Horror Movie Talk

• Killer Klowns From Outer Space Review

  Synopsis In a quiet town, where the stars are shining and the street youths are just beginning a wild night of tomfoolery, a meteor falls from the sky. Landing in a farmer's yard, people begin to investigate the crash, only to find a large and otherworldly circus tent. Everyone gets a little more clown than they bargained for, and the occupants of this circus tent start a menacing rampage on the town. Will the police stop them? Will the sexy young college couple stop them? Will the ice cream man stop them?  Review of Killer Klowns From Outer Space Killer Klowns from Outer Space has long been one of my favorite horror movies. It's low budget and very over the top, but I find it charming and entertaining to watch clowns wrap people in cotton candy cocoons that burn their flesh off. The movie stays fresh for me as every scene depicts the clowns using some new form of weapon that looks like a sundry clown paraphernalia. I like the characters, especially the two young dudes trying to get girls by selling ice cream, and the boyfriend and ex-boyfriend of Debbie, who both seem to be dating her at the same time, at moments in this film. However, the true bow that ties this movie together is the clowns. They have a really unique design and they border the line of over-the-top silliness and menace that gives me the creeps in a good way.  Score 10/10

  --------  

  1:26:03

  --------

  1:26:03
• Clown in a Cornfield Review

  Synopsis A teenage girl named Quinn and her father relocate to Kettle Springs, Missouri for a fresh start after Quinn’s mom dies. Quinn quickly falls in with the ‘wrong crowd’ as a potential serial killer clown targets her and her new friends. Review At first I liked this movie. I was in for the goofy ride, I wanted to play into the corniness (pun intended) and enjoy it, but it very quickly became redundant, vapid, and unfunny. The kills are okay, the premise is whatever, but the jokes miss the mark almost every single time. The acting is good and all of the teenagers are very convincing as gen alpha, but the script severely lacks. I wanted this to be a lot more fun than it actually was. It’s not to say that I didn’t particularly enjoy it, I just got bored at one point and I couldn’t shake the boredom for the rest of the runtime. There is a joke that one of the characters makes about being “stuck in a stupid 80s slasher” and that was just plain offensive, because every 80s slasher I’ve seen is better than this one. It’s not the worst movie ever made, but it’s really nothing special. Shoutout to Kevin Durand though, love to see him pop up in a horror movie. To sum my feelings about this film up in a sentence, this felt like Scooby Doo if it was bad and also rated R. Score 4/10

  --------  

  1:17:02

  --------

  1:17:02
• 28 Years Later Review

  Synopsis 28 Years Later picks up exactly where you think it will: 28 years after the initial rage virus outbreak in the U.K. All these years later, the movie focuses on a small Scottish island off the coast of the quarantined mainland, where the only way to and from is a small causeway that disappears in high tide. This story follows Spike, a twelve year old boy who takes his rite of passage by venturing to the mainland for the first time with his father, to see the virus’s impact for himself, and hopefully kill a few zombies. Review Everything about this film was wholly unexpected for me. Danny Boyle takes us on a journey like no other. Having a child as the main character/focus in a horror movie is not a new plot device, but in this film you really feel for Spike, you see everything in his perspective, you feel his fear, his guilt, his confusion. Everything that Spike is going through feels immensely personal to the viewer, and this is due to incredibly effective storytelling in Alex Garland’s fantastic script and Boyle’s dynamic storytelling.  28 Days Later was such an innovative and harrowing zombie movie, something unlike viewers in 2002 were used to seeing. Boyle shot it on low quality camcorders for the most part and relied heavily on the script, practical effects, and just damn good acting. This film isn’t much different. Although film as a medium has progressed in the last 23 years, 28 Years Later feels so new, so fresh, so unexpectedly radical. The cinematography had me speechless, breathless, on the edge of my seat throughout the entire runtime. It is a masterclass. This film made me feel things that a typical zombie movie does not make me particularly feel. Having the foundation of a good but almost played out antagonist, zombies, and building a house upon that with an exceedingly emotional and moving script, topped with out of this world acting by Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor Johnson, and newcomer Alfie Williams, makes this a perfect film. I’m already planning on going to see it again in theaters. Score 10/10

  --------  

  1:18:24

  --------

  1:18:24
• 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

  --------  

  1:07:48

  --------

  1:07:48
• 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

  --------  

  1:59:09

  --------

  1:59:09

Meer TV & film podcasts

Trending TV & film -podcasts

Over Horror Movie Talk