Dahlia DeWinters - Author

Quirky Heroines, Happy Endings

Horror Movies-Original vs. Remakes – Battle One

So, you call yourself a horror movie fan?  Well, even as a middle of the road fan, meaning I won’t watch them at night, and if something is too gory or too much, I will turn it off to preserve my sanity.  Given that, I’ve seen a lot of scary movies, but even I was surprised to find out some were remakes. Let’s take a look, beyond the obvious.

 

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Yep, this sister vs sister thriller/horror was remade in 1991 starring real life sisters Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave.  John Glover plays the part, I think, that Victor Buono played in the original.  I’ve seen it, I’ve noted it, I’ve blanked it out.  Nuff said.  Here’s the trailer.

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The Crazies

Timothy Olyphant, who I will always forever see as sexy salesman Danny Cordray on The Office, and Radha Mitchell do a great job in this remake of the 1973 classic.  I don’t mind telling you, the trailer scared me.  The image of people enjoying a nice day at a baseball game as a huge, zombie-like dude marches across the field carrying a bloody weapon….that’s horror, where the ordinary go so wrong, so fast.  I haven’t seen the original, so I’m not sure how it measures up, but I can say it sure scared me.

Last House on the Left

As an exercise in 70s horror, I watched this.  It was an awful experience because the movie was so good at being awful.  The feeling of dread, of hopelessness and fear exudes from the screen after the two fun-loving girls meet up with that terrible crew.  Once seen, it is not an experience I’d want to repeat, because the movie did so well at making its audience feel terrible.  I won’t watch the remake.

The Fly

David Cronenberg is a body horror master.  In The Fly, he lets it all hang out.  Ugh.  I’ve seen both, but the remake is more stomach turning, and probably realistic than the original.  Both movies, however, do have good points.

The Blob

Yes, Steve McQueen was dreamy as a 40 year old high school student, but let’s be real.  The original Blob depended more on suspense than gross out scenes.  In the remake, it was a disgusting thrill to see the dude sucked down the drain by the blob.  The telephone booth scene was also a good scare.  Again, with what they had to work with, the original Blob was pretty good, but the remake’s special effects made a scary story much better.\

 

 

So what’s your vote?

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Horror Movie Review -The Collingswood Story

Title

The Collingsworth Story (2002)

Synopsis

A young girl staying in touch with her boyfriend via a webcam discovers an unimaginable horror linked to the house she just moved into.

Genre

Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Opinion

I’d started watching this movie some time ago.  Something happened where I couldn’t finish it, and I never got back to it because I couldn’t remember the name of the movie! Luckily, or unluckliy for my time and temper, I rediscovered the movie while researching found footage movies.  As you know, I’m a sucker for found footage, no matter how terrible, so I suppose in watching this movie, I got what I deserved.

The movie begins with some newspaper clippings and vague old-time pictures you know are going to come into play later.  Yeah, yeah, let’s get to the movie.  Stop with all the history you’re just going to repeat over and over throughout the movie.

The premise is a woman moves to New Jersey for college, leaving her boyfriend behind in Virginia.  Because they are so very attached to one another, they use a webcam and video chat to keep in touch.   

First of all, the Windows 95 interface and the silly looking software for the videochat kind of hooked me right away.  Being a tech oriented person, I was really wondering how they were able to connect via video chat using a telephone landline.  It looked like Prodigy or CompuServe interface.  But my tech meanderings aren’t really important right now.  Let’s get on to the movie.

Dude, really?  He wore a backwards baseball cap so well, I should count it as the actor in the movie.  Every single time he was on screen, dude was sporting that backwards hat.  To be fair, the movie was made in 2002, so the style was HAWT back then.  Other than that, he looked like a real desperate grease monkey trying to hold on to his lady friend.

On the other hand, the female lead was quite striking and charismatic.  Now, I usually don’t go on and on about the leads, but when there is nothing but chit-chat going on, you have nothing to do but focus on the two actors involved.  I enjoyed watching her performance.

The mystery itself was pretty intriguing, and we get some glimpses of early 2000 webcam folk, but I must say, the entire movie fell flat at the end.  With all the web research, the spooky buildup and a scary psychic, the ending was a little bit of….what just happened.  Hey, maybe it’s me and I didn’t get the deeper meaning of the movie or I missed something when I looked away from the screen.  Bottom line is, The Collingswood Story held my attention, then dropped it like a lead balloon.

Not Recommended, unless you are interested in early 2000 computer technology.

Rating:

D

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Horror Movie Review -The Invitation

Title: The Invitation
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Drama
Director: Karyn Kusama
Writers: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi
IMDB Link:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2400463/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NO SPOILERS

After seeing this movie on Netflix, I will never say…

 

I no longer want invitations to anyone’s dinner party.  Keep your invites, really.

 

Synopsis

Will and Eden were once a loving couple. After a tragedy took their son, Eden disappeared. Two years later, out of the blue, she returns with a new husband… and as a different person, eerily changed and eager to reunite with her ex and those she left behind. Over the course of a dinner party in the house that was once his, the haunted Will is gripped by mounting evidence that Eden and her new friends have a mysterious and terrifying agenda. But can we trust Will’s hold on reality? Or will he be the unwitting catalyst of the doom he senses?

Drafthouse Films

Opinion

I admit, the beginning of this movie bored me.  The man seemed out of it and his mood was flat.  I thought he was on some kind of medication.  It also made me wonder why the woman was with him.  Then, it turns out that they’re going to a party at the home of his ex-wife….with the new girlfriend.  That earned an eye roll, because, I wasn’t sure this was going to be a good idea.

Plus, the party was in the hills of California somewhere.  Ugh.  I don’t like going out into old crazy country without a way to get out of there.  In some of those places, you can’t even call a cab or Uber!!

Anyhoo, what a bunch of weirdos at the party. Folks not wearing any shoes.  Folks with vacant smiles and blank eyes.   As soon as all the characters get together, there’s a general feeling of unease. The folks seem loving and accommodating, but there is something just off about the entire gathering.  The man finds strange things around his ex-wife’s house.  In addition, we are subjected to hazy flashbacks about their shared past.

As the film rolls on we eventually realize that there is something going on, and it bubbles over the surface in a shocking scene.  Obviously, I won’t give it away, but I will say I was glued to the screen until the end.  

The film starts quite slow and threatens to lose the viewers’ interest.  But I advise you to stick with it and go along for the ride.  The ending will make you sit back in your seat, mouth open and head shaking.   Additionally, this movie will keep you from going from any strange dinner parties in isolated areas, I promise you that.

Grade A-:  Jeez, this was creepy and unsettling as hell.  

The Invitation:  Trailer

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Here’s to watching horror movies in the morning!

Dahlia

 

Horror Movie Review – Grave Encounters 2

 

Title:  Grave Encounters 2
Genre: Horror, Found Footage
Director: John Poliquin
Writers: The Vicious Brothers
IMDB Link:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231554/

NO SPOILERS

PLOT SYNOPSIS: (imdb.com) A film student who is obsessed with the movie Grave Encounters sets out with his friends to visit the psychiatric hospital depicted in the original film.

We’re back!

After seeing Grave Encounters, I just had to see if there were a Grave Encounters 2.  And, lo and behold, it was!  I quickly queued it up and sat back, prepared to be as scared as I was with the first one.

Alas, this was not the case.  Now, this is not to say the movie wasn’t pretty good. It just took a bit of a time to get to the point.

Don’t go into this expect a retread of Grave Encounters.  The screenwriter and director  went in a bit of a different direction, which saved the movie from being a boring retread of the first movie.

A film student who is obsessed with the movie Grave Encounters sets out with his friends to visit the psychiatric hospital depicted in the original film.

I will say the characters are a little less likable in this movie than they were in the first one.  They skewed younger and were less the “seasoned professionals” of the first movie and more snot-nosed college students.  Being a woman of a certain age, their antics grated on me a bit, but I was eager to see what the asylum would do with them.

And the haunted asylum didn’t disappoint.  

Things are not what they seem at the old homestead and the place starts acting up right away.  We, the audience, know what they’re in for, having seen the first movie, we’re just waiting to see how the asylum plays with the new crew.

There’s shouting, there’s yelling, there’s running. There’s spooky stuff afoot and a surprise.

Watch it, if just to have the story continue. Grave Encounters 2 is not as good or as chill worthy as Grave Encounters, but it’s still a pretty good ride. 

My advice:  Push through the annoying college age antics at the beginning and stay for the scary parts.  There is some lore added and maybe a door opening for Grave Encounters 3.

Here’s to watching horror movies in the morning!

Dahlia

 

Blogtoberfest – The Shining

I’ll be honest, I saw the movie “The Shining” before I read the book.  Saw it on channel seven, ABC’s channel here in the New York area.  I’m not sure how old I was, but I must have been in high school because the movie was in the theatre in 1980.

That movie frightens me to this day, even when they show it on the Arts and Entertainment channel.

The whole idea of being snowbound and trapped while the “strongest” of your party goes slowly mad and there’s nothing you can do about it is frightening enough.  The fact that the HOTEL itself is making it impossible for you to escape from him is even scarier.

There is also the helpless feeling you have that not only is there “no escape”, but it’s your spouse/someone close, the one person who you love and trust the most in the world, is the one who is menacing you.

The soundtrack adds to the dread with its Native American chants, droning underchords and well-used scare chords.

The most well used scare chord is at the very end.  No matter how much I anticipate it, it gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Of course, YMMV (Your mileage may vary).  Each person watches a different movie.

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Here’s a taste of Jack Nicholson, before he became the Joker.  I must say, no matter what is said about Kubrick, he got excellent performances out of his actors.  You can feel Wendy’s fear of her husband.  However, no matter how afraid she may be, she’s still reluctant to really hurt him.

 

The miniseries remake with Steven Weber (from the show WINGS of all places) didn’t half faze me.  I mean, this is the dude from Wings against Jack Nicholson for heaven’s sake.  It’s a no brainer.

“Come play with us, Danny. Forever. And ever. And ever.“

The movie was made in 1980, but I’ll say SPOILER ALERT anyway.

The Shining is an example of chillingly great horror movie.  The final shot of Jack Nicholson frozen in the hedge maze…that haunted me for quite a few nights after that!

 

So what’s YOUR favorite scary movie????

 

 

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