Monsters film review

Since Netflix sorts everything by genre I decided to look through the Horror/Thriller section. I decided to watch Monsters because I had heard good things about it.
The movie starts off as one of those hand held camera movies, which I wasn’t crazy about. The camera belongs to someone on a military truck and is cut off when an explosion blows the truck (and camera) up. After that the movie switches between regular filming.
The remainder of the film follows two American’s trying to get back into America to escape an Alien invasion that have taken over most of Mexico. The Aliens reproduce in the trees so the large forest provides the perfect place for them. The main character Andrew is sent to pick up Samantha, the daughter of a wealthy businessman because she is engaged to be married. Even though he is just a photographer he agrees to bring her back. Unfortuantly, the two of them miss the last boat out of Mexico. The two decide to go through the forest with a small group of guides to try and cross into the U.S. by foot. After having several near death encounters with the aliens the two finally make it to the boarder, only to realize that it’s been destroyed and the aliens have moved into the United State. Once in the U.S. they take refuge in a gas station convenient store. By this time a love interest has sparked between the two so they’re sort of forgetting about the whole alien invasion causing them to walk right in between two very large aliens mating. They finally find a phone and call 911 who say they’re sending a military truck. Right afterwards Samantha tells Andrew she doesn’t want to go home to her fiancé and they finally share an over dramatic kiss. Shortly afterwards the army picks them up and the screen fades.
Now I was very disappointed with the ending because I thought they had left me hanging for a sequel. Turns out the opening scene on the military truck is really them with the soldiers that picked them up and that they die along with the rest of the soldiers. So basically the whole movie is just how they came to be with the soldiers and die. If you like being confused and a bit disappointed I would definitely recommend this movie.

What makes a good horror story?

http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/scary.html

So I'm starting my senior project and my genre it horror so just for fun I typed "what makes a good horror story" into google, and I found this link pretty helpful (and true according to the things I've read).

The Shining Movie Review

Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is a great film adaptation of Stephen King's book. Stanley Kubrick sets the mood and tone of the film showing a some what torn house hold. Also Danny has a friend call Toni. Toni shows Danny things that he can't normally see. Jack is a the hotel being interviewed for the caretaker of the overlook hotel. The role of jack is played by Jack Nicholson. he perfectly fits this part because as watching it jus the vibe you got from him along with his facial expressions tell you that he can't be trusted and that he has a hidden past. The way he treats his family tells you that he is a family man but yet at times likes to distance himself from them. Also there is just that rage that jack is suspose to have built up inside that Jack Nicholson is able to portray very well. The hotel setting is done very well and you could tell that the director wanted to put his all into the movie.The hotel has everything from the narrow halls that create that closed in feeling a character can have during a horror story. Also it has the spaced out rooms where it leaves you with a feeling that the character has a chance to escape with out being harmed. It provides the echo feeling that someone is coming after you and you can hear every move made by any person in the hotel.The way Danny begins to speak REDRUM and write it on the door tells you that things are going to get worst. The anger Nicholson portrays in the famous scene "here's johnny" is excellent. He gives you that feeling that nothing is going to stop him and from killing his family and it also gives him that vibe that he is possessed by the spirits of the hotel. The ending photo shows how jack's anger and alcoholism led to him being possessed by the spirits of the hotel due to his weakness to fall into temptation.

When A Stranger Calls: Film Review

When A Stranger Calls was a scary movie. This movie is about a babysitter. After she put the children to sleep, she got random, anonymous phone calls through out the night. The phone would ring and the person on the other end would say nothing except “Have you checked the children?”. She didn’t think much of the calls at first but she started to get nervous once they continuously came. When she finally checked on them, she found them murdered in the bed room with blood everywhere. The man that kept called murdered the children and haunted her from then on.

I think this film scared me mainly because I babysit a lot. For a while after I saw this movie I was scared to babysit alone. I was scared the events in the movie were actually going to happen to me. If a horror film scares you and stays with you for days after you see it, I think that’s how you know the film did its job.

The scariest part of this movie, along with the majority of the horror movies I’ve seen, was the music. The music was so powerful and aggressive it gave me chills. Before something scary was going to happen the music would intensify and get my heart racing. It would also build slowly making me even more frightened. I would recommend this movie if anyone is looking to get scared, but it wouldn’t be the best idea to watch it if you have to babysit soon after.

Carrie Film Review

I re-watched Carrie as my other horror film. Carrie is a film adaptation of another Stephen King book of the same name. Although I have never read the book, I really love the movie.

