Monsterland – TV Review

Monsterland (2020-)

Synopsis:
Encounters with Gothic beasts, including fallen angels and werewolves, broken people are driven to desperate acts in an attempt to repair their lives, ultimately showing there is a thin line between man and beast.

As the fourth horror TV show for Horror October, I chose an anthology show called ‘Monsterland’. So it’s literally a monster-of-the-week kind of show. Halfway through the show, I ventured onto its IMDb page and I was shocked to find it receiving 5.5/10 score. I have actually been enjoying myself watching this so I really don’t understand the extremely low rating. So apparently, at least according to some of the reviews there, the show wasn’t what the audience expected. Personally, I don’t think that warrants a bad review, especially if the show itself was pretty good.

I was half tempted to write mini reviews for each episodes but since by doing that I would probably spoil most of it, so I opted not to do it. It’s really the type of show that is up for interpretation. What I would say is that ‘Monsterland’ is not about monsters, at least not in its literal meaning of the word. The stories are very bleak, and depressing. Some say it’s like Black Mirror but I guess this one centers around people and their tragic lives instead of social commentary. It’s about broken people, scared people, desperate people. And most of all, people making terrible choices to protect themselves. Thus the beast inside. And the so-called monsters are simply tools to tell the story.

I mean at least the show tries its very best to achieve arguably the goal of all great horror films, using monsters to highlight and reflect either the good or bad of humanity. And when it’s done right, both at the same time. But in some of the episodes, they did try a tat too hard for that metaphor and that message becomes a bit forced. However, I do admire the fact that they are ambitious enough to try to make a show like that.

Some reviewers also critic the abrupt manner that most of the episodes end. I’m a big fan of those type of endings so I am very biased here. I enjoy endings that are left open, up for interpretation, with just enough hints to let you know where things are headed. Most of the time, I don’t need shit spelled out for me. Especially if it’s a TV show, and they only have less than an hour to tell a proper story so I rather they don’t waste the time to wrap things up neatly. But if you are one of those who can’t stand open endings, ‘Monsterland’ is not the show for you. But if you don’t mind it that much, I hope you would give it a chance. It’s well-acted, cool cast and it has some balls to attempt something bold.

My IMDb rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Lovecraft Country – TV Review

Lovecraft Country (2020)

Synopsis:
A young African-American travels across the U.S. in the 1950s in search of his missing father.

Just like many horror fans, I have a spot in me reserved for Lovecraft. At the same time, there’s a certain amount of guilt for liking Lovecraftian horror since the dude wasn’t exactly unproblematic in his racist views. So naturally, I was intrigued by the book ‘Lovecraft Country’ by Matt Ruff, I think it would be a nice balance sitting next to my Lovecraft collection. I haven’t got around to read it yet when the TV show came out so I decided to watch it first. I know the book is in anthology format, a mixture of different genre but mostly horror, I was pleased to see that the TV series also followed this format while a bigger over-arching plot blankets the season. You could say it’s a monster-of-the-week format but instead of a certain monster, it’s a certain subgenre. I was surprised how well it all mixed together. Let’s take a quick look in all the episodes. Minor spoilers ahead.

Episode 1 – Sundown
Traveling episode, Lovecraftian monster.
One of the strongest series pilot episodes I’ve seen in a while, it’s safe to say that it all started out with a bang. We got to know all the leading characters right off the bat, it didn’t blink an eye on the heavy dose of racial tension and holy shit on that monster. What a start!

Episode 2 – Whitey’s on the Moon
Unholy ritual episode, magic and shit, introducing Atticus ‘Tic’ more.
Introducing magic in quite an intense way, we also got to know our leading man more along with our leading lady Leti and our main villain.

Episode 3 – Holy Ghost
The Haunting episode, Leti’s episode.
The tone changed, suddenly it was a ghost and a haunting story. The monster-of-the-week in full swing now.

Episode 4 – A History of Violence
The Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider episode, Tic’s dad, Montrose’s episode.
Another tone switch, now it’s more of an adventure genre with darker undertones of course. We also got to know Montrose more.

Episode 5 – Strange Case
Body-snatching and delightfully horrific ending, Leti’s sister, Ruby’s episode.
One of the most bloody episodes that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s all about Ruby, Leti’s sister here. Another switch in tone.

Episode 6 – Meet Me in Daegu
The mythical monster episode set in Korea, Tic’s first love, Ji-Ah’s episode.
Major tone switch, in fact all the way to the other side of the world. We get to witness some Asian mythical creature, it almost looked like a different TV show altogether but I do like this one.

Episode 7 – I Am.
Timeline traveling, Tic’s aunt, Hippolyta’s episode.
Portals and aliens, goddamn this was awesome! Another of my favorite episodes where Hippolyta went on an adventure through worlds and times. This was so badass!

Episode 8 – Jig-a-Bobo
A curse much like ‘Us’, Tic’s cousin, Dee’s episode
By far the creepiest episodes with creatures just like in ‘Us’, the doublegangers in a form of a curse. We got to know the young Dee.

Episode 9 – Rewind 1921
The time-traveling episode, Tic’s family’s episode
We got to resolve some family stuff here by traveling back in time to a very significant event in the 20’s. It’s an intense episode.

Episode 10 – Full Circle
Unholy ritual part 2.
Just like the title suggests, it’s the one that draws a full circle in a desperate attempt to tie the whole season into a package. I won’t say it’s a neat package, in fact this season finale was very messy and at points a little weak at tying things up.

But this show is still a great attempt at something different. The individual episodes were greater than the big plotline if you don’t mind the ever-changing tone. The cast was well-cast and strong and I would love to see more from them and from the universe of ‘Lovecraft Country’. I wish they would just embrace the anthology format even more than they did here. Nonetheless, a very strong first season, hoping there’s more to come.

My IMDb rating: 8 stars out of 10

The Haunting of Bly Manor – TV Review

The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)

Synopsis:
After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave hires a young American nanny to care for his orphaned niece and nephew who reside at Bly Manor with the estate’s chef Owen, groundskeeper Jamie and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. But all is not as it seems at the manor, and centuries of dark secrets of love and loss are waiting to be unearthed in this chilling gothic romance. At Bly Manor, dead doesn’t mean gone.

I think it’s safe to say that Mike Flanagan is a brilliant story-teller and that I can see him doing his ‘The Haunting’ series for a long time. I wasn’t sure what to expect after Hill House cos that was like the dark version of ‘This is Us’, it’s all about family. Before I started to watch Bly Manor, I heard someone said this time around it’s a love story and I was instantly not as interested. And it is a love story and the ghosts are just window dressing also this time around. There are way less scares than in Hill House but it’s somehow much eerie in a more concentrated way because there are less people to focus on in a more tight surrounding. The hiccups of slightly weaker actors were gone this time around, all the actors did a great job, especially the kids. My favorite is the housekeeper Hannah, her story was fascinating. Flanagan also doubled down on the timeline skipping in the form of dream visiting plus possession I guess, it was just complicated enough to fascinate me from the beginning.

The episode about the origin of the ghosts and their experiences of the haunting, it was by far my favorite episode. See, I don’t think it has never been shown, at least I’ve never seen a movie about a ghost’s perspective of things. Unless you count Casper the friendly ghost. So we got to see the history, how they became ghosts and their tragic end and what happens beyond that supposed end. It is terrifying and just about the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. No wonder ghosts are so pissed. Mike Flanagan made ghosts relatable.

So I’m conflicted. I love a good ghost story as much as the next gal but Mike Flanagan managed to make them way less scary to me now cos he made me wonder about ghosts and their stories. Like Flora the little girl did in the series, the ghosts aren’t scary anymore once you’ve given them a story of their own. But just like a good vampire or zombie story is just metaphors for passion or humanity, Flanagan had now given ghosts the center stage. Ghosts are our past, our memory, our stories and our fear manifested. I think it’s about time that ghosts became human again.

My Letterboxd rating: 4 stars out of 5

The Haunting of Hill House – TV Review

The Haunting of Hill House (2018)

Synopsis:
The Crains, a fractured family, confront haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.

I remember watching the first 10 minutes of the first episode when ‘The Haunting of Hill House‘ first premiered in 2018. It scared me badly, ghostly ladies and kids, I just can’t handle shit like that. But then I got to know Mike Flanagan’s style of horror more closely through ‘Doctor Sleep’ and ‘Gerald’s Game’, and also his ‘second season’ ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ is coming out, I decided to grow a pair and watch Hill House this Horror October. And I’m glad of my decision. Minor spoilers from now on.

I’ve always been looked at weirdly when I say that I cry in horror movies sometimes cos horror sometimes makes me emotional. I’ve always explained it as that horror sometimes makes me feel raw and vulnerable, thus more susceptible to tear-jerkers. Hill House is the other way around. I’ve started to brand it in my head as the ‘sad horror’ genre. Like it’s very scary but at the same time, it was very sad. And it kinda tears me apart with its sad stories and then proceeds to scare the shit out of me. But even though I got scared from time to time and in the beginning it did give me nightmares, I gradually got so invested with the show that I was no longer afraid to watch the show. The last five episodes, I cried in every episode, and there is only one other show that managed to make me cry so much and that’s “This Is Us”. I guess I have a soft spot for family dramas.

Mike Flanagan really made something beautiful here. Every episode looked lovely and grand, the house was phenomenal looking. From the music, the atmosphere to the seamless transitions from past to the future and back, creating parallels and reflections between childhood and adulthood, it’s downright genius.

The child actors were all great, I can’t say the same about all of the adult actors. Mostly the plot drives itself and the actors’ acting chops were enough but in very demanding scenes like the fighting scene towards the end, the acting was a little awkward. Victoria Pedretti who plays the youngest daughter and the stunning Carla Gugino, they were both great. I also really like Kate Siegel who plays Theo the middle sister with an exceptional gift and how she uses that gift to help little children. Her episode left the biggest mark on me, that scene in which she sobbed on the sofa in the basement cos she felt what her patient went through on that said sofa, that scene was gut-wrenchingly memorable. The other siblings and the dad (both young and old), they were mostly okay.

Despite the minor acting problems, I do strongly recommend this show, if you are up for something slightly emotionally draining. I mean, we all can use a good cry from time to time, right? Trust me, ugly crying and being scared at the same time is quite a unique mixture of feelings that I don’t get to experience every day. I’ve already began watching Bly Manor, and it seems to be quite a different beat, but the same stylish finish is still there. And it’s starting to look like another mystery box neatly wrapped in ghostly fabric just like Hill House and I’m loving it so far. I’ll be back with reviewing that too in a week or so.

My Letterboxd rating: 4 stars out of 5

Nerdy Goals of 2019

Just like I listed five goals about kink yesterday, today it’s all about the nerdy stuff. Five goals, here we go.

1. 150 Movies

Somehow I’ve seemed to been settled on the number 150 for movie goals for years now. Last year I saw 122 movies, I’ve been skipping on many movies just because they got such a bad review from my trusted critics. I hope 2019 is going to be a more fruitful year, fewer disappointments and more pleasant surprises.

2. 50 Books

I know I know, I always set my eyes on the big 50, but 41 is the closest I’ve ever come to that number. Last year I read 25 books only, I’m not sure I can make it this year either but I’m doubling down with audiobooks and regular books. Let’s try this reading multiple books at a time thing, and I do miss reading before bed until my arms threaten to fall off. 😀 Let’s have a good reading year!

3. Listen

I made a song list of all the songs I love that came out in 2018, I’m planning to make a 2019 play list too. The year 2018 was excellent music wise, I discovered many new artists that I’m in love with now, and I was introduced to a lot of new music that I usually don’t listen to, thanks to Elio ‘forcibly’ hijacking my stereo system whenever he is over at my place. But I do enjoy new people introducing their music to me, since I do love music. I wouldn’t otherwise force Jukebox Friday on you guys for years now. 😀

4. Watch

Yes, I do sometimes wonder how I have time to do all of the above and watch TV shows and Youtube as much as I do. The thing is, I multitask most of the time. I listen to Youtube videos when I’m doing mundane stuff at work. I would write in my bullet journal when I’m watching TV shows. I hardly ever just do one thing at a time. Mostly because hardly ever a show is so good that it keeps my full attention.

5. Write

Yes, my novel. I’ve had it all planned out last November but I haven’t written one single sentence all December although I wanted to. But I am going to, sometimes you just can’t force the muse. But I will at least write the first free chapters that I promised myself this year. 😛