Girl 27 (2007)

It’s sort of insane to me, in 2012, what power the music and film industries have over society. Fame is everything. Status is everything. In the 1930s, though, the film industry truly did rule. During the Depression, the film industry was the only industry to record a profit. People actually made money when the whole country was desperate. The biggest of them all was Metro Goldwyn Mayer, or MGM, led by the infamous Louie B. Mayer.

What this film reveals about the industry, and what they so carelessly did to innocent women — specifically Patricia Douglas — and how they just about turned back the clock and made it so the whole thing never happened, and nobody ever even heard about it, is… it’s inconceivable. Louie B. Mayer sent out a fake casting call to 100 young girls… 13 and 14 year old girls. Even sent them to get costumes. But there was no film. Their entire job was to be entertainment for a writer’s convention. Patricia Douglas was raped by an executive of MGM, and she was the only one to come out and fight. And the media ripped her to shreds, sent her into hiding. Her story dropped off the radar. Her attacker was never served, charges never filed, records destroyed. Nobody knew her name or her story by 1939. Until now.

What an incredible story.

See it on Netflix

The Woman in Black (2012)

Harry Potter does a horror movie!

Okay, I know Daniel Radcliffe has done other things, and even had a stint on Broadway. I know that it’s not right to typecast. But for crying out loud people, this is Harry Potter, and this will always be Harry Potter.

Getting past Harry Potter…

This movie was pretty creeptastic. Much like the woman in Insidious, the woman in this movie scared the bejesus out of me. What is it about old women spirits? I also don’t know why I’m freaked out by apparitions in windows. Especially if it’s an apparition in a window in a photograph.

My only complaint is the resolution. Without giving anything away, when Harry Potter physically uncovers the solution… there’s no way. No freakin’ way. Too easy. I call shenanigans. And the ending was a little frustrating/confusing. I’m going to need to Google it. I didn’t understand why it happened.

But, old woman spirit = freakin’ scary. That is all.

See it on Netflix

The Possession (2012)

Despite getting stuck in a theatre full of moron teenagers who whooped and hollered and screamed every time someone blinked their eyes, I still really enjoyed this movie.

We’ve seen the exorcism done a million times. The Rite, The Last Exorcism, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and most notoriously, The Exorcist. But never a Jewish exorcism. The idea of a Dybbuk box (a box said to hold a demonic spirit in Jewish folklore) is certainly interesting, and in the case of the box in the film, the contents themselves can be rather ominous.

But at any rate, the movie was quite good. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was great, and Natasha Calis was fantastic. She has a face that looks perfectly angelic one second, and can chill your blood the next. The scene when she’s talking to her father about the box while she’s scarfing food was especially creepy, and also the kitchen scene with her mother. My feet hurt for a little while after that.

Definitely worth a trip to the movies, I think. Just make sure you’re in a less rambunctious group. I think I would have appreciated it even more if it hadn’t been so heavy narrated by the peanut gallery.

See it on Netflix

Anyone still here?

So, yeah, I disappeared. Life got in the way. But I’m gonna try to get back. Starting with a new movie I’ll be posting tonight or tomorrow. I wish I’d kept track of everything I’ve seen in the last 10 or so months, but I didn’t… oh well. Hope someone is around to read it 😉

So close!

I did not watch a full movie or blog today. Snowstorm + Dispatching job = BAD. Plus, a last minute Halloween costume had to come together and then a last minute party had to happen, and now it’s past midnight and it just didn’t happen.

So, I guess I sorta failed.

With two days to go.

GAH.

Carved: The Slit Mouthed Woman (2007)

Countdown to Halloween: Day 28
Source: Netflix Instant Play

None of this made any sense. None of it. And it wasn’t scary. They showed the slit mouthed woman too much, making her not scary at all.

What killed me is a small detail I’m sure, but there were two separate instances where a mother was like “I’m so sorry I hit you!” and then the mother immediately slaps the kid and then turns around again and apologizes. Like Jekyll and Hyde or something.

Plus, the story of how the slit mouthed woman came to be is absolutely ridiculous. They spend the whole movie trying to figure it out and then all of a sudden one guy is like “oh wait! I remember!” and it’s just that simple. How stupid.

Not scary in the least. There is no room for the suspension of disbelief, even for a second.

The best part of this was funny, not scary. The slit mouthed woman is just kicking her victim… lazy, lame kicks. Kick. Kick. … … Kick. Awesome. We were cracking up.

But whatever you do, don’t cough!!

This movie SUCKED.

[Project saved! I watched a movie today!]

See it on Netflix

No movie today…

Sigh. Does this mean I fail the project?

My grandmother had surgery for breast cancer today. I spent the entire day at the hospital and had no time. Possibly later but I doubt it.

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)

Countdown to Halloween: October 27, 2011
Source: On Demand

AAAAAAAAGH.

I was totally scared several times. I was seeing shadows and hearing weird noises outside the window. I contemplated grabbing my headphones and watching it on my phone just so I could go in the bedroom and not be alone, even if my boyfriend was sleeping. There were some really good scares.

And then it fell flat.

And then it ended.

What. The. HECK?? I am so angry. I was scared. SCARED! My heart was racing and I was on the edge of my seat waiting for it… waiting for the big scare. The ending that would leave me clammy and shaken. What I got instead was crap. I actually wondered if I dozed off and missed something. But that was the ending. A non-ending. It’s like the budget ran out and they had to stick some credits on whatever the last thing they shot was.

I HATE it when I think something is going to be great and then it sucks so hard. UGH.

See it on Netflix

The Red Shoes (2005)

Countdown to Halloween: October 26, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

Ehhhh. I think this could’ve been really good, except there was too much story. There’s a fine line between not enough story and too much story in horror movies. As the viewer, you want to care about what’s going on, but you want a good amount of scares too. This just didn’t provide enough scares. There was one scene involving an elevator toward the middle of the film that I found pretty creepy, but for the most part, that was as bad as it got. Though, I must admit that the very first bit of gore in the film wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t enough.

I do believe that the story behind the shoes was rather interesting. I just wish they’d fleshed out the curse on the shoes more.

See it on Netflix

Maniac! (1980)

Countdown to Halloween: October 25, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

This gory, violent splatter flick just proves why 95% of men from the late 70s and very early 80s all look like murderers and pedophiles. Joe Spinell as Frank is ridiculously creeptastic. He’s got huge mommy issues; I suppose having your hooker mother lock you up in a closet while she turned tricks will do that to a kid. He associates women with his mother, and since his mother’s dead, punishing every other woman in New York City will have to suffice. And why not take a souvenir? Each victim’s scalp adorns a mannequin in his hole of an apartment.

The dude is just plain freaky. Between the heavy breathing, the conversations with his mannequins, and the scene near the end when he puts on [presumably] a Red Wings hat, winds up a Christmas music box, and shoots a magazine picture of a woman on his wall, man… he makes me wonder how the hell I survived all those nights walking around lower Manhattan alone at ungodly hours. Truly scary.

The last scene was exceptionally bloody and gory, and I got a little shiver from it. I especially like how this movie used the red corn syrup instead of the too-red paint that a lot of movies substitute for blood. The corn syrup looks much more realistic.

See it on Netflix