Reviews

I wanted to give this movie five stars, and I wanted to love it because every moment was excellent. But as you can see with the four star rating, I just couldn't. I still want everyone to see this movie in the theater, because movies like this need to make more money so the studios can see that people want more movies like this. But I want this movie to be even better, like I thought it was going to be.

So why couldn't I give it five stars? The biggest reason is I felt it dumbed itself down. To me this film was taking a big chance that is rarely done in movies today, especially horror-esque ones. Not only talking about the race issue, but showing the horrific feelings and realities that people face every day.

And then along comes the scene in the bathroom after the mainly white, old people party, where Rose and Chris are getting ready for bed. Rose mentions every racist thing that the people did at the party. And Chris just says, "Yup.", because what else can he say. He deals with it regularly. So the reason it stood out to me so much was because the racist people (if they were even to go and see it), wouldn't even think twice about what Rose is reiterating, and the people who do think about racism already, are aware that the things that were done and said to Chris should not be done.

As far as the Sci-Fi aspect to this movie, it had a bit of a cheesiness to it, which worked for the most part as a tension reliever. I'm referring to the end when Chris is in the basement watching TV.

And the horror doesn't really present itself until the last half hour of the movie. Except for the couple of jump scares earlier. In regards to the some of the horror towards the end, when Dean is downstairs in the workroom, and there are candles lit, I understood this to be part of a ritual, but I would have thought by now that there would be new and better ways to do things. I'm torn on that though. I understand the message to be that some still think racism was something that happened years ago, so keeping the basement in the past fit, but I would have also seen it more modern.

If you go in not reading any spoilers, I think most people will be surprised at how it unfolds. And Jordan Peele left the perfect amount of clues, that if you really think about it, you can probably figure out what is happening early on. If you do watch it spoiler free, I think going back to watch it again is also a good idea, because you can focus more on the actor's nuances, and focus more on looking for the double and triple meanings in some of the scenes.

Even with the four star rating, and some of my comments, I really do think you should see this movie. Go to the theater now and watch it, then watch it again on DVD when you've had time to digest it, and like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, you can look for deeper meanings in the scenes.

This movie was excellent. If you enjoy horror movies, you should watch it.

Although I wish you would take my advice, some people need a little more persuading, so….

I went into this movie blind, not having seen any trailers or reviews. Mermaids are my favorite mythical creature, so as soon as I saw the title, I wanted to watch it. I was a bit taken aback because this siren is not a mermaid, but a demon that can use her voice like aquatic sirens. I was easily able to look past that this siren had wings instead of a tail.

Justin Welborn did an amazing job as Mr. Nyx. Even his outfit was perfect, and usually I would think someone wearing that is a bit douchey, but he pulled it off.

Once the bachelor party gets into the mansion things start getting really strange and takes a very dark turn. There's more than just a lap dance or two, and they bring it right out onto to the stage. (No hiding the debauchery behind closed doors!)

The kill scenes, along with the blood and gore, were done well. And as a woman, who has seen lots of violence and rape towards women in movies, it was an interesting turn of events to have this done to men instead.

And although the ending concluded how I figured it would, there was still a small twist, which I enjoyed.

I was so disappointed in this movie, it had great potential, but fell flat. I will say that the acting was done well, especially by Naomi Watts. She did a phenomenal job portraying someone who thinks they are going crazy, as well as someone who feels guilty about not being able to care for her step-son anymore.

There was a couple of jump scares and the basement scenes that helped to drive up the tension. There was a bit more of a horror aspect towards the end of the movie, which was done well. And I did like that most of the movie was light enough that you could actually see what was going on.

Now as for what I didn't like about it, as well as what I think would have been a better ending (courtesy of my step-dad's imagination).

Spoilers Ahead.

Major Spoilers Ahead, so stop reading if you don't want to know what happens.

As soon as the little boy got lost, I immediately called that he was alive and living in her walls. The part that I couldn't figure out was why. I figured he had a good relationship with Mary that he would have came right to her instead of hiding.

Then as soon as she started tripping and having weird dreams, I knew her stepson was able to move around and drug her. This may not have been as apparent to a lot of people, so I can let that slide. And it also explains why Tom hides in the walls, because Stephen doesn't want him there and is trying to find him quietly so Mary doesn't know he can walk around.

The part that really got me was how all of a sudden (at least to the audience), Stephen was obsessed with Mary. They could have somehow showed it earlier before the accident, and I think that would have increased the creep factor.

How it should have ended would be having Stephen kill everyone, and then get back into bed and continue to act like he was still paralyzed. It would have given it a Primal Fear vibe, which would have been awesome.

After watching #Horror, I needed to watch something good, so I was flipping around Netflix, and saw that Jared Padalecki was in this one. I had watched it when it first came out on DVD, but I didn't remember him being in it at all. I enjoy Supernatural, and remembered that I liked this movie, so I gave it another watch.

There is something really creepy about wax museums, at least to me. I watched Waxwork when I was a teenager, and it was one of the horror movies that has really stuck with me. While that one had the displays come alive, House of Wax just has crazy people encasing people in wax. No, nothing disturbing about that at all.

Even as a second watch, and knowing the premise of the movie, I still enjoyed it. I do remember when I saw it the first time I enjoyed the twist ¾ through the movie, and right at the end. How it ends did lend itself to a sequel, although it would have to be in a different museum.

House of Wax includes all the goodies that one looks for in a slasher; lots of people getting killed in weird ways, gratuitous sex scenes, and a crazy psycho that slowly stalks his victims, but still manages to catch up to them. I also got a bit of a Psycho (the movie) vibe off of this one. I think with the quiet, creepiness of the town, and the woman who peeks out the window.

Although this is a common theme in horror movies, I've seen it done very well many times. Unfortunately this was not one of them. It started out with potential, the kids bickering in the backseat amused me, especially the eye rolls. But this type of cheesy, over the top acting continued throughout the whole movie. If this had been a horror-comedy that would have been fine, but it was not.

The other downfall to this film was how quickly we see the evil spirits. There was no suspenseful lead up. Just, Boom!, here you go. I can even overlook (at first) that the dad didn't think anything was up with a giant house, in decent condition, being sold so cheaply. After the first person (not the third) mentioned something about being surprised the house ever sold, I would have been jumping on Google.

In Dad's defense he did keep getting overtaken by a spirit, and forgetting what he as doing, but to use this as the reason for everything just didn't work for me. It was really lazy writing. And as far as the realtor goes we never get an answer as to why she was bringing more people to this house, besides for the commission. Was she a minion of the evil spirit, was it part of her family and she felt like she needed to bring sacrifices?? Guess we'll never know.

The only reason I'm giving this movie two stars, instead of one, is because there was some decent special effects. If you really enjoy evil house stories, you may want to give this one a watch, otherwise, I would say to skip it.

This movie instantly puts you into a different era, which you can tell as soon as the studio insignia comes up, and it continues throughout the movie with the screen blips that makes it seem like you are watching actual film. I was very surprised that they were able to convey such a creepy and horrific feeling in this movie, especially with a PG-13 rating.

It doesn't rely on cheap jump scares, but gives you the tension and creepy-crawlies through the telling of the story and the fantastic acting, especially the two sisters. When Doris (Lulu Wilson), talks to her sister's boyfriend about what it feels like to be choked, I got goosebumps. And when Doris who was just staring at the TV is suddenly staring at the other people in the room, you can feel the evil radiating from her.

I don't jump a lot while watching horror movies, but towards the end some of the effects that they did (without CGI) had me jumping. The scene that takes place on the stairs and with the boyfriend was just perfect.

I highly recommend this one, and feel like I need to make a new graphic so I can give it more than five stars!

I read the first three books in the John Cleaver series by Dan Wells, and really enjoyed them. I didn't realize there are six until I started doing a bit of research for this review. I will definitely be checking them out.

This movie was close to the first book, but there were four big differences. In the book you were able to read more about what was going on in John's mind. While Max Records did a great job showing emotions (or non-emotions) with his face, to me it was still lacking because we couldn't know all that he was thinking.

The next was with Brooke. In the book John is obsessed with her, in such a way that it is very creepy and you actually think he will kill her. But in the movie, it seemed more like Brooke was obsessed with John. The scene where he is watching her through the window just didn't have the same effect that it did in the book.

Next, and it's been awhile since I read the book, but I seem to remember that his mom was more understanding of him and his tendencies. In the movie when the psychiatrist tells her, she freaks out and doesn't want him down in the embalming room with her any more. I don't remember her doing this in the book, and she actually had him join her because she knew it was a way for him to temper some of his urges.

And the last part that was really different was how the book ended. It was actually more climatic than in the movie. The killer who was violently fighting for his life in the book, just kind of lost all his fight in the movie.

But even with these differences you should still watch this one, but maybe read the book afterwards so you get more out of it.

Maybe I had too high of hopes for this film, having seen it advertised all over my Facebook feed for numerous weeks. Hearing the rave reviews made me want to check it out. So great job marketing people.

Or maybe I've just watched too many horror movies. Or maybe what Jane Doe turns out to be just happens to be my favorite subject to read and watch movies about, so I saw the clues early on. Whatever the case, I just wasn't as wowed as other people seem to be.

There were definitely creepy parts, such as when things opened in the morgue. And at times the atmosphere of the basement did feel sinister. A lot of the cinematography was done beautifully, but I need to have a good story to go along with all the pretties.

I had no problem with Jane Doe being naked on the table almost the entire movie, but after about a half an hour, I kept thinking, that actress has to be so cold. Not something you want to be continually thinking about while watching a movie.

I wouldn't say rush to watch it, but if you're really curious as to what all the fuss is about, then give it a go.

With all the big name actors you would think this film would be at least decent, but it wasn't. I can't even say that the acting was great, and the story was bad. It was both for the main characters, especially Timothy Hutton. And I usually really adore him. All the scenes he was in, except for the first, he was just yelling and being a maniac.

The story itself really grated on my nerves, all of the girls bullied each other, so I didn't feel sympathy for any of them. And I know the point was to show that the children were treated badly or ignored by their parents, and that's why they acted like they did. But I've known people who were bullied and didn't bully back to make themselves feel better, and yet became amazing adults.

And the camera person that was roaming the woods, taping the girls, we never find out who that was for sure. I'm thinking it was one of the girls, but that doesn't make sense because how did she tape the kills involving the car.

At times I felt like they were trying to make this movie into an arty film, but for me it just failed. The cinematography of the girls being recorded was annoying, and the graphics that came up took me out of the moment every time they flashed across the screen.

There are so many other, better movies out there, don't waste your time on this one.

The Disappointments Room, was a disappointment. Yup, I went there. While I thought this movie was supposed to be a Gothic horror, I found it to be more of a thriller, and not very thrilling. I think the biggest problem was that too early on it was apparent what happened up in the room, so it didn't leave you guessing until almost the end of the movie.

Kate Beckinsale did a good job reliving the trauma she had previously experienced, and at times, I did question if she really was losing her mind. But after 45 minutes or so, it was just people moving around the house. I watched it until the end just to see if there was a surprise twist, but there wasn't. And even the very end, where the bad guy pops up so there can be a sequel, was completely boring.

I was going to give this one just two stars, but the acting in it was done very well, so I bumped it up a star. Paul Giamatti, Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Rose Leslie all play their parts well. It was just unfortunate that the story was lacking in actual tension and thrills.

It started out good when Morgan attacks one of the workers at the facility, but just fizzled out until the last 20 minutes. There was so much that could have been done with the back stories of the various characters.

The only way I would say you Have to watch this one is if you really like one of the actors. Otherwise I would skip it, and watch Ex Machina instead.

I was flipping through Netflix, and saw that Eric Balfour was in this movie, since I have enjoyed everything I've seen him in, I decided to give this one a watch. If you are afraid of dogs (that were supposed to be wolves), you will probably not like this one. For the most part, when they were attacking, it actually looked real. And when they showed their teeth and were snarling/growling, yea, that could freak someone out with a dog phobia.

The acting was pretty good, and the storyline was believable (for a horror movie). The gore was also decent, nothing really extravagant. The one part that I didn't feel was needed for the movie was to have the sheriff's kids come to town. Nothing much happened to them that added to the movie. They didn't get kidnapped or killed, and the one scene that involved the girl and a wolf, really didn't add anything.

When the monster wolf changed back to human, the transformation was pretty cool. You could see the multiple teats, which I don't really remember often seeing on other werewolf movies. If you enjoy werewolf movies, I would say to give this one a watch.

It has been awhile since I've watched a movie that I thought was really good. Before you read any farther, I'm going to let you know I really, really recommend this movie.

I watch and read lots of mysteries, suspense, and thrillers, and often figure out what will happen next. Or in the case of mysteries, I'll figure out who the killer is early on. That was not the case with this movie. I kept guessing what was going to happen next, and was surprised almost every time because something else happened instead.

This movie did progress slowly, but to me it didn't matter because I was anxious to see what would happen next. I really enjoyed that the main character, Will, kept observing and questioning things that were happening. For example, one of the hosts locked the front door, and Will instantly inquired as to why. I thought this was a wonderful example how in society, just to be polite and not make waves, people will often let things go that they really should be reacting to.

After you watch this one, I would love to know what you have to think. And I don't often watch movies a second time, but I will be making an exception for this one.

