I did the #100HorrorMoviesIn92Days that lasted from August till Halloween and so I have an exceptionally long list of horror to recommend. 😀 So let’s make it a quick fire round, introducing everyone with one sentence. Excluding the first three on the list that got 4.5/5 stars, the rest got 4/5 stars. Go let’s go!
The Cremator – The best horror I’ve seen this year, a Czech masterpiece that was like no other in its hypnotic style and smooth af transitions.
Seconds – What if you are given a second chance in life, your dream life, and you are still not content?
The Ninth Configuration – One of the most interesting films about PTSD and the consequences of war.
Bones and All – Cannibals but make it romantic but yet horrifying.
Event Horizon – The cult scifi horror, basically Hellraiser in space.
Helter Skelter – Japanese take on the price of chasing fame, daring and shocking and mesmerizing all at once.
Oculus – An under-rated early Mike Flanagan film that brings a whole new twist to the ghost in the mirror horror trope.
Cure – Japanese masterpiece of the power of suggestion and the small-gestured horrific deeds.
Saint Maud – Will faith carry you through tough times and ferry you to the paradise at the end? Or maybe not. That ending was fuuuuucked up, I love it! 😀
In the Mouth of Madness – The best Stephen King adaptation that wasn’t actually a Stephen King adaptation but definitely should be.
The Midnight Meat Train – It’s Hellraiser in the train. XD More brilliant than I expected and a surprising performance by Bradley Cooper.
Talk to Me – A brilliant made horror with the seance trope but make it actually scary and up-to-day.
Jacob’s Ladder – The madness of war and the aftermath, absolutely brilliant twist in the end.
Kwaidan – Legendary and beautifully shot ghost stories from Japan, that musical performance was phenomenal.
Cold Fish – One of the finest films by Sion Sono, it’s one of a kind brutal storytelling that I adore.
Onibaba – Legendary Japanese horror from the 60’s that needs no introduction, definitely worth the hype.
No One Will Save You – A highly stylistic alien horror flick that paid off for me at least.
Gozu – A Japanese fever dream that you have to see to believe.
When Evil Lurks – Brutal and violent virus spread fast, this Argentinian horror is unforgiving and relentless.
The Exorcist III – Forgotten and way under-rated, directed by the original author of The Exorcist, it is a masterpiece that was forced by the studio to be attached to the wrong franchise. It should have stood on its own two very capable feet.
Here they are! On tomorrow, the movie challenges I’m going to do next year! Merry Blogmas!
I’ve chosen ten movies that premiered this year that I really liked.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 While the MCU is not doing that good recently and I even skipped The Marvels, I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion to ‘Guardians’ trilogy. It’s crazy and chaotic and more than a little silly but still managed to make me cry. That basically sums up the Guardians. They had always been the oddball of the MCU and I would love them forever. Also makes me kinda hopeful that maybe James Gunn will succeed in revitalizing the DCEU.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse First Spider-Verse animated movie changed the animation scene forever by bringing a new style of doing movies instead of the increasingly souless 3D animation. The first one was one of my favorite Spidy movies. While the sequel wasn’t as great as the first one, I still had a lot of fun watching it, and it sure was ambitious and exciting to see all those different Spidys. I might change my mind later if the third movie wraps it all up in a spectacular fashion, then the middle child of the trilogy would feel better in hindsight.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret Did I expect myself to like this film so much? Definitely not. I don’t think I’m the target audience at all, not being a teen or religious. 😀 But this movie is so freaking adorable. Abby Ryder Fortson who played Margaret was extremely likable as a character and I loved how they perfectly captured the small everyday problems of teenage years that seemed like the end of the world at the time but now in the ripe old age of almost 40, this all just feels nostalgic and comforting.
Blackberry A crazy story about the forgotten giant phone company that dominated the market (at least in the US) for a hot minute but because of various reasons, failed to move forward while the rest of the world did. It’s the story as old as time. 😀 You slowed down or stopped, you shall be left behind. I was very entertained by this, and the eccentric characters were super interesting too.
Barbie I was right there when the Barbenheimer frenzy was at its highest and I went to watch Barbie not being sure what to expect. I should’ve known that Greta Gerwig wouldn’t disappoint me, she has become a film-maker whom I trust to make something poignant yet entertaining and unique with all of her projects. I didn’t expect to love Ken’s character so much, Ryan Gosling was peak Goslingin the whole film. 😀 I had a lot of fun.
Oppenheimer And on the other spectrum of the hype, I quite enjoyed Oppenheimer. I still believe that this would have been a masterpiece in someone else’s hands than Nolans, I still don’t like his style. Cillian Murphy was simply phenomenal here, and I rated the movie as high as I did because of him. And the fact that Oppenheimer’s story was very interesting for a history geek like me.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem I’ve always loved the TMNT. I’m not sure about the recent attempts to adapt them in the super serious and somber tone and kinda forgetting that the first T of TMNT was ‘teenage’. So I was hesitant about this and didn’t go to the cinema to watch it and now I definitely regret it. Mutant Mayhem was pure joy to watch! Its style was dazzling, thanks to the trend that was started by Spider-verse films. I didn’t want it to end and now I need then more of these, please.
The Boy and the Heron Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki hardly ever miss. The Boy and the Heron was no exception. I would definitely be interested in watching it again with the star-studded English dub, but I always watch the original Japanese first. It was, as expected, whimsical and dark at the same time, beautiful and terrifying. Dealing with subjects like grief and the devastation of war, it was an experience to see it on the big screen.
Godzilla Minus One It feels like a privilege to see a Japanese Godzilla movie in the theater. And I’m glad that I did, cos this was how I like the monster that’s supposed to symbolize war be represented – something mindless, terrifying, destructive and soul-crushing. While this Godzilla is much smaller than some I’ve seen in recent movies, this is somehow way more scary. And for the first time in a Godzilla movie, I cared about the humans who are trying to survive way more than I did the monster. That’s a sign of a good Godzilla movie.
Wonka I’ve heard people say ‘Another origin story that no one asked for’. But I really didn’t mind. It was a magical, chocolaty sweet musical with Timothee Chalamet. What else can one ask for? XD The villains were funny, the chocolate-loving munks and if you tell me you don’t want a cocktail-shaking oompa loompa that looks like Hugh Grant for yourself, I would know that you are a liar. 😀
Here they are, favorite films that premiered in 2023. Stay tuned for horror favorites tomorrow! Merry Blogmas!
Like I mentioned on yesterday’s blogpost, this year had been a very good movie year filled with excellent films. A whopping 60 films out of 236 got 4/5 stars. Today I would introduces a few dozens of them came out either last year or earlier. I shall write about the highly rated films that premiered this year tomorrow and also great horror movies from my horror movie challenge the day after tomorrow.
In the beginning of the year, it was filled with award seasons films. Cate Blanchett shone like a diamond in TÁR. All Quiet On The Western Front highlighted the horrific reality of war with a gritty and jarring soundtrack. The Fabelmans showcased that Spielberg actually can make an excellent movie with smaller gestures. A dazzling Damien Chazelle’s film Babylon that got snubbed. RRR was the Bollywood film that I enjoyed the shit out of. The Banshees of Inisherin was charming in a way that as someone grown up in Finland, I could relate. Women Talking was a simple yet effective. Aftersun made me fall for Paul Mescal. All the films mentioned above got four stars out of five. Two award season films got 4.5 out of 5 stars from me though, so nearly perfect: The Whale – a triumphant return of Brendan Fraser; and Living – the best performance of Bill Nighy that I’ve ever seen.
I also started to watch some classics and old movies. Believe or not, until this year, I’ve never seen Schindler’s List. Or Fargo. Makes sense why both of them were classics. To the same group I would also count 12 Angry Men and The Maltese Falcon.
This year, I also managed to watch more non-English movies and indie films. The Artifice Girl was a microbudget film with a hard-hitting subject with AI rising up, it definitely makes a super interesting watch. I had a Mads Mikkelsen week at one point and watched two excellent movies of his: The Hunt and Another Round. And to continue in the Nordic countries came a chilling horror thriller The Innocents that feel like a more terrifying spiritual twin of the film Chronicle. And then there’s the Norwegian ‘Sick of Myself‘, a film that stuck with me for a long time. After a long time spent in the north, let’s go east and watch a brilliant and horrifying anime in Perfect Blue that depicts spiraling into madness in an extremely disturbing way. Let’s continue back to the north, to Canada this time and to Pontypool, the way under-rated truly unique horror flick with a twist for your average zombie films. And let’s round it up with Sanctuary, which I enjoyed immensely in the most twisted way possible. 😀
Well this was fun. 😀 Stay tuned for tomorrow’s list of my favorite premieres of the year. Merry Blogmas!
Happy Halloween, everyone! We made it! We are here! One hundred horror movies in under three months. I can’t believe I did it. Here are part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8 and part 9 in case you missed it. 🙂 Here we go, the last ten horror films of this challenge.
The Fall of the House of Usher(2023) I was definitely cheating here cos this ain’t exactly a movie. But it’s Mike Flanagan and Spooktober, I couldn’t resist. Nothing says spooky season as pitch-perfectly as Edgar Allan Poe. And if there is a director who could do Poe justice on screen, it would be Flanagan. I haven’t seen Midnight Mass yet, but so far, this miniseries is my favorite Flanagan. My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Greenlight(2019) An indie movie about well, indie movies. 😀 I found the little details about getting a film made quite interesting but the horror instrument here… well, by this point with over 90 horror films the last few months, it was a little underwhelming. Like I was expecting something way worse. But that seemed to be a me problem. 😀 My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
The Night House(2020) I actually enjoyed the first part of the movie. I thought it was a deep dive into grieving and anger and guilt etc with nightmares to spice it up. But then it kinda took a turn into cuckoo land with way too much horror aspects stuffed into one and it was like too much. It got way too busy and completely buried the film I originally thought this was going to be. A pity. Rebecca Hall gave a great performance. My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Five Nights at Freddy’s(2023) First thing first, never played the game, got no idea about the story behind the game. I’m here just for Josh Hutcherson, cos I haven’t seen him in a movie for a while. And as expected, I think they kind of wasted his great performance. The sister was a bit annoying and the cop was so freaking suspicious right from the start and I think the actress over-did it. I’m not sure how to explain, like she was half a bit too fast at delivering her lines so it all felt very unnatural. Could be creepier. My rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
When Evil Lurks(2023) Holy fucking shit. This is by far the most brutal and gruesome film I’ve seen in this horror film challenge. It’s not just the gore, there are so very many here, but it’s also the utter despair and hopelessness that was relentless throughout the film. It was a hard watch. The lead character made so many mistakes and he was just so frustrating to watch. A film with a punishing pace, it’s not going to be for anyone but I really admire the boldness of the writer-director Demián Rugna. He truly has a talented twisted mind and I love it. My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Sissy(2022) When an influencer ran into her childhood best friend and got invited to her hen party to a remote house in the middle of nowhere and got trapped together in it with her childhood bully, what could possibly go wrong. 😀 To be honest, I don’t blame her. One of those films that got very bloody and gory real fast but I would have given ‘Sissy’ a higher rating if there is more intention behind everything that happened here. My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Cape Fear(1991) Sorcesse feat. De Niro, it’s always movie magic. Max Cady must be my favorite De Niro so far, his character is so loud here. I’ve always enjoyed him as a villain more than anything. It’s a master class in suspense too, as Sorcesse created a highly unpredictable villain in Cady and my skin crawled everytime he was on screen. A classic for a reason. My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
The Exorcist III(1990) Thanks to the Youtuber Chris Stuckman’s recommendation, I went ahead and watched this, written and directed by William Peter Blatty (the one who wrote the original Exorcist novel and the script too). It’s one of the two movies Blatty every directed and I’m glad I got this recommendation cos it was damn good. It would even be a better known movie if it’s not carrying the ‘Exorcist’ sequel burden on its title. It is very different from the original, as it’s not that focused on exorcism at all. It’s a well acted, suspenseful movie about evil and faith. It’s gruesome and have one of the most effective jumpscares that puts all jumpscares from modern horror to utter shame. Don’t let the name fool you, it’s a damn good movie and it deserves to be judge on its own. My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The Stepford Wives(1975) The remake in 2004 was shit, and now having seen the original… Hollywood should really stop remaking classic horror. This OG is a slow burn, creepy and eerie to no end and the ending was really shocking albeit very very frustrating. But, the ending is what made this a classic. My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
The Ninth Configuration(1980) So here is the other William Peter Blatty‘s direction, and it’s actually a stunning film that I really didn’t expect. On surface, it’s a story how a psychiatrist attempt to help Vietnam veterans in a mental hospital located in a remote castle. But then it ended up being a weirdly beautiful film about conversations and debates about the decency of humanity, philosophy, healing, God, life after death and fear of being alone. It’s a great film to end this horror film challenge with. My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
That’s all folks! One hundred horror films in 92 days. It had been a crazy ride. But also a very fun one! It definitely reignited my passion for horror, so I actually would love to aim to watch more horror from now on. Probably wouldn’t do this challenge again, cos I did miss watching films from other genre. Hundred horror per year should be easy that that I actually did it in less than three months, right? Right? XD Well, let’s see.
The Innocents(1961) When the movie began, it felt awfully familiar. When they mentioned the name of the manor (Bly), I realized that it’s based on the same story as Mike Flanagan’s ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’. So. The kids had always been creepy af, huh. It’s hard for me to properly review this film, cos I’ve seen Flanagan’s series first, and my brain is automatically comparing the two. My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Onibaba(1964) This is an off-kilter stunning looking piece of cinema that still mesmerize after more than half a century. The lighting, the music and the performances work in tandem to amaze and shock. The matter-of-fact way the film takes on violence and the brutal consequences and effects of war is unflinching. You can find the film on Youtube with subtitles, do give it a watch. My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
White Dog(1982) I admit, it’s a little on the nose, the message about racism. But sometimes it works. I’m of course biased cos I like dog movies, I don’t care what role the dog takes on in the film, I’m in. The lead doggo (I think there are like multiple ones), they gave an excellent perfomance. There should be doggy Oscars. As intense as most of the film was, the ending was very underwhelming. So nothing happens to the original owner of the dog? Why the hell not? My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Bad Taste(1987) Finally got around seeing this cult classic, the debut of Peter Jackson. I don’t think I’m the only one who would love to see more horror from Jackson, post LoTR era Jackson. He really had a talent for practical effects even with a very low budget in this film. I had a blast, it was silly and disgusting but I guess that was the point. 😀 My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Cronos(1992) I feel like there’s more ambition here than anything else, the lore of the machine alone would take a whole film. Instead, they decided to focus on very boring characters and their lives. I would love to know more about the machine, the maker of the machine and I wanted this to be bigger, way bigger. My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Tigers Are Not Afraid(2017) What made this film scary was the brutality of the real world, this is probably really happening somewhere, millions of children forced into the streets to face this world by themselves. The child actors were incredibly great here. Too heart-breakingly mature and just kids who gets very excited about a box of footballs. I wasn’t sure if the haunting aspect should be as strongly portrayed, weren’t the real-life tragedies terrifying enough? My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Saw X(2023) The first Saw will forever be one of my favorite horror movies ever. I’ve been a faithful fan for the sequels once but gave up like, after the 5th one I think. Like the Final Destination franchise, they are always entertaining if not that good. Saw X might be the first with actual effort put into being more than just the regular torture porn. I loved to see more of Jigsaw and actually him as a person interacting with others. Makes me want to watch those Saw films I haven’t seen yet (probably would regret it later). My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Thesis(1996) This is the second film where I randomly guessed who the killer was the moment they came on screen. But still, there were enough twists and turns in ‘Thesis’ to keep you guessing till the end. The only thing that was left un-explored was Angela’s obvious obsession with violence. It was heavily hinted on but what the point was if the film was never going to make more out of it. My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
The Exorcist: Believer(2023) I could have given this a zero if I could. Not only was it a terrible film on its own, it dared to used the theme song and carry the same name. Not only that, they got some of the OG characters to make an appearance. And then proceeded to shit all over the legacy of the arguably best horror film ever made. I wasn’t just disappointed at this, I was angry. David Gordon Green, stop ruining classic horror franchises. Just stop. My rating: ½ out of 5 stars
Spontaneous (2020) Having seen ‘No One Will Save You’ and liking it, I wanted to see Brian Duffield’s debut film ‘Spontaneous’. The bloody plot and effects didn’t disappoint, but I didn’t expect the incredibly cute first love relationship in this film. It was so cute that it made my heart explode. Pun intended. 😀 For once, the way the film depicted teenage angst didn’t sound annoying to me. 😛 I actually really liked the lead character. I can’t wait for Brian to make more films! My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Slap Ass For Motivation 