Oculus: Smashing Mirrors With The Power Of Boredom

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A pair of siblings, played by Karen Gillian and Brenton Thwaites, reunite after years apart to finally kill the evil mirror that destroyed their family when they were children.

I thoroughly enjoyed Hill House however, everything else that Mike Flanagan has failed to impress me. He has consistent pacing issues across his works that make them hard to watch, if I was asked to describe this film in a word it would be slow. There are so many needless flashbacks and asides throughout the film that it becomes distracting and more so irritating.

The horror here is okay there are one or two good scares but there is also an over reliance on jump scares that takes away from the film as a whole. Likewise, the mirror itself is left fairly open ended, it might not even be evil and it might just be the children’s way of coping with their dad killing their mum, this isn’t in and of itself a bad thing. However, it becomes a bad thing when the supposed power range of this mirror becomes all over the place, at one point in the film it can only slightly interfere with electrics and other it can fully manifest itself and attack those around it.

I thought the sole positive about this film was Karen Gillian, Gillian is clearly trying hard to make this work and whilst she does leave an impact it is not enough to save the film.

Overall, a slow and often boring horror that makes you want to switch off.

Pros.

Karen Gillian

One or two good scares

Cons.

It is slow

There are far too many flashbacks and asides

Crippling pacing issues

Not specifying how powerful the mirror is.

If you enjoyed this review, then please head over to my Patreon to support me, I offer personalized shoutouts, the ability for you to pick what I review next and full access to my Patreon exclusive game reviews. Check it out!

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Slashers: The Next Evolution Of Game Shows

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

In a dystopian version of Japan people from around the world compete in a game show called Slashers which pits real people against a series of killers in life or death games for big sums of money.

I enjoyed this film a lot. Many times I think whilst watching horror movies that I have seen it all before and that the genre has nothing left that can surprise me and then I watch something like this and am pleasantly surprised to be wrong.

I felt a strong love of slasher films emanating from this film as well as a love for Japanese culture and horror. Connections can be drawn between this and Battle Royale as the two share a fair bit of common ground.

The thing I liked most about this film was its knowing references to cliches and tropes within the genre, with one character, played by Sofia De Medeiros, going so far as to take her top off as to have better odds of surviving. I liked that the film played with genre and tried to do something fresh with it.

I found the characters to be compelling both contestant and slasher alike, I thought each had just enough personality to make them interesting and make you root for them.

My one complaint of the film would be that its message, who is the real monster those doing the slashing or those at home paying to see it, felt a little trite and played out and the film spends a bit too long on the morality of the genre rather than just aiming to have fun with it.

Overall, a wonderful surprise only slightly let down by a been there done that message.

Pros.

A love of the genre

A strong concept

Fun to watch

Interesting characters

Cons.

The message needs freshening up a bit

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Insidious 3: The Least Scary Villain In A Horror Film Ever

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

After the death of her mother Quinn, played by Stefanie Scott, reaches out to the spirit world to try and contact her, and obviously because this is a horror movie, something other than her mum reaches back.

In my mind this is the worst of the Insidious films. This is mainly due to the demon antagonist of this one. Whoever designed it should be let go as there is nothing creepy about an old man with an oxygen tank, nor should there be. Furthermore, in terms of how easy it is to defeat this villain, simply by removing his oxygen mask, there is no threat at all there. In the first film The Man With Fire On His Face would be a lot worse of a villain if you could just turn off his music and that’s it he’s done.

The film tries to do something with ideas around mobility, Quinn is confined to a wheelchair for most of the film and so centres a lot of its scares around that. This isn’t a total failure as it does lead to a few good scares however, more needed to be done with it for it to be explored in any satisfactory way.

Another failure of the film comes with its characters who are instantly forgettable. We get the usual stock characters of the misunderstood teen, the boy she has a crush on, her parent, and then of course the paranormal investigators. None of the characters in this film are served by it, even veteran of the genre Lyn Shaye can’t save it, and they give her a much bigger role so she gets the chance to try.

Overall, a sad state of affairs but one that provides us with the crucial lesson of not all horror films need to be franchises.

Pros.

A few good scares

Cons.

The characters are awful

The villain is weak

They don’t develop their ideas enough

They waste the talent of Lyn Shaye

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Chucky: Death By Misadventure

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Chucky, Brad Dourif, finds another child, played by Zackary Arthur, to befriend, however things are different to how they were with Andy, played by Alex Vincent, all those years ago.

A lot of people are upset with the LGBTQ+ themes on display here and say that it feels more like a show about homophobia and less about Chucky. To them I say, where have you been this entire franchise? Issues around sexuality have always been central to the Child’s Play universe and this feels like a natural progression of that. Moreover, it allows us to reframe Chucky himself, as traditionally he was just evil, but here he is shown to be sticking up for Arthur’s character as he is being victimised at school- adding further nuance to the character.

