Dahlia DeWinters - Author

Quirky Heroines, Happy Endings

Horror Movie Review – Wrecker

Title: Wrecker
Genre: Horror
Director: Michael Bafaro
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4227282/

This movie almost WRECKED my marriage.  (See what I did there?) My husband had the day off and I suggested we watch a movie.

“Hey, we’ll watch this movie. It’s terrible, but it’ll be fun! We’ll have a few laughs!”

Famous last words.

I’ve seen some horror dreck in my lifetime. I’ve watched the Friday the 13th movies and stuff that I can’t even recall I’ve seen because it’s been so terrible. But I’ve been able to laugh and point and giggle about the director and/or writer being awful. Or awful acting. Sometimes, the movie is bad, but you can see the actors are having fun, so it makes up for it.

This was not the case with this movie. This movie was just bad with no redeeming qualities. None. Wait. I did love the red Mustang and some of the shots were gorgeous. I can say that. But I don’t watch a horror for its gorgeous shots. Really, I don’t.

Let me give you a little overview. Being a woman of a certain age, I have seen a ton of movies. I know most of the tricks, the cliches and the character tropes. And I deal with them, because, let’s be honest, there is nothing new under the sun. And that’s okay.

You know what’s not okay? This movie.

So it starts out, some cross country trip. Blonde girl is nice, brunette is nasty. She’s

drinking, pretending to smoke (As an ex smoker, I can tell a true inhale. You gotta savor that smoke to get that nicotine hit), flashing her boobs, etc. Meanwhile the driver, the good girl blonde is telling her to calm down. Okay, look, blondie, you knew your girl was out of control before she got in the car, so why all the peeved admonishments?

Side note:  The poster?  Where it says ‘you stop, you die’.  They stopped plenty of times and no matter how much I wished……well.  Movie poster is a liar.

Anyway, they somehow anger some random tow truck driver and he starts messing with them. I would go on, but even thinking about the movie makes me tired.  Suffice it to say many stupid things happen and then it’s over.

Another side note:  This second poster?  Talking about ‘a wrong turn’?  This is also  a lie.  They took a shortcut ON PURPOSE.

I’ve seen Duel. I’ve seen Joyride. Both were way better and Duel was made in the EARLY seventies. In Wrecker, the acting is terrible. The choices the characters make are ridiculous and make no sense. And…the whole movie had my face screwed up.

My husband was not pleased. What a waste of 70 odd minutes.

Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

Grade: F
Watch or not to watch?: Don’t bother. It’s not even bad enough to have fun with.

Three Halloween Books for Scary Reading

Yes, we like the movies, but there’s nothing like a scary book to curl up with on a dark, blustery night.  When I lived alone, I used to scare myself to death with the sounds that I thought I heard when I was reading an especially scary book.  And the dog didn’t help when she jump up and ran out of the room for no apparent reason. (Sometimes I think dogs do that on purpose to  scare the mess out of us.  Then they go drink out of the toilet and laugh at us.)

Anyhoo, here’s my top five books to read around Halloween, or any time.  These are presented in no particular order.

Pet Sematary  – Stephen King:  I can’t tell you how much this book frightened me.  I discuss this in more detail over at my blog, if you care to take a look.  Suffice to say, while the movie is pretty scary, it could not come close to the frightening visions that I had conjured in my head when I’d read the book..

I Am Legend – Richard Matheson:  Forget Will Smith.  Forget the movies.  Read the story.  Get inside of the head of the last human on earth, who is plagued every night by some kind of creatures who bid him to “come out, come out…”  This novel inspired George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.  Excellent reading.

Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury: Jim Nightshade and William Halloway encounter a carnival that is not exactly what it seems.  To me, some of the themes that run through this novel mirror Stephen King’s  Needful Things.  If you haven’t read either, read Something Wicked first.

The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson: I saw the movie, yes, it was scary.  However, as I wrote before, there’s nothing that can scare you worse than yourself.  Shirley Jackson taps right into that terror and carries you along with her.

Rosemary’s Baby – Ira Levin: First of all, stay away from the “sequel”, Son of Rosemary’s Baby.  That book made me so angry that I threw the hardcover across the room.  Literally.  (I am very glad that I hadn’t been reading it on an e-reader because the urge to throw it would have still been very strong.).  The original Rosemary’s Baby is another case of the ordinary turning so hideously extraordinary that you can’t believe it’s happening.  Certainly, it may be somewhat dated, but still, transport yourself back to the era before the Internet and immerse yourself in the horror.

I hope you enjoy these hand-picked scary selections of mine. Be sure to lock the doors and the windows and leave the bathroom light on.  You don’t want to fumble into someone in the middle of the night.

 

Pleasant dreams!

Blogtoberfest – Horror Movie Review – Unfriended

Title: Unfriended
Genre:  Horror, Thriller, Drama
Director: Levan Gabriadze (as Leo Gabriadze)
IMDB link:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3713166/

Synopsis according to IMDB:
A group of online chat room friends find themselves haunted by a mysterious, supernatural force using the account of their dead friend.