Not having read any of the Agatha Raisin cozies by M.C. Beaton (and there are over 25), I came into the show without any preconceived notions. Perhaps if I had, I would be more persnickety about what the characters looked like, or if they were more humorous in the books.

I did really enjoy the shows, which reminded me a bit of Rosemary and Thyme. Although I liked it, and will watch future seasons, it didn't grab me enough to start reading the books. Mainly because having seen these, I would think it would spoil the books because I already would know who was the killer.

Agatha is a legend in the PR world, who knows how to work the system to get whatever her clients want. But when she moves to the quaint village, she is completely out of her realm. In the very first episode she enters a quiche making contest thinking she will wow the villagers and make lots of new friends. One huge problem though, she doesn't cook. So she buys a quiche, and things go downhill very quickly. Not only does someone get poisoned, but it is found out that she cheated.

She takes it upon herself to find out what really happened, and to try and get some of the villagers to be more friendly towards her. But anyone who's ever lived in a small town knows that it can take years, even decades, before someone new is accepted into the community.

The rest of the episodes continue with Agatha solving more mysteries with the help of her housekeeper (who I think is adorable, and I want a friend like her), DCI Wong (who has a crush on Agatha, who is older than him), and various others people from the village. Agatha's love life ebbs and flows through the episodes.

And although I'm not into shoes, Agatha's were amazing, as well as her outfits. I found myself looking forward to seeing what she would be wearing. All in all, I enjoyed the first season very much, and will watch any more that are made.

I first heard of Jack Ketchum, whose story this movie is based off of, when I was looking at some website and it mentioned the book, The Girl Next Door. Although I haven't read it yet, his name and the book title has stuck with me, since it's suppose to be disturbing. If The Girl Next Door is as anything like Offspring, then yes it will be.

After the watching the movie, (I'll get to that in a second), I did a quick search on Ketchum and got this from Wikipedia; "Later, in his teenage years, Ketchum was befriended by Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, who became a mentor to him. He supported Ketchum's work just as his work was supported by his own mentor, H.P. Lovecraft." That would definitely help to explain how his unique mindset was encouraged to grow.

From the first part of the movie, where the cannibal children are sitting on the kitchen counters cackling in happiness surrounded by blood and guts to the rest of the movie with them jumping out and biting people, I said out loud, "And that is one more reason why I didn't have kids."

But it was so much more than kids doing that, there was also their inbred parents, along with lots of topless women, and creepy sexual encounters.

If you enjoy a gore fest, this is one you'll probably want to watch, since there was lots of blood, body parts, and eating of flesh. The pulling out the the intestines was a nice touch.

Movies with inbred people creep me out the most. I can handle clowns and dolls, but people with teeth missing and who only communicate in grunts, is just too close to something that could actually happen.

After I finished this one I started going over in my head what I was going to write about it. I wanted to just say, "Pretty boring. If you just watched the last 20 minutes or so of the film, that's all you would need."

Then I started thinking about it more, and I feel that I need to say more than that. It wasn't that the beginning was slow, and you did need it to build up the tension, but when I really thought about it, it was because of the actors. They almost seemed bored to be there, and there wasn't a lot of sharing who they were with each other, so I didn't really care about them.

There was also the fact that all three of them went to sleep at night. I don't watch the ghost busting shows on TV, but I would think at least one person would stay awake to monitor the equipment. It wasn't until a couple nights in that they set an alarm for 15 minutes before the activity would begin.

When you finally get to the last 20 minutes, lots of action takes place with furniture flying around the room, and the actors running around in terror. But even with this, it was just ho-hum. After they got to the meat of the movie, I was left with so many questions. Why was 3am the time everything happened. Why was the person doing what they did. And a couple of more, but I don't want to spoil anything if you decide to watch it.

I don't know if this one has a cult following, but if it doesn't, it should. While it has a slight Evil Dead vibe, small cabin in the woods and people dying in crazy ways, it has it's own originality as well.

Tucker and Dale (Tyler Labine, whom I adore in Deadbeat and Reaper) are friends who go up to Tucker's cabin to fix it up. On their way up, they run into some college kids who instantly judge them as being hillbillies. While Dale wants the kids to like them, Tucker could care less. They continue their way up to the cabin, and upon seeing it, the audience gets an instant creepy vibe, but Tucker and Dale are ecstatic to have a get-away home.

While Dale and Tucker are checking out the cabin, Chad tells his friends a story about a Memorial Day Massacre, and the hillbillies who did all the killing. Through things we see in the cabin, the audience realizes that must have been where they lived.