I think that is why this first episode worked for me so much and why I am eager to see where the series goes next as this is a very different relationship between child and Chucky than we have seen before. Usually Chucky makes it his mission to either possess or kill the central child/ adult in these films however here he seems to be trying to befriend him, maybe even turning him into a possible apprentice?

Another thing I am thankful for with this series is that they got right to it and had the lead find out about Chucky in the first episode rather than have it drag out into the second or the third episode. I feel that by doing this it allows for the series to move at a better pace.

Overall, a very promising start to the series.

Pros.

The relationship between the lead and Chucky

A new side to Chucky

The kills

Tackling important issues head on

Cons.

The new Chucky redesign takes some getting used to

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Insidious: If Your Kid Starts To Astral Project It Is Time To Have A Serious Talk With Them

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A young boy, played by Ty Simpkins, passes into a coma and whilst there some otherworldly demonic being tries to take over his body. His family and a team of paranormal investigators must step in and fight back.

I remember being absolutely terrified by this the first time I watched it, all those years ago. Though watching it now I find myself somewhat disappointed. Maybe it is because I have watched a lot more horror since and have seen the same scares here parroted back at me thousands of times over, maybe my taste has simply changed. That is not to say this film is bad rather that watching it now it feels overly familiar.

The idea of the Further, the demonic realm, is well realised and is used to great effect to set up a number of scary scenes. It is a shame the Further sequence only last for around ten minutes as it is the most creative and visually stunning of the whole film. Moreover, the titular evil demon looks terrifying, and is an obvious and well deserved addition to the halls of memorable horror monsters.

Lin Shayne is of course a horror icon and proves her status here. Though Shayne’s Elise is only in the film for a short while, she leaves a mark.

Overall, a solid horror film, but not as good as Wan’s later horror efforts, i.e. The Conjuring.

Pros.

The Man With Fire On His Face

The Further

Patrick Wilson

A few good scares

Cons.

A little bit familiar

We needed more time in The Further

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Halloween Season Of The Witch: The Horrors Of Children’s TV Advertising Taken To An Extreme

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Taking a drastic departure from Michael Myers, this film explores the efforts of one man, played by Dan O’ Herlihy, to murder children through an elaborate scheme involving flashing adverts and children’s Halloween masks.

Many people dislike this film as it tried to change what the franchise was perceived to be about, however, I think the film is stronger for doing this and in many ways ahead of its time. Furthermore, I think this film has more than enough personality and interesting ideas to be worth merit entirely on in its own right.

That is not to say this is a perfect film. The plot is widely nonsensical, cheesy and silly and whilst this can allow for some enjoyment it also reduces the fear of the film making it less effective as a horror film. I didn’t find myself being scared like I did with the original Halloween whilst watching it.

I thought the acting across the board was fairly strong, with no one letting the side down.

A final thought is that I would like to see the Halloween franchise go back to the idea of anthology as there is a lot that could be done there, I don’t mean have a film filled with little shorts but rather have each subsequent film in the series feature knew characters and ideas but share the same world as those before it. Basically to expand the universe out.

Overall, an interesting film though one that is not in any way scary.

Pros.

The ending

The ideas of Celtic magic

Doing something new

Cons.

It is not scary

There are pacing issues throughout

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Temple: A Camera So Powerful It Can Record People Having Sex Through Walls

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Three friends go to Japan in search of a supposedly haunted temple, once they find this temple things quickly start to go wrong. It is a very familiar premise.

This idea has been done to death, a group of people seek out x building usually because its rumoured to be haunted, then it is, and things go bad. At this point it is just lazy storytelling, the writers for these films could try and at least come up with some new reasons why these characters want to explore haunted buildings, but no.

Moreover, this film also trots out the dead all along little kid cliché. There is a little child guide in this film who turns out to be either not real or a ghost depending on your interpretation, of course the job of this kid is to lure the young folk out to the temple, what a shock. I think the use of this cliché just shows how bland and by the numbers this film is, clearly the writer of the film didn’t want to give it anything resembling a personality and just wanted to stick to shlock and it shows.

That said I would not say this is a terrible film, the creature design is good and there are a fair few good scares once they get to the temple, there is some promise there sadly it is just never developed in any way.

Overall, though it has a few interesting ideas for the most part this film is just things you have seen before.

Pros.

A few good scares

The creature design

The Japanese flavour to the horror

Cons.

