Murder Party (2007)

Murder Party is the directorial debut of Jeremy Saulnier, the same name who brought us the fantastic Blue Ruin and Green Room. Some of the cast from those films also feature here, too.

Written by Saulnier also, this is a no-budget, all heart, black comedy horror which came as a really refreshing watch after a few false starts for me lately (I tried to make it through Don't Go In The Woods, I really did, but it was SO bad).

Chris (Chris Sharp) is a normal-bordering-on-boring guy whose Halloween plans involve renting some horror VHS tapes and sitting with his cat with some candy corn. On his way home that evening however, he finds an invite to a "Murder Party" and on a whim, decides to attend. He makes some pumpkin bread (and an impressive costume out of cardboard and duct tape) and heads out.

Once there, he soon realises the people throwing the party are a bunch of hipster wanker artist types, and the invite was part of a project they're working on. Even worse, the murder in question is real, and it's him they plan to kill.

Tied up and held hostage in a warehouse, Chris witnesses the group interact, with all their quirks and odd dynamics on display (unrequited love, unabashed drug use, ego, sex...). For a lot of this movie it's a one location, almost stage-play-like deal, following the Steadicam as it travels around, settling on each character as we learn a little about them. They are an unlikeable group really, but they are also such fuck-ups that it's funny to watch this ridiculous, cruel, and largely unplanned "project" of theirs play out and start to crumble down around them.

Macon Blair.

Drunk, lovestruck Macon is played by Blue Ruin lead Macon Blair (most characters are named after their actor) and is a standout amongst the group, particularly in the final act. Similarly, Chris Sharp spins screentime gold with his role, and his talent for comedy is very obvious. He strikes an absolutely perfect pitch of naive nerd in an unbelievable situation.

The love-to-hate character here has to be Alexander (Sandy Barnett), a stupendously smarmy, manipulative arsehole and the leader of the group. Barnett excels, because I absolutely hated this guy!

As the tension and antics within the warehouse increase, the third act sees complete mayhem ensue, including a rooftop chase - both characters still in costume - and the relatively gore free nature of the film up to this point, going right out the window.

As much as I'm done with railing against remakes and re-tellings, it does seem regrettably seldom that I'm left reflecting on the originality of a horror film as the credits roll. Murder Party for sure provoked this response, and has definitely made me realise that I need to add Jeremy Saulnier to my list of names to look for and follow.

Fun, funny, cute and gory. This is streaming on Shudder at time of writing!

Prevenge (2016)

Prevenge is a beautifully British, blackly comic entry into the pregnancy horror subgenre (of which I am a fan, if you hadn't already guessed).

Written, directed and starring Alice Lowe, shot in just 11 days and all while 8 months pregnant. Can we all just take a moment to say "badass"? 

This title has been on my radar for a little while, but upon learning the above I had to promote it to top of my watchlist. However much I did or didn't end up liking the film, its own conception and birth story was phenomenally impressive!

Lowe stars as Ruth, a recently widowed and heavily pregnant woman who, when we meet her is making her way through a list of people to murder. 

The reason for their deaths is made clearer as the story unfolds, but the main drive behind Ruth's homicidal behaviour is the fact she can hear her unborn baby commanding her to do it.

And I loved that the drama wasn't really in Ruth's grappling with this task - in fact, she doesn't really seem to mind this wet work. This woman is lost in the world after losing her husband; the only thing she has is the baby. So she does as she's told.

❝Baby knows what to do. Baby will tell you what to do.❞

− Ruth's midwife, unknowingly endorsing the deaths of others.

When see Ruth briefly fail to execute these internal instructions, she experiences a violent physical reaction (taking place in an empty subway/underpass, this may well be an homage to Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, a film I'm desperate to see but haven't yet managed to, although I've read a lot about it!). In another scene, she carries on a deadpan, darkly funny conversation with "Baby", bemoaning the demands children place on parents.

How Ruth is able to continue these murders without being caught is never really discussed, but ultimately she's forced to question the true origins of the voice she's been hearing, with a climax that makes you wonder if she indeed actually cares.

There's a quote that's stayed with me that I think speaks volumes for the character of Ruth. Widowed, adrift and alone in a world full of creeps, arseholes and overly chirpy midwives, she has no connection to anyone now, apart from the baby inside her. 

❝I'm not grieving, I'm gestating... Fucking rage.❞

In a break from her normally dry, disdainful demeanor, she spits these words at a softly-spoken potential victim as he tries to calm her down, in a moment of pure emotion and vulnerability. A "force of nature", like the midwife claimed in one of several scenes with her that are loaded with double meaning.

The fact that most other characters are painted so broadly (pervert, idiot, bitch, etc) was not a problem for me, as I associated with Ruth more than I probably should have. I, too, am eternally annoyed and irritated by the decisions other people make. I really understood her scorn and the way she moved through the world carrying it along with her child.

Prevenge is streaming on Shudder right now, and well worth checking out. Watch that title screen and tell me it didn't make you excited, at least!