All of the kids just want to have a good time, except for Chad, who just seems a bit off, and wants to start some stuff with Tucker and Dale. The kids decide to go for a skinny dip later that evening, and one of the women falls into the lake and hits her head. Dale saves her and they bring her back to the cabin. This is where the fun begins.

In a constant stream of miscommunication between the kids and Tucker and Dale, one accidental death leads to more, and finally an all out assault between the two groups. The deaths just keep getting crazier, and the final reveal, isn't shocking but it's amusing.

Highly recommend this one if you enjoy the Evil Dead or Shaun of the Dead.

When we went to Comic Con in Chicago we went to a couple of panels on Asians (or the lack of) in films, so this one really stood out to me since two of the main characters are Asian. And the other thing that stood out was that the main female was very intelligent, even though the guys refused to listen to her. Blair (Katie Savoy), said they should leave during the first heist, but her boyfriend didn't, which caused them trouble. Then in the house, she wanted them to all stay together and go upstairs to call for help, and of course that didn't happen. And there were a couple of other things she called out, but the others ignored her.

I enjoyed the game of cat and mouse that the killer played with them in the house, and the various ways people got killed/maimed were pretty good. There was some humor thrown in to keep from suspense overload, which is always appreciated.

They don't really touch on why the guy is killing people, but in a way that makes it even more scary. Some people are just psycho. Sometimes the acting seemed a little over the top, but they could have been trying to add a bit more comedy this way. If you're looking for something not too heavy on gore, and with a killer toying with his victims, I would say this is one to watch.

I work at a library (yes, it's awesome), and am in the cataloging department. This little gem may have slipped by getting added to our library's DVD section if I hadn't pulled it off the donation cart. How someone could give up this gem, I'm not sure, but I'm glad they did because I, and numerous library patrons, will now be able to enjoy it.

Nerds, Jocks and Hot Girls all get along together, which is nice to see. Then you have the typical redneck, which of course you will find on the way to your giant lake house that has no neighbors close by. Once we get to the house, that's when the mangling and dismembering begins. What they think of as a freak thing, (the shark must have came through the levy after hurricane season), quickly turns into sharks everywhere.

The sheriff (who plays Harvey on Gotham… love that crazy show), adds some comic relief as the bumbling country bumpkin. Very little nudity, and no sex, just lots and lots of blood. The final reason as to why this is happening makes sense in a twisted way. And honestly I'm surprised something like this hasn't happened in real life… or maybe it has. So next time you're near a saltwater lake, you might want to let your friends go for a swim while you stay on the beach.

I watched this one when it first came out and loved it, so I wanted to give it a rewatch to see if I still enjoyed it as much…. And I did! I have a thing for Southern mansions with big porches, and if you mix in some Hoodoo or Voodoo, even better.

Don't really want to say too much about the story or the ending, because the ending is what really made this movie stand out to me. During my first watch it wasn't until really close to the end when I finally figured out what was happening, which made it so enjoyable.

Some might classify this as more of a thriller, but there are Gothic horror as well as regular horror elements to it. I could see a couple of scenes that would make people jump, and some of the images, like when Caroline's eyes and lips were sewn shut could be seen as horror.

As for the Gothic horror, there's the big creepy mansion far away from any neighbors. And a female caregiver who moves in, and has a very small support system, so people won't really wonder/care if anything happens to her. As well as the possibility of ghosts, and other things that go bump in the night.

I highly recommend this movie if you've never seen it before. And if you have, and enjoyed it, I would definitely say to give it a rewatch.

I really enjoyed this one. There were so many cheesy lines that I could see a group of friends getting together every winter to watch this one, and shout the lines at the TV, just like with Rocky Horror Picture Show. I also thought the beginning with the grandpa telling the kid a story very amusing. If I had kids, this is probably something I would do.

There were bits with gore, but that too was amusing, and you could tell way before hand how someone was going to get killed. I'm not one of those horror loving people who can tell you all the various actors/directors and what they've done, but I did recognize Shannon Elizabeth from Saved by the Bell. She played a horny teenager, and it made me wonder if she made this one before or after American Pie. (Checked and this one was before.)

Small spoiler….

The one thing I couldn't get over at the end, but in a good way, was that the son made his dad some oats and put antifreeze in it to "Keep him warm". When the dad found out he just laughed. All I could think was, Your kid is trying to kill you, and you just laugh it off??? But it amused me, and this will probably be the only thing I remember if you ask me about this movie ten years from now.