• Home
  • About Me
  • My Books
  • Lobby
  • Blogtoberfest
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Dahlia DeWinters - Author

Quirky Heroines, Happy Endings

Horror Movie Review: Paranormal Activity

October 4, 2018

Title:  Paranormal Activity (2007)

Genre:  Horror, Drama, Not so bad after all

Summary: After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence. (from IMDB)

Yes.  The film is over ten years old, but I wanted to include some of the horror movies that made a splash in more recent times. Also, I rather liked Paranormal Activity. It’s a charming little film that doles out the scares just enough to keep the you interested.  There are two main characters, Katie and Micah, a couple who have a cute little home except for the issue of what may or may not be an issue with haunting.

The film is shot in POV style, which is a fancy way of saying one of the characters has a camera and makes it their business to film any and everything thing.  In this case, it goes with the plot, since Katie and Micah want to see what’s happening while they’re asleep.

 

I won’t give away the movie on the off chance that you haven’t seen it by now, but suffice it to say I did enjoy this movie, although I feel the characters made some questionable choices.  I also felt that Micah was kind of a jerk at some points, as he deliberately went against Katie’s wishes in a few instances. And I think that in doing that, he was the cause of the final events.  

But if he followed all the rules, there wouldn’t be a movie, now would there?

I’d also like to note that I’ve seen both endings, and personally, I can see the value in both. I can also see why they did the modified ending, to open up that sequel door!

I recommend Paranormal Activity, if you haven’t seen it already.  It’s worth it to see what all the fuss was about.

 

Grade:  B


Filed Under: Blogtoberfest, Horror Movie Reviews Tagged: horror, horror movie reviews, horror movies, movie reviews

Blogtoberfest – Vampire’s Kiss Cocktail

October 3, 2018

For our third day of #blogtoberfest (click to check out the other posts, both new and old) let’s take a look at our adult beverages. Today’s recipe is for a cocktail, lovingly named Vampire’s Kiss.  Quick to mix up, nice to look at, and tasty to boot!

All you need are:

  • 2 ounces raspberry vodka
  • 2 ounces  black raspberry liqueur
  • 3 ounces  cranberry juice 
  • chilled glassAdd all ingredients to shaker with ice, shake it up, and serve!Enjoy!

recipe courtesy of https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/vampires-kiss-347701

 


Filed Under: Blogtoberfest, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged: autumn alcoholic drinks, blogtoberfest, cocktail, drink, halloween, halloween party, horror, macabre, recipes, scary, vampire

Horror Movie Review: The Bye Bye Man

October 2, 2018

Title:  The Bye Bye Man

Genre:  Horror, Drama, it wasn’t terrible…..

Summary: Three friends stumble upon the horrific origins of a mysterious figure they discover is the root cause of the evil behind unspeakable acts. (from IMDB)

There’s an old song, from the seventies, that says, “Where do I begin/To tell the story of how sweet a love can be?”

In this case, I would change the words to: Where do I begin/to tell the story of how crap this film it be?

The movie begins in what looks like the 1960s where some dude with glasses is walking around with a shotgun chanting “Don’t think it, don’t say it” and systematically shooting everyone in his house and finally himself.  Okay. That’s fine. It is a horror, after all.

Fast forward to the present time, and the good ol’ pack of those kind of young folks that you see in horror all the time characterize themselves for the viewer.  Hopefully, this briefest of character sketches will make us feel sorry for them when things go woefully wrong. Spoiler alert: I’m just here for the Bye Bye Man. Also, I see you black dude!

There are several good things about the movie.  The atmosphere is appropriately creepy and foreboding.  The dark cinematography, even over the daytime scenes, give you a feeling that anything can happen at any time.  There are some jump scares that are kind of effective and the monster/killer itself gives off a type of Freddy Krueger vibe.

That being said, the film did not quite make it for me.  It wasn’t that the film was so bad, in fact, it had an interesting premise and the actors (for the most part) were adequate.  It just felt like something was missing. They seemed to be playing fast and loose with the plot, which made some of the reasoning behind characters’ motivations hard to follow.

All in all, I won’t turn you away from seeing this movie.  As I said, the premise was intriguing and parts of the movie were effective.  Go into this with the thought you’re just going to have fun, and you will.

 

Grade:  B-


Filed Under: Blogtoberfest, Horror Movie Reviews Tagged: horror, horror movie reviews, horror movies, movie reviews

Horror Movie Review – The Open House

January 21, 2018

Title:   The Open House

Genre:   Thriller/Horror

Synopsis:   (from imdb) A teenager (Dylan Minnette) and his mother (Piercey Dalton) find themselves besieged by threatening forces when they move into a new house.

If you’re a fan of horror movies where “the black guy dies first”, this movie is for you.  To begin, let me tell you I watch a LOT of garbage.  As a person who watched horror movies, I have accepted and even embraced the fact that not every movie I screen will be good or even palatable.  Still, even in the worst of horror movies so far, I’ve been able to not be disgusted by them.  Sure, they’ve been dumb, silly and downright terrible, but there was always a little spark of originality or the fact the movie didn’t take itself too seriously which mitigated its terribleness. This is not the case with The Open House.

If, after my dire warning, you still insist on watching this film in a serious way, read no more.  I will be spoiling everything I can.  All the spoilers.  EVERY ONE!

not necessarily in order, either

 From both the poster and the movie trailer, the film promises a mysterious movie in which a weekly Open House may or may not be inviting in a killer.  The film poster, done in bluish-gray “horror movie tones” showed a shadowy figure standing menacingly in a driveway.  Both advertisement mediums indicated a good, scary time lorded over by this scary figure.

When I logged on to Netflix to chill out and watch some reruns of The Office, it popped right up on my feed.  So, I said, what the heck?  Oh, foolish Dahlia. Foolish, foolish, Dahlia. 

 

I should have known something was up when the movie began with a cliche:

Main character suffers a devastating tragedy.
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again:  I’ve seen a LOT of movies (not just horror) and I’m pretty good at recognizing foreshadowing when I see it.  As I writer, I have also been known to use the technique a bit. That being said, foreshadowing is supposed to be subtle, but when Dad dropped an egg and the movie showed it cracking open, spilling out the yolk and white all over the floor, I knew Dad was a goner.  Then, poor old Dad suggests they go get more eggs.  I knew right away, old Dad was gonna be cracked open sooner rather than later.  Sure enough, Dad was gone in the first 15 minutes of the movie.  Bonus cliche points:  the main character sees this happen,

Main character has to relocate because of…whatever issues.

Turns out Dad was a deadbeat and didn’t leave any insurance.  So Mom and son have to go to live in her sister’s house, which she just so happens to have up for sale.  Which brings us to the next cliche.

New location is located in a remote place with spotty cell service.

On their way to the town, the mother is talking on the cell phone in the car. Sounds like she’s trying to straighten out something with the husband’s estate.  Why are you chatting on the phone, driving to a strange place IN THE DARK? Either way she’s driving, in the dark and chatting on the phone.  Then she gets mad because the phone 

cuts out (cue spotty cell service) Suddenly, a mysterious figure appears at the side of the road, causing mom to slam the brakes and holler, “Did I hit him?”

:::::Mouth open::::::  Heffa, did you hear a thump? I’m sorry, but I’ve got to really ding the movie for this.  I can’t with this one.  There was no thump….why the heck did you think you hit him? I began to think this movie wasn’t going to have any legs. But it did have cliches!  Check out the next one.

Explore a creepy basement/attic with a flashlight.

They get to the house.  Bring in their stuff.  Then the mother disappears somewhere and the boy is in the kitchen by himself.  Oh, look there’s a door!  It leads to a basement, WHICH HAS NO LIGHT SWITCH.  No worries, just pick up this handy flashlight and go right on down!  Also, what was up with the maze in the basement?  Stone walls?  Is this Wolfenstein? No rhyme or reason, just wander around down there until your mother calls for you.  The weird thing was, they never discuss how weird the basement was, not even a throw off line.  I tell you what, if I lived in a house like that with a creepy basement, I sure would be on the lookout for, well, creepiness.

Weird/creepy neighbors and/or townsfolk

The characters go into a store or something and an older woman comes up to them.  “You must be Logan….and you are Naomi”.  Ooooo, spooky.  They are on alert.  How does this woman know their names.  “Oh, your sister emailed me with your pictures.”  Okay, why didn’t the sister TELL THEM that?  Cheap scary moment.  Random crazy woman not so crazy…or is she?  You’re back and forth with that, movie. And I despise you for it.

