Reviews

This was, overall, a pretty decent horror movie. It had some solid acting and moments of strong atmosphere. My main issue with it was that it felt like it was cobbled together from many other earlier genre movies, without much of an original idea in its head. Seriously, it was the Trope Express to Tropesville. Apparently it's an old Stephen King short story (I've never read it) but it felt like it could've been written by anyone. Everything was painfully generic.

If you can get past the been-there-done-that nature of the film, however, it's still pretty entertaining. But why, given that they knew that the antagonist creature was afraid of light, did the characters seem to do everything in their power to avoid lighted areas?

I usually try to find something to like about bad movies - there's normally something entertaining if you look hard enough. This movie, however, is pretty much free of redeeming qualities. It beats you over the head with an unrelenting assault of terrible, tiresome dialogue (half of which revolves around sex, the other half is all pop culture references, presumably in place of character development). You feel nothing for the characters save to hope they get axed soon. The robot santa has no point, it's just kinda there to slay once in a while. Not really sure who this was made for. I like to say something nice about every project, so I guess I could say the lighting was mildly interesting. Overall just gave me a headache.

For the first half of this, I was like, "eh, just another average, forgettable action movie. Wronged dude goes on mission of vengeance" and watched it with only half attention.

Well, after the twist some ways in, it at least became interesting. The filmmaking itself remained average but the plot caught my attention at last. Kudos to Momoa for taking a role where he might not necessarily be the hero viewers imagined.

Anyone saying "oh the twist wasn't realistic", well, that's action movies for ya! They aren't realistic.

It's possible for a movie to be both effective and kind of a mess at the same time, and in my books, this describes Howling Village. A few cool, genuinely creepy scenes mixed in with some muddled storytelling. Some good effects, some cheesy ones. More time spent in the titular village would've been a bonus. Overall, not a horror classic but not a waste of time, either. Worth a watch.

I watched Ghosts of War a day before I wrote this review, and at the time, I dismissed it as kind of ridiculous. While I still don't think it's anywhere near a masterpiece, I found myself thinking about it through the day, a sure sign that it had something going for it. It's a difficult movie to discuss without spoilers, but if you like ghost stories, war stories, and science fiction, at least give it a spin. Some pretty effective scenes, and even if it doesn't play out in the way you were imagining, there are some interesting concepts here.

This is definitely meant for a young crowd but that doesn't mean it's not entertaining. It's mainly carried by the charm of its trio of protagonists. The vampires are silly cliches, but in an odd way that makes this more enjoyable. The choreography in the showdown could've been better, but this isn't a high budget affair, so it's no big deal.

The reviewers calling this racist are just trying to stir up issues. It's not racist unless you're a vampire.

Rare indeed is the horror movie where I don't know exactly what the twist is going to be, usually before halfway. Eli surprised me. I watched it with zero expectations and was pleasantly surprised by it.

Okay, I preferred the movie I thought I was getting, the initial ghost story. In truth, I don't actually like the subgenre of horror movie which Eli became. But I respected the twist, which was a pretty ballsy subversion of expectations, and I would recommend going into this movie blind.

I thought it had interesting sequel potential, also. It would be that rare sequel which simply couldn't retread the original and would have to forge a new direction.

The human performers in this ridiculous horror-comedy are barely OK, but the recliner is actually a pretty good actor. I mean, sure, it's miscast as a sofa, but damned if it doesn't give the challenging role its all. I see great things in its future; maybe it could play an airline seat, or with some heavy prosthetics, even a throne.

This supernatural, demon-hunting show is dumb, I can't really pretend otherwise, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it. I found it entertaining enough to ignore the terrible effects and general cheesiness. This was largely due to the character of Nancy (the charismatic Giselle Kuri), a troubled but lovable demon-channeler who effortlessly steals every scene she's in.

Season 2 was also silly fun, and though shorter, I feel like season 1 should've been 6 episodes as well, to cut some of the fat.

Overall, turn your brain off and this is an amusing show that's perfectly self-aware as to its goofy nature. I feel like it should be viewed in subtitled form only, but that's me.

Cons:

• The characters are flat and poorly acted. It's impossible to care about what happens to them;
• The villain is unconvincing and awful, and really all we learn about them is that they're evil and want to open a door;
• the insufferably "plucky" child character comes straight out of the 80s, and not in a good, "Stranger Things" kind of way, more in a "horrible sitcom" kind of way;
• characters act in ways that advance the plot, not in ways that make sense;
• the "horror" elements are strictly "baby's first horror movie" style

Pros:

• The idea of the keys is interesting
• The cinematography is pretty decent
• it made me -vaguely- interested in seeing if the comics were better.

The dumbest fantasy TV series I've seen in a while.

A couple points for the concept, which appeals to my cheesy B-movie loving heart. On paper, it sounds great: vikings VS scarecrows! What's not to love? Mixing genres and giving slasher movies a new setting could've been a real plus.

One extra point for the witch lady, whose "acting" makes her seem like she could really use an exorcism.

Otherwise, this is pretty dull, with an elongated and frankly boring opening stalk-a-thon that evaporated my hopes for this being any fun right away.

What were have here is a movie that looks like a bunch of friends were trying to find uses for their ren faire costumes, but also happened to have a scarecrow getup lying around that they didn't want to go to waste.

The result is a movie about a group of unconvincing "vikings" being picked off slasher-style by a shambling scarecrow. Kinda makes you wonder how these guys managed to do any conquering when a really slow dude in rags can take out them out so easily, but hey.

Nowhere near as amusing as the silly premise made me hope.

Landing Lake is a visually monotonous, unengaging film that gets old fast... but I have to give it a couple points for the hilariously weird bad acting. A movie purportedly about aliens, but very possibly written and acted by them.

...To paraphrase U2.

For a movie that's basically about people running around in a field, this is pretty cool. It's slow-burning, which will be a recommendation for some and not others. If you can deal with a movie that rarely has a change of scenery, give it a chance. It's trippy and pretty original (if nonsensical), with some creepy sound design and the occasional weird set-piece.

That said, it slightly overstayed its welcome. I wouldn't watch it twice, but it was definitely worth a look. I look forward to the sequel, "Field VS Combine Harvester."

This movie thinks it's hilarious. It pokes you in the ribs every couple minutes to remind you how zany it supposedly is. The problem is, the jokes don't land. The horror doesn't land. The characters are neither funny nor interesting (but they are energetic, I'll give them that much). If you think you're getting a great horror-comedy like Tucker And Dale or something, you'll be disappointed.

Basically, the 4th wall breaking dude who sings the plot at the beginning sets the tone for the humor throughout. If you can stomach him, you may enjoy this movie. If not, it never gets better.

Five stars in this instance doesn't mean I think this movie is average. It means I found it half great, half-ridiculous. This is a well-made film, well-acted, and for much of the run-time, quite engrossing. However, it spends so much time twisting and turning that by the end it has become somewhat ludicrous.

Maybe you won't see every plot twist coming, but that doesn't necessarily make the twists clever. The script feels like the creators came up with the final image first and had to tie themselves into knots trying to find a reason for it to exist. A certain characters machinations (being vague to avoid spoilers) are convoluted to a head scratching degree when it's easy enough to think of several other, more expedient, less sadistic options to meet her goal.

Ultimately I thought it was an interesting film, worth watching, but also a bit nonsensical and overly pleased with itself.

I went into this movie completely without expectations - I hadn't even heard of it until I saw it on Netflix and thought "what the heck, I'll give it a spin." I don't use this word to describe horror movies much, but what a beautiful horror movie! I don't mind saying I teared up at the end. Bittersweet and wonderfully made.

It's a Thai movie, using the krasue from Thai mythology. It's essentially a woman whose head comes off at night to hunt, dragging her entrails behind. Now if that doesn't sound "beautiful", believe me, this movie will have you firmly hoping against hope for the strange, almost ethereal krasue.

I loved everything about this movie, from the haunting soundtrack to the great cinematography to our poor monstrous heroine.

Slow-burning but patient audiences will find it really pays off.

I enjoyed this a lot, probably even more than my rating. I'm a big fan of Ringu and fond of Ju-on, so watching Sadako and Kayako go at it was great fun for me. Both ghosts are in fine form (Kayako's son Toshio, however, looks like he's taken a few too many blows to the head over the years, which, like much in this film wound up looking more goofy than scary).

Don't get me wrong, this movie is dumb. But it's the kind of dumb I watched with a big grin on my face. I wish the showdown could've gone on a bit longer, but I got what I came for. Two stars begrudgingly removed for choosing silliness over horror, but I got into the spirit of it and I really enjoyed this movie.

Possibly a bit slow-burning for many horror fans, but I enjoyed this one. The horror elements of the story are passable, but what really elevated it in my mind was the rapport and dialogue between father and son, which was quirky and believable. The ghost was fine, not super memorable, but with a couple effective scenes. The drama aspects of the film, however, made it enjoyable. For such a short film, it dragged on a bit at the end, which is why I docked points, but still definitely worth a look.

I can't agree with all the negative reviews on here. Yes, this film has problems, mainly in its somewhat slipshod final act. But at the heart of this film are two very likeable characters, well-portrayed and relatable. The slow-burning tension builds well. You root for the characters.

Again, not perfect. The last act, when our protagonists finally turned the tables on their tormentors, was frankly a bit of a mess and I have to dock points for it. Still, until that point, I found it an earnest and enjoyable film.