Carrie is about a teenager named Carrie who is really sheltered and raised under the guidance of her religious fanatic mother. Carrie has supernatural powers that are tapped in to when she gets mad. She is tortured by her classmates due to her lack of social ability and even her own mother believes she is the devil.

At Carrie's high school prom, a group of kids decides to pull a prank on her. Her date for the prom is one of the "popular" boys in her class. They decided to make the two of them prom king and queen and when they get up on stage to accept their titles, red paint is dropped on her from the ceiling. Carrie's supernatural powers kick in killing everyone there except for one classmate, Sue, who is left to live with the guilt of knowing that everyone she loved was killed because of her.

When Carrie returns home after the prom rampage, her mother is there waiting to perform a sacrifice on her in order to get rid of the devil inside of her. Carrie narrowly escapes but she then kills her mother in order to save herself. Carrie does die in a fire caused by all of the candles lit around her house as part of her mother's sacrifice.

One of the scariest parts of the movie, I read, is coincidentally not part of the book. It is the scene at the end where Sue goes to pay respects to Carrie at her house after it has burned down, and as she kneels down at her grave, Carrie reaches up from the ground and grabs her arm, waking Sue up from her dream.

The Shining Review

After seeing several posts and trailers about the movie "The Shining," I decided to take a look at it.It is considered to be a horror movie, it started out with the usual horror music to introduce the type of story it will be to us. The story starts out with a family of three. In my opinion they all look very strange. So the father lands a job somewhere in a hotel secluded away in the forest and mountainous area outside of Denver, Colorado. He is asked to look after the place for five months while the hotel is closed off to guests during that time. The father, Jack, brings his wife and son along with him. Before starting off the job, Jack and a few others were aware of a particular situation that had occurred years back. A man just like Jack was in the same situation, and went insane from being so secluded for months, he killed his whole family and in the end himself as well.Jack was not concerned about this. However, with time Jack's own mind began to go crazy like a psycho. Eventually you can guess that he's out to kill his family as well. Strangely enough, he does not end up murdering them as you would expect in a horror, instead he ends up dying on his own.

In the movie, the music and sounds made give off the greatest feeling of horror, making you anticipate something. Along with that the film did contain ghosts, some of which turned to become very disgusting, for instance the woman in the bathroom. Eww. Then there was the man running around with the ax trying to kill.

Now would I recommend this movie, I'm not quite sure about that. The movie is over two hours long, and it took over an hour for some horror to appear. So it's a very slow pace movie. There are some scary factors, but at times it seemed to get boring, and the family was just creepy.

The Strangers

"The Strangers" was made in 2008, and because of what goes on throughout the plot, it is characterized as part of the horror genre. The plot can be described as simply as the story of a couple that gets terrorized by masked assailants. The entire movie takes place over the course of one night and ends in the morning when the assailants reveal themselves to only the couple, not the audience, and then take turns stabbing the couple in their stomachs. A pair of Mormon boys discover the couple's house shortly after the killers leave and enter to make what will be the last horrific scene of the movie. This scene set the mood by using silence and "slow motion." I would give more detail as to how and what I mean, but since I really liked this scene, I would not want to ruin it for others who have yet to see the movie. Throughout the rest of the film silence is constantly used to set the mood because it signals that something is about to jump out and scare "the living crap out of you."

This movie also does a good job in reflecting the concept of "token stupid" meaning the actors do a lot of stupid things which a normal human, with any bit of common sense in their mind, would instantly flag as a bad idea. For example, when the assailants are trying to break down the front door, instead of shooting the door with the shotgun that the couple has in their hands, they put it down and start dragging some sort of structure (cannot remember it clearly) to block off the door. Nevertheless, this movie will still have you jumping out of your seat until the very end, literally.

Dracula FIlm Review

I watch Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula. It was made in 1992 and it was based on Bram Strokers Dracula. In the film, Jonathan Harker is assigned to a village in eastern europe and he is captured by dracula. When Jonathan is gone for over three months, Mina ( Winona Ryder), begins to get worried. Lucy, her best friend, is also worried because she had been planning their wedding. SHe also started her habit of sleepwalking again and she notices that every time she sleep walks she returns very pale. Dr Seward, the doctor who began looking after she began to notice that something wasnt right, thinks that she is anemic. But, he cant find any cause for it. Van Helsing begins a blood Transfusion on Lucy and places garlic around her bed. At the same time, Mina meets a man who introduces himself as prince Vlad of Szekely. But he is Dracula. THen Mina tries to go find Jonathan and Dracula takes Lucy as his bride. Mina and Jonathan then return to London to find that Lucy has "died". Then Jonathan, Van Helsing and his friends set out to find Dracula and to kill him. Mina ends up killing him by stabbing him by stabbing him in the heart with a sword and cutting off his head. I thought this movie was very good. I would give it a 9 out of 10.

