Directed by Fede Alvarez [Other horror films: Evil Dead (2013)]
With all the hype it’s gotten from the casual movie-goer, Don’t Breathe came across as rather an average film. In it, three thieves break into the home of a blind man, and discover he’s a bigger threat than they otherwise would’ve thought.
So basically, it’s a reverse home invasion movie, which is interesting. Two of the thieves are moderately easy to sympathize with (whereas the third one is a jackass), which at the very least is positive. And it should be mentioned that while the first forty minutes or so can come across as dull, it does get pretty tense at points. That said, I didn’t much care for the route they took at the hour mark, nor did I care for the ladybug symbolism.
I think what annoyed me most, though, was how the blind man is an atheist, which he makes clear as a justification of his actions, which just pissed me off. As the film is a Hollywood movie, though, I’m sure they didn’t go out of their way just to offend atheists, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.
The final thirty minutes honestly aren’t terribly enthralling. Really, the highlights of this film come within the first half; everything past a certain point lacks suspense and originality. If the trio of thieves had been chased around the house for the whole film, I honestly think I’d have liked it more. That said, it’s not a bad movie, not by any means. While there’s not that much stand-out gore, and it can feel a bit stylized at times, Don’t Breath is a decent film for a slow night. I just don’t know if it’s much more than that, in my opinion.
Directed by Eli Craig [Other horror films: Zombieland (2013), Little Evil (2017)]
This will be a shorter review than usual, as there’s not much to say about this film (in this case, it’s a positive).
If you don’t know much about this bloody comedy-horror flick, it might sound a bit dumb at first. And sure, in some ways, it is overly ridiculous. But at the same time, I do think the theme of miscommunication is done pretty cleverly throughout the movie.
There are only four actors who matter. Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) have an amazing chemistry as two hillbilly friends, and play their roles fantastically. Dale has a lot of heart in him, and it’s nice to see his story end happily. Katrina Bowden played Allison, an aspiring therapist caught in the middle of this giant misunderstanding, extraordinarily well also. She has a fresh, attractive college look to her, but also has the brains to figure out what’s going on. Jesse Moss (who was in Ginger Snaps ten years prior) plays a great villain, and gets the utterly psychotic act down pat.
The movie is about average length, but still comes across as pretty digestible, and at no parts throughout the film are you really bored. The gore and related special effects are pretty damn good, lending this movie the right to probably be called a splatter film. Solidly funny, surprisingly clever, Tucker and Dale vs Evil is a good film that’s worth seeing. I think you’ll enjoy it.
8/10
This was also covered in the first episode of Fight Evil’s podcast, as Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I briefly discuss it, which you can listen to below.
Directed by Tyler Christensen [Other horror films: N/A]
This movie doesn’t have that atypical a plot: On Halloween night, four high school kids go looking for a legendary haunted house, reputed to refund your money for each floor of the house completed. It’s a moderately generic plot, but the execution is superb in most ways.
The characters are all decently realistic, and when the haunted house makes them face their inner fears, it really humanizes some of the characters who were less real beforehand (Ryan, played by Brad Fry, is a good case in point). The whole concept is done well, really. Four teens enter this house, and throughout the night, secrets that each one holds become revealed. Some of them seemingly small, and others rather big. And it’s a fun ride throughout (despite much of the content and secrets being rather serious and culturally topical).
My biggest issue with this film is the ending, though, which I didn’t think did enough to explain things, and it felt both corny and unnecessary. I had a list in my mind of different possible endings that would have been better, but apparently that wasn’t to be, which for an otherwise deeply enjoyable film, was a bit of a letdown. The production value on this movie is quite a bit higher than I foresaw it being, and while there are jump scares here and there, this movie has more to offer than that. A surprising movie that I rather enjoyed, this is a Halloween movie I’d recommend.
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier [Other horror films: Murder Party (2007), Hold the Dark (2018)]
This film is, while decently suspenseful and tense, a moderately forgettable fair.
There was quite a decent amount of hype when it came out, and to an extent, Green Room delivers. The story is pretty enjoyable, there’s good gore throughout, and many of the actors did their parts well (especially Patrick Stewart). It’s not all good, though, as the character of Amber, from my perspective, seemed to be a red herring for most of the film, and it was never really touched on. And near the end, a few scenes fall a bit flat, though the final scene with the dog was extremely well done, and more so, deeply sad.
Green Room’s a good, thrilling film with good gore, but ultimately, I don’t know how memorable it’ll be. For what it did right, overall, I think the movie’s just about average. Not much more to say on this one.
Directed by Ivan Kraljevic [Other horror films: N/A]
Well, The Harvesting didn’t yield all that much, truth be told.
In it, two tales are told, which dovetail near the end, being 1) an Amish teenager must battle the anger he feels after going through a tragedy and 2) a couple nearing divorce take their children to the country in an attempt to save their marriage. The main focus is the second story, which doesn’t help much as it was a slow, plodding story of increased annoyance and anger growing between the family members. In a way, it almost feels like a low quality Burnt Offerings (1976), the way family members are slowly becoming more and more unstable. Throw in a few Amish ghosts and an unspeakable evil force that pulls those who are angry toward it and you get The Harvesting.
It wasn’t a great film at all. Honestly, the first hour did next to nothing for me, and the ending only made it better due to a twist which, ignoring everything else, was actually pretty fun. But as decent as the final twenty minutes were, it wasn’t worth sitting through the first hour to get there. And on that topic, the final scene of the film made no sense whatsoever. Nowhere in the film was an ending like what was implied suggested. *sigh* Overall, this is a slow film with not much to offer save an interesting twist. There’s little to no gore, no outstanding actors, and little to remember. The story itself wasn’t that shabby, but it wasn’t executed that well. I wouldn’t recommend the Harvesting – it’s in the lower class crop of film. 😛
5.5/10
[Worth noting, I saw this film in 2016 or 2017. I don’t have the exact date at hand, unfortunately. IMDb used to have this film dated as ‘2015’, which is what my entry at Fight-Evil has the movie listed as. Why is was changed to 2019, I don’t know, but I know that I saw the film at least a year before it’s ‘official’ release. As I do use IMDb’s listing as the final authority, I’ll list this one as a 2019 film, but I wanted to point this discrepancy out.]
Directed by Dustin Ferguson [Other horror films: Terror at Black Tree Forest (2010), The Legacy of Boggy Creek (2010), Silly Scaries (2011), Escape to Black Tree Forest (2012), Silly Scaries 2 (2012), Slumber Party Slasherthon (2012), Black Tree Forest III (2012), Die Sister, Die! (2013), Doll Killer (2013), Gloved Murderess (2014), Cheerleader Camp: To the Death (2014), Invitation to Die (2014), Silent Night, Bloody Night 2: Revival (2015), Demon Dolls (2015), Meathook Massacre (2015), Blood Claws (2016), Camp Blood 4 (2016), Camp Blood 5 (2016), Tales for the Campfire (2016), Night of the Clown (2016), The Dummy 2 (2016), Grindsploitation 2: The Lost Reels (2016, segment ‘Satan’s Gang’), The 12 Slays of Christmas (2016), Tales for the Campfire 2 (2017), Meathook Massacre II (2017), Penny Pinchers: The Kings of No-Budget Horror (2017), Wrong Side of the Tracks (2017), Amityville: Evil Never Dies (2017), Trashploitation (2018), 2 Die For (2018), Grindsploitation 4: Meltsploitation (2018), A Taste of Phobia (2018), Die Gest: Flesh Eater (2018, segment ‘Bad Apples’), House of Pain (2018), Grindsploitation 666 (2018, segment ‘Satanica: The Devil’s Mistress’), Conjuring Curse (2018), Schlock-O-Rama (2018), Runaway Nightmare (2018), 60 Seconds 2 Die: 60 Seconds to Die 2 (2018), Drive-In Grindhouse (2018), Conspiracy X (2018, segments ‘Operation: Fist of God’ & ‘The Skunkape Slumber Party’), Moon of the Blood Beast (2019), Meathook Massacre: The Final Chapter (2019), Direct to Video: Straight to Video Horror of the 90s (2019), Home Videos 2 (2019), Penny Pinchers 2 – Scenes from the Underground (2019), Axegrinder 2 (2019), Celluloid Slaughter (2020), Tales from the Campfire 3 (2020), Frames of Fear 3 (2020, segment ‘Cooking With Jenni Caroline’), 5G Zombies (2020), Axed to Pieces (2020), Angry Asian Murder Hornets (2020), The Beast Beneath (2020), Clowns of Halloween (2020), Stale Popcorn and Sticky Floors (2020), I Drip Blood on Your Grave (2020), Bootleg Death Tape II (2020), Arachnado (2020), Bootleg Death Tape III (2020), VHS Violence II: VHS and KILL (2020), Tales from the Grave: The Movie (2020, segments ‘Crawling Chaos & ‘Deadly Doll’), Found Footage of Fear (2020), Creepypasta: Deathnet (2020), Asylum of the Devil (2020), Rattlers 2 (2021), Zombi VIII: Urban Decay (2021), Ebola Rex Versus Murder Hornets (2021), Bubba’s Dead: The Final Massacre (2021), Jaws of Los Angeles (2021), Ebola Rex (2021), Mondo Shock 2 (2021), Faces of Dying IV (2021), Doll Killer 2 (2021), Hell of the Screaming Undead (2021), Amityville in the Hood (2021), VHS Violence (2021), Not for the Faint of Heart (2021), Faces of Dying III (2021), Faces of Dying II (2021), The Worst of Faces of Dying (2022), Night of the Clown (2022), Dying Scenes (2022)] & Mike Johnson [Other horror films: N/A]
At an hour and six minutes (though really, 58 minutes, as everything afterwards are credits), this low-budget movie was able to fit a decent, and surprisingly dark, plot in.
The premise is simple enough. Celebrating his 50th birthday with his children, Mark, after unwrapping a toy monkey, slowly becomes influenced into butchering his children and their relations. For such a short film, there was no lack of additional relations to butcher.
Mark, being the good Catholic that he is, has five children. Two of the children have a significant other. And that’s not mentioning Mark’s mother, who also lives with him, or his late wife’s sister and daughter, who are also visiting. So this movie has more than a few characters shoved in. But you know what? It manages to work despite that.
Though surprising, I was mostly able to keep each character separated, for the most part, which really helped out in the second half of the film. Speaking of which, given the fact the movie’s quite short, most of the action doesn’t occur until there’s just twenty minutes left, so things tended to feel a bit rushed. The idea of a father going on a rampage and killing his children and others in the house was a fun one, though not the best executed on the budget constraints they had. That said, I actually rather enjoyed this one.
An ultra-low quality film, and one that’s not likely to appeal to most, but I don’t see how it’s much worse than many other films.
Directed by Sean Byrne [Other horror films: The Loved Ones (2009)]
This is a simple, digestible, yet highly intense and enjoyable, horror flick.
Directed by Sean Byrne (his first full-length movie being 2009’s The Loved Ones, another very solid movie), The Devil’s Candy is pretty straight and to the point, with a moderately short run-time and not all that many characters to play around with. Luckily, this low-fi approach doesn’t much hinder the movie, and in fact, makes the whole thing play out much more intense than I suspect it otherwise would have.
Music, be it heavy metal or deafening ambient, is used to fantastic effect throughout the film. Early on, the metal that daughter Zooey (played by Kiara Glasco) and her father, Jesse (Ethan Embry) bond over really humanizes them as characters, and who can’t help but smile at the mother’s (Shiri Appleby) amusement at the scene? It’s a good way to introduce the main characters of the film, and I think it gives them strong characterization from the off-set. Heavy ambiance is used to additional fantastic effect, especially toward the end – a loud boom, a few seconds pause, another loud boom. That alone assisted in ratcheting up the intensity.
And make no mistake, this movie is intense. While not all that gory, The Devil’s Candy certainly possesses a brutality to it, but also isn’t afraid to throw in some subtle, uncomfortable scenes. Much of the success of this is due to the actor’s fantastic performances.
Ethan Embry and Shiri Appleby both do a really good job, especially Embry during his more intense scenes when he’s spaced out. While both are solid, though, despite not having played all that many noteworthy roles, the true stars are both Kiara Glasco and Pruitt Taylor Vince. Glasco has had some roles in a few television shows (Bitten and Copper, though I’ve seen neither one), and does amazingly here, as we feel her urgency and desperation toward the end. She’s a lovable kid, her love of metal fun, and is a very memorable character. Glasco did very well with her portrayal. Vince is a known quantity, perhaps best known for his role in 2003’s Identity, and here, he’s appropriately creepy, menacing, and brutal.
What helps The Devil’s Candy out the most is the solid cast, and because that cast does so well, what on the surface might seem a simple movie is really an intense ride from start to finish. Because it’s a bit on the shorter side, nothing seems out of place or slow, and everything is paced well. Like I said, it’s a digestible movie that deserves all the praise it can get. One of the best horror movies I’ve seen from the last five years or so.
Directed by Vincent Masciale [Other horror films: N/A]
For all intents and purposes, Fear, Inc. is basically a horror version of The Game (1997). Halfway through the film, the main character himself, Joe (Lucas Neff), alludes to as much.
The plot is certainly similar – bothered by the fact that the haunted house he and his girlfriend often go to isn’t scary enough, Joe decides to take a stranger (Patrick Renna, from Dark Ride and X-Files episode “Bad Blood”) up on his offer and call Fear, Inc., a company that specializes in custom scares. When he does, he finds himself, along with his girlfriend and friends, in very real trouble. Or is it all a game?
Fear, Inc. keeps you guessing on whether or not the whole thing is an elaborate prank, though it’s answered at the end of the film. Plenty of references to other horror films occur, given the fact Joe (again, Neff) is a big horror fan: Friday the 13th, Saw, April’s Fools Day, A Nightmare on Elm Street, randomly Game of Thrones, and even I Know What You Did Last Summer all played a small part in the film, though Saw being the most extensive.
When watching the movie, I didn’t quite know what route it ultimately was going to take – whether it’d be a Seven Footprints to Satan (1929) type ending or not, I went back-and-forth on. Plenty of surprises occur throughout the film, though I think most of them could be expected. The gore, though there’s not a whole lot, is decently done. While many of the actors and actresses feel more generic than not (including Caitlin Stasey, Chris Marquette, and Stephanie Drake), the main character Joe, played by Lucas Neff, did a really good job playing the stoner/goofball/thinks-the-whole-thing’s-a-joke type of guy, and for his short screen time, Richard Riehle (from Hatchet and a few hundred other things – seriously, his IMDb credits are boss) was fun also.
While labeled a comedy/horror, it seemed to me that the comedy was notched down from what it otherwise could have been. There’s a few amusing lines here and there at the beginning, but past a certain point, the film takes a mostly serious tone, which I appreciated. The ending, while foreshadowed, didn’t really work out that well in my opinion, but everything before that made this film a fun romp. I find the film almost above average, partially teetering that line. Generally, though, I’d recommend it.
Directed by Jesse Thomas Cook [Other horror films: Scarce (2008), Monster Brawl (2011), Septic Man (2013), The Hoard (2018), Deadsight (2018)]
Given it’s atrocious title, you might not be surprised to learn that The Hexecutioners is a bad film. The good elements are as followed: Liv Collins does a decent job with her role, and there’s some cool scenes toward the end.
But everything else? Failure. The story doesn’t give us many, if any, answers. The ending is absolutely and thoroughly terrible. Some of the jump scares seem unnecessary. Overall, the movie, despite a somewhat unique plot, doesn’t have a good hexecution. :p
I really don’t have much to say – the story suffered due to a lack of context, spirits/ghosts just popped up and were never explained. It’s just a disjointed and uneven movie. The okay acting by Collins isn’t enough to save it, nor are the visually appealing scenes when they come up. Though this is far shorter than most of my reviews, I’ve found I just don’t have that much to say about it. A sub par film; would not recommend.
Directed by Katie Aselton [Other horror films: N/A]
This movie doesn’t have a lot going on, really – six total characters, and really, only five get all that much screen-time. It felt like a cheaper version of Eden Lake, more or less.
While at first I didn’t know where the story was going, once the catalyst to the action occurred, everything afterward was pretty predictable. The gore was decent, more on the realistic side as opposed to a splatter film.
What was really the strong point of the movie was the friendship, somewhat strained, between the three main female friends. While the dialogue can sometimes feel like a bit much, I thought it worked out well, and the actresses all did a decently good job (Kate Bosworth being my favorite, as I also enjoyed her performance in 2008’s crime/drama movie 21). For most of the beginning, it felt like a real friendship, and to me, they seemed to talk like real people, which isn’t something that is always seen in movies.
Past a certain point, though, things drag a bit, which is saying something, as the film’s under 80 minutes. It starts out decently strong, but peters out about twenty minutes in or so. All-in-all, Black Rock’s not a bad movie, but in the end, it feels rather more average than I’d have preferred. An okay viewing the first time around, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it again, as it’s just far more predictable than I’d have hoped for, and drags rather badly at times.
Jiggy's Horror Corner 