Horror Movie Talk

• The Ugly Stepsister Review

  This week we review the dark and twisted retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale in The Ugly Stepsister. Synopsis As the name suggests, The Ugly Stepsister is a retelling of the Cinderella story from the ugly stepsister’s perspective. In this gritty realistic telling, it starts out with the marriage of Cinderella’s father and the revelation that both sides of the marriage are expecting great wealth from each other, but are actually poor. The step mother’s daughter Elvira dreams of marrying the Prince and is given a chance by being invited to his Ball. Her mother, knowing that a advantageous marriage is their only way out of poverty, plans on using her last money and her cunning to transform Elvira into a beauty. What follows is a series of visceral 19th century plastic surgeries, self inflicted illness, and a series of insults that turn Elvira into a pitiable and sympathetic protagonist. Review of The Ugly Stepsister The Ugly Stepsister is clever and a more complex retelling of the fairy tale that we all know and love. It’s a more realistic exploration of the power dynamics of money, privilege, and beauty. It tells two sides of the same fairytale, the original is really about overcoming poverty and class through natural beauty and magical helpers, this telling is about how despite class and access to money, you still need to overcome beauty standards. None of the characters are particularly “good”, including Cinderella. Each has their own motivations, and Elvira is essentially a pawn in her mother’s game.  Max is going to argue that this isn’t a horror movie, but it undeniably is. This movie at its core is a body horror movie. It explores the brutal reshaping of Elvira’s body through mechanical and organic means. She will stop at nothing and sacrifice everything for her goal. I thought it was really well done. It was clever, brutal, and at times even funny. It’s very similar in themes, but much more subtle than The Substance.  Score 9/10

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• Bring Her Back Review

  Synopsis Bring Her Back follows siblings Andy and Piper as they go into foster care after their father suddenly passes away. They are placed with a woman named Laura, who already has another foster child that seems a little bit off, somehow. As the kids try to stick together to mourn their father, Laura is trying to deal with her own grief in a shocking and disturbing way. Review This movie makes you feel really bad, like really really bad. I think some movies are exceptional at making you feel bad with no reprieve, i.e. Angst (1986), High Tension (2003), Funny Games (1997). But in order to properly achieve a good feel-bad movie, there needs to be some TLC put into the filmmaking and/or the viewer needs to care about the characters, whether they are good or bad people. In this film, I didn’t see much love of the craft put into the style of editing or shooting, and although I hated seeing the kids get hurt in this movie, I didn’t care that much for the characters. Maybe that’s due to minimal backstory, or maybe the script was not connecting for me. That’s not to say this isn’t a good film, per-say, because it is a horror movie unlike I’ve seen in awhile, it makes you feel really bad and it is pretty original while also utilizing tried and true horror tropes. I wanted to cry at the end of this movie. There were a lot of times where I audibly said what the fuck. It’s insane, vile, sad, and creepy but I just can’t say it’s amazing. It’s more shocking than anything, it wants to shock, and shock it did. I kind of want to rate this higher but I was just so baffled by all of it, and by the time something happens I really didn’t want to watch it anymore. I think this may be an evil film. Score 7/10

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• I Saw the Devil Review

  Today’s episode, voted by our patrons is I Saw the Devil, the Korean revenge thriller/horror film. Synopsis I saw the Devil is a 2010 Korean thriller about Soo-hyeon (Lee Byung-hun), a grieving husband seeking revenge against his wife’s killer (Choi Min-sik). Unlike most revenge films, this one is not about him finding the killer to bring them to justice, it’s about tormenting and psychologically breaking a monstrous serial killer. It helps that the husband is basically Korean James Bond and has accrued plenty of PTO. Review of I Saw the Devil This is legit one of the best thrillers I have ever seen. It’s well written, and it doesn’t waste a minute of it’s 2:24 runtime. It makes me miss the serial killer thrillers of the late nineties and 2000s. As with any thriller, people may argue whether or not it is a horror movie. I ignore these people, because they have too much time on their hands. and this is on letterboxes top 250 horror movies, so that’s something. I will say if you are looking for disturbing and gory imagery, this film has it. I Saw the devil doesn’t shy away from giving us the killer Jang Kyung-chul’s perspective, which can be disturbingly voyeuristic and horrifying in its simplicity. The brutal confrontation scenes with the protagonist being a proto John Wick balances out the film with a sense of catharsis and perverse satisfaction of the killer getting his comeuppance. However, they come at a price. The film asks the viewer “can a man use evil against evil and come out unscathed?” . This is one of those movies that’s so perfect in its concept and construction that it makes me wonder how it hasn’t been done before. It’s deceptively simple, but is actually an impressive balancing act of being disturbing, thrilling, funny, and ultimately satisfying. Score 10/10

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  1:05:57
• Arcadian Review

  Synopsis In a post apocalyptic world, Nic cage raises two teenage boys he rescued as babies. Unfortunately for cage he is made aware of the simple fact that teenagers don't stop being teenagers just because everyone's lives are at stake. These two boys couldn't be more different and are constantly arguing, picking on each other and getting into mischief. Each night the young boys and their father batten down the hatches and prepare for the invasion of strange and mystical creatures that threaten to break down the doors and devour them all. It is soon discovered that their bunker may not be as safe as they once hoped and the family must learn how to take responsibility for themselves and survive in this impossibly desolate world.  Review of Arcadian Another day, another random horror movie starring Nic cage. This man will really take any role at this point, which is unfortunate because I feel like he was underutilized in this film. Not that I think cage has to be the main character in every movie he is in, but his character is pretty quickly disposed of for the majority of the movie which i think may not have been the right move. This cant even really be classified as a true Nic cage movie, as he is more of a supporting character with very little screentime. Despite that, I think the other characters manage this movie pretty well on their own. I like the brothers and their differing personalities. Each one brings their own emotional struggle to the film and I felt like I could relate to each of them in different ways. For the first half of the movie the monsters are well obscured in the darkness, and the glimpses that we do get of them are pretty terrifying. However eventually we get a little more “showing the monster” than I think is warranted and they end up looking a little silly by the end of it. There is some good character development, emotional moments, and intense scenes which make this movie a pretty easy watch. I didn't find myself checking the time hardly at all, and I was really interested to see how things would play out. The themes of having to grow up too fast, and taking ownership of your own mistakes are well played out. Score 7/10

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  1:28:14
• Final Destination: Bloodlines Review

  Synopsis In this installment of Final Destination a young woman named Iris defies death while on a romantic date with her boyfriend saving many lives. But death wont be cheated so easily. These sleepy citizens may have lived to see another day, but fate is on a mission to hunt them down. Years later, Iris’s children and grandchildren are caught in the crosshairs as death creeps along their bloodline leaving them in…shall we say…sticky situations.  Review of Final Destination: Bloodlines I have never been a fan of the final destination movies. They have one gimmick, and they stick to it no matter what which usually leaves me counting the remaining survivors in an attempt to guess how much longer I have to sit there and watch the movie. I was pleasantly surprised by this film. Don't get it wrong folks, it is exactly the same gimmick as before, but I felt like this movie uses a little more charm than other Final Destination movies I've seen. There are multiple nods and winks to the audience as the film sets up laughably stupid death scenes, just to pull back and be like “just kidding. You really thought we would kill the character off with this stupid trick?” Only for the rug to be pulled as another equally as stupid death scene unravels in a bloody mess. It subverted my expectations a couple times and genuinely caught me off guard with some horrific events that I did not see coming. The red herrings keep the movie interesting, as you can never really know when something is about to happen. The camera is zooming in on this warning label showing a man being crushed by a vending machine. Is that important? No. But for a second you thought it was. The deaths are gruesome but somehow look kind of real. These movies have a history of showcasing the most elaborate Rube Goldberg death scenes that while creative have never felt interesting to me. But this movie felt different. I really liked every death in the movie and I think its worth going to the theatre to experience them on the big screen.  Score 7/10

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