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A couple adopts a nine-year-old girl who soon begins exhibiting psychopathic traits.
This is one of those movies I’ve seen on the shelves for years but never got around to watching until now because it all looked so obvious to me. Does the world need yet another evil kid movie? This is pretty well-covered territory, from The Bad Seed through The Good Son, so what does Orphan really have to offer?
Isabelle Fuhrman, who plays the title role, gives a solid performance in what had to be a demanding role for a child actor—she pretty much is in every scene, and a lot is demanded of her. Pretending to be a sweet kid who is actually a psychotic killer requires a balance; there’s what we see, and what the other characters see, and as her character evolves throughout the movie, things aren’t always as they seem. The movie isn’t afraid to make us uncomfortable. Even when we think we know what’s going on, the movie still has a few surprises up its sleeve—perhaps predictable to some (me included), but by the end you see this isn’t your usual evil kid movie.
The movie is a bit hokey—some of the music cues are a bit too on-the-nose, and the movie goes over the top, especially toward the end. It wasn’t made entirely clear what the motivations of the orphan girl were, as if her craziness is motivation enough. And where did she get all of those expensive outfits? While Orphan never really elevates above B-movie level, it’s a pretty good B movie, so in that regard it’s a success.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
okay. This was good. It’s a German movie. If anyone watches this, please, I beg you, let the actors tell the story in German. You read subtitles. You’re readers, right? Fucking read.
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
....have to admit that I at first read that as "so what does Oprah really have to offer?"....
”Explores the folk horror phenomenon and it’s culturally specific manifestations in international horror, from its first wave in the 1970s to today. (2021).”
Quite long documentary at 3 hours and 12 minutes but entertaining.
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
Art the Clown is back in a bloody sequel, menacing a teenager and her friends and family on Halloween.
As a rule I keep my expectations low for sequels, especially in the case of Terrifier, which came out of nowhere in 2016 and stole our hearts (not to mention various other organs). I was immediately wary when I heard the run time for Terrifier 2 came in at a whopping 2 hours and 28 minutes! It therefore pleases me greatly to say that Terrifier 2 is not only a very good film, it exceeds the original in all ways.
“More” seems to be the theme here: more run time, more characters, more standout scenes, and of course more blood and gore. This movie seems designed to delight gorehounds, and especially considering the high bar for violence set in the first installment. The movie has a deliberately retro look, with a 1970’s pinkish-orange Kodachrome hue making this feel like a straight-to-video release of a grindhouse classic that you might have stumbled upon at a mom and pop video rental store. During the non-clown scenes, the film has a low-budget, amateurish feel, but when it’s time for Art to shine, we see where they put all the dollars. In addition, they advance the mythology and hint at a backstory for Art.
Yes, there are quibbles with this film—some of the performances are broad (the mother) or annoyingly weak (the brother), but the lead female and Art are such strong characters we don’t care. And yes, this film has no business being as long as it is—the story just doesn’t warrant the length, and the essence of many of the early scenes could have been distilled into half of the time. Still, I never found myself feeling bored or impatient with what I was watching.
The film was made independently, and there’s nothing Hollywood about it—there’s a strangeness and dare I say Art-iness that couldn’t have come from the big studios. Not to mention the fact that they gleefully ignored the whole ratings system, allowing Art’s gonzo violence to go way beyond anything you’ll see in an R-rated movie. It was great seeing this in a theater with a packed crowd, and Terrifier 2 shows that people still have the capacity to be shocked and laugh at the same time.
4 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
Teens who caused a hit-and-run death are menaced by a murderous hook-handed stalker.
Seems like the obvious winning formula: photogenic twenty-somethings playing teenagers getting picked off one by one, so maybe it’s not surprise that this movie was a hit. But IKWYDLS is strangely anachronistic: it’s based on a 1973 book, features covers of old songs, and was released in 1997 after standard slashers were all but dead. Fortunately, the genre had recently been revived by Scream, but it seems a step backward in the face of Wes Craven’s superior film, and lacks any sense of self-awareness.