The Houses October Built (2014)

Have you ever been to a haunted house? Being a non-US native the concept is slightly alien to me, though I think I visited something similar once. I'm not sure my nerves are cut out for such a place, anyway - and it's that fact that made me think this film might be an enjoyable way to spend 90mins.

And for the most part it is... although it's also chock full of faintly cheap scares.

Presented as found footage, we travel with a group of friends in their RV across the states, looking for the scariest and most extreme haunted house they can find.

It's pretty good fodder for a film to be honest. The POV shooting style really lends itself to someting like this, as there's no real disconnect between the viewer and the haunted house experience. It's like we're going through it ourselves. I imagine in the cinema this was definitely one of those films that had people jumping in their seats.

Have you ever wondered, what would happen if a terrible murder (or zombie outbreak, etc) happened on Halloween? How would anyone know those bodies and blood is real?

And it's this idea that The Houses October Built plays with, too. This group is intent on visiting extreme haunted houses; to recapture the fear they had the first time they experienced one. As they visit more and more, they and indeed we, are left to wonder the following:

1. Is some of this creepy backwoods shit they are seeing actually happening?
2. What's the worst thing they are going to see/how far are they willing to go for the ultimate thrill?
3. Are they being followed? Because that creepy clown/bunny/weird doll faced girl looks just the one from 300 miles ago...

The worst (and by that I mean best) thing in the entire film.

The "found" footage is intercut with haunted house workers being interviewed on camera, and these seem so completely genuine I wonder if the crew actually did seek out some real people to talk to. The acting of the friends, too, is very natural. They get drunk, they get irritated by one another... just like you do on a normal group holiday.

Where the movie went off the rails for me, was firstly jumping from footage the friends took, to footage apparently from the gang terrorizing them. Yeeah. Found footage to begin with requires quite the suspension of disbelief; to then ask us to buy into a second source of it in the same narrative, is a bit much.

Secondly, the ending feels like the writers didn't really know what to do, so they just picked something and quickly made it happen, and that was that. There was much build up to the Halloween day itself in this movie, with an onscreen countdown and everything. So the tension to The Day was definitely there. I will concede that this sequence was creepily effective..

The problem was that everything that came after it... not so much.

With creepiness as good as it sometimes gets, plus the cheap-but-potent scares, I would recommend this for a night in with the lights down and a few friends over. Especially this time of year. And if you don't see that doll face mask thing in your nightmares, you are a stronger person than I am!

I gotta get ready for a house full of ghouls!

As much as it pains me, reviews might have to be paused for a few days, while I prep for my Halloween party this weekend.

I'm confident I can pick the momentum back up again though, don't you worry. I've loved this challenge so far, so I'm looking forward to continuing.

In the meantime, check out this video a friend of mine linked me to. Remember my "there's a difference between being made to jump, and being scared" comment, a few film reviews ago? This expands on that in an interesting way. 

Enjoy!

Technically it really should be titled "with most (or popular) horror movies today", but I suppose this one is punchier.

Holidays (2016)

Okay firstly, that artwork is the shit. It genuinely looks like it could have been from thirty years ago, and Holidays, this sweet little horror anthology, was made this year, in 2016! 

Secondly, I'm not sure I will ever think of Easter the same way after this film. 

From the opening I had a good vibe about Holidays, and the reason for this was the music. One might argue that the synth approach to spooky stuff is old hat (It Follows, Stranger Things...) but I don't think I will ever tire of it.

These holidays run chronologically, so we start with Valentine's Day: a stylish and adorably grisly exploration of misguided teen love. Clearly some Carrie influences here, complete with bitchy girl bullies and locker rooms. It's somewhat predictable but fun.

St Patrick's Day is a strange beast. Flavours of The Wicker Man and Evil Dead style crash zooms of boring rituals - so, actually more Shaun of the Dead... BOOM! Making tea! BAM! Driving to work! - mixed with body horror, black comedy and a frankly bonkers ending.

Easter? Well. Never has there been a more glisteningly terrifying incarnation of the Easter bunny than the one I just saw. It also reminded me that I really love the element of "now you must take my place" in my monster terror. This holiday may have been my favourite just for the sheer WTF?! factor. Although the Halloween segment comes in a very close second.

Mother's Day uses the scary premise that it's possible to get pregnant every single time you have sex, regardless of your precautions. It travels from an uncomfortable examination room beginning to a birth in the desert, cutting to black before you have a chance to pick up your jaw.

Father's Day

I found Father's Day the most disappointing, in that the build was SO good, so eerie and tense, that when the end came it did not do justice to what preceded it. It probably would have been contender for favourite, had the payoff, er... paid off. A real shame.

The revenge of cam girls on their creepy porn agent makes up the plot of the Kevin Smith written and directed Halloween tale. This one totally reminded me of Hot Girls Wanted but with a way better ending. If you know me at all, you know I fucking love Kevin Smith, and this made me want to see more short films from him. The Halloween theme is tenuous at best, but this is funny, gross, and features his wonderful daughter Harley Quinn Smith. I approve!

Christmas

The best way to describe Christmas with real life married couple Seth Green and Clare Grant, is Black Mirror lite.

And finally, a New Year's celebration begins by leading the viewer in one direction, only to change it up for a very satisfying, messy conclusion. I will say no more. It may put you off internet dating for a little while though!

I'm happy I started this challenge with something I ended up genuine enjoying. With any anthology film there are going to be weak links, but honestly one way or another, everything in this had something to recommend it. The chapter titles as old style greetings cards are also just plain beautiful, too, so keep an eye out for those!


🍺 For this film I was sipping on... 🍺

20 Pounds of Pumpkin by Samuel Adams 

At first it underwhelmed me both in pumpkin flavour and the flavour generally. However the spiciness does come through after a while, just maybe not as much as I'd like. I'm sure finishing the six pack won't be a problem though... I'd give it 2.5/5.

dive right back in.

Hi. So I've been slowly finding my way back to the genre after an extended hiatus, brought about by a combination of (too real) real life stuff and just generally being fed up with bad horror movie after bad horror movie...

It's pretty depressing in itself when you can't watch your once favourite type of film due to feeling too crappy... and when you do feel good enough to take the plunge, they almost always turn out to be stupendously disappointing.

A photo posted by Jo Finlay (@relaxcupcake) on Oct 31, 2015 at 4:09pm PDT

Apart from You're Next. That one I liked.

BUT, I miss it. And I miss writing about it! So with the spooky season upon us I wanted to set myself a little challenge. I'm going to watch at least one horror movie a day throughout October AND I'm going to write about every. single. one.

It may be a proper review... it may be a version of "live-tweeting" the movie as I watch it... it might be somewhere in between those two. Or something else. I don't want to limit myself or promise anything too lofty or specific, because this is really just an exercise in getting back into the swing of horror blogging.

I'm excited about it, which in itself is pretty thrilling!

So I've been working on the list, because I must have films in the barrel ready to go, or else I'll fall prey to the first world Netflix problem of taking longer to choose a film than watch it. So...

Does anyone have any recommendations? 

I've already filled a lot of the slots with movies I've had on my "To Watch" list for a while, so I'm excited to finally have a reason to get through those. The rest are some I've been wanting to re-watch for a while but have held off with this in mind. This leaves space for a few suggestions! (ideally something I can find on US Netflix or Showtime streaming).

This is subject to change, but here we go, so far:

October 1st - Holidays
October 2nd - The Babadook
October 3rd - Stung
October 4th - Housebound 
October 5th - Creep
October 6th - The Dark Hours 
October 7th - The Final Girls
October 8th - Hatchet
October 9th - Honeymoon
October 10th - Mr. Jones
October 11th - Dead Set (eps 1-3) 

October 12th - It Follows
October 13th - Night Breed (fell asleep, oops)
October 14th - The Facility
October 15th - The Pact
October 16th - Trollhunter
October 17th - Bound to Vengeance
October 18th - Creepshow
October 19th - Scream 2
October 20th - Final Destination 3
October 21st - Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween II, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
October 22nd - 
October 23rd - 
October 24th - Starry Eyes 
October 25th - Hush
October 26th - Black Mirror s:3 e:1, We Are Still Here   
October 27th - The Houses October Built
October 28th - Black Mirror s:3 e:2, 28 Days Later
October 29th - 28 Weeks Later, Zombieland, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
October 30th - The Thing, The Neon Demon, Trick 'r Treat, Dawn of the Dead (2007)
October 31st! - Halloween: Resurrection

Reserve:
Camino
He Never Died
House of Good and Evil 
The Awakening
Tales of Halloween
Halloween (1978) & Halloween (2007) 

Halloween II (1981).

Having now seen all of the (original) Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street films, it's time to get to work on Halloween.

Taking place directly after the first, Halloween II is set almost exclusively in the local hospital Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is taken to.

A very quiet, understaffed hospital, considering everything that has just happened...?

Michael continues to stalk Laurie and kill anyone unlucky enough to cross his path, while Dr. Loomis trails behind until the finale. So, more of the same and nothing remarkable from plot or actors here.

There are some interesting (though logistically shady) kills, I suppose. Boiling a woman's face off:

Bleeding a nurse to death:

He slips and bangs his head. Such a hero.

These are kind of fun to watch as they are being set up, but that's about it.

The strength of Halloween II then, even if in the grand world of horror, it's only equivalent to kitten-strength, is that every so often this movie seems to - almost accidentally - present a really satisfyingly crafted shot.

My favourites were plays with perspective, and the "he's behind you!" work.

We also have Laurie cornered in an elevator. I just love the colours in this:

Michael, having been shot in the face, crying bitter bloody tears. Then being set on fire.

And that is what I took away from this second installment. It's dull but for occasional eye candy.

Next up, Halloween III: Season of the Witch!

That's a pretty special trailer right there.