We are back with our annual Finazzo month long all things horror festival. The siren call of terror was too strong, so we snuck in a couple of films during the end of September. What can I say, we just couldn’t resist.

SHOWS:

Archive 81 – I love this time warpy take on the found footage genre. Having the main character Dan be a restorer of old/damaged media is genius. When you add in a creepy soundtrack, supernatural occurrences, cults, witches, seances gone wrong, and weird art installations, this truly has something for everyone. What a shame there was only one season of this strange, yet very appealing series, since the whirlwind ending felt incomplete and left me feeling unfulfilled.

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities – “The Murmuring” was the final episode in this series. The set was incredible from the wind battered house, antique furnishings, down to the intricate wallpaper. The isolated island setting for this haunted house story were perfection and the building tension and arguments about grief between the husband and wife were skillfully written. Even the birds were excellent supporting characters.

Open Your Eyes – Is a 6 episode Polish series on Netflix about a teen with amnesia who wakes up in a treatment center. The facility is creepy, set on a large estate in a secluded forest and there are weird technological upgrades, but it just doesn’t seem right. All the kids at the facility have to focus on an artistic talent, whether that is singing, drawing, playing piano, or dancing. It gives off a sci-fi Fame with a little One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest thrown in for flavor. One of my favorite scenes was a Hitchcock inspired bird attack near the end of Episode 5, unfortunately it was immediately followed by poor quality CGI fire sequences. I have to give Andrew credit, he sensed Never Let Me Go vibes early on, which proved somewhat accurate in the end. The first season ended with a moral dilemma and without a second season, it feels unresolved.

FILMS:

Smile 2 – This was a pleasant surprise and exceedingly better than the original. I loved the pop star take on the story, and the singing, dancing, and choreography was so good that I wanted to see more (one of my few criticisms). The film was visually amazing, the exaggerated smiles were still super creepy. Ray Nicholson looks just like his dad Jack in The Shining so I was overjoyed and quite frankly thrilled when I saw that scene, I immediately knew (without knowing) he was Jack Nicholson’s kid.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma – There were some interesting lighting and set design decisions which lent a fairy tale atmosphere to this slasher film. The big bad was weird and visually stunning in a good way. There were some weird but strangely stimulating choices like the volume of candy shown and slo-mo dipping and eating of crispy KFC. Maybe it was a commentary on how over consuming junk media is bad for you or how both horror and eating sugar are chemically similar in our brains?

I thought Gillian Anderson nailed her final girl role and her accent reminded me of Dolly Parton in a good way. Ultimately, for me, it tried too hard to be all things: a super homage to past horror films, a commentary on sex and violence and the relationship between them, and an elevated meta arty piece. I think the concept should have been pared down. I wouldn’t watch it again, and I wouldn’t tell someone NOT to watch it, but I still haven’t figured out who to recommend it to.

Tin and Tina – This movie has some of my awesome tropes: religious fanaticism, creepy albino kids with terrible hair, and a couple who just can’t resist adopting these creepy kids from a convent with a highly questionable background. This was 85% amazing and I really enjoyed the journey, but the ending let me down in a big way.

The Deliverance – I hate it when your rental property has a hole in the basement that goes all the way to hell, then your kids get possessed by a powerful demon. It all gets worse from there when child services gets involved, and then the one exorcist you can find to help you out just isn’t that good at her job. Andra Day, Glenn Close, and the kid actors were on point, makeup and special effects were pretty solid, but they lost me completely during the speaking of tongues scene near the end. Andrew was irritated that the child services employee was portrayed, yet again, as the bad guy in a story.

Colony – This is like watching an intricate zombie dance horror film with bodies flipping in sharp break dance like moves. None of this makes it any less scary, maybe more so, when a huge group of zombies does the exact same move coordinated with perfect timing. I really love that scientists and female professors in particular were the heroes of this movie and Korea almost never lets me down when it comes to horror and intensity level. One of our favorite movies of all time is Parasite, we have seen it at least 4 times, and would watch it again in a hot minute.

Frankenstein – Andrew and I love Guillermo del Toro and I really liked this version. It looked like a fairy tale come to life on screen and felt like a modern telling of a Shakespeare play. The set is fantastic, the costumes are perfection, the cast exceptional, and the prosthetic makeup a true work of art. How does Jacob Elordi still manage to look hot as The Creature? I don’t know, but he sure does.

Buffet Infinity – So far the strangest movie I’ve seen this season. Campy, confusing, a bit disjointed, but also intriguing. The commercials were spot on, and it reminded me of a modern version of the 90’s movie Stay Tuned, but it was more gruesome and way weirder. Andrew loved this movie.