For me the biggest problem is in the choice of lead character—while Jennifer Love Hewitt gives a competent performance, her character is poorly written, and easily the most dull of the lot. She’s the supposedly sensible moral center of the film that we’re supposed to be rooting for, but she is never elevated above being a scold and a spectator who screams a lot when things get rough. Her romantic interest, played by the blandly charming late Freddy Prinze Jr., isn’t much better—they seem to want us to like him, despite what he has been party to.
The more morally questionable but nuanced characters played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays a washed up beauty pageant winner, and Ryan Phillipe, who is angry and swears a lot, would at least have made for more interesting leads. Better yet, why not give us more story about the victim’s sister, played with laconic menace by the late Anne Heche, or give us additional scenes with Johnny Galecki who plays against type as a sleazeball? It’s frustrating that we’re given so little of what works best, in service of sticking with the straightforward.
Aside from an effectively suspenseful chase scene with Sarah Michelle Gellar, IKNYDLS is largely lifeless and artless, ploddingly by-the-numbers, and not even particularly bloody despite the R-rating. Maybe I’m just asking too much of a slasher, but I think they could have done a lot more with this.
2.5 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
1. Beast (2022) 3,5
2. Nix (2022) 2,5
3. Safe House 1618 (2022) 3,5
4. The Wicker Man (1973) 5!
5. Suspiria (1977) 4,5 This is one of Dario Argentos best efforts. One of the best of italian horror. It stars Jessica Harper as an american ballet student who transfers to an exclusive school in europe only to find dark and sometimes supernatural things going on. It is bloody, creepy with a good score and gory at times. Stefania Casini, Alida Valli and Flavio Bucci also has important roles. This is perhaps not for the faint of heart but it holds you captured. It was a loooong time since i saw it it but it definitely stands the test of time. Is just as good as i remembered it.
Leatherface and his cannibal family are back making their special recipe of barbecue.
The original TCM is inarguably a horror classic, so how do you follow that up a dozen years later? Director Tobe Hooper’s answer was to take things in a darkly comedic direction, and add a lot more blood and gore. This choice must have angered a lot of fans of the original, which while occasionally satirical, was mostly viewed as a scary, atmospheric descent into the underbelly of rural Texas. Expectations aside, I found TCM2 to be a lot of fun, silly, downright bonkers, and loved the heapings of gore courtesy of make-up effects maestro Tom Savini.
Surprisingly, despite being far more bloody and violent than the original, the kill count is actually pretty low in this one. It’s not so much a “massacre” as an “occurrence”, but in watching the extras, a major scene of full-scale slaughter was inexplicably left on the cutting room floor. Dennis Hopper is firing on all cylinders, but I felt like a middle act was missing to his character arc—he goes from being an obsessive relative of one of the victims to a deranged chainsaw-wielding berserker in a matter of a few scenes. Lead female Caroline Williams establishes a strong character at the beginning but is reduced to a screaming cartoon of panic for much of the proceedings. Bill Moseley gives a great deranged performance as Chop Top, and even Leatherface shows some stirrings of human emotion behind his fleshy mask.
While not even coming close to being scary, TCM2 is nonetheless an entertaining and gory 101 minutes of lunacy.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
“When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.”
lots of familiar faces in this. Not horrible for what it was. Another Tarantino recommend.
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
An author with a phobia of cats spins three tales of cat-related horror.
Let’s get this out of the way, this movie is bad, but it’s unintended hilarity and painfully dated style (even for 1977) work heavily in its favor. It feels like an old Amicus anthology horror movie, although it was actually distributed by The Rank Organisation. Peter Cushing and Ray Milland (sans toupee!) get the wraparound story, and it’s funny to see Cushing pretending to be terrified of cats with a straight face.
The first story involves a crazy old cat lady (of course) who intends to leave her fortune to her felines, but a meddling housemaid has other plans. It’s funny to see her getting ripped to shreds by a horde of unintentionally cute cats, forcing her to barricade herself in the kitchen, cowering in terror, apparently for days! I mean, why not just get a broom and shoo them away?
The second story was my favorite, where an orphan is forced to live with her appalling aunt and her bratty cousin, her only solace being her pet cat. The orphan is taunted because her mother died in a plane crash, but with the help of a little witchcraft, the mean cousin gets what’s coming to her—namely, shrunken to the size of a mouse and pursued by a cat!
The third story was ostensibly the comedy, featuring a post James Bond Blofeld, pre-Halloween Loomis Donald Pleasence as an actor who murders his wife on a movie set with a pendulum blade, only to have his new girlfriend killed in an iron maiden by the connivings of a cunning kitty.
Astoundingly, this movie was first slapped with the dreaded X rating, presumably for gore--guess they didn't like the whole "cat got your tongue" gag. Oh, and why is it called “The Uncanny”, anyway? Regardless, fans of cheesy horror and cats will enjoy this.
3 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
Just look at what ff had to say about this above. I watched this due to Tarrantino and Video Archive podcast.
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
1. Beast (2022) 3,5
2. Nix (2022) 2,5
3. Safe House 1618 (2022) 3,5
4. The Wicker Man (1973) 5!
5. Suspiria (1977) 4,5
6. Rabid (1977) 3,5/5 People have very divisive opinions about David Cronenbergs early career. I like these tense horrormovies and Rabid is one of them. It is a B movie made before he became a big name but those early movies had some rawness to them. The main part is played by Marilyn Chambers who is severely injured in a motorcycle crash and has experimental surgery done on her to save her life. She is definitely not the same afterwards. This is not exactly the top tier of actors but it works, for me at least. But i have always been a fan of Cronenbergs movies. They have something i'm not very good at defining. It would take until the middle of the 80,s til he got recognition with movies like The Dead Zone and The Fly. Another early one i like (1980?) is The Brood.
1) The Hunger
2) Mr. Harrigan's Phone
Mr. Harrogan's Phone.
Based on the Stephen King short story, this is quite good, great cast, fine performances.
Grimcutty.
An internet meme goes viral in a town and kids start harming themselves, or has the meme come into the real world to start killing.
This got terrible reviews so I thought I'd give it a try, it's actually not that bad, yes it's predictable in places but it does entertain.
Moon Of The Wolf.
A tv movie from '72.
A series of murders in Louisiana may be the work of a werewolf, a local sheriff tries to unc9ver the truth.
I really love this one, great cast, worth a watch for all you werewolf fanatics.
Leviathan.
A deepwater mining facility stumble across a sunken russian vessel, they salvage materials from it and then members of the crew start to get sick...and die....
A so-so creature feature, memorable for Stan Winston's fantastic creature design.
Whistle And I'll Come To You.
A retired astronomer goes for a short holiday to one of coastal hotels he stayed at with his wife, while walki g on the beach he finds a ring. That night back in his hotel room he hears strange scratching noises....
Enjoyed this, has a nice creepy vibe, the always excellent John Hurt carries it along nicely.
Halloween Ends.
The Halloween saga comes to a finish with this. I found it to be meh.....the storyline had me saying "now hang on a minute....." it just didn't make sense. There was some inventive kills but this really should have been a slam.dunk but it just kind of plods along until the final showdown at the end.
1. Shadows
2. Orca Killer Whale
3. Storage 24
4. Twilight Zone; The Movie
5. Werewolf By Night
6. Mr. Harrigan's Phone
7. Grimcutty
8. Moon Of The Wolf
9. Leviathan
10. Whistle And I'll Come To You
11. Halloween Ends
Four unemployed actors go to a remote cabin to make an independent horror film, only to get caught up in a real life horror.
Filmed by the Duplass Brothers (if you’ve seen “Creep”, you’ve seen what they can do) for under $1,000, Baghead is as far as it gets from a slick Hollywood production. This isn’t a found footage shaky-cam film but at times it feels like one—the zooms, whip pans and focus shifts were a bit distracting. That’s one of the hazards of the “mumblecore” genre (or in this case, “mumblegore”). But as is the case with most Duplass Brothers films, the emphasis is on character, emotion, and mining those cringey human moments that feel authentic, and funny.
These young wannabe actor characters aren’t exactly my kind of people (too self-obsessed), but I must admit I could say that about the obnoxious youths that populate any number of horror films. But at least these are characters that feel like they could be real people, and the film takes the time to make them both flawed and occasionally sympathetic. We laugh at their foibles, but they seem like people we've met at some point in our lives. When they are met with trouble, we’re interested in seeing what happens to them, if not always rooting for them.
