On my hunt for a good scare this Halloween week, I rented a couple of movies after doing some research on the web. I googled "scariest movies of 2012" and about a million lists popped up. Some were from movie magazines and others were people's personal lists they posted in their blogs. I also asked the question, "What is the scariest movie you've ever seen?" on Facebook. What I found out is that people are generally scared of things that wouldn't even get a rise out of me! I've seen so many horror movies, and I mean true horror - not gore, that it takes a keen writer, stellar special affects and good acting to get me scared these days.
While I like a move with just the right amount of those unexpected "instant" scares I prefer a movie that doesn't really explain what it is that is scaring everyone in the first place. Instant scares are those sudden things that happen or pop up that are usually accompanied by a loud noise or music that just stops my heart for a second. They always get me but I don't want to see it coming and it can't make up the majority of the scares in the movies. I like a scary movie with some intrigue and mystery to it. I don't even mind that most horror films have the same story line as long as it's being told in a fresh, inventive and scary way.
So this week I rented:
Knock Knock 2 - Now, yes, I know...it is the second installment of a movie that wasn't great in the first place but the description on the DVD cover intrigued me. A group of friends go on a tour of Haunted Hollywood to various real sites where horrendous things happened and this is their "found footage". I'm a sucker for the found footage genre though I daresay even I cannot explain why someone doesn't bother putting a camera down when being chased by a deadly ghost or hideous demonic being. What I can tell you about this movie is DO NOT BOTHER!! Yikes, this was bad. Clearly, some scenes were improvised by this group of not so talented actors who really didn't have a clue how to improvise anything remotely interesting. I swear, one scene where they enter an empty house goes on for freakin' ever as they banter back and forth about if they should go in or not. It went on so long and these grunts were so unlikable that I was beginning to cheer them on into entering the damn house because I knew they were all going to be killed off in there! How did I know that? Oh, I knew that because the movie starts with a recording of a 911 call where the guy calling says, "They're all dead" and then screams, "Oh no! It's in here!" and the phone goes dead so I knew he was dead too. This film was not rocket science. The first entire hour of this movie is this group going from haunted place to haunted place with absolutely nothing happening at all. When they finally get to the last place, they go in. Let's see...what was scary there? Hmm, they here a baby crying but there's no baby. One by one they get killed off or disappear but you never see it happening or know why. There's one scene where a scary looking girl is behind one of the guys as he's talking but she never reappears in the movie and she never does anything else. This was a stinker with a capital STINK!!
Chernobyl Diaries - I had read this was supposed to be pretty bad but I had seen the trailer a while ago in the theatre and it didn't look that bad to me. Luckily, it wasn't bad at all! I got some really good scares during this one! The premise? A group of tourists decide to take an "extreme tourism" excursion rather than just go to Moscow they go to a town near Chernobyl. The appeal? It's abandoned and they can take photos. They have a tour guide named Yuri who takes them in a beat up van. Once they're there, something goes horribly wrong. They're exploring abandoned buildings and hear a noise. Thinking someone else is there they go to take a look but it's a huge bear which chases them and then runs off. This, of course, freaks them out so they go to the van to leave but find that someone or something has torn through the wires and the van won't start. Yuri pulls a gun out of the trunk and tells them all to stay in the van. It's getting dark and he's going to try to reach a check point to get help. He's not gone long when one of the other guys goes after him. In the dark there are gun shots, growling, and the guy runs back bleeding. He says there are some kind of creatures out there and they got Yuri. Of course, now they are stranded and have to try to get out of there. One by one they meet their maker. But here's where this movie stands out. The director cleverly never really shows you what these creatures are until much later in the movie. You get a hint here and there and you see something or someone grotesque but deep in the shadows. You never know where they are coming from and the whole place is so eerily abandoned that the "creep" factor builds and the suspense builds so each subsequent scare is scarier than the last. There's a nice twist at the end too. So, critics be damned - I liked this movie. The writing was excellent, the cast - spot on, the minimal special affects worked great to build the tension and made me scream out loud more than a couple of times! I think we have a winner!
I'm sure I'll have more reviews soon. I seem to be on a movie watching kick lately! Enjoy!
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