The Strangers: Chapter 2 – This sequel lost me mid movie during an ill conceived fight scene with a horrible CGI boar and it never recovered from there. I came away with one pressing question, “How does her nail polish stay so perfect during all of this survival?”

The Strangers: Chapter 3 – I pretty much just kept yelling, “DRIVE. THE. CAR. OUT. OF. THIS. CURSED. TOWN.” during the entire film. Instead I had to watch several more car crashes. No wonder her boyfriend was doing the driving in the first film. These films never should have been a trilogy, so don’t waste your time with Chapter 2 or Chapter 3. Watch the original 2008 version with Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, or Chapter 1 as a standalone.

Strange Harvest – This combines two of my favorite things: true crime and horror. I used to avoid watching both the news and true crime during my 911 career, but now I have become a true crime aficionado. This film’s mockumentary style is hilarious and on the nose. The casting is pretty darn good, especially the female detective, and overall it was a pretty decent movie.

Resident Evil – At some point in the last year Andrew and I started playing these video games. We started with the newest ones, which are super scary, and fans of the games will not be disappointed with this movie. I really enjoyed director Zack Cregger’s take on the beloved franchise and it was impossible not to root for Austin Abrams, the antihero as he bungles his way through this apocalyptic world.

Rabbit Trap – This is one of Andrew’s picks, and my favorite film of the season so far. Everything from Dev Patel’s performance to the experimental otherworldly music is enchanting, but it manages to keep an unsettling sense of dread building throughout. I love that this film allows viewers the space for interpretation, but still guides the experience with purposeful directorial decisions. Two thumbs up!! I would definitely watch it again.

The Chalk Line – This was more of a psychological thriller/mystery, but there were some terrifying moments near the end after the BIG BAD is revealed. Also, bad stuff happening to kids always qualifies as horror in my book.

The Man with the Black Umbrella – Even though I detested the main character in this film, I loved this movie. The jump scares were perfectly executed, I let out a few good screams. Some of my favorite films take a benign song and change it forever for viewers. Us did that for me with “I Got 5 On It”, I still love that song, but it will never be the same. The Man with the Black Umbrella does it with a child’s nursery rhyme “Rain Rain Go Away” and they go one step further by using a 1920’s radio version and having characters chant the lyrics in a super creepy way. Mr. Mourning is probably the scariest character I’ve seen so far this October, his silhouette is immediately recognizable and once his face is revealed, it is even more terrifying.

The Woman in the Window – I have been putting off watching this movie after I read the book and saw the parody The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window which is hilarious and ridiculous. I finally watched it and it was just OK for me. Amy Adams does a fine job as post traumatic Anna the unreliable narrator, and Gary Oldman never ceases to amaze me. Once you know the plot, obviously the reveals aren’t as powerful. I’m tepid on the casting for the villain in this one. Overall, the book is way better, but still not as good as Gone Girl.

The Blue Drum – What do you find in the basement after hearing strange scratching noises in your father’s house? One woman finds out as she manages both her grief and estate arrangements after her father’s death. This 16 minute short film gets right to the point and is a great example of why short films can be so powerful when perfectly edited.

Undertone – I like this movie quite a bit more than Andrew. I enjoyed the notion of a late night podcaster talking about creepy stuff with her sweet voiced cohost whom we never see. Evy is taking care of her terminally ill mother, or is she? It is hard to say what is actually going on. Is this about hallucinations caused by an interaction of drugs and alcohol, or going mad while suffering caregiver burnout, or is some kind of elder abuse and/or matricide going on? Maybe there is some demonic force that has been unleashed by listening to weird recordings and playing a bunch of nursery rhymes backward. The ambiguity of the story didn’t bother me, and I felt super creeped out for most of this film, I probably wouldn’t watch this one alone.

Azrael – This avenging angel in a post apocalyptic cultish world was weird. The minuscule amount of dialogue was spoken in another language without subtitles (apparently on purpose). Every now and again religious verses would pop up on the screen, but they didn’t do enough to explain what the hell was actually going on. The effects were pretty good and the tar colored monsters were scary. The demon at the end was well executed. If you are going to watch Samara Weaving in a survival flick, I recommend Ready or Not instead.

There’s Someone Inside Your House – This was a pretty decent teen slasher flick. I liked the characters, and the customized masks for each victim was a nice touch. The villain was not super obvious which is always a plus. Actress Sydney Park gave a solid performance as the heroine.

Hope you are all enjoying this spooky holiday season. Let me know if you have seen any of the listed films and what you thought. If you have a favorite creepy/spooky/Halloween movie that we didn’t cover here, we would love to hear about it.