I might be getting too old for this, I admit this up front.  I did not enjoy this movie on any level. Though I thought the story and the premise was excellent, the thirty year olds playing high schoolers did nothing to elicit my sympathy.  I couldn’t even enjoy it on the “so bad it’s good” level because there was little to no physical action. You couldn’t say “don’t go in there” or “stay out of the basement”.  Nope.  The entire movie took place on a laptop screen.

As I said, this was an interesting concept and on some level, it was well executed.  Since I watched the movie on a laptop, it was easy watching and some intriguing things happened.

The actors themselves were annoying.  The screaming, crying, cursing and yelling did nothing for the movie.  I won’t spoil it here, but in the end the viewer is left unsatisfied.

I’d say see it once, just to experience it.

As always….YMMV.

Grade: D

Horror Movie Review -Train to Busan (Busanhaeng)

Title: Train to Busan  – Busanhaeng (original title)
Genre: Horror (Zombies), Thriller, Drama
Director: Sang-Ho Yeon
Writers: Sang-Ho Yeon
IMDB Link:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5700672/

NO SPOILERS

Me after seeing this movie on Amazon Video:

 

PLOT SYNOPSIS: (imdb.com) While a zombie-virus breaks out in South Korea, a couple of passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan.

Before I even begin, I’m going to say I loved this movie.  A lot.  

Many horror movie viewers are cynical and jaded.  They claim that “they’ve seen it all” and “nothing can scare them now”.  That’s all well and good, but once you claim that, where is the fun in watching movies?  Movies are escapist creations, much like many fiction books.  The point of any given movie is to immerse yourself in the experience, and in a manner of speaking, let the filmmaker have his way with you.

As a film viewer of the age that I am at now.  (Don’t you love that sentence?) I can easily say, sure, nothing put on film can scare me any more than real life.  I have children, a husband, and other loved ones, and believe me, if you asked me to answer truthfully what scares me, it wouldn’t be a random zombie outbreak or a killer stalking teens.

Movies are escape.  That’s the name of the game.  Claiming “nothing scares me” certainly takes the life out of viewing horror, doesn’t it?

But I digress.

I haven’t laughed, cried and been scared by one film in a while.  That is to say, I’ve laughed at films, I’ve cried over films and I’ve been scared by films, but never all three in the course of an hour and a half.  Train to Busan is a zombie film ride I sort of wished wouldn’t end.  

The setup was great.  For those who haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil it, but I was like whoa….this is how this is going to go?  I rolled along with the cliched characterization, because, zombies.  In addition, the actors did so well, I didn’t care that I’d seen the same character in other movies.

Even in the scenes where I KNEW a character was going to do this or that (and there were a few, because, you know, film-watcher of a certain age and all..) but again, I was so caught up in what was going on that I did not care.

Grade A:  I literally laughed, cried and gasped in fear.  Highly recommended.

Train to Busan: Trailer

 

Here’s to watching horror movies in the morning!

Dahlia

Horror Movie Review – Grave Encounters (2011)

Title:  Grave Encounters
Genre:  Horror, Found Footage
Director:  The Vicious Brothers
Writers:  The Vicious Brothers

NO SPOILERS

Plot Summary: (from imdb) For their ghost hunting reality show, a production crew locks themselves inside an abandoned mental hospital that’s supposedly haunted – and it might prove to be all too true.

How do much do I love watching “found footage” horror movies? I don’t know why…it’s a strange addiction indeed. Something about the first person perspective, the shaky cam and the odd angles appeal to me.

As a huge fan of those ghost hunter shows – I’m looking at you Ghost Adventures and Ghost Brothers – I was especially eager to see this film. Cynical “ghost hunters” who will pay people to say they’ve seen a ghost? Check. “Haunted” insane asylum? Check. Found footage? Whooo, baby! We got ourselves a movie!

Do not come to this movie expecting high art, a never-before seen twist or some other movie technique that will blow you out of the water. This movie is a horror movie, designed to scare you. It’s like those live haunted house experiences. You know something is going to jump out at you, it’s just a matter of when and how gross it’s going to look.

The plot is basic. Ghost hunters lock themselves in overnight to experience all that a haunted asylum has to offer. And boy, do they so get what they think they’re looking for. The movie begins with a producer explaining the found footage and how it mysteriously appeared, blah blah. You know the whole set up….now let’s get to the haunting!!

Don’t expect much from film angles and the like. This is found footage and surveillance camera footage. Most of it is in glowy black and white and shaky cam. However, when I compare it to other found footage movies, it’s pretty good! The jump scares aren’t over-done and there’s some serious creepy stuff going on.

For a good fright, watch this with the lights off and with no distractions. Being a scaredy-cat, I had to watch it in the morning, but I was still scared.

Don’t think too much about the how and why of the movie. Just let go and enjoy the ride!

I am not posting the trailer as I usually do, because it gives far too much of the movie away. Just watch it!