It is riddled with cliches

The writing is awful

Not a single one of the characters is likeable

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Nosferatu: Dracula By Any Other Name

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

An unofficial retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

I have seen many different versions of the Dracula story over the years, most of which just feel like the same old thing trotted out yet again, however here it feels different. This is because of two things, firstly though it is an unofficial retelling and has different character names and a few new twists and turns this film does feel in many ways like a very faithful adaptation of the novel. Secondly, this film has enough of its own personality and style to stand out and create something for itself away from the Dracula myth.

I found the Count, played by Max Schreck, to be quite a striking villain. The design of his monster makeup is very well done and results in a very terrifying and memorable character on screen. Further adding to this I liked that the film did not go down the trite rabbit hole of having Dracula be sexy. In many vampire films the vampires don’t look monstrous and scary instead they are made to look sexy, this ruins the threat and it many ways hamstrings the sub-genre.

My main issue with this film was the timings of the inter-title cards. Some were too quick and others took far too long to leave, this became an issue as the film went on as the ones that were too quick made me feel like I was missing out elements of the film and the ones that were too slow bored me and took me out of it. Both resulted in the same effect, me becoming less engaged.

Overall, a good vampire film and one that is a classic in its own right. However, that is not to say it is perfect the inter-title cards have timing issues and some of the shots are difficult to translate, leaving you once again struggling to know what is going on.

Pros.

A faithful adaptation

Not making the monster sexy

A strong sense of style

Cons.

Some of the shots are hard to understand, the techniques used now feel confusing.

The inter-titles

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Boogeyman: There Was Something In Your Wardrobe After All

4 /5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Tim, Barry Watson, is forced to return to his childhood home after the death of his mum. Whilst there Tim becomes once again wrapped up in fighting the unseen supernatural force that terrorised him as a child.

I think this film does a lot with very little. Without showing us the titular Boogeyman much the film creates an environment of fear, showing us that this entity is a threat and is not something to be taken lightly. It uses the simplest of scares to do this but it uses them so effectively that it works and leads to some great moments that are chilling.

When the film does show us the Boogeyman it does so sparingly as to still keep some of the myth around the character alive. The glimpses we do see highlight a well done monster with a distinctive design that is frightening. I think the film strikes the perfectly balance between not showing us the creature and showing us too much.

The main thing that I think holds this film back is the little girl twist. Throughout the film there is a little girl who acts as a guide of sorts to Tim informing him of the Boogeyman and his history. However, later in the film it is revealed that she is in fact dead and was one of the Boogeyman’s victims, this twist doesn’t work as it is blindingly obvious from the get-go that this was the case.

Overall, a strong horror film with an obvious twist.

Pros.

The scares

The atmosphere

Watson

The mythology

Cons.

The twist

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Halloween Kills: So What’s The Point Now?

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Michael Myers, James Jude Courtney/ Nick Castle, in once again at large and the town of Haddonfield must really together to bring him down.

I am deeply mixed on this film. First thing I want to get out of the way is that this film is not the over the top gorefest you have been lead to believe by some critics, yes there are some gnarly scenes but it is nothing more than you would expect from a slasher movie.

Before we get into it I just want to put a big old SPOILER WARNING here, be warned that everything following on from this will have spoilers come back after you’ve watched it or keep reading if you don’t care.

So…… The entire Halloween franchise just doesn’t matter now. Michael Myers can never be defeated as he represents humanity’s divide nature, so what’s the point? The film would have been better served to say he is supernatural, but no, it just gives us this preachy trying too hard piece of dialogue instead. Honestly, this film makes me worried for the next one as I don’t think it will be the finale that we have been promised and instead just keep pumping out these ideas of oh Michael can’t die until we love each other more.

In keeping with that another narrative thing I didn’t like here was the mass hysteria or mob justice scene which sees the residents of Haddonfield become so wrapped up in their own fear that they force an innocent and mostly likely mentally handicapted man to kill himself through fear of if he doesn’t he will be ripped apart by the mob. I understand the incredibly on the nose point this film was trying to make, asking the old adage of ‘who is the real monster’ but it rings hollow: mainly because they move on from it incredibly quickly and the ringleader faces very little comeuppance for his role in it.

Despite these screenplay thematic issues there are still some good moments here. I enjoyed seeing Myers do what he does best and just go around slashing, there was some gory fun to be had there. I also thought Jamie Lee Curtis had a lot of fun whenever she was on screen she really sold her performance, though I feel like for her this is vey much a middle film as she doesn’t actually do very much.

Overall, was it worth the wait probably not. We need more good old slasher vibes and less complex meditations on society.

Pros.
Still some old school slasher charm

Carpenter’s score

Curtis

Cons.

The mob justice scene

Having Michael be a metaphor

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer