Highly Recommended
Hereditary (2018) (American Horror) – After the family matriarch passes away, a grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences, and begin to unravel dark secrets. This is glacially paced, but has a very good overall quality and is also sufficiently sickening and unnerving at times. It also avoids most genre cliches, going instead for a deliberately disturbing angle about a family that is dealing with a tragedy. Probably a bit too long at 127 minutes, but this is legitimately unsettling.
Snow Woman (aka Yuki Onna) (2016) (Japanese Horror/Drama) – An adaptation of the classic legend, a wood sculptor witnesses the death of his master by a snow witch and is sworn to secrecy for the rest of his life. This is not a scary movie. It’s more in-line with classic Japanese horror films in that the horror content is expressed in a thematic way, not a visceral way. Some may argue that there’s not enough overt horror content to classify the film as such, but there’s enough beneath the surface. Stylistically, this film is fantastic and has a hypnotic vibe. This begins with a black-and-white scene in the forest, with a light snowfall, then switches to color. There are some great shots in this, many of which accentuate the natural environments during late autumn, winter, and early spring. The music uses Japanese instruments and is a mix of ambient sounds and percussion that is both soothing and intense at the same time. It’s a glacially paced affair that is not concerned with story or plot very much at all. (Viewed without subtitles.)
Satan’s Slaves (2017) (Indonesian Horror) – After dying from a strange illness that she suffered for 3 years, a mother’s spirit returns home to pick up her children in this film by Joko Anwar. This is set in 1981 and contributes an old school aesthetic that is consistent with that time period. This has a conventional set-up and basic plot, but it’s very well executed. Direction and performances are solid across the board. There is a lot of horror content in this one, and the scare tactics are more dynamic than you might think. Even the early jump scares have a creepy after-effect.
Recommended
Speed Racer (2008) (American Action) (repeat viewing) – A young driver, Speed Racer, aspires to be champion of the racing world with the help of his family and his high-tech Mach 5 automobile. This begins with an interesting montage of present and past events that works well. Visually, it’s very colorful and engaging despite the presence of some overly frenetic editing during the race scenes. There are lots of swiping scene transitions that I really enjoyed too. This movie has got a nutty style, that’s for sure. My favorite race scene is the one in the desert with all of the crazy weaponry (near the midpoint). I like the little kid and his monkey. Directed by the Wachowskis.
Dead Banging (2013) (Japanese Comedy/Horror/Drama) – This is about an all-girl metal band (which include real-life band “Gacharic Spin”) who recruit a zombie as a headbanger who wails once in a while during the songs. This is a nice little film by Eiji Uchida. It does not go over-the-top with its silliness, choosing instead to maintain a charming tone and even take itself somewhat seriously in spots. It benefits from this. There’s definitely a love for metal that is portrayed in this movie. The actresses are very energetic when on stage too. For a lower budget movie, this actually looks quite good from a production value standpoint. In terms of horror, there are some bloody neck bites, but nothing particulary gory. (Viewed without subtitles.)
Doubles Cause Troubles (1989) (Chinese Crime Comedy/Thriller) – Mismatched cousins just inherited a rental home from their late relative, but they must share it for one year before selling it. By chance, a gangster gives them a mysterious code before his death, which gets them into trouble. This is wacky and silly stuff, but Maggie Cheung and Do Do Cheng are charmingly funny, and give vibrant performances. Almost unbelievably, this good little comedy was directed by Wong Jing.
The Third Eye (aka Mata Batin, aka Zombie X) (2017) (Indonesian Horror) – A woman and her teenage sister move into a home but experience a relentless series of ghost attacks. This is a cliched film with stuff we’ve seen before, but this movie is loaded to the brim with horror content. It is essentially just a bunch of horror scenes strung together from start to finish, with a few discussions regarding ghostly rules that are peppered in. There are some jump scares, but there’s a lot of other stuff too (including some surprisingly violent physical attacks that contribute the most memorable moments). The finale is cool and spooky, probably my favorite sequence. There are also a variety of ghosts that have different facial scars. It held my interest for sure.
Adam Chaplin (2011) (Italian Thriller/Horror) – After his wife is brutally murdered, a man summons a demon to assist him in his journey of blood-soaked vengeance. This zero budget flick is known for its copious amounts of blood and gore, and it does deliver on that front for sure. This is disgustingly amusing stuff. The interaction between Chaplin and the demon is also rather interesting. However, there are certain things that prevented this from being an instant classic in my eyes. A significant portion of the middle section follows another protagonist who is blackmailed by the bad guys to go after Chaplin, but that entire subplot builds to a lame anticlimax. The camerawork uses too many damn close-ups and the action design is also repetitive. This is an entertaining affair, but I still feel slightly disappointed considering the online hype. “Judy” is the best Necrostorm film I’ve seen so far.
Bound (1996) (American Drama/Thriller) – Corky, a tough female ex con and her lover Violet concoct a scheme to steal millions of stashed mob money and pin the blame on Violet's crooked boyfriend Caesar. The dialogue during the opening half hour is awful. The sexuality is also very “on the nose” and almost cartoonish. Neither actress gives a good performance at all. Fortunately, the film gets significantly better when Joe Pantoliano takes over. There is also sufficient tension during much of the runtime. I liked some of the camerawork too. Directed by the Wachowskis.
Not Recommended
Conjuring Spirit (aka Chung Cu Ma) (2014) (Vietnamese Horror) – When moving to a new apartment, a mother and her 5-year-old son keep being haunted by an angry ghost hiding in a music box. The ghost girl is caked in grey mud and has white eyes, and she acts more rabid than the Japanese onryo. There’s a scene with a fetus that I liked. Some of the horror scenes are pretty cheesy though, especially when they incorporate slow motion. The thing that the protagonist needs to accomplish to appease the ghost is about as generic as humanly imaginable. One of the twists is also lame and too melodramatic. This flick moves at a decent pace at least, but it’s simply not memorable enough. The lead actress has a dynamite body though.
Annabelle Creation (2017) (American Horror) – 12 years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, where they soon become the target of the dollmaker's possessed creation, Annabelle. David F. Sandberg previously directed “Lights Out”, which was terrible. This one is better, but very slow and generic, with boring filler, a wafer thin script, and a few obnoxious side characters, but at least it does not rely too much on jump scares. I liked the bedsheet scene and a few others, but this film is visually monotonous because everything is drowned out in blackness for much of the runtime. This has some of the worst lighting of any horror film in recent memory.
Jupiter Ascending (2015) (American Sci Fi Action) – A young woman discovers her destiny as an heiress of intergalactic nobility and must fight to protect the inhabitants of Earth from an ancient and destructive industry. There’s a pretty good quantity of action in this that incorporates futuristic weaponry and flying boots, but the action scenes come from out of nowhere, which limits anticipation. They are also shot so cartoonishly and frenetically that they feel rushed and somewhat random (the space battle during the second half is an atrocious mess of CGI crap that is constantly thrown at the screen). The story has similar problems because it’s essentially a smorgasbord of stuff that is thrown together without much depth or development. Because of this, the film gets monotonous and is non-impactful. With that said, it is dumb enough to be marginally watchable. Directed by the Wachowskis.
Insidious 4: The Last Key (2018) (American Horror) – Parapsychologist Dr. Elise Rainier faces her most fearsome and personal haunting yet, as she is drawn back to her ghostly childhood home, where the terror began. Lin Shaye is a terrible actress, and she unfortunately returns to this franchise that was never good to begin with. After a halfway-decent yet fairly boring 15-minute opening, the viewer is subjected to cheesy writing, lame humor, a sleep-inducing story, and cheap jump scares. The connections between the protagonist’s current investigation and her childhood are written in an amateurish fashion. The featured ghost in the trailer (with the key finger) has minimal screentime. This is really boring to watch.
