like a twist on Dracula and the wicked sisters.

The theme song is awesome. It is written, composed and sung by Serj Tankian of System of a Down fame.

Bad: There was some plot holes left unanswered. And the beginning of the episode moved a little fast, but that is kind of to be expected for trying to tell a complete story in 45 minutes. They try to have a “twist” ending, but it really just kind of lands flat.

In all the commercials and advertisements they kept pointing out how each episode would be directed/written by they picked a pretty unknown director for the first episode. It doesn’t appear that he has directed any horror/thriller type movies yet, but is planning to remake a couple, including Creature from the Black Lagoon. The writers have worked on several horrors before including Critters 2, The Stand, and Lord of Illusions.

Severance

Good: I’ve been jaded by a lot of the horror gore fests I’ve seen. There have only been a few cases where a movie has made me cringe, like Hostel (her eye!!!!). But this movie has been added to my list. But it is in no way another mindless torture porn flick. Its funny, real funny.

Most of the funny is done by Danny Dyer, right off the bat of the movie he’s eating ‘shrooms, so you know its going to be good when he starts tripping. The great moments of humor between the really fucked up shit that happens to the people really make the horror parts that much more fun. They even do a good job of mixing them with the little false scares. They have all the build ups like normal thrillers, then something funny happens and it really screws with your anticipation. So when something bad does happen, it’s a lot less expected.

The British seem to understand how to make a horror/thriller comedy a lot better then Americans do.

Bad: It has the regular stereotypes. But really, what movie doesn’t? Especially thriller/horror flicks. The story seems really forced, you never really get who the bad guys are. It does explain it, but it seems a lot more of them forcing this motive down your throat, and it’s pretty contrived. But movies like this don’t need a great story to be fun. All you need to know is these innocent people are being hunted for something they didn’t do.