Monday, October 3, 2016

How I'll Be Spending October

As I've blogged about many times, I love horror movies. I watch them year-round, but October is the time of year I get to geek out about them publicly and repeatedly. Recently, Hello Giggles shared a list of movies to check out on Netflix this October. Here they are, along with my thoughts:
  • They Look Like People - Hey, a horror movie I'm not familiar with! It uses the "warning messages by phone" trope, but despite that, it goes on the list!
  • The Amityville Horror (2005 version) - I'll be honest, I'm often hesitant to check out remakes of movies I like, especially with horror movies, where the truly scary part is often revealed at the end. What that means is, if a movie is well-known, everyone knows the punchline, so the movie instead becomes a test of "how scary can we make it" (which often fails or devolves into overuse of gore/cheap tricks without any thoughts to cohesion and storyline: the House of Wax remake is one example of this). The original Amityville was awesomely creepy, so I never checked out the remake. But I should at least give it a shot. I can always bail partway through if it turns out to suck (as I did on a few items on the list).
  • The Human Centipede - This one goes on my list of nope. It's really not my idea of good horror (see aforementioned overuse of gore/cheap tricks without coherent storyline), but maybe I should check it out. It goes on the "will watch if I get time" list.
  • Would You Rather - This has been on my recommended list for a while now. It goes on the list!
  • Hush - Another one that has been recommended for a while - another item on the list!
  • Scream 2 - Meh. The first one was good, but I didn't totally get the appeal. It all went downhill after that.
  • The Lazarus Effect - I checked this one out last October, mainly because I LOVE LOVE LOVE Olivia Wilde. I thought it was a cool concept until it got into that annoying "You only use 10% of your brain" crap. I think I started writing a review but got distracted.
  • The Awakening - I also watched this last October. It was enjoyable, though one of the "twists" was predictable.
  • The Taking of Deborah Logan - Watched, and reviewed here.
  • The Nightmare - This is a documentary shot like a horror movie, dealing with a scary phenomenon known as sleep paralysis. I've heard good things, and since I've suffered from sleep paralysis in the past, I've been meaning to watch. I will this month and will have to write a review/post about the phenomenon itself. Stay tuned!
  • Dark Skies - I started watching and got bored. But I should probably revisit, because I hear good things.
  • The Uninvited - Just as I'm hesitant to watch remakes of old horror movies, I'm hesitant on remakes of international horror movies. For every Ring (an awesome remake of an awesome Japanese horror movie), there's The Eye (a bloody awful remake of an awesome Chinese horror movie) - see also The Grudge or Dark Water. This one is based on a Korean horror movie. In these cases, I usually prefer to watch the original, but I'll give it a shot.
  • Dead Silence - I'll be honest, I've been meaning to see this movie but dolls freak me out. I'm not kidding.
  • Housebound - One of my favorite genre mashups - horror and comedy. It's been on my list!
  • V/H/S - This one was recommended to me a couple years ago, and it is seriously awesome. It's a series of vignettes, and 3/4 of them are super creepy. One was just okay.
  • Pontypool - I watched this one last year when it popped up in the Netflix horror movie list. I was surprised at the poor ratings/reviews, because I really loved it, so I'm thrilled to see it getting some love this year. It takes the notion of contagious illness/zombification and turns it on its head.
  • Dead Snow - Another movie I wasn't aware of! Yay!
  • Hellraiser - An old favorite - I can't believe I've never reviewed it. I should remedy that this year.
  • Re-Animator - This one, however, I definitely reviewed. Love this movie and all its ridiculousness.
  • The Babadook - It's been in my Netflix queue for a while.
  • The Fly (1958) - So after all the flack I've given to remakes, I'm sad to admit I've only seen the remake of this movie. Time to remedy that.
  • The Host - I heard about this one and found the premise kind of dumb, but I'm happy to try it out.
  • The Exorcist - Another favorite. Once again, I can't believe I've never written a review.
  • Queen of the Damned - I got bored and fell asleep. I doubt I'll try again.
  • Contracted - One of my complaints about horror (and yes, I still love the genre) is that it punishes sexuality, often in women. This movie seemed to be the worst example of that, but since I've heard good things from people I trust, I'm willing to try it out.
  • Holidays - I started watching and got bored. But I'm willing to revisit.

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