75% whodunit comedy and 25% outright horror film, Baghead is at its best when it keeps us wondering—how much of this is real, is one (or more) of the characters pulling pranks, or is there real crazed killer in the woods? I wasn’t super surprised by the ending, but I had a good time getting there.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. 🤣
1. Beast (2022) 3,5
2. Nix (2022) 2,5
3. Safe House 1618 (2022) 3,5
4. The Wicker Man (1973) 5!
5. Suspiria (1977) 4,5
6. Rabid (1977) 3,5/5
7. Smile (2009) 3/5 It is not original but decent enough. It is an english language italian horror movie taking place in Morocco with the french character actor Armand Assante playing a bad guy part, not really a big part but he is this movies name. The lead role is played by an actor with the long name Harriet McMasters-Green supported by Robert Capelli and Antonio Cupo and Manuela Zanier. A group of 7 students on leave decide to take a little hike in the Atlas mountains yhat forces they dont understand is after them. The settings are nice. The first work of Italian director Francisco Gasperini. He will never be Argento or Bava i think but decent anyway.
Kurbens Horror Movie Marathon List
1. Beast (2022) 3,5
2. Nix (2022) 2,5
3. Safe House 1618 (2022) 3,5
4. The Wicker Man (1973) 5!
5. Suspiria (1977) 4,5
6. Rabid (1977) 3,5/5
7. Smile (2009) 3/5
8. Croc (2022) 3,5/5 Fairly basic but working well enough. In the English countryside (Hampshire) a bride (Sian Altman) and her father (Mark Haldor) prepare her wedding. On the day a big croc turns up and spoil the party and since guns isn't the first thing you bring to a wedding they are in trouble. The Croc is good though it is never really explained what the heck it is doing in england though the people ask themselfes that several times. If you can overlook that it works well enough.
my old friend. Best anthology from Amicus or Hammer. Can’t let the marathon go by without this one.
5. Storm of the Century
6. Demonoid*
9. The Funhouse
11. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road*
17. The Uncanny*
Eccentric millionaire invites five strangers to spend the night at his haunted house and potentially earn $10,000 apiece—if they survive.
This movie is such a classic that I have seen so many times, it’s difficult to review objectively. Produced and directed by William Castle, known for his gimmicky horror films, HoHH actually holds up well as an entertaining film on its own (even without the plastic skeleton flying above the live audience that originally accompanied this film). Vincent Price chews the scenery as the millionaire and can go from being a sophisticated gentleman host to a cynical bad guy in the midst of a single sentence. He’s captivating every moment he is on screen and his performance carries much of the film’s more expository scenes.
The constant procession of ghosts, ghouls and skeletons, along with booby traps, acid pits and hidden passageways, leave the audience wondering what will come next in this parade of horrors. Several scenes are iconic and still pack a punch over sixty years later, particularly the milky-eyed witch ghost who glides around as if on hidden wheels. Yes, it’s not afraid to be hokey, but so many horror cliché’s originated with this film, and its great box office success proved there was still an appetite for horror that didn’t involve heavy makeup or a guy in a rubber suit. It is said that after seeing the great success of HoHH, Alfred Hitchcock was inspired to make Psycho. Certainly its financial success opened up the coffers to a good many other productions, even when there wasn’t a direct obvious influence.
If you’re looking for the perfect creepy old horror movie to get you in the mood for Halloween, and maybe have a few laughs and screams along the way, look no further than the original House on Haunted Hill.
4.5 out of 5 stars.
Bob's October 2022 Horror Movie List
*FTV denotes first-time viewings
1. The Black Phone 3.5/5 (FTV)
2. The Mummy (2017) 3/5 (FTV)
3. The Anchoress 3/5 (FTV)
4. Antlers 4/5 (FTV)
5. Burn, Witch, Burn 3/5 (FTV)
6. Lamb 3/5 (FTV)
7. Alligator 3.5/5 (FTV)
8. Barbarian 4/5 (FTV)
9. Orphan 3.5/5 (FTV)
10. Terrifier 2 4/5 (FTV)
11. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) 2.5/5 (FTV)
12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 3.5/5 (FTV)
13. The Uncanny 3/5 (FTV)
14. Baghead 3.5/5 (FTV)
15. House On Haunted Hill (1959) 4.5/5