It’s no secret that I kick off spooky season a tiny bit earlier than most. I immediately dove into my streaming services and my personal DVD collection to kick off my favorite time of year on September 1st. This is a list of all the goodies(and not so goodies) I was able to squeeze into the month of September.
Ahhh, Ginger Snaps. One of my favorite cult-classics. The teenage angst and sarcastic leading girls are my favorite. This is always a win for me, and one of my favorite werewolf movies. On top of the satisfying gore, the movie gives off the horror vibes nostalgia I loved in 90s era movies (which makes sense seeing as it’s release was in 2000). You also get an “alt” non-popular girl version of coming-of-age. There’s a lot to love here, and if you are particularly fond of that specific late 90’s/early 2000’s horror aesthetic, I highly recommend it.
My second movie I got into was the remake of The Last House on The Left. I like it, although I know it is not for everyone. If you are sensitive to certain types of content, I recommend looking up a trigger warning for this one, as it’s not for the faint of heart. I remember going to see this in theaters and watched several groups of people walk out during the film. The movie has a very effective revenge based storyline. In my opinion it is very reminiscent of the original by Wes Craven. It’s quite gory, and graphic in nature. Again, I highly recommend a trigger warning search if you are sensitive to any specific topics. I love this movie, if you are into the gore and a revenge storyline – highly recommend.
This one was based on a novel by Adam Nevill. He has made quite the name for himself in the horror writer’s community. He writes a lot of folklore-esque horror, which I am really into at the moment. This film certainly falls under that folklore/ ancient evil category. After Netflix’s successful adaptation of his book The Ritual, I had high hopes for this one. As an Ohio native, I was excited to see it set in the rust belt, close to home. The performances were outstanding, the atmosphere of the movie was creepy, there was just something missing. I feel like it may have been lost in translation from the novel to the screen, which is something that happens a lot. I enjoyed the movie, but I felt like I wanted or needed just a little bit more of something. I would recommend, although I think The Ritual was a better adaptation.
This one had me obsessed. I cannot rave enough about Emily Deschanel in this show. I will say this leaned more towards thriller/suspense than horror. It does have horror elements and vibes though. It focuses around a young girl who escapes a cult, and a psychiatrist takes the girl in temporarily. The cult is super mysterious and dangerous so she puts the whole family at risk by taking this girl in. The build up in this series was amazing, I couldn’t wait to see the next episode. There were so many of these cringey moments, and I found myself questioning my trust of certain characters. It was really good and very creepy. I was really into it up until the end. I think writing endings is the hardest thing to do because you’re writing closure (or not) and it’s impossible to write an ending that is going to make everyone happy. You just have to write the right ending for these characters that you created. The ending fell flat for me, and it made me sad because the suspense and everything was just on 100% up until that point. I don’t hold it against them though, because as a writer I struggle with ending, and they’re not easy. I am sure the ending pleased plenty of folks, just not me. I feel like the end was so uneventful and fell so flat it didn’t match this amazing creepy story that they built this wonderful peak for, and then just let it fizzle out. I love cult based horror/suspense – and I would recommend this, but with an asterisk*.
I did a whole review on this film, so I am not going to dedicate a lot of space here for this one. Barbarian was weird and not what I expected in the best way. I loved it, I highly recommend. If you want to know my thoughts (and spoiler-free review) please go check out that post!
The Darkness is a few years old, released in 2016. It featured Kevin Bacon and Radha Mitchell who are both frequent fliers in the horror genre. It also was folklore based horror, so at the time of it’s release, it was a must watch for me. The Netflix synopsis given for the film; after bringing home a set of mysterious stones from the Grand Canyon, a boy unleashes an ancient force that begins to terrorize his family. It wasn’t the best movie, wasn’t the worst. It was a pretty average quality horror film. I have nothing against the movie, and I have seen it several times. So that tells you I like it enough to see it again. It is just a movie that is pretty average in terms of story and horror. I recommend if you’ve been dying to see it or are curious.
I will never, EVER, not have anything wonderful to say about this movie. Interview With The Vampire is one of my favorite novels, and movie. I could talk forever about how much I love this movie/story, and there will be posts to prove that. The characters are tortured, flawed and beautiful. The characters are dynamic and really embody something reminiscent of the vintage universal monster movies/stories. That vintage horror element of “sympathy for the monster”. The characters are what makes this movie, and book. They’re the reason you love it. 10/10 I will always recommend this movie.
So, this in my opinion wasn’t what it was advertised to be. They hooked me with a good poster, sharks and Alicia Silverstone. I felt the movie was way more sad and focused of the tragedy this couple were struggling through than anything else. It had suspense, and a feeling of hopelessness for our main character. I wouldn’t call this a horror movie though. I get not everything can be blockbuster quality, but nothing will pull me out of a shark movie faster than a bad CGI shark…I wish it was more of a horror story than sad story. It was ok, just not my cup of tea. I feel like I gambled and I lost with this one. I don’t recommend.
Alright, I have a lot to say about this one. Mostly good- however, I am currently writing an entire blog post about this new series from Netflix. Since it will have it’s own featured post, I am not going to say too much about it here. I liked it, I am a huge Ryan Murphy fan and couldn’t have been more excited when they announced the project. I just finished it this past weekend. I do recommend.
I love Rob Zombie movies. 31 is no different. It is very “Rob Zombie” at his core, and we are very much reminded of his earlier films. There’s gore, brutality and fighting to survive. That’s what it is in a nutshell, a survive the night story, with Rob Zombie’s gory, brutal style. I highly recommend.
So, while the Hocus Pocus films clearly don’t fit into the horror genre, they’re absolutely Halloween classics. I grew up in the 90’s, so to day I was chomping at the bit when they announced this release is an understatement. I give big kudos to the original cast returning 30 years later to reprise their roles as the iconic Sanderson Sisters. This sequel gave us a peek at how they become the witches we all grew up loving. It was modern, and you have to love their inclusion of some modern day witchery (crystals and herbs bought at little apothecaries). The movie was cute. Obviously they will never be able to out-do the original, but the sequel provided chuckles and all the fuzzies. I highly recommend, especially if you grew up with the film as I did.
There you have it, everything I watched in September. Please remember to follow me on Twitter to keep up with my movie watches for Halloween Horror Movie Madness. Also, you can follow me on goodreads to keep up with all my spooky reads and reviews. As always, thank you so much for coming and reading what I have to say!