Film Review: The Orphan

Although I thought The Orphan wasn’t a particularly good movie, I was definitely scared and entertained by it. This was the first rated R film I ever saw in theaters and I remember covering my eyes, closing my ears and screaming at some scenes in the film.

The suspense in this movie was overwhelming and frightening. The music was dramatic and made every scene even more suspenseful. I knew that something bad was going to happen as soon as I heard the slow, quiet music start. There were a lot of teaser scenes in this movie. The suspenseful music would play as a door opened, or a mirror closed but nothing would be behind it. The fake out suspense scenes made me more scared because I didn’t know whether something scary was actually going to happen or if it was just a trick.

Along with being suspenseful, this movie was also gory. The orphan child killed her first victim by bashing their head with a hammer. She injured her second victim by pushing them off a jungle gym which caused them to snap their leg in half. She killed another character in the movie by stabbing them. There was a lot of blood. Gory scenes don’t scare me as much as psychologically thrilling scenes do. The blood and murder grosses me out more than it frightens me.

The ending of this movie was shocking. I thought it was well done in how the secret of the villain was revealed. Unfortunately I knew what was wrong with the orphan child before I saw the movie so the ending wasn’t super shocking but had I not known, I would have never seen it coming.

Overall, I think the film was successful in frightening an audience. I was definitely scared and the people in the theater were scared also. I could tell by their shrieks and screams. I would recommend this movie to anyone looking to be entertained and I think it’d be best to watch with some friends. Having company while watching a horror film always makes it more fun to watch.

misery movie review

The movie I saw was misery and was made based on the book misery by Stephen King. The movie did a good job on making a movie that was based on the book. There were a few differences though. In the book, Annie had used a axe and chopped off Paul's leg in order to stop him from escaping her house. In the movie, Annie uses a sledgehammer and hits breaks Paul's ankle. In the book, Annie also gets her finger chopped off while in the movie, there wasn't anything about it. Also in the book, there was a officer who got killed by Annie after he went to Annie's house and asked if he knew where Paul was. I did not see an officer go to Annie's house and get killed before two other officers came and rescued Paul. The movie was good and had a many similarities with the book. There were just a few differences and the book had more violence and bloody scenes that were described than the movie. The book had more details and you were able to picture the vivid images while the movie has more generalized and did not have the details that were put into the book. Even though you read the book and then went to see the movie, there are definitely somethings that you don't really expect and the movie and as well as the book also builds a lot of suspense in order to make it scary and exciting.

Black Christmas

So my brother, who generally gets a kick out of cheesy low budget horror movies, recommended I watch Black Christmas. At first I thought it was the 2007 version that looked extra lame and I had no interest in seeing but when I looked it up I realized it was the one made in 1974 and figured I’d give it a try.
The movie follows a sorority house on Christmas eve/Christmas, and a series of murders that happen afterwards. It starts off with a typical Christmas Eve party, which is where you find out that the girls are receiving inappropriate phone calls. After one extra long sketchy call a fight breaks out between two girls and one of them storms off to her room and is murdered shortly after. The rest of the movie is the sorority sisters (and their families) trying to find their “missing” roommate, who is the first one to be killed. I don’t want to give away too much but lets just say they wrap up the movie with “the calls are coming from inside the house” which was a very cheesy touch.
The movie is shot from two points of view. One being the same way most movies are filmed and the other is from the killer’s point of view, and in my opinion the parts of the movie that are actually scary are when it’s from his point of view opposed to the regular shots.
As a whole I found it extremely campy. It’s a typical stalker/murder movie full of girls wandering around the house alone or going to explore the creepy attic.
One thing I did enjoy was that one of the main sorority girls is pregnant and plans to get an abortion but her boyfriend is strongly against it and starts acting out, which leads you to believe he is the one going around killing all of the girls in the house. They did a really nice job in the end filming because it keeps switching between the first person view of the boyfriend and the killer so you can’t tell who is doing what but other than that the movie is pretty much a two hour bore. You never actually see the killer, which was nice cause usually it’s some stupid looking guy who probably couldn’t murder anyone if he tried and it was refreshing that he didn’t have some convoluted reason for murdering these girls, he was just crazy.
Would I watch it again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to someone? Probably not, unless you were just looking for a laugh.