Random scares with chords.

Oh, the tangled web we weave when we try to scare.  Sigh.  The silly jump scares abound. Unfortunately, no cat scares…that at least would have been mildly entertaining.

Like what you read?

Let's hang out!

Image already added

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!

Image already added

Saying “hello” when there’s a weird sound/event.

There’s a scene where Logan, the teenager, is awakened by a honking horn.  He gets up, goes to the window and peeks out.  There is a car sitting in their driveway, with its lights on bright so he really can’t see anything.  He stands there for a while until the car honks its horn.  Logan then GOES OUTSIDE (no coat, no shoes) and tries to see who is in the car.  What the heck?  Then, he goes back to bed and DOES NOT TELL HIS MOTHER. Whaaaa? I dig that they’re kind of estranged because of the father’s death and their poorness, but…..c’mon man!

Not noticing things are out of place/not telling people when weird things happen

You live in a house, an apartment whatever.  You know when doors are open and closed, right?  Well, these two don’t.  The mother goes somewhere in the house, walks past a door.  As we watch, the door opens.  When she comes back, and walks right past the door, she doesn’t close it, nor does she even seem to register that it’s open in the first place.  I just shook my head.  By that time in the movie, I was just watching to see what happened.

Kid has a cereal bowl in his room.  He goes to do something, and finds his cereal bowl in the living room.  Says nothing.

Black guy dies first

So something scary happens, furniture is rearranged when they leave the house.  They come back, are shocked, and FINALLY call the police.  After trying to keep his mother from even talking to this dude earlier in the movie, Kid invites the only other black guy in the movie besides the cop, Chris, over to, I guess, protect them against the creepy stuff. And also to be the first victim of mysterious killer. Yeah.  Bite it, movie, with your oldest cliche in the damn horror movie book.

Note:  There are two black men in this movie.  One is a red herring and dies first, the other is a police officer and has THREE WORDS to say. This is 2018, right?  I thought we were done with the stereotypes and cliches, but I guess not. Bugger off, movie.

As if you didn’t know this already, this movie is not recommended, even for fun.  It’s a dud of a movie, and I truly felt I wasted my time watching it. If you want to see the trailer, I’m sure it’s on YouTube.  I’ve wasted enough of my life on this movie as it is. 

 

Grade:  F-.  You are not approved for a mortgage.

 

Note:  There are a few times where I think I say I’m sorry?  Well, I’m NOT!!

 

Image already added


Filed Under: Horror Movie Reviews, Movies--Books--Music--Television, Uncategorized Tagged: bad horror movies, bad movies, dahlia dewinters, dahlia writes, horror, horror movie, horror movie review, netflix, slasher flick, the open house

Horror Movie Review – The Vault

January 16, 2018

Title:   The Vault

Summary:
Two estranged sisters are forced to rob a bank in order to save their brother. But this is no ordinary bank. (from imdb.com)

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Opinion

To say this was a pleasant surprise is an understatement. I didn’t expect much. I didn’t realize James Franco was in it until halfway through. This means that I kept looking at this guy and thinking that I know him from some movie. Like I said, it was only mid-movie that I said to myself “That’s James Franco! What’s he doing in this movie.”

My silly epiphany aside, The Vault was an interesting movie. It started out as one thing, then after a cliche line, it turned into something else, which I was completely fine with. I won’t go any further with the plot. Suffice it to say, the movie held my attention all the way through. I wasn’t tempted to look away, except for the bloody parts, and the acting was quite good for the genre.

While there is nothing new under the sun for me, having seen a huge amount of movies, I always relax and let the movie entertain me. Unless the movie is completely terrible, I try to let it roll out like the writers meant it to be. By doing this, I tend to enjoy a lot more movies.
Yes. The setup of The Vault has been done many times before. However, the actors were good, the special effects very effective and the back story scary and convincing.

Rating – B

Want more Horror Movie Reviews?  Click HERE.


Filed Under: Horror Movie Reviews, Movies--Books--Music--Television Tagged: black geek girls, black girl nerds, blerd, dahlia dewinters, horror, horror movie review, horror movies, movie monday, movie review, movies that scare

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

Find what you’re looking for

Made With Love by Boutique Web Design Studio · Copyright © 2019