WEEK 2:
(And check out WEEK 1 first.)
Terrifier – Surprisingly liked this one a lot. Over the top gore and violence with pretty impressive special effects. Art the Clown makes for a really intriguing new entry into the horror villain category, right next to Victor Crowley. The ending however did leave me somewhat disappointed as it felt like maybe no one knew how to end the film. If you’re looking for something a bit over the top in its violence this Halloween, give this one a shot. RENT
Truth or Dare – Yes, it’s as bad as everyone says it is. I watched the extended version and even that was lame. I just don’t think you can make a decent film out of this concept. And I think the filmmakers realize this as they completely forget about the “truth” part in their Truth or Dare film. It also has one of the worst endings I’ve seen in a movie this week or last. SKIP
Better off Zed – Terrible endings aren’t just a trend for theatrical films, but smaller indie films as well. I was actually kind of into this movie for a bit, but it’s a good example of a terrible ending ruining your movie. Interesting enough concept, kind of loser guy finds himself loving the new hassle-free life the zombie apocalypse has brought him and his girlfriend/wife. A kind of humorous look at domestic life when all your surrounding neighbors are undead. And for some reason they decided to end their humorous film with violently killing off our main characters like we were watching Night of the Living Dead this whole time. SKIP
Malevolent – I guess technically this should be pronounced Male Volent as they also capitalize the V in MaleVolent. Whatever you want to call it doesn’t matter as this film sucks. I thought at first the film seemed censored, as some of the violence would cut away. But then I realized that it was just poorly edited. A character gets attacked with… a hacksaw? A cleaver? They never properly show what he’s being attacked with or where he’s being attacked. It looks like his back, but from the way it was edited, it really could have been his legs or head… That’s just one example of many more instances like that. The motivation of the villains was also puzzling. Invite these paranormal investigators over to this old mansion/school house to quiet the ghost children but when the investigators fail, the people who hired them decide to kill them? Nothing is really fully explained. SKIP
Knuckleball – Really enjoyed this one however it slightly suffers the same issue as the previous film I mentioned. It isn’t fully explained as to what exactly is going on. Though here it seemed like maybe because of the subject matter they danced around it instead of explaining it properly. And I can’t fully get into it without spoiling it for you, so be warned. Boy has to stay with his grandfather while his parents attend a funeral. Grandpa lives on a farm out in the middle of nowhere. The only neighbor he has is this creepy dude who has this pedo feel about him. But gramps seems to know about it. Gramps dies in his sleep and the kid has to go to his pedo neighbor to use his phone. That’s when pedo man tries to drug and… I’m not sure what he plans on doing with him. Then the kid finds a woman in gramp’s barn, in a creepy sex dungeon. Who turns out to be pedo’s mom. So what exactly was gramps and this pedo guy up to? Gramps specifically tells pedo guy that the boy is off limits. Off limits to what exactly? Did he mean killing or… Was gramps into little boys too? Then why is the old woman caged up in the basement? It’s like they wanted to go there, but chickened out. But still I thought it was a pretty good watch. RENT
Truth or Dare (Netflix) – Yes, another film called Truth or Dare with the exact same plot, with the exact same characters. Again, it takes the whole truth or dare concept and tries to make a supernatural horror movie about it. But it falls under the same trap as its theatrical counterpart, axing the “truth” part and just focusing mainly on the dares. Yet the dares are usually a no win situation. Do this dare that will kill you, or the dare will kill you anyways? It was funny just how much like the Blumhouse this was. Both featured a friend secretly in love with her BFF’s boyfriend, both had the med student character… it was like they were working off the same script yet this one did it better. Yeah, this straight to Netflix film is better than the Blumhouse one. But not by very much as this also suffers from a terrible ending. Or to be more exact, no ending, as this just suddenly ends. If not for that, this might be worth checking out, but with that ending, no way can I recommend it. SKIP
The Meg – I kind of dug this at first, but then it just became so clear how much of a Chinese market this was pandering too, that it became too distracting. The end felt like a low budget shitty Chinese monster movie made for kids got spliced in. Besides that, it wasn’t too bad, as it was basically a generic Jason Statham action movie. Sometimes you find yourself needing something like that, so for that reason, it might be worth checking out. RENT
That concludes another week of horror films. The pattern that popped up this round was terrible endings. Let’s see what next week holds.
Want EARLY access to our videos, uploads, and movie/script reviews? Members get them FIRST! Follow this link to our Discussion Forum.
And be sure to check out our Notes Service, where I give my detailed thoughts and suggestions on your script.