The Shining Film Review

I watched Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Stephen King's book, The Shining. This movie definitely captures (or enhances, in my opinion) the eerie atmosphere that comes along with The Shining. The opening credits are played over a scene of Jack's car going up the mountain with the creepiest music you will ever hear playing in the background. Right away the viewer gets a sense that this movie is going to be really twisted.

The movie starts off with Jack interviewing for the job and we are introduced to a little of the background behind the Torrance family such as Danny's "imaginary friend", Tony, and Jack's drinking problem. We learn about what he did to Danny's arm and why he needs to take the hotel job. While Jack is applying for his job Mr. Ullman tells him the story of what happened at the Overlook Hotel in 1970 and checks to make sure it is okay with Jack. Meanwhile, Tony is telling Danny that he doesn't want to go to the hotel. Tony is our first look at Danny's psychic abilities later called "shining".

Once the family gets settled at the Overlook, the viewer gets a sense of the isolation that they are facing by staying there. Danny continues to get visions having to do with the hotel's past and the evil that lies within his father.

Kubrick's adaptation does a great job of expressing the feeling that the book gave off. There are several changes in the movie, but none that too greatly affect the point of the story. The most notable change is the ending. In the movie, Jack freezes to death in the maze that he was chasing Danny in, but in the book Jack redeems himself by saving Wendy and Danny from the boiler explosion that kills him.

Dagon Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7QREJdUyf4

Sorry for the bad quality, but this is a trailer for the movie Dagon. It's a mix between Lovecraft's "Dagon" and "The Shadow Over Portsmith"

Short horror story

This is yet another Edgar Allan Poe short horror story. It is called "The Cask of Amontillado." Here's a short animation of it (lego version). Click on the title to watch

Dracula

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Dracula

NOSFERATU

Watch one of my favorite movies here

Dracula

I am now reading Dracula and in the story Jonathan Harker goes to Castle Dracula in Transylvania to finish a real estate transaction with Count Dracula. In the beginning of the story, many of the peasants and local townspeople give him crucifixes and other things that fight off evil spirits. As Harker is leaving, the hotel managers wife begs him to take a crucifix with him to keep evil away. Jonathan remains confused by this. I find that Dracula is surprisingly similar to Frankenstein. In both stories, the main character must travel north in order to find someone or something. Jonathan is writing in his journal just like in Frankenstein where the main character is keeping a journal as he makes his way up north. He's t raveling through Buda-Pesth.Castle Dracula didn’t appear on any maps he looked at of Transylvania that he looked at in England. Johnathan is weirded out by the counts ability to communicate with wolves. I think that it is crucial to the story that Dracula does not have any servants around. When Jonathan Harker asks the hotel owner about Count Dracula, the hotel owner and his wife don’t answer, which causes him to be confused. I am really enjoying Dracula.

Danny Torrance

Danny Torrance is the son of Jack and Wendy Torrance in The Shining. He is also the main link in the story. Danny is a really special kid due to his ability to read minds. He has an imaginary friend named Tony who is really just an older version of himself. Tony tries to communicate with him and lead him out of death while him and his family are staying at the Overlook Hotel.

Jack and Wendy are generally concerned with their son when he begins his friendship with his imaginary friend, Tony, but dismiss it as a normal thing for a five year old. They just can't understand that Tony is a result of Jack's abusiveness and their stay at the Overlook Hotel.

Jack has been abusing Tony for a while now. He is an alcoholic and often hurts him while intoxicated. The first time he drops Danny as a baby while he's drunk. The second time he breaks Danny's arm (while drunk) for pouring beer on his writing. Aside from physical abuse, Jack also neglects Danny while he is slowly going crazy from the isolation and evil inside of him at the Overlook Hotel.

Despite all of what Jack has done to Danny, Danny still continues to love and believe in his father, which holds the story together. He has a general understanding of his parents' broken relationship due to his ability to read minds, but he tries to look past that and manages to still love both of them.

Horror Trope

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AbandonedArea

Horror Novel.

The Shining by Stephen King is definitely a freaky novel. I have never read a soled horror novel before so I didn't know how scared I'd be reading one. This book doesn't scare me as much as a horror film does due to its slower pace and lack of the sound but some of the scenes give me chills because they are